I want to write better.

[Arj]

I already have a published novel to my name. Its reviews, mostly from the new, juvenile readers, are great. But from the experienced readers, who have read literature and stuff, I couldn't get a positive response. Even few of my friends (experienced readers) didn't give a positive review.
I want to write better, far far better. I have quit my job to give my full time to writing, but I am blank, frustrated these days. What should I do? Should I join a creative writing course, Or just continue reading literature and improve slowly.

Please reply.

[Darcy88]

I don't know if writing full time is the best way to go for you right now. I find working on my craft 2-4 hours a day consistently brings the best results. But I'm not a professional writer and therefore might not know what I'm talking about.

I've met three professional writers in my time. All three said the best way to become a great writer is to read widely and copiously. Of course you have to work on your own writing, but reading the works of the masters can be a vital part of developing your own literary abilities.

[papillondemai]

Who published it? Did you self-publish? I don't read other writer's work while I am writing. I am concerned it might interfere with my own voice. One has to have read a lot while young and assimilated it during one's formative years. I don't think a creative writing course can't teach you to write. That course should have been taken during your education and like other literature completely assimilated. You may still be too young. What can you really have to say when you are still young and haven't experienced, lived, suffered, loved and lost ? The best thing to do is to just write. If I am blocked on what I am working on I go onto some forum and get into arguments where I have to think out and carefully draft my arguments. The best forums for writing are ones where you are limited to a certain number of words, eg., 250 words on HuffPost. You can find a lot of idiots on there to get into full blown arguments. I tear into them as eloquently and brutally as I can. It can be fun and is excellent writing practice. Words are like notes to a musician; you have to practice to develop fluidity. I think quitting the job was a bad idea. With a job you live, you experience, you meet people who are potential characters; everyone has a story; you take material from wherever you find it. If you are independently wealthy and that is why you can quit a job to write, your writing will be the fluffy crap of a rich boy(or girl). Did you see the movie Barfly, about the writer Charles Bukowski? He said: "No one who can write in comfort will ever write worth a ****." Or something like that.

[Arj]

No, I am not that rich. But I hate my job to an extent that I wasn't able to work there. I want to take writing seriously, and at this point of time, this is the only thing I have in my mind. Maybe that's why I'm feeling restless.
I have finished writing my second book as well, but I am not happy with the results. It's a great story but when I read it today, I found, the narration, characterization was very plain and uninteresting, in spite of the fact that while writing I was enjoying it, but now I'm finished, I'm just disappointed.

[Indomitable]

If you're to receive any responses that include specific advice, you must include more information. What's your general age (20s, 30s, 40s, etc.), what genre is your first novel, did you self-publish the first novel, what genre do you believe your second novel will be, what are you unhappy about with your style, and what are you satisfied with? It would also help if you posted an excerpt of some sort, so one would know exactly what to recommend to you.

[Arj]

I am 26, and my first novel was a fiction. Actually, it was a series novel that I used to post on my blog. It became very famous there so I decided to publish it. Yes, it was self-published, but since I already have a huge reader-base, I was confident about it's success. It succeeded too, to a great extent. Meanwhile, I sent this book to few other famous bloggers for review, but they rejected it. My second novel is also a fiction. I am finding it difficult to narrate it well. As they say, music of words, I'm not able to produce it. I read my draft after a couple of weeks and I was not able to connect with characters, the emotions I was trying to portray seemed dull and boring.

Here is one excerpt:

A shaft of light from the early morning sun entered through the window and loitered on my face, putting an end to my sleep. For a while I struggled, turned away from the light, covered my face with the pillow, but couldn’t gather sleep again. Grudgingly, I kept the pillow away and sat straight, first surprised to find myself in an unfamiliar room, and then slowly remembering where I was. I tried to locate the wall clock in the room and found it on the wall to my left. It showed just after seven. I had slept bad; my back was aching. With some difficulty, I rose from the bed and sauntered to the toilet. After relieving and sprinkling water on my face I came out of the toilet and walked to the wooden wardrobe where I had kept my luggage, still packed. I fumbled for the morning kit, rather a plastic case in which my mother had kept toothbrush, toothpaste and soap, in one of the bag, found it, and pulled it out.
After my mornings ritual of brushing teeth, taking bath and wearing fresh clothes was over, I came out of the room and went downstairs to the dining hall, where I was greeted by Aunt, who was busy in placing plates on the dining table.
“Good morning.” She spoke heartily, “I was about to ask your uncle to go upstairs and wake you up. Big day for you, you can’t afford to be late. Counselling will start at nine, you said?”

