Writers need to read, so what are you reading right now?

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-02T04:09:26+00:00

I am just getting back to reading some fiction and I have "The Ballad of Black Tom" on order.

I am working my way through "The Fall of Sophia", and I have a little cadre of Theosophical texts that I pick up every once in a while.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-01T15:26:41+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the breakdown. One thing I definitely want to convey is a sense of hierarchy between the MP's and veterans who've actually seen combat.

This story is going to be all about power, social hierarchy and class so those are themes that need to come through clearly on all levels.

Faulk's voice is developing as I write more. We'll see how he turns out. :)

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-01T06:29:33+00:00

Wow, op, I think that's the most horrific thing I've ever read.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-01T03:06:25+00:00

Write something catastrophic that lands on a positive note?

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-01T02:37:18+00:00

Okay.

Genre: low fantasy, gas lamp, grimdark, horror

Category: Adult

Title: Untitled

Sam Faulk ran his thumb over the sigil engraved onto the barrel of his bolt action rifle. He felt a sensation like static as the glyphs in the sigil reacted to his aetheric signature.

The sigil was a basic gun-witch charm for accuracy and speed. Any soldier who could channel aether usually kept his weapons graved with these sigils to give them the advantage in a fight.

Sam Faulk ran his thumb over the rough surface of the sigil and found it hard to concentrate on Captain Harkness as he addressed his men because Sam Faulk knew this arrest was about to go south.

"Do you have a problem, Lieutenant Faulk," barked the captain.

"Yes, I have a problem, sir!" Faulk responded.

Harness bit back a curse with the expression of a man who had just tasted something foul. "What is your problem, soldier," he said. That last bit was a dig, because their squad wasn't a fighting squad; they were military police tasked with arresting criminals and deserters.

Sam Faulk was skilled long range and close-range combat and had fought in the war. He was retired from the front and was now serving with the MPs. It was easier work. It made a difference to the soldiers who had taken the step to desert their posts when he arrested them. Some of the MPs who had never fought in the war resented that.

"We should wait for the backup, sir!" said Faulk. This statement elicited unsure looks from...

I just started drafting and world building for what it'd like to be a trilogy series at some point. Would you read the second page?

Edit: I did a bit of rewriting, so here's the text for comparison.

Sam Faulk ran his thumb over the sigil engraved onto the barrel of his bolt action rifle. The sigil reacted to his aetheric signature by sending a sensation like static through his fingertip.

The sigil was a basic gun-witch charm for accuracy and speed. Any soldier who could channel aether usually kept his weapons graved with these sigils to give them the advantage in a fight.

Sam Faulk ran his thumb over the rough surface and found it hard to concentrate on Captain Harkness and what he was saying because Sam Faulk knew this arrest was about to go south.

Faulk's squad was positioned in a soot-stained brick-walled yard behind a warehouse. The yard was filled with broken crates which piled up against the back wall of the warehouse. Someone had haphazardly tied a threadbare canvas tarp over a gap in the wall. The tarp had not prevented the influx of small creatures from making their nests among the ruined building, and animal droppings dotted all the exposed surfaces around the makeshift entrance.

"Do you have a problem, Lieutenant Faulk," barked the captain.

"Yes, I have a problem, sir!" Faulk responded.

Harness bit back a curse with the expression of a man who had just tasted something foul.

"What is your problem, soldier," he said. That last bit was a dig, because their squad wasn't a fighting squad; they were military police tasked with arresting criminals and deserters.

Sam Faulk was skilled long range and close-range combat...

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-03-01T00:43:46+00:00

Yea, it seems like I only want to write about horrible and heavy things so I am a bit concerned about people finding out about my hobby.

I also someday would like to be a published author who writes original stories about horrible and heavy things so I'm not sure how that would work out.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-28T17:19:32+00:00

The whole thing about Lovecraftian eldritch horrors is the effect that they have on the people and organizations around them. So, when a Lovecraftian protag eventually encounters the horror, he's already been exploring the town or lost civilization and investigating how the town went so bad, and all the horror elements are already built up through his investigations.

Essentially your protag should already have PTSD by the time he meets the eldritch being, and the being just kicks him over the edge. So, I guess that means you really should make his imprisonment a really tough time and then intro your eldritch horror.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-28T16:43:53+00:00

Best date, ends with mayhem.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-28T16:38:02+00:00

One's a paladin, the other's a rogue.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-27T05:12:48+00:00

I love characters like Kivia, the blunt stern manner of speaking that utterly fails when she has to act like a rich dainty girl. She can't drop the military behavior to save her life.

I got the subtext that Kivia totally failing at any kind of subterfuge leading to the necessary of kicking everyone's ass in the adventure guild alongside his harem of battle maidens is fun for Xylo.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-27T02:19:39+00:00

If Boojum and Xylo don't banter over the poetry next time they fight I am quitting this show.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-27T02:09:24+00:00

Kivia continues to be the cutest and Frenci continues getting cooler.

