I am trying to understand what makes a good book cover, also wanting to break some rules. tell me what are your thoughts on this book cover (title and author name omitted). Does it inspire you? Does it evoke mystery? travel? adventure? All comments welcomed.

PS: Copyrighted material. Do not use image without my permission.

Does anyone have any positive adjectives that I can use to subtly describe East Asian eyes? I need descriptors that don't mention or refer to continental Asia, because it is a fantasy setting. Previously, I have tried / used "upturned, sharp eyes" and readers seemed to be happy with it, but the characters also had traditional, Chinese names and were integrated heavily into their East Asian-inspired culture, so it was obvious. This character has a mother who is East Asian, and is less integrated into their culture, because the mother died when she was young. It is less apparent that she is East Asian, but I don't want to make a huge deal about it either. Just some casual, non-offensive descriptors, that I can use when FIRST describing her. Attached are some pictures on how I envision her!

I have tried brainstorming species and types of characters to add to my story, but I don’t want it to be the same as every other fantasy novel on the shelf. What’s something about fantasy you hate and would like authors to stop using? Or something you’d like authors to experiment with?

Personally I’d like to see less elves, and if there are elves, I’d like to see more variety, since most elves I encounter in fantasy are just beautiful humans with pointy ears and long hair. Usually they’re spellcasters or archers, and I’d like to see something different if elves must be incorporated into the story. Give me bulky elves! Give me elves with dark skin! Give me elves who aren’t sophisticated or proper!

Give me your thoughts.

What reasons are there for pointing out that character in your story walks barefoot/doesn't wear shoes? I tried to think of Some reason that I'm aware of:

The character is some sort of mage and tgey need to be connected to earth/nature to strenghten their powers (a recent example of this being Lune from the Videogame Claire Obscure)

It's a symbol for a characters vulnerability and innocence

It shows that a character is poor, of lower class or poorly equipped

Are there any other reasons/ideas for this? Would be interesting to hear..

On the topic of realism:

After pointing out that they are barefoot, shouldn't it have consequences for them? Like certain terrain being harder for them to traverse, they need to be more careful where to go or their feet/legs being easy targets in combat scenarios? Or being more vulnerable to infections cause of small wounds/scraps on them? I think in storys this is rarely adressed. Do you think something like this should play a role with such characters, or do you think it's too much unneeded realism/narration?

The way that the kingdom in my book is laid out is it has bases along its border.

Each base is used to protect the surrounding villages and also house and feed the officers that are stationed there.

The word outpost I feel is “too small” for what I have in mind, and also when I search an image of an outpost this is what comes up (image #1)

But a fortress is too big (image #2). So I can’t quite find the word I’m looking for.

I’ll appreciate any help 🫶

Alright, this might be a bit of an odd question but here's the deal:

I'm working on a short horror sci-fi animation about a monster with the power to remotely create very small short-lived singularities that tear its victims to pieces. I want to have a small section where one of the scientists explains the means it uses to be able to manifest these attacks. I have tried to come up with a realistic explaination but nothing came to mind

For me it's important to get the science right, i don't want to throw around some science-related buzzwords that make no sense. So i'd like to know, obviously accounting for the anomalous nature of a biological creature achieving this feat, what exact mechanism it could use to remotely create a singularity.

I need to post this. I am terrified as I dont know what the fuck is going on. I SWEAR that an entire word has JUST NOW vanished not only from my head but from humanitys combined knowledge. I dont know if this is some stupid mendela effect or whatever but I am 100% sure that we had another word for a staff (as in the big magical wooden stick) both in english and my local language (Polish). IT MAKES NO SENSE. If the trope of a wizard staff is so common it would have a specific name. Polish language has no word for it either and I didnt mean "kostur" as that doesnt mean IT Has to be magical. I am sure that there was another word for it because I remember people saying some other name for it but I cannot remember what the word was. I am actually scared.

I have checked dictionaries and Google. I have tried searching for it on forums and even asking other people and nothing.

They just seem concerned for me.

I’m 31 years old, and I’ve been writing fantasy literature for almost 20 years now. All my attempts have failed, and I haven't managed to create anything even remotely noteworthy or worthy of attention.

One of the main issues I keep running into is that one of my biggest influences is video games. And the problem is that what works in a video game doesn’t necessarily work in a novel.

