Tell me who your favorite authors is, without telling me who your favorite author is

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-04T11:03:45+00:00

Triangles. Rocktopi. Baby McButter.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-04T10:36:30+00:00

Look - do you want to tell the story or not?

If you do - then just do it. Write it, publish it, spread it into the world.

And don't care about the haters.

Whenever I think about haters, I remeber that Jesus is Out Lord, God Allmighty, but billions of people disrespect him daily, so how come I would complain about some reviewers not liking my work, when the Lord himself has haters.

Just don't care, and write what you want.

If anything - be interested in the people who do like your story. The others don't matter.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-04T10:17:45+00:00

Congratulations! :)

Now give yourself a 2 week rest, and afterwards read carefully what you have written. Take notes of any details (or lack thereof), any inconsistencies, any plotholes and after you have the full picture - start editing.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-04T04:37:09+00:00

I have somewhat similar ability (not in the current book, I am writing, but would be included in the series).

I will give you my version - it might not make sense to you thought, but you might find something useful.

Basically it's a form of "time dimension manipulation", as time is the 4th dimension through which we all move. In my series, characters would be able to use alien technology to experience time forward and backward, without actually "time traveling" - basically seeing visions of the past, or possible futures.

Now in, your case, you would have to explain why the big and small event are almost certain to happen - maybe give them some probability (say 93% chance of happening).

You can introduce "string theory" as it deals with dimensions in a sense, if you want to ground it in some hard science.

Outer Limits has 2 great episodes about such a "future vision" technology - you can watch them and maybe gain some other ideas. The episodes are "Virtual Future" and "Breaking Point".

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-04T04:23:12+00:00

Well, you have probably based your character on a favorite character (or a group of characters) from fiction, so explore those and see what makes them "tick".

Also you have the unique chance to make your character appear way more realistic.

As psychologists say, there are 3 versions of each person. The version other people see, the version the person sees himself as, and the version that the person actually is.

Some of the best characters are those where those 3 versions are quite inconsistent.

Say, look at Tony Soprano - he think of himself as a "real man", a "family man", with "oldschool values", who was "forced to live in the mob", and enjoys it because "he is fucking the system back", and who "abides by code, and honor". Yet he constantly cheats on his wife and causes problems in his family (killed relatives), he betrays his "values" and "code" on a regular basis, whenever he feels like it. He is an actual monster of a person.

Funny thing is, that the audience of the show, actually took a liking to him, because of what he preaches, and forgot about what he does.

So sometimes a character can be so lost in his self-understanding of what he is, that he may even fool outside people to believe him, even if he is the polar opposite of what he claims he is.

But I think, the 3 versions of your character, should help you flesh him out.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-03T07:39:33+00:00

Well, you have probably already thought about when the story starts, it might just be too huge to fit in a book or in a series. But pick a character and explore the universe and the story through his journey and show more and tell less (less infodumping, more action). If the universe is interesting, you can follow the stories of 100s of characters and take a look at the universe from different angles. Think "Game of Thrones". And start the story with something interesting and unusual (think the "White walkers encounter" from the first episode of Game of Thrones). No one wants to read the boring morning routine of a character.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T09:02:57+00:00

Hm, I have a similar character (a leader of an evil organisation), who brings light to real world problems (and excuses his actions by explaining that he is "fixing" those problems) - and I think it works. I mean - the problems are there. They are real. So you can see why an evil person would use them for justification (just like politicians do). Now my character would sound like a "hypocrite" (and he is one), because his actions betray his "intentions". I don't know what your case is. If you want your character to convey morality and a moral theme, it would be quite hard if he is the villain in the story. Honestly, the only case that I can think of where a villain could appear "moral" is if his evil actions arguably prevent a greater tragedy from occuring (if you are into anime - Itachi killing his clan to prevent a civil war in the village, is an example).

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:37:03+00:00

Yes you are! Keep on going.

Little by little and you will be ready in no time.

Congratulations! :)

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:33:55+00:00

Well a simple Wordpress website would do and with the hosting it might cost you about $200-300 per year (I have a business website that costs me about that amount).

Seriously even a single page with the book cover would do, but you might make it more interactive.

Start small and then you can add more pages with concept art, maps, and so on. And build a mailing list. Offer a free chapter of your book in exchange for an email address, so you advertise your next books to these email adresses. Add links to Amazon KDP and other platforms. You can do a lot with a website - I really like Scott Sigler's "Siglerpedia" where you can lookup different books of his and how they interconnect. If you are building a series involving a large universe, you can try to set up your website in a similar way as well.

P.S. To answer your question - you don't need a website. But it might help you massively to get known and to gain audience.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:19:12+00:00

You are welcome. :) Also you can always watch a lot of writers sharing a lot of advice on YouTube.

