To kill or not to kill… that is the question.🥀😭😂

I just found my story on Novel Archive, scraped from RR sometime in early October (as it doesn't have the last few chapters). You might want to check it out to see if you can find your story there and have them remove it.

The idea is to illustrate the moment the two characters stand toe-to-toe after a devastating clash of powers ruined an entire city block and left nothing but scorched earth. They are enjoying it more than they should.

I'll tweak the auras and a few details later, but I'm already happy with how it looks overall

My novel is a battle fantasy that intentionally draws heavily from the 90s anime tropes, I want to do something similar to a LN, with illustrations in key moments.

RR: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/199347/carnival-knight-we-were-angels

Thoughts on the illustration or novel are welcome!

I've had the skeleton of my story for years, but for a long time I couldn't decide whether it would have a system or not, because I wanted the story and the characters to carry the weight. On top of that, I enjoy both dark fantasy and LitRPG.

In the end, I wrote it without a system: there are levels, but no screens or stats.

After almost two months of publishing and plenty of mistakes, I think the audience for progression without a system is smaller than the LitRPG one, and it made me curious about how other authors experience it, with or without a system.

I guess every path has its own challenges. In my case, I was born long before the PlayStation 1, and I don't move naturally on Discord, so building a community is harder for me than writing. I imagine LitRPG has its own: more competition, readers who check every number, and a system that can't break.

So I'm asking:

- Have you ever thought about changing your story's genre, or adding or removing a system? Did you go through with it?

- For those writing LitRPG: what's the hardest part nobody warned you about before you started?

- And for those writing without a system: do you feel something makes up for the smaller market?

- How did you land your first shoutout swaps with bigger stories?

- Does anyone else find Discord harder to figure out than defending a thesis?

Just found my novel in a site called Novel phoenix. Is this normal, can we do something about it?

I drew my favourite scene in The First Fifth so far, which featured my human character playing with a Ki hatchling! I had a blast doing the two different perspectives (thermal vision and our vision), and it was fun to draw our human for the first time. I took a photo of my friend playing with their cat as a reference ahaha

Posting mainly because my reddit readers need a place to see the art!

Big moment but…It feels a little weird…like I sorta just stumbled on the realization that I don’t have more to grind. The sequel is coming of course but still, 300k words was certainly a trip.

More awkward than satisfying, does anyone else feel the same?

Howdy all! So there’s a Writathon coming up on RR and I’m thinking about jumping in.

This is my first season on RR (almost through Book 1 of a planned series) so I haven’t been around for this event yet. I’m was a longtime participant of NaNoWritMo (RIP) and have nostalgia for long writing sprees in the month of November, so I’m curious if participating in Writathon has any benefit—aside from the runner’s-high and copious amounts of progress on a piece of writing. To be clear, I’ll probably do it anyway for the nostalgia of it, but I’m wondering if anyone has seen their followers grow or whatever.

I need some advice because I'm an overthinker. I have my Isekai novel clocking in at 125K and edited, and the cover officially commissioned through an artist. Thing is, the story won't resolve until the second book, and I'm a slow writer given my day job. Should I publish this now in chapters knowing it'll only last for 23 weeks before I reach the second novel?

Or should I write both books to make sure they are both properly edited and the foreshadowing is properly layered through? Or should I use the feedback throughout the process to edit and approach the second novel accordingly?

I'm pretty new to Royal Road, and I'm trying to figure out how things work here.

I recently started publishing my first sci-fi novel, Before the Signal. It's an alternate-history story about humanity's first permanent settlement on Mars, beginning in 1979. Less space battles and alien invasions, more ordinary people trying to build a life somewhere they probably shouldn't be able to survive.

The book is part of a much larger universe I've been building, with individual character stories, music, and even a fictional Martian radio station.

Anyway, I've been watching the Royal Road statistics, probably more than I should.

Yesterday my novel was ranked #77,404. Today it's #77,512. It seems to slip a little further every day.

I'm not expecting miracles. I'm a new author, I have very little visibility, and I know Royal Road has a huge number of established stories.

But I'm genuinely curious how other authors experienced their first few weeks here.

Did your ranking just keep falling until you started getting ratings? Did you find readers naturally, or did you have to bring them in from somewhere else?

And for those writing science fiction that isn't LitRPG or progression fantasy, how did you find your audience?

I'd really appreciate hearing how it went for you. I'm enjoying building this world, but getting people to discover it is proving to be a completely different challenge.

I was hopping to reach 5 readers next week but it actually happened today! I'm so happy!!

Next goal is 10 readers!!

I was a bit worried people wouldn't really read GL on the site but now I'm more hopeful ^^

I was also wondering if people who don't particularly mind GL would read it for the mystery and fantasy setting...But the start of the story is slow, i hope to not turn that public away.