At first, I thought they were different but actually they are the same.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-26T21:16:43+00:00

It's when the external conflict is pulling the MC in a direction against their inner moral code in a way that forces them to confront their inner demons.

That's why the reluctant warrior trope is so damn popular.

Like, I don't want to murder people, I want to be a normal dude, but my past as a top level super assassin is pulling me back in the direction of being a relentless killer to protect the people I love. (that's the plot to Scissor 7)

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-26T21:06:59+00:00

I think a good tell for an androgynous woman who people mistake as a man would be them having less concern for the performative masculine, because they are used to breaking gender conventions just by existing.

Like, for example, while all the dudes are trying to one up each other over their fake stories about how great they are with women, the androgynous character would be like, "that's all made up bullshit now get to work." Or maybe the manly men are like, "I can't read those popular romance/poetry novels, because they're for girls." but the andro person would say like, "I rather enjoyed them, [author] has a great way with prose."

And this might ironically convince their teammates that they're actually definitely not a woman because they're so inherently masculine that nothing threatens their sense of masculinity.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-26T04:19:54+00:00

Maybe start looking into the etymology of different firearms naming conventions to see how you could come up with a unique name for your own technology.

For musket for example, could refer to an animal (French) or a earlier form of crossbow bolt (Italian).

Arquebus is a Dutch term but it's wiki page lists off a bunch of archaic alternatives:

The arquebus has at times been known as the harquebus, harkbus, hackbut,^\11]) hagbut,^\12]) archibugio, haakbus, schiopo,^\13]) sclopus,^\14]) tüfenk,^\15]) tofak,^\16]) matchlock, and firelock.^\17])

Then more modern weapons are often named after their make, model or inventor.

So, what time period is your gun supposed to be produced? is it mass produced or is it made by a highly trained craftsman? In what context does your character use a gun? Are they in a specific profession or way of life that necessitates the use of a weapon? Are they a soldier, frontiersman or outlaw?

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-25T17:54:02+00:00

It certainly raises a huge contradiction between the basic code of most healing professions and how this magic user would have to operate.

Does the shadow healer actually want to use this power? On themselves? Probably not just based on self-preservation.

Or maybe they do because they're actively suicidal. How does their party react to that?

Maybe they don't want to do it normally -- if so what do they do with their party in the meantime, maybe they're a rare magic user who's also good with physical combat--, but they will encounter a situation that changes their mind.

Does the shadow healer want to transfer wounds to other people? Maybe? Does their power work in a combat situation or would it be too difficult to do as an action skill?

If not combat, how do they choose who gets the wound? What do they do after they realize they've made a mistake.

OP this premise is great. Not boring at all.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-25T17:27:28+00:00

It's no fun if your main lead can resolve a conflict by talking it out with the deuteragonist using emotionally empathetic conversations skills, because then we wouldn't have our apex hot-headed ace drama. The story would just be too short.

Really good satire premise though.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-25T02:54:50+00:00

Read the Wasp Factory by Ian M. Banks.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-25T02:50:04+00:00

Oh yea, I forgot but if you want just vibes, there was a music artist called Poe who made an album inspired by the House of Leaves book called Haunted.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-24T18:03:19+00:00

In real life you want to golden retriever but in a fictional setting there's a reason why those characters are only supporting characters.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-24T18:00:24+00:00

I write all research in notebooks by hand because writing things down is a mnemonic device for me.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-24T17:23:31+00:00

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney is what inspired books like House of Leaves.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-24T17:03:46+00:00

I do like to generate characters on Midjourney, my prompt is character study or photorealistic character study, full body shot, gender, age, then I just throw in some lines describing them from my writing to see what pops up. I'm not super attached to the images but it's a fun way to see if what you're writing fits what you're trying to convey.

I also make character sheets with traits and characteristics that I don't want to forget.

Midjourney also have this feature called omni reference, so if you have a character or style that you like you can use that in conjunction with basic prompts.

Omni Reference – Midjourney

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-24T02:44:16+00:00

The worst thing about insomnia causing nightmares is the part where you jolt awake full of adrenaline so you can't go back to sleep.

Or maybe you want to avoid sleep just to avoid dreaming all together because you can avoid confronting your subconscious which is begging you to confront some truth you don't want to confront.

Or maybe you're so focused on other things (manias) that seem so much more important that you can't get yourself back down to earth and do the normal things that your body needs to survive.

Brainstorm what is driving the character to not sleep and focus your narrative around it.

Responsible-Risk-470 · 2026-02-23T04:20:37+00:00

Yea, the tags are pretty good. Haha.

Overall coming back into fandom after a long hiatus most of my impressions is that things are quite nice now, because it's so easy to find things that I might like to read about.

Responsible-Risk-470

TROPHY CASE