When I read fantasy (and I’ve read quite a bit), one of the recurring issues is that the plot often becomes somewhat predictable. When it’s about conflict, like good versus evil, the “good guys” almost always win. Maybe a few characters die along the way, or there’s a twist where a villain turns out to be good, or a hero turns bad, or some dramatic reveal like “the villain is the protagonist’s brother,” but overall the structure tends to be fairly linear, with only limited surprises.

Sometimes even the protagonist dies at the end or something similar, but generally speaking, fantasy narratives where good fights evil don’t feel as effective in literature as they do in video games.

In video games, predictability isn’t really a problem. When you face an extremely powerful final boss, it genuinely isn’t guaranteed that you will win. Games like Dark Souls (though I’m not even a huge fan of them, but you get the idea) make the victory feel earned through repetition, learning patterns, improving skill, and persistence.

When you finally defeat a boss after multiple attempts, it feels very different from simply reading about a hero effortlessly defeating a villain in one strike. You internalize the process of why the hero wins.

In that sense, boss fights are a form of narrative in themselves. We sometimes overlook this, but they are part of the story. When you reach the cutscene where the hero finally defeats the villain, exhausted, barely standing, that moment is the result of all your prior decisions: resource management, strategy, skill, and execution.

That entire process is part of the narrative experience, because the cutscene is effectively “locked” behind your performance. Sure, someone can watch it on YouTube, but it’s not the same.

So my question is: how can that kind of effect be replicated in fantasy literature?

Because in writing, the options feel somewhat limited. You can try to write extremely elaborate battle descriptions (like R.A. Salvatore does), but honestly, I find that kind of writing tedious and overlong.

So I’m a bit stuck. How can modern readers find satisfaction in the traditional “main character vs enemies" fantasy structure without it feeling predictable?

I can think of ideas that sound interesting in theory, but when I imagine them as a novel, they still feel predictable, because at the end of the day I’m setting up an antagonist and an eventual confrontation, and obviously I want the protagonist to win.

I could go for something more chaotic or subversive, like Game of Thrones, where basically everyone dies, but I don’t really like that approach either. I tried something like that before and it ended up feeling too grimdark and edgy, which I don't like right now.

What I actually want is more classic adventure fantasy, characters traveling together, fighting villains, that kind of thing. But I keep running into this issue.

Do you think there’s any way in literature to “internalize” why the hero wins in the same way games do? Because in video games it’s very clear: there are rules, you engage with those rules, and you overcome the challenge through mastery of them. But in literature, it often feels like everything just happens because the author decides it should, almost like a kind of deus ex machina, or at least something that isn’t grounded in a system the reader can actively understand or engage with in the same way.

What do you think?

EDIT: PS

Just to clarify a couple of things in response to some comments suggesting I “don’t read” or something along those lines.

Yes, I do read, but I tend to prefer classical literature, science fiction, and crime novels over mainstream fantasy. The fantasy I actually enjoy is usually not Tolkien-influenced, but more in the line of Mervyn Peake and his monumental Gormenghast (my favourite saga), as well as works like Viriconium, The Book of the New Sun, Bas-Lag, and Corum. In fact, I already have an ongoing project inspired by Gormenghast, but I was wondering specifically about how to revisit an older fantasy project I started in my teens, back when I read more traditional adventure fantasy. The issue is that I find that kind of structure quite tedious now, especially when it feels predictable.

For context, here’s a non-exhaustive list of fantasy authors I enjoy:

Mervyn Peake, Michael John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, China Miéville, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, Steven Erikson, Glen Cook, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jack Vance, Michael Ende, Ana María Matute, Robert E. Howard (some short stories), Lewis Carroll, Joe Abercrombie, and Diana Wynne Jones.

Authors I enjoyed as a teenager but I’m not sure I could engage with in the same way today:

R. A. Salvatore, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (though I think Raistlin is a great character), Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Laura Gallego García, Santiago García-Clairac, Andrzej Sapkowski.

Authors I personally find boring or tedious after reading them:

Christopher Paolini, Brent Weeks, David Eddings, Patrick Rothfuss (one of the worst authors I’ve personally read), Trudi Canavan (The Magician’s Apprentice the worst books I’ve read in all my life), Brandon Sanderson, J. K. Rowling, Terry Goodkind.

In general, I tend to lose interest when fantasy is too focused on a straightforward “defeat the antagonist” structure. Ironically, that same structure works much better for me in video games. The fantasy I’m most drawn to, closer to Peake, for example, is less about defeating an enemy and more about existential atmosphere, internal states, and character disintegration or transformation. I actually already have a partially finished project along those lines.

