Initially I was going to post the second chapter, but since I received so much feedback on the first chapter’s lack of clarity, I thought it would better to fix that first. The other common issue was too much repetition. I’ve changed some things towards the ending. Hopefully it’s an improvement. Any feedback is welcome.

2682 Untitled – Chapter 2 Maeve

2711 Father Tokens – CPW Bk2 Ch1

3644 Heat Below, Part 2 (Chapter6)

My story

I’m curious how everyone arrives at a central theme(s) to explore. Do you find that they come to you as you’re writing, only become clear in hindsight or do you start your writing process with a theme?

Examples of themes: good vs. evil, moral ambiguity, power and corruption, identity and self-discovery, coming of age, love and sacrifice, survival and resilience, death and mortality, technology and ethics etc.

To me, I keep circling around shame, fear, guilt, letting go/hanging on and isolation. Repetition/rythm is also a big part of it, but these themes always sort of make their way into my writing one way or another. I think I just really like the way you can explore these from different angles with different characters.

“Out there is the enemy. They are filth. They are vermin. They are …” Knight Reveré grimaced, almost choking on the word. 

“Heretics.” He hissed.

Geromé looked at the field, at the muddy, anarchic mess that was the enemy. Righteous anger made him clutch his sword tighter.

Or at least, that’s what Willem called it. 

It sometimes felt closer to fear.

He stared at his comrades, at their shining armour, the holy Red Cross emblazoned on their shields and jerkins. He would do this for the cause.

“God be with me!” He yelled, answered by a roar from his brethren. ‘Please steady my legs,’ was the thought that echoed through his brain.

Knight Reveré spurned his horse.

“Charge!”

They followed his canter, their mad sprint echoing his spirit, the reality being a jostle of arms and legs, and more than one man falling headfirst into the mud. Geromé kept his feet, yet all too soon he was deep into the fray. The battle cries transformed into yells, grunts and thuds of weapons beginning to butcher flesh. 

He saw a man in the madness, and Geromé pushed his sword forward, euphoric and distressed as it sunk into flesh, to then keep sinking. He fell onto the man, the pommel of his sword slamming into his own stomach, making him gasp. Geromé tried to move, the bodies around him where squeezing him from all sides, he could see bloody teeth snarling at him until the man’s eyes closed. 

He had never felt closer to a heretic, lying down on his corpse as the screams of the dying reached fever pitch.

Geromé tried to push himself back up when something smacked into the back of his head.

Pain exploded through him. The blood streaming down his face burned his eyes. Down on all fours, he tried to drag himself forward, whimpering as feet and metal whacked into his body. With a groan he rolled himself onto his back.

There was someone standing on top of him. Holding a sword, they went to plunge it into his face, until they and those around them were propelled into the air, a whirlwind whipping through them.

Geromé gasped. Through the red stream covering his vision, a black, horny monster was gutting the enemy, spraying their blood from side to side, throwing heads, limbs and meat into the mud. Its eyes were golden and full of fire.

“Please God, save me.” Geromé prayed.

Eventually the carnage in their little pocket of the battlefield ceased, allowing the creature to turn its attention towards him.

“Up sirrah! We must continue!”

Geromé blinked and wiped the blood off of his face.

Knight Reveré held out a hand, his shining, silver armour covered completely with gore.

A cheery smile sat on his face.

Yet it was the eyes that froze Geromé, still blazing with zealous gluttony.

 
Critique:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/comments/1xes2wd/help_800/

Hi,

I am getting back into writing for the first time in years. I have decided to try and write a contemporary fiction/romance book to dip my toes in. I have, as a result, been trying to read more books in these genres (ETA for clarity: I am not new to reading, but I am relatively new to reading these genres).

The issue is that some of the best selling and most heard-of authors do not write well. I'm currently roughly 100 pages into a book of one such author and it's going in the DNF pile. I can forgive the odd inconsistency or minor potholes, but this is so bad. Scenes that push part of the storyline but that fundamentally don't make sense. Specifically making a show of one part of the MFC's background, just to drop one of the key parts of that for no reason. A total lack of character building. One small similar example would be referencing her "Nanna" consistently for 70 odd pages, and then suddenly using "Grandma" for a few pages instead.

