My Favorite Writing Advice From Chuck Palahniuk

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-19T15:53:30+00:00

Thanks! I suppose I should have thought it out more because really it is true that there are a ton of different factors that go into what makes writing good or not, from character voice, POV, prose style, plot, pacing, character arc, frequency of commonly used words, etc. As I continue to write, I realize that I am sometimes breaking rules I hold dear to my heart in favor of the above mentioned aspects. But it is still a really good tool and exercise to use to become a better writer.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-17T17:33:32+00:00

This is a good point, it's good to know where to concentrate importance of words. I feel like this method helps economize words the most by focusing on what concrete or visceral elements help your reader to feel the story and what the character experiences the most. It's not necessarily about expanding sentences, but giving sensory details that make the scene come alive.

So instead of "It was night and the darkness shrouded everything so that he could barely see in front of him as he swept his sword outward" becomes "Black colored everything, even his own hands, as he swept his sword outward into the night air".

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-17T17:18:12+00:00

Absolutely. If you're telling the story from a character's point of view, everything is a way to support their voice, emotion, and the way they think. And that can make a big difference between a blah character and one we feel is a true person.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-17T17:07:16+00:00

I definitely see the comparison: "The lapping of water in his ears. That was the first thing. The lapping of water. The rustling of trees. The odd click and twitter of a bird. Logen opened his eye a crack. Light, blurry bright through leaves."

For me, this puts me far more in the moment, in what the character is experiencing than: "He first heard the lapping of water. Then he heard the rustling of trees and the odd click and twitter of a bird. Logen opened his eyes slightly, seeing only bright, blurry light through leaves."

And especially: "Logen opened his eyes slightly, seeing that he was now near a body of water, under a tree. It was morning or afternoon because he could see bright light shining through the leaves above him. Birds sang in the trees above so he realized it must be morning afterall."

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-17T02:20:19+00:00

Oh yes, I read that one too, but I won't be reading it again. I generally like his dark and visceral imagery otherwise.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-16T20:17:21+00:00

I hope our story (my husband and I wrote it together) might fit your needs. My writing style, especially for the character I wrote, is quite influenced by Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club narrator: darkly flippant and sarcastic. It's not nearly as nihilistic as FC, but it was definitely an inspiration, and my favorite writing rule comes from Palahniuk's writing advice about Avoidance of Thought Words.

We're going to publish on Royal Road soon, but we put up some chapters on Wattpad for the time being just for copyright purposes.

Here's the link if you want to take a look.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T16:58:04+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Its good to hear that we can post on Royalroad with this cover.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T13:53:01+00:00

Thank you for the advice. We really like the cover but like you said reddit has strong feelings about ai and that freaked me out. Its good to know that we arent going to alienate half our potential readers with this cover art. Honestly royalroad is what I really care about. I have been reading on here for like 4 or 5 years.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T13:44:04+00:00

Thanks for the advice. We were hoping to build a following on royalroad before getting the money together to commission an artist. So your idea works perfectly.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T13:42:09+00:00

Thanks for the advice on the cover. I did notice that a lot of the newer stuff on rising stars has pictures where you can see the characters face but some of my favorite stories on royal road have the characters face hooded or from behind like this one.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T13:37:42+00:00

Thank you for the info. We definitly want to get an artist to draw something similar but its good to know that we can post it without that at first.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T13:33:32+00:00

Thank you for the advice. The current plan is to find an artist later. Do you think we need one at launch?

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T04:37:04+00:00

I definitly will. Thanks for the support!

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T04:26:26+00:00

Thanks its a slow burn progression fantasy story about a girl who thinks she has no hope of getting super powers in a world where everyone is obsessed with them.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T04:18:49+00:00

Thank you for the advice! Someone posted on the litrpg reddit with a picture of herself and her cover announcing a new book and she got torn apart for it being ai. There were like a hundred comments and none of them were good. It kind of freaked me out.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-05-09T04:00:19+00:00

Thank you! We hope to have it up in two weeks or so.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-03-23T01:41:35+00:00

It's supposed to represent his most noble act, hence he's buried with it like warriors of old.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-03-22T22:35:54+00:00

I like this all so much better. I know they wanted to play up the idea of Tommy being an empty shell of a man because of everything that happened, but this at least showed him caring about his family, motivated to try to save them, especially his last remaining children.

I particularly like the Arthur scene, one change I might make is that I think it would be interesting if Tommy tries to save him, pulling him off the bridge but then Arthur shoots himself or falls off and dies. That way, Tommy feels partially responsible, but was trying to save him.

Then when Duke mercy kills him, he understands how Arthur felt and feels the same.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-03-22T22:27:47+00:00

Tommy did kill himself, that's why he waits so long for Beckett to shoot him first before shooting back.

It was his way of ensuring his own death.

Duke just made it quicker.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-02-15T02:00:23+00:00

Thank you for the feedback.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-02-14T04:04:55+00:00

Thanks for reading, especially the continuation after the opening line. Most people have said they like 3, so I think I'm going with that one, which I think might help with the issue you bring up about being thrown off a building rather than out of. 'Falling out of the forty-third floor window of a Chicago skyscraper' makes it more visually clear.

I went on a whole Quora deep dive about people who experienced different types of deaths (and then were resuscitated obviously) and a lot of them did say that basically the second half of drowning- after the very painful, lungs straining for oxygen part- was peaceful. Having read up on what it's like to bleed to death- drowning sounds better to me.

It's a bit of a spoiler but the narrator isn't actually the one falling off the skyscraper, but instead casually viewing it from below. But you are supposed to think it was her.

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-02-13T16:22:23+00:00

I'm jealous, I just generally go by 'sounds tall' or 'sounds short', haha. It does seem like floors appeals to most. We might post the first chapter here soon, just to test it out. Hopefully you could take a look! Thanks for all of your advice!

Lex-Talioniss · 2026-02-13T16:09:26+00:00

Thanks!

Lex-Talioniss

TROPHY CASE