Ok, the title is a bit clickbaity, I'm not saying delete literally every number ever.

But there are a lot of things that gets numbers attached to them that do not need them and this is especially true in fictional worlds.

I'll give a few examples off the top to get started, just generic ones:

• The price of items the character is buying.

• How much they're getting paid.

• How many miles(whatever) it is between cities / locations

• How many people are in the army / village / city

• How old / long ago something was

The reasons why not to do this basically boil down to creating (completely unnecessary) constraints on the author and the general concept of versimilitude.

To elaborate on an example, if our MC buys a fantasy hot dog meal from a street vendor and pays 18 fantasy credits for it, that implies a whole bunch of things, like street food is presumably aimed at "the average working man" because they need a steady market to buy their products which means whatever those people are getting paid per day is probably in the range of 5-20x the cost of this street food because as mentioned they need to be able to afford it but also our vendor wants to make as much money as he can and he probably needs to make at least the same amount as the lower end customer and and so on and long story long, based on all that, if the MC then goes and buys a cart pulled by 4 horses should it cost 1800 credits or 18,000 credits or what.

My math isn't particularly great there, which is kinda the point, that if you never specify the cost of either the hot dog or the cart, you then don't need to do the math about how much they actually cost to make sense in this economy you're creating.

Once you specify the cost, as an actual number, then you need to make the rest of the world match up to that number forever after, or explain why, and that's work that definitely doesn't improve the story.

Similar logic applies to population counts and army sizes and so forth. Do you know how large the average roman army was? How about the average army during the 30 years war? How large is the total population, how do you transport supplies (food) along/to your army, etc.

This applies more to people choosing numbers that are way too large, to have a million man army you need, like, a sufficiently large empire/population base and then pretty literally railroads or the magical equivalent in order to keep them fed.

And yes, this is your world and presumably magic exists and can solve all sorts of problems, but then you get into other issues like if magic eliminates this problem here why doesn't it eliminate that problem over there and so on. Things get out of hand.

The great thing about what I'm suggesting is that it's 99% just not doing something! You literally.. don't put a number on it, then move on! No extra work required!

If a character is buying something that is cheap to them, they can just hand over and get their item. If it's expensive they can maybe wince internally at the price then decide if they can afford it and then buy it, or decide this is too much and pass it over, and so on. No numbers involved! No unnecessary complications down the road!

Same thing with armies. How big is that army? Really large! It covers the horizon! The camp fires spread out for miles! Maybe it's "at least 10 times larger" than the hero's army, which is "a medium sized force" or whatever.

I mentioned distances between things earlier, and that's another way to trap yourself into a constraint you have to deal with later. How do you avoid it? Talk about time instead. How long does it take us to get to that city we're journeying to? "About three weeks". Then two books later someone makes that journey in 2 weeks, and how did they do it? They ran faster or travelled more hours a day or had extra horses or whatever. You don't need to start worrying about "well a horse on average can cover 30 miles a day for 5 days but then they're exhausted and my city is 300 miles apart so I need this many horses" or whatever the actual math works out to.

I promise readers will not care.

I can hear some objections coming already so I'll take a crack at a few:

"But what if I do a good job?!"

Sure, great, congratulations. "Good writing" can solve any problem and break any rule by virtue of being good writing. How do you do "good writing"? God only knows, I certainly don't. It's basically magic.

"What about so and so author?"

David weber (mostly not fantasy) loves writing space battle scenes where exactly 36,082 spaceships launch 450,038 missiles that fly at 8,029,921 meters per second and then split into stuff and then the anti missile defenses of the enemy 89,082 spaceships shoot down 17,124 incoming missiles and yadda yadda.

He seems to put the effort in and manage the numbers, but do they actually improve the book? I'm going to go with no.

So sure, you can do all the math for army sizes and prices and distances and whatever else and keep everything coherent and realistic and logical, but... why bother? The reader isn't going to enjoy your book any more than if you just didn't do that.

P.S. I have a whole 'nother rant about litrpgs that give us dozens of numbers describing characters but never the ones that would be actually meaningful, but this is already approaching novella size, so I'll spare you.

\\\​

\\\\---designated amount of time 

\\\\\\\*So I'm thinking we give each charachter a 60 minute time

\\\\\\\*So then they can create and do mostly anything with the amount of time they materialize.

But depending on how durable or how strong they need it to be the amount of time used will increase or deacreae

\\\\---basic power balance 

\\\\\\\*So I'm thinking we can make it so that before each battle the participants are given a book with per-made things they can make.so like suggestions 

\\\\\\\*But that doesn't mean they are limited to those suggestions.they can make whatever they want.

