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What advice has helped you the most as a writer? (self.writing)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Dungeondaddyd20 to c/[email protected]

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For me it was advice from Dan Harmon: "Don't try to prove you're a good writer, you'll never write anything. Try to prove you're a bad writer and you'll write everything." Not perfect advice but it really does help me write when I'm being overly critical of my ideas.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Would it be proper advice if it wasn’t the always present: “Just start”?

This is how I did it. I didn't even do a proper outline. I had been reading on Royal Road for a few months, and had a couple of ideas burbling in the back of my head. I eventually pulled some together and just started writing. 2k-ish word chapters, initially posting at three times a week (I've actually slowed down on the main story, but that's so I can add additional material and work on other ideas too).

I had a sketch of a campaign setting that I realized this story would attach to very well, which gave me half a dozen deities for my world and a reason to keep expanding.

I'm now past 200k words/over 100 chapters, and no reason to stop. I am enjoying everything about this process. I'd never have been able to do it if I had spent too much timing planning and prepping and outlining. But my story is very character-driven, instead of plot-driven.