i struggle a lot to write cohesive reviews - often I find myself rambling about issues instead of really expanding on/discussing themes that the book wanted to explore and they're just overall not structured well. i tend to write like I'm venting to a friend who doesn't care about spoilers how I felt about a book. how do you guys think about them?

Hello all! I'm reporting to you guys from a cafe where I'm struggling with the third (and hopefully final) draft of my paper, and thought I'd open a convo about everyone's drafting habits!

For all academic and creative writers, what's your writing process like, and do you write multiple drafts (why/why not)?

So before in my study career I never wrote drafts because I thought they were more time consuming and I just wanted the paper out of my way as quickly as possible. A year ago or so, however, I found out the joy of drafting and I think my writing has actually improved a lot thanks to it. To me drafting allows me to be as terrible as possible, and I can just give up in the middle a sentence and leave notes where and how to improve on later drafts. This way I feel less pressure to be good or get it done first try, and it has made writing so much more enjoyable! I think sometimes it even makes the process quicker, although it seems like there is more work, because I get over my procrastination much faster, and can organise my thoughts easier.

I also have so much more respect for book authors now, because just imagine how many processes of drafting and editing they go through in every single chapter before the book gets out! Sometimes I might do 5 or more drafts just for a 10 page paper, imagine how many you need for a 400 page novel. I've always been interested in creative writing, but I've felt that it's too difficult and that I'm very bad at it, but after beginning to draft I've realised that if I tried the same method with creative writing, with enough time I might be able to come up with an end product that was not too bad even. So maybe in the future I'll give myself a challenge and try writing a book after all!

Anyway, the main point of my rambling was just to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work and drafts that goes into all of the amazing books that we get to read and discuss on this site!

Hello all! I'm reporting to you guys from a cafe where I'm struggling with the third (and hopefully final) draft of my paper, and thought I'd open a convo about everyone's drafting habits!

For all academic and creative writers, what's your writing process like, and do you write multiple drafts (why/why not)?

So before in my study career I never wrote drafts because I thought they were more time consuming and I just wanted the paper out of my way as quickly as possible. A year ago or so, however, I found out the joy of drafting and I think my writing has actually improved a lot thanks to it. To me drafting allows me to be as terrible as possible, and I can just give up in the middle a sentence and leave notes where and how to improve on later drafts. This way I feel less pressure to be good or get it done first try, and it has made writing so much more enjoyable! I think sometimes it even makes the process quicker, although it seems like there is more work, because I get over my procrastination much faster, and can organise my thoughts easier.

I also have so much more respect for book authors now, because just imagine how many processes of drafting and editing they go through in every single chapter before the book gets out! Sometimes I might do 5 or more drafts just for a 10 page paper, imagine how many you need for a 400 page novel. I've always been interested in creative writing, but I've felt that it's too difficult and that I'm very bad at it, but after beginning to draft I've realised that if I tried the same method with creative writing, with enough time I might be able to come up with an end product that was not too bad even. So maybe in the future I'll give myself a challenge and try writing a book after all!

Anyway, the main point of my rambling was just to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work and drafts that goes into all of the amazing books that we get to read and discuss on this site!

Because I'm bored, is there any lists y'all want made but don't want to spend a lot of time putting it together? I just made a Sapphic Christmas romances one for someone else (speaking of which, if you have recs for that, please comment them on the list or on here!) and I find putting lists together kind of fun, if y'all want anything, let me know!

This is a big debate on booktok, so I just wanted to know, which one do you prefer? Personally, as much I love both, I prefer third person a little more. It makes me imagine the characters a little better and immerse myself, while first person makes me automatically insert myself as the mc, which makes it hard to differentiate between them and myself. It even might make me subconsciously talk or think like the mc a little, and I sometimes rlly dislike it.

Third person reminds me that this is not me and that I'm reading about other characters, while first person just makes me feel like it's me, why is why I avoid horror in fear that it's first person (I'm a scaredy cat, yes, I get way too many nightmares 😭). I still do automatically insert myself in the story whether third person or first person, but in third person I just do it with a supporting character or side character.

Also, I find it absolutely ridiculous when people REFUSE to read a book JUST bcs it's third person. Hello??? What happened to reading outside of your bubble? I know it's sometimes hard, even I struggle to read out of my comfort zone sometimes, but at least I'm trying. You never know if you'll like a book until you actually read it.

This is just my opinion tho, and I'm interested to see what you guys think!

Hey all! I recently learned about aphantasia...which is apparently something I have. When I read, I really cannot mentally visualize what is being described to me unless I actually draw my own illustration, act it out, or look up images of things that might be similar. When you're reading, how vividly do you see the scenes and characters described to you? Do you do anything while you're reading to help you get a better grasp of the surroundings?

Do you guy have any recs for Cinderella retellings? I’m trying to put together a list, but I only have, like, 20. If you guys know of any other Cinderella books, let me know!

Do you put books that you read for school on your tracker? I know a book read is a book read. I put catcher in the rye down even though it’s an assignment.

And to add on to that, do you enjoy the books you read for school?

Hey everyone, this isn't totally book-centric, but it is book-adjacent, I promise!

I've had my troubles with insomnia in the past, but over the last 5ish I've managed to get my sleeping schedule to where I'm usually asleep around midnight, and I'm hoping that if I become an early riser, I can get myself to go to sleep even earlier. At the moment, I'm going to bed at 9, reading for 30 mins - an hour and then waking up around 9 - 10 AM. I am a chronic illness girlie, so I really do need that sleep, but I hate waking up so late in the day, so I need some advice!

My thoughts so far are a really annoying alarm and maybe reading first thing in the morning, but I have no idea what else to incorporate or to try and use as incentives to wake up and stay awake so early. Also, for anyone who does read first thing in the morning, do you turn all the lights on? Do you read on your phone? Or do you strictly read physically? I have no idea where to start.