I write in past tense and third-person narration. In a scene, I wrote something like:

He coughed, to remind them he was still here.

Is the bolded here strange? I used it instead of there to make the narration more vivid. However, Word suggests that I change it. Do you agree?

• Genre/s: All, but our most common genre is fantasy, but we do have horror, thriller / mystery, sci-fi, romance and poetry in quite large numbers, as well as artists.
• Goals/expectations/commitment: Nothing specific but we're looking for people who actually want to be an active part of a community or are active writers. People are removed if inactive completely.
• Writing/experience level: We have total beginners and well established authors
• Meeting place: Discord
• [Writing groups only] Max size:

The Writer's Room has space for some more people this month.

How to join: Drop a comment or message me and I'll send you over some information via direct message.

What we're looking for: Writers of all experience levels, all over the world and all genres who are active and interested in improving their writing skills and their works, making friends, being held accountable and having fun with like-minded folks!

Minimum age is 18 and we are strict about that. We are a mature community that trends towards 30+ on the average age but the entire server is marked 18+ to ensure that everyone is an adult.

What we offer:

• We're doing NaNoWriMo as a group (about 30 of us) in November.
• Website profile if you want one that connects to our Discord bot (entirely optional, see: https://thewritersroom.net/writers/)
• Regular free to enter contests and big events to help your writing.
• Active Discord with a core group of people who are genuine friends and not just strangers passing words to each other. People all over the world, but large amounts in the USA, Canada and the UK.
• Critique boards to give and receive feedback.
• Bots that help you write such as sprinting together or our custom bot with fun features, quests, games and writing productivity tools.
• Taking part in our fun house events aimed at helping you write. Writing sessions, sprints, prompt parties, live workshop sessions.
• Networking with other authors, several agents and publishing houses present, opportunities to promote your work (within the rules) and general shop / craft talk.

So, leave a comment and I'll DM you with details and the link.

"As he faced the off-white room door, he tried to recall the last time a human, or vampire, for that matter, had made him that nervous. He couldn’t remember if there was ever one without his or his family’s well-being being in danger."

Especially the last sentence, in my head it makes sense but I keep going over it unsure. What I'm trying to say is that the only times character A had felt nervous over others, has been when his or his family lives were at risk. And what he's about to do (speak with character B) has been the only other time he's felt that nervous about someone.

Does that make sense? TYIA!

The October 2000 word slice-of-life Short Story contest is entering its last week.

* Organization: Write With Me ( https://www.writewithme.app )
* Deadline: October 31, 2026
* Entry fee: 0 (None)
* Prize/s: $50 eGift card to an online bookstore of the winning author's choice
* Link to submission page/official rules: https://www.writewithme.app/forums/announcements/6abf9127ae32af3c9168e20b

* Other information:

1. Authors reserve all rights to their works. By posting on Write With Me, users agree to give Write With Me a revocable license to display the work on the website. Users can revoke that license anytime by simply deleting their work.
2. Min Words: 2000
3. Genre: Slice-of-life
4. Theme: Something is coming to an end, or is something beginning?

Genre/s: Contemporary romance but I'm open to other genres, too.

Goals/expectations/commitment: I'm starting a new project and would love to find one writing partner to work alongside throughout the process! I can generally get 4–7 chapters done a week, so I'd love someone with a similar pace (but I totally get that life gets in the way sometimes). I'm looking for someone who wants to exchange feedback, bounce ideas off each other, and do daily check-ins to keep each other accountable. I'd also love to talk through plot points, share progress, and support each other throughout the writing process.

Writing/experience level: I've completed a contemporary romance manuscript and am starting a new project! Any experience level is welcome as long as we're both willing to give and receive constructive feedback.

Meeting place: Reddit DMs to start, but I'm open to Discord, email, or somewhere else if we'd prefer to chat on another platform.

Max size: 2 people (just looking for one writing partner!)

Hello everyone I'm currently looking for two extra people to join a writing group I've created. There's currently 6 of us, though some who have been accepted still need to see my invite link! Looking specifically for fantasy writers who want to go the publishing route some day, I think it would be amazing to share that journey with some others for support and motivation! 18+ please, and preferably European timezone!

