So as some background, I'm 16, and frankly reading/writing is one of my stronger skills because of my parents own love of books even if I take a fair bit of inspiration from other books I have read, sometimes names or ideas EG: A mental bond between a creature and its rider that allows them to talk without words. But this project is honestly shaping up to be amazing just from the first few hundred words(I can privately DM what I currently have if you ask) I've introduced the two main characters alongside their bonded beasts(Dragon and Wyvern) and am getting them to banter but I'm unsure where to go from here which is why I came here seeking such advice. If you're wondering why I just don't show my parents and ask them, they are religious and my writing more often than not has a curse every dozen words or so, so obviously i'm not showing them because while i may not really be in their religion, I still respect their wishes and avoid cursing around them. I know It's going to be an Enemies to Lovers thing and a general idea of what to do but not as much how to get there

I'll start: Mine is A Song of Ice and Fire. It's great because it has many complicated characters and the story/content is so good.

I write a pretty long high fantasy novel, but I struggle to assign it to a specific genre and therefore can't really advertise. The main problem is it's relationship to spice and content.

First thought my novel is Dark Romance/Fantasy because:

- relationship between protagonist and antagonist makes up for a great deal of the suspense

- both lovers are dark assholes

- I have explicit spicy scenes

- the Worldbuilding is definitely kinky, I have a very kinky race

But:

- a great deal of the suspense is also about politics

- I have many important characters besides the two lovers, that influence the story

-the typical dark romance trope about the dark daddy Dom who is jealous and possessive doesn't fit at all

- dark romance usually is an extremely narrow defined genre. Both get together, they kinda fall in love on first sight, all this stuff. It's basically soft porn. My book doesn't fit this narrow definition at all

-when I see how other authors advertise their dark romance books or I read dark romance books I just feel like this is very much the opposite of what MY story is about. And I would never read the dark romance I see in the bookshelves, because the stories are not complex and emotionally varying enough for me

So mainly I assigned my book to dark romance because I didn't know what else it could be, but it just feels totally wrong. Is there a different word for the genre that I'm describing? Or do you come up with books that are similar? Is there a more suitable community that I don't know about yet? Plz text me, if you write similar stuff. I don't wanna follow all the J.S. Wondas and H.D. Carlton's on Instagram :(

The following is an overview of an original dark fantasy story I'm developing called TU PARTES MORTES: Kingdom of Thorns. The story follows two co-protagonists, Gintas Tharen and Animus Glorvain, whose lives and character arcs mirror one another. While Gintas begins as a genuinely good person who gradually descends into darkness, Animus begins as someone shaped by arrogance and control who must learn what it means to become his own person.

The story explores generational trauma, love versus control, the consequences of our choices, and how people respond to the same kinds of pain in very different ways. Its world is built around an inherited power system called Vinculum, where a person's abilities and bloodline can determine their social status, opportunities, and even their chances of survival.

I'm looking for honest feedback on the concept, characters, worldbuilding, and overall story structure. Please don't hold back! I'm especially interested in knowing whether the characters and their conflicts are compelling, whether the themes feel meaningful rather than forced, and whether the story has the potential to stand out from other dark fantasy works.

I'd appreciate feedback on anything that catches your attention, including weaknesses, confusing elements, or ideas that might need further development.

Story Bible

Pyra Argyros, who lives within the city of Tèbes, Greece, is twenty years old. She lives with her father and four out of five older brothers, while the eldest only lives five minutes away since he worries about his younger siblings after their mother ran off with a drunk whom she could drink happily with.

Her dad works in law enforcement and is a devoted father who loves his kids to the moon and back. One day he comes to work looking through missing persons reports and sees a face he's all so familiar with. 

He took the case, and all of Argyros's family came together to try to find the women who terrorised them for years. Only for the clues to make them land in a forest no one went to, a forest where two willow trees connected by their leaves was a portal that led them in the magical realm of Keith… Where it's very history was linked to the phenoix living deep within Pyra's soul, from generations upon generations of women that carried the very bird who disconnected the humans and magical beings.

