BoM/TWS Message Forum

Seconding imaj.

I personally came in after years of writing my own stories, but mine are pretty long and episodical. (They're also mostly incomplete, except for the one I'm currently writing which has been advanced quite a bit, considering I got an outline of how the story will develop at specific points in time.) I checked the first story I wrote a few weeks ago, and I'm quite surprised by how much, and yet how little, I've changed in terms of writing stories - and even then, I still got a *lot* to learn.

I'd honestly love to publish the story I'm working on (not the TWS sequel, but what I'm considering right now my magnum opus), but I got a lot of reserves on it. The thing that stops me, and what I believe might be stopping you, is anxiety. You're probably thinking no one will like your story, but that's something that can be worked with a good editor. My issues are that I feel my story is way too rough, and I haven't had anyone that has read it and can give me pointers, so I don't know what audience will like it.

That said, I can give you one piece of advice if you feel like adventuring into writing. Write for yourself. It might feel a bit odd, but in the end, you should love your own stories, or else you won't feel the motivation to follow up on them. I've had a pretty peculiar experience writing stories, in that I get to explore these characters in a very personal way, to the point that I often find out things I haven't even thought about them, and that process of discovery propels their character development and makes the story far more interesting for the reader, who gets to experience your own journey of discovery.

It's partly the reason why I decided to adventure to write for BoM. It's not my setting, not my characters, but it exists as an open world that just demands to be explored. I also have the advantage of guidance from the author, which helps me to keep on track. However, it's a widely different experience from my own form of writing, and that kind of experience should help me to write better overall. I could've simply kept as an outside observer, but right now, it's fun to add to the lore of the BoM-verse bit by bit. Seeing this, and other stories, has motivated me to make an attempt to write shorter stories with different characters of my own story-verse, expanding that universe beyond that main story. I have yet to make even the first chapter, though, because my focus is divided into my own story and the content I'm writing for BoM/TWS, but it's something I got in my bucket list.

So, to stress the point: you'll never know if you try, and you'll make mistakes, but if you learn from them, you'll definitely improve.