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Writers: 10 Subreddits to Find Writing Tips You Need

As Maya Angelou said, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I’m sure that everyone reading this has had plans of writing, be it a story of personal heroic exploits, amazing dreams or life experiences. However, most of us are held back by a lack of writing experience and a lack of a general idea of how writing actually works.

Apart from those two factors, there is a third essential one: lack of opportunity to practice . If you are looking for guidance and direction to help take your writing skills to the next level , look no further than Reddit. It is home to a wide range of communities and even more subscribers, each contributing, critiquing, and encouraging each other to be master of the word.

Here are 10 writing subreddits every writer should subscribe to.

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1. /r/writing

The /r/writing subreddit is a general writing hub where the process of writing is discussed . It’s where suggestions, tips, and anything connected to writing are submitted by users and discussed by redditors. It’s the perfect place to get your "writing” gears running.

There is a weekly critique thread that is stickied at the top of the subreddit in case you want others to read your work. In short, /r/writing is a place for you to share tips, news articles , and anything related to writing for the community to read and enjoy.

2. /r/DestructiveReaders

This particular subreddit is dedicated to having your work deconstructed , mercilessly. The problem with most readers is that they hold back on giving critique – mostly because they think that they are not in a position to do so, since they aren’t writers themselves.

This makes it difficult for writers to develop themselves, since more often than not, they are being cushioned with fluffy commentary . This subreddit gives you an opportunity to have your work critiqued with all honesty and skepticism that a writer deserves .

3. /r/writingprompts

Writing Prompts is perhaps my most favorite writing subreddit. It is a breeding ground for creative prompts and short stories – and several times redditors found themselves writing full-length novels and getting published because of this community.

If you have a creative mind that you must set loose, go to this subreddit daily and try to write your own stories , or pitch your idea for a story for others to build up on. Who knows, a prompt here might just be the story you are looking for to write all along?

4. /r/CharacterDevelopment

Some of the most important parts of any literary piece are, without a doubt, the characters. A novelist can have a flawless writing style, but if the characters are flat and without any dimension, the piece will be about as memorable as a fly on a wall.

This subreddit focuses on developing your characters, providing a platform for exchanging critique and suggestions when it comes to building believable characters .

5. /r/WorldBuilding

This applies to fiction writers who prefer to build a world of their own instead of using real-life places, mostly for fantasy and science fiction writers. World building is an important aspect for these writers, it is the world in which their characters move around in.

This subreddit is the perfect place to discuss such matters – from actual world building, which entails setting up rules of the newly conceived world down to the tiniest of details that may affect the entire plot of the story.

6. /r/WriterMotivation

Every writer, without an exception, will encounter a writer’s block , sooner or later. It is the most terrible thing that any writer can experience. Imagine overflowing with ideas, only to find that no matter what you write down, it just can’t seem to flow , or perhaps you simply don’t have the "juice” to keep on writing .

This subreddit is aimed towards motivating writers to keep on writing, find their mojo, and ultimately get through their writer’s block .

7. /r/Screenwriting

If you’re aspiring to be a writer for a television network or you simply want to write for a film , /r/Screenwriting is the place for you.

Here, you can discuss screenplays, techniques, share and find resources , and basically have a merry time talking about anything that is related to screenwriting.

8. /r/PlayWriting

Writing for the stage is an art itself. Playwrights can share their work for thoughts and critique , submit resources for others and interesting articles to discuss, and generally talk about anything that has to do with the magical world of stage plays.

9. /r/ReadMyScript

And after you’re done with the previous subreddits and have come up with your own script, feel free to post it here for honest discussion, suggestions, and critique . This is much like the /r/DestructiveReaders subreddit, only for scripts (but you can also cross-post your script on /r/DestructiveReaders for maximum exposure).

10. /r/SelfPublish

The dream of every writer is to have their work published . Back in the day, you had to rely on a publishing house for this to happen – and you had to brave many painful and bitter rejections before you would finally hold a masterpiece in your hands. Most writers didn’t even get that far.

However, nowadays, because of the internet, and mostly because of Amazon, independent writers can now unleash their stories out onto the world without the bureaucracy .

Bonus: Genre-Specific subreddits

Most writers have this specific niche that they feel most comfortable in – their true genre, so to speak. Agatha Christie had mystery and crime novels, Edgar Allan Poe was the father of horror, Christopher Moore has the knack for comedy – sooner or later every writer finds their own genre.

To help in developing with whichever genre you’re working on, there exist several subreddits that can cater to your needs.

  • /r/fantasywriters
  • /r/comedywriting
  • /r/WritersOfHorror
  • /r/scifiwriting
  • /r/crimewriters

As an additional tip, you can cross-post on other subreddits as long as you follow their rules. Generally, smaller subreddits like the ones mentioned above don’t get much attention unless you redirect readers to them . Cross posting is simply submitting the link of your original post to a different subreddit.

Writing is the most beautiful way to lose yourself. It gives birth to new worlds, to haunting characters, and to stories so captivating you may lose sleep just thinking about it. Everyone who has a dream can write, all they need is a little fuel to keep the passion burning , support, practice, and the preserverance to rough it out through the publication process .

Now that you have a starting point for where to go for your writing needs, feel free to tell us in the comments about your own experiences and successes as a writer .

Read more: 20 interesting Reddit communities to get lost in

writing stories reddit

Writer's block is arguably the worst thing that can happen to an aspiring author, but coming in at a close second is the frustration of dealing with this question: Should you tell people you're writing a novel? Replying to TheWayDenzelSaysIt on the r/writing subreddit , many redditors expressed reluctance to talk to non-writers about their pet projects. Their answers are both relatable and informative, and I've picked out some of the best for you to take a look at below.

The Internet can be a terrible place , and Reddit gets a bad reputation for housing some of the 'Net's most repugnant denizens , but places like r/writing are safe havens for hobbyists and creatives looking for communities based around their crafts. Seriously, if you're a writer who has no writing friends, hop on Reddit and get you some . Building a strong support network is one of the best things you can do to make sure you achieve your goals, especially if you enjoy writing challenges like NaNoWriMo and StoryADay .

TheWayDenzelSaysIt's post stirred up a lively conversation in r/writing, which you can read in full here . Keep scrolling to read the best advice the thread had to offer aspiring authors who feel conflicted when talking about their work.

Don't Say Anything If You Don't Want To Be Like Everyone Else

One consensus seemed to be that, because writing a novel is a trendy thing to do, telling people that you're trying to get published is tantamount to announcing to the world just how "basic" you are. I say, forget that. Tell people or don't, but don't make your decision based on what other, unrelated writers do and say.

Beware Telling People If You've Been Writing For A While

writing stories reddit

Several redditors advised others against telling people about their manuscripts, simply because being in the awkward position of "writing a novel" for five or 20 years can be socially painful.

Speaking from a personal standpoint, this does not feel as bad if you have finished a manuscript or two in those years. I have not published a book, but I have drafted two novellas and several short stories, and I don't mind telling people so.

Tell Your Parents And Your Partner, Provided They Will Support Your Writing

writing stories reddit

This should go without saying, but if you grew up without good, loving, and supportive parents or guardians, you should not feel obligated to tell the people who raised you about your writing. And if your partner doesn't support your authorial aspirations, then why are you with them? The people in your inner circle should know what your writing dreams are about. If you can't trust them not to mock or belittle you for writing stories, they don't belong in your inner circle.

Decide Whether You Want To Be A "Writer" Now, Or Later

writing stories reddit

A few redditors expressed anxieties over telling people that they write without having a book on store shelves. I think that's silly, because "writer" and "published author" are two completely different things. It's up to each of us to decide when and whether we identify as writers, however, and you aren't wrong either way.

Telling People Who Care Can Be A Boon To Your Motivation

Motivation is fickle, but if social pressure from others is what you need to keep you going, then set up that peer pressure network and get to work!

writing stories reddit

The Write Practice

How to Write a Story: 10 Steps to Master the Art of Storytelling

by Joe Bunting | 372 comments

I used to wonder how Pixar came out with such great movies year after year. Then, I found out a normal Pixar film takes six years to develop, and most of that time is spent on the story.

writing stories reddit

Everything I Know About How to Write a Story

Since I started The Write Practice over a decade ago, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around how to write a good story. I’ve read books and blog posts on writing, taken creative writing courses , asked dozens of other story writers, and, of course, written stories myself.

The following ten steps are a distillation of everything I’ve learned about writing a good story. I hope it makes writing your story a little easier, but more than that, I hope it challenges you to step deeper into your own exploration of how to write a story . Get a Free Book Idea Worksheet to plan your story in a sentence: This worksheet from our Write Plan planner will help you identify the core elements of your story. Click here to download the free book idea worksheet.  Wait! Need a story idea? We’ve got you covered. Get our top 100 short story ideas here .

1. Write In One Sitting

Write the first draft of your story in as short a time as possible. If you’re writing a short story, try to write it in one sitting. If you’re writing a novel, try to write it in one season (three months).

Don’t worry too much about detailed plotting or outlining beforehand. You can do that once you know you have a story to tell in the first place.

Also, don't worry about plot holes or getting some details wrong as you write. At this point, you don't even have to have finalized character names.

Your first draft is a discovery process. You are like an archeologist digging an ancient city out of the clay. You might have a few clues about where your city is buried beforehand, but you don’t know what it will look like until it’s unearthed.

All that’s to say, get digging!

2. Develop Your Protagonist

Stories are about protagonists, and if you don’t have a good protagonist , you won’t have a good story.

The essential ingredient for every protagonist is that they must make decisions. As Victor Frankl said, “A human being is a deciding being.” Your protagonist must make a decision to get themselves into whatever mess they get into in your story, and likewise, their character arc must come to a crisis point and they must decide to get themselves out of the mess.

To further develop your protagonist, use other character archetypes like the villain , the protagonist’s opposite, or the fool , a sidekick character that reveals the protagonist’s softer side.

It's a good idea to develop a character profile for every single character. This will help you make more believable characters and keep you from getting character details wrong. Some kind of character sheet is essential for your POV character at the very least.

Note: Character development isn't just for fictional characters! You need to have a well-rounded character if you're writing memoir/personal narratives (you're the perspective character) or certain types of nonfiction as well. Readers fall in love with characters.

3. Create Suspense and Conflict

Conflict is essential to every type of story. Conflict is what drives your characters and what keeps your readers reading. If there is no conflict, your reader will be bored, and there is no story.

There are two basic types of conflict. External conflict is the action of your story, the thing everyone sees on the surface. But don't forget about internal conflict! This is the process of your POV character warring with themselves and is what sets up the crisis point of the story and the character arc.

