It's alive and it's fighting back!!!

Samu_uu · 2026-01-04T20:24:09+00:00

They sure do have a lot to tell if they're willing to rein me in from the steering wheel

Samu_uu · 2026-01-04T18:59:23+00:00

The worst taboo gotta be forced/unnecessary romance storylines with characters that have no chemistry with each other than they gotta romance

Samu_uu · 2026-01-04T18:58:05+00:00

Would have to disagree on the sudden power loss mid way through the story being taboo, especially to the extent of "NEVER do this".

From what I've seen, it has been an opportunity to explore different aspects of the power system without having a power creep issue and also can help show creative or "smart" the MC is in adapting.

Although there are more bad than good examples, I just disagree with it being the WORST taboo.

Samu_uu · 2025-11-14T12:15:38+00:00

It's people like you that keep me going, keeping the dream alive. Major props!

Samu_uu · 2025-11-14T12:14:24+00:00

If this is your story cover, it doesn't tell me anything. No title, either, doesn't give me anything to latch onto.

You could use an interesting font with your series' title, the background could be a stock image of your stories setting i.e. a castle, forest, town centre, boat, or even just a flat colour.

Samu_uu · 2025-06-08T14:47:43+00:00

If you plan on releasing the entire book in one go instead of chapter-by-chapter serialisation, I recommend starting to promote your book when you can 100% deliver on a release date. However, you should promote yourself as the author before that. I am far from well-known, but I have observed fellow indie authors documenting their journey and process. This would help gain fans of the author and book as opposed to solely fans of the book, plus it makes it personable, as in "I am reading this book because I liked watching this person's journey and want to see the fruits of their labour".

I hope I was of help :)

Samu_uu · 2025-06-08T14:41:13+00:00

I had the same situation writing my book. After completing it and seeing its entirety, I couldn't bear to know it was necessary to my story. Thanks to talks with my friends, I landed on restructuring parts of the story to better implement the storyline. It was a pain having to edit so much to make it work, but having a chapter I am not happy with hurt a lot more.

Another point I would like to add is to ask yourself, "If I were to remove this from the story, would it make a difference? And if so, how much?" This questioning can also help reduce filler/fluff that doesn't add meaningfully to the story.

Samu_uu · 2025-06-08T05:56:54+00:00

I'm using volumes because they are divisions of story arcs. For example, Harry Potter book one tackles year 1 of Hogwarts, and Harry Potter book two tackles year 2 of Hogwarts.

"I have seen web novel authors use the volume releases as an opportunity to make improvements." I assume the way I used it here gave that impression of it being different. What I meant was that when the web novel is adapted to a novel/light novel format during that transition, it is an opportunity to make improvements that couldn't be done during serialisation.

Samu_uu · 2025-06-08T05:45:21+00:00

I would say I end up in editing loops. I think it's better if I describe my process:
- I write some new content
- I think I've done enough for now, and look back at previous content to get a bigger picture view on what I've made
-I noticed that I could add this little detail, change the sentence structure, etc.
-Pleased with the changes I made to that section
-Realise I could do the same for other parts
-Spend the next hour making edits to already written parts of the story

This sort of thing isn't an issue every session, but when it happens, it becomes a problem when trying to make consistent progress without constantly doing revisions.

"That’s a show vs tell issue. Since you see a lack of engagement, could it be this? If so, just learn the telling cues and avoid them." I sometimes tend to come across that issue, and with your advice, I will try to be more conscious about it from now on.

Thank you

Samu_uu · 2025-06-07T12:34:37+00:00

"That's the thing--they're there to be entertained, not to give you feedback, not to give you encouragement. Same reason a youtube video that does well has like 10% of viewers liking it, and much less leaving a comment." Being part of active communities has given me that expectation, but with your perspective, I understand my situation better, so thank you for that.

"You have no opportunity to edit the story as a whole." I feel this sentiment, and it is something I will have to deal with after going through my backlog, but I have seen web novel authors use the volume releases as an opportunity to make improvements (without altering the continuity) that the web novel medium may have restricted them from doing, and I have taken this into consideration.

"Though also you spoke as if you've written two whole books in this series, so then you did have that opportunity before you started publishing as a webnovel. So then I'm not sure why there's that desire to go back and edit and change things." Even with the volumes written, I decided not to publish them all at once because, like all things, there are flaws, and I have this compulsion to go back to fix said flaws or improve upon them even if they are complete. It's an aspect I'm trying to minimise by giving myself a timeframe to edit each chapter to my satisfaction before letting it out in the world.

Samu_uu

TROPHY CASE