Structure

Being a Better Writer: Pacing – A General Overview

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , ,

Welcome back, writers, to another installment of Being a Better Writer!

Now, before we begin, I have a small request of you. I know many of you have been coming to this site for years. I have the metrics. Hundreds of you receive email updates of new posts. Hundreds of you (sometimes thousands) use the site daily, mostly for the writing advice from posts like this one. I have the numbers, and I see you guys.

Please consider supporting via our Patreon, or by purchasing a book (and if you’ve already purchased a book, please leave a rating on Amazon, as the algorithm demands those for a book not to be hidden). Being a Better Writer has run now for over ten years, and in that time we have never allowed advertisements on the site, nor have we collected user data for our own ends, nor have we paywalled any of the articles here on the site (there are some Patreon Supporter-exclusive short story previews for unpublished shorts and previews of books, but that’s it). Though our host, wordpress, would desperately prefer that we did, judging by the number of ads we get for it recommending that we paylock our most popular posts.

Look, it’s no secret that things right now have gotten pretty bad. The US economy is in shambles and contracting fast. It seems like a week can’t go by without another small business or company closing its doors. Record profits for the 1%, cake made of sawdust at a 200% markup for the remaining 99%.

I know it’s bad out there, because this site is one of those places struggling not to close the doors. Things have gotten so bad that with eleven books out for sale in the world, and a 4.35 review average on Goodreads (phenomenal for that many titles and reviews), I’m seeing sales numbers that reflect the world over a decade ago, when I had 3-4 books to my name and was a relative nobody.

So please: Consider supporting the Patreon. If you can’t afford that, or buying a book, but have bought a book in the past, leave a rating. And if things are so tight that a $4 book or a $1 support tip is out of the question? Share the posts you’re reading from the site. That’s free, and better yet helps other people who are looking for writing advice and solutions find it. And if one of them can help support the site, so much the better!

Look, I know some of you are probably tired of posts like these (“Oh boo-hoo, do people really need to eat?”) but with the state of things being what they are, we’re just trying to survive. And something as simple as a share helps us fight that.

Now, one last bit of news, which feels a little related. We spoke of it in last week’s news post, but currently a groundwork look is being done at the feasibility of producing an Axtara – Banking and Finance audiobook through Kickstarter. For that to happen, however, the Kickstarter would need to be a success (and despite what some might think, you do still spend money if your Kickstarter does not succeed, so it’s not a case of “there’s literally no reason not to”).

If a Kickstarter for an audibook version of Axtara – Banking and Finance appeared, would you back it? If so, why, and if not, also why? Please leave a comment and let us know, because I would like to make this happen.

Okay, with all that said (and hopefully, acted upon), let’s talk about writing.

Now today isn’t going to be a more esoteric topic. No, as many of you have noted, we’re going back to a basic principle of storytelling. One we’ve discussed here on the site so many times that it has its own tag. But even though we’ve talked about it enough to have dozens of entries with that aforementioned tag, it has been a few years by our reckoning since we just talked about it in its own post.

So today, we’re going to talk about pacing again. And no, we’re not looking at a specific angle here. We’re doing a general overview of pacing itself. The basics .. but as with most things in writing, even the basics can be pretty hard to get a handle on. We’ve covered it before, but as with many of our repeat topics, the hope is that if we come at it from a new angle, it’ll be more approachable to those who perhaps didn’t find the last one as easy to parse.

So hit that jump, because today we’re talking about pacing. And to do that, I need to talk to you about pizza.

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Being a Better Writer: When To Start Over

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Welcome writers! To another installment of Being a Better Writer. One written off the cuff with no planned topic from a Topic List!

Why? Well, because there currently isn’t a Topic List. #28 is dried up, and #29 is being worked on! Speaking of which, if you’d like to see a topic covered in a future Being a Better Writer post, head on over here and let us know!

In fact, you should check out that link anyway, as it’s last week’s news post. We talk about stuff like what’s going on and what’s coming up. You know, what you would expect from a news post. Still, you should check it out, as there’s stuff to get excited for! Like LTUE 2026! Or Shipbreakers! What are those? Go check the post!

Done that? Caught up? All right, now that you’ve done that, you can probably see where the inspiration for this post came from.

But … I’ll restate it, because I know no matter what some of you are never going to click that link, and it does offer some context.

