Do you have advice on generating ideas? Been interested in writing fiction, but can't seem to fully immerse myself into a fictional world.

I don't have much advice on that front since that is one thing I've never actually had an issue with (unlike literally everything else about it, from craft to marketing).

Ideas tend to come for me all the time, _but_ I noticed they sometimes flow even more aggressively when I read other fiction books as well as when I go for a walk out in nature. I think consuming stories just generates more stories.

For my last novella, I actually brainstormed it with ChatGPT. I already had a general idea and theme, but needed to brainstorm some plot points, character motivations, etc. I found using ChatGPT as a more advanced rubber ducky helped spark the imagination and flesh out the plot. At one point I even did it through ChatGPT voice on my phone while on a bus, and actually _talking_ through it in some ways seemed even more effective.

Very true about consuming more stories. As Stephen King famously said, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot."

Yeah, I've heard other authors using ChatGPT in a similar way. Could definitely be helpful.

What have you written/published so far?

I write under a pen name, but I've published about ten sci-fi romance books so far across a couple of different series.

If you don't mind sharing, could you link to a few of your books? No pressure of course.

Afraid not. I write under a pen name because I don't want my books linked with my real name just yet. It's not a huge deal if someone finds out, but they're still a little too cringe for me to put out there, plus I'd rather keep my fiction and programming separate for now. Maybe when I'm a better fiction writer!

Ah, sorry. If one day you decide to write under your real name, please do email me the names of your books. If you feel like it, of course.

How did you get started? Also what is the average length of your stories? Do you focus on a specific genre?

I've been interested in writing for ages but I'm such a perfectionist.

I got started with short stories and later moved on to novellas, then novels. Now I write a mix of novellas (25000-ish words) and novels (up to 120000 words). I started publishing only on Amazon (in their Kindle Unlimited program, which pays you per page read) and later moved to wide (no longer liked the idea of Amazon exclusivity).

I picked a genre (science fiction romance) and stick within it, but am still not "narrowed down" enough from a business perspective. This takes longer to build traction. There are so many different niches in this genre, that if I could stick to just one of them I'd get momentum faster. But the reason I started doing this was only partly profits - mostly I just wanted to write cool stories - so I don't mind it taking longer.

Perfectionism can be tough to overcome, but I think of it like this: If I don't put out more books and see how they perform, I will never get as close to perfect as I could be. That feedback loop (reviews, profits, rank, whatever measure you care about) is a driver of improved quality and presentation. I always put real effort into my stories of course, but now I look back at the first thing I published and cringe. But if I didn't publish it and learn from it for the next thing, I'd still be writing at that level.

Thanks for replying, sounds like what you're doing is pretty cool.

Did you publish short stories on KDP as well or did you wait until you had longer pieces to publish?

Yup, short stories were published exclusively on KDP in the Kindle Unlimited program.

I'm just getting started with writing as well. I'm using Google Docs to write. Is it a suitable way to write for publishing? Not sure if I need to invest on a software like Scrivener. Thoughts?

I have not used it myself, but know others who do. I think technically it works just fine.

For me, one hesitation would be sharing my WIPs with Google. I'd rather just not have _another_ company have more copies of my work when they don't need to. Additionally, I write steamy romance and have heard of Google blocking access to docs based on contents before. They may never do that for what I'm writing, but I'd rather not take the chance of losing access to a whole manuscript.

Personally when writing on a laptop I use Scrivener or Word. But anything that can handle your length of text will work. One benefit of Scrivener is it also provides extensive formatting options (eg to export your manuscript in epub format with desired fonts, spacing, etc). However, if you're going the way of paid software already (which Scrivener is as you know) I'd suggest actually checking out a separate software for formatting and export. Some options:

* Vellum (expensive, but gold standard for Mac. Exports beautiful files for different formats including print)

* Atticus (have not tried it, but some consider it a Vellum replacement - also not Mac-exclusive like Vellum is)

I _have_ used Scrivener for both writing and formatting and export before and it worked just fine! But now I use Vellum and it's just much better for that final formatting step.

You can also export in epub format in Word or alternatively use Calibre to customize and export a book. Those are more fiddly options that may not produce as beautiful results without more hands-on work. BUT if you're just starting out and want to "flip your first pancake" quickly without much or any investment, these totally work.