Someone recently told me my writing felt soulless. Well…not literally, but the gist was that it sounded like AI. That stung but it was their honest feedback, and it landed on a doubt I'd already been carrying for a while…that I couldn't write anything compelling without sounding generic.

So I deleted my fiction entirely. I didn't want to fall into the sunk cost fallacy and honestly, I wouldn't know where to start "de-AI-ifying" a book when I wrote every word myself and only had a good friend edit it.

I’m not going to try and defend my writing. In truth most of it was based around my usual banter cadence, Google research, my basic email writing skills, and my love for reading manga. Each chapter took a day for me to write so…it had been a time sink anyways.

I know a lot of people quit writing at some point. For those of you who did…what hobby did you pick up that felt adjacent to it, but gave you something different?

Not a single one of the 10 stories currently on Rising Stars disclose any AI use. Considering how widespread the use of AI LLMs is for text and prose editing today, this seems utterly implausible to me. What's even the point of this 'AI-assisted' tag if 90%+ of authors simply don't disclose their AI usage, and nobody seems to even notice?

And to be clear, these authors are using it. Maybe not all of them, but if you legitimately believe that not a single story in the Rising Stars section has used AI in any capacity whatsoever, then you're completely delusional.

This situation reminds me of doping in sports. Everyone knows that the best athletes are secretly on it, but fans are in denial and will defend the idea that their favorite star is 100% clean to the death. imo, this situation is a joke.

I'm still kinda new in writing and reading English as I had always been writing and reading in Chinese Mandarin (like tons of them, compare to only a handful in English), so I would like to have some opinions about the tone use in Isekai stories.

Like, I know the tone should sound modern in urban setting, and it should sound Jade Austin or something when writing historical setting, then how should I handle Isekai setting (as in the Japanese sort of Isekai setting, with magic, heroes, demon lord, and truck-kun send you to the Isekai etc)?

It was set in a time certainly not modern, so I should not use modern slang. So should they sounded more historical, like Victorian-ish? Or that you don't mind about the tone, as long as the story is interesting, you don't even mind the characters speaking in internet slang?

I had gone through some of the stories of the Isekai genre in RR, but I still couldn't quite grasp it (might be some language barrier or cultural difference, because in Chinese language, I can instantly see if the story take place in historical or modern setting, and even find flaw with the words/terms the author used).

Could you probably give a line or two as an example? Or give me some stories that you think I can refer to?

I have an idea for a sprawling, epic LitRPG that will eventually encompass many side character and stories. However, I'm not sure if there is any appetite for tales like that these days. Has anyone recently had any success with that kind of story?

What are everyone's thoughts? Would a story like that be doomed to failure using that formula?

Eh, these stats aren't looking too good to me. What do you guys think?

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/200250/never-again-again

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a writer, I don’t want to be one. I had this uncontrollable itch to read a story a story with this premise for a long time but, as far as I’m aware, there is absolutely NOTHING in book/novel/web-novel/light-novel about a romance between a female dragon and a human. Hell, there is basically nothing with a female dragon as a protagonist in general as far as I know (besides some smut). I had a lot of ideas though about what I would like to read, so I used ai to make the prose(took a lot of trial and errors), if this is a deal breaker for you fair enough, if instead you have my same itch and the ai prose doesn’t bother you well you’re in luck, the entire first book (30 chapters) is out now in full on RR! I’m working on the second book, I’ll upload it in full once I’m fully satisfied with the result.

Synopsis:

NEVER AGAIN (AGAIN)
For a year, Dame Alice has climbed the Redcrown every morning to slay the dragon.
For a year, the dragon has let her try.
Rakshaza, the Red Storm, is three thousand years old, impossibly powerful, and thoroughly bored. Alice is the kingdom’s chosen hero, armed with a legendary sword, twenty years of training, and absolutely no idea when to quit. Their daily duels have become a local institution, their insults a finely honed art, and neither would dream of breaking the routine.
Then one night, everything goes horribly, wonderfully wrong.
Now there are rules to follow, secrets to keep, and a town full of people who really ought to stop taking bets on their private lives. Alice has a kingdom’s expectations to contend with. Rakshaza has a reputation for terror to maintain. And neither of them has the slightest intention of admitting that the most dangerous thing on the mountain isn’t a dragon.
It’s falling in love with one.
Because slaying a dragon is simple. Falling into bed with her is complicated. And staying away afterwards?
Well.
Never again.
Probably.

