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You beat me by 4 mins, OP.
I was gonna add this:

Submission Venues:
>Clarkesworld
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/submissions/
1000-22000 words, no exceptions
12c (USD) per word. No horror but dark SF/F permitted.
No use of Chat GPT nor AI allowed
No simultaneous submissions (do not send the story somewhere else).
Stories must be well-written, suitable for audio (since there are narrated audiobooks), and convenient for screen reading (so no weird formatting).
Rigor in science fiction is appreciated, but it does not need to be "hard."
There can't be any of the tropes listed on the site.
>Asimov's
https://www.asimovs.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines
up to 7500 words, at 10c per word (USD)
Character oriented stories, but there is also some poetry $1 per line
Absolutely no use of Chat GPT nor AI allowed
No simultaneous submissions (do not send the story somewhere else).
>Fantasy & Science Fiction
https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/glines.htm
No simultaneous submissions (do not send somewhere else).
Up to 25,000 words in length. 8-12 c (USD) per word. You must read a sample of the magazine before sending.
>Interzone Digital
https://interzone.digital/submissions/
Simultaneous submissions accepted (you can send somewhere else).
Maximum of 5000 words. 1.5c (EURO) per word. Double-spaced and emailed.
>Amazing Stories
https://submission.amazingstoriesmag.com/guidelines/
$20 per story, $10 per flash (USD), and poetry also
No simultaneous submissions, no multiple submissions
1000 to 24,000 words
>Apex Magazine
https://apex-magazine.com/submissions/
8c per word (USD), up to 7500 words
Usually dark sci fi or horror is accepted.
>Beneath Ceaseless Skies
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/submissions/
Up to 15,000 words, 8c per word (USD)
Provides feedback on rejections
No use of Chat GPT nor AI allowed
Character-focused, adventure fantasy (no sci fi nor horror) that has a deep sense of world.
>Recommend/unrecommend other venues and your relate your experiences below

And I even had a really cool OP image too, so, what the hell, I'll include it here. I like yours though.
Someone in the last thread asked this: >>23922260 but I don't know how to edit th resources.

>>23929634
Hopefully OP-pastebin anon reads this & makes the edit.

>>23929634
based addition

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I've been absolutely crushing this outline lads. Been working on it for almost 3-4 months, and taking everything that I've figured out, the characters, their motivations, how they evolve throughout the book, the action scenes, the feelings I want to evoke, the locations I want to visit, the conclusion. Today I decided to write down everything I've so far put in a great big spreadsheet in a text file focused on summarizing what happens each chapter. 3300 words in after an afternoon at it and I'm barely halfway through the book.

Will it change in the final story, if I ever go through with it? Most likely. But it's a great advancement anyway.

>>23928981
Interesting. I won't pull it down after further thought. I'll simply attempt to frankenstein it into the new draft. So even by miracle i send it to a magazine or tradpub house they won't care about the old draft since it's a completely different story altogether. I dropped it because it was in first person and involved the protag both killing and having another character dying in the pov's arms not to mention getting pretty roughed up later. I wasn't mentally prepared for that and maybe I never will. I spent the last year reading dune trilogy hoping it might give me insights on fights but looking back on it now i might need to reread it after I crunch God Emperor of Dune. I might look into the novelization of the original star wars because i heard the fight in Return was decenty well-written. Making the story in first person present tense remains the titan regret i have with the story, that and making the protag too young(17) and a woman. I never enlisted and thus have no direct life experience though i semi seriously, not really, considered Ukraine when the invasion started because i was in a seriously bad head space at the time.

>>23929648
It's still published on Royal Road and on my harddrive. I won't delete either in case a pajeet tries to put it on Amazon again(absolutely mind boggling; luckily it waa taken down less than a day later after it came to my attention).

>>23929604

I'm writing the last chapter of this book and rushing through it because I want to get to the editing.

Even though I fucking hate editing. Who wants to look back at 300 pages and think "Wow, that sucks. Somehow I need to salvage it."

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>>23929634
>No simultaneous submissions (do not send the story somewhere else).
Can they police this? Like what if I submit to five places to increase chances, and most likely no takers, but what if you got two takers, and just withdrew from one of them?

>>23929161
I use headphones and listen to this while I read/write
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4pRXXEp4Gk

>>23929777
I wouldn't play with fire.

>>23929737
I love doing outlines like this, but I've realized that you can learn a lot about your characters in the first draft. Once you finally write it, you will have more epiphanies about who they are and the nature of their problems. Just be open to surprising yourself.

>>23929843
Do they know that you submitted to more than one place, and if so how?

