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How I stay motivated in the short term (with a little promotion mixed in)

/r/WritingPrompts is how I stay motivated to write in general. Pretty much every day, I find at least one prompt that inspires me, and writing a short story for a prompt isn't as time consuming as a full novel. As to why I respond to prompts, it's similar to what /u/Probroscis said: I like the idea that someone is entertained by what I've done.

So this sub fulfills the short-term small project sort of writing. That said, the amount of work put in to a response will almost never be proportional to the recognition received :) I know there are things I can do to get my responses noted more (post at a certain time of day, watch the rising ones) but it turns out I'm pretty terrible at those sort of things. Plus I have no control over which prompts I'm inspired to write for.

As a for instance, I wrote a choose your own adventure in response to a prompt. The upvotes have it somewhat well received, but I put in a good six or seven hours to create it. Personally it's worth it for me because it was one of those prompts I just couldn't stop writing once I'd started. Plus now I have a script that will upload and tie together future CYOA prompts so they'll only take an hour.

So it's a bit of a double-edged sword, but people in this sub are friendly and helpful, and if the occasional 'great work' comment is motivating enough then it works pretty well. Plus every once in a while, a response you write will blow up unexpectedly :)

How I stay motivated in the longer term (with a little promotion mixed in)

The above is helpful for keeping my writing abilities up to snuff, but I personally would like to write books that people enjoy. Writing a novel is a lot longer than writing a prompt response. The latter have the advantage that you can get them done in one sitting, whereas a novel becomes one of those multi-day/week/month/lifetime projects, and that's a lot harder to keep going.

There are two kinds of longer-term writing that I do:

• All-consuming: Every November, I write a novel for National Novel Writing Month. The easiest way to do a longer project is to simply keep doing it every single day, and if you want to write a novel in a month you can't afford to skip that many days :). Only one of my projects from that has ever made it to book form, but NaNoWriMo "practice" has instilled a lot of good habits in terms of writing. It's definitely worthwhile, especially if you've always wanted to write a novel but never could find the time.
  
  The second way I write takes a little explanation:
  
  When I published Stealth Bomber vs Pony, I figured my friends would buy it and maybe one or two people who found it randomly, and it's held pretty solid to those expectations. What I didn't realize is that it would add up: It wouldn't take a lot of sales for my hobby to become self-financing. So when a recent prompt I did blew up unexpectedly, I felt that if I could expand it into a novel, it could fare pretty well.
  
  Thankfully my mind was eventually forthcoming, and I started to create an outline of the plot. Once I had that, I knew I could write the whole story. But a funny thought occurred to me once I'd completed the first chapter...
  
  
• Episodic: There was no reason I couldn't publish what I'd written as I wrote it. I'd already gained quite a few subscribers to my personal subreddit from the initial story, so I put the next part up there and pinged the people who asked me to tell them when I wrote more. I've found this to be enormously motivating: I have an audience now, which is hit or miss for regular prompt replies. Every week I don't just write another chapter, I want to write another chapter because I know there are people who want to read it.
  
  That said, I don't know how long-term the episodic approach will work. Each week I lose a few people to attrition, so there may come a point where the audience that is motivating me is gone. But I think that if I'd tried to just write the entire novel without posting as I went, I'd feel like everyone had forgotten much sooner. So thus far it's a good way to keep motivation up!
  

I get what you're saying, but the best advice here is always to be the change you want to see. There are plenty of real world scenarios that show up, but unfortunately, most don't see their way past the /New page because they don't tickle people's fantasies the same way. For instance, posted not 30 minutes before you made this post:

[WP] The man with the tattoo

[WP] TIFU by freezing a coworker

The realistic prompts are there if you're willing to look past the 5 prompts of the moment. Honestly, I recommend it, but a lot of people get caught in this line of thinking that they'll only get attention for their story if they post in those top prompts. Which isn't particularly true even for those posts, most people don't read more than the top story or two.

Given that there are real life based prompts as well (Granted not as many), here's my suggestions for ways to help make this sub more what you're hoping to find:

• Post on any prompt that suits your fancy, not just the top ones on Hot. You won't get as much attention organically, but you said you were hoping for practice, not fame.
  
