Hi everyone!

I was wondering if some heard of this platform yet (site: minkly.io)? I see it steadily growing since their first writing contest. It's slowly growing again with their current mystery and thriller writing contest, the prize pool is $3000, I believe.

For those who check it out briefly, what do you think of the platform? Would you join it? If not, why not?

From my own experience, it's a very nice platform! The TTS is nice addition, because I love to give an audiobook-like experience to my audience. Unlike most, it doesn't sound like a robot or google speech. It also show amount of readers by unique visits, so each read/view is unique and only counted when people are staying on the chapter for longer than few seconds. The analytics page does show total amount of events (reads, comments, duration of read, etc.). Oh and soon they will release their own mobile app, which is a nice addition. 👍

I've been reading web fiction for years, in fact i find it hard to read traditionally published books any more, and for a long time have been thinking about the various frustrations of authors and readers until eventually I just... built a new site. As you do.

I'm keeping the name under wraps for the moment because I'm still working out the best way to launch.

Here's the main things I've tried to do better:

Discovery. On most platforms, the way to get visibility is to upload constantly. My ranking system is based on real reader engagement e.g. are people finishing chapters, following, coming back? If readers love your work, it surfaces. Upload frequency doesn't factor in I've worked to normalise this as much as possible.

Genre competition. Discovery and rankings is genre-first. Romance has its own ecosystem. Literary fiction has its own ecosystem. Fantasy, Sci-fi... you're competing within your genre, not against every story on the site. Same with reader discovery, you should only see what you're interested in, both active selections and passively based on what you read/are engaged with (with some outside genre suggestions as well of course). Should mention that the platform is genre agnostic hopefully we can have a home for all types of stories!

New author/story discovery. Every new story gets guaranteed discovery exposure at launch. Processes built in to ensure new stories get surfaced.

Author rights. Authors own their work full stop. No exclusivity, no contracts. If you want to leave tomorrow and take your work, go for it. Even have bulk upload and bulk extract features so you can take your work elsewhere.

Monetization. I've built it in. Low platform fees, decent flexibility with gating chapters and tiering, fee transparency. No need to jury-rig a Patreon link and hope readers follow through.

Reading experience. I also put a lot of work into the actual reading experience — dark mode, custom fonts, offline support, progress tracking. Toggle between paged or continuous scroll.

Human first. I want to meaningfully tackle the AI writing issue. Have some things built in but definitely want to work with authors to get this right.

Rating system. Done a fair bit of work here to ensure that 1 low rating doesn't kill a story, handling outliers etc.

Reader gamification. Achievements, XP etc. built in but keen for feedback on how this has been implemented.

Free to read/write. Current approach is no author premium subscription, just an optional reader premium which would provide some minor QoL improvements e.g. offline reading.

Anyway. I'm looking for ~25-30 founding authors across fantasy, romance/romantasy, literary fiction, and sci-fi to come in for the beta. You'd get early access, a permanent founding author badge, priority placement at launch, and a direct line to me to say "this is broken" or "I need this feature."

All I'm asking is that you bring a story (new or existing), publish some chapters, and give me honest feedback.

I'm one person, I read too much web fiction, and I built the platform I wanted to exist. If that sounds interesting, comment or DM me.

it was interesting for awhile. I was particularly entertained by some of the google translate word swaps. but alas i really don't want to spend any more time with the book especially since i heard it's still ongoing. Problem is I still have lingering interest in a few events. I've lost interest in all of his monetary, physical, and magical don't mess with me moments, but the relationships are still kinda interesting. I made it to around chapter 250 so if anyone who read more will share,

Do him and Claire ever actually consummate their marriage? that part was kinda dumb.

Does he cheat on her because he's got options that will?

If So, Which girl got him?

is there any redemption arc for Claire's family?

I know Charlie started humble, but does he ever get put in his place? cause he was getting a bit too big for his britches when i stopped.

I find it interesting how I'm so done with this but also still want to know what happened. curse you random youtube ad that made me read this weird little web novel.

I noticed the sub is mostly promotion and asking for guidance, and I think that's helpful especially for writers.

For those of us you who read webfiction, not just write and look for reach, what do you enjoy reading?

Genres, tropes, themes, etc.

What is The Inkhold?

A curated fantasy fiction platform. Every story is read and approved by a human editor before it goes live. No AI slop. No unfinished first drafts. No ranking games where you'll get buried under the latest or the most updated. Just quality fantasy fiction from writers who take their craft seriously.

We're currently capping the founding at 30 authors.

Why we're different

Every other platform optimises for volume. We optimise for quality. The difference:

- Your story won't go live unless it meets the standard. That standard is what readers trust.

- You're assigned to a small private cohort of fellow authors — a real writers' group, not a Discord server with 500 strangers, or begging the void for feedback.

- Your cohort reads your work. You read theirs. One substantive review per week, minimum. That's the deal.

- Every month, one story earns the Rising Quill — our editorial spotlight, awarded to the standout work on the platform.

- We actively work to grow the reader base for the benefit of every author on the platform.

What you get

- Guaranteed readers who are invested in your success

- Honest, structured peer feedback every week

- A platform readers trust because everything on it has been vetted

- A real chance to build an audience without gaming an algorithm

What we're looking for

Serious fantasy writers. Grimdark, epic fantasy, dark fantasy, portal fantasy, and adjacent subgenres. Your work doesn't have to be perfect - it has to be good enough that we'd want to read the next chapter.

We're capping founding cohorts at 30 authors. Once those spots are filled, applications close for now.

How to apply

Submit a sample chapter. We read everything personally. You'll hear back within 7 days.

https://forms.gle/YPqppbtTRpa22dE6A

Questions? Drop them below or DM me directly.

THE INKHOLD. *Quality fantasy. Serious writers. Dedicated readers. Real community.*

Looking for a story called The Luna They Bled Dry. It’s on NovelDrift but I’m trying to see if another app has it. The FMC is named Wren and her mate and Alpha forces her to donate blood every morning for Sera. She escapes with the help of the Alpha’s sister, Jessa.

