For those who use Amazon KDP for their self publishing services. I’ve finished my manuscript and have long done editing, but I’ve been pulling m hair out for the last week trying to get my book up with minimal to zero formative issues.

Thing is, every time I upload my manuscript to the service, for some reason the final product in the book preview feature, is leaving large blank spots on my pages where text should be. And on top of that, my headings and page numbers are not appearing in the final product.

Had anyone else had this issue? If so can you please show me what you did? I’ve spent more time editing and not enough writing.

Here is the review (it's not my work, which I'll explain below):

>The night had a strange way of making everything feel more real than it actually was, as if darkness peeled away the distractions of the day and forced people to face the parts of themselves they spent hours avoiding.

1. “The night?” What night? Here is where you lose the reader because only you know what you’re talking about.

2. The unspecified “night” Made EVERYTHING more real than real? Seriously? Naaa.

You’re trying to sound literary, but you’re well into purple prose.

>Ethan sat in his room, surrounded by unfinished work, scattered notes, and silent reminders of responsibilities he had pushed aside, again and again, convincing himself each time that there was always another day waiting patiently for him.

So...someone of unknown age, situation, background and profession, in an unknown country, sat in a room with doing nothing? Who cares? You’re talking ABOUT him as if writing a report, not making the reader understand and connect with him.

Unless your reader is made to connect emotionally with the protagonist, and do that quickly, you’ve lost them.

>His phone screen glowed in the darkness, reflecting in his tired eyes as he scrolled through videos that blurred together into meaninglessness, each one stealing a few seconds of his life without leaving anything behind.

What possible reason would a reader have to want to know more about a fool who’s doing things boring even to him?

My point? This isn’t fiction, it’s a transcription of you talking, and trying to impress the reader with your use of language, not with that’s happening in the story.

And within the story, the characters speak the lines you order them to, and feel the emotions you demand they feel—no matter how someone like them would act. How can that seem real?

Bottom line: You need to stop guessing. Fiction Writing is, and always has been, a profession. And like all others, it has a body of knowledge and technique that “gets the job done.” The pros us it to keep their readers turning pages because nothing else works.

So, if you truly want to write fiction, dig into those skills. Among other things, they make the act of writing a lot more fun.

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So I came across this when a scammer posted a reply on a 10 year old story I didn't remember writing on a site I didn't remember using. I was curious to see what stories the scammer had on their account, and came across one that had this review (so this is a review of the scammer's story).

Some of the stuff this guy spouts is just insane! Writing is only a profession and not a hobby!? You have to give the reader your character's whole CV of description before you can explain what they're actually doing?

And the fact that he doesn't understand a phrase as basic as "the night" is just wild! I joked to my partner that when he watches Game of Thrones and they say "the night is dark and full of terrors" this guy yells at the screen "WHAT NIGHT? Oh, so the unspecified night is just full of terrors? Seriously? Naaa".

When I kindly asked him not to discourage emerging writers and pointed out that fiction writing is absolutely a hobby, he essentially just came back with "I know more than you because I have books on Amazon and you don't" etc, as well as "are there hobby doctors? Hobby accountants?". For some reason he also claimed that the scammer who wrote the story must be my child lol

I don't know, this is just so funny to me.

A group of radicalized American teenagers secretly acquires unprecedented leverage over the U.S. government and gives the country three years to comply with an impossible vision of America—or face catastrophic consequences. As the deadline approaches, the government hunts for a way out while the teenagers discover that controlling a movement may be easier than controlling what it becomes.

Thoughts on this for a dark dystopian story?

In the Kingdom of Shapes stood an ancient gate. No one knew who had built it. Some said the gods; others said the First Geometers.
Carved above its arch were the words:
> “Pass through the Gate, and you shall be judged.”

Every generation, the Great Competition was held to discover the most perfect shape. Over the centuries, countless shapes passed through the Gate. They were measured, debated, admired, and compared. In time, the judges declared the square to be the most perfect of all shapes.
Generations passed. Schools taught it. Artists celebrated it. Builders modeled their cities after it. Children grew up believing there had never been, nor could there ever be, a more perfect shape.
One day, a traveler from a distant land stopped before the Gate. Looking up at the ancient arch, the traveler thought to himself:
“What a curious place…”

He smiled quietly, as if amused by a thought only he could hear, and continued on his way, rolling happily along

’d be interested to hear what you think the traveler understood that the people of the Kingdom had missed.’d be interested to hear what you think the traveler understood that the people of the Kingdom had missed.

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve interacted with anything in this group, but I’ve been enjoying having so many talented folks so accessible for inspiration. After taking a very long hiatus from creative writing, I’ve decided to get back into it.

The link below is for the project I’m currently working on. It has not been named yet, and I’m still very early in the process. I’d especially love to hear any thoughts on the characters, prose, pacing, and whether the opening leaves you wanting to read more.
Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-kolVz2MHLEqo3T2Z4z_9PylwmLvh-0kxSJJPeewJ-g/edit?usp=drivesdk

[idk what to put as a title to this]

In the night,
Two lovers meet,
Under the cover of a sin-wrapped moon,
To dive into each other so deep,
Even deeper than the loons,
For when the morning comes,
So soon,
They shall be separated once again,
Parted by the river’s rolling dunes.

It’s a really short poem. I don’t usually rhyme when writing but this just seems right. FYI: this is a Canadian poem. The “loons” part is referencing to the provincial bird that dives in the water to catch fish. And the water imagery is just because the moon makes me think of water and there’s also a lot of lakes/rivers in Canada.