[Arj]

I am 26, and my first novel was a fiction. Actually, it was a series novel that I used to post on my blog. It became very famous there so I decided to publish it. Yes, it was self-published, but since I already have a huge reader-base, I was confident about it's success. It succeeded too, to a great extent. Meanwhile, I sent this book to few other famous bloggers for review, but they rejected it. My second novel is also a fiction. I am finding it difficult to narrate it well. As they say, music of words, I'm not able to produce it. I read my draft after a couple of weeks and I was not able to connect with characters, the emotions I was trying to portray seemed dull and boring.

Here is one excerpt:

A shaft of light from the early morning sun entered through the window and loitered on my face, putting an end to my sleep. For a while I struggled, turned away from the light, covered my face with the pillow, but couldn’t gather sleep again. Grudgingly, I kept the pillow away and sat straight, first surprised to find myself in an unfamiliar room, and then slowly remembering where I was. I tried to locate the wall clock in the room and found it on the wall to my left. It showed just after seven. I had slept bad; my back was aching. With some difficulty, I rose from the bed and sauntered to the toilet. After relieving and sprinkling water on my face I came out of the toilet and walked to the wooden wardrobe where I had kept my luggage, still packed. I fumbled for the morning kit, rather a plastic case in which my mother had kept toothbrush, toothpaste and soap, in one of the bag, found it, and pulled it out.
After my mornings ritual of brushing teeth, taking bath and wearing fresh clothes was over, I came out of the room and went downstairs to the dining hall, where I was greeted by Aunt, who was busy in placing plates on the dining table.
“Good morning.” She spoke heartily, “I was about to ask your uncle to go upstairs and wake you up. Big day for you, you can’t afford to be late. Counselling will start at nine, you said?”

[PeterL]

If you want to write well, then read a lot of good writing.

[Indomitable]

I read my draft after a couple of weeks and I was not able to connect with characters, the emotions I was trying to portray seemed dull and boring.

Your phrasing throughout that excerpt was quite awkward. The key things you need to work on are selection of detail (Ex. "I had slept bad" is not necessary), diction choices, syntax choices, and realistic dialogue. To start off with, I'd recommend you read The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Sun Also Rises. First, read through the books and enjoy them; then, study each style and analyze how the phrasing of each novel contributes to its success. Once your skills progress to the point at which your writing flows, you should shift your attention to the major components of fiction (characterization, themes, symbolism, etc.).

[papillondemai]

I agree with Indomitable. Awkward syntax. Most of that excerpt was superfluous. You use the word "pillow" twice. No one cares about your pillow, toothbrush, toothpaste, that the clock was to your left, or that the kit was a plastic case. Instead of a creative writing course, maybe just a writing course where you learn grammar and how to correctly construct sentences and paragraphs. For example: "My first novel was a fiction." You said it twice. You don't need the "a." Novels are by definition fiction. So that sentence is bad writing and didn't even answer the question. Also, "I slept bad." More bad writing. It should be "I slept badly." Adverbs describe verbs. Adjectives describe nouns. "Bad" is an adjective. "Slept" is a verb. You should know this stuff already.

The reading material suggested is excellent. Virginia Woolf writes beautifully. To The Lighthouse is another of her novels that is beautifully written. The Great Gatsby is also beautiful, and the last page is poetic. Read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; and some John Steinbeck. Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar; War and Peace; Les Miserables; The Brothers Karamazov; etc., etc. But you should have already read all this stuff in high school and college. Like I said you have to assimilate it into your own style so it doesn't look imitative and interfere with your own voice. You are lucky though. You are only 26. You're still a child and "already have a huge reader-base." Practice, practice, practice. I consider this reply just more writing practice (Can you find any mistakes in it?). I am curious ... name your ten most favorite novels that you have actually read.

[Calidore]

This excerpt reads like the beginning of the novel, so I'm working on that assumption. Starting a story with your protagonist waking up is a strike, and wasting the two opening paragraphs describing his room and morning rituals is another strike. Finally the first item of interest arrives: It's a "big day", and something about counselling starting. What's that about? Now the reader may be interested, but it's paragraph three, and that's two paragraphs too late. Move the interesting bit to the beginning, shuffle in the setting and morning ablutions as needed while you move the actual story along, and any parts of the setting and morning ablutions that you can't find a way to include are unnecessary and can be deleted.

[lichtrausch]

Most commercially successful writing doesn't have much in the way of quality writing. Most people just want an engaging story and interesting characters.