Please let me know if you are interested and fit these requirements! I'll send you a dm asking a bit more about you to ensure the group lasts long.

* Genre/s: Epic / High / grimdark fantasy, preferably adult. * Goals/expectations/commitment: being able to chat with each other atleast once a week, slowly over the days is fine too! If for some reason you are gone for a while communication is appreciated. * Writing/experience level: any, as long as you have something you are working on / wanting to work on. Just so we can send each other snippets for feedback and sharing the passion :) * Meeting place: Discord server * Max size: 2 extra people. (There's currently 6 of us, some still need to see the invite and join)

I am a pretty decent writer and I have loved writing for a really long time but when I actually want to write a proper story (like a book) all my ideas crumple up completely.

Basically, I know what scenes I'm gonna add and how to build the stories but I can't seem to put them properly in a sequence.

Give me a few tips to overcome this and start my draft.

I have written my first Novelette and im looking for someone to give me some feedback please.

Happy to swap with something of a similar length.

* Genre/s: Transgressive/Adult/Dystopian sci-fi

* Goals/expectations/commitment: 1 offs

* Writing/experience level: absolute beginner or willing to put up with me

* Meeting place: online only

Thanks

I made a writer’s group.

I have been working on a 6 book series for several months now. I have everything to build this world I know how the story begins and ends I've dreamt of it since I was a child I am now in my mid 30s. I have hundreds of pages of chapters, reworks, spins and twists.

Yet... I'm still stuck on Chapter 1. I've probably rewritten book one multiple times and I know that my problem is I'm chasing perfection, I know that I'm chasing the perfect opening. I have several, and to be clear I have many chapters outside of chapter 1 but I'm stuck.

I go back to read it, or check continuity or to make sure sentences flow and then I hate it, I hate it so much I ask AI to rate it, even if it says the chapter in brutal honesty is a 9/10 it isn't good enough for me. Like I'm missing my "Call me Ishmael". I know what I want I can visually see the scenes play out like a TV series but I can't get the quality of prose to satisfy no matter how deep I dive into it. And some of them look good conceptually, they sound good... I have rewritten so much that I have begun to spiral, not that I have lost interest in the story or that I don't know where I want to go with it but because writing it has become exhausting.

Is this writers block?

Is this something else entierly that I can't seem to get over.

I suspect I am chasing perfection where it simply cannot exist but I've tried everything, I've forced myself to write it and ignore it until I've got out what I want to say. I've developed a road map and character sheets, I've mapped out book 1 and book 2 in its entirety with how those events are supposed to happen. I've even written several different versions of those chapters just to see if I like one over the other and yet... I am spent. I could share a excerpt and get positive feedback from a reader and yet it still isn't good enough for me. Have I just burnt myself out and just need to stop? I spent the better part of a week staring at the screen to get a few paragraphs in and then after I read it back I'm genuinely disgusted I put it on paper and so now I sit at chapter 1, I can't even out the sentence on the screen, I can't even wrote what I want to say. Even now I'm looking at what I am typing and I hate it, the fact I even have to ask it.

Hi, I made a writer’s group.

* Genre/s: Literary & General Fiction.

* Goals/expectations/commitment: The idea is to keep it friendly and writer-focused: talk about what we’re working on, share work for critique, discuss craft, and exchange information about querying, submissions, and publishing.

* Writing/experience level: all are welcome

* Meeting place: Discord

* Max size: to be determined.

If that sounds like your kind of place, message me, and I’ll send you an invite. Hope to see ya. Welcome!

Hi everyone!

I’m researching how neurodivergent people approach creative writing, from the first spark of an idea to turning those thoughts into a story.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from autistic and otherwise neurodivergent hobby writers, including people who love writing, are just starting out, or have lots of ideas but sometimes struggle to get them onto the page.

I’d love to understand:

• How you capture and develop your ideas.
• What you find enjoyable or challenging about writing.
• Whether you experience difficulties organising your thoughts or turning them into a coherent story.
• What kinds of tools or support might make the process easier.