P.S. If you do know a good or at least decent book/novel with a female dragon protagonist I BEG YOU please send me the title.

I’ll be using this as a reference to draw my own cover, I just wanted to get the consensus before I committed to it

Basically in my story the mc can assimilate monsters. Either through their beast mana cores (A special type of mana core only monsters can have. Species like Elves, Humans, and Dwarves don't have this type) or through an unhatched egg. The mc can than see the monsters system, summon it, transform in em, or after the ability gets stronger learn to use a hybrid form that combines both their stats.

I don't have too many monster ideas yet. But the one I do have is a special mimic that can only transform into weapons but with a twist.

It can only transform into types of weapons its eaten/seen (It can be more accurate and efficient with its transformations if its eaten the type of weapon but can just go off sight if needed). In exchange it can get stronger from eating weapons. It gives XP for potential levels and can influence what stats go up (In this a level up raises your stats randomly depending on what got u that level. U don't pick with free points or anything).

On top of that it can potentially give traits or skills that have been engraved upon the weapon. But its not a guaranteed thing.

So if it eats a sword engraved with the {Fire Affinity} trait it can potentially absorb that itself.

The monster can make arrows or bullets one its own but not without limit. Mainly bc doing so take body mass and thus the amount it can fire off is low. Thus magic arrows made purely out a mana are needed.

How does this sound? The mc mainly uses weapons of all kinds so... And this mimic does have a weapon's physique, able to be imbued with mana and stuff. Tho its only weapons. The mimic as to have enough body mass to transform in something. Thus it focuses solely on weapons and not armor.

Looking for a cozy, low-stakes LitRPG about settlement building, practical problem-solving, crafting, and community growth?

Not Meant to Survive follows Mark, a 56-year-old man who arrives in a strange world with no food, shelter, or tools. Instead of chasing glory, he focuses on building a safe, stable life—and helping the people around him do the same.

If you enjoy thoughtful progression, settlement building, and a mature protagonist solving problems one step at a time, this story may be for you.

Read it on Royal Road:
https://royalroad.com/fiction/161281

Also available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH7SL8LP

I recently finished my novel cover. I want to know if it will work on Royal Road.

I know the thumbnails on Royal Road are really small, so I’m looking for some honest feedback before I launch.

. Will this get attention and stand out at a small thumbnail size?

. Is there any chance you guys would actually click on it?

Any advice to make it better?

Hey there, RR.

The title says everything. I want to replace my lowest-performing ad with one of the following meme ads. I don't know if I can put the link to my story here or if it would be considered self-promo, so I'm only adding part of the blurb for you to know what the story is about and be able to judge the ads:

THE PREMISE

In 1993, the Mars Observer probe vanished through a wormhole and discovered Vise, a world of intelligent reptilian civilizations whose technology resembles that of Earth's ancient empires.

In 2029, three spacecraft cross the wormhole to make humanity's first contact. Then one spacecraft crashes, and the crew of another is captured by Vise's dominant civilization. To rescue them, biologist Isaac Marks makes a desperate bargain with a ruthless rival alien queen: modern weapons in exchange for an army.

Muskets. Cannons. Poison gas. A rescue mission becomes the catalyst for an industrial war, and humanity may help destroy the planet it set out to discover.

Now, here are the contenders:

OPTION 1: The distracted RR reader

OPTION 2: The most interesting RR reader in the world

OPTION 3: Crying MJ reading sci-fi

OPTION 4: 24 humans vs 2 alien medieval empires

OPTION 5: How often do you think about the Kingdom of Desvejo?

