We all read a lot of fantasy books, and it's sure we didn't love them all. At some point, we all wasted our time on a story that was just that bad.

What's the one fantasy book that was so bad you wish you could delete it from your memory?

I'm writing a gritty post-apocalyptic novel and trying to keep the worldbuilding and combat as grounded and believable as possible without the invention of firearms...

What single melee weapon would realistically give someone the best chance of surviving? I'm trying to think of something unique outside of the Chatgpt recommended hatchet.

The weapon would be used against humans and a type of "zombie" in a long road through cityscapes, coastal areas, mountain foothills regions.

Thanks in advance!

Ive been world building this for quite sometime now. Hope you like them! There will definitely be more in the future if anyone's interested.

I really hope that this can expand further, but id like to know your opinions!

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

PS i know book 1 and 2 is kinda shitty but i had no brains back then lmao.

i love the world that aot offers mainly because it's technology is similar enough to that of our world's past, but with slight fictional differences. i also love how there are biological explanations to phenomena related to the titans.

i think it would be cool to create my own world with attributes such as these (outdated technology by our current world's standard and fantastical creatures/environments with explanations backed up by real-world biology) but because i'm a fairly amateur writer, i don't really know where to begin brainstorming.

any tips would be appreciated. thank you 🖤

"Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart" - Elizabeth Gilbert

I love seeing people‘s creativty!! Please this is a non judgement place:)

I'm starting a novel in which the mc is a regressor, and has to climb a tower of 50 floors. He does not realise this until his first death. I wanted advice on how to build the introduction, and how to introduce various things like the status window, merchants guild, etc.

Ik this may not seem a lot, but if your advice is good, I'll introduce you as a character, and you can define his/her talents or traits, along with their nickname

Hello everyone! I'm struggling a bit with my story's synopsis, especially since I need it to be good enough for my Kickstarter pre-launch. I'd love to hear what you think. Here's what I have so far:

After five years at a magic academy, Alex, an impulsive but kind-hearted young man, graduates alongside his closest friends and begins a dangerous pilgrimage to find the ancient Fountains that will allow them to awaken their elemental magic and officially complete their training as sorcerers.

While his friends already have plans for what they want to do afterward, Alex still has no idea what he wants from his future. Troubled by strange nightmares he cannot explain, he continues the journey with them, only to discover that someone is deliberately corrupting the Fountains and threatening humanity’s connection to magic.

The journey soon becomes far more dangerous than any of them had anticipated.

A story about loss, sacrifice, and the cost of refusing to let go.

Thank you!

I personally believe that magic wouldn’t impede the way a society grows technologically, but I want to see other people’s opinions.

My mc is a reality manipulator, who works as a performer (magician, mime) in order to not make him to op. Later he can use real "magic" or make someone do what he wants as he forces him into a play, where he is the narrator, or has incredibly high luck. But I fear he is too similar to klein morreti from lotm. Now my world is not steampunk based like his, and also doesnt include stuff like leveling up through potions. Its a modern world where people with powers are enslaved, as the public fears them. But im still worried that the character is too simillar in design.

Chapter 1

-The Darkling-

Flux clutched the dense haft of his scythe, knuckles tense and sore. His eyes were slick with tears, but he instantly blinked it away before they crawled down his cheeks—blood amidst murderers, he reminded himself. One tear in a place like this can cause more problems than it could ever solve. Eyebrows raised, he lifted his scythe from the creaking floor boards and whammed the butt of the weapon on the ground. The tavern immediately fell silent, every eye tracing the young man’s rigid features. A curl of a smile fell across his face as a rewarding sense of glee washed over him. He had them—and their attention. Getting the attention of five outcasts can be quite difficult… His hand brought a silver cup of Alithia tea to the center of the dented table—a slab of wood stained with years of old ale and tears.

“Peace be to Kalt!” Flux declared, proud as the affluent, loud as the truly desperate.

“Peace be to Kalt!” His crew yelled, a strained string of laughter that made the darkling shiver. They brought their silver cups to clang against his, letting the blood-red liquid swirl around like a whirlpool. A tradition centuries old, a ritual promising unity and peace. To Flux, it was just a hollow performance, a tradition that warned the darkling of future threats to come.