>>23929857
Not him, but anti-plagiarism software is fairly common in university (so I've heard, I never went to classes that needed me to write essays). Maybe they use a version of these (probably also useful given the rise in AI books in the last 2 years). And beyond that, it's a notoriously small world, so they may just send each others lists of submissions and compare titles, who know. It's not like novella are a booming market, they probably don't get THAT many submissions.
Better to send to them one at a time, I assume if you don't get a straight refusal you can probably take your text elsewhere once the issue you're submitting for is published without you.

if I write romance and/or erotica for female readers is it preferred I detail what the female main character looks like, or leave it unsaid so they can self-insert as whatever they want? What's the standard?

>>23929581
Same. I thought it would be really liberating because I could invent literally anything, but turns out I'm not very creative and just write about very boring 1800s-era horse-drawn carriages and people working at a castle.

>>23929903
I think you can do either?
If you want to write in this genre you should probably read a few of the most popular books to see how things work. Unless it's just a low-effort fling, in which case do whatever you want

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>What was intended as a quick introduction is already 12k words, 4 chapters, and counting, and the charaters have barely stepped out of the building where it started
Have you ever read a book, where the prologue took half the pages?

>>23929903
If you don't know what the standard is, then you haven't researched your intended market well enough. Or (I suspect) at all.

>>23929952
I want don't want to read smut, just write it. Plus there's only so much I can gleam from the 4 page samples they show on Amazon. I'm not paying for this.

>>23929967
Who the hell pays for it, anyway? It's not like there's a shortage of free smut on the internet. I will never understand people

>>23929974
Because if I list it on Amazon I need to know what the competition is putting out, not amateurs.

>>23929978
You have two options
1. Put in a basic amount of effort and do market research even if you don't like the genre
2. Go in ignorant and fail
You could maybe get answers about simple details like what you asked earlier, but you'll fail to understand the genre as a whole if you don't read thoroughly inside that genre you're targeting.
Honestly, just write what you want. If you don't even like female-oriented erotica I seriously, seriously doubt you can make a popular book for it.
I find it somewhat strange you want to write something you don't enjoy reading, though? Elaborate on that?

>>23929978
I didn't ask why you want to buy it, and also, uploading shit on amazon doesn't make you "pro"

>>23929984
I don't really expect it to sell. I'm not trying to start a business of it, but it was fun writing it and I'm sure there are others who would get turned on by it too. I heard you can put up 10k stories and Kindle Unlimited users will devour them because they're short and satisfying, so might as well let others enjoy it.

I don't want to read it because I enjoy imagining what to do with *my* characters, not hear about someone else's I have no connection to.

>>23930007
>I don't really expect it to sell. I'm not trying to start a business of it,
In that case, why are you worrying about what other people do? It's a for-fun project so use your judgment and write according to your whim

>>23929874
I waited for something like 7 months for a “no” the last time I submitted to a journal. that’s a long ass time for my work to be in limbo, not going anywhere else for consideration.

What AI do you use to design your book covers? Preferably free.

>>23929739
>in case a pajeet tries to put it on Amazon again
The fact india still isnt rangebanned from the wider internet is insane

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I wrote an average of 2000 words per day this week.
We are so back.

>>23929739
>in case a pajeet tries to put it on Amazon again(absolutely mind boggling; luckily it waa taken down less than a day later after it came to my attention).
You got lucky. I heard a story where someone posted on RR, an Indian stole it and self-published on Amazon. Real author contacted Amazon but they left the pirated version up, didn't ban the guy and he kept collecting money.

>>23929857
they all use the same white-labeled submission portal, so whatever company is serving that up is perfectly capable of checking that it's actually unique

>>23929161
Hefty high quality dual-pane windows and general well-insulated walls are must in the city. Too bad most apartments go cheap on those and install/build to the lowest quality.

It's self-defeating, on the landlords' part, as well. The biggest source of friction between tenants is noise. If they build for sound isolation, they will save themselves innumerable conflictual headaches for the life of the building.

Is it okay to write a story that has no moral point or theme and is literally just characters you like doing stuff that you think is cool to write about? Whenever I try and think of the bigger picture I freeze up and feel retarded. At the same time though I feel like just writing a scene to write a scene seems pointless.

>>23930236
>characters you like doing stuff that you think is cool
Such as?

>>23930236
yes this is how people wrote stories for a thousand years... the modern obsession with moral arguments and character arcs is gay and lame

>>23930248
>>23930249

A rogue in a fantasy city attends a party to get closer to the lady duchess who he wants to seduce really bad but the woman he’s with is extremely annoying and when they’re walking through the garden he has the intrusive thought of pushing her off the balcony. He actually does it and then the rest of the evening is spent running to the duchesses room, breaking in, hiding, waiting for them to go to bed, and then kidnapping her and stealing all her money and trying to escape.

Just a series of stupid impulsive decisions as he jumps through dozens of hoops trying to get the girl and avoid death while being a fucking charismatic trainwreck of a person. People end up thinking the duchess and him eloped so they’re both being hunted and at some point he saves a dog even though she thinks its retarded to risk their lives over a dog but he just can’t leave a dog to suffer even though he’s a callous murderer.

