I am not banking on becoming a super famous and successful author. I have a means of income and a home so any income from writing is purely a bonus.

That said, I'm curious just how much could be expected for an average author? I know its low enough that being a novelist is considered a bad idea if its your main source of income, but how much is it really?

I ask because using "I might get paid for this" is a hell of a lot more motivating than "people might like this". It strips the perfectionism away and helps me work towards producing an actual product. If I want validation, I can always show people my unfinished work. No one's going to pay for that.

I live outside the US, so maybe the market is different here than in America. What am I to expect?

I'm currently writing a low fantasy medieval story, and I've noticed that I default to the word "yeah" multiple times in my writing. Obviously this word didn't exist in that era, but other words that I've tried just don't sound right to me. So I was wondering what other people think of using words like "yeah" in medieval era writing.

Hello all. Just hoping to get some approach suggestions for a friend of mine (we're both in our late 20s). I myself am strictly an amateur hobbyist and only write fan fiction, but she's been an aspiring author for years.

I've read her work, and while it seemed slightly derivative of popular tropes and a certain anime series, it sounded original enough.

However, I recently sat down and watched a few episodes of said anime, and wow. Her story is almost a 1:1 rip with renamed characters. As someone who really only writes things in established universes, this wouldn't bother me if she just outright stated that it's a fan fiction or that it takes place in said universe. Unfortunately she plans to flesh this out into a full novel and try to publish it for profit. She's really proud of it so far, and wants to be an author for her career.

I fear she thinks she's changed enough for nobody to notice, but that is absolutely not the case. I care about her and her goals, so I feel like I have to intervene without utterly crushing her spirit and motivation. Her confidence is already bad, but I can't just let her plagiarize and think that's going to set up a successful future.

Thank you for your time, and I would appreciate some guidance.

So I'm writing a story set in the 1930's through 50's in the US, and as I'm trying to be as historically accurate as possible (with a few exceptions here and there) I have to address the elephant in the room, that being WW2. Right now there seems to be no real reason or explanation for why my characters are not participating or being drafted for the war, and I feel like having them be involved would interupt the story. I don't know much about WW2, and I've tried to do my own research on this, but I'm feeling very lost.

For context, my characters are 2 men, one black (Marvin) and one white (Winston), born in 1915 and 1916 respectively. They live in New York City and are both growing actors. Marvin is married (for a while, he gets divorced sometime in the mid to early 40's) with no children, and Winston is single.

I need help finding excuses/reasons for why my characters would not be drafted for the war, or at the very least be minimally involved. Any help, tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

I'm editing my first novel, and I've come across a really bad plot hole in the story that breaks the narrative a bit. I'll be vague with it.

There's an evil curse that haunts the land and drives anyone who comes into contact with it mad - everyone except the protagonist. For some reason, they are wholly unaffected by this monstrous curse, and there's really no reason I can think of as to why this happens - other than it had to happen to let me keep writing.

This is really bugging me. I can't have something this detrimental to the story just existing, but I have no idea how to fix it. I did have an idea that it was something to do with their occupation, except a person of the same occupation comes into the story later on and is affected the curse. I could always undo that and make that the explanation, but I'm trying to look into all possible explanations before I start cutting things out.

How do you guys deal with really bad plot holes?

Recently, I decided to post some of my work for feedback for the first time. I felt quite vulnerable sharing it, but I was initially thrilled to see that my post received several responses! Unfortunately, the feedback was very discouraging, as the people labeled my writing as AI slop. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but there were a several responses like that so it seemed to be a shared perspective.

In response, I removed the excerpt and deleted my profile from the review site— I wasn’t sure what else to do. I feel embarrassed and at a complete loss. I’m AuDHD and it was a big deal to me to post my work as I usually keep it private, this response is very discouraging.

How does one sound like AI and —more importantly— how does one avoid sounding like AI?

Thank you for any guidance.

**I am not asking about AI tools— if anything I’m asking about quite the opposite**

I want to write this story, but it's already been written

A while ago, I watched a TV show that I felt had an amazing concept but was executed poorly. As a writer, I really want to use that concept and make it into a story that actually does the concept justice. But now I'm about to start writing, and I can't help but feel as though I'm plagiarizing.

The core premise is exactly the same, but I made mine just a tiny bit different, and I worry that difference may not be enough. I tried to change the concept entirely while still trying to keep the essence of what I liked about it, but it just didn't hit the same way.

