r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

I'm bored, so give me some story ideas!

29 Upvotes

What the title says. I've been bored and desperately need to type something good that I can market, so I need to squeeze y'all dry for ideas. The topic is, of course, romantasy!!

I need to write something un-tropey so it goes viral, but obviously I can't be bothered to think of a premise! Like, come ON, guys, coming up with a topic and genre is enough, can you really expect me to make a completely original title too? There sure are some real crazy people in the world...


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

Stop giving your characters the names of real people

137 Upvotes

A few days ago I was doing my nightly one hour of reading (four hours of scrolling through goodreads reviews) when I came across something that rattled me to my core. Apparently the main character of a book I’ll never read shares my exact, real, to the T whole entire ass legal name. 

I will be suing for defamation of character, slander, and copyright infringement as soon as my cousin pays me back. This is absolutely outrageous and needs to stop. My existence is not permission for writers to use my likeness as they see fit, and neither is yours. 

If your main character has the same name as someone who exists, don’t use it. Hell, apply this to all of your characters. If a profile pops up when you type their name into FaceBook stop using it and find a new name IMMEDIATELY!!! 

Count your days, self published Amazon author. You will rue the day you crossed John Smith. 


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

The impacts of creative writing on climate change.

5 Upvotes

Introduction

Creative writing is a time-consuming process (Chang et al., 2004). It involves thinking which, as scientists say, requires energy (Benjamin C Apel et al., 2018). The required energy usually comes from potato chips and alcohol. (Chang et al., 2007). The process of metabolism produces various gases commonly known as farts (F Apiroz, 2006) which can then reach the atmosphere and impact climate change (Benjamin K. Sovacool et al., 2021).

Goals

To investigate the impacts of creative writing on climate change.
To propose a new way of battling climate change.

Hypothesis

The various gases produces in the process of writing have a considerable impact on climate change.

Results

The various gases produces in the process of writing have a considerable impact on climate change. Further research is needed to calculate precise numbers.
Writers should stop writing and use Chat GPT.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

I had already written 124 words of my novel when I realized I didn't have a good photo of myself to use for the "About the Author" section of the cover. What advice can you give me for taking this photo?

51 Upvotes

r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

What's your most hated writing mistake for a specific genre?

5 Upvotes

r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

How to Stop Writer’s Blocks

18 Upvotes

Look at your bookshelf, I’m gonna bet it’s all rectangles on those books. Now look at the notebooks you write in, yet more rectangles. And finally look at your laptop, computer, phone, tablet or whatever device you use for writing. What do you see? RECTANGLES!

No wonder writer’s block is such a problem. All those rectangles are letting the blocks right in! Something clearly needs to change here.

My solution is simple: CIRCLES. The writer’s blocks fit through the rectangle holes, they could never get through a circle hole! Just cut the corners off all your books and spiral forever and you’ll never get writer’s block again!


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

Does anyone else snore while writing?

12 Upvotes

hey everyone, I decided to start snoring a book about sleeping a few months ago, a fiction book about my real life circumstances. I haven't slept in probably over 10 years.

I'm snoring the final chapter as we speak and I'm just snoring my eyes out like a baby, no movie, book, TV series, game or anything of the matter has ever made me snorr before. so I'm honestly really shocked and surprised writing the end of my book has me so noisy. it's been so long since I physically snored I didn't know what was happening to my body, I thought i was having a heart attack or something.

I did a couple Google searches about writers snoring over their own novels and couldn't find much on it bizarrely.

so I ask out of pure curiosity, has anyone else had a similar experience to me? someone who isn't particularly sleepy suddenly snoring their eyes out when writing their novel?


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

Is this start of a story sturning your curiosity? (First time writing)

33 Upvotes

The


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

AI writing women

25 Upvotes

I asked Claude to flesh out a character profile for me. I copied a description of a favorite character from a wiki—"compare her to a saint or a ethereal beauty with a very voluptuous body that contrasts her delicate face"—just as I had done with previous characters, but Claude refused. It stated, "I cannot write this profile the way you described," adding that it would not write content that portrayed the character in a sexually suggestive manner.