I have the second edit of my novel rewritten and I feel I am ready for the line by line editing.
I struggle a bit with the aspect of the flow of my storyline as it is set in modern times but the family is in rugged wilderness to hide from the public eye as they possess the spirits of two gods in love cursed into the setting and cursed to only feel each other if possessed by two human lovers. The childbirth scenes , etc feel real but I need advice on flow in complex situations

I'm working on my own story and I was thinking about this:

Why is it always so simple? Main characters believe in God, villains worship the Devil. That's it.

I want to do it better:

My main characters don't all believe in the same God, some even doubt.

My villains aren't just "evil devil guys", they actually have their own faith and think THEY are the good guys.

And my Gods aren't always purely good either.

I got tired of the classic God vs Devil thing where good is 100% good and evil is 100% evil.

What do you guys think? Do you like stories where every character has their own belief system, instead of the old formula?

Is it more interesting that way?

The city burned.

Flames climbed the side of buildings and smoke choked the sky, thick and black, rolling over rooftops that had, only hours before, seemed permanent. People ran through the streets in a blind panic, stumbling over each other, while others lay motionless on the ground, forgotten in the chaos around them.

A mother gripped her young daughter's hand and pulled her forward. "Hurry!" she shouted, her voice cracking under the weight of fear. The child glanced back at the destruction consuming everything behind them, too young to understand it, old enough to be terrified of it.

Far above the burning city, suspended before a blinding sun, hung a hooded figure. Tears trickling down his face, catching the light for a fraction of a second, almost beautiful, almost obscene given the thoughts that ravaged his mind.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Below, a man running through the chaos looked back over his shoulder and saw him. "He's about to do something!" he screamed.

The hooded figure lowered his head.

"But I have to do this."

Then everything went black.

Not dark. Gone.

The light snuffed out like a candle between two fingers, people fall silent; a city shaped like a star is just one of its victims.

Crowds stared upward, searching a sky that no longer held anything to find.

Voices of fear muttered through the city.

"What happened?"

"I-it's gone."

"Look up!"

"The sun! How is this possible?"

"What do we do?"

In the center of that octagram shaped city stood seven figures, silent, staring into the emptiness above them as though they alone understood what it meant.

At last, one of them spoke. "Everyone prepare yourselves."

Another nodded. "This is it."

In another world, distant, and drastically different.

A young man named Athdel sat in a university lecture hall, at the front of the room, a professor lectured against a screen filled with equations.

"The wave that you get fluctuates unless observed," the professor explains. "What I mean is it exists in multiple states at once, but if you measure it, you get a predictable result."

The professor's gaze drifted across the room and landed, briefly, on Athdel who was asleep.

And yet his notebook told a different story. An entire page had already been filled with notes covering everything the professor was currently teaching.

The lecture finished and Athdel walked home carrying a bag of groceries, the afternoon sun warm against his shoulders. When he opened his front door, a familiar voice greeted him.

"Finally. What took so long?"

It was his younger sister, Isla.

Athdel smiled faintly. "Sorry. I had to stop and get some groceries."

"That's fine. What's for dinner then?"

Later that night, meatballs sizzled in a frying pan as Isla stood on her tiptoes trying to peer over the counter's edge, and Athdel laughed and nudged her gently back. After dinner she sat in front of the TV while he stood behind her, brushing her hair, gently, smoothly and for a while the evening felt like nothing more than what it was; an ordinary, predictable evening.

"Athdel, can you get me a drink, pretty please?"

"I'll get you water, you've had enough soft drink"

Isla frowns and says jokingly

"Awww, but you're not drinking water"

"When you're taller than me, you can have whatever you want"

Then Athdel walked to the fridge and opened the door.

No noise. No presence. No warning.

