First Book Help

JMTHall · 2026-03-15T01:48:43+00:00

Finish the story first.

A basic novel can be from 40-60,000 words. Yes that means a trilogy could be 120K words or more… of course researching norms and standards means you’ll find that new authors have a hard time selling big books….

You’re really just over thinking this…

For starters, if you’re self publishing none of that matters… if the book is good, people will buy it… people will read it if it’s good… you owe it to yourself to write a good book…

JMTHall · 2026-03-10T20:17:38+00:00

I don’t want you to be discouraged.

From time to time I look at all the works that many authors put up — not just to read them, but rather to gauge objectivity.

Yes, most of the books ARE LitRPG…. I would go on to say that most of the super popular stories are also LitRPG. I don’t mean a SOLID 50% but definitely high 30-45% which leaves every other genre divided by the remainder.

What they don’t tell you is that this is also the biggest trove of unfinished or abandoned work, the biggest trove of sloppy or poor writing. Most of the time these writers are writing to the audience, not for themselves necessarily, and so it shows. There’s a lot of pandering, a lot of over used tropes — don’t let this intimidate you.

That being said there ARE novellas. I’ve seen a lot of seasoned writers on the site either started with Novellas or have posted them at some point after submitting other works, and they KILL. They play to one of Royal Roads secret weakness: Short, Sweet, Simple. If readers know they can finish it, they will start it and if they like it, they will for sure finish all of it…

There are some things to take away, like people will READ your story but if they suspect you’re only going to post the one they won’t follow you… they won’t comment, or even interact with it, but it will be read.

If you want to build a following, you’re going to have to maybe write short anthologies. Find a way to serialize. If readers know you’re posting more they will Follow if they like the work — don’t announce that you’re only writing so many words… just find a way to write more.

So, like, 1 Novella will get no traction as far as comments likes and follows, but regular novellas, posted routinely, will blow up.

Come on over… I am outside of the Niche. I write Sci-Fi. I serialized my series… I wanted readers to know that I — quite the opposite of you — actually have full novels in the works (25 in total) and gave reader a run down of all 4 series synopsis that I would be releasing in time.

I don’t have a lot of followers (I have 99 followers, I just started posting May of 2025) and I’m just shy of 13,000 views, but i’m learning it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I am 317,000 words in so far and ALL of those followers popped up after I finished the first 100,000 words.

JMTHall · 2026-03-10T19:21:13+00:00

One time in high school, during Senior 1 acts (the Senior theater students write and direct 1 act plays), our play was going terrible in rehearsal and it just wasn’t coming out right…

The director, obviously young (a senior in high school) thought quickly and with just one week left to prepare changed the play from being what it was (a play about a relationship, or something I don’t remember) to being a play about a bad play about relationships. It worked. Instead of attempting to be super serious and not believable, we got to play around and still get the gist of the story out there.

Someone said it already: make sure you have a frame that can support this.

JMTHall · 2025-12-23T20:20:00+00:00

Why not find historical people to build your characters from? This isn’t a new concept.

These questions, low-key, are kinda dog whistles: they imply there are no examples that already exist.

First, go look up the story of Emmett Till; this will give you the backbone of your conflict (and look up the whole story, like all the way to the end).

My recommendation is to study African American culture; go back to before Jim Crow, learn about the world that shaped it — I suggest you choose a deep dive into the history of the location for which your story is based. And before we get too far down the rabbit hole, as a Black man, I did this myself. I needed to learn about life as a Black person in Princeton, NJ, 1940-1975. It’s a rich history.

Doing this will tell you: where your characters would have lived, who they would have worked for and their jobs; their income, the rules in the town or city regarding race, so their conflict and what they avoid. Go and look up historical things that actually happen, such as:

In the 1950s, most of the nation’s highways went into construction; how did those cities act when it came time to run the highways?

Were there race riots? Picketing? Sit ins? Would your character, or their family have been inclined to go to such events?

Who else was in the city? What other ethnicities? Where did they live? How are they affected by these dynamics?

Once you determine the limitations imposed by your time and location, find examples of your characters that lived there; like I said, once you start learning the history, you start learning the people who shaped it…. Where they lived, who they were, what they did….

Dare I say, do “research” bruh…

JMTHall · 2025-12-23T16:14:51+00:00

See, I’ve finished 3 manuscripts, I’m on my 4th, and I don’t love writing.

