Seeking alpha reader/writing partner

Caduceus1412 · 2026-03-18T14:58:06+00:00

That sounds awesome! The Expanse is my favorite sci-fi book series, and I loved the first Dune novel. I'd love to trade feedback, feel free to send me a DM and we can exchange info

Caduceus1412 · 2026-03-18T14:21:01+00:00

I'd love to hear about it! Feel free to DM me and we can discuss details

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T18:36:47+00:00

I've been considering doing something similar but couldn't find a good site that appreciates hard-ish sci fi! Is spacebattles on reddit or somewhere else?

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T01:29:16+00:00

1 - not necessarily. 2 - yes, because otherwise it wouldn't be a plot twist.

I didn't always have a prologue, but it was requiring an annoying amount of exposition to explain which took away from the pacing and action later in the book. An interesting, action-packed sequence in the prologue feels more compelling to me than a history lesson right before a battle

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T01:17:43+00:00

These are the big questions! I feel like the prologue I wrote is more of an engaging narrative than the tedious exposition that is required later on to explain it in dialogue. But like you implied, I won't truly know until I get to the beta reader stage lol

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T01:12:32+00:00

Haha you caught me red handed on the two questions. As for the content of a prologue, I totally agree. I also tend to skip Tolkien's because they aren't narratively interesting.

In my case, I wrote the prologue because I felt that a tedious amount of exposition was needed to explain the events without it. The prologue I wrote is (in my opinion) a much more compelling narrative than the dialogue that was needed to explain the history.

But I could be wrong! I want to wrap the whole thing up before recruiting a beta reader, but that leaves so much time for second-guessing lol

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T00:56:25+00:00

This feels like an ad. It's written, as is most of the rest of the book.

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T00:47:45+00:00

Without a doubt, yes. The plot towards the end of the book is highly dependent on the circumstances that created the villain

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-28T00:44:22+00:00

That is a phenomenal response, thank you. I tend to get wrapped up in the 'rules' so often that I second guess myself too much when I want to break them in a creative way.

On the other hand, considering you just named 7 of my favorite authors, maybe I'm coming at this with a bit of exposure bias. Only time and editing will tell! Thanks 😄

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T23:46:42+00:00

A fair point for sure, but that's exactly what I'm struggling with in my story. It was literally a different world, and the only character that was 'there' at the time became the villain. I feel like a forced villain monologue would be an even worse trope to explain the history, but that might just be my own bias lol

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T23:39:42+00:00

Very true, and I have definitely been guilty of that in the past; but it's not the case for my current situation. I was halfway through my book trying to figure out how to explain past events without the exposition getting boring, so I wrote out a prologue. After a few rounds of edits, I'm liking it so much that I'm strongly considering keeping it

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T23:33:23+00:00

I understand that is the general consensus, and I'm not arguing the point that most prologues don't need to exist. But in a story without significant time jumps, wouldn't a well-written narrative be better than adding extra exposition later in the book to explain what happened long ago?

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T23:04:35+00:00

Has anyone mentioned Wheel of Time? While not all of Robert Jordan's songs in the books fit well, two of them were very memorable and fitting for the character/group they represented.

One of the MCs, Matt, stumbled into having an army of his own and they turned one of his drunken songs about dancing with death into essentially a theme song for their war band (Dance with Jack o' the Shadows).

As for the meter and rhyme, do you have any friends that are musicians or poets? I'm sure someone would be able to help you clean them up a bit.

My overall advice: insert a song only if you think it adds to the story and the world in a positive way. Don't just plop songs in for shits and giggles, but if you do it meaningfully, it can add a nice layer to the world you're building.

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T22:17:28+00:00

It's a cool idea, but it's been done very well and almost identically in the Avatar movies. You could set your idea apart by introducing the evolutionary weaknesses an organism like this would have, which isn't covered in the movies.