• Did you write something amazing on a prompt that got buried? Post it as a new topic under a [PI] tag and let us know what prompt inspired it. We'll sometimes even sticky the PIs if there's nothing else going on.
  
• Write something that seems pretty good but want a way to make it better? Post it under a [CC] tag and we'll try to get some Constructive Criticism your way.
  
• Or post it over on /r/writingcritiques if it's short, they try to guarentee a critique on everything that comes their way.
  
• Not quite that confident for a PI? The Sunday Free Write is up every week to share stories that didn't get much attention the first go around.
  
• Or come join our chatroom and share your story. We're always up to read a story or two.
  
• Other ideas for real life prompts, did you know that the chatroom has a promptbot that will also generate prompts? They aren't necessarily any more realistic, but they can help. So can the users if you ask someone to help you pick a prompt.
  
• Post a [PM] asking for realistic writing prompts! You'll have to write more than one prompt in 6 hours, but you should get a good chunk of awesome prompts.
  
• I'll just subtly plug this book of 1000 Writing Prompts, written by the sub's founder, /u/RyanKinder
  
• One of our mods, /u/dankolar62 posts a plethora of Image Prompts that are normally realistic pictures. Here's a search response for them
  
• And lastly, I've been putting some effort into trying to start a "Mundane Monday" movement, by posting more real life prompts on Mondays and upvoting all the ones I can find. You're welcome to help me out in focusing some effort towards this. Just throw up a realistic prompt or two and take a few minutes towards upvoting in /New. We'll get there eventually.
  
  Wow, that was more of a wall of text than I was expecting. Anyways, I hope some of my suggestions helped you out! It can be a bit frustrating to not find anything you feel like writing, but there's a lot of ways to make this sub work for you. Happy Writing!

Jane had her favourites.

There was the blonde girl who always ended up getting piggybacks from strangers at 3am as the clubs emptied. The chubby guy who got into deep philosophical discussions with anyone who'd listen while riding the night bus home. And of course the small Asian girl who was virtually silent through the day, but came alive at night and passionately sung every word of every song that the DJ played.

Waking up with their inebriated memories always offered a rich source of entertainment. She'd experienced their drunken behaviour so many times now that Jane felt close to each and every one of them. They were like old friends that she didn't get time to see that often, but whenever they did get a chance to meet it was guaranteed to be a momentous night.

She slid the bread into the toaster and waited.

Jane couldn't remember when she'd first started waking up with the memories of a million different people inside her mind. At first it felt like her head was going to erupt whenever she woke up, allowing all those snapshots of drunken antics to escape in a billowing cloud of debauchery. But the more it happened, the more used to it she became. Every day was a little bit easier.

She cut off a wedge of butter and spread it over the crispy toast.

In fact, as time passed and Jane accepted that it was one of those things that she had to put up with, she came to enjoy the fact that she had a unique glimpse into so many different lives. She knew things about people that nobody else had a clue about. She even had a unique insight to human behaviour at its most carefree. She saw people at both their very best and their very worst, and she loved the fact that no one else would ever know.

If only they knew what I'd seen.

She grinned and took a bite out of the warm slice, but her smile quickly vanished.

There was a strange feeling inside her, as it suddenly dawned upon Jane that maybe she wasn't the only one that experienced this. What if someone out there, someone she didn't know, had seen her at her very worst too?

What if they've seen the things I've done?

Her appetite soon disappeared.
____
I hope you liked reading my take on /u/Exileman's prompt.

If you did, why not check out my novel, The promise she made. Thanks :)

Or if you have any feedback I'd love to hear it.

/r/NeedlessTautology

The day he opened the box was the day his carefully woven lifestyle had fallen apart. He remembered it like yesterday, thinking back to that little purple package, tied with a bow and delivered to his door like he was being sent cookies. He recalled with a wry smile and a sigh how easily the rules he'd built had come crashing down.

---------------------------------------------------------------
"Two."

"Two!? I'd been told it was one...y-you sure?"

"You were misinformed. The price is two."

"Two hundred grand? You better be good."

The man laughed into the receiver, a deep chuckle that died softly almost as soon as it had begun.

"I'm the best."

Rule one: Don't ever sell yourself cheap.