Side note: Sad truth, but a surprising number of would-be writers are extremely averse to the act of reading. Unsurprisingly, none ever move from “would-be writers” to “authors.”

So two weeks ago as of this post, I made a decision: I needed to scrap the entire 25,000 words I’d done so far on my current project, working title Shipbreakers. It wasn’t working.

Okay, that’s unfair. It was … okay. But “okay” is not enough in my book. It lacked a spark. It lacked … zing.

Okay, I can tell you what it really lacked, but that’d be diving deeper into this post, and we need to start from the top. Hit the jump, and let’s talk about when it’s time to start over.

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Being a Better Writer: Front To Back, or Back To Front?

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , ,

Welcome back, writers! It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for Being a Better Writer. But before we dive into today’s topic, I do have a somewhat unfortunate bit of news that needs to be discussed, and some of you aren’t going to like it. It’s about AI, and how it’s killing Being a Better Writer.

See, Being a Better Writer has run for over a decade now. It’s offered writing advice on hundreds of different topics, maybe even over a thousand. It’s been a fixture of the site for the longest time. And during that time, it’s been run with a specific set of rules: no ads, and teach writing for free.

Now, this has never been entirely altruistic, though it mostly is. But there was the advantage of it bringing in readers to read my books, where the money is. Writers and would-be writers find BaBW, they read it, see there are no ads, that it’s offered freely, and along the way they do visit my site, the one you’re only somewhat likely to be on right now (yeah, here’s the problem), see the latest news on Axtara or whatever book is most recently out, check the other stuff, etc.

At least, that’s what is supposed to happen. Unfortunately … it’s not anymore. Nowadays, more and more of my traffic—over half, actually—is from AI bots. AI bots that come to the site, take my content, and regurgitate it in front of a reader somewhere else. Sans … everything else.

Let me tell you a story. Years ago, I had someone contact me about an “exciting offer.” They wanted to “share” my Being a Better Writer posts with a writing app on mobile, and asked for my permission to repost Being a Better Writer there. Immediately suspicious, I took a look. It was a free app … but there was a paywall too, if memory served, and I think some sort of “reward” structure for posters as well. You know, the usual walled garden sort of stuff.

So, suspicious of their motives, I told this person that they had permission to post the openers of each of my posts, along with the link that would lead back to the site. Not a problem, right?

Oh, if they’d been genuine, maybe. Instead, they went ballistic. Accusing me of being “greedy” and trying to “horde” knowledge from people that needed it, etc. Every accusation and name you could think of. Because the truth of it was they didn’t want to send any traffic my way. They wanted to repost and profit from Being a Better Writer without owing me anything. The classic, modern American dream: make somebody else do the hard work, get 100% of the profit from it.

Well, that “dream” (which is a nightmare for all the people who actually do the work) has come home to roost in a big way with AI. And right now? It’s hurting this site.

See, No longer are the majority of “readers” ever seeing the site. They’re not seeing Axtara, or Colony, or even the majority of the posts. They’re getting copied and pasted chunks from them, delivered by an AI that is, if it’s advertising anything at all, is advertising the AI owner’s content. Or even charging a fee for seeing what’s on my site.

In other words, these AI companies are taking something I provide to the public and making it their “product,” and even in the process shilling their own advertisements or even charging people for the service of “repackaging” content that isn’t theirs.

Ultimately, I don’t know what to do about this. Site “view” numbers have shot up, between double and triple what they used to be. But they’re not from people. Clicks on other links to content inside our outside the site, which used to be common, are dying, as “viewers” aren’t even viewing what they see on my site. It’s an AI engine grabbing it and repackaging it for them.

Is this wrong? Well, yes. Material on this site is mine. I’ve even got the little box checked on my host settings that says “forbid AI from accessing this material.” That doesn’t stop them, I just get hits through VPNs instead of from countries that obey those regulations.

Again, I don’t know what to do about this. Unusual Things relies on the web traffic and the interlinking content chain of “people come, read Being a Better Writer, and some of them check out my books or other material.” But those numbers? Those numbers aren’t going up. In fact, they’re going down. AI is taking my content and packaging it to AI users to promote their stuff … not mine, and in the process killing the site.

