Ich habe vor rund 2 Monaten mein Manuskript bei verschiedenen Verlagshäusern eingereicht. Da ich (NA) Fantasy schreibe, habe ich das Manuskript einfach mal an alle Verlage geschickt, die sowas publizieren. Bislang habe ich drei Absagen bekommen und warte noch auf Antwort von circa 10-15 weiteren Verlagen. Wie viele habt ihr schon bekommen? Wann hat es bei euch geklappt?

Und was für Tipps habt ihr, um bei einem Verlag gut anzukommen? (Z.B. im Exposé oder im Anschreiben)

I submitted to Modern Love in June and no response as of yet. Have I been rejected or is it delayed response?

I have a lot of headings within my creative, nonfiction manuscript, to help me highlight major events and organize passages throughout the book. This has made it difficult for me to determine where to place the chapter breaks. Honestly, I'd rather have as few chapters as possible, and just reword the the passage headings/titles accordingly for the reader.

I only plan to self-publish via epub, so are official chapters in a table of contents even necessary for ereading purposes if you can just bookmark or tab anywhere you want?

What would be a good title for a memoir of a preacher’s kid and all the dark secrets in the family that eventually come out?

Im in a writers block currently and it's destroying me. My thoughts are spiraling in my head, wanting to be expressed but im just not able to find the right mood.

Obviously this is all "In MY Opinion", curious to hear people's thoughts and their own examples.

• For me at least, the absolute worst word is "ok/okay". No matter how good the writing, it immediately takes me out of the story. I prefer "fine", or "alright", or "well". Also - "hi". "Hello" is fine, but I prefer them to say "good morrow", or something equivalent.
• Modern slang like "dude" or "cool" or "rizz" or "yolo" are obviously out for me. Even if you are "translating" their slang into ours, it just grates on me.
• "Bra", especially when it's smut. They did not have bras, they had breast-bands, stays, corsets, bindings, etc (obviously again, the specifics depend on your setting). I don't even like the word "underwear" - smallclothes or undergarments, work better.
• People's use of idioms like "deer in headlights". How would your character know what a headlight is?
• Modern social movements, like the use of the word "gay" or "LGBT" or "non-binary". I'm not saying these ideas should be avoided, or have to be a bad thing in-universe (said community was obviously alot less accepted then than now) but the phrase might be better as "prefers the company of men/women", or "wasn't interested in sex" or describe a character that "wore clothes that rejected the social conventions of their sex." If you've seen that/those scene/s from Dragon Age: Veilguard, you know what I mean.
• Some references to technology that shouldn't exist are more forgivable in fantasy, which may have developed things on a different timeline to us. But unless you establish that, saying things like "electricity" in a world that does not have electricity, is a problem for me. "Lightening" is more correct. "Cake" is fine, "pavlova" is not.
• I'm hesitant to use any words like "vaccine", "cells" or "germs", unless its established they know what these things are. I'm OK (lol) with "brain matter", "nerves", "veins/arteries" or "adrenaline" as even a primitive society would have some understanding of how that works within their own body.
• Fantasy in particular should avoid any real-world references - for example I spent about 10 minutes trying to to think of how to convey that a character had a "French braid", without saying "French braid".
• References to animals that should not exist. Generally speaking sheep, horses, cattle, dogs, cats - all probably fine. But a pug specifically (looking at you, House of the Dragon) is a very artificially selected animal, and although some form of pug has existed for a few hundred years, they didn't look like the squashed nose little things we have today.
• I know some people dislike the idea of potatoes and tomatoes in medieval eras, but personally I think this is more acceptable. The average person simply doesn't know when they became mainstream. So this is a personal choice.

I should also note, this may also be a case of the "Tiffany Problem", where the name Tiffany is considered modern and sounds jarring in an old timey context, but the name itself dates back hundreds of years - however, hearing a Medieval King talk to a "Tiffany" would be strange to most people, but it could be historically accurate. So the word or idea may be technically correct, but still distracting.

