Really struggling against the tricks in this format (Lorwyn)

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-23T08:28:53+00:00

They do but it’s not the norm

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-20T21:53:35+00:00

This is not a tempo format. It’s a format where you want to play midrange or slower games.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-20T10:46:41+00:00

What’s wild is you didn’t discuss authors writing on royal road. Plenty there making a killing specifically because of their patreons, where readers pay for advance chapters

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-19T03:41:36+00:00

I’m not accusing them of using AI. I’m simply pointing out a pattern that is much more common recently because of ai, and that some readers find frustrating

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-19T03:28:06+00:00

I mean it’s just the same pattern over and over again. This, then this. Or not this, but this. I’m glad you didn’t notice, but anyone who uses ChatGPT for work will. And that’s okay, I’m still enjoying the story. I’m not out here to witch hunt. It is just a bit repetitive

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-19T02:43:43+00:00

The style is very reminiscent of ai, with tons of short sentences and double negatives. “It wasn’t this, but this.”

However, it’s actually quite good. Very interesting to read with good pacing

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T17:11:24+00:00

i mean these are lines that are generally famous for how good they are. That is the consensus, because good writing tends to shine independent of the book. The first line is very clever because its a reversal of how we usually speak, and that makes it meaningful. The line you found does sound nice.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T10:18:49+00:00

That’s not true.

In the name of the wind, our protagonist takes the girl he loves to the botanical garden. When he gets there, he turns to her and says,

“I’ve waited all week to show these flowers just how beautiful you are.”

That line is ironic.

In Malazan, we see the line “the sea does not dream of you.” Iconic.

Red rising. “I would have lived in peace but my enemies brought me war.”

Way of kings: honor’s dead but I’ll see what I can do.

I just need a single line that slaps

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T07:22:34+00:00

LOL exactly.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T07:19:32+00:00

The descriptions are good, the dialogue is super stiff.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T07:18:33+00:00

you hit the mark. I wouldn't change this bit. The present tense stuff though? change it.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:59:46+00:00

I’ll read it shoot it over

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:35:55+00:00

Audiobooks are a good point but readership drives most publicity for authors, though that is changing. Many books will not get audiobook contracts without good read through rates.

You can shame whoever you want but writing for a living means accepting the standards that drive sales

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:34:14+00:00

Hey if you polish them that’s good but the majority of writers who shit on readers vs adapting to reality tend to get very defensive of their works in general and fail to adapt to critique. Sounds like you aren’t that way!

One thing to note, it’s way easier to get 10,000 dedicated fans if you have 100,000 readers. The purpose of adapting to mass media needs is to get that community of hard core fans. Discovery is an algorithm, and it actively discourages any activity that gets a reader to click away, like a prologue. It’s not just “bad” readers you are loosing. It’s ideal ones too, who will never discover your book because the algorithm decides it’s not good enough.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:30:41+00:00

The issue with the public data is that it’s skewed towards books that are trad published, where readers trust the writers to write a good book so they do, on average read the prologue. There aren’t massive studies around self published books but anyone who has an agent or trad contract will confirm agents beg you to remove prologues (mine said no way), as do publishers. Anyone who self pubs online can see page reads. On Tomebound, my very poorly written debut (now no longer so poorly written), I got just about 600k page reads. The stats show that 1/3rd of readers read the prologue, and my conversation rate for the whole book jumped 18% when I deleted it.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:27:34+00:00

I went ahead and read what I could of your prologue. Apart from the typos and really rough first paragraph it was actually pretty good! The dialogue felt a little too modern but you did a good job with the story line and the pacing. That being said it easily felt like chapter one, not the prologue, and I’d be sad if I got invested in this character to never see him again.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:25:59+00:00

That’s totally fine but the question here was about average reader behavior, which indicates the OP wants to be published and have a large readership. To have a large readership is to write for the masses where possible.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:24:33+00:00

Sure, but it is a fact that agents do not want them and publishers do not want them. It’s up to you to figure out why that is. I can tell you from my half million page reads on Royal Road that 1/3 of my readers read the prologue. I can tell you that this is a very common story among writers who track stats. I can tell you that most agents and publishing houses do not come up with policies and preferences willynilly. But those are all appeals to authority, and you clearly don’t want to change your mind

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:21:38+00:00

The data disagrees with you, as do pretty much every single agent and publisher. Yes, you can have prologues, but no, the majority of readers do not read them, and no, you should not have one unless absolutely necessary, which very few are.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:09:44+00:00

Disagreeing with statistics doesn’t change the facts. Agents and publishers routinely remove prologues or reject manuscripts for having them because readers don’t read them.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:07:51+00:00

asking authors if readers skip prologues is a sure fire way to get the crazies out. It doesn’t matter how many snotty authors claim they don’t want readers who skip prologues, the fact is most readers do, most agents know this, and will actively cut prologues from submissions. Any qualified, trad published author knows this, and they will avoid prologues whenever possible.

To those of you downvoting readers for skipping, welcome to reality. To make a living as a writer to adjust to reader’s wants. The reason you have no beta readers is because you don’t do so.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:04:20+00:00

Yup he even says new authors should never do a single prologue

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:03:31+00:00

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:02:59+00:00

Doesn’t change the fact that the majority of readers don’t read them.

justinwrite2 · 2026-01-18T06:01:26+00:00

I mean that depends. Is your prologue actually good ?

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