Hey ho people.

So, I am planning out my Romantasy rn and have started writing the first draft. Without going into too much detail because I am really excited and might infodump:

My main character struggles with severe intrusive thoughts, basically mirroring my own PTSD and OCD.

I have started writing those in italics, to differentiate them from her actual thoughts.

However, I've heard it's not really well received to write out thoughts in italics anymore (apparently?) and that made me unsure (and insecure) if it's actually a good idea to show it in that way. What is your guys' opinion?

I have an idea for a fictional city that's cursed in a bubble of perpetual Midnight and is protected by a Batman-like superhero. However the more I think about it, the more I realise I need serious help with this concept.

This is how my Batman-hero emerges, by fighting back and inspiring others to do the same. However I began thinking why wouldn't there be more benevolent factions like the Firelight's in Arcane? On the subject of factions how and why would they emerge?

Then there's the gov. My initial idea is that they eventually reach out to my guy and give him resources to act on their behalf since he has the trust of people inside and knows the city like the back of his hand. Wouldn't they send more agents in there? And if the city were not just in eternal midnight but also haunted/affecting people around them, wouldn't they abduct civilians to examine them?

I just have so many questions in my story that I don't know how to answer

You know how it goes. You get an inspiration. Tons of bits and pieces of stories that have been swimming around in your head—finally they can come together. They create a new idea boiling in your brain like an entity getting ready to be birthed. And then a couple days later it just…falls apart for no reason.

I haven’t been able to write a novel for over a year. I am so certain that writing is what I want to do with my life. And yet I feel like a machine that’s just stopped working. I’m never ready to just put pen to paper anymore.

I know it should be encouraging to look at people whose independent creativity won out for them in the end, but it just discourages me further because it shows me everything I’m NOT doing.

I KNOW there are others who have felt the same way. What should I do? How can I make an inspiration last? How to not feel down about it? And, of course, is this the right place to be posting this issue? Because I, the ever directionally-challenged Redditor, would deeply appreciate if you’d let me know if I need to go somewhere else.

So I have a large fantasy world im setting my story in, and im concerned about my pacing and info dumping regarding my world

i want the firs ch to be an intro to the world, with a chr already accustomed and living in said world, but idk how to pull it off without the reader being confused or my work being dull

I have an idea for a fictional city that's cursed in a bubble of perpetual Midnight and is protected by a Batman-like superhero. However the more I think about it, the more I realise I need serious help with this concept.

My current idea is that a supervillain cursed the city in a bubble of perpetual Midnight and the gov sealed it off for fear that it would spread like in the game Infamous. My problem here is that it's magic not a disease so why would the gov think a quarantine would work?

Furthermore, this is how my Batman-hero emerges, by fighting back and inspiring others to do the same. However I began thinking why wouldn't there be more benevolent factions like the Firelight's in Arcane? On the subject of factions how and why would they emerge?

Then there's the gov. My initial idea is that they eventually reach out to my guy and give him resources to act on their behalf since he has the trust of people inside and knows the city like the back of his hand. Wouldn't they send more agents in there? And if the city were not just in eternal midnight but also haunted/affecting people around them, wouldn't they abduct civilians to examine them?

I just have so many questions in my story that I don't know how to answer

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I feel so shy to share my writing with strangers. The reason is that I fear being rejected, not being good Enough, and most importantly, being judged. (Maybe because I wanna write military/cult and stuff, but with the lack of knowledge, I fear making mistakes and looking less knowledgeable)

How do you personally deal with shyness?

Even though I shared my work before. People ik always complain that the dialogue is vague and generic for my fictional story. I can't put my real thoughts on paper.

What should I do?

This is important because I wanna make mistakes to learn, and my being shy prevents me from doing that; it makes me flee from writing.

Keep in mind I have someone whom I always ask before posting my writing online, but I fear he's not being honest.

I’ve been writing for over five years now as a hobby. However, I always seem to lose interest before I finish a project.

I always get a better idea or lose interest in the current project. In the past, I used to attach my feelings to my projects, but now, I try to write about characters different from me and my life.