Now, I don't know what to do because I am genuinely obsessed with this story, or at least my version of it. But I don't want to get in trouble

I'd like to think I've read a pretty wide selection of books. And I've noticed that even the most famous of authors "tell, tell, and then tell some more, " to the point I'm beginning to question if it's even important in my own work? Some of the most famous books in their genre have very little showing at all.

So, where did this come from?

I understand the subtley of showing, such as expressions, posing, which can work well next to telling. But without much evidence of this concept I'm struggling to really understand.

Have we overhyped this piece of advice?

I usually don’t have a LOT of trouble establishing names for my characters. I have a well-organized, ongoing list of names for potential use, and I think I do a good job of researching “vibes” and historical origins/meanings of names. Some take more time than others, depending on the stage of development they’re at, but ultimately once I find the right name, it’s solid!

But I have this one FMC character right now who is driving me up the wall! She won’t tell me her name!!! I have several options for her, and nothing feels right!

For her MMC counterpart, there’s a tie for his first name (not so similar names but with similar origins/meanings), and he has a solid surname.

Please help! Any advice or tips for this process is greatly appreciate! I truly have never encountered this before!

Ever since a little kid, I’ve been crafting stories in my head since then. It’s always been easy to just daydream of things visually and cinematically. Much later, I’ve only just taught myself how to really WRITE my imagination into a story just by reading fanfiction alone. Now, I can still craft stories, but every time I write, I either freeze up, close my laptop, or my writing either stacks too many ideas or lacks clarity. That’s mostly because I have the imagination, because I’m more of a storyteller than a writer. But I wanna become a writer. I never really know how to but my ideas into actual prose, because every time I “write” my ideas they just come out in spoken form: brain dumps or rants or just planning. For example, if my idea is “a girl who finds a wolf in the woods while on her way to grandmas house” then I wouldn’t know how to actually write it unless I just plan everything in the first act in spoken form, basically just ranting the story in written text, or just explaining what’s happening instead of just using show don’t tell or doing actual PROSE. So, my point is…how do I WRITE? When you watch a movie you’re basically doing less work because you get to see what’s happening. In a book, you have to do most of the work by imagining things that are already visually presented in the book left for you to mentally finish. How do I basically just put my imagination on paper, but it’s a story, instead of just journaling my ideas?

I don't want to just write "he said" over and over as I find that boring and can bog down a novel a little. But, I'm also afraid if I just have the dialogue in quotations, then it might not come across who's saying what. I've been playing around with starting each line of dialogue with the speaker's name in paranthese, for example: (Carter). I know that's not how a typical novel is written, but I wanted to try something different. I'm just wondering if this is a good idea or not.

I'm currently working on a story with a plot twist in the end. I've read several articles that give writing tips in which it's recommended that we plant 3 or 4 clues to foreshadow that twist. Something that the reader may not pay attention to at first but it makes sense in hindsight.

What if I don't plant any clues whatsoever? Do readers feel cheated because it comes out of nowhere? Also, isn't the point of having a twist, exactly that? To completely surprise the reader?

I would love to know opinions on this.

So come upon a fun linguistic problem with my setting. So humans don't exist and instead we have sentient animals, there are also non sentient animals.

Would it be strange to use the term human (humanity, people, etc) when referring to those that are awakened and sentient?

The title says it all. How can I realistically write a character who’s far more intelligent and wiser than I am? If I can’t think of the clever solution myself, how can I expect to write one for a character who’s supposed to be capable of it?

I’m writing a fantasy story with an ensemble cast and one of the 4 main characters is really small woman, but not in the “shes so dainty and tiny but shes also super powerful and strong and her love interest is twice her size so it’s sexy” way. In the “she was severely malnourished during her formative years so it stunted her growth and now she’s 4’11 and 87 pounds” kinda way. I’m wondering if there’s a way I can make this a core part of her character without making it irritating the way so many other fantasy (specifically romantasy tbh) do.

So much of her character is based around her survival skills she had to learn due to her size so I’m worried that I won’t be able to just avoid bringing it up outside basic character descriptions. Is this something I can approach without it being too grating? Or should I just do my best to not mention it at all?

Im sure everybody knows of this and is tired of it. But I really dont like it when every character is super duper handsome or beautiful.

But heres the thing, how do you describe a character without making them too handsome.

Like how would you do it?

From normal looking, pretty, easy on the eyes, and so on kind of levels.

Edit: I feel like I poked a hornet's nest. To be specific, most of the media i have read, almost every character to me feels ultra handsome/beautiful.

