#how much detail i want to get into in the biography section vs the timeline section đ€
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i'm having a good time and i'm being very normal about this
#i'm very normal about the character who i created and put through all these horrible experiences. SO normal.#you think of the word normal and immediately grey on the topic of byan is what comes to mind. yep.#however... as you can see this might take me forever bc i haven't even reached age 6 yet lmaooooo.........#i think it might get easier to keep things more concise once i'm past this initial trauma though. ...maybe.#that might be wishful thinking tho bc i haven't yet figured out how i want to approach the rest#how much detail i want to get into in the biography section vs the timeline section đ€#i haven't even DECIDED on how/when a lot of shit happens tho so the rest of the bio might be more concise and i'll add on to the timeline#as i sort more things out? HMMM.#ok ok sorry i'll shut up now i'm actually just kind of pleased with how this first part has turned out so i wanted to share it đđ#ââ Ë â° â° ooc âź don't @ me.
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Level Up! Upcycling an Intermediate App
Hello friends and welcome to another unsolicited writing tutorial, aka my bread and butter! Today weâre going to build off of ground covered in my earlier tutorial, Level Up! Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced RP and You.Â
As always, Iâd like to point out that there is nothing wrong with being a writer more naturally suited for intermediate sites! But if youâre looking to write in the more ~advanced or ~literary space, you will need to adjust your writing to fit the community standard. While your writing will likely improve over time as you write with more advanced writers, step one to threading in such a community is getting an app accepted there.
In todayâs tutorial, Iâll be talking about how to revise an existing intermediate application to make it more suited for an advanced site. Letâs begin!Â
As a staffer on an advanced site, the note I most often have for applications that we pend or decline is: this feels very telly.Â
I donât mean âtellyâ as in Telly the Sesame Street character:Â
I mean âtellyâ as in extraordinarily expository.Â
An intermediate freestyle application often looks like a straight-up timeline of a characterâs history, delivered without much style or voice. It might feel like a Wikipedia article, or a very long explanation like you might see in a shipper.Â
I often find that it can help streamline the writing process to write a handful of telling anecdotes, rather than rehashing a characterâs complete history, infancy to present. More on that in my freestyle application tutorial here!
But if youâre having a hard time wrapping your head around anecdotal-style applications, particularly if youâre accustomed to application formats that have you write a âhistoryâ section as opposed to a freestyle, you can improve upon your current app to make it more suited for an advanced site. It will take some work, and certainly more than ten minutes of it. Writing on a âreachâ site can be very rewarding, but only if youâre willing to put in the effort.Â
TELLING
Before we solve the problem of âtellyâ writing, we need to establish what âtellyâ writing is. For purposes of this tutorial, Iâll be using my one application that is a full rehashing of character history. Below is a âtellyâ take on Sadie Shunpike:Â
Sadie grew up in a working-class neighborhood of London with her twin brother, Sam. Neither of her parents were very good at magic, but hid their insecurity in the belief that any magic at all made them better than their Muggle neighbors. Sadie and Sam werenât educated at the local primary school, but were homeschooled by their mother until they could read. From there, Sadie and Sam would check out books from the local library and teach themselves, with Sadie helping Sam.Â
Sadie was very smart, but Sam struggled more with learning. As they got older, Sadie started to read books she ordered from Flourish and Blottâs, learning about magical theory. Sam started to show signs of magic, which he hid from Sadie. When they turned eleven, it became clear that Sadie was a squib. She resented Sam for being magical, especially when he went to Hogwarts and needed Sadieâs help to do his homework. Sadie continued to educate herself.
