Tag: Writing Advice

Ask the Author

Ask the Author: Can I really become a published author?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

So this is kind of random, but I wanted to be an author as a teenager and kind of gave up because it was made out to be impossible by the adults in my life. Is getting something published realistic?

A writer’s desk with a globe, maps, travel photographs, a pen and notebook, and a stack of books labeled “Write,” “Revise,” “Submit,” “Publish,” and “Repeat.” A handwritten note reads, “People like us don’t do things like that,” while the notebook reads, “Same dream. Different path. Still possible.
Becoming an author may not be the most practical path according to someone else’s definition of practical—but if writing is the path you’re meant to follow, it’s worth finding your way there.
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Answer:
Yes.

Seriously. That’s the short answer. And I know that answer because I spent a lot of my own life believing the opposite. When I was a kid, my grandmother had a wall of old National Geographic magazines. I would sit and page through them, fascinated by the photographs and the stories of places I had never seen. I dreamed of writing for National Geographic someday. I wanted to travel the world and write about the things I saw.

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Writers on Writing

Intentional ambiguity vs. confusion: How to use ambiguity effectively in novel writing

Mandy Webster

There is an important difference between a story that deliberately leaves some things unanswered and a story that leaves readers unsure what is happening because the narrative has not given them enough information. Both kinds of stories can be confusing, but they create very different kinds of confusion. One invites interpretation; the other makes it difficult to understand the story at all.

This distinction matters because writers are often encouraged to trust their readers. We are told not to over-explain, not to resolve every mystery, and not to tell readers exactly what a story means. That is good advice when the writer is deliberately creating ambiguity. It becomes bad advice when the writer uses “ambiguity” to excuse a story that is simply difficult to follow.

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Ask the Author

Ask the Author: What do you do with your first draft?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

I’m curious as to what other writers do when starting their second draft. Do you trash what you wrote in draft one and start totally from scratch? Or do you take some of what you wrote in the first draft and refine it? Or something else entirely? How does it work for you?

A first draft doesn’t have to be good. It just has to give you something to work with. The messy parts, the awkward scenes, the holes in the plot—they’re all part of the process. The magic happens when you give yourself permission to write badly enough to find the story.

Answer:
For me, the answer is pretty simple: I revise my first draft.

I know some writers who essentially start over when they reach the second draft. They might keep the basic idea, characters, or plot, but the actual manuscript gets tossed aside and they write the book again from the beginning. And honestly, I can see the appeal. Sometimes a first draft teaches you so much about the story that you realize the book you originally thought you were writing isn’t actually the book you want to write. But that’s not generally how I work.

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Writers on Writing

Everyone says you’re writing your novel wrong: They’re not all right.

Mandy Webster

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in possession of a novel manuscript in progress must be in want of writing advice. If you’ve ever gone looking for advice about how to write a novel, you’ve probably discovered one of the great truths of writing: for every person who confidently tells you there is a right way to do something, there is another person who will confidently tell you they’re completely wrong—especially if you ask the question of social media.

Everyone has an opinion about the “right” way to write a novel. But what works for one writer, genre, audience, or school of thought may not work for another. The trick is figuring out what you believe a story is supposed to do—and finding the advice that actually serves your goals. There’s no single right way to write a novel. There’s only the way that works for the story you’re trying to tell.
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Plotters will tell you to outline. Pantsers will tell you that outlining kills the magic. One writing teacher will tell you that you should never use adverbs, while another will remind you that adverbs are perfectly legitimate words. Someone will insist that you must start your novel with action, while someone else will tell you that the reader needs time to settle into the world and meet the characters. And then there’s the Oxford comma.

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Writers on Writing

You might be starting your novel in the wrong place

Mandy Webster

One of the most common mistakes writers make has nothing to do with dialogue, pacing, or grammar. It happens before the story has even had a chance to get going. They’ve started the novel in the wrong place. The frustrating part is that this mistake is almost impossible to see while you’re writing your first draft. You know your characters. You know their histories. You know why everything matters. Naturally, you begin where the story begins—for you.

Graphic: You might be starting your novel in the wrong place
There are lots of places you could start a story—but if you want someone to keep reading your novel, you have to start it in the right place. The real challenge isn’t finding a beginning, it’s finding the beginning that pulls the reader in.

But readers aren’t you. Readers don’t need every step of the journey. They only need to enter the story at the moment it becomes impossible for your protagonist to keep living the life they had before.

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Ask the Author

Ask the Author: How do I share my work without having it stolen?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

How do I share my work without having it stolen?

The question isn’t really, how do I share my work without having it stolen? The real question is: What makes you think anyone wants to steal your work?