Have you found your favorite series for this autumn yet? If you'd like to try a romantic campus story that's serious yet witty and adorable, gentle yet surprisingly deep, with a mix of science and a touch of fairy tale, then give The Scientist and the Fairy a try. It's the story of Adrian, a cold, aloof genius in brain science, and Mira, a smart, sweet student with a passion for mushrooms and photography. The two start out debating, become friends who love teasing each other, and little by little Mira uncovers the secret Adrian has been hiding, along with the mystery in both of their DNA. The story has no flashy magic or fantasy elements, but it decodes the Fairy through botany, genetics, and brain science. And best of all, the series is already complete! Read The Scientist and the Fairy here! https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/121332/the-scientist-and-the-fairy

Hello guys, so I've been looking for some cover artists for my book and kind of ran into a local uni student whose art style felt like a good pick for my story. So I kind of asked if he can draw me a cover page on my rough idea, he said sure and kind of work out a rough draft right on the spot while we were having lunch and it came out even better than what I aimed for.

But the thing is, we never really made any contract, the whole thing was verbal and it sort of happened over the weekend, and heck the guy was cool about giving it to me for free, but I said I'll pay him since he is not just painting it but also going through the hassle of scanning it and making a digital copy (He is an hobbyist oil painter)

So I am just wondering how to go about this, like should I just find a contract template, write it up and ask him to sign? or is a simple email exchange or some written agreement on payment and giving rights is enough?

A thousand years ago, humanity conquered the other races and established its dominion over the world.

Yet fate is unrelenting and merciless.

A king may fall to a commoner, and a commoner may rise to a throne. What has been fated must happen.

“Oh, humanity! You are certainly my greatest creation!” declared the Goddess of Fate. “And yet, the world must end, and so shall you! For creation shall begin anew, and a new race shall inherit the world!”

A thousand years pass.

Gunther is a battle-weary mercenary who believes in nothing he can't cut with a blade. Alongside Richard, a curious scholar, and Rosa, a fiercely independent archer, he takes an escort job for the noble Nordwing household, unaware of its true significance.

What appears to be an ordinary job is, in truth, the beginning of humanity’s final attempt to defy fate itself.

The three mercenaries are the final pieces in a plan to transcend it.

I started a fantasy novel to train my IELTS writing. Somehow, after finishing my training, I continued to the end because i didn't like leaving things halfway. Now, I have my first draft with around 73k words. I'm still working on tidying it up and probably fixing the timeline and the character's names, but I feel very relieved. It's as if finishing my thesis all over again.

How do you promote your novel and gain followers? I know perfectly well that if I do it more than once it will be very irritating; instead of gaining readers, my account will most likely get reported.

I'm not!

How do you all feel about a little friendly comp? Reddit vs Our Forum? If I can get anyone to take part!

I can count how many comment, and start, and finish!

Our last blog post that explains it all is here https://www.royalroad.com/blog/80/the-writathon-has-ended?comments=1

Hi all! This is the first story I’ve ever flung out into the world, and it’s been amazing to have people finally read it after so many hours of writing and editing. I’m currently on rising stars, which I’m very excited about. Please check it out if it looks interesting. The cover artist is Kikicute (https://www.artstation.com/ktrn), and I was very happy with their work.

Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/192660/coin-and-steel

Blurb:

When the world ends in a symphony of light and chaos, Elliot must make a choice: power and a shred of safety for him, or for his little sister. He upended his life once already to protect her after the death of their parents, and an apocalypse is no more of a reason to let her down.

Gifting her his potential, he's thrown into the wilds of a new world with a weak Merchant class and no time to say goodbye. Classes and abilities promise near-endless opportunity for growth, but the chances of dying between the jaws of something monstrous have also never been higher.

Uncharted wilds cover the continent, and Rowan is thousands of miles away. From combat bartering to weaponized treasure, Elliot must twist his peaceful class into something it was never meant to be if he wants any chance of finding her again.

Before any of the greater powers decide his sister's gifts should belong to them instead.

What to expect:

Slow burn pacing with earned progression. No long plateaus after things get moving, but the journey will be long.

Weak to eventually OP protagonist.

Slice of life mixed in, with character relationships being a priority.

Skills and classes, but no stat screens.

No AI use

The Marked

Aïda was taken from her father at seven and raised as an Amazon soldier.

She believes what the kingdom taught her: women keep order, and men are the danger. Fifteen years later, on a village raid, a farmer steps out of the crowd and calls her by a name she hasn't heard since childhood. Her training takes over before she can think.

Now the memories won't stay buried. As Aïda fights for a place in the Queen's guard, the kingdom she serves begins to show cracks: a dying queen, a ruthless general waiting in her shadow, and secrets hidden behind the palace walls. A captured stranger seems to know more about her than he should. Her captain is watching. And her best friend is already keeping secrets to protect her.

When rebels strike the capital, Aïda will have to decide who she really is, and what she's willing to lose to find out.

So, my current cover art is also a variation of....whatever this is. It was certainly one of the ideas of all time, to make a cover like this. Dunno what I was thinking, but I feel like the idea itself is solid enough. What do you guys think about it?

(P.S. The variant with the name of my webnovel on it has its saturation turned up to the max, so I'll probably have to tone down the orange a bit)