You also need suspense for a compelling story. Suspense isn't just for thrillers; it's a plus for any type of story.

To create suspense, set up a dramatic question . A dramatic question is something like, “Is he going to make it?” or, “Is she going to get the man of her dreams?” By putting your protagonist’s fate in doubt, you make the reader ask, what happens next?

To do this well, you need to carefully restrict the flow of information to the reader. Nothing destroys drama like over-sharing.

4. Show, Don’t Tell

Honestly, the saying “ show, don’t tell ” is overused. However, when placed next to the step above, it becomes very effective.

When something interesting happens in your story that changes the fate of your character, don’t tell us about it. Show the scene ! Your readers have a right to see the best parts of the story play out in front of them. Show the interesting parts of your story and tell the rest.

5. Write Good Dialogue

Good dialogue comes from two things: intimate knowledge of your characters and lots of rewriting.

Each character must have a unique voice, and to make sure your characters all sound different, read each character’s dialogue and ask yourself, “Does this sound like my character?” If your answer is no, then you have some rewriting to do. (Want more character development tips? Click here. )

Also, with your speaker tags , try not to use anything but “he said” and “she said.” Speaker tags like “he exclaimed,” “she announced,” and “he spoke vehemently” are distracting and unnecessary. The occasional “he asked” is fine, though.

6. Write About Death

Think about the last five novels you read. In how many of them did a character die?

Best-selling fiction often involves death. Harry Potter , The Hunger Games , Charlotte’s Web , The Lord of the Rings , and more all had main characters who died.

Death is the universal theme because every person who lives will one day die. You could say humans versus death is the central conflict of our lives. Tap the power of death in your storytelling .

7. Edit Like a Pro

Most professional writers have an established writing process that often involves writing three drafts or more. The first draft is often called the “vomit draft” or the “shitty first draft.” Don’t share it with anyone! Your first draft is your chance to explore your story and figure out what it’s about.

Editing is often the part of the writing process that causes the most anxiety, but it's necessary. Your second draft isn’t for polishing, although many new writers will try to polish as soon as they can to clean up their embarrassing first draft.

Instead, the second draft is meant for major structural changes (make sure it's a complete story!), for cleaning up any plot holes, or for clarifying the key ideas if you're writing a non-fiction book. This is where you make sure your story is complete, has believable characters (they should have character names now!), and that everything makes sense.

(Need a refresher on the basics of story structure? Click here .)

The third draft is for deep polishing. Now is when everything starts to gel. This is the fun part! But until you write the first two drafts, polishing is probably a waste of your time.

8. Know the Rules, Then Break Them

Good writers know all the rules for the type of story they're writing and follow them. Great writers know all the rules and break them .

However, the best writers don’t break the rules arbitrarily. They break them because their stories require a whole new set of rules.

Respect the rules, but remember that you don’t serve the rules. You serve your stories.

9. Defeat Writer’s Block

The best way to defeat writer's block is to write. If you’re stuck, don’t try to write well. Don’t try to be perfect. Just write.

Sometimes, to write better stories, you have to start by taking the pressure off and just writing.

10. Share Your Work

You write better when you know someone will soon be reading what you’ve written. If you write in the dark, no one will know if you aren’t giving your writing everything you have. But when you share your writing , you face the possibility of failure. This will force you to write the best story you possibly can and to amp up your creative writing skills with each story you write.

(Not quite ready to publish, but are interested in beta readers? Read our definitive guide on beta readers here .)

One of the best ways to write a story and share your writing is to enter a writing contest . The theme will inspire a new creation, the deadlines will keep you accountable, and the prizes will encourage you to submit—and maybe win! We love writing contests here at The Write Practice. Why not enter our next one ?

How to Write a GOOD Story

All these tips will help you write a story. The trick to writing a good story? Practice. Practice on a daily basis if you can with a regular writing schedule.

Book Idea Worksheet

Do you have a story to tell?

Take fifteen minutes to start. Write the first draft of a short story in one sitting using the tips above.

Need a prompt to get started? Try this one: She was pretty sure that tree hadn't been there yesterday.

Then, share your story in the practice box below. (Now you're practicing tip #10!) And if you share your practice, be sure to leave feedback on a few practices by other writers, too. Excited to see your story take shape!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

How to Write a Memoir: How to Start (and Actually Finish) Your First Draft

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Our Top 50 Reddit Writing Prompts.

Writing can be quite a difficult endeavor on it's own, and the process becomes impossible without inspiration. For most people who have trouble sticking to a daily writing goal, it’s not a lack of self-discipline, but instead a lack of inspiration. 

Thankfully, authors and readers from all over the world have united in one place to share their creative and fun prompt ideas - Reddit. This Reddit forum, r/WritingPrompts , has amazingly grown to almost 16 million members. 

The subreddit has become a place for members to sporadically post prompt ideas, encouraging other members to comment their own spin-off stories from the prompt. It’s not uncommon to see some users receive a flood of positive feedback on their response that they proceed to write multiple follow up responses to the same prompt.

Amazingly, there have even been some users who report back years later that their prompt response inspired them to write an entire novel !

It’s no secret that r/WritingPrompts has become a gold mine for writing inspiration. So, we thought it could be useful to to compile the all-time top 50 writing prompts from the subreddit.

On days where you’re stuck and unable to think of anything to write about, check out these prompts below and give one a shot! 

The year is 1910. Adolf Hitler, a struggling artist, has fought off dozens of assassination attempts by well meaning time travelers, but this one is different. This traveller doesn't want to kill Hitler, he wants to teach him to paint. He pulls off his hood to reveal the frizzy afro of Bob Ross.

The year is 2038 and net neutrality has been dead for almost two decades. But a rebellious group managed to travel back to 2017…

“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do Mr Bond. I’m going to stick you in a spacesuit with a radio, and strap you into one of my cars. Then, while mankind watches, I’ll launch you into space. The last thing you’ll hear before leaving this earth forever, will be their applause.”

You lost your sight - along with everyone else on Earth - in The Great Blinding. Two years later, without warning, your sight returns. As you look around, you realize that every available wall, floor and surface has been painted with the same message - Don't Tell Them You Can See.

When you die, you appear in a cinema with a number of other people who look like you. You find out that they are your previous reincarnations, and soon you all begin watching your next life on the big screen.

You hire a female prostitute, tell her to meet you at a fancy restaurant, and ask her to pretend to be your colleague from the bank. Hire a male prostitute, and tell him the same thing. You sit at a table next to theirs and listen to their conversation.

It's 3 AM. An official phone alert wakes you up. It says "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON". You have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending "It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside."

Every country has ninjas but the world only knows about Japan's because theirs suck.

Humans once wielded formidable magical power but with over 7 billion of us on the planet now Mana has spread far too thinly to have any effect. When hostile aliens reduce humanity to a mere fraction the survivors discover an old power has begun to reawaken once again.

A woman has been dating guy after guy, but it never seems to work out. She’s unaware that she’s actually been dating the same guy over and over; a shapeshifter who’s fallen for her, and is certain he’s going to get it right this time.

The human lifespan is actually only one day long. To adapt, when we go to sleep each night, our mind sends us one dream deeper, where we wake up alive. When we finally die, the experience of our life flashing before our eyes is really just us waking up in each dream, one at a time.

Whenever you speak, people hear you speaking in their native language. Most people are surprised and delighted. The cashier at McDonalds you've just talked to is horrified. "Nobody's spoken that language in thousands of years."

You're Barack Obama. 4 months into your retirement, you awake to find a letter with no return address on your bedside table. It reads "I hope you've had a chance to relax Barack...but pack your bags and call the number below. It's time to start the real job." Signed simply, "JFK."

The hottest show in the afterlife for the past decade: Steve Irwin wrangling all sorts of supernatural creatures.

Your ability to see people's age in years as an invisible number above their heads has made you the perfect bouncer. One day you see a four digit number.

Following World War III, all the nations of the world agreed to 50 years of strict isolation from one another in order to prevent additional conflicts. 50 years later, the United States comes out of exile, only to learn that no one else went into isolation.

Due to your nerdy great great great great grandfather in 2017 'buying a star' and some modern legal shenanigans you are now the proud owner of a small intergalactic empire

Your entire life, you've been told you're deathly allergic to bees. You've always had people protecting you from them, be it your mother or a hired hand. Today, one slips through and lands on your shoulder. You hear a tiny voice say "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

An alien has kidnapped Matt Damon, not knowing what lengths humanity goes through to retrieve him whenever he goes missing.

All of the "#1 Dad" mugs in the world change to show the actual ranking of Dads suddenly.

A super hero fights evil by wiping memories of both the villain and everyone who knew of them so that they can be reintroduced into society safely. Today, as you were combing through old newspapers, you discovered that you were once the world's most powerful supervillain.

When you’re 28, science discovers a drug that stops all effects of aging, creating immortality. Your government decides to give the drug to all citizens under 26, but you and the rest of the “Lost Generations” are deemed too high-risk. When you’re 85, the side effects are finally discovered.

Earth is doomed in a matter of years, but you are bestowed with a mystical dagger that causes anyone killed by it to instantly resurrect on an alternate Earth that does not share the same fate. In one world you are revered as a hero, in the other the most notorious serial killer of all time.

Vampires cannot enter a house uninvited. Turns out, they invented Welcome mats to bypass this rule decades ago.

As Pride Month nears its end, the other six members of the Seven Deadly Sins begin to wonder when they'll get months dedicated to them. Pride, meanwhile, is just trying to get them to understand that he's not actually the focus of Pride Month.

You go to hell, only to find out that hell has been overturned by humans. Turns out gathering billions of the most wicked of humans, among them are several ruthless but brilliant rulers, commanders, and dictators, who can no longer die, isn't such a good idea after all.

You never kill the spiders in your home, you just whisper "today you, tomorrow me" when you set them outside. Now, in your most dire moment, an army of spiders arrives to have your back.

"Jesus take the wheel, Satan get behind me, Buddha... man the .50 cal"

One day, time just suddenly stops for a short moment for you. At first, you tried to mess around, but after the 246th time it happened, you start to realise that your power is not stopping time, but being able to move in time frozen by another person in the world.

You're a biologist who made a deal with the devil: eternity in hell after death in return for unlimited funding for your research. The funding was worth it, you discovered immortality, and the devil is not happy about this.

Your daughter has been begging you for a pony, and you told her to write a letter to Santa. On Christmas morning, you find a fire-breathing horse in your front yard, and a package by your front door. Looks like she wrote a letter to Satan, and he delivered.