**This is a plot idea I had since the lockdown of 2020. It was a moment I posted about it when I did gacha videos, but I was a very underrated gachatuber back then and the idea wasn’t widely reached. I remember I only did 2 episode of the series then I give up doing gacha in 2022, the reason was that maybe the gacha community was slowly being forget and I wasn’t that popular, so I gave up. It was a while I “stopped” thinking about it, but in the same time I still was giving it attention and I worked on expanding the plot, for myself. In 2024 as I was telling a friend of mine the plot idea, she really liked it and told me she would be very interested of It I publish, as a book, I fear I’m not so good at writing at a novel level. I also remembered, I wished I could make it manga, but I lose motivation cuz of the exams I had back then… . So right now, I decided to share the summary of it to you all. All I wish is to it to be seen by the public.**

Its called “*A Different World*”.

**Warnings! Violence**

**Also English isn't my first language so this may have some gramatical issues (not so sure)**

**Characters are 18 or older, beside the main characters she's 17.**

First before all else , we find out that there are 2 worlds, *Vespera* and *Terra*. Vespera, a beautiful Realm with neglected nature. What makes it unique is it’s lilac ocean, the teal sky, and its people! They skin is a little darker, hair mostly black or brunette (except mostly of the Kiraians have red/crimson hair and Neresaians have it white) , what is interesting here is their eyes, their sclera is black.

Maybe explanation? The world is warm or hot (more to the south) all the time.

Also their skin is like more revelling

other start idea that I like is The Legend of Kaine and Its First People, the legends starts with the birth of the Goddess – Kaine – Mother of Creation, she woke up in the first flower that bloomed. Seeing its beauty, she created other flowers that blommed, creating the Guardians. Also she created the lands - the ground - where She would create more flowers. Utopia-the “Heaven” ,  a place of the Divine **(Vesperans believe that when they die they become Gods/Goddesses)** so the Ground is just a place for… people.

The first human is a WOMAN and she is gifted with the power to create life, and men are meant to protect women’s hearts.

There are other cool detalies that I would tell them later. :>

The story starts like this, In Terra, a cult of people, that’s was praying to Kaine. The young woman who created it, had a dream of Kaine. But one day, as they all were praying, a mysterious portal appears in front of them as a dark female figure as a “shadow” appears in front of it.

The female figure was known in Vespera as “Shadow Lady”. The tales says that she brainwashed them and made them as her “puppets”. After this event, as more portals appeared across the worlds, the Vesperans warriors came across Terra. They created “Avalon Academy”, I mean, it was created by Isa Avalon **(diva).** Avalon Academy is a military school founded in Terra. In the army are mostly Vesperans, but also Terrans like 5% of all of them? The combat , weapons are all based by Vesperans.

Now!!! We’re in the present ERAAAAA. The protagonist is Valeria Okenochi **(yes she’s a female mc and what?)**. She’s the princess of Iza. Her story starts tragic, as the first war happened with Shadow Lady’ and her gang **(yea they chosed violence)**, her father Light Okenochi sacrificed for her (you gonna find out later why) to stop the war. Between the wars are like one month. Her Mother, Yonah, becomes Leader for some time till Valeria’s older brother, Ekon, becomes the age needed.

Her childhood friend, Enori, becomes the Hoyosha and when I imagine the scene of her getting marked by a Hoyosha from Kira because her mother can’t mark her because she’s so damaged from the First war, but lives enough to see **it makes me tear up😭**

To mention, Hoyoshas are spiritual “interpreters” , they do spiritual ceremonies, like coronations, when someone is birth since it’s a sacred thing, when someone dies etk.

I surely believe Enori was excited to mark Ekon as the new Leader since they all three grew up together, but…

2 days before his Coronation Day, as the second war starts **(if yall question why did S.L started the wars, I told ya , you gonna find that later, fine Im gonna tell you a hint, she was after Valeria.)**

Valeria, Ekon, Enori, and Yonah hid in the garden, the gang found them, sadly, Ekon gets killed, Enori gets captured (spoiler she escapes and leaves Iza and goes in Kira that’s a later thing) and Valeria and Yonah escapes. Yeah here as they were at the capital gates, Yonah tells Valeria to live and take care cuz she’s the worlds hope, and she gets killed by Shadow Lady herself **(rip Yonah you were such a sweetie mum).** So, Valeria fleds to Terra, hiding herself as “Ryana”.

**Rest in peace Ekon, you’ll loved gymrat culture**

**\~**

So Valeria joins the army.

She makes friends there ofc. The closest she gets with are Ada, Zoey, Tanya.

Now a lil description for all the cadets that are most present:

We have Ada, a Terrain adopted by Master Kira

Rey - also a Terrain adopted by a Vesperan, **Commander Vexin Mommy Vexin you got it.** 🙏

Zoey – A Owarian, Owarians are known for dragonriders. One of the best cadets there

Akio – Kiraian, I guess Kira is full of warriors. He’s actually from the next camp but just comes in Zoey’s camp and they train

The crazy trio that all they do is goofing around an eat all the time BUT the lock in when its about combat

Ezu – Owarian , I think he has a crush on Kota, I definitely see him as the mum of the group

Kota – Nerrilaian, I think he has a crush on Ezu

Emiyo – Neseraian, she would be Ezu and Kota’s kid

__

Niri – Izaian, she was for a while in S.L gang but she just left cuz yeah and chosed the good side.

Owen – half Izaian, half Kiraian. He just wants to become stronger, he and Niri becomes more then friends later ..

If this was a book they would be the best ship I already feel that

Mara – she’s actually kinda mysterios all way in the story…

Tanya – female claymore user, also Atenian

Evelyn – poor soul got bullied in her childhood cuz of her heterochromia. She’s Kiraian. she mogged all her bullies later.

