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Being excited about your plans is a helpful fuel to carry you through executing them. And being aware of when you've done something well is an important part of being self-critical. Noticing your flaws as a writer is helpful, but so is being able to notice when you've got something right, take...

Interesting! I think I’ll probably end up favouring stylistic choices every time - I’m very resigned to my work being an inappropriate fit for the Scribblehub userbase and am mostly writing it here as it’s a brilliant site for making drafting fun! But…it is nice to have readers isn’t it? Haha...

Yes! There’s a gamble to make here between what I might lose in retention and what I might gain from that time on the front page. Sounds like this is the way to go.

Ah! I don’t think I knew about new series feature. I hoped this was the right answer, as it’s certainly the most emotionally fulfilling one! Yes, that reality’s my worry. Though I’ve so few readers to be honest that maybe the issue barely arises!

The finish line’s in sight for my book… another twelve chapters should get me to the end of Act 3. So naturally I’m thinking about the sequel. After this story’s done then a bunch of its characters will go on an entirely different adventure. What’s the better move do you think? Continuing...

I had such good intentions! I think it would be genuinely useful for anyone reading mine - I’ve a large active cast, some pretty abstract concepts in the worldbuilding, and a shamefully sporadic release schedule - but I’ve not given it enough love and attention. Once I get to the (rapidly...

“This should probably be inclusive” is a good thing to demand of the art coming from the Global Corporations that dominate our culture. We probably should hold them to that standard, critique their attempts, and bully them a bit. “Just do whatever you want” is a better thing to ask of...

If you look at prologues in mainstream, published novels they're very rarely about worldbuilding or infodumping. They tend to be crafted as units of fiction that stand as short stories in their own right and work to establish tone, or state the themes of the novel in miniature. They get...

That’s kind of genius. I love that. Anything that tricks your brain into looking at the text fresh is a good idea and this is so simple and immediately effective.

This thread has been an important reminder for me to back up all my chapters.

For me the big question was "what am I trying to do here?" In the sense of "What kind of fun am I trying to offer readers?" Like... my story's got a lot of horror, comedy, sex and world-building. So I had to ask myself where the balance was. Did I want people to be horrified? Amused? Aroused...

People who don't fit in the dominant norms of a society have a bit more work to do than people who do. Labels can help people - Feel that who they are is okay, that it's a 'thing' rather than just 'wrong' - Access communities, support, information, and activism. It's all bullshit really...

Once I'm done... and it won't be long, my story's very finite and I'm about a quarter of the way through already... There's two things that're an obvious next step. One is editing and expanding it into a 'final version' ebook. There'll probably be no point in offering it for sale anywhere, as...

I kind of love my silent readers. There’s a little hardcore on my book who’re always up to date and never say a single word. I’m fascinated by the mystery of these people. Are they enjoying? Are they on board with the tone of the story? Invested in what happens? Hatereading? Just vibing? I’ll...

“Not necessarily” is the answer to the question in the thread title. There are plenty of works, from Alan Moore’s ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ comics to Coetzee’s novel ‘Foe’ that use characters from other sources but that nobody would, in good faith, call ‘fanfic.’ Parody, allusion...

I’m so immune to it as a fetish or genre that I can end up writing it by accident just while telling stories. Which would be fine in most spaces. People don’t interpret stories of infidelity in soaps or drama as ‘ntr’ or ‘cucking.’ That’s not how audiences talk about Breaking Bad or X-Men...

I think hoard them and let them brew and stew at the back off your mind. There'll come a time when you need a story for a situation... and you'll have one in your pocket waiting, better developed than you expected. Or there'll come a time when you know it's time to tell it. Just pulled up the...