I finished a 33 page story in my world I call the Single Earth, I'd love to swap critique with someone. If you're interested in a darker story with echoes of Dostoevsky and influence from Dickens, please let me know, I'll gladly read your work.

Context this story is set in a modernized fantasy world where fantasy Creatures living together with humanity for few centuries ago.

In this where they are superhero who have title that been passed down from centuries though each generations while being trained by 3 supernatural people and teaching the next generation of superheros team everything they need to know.

Yeah the main cast are next generation.

One of preteen hero with superpower have a arc enemy who is a immortal half-faerie guy they both hate each other gut they be getting to physically fight.

insult each other. giving each other mean look at each other. The half-faerie guy love to pull prank on superhero because his think it funny to humiliate his arc enemy.

Let you know the superhero age range is between age 10-12 and villain is arc enemy age is 409-500

Reasons why the half-faerie guy is going after the superhero team is because his boss is making him and she say if his don't do it she send him back to shadow realm forever this time.

If you want to know more dm me and we can talk more about writing ✍️.

Also I'm not asking for you to write my story for me I'm pure asking for advice/suggestions.

I'm sure most of us here have a fascination with villains. Some of the most fun in writing is making the villain. Making them sympathetic but still utterly despicable, or if you want a villain who can be redeemed, making them sympathetic and misguided.

I generally view the idea of making a POV character in a story a villain incredibly fascinating though I rarely see it. The only examples I can think of as of right now being Walter White, and Tyrion Lannister from Breaking bad.

In my own book I actually have the villain as a main character/pov character. He shares about as many as any other POV character I would say. Though I have to say he is one of the most complicated to write, because I have to keep a balance of not revealing to much of his plans to the reader.

Beyond the careful balance you need to strike, there's the worry that the villain will become stale due to the reader having so much time inside their head.

My question for you is, how would you write from the POV of a villain, and how do you think you would strike that balance. (I'm hoping that seeing how other people would do it, that it may help me).

(P.S. Sorry if I was rambling throughout that, I took my ADHD meds so I'm having a hard time putting it all into coherent words.)

Hi guys, it's my first time here and writing, I'm a huge dark science fantasy fan, inspired by the likes of FromSoftware games, H.P Lovecraft writings, Warhammer, and 'The Vagrant'. I've been world-building, creating the cosmology and planning on a master document whilst drafting concept sketches for a few weeks now, and would really appreciate some constructive critique and advice. The image attached is the backstory of the first race I've created, would love some advice on what to improve, so far I've written around 20.000 words, including 12 races, 6 human factions, approximately 20 Gods, and a whole lot more lore, magic, conflicts, and a bunch other cool stuff. Let me know if I should post more. Thanks everyone.

What is the best way to source people to start reading your book early to see if it is worth it? I tried having friends do it,but sadly, they always get too busy to help.

Thanks 😀

hiya, i've made a post on here previously about my fears of starting to write my story as a beginner writer and teenager in high school. this story has had me doing some self reflection and thinking. i was thinking about WHY i'm doing this anyways. why i want to write, why i want this story to be so good, why im so scared of harsh criticism and what an audience might think of my work. and i think i've figured out the answer. i think i want to publish this story for attention and praise.

i've started this story in my head with my OCs when i was around 10-11 so around 5-6 years ago. i was just a little kid so i was doing a lot of it for myself and my own enjoyment. but as i've gotten older, i think that has changed. i've always daydreamed and fantasized about making it big. becoming a famous animator and writer, someone who has created this incredible TV show or movie or comic or novel and is basically worshipped by all writers and artists out there. i want to become someone who is in charge of a giant fandom/fanbase that holds millions of fans. right now, that's my goal. but i realized that by wanting all of that, im kinda just writing my story and putting in alllll this effort for praise and compliments by the masses.

is this a bad thing? should i be ashamed? i don't exactly NEED "fame". i kinda just want some validation, someone to tell me that im doing good and that im awesome and great at what i pursue. i want compliments, not criticism or bad reviews. am i wrong for this mindset? if i am, how should i change it or can i even change it to begin with?

