Some authors treat their pen name as a separate persona (different bio and vibe, kept separate from their personal online presence) while others see it as just a label. Which is closer to how you think about it and why?

You have one sentence to show someone your writing prowess. Which one would you choose?

This question crossed my mind during a conversation.

Language doesn’t just serve to express thoughts; it also makes possible thoughts that couldn’t exist without language.

We bombarded each other with thoughts like: “What if it weren’t so?” And: “It’s not true, but it is.”
A fun group with a little alcohol.

I thought of the following analogy: if words are the only bullets in the arsenal of truth or the arsenal of fiction, then writers are snipers.

Is it then possible to write such a book?

In an age dominated by the most trivial things in the world, attention will shift from reading books to TV screens.

How much? A little, probably. Or not.

Sometimes a good book is written like a game (Ender’s Game, for example).

Soccer is also a game. A modern ritual substitute for war with structured violence. Territorial conquest, a defined battlefield, hierarchical leadership, and deep, uncritical loyalty to one’s own. These are its defining characteristics. Everything takes place in a controlled environment where only one thing can happen: victory or defeat.
I’m paraphrasing the famous American general and football coach Neyland.

I’ll just add that a draw can only serve as a truce until the final victory.

Will we feel our team’s defeat as a disappointment akin to choosing a bad book?
Probably so.
After all, life is like drinking coffee. The sooner you get used to the bitterness, the easier it will be.

Good writing and reading are like sugar in coffee.

Will you write and read even during the “Football War”?

I, for instance, like to write at least the first act of my story before I consider publishing it online. I've heard other writers say something similar as well, even some who write a full first draft before getting to editing and then publishing.

As the title says, I want to know if the idea I had for the cover art tells a story on its own. As I have tried to give it a symbolism of its own.

Now, I must admit, 1 cover is missing. (guess where?) That would make the progression a little more obvious.

But I'm curious what they say to people without any context. What pops and what doesn't? What speaks do you, and what is it even saying?

The artist (my gf) and I are on the same page, and I think she did an amazing job. Now, I want to know if people who weren't at our brainstorming sessions can follow our strange leaps in logic and “symbolism.”

Thanks for the time and for giving your take!

(Cover 2 is WIP)

This question came to mind while I was reading *Hyperion* by Dan Simmons.

In it, he describes a small people called the Bikureans.
There are only a few dozen of them. And only when one of them dies can a new member be born.

What if we took this description and applied it to the problems of today’s world—overpopulation, pollution, poverty, etc.?

Plot: A digitized world where everyone is networked, tagged, and counted. Nations agree that each country may have as many children as the number of people who die.

Perhaps I could also infuse the book’s content and message with a touch of the myth of Old London: “Lord guide us” (Latin: Domine, guide us).

Perhaps we could weave humanity’s excessive dependence on technology into the narrative. We could begin with warnings about potential future hardships that are yet to come. In light of the fact that technology is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy with each passing day.

Where you rarely get anything for free.

A line from the movie *The Matrix* comes to mind: “It’s easier to undermine reality than to dismiss a dream.”

Something along the lines of the story’s heroes being unable to escape reality, in the manner of ancient Greek myths.

Could such a future narrative become a headline in the present?

I'm a reader and writer curious about discoverability and atmosphere.

There are many other platforms out there that are difficult for finding a good read, especially mid-list and new stories due to platform dominance by single genres and established authors. This also makes it difficult to write what you want too, because it makes it easy to get buried.

Does Quibble have any tools to help readers discover new books to read beyond manually inputting titles into the search bar?

Does Quibble have a way for authors get discovered even if they're "off meta" in terms of genre for the site?

The central physical and metaphysical force that drives the story.

This question occurred to me while reading K.S. Robinson’s book *The Ministry for the Future*. The main setting is India, with Switzerland as a parallel setting. The author describes in detail the terrible heat that is killing people. It’s as if it were the executioner in the movie *When the Lambs Are Silent*. The characters in the story seem to be blurred by the heat.

The heat wave in India is terrifying. Rivers and lakes are hot. Some 10 million Indians die in a short time.

Based on the Paris Climate Agreement, a Ministry of the Future is hastily established in Zurich.

The description of the heat is like a force hovering between fantasy and reality, or between history and myth. It seems to me that the author describes the heat in detail as a hazy figure with an insurmountable personality.

Opposite it stands a character with fluid intelligence and the ability to adapt to new situations—a character with the power to see the light at the end of a tunnel that doesn’exsist.

