TO WRITERS, FROM READERS: PLEASE STOP 🛑

[@voxorox]

One of my favorites when it comes to the "character injured, don't heal them immediately" is from a Terry Brooks novel, where a main character loses a hand. He's told (kind of a prophecy/mystical message) that he will eventually be healed. He spends a lot of the story expecting to get his hand back, but it turns out that "healing" just meant he would move on and learn to live without it. I've always loved how that was handled in the story. I like his style of grounded fantasy in general, to be honest.

[@AndrewKolb101]

if it looks like a vampire, talks like a vampire, and acts like a vampire but doesn't drink blood its a Ghoul.

[@ayemc84]

This

[@LaughingStockfarm1]

This definitely hits a lot of my pet peeves. But my biggest pet peeve is people thinking about how hot someone is or lustful thoughts in the middle of someone trying to kill them. Honest to dog, NOBODY thinks about having sex in the middle of a real sword fight, or having a gun pointed at them. My other pet peeve falls under the slightly more realistic wounds…a person can not be knocked out over and over, hit on the head, and still function. Authors really need to learn about TBI. It’s why I gave up on detective novels; too many serious head blows resulting in unconsciousness but zero long term consequences. I call BS.

[@kbird6208]

I wonder that about crime novel series where the protagonist ends up in the hospital by the end of half the books. At some point that should catch up with them.

[@cbpd89]

Yes to both of these!! There is a time and a place for horniness, I guarantee it's not in the middle of a fight-or-flight response. 🤣 My mom has long been the voice in my head about unrealistic injuries. She was a nurse for 40+ years working with veterans for most of those years. She could tell you exactly what long term consequences of war and battle are, she can also tell you what people look like right after a bar fight and how long afterwards they were eating from a straw.

[@LaughingStockfarm1]

Right? My partner does cranio-sacral work, so she has a lot of TBI clients, and yeah, deficits. Serious deficits. And I’ve been in life-threatening situations and the last thing on my mind was anything remotely related to sex.

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

Fiction, especially fantasy, doesn't have to be realistic though-it doesn't matter if a real person would never do certain things in certain situations, it only matters if that particular fictional character would. (Especially if that character isn't completely human!😊) Unless the author is very clearly on purpose intentionally aiming for hyperrealism. Otherwise, that's just a personal preference or individual subjective choice-it might not be for you, but it isn't necessarily bad writing that authors need to stop doing either. Lol (In my own subjective opinion anyhow.🤭)

[@LaughingStockfarm1]

@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341, I get the suspension of disbelief, but there are consequences to injury. Getting hit in the head book after book, unconscious for days in some of them, and popping up and carrying on like nothing has happened…maybe you can buy that, but I’ve had way too much life experience and it pops me right out. Same with athletics (sword fights) with broken ribs. C’mon! Having had merely bruised ribs, I’m pretty sure it’s not likely to be a thing. And anyone that’s been in a life-threatening situation…even icy roads and potentially sliding into a guardrail…can attest that sex is not what you’re thinking about. So for those of us that haven’t been living in a padded room all our lives, it just starts to get very, very unbelievable, and hence pops me right out of the story. To the point that i’ve given up on a number of authors. Wouldn’t it be a twist if the hero/ine actually suffered the consequences of a severe blow to the head and still continued the adventure, but incorporating whatever deficit resulted from the injury? We’ve got gay characters, autistic characters, POC characters, how about some semi-realistic TBI for a change? Memory gaps, personality change, or extreme mood swings…wouldn’t that make for an interesting character to work with? I’m not talking about hyper-realism, I’m talking moving away from the hyper-resilient hyper-recovery that is so typical in so much popular fantasy. It’s really quite boring, there’s little risk to the character, and I frankly find it much less engaging if the character never has to find a work around for injury or subsequent disability.

[@JoelAdamson]

The problem with trends (as a writer) is that they warp the perception of agents and editors. People think "fantasy" nowadays is strictly SJM-derived fantasy romance. I write in the Tolkien-Brooks-Jordan-Martin tradition and agents and editors these days don't even recognize it. This changed rather dramatically in the last 5 years.

[@katgreer6113]

trends shift so quickly. even harry potter that is extremely successful isn't on fantasy recommended videos nowadays. that's like classic beginner fantasy....IDK why people are shifting to this, but they are definitely feeding a very "romance-fantasy" hungry market. maybe the fact that newer fantasy books have more diversity pulls people in too. I did get tired of seeing the same things in older fantasy books...however that's happening in the newer ones too..ugh. saying this as someone who appreciates both Tolkien-type fantasy, and SJM- type fantasy.

[@Joeysaladslover]

I don’t get this at all lol isn’t Brandon Sanderson like the biggest fantasy author right now? His books aren’t like that and none of the fantasy I read is like that either

[@Ottolineification]

@@Joeysaladsloveryeah, he is really really big, but he is sort of like a tower, that stands alone (with GRrMartin I supposed) but there are like a hundred authors who pump out those SJMstyle smutty romantasy books that all read like fanfiction, and they all have a myriad of fans obsessed with them

[@josteinhenrique2779]

What is SJM?

[@katgreer6113]

@@josteinhenrique2779 an author. Sarah J. Mass. She's very popular.

[@DragonLandlord]

The period after each word only works when the character is really pissed, like "Don't. You. Dare."

[@xarzneimittel8220]

It kinda looks weird, imo, I prefer it to be more free to interpretation. When I am pissed I would never slow down my talk 😂 so I find it weird when an author forces an emotion in such a mood that only works for some people. If you write the periods thing, I would actually think they're trying to stay calm 😅😅

[@DragonLandlord]

@@xarzneimittel8220 yeah, it usually works best right before they blow up, like talking through your teeth.

[@gabrielleduplessis7388]

I guess this is an unpopular opinion, but I am of the mindset that “just because you can write 400-500 pages or even a thousand does not mean you should. Most of the time, these books meander on more than they had to and could have easily been taken out without the overall world and story changing. I want to be immersed in all of it without thinking, “oh my god, can we finish this already?” I can still like the book but I feel authors pad the page count more than they have to especially in fantasy and YA.

[@jjhh320]

Hear hear!

[@s.y.k.a1912]

This is me with romance books. Many of them nowadays stretched beyond 400 pages for the sake of "slow burn is happening between main leads!" yet nothing is EVEN happening. It's ridiculous. I won't mind much if it's fantasy or science fiction being long (due to the worldbuilding) but ROMANCE???

[@gabrielleduplessis7388]

@@s.y.k.a1912 i am with you there. Many if them can be repetitive which makes the romance not worth rooting for because you think the conflict has been resolved already.

[@mattiOTX]

I'm writing a fantasy world but there is so much that I can't compare to our world in any time period. I think some of it has to do with trying to distinguish the world as a fantasy from reality that authors can get lost sometimes.

[@colbyreader]

“The luckless” a book by K.M. Shea is the first in a series about being trapped in a virtual reality mmorpg. The world building is immersive and exciting, the pacing is very consistent. If you need a break from long books I highly recommend this book in particular, but also the author in general.

[@Marie45610]

I think the main reason why a lot of MCs don't have brown hair/eyes, is because it's so common. And a lot of writers want their characters to be uncommon.