Do I kill Being a Better Writer, something that has stood now for over a decade? Do I risk putting it behind a paywall? Something tells me that would only kill it faster: I’ve seen other folks report that at least they’re getting a $5 fee monthly from these AI engines, but that hardly makes up for the thousands of people who are then repurchasing that content from the AI, not the creator. Worse, it leads into the “Patreon Pitfall” where people are expected to pay for content without seeing it, thus driving a creator into a diminishing viewership base.

I … honestly don’t know what to do. Unfortunately, the country where I live has effectively stalled or given up on almost all efforts to police AI theft, so I have no recourse there. Even if I were to try legal recourse, it’d be one author who’s struggling to make rent versus multiple companies with a cash reserve bubble that’s estimated to be between nine and sixteen trillion dollars. I’d have no hope of winning that.

Point being, readers, that these last few months have so rapidly been stripping away at what makes Being a Better Writer work in the first place that I legitimately am not sure how it’s going to be able to continue. Right now, this very post, this moment of typing, is effectively me “working” for some big AI conglomerate. They’ll take the post and use it to sell their services, while I will get nothing. I’m working for free for a megacorp.

I don’t like it. At all.

There’s not a conclusion here. If anything, this is a cry for help: If you’re reading this through AI, please stop. It’s stealing. Please, go to the site. The AI probably won’t give it to you, but with a good old-fashioned search engine, you can find it. Bookmark it. Put in an RSS feed. Read these post from the site, please, and stop supporting companies that are taking my traffic and my livelihood.

All right, with all that said, let’s dive into today’s topic, from what may end up being the last Being a Better Writer topic list if things don’t see some kind of change.

Hit the jump.

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Being a Better Writer: Epilogues

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Welcome back, writers, to Being a Better Writer hitting the finale!

No no, we’re not ending. It was simply too enjoyable a play on words not to make considering the actual discussion topic of today. Hopefully I didn’t unduly alarm you too much. If you were alarmed, then I’d recommend letting your panic settle by checking out Friday’s news post, which discusses endings in another context, but the kind of ending that leads to a new beginning elsewhere.

Once you’ve done that, though, you can bounce back over here to read through our discussion on today’s topic. Which, I will forewarn, does come with a bit of a preamble. Two of them, in fact!

The first is a nod that this topic is a late addition to the current Topic List. In fact, it’s basically a last-minute addition added long after the list was complete. Why? Well, a writing forum I frequent was having a discussion about epilogues: What they were, what should go in them, and if anyone had any advice for them. Naturally, I checked the archives for Being a Better Writer to share a link, assuming that I had one, as I knew I’d written a post on prologues (more than one, actually). Naturally, there was one on epilogues … wasn’t there?

Oh sands. Yeah, as you probably guessed, I found to my surprise that I had never devoted a post to epilogues. And so, on to the list it went, with an immediate sense of priority.

Now, the second preamble? Well, one that’s a natural segue into the body of our post. See, I made this topic a priority because we’ve talked about ending on here before. A number of times, in fact. I’ve even referred to the ending of a story as it’s “keystone” for how vitally important it is. And epilogues? They’re a part of an ending. But they aren’t an ending. And the discussion I mentioned above? Well … that an epilogue was an ending was one of the points being debated.

And it isn’t, I want to make that clear. An epilogue is no more an ending than a prologue the beginning. They are pieces that can make up such, but on their own? They’re not either of those things.

But then … what is an epilogue? What’s its purpose? And should your story have one? Hit the jump, and let’s dive in.

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Being a Better Writer: Choosing a Genre

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , , , ,

Welcome back, writers, from our one-week hiatus! We’re back again now, as normal, and with another Being a Better Writer post for you to dig into on the nuts and bolts of writing! And today we’re leading with an interesting topic that online and among writing groups can be the subject of contention among many, to the point that I’ve seen it crop up again and again and even give rise to a sort of … Well, that’d be getting ahead of myself. But today’s topic is definitely worth a look. Even if you’re the experienced type, as you never know when you might run into it and it could be useful to have some words to share on the subject.

But before we dive in, I do want to offer a follow-up to last Thursday’s news post. I am pleased to report that several people got into contact with me about Beta Reading, and have begun reading through Blood Less Vile. I will also report, with a little frustration, that at least one of these was a previous Beta Reader who apparently hadn’t at all received their invite sent a week earlier. Thus confirming my theory that Google is literally having so much trouble policing spam from its own sources that my legitimate emails are ending up as casualties.

