I unfortunately got behind on that and some other stuff. But I can say I’ve got through to chapter three!

A thing I’m interested in is, who’s the wizard at the beginning? It’d be nice if we got some breadcrumbs as to who he is, how he knew Dan, if he served as a mentor figure beyond that initial encounter, and the impression he…[Read more]

https://www.cartographersguild.com/content.php

Just started reading a few pages, so I might have to read further ahead to find out- but do the made-up-books come back later? The first thing I thought of when I read the book about knots was “Okay, so there’s probably going to be someone using a magic system that uses knots in rope as a spellcasting focus.”

What I Wrote – A technical paper for research. Actual story-wise, I’m trying to focus on two t…[Read more]

What I wrote: Got to write down the dichotomies for Cadmen- so progress there. Still working on plotting for Zalal’s backstory/inciting event for Cadmen’s overall story.

What I learned: That cloth gloves aren’t good enough for a router…[Read more]

But what about in a negative change arc, where the protagonist ends up believing the thematic Lie instead? While there’s the option of having the antagonist represent the…[Read more]

Plotwise, the idea is that the SVstarts out as a good guy, and he and his friend (who doesn’t turn evil) are hidden as spies in a city with the express…[Read more]

Not particularly- I’ve got a couple of ideas for some, however, that I might be able to crank out now that the semester’s over.

@coggleton

Ah; I had hoped to revisit Harn in another story down the road, though maybe not one immediately after this one.

Is that the one during the Napoleonic wars, but with Dragons?

Not that I had in mind when writing the piece; it was originally just intended as a one-off focusing on a couple the characters I imagined would be a big player in the world’s setting. I had intended for Harn to be a conqueror in the vein of Napoleon, albeit with the initial motive of “seize power to put a stop at injustice” with a…[Read more]

His Imperial Majesty Harn hated council meetings. He knew they were necessary—he was the one that called them after all – since he could not micromanage the empire, and his subordinate vassals needed to be brought into a clear understanding of his vision for it. Yet at the same time, they were so obstinate that he longed for t…[Read more]

Yeah, it is a bit confusing, but then again so are most Christopher Nolan movies (I’m looking at you, The Prestige). Perhaps this example might help illustrate:

You stalk through the palace halls unseen without a guard or attendant in sight. You know their routines so well you could write a book about them,but now’s not the…[Read more]

I think I wrote a short story a while back- would that be a good place to have it moved to?

Alright, here’s an idea.

We’ve got a protagonist, antagonist, mentor, what not, right?

What if all of them were You? As in, the person referred to in the 2nd person? The plot could be You are an author who is going through a rough time while, on an unrelated note, working on a book. Then you get…[Read more]

Interesting- any particular works in mind?

@evelyn

Well, the culture itself would definitely promote evil things that tear people down emotionally and spiritually, but he wants it to the point where the members of said culture take the momentum themselves to carry it through to where it even crosses over into physical…[Read more]

The solution to the Captain Marvel problem might be to give her a Lex Luthor to fight; someone she can’t just blast, or if she does it’ll backfire for her/her friends.

I also wish the good guys actually used the stones outside of the snap; not…[Read more]

So a good number of villains want power, right? Zalal does; he wants power over life and death to see to his every whim. But after thinking over it, he’s pretty much set on personal, physical power; sure, he’s not going to move continents any time soon, but he’s neither will he be in any major danger barring the protagonists, who before…[Read more]

• It really felt like Iron Man was the perfect character to use the gauntlet at the end given how he, the egocentric one that wants to play things safe, was perfectly willing to sacrifice himself.
• Can we talk about how Captain America had to see the Red Skull again? If there was ever a post credits scene, that would be it.

…

[Read more]

What I read lately: Spies of No Country: Back in 1948 when the Brits pulled out of Palestine and things started to go south real fast, the Jewish intelligence community decided to employ as its agents those who grew up in the Arab world (such as Damascus). A fascinating look at spycraft with none…[Read more]

What I Read: Still plodding through “The Christian in Complete Armor”, a monolith of a book on Eph. 6:10-20 from the 1600s (and still written in that style).

