David T. Kim

We’ve been working on this one for a while. Today, We’re launching Story World. A place for authors to turn the worlds they’ve built into something their readers can actually explore. characters, locations, lore, and more. You choose what to share. Your readers get to explore the world. Here’s what it looks like 👇 [mythril.io]

Fan fiction writers are better than half the published authors on the shelf. i’ve read fics with 2 million hits that had better pacing, better dialogue and better character work than books with a movie deal. and i get it, published books go through editors, agents, a whole team. that still counts for something. i’ve loved plenty of them. but some of these writers are posting a chapter every week for years, for free, to the toughest readers alive. maybe the shelf just isn’t where all the talent is anymore? who’s the better writer, your favourite fic author or your favourite published one?

Annotating a book with 40 colour-coded tabs isn’t reading. It’s arts and crafts. i’ve seen people spend more time picking which pastel tab means “foreshadowing” than actually reading the chapter. and i get it, it looks beautiful and makes a reread feel like your own. i’ve underlined a few lines i couldn’t let go of too. but if you stop every page to colour-match a feeling, you’re not lost in the story anymore. maybe for some people that’s exactly how they get lost in it? do you annotate your books or just read them?

Reading the last page first is a red flag. i’ve seen people flip to the end of a 500-page thriller before chapter one just to check who survives. and i get it, some people need to know it’s safe before they get attached. the waiting is stressful. but the author spent 400 pages building to that line and you read it standing in the bookstore. maybe knowing the ending makes the ride better for some people? be honest, have you ever read the last page first?

Spice ratings ruined romance reviews. Every review is just chili peppers now. i’ve seen reviews that skip the plot, the characters and the writing completely. just “four chili peppers out of five.” and i get it, readers want to know what they’re walking into. that part is actually useful. but now books get picked for the heat level, not for whether the story is any good. maybe that’s just what romance readers want to know first? does a spice rating make you more or less likely to pick up a book?

Nobody reads the prologue. We all just skip to chapter one. i’ve seen people skip the prologue of a 700-page fantasy and only go back to it when they got lost at page 300. and i get it, prologues are where the cool ancient battle or the mysterious death happens. some of my favourite openings are prologues. but if the story needs it to make sense, it’s chapter one. if it doesn’t, why is it there? maybe that’s just me? do you read the prologue or skip straight to chapter one?

Skimming isn’t cheating. Everyone skims and nobody admits it. i’ve seen people swear they read every word of a 900-page fantasy, battle maps and three-page sword descriptions included. and i get it, the author wrote every line for a reason. i’ve had books where skipping one paragraph meant i missed the whole twist. but if your eyes slide past a description of a tapestry to get to the part where someone dies, you still read the book. maybe it’s time we stopped pretending? be honest, do you skim?

“Morally grey” just means hot and does crimes now. i picked up three books this month with a morally grey love interest. all three were just a guy who stabs people and is nice to one girl. and i get it, a dangerous character who’s soft for someone is fun to read. i’ve fallen for a few too. but morally grey used to mean you weren’t sure if they were right. now you’re just sure they’re attractive. maybe the label just changed meaning? who’s a character that’s actually morally grey?

Why does every villain need a sad backstory now? dead parents. a betrayal at 12. a kingdom that wronged them. one flashback chapter and suddenly we’re supposed to cry for the guy who burned a village. and i get it, the best villains make you understand them. some of my favourites broke me. but sometimes i just want someone who’s evil because they like it. maybe not every villain needs to be a victim first? who’s a villain that was just evil, no excuses, and it worked?

Some authors' newsletters are better than their books now. i'm subscribed to a few writers and honestly i open their emails faster than i finish their novels the newsletter is where we're actually ourselves. messy, funny, oversharing about the scene that broke us then our book comes out and it's so polished it feels like someone else wrote it maybe readers don't want perfect. maybe they just want us do you read your favourite author's newsletter more than their books?