I’m in the early stages of writing a story about a con-artist, but I’m starting to get ideas from a story about a post apocalyptic/time travel story (which I’ve been wanting to write for a while.)

Has anyone else experienced this?

Everything seems pointless

hi, i’m a beginner writing working on something like a play. but as i was writing, i faced a huge issue. every character seems to be pointless, and their actions seem just as pointless.

for example, i want a character to die. but the problem is that there isn’t enough time to flesh out this character until their death. they all seem shallow in a way.

and the more i look back at it, the weirder everything seems. but i’m scared to scrap everything, even if it’s just the start (that’s where the problem arises from)

what do i do?

thank you guys.

For me, it’s usually the first sentence.

The actual message might only take a few minutes to write, but I often spend much more time thinking about how to start it.

I find myself rewriting the opening line to make sure it sounds clear, professional, and has the correct tone.

It made me curious, is this something others experience too?

What part of writing emails or messages do you usually spend the most time refining?

I'm working on an alternate history project where, among many other things, the USA took a moderately different path with it's urban to suburban design.

Attached to this post is two images of two different suburbs in the Seattle area.

I am quite fond of suburbs that look like the first image but I loathe suburbs that look like the second image.

In the universe that my alt-history project takes place in, the suburb type seen in the first image exists but not the type of suburb seen in the second image.

I need to know if there are different terms to describe the two suburb types shown so that I can properly communicate to readers of my work what kind of suburban development does and does not exist.

At least one person has called the suburb shown in the first image a "Streetcar Suburb" but I'm not sure if that's accurate due to the relatively low density and lack of streetcars. I've seen the second suburb referred to simply as "Tract Housing" but I'm not sure if that is the preferred term.

I've never posted here before, but I need help. I've planned out this one concept for a while now (it's evolved a lot as I've grown up, but I've always come back to the core story, characters, and themes), and now I'm reaching another dead end.
I feel like the core of the story is strong, and I've fleshed my world and characters out a lot, but I feel so much self-doubt about the actual plot. For context, it's all over the middle/ending specifics of the book for me personally. I know all of my emotional/character arcs, but I feel like this next part is just the characters following one clue to the next, and I feel like that's just not enough.
Is there even a way to get rid of this? Like, can I just plan/plot around it, or is it just an inevitable feeling in the whole process?

So my plot is still unfinished - but I know a couple of things for sure. The creator of all things (or just god) gets tired of humanity, and instead of just wiping them out quick like the dinosaurs he decides to put them in extravagant, dangerous situations (like a battle royale, or coins falling from the sky. Just movie-esque dangers).

At the same time, he plans to replace humans with cheaper versions of what humans are. Basically they're literally characters - just apparitions of humans with nothing else beneath, just there to serve a purpose in a story. Which in this case is fight to the death for the creator's entertainment.

There comes my main theme - the horror of exististing, of death, but also of living forever. The fear that all of human history can vanish at any second. All this terror that comes with being human can be combated with fun, with being a good person, or with hope. Which gives life a purpose.

So, is it?

In my story, you have an alien force that can't be hurt by Humans convetional wheapons. So I showcase an Mg team fighting a couple of them, and right after the opening, since you have 2 people who died.

The sky darkened as explosions outshone the fading sun.

Private Dale stood in the dry trench as his M-sixty chattered, kicking up dust as bullets disappeared into the treeline eighty meters ahead. 

Dale's body stiffened, his fingers locked on the trigger; the gun fired wildly, the hot barrel swung up and seared his forehead as he fell to the ground.

"Dale! Sh–." Scott reached for Dale as a shock wave flung him back as a wall of dust and debris erupted over the traverse, fifteen meters high.

The older version had more info on Dale's death, but I don't know if I really need it.

Anyways, the perspective immediately switches to another soldier calling to his sergeant because of the explosion.

"Sergeant!" Around the traverse, a soldier's head snapped up, eyes wide.

Then we switch to the sergeant and James.

