Aww, thank you!! In terms of developing a writing style potentially similar to my own, my principal advice would be:
1. Journal. Journal a LOT. I filled multiple journals with just my thoughts about my own life and experiences before I began writing longform fiction in earnest, and it really helped me develop my voice. If it helps as a focus for your journaling, imagine that you are writing to your future self.
2. If the main thing that’s interesting to you about the story you’re writing is the character dynamics (like it is for me), fix the place where you want those dynamics to end up in your mind as your endpoint, start at an event that gives the character dynamics a shove in that direction (usually something that makes the characters involved see each other in a different light), and let the rest of the plot fall into place as you write it, without excessive planning (results may vary for the last step — I happen to naturally be more of a “pantser” than a “plotter” — but it’s worth giving a shot, especially if you’ve run into the issue of making elaborate outlines and then not having the motivation to follow through).
3. For at least a few key scenes, write (or at the very least, carefully think through) the same scene from different points of view, even if the story itself will only contain one of those points of view.
4. If there’s research that you have to do but aren’t motivated to do, skip the research and come back to it when you’re ready to write the second (or third!) draft. You may have to change a few things as a result, but it will both be a much more enjoyable process and help you look at the things you’re researching through your point-of-view character’s eyes.
5. Write whatever you feel motivated to write. Bounce between stories, bounce between sections of the same story (BUT, for the latter, maintain a rule that anything you write out of order will be rewritten when you actually reach that point in your story so that you don’t feel pressured to “connect the dots”), write lots of side stories that explore a minor character or worldbuilding aspect that piqued your interest. If you do this for long enough, you will naturally develop a sense for which stories you’ll most likely have the motivation to see through, and which ones are going to be more private snippets. (I have been seriously writing longform stories for 14 years now, for reference.) Your writing should above all be enjoyable for YOU, especially because not everything you write will see the light of day, but writing it MUST still feel worthwhile.
6. When editing: a) focus on exploring the space with your senses more (what in the environment are the characters seeing/hearing/feeling etc.?) and use those details to space out dialogue/interactions where pauses would naturally occur, and b) make either a separate section of your document or a separate document that is just a complication of lines you cut (it is far easier to cut things out when you aren’t deleting them completely, and every draft will need things removed).
7. Revisit your older writing — very much including your “discarded” snippets and your journals — periodically. You will get a much clearer sense of what matters to you most in writing.
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pomelo_pomegranate on Chapter 2 Wed 14 May 2025 12:17AM UTC
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