# Tell me about your WIP



## TheCatholicCrow (Nov 23, 2016)

If there's one thing writers love, it's talking about our writing. Don't lie - I know you do  it's okay though because I'd love to hear a bit about what you're working on. 

Right now ... I'm working on some flash (it might end up a short) that started out as a story about an old French man and a little boy. Then I realized most of my characters have been Caucasian males lately and the story actually works better in a Latin culture so I'm completely redoing it. And it's so much better!

Now, it's about a Mexican old lady that runs a panaderia (a bakery)... She manages to convince a little girl that her pan dulce is magical. The little girl learns a lesson in hope and it's about pan dulce. Yummy yummy conchas y tortugas. The puerquitos de piloncillo too, but you'd have to be crazy to prefer those to conchas or the big pink cookies... even corn biscuits are better. And now I'm just rambling about food .... moving on!

I've written a few Latino characters before but this is the first piece I've ever written with Spanish. And it has a happy ending which I haven't done in quite some time. Trying new things. 
*
How about you? What have you been up to?*

Edit: It occurred to me that some of you might not know what the heck I'm talking about so I thought I'd share a few pictures. 






Conchas (Shells)






Puercos (pigs)






Tortugas (turtles)


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## Heliotrope (Nov 23, 2016)

I'm also writing a story with a bit of Mexican flair  

Mine is a middle grades (ages 9-13) novel about a seventh grader named Andromeda Rackham who discovers that her dad is the infamous Captain Calico Jack Rackham. In 1720 Jack chased Edward (Blackbeard) Teach into the Aztec Dreamplane when they were both after the lost Noche Triste Treasure. The pirates got stuck in the time/space continuum and crashed their ships in modern day Manhattan. 

Jack has been raising the young Andromeda as a single father who is clueless about the generation she is growing up in (like most fathers), and Blackbeard has been hiding as a homeless man performing coin tricks at Union Station. 

Mary Read, the third pirate (villain) managed to steal the Noche Triste Treasure from the Dreamplane and has taken over as curator at the Museum of Natural History where she has the treasure closely monitored at all time. 

However, monsters from the Dreamplane have followed them out and are eating up people all over Manhattan (including Jack), so Andy and Blackbeard must work together to steal the treasure from the museum and take it back to the Dreamplane.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Nov 23, 2016)

Heliotrope said:


> I'm also writing a story with a bit of Mexican flair
> 
> Mine is a middle grades (ages 9-13) novel about a seventh grader named Andromeda Rackham who discovers that her dad is the infamous Captain Calico Jack Rackham. In 1720 Jack chased Edward (Blackbeard) Teach into the Aztec Dreamplane when they were both after the lost Noche Triste Treasure. The pirates got stuck in the time/space continuum and crashed their ships in modern day Manhattan...



That sounds really awesome! 

Now that I'm thinking about it ... why _isn't_ there more Latino Fantasy? (Magical Realism is big but not straight up Fantasy) Latinos are notoriously superstitious and magic plays a big role in the culture (curses, brujas, palm readers, herbal erm specialists, indigenous religions, Santeria etc. LOL if you've ever seen Nacho Libre - eagle eggs). I love Viking inspired fantasy too but nothing beats changing things up now and then.


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## Heliotrope (Nov 23, 2016)

I know it's a fascinating culture. And their mix of superstition with Catholicism is equally as fascinating.


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## Chessie (Nov 23, 2016)

Los puerquitos are so good. Mmm! I'd love to read your flash when you're done and I haven't had the conchas since childhood. YUM. 

Me? I'm working on what I originally thought would be a 75k novel and realized just last night that it's going to be closer to 90k. That's okay, just means there's a lot to say lol. It's a fantasy romance story based on Vasilia The Beautiful, which is a Russian fairytale. 

In the world of Mirovinia, a plague is about to explode. This particular story takes place at the start of it. 

Herbalist Ludmila and her partner, Elya (healer), are assigned to assist the only 2 healers in the tiny village of Vikna with their afflicted. After several attempts to create an effective tonic, villagers are still dying and the disease is still spreading. Desperate for a solution, Ludmila risks her life in order to steal a potent herb from Baba Yaga's garden. She is caught in the process by one of the witch's horsemen, and is therefore kept at the hut for 3 days as a slave to "pay" off her debt.