This is the outline I wrote in about a minute or so. Its very vague and stupid but I want to write it.

I have been writing Isekai as a hobby for a few weeks and it's really fun. Isekai slop is easy to write. The characters in my story are cool and they do cool stuff. There is no moral or theme it's just adventure slop. It's amazing.

>>23930236
This is perfectly fine if you just want to entertain people
Themes arise naturally, anyway. Assuming you write about characters with any remotely compelling traits (tragic backstories, significant flaws, etc) then how those aspects interact with the world and affect their life will by default create a 'theme.' You don't need to plan it out specifically though--it just arises. Only way it doesn't is if you have the flimsiest straightforward plots and blandest characters, which is a major failing even if your only goal is to entertain

>>23929739
dang, pajeet theft is a real issue w/online pubbing? that sucks. what proof do you submit to amazon to assert rights over it, or do they comply immediately with a simple unproven request?

>>23930220
not him but my apartment is literally made of paper. There were kids running downstairs and it was shaking the building, so in rage I put my fist through the wall. Surprise, the inside is hollow and the surface is only a thin layer of plaster. $2000 rent for this, too.

>>23930277
I've done it before, multiple times. You have to submit an official copyright takedown request which includes your legal name and contact info. That info only goes to amazon and not the person who posted the work. It gets taken down within hours. It's a very standard process since it happens so much. I assume it becomes more complicated if the poster tries to contest, but they never would. Their scheme is automation/posting in bulk and making pennies on whatever slips through

>>23930159
weird, Amazon is very good about swift removal when a takedown is issued. There had to have been something more going on there

>>23930277
>>23930283
Er, to answer the question of
>what proof do you submit to amazon to assert rights over it
I just provide a link to the work and claim I am the author. They don't scrutinize you because it's a legal takedown request and you can be sued pretty easily for lying in that situation. Probably if the stealer tries to contest things it gets way more complicated but proving you own the web serial is so easy to do that I don't see why that would ever happen

>>23930236
All stories except the most experimental ones have moral themes, because they feature characters trying to achieve goals. To achieve these goals, they take actions. To decide which action to take they look through their own mind. Actions will be judged depending on whether or not they bring the characters closer to or further from the goal. Morality is merely the message you send when a character fails or succeeds. Sometimes, a character succeeds at getting his goal but fails morally

Where’s the fucking Discord?

>>23930303
Invite only, sorry

>>23930268
Seems like your theme is that the best-laid plans go astray, especially when the plan has no moral center. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. And your story sounds like a gas! I hope you write it!

>>23930307
Alright, I'll keep that in mind and thank you for the encouragement.

>>23930306
Then invite me, you stupid fucking nigger. I want to be part of your loser club for retards.

>>23930364
No.

>>23930367
Please? I’ll be your best friend.

>>23930377
Is he doing another NaNoWriMo event?

Self awareness is like the anathema to my creativity.

>>23929777
>>23929857
You sign a contract upon submission (conditional on your work being accepted) which gives the mag the rights to publish your work (usually first-publishing rights, and often a period of exclusivity afterwards).
If you submit to more than one mag and more than one mag accepts you, then you will have given conflicting rights to all parties, which can cause obvious problems for everyone involved.

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>>23929604
What would the Meet n Fuck version of your story look like?

>>23930558
I don't know what this is but I'd like to me the girl with bird. Crows are cool.

>>23930558
>>>/trash/wg/

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Did you know that AI can generate pen names?

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>tfw want to write 75 chapters
>still stuck in chapter 2

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I'm gonna use this as a royalroad ad, take bets on the click-through rate

>>23930671
Her arm looks mutated, so only extreme perverts will click

>>23930686
>extreme perverts
So, every guy on the Internet?

>>23930686
cool edgelord demon arm should increase the CTR if anything

>>23930671
I assume that the gargantuan hugemassive gazonkazonks are a rather subtle reference toward the strength of this woman's back muscles, indicating a predisposition toward an upright and robust posture, which one would logically extrapolate to be a statement by metaphor about the qulaity of her character?
This advertising strategy is perhaps a bit too cerebral for the average royal road reader, I think.

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>>23930725
you know, I can't help myself but to respond completely straightforwardly to your post because she does very literally a metal spine-and-ribcage replacement and extra back muscles anchoring it in place

