Reblogging Because This Would Be A Cool Magic System And Who Knows It Might Come In Handy Someday For

it's always so fascinating and heartbreaking when a character in a story is simultaneously idolized and abused. a chosen prophet destined for martyrdom. a child prodigy forced to grow up too fast. a powerful warrior raised as nothing but a weapon. there's just something so uniquely messed up about singing someone's praises whilst destroying them.

Forget the search history, if you really want to know a writer you should check their notes app...a writer's unhibited mind can be a frightening place.

How to Finish A First Draft

Source: https://thewritepractice.com/first-draft/

post by @writingwithacutlass on instagram

Here are the two steps for writing a book:

1: sit down*

2: write.

*this step is optional.

That’s all you have to do to write a book. You can’t edit a book you never wrote! If you want to finish writing a novel, you’re gonna need to have a finished first draft.

As the article puts it; writing is not:

thinking about writing, buying books on writing, talking about writing, listening to podcasts about writing, attending writing conferences, dreaming about writing, getting a tattoo about writing, watching movies about writing, talking to your cat about writing—none of those activities will write your book.

But if you’re simply clueless on how to actually write a first draft, never fear! I’ve got you covered :) swipe!

figure out the story first

You’ll need something to guide you as you write your first draft. If you’re new to writing, you’ll figure out soon enough if you’re a plotter, plantser, or pantser, but either way you’ll want at least a vague idea of where you’re headed.

write a blurb and get feedback on it

Write a short paragraph (such as one you would find on the back of a book) that sums up your story. (don’t reveal the ending though!) share it with your friends or someone you trust (keep in mind that friends might sugarcoat to avoid hurting your feelings, so maybe ask someone else) and get their feedback on it. Did they read all the way through or did they zone out after the first sentence? Be sure they can give you honest opinions on it.

don’t let yourself get distracted while writing

When you sit down to write, it’s best if you keep all distractions away from you. Put your phone in another room, find a quiet spot, put on some music if it helps you...create a space where you can write without losing your train of thought every five seconds.

write “tk” as placeholder

When you’re unsure of something, do NOT go to google and try to figure out what it is. Write “tk” as a placeholder, as there are no words (or at least hardly any) in English that have those two letters next to each other. Later, you can search “tk” in your document and all those placeholders will show up.

don’t stop

Momentum is everything when it comes to first drafts. You need to keep writing until the first draft is complete!

don’t rewrite, edit or reread until it’s finished

Editing as you write will slow you down SO MUCH. if you’d like to save yourself a heap of time, just don’t do it. Same goes for rewriting. It’s fine as it is, you can fix things in later drafts. As for rereading what you wrote, it’s best if you don't do this either. It wastes time and keeps your mind stuck in what you already wrote, instead of what you need to write now.

don’t get discouraged

It’s really easy to get discouraged while writing a first draft. We’ve all been there. Don’t give up!! Despite all the writing advice you can find online, perseverance is really the main key when writing first drafts. You’ve got this, I'm rooting for you!

set deadlines + goals

Deadlines and goals are very helpful for both motivation and keeping track of your progress. Make sure your set *attainable* goals, or else you’ll become stressed and eventually give up. Celebrate your progress!

find a supportive community

Having supportive friends is the best thing ever :) my online friends motivate me so much, and some of them have saved my wip from dying lol but if you aren’t in a community yet, go join one! And if you don’t know where to find one, don’t worry :) instagram’s writing community is wonderful and everyone is so supportive of each other! The algorithm is being horrible to us right now but everyone is really welcoming to new accounts and you can find friends and writing buddies!

when you discover you share a birthday with a fictional character

me: * hYpErVeNtiLaTiNg*

C.S. Lewis once wrote,

"I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief"

And I think we all needed to hear that.

how to outline your novel

every writer outlines differently, from hardcore plotters who go into heavy detail to laid back pantsers who prefer to go with the flow. this post will be about simple tips to plotting and you can interpret them as you will! personally, i am a plantser who tends to loosely outline my scenes before jumping into the writing part. that being said, i am working on documenting my wip info in one organized google doc :)

pros and cons

there are some disadvantages to the advantages of outline your book to be considered carefully.