Sadie developed an interest in the Dark Arts and got mixed up with Death Eaters in a research and study group she attended at Flourish and Blottâs. One of them promised her a Ministry job and ensured her safety if she acted as a spy in the Ministry for the Death Eaters. Later, she got placed into a safehouse, and began to spy on the safehouse network for the Death Eaters.Â
This tells you a lot about what Sadie has been up to, but doesnât tell you much about Sadie, or about my skill as a writer, or about how someone else might expect Sadie to behave in threads. There is no voice, no personality, no interest - just rote explanation.Â
As a staffer on an advanced site, when I see an app like the above, I know I will be pending or declining the application. The question I ask when making that distinction is: is the character development strong enough to merit working with the writer on the prose? Is the prose strong enough to merit working with the writer on the character development?Â
If the writing itself or the character development is there, it can make sense to help guide the writer - though this is more the case with character development issues than with prose. Character development can be improved with specific notes and adjustments, whereas generally speaking, improving prose is a gradual process over time.Â
It is entirely possible that a writer might have much better prose in their threads than in their application! However, your application serves here as a writing sample. which is why it is imperative that it be good writing on its own. I have said it before and I will say it again: I donât care how much you hate writing apps, lmao! Youâve got to write a good one if you want to do well on sites that use them!Â
SHOWING
Writing communities are always talking about show vs. tell. Unless youâre writing stage directions, it is always better to show than to tell - or at least, there arenât enough exceptions to the rule that you shouldnât be aiming primarily to show.Â
So how do you communicate a character history without making it too telly?Â
DESCRIPTION
Here, Iâve described Sadieâs neighborhood as âworking-classâ and left it at that. What if I went into a little more detail? Explained to you what I imagine when I imagine her upbringing, and shared with you whatâs going on in my head between the lines?Â
In a small, shabby house in a small, shabby suburb, a small and shabby family lives a small and shabby life. Samuel Shunpike, Sr. sells advertisements for the Daily Prophet, tossing a handful of Floo powder into the minuscule fireplace in the sitting room every morning and getting ash on the threadbare round braided rug every night.Â
This has more flavor, doesnât it? The repetition of âsmall, shabbyâ is a deliberate style choice that communicates an idea of how I write in practice when Iâm being ~artsy, and the image of a man in a shabby suit crawling into his fireplace and messing up an already messed-up rug builds Sadieâs father as an NPC that will come into play later in her app. Dynamic NPCs - whose actions impact your character, who are more than wooden cutouts - help build the fictional world of your characterâs life. They donât even need to be vital to playing your character - Iâve never really had anyone in Sadieâs family in play onsite, despite how heavily her brother figures into her character development - but they can be very useful in understanding your character.Â
DIALOGUE
Ha, irony, that dialogue can make an app less telly! Dialogue gives your reader an idea of how your character interacts with the world in concrete situations, not merely in the abstract. It also helps build the dynamic NPCs that make your characterâs history feel more real, and feel like something that genuinely impacted them rather than something manufactured for plot.Â
While the Shunpikes are nobodies in the circle of wizarding society, Margie and Samuel Sr take comfort in the fact that they do have one thing making them better than the Muggles who live the small shabby lives on either side of them: the Shunpikes are magic. small, shabby magic, but magic nevertheless. "You lot are better than this," Margie says, smoking a pipe on the stoop, gesturing at the sidewalk where children walk to school with their parents. Sam and Sadie don't take their eyes off their Exploding Snap game. It's no use arguing with Margie, they know. When she goes inside, grumbling about Muggle trash, Sam and Sadie train their eyes on the walk outside. The parade of children their age, all wearing matching khakis and polo shirts. "What do you think they get up to?" Sam asks, glancing at Sadie. "Same as us, i imagine," she says, "but probably, y'know, more guided."
This brief vignette tells us a few things:
Margie Shunpike, Sadieâs mother, is mean, and relies on what little magic she has to feel like she has worth
Sam looks to Sadie for leadership/guidance
Neither of these are specifically about Sadie, but having this background information about her mother seen in action rather than merely mentioned will impact how we digest the news that Sadie is a squib. Sam, as a recurring NPC, will inform how we see Sadie develop, and seeing his changing relationship with her will give another metric for the reader of how Sadie has changed.Â
DETAILS
Details build your world, make it feel more real. When I wrote earlier that Sadie ordered books from Flourish & Blottâs, they could have been any books - they could have been the magical equivalent of ABCÂ âFirst Conceptâ books - they could have been magical erotica. Donât details tell you a lot about a person? If I tell you that Renee Rye Bread reads 50 books a year, what have you learned about her? What if I clarify that itâs 50 romance novels? 50 crime dramas? 50 political biographies?
