#novel planning

[veryrealauthorthings]

[wondrousworldbuilding]

I'm currently trying to world build a magical school for my fantasy realm. I'm having a hard time finding sources online. Any general advice for fantasy schools?

For starters, you want to have your magic system fleshed out really thoroughly. What good is teaching a bunch of kids how to use a magic system that you, the author, don't really know how it works, right!? If you haven't done this, you might check out my Brainstorming posts Here (Part 1) and Here (Part 2) to get started.

Beyond that, you need to think about some school basics:

Are all children educated in magic? Or only the most talented, the richest, or the poorest?

How does society at large feel about magic education and how does that impact the freedom and funds of the school?

(Related:) What kind of teachers are employed at the school? The best and brightest or the shlufs who couldn't make it in a "real" school? How does that affect the education of the students?

How does general education play into the lives of the students? Do they go to primary school first where they learn to read and write etc. or is that part of the their magic school curriculum?

How much danger is there in the day-to-day of the school? Is the magic difficult to use and therefore generally not a risk? Is it ubiquitous and therefore maintains some inherent balance? Is it difficult to use and therefore volatile and unpredictable?

What is the purpose of receiving a magic education and what do its students aspire to do after completing school?

I hope these help you out little bit. :)

Happy building!

[dukeofdelirium]

everyone else in the group chat making outlines and deeply thinking about their WIP novels and then there’s me in the corner like

[tobias-wants-to-write]

Alma's Grave

So here's some information about the novel I am currently working on writing called Alma's Grave.

The story is about a fiftee year old girl named Alma who lives with her foster parents. There is a graveyard near where she lives and she starts visting there, and for some reason she gets drawn towards this one grave. After visiting the grave a couple times, she can hear two ghosts talking, the ghosts who the grave belongs to. There names are Helen and Jane, they are from the sixties and they had been trying to talk to Alma.

While Alma visits the graveyard, she also gets to know another ghost there named Archie from the 70s and is a Scottish alcoholic. (He's my favourite)

Trauma and angst happen throughout the story which I will not be sharing because those would be spoilers.

I currently have heaps of pages planning out all the chapters both on google docs and paper. There's going to be around 31 pages, and I am currently on the stages of planning out whats going to happen in each of those chapters. I planned out the main events and when and how they are going to happen, and now I'm planning the filler chapters.

I'm interested to know what you think of this and if you would be interested in it, if you like the idea and think its good, and if you would be interested in reading it when it comes out and knowing more about it

I'm just self advertising here.

[corvus-stars]

WIP novel

Title for this novel is a WIP, for now I have it saved under "space gays" which is kind of funny because the main theme isn't inherently space themed. This is one of my projects I've been planning. While I haven't started actually writing since I'm building an entire world from my thoughts down to every nook and cranny, I have got the main plot and the main characters written down. I'll make separate posts for each main character, because this one is surrounding the plot.

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . +

When the world started, there was only balance. Balance, one of the primordial deities. And so, Balance decided to split themself into many parts. They split themself into an even amount of parts, twenty-four smaller deities each held a piece of the very essence of Balance.

Twelve of the deities slunk into the darkness, waiting and watching. Those twelve are the horror's of the world.

Twelve of the deities shined in the spot light, they made humans and other species so they could be worshipped.

The horror's of the twenty-four deities grew bitter, jealous and power hungry. They each decided to approach their godly counter parts and spun them into their web. Slowly the horror's grew stronger, while the gods grew weaker.

Unfortunately, since the gods were so arrogant in their spot-light they kept the horror's out of the knowledge of their worshippers.

The world became more and more 'evil,' slowly rotting away. The unthinkable happened soon after. Love and Hate merged, as Hate had preyed on Love's weak state. It was a ploy to make everyone worship the Hate instead, therefore only growing to be the strongest due to all the sacrificed made in Love's name.

Only the very highest positions knew of this, which means the royal family and the gods. All were sworn to silence, but once the Fate deity made a prophecy. In years to come, four will be chosen to retrieve something that can separate the two deities.

On the first of the new year, Fate announced the names. The four will be Carmine, Casimir, Aerwyn and Elowen.

[tragicallywicked]

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[stillbeatingheart]

Excerpt from Chapter 1: Hands

I love his hands. The scars on his knuckles tell stories that only I know. The callouses on his palms have shown me over and over what true tenderness is.