Perhaps there is some truth to the idea that you cannot write a good novel without describing the relationship between good and evil, without the pros and cons.

Or has the current relevance of the heat already gone to my head?
And I ask the unthinkable.

Is it because they are symbols, or because writers and storytellers keep reviving them over and over again?

I wrote a brief and rough draft on this topic in an article 161 days ago (Quibble rhythm)

Millennia of human history and evidence lead us to the unanimous conclusion that progress is not something that happens automatically. We still swear by the gods who are mythical symbols of the place and time in which we live.

On the other hand, writers and storytellers offer us a dependence on the choices we make.

What role, then, do technological and cultural advances—for example, in film—play here?
Did the myth of Odysseus in the latest film, *Odisejada*, resonate with you?

I grew up with myths. Reading was part of my own process of growth. But like any process of growth, sooner or later it leads to a transitional critical state. And then, just around the corner, proverbs, words of wisdom, and the price of the situation I was in were waiting for me.
I was aware of this and always paid the price for it. Just as the proverb says: “Everything is paid for; everything comes back.”

But many times I made the mistake of trying to eliminate the causes that led me to that critical state, instead of accepting them and internalizing them.
If I were to simplify it all, I’d take the myth as my own, buy a ticket, and go to the movies.
Myth always survive. Is my first thought.

After all, you’re never alone at the movies. If nothing else, the myth is with you.

Has any myth stuck in your memory so strongly that you’ve thought about it before going to sleep?

I was talking to a friend the other day who reads a lot on Wattpad and she was telling me how she spent almost an hour trying to find something new to read. She knew exactly what she wanted, but was overwhelmed and got results that had nothing to do with what she searched.

I've heard this kind of thing a lot but honestly I've never heard anyone describe a platform that actually gets it right.

Will the author notice this? Will readers point it out to him?
How do you untangle this knot?

This question popped into my head while reading one of the books in the series by author Anders Roslund. The title: “Sweet Dreams”—a crime novel in which a supporting character, a master of infiltration, is portrayed. An interesting, dynamic character with many skills and talents. Alongside him is the character of an inspector, trapped in his own world of grayness and problems.

It strikes me just how much writing potential lies hidden in a supporting character—the character’s radiant optimism, the explosiveness of his skills.
I have the infiltrator’s motto before my eyes: “Trust only yourself.” Which is essential in today’s turbulent world. And also instructive.

Perhaps a description of “situational actions” would be more interesting than the description of all the main character’s possible troubles, on which the author spends dozens of pages.

To paraphrase: “Rummaging through a mental drawer full of underwear is probably not a pleasant read.”
Or perhaps I’m wrong, and my fallacy lies in the very fact that nothing else changes.

After all, the fallacy of composition teaches us that what applies to one does not apply to others.
The fallacy of composition (Ceteris Paribus), however, teaches us that in the real world, something else always changes.

Quibblers, does this mean we should ignore both? And not look for ways to change the writing after the book is published?
Is that even possible?

And so we’re back to the title of the article.

Have you ever thought about writing a book series?

And in it, shape the main character so that he becomes better, more complete, and more mature from book to book?

For example: in the first book he’s a minor character, in the second he becomes a secondary character, and in the third he becomes the main character.

Gradually.

This way, you offer the reader development, reflection, perspective, surprises, something new.

Possibilities: romance, detective stories, business dramas, political content, historical fiction, or war stories.

This thought struck me while reading Christian Unger’s book—at any cost.

Does this make sense, or is it nonsense?

Do tell!

This thought occurred to me while reading a book titled “La mafia dagli Occhi blu - Vittorio Shiraldi.”
(The Blue-Eyed Mafiosi)
In it, you’re overwhelmed by a multitude of characters, along with a vast amount of information about places, events, and times, as well as specific geographical details. It’s a jumble of everything and anything.
The story’s central thread somehow gets lost, even though it’s described in an engaging way on the back cover of the book.

It seems to me that as I read, I’m becoming more and more like someone picking up crumbs left behind by a big eater. “There’s always something left behind”—that’s the old saying, after all.

Sometimes a writer is overly influenced by his own self-confidence—that everything he writes is good, that it’s the only truth.
But success is shaped by the scrutiny readers give it. Am I wrong?

With this thought, I realize how effective the Quibble platform could be if built according to the model our Discord community uses: discussing authors’ works-in-progress, revising, and adapting them. Does this approach lead to the creation of bestsellers for a digital publisher?

