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Congratulations, Olivia! As a fellow writer and MFA student, I know the feeling and can only imagine your excitement. I love how passionate you are and how we can see your excitement for the craft in these videos. Keep up the good work! Congrats again! Regarding questions for Project Amaranth, I'd love to know if the protagonist is male or female and what POV the book is written in. :) Looking forward to the Q+A!

Hi Olivia. Congrats on finishing! That's the dream!!! For my question about Amaranth, I would like to know a bit about your main protagonist. What's their name and goal?

Congrats Olivia! I know writing a book can be really hard process, but you made it through! You even helped me with my motivation to start moving up with my own writing. I'm trying to write a new adult contemporary story write now and the beginning is really hard at the moment, but I would love to be a beta reader for you as well! Your story sounds interesting and I love to read fantasy as well. Hopefully I will get to read it :)

Congratulations! Writing a book is so damn hard. Other than the MFA programme, what do you think were the keys to your success?

Is there a love story in your book? How many books are you planning for the series?

What was your writing routine and how did you stay motivated to write consistently?

huge congratulatons! I only discovered your channel last week and am currently writing a first draft of my own high fantasy novel! great to see someone realise their ideas onto the page!

Congrats!

So keen to Beta read for project Amaranth. Your excitement for your work is contagious. Congrats on getting this far

(a bit late to the party but) I think long sentences have their place in fight scenes - a REALLY long sentences with lots of 'and's can build up its own momentum, and as you would if you were reading it aloud, make you rush through it the longer it goes on. Idk. Short sentences have their place, but I'm leery of any advice which is "for this one thing you should only use X"

congrats on finishing the draft!!! i hope the phone call went well :) the first book that i thought about for the ending question is The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. i only remember the final image, BUT once i finished that book, i closed it an immediately started to sob from catharsis/the end to the character arcs! <3 (i think the end has a reveal as well but i'm not sure lmao so that may have added to the crying but idk)

I know it’s no longer the New Year, but this is such a lovely, aesthetically pleasing, creative and motivating video. I love your background and editing. So happy I subscribed and found your channel today. Hope 2024 is going as planned and desired for you. 🥰💗

Just found your channel! What a nice attitude for writing, you seem like you really love what you're doing <3

you are absolutely a VIBE! so happy i found your channel! Subscribed! :)

Sorry if I missed this info, but how long did this draft take you, start to finish?

Hey there, i've enjoyed listening to how excited you are for your project. The fizz you have is contagious. It was nice to hear someone who not only enjoys her editing but hypes the entire process up, making it seem desirable. I want to read your novel just because of how excited you are for it, lol. I'll look for it one day on the shelves at my local book store.

Congratulations, Olivia, on writing the ending! This video was such a pleasure to watch between all your real, joyful reactions to your own writing (which are 100% relatable) and your grace when receiving constructive feedback. As a M.F.A. Creative Writing major, I know that can be tough, but remember that you ultimately know what's right for your story. For me, I've found that what I write actually is right for the story; I just didn't execute it properly according to the feedback I received, lol. 😛 Anyway, I hope that encourages you and keep doing what you're doing! Also, this video couldn't have come a better time. I'll be submitting my first packet to my thesis director this week, and your video inspired me to get myself motivated. Thank you! Oh, and I love way too many books so I'll just go with the ending of the recent book I've read which is A Monster Calls by Peter Ness. That ending shredded my heart, haha!

I also just started a channel .omg this is my inspo

Good job Olivia, I'm so proud of you! I'm a little sad that we might not get a new video in a while :'( but I'm happy that this is the end of draft four for Project Amaranth. Can't wait to see what comes next! As for the best book ending I've ever read... That's a tough one. Maybe The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller? But that's my favorite book overall so it's not surprising that I liked the ending (despite it being heartbreaking).

Hi there, I found your channel this week and am so glad your writing vlog series popped up on my youtube front page! I really enjoy the cozy vibe of your videos, and when you talk about your story and writing process, your enthusiasm is captivating and I feel inspired to pick up my writing project again. Thanks for sharing your process, I'm looking forward to the next updates!

Hey Olivia just found you today and I am so happy for you and proud that you completed your book. You went through ups and downs but you conquered your mission😉. I personally can't wait to read this book, it sounds really good. I will be here until the book/books come out

IF WE WERE VILLAINS by M.L. Rio was my favourite read last year, and the ending has stuck with me because of the way the author wrote it. I'm a big fan of hinting at things and letting readers decide how they think things go after that last page is turned.

I'm so hyped for this! Your vlogs have really inspired me and motivated me to power through starting my thesis project. I picked up A River Enchanted thanks to you, as well, and I'm obsessed. Thanks for your work! So I just finished watching the whole thing and I feel very bittersweet---I'm so happy for you accomplishing something so massively important, but I also will miss this part of the series, although I look forward to your future content and the book! Good luck, Olivia!

