Today's Inktober word: SMACK

SMACK!

Use today's word in a story on RedQuill, then drop a comment with

1. a link to your public story (required because we need your username)
2. a screenshot or copied snippet of the word being used in your story

Every entry = 1 free Advanced Write. One per person per day, and the word has to appear in your story and screenshot!

Full rules and all 31 prompts are in the RQ Inktober rules post.

Prompts are from the official Inktober 2026 list (inktober.com). RedQuill isn't affiliated with Inktober. We just love a good prompt.

RedQuillers,

Here’s a roundup of what we’ve shipped, what we fixed, and what we’re looking at next.

This week includes big upcoming feature launches next Wednesday that Premium RQ subscribers can preview, as well as fixes for several visible frustrations you’ve reported, including streaks resetting, paragraph tools corrupting text, and the header disappearing after writing.

Just to let you know: writing reliability work is still ongoing ambiently. More chapters are now being handled through faster routes that have been failing less often, and some writes now try an additional service first when the usual path is slow. We’re continuing to monitor both reliability and writing quality, but the major prose issues should have been fixed (some recent problems with prose didn't seem to be prose per se, so we appreciate any really specific examples you can find if you do- and to share them here since we're actively looking at all the examples).

🚢 What's shipped

• 💥 Premium early access is live. Premium members can turn on Early access from the account menu to preview three larger updates:
  • A simpler, prompt-first Create screen
  • A redesigned Reader, including Fork and Roleplay from any paragraph
  • Explore, a new Roleplay experience where you step into the story as a character and choose what you Do, Say, or want to happen
• 💥 Components now have likes and forks. You can heart a component and find it later in Library → Liked, or fork one to create your own private, editable copy
• 💥 User blocking is live. You can block someone from their profile, comments, stories, components, or chat messages. Their content and notifications disappear for you, and they can no longer comment on your work, follow you, or invite you to collaborate
• Component pages have also been redesigned with clearer details, AI instructions, newest comments first, related components, and public stories using that component
• Component creators can now receive notifications for new comments and when their public components reach use or favorite milestones
• The home page is less crowded for new users. The starter checklist is now the slimmer Prologue Quest, and the weekly contest has moved into the main slider

🐛 Bugs fixed

• Streaks should no longer reset when you didn’t actually skip a day. Writing while low on Quills now counts, one missed day pauses instead of breaking the streak, and a reset falls back to the last milestone reached instead of the last reward claimed. Previously lost streaks are not automatically restored
• Paragraph Extend and Rewrite no longer drop letters or move blank lines after Accept and Save. They should also understand that more text follows the paragraph instead of writing as though the chapter ends there
• On desktop, the header, sidebar, and Quill count no longer stay hidden after a chapter finishes
• Fixed the crash that showed an “error 500” page, especially on contest pages. Older open tabs may reload once after an update instead
• Signing up or logging in now returns you to the story or page you were viewing instead of dropping you on Home
• Discover → Components no longer dims the entire grid while loading more, and the mobile grid should stay within the screen

🔭 What's ahead

• The new Create, Reader, and Explore experiences will roll out more broadly after early-access testing. We are planning to release these next Wednesday. Please share with us feedback if you end up trying these experiences as a Premium user.
• We know universal story settings can still be missed by some paragraph tools. A fix is being retested; it is not live yet
• Mobile apps: Android is release-ready but not live in the store yet. The latest iOS update remains delayed in App Review with potential for full rejection. We’ll announce launches once they’re confirmed

💬 Community

• RedQuill Inktober is live here on r/redquill. Every day in October has an official Inktober word. Use it in a new or existing public story, then comment in that day’s Reddit thread with the story link and a screenshot. Each day you participate earns 1 free Advanced Write, up to 31 total. Rewards are credited weekly. Full rules here
• We’re also working on a Spooky-themed story contest for October. More details soon!

❤️ 🪶 Quill on!

🖊 Welcome to RedQuill Inktober!

Inktober (inktober.com) is usually a drawing challenge. We're doing it with words. Every day in October has an official Inktober prompt. Your job: work that word into a story on RedQuill, then show us where it is.