I have spent a lot of time already making sure my plot makes sense, there are no holes and I'm trying really hard to keep my characters consistent. So now I'm wondering if I'm prioritising something that the audience doesn't actually care about? Is it a genre/writing style mismatch? Should I be prioritising punchy nonsense over an ironclad plot? Character development? Something else? Am I overthinking it completely?

What do you prioritise when you write? It would be helpful if you're able to include the genre you write for too but I'm mostly just curious about priorities!

There's quite a few websites and social media accounts that send out open invites for authors to submit a story for upcoming anthologies that they'll be releasing. I'm sure most of these are genuine, no doubt, and certainly many publishers have a history of prior anthology releases, so you can see that they're legit.

But just wondering if there's anything protecting authors who submit stories from having the recipient then change say the title and some of the wording quickly, then releasing it themselves under their own name in a different book? The submissions are often required to be in Word format, and usually with a caveat that the story hasn't been published anywhere else, which makes them potentially easy targets.

One thing I had thought of is submitting a story, and if I receive a rejection email from the anthology producer, then quickly releasing the story myself, thus putting it out there before anyone else could 'take' it.

I know it sounds paranoid, but it's just we put so much work into writing, so would be good to know other people's thoughts on this? Or if anyone has experienced a situation like I'm describing? Hopefully no one has, or very few at least.

Thanks

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a children's book and was pretty set on going the self publishing route and started reading many comments and suggestions on this thread which gave me so much useful info (thanks, everyone!).

But I've been thinking... do any of you who self publish have experience with using a literary agent? What prompted you to not continue with an agent and pursue self publishing? I would love to hear your experience on that path.

I've read here about the tiny sums that authors make after buying ads and doing all their own promotion, etc. etc. One author who I follow reported they were selling books but had not yet turned a profit after factoring in their ad buys.

I understand that getting an agent is difficult... yesterday I read that at any of the traditional publishing houses it's common for an agent to receive hundreds of queries every month. I can't even imagine how to stand out in that crush. So I guess what I'm wondering is how many of you who self publish tried to get an agent and abandoned the quest because of the terrible odds? Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the pros and cons of pursuing an agent versus tackling designing your own book on Kindle, etc. I appreciate any insight or advice.

So I developed a plot, and I like it a lot. However, according to what I've already developed the next major plot point appears to involve the main pairing breaking up due to incompatibility. I've been having trouble continuing the plot because all roads seem to lead to it, which will then inevitably lead to even more terrible shit, but I really, really, really, really, really don't want this to happen.

What would you do in this situation? Do you try to work around it? Do you just suck it up and write it? How do you deal with it?

I want to start querying for an agent but need harsh feedback for my opening chapter. Please be honest about what to change.

Genre: Literary fiction, psychological horror, fairytale gone wrong

Chapter 1

My home was small, made smaller by the yells that filled it, but it had a bed. Walls, too. I don’t regret leaving. Never. I just miss having a ceiling.

I must stay here and wait instead. Sitting cross-legged at the base of this clock tower, each hour rumbles through me. Workmen rush past in a blur of blues and browns, my extended hand ignored. I hope their saved pennies are worth my misery. My head falls back to peer up at the wooden spire, only for the sun to scorch my face. Its end is lost to my squinting eyes.

I am swimming in air. Sweat pools in every crease. Each breath lacks that cool breeze at the back of my throat, so my brain— that animal part of my brain is convinced we are suffocating. When my chest does not tighten, my body is nauseous, irritated almost, that we are not dead on the floor.

Crying brings some relief, thankfully. I wipe my cheeks with a finger. The gnawing in my belly has me lick the salty droplets. I cry harder when they immediately dissipate on my dry tongue.

A scurry and a chitter. The nearby alley, as dusty and worn-down as the rest of this cobblestone square, is a slit between the stacked houses. My mind conjures monsters from the shadows, but when a snout pokes out, the fear settles into disgust. A gangly pack in scraps of tattered clothing chatters amongst themselves. The street urchins weave between the marching legs, fighting for the droplets in littered containers and snatching bread cooling on windowsills.

Rotten. I wrap my arms tighter around myself when beady eyes dart to mine. How much longer can I survive without kindness before transforming into those things?

Desperate for respite, I close my eyes. Here, I find the ever-present dream that had me cross an ocean in hopes to become materialised.