Another day, another phonecall. The man shook his head as he hung up the payphone. He liked to take calls at payphones - in an age of convenience and, more importantly, surveillance, a payphone was an innocuous choice and it meant people were rarely late. If he told them to call x payphone at n time, they'd call. Rule two: Be careful and precise.

He lit a cigarette in the phonebooth, dark sunglasses letting him observe the crowds rushing around the busy city centre. To him, they looked like ants, scurrying around with their busy lives. To him, any normal life was a thing to be observed, critiqued, mocked.

His own life was far simpler. Or more complex, depending on the angle you viewed it from. His working life was about completion. His targets and bonuses were around one goal. His 9-5 about training, stalking, executing. Rule three: Research and know your target.

His business was death, and business was good.

The hitman had been doing this for a long time. Long enough to know there is a price on every man's head. Long enough to know that no one dies for free. Long enough to be the best, or one of them. Which meant, of course, his price was high. Two hundred thousand dollars a hit, rising in doubles for riskier or higher profile targets.

He had killed doctors, lawyers, lovers, fighters, escorts, strippers, judges, policemen, politicians, leaders. One thing was the same. He had never killed a man for less than his price. At least, he thought, not since the first.

He'd been an ex-military washout, desperate for work. He'd looked everywhere, travelling state to state in an attempt to pick up jobs as a security guard or bodyguard. Overnight stays in shanty towns and campsites, rubbing shoulders with the homeless and the degenerate. Things had gotten desperate, and a man had tried to take his food. That was his first kill. He'd gotten him in his sleep. No one suspected a thing. Another man had been his rival, and paid the hitman a hundred dollars. That was his first hit, and ever since his price had been high.

Then he'd found it.

It was simple really. Laughably so. On one of his many properties there was a small purple box wrapped like a cartoon gift, a pink ribbon bow tied around the top. Left on the doorstep of the back porch. At first, the hitman had been tempted to throw it away. It could have been a bomb, a deterrent, a threat. Anything.

But for some reason, some insane reason, he'd taken it inside.

He couldn't have told you why. He couldn't have told himself why. The obscenely cutesy gift, a child-like idea of what a gift should look like. It sat on his metallic table worktop, garishly out of place amongst the guns and knives littered in his apartment.

He'd opened it after some consideration, his fingers neatly undoing the bow and chuckling at the care someone had put into this. Perhaps it was because he'd never received a gift, merely saw them in cartoons. Perhaps it was the feeling it gave him: an excited, giddy rise in his belly that threatened to compromise everything he'd worked so hard to contain.

Inside had been a note, handwritten in the untidy scrawlings of a child. Alongside the note was a crumpled ten dollar bill and coins. He added them up slowly. They totalled $13.42. Added to the scruffy bill that was just over twenty dollars. He laid out the money on the table and turned back to the note.

Mister It said.
I think you can help me i have a problem and i think you can help me
The hitman looked around, his empty apartment chilly. He almost felt embarrassed to be reading the note. It was as if eyes were on him, knowing his lizard-like slits should not be cast across something as innocent as a child's note. Almost guiltily, he continued.
My daddy is a bad man. He hurts my mommy and he hurts me some nights he comes in my room and he tells me he loves me and hurts me in the bad way. mommy cries alot. she tells me well run away but then he always comes back.

Mister. I live near you and ive seen you soemtimes. i know u hide but ive seen your guns.

Please mister. I saved all my money that mommy tries to give me. my daddy takes it away to buy more bottles but i hided some.

Please mister my daddy needs to go away. he says he is gonna kill my mommy and ill be his new woman when i growed up. he says hes gonna put a baby in me but thats silly im a kid i cant have a baby. i dont want a baby mister.

here is all my money mister. i know you make people disappereah. please make my daddy disappere.

we live at 31 Oakfelt drive, autumn boulevard. daddy comes home late every night and works in the city. he is a teacher.

The hitman put the letter down, blinking back tears. He traced the lazy scrawl of the girls handwriting with the tip of his finger, imagining her writing it. Desperate, rushed. It would have been neater, he could tell, if she'd not been so afraid. The dots were absent, the curvature of her writing tilted right down as though she'd been writing flat-out. Against the clock, sort to speak.