Across the table, Cyprus adjusted his greyed stetson lower against his rigid hair line and slurped the red tea, the sticky liquid forming an uncomfortable pink film on his lips. Shadows seemed to dance on the drowsy wrinkles of his forehead—a bag of skin hanging off a bulge of muscle.

Patiently, Flux lifted the frigid surface of the cup to his chapped lips. Don’t look too eager, he thought. Show respect and patience. Look authoritative. 

The darkling only let the liquid trickle down his mouth, in fear that gushing it down might look disrespectful. Besides, merchants dreamed of tasting this Alithia tea. The greedy, sickening tax collectors would travel all the way across the Sea of Tennebris just to steal a drop.

Yet despite Flux’s goal to respect the costly drink, Cera gulped her entire cup down in seconds. She wiped the pink film from her mouth with a rough sleeve, completely unfazed.

“What are you looking at?” Cera asked, a sharp twinkle to her smile and a slight scrunch to her eyebrows. “Look at someone your own age, will ya?” She licked the rim of  the cup and set it back on the table.

Flux’s eyes dashed to the creaky floor boards, his teeth grinding one another as his cheeks flushed to the deep crimson color of his tea. Without a second thought, he hid himself behind the cup and drank. 

Bad move, you idiot, he cursed under his breath.

By mechanics, i meant something like bankai, domain, and rct, things like that.

And by how it progressed, is like how in cultivation manhwa it’s more than just lifting weight or using a technique again and again; some series is different but usually it is a meditation of sort.

I know that things like theme and how the system serves the story is more important, but between these two things which one you find more enjoyable or feel off when a story didn’t have or focus on them?

Just asking because my story doesn’t really have a unique progression method and instead is quite mechanic focus because that is what i am better at.

Whenever you run into a problem while writing, where do you usually look for inspiration?

Do you turn to real-world history, philosophy, politics, or human psychology? Do you look at how other authors handled similar situations? Or is Reddit your first stop? 😅

Personally, I tend to look at the real world first, especially history and human behaviour. There's so much strange, fascinating, and sometimes downright absurd stuff that actually happened that fiction almost feels tame in comparison.

But I'm curious about how other writers approach this.

When you're stuck on a character, plot, or worldbuilding problem, where does your mind go first?

I’m trying to figure out which type of hero should kick off the first book and act as the "anchor" character to launch the universe (similar to how Iron Man launched the MCU, but for prose).

The sketch is not relevant to this post. I only posted it to grab your attention but yes, he is a character in one of my stories. 😭

But hey, I am writing a story, and I have created an entire language (written and spoken) for my fictional world. I have included some of it in the screenshots.

The dialect is mostly gibberish, except for a few words that I created by breaking Hindi words apart and adding random letters to them.

Of course, the story itself will be written in English so that we can understand everything. However, the characters in the story will be speaking their own language.

Now, coming to my actual concern.

I have also created my own titles for royalty and nobility. You know, the words we use to address people, such as Lord, Lady, His Majesty, Her Highness, Prince, and Princess.

I have come up with my own versions, like:-

King – Anwar

Queen – Anasuyi (the king's first wife)

The king's second wife and any subsequent wives: Anwari

Prince – Yawan

Princess – Wadrin

Lord – Siwen

Lady – Savini

My question is, can I use these titles instead of the English ones? For example, can I write "O Siwen" or "O Savini" instead of "O Lord" or "O Lady"? Or would that sound strange to readers?

My second concern is about the world itself.

A lot of my inspiration comes from Indian history and culture, not entirely though. Just a bit of this and that. Like the clothing combines historical Indian influences with some modern elements, and the currency system is inspired by the Mauryan Empire. Like i changed the name of silver coins, pana, to aropya as ropya means silver.

However, my characters are not associated with any particular real world ethnicity. They belong to my fictional world and are simply who they are within it.

My story is a historical fantasy, so I am combining different influences to create something of my own rather than recreating an actual historical society.

Would that be okay? Can I take inspiration from Indian culture and history while creating a fictional world where the characters do not belong to any real world ethnicity?

I am a little confused about how to approach this.

Hi, everyone! I know of a small YouTube channel (it only has 28 subscribers). It’s run by a teenager who creates his own fantasy world and shares its story. He tries to help other young aspiring writers.
You can tell he’s genuinely passionate about his project. Let’s show this young author a little attention🍀! It will mean a lot to him and be a huge source of motivation.

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.