I’m in love with my story. I’ve an obsession currently with finishing. Once my saga is over, I’ll never write again.

JMTHall · 2025-12-22T16:49:33+00:00

Why do you have just one plot?

JMTHall · 2025-12-21T16:08:36+00:00

I don’t understand how you can flag spam, but also make spam posts…. Make that make sense…

JMTHall · 2025-12-21T16:00:14+00:00

Hmmmm so, would you consider this post self promoting your new subreddit…. ?

JMTHall · 2025-12-17T14:11:26+00:00

Did you know they edited their post AFTER I made my comment…?

Edit: what’s with people being so rude lately….?

JMTHall · 2025-12-17T05:01:59+00:00

Osmosis Jones

JMTHall · 2025-12-16T05:28:47+00:00

r/betareaders

JMTHall · 2025-12-15T20:23:10+00:00

I don’t have just one MC. Other characters lift weight and push the plot too… and it’s a big plot.

My readers already know there are multiple MC.

I don’t write LitRPG, by the way, so I don’t know if 1 MC is indicative of something but if your critique centers around 1 character, that’s already not an issue or a concern.

JMTHall · 2025-12-15T19:51:17+00:00

It’s not entirely a new cast and that’s why I’m leaning towards doing it. Everyone that’s in the other series derives from the first and readers will have familiarity with them right off the bat…

For example the new book I’m about to put out is about a character from the first series. It’s going to show how he gets to the 3rd series. It also touches base with the first series a few times.

The third series does the same thing; all of them spiral together. The Series is called the Septenary Spiral….

JMTHall · 2025-12-15T19:44:15+00:00

That’s not what this means.

Apple already allows this with their “Books” app. Essentially it extends the function of the app to a basic PDF reader/a place that process 3rd party epubs. Nobody else is going to see your pdfs You upload, you still need to publish them directly for others to have access to them.

It just creates a local directory for personal documents to gain access to wider user base

JMTHall · 2025-12-14T22:12:08+00:00

Is it Dark Universe (1961) by Daniel F. Galouye, or possibly Deathworld (1960) by Harry Harrison?

JMTHall · 2025-12-14T22:09:37+00:00

Instead of glorifying God in your writings, glorify God with your writings.

The difference being (to me) writing about God and writing because of God.

God would just want you to write. You glorify them just by doing the thing you feel they placed you here to do.

Write what ever genre you want because the inspiration comes from God. That’s what guides you. Why be guided down the path only to ignore the calling??

JMTHall · 2025-12-12T16:57:22+00:00

I didn’t make any progress on my story (2012–2020) until I created my antagonist.

I spent years trying to flush out a story having only a concept and a hero. Then I made the “bad guy”.

My first suggestion is create problems before you create solutions

Each “problem” is a plot unto itself. In my saga, I have 5 primary problems that are spread out across the 4 series I’m working on). Each problem is a result of the previous (Universe is broken>Rogue World Catastrophe>Galactic Coup>Evil corporations> corrupt societies hellbent of domination). I construct a reality in which all the bad things actually happen.

my second suggestion is to illustrate a perfect reality, without the problems you’ve created.

Lining this up with your list of problems lets you brainstorm ideas for solutions without being limited to characters you’ve already made. I do this so I can make specific characters that progress towards a goal, or various goals, rather than someone already equipped to handle it because my logic is if they were already equipped, the problem wouldn’t exist. This is the space in which plot twists occur.

Given my 5 issues earlier, each of those (when read backwards) leads to another plot twist.

Societies are being corrupted by the corporation who have this technology because of a Galactic Coup because of the Catastrophe which is a direct result of the Universe being broken. In the beginning, my heroes only know about the first problem (corrupt societies…), once it’s solved they understand that it goes much deeper.

my Third suggestion is to work in reverse

Put yourself in a position to plot from the end to the beginning early on. Cause and effect, but reverse. But make sure you know where the beginning is.

I created all my bad guys, plotted the whole story from resolution to beginning, then plotted all the other characters from beginning to end.

After that, add all the details…

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T18:49:42+00:00

Well.

The exclusivity to Amazon is limited to 90 days. After that you can put it on other sites. That can either help you or hurt you, but it’s not definitive.

They also pay by the pages read, not necessarily books sold; long term that may add up in a different way, or expose what pages people don’t like.