I don't know if this belongs here but I'm not sure where to ask. For background, the story takes place in the real world, no fantasy elements or made up places (it's set in the US) so I'm wondering if I'm obligated to make the 2020 pandemic canon to the story, in which case I'd prefer to set it before 2020. Would it be weird to make it take place around 2020 without acknowledging or referencing it as if i never happened in the story?

Hi, I’ve been working on an original high fantasy with touches of horror novel for a long time now. It's my passion project, I love this story with all my heart. But I’m horribly unconfident and am too scared to strive for big goals, or aspire for anything huge.

Just publishing my book for the people who follow my social medias and my art is my dream, even if few people read it. I’m not in it for money, or for fame, though I would love to grow my instagram so more people would read my book. And so Amazon's lack of reach isn’t a problem.

So is it worth it? Has anyone done it, just to have a physical copy of your book even if only a few fans buy it, are the hard covers good quality? Was it easy to make the books in a series line up in size and design?

Another concern is I want to be able to format my book with my preferred fonts from word, my preferred spacing and use of italics, without being confined to rules of traditional publishing.

I’m also curious, are you able to add images when publishing through amazon? How long will it take the book to be available, as in from when I submit it until when it's available for purchase. Would I be able to have a map on the first pages?

All and all, I hear many pros & cons about publishing via amazon. But I can’t find answers to these. I can’t find answers through the perspective of someone in it just to be able to finish and physically hold their passion project, and share it with whoever is interested in reading it. And see even just a few others getting to physically own it.

It's ok if you can only answer one or a few questions. Anything will help. I just feel defeated, this book is my passion and publishing it even to a small audience is my dream, but I’ve been feeling at a loss of if it will even be worth it.

I see in a lot of first person stories I'm reading that to express thoughts you can use italic. Can I do the same in a 3rd person view for more than just the main character? For example..

I wonder where she is going.. he thought to himself

This is kind-of a how question, so if it is considered one, please remove this post. How do I write a hook sentence? I know that this is more of a book and story writing subreddit (you guys are amazing idk how you do it), but I need help. It is for an English essay about heroes in To Kill A Mockingbird. The final draft was due last week and I don't even have anything at all for my rough draft. All I know about hook sentences are that they have to be interesting and it has to get the readers attention. I think that I'm pushing my English teacher to her limit especially since I'm the only one w/o a rough or final draft. Again, please help. Ty!

So I want to turn my writing into a side gig. Don’t expect to make much but it’d be nice to have something to show for my pursuit in this hobby. Maybe I’m being overly fixated on money and I should just enjoy writing as it is without expecting a return but let me know in the comments. I post my short stories on another account and people can read it for free ofc. Sometimes YouTubers toss me a few dollars to narrate my stories on their channels although most don’t. It’s kinda like how artists get paid in exposure and I’m not nearly successful or popular enough to turn them down. I was wondering if there’s somewhere to post stories in an episodic format like chapters. Kinda like WEBTOON where the first 20 chapters are free but afterwards you pay a few cents to read the next one. I feel somewhat arrogant and ungrateful to consider monetary compensation for something I started doing for fun. I just spend a lot of time crafting stories so I kinda want it to be more than just a hobby.

I’m particularly good at coming up with titles, names, and definitions.

As a graphic designer, I’ve often taken on copywriting tasks due to my passion for different forms of writing, including advertising and narrative. While I wouldn’t call myself an exceptional writer, I excel at summarizing concepts in just a few words and creating impactful titles.

Is there a professional role dedicated to this? So far, it’s always been a personal touch or an extra contribution to projects I’ve worked on for other reasons. How much could I charge for such a skill? It’s usually an intuition—something that doesn’t take weeks—so charging by the hour wouldn’t make sense. And people often undervalue this kind of work.

Do you have any ideas? I understand this might invite jokes or criticism, but I’d appreciate sincere responses.

Thanks!

So most of my characters all have the same arc structure I.e. the disillusionment arc with only one having a redemption arc. However all of these disillusionment arcs are concerning different things, viz. one concerns control, the other love, and another freedom and love. So my question then is if this is bad? Will readers get bored? In pride and prejudice though both Darcy and Elizabeth go through positive character arcs?