When Sam and Sadie were younger, Margie would sit them together at the kitchen table and clumsily teach them letters and numbers. Once they could put together sentences and basic sums, she happily stepped back and let them figure it out on their own. On an average day, Sam and Sadie will watch the parade of schoolchildren, finish a game of Exploding Snap or Wizard's Chess, eat an early lunch, and spend the rest of the day doing their best to get an education. Sadie tries the hardest, dragging Sam with her to the Muggle library around the corner to read Muggle fiction and do basic research on whatever catches her fancy. She saves her allowance and coins from doing chores for the neighbors and orders secondhand books from the Flourish & Blotts catalog, poring over wizarding texts and trying to make sense of magic beyond even her parents' meager skill. Sam sometimes gives her his sickles, too. He isn't doing anything with them, and everything makes more sense with her in charge.
These details - what Sadie and Samâs homeschooling looks like, Sadieâs attitude towards books and learning, Samâs support in her academic endeavors - are building blocks in your understanding of Sadieâs personality. She is driven, self-directed, curious. She doesnât ask Sam for his input. She is, perhaps, a little selfish.Â
DIORAMA
Trying to keep to a âDâ theme here for an easy mnemonic device here! What I mean by âdioramaâ is that even in an app not specifically built around anecdotes it is good to provide a few key slices of the characterâs life - a clear window into specific scenes and moments. What strikes you as more impactful: me telling you, âthereâs a scene in Heathers (1988) where Veronicaâs boyfriend has put a bomb under the bleachers during a pep rally. Itâs fine, it doesnât go off,â or me describing to you: âthe gym is full of stamping feet and shouting cheerleaders; no one could hear Veronica and JD fighting under the stands even if they were interested. The bomb is beeping so loudly but no one is paying attention, no one can hear it. Itâs a pep rally and everyone is cheering at their own wake.âÂ
Rather than saying:
Sam started to show signs of magic, which he hid from Sadie. When they turned eleven, it became clear that Sadie was a squib. She resented Sam for being magical, especially when he went to Hogwarts and needed Sadieâs help to do his homework. Sadie continued to educate herself.
I went with the below:Â
In June, Sam is sitting in the kitchen while Sadie makes a solo trip to the library, folding paper airplanes and flying them with no success. After a dozen failures, however, he watches in amazement as a piece of notebook paper folds itself up into a perfect airplane and flies around the room on its own. He's done magic, and he has no idea how. And he keeps it a secret from his parents, but more importantly, from Sadie, who he now knows is not going to be coming with him to Hogwarts after all. Later that week, while the family is tucking into ham sandwiches for dinner, the owl arrives, and Sam's stomach sinks when Sadie proudly carries it from the sitting room window into the kitchen on her forearm. She unties the letter from its leg, looks at the front of the envelope, grinning. Samuel Sr and Margie see a shadow pass over their daughter's face for half a heartbeat before she slowly hands the envelope to her brother. But Sam sees it all: her smile cracking like broken china, her eyes widen just a little, the furrow in her eyebrow. He catches the hitch in her voice as she congratulates him. He senses her anxiety in the lightspeed jiggle of her left foot under the table, as he stares at the letter, unable to make sense of the words, as worried as he is about Sadie. She excuses herself early, and Samuel Sr and Margie exchange a look, as if they've forgotten Sam is there. Sam doesn't know what any of them were expecting, but it wasn't this. The next few days, during which Sadie does not speak to him at all, are the longest of his life. Then, one morning, as he sits at the kitchen table having a silent breakfast with Samuel Sr and Margie - who are still flabbergasted to have a squib in the family - she comes down the stairs from their shared attic bedroom. She sits across from Sam at the table as if nothing has happened. She helps herself to a slice of toast from the stack on a plate in the middle of the table, and takes a piece of bacon off Sam's plate. "Since i won't be going to Hogwarts as expected," she says, folding the toast to make a sandwich and taking an enormous bite, "I'll need to arrange for a more formal education.â She swallows her bite and pours herself a glass of orange juice. âIâm happy with our current method of self-directed study, of course, but - i intend to supplement it with the odd lecture or class audit in the city.â
We get a few things here:
Samâs anxiety/guilt about being the magical one, a dynamic that informs how Sadie will use him later
Sadie quickly hiding her actual emotions and performing fake ones, which comes up later when she manipulates people at the Ministry and in safehouses as a spy for the Death Eaters
Sadieâs decision making, which doesnât allow room for input, feedback, or disagreement
Think of your favorite books and characters. If a novelist gave you a quick description of a character in one paragraph, you wouldnât feel the close connection to them that you feel after reading even just a few chapters of them acting, reacting, interacting. Of course we donât have as much time for that in an app as we do in a novel, but thereâs a happy medium between the shallow understanding we get from pure exposition and the deep one we get from 50,000 words and a hardcover.Â
IN PRACTICE: HOW DO???