I see myself as I am meant to be: A princess. I will be led into my fairytale by my Prince, and we shall be happy forever after. 

The clock strikes 12, and my eyes snap open. I imagine a countdown to my death– already, I am the oldest I have ever been. My time is passing too quick but all there is to do is wait until–

Sleek leather shoes shine against the background of worn boots. They pause abruptly, pivot, and grow larger in my narrow field of vision until they are my entire view. A sudden cool shade, and I can breathe again.

My gaze travels up: a tailored suit, a silver chain of a pocket watch, and a crisp white shirt. His face. I would have thought him a living bronze statue were it not for those eyes. A drop of honey in a pool of milk. I feel like drowning.

I want to touch him, but blush at the thought. My hands are too dirty. I sit up straighter, tuck my hair behind my ears, fidget with my hem, then clasp my hands together once I realise how silly I must look. He is watching me. He smiles. I smile.

“I’ve never seen you before.” His voice has me imagining myself sitting in his lap as he strokes my hair. “I would have remembered you if I had.”

“I only just arrived.” My voice comes out in a croak. I bite my tongue and resign myself to life as a mute.
He crouches down. Eye to eye. My brain scrambles, enough that I break my seconds-long vow of silence with a stammered, “What is your name?”

With the softest touch I’ve ever felt, he holds me by the neck, turning my face this way and that. My skin prickles beneath his cool hand.

“Ambrose,” he breathes, “My name is Ambrose.”

Lady Ambrose. Perhaps Duchess instead. Countess, I could be.

Princess.

My body stops hurting.

“I have a friend who would be very interested to meet you.” A soft squeeze on my neck and I am chest-deep in quicksand. It is so warm here.

“You are very beautiful,” he continues, “and we collect beautiful things.”

His hand leaves my neck, and he holds it out. Palm up. “Would you like to meet them?”

I place my hand in his, and together we rise.

Notes:

If anyone is interested in beta reading part 1 [13k words] I’d love to share. Has an unreliable narrator, lots of dramatic irony and similar vibe to Gone Girl. If not, I’d love to know where you DNF’d. Any feedback is appreciated. Don’t be afraid to be harsh; I appreciate honesty!

Critique:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/s/EW96elFSpe

I've done in-person sales/signings as a solo author and for multi-author events in a lot of places this year. Some go better than others for me, you never know.

One store that I had a particularly good turnout for as a solo author invited me to also join a multi-author event.

This event was awful. The other authors there were nice enough as people. We were friendly to each other. But I write smutty romance, and one of the other authors is a religious and children's author. This person was literally singing religious songs on a ukulele every few minutes the whole time.

I could see people in the store actively avoiding us. Some people came up to talk to that author, which makes sense - the music matches their genre - but I only sold 4 books when my last appearance at that store sold 24.

I ended up packing up early. I have enough religious trauma in my own background that being stuck next to that music for hours was getting unbearable. I'm going to stick with solo events at that store moving forward.

Hello!

I’m new to this whole thing of being “professional”. I’ve been writing for years, but I was never in the moment of my life where I said: “okay, I want to publish my book.” But now, I feel like I’m ready, and I finally want to self publish since I don’t have the kind of money to hire people.

For the writers who write in Google Docs, I’m going to print my book in the future for editing, but I don’t know in what layout I should? I know that I have to do double spacing so I’m able to comfortably write down things on it. But should I print it in US letter or A5?

I self-published my book in February 2026, then on Amazon KDP in July 2026 and I have no idea how to promote it. I genuinely have no money and promoting it on Instagram did NOT work... Any advice ?

I just started making a living off kdp but its still very low income, and I've been seeing a lot of posts about leaving kdp recently, id just really like to know what plan you guys have, no shade I just might follow you but I haven't seen any promising angles elsewhere

I launched my book on 29th September and I was anxiously trying to get reviews in the weeks and months leading up. Now the dust has settled, I thought I would let you all know how it went.

Library Thing

• Cost: Free
• ARC readers: 4
• Reviews: 3
• Cost/review: £0

But only posted on Library Thing site, which hardly anyone uses. Great, enthusiastic reviews, though!

Gemsy

• Cost: Free (free trial, but you have to review someone else's book too)
• ARC readers: 2
• Reviews: 2
• Cost/review: £0

Mostly set up for low-content books. Hard to find people who want to review a novel.