Which sucks, but … that’s the way things are. I’ll have to look into better methods of contacting the Alpha and Beta Readers in the future then, though as always, this site and the Discord remain solid tools for seeing what’s going on.

Oh, a little bit on that second option. As some of you may know, Discord is preparing to go public. That’s right, to stop being a regular company and start being one who’s only goal is “Burn the platform to the ground for as much money as possible short term.”

Yes, I know technically that’s not what “going public” means … but by virtue of the action of American companies, that’s what it most certainly is. So, in other words (and just so we’re clear, I’m far from the only voice calling warning on this one) Discord is probably going to start to undergo “enshitification” (it’s a real word, and I encourage you to look it up) before long.

So then, where will that leave The Makalay Camp? Well … I like the little community there. So I have an alternative to propose: An internet forum. What forum and where, you might ask? Well, here, actually. I know it’s possible, though I haven’t looked into all the details. But, if the worst happens and Discord is lost to us, I’ll see about getting a forum set up here on the site. We’ll take things here back to the late 90s, when forums were king and ads hadn’t taken over. We’ll be a bastion of calm on the web!

Well, you know, for fans and readers and the like. Still, I’ve checked on the possibility, and it’s something that can happen.

Okay, last bit of news: A Pirate Planet is rolling along, having passed 60,000 words, over a quarter of the way complete. Blood Less Vile is in Beta 1 (and I’m working on getting a cover figured out), and The Phoenix is nearing the end of Alpha 1 and will likely get an Alpha 2 to track some changes. Three books being worked on at once, yeesh.

Oh, and I recently played through Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and at some point I do want to share my thoughts on a narrative bit I ran into during the state of the game. Which is excellent, by the way, and you should absolutely play it if you desire some Indiana Jones shenanigans.

Okay, that’s all I’m saying there. Let’s hit the jump and talk about choosing a genre.

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Being a Better Writer: What Tropes Do You Need?

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , , ,

Hello again, writers! Welcome back to another installment of Being a Better Writer, where we talk about, as you might infer from the title, all things writing and how to improve our craft! And we’ve got a pretty interesting topic to cover today, one borne from the fires of an online discussion group that discussed this very subject. In other words, this topic is fresh from Topic List #27 and comes to us from a number of new writers asking this exact question so that they could embark on their own work.

Some of you may already be correctly guessing what advice I have to give, but before we get down to that, I am going to note that there was a news post last week, which discussed what’s coming down the pipeline as well as an oddity with the pricing of the first Axtara paperback. Go give it a look if you haven’t already.

In addition, Patreon Supporters should note that there is a neat comparative look going on between the the exploratory for A Pirate Planet, IE the initial attempt to pin down the mood and character for that story, and them the actual draft that resulted. If you’re a Patreon Supporter you can head on over to the Patreon to see that now, and if you’re not a Patreon Supporter, I’d strongly encourage it simply for the virtue of the fact that it helps keep this site advertisement free. No popups, no intrusive ads poking over the page, etc. And I’d like to keep it that way!

Plus, you know, it helps keep the articles like this one coming. Speaking of which, let’s get back to it. Let’s talk about tropes. Specifically, what tropes you need to lock down before you start writing your story, as inquired about by these new writers who wanted to get started.

Hit the jump, and let’s talk writing.

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Being a Better Writer: Prologues – When Is It Too Much?

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , , ,

Welcome back, writers, to another Monday installment of Being a Better Writer, here to discuss all your writing curiosities and questions! We’ve got an interesting topic to discuss today, so I hope you’re ready to learn. Of course, as usual, I should note that there’s the usual news post delivered last Friday you should check out if you haven’t already. Especially if you’re interested in Axtara news.

Also, just a reminder that these posts are kept ad-free and open to all (including those gutless AI companies that keep stealing them to resell to their paying customers, the skags) by the support of Patreon Supporters! If you’d like to support Being a Better Writer while missing out on the awesome experience of reading one of my books, or if you prefer to double-support and have already bought and enjoyed a book, you can check out the Patreon page here.

With that said, and those links now your browser color of choice for “you clicked on this,” let’s dive into today’s topic. This is one that ended up on the list because I saw a solid back-and-forth debate about it taking place online in a writing forum.

