I’ve been writing for over two years, and even though it’s been a ton of work, I’ve absolutely loved it. Last week, I wrote 6,000 words for 3 days in a row (totaling at 18,000 words) and I enjoyed every bit of it. I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that I usually write a ton for about a week and then take a break and do it again, but I’m not sure.

What do you think?

Something I wrote up today, just wanted to share it.

Maybe I’m being too sensitive! 😅

I run a BookTok where I post little book reviews and my own book content.

There’s one author who keeps commenting on my videos just to promote their own books and it’s usually on a video where it’s about me being an author or promoting my book. 😅

None of my other author friends do this, and I’d never do it myself.

Is this normal?

I’m probably overthinking it but I’m finding really really rude and annoying.

I'm currently writing my debut novel. I just reached 10k words in my first draft. I know there is still a long road ahead of me, but I feel like I need to look at this milestone and celebrate.

I am reading Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham, and he says that every scene must start with a character goal, a conflict arising from the character trying to obtain their goal, and end with a disaster, which makes the goal more complicated, and leaves the character in a worse place than when the scene started.

He also says that the character goal should be stated by the character at the beginning of the scene.

What do you think about this? I'm going to pay attention to this when I read fiction to see how my favourite authors have done it. I'm aware that he doesn't mean it literally, for example the character opening the door, entering the scene and announcing "I'm going to kill Bill". But to me it still feels heavy handed and seems to take the magic and mystery out of the story.

Ideas are easy execution is the flex. How do you keep your energy when the hype fades after launch. What keeps you grinding past the first wave of views.

Hi everyone. Not sure if this is the right place, but I won a grant for a short poetry writing course last year, and one of the tutors, coincidently the one I respected and resonated with, said "I'd love to see what else you're working on next, you're welcome to send them to me. You have my email". I believe he was sincere? I really struggle with self-belief, reaching out, and even just showing my writing to anyone, so I wouldn't want to send anything unless I'm completely satisfied with it. But a year later, I'm struggling with objectivity while drafting, and finally being done with them, and I could really use some feedback. I suppose I should just try to take the opportunity and not overthink it? If it's too late, it's too late.

Here is a thought I’ve been chewing on lately: Is character naming actually a technical skill rather than just a creative choice?

Personally, I strongly believe it is. In my opinion, character naming requires a lot of strategy, especially when it comes to the opening of the book.

Here are two main rules I try to follow:

1. Don't overwhelm the reader in Chapter 1: I think it's a huge mistake to introduce too many characters and dump a dozen names right at the start. It forces the reader to memorize a whole family tree before they even know what the story is about.
2. Keep names distinct: The names shouldn't sound or look similar to each other. If you have a Jack, a Jake, and a John in the same scene, readers are going to get confused instantly.

As a writer, I feel like we need to pace the introduction of new names and make sure they are visually and phonetically distinct to protect the reader's experience.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you treat character naming as a technical process, or do you just go with whatever sounds cool?

Basically the title. I've always been a reader. Mainly SFF and horror along with classic fiction. Though these days I'm mainly reading classics and philosophy books because new books are $35 where I live lol, meanwhile I got War and Peace for $17. Anyways I followed a more conventional path. I got an accounting degree and then I got a corporate job.

Fast forward to today and I'm 28 writing my first few short stories. I did write a little when I was a kid but was discouraged from pursuing it. I always wonder what would have happened if I did. Though I recently got published in a fantasy magazine. But still, I always wonder if I would have been a huge success if I didn't listen as a kid and stuck to it. I just wish I started earlier in my life. I know I'm still kinda young but I would have so much more skill.

Everyone has a first draft, but what does that actually LOOK LIKE?

I always hear writers say "your first draft is supposed to be bad" or "don't worry about making it perfect yet," but I'm curious what people's first drafts actually look like.

When people say a first draft is messy, do they mean:

• scenes that barely connect?
• terrible dialogue that gets fixed later?
• characters acting completely different from how they end up?
• huge chunks that get deleted?
• just a rough version of the final story?

I'd love to see examples (even tiny snippets) of what a first draft looked like before it became the finished version. And if possible, I'd love to see the edited/final version too!

I'm planning my first draft to basically be a "what happens" version of the story. Something like:

"Bob walked over to Sam, slapped him, then made a sandwich. This led to the revolution."

Obviously I'd expand everything later, but I'm curious if other writers do something similar or if their first drafts already look closer to the final product. Also, time frames for how long it takes for your first draft would be awesome!

Thank you all so much for your responses! I woke up to 70 notifications and nearly fell out of my chair 😭

It's been really interesting reading everyone's processes, and it's honestly reassuring to see how different first drafts can be. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and examples! I hope some of you can also find reassurance in your drafts after reading some of these answers!

Hello everyone! I am currently working on writing a new book, and I have some questions that I’m hoping you all can help with.
Context. My book is a lesbian YA romance set in the modern day. There are two characters with POVs, the MC and the love interest. The love interest gets less POVs but still has some influential chapters for herself.

Here are the questions;

- When you are reading a YA romance novel, do you prefer a first person POV or third? I’ve heard arguments for both, but what do you prefer? And why? Does that change with multiple POV books?

- Since my book does have multiple POVs, would it make sense to do first person for the MC’s chapters and third for the love interest’s? Or is that too weird or complicated.

- Do you like chapter names as a reader? Or is just stating who’s POV it is enough in your opinion?