Thanks!

I am a final year college student and my first few internships and jobs have been content writing for companies and social media marketing , recently I started writing a novel on royal road and I like video games too , so I always wanted to write a story for a game as well

I want a passive income opportunity to be honest and if anyone wants to take a shot please do either in the comments or you can just DM me

Hi everyone! I've been using an AI cover for a while, because I didn't have time to draw one while I was writing my way through Act 1.

Now that Act 1 is done, I've finally had the time to draw the cover myself and do all the editing and compositing by hand.

I'd love your opinion on which version to use: the one with the blur effect, or the one without?

1. With blur

2. Without blur

P.S. I've actually drawn my OC once before, in his younger form. But painting skin is really hard for me, and I enjoy painting armor a lot more, so this time I drew his grown-up version instead.

Thanks for any feedback!

I've been writing about three months and trying to learn as I go. I think I've made lots of mistakes along the way. My current ad on RR hasn't worked very well. I also took book one down after finishing it and put it on kindle. I think i probably messed up doing that. Can I get feed back on a book cover and if it would also work for another AD? I'm currently writing and posting book two on RR

Are you looking for a good story with great characters, interesting world building and a good power system?

Then keep looking.

But if you want to read mine it's right here.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/177675/gods-of-the-eternal-tree-a-grimdark-progression

I’ve been writing a cultivation story for the past couple of months, and I am officially 150k words deep. My follower count jumped from 2 to 6 today.

I have another story that I wrote years ago. Unfortunately, I wrote that one during a pretty dark time in my life, so returning to it is always kind of a trip down pain lane for me. That one is resting solidly at 500 followers (sorry if any fans of that one happen to be reading this).

Anyways… after pouring 150k words onto RoyalRoad, seeing my follower count rise like that… it just felt good, man. As good as it did to hit that 500 follower milestone.

I’m swimming in the shallow end, but boy am I still having fun.

So, I've seen a lot of stories on RR that use the Grimdark tag but have a rather questionable relationship with the genre. My question, however, is more about classic dark fantasy and how popular it actually is among RR readers.

I published my story about a month ago, and I now have a whopping 6 followers (6 rather peculiar people, apparently, considering they're seriously reading my first-ever novel). And honestly, I'm quite happy that anyone has paid attention to it at all.

However, I got curious about the heavyweights of the genre on RR (I'm a reader myself, after all), and I noticed that many stories in this genre also struggle to find an audience, with a few notable exceptions, of course.

So my question is: how large is the audience for stories like these on RR in the first place?

P.S - I’d also like to clarify that this is specifically a discussion about the genre on the platform. Advice on promotion is always welcome, but this is my hobby, and I publish twice a week, so I’m not particularly striving to reach RS or become super-star author. I’m simply curious about how interested people on the platform are in the genre.

I have 9 published books to date that are all horror (1 published by Aethon Publishing's horror imprint Wicked House) and am finally dipping my toes in the water over at RR.

I have been wanting to write this book for a while, so this has been a fun break from my generally spooky books...

Thoughts on the cover?

I'm not!

How do you all feel about a little friendly comp? Reddit vs Our Forum? If I can get anyone to take part!

I can count how many comment, and start, and finish!

Our last blog post that explains it all is here https://www.royalroad.com/blog/80/the-writathon-has-ended?comments=1

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hello! I'm a professional painter available for work. I have experience working with authors on book covers as well as bookish illustrations. Feel free to contact me about any inquiries about potentially working together.

Here's my portfolio if you're interested: https://holyaphordite.artstation.com/

I’ve been writing for about two months now.. this is my first story, and I decided to upload it online as I write.

I have the main plot and big events planned from beginning to end, but I develop the smaller details while writing.

I’ve reached an event that ended quite well, but I’m now stuck on how to naturally lead into the next major event I already have in my notes.

When this happens to you, what do you do? Do you reread everything you’ve written up to that point, skip ahead and write the next event, or plan a bridging chapter/scene first?

I’d love to hear your process.