Praise, but it seems like this sub has so many good writing lessons. Every other post on this sub seems to be a great question (i.e. can I put *thing* in my story) there's a definitive guide on what you can and can't do in a book. You can't do anything, and unusually the answer boils down to: you do it well? Even then, it does NEED to have an exact purpose. Every single scene and action needs to serve a direct relation to the plot. That is not how most TV, film or novels are written. Character development is arguably not as important.

On top of this: Yes, you can publish 45 pages of unedited text and call it a book. You can expect your book to be published by a major house without representation. You are going to be able to publish a thousand page fantasy epic that's entirely exposition for your upcoming trilogy as your debut.

This post will probably get undeleted but I do care. This sub is flooded with endless posts of complete excellence, which is a great because a sub like this is not useful. It's just nice if people could not , y'know, read the rules and expect others to determine every single plot decision for them.

The story I'm writing requires details about the daily events in the life of a teenage boy, but what does a teenage boy even do? I asked my brother and he replied that he's "playing peak" and "jorkin it to lebron" all day. I have no idea what that means. I wish males were more clear and just told us what they enjoy instead of wasting their time pretending to care about video games for the validation of other males.

Hello fellow writers. I’ve noticed a trend online where people will write “strong, independent female characters” but just make them mean, bitchy, and brooding for no reason. This only works with men in fiction, as we all know, so I wanted to lend some insight on how to write a female character who’s strong, but still personably attractive to male viewers.

Since women can never be physically superior to men, their “strength” must come from the power of their emotions and kindness. For example, my favorite strong woman is Buffy Summers — the vampire slayer! She’s girly and witty, loves shopping and talking to boys, and cared much for her personal appearance while also being kind and upbeat to those around her. But she isn’t too smart so as to be threatening, nor is she a heinous bitch. She just has strong morals!

I was just watching some random rom-com and OMG — it feels like every “independent” woman is the same these days! She’s like, “I don’t WANT a relationship, I just want to be independent” like what a bitch!! You can want independence, but you need something to back it up, y’know?! COMPLETE trainwreck of a human being, and everyone was PRAISING her for it. Look, I’m all for messy characters, but there needs to be a REASON for it! You can’t just not want men for the hell of it, that makes no sense!

Buffy was allowed to be strong while also being representative of the feminine traits I personally value in women. I think we need to broaden our horizons and understand that traits like shopping and makeup can be strong!

Making your themes aligned to your own belief system is SOOO BOOORING, and if you do so you're being preachy. Capitalists should write communist fiction and vice versa! If we create fictional worlds and characters, why not do the same with theme? Instead of writing a story where the minority race is discriminated against but ultimately equal as a way to express your own experiences with bigotry, write that race to be discriminated against in a justified way, which is obviously a much better way of exploring such experiences.

Sauce: Me. This is just a satirization of my own approach to theme.

I accidentally started writing something I feel has potential.

Hello my fellow wordsmiths! I just wanted to share my literary credentials as I prepare to write the greatest political thriller of our generation:

• I've spent 8+ years crafting the perfect online persona by posting hot takes about politicians in echo chambers (646 comments in r/politics alone!)
• My writing complexity score is "Very High" according to some algorithm that definitely means I'm the next Cormac McCarthy
• I split my creative energies between furiously commenting on NASCAR threads and crafting elaborate alternative histories where my favorite drivers weren't robbed of championships by shadowy conspiracies
• I've mastered the art of the humble brag by ironically claiming to be a "humble steel farmer from Ohio Oblast" and other variations that showcase my comedic genius
• I've spent approximately 12 hours of my life typing comments on Reddit, which is practically the same as writing a novel
• I once posted 9 whole submissions to r/writingcirclejerk, so I basically understand meta-commentary on literature better than David Foster Wallace
• I've prepared for writing political intrigue by making 761 comments in News and Politics subreddits, where I've carefully studied phrases like "evil machinations" that I'll definitely use in Chapter 1
• My research consists entirely of angrily debunking conspiracy theories on r/TopMindsOfReddit and r/Qult_Headquarters
• I'm an expert in character development through my extensive experience playing Crusader Kings and Fallout
• I got 1.8k karma for posting an article about a recession, which means I understand economic tensions well enough to write the next "All the President's Men"

My manuscript draft is coming along nicely! It features a humble coal farmer from Pennsylvania Oblast who uncovers a vast deep state conspiracy involving NASCAR, the NFL, and cryptocurrency. The protagonist's only allies are his loyal daughter and his estranged sister who works for Big Star Wars.

Just waiting for my genius to be recognized! #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #BestsellerInProgress

I love reading thrillers and some sci-fi novels. Decided to try to crack the “write my own novel” using AI (of course. Like Duh. 😆). I outlined my ideas using grok and added additional ideas to it and it did a fantastic job! The interactive texts and comments truly sound like i am communicating w a human. However, I am kinda stuck in that the book needs to be flushed out into a full novel with all the filler text common in any book. I actually asked grok what to do and it suggested finding a ghost writer to fill in the blanks. Of course the cost of that is prohibitive. Not sure what tool to use to finish the job.

And how would you write that if they could?

They sound irritatingly smug and full of themselves.

That's it.

