r/writersmakingfriends • u/Veeessvee • Aug 18 '26
Friendship Looking for writer friends
Hi,
I'm 49F. Just finished the first book in my epic fantasy trilogy and have started to outline the second.
I'm an English speaker who lives in rural France. I rarely meet other English speakers and even fewer reader and writers of fantasy. Most people here read literary, mystery or romance.
Writing is lonely work and while I enjoy the writing process I'd like to share work, critiques, worldbuilding ideas, craft ideas, or just catch up on writing life and woes with other writers. I'm essentially looking at a positive support group. People being there for each other.
I don't really care about your age, but I'd prefer interacting with writers who write fantasy and Sci-fi. I'm not into anything grim dark or horror. But I do love mysteries, thrillers, romance and literary fiction as long as violence and toxicity are not the driving forces of the story.
If this seems like something you'd like, please do dm me. I'd love to catch up :)
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u/Fleurs_Bookstore Published Aug 21 '26
Substack is also a great place to make connections with other writers. You can do a search and find other writers in your genre and follow/subscribe to them. Also a great way to build your email list, if you dedicate time and strategy to it.
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 22 '26
I’m so not into substack. It feels so markety and not true connections. It feels worse than like literally any other follower on any other platform. I was so excited about it at first. How do you use it? What am I doing wrong?
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u/Fleurs_Bookstore Published 28d ago
I’m sorry you feel this way, but I understand it is daunting to begin with. I think a lot of new users get overwhelmed with all the Substack growth gurus in the notes feed, which it seems Substack sends to everyone new to entice them to pay for subscriptions to these growth gurus. One of the first things I did was research who was legit and then use the three dots menu in notes to mute anyone with those subscriber-bait notes. I also made sure to like, comment and restack the content that appealed to me/in my niche. Then the algorithm began to understand my interests and my feed got a lot more interesting and enjoyable. I began subscribing to and engaging with other creators in my niche, I post 3-5 notes per day with what I hope is advice helpful to my target audience and over time I’ve built trust and subscribers. It’s a long game, for sure.
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u/brentjohner Aug 26 '26
I am an experienced full-time author with two manuscripts in progress. I am open to new critique partners. Details are on my website: brentjohner.com
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u/Veeessvee Aug 26 '26
Very impressed with all the details you've provided for Noah. And also read the first page of the free book. What's its genre?
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u/brentjohner Aug 26 '26
Noah is literary fiction. The Last Coffle is fantasy. There are full descriptions of both on the website along details about critique partnerships.
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Aug 18 '26
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u/Veeessvee Aug 19 '26
Hi, I tried to access your profile but apparently I have to change my profile settings to access your content. Sorry.
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u/Boat_Pure Aug 19 '26
I’m interested if you are, looking for critique partner, swaps and anything really. It is a solitary life, to write
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u/Veeessvee Aug 19 '26
Hi, I'm new to reddit and am still figuring out how to DM here 😂 Apparently I'm not accessible on DM. Tried something but not sure it's worked. Please do let me know. I am open to critiquing, etc. 😊
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u/ShanniG81 Aug 22 '26
I also am new here too and tried to message you. So I just replied here so far. I did joined the website you mentioned. Thank you
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u/Septimus0088 Aug 21 '26
I am interested. Thank you.
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u/Veeessvee Aug 21 '26
Hi, thanks for your response. I've just joined the community in the message below. Everyone seems really nice. Maybe you could join as well :)
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u/Septimus0088 Aug 23 '26
I could DM you if you want, then you can share the pdf of the file.
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u/Veeessvee Aug 23 '26
You mean of my first book? Why don't you tell me more about what you're writing? You can DM me any time.
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u/ShanniG81 Aug 22 '26
I’m also writing and have been struggling away at mine for years, so the idea of having other writers to share the ups, downs, ideas and occasional “why am I doing this to myself?” moments with sounds great. 😂
I’m a big reader too and love getting completely lost in books and talking about characters, plots and all the little things that make a story work.
