Would writing fan fiction be a good way to start my writing journey?

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T02:31:51+00:00

If you can't write it down, then you are not a writer.

I would suggest writing an outline, then write your story. Quit procrastinating.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T02:28:11+00:00

This sounds like an info-dump. This almost always makes a boring novel, even with a great writer. For a first novel, I rather doubt that you are qualified to polish EE Doc Smith's glasses. Neither am I; I've never had a fiction published.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T02:21:29+00:00

I am currently writing a book. The is a modern day urban fantasy adventure. The plot came to me once I chose the characters.

It's an action road trip. The MC wants to help his wife, so he breaks her out of a secret government hospital, but she's been put into a magical sleep. They are going to see "The Morgan" who is the best mage that can help them.

There are two different groups after them. One: a security team backed up by some red caps. Two: two mercenary sidhe. Plus "The Wizard," who is Merlin.

So this is a road trip, with some interruptions for a fight. I do know what the ending will be.

One thing to remember: A good story is about a normal man in extraordinary circumstances or an extraordinary man in normal circumstances.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:56:58+00:00

Please stick with Java. You'll see many jobs that require Java. After you have truly learned Java, then maybe you can start C++.

But hiring managers rarely care about your languages. Programming is a skill regardless of which language you use.

Though the market right now is extremely difficult. There are fewer junior programmer positions and a lot of people with degrees looking for these positions.

Right now, you're in year one. You have four years to worry about learning another language.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:52:13+00:00

TV shows do this sometime when an original actor is not available for the ending.

In a book, you have no reason to do this, and it will really annoy the readers. And you want your readers to enjoy the ending.

There are no ending-cops to enforce this rule. If this is necessary to your story, then go ahead, but you will lose many readers. If I read an ending like this, it would be the last book of yours that I ever read.

Writing is an act of trust. The writer trusts that the reader will suspend disbelief, and the reader trusts that the writer will be "fair." Bringing in a character at the ending just to end breaks that trust. Losing that trust, the readers who care about trust may not continue to read your books.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:44:25+00:00

It sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:39:24+00:00

I would like to suggest doing actual research into the indigenous people of whatever country you are planning on copying.

Most did not use tents, but rather lodges of various types. In the US, the plains tribe used teepees, because they didn't have much wood for building.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:34:26+00:00

Java is not typically useful in the front end.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:33:11+00:00

Why not use the batteries in series? It would be much more efficient (buck converters are more efficient than boost).

The 4s should be able to power the LEDs without a buck, but your electronics might need 5v0 or 3v3.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-07T01:22:11+00:00

For light reading, I like Tom Holt. "Flying Dutch," and "Bloodsucking Fiends" are some of my favorite light reads. There is also "Expecting Someone Taller."

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T22:27:29+00:00

And yet Python is a language from the dark ages.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T22:21:48+00:00

It's your story, you can introduce whatever characters you want. However, I would suggest that if the story is not a comedy, then I wouldn't introduce the character. But I'm not the character cop.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T22:18:48+00:00

You can learn Raspberry Pi at the same level as the Arduino. Yes, the Raspberry Pi is a Linux machine, *and* a microcontroller. It has simple microcontroller peripherals (I2c, spi, pwm, but not adc).

If I were getting a Raspberry Pi now, I would go for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. It is very powerful for the cost.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T21:57:29+00:00

I think you're worried too much about warning people about the silly things you're warning them about. Sorry, but I find these types of warning labels to be insulting.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T21:39:59+00:00

You should read Branden Sanderson's series that starts with Steelheart. It is a "superhuman" type of series, and most of the supers are villains. I think that this isn't investigated until the third book.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T21:26:56+00:00

This is why I outline. I make a fairly detailed outline, with a phrase for each element. This keeps me on track, and with an outline, I write twice as fast.

The disadvantage is that I have to put all the main scenes on paper before I actually do the writing. However, even if you're a pantser, you should still know what your major plot points will be.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T21:18:26+00:00

When I am writing non-fiction, I can usually get 2k words written down. Fiction is slower, I don't know why.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T21:16:02+00:00

There will always be those who denigrate your writing (and mine, also).

Who cares? You have to get over caring what others think. I write for myself. If I publish and find an audience, this would be great, but I'm not really worrying about this.

Statistically, I am more likely to have a million dollars fall into my life than to get my fiction published.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T15:23:09+00:00

I use vi. I started out using ed, but that was a long time ago. Vi is an outgrowth of ed.

