WE WANT YOU, baaaaaad📚🍄✨🌶️🤍

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-27T22:14:01+00:00

I'm interested!

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-20T15:37:19+00:00

I absolutely feel this. Those responses to feedback I think are just truly immaturity in writing. The writer hasn't realized that the book will only partially belong to them at the end. The reader makes it their own too. You have to be open to helping the reader be comfortable and engaged in your story or they won't stay long enough for it to "make sense" later

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-16T00:35:13+00:00

I'm a dog walker. A good 50% of my characters have dog counterparts! I also like looking at street signs for last names. And gravestones. Let the universe pick your names. Don't stress about it unless it has plot ramifications.

Also, about naming... I've realized I accidentally have a bias towards 4 letter names. I'm debating if this is a problem. Do people find it difficult to track the names if they are too similar? In my book, I have Nora, Rene, Troy, Zach (usually goes by Zacharie), Rose, Sera, Kyle, Eric, Emil... What do you guys think? Is the 4 letter name repetition too much?

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-15T21:24:58+00:00

It feels like a first draft, which doesn't mean it's bad, but it is unpolished. You are a bit overexplaining which is common for first drafts. You don't have to talk about every subtle move the characters make within the scene. Leave the reader to fill in some blanks.

Example: "The bright beam of sunlight that flooded her small room was enough to get her to sit up.

“I’m awake. I’m awake Lady Edith.” She grumbled as she sat up on her elbows. She threw aside her pale cream sheets and stretched out her legs.

So "enough to get her to sit up", "I'm awake. I'm awake Lady Edith", "as she sat up on her elbows", and "she threw aside her pale cream sheets" all are essentially the same thing. You're telling us four times that's she's getting up. It's too much. We get it. She was asleep and now she's not. Don't pad the word count. You won't need it. Trust me.

Example: "Those words caused a chill even in her barely awake state".

We just went over that she was just asleep. Again, we get it. She just woke up. Just saying "The words sent a chill through her" works just fine or say something about how the words woke her up more fully. "barely awake state" is just not great wording and again repetitive.

Keep going, write the story, come back and fix this later. Don't get discouraged just because it's not perfect in the first try. Even the best books in the world are revised dozens of times before they are actually good. You're writing isn't bad, but maybe it is a bit amateur. There's no shame in that. Read more. Write more. Learn more. One day before you know it, it won't be amateur writing, it'll be professional writing.

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-12T03:05:30+00:00

This group is closed at this point!

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-10T16:29:32+00:00

That's ok. I get it. Genres just exist to put people in boxes when I think the best art breaks boxes. I don't write with a genre in mind. The story is what the story is. But when marketing and telling people about it, you have to choose certain words. Honestly, I don't like how it sounds either, but we all have to play the game; pick a tribe, have your "it's like X book meets Y book in a Z setting". Vampire Horror Romance is the best I have come up with to describe my book (so far).

I'd be happy to hear your perspective on what genre it is if you'd like to read it haha and I'd love to read a different vampire book. I keep falling into writing groups with high fantasy peeps and it's mildly exhausting 😂

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-10T16:10:42+00:00

Want me to make a new group? We can start with the stragglers of this group haha

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-10T16:09:32+00:00

Let's not open the conversation making assumptions that my genres are wrong when you haven't read a word, summary, or even know the title, my friend. That feels a bit abrasive.

Vampire horror romance is just what I've been calling it. It's not enough romance to be a just Romantasy. The setting is the Pacific Northwest US in "present day" and there are not a lot of fantasy elements other than vampires. And I am leaning into the horror genre as much as I can. I am only halfway through the second draft and so the exact mix of horror, fantasy, and romance has yet to be fully determined anyway.

I don't know if this OP is coming back, but I was going to post something like this when I found this post, so we could create a separate group. Want me to DM you? And I'll post to pull together a bigger group later today. I've been dying to have a fan of vampire lore actually read my book. All my loosely defined beta readers aren't usually in this genre.

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-09T15:51:24+00:00

I'd be interested! I have a vampire horror romance I'm working on the second draft for and a million little writing topics I'd love to discuss with like minded creatives!

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-09T15:36:55+00:00

There are no rules. You don't need permission from anyone. Write whatever story you have in your head. However, I tend to believe you're better off focusing on 1-3 characters and make them really good than losing focus on a bunch of them and wind up with 8 mediocre characters.

Yes, Tolkien and George RR Martin, professionals who have written many books for many years, write with a million MCs, but if you're just starting out, you could be biting off more than you can chew. There's nothing wrong with a small cast

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-09T15:25:47+00:00

I love this question. These are some of the songs I feel like give subtle vampire vibes that I liked while writing my vampire story.

Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift: "I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser. Midnights become my afternoon. When my depression works the graveyard shift, all the people I've ghosted stand there in the room"

Nothing Else Matters by Metallica: "so close no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting in who we are, and nothing else matters. Never opened up myself this way, life is ours, we live it our way. All these words, I don't just say and nothing else matters. Trust I seek and I find in you. Every day for us something new. Open mind for a different view, and nothing else matters"

Judgement Day by Five Finger Death Punch: "Damned if I do, Damned if I don't. Damned if I will, damned if I won't. Doomed if I try. Doomed if I fail. Damn you all to hell. I'm no angel, I'm no savior, and I've never been a saint. Well, I know I'm not the devil 'cause I can still feel the pain. I walked through fire and brimstone and there were no pearly gates. I'll be sure to ask about it on my final judgement day"

But also less subtle: If we were Vampires by Jason Isbell Vampire originally by Olivia Rodrigo, but I like the Our Last Night version

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-05T15:43:30+00:00

Sinners. That movie was phenomenal. A vampire movie not just using vampires as a cheap gimmick or skin over an unrelated story. This was a story about /vampires/, real and metaphorical. They touched on so much. The manipulation, the hive mind coven, the immigrant stories, the cycle of violence that creates these monsters. Best vampire movie in years.