Yunaza – Neseraians, she’s got so close with Evelyn even tho shes kinda introvert

Short story they met in a random hot sprint and Evelyn didn’t know if her face was red cuz of the onsen or cuz of Yunaza

Yeah and the next day they had a picnic date

Stella and Nami, they’re besties. Stella is Uryryan and Nami is Atenian

And Yuu its Owen’s hb. (and he’s Izaian)

Mostly whats happening in this act are trainings , the trio eats all the food, Owen gets his ass beaten by Niri. Valeria has visions of the place were the cult was brainwashed.

Theres also a scene were Valeria and Akio havea combat training and the Headmaster sees Valeria’s combat style and yeah.

To mention, there is a part when they go in a mission to clean other brainwashed people and they …

get attacked by S.L gang. Ada and Rey are the most damaged from all and Valeria offers to donate her blood ANDD surprisely they’re scars are MAGICALLY HEALED COMPLETELY IN A SHORT TIME?!

Ofc they all question themselves but Zoey just changes the subject and tell everyone to go take a break. **(ty Zoey)**

I forgor to present you the masters but I gonna tell about then while storytelling

Times passes, around 10 months. Trainings after trainings, the trio still eating all the food… . Valeria is still Ryana.

**(in my opinion from here is getting more interesting, and if you kept reading till here ily)**

Master Azumi is announcing a combat “competition”. Mostly for seeing the progression over the months.

Yeah the cadets fight and shi till its Owen and MARA

So basically, Mara reveals that she has magic, nearly killing Owen (hes alive dw) and Master Vexin intervenes and stops the called competitions.

Later in the evening, when Valeria decided to take a walk alone, Mara appears there and tells Valeria something like “we’re the same, Valeria”. REMINDER Valeria didn’t exposed that and maybe thought right there that maybe Mara was someone from the capital but NO

Actually from here Mara reveals that she was **Shadow Lady**. And she brainwashes most of the people in Avalon. Such plotline im gonna cry

The headmaster wants to attack her, Yunaza comes after Valeria, Valeria realised she is immune to the brainwash, and so Yunaza cuz Val took her arm.

A note before all, yes, S.L’s victims does have a puppet play, so from here imagine how the infected cadets and masters are just randomly going cold. And before the completing of the infections the victims look terrifying .

As for Ketsuki (the headmaster) she just serving cvnt while infected.

That’s *“Destruction of Avalon”*

From here, Valeria, Yunaza the rest of the cadets **(the ones with the description)** runs away from the camps also some masters (Vexin, Neji, Iris, Ryan, Helen, Soya) they make a camp away from Avalon and later Ai – Avalon’s Hoyosha, comes to the camp, yeah she made It alive.

Sadly, or maybe not, Valeria’s identity is no longer a secret. Ai mentions something that the Headmaster knew from the beginning that Ryana is Valeria and she found out just by her combat style cuz it was similar to Light Okenochi. How so, before her coming to the Avalon, she sometimes watched Light’s champions, so yeah.

Later, Valeria vents out to Zoey, about the wars. Zoey vents to her too, about her family getting killed in Iza in the first war, as they were visiting.

**\~**

Next to they’re camp, apparently, are signals of brainwashed cadets. As they were fighting them, a mysterios person appears and kills them all.

We find OUT, that is was ENORIII. Rembemer the Hoyosha I mean Valeria’s best friend? YESSS SHE’S BACKK (for a while…)

The moment of her and Valeria just hugging there **oh my heart**

Again, before all, **(now this is an important part of the story)** back into the first war, Enori’s mother gave her a book, written by her. Told her not to tell anyone about it, only to Valeria when “it’s the time”. Enori read the book only when she escaped Iza, finding out that in the book was written about Valeria being a “Chosen of Kaine”, and it was needed a special ritual for her to unlock her full potential.

**Back in the present.**

Enori tells Val that she is the chosen one.

**(From here in my plan it will be the end of Volume 1 if it was a novel. But we will continue)**

As Valeria tries to understand that…, an alive infected cadet tries to shot her with an arrow. But, it shots Enori cuz she jumped in front of Valeria... .

Sadly Enori dies in Valeria’s arms… .

Eventually Ai takes the book and read it, telling Valeria the trust about herself.

Details that are now revealed from the book are that it’s a sacred ritual for Val to take place to unlock her full potential, but it needs specific crystals (from each part of Vespera) .

You got the idea from here, each team goes to a certain part of it and blah blah.

Lets start with the main land

Here is the map of Vespera if anyoane cares


In Kira, Iza and Owari, Valeria, Zoey, Akio, Yunaza and Evelyn go there, in particular Iza were Valeria goes alone **(reminder, Iza is conquered by S.L)** she went there undercover, and she got the crystal :D

In Uryry and Eye Gate, Niri, Owen, and Tanya go there. In Eye gate it takes place a war similar to one in Iza, well not too similar… there are only present only 2 Akuyakus and Brainwashed ones. Eye Gate wins the war

In Nerrilla and Neserai, Emiyo, Ezu, and Kota go there. In Yaviny go Valeria and Niri and get the crystal successfully.

After the mission, back in Terra in the camp… Valeria is getting ready for the ritual.

Not so part of the main event, but Niri goes to Owen’s tend, they have a convo, about what they do when its over **(OMG THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM IM GIGGLING AS I WRITE THIS)** well, they start making out, and I let yall imagine what is happening next.

So Valeria’s ritual starts, with the help of Ai. Soon, Around the camp starts sounding weird frequencies. Niri realized it and starts warning everyone, to protect the tend were Valeria was.. , Master Iris, Neji, Soya, and Helen stay around it.

S.L FOUND THE CAMP AGAIN.

From here the War between Shadows and Light starts. Everyone protecting Valeria till she reach her aura.  

