Dear fellow writers,

Ever since I became a writer, I have noticed a few things about this peculiar group of people.

1. Going crazy on world building

Some authors, myself included go ham when it comes to world building. Most often, we have a ton of ideas on our minds. So, before we even think about the plot and the character development, we're busy planning the complex economic system of the world.

I noticed that this may lead to unnecessary info dumps in the story. Although it can potentially be great if you want to write a spinoff.

2. We're not that original

It's quite ironic that the moral of one of my stories "Not Like Other Girls" is to be more original. Since I certainly had or may still have now, fallen into this trap of unoriginality.

Bam! You suddenly have a brand new idea for an epic story. But little do you know, your idea has been done before. This sucks, especially when you realize this after the book has been published.

I don't know a way that completely avoids this, but the best way to lower the chances of having this problem is to read more in order to know what to avoid.

3. Write an outline, you lazy writer!

I am ashamed to say that I am extremely guilty of this. Some of us just think we can write a coherent masterpiece solely by doing at your heart's desire. But trust me, our hearts are messes that not even we can fully understand.

My advice to myself is to not be lazy and actually take my time to write an outline.

4. What went wrong?

So, you've taken your time to write your story that you think is absolutely brilliant. But then, reality strikes you hard as you see your votes and reads after a few days. The reads are few and the votes are almost non existent.

But why? Was the plot too clichéd? But you have yet to see anything similar on the site. Was the writing too confusing? My beta reader doesn't think so...

It is a way too common problem among us. Sometimes, it is not humanly possible to pin down the issue. There are extremely clichéd stories with flat characters being insanely popular on this site, and there are also masterpieces that were simply ignored by everyone. Human minds are weird.

5. But... My book sucks

There's this book that you wrote years ago that was awful in any conceivable way. The grammar is bad, the characters are flat, the plot is non existent... and the list goes on and on and on. But there were so many reads and votes, more than your recent works get.

But, why is that the case. I don't have an answer, but feel free to comment an answer if you have one.

Anyways, I wish yall the best in writing. If you would excuse me, I am going to rewrite my writing outline.

Adiós amigos,

Jasmine Yu

Headmistress of Mary Sue Reform School