She was against the clock, he understood that. She was probably waiting for him to visit her room again, her tiny body shaking in fear as she wrote this plea to him.

He shook his head, sitting down on his leather sofa. It had cost him ten thousand dollars, that sofa. A luxury easily afforded due to his rules. Rule one: Don't sell yourself cheap. A life was worth two hundred grand, minimum.

He thought of her letter. He picked it back up and looked at it for a long time, staring at the foot of the page.

Love from Melissa.

P.s dont worry i wont tell. i dont want a daddy anyway. daddys are mean

The hitman found his fist clenching, the paper crumpling in his hand. Tears gathered in his face and he stared at the last few words, hastily scribbled out by the girl. He noticed dark blotches on the paper, where tears had fallen and been stained forever into the sheet.

He thought back to his own father, a ghost of a man who was neither here nor there, ever-scornful and frightening but so often absent that the man had grown old thinking his father might have been imagined, rather than real.

He thought back to this desperate little girl, scrounging scraps of change to try and pay him.

Rule number one: Don't sell yourself cheap.

A kill might have been worth two hundred grand to the hitman he thought to himself. But, as he sat and read the note one last time, some kills are worth more than money.

No more rule number one. This time, the job cost $23.42. This time, the job would be worth that young girl's life.



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(Edit: Wow, thanks for the gold kind sir, you've made my day! Glad you all liked it - I've always enjoyed writing and I'm now getting more serious about it so hopefully there will be plenty more from me, and possibly this hitman, in the near future.)

(Edit part two: I'm absolutely floored by your responses and thanks for the gold again. It's amazing to have entertained you all.)

(PART TWO IS HERE. I may have rushed it but I don't care you guys deserve this for the amazing response you've given me. Part three will be later in the week but this gives some closure. I'm going to turn this into a series. http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/breaking-rule-two-short-fiction-part-two/

PART THREE: http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/implementing-rule-three-part-three-short-fiction/

PART FOUR: http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/establishing-target-part-four-short-fiction/

PART FIVE: http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/purging/

PART SIX: http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/circumstances-change-part-six/

PART SEVEN: http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/mansion-part-7-short-fiction/

PART EIGHT (The end): http://thecagedtype.co.uk/writing/warehouse-part-8-short-fiction/

NOTE TO CURRENT READERS: There's now an eBook version out priced at $0.99, it's still free on my blog so this is mainly just a helping me out kind of fee. You can buy it at this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitman-Rose-Craig-Thomas-Boyle-ebook/dp/B00OA0379C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412778474&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Hitman+and+the+Rose

Part eight is the end guys. This has been fantastic and a great way to get my writing out to the world. Please keep following me either on my blog, on facebook or on /r/groundfighterwrites. Hope you enjoyed it!

To keep track of updates and send me suggestions please follow either my author page at: https://www.facebook.com/CraigThomasBoyle/

or subscribe to /r/groundfighterwrites)

Harrison held kept his fingers steepled. Sharp elbows visible even through his suit coat rested on the table below. His eyes were stern and his brows furrowed.

"I'm sorry. If we forego on you mortgage we have to do it for everyone."

The logic was sound and the words were true. Yet as he watched the elderly woman, begging to hold on to the last remnants of the life she had with her husband, the truth was the act was undoubtedly evil.

There was nothing he could do. In all honesty, there was nothing he wanted to do. Harrison had no qualms about being the villain the tale. His actions portrayed as vindictive and brash. Smiling he continued his day. Completely unashamed and uncaring as the situation unfolded.

Perfectly.

His assistant escorted her as she walked out of the room. Shoulder slumped, defeated. He consoled her with pre-mediated words meant to calm her down and lead her on the hopeful path. Scrounging up a few dollars, postponing her deficit and increasing the amount he would collect in the end.

All perfectly legit. Harrison did not need to break the law to take everything from people. He had perfectly legal mean that worked just as well. He just needed to forego his conscience and morality. They both fought against him. The house was not worth much, he could do without the extra property on his estate. God knew he could afford to pay the remaining bit on the lady's deficit and let her live in peace until she passed. His conscience prodded him towards the gesture of goodwill.

She forgot her purse. The executive thought to himself. Seeing the brown, old leather thing hanging from his luxurious chair.

