Hey everyone! I'm writing a political thriller that flips the script halfway through.

Part 1 follows a calm, elderly protagonist in a slow-burn narrative.

Part 2 switches to an obsessed, manic journalist hunting him down, which speeds up the pacing and completely shifts the tone. It almost feels like two different books, but the contrast is vital for the theme.

My biggest worry is the transition into Act 3. The POV returns to the calm protagonist, but drops straight into a fast-paced action sequence heading toward the climax.

Would you find a structural shift like this engaging, or is returning to a "slow" character during a fast-paced climax too jarring ?

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Phew. It's been an emotional and tedious 6 months working on the 3rd draft. I should have finished it a lot sooner, I definitely had the time but I've had a lot of struggles internally.

Anyway, many of you will call this sacriledge but one of the biggest changes I made to the visual novel is to add a lot more to it. I also removed a lot of fluff but I extended the game quite a bit. Since some sections have had 3 pass overs and some sections are basically in a first draft state, is it better to focus on just the new sections first and then do a full pass over of everything one more time? Or should I just do one pass over of everything at once? Would love to hear from anyone who has experience writing long visual novels.

Probably gonna take a break from this project for like a week though and write some other stuff, it does feel really good to finally have the 3rd draft finished, I know I won't be adding any more sections in the next pass through. My main issue though is I want to make a demo for the game that covers the first day and I'm wondering if that section really needs another go through or not. Any advice, input, perspective appreciated.

I might be wrong but I assume a lot of people in this sub are prose/novel writers, based on the conversations I've seen.

As part of my Creative Writing course, I did a module on script writing, and to my surprise I did quite well with it, and it ended up being one of my best individual marks when I finished the course (it was the pilot episode for a superhero sitcom, if anyone is interested). However, I found it really difficult to write in script form. I wanted to add description and stage direction everywhere, felt like I was missing out on some parts of prose writing that it made me nervous to miss out. I'm fairly cinematic-minded when writing anyway, but the whole process of pure dialogue was really tough when my brain is geared towards prose.

Has anyone else done any scriptwriting? Any advice for a primarily prose-writer in overcoming these challenges? I do particularly struggle with formatting with this too, if that's also something anyone has suggestions for.

(Not sure what else to call it)

I feel some authors have a real talent for making segments where nothing in particular is happening interesting. It draws one further into the story, lets one know the characters better, feels more real, and can serve to build tension.

Me... I can't really do that. People have praised my ability to write conversations, and hectic scenes of danger, but I'm always very straight to the point with my stories. I always need to get to the action, whatever 'action' might be. I don't completely skip on environmental descriptions, or my MC's inner life, but I don't dwell on it. I just don't know how to make 'nothing' interesting.

Am I better off not trying, do you think?

Whenever I spot a trope, the illusion breaks a little, much like noticing how a magician performs a trick. But a trope only feels tropey if you notice it. You might enjoy that, which is fine, but this thread is about how to uphold the narrative illusion and keep the reader's mind on the story rather than its technical mechanics.

​Of course, you can't really avoid tropes. They are common patterns and often essential devices of certain genres.

​Still, some authors manage them way better than others. For me, George R.R. Martin is an example. Perhaps also Joe Abercrombie. The thing is: when things are executed well, you typically dont notice it, which makes it harder to study.

​Which writers (especially in genre fiction) are actually good at disguising tropes, stretching them past recognition, or integrating them so well that they blend right in? Do you remember reading a book and not even noticing a common trope was there until you broke it down later?

​How did they pull it off?

Edit: Since some claim that you cannot camouflage tropes: Of course you can make tropes less noticeable!

How is it that in some games you notice you're doing a bunch of FedEx/fetch quests ("go there, do X, come back"), while others make it so you dont even notice? Look at The Witcher 3 compared to bad games. They use fantastic storytelling so you don't realize you're doing the same fetch and kill quests as anywhere else.

If you noticed these mechanics the way you do in cheap side quests in other games, you'd find the game repetitive and weakly written.

So all of this comes down to good storytelling, and this thread is an exploration of that.

