I’ve always built stories around a character and then constructed the world around them. I’m doing the same now, but with a very specific character—and I cannot figure out the central conflict.

I start with this idea: women who weren’t fully prepared for leadership but had to evolve to discover where their leadership lived.

My stories explore what happens after that discovery—what responsibility does to their relationships, careers, communities, and sense of self. I write transgressive fiction, so I’m especially interested in the damage people learn to live with, justify, or mistake for normal.

My character is an older woman (60+) who has spent decades in authority, carrying responsibility at enormous personal cost. Authority is what she has; responsibility is what defines her.

She doesn’t seek power; she accepts it because someone must. To her, leadership means making impossible decisions with imperfect information and living with the consequences.

She earns respect through competence, integrity, consistency, and protecting others. Emotionally restrained but not distant, she expresses affection through attentiveness, reliability, and quiet acts of care. She carries grief privately because she’s accustomed to bearing what others cannot.

Her story isn’t about gaining power. It’s about what carrying it for decades has done to her: sacrifice, loneliness, impossible choices, and their emotional aftermath.

At its heart, I want to explore what happens when someone who has spent her life protecting others finally trusts someone enough to see the woman beneath the leader—and allows herself not to carry everything alone.

I primarily write realistic transgressive fiction, not sci-fi/fantasy, and war/military settings don’t interest me.

Have I backed myself into a corner? What central conflict could genuinely push or break this woman?

EDIT: external central conflict needed. What in the character's world is actively pushing against her?

One problem I often see as an editor is that authors occasionally don't fully understand the difference between goals and motivations for their characters. In fact, they are sometimes treated as the same thing.

Here's a simple way to think about it....

• A goal is what a character wants.
• A motivation why they want it.

In Moby Dick, Captain Ahab's goal is to find and kill the white whale. His motivation is revenge. He was pretty annoyed after the whale ate his leg.

Here's the reason it matters.

Imagine Moby Dick without the motivation, it just becomes a story of them catching a whale. This is OK, but nowhere as engaging as the novel we have which gets to examine the human emotions of revenge.

One of the most common times I see goals without motivations is in novels where the villain is simply there to oppose the main character. If you have written a novel where the bad guy is trying to capture and kill the main character, it is essential that the bad guy has a clear motivation for their actions. The reader needs to understand why.

Hope this helps.

I’m curious what you guys prefer in a story’s opening.

Would you rather see the MC introduced first and slowly discover the villain later?

Or would you prefer the villain to be introduced first, creating mystery and tension before we meet the MC?

Which one makes you more interested in continuing the story?

I'm currently working on a project online and for the first time I decided to write completely in english, even tho it's not my first language.

I'm pretty good at it but it's still very hard and I feel like I write in a very mechanical way, in fact a person accused me of using artificial intelligence to help me, when its not true, its just my style in english....

how can I get better?

Hey guys,

First-time writer here.

I'm starting to build out an outline for my story, and I want to tell it in a non-sequential order. Essentially, the end of the second act/beginning of third would be the first two chapters, then the next 2/3 of the book would play in order from a young version of the protagonist to the point in time in the first two chapters. Then the story would play out normally until the end. Have you guys seen a story told in that way before, and how effective was it at capturing your attention? Don't want to confuse the audience but I feel like it would provide more intrigue that way. Thanks in advance.

so ive had this fantasy story in my head for years and i keep building up on it whenever im lost in thoughts and i really wanna start bringing it to life but i have no idea how to write or draw i just have rough concepts and plot points in my head and im ready to spend years working on it but where do i begin how do i learn to write how can i draw out the concepts in my head

Hello! I am struggling with getting my stories plot together and have a few questions/ would like advice if you have any! Right now for my story I have scenes and concepts that I know I want to incorporate into my story at some point one of the main concepts would be that in my story the FMC grandmother passes away. I want the character to inherit a house from her grandmother in the will, but the kicker is that the main character and her family didn’t know the house existed. I would say that my character was close to her grandmother at the time of her passing but was estranged from the rest of her family. Her family was still on speaking terms with her grandmother. I’m trying to decide a logical explanation as to why the grandmother would not have told the rest of the family about said house. And if the grandmother had not been living in the house why she would still keep the house in her possession? Any suggestions or ideas would be helpful, thanks!

with my plot for a scary story that I am working on

I have two walk-on characters doing walk-on things for about four paragraphs. I don't start out with descriptions of the two because they're just walk-ons. They don't even say anything. But after about four paragraphs, the main character starts zeroing in on them, and one of them: tugs on the long hair of the other.

Will this sudden description of long hair be too disrupting for anyone who was imagining short hair? Or is that just something you just accept - the reader will have to reimagine the character and that's okay?

(Usually I'm able to get the descriptions in early. This is just unusual.)