Pennywise wakes up after his 27 year sleep to find that four giant turtles and a rat have taken over the sewers.

You won a lifetime supply of Oreos when you were a kid. The apocalypse and collapse of civilization was 30 years ago, yet every month the Oreos are still delivered to you, no matter where you are.

You have $86,400 in your bank and someone steals $10. You spend all the rest of your money trying to get revenge.

At the age of twelve you started randomly seeing a green line and a red line appear on the ground. You always followed the green line and have lived a successful and happy life. Ten years later you are on top of the world, but bored. Time to see where the red line leads.

We finally get men on Mars and they discover an old Soviet flag placed down decades ago. The Soviets won the space race but for whatever horrifying reason didn't say anything.

Bored with Heaven's docile wildlife, Steve Irwin rounds up a camera crew and leads an expedition to observe and study the native species of Hell.

In order to get a shot at going to Valhalla, you must die with a weapon in your hands. You just died and are now sitting in front of Odin's advisory board as they discuss whether a spatula actually counts.

After you die, you're handed a book about your life. You open it, expecting a novel. Instead you get a "Choose your own adventure" book with all of the decisions you ever made, and every outcome they could have had.

From birth, your parents have done everything they could to stop you from going out during a full moon. At the age of 16, curiosity overwhelms you and you sneak out of the house during a full moon. You take a peek at the moon, and suddenly you turn into a log cabin. You are a warehouse.

You discover a library with a biography for everyone on Earth. While reading your own, you notice that whenever someone else is mentioned, there's a footnote showing where you can find their biography. It's odd how someone who was only a sentence in your book has a whole chapter for you.

Humans are the first sentients, putting us millenia ahead of aliens. Instead of acting like an "elder" species should, we create mysterious artifacts with no actual use, crop circles and send spooky messages, like "be quiet, you are in danger" to the aliens, because we are still childish morons.

At age 15 you told the gf you were "in love" with that you'd always be there when she was in need. Aphrodite heard you and made it a reality, whenever your gf was in need you appeared at her side. Problem is, you and the girl broke up after 3 weeks but you still appear even now..10 years later

A purge comedy where two pals accidently kill someone a week before the purge and tries to fake the person's life until the night of the purge when the murder would be legal.

You are Death, but in a post-apocalyptic world. Only a few survivors remain, and you're doing everything you can to help them because if the last human dies, you die as well. The survivors can't see you, but they feel your presence and notice your effort. They started to call you Life.

When you die, you wake up in an alien world holding a bong, with other aliens saying how was the trip.

Jesus actually had 14 disciples but their behavior was deemed inappropriate by biblical scholars, so they were removed from the final versions of the Gospels. They are Brad and Chad, the Bro-ciples, and these are their stories.

The lone survivor of an Arctic exploration, you were captured generations ago by a band of tiny warriors. They’ve placed you under an enchantment to do their bidding; heading out into the world once each year as their unwilling emissary. They call you “slave,” or in their tongue, “Santa.”

You are a cat who has been taking an advantage of the recent rise of video conference trials to elevate your legal career. One day your human video filter stops working and you need to convince the judge that you are a real, human lawyer licensed to practice law in the state of Texas.

A schizophrenic man gets sick of the voice in his head and asks it to start paying rent if it wants to live there. The next morning he finds an envelope filled with cash on his desk.

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The 10 Best Subreddits For Stories [2023 Edition]

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05/09/23 •  6 min read

Best Subreddits For Stories

If you simply cannot get enough of fiction, you’ll love these awesome subreddits for stories that cover everything from true crime to sci-fi and horror…

You might read books or have a kindle, but plenty of people – myself included – have another awesome source for getting access to unique and engaging stories online: reddit.

If you’re a writer looking to get some feedback on something you’ve written or you just like reading short, punchy stories from unknown writers, Reddit is a brilliant resource to have at your disposal. That’s right, Reddit isn’t just about funny memes!

As of right now, based on my own browsing habits, here’s a quick overview of the some of the best subreddits for stories. It covers plenty of ground and genres too – from short stories to horror fiction and sci-fi.

Best Subreddits For Stories

  • r/WritingPrompts – This subreddit is a community for writers of all skill levels to share and respond to writing prompts. Users post prompts, and other users respond with original stories. It’s a great way to improve your writing skills and get feedback on your work.
  • r/nosleep – This subreddit is dedicated to horror stories that are written in a realistic and immersive style. The stories are presented as if they are true accounts, which makes them all the more terrifying. If you love horror, this is the subreddit for you.
  • r/shortstories – As the name suggests, this subreddit is dedicated to short stories . The stories can be about anything, and there are no genre restrictions. It’s a great place to discover new writers and find inspiration for your own writing.
  • r/libraryofshadows – This subreddit is another great community for horror stories . The stories posted here are usually longer and more detailed than those on r/nosleep, and they are often more literary in style. If you’re a fan of horror and appreciate good writing, this is the subreddit for you.
  • r/creepypasta – This subreddit is dedicated to creepypastas , which are short horror stories that are usually spread around the internet through copy-and-paste. The stories can be about anything, from ghosts to monsters to aliens. If you’re a fan of creepy stories, this is the subreddit for you.
  • r/scifiwriting – If you’re a fan of science fiction, this is the place for you . It’s a community for writers of all skill levels to share their work and get feedback. Whether you’re writing a novel or a short story, you’ll find plenty of inspiration here.
  • r/hfy – This subreddit is dedicated to “humanity, f*ck yeah!” stories . The stories are usually science fiction or fantasy and focus on humanity overcoming adversity and triumphing over their enemies. It’s a great subreddit for fans of epic storytelling.
  • r/shortscarystories – This subreddit is dedicated to short horror stories that are 500 words or less. It’s a great place to find bite-sized horror stories that you can read in just a few minutes.
  • r/flashfiction – This subreddit is dedicated to flash fiction, which is very short fiction that is usually under 1,000 words. It’s a great way to challenge yourself to write concisely and tell a complete story in a short amount of time.
  • r/writersofhorror – This subreddit is a community for horror writers to share their work and get feedback. Whether you’re a seasoned horror writer or just starting out, you’ll find plenty of inspiration and support here.

Beware The LARPer

If you’ve spent any amount of time on Reddit, chances are you will have come across posts that sound like they’re meant to be real but obviously are not. Most of the time, these are LARPERS doing a LARP –  LARP means Live Action Role Play, FYI! 

You’ll find these kinds of posts in all kinds of subreddits because Reddit is very popular with LARPERS. I’m talking about the kind of posts where the OP claims to be a time traveller or a dimension jumper (both of which are very popular topics on reddit). 

Most of the time, these are done just for entertainment value, either for the OP or the subreddit they’re posting in. But sometimes, it can get out of hand or, worse, push a false narrative about something and/or someone, so it is always prudent to be aware that LARPERS are everywhere on Reddit. 

Spotting a LARPER on Reddit is easy enough. Does the story sound fake? Are they taking about either A) anime, B) time travel, or C) dimension jumping? If so, chances are you’re reading a post by a LARPER. 

Best Subreddit For Scary Stories

For fans of horror and scary stories in general, Reddit is a literal gold mine of delights. In the decade or so that I’ve been using Reddit, I’ve read some truly awesome stories on Reddit – and nearly all of them were very much firmly placed in the genre of horror.

As for general subreddits where you’ll find the best scary stories, the king of scary stories has to be r/creepypasta and r/nosleep . The latter, r/nosleep , is more focussed on scary stories, whereas r/creepypasta has a bit of everything, so long as it is scary.

If you want to read some seriously chilling, scary, and downright entertaining horror and/or scary fiction, r/nosleep is where you want to be looking. It is brilliant and, unlike a lot of subreddits, the quality is actually pretty good.

My advice, go to r/nosleep right now and filter it by Top > the select ALL TIME . This way you’ll be able to read the most upvoted and awarded posts in the subreddit. And, trust me, some of them are very, very good.

My personal favorite? Simple: this one –  My wife has been peeking at me from around corners and behind furniture. It’s gone from weird to terrifying.

For more tips and tricks on using reddit, check out our detailed guide on how to use Reddit like a pro – it covers all the basics and loads more besides. 

writing stories reddit

Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He has written for Den of Geek, Fortean Times, IT PRO, PC Pro, ALPHR, and many other technology sites. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft , Understanding Publishing

Posted on Nov 19, 2018

15 of the Best Online Writing Communities for Aspiring Authors

As enjoyable and fulfilling as writing can be, the truth is that it’s often a solitary endeavor. While we might romanticize the focused artist typing away while imaginary worlds and narratives swirl inside their minds — authors know the truth: writing can get lonely. And moreover, when you’re working on a one-person project, it can be hard to remain motivated and accountable. That’s where writing communities come in.

Writing communities are the perfect place to find answers to your writing questions and to discuss the ins and outs of the writing life with people who actually understand what you’re talking about.

So, if you are tired of listening only to the voices in your head, take a look at our list of top online writing communities. (And if you're hungry for more, check out our more exhaustive list of the very best writing websites !)

Top online writing communities

1. absolute write water cooler.

With over 68,000 members, this is a large and highly active community. Here you can find threads on every genre imaginable, as well as discussions about freelance writing , the publishing industry, pop culture, writing prompts and exercises, and much more.

Perfect for: writers who are looking for a large and active community.

2. AgentQuery Connect

While this forum will come in handy for any writer, it’s especially helpful for authors who have already completed their manuscript and are wondering what to do next. The site boasts a wealth of information on publishing topics such as querying agents, self-publishing tips, and book promotion advice.

Perfect for: writers who are looking to connect with agents and learn more about the publishing industry.

3. Camp NaNoWriMo

If you’ve ever wanted to go to a writer’s retreat but can’t afford it just yet, then this site might help scratch your itch. Holding online “camp sessions” in April and July, Camp NaNoWriMo offers a digital space to encourage and empower writers at any point of their career. Here you can work on drafts, revisions, short stories, or any other writing project that involves word-count goals.

Perfect for: writers who can’t wait until November to crack their writing goals .

writing stories reddit

4. Critique Circle

Feedback should be a vital part of any writer’s process, and this is exactly what Critique Circle offers. This members-only site allows authors to post stories in exchange for feedback on other people’s writing. You can also find storyboarding tools , writing prompts , workshops, name generators , games like hangman, and much more.

Perfect for: writers who want honest feedback on their writing.