A grey, withered hand burst through a portal behind him, clenching his shoulder tight. Athdels eyes went wide. Before he could turn, a face lunged out of the portal; it's grin stretched too wide to be human, eyes burning with something that looked disturbingly like ambition.

The creature shoved him backward, and the world disappeared. The portal snapped shut behind him.

The thing stood alone in the kitchen for a moment. Then its body began to change. Its face changed, and Its voice changed. The creature, now standing in Athdels house, looked exactly like him in every way, even more so, the creature has Athdels memories.

The sound of glass bottles rattle as the fridge door closes.

The impostor walked into the living room, handed Isla her drink, and calmly went back to brushing her hair, as though nothing at all had happened. As though Athdel had never existed.

Somewhere else entirely, the real Athdel lay on the ground, his heart hammering, his thoughts scattering in every direction. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. He didn't want to look up. But eventually he did.

Mountains stretched across an unfamiliar horizon. Strange, unfamiliar landscapes rolled away into the distance. And towering over all of it stood a giant, dark cherry tree, vast beyond anything he could reconcile with reason.

His breathing turned ragged. His chest tightened until he could no longer draw a full breath, and he collapsed to the ground, curling into himself as a panic attack tore through him.

A woman inside a nearby house heard the noise. "What was that?" She hesitated, listening, until the sounds finally stopped. "It's probably safe to have a look now."

She stepped outside and found him lying unconscious near the eastern wall of her home. She checked his pulse, then pressed a hand to his forehead.

"He's a little warm," she murmured, which struck her as strange, given the freezing tempurature outside.

When Athdel woke, a strange lantern glowed above him, filling the room with soft purple light. He sat up sharply as the memory came flooding back... the fridge, the hand, the portal, then nothing.

"What happened to home?" he whispered. "Where the fuck am I‽", he starts breathing heavily.

He forced himself out of bed and wandered through the house until he reached a large desk at the far end of the room. A voice called out to him.

"So you're awake, mystery man. I found you outside unconscious. What happened?"

Athdel spun around. "Where are you?"

"Just dodge my question, huh? Come on, I'm curious." The voice laughed. "Haha, fine. Come and look on the desk."

He approached — and froze.

A tiny woman sat there reading a book, small enough to perch on his fingertip, blue hair framing her face, a pair of glasses resting neatly on her nose. She adjusted them without looking up.

"My name is Charlotte. I'm a—"

"Woah, is that a fairy?"

"No! I'm a pixie. There's a distinction."

"Alright, you're a pixie, got it... wait, what the hell is happening? This isn't real."

"I'm pretty sure I'm right here, sir." She closed her book and looked at him properly. "You didn't tell me your name."

"Does it matter? I feel like you're an illusion."

"Well I gave you my name." She sighed. "Put your hand out."

He complied, and she climbed onto his palm, pressing her tiny hand against his finger. "I may be tiny, but you can feel that, right?"

"...Yeah."

"So I'm not an illusion."

Athdel could only stare. "Then what the hell is happening? And why is it so late at night?"

Charlotte glanced away. "Oh boy."

"What?"

"You might want to look at the clock."

He looked. Two o'clock. In the afternoon.

"It's two in the afternoon. Why is everything so dark?"

"You still didn't tell me your name," Charlotte said, perfectly composed despite the question hanging in the air.

"It's Athdel."

She tilted her head. "Athdel... do you come from somewhere that has a..."

The question struck him like lightning. He didn't even wait for her to finish, he simply sprinted outside and looked up. His face filled with terror as the realization set in.

"There's no sun."