During Ludmila's days with Baba Yaga, she is kept under watch by Sergei, one of the horsemen. There is a connection between them from a previous interaction, so she is able to convince him of helping her infuse her tonics with his healing magic. Sergei's magic doesn't act/perform in the same way that of the Mirovinian healers does, so this is her solution to curing the afflicted.

But Sergei's magic is also witchcraft, which is outlawed and greatly feared in Mirovinia. They meet in secret to infuse the potions and end up forming a love relationship. Their affair is greatly endangered by Elya's intense jealousy and attempts to separate them in any way that he can. And once Baba Yaga becomes aware of Ludmila and Sergei's secret relationship, she is the one that does physically separate them. 

The story has a happy ending though. There is plenty of magic and heavy influences from Slavic folklore. I actually woke up this morning thinking about how much I love this novel and what a blast I'm having writing it. Looking forward to the first draft being completed by January 1st, at which time it'll sit for a bit before edits. But I'm definitely going to publish this one.


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## Ireth (Nov 23, 2016)

My NaNo project for this year is Bellringer, a fantasy/LGBT reimagining of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The eponymous bellringer is Diana Harrows, a werewolf who has lived in the belltower of Leeds Parish Church (circa 1540-50 or so) for the past six years, ever since she was bitten. Her captor is the Reverend Matthew Short, her ex-fiancÃ© who entered the clergy after he broke off their engagement because of her "demon possession", as he views it.

Diana lives in terror of him and his abusive ways, until one day she saves a suicidal werewolf from jumping off the church roof. This leads her to flee the church entirely, whereupon she meets Valerie Richards, an alchemist and healer who is allied with the werewolves. She takes Diana with her to the werewolves' Den, where they bond and begin to fall for each other, while Matthew organizes a search for them both -- partly to find the Den, and partly to have Valerie, with whom he has fallen in lust, for himself.

So far it's sitting at almost 32K words, and I'm not sure I can add much more without bloating it out. Guess I'll have to look into the publishing market for novellas if I want to make money off of this one.


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## Nimue (Nov 23, 2016)

Aahhhh, I love me a witch/healer story, Chester.  Not to mention romance...  If you ever need an extra pair of eyes to read that one, I'd be happy to.  Also, personal turn-ons aside, your story sounds like a great concept, CatholicCrow--and I like to see how your pirate heist story keeps evolving in new & cool ways, Helio. . Ooh, and your bell ringer story, Ireth, also sounds right up my alley, I would totally read that.  I like the historical grounding.

I feel like all of my WIPs are more WNIPs, if you know what I mean, but maybe I should make an attempt to summarize my current story outside of my head.  I'll tryyyy not to go too long, though I don't particularly care about giving stuff away.  I'll start with the beginning of my longline/pitch:

When Lothar, son of the Thane of Tirannon, slays a dark sorcerer, he hopes to end the ancient curse hanging over his land and his family.  Instead, his fate will depend on an act of mercy by the same sword-stroke: freeing a changeling witch imprisoned by the sorcerer, who turns into a crow and escapes him.

Safe in the ancient forest of Tirannon, the witch Sabhenna returns to her childhood home and tries to pick up the pieces of her life, and renew her duty as healer and greenwitch to the nearby village.  When Lothar hunts her down, he sees her for what she is--not the sorceress he feared--and asks for her help.

In the ruins of the sorcerer's castle, at the stone circle where the remnants of the old Druids still gather, they discover the extent of the curse blighting Tirannon and turning the Thanes that rule the isle into corrupted tyrants--dark magic tied to the golden crown and chain guarded by the sorcerer while he lived, now in the hands of the cruel Thane.  In the midst of this dread and doubt, Sabhenna and Lothar fall in love, but Lothar must weigh his desires against the threat over his future, and for him duty will always come first.

In a wild ritual plea to the weakened gods of Tirannon, Sabhenna discovers that the curse can be unmade the same way it was made--with blood and sacrifice.  She undertakes this magic alone, but the cost will be greater than she knows, and dooms Lothar before his time.  Corrupted and possessed, he begins to destroy everything they fought for, leaving her with but one choice...

</Narrator voice>  Heh, that was fun.  If only I would finish the ****ing thing....


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## skip.knox (Nov 23, 2016)

I've talked about my WiP for so long now, I won't bring it up again. Let us pass by _Goblins at the Gates_ in a respectful, morose silence.

I'm nearly done with it, so I can talk about my WAtBB (Work About to Be Begun). I have two and am still deciding between them.