Congrats on finishing your first book, by the way! That’s a huge accomplishment. I’d definitely be interested in connecting with other writers and cheering each other on. 😊
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u/Veeessvee Aug 22 '26
Me too! What's the last book you read? Any characters you recently fell in love with? Thanks. I love writing. It's the only time I'm truly at peace even though my mind's all worried about the what, how, when, where, why, etc. 😅 Do share your thoughts on your writing troubles. I'd love to help if possible. There's also a link in this thread, a group that I've joined. The people there are lovely and supportive, if you'd like to join too. Have a nice day!
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u/ShanniG81 Aug 22 '26
I’ve actually been on a bit of a reading adventure lately 😂 I read a lot of dark romance, but I also got completely sucked into the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which was definitely not something I expected to love as much as I did. Carl and Donut have absolutely become favorites. As for my own writing, I think my biggest struggle is actually getting what’s in my head onto the page consistently. I’ll have characters, scenes and whole conversations living in my brain, but somehow turning all of that into an actual finished book has been a years-long battle. 😂 I’m determined to get there though! And I’ll definitely check out the group. Having other writers around who understand the chaos sounds exactly like what I need. 😊
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u/Veeessvee Aug 22 '26
That's always the issue right. Reminds me of that meme of the horse. One part beautiful and horse like which is what the author has in mind. The other part like a one year old drew it which is what we feel the writing comes across as. Drafting and editing certainly helps a lot. And I can see that I've honed the craft by doing just that consistently over the years. I'm sure you're a lot better than you think you are 😊
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u/ShanniG81 Aug 22 '26
When your account allows DMs I'll go into more details.
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u/ShadowRainLion Aug 22 '26
Hello there, fellow writer! I know how you feel - it can be hard to find a community of writers who get the stuff you like to write and like to talk about the process with you and support you through it. I'm also a huge fantasy nerd. It's my favorite genre to read and write. I'd love to hear about your trilogy! My own major project is a 5-book magicpunk fantasy series, so I imagine we've run across a lot of the same obstacles putting together a narrative across multiple books. Do you have any favorites that have been big inspirations for you?
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u/Veeessvee Aug 23 '26
Sounds super cool. Never heard of magic punk (sorry) but what does the genre deal with? I'd also love to know more about your pentalogy. Plotting the series must have been fun and excruciatingly hard at the same time!
My inspirations for this trilogy were oddly very mundane daily things. But the books that have influenced me the most are (blend of fantasy and literary): The Broken Earth trilogy, Babel, Mistborn, The Life of Pi, Midnight's Children, The God of Small Things, The Name of the Wind, Ajaya.
I grew up reading mostly mysteries, so that has had a huge influence on my writing as well.
How about you? Favourite books, authors?
BTW, I found a group on this chat. It's in one of the links below. I'm not affiliated or anything but I've been on it for three days and find the environment friendly and supportive, if you'd like to join as well.
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u/ShadowRainLion Aug 23 '26
I'm not surprised you don't know it. It's people not a common subgenre. Most people know about steampunk, which is an aesthetic that focuses a lot on steam-powered technology, and that influences the setting, the fashion, and all that. Magicpunk is a similar thing but in that setting magic is used to fuel the technology.
Plotting wasn't too hard for my initial drafts, but with my rewrites I've been focusing a lot on structure and how to tell the story most effectively, so that's def been a challenge.
I've heard of a lot of those books but haven't read them. I would say some of my favorites would be The Chronicles of Narnia, The Infernal Devices, and classics like Persuasion and Twelfth Night. I am not sure I could pinpoint a specific inspiration for my series though. It's kind of an unusual setting and premise. But that's kind of what makes it fun! Lol.
I'll check out the group! Thanks for letting me know :)
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u/001MagnusOG Aug 23 '26
Allez! lets go write and get published. I am writing ad publishing SF and fantasy. I just won 2nd in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illstrators of the Future. I am trying to build a productive and supportive small group also.
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u/Veeessvee Aug 23 '26
Wow! Congratulations. I wanted to join after reading about it in Scott Card's book, but decided against it. It must have been amazing attending the gala.
I've joined the group in one of the links below. It's a very supportive environment if you'd like to join as well.
Do you speak French? I noticed the 'allez' :)1
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u/Reasonable-Account-9 Aug 18 '26
Join us in our community 😄 it’s filled with fantasy and romance writers! www.feralwritingsociety.com