#i'm over here like. magical girls are a dime a dozen.

[alteredphoenix]

Now I don’t mean to come off like I’m knocking on this, but how come Blue Reflection keeps getting games (that are going in a direction that’s apt to piss off its audience) but we still haven’t gotten a third Nights of Azure game.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I think my ego is getting in the way of my writing. It's confusing, because I doubt my ideas and writing, but I still feel competitive in a way. I don't like reading about others' WIPs, I avoid reading the genre I want to write, and I automatically dislike authors who's already published a book similar to any of my WIPs. I quit the ACOTAR series because the themes were too similar, and I'm scared of Priory of the Orange Tree because the worldbuilding has intense good praise. I need an egodeath.

Case of Strong Ego or Low Self-Confidence?

If you're doubting your ideas and writing, I would question whether it's actually your ego getting in the way and maybe not just good old-fashioned low self-confidence. The reason I wonder is because your dislikes and aversions all sound fear-based to me. For example, if your ego were an issue, you probably wouldn't dislike or avoid authors who did something similar... you'd more likely scoff at their relative inferiority and boast that you did it better. You wouldn't be afraid of a book because its world building received good praise... you'd roll your eyes and say you don't know what people are going on about, because your world building is so much better.

Dislike and aversion instead seem to indicate jealousy and self-doubt. The good news, however, is that low self-confidence is actually pretty typical for writers and it's something that gets better with time.

Here are some things I hope will help boost your confidence, or at least give you hope that it will get better:

1 - Writers with big egos probably aren't as great as they think they are. In reality, storytelling is a craft no one can truly master, because reader appetites, story material, and even mechanics to a degree all evolve over time. What makes a good story is also very, very subjective. There are people who consider Jane Austen one of the best writers to ever grace the Earth, and there are people who think she's one of the worst. I think truly good writers can know that they're good without thinking everyone else is beneath them.

2 - You can't doubt your ideas and writing without understanding where you want your ideas and writing to be. In other words, you know what good ideas and good writing sound like to you, which means your taste and style are intact... you just have a little bit further to go to get your own ideas and writing where you want it to be, but that's okay. Going back to #1 a bit, writers don't hit some magical peak early on and level off at greatness. There's a lifelong upward trajectory with each book being a little bit better than the last. And sure, it's not a perfect upward trajectory. You can have periods of leveling out or even dropping off, but most writers will continue to get better over time. So, again, it's okay that your writing isn't quite where you want it to be, because it's that feeling that drives us to get better and better and better. This shows you're on the right track!

3 - Those similarities aren't the big deal you think they are... I've been at this a long time, and I'm going to tell you right now: stop worrying about "similarities" in other books. I've posted about this a lot because it's a common concern, but similarities are a dime a dozen in fiction. For every book about a high school girl who falls in love with a vampire, there are a dozen more. For every book about a woman who quits her big city job after a divorce, moves home to her small town, and falls in love with her childhood nemesis, there are at least twenty others. There are countless stories about young women getting wrapped up with fae princes, sad boys/men whose lives are invigorated by a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, murder mysteries set in quiet fishing villages, horror stories set in dilapidated old mansions someone just inherited from a long lost aunt, kids or adult who learn they've secretly been magic all along and get roped into fighting a Big Magical Bad. There are over 100 million books in existence, and that number increases by hundreds of thousands every year. You're never going to write a book that doesn't have similarities with dozens of other books, so stop worrying about it. Remember, it's not the similarities that matter... it's everything else... all the things that only you can do.

4 - Similarities are actually a good thing. The truth of the matter is, similarities are actually a good thing. That's why you can look back through cinematic history and see major trends... monsters, westerns, musicals, disasters, sci-fi, action, epic adventures, rom coms, superheroes... It's why when a book about a young woman toppling a dystopian regime becomes massively popular, dozens of other dystopian books hit the shelves the following year. It's why we gravitate toward favorite genres and tropes and comfort shows. Its why we go to the same restaurants and stores over and over again instead of going to a brand new one every time. Humans like a bit of repetition, and if your book has similar world building to Priory of the Orange Tree, that's a bunch of readers who are going to gravitate toward your book.

5 - There's only so much material to go around. I was interested in the fact that your concern about ACOTAR was that the "themes were too similar," but I promise you, those themes are in a million other stories. When it comes to tropes and themes and character arcs and magic systems and settings and... all of it... there's only so much material. Themes aren't something that are created from nothing. You can't make up an original theme that no one else has explored. Themes are inherent to human existence. They're truths about humanity that beg to be examined and explored. It's not the themes that matter so much as how they're explored and what you say about them, and even if there were similarities there, odds are there were far more differences.