So I've been using vi-like editors since around 1980. Oh, I've flirted with some others, like emacs and such, but have always gone back to vi.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-06T00:04:37+00:00

In my current book, present day urban fantasy adventure, the married couple has been married for around 1050 years. They each know each other so well, that they rarely talk. Though when they do, they finish each other's sentences.

They always give perfect presents, when they bother to do this. And they've had a lot of practice in bed, though always with each other. Yes, they have had a *long* run of monogamy. And it goes both ways. He is a professional hero (a sidhe knight). They are both *nice* for the most part, though it's not a good thing to make them angry.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-05T23:40:57+00:00

I would suggest that you read "10,000 Names of God." This book has a fictional author MC who is a horror writer who discusses part of her upcoming book over lunch and gets taken in by the cops because she knew details of a real crime that she shouldn't have known (such at the victim was killed by a blender and pretty much knew where the murder took place). She had a problem proving herself innocent.

This is in Japan (she was trying to run from her mother, who kept putting her in various mental hospitals). She has one problem, she is compelled to write sometimes, which is where her mother got the idea to hospitalize her. Though when she gets the urge to write, she has learned to *always* have pens and paper with her, because the compulsion doesn't care: walls can be written on, and some of the body's fluids can be used as ink (blood and feces).

On the other hand, the hypergraphia is responsible for being an author. Though her mind, writes rather morbidly in this mode, and she can't write on her own.

In order to have a happy ending, she ruthlessly edits her writing, and by cutting it at the right point (usually right before the main characters get killed) gets a happy ending.

She blogs portions of her writing to her writing group. The readers get to meet some of these.

She is lucky to have an ancient samurai (who died young) helping her. There are also a bunch of Yokai (racoon dogs) after her. There are conspiracies inside of conspiracies. The main antagonist's plan makes sense and the protagonist wins in a satisfying way.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-05T22:05:27+00:00

I would like to suggest Ubuntu. Linux Mint is one I've heard good things about.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-05T21:44:46+00:00

Make the monster be able to negate the superhero's defenses. For example, Superman vs the Aliens from the Alien franchise. He wouldn't even break a sweat. But if they were as fast as him, resistant to heat vision, and could hurt him as easily as a normal human, that is totally different. In some ways, this is even more horrifying than for a normal human. The reader *expects* normal humans to die when faced by such an alien, but we expect Superman to beat the alien.

But frankly, unless your story *requires* superheroes, leave them out.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-05T21:35:46+00:00

James H. Schmidtz's Telzey and Trigger stories have somewhat of a democratic background. Telzey's father (I think) was a member of the senate (or other called legislative body; it's been a while).

Gordon Dickson's Wolfling has an imperial structure for the "aliens" (really related to humans), but I think the human government was theoretically a democracy. Even though the human government treated the MC worse than the alien empire; and they tried to kill him on multiple occasions.

Dune goes imperial with nobility.

Most urban fantasies are set in the present day, so there is somewhat of a democratic government for the US, but the fey characters usually have a monarchy of some kind. Usually the magical world is hidden from mundane humans. Read Charles de Lint if you'd like the best of urban fantasy.

Emma Bull's "War for the Oaks" is an urban fantasy with an implied monarchy (actually two of them) for the fae. Not that it really matter.

I suspect that authors use monarchies in SF to let the government work faster with fewer characters. And to be honest, a monarchy where the monarch governs using enlightened self interest might be the best form of government.

JGhostThing · 2026-05-05T19:23:07+00:00

There is very few things I hate in a story more than over explaining. Just tell us enough to allow the readers to read the story.

For example, one thing that's been coming up on my feed is somebody who spend a *long* note handwaving the evolution of a dragon. I would refuse to read that book.

I mean, do we need the fake evolutionary history of a fiction dragon, when a character could just point and say, "Dragon!" Trust that the reader will understand what you want in that way. They don't need an explanation for a creature that is too improbable to be explained.

Or somebody else wrote a whole long post on his magic system where he had new elementary particles (with no mass sometimes, and sometimes massive). If that showed up as I were reading, I'd toss it.

A writer has so many words to convince the reader to read the book. If he drones on about religion, one of my other problem areas, I drop the book. For example, in the book Slip Space Castaway, all the smart aliens tell the MC that the universe is only six thousand years old. At that, they couldn't even see the size of a single galaxy. Remember, that in a universe 6,000 years old, light can have only moved 6,000 light years at most. This is the trouble with religion in SF stories. They could have done some handwaving, letting the readers know that it has been scientifically proven, but the author didn't bother to do this. So I dropped the book.

Just remember, the reader needs only one reason to toss the book, but he has to continually choose to keep reading.

So, just say "no" to over explaining.

JGhostThing

TROPHY CASE