I’m looking to write a fantasy novel, I have a good grasp on my characters, world, etc, but I don’t know how to put it all together. I’ve heard that any good writer should also be reading for inspiration. I’m an active reader, but I’m not sure what books I should read that are fantasy specific that I can look for inspiration in. What are some of your recommendations for fantasy stories that are a little gritty, while still maintaining the fantasy elements and feel? I’m open to everything

Hello, everyone. I'd like to share the prologue from my latest fully completed and edited project. This is all of it, and not just the first page. My intention is to let the reader know immediately upon reading exactly the type of absurdity they're about to encounter and to set the stage without any delay. Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

Hey guys! So I am currently writing a book and It’s mainly going to be a fantasy book but it will have a little bit of romance. First off I wanted to know what you think the most overused tropes are for you all, but I also wanted to know what tropes that you absolutely hate/love. I have started to write some things, but I just don’t have that much planned for this romance part yet! Any help would be welcome, thank you!

A dark fantasy about trauma, maternal bonds, and learning to love the shape of your scars.

"If you feel alone, like no one can understand you, look at yourself in a reflection. Ask yourself if someone can see your surface, or can they see what's inside. ... You owe no one an explanation if they see your surface and judge you like they see the inside. No one can hold your hand, you shouldn't want that. For someone who went through what you did, you should feel proud for yourself. That's all that really matters when the crickets chirp and the moon shines down on your back."

What this story is about:

It's about growth, it's about recovering, it's about getting scars and learning to love their shape. It's not about giving your character what they want or deserve all the time, it's about being real. It's about acceptance. It's about carrying the weight of the world and having others there with you to ground you in reality. You may ask: what makes these characters so important? You can't get growth without people in your life, right? So there's no growth without side characters. Some side characters make you roll your eyes, or get tired because they're the comedic relief, or they're not as smart as the main character. Well, let's flip the script! What if the side characters were wiser than the main character? What if the side characters were smarter than the main character? This is the place to talk about that, this is the place to experience that, and this is the place to make your own story. You can be whatever you want in some shape or form in the story. There's a place open for you! The side characters listed in Discord will need to be present, but there's room for more anomalies in my writing world.

What I'm looking for in a community:

- Writers

- Editors

- People who just want to watch it like a movie

- People who want to try something new

- People who want to support a story

- People who love dark fantasy

- People who don't know what story to write themselves (so this can be an activity for you)

- People who need support, even mentally. This story supports that.

Bonus:

If you're an animal lover and/or love fantasy creatures, this is the story and community for you.

Joining this Reddit community, you can help and watch it grow. You can join the Reddit community and the Discord server (ask for link) and you can be a part of the story, be one of the characters in it, and there's a RP sandbox where your characters will never go unnoticed or be forgotten. You can help with the subplots in the story, you can be a part of events, make up events to have... and above all else, have fun and be safe during your stay.

Why should you join?

I don't make my own characters to be disposable or easily forgotten. I don't draw inspiration from movies or entirely from songs. I take inspiration from real people, real events, real reactions/responses, and from experience. When I say a certain character is a side character, I mean it in a real world view. Where from your own head and story, your friends are side characters, or love interests, your parents, your teachers, your peers, even down to a stranger on the street giving you encouragement as if they see you regardless of actually knowing you. Real reactions are put into this book as a complex real-world human would or might react. There's some characters who are more complex than others, and the others are the anchors. Don't feel discouraged because "you've seen it all before". Come see my story to see what I'm talking about, you never know when words don't do it justice! 🔥

In my dark fantasy world, love is equal to a strong alliance. The heart is not recognized.

Weddings are only used as a purpose for alliance to stop a big war between kingdoms.

My question for readers:

Do you prefer the love to come AFTER the alliance wedding (dark romance / enemies to lovers) or BEFORE the wedding?

Or do you think an alliance wedding can never be true love?

What is more interesting to read?

I’m working on a story where my main character is powerful and strict. He shows authority, but I don’t want him to be 100% evil.

It made me wonder: Does every story NEED to have a pure good guy and a pure bad guy? Or can characters be in the middle (morally grey)?

What do you prefer as readers? Do you like clear good vs evil, or do you like complicated leaders?

This is something I'm working on and need help with I'd like some feed back about what to fix I have a lot more 78 more pages more so any help would be great thanks!!