The fog is so thick it’s swallowing the headlights whole. The night around us dark and eerily quiet for the sound of the tires on broken blacktop, leaves occasionally lifting with a slight breeze outside the open windows. The purr of the engine barely a whisper as the ’67 Camaro moves like an apparition with us inside it.

Jacy’s hands are on the wheel, illuminated by the glow of the dashboard lights. I know those hands, I’ve known them on every surface of my body. I know what every touch means and where every scar came from.

He’s unmoving aside from the occasional small breaths. Deliberate, careful breaths like he’s afraid to break something with the simple expansion and contraction of his lungs. Maybe it’s already broken.

“Jacy,” I whisper to get his attention. To stomp out the silence that’s enveloped us. My voice ripples across my vocal cords, I feel it move in my throat and flit across my tongue, pass my lips where it dies in the air outside of me. He doesn’t hear it.

My cheek is pressed against the headrest, it’s damp. Have I been crying? Is that why my voice is rough and inaudible? All I want is to ask him why his brows are dipped in concern, why his jaw is clamped down tight, why his knuckles keep going white on the wheel. I want to ask him why he’s not looking at me. Where we’re going in this fog. I want to know why he looks so terrified.

Now available: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/face-of-the-moon-sjmj-johnson/1144251630?ean=2940186112730

[rb-writes]

What era better suits an dark fantasy novel? 🔮✨

(any reblogs and comments would be greatly appreciated to see a wider audience perspective ❤️)

[nepthrene]

Midterms rolled around and I took a bit of a break - which is fine (I hope) but now I have to really bunch my muscles and get this story ready to go for nov.

I was hoping to have a project intro post out by now -but I still need to write a quick synopsis and figure out a working title (at the very LEAST)

Lacking a completed outline as well... things are get dicey over here

[cosyabbi]

51 Questions You've never asked about your characters (NaNoWriMo prep)

What does your character do when no one is looking? She draws runes & sigils on places i.e. protection, peace, good luck

What's the one thing your character would save in a fire? The family grimoire

Who's on speed dial? Her ride or die bff

Your character gets turned down for their dream job. What's their second one? Her dream is the cafe but her second job would be anything with food

What would they tell their ten year old self? The man you think is perfect, he isn't

Where would they want to go on a first date? Their dream first date would e going to a bookstore then a metaphysical store, then picnic and stargazing

What's the best advice they've ever received? Love should feel like the hearth, then you know you are home

What's the worst advice they've ever received? "Stay with me, I'm the best you'll ever get"

What's one physical detail they'd change about themselves? Her freckles

When was the last time they were held? By who? Her bff the day she left her hometown

what's their favourite thing about their favourite season? It's the season of change, Halloween, Baking cosy recipes

Their wallet gets stolen. What do they do? Cast a location spell and go looking for it

Prioritize: Love, Money, Power, Knowledge? Love

What's something nobody knows about them? If she has the opportunity she will perform her rituals and spells as they were intended in the nude

What's in their fridge? Ingredients for all her food and spell work, but they are the very best ingredients

What (creature, object, substance) are they most disgusted by? Processed food when she knows she can make it better themselves

What's their second worst habit?

What are the victory conditions for their life? To be content, to find love and to take over the cafe from her parents

In the end, your character fails to save the day. Assuming they survive, what do they do? Try to help as many people as they can

Your character is charged with a crime they didn't commit. What do they do? Brew a truth serum and tell the truth

Your character is charged with a crime they did commit. What was the crime? They turned full to the dark side and takes out many people

How would you describe your character's life in one sentence? Gilmore girls with magic

What important statistic would they want displayed above them? How many spells they have cast

What's the first thing they would by if they won the lottery? New and rare spell supplies

What profession do they most respect? Head of the coven

What childhood injustice did they never get over? What a supernatural at school bullied her bff and she stood up to them

How would they handle having a panic attack? They wouldn't they would need help to get over it

Your character is burdened with an inconvenient superpower. What is it? Her mood affects her baking and cooking, when she's mad it's burnt, when she's sad it's salty

If they died and could come back as any person, animal, or object, what would they be? A familiar of some kind

What's the best meal they've ever had? Their mother's Parkin

Where would they stand at a dinner party? Near the center of the room so they can speak to everyone

Who would they invite to the dinner party? Head of their coven, her bff, mmc, members of the coven, people from town

What makes a perfect day for your character? Waking up late, spending the morning baking, speaking to customers, then going home she would curl up with a book, fire going and music playing in the background

If given the opportunity, would they want to know how and when they died? No, they want to live life to the full without knowing when it will end

