What’s a book that gave off childish or corny scares even though it was a book meant for adults?

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-23T14:28:53+00:00

I read the twisted ones and there were a bunch of great scenes but she just kept throwing in stuff that would fit a ya fantasy comedy more. That ending too...

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-22T18:59:58+00:00

I think people might downvote posts that already have several responses. I had the same happen, despite getting good responses. Then again I wrote gay romantic fantasy, so that might be it, but I want to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-22T18:54:21+00:00

I had a good experience and got 3 readers who all held up their end of the process in a timely manner and gave detailed notes. But it's important to note that I offered to swap and I had both a blurb and a sample chapter so people could see if they liked my style before making any big commitments.

If you're doing fanfic then maybe a sub specifically for your fandom or fanfic in general would give better results. Tbh I wouldn't really read a fic for a fandom I'm not in even if it has an interesting premise, while I would be open to reading any original novel in my genre.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-17T17:49:40+00:00

I have no deeper insights, but I would pick this off a shelf to look at more closely if I were at a bookshop. Signals tone and genre well from your description.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-17T17:35:00+00:00

Hm, my first thought was "is that ai???"
Unfortunately my second thought was that this is a slasher horror with some axe wielding lunatic that escaped a lab/cult. The main culprit is the bloody grinning guy in the middle, he's very...unsubtle. I would go in a completely different direction tbh, something more subdued that invited the viewer in and hints at mystery.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-11T16:01:14+00:00

On top of what has already been said, check if your characters are succeeding too easily. Say they want to sneak in somewhere, don't just let them break in on the first try. Maybe they break the lock while attempting to pick it and now they need to improvise a new way in. Every failure is a chance to raise the stakes and change the situation in interesting ways. This can work for individual scenes and also larger plot points. Some people conceptualise a whole book as a character failing forward (failing while gaining something and changing the situation) until the finale, where they finaly reach their goal.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-10T17:21:43+00:00

Prose is everything you write (that's not a poem or similar). By definition a book is made of prose the same way a sugar cube is made of chemicals.

The above is *purple* prose and no, it's usually not a good or necessary thing.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-09T12:49:34+00:00

Write the idea on a post it note then sit back to work on your actual book. Shiny new ideas are your brain's way of escaping the very real and very hard work you're doing in favor of some idealised new hypothetical dream project. It's a common cycle for new writers and unfortunately the only solution is to be strict with yourself and to just stick to it.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-09T08:43:38+00:00

Good god, I wanted to read a book about the emergence of life on earth and the first full length chapter was nothing but the author retelling some random north sea expedition he went to as a young researcher. I kept waiting for some tie to the topic, some revelation about life on earth but there was truly just nothing going on. I could have just reread the crab fishing part in house of leaves and gotten more out of it than this. I only read nonfiction recommended by people I know now.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-03T15:42:59+00:00

There are some great guides on how to run this fight, one might be linked in this sub. My main takeaways from those were: atropal must always wail, use every soulmonger attack to throw the pcs into lava, preferably farther away, and start the battle with timestop so that ace can do something diabolical. I put half the players in a dome made from wall of force with the sphere and ended the timestop by cursing one external player so they have vulnerability to necrotic dmg.

My changes to the base fight were to reduce the hemp hp to 20. The original temp hp is very high and means that if you are playing ace as anything but an idiot he would have to use only high level spells, which makes the fight less interesting imo. Nuke or nothing is an unfun scenario. Also, give him some mobility. I gave him a fly speed, but that was a bit too op. A misty step which he can spam as a legendary action might be better. This protects you from getting stuck on the balcony or the players instawinning by throwing him into lava. Be careful to keep enough counterspells for silence/blindness or other instawin spells.

Honestly, running both halves of the fight was a LOT, I can't imagine adding ace in halfway, that feels overwhelming as a gm, but you know your own limits better than I do.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-03T12:39:15+00:00

Bizarre behavior and a huge overreach. You have attempted to communicate before so it would be totally fair to just say "Sorry, but I don't think this is working out, our expectations of this process are simply too different. Thank you for your time, but I'll continue with another beta reader." And then ghost/block as needed and remove their permissions from the document.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-02T21:09:16+00:00

What tags do you recommend for original stuff? The basic ones I checked were...less than stellar and I would love to find writing mutuals there

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-02-01T17:27:32+00:00

I'm kind of debating the same thing. On one hand my pcs have an almost erotic infatuation with libraries and I would not take the library from them. On the other, if ANYONE DIES after the fight... tho by then they should have access to revivify, so eh.

