Writers struggle to find the right expression
18 posts across 2 communities in the last 60 days; 94% from r/writers.
“Is there a general consensus on inserting quotes before a chapter all throughout the novel? I have five currently, one that will definitely be before the prologue, another at the end of the novel. The three remainders I’m planning to spread out throughout the book, I don’t want…”
“I'm writing something up for an event and one of the words isn't sitting right with me but I can't figure out what I should replace it with as I don't want to use too many extra words. The experience I am trying to portray is how when you get to a point in life where all your…”
“how can i fix the phrase "head over heels" to be in a friendly way rather than a romantic way? I'm trying to write poetry and because I'm stuck on this roadblock I feel like i can't even start.”
Several writers are expressing difficulty crafting specific phrases or introductions in their writing projects. They seek advice and feedback, indicating a challenge in achieving desired tone or impact.
SOURCES (38)
“Hey there, I’m new here. I’m trying to get opinions on some titles for a book I’ve been writing but opinions have been evenly split. I am still brainstorming and neither of these are set in stone. But if you wouldn’t mind giving some feedback…”
“Apologies if I posted this in the wrong sub. I received zero responses from the actual subs. I really need to receive the feedback because I have no one to share this with. I need feedback on grammar, punctuation, tense, selection of words and everything else I need to keep in mind. If the format is irky kindly handle it because I just formatted it now (was told to format after finishing the novel but I need feedback). Also the journal line isn't important to the plot, it's in the prolog”
“I just started my first novel ... I want to ask are there any websites or apps for writing facial expressions. Because I'm having a bit hard to express character emotions through their expression. Also how to write scenes like morning, evening, rain , sunny etc.... Seasons too. submitted by /u/Select_Ad7497 [link] [comments]”
“Is there a general consensus on inserting quotes before a chapter all throughout the novel? I have five currently, one that will definitely be before the prologue, another at the end of the novel. The three remainders I’m planning to spread out throughout the book, I don’t want to overdo it but they are all relevant to the text and I think will genuinely enhance the story. My issue is not wanting to alienate readers by getting too repetitive. The book isn’t finished, but based on my outline and”
“I haven't written in over a year. Decided to start fresh with a new book for fun. Would like feedback on this short little opener. For context, I suppose, here's the drafted blurb: "20-year-old wild-card Weston Atahlis is shot dead. Most would say he had it coming. Now he faces two choices: rot in hell for all eternity, or join P.R.E.T.E.N.D., an imaginary friend agency created to protect at-risk children by transforming agents into whatever entity the child desires—ninja, dragon...”
“I'm an underwriter in one sense, as in, my word count is low (I max out at about 2k a chapter, and that's for urban fantasy). However, the typical advice---add more setting details, more internal monologue---doesn't apply well because I cram my writing with purple prose. Both of these problems need to be fixed, but I feel as though they contradict one another. Advice? submitted by /u/StunningDisplay2141 [link] [comments]”
“TL:DR - I want your opinions on frequent acronym usage throughout a book. I recently finished a rough draft of my book 1 (of what I think will be three books). I plan to do a few more rereads before debating publishers or the self-publish route. In that time, I volunteered to read a book for a mental health thing my job does (We're reading Twisted Lives by Tim Tigner) I'm only about 3 chapters in, but I noticed they use a lot of acronyms. It's first-person POV, and they'll say FA”
“Hi! Im a teen author working on my first book. and I want your opinion. Is this a captivating book blurb/summary? "37 year old Frank Roberts always knew he had a nose for the news; it was his second nature. And when his boss, James, assigns him the case of the death of the wealthy but mysterious Grant Taylor, Frank makes a shocking discovery that could change his life forever. Whether it's for better or worse.” submitted by /u/XxpeircedPrincessxX [link] [comments]”
“Excited for you and the writing. I’m a writer too. I admire your dream and share the same one. One day…we’ll both get published!”
