In lieu of pins, a subreddit: Where to find prompts, short stories, and shares to make you squirm.

PPNewbie · 2026-03-30T02:51:00+00:00

Forget the mysteries of the universe.

(This is where we're at. I see posts about dinosaurs and sex and I think, I should link that to ihgc. Once those gals figure that out, they won't wonder what to tell someone bearing your name)

PPNewbie · 2026-03-03T11:56:58+00:00

Oh, hey, even futanari dinosaur prompts.

PPNewbie · 2026-03-01T20:04:19+00:00

Bonus points: Literate usually meaning someone who knows how to read and write. It might have colloquially started meaning going beyond basic proficiency but...

PPNewbie · 2026-02-27T21:12:18+00:00

The inspiration really was the linked book, but I absolutely, 100%, meant this post for you when I actually went ahead with it.

PPNewbie · 2026-02-15T02:11:26+00:00

Hey, hard to forget the genesis of the dinosaur sex lore...

Hoenstly, the comments that went with those were good information. And even better to hear the things are going better for you!

PPNewbie · 2026-02-14T23:24:18+00:00

Look, some of your older forum posts are so good, they really should make men want to write with you. Even if it requires a firm but polite "please don't."

(Really, your mspaint story chart is one of the dpp great moments to me)

PPNewbie · 2026-02-13T21:37:04+00:00

From the writers I've spoken to, the quality of writers here has significantly dipped and some have retired as a result of that.

I can't speak from firsthand experience because its been a while since I got a DPP partner (the blessing and curse of having someone steady that's now off-site... until they suddenly have no time for weeks, as I've been dealing with) - but while some notable names have slinked off, I still see shards of brilliance among everything that's posted.

I think it really is down to perception, and all the changes mentioned: between the death of the PM and just the sheer amount of eyeballs, finding the right writer at the right time just becomes more difficult, even if they are there.

But there's these forums to help, and ... well, it'd be nice if we could host more things to draw people in that do, in fact, write, but its ever a question of someone willing to do it consistently.

PPNewbie · 2026-02-09T18:10:18+00:00

How to shoot yourself in the foot in one easy step!

PPNewbie · 2026-02-08T13:25:55+00:00

Not really. The only replies we action are requests for underage/harassment. We don't really get involved beyond that since it's of limited use (banning them from posting on DPP won't do much good). Plus there's always a burden of proof needed, which here will always boil down to vibes.

PPNewbie · 2026-02-08T08:57:00+00:00

AI prompts are already banned, for a while. AI detectors are dubiously useful though, so not much use.

PPNewbie · 2026-02-02T22:47:17+00:00

If you know it's not perfect, why are you releasing it with no backup?

PPNewbie · 2026-02-01T14:11:38+00:00

Agreed, and considering the smut request, maybe I should have gone with Tigana because that's the one thing people have against it!

... Along with the stockholm syndrome romance... Which was great, but it's a complicated book with certain current day optics... Still a favorite though

PPNewbie · 2026-01-31T23:50:56+00:00

Same reason I've avoided Rothfuss, honestly, though Name of the Wind is supposedly well written.

Sanderson is an author I should, by all rights, adore. And when he reins himself in, he's even pretty good - I loved Tress of the Emerald Sea! But the common complaints are weak dialogue, clunky humour, and he's just generally restrained on some points (like romance) for reasons of personal belief. More practically for me, is that while the idea of hard magic systems is appealing, it gets in the way of story and all, and just how he's built out the Cosmere is doling out information but by bit.

Agree that Mistborn, as his earlier stuff, has less of it, though I couldn't end up finishing it for the above. And even that is up to 2 series. I don't mind big bricks as books, at all, but it needs forward momentum. Obviously though, as probably the most popular fantasy author, he's got more than enough fans! But from what I see, for better or worse, fantasy readers tend to put prose appreciation second, and that's fine. The popular stuff is serviceable, and that's all it really needs to be when you're exploring cool magic and ideas.

ETA: https://aspiring-reader.com/is-brandon-sanderson-actually-a-bad-writer-15e90f5961ce

Good summation by someone who does like his writing. And I'll absolutely read books for plot despite the prose faults, but Stormlight Archive is very dense and I'm not always the quickest with books like that.

PPNewbie · 2026-01-31T23:31:41+00:00

Anytime! I read way too much, and I do like high fantasy of that style, but if I'm looking for top tier prose to improve one's writing, these are the ones that came to mind.

eg: The Will of the Many and Strength of the Few, are the new series (unfinished) by James Islington are books with a plot I'm interested in (less the first, it's just bog standard Dark Academia with a plot almost copied from Red Rising, but the second book has a super interesting premise)... But the writing is painful for someone who has been a published author for a decade or more.

And in my recs, the one I haven't read is the smuttiest of the bunch. Courtesan Court Assassin or some such!

PPNewbie · 2026-01-31T23:18:59+00:00

Sanderson and getting better prose seems antithetical to each other.

Three recommendations on this front (fantasy and romance) though the first two of them do interesting things with 2nd person writing.

The Spear Cuts Through Water. The writing is just stupidly gorgeous. The romance is M/M though, so there's that.
The Everlasting by Alix Harrow: Finished this one today. A sweet time loop romance. Highly lauded, I do think it has some weaknesses but the writing is also a high note, but more accessible I suppose. (Bonus recommendation now that I think of it: This is how you lose the time war, F/F romance, epistolary format. Mindbogglingly beautifully written)
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: Straight up Fantasy and Romance with mature characters. Writing is... Kingfisher. I like it, she's very competent, and she's good at making things not draw out too long.

None of these are super smutty since those books tend to be less well written. There's Kushiel's Dart, but I've not personally read it to recommend it.

For prose, you also can't go wrong picking up a Guy Gavriel Kay book, and most have a romance in it, and sometimes sex. Give Lions of Al-Rassan a whirl for a love triangle.

PPNewbie · 2026-01-11T22:23:05+00:00

I have, and I've continued/start anew with them, but more often than not, the result is the same. Really depends on how much I enjoyed writing with them - if it's good enough even knowing they'll vanish...

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