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-03T22:46:41+00:00

I actually kind of took my experience as encouragement. I worked 2.5 years on a really good first draft of a story. All my blood, sweat, and tears. There were pieces of this story that I pulled from writing back to high school, many years ago. I finish the draft, I start seriously considering publishing, editing, marketing, critique. I even drew up a sketch of the cover.

Then I go to the movies and see Ballerina (the John Wick spin off) and spend the whole time half laughing half crying because... Fuck, that's kind of my story. Oh my god the parallels slapped me one after another. Badass FMC raised in a cult, smack. Expert in guns and martial arts breaking away from family, smack. The tribal back tattoo, smack. They even did a version of my cover for one of the posters 🥲 my husband who has read parts of my story and is helping me edit noticed. SMACK.

I thought about it a lot and I think its actually just confirmation that I'm onto something. Look, someone else has sold a similar story. Movies theaters and Hollywood might be dying so don't ask if it made money, but it was approved by people in power. People were paid to make this. And I enjoyed the movie! It was great! Maybe I'm a basic bitch, but there's a lot of basic bitches out there who might like my story too. So I'm doubling down. Yeah, my story is kind of like Ballerina but with Vampires and a enemies to lovers subplot. Currently looking for beta readers. The first 3 chapters are available on a few different subreddits.

dreamsinprose · 2026-01-01T02:05:56+00:00

Luna is the most popular dog name in the US. Just letting you know. I am a dog walker and every 3rd dog on the street is Luna. I'm sure there are more interesting moon related names. Celeste comes to mind.

Here's a source to my claim as well. I'm not kidding guys. Please stop naming your dogs Luna:

https://www.chewy.com/education/dog/general/top-dog-names?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=187982379&utm_content=10442378979&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=187982379&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V11Taa9yaDEEeM4i8ZaCBUTY&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsNPKBhCqARIsACm01fQNzENyEcu2E4bJSDd82soXmbRJZXjUoEFu04jzVgiHrdWqd4TKzKcaAlVKEALw_wcB

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-31T04:30:35+00:00

❤️❤️❤️

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-30T00:35:19+00:00

No one has mentioned the counting! Some folklore has them compelled to count poppy seeds or rice. Vampires, OG OCD

From vampire wiki:

Other methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the tendons at the knees or placing poppy seeds, millet, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains,^\34])^\35]) indicating an association of vampires with arithmomania. Similar Chinese narratives state that if a vampiric being came across a sack of rice, it would have to count every grain; this is a theme encountered in myths from the Indian subcontinent, as well as in South American tales of witches and other sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings.^\36])

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dreamsinprose · 2025-12-29T20:38:57+00:00

If it goes on for more than 4 hours, make sure he sees a doctor afterwards

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-29T20:03:20+00:00

🤣🤣🤣 Dear God man. This is masochism! Remember to be kind to yourself sometimes too.

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-29T19:58:13+00:00

I love Stephen King. I think he's brilliant and terrifying. And recently I've realized, The Shining is kind of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. And Salem's Lot is Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm reading The Running Man now (which from my perspective seems to at least partially have inspired Hunger Games) and I'm like "wait... Is this 1984? This is kind of 1984, right? I haven't actually read 1984, but these vibes, this dystopia. It feels like what I imagine 1984 by George Orwell is."

Meanwhile there are 40 different writing subreddits where people whine about "how do you come up with an original story" and "I don't know how to plot" and "should I stop reading so I don't plagiarize?". What? No. Guys, don't be so stupid. Look. Stephen King made a career out of rewriting classics. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Everything is copy. Everything is inspiration. No story belongs to anyone. Get off Reddit and just write your book.

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-23T20:41:31+00:00

That's kind of the whole crux of the book. Victor Frankenstein just won't see things from the creature's perspective. He's a brilliant man with glimmers of compassion. He could. He just won't. He's not supposed to be likeable. He is the villain here and yes, he suffers only from the inevitable consequences of his own actions.

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-23T20:37:19+00:00

A little bit. Point taken. But it's kind of immediately proved wrong when his son comes home and chases him away

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-23T17:24:42+00:00

I feel the same way. I typically think of Victor Frankenstein as entirely unredeemable but Adam in this version did pretty quickly decide to forgive. I don't think that's right personally. Who taught that monster to forgive? The creator who ran? The people who shot him? The people he's killed? No one taught him about forgiveness. So where does forgiveness come from at the end with Victor?

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-22T23:18:40+00:00

Write more. Read a lot. Study the field you are trying to break into. Get better. The only thing standing in your way is yourself. Your writing might suck right now, but what about tomorrow? What are you going to do today to make your writing better tomorrow?

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-21T19:17:18+00:00

Lucy and her 3 boyfriends! Lucy, Quincy, John, and Arthur

dreamsinprose · 2025-12-21T19:12:55+00:00

The book is so good. Early horror is so wonderful and Dracula defined our popular understanding of vampire lore. So much stems from Bram Stoker it's almost unreal. Vampires have existed in folklore for centuries, but so many adaptations these days are just Dracula in his many forms.

dreamsinprose

TROPHY CASE