Hey! I’m trying to write a fantasy book. It’s my first one and I’m not sure how. It’s in a two book series. I was wondering if any of you had advice. I’ve been working on the book for about a year now.
I would appreciate general advice. I’m far from it but I am trying to write my first book. I’m 40 pages in and really enjoying writing from different POV’s. For the prologue, I would love any feedback on magic system displayed or writing style to try and critique and perfect my style as I write the rest of the book.
Appreciate your time reading if you do, and any advice you have!
Into the Shadows Prologue
No one will believe you.
Those were the last words Helain heard from the shadows. Standing guard outside the only daughter to her House Lord, she began to look around. She was on guard until the morning, her only companion was watching the flames flicker across the stone wall. She loved to watch them, imagining that each flicker was a little dancing spirit.
The flames would typically dance along the wall, reaching up to the ceiling, dancing on the House banner, and even sometimes towards her. But tonight was different. The flames that usually brought her warmth through the night, felt colder than usual. Even though they were lit the same, the hall felt darker.
She perked up, maybe the dancing spirits were talking to her. Her younger siblings would be so excited to hear about this in the morning.
“Hello, fire spirits,” she whispered into the hallway. “Name is Helain, nice to meet ya.” She looked around waiting for a response from the flames. Her only response was the flames starting to dance slower. Maybe I’ve scared them all off? She wondered, as she sat back down in her guards chair.
Hello there Little one
“Who is there?” Helain yelled down the hall, knowing others would hear and see that she was going crazy. Her only response was a laugh that sounded like it came from the shadows.
No one will believe you
The temperature dropped dramatically as the shadows from the fire drew closer to her. At the furthest torch, two figures began to appear out of the shadows. Black smoke swirled from the shadows of the torch.
“Think she will faint, Vyne?” The stocky guy asks, looking at the shorter girl on his left.
“If she doesn’t, I’ll make her” Vyne retorts disappearing back into the shadows.
She raises her sword. “Stay back!” Helain shouts down the hallway.
The girl, Vyne, reappears a few feet from Helain. She strikes forward, feeling the sword connect with flesh. Vyne yelps, blood pouring from her face. “She cut me!” Vyne looks toward the other guy. He takes one step forward, black mist forming at his feet. “No!” Vyne licks her lips, the gash still bleeding from her mouth to her ear. “She is mine.” Vyne spits blood to her right, reaching her left arm out. Black mist started rolling down her arm. A short sword formed immediately in her hand, frost forming around Vyne’s wound. Helain takes a deep breath, now visible in the cold hallway. She prepares for Vyne to strike, leveling her sword again. Vyne takes the torch off the wall and tosses it at Helain.
“You will not have her!” Helain starts to run at Vyne, hoping that someone will come to her aid. Vyne turns and runs back down the hall. Black mist forms out of the shadows again as Vyne jumps at the wall underneath a torch. Instead of running into the wall, she disappeared.
Helain feels a stabbing pain in her back. Looking down, she sees a black sword coming through her stomach. “Leave her Vyne.” The man said, walking down the hallway. “We have to leave one survivor.”
“Always taking my fun away Kai.”
Helain fell to the floor gasping for air, holding pressure on her wound. She watched as they took the key off the belt and opened the door.
Sylph stood in the doorway. Small dagger in hand, looking as intimidating as she could. The two stepped towards her without fear. Vyne and Kai stepped forward, standing in the torch’s shadow Vyne threw on the ground. They quickly disarmed the young girl.
Vyne grabbed her by the arm and disappeared, Kai leaving a second later. Helain hoped this was all a nightmare, but the pain in her side told her it was real
Come siete partiti con la scrittura?
Nel senso, vi siete seduti, avete pensato a un personaggio e da lì costruito il mondo, oppure dall’idea principale? Saranno un paio di anni che sto cercando di costruire una storia ma mi blocco, non vado avanti…forse dovrei cambiare obiettivo?
What is the best way to source people to start reading your book early to see if it is worth it? I tried having friends do it,but sadly, they always get too busy to help.
Thanks 😀
I personally am a giant fan of magic that reflects somebody mental state, and I’m not talking about magic that requires a a specific mental state, but magic that is a specific reflection of a characters mental state!
