I'm writing a Fantasy novel or five :D

[Ruby]

Hi Mythic Scribes, I've visited this web site a few times and follow Philip Overby on Twitter. I found a lot of his emails about writing Fantasy very helpful. I've just completed my first NaNoWriMo and wrote the required 50,000 words so I "won" it but I'm still on the first act of my book. I also kept rewriting and editing as I went along, which you're not supposed to do, but I couldn't help it! I found that the forums there were useful and it was a very positive and creative experience, so I've decided to join Mythic Scribes. I've been writing a Fantasy novel for a year. It's still unfinished but I decided to use NaNoWriMo to write a prequel to find out the story of one of my MC's. The story now includes time travel with a bit of steam punk. It includes wizards and magicians, and some time travel back to Victorian England. There is so much research involved in this including time travel paradoxes and discovering what the Victorians ate for breakfast. I never realised writing Fantasy could be so difficult!

 

[CupofJoe]

Hail and well met Ruby
Yes... we get to make it all up and then we have to make it make sense!
Well done with the NaNoWriMo [I've never had the bravery to try...]
This is a great place to learn and share.
Leap on in when you have half a mind.
... what the Victorians ate for breakfast? The Poor - obliviously!!!

 

[Ruby]

Hi, CupofJoe, greetings to you, too. Re what the Victorians ate for breakfast, if you were rich you ate a lot, if you were poor you didn't eat much, maybe a crust of stale bread or some gruel! I now have two unfinished WIP's and a cast of about 100 characters. This is because my MC is a time traveller so she knows the ancestors of some of the characters in the original book. Now I am writing the back,back,back stories. I was going to set it in 1870 but she was escaping from France with her magician father, and I realised the Franco Prussian War was getting in the way not to mention the enormous bustles women wore in those days. So I time travelled the book into the very end of the 19th century when bustles were smaller. However, she will soon meet the time traveller and enter the 20th century.

 

[JRFLynn]

Hi Ruby, welcome to mythic scribes and gratz on NanoWrimo. Steampunk is awesome, by the way, much luck!

 

[Philip Overby]

Hi Ruby! Wow, I'm glad to know I've been helpful for you in some way (I'm Philip Overby, btw ). I'm also very happy to see you've made your way to Mythic Scribes. We're a supportive community and you'll find plenty of help if you desire it. Please feel free to jump in on any discussions.

 

[Ruby]

Hi JRFlynn, thank you. What genre of book are you writing?

 

[Ruby]

Hi Philip, yes I've subscribed to the emails here for a while. Yesterday, I read the one about writing historical fantasy by Ian Tregillis and found it very interesting. I decided to join Mystic Scribes as I'm missing the NaNoWriMo forums. I think this will be even more relevant and useful as I'm writing Fantasy. Btw I liked the story you wrote that won a recent competition. I can't remember what it was called off-hand, but it had a glass building in it. I know a lot of people disapprove of NaNoWriMo but I found it inspiring. It also makes you write something every day and I realised how much I enjoy writing. My problem is not the ideas, characters or plots, but structuring it. It often feels as though the characters are just writing the story themselves and I have to read through it to find out what they're all up to. I don't know if other writers have this problem ie the characters know the plot before you do?

 

[GeekDavid]

Welcome to the nuttiness! (Nuttiness is good in writers, just ask Terry Pratchett.)

Pull up a chair and join in a discussion somewhere. Just make sure there's not a cat or halfling in the chair first. Neither one appreciates being sat upon.

 

[Philip Overby]

It's great to have you, that's for sure! Glad the articles have enticed you to join. I actually joined Mythic Scribes after hearing about it on the NaNoWriMo forums back in 2011. We have several "support groups" here in the Writing Groups section, so if you need help staying motivated, there are places there to help. Something I always suggest to people who have trouble with structure is trying the Snowflake Method: you can see more about it here.

Please feel free to ask any questions to, well, almost anyone!

 

[Ruby]

Hi GeekDavid, yes it occurred to me during the last month that writers are probably mad. I mean, you spend so much of your spare time with a lot of imaginary people in your head trying to decide what should happen next in their lives.

 

[Ruby]

Thank you, Philip. Yay, now I'm an Acolyte! :smile:

 

[GeekDavid]

Hi GeekDavid, yes it occurred to me during the last month that writers are probably mad. I mean, you spend so much of your spare time with a lot of imaginary people in your head trying to decide what should happen next in their lives.

Gee, seems to me someone said something like that once...

 

[Ruby]

Hi David, thank you for the link to your blog. I have followed you on Twitter.

 

[GeekDavid]

Thank you, Philip. Yay, now I'm an Acolyte! :smile:

Today an Acolyte, tomorrow a Dark Lord.

Well, that's how fast it seemed to be for me...

 

[Ruby]

What are the stages after becoming an Acolyte, and how did you become a a Dark Lord? Is it anything to do with magic rings?

 

[GeekDavid]

What are the stages after becoming an Acolyte, and how did you become a a Dark Lord? Is it anything to do with magic rings?

It's based on post count. Here's the post where it's explained.

 

[JRFLynn]

Hi JRFlynn, thank you. What genre of book are you writing?

I'm currently writing a Dark Fantasy. I plan to make it the first book in a series, so this one is more Poe meets Skyrim than Jules Verne so to speak. However, later on there will be elements of steampunk.

Also, I'm still brainstorming for a NanoWrimo project that will definitely be a steampunk fantasy, with griffins (booya!)

Thanks for asking, Ruby, I can relate with how much research it takes. There's still a long road in front of me too x.x Steampunk is complicated, but I think the end result of all that work will show in your final draft. It's better going in with a good idea of what the Victorian culture/technology was like and how trains/blimps/whatever worked, instead of winging it, so at least you'll have a strong foundation before tweaking things to make it your own.

It often feels as though the characters are just writing the story themselves and I have to read through it to find out what they're all up to. I don't know if other writers have this problem ie the characters know the plot before you do?

Yes, it feels that way when I write too. Sometimes I think I have them all figured out and then...BAM, didn't see that coming. I've noticed that these surprises are often quite outlandish but my characters are all kind of quirky, so why not? Go with it, who knows it just might work

 

[Ruby]

Hi JRFLynn, your book sounds great. My story started as just Fantasy, but one of my central characters was ancient. She was supposed to be 172 years old and still working, as the government said you have to be 180 before you get your pension.( I'm not sure if this is actually Fantasy.) But then, I decided she should be a time traveller and this is where all the steam punk and historical research started. She's also turning into a bit of a women's lib person as women were not educated in Victorian times but she's on the run with her magician father and is a talented magician in her own right. I'm not sure if it's MG, YA or just Fantasy but it's coming out darker than the previous book which will follow it chronologically.

 

[Reaver]

Welcome to Mythic Scribes! Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Ruby]

Thank you, Reaver. I joined about a week ago and it's been amazing. I posted a couple of questions in the forums and had some very helpful and interesting replies.