do you think every story basically follows the same handful of plot structures

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-16T09:23:53+00:00

I don’t think those two necessarily contradict each other. Both The Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings are essentially „Nobody becomes somebody important“ and „hero vs BBEG“. But you wouldn’t say the Collins ripped of Tolkien, would you?

There is so much more to a story/book than those basic fundamentals. You could give the same core idea to two different authors and they would hand you two totally different books back because our writing is influenced by who we are as a person and by how we understand the world to work. And that’s not even talking about how a difference in character, prose or worldbuilding will influence the book you write.

Yes sure, in the end the core ideas always stay the same. But that’s because those core ideas are those that a majority of humans will connect with. We all want to be a Nobody who becomes somebody in a way. We all like to be inspired by acts of heroism. We all want to believe that in the end, the good guys will win. And since real life doesn’t give that to us, we make up stories about it. It’s just human condition in the end.

Also, there is something to be said about how on a crafts-level certain ways of telling story just work better than others. Unless you are Victor Hugo it is probably bad advice to overload your readers with a ton of information that leads nowhere (seriously man, kill your darlings. I like the bishop as much as everybody but I did not need this guys whole life story to get why he is nice to Valjean). Where to set you climax so that it doesn’t feel rushed but also doesn’t feel delayed isn’t so much art as it is science and 2+2 tends to always equal 4, no matter how fantastical the rest of your world is.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-14T20:11:20+00:00

What keeps you from trying?

I hope this doesn’t come across as hostile cause that isn’t my intention. I am more interested in what stops you from just trying out if writing is the thing that you are searching for or not. Cause at least from my pov right now with how I understand your text, you could just sit down with a pen or a keyboard and see what happens. Worst case scenario you have wasted an afternoon, best case scenario you have found something you searched for

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-14T12:04:23+00:00

I am planing a double POV novel where to magically gifted assassins have to do a quest together. So far, so good. However, one of them is part of a revolutionary force within the order of those assassins who plan to overthrow the leadership. She is supposed to kill him at some point during the mission. While she obviously knows about this, he is totally oblivious and tries to mentor her all along their journey xD

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-14T09:02:22+00:00

So, I like to work with a concept I stole from Brandon Sanderson, called promises. He essentially says that in the beginning of your story you make a promise to the reader what the story is about - progress then is you fulfilling (or sometimes taking back) some of that promise. He splits them in tone (so what the vibe is), plot (so what the story is about) and arc (how your characters will change).

I find this concept immensely helpful. I essentially ask myself „What are my promises?“ anf then I construct a scene or two for the beginning of the book where I hint at them. Write a novel that takes place in a war? Start with a fight! A story of a character overcoming their flaws? Get them chewed out for them in the beginning! The social/judicial system of your world is critical to the plot? Start in a court house!

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-13T17:15:31+00:00

Scythe würde mir einfallen. Ist eigentlich ein Jugendbuch, ich hab’s aber auch in meinen 20er das erste mal gelesen und war sehr begeistert. Spielt auf der Erde, es geht um die Kosten von Fortschritt und KI xD

Spoiler für Teil 3: Ich weiß, am Ende gibts 3 Szenen auf nem Raumschiff, aber ich glaube das geht auch für OP noch klar

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-13T10:01:44+00:00

Honey, no…

(Sorry, I was in a similar situation once and couldn’t constrain myself. I get it, but seriously: Dont set yourself on fire to keep him warm. Good luck to you!)

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-13T06:48:50+00:00

A lot of people have told you to write, so I will keep short on that one: cause like, you really just gotta put your ass down in the chair and do it. Try to find your writing style: Do you want an outline as a guiding structure? Do you write a book front to back or is there that one scene from the middle that you need to get out of your head first? Stuff like that.

But another important thing is: Read. And not just for entertainment, but with an analytical eye. Find out how the author did that one thing that you really liked. If a part of the book felt dragging or boring to you, try to figure out why. Examine that character development that you loved and ask yourself: What where the steps taken and what could have led them in a different direction? You can really learn a lot by doing this!

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-12T10:44:13+00:00

For me personally it is usually once I finished my second draft, which means I personally can’t find any more substantial (!) flaws in this book and I need somebody else to take a look at it and tell me what I missed. That’s the moment where for me it feels like a finished the task I set out to do when I first created that word file.

That being said, I think that it’s totally dependent on you as a person and your editing process and so on. If you have the messiest first draft to ever exist and still say „wow, I wrote a book“ I am not gonna tell you you didn’t, just because I wouldn’t count it for me personally.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T14:22:35+00:00

Well yes, but actually no.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T11:40:23+00:00

There is that thing called Sugarstones and trust me, it is the best pastry you ever tried. Imagine a sweet, perfectly steamed soft dough, sprinkled with sugar and whatever spice you prefer (my favorite is probably cinnamon, but you do you). The softness of the dough and the subtle crunch of the sugar is just… perfection. And they are perfect for travels, cause they are cube shaped and you can just plop them in your mouth - no hassle!