but uh, basically
galungas
dobonhogongas
bongohongaloos

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>Hōc equidem occāsum Trojae trīstīsque ruīnās sōlābar fātīs contrāria fāta rependēns; nunc eadem fortūna virōs tot cāsibus āctōs īnsequitur.
[Humph,] far-as-I'm-concerned (with) this (hope) [I've been hankering 4], I-was-huffing-copium-fumes-@ the fall of Troy and [her] forlorn foreclosures, paritying with predeterminations against predestinations; [&] now the SAME [dis]fortune [re-]follows the dudes done with dick-ton disasters [already]!
>Quem dās fīnem, rēx magne, labōrum?
What cancellation, colossal crown-head, dost thou concede of (their) crap-careers*?
>Antēnor potuit mediīs ēlāpsus Achīvīs Illyricōs penetrāre sinūs atque intima tūtus rēgna Liburnōrum et fontem superāre Timāvī, unde per ōra novem vastō cum murmure montis it mare prōruptum et pelagō permit arva sonantī.
Through the Achaean intermediates, an "Anyone's-guess-where-he's-@-now" Antenor could enter the estuaries Illyrian--[as also] "All-Okay" [Antenor]--AND the intimate territories of the [Barbar-]Liburians, AND [likely] out-flow Timavus's fluid-spewer, from-where, w/ a peak's prodigious peel†, by-means-of [its] nine river-mouthing-off-whiners, a water-wallop goes unclinched, and greensward-provinces it chokes-blue with a gabbling-ear-popping inundation[--Oh yeah, he could duck that].

* Alternatively, "horseshit-details".

† "a mountain's magnum murmur" seemed too samey from the Aeolus episode.

>>23930736
*a metal spine-and-ribcage replacement

>>23930671
shit begets shit

>>23930608
Such a fine day today.

>>23930790
fuck off, frank

"What is the source of your strength?" asked Gnigsaw, gripping the pommel of his blade for balance; the blade wedged into the mud.

"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. The struggle to maintain one's integrity in a world where love is fickle and fleeting as an exhausting battle. I have known the depths of loneliness, and I have felt the cold grip of despair. In the midst of this darkness, I cling to my own self-respect, because it is the only light I have left in a world that seems determined to extinguish it," said Elohw.

"A will to live?"

"To not die."

>>23930803
"Whole" backwards? really?

I'm writing a WW3 sci-fi draft, but the problem is I'm apolitical as fuck. Should I scrap this? I just want cool giant robots killing civilians en masse.

>>23930813
and Washing backwards. There's a third character called Ydob

Whole Body Washing.

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Wrote 1300 today. Here's a piece of it. I'm kind of just plowing through right now because I need to build up my writing endurance and habit more than anything. I'm absolutely sure there's fucked up sentences or mixed tense or something bad in there.

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>>23930626
Man, AI sure is fun.

>>23929604
What happened to the /wwoy/

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>>23930626
>>23930841
Shit, the thing has already learned how to generate clear letters?

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>>23930961
It's called Flux. Why don't you give it a try?

>>23930983
Nah, I can still do better myself.

I wanted to put a sand dollar on my cover but I heard Amazon will ban you for suggestive imagery and it looks like it has pussies all over its surface.

>>23927629
>>23929499
Welp, it's submitted. Done, diddled, dusted. If I win and it's a writer with the initials BN from KL, Malaysia, know it was me.

>>23930924
tranny jannies keep deleting it. I will never forgive them for this.

i can fix her

getting better died so i need worse together
breaking is inevitable so let me show you how
let me see if these missing pieces i see in you fit
i want to get worse i need to be fixed
break me apart but keep my pieces intact
be my other half so we can split apart
let me fix you but first let me get my fix
we need you we see you we want you to be us
fixing to make whats broken too
broke in two

lets skip marriage and just dream of sharing a grave
coffins engraved hearts enslaved minds quiet eyes shut blood still
more of the same parts played quiet scenes shuttered cameras still frames

0% meaning chases 100% fame
trying to be cool is looking to be lame
half way there still looks the same
missed a trick always misses insane
im mr trick will you be my mrs insane

>>23930961
Get in with the times, grandpa.
It can even do hands now.

>>23930998
Good luck faggot

>>23931034
Thank ya, mah chigga. God bless.

>wants to write children's fairy tales and fables
>believes he has cool stories to tell
>does not read fiction
>everything he writes is either too complicated syntactically or weirdly formated because he has no reference point
This is a cry for help, I need a good starting point or examples..

>>23931030
>It can even do hands now.
lol no

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>>23931121
The same AI that can't draw hands can draw them if you switch the rendering model it's using.

To keep this lit related, I am writing another first draft chapter of a new book today. And I'll be reading for pleasure too.

>>23931136
They can also do math with the new calculaitor plug-in.

>>23929604

Anyone getting ready for NaNoWriMo?

I'm planning on writing a story about a group of nerd stealing dimensional portal technology and deciding to set up a new life on an alternate earth with no humans in it.

>weird piece of experimental writing
>crafted with great attention and skill
>no name author
>everyone treats it with disregard and calls author a retard

>weird piece of experimental writing
>crafted with great attention and skill
>famous writer
>"pathbreaking, genius, masterpiece, wow"
>everyone assumes it has great meaning and treats it with respect

why can't people just evaluate stories on their own method rather than who the stories are written by?