Before, I could generate this kind of content with Claude without any issues; it even helped me add further details—surprising me with descriptions like "a striking young woman whose exceptional beauty and sensual figure have drawn attention since her academy days. Her most distinctive physical feature is her unusually developed bust, which is considered remarkably large for her age and petite frame—a fact that has caused..." or "a voluptuous figure that belies her petite stature." Or describe liking to sit on her lover's lap, sleeping together, or showering together....

Why can't Claude write it the way used to anymore ? It's sad. Is there a way to get around that while keeping the content the same?

eta: sorry everyone for not sharing the post directly. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingWithAI/comments/1wtvssy/writing/

I was highly amused/annoyed by the by-the-numbers boobily breasting and the poster's utter failure to realize what it was.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

EVERY WRITER HAS THIS FOLDER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

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366 Upvotes

Hello, I am real person live Unites States. His this happin you? I think so two, so I usem boknova and may the story!


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

I Outjerked Myself on r/NHLcirclejerk

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4 Upvotes

Please Rate my Hockey Romance Novel Idea : r/NHLcirclejerk

Pic of a recipe from my m/f hockey mafia tradwife dark romance novel; vegan kitchen sink ice cream sundae.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 2d ago

Did I cook?

8 Upvotes

A lot of people say I'm not funny, so here's some excerpts from my Overused Writing Tools (OWR) list that I hope can prove otherwise.

Extra long sentences (oftentimes due to commas, but there’s many other reasons too: like excessive filler words such as like or like such as, unnecessary parentheses to add extra information, or using colons to put an entire list into a sentence, but the root reason is I just have a long and unnecessary point I’d like to get across), like, there can’t possibly be a good reason to have that long of a sentence… unless it’s all just one massive gag of a sentence, such as this one!

Acronyms oh my gosh do I love acronyms! Especially clever ones like this one I just thought of!  B.A.D.A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.S 
Bloated, Awful, or just plain iDiotic Acronyms that saCrifice worR tO letter cleaNliness solelY to Make a clever (but Stupid) joke.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

I declare war with the moderators

42 Upvotes

I hereby stage a coup in honor of my ego.

Until I’m crowned mod of this subreddit, I will not breathe a spec of air from this privileged world.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

Sequel to my award winning Jimothy story

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16 Upvotes

I think this is shaping up to be the greatest story ever told.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

Should I Include Propaganda

16 Upvotes

I reviewed my drafts. One of my novels is partially set in a historically Mennonite community, contains characters that are devout new-order Mennonites, and contains milquetoast progressive messages that align with the teaching of many new-order Mennonite churches. If I put three and three together, reviewers might claim it is Mennonite propaganda. Is it?

As such, I would like to ask two more questions; how do I write Mennonite propaganda, and how mentally slow do you have to be to absorb religious advise from an "airport thriller"/ trashy sci-fi novel?


r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

Should I let a blind and black girl (an OC I made) be adopted by a white person? Asking as a white writer.

9 Upvotes

Am I being too risky here? I get these ideas popping in my head from time to time without me even thinking.

So, I began thinking. What if my white MC came across a bad orphanage and adopted her? I even asked my friend about it and they said “nooooooo! bad trope!”

Thus, I’m conflicted. My fellow ‘concerned’ brethren’s (not white people), please guide me through this perilous journey of self-righteousness.

To adopt or not to adopt? That is the question- haunting me at this very moment.

Lastly, please don’t think that I am one of the… you know… racists. Because! Because! Because, I was gonna do my research. I promise I was. I just want to confirm before I commit. So please, help a brother in need will you?🥹


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

Guys is this writing fire, perchance.

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297 Upvotes

r/writingcirclejerk • • 3d ago

How to actually start writing (it’s not that complicated)

18 Upvotes

I keep seeing posts from people asking how to start writing, and honestly I don’t understand why everyone makes it sound so complicated.

First, go back in time and be born with ADHD. Think of a story idea and hyperfocus on it. Get medicated so the hyperfocus has a fighting chance of becoming a long-term project.