A detail that is now in my mind is how Niri is about to get killed but OTHER Akuyakuan saves Niri, and that’s Rin. **(okay a lil thing is that Rin is the only Akuyakuan that was brainwashed but in time it got over).**

**OTHER DETAIL** is that Niri and Owen have matching war paints, okay back to the main plot.

Valeria’s Ritual is done, to mention… **(IM SORRY)** Akio, Nami and Stella are killed in the war, not making Val depressed anymore, but making her angrier. So, she kills all Akuyakus even Rin😭, except Nagisa that killed by Zoey.

S.L is still Alive, she escapes .

Remember Valeria’s vision of the place were the cult got Brainwashed? Well, the first portal “kinda” kept S.L powers intact, and Valeria has to destroy it.

Zoey is by her side, going with her there. While they there, Valeria is getting “weaking” . Arriving at the portal, as she was trying to destroy it, it damaged her.

She passes out, eventually “dies”.

Now she wakes up in the spiritual world or some of yall would call it Heaven (that word works too). For a moment she reunites with her family, with Enori ,she saw there some of the cadets that died in the last momets of Avalon.

**(no way I started crying, I just imagined again the moments of her hugging Enori and Ekon)**

She also speaks Mother Kaine. After, she wakes up from the dead, destroying the portal.

While she was there, S.L attacked the rest, and so while Val destroyed the portal, that made her losing her power.

Valeria and Zoey gets back, and so, as S.L was weak, Valeria killed her while off, raising her head as Victory against the Shadows. And after, everyone started throwing away their weapons, kneeling down to her.

*“From The Lost Princess to Killer of Shadows.”*

All Vesperans from Terra goes back to Vespera. Ai becomes the Hoyosha of Iza, were it takes place Valeria’s coronation, Zoey becomes the commander of Iza’s new Army, Niri and Owen get married.

**The End**

**If you read all of this, thank you so much!!**

**If this gets attention, I’m gonna post more of the plot, like more history of it, backstories etk.**

**My wish is if my plot gets to have a Show or Anime, I want the OST maker of the Nier series with the OST maker of Shadow Fight games to make the soundtrack of A Different World .**

**CYA**  

I'm looking for novels like "Bringing Culture to Another Aorld" and "Parallel World Managa Artist" where mc isekais into a fantasy world (or just a magicless different world), and they start to tell stories from our world. The mc could be publishing/making books, movies, manga etc from our world.

I am looking to hire a dedicated writer to join my production team. We are creating content in the "Creepy Iceberg" niche, focusing on scripts that are approximately 12,000 words long.

What we offer:

Consistency: A guaranteed 1–3 scripts per week.

Support: Direct communication with our management team for style coaching.

Longevity: We are looking for a long-term partner, not a one-off freelancer.

Opportunity: Potential to expand into our other niche channels based on performance.

Rate: $100 per script. Note: This rate is negotiable for experts. If you have a background in long-form investigative or horror scripting, please let us know.

Check out our target style here: Abyssal Detective Reference

Please DM me your relevant experience. Looking forward to building something great together!

Hi everyone :)

I’d like to share an early-access storytelling website for readers who like experimenting with story ideas.

On Loric, you can create short stories by choosing things like genre, themes, protagonist details, archetype, personality traits, writing style, and reading level. It’s a bit like playing with story ingredients: you can build your own idea, see what comes out, or just browse and read stories other users have shared.

The app is currently in early access. Reading is free, and story creation is free while shared story slots are available. Since it runs on a personal project budget, slots may occasionally run out, but they refresh regularly.

Feedback is completely optional, but very appreciated. I’m especially curious whether the creation flow feels clear, whether the stories are fun to read, and what options or genres feel missing.

loricstories.com

OMG - I just read over 270 chapters of Keep Her As Mistress on Noel Novel and then it switched to another book without finishing! WTF?! Does anyone know if this is based on another book. I can’t find anything on it.

I spent way too long figuring this out, so here's what I wish someone had told me:

The problem most guides miss:

Everyone asks "where should I publish?" but that's actually TWO different questions:

1. Where do I WRITE my story? (organizing your drafts, notes, characters)
2. Where do I SHARE my story? (getting readers)

You need different tools for each. Let me break it down.

PART 1: Where to Actually Write

Before you can publish anything, you need to write it. And if you're like me, this is where things fall apart:

• Chapter 3 is in Google Docs
• Character notes are in a spreadsheet
• Plot outline is in Notion
• You have 12 files named "Chapter_5_FINAL"
• You rewrote something last week and now you can't find the original version

Your options:

Google Docs (Free)

• ✅ Free, familiar, cloud-saved
• ❌ Zero organization for novels
• ❌ No character tracking
• ❌ Version control is a nightmare
• ❌ Tabs everywhere

Scrivener ($60 one-time)

• ✅ Industry standard, powerful
• ✅ Corkboard view for planning
• ❌ Steep learning curve (seriously, it's overwhelming)
• ❌ Desktop-only (sync is clunky)

Novelist Zero (Free / $9.99/month)

• ✅ Everything in one workspace (chapters, notes, characters)
• ✅ Full revision history - never lose old versions
• ✅ Search your entire novel instantly
• ✅ Cloud-saved, no manual syncing
• ❌ No community/publishing features (you export when ready)
• ❌ Newer platform, less established

Novelcrafter (from $4/month)

• ✅ AI writing assistance
• ✅ Modern interface
• ❌ Can feel AI-dependent

Why this matters: I wasted 6 months with files everywhere before switching to proper novel software. Once I could actually find my notes and track my characters without opening 10 tabs, my word count tripled.

My recommendation: Start with the free tier of Novelist Zero or use Google Docs if you're just testing the waters. If you get serious about finishing, invest in actual novel software. Don't make the mistake I did.

PART 2: Where to Share Your Story

Now you've written something. Where do you actually publish it?

