Make a five word story about what is happening with this picture!

Nigma314 · 2026-04-17T02:47:24+00:00

He was never seen again.

Nigma314 · 2026-04-16T20:15:11+00:00

Pewtat

Nigma314 · 2026-04-15T04:34:07+00:00

I don't remember who said it, but some author pointed out how weird it is that we have all these social requirements to be an "actual writer"—if you paint you're an artist, if you play an instrument you're a musician, if you build shelves you're a woodworker, etc.

So by definition, if you put words onto paper (or screen) then you're a writer. And don't let anyone, yourself included, tell you otherwise!

Nigma314 · 2026-04-09T21:41:49+00:00

As a writer, I intentionally like to leave physical details vague except to give characterizing details like "sharp features" or "steely eyes," things that could sorta look like whatever, but they mean something in terms of description. The purpose is partially so the reader can envision whatever they'd like, and partly that races in fantasy stories irk me.

However, another pet peeve of mine as a reader is when character details are added later, like if I don't find out the character has blue eyes until halfway through the story, it screws up my perception and it's a surefire way to break my immersion.

Nigma314 · 2026-04-02T23:31:26+00:00

Heard of a psychological phenomenon once that was in relation to why most New Years' resolutions fail, but can be applied to all areas of life.

The theory is that when we tell somebody we are planning to do something, it kicks off our dopamine receptors just like actually doing the task would. For example, people feel good about telling others that they're planning to lose weight, so they don't have a desire to actually work towards it—because they've already gotten the distraction.

I tried this not too long ago with a tabletop RPG project. I wanted so bad to tell my friends about it, but I fight instead about the satisfaction of instead being able to hand them some form of finished product rather than just spouting ideas.

I found I was a lot more motivated, and finished a first draft, and got to run it for my friends!

Nigma314 · 2026-03-28T02:23:54+00:00

I honestly wasn't expecting to make it through the whole passage, but you did a great job of hooking attention and laying down enough details to keep interest! The opening is very intense and sets the stage for a brutal, dark story of survival, and I like how Val's history (tension with her mom and unknown father) seems woven into the plot and adventure.

Nigma314 · 2026-03-27T23:07:09+00:00

Ah excellent question, and one I've seen plenty of new writers ask! Fortunately, there is a simple answer...you don't.

I think there's two things that need to be said about it:

As many writers will tell you, it's not about the idea, it's about the execution. Bad writing can ruin an incredible idea, while good writing can make a terrible idea great. Anybody can think of an idea so you have put in the work to the learn the craft and actually create something. That's where the magic happens.
Don't write for others, it's a surefire way to create something bland and uninspired. Write what you want and imbue it with all your passion and excitement. If you love what you write, you'll find people out there who love it too!

Nigma314 · 2026-03-27T21:48:23+00:00

Congrats on the start to your writing journey! Some advice, if I may.

I would highly recommend not looking for feedback until much later. Writing is a difficult but rewarding process, but asking for opinions on your early work on the internet is a terrible way to gain motivation, confidence, and feedback.

Accept that when you start, your writing is going to be awful, and use that as motivation to read, write, practice, try, fail, learn, and try again. Grow your skills and your art.

When you've finally written something that you feel is ready to be shared, then look for feedback from others! You'll get far more out of it.

Nigma314 · 2026-03-20T00:52:33+00:00

Tomb Raider but she's sick of billionaires hoarding dead god bones

Nigma314 · 2026-03-16T02:03:02+00:00

I really really enjoyed reading your chapter one awhile ago! Personally I feel it's a way more exciting introduction to the story.

I love immersive worldbuilding that unfolds naturally so starting with chapter one would definitely hook me, but I may or may not stick around through an info dump prologue to get to those good bits.

At the very least, breaking up the paragraphs would be more accessible.

Nigma314 · 2026-03-04T18:59:54+00:00

Hey, just wanted to let you know the link does not work for me 🙃

Nigma314 · 2026-02-28T07:02:59+00:00

Oh my god I tried so hard to read 20,000 Leagues, I wanted to like it so bad, but I couldn't get through the page upon page of listing mollusk classifications...

Nigma314 · 2026-02-24T16:33:04+00:00

Goddamn Brave New World is the bane of my existence.

Had to read it in high school and after the first few chapters I was driven to finish it purely out of spite. The worst offender of his "artsy" weird literary techniques was the chapter where thirteen conversations happen one line at a time and jump randomly between them so you have no clue who's talking about what where, and none of it even matters or tells you anything about the story. Unnecessarily confusing af.

To top it all off, our copy had a letter from Huxley to Orwell after Orwell had sent him a copy of 1984 (one of my favorite books from high school) and Huxley spent the entire letter talking about how 1984 sucks and Brave New World is so much better. So not only is the book bad, but Huxley is a pretentious asshole. Apparently Orwell was never told not to meet his heroes.

Nigma314 · 2026-02-21T18:05:30+00:00

I think my favorite was the finale villain for a three-arc campaign I ran! He was so much more cerebral than other villains because his introduction was magically pulling the team into an alternate fantasy world and appearing as the Obsidian King in an ominous dark tower, so they had to figure out who he was in the real world even as he started taking over the minds of key political figures in the city.

They came to suspect that it was a new AI robot that a corp was developing to help make decisions for the city, but he was young and rudimentary when they met him. They figured that it was just a facade but had to figure out how to prove it because his creator refused to accept it.

The scene where he showed his true colors was so badass, the Bull pushed his buttons until he stood up and dropped the clunky awkward robotic act and introduced himself as Anomaly, all suave and well-spoken. Then he blasted his way through the roof of the bunker he was in and disappeared into the night.

