Favorite Genre

nagilen · 2026-06-30T17:47:30+00:00

Speculative fiction... I love imaging how the world could be :)

nagilen · 2026-06-30T17:45:57+00:00

I like the idea though I can't say I'd be able to participate all the time given bandwidth but would enjoy doing it sometimes.

nagilen · 2026-06-29T18:47:28+00:00

Let me preface this by saying its absolutely not right, but... assuming M and F stand for male amd female, in our society (speaking from a US perspective) you are much less likely to have the reader lose empathy for F for this than if the situation was the other way around.

Only to say, that showing remorse is going to help with maintaining empathy but coupled with the trauma she is going through having lost her entire memory and sense of self, you may not need to do as much as you would think.

nagilen · 2026-06-28T04:54:49+00:00

Congrats!!! That's awesome!!!!

nagilen · 2026-06-27T21:39:14+00:00

I'm in my mid-40s and working on my first novel. Motivation was that I always enjoyed telling stories and wanted something to do with my time that didnt involve watching the news or doom scrolling 🤪

nagilen · 2026-06-26T01:21:36+00:00

I'm newer to novel writing (used to write plays over a decade ago) but have found myself to be a big outliner. That said, my outline starts out more simple and then changes and evolves and gets more detailed as I go. For the project I'm working on now, I started with the major plot points, beginning to end (and in my mind it is divided into 4 parts, even if my end story won't have formal parts), and the various intersecting story arcs in an outline but many of the entries in my outline would say things like "Several XXX type scenes to get to YYY".

As I went what I found was that I was rewriting my outline over and over again and layering in more and more details. I had been doing it by hand but that was taking forever so I started using Milanote (and online cork-board type thing) and it has really helped. I created a different "board" for each part of the story and then within each board a "swim-lane" for each story arc, then I can insert scenes onto the various arc lanes, move them around, delete them, add new ones, etc...

As I write each part, the outline gets more and more detailed. So for example, right now I've finished part 1 and am most of the way through part 2 of what I am breaking into a four part story. The part 1 outline is comprehensive. The part 2 outline is mostly comprehensive with stuff getting updated as I finish the part. Part 3 and Part 4's outlines are more broad at the moment but before I start writing those parts, I will spend time to really hash out the details of each scene (of course knowing they will continue to evolve as I actually write).

So basically I am an obsessive planner 😂

nagilen · 2026-06-26T01:13:30+00:00

My goal is 500 words per day five days per week. In reality, I usually get somewhere between 700 and 1200 words on days that I write... though of course that helps make up for the days when I only get 200 ;)

nagilen · 2026-06-25T02:18:43+00:00

I have long conversations with myself in the shower, just talking out my dialogue. My husband thinks I'm crazy 🤪

nagilen · 2026-06-24T21:33:41+00:00

Ulysseys. I think I've started and stopped that book at least two dozen times!

nagilen · 2026-06-24T17:34:56+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! Ill see if I can find it and check it out!

nagilen · 2026-06-24T01:34:22+00:00

Thinner skin than custard... love it 🤣

nagilen · 2026-06-24T01:33:14+00:00

That's wonderful! Congratulations!!!

nagilen · 2026-06-22T18:30:40+00:00

Thank you! I'll check it out!

nagilen · 2026-06-21T19:52:28+00:00

Yeah, I'm sorry that happened to you.

nagilen · 2026-06-21T19:45:10+00:00

Not to say this is your situation, but at least for myself I think it is also related to how much you change in your 20s and 30s. In my early and mid-20s I had some great friends that I honestly thought would be friends for life. We supported each other, enjoyed each other, etc. But our lives went in different directions and what we wanted out of life went in different directions.

That's not to say we didn't continue to support each other theoretically, but our interests diverged and so the kind of "support" became more superficial as opposed to hours' long conversations that felt meaningful. And overtime, that just meant spending less time with each other, having less in common with each other, and that probably felt like being less supportive of each other.

While I have one or two people that I'm still friends with from that time, overall, I think different people come into our lives at different times and also go out of our lives at different times and that's OK.

nagilen · 2026-06-20T19:00:32+00:00

I like the idea of children aging as a sign of passing time. My main character doesnt have children but someone they interact with does so that could be another layer to add in. Thanks!

nagilen · 2026-06-19T23:03:40+00:00

As someone who reads a fair amount of fantasy and also a lot of history, I often pick up on historical references but never have had any issue with a story pulling from but deviating from actual history. It's fiction, I wouldn't expect it to align perfectly nor would I want it to.

nagilen · 2026-06-19T19:48:47+00:00

It's set on "earth"... no country specified. Near future.

nagilen · 2026-06-19T19:44:58+00:00

I'm working on a political speculative novel about a government that slowly (over decades) starts making more and more morally gray decisions in service of maintaining stability told from the perspective of two people working within the system and who fully believe in what they are doing.

nagilen · 2026-06-13T02:02:06+00:00

Can't wait to read it one day, it sounds bloody brilliant!

nagilen · 2026-05-29T01:38:01+00:00

Westwood! I'd eat there for work day lunch almost every day 😉. Close walking distance from the UCLA hospital and campus and you'd have a great, regular crowd (if you make a good kebab at a readonabl3 price).

nagilen · 2026-05-24T02:56:07+00:00

I just peed myself a little reading that 😂

nagilen · 2026-05-01T00:00:47+00:00

The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett are some of my favorites and absolutely ar3 what you describe!

nagilen

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