My biggest mistake was not finding your channel sooner! 🤪 Also that little nasty obsession of PERFECTION has always been my biggest mistake. It paralyzes us into a never ending loop of overthinking. It’s a viscous trap to get out of.

Cheers man, another great video. What sets your advice apart, in my view, is your authenticity and your willingness to talk about some of the hard stuff. Not just hard writing stuff but the hard learning stuff. Your advice in this video, and in a previous video where you talk about your mistakes with submitting work to literary agents, was really helpful. Not just because they are things not to do, but because I can see someone out there making similar sorts of (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes. Your style of self-deprecating humour helps, too.

You had me at...making tea mid-vid. And again, at the 8:43 mark. Beautiful. AND A THIRD TIME at the 10:28 mark. Oh and.... your video-editing game is FIRE!

Thankz for ur honesty.. self edit is a habit I naturally fell into reducing pages into paragraphs & paragraphs into sentences...

Great video!! I did the same where the first few novels/stories I write, I didn’t edit or touch after they were done and as soon as I started editing, the quality and my happiness with the writing increased tenfold!. I really like the advice that the part of writing you’re most scared of is the part you should work on...I totally agree and I’m trying to think what part it is I’m stuck on now. I have quite a few things I’ve taken through 4/5/6 revisions and now they’re sitting on my computer...my comfort zone definitely ends at the word document 😂 Very thought-provoking-I’m now thinking around my resistance to actually trying to do anything with the work..thank you!

One way to prevent meandering stories, lackluster endings, and unfinished books is to take a Tex Avery approach _(aging myself :^( ),_ where you define the beginning and ending in advance at the same time, tying them directly together. Yes, this may be an affront to pantsers (i.e. discovery writers), but it does help to know where you're headed even when writing forward. And it makes the writing process so much easier if you've already worked out a satisfying ending. *_Note that having a predefined ending doesn't mean you can't change it!_* And it doesn't stifle creativity. In fact, it's best to think of the ending as version 1: You will most certainly make improvements to it as you write forward and/or plot. For example, in my first novel, I'd defined an ending that I'd believed to be satisfying. However, as the story progressed, I had to keep making tweaks to the ending that, while the bones were still there, the narrative had become completely shifted and truly dynamic! I dared to look back on that version 1 ending, and quickly realized that I couldn't have reached the final without it. Felt great😊! I'm using this same approach on my current novel, and am experiencing that feeling all over again. _I'm home._

I wish I could talk to friends about writing, but they dont care about it. Love the vid! Good luck with writing! I am stuck at 50k words and cannot for the life of me manage to push further ahead.

Stop avoiding the hard problems...if that's not the simplest and best writing advice ever, I don't know what is. And YESSS there's more to writing than just first drafting!! I feel like so many people are stuck in that first draft stage...which I do understand because I have definitely been stuck there for a while myself. But now that I'm really moving beyond that with one of my WIPs, it seems like there is much less in terms of resources and information to help with next steps. Totally agree about joining some sort of writing group or interacting with other writers regularly. That's been incredibly helpful for me over the last year and a half or so. hahaha analysis paralysis... Also, that's a lot of tea bags for one cup. _Have I been making tea wrong...? Is this why all the tea I've ever made is gross?_

MY FLASH FICTION COURSE: www.udemy.com/share/103LYUAEA...​ WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU IN OUR DISCORD COMMUNITY!: discord.gg/c6gZS2p

a difficult video to make I imagine, but so relatable and funny and entertaining. I also still say heck, quite a lot actually 😆😆😆

I used to HATE editing! I saw my first draft as 'writing' and editing as the annoying bit that came after. I'm also the other way round now. I think the only way to keep improving is to be open to trying new things (as you said) and learning from others (which you make great videos about).

Yes, analysis paralysis. That’s what I have all the time.

When I'm on a break from writing stories, I go to my songwriting and poetry. It helps a lot to keep me focused when I lose focus.

Oh the not editing got me in the start and it just doesn't help, and not talking to other writers is another one I did

OMG you're talking about me! Five and a half finished novels and many many false starts and I still didn't plan or plot. All were premise-less. I promised myself I wouldn't start another novel unitl I had formutlated a decent premise... so now I'm not writing at all!

As always, another brilliant video. Here’s an idea for your channel. You should start a video series for writing exercises, to get people revved up to tap the keyboard.

I'm done with my first draft without planning and it's really bad after like 9 months i realized that i need plan now i working into it , i hope i can done with it in 2 months ..... so hard yes 😬

what if you are stuck on 1 singular idea for a novel. And its a good idea by many and i do enjoy brainstorming it. But when i start writing i start rewriting it making it better but also makes it more frustrating.

Your filmmaking skills are incredible now Kieren! Is that a squier or fender strat?

Also yes, Analysis Paralysis ugh I hate that!!! It plagues me!!!!

I saw you on ig and can't find you again, man. Haha. Ig's a garbage shute, anyway, i think. Good choice if you left. I throw away comics and stuff there. Anyway, I appreciate your videos big lots so i have to watch old ones when you dont have new ones. You help me self reflect, brother.

@10:00 you read me perfectly. That my friend was well worth the price of admission. That's why you're the #authortube G.O.A.T.

Also. If you hear faintly audible cries about internal crisis-constructs, sloppy character arcs and something about the heady cost of top-end drone prices at about 2am tonight, from a frontdoor just down the street, that's just me workshopping elements of my forthcoming novel LIFT. Feel free to shout back any feedback. (or to mind waking the children?)

Editar es muy importante..

Thanks again I love creepypasta.

Weird thing about writer communities is, I thought people became writers because they don't play well with others. That and they don't have the money to make movies. I haven't had a conversation face to face with anyone probably in the last ten years that's amounted to shit. Writing to me is a way to tolerate existence.

Using long sentences is the worst. Cutting out a lot of the fat changes everything.

Now I know why you always wear that cap.