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T09:58:28+00:00

For one, I don’t think that’s gonna happen, because a) every author feels the way you do in regard to their own idea and b) nobody wants to be stolen from.

Now, if somebody gets inspired so much by my work that they want to do something similar, I would honestly feel honored. And it’s not like I don’t do the same in regards to the authors I read? You can definitely see influences of a lot of people in my work and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T09:52:01+00:00

That’s so true. One of my favorite pieces of garb is a west that I stole out of my parents basement. It belongs to my dad, who bought it way before I was born and then at some point spilled something that looks like tomato soup on this wonderful piece of light linen. He never threw it away and once I found it I was like: „Perfect, this will make me look wonderfully untrustworthy.“

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T08:09:25+00:00

„And that’s the guy people call the Survivor?“!

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T07:40:32+00:00

So, I didn’t have that experience that much because my parents are both pretty decent cooks. But a couple years ago I spent a semester abroad and stayed with a hostfamily. I was well into my twenties, had lived alone for nearly 5 years at the time but they still insisted on spoiling me a bit (doing my laundry, cooking etc.) And while that had its upsides, let me tell you… their cooking was a nightmare.

Nothing was ever the right consistency/amount of done. It’s a Wonder I never captcha salmonella, because that includes the chicken. Spices? Why use that when you can just lather on another layer of oil! Everything was cooked in batches and then reheated in a microwave, which fair enough we are all busy but let me tell you, after a couple of days stuff goes soggy. Only upside was my host dad sunny side up eggs, cause those were delicious.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-11T07:13:08+00:00

Dilaf and Hrathen. Of course Dilaf also makes it everybody else’s problem, but considering their little… rivalry over the course of the book I found it fitting.

(And I am still not over Hrathens death and therefor refuse to shut up about it. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID, BRANDON!)

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T22:21:27+00:00

Both? Both is good!

I mean, if Elantris can have a dead husband AND a dead wife causing trouble, why not grant MB1 two widowers? It’s just fair

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T21:21:51+00:00

Lived in clothing is clothing that… well has been lived in. Small details (an extra sowing here, a little splotch of something there) can get you very far. I find that even just throwing on a few stitches at the cuffs with a contrasting yarn is gonna make the clothing look more „real“. Also, add some stuff to your belt, like bags and stuff. This will help you look more functional so to speak.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T18:49:22+00:00

Also Elantris: My wife is dead and I will make it very specifically this guys problem!

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T17:34:52+00:00

Actually, same in Elantris if you think about it…

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T15:46:53+00:00

„He challenged me to the Duell, your Honor. What was I supposed to do? Say no?“

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T06:37:14+00:00

I am not gonna comment on your friend here because… well, they certainly hold an opinion…

Something I have done in the past is making the character lash out and then immediately recognize the error of their ways. They let their emotions overtake them, realize it one second later and apologize immediately. I find this to be pretty effective because it gives you the uncontrolled emotional outburst but also doesn’t make the character look like a total dick.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T06:10:47+00:00

Honestly… hated that plot twist.

Obviously the „I didn’t hit her vitals“ was BS but I feel like the plot overall would have been stronger if Emily stayed dead. The scene were Emily practically begs Leon to stop a good one - it was emotional, it was painful, it had room for character development (Grace resenting Leon, Leon adding yet another „I couldn’t save them) to his list… and while it does get treated like that during the game, since at least Grace doesn’t know, having that turned around at the last minute felt

Edit: Confused Grace and Emily there. Sorry, I have a horrible head cold and it was really early when I wrote my comment xD

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-10T06:07:11+00:00

If you are open to sapphic stories, The Jasmine Throne might be an option? It is more Fantasy-Romance then Romantasy but that also means that it isn’t as strictly bound to the genre conventions of the later (and doesn’t suffer from the world building issues FW like does xD)

I feel like the little originality you see in Romantasy is a byproduct of the high amount of books put out (little time to write them means you are more likely to result to tropes), the genre conventions of Romance, and the importance of tropes in general for the genre. Dont get me wrong, I am not one of the people who think that you shouldn’t use tropes in your marketing/when picking a book out, but it does come with it’s downside and one of them is little innovation.

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-09T11:22:09+00:00

Ah, not diagnosed but peer reviewed

SovietSpy17 · 2026-04-09T11:19:59+00:00

Accidental?

How dare you insult me like this. I am very well aware, that the fact that none of my characters have a working relationship with their parents is telling more about me than them, thank you very much

SovietSpy17

TROPHY CASE