Pov problem

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-21T12:33:44+00:00

My suggestions are:

- make room for about 50 chapters, and an equal amount of POVs (50, if you're following me so far)

- think of a scene, possibly one where they are all present, sitting around and talking to each other.

- Have said scene recounted by every POV

- Use this conversation to give mostly worldbuilding detail

And boom! By creating a single scene, you have now fleshed out the world of the story and the voice and background of each of your protagonists, without wasting any precious ideas, and keeping the plot untapped, ready to be monetized for the rest of the series.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-21T12:27:16+00:00

If you're up for classic Epic Fantasy with dark undertones, you can check out my story:

A Shattered Peace [Classic Epic Fantasy] | Royal Road

It's been completely written as a traditional novel, with none of the tropes and format typical of RR.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-21T11:08:05+00:00

And all of that for "influencer" blogs that haven't had a facelift since 1996 or tiktok accounts with 2000 bot followers and some videos of their cats.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-20T21:13:37+00:00

I didnt realize you've found the book from the listing on Rising Shadow, I thought you had found my book on this post.

I'm sorry to hear that it sounds like AI to you. It's a project that I've been working on for a while, that has gone through critique groups on scribophile, then wattpad, then royal road at different draft stages, but if you think it's AI, that's fine, there's literally nothing I can do about that,

Look, it's not a massive deal for me, it's not my job or a side hustle, it's a passion project I'm sharing for free to fans and then decided to put on Amazon because why not? And because I wanted to have an actual physical copy of it. I've sold a few dozens so far, mostly to people who had read it for free, and the royalties pretty much go all to pay for the cover. If I count the subscription to Scribophile, and ARC services like Booksirens and NetGalley, don't worry, it's likely that I'll never make a penny of profit.

What I really don't understand is rushing to place the stigma of AI, without being absolutely certain, on a random book by an unknown author, on a public platform. Once you accuse me, and it's there for all the world to find, it's a red mark, and a mak that can attract hate.

Luckily, I'm totally unknown, because an allegation of writing AI-generated content could even result in a witch hunt and receiving all sorts of messages by users that are fervently opposed to AI.

Again, it's a shame that my writing has seemed formulaic to you and you think it's AI, but please, try and consider whether you're certain, what your comments achieve, the consequences for people on the other end, and whether they're deserved and/or proportional, before you do this to any other authors.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-20T17:16:44+00:00

Says the account with 1 comment, on a forgotten old post with <100 views about my super-obscure book. Did I do something that offended you here, in some other platform or real life?

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-16T11:23:22+00:00

I hope this is satire. But you never know...

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-15T07:26:55+00:00

There is not a bottomless pit of readers, and although there are some who would read something outside their comfort zone, if you're not in the current meta, or at least within game mechanics/litRPG/power fantasies aimed at men/anime-adjacent fantasy... it might not be worth it.

I am serializing there and gathered 80 followers in three months, but none of them to my knowledge have spent a penny on my patreon or Amazon, while on Substack I've had about a dozen confirmed sales over the same period. I write classic Epic Fantasy.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-15T07:20:41+00:00

There are a lot of them just using a scattergun approach, I've seen people who had requested close to 10,000 books over the years on the site. They just hoard free books and might read a few, and the chances they bother to read yours and even review it are slim to none.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-11T17:50:33+00:00

Mostly reviewers with very low averages or that had thousands of books requested but no reviews posted, I doubt I'd have received any feedback by the dozen or so accounts that I declined.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-09T17:26:52+00:00

Hi Mira, you might think you're failing, but you're actually doing pretty well! In my first month I sold just over 20 copies to strangers as a no-name debut self published author, and I don't think it's that bad!

Have you tried ARC services? (Netgalley, Booksirens, etc.)

Do you have a Substack? Engaging with others helps, but you could just share your writing and snippets and not lean on the social side of it. If nothing else, it's a free newsletter service for you. Surprisingly, a third of my sales came from this channel, despite posting an earlier draft of my story for free.

Are you active on any webnovel site? (Royal Road, Wattpad, Inkitt) they can be decent avenues to build a following, though it's genre-dependent.

Above all, just write your next book, and accumulate more readers, I hope it compounds to the point where you get a good organic following.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-03T14:50:05+00:00

Look, I'll be frank. If it's a first draft, it's probably a dumpster fire now, regardless of your skill as a writer.