Give it to her. His conscience urged him. Run her down. Let her keep the house.

Harrison chased her down the hall. Running after her as the elevators shiny, gold-leaf doors began to slowly close.

"Wait." He said. "Mrs Wells. Wait!"

He stood blocking the closing doors handing her the purse. She smiled and he felt the tug in his heart as his long dormant sense of consicience and goodwill began to stir. Do it. The house.

"One more thing, Mrs Wells."

"Yes?" The old, thankful lady sweetly said to him. Reminding him of his grandmother and his childhood. Bringing back sweet memories of years gone past. He smiled. A smile so sweet full of fondness and gratitude.

"Your.. notice will be in the mail soon. Keep an eye out for it."

____

If you liked this, Check out my book! It's free till tonight.

https://www.amazon.com/WINDS-Elemental-Eye-Book-1-ebook/dp/B018TGN8VO?ie=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=

I've had a lot of long conversations about this, and it really seems to come down to one interesting and important point: the supervillain is the most important role in the relationship and the best ones are those whose motives and goals are heroic but methods are not. Many others have already pointed out something like this, and we're all right. Flawed heroes who do what they can for others (because they can) tend to be the best because they're the most relatable. Best hero? Batman. Best villain? Magneto. They exemplify precisely the traits that make villains and heroes interesting.

My wife actually suggested a book focusing on supervillains to a friend of mine and it ended up working out. I was able to write a chapter on Magneto (of course) and she's still bitter she didn't get a mention in the acknowledgments for suggesting it, but it's a fun read if you're interested (I have no financial stake in your buying or reading this): https://www.amazon.com/Supervillains-Philosophy-Sometimes-Popular-Culture/dp/0812696697

I had rescued a dummy damsel when I learned of their... life-like skin...

There was always this attraction I had towards waifus that both distanced me from the crowd, and yet brought me home. I had been with the same pillow for a good year, her name was Osawa, but she preferred to be called Osa Kun. I had shared everything with her, and her with me.

One day I woke and she was gone. I ran through the house looking for her, to find a pile of fluff, and a printed bikini. My dog Chowder had killed her! I was struck with grief, and couldn't go on.

I found myself ready to take a bath with the toaster, as I watched my favourite youtube videos on my phone. Then I saw it, the add that changed my life.

It was an add for getting people to learn CPR, but I saw much more. The dummy lovely woman that the instructor was practicing with made my heart skip a beat. She was beautiful!

I signed up the next day, and after a few more days of training I was certified. I cherished the time I spent with the busts as the fondest of my memories. But in the end, I was supposed to just part ways with my love? NO!

I managed to fit her into my backpack, and freed her to my house. There I dressed her up, and made her whole again. She was now Komi.

I live with Komi for years; going in vacations, family meet ups, interventions, restaurants.

Then three years later it happened. I had prepared some fresh chicken tenders for Komi, when she started to choke on them. Being trained in CPR I knew what to do.

I was giving her the best damned CPR ever preformed, when she looks up me "Oni Chan?".

__

If you liked this, check out my free horror book Ganama, or the subreddit for my new book in progress at /r/Alduit

So I'm trying to take a look at Caesar/Jordan's book and I'm wondering why the Amazon site looks so bizarre and then I realize oh. It's a mobile link.

Here's the at-home link: http://www.amazon.com/Blow-Ship-Adventures-Space-Book-ebook/dp/B00N49QMYM/

Anyway I bought a copy. One thing though, purely from a business standpoint - /u/CaesarNaples2 - $1 seems like a great deal from an authorial standpoint, because you think "people don't know me, but they'll see the price point and think, eh, can't go wrong". I've had innumerable conversations IRL and on /r/writing, however, where people have said that they typically skip right over $1 ebooks because they automatically think that the quality isn't there. They've been burned a number of times by shoddy books in the $1 bin. Now, you can price your stuff at whatever level you want, but the advice I've been given in the past is to price it commensurate with what the pros are offering. It's that old chestnut about faking it 'til you make it: if you project an aura of confidence in your product (by pricing it above $1, in this case), people will be more confident in picking it up and reading it. This is a long-winded way of saying I think you should be asking minimum $3 for a short story collection. Don't sell yourself short; I've read your work and you're worth it.