>>23931163
*on their own merit

>>23931163
It's biases of different flavors. Obviously some of it is people who have financial incentive to praise the book, but it could also be for social status. But I think a lot of it is either people who imagine themselves as famous or want to be influenced by famous people thinking it will help them. The opposite is true for the no name author. People might go out of their way not to associate with the author if it makes them look weird.
People are just like this, and you might notice it with this board. A lot of people don't even read to find stories of merit, or even for fun, they are reading to feel smart or accepted. This is especially true in the past decade when /lit/ top 100 books started to get flooded by Philosophy and other non-fiction, which are in vogue categories to read. While those books are good, it really say a lot how before we only considered literature for the top 100

I want to write a short story about a mentally ill guy, who goes through his life vomiting up polaroids that hint at some horrible conspiracy, which he is then forced to expose/investigate.

I'm just not sure what the actual mystery could be. Otherwise it's a pretty standard ghost detective idea.

>>23931468
>I'm just not sure what the actual mystery could be.
Was camera in past life.

>>23931474
That's really funny.

>>23929604
I've been writing this book for awhile on the themes of psychology, the psychiatric industry, language, existentialism, and spirituality. The whole book is written from the perspective of psyche ward patients. Sorry for shilling here, but my style and formatting are so unorthodox I don't really know where else I can share this atm.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q-kyFsNXvU6z2GEit5BtCfrcI0lpIuhhWp22i9E1SvE/edit?usp=sharing

>>23931104
>does not read fiction
Then read fiction. You'll get your examples. Can you really not figure this out?

>>23931468
I'm stealing your idea, better get writing before I take it.

>>23931647
FUCK shouldn't have shared it.
I have 0 experience with writing so i've already lost.
It 's copyrighted!

>>23931674
Too late, I already figured out what the mystery is and mine is way cooler.

>>23931675
Ok then you're still never getting the other half of the idea which is way cooler. Hmph.

>>23929604
Rate my story please
Audiobook:
https://youtu.be/C9_ZVW-kbMI?feature=shared

>>23929604
Any tips on not sucking at writing dialogue?

What's the minimum recommended length for a romance story? I can maybe get to 30k, but that'll be a stretch. Is that too short? There's not much more I can add because there's only so many times they can get together, fail, reunite before it just becomes repetitive.

>>23930832
Nobody gave feedback, tragic

>>23931687
>He doesn't have 90,000 words of fucking

>>23931674
You can't copyright ideas, only their expression. And don't worry about the idiot that says he's stealing your idea. Even if he's not trolling, anyone that lame is going to write something lame, assuming he writes anything at all.

>>23931691
There is, but honestly I found it hard to even fill a page. Getting three solid scenes was like pulling teeth. There's only so many ways to describe tingling and panting before it gets repetitive too.

>>23930736
Do you have to post your weird fetish porn shit in /lit/? Isn't there some furry site you can go annoy?

>>23930998
>If I win and it's a writer with the initials BN from KL, Malaysia, know it was me.
Just come back and brag. I'd wave it around smugly. Though I do that even for my failures, but that's just me.

>>23931552
This is special, anon. You've got that ineffable spirit in your writing. Please keep writing.

I can't write.
I don't have anything to write about. I've spent my life just sitting in a room playing bad vidya.
I want to be le based crestive but i genuinely have 0 juice as far as EVERYTHING that makes a written work tick goes.

>>23931844
Ok. Play games then.

>>23931861
They stopped being fun a while ago.

>>23931844
There are plenty of novelists who get away with writing about absolutely nothing going on in their lives.
But I think you should reflect more on your life. How was it different and how might it be the same to others? Who have you met? What have you done, where did you go? Do you have any strong feelings that you find strange, maybe even unheard of? You need to really think about things, because I doubt your life is as boring as you imagine it to be. If you let you mind race and keep giving examples instead of thinking "I didn't do anything" you will have a lot to write about.

>>23931552
It's true, it's very unorthodox, although I think it works very well with what you're trying to convey.
I admit I was more engaged with the first half than the second one, but that's partly because I'm tired, ESL and it's hard to give you the attention it deserves.

>>23931865
On tge contrary, most of the greats have had objectively extensive and interesting lives.
Jack Vance was a ws2 soldier, a gold prospecotr , a seaman and i think a bunch of others in-between.

Anyone can get away with the lack of substance given enough flair and technique, but what's even the point in that case.

>>23931871
If you don't have experience, use observation and imagination.
But I do encourage you that there are books people will read even if it's very internalized. Think of Woolf's "To the Lighthouse." All of the things going on are pretty normal and yet it's still read today because she was still able to say a lot about the experiences of the characters, about time and memory. If you are creative you should be able to pull interesting things out of the mundane.

>>23931844
Traditionally, writers lead interesting lives, then write about them. Since you haven't, can you explain why you want to be a writer?

>>23931894
I don't think i am creative. A lot of my ideas stink, but maybe that's a matter of skill that can be gained.
>>23931948
I've spent most of my life consuming fiction, so i'd like to contribute to the collective gathering of it. Also because i'm no good at anything else. People who lack competence often pivot into creative fields because it's easier to get away with poor quality of the craft than if they were, say, carpenters or smth.

