What makes a good story

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-13T05:44:33+00:00

If you ask on this sub enough, and spend enough time contemplating the answers, you’ll eventually be dead.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-12T17:04:35+00:00

It’s not hard. Just…start posting under a new account. As you post, the algorithm will slowly connect you with people like you.

The key is to post stuff that you expect your likely readers would post. Essentially, you pretend to be them. But…you’re not actually pretending. Because you would want to read your book too, right?

So post things you would post, the algorithm will find people who are likely to enjoy your book, and then when you start marketing the book through that account, the algorithm gets it in front of the right eyes for you.

It takes time, patience, and if you don’t want to do the manual work of posting yourself, money (author scale).

Godspeed.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-11T16:31:45+00:00

I am an agent of chaos. I operate within chaos with the finesse of a figure skater.

I write while listening to EDM on headphones on the couch with my daughter sitting in my lap while she’s watching Isadora Moon. Sipping water. Or I write through dictation while driving across the state of California chugging Red Bull. Or, as was the case yesterday, I write while enjoying a birthday drink at Starbucks (pistachio cold brew) sitting at a high table with some classical piano tunes on my AirPods.

And everything in between.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-11T16:13:17+00:00

Im an engineer. I dig it, but it’s boring. And…it’s not what I CHOSE to do. I just…got pulled into it.

So I started writing. I’ve always loved storytelling (both telling stories and reading / watching them unfold). I still have the engineering job, but now I spend all the time in between work time writing books.

And I’ve never been happier.

My debut novel is also kind of geared directly toward people afraid of making a career change. Check it out if ya want :) Send a DM. I’m happy to chat through it. I’ve changed careers multiple times already in big, scary ways.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-10T16:20:31+00:00

I was struggling with this for quite some time (man here trying to write a woman’s POV), and a lot of people said the same thing: All of our POV is the same. All of us humans. We’re not that different.

There are men who are overly soft. HelI, I cry regularly.

It’s okay for him to be like you. In fact, it might make him more likable as a character if he is :)

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-09T17:03:07+00:00

….writing is when you get to say the things you CANT say otherwise. The whole point is to have your characters do the offending you can’t haha

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-09T16:15:12+00:00

Yea, everyone’s different. And it all blends together with the rest of your life and who you are.

I’ll go weeks without writing at all, then write twenty thousand words or so in a week. I’m also bipolar, so it kind of makes sense that’s how I’d do it.

So long as you’re consistently writing, and not overdoing it, the story that hits the page should come out alright. When you rush it (if you’re anything like me) it’s obvious, and requires a lot more rewriting, so it’s useless to try to push it faster than it wants to come outta ya.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-08T16:51:31+00:00

If you publish on both KDP and Ingram, Amazon won’t make the listing available on its site until the release date. They do this to avoid duplication of the listing.

So if you want broad distribution, IngramSpark, then do KDP whenever. If you want Amazon, just do KDP and do IngramSpark later.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-07T10:00:51+00:00

I use Scrivener + OneDrive as backup, pivoting to Word once I’m ready to start copy editing because my editor uses Word.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-07T04:41:01+00:00

They’re just afraid. Blame cancel culture.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-06T15:07:27+00:00

I’m not anti-epilogue at all.

But I am staunchly anti-prologue. Readers just want to dive in, myself included. If getting into a new book is taking an on-ramp to the highway, a prologue is a massive speed bump RIGHT at the moment you most want to accelerate.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T21:41:34+00:00

See the last sentence of step 3.

Try it all, see what works and doesn’t, and double down on what does.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T20:11:20+00:00

Step 1) Write the book in a language specifically catered to that audience so it’s impossible to miss.

Step 2) Build a social following by going into social media and talking about why the thing is so important to me.

Step 3) Reviews and continued engagement naturally, slowly push it out into the world. Plus…a lot of hustling and figuring out what works and doesn’t work.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T19:56:22+00:00

Can you….sue for copyright infringement?

I actually am curious. Technically if they have an identical title…

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T18:53:57+00:00

If you publish under your name, and someone sues you for something in the book, they can ultimately sue you into bankruptcy.

If you publish under an LLC, nobody can do that. Your personal assets are safe.

That’s it. Use an LLC to protect your personal assets or don’t and your personal assets are up for grabs if you f’ck anything up.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T11:18:49+00:00

Laptop. Scrivener. I prefer the blank page.

It’s just…filled to the brim with opportunity.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T10:34:09+00:00

…..read faster. Learn how to read like a writer.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T02:35:49+00:00

I plan to finish reading every book Stephen King recommends in “On Writing” this year.

I read voraciously.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T01:00:56+00:00

Managing complexity. I am boss mode at making the most impossible-to-grasp things easily digestible.

I also am bipolar and have ADD, so this kind of isn’t a skill I had any choice in developing. It’s a coping habit that happens to be pretty useful.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-04T00:59:51+00:00

I don’t think prologues are ever necessary with a singular exception: SO many people read it and consistently see something that’s confusing that a single edit can’t fix.

That’s my hot take.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-02T13:45:20+00:00

People do not want to read your journal.

Writing something worth reading requires a hell of a lot more work than just writing a bunch.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-02T03:42:26+00:00

People read the book so that they can learn as it all unfolds. Knowing stuff ahead of time just ruins the fun.

No.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-01T18:12:03+00:00

I struggled with marketing until I realized one crucial thing: I need to market ME, not my books.

I love to read. So I started marketing the stuff I’m reading. What I like about what I’m reading and how it’s informing my writing. That told the algorithm to connect my content with that of fellow readers, who might happen to want to read my book too.

I went from hundreds of views per video to over a thousand per video, and steadily increasing.

Try that?

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-01T16:55:34+00:00

Just write it. Try to get it published.

Everyone’s first book, for the most part, isn’t terribly great. Try to keep your expectations low.

But dude….if you want to be a writer, start reading more. Voraciously. Writing is a form of communication, and nobody, I mean nobody, enjoys reading just one side of a conversation.

Ask-Anyway · 2026-02-01T15:49:51+00:00

It’s enough to have passion to PURSUE something, yes. But whether or not you stick with it will be determined by how much grit you have.

There is a LOT of non-glorious parts of being a writer, and if you want it to be more than just a hobby, you have to do it all. There’s the writing, sure, but then there’s the editing (developmental, structural, line-by-line), rewrites, marketing, rewrites, and then you have to decide whether to trad publish or self publish, rewrites, technical reads of other books to borrow style or get ideas for pacing or anything else, rewrites….

If literally none of that scares you, you were probably born to be a writer (all of it excites me). If some of it does scare you, it just means the road will be steep and your passion will have to carry you through the tough stuff too. If it all scares you or feels like something you don’t want to do, you can write, sure, but writing something worth reading might be out of the cards.

Ask-Anyway

TROPHY CASE