We wrote bad books. So what?

[@graysontaylornyc]

Thanks for having me! Really enjoyed the conversation. It's been inspiring to see your journey from the early origins of The Sky Weeps With Us all the way to the approaching release of Nightshade Academy. Just goes to show how one's early 'failures' as a writer can simply be the prelude to much greater things.

[@MelTorrefranca]

I enjoyed it too! Glad we could set this up. Can't wait to see where the journey takes you!

[@DestinysPookie]

loved this. not as a writer myself, but as a parent of a potential writer. My daughter wrote her first well thought out story at 6 (no where near 50,000 words haha). shes 9 now and i tell her all the time that she can write stories for movies, shows, books, plays.

[@MelTorrefranca]

Aw that’s so sweet!!

[@billyalarie929]

Fifty thousand words. At seven years old. I’m not sure I’m feeling so good about my 38 year old self right now lol.

[@MelTorrefranca]

Haha ikr, at seven years old I was writing at 5wpm

[@TruettReynolds]

I'm actually thinking about unpublishing a book I published through Amazon back in 2022. It's not that I don't think it's not good, but thinking back I think I could make it better. I've sort of lost interest in writing in the style I wrote it in, and since it is the first in a series I need to write them all in the same style for continuity. What Grayson said about not really caring about the success of his book and rather the thought of just becoming a published author and having your book out there hits so hard now that I think about it. Thanks for always making inspirational videos, they really do make me think about my own writing, and I always enjoy watching young writers like me share their journey and tips for success.

[@MelTorrefranca]

I’m so glad you enjoyed this one!! And thanks for commenting! I’m rooting for you and your book series :)

[@thesefilesweretaken8105]

Back in the ending of July, I finished my 34 chapter long novel. I finished off with 80 thousand words in total. You’re content inspires me so much, it’s what keeps me goin.

[@MelTorrefranca]

Congratulations! I’m glad my content has been inspiring, but credit for that progress all goes to you…! Keep it up!

[@yrsworld]

love the conversation 💯 , good to see you back Fren Mel ❤, hope for weekly video ...

[@MelTorrefranca]

More to come!

[@katiereed5038]

Well done on the video! It's fun to see your respect for each other

[@JesminMaria]

Not even kidding... I have been binge watching ALL ur videos today and this is just the way to end my day 😊

[@MelTorrefranca]

You're the best!

[@kongkridakornboonyasurat6501]

I'm thai novel writer and When I was around 11 I sale my first book for first time in plat form called dekd it's a online novel and I sale one episode without finished the book and then people buy it I got 65 bath(around 1.7 dollar) I feel very excited and then the person who buy it talling that I think it will be fun I stop writing that novel and now I never sale even one episode of my novel until I have truly finished and check all the work I feel badddddd By the way I like your video

[@MelTorrefranca]

It's so cool that you published an episode at 11 though! I didn't even know about episodic fiction until recently :)

[@AishaAlaya-my2jl]

Honesty I love your books, the genre, the plot, the characters, the writing style. You've inspired so much to keep on writing. Thanks for creating this video and keep it up ☺️❤

[@MelTorrefranca]

It means a lot to me that you’ve read my stuff. Thank you so much! 🙏🏽

[@AishaAlaya-my2jl]

My pleasure 🤗

[@billyalarie929]

3:15 nice Jurassic Park reference lol

[@graysontaylornyc]

😄 Yeah, I was wondering if anyone would catch that...

[@jennalewis1247]

I don't really get the "unpublishing" thing. Say you wrote a novel when you were 12. Now you're 22 and look back and go, "Wow, that was bad." If your novel has already been online for 10 years (in this hypothetical scenario), who even cares how bad it is? Most novels lose traction within months of being published. Definitely within a year or two that novel would be on no one's radar without any direct push to market it. It's hard enough to sell brand new books even with a heavy marketing push let alone very old books. This is all to say: There's a slim chance anyone would even find these very old books, let alone buy them, let alone read them, let alone leave feedback. I could understand if these books were constantly being read, downvoted, etc then removing them for quality purposes would make sense, but if the book is DOA and the only fault is it was written at your earliest writing stage, I don't understand unpublishing it. You could literally just remove the "ebook" version and have the paperback/hardcover be the only option, reducing traffic even more. There are just so many options. A lot of this terrible writing isn't even terrible. People literally obsess over fanfiction which is often written by minors. I know I was writing fanfic at like 12 years old. The stories still get read and enjoyed because as a kid you may not have the skills, but you have the passion. As adults, we hyperfixate on how "good" our writing has gotten, but often, we've lost that passion/spark that causes the masses to resonate with our work. We think our new writing is perfect, but it's often way more stale than the work we did as passionate kids. TL;DR: I just think we're too obsessed with perfection. If you took the time to publish a book as a kid/teen, just leave it up. I know these "my writing was awful, so I unpublished" videos are just clickbait for hype/views, but I feel it sends the wrong message that we should be perfect robots and even work we did as kids/teens isn't good enough to be read, which I disagree with.

[@chubbyivie7414]

I agree with you❤

[@HoTrEtArDeDcHiXx]

It’s the perfect cover 😉

[@SilverXT]

Sigh. All the more reason to publish

[@Ninjabhai5412]

hey, don't stole my crush

[@SaketK11]

पढ़ाई कर ले पहले हरमखोर पहले ।

[@Ninjabhai5412]

@@SaketK11 ok bhai tu story likh sakta hai kya kisi bhi thought se