For example one of my characters suffers from War PTSD and instead of just making their magic memory related or related to the war, I made the ability a convoluted Mess that is a amalgamation of all the details in their flashbacks and is soo long that it’s entire process doesn’t even show up, what I mean is that the character can create a bullets, that wen shot into a tree makes flies grow out of the plant, who will fly to any tree’s that have given the original tree there DNA 3 generations back, and if the flies manage to touch the trees in less than 24h the touched plants will slowly move towards their offspring till the make contact, after which they will fuse with them and …….! You get what I mean!
At first I thought this was completely bs, but when I put my mind to it I realise that it perfectly reflex the mind of somebody that is lost in the process of something and is made functionally powerless, because of not being able to take any relevant action!
In my Opinion power systems made in a way that is convenient for the goal that the protagonist wants to reach are worse then the once who are actively hindering the main character, because it forces conflict, and stupid magic is better than sound magic, because humans are fundamentally stupid and it’s easier that way to make your magic system line up with your themes, if they are about humans.
Do you agree?
(Everything I said is my Opinion and will not apply in every case)
(I apologise for my English, it’s not my first language and I wrote this down in e rush)
I'm sure most of us here have a fascination with villains. Some of the most fun in writing is making the villain. Making them sympathetic but still utterly despicable, or if you want a villain who can be redeemed, making them sympathetic and misguided.
I generally view the idea of making a POV character in a story a villain incredibly fascinating though I rarely see it. The only examples I can think of as of right now being Walter White, and Tyrion Lannister from Breaking bad.
In my own book I actually have the villain as a main character/pov character. He shares about as many as any other POV character I would say. Though I have to say he is one of the most complicated to write, because I have to keep a balance of not revealing to much of his plans to the reader.
Beyond the careful balance you need to strike, there's the worry that the villain will become stale due to the reader having so much time inside their head.
My question for you is, how would you write from the POV of a villain, and how do you think you would strike that balance. (I'm hoping that seeing how other people would do it, that it may help me).
(P.S. Sorry if I was rambling throughout that, I took my ADHD meds so I'm having a hard time putting it all into coherent words.)
im looking to better understand what pulls a reader into an immersive state.
ill go first. the level of description of the environment.
hiya, i've made a post on here previously about my fears of starting to write my story as a beginner writer and teenager in high school. this story has had me doing some self reflection and thinking. i was thinking about WHY i'm doing this anyways. why i want to write, why i want this story to be so good, why im so scared of harsh criticism and what an audience might think of my work. and i think i've figured out the answer. i think i want to publish this story for attention and praise.
i've started this story in my head with my OCs when i was around 10-11 so around 5-6 years ago. i was just a little kid so i was doing a lot of it for myself and my own enjoyment. but as i've gotten older, i think that has changed. i've always daydreamed and fantasized about making it big. becoming a famous animator and writer, someone who has created this incredible TV show or movie or comic or novel and is basically worshipped by all writers and artists out there. i want to become someone who is in charge of a giant fandom/fanbase that holds millions of fans. right now, that's my goal. but i realized that by wanting all of that, im kinda just writing my story and putting in alllll this effort for praise and compliments by the masses.
is this a bad thing? should i be ashamed? i don't exactly NEED "fame". i kinda just want some validation, someone to tell me that im doing good and that im awesome and great at what i pursue. i want compliments, not criticism or bad reviews. am i wrong for this mindset? if i am, how should i change it or can i even change it to begin with?
Dear Worldbuilders of Reddit,
How many world are you building currently/in the same time?
Because, to be honest, I can't focus on only one world. I have few worldbuilding project now:
So am I the only one, that couldn't work on just one world at the time or there are another people like me here?
Hi guys, it's my first time here and writing, I'm a huge dark science fantasy fan, inspired by the likes of FromSoftware games, H.P Lovecraft writings, Warhammer, and 'The Vagrant'. I've been world-building, creating the cosmology and planning on a master document whilst drafting concept sketches for a few weeks now, and would really appreciate some constructive critique and advice. The image attached is the backstory of the first race I've created, would love some advice on what to improve, so far I've written around 20.000 words, including 12 races, 6 human factions, approximately 20 Gods, and a whole lot more lore, magic, conflicts, and a bunch other cool stuff. Let me know if I should post more. Thanks everyone.
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I'm planning on writing a book that is an "picture novel", basically an combination of an picture book (in the way it's presented and plenty of illustrations) with an lenghth and/or amount of words more closer to a typical novel... I also plan on it to be written in a whimsical way, but still featuring some darker topics (yet also having an ever present hopeful and optimistic tone)!.. My target demographic is all ages, being planned on having elements that even Adults could relate to and I like on it to be more dialouge/thought-focused...