I only just started submitting my writing to literary contests, so it's possible that this is completely normal, but I wanted to check with other people who have submitted to things like this.

I submitted to Quarter After Eight's Robert J. DeMott Short Prose competition. The deadline was midnight on Dec 1 (so essentially 11:59 on Nov 30). I just received (evening of Dec 2) a rejection email. The email says there was a "higher-than-average number of submissions" and that mine wasn't chosen for publication. The content is not surprising.

What's surprising to me is the timing: They've only had one business day since the contest ended to read the entries...how did they read a higher-than-average number so quickly? I was made to believe that these contests usually took at least a month to get back to you. Does this seem weird to anyone, or is it normal?

so i looked at some writing tips and saw that it's best to just write a bunch without overthinking it, even if it's horrible, and then edit once you have a good chunk written. i've taken this advice to action and have been enjoying writing some small things here and there.

i know there's no right answer for this so i wanna hear your thoughts - how much do you guys write before you go back to make changes? do you do a whole chapter or more or less? what affects your decision making process for this?

looking forward to hearing your responses ^^

I probably wrote too much, so if you want you can go at the end of the post and read the little summary

I have been putting down this post apocalypse story for a while and since the beginning I have always seen it as a two arcs - long story (the main one, as a basic "people survive the apocalypse" type of story and the second one as a "it has always been an inside job" story).

The problem is that I just realised i probably need to give more depht to my characters + probably give some proper worldbuilding and both these things cannot be described in just two arcs. So, I believed the best option was to put another arc in the middle to focus more on character growth and worldbuilding.

However I realised that despite character growth and worldbuilding I have nothing else to talk about, so it would just feel unnecessary and probably boring, also because I can easily solve this problem by putting more worldbuilding and character growth in the other main arcs.

I'll try to put an example to make things clearer:

1. In the first arc two characters explore the post apocalyptic world and manage to save their people, but during their journey one loses his fiancè while the other one breaks up with her partner as he joined the bad guys. They didn't have a good bond, but by the end of the arc they feel closer due to the common difficulties and traumas they have faced.

There would be enough worldbuilding to set a story but not enough to understand the whole scenario.

2. in the final arc, these two friends would have already overcome their traumas and would now return in society and have a less dangerous adventure (which will gradually lead to a mystery story and then to a shocking revelation about what they have been facing for all this time). By the end of the second arc they will realize they feel something more than a friendship and will end up together. This arc should explain all the lore and solve all the questions brought by the first arc.

Considering that I don't feel like describing a "acquaintances>friends>lovers" story by skipping almost completely the most conflictual and interesting part (overcoming their past, accepting what happened, knowing eachother, having problems and solving them together) and just put something like "they broke up with their partners in the first arc, but now let's skip the part when they know eachother so that i can make them have an unworthy lovely relationship".

Also, in the middle arc I would be able to focus more on other locations of the world that weren't described before: For example: -the first arc is located in a single city, completely taken over by the apocalypse -the final one describes the whole continent restoring everything, while the main story is located in a city that never experienced the horrors of the catastrophe So, the reader would probably need an intermediate step, maybe an arc that describes the situation of a few cities or of a single country/state

I hope I wrote in a comprehensible way, sorry in advance for probable grammar mistakes. Thank you for the help!

Summary: I don't know if I should put an intermediate arc between the main arc and the final arc, because I feel like two arcs are not enough to give proper character depth and worldbuilding

The 2. Main things i wanna address is

1. Hierarchy
2. Magic System (If one is made)

Hierarchy is a good way to establish your world. Let's say there's a goblin guy trying to find 3 magic gems to help his farm regrow. They each are in one of the 3 biomes (Snow, Rainforest and main Kingdom).

Along the lines it will show the hierarchy of the world. The hierarchy is complex but basically goblins on the bottom, middle class trolls and top is Elves.

Imagine goblin guy walks past a troll and it kicks him saying "Worthless peasant". Little lines like this add details of the world without making it too obvious.