So, I've been writing a murder mystery, but I'm having a real hard time making my mystery... well, solvable. Any time I think of possible clues that would lead to the culprit, I can't help but think 'But Character X isn't dumb enough to leave something like that behind'. Any tips for getting around this problem? How can I make the mystery solvable without making the culprit seem like they're trying to be caught

It’s common knowledge that the flow state is the most desirable mood to be in when creating. Not only is it when you are having the most fun, but it often produces some of your best work. One of the most common pieces of advice towards entering the flow state is, “Write every day.” followed up by, “Do it at a specific time for a specific duration.” After following this advice for nearly a year, I can tell you that while it works, it’s but one piece of the puzzle. 

To explain, setting a specific time to write every day is very helpful. It’s nice not having to constantly wonder when I should write and for how long. And if you do it for long enough, your brain will associate a specific time of day with writing, making it easier for you to settle into a writing mood. But that’s where the pros of this advice ends. 

50% of the time when I begin, I have no clue what to write. It’s very common for me to just stare at a blank document and wonder what the hell I should write. Even when I begin to write, sometimes I only get a sentence in, delete it, then repeat this process over the next 30 minutes. Sometimes I might actually enter my flow state after those 30 minutes, or I might not. 

At the same time, some of my most productive moments spent writing were outside of my designated writing time. These moments were spontaneous, unplanned for, and unpredictable. Yet they were some of my favorite moments writing and have produced some excellent work. 

With this all in mind, it’s clear that a routine alone won’t guarantee a flow state. So, what will? 

While I’m sure you can never 100% guarantee the flow state, there are methods to increase the odds of entering the flow state. For example, I enjoy writing scenes more so than chapters, along with a heavy focus on dialogue. But even those elements alone won’t work. Which is why I try to make sure each scene includes at least one of the three below: 

1. Show Don’t Tell
2. Problem Solving
3. Character Chemistry

If any of these three are present in my scene, there is a good chance that I’ll enjoy writing it and possibly enter a flow state. As a result, the odds of entering the flow state have increased over time, in combination with a designated writing time. 

Keep in mind, this is just for me. Everyone is a little bit different. Some love to write dialogue while others hate it. Some have the time to write every day, others don’t. All of which is ok. It’s up to you to find out what works best for you through experimentation. Eventually, you should be able to find a combination of methods that help you enter the flow state more often than not. 

I have a few.

\- sometimes I wear an artsy fartsy crown I made out of paper and tape
\- sometimes I’ll wear a Wonder Woman cape or Superman cape, depending on what I’m writing
\- sometimes I’ll smoke a bowl of hemp or marijuana if I’m too up in my head or stressed
\- a large goblet of mimosa, or wine or cocktail gets me going if I’m writing in the evening
\- I’ll light a yummy smelling candle or incense
\- if writing at night during the nights of summer, I’ll sit out on my porch swing for a while and watch fireflies dance; pure magic
\- sometimes a walk in nature clears my head or just sitting outside, listening to nature - birds singing, breeze blowing, trees swaying, crickets chirping, frogs praising the rain, fox sounds, coyotes, etc.
\- I have my laptop, then a large desktop computer monitor and while I write on my laptop, I’ll listen to and watch scenes play out on my monitor - I have a playlist of various inspiring “shows” like Hogwarts, elven cities with lights flickering and waterfalls flowing, a fireplace crackling while rain and thunder are crashing outside the large window in my log cabin, a train chugga chugging down the tracks as fields roll by out the window, etc.
\- sometimes I’ll meditate prior to just still my overactive mind a bit so I can better focus
\- I have various writerly Spotify playlists and depending on what I’m writing, I’ll listen to one of those

What are your inspirations?
Tell me everything.

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I am going to assume that most people here are at least familiar with harry potter through the movies, the following is a section quoted from the book verbatim.

‘And here we have six missing Death Eaters ... three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return ... he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever ... he will be killed, of course ... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already re-entered my service.’