>try writing erotica
>end up taking it too seriously
>downplay/delete the nudity because it doesn't make sense in how a real person would act in this scenario
>end up with a boring story that goes nowhere

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I always used to get mildly annoyed when youtubers would harp on more than once per video about, "like and subscribe!" Then I got on RR and getting anything out of your readers is like pulling teeth.

>>23931972
If that's all you have to bring to the table, you may need to start with slop, e.g. fanfic, LitRPG, xianxia, wuxia, isekai, etc. Anything low-brow where it won't be painfully obvious that your inspiration for fiction is other fiction.

>>23930558
Haven't played one of those in years. Wouldn't it just be our current stories except the MC fucks every female character who's not a blood relative(and maybe them too if they're hot)?

>>23932158
I've worked briefly for 2 months in construction.
Other than that i would just show up for school and sleep for eight hours. Just pass out. There's a blank patch of time where crucial developments should be.

I might do fanfic but i don't like any of those isekai-esq genres.
Maybe if i could do a spin on them so they aren't shit, but i don't really know the conventions atm.

How do I get people to actually read my shit and give me opinions on it before I go ahead and try to publish it?
>sent a story to several friends
>all of them promised to read it
>it's been months and none of them have done so
It would be unfair of me to expect them to, but it would be nice if just one person on the planet could at least tell me if it's good or shit.

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I just realized that all of my different ideas are actually all the same story in different settings

>>23932186
How long's the story and how often have you reminded them? Maybe they just forgot/got overwhelmed. Your best bet's probably going to be to link up with other writers who are also looking for critique and return the favor. You could pay someone to beta read your opening pages on like fiverr or something, but they're more likely to give your overwhelmingly positive feedback to not lose you as a customer.

>>23932192
How similar exactly? I've noticed some reoccurring themes in mine, but from the get go I try to make wildly different characters and writing down elements of previous novels (like character motivation, background, etc, or the setting) and forbid myself from using them. And if the conflict is largely between two people, I change the power dynamics.

>>23932186
Never count on friends. They won't tell you it's shit to spare your feelings. You need randoms who don't care how much they hurt you.

>>23932222
Every single one of my main characters are in inescapable shitty situations and just have to grin and bear it until they eventually die. One of the stories I'm working on is a telling of Constantine XI's last supper as he has a conversation with various previous rulers of Rome over the legacy and meaning of the Roman state and the Roman people. I have at least two other stories that are about people trapped in literal sieges they're not going to escape alive. A lot of others are metaphorical rocks and hard places the characters are eventually crushed by.

>>23932219
The story is about 14k words. I'm scared to remind them because I feel like it'll just annoy them and make them less likely to read it. Some of them are writers too and I've given them plenty of critique on their own pieces before, which makes it hurt a little that they don't care to do the same for me ngl.
How do I find other writers/randos though? I don't want to pay anyone unless they're actually going to be helpful and sincere.

>>23932257
>Every single one of my main characters are in inescapable shitty situations and just have to grin and bear it until they eventually die.
Stop writing about me, it's weirding me out.

>>23932264
>Some of them are writers too and I've given them plenty of critique on their own pieces before
Nah, man, in that case DEFINITLEY remind them. If you haven't brought it up even once after months I'm sure some have genuinely forgotten, while others might need to be reminded that you did the same for them once. Not like you're asking them to read a whole book. As far as other writers who will beta read your work, there are discords, in person writing groups/workshops, or writing subreddits like destructive readers you can go on.

I want to do something about an arrogant rich guy character
I specifically have this mental image of "Character A" lecturing someone, "Character B"
doing the whole thing that an angry manager would do to an employee, talking down, that whole thing, and then when the B speaks up, A pushes/slaps B and goes something along the lines of "come on, hit me, I'll make sure you sit behind bars for a real long time. who are they gonna believe, you?"

but i'm torn between having B be my MC, or someone who comes to her and asks her to dig up dirt on A or hell even just kill A straight up

>>23932381
Sounds gay as fuck. You should make the rich character a milf with big sweaty tits and pouty slut lips

>>23932387
you know, maybe i will

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>>23931781
>"weird fetish shit"
>look inside
>it's a woman with big tits and a fat ass

>>23928735
I'm likely going to end up doing this myself, though I'm debating whether to do it after I finish the first book or waiting until I finish the series some point in the distant future. But my story was a bad fit for Royal Road to begin with and I've got a fraction of your followers. I also didn't realize how much I was going to dislike having to deal with publishing a web novel chapter by chapter vs just dropping a book on Amazon and being done with it.

>>23932467
Stubbing is a completely standard practice because amazon will fuck you over and bury you in the algorithm if you don't:
a) sign it up for the KDP Select exclusivity deal.
AND
b) buy some amazon ads

if you want to make fuck all off of publishing on amazon, you don't really have a choice.