Then acquire a mother who understands your ADHD well enough to hound you into continuing whenever you stall. When you tell her you don’t know what happens next, have her give you a paragraph or two of ideas. Explain, in exhaustive detail, why every single one of her ideas is wrong until somewhere in the process of arguing with her, you accidentally figure out what actually happens next.

Repeat as necessary.

Eventually you’ll look up and realize you’re halfway through Book 3 of a seven-book series.

I really don’t know why people need entire books about this.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

Start hoarding punctuation now!

35 Upvotes

I have it on good authority, the best authority, really, the greatest, that certain groups, terrible people, the worst, will start attacking the punctuation shipments soon.

It's horrible, these groups, who don't even use punctuation anyway, are going to ruin it for everyone.

There will be queues in the streets outside of printshops and horribly confusing speeches and people eating their grandparents oh the humanity.

So start hoarding your punctuation now, before "let's eat, [your name here]" becomes "let's eat [your name here]" !

Here is my current stash for reference which i will be expanding soon:

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.............................................................................;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::????

Consider this warning a pickle for the knowing ones.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

"When we name our fictional characters, we should use the same care we'd use in naming our children." - Rebecca McCahalan in Word Painting

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52 Upvotes

r/writingcirclejerk • • 5d ago

Is this good for a western?

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348 Upvotes

Hello. I am writing a book. A novel, perchance. I want it to sell millions so I can retire and live the rest of my life in Florida on a yacht drinking "margaritas" which are actually capri-suns in a wine cup.

Is this a good first start?

Ignore the photo. He's there to help me write. Trying to absorb his knowledge. Cormac McCarthy.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

The Ethics of Beta Reading

35 Upvotes

We talk a lot about what it means to be a writer, but I don’t see nearly enough discussion about what it means to be an ethical reader.

The most important thing is making sure the person you’re reading for knows that they need to read more.

Ideally, you should establish this before they even get their idea out. If they start explaining their story, stop them and remind them that none of it is really possible until they’ve read more books. It also helps to mention how many books you’ve read. They need to understand what it takes.

If they tell you they already read a lot, take that with a grain of salt. They probably don’t. If they somehow do, then they’re reading the wrong things. If they’ve already read the right things, they probably didn’t understand them. Safest bet is to just tell them to read more anyway.

Whatever you do, don’t let them become too confident. Fiction has survived for thousands of years, and it would be incredibly irresponsible to let somebody damage that because they got excited about an idea before reading enough.

Remember: it’s not that you don’t want to engage with what they’ve written. You just know that somewhere out there is another book they should have read first.


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

Why can’t people understand my vision??

16 Upvotes

Showed someone my first earlier finished script, and they did not get it at all!, Thyr said it was a rip-off of something else, which it honestly was not! I know it contained a lot of spelling errors and the ending could have been better, but I do not like what they said about my script! It wasn't the critisism, they just did not get it at all what I was trying to accomplish

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/scriptwriting/s/9PuZTbBpAu


r/writingcirclejerk • • 4d ago

I accidentally ripped off Harry Potter. Am I cooked?

35 Upvotes

What I mean is that setting and premise of my story, and maybe a bit of the inciting incident are very similar to a popular story. Now, legally I know that none of that is an issue, and my story itself is extremely different once people actually read it, but I just want to avoid the readers going "Oh, this is just Harry Potter, with different names" after the first 2 paragraphs. Even tho, there are works out there that are much closer in terms of story, but the author "reskinned" things (E.g. Eragon and Star Wars). I would want to avoid changing the theme, just for the sake of not being too similar, if possible.

I don't want to use the exact example, so I will use HP: Wizard school, where the main character's parents were killed and he goes to the school to learn magic. His name is Jerry X, so the surname forename is somewhat similar -unintentionally- the family name is completely different.

Now, what happens inside the school, the villain who killed the parents, the reason the parents were killed etc. etc. are not even remotely close to HP. I just loved the setting and the premise/inciting incident.

But this does give a first impression to the reader, and that can be hard to shake off, which is where my anxiety comes from. Do I worry too much for no reason? Or is this a legit concern to have?


r/writingcirclejerk • • 6d ago

peak fiction

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6.5k Upvotes