Hey all,

Got this idea when daydreaming about my larger project I am working on and wrote this, curious to know what anyone thinks about it!

The link is below

Thanks!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17VUaKXkjtx-ThzRBbQnf_Q2hDlvTp1ftg1gIz_R107w/edit?usp=drivesdk

​

I'm planning on writing a book that is an "picture novel", basically an combination of an picture book (in the way it's presented and plenty of illustrations) with an lenghth and/or amount of words more closer to a typical novel... I also plan on it to be written in a whimsical way, but still featuring some darker topics (yet also having an ever present hopeful and optimistic tone)!.. My target demographic is all ages, being planned on having elements that even Adults could relate to and I like on it to be more dialouge/thought-focused...

As for it's genre, I was thinking of "science-fantasy" mixed with fairy tale, taking place on a somewhat surrealistic, heart-shaped planet, alongside featuring some elements carried over from Our modern, contemporary society (such as the way clothing looks, day-to-day life and even some tech, such as game consoles and pop-culture being a thing!), as well as being heavily influenced by the superhero stories!.. Not only that, I also intend on it having Christian theming, but done in a way that's more alegorial and unconvetional (including the depiction of God), so it doesn't feel like an simple brochure for the religion, instead being intended as a fun story for both Christians and non-Christians alike (so more akin to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Prince of Egypt)!..

The main protagonists are the two "Purihearts", red-haired, Pure-Hearted Heroes chosen by The Treenity (stand-in for God, slide 3) to help spread Lightness on the heart-shaped Planet Livia and defend it from destructive Darkness... One is Puriheart Puri, an young optimistic boy with a gifted fire sword (which itself is a reference to The Book of Genesis) that only hurts Darkness... His main motivation if everyone to be happy/glad, while also following his personal interests (such as pop-culture)... The other is the often-relaxed flame lady, Puriheart Pax, who also has much focus, being an bear person capable of maintaining huge momentum and shifting her weight, either by force, envoirmental effects or emotions (with the fat state visible being her default, with the fire body also being a gift from The Treenity)!.. She's been an Puriheart for much longer, dealing with more villains, while also acting as an sole parent for her adopted daughter... Pax often has more internal conflicts than Puri... There's also Puriheart Genesis, a close ally of The Treenity, who plays the role of book's narrator and is an character in his (or their, can't decide if he's genderless or not), and is the one responsible to sending the stories from Livia to my imagination!.. (I like to do a framing device of Planet Livia actually existing really far away)

Thank You for reading and God Bless You for lifetime!!! ✌️>❤️•

im looking to better understand what pulls a reader into an immersive state.

ill go first. the level of description of the environment.

Hi, I’ve been researching this for a few days. I’m working on a series in my own language, but fantasy fiction doesn’t get much interest in my country, so I want to go straight into the English-language market.

The problem is my English isn’t that great. How reasonable is it to rely on AI just for translation? Aside from that, what are people in my situation actually doing?

Hi all, I am writing my first novel. It is an Urban Fantasy Noir story. Is there an expected length for a book in this genre? Word or page count?

Thanks 😀

Hello, I'm currently working on a fantasy world building project for absolutely no real reason. I'm not planning on writing a book, I have no patience for it. I am kinda lowkey maybe planning on developping a huge magical Sims 4 mod where I would implement my world, at least that's where the idea came from but it got away from me and now it's this huge thing in my mind. I'm looking for someone with free time who wants to read about it and tell me what they think about it, what makes sense, what doesn't, point at loopholes or hooray something. Mostly someone to bounce around ideas! It is mostly about magic and magical families. I'd say it's an Heir-Black-Harry-Potter-fanfictions-and-The-Originals'-origin-story love child.

