Never noticed this thread before, but as an aspiring novelist thought I'd pop in to say hello, hopefully make some sort of worthwhile contribution and a bit of shameless self-promotion.
I started writing seriously at university, probably around 2010/11, finally putting pen to paper (or, you know, the word processor equivalent) after spending a good couple of years fitting together a plan for an eight-part series of action thrillers. I wrote two of them, one of which is in its seventh draft (the first one, natch) and the second of which has barely been touched since the first draft was finished. In the year after uni, I send them out to a number of agents, but with no success, spent what remained of my student living grant (thanks to not drinking/smoking or having any interest in parties, I managed to live on a relatively miniscule budget) on getting my book professionally assessed and critiqued. I was expensive, but definitely worthwhile in terms of teaching me about improving the tightness of my plotting, point out certain tics and stylistic flaws I'd adopted (particularly mixed metaphors, which were happening a lot, and the main character being knocked unconscious at the end of three chapters in a row, which... yeah). The subsequent four-odd years, in between 'real' work, I've been gradually working towards getting the book to a state where I'm happy to try again, which I'm hoping to achieve this year, as well as beginning the editing process on the series' second entry.
In the meantime, and here's the self-promotion bit, I also wrote a twenty-part serial on my old blog and finally got around to self-publishing it last year. I also wrote an extensive piece on what it was like to write a serial and the challenges faced along the way, which was included in a slightly more expensive 'special edition' of the book. While the writing is clunky in places - typos and grammatical errors aside, I wanted to leave it largely as it was when serialised, which was pretty much one draft and an edit - it's something I'm quite proud of overall. Given it wasn't promoted at all, as that side of self-publishing is something I know nothing about and am grateful to this thread for informing me a little more - sales were pretty much non-existent, though I mainly put it up there for the satisfaction of having something published in my lifetime should nothing else go through. It's called Dead Drop and you can
read a couple of extracts here or
buy it from Smashwords here. The story itself is about 62k words long, plus another 10k for the 'making of' in the special edition. If you read any of it, hope you enjoy it. If you go whole hog and buy it, huge thanks (and also hope you enjoy it). I'll be raising the price to $2.99 / $3.49 shortly after the sequel comes out, FYI, but there's some way to go until then.
Right now, I'm working on a sequel which will most likely be released this fall - the original aim was for May, marking one year since I started working on it, but while I could get it out by then, would rather take additional time editing, producing a good cover, finding out how to promote it properly and just generally getting it right rather than rushing to hit an arbitrary for no particular reason. The book's length is also running longer than expected, as by my original plan it would've been finished by now.
Anyhow, a few pieces of advice I've personally found useful over the years learning my craft, so to speak. This mostly applies to thriller writers, but hopefully will be useful to others as well. Having not been professionally published, this is obviously all amateur advice, so give it as much credence as you deem fit.
- Keep the prose simple, aka 'don't overwrite'. Descriptions are fine, but giving an impression of a room/person and leaving the rest to the reader's imagination is far more fulfilling and effective than detailing every nook and cranny. Similarly, pared-down writing reads more professionally than prose which drowns its readers in adjectives and adverbs. For me, a writer's voice comes through an elegant communication of perspective rather than reams of unnecessary description. Also, unless you very obviously need to specify a character's voice being raised or lowered, just used 'said' when someone is speaking. Too much of anything else gets distracting.
- For ideas, consider themes or topics which interest you. Probably obvious, but if you're stuggling for a plot or interesting characters, writing to theme can be invaluable. Whether you're struggling to define your place in the world, debating a prominent social issue or even something smaller and more intimate, the ideas you are personally exploring can often be easily converted to things that can be explored in your stories and characters as well. Plus, you might even answer a few of your own questions.
- End chapters on a cliffhanger. Not necessarily a big one, but leave a little teaser for events to come. Easy way to encourage readers to keep going.
- Keep the opening chapter short. Honestly, I didn't heed my own advice for Dead Drop, whose opening chapter is the longest one in the book (and probably suffers for it) but in general I like using the opening chapter as an unofficial prologue so the reader feels like they're getting to the essence of the book quickly and without too much effort.
- Don't threaten to kill a protagonist for suspense. Very thriller-specific, but readers aren't stupid: they know that in 99% of circumstances, a protagonist isn't going to die at the very least until the end of the story. That means your big moment of suspense in the middle act is kind of wasted space. Instead, think about threatening something the protagonist needs (the macguffin, for instance) and would make their life significantly more difficult if it slips beyond their grasp. It also makes their eventual success in their objective more satisfying if they've really been put through the wringer in ways specifically related to whatever it was they had to achieve.
Hope that's helpful!
And I know you have specific reasons you can't do an online group. But I think you might find it's easier to find solutions to those obstacles than it is to find solutions to the in-person group obstacles.