So weâve got our intermediate app. Weâve got our Four Dâs: Description, Dialogue, Details, Diorama. Weâve got an advanced site we are lusting over.Â
How do we Frankenstein this all together?
STEP ONE: REREAD YOUR ORIGINAL APP
Give her a look. Get the basics in your head. Think about how you might be able to repurpose this writing for your shipper. Because, hey! Itâs already done! And at least in my experience on advanced sites, shippers are a TL;DR for your app, so a quick expository jaunt through the highlights fits the bill just peachy.Â
But youâre not going to be able to work from that app directly for version two, okay? Be honest with yourself. How much do you ever revise things? Because this isnât a âchange a word, add one (1) sentence,â project. This is an overhaul.Â
Like Iâve said! Going from intermediate to advanced is HARD WORK!
STEP TWO: GET WRITING
Start writing that app from scratch. Think about the Four Dâs.Â
If youâre approaching this as a straight history of your character, have at it wherever you want to get started. But before you move on to the next phase, address your Four Dâs.Â
Susie was a difficult baby.Â
STOP! Give me the D. Was her nursery hyperfeminine? Did her nannies gossip about her parents behind their backs? Was Susie a fussy baby, or was she sickly? Show me her cold and distant mother awkwardly holding her before passing her off to her father!
If none of these Dâs feel important to this phase of the characterâs life: donât include it in the app! A character history does not need to cover every minute! You can just hit the important phases, and you should! Believe me: staff usually do not want to hear about how mom and dad met each other unless it actually has a major bearing on Susieâs life!Â
Once youâve given the moment its due (Due, the fifth D), move on to the next, and consider the Dâs every time.Â
STEP THREE: REREAD & REVISE
Before you submit your app, give it another look. Youâve likely done a lot of character development between your original application and the fully-overhauled version. Is your characterization consistent? Do your characterâs motives make sense? Have you left any gaping holes in their story? Look back at your shipper, especially if you used your original application to build it out. Does it align with the new application? What edits do you need on the shipper to have it describe the same person as your app?
STEP FOUR: PROFIT
Obviously, as with anything else, your mileage may vary. It might take a few tries, or even a few different characters to land on something that works for an advanced site. But the practice of implementing the five Dâs - and keeping them in mind subsequently as you post with and develop your character - will be instrumental in growing your abilities as a writer, and isnât that what this is all about? Wishing you all the best in writing as in life - let me know how youâre doing, and what other tutorials youâd like to see from me. Cheers, and happy writing!
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a super rough timeline that is here up until i write the detailed, nicer-looking timeline: warcraft edition
...because five expansions have passed since i wrote my original biography for beau, and people need to know what is going on.
my about section currently covers Vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade. thatâs the easy part out of the way. the following are events that have occurred that Beau has actively been involved in, in one way or another. brief descriptions only; the actual timeline (which is coming) will be a lot more detailed - mostly for those folks who are not in the Warcraft universe... but hey.
this is going to be a long read. youâll probably see why itâs taking me a while to do the full version. the descriptions are, rightly so, memey. youâve been warned.
there are also a few things in here that are purely explanation. again, for those who are NOT familiar with the Warcraft universe: i got you babe. <3
oh and for all of those who know Warcraft like the back of their hand: tl;dr the player character story line (paladin edition), but without faction-specific events. youâll be surprised how many of those exist. <3
WRATH OF THE LICH KING - a.k.a. lets go kill the dead guy who made the undead guys and wants to end the world.