Moving on, on this Sunday of the Labour Day Weekend, I have an excerpt from my first novel to share. I posted it to Chapterfy here: http://www.chapterfy.com/r/disappearance-chapter-2-excerpt/

If I recall previous Sundays correctly I'm allowed some shameless, vile self-promotion here so if you liked what you read there, feel free to buy a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-Trevor-Zaple-ebook/dp/B00DL123N2 (if you feel extra generous/like the feel of a paperback book, the good people behind Kindle Match allow me to give you the ebook for free along with it).

Also, for Amazon Prime users: http://www.amazon.com/What-You-See-Get-ebook/dp/B00IL0HODW/ is free for you. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

EDIT: Hey guys, I'm getting told that my book isnt available in certain countries. It most likely IS, but you might not be able to access it by the link I posted as it's a link to the United States Amazon site. If you want it from your country's page, just search for "Good Boy Seth" under Kindle and it should pop right up.

Alternatively, since I'm such a sucker for making things easy, I'll post direct links to the book on several popular country's Amazon page. (Hopefully that's allowed)

Good Boy in Canada,


Good Boy in the United Kingdom,

Good Boy in Australia,

Good Boy in Germany,

Good Boy in France,

Good Boy in Italy,

Good Boy in Japan

Hope that helps!

Thank you kindly for your nice words!

Recommendations wise...hmmm. If you've heard of Zero Punctuation before, than the name Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw will be familiar. He has written two fantastic books: Mogworld and Jam that are in the comedic narrator lead style - I highly recommend them!

Anything by Sir Terry Pratchett, though usually in the third person style, I have found to be an easy and funny (edit: hilarious, clever, there-aren't-enough-pleasant-adjectives-to-display-my-love-for-his-writing) romp. Who else? Umm.

I'm struggling to think of more, sorry. Er, my novels? That is, when I get around to finishing the damn things.

/r/Books may be a good place to ask. I'm drawing a blank, sorry.

She caught his eye that evening. It was a coincidence that hers was the first gaze he saw upon entering the ballroom,
he had not even known that she would be attending, but at every hint of deep blue he turned his head in hope of it
being her gown. They had not seen each other in years, and oh he missed her. He moved politely among the guests
(the party was, after all, in his name and honor) but kept her in view. The longer he stayed the more he desired to be
in her company.

Etiquette dictated he should have taken another to dance, but he did not wish anyone else on his arm. Instead, he
spoke with fellow gentlemen about his studies whilst waiting for Lady Elizabeth Anne.

Conversation was spirited. Many among the noble houses were knowledgeable in the healing arts, that is after all
what Clandestina is famed for. With the completion of his own medical degree—the reason for this party—there
was much to discuss. He would have enjoyed the celebration more had other things not been on his mind.

---
This is actually the opening to my dark fantasy romance novelette Larkspur: A Necromancer's Romance

For UK: Silvertongue (Remnants of Magic Book 1) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NTR9YY4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_yjZACbAK67GWN

Well done pal, great to see a dream come true! In the middle of a series right now but I love the concept, I’ll buy it and save it for later :)

Thanks man. Glad you liked it. If it interests you, I've actually written a full novel. It's called Demon's Plague. It's a zombie apocalypse book, but unlike every other one it takes place in Medieval England instead of a modern / military setting. The zombies are heavily inspired by Max Brooks, no runners. I also did my best to avoid common tropes for the genre. Characters are intelligent, learn quickly how to handle the infected. And best of all, the story focuses on exactly zero children or babies.

It's available on Amazon now in digital and paperback.

I enjoyed this story quite a bit, and since points concerning plot and consistency have already been made, I thought I'd add a few technical notes:

• I see you wanted to keep the Thief's gender unrevealed. However, using "they" as a pronoun is awkward and impossible to translate into other languages. In fact, I noticed you slipped up a couple times, using "she" or "he" here and there, and one time even "it." I would recommend deciding on one gender. Then, later on, you can reveal that the Thief is, contrary to expectations, a man. Or maybe, one of the characters says to another, "What do you mean, 'he?' I thought Mel was a woman." It would be a lot less immersion-breaking that way.
  