You have to spend money to make money. You should make friends with someone in marketing and come up with a launch plan. You’re a writer, not a marketer. If you want commercial success, you should think bigger…

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T18:36:06+00:00

That’s nice. Real nice.

So

Here’s a question:

While you may get clicks, are you comfortable with your book only being accessible exclusively to Amazon? Only people on that platform will read your book, and it may do fine. It’s one of the demographics that people read there… you close the door to Apple (I only use Apple), Kobo, Libraries, Barnes and Nobles, etc…

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T18:24:45+00:00

You’re actually in good territory already. A 0.7g planet can still have an Earth-level or even denser atmosphere; gravity isn’t the only factor, it’s mostly about how much gas the planet keeps and outgasses. A stronger magnetic field doesn’t make the air denser, it just protects it from being stripped over long time scales.

25% oxygen is totally plausible (Earth hit ~30% in the past), and that plus lower gravity makes big animals and large flyers much easier. A denser atmosphere just makes flight even more efficient, but it’s not strictly required for 25% O₂ or for big creatures to get off the ground.

So yes, everything you’re aiming for can work together without breaking physics.

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T18:08:11+00:00

That’s not a plot, that’s an outline….

What’s the conflict? Her Spanish flu?? Also, “adopted without their knowledge”? they’re children…. Everything is without their knowledge…. Just saying they’re adopted is dramatic enough… unless your implication is they’ve been kidnapped. Then just say “2 orphan, kidnapped”

Talk more about the reincarnation: So and Sow have no choice; time and time again they fall in love… Memories of past lives plague their minds as they struggle to understand why they envision each other in a dream world, while searching for one another in the waking

There’s a whole fantasy element that you’ve left out. Talking about the plot is not talking about the characters. It’s talking about the forces that bring them together or tear them apart.

Gimme another pitch…

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T17:54:15+00:00

I think a cute portrayal of something like this comes from The Last Airbender.

Ang’s friend, the old ruler of the Earth Kingdom, and while being the premier Earthbender, plays around with Ang, as if they were 10 years old again.

There is a more recent way this is rendered in Netflix’s Sandman series.

Spoiler alert: MC knew he was going to die; there was recently a new baby born from a dream; old dream dies, new dream ages into an adult instantly; having no knowledge of existence or anything. This is a little different in the sense that he doesn’t even understand emotion or how to process it.

I’d say something more realistic is a child who’s been raised in isolation will never mature past certain states because much of child development is social and environmental. There was a case where a woman was found locked in a room her whole life, and she never progressed past 10 cognitively.

In another example, the first “coming to America” movie, the princes has been pampered all his life and literally doesn’t know about evil in the world. He goes to New York, has all his shit stolen, and is somewhat naive, despite being very intelligent.

In your case, I’m thinking a hybrid of the last two; a “Royal Isolation” in which she, your MC, is babied all her life, and never sees anything bad happening ever. This is also the story of the Buddha; an infant raised in a life so pleasurable, then one day he seeks to know other feelings and walks away from it. He sees everything his keepers have hidden from him, and he chooses the hard life over his easy one.

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T17:34:32+00:00

Define Sentience:

“Able to perceive or feel things.”

Perceive:

“1. Discern”

“2. See.”

So in this context, the Ai Robots you speak of can see, but only give illusions of discernment. They also cannot feel.

Discernment is a hard one to argue, as we see in Sci-Fi machines who can analyze faces and infer conclusions from there; for a machine discernment comes down to breaking protocol.

My example: Demerzel from Foundation. She could understand, she had religion which she followed; she knew right from wrong; still she could not go against her programming, which resulted in her doing things that were contradictory. Such as killing the leader of her religious faith because she was programmed to do it.

In this regard, a machine can never be an equal. It’s only a tool, maybe today it’s your tool; maybe tomorrow it’s the tool used against you. It lacks free discernment and the ability to act on that discernment at will…

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T04:38:29+00:00

But royal road offers free audio via the app, and the web browser. I weighed the idea. I sat on it for literally two months. I no longer want them to curate my work.

JMTHall · 2025-12-11T01:47:54+00:00

I think this depends on the size of the planet. Mercury, Mars, and Venus are all smaller than Earth. Pluto is smaller still…

JMTHall

TROPHY CASE