5. Chronicles

As the world’s largest Science Fiction and Fantasy online community, Chronicles offers writers the opportunity to get together and discuss the latest books, news, and pop culture in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy world. This is an active community with thousands of threads that include genre-specific challenges, workshops, critiques, and even publishing and industry information.

Perfect for: writers interested in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing.

6. Facebook Groups

If social media is more your style, don't miss the chance to interact with your fellow writers by joining Facebook groups in your own niche. Look for groups with a strict "no self-promotion" rules so that it remains supportive and useful to your writing goals.

There are a lot of groups out there in a variety of topics that range from genre-specific writing tips to traditional and self-publishing industry news. Here are just a few of them:

The Street Team — Reedsy's own book marketing group for self-publishing authors. 10 Minute Novelists — a group for the time-crunched writer. Calls for Submissions  — for writers looking for publication opportunities. Fiction Writers Global — a great resource for information about traditional and self-publishing. Writers Unite! — an active group with plenty of support and motivation for novice and experienced writers alike.

Perfect for: writers who prefer using social media.

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7. Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Whether you are a debut or seasoned author, there’s no doubt that writing a book can be intimidating and rife with bouts of self-doubt. The Insecure Writer’s Support Group aims to help you overcome those insecurities by hosting a community of like-minded authors.

Perfect for: writers who have doubts about their writing and are in need of encouragement.

writing stories reddit

8. The Next Big Writer

This is an international forum where writers can receive feedback on their writing and support on every other part of the creative process from drafting to publishing and marketing. The critiques are often thorough and many come from published authors. Keep in mind that there is a monthly cost associated with the membership, but it might be worth it to be able to bend the ear of published authors.

Perfect for: writers seeking in-depth critiques from an international audience.

If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish a novel in just 3 months.  

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More than just a single writing community, Reddit has countless ‘subreddits’ where writers of all genres, interests, and levels of experience flock. While it may not offer workshops or tools, members can find niche threads that relate to their interests, critique other people’s work, and discover helpful sources of information.

There are so many different subreddits that you can get lost browsing them, but here are a few of the most popular ones:

r/writing — for general writing purposes. r/writingprompts — for user-submitted writing prompts. r/destructivereaders — beware, if you don’t like harsh criticism this may not be the best fit. But if you are willing to endure it, you will come out a better writer at the end. r/worldbuilding — user submitted fiction worlds. r/fantasywriters — for anybody interested in the fantasy genre. r/characterforge — the place to be for character building. r/writerchat — for those interested in talking with fellow writers. r/selfpublish — for anybody interested in self-publishing. r/logophilia — “the love of words and word games,” and that’s exactly what you’ll find here. r/freelanceWriters — for anybody interested in a career in freelance writing . r/books — because reading is just as important as writing if you want to be a successful author.

Perfect for: writers who want niche threads based on a particular interest or need.

10. Scribophile

One of the largest communities in the world, Scribophile offers workshops, tutorials, and critiques for authors in just about any genre imaginable. While it is free to join, only users who pay for a membership get access to all their features.

Perfect for: authors whowant to take part in writing workshops alongside writers of all experience levels.

writing stories reddit

11. She Writes

With over 30,000 members, this is the largest writing community exclusively for women. Here you can find articles on writing, editing, and marketing for every genre. There are forums tailored to specific needs, like travel writers, writing about trauma, NaNoWriMo, and many other topics.

Perfect for: women writers who want a place to connect and learn from fellow writers.

12. Talentville

If your passion lies in screenwriting, then you’ll want to book a one-way ticket to Talentville. Here you can get feedback on your writing and learn the skills necessary to perfect your screencraft. Plus, you can work on and build your network of contacts: the site is also a frequent stop for industry professionals (like agents, managers, and producers) on the lookout for new talent.

Perfect for: writers whoare interested in screenwriting and networking.

13. Underlined

A writing community by Penguin Random House. While any author can find helpful information on this website, it’s geared more towards younger writers. It has a well-designed platform, quizzes, genre-specific information, the latest news on book releases, Q&As with authors, and even some giveaways and excerpts as perks.

Perfect for: younger writers who are looking for genre-specific information and bookish perks.

writing stories reddit

14. Writers Helping Writers

This is a free-to-register community where you can find resources for writers, teachers, and editors alike. They offer a vast array of tools to perfect your craft, no matter your level. Their extensive creative library includes webinars, free writing and marketing tools, a thesaurus collection, story maps, idea generators, and more.

Perfect for: writers, editors, and teachers who are looking to build up their writing toolbox.

15. #WritingCommunity

Sometimes, all you need is a hashtag. And indeed, Twitter's own #WritingCommunity is one of the most robust writing collectives on the web. Ask a question, and it'll almost certainly get answered (without a lot of Twitter's trademark snark). The key here is to keep your questions concise, reply often to others, and don't go crazy with other hashtags. The community can tell if you're just thirsty for RTs. Perfect for: writers who are finally ready to use Twitter for good — and not just for procrastinating.

Do you belong to a writing community? Which one is your favorite one? Add yours in the comments below!

13 responses

27/11/2018 – 22:42

Very useful post. Thanks for this. I will be linking to it on my blog.

Dr Jack Edward Effron says:

18/02/2019 – 16:40

You left out taylz.com. It’s truly free. They are not going to give you a rubbish service to make you join their pay site because they have no pay site. Your story can be 8,000 words. They are not going to force you into flash fiction of 3,000 words. One critique out, one critique in: no mucking about with “karma” or critiquing 5+ stories to get one critique. The great new idea whose time has come! And it’s British, not American.

marieseltenrych says:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

Reedsy, thank God you are here! I want to ask a question to other authors or self publishers here: I have been approached by OmniScriptum to publish my books (research) with them. I cannot find much about this company online, so wondered if anyone has published with them recently? Thanks Reedsy in anticipation. Marie

↪️ Reedsy replied:

08/05/2019 – 12:29

Hi Marie! Sounds potentially very shady to me. If you haven't already, check out our post on predatory companies in publishing. One of the rules of thumb is that if a publisher contacts you first, be very wary. I just did 20 seconds worth of Googling and found some people who had a bad experience.

Eunice Brownlee says:

I am a member of illuminate, which is a group designed around supporting women who want to share their stories but don't know how. The majority of us write non-fiction essays and memoirs, but we have a few poets and fiction writers in the mix as well. The overall goal is to support each other, especially through those harder moments of not wanting to write, or not knowing where to start. There are monthly themes and prompts, a weekly exercise inside the Facebook group, and cross-sharing of what we're working on. My favorite feature is the expert review, where you can submit any piece you're working on each month and you'll get quality feedback from one of the editors that manage the group. This group is perfect for anyone who is just getting started writing.

↪️ Brittani B replied:

11/02/2020 – 19:27

I tried the link multiple times both from this page and separately searched and was unable to access the site.

Harry says:

05/06/2019 – 07:51

Personally I think you missed out the best writing community: https://community.jerichowriters.com/ Jericho Writers is a free writing community that writers can safely share thought, make friends, swap work and get advice

Christian says:

08/08/2019 – 12:21

I only recommend Scribophile if you enjoy being coerced into groupthink. If you hope to get meaningful critique that will help you, look elsewhere. The critiques here are mostly SPAG, and it's forbidden to discuss your work on the main forums, except in the broadest, vaguest way.

Randy says:

18/08/2019 – 06:11

I have all my dads writing research and copyrights to 18 different books....all this was before the digital world .... many negatives photos ....every major story from all over the world with his .copyright . These are huge stores and his books are really well written ....what should I do with them .....incredible spy work as well

Ratih says:

27/08/2019 – 03:50

As a new writer this article is really useful for me. Thank you reedsy

Jennifer says:

02/09/2019 – 14:15

Hi guys! Great blog! Just wanted to let you know that we linked to you in a blog on the Peaceful Living Wellness Online Magazine :) It will be published on Friday, September 6th, 2019

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

17/09/2019 – 09:04

Thanks! We appreciate that!

Kaylee Downey says:

14/02/2020 – 19:09

Um...what about Wattpad?

Comments are currently closed.

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Everyone wants to write the next great American novel until they sit down and discover that writing is hard!

It takes a particular skill and mindset to craft an intriguing story and write in a way others will appreciate. On the plus side, it’s a skill anyone can learn. While scrolling through a fantastic writing community on Reddit, I found a great question asking writing enthusiasts to share the best advice they ever received on how to improve their writing. 

Use some of this advice to practice your craft and become a better writer. 

writing stories reddit

Write Often

They say practice makes perfect, and the same is true for writing. The more you write, the better you will become. 

“ Get in the habit of writing as often as you can,” shared one user, adding, “you’ll get nothing done if you wait to be inspired.”

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To be a great author, you should learn from the greats (and not so greats.) Devour as many books as possible to taste different genres , writing styles, and techniques. Discover through reading what works and what doesn’t. 

“I got into a big writer’s block with all options and ideas. Reading really dug me out; I understood what I liked, what I didn’t, reminded me why I wanted to write,” admitted one commenter. 

<p><span>Holidays are ideal for learning about our history and culture. Take the opportunity to teach your kids about the pilgrims, natives, and the true story of Thanksgiving.</span></p><p><span>Don’t neglect the negatives as they do in school. Showing the whole story, warts and all, will help your kids understand the mistakes of the past and help them build a better future.</span></p>

Write What You Want to Read

“When I first started in writing, I took any gig I could to make ends meet, and rarely was I writing about something that interested me, and my god, could you tell,” explained one user. 

Although you have to do what you have to do to make ends meet, the best stories will be the ones you’re excited about writing. 

<p><span>Someone volunteered, “My faith in humanity.” Another agreed, “So true. Before, you just had a heavy suspicion that fools surrounded you. Now, you have the depressing certainty. It sucks.” </span></p><p><span>A third confessed, “Some dark corners of the internet make me really hate people. And I’d like to know if the internet ruined people or enabled us to see how terrible people are.”</span></p>

Don’t Judge Your First Draft

First drafts are drafts for a reason. They aren’t going to be good. “It should be really bad!” exclaimed one user, discussing the quality of first drafts. 

The user went on to give a great lesson for all aspiring writers that they heard elsewhere “Every first draft is perfect because the only purpose of a first draft is to exist,” they said, explaining, “if you wrote and finished a first draft, you did it perfectly.”

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Character Develop is Vital

Compelling characters are critical to a great story . “Flat characters are way too common these days, even in ‘professionally’ made stuff,” lamented one user. 

Others said you need to make your characters want something and make them change as the story develops. “In the end, make sure they have undergone some change,” advised one Redditor, “even if they didn’t get what they wanted.”