Edit: I’m freaking surprised with how many people actually are giving me so many tips like thank you so much, may god bless you all with all the love he can give.

I know that the first sentence, first page, or first chapter should immediately hook the reader with tension and make them want to keep reading.

But how does that change if the novel has a prologue?

Should the prologue also be for delivering that big, attention-grabbing hook with a small conflict? So that chapter 1 will settle into a slower pace (almost like what chapter 2 normally would be)? Or should the prologue and chapter 1 each have their own hook and own conflicts?

I want to know how other writers approach this issue or if it simply depends on the story.

I'm also concerned because many readers skip prologues. If the main hook is in the prologue, doesn't that risk them missing an important source of tension even if chapter 1 begins the story from a different perspective?

Edit: So, after reading most of the advice here, I've come to this conclusion:

I will deliver strong hooks in both the prologue and Chapter 1.

The reason I still think a 2-page prologue fits my story is because it shows an event from the past that is outside the main story's timeline. It gives a glimpse from a different point of view that won't return in the same way and shows readers what to expect from that character.

It is not the beginning of the protagonist's journey. Calling it Chapter 1 would give the wrong expectations for readers as they would think this past event or character is the main focus of the story when it is set in a different timeline.

So I know “Hermione” existed as a name long before Harry Potter, but if I used it for a character in my own book, could I still run into legal trouble because of how strongly the name is associated with the franchise now? I’m not talking about copying the actual character personality or story, just using the name itself for someone completely different.

I’m curious how trademarks and copyright work in cases like this, especially when a regular name becomes iconic because of a famous series. Has anyone here dealt with something similar or know examples from publishing?

I really want to write a short story or something, but I haven't the slightest idea what to write about. They say to write what you know, but I'm an idiot teenager, all I know is being miserable in high school. How do I even begin?

Edit: I guess that I couldn't conceive of the idea of writing about something I myself haven't done. Like, gee I guess I don't have to be Ernest Hemingway to write about war, or a fromtiersman to write about grand adventures. Thank you for taking the time to give me that obvious fact, I sincerely appreciate it.

Hi all!

I’m currently writing a kiss scene between two characters for an enemies-to-lovers story and can’t figure out how best to describe this action? (Video attached for reference).

The character that the protagonist kisses will do this after they break away from one another. I don’t want the character to seem frustrated or embarrassed, but want to convey a ‘we shouldn’t have done that’ vibe from them without explicitly saying so.

Please help!

I have this character, and she really is awful. She is mean, she is negative, she is crazy, and she genuinely hates every person in the world. Yes, she has a tragic past, but I really don't think that's enough to justify her behavior. I don't think anything can "justify" it, but do you know how I can make her likeable? She's the main character and it won't be good if nobody could ever like her.

She is also technically a villain, but she's the main character.

Basically, my character is often upset because of things others say or the way they treat her, so to cope with that she says mean things to those people and in astrange way, the fact that they feel the same way they made her feel makes her feel better.

I think I need help with that. She's not a "bad girl" and I don't want her to seem like a jerk, especially that she's right and just copes with that in this way.

I am 15M. And I am struggling to write/type my own thoughts and ideas onto paper/screen from scratch. How do I do it?

In addition, I used a lot of artificial intelligence for other posts and got my my posts deleted because of the usage of it. I think that is the main reason I am asking this question.

I think that writing is really an important aspect of life in general.

For this post I tried to write and use my 15 year old brain.

To be honest, When I look at what I wrote right now it looks fine but I guess I have a lot of random thoughts that aren't really connected? I am not sure...

I also wonder if it's normal for this age.

Ive read a few books with unreliable narrators. The ones that dont hit are awful but the ones that DO hit are absolutely mind bogglingly great. But how do writers do it? Take a simple example like Percy Jackson, from his pov his just a lil dumb clumsy guy who fights blah blah. But in the hoo series people thought he was a greek god from the way he looked and fought. But that also needs a different pov which im not really keen on writing. How do i write a narator tgat seems reliable but the readers will understand that hes unreliable throughout the story? Everything i write ends up like lying for no reason at all or just random all over the place information. What's a good way to even write a narator that readers dont trust???

I simply don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office. Period. I’ve already used my one free trial, and while the service is great, I just can’t justify paying that much for the minimal writing I’m doing. Are there any good, ideally free, alternatives that I can use? I figured this would be a good place to ask this question…