[@cervanera2228]

My personal reason is that I also draw them so I prefer to have contrasts. So my characters usually can have brown hair or brown eyes, but not both (except for one who has eyes of a certain shade of orange who can look brown to most). Anyway it has nothing to do with hatred for brown hair and eyes or anything like that.

[@ameyuko327]

I'm personally the opposite! All of my main characters (across different books) have hair and eyes in varying shades of brown, because I just love that combination so much I think it's beautiful :3 And sometimes, when I think "hmm.. maybe another brown eyed, brown haired, tan skinned protagonist is a bit much..." I remember how as a kid I almost never got to see characters like this and even now it's pretty rare to come across; So I like to think I'm just balancing out the scales haha

[@starstorm1267]

As a writer myself with brown hair and eyes, I definitely noticed that early on in my life. I get it in a way, you want your character to be unique and stand out from the rest of the cast. But there are more ways to do that than just character design, which is what I try to incorporate in my works.

[@lineliebst7661]

I can see the point of, if you want to make your character unic, a brown colour is not so much the go-to for many, heck some could just be overvelmed with all the options, or think brown is to plain, but im not sure on this, with maybe it also could have something to do with the setting? Like if the setting is too the far north its connected with surten colours like maybe blue, white, brown, green. And if its in the east maybe orange, yellow, sandcolour, red. And if its a fantasy setting you can go all out with the colour pallet. My point is that surten themes or locations can also have a say in the colour setting of a character and not just because the author wants them to stand out, it kind of depends how deep the author thought about this.

[@mikerude5073]

I just make sure that if any character has blonde hair, especially if they are male, that I write them as a villain who probably is descended from Nazis and are placed clearly in the antagonist role.

[@hypatia4754]

Authors were readers FIRST. They were such passionate readers that they became writers. Just a friendly reminder.

[@xarzneimittel8220]

I was never a keen reader, I actually find it really hard to read and I have to force myself to it. And still, I am a writer 😅 a passionated writer that makes a lot of stories but still I can't find the same passion in reading, no, not even close..

[@hellriderindustries3083]

@@xarzneimittel8220okay if not a passion for reading a passion for stories.

[@snarkycarkey6158]

The growling thing has always depended on context for me because outside of most wattpad fanfic kind of stuff it usually means a tone of voice like pitching it down with a sort of rumble to it when your angry. I have very rarely thought that it meant actual animal growling.

[@Ashbrash1998]

I always thought the same way, I just hate it when it's used during sex or something

[@AngelhousePhotograph]

I always feel like people who flip out over “growling” must be very literal thinkers and not comfortable with metaphorical language at all.

[@chaosqueen1703]

Same. Like one part from my book is "What did I say about the insulting remarks?" Szofia said, remaining in her usual calm tone. The girl rolled her eyes. "I don't care about what you said. Psh, I could take you in a fight anyday." "You wanna bet on that?" Szofia asked, almost growling this time. She's obviously not actually going "grr", she's just mad

[@dropslemon]

That was a fun contention for me as I like to write monstrous characters. Like, literally monstrous. Yeah, he is actually growling, he is half beast. He's trying very hard to be normal and it isn't working.

[@FlidaisPeridotEyes]

@@dropslemon I write the same.

[@august8679]

I want to read a description of a brown-haired character where it's like "she had shining chocolate locks, coupled with smooth pale skin and striking dark eyes". just because characters are brunettes doesn't mean they can't be pretty!

[@LilyUnicorn]

I want an actual not pretty person but that will never happen. Author: "look at how plain and ugly sge is." Book: "beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous, pretty...all the men loved her. Soft supple skin. Shiny thick hair."

[@thatfantasyguy3672]

Her breasts breastily breasted cause she, was in fact, a womanly woman girl

[@erethesun]

One of the FMCs in my series is a brunette and very pretty! Though she doesn't describe herself beyond hair and eye color. Other people (her BFF, sister, and love interest) call her pretty.

[@namkia205]

​@@LilyUnicornI have an ugly nerdy girl in my book who is actually ugly, but she's also very smart and is a good loyal friend. I think her looks don't matter in the context because she doesn't care for male attention and only thinks being called ugly is annoying but not because of men. I don't understand why there is so much disdain for ugly girls.

[@silverknight1966]

I have main characters with brown hair. The Imperatrix character is sexy but brown hair, brown eyes, and built like Black Widow. And her reputation is her being a ruthless killer (leads battles from the front like Alexander)

[@melinda9188]

In terms of authors staying out of reader's spaces… I may have an unpopular opinion, but I don’t see anything wrong with authors reading their reviews on Goodreads or wherever. Of course, there’s a line between reading reviews and attacking readers, but I guess I’m coming at it from a new author’s perspective. Reviews can be invaluable to further development, in that they can help gain insight into what the author did right, as well as what didn’t land and where they can improve for their next novel. 🤷🏻‍♀️ (Yes, I understand that they will get feedback during the editing process, but I can see how reading the public's perception could be beneficial, as they are getting opinions/feedback from a larger "sample size," so to speak).

[@katgreer6113]

i actually think its weird when they are NOT in readers spaces. an author is first and foremost a reader themselves so it doesn't make any sense for them to stay out of it.

[@mattiOTX]

Sometimes it's not a professional's opinion that I want but the average reader. They will be looking at things from a perspective an editor or alpha or beta readers won't. Though I agree with letting those opinions just exist and not replying to them. Maybe you see merit in what they are saying or you don't but you can still learn from each one.

[@queenorchid719]

i agree 100%

[@anonymes2884]

If they _want_ to, absolutely. I agree with others that I expect writers to _also_ be readers so of course they'll be in "reader spaces". Actually _engaging_ with reviewers, especially if it's "defending" your work against a bad review, is almost certainly a bad idea though IMO (and that's the gist of the original comment too).

[@gray_mara]

Authors often avoid goodreads because it _hurts_. It's better for our mental health not to see someone rip our work to shreds. It makes it harder to write the next book. Professionals have better uses for their time. Readers need a space to vent. Authors can view that or not, as they choose, but they should know what they're getting in for.

[@danielleoliver1734]

Even worse than writing a continuation series out of nowhere is when authors spend the final book in a trilogy or whatever it is setting up their new spin off instead of giving a satisfying end to the story where leaving. I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I really feel that way about the third Shades of magic book

[@saramm3765]

I feel like A Curse for True Love is guilty of this.

[@danielleoliver1734]

@@saramm3765 no, I haven’t gotten to that yet 🥺

[@gabrielleduplessis7388]

I think it is possible to do both, but it has to make sense without it meandering on. So with you there.

[@wallacejames221]

Bro the end of the Dreamers trilogy by Maggie S. Should have been the end of the Raven Boys but instead it's a setup book. It's so bullshit.

[@cristinbruggeman9600]

Same! I'm not continuing the series because Schwab's failure to answer the questions introduced in book 1 felt like such a money grab. When an author introduces questions in the story, they're making a promise to the reader that those questions will be answered by the conclusion. It made me so mad when Kell was holding the paper in his hand with the truth about where he came from and he threw it in the sea. That was so out of character, and only put there to try and manipulate readers into buying the next series.

[@Bings89]

I'm one of those readers where length of books don't matter at all. 300 pages, cool. 900 pages also cool. As long as it keeps my attention and is all valid to the story I don't mind one bit. Mindless faffing about and going in circles then I would say some cutting to the page count might be in order.

