Scribblehub Leakage: Episode 2

Welcome to Episode 2, where we look at stuff that I saw on the Scribblehub front page almost entirely at random.

Did we learn anything last time? Probably not. Let’s do it again!

The Rules

1: No AI. If your book cover has AI, if your book text is AI, or if you admit to using AI anywhere in your writing process, you go right on the slop heap. The slop heap is worse than the trash heap, because trash can be entertaining, even good, even if it’s trashy. You’re neither. Get the fuck out of here with that.

You do not get anything for tricking me and slipping AI past the radar. This shit is everywhere. However, AI detectors are laughably unreliable, there is no perfect way to catch it. I’ll be pissed if I find out.

2: I will give your work a fair shot. ALWAYS. This does not mean reading the entire thing, it means at least checking out a few chapters in. Tolstoy was long-winded because he got paid per word, and some of these stories make Tolstoy look like a bathroom advertisement.

3: I will leave a review on your Scribblehub page. It’s very difficult to get reviews for anything, good or bad. Most people don’t want to leave them. Well, I will. I will try to be constructive, too. Be the change you want to see in the world.

How Ratings Work

I will give your story letter grades in the departments. These are subjective, which if you’re new to the concept of artistic appreciation, is true for all works of art. Art is a conversation between the creator and the reader, it requires both, it will always be subjective. They are A through F, with A being good, and F being proFoundly bad. I can give out + or – added to the end but not for F, if you get an F reconsider everything. F’s are usually for a lack of eFFort, or perhaps, lack of skill(F).

Which categories get letter grades varies. Not all stories are the same, some have precious little dialogue and must be coddled and kept warm like a baby bird who drinks drinks with a lot of ice in them. I can’t give out a letter grade for dialogue to a story that has little dialogue.

Not all of these stories are TF stories. Sorry, I know that’s what you’re into but you’re gonna have to meet people who write about things like getting on the bus and don’t even turn into a bug.

The Devil’s Hell

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2572205/the-devils-hell

10 chapters, 17000 words.

Italics – A+

This story has so many italics it’s wonderful. Italics are used to represent narration, but also dialogue, and inconsistently at that. Hell yes. Every story should mostly be in italics.

Inconsistent Chapter Naming – A+

The Devil’s Comrade has a II after it, okay so that’s the chapter number? Nope, after V it resets to I then II then III then I again. Fuck yes.

Story – A+

If you can get past the first chapter which is kinda lame, the story kicks right the hell up. This is a surprise isekai (Sorry) except it really fancies itself as a film noir. The first chapter is two dudes heading to a Korean BBQ. The second chapter is our hero arriving in a different world and befriending a samurai. The third chapter has the samurai decapitate a t-rex and save a random woman. Look at that escalation.

It’s very stupid in a wonderful kind of way. This is the good shit. I don’t care who anyone is just give me more stupid and awesome stories.

Overall – A+

Look, if you’re the kind of person who wants to hear about depressed people fucking their secretaries because that’s what “mature” fiction is to you, then go away. This is stupid and interesting, and I’ll take that any day over people in domestic situations being unhappy.

How To Improve It

There’s a few minor technical problems like spelling errors and the wildly inconsistent use of italics. Fuck maybe you don’t need to fix those. It adds character.

Bonus points that the cover art was made by the author in like 5 minutes in mspaint. This is good. Fuck AI, make it yourself and live your dream you madman.

Hide and Seek in a Dead Man’s House

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2571233/hideandseek-in-a-dead-mans-house

10 chapters, 8200 words

Look I am going to be honest here. I picked this one entirely because the entire thing is in the synopsis. Here it is, in its entirety:

Hide-and-Seek in a Dead Man’s House is a supernatural horror story about twelve-year-old Jack, who spends a weekend at his cousin Ethan’s huge, isolated country house. Over two nights, a closet door opens on its own, a voice whispers “Hey,” and unseen footsteps stop outside Jack’s hiding place during a game of hide-and-seek to say, “I see you.” At 3:20 a.m., loud breathing comes from the dark closet, and Jack flees home.

Fifteen years later, he learns the house was cheap because of a murder, and he returns to find the truth. Behind a hidden closet panel, he finds a murdered child’s notebook, a toy police car, and a drawing of the killer. The discovery solves a 25-year-old cold case and lets the boy’s spirit finally rest.
The story blends suspense, mystery, and an emotional twist: the ghost was never a threat, only a frightened child still hiding.

There it is, the entire thing. They tell you in the synopsis that it’s a kid in hiding and FUCK ME that ruins everything.

It’s actually a pretty good story. Short, doesn’t waste too much time, creepy and then sad. Nice work. But since I knew from reading the synopsis exactly what was going to happen there was zero tension. None. So uh, don’t read the synopsis?

What the fuck am I doing that I keep finding kinda-good stories. This is supposed to be us gawking at trash.

Fall of the Living

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2571566/fall-of-the-living

7 chapters, 15000 words.

Writing – B+

This one’s a zombie outbreak so there’s a lot of use of line-breaks and time counting. I think it’s pretty effective! Gives the story a breezy, fast feel and gives it a definite character.

The complaint is that this goes on for a while so it loses its kick the fourth time our heroes are hiding. Still, creative structuring is always welcome.

Overall – B+

I don’t have a ton to say about this one. I’ve read to the third chapter and it’s a zombie story. Stuff happens at a pretty good clip, our heroes aren’t totally useless and I don’t think anything is uncreative or cliched. Pretty good! Check it out!

Wrap Up

What the fuck these three were actually pretty good. This is supposed to be sifting through crap and four out of the six wound up being pretty good! Not life-changing good but still good enough that I wasn’t angry I had to keep reading.

Perhaps we’re going to learn a real lesson and that’s that not everything is terrible if you open your mind. I haven’t done that yet, fortunately.