benefits:

keeps your plot on track

helps you stay more organized

can help diminish writer’s block

clarifies the middle to avoid the “muddle”

drawbacks:

can produce a stilted narrative

may lead to more show and less tell

limits spontaneity and creative during the actual writing process, which can create an air of boredom

characters have less freedom in their choices, degrading their authenticity and taking away natural reactions

formulating the premise

the premise will be main plot of your story, which can be easily established by asking yourself these three simple questions:

who is the protagonist?

what do they want more than anything?

how can i prevent them from getting it?

there are also the five w’s (where, when, who, what, and why) that should be taken into account when crafting your premise.

character profiles

imo, making character profiles is one of the most fun things about outlining. this is where you compile all there is to know about each and every character in your book—from the main character to that baker who only appears once in the first chapter and is never seen again. start with basic attributes like:

full name

age

physical description (add every detail you can think of!)

personality traits

likes

dislikes

after that, feel free to go much deeper into a lot more personal things:

familial situation

important events in their past

insecurities

regrets

morals

religious beliefs

…the list goes on!

constructing and placing scenes

there are many different approaches to this part of outlining and it all depends on how specific you wish to be. from a loosely outlined note to a fully developed google doc, the possibilities are endless. there are a lot of different softwares and apps out there to help create your storyboard and outline, here are a few to check out:

Milanote (free)

Evernote (free version)

Dabble writer ($10/month)

Trello (free version)

Workflowy (free version)

Coggle (free version)

for every scene, i would advise at least a single sentence to encapsulate what happens in that scene. think back to the five w’s mentioned earlier and use this sentence structure if desired (you can modify it as needed):

[ when, where ], [ who ] wanted [ what ] but [ conflict ] because [ why ] so [ result ].

conclusion

so that’s it! i hope this helped you get a grasp on outlining at least a little i honestly feel like this post is a mess but- we’re gonna just take a moment to appreciate all the hardcore plotters and my fellow plantsers and the majorly underrated pantsers out there. you’re doing amazing sweetie and ilysm <3

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

While writing an adaptation of a character who in mythology time used a sword, I'm wondering would it be ineffective to still make them use a sword but a thinner flatter type. Or is it just better to just stick to a knife?

I'm not going to harp on it, but, "mythology time," is a weird way to phrase it. Usually you'd say, "a character who used a sword in myth," or. "in their myths," not, "in mythology time." This is because there is no fixed, "mythic era," in history.

Myths vary, but it's often impossible to pin down a specific moment they come from. The British give us a pair, one example and one counterexample. The myth of Robin Hood is remarkably easy to pin down, because it includes historical figures. It occurs sometime in the 12th century. (Worth noting, the written records regarding Robin Hood first pop up in the 14th century, so it may have been floating around in a oral form for a couple centuries before anyone recorded it, or none of the previous written records survived.) In contrast, it's basically impossible to pin down a specific timeframe for the King Arthur legends, because there's no historical frame of reference. There's a lot of academic study on the subject, but while you can say that Robin Hood is set in the 1190s, you can't say the same for King Arthur.

Mythic characters are a little tricky to work with. By their nature, they have a well established backstory and identity. Messing with that is feasible, but requires some care. It also requires passing familiarity with the myths they appear in.

For example: If you wanted to write a modern incarnation of Hercules, it would ring a bit off to have a character with a warm and loving parents.

Artificially creating a mythic character (for a fantasy setting) is a lot more complicated. This requires you to create a character who left enough of a legacy on their world that they're still a household name millennia later, conveying those stories to the audience, and then also introducing a modern version of that character in the setting, without the entire work being very heavy handed or cliché, is quite difficult, and time consuming.

And, I still haven't talked about your main question, their weapons.