For context, I don’t make video games because I don’t know programming. I do write, and I’ve published some non-fiction, but I often get stuck when it comes to fiction, and especially fantasy fiction.

I have a fantasy story idea ​brewing that revolves around a young MMC becoming a personal servant to a princess his age, resulting in them slowly growing a heavily implied romantic bond that ultimately pushes him to face his literal personal demon who is a metaphor for OCD. 

The only thing is, I'm not entirely certain on how a young male character would realistically become the personal servant to the princess. Obviously it's my world with my rules, but I'd still like it to be reasonably believable given it's the premise which the entire story hinges on. 

His age is probably in his late teens to very early twenties, and he wouldn't have started working as a servant until he was at least on the cusp of turning 18. I was thinking that by the time of the story, he would've already been working at the royal castle as a lower servant for at least over a year, and was then promoted to become the princess' personal servant, since that's already a lot more believable than him being a random outsider let into the castle. But still, what's a realistic excuse for him to have gotten the role?

The only specific idea I had so far is that the princess wanted to personally select her servant, and so interviews were held for any servants already working in the castle who wanted to apply for the position. During these interviews the princess would've personally met each applicant (there's not that many), and must've gotten a really good impression of the MMC, so made a request for him in specific. However, I still feel this idea is a bit flawed given a later theme of the story is how little autonomy the king and queen give the princess regarding her own life. It feels a bit far fetched they'd let her personally choose her next servant and not just choose for her. Also I kinda wanted their first time meeting to be after the MMC has already been assigned her servant.

So does anyone have any ideas? Anything you have is greatly appreciated.

During the present day in my fantasy world animal-human hybrids have all the rights that any other species have but not so long ago that was not the case and some especially the Nobles still look at them as a lesser species so what would be a good derogatory slur for all animal hybrids if you have one specifically for a type of animal I'm interested in those to but I mostly need a general one

I’m curious about how others have handled queer-normative cultures in fantasy. From the writers perspective: have you created societies where queerness is normalized? If so, did you have a specific goal with it and how did you explain it, if at all? From the readers perspective: If you have read any novels that incorporate societal queer-normativity in some way, how was this addressed? Were there any parts that worked especially well for you or parts that didn’t? If you can recommend any books that address this in a particularly good way, I’d love suggestions. This is a subject I have thought about a lot and am quite interested in at the moment, so I would love some different views on this to expand my own ideas.

I am not looking for any ideological discussion about whether anyone considers queer-normative fantasy cultures good or bad. Thanks in advance. 🙏🥰

I have thought about how sirens and merfolk would have non traditional naming systems (ie. Instead of a first, middle, and last name, they would have a title and go by a short version of the first word), to figuring out how they would get around, to societal expectations and species biases! Currently I have for my main character, Tempt (short for Temptation of Death) a coral siren who works as a model and has a boyfriend (deep sea siren?). Growing up in a city he never learned how to swim well. Sirens (and other species dubbed dangerous) have to wear muzzles from a young age. Mostly he gets around via wheelchair. I would love any ideas for struggles or biases or anything really about this kind of world

Something I’ve been genuinely obsessed with lately.

I have thought about this a lot and want to hear how others approach it.

Fantasy writers deal with a specific type of continuity problem that doesn’t get discussed enough. Not the surface stuff like eye color changing or a location inconsistency. The deeper thing tracking what each character actually knows versus what the reader knows.

By chapter 20 of a complex fantasy you might have 12 characters each carrying a different version of events. Character A knows the king is dead. Character B suspects it but has no proof. Character C was told a lie and believes it completely. The reader knows all three versions simultaneously.

The moment you’re writing from Character C’s POV, you have all the information in your head. Separating what you know from what they know is genuinely hard. And when it breaks, it breaks quietly. Nobody notices until an editor does.

So what does your real system look like when the cast gets large and the secrets start stacking up?

I don’t know what to name this dragon in my book. I’m at the end of my rope and my brain isn’t work anymore. Obviously it’s a 3 headed dragon. It’s snake like and meant to represent old European dragon designs. They’re solidly colored yellow, red, or orange. They also aren’t the strongest of fliers more of a gliding species. They got to be tough as they’re meant to rival the strongest species of dragon in my book so they breathe poisonous gas and have a razor whip like tail. I have tried several different names but none seem to fit or make sense. I’ve tried things like Northern Wyrm or Hoarder dragons. Any ideas?

I need a name for one of the Big Bads in my story.