Tuck the Unchosen
Tuck is a dwarf who, bored with his life at home, joined a company of somewhat shady adventurers who are on what looks to be a really exciting mission. They have been retained by a plain farm boy with unexpected powers, who was told by an aged wizard that he his the One prophesied to save the kingdom from doom and destruction.

Our story opens with a bit of conundrum because the farm boy lies dead. Killed in his first encounter. There's quite a bit of finger-pointing among the adventurers, but they conclude that Tuck is their man now. This is because he made the mistake of kneeling next to the dying boy, who whispered in his ear. Tuck swears he couldn't understand what the lad said, but it's too late. His comrades decide Tuck is now the Chosen One.

Can an ordinary dwarf with modest magical ability overcome powerful wizards and ferocious monsters to save the kingdom? Of course. But what will be the price?


The Falconer
This is a re-telling of the story of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. At the age of eighteen, he escaped from royal captivity in Sicily with only a handful of followers, little money, and a claim to the Imperial throne. It tells of his adventures fighting and dodging his way across Italy, then across the Alps into Germany where he fought Otto of Brunswick.

The story has wizards and giants and ambushes and battles, but the real story is about this: is my rival therefore my enemy?


I tell you, with these and other stories standing just outside my door, it's really difficult to force myself to do that one more editing pass through 150,000 words!


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## Chessie (Nov 23, 2016)

@Nimue, you're totally on my reader list then and you can definitely add me to yours. Our works are very similar in audience and intention. 

@Ireth: I love that you made them werewolves!


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## Nimue (Nov 23, 2016)

@Ches - Oh yeah, stay posted for the first draft in 5 years...  *sigh*  I do wanna be on the historical-inspired fantasy romance list, though, period!

@skip - Those stories sound like a ton of fun!  Like I keep telling myself, a little brainstorming and daydreaming on the side isn't cheating on the Project, right??


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## Ireth (Nov 23, 2016)

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys!


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Nov 23, 2016)

Uhm...What *am* I writing?? Haha...

I'm writing a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy about a brash, ruthless young street criminal who, after committing murder and being captured in possession of dangerous illegal drugs, gets thrown into a notorious women's prison where inmates rarely survive over a year. There she meets someone who offers to help her escape, but is really recruiting her for an assassin school. It seems like a new start, but she won't be allowed to leave, and the Headmistress is training her students to carry out her sinister secret plans. 

Before the apocalypse, the world was ruled by a race of immortal wizards, but the humans overthrew them and now the immortals exist in hibernation beneath the earth. Addiction to a heroin-like drug (that slowly turns people into undead...withdrawals cause a thirst for human flesh) is rampant, and a plague that kills people by inflicting supernatural wounds (that steadily grow more severe as infection progresses) is everywhere. The Headmistress (who is secretly an immortal herself, and has a half-blood son who she keeps a secret) wants to bring back that supposed utopia, but her sister is the leader of an organization that is trying to prevent this from happening. Spoiler alert, they're both evil.

My MC is an arrogant a-hole and I hate her. 

Anyway. This has been...interesting.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Nov 23, 2016)

I have at least four other story ideas in the works, though, including the novel in verse idea I mentioned in another thread.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Nov 23, 2016)

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> I have at least four other story ideas in the works, though, including the novel in verse idea I mentioned in another thread.



Hahaha yeah ... that sounds familiar. I've got a Noir Thriller novel that's always in the works, a novel I'm ghostwriting for a client, a fantasy short I'm playing around with about a dwarf executioner who hates his job, a trilogy I've abandoned in order to work on the rest and an outline for a cozy murder mystery that needs my attention. Also some literary flash about depression that needs to find a home. Yep ... always lots going on. It's nothing short of a miracle when I manage to actually finish a piece.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Nov 23, 2016)

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> Spoiler alert, they're both evil.
> 
> My MC is an arrogant a-hole and I hate her.



Those stories are the best and IMO the most fun to write. My novel MC is a jacked up mess. Seriously, he's a stalker/killer with major jealousy and insecurity issues... so much fun to write


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## Chessie (Nov 23, 2016)

TheCatholicCrow said:


> Hahaha yeah ... that sounds familiar. I've got a Noir Thriller novel that's always in the works, a novel I'm ghostwriting for a client, a fantasy short I'm playing around with about a dwarf executioner who hates his job, a trilogy I've abandoned in order to work on the rest and an outline for a cozy murder mystery that needs my attention. Also some literary flash about depression that needs to find a home. Yep ... always lots going on. It's nothing short of a miracle when I manage to actually finish a piece.