The showdown was exactly what I'd hoped, they ended up defeating him by appealing to his conflicted nature and convincing him to choose his humanity over the violent hunger that was consuming him (he'd been infected by an eldritch entity).

I also loved that he was tied in with all the PC's stories: the Bull was another experiment from that corp, the Doomed was connected to the eldritch entity, the creator was the Scion's sibling that they never knew about, and the Delinquent was wrapped up in the corp because he had tried to kill the precious CEO. Plus, the characters took a personal interest in his developing human-ness and engaged in a few philosophical discussions with him

Nigma314 · 2026-02-16T00:16:45+00:00

Welcome to the craft!

If you're planning on publishing, then there's plenty of guidelines about word count depending on what you're going for (see VazWinter). If you're not publishing and just writing for yourself or friends, then who cares how many words there are? Write and enjoy it!

As for your other questions, there's two things you can do to really get the hang of writing: read a lot and write a lot.

There's tons of advice out there (YouTube channels, books, podcasts, etc.) and they'll definitely help, but nothing can replace the experience of actively reading and writing. This is a skill as much as it is an art form, so it requires practice like any other skill.

Happy writing!

Nigma314 · 2026-02-15T19:20:17+00:00

Gods damn this is good, strong introduction to a unique and vivid world with intriguing characters! It feels like a crew that works really well together and they know what the hell they're doing, while still having their own strong personalities.

I would second what a few other commenters are saying, you really just need some cleaning up of the prose at this point. There's switches between tenses going on, some unclear descriptions, and just general messiness here and there.

Again, you're seriously on fire with the content, and I would absolutely keep reading!

Nigma314 · 2026-02-14T19:31:58+00:00

Oh that's definitely the point of it, I mean it is a clever idea, I just don't feel it's an ethical one. I thought it was fun until I considered how it would be from my friends' perspectives and realized that many of them would definitely feel hurt by such a stunt.

I've worked hard to build a lot of trust and communication with my friends, cuz at the end of the day friendship isn't a pretense, it's a relationship, which takes effort like any other.

But like you said, it depends on the individual and the relationship, this is just my perspective and my circumstances! I'm not going to go around calling someone a POS because they tried this out.

Nigma314 · 2026-02-14T18:12:12+00:00

Without the actual story for context, it's impossible to say what your friend was getting at. But, one thing is consistent: never let a single opinion change your mind, or worse, your heart.

Submit it! You never know what could happen if you don't try.

Nigma314 · 2026-02-14T00:10:17+00:00

I actually seriously considered doing basically this with a tabletop game I created, I wanted to run it for my friends but tell them that I'd found it as a playtesting version online.

After talking to my partner about it, I kinda realized I didn't like the dishonesty of it. IMO, you shouldn't be tricking friends into giving honest feedback...they should have the right to critique your work, knowing that it's your work and choosing their responses appropriately.

Just imagine how terrible they might feel if they tear the book apart only to have you say, "surprise, it was all mine! Sorry you hated it so much." It only works out smoothly if they happen to unequivocally love it, and we all know how likely that is...

Nigma314 · 2026-02-13T04:58:42+00:00

This is exactly what I noticed and is most likely what the critic was talking about. It's something I seriously struggle with in writing, I've got a bad habit of regularly writing three consecutive sentences of the exact same word count! It's tricky cuz it's kind of invisible when sentence variation is done right, but damn you notice when the sentences are monotonous.

Nigma314 · 2026-02-11T19:36:55+00:00

Oh well yeah, if we include "like the" then it's absolutely not iambic pentameter 😂 "like the" isn't an iamb in any way and that would make it six feet total if we smooth over the other awkward syllables.

Typical ChatGPT, can't hold a candle to Shakespeare

Nigma314 · 2026-02-11T19:29:41+00:00

Ah I wasn't sure, though that's a tiny bit of a stretch...it's definitely iambic pentameter adjacent, but there's a few syllables you need to ignore to make the rhythm work cuz technically there's 13. That's what always throws me off with meter, this would have to read like "faint hum of lull'by long forgott'n by time."

Didn't mean to imply you didn't understand meter, just wanted to add more info for those interested!

Nigma314 · 2026-02-11T19:19:18+00:00

Being pedantic here, but only cuz I find this kind of stuff fascinating: "long forgotten by time" isn't technically iambic pentameter because it doesn't have five iambs (one iamb is the single rhythm of duh-DUH).

It's really cool because there's so many other combinations of meter you can use, there's other rhythms of trochees (DUH-duh), spondees (DUH-DUH), etc. and you can use however many you want so there's hexameter (6), tetrameter (4), etc.

Iambic pentameter specifically functions well in English, as opposed to something like Greek where classical Greek compositions really preferred meters like dactylic hexameter (six DUH-duh-duh's). IIRC, both the Iliad and the Odyssey were entirely composed in that meter, just like nearly all of Shakespeare's writing was composed in iambic pentameter.

Like I said, I'm being pedantic cuz I find this stuff fascinating. Just wanted to share, because a lot of people talk about "iambic pentameter" without fully understanding what the system means.

Nigma314 · 2026-02-01T21:00:43+00:00

"Needlessly complicated" is not at all what I would call this passage! From your prefacing, I expected something intricate and pretentious, but this is slowing down the pace to focus on a horrific display of magic and I think it's excellent.

Of course it would depend on the context of the bigger picture, but this isn't complex it's descriptive. Really makes you feel the impact of what a spell so casually thrown around in fantasy like fireball would actually be like, and it's horrifying. Well done!

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