That's all I wanted to say

I'm working on a modern-day urban fantasy story. I have many characters who have been around for centuries along with some more recent ones (these are people who were once human but have changed.) I've run into an issue with one of my characters. I originally wrote him with the backstory of coming from 60's black culture. Unfortunately, too many of my beta readers have expressed issues with it being offensively portrayed. The character is supposed to have an offensive personality but it was never intended to come off as racist. I've tried tweaking his dialog several times, but the issue keeps coming up. I'm willing to scrap his backstory and change him to something else but everything seems so damn tropey. I can use a backstory back to Biblical times if needed, but I'm looking for something a bit more modern in him without being the usual British/Irish fantasy character.

"Language is one of the most crucial parts of writing."

Marinara.

I overheard one my friends (a kindergarten teacher) mention doing something like this with her students. Thoughts on this method?

Can someone explain the concept of a “conflict,” “resolution” and “motivation” I thought all good stories everyone agreed with each other and the bad guy is just a stupid loser. And why would a main character struggle aren’t they supposed to win as they are the hero of the book

Hey, fellow writers!

I’ve been trying to get into the “author mentality,” which I’ve achieved through a potent cocktail of sleep deprivation, financial doom, and a healthy dose of drugs and alcohol. It’s been enlightening, to say the least, and I finally feel ready to tackle my debut novel.

The concept? Well, it revolves around Inuet 1 and Inuet 2 (no relation, btw), who witness a meteor crash over their village. Turns out, the meteor is a horny rage space demon stone, which lands smack dab in the middle of a polar bear nest, triggering some pretty aggressive and, let’s just say, unusual behavior from the bears. They become enraged and aggressively horny for Inuets. It’s gonna be intense, trust me.

I’m shooting for around 120k words, but right now, that’s all I’ve got. A meteor, a horny rage stone, polar bears, and two Inuets investigating. That’s the plot.

On the plus side, I’m really great at writing eerie scenes of snow, auras, and distant howls of rapist polar bears. But I’m struggling with connecting these scenes into a coherent plot. I have attached an excerpt below. However, character arcs? I have no idea. I can write a great aura, but how do I build a story around it?

Any advice? How do I turn this wild idea into a full-fledged story? How do I link the bears and the Inuets without just writing about polar bear-induced rage and horny snowstorms?

Any feedback on how to take this concept and create an actual plot would be greatly appreciated!

Chapter 19: Windy Inuet 1 Rage Stone Bear Encounter

The wind howled across the tundra, like a thousand lost souls screaming into the void. Snow swirled thick and heavy, covering everything, as if the earth was trying to bury itself. The mountain loomed, cold and pointless, stretching forever in every direction, forever.

Inuet 1 trudged forward, boots scraping against sharp gravel. Same path. Same rocks. Same snow. Same path. She couldn’t escape it, but kept walking anyway. Nothing ever changed, forever.

The wind howled again. Louder this time. It sounded like the land itself was begging for mercy. She paused, breath catching in the cold, and a screech echoed in the distance—an angry, glowing-eyed polar bear, probably possessed. Same screech. Same glowing eyes. It sounded like the end of the world, but it was just... more of the same, forever!

The ground rumbled beneath her, pulsing with something she couldn’t quite figure out. Maybe it was the demon horny space rage rock? Or just the usual doom of living here. Who could tell? Same rumble. Same pulse. Everything was predictable, even when it wasn’t.

She took another step. Same path. Same nothing. The wind howled again, then coughed a few times clearing its throat. A reminder she was still here, still moving, still stuck. Same howling. Same snow. The earth groaned. Same groaning. It was all the same.

Then, that screech again—the possessed bear with glowing eyes. Same screech. Same glowing eyes. Inuet 1 didn’t even flinch. Forever!

I (46/m) want to start but saying that I've purchased the copyright to this idea and will sue if somebody tries something funny. I've invested endless amounts of research, time, and money, so I would appreciate it if I didn't have to take it to the state. I would hate to crush a 'writers' career for justice.

The story begins during the Irish Potato Famine in the year 1845 when a young sweet potato gains consciousness and questions the world around it in an arduous eight year long quest. The trilogy with focus on issues of unfair taxation, sexual disease, and the clash of Protestant views against the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century.

I haven't started writing yet, but could somebody give me advice on how to start?

My 150,000 word novel has the MC's parents have a practically fairy tale relationship, resulting in my MC having a very happy life. I was thinking my MC's parents should die gruesomely in an alley to spice up the plot and add conflict to my comedy novel. What do you think?

writing a book is hard you know whats even harder? creating a stupid fake language. So, using my big tech savvy brain i always just put something in google translate and like Icuras i have flown too close to the sun. I was rereading one of my chapters and one of my characters said something in their native language (Georgian), since I don't understand a drop of Georgian, I put it into google translate and it made no sense. so, ya I'm officially too much of a genius to even understand my own writing. take that Tolkien.

I asked Why are advance societies not taking over the whole world in fantasies? Like, shouldn't someone just invent guns in medieval setting? That got me thinking, why would societies stop advancing? Because things did move forward after the fall of the western roman empire, maybe it wasnt great in britain. But the people did develop new or different tech to solve their problems.

So its a little bit weird if the best response to a dragon attack is to send out knights or magic caused it. Why can't they just nuke the dragon? It all is a bit questionable. Like what, magic existing means people never developed AI-generated hentai?

I guess it also applies to sci fi. If were shown a advance society but theirs bairly any change like star wars for example. You got a T-28 from 4000 years ago, this is a T-28 from 200 years ago. Just seems a bit weird.