As for it's genre, I was thinking of "science-fantasy" mixed with fairy tale, taking place on a somewhat surrealistic, heart-shaped planet, alongside featuring some elements carried over from Our modern, contemporary society (such as the way clothing looks, day-to-day life and even some tech, such as game consoles and pop-culture being a thing!), as well as being heavily influenced by the superhero stories!.. Not only that, I also intend on it having Christian theming, but done in a way that's more alegorial and unconvetional (including the depiction of God), so it doesn't feel like an simple brochure for the religion, instead being intended as a fun story for both Christians and non-Christians alike (so more akin to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Prince of Egypt)!..
The main protagonists are the two "Purihearts", red-haired, Pure-Hearted Heroes chosen by The Treenity (stand-in for God, slide 3) to help spread Lightness on the heart-shaped Planet Livia and defend it from destructive Darkness... One is Puriheart Puri, an young optimistic boy with a gifted fire sword (which itself is a reference to The Book of Genesis) that only hurts Darkness... His main motivation if everyone to be happy/glad, while also following his personal interests (such as pop-culture)... The other is the often-relaxed flame lady, Puriheart Pax, who also has much focus, being an bear person capable of maintaining huge momentum and shifting her weight, either by force, envoirmental effects or emotions (with the fat state visible being her default, with the fire body also being a gift from The Treenity)!.. She's been an Puriheart for much longer, dealing with more villains, while also acting as an sole parent for her adopted daughter... Pax often has more internal conflicts than Puri... There's also Puriheart Genesis, a close ally of The Treenity, who plays the role of book's narrator and is an character in his (or their, can't decide if he's genderless or not), and is the one responsible to sending the stories from Livia to my imagination!.. (I like to do a framing device of Planet Livia actually existing really far away)
Thank You for reading and God Bless You for lifetime!!! ✌️>❤️•
Hi all, I am writing my first novel. It is an Urban Fantasy Noir story. Is there an expected length for a book in this genre? Word or page count?
Thanks 😀
I have both vampires and vampire hunters in my world. Vampires are incredibly fast, strong and have superpowers, but they have a lot of weaknesses such as daylight, silver, holy water, crosses, garlic etc. And my vampire hunters are basically humans who uses these weaknesses. But I dont know if it will make sense, that a human can kill a vampire, even with considering the weaknesses, kill a vampire. Im thinking about them being more ambushing vampires and working in groups rather than straight uo fighting them. Can you tell me, how you would handle this problem? Or pehaps can you show me some other vampire hunters that I can take inspiration from? I know about classics such as vampire hunter D, but I would like them to be humans.
I've not seen a lot from this person but this one really caught my ear.
Everything, and I do mean EVERYthing creative is done by my head. I'm writing a novel based on 40+ years of RPG experience. Playing, writing adventures. To his point of AI doing the "heavy lifting".
Edit: Is this fundamentally different than using a spell, or grammar checker?
So let me talk specifics. Here is the text from me:
"Last checks!" barked Ulrich. The expedition leader's voice scraped across the courtyard. "Pull those straps tight and stow the bitching! You drop a glove out there, you lose the hand. You fall behind, you die alone. I am not digging a grave in the ice for anyone."
AI "heavy lifting":
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"Last checks!" Ulrich's voice carved through the courtyard, sharp as a whetstone. His boots scuffed the frozen ground as he strode between the ranks. "Tighten those straps—now." His gaze locked onto Septimus, who still fidgeted with the fur. "You drop a glove out there, you lose the hand. You fall behind, you die alone." His knuckles whitened against the pommel of his sword. "I won’t be carving a grave in the ice for anyone."
The air hung heavy, the weight of his words pressing into the frost. A soldier near the back shifted his pack, the leather creaking under sudden pressure. The wind snatched at loose threads of fur, tugging them like spectral fingers.
-------------------------------------
Thoughts on his reel:
Hi, I am working on a novel of my own. It follows a young man set in an Urban Fantasy type of story where magic towers appear out of the ground, releasing mana and magical monsters into the world. This brought about a lot of both good and bad changes to the humans. Monsters to fight and kill but mana to reinforce the body.
My protagonist wound up obtaining one of these Towers and became it's owner, letting him managing an army and developing the Tower however he deems fit. What features would you guys like to see?
