Writers Struggle to Avoid Editing First Drafts

“Yeah, you don't want to spoil the story. Look at how fictional books sometimes title their chapters. A title for your example could be "Betrayal," or "This discovery changed everything," or something else. It's actually okay in this context to make it seem a little "bait" like. If you're still struggling to come up with chapter titles, I suggest you try out PodChapters , which can use AI to find and suggest chapters for you, with varying levels of strict”

“I've been writing my current WIP for about a month, just kind of throwing ideas at the wall. I have a pretty good idea of how I want it to be structured now, but it would involve a large time jump in the middle. The first half of the story is full of constant increasing tension that eventually culminates in the death of the main character's 12-year-old daughter. Directly after the death, I'm planning for a 9 or 10 year time jump that leads into the continuation of the conflict from t”

“So I am writing a novel that starts off with a blind date. For several pages, we get the date, and perhaps a revelation by the man that makes the woman kind of nervous about where things are going. I just watched a video from an editor, who maintains that that kind of setup, it doesn't "grab" a reader (or an editor). So I have a friend who is reading as I write, and I told her - hey, I'm gonna try something. Tell me what you think. I wrote a new Chapter 1 (small, less than 100”

“Hello, writers! For about a year now, I’ve been developing two novels set in the same world but at different points in time. Originally, I imagined that if there was a second book in this series, it would be a straightforward continuation of the first. However, I’ve increasingly become much more interested in finishing what is technically a prequel. The later “main” novel was the first idea I had. It follows an artist whose roommate is a fashion designer. As I developed the fashion designer’s ch”

“I'm writing my first fantasy series and I'm unsure whether the main reveal comes too late for a debut novel. The premise is that God once granted humanity a single wish, but only one person could claim it. The world fought over it for centuries, until eventually people forgot what they were even fighting for. Book one takes place hundreds of years later. The main characters live in a city at the edge of the known world and have no idea the wish ever existed. Throughout the story, though,”

“I'm writing a story about two people that get kidnapped by a secluded cult and have to escape. I've been outlining about a year, but I can't figure out how to get past this one plot point and move on. There's a lot of context and I swear it's deep and thematic and whatever. But basically, the artist (main character, I haven't thought of his name) and the doctor (the other person that was kidnapped) have escaped their captivity room and roam around the cult town. Then, the”

“Hi Everyone, I'm writing a horror short story about a corrupt, vertically integrated development company that we reveal - is actually being financed to conceal bodies on sites i.e. a major suburban development where body parts (unknown victims, crime related) are being buried underneath poured foundation slabs. But as I started to research, they said the concrete would crack and crumble if a body was in the concrete... It's a grim, macabre question but it kind of hurts the plausibility o”

“Some time back, I wrote what was meant to be a one-off erotic fantasy short story. But, after getting requests for sequels, it ended up being four parts which totalled a decent novel length. It also grew into a full low fantasy adventure. Recently, I've decided to combine all four into a single novel, and strip out the erotica and keep it as a straight fantasy (with a very low-key element of romance). The problem I have is that Part 3 has a prologue, which will largely not make sense to anyo”

“I am writing my first novel, and I’m currently converting my first draft into the final draft. The story involves time travel with some specific rules. The problem is that, until the end, the characters never fully understand how the time travel works. They can observe patterns and develop theories, but they’re never 100% certain. So I’m struggling with how to reveal the rules to the reader. Normally I would introduce them through dialogue, character discoveries or events. But since the characte”

“So for writers Im curious here Do you guys ever make what ifs for your storys It can be anytime afterwards Maybe you make a what if after a rough draft so that you can see if you can put the story in a better direction Or do you make a what if after said story is completed so that for a future storyline you can generate really good ideals or maybe make a story that forces readers to look at the previous one in a different way So do any of you guys make what if? submitted by /u/scotts”

“I am working on my first book, and I am incredibly attached to the characters, the world, and the locations, so I am a bit unsure/hesitant about removing any parts of the story that are already planned. It's a fantasy x mystery type of book, with a detective investigating a whole string of disappearances, except in a fantasy type of world - so they deal with dragons, lake sirens, wyverns and worms and magical artifacts during their travels. But it takes a long time to actually get to the bot”

“I am working on a visual novel. This is sort of the intro or prologue, and it's pretty unpolished since it's a first draft. Two points I'm specifically worried about: Since it's going to be a VN, I chose a second person narration. It's not a normal choice for a written work, but I'm hoping it feels more natural within the interactive narrative. Does it feel weird to read? Alternately, I'd go for first person, because I want it to be intimate. English is also not my na”

“I know that people are not fans of prologues and think that they are information dumps, but I am going to include one anyways unfortunately. This is because in my book there are six different POV's (Six main characters with six different but interconnected storylines, also sort of a political/war book so I am exploring how they think and move during it) but the prologue is about the inciting incident that does not include any of the six main characters. A seventh POV if you will. Now, I am o”

“I don't know if this will make sense or not, but I wanted to ask. I have an idea for a story that revolves around a single question. The question can be challenging to answer or easy depending on how you want the story to answer it. The point is to ask yourself a question pertaining to your story that can be answered over the course of the novel. What is the question that pertains to your story? My Turn/Example: For Project Succession: What dark truth could destroy a family? For Project Red:”