What's the one thing they've always wanted to do? Why haven't they done it yet? Travel to the oldest magical places, her exboyf wouldn't take her

What do they tend to joke about? That she uses cinnamon to cover up the poison in her food

What's off limits? Any kind of dark magic - exboyf dabbles in it

Whose wedding would they cross the world to attend? Whose funeral? Her bff

What impossible choice did they make that turned out to be the right one? Leaving her exboyf

Your character has someone to hype them up. What would they say to get everyone excited about your character? They are like a warm cinnamon roll, a fresh piece of Parkin, she's warm and comforting

What recurring dream does your character have? Walking through the trees in autumn and walking up to a tall, wide man tapping him on the shoulder and just as he starts to turn around she wakes up

What is the meaning of life to your character? To find the love of your life

If your character wrote a NaNo novel, would they be a planner, pantser or plantser? Pantser

What book does your character pretend to have read? The Great Gatsby

Someone takes undeserved credit for your character's work. What do they do? She casts a tiny hex that causes an inconvenience until they apologise

What controversial belief or view does your character hold? In this universe she believes that witches should be counted as supernaturals even though they are born human

Your character is at a theme park. Where do they go first? The Ghost train

What's your character's favourite name? The nickname from her mother [haven't decided a name yet]

What's the biggest compliment they'd give themselves? That they have time and a kind word for everyone

How does your character feel about bugs? They aren't their biggest fan but they won't kill them. They love bees though.

If your character could hit a reset button on their life, would they? No because it brough them to where they need to be

[chaosgene]

Been a while since I've posted some official designs here for a novel long coined as hiatus 💀 but here's three, and there's three more to go it seems.

[kinglysock]

cowriting is a swift deed

so my friend and I are writing a book together for funsies and I was checking out word count to see what we got to and we are already at over 5,000 words?????

for context we started writing on Monday…

like??? What?? It took me a year to get 25,000 words on my novel 😭

at this rate, in a few months we’re gonna be published authors, working on the sequel.

[sometimesraven]

any writing advice for someone writing their first novel? (*cough, cough, aka me*)

<3

Disclaimer: what works for me might not work for you, so feel free to take, twist and scrap whatever you need. I recommend asking/shopping around for ideas and other authors' processes, and it'll take some trial and error before you find what works best for you. But here's how I personally write.

Disclaimer disclaimer: this got real long while I was writing it and I realised how terrifying it must look to a first time writer. Take it step by step, at your own pace. It's not as scary as it looks xx

BEFORE YOU WRITE

(I'm going to be focusing on the story itself, but I'm sure it goes without saying that you should have your characters planned out first)

First things first: have a basic idea of the story beats. It doesn't have to be a Big Old Detailed Outline, just a basic compass to keep you going in the right direction so you're less likely to hit a roadblock. Personally I use the Plot Embryo! Here's my favourite video explaining it:

It's a nice simplified, easy to use tool for plotting. Here's a page from one of my journals breaking it down in a way I can personally come back to and understand:

hopefully you can read my shitty handwriting but I've put a little breakdown in the image description.

I then use these prompts to scribble down the basic idea of what journey I want my main character/s to go through, and use that as my blueprint for when I write.

WHILE WRITING

First things first: if you're like me, and seeing errors or plot holes in the stuff you've already written will bug you forever, do what I do and NEVER READ BACK OVER YOUR WORK WHILE IT'S STILL IN PROGRESS. Sometimes I have to skim back to remember where I am but as a rule, once something is written it's no longer my problem until the whole thing is done.

Don't worry about chapters and other such structure. I use the plot embryo to split things up so I know where I am, but otherwise chapters and scenes Do Not Exist until the editing process. Here's the "chapters" of a WIP as an example (this is a slightly different embryo adapted for romance but you get the idea)

Then just keep going until you're done. You don't even have to do it in order. If I'm stuck on a scene, I'll just put a big word in all caps that I can ctrl+f easily (usually either ELEPHANT or PENIS sklfsgskjf) and move on to the next bit I have ideas for, then come back to it later.

This first finished story will be bad. It'll be rough, patchy, full of holes. THAT'S OKAY. This is what we sometimes call the "Zero Draft". The draft that literally exists just to get the story out of your head to make the whole thing easier.

EDITING

Warning: editing is the longest, hardest part of writing a novel. Your book will go through several different versions, be scrapped and torn apart and put back together again. This is what makes the story great.