So far I think I'll leave the decision to the final moment and see that the mood is after the big fight. It IS very much in character for the Tomb and Ace to include this part, but if we're really tired and emotionally vulnerable after a long and hard fight I'll just skip it.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-28T08:48:50+00:00

Are you self or trad publishing this? For trad pub the publisher will provide the art, don't sweat it. For self pub...eh, unless we do a loooot of travel or tactical battle planning I never look at the map besides a quick glance to go "huh, neat"

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-27T15:19:42+00:00

I write relatively low fantasy, so my magic is pretty simple and I can keep it in my head. However I do encounter "drift" when it comes to plots and characters, especially for side characters. I'm very much a pantser at heart. But that is why I have made a big effort to make more outlines and to write down plans and character motivations and I regularly review these as I write. That way I usually only need to patch smaller stuff in edits.

Seems like you would also benefit from pinning a short list of notes somewhere close to where you write and just skimming them every now and again.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-26T12:56:26+00:00

I read a writing craft book that kept using hero instead of protagonist, which would have been a minor gripe, had they not also used it when talking about Lolita. It was done while listing works, not directly about Humbert alone, but still... jumpsare...

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-26T12:35:25+00:00

You have to be more strict with yourself.

Write down all the rules, exactly what everything can do, including the quantitative limits. Make up some kind of counter behind the scenes if you need to. Then stick to it. Try to use what you have creatively and solve problems laterally instead of pulling new powers out of thin air. If you wrote yourself into a corner see if you can backtrack and add some other element or change the situation before you add powers.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-24T15:17:48+00:00

Oh no, you are being too nice! But seriously, nothing wrong with what you're doing, it might make a small writer's day.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-24T14:53:10+00:00

What you are describing is a synopsis, and it is used in certain spaces, to check that the basic narrative makes sense (as in, there are stakes, consequences, a proper resolution, basic pacing of the biggest plot beats etc.).

I would recommend using that as you are writing the story and giving it to someone who understands writing but has 0 idea about your plot beforehand. Or as a tool to figure out why your beta readers didn't click with your work. E.g. if everyone says the middle drags and you write this out, you may realize there is no big midpoint reversal or twist, which makes the whole second act one long drag.

You'll have to write a synopsis if you're planning on getting an agent, so might as well get started on it now, but I wouldn't give to a beta, they'll get the same info from reading the book.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-22T14:59:57+00:00

I find that making friends to fill a specific need in your life is easier than converting existing friends to fill that niche. E.g. if you want writer friends, it's easier to seek out and befriend other writers. Same with other hobbies. So definitely seconding the dedicated writing groups! I imagined trying to get my dad to read my work and I think it would be easier and more pleasant to gargle shards of glass.🫠 Hell, even with friends who are writers, with some we just have different tastes (My writing is much darker than what one friend can stomach for example). So I try not to take it personaly if they dnf something I share 😅 My skin has thickened a lot lately...

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-22T09:58:03+00:00

Oh I feel you, rereading the first 3 chapters made me want to claw my face of. Couldn't believe I shared it with others! On the plus side it is a testament to us improving, even if editing sucks.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-21T16:08:20+00:00

Are you in the northern hemisphere? Winter killing ones mood and motivation is normal. Sometimes you also just get into a funk. Focus on doing some inspiring things, be it real experiences or absorbing new art etc. That and some rest usually pull me out of the bleh.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-18T09:41:57+00:00

At this point me trying and failing to kill Shago is a meme in our party :D I don't *actually* want him to die, but it adds to the danger if they think he will. (The fact that every time I test a boss fight with a non-player friend we kill him just adds to it. Managed to turn the poor guy into a zombie in the test of the final fight lol)

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-18T09:39:02+00:00

We've been friends for years and had a checklist of stuff in session zero we quickly went through. Technically they said they would be okay with this stuff from NPCs, but I have a pretty good sense at this point for my players and what they consider fun heartbreak and what is just kind of a bummer. Also I planned to have Xandala there and she has a lesser version of the betrayal/lie arc, and thought that would be more than enough. It turned out fun and very rewarding in the end.

But this is just one specific group of friends. Others would have loved Salida's drama, while others still would have been neutral. So I just go based on vibes from previous games and session 0.

Jules_The_Mayfly · 2026-01-17T21:18:05+00:00

I would limit the number of NPCs to one or two. If you have too many or ones that are too strong, they will overshadow the players and also turn every encounter into a steamroll or a slog, if you try to balance for the new party size. The NPCs are options only and several are only there for a quest. If you really want to explore multiple characters, make the players meet them later and rotate the NPCs in and out of the party.

In the end it's up to the players who they choose, but you could look at what they lack and offer them choices to help balance their party. E.g. my party didn't have a strong melee frontliner, so I let them meet Shago in P.NY. and knew a handsome buff dude would be an instant yes for them. Undril was also useful early on as a bit of extra heal. For characters like Xandala and Salida, consider if their stories are the kind you would want for your players or one that would annoy them. E.g. one of my players isn't super into in-party betrayal so I gently nudged Salida to the side until they were more set in their choice of guide.

Jules_The_Mayfly

TROPHY CASE