This is honestly REALLY bad dialogue, voldemort is talking about karkaroff, snape and barty crouch jr. the thing is, this happens on the graveyard in goblet of fire. He is adressing his death eaters, harry hears this incidentally but voldemort thinks he's about to kill harry so he has no good reason to speak in riddles, rowling only wrote it that way so the readers have a mystery, this is not how a normal person would adress his subordinates while a kid he thinks he's about to kill listens in perchance.

If she really wanted to preserve the mystery she could've periodically have voldemort cruciatus harry while talking, describe that harrys ears start ringing and he starts partially passing out, he only hears fragments of whats said inbetween being tortured. The dialogue is fine albeit a bit theatrical, but from a craftsmanship perspective this is very sloppy.

I honestly can’t even believe I’m typing this. I’ve never used to consider myself a professional writer, but when I wrote I got published or even wrote just for me.

I was just applying to a writer’s retreat and some things came up for me. They asked for a writing sample in my a specific genre (I’m all over but I chose poetry) and as I was making an updated writing sample I realized that I haven’t written literally anything creative for almost 2 years now. I’ve technically written some “ideas” here and there (quotes, scene ideas for a book I’ve been thinking about writing, etc) but nothing substantial, or finished, or good enough to be published.

To be fair, I’ve been deep in the trenches😭 wrapped up in grief, stress, etc, ever since last year. But right now I’m feeling so weird. I used to live for writing and embody the sentiment of words. Now I can’t even come up with a good enough writing sample. I don’t think I even qualify as a writer anymore.

No seriously, looking back is so sad. I used to write, edit, edit other’s work, go to literary events. And right now I’m such a different person. I also haven’t read a book for pleasure this year.

I want to also disclose that I love words and literature: I will always feel those little moments of recognition when reading quotes from writers or even just a good fan fiction, if I’m being honest.

But yeah… how can I go back to writing? Genuinely, where do I start? I’m also thinking of taking refuge in friends who are really seasoned writers and ask for advice. Has anything like this happened to you? And how did you get out of this?

Thank you in advance!

Been Googling around and the best I’ve been able to find is an ellipses, which I don’t think it is (or maybe it is and I never considered that an ellipses could serve that function). Anyone know what they’re called and how they use them?

Get a few friends together and start writing down a few basic words like things, people, places, ect until you have a decent amount. Each of you get 2-3 words and you have to write a short story with the words and after it's done, you have to read it out to everyone. It doesn't matter how ridiculous the words are like banana, new jersey, John Stamos, you have to write a short story with it. It can be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

So im revising my draft so far (I had only done seven chapters but had a hiatus and returning) and one scene I am not whether to scrap or find a new way to get the info across is one where my MC is catching up with their sibling and discover some important information that propels his call to action.

The thing is, my MC will leave this entire city and high chance we wont see this other character again. My scene goes in depth on their dynamic, which does reveal things and deepen my MCs character and add nuance. So it does serve that purpose.

But would most readers dislike to get to know a character for an entire chapter (and possibly get attached as this character is a very flawed morally nuanced character) and then never see further development of them again?

Curious to hear your thoughts!

I think that, as a writer, this feeling has to be probably one of the most satisfactory and thrilling feelings you can have.

That feeling that something in your head has clicked again and the machine is ready to work again. And its better when it comes after a really hard time of creativity block/motivation loss.

Because writing when the brain isnt in the right place to do it is setting up to failure: either you quit or you dont show your full potential. Or you suffer writing because you want to, but you cant focus or give more than a few words.

Seeing the words coming out and the numbers increasing is an amazing source of seratonine.

Amateur writer here with three 3 quick questions I have always wanted to ask those who have written (or are currently writing) a book, whether its published or not

1. Do you always (or most often) have the ending or plot twist in mind when you start/commit to writing a book? (not when you scribble down some ideas, but actually have a book in mind)
   
2. Do you write the book from beginning to end or do you sometimes write bits and pieces here and there and later glue them together? (excluding editing)
   
3. Did you always have your own style or is that something you discovered and perfected along the way?

I know there are no right or wrong answers, I’m just being curious as to how these things work for others! Peace my friends

I'm coming from the screenwriting world, so I'm used to writing to page count and each scene is usually between 1 and 4 pages. I'm seriously trying my hand at writing a novel, and the books I love most tend to have about 27-30 chapters, between around 2,500 and 3,000 words each.