Also, how popular is this kind of story? Are there demands for it as well? Heck, are stories like these still popular? There's obviously more to the story, I also want to make it about balancing the monster within and humanity. The protagonist is a very insecure man who craves power as much as he desires to protect his loved ones.
I can't say when I am posting due to a combination of real life issues and my novel is just starting.
I've been trying to figure out how to create 1 centimeter in a medieval world using medieval technology, but I haven't found a single method that actually works within the medieval working environment.
I'm not a writer, but I've had this story in my head* with characters who've been nagging me for years. I slip into daydreams that feel like memories... I can picture scenes vividly, like I walked in that time and place myself.
How do I get this out? Should I just start writing? I feel like writing is an art, and my skills are crude and rudimentary at best.
I don't know how to start. Do I just write down each scene that comes to me? Piece it together later?
P.s. I'm an avid reader. I devour a handful of books every week.
P.p.s. I have a ton of tips now. I appreciate so many comments. I'm going to try a few of your strategies...see if it gets the juices flowing or conquers the fear of trying and failing at something. I'll keep this post to update if it turns into anything meaningful! Again, thank you all.
Asking for thoughts on this idea;
A deity of love, life, and fate, falls into a deep slumber. The godly maids of this gender ambiguous deity have the power of looking into any mind and can enter it as they wish. When they looked into the sleeping mind of this deity, they find that they have dreamt a new world, with thousands of years of history, in an age equivalent to the 1600-1700s of our real world. Within the dream, the maids find this deity, who has dreamt themselves as a young boy, though very effeminate, who has been born into a wealthy and notable family.
The maids ask the deity to awaken, but the young man refuses to listen. The boy is, much later in the story, would be convinced that he is indeed a deity of the awakened world, but refuses to let go of this dreamt world full of life and culture. To awake is to destroy everything in this world. He asks the maids to keep his slumber for as long as possible so that he, and the inhabitants of the dream world, can live on in this way.
The dream world is full of ideas of the sleeping deity. Ideas of true love, of life, and unavoidable fate. The boy within the world, once they are eventually aware of what they truly are, must find a way to make this dream world a reality, or accept the fact it will one day utterly disappear. I would also like to implement ideas that only a deity/god could think of, maybe themes of disconnect with the reality of the average people. Not entirely sure. I also want many female characters and themes of gender identity and equality.
I hate the idea of stories that end up just being a dream or vision, but my intention with this story is that the dream world is nearly as real as the awakened world. The history of the world did indeed pass. people die, fall in love, fight, invent and, in general, live a semi-normal life. Maybe not as normal as our real world, but normal within the confines of the dream. The boy/deity is the connection to both worlds. Sometimes, when they sleep within the dream, they awaken as their boy form in the awakened world where his true body is slumbered, and is guided around by the godly maids. The boy is retaught everything about the real world, who they actually are, their goals as a deity, and much more.
This whole idea is exceedingly inspired by HongLouMeng/Dream of the Red Chamber, specifically the main character Bao Yu when he falls asleep and awakes in the Land of Illusion and what he sees and learns there, but I’ve flipped the idea around slightly.
What could be some fun ideas for this concept, and what are your thoughts or questions about it?
“Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-real where the unreal's real.”
-Cao Xueqin
I’ve always had a huge story in my mind that i’ve been building up for 6 years at this point. i’m mainly an artist and i’ve only drawn the OCs i’ve had in mind and memorized the basic story plot in my head. but i’m so scared of properly planning things out such as actual scenes and story beats or just simply writing things down.
now, i know that i shouldn’t be scared for things to be bad at first and that i’m also not required to share my writing. i’m only 16 (turning 17 soon) and i know that my writing is probably bound to be HORRIBLE. but i’m desperate for my work to be the best it can be.
i’m seriously shooting for this story to have incredible story telling, similar to other pieces of media i enjoy like Portal 2, Arcane, Steven Universe, Witch Hat Atelier, and many more stuff that are praised by millions of fans. but i’m terrified that my story will fall completely short and then when i DO share it in the future, it will be ridiculed and laughed at. people might make video essays on how my story is a complete dumpster fire, some critics might write scathing reviews on it, i could be made fun of on online forums. the amount of things that could happen is horrifying.
i don’t know what to do. should i even try getting my ideas on paper? should i even try making this story into a reality? how does one even overcome fears such as this? i’ve been fighting with myself over this specific issue for years, any advice would be much appreciated!
