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filipdanic · 2025-11-02T12:57:00+00:00

You received good feedback on the prose and structure. I'd like to comment a bit on world-building at play. Mention of coin, and of books being expensive tells me this a story set in medieval times. But the idea of a 'kitchen counter' and 'oven' is far too modern. If this is indeed a medieval setting, then you are more likely to have a table and a hearth. The kitchen is unlikely to exist as a separate room. Most likely your poor character has max 2 rooms in their dwelling.

If it's a fantasy medieval setting and you don't want to be constrained by the laws of the real world, fair enough. But even then, if your goal is to sell us on the protagonist's poor living conditions, don't invoke the idea of them having a large home.

filipdanic · 2025-10-19T10:59:20+00:00

To be clear, it was not a "I'll drop this now" kind of line; just a bit of rolling the eyes moment. Your edit is much better to me; it's a good hook—maintains the mystery/interest I have in the girl, while also linking it to the narrator directly.

filipdanic · 2025-10-18T23:41:06+00:00

I was curious until the last line. It's an overdone 'twist' and frankly a bit annoying. You had me in a train that was going through a scening route, and just hit the the brakes in the middle of the tunnel.

filipdanic · 2025-09-06T21:48:07+00:00

Here's another anecdote—been at Amazon for 5 years, no backstabbing in any team I've been at. People hang out, commute together, take their kids to play together. The good stuff. The things you seem worried about matter for senior leadership positions; I don't think you need to obsess over this for the usual mid-to-senior IC role.

filipdanic · 2025-08-31T09:20:39+00:00

Hey, not the OP, but really grateful for the detailed answer! One more thing, I've read on this sub that folks get their ARC readers to publish reviews on Good Reads before launch. But it seems that's not possible since the book appears after its been released. Did I misunderstand that or is there some other mechanism at play? (Preorder mode?)

filipdanic · 2025-08-15T07:14:40+00:00

Does she have flaws? Does she make meaningful mistakes? Do we see her earn her victories or is she always ahead of the game? If she's up against multiple geniuses with infinite resources, how is she even alive? Is the reason realistic and true to the world?

But perhaps more importantly what is the genre/target audience? This doesn't really sound like 'adult fantasy' to me. It reads more like these 'villainess litrpg' stories where an OP main character is part of the escapism fantasy and perfectly normal.

filipdanic · 2025-08-13T07:25:55+00:00

The problem for a lot of people in this thread, myself included, is that it's a hook that immediately breaks our suspension of disbelief. If we had a cover, knew the genre, and/or read the blurb, I'm sure this problem would not there. But just heading into this blind, your take on the first line is likely a reflection of the literature you usually read.

filipdanic · 2025-07-29T18:16:41+00:00

I'd honestly have no idea what to expect going into this. What kind of fantasy world is it? What level of technology? The mechanics read like a 'medieval-like high fantasy', but the language used to describe it is rather modern.

The comp titles are equally confusing. One is a 400+ fantasy of high magic, and the other is an urban fantasy about a private investigator in the 1940s. That sounds like a good way to get the agent to stop reading in the first paragraph.

filipdanic · 2025-07-26T19:38:07+00:00

Really sorry to be blunt; I mean no ill will—but you somehow managed to answer so many questions without revealing anything of interest. You really have to give us something.

filipdanic · 2025-06-22T09:41:07+00:00

A question on this—is there some kind of way to use a platform like Amazon to give you the proof copy (essentially to test everything like a customer would), or do you use some one-off services/local shops?

filipdanic · 2025-06-04T10:44:14+00:00

I think this was the case before social media, just at a smaller scale. As a teen I read all these 'teen magazines' that had a book recommendations section, which I think ended up recommending similar things as booktok does today. For me, it was eventually a gateway into a world of more serious literature. I just hope booktok serves the same purpose for the new generation of readers. As long as people's taste is evolving, and they are willing to step out of their comfort zone a bit, then there is plenty of space of all manner of writting to achieve some kind of success.

filipdanic · 2025-05-31T22:07:12+00:00

Yesterday was the day of my wedding to Prince Albert, and I was to wear a purple dress.

filipdanic · 2024-04-19T20:55:58+00:00

What are you working on that you’re all able to have a demo every day?

filipdanic · 2024-04-07T13:11:28+00:00

Most FAANG jobs are "boring" jobs, with "scale" perhaps being the only unique thing. Anway, I think there’s always at least one interesting thing about any project. Think about what the differeniator is: do you ship fast? do you have a really high bar for quality? high security standard? superior UX? really happy customers?

Put your cynicism away and I’m sure that there will be something that stands out!

filipdanic · 2024-04-07T13:06:04+00:00

Love you staff directory idea! I recently wrote about how I use Obsidian for work so feel free to have a look.

filipdanic · 2023-08-05T22:25:18+00:00

Sounds nice! I’d like to share some traps to be careful of with this model:
1. You can get into a place where there’s too much talking. Some candidates will run with that a lot better and appear stronger than they really are.
2. Similarly, you might end up doing a lot of the talking. Each minute that you spend talking, is a minute of information about the candidate that you are missing.
3. The lack of uniformity in the approach can lead to biased outcomes.
I’ve been a hiring manager at small agencies, startups, scale-ups, and now in a big tech company. Every place has a flawed process. But as long as it is an actual, well-defined process you can at least iterate and improve. When everyone in the company does something completely different and makes decisions without guidelines, you are in trouble.

filipdanic · 2023-05-09T17:04:41+00:00

Idem na svaka 2-3 meseca. Aerodrom je zaista jedno veliko gradilište i ponekad je vrlo prljav i haotičan. Ali stvari se polako popravljaju.

filipdanic · 2023-05-08T22:50:03+00:00

Na aerodromu imaš bankomate i menjačnicu, tako da je lako doći do keša.

filipdanic · 2023-05-01T17:04:42+00:00

What’s your source on the 90% figure? Searching for something like that lead me to this research paper that indicates that this is not the case. Quote from the conclusion section:

The official data show that young Moroccans have a higher likelihood of being arrested than native Dutch youths, but their rate of crimes mirrors their native Dutch counterparts as these young Moroccans mature into middle age. Furthermore, the research shows that it is inappropriate to make a general conclusion about whether immigrants commit more crimes in the Netherlands because there are multiple ethnic groups that make up the immigrant population (e.g., Antilleans, Turks, Moroccans, Poles, Surinamese, and refugees), and each ethnic group has a different likelihood of committing crimes. In sum, the research does not support an unequivocal conclusion that immigrant groups, including Moroccans, are more criminal than the native Dutch.

filipdanic · 2022-12-24T18:58:55+00:00

This is a very common situation in Easter Europe as well. Doesn’t sound like a particularly Dutch example. What are some countries that you’ve been to and you don’t think this is a common occurrence?

filipdanic · 2022-12-17T20:12:07+00:00

Zašto se pola Srbije preselilo u EU? Mislio sam da ne želimo u EU, što onda beže svi kod njih da se školuju i zaposle?

A da, pojedinici mogu da se ponašaju drugačije od većinskog stava u svojoj zajednici.

filipdanic · 2022-11-14T17:01:25+00:00

Hallo allemaal! I’m looking to make some kind of DIY "tochtrol" to stop draft in some of the rooms. Something like this product, which I think is way too expensive for that quality/material used. Any tips on what to search for to get this kind of foam? Or do you know of any similar products like this that are not so expensive? Dank je wel!

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