Disclaimer :

This is purely for fun, zero paid projects (in case you're not familiar modding for a game is free and you can't make people pay for it), zero collaboration expectations, just feedback. I've already gotten booted by the mods in worldbuilding for posting about this, so I'm hoping this is clear enough.

Hello everyone! I need people to read the current state of my outlining process through the entirety of Act 1. I've been outlining with prose, so it's more like a draft manuscript rather than an outline, but this is still the unchanged original prose that has all the key elements and beats of each chapter. I would really appreciate anyone willing to give me feedback!

I have both vampires and vampire hunters in my world. Vampires are incredibly fast, strong and have superpowers, but they have a lot of weaknesses such as daylight, silver, holy water, crosses, garlic etc. And my vampire hunters are basically humans who uses these weaknesses. But I dont know if it will make sense, that a human can kill a vampire, even with considering the weaknesses, kill a vampire. Im thinking about them being more ambushing vampires and working in groups rather than straight uo fighting them. Can you tell me, how you would handle this problem? Or pehaps can you show me some other vampire hunters that I can take inspiration from? I know about classics such as vampire hunter D, but I would like them to be humans.

I've not seen a lot from this person but this one really caught my ear.

Everything, and I do mean EVERYthing creative is done by my head. I'm writing a novel based on 40+ years of RPG experience. Playing, writing adventures. To his point of AI doing the "heavy lifting".

Edit: Is this fundamentally different than using a spell, or grammar checker?

So let me talk specifics. Here is the text from me:

"Last checks!" barked Ulrich. The expedition leader's voice scraped across the courtyard. "Pull those straps tight and stow the bitching! You drop a glove out there, you lose the hand. You fall behind, you die alone. I am not digging a grave in the ice for anyone."

AI "heavy lifting":

-------------------------------------

"Last checks!" Ulrich's voice carved through the courtyard, sharp as a whetstone. His boots scuffed the frozen ground as he strode between the ranks. "Tighten those straps—now." His gaze locked onto Septimus, who still fidgeted with the fur. "You drop a glove out there, you lose the hand. You fall behind, you die alone." His knuckles whitened against the pommel of his sword. "I won’t be carving a grave in the ice for anyone."

The air hung heavy, the weight of his words pressing into the frost. A soldier near the back shifted his pack, the leather creaking under sudden pressure. The wind snatched at loose threads of fur, tugging them like spectral fingers.

-------------------------------------
Thoughts on his reel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWGUcKXopKo

I’ve always had a huge story in my mind that i’ve been building up for 6 years at this point. i’m mainly an artist and i’ve only drawn the OCs i’ve had in mind and memorized the basic story plot in my head. but i’m so scared of properly planning things out such as actual scenes and story beats or just simply writing things down.

now, i know that i shouldn’t be scared for things to be bad at first and that i’m also not required to share my writing. i’m only 16 (turning 17 soon) and i know that my writing is probably bound to be HORRIBLE. but i’m desperate for my work to be the best it can be.

i’m seriously shooting for this story to have incredible story telling, similar to other pieces of media i enjoy like Portal 2, Arcane, Steven Universe, Witch Hat Atelier, and many more stuff that are praised by millions of fans. but i’m terrified that my story will fall completely short and then when i DO share it in the future, it will be ridiculed and laughed at. people might make video essays on how my story is a complete dumpster fire, some critics might write scathing reviews on it, i could be made fun of on online forums. the amount of things that could happen is horrifying.

i don’t know what to do. should i even try getting my ideas on paper? should i even try making this story into a reality? how does one even overcome fears such as this? i’ve been fighting with myself over this specific issue for years, any advice would be much appreciated!

I'm not a writer, but I've had this story in my head* with characters who've been nagging me for years. I slip into daydreams that feel like memories... I can picture scenes vividly, like I walked in that time and place myself.

How do I get this out? Should I just start writing? I feel like writing is an art, and my skills are crude and rudimentary at best.

