Things authors are thinking

[Leyelle]

the story would just be ruined if not for my allowing reality to have some weight

[kingtubz7]

I try not to overthink things when it comes to my novel, but sometimes it can't be helped. Like for example, is my writing style good enough for this story, is it doing the story justice? Am I describing this action scene the way it was intended in my imagination? Will the reader see what I see in this scene? Will they find this scene funny?
Yeah I could go on, but I'd surpass the word limit if I did. Does anyone else hate the word limit per chapter cuz every time I feel like I've written a good chapter, I upload it then find out that I exceeded the word limit then I have to edit the whole damn chapter again to fall under the word limit then the 2nd version is not as good as the first, just leaving me all frustrated.

[Lensing]

Number 1 thought:

-Backstory or story?

[Leyelle]

i've never exceeded the word limit lol

[kingtubz7]

Must be nice lol

[yumeryuu]

A few years ago everything changed when my work was used against me and my life was nearly destroyed for it.

Now… the characters in my book have become so engrained within my soul that they exist as friends that helped me through trauma. Even my antagonist. He was there. Through the worst of it.

I don’t think ill of my work. I don’t question if I’m a good writer or not. I write because this story is a type of therapy for me.

[Leyelle]

I think a lot of people write their stories as a form of therapy and self expression in hard times, and in instances like that, it doesn't matter what other's think of it. Just that it helps you express your soul

[Lensing]

That´s a question / topic which is really interesting.

[Leyelle]

by backstory or story do you mean how much story should you share in the normal flow of the narrative and what you should save for a flashback?

[Lensing]

I´ll give you an example from the story I´m writing right now.
I wrote several pages of a guy going to a pharmacy and getting medication
without a prescription. The pharmacist first doesn´t want to give it to him
but the guy offers him money. I thought that would be a good side story
to show the character of that guy + an explaination how he got the medication.
Then I read it again and thought that this is a backstory and doesn´t help
the mainstory at all. It´s not interesting for the reader to read about the guy
going to the pharmacy and I don´t need to explain that detail. I got rid of it.

It´s the same with characters and everything, does it help to make the plot
better or not?

[Leyelle]

there are a lot of parts of story that can be done without, but sometimes whether a reader wants to read them has everything to do with how you write the scene. you can make people want to read almost literally anything depending on how you write it. Dickens manages to make you want to read about an old man sitting at a table waiting to get his dinner served to him in "A Tale of Two Cities."

[Lensing]

I agree but that´s not the type of story I want to read or that I´m writing
I write straight forward comic scripts, erotic stories and rock´n´roll songs.

I do like Jim Jarmusch & David Lynch movies and there are a lot of scenes
like that in the movies, but I wouldn´t write something like that.

The backstory / story thing is also something that I dislike when reading
stories. People think they need to explain everything and I don´t want that
as a reader

[Leyelle]

This scene should be removed from the story for the sake of pacing...

But I LOVE this scene. I WANT to watch them argue for another two pages.

Okay but for the sake of the story...and my artist not developing carpel tunnel. Abridge abridge abridge.

I hate abridging lol

[Leyelle]

Where is the line between funny mean and please stop talking?

How can I give a brat dialog that people don't want to skip over?

(legit, my editor told me during part of the process he wanted two of the characters to shut up. Fortunately they're so much better now without changing the fundamentals of their personality, but i'm glad I ran it past him less the story end up a pile of hot garbage.)

[cherrystark]

Where is the line between funny mean and please stop talking?

How can I give a brat dialog that people don't want to skip over?

For me - the question is how much dialogue are you, as the writer, using? For example, if a scene is 90% dialogue and it doesn't help progress the story any - I want to yell "SHUT UP!".

I would use body language to "show" the brat is a brat. I personally always skip over those scenes where the ML and FL are arguing with each other for the umpteenth time because it's supposed to show romantic tension and that she's a brat.

[Leyelle]

For example, if a scene is 90% dialogue and it doesn't help progress the story any - I want to yell "SHUT UP!".

Lol, I know. this is basically what I've learned so far. And I'm not using brattiness or couple arguments as a source of romantic tension, that sounds awful to me, the brat is unrelated to the main couple in my series lol. Body language aside, it's more her personality that's annoying.

[Leyelle]

will I be able to get all ideas out in my life time?

[TheBlacKat333]

“How do I make this character very clearly evil and manipulative while still having a few shreds of redeemable qualities and personality?” Usually followed by “oh god, I hope annoying people on the internet don’t start thinking I act like this” and THAT one is usually followed by a nicer variation of “fuck them tiktok discourse accounts”

[LostKelp]

1. hehe shipping is fun! (pairs up the MCs early in the plot)
2. Oh, turns out that under stress one of the couples have coping mechanisms that negatively feed into each other... guess they should probably break up so they can heal without hurting the other person
3. Man, that means that one of the MCs are gonna be left out post-canon. It makes more sense logistically, but it's a bit bitter-sweet... but I don't want to bend around backwards to make everything turn out perfect...
4. how mad will people be when I break this couple up?
5. how much angst is too much angst?

Honestly, the "how much angst is too much angst" comes up a lot. I'm not that sad about one of the main couples being incompatible - I think it's a fascinating space to explore - but it does mean I have a lot of ship art I drew that feels a little misplaced now. Idk maybe after they grow up a bit more, then they can get back together.

[Leyelle]

You can post ship art as bonus content like on Patreon or something?