[@corvuscorone7735]

This! If I love a book, and it is captivating, it can be as long as it likes. Gratuitous wordcount, however, just making it longer for the sake of it being longer, is a sure way to mess up a book. Diana Wynne Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy had about 460 pages IIRC, it flows with so much ease and I love it so much that I am always left feleling it is not long enough, there is so much more she could have put in and written about.

[@sentient.ball.of.stardust]

Oh i recently became aware of a pet peeve of mine! Skirting swear words while still making it clear what it was meant to be. Like forking, aspholes and the like. You either own it or you don't. In contrast i love when authors actually come up with unique curse words relevant to their worldbuilding. Nothing comes close to light! or storms! or mother's milk in a cup! 😅

[@hyenaedits3460]

I just read a book where the mc's father was revealed to be literally breeding his wife and raising the children for cattle but the mc can't say "fuck" it's always replaced with "frick." The double standards are insane.

[@als3022]

I wish people would bring back swear words. They are much more inventive than current ones and there are more of them. With a myriad of different meanings.

[@MrWepx-hy6sn]

this, own the swearing if you have it, unless you are using some weird Conlang and you get the point across but if not, just swear like a normal person

[@arlissbunny]

For me, I hate the phrase “authors coming into the space.” It doesn’t make any logical sense to me. Authors ARE readers, usually BIG readers, and they have been “in the space” since the very beginning of the space. What authors should absolutely not do is respond to reviews unless specifically invited. Reviewers, unless authors specifically avoid seeing reviews of their books, which is not always possible because how do they know what will be in your wrap up, they are likely to see your review. You just don’t hear about it because 99.9% of them are polite, rational human beings and they don’t say anything. Those that do deserve all the scorn they receive. But, regardless, the “space” belongs to everyone and I think the exclusionary language needs to be banished forever. Anyway, that’s a pet peeve of mine. I know not everyone sees it the sand way.

[@NoelleTakestheSky]

What authors should avoid is being rude or argumentative. If an author wants to interact kindly, that’s fine. It’s exceptionally entitled of readers to want the fruit of an author’s labor, then to lock authors out. Authors are literally the reason those spaces can exist. No, not readers. What would readers read without someone writing that they read?

[@artnunymiss2530]

@@toffeestrange7706 I'm a writer, and I review tons of books. But I never respond to any reviews of my books. It's kind of like those mom and pop restaurants where they hover over you while you're trying to eat. I like to give people space to have their experience without me butting in.

[@vermillion.dynamo]

Authors are readers (maybe) of other people’s works, but reviews on an individual authors are work are not typically speaking to or asking for feedback from the author. Reviews and reviewers are engaging other consumers on whether or not to spend their money on a finished product. Authors don’t gain much in the way of insight from lurking in the reviews of their own works (because it varies so much and is so subjective that no adequate consensus on what could or should be changed could ever feasibly be reached), so there’s no reason for them to be there.

[@ahuman5772]

I've noticed that critics are the most cowardly people on the planet. They want to review and criticise but no one is allowed to critique their critique or review their review. People even get upset when someone says "no thanks, I like it the way it is" to their critiques because that's "not being able to take criticism on board". If you review a book, and if you leave a rude and scathing review, then maybe consider that the author doesn't have to sit there and take it lmao. Consumers of other people's art are so lazy and entitled. Literally just write your own book then. Authors aren't somehow priviledged for providing you with books.

[@ahuman5772]

@@vermillion.dynamo I've read reviews for other people's books (I am not a published author) and half the time the reviews are from people with no reading comprehension leaving the dumbest reviews. I think it's fine to leave whatever review you want, but at the same time I am not sure if it's that helpful for consumers when some popular reviewer makes a dumb comment and everyone goes and review-bombs the book. I don't see why an author wouldn't be able to address something like that. It's not like you as a reader have to believe what the author says about their own book, I don't think they should leave the replies to reviews anonymously so you know to take it with a grain of salt.

[@prpunkskater1]

Authors need to stop using minority languages/languages that they are not familiar with, WITHOUT AN ONCE OF RESEARCH, and butcher them in their books just to have something different. i.e. Rebeca Yarros in 4th wing..... I've seen native speakers of Gaelic commenting on an interview she did where she got the pronunciations super wrong 😂

[@BooksToAshes]

I feel like it can’t be THAT hard to speak with a single native speaker to learn dialogue and or pronunciation. 🤣 Like I’m writing a fantasy series, I have a character who is half Korean and another who is half Indian. I already know how to somewhat write and read Korean from studying it but since I don’t know Hindi I’m studying the Devanagari script. It’s the least I can do to learn the “alphabet” at least of a language in order to learn pronunciation

[@alimansoor5580]

​@@BooksToAshesWhaat? Why do you need to learn the alphabet of Hindi, can't you just learn how they speak and use that kind of style in your book? That sounds like a waste of time, you can use that to develop your plot, characters, and world.

[@CufflinksAndChuckles]

I’m a gamer and they kinda screwed up the Spanish language in Spider-Man 2 in an attempt to be more inclusive. I love the LGBTQ community as a cis man myself. But what happened in the game was that they made Spanish gender neutral in the game even though Spanish is a gendered language (it has male and female suffixes), to the point that it breaks grammar multiple times. Ironically, they colonized the Spanish language in an attempt to try and honour everyone. In my opinion, if an author wants to be more inclusive and empowering, they should go to those communities and ask them “what do you think will make your [insert community] feel empowered in a book?” Communication and research is key if you want to honour the cultures and historical plight of different people groups.

[@AMAR9933]

Uff, yes. So many Greek myth-adjacent books (or just book set in Greece), use the language and I always find big mistakes.

[@prpunkskater1]

@@BooksToAshes Also finding native speakers to be your beta readers can't be that hard!!

[@EotuaDawnwalker]

On the “everyone must be paired up” thing, this is why I just want more ace characters. No attraction? No problem!

[@NoelleTakestheSky]

A character doesn’t even have to be ace to not be paired up by the end of a book. It’s not like partnered or ace are the only options.

[@ellerykovacs9261]

Ace people can still have romantic attraction

[@arabelleproductions3682]

@@ellerykovacs9261 yea I think they’re confusing it with acearo. Ace can have romantic attraction and relationships, whilst aro can have sexual attraction and relationships, acearo is void of both

[@mousegrey6747]

This is why one of my all time favourite series is twisted luck by Mel Todd- urban fantasy and our MC is ace/aro without that being a plot point.

[@puppydogs68]

I want aroace or at least ace rep too! But furthermore, even if a character isn’t aroace, the “everyone is paired up” trope bugs me a lot…with so many relationships it draws attention off the main couple and I don’t like the addition of that much romance. :/

[@erethesun]

I'm self-published and have the final say on my covers. They say "Book _____" on the front and have the number on the spine too, haha. I've been tricked too many times by books that weren't clearly labeled as part of a series/what order to read them in, so it was non-negotiable for me.

[@kohakuaiko]

I love you (as an author who understands what book people want).

