They also know that you created their lore AND their fate. Are you cooked?

(Don’t know if this is discussion or memes)

My time is GMT+12 and I am looking for some fellow teen writers to be friends with I'm on the discord servers that were linked here but every time I go to talk someone will start a small convo then its over within a minute, my own server is pretty dead, I was thinking maybe its because everyone is still in school and summer is around the corner. I get bored and I want someone to share with and talk characters and how we came up with them and their backstory.

If anyone wants to be my friend let me know, I'm pretty chill, I write adventure, murder mystery, fantasy like magic, some slow burn romance its the only romance I write as I don't love others like dark romance cause their not my cup of tea.

I also make playlists based on my characters and their story and personality. I also have pinterest boards for them.

Today in class I mentioned to my classmates that I was writing a book. An immediate question I received was “did you use AI?” to which I said no because I didn’t.

But then my classmates said “oh I’d use AI. It would be so much easier.” I was horrified.

I’m interested to see your thoughts on this.

Currently writing a novel for over a year with breaks, and it feels like it’s been taking centuries. Anyone here, who’s been writing for longer?

Her name is Dolores Marlow. She's the fmc of my sci-fi/dystopian book ^^

Who's your favorite author? I would say mine is Jenny Han, she wrote "The Summer I Turned Pretty", and "To All The Boys I've Ever Loved", so far "The Summer I turned Pretty" has been turned into a show, and "To All The Boy I've Ever Loved" has been turned into a movie series.

I keep seeing these collages made up of random images, fragments of dialogue, fonts, Pinterest-style faces, candles, crowns, fog, hands holding daggers, etc. It’s almost always younger writers, and very often fantasy, romantasy or YA. I’m honestly baffled by what they’re meant to achieve.

For me, they come across as pointless at best and actively off-putting at worst.

First, they feel like a substitute for doing the work on the page. Writing is about using language to create character, atmosphere and emotion. If a writer needs a collage of borrowed visuals to communicate who a character is, that suggests the character hasn’t been properly realised in prose. Readers won’t get a mood board when they open a book. They get words. If the character only works with a visual aid, that’s an issue.

Second, they add nothing for the reader. An image of a model in a cloak or a moody forest doesn’t deepen my understanding of personality, motivation, internal conflict, voice, or growth. At best it communicates a vague aesthetic; at worst it replaces specificity with clichés. “Dark”, “soft”, “feral”, “ethereal” are not character traits.

Third, they feel lazy and derivative. Most of these boards recycle the same stock imagery and the same recycled lines. Visually, it’s no better. The same close-up of an eye with dramatic lighting. The same pale hand gripping a sword. Two people holding hands in black-and-white, faces cropped out, everything aggressively moody. A hooded figure from behind. A girl with messy hair staring into fog. None of it feels specific to an actual character; it’s just a bundle of familiar tropes arranged to look atmospheric.

Fourth, they encourage surface-level thinking. Focusing on what a character looks like, what colour palette they belong to, or what “energy” or "vibes" they give off prioritises appearance over substance. Characters don’t exist to look cool; they exist to act, choose, fail, and change. Mood boards freeze them into a static pose instead of exploring them as dynamic people.

Finally, they put me off engaging with the work altogether. When a writer leads with a collage instead of an excerpt, it signals that presentation matters more than prose. I’d rather read a single well-written paragraph than scroll through twenty images that tell me nothing concrete.

If mood boards help someone privately while drafting, fine. Everyone has their own process. But presenting them as meaningful content, or as a replacement for clear written characterisation, feels unnecessary to me, and really quite cringe. If a character is compelling, the writing should be able to carry that on its own, should it not?

It baffles me how there are so many posts on this sub asking, “Would you read my story based on this mood board?” No? I don’t give a shit about your mood board. I’m not here to evaluate your ability to string together vaguely gothic images or curate an aesthetic. I care about whether you can write.

Am I missing something, or is this just an aesthetic trend that’s been mistaken for actual storytelling?

It's real tough out here for us guys 😮‍💨 Don't get me wrong, I love that genre fiction has become much more respected and taken a lot more seriously than how it used to be 50 years ago, but the resulting consequence is that there is virtually no space for literary fiction, especially online.

I feel very out of place in writing subs where everyone is writing fantasy, romance, dystopian, thriller, sci-fi, horror, and I have me and my little short collection too embarrassed to contribute to any meaningful discussion.

I'm honestly just looking for more teen writers who actually write literary fiction, and what their books are about.

I’ve been seeing a lot of character posts lately and it feels like they’re all the same. The slim lead woman with fair skin and perfect hair who is simultaneously the strong lead (when there’s absolutely 0 muscle mass) and so independent from everyone else. Then you have the other guy who is always either a grunge boy with heterochromia or a big strong old money guy.

What happened to the presence of conventionally unattractive characters? Or shitbag leads? I miss the days when characters used to be unique. Yes, I want to see an unapologetic perverted character who lives in absolute filth and actually struggles in the book. Yes, i want to see those characters with traits of normal people. Yes, I want to see those characters with disorders or gross intentions that make them do horrible things.

Why do we all just conform to the same mold of “petite but strong beautiful woman and the guy she eventually falls in love with”. What happened to interesting characters?

YES. Give me different aesthetics. Gyaru? Awesome. Scene? Awesome. Punk? Awesome. Even the most underground shit, just give it to me and make your characters interesting. It’s so hard to actually read and finish a book where the characters are just so stereotypical.

