Considering this is the first novel I've written without an outline, it's going pretty well. I'm starting to think that outlines encourage me to overwrite. Lol. Starting to think that. They definitely do that. If I return to outlining, I'm going to make sure I keep my outlines brief and simple, like notes on the back of a napkin rather than fully-realized scenes with quoted dialogue. I found a new AI ebook listening app and I've been really enjoying an absolute banger. It's called Blind Lake. I usually only do space opera, but this one is more of a nearish future where scientists have made a quantum window to view an alien world. The sci fi concepts are great, but man, this dude really knows how people work. It's actually impressive writing. Yet again, I hope I can get there someday.
I actually really enjoyed taking apart those last two sci fi books that I found. It's fun to criticize others. Makes you feel somehow better, like the way bullies at school work. Hitting that kid in the glasses makes the bully feel stronger, which means the bully is insecure. So...I guess that means I'm insecure about my writing so I want knock down the writing of others. Yup. That's me. Another character flaw that I hope to grow out of.
I know I've said this before, but I really hope that LitRPG sticks. That is to say, I hope it doesn't run out of steam like some of the others genres I've written. I was just sifting through one on Royal Road today (I won't get too negative, I promise [he said, knowing that literally no one was reading]) Anyway, I was using text from it to test an AI read aloud extension. But I couldn't help but be struck with how...not good it was. There was some kind of potion mixing going on, a lot about crafting vitality pills (boner pills?) and way too much goddamn pastry talk. I almost left a review to that effect, but I didn't. That one zero star review I got on Smashreads still haunts me. I won't do that to another writer because their work just isn't my thing. But I was wondering if the writer was going for a cozy low-stakes fantasy? I guess low-stakes is something that people look for online.
I originally set out to write a more grounded Dungeon Crawler Carl, since it seems like Carl is very lucky and blessed (chosen, prophesied, Harry Potterized, Jesusified) from an early point in the story. Admittedly, I lean on this trope a bit in my own story and I intend to lean on it more, but I really want to see my hero progress. I'm going for maximum limit progression fantasy. Maybe not maximum, I don't want to see my hero become a god. But you get the idea. A rags to riches story. I doubt I'll ever know if it's any good because I still can't find anyone who wants to read it for free and give me some actual feedback. I've been considering hiring someone, if I have to, but I'm terribly afraid of money pits. I was hoping my friend Josh would be a good fiction partner, but I expect that I intimidated him away. I might get him to collaborate with me on my next novel, since he's more of an idea guy and less of a workhorse.
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