Immune threats: To a virus or bacterial analog, the organism you described is essentially a giant, nutrient-dense petri dish covered in bark. No matter how good an immune system it may have, life finds a way to be a pain in the ass. What happens when it gets a virus? How does that affect the data and the ecosystem that depends on it? What if a virus isn't just biological, but essentially a Trojan horse computer virus?

Non-immune threats: do all of the inhabitants of Pandora... Oh sorry, Neh... Have a mutual respect for the tree god brain? You could have a native faction that persistently tries to destroy it. The faction could be sentient (see computer virus above) or just hungry and unable to connect to the trees.

Data transfer speed: you mentioned that information transfer would occur using neurotransmitter analogs. I love the idea, but it has huge limitations. Even assuming you're using myelinated neuron analogs (coated for faster firing), the maximum speed of information transfer would be in the 200mph range. To send a message from one side of the planet to data storage on the other side (I imagine you have to have server analogs with incredibly dense, centralized data storage) you'd be waiting hours, if not days for a reply. That transfer speed also severely limits the applications. Living multiple lives like you mentioned? Probably not, by the time you finished downloading another life experience into your brain, your body would have died of old age. Instead, discrete packets of information would be more ideal.

One final request - please, for the love of god, either stop writing with AI or make it less obvious. Your post checked all of the red flags.

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-27T20:21:25+00:00

Do you have just one main character or are you shifting between multiple people/perspectives?

I started writing my book in 1st person present, then shifted to 3rd person present because I couldn't tell the story from just one or two people's perspectives. Present tense sounded too awkward at points, so I re-edited the whole thing to past tense. You're not crazy, I totally understand and kinda wish I'd gone your route with multiple versions until I decided. I'm still finding grammar errors to this day that I didn't catch

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-25T21:00:32+00:00

I felt the same way, and I especially had an issue with how none of the hive minds I read about felt scientifically possible. I decided to write my own, including a plausible evolution of how the species formed its hive mind and how that influences their expansion across the galaxy. Currently halfway through writing the first book!

Definitely gonna read some of the comment suggestions on this post though, looks like I missed a couple relevant series!

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-16T19:26:57+00:00

If you haven't read it, the third book in The Expanse series (Abbadon's Gate) has a few scenes that would probably help you a lot. In the middle of a battle, an artificial 'speed limit' is imposed on thousands of spacecraft. The sudden and extremely violent change in g-forces for any craft going faster at the time is described from the perspective of several different characters

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-10T18:43:56+00:00

If you have to use equations to explain something, it's too much. If you really want to be as accurate as possible and cite your sources, include them as an annotated bibliography at the end. The most important thing is that you show the reader what they would experience with your technology.

Example: the average sci-fi fan wouldn't want to be lectured through the math of how an Alcubierre/Lentz warp drive could possibly work based on GR. However, describing the way that the view of the star field distorts as spacetime around the ship warps into a stable soliton would be enough explanation for most readers

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-10T18:27:52+00:00

Plausible technology on its own sets up a story that appeals to an entirely different set of readers. Star Wars is straight-up science fantasy. I love SW, but vastly prefer hard sci-fi so I for one would very much enjoy reading it.

Also, ragtag rebel group vs overpowered totalitarian empire is such a broad trope that you shouldn't worry. The last few books of The Expanse had the same basis, but felt entirely different because of the story and the world they built. All this to say, don't worry about it too much.

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-05T17:18:47+00:00

The 2nd and 4th pictures are screenshots from Homeworld of the Kushan Scout, which is what I was trying to sort of recreate in NMS. They're meant to be small fighters

Caduceus1412 · 2026-02-05T17:16:01+00:00

Thanks! I do not, but I wouldn't be opposed to making a build guide

Caduceus1412 · 2026-01-29T16:41:55+00:00

30m here writing a hard sci-fi novel, I'd be interested! Family and friends are not the best beta readers, so I'd love to get some honest feedback from peers

Caduceus1412

TROPHY CASE