ŷ������

Hey, fellow writers! How are y'all doing today? I'd love to hear about y'all's wips if y'all'd like to share!

Ooo, nice!

That sounds amazing, Ev!! Can’t wait to hear more about it!

My current WIP is a western Christian romance!! It’s probably my favorite book I’ve ever written. My Instagram is @ryskybooks and S.F. Brooke if yall want to check it out!

S.F. wrote: "My current WIP is a western Christian romance!! It’s probably my favorite book I’ve ever written. My Instagram is @ryskybooks and S.F. Brooke if yall want to check it out!"

Nice!

Not me wondering if I'm the only one here not writing Christian Fiction lol.

@Bella
I’m not 🙃

Hello there, Alana :)

Anyway, I kinda have two WIPs lol

The one I've been working on for the past week is a YA fantasy that I would describe as Six of Crows meets The Greatest Showman, but with quite a bit of political intrigue. Basically, a group of circus performers who are also thieves have to kidnap a prince.

The other one, which I kinda have on hold rn is a YA romantasy that's got the witch and witch hunter trope (although she isn't technically a witch, and will tell you so), as well as the true heir having to take back their kingdom trope.

Sounds cool Bella

Thanks. :)

Both of those sound really interesting!!

Tysm. :) (view spoiler)[Aren't you on my writing group? (hide spoiler)]

So I only really have on wip going at the moment, although I have a few other ideas ready. So(because I cannot summarize a book to save my life 😅) this is the “back cover description�� I have for my book. It’s also a pretty fast-paced romance and has the “chosen one�� trope. :)

Everyone talks to sirens who cursed themselves hundreds of heard ago, right?
Aphrodite is just like any other siren; rebelling against her parents like any normal kid.
It doesn't have any major consequences until she meets handsome siren Cesar. Together, they discover her ability to hear sea creatures-and read minds.
Hearing thoughts isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when the one who saved you without your knowledge thinks very romantic thoughts...
And then what happens when you fall in love just in time to be cursed? Then have to learn who you are again. After all of that, the secrets that have been revealed might just destroy worlds...
Worlds that have been hidden until now, sirens that are buried, jewels wielding unimaginable power, fighting dark magic with the love of your life? That's not what Aphrodite was hoping for as a young rebellious explorer, however, she has been thrown in the deep end. Will she swim and fight the tides of fate? Or will she drown in the depths of destiny....

@Bella
Am I? 😂 what’s it called? I’ve lost track of all my groups��.

Sounds intriguing.

📚 Alana (professional book nerd) (Kaladins version ��)✝️~Hiatus!~ wrote: "@Bella
Am I? 😂 what’s it called? I’ve lost track of all my groups��."

Well, you're in the members section, I think, lol. It's called The Writing Nook, and I still haven't added a pic lol.

Oh yes I have! Let me go investigate :D

Lol

That sounds cool Alana!

@bella that sounds so cool!
@alana i think i’ve seen some of yours in the writing group we have!

@ocean
Probably, I’ve shared some of it in a few different groups :)

@ocean Thanks.

*looks at my MULTIPLE WIPs, plus poems and flashfiction*

�Ჹ��😂

Lol. It happens...

Good morning (it's 0354 as I type this) all!

My second post here and I think the stormy weekend means I'll be outlining my next series and thinking of questions to ask you about your favorites contemporary fantasy tropes and how to make the main character's life even more difficult.

Anyone like contemporary fantasy?

On a different note, it looks like several of you have found the joy of writing and are working on your own stories. I have eight books in the first series, with six self-published and two getting revised. While I'm not a mega star author, I've been through the process. If you have questions, feel free to post them publicly.

Please keep the questions public because my wife and I have promised to avoid private conversations with members of the opposite gender as much as possible. If you really want privacy then see if a mod will join the conversation so there's not just the two of us.

How can I encourage you?

What genre do you write?

@Alana, have been writing YA/NA sci-fi and am now moving to Urban Fantasy. While I write in fairly direct sentences for ease of reading I prefer to deal with difficult subjects that younger readers need help processing. Things like bullying, mental health labels, suicide, and teen pregnancy.

This morning I had a hamburger for breakfast (Gotta love Whataburger!) and realized that the MC in the UF series will come to Christ *because* the father figure, a deacon and good man, fails. Once he sees the older man as human, just like himself, he sees that he isn't too broken to be accepted.

Evangelise Rose wrote: "Leam: I have written two full closet manuscripts. I am working on outlining my current WIP right now. I am using the Save the Cat method. What method do you use to outline, and is there anything I ..."

I love Chris Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" for story structure. He references Campbell's "Hero with a thousand faces", but Vogler's book is more readable and relatable. He has twelve "stages" in the hero's journey and I write each stage down on one 3x5 card. Usually when I think of a book I jot down note scenes on 3x5 cards or 3x3 sticky notes. If I get a dozen or three notes I know the idea is going to stick with me for a while so I arrange the notes according to the twelve stages. That way I can see where I need to fill in.