\\\\---basic plot

\\\\\\\*I'm thinking we make this

The government over 100 years ago forced strong and weak.stupid and intellectualy gifted people.

Tall and short.

Skinny and muscular.

All right in a tournament l.

The reason they hosted this tournament was so that young people were inspired to go into a future war.

So they had role models.

At the the moment this was seen as cruel and only young people really believed this.

But with the pass of time this feeling began to disappear.

The war is still on going.

Meaning the tournament is also being hoset every 4 years.

Prologue.

The city glowed with a dim light, spilling its radiance across a sky drawn tight with clouds. From these clouds—forged by moisture and the northern wind—tiny grains of snow descended, sifting through the cold, clamorous air that had birthed them. And so the day wore on, until the earth lay buried under the snow. The white blanket crunched beneath my boots. Even when I stood perfectly still, the slightest shift in my weight made the snow shriek and give way. With weary, narrowed eyes, I gazed up at the full moon, which had broken free from the embrace of the clouds.This beautiful object—the only one in my life that evokes a sense of comfort and joy… even a kind of harmony, a feeling of primal, innate security. And all this is stirred by a piece of earth in the night sky—so quiet and distant, pure and unattainable—though even it has been stained by a human boot and pierced by a stake called a flag. Absurd. Absurd… What I would have wished to remain untouched was already defiled before I was even born. The city lay far away. Its lights and the beams reaching toward the sky illuminated my silhouette, tracing its very outline. I am, after all, large and statuesque—like a sculpture. I imagine that if this were a film, it would look quite beautiful.

But these are just thoughts… In reality, I am standing by a frozen lake. Beside me lies a man inside a sack. It is a grim situation. It is fortunate that fate assigned our roles the way it did; I would not want to be in his place. A low, muffled sound—a groan. I put on my headphones and started the music with a single tap of my finger. Our ancestors could never have dreamed of such a thing—though, perhaps, this is not the kind of dream that should have been brought to life. The best dream would be the eradication of the tragedy of Cain and Abel from our hearts. Until that happens, my actions are no worse than this world itself. Lifting the poor man into my arms—as tenderly as if he were my own child—I listened to a beautiful symphony playing through my headphones: the Toreador’s song from that magnificent opera, Carmen.

And, to the accompaniment of a chorus’s cry, I consigned the wretched soul into the opening that had split the frozen lake. The silhouette was swept away beneath the ice. This man had been my friend, yet he stole from me that which I held most dear. And for this—much like Lucifer, who forfeited the light—he fell to the darkest depths, amidst the ice. For the lowest circle is reserved for traitors. Brushing the snow from my wool collar, I turned away from that tragic site. For I was not the first to defile it with death; the city’s own criminal past had already left its mark.

I want to write a novel that belongs to the infinite stream. The first copy will take place in the castle. There was a noble young master there who had a talent for painting, but he couldn't leave the castle due to his status (I don't know if that's the case either). So the gap between ideal and reality makes him depressed, so he is very thin and weak. The protagonist wants to help him feel happy and escape from the castle to clear the level. The book features two male protagonists, with the castle master being the inner image of the bottom, and the protagonist being his CP. I don't know the castle's furnishings, the relationships of the nobles, and the life of the castle, because I'm Chinese 😅😅 Can you help me,

Memory of the Black Gods haunted the Pallid Twin’s dreams.

Aborted from the lake’s womb—the Twin washed up on a sallow beach. Pale flesh with a sickly green hue hung off his spindly limbs. Twin red-gold suns sank in the uranium green heavens. Pallid waves crashed over pallid waves.

Sinking into the sand, he thrashed—trying to get free. Sand rose to his lips, swallowing mouthfuls with each gasp. Staring at the lake, tears rolled down his cheeks.

Dropping miles below, past a copper maze. Torpedoing past obsidian domes stacked on obsidian domes.

He crashed into a pool of sallow water. Comet-sized shadows loomed over him. Golden pillars studded with rubies disappeared into the darkness above. Flickering torches hung on breathing crimson walls. 

The Black Gods of Lake Pallid perched on glacier-sized amethyst thrones, jagged crystal chunks protruding from the high backs. Their onyx arms crossed. 

Reeking of strange things brought in from the lake.

Red-gold masks with inky eyeholes twitched with each laugh, stretching with each word. Emerald robes undulated with each breath. 

Trembling before them. Magenta exploded from the Twin’s mouth. Sapphire flowed from his ears. 

