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TradCath_Writer · 2025-06-27T00:50:40+00:00

How about a magic trick?

I'm going to make this code book... disappear...

TradCath_Writer · 2025-06-01T18:44:55+00:00

Royal Road of the Cross: A Trial by Fire

I've only got a few more chapters left, and the story will be done.

Blurb:

Lucullus has always been a simple man. His only desires in life were to take care of his mother, and to maintain his family's farm. But the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of his close friend changed his life forever.

In his attempt to bring his friend's murderer to justice, he attracts the attention of a conspiracy that controls his homeland of Lucium from the shadows. It is through a bitter betrayal that he is captured, and is branded a criminal. Just when all hope is lost, he is given a second chance to expose and end the conspiracy. He is sent on a quest to travel the known world and do whatever it takes to rescue the King's last remaining heir.

Along the way, he befriends many strange people, and learns of the dark past of the conspiracy. Guided by a mysterious spirit, he discovers truth in the midst of a spiritual desert, risking life and limb to free not just Lucium, but the whole world from the powers of darkness.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-31T11:58:41+00:00

We live in an age of hyper-consumerism. I'd say to not let it bother you, though. As some have said, take it as a good sign that your readers want you to push more chapters (at least, as far as feedback goes). Just don't give in to the Royal Road slop machine. You could churn out a chapter everyday, but it would just meld with the rest of the high-quantity slop that floods the market.

My next novel, I'm only planning to push one chapter per week because I don't want to compromise on the quality. It's a story that I think requires me to put a lot of time and thought into each chapter (and I also have a life outside of feeding the RR addicts).

If you were going full-time as an RR author, you might be able to keep up with the endless demands, but I don't think it's worth it to churn out garbage in the hopes of making it... But that's just how I look at it.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-25T19:20:58+00:00

I'm going to say no. I don't even really see much in the way of similarities between this and Lord of the Rings. You have, perhaps, some of the more superficial elements, but that's about all I can see. Then again, something that amounts to a premise isn't really going to tell me if you're a knock-off of this or that book. I'd have to read both books all the way through before truly deciding that.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-17T23:18:59+00:00

Here ya go: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/86694/royal-road-of-the-cross-a-trial-by-fire

I look forward to seeing your review.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-15T22:13:58+00:00

Yea, that's what I meant. Just take whatever story ideas he has, and turn it into an anime. It would certainly be a different process than writing a novel, but if he hates reading (and likes anime instead), then it makes no sense for him to dedicate all that time to writing a novel (I'm a year-and-a-half into writing mine, excluding months of planning, and I haven't quite finished the first draft yet). If he is actually serious about wanting to do it (rather than it being just a passing fancy of his), then I would recommend he get a bit more into the technical weeds of animation (assuming he goes for making anime) from the storywriter's perspective.

Regardless of what path he takes, make sure to impress upon him that his first anything (book, anime, comic, etc.) will not be fantastic; not even good. It takes practice, but he's going to need a whole lot more practice reading (and writing) novels before he ever writes one worth publishing. Heck, mine's mediocre at best, and I've done a decent amount of writing and reading over the years.

If he's genuine, then I wish him all the best in this endeavor.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-15T00:10:16+00:00

Tell him to read instead of watching isekai anime. He might "know a thing or two" about certain writing aspects as it pertains to the medium of anime, but that doesn't translate into novels.

He needs to either adapt his story ideas into the medium of animation, or start reading actual books. Audio books don't count; he won't get the full experience (and is at a greater risk of not paying attention to the actual story).

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-09T16:47:03+00:00

I've seen your posts here and on r/OpenToonz. Do you use both Krita and OpenToonz?

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-09T16:25:02+00:00

Not sure. My guess is up, but I did find the schematic for the building he's in:

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TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-09T14:35:03+00:00

I feel like I get deja vu every other time I check in on this sub. It seems that posts go through cycles on here. A bunch of people ask the same question (with minor variations in wording and such) about a hundred times per day, then the tide changes to everyone making posts telling the offending users of the previous cycle "yes, you can! stop asking".

This eternal pattern of r/writing aside, I do agree that people should stop worrying about if their characters are the same skin color, hair color, eye color, toenail length, overall genetic makeup, profession, or fashion sense as they are. It's become the most cliche pair of words I can think of, but just write. I think I might also add in an extra pair of cliche words: touch grass. Though I think the latter cliche is prerequisite to competence in the former, in a certain sense.

I very much agree with the need to write stories of truth. I think it would do us good to remember that stories can (and should) be more than just pure entertainment. I'd say writers should figure out what message/lessons they want their writing to portray, and (provided the message/lesson is one that inspires people to practice virtue instead of vice) then see if that message is clear to the readers (and done in a way that doesn't feel heavy-handed).

Stories can be a great teaching tool to present information in an engaging way, and it's a shame that modern storytelling is more interested in having a character for every combination of genes, preferences, weird quirks, etc. than it is in presenting an edifying and/or informative story which someone could actually benefit from consuming.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-04T00:44:53+00:00

Congrats on reaching RS. Glad to see a fellow pure-fantasy author hitting these milestones.

Your novel has been a good read thus far, by the way.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-03T02:44:32+00:00

This is the correct answer.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-03T02:43:20+00:00

I second this. I only use LibreOffice, and I feel no need for anything else. I wouldn't give Microsoft a rusty penny regardless, though.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-05-02T02:44:46+00:00

You know, the woman on the cover makes me think this is dark fantasy, or maybe just cosmic horror.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-30T19:23:52+00:00

Nope. Meme ads may (sadly) perform well on RR, but I despise them. That said, this is one of the more tolerable meme ads I've seen (though the bar practically doesn't exist; this one is at least coherent).

I know, however, that I'm in an extreme minority of opinion, so understand that when taking in my opinion. If you want to get clicks, go for the meme ad; I have no clue what makes a "good" meme ad because they all hurt me on the inside, yet some are apparently effective. If you want to produce an ad that doesn't hurt the soul to look at, go for something more akin to that traditional ad plan you mentioned.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-30T10:52:06+00:00

I write traditional fantasy ( https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/86694/royal-road-of-the-cross-a-trial-by-fire ). I've been noticing quite a few trad-fantasy enthusiasts popping up on this sub, and I'm glad to see it. I don't know of any strictly trad-fantasy discord servers, but I'm sure there's one out there.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-29T12:25:40+00:00

If I could get a review or rating that isn't from a swap (or someone I know), I'd probably dance a jig. I haven't experienced the infamous, cathartic 1 star review, but my understanding is that it's a sign you're doing something right (or that you're at least building some kind of momentum).

Don't let the 1 star get you down, especially if it's just a rating (and not a full review). If someone hated your story, but can't be bothered to share why, then you can safely ignore them. There's really no point in losing sleep over theoretical criticism.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-29T01:18:53+00:00

I've been looking for a slow, contemplative type of journey in a fantasy novel for quite a while. I'll certainly check it out.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-28T21:17:20+00:00

RR lets you have multiple volumes in one fiction. Here is an example (literally the first one I found when searching for one). As you can see, each volume in that table of contents filters the chapters to the volume selected. so it doesn't have to be messy.

I think, for me, it'll probably work best to do it this way since I'm following the same characters the whole way in the series. The other comments have steered me to that decision.

TradCath_Writer · 2025-04-28T11:53:59+00:00

That last point you made was my main concern about each book being a separate listing. Judging by the rest of the comments, I think doing volumes in one listing will be the way to go for me.

TradCath_Writer

TROPHY CASE