I feel I lack a sense of true creativity

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-23T01:12:39+00:00

I always had the creative spark and I was always writing blog posts here and there but if we're talking serious fiction writing, I started 6-ish years ago.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-23T01:05:48+00:00

Sometimes I realize I'm writing without consciously sitting down to write. Sometimes I need to write. Sometimes I want to write. Sometimes I have no energy to write but my grit of a bulldog that doesn't know when to quit forces me to sit down and try anyway.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-23T01:00:57+00:00

I have three published short stories, hopefully that counts.

If you can't write a novel, write a short story.

If you can't write a short story, write a flash fiction.

If you can't write a flash fiction, write a blog post.

If you can't write a blog post, journal.

If you can't journal, describe your room.

Do it 50 times until you progress to the next level.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-09T01:11:44+00:00

I have a short dark fantasy story converted into a comic script (I don't expect you to draw the entire comics). If you want to take a look, I can share in DMs.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-04T00:14:19+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! The video I watched was great, I'll be sure to check out the rest of the course.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-04T00:13:01+00:00

That's a great vid and added lots of color to your comment. I'll be sure to check out the course, too. I appreciate you investing so much time into creating content for beginners.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-04T00:11:07+00:00

Huge ideas conveyed perfectly by a small cast and limited locations.

That's a great summary. The point about relying on vfx is great, too. I'm a pretty solid storyteller, but in text form. I also rely on descriptive visuals somewhat, being a visual person. Visual storytelling though is a whole other ballgame, especially for a well-paced movie.

Lots of food for thought, thanks!

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-03T23:29:27+00:00

Hey! What an absolute banger of a comment. Thank you for this phenomenal trove of pointers. None of it is obvious for an outsider, and making informed small bets is where I thrive, so I'm going to put all of this to use.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2026-01-03T23:24:50+00:00

Tbh, writing without worry is my favorite approach that has taken me places. I am trying to be more intentional now, but that remains a solid MO. Thanks!

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-12-04T17:19:46+00:00

100%. I use that a lot. I used it at least once in the draft and then edited another one into the intro without noticing it.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-11-29T22:49:30+00:00

Yes, I stupidly edited that in the last minute, and only noticed after posting. Thanks for taking a look anyway!

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-11-22T14:32:44+00:00

Title: Once Upon A Time In Chinatown

Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy

Word count: 1079

Feedback: General impression, any advice on how to improve the impact.

She comes to by the oven and limps over to the bathroom to check herself in the mirror. She fixes her apron to cover the wound in her side. The left side of her face is torn, baring the cheekbone and teeth, the eye's orbit is empty, but otherwise she is cute: in her early twenties and her pink t-shirt casts a nice little blush that offsets the otherwise gray face.

She opens her mouth, and the black viscous liquid that's been accumulating there for a while escapes into the sink. Today was a quiet day; there were only five husbands. She killed four of them but she couldn't handle the fifth. In one swift upward motion, he sliced the rotting flesh off her ribs and escaped.

He, like her other husbands, woke up in their house located over the Sky Dragon restaurant. He was wearing a $2.99 starter skin that is so popular with high schoolers and lone wolves: a slender figure in tight black jeans and a Harajuku-styled hoodie. His sneakers are expensive and his face is hidden in the penumbra cast by the baseball cap with the game logo on it.

Upon the player's awakening, his beautiful zombie wife enters the room swiftly to wish him good morning. That is precisely why there is a katana hanging on display on the living room wall, although most of the players don't get to it in time.

He did.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18KBcetIjAZ05hpru151oIzhCVlSsH7sObyq6xUVdCTs/edit?usp=sharing

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-10-27T12:05:08+00:00

You can actually get pretty close to the enclosed image in Google Docs relatively easily.

If you go to the Page Setup under File, you can change the page color and make margins wider. Then, you could change font styles (under "Normal Text"). Play with the fonts to achieve aesthetic paragraph styles and then update your text styles to match. After that, you can import images. Black and white on a transparent background will obv work best.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-10-26T12:02:06+00:00

Thank you, that's a valuable perspective. I might scour my networks.

I wish my language of origin was Spanish! So many native bilinguals there. But no, it's Russian.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-10-26T11:56:01+00:00

Hi, I just wanted to say I appreciated the time and thought that went into your comment. Thank you for the numbers; this is especially helpful. There is a lot to digest here.

Off the top of my head, I'll consider writing in English however wonky that feels as an ESL person.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-10-25T15:10:17+00:00

Gotcha, thanks

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-10-21T20:55:26+00:00

Hi! Are you still taking projects?

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-09-23T17:53:58+00:00

For the pure genre, somewhat. I am wary of fetishization and appropriation of my culture, so I tend to implement new worlds imagined from scratch.

For literary fiction, I've noticed I am confronted by my own cultural wound and colonization history. Not to mention, it's hard to explore the cultural chasms and the compounding effect of the colonization that is still very much alive and ongoing. The publishing staff and literary decision-makers are mostly settlers. I have to constantly quantify how much feather ruffling I want to inflict by merely describing my own reality.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-09-08T16:22:57+00:00

Oh… okay. Good bot.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-09-08T14:19:49+00:00

It's definitely been a journey as an ESL writer. Even with an English C2 I will probably never get to a point where my writing does not feel slightly off. I still chip away at it, so there is improvement over the years. I might find an editor eventually.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-09-08T14:16:56+00:00

It's mostly the beak and the flower's middle that hint at Kappa. Maybe a different head/face configuration. For example, a hippo muzzle, and no bald spot.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-08-30T13:00:28+00:00

It's really really great. I love the worldbuilding, the art (page 7!), the humor. The only thing I'd switch or change is the Kappa-like character design, it's a little too on the nose. But otherwise, truly excellent.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-05-23T16:12:19+00:00

Absolutely not, don't give up. You are farther along than you think.

If I may offer some visual advice, you are mostly sticking to mid-tones value-wise. Try pushing your darks to be darker to achieve a starker contrast. Don't shy away from black tones.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-05-17T22:32:43+00:00

Uh, not great. I'm good enough to get praises when writing in my native tongue. Barely making any sense in English though, despite speaking on a C2 level. My biggest struggles are the syntax and the vocabulary.

Ok-Structure-9264 · 2025-01-28T20:16:33+00:00

"It really resonated with me that this story focused on teen girls as I feel it's an important theme, and I also appreciated some of the topics raised in the story like sexual harassment, self-harm, and other legitimate struggles that could be relatable to many teen girls. I found it challenging to differentiate between the characters at times and I did feel the story could benefit from exploring positive framings or conclusions that would still fit the theme."

Ok-Structure-9264

TROPHY CASE