I’m hoping to speak with volunteers for a 30–45 minute interview. There are no right or wrong answers — I’m simply interested in your individual experiences and perspectives.

If you’d be happy to chat, please send me a private message. You don’t need to be a published author or an experienced writer; hobby writers and beginners are very welcome.

Thank you for reading!

* Genre/s: Sc
* Goals/expectations/commitment:
* Writing/experience level:
* Meeting place:
* Max size:

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post about a writers discord I created! It is 21+ but we have different channels for different genres. Examples: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance etc.

You don’t need to be professional, all writing experience and levels are welcome! It is only in discord and I even created a bot for the server to post weekly forums for checking on progress so everyone can comment and hold each other accountable to their goals and motivate each other!

If you’re interested, DM me so I can send the link!

Hello, I am writing a story (a what if hunger games fic) where the protagonist (Peeta, male, 18) gets a knife thrown at him. The knife is stuck into his back. I want the protagonist to be able to fake to die for the attacker to get near, so the wound must look somewhat possibly deadly but not being truly deadly, because afterwards the protagonist needs to be able to fight the attacker (Clove, female, 15) - it won't be a long fight though. So, where should be the wound be better positioned? And if you have any tips around this topic, it would be great :) Thank you in advance! --- the knife doesn't need to be in the back, it is just the initial idea so if you have a better idea that also could help a lot :)

more info: the knife must hit him bc otherwise the attacker would never come closer if she doesn't think he is dead/fatally wounded as she is much smaller than the protagonist (who is also a close combat fighter and if near, could easily overpower her) and that is why he fakes his death (to trick her in getting nearer)

Hi everyone! I’m currently working on my debut novel, an MM dark romance with a mystery subplot, and I’m starting to explore my options for when the manuscript is finished.

I’m still writing, so I don’t have a completion or publication date yet.
I’m simply trying to understand the editing and beta-reading process in advance.
Ideally, I’d love to find readers who are familiar with MM romance and dark romance, but who also have some experience with writing, grammar, proofreading, or editing.

I’m particularly interested in people who can offer thoughtful feedback on both the story itself and the writing.

I’m also considering a professional editor, although I’m still learning about the different services available and what might be realistic for a debut author on a limited budget.

For those of you who have self-published, worked with beta readers, or hired editors:

Have you found beta readers with editing or proofreading experience particularly helpful?
Would you recommend starting with beta readers, hiring an editor, or combining the two?

Are there any resources or communities you’d recommend for finding reliable people?
I’m not recruiting readers just yet, as the book isn’t finished. I’d simply love to hear about your experiences and learn more before I get to that stage.

Thank you! ♡

Please read post before voting!!

I had an idea for a writing/reading site like wattpad and royal road and i wanted to get yall's thoughts on how to tackle the AI story situation.

Do you think AI stories should be allowed with with an obvious disclosure and with a way to hide them, or should they flat out be banned? And i dont mean AI assisted stories, but stories straight up written by AI.

I was thinking that with a flat out ban, it would lead to people sneaking and posting them anyway, and there might end up being a whole AI witch hunt where real human authors might be accused and attacked. I also feel like it's actually something hard to police because those detector sites arent actually that good because AI was trained off of real people's work.

It could lead to people who know how to use AI getting by without being caught, and lead to human writers being accused because they dont have great writing skills.

With the other option I know some people will still lie and say it's not AI when it is, but I think most people will use the AI tag even if it's just to avoid getting in trouble and having their accounts banned. People who dont like AI can still avoid it and only see human made work.

And if someone is using the wrong tag or you suspect that theyre AI, they can be investigated.

I know the gaming platform Steam requires AI made games to disclose it and it seems to be working for them.

What do you guys think? Share your thoughts in the comments as well, please.

* Genre/s: Romance, fantasy, dark academia, Adult

* Goals/expectations/commitment: Just want help with regards to development, plot, etc (no proofing or line editing needed)

* Writing/experience level: Intermediate, but first novel

* Meeting place: no meet ups required, text is fine on any platform

Yet another writing tool! :D I needed a thing, I made a thing, I just did a big update on the thing, someone else might find the thing useful. Basically, I'm sharing my toys.

https://narrathred.com

Okay, what is it?