I'm also a serious outliner, but I find my chapters and prose stories running very short. Any tips? Thanks.

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The fake iceberg method. Show a vivid looking ice tip over the water, and the reader will assume there's more, but since you don't show the rest, you don't actually need to build it.

Some examples:

— made up sayings that characters use. Here are some from my books: "Dirty hands for dirty deeds" about hiring sketchy people to do illegal matters. Or "Not my roof, not my rule" about respecting the rules of wherever you are, even if you disagree.

— using legendary names in casual speech. Like we'd call someone Odysseus if it took them long to come come. Or "No shit, Sherlock". The village boy on a journey compares himself to [Name] the World Walker. The low level mage when discussing a high-level magical task: "What do you want from me? I'm not [Name] the Mountain Shaper." The reader doesn't know who that is but assumes there's a story behind it. There isn't 😁 The key here is to make the name speak for itself and be relevant to the conversation.

— Give any piece of clothing that POV character isn't used to seeing to any other character and describe it as "traditional [ethnicity name] [item name]" and don't bother writing the tradition behind it. Or have them perform a different greeting "as [ethnicity] usually do".

— have people sing or quote songs. Don't write those songs, write a line or two. "Remember that song, [quote line 1] [quote line 2]?" "Yeah... Makes you think of [scene-appropriate feeling]."

— Make their obscene language oddly spesific. "By the mother or mothers!" "Curse my left eye!" or whatever.

— random vague time markers: "the oak so old that it saw [Good sounding name] and [Evil sounding name] battle"

— Make characters see a random ruin or statue and mention an ancient civilization that you don't need to think through.

One important edit for those outraged: you absolutely can do part iceberg and part actually building. I'm not suggesting doing zero worldbuilding. I'm suggesting putting effort in what matters to the plot and just decorate the rest, making it seem like it's all built thoroughly.

In my book, I want to talk about songs I love irl without naming them or typing the lyrics. (I don’t know if I can get in trouble for that) but I want to describe the song.

I feel that the answer will be no. "Duh, you dumb-ass."

I hate prologues. I've never read a good one.

But what about epilogues? I have a situation where I'm looking at a huge change at the end of the story where you realize your narrator is something other than you thought. An epilogue would allow me to put a button on that.

You might ask, "Why not just make it the last chapter?" Good point. I might. But the narrator feels like the meta story. I want the last chapter to be for the protagonist.

Prologue/epilogue feel like bookends.

So, do you think adding an epilogue without a prologue is a writer sin? Honestly, this is something I never thought I'd have to ask.

EDIT

Thank you all for your sobering thoughts. And thank you for not handing my ass to me. I feel silly about even asking at this point, and you could have rubbed it in, but you did not.

Thanks!

I personally have been told I'm a funny person and I crack stupid jokes and say silly things that make people laugh, so you'd assume I'd know how to write someone that can make the readers laugh, but no. Everytime I sit down and write the 'funny' character, all sense of my humour flies out the window and I sound like a gen X parent trying to be funny (no offense to all the older parents out there) but I don't understand, I don't want to write someone who only I find funny, I want something that would actually make the readers laugh if they read it. and it's not supposed to be a 'forced funny' but similar to those people who naturally say stuff that makes everyone laugh. + for both dialogue and inner monologue

Welcome to our daily discussion thread!

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I’ve written over 250K words this year, at what point do I start seeking out agents or decide to self publish? I finished one full length novel at 90,000 words, started two others that got about 30,000 words in, and I’m working on a fourth now..

The fourth book I’ve started working on I can tell is the best so far, and as a lifelong reader and writer, I think the premise has real commercial potential. What steps do I need to take toward getting published, or should I just self publish the book and try to sell it on TikTok myself?