[@erethesun]

@@kohakuaiko haha thank you! ❤ It is such an easy thing to do and eliminates so much confusion and frustration for readers. I can kiiiinda see why trad pubbed books may lack them, like if something was planned as a standalone or the author was only signed for one book, but for indies or authors who know a book is part of a series, it just feels deceptive not to clarify.

[@Andrea-id3pn]

With the last point about completely changing tropes, in one of Sanderson’s writing lectures (worldbuilding p2 I believe) he brought this up and what he said really made sense: that if you change a well known trope, creature etc., you have to keep reminding the reader that your version is different, and by that point you should just create something new. I feel like it would be better if when authors say, want to make a unique vampire, they change the name and so people can recognise that they’re inspired by vampires, but not have to remind themselves why these ones are different

[@lestatsluv317]

By that logic, though, Anne Rice never would've written vampire novels.... That is a world I would never want to live in. Although if we stopped the concept of vampires directly after Anne wrote The Vampire Lestat, we could finally admit, as a society, that whatever it was Stephanie Myers wrote, it was NOT vampire books. 😂

[@OrcaneVault]

For page length Less than 800: Man that’s crazy but amazing audio book value.

[@sentient.ball.of.stardust]

I mainly listen to audiobooks and if it's under 20 hrs it doesn't really interest me, unless it's like a novella in a series i already love.

[@Milovatsi]

>900 Sarah j maas

[@monster-enthusiast]

Nahhh 350 is basically my cap. But I do prefer a series over a standalone. I like a long story but I want breathing room.

[@Blazingstoke]

>1000 Who are you, Stephen King?

[@probablyjinxed]

not reading allat but i’ll listen to somebody else reading allat 👍

[@misty306]

What you said about publishers "withholding" books due to a potential "lack of interest" from readers is very valid. P. Djeli Clark's debut YA/MG novel, "Abeni's Song," was written 4-5 years ago. Once magic schools and/or BIPOC characters who are students became "trendy" again, both the author and the publisher agreed to have the book published this year.

[@katgreer6113]

weird that things like being a POC is a trend these days. very weird.

[@Saidaes]

One of my latest peeves is writers making every other book a series. Sometimes we just want to read a good stand alone, not a lifetime commitment in every book.

[@arawin25]

I was just thinking this the other day!

[@TulilaSalome]

It used to be everything's a trilogy, that was annoying already, when you are just looking for one book to read. Now you don't even know how may books you are committing to, if you want to know how it 'ends'. Then the author starts a new series with the same character, who already was set to pasture...

[@Saidaes]

@@TulilaSalome right??? So annoying!!!

[@camila1925]

As a writer, I base this solely on my story structures, eg my main draft rn will be a trilogy with a single spin-off, there’s a one book only dystopia and a duology on the way as well (they all belong to the same universe), but I totally agree writers shouldn’t take a plot that’s worth a single book and make it three

[@Saidaes]

@@camila1925 that’s great…sometimes… Then again, as readers we sometimes want JUST that one good book that satisfies all the current reading needs :). I sometimes don’t read a certain book just because I see it’s number xxx in a series and I’m just not always in the mood for the commitment then.

[@hollym7878]

Regarding books over 350 pages: I lovingly blame reading the entire Wheel of Time series for permanently altering my perception of book sizes. I now consider 350 pages to be the upper limit of a "small" book. Some books need to be large, and some books are fantastic as shorter stories. It all depends on the writing!

[@monster-enthusiast]

I think it's about stopping when it's appropriate and satisfying. I usually don't like long books, but I do like series.

[@gray_mara]

Raymond E Feist ruined my expectations of book length.

[@oliolion]

I have an amendment to make on point # 2-It's nice to have a reminder about previous books. Having just finished a 16 book series (reading back to back) It was tiresome and unneccesary reading a new summary every book. The solution: put a summary at the front of the book and label it "summary of previous book". That way readers can choose to skip it or know where it is if they want it. Everyone wins.

[@corvuscorone7735]

This. Maybe I am old, but there was a time (1980s/1990s)when every book of a series would always reiterate in the book what had happened before within the story of the new book and I HATED it. Made me go: Yes, I know, I READ it! How dumb do you think I am? And if anyone starts a series with the the wrong book, the onus is on them to figure out what happened before. Don't bore us with needless repetition. Now that can be left out because yay internet, we can read a synopsis online if we really forgot about what happened in the book before.

[@BookStuffWithIzzyK]

I have to disagree with focusing on page count. Page count is more up to the formatting and publisher. I have a first edition and a second edition of the same high/epic fantasy book. The book itself is 225,000 words (rounded to nearest thousand). First edition has smaller print and is 454 pages. Second edition is a large font and comes in at 609. For reference, Order of the Phoenix was 257k words and Stephen King’s It was 445k. Page count means nothing as far as length goes.

[@mattygroves]

A number of these boil down to, "Write with more verisimilitude," and/or "Show more realistic consequences of [violence, hardship, etc.]," and I agree 100%. On the issue of page count, I agree with the commenter. I love a nice, tight 300-400 page novel. These 800-1200-page things being published lately are so baggy and wandering, and sorely missing the stern hand of an editor.

[@spacecaptain9188]

I agree to a point. I like a longer story, but I don't consider long winded descriptions of trees, or other assides of non importance, to be part of the story. I'm pretty sure it's just filler, so they can charge more for the books, or force readers to buy a second or third book, instead of telling the whole thing at once.

[@Farmynator]

I promise as a newbie author I will never write books of 80k words and up.

[@als3022]

@@Farmynator lol I agree, I was happy when I got to 72k words and made a short novel. Sure it'll probably be longer once I get feedback and edits, but still.

[@beezlrompl]

When people create things, they're usually making it for themselves. If a writer is creatively expressing themselves and their writing happens to fall into a bunch of tropes that certain people happen to dislike.. well those people can rest assured, because that story isn't for them.

[@AccursedSun]

That's all fine and good, but that ends when the author's "personal fantasy" comes with a price tag and a waste of the reader's time. If an author writes something purely for themselves, with no intent for it to appeal to an audience... then.... why sell it or publish it anywhere? Keep it to yourself like your own personal diary. Publishing your work exposes it to the opinions and judgement of those who are either buying or commiting themselves to spending time with it, and when it feels like that money is wasted or that time is gone and they can't get it back, the excuse that "the story was just written for me (the author) anyways" just doesn't cut it.

[@MarySilva94]

but they sell their product, hence, they should also think about their readers.

[@Artbyhurricanyounot]

Nothing makes my eyes roll harder than bat-winged fae/fey. I got beef with Sarah Janet Maas 🤣 I saw an artist who drew all her love interests and they were all the same exact base but different hair styles and eye color. Infuriating. I am begging Sarah to make her men look different and I am begging artists to learn how to use references to add variation to their character drawings PLEASE

[@DogWalkerBill]

One of the tropes I hate the most, I call the "Let's Not Tell Barry" trope, because it was constantly used on the CW Flash. At the beginning of a season, Iris West gets kidnapped by an evil super villain. Step-father Joe West says, "Let's not tell Barry. He'll get upset." So nobody tells Barry and we spend the rest of the season with Barry wondering and emoting about "Why did Iris leave me?" And Iris wondering, "Why doesn't the Flash come and rescue me?" Around episode 20, a side character tells Barry/Flash, "Oh yeah. The bad guy kidnapped Iris in episode 3!" And the Flash rescues Iris in a . . .flash. This is totally fake conflict! It seems this trope may be common in romance novels.