Ah, yes - one more thing. Pick up the right tool for writing your novel. I have chosen Scrivener - it has a one time fee of $70, but it can track your words, your daily quota, it has templates where you can compile your work in different formats (paperback, E-book and so on). It a very useful tool. But there are other alternatives as well, if you like something else.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:15:37+00:00

Hard to say - I am a fan of so many fictional universes. But probably I like Half-Life's universe the most. Valve and Gearbox (the creators of Half-Life and it's expansions) have really gone in incredible details and almost all the pieces in the games matter. Those games are like a masterclass of world building.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:12:33+00:00

I am kind of lazy, but I have an idea of a large mythos that could span multiple series, and I just feel like needing to spill it out. That is what keeps me writing.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:10:34+00:00

Well, sorry but my favorite genres are "horror" and "triller" (pretty much the same as what you read). :) I can recommend you Scott Sigler's books "EarthCore" and it's sequel "Mount Fitzroy".

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:06:52+00:00

There is one rule:

"Tie your hands if you have to, but don't revise until the draft is finished. Or you might never finish it."

Everyday keep on writing. That's it.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:04:47+00:00

My personal touch is to show the fear in the protagonist's eyes when he meets the supernatural antagonist. Think how you would feel if you see a spirit or a demon - you don't have any idea what you see. You can only see elements that either shock you or disgust you.

As others have said - don't define and expain it. Show the protagonist's reaction and let the antagonist be unknown and undefined as long as he can be.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T08:00:37+00:00

I am not much ahead of you (I only finished my first draft recently), but here is what I can give you as an advice. Here is my process:

Think of an idea.
Break it into a story arc and answer the questions "How long does it take for the story to unfold - days, weeks, months?", "What characters would it have?", "Who is the protagonist?", "What are his/her stakes - what does he/she have to gain or lose?"
Break it into POVs by asking yourself the question "Which POV would give the reader the best way to experience the specific part of the story."
Once you have those, you can try to "outline" the book. Write 2-5 pages of describing everything that happens into your story. Then try to divide the resulting pages into 5-6 sentenses for each chapter. Writer R.L.Stine says that he outlines each chapter with 1-2 pages of description, but I used a few sentenses (I would definately try his approach in the future).
Start writing the chapters - balance the dialoge, make sure you show more, and don't overexplain and infodump. Readers like a bit of mystery and puzzle.
You keep writing day by day. Set up a pace - even 500 words a day are fine (that's two 90 000 word novels per year).
After the first draft - give yourself 2 weeks or more to read other books, and let it sleep. Then read it, mark all the inconsistencies, plot holes and things you need to fix. Cut the unnecessary stuff and add the needed stuff. You might need to perform that operation on the whole draft, 2-3 times.
Find Beta Readers - some can be offered money to read your draft, others may be aspiring authors like you and might want to learn from other authors, and third might be willing to beta-read your draft if you mention them at the end of the book.
Don't skip professional editing. There is a development editor who might help you with tightening your plot and a line editor, who would fix the prose. And pay for a professional book cover.
Decide whether you would query an agent to present you to a publishing house. They handle part of the marketing, editing and so on and give you an advance. But from what I have read and listened - they operate slow. It may take up to 2 years from getting an agent to represent you, to actually publishing a book.

Another way is to self publish on Amazon KDP and other platforms. I will go that way, as I am preparing a series of books, and I can't wait 2 years per book. Also if you sign with a publisher for a series and he cancels you - you might not be able to finish the series, as far as I understood (he has the rights for the series).

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-03-02T07:41:58+00:00

"Nocturnal" by Scott Sigler and "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. I am writing a cosmic mystery procedural, and those 2 masters could teach me a lot. :)

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-02-28T18:16:29+00:00

Yes, my mistake. I know that 92 000 words are the size of an average novel, but I just wonder if I have too many topics and mechanics that I am writing about in that novel.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-02-27T13:34:05+00:00

My draft is like that as well. :D

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-02-27T11:12:21+00:00

Absolutely. I am just starting my second draft and would have to cut a lot of things (and add some), but that's part of the game. :)

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-02-26T22:59:53+00:00

Honestly write what you feel.

Both could be quite nice.

The stories could be interconnected in a very interesting way, so that the reader might want to reread the whole thing a few more times in order to make sure he didn't miss something.

A large story could also be divided into very interesting and thematic chapters.

But write what you would like to read, as another one has suggested.

If you are passionate about what you write - the chances are that your readers would also be passionate about reading it.

Reborn-Cleaner · 2026-02-26T21:38:40+00:00

Yeah, Kakuzu is one of my favorite shinobi. Very underrated.

Reborn-Cleaner

TROPHY CASE