2nd scourge invasion and zombie infestation begins - Beau learns about the Argent Crusade (a happy group who all want to be friends together and forget about the red vs blue fight) and joins their ranks
Alliance + Horde (read: blue and red, respectively) declare war on the Lich King (glorified necromancer with a big sword), and all able-bodied individuals venture to Northrend (read: cold continent).
Naxxramas happens (tl;dr they kill a lot of dead people, including a cat and the Lich Kingâs best pal).
The Nexus War happens (tl;dr they kill a bunch of blue dragons - including the boss blue dragon) - Beau is involved largely due to her affiliations with the dragonflights; the Bronze in particular, though the Netherwing are involved too.Â
The Halls of Stone and Lightning are found and unveiled. Ulduar happens soon after (uh... titanâs constructs think weâre bad. we punch them and they realise the tentacle guy underneath ulduar is the real bad guy. the world nearly ends, but through the power of friendship and good punching we stop that from happening. some red-haired mage gives a speech about it).Â
THE CALL OF THE CRUSADE - including the Argent Tournament, the Trial of the Champion and the Trial of the Crusader/Grand Crusader (tl;dr the leader of the Argent Crusade - Tirion - thought itâd be good to decide who gets to go kill the Lich King by having us all fight each other, and whoever survived would go. a big bug was underneath us and we squished it).Â
Assault on Icecrown Citadel - including the Forge of Souls (cool music btw), the Pit of Saron (go save Red + Blue people) and the Halls of Reflection (we found his big sword and he got angry at us so we had to run). Beau probably did this with Jaina... though I mean she wouldnât say no to either her or Sylvanas asking. Jaina makes the most sense to me however.Â
Icecrown Citadel (tl;dr it happens not long after the above and we go kill the Lich King and his friends and also his pet dragon... but he nearly kills us all first until Tirion takes our kill and Lich Kingâs dead dad resurrects us but in the good way).
Ruby Sanctum (tl;dr strange things happen with the dragons so we say weâll take a look at it, and then...)
CATACLYSM - a.k.a. letâs go kill the angry black dragon who wants to end the world.
The Shattering / Elemental Unrest (the angry black dragon was cooking under the world for a long while and has now come out... so the world is on fire).
Beau spends most of her time with the Dragonflights again (given it directly involves them) and works on bringing peace to the elements... so involves going to the Throne of the Four Winds, Hyjal, Bastion of Twilight (and Blackwing Descent) and, of course, Firelands. One for each element (and also killing the bad dragonsâ kids and wife!!).
The Hour of Twilight (read: the End of the World), which includes the End Time instance (basically âif you donât stop bad dragon heâll die anyway but so will everyone else soâ) the Hour of Twilight (the Archbishop was the bad guy the whole time!!) and Dragon Soul (Green Orc Jesus gets the killing blow this time, but we do kill the bad dragon and a bunch of tentacle things - remember Ulduar? those, but Less).
MISTS OF PANDARIA - a.k.a. lets go meet the pandas who have been hiding for millenia and then kill the Orc who wants to end the world (but only for anyone that isn't an Orc just like him... JUST like him).
Lil Prequel here wow first time but Beau spends her time with the Dragonflights, who are now not immortal. I know I didnât mention that before, but now itâs irrelevant - theyâre not immortal now. Most people donât get that. Or agree with it. But iâm just saying either way theyâre Tired after the fight with their bad brother, immortal or not, so this is what she does for a bit.
Garrosh Hellscream, Big Orc Leader of the Horde, decides to bomb Theramore (cute city that did not deserve it). The first time that something like this has ever happened. Pretty much everyone is shocked except for the people who knew about it... which is a few people. Jaina Proudmoore (read: ruler of Theramore and someone you donât want to piss off) is pissed off; very hurt and distraught by the destruction of her home. Red and Blue are at each otherâs throats because of it.
Pandaria is discovered (read: the land covered in the mist?? yeah that one. it has pandas on it... and other things), and Beau travels there with, surprise, the Bronze Dragonflight.
Pandaria is a lot of Personal Growth for Beau, because of the Sha (read: bad emotions made manifest that feed off of people experiencing said negative emotions). she faces a lot of her innermost demons and is forced to conquer them in order to be able to properly help the people of Azeroth. thereâll be a big post on this someday, but for a good portion of the expansion she assists the Pandaren in dealing with the Sha presence.
