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I know this will sound incredibly arrogant, but the critic that matters the most to me is me. I know my strengths and weaknesses as an author of fiction and will always welcome and appreciate constructive criticism no matter the source and ignore what I believe to be unfair or inaccurate...

It depends on the book, of course: My novel: "Geez, you look, sound and act exactly like I did back in 1987!" Earth Mother: "Let me give you some free legal advice: don't agree to anything before getting a printed contract and reading the fine print!" The Day the Dolphins Vanished: "Listen BB...

I always use serious covers. But it depends on the book. I don't write in any genre that would make any anime cover appropriate. The cover should reflect the content in my view.

Are you willing to change the book size format or font to accommodate the page limit? I chose an oversized format for one of my books to better accommodate some images. The size format affects the number of pages as does the font size or even font style.

I haven't looked at Lulu in more than a decade when I first started creating some self-published books. At the time I was looking for a paperback or hard cover option in addition to eBook publication and I found CreateSpace (through Amazon--now I believe folded into the Amazon Kindle Direct...

I began to read and write very early. By the time I was an undergraduate student, my love of fiction and poetry was well developed and I started to pay closer attention as a writing major. I needed only 20 credits (including an honors seminar) in my major, but I earned 64 credits in English...

Everything I post here currently was previously published on both Amazon and through Smashwords (an aggregator) just about everywhere else. I do not give Amazon exclusivity, so there is no down side to keeping my books there for sale in soft cover, hard cover and Kindle versions and don't care...

I don't read or write fan fiction. Quality issues aside, I don't like playing uninvited in someone else's universe.

I would agree with others here that you only need to acknowledge current events if it is relevant to the story. The story itself can make it clear that current events are the same or different from reality. If the reader will not be able to tell what the divergence is and why it happened, then...

Plot lines are basic "ideas" which are not copyrightable. The expression of an idea, however, is precisely what copyright protects. The idea of a galactic empire or a federation of planets is just that--an idea. Anyone can create a story about a galactic empire or a federation of planets. But...

Land of the dead? I posted work on RR before posting some of it here as well and find it a community of for the most part terrific folks. My work is as far from that preferred by RR or SH but it has gotten a lot more reads there than here without any issues on either site.

I'm of two minds on banning AI novels, but they should carry mandatory labels.

There is very little difference between my first and final draft other than the removal of (I hope) most errors and very minor edits.

I write first and only post completed chapters.

Like Plato, I know that I know nothing.

You are very kind. But let it germinate. Toddlers grow up, but our dreams are forever with us. Life is too much wit me too these days, though not due to toddlers, alas. Pots in the back burners too long ignored are overflowing. Hang in there!

I like to suspend my disbelief when reading fiction--and that includes turning off my inner critic and (harder to do) my inner editor. The sausage is much tastier if you don't stop to analyze exactly what is in it, how it is made, or trace back the acquisition and processing of the ingredients...

Hey, some buns just need a little more time in the oven. :) Is there a story in there somewhere? A number of my short stories are actually based on dreams. Waste not, want not. The subconscious mind never rests. Mine I think has been trying to tell me for years that I need to get back to the...

Taking another's idea without giving credit is plagiarism--and it does not need to be a word-for-word ripoff. It is also copyright infringement which can carry both civil and criminal penalties even if the plagiarist does not profit from the plagiarized work with some exceptions such as fair use...

I think the best antidote to writer's block is to read widely and to write through the block. I know it may seem a contradiction, but the process of writing primes our mental pumps. It does not have to be writing about anything substantive or relevant to whatever caused the block in the first...