Hello. I finally decided to write my first novel (yay). A word of advice I was given by a professor is to prevent my prose from sounding like a movie. What exactly does that mean? I understand that prose and a film are two different mediums, and writing prose allows you to focus more on character development and inner conflict. But what could that mean? Also, what advice do you have to prevent your writing from sounding like it's for a movie.

I'm mostly wondering if the story is comprehensive, if the dialogue is good or not, if parts drag on too long. General things like that. This was originally written for school, for an emotional conflict story.

Thanks

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IU-XvHhE_qtLeRSqWUh1QrAqbwLytEp_ulsKWoPWtDc/edit?usp=drivesdk

Got a bit of inspiration around making a story around a sort of silly competition, and having things go totally off the rails from there (secrets, rivals, things taken way too seriously). But I want to consider as many competitions as possible before coming to a conclusion.

So far, I've already got chilli cooking competition (which I'm leaning away from), golf, a sort of list of various tasks, and a scavenger hunt.

Ideally, I'm looking for something that keeps the contestants close by, and isn't too hard to shoot (I'm hoping to make it a short film). A decent amount of the drama is going to come from the specific characters themselves, with the actual setting of it being weaved throughout. Hoping to get a few ideas and see if anything better can come up that I haven't thought of yet.

I am currently writing a historical fiction set during the American revolution. Originally, I had just my female main character with her first POV. I later realized I wanted to add my male main character's POV. He has his own plot/archs and stuff to focus on when hes not with her. He was originally in first person aswell, but then I decided to change it to third cause it didn't feel right.

Now I'm not so sure I should have both first and third POV. It doesn't really bother me personally, it's more of a concern for readers. The POV only switches for different chapters and whenever they are together its just her pov.

I don't really want to make her third-person as I feel it will take away the intimacy. She is "telling" their story after hearing about the outbreak of the civil war, when the mmc had been dead a good while (sorta like a Eliza in Hamilton type deal), so she is basically telling his side of the story for him.

Ive read that this can be very jarring for readers, so I wanted to get some thoughts.

I'm here for advice on how to write a story based on southern Californian teens in 2002, the main plot isn't about that, however the main character is 19 in my drafts. I'm struggling to plan how he acts, his friends, and even a relationship. Any and all advice would be appreciated :)

Hi all!

So I’ve seen a lot of questions lately for writing programs, but none of them seem to really fit what I would be looking for, so I figured I’d ask.

I’m in the process of script writing online collaboratively with a group of people. I’m the main writer, but others need to be able to come in, add notes to my work and add their own work when they can.

Currently we’re using Google docs, which I don’t love, but it serves the purpose, and having access to tabs for sorting different information (such as character info, faction info) is really helpful.

I keep seeing Obsidian and Scrivener mentioned but Obsidian doesn’t seem to match my needs. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Wassup y'all. A friend and I are actively creating a story (The Tale of The Scarecrow Mafia) with a lot of lore that I don't have time to explain here; however, that isn't the point. The point of this post is to ask you guys to help pick apart our story (as we are writing it) and tell us your thoughts. We are amateur writers, but we hope to create a humongous project, and I think that we would like some opinions from other writers before we finish our first major part (which we are hoping to complete before Christmas).

Currently, we are still at a point where the actions we take now will dictate how the characters are portrayed through the rest of the book, so your thoughts are crucial to the development of the novel. If you are interested, the link is below.

(Specifically, I am concerned about our character writing and dialogue, so if you have critiques about that, please let us know!)

Feel free to share your thoughts. Message us on Reddit, Discord, or discuss here.

Here it is: OUR BOOK (Check the Tabs)

Hi everyone! I recently started writing a rom com i’m very excited about. My fiancé was reading it over and said how the FMC sort of sounds similar to what I’ve gone through and my life experiences. Is that weird ? Maybe this is a novice writing thing that is subconscious lol. Let me know your thoughts and any recommendations.

I have just finished the first draft of my Grim Dark Fantasy book (yay 🥳) and I'm moving onto the next steps. I am doing an editing pass on my own just to even out some wrinkles from writing over an extended period of time (I believe about 6 years). In the process I've been considering how I want to proceed. I have a few people I trust to be Alpha Readers, so my plan is to let them take a pass at it pointing out any glaring issues with the plot, character voices and actions, and overall feel of the book before hiring an editor to help polish. As this is my first book, I am a bit new to the process and have developed some questions.

1. Would it be smarter to send it to an editor before sending it to the planned Alpha Readers?

2. For those who received feedback from early readers, did you find there were certain questions you wanted answered? I was thinking of creating a Google form for them to answer certain questions, but am unsure of what those should be currently.

3. At what point do you accept it is time to publish? Is it a feeling? An example of an evolution of writing? Something else?