Isle of Thunder is discovered, and the Throne of Thunder raid happens (tl;dr Lightning Man wants to rule the world; fails). Beau has limited involvement in the former (its primarily dominated by blood elves/reds and the Kirin Tor Offensive/blues), but is involved in the latter.
Then the Horde (specifically, the trolls - big boy troll leader Volâjin) begins their revolution against their Warchief, Big Bad Orc Garrosh Hellscream. Beau assists with the rebels, as do the Alliance and most of the current Horde. Garrosh unleashes the Sha of Pride (read: worst one) and destroys the nicest place on Pandaria. Everyone is angry.
Siege of Orgrimmar (read: Horde capital city) happens - we kill Big Bad Garroshâs friends but he somehow evades our kills, because player characters donât get killing blows in this game until WoD. Volâjin becomes the Warchief, and him and Varian (read: king of the blues) end the war! No more Alliance vs. Horde! For like two expansions!!!!
Garrosh is put on Trial... and escapes, with a Bronze Dragon (whoâs actually an Infinite dragon... who are Bronze dragons that donât agree with keeping to the destined timeways so they do what they like). they travel back in time, and we have to follow them.
WARLORDS OF DRAENOR - a.k.a. the expansion no one talks about... that ends with a bunch of guys wanting to end the world.
Prelude!!! Garrosh goes back in time, finds his dad, and they make a New Horde (the Iron Horde), and they make the current Dark Portal (read: big demon portal thing) bigger and more red, and plan to invade Azeroth! again! this has happened before!
Iron Horde invade Azeroth - we stop them, but also decide to go through the Portal to the ALTERNATIVE Draenor (read: it was this place called Outland... which is where we were in The Burning Crusade, but before Outland became Outland, it was Draenor. work with me please).Â
Khadgar (uh... powerful mage; little eccentric; looks old but is actually like 10 yrs older than Beau but got made to look old bc of magic; Father of the Institute for Fallout fans - but nicer than Father is) thinks itâs a good idea to free Gulâdan (green warlock; bad; smelly) because heâs the guy powering the portal. Weâll regret that later, but right now it does stop the Iron Horde from invading Azeroth.
Beau, being a Neutral(tm), spends most of her time with Khadgar in his tower. Assists with liberating Shattrath (read: important light city), helps find and kill Garrosh (but Green Jesus Thrall actually kills him) and also participates in Highmaul (kill a bunch of ogres) and Blackrock Foundry (kill the orc making the weapons for the Iron Horde). Khadgar also starts making a ring of immense power, to give us an edge. He also kills us a few times - accidentally.
The Iron Horde crumbles after killing Blackhand (weapon orc we killed in the Foundry) and Gulâdan (here comes the regret) makes the remaining orcs drink the green goop that comes from a big demon (Garrosh wanted to stop this, but we killed him so...). the orcs turn green just like they are in reality, but now we have to fight Demon Orcs... oh, and Gulâdan summons Archimonde (big demon overlord whoâs one of Sargerasâ - leader of the demons - best friends).
Surprise surprise, now we go and kill Archimonde and all of the other people who are now a part of the Burning Legion (Sargerasâ army of demons and other races... but mostly demons). We manage, but Gulâdan is transported to Azeroth by Archimonde and he finds Illidan (uh... thereâs no easy way to explain Illidan so weâll just say heâs a big winged elf-demon man, but a kind of okay one???), whoâs trapped in a crystal.Â
The end of Warlords is that weâre all friends, we have a cool powerful ring, and weâve killed Archimonde - but... Gulâdan is free, has Illidan, and is going to summon all the demons to Azeroth.
LEGION - a.k.a. the demons, and Sargeras, really really want to end the world.
Prelude: I wonât lie, I honestly forget how we got back to Azeroth after traveling to an alternate timeline. Warlords was a fever dream to most people, but either way we did it... and when we get home thereâs green fire everywhere and demons are upon every known orifice of Azeroth.