[@scloftin8861]

There is also that trends are fleeting. If you're writing a book now, trying to fit in a current trend is not necessarily going to be functional two years from now. Write the story you want to write and then see if there's a market ... I tend to read outside of trends ... (Vampires are always in style, depending on what you do with them. )

[@robertmcelfresh1031]

Here is what I suspect happens: Author writes a book. Sends it to a publisher who has a proof-reader. The author gets notes about sections of the book are slow, no drama, no action. So they add in a shooting chapter/scene. But this is inconsistent with the rest of the book. Or authors are told to 'make some character more relatable/sympathetic' so a chapter is added exposing some child hood tragedy that does not matter, never referenced, etc., but justifies crude or bad behavior. New authors are so eager to please that they just do whatever the editor told them.

[@Ashbrash1998]

I feel like this happens SO MUCH in writing in general. Like for movies or shows. Like you have to hope that the person with the decision making knows what they're doing.

[@Farmynator]

I promise I won't sell my newbie author soul to the publishers.

[@katgreer6113]

I don't blame them though...they finally have a chance to be published so they'll do anything.

[@LilyUnicorn]

​@@Farmynatoroh dear. You will. Trust me

[@timefliesaway999]

Idk about your country but my country has a “law” that publishers aren’t allowed to add anything in the book without the author’s notice. They may tell them what to change but they aren’t allowed to change it themselves.

[@deriale6015]

I’m new to your channel, but I so appreciate your kindness toward so many topics. That isn’t easy to find in this area of KZbin. You convey your opinion very well, but in a mature non-judgmental way. I love that you understand that books are so subjective. This channel reminds me of listening to book discourse in college English classes. Love it!

[@AngHemenway]

I'm so glad I found this video. 🥰 As a writer you can get caught in an echo chamber of listening to only other industry professionals, rather than the audience. This reminded me of why it's so important to listen to the people who actually matter.

[@ALL-jq2cn]

I always hate when one character is hiding info about another character for the longest time and swears they will tell the other guy in the future only for a outside party (most of the time villian) to tell.

[@fabulous4501]

I think the first point is not so much about realism but feeling like there is something that could actually be lost. If someone gets hurt but it doens't actually have an impact it feels like the main characters are invisible which can take alot of the thrill and tension out of the stories. I had this a lot with the first book out of the good girls guide to murder series but she fixes this is the next 2 books of the series where it feels like there is alot more at risk :)

[@mattiOTX]

I kinda of cheesed this by making accelerated healing a natural part of the world. It has actual consequences though and to much damage is going to need tome to heal. I dont want to spend 8 months of in story time healing a character especially since my time frames are pretty big anyway since we are dealing with a lot of immortals and long lived beings.

[@zivmontenegro8303]

Writer here, its hard to write books we love because some authors write based on agents' wishlists or an editors' wishlist. Some of our creative liberty aee taken away for the sake of the market. Bigger publishers are the ones who decide which changes are made or which books should be written, and our creativity is taken away to chase the market.

[@RPumpkinQueen]

Funny to see this video. I used to be a bestselling author (horror) and am currently turned down by publishers because I don't have all these tropes mentioned in the video. I'm self-publishing now since I still love to share my stories. Good to know there are still readers out there who like unique and surprising stories.

[@heatherbradford6900]

Sarcastic characters in the face of serious and world shifting odds...so...Australian. No, it's amazing to see those characters because these people exist. The worse things get the more many of us Australians utilise sarcasm and quips, it's our way of coping.

[@thewritestuffofficial]

I love that readers want more variety in the kinds of stories they read, but the problem (at least for indie authors) is getting that story in front of people and getting people to even give you the time of day. Then you have authors who can’t afford expert-level covers which further ensures people won’t give you a chance. I don’t know…it’s really a conundrum.

[@robertblume2951]

Have you tried Royal Road?

[@thewritestuffofficial]

@@robertblume2951 I’ve looked a little but I need to dive further in.

[@mattamant915]

I've seen authors screenshot a negative review and use it in an ad to promote their book. I love it when they do that 😂

[@YasmeenKhan]

Jay Kristoff! a serial offender of the 'person becomes incredibly strong and fit while being fed only acorns and dust and being beaten up all day" thing too

[@vvitch-mist20]

I actually really like that lol. It's like "Yes. Look! Come read my story, it's a dumpster fire"

[@cerebrumexcrement]

not me. it just shows theyre egotistical.

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

I like it if they do that when it's clear they're just recognizing that the very thing that negative review disliked is also the very thing that other readers might like-so they clearly just have a good head on their shoulders about the fact that likes and dislikes are all subjective anyway. (If that makes sense. ^-^)

[@vvitch-mist20]

@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 Some dislikes are warrented but it depends if someone understands what goes into writing or if they are just a reader.

[@QManagerin]

"Modern-day-speak" in a fantasy medieval type setting- please stop! I don't need it to be super formal but if you use words that weren't even known 10 years ago it really takes me out of the story. Also, unpronounceable names, or real-world names just spelled in a funny way. Regarding the eye and hair color...yes! Also, the Targaryen silver hair seems to be popular lately. So many MC's with silver hair, or a sliver streak or tips or whatever. I roll my eyes so hard reading it.

[@Zivilin]

For curse words i'd love to see the author get creative and invent words that fit their fantasy setting instead of using modern day words.

[@twntwn11]

The main character with the violet eyes because they are ✨️special✨️

[@kbird6208]

Not to mention a lot of modern day language that sticks out will sound dated fairly quickly. Then it really stands out.

[@Mermer-16]

Yes! Thank you! I agree with all of these, but the one that irks me the most is modern-day language in a historical/fantasy historical setting. In a comedy or a one-of-a-kind world, fine. But I wish more writers (and editors!) would be just a bit more careful and not have their knights running around saying 'Ok!' and such.

[@sawanna508]

But sometimes it is hard to avoid somekind of description that is populare at the moment. Like violet eyes for example. I don't know any recently written fantasy noble with a charakter who has violet eyes but I invented a main charakter with violet eyes (In my fantasy world violet/purple is not a rare color). It is similar with amber. I invented a male character with amber eyes and about a year later I came across all kind of Fantasy books that mentioned an amber eyed man in the summary. Same with green eyes for women (although my charakters never have emerald green eyes.) Not everyone follows a trend on purpose and should I really be forced to change things because some did set on a trend I didn't even know about?

[@intersexcryptid]

What always gets me is when writers write people being out in the woods but have clearly never been outside a city their whole life. I can always tell. Like I'm always just like no. They'd be dead by now. 😁

[@MaximilianReyCartwright]

I dropped Vinland Saga because I couldn't buy Thorfinn surviving that first night solo in the woods. All kinds of stories do this. It's about as bad as how guns are portrayed by Hollywood.