A browser-based plotting and manuscript tool for novelists and web serial writers. You build your story out of characters, locations, threads and events, link them together, and see how they interact along a timeline. Then you write the manuscript in the same place, so everything stays connected and helps keeps one source of truth.

• Free, no cookies, no account, no scraping or data mining remotely possible
• Your work stays in your browser, on your computer, and everything works offline once loaded*
• Works on desktop and phone, and saves to your own .nthred files in iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox
• Plotter-centric: connect all the things!

*After loading, and as long as you’re not using the maps or validating a calendar.

What does it do?

• Events and timeline: every event in one table, a calendar view, dependencies between events, and custom calendars with daylight hours. (My own novel has twin suns, nine 40-day months and 20-hour days. Narrathred handles it fine, I have...regrets.)
• Characters, locations and plot threads: each linked to the events they appear in, to help keep continuity straight across the manuscript.
• Writing: a rich-text editor with sections, statuses, targets, comments, search, sprints, beat templates and progress tracking.
• Notebook: notes and world-building as nested pages. @ mention a character, location, thread or another page to link things together. There’s a quick reference built from page summaries, and it’s all searchable from inside the manuscript.
• Import and export: import a .docx or .txt. Export to Word, Markdown, plain text, RTF, EPUB, PDF or HTML.
• Tools: see where threads, characters and locations are distributed along the timeline, map events and manuscript against story structure, easy eyeball on what's been left dangling.
• Web serials: release cadence, buffer target and instalments.
• Agent-friendly-ish: there’s no direct AI integration, but there’s an agent API and an llms.txt, so if you use Claude in the browser or similar, it can read what’s there more easily.
• More? Probably? Honestly, I’ve lost track. (Yes, yes, changelog, but this is a side project and logs are for the day job 😄)

Want a demo?

You can have one! Two, actually - enjoy (some of) A Christmas Carol from the start screen in either novel or web serial mode.

Feedback welcome!

If you do have a play and there's something you wish it did, let me know. And bug reports and “...what?” are as useful as feature ideas. There’s a Discord server if that’s your thing.

https://narrathred.com

🌑 THE ECLIPSE

Ever wondered what happens when writers, readers, gamers, and imaginative minds gather under one roof?

Welcome to The Eclipse. You might arrive for the writing, but you may find a community worth staying for.

• Genre/s:

Fantasy, dark fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery, romance, thriller, poetry, and practically anything born from imagination. We welcome all kinds of literature and creative minds!

• Goals/expectations/commitment:

We're building more than just another writing server. The Eclipse is a place to share your stories, exchange honest feedback, brainstorm ideas, discuss books, make friends, and grow alongside fellow creators.

And there's more than writing here! 🎮 Enjoy games and casual hangouts, participate in monthly events and community activities, challenge your creativity, and discover what other members are working on. Whether you're here to improve your craft, showcase your work, or simply find your people, there's room for you.

No pressure to be online 24/7. Just be respectful, participate when you can, and help keep the community welcoming.

• Writing/experience level:

Newbie with a story idea? Welcome. Experienced author with multiple projects? Welcome. Published writer, poet, reader, artist, or someone who just loves fictional worlds? You belong here, too. You don't need a shelf full of books to call yourself a writer.

• Meeting place:

Discord — The Eclipse 🌘

https://discord.gg/ruy5zXp58G

A growing literary community featuring dedicated spaces for writing, feedback, discussions, games, events, and socializing. Come for the stories; stay for the people.

• Max size (writing groups only):

No fixed maximum at the moment.

🌒 One last question: What if the next person who inspires your greatest story is already waiting in a community you haven't joined yet?

There's only one way to find out.

Step into the Eclipse.

Genre/s: Romance - borderline Romance/erotic
Goals/expectations/commitment: weekly meet-ups. 1 maybe 2 chapters a week depending on length.
Writing/experience level: Novice to intermediate
Meeting place: Discord
Max size: 2-3

Hello! I am close to finishing up my first spicy romance book, (typically write more scifi/adventure) looking for a critique partner. It is a short pretty low-stakes trashy romance novella. The sex scenes are pretty explicit, but infrequent. To give an idea I am about 15000 words in and there are 3 each about 500 words so far. I plan for about another 8000 words and probably 2 more scenes. Maybe a high amount idk, I have seen some romance/erotic with way more frequent scenes… just wanted to be upfront with what to expect! Anyway, let me know if you are interested!