And no, not just about the concept of prologues in general, which is something we’ve discussed before on this site a few times, both in a direct post but also when talking about introductions (though you’ll need to hunt a bit with that second link since it’s covering beginnings in general). No, this particular discussion had several individuals talking about why they avoided prologues, a key reason that came up (and was discussed) being they didn’t know how long a “prologue” should be.

Now, a few of you might be thinking “Well, I can answer that” and have brining an answer to the tip of your tongue. But I can almost promise you that at least one of the many answers out there, and probably more, will get it wrong. Because while the answer appears straightforward, there are some wrinkles here that complicate matters. Wrinkles that were why the conversation I peered in on took place in the first place.

Hit the jump. Let’s talk about it.

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Being a Better Writer: Duologies and Act Structure

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , ,

Welcome back, writers! It’s another sunny day here—at least, I hope it is, since I write these in advance, but in Utah that’s a pretty good bet—and I hope the weather of your choice is on display wherever you’re residing at the moment.

As usual, we had a news post last Friday, so if you’re looking for the latest on Axtara – Armies and Accounting, other projects, or how Magic and Mischief is doing, go check that out. But because that’s all in its own post, we get to dive right in to today’s topic.

Which again is a bit of an odd one, at least on the surface. In fact, it made the list because I entered a discussion about it elsewhere on the web, made my case, and was responded to with “Hold on, what? Explain that in more detail!”

Generally. That’s not a direct quote. But it was close enough to it that I thought “Okay, this deserves a Being a Better Writer discussion.”

So hit that jump, and let’s talk about the humble—and rare—duology, and why we don’t see a lot of them.

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Being a Better Writer: Delivering Details in the Right Order

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , ,

Confession: I very nearly made “right” in the title “write.” It was quite tempting.

Welcome back, writers, to another installment of Being a Better Writer! Today we’re going to talk about a topic that’s vital to the telling of a good story, and which you can probably guess based on the title this text is sitting below. We’re going to dive right in, so if you’re looking for news about Axtara – Armies and Accounting, or when the Magic and Mischief paperback will be available, you can go check that out here. Going further will not get you news here. But it will get you writing advice. So let’s dive in!

Delivering readers detail is one of those key challenges to being a writer. We even have a word for it: Exposition. The word we use when a story informs us of something that it believes we the readers need to know.

Exposition comes in all forms. A character saying “Don’t open that door, it’s an airlock and that’s bad for anyone who has to do things like breathe” is exposition. They’re expositing what a door is and why it should not be tampered with. A narrative giving readers a bunch of information about the setting? That’s also exposition, just given directly to the reader.

Both of these ways we’ve mentioned so far can be done well or done poorly. A character saying something that the audience needs to know … but clearly only speaking for the benefit of the audience? Well, that’s not great. Whether it’s characters saying “As you know …” or just stating something because the writer was worried the audience won’t have figured it out, this form of information delivery can be done poorly. As can the other form, exposition becoming infodumping.

We’ve talked about each of these before, as well as many other aspects of presenting information. So much so that the link you just slipped past is to a tag rather than a specific post. But as we’ve talked about all those others … we’re letting those posts stand on their own, and today we’re going to talk about another aspect of presenting information that I’ve seen young and new writers alike struggle with: how to figure out the order.

Hit the jump!

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Being a Better Writer: How Long Should a Chapter Be?

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Welcome back, writers! Monday is here, and it’s not a holiday, so we’ve got a new, fresh Being a Better Writer post all hot and ready for you. Or maybe Being a Better Writer is better served chilled? Hadn’t thought about it before. It probably depends on the post.

Oh, don’t forget your side of last week’s news. Which is all about Axtara across all three books. Check it out!

Either way, we’ve got a nice serving of writing information today on an intriguing topic, another one that I’ve seen circle for years now—effectively ever since I started hanging out in writing circles. As with some of our previous topics from Topic List #25, this is something that I’ve seen discussed recently, though in this case as recently as quite literally the very day in which I write this post.

Yet I’ve never actually done a Being a Better Writer on it that I can recall. Which, given the way I’ve seen the online discourse swinging, means it’s high time. Because as the years have passed I’ve seen more and more people offering a “hard” answer, attempting to back it up with what I would consider quite dubious logic. Logic that, if rigidly adhered to, would not server the interests of a young writer.

So buckle up, grab your utensil of choice for eating a heaping helping of writing advice, hit that jump, and let’s talk about how long a chapter should really be.

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