[@kiranicole7445]

The page number one is likely from a romance reader. Majority of what I read is spicy romances and this is a common pet peeve in the romance space. I know for me the romance books can be longer than 300 but shouldn’t go past 400. I think a lot of it goes down to editing like you said. For example I have read a self published romance book that was 450 pages but I had to stop 40% in because it was getting repetitive and nothing had happened! All the reviews I read people were beginning for harder cuts and edits. Now I’ve started to dabble in fantasy where the average word count is typically higher. I started the ASOIF series knowing that some of the books were 1000+ pages which is why I’m doing the audiobooks. Let me tell you it was great to dive into a story that wasn’t really centered around tropes which made it easier to consume a larger word count book. I think that promoting books by trope & quote can work if the book is shorter but can make books feel dragged out. I read fourth wing because of trope marketing. It was fun but I struggled to get through it at times.

[@sapphiresquire]

I love the point about not pairing everybody up. I do also love when everybody gets there person. 😂 My series I'm currently working on has a lot of themes surrounding love; a good portion of it is romantic, but also familial/found family/platonic/self/etc. The intention is to showcase different types + being married doesn’t mean you're in love and vice versa kind of stuff. For one of the characters romance will not be a thing, his story is about falling in love with his people/home after being away for a long time. I'm very excited about it.

[@zodlord5669]

I wish authortubes would stop giving out advice when their works sucks or they don't take the same advice

[@NoelleTakestheSky]

I gave up on Jenna Morecci a long time ago. She’s the worst.

[@footh1013]

​@jacquelinedavis9948nothing controversial I don't think, she just writes books that a lot of people hate. Like the OP said, Jenna just doesn't really seem to take her own advice into her own writing.

[@Barjavelle131]

Ikr I just can't help but not be able to relate to writertoks and writers advices, stuff like that, bc people treat writing as it's something that everybody can do WELL without training, I'm sorry but most people's books are crap (though they may become good eventually!) it's no wonder publishers accept so few manuscripts, I even feel like even published stuff, lots of it should not have reached that stage. Therefore, I'm very skeptical about people who look like they've figured everything right about writing. The only writertubers I really listen to are Shaelin Bishop (Shaelinwrites) and Rach Lachmansing (Rachelwrites) with a few others obv, but ofc it depends on how you view writing yourself, I think for plotters/planners Abbie Emmons can be good but I don’t relate to her writing philosophy that much

[@obinnaiwudike7644]

@@Barjavelle131 how do you feel about K M Weiland. From the helping writers become authors podcast

[@CamAdajar]

Brutal honesty shouldn't be an excuse to be mean/rude.

[@Rhendali]

I feel the exact opposite on point 2. It annoys me far more than it should when I get a recap of previous events in the sequel. I always skim to the end of the recap all grumbly. But oh boy do I agree with the point about just writing the same character over and over again just with a different name and job. I also immediately go to sjm because Aelin/Bryce/Feyre all seem like nearly the same character.

[@giants8585]

Well thats the good thing about it. You dont have to read it. You can literally skip straight to the book lol. So no need to feel annoyed especially considering how rare it is.

[@Rhendali]

1. It’s my opinion. You can dissent but I still don’t like recaps. 2. I clearly stated that I don’t read recaps when I run into them. 3. The books I’ve read that have recaps weren’t some chapter prior to the beginning of the book. It was worked into the early chapters so it wasn’t just an easily skipped section with a clear start and finish. 4. I still don’t like recaps and will continue to be annoyed when I run into them. And that’s okay.

[@giants8585]

@@Rhendali 👍🏼

[@valentinaembers5713]

Not me taking notes on which books she has on her back wall and putting them on my to-read list

[@spacecaptain9188]

I wish one whole book was one whole story. I'd love to come back to the universe, or the characters later, for a whole new story, but I don't want to wait half a decade for the end of a single story, and get fed endless pages of descriptions of a fence or something in between actual plot.

[@mzcyberbat]

9.13 honestly its the publishers that push trends. Some authors don't get a chance because the book subject is unpopular.

[@Laf631]

The ending resolution thing is interesting, because there's a careful balance between a rushed ending and one where the author cannot shut tf up and let it end. It's also disappointing when the ending has occurred, and you see there's still a huge chunk of book to go, for no particular reason. The author is just meandering at that point.

[@majkus]

There was an author of juvenile sports novels ca. 1900-1930 (Barbour), most of whose books are available on Project Gutenberg. It is interesting to look at how his writing changed. In the early days, the hero would score the winning touchdown, and there would be a big celebration, and he would be named team captain for next year, and maybe some other plot element would be closed. By 1920, most of the time, the hero would score the winning touchdown in the last page of the book, sometimes discovering in the last sentence that he'd crossed the goal line. How long should a story's denouement be? There is no formula. But I suspect that 'too long' is worse than 'too short', and probably more common.

[@andeeharry]

13:57 I see it a lot lately in groups. They make posts about how mean people are, as it is causing bad towards thier mental health, or people tagging them in reviews. The review second is for customers, not authors, That place is a wild west, it isn't going to be pretty

[@YasmeenKhan]

not me reading the Last Wish then getting halfway through Blood of elves before realising that I'd missed out a whole book... ETA at least people tell Geralt he needs a bath all the time! The trend thing is surely on publishers too: going "Oh look, there are no books out that aren't fairy tale retellings or Greek myth feminist retellings. Clearly no one wants anything else. Let's find more of those." At this point, it's like, "it's a Cinderella retelling" is original because hey, at least it's not Beauty and the Beast AGAIN. and we all know the YA "Daughter/Children/Crown/City of Shadow/Jade/Bones/Wrath and Thorns/Blood/Gold/Serpents" interchangeable titles and it does just make you think all books are the same. I saw a book the other day called something like A Court so Dark and Thorny or something and it's just like, are you not embarrassed to be so obviously doing what you're doing? ETA again re tropes: again this is publishers, but the fact that books are now described by their tropes (eg: this is a dark fae academia rivals to lovers forbidden romance) is SO annoying. Those things don't tell me whether it's a book for me. It comes imho from the Kindle Unlimited catering to ultra specific tastes thing - publishers think that readers will read anything if it's eg fake dating, and won't read anything that isn't, etc, but fake dating could happen in literally any style or genre of book. It's just unnecessarily limiting and unhelpful. I think.

[@gray_mara]

It is annoying, but it sells. I did an experiment with my books, and renaming one to A Something of Something more than doubled sales. Adding tropes further increased visibility, because like it or not, every market is about SEO now.

[@Rachlemm]

I love SJM but I WISH she’d be comfortable with killing off more characters. I get some of them are strong and probably centuries old, but at this point it’s just luck and convenience that’s getting them by 😂

[@unpractisedpoet]

i agree! the stories never seem to have any stakes if they just get brought back to life once they're dead...

[@soniciris]

The repeated character thing is definitely something I've noticed in Timothy Zahn's books. He's one of my favorite sci-fi authors of all time, but his genius is mostly in his plots and concepts. His characters are mostly the same few archetypes repeated with fine-tuning based on the story. There's nothing wrong with them they're fine serviceable characters, but I do often read a new book from him and go like..."aaaah yes, female character who's a tough jaded survivor, there she is"

[@eowynsisterdaughter]

Love him as well! Though one the things I'll get distracted by if I read too many of his books in a row is how he often likes to do the red herring plot twist before the actual plot twist, or at least more significant plot twist. Greatly enjoy his work, but certainly find myself anticipating certain plot points when I don't mix up the authors I'm reading.