  
• You tend to repeat and paraphrase details, making the language a little awkward all around. Try to be more concise with the longer chain actions. An example:
  
  > The first of the creatures’ attacks began, one of them lunging forward towards the group only to find the barrier blocking its attack. With a crash it hit the invisible field around them that Luther was maintaining, stunning it slightly. Luther knew he couldn’t keep the field up forever, even if he kept chanting the magic that formed it would eventually collapse from their attacks.
  
  I already know it's attacking, and I know it's facing the group. I also know that Luther is upholding this invisible field, and I can assume it takes some effort. How about:
  
  > One creature lunged forward, smashing into the invisible field. Luther flinched at the impact, but gritted his teeth and held fast.
  
  That way, it all happens a little faster, and the reader knows Luther is subject to some sort of strain, which builds a little more suspense than simply being told, "By the way, he can't uphold the barrier forever."
  
  Another shorter example:
  
  > Hannes responded to this by swinging down, the creature slamming into the ground below as its bones shattered from the impact.
  
  Could be worded a little more sharply like this:
  
  > Hannes responded by slamming the creature into the ground, shattering its bones.
  
  
• Finally, it's nice that you give an image of the colors and details of characters and apparel, but try not to slip into essay-exposition. Try to tie details into the action as best you can. This wasn't a huge issue, really, but it's my personal taste that goes against paragraphs upon paragraphs about auburn hair and perfect emerald eyes and porcelain skin etc. etc. etc.
  
  Don't let all this technical mumbo-jumbo discourage you, though. I thought your story was rather cool, and I liked the premise. For similar literature, you could check out Yahtzee Croshaw's Mogworld. It's a cool read.
  
  Good Luck!

"So let me get this right: you have the ability to create whatever you want - gold, jewels, platinum - at any moment, for effectively free -" Jeb paused, then decided to repeat this last bit to emphasize it even more - "effectively free - purely out of the energy from your 'dsyon balls' or whatever they are - and your price of admission is a former American President playing saxophone at the ceremony?"

The reply came back smooth and unconcerned, with the slightest hint of amusement at Jeb's incredulity - the perfect tone to really piss Jeb off. "Yes."

Jeb gripped the handle of his "#1 President" coffee mug until his knuckles went white and the blood pressure alarm started vibrating on his smart watch. "Now listen here, you alien or machine or whatever you are, the American people - and what's more, the people of Earth - are not fools. We know there's no such thing as a free lunch, we've lived and grown up knowing that, it's in our blood, in the blood of our forefathers and our fathers' forefathers, and what's more, we don't tolerate freeloaders. I'm not going to have you sit me through a 5 hour meeting to convince me you're some good Samaritan species so you can make a fool out of me and my country, or worse, enslave us with some fancy clause you forget to mention until the last moment, just to be a world of, of - galactic welfare queens." He slammed his mug on his desk as he spat the last words at his computer screen, splashing cold coffee onto his shirt cuffs.

"And don't think I believe for one minute your baloney about all the Koreans playing WoW being your 'researchers' gathering information on our culture and music because no actual Koreans would play WoW when they have better things in their country - frankly, I find it offensive you'd suggest we'd be foolish enough to believe it and -"

"Jeb, I assure you our intentions -"

"DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME," boomed Jeb, losing the last bit of patience he had struggled to hold during this ridiculous meeting with this smug, silver, sentient being before him. "I AM THE PRESIDENT OF THE GODDAMN UNITED STATES. AND, AND, and I am NOT, I repeat NOT, going to let you just absorb my country and my planet into your, your, collective or whatever you call it!"

The machine was making a frowny face - pissing Jeb off only more that they would condescend to him so much as to pretend human emotion.

Jeb felt a cool chill run down his back, and decided this discussion was over. "If America and the Earth enters space," he said, voice deadly calm in a manner he had practiced in the oval office mirror for dealing with the Russians, "it will be on America's terms, not yours." The machine mimed slight surprise back at him. "Until then, you'd better leave us the hell alone."

The president cut the connection, and slammed a button on his desk. "Susan, do we still have that supermajority in the Congress?"

"Yes sir, Mister President," came the reply.

