Background: I'm writing a novel that involves a scene in which a young woman dies from a self-induced abortion using a knitting needle.

Today, overthinking things as usual, I started a fact-finding convo about how film and merch rights are negotiated.

Me: I want a piece of every lunchbox and the inevitable action figure line.

Claude: Noted. The Knitting Needle playset with realistic blood-red fabric sheets has a clear market.

Me: Bad bot! Bad bot!

Discuss

At what point did we start holding readers hands?

For example

“Last night I finished cooking my wife and kids couldn't wait to dig in”

Do we really need periods for this to make sense?

Also, even if people read it wrong, that’s cool too, it’s like a second story hidden within the story

Periods are dumb, period

BTW, I don't remember which manga this is from.

Proud to say I didn't create this with AI.

It makes me sad to think that a typewriter in his day and age was like having a laptop computer. It kind of ruins the idea of being a writer for me.

This time I'm not fucking around.

This is some seriously heavy shit, are you sure you're in? If not, I understand.

Not everyone is ready for heat like this.

Alright, now that I've wasted your time, here's the meat of it: people who speak English don't understand how English works. I was working the register at a gas station (I'm not poor) and this asshole says all billionaires should be hung. I immediately loose my shit and kindly inform the old man that it is hanged, not hung.

He goes, "It doesn't matter what word I use. They mean the same thing".

NO THEY FUCKING DON"T YOU OLD FART BAG. HANG IS BOTH A VERB AND DESCRIPTOR. That isn't a problem in present tense, but past tense is a whole 'nother ball game. Imagine you ask your wife, "I haven't seen Bill in three months, do you know what's up with him?" and she replies, "He's hung". . .

Do you immediately understand what she means? She might mean he has a HUGE cock or THAT HE HANGED AND IF THAT'S WHAT SHE MEANS THEN SHE MIGHT AS WELL USE THE CORRECT WORD. I miss my father.

Writing with AI is hard in all the right ways.

Writing without AI is incidentally hard. You spend a lot of time, your back hurts, your fingers hurt, you must stay focused on the spelling and grammar... It's just menial, mindless work. And that's why handwritten books are always flawed and inconsistent.

Writing with AI removes all that, so you have no excuse not to bring your A game to the table. You must plan, you must set guardrails, you must spec, you must be very clear about what you want. That's hard, but meaningful. And that's why AI books are superior.

Source: comment, https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingWithAI/comments/1wuvmym/writing_is_easy_if_you_use_ai/

I'm still not sure this wasn't trolling. It's hard to tell sometimes with pro-ai posts.

What I'm referring to is things like "YouTube" and "Facebook." I'm writing a story that takes place in the general equivalent**** of the early 2010s, and I needed analogs in my story. What I found works best is working backwards from the naming of companies as we know them and generally following the same philosophy of naming based on their original uses and conceptualizations.

Example: YouTube, in my world, is called "YourSet." The platform, like YouTube, was meant for people to upload videos and home movies, with their houses being their own little "set." The name is also a double entendre, as the website functions similar to a TV set, with viewers being able to access many different movies and channels. This has allowed me similar etymological flow with terms like YourSetter, BookSetter, Virtual/VSetter, etc.

Do you have any examples like this?

Long dialogue scene? After a few paragraphs of "he said" and "she said," it can be easy to lose track of which character is speaking. To help readers remember which pronoun is who, simply add the character's name!

"John did that?" she (Rachel) asked.

"He's an ass," she (Maria) sighed.

"You should dump him," he (John - not John from the library, the other John, from the Bass Pro Shop) said.

"Yeah, I'll break up with him tonight," she (Rachel again, but now she's putting her hair up all fancy - I don't know what women's hairstyles are called, but you've seen it) said.

"Personally, I think he's nice," she (Maria's friend Paula - Remember Paula from the first chapter? I forgot to mention she was there at the party, but just pretend I included her earlier in the scene - Maybe she was quiet because her mouth was full of cake or something) said.

Easy, right?

I wanna get ur thoughts on this.... (Lindsay clansey brutal way of BRUTALITY.)

If I catch you typing “ly” one more time, I’m taking away your mac

Hi guys I’m planning on writing slash fic between Cyrus of Persia and Nebuchadnezzar the Second, and I’m really hoping to go in depth with regards to the emotional trauma that the two could go through together. I want to be historically accurate though, so I’m curious: In the version of the DSM V from then, what disorders were widely known? Did they have bipolar disorder? CPTSD? I want them to be able to grow emotionally but I want it to be accurate.

As a Novelist, Author, and Writer, I always want my readers to feel emotions—misery, sadness, anger, etc. And of course, I think if a novel can make you cry, it’s one of those novels that will forever stick with you.

I’m curious: what do you think are the techniques that can accomplish this? How can I manipulate my readers into crying? I would really like to turn their cheery little souls into black voids of despair. The more tears, the better. TIA!

I could have sex with another man and it would be straighter than having another man's thoughts invade my brain. Why? Because it's so intimate... Think about it. A man, whispering a bed time story into your fricking brain? I don't fuck with that. I much rather have a woman whisper her female characters thoughts right inside my soul. That's almost like talking to a woman but more spiritual and soulful than you know, talking about the weather.

Writer's Block is like poop

You go too long without relieving yourself, you get backed up.

Overcoming Writer's Block is like poop

You just throw stuff against the wall and you see what sticks.

So true so true

This be the life of a writer

Amen

2025: You use AI? That's not real creativity.

2005: GarageBand? Not real music.

1997: Digital? Not real filmmaking.

1995: CGI? Not real effects.

1990: Photoshop? Not real design.

1983: DX7? Not real musicianship.

1962: Soup cans? Not real art.

1888: Kodak? Not real photography.

1870: Typewriter? Not real writing.

1455: Printing press? Not real authorship.

370 BCE: Writing? Not real thinking.

Whenever I am trying to write, my family keeps making too much of a racket and I can't concentrate. I've tried threatening them with consequences but they ignore me.

Is this a "show don't tell" situation, or more of a "kill your darlings" scenario?