Spellcheck has been rewriting our books for years. Nobody called that AI. it fixes our grammar. suggests better words. finishes our sentences before we do we just click accept and move on. nobody's ever asked if a book is "human" because of autocorrect but the second someone says they used AI to brainstorm a name, it's a scandal i'm not saying it's all the same thing. but i don't think most of us know where the line is anymore where do you draw it?

Is everyone writing the same book now? Enemies to lovers, Morally grey men, A dangerously attractive villain, A chosen one who doesn't know they're special, A fictional world with 17 different kingdoms. At this point, some books feel like they've been assembled from a checklist of things readers already love. And yeah I get it. Tropes sell, Familiar stories are comforting. Publishers want books that have an audience before they even hit the shelves. But when did we become so obsessed with giving readers what they already know they like? shouldn’t we be creative? What happened to stories that felt genuinely unfamiliar? Plots that didn't feel like they were following a viral formula? I'm not saying familiar tropes are bad. I'm wondering if we're making originality a commercial risk. Do readers actually want something new, or do we just keep buying different versions of the same story?

Writing a book in your phone's notes app is still writing a book. i've seen people get embarrassed admitting their whole draft is in notes. or google docs on their phone. or random voice memos at 1am. and i get it, it doesn't feel as "serious" as a proper writing setup. i used to think i needed the perfect app too. but half my best scenes were typed with one thumb on a bus. the story doesn't care where it got written. where does your writing actually happen?

authors should publish the names they almost gave their characters. i want to know how close we came to having a protagonist named something absolutely ridiculous. the villain who was almost called Sebastian. the love interest who nearly ended up being named after someone’s ex. the character whose name changed 14 times before publication. you’ve probably got a whole list sitting somewhere in your notes. authors, what’s the most ridiculous name you almost used?

You don't need to write every day to be a real writer. i've seen so many writers feel like frauds because they missed a few days. or a few weeks. and i get it, the "write every day" advice works for some ppl. when i'm on a streak it honestly feels amazing. but some of my best chapters came after a week of not touching the doc at all. just thinking about the story in the shower like a normal person. we're writers because we keep coming back to it, not because we never left. how often do we actually write?

Writers are now writing worse on purpose so nobody accuses them of using AI. i’ve seen authors leave typos in. cut the em dashes. make their sentences messier. just so a reader doesn’t comment “chatgpt?” and i get it, getting accused is terrifying. one comment like that can follow a book around forever. but if we all start writing worse to look human, the only thing we’re proving is that we’re scared. maybe readers should judge the story, not the punctuation? writers, have you changed how you write because of this?

You’re allowed to DNF a book. Finishing a book you hate isn’t discipline, it’s punishment. i’ve seen people drag themselves through 400 pages they hated just so it “counts” on their goodreads. and i get it, sometimes a book gets good at the end. i’ve pushed through a slow start and been glad i did. but if you’re 150 pages in and dreading picking it up, you’re allowed to put it down. there are too many good books waiting. maybe finishing everything is overrated? do you always finish a book or do you DNF without guilt?

Kindle books are real books. I don’t care that they don’t smell like anything. i’ve seen people get told they “don’t really read” because they read on a screen at 2am with the brightness all the way down. and i get it, there’s nothing like a physical book. i still buy paperbacks of the ones i love. but the words are the same. the story is the same. the crying at 3am is definitely the same. maybe the format was never the point? kindle or physical, which one do you actually read more on?

Fanfiction is real reading. Some of it is better than what’s on the bestseller list. i’ve seen people read 300,000 words of a fic in a week and then say “i haven’t really been reading lately.” and i get it, it’s not a published book. there’s no cover, no isbn, and half the summaries say “i suck at summaries.” but if it made you stay up till 3am, cry at a chapter end, and refresh for updates, you were reading. maybe it’s time we stopped ranking where words come from? does fanfic count as reading to you?

Authors should start publishing the first version of a scene alongside the final one. not every scene. just the interesting ones. the scene where the villain was originally the hero. the confession that was supposed to happen 200 pages earlier. the dialogue that got rewritten 17 times. i think readers would love seeing how a story actually comes together. we spend so much time talking about the finished book that we forget there’s an entire other story in how it was written. would you read these?