The whole of Azeroth fight the demons for a bit, because while thereâs a lot itâs kind of like âmm, we can handle this actuallyâ
The Battle for Broken Shore happens, and as it turns out we underestimated how many demons were here. Alliance and Horde thought a âsmall squadronâ would suffice... but no. The Literal Entire Legion is here and MORE are coming. Tirion who got the killing blow on Lich King dies. Volâjin Warchief of the Horde dies. Varian king of the blues dies. Itâs a huge mess and everyone has to retreat.
Dalaran (read: a floating magic city) is moved from where it is now (Northrend, and then Karazhan - a tower... weâll leave it at that) is moved to the Broken Shore and we declare war against the Legion.
Beau is chosen by Tirion to succeed him as Highlord of the Silver Hand (basically, sheâs in charge of the paladins and makes sure they eat their vegetables before battle). She gets shiny weapons because of this, that grow in power the more you feed them... not literally, but figuratively. Donât ask.
We find the Pillars of Creation (read: titan artifacts) to help us fight Sargeras, and along the way we also liberate an ancient city and also push back the Emerald Nightmare (read: uh... corruption of the world? its bad, alright, so we kill it).Â
Oh, we also kill Gulâdan (and save Illidan!).
...but heâs already summoned his main hoe: Kilâjaeden (read: Archimondeâs best bro), so now weâve got to go and defeat him too - preferably before he gets to Azeroth.
We take back the Broken Shore and infiltrate the Tomb of Sargeras (which is where the demons are coming from) and because weâve got all the Pillars of Creation and the cool weapons weâre able to do it. Huzzah!
We do almost nearly die in space but Illidan uses a stone to teleport us to safety, however he also brings a demon-infested planet along with us.
We hate that at first, but Velen (read: the non-corrupted trio of the once Golden Trio: Archimonde, Kilâjaeden and Velen) decides we should end the Legion while we have the advantage, so makes us a little golden dingy spaceship to travel to the demon planet and... well, defeat and destroy the Legion.
We fight on Argus (read: the demon planet) for a long time and invade Antorus, the Burning Throne - the main operating hub for the Legion. We kill everyone there and fight a literal corrupt titan!! twice!! and then with the power of the non-corrupt titans, theyâre able to bind Sargeras to his former seat on the pantheon (read: a literal stage with thrones on it, one for each Titan), which does end the reign of the Legion.
...Sargeras is pissed because he REALLY wanted Azeroth to die, so before heâs bound to his chair forever like a big baby he takes his flame sword and stabs Azeroth with it.
...oh this is also a good time to mention that Azeroth is actually alive and a Titan, but like... a not born one yet. Azeroth the planet is an egg for Azeroth, the titan. anyway.
We go back to Azeroth and the planet is bleeding, and Teams Red and Blue go crazy over whatever gunk is oozing out of the wound Sargerasâ sword has left behind. So they start fighting over it. Which brings us to...
BATTLE FOR AZEROTH - a.k.a. blizzard are telling us itâs a Red vs. Blue expansion when really itâll end up being something like âthe old gods want to end the worldâ.
this is where we are now. Red and Blue have a new leader on each side... and the whole Azerite (the name given to the gunk oozing out of the wound left by Sargerasâ flame sword) thing is pretty much causing each side to declare war. Beau, being neutral, is... worried, to say the least; she still doesnât have a home of her own and being neutral during a faction war is... Difficult. sheâs hoping her status as Highlord will help. her focus is mainly on providing aid to those who need it, and figuring out a way to mend Azerothâs wounds and stop Her from getting too damaged.
...and that is all I can say, for now.
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How To Self-Publish Your Book â Part One | Daves Computer Tips
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How To Self-Publish Your Book â Part One | Daves Computer Tips
Itâs said that we all have a book inside us waiting to come out and whilst this may be true, the path to publishing that book can be long and torturousâ until now. The Internet has changed everything and publishing a book today is a somewhat more democratic process, shall we say. Iâve recently completed my first fiction novel and whilst being a relative novice at publishing, here is my story so far.
Self-Publishing Is No longer A Stigma
âThe stigma has left the buildingâ, to quote a self-published author I spotted recently when they were commenting on the current state of publishing today. The traditional route for publishing your novel has been to find yourself a literary agent to represent you, who in turn will try to sell your work to the publisher with the highest bid. If you were very lucky, youâd receive a handsome advance (which you pay back through book sales royalties, by the way), your books would sell by the bucket-load and youâd be rubbing shoulders with JK Rowling and others of their ilk.