[@BellydancerMaliha]

C.J. Cherryh is like this too, where in every single book she’ll have a strong-willed, emotionally unavailable female protagonist and a more emotionally-sensitive male sidekick. In *every* single book, without fail.

[@soniciris]

@@BellydancerMaliha wait who's the 'emotionally-sensitive male sidekick' in the Pride of Chanur ;aslkfgha;g

[@BellydancerMaliha]

@@soniciris Hahaha, oops, that’s one of her books i haven’t read. Those two characters are in every one of her Union-Alliance novels.

[@kbird6208]

I'm not a big fantasy reader but I have always questioned in fantasy or historical books and movies why people rarely have greasy hair or smell or other consequences from not showering daily 😅

[@gracie9658]

People throughout history were clean, just in different ways. You don't need to "shower" daily to be clean, just washing with a cloth and soap. People had ways to keep their hair clean, such as washing of course, but also pomade and powdering, brushing with a wooden comb, wearing linen caps to absorb oils and sweat. The same goes fo clothing. Usually in fantasy books the only smelly people are the weird or old men who live on the street, and the villains have dirty hair.

[@kbird6208]

@@gracie9658 In daily life, sure, but people off on dangerous quests or in the midst of battle still tend to have rather nice hair

[@gracie9658]

@@kbird6208 That's very true, but movies are not supposed to be realistic I suppose.

[@macrosense]

It is for the movie or tv show

[@kbird6208]

I understand why they do it, I just think it's silly

[@e_intelligence2487]

I just saw the thumbnail and as someone who has written fanfic I think that a lot of my fics have had the “everyone must be paired up with someone” trope and that’s probably bc that trope was in a lot of the media I consumed.

[@fantastical-whimsical5937]

I still need to watch the rest of the video, but I think just from the title it should be made clear that its not the Writers fault EDITORS and AGENTS are looking for only trends and the distorted copies we get now, there are PLENTY of hopeful writers (me included) who are trying to get our stories out there, but if it looks like there is no market, the people with the actual power will only turn to the same SJM rip-offs and ex-fanfiction.

[@Sp_Jr_ace]

“And then they rotted” 😂 made me spit out food while laughing at such a random comment.

[@thepoetesskhansaa]

15:30 I've even seen withcindy have a disclaimer at the beginning of the video if she's doing a rant review that basically says, If you are the author this video is not for you, leave now otherwise your feelings will be hurt. Because more than once in the past an author has come after her for a negative review

[@aurthurpendragon1015]

I love Lift, she's one of my favorite characters from The Storm Light Archive. And I also generally love the characters that are sarcastic even w hen they're in danger.

[@mplbooks]

I try to give at least some characters brown eyes in every book I write, just because not everyone can have blue or green eyes, and I do feel brown is underrepresented.

[@gray_mara]

My latest series is about women descended from Greek gods (in space, lol), so if in doubt, her eyes and hair are brown, with the occasional exception. But then, these are ordinary women with an extraordinary lineage, so it would be silly if they all had violet eyes and silver hair.

[@starkiller23610]

Why can’t an author respond to a critic? This point never makes sense to me. Critics literally talk about and judge other people’s work all day. Why are they exempt from the same? If anything, the critic should be FAR more open to getting a response.

[@tj3603]

I agree about smell thing, it's getting a bit ridiculous. Like why love interests walking around smelling like scented candles?

[@Axios25]

I primarily read fantasy and I really haven’t gotten in to a lot of the popular series because if a book is above the 300-500 page range I really don’t want to buy it. I’d also rather read stand-alones or loosely connected books instead of series and listen to shorter audiobooks. I’m the same way with video games though so maybe it’s just me.

[@vvitch-mist20]

Authors being in review spaces should anticipate not everyone is going to like their work no matter what they do. I do feel the angrier an author gets at bad reviews it shows they don't actually have talent. Authors who have actual talent don't worry if people will hate their work.

[@scloftin8861]

while bad reviews are annoying, they're also learning opportunities. also, you cannot please every reader out there. Just accept what they say and move on.

[@vvitch-mist20]

@@scloftin8861 Exactly. It should be seen as a learning opportunity. Take what you can ignore what you can't.

[@cbpd89]

I know lots of artists have imposter syndrome, so I don't think I agree that talented authors should just intrinsically know their value. BUT I also think that artists need to know themselves well enough to know when and if they can handle hearing criticism. If you can't today, of you aren't ready for it, then don't read the reviews. I know lots of authors who have people screen their fan mail/emails so that they only read the critical ones when they are in the right head space to benefit from the criticism.

[@vvitch-mist20]

@@cbpd89 I have imposter syndrome so I understand that, but I still know on a technical level that I have talent as a writer. It's called imposter syndrome for a reason lol. Authors who get upset at negative reviews genuinely think their work is The Best, even if it's barely worthy of being called a first draft, like Fourth Wing.

[@eilindene]

I don't think that's necessarily true. Having writing talent doesn't mean you're emotionally mature. Responding to angry reviews just shows the authors have low confidence, self-control or anger issues etc

[@lydia2292]

Loooools 😂 I’m screaming at “I don’t know what you wiped with” That point is soooo true. Y’all need a shower for real!

[@Sue-pn7mq]

You briefly addressed something I’d like to see. Edit until a story is ready instead of when someone feels it’s edited enough. So many stories could be amazing, but are not there yet.

[@alicehaslonghair]

An Enchantment of Ravens is my favorite book 👀 I feel like they do have some similarities, but by and large, An Enchantment of Ravens feels like its own thing to me. A Sorcery of Thorns is such an original concept as well. I just love Margaret Rogerson and wish she had more published books!

[@TheREALSimagination]

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU have the shirt with the coolest character. I'd have really appreciated a title card or a "No. X" with each entry for easier rediscovery. Question: how are authors gonna be aware of any criticism if they're not following relevant forums? Growling doesn't really mean what animals do when we use it in writing. It's just a specific way of screaming or shouting. Regarding the vampire example being applieed to literally any other trope: it's more about the execution and wgat you do with the trope than what the trope is, I find.

[@joeystett]

Amen on the reminder/synopsis for previous books in a series. Great video!

[@J.R.Carrel]

As an author we definitely are reading reviews but in no way will I criticize a reviewer

[@Farmynator]

What book are you working on fellow writer?

[@astevenswrites]

As a writer, this is gold. Thanks for putting this together!

[@psyraven76]

I feel really called out now because I would TOTALLY be the person making sarcastic quips during an alien invasion... 😂 It's my default reaction to any anxiety-inducing situation.

[@paulgibbon5991]

The thing is, some people do that. And that's okay in reality, because you're probably not like that all the time, and you'll stop quipping when things are really serious (like say, your best friend gets disintegrated). And people around you might find that humour inappropriate or annoying. Too often in fiction, quipping comes across as the writer being afraid to be sincere and preemptively poking fun at their own story before anyone else can do it.

[@Farmynator]

You'll probably like my new work.

[@Zivilin]

19:50 As someone that reads a lot of fantasy books 350-450 pages seems to me the average length. I have a lot of books around that. More than the mammoth books that you find in the epic fantasy sub-genre.

[@lk_3099]

I'm now realizing how a lot of these suggestions won't fit with my world since 99.999999% of my characters are either dragons, gryphons or anthropomorphic races.