This is where every author differs, and there's a whole bunch of ways this can go. Personally, the first thing I do once the zero/first draft is done is put it down. Don't look at it, don't touch it, don't think about it. For at least a month. This allows you to come back to it with fresh eyes that haven't been staring at the same words for so long they just hate the whole thing regardless (and you WILL HATE IT. This is normal).

Then, the first thing I do is read back over the whole thing, adding notes and reactions as if I am a reader. If a part of what I've written makes me go 🥺🥺🥺, I'll write that down. If something could be worded better, I write that down. If you think a certain thing that you would put in the tags of a tumblr post, write it down. Treat it like you're someone else's beta reader, note down every negative, every positive, every ???? part. This will give you an idea of what is and isn't working. Here's some of my funniest notes from my zero draft of book 2 just to prove how literal I'm being here:

Then, and this is a controversial move that doesn't work for everyone but it works for my autistic adhd self-loathing brain: WRITE THE WHOLE THING AGAIN. FROM SCRATCH.

This sounds daunting and it is, but you've already written it once, so the second time is easier. Usually I don't worry about making this perfect because again, this is just another draft. I'll copy from my zero draft anything that I think is fine and write new bits or scrap bits as I go.

Sometimes, the story is fine. Sometimes this is an easy refining process. However, if you're anything like me, sometimes the whole thing is messy and you'll realise halfway through rewriting that the whole thing needs restructuring. Do not despair. This is normal.

I'm using book 2 of the Truth Saga as an example for this. I got 40k words into rewriting it before I realised that the reason it felt so 'off' was because the whole thing was sagging in the middle, characters were being left behind, and the whole thing needed restructuring.

It was a rough realisation, as Reckless Truth (book 1) was such a comparatively easy process. I only did three drafts and didn't have to restructure much. Book 2 is giving me so much grief and I'm gonna slap it when it's done.

If you hit this roadblock, it might be time to do what all mood writers hate. Detailed plotting. Go right back to basics. Write down every plot point in detail this time. Act like you're spoiling the whole entire story for someone. Have you ever watched a movie or book review where the reviewer does a full breakdown of the plot? Do that. In this you'll find out exactly where you're going wrong and be able to tweak and fix it. If you have more than one main character, I recommend doing a separate plot thing for each of them and one for the book as a whole so that you can make sure their emotional arc is getting the attention it deserves.

Then, when you're happy with the new plot you've written based on the draft of your story, go back and try to rewrite it again. If this sounds like a nightmare, it is. But it's worth the work, I promise.

From there it's a case of rinse and repeat, reread, rewrite, re-edit until you're mostly happy with what you've got. Then send it to beta readers and editors to tear apart even more and put it back together until you think it's ready! I also recommend joining some writing discords, watching streams or videos about writing, just research research research basically

Happy writing!

[tilly-tittle]

So I’m “writing” a book

Writing is in quotation marks since my planning/novel prep is no where near done and I have a total of like 1k words written.

But in the interests of me wanting to rant about my characters in a non professional/academic setting I’m going to start sharing things on here.

Not like I was doing anything else with this blog so might as well use it to keep me in check and working.

Anyways! The Pitch!

“Xiè Ānlíng's life is turned upside down when he is pulled from the edge of Yǔlóng bridge. Now he’s been dragged into an ongoing investigation of a local mystery, a serial drowning. Now for the first time in a long time Ānlíng is spending his days around town, meeting fresh faces and feeling strangely alive. Their search turns to the supernatural when strange phenomena start interfering and he is chosen next to die. The line between life and death blurs when they get further entangled with the malevolent spirit haunting their waters. With mythology blending into reality and murderous spirits with vendettas, Ānlíng is torn between leaving Huáyún to fend for himself or risking his life for his first true friend.”

The idea is for it to be like Death Mark (the horror games) meet Chinese Mythology/Folklore (loosely) but as a story of self-discovery instead of full horror-mystery? I don’t know, I’ll workshop that a bit more.

[ladyoftheseaandflame]

I just finished planning my next book

My gay leprechaun book is ready to go and I am so excited. The chapters are all planned out, it's all completely unhinged, I will probably start writing tomorrow. I spent all of this afternoon planning out a timeline of the country's history just so I have a bit of background, and the characters are ready to go. The story will take place over two years, although one of our years is six of theirs because it's on a different planet so time isn't quite the same. I'm really excited to make a start with it. This one won't be super long, but it should be fun. Also, I didn't think the timeline would take that long so I may or may not have hyperfocused on it until I finished and not eaten lunch until after four o'clock in the afternoon.

Anyway.