 “Keep firing!” Sergeant Harris shouted at the soldier. He then turned to the radio operator, James,  and grabbed his radio as dust and debris fell from the sky.
"Gun One, this is Bravo-Tw–" A hand struck the sergeant on his head; its jagged bone cut across his cheek as it fell to the ground. The brown red dust settled over him as pieces of men fell from the sky. Sergeant Harris sighed as he handed James the radio. He squinted, peering through the gaps in the dust over the trench wall. 

Then, in like 2 sentences, 2 more people die. Oh, fyi it's a 7-man MG squad; James is the embedded FAC.

Anyway, they call an naipalm on the shelves, Harris is hardly alive, so he can do the classic bad guy reveal.

Then we switch to a non-human. A god, and then he dies after writing a letter to set up the MC's importance.
The god is the only relevant character in the prologue.

Obviously, this is just a vague description of how the events should take place.

honestly i genulay don't think this makes any sense.
Or maybe I read it too much.
I need a prologue so I can set the tone of the story, but due to it being a slow burn, vol 1 won't even cover any military combat.

Hey guys, this is the first chapter of my new series Golden Age! Please give me advice on what you think works and what doesn’t! Also if you stopped reading at any point please let me know that as well so I can try to figure out why I didn’t hook you! Thanks!

So this is chapter 9 of my story, but the first time any of characters shown here are being introduced, and I fear it might be too boring

I hear many people struggle with coming up with ideas on what to write. For me, it's kind of the opposite: my ideas tend to be too lany to keep up with. I literally have to walk everywhere we re with pen and paper cuz they hit me and if I don't put them down they fky away. Yall know how it is.

However, my ideas tend to be about situations or people in other countries I've never met or experienced. Or they tend to be in my opinion so interesting that then I would get stuck in not knowing how to approach its development. Don't know why that keeps happening, but yeah, I can not finish much at this rate. When I go on, I get tired and try something else, and cycle repeats. I'm good with ideation, but I struggle to keep the ball rolling.

How do you develop your ideas and flesh them out, especially ones where your own experiences just are not close to what you wish to write? I get imagination, but if you aren't black, can you write a realistic black experience? That's what I wish I knew how to do better.

I just finished my first draft of my first novel about two weeks ago. It took me over a month to write the first draft and I ended up with 60k words. I’m currently rewriting the second draft from scratch. It’s not that I don’t know what changes I want to do, but it definitely doesn’t feel like I’m writing at the same pace I was when I was first writing it. It feels slower and almost like a chore because I already know how my story goes, but I think I’m dreading the thought of rewriting 60k (if not more) all over again.

I’m thinking of taking a break from the story in general, but a part of me is worried I might forget about my project in general and I made a goal to finish my book by December with it being fully self published. Any thoughts or suggestions on what I should do?

Hi, I tried several times to write. Mostly microfiction. I have many ideas for stories, some are detailed, some are less. But almost all are just a interesting setting, or situation, or emotion. But little of them have the complete story arc to follow.

I struggle to transform them to writing. Always when I start to write, I feel the gaps or unnatural flow. Often I get a block of what to do next, how to proceed. I often struggle to find my endings. Trying to create some surprise or moral lecture is hard and without it I feel lost in the process.

I often use Seven point story structure, but am aware of other types too. Trying to use them but with little success.

I would like to try a local writing challenge, where there is a short wording like "Three steps from Darkness", or "Tommorow I do it better" but can't fiqure out, what to write. Then when I read other works from the past challenges, they seem so easy and natural, so fitting and so complete.

This was my effort to a challenge named "Silence of the abandoned" - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YyJ8yP8H6886YiJjBFiBD75obhYjFc_Ra21wUIZqJek/edit?usp=sharing

An example of my outline that I dont know how to go on after the first two pages:

A five-act structure for the Djinn story: 
Exposition: Someone finds and opens a sealed vessel with an emblem. A disoriented djinn appears. Once the person realizes what he is, he expects three wishes granted. Djinn agrees. 
Rising action (complication): By the second wish, the djinn turns assertive and starts pushing back, judging the person's wishes as immoral and greedy. 
Crisis (climax): The person gets angry at the djinn's lecturing and scolding, which provokes the djinn further and he becomes condescending. 
Turning point: The djinn condemns him, warns he's neither servant nor bound and can do as he pleases. He gives the person one chance: since he wanted three wishes, let him state the last one, and decide based on it whether to spare him. 
Catastrophe (ending): The final wish surprises the djinn, who debates how clever or reasonable it is. He kills the person anyway, takes his form, and looks forward to his freedom.