“I just finished my first novel, Volume 1, which is like 90k words. I used straight quotation marks (" ") instead of curly quotation marks (“ ”). Is there a way to swap them all at once instead of replacing them one by one? Is this even possible in Google Docs or other websites? Or should I just leave it like that? submitted by /u/Lazymeow42 [link] [comments]”
“Free-writing here and trying to decipher if this is best suited for a short story, a poem… or a simple journal entry that never sees the light of day? submitted by /u/AleHouseOwner [link] [comments]”
“I'm new to reddit and writing (hope I'm in the right place). I wanted to ask for opinions on some advice and tips I've seen. First I wanted to state that I am NOT on board with the "Said is dead" rule. I respect others who choose to abide by it and I understand their reasonings. But I personally don't intend to follow that rule with my own writing. I want to practice moderation. I want to use "said" in some dialogue and then use other verbs when I feel it'”
“I'm writing something up for an event and one of the words isn't sitting right with me but I can't figure out what I should replace it with as I don't want to use too many extra words. The experience I am trying to portray is how when you get to a point in life where all your social interactions either are at work, family events or when you are taking your kids to the park/playdates etc. So you feel like you don't have any social stuff that's just for you. Are you looking”
“I have struggled so, so, so much with my synopsis and query letter. Writing the book was easier than this, I swear. I think I've finally figured out my query letter, but any thoughts on the synopsis would be very helpful. Thank you! It's a dual-POV story and a genre blend of Romance and Literary, think Call Me By Your Name but also Heartstopper (no, those are not my actual comps). - - - A glimpse of GEORGIE’S childhood reveals the influence his grandmother, a British woman stranded in So”
“TGIF! I’m (thankfully) the final revision stages of my debut middle grade contemporary novel. My goal is to query half of my agents mid-Sept and the other half at the end of October. I have final critique partners reviewing (what is draft #6) up until Sept 1. One of them is reviewing the full manuscript, another is reviewing at least the first 50 pages. At this point, I understand I shouldn’t take all feedback from partners and beta readers as I know my story and the one I want to tell better th”
“how can i fix the phrase "head over heels" to be in a friendly way rather than a romantic way? I'm trying to write poetry and because I'm stuck on this roadblock I feel like i can't even start. submitted by /u/klemontines420 [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone, I want to introduce myself first: I love writing blogs and publishing them on Medium and Substack. I don't really make money from it. I just write because I genuinely love it. One of the hardest parts for me isn’t always grammar or sentence structure. It’s the small expressions: word combinations, prepositions, transitions, and everyday phrases. Sometimes an expression seems grammatically correct, but I’m not sure whether it would sound natural to a native English speaker. For t”
“My editor and I have been going back and forth on my dedication. It makes perfect sense to me, not to him. I wanted to get an outside opinion Originally it was: To the women who want to bring back yearning, I see you He said yearning was too vague so I changed it to: To women who want to bring back men who yearn, i see you He said it still doesnt make sense. I think it makes logical sense considering it is a romantasy. Thoughts? submitted by /u/InteractionCrafty678 [link] [comm”
“I think I fucked up right out of the gate, but it was only my first request for betas, so it's not the end of the world. I wrote a tragedy. I put the word "tragic" in the book's subtitle, but I also included romance among the applicable genres. Guess what? I don't read traditional romance books. I mostly read classic lit, historical fiction, and non-fiction relevant to my research, a lot of which feature romance plots and subplots. I didn't know that calling it romance”
“I'm tweaking my opening chapter (the book is finished, I'm querying) and I would just like to know how this reads. The first sentence is new and I'm trying it out. Does it work as an opening line? Is it weird that it comes before the location and year? The text confirms a page later that Gosha and Georgie are the same person. Does it throw you a lot that it isn't immediately clarified? Does the Cyrillic plus translation in italics work for you? Any and all opinions appreciated! P”
“Hello everyone, A month ago, I published my book. It’s doing decently, getting some sales and KU reads. Not too many, but I’m happy with it because it’s been consistent. I really struggled to choose the right genre because it doesn’t fit neatly into one category. I finally chose to market it as a dark psychological romance, but I’m still questioning that decision. The book is also literary fiction with a heavy confessional style and a single POV. I’d be grateful if you guys could give me some ad”