The artifacts of mythic characters often have legacies that, in some cases, outstrip their owners. In spite of being inanimate objects, they're characters, with their own identities, that extend far beyond simply being, "a sword." I'm reminded of multiple starships in different settings named Excalibur, and even, just the name, is evocative.

This is where the real danger is, you're talking an artifact, where the name alone, is (supposed) to be enough to cue the reader in to the significance of the object. (Having said that, I recently had to explain the significance of Gjallarhorn to a friend, so, depending on the object in question your results may vary. There are a lot of mythic artifacts, and not all of them carry the same name recognition.)

If your mythic hero has a sword, chances are it has a name, and probably a legacy of its own. Mythic artifacts in a modern setting may be the original object, or the, "soul," of the artifact in a new object (the rules for this are dictated by the author), but, "downgrading," a mythic artifact is something you probably don't want to do without a lot of careful consideration.

-Starke

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Developing a Plot

Credit: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-master-the-art-of-plot-development#what-are-the-elements-of-a-good-plot

Introduction

Plot, also known as the bane of writers everywhere. How are you supposed to keep your readers entertained when there are so many other things they could be doing? How can you stretch out the events enough to cover tens or hundreds of pages? There is no one way to approach plotting, but there are ways to make it easier. In the end, the best way to plot is to practice!

Sketch out a plot outline

Mapping out your plot ideas can streamline your fiction writing process and help you through periods of writer’s block. The extent to which a writer outline varies, but plotters, plantsers, and pantsers alike can pick and choose which of these tips to use!

One way is to start with a freewriting session. Brainstorm scene ideas, story points, and character information. Next, organize your basic ideas into an outline to get your basic plot structure down. Place your major beats into your outline, and then create the scenes between these beats to create continuity in your storyline.

Start with the action

Your exposition--or the background information and worldbuilding for your book--has several important duties. It identifies the main character, establishes the setting and the themes of your story, and launches the plot. You need to write all this in a way that hooks the reader and engages them through the entire novel. One way to do that is by diving right into the action, dropping your reader into the scene in medias res, or Latin for “in the midst of things.” This sets the pace from the beginning and creates a strong open that engages a reader.

Lay the groundwork for the climax during the rising action

Now that you’ve set the stage, the rising action is where you really build the plot of your story, develop characters, and propel the tension towards the climax--the most active and dramatic part of the book. Over the course of the rising action, drop reminders of the conflict that’s driving the plot. Accomplish this by raising the stakes with plot points--dramatic turning points that force the protagonist to make crucial decisions that send the story in new directions. Adding these surprising plot twists keeps the momentum moving. Plot points also help deepen character development by revealing their strengths and flaws.

Create a rich narrative with subplots

A good story has several plotlines running through the narrative. Write subplots to weave in and out of your main plot. A subplot is a shorter side-story that introduces secondary characters, provides a backstory that informs a character's actions and motivations, and supports the themes established in the main plot. A common subplot is romance, but there are so many more options.

Leave your readers satisfied

When the tension has reached its peak, it’s time for the climax to resolve the conflict. If you have great exposition and dramatic rising action, then this final face-off between the protagonist and antagonist should be a big payoff. Finally, write an ending that ties up loose ends and closes out character arcs--this can happen in either a final chapter or an epilogue (as a reader, though, I prefer the epilogue). Readers will be glad they followed the story through to this satisfying resolution!

Read other authors

All great writers employ their own writing style and creative process to develop a plot with the five structural elements. If you want to refine the writing process and learn how to develop a great plot, read from writers similar to you. You might pick a bestseller, like a Rick Riordan book, and study it as an example of how plot and humor work together to play well to a large audience. Determine which authors you want to observe and which authors are like you. 

This also comes in handy later, when you want to make comparisons between other works and authors and your book. For example, I’d describe my own WIP as “An Ember in the Ashes meets The Poppy War.”

Every peice in chess was carefully considered before inclusion. The pawns are there cause you need a bunch of little guys. The bishop is there to market to the religious demographic. Horsie is there cause people like horsies. And the rook? That's sex appeal baby