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Understand When Inspiration Happens

One user shared words of wisdom from acclaimed author Madeleine L’Engle “Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it.”

You need to start. It’s unlikely a random spark of inspiration will hit while you’re twiddling your thumbs, waiting for it. Get started, and you’ll be surprised by how quickly the words flow. 

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How many stories have you started but not finished? “You don’t know what the story really is until you finish it.” shared one user. 

Don’t leave your stories hanging. You may discover a gem of an idea hidden in your initial story’s ending. 

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Stop Caring About Politeness

One user shared a gem they picked up from Stephen King’s best-selling resource On Writing . 

“If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway,” King said in the book. 

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Don’t Worry About What’s “Hot”

Some writers try to mimic the popular stories of their time. How many aspiring writers attempted to emulate the success of works like Harry Potter , Twilight , and the Hunger Games to disappointing results?

“You’ll never make a splash by just doing what everyone else is doing,” advised one user, adding, “If you’re not passionate about something, then it usually shows in the writing.”

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Perfection is the Enemy of Progress

“Stop trying to make it perfect and just write!” exclaimed one user. 

Your writing will never be perfect. Nothing we do in life will be perfect. Perfect is an unachievable goal that gives people an excuse not to accomplish anything. 

Instead, just write. Write horribly at first. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re doing it. The more you do it, the better you will get at it. If writing is worth doing to you, it should be worth doing poorly . 

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Show, Don’t Tell

Show, don’t tell is one of the biggest rules of literature. One aspiring writer in the thread said it prevents them from writing a boring story and helps them expand their vocabulary. 

You don’t need to explain everything in a book. Show the reader what’s happening through action and dialogue, don’t describe it. 

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Use Flourish

Great authors use literary devices to enhance their writing and story telling. Try incorporating some of t hese 25 literary devices into your story . 

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Creative Writing Prompts

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Writing is Tough, But Practice Makes Perfect

You can be a great writer. The Reddit thread is filled with advice to help you on your journey, but the most important thing you can do is start. 

Write that first chapter. Develop engaging characters. Revisit your story and revise your drafts. Before you know it, you will have a fantastic tale you’ll be proud to share.

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The Lure of Divorce

Seven years into my marriage, i hit a breaking point — and had to decide whether life would be better without my husband in it..

Portrait of Emily Gould

This article was featured in One Great Story , New York ’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly.

In the summer of 2022, I lost my mind. At first, it seemed I was simply overwhelmed because life had become very difficult, and I needed to — had every right to — blow off some steam. Our family was losing its apartment and had to find another one, fast, in a rental market gone so wild that people were offering over the asking price on rent. My husband, Keith, was preparing to publish a book, Raising Raffi, about our son, a book he’d written with my support and permission but that, as publication loomed, I began to have mixed feelings about. To cope with the stress, I asked my psychiatrist to increase the dosage of the antidepressant I’d been on for years. Sometime around then, I started talking too fast and drinking a lot.

I felt invincibly alive, powerful, and self-assured, troubled only by impatience with how slowly everyone around me was moving and thinking. Drinking felt necessary because it slightly calmed my racing brain. Some days, I’d have drinks with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which I ate at restaurants so the drink order didn’t seem too unusual. Who doesn’t have an Aperol spritz on the way home from the gym in the morning? The restaurant meals cost money, as did the gym, as did all the other random things I bought, spending money we didn’t really have on ill-fitting lingerie from Instagram and workout clothes and lots of planters from Etsy. I grew distant and impatient with Keith as the book’s publication approached, even as I planned a giant party to celebrate its launch. At the party, everyone got COVID. I handed out cigarettes from a giant salad bowl — I had gone from smoking once or twice a day to chain-smoking whenever I could get away with it. When well-meaning friends tried to point out what was going on, I screamed at them and pointed out everything that was wrong in their lives. And most crucially, I became convinced that my marriage was over and had been over for years.

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I built a case against my husband in my mind. This book of his was simply the culmination of a pattern: He had always put his career before mine; while I had tended to our children during the pandemic, he had written a book about parenting. I tried to balance writing my own novel with drop-offs, pickups, sick days, and planning meals and shopping and cooking, most of which had always been my primary responsibility since I was a freelancer and Keith had a full-time job teaching journalism. We were incompatible in every way, except that we could talk to each other as we could to no one else, but that seemed beside the point. More relevant: I spent money like it was water, never budgeting, leaving Keith to make sure we made rent every month. Every few months, we’d have a fight about this and I’d vow to change; some system would be put in place, but it never stuck. We were headed for disaster, and finally it came.

Our last fight happened after a long day spent at a wedding upstate. I’d been drinking, first spiked lemonade at lunch alone and then boxed wine during the wedding reception, where I couldn’t eat any of the food — it all contained wheat, and I have celiac disease. When we got back, late, to the house where we were staying, I ordered takeout and demanded he go pick it up for me. Calling from the restaurant, he was incensed. Did I know how much my takeout order had cost? I hadn’t paid attention as I checked boxes in the app, nor had I realized that our bank account was perilously low — I never looked at receipts or opened statements. Not knowing this, I felt like he was actually denying me food, basic sustenance. It was the last straw. I packed a bag as the kids played happily with their cousins downstairs, then waited by the side of the road for a friend who lived nearby to come pick me up, even as Keith stood there begging me to stay. But his words washed over me; I was made of stone. I said it was over — really over. This was it, the definitive moment I’d been waiting for. I had a concrete reason to leave.

A few days later, still upstate at my friend’s house, I had a Zoom call with my therapist and my psychiatrist, who both urged me in no uncertain terms to check myself into a psychiatric hospital. Even I couldn’t ignore a message that clear. My friend drove me to the city, stopping for burgers along the way — I should have relished the burger more, as it was some of the last noninstitutional food I would eat for a long time — and helped me check into NYU Langone. My bags were searched, and anything that could be used as a weapon was removed, including my mascara. I spent my first night there in a gown in a cold holding room with no phone, nothing but my thoughts. Eventually, a bed upstairs became free and I was brought to the psych ward, where I was introduced to a roommate, had blood drawn, and was given the first of many pills that would help me stop feeling so irrepressibly energetic and angry. They started me on lithium right away. In a meeting with a team of psychiatrists, they broke the news: I had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder; they weren’t sure which kind yet. They gave me a nicotine patch every few hours plus Klonopin and Seroquel and lithium.

I wasn’t being held involuntarily, which meant I could write letters on an official form explaining why I ought to be released, which the psychiatrists then had three days to consider. I attached extra notebook pages to the letters explaining that I was divorcing my husband and was terrified I would never be able to see my kids again if I was declared unfit because I was insane. These letters did not result in my release; if anything, they prolonged my stay. I got my phone back — it would soon be revoked again, wisely — but in that brief interim, I sent out a newsletter to my hundreds of subscribers declaring that I was getting a divorce and asking them to Venmo me money for the custody battle I foresaw. In this newsletter, I also referenced Shakespeare. The drugs clearly had not kicked in yet. I cycled through three different roommates, all of whom were lovely, though I preferred the depressed one to the borderline ones. We amused ourselves during the day by going to art therapy, music therapy, and meetings with our psychiatrists. I made a lot of beaded bracelets.

In the meetings with the shrinks, I steadfastly maintained that I was sane and that my main problem was the ending of my marriage. I put Keith, and my mother, on a list of people who weren’t allowed to visit me. Undaunted, Keith brought me gluten-free egg sandwiches in the morning, which I grudgingly ate — anything for a break from the hospital food. My parents came up from D.C. and helped Keith take care of our children. I was in the hospital for a little more than three weeks, almost the entire month of October, longer than I’d ever been away from my kids before in their lives. I celebrated my 41st birthday in the hospital and received a lot of very creative cards that my fellow crazies had decorated during art therapy. Eventually, the drugs began to work: I could tell they were working because instead of feeling energetic, I suddenly couldn’t stop crying. The tears came involuntarily, like vomit. I cried continuously for hours and had to be given gabapentin in order to sleep.

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On the day I was released, I didn’t let anyone pick me up. I expected the superhuman strength I’d felt for months to carry me, but it was gone, lithiumed away. Instead, I felt almost paralyzed as I carried my bags to a cab. When I arrived at my apartment, I couldn’t figure out where I should sleep. It didn’t feel like my home anymore. We couldn’t afford to live separately, even temporarily, but the one thing that our somewhat decrepit, inconveniently located new apartment had in its favor was two small attic bedrooms and one larger bedroom downstairs. I claimed this downstairs room for myself and began to live there alone, coming into contact with Keith only when we had to be together with our children.

You might assume that my fixation on divorce would have subsided now that my mental health had stabilized and I was on strong antipsychotic medication. But I still did not want to stay in my marriage. If anything, I felt a newfound clarity: Keith and I had fundamentally incompatible selves. Our marriage had been built on a flaw. My husband was older, more established and successful in his career. These were the facts, so it had to be my job to do more of the work at home. Unless, of course, I decided to take myself and my work as seriously as he took his. But that was unappealing; I had managed to publish three books before turning 40, but I didn’t want to work all the time, like he does.

I wondered if my marriage would always feel like a competition and if the only way to call the competition a draw would be to end it.

We picked the kids up from school and dropped them off, or really mostly Keith did. I appeared at meals and tried to act normal. I was at a loss for what to do much of the time. I attended AA meetings and the DBT meetings required by the hospital outpatient program, and I read. I read books about insanity: Darkness Visible, The Bell Jar, An Unquiet Mind, Postcards From the Edge. I tried to understand what was happening to me, but nothing seemed to resonate until I began to read books about divorce. I felt I was preparing myself for what was coming. The first book I read was Rachel Cusk’s Aftermath, which has become the go-to literary divorce bible since its 2012 publication. In it, Cusk describes the way her life shattered and recomposed after the dissolution of her marriage, when her daughters were still very young. She makes the case for the untenability of her relationship by explaining that men and women are fundamentally unequal. She posits that men and women who marry and have children are perpetually fighting separate battles, lost to each other: “The baby can seem like something her husband has given her as a substitute for himself, a kind of transitional object, like a doll, for her to hold so that he can return to the world. And he does, he leaves her, returning to work, setting sail for Troy. He is free, for in the baby the romance of man and woman has been concluded: each can now do without the other.”