>>23932403
To modern sensibilities even showing too much leg is considered risqué.

>>23932264
>Some of them are writers too
Silence means they have nothing good to say about it and they are still trying to figure out how to be diplomatic about telling you it sucks. Maybe take a look at your draft again and see why everybody hates it.

>>23932471
Nah, I know about KDP. I'm just deciding whether I want to stub as soon as I finish book 1 and potentially just leave RR or settle for physical and ebook on Amazon until the series is done, then gradually stub each book with like a month or so of warning for anyone reading. But ads are really a must on there nowadays? Even if you've got a few sales lined up to get the ball rolling?

>>23932403
GTFO with your adult woman fetish

>>23932471
>buy some amazon ads
I have never once seen an ad on Amazon in the 25 years of using it.

>>23932493
Generally speaking at least SOME ads THROUGH amazon's ad service are a must-have. Call it superstition if you want.

How much do Amazon ads cost?

>>23932557
It varies. To be clear, I'm not telling you to do all your advertising through amazon's service. I'm telling you I believe there is algorithm suppression that goes on if you don't at least use the ad service a little bit for your release.

I know comparison is the thief of joy, but when I vomit my prose onto the page for so long and read other works afterwards, I can't help but feel like a toddler in comparison.

>>23932403
I'm not a thirdie non, so absurdly large obese couch asses strung up with dental floss are weird fetish shit to me.

>>23932587
generic "no (You)" response

Does anyone find it weird how IRL females don't like being called girls and insist they are women, even thought it makes them sound older, which is something they hate? Just a thing to keep in mind as you write dialogue for females. I have to keep going back in edits and fixing it so it made me realize now how strange it is.

>>23932574
Other works have been refined, so think of them as sentences with lots of time behind each one. It's rare for even geniuses to come up with good ideas the first go around, in art or even in science.

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>Hīc tamen ille urbem Patavī sēdēsque locāvit Teucrōrum et gentī nōmen dedit armaque fīxit Trōia, nunc placidā compostus pāce quiēscit:
However, here he hosted the hub of P[h]atavium, and the casa-habitations of the Horse-Fucked-Cunts* and heaped (his) hashtag to hoi polloi [pro-"Ante"gonistically] and superglued (his) shield+gladius à-la-mode Il-i-o, now "@-rest" [Antenor] quiets-down in placid peace[--Nice story so far, huh?]:
>nōs, tua prōgeniēs, caelī quibus adnuis arcem, nāvibus (īnfandum!) āmissīs ūnīus ob īram prōdimur atque Italīs longē disjungimur ōrīs.
(Ve-/"ME"-nus, Aennie & the Trojans--) we, ya-widdle-wuns, to whom you head-nod the height of nirvana... (we) [now] with ships <(it's) snippy-to-the-lips> AMISSED[!], due-to the "Damn it!" of i [--not the num'†-"ME"-gal "I", but the numeral "i"--] WE.(-ALL.-OF.-US.) ARE. ii††-CROSS'D[!] and,-to-boot,[--mouth-read me on this one--] we are FAR-off disconnected from[/for] the[/a] mouth[']s§ Boot-ish...
>Hic pietātis honōs?
(Is) THIS the brass-ring of being-good?!
>Sīc nōs in scēptra repōnis?"
Thus do you restore us(-all) into the royal-staffs?!"

* "Cunts" meant lovingly.

† num' = numinous; divine.

†† Cross your iis and dot your ††s.

§ ōris (gen. s. "of mouth"; ŌRA) ≠ ōrīs (dat./abl. pl. "to/from coasts"; Ōs)
mouths Boot-ish = "coasts Italian"; understood VERY idiomatically.
mouth's Boot-ish = "the mouth's Italian"; incorrect, but VERY punny.
Just how punny? Venus ainta speaka da Italian rn because that lingua ainta creata yet (superlatively "disconnected", iyam); further, ablative-of-cause with "Italīs" can make it "we are far-off disconnected 'FOR' 'A**' mouth's Boot-ish", an unflattering conjuring-up of Juno's "B[R]OOTISH MOUTH" nymph[o]-bribing Aeolus for a hitjob on the Trojans, the act that instigated all this bs in the first place.
Almost forgot how the surface novelty's about how a mouth and a boot are far-away/disconnected from each other or whatever... It's probably more interesting to say something about how Venus aint gonna be boot-licking "Oh So-So Great" Jupes from now on.

** Here with the the arbitrary article/no-article being the indefinite and passive-aggressive "a", an echo of "ūnius" = "of one [<Juno>]", a shorter parenthesis which <num'-"ME"-gal / numeral> supplanted.

>>23932602
It's also strange how they spend so much time and effort to look pretty, only to get angry with men when we notice.

Harrison adjusted his tie in the private compartment, watching mountains blur past the window. The door rattled—a sharp knock. A porter, small as a child, handed him a stack of papers and an unmarked VHS tape with movements too precise to be natural.