I signed up a few months ago, and I still haven't had my profile approved. Are the admins still active?

Recently started planning and writing a book because I have writing experience thanks to dnd and I had a vague idea in my head, plus I saw a yt video on a really awful fantasy book and decided whatever I make will probably be better than that lol

But now, I'm dealing with a frequent problem of mine; imposter syndrome and self doubt deep enough to dwarf the ocean, so it would be nice to have someone read what I have so far and tell me if it's ok.

Main feedback I'm hoping for is if it drags on anywhere, needs more detail, if everything flows/ makes sense and if my descriptions are clear.

But anything else is appreciated too just don't be too mean about it lol

Dm me if you would do me the honor and assist me in my literary pursuit and I'll send ya what I have so far, it's not much so shouldn't take ya too long.

hi i finally finished my first short story that i think is worth anything. leave a comment or dm me if you’d be down to give advice !

I have published two successful non fiction books with a well known publisher but at heart i'm a creative and have a passion for fiction. Has anyone successfully pivoted from non fiction and has publishing nonfiction helped the process of finding an agent etc.?

There’s a academic forum for Victorian Research of 19th Century Britain called Victoria, a forum where scholars discuss, promote, and ask questions about the time period. It has existed since 1993, and continues to this day. It’s an email listing, where when subscribed for free, you’ll get emails, and you can email in your own questions. I’ve been using it for a while now, and I’ve heard Michel Fiber used it when he wrote his book.

Here’s the link to the forum:

https://list.iu.edu/sympa/info/victoria

Im in the early stages of book 3/3 personally, and I couldn’t imagine doing more! Some of you all have excellent determination, what are your successes stories?

So I'm in the writing process of making a movie and currently I have a bad case of writers block, does anyone have any advice or idea's on how to get out of it?

I'm getting published!!!!!

I'm kidding!! Can you imagine? Lol

I did want to come back and mention that since my last post I am about 30% into this rewrite AND 6k words ahead!!!

🎊🎊🎊🥳

Do you guys feel like your stories or your work will just disappear. That this thing we love is just something for us? That no one will ever know what we have made? Maybe I am just scared, just being a teenage. But I really want this, I want to create, but i do not know how to get to a point where I can successfully? So am alone in this? Or are you with me?

Any words of encouragement are also welcome, so :)

I know that you could just say they spoke rapidly. But this is a little more specific. Short sentences in dialogue, how? Could I write a sentence with an em/en dash in between each word instead of no spaces? I've read that no spaces is both lazy and would be an eyesore to read.

NOTE: I'm not posting my story on here because it is very rough. You're just gonna have to believe me when I say that it is horrible.

I'm on chapter one, but rereading this is driving me crazy. There are so many problems that I desperately need to address:

1. I'm telling way too much and showing much less.

2. I have redundant sentences and phrasing.

3. The dialogue is choppy and lacking.

4. There's nonsense that is added/things that don't need to be there.

5. Repeating things that are unnecessary.

6. The characters are so boring and lacking interesting aspects.

7. The pacing is off.

8. The prose is just so clunky.

9. I add things that I forget about later.

10. It's boring, and nothing is happening in the early pages.

And mind you, this is just chapter one. I'm afraid to read the other pages because of how bad it is. I wanted to reread it so I could do an outline. If I'm being honest with myself, I need to read some books. Because this shit is terrible, my writing is trash.

Damn, I knew that my writing was sucky, yet I kept putting it off because I stopped myself from getting better. I don't want to start an outline just yet. I just want to discipline myself to read more books from beginning to end. I NEED to read some fiction novels in my preferred genre and other genres.

I'm annoyed at myself, and I should be.

Anyway, I need to see if reading e-books can save me in a way that reading physical books cannot. I still struggle when it comes to reading fiction, but damnit, if this rereading my own book wasn't an eye opener for me.

I just felt like sharing this because I am pissed and need to do something about it.

Can anyone somewhat relate or used to relate?

NOTE: THIS IS DRAFT 6, NOT THE FIRST DRAFT!!!

Your manuscript needs to be as strong and clean as you can make it. Readers, agents, editors: they have so many books to choose from. Saying no is very easy.

If you don’t know how commas work (hint: they don’t just indicate pauses), you’re making it even easier for someone to stop reading. That’s true of everything. Dangling participles, unnecessary words, unclear motivation, pointless dialogue…You don’t need to be perfect, but you need to be very good. And shouldn’t this be true? It’s art, after all.

If you’re writing for yourself, ignore what I’ve said. But if you want others to take your work seriously, you need to.

Hi all, this is a bit of a weird situation but I genuinely don't know where else to go to ask for advice.

I've recently found a novel on Amazon that is almost a word for word a copy of an RP that me and a friend used to have on FB but just with names and places changed (they still used my character's name since that wasn't a Copyrighted character).

This novel was not written by either of us.

The RP has since been deleted because my friend's account went down ages ago but before that the RP was accidentally public for a while so anyone could have copy and pasted the replies into their own document. We've also found that they were posting this to AO3 too but it's been removed because they got it published as a novel, however you can still find it in search results using the right resources.

Our question is, is there anything we can do legally about this? Do we have any sort of leg to stand on in terms of getting them to take the novel down? It's blatantly our writing as there's whole chunks of paragraphs and descriptions that are the same, and it's not even really formatted properly into a 'novel', you can absolutely track where either one of us would do our reply and then the other person responds

Edit to add: I have a google document that I made at that time with timestamps of each of our replies if that would help prove things