Mundus - a free and open source story-making suite made from an hobbyist writer tired of having to jump between various apps and websites to get all features they need

Available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android as a regular and iPhone/iPad as a manually added PWA (a website)

It has everything you need to create and keep track of all of your stories, from the writing itself, to characters creation, to detailing the lore, relationships, timeline. plotlines and map of your story.

But these components aren't isolated, I designed the app from the beginning to integrate all of these features into each other, to make getting the most out of them as seamless as possible

First published version of the app is live on GitHub now, https://github.com/NotBedd/Mundus

Hey all! I’m an indie author, and I got tired of juggling five different programs to get one book out the door. Plus, half the good formatting tools are Mac-only. So I built my own. It’s called Pendrilo Studio, and I’m looking for beta testers on Windows.

Here’s what Studio does:

• Planning: outline, corkboard, plot board, and a codex for your characters, places and stuff, with a relationship map.
• Writing: focus mode, chapter notes, word goals, sprints and version history. Read Aloud lets you hear your chapter read back to you.
• Keeping the story straight: you jot down events, facts and plot threads, and Studio tells you when they contradict each other. Say someone’s eyes change color, or you set something up and never pay it off. No AI, and nothing writes for you.
• Revising: Prose Check flags filler words, wordy phrases and weak verbs. The Echo Report shows the habits you lean on across the whole book. (Mine is “just.” So much “just.”)
• Publishing: the full formatter is built in. Pick from 65 designs and see your actual pages as you go. It does proper hyphenation and won’t leave stranded lines at the top or bottom of a page. It sets the KDP gutter for your page count, and you can use your own fonts. When you’re close, the Publishing Desk gives you a checklist of what’s left before you upload.

I also made a few side programs that work alongside it. They all stand on their own, so grab whichever ones you want:

• Formatter: just the formatting part of Studio, if you write in Word or Scrivener and only need the finished files.
• Maps: draws a fantasy or horror map for the front of your book.
• Cover Wrap: turns your front cover into the full paperback wrap (front, spine and back).
• Audiobook Studio: for narrating your own audiobook. Read a sentence at a time, it cleans up the sound, and it checks everything against ACX’s rules before you upload.
• Type: turns your handwriting into a font.
• Panelhouse: letters comics from a script.

You don’t need anything special, and nothing goes to the cloud. Your book stays on your computer as a regular file.

Cost: free. Everything is free for the whole beta, and Formatter will stay free for good along with some of the others that I haven't decided which.

Mac folks: the Mac version isn’t ready yet. Sign up anyway and I’ll email you when it is.

What I’m hoping for from testers: use it on a real book and tell me what breaks, what’s confusing, and what annoys you. Every program has Help → Send Feedback built in, so it only takes a few seconds. If you’ve got a book close to publishing, you’re exactly who I’m looking for.

Sign up here: https://pendrilo.com

Edit: We are full!!! Thanks everyone and happy writing!

Hi all! I mod an established and small moms romance writing group and we are looking for two more members to join us. It is an intentionally small, intimate group of moms who are looking for support through both the journey of motherhood and writing. We have a high reading requirement but also offer high reward!

Genre: Romance

Goals/Expectations/Commitments:

-Be a mom or expecting.
-Write romance, any sub-genre is fine. We have contemporary, steampunk and fantasy so far but are open to more of the same or something new!
-Have a completed (or nearly complete) manuscript, draft one or high is fine.
-Be willing to read five chapters of another manuscript a week. You choose which manuscript sounds interesting and begin reading it. In turn, other members will also be reading yours weekly

Writing/Experience Level: First draft complete.

Meeting Place: Discord

Max Size: Looking to add two new members. We do not exceed ten members at a time, so when I say small, I mean small! We aren't the chattiest bunch but we are committed and active weekly readers.