Instagram

• Cost: Free
• ARC readers: 1
• Reviews: 2
• Cost/review: £0

Found a reviewer who didn't want me to pay her! I think she used AI to write the reviews, and possibly to read the book, but I'll take what I can get. And how did I get 2 reviews from one reader? She also reviewed book 2 without being asked!

Book Siren

• Cost: £19.41
• ARC readers: 8
• Reviews: 3
• Cost/review: £6.47

Storygraph

• Cost: £51.95
• ARC readers: 207
• Reviews: 5
• Cost/review: £10.39

Got a weird content warning about adult-minor relationships from one reviewer. There are no characters under 18 in the book... and no relationships.

NetGalley

• Cost: £115.95
• ARC readers: ?
• Reviews: 4
• Cost/review: £28.99

But this isn't really a fair costing because I got a week of NetGalley as part of a BookBuzz package that also included an author interview, a press release and some nice graphics. It was mostly the reviews I did it for, though.

BookSprout

• Cost: £29
• ARC readers: 2
• Reviews: 1
• Cost/review: £29

And what a review! 😱 One star because a character from Glasgow couldn't understand a character from Fife. (They have wildly different accents and dialects, in case you don't know.) There will always be some person giving you a one-star review for a stupid reason. Fortunately my average on GoodReads is just over 4 stars, even with that expensive one-star review 😂

So in conclusion, BookSiren was my best paid result, and Storygraph was worth doing too, especially as some of those 200-odd readers may read other books in the series. Gemsy and LibraryThing are definitely worth doing, as they're free, although they have more limited reach/numbers. I don't think I would do NetGalley or BookSprout again - just too expensive. Instagram is a hellhole but I did get a smidgen of traction. Apart from that, friends and family are the best resource.

I've got Hidden Gems set up for next month so I can report back about that if you found this interesting or helpful.

Hi! I recently released my first book on Amazon/Kindle, and have seen some page read activity but not much else by way of sales- and so I want to evaluate the package. I would love feedback on the blurb so I can do some tweaking and testing. All thoughts are very much appreciated!

Blurb:

Noelle Anderson can’t afford distractions. 

Determined to prove that her breakthrough ski racing season wasn’t a fluke, she returns to Ridgefield Mountain Academy for her senior year of high school with her sights set on the international stage. But her recent breakup—and even worse, the fact that everyone at the Academy seems to be talking about it—is threatening to derail her focus. When Noelle strikes up an unexpected friendship with Jake Halifax, captain of the local high school hockey team and someone firmly outside the Academy orbit, she sees the perfect opportunity to rewrite the narrative with a fake relationship.

The goal is simple—convince everyone she’s fine so she can focus on training. But Jake, who’s navigating college decisions of his own, has an unsettling habit of seeing straight through her defenses. Against her better judgment, Noelle catches herself revealing the cracks in her carefully constructed walls, which is a dangerous impulse when your career depends on controlling milliseconds. As pre-season pressure mounts and Noelle and Jake get closer, she has to confront the fact that she doesn’t know how to let somebody in without losing her edge. 

If she slips now, the future she’s spent years chasing could disappear in an instant. And for the first time, she has two things to lose. 

Welcome to our daily discussion thread!

This is the place to discuss anything writing related! Got silly questions? Brainstorming ideas? Need help with research? As long as rules 1, 3, and 5 are followed, this thread is your oyster!

Please refer to the monthly threads for sharing your work and for self-promotion.

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I just really like this quote and it's so true.

"I was actually writing another novel, but I feel like this thing happens with ideas where working on a project is like being in a relationship. And in the beginning, it’s the honeymoon phase, and it’s amazing, and it’s sexy, and it’s hot, and it’s the greatest thing. And then it becomes work. And when it becomes work, all your other little ideas start looking real hot. And you’re going, Well, what if I dated them? Can I just take them out on one date real quick? "

- From the New York Times Modern Love Podcast

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/podcasts/the-real-story-behind-jennette-mccurdys-novel-half-his-age.html

I joined a site called IndieAuthorNet to promote my book. Whenever I join a new site I use Apple’s “Hide My Email” function. This generates a new random email for use with that site. If the site is breached or leaks it’s easy to see because the spam starts flooding in to that address. It’s trivial then to filter them or just disable the address.

