Great article with so many practical tips! The one I struggle w the most is separating the writing from the editing process. I go 2 steps forward then 1 step back. It’s like a bad habit I need to work on breaking (I almost edited this comment 😆😆). Again thanks for sharing your writing wisdom.
Thanks Nathan! Q: are there any times when you should NOT close a loop?
One case could be a multi-part series where you leave a few things hanging.
Another could be, what I’m writing now, a morally gray universe where everything is not tied up cleaning. E.g. the protagonist runs away while a character is (presumably) getting killed. The reader is left wondering: did they really die? Will they come back later? What really happened? Keeping that tension, maybe forever, seems like a smart move.
PS if you just got a duplicate comment, it’s because I thought it deleted my first one.
Read this before and liked it a lot. Read it now and loved it. I remembered the suggestion to write fast and then later edit slow. Learning to open and close loops. Thanks so much for the post and repost. It helps me a lot.
totally with you on grammar/fine detail and giving too much context but...
often I find you have to write to your own beginning, to type out the first 30-50% that you'll delete later to work out for yourself where the hook really is.
recognising that you should delete it is the hard lesson!
About to finish my first draft and I can smell the foreshadowing of my own fate through the screen. Weird part about open loops is that they’ll randomly haunt me in the middle of the night … when writing I’ll think “I need to remember to answer this later” and then proceed to forget while I’m at my desk only to remember the second I close my eyes in bed. So they’re probably just as bad for the writer as the reader in the end!
Having a desk side journal // sticky notes to keep tabs is a great idea.
Funny, I just published a Substack blog (in Dutch), on how I edit the whole time while writing and how that works better for me than rewriting a first draft. The moment I pressed send, yours came in 😅 Different strokes for different people!
Completely agree on different strokes for different people. That’s the hard thing about writing advice. It’s really a, “hey, this worked for me. Give it a try. If it doesn’t work for you, scrap it and try something else.”
Great article with so many practical tips! The one I struggle w the most is separating the writing from the editing process. I go 2 steps forward then 1 step back. It’s like a bad habit I need to work on breaking (I almost edited this comment 😆😆). Again thanks for sharing your writing wisdom.
Appreciate the post.
I read and follow you, Nathan, since 2022 and I really enjoy how you write and the way you explain the concept of writing. Thank you so much. 😊
This is great.
I love how you advocate for quality at a time when so many people are shouting at you to just write and put yourself out there. That resonates.
This is so thoughtful and well thought out. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Thanks Nathan! Q: are there any times when you should NOT close a loop?
One case could be a multi-part series where you leave a few things hanging.
Another could be, what I’m writing now, a morally gray universe where everything is not tied up cleaning. E.g. the protagonist runs away while a character is (presumably) getting killed. The reader is left wondering: did they really die? Will they come back later? What really happened? Keeping that tension, maybe forever, seems like a smart move.
PS if you just got a duplicate comment, it’s because I thought it deleted my first one.
Read this before and liked it a lot. Read it now and loved it. I remembered the suggestion to write fast and then later edit slow. Learning to open and close loops. Thanks so much for the post and repost. It helps me a lot.
Three of them resonate. I will have this list on my desk as a reminder.
Thank you! Very interesting and helpful!
totally with you on grammar/fine detail and giving too much context but...
often I find you have to write to your own beginning, to type out the first 30-50% that you'll delete later to work out for yourself where the hook really is.
recognising that you should delete it is the hard lesson!
Facts. I'm working on a novella now and chapter 3 is where it should start, so I just scrapped the first ~4k words
another perspective is that I see anything I delete as practice – that way nothing is truly wasted!
Agreed.
Didn't know I was following these steps until you listed them.
Especially about the writing and editing bit. I take it in cycles. I draft then dump it in the draft bin. Then when I edit, I straighten the edges.
I appreciate the details
About to finish my first draft and I can smell the foreshadowing of my own fate through the screen. Weird part about open loops is that they’ll randomly haunt me in the middle of the night … when writing I’ll think “I need to remember to answer this later” and then proceed to forget while I’m at my desk only to remember the second I close my eyes in bed. So they’re probably just as bad for the writer as the reader in the end!
Having a desk side journal // sticky notes to keep tabs is a great idea.
Haha I do the same!
Funny, I just published a Substack blog (in Dutch), on how I edit the whole time while writing and how that works better for me than rewriting a first draft. The moment I pressed send, yours came in 😅 Different strokes for different people!
Completely agree on different strokes for different people. That’s the hard thing about writing advice. It’s really a, “hey, this worked for me. Give it a try. If it doesn’t work for you, scrap it and try something else.”
Exactly! Loved the post by the way.
just a moment ago, i was wondering if it is a setback to keep going over a chapter because something feels off. (p.s: it’s a first draft🫠).
this came very timely. i should give myself more grace, and tell myself the story, for now.
I did this. Then, in the current version, I found I needed to completely delete a few of those scenes I spend so much time on
interesting 😅😅