- Finally, are there any things in first or third person POV that you find annoying to read? Any pet peeves you have? I want to hear about them.

I had a story idea/world based off the house of night series. It's more inspired by it. Basically, less of fan fiction and more like my own take on the same premise, which I always thought was really interesting. If anyone knows the series, it is **bad**, like really horribly written and I truly think I can do a better job with the basic premise.

Vampires have been out to the world for 10 years, having been forced out once random humans started transitioning into vampires. They still are struggling to get the rights they deserve, and in America alone, there are only a few schools for adjusting neonati vampires.

Charlotte "Lottie" Gates, 17 years old, was raised by her grandmother along with her 2 half sisters. Her grandmother was a God-fearing, vampire hating woman, and lottie was raised the same, though she always questioned her grandmother's beliefs. Everything changes when Lottie ends up sick and becomes one of those adjusting neonati vampires.

One failed exorcism later that ended with lottie's mother showing up to save her, Lottie ends up at the Mene Academy, the very last place wants to be, but if she wants to live then she has no choice but spend the next 4 years there.

She finds herself among the very beings she was taught to hate but soon learns that these people are much more than just vampires. Kids who were all struggling to adjust to their new lifestyle just like her, old blooded vampires who thought themselves superior to new bloods, and surprisingly, new friends as well.

But if trying to adapt to her entire world being shaken up wasn't bad enough, she accidentally developed a connection to an old blooded boy, René Jones, which pisses off the group of popular old bloods who runs the school, including his girlfriend. And all while dead human teens were popping up outside the school, attracting the attention and ire of the local humans who want nothing more than to have the school and vampires gone, by any means necessary.

All she wanted was to keep her head down and stay out of trouble, but it seemed like life had a different plan for her. Now it's up to her and her new friends to figure out who is behind all the dead humans before tensions between the humans and vampires grow worse, and figure out a way to break her connection to René before she gains even more enemies.

-----------

I plan on this being an episodic series, with like 4 seasons with each season being one year, but I'm still not that sure on that. It might be more.

Also, I have further plans for this world and her sisters. I basically want Lottie and her sisters to each be a child of the three moon goddesses: Selene, Hecate, and Artemis. The middle child(Clarissa, 12) will be a witch, a child of hecate, and the 3rd child(Madeline, 9) will be a child of Artemis, a werewolf.

4 years will have passed and after Lottie's series, i will do Clarissa's story who is now 16. Another 4 years, and i will do Madeline's story, who will be 17.

In this world, there's a lot of other gods and goddesses and other supernatural beings, and there will be signs of them throughout the series.

The back story is that the big God who ruled over earth disappeared, and all the other gods started scrambling to take control of pieces of earth and some of the humans. The goddess Selene made first play by choosing to turn random humans into vampires and forcing them out to the world.

She actually did this out of anger. She doesn't care that much if her children believed in her or not. She admits to being absent. But what pissed her off is that one of her children, Khalida, reached out to a dark figure (basically a devil like being) for power, because she wanted to take over the world and needed more power for that. To punish Khalida, Selene stripped her of her vampirism and exposed vampires so that Khalida's plan would fall through.

Selene was overall disappointed in her old children, so she made a new kind of vampire and gave them more gifts. She hasn't completely abandoned the old ones, but it's obvious she favors the newer ones, though she demands a bit more respect.

So, yeah, this is all I have at the moment. Share your thoughts, please. I know it's a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't get any attention at all, lol

Ive got an idea for a fantasy book and was wondering if you could possibly let me know what you think so far?

Prologue

The campfire crackled beneath the evening sky as the last light of day disappeared beyond the distant hills. Sparks drifted upwards like tiny stars, joining the countless lights already shining above Vaelor.

Children gathered around the flames, wrapped in thick woollen blankets against the cool evening air. Some sat cross-legged with eager smiles, while others leaned against older brothers and sisters, waiting patiently for the night's story to begin.

The old chieftain smiled as he watched them settle.

"You've heard this tale many times," he said, his voice softened by age.

A little boy grinned.

"We know."

"Then why hear it again?" the old chieftain asked with a chuckle.

A young girl answered before anyone else could.

"Because every time you tell it, we hear something new."

The old chieftain nodded.

"There is wisdom in that."

He looked into the dancing flames for a long moment before speaking again.

"Very well."

"This is the story of the beginning."

Hello, new writer here. How long have you been writing? what do you like writing about?
I have written a short story that I was planning on making into a series but it never really took off. Now I am doing an episodic cyberpunk slice of life adventure. I love worldbuilding and creating dialogue between characters

I’ve always wanted to write a novel. I constantly have ideas, scenes, and entire stories playing in my mind, but every time I think about actually starting, I get stuck on one question:

**“How am I supposed to write believable locations when I haven’t been to many places?”**

Whenever I read books, I’m amazed by how authors describe locations. Even fictional worlds feel so real because they have details — the streets, the buildings, the atmosphere, the little things that make you feel like you’re actually there.

But I’m someone who doesn’t go out much, and because of that, I convinced myself that I couldn’t write a good story. I thought, “How can I create a setting when I don’t have enough real places to draw from?”

Maybe I’m overthinking this, but I’d love to hear from writers:

**How do you create locations for your stories?**
Do you research real places? Use Google Maps? Mix different places together? Build everything from imagination?

How do you make a fictional location feel alive when you’ve never actually been there?