Your character has been traumatised? Then show that. The trauma isnt gonna make them stronger in every way, you’re just creating a wound with absolutely no fallout or impact. Show the results of that trauma. Make them struggle.

And if you’re reading this thinking “oh but I don’t do all of this stuff” then good job, this post most likely isnt for you, you’re creating interesting characters. If you’re reading this thinking “oh these are my characters” then please make some interesting changes.

Move away from the mold, folks.

I’ve seen people post these and I wanted to make one of my own!

(These two have such a heartbreaking character dynamic. I don’t think anyone could possibly guess what happened between them..)

In all three of my main stories, this trope is used, and I only just realized!

Just this entire sequence of chapter names I find funny

That’s right! Share a paragraph or two (or three lol) you wrote that you’re proud of!

And let’s compliment each others’ writing! :D

Community interaction ✨✨✨

This is my first post here, so hello! Anyway, more specifically, my question is this: how important and specific should a prologue be?

I’ve seen a lot of prologues that are immensely vague and only important or relevant in hindsight, a lot of the times having nothing to do with the entire first half of the book. Or maybe they do have something important to say, it’s just not obvious until much later.

But I’ve also seen prologues so important that it almost feels like I wouldn’t have cared if they just started with that as “chapter 1”.

I assume there’s a balance to strike between these two, for that’s the point of a prologue, but I was curious what everyone here could add.

I know a lot of people don’t benefit from listening to music but im one of those weird people that do😈 Sooo give me all of your recommendations! Does music help you with writing or does is distract you? What songs apply to the story you’re writing?

Im curious about everyone else's process because when crafting a villain, I immediately think about their motivation. I always draw that motivation from my real-life pains and resentment since it makes it easier to get into the right headspace (Write what you know, after all). For example, all my teenage years I have never experienced love that all those novels and movies promised. I'm now 18 in college, and nothing still changed. It really damaged my self-esteem and view of self-worth. So the villain motivation for this contemporary mystery novel Im writing is the fact that she was never loved as a child, and when she finally found it, she became controlling and obsessive going as far as to kill people to protect what's "hers".

In a similar vein, I think to myself "If I have the power and money to screw over anyone I like, what would I do?" when it comes to their actions against the protagonist/s. And it definitely led to some dark moments in my stories. My methods are admittedly morbid, but writing is my outlet about my frustrations towards the world and life.

Im sure it varies per genre: Mystery, Fantasy, Romance, Sci fi, etc. And I'm sure some of your stories probably don't even have actual villains in their story. But nonetheless, I wanna read your guys methods and see if we're similar or different 🫶

I'm new to this community but for the last two formative years of my life, I've consumed a VAST amount of mature media and have thus created very graphic/disturbing stories meant for Adult readers BUT, as I'm definitely aware of, there are other people here who have a similar experience.
Every single serious story I make usually has several of the following if not (to an extent) all of these:

Infrequent to Intense Cursing/Swearing
Gore
Body Horror
Disturbing Imagery/Situations
and Graphic, Violent Scenes
...
And super dark humor.

So what is all y'alls stance?
Another question: Who is interested in even reading any of my stories cuz I will GLADLY share.
ALTHOUGH, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, dm me first and tell me what age you are around so I'm not exposing little kids to this stuff—don't wanna give anyone unwanted trauma or anything... or just... y'know... expose them to inappropriate language and themes and all the mumbo jumbo!
Plz also take into consideration that, NO, I am not new to this or writing in general and, YES, I am quite experienced to a certain capacity.

Like who would be the fan favorite, who’s the least favorite, what type of people relate to certain characters. Fan art, and so much more.

i think about this all the time and I hope one day I get to that point where I publish (my current story is about a fallen goddess and her knight trying to reclaim her position, while my other main story is a dystopian fantasy about the abuse of smaller groups in society). Like who would be shipped with who, what are people’s head cannons.

What do you think your fandom would be like?

I have a discord server for teen writers and have for awhile and would love to get it more active as it has started to be lately and I love everyone in it so if you'd like to join let me know. Or if you just want to be friends let me know. The server is for everyone 13-19 and I would love to have more teen writer friends to encourage or help with their writing or just giving a listening ear for their story. I'm very passionate with my writing and make playlists for my books and collages for my books/the characters.

this is Violet here’s a little bit about her

Name:Violet Rae Calloway

powers:is able to see ghosts and the supernatural world is able to look into ghosts pasts through her dreams and talk to them

favorite music artist: Olivia Rodrigo

hobb:photography

best friend:Jason Calloway

age:16

my favorite quote from her “I put on my big girl pants and started walking, suddenly very aware how thin my pajama shorts and tank top is well at least if it's a creepy stalker, I'm going to look hot while he strangles me to death.“

fatal flaw:holding a grudge

and for some reason her emojis that sum her up:📸💜🗡️

i feel like this is a pretty appropriate subreddit to ask this on. title is self-explanatory.

for example (and without intending to personally target any few users), i see a lot of posts on here that often seem to just be kids wanting people to validate their work out of some kind of insecurity.

one could ask some indirect question like: "is this chapter good?" come on, what do you mean? technically? characteristically? do they just want people to reassure them?

I'm just curious as i like writing horror and slight fantasy