"Tell them they're taking the budget out of medicare and slamming it into the defense budget, and pulling out that old Star Wars bill from Reagan and passing it immediately."

"Yes sir, Mister President."

--------------------------

P.S. - If you like this prompt, consider reading Year Zero: a Novel. It's absolutely hilarious, the idea being that humans are about to enter the galactic stage, but so many aliens have pirated human music that the amount of money owed humanity by aliens exceeds the amount of money in the universe. So, the aliens contact a human lawyer, and the following adventure feels very Douglas Adams.

Thank you so much, I'm really glad you've enjoyed it! If you have a few moments, consider dropping a review, it makes a huge difference :)

Either way, I hope to see you soon for Wanderer!

There was a prompt along the lines of "A long time ago, everyone had perfect control over one of the elements apiece, now everyone through mixed breeding has very small control over all of them." One of the posts went on to be published on Amazon, I loved the post and bought it, "Purity of Mind" by Roger Ostrander. If you like spy thrillers and magic, I'd check it out. Link

I actually have written a book, though it's not anything like this particular story (think more light and fun, with slightly less implied serial killing). It's called The Egg Catcher and the few people I've been able to talk into reading all seemed to like it. Thanks for the interest!

Not trying to dis your prompt, I'm excited to see what people come up with.

However, if you're interested in this concept, you might enjoy Mogworld. Written by Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame.

Thanks for this post. It was fun seeing that someone here noticed it was free. Here are the links for all the english speaking countries that Amazon covers:

USA Link | UK Link | AUS Link | CA Link

If you have a Kindle, a phone/tablet/or pc with the Kindle app... Go grab it now. If you'd rather have a copy of the physical book go here and use the discount code 87XCBFJU for 25% off.

Read it, loved it. Bought a copy to support oyu, left a review as well. Looks like I was the first to review it on US Amazon.com.

Also may want to provide a US amazon link, for the lazy people who click into amazon.co.uk and dont bother buying it on the US site.

US LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Hitman-Rose-Craig-Thomas-Boyle-ebook/dp/B00OA0379C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412796930&sr=8-2&keywords=the+hitman+and+the+rose

Thanks! I might do a [PI] post since this one basically got buried, and extend it. I have a few more things on my plate first like extending another buried response and getting the next chapter of the serial posted for r/Magleby.

I also may extend it if I decide to do another anthology like this one and include it. (I extended a handful of the prompt stories included there.)

> Is there a chance the book will be available in other online stores later on? I don't seem to be able to buy it through amazon. I live in czechia

Only kindle for now I'm afraid. What happens when you try to buy on Amazon?

I did a quick search and I saw a result on google saying you should be able to purchase it under the DE. link - https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07VZ9152P

Please test that and get back to me.

You'd absolutely love Mogworld.

Should be available there.

Does this work for Theft of Sapphire: https://www.amazon.com.au/Horrendous-Imaginings-Book-Theft-Sapphire-ebook/dp/B07MYKPRXB/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=theft+of+sapphire&qid=1554159769&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Does this work for the free book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Secret-Seven-Book-Wunderkinds-ebook/dp/B07NYBJMSP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+secret+seven&qid=1554159741&s=gateway&sr=8-3

​

O

See 1,000 Awesome Writing Prompts - Ryan Andrew Kinder.

BTW, /u/RyanKinder is /r/WritingPrompts' Founder / Co-Lead Mod.

There is a fantastic book about this very subject - https://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514

Honestly, you need to just browse this subreddit. Search for the word "dystopian." Likewise, /u/RyanKinder has a book of 1,000 prompts you might want to check out. You'll find a lot more ideas this way than by waiting for someone to respond with one prompt, and then waiting for a second.

For those interested, and this one in particular reminded me of it, you should check out a book called Mogworld.

Sounds a little like something from Yahtzee Croshaw's book

Just bought it! Had some trouble with amazon.co.uk because I'm not in the UK. Here's a standard amazon link to the story: http://amzn.com/B00OA0379C

> UK LINK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JOVSYC2

And the rest of Europe can go ** themselves (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

More seriously, I find that this is a wonderful idea and just the kind of book I might need, I'll seriously consider buying it after that time where I'm supposed to study for the finals. Thanks!

Edited for bad language