How this works

1. Find the day's Reddit thread
2. Use the day's word in a story: a new one, a new chapter, or your ongoing saga
3. Comment in that day's thread with
   1. a link to your public story (required)
   2. a screenshot of the word being used in your story - share however much you want
4. 🎁 Every day you comment = 1 free Advanced Write. Post on all 31 days and that's 31 Advanced Writes on us.

Remember: You CAN edit your story without having AI generate the word. Totally allowable is you going back to old published stories, and finding that word too.

How to claim your 🎁 Advanced Writes

We will tally entries every week and credit your Advanced Writes in one batch with a weekly recap.

https://preview.redd.it/emg9a2o7bysh1.png?width=924&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f451b49f84dd56742d531099c4a6e9958638931

Start writing: redquill.net

Prompts are from the official Inktober 2026 list (inktober.com). RedQuill isn't affiliated with Inktober. We just love a good prompt.

Chapter length accuracy + options update

We continue to make Chapter Length improvements along length consistency and what we can offer.

From our own extensive testing with measuring what the Writing Options delivered from last Friday's update, it's clear to us that past 2,500 words, length is a range and not a guaranteed number, so we have reflected these ranges as best as possible in our updated Writers.

• Standard (~1,000 words, 5 quills)
• Long(1,500–2,500, 7–12 quills)
• Epic (2,500–5,000, 12–22 quills, Advanced Writers)

Long and Epic are priced for what’s written: 1 quill ≈ 200 words, never above the top of the range. If a chapter comes in decently short of the floor, extend is free.

We’ll keep watching this and seeing if we can make longer chapters more accurate and consistent, so there's more user control.

https://preview.redd.it/g15lmuyd8jph1.png?width=536&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7e5287cce64cc25e6df82a00f8b18aa37bf4231

Plan Mode (beta)

https://preview.redd.it/calatnboajph1.png?width=942&format=png&auto=webp&s=1758d9003194bca58501e92ebf1237860c53fe72

Given the feedback about confusion around what to put into prompts and get next chapters following what is desired, we have released a beta version of Plan Mode.

If you’ve ever dumped the whole plot in the prompt and watched chapter 1 eat it, this is for you. If you have ideas for what's ahead but saw there was no good way in RedQuill to instruction something be in Chapter 2 vs. 3, this is also for you.

In Create, open the Plan tab and sketch the first 2–10 chapters. Chapter 1 is your usual prompt. The rest are a sentence or two about what happens next.

Chapters still write one at a time, same cost as always. When you hit continue, your next beat is sitting there instead of random AI options. You can tweak it, or edit the whole plan from the story’s ··· menu.

The AI in Plan Mode sees the full plan every time, so it paces toward what’s coming instead of resolving everything in chapter 2. Once you’re past the plan, continue goes back to normal. Tight beats stick better. Let us know what you think as you try it, as it's in early development.

There was a service issue for one of our providers affecting Southeast Asia, which was the reason for increased login and library access issues reported. We started seeing this become stable ~30 minutes ago, but please let us know if there are persistent issues.

This should not be affecting users from other regions. However keep us posted if you are experiencing these issues but are not in the affected region.

Post a little bit about yourself and what you're looking for!

We want to help you find a co-conspirator for your next Collaborative Story!

Feel free to adjust this template to share more about yourself and what you're looking for.

• Are you into original story/characters? Fandoms? Both?
• Genres/themes you like
• How spicy can you go? (0 -> 10)
• Links to anything on RedQuill you're into, whether that's stories, components, story ideas, characters - doesn't even have to be your own

Wait, what's Duet Mode or "Collaborative Stories?"

Duet Mode is a way for you and another RedQuill user to co-write a collaborative story together. Each chapter is a turn, and you and your partner will alternate writing one story together. It's a fun way to explore together and get new ideas through collaboration.

What you need:

• A friend, a strange, a nice brave RedQuiller who will give you their username
• Invite that RedQuiller to make a Collaborative Story via "Collaborative Stories" on your side bar, or the "Collaboration" tab on the Create Story module
• You will get notified whenever it's your turn
• Check your status in your "Collaborative Stories" space

We've written a blog post about Duet Mode if you want to learn more.

Share your story

Each week, post your WIP or completed stories for others to read, remix or comment on. Get the wisdom of other RedQuillers if you're stuck on what to write next or figuring out how to best generate something.