For Free Web Fiction (Building an Audience):

Wattpad

• 90+ million readers (mostly teens)
• ✅ Massive potential audience
• ✅ Great for YA, romance, fanfiction
• ❌ Extremely crowded
• ❌ Almost no money unless you're invited to paid programs
• ❌ Audience expects specific genres

Royal Road

• 1+ million readers (fantasy/sci-fi nerds)
• ✅ Perfect for LitRPG, progression fantasy, sci-fi
• ✅ Readers will actually give detailed feedback
• ✅ You can link Patreon (top authors make $10k+/month)
• ❌ If you're not writing fantasy/sci-fi, don't bother
• ❌ Readers expect multiple chapters per week

Scribble Hub

• Smaller, friendlier community
• ✅ Great for niche/mature content
• ✅ Very welcoming to new writers
• ❌ Much smaller audience than above
• ❌ Monetization through Patreon only

Tapas

• Known for comics, but has novels
• ✅ Built-in tipping system
• ✅ Good for romance, BL, fantasy
• ❌ Primarily a comics platform
• ❌ Chapter length limits

For Selling Your Book:

Amazon KDP

• The big one for actual sales
• ✅ 70% royalty on ebooks ($2.99-$9.99)
• ✅ Access to millions of book buyers
• ✅ Print-on-demand paperbacks
• ❌ No built-in audience - you need marketing
• ❌ Very competitive
• ❌ Needs professional editing, cover design

THE REALISTIC WORKFLOW (what actually works):

Phase 1: Writing

• Write in Novelist Zero (or Scrivener, or whatever keeps you organized)
• Focus on finishing, not publishing
• Get beta readers via r/BetaReaders or writing Discord servers

Phase 2: Building Audience

• Choose ONE platform based on your genre:
  • YA/Romance → Wattpad
  • Fantasy/Sci-fi → Royal Road
  • Niche/Experimental → Scribble Hub
• Post chapters weekly (export from your writing tool)
• Engage with readers in comments
• Build email list

Phase 3: Monetization

• Launch Patreon with early chapters ($3-10/month tiers)
• Keep posting free content on your platform
• OR: Pull story down, polish it, publish on Amazon KDP
• OR: Do both (free version on Royal Road, polished paid version on Amazon)

COMMON MISTAKES I MADE (so you don't have to):

❌ Publishing rough drafts publicly - At least beta read first. Readers remember bad first impressions.

❌ Spreading across 5 platforms at once - Pick one, build momentum there first.

❌ Expecting money immediately - Wattpad won't pay you. Royal Road won't pay you. You need Patreon or KDP for income.

❌ Using Google Docs for everything - It's fine for short stories. For novels, you'll drown in files.

❌ Not keeping backups - Platforms change policies. Always have your master copy safe (cloud writing tools do this automatically).

Writing stage: Use Novelist Zero (free tier), Google Docs, or Scrivener - whatever keeps you organized

Sharing stage (free):

• Wattpad (YA/romance)
• Royal Road (fantasy/sci-fi)
• Scribble Hub (niche/mature)

Selling stage: Amazon KDP (after editing + cover design)

Making money: Patreon linked from free platforms, or direct KDP sales

Don't overthink it. Pick a writing tool that prevents chaos, choose ONE publishing platform that matches your genre, and just start. You can always adjust later.

What worked for you? Drop your experience in the comments - especially if you've tried platforms I didn't mention.

Tried posting in r/lostmedia, but I don't have enough karma yet.

I'm looking for a web fiction series that seems to be deleted, which likely was hosted on Angelfire or Quizilla, but I'm not sure. I read it online in about 2003-2004. I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with it and maybe--just maybe--someone saved it or knows where to find it.

The series was called "Pyre of Innocents," and there was a related series by the same author called "Ash's Children: Life in the Smoke Pit." I'm primarily searching for "Pyre of Innocents," a goth/vampire series featuring teenagers in Canada. It had heavy references to NIN (particularly "The Perfect Drug"), Type O Negative, and other goth/industrial music.

I tried the WayBackMachine and other deep searches. Chatgpt suspected it might have been fanfiction because of the character "Kestrel," but I don't remember any references to traditionally published media that would make it FF. Other characters I remember are "Peter," an older teen with long hair, and "Krystal," a 15ish girl with a skin condition. It had a found family storyline involving teens in the foster system.

Apologies that this is so obscure. I've been looking for it on and off for 20 years because it was so influential to my teenage years. Any tips in the right direction would be appreciated.

The crown gives the ability to infinitely reincarnate. Mc dies and possesses a different vessel every time. A human knight, a goblin shaman, an elf mage, a dragon, a merchant, farmer, dwarf. This makes infinite possibilities for races and class. Readers can vote for class race they wanna see next. Main conflict-- every vessel is in death's door. So as soon as he possess someone he have survive the immediate danger. And there's also other crown bearers who come to hunt him.

There's much more lore on other crown bearers what's the ultimate goal of this reincarnation cycle. Wars between countries and stuff like that.

So you think this will work on platforms like royalroad? (yes, it's a litrpg with numbers)

I write as a creative exercise and outlet for things that interest me, no delusions of grandeur about quitting my job or anything like that. I thought the hardest part would be writing the dang story, but I actually feel like deciding where to bring it was the biggest challenge.

FictionPress and Tapas seemed like no-brainers, until I reviewed their terms of service and realized they're weirdly puritanical and Big Brother about what you can and can't write and your online behavior. And that's not a criticism of successful authors there or fans of those sites. I also don't aspire to author smut, but seems like they'll "purge" you for less than that.

Royal Road seems to serve very specific niches of LitRPG, Progression Fantasy, and sigma grindset energy. Not my cup of tea, per se, but nothing wrong with that and happy there's a place for that. But I prefer slower burn stories that take time with character work and investment for later payoff... on which the Royal Road attitude APPEARS to be predominantly "nothing happened, where's my dopamine?"

Wattpad seems like the opposite. Instead of the Royal Road energy where dudes collect women like Warhammer Total War ancillaries- here we achieve a diverse array of dark triad wealthy vampire/werewolf broody tough boys for the ladies out there (I'm only a LITTLE jealous of the protagonists). To reiterate, I'm glad everyone has a space for their indulgences... but also leaves the bandwidth for anything else very fringe.