I'm sorry she didn't like your reveal. I agree with you that it's because it wasn't written beautifully, not because the idea doesn't work. I think it's important (and an important lesson too) for the author to prioritise their vision over other peoples constructive criticism. That reveal was shown to you in your imagination (you didn't make it up in the normal sense of the world). I reckon that means it's RIGHT. Something that reveals itself to you can't be anything but, so I hope you honour your original vision and stick to your guns.

hello again, olivia! this is just the inspo i needed to get some work done on my own writing projects. i just finished a short story, this summer (may 28th to august 5th), i plan to write the 1st draft of a high fantasy novel, and for NaNoWriMo, i again will write the 1st draft of a fanfic piece. sooo exciting! also, i don't have an editor or anything like that, but i kind of implemented turning in "writing packets" to myself, though not in actual physical paper, to just keep myself in check with what i need to do so i can complete my drafts. thank you so much for this vid! i love, love your name! you remind me of an actress from house of the dragon, olivia cooke, who plays alicent hightower. again, thanks so much, so excited about your progress, really sorry some wasn't liked, but keep writing! just keep writing! you've got this! ❤

I'm curious, do you feel like more of the emotional punches in those last few chapters are coming from objective things that happen in the plot, or do they depend on the understanding of the characters?

i love hearing about your writing process! I'm currently writing a small town contemporary <3

Hey, Olivia! Your videos are incredible and have served as inspiration for my own videography. I'm looking forward to your future content and really excited that we share a similar drive for *more.* I'm doing my BFA at Stony Brook University and we're actually lucky enough to have a thesis program at the bachelor level, so I'm starting mine this summer and, similarly to you, I've asked my advisor if I can do more than the required work (I'm very fortunate that he was enthusiastic about the idea!). I hope we can become writing friends and please keep writing and video-making!

So glad I found your channel. Immediately obsessed

I read Semas Heaney's translation of Beowulf in a university medieval lit course. My professor actually didn't like it 😂 because some of his word choices strayed from the integrity of the story. The fact that he translated "hwat" as "So" threw her off (the word means "listen") I'll be honest, it’s weird for me when writers say they can’t find a comp because there's nothing like their book. All throughout the web, I see aspiring writers say, "There's no original stories anymore" or "there's only ten stories". So, those sentiments aren’t true anymore? The point of comp titles is not to find a book like yours, but a book that shares some notable traits. If movies were books, I would say Star Wars could be a comp title for The Lion King because both are the Hero's Journey. The point is not for them to be exactly the same. Jessica Brody spells it out beautifully in Save the Cat Writes a Novel. I also think of books that influence me as comp titles, though the challenge is that for serious traditional publishing, you would best provide titles released in the last five years. I understand the reason why - you would seem vain to compare your work to a book that stood the test of time even for a few decades. Using myself as an example, I'm writing a YA Dystopia. My influences include Ayn Rand's Anthem, The Giver, The Hunger Games, City Of Ember, the Fallout video game series, and Shannon Hale's Books of Bayern. Now seeing some bestsellers and award winners up there, I would seem shallow to compare my work to them. I'm preparing by looking up recent releases that might be comparable to those old titles. I did this recently by going to r/suggestmeabook where I described what I was looking for and voilà! I have a few tbr books that could be comp titles. Sorry about my long ramble. I hope it helps since I see so many writers bring it up. I wish you the best luck!

Deadlines can really motivate you to finish your book. But it can also destroy your mental health as a writer O.O You did a great job!

The aesthetic is so amazing.I love this Channel

This aesthetic iseverything😮❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

All the light we cannot see was one of my favorite books in high school! So nice to see someone else appreciate it so! Off topic, but could I ask what camera you use for your videos?

We love the Narnia chronicles in your intro! Plus I love your tea cup ong Also: TLOTR is such a classic. I’m still reading it 😂

Ahh I can relate to being a slower writer.. and writing extra scenes. I’ve found myself having to make notes whilst drafting 😂 these videos are encouraging me to finish drafting so I can get into the editing 🤍

I only just found you but I love your cozy vibes so much 🤎 you’re so underrated

Uuugh! Yes! I LOVE SCORPIO RACES! and I always try and pitch and and can’t get people on board! So excited to see another fan.

This was such a fun video! Thanks for sharing. ❤ I love both Narnia and LOTR, and while I haven't read War and Peace I am inspired by many of those older giants that were ridiculously long but so good. 😊

I LOVE IT!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO READ AHHHH!!

I watched Merlin with my husband when we were still dating and this show was so much fun for us. I loved the fact that it didn’t take itself too seriously and the lead actors were just charming. The tone of this series reminds me a bit of Doctor Who with 9th and 10th doctors. “The Scorpio Races” sounds quite interesting, I need to check it.

The Secret History literally saved my writing. When I was in high school in college, EVERY piece of advice I could find on writing seemed to be aimed toward hitting bestseller lists. I knew I had no real interest in that, but regardless, all this info on the publishing industry was telling me you could never sell a book if it didn't have a fast-paced plot, digestible sentences, and a high-concept premise. Basically, if you weren't mimicking Stephen King or James Patterson, don't bother. I had NO interest in those books, but it made me genuinely believe that the age of books I WAS interested in had passed. I left my writing ambitions in the attic for several years. The Secret History totally blasted those assumptions out of the water. It was like nothing I had ever read before, and I realized that there were still people writing (and even selling!) compelling, slower, thoughtful stories with dazzling prose. Once I realized that still existed, I dusted off those writing habits almost immediately. And of course, since then, I've learned how to find other great, contemporary reads and now I have a host of writers to look up to for the journey.

aaaa that intro was so aesthetic!!

I haven’t read Scorpio Races yet! I’ll have to pick it up. I love her other books. Love the video! Comp titles are hard.

OMG yes, I used to watch Merlin as a kid!

i'm the same way with fights scenes. Lately i'd been listening to some of the remix tracks by Samuel Kim on youtube to help me find a rhythm. Reading the fight scenes in the Witcher books helped a lot, and someone smarter than me described writing a fight as "explaining order amid chaos" You got this ;)

It’s past midnight in my town and I’m just happy to have found this channel🤍

Im so excited to follow this journey! I know im late in watching but im super excited!!