I hope this resonates and helps. I hope I was right that it's more of a self-confidence issue than an ego issue. And if I was wrong, maybe something here will still resonate. You might spend some time in the "writing-related fears" section of my Motivation master list to see if anything there resonates, too. ♥

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[empressofthesunwriter]

Cosmic Phantoms

What do you get if you put a sassy Half-Ghost, a bubbly Magical Ghostly Girl, a strongwilled Goth and a skirt-chasing Tech-Nerd together?

Well, the greatest Ghost Hunting Team on Earth!

Join Danny, Julia, Sam and Tucker on their crazy adventures.

Puberty is a joke against the forces they are up to!

I changed Cosmo's name to Julie Cosmos, even if I keep calling her Cosmos to distance her from her human self, just a heads up ^^

Check out my DeviantArt to see Julia's clothes for season 1!

Parental Bonding

Julia tried her hardest not to cringy and smiled politely at the boy in front of her.

God, with him, it was the seventh boy who asked her out on the dance.

The poor sod didn't fare any better than the others.

He was stuttering and sweating.

She decides to save him from making himself look like a fool.

"Listen here...", what was his name again? Damn, Julia was bad with names. "Nathaniel?"

Okay, she was right he looked at her with hope in his eyes.

The red-haired girl felt bad that she had to crush it.

"I already have a date for the dance, so sorry. I hope you find another date."

With a last smile, she hightailed out of the situation and sat down on the bench where Sam and Danny were eating and Tucker was sulking.

Other than Julia, Tucker couldn't get a date.

"This was suitor, what, number 8?", teased Sam.

Julia got her own lunch out, a simple peanut butter jelly sandwich.

"Number 7.", corrected Julia and bit down on her sandwich. "And I got asked out by four girls, so 11 together."

Frustrated Tucker smashes his head against the table.

"I don't get you, Julie! You are formally swimming in dates and I got zero!"

"I already told you, I have a date."

"Gonna tell us who?", asked Danny.

She nodded and pointed at Sam, who grinned at the surprised boys.

"I asked Sam and she said yes."

"Wowowow, backtrack!", yelled Tucker in disbelief. "YOU asked SAM?"

"Is there a problem Tucker?", said Sam in a sugary-sweet voice which promised broken bones in his future.

Thankful he understood the subtext.

"No, no, no. Just surprised. How Julie has admirers left and right I thought she would go with one of them."

The girl in question snorted.

"Naah, I rather go with my friend, than with someone I barely know. You guys do realise that I'm still the new girl."

"Yeah, and the ones who want to go out with Julia, just want to go out with her for her looks. I'm going with her because she is my friend and we like each other.", added Sam.

But the words of the girls fly over the boy's head.

Confused Sam and Julia look at them.

"What?", asks Sam annoyed.

"Paulina...", chorused Danny and Tucker dreamily together.

Indeed there was Paulina, the most popular and beautiful girl in school. Paulina walks down a pathway while boys stare distractedly at her.

One boy on a bike crashes into a tree, while another walks into a guy sitting on a fountain and they both fall into the water, only to sit up and continue staring.

"Paulina..."

Sam scoffs at these two horny idiots.

"Oh, please! Paulina? Girls like her are a dime a dozen!"

On cue, Danny and Tucker dig through their pockets and pull out some change.

Danny asks even Tucker how much change he has.

This makes Sam fake-laugh.

"Very funny. Just remember: you can't judge a book by its cover."

"I'm with Sam. She may be hot and I would like to tap that-"

"JULIE!"

"-But I don't think Miss Popular and Beauty is very nice."

"Well, there's only one way to find out.", says Tucker and turns to his best friend. "Go on, Danny. Go to that library and check out that book!"

"I can't! I get weak-kneed when I try to talk to cute girls."

This earns him two burning looks of anger from Julia and Sam.

Scary!

"Oh, and you have absolutely no problems talking to us!", hisses Julia like an angry cat.

Julia thinks she is a fairly hot girl and Sam is pretty too, Danny freacking insulted them!

Desperate Danny tries to explain what he means, but Sam nor Julia are having it.

"Skip it.", the two girls say together.

Sam walks over to Danny and lifts him up by the arms.

"Go give your weak knees some exercise.", tells Sam as she formally throws him in Paulina's direction.

The next few minutes are just cringe.