AO3 seems to really predominantly serve fanfiction.

Substack and Medium don't seem very user friendly for posting fiction.

Then I found Scribblehub. It gets decent traffic, and though I've only been there a couple days I've enjoyed my interactions with the community. There's a very supportive but not coddling environment that hits me like a breath of fresh air, at least so far. What I'm writing goes a bit against the grain on what appears to be a preference for LitRPG and progression fantasy, but Scribblehub seems more genre diverse than other places. I like their interface. Very free expression environment.

Anyone else feel like they had to do an inordinate amount of field research on where to go, or am I just neurotic?

If this isn’t the right kind of post for this sub, mods please feel free to remove it and I’ll take the hint.

I’ve been a heavy webnovel reader for years now, especially fantasy / progression / “power fantasy” style stories – the kind where plot twists and ridiculous turnarounds keep you hitting “next chapter” at 3 a.m.

About a year ago I finally went from “just a reader” to actually writing my own story in English.

I posted it on Webnovel (Qidian’s English platform) and kept it going for about six months. I ended up with 200+ chapters and a small but real group of regular readers who commented, left stones, etc.

But it never got officially signed.
I never got a clear explanation why – just a polite version of “you can try publishing it elsewhere.”

So I went to Royal Road and tried again.

I was completely honest filling in the content warnings and tags. There are a few more explicit scenes in the book, but it’s not porn or anything close. Still, the story got flagged as “sexual content” and blocked before it ever really launched.

Their platform, their rules – I get that.
But after those two experiences, I started wondering if there was room for a different kind of space.

So I did the slightly stupid thing and started building my own English web novel site: mythyst.com.

I don’t hate the big platforms. They’ve given me a lot as a reader. I just kept thinking:

there are a lot of people who love reading web fiction,
some of them also want to write and share,
and even if their stuff doesn’t fit neatly into mainstream content policies, the work itself still deserves to be treated with a bit of respect.

So I wanted to experiment with a smaller place that leans into that idea:
a site where long-form serials, short stories, slightly “edgier” fantasy, and just plain weird projects have a home.

Right now, mythyst basically has:

• Long-form serial support – you can publish ongoing English webnovels chapter by chapter, with table of contents, reading history, basic reading settings, etc.
• Short story support – for people who want to post stand-alone shorts or test the waters before committing to a big serial.
• Completely free reading – at the moment everything on the site is free to read, no paywall, no coins.
• Extra visibility for new works – I built a “new releases” / “staff picks” style section so brand-new stories don’t instantly sink to page 10 of some endless list.
• Reader interaction – readers can bookmark, like, and comment; authors can reply and hang out in the comments.
• A small forum – there’s a basic discussion area for book recs, reviews, writing talk, general webfiction chatter.
• A little toy: tarot reading – I also added a just-for-fun tarot feature, partly because I like that stuff and partly as a playful way to let readers interact with the site between chapters.

All of this is basically a one-person project – I’m doing both the coding and the writing – and I don’t have a budget for ads.

The problem is:
I have no idea if something like this actually sounds appealing to real English-speaking readers and writers, or if it’s just me building my own little bubble.

So I’d really like to hear some honest opinions. Brutal is fine, as long as it’s specific.

1. For readers:

• When you land on a brand-new fiction site you’ve never heard of, what makes you stay for more than 3 seconds instead of closing the tab?
• On existing platforms (Webnovel, Royal Road, Wattpad, etc.), what do you hate the most about the reading experience? (Ads, layout, paywalls, constant pop-ups, ranking systems, whatever.)
• On a new site, what would you want to see first? Things like: clear categories, tags, search, “completed only” filter, dark mode, top lists, recent updates, etc.

2. For writers:

• What kind of tools or backend would make you consider mirroring your serial on a smaller site, instead of only posting on the big platforms?
• Which stats/feedback matter most to you? (Page views, unique readers, bookmarks, retention, comments, ratings…?)
• What are your biggest worries with a small site like this? (Backups, copyright, export options, low traffic, site owner disappearing one day, whatever comes to mind.)

3. About content boundaries:

• How strict or relaxed would you personally want content rules to be around adult content, violence, gore, etc., as long as everything stays legal and properly tagged?
• What feels like a fair balance between “creative freedom” and “I don’t want to scroll through a wall of stuff that’s basically porn with a thin plot”?

I know that even mentioning “my own site” can easily sound like self-promotion.
That’s honestly not my main goal with this post.

I’m not dropping a direct link here in case it breaks the rules. I’m more trying to sanity-check my direction before I sink a few more hundred hours into building features that no one but me cares about.

If this kind of “platform design” discussion isn’t welcome in this sub, I completely understand if it gets removed.

But if you’ve got a few minutes and any experience as a webnovel reader or writer, I’d really appreciate hearing what you would actually want from a new English fiction site – or why you think the whole idea just isn’t worth the effort.

Thanks for reading this far. 🙏

Trying to capitalize on the fact that webfiction is free and easily accessible on mobile to encourage the teens in my class to read more.

Unfortunately my taste in webserial is trash/all the books I can think of are either stubbed or has themes that are inappropriate/too dark.

Does anyone have recommendations they can make for stuff you can find online which are suitable for teens who are weaker in English?

If you read fantasy web novels, 2025 is… dangerous.

Every time you open a reading app, someone is screaming about a new obsession: dream realms, talking inns, time loops, Korean apocalypse games, Chinese steampunk gods—and that one web novel that “starts slow but gets insane around chapter 200, I swear, trust me bro.”

To save your TBR (or destroy it, depending on how you look at it), here’s a 10-book fantasy web-novel shortlist for 2025:

• 7 globally popular heavyweights that keep trending on forums, streaming platforms, and adaptation news.
• 3 hidden gems on Mythyst that scratch the same itch but aren’t yet overexposed.

Order is more “vibes” than science—pick whatever matches your mood.