What I Wrote: More outlining for Zalal’s fall- while his present-day motive is “amass power”, I’m still wanting to show what led to that. To that end I’m thinking his fall…[Read more]

So far work’s been keeping me busy so I’ve only read up to page 14. Thoughts:

– What’s Circe doing in the prologue reminiscing kindly on Artorius’ plight? I thought she hated his guts at this point.

– Even though the sun isn’t blinding to look at, it seems like it would be a nice touch for Artorius to be squinting as an…[Read more]

@evelyn (I’ll answer you in this thread to…[Read more]

Woops, so I completely misunderstood which week this was for!

What I’ve Played: So Kingdom Hearts 3 came out, and as the finale for the arc of the story thus far I was heavily anticipating it. It also serves as an object lesson in writing, if you’ve followed the series- is anyone else here a fan of KH? I don’t want to talk about…[Read more]

1. Write a genuinely evil villain to show that a) any excuses he might try and provide does not make evil any less evil, b) show that people with no…[Read more]

Something else that could be used to find the “good” traits for a villain is to ask why they do something. For example, consider the following reasons the bad guy could shoot someone who’s running away:
– Personal entertainment? This means mercilessness is rooted in cruelty.
– To prevent the man from suffering further? This…[Read more]

The idea I had was that Zalal, back when he was a good guy and an apprentice paladin, wanted “To be appreciated/respected for my talent”. However, because he didn’t learn that “Respect worth having is based…[Read more]

a) He didn’t…[Read more]

I’ve started to read The Brothers Karamazov- barely scratched the surface, but they say it’s better than Crime and Punishment (and that was really good). Also going through K.M. Weiland’s Character Arcs book, which is really helpful.

I’m trying to figure out the main focusing question behind the series, and i’m trying to juggle…[Read more]

Ah, I should’ve mentioned- yes he is depowered, but he now works for the devil. So he’s gone from being a Paladin to a Blackguard.

As far as his methodology, my thoughts would be that 3000+ years of working for the devil would be quite the negative character arc. While he started out somewhat idealistic, he gradually declines…[Read more]

Thank you for the input! I’m still thinking about the bottom three points (Since they’re kinda contingent on the first point after all), but here’s the general idea I have:

Zalal’s Motive: To finally be recognized as the hero/worthy figure he (thinks he) is. This motive being stymied is what caused him to apostatize and change…[Read more]

The guilds have certainly been helpful! As it happens, I’ve been involved in a forum-based roleplaying group before, and here’s some thoughts from that I have.

– It seems like there’s no subforum/thread dedicated for General Use/General Conversation, so something like that would be useful.

– While I think the maintained activity is…[Read more]

You mentioned that the series as a whole will be made up of a bunch of character arcs. When planning the macro-arc/overall plotline, should I be too concerned about which portion fits which arc (i.e., approach the macro-plot by trying to check off each point of the character…[Read more]

Two questions:

– Who are they? Even if it’s not revealed in-story, what is their relation to Aleksander?

– I got lost starting with the “Blinking my eyes open I stared at the world around me. Somehow it felt familiar but for the life of me I couldn’t place why…” line; are we s…[Read more]

Ah, gotcha. I guess my question was that since Artorius says “I’ve served my sentence for my crimes”, where in the story did he ever come to view what he did as a crime?

Long Version:…[Read more]

Interesting. Here’s my thoughts:

– If I understand correctly, it seems that your main character is a mind hive (as opposed to a hive mind). Which is fair enough, but the only thing it raises the question of is “Whose character arc is it?” Is it Artorius’? Then is there a moment where he acknowledges the harm his pride/brashness…[Read more]

– Is it a lucid dream? Is the dreamer alert and conscious of the fact that it’s a dream?

– Is this a recurring dream/dream setting? That is, has the dreamer been in that place/talked with those people/lived through those events before? If so, do the people in the dream remember the dreamer (and her…[Read more]

Welcome, all! Hope you find this place a friendly and useful one in your tale-weaving quests!