[@Iso20227]

2:15 I like this one. I’ve been asked if I’ve experienced a lot of injuries in my life because of the way I describe the pain of different injuries. I haven’t had many severe injuries, but many, many small ones that give me a good grasp of what a bigger injury would feel like. Blunt trauma throbs External wounds sting Internal injuries ache until aggravated, and then they ache x50. Severe head trauma feels like a swarm of bees in your brain for a short while, then it starts to grow in intensity until it starts feeling like a hollow throbbing, then it starts aching, and then you want to die. (Felt that one personally.) Basically, no one noticed that I didn’t do much research. Sometimes I have to look things up, just to get a general sense of the type of pain. Like the pain for getting shot feels like getting punched. All of the wind gets knocked out of you and it aches like you just got punched, then it increases in intensity as your brain comprehends that the point of injury isn’t getting better. Getting stabbed feels much better. It feels like getting punched, but it doesn’t immediately hurt like a bullet would. It just feels like you got punched. You can get stabbed and not notice that you got stabbed, that’s how normal it feels. And then your brain will pick up on the feeling that something isn’t right, and it’ll start to sting and ache. But in the end, I kind of just understand how the vast majority of injuries would feel.

[@Milamasylum83]

I want a long thick story that takes me in and I get absorbed into the lore of that world. Murtagh is coming and it's not going to be long enough...

[@jodydiou]

24:05 OMG 😅I don't know what you wiped with!!!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@sarahgaither3626]

Using the advice in this video to work on my book idea. I hope a ton of writers see this.

[@oliviaelderberry9423]

I've done the opposite. Had brown haired characters as not book smart or blond haired characters as not popular and crushed on.

[@nottellin_]

I, as an author, am loving this comment section. Will definitely take these into consideration while working on my current project.

[@christaspirit]

17:52 I'm thinking over to my current WIP, and the main character has brown hair (she's a bit of an engineer and really into robotics, introverted, and struggles to make friends), a different character has brown hair (she's sorta wild, compassionate but hyperactive, and into photography), and the actual bookish character is a dirty-blond. Although, maybe it has to do with me not being a brunette, so I don't have a hang-up about writing them. The characters are also pretty young (12-13), so them being pretty is really not a priority whatsoever. So I guess some of us do still write brunettes, but I think it's a fair point that they don't get written as often

[@VoidOffLine]

I have like zero clue why but this is motivating me to continue writing something I haven’t in a while. I say no clue because I’ve watched (or Ig rather listened) to a lot of video similar to this as in just videos about writing or reading

[@VoidOffLine]

Ah I think I know now. And it has to do with what was said at the very end. This video *does* just feel like a conversation you might have with a friend or someone you know. And I think that domestic vibe that a lot of other similar videos lack is what’s motivating me

[@twosometwosome3698]

Continuing series is not always the choice of the author. In traditional publishing some authors are forces into continuing something they are done with. Classic examples are L. Frank Baum who tried walling off Oz repeatedly only to have fans point out how he could get back or Arthur Conan Doyle killing off Sherlock Holmes so he could move on and was forced to bring him back from the dead. Glen Cook had to write books in obe series when he wanted to work on others.

[@dorkphoenixrising]

The numbering cracks me up, my Maze Runner books are numbered on the spine but they go 1, 2, 3, Prequel, 5. So while I like the numbering, prequels seem to be rising in popularity so would these continue in number order, or go back to a .5 maybe (if set between previously published books)

[@FrshChees91]

Branching off of the eye color thing. There's so many characters with gray eyes.

[@jakublicak1804]

I just found your channel in the recommended and spotted Vinland Saga on the shelves. Instantly subscribed

[@Sportsgirl128]

Yes!! The using a period after every word was one of the main reasons i didn't want to physically read Fourth Wing... I opted for the audio book so that her writing wouldnt be as distracting.

[@spacecaptain9188]

Him: I'm gonna sneak into your room, and maybe kill you! Her: I'm in love with you! I trust you! Me: WTF???

[@mishelly]

Lmao yes hair color stereotypes 🤣. Crazy! And eye color. I dont get how they can see a characters eye color from any farther distance than like a foot away. And I guess it’s symbolic eyes are windows to the soul but the descriptions make me roll my eyes . Yes the smells make NO sense!!! I think it’s okay to have a smell like “floral perfume” “ or lotion”. Yes the outdoors an appropriate scent without being gross is like dirt smell of idk sweat but sweat is stinky maybe “musky” would work.

[@jaceaaron2669]

An affirmation for me, I've been playing around with drastically changing writing styles between POVs. One from a religious fanatic, the other a drunkard. Third person and I've been deliberately trying to have completely different vibes when you read from them. One friend of mine loves it, the other hates it. I'm glad to realize there are people out there who do enjoy it despite how polarizing it may be. I feel as though it has been a helpful exercise to push my own personal boundaries in writing.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

With Television show/movie franchises there's a lot shipping. Disney sequels do a lot of Fakeout deaths I've noticed. Yeah SJM does that where characters are the same person, though I I like one version of that character in one book series, but not the version in the other.

[@nikkihall7994]

I'm the exact opposite in regards to smell descriptions! But then, I'm sensitive to smell and Iike knowing the different notes in fragrances and candles. The more fanciful the description, the better for me. 😂

[@saramm3765]

Same here! It's a fun detail for super smellers.

[@tinyprettymoon]

Scent descriptions are the best. I get more annoyed by “the smell of her perfume” because there’s nothing poetic or interesting about that

[@sentient.ball.of.stardust]

Same! And science kinda backs it up, compatible partners love eachother's musk, even when it's not fresh and clean, so while someone might smell like rotten cabbages to me, to their partner they might smell like fresh cut grass. And also, people don't naturally smell like the wind or snow, but fantasy creatures like fae, elves, vampires etc? They sure do.

[@DarthCompton]

This has been good to hear. I've considered putting a "previously in..." to summarize what's come before, but when I asked social media about it, I was shot down pretty hard with the idea. I thought it would be fun to add a quick refresher, but it felt like a slap to the face when I dared to ask if others liked the idea. Hearing that suggested here makes me consider the idea again and my start plugging it into book 3 of my Graveslinger series (too late for book 2). Also, my MC Fiya (rhymes with "high-yuh") is brown haired, brown eyed because I've actually heard of this demand from readers before. I think everything here sounds pretty reasonable, and reminds me I should probably add a little more at the end of my 3rd book because it does wrap things up a little too quick, lol.

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

Yes, I want a number on the spine!!!!

[@shinonomecitrus]

on brief recaps: i'm sure i'd like a foreword of sorts before the story begins on what happened in the previous book, one that new readers can look through, but avid followers of the series can skip. i recall that the harry potter books would have pages and pages of recap of the books from before in the first few chapters-- as a kid, that really bothered me. not every book is written for me, though. i'm content with that.

[@brockjazz8838]

Great points from the readers! I liked this video!

[@bkkhfrnks]

Maybe they meant romantasy, I find those are typically 250-350 pages. Or at least the ones I have read. And tbh, many of the 800+ page books could be cut by 200-300 pages. My least favorite read this year was “The Eye of the World” simply bc over half of the book was them running away from trollocs over….and over again. 😂

[@selinana29]

“I don’t even know what they wiped with.” Lol I love your commentary.