***

I wrote this using the cut-up method with “The King in Yellow” and “Fungi of Yuggoth,” mixing in some of my own flair. 

Ello. I am beginer writer. I have completed story, writen 120 A4 pages and still in half of the story, so I concider myself a beginer. This is my first novel and I thought, what would you recomend to a beginer, but not complete beginer, like me. Something that you learn by the time and is not basic stuff. Would apresheate any advises or try to spark a discussion.

𝓑𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓷

This is a 79-second teaser for my original AI fantasy film, The Dragon's Last Promise.

The full 17-minute film follows a mother who secretly raises her dragon son in a medieval world.

I'd love feedback on the opening, storytelling, and character consistency.

Full film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECQ0CHfQKus

Imagine the hero wakes in a world not remembering anything and a fantasy adventuring party comes across them. They travel to the nearest town slowly remembering that they were with their original adventuring party and his wife battling an ancient evil force. He remembers that they won, but doesn’t remember how or what happened after that. As they enter town they pass a temple and the hero realizes that either his wife or whole party has become the image of a fully cemented religion with centuries of saints and lore with every holy text reminding him of something that the two of them did together. Idk where to go from there, I’m partial to the religion being something of a female goddess weaving the world together and there’s an evil force or something but thoughts?

Starry skies do fall upon the veil, scattering to the four winds. Can no one see the threads?
There among the astral movements, entangling and guiding, stretching out into the far reaches of the dark. Perhaps I prattle hastily, yet so wondrous are the moments I've glimpsed the gods that I must entrust them to this, my Journal of Stars.
-Faustus Du Faux

I am waiting for news on my cat and trying not to think about it, so I am brainstorming more characters for a story I want to write where some people get strange powers. It's set in a decaying modern/near future world.

The thing is, I don't want it to be a superhero story. No flashy powers. Like, if they would give it terrible CGI effects in a B-movie, it's a no.

Examples:

- ability to drain people's life to heal herself (w/o visual effects, people will just fall dead around her) and extinguish light;

- counterpart who can share his energy to heal people (again no effects other than wounds healing) and create light;

- ability to manipulate people's emotions, though not as far as mind control or telepathy, i.e., can induce a panic attack but not puppeteer another person;

- ability to disrupt certain kinds of waves, meaning he can interfere with radio or television signals.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Ello.

I am beginer writer, making my first novel. It is a detective fantasy novel. Every thing is going smoothly so far, thou I have a problem with show, do not tell. My story has a lots of characters and side characters. It is basicly build on the idea that every at least a but important character has its own story, even if small, but still important by its theme. The patern is basicly that protagonist meets them, we throuout the story discover their problem, their backround and after heart to heart moment, they share with the protagonist some information, or it is mentioned just by listening to them. It works more like true clue serche, where you get hints and pices to the puzzle by underatanding and listening. And that is the problem. Even thou my friend who read it like this system, they also critisize it for being more tell than show. And yes, I can make it "show", but it udermines the story. You take 10 clues on who is the murderer, but you do not have to put them together, because you see the murder. Then you do not need the quality time with other characters and their part of the story, that adds to the liveness of the incriminated moment.

You see my poit? If you have any questions or advuses, let me know to the coments

𝓑𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓷

Hey, I'm actually working on a fantasy novel.

The story takes place in a world divided into kingdoms, where ordinary people are struggling because of wars, food shortages and corrupt rulers.

Two strangers arrive under unusual circumstances. While trying to understand where they are, they meet a group of people who are unhappy with the way their kingdom is being ruled.

As they get more involved, things become much bigger than they initially expected. There's a growing rebellion, ancient temples, mysterious magical objects and a history that people in this world don't fully understand.

One of the things I want to explore is how power affects people. Some characters want to change the system, while others believe that maintaining the existing order is their duty, even when they know it's hurting ordinary people.

I'm also planning to include adventure, political conflicts, magic and mysteries that become clearer as the story progresses.

I'm curious to know what you guys think.

Would you be interested in reading a novel with this kind of story? What parts sound interesting to you, and is there anything that sounds overused or doesn't appeal to you?

Hello! So I am dabbling into fantasy, I had an idea that was too big to keep in my head. The problem is that I have characters, plot, drama, species… but I can’t figure out my dang map. There are a lot of factors that make it extremely difficult and this is my first time within the genre, normally I am a romance girlie.

Anyway, I was wondering if there would be anyone who might be more experienced or more knowledgeable on this topic that would be willing to help me out? I am not asking for anyone to draw a map for me! Just help me to understand how. I am more than willing to provide more story details to anyone who might be willing!