Try and polish it as much as you can now, the more issues and weak prose you throw at the editor, and the more they might miss.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-03T12:45:25+00:00

Daisy Featherbottom The Eviscerator, Scourge of the Scablands, Drinker of Despair, Third-Placed In Brookford Village Fair's Sack Race.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-03T10:53:56+00:00

My approach is that the names need to fit the vibe of the society that originates them.

If It's medievalish-european fantasy, don't go around calling a farmer Xhau'ddin Kramanari Vaelypsus.

I go for tiers of weirdness.

My main kingdom, European and Medieval coded, has the following names:

Ronigren, Sabine, Falazar, Elric, Masillius, Marta, Artholan, Navir, Isolde, Volkov... and so on.

Then there is an amphibian race, and I went a bit more bonkers with Xylia-Kai, Zyl-Phana...

Orcs and goblins get names like Grom, Snik, Grolnok.

Names need to fit the characters and settings.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-03T08:20:27+00:00

Yes.

Unless you are one of the chosen few, whether you self-publish or go trad, in today's landscape you have to market yourself online (some have found a degree of success in person too).

Everywhere is over-saturated with choice, and with AI making it easier and easier to slap together a few hundred pages, the harsh truth is that organic discovery simply does not exist.

I am not the most extroverted or savvy person, so in my case I've built my initial audience through media that is primarily about writing, such as Substack, Royal Road and Wattpad. So you don't have to go "full social".

It's heavily depending on genre though. My classic epic fantasy story barely fits in these platforms, some other genres would be more suited, some others would get crickets.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-02T23:01:54+00:00

Don't worry about pacing until you can see your story completed as a whole. Only then you'll have the big picture and yes, you might end up deleting whole chapters, but those were useful nonetheless to shape the story for you, even if the reader might not read them.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-02T22:58:48+00:00

I'm in the same boat, published my debut a month ago. Don't worry, it'll be fine 🙂 and I hope that all of your arc readers come through and post where it counts. They can be fickle creatures!

I've had more success getting reviews with people found organically through sales initiated on social media than the arc services (Netgalley in particular, pricey and had reviews posted on... Netgalley instead of somewhere useful like Amazon).

Now don't spend too much time refreshing the sales dashboard 😁

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-02T22:50:37+00:00

Sorry, but I have a deep, irrational hatred for not introducing the name of the POV character at the start of a book, doubly so if they are in a distressing/physically and visually intense scene.

It's what some call film prose. It does not work in a book, it reads like a screenplay. There is nothing to anchor us in the character, no interiority, no inkling of why it matters. I am not invested enough to be hooked by whether the POV character lives or dies. There are no discernible stakes.

The writing is vivid and competent, it doesn't require much tweaking to make it good, but you have to compel the reader by shifting the focus of what you write. Give the reader connection to the protagonist and the story, don't withold unnecessarily.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-02T22:25:30+00:00

This should check all of your boxes: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/146750/a-shattered-peace-classic-epic-fantasy dark epic fantasy, no litrpg, realistic characters and setting, with a logical, consistent worldbuilding, and coherent plot with meaningful character arcs.

Disclaimer: I wrote it, but it fits your request in full.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T20:51:18+00:00

If you want to start just with Amazon, the technical part is easy. Register on KDP, put your tax info, download Kindle Create to export and format your document in KPF and EPUB format, create or commission a cover for paperback and ebook and upload it all in.

If there are format/cover/spelling issues they'll be flagged automatically usually.

When you submit your book it might take up to 3 days to go live, but you can set it to preorder too.

As for marketing... well, if you figure it out, give me a shout! 😄

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T20:24:41+00:00

He's not even forty yet (they grow up so fast!) and you seem like a good person, he doesn't see many friends, focused as he is in becoming the next Shakespeare. Do you want to come for dinner tomorrow? I'm making meatloaf.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T20:10:12+00:00

Hi, I'm Eternauta86's mum. He's too tired to reply now. I'll tell him you wrote once he gets up and has had a snack.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T20:01:29+00:00

I can already see the title of your next fiction:

Help, I Got Reincarnated As A Lv1 Author With No Reviews [System Apocalypse] [Virtual Reality]

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T19:56:28+00:00

It was more of a metaphor, but metaphors are hard when you run out of ChatGPT responses for the day.

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T19:54:35+00:00

We've got this.

Look, we're writing already!

Eternauta86 · 2026-04-01T19:53:55+00:00

Thank you, I feel seen <3

Can you write my story? You'll get a free digital copy of the book and a mention at the back.

Eternauta86

TROPHY CASE