: Re: What are specific things (choices, techniques, etc) successful published novel writers do and don't do? I'm looking for a list of the basics that successful published novel writers actually do.

@Odierno164

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You are simply wrong about that, and trying to answer your own question!

Stephen King has written, in his book On Writing, that his wife reads every finished page he gives her and critiques it, and if she doesn't like it he rewrites it.

if your relatives and friends are readers of the type of stuff you write, they are your audience. If you have a relationship with them in which they will tell you the truth of their reaction, and take your writing career seriously and want you to succeed more than they want to not offend you, then they can be useful to you.

The second item on your list must be wrong, too: Stephen King wouldn't give his wife something he thinks needs work. Yet he will change it if she things it is bad. So even he cannot be certain if what he wrote is "good."

That means both of the "first two" things on your list are incorrect.

I'd offer Stephen King's advice, which you can buy for yourself. Write every day whether you feel like it or not. Read other writers and find the passages you love, and figure out why you love them and how they managed to have an impact. Because if you can see that, you might be able to do it, too.

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