You might just find someone who enjoys the same things as you. Or who is willing to play around with your story or characters. Don't be shy!

Don't be surprised if you get some Quills for being brave enough to post.

Didn't get a reader or response last week? Feel free to post again.

Here's the format

RedQuill link:

Tags:

Blurb:

Desired feedback/ask:

RedQuillers,

Another week in the RQ mines. Still focused on app and storywriting stability as our top priorities! Generation reliability keeps improving, and in between, we continue to make the app easier to use and squash bugs 🐛.

What's shipped

• 💥 App-wide stability and writing stability improvements
• 💥 App-wide speed and page load improvements. Sign-in/register, /library, and the /quills pricing page are all significantly faster. We also made optimizations to Search, which affects all places where search and filtering is.
• Find Collaborators for Duet Mode/Collaborative Stories is open to every signed-in user
• Made a few things easier to use
  • Comments on desktop
  • Scenarios tab
• New Reddit rules for r/redquill as we look to keep our growing subreddit safe

Bugs fixed galore

• 🐛 Fixed: Audio narration no longer charges Quills for empty transcripts, and it survives a problematic paragraph mid-generation instead of dying on it. Failed generations auto-refund
• 🐛 Fixed: Story covers standardized, which the image is better sized and no more awkward cropping eating your cover art
• 🐛 Fixed: Author avatars and badges show up everywhere on the app. Sometimes even if you uploaded a picture, your avatar would show blank
• 🐛 Fixed: Categories with slashes in the name (dom/sub) no longer break and 404
• 🐛 Fixed: Weekly streak rewards
• 🐛 Fixed: Mobile profiles no longer break from long words in a bio.
• 🐛 Fixed: Library and bookmark counts are accurate again
• 🐛 Fixed: Profile tab chips show accurate

What we're working on

• RedQuill iOS mobile app
• For r/redquill, improved safety and question-answer handling. Then we'll be able to get to more of the fun community stuff!

As always, let us know in the comments around Quality of Life improvements you wish we would work on. In particular, if there's anything super annoying, make writing stories frustrating to write, or anything you believe could make our current mobile app smoother to use/navigate, let us know.

Quill on!

What's shipped

• 💥 Big update to reduce chapter generation failures. We see it on our side with updated internal monitoring as well. Expect much less failures.
• 💥 Tons of infra updates behind-the-scenes around performance and page speed load.
• 🐛 Fixed monthly streaks bug. Those affected will be re-comped/re-adjusted accordingly by of this week

Currently in progress (What we're looking into)

• Image generation using up Quills
  • We're looking into this. We're aware that expected behavior is that Quills should be deducted when there is an successful image generation; if a prompt is moderated, it should not reduce Quills.
  • Do remember: there is NO explicit visual imagery allowable on RedQuill, so we do heavy image moderation on all generated (and uploaded) images and do not allow explicit/nude visuals anywhere on app.
• Private items in one's own collection not showing up
• AI instruction following - a big one. Lots to research there
• Formalizing our Community Mods Program here in Reddit and our subscriber-only Discord

As always, let us know if you have any Quality of Life improvements/bugs fixes. We're doing a lot of work around this area as we know how important it is to the experience.

Post a little bit about yourself and what you're looking for!

We want to help you find a co-conspirator for your next Collaborative Story!

Feel free to adjust this template to share more about yourself and what you're looking for.

• Are you into original story/characters? Fandoms? Both?
• Genres/themes you like
• How spicy can you go? (0 -> 10)
• Links to anything on RedQuill you're into, whether that's stories, components, story ideas, characters - doesn't even have to be your own

Wait, what's Duet Mode or "Collaborative Stories?"

Duet Mode is a way for you and another RedQuill user to co-write a collaborative story together. Each chapter is a turn, and you and your partner will alternate writing one story together. It's a fun way to explore together and get new ideas through collaboration.

What you need:

• A friend, a strange, a nice brave RedQuiller who will give you their username
• Invite that RedQuiller to make a Collaborative Story via "Collaborative Stories" on your side bar, or the "Collaboration" tab on the Create Story module
• You will get notified whenever it's your turn
• Check your status in your "Collaborative Stories" space

We've written a blog post about Duet Mode if you want to learn more.