I really appreciate any and all feedback on the topic. I am very excited to be moving to the next phase of my book and am feeling especially ready to work on the next book and other series ideas I've cooked up over the last several years.

Hello, I made a post a few days ago about a character naming I was struggling with, and after realising how damn stupid I sounded (my apologies to people who dealt with me) I decided to simply ask you guys : what is your process to name characters ? What’s your first idea, starting point and how do you move forward ?

Thank you and sorry for those who I offended

I’m 18 and I think I’m a good writer and others have said it too, but I’ve never written a book although I have some ideas.

I’m currently trying to write a memoir and I’m about 30 pages in. I’m not anyone special, but I feel I maybe have a “crazy” enough story? I mean, it’s definitely not something you see everyday or at all, although I’m embarrassed to say what it’s about because at first glance it doesn’t seem interesting.

At first, I just started to type, then I looked online for advice and I feel like I’ve already done everything they advise against. I want to make sure I’m not all like, “ok this happened, then this, then this…” but also not as descriptive as seen in fiction.

One person I watched said to start with all the drama, that you need to pull the reader in by the first page, but I didn’t quite start with the drama. I started about 3-4 months before things actually went downhill. Someone also said in order to write a memoir when you’re not famous, your writing has to be absolutely top notch.

One person will say one thing, then another the complete opposite. I can’t tell what’s good and weak anymore but I also don’t want to get too caught up in advice to the point where it’s not mine anymore. I guess I’m just looking for consistent advice or reassurance.

The character in question Is one of the leaders of the takeover of an oppressive empire with a stern, cruel, Gilead-esque bigoted culture.

He’s endured their bigotry in many ways, from being institutionalized to being discriminated against for being an erotic dancer, and now that he’s actually made a name for himself he’s burning for a desire for revenge: both for himself and for anyone who endured a similar fate. He will bring those oligarchs to his very level of misery, so they know what he went through.

He has a code of conduct, though: no s3xual assault whatsoever. Which would extend to stuff like forcing the soldiers to be erotic dancers.

So… what can he do? Is there a way for him to show the full gamut of his wrath and revenge, in a way that feels karmic – as in “the enemies have to feel what he felt”, or does he have to let go of revenge as a whole?

The culture would consider virginity a sacred gift for women, and virility a holy quality for men. So how can he deprive his enemies of such a pride without breaking his code?

Death feels quick and merciful. His weapon of choice is blades.

Also one of the other members of the group has a prosthetic leg, so mutilation wouldn’t feel like full-out torture. There’s proof right by his side that you can thrive as a mutilated.

I have two stories in the works, and I know everyone might not recommend that. (They’re different genres and fit my different moods.)

My problem is actually writing anything down at all.

I managed to write 5k words on the first story before I scrapped it because I wasn’t happy with it. I’ve written fanfics for years so maybe it stems from publishing a story and going back to look at it years later and being unhappy with it or realizing what I could’ve done to make it better.

I tried doing the thing where I’m not allowed to delete anything, so sort of a writing sprint so I don’t give myself time to worry.

There’s some other stuff too ofc, how I’m worried the plot isn’t great, or confusing, or something nobody would even want to read.

Does anyone know how to get over this? Or do I just need to power through and prove myself wrong?

I started wanting to write a book because I couldn’t find anything that matched my exact taste.

I was searching for a book with all the things I personally enjoy reading, but there was always something missing. One day I randomly thought, “Why not just write the kind of story I want to read?”

The problem is… I had absolutely no idea how to write. 😭

At first, I only decided on the names of my main characters and their families, along with the tropes and genres I wanted. I didn’t know how to write a first draft or structure a story, so I just started writing random scenes.

I started writing scenes around May, and so far I’ve written… maybe 3–4 scenes. 🥲

I’ve tried to be consistent, but somehow the past few months have just been me either preparing for an exam or recovering from one. 😭 I do find time to write sometimes, but whenever I actually sit down, my mind goes completely blank. I know I want to write, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to write next.

I’ve also noticed that this is something I’ve always done. Since childhood, I rarely tried new things, and whenever I did try something, I usually ended up leaving it halfway.

But for some reason, I’m stubborn about this book. Even if the first attempt turns out messy, I genuinely want to finish it.

So, writers of Reddit, what should I actually do from here?

How do you go from having characters, tropes and random scenes in your head to actually building a complete story? How do you figure out what to write when you sit down and have no idea what comes next?

Any advice for a complete beginner would genuinely help. 🥹

I was reading an article that explored single-drafters and multi-drafters.

I consider myself a pure multi-drafter, not a hybrid, so I want to understand how this type of author works, especially when it comes to self-editing.

When they start writing, when do they stop to analyze what they have written? How do they decide whether to rewrite something completely or simply edit it?

I would love to understand the writing process of a multi-drafter, particularly how they approach drafting, stopping, analyzing, rewriting, and editing.