My answer: Oh, precious. Do you really think the word vomit you’ve dumped into your Google Doc is worth stealing?

Graphic: Worried someone will steal your novel if you let other people read it? Here's the truth: your ideas aren't what make your story valuable—your execution is. Don't let fear keep you from getting the feedback that will make your writing stronger. Share your work with people you trust, use a little common sense, and keep writing.
Worried someone will steal your novel if you let other people read it? Here’s the truth: your ideas aren’t what make your story valuable—your execution is. Don’t let fear keep you from getting the feedback that will make your writing stronger. Share your work with people you trust, use a little common sense, and keep writing.

Probably not. My rough drafts aren’t worth stealing either. As plenty of famous authors have said over the years, first drafts are garbage. (Or, to quote them more accurately, they’re shit.) You’re going to spend a long time revising that manuscript if you hope to make it worth reading. And if you’re sharing it with critique partners or beta readers, chances are you’ll be sharing it with several people who can all attest that the work is yours.

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Writers on Writing

Plot vs. story: Why they are not the same thing in fiction

Mandy Webster

Writers often use “plot” and “story” interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Confusing these two concepts can lead to manuscripts that feel technically busy but emotionally hollow—or deeply meaningful but structurally unstable. At its simplest: plot is what happens, and story is what it means. That difference sounds small, but it changes everything about how a novel works.

Plot vs. story: one drives what happens, the other shapes what it means. A strong novel needs both—the engine of events and the depth of transformation—working together to create a narrative that’s not just engaging, but unforgettable.

Plot: The chain of events

Plot is the visible architecture of a narrative. It is the sequence of events that unfolds on the page—the external movement of cause and effect. For example, in a thriller: A woman receives a threatening letter. She investigates its origin. She discovers a hidden identity. Someone tries to stop her. The truth is revealed. That is plot. It answers the question: What happens next?

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Writers on Writing

Why your first draft shouldn’t be perfect (and why that’s a good thing)

Mandy Webster

The pressure to write a perfect first draft has probably killed more novels than bad writing ever has. Many writers sit down to start a book believing they need to get every sentence right before moving on. They revise chapter one twenty times, polish dialogue that may not survive later drafts, and obsess over word choice while the rest of the story remains unwritten. The result is often frustration, burnout, and a manuscript that never gets finished. The truth is that a first draft isn’t supposed to produce a polished novel. It has a completely different job.

First drafts don’t need to be perfect—they need to exist. This reminder is for every writer staring down a blank page and trying to get everything right before they’ve even begun. The real work of writing starts with discovery, not polish, and every finished draft begins with something messy, uncertain, and real.

A first draft is not where a novel is perfected. It’s where a novel is discovered. When you begin writing a story, you may have an outline, character sketches, or a clear vision of the ending. But until you actually write the book, you don’t fully know what it is. Characters surprise you. Relationships deepen in unexpected ways. Themes emerge that weren’t part of your original plan. Scenes that seemed essential become unnecessary, while minor moments grow into something much larger.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Introducing the Write on the World YouTube channel: Literary analysis you can take anywhere

Mandy Webster

In a world that feels increasingly busy, finding time to sit down with a book or an in-depth essay isn’t always easy—even for people who genuinely love reading. The days get filled with work, errands, commutes, workouts, and all the small in-between moments that rarely leave space for sitting quietly with a novel or a long-form analysis.

But listening is often still possible.

Graphic: Introducing the Write on the World YouTube channel: Literary analysis you can take anywhere
New on Write on the World: You can now take my literary analysis with you wherever you go. Check out the new YouTube channel and subscribe for book reviews, writing videos, and more.

You can listen in the car. You can listen while walking the dog, cooking dinner, or working out. You can even listen while you’re sitting back at the end of a long day, letting your mind settle without needing to focus your eyes on a screen or a page. That’s exactly why I’ve started the Write on the World YouTube channel.

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Ask the Author

Ask the Author: Can a story be told in omniscient and second-person POV?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

Can omniscient point of view be written as if it’s directed at “you?”

ANSWER: Absolutely.

Many writers assume that omniscient point of view and second-person point of view are mutually exclusive, but they’re actually describing two different aspects of narration.

Can a story be written in both omniscient and second-person POV? Yes. Second-person tells us who is being addressed. Omniscient tells us how much the narrator knows. The two can work together to create second-person omniscient narration.

Point of view refers to the pronouns being used. If the story addresses the reader or a character as “you,” it’s written in second person.

Omniscience refers to the narrator’s knowledge. An omniscient narrator knows more than any individual character. They can reveal hidden thoughts, events happening elsewhere, future outcomes, and information that the main character doesn’t know.

Because these are separate concepts, they can be combined.

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