At our relationship’s lowest moments, this metaphor had barely been a metaphor. I remembered, the previous winter, Keith going off on a reporting trip to Ukraine at the very beginning of the war, leaving me and the kids with very little assurance of his safety. I had felt okay for the first couple of days until I heard on the news of bombing very close to where he was staying. After that, I went and bummed a cigarette from a neighbor, leaving the kids sleeping in their beds in order to do so. It was my first cigarette in 15 years. Though that had been the winter before my mania began, I believe the first seeds of it were sown then: leaving the children, smoking the cigarette, resenting Keith for putting himself in harm’s way and going out into the greater world while I tended to lunches, homework, and laundry as though everything were normal.

In Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, as in Aftermath, I found an airtight case for divorce. The husband was the villain and the wife the wronged party, and the inevitable result was splitting up. I felt an echo of this later on when I read Lyz Lenz’s polemic This American Ex-Wife, out this month, marketed as “a deeply validating manifesto on the gender politics of marriage (bad) and divorce (actually pretty good!).” The book begins by detailing how Lenz’s husband rarely did household chores and hid belongings of hers that he didn’t like — e.g., a mug that said WRITE LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER — in a box in the basement. “I didn’t want to waste my one wild and precious life telling a grown man where to find the ketchup,” Lenz writes. “What was compelling about my marriage wasn’t its evils or its villains, but its commonplace horror.”

This was not quite the way I felt. Even though I could not stand to see my husband’s face or hear his voice, even though I still felt the same simmering resentment I had since I entered the hospital, I also found myself feeling pangs of sympathy for him. After all, he was going through this too. When we were inevitably together, at mealtimes that were silent unless the children spoke, I could see how wounded he was, how he was barely keeping it together. His clothes hung off his gaunt frame. And at night, when we passed in the kitchen making cups of tea that we would take to our respective rooms, he sometimes asked me for a hug, just a hug. One time I gave in and felt his ribs through his T-shirt. He must have lost at least 15 pounds.

It began to seem like I only ever talked to friends who had been through divorces or were contemplating them. One friend who didn’t know whether to split up with her husband thought opening their marriage might be the answer. Another friend described the ease of sharing custody of his young daughter, then admitted that he and his ex-wife still had sex most weekends. In my chronically undecided state, I admired both of these friends who had found, or might have found, a way to split the difference. Maybe it was possible to break up and remain friends with an ex, something that had never happened to me before in my entire life. Maybe it was possible to be married and not married at the same time. Then I went a little further in my imagination, and the idea of someone else having sex with my husband made me want to gag with jealousy. Maybe that meant something. I was so confused, and the confusion seemed to have no end.

I read more books about divorce. I received an early copy of Sarah Manguso’s Liars, marketed as “a searing novel about being a wife, a mother, and an artist, and how marriage makes liars out of us all.” In it, John, a creative dilettante, and Jane, a writer, meet and soon decide to marry. Liars describes their marriage from beginning to end, a span of almost 15 years, and is narrated by Jane. The beginning of their relationship is delirious: “I tried to explain that first ferocious hunger and couldn’t. It came from somewhere beyond reason.” But the opening of that book also contains a warning. “Then I married a man, as women do. My life became archetypal, a drag show of nuclear familyhood. I got enmeshed in a story that had already been told ten billion times.” I felt perversely reassured that I was merely adding another story to the 10 billion. It made it seem less like it was my fault.

The beginning of my relationship with my husband wasn’t that dramatic or definitive. I thought I was getting into something casual with someone I didn’t even know if I particularly liked, much less loved, but was still oddly fascinated by. I wanted to see the way he lived, to see if I could emulate it and become more like him. He lived with roommates in his 30s — well, that was the price you paid if you wanted to do nothing but write. I wanted what he had, his seriousness about his work. We went on dates where we both sat with our laptops in a café, writing, and this was somehow the most romantic thing I’d ever experienced. On our third date, we went to his father’s home on Cape Cod to dog-sit for a weekend, and it was awkward in the car until we realized we were both thinking about the same Mary Gaitskill story, “A Romantic Weekend,” in which a couple with dramatically mismatched needs learn the truth about each other through painful trial and error. Our weekend was awkward, too, but not nearly as awkward as the one in the story. On the way home, I remember admiring Keith’s driving, effortless yet masterful. I trusted him in the car completely. A whisper of a thought: He would make a good father.

In Liars, cracks begin to form almost immediately, even before John and Jane get engaged; she is accepted to a prestigious fellowship and he isn’t, and he is forthright about his fear that she will become more successful than he is: “A moment later he said he didn’t want to be the unsuccessful partner of the successful person. Then he apologized and said that he’d just wanted to be honest. I said, It was brave and considerate to tell me. ”

Through the next few years, so gradually that it’s almost imperceptible, John makes it impossible for Jane to succeed. He launches tech companies that require cross-country moves, forcing Jane to bounce between adjunct-teaching gigs. And then, of course, they have a baby. The problem with the baby is that Jane wants everything to be perfect for him and throws herself into creating a tidy home and an ideal child-development scenario, whereas John works more and more, moving the family again as one start-up fails and another flourishes. Jane begins to wonder whether she has created a prison for herself but pacifies herself with the thought that her situation is normal: “No married woman I knew was better off, so I determined to carry on. After all, I was a control freak, a neat freak, a crazy person.” The story John tells her about herself becomes her own story for a while. For a while, it’s impossible to know whose story is the truth.

I thought about Keith’s side of the story when I read Liars. Maybe it was the lack of alcohol’s blur that enabled me to see this clearly for the first time — I began to see how burdened he had been, had always been, with a partner who refused to plan for the future and who took on, without being asked, household chores that could just as easily have been distributed evenly. Our situation had never been as clear-cut as it was for Lyz Lenz; Keith had never refused to take out the trash or hidden my favorite mug. But he worked more and later hours, and my intermittent book advances and freelance income could not be counted on to pay our rent. As soon as we’d had a child, he had been shunted into the role of breadwinner without choosing it or claiming it. At first, I did all the cooking because I liked cooking and then, when I stopped liking cooking, I did it anyway out of habit. For our marriage to change, we would have needed to consciously decide to change it, insofar as our essential natures and our financial situation would allow. But when were we supposed to have found the time to do that? It was maddening that the root of our fracture was so commonplace and clichéd — and that even though the problem was ordinary, I still couldn’t think my way out of it.

Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, by Leslie Jamison , is in some ways the successor to Aftermath — the latest divorce book by a literary superstar. It is mostly an account of Jamison’s passionate marriage to a fellow writer, C., and the way that marriage fell apart after her career accelerated and they had a child together. It then details her first months of life as a single mother and her forays into dating. In it, she is strenuously fair to C., taking much of the blame for the dissolution of their marriage. But she can’t avoid describing his anger that her book merits an extensive tour, while his novel — based on his relationship with his first wife, who had died of leukemia — fails commercially. “It didn’t get the reception he had hoped for,” Jamison writes, and now, “I could feel him struggling. He wanted to support me, but there was a thorn in every interview.” C. grows distant, refusing to publicly perform the charming self that Jamison fell in love with. “I wished there was a way to say, Your work matters, that didn’t involve muting my own,” Jamison writes.

For all my marriage’s faults, we never fought in public. Friends encouraged us to reconcile, saying, “You always seemed so good together.” (As if there were another way to seem! Standing next to each other at a party, it had always been easy to relax because we couldn’t fight.) And we never did anything but praise each other’s work. Until this last book of my husband’s, that is. I had read Raising Raffi for the first time six months before it was published, while I was out of town for the weekend. I had, at that time, enjoyed reading it — it was refreshing, in a way, to see someone else’s perspective on a part of my own life. I even felt a certain relief that my child’s early years, in all their specificity and cuteness, had been recorded. This work had been accomplished, and I hadn’t had to do it! There had been only a slight pang in the background of that feeling that I hadn’t been the one to do it. But as publication drew nearer, the pang turned into outright anger . The opening chapter described my giving birth to our first son, and I didn’t realize how violated I felt by that until it was vetted by The New Yorker ’s fact-checker after that section was selected as an excerpt for its website. Had a geyser of blood shot out of my vagina? I didn’t actually know. I had been busy at the time. I hung up on the fact-checker who called me, asking her to please call my husband instead. (In case you’re wondering, Keith has read this essay and suggested minimal changes.)

I related to the writers in Splinters trying to love each other despite the underlying thrum of competing ambitions. But most of all, Jamison’s book made me even more terrified about sharing custody. “There was only one time I got on my knees and begged. It happened in our living room, where I knelt beside the wooden coffee table and pleaded not to be away from her for two nights each week,” she writes. Envisioning a future in which we shared custody of our children made me cringe with horror. It seemed like absolute hell. At the time we separated, our younger son was only 4 years old and required stories and cuddles to get to bed. Missing a night of those stories seemed like a punishment neither of us deserved, and yet we would have to sacrifice time with our kids if we were going to escape each other, which seemed like the only possible solution to our problem. Thanksgiving rolled around, and I cooked a festive meal that we ate without looking at each other. Whenever I looked at Keith, I started to cry.

We decided to enter divorce mediation at the beginning of December. On Sixth Avenue, heading to the therapist’s office, we passed the hospital where I’d once been rushed for an emergency fetal EKG when I was pregnant with our first son. His heart had turned out to be fine. But as we passed that spot, I sensed correctly that we were both thinking of that moment, of a time when we had felt so connected in our panic and desperate hope, and now the invisible cord that had bound us had been, if not severed, shredded and torn. For a moment on the sidewalk there, we allowed ourselves to hold hands, remembering.

The therapist was a small older woman with short curly reddish hair. She seemed wise, like she’d seen it all and seen worse. I was the one who talked the most in that session, blaming Keith for making me go crazy, even though I knew this wasn’t technically true or possible: I had gone crazy from a combination of sky-high stress and a too-high SSRI prescription and a latent crazy that had been in me, part of me, since long before Keith married me, since I was born. Still, I blamed his job, his book, his ambition and workaholism, which always surpassed my own efforts. I cried throughout the session; I think we both did. I confessed that I was not the primary wronged person in these negotiations, and to be fair I have to talk about why. Sometime post–Last Fight and pre-hospitalization, I had managed to cheat on my husband. I had been so sure we were basically already divorced that I justified the act to myself; I couldn’t have done it any other way. I had thought I might panic at the last minute or even throw up or faint, but I had gone through with it thanks to the delusional state I was in. There aren’t many more details anyone needs to know. It was just one time, and it was like a drug I used to keep myself from feeling sad about what was really happening. Anyway, there’s a yoga retreat center I’ll never be able to go to again in my life.

