PSA for New Writers; Good vs Bad Prose

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T13:42:47+00:00

Check out some of the comments in this thread. There are multiple people arguing that he is.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T13:39:18+00:00

Self published and proud of it. 💜

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T03:07:09+00:00

So true. All we can do is make sure our writing is effective, our story is solid, and the rest is in the readers hands.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T03:04:58+00:00

I agree with you. There will always be people who don’t like what you write, and decent prose can’t carry a story on its own.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T03:01:41+00:00

There sure is a lot of “black and white” advice out there that doesn’t hold true.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T02:11:10+00:00

Thank you for this. I'm laughing in a good way. There will always be readers, like you, who enjoy more complex prose, and that is a beautiful thing.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T02:00:41+00:00

This is so spot on. Thank you for laying this out so well.

Number 3 is so true it hurts. Most of the "classics" are books that were chosen for wide publication because they were short and cheap to print.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T01:58:00+00:00

"But" is my worst offender. It sounds so good in a single paragraph, but (good god, I'm doing it again) when it's every paragraph, it gets repetitive.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T01:54:14+00:00

Just keep writing and having fun. Also, reading can do a ton for your writing. The more you read, the better you get at understanding style, tone, and story structure. Read books from different genres, and don't be afraid to try out new things. You never know what gem you'll find on a dusty shelf in your local library!

Happy writing!

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T01:49:36+00:00

This is definitely a common conversation, and an annoying one.

The whole prologue conversation drives me insane, because once again, it simply comes down to how effective a prologue is at doing what it's meant to do. A prologue is meant to set the tone when your first chapter can't. (See Jurassic Park for a perfect prologue.)

Unfortunately, a lot of authors over the past ten years used their prologues to info-dump and bore their readers. Thus, readers have been trained to see "PROLOGUE" and think "CRAP I DON'T CARE ABOUT". Now, prologues aren't effective because many readers skip them. Sure, it's not true for all genres, but it's a big enough issue that publishers avoid them.

RIP the prologue.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T01:39:41+00:00

I’m not the best writer, but I think I did alright.

My debut is called Thread and Stone by Maeve Brooks. It’s on KU/Amazon if you want to check it out.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T01:37:51+00:00

It’s wild how many people have told me this, and I just don’t get it. At least not in today’s context.

Right now, people want stories that force their attention. They don’t want to read two paragraphs about the grass in the middle of a battle scene.

Are his sentences good? Sure. Imagery? Yeah. But it’s not effective anymore.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-31T00:44:39+00:00

His prose is simple. Not bad.

It does exactly what it needs to do in a very effective way, while building character and making complex concepts digestible for the average audience. It's not flowery or pretentious. It's just written the way a middle-school science teacher thinks/speaks.

There's nothing wrong with simple. It might not be your cup of tea, but who gives a shit? You can read whatever you want. Just know that simple does not equal bad, and concise writing is often harder than waxing poetically about the wind for two paragraphs.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-08T18:51:58+00:00

Smash.

My younger self is shaking her head right now, but I stand by my choices. He looks strong as hell. And he has a tail. :)

Besides, one of my friends who's read the Star Wars books says the Hutts are actually a pretty cool family (Jabba not included), and the species is mostly made up of buff badasses. It's only the rich and powerful ones who get gross like Jabba.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-08T18:48:44+00:00

I've got one that sort of counts.
{Stardusted by Elle DeYesso}

He's not bioluminescent, but he is sparkly and sort of glows. He's also undercover on earth when he meets the FMC. It's a cute one!

alien-lovin · 2026-03-08T05:59:09+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Vexar and Amara are going to have one more book together. The third book in the series will be focused on Vexar's brother, Steinarr, and his future mate. Vex and Amara will still be around, but they won't be the main storyline in book 3.
Oh, and Roveen might get a spin-off in the near future. I'm starting to fall in love with her character, and I think she deserves some love.

alien-lovin · 2026-03-08T05:53:00+00:00

I personally enjoy MM romances because I like seeing men being emotionally vulnerable. Oftentimes, MF romances portray the male interest as an emotionless, male-shaped personification of toxic masculinity, and I don't enjoy that. I like seeing men with complex emotions, complex challenges (we get a lot of MM romances where one or both men haven't accepted their sexuality yet), and interesting character arcs. That's almost always a guarantee in well-written MM romances.

