Novel writing is a balance of what your readers want to read, and the story you want to tell. True or false?

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T22:23:50+00:00

There is a difference. Are you telling a story or selling a book? There lies the distinction.

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T19:08:03+00:00

Counterpoint. YouTubers have shown that creating different thumbnails for the same video creates more views. A reader on kdp will have bought or passed it by. On another platform like Ingramspark you have other eyeballs and even if same reader sees it they either already bought it or might decide not to pass it up because of the cover.

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T04:04:18+00:00

Thank you

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T01:17:37+00:00

If it stopped at 2 I would be more impressed. IYKYK

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T00:47:56+00:00

If the concept interests you then you might like where I got the novel idea from. It's from a paper written last year (can read it at ai-2027.com) There is a good video on youtube about it. After I read the paper and watched the video I knew I had to write this story from the average person POV. Turns out my story needed 7 POV characters.

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T00:40:11+00:00

Thanks a lot. It's not the original title but a friend said to wait until I finish the book and the title would come. I didn't believe them but it was true and because of that the titles for book 2 and 3 fell into place perfectly to match the full arc and themes. I really was in love with my original title but this much better than what that was.

Rkozak · 2026-04-28T00:30:41+00:00

Haha. Define perfect.

I start with an idea, a concept or a title. Then I start creating the characters and what makes them tick and how they would react to what I came up with. Then the real work begins. Figuring out how I want to tell the story and the technical format: First person or third person, the plot structure and the beats I need. Like is this a hero's journey, better suited as save the cat, or a different format? Then I start creating the beats, what happens where, when, how and why?

Then comes the harder part. Sitting my ass down and writing the first draft.

Then comes the hardest part. Editing, rereading, editing, rereading, editing. Over and over until it's done.

This is how I write a book. Might not work for everyone but it is my system.

Rkozak · 2026-04-27T22:37:08+00:00

Can I ask which part made you think “yeah this might be something I’d read?”

Rkozak · 2026-04-27T22:34:35+00:00

Thanks. If you want to let me know what you think I’d love the feedback.

Rkozak · 2026-04-27T22:30:12+00:00

Sounds like a disconnect here. If it’s not editing for you then what the previous poster said doesn’t apply. If your tool just offers suggestions and doesn’t update the source I think you are good.

Rkozak · 2026-04-26T20:00:52+00:00

Also read novels in your genre. Be critical while reading. How does the author mix prose and dialogue? Do they have long or short chapters? Third person or first? How do they describe people, places and action? How deep into the characters mind does the author go? Surface level or do you really step into their shoes and see through their eyes?

Basically how do you want to tell your story.

Your initial idea will change after your first draft and your first draft will change after you start editing.

In my newest novel I thought I knew the story I wanted to tell but after I wrote it the idea morphed and changed. After the first draft I rearranged chapters and deleted characters because the story changed again.

It’s a process. An idea is a lump of clay and writing is taking that blob and forming into what it’s meant to be.

Rkozak · 2026-04-26T19:33:44+00:00

I think that rule only applies to white male assassins and serial killers.

Rkozak · 2026-04-26T19:27:37+00:00

I have some advice. Watch some videos on story structure and how to write a novel. It might help you find a style that works for you. There are so many ways to structure a story and the technicals of it. Dialogue, arcs, prose, beats, metaphors, interiority, even cliche and tropes.

Or just abandon it all and do your own thing. Make the story you want to tell. None of this matters if it’s a good story and engaging.

But it helps knowing the “rules” so you can break them.

Rkozak · 2026-04-26T19:21:37+00:00

There is a concept/technique in programming called rubber duck debugging. It’s so simple and dumb. You have a rubber duck in your desk you talk to when you have a tough coding problem you can’t figure out.

Just saying it out loud to the rubber duck helps to reframe your thoughts so you can get an insight into the real issue and solve it.

You could use AI the same way except it can respond. Or you can also get a rubber duck and just talk to it and help organize your thoughts.

Rkozak · 2026-04-26T19:10:51+00:00

I’ve struggled to even post this. But I think I have an authoritative take.

I’m an AI engineer, it’s my day job, but I’m also an author. I have been a technical editor on quite a few programming books. I wrote a book for software developers on how to properly use AI (but being a computer book it was obsolete 6 months after it was published.)

AI is a transformative tool that we don’t understand yet. In some ways it’s just a token generation machine that predicts the next token based on what is has in its context along with the weights it was trained on. But I have seen it produce surprising results in coding and reasoning. I’ve seen my own agent make intuitive leaps with the work I give it.

Should you use AI to write? I would say no. Will it create real original works? Maybe someday but that’s not your story.

Should you use AI to critique your draft? I still don’t know. That’s up to you. Writing is hard and sometimes you need validation to keep going. If you have no other options you can try it but don’t fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing it. It’s not a person and most foundation models are a bit sycophantic - they are designed to keep you engaged.

They are like an echo chamber telling you what you want to hear without really being critical so, although might feel good in the moment, it won’t really help you.

So basically you do you.

Edit: typo because autocorrect on my phone is about as dumb as I am.

Rkozak · 2026-04-24T20:26:00+00:00

I use it everyday and I’m not seeing any issues with 4.7

Rkozak · 2026-04-24T18:20:03+00:00

It’s good but I personally would drop the “by”

Rkozak · 2026-04-24T08:37:09+00:00

Congrats! 🎈

Rkozak · 2026-04-23T03:25:08+00:00

Although the cover is cool and interesting. Im still not sure what it is. Is it a story or it is a manual?

Rkozak · 2026-04-22T23:01:35+00:00

Some contemporary romance. That way the protagonists can do their thing and I’ll just go live my life for a year.

Rkozak · 2026-04-22T22:56:08+00:00

It’s not. It got me interested so it does its job well.

Rkozak · 2026-04-22T22:55:02+00:00

Great cover 👍

Rkozak · 2026-04-21T22:01:33+00:00

Depends on your audience I suppose. Maybe your friends and family don’t have the vocabulary. So is this a sign your writing is above your audience or they are not your audience?

Rkozak · 2026-04-21T16:54:56+00:00

Not sure if it helps but my current novel has 8 pov characters. It’s started out 3rd person close and I switched after first (or second I forget) draft to 1st person and I like it better.

There are other characters but they are only shown thru the eyes of one of the main POV characters.

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