You're still ghosting? Good for you!  I had to give that up in order to focus on my projects, of which I have ton planned. 3 more books in this fantasy romance series (each featuring a different couple) and 3 in a historical romance series. It'll be 2018 before I'm done with those but I also want to do a collection of novelettes for my world. I can't write fast enough to finish them all this year!


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 23, 2016)

My NaNo project is about a girl who loses her family to the sea and how she deals with it. I decided that it would be a great idea to tell the story from the point of view of the villagers around her, rather than from her own perspective. I still think it's a good idea in theory, but in practice it's not working out very well. All kinds of interesting side stories keep popping up and characters that are completely irrelevant to the main plot are taking up way too much space.
I'll keep going though. It's still fun, and I'm getting a load of ideas for other stories I could write involving these characters.

I also had a minor realisation about my story once after I'd gotten started on it. I'm sure you're familiar with the trope of the young orphan who grows up to become an elite assassin/spy/whatever. What I'm doing here could be the story of how that kid became an orphan and how it put them on their path towards a life in the shadows - or something like that.

It's set in the same setting as all my other stories, but it's geographically distant enough that it won't have any impact on any of them.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 24, 2016)

Currently, for NaNo, I am plodding along with 'Empire: Judgment,' the sixth and last in a series of fantasy novella's with Lovecraftian overtones.  (In truth, probably more of a trilogy, given the way the stories piece together.)  Anyhow:

Empire: Country - Tia Samos is checking out prospective noble born husbands (her family is comprised of wealthy commoners looking to move up in the world.)  With Tia are Sir Peter Cortez, a noble bastard and skilled fighter acting as her bodyguard; her carriage driver Kyle, a huge peasant and former soldier with a knack for minor magic; and her half-gypsy maid Rebecca, who is musically talented.  The story opens with them stumbling into the minutes old scene of a bloody massacre on the border of impoverished Cosslet Barony, ruled by Peter's brother Liam, one of Tia's potential marriage prospects.  Tia checks out the barony itself while Peter assists his brother in tracking the entity responsible for the massacre.  Instead, they find something else.  Treachery and horror result.  What saves Tia is an unintentional recognition on her part that will haunt her dreams for a long while to come.  

Empire: Capital - After the events in 'Country,' Tia and company have been summoned to the Imperial Palace as witnesses.  The Emperor takes a dim view of mass slaughter, especially when the victims/perpetrators are aristocrats.   The tale opens after the trial proper, just before the verdicts are handed down.  But schemes abound in all royal courts, especially this one.  The characters individually note little things that do not add up, but don't connect the pieces until its almost too late.  The story ends with a barely thwarted assassination of the Emperor by the demons responsible for the massacre in 'Country.'

Empire: Estate - Tia and company are enroute to Corber Port, largest city in the empire.  Along the way, they stopped at the estate of the once powerful Bestia family to purchase slaves (former civilian war captives) to be sent to Cosslet province.  But there are a lot of odd characters skulking about, and it turns out the supposedly dead/banished demons from the prior stories are still around.  Worse, they get the drop on Tia's friends.  To save them, she agrees to leave with the demons.

Empire: Metropolis - Takes place in Corber Port, Empires largest city, wracked with massive civil unrest - so severe a major riot/fire a few weeks prior to the story saw a quarter of the city reduced to rubble, and much of the rest prowled by thieves, gangs, and religious zealots.  Tia and the demons are living 'common lives' at a villa converted to apartments square in the middle of the devastation.  Tia learns domestic skills from the other women while gleaning insights to the demons history.  Peter is determined to track Tia down, but is utterly clueless how to do so, plus he keeps getting roped into social events (a fellow knight is getting married).  Kyle is studying magic while acting as a witness at the trial of Lysander, a renegade magician.  Behind the scenes, a major faction of the clergy has decided that the only thing that will save the empire is divine intervention.  To bring this about, they plan to summon large numbers of 'servants of justice' (angels) via a bloody ceremony.  What the clergy does not know, but Tia's demonic captors and Lysander do, is this ritual will fail catastrophically.  Tia convinces one of the demons to change his mind about this ritual at the literal last minute, just as Peter and Kyle blunder upon them.  Instead of a summoning, the spell results in an unstable gate to Dagon's World.  Tia, Peter, Kyle, and the Demon (complicated) are drawn through.

