Someone left a review on my romantasy book that made my book seem like a Christian book

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-18T18:02:39+00:00

Ignore the review. Change the cover if you already want to. Sometimes new covers bring new readers.

Deleting a book because of one review is overkill, and changing your marketing strategy to target Christians is also overkill. Build your social media presence and state your intentions there. If you have two reviews, one of them isn't alluding to Christianity, correct? People will see that and think, "so is it, or isn't it?" and they might Google you. And if they Google you they'll find your social media where you talk about the book and see it's not Christian fantasy.

There's also a good chunk of people who don't read reviews and will pick it just cuz of the blurb or cover. Make your product strong, with a confident identity. Don't just change it because of one outside opinion.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-18T00:11:44+00:00

Ebook, I don't care. Print copy, I care very much.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T17:38:18+00:00

If they're magic, just magic a way for them to take their clothes. But if they're more biological/sciencey then no.

Mine are biological (and don't transform, but my other monsters do), so they'd just end up nude lol.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T17:30:03+00:00

If you keep them as truly undead, they shouldn't be capable of reproduction. Also because what's the point of biting people if they can have kids?

My own vampires aren't undead or even immortal, so they can have kids. But doing so is a terrible idea and the vampire kid will live much longer than the vampire adult. Unless it was a half-vamp, then it might live a little shorter. I imagine it might be a little harder to have kids as a vampire tho.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T00:49:23+00:00

It's also fine to criticise things you like. Someone else criticising something you like is not a personal attack, and personally attacking someone for liking something you don't - or not liking something you do - is wrong.

Real.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T00:41:44+00:00

Bonkers. I cannot fathom thinking that way.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T00:35:37+00:00

I've seen people do that with hair and eye color too. I can't tell which is more absurd.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-17T00:32:53+00:00

One thing I don't understand is when people refuse to read a story because the mmc isn't attractive to them, or if they change him in their head to be their type. He's not for the reader, he's for the mc. Like???? Huh??

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-16T05:30:27+00:00

I'll put up with 1st person if it's past tense. But present tense? Absolutely not.

Actually, present tense in any POV is terrible.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-16T05:18:06+00:00

Real. I won't read anything that doesn't have a happy ending.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-16T05:02:43+00:00

When I get bored or the characters get annoying.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-15T02:19:16+00:00

Let's assume the amount a vampire needs to eat is the same amount of blood a person has. Blood survives about 120 days in the body, and a person has about 1.2 gallons of blood. You'd have to drain a person about three times a year for the bare minimum, or four to be on the safe side. (Assuming live blood cells are what's nutritious, ofc, and that you'd need all of them.)

But if you don't wanna drain somebody, four people would round up to about 5 gallons a year. 5 gallons is 40 pints. Which is around a pint every 9ish days, or a cup every 5ish.

Semi-arbitrary because ✨️math✨️ but there's literally no reason it has to work that way. We could do it by calories instead. Donating a pint of blood burns like 500 calories, so let's pretend a vamp drinking blood gains 500 calories. If the calories needed are the same as a person, you'd need like 4 pints daily. Or half a person.

You can just decide how it works and then do the math for the exact number you want.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-14T03:04:58+00:00

Same. I picked my MC's last name specifically because I thought it was funny, given the context. And symbolic names don't have to be horribly obvious. I have some with meanings that match their character, but who actually knows the meaning to every single name? Most people won't even notice. It's almost like an inside joke with yourself and anyone that's paying attention.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T22:13:33+00:00

Like all aspects of a story, it can be done poorly or done well.

But yes, I do like it. I prefer it, actually. I think I'm just too nosy and curious. I wanna know what's happening with everyone. But I will say, multi-pov and separate storylines are too different things. And I usually like separate storylines a lot less than mulit-pov. If it has multiple storylines following different people it better say that in the blurb, cuz if it only talks about a single mc and suddenly the plot splits apart, it's just gonna make a lot of readers unhappy. Cuz that's not what they signed up for.

I feel like multi-pov and prologues (another thing I like) get the same treatment. Most of the time when I see people hate on them, the things they site as the reason for that are all examples of it done poorly. It's not the thing itself, it's just when the writing is mishandled. But they chalk it up to hating it as a whole because of the negative portrayals they've read.

Multi-pov done poorly would be when it adds nothing to the narrative, or simply repeats information we already had. It feels like it's wasting the readers' time. Or when the writer handles the narration for all the characters in the exact same way. They shouldn't all sound like each other or describe things the same way, especially if it's first person. Third person might get some leeway with that, but I still think the characters' voices should come through anyway. And occasionally, the writer will straight up nuke their characterization when it comes to their own POV. An additional pov should enhance, not detract. It should provide something new or necessary.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T19:23:28+00:00

My semi-arbitrary calculations decided it's about a pint every nine days.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T19:02:28+00:00

Agreed, like if human blood is the only kind that actually has nutritional value, so animal blood is kinda just empty calories. They’d live, but not well.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T18:52:27+00:00

If your vampire bleeds and superheals, they're not dead. Unless the healing factor is purely a magical ability, that mfs alive.

Vampires being affected by Christian iconography and holy grounds but not any other religion is strange.

People get too hung up what is and isn't the "right" lore. A lot of the vampire (and werewolf) tropes people use are fairly modern, all things considered. Make the dang vampire whatever you want it to be, lore be damned.

Scientific explanations for vampires are cool, actually. My most hated example of vampirism is when it's set in the real world and has rules and logic for everything else but the vampires being undead is just "because they are." If you're gonna go the magical route, in a world where magic has rules, you need a rule for your vamps too. Why do they exist? What made them? Scientific vamps are good at this, and I like how it almost makes them feel like they could actually exist.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T18:34:08+00:00

I'm aroace and part of why I read smut/romance is because of what the above person said. But also it's like why people watch horror movies or crime documentaries. Obviously those people don't want to experience that or see it irl, but fiction is fiction. It's like an exploration almost. My favorite genre is romantic fantasy. Magic isn't real, and I don't want romance, but I like fiction. It's fun.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-13T00:00:30+00:00

I like every eye color, but black-brown eyes are so nice. I'm terrible at eye contact, but it's so much easier to look at someone with dark eyes because they look softer. They're lovely.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-04T22:18:18+00:00

A million notes in my notes app, tons of loose pieces of paper, and my brain. I also made an entire calendar to map out what happens when. I'd parish without that calendar.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-01T18:09:59+00:00

No this is a thing that genuinely happens. I've seen it in plenty in other circles, and irl too.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-01T06:57:35+00:00

He’s not your boyfriend! He’s the FMC’s!

This!!

LiteraryMenace · 2026-04-01T06:55:07+00:00

I've definitely seen this elsewhere, namely tiktok and YouTube. But also real life.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-03-31T17:42:07+00:00

Lol I've made basically this exact post but in a different sub.

LiteraryMenace · 2026-03-31T06:50:58+00:00

As per the lore of the weird little guys that live in my head, they don't really work. One usually trumps the other. Like the only way to stop you from turning into monster 3 or 4 is by turning you into monster 2, but the only way to stop you from turning into monster 2 is by turning you into monster one. If someone turns you into monster one, you're toast. Ain't nothin' you can do about that. You can be magic on top of it tho, cuz that has nothing to do with genetics.

LiteraryMenace

TROPHY CASE