The 3x3/3x5 format forces me to focus on the key emotion or view. I use notes on my notes, so the as yet unnamed MC is "the boy", the girl that likes him but knows he has a crush on the popular girl is "the girl". Her dad is "the dad, and her mom is "mom". Here are some for my current WIP:

- in first encounter with demon, boy fights temptation to use blood
- - hunger for power, easy victory
-- dad fights demon with stick

- mom knows wing chun

- he sacrifices self in spell that turns his matter to energy and destroys his foe
- - he knows it will kill him

- he doesn't fight for himself, but so the family who took him in can have a normal life.

- the girl makes him a sandwich, "Your usual order, roast beef, swiss, extra tomato, extra onion, extra lettuce, add horseradish".
- - show that he has patterns and she is watching

- what if family banishes him after first attack?
- - how does this play with their earlier "the least of these" (Matthew 25:34-40) actions?

- meet the mentor stage:
-- dream/memory of old master berating apprentices while boy served food and cleaned up.


That lets me see the story flow and what's missing. The biggest piece of advice I have is to write the entire story you have; beginning, middle, and end. It will be a lousy story and that's okay. There is a shift in self-perception when we "have written a book". It's no longer an unreachable goal but a strong memory. There's a lot of work to make it a *good* book, but it is nonetheless a book. Our book.

I don't do much plotting, tbh. I just put down what will happen in like the big scenes, and whatever else I know at the start, put them in order (knowing there will be a lot between), then start my first draft and go back and forth between plotting and writing, but I never really use a certain structure for plotting. I've found that it often hinders my creativity. But that's just me.

Anybody else?

YESSSS!!!!! I don’t outline at all, instead I write as if I’m the character and sometimes have ideas for the story overall but never plot ahead really.

Also, side note, my book has MANY underwater scenes and I’m struggling with some of the mechanics of writing them. If anybody has any tips, I’d be grateful!

📚 Alana (professional book nerd) wrote: "YESSSS!!!!! I don’t outline at all, instead I write as if I’m the character and sometimes have ideas for the story overall but never plot ahead really.

Also, side note, my book has MANY underwate..."

My first book was written that way and readers say it was confusing about genre and what the story was about. On the second book I did a lot more plotting, but have settled into the skeletal structure I discussed above. With a skeletal structure I have a list of interesting scenes to write and I can write them in any order. What often happens is that I'll start a scene, realize that there are things that need to be set up, so I'll make notes on those and attach them to the skeleton. That also means I always get to write a scene that interests me, it has a purpose and usually an emotion. I really enjoy that.

📚 Alana (professional book nerd) wrote: "Also, side note, my book has MANY underwater scenes and I’m struggling with some of the mechanics of writing them. If anybody has any tips, I’d be grateful!"

It may sound dumb, but don't write them. If the scene doesn't have a serious reason for existing then don't bore yourself or the reader with it. If you need to convey something and planned a scene for it, figure out another place to convey it and do it in a few sentences.

Well- umm the main idea of my book is a siren who discovers Atlantis. So, it does have to be underwater�� 🥲 although at some points they are on land.

@Alana What is it you're having trouble with?

📚 Alana (professional book nerd) wrote: "Well- umm the main idea of my book is a siren who discovers Atlantis. So, it does have to be underwater�� 🥲 although at some points they are on land."

Oh, sorry! I thought you were using the term "underwater" as in mortgage; that there were unsolvable issues.

I used to be a scuba diver, so maybe I can help. What can you tell us?

Haha no issue! I guess my main problem is more their lifestyle. Also finding more adjectives that work underwater, figuring out exactly how water affects them specifically.

Well, for lifestyle, that depends on what you're going for. And they're sirens, so... idk.

📚 Alana (professional book nerd) wrote: "Haha no issue! I guess my main problem is more their lifestyle. Also finding more adjectives that work underwater, figuring out exactly how water affects them specifically."

On the downside, they breathe toilet water. :(

Water carries sound a lot farther, so private conversations are difficult, and it drains heat much faster too. Below certain depths there is a marked reduction in oxygen in the water so life forms change.

In the ocean any current is strong, so you'll drift along unless you anchor yourself. The pressure is nice though, since you're getting the effect of a total body hug. Merfolk who come out of the water may miss that feeling greatly.

The ocean has long been a dumping ground, so that may affect attitudes about air-breathers. Ships leave trails of oil based stains but they tend to float. Probably taste bad if you breathe the water there though.

What if you picked a historical culture you liked and then modified it for underwater?

That is super helpful, I’ll have to adjust some things, thank you so much!

I was going to suggest the historical culture thing too lol.

Hmm? I'm not sure I quite understand that thought process. 😅

What do you mean? Just choose a historical culture, then adapt it for your story.

Ahh, okay, my brain doesn't want to work this morning so words are having trouble making sense. :-)

Yeah, I know that feeling lol.