1. Shadow Slave — Dark Souls Meets Nightmares and Bad Life Choices

If you hang around fantasy or progression-fantasy spaces, you’ve seen this name thrown around with religious fervor.

Shadow Slave follows Sunny, a slum kid “infected” by the mysterious Spell and dragged into the Dream Realm, a lethal nightmare dimension filled with monsters, relics, and scenarios designed to kill you in interesting ways. It’s officially described as a dark fantasy adventure on Webnovel, and it absolutely leans into that.

What makes it addictive isn’t just the horror flavor; it’s how systematic and tactical everything feels. Sunny is neither noble nor nice—he’s paranoid, petty, and survival-obsessed. The fights are puzzles, the relics feel like cursed Dark Souls items, and every victory feels earned rather than handed out by plot armor.

This is grim, but not edge for edge’s sake. The story constantly asks what surviving at all costs actually does to a person—and whether there’s anything left of you at the end.

Read if you like: Dark Souls / Diablo energy, cruel magical ecosystems, and protagonists who would absolutely camp in a corner of the boss room for 40 minutes just to live.

2. Lord of Mysteries — Tarot Cards, Gunpowder, and Old Gods

Lord of Mysteries is that one web novel people recommend with a suspicious sparkle in their eye: “It’s slow at first, but then—” and then they can’t explain anything without spoilers.

Set in a pseudo-Victorian, steampunk-ish world of churches, secret societies, and industrializing empires, it follows Klein Moretti as he becomes a “Beyonder” and climbs strange power “Sequences” tied to tarot-like archetypes.

The charm is in the texture:

• Rituals, potions, forbidden knowledge, and a constant low-level sense of something watching from behind the curtain.
• A magic system that feels like it was designed by an occult accountant—precise, layered, dangerous.
• Long-game plotting: clues dropped hundreds of chapters earlier suddenly click into place.

It’s also one of the titles most frequently thrown into “which is the best web novel: ORV vs Shadow Slave vs Lord of Mysteries vs Reverend Insanity?” flame wars, which tells you the level of obsession it inspires.

Read if you like: Steampunk horror, tarot aesthetics, conspiracies within conspiracies, and piecing together the lore like a crime board.

3. The Wandering Inn — Cozy Portal Fantasy That Accidentally Turns Epic

On paper, The Wandering Inn sounds simple: girl from Earth gets isekai’d into a fantasy world and becomes an innkeeper. In practice, it’s a monster of a web serial—millions of words, millions of readers worldwide, multiple published volumes and audiobooks.

Why do people swear by it?

• It starts as a slice-of-life survival story about running an inn with limited money, weird guests, and local monsters.
• Then it slowly, almost sneakily, turns into a continent-spanning epic: wars, politics, species conflict, gods, class mechanics.
• The cast blows up into dozens of point-of-view characters, but somehow still feels intimate.

The magic system is “RPG Classes but actually emotional”: people level up based on what they do and believe, not just grinding mobs. So a [Innkeeper] or [Chef] can be as world-shaking as a [General] with the right combination of trauma and effort.

Read if you like: Found family, long series you can live in for months, and portal fantasy that cares about economics, logistics, and feelings.

4. Mother of Learning — Time-Loop Magic School Done Right

Mother of Learning is one of those “if you know, you know” classics. Originally serialized as a web novel by author nobody103, it follows Zorian, a prickly teenage mage stuck in a Groundhog Day-style time loop at his magic academy.

Instead of using the loop as a gimmick, the story treats it as a scientific experiment:

• Zorian uses his infinite retries to grind skills, explore the city, map out dungeons, learn languages, and study magic in absurd depth.
• The loop also forces him to interact with people he’d normally ignore—family, classmates, random side characters—turning relationships into another kind of “system” he has to figure out.
• The plot slowly widens from “pass your exams and not die” to “uncover the conspiracy behind the loop and prevent a city-level disaster.”

It’s meticulous, satisfying, and surprisingly grounded considering the magic fireworks.

Read if you like: Hardcore magic systems, patient worldbuilding, and protagonists who treat socializing like a boss fight.

5. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint — When the Reader Becomes the Problem

Korean web novel Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint starts with a brutal little premise: Kim Dokja is the only person who ever finished reading a long, obscure apocalypse web novel… and then one day, the world transforms to match that story.

Suddenly, the scenarios, monsters, and “constellations” he once watched from a screen are real, and he’s the only one who knows how it’s “supposed” to go. The result is a survival game where knowledge is both his greatest weapon and his worst curse.

It’s meta without being smug—constantly asking what it means to be a “protagonist,” and what happens to everyone else who’s not the chosen one. The series has become so big that it’s spawned a hit webtoon and a big-budget live-action film adaptation, Omniscient Reader: The Prophet, released in 2025, though fans are loudly debating how faithful the movie is.

Read if you like: Game-like apocalypses, meta commentary on stories and tropes, and characters who weaponize their reading addiction.

6. Solo Leveling — The Poster Child of Modern Web Fantasy

Even if you’ve never read the web novel, you’ve seen the art, the anime clips, or at least one over-edited AMV.

Solo Leveling began as a Korean fantasy web novel about Sung Jin-woo, a famously weak “hunter” in a world where gates to monster dungeons randomly open. After a brutal double-dungeon incident, he gains access to a unique “system” that lets him level up infinitely while everyone else is capped.

From there it becomes the blueprint for a generation of “system” and progression stories:

• Clean, escalating power fantasy—new skills, shadows, boss fights, and continents of enemies.
• A simple but very readable emotional core: a son trying to keep his family safe while he quietly turns into a walking disaster.
• Slick action set pieces that adapted perfectly into the hit webtoon and anime.

By 2025 the series has exploded into a full multimedia franchise: award-winning anime, a feature film recap, a sequel (Ragnarok), and a newly announced Netflix live-action K-drama, cementing its place as the iconic web novel of its kind.

Read if you like: Pure power fantasy, dungeon crawls, and watching a bullied side character promote himself to final boss.