Share your story

Each week, post your WIP or completed stories for others to read, remix or comment on. Get the wisdom of other RedQuillers if you're stuck on what to write next or figuring out how to best generate something.

You might just find someone who enjoys the same things as you. Or who is willing to play around with your story or characters. Don't be shy!

Don't be surprised if you get some Quills for being brave enough to post.

Didn't get a reader or response last week? Feel free to post again.

Here's the format

RedQuill link:

Tags:

Blurb:

Desired feedback/ask:

Hi everyone,

I mentioned that following Tuesday's update to how writing options work, we would be listening and observing changes to make based on user feedback and data coming in.

1. One-time Quills <-> Advanced Writes swaps.

We will be releasing a way for RQers to swap your Quills for Advanced Writes during a one-time swap, in the spirit of making this transition even more smooth. This is a one-time only offer. I will update when this is launched.

2. Misc topics we're aware of, but are watching closely

• AI instruction following. We've opened up a Megathread here to collect examples from you, as this helps us go through cases to understand pattners. Please post there if you experience these issues and we will following
• Chapter generation length on the Standard Writer
• We will credit you back Advanced Writes on a case-by-case basis if you feel there were specific instances around improper rewrites/charges. Best done by contacting us directly in ModMail or support@redquill.net

If there are other major issues with the Advanced Writes system, or Writers, please keep us posted.

-- Cat 🪶

As mentioned, we’re launching an update today to how RedQuill’s Writing Options (“Writers”) work, so we can continue offering current and future Advanced Writers to all users sustainably.

Why we’re making this change

Until now, every chapter on RedQuill has been written by Ember or Ink, our two most advanced Writing Options and also the most expensive for us to operate. Over the past months, the cost of running Ember and Ink has increased substantially, and the current Quill economy can no longer sustainably support writing every chapter through these models.

Introducing Advanced Writes as an update to the Quills system

We didn't want to solve that by making Ember and Ink cost more, or by turning them off. So instead, we’re restructuring how writing works by introducing a new weekly allowance called Advanced Writes for writing with Ember and Ink.

With this change, you’ll be able to choose how your chapters are written in the following ways: 

• Standard: A new default Writing Option that uses Quills only. It enables the fastest writing while retaining a quality bar of writing.
• Ember or Ink: These are the Advanced Writing Options, which will use the normal number of Quills plus one Advanced Write per chapter. These Advanced Writing Options result in better prose and understands more complexity in instruction. 
• Auto: Uses Ember while you have Advanced Writes available, then switches to Standard so you can continue writing without being blocked.

An Advanced Write is used each time you successfully generate a full chapter with Ember or Ink. 

Everyone will get a number of Advanced Writes each week based on their plan, which refreshes each Sunday. Note that your plan’s allowance resets rather than accumulates week to week.

Weekly Advanced Writes included with each plan:

• Free: 2 Advanced Writes
• Basic: 30 Advanced Writes
• Pro: 50 Advanced Writes
• Premium: 100 Advanced Writes

One-time Quill packs will also include Advanced Writes:

• Package 1: 400 Quills + 30 Advanced Writes
• Package 2: 1,000 Quills + 65 Advanced Writes
• Package 3: 1,700 Quills + 105 Advanced Writes

Advanced Writes received through one-time purchases do not expire. Your weekly allowance is used first, and your permanent Advanced Writes are only used after the weekly allowance runs out.

Supporting a smooth transition

We’re doing a few things to support your storywriting experience and ensure a smooth period.

1️⃣ First, every existing RQer - free or subscriber - will receive a one-time balance of Advanced Writes based on your current plan:

• Free: 25
• Basic: 150
• Pro: 250
• Premium: 500

These Advanced Writes do not expire. Your weekly allowance will always be used first, and your permanent balance will only be used after your weekly Advanced Writes run out.

2️⃣ Second, we’re launching the Standard Writing Option at a lower introductory Quill cost so everyone has time to use it across different stories, chapter lengths, and writing styles, and learn where it works best for you. 

From now until August 14, the Standard Writing Option will be available at this following reduced Quill cost to make it easier to try the new Writer: 

• Standard-length chapter: 3 Quills (vs. 5)
• Novella-length chapter: 4 Quills (vs. 7)
• Novel-length chapter: 5 Quills (vs. 10)

This also gives us more feedback to closely review writing quality, regeneration rates, and user feedback—and make improvements before Standard moves to its regular Quills consumption.