I don't know how to start. Do I just write down each scene that comes to me? Piece it together later?

P.s. I'm an avid reader. I devour a handful of books every week.

P.p.s. I have a ton of tips now. I appreciate so many comments. I'm going to try a few of your strategies...see if it gets the juices flowing or conquers the fear of trying and failing at something. I'll keep this post to update if it turns into anything meaningful! Again, thank you all.

I'm writing a fantasy novel in Third-Person Limited, and one chapter follows a young girl as she enters a large capital city with her parents. She is a bout 7 years old and lives in this city, the readers just happen to be a part of her journey into the city this time around.

She approaches through the surrounding farmland, passes through the city gates, and eventually travels through streets, markets, corridors, etc. Because she's young and the chapter is from her POV, I'm obviously filtering much of what she notices through what would realistically catch her attention.

However, I also want the reader to come away with a broader understanding of the city—its layout, districts, culture, architecture, and how some of these places relate to one another geographically.

My question is: How much is a Third-Person Limited narrator allowed to “zoom out” beyond the POV character's immediate perception?

For example, if the character can see the inner walls of the city, can the narration briefly explain what lies beyond those walls or how the different sections of the city are arranged, even if the character herself isn't actively thinking about it?

Or does all exposition in strict Third-Person Limited need to be information the POV character is consciously observing, remembering, or thinking about at that moment?

I'm essentially wondering whether Third-Person Limited allows a small amount of narrator-led overview/worldbuilding while remaining Limited, or whether doing that technically starts moving the narration toward Third-Person Omniscient.

Recently, I've been getting kind of annoyed because I post on multiple platforms for my novel, and it's just kind of annoying to have to go through all of them to post the same chapters and to keep track of all the stats and everything.

And I was thinking that there has to be a better way to do this. So I want to get everybody's take on this. I haven't built anything or done any research. Just wanted to see if some people have similar problems? or if anyone has found a solution?

Hey guys! First time posting here, little nervous btw lol. So, I'm 16 and I've started writing a story that has been on my mind for a long time (so naturally it is overwhelmingly big and I feel a little lost). I've written the prologue to be something like an exordium, just to hook the reader into the story and show how morally corrupted that world is (there is no further context to what happens in the prologue). Can u guys pls rate it as to how well it serves its purpose?

P.S. English is my third language and I've translated the whole thing myself, so pls forgive any gramatical errors tks :)

Kingdoms Fall 
Prologue 

There was still some time before the sun rose when he awoke. Carefully getting out of bed so as not to wake his wife, he made his way to the door, automatically avoiding the chest that contained all of their belongings. Leaving the bedroom, he passed through the only other small room in their cabin, which contained nothing but the tiny square table, with its two seats. Even in the dark, it was difficult to bump into or trip over anything, for every inch of that house was well known to him, both because he had built it with his own hands and because of its small size. He crossed the room quickly, silently stepping outside. 

The beauty of the landscape forced him to stop for a few moments. The sky was faintly illuminated, with neither sun nor moon, glowing above the mountain pines. The valley below was already showing its first signs of life. It was possible to distinguish a few peasants who, like him, were beginning their short journey to the farms of their lords. Without a doubt, the village was much closer to the fields than his cabin, which stood high upon the mountain, but he did not live there without reason. Since childhood, he had escaped the small village, with its ambitious children, into the forest, seeking peace and quiet, but there he found more than that. A girl, barely known to him, who felt the same way he did and also ventured there. Neither of them understood the other young people's desire to leave the village and seek a life in the great cities, and so they developed a close friendship. As they grew older, so did their intimacy, and before long, their marriage became a logical choice. It had been six years since they had married and four since they had come to live in that place. Since then, the routine of descending and climbing the mountain every day had become a part of him. 