But the reality is a little different, Iâm afraid. Assuming youâve written that book, youâll need to prepare it for submission to literary agents, bearing in mind that each agent has their own preferred method of receiving unsolicited submissions. By this, I mean that you will need to find the agentâs website, head for their submissions section (if they have one) and carefully read the requirements. Most will ask for a query letter, a synopsis of no more than 500 words (with spoilers) and the first three chapters of your book. Some will ask for your biography as well, an elevator pitch and a written account of why you think your book is worthy to be chosen by them. They may even ask which books you read and who are your preferred authors. In fact, the entire process can seem like a job interview, where first impressions are the key to success. In reality, the first impression is chapter one of your book, at least in my opinion. All this is assuming that they pick you from their rather frighteningly named, slush-pile. And make no mistake, you will be in that slush-pile.
About a decade ago, I self-published a non-fiction book through an online publisher and was foolish enough to pay for the experience, and although my English teacher would have marked it down as needing much improvement, I learned a lot of lessons along the way. Itâs also true that since 2007, book publishing has changed quite dramatically and self-publishing is now regarded as legit. Even established authors self-publish their books nowadays because they want to retain complete control of their work. On the other hand, some authors would disagree quite strongly with this opinion, as does Ros Barber from The Guardian: For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way
Why Did I Choose Self-Publishing?
I wrote the first words of my novel around three years ago, the idea having gestated in my mind for many months, if not years. During this time, Iâve changed many aspects of the story, new characters have been introduced and the actual setting has been changed from a fictional country to a real one. By late last year, I felt I was ready to thrust it out into the world and submitted the manuscript to around 50 literary agents in the UK, using the methods Iâve just described. In fact, some of the agents I approached insisted on the manuscript being submitted through their proprietary online form where you copy and paste the material into boxes, thus ruining any formatting you may have done. I personalised my query letter (also known as a pitch) to each named agent and in some cases actually posted my submission by snail mail. The result, as you may have guessed by now, was rejection after rejection. All done in the nicest possible way of course and usually preceded by, unfortunately.
That was last September 2017 and although I feel I may have been a little premature, I have practically rewritten the book, with particular regard to changing the setting to a real country. I have also had the book edited and critiqued by a professional editor (for no charge, since they are a good friend) and with their help, Iâve also paid close attention to the timeline of the story. In retrospect, my first submission attempt was probably too early, however, it has allowed me to investigate independent publishing in more detail and also to weigh up the pros and cons of traditional vs self-publishing.
If youâre lucky enough to land a contract with a literary agent, the downside is that it can take up to two years for your book to be published. Yes, two years. In the meantime, youâll need to be writing your next book and/or continuing with your day job. Thatâs a long time to wait, bearing in mind that youâll probably have to wait a few months in the first place from the initial date of submission.
On the other hand, self-publishing is much faster, depending on the type of route you choose. There are specialist companies who can sell you a publishing package for a fee, which could include editing and book cover design, but this can get very expensiveâ this used to be known as vanity publishing, by the way. Today, one of the most popular routes to take is through Amazonâs Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), previously run through Amazonâs Create Space division, which has now merged with KDP. This is the route that Iâve chosen for the following reasons, as highlighted on the KDP website:
The short resumĂ© above is a little over-enticing and simplistic, perhaps. However, the basic message that the actual publishing is free, is true. KDP also supplies for formatting, cover design and calculating book trim and spine size. However, I have decided to pay for a cover design because, apart from the absolutely vital aspect of book editing, the cover is an essential part of getting the book noticed. Besides, the designer I chose is the same one who designed the cover for my first book more than ten years ago. Sheâs a known quantity so to speak, and her designs are excellent and eye-catching.
In Part Two of this article, Iâll be writing about how I formatted the book, set up an account with KDP, assigned a free ISBN and prepared the book, ready for publication. I will also reveal details about the plot, the title, and a teaser on the storyline.
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How To Self-Publish Your Book â Part One
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