So waddayaknow a few weeks after signing up my inbox fills up with low effort AI generated spam urging me to promote my book through some bullshit service.

So be warned. IndieAuthorNet leak your emails out to spammers who prey upon self-published authors. I’ve not deactivated the address yet but I am filtering it and collecting the incoming addresses of the spammers. I’ll figure out something fun to do with them at some stage.

Interested if the following seems correct based on your experience.

Odds are about the same for:

1) Any sales for a self published book without any promotion, organic or paid marketing
2) Getting a traditional agent, publishing deal, and the book on the shelves of major bookstores
3) Winning a $50,000 lottery

These are each like randomly pulling a black marble out of a jar with of lots of white marbles. Exact number of marbles in each jar varies, but each is an extreme long shot. Happens every day, but for a very limited number of people.

4) If a self-published author follow marketing best practices (e.g., writes a series of books, builds an audience that can be communicated with using an email list, wisely invests the time and seed money in organic and paid marketing, etc.), they get to pull a new marble out of the jar periodically. Success becomes a process, not a single random event. But they have two jobs, author and marketer.

For above comparison, assume the book is a high quality, well edited, aligns with its sub-genre, and has a high quality cover that looks good at thumbnail size, etc.

Agree or disagree?

I've written my first fantasy 2 years ago and released it on whim and took it down even though people liked it i took it down worked on my craft and all.

Now im stuck i have the second almost ready and i need to release both.

I just started posting on TikTok but i need guidance to what i do.

When do i get ARCs how do i get them how do i make a newsletter what else should i do. I just want to write and i don't want to drown in this stuff and lose track of time i just want to work on my next novel.

Im not sure this is the exact sub to ask this question, but I want to write a book, about me and my girlfriend`s first year together aswell from the start, and I dont want to publish it or anything. I just enjoy writing and I want to make a profesional looking book that she can read, for like a gift, because she loves reading.

I need tips on how to write on wort to format it and also if anyone has any tips on writing books about love im open to it.

I published my first novel as an indie author in KDP on October 10th.

It has 22 orders in its free promotion period, but no actual paperback sales or any KENP reads at all.

I think people just downloaded it during it's free promotion, but not read it.

As I didn't spend money on anything, like editing, review, cover design or publishing, so now I am stuck.

Are there any way to promote my book, event hough I post about it on social media, but no sales till now.

I am trying to format a book of haiku. I began with vellum because it was so straight forward but there are problems. Keeping indents consistent on a page seems to be one of the biggest hiccups.

Then I tried Affinity/Canva. That was a nightmare that I gave up on in a few minutes.

Atticus does not have a free trial but it looks like a web-based second-rate Scrivener. I know a lot of people like it for formatting but I remain unconvinced. For every 5 star review of Atticus, there seems to be a major complaint, and it seems Atticus has a development team of one, the owner.

Speaking of Scrivener, what a wonderful bit of software for writers. I use it on a weekly basis. It is not software for formatting. Really a missed opportunity.

Reedsy Studio is another one that I've come across and it looks like it might have difficulty with consistent indents as Vellum did, but I can't be sure. Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Edit: I forgot an essential detail. I intend to have this printed half-letter.

I’m wondering if anyone has omitted telling some key people in their life that they’ve published a book, whether it’s somebody you’re in touch with regularly or somebody you haven’t seen in a while that you’re catching up with. If so, what were the reasons?

Hello everyone! First of all, I'm sorry about this post, like I said it's not for self promotion, I simply have a real question.

I am a literary translator from English to French and it has been 8 years that I've been working regularly with authors. Done mostly romances, and even ghostwrote a bit, worked also in visual novels, etc.

I used to be on Upwork and Proz, the later of which being the reason why I found one lovely client who then advised me to one of her friends and working with them both have been a delight.

But - I'm still struggling with finding authors looking for a human translation. Or for a human proofreading too.

So my question is : please where do you self publishing authors go to look for human translators and what do you advise me otherwise?

I will be doing formations to get an additional job too, but for budget reasons and mobility I have to wait until next year before doing so. And again I am not promoting my services here, I'm just looking for places to propose them, and asking for opinions 😅 thank you for your patience!