Danny tries to hit on Paulina and somehow turns his pants invisible, showing his boxers, which makes the girl and the whole school laugh.

Julia facepalms in embarrassment, Tucker takes a picture with his PDA and Sam goes to rescue Danny.

None of them know what a stressful week awaits them.

(*)

The next day our four friends are eating in the Food Court of the Amity Park Mall.

A girl from their school passes their table and Tucker tries to hit on her, which of course earns him a no.

"So, your dad is going to chaperone the dance?", repeats Sam what Danny told them.

"Yes, but he doesn't know he's going to chaperone because he doesn't remember that I made him say yes!"

"Let me get this straight. You can just walk into people and take over their bodies from the inside?", says Tucker an idea forming in his head.

Julia looks thoughtful.

"I wonder if I can do it too?"

"Well, there is a way Julie to find out. Why don't you try to jump into a girl for two minutes and get me a date.", proposes Tucker excitedly.

The girl just deadpans. This was so wrong on many levels.

"No."

"Shot...Danny?"

"Forget it. You can get your own date for the dance like I did."

"Does he have to take off his pants and act like a dweeb?", ask Sam sarcastic. "Or will either one do?"

Tucker and Julia snort and send then an apologetic look at an annoyed Danny.

"Honestly, guys, I'm glad that Julie asked me as friends to go to the dance. Even if I have to wear that stupid dress my parents bought me.", Sam chuckles nervously.

"Now, now, Samantha.", tutts Julia and pats her hand. "It's not a crime to like a dress. Being feminine doesn't make you less Goth, I mean look at Morticia Addams!"

"Well, if you say it like this..."

"So no one besides Julie asked you, huh?", deducts Tucker.

"Maybe if I was as pretty as Paulina.", growls Sam.

"Why are you so down on her?", wondered Danny. "So she's pretty. It's not a crime. You certainly don't are like this with Julie."

"Aww, you think I'm pretty?", gushes Julia happy, her hand on her heart and a small blush on her cheeks.

"Julie has a beautiful soul to back up her looks.", counters Sam, which makes Julia turn redder.

"Guys, you turn me all shy!"

Suddenly people start screaming and running away behind the quartet. Danny's ghost sense goes off, while Julia's Necklace burns.

"Ghost time.", mussed Tucker holding up some fries. "Can I finish your fries?"

Danny doesn't give him an answer and takes Julia by the hand. The two hide behind some plants and transform.

They fly up to a blue dragon ghost.

"Say, haven't we met somewhere?", asks Phantom.

The dragon roars and breathes green fire at them, which luckily they can dodge.

"Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Danny Phantom and she is Julie Cosmos.", he points at Cosmos, who waves awkwardly. "And you are?"

Sadly the dragon doesn't care for formalities. It roars and hits Phantom and Cosmos with her tail.

Both yell and crash into the kitchen of the nearby Weenie On-A-Skewer.

Hurting, Phantom holds his head.

"Testy got it."

"I would say feisty.", corrects Cosmos, rubbing her own hurt head.

The dragon breathes more fire at the store's counter and the two half-ghosts fly out of the way.

"Sorry, dude! I think you got the wrong weenies!", puns Phantom, which makes Cosmos snort.

What can she say, she loves lame jokes.

Together they smack into the dragon, pushing it through the air.

It grabs them mid-flight and skids to a halt, then pins them on the ground.

"Must have tee!", it roars in their faces.

"Tea?", repeats Cosmos confused.

"Tea? Ooh, good idea. Coffee could make you a mite jittery. Better yet...", shouts Phantom, grabs Cosmos and turns them intangible sinking into the ground. 

The dragon looks perplexedly at its claws.

Cosmos and Phantom fly back up through the ground.

"Have some punch!"

They doppel-punch the dragon, making it fly high and away.

Since neither has the Fenton Thermos with them, they join up with Sam and Tucker, transforming back.

"Julie! Danny! Are you okay?", ask Sam worried.

Julia nods.

"A bit bruised but nothing to worry about."

"Fine.", waves Danny off. "But that's the second time I've fought that dragon. We need to investigate. How are you guys?"

"Great...if you don't count me still being dateless for the dance.", laments Tucker tapping on his PDA. "Sasha, no. Denise, no. I've hit every girl in school except... "

He trails off as a pretty African-American girl walks up to them.

"Valerie."

"Yeah, hi.", she greets desinterested back. "Sucker, is it?"

"Tucker. Or Tuck. Or Tuckerino."