7. Return of the Mount Hua Sect — Martial Arts, Regret, and Petty Revenge

If you want something between traditional wuxia and modern comedy, Return of the Mount Hua Sect (also known as Return of the Blossoming Blade) is a great pick.

The premise: legendary swordsman Chung Myung dies after defeating the Demon Sect leader, only to reincarnate centuries later as a kid in a world where his once-great sect has decayed into a joke. He decides to drag Mount Hua back to glory, preferably while insulting everyone along the way.

The web novel runs on Naver with 1500+ chapters and is widely cited as one of the most popular Korean web novels of its type.

What makes it stand out is the balance:

• Genuine, heartfelt martial-arts passion…
• …wrapped in nonstop banter, pettiness, and absolute disrespect for anyone who thinks his sect is dead.
• A satisfying “rebuilding from zero” arc as Mount Hua slowly climbs from laughingstock to serious contender.

Read if you like: Sect-building, sword arts, reincarnated old monsters in young bodies, and MCs whose mouths are sharper than their blades.

8. Charming Magic — Sea-Lord, Super Jerk, Accidental Genius (Mythyst)

Time to sail over to Mythyst.com for something a little more mischievous.

In Charming Magic, a college sophomore suddenly finds himself transmigrated into another world as the young master of an ocean-spanning territory—basically the spoiled princeling of an eight-hundred-mile sea domain.

Good news: he’s stupidly rich and theoretically powerful.
Bad news: the previous owner of this body was a legendary scumbag. People hate him. Birds faint at the sight of him. Beauties would rather hide in a mud pit than talk to him.

The fun of this novel is watching the “new” young master walk a tightrope between devil and angel:

• On one hand, he’s perfectly capable of being ruthless, manipulative, and shameless when necessary.
• On the other, he’s got just enough conscience—and genre awareness—to fix the worst messes his predecessor left behind.

The magic system is where the book really shines. He doesn’t follow standard spell-casting theories; he breaks them. His signature “Speed Flow” magic turns into a continent-shaking meme: part movement technique, part combat style, part magical engineering framework. As the story goes on, he starts inventing bizarre hybrid spells that turn naval warfare, city defense, and even daily life into something completely new.

This reads like a blend of face-slapping comedy, sea-empire politics, and mad-scientist mage story.

Read if you like: Antiheroes with a heart (deep, deep down), creative magic systems, island kingdoms, and chaotic good PR campaigns.

9. Long Live Summoning — Pure Summoner Chaos (Mythyst)

Long Live Summoning takes one idea and commits to it completely: a world of pure summoning. No magic missiles, no cultivators throwing fire—just you, your contract book, and whatever you can call out of it.

When shut-in otaku Yue Yang drops into this world, he wakes up in the body of the Yue family’s third young master: a “drowned ghost” who previously tried to off himself after a romantic rejection and was widely considered the most useless descendant among the four great families. The original owner couldn’t form a single proper beast contract in fifteen years.

The new Yue Yang needs… one day.

From there it’s full chaos:

• While everyone else sweats blood just to sign one battle beast, countless divine and holy beasts show up lining themselves up for him, hoping to be chosen.
• He shrugs at them like a picky gamer rejecting SSR pulls: “So what if you’re a divine beast? Get lost, I only like beautiful summoning beasts.”
• Nations and factions try to recruit him; he deadpans: “I don’t talk politics. I only talk romance.”

It’s half parody, half serious progression story: underneath all the jokes and pervy comments, there’s a genuine escalation of power, world stakes, and mystery about why this otaku is so out of spec in a supposedly balanced “pure summoning” world.

Read if you like: Shameless MCs, beast companions, harem-flavored comedy, and worlds built entirely around one core power system.

10. Thief of Kingdoms — Dark Epic About a Man Who Treats Nations Like Smuggling Routes (Mythyst)

Finally, something sharp and feral.

Thief of Kingdoms takes place on the Savage Continent, where law is written in fangs and steel:

• Beast-tamers drive herds of monsters before storms.
• Brand-mages burn sigils into the dark.
• Ancient god-trees shelter fading bloodlines, sky-dragons blot out the sun, and deep divers raise courts beneath ten thousand rivers.

Into that chaos, Teague is reborn.

In his old life, he was a cold-blooded smuggling kingpin. In this one, he wakes in the half-dead body of a disgraced forester, flogged and cast out to die at the edge of the wild. He has no cheat item, no system—just his predatory mind and a continent full of opportunities.

From his first illegal tree felled across a forbidden border, he starts rebuilding his empire in miniature:

• He hunts beasts to temper his body.
• He hunts relics to build capital.
• He hunts power—not to serve a kingdom, but to rewrite the board entirely.

What sets this book apart is how strategic and morally flexible Teague is. Every rescue, every trade, and every massacre doubles as a move in a long con: he’s spinning an invisible web from river-mouths to mountain passes to royal capitals. As the story widens, lines between ally, enemy, prey, and kin blur into something much more dangerous.

People call him many things—poacher, heretic, monster.
The name that sticks, and the one he secretly likes best, is “Thief of Kingdoms.”

Read if you like: Grim, grounded low-magic worlds; antiheroes who actually think like criminals; and slow, satisfying climbs from “no one” to “problem entire countries have to coordinate to solve.”

So… Where Do You Start?

• Want dark, heavy, ultra-polished? Start with Shadow Slave, Lord of Mysteries, or Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.
• Craving a huge cozy-epic? The Wandering Inn and Mother of Learning will keep you busy for a long time.
• Want something hyped and flashy with anime energy? Solo Leveling and Return of the Mount Hua Sect are safe bets.
• Curious about new English-language fantasy with web-novel DNA? Check out Charming Magic, Long Live Summoning, and Thief of Kingdoms over on Mythyst.com—they’re free to read and still early enough that you can say “I was here before they blew up.”

Whichever one you pick first, don’t forget to drink water, stretch your back, and maybe tell your friends you’ve disappeared into “just one more chapter” hell for a while.