Stability, Writing Quality and Improvements to Writing Options Remain Top Priorities

We want you to know that RedQuill’s overall stability remains one of our highest development priorities. We have heard you. We have been heads-down working on stability and infrastructure for the last month, and will continue to prioritize this going forward.  

Since API and infrastructure costs have been rising, we also will continue to prioritize cost management on our end and find more ways to optimize the costs of operating with AI. Among many things, this includes testing new and improving current Writing Options, so we can offer RQers capable, high-quality Writers sustainably. 

I want to be clear: this change to how Writing Options work is not the end state, and we anticipate making adjustments based on usage patterns and your feedback as we go. We already have anticipated and see common things RQers are bringing up that we might need to tweak. For the next few weeks, we’ll be proactively monitoring stability, Writer performance, Advanced Write usage, and community feedback. Where we see significant issues or unintended friction, we’ll work to address them and make reasonable changes.

Thank you for being an RQer and for continuing to shape RedQuill with us. We’re grateful for your patience, honesty, and feedback as we work to make the experience better for everyone.

– Cat & Ax ❤️ 🪶

We’ll be sharing a more detailed announcement later today about changes to RedQuill’s Writing Options (our "Writers").

We wanted to give r/redquill notice ahead of the change launching, as we've heard feedback around communicating updates earlier and more transparently.

Here is the main change:

Until now, every chapter on RedQuill has been written by Ember or Ink, our two most advanced Writing Options and also the most expensive for us to operate. Over the past several months, the cost of running them has increased substantially, and the current Quill economy does sustainably support writing every chapter through those Writers.

We did not want to solve that by dramatically increasing Quill cost or removing access to them entirely. Instead, we’re restructuring how writing works and introducing a new weekly allowance called Advanced Writes to use Ember and Ink.

Going forward, there will be three ways to write on RedQuill:

• Standard: A new default Writer that comes with fast speed. Uses Quills only.
• Ember and Ink: Our Advanced Writers, which will use their normal Quill cost plus one Advanced Write per chapter. What you get is better prose and more complicated instruction-handling.
• Auto: Uses Ember while you have Advanced Writes available, then switches to Standard so you can continue writing without being blocked.

We know some of you may be reasonably concerned about anything that changes how you write and your access to our Writers. To ensure a smooth transition, we're giving all existing RQers - whether you're free or a subscriber - a generous balance of Advanced Writes (Ink and Ember access) based on your plan. These will never expire, and they will only be used after the weekly allowance runs out.

We understand that this may be a significant change for RQers who use Ember or Ink frequently. The full announcement later today will include the exact allowances, transition balances, costs, and answers to common questions. We wanted to give the community space to understand the change before it goes live. We’ll be actively listening, answering questions, and making adjustments as we learn more from your feedback and actual usage ❤️ 🪶

Share your story

Each week, post your WIP or completed stories for others to read, remix or comment on. Get the wisdom of other RedQuillers if you're stuck on what to write next or figuring out how to best generate something.

You might just find someone who enjoys the same things as you. Or who is willing to play around with your story or characters. Don't be shy!

Don't be surprised if you get some Quills for being brave enough to post.

Didn't get a reader or response last week? Feel free to post again.

Here's the format

RedQuill link:

Tags:

Blurb:

Desired feedback/ask:

Share your story

Each week, post your WIP or completed stories for others to read, remix or comment on. Get the wisdom of other RedQuillers if you're stuck on what to write next or figuring out how to best generate something.

You might just find someone who enjoys the same things as you. Or who is willing to play around with your story or characters. Don't be shy!

Don't be surprised if you get some Quills for being brave enough to post.

Didn't get a reader or response last week? Feel free to post again.

Here's the format

RedQuill link:

Tags:

Blurb:

Desired feedback/ask:

We're aware of the Sensitive Content issue that has appeared in the last days, and have been investigating why it's interrupting story generation.

We will keep everyone posted when this is addressed.

In the meantime, if you have experienced this issue, please ModMail us with your RQ username (Ideally also with any other details as it helps us with resolving the issue) - we will be crediting back Quills for re-try attempts.

Thanks for your patience!