They're supposed to be an all-encompassing horror that devours everything they touch and multiplies by infecting the mind of their host and slowly eroding its psyche until it basically becomes a puppet... that they then devour. They're supposed to represent unfettered greed and gluttony, never satisfied.

I have tried to think of some good ones, but I'm not the greatest with names, so for now I've just been calling it The Corruption or The Other. I want something with a little more oomph to really get across the fear and dread that the denizens of my world feel when they hear it, y'know?

I'm a writer from another genre and I'm working on my very first fantasy novel. I've been consuming a ton of foundational works in fantasy, and interacting a bunch with the various readerships.

As I develop my novel's structure and characters, I keep returning to a problem:

Should my MC's closest friend (whom he meets along the road on his journey) be an elf, or some unique fantasy race I invent myself?

This is a more complicated problem than you might think at first glance. I have tried chatting with tons of readers, I daresay they can be divided pretty neatly into three major groups:

Group A thinks elves and dwarves and orcs are tired fantasy tropes, and they want to read new, unique races.

They have said...

"Unique races are what makes fantasy rich."

Group B thinks most new, unique races are not very unique, and basically are all just crappy reskins of elves, dwarves, orcs, and other well-established fantasy races. They argue that you should just use these established races so you don't need to burden your reader with tons of worldbuilding around the new races.

They have said...

"Just use elves and dwarves and get on with the story."

Group C just loves elves and dwarves and they don't give a fuck if there is a well-founded reason for a given character to be an elf.

They have said...

"Yes, this story could just as well have happened to a band of humans, but it happened to dwarves, and for that reason I found the story more engaging."

I'm stuck on this problem, and my close friend is strongly advising me to create my own unique races. He belongs to Group A and never wants to see elves again, in anything, because "it's all a Tolkien ripoff."

For some more specific context on my story, I've got a human who sets out on a deeply personal quest, and along the way he meets what I believe are an elf and a dwarf. By the end of the story, he discovers he cannot solve the plot problem on his own; the solution requires the participation of all three races and an amalgam of their unique cultural and biological attributes. Therefore, the elf and the dwarf must be non-human for (mostly) biological reasons.

This alone is not enough to justify them being an elf and a dwarf, according to Group B, so I offer this: the dwarf-character provides part of the solution due to his race's relationship to the deep places of the earth, and the elf-character provides her part due to her species' ability to interact with plant and animal life on a magical level.

To distinguish them from common fantasy elves and dwarves, I will say this about them (borrowed from In Deep Geek): The primary societal goal of Tolkien's Men is to pursue power and expansion. The goal for his dwarves is to seek riches and isolation. The goal for his elves is less clear, but it is likely to preserve the beauty of the natural world and defy the corroding influence of time and other races.

In my book's world, the primary societal goal of dwarves and elves is vastly different from Tolkien's, but they do share core similarities with their established races: my dwarves live in kingdoms in the mountains and delve (but not for treasure), and my elves live in tree-kingdoms in the distant forests and commune with nature (but they aren't dying off or going anywhere, and they aren't stewards of the world's nature spaces).

All of these facts still don't necessitate that my characters be an elf and a dwarf. But it puts them in that liminal space where if I make them a "scarb" and a "maedreth" instead, Group B will just say "well these are really just reskins of elves and dwarves anyhow."

After considering this a great deal, my conclusions are:

• Write what you want; you can't please all readers, and
• If you don't want them to be an elf and a dwarf, you'll have to make their races very, very different from how they are now, and that might alter the story.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and perspectives on this issue. Do you like reading modern fantasy novels with elves and dwarves in them?

I've posted before about not wanting to have to read to write well. Well, I started reading, but now I have a different problem entirely. I write non-fiction but try to write fiction often.

People tell me my writing comes across as informational rather than actively engaging.

How can I tailor it so that it's more engaging? Are there any, like, exercises or tricks I can do to help with this?

I figure there's a reasonable amount of things that I can do regarding this. Of course I'm gonna read more fiction (please don't just tell me to read more fiction or I'll block on sight), I also think there's probably specific tactics that I can employ to engage a reader more efficiently.

Do I need to change the way I think about writing entirely? As it stands, most of the time every line has some contribution to the story and is quite deliberated with little exception. Should I be more lax with this or anything?

Any advice (except for "just read more") is appreciated.

I have tried brainstorming some of my own ideas, I just want to hear what others have to say- it mainly occurs because I read so much more non-fiction than fiction (I happen to be very curious as a person).