“Content warning: mentions of BDSM :) Okay guys, I need a bit of help/critique here. I'm working on the blurb for my current project and I'm torn about whether to do it in first or third person since the conventions for my genre seem to have it pretty evenly split between the two. I've attached pictures of the two options - please bear in mind these are massively works in progress anyway, but I don't want to spend ages refining one only to realise I should have approached it total”
“Iam writing my first book and iam using this section of my book to fix all my writing problems, then I will use it as a temblate for other sections. “Sooo, what are these “XIN files” you were talking about? the unsolvable mystery you said?” looking very intrigued by their conversation. Rusako sighed and started to show Sekada the files: “bodies have been found around the city for years now with absolutely no lead to the killer.” “no weapon, no fingerprints, no links, nothing, just a body and a p”
“Hi! So just to make this TL;DR, I have written a novel before; a gay romance that was very soft and predictable. Self-published on amazon and everything, but it was SO cringe and I was only like 19 (I'm 30, almost 31 now). However, I've revisited my book recently; I still have a hard copy but my Microsoft doc has been lost. I've been inspired to rewrite it, but I'm not even sure where to begin with it. Additionally, I've thought about taking the same kind of plot but changing”
“The text is very experimental and voice driven, since I'm in the piliminary stages of drafting this, I have been putting it out there for weeks now. Should I maintain this voice? But the writing is working to polarize the audience. Some people absolutely love it, some people absolutely hate it. What should I do? I can rework it to meet the industry standards, make it less gritty, vulgar. But I was intending for a more picaresque adventure story, sporting irreverent humour and subverting popu”
“Is it "informal" if a book is in one perspective of a character, (like first person) and then the perspective changes to another character's perspective? (First person) submitted by /u/xXv4mp_4ng3l_k1ngXx [link] [comments]”
“Hello r/writers ! I was hoping to get some feedback on my query letter. I haven't queried too many agents yet (maybe 15 so far, half of whom rejected) so I'm still very early in my publishing journey! I'd be so grateful for any advice or thoughts. Spacing is a bit weird bc of reddit, but here is my letter (STRONGER VERSION, EDITED): Hello [Agent], Olivia Kim spent her entire life as the perfect daughter - or, she was , until Alice Johnson came into her life. Olivia had always lived u”
“So I wrote something that I wanna maybe do a voiceover of. But it hardly leaves any room to breathe and is literally stacked with metaphors. Any advice is much much appreciated 😌🤙🏻. **Rainbows** I’ve never quite grasped the futile enthralment of a rainbow. A transient trick of geometry, light hitting a raindrop higher than a critical angle to paint a fleeting grin on the faces of the naive. They say a prize awaits where the seven-colored arc meets the earth, a beautifully wrapped lie, but tra”
“Been often told that my style is dry, and that my writing is confusing, so I've been working on it and improving as much as my understanding allows me. I would like to know what you think, and I could use a summary of what you read so I can do a clarity check (see if I delivered the plot correctly). Please keep in mind that this is a first draft, so if there are minor errors, that's the reason (and if you feel pike pointing them out, you're welcome). My goal is to have the story clea”
“So I've been writing poems for a while now and don't really have a good spot for reader feedback. Back to the point I guess, I have this one poem in unsure of. (I think I should mention that I write mostly in free verse and without a strict meter or anything, also an apology for the lengthiness of this) But here's the poem: "The fall" The cliffs were as marble, So white and pure, The waters were as the sky, From which you fell, So azure and vast, So tell me, O golden child,”
“While writing the story, I imagined them smiling, so I couldn't help it but write it like that, but now it seems I might have used it in excess? Also "said" was used 240 times. submitted by /u/TheManWhoLearnt [link] [comments]”
“Hi all! I'm an editor and published author, and I'm shifting into editing full time this year. I'd like to start answering questions that writers/authors have on the editing process, grammar, punctuation, the publishing process, etc. on social media and possibly a website blog. For example, I spent years not understanding the difference between em and en dashes. What are questions you think would be helpful to address for new or established writers/authors? submitted by /”
“Currently I am using the CoverRater web site to sort the good from the better. But its filters are age range and sex only, pretty limiting. I’ve considering using PickFu for its more focused filters but now we’re talking $1-1.50 per feedback vote. I’ve had BookBub Pay per click ads suggested, but I don’t have a book to sell yet, so I’m resistant to that. What do other self published authors do? submitted by /u/ThisMuchPub [link] [comments]”