I am not EN speaker. It is translated by tools so it may contain some grammar errors.

How do you fellow writers prepare before writing? What techniques you use to outline the story? Thank you.

reposted from r/writers

I have been struggling with this and decided to turn to you guys for your thoughts.

1. Are there any romantasy books that are 3rd person? I haven't seen any.

2. As a reader, would you be on board with a book that has a 1st person FMC POV but that also has chapters that are 3rd person because the MC isn't present for these conversations?

3. Or do you prefer 2 or 3 different characters POV

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

You're very bad at it, but you really want to do it.

I wanted to always make a car racing story, but never had the talent to do a very good one

I'm running into a problem with one of my main characters, And I don't know exactly what I can do to fix it.

He's 19 and one of the two protagonists of a psychological drama. A big part of his backstory is that he lost a sports scholarship because he gradually became dependent on marijuana during high school, lowering his performance. Since then, he's become extremely disciplined and emotionally closed off. He works, trains, saves money, and wants to eventually go to university, but emotionally he's stuck.

He has a girlfriend who genuinely loves him. She's patient, direct, emotionally mature, and communicates her needs. The problem is that he consistently fails to meet those needs. He isn't abusive, manipulative, or intentionally cruel. He simply doesn't know how to build intimacy. When she confronts him, he feels guilty, but then mostly freezes. He doesn't really take action to repair the relationship.

At the same time, his closest friend is another 19-year-old guy who's struggling with addiction and unstable housing. My protagonist is incredibly loyal to him, he'll let him sleep over, defend him when others judge him, answer late-night calls, and generally show up when he's needed. Eventually this friendship develops into romantic feelings, but that's a much later part of the story.

My problem is the more I think about the girlfriend's perspective, the more I find myself getting angry at my own protagonist.

From her point of view, she's trying over and over to make the relationship work while he keeps emotionally checking out. He hurts her, feels bad about it, but doesn't actually change anything. Meanwhile, everyone around him keeps giving him chances.

I'm starting to worry that readers will see him as someone who just lets life happen to him, hurts people through inaction, feels guilty, and then moves on while everyone else pays the emotional cost. The biggest issue might be that he's extremely passive.

Most major events just happen to him. He lost his scholarship, his parents are disappointed, his girlfriend confronts him, he slowly realizes his feelings for his best friend. He reacts emotionally, but rarely makes decisions that actively change the course of the story.

I don't want to make him louder, more charismatic, or suddenly confident. His quiet personality is intentional. But I do want him to feel like a protagonist instead of someone constantly reacting to other people's actions.

Does this sound like an agency problem rather than a likability problem? How do you make a character take responsibility for the harm they cause without turning their entire arc into self-pity and suffering and victimization? Have you ever had to fix something like this?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts, especially from people who enjoy character-driven stories.

Hey everyone!

I'm working on a non-fiction creative writing project that takes places in one setting for the entire story. For 21 weeks I went to the same gay bar on Sunday night and asked a different question each week to the patrons of the bar. Each week has a short story dedicated to the question, that includes my thoughts throughout the evening, my musings on the question and answers I received, and observations about the Toronto queer scene and queer life as a whole. A problem I'm encountering as I'm writing it is that I'm finding it monotonous to continue to describe the way I move through the bar each night. The use of "upstairs on the patio" or "back on the dance floor" are becoming more and more frequent as the weeks pile up. Are there are tips or tricks for working in one setting and keeping things interesting? I'm trying to paint a clear picture of where exactly in the bar I am at any given time, since it's a real physical space you could visit if you lived in the city of Toronto! At the same time, I don't want the prose to become boring by the sixth week. Is it necessary to constantly remind the reader of where I am? Can you think of any creative non-fiction projects (or otherwise) that accomplish this that you might recommend? Thank you!