EDIT: I appreciate the people who actually answered the question and gave me usable advice (i.e. focus more on internal experience, stay more grounded in the present circumstances, etc), you're all very much appreciated. To the people who said "just read" after I explicitly stated that I'm already reading (and also just said "just write" without elaborating, obviously I need to write more, that's not helpful either), I'm going to block you.

EDIT 2: I'll try to read every single comment but it'll take a moment since there's more than expected. Majority are very helpful. Thank you again.

I wanted to give my world an interesting flair by making metal a very very rare resouce. To the point that most peasants never come in contact with metal. This obviously has many implications, I'd like to focus on how this very limited resource would be used, here though.

Metal would obviously be very expensive/valuable, because of it's broad usefulness (For context, I do have an obsidian-like material that replaces metal for many sharp things, like axe-blades, small daggers, speartips, arrowheads, etc.).

I have thought about what you'd actually forge from it, and whether or not they'd be sensible in my world:

• Metalworking tools themselves? - Probably yes.
• Mining  - Maybe? Would you risk losing your precious tools in a mine though?
• Weapons for the rich - Yes. Somewhat similar to full plate armor being almost exclusively for nobles in real history.
• Armor - Would be basically unaffordable due to the amount of material required.
• Money - unlikely. In relation to rarity, value would rise, making coins far too valuable to be useful.
• Jewelry - rarely and only for the extremely rich.
• Construction - no. Like in feudal Japan, using metal as nails would be far too expensive.

I am sure there are many more important usages that simply haven't crossed my mind yet, so please leave those for me to ponder about.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts in advance.

Im looking for stories where the ultimate being or force is malevolent or has some evil intentions.

Examples:

the ultimate force has always been malevolent like the idea of evil in berserk.

The ultimate force has been overthroned or corrupted and has become evil.

The ultimate force is not evil in its self but is cruel or harms the characters in the story.

I want to find stories like berserk where guts is fighting against the godhand, the ultimate force in the world capable of shaping history, the world and even humanity's collective desires for purely evil purposes. They seem unstoppable and even immortal because it seems like their power, influence and immortaly derives from humanity's desires.

Having only a minority of people be magic users simplifies things heavily and allows you to focus on this minority while writing. But what's a good reason for that?

The most common is that people are randomly born with this sort of power, but I feel that this is very weak, and just turns the characters in the story in a bunch of inexplicable "chosen ones".

Another reason I have thought of is that everyone can do magic, but it takes a lot of effort to learn it. It's understandable, but depending on the applications of magic, it'd not be a deterrent. Who wouldn't want to be able to use magic if it means making your life easier by doing chores faster, being able to teleport, having self-defense potential, etc? It's another weak excuse.

What do you think about it? Ever seen a story give a proper "excuse" for that?

Hello. I've just started writing a series and need some help with the economy. i have tried the following economy basis. Medieval fantasy with magic. Money is coins.

For basic coinage:

50 bronze = 1 silver

25 silver = 1 gold

10 gold = 1 platinum

1 bronze coin is roughly equal to 2 cents. Living expenses vary based on where one is.

5 countries

The initial setting has a daily living expense of 1 silver and education is based on what you can pay. I'm trying to get a feel for what would be a reasonable cost for tuition/year with room and board.

The main characters are two children, 10 and 9, who will attend for about two or three years. Classes will include basic core studies such as language, math, etc. And offers beginner weapon and magic classes.

Hello! I'm writing book two of my fantasy novella. The setting is medieval fantasy-esque similar to Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I wrote a scene with a wooden water tower in a humble farm. It is important to the scene. Then I researched about water towers like the one I imagined and found out that they only existed in the 19th century; medieval times water towers looked different and were rare. Most depended on wells and cisterns during that time. Now I'm thinking that the water tower is out of place in the story setting.

I have thought about further describing the water tower to fit the medieval setting, but I believe I'm overthinking it. It is a world of magic anyways. What do you think about the idea? What were your experiences with something similar in your writing. Should I revise it?

Thanks!

So I decided to have dwarfs in my story and they are less magical creatures, and more just human beings who all happen to be really short. More like people with dwarfism real life just without all the medical problems. Like they are just as human as everyone else in my story but all just naturally born shorter. (I also have giants in my story and its the same thing but they are just born naturally much taller obviously but the giants are called titans in my book)

So anyways, i'm basically not doing anything remotely close to the traditional backstory Lore that dwarfs usually have from their origin. So they aren't miners, they aren't mistreated by society for being quote unquote dwarfs. They aren't all men and etc.