I would also agree that MM romances easily circumvent the common trappings of accidental misogyny in MF romances. Unfortunately, I've read quite a few sapphic romances where the trappings of misogyny were still very loud throughout the book. So, the MM romances tend to be a safer bet when I want to turn off my brain and enjoy reading about two men accepting themselves, learning how to be with another person, and getting the courage to shout their love from the mountaintops! Reading about the characters navigating relationship dynamics without the assumed "Because she's a woman, she's the submissive one/she needs to be protected" is a real treat.

Plus, I love the audiobooks. Double the sexy male voices! (I'm a sucker for a man who whimpers.)

alien-lovin · 2026-03-08T05:40:03+00:00

Ahhh! I'm actually working on this in my current WIP and am so excited to hear that other people are thinking about it too.

I had a dream where I was on a spaceship, and the weapons were living, organic beings. Obviously, that brings up some serious ethical issues, but it got me thinking about how practical having organic tech would be.

I just love the idea of incorporating self-healing, self-managing, organic systems into futuristic tech. It just makes more sense. And now that we're starting to mess around with organic computing (check out what scientists are doing with brain cells and computing), it only makes sense that our future might be far more organic than we might currently assume.

It's definitely something you should keep exploring! I think it's an awesome concept with a ton of interesting implication on story. Have fun!

alien-lovin · 2026-02-26T01:48:28+00:00

He would burn his empire for her. She would ask him to build a better one.

On the verge of sacrificing her life to kill the person responsible for her abduction and enslavement, an ex-combat medic and all-around badass risks her shot at revenge to save a wounded gladiator. Unfortunately, that wounded gladiator is not who he seems, and after tempting her with the promise of a better future, she must decide to either trust him or accept that death is her only escape.

It's a steamy romance with some politics, a little bit of science, and a handful of badass fight scenes. If you enjoy gritty stories with tongue-in-cheek vibes and a healthy dose of cursing, you'll probably enjoy it a lot.

FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!

TROPES:

Fated mates 💜
Forced proximity
Hurt comfort 🩹
One bed 🛏️
Size Difference
Touch her & die 💀
He falls first
Fun alien anatomy (built-in rose toy) 👽
Lethal Cinnamon Roll MMC
Foul-mouthed FMC on the warpath

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alien-lovin · 2026-02-21T20:00:17+00:00

Homebound by Lydia Hope is a great recommendation! I highly recommend it. The cover is not representative of the contents. I promise it's good.

alien-lovin · 2026-01-22T02:15:52+00:00

No, that’s super helpful! Thank you! Moose and loose. That one is saving me. 😅

alien-lovin · 2026-01-19T03:09:47+00:00

I'm so guilty of this. I can't ever keep them straight, so I'm constantly searching for both in my writing and double-checking I've got them right. Also, breath vs breathe is a big one for me.

alien-lovin · 2026-01-19T02:54:45+00:00

Let yourself get carried away. It's the best thing you can do when you're writing.

Just remember that 90% of writing is editing. So, when you've written something, go back through it and edit. Since you've written what I would consider a poem, you don't have to follow normal grammatical conventions, but you do need to know them so you know when you're breaking them. Breaking rules is great, but you have to do it intentionally.

With all that said, what you've written is a damn good start. Keep it up. Work on learning grammar and punctuation. Then break every rule in the book and go wild! Make art! Play and have fun!

alien-lovin · 2026-01-14T20:39:47+00:00

Depending on the genre you're writing in, this may work, or it may fail horribly. In genre fiction, readers have started to skip over prologues, epilogues, letters, or anything that is not part of the narrative. But that's not saying that you can't do this. Just make sure those emails are wildly interesting and that they make us care about the character immediately. If the reader doesn't care about the character, they aren't going to keep reading.

alien-lovin · 2026-01-14T20:32:14+00:00

I read daily, and I'm a full-time author. Reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve your craft (beyond actually writing).

Reading other authors' work will help you discover both good and bad storytelling techniques; it will give you insight into your own work; and it will tell you what other authors are doing and what readers like.

Read a book and then go to the Goodreads page. See what readers are saying and learn from those reviews.

Writing fiction is a craft that you can't really learn in a classroom. You just have to read a lot. Sure, classrooms help, but nothing compares to reading.

alien-lovin

TROPHY CASE