There’s another important aspect to remember when you’re running the gauntlet of a campaign on Inkshares. Take care of yourself, mentally and physically. There are going to be a lot of day between now and November 1st. I know first hand how easy it is to obsess over your reader count, and to put in that hustle. You can get lost in it, and that’s just not good for your you-ness.

Schedule yourself some breathing time. Take a hour, and turn off the screen. Step away from the keyboard. Breath. You’re going to have anxiety. You’re going to have fear. You’re going to have those days where everyone per-orders, and then comes the days where you might only manage a few. Maybe there will days where you don’t see any movement. This is an emotional roller coaster, and it will start to take it’s toll.

Find that one thing you love and treat yourself to it.  Have a night out with your friends. Sitting there all night refreshing the page won’t change anything, so focus in on you, the writer. You’re an amazing person who took a chance at a crazy thing. Be proud of that. Celebrate that, because this will not be easy.

And when it gets hard, when you get frustrated or stressed, reach out. Many of us here have been through a rocky campaign, and we know what it’s like. If you’re worried about bothering another writer, don’t. Message me.

So hang in there and take care of you.

@Rick Heinz is absolutely spot on here. I wanted to Add a few things as a Finalist (barely) in the "Sword and Laser: The Sequel" contest:

I pretty much entirely agree with @Joseph Asphahani Other than having a pretty awesome name(AmIright?), but he pretty much hit the nail on the head. The perfect villain is just as likeable/relate-able as your main characters. The best villains ever are the ones you "Love to Hate."

I won’t elaborate, since Joseph pretty much said everything I would say on the matter, but I’ll provide some examples. 

If you ever watched the Starz series of Spartacus(it’s my favorite show ever), the blood, sex and violence is a bit over the top but if you dig deeper it has one of the greatest written scripts of all time. The dialogue used on the show is in a Shakespearean style which helps but what makes it so good is the villains are just as likeable as the heroes. You can see where Spartacus, Crixus and Gannicus are coming from but you can also see where Batiatus, Marcus Crassus and Caesar are coming from too.

^That’s a pretty obscure example, I know. But let’s do a more known one.

Batman vs. The Joker. I know, I know... There’s so many stories about the two but the best ones happen to be the ones where The Joker points out the fact that Batman is literally one bad day away(Sorry, just watched "The Killing Joke.") from becoming The Joker. Batman is the hero, but The Joker exists SOLELY to mess with Batman to the point that Batman becomes just as messed up and deranged as him. In most stories it doesn’t work, but they exist to move each other in their "destined"/written path.  Batman needs The Joker and The Joker needs Batman. The plot needs both. The writer needs both. Ultimately, the reader needs both.

The best Hero/Villain relationships involve them driving each other in the direction they need to take.

Hi Jordan, nice to meet you. All stories do not need a traditional villain. Some readers may view death as a villain. All villains doesn’t need to an obvious villain. It depends on where the story is gong. Subdue villains are not obvious to the readers. But if you believe you need one creating a villain is rather easy, all you need to do is look around at all the bad people you have encountered in life and tweet all those characteristics, attributes to fix your story. There are far more resources and examples to serve for villains than there are heroes or heroines. Perhaps yours need an adversary which isn’t always necessarily a villain in a tradition sense. I hope this helps. :)

I have to wholeheartedly agree with @Joey Angotti here. I think he has brought up a valid point which should not be overlooked. 

I understand that this should have been noted before the contest began. But by giving those authors that contributed to the Nerdist contest with Too Many Controllers and won a contest already a free pass this go around to enter this one - it kinda feels like this contest is already over and somewhat pointless to enter lol.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to enter, but Rick Heinz(First place) already has almost 40 preorders and people are already declaring him the hands-down favorite.

Andre Bun(2nd place) already has 24 preorders - also part of the Inkvengers squad and going strong.

The same can be said about Thomas J. Arnold in third place with Exile, Magus - also was a part of that collaboration.

That means the only qualifying spots are already being dominated to the point of practically being run-aways and the contest is only a day old. It’s a bit daunting for new writers trying to get their fantasy book published to already be that far behind on day 2 due to their(obviously potent) following from the last contest.

I wish nothing but the best and a lot of success for all of the Inkvengers - but with the following they seem to have on this site alone, I’m not sure these contests are something these writers really need. They’re already getting published in Too Many Controllers and have already built quite the following.

This post doesn’t necessarily apply to me as I’ve already self-published a book myself(though a win in this contest would be a huge turning point for me), I’m more concerned about the newer writers wanting to contribute to these contests and the overall future of the Inkshares site in general.

Just my 2 cents, not trying to step on any toes, just trying to add to the ideas/conversation and look out for the little people.

There has recently been a raft of people sending mass emails without blind copying everyone. This is very insensitive to everyone and causes me concern.