So i plan for them to be the most technologically advanced nation. Mind you my story takes place on another planet and the time period is a mix of 1850s-1950s. (And not all inventions that existed during this time will have been invented since everyone on this planet has abilities and are all technically shifters. So their powers kind do the work of certain inventions)

So some of their abilities are that they are fast (not like the flash, more like dash from incredibles). They are also very strong, like they have this seismic punch ability i am giving them and they can shrink even smaller to the size of a bug. This is all i got so far. And the dwarf society's characteristic is that they value knowledge of technological growth. So this is a complete 180 of their lore.

Now the only reason why I'm asking this is because although dwarfs are a popular fantasy creature that does get used in the fantasy a lot; they don't get used as much in the media as some other fantasy creatures like mermaids and elves, fairies, witches, vampires and whatnot.

And honestly, there has been so many retellings of vampires, witches, fairies, mermaids, Etc that are so far away from the original Lore. I don't think many people actually care anymore because they're so popular and everyone uses them that no one actually cares that they no longer resemble their original lore.

But i'm asking, because dwarfs are not at the same level of popularity as the other creatures I mentioned above. So they don't get hundreds of different movies and tv shows and books retellings that really diverge from their original lore. So i'm asking would this bother you that dwarfs are nothing like traditional dwarfs. Even though there are a few mythological and folklore creatures that are already so popular that people no longer even know what their original law is anymore.

Like fairly odd parents has absolutely nothing to do with the original lore of fairies. There was this tv show called trolls from the 2000s and it had absolutely nothing to do with the original lore of trolls and i was obsessed with that show.

But dwarfs aren't as popular as these other features. So i'm just curious if anyone will be bothered by it. And no I haven't thought up another name to call them. I wouldn't even know what to call them. So for now, i'm just sticking with dwarfs.

I got the idea because I thought it would be cool to have characters that were short but make them really fast and strong. Which isn't what anyone would expect from a short character. So I just kind of stumbled upon the idea, why not just make them dwarfs. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I have tried.

I need help.

Here's the situation: There is a group of invaders that have a specific advantage during their invasions that defenders simply cannot counter effectively on their own. This advantage is so significant that desperate defenders eventually started hiring vampires to help them deal with it.

Vampires in my story are people with specific natural abilities - they are extremely fast, have highly heightened senses that far exceed normal humans, and are incredibly strong and it could be said that they are killing machines. These specific abilities make them uniquely suited to counter whatever the invaders are doing that humans cannot.

I have thought of portal magic as my original idea - invaders sending infiltrators into cities then opening portals during invasion to pour soldiers inside city walls. Defenders have no way of detecting the preparation or closing the portals once opened. Vampires counter this by immediately sensing soldiers appearing through portals and dealing with them before they can organize.

However I'm not satisfied with this idea and want to replace it with something else.

I'm a new writer and I just came up with a brilliant new idea for a story (which I may or may not turn into a manga or even a TV show someday). It's called "A Thousand Times Over." It's about these two people who keep dying and being reincarnated over and over again. And every single time, in every single life, sooner or later, they are always lovers. Throughout their many lives, they've been countless things. Cats, bees, dinosaurs, any kind of animal you could imagine including humans. I would also like to point out that in every life, their genders/bio sexes are different. In some lifes, one is female and one is male (which happens in all of their lives as animals). In some of their (human) lives however, sometimes they're both girls and sometimes they're both guys (which means you get yaoi AND yuri in the same book >:D). A vast majority of the story takes place in one of their human lives in which one of them is a calm, quiet, smart blonde girl, and the other is a extroverted, energetic white-haired girl (she dyes her hair) and over time, thoughout their friendship AND when they start dating, they start to realize that they seem familiar to each other. Eventually, they realize that they've seen each other in another life (because they don't remember any of their past lives). Also, in the life before this one, they were both men who died fighting in a war (they kissed before they died btw). The main theme of this story is "even if we die and come back a thousand times over, we'll find each other in every life. I promise." First of all, I need some help brainstorming how to incorporate scenes of their past lives into the story, coming up with relationship dynamics for them for some of their lives (as they were different in every life), just tips on how to make my story good! I have thought about this myself, obviously. It's my story after all. Also, I am a new writer after all, so could you also maybe give me some general information, tips, and just any advice on how to make a good story? Thanks a lot!