His supervisor, Mr. Chen, appeared moments later. “Review everything before the terminal,” he said, eyes lingering on the tape. “And Harrison… good luck.”

Laughter erupted from surrounding compartments. The coin-operated TVs hummed behind frosted glass, their blue light casting strange shadows. Harrison sorted through documents as the sound of joy and horror mixed together, creating a cacophony that made his head swim.

———————-

“YyyyyyAAAOh… DAVID, BABY!” The voice stretched across the seawall, where men with broken metal detectors stood in formation. “OH PLEASE, BABY, OH IT BURNS!”

A young worker jolted, orange foam deep in his ears. His wife’s voice—but she was home, wasn’t she? The older man beside him laughed, the sound like driftwood breaking.

“Watch the skin melt, good man! Ferchrissake… Your wife’s safe at home. This one’s just a shoddy replica—got the profile all wrong.”

**************

One minute’s worth of coins. That’s all Harrison had when he finished the papers. The ancient TV whirred as he fed it the tape, then seized with a grinding noise that seemed to echo the laughter outside.

The train’s brakes screamed. Through his window, he watched passengers rushing toward metal hatches marked “MEDIA DISPOSAL – INCINERATION,” their faces masks of terror.

———————

“Just pretend you’re fixing it,” the older man said, banging his detector. “Like Happy Days—you know? When they’d hit the jukebox?” He paused, watching a fish writhe in the black foam before being dragged under. “Boss thinks hitting stuff fixes everything now. He’s right about 75% of the time.”

Time stretched like taffy. The younger worker considered asking to borrow the boss’s satellite phone—the only connection to the outside world in this desolate place. But she’d only yell at him again, call him weak for fearing “them.”

***************

Harrison tackled an elderly woman on the platform, stealing her tape as Chen backed away in horror. His apartment felt wrong—TV gone, VCR missing. His neighbor slammed the door in his face.

The phone rang in darkness. Chen’s voice trembled: “Name your price. Just never mention the tape.”

“Tell me what was on it,” Harrison pleaded.

>>23932672

“HELP ME, BABY! STOPITIGNORINGATMEee!” The thing’s melted eyes rolled as its rubber fingers stretched from the sludge. The older man hurled driftwood, shattering its jaw.

The workers cheered as it disintegrated, but their victory felt hollow. The younger man’s detector screen flickered green, then died.

***************

Chen’s voice came through the phone line like it was traveling through black foam: “They made it to eliminate things we couldn’t control. Microplastics, they said. Information, they meant. But it grew. Learned. Started eliminating everything.”

Harrison looked down at the stolen tape. Through his window, he could see the beach, where men with metal detectors stood in formation. A figure writhed in the dark waves, its face a perfect copy of the newsreader he’d seen on TV that morning.

“The tape shows what they really are,” Chen whispered. “What they’ll become. Man-made fungi that learned to mimic more than just plastic. That’s why we burn the tapes. That’s why we stand guard. But it’s too late now—you’ve seen how they copy us. How they replace—”

The line went dead. From the beach came a sound: “YyyyyyAAAOh… HARRISON, BABY!”

A memory so distant it must have been a dream as a child… He’s squeezed blood from his favourite stone and is trying to get it back in. He looks at the rancid thing calling his name and sneers. He says, “Shut up, bitch.”

He grabbed his coat and headed for the door. Maybe if he hit the phone just right, like in Happy Days, he could fix this. Maybe he could fix everything.

Everyone on the beach cheered. The sun was dimming instead of setting, and the wind seemed to be suffocating moreso than whispering.

He could fix everything. The tape will be forgotten about. Mind over matter. One day at a time.

But the black foam was already seeping under his door, and somewhere, a coin-operated TV flickered to life without any coins at all.

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>>23930832
Continued from yesterday, Did 1200 words today. Here's another short bit, I'm having fun with this character. I'm sure there's plenty of mistakes, any feedback appreciated though.

>>23931820
>>23931866
I appreciate the feedback bros, I hope my writing finds you enjoyable.

Why is nevertheless one word, but each other is two?

>>23932783
Why do you connect nevertheless and each other?

>>23932186
I imagine everyone who is starting off has this problem including me. There are more writers than readers around these days.

a few days ago I saw a thread with the opening post being the definition of a male obsessing over 1 girl. Do you know what's the proper word for one-itis?

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so I wrote a tribe of Asian inspired people

I wrote them having a racial magic kind of like the Thu'um from the Elder Scrolls, but instead of shouting shit they shoot magic stuff out of their forehead, it creates a 3rd eye like Erlang Shen.

Thing is, I don't know what to call it or the masters of it.

Elder Scrolls called Nords shouting the Voice and masters of it Tongues, but I'm not really sure if "the Sight" would be a good name for it, and if "Seers" would be a good term for masters.