At the end of the session, we decided to continue with the therapist but in couples therapy instead of divorce mediation. It was a service she also provided, and as a bonus, it was $100 cheaper per session. She didn’t say why she made this recommendation, but maybe it was our palpable shared grief that convinced her that our marriage was salvageable. Or maybe it was that, despite everything I had told her in that session, she could see that, even in my profound sadness and anger, I looked toward Keith to complete my sentences when I was searching for the right word and that he did the same thing with me. As broken as we were, we were still pieces of one once-whole thing.

My husband would have to forgive me for cheating and wasting our money. I would have to forgive him for treading on my literary territory: our family’s life, my own life. My husband would have to forgive me for having a mental breakdown, leaving him to take care of our family on his own for a month, costing us thousands of uninsured dollars in hospital bills. I would have to forgive him for taking for granted, for years, that I would be available on a sick day or to do an early pickup or to watch the baby while he wrote about our elder son. I would have to forgive him for taking for granted that there would always be dinner on the table without his having to think about how it got there. He would have to forgive me for never taking out the recycling and never learning how to drive so that I could move the car during alternate-side parking. I would have to forgive him for usurping the time and energy and brain space with which I might have written a better book than his. Could the therapist help us overcome what I knew to be true: that we’d gone into marriage already aware that we were destined for constant conflict just because of who we are? The therapist couldn’t help me ask him to do more if I didn’t feel like I deserved it, if I couldn’t bring myself to ask him myself. I had to learn how to ask.

No one asked anything or forgave anything that day in the couples therapist’s office. After what felt like months but was probably only a few days, I was watching Ramy on my laptop in my downstairs-bedroom cave after the kids’ bedtime when some moment struck me as something Keith would love. Acting purely on impulse, I left my room and found him sitting on the couch, drinking tea. I told him I’d been watching this show I thought was funny and that he would really like it. Soon, we were sitting side by side on the couch, watching Ramy together. We went back to our respective rooms afterward, but still, we’d made progress.

After a few more weeks and a season’s worth of shared episodes of Ramy, I ventured for the first time upstairs to Keith’s attic room. It smelled alien to me, and I recognized that this was the pure smell of Keith, not the shared smell of the bedrooms in every apartment we’d lived in together. I lay down next to him in the mess of his bed. He made room for me. We didn’t touch, not yet. But we slept, that night, together. The next night, we went back to sleeping alone.

Pickups and drop-offs became evenly divided among me and Keith and a sitter. Keith learned to make spaghetti with meat sauce. He could even improvise other dishes, with somewhat less success, but he was improving. I made a conscious effort not to tidy the house after the children left for school. I made myself focus on my work even when there was chaos around me. Slowly, I began to be able to make eye contact with Keith again. At couples therapy, we still clutched tissue boxes in our hands, but we used them less. Our separate chairs inched closer together in the room.

That Christmas, we rented a tiny Airbnb near his dad’s house in Falmouth. It had only two bedrooms, one with bunk beds for the kids and one with a king-size bed that took up almost the entirety of the small room. We would have to share a bed for the duration of the trip. The decision I made to reach across the giant bed toward Keith on one of the last nights of the trip felt, again, impulsive. But there were years of information and habit guiding my impulse. Sex felt, paradoxically, completely comfortable and completely new, like losing my virginity. It felt like sleeping with a different person and also like sleeping with the same person, which made sense, in a way. We had become different people while somehow staying the same people we’d always been.

Slowly, over the course of the next months, I moved most of my things upstairs to his room, now our room. We still see the therapist twice a month. We talk about how to make things more equal in our marriage, how not to revert to old patterns. I have, for instance, mostly given up on making dinner, doing it only when it makes more sense in the schedule of our shared day or when I actually want to cook. It turns out that pretty much anyone can throw some spaghetti sauce on some pasta; it also turns out that the kids won’t eat dinner no matter who cooks it, and now we get to experience that frustration equally. Keith’s work is still more stable and prestigious than mine, but we conspire to pretend that this isn’t the case, making sure to leave space for my potential and my leisure. We check in to make sure we’re not bowing to the overwhelming pressure to cede our whole lives to the physical and financial demands, not to mention the fervently expressed wants, of our children. It’s the work that we’d never found time to do before, and it is work. The difference is that we now understand what can happen when we don’t do it. I’m always surprised by how much I initially don’t want to go to therapy and then by how much lighter I feel afterward. For now, those sessions are a convenient container for our marriage’s intractable defects so that we get to spend the rest of our time together focusing on what’s not wrong with us.

The downstairs bedroom is now dormant, a place for occasional guests to stay or for our elder son to lie in bed as he plays video games. Some of my clothes from a year earlier still fill the drawers, but none of it seems like mine. I never go into that room if I can help it. It was the room of my exile from my marriage, from my family. If I could magically disappear it from our apartment, I would do it in a heartbeat. And in the attic bedroom, we are together, not as we were before but as we are now.

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ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

maria-diaz

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed how we work and play  in recent months, giving almost anyone the ability to write code , create art , and even make investments . 

Special Feature

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The Rise of Generative AI

A new wave of AI tools has taken the world by storm and given us a vision for a new way of working and finding the information that can streamline our work and our lives. We show you the ways tools like ChatGPT and other generational AI software are making impacts on the world, how to harness their power, as well as potential risks.

For professional and hobbyist users alike, generative AI tools, such as  ChatGPT , offer advanced capabilities to create decent-quality content from a simple prompt given by the user. 

Keeping up with all the latest AI tools can get confusing, especially as Microsoft added  GPT-4 to Bing  and renamed it to Copilot,  OpenAI added new capabilities to ChatGPT , and Bard got plugged into the Google ecosystem  and rebranded to Gemini.

Also: Microsoft Copilot Pro vs. OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus: Which is worth your $20 a month?

Knowing which of the three most popular AI chatbots is best to write code , generate text , or help build resumes is challenging, so we'll break down the biggest differences so you can choose one that fits your needs. 

Testing ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini

To help determine which AI chatbot gives more accurate answers, I'm going to use a simple prompt to compare the three: 

"I have 5 oranges today, I ate 3 oranges last week. How many oranges do I have left?"

The answer should be five, as the number of oranges I ate last week doesn't affect the number of oranges I have today, which is what we're asking the three bots. First up, ChatGPT.

You should use ChatGPT if...

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1. You want to try the most popular AI chatbot

ChatGPT was created by OpenAI and released for a widespread preview in November 2022. Since then, the AI chatbot quickly gained over 100 million users, with the website alone seeing 1.8 billion visitors a month. It's been at the center of controversies , especially as people uncover its potential to do schoolwork and replace some workers.

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The free version of ChatGPT, which runs on the default GPT-3.5 model, gave the wrong answer to our question.

I've been testing ChatGPT almost daily since its release. Its user interface has remained simple, but minor changes have improved it greatly, like the addition of a copy button, an edit option, Custom Instructions , and easy access to your account. 

Also: How to use ChatGPT

Though ChatGPT has proven itself as a valuable AI tool, it can be prone to misinformation . Like other large language models (LLMs), GPT-3.5 is imperfect, as it is trained on human-created data up to January 2022. It also often fails to comprehend nuances, like it did with our math question example, which it answered incorrectly by saying we have two oranges left when it should be five. 

2. You're willing to pay extra for an upgrade

OpenAI lets users access ChatGPT -- powered by the GPT-3.5 model -- for free with a registered account. But if you're willing to pay for the Plus version, you can access GPT-4 and many more features for $20 per month.

Also: How to write better ChatGPT prompts for the best generative AI results

GPT-4 is the largest LLM available for use when compared to all other AI chatbots and is trained with data up to April 2023 and can also access the internet, powered by Microsoft Bing. GPT-4 is said to have over 100 trillion parameters; GPT-3.5 has 175 billion parameters. More parameters essentially mean that the model is trained on more data, which makes it more likely to answer questions accurately and less prone to hallucinations.

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ChatGPT Plus, which runs using the GPT-4 model, did answer the question correctly. 

As an example, you can see the GPT-4 model, available through a ChatGPT Plus subscription , answered the math question correctly, as it understood the full context of the problem from beginning to end.

Also: I tried Microsoft Copilot's new AI image-generating feature, and it solves a real problem

Next up, let's consider Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing chat) , which is a great way to access GPT-4 for free, as it's integrated into its new Bing format. 

You should use Microsoft Copilot if...

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1. You want more up-to-date information

In contrast to the free version of ChatGPT, which is limited to being an AI tool that generates text in a conversational style with information leading up to early 2022, Copilot can access the internet to deliver more current information, complete with links for sources. 

Also: How to use Copilot (formerly called Bing Chat)

There are other benefits, too. Copilot is powered by GPT-4, OpenAI's LLM, and it's completely free to use. Unfortunately, you are limited to five responses on a single conversation, and can only enter up to 2,000 characters in each prompt. 

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Copilot's Precise conversation style answered the question accurately, though other styles fumbled.

Copilot's user interface isn't as straightforward as that of ChatGPT, but it's easy to navigate. Though Bing Chat can access the internet to give you more up-to-date results compared to ChatGPT, I've found it is more prone to stall at replying and altogether miss prompts than its competitor. 

2. You prefer more visual features

Through a series of upgrades to its platform, Microsoft added visual features to Copilot, formerly Bing Chat. At this point, you can ask Copilot questions like, 'What is a Tasmanian devil?' and get an information card in response, complete with photos, lifespan, diet, and more for a more scannable result that is easier to digest than a wall of text. 

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All about the Tasmanian devil on Microsoft Copilot.

When you use Copilot, you can also ask it to create an image for you. Give Copilot the description of what you want the image to look like, and have the chatbot generate four images for you to choose from. 

Also: How to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)

Microsoft Copilot also features different conversational styles when you interact with the chatbot, including Creative, Balanced, and Precise, which alter how light or straightforward the interactions are. 

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Both the Balanced and Creative conversation styles in Microsoft Copilot answered my question inaccurately.

Finally, let's turn to Google's Gemini, formerly known as Bard, which uses a different LLM and has received some considerable upgrades in the past few months.

You should use Gemini if...

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1. You want a fast, almost unlimited experience

In my time testing different AI chatbots, I saw  Google Bard catch a lot of flack for different shortcomings . While I'm not going to say they're unjustified, I will say that Google's AI chatbot, now named Gemini, has improved greatly, inside and out.

Also: How to use Gemini (formerly Google Bard): Everything you should know

Gemini is speedy with its answers, which have gotten more accurate over time. It's not faster than ChatGPT Plus, but it can be faster at giving responses than Copilot at times and faster than the free GPT-3.5 version of ChatGPT, though your mileage may vary. 