"Which ends with 'no.' Which, by the way, is my answer, unless something happens in the next five minutes that makes me dateless."

To Tucker's luck her date Kwan, one of Dash's football friends, tells her he will go with Donna so she is now dateless, before he walks away.

Signing Valerie says yes to Tucker and leaves too.

"Some may call it the rebound, but I call it a yes! I got a date! Whoo!", celebrates Tucker and points at his pants. "And the pants are still on!"

Julia shakes her head.

"You really needed to point that out, huh?"

(*)

It's the evening of the dance.

Sam and Julia decide to get ready at Sam's house.

Julia is still surprised that Sam told her first her little secret and not Danny or Tucker since she knows them longer.

She feels honoured.

While Julia finished her make-up, Sam, in her cool goth ballgown, was with the boys on a Sky-Call.

"Tie straight. Shirt tucked in.", Julia hears Danny's voice coming from the laptop. "Unbreakable ghost fishing line tucked neatly away just in case.  What's taking so long with that dragon research, Sam?"

"Alright! Jeez!", grumbles Sam and Julia hears her tipping away. "Here. I'm sending you the link."

"That's it!  Medieval ghostly legend held that the cursed Amulet of Aragon could transform any wearer into dragon form under states of extreme emotional duress or anger. That's the amulet I gave to Paulina. It must have accidentally fallen into my backpack. Wait. You mean...I'm going on a date with a dragon?!", says Danny astonished.

Curious Julia walks over to check the website herself.

"Kinda sounds like what my Necklace can do, only I have more control over it."

Sam nods in agreement.

"I had the same thought but I didn't find anything about an amulet or necklace which transforms a person into a ghost, I'm sorry Julie."

The redhead just signs.

"Thanks anyway, Sam, honey."

This is when Julia notes how Tucker and Danny are staring at her with big blushes on their faces.

She raises an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You-You...look really nice.", stutters Danny.

"Nice?!", shouts Tucker. "You look like a fairytale princess!"

A soft blue gloved hand goes to Julia's mouth to hide her smiles and giggles.

"Thanks guys."

Smiling smug Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Didn't I tell you...you are 1000 times prettier than Paulina."

"Guys, stop, I gonna pass out!"

"Right, we will see you boys at the dance!"

With that Sam ends the Sky Call.

After Julia calms down enough, Sam's father drives them to the dance, where they meet an annoyed Tucker.

He did go with Valerie to the ball, but she ditched him the second she saw her friends.

Sam and Julia try to cheer him up.

Danny and Paulina finally arrive and he tries his best to somehow get the amulet back.

He shouldn't have probably said that the amulet belonged to Sam since Paulina turned partial dragon and broke her punch glass.

Then he had to overshadow his dad since Lancer talked to him.

In his dad's body, Danny runs up to his friends.

"Tucker, Sam, Julie we've got trouble.", he whisper-shouts at them.

"We had nothing to do with it, Mr. Fenton. It was all Danny's idea.", says Tucker, thinking they are in trouble with an adult.

"Tucker, it's me. It's Danny.", makes Danny clear and hands them walkie-talkies. "Sam, Julie, you try to help me find Paulina. Tucker, keep an eye on my dad. If he starts talking to anyone, page me, got it?"

"This dance gets better and better with every passing minute.", musses Sam happy.

The three split up, running in different directions.

As Julia is currently trying politely to decline a dance with a boy, she thinks his name is Jake, and trying to find Paulina, she hears over the Walkie-Talkie how Sam found their target.

"Where are you?", asks Julia.

"Girl bathroom."

"Danny, I will go with Sam."

"Understood and girls don't make her angry."

Julia and Sam meet up before the bathroom.

They decide Sam should talk to Paulina, while Julia stands guard and is ready to transform if necessary.

Paulina is checking herself in a mirror as Sam walks up behind her in the reflection.

"Hey, Paulina. Nice dress.", starts Sam awkwardly the conversation.

The Latina turns to her, a hand on the amulet.

"Yes, and it goes so nicely with your amulet, don't you think?"

Both Sam and Julia are confused.

"My amulet? That's not my--", Sam stops herself as she realises Danny's plan. "Right! Listen...my grandma gave me that amulet, and--"

"Forget it, sweetie.", scoffs Paulina. "I'm not giving up this trinket or your little boyfriend Danny."

"My boyfriend? Ha ha! And they say pretty girls can't be funny. Danny is not my boyfriend."

"He's not?"

"He's my best friend. Maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I didn't mean to call you shallow."

