Any tips on writing good stories?

I’ve been trying to write stories but everytime I finish writing I end up hating it

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The best tip i can personally give, is to write something you would also really love to read as a reader.
Ask yourself what kind of stories you enjoy reading the most or even what kind of stories you wish Episode had more of ( for example more stories with Royals, Aliens… etc ) then take that idea and come up with a plot for it. Think about the main characters, the side characters, what their personalities are like, what’s the main “challenge” they have to face throughout the story and how the story ends. Hope that helps!

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I had the same issue and had to quit episode for 3 years because of it.

The biggest thing to do is not force yourself to write and don’t do it unless you have an idea you really love.

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The standard advice I always hear is “write for yourself” and yeah that’s fantastic advice … except I write specifically for the reader’s reaction most of the time. I want it to be something groundbreaking that inspires people in the same way great literature has. I want people to walk away from writing and for them to think about every word I’ve written.

Of course, I say this while correcting lots of grammatical errors through a spell check.

Another thing I’ve heard others say is that your writing will never be perfect, it is always progressing, to be critical of your writing is for its own progress. Geez, so inspirational — I’ll be happily backspacing an entire page of writing while stewing in its own inadequacy. But happily.

The best piece of advice I can give is to find your motivation. I’ve found that my motivation comes from someone that likes my work holding me accountable for whatever deadline I set. That way whenever I have doubts about my writing, which is so often, I have someone to tell me my writing is good.

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My main thing is WRITE IT OUT. I originally wrote a story back in 2017 and lost all interest afterwards, then later on started rewriting in 2019-2020. Unsurprisingly, I lost interest again! A few months ago I was thinking, why is that? Then I realized it was because I didn’t sit down and think about what I wanted to do.

The only thing I’d write is some plot points and then dialogue, but then I’d get stuck because I didn’t understand what I wanted to happen next. Now, it’s 2022 and I have a whole notebook and google document filled with stuff that I think could happen, side plots, character analyses, dialogue, and story summary.

Writing it out allowed me to figure out what I wanted so when I eventually finish writing out my story and eventually publishing it, I can feel satisfied in my final product.

I’d also suggest looking at media that’s similar to your story. I like royalty so I might put on the Princess Diaries for my daily dose of :sparkles: INSPO :sparkles:. Hell, I might even listen to a light academia, dark academia playlist while thinking about what I want.

My final suggestion is in agreement with the other commenters, write for yourself. I found that when I worried about what everyone else would think about my story, It held me back from doing what I actually wanted to do. Instead of wondering if I liked my story, I was worried about everyone else’s opinion other than my own. Yes, I do believe that you should absolutely take your audience into consideration, they’re very important. But not everyone’s going to like your story, so it’s better you like it, and look at what others think for feedback than worrying solely about your audience. That way you get a story from the heart!

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