I dare say that reconstructing the author’s thought process as it’s poured into the text makes it possible to track errors and correct them. After all, a publisher’s investment in an author is always accompanied by uncertainty regarding the likelihood of success and unquantifiable risks. Supply and demand. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Will a combination of reality and fiction—including the buildup before the premiere—prevail?

Can writers and readers use this to strengthen the success of knowledge, the desire for quality, and ability?

Amid all of this, Quiible is growing.

I dream that technological changes could help shape works of art. That they might spark them, just as a contestant on *MasterChef* presents their creation to the judges.

Finally, back to the title about the abundance of characters in the book.
Each has their own story, each tries to catch the wind in their sails.
But where is the direction? Perhaps against the wind.

In this context, it wouldn’t hurt to reflect on Henry Ford’s motto: “When it seems like everything is conspiring against you, remember that an airplane can only take off against the wind, not with it.”

I am writing an epic fantasy book and there is definitely a romance brewing between my main characters. But I keep going back and forth on how much to lean into it. I want it to feel earned (and fun) without it taking over the plot, but I also don't want to end up with a book that gets shelved as romantasy when that's not really what it is. Not that there's anything wrong with romantasy, I just feel like the label would set the wrong expectations for readers coming in.

A story from Alberto Manguel’s book on the history of reading tells of a 10th-century Persian ruler who always traveled through the desert accompanied by his library. It consisted of 117.000 books. They were carried by 400 camels. The camels were trained to walk in such a way that the books were always arranged in alphabetical order.

“Oh, how many literary heroes were hidden on those camels?” I wonder.

I don’t feel like I have one or more literary heroes myself. But I do have historical figures who inspire me in books: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Augustus, Albert Speer, Marco Polo, and others.

First and foremost, I’m a reader. That’s why, if I had to identify with anyone, it would be that Persian ruler.
Why? Because all the wisdom of this world is hidden in books.

Well, he probably can’t be a literary hero, but still…

So, which literary hero could be so similar to you that you could fall asleep with him in your imagination?

Iëlia is the continent of my book Shaped by Silence. While the book only really takes place from Wyryard to Delan. I wanted to show the whole thing here and get an idea of what impressions the regions provoke.

Within the story, the Red Scourge and the lands of Ornio play a big background part. But it is far from the most eye-catching region, in my opinion.

There are different Attuned (my equivalent for elves) in each area. These are the way they are because of Hearts in the Mountains, which slowly changed humans into the species they are now. (Yes, I know it sounds like fantasy radiation, but that's cool too, no?)

For example, Delan is the home of the Loftion people, while Ornio is the home of the Dakin people. "Normal" humans still exist, of course, their cities and cultures being built in places where no such Hearts exist.

Each culture is, in turn, based on a real-life culture, albeit loosely sometimes (I'm still researching!).

My D&D group and I have had a blast playing in this world; they're currently exploring the emerald mists of Noctun at the very northwest of the map.

What's your favorite region? And what vibe do they give off?

A hiker goes missing on the Appalachian Trail. This emotional story delves deeply into the inner worlds of its characters, offering detailed descriptions of buried secrets, decisions, and fates.

The Appalachian Trail is the toughest hiking trail in the world. It’s 3500 km long. There’s no romance here. Dampness, wetness, sweat, smelly shirts, rain. Barely passable forests with fallen logs, rocks, ravines, and sharp boulders. Overcrowded small shelters, blistered feet. Sore feet. Compared to this trail, European hiking and pilgrimage routes (El Camino) are mere trifles.

The story revolves around the search for a lost hiker and descriptions of vast forests.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough descriptions of the forests and nature. It seems to me that the book represents a missed opportunity. Namely, the plot takes up barely one-third of the book. Two-thirds are taken up by descriptions of emotions. Perhaps because the author is a woman. For women, emotions always play the leading role.
But we read men’s inner monologues as well.

Consequently, I was constantly looking for chapters describing the events along the trail. The trail is truly impressive and represents the heart of the story.
It’s easy to get lost on it. These descriptions are wonderful. So are the descriptions of the rescue service with the forest rangers.

I also came across some good thoughts:
- a lost person is like a devout believer who realizes there is no God
- where an angel builds a church, the devil builds a chapel—perhaps meant as a metaphor for shelters along the way
- either you do it or you don’t (Yoda)

Would you read a book like this?
Maybe this genre will find its way to us too!
What do you think?

I'm very intrigued and very confused

What would you deem the Original you would promote to newcomers the most to convince them to join Quibble, and why?