"What a bummer! I only agreed to go out with him because I thought I was stealing him from you.", confesses Paulina and puts the amulet on Sam. "Here, take your crummy amulet. I'm going back inside to dump your dorky friend."

Sam shakes with anger and the amulet starts to glow. Her skin turns blue and scaly and her eyes turn red.

"Shallow little witch!"

She transforms into the blue dragon and roars.

Paulina faints.

"Shit! Star, transform me!", shouts Julia and turns into Julie Cosmos.

She barely manages to grab Paulina's bridal style and turn them intangible to fly out of the bathroom.

Dragon-Sam doesn't care to destroy property and flies after them.

"Give. Me. Witch!", roars Dragon Sam at Cosmos, who does her best to dodge her flames.

That's when Danny Phantom finally enter the scene and kicks Dragon-Sam in the back.

She falls and crashes onto the football field.

"Take it easy, Paulina. You don't want to hurt Sam."

That's when he notices how Cosmos has Paulina's bridal style in her arms.

"Paulina? Sam?!"

"Shallow girl!", roar Dragon-Sam standing on her hide-legs.

"Yep, that's Sam."

"Took you long enough!", calls Cosmos.

Dragon-Sam breathes fire at him and he turns intangible to avoid it, then reappears.

"Whoa! Sam! Two words: breath mints."

Uninterest Dragon-Sam turns back to Cosmos and Paulina and hits Phantom away with her tail.

He goes flying into the bleacher but thankful turns intangible.

"Sam, it's me, Julie, you wouldn't hurt me right?", tries Cosmos to reach her friend.

For a second it seems Dragon-Sam calms down, only to roar again and shoot fire at them.

Cosmos turn them intangible and invisible.

With Paulina in her arms she can't fight, so she gently places her back in the bathroom.

Hopeful Dragon-Sam won't look here for her.

Then Cosmos flies back to the football field and attacks Dragon-Sam with her grey ectoplasm rays.

The dragon falls on his stomach groaning.

Phantom comes up beside Cosmos.

"Paulina?"

"In a safe place, now we only need to get the amulet from Sam!"

The male Halfa agrees, and both get ready to fight Dragon-Sam, when Tucker warns Phantom per Walkie-Talkie how Lancer is close to his father.

"Go!", shoves Cosmos him. "Give me the Fenton Fisher, I think I know how I can catch this dragon!"

"I own you one, Cosmos!"

So Phantom hands her the Fenton Fisher before he flies back to the dance.

Cosmos get the Fenton Fisher ready as Dragon-Sam sends three fire blasts at her, which she can dodge.

"I hate to say this Sam, but your aim is as bad as the patriarchy!"

This annoys Dragon-Sam to no end, which gives Cosmos the chance to cast the fishing line around her neck.

Dragon-Sam continually breathes fire at Cosmos, who keeps wrapping the line around her until her wings and arms are secure.

She drops to the ground.

Immediately Cosmos flies down to her and removes the amulet.

The dragon transforms back into her human self.

"Sam, honey?", ask the detransformed Julia worried her friend. "Are you okay?"

"Wow.", groans Sam, holding her head, while Julia has a hand on her back. "Did I have fun at the dance?"

"Well, I'm not Danny but I think he would say: You had a roaring time."

This makes Sam laugh quietly.

Soon the boys join them and congratulate Julia on fighting her first enemy alone and being victorious.

The quartet walks back into the slowly filling out gym.

"Dude, sorry your date didn't pan out.", says Tucker "Where is Paulina anyway?"

Julia and Sam see the girl in question with Dash. They look at each other and then shake their heads.

"Ah, who cares?", finds Sam.

"Yes, look, guys! The DJ's still playing. And I gonna dance now with my date!", proclaims Julia.

Laughing Sam lets herself lead by Julia on the dance floor, where the two girls slow dance.

The boys smile at how cute they are and Tucker makes even a picture of them with his PDA.

Then suddenly Sam grabs Danny and Julia Tucker.

"We didn't forget you!", say the girls together.

Now the boys laugh while they twirl their dance partner around.

"Promise me you'll keep your pants up.", jokes Sam to Danny, which makes all laugh.

"I'll do my best."

After a few moments, they change partners again.

Danny dances now with Julia and Sam with Tucker.

"Your pants still good?", asks Julia with a cheeky grin.

"All good, don't worry.", promises Danny.

Well, their first High School Dance could have gone a lot worse, but as long the four have each other they will always make the best out of anything.