Sorry, I wasn’t very clear.

I’m not talking about literal man vs nature in the sense of being stuck on a mountain with a bear trying to eat you. I was trying to suggest you look at the structure and thematic implications of man vs nature and man vs God.

Man vs nature tends to involve a human trying to prove he’s worthy to exist in a brutal,…[Read more]

@noah-cochran

First, I just realized I have no idea what the Dystopian spread of genres has looked like over the past decade. I grew out of the YA-focused part of the genre a couple years after the Hunger Games series ended.

Looking through Amazon tells me it probably hasn’t changed terribly much, though.

So, what I’m wanting is fresh plot ide…

[Read more]

Azgaar’s map tool is pretty great as a free option. I had great results with a certain tool (ugh, I can’t figure out which one it was) for a DnD campaign: https://imgur.com/a/fGBUDS3.

What are you trying to do that Inkarnate isn’t working for?

@k-a-grey

I have the same problem =P I was writing an article with a very particular word count the other day, and I eventually realized I had to cut my favorite paragraph, despite it being snappy and punchy, because it did little more than introduce a concept the audience was already familiar with.

Regarding Medium, I’m very new and don’t have…[Read more]

@imwritehere1920

Thank you! I spent New Year’s Eve with a splitting headache, but the next day was pretty nice. I hope the new year is treating you well too :-}

@this-is-not-an-alien

Good job defeating recaptcha, lol. Glad you liked the article! Hopefully if you felt attacked that means it sparked a writing idea =P

@andrew

Hey, thanks for reaching out on here.

What you’re describing between your two posts here might be a health issue, so I strongly suggest talking to a doctor about your frustrations with these thoughts, if you can. You’re describing a couple big symptoms of ADHD, though that of course by no means says that you definitely have ADHD.…[Read more]

@josiah No worries! Thank you for restoring it :-}

@erynne Thank you for the topic invite!

I really like the article by @r-m-archer , and it brought to mind that there is a distinction between antagonists opposing the protagonist and outright villains. I’m going to talk about villains, but I’m assuming they’re also antagonists.

Lucifer from DC comics, specifically Sandman by Neil Gaiman and Hellb…[Read more]

@allertingthbs A very good question, mine brother.

I think there are a couple reasons.

Fantasy (at least in constructed world) allows you to go crazy in your worldbuilding. You don’t even need to assume physics work the same way as in our world, if you don’t want to! You can create magic systems and fantastical races without worrying about the…[Read more]

@josiah I once more beg you to check the spam filter for one of my long, link-filled posts =P

(did the spam filter eat my first post?)

@daeus-lamb Sorry you had to work and miss the patron meeting! @josiah suggested I tag you so you can share your thoughts on the essay.

@erynne Well thank you, lol. I take that as a compliment.

“I left out a ton of info above … There’s just a pot happening”

Yeah, that’s fair. I doubt I have an accurate idea of what your story is just based on what you’ve shared.

Assuming I’m in the right ballpark with your story as a thriller, you’re probably going to need an individual human v…[Read more]

@erynne Hey, thanks for sharing the book idea! Sounds like the basis for a fun and intense thriller. The main point of feedback I have is that thrillers like this generally resolve in one book and don’t extend into a whole series, unless you’re specifically writing a trilogy for a youngish YA audience where you focus on a giant set piece in each…[Read more]

@storysmith

Hi Joshua! Thanks for sharing your worldbuilding. As you said, you’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this. I definitely see the Brando Sando influence. I have a couple reactions to your description:

• The planet has two creators, but one of them was secretly God? Were there a race of superhumans/angels/demigods/whatever, and two…

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