And they say explicitly the top class is elves like in a scene "The elves, being the top class, always have the most lavish houses, and carts". Sometimes saying it straight can be great but it doesn't always work. Dobby did good in Harry Potter since they addressed it directly.

With the magic system, if any, is tricky. As long as you establish it it SHOULD be fine.

3 good ones are:

1. Wand Paterns. Doing a phrase and/or special wand wave is a simple one. Character makes a circle than casts "Pyrious Blast" or whatever idk man.

2. Oaths/Promises. imagine if your character promises to a god or deity in exchange for magical powers. So a god of harvest or whatever gives goblin dude some plant themed powers, in exchange he must NEVER eat meat or else he will get his powers taken away or worse. This system is effective. (My personal favorite)

3. Objects. Like only having magic through using an object.

I'm pretty much creating a fictional religion for my fantasy book and I feel like I hit off more than I can chew but I’ll be okay. My biggest problem is naming these gods and I'm wondering if basically jotting down some words in English and running them through translate using multiple different languages would be lazy???? Idk man.

Pretty self explanatory- obviously you can get others to read it… but the truth is that everyone has different taste, so how can you tell whether you are improving or staying the same?

I don’t feel like my style has changed since highschool… but I never wrote the way people classicist say ‘13 year old girls writing vampire fanfics wrote’ (plenty are amazing, but I think we all know the type).

Are there other ways to tell if you are improving?

One thing I like the most about it is that each character can reveal the reader on what's going on in their life, as well as what they think about the other person. I think it can be especially effective if the two characters come from different backgrounds (ex: two countries, two social classes, etc.)

Anyway what do you think?

Young writers, please pay attention!

When posting here, especially if you're a minor, do not say it. Don't give your age, don't indicate how young you might be. The internet is a dangerous place and there are people everywhere who will act in bad faith and use that knowledge to their advantage. If you're new to writing, then that's all you need to really mention, leave any age indicators out of it.

The amount of posts I've seen recently with young kids just freely giving their ages out is insane to me. I've seen an 11 year old in this sub asking for assistance before. I grew up in an age where it was drilled repeatedly into our heads just how dangerous the internet is and to not give away information. This needs to be brought back.

I'm not saying all this to bust your balls boys and girls. Even when I was younger and didn't share my age, I still had people try and pull shit with me because they somehow figured out I was a minor at the time. You guys need to be careful and protect yourself as best as you can in this increasingly super connected digital age. Please stop sharing your ages and be safe!

[Directed mostly at minors but applicable to all]

Edit: spelling errors and clarification

I haven’t been writing the way I want. I had assignments and workshops. Essentially I was holding myself accountable through my relationships with other students & teachers. I’m not looking for story advice or the direction I need to take. I know if I can write in the first or third person perspective I will have it develop that way. So, then, guy, what’s the problem? My spiral journal is just filled with vignettes, ideas, mostly memories and potential scenarios & scenes. I’m questioning if it’s scatter brained. I don’t think it’s the case. I think and feel too tied to the past and as I am working with things that occurred before, nonfictiony and above all, this is a free forum. And I am grateful but also wary that this can turn quickly into self help. Let’s not do that… speak freely.

Hey everyone- first post here and honestly I need some good advice.

I've recently gotten back into editing my first novel after several years of not writing. I've finally found a way to improve my book and really make the story and dialogue good to read which I never thought was possible. Unfortunately, I've been experiencing a lot of almost manic excitement over the last few weeks. All through the day my body and mind feel giddy as if I'm permanently high on adrenaline.

I've not been sleeping that much at night and often wake up early. It's been hard to come down and detach from this feeling and it's starting to worry me.

Finding that I'm desperate to write and that I'm often irritable when I'm not. Today was the worst yet, as I was going back and forth to my job at work trying to write and then feeling consumed by it afterward to the point where I felt disconnected.

Has anyone here been through this before? Do you have any good advice for how to manage it? Just I'm a dad of two with a full-time job so honestly can't afford to let this happen and don't want this to affect my home life. Not been through this at any stage with my writing so it's a real mystery.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

G

I’m rather newish to this sub, and I’ve enjoyed my time gathering opinions and seeing many questions from other redditors that have similar questions.