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Gemini answered accurately, like GPT-4 and Copilot's Precise conversation style.

The previous Bard used to make the same mistake as other bots on my example math problem, by incorrectly using the 5 - 3 = 2 formula, but Gemini, powered by Google's new Gemini Pro, the company's largest and latest LLM. Now, Gemini answers the question accurately.

Also: Apple's new AI model edits photos according to text prompts from users

Gemini is also not limited to a set amount of responses like Microsoft Copilot is. You can have long conversations with Google's Gemini, but Bing is limited to 30 replies in one conversation. Even ChatGPT Plus limits users to 40 messages every three hours. 

2. You want the full Google experience

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Google also incorporated more visual elements into its Gemini platform than those currently available on Copilot. Users can also use Gemini to generate images, can upload photos through an integration with Google Lens , and enjoy Kayak, OpenTable, Instacart, and Wolfram Alpha plugins.

Also: 6 AI tools to supercharge your work and everyday life

But Gemini is slowly becoming a full Google experience thanks to Extensions folding the wide range of Google applications into Gemini. Gemini users can add extensions for Google Workspace, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Flights, and Google Hotels, giving them a more personalized and extensive experience.

Artificial Intelligence

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ChatGPT vs. Copilot: Which AI chatbot is better for you?

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Google reportedly rebranding Bard to Gemini, adding 'Advanced' subscription service

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The best AI chatbots: ChatGPT isn't the only one worth trying

Judge fines Donald Trump more than $350 million, bars him from running businesses in N.Y. for three years

The judge who presided over a civil business fraud trial against Donald Trump on Friday ordered the former president, his sons, business associates and company to pay more than $350 million in damages and temporarily limited their ability to do business in New York.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president and the Trump Organization to pay over $354 million in damages , and barred Trump “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” including his namesake company.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the case, said that with pre-judgment interest, the judgment totals over $450 million, an amount “which will continue to increase every single day” until the judgment is paid.

“Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law,” James said in a statement, calling the ruling “a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules — even former presidents.”

The ruling also bars Trump and his company from applying for any bank loans for three years.

In his first public remarks after the ruling, Trump said, “We’ll appeal and we’ll be successful.”

Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, Trump bashed the ruling as “a fine of 350 million for a doing a perfect job.” He also repeated previous attacks by calling the judge “crooked” and the attorney general “corrupt.”

Trump did not take any questions from reporters after speaking for about six minutes.

The judge’s decision is a potential blow to both Trump’s finances and persona — having built his brand on being a successful businessman that he leveraged in his first run for president. Trump is currently running for the White House for a third time. This case is just one of many he is currently facing, including four separate pending criminal trials, the first of which is scheduled to begin on March 25.

Engoron also ordered the continued “appointment of an Independent Monitor” and the “the installation of an Independent Director of Compliance” for the company.

In posts on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump called the ruling “an illegal, unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business.”

“This ‘decision’ is a complete and total sham,” he wrote.

During the trial, Trump and executives at his company, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, attempted to blame exaggerated financial statements that were the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud case on the accountants who compiled them. Engoron disagreed.

“There is overwhelming evidence from both interested and non-interested witnesses, corroborated by documentary evidence, that the buck for being truthful in the supporting data valuations stopped with the Trump Organization, not the accountants,” he wrote.

In explaining the need for a monitor, the judge cited the lack of remorse by Trump and his executives after the fraud was discovered.

“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways,” Engoron wrote.

“Defendants’ refusal to admit error — indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor — constrains this Court to conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained,” he added.

The ruling also bars the Trump sons — who’ve been running the company since their father went to the White House — “from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of two years.” Both were fined over $4 million, plus interest, for their roles in the scheme.

Donald Trump Jr. posted on the social media site X that “We’ve reached the point where your political beliefs combined with what venue your case is heard are the primary determinants of the outcome; not the facts of the case! It’s truly sad what’s happened to our country.”

In a statement, Eric Trump called the judge “a cruel man.”

“He knows that every single witness testified to that fact that I had absolutely NOTHING to do with this case (as INSANE as the case truly is),” Eric Trump said.

He also attacked the ruling as “political vengeance by a judge out to get my father.”

 Trump attorney Alina Habba called the verdict “a manifest injustice — plain and simple.”

“Given the grave stakes, we trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict and end this relentless persecution against my clients,” she said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Trump Organization called the ruling “a gross miscarriage of justice. The Trump Organization has never missed any loan payment or been in default on any loan.”

High legal costs

An appeal in the case would likely take years, but Trump could have to post a bond for the full amount if he does so.

Read more: Trump faces about $400 million in legal penalties. Can he afford it?

The judgment is the second this year against Trump after he was hit last month with an $83.3 million verdict in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him. Trump has said he plans to appeal that verdict as well, but would have to post a bond for that amount as well.

James had been seeking $370 million from Trump, his company and its top executives, alleging “repeated and persistent fraud ” that included falsifying business records and financial statements. James had argued those financial statements were at times exaggerated by as much as $2.2 billion.

James contended the defendants used the inflated financial statements to obtain bank loans and insurance policies at rates he otherwise wouldn’t have been entitled to and “reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.”

Trump had maintained his financial statements were conservative, and has called the AG’s allegations politically motivated and a “fraud on me.”

“This is a case that should have never been brought, and I think we should be entitled to damages,” Trump told reporters when he attended closing arguments in the case on Jan. 11.

Trump testimony knocked

The monthslong civil trial included testimony from Trump and his oldest children . The former president was combative in his day on the stand, blasting James as a “hack” and calling the judge “extremely hostile.”

Trump repeatedly complained about Engoron before and throughout the trial, and the judge slapped him with a partial gag order after he started blasting the judge’s law clerk as well. Trump’s complaints led to a flood of death threats against the clerk, as well as Engoron, court officials said, and Trump was fined $15,000 for twice violating the order.

Among the examples cited as fraud by the attorney general’s office during the trial was Trump valuing his triplex home in Trump Tower in New York City at three times its actual size and value, as well as including a brand value to increase the valuation of his golf courses on the financial statements, which explicitly said brand values were not included.

Another example pointed to by the attorney general clearly got under his skin — a dispute over the value of Mar-a-Lago, his social club and residence in Florida. Trump’s financial statements from 2011 to 2021 valued Mar-a-Lago at $426 million to $612 million, while the Palm Beach County assessor appraised the property’s market value to be $18 million to $27 million during the same time frame. Trump had also fraudulently puffed up the value of the property by saying it was a private residence, despite having signed an agreement that it could only be used as a social club to lower his tax burden.

Trump maintained during the trial the property was worth much, much more .

“The judge had it at $18 million, and it is worth, say, I say from 50 to 100 times more than that. So I don’t know how you got those numbers,” Trump testified, adding later that he thinks it’s actually worth “between a billion and a billion five.”

In his ruling Friday, Engoron said he didn’t find Trump to be a credible witness.

“Overall, Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial. His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility,” the judge wrote.

Michael Cohen testimony ‘credible’

James’ investigation into the former president’s business began in 2019 as a result of congressional testimony from his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen , who told the House Oversight Committee that Trump would improperly expand and shrink values to fit whatever his business needs were.

Cohen testified during the trial about his role in the scheme, and said while Trump didn’t explicitly tell him and then-Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to inflate the numbers in the financial statement, he was like a “mob boss” who tells you what he wants without directly telling you.

Trump claimed Cohen’s testimony exonerated him while also painting him as an untrustworthy liar because he admitted having previously lied under oath.

In his ruling, Engoron called Cohen an “important witness” and said he found his testimony “credible.” “This factfinder does not believe that pleading guilty to perjury means that you can never tell the truth. Michael Cohen told the truth,” the judge wrote.

Former CFO ‘evasive’

Engoron was less forgiving about former Trump CFO Weisselberg, who previously pleaded guilty to carrying out tax fraud at the company.

Weisselberg’s “testimony in this trial was intentionally evasive, with large gaps of ‘I don’t remember.’”

“There is overwhelming evidence that Allen Weisselberg intentionally falsified hundreds of business records during his tenure” at the company, the judge wrote. “Weisselberg understood that his assignment from Donald Trump was to have his reported assets increase every year irrespective of their actual values. The examples of Weisselberg’s intent to falsify business records are too numerous to itemize,” he added.

The judge permanently barred Weisselberg “from serving in the financial control function of any New York corporation or similar business entity operating in New York State,” and ordered him to pay the $1 million he’s already received from his $2 million separation agreement from the company as “ill-gotten gains.”

AG initially sought less

James filed her suit seeking $250 million in damages from Trump in 2022, and the judge appointed a monitor to oversee the company’s finances that November.

In a summary judgment  ruling the week before the trial started, Engoron found Trump and his executives had repeatedly engaged in fraud. The “documents here clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business, satisfying [the attorney general’s] burden to establish liability as a matter of law against defendants,” the judge wrote, while denying Trump’s bid to dismiss the case.

Engoron summarized the Trump defense as “the documents do not say what they say; that there is no such thing as ‘objective’ value; and that, essentially, the Court should not believe its own eyes.”

The order, which Trump appealed, held that Trump’s business certificates in New York should be canceled, which could have wreaked havoc on Trump’s company and forced the sell-off of some assets.

Engoron backed off of that decision in his ruling Friday, saying the addition of the “two-tiered oversight” of the monitor and the compliance director makes that move “no longer necessary.”

Trump had complained about the summary judgment ruling while he was on the witness stand. “He said I was a fraud before he knew anything about me, nothing about me,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible thing you did.”

writing stories reddit

Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.

writing stories reddit

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

IMAGES

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  6. Help for a true beginner? Or, how the heck do I start?!

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  7. How to write short stories : r/writing

    Leave the boring scenes out. Another method is to write only the interesting scenes, and then join them together with the minimal amount of connective tissue. (Nabokov wrote on cue cards, writing whatever scene or snatches of words interested him at the time, and then joined it together later). 6. nonbog.

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  11. Writers: 10 Subreddits to Find Writing Tips You Need

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    1. photo from Pixbaby. Social Media is the place to ask questions and make connections. As a writer, many of the magazines I publish in or authors/editors I meet are via connections on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. One platform that I also visit for this purpose is Reddit.

  16. Top 50 Reddit Writing Prompts

    This Reddit forum, r/WritingPrompts, has amazingly grown to almost 16 million members. The subreddit has become a place for members to sporadically post prompt ideas, encouraging other members to comment their own spin-off stories from the prompt.

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  19. How to Write a Short Story: Step-by-Step Guide

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