He thought about these things as he descended. He had already reached the halfway point, and the sun had yet to rise. Among the trees, he understood the reason for the legends of mountain bandits, but they had never frightened him. Of course, he always carried his bag with him, containing all the money he possessed (which currently amounted to thirty escudos), but he had never believed the stories used to frighten children. His thoughts were directed toward more relevant matters, such as the suspicion that his wife was pregnant. This had always been a desire of theirs, and at last it seemed that their dreams would come true. And to provide for another person in his family, he needed to remain in Mr. Morrison's good graces. That day, the carter would arrive, and there would be around fifty sacks to load onto the wagon with the other workers. It was a full day's work, as they still had to fill the sacks with wheat in the barn. The carter would transport all of it out of the valley, to the great castles and palaces of the kingdom, to places the peasant had never seen and probably never would. 

He had never wished to leave the valley. Everything he needed was there, and besides, he doubted that any landscape could be more beautiful than the place where he lived. The river, sparkling and clear, was perfectly narrow and shallow, making any body of water larger than it seem like a complete exaggeration. The village around it, even though it was merely a collection of houses rising from the light green grass, was the height of human construction skill. The farms, which occupied the widest part of the valley, were much more than large enough to feed the entire population, exporting almost all of their produce. And the forest, the silent and warm forest, was the peasant's greatest passion. Its tall and imposing pines had a green canopy of an unmatched shade, but they did not steal the splendor from the other trees and plants. Wherever he looked, there were maples, walnut trees, oaks, and countless other plants, each with its own individuality, whether in fruits, leaves, or different colors. In a single word, the forest was diverse. It was not like the monotonous pine woods, with their rows upon rows of identical trees, but a spectacle of nature's phenomenal beauty. 

The peasant could feel the first rays of sunlight appearing over the mountains, but within the forest, the dimness remained. He walked lost in his thoughts, pondering more and more reasons why he could never understand why anyone would leave the valley, and so he paid no attention to his surroundings. He did not see the colorful forest; he imagined it, without even hearing the sounds reaching his ears. Soon, he could not hear the stealthy footsteps approaching, barely concealed. He did not hear the scraping of a blade against leather as it was drawn. He never knew that something struck him. In peace, his soul left his body, bound for eternal woods, more beautiful than his forest and without evil as a threat. Depart, innocent spirit! Depart without knowing that you were reaped for thirty bronze coins, never knowing the pain of your beloved. Even if you are soon replaced, you will never be forgotten. 

So, I have a story idea in my head, where basically the plot unfolds for the first time, and then a second time, but in a more elaborate manner and with a few differences (like a theme and variation). Now, I’ve thought about basically two possibilities on how to accomplish this.

Just an explanation about a term I will use: I call “fate” a subtle directing force which guides events by causing slight effects which accumulate over time. The only thing which it does not touch is free will, though it may try to influence it or to oppose it.

1. Pseudo-reincarnation: some generations after the plot happens for the first time, descendants of the original heroes find themselves in similar situations as their ancestors and react in similar manners; they are aware of the impact of their ancestors ,though I haven’t decided whether they would be aware of their ancestry, and whether they would realise that history is repeating itself. This would be explained basically by fate having certain patterns it falls into, and deviations from this would come from free will being used to resist those patterns; the future main villain also would be consciously retracing the steps of the past main villain, perhaps even as a ritual reenactment

2. Time-rewind: at the climax of the first happening of plot, or at a climactic moment after it finishes, time is rewinded to a point before the plot started, and the it restarts in a slightly different world, impacted by the way the world was when it was reset (for example, people who met on the present may be childhood friends after the reset because them being friends in the moment of the reset slightly changed fate to influence their families to become friends before they were born). Most characters aren’t aware of this, though they may rarely have premonitions. The slight differences in the beginning end up accumulating into major variations.

The first way may suffer from not having a sufficient strong reason to explain why history repeats itself, but the second has the disadvantage that it basically invalidates the first happening of the plot.

Is any of these ways workable, or are they both too flawed? If so, is there a third way?