I’m nearly done with my first novel, an historical fiction taken place during the American Civil War period. I’m wondering what is the best path towards publication.

I’ve got considerable experience in digital marketing. Does it make sense to create a digital version and sell on book marketplaces, or is it smarter to try and find an agent and publisher? If I go the latter route, where do I even start?

Thanks in advance for all this sub has provided for me!

I'm really curious about this because for me personally, it comes from a rather emotional place. I've a very descriptive writer and in the same sense I focus more on the emotions of each scene as opposed to the actual visuals. Basically I'll let the visuals come through to the reader based on what I want them to feel for the tone, or vice versa where the environment is symbolic of the emotions.

I write mainly in the genre of dark fantasy, because that's where my strongest emotional thoughts are. I've been through a lot in my life, and having that attachment to my words really drives the narrative I'm working on at the moment. If I can't feel that attachment, I genuinely run into a wall where my writing becomes absolute shit compared to the rest of the narrative. Sadness and pain, although dark subjects, are definitely where I excel as a writer. In a sense, and in a healthy way, dark themes are my home where my art is at its strongest. If I'm sleep deprived, it's even more so.

So where does your writing come from? Are you emotional, physical, does it have to be something you experienced or something you would rather study? Where does your best writing stem from?

i see people discussing the 90 quintillion trillion million different characters that they have and the first thing that comes to mind is HOW?

how do you make so many characters, each one having SOME role to play (even if just to be killed off)?

it is impossibly difficult to fathom to me how people can think so far ahead into their story and work with it

this may be because i've only recently gotten into writing (two weeks ago) but i am just baffled

what's your process for creating characters? do you create concepts for a character and see if they work? how many discarded characters on average do you usually have, and how far in do you usually introduce them?

A story is a collection of words that fools our brain into caring about fictional people.

I figure the ‘why’ and ‘how’ are self evident (human empathy) but the ‘what’ is very interesting to me.

What do you think makes people care about your characters? What aspects do you care about in other characters?

I released a memoir this September and the books are still in the process of sending to my kickstarter backers. There are about 400 people waiting to read, and my publisher had some manufacturing issues so they're getting out slowly.

My book has ONE review on Amazon...from someone who has never heard of me. It's a great review, I was pretty excited to see it. Gave me a pep in my step.

But I'm just curious like... how does one find a memoir about someone they have never heard of?? I'm having so much trouble understanding how this person even came across my book. It's super cool, would love more people like them to read, but my book isn't even in stores, it's print-on-demand right now. So like... they didn't see it in a store. any ideas?

For reference, this is the review:

"I must admit I never heard of the author before reading this book, but I like to read about different perspectives, and I was not disappointed. The author doesn' t appear to sugarcoat anything as he tells the tale of his life moving "From One Cult to the Next."
The subject matter in some places is not for the squeamish. If you like reading memoirs, I recommend this one."

I've lurked in this sub for quite some time, and seen plenty of people saying something along the lines of "writing being therapeutic exercise" for them. Today, one unrelated discomforting thought suddenly visited me, and so I got a question. Not about writing itself, but related to it.

I'll avoid giving personal context for now (it's not a secret, just don't want to turn straightforward question into bloated saddening rant), and will to try to avoid making it into validation post, so, here it is.

If you can say that artistic writing have therapeutic effect on you, could you please explain - what it does to you emotionally? Do you base your ideas and stories on your experiences and pain? What do you personally feel when you're putting your real emotions on figurative paper?

I recently landed a new job and am now in charge of the company's blog posts on their website. My boss asked me to come up with a list of writing/editing/grammar items I want to improve upon stepping into this role and that she can teach me. I am not sure where to even begin...I majored in English Lit, but haven't done any kind of professional writing with my degree up til now (it's been a while since I graduated). I feel weakest in grammar, but also maybe need to know the general structure of web articles? I am just struggling coming up with a list besides, "Grammar, editing, web article format skills," which feels very lacking. I was hoping someone had any insight on direction I can give her, and I can provide more info if needed. TIA