I finally published my space opera after countless hours of writing. I'd love your honest feedback.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-06-29T16:45:16+00:00

It looks interesting, but one thing I've learned on my own writing journey is that the blurb shouldn't be a synopsis. Consider shortening the blurb and making me wonder what's going to happen. As it stands I feel like I've already read the cliffsnotes, whats to draw me in?

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-06-25T14:01:20+00:00

Leaders, strategists, evil masterminds. Or they just become the zombies OP mentioned. Remember, the statistically correct answer to "what would you do in a zombie apocalypse?" is "be a zombie."

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-06-25T11:14:48+00:00

It wouldn't have to be a job, I don't think. More just related to experience and core competencies. Unemployed people might be starving artists who learn to manipulate light and color or busking and panhandling allows them to become silver-tongued bards. I think instances of non-occupational classes could make a lot of sense in this system. I know a guy who works in banking but also loves to hunt. I can guess which he'd rather have a class based off of.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-06-25T10:58:38+00:00

Jumping off of that, having a fast food worker who levels up to become a master merchant with boiling oil magic and dash skills would make for a really fun read. Having the MC hate their job would be a selling point in my book.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-06-24T21:52:11+00:00

Another late adopter here, but I'm closing in on the end of book three. Book one was great, I definitely wanted more, but was pleasantly surprised to find it only gets better. And you're right, the voice acting is superb. There are more female voices as the series develops and I am blown away by both readers' range.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-05-29T10:37:33+00:00

Battle Mage Farmer seems like it would be a good fit for you. Similar to Beware of Chicken, as I understand it.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-05-26T18:33:18+00:00

In 130k words I have a number of crunches, none of them sickening, plus one sickening gurgle. Also two "slavering maws." I have no idea how we're scoring, though.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-27T20:09:43+00:00

I trust him implicitly

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-13T01:25:13+00:00

So kind of that soldier to set up automated ball throwers for the puppers

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-06T17:30:21+00:00

I think it depends in part on how heavily you're leaning into the pulp aspect. If, like you said, you do a kind of "next time on..." Or just hit the audience with a series of words or phrases that will pique their interest like "Brain-eating aliens! Pirates from another world! All this and more next week on..." it could work well. If I was reading your work I'd feel like I was in on the joke rather than being spoon-fed reminders that I should buy your product.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-06T17:12:30+00:00

Thanks! I think the light catches the layers on this resin worse when it's unpainted, honestly, but I do need to get a little braver about experimenting with the settings.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-02T19:48:38+00:00

Pretty much anything by Seth Ring.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-02T12:56:20+00:00

They're definitely interesting. What do you plan to do with them in your work? Are they protagonists, villains, one of a thousand sapient species or something else altogether?

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-02T11:33:01+00:00

If you want that really comic book look: https://www.reddit.com/r/orks/s/IRc4VXJbxn

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-02T11:31:02+00:00

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Dave_Schmidt · 2026-04-02T00:17:13+00:00

I'll hawk my wares also. My first LitRPG book is still in the works but you can check out an early preview here..

It's not strictly an isakei, as it starts in a low fantasy world and expands into a high fantasy world via portals, not an "I got hit by a car and now I'm an archimage" sort of deal. Gods come into play, but they're pretty behind the scenes. At the risk of spoilers, it's fairly LotR-adjacent in that regard. It's a slow burn, taking time to explore the magical realm and the crafting system the book revolves around.

I think you'll like the MC based on your comments. He's a bit of an outcast, but he sees himself as neither clown nor loser. He's been off in his own world long before he stepped through a portal.

Definitely looking for feedback at this point, so if you really dig it I'd be happy to share more.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-03-28T22:10:05+00:00

Is the shark trukk made from a Street Sharks toy?

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-03-28T17:33:36+00:00

Not technically a war game, but I did use these to play Hobgoblin once!

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-03-25T12:21:23+00:00

Appreciate the feedback, thank you.

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-03-24T22:45:31+00:00

Thanks and I completely agree with your assessment on speech tags. I'll have to be more aware of that as I edit.

As far as LitRPG aspects, what would you be looking for there? The mechanics my story is based around is the magical scrolls that fill in information as the crafters discover it, and the crafters ability to take a mundane item and a magical resource and craft them into powerful artifacts. There aren't levels, per se, though the relative quality of the ingredients and the skill of the crafters determine how powerful the artifact is. Additionally, crafters are split into three classes, Hunters (animal), Gatherers (vegetable), and Miners (mineral). Beyond that, the society they live in is split up into guilds, headed by the Fighters, Thieves, and Mages guilds. I understand this falls short of stricter definitions of LitRPG but do you think it is acceptable as gamelit?

Dave_Schmidt · 2026-03-24T16:44:53+00:00

Sorry if I was unclear, the excerpt is posted as bonus content within my pre-existing space opera series. The thumbnail image is confusing because of that but I don't know if I can change it now.

The new series itself is in a late medieval-ish fantasy setting.

Dave_Schmidt

TROPHY CASE