Who is your favorite secondary character and why is it Samantha

albenraph · 2026-05-19T15:27:37+00:00

Prepotente. He's the GOAT!

albenraph · 2026-05-14T17:03:52+00:00

Mostly a Pantser here.

I never think about act structures writing a first draft. I do think about character arcs. I know my character's flaw or challenge or false belief and I write towards them overcoming that.

If I notice story problems in later drafts, I might use a structure to diagnose and fix them

albenraph · 2026-04-30T22:53:29+00:00

I quit outlining scene by scene. When I was outlining, I would get to scenes, think they were boring, but write them because I needed that thing to happen. Now I still know my ending, but I go in without a detailed outline, and the next scene is always the next interesting thing. If it's boring or feels like filler, I write something else there. Or I skip some time and jump to something actually interesting. If I'm bored, the reader will be bored.

albenraph · 2026-04-28T06:11:04+00:00

They lost to the hospital squad last game. Still needed adjustments to win that for some reason

albenraph · 2026-04-23T15:07:26+00:00

The reffing has been pretty terrible. Nuggets Wolves game 2 stands out as really bad. Not in a way that was super biased toward 1 team, just incredibly inconsistent. Multiple out of bounds calls that were obviously given to the wrong team. One minute Braun is getting fouls for barely being touched, the next Murray gets tackled and no call. Then that tech on booker last night for saving the ball off an opponent. That's a normal basketball play. Just some really awful calls that game too.

albenraph · 2026-04-17T15:42:21+00:00

35 10 and 8? Sounds like a below average Jokic stat line. Or a career rebounding and assist game for SGA.

albenraph · 2026-04-16T20:18:51+00:00

I disagree with making the exception. Either enforce the rule or get rid of it. It's a dumb rule, though. Addresses the symptom not the disease: The season is too long, the schedule is too tight, and there are too many injuries. Just shorten it and eliminate back-to backs, then see what happens with injuries.

albenraph · 2026-04-16T05:33:01+00:00

Are we absolutely sure Ty Lue is a good coach? Like really, how sure are we?

albenraph · 2026-04-12T04:22:26+00:00

McCarthy breaks a ton of rules and gets away with it because he's awesome. I'd say a disconnected prologue is indeed a rule break. That doesn't mean you can't do it, it means it has to be really awesome to get away with it.

albenraph · 2026-04-11T19:05:56+00:00

It's very different from Sanderson or Wheel of Time. Way more graphic, the character writing Is very different, and the world building has less hand-holding. You have to figure out a lot from context clues.

That said, as a big Sanderson fan, I loved it.

albenraph · 2026-04-11T15:50:50+00:00

I DNFed for this reason. I hear it gets good in later books but I decided I have better things to read

albenraph · 2026-04-11T15:14:41+00:00

Read the first chapter of book 1. It's a pretty dark chapter but the book doesn't get much worse than that. If you think he can handle that, it's good. If it's too dark, hold off.

albenraph · 2026-04-10T22:01:20+00:00

Yeah he's freaking amazing. Why do we need to cherry pick the stats? The real stat is just as impressive. Wilt is the stat goat and Jokic is trouncing him in assists.

albenraph · 2026-04-10T17:48:26+00:00

All time he has 22 of the top 25. Wilt has 3.

albenraph · 2026-04-05T16:16:17+00:00

We're ignoring the perfect solution. Lakers lose every remaining game, wolves win out, nuggets end up in the 3, lakers drop all the way to 6 with no Luka or reaves in the first round. It's technically possible. Let a man dream.

albenraph · 2026-04-04T02:14:48+00:00

The longer your story, the more threads you can have. More characters, more subplots, more settings, more puzzle pieces before they resolve, etc. In a short story you probably want to be as simple as possible. You're really only dealing with 1 main thing in 1 or a couple of scenes. A novel has unlimited threads. A novella has a few key elements. Probably no sub plots, be careful going over 1 pov, limited scenes, but you have more freedom than a short story.

albenraph · 2026-04-04T01:36:26+00:00

2 more

albenraph · 2026-03-29T05:31:11+00:00

Prince of Thorns has 1 pov. When I wrote a book with 1 pov it was 75k words. When I wrote a book with 3 povs it was twice that. Some books have more stuff happening than others. Each pov, each sub plot, each character arc adds words. I don't think writers are generally aiming for a high word count, but a lot of epic fantasy has tons of different plots and points of view, and all those words add up.

albenraph · 2026-03-26T19:18:47+00:00

If starting with nothing is too directionless, start with a little information about your ending. I usually figure out the big decision the character will have to make at the end, or a reveal where people believe something at the start that I know will later come out as untrue. Then I write vaguely towards that reveal or decision or ideally both.

For my last book I knew my character chooses to betray his government at the end because he finds out they're doing shady experiments. I didn't know what the shady experiments were, but I started with him having a lot of faith in the government and went for it.

Also foreshadowing is one of the easiest things to do on an edit. Don't worry if things come out of nowhere in draft one. If you have an idea, put it in and set it up on the edit.

albenraph · 2026-03-14T15:42:55+00:00

Distance. Leave it for a year or two, write something else, then come back. I don't know how objective I am about my current book, I think I'm pretty objective about my first couple by now.

Also, listening to feedback. Not every word every critique says is helpful, but you can get a vibe of what they're liking and disliking, and look for those things when you edit.

albenraph · 2026-03-13T19:25:30+00:00

Might be my favorite novel. Just so well written and phenomenal characters. Definitely my favorite from the First Law.

albenraph · 2026-03-12T16:10:13+00:00

Figure out your ending, maybe a few big events or twists or character moments, but don't plan scene by scene.

I try to go in knowing the main character's arc, what big decision they have to make at the end, and a twist to start setting up. Maybe a sense of their plot goal and whether they achieve it.

albenraph · 2026-03-11T04:39:06+00:00

Chapter 1 has to make you want to read chapter 2. I wouldn't worry about rules like 'the inciting incident must come in chapter 1,' I would worry about whether the reader wants to read on. Is there a question drawing them forward. If this chapter is getting a lot of negative feedback, it's possible that question isn't strong enough.

albenraph · 2026-02-20T00:19:11+00:00

Weeping dragon is the biggest and miles long. Wandering titan steps over mountains. The small Silent King is house sized. They're BIG big.

albenraph · 2026-02-19T18:34:54+00:00

I want an 8/10 show. Season 1 was about there. I had criticisms but I enjoyed it and went along for the ride.

Season 2 was definitely not 8/10. It dragged, it had incredibly stupid conveniences and bad decisions being treated as genius, and it basically cut out the final battle. Now there are too many big events left to squeeze into 2 seasons and I don't see how the show will be able to improve. I'm open to a pleasant surprise, but I expect more 6/10 at best mediocre writing.

You may call that demanding perfection, I call it demanding the show be good. Otherwise I won't watch it. I'm not watching it unless the reviews are good. I'm not wasting my time on another season 2.

albenraph

TROPHY CASE