Empire: Spiral - Most of this novella is set on Dagon's world, a barely habitable planet whose night sky is dominated by a massive spiral galaxy.  Here, Tia, Kyle, and Peter spend time in the island city of Carcosa, seat of the alien King in Yellow, and later bounce around Lake Dehme, looking for a way back to their world.  Eventually, Peter learns of such a portal, and drags Tia along on a futile quest to reach it.   The remainder takes place in Corber Port - the portal from the previous book remains open, and Lord Dagon, a vaguely squid-like being big as a castle, thinks the cities populace would make for a nice meal.  Rebecca, along with Lysander and others, work to seal this gate from their end.  In the end, Tia, Peter, and Kyle become agents of the demon, though not exactly willing ones.

Empire: Judgment - Put bluntly, Tia's demon stalker, irked at having his prior plans ruined, kidnaps the Emperor and others, placing them on trial for crimes against the demon world.

Think I've bored everybody enough.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 24, 2016)

SO MUCH STORY HAPPENING EVERYWHERE!! 
All of them sound awesome; I'm especially excited for the "unchosen" one. Sounds like it'll have a good sense of humor about it. 
Keep it up everybody!

Here's my WIP quick peek:
-----
A collection of criminals selected for a reconnaissance mission find out a secret society will pay fortunes for the assassination of their target, King Dogugorra, who's hiding deep in the mountains in an impenetrable beehive of his own goblin/giant hybrids.

A chronicler known as Old Book, investigating for the same secret society, stumbles upon a terrifying plot over one-hundred years in the making.

A girl learning how to care for a Spell-Fire that imprisons a dragon horde explores the secrets of her new tower home.
-----
Here's a sorta-spoiler;
They're all extremely connected.


It's been so much fun hammering the plot down to something manageable....
But seriously, I'm really excited about this draft.


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## Caged Maiden (Nov 24, 2016)

Yeah...there's some good reading in this thread, for sure! OMG, I want to read these stories! It's so fun to be in the loop and know what people are talking about, because we've been here since the beginning of many of these stories, and I get to see how they're developing. Oh man, so exciting. 

I'm still working on my rewrite, but I'm dragging my feet, I suppose. My goal is to have it completely finished and query-worthy by April, when I go to the conference. If by some miracle I get finished before then, I'll start on the next book's rewrite.

Raisa is the mistress of a powerful crime boss, and she is the queen of frauds. Everything about her life is fake, and she is tired of the lies--especially the ones she's been telling herself for years. A new face in her home makes her question who her enemies are, because Martin, the bard, seems to have a bit too much influence over Raisa's benefactor, and Raisa feels the need to step in and protect her interests.

She decides to leave the crime syndicate, and take with her a teenage girl in her care. But with every excuse Raisa makes, saying she needs more money, or that she'll be ready to leave after just one more job, those around her realize she's never actually going to leave.

Before she can overcome her own hesitations, a cryptic letter, sent by a man she murdered, arrives at the end of a drug binge. Raisa is so busy feeling sorry for herself and questioning the value of her life, that she's unprepared for the fate the gods dealt her. A group of treasure hunters are looking for the crypt of a long-dead mage, and they think Raisa's the one who can get them in to steal the treasures.

They kidnap her, and take the bard, too as an afterthought. Interrogated and tortured in a dungeon, it's only after they've given up all hope of surviving, that the bard reveals his terrifying nature as a werewolf, and they break free.

But when they run for safety, Raisa learns that not only is a madman on her trail, but that these werewolves are searching for her, too. She agrees to aid them in their quest to gain entry to the crypt. But along their journey, Raisa and the bard she hated become close friends and realize how much they have in common. Lies. So many lies.

When Raisa learns she's related to the pair of werewolves, she tries to leave them behind as nothing more than a bad memory. But her heart is heavy, knowing she's fallen in love. She returns and together, they plan how they're going to find the crypt and rescue two dragons out of it, who have been frozen in time by a goddess who wants them back.

In the end, Raisa has to come to terms with who she is, and has to decide whether to walk her own path, or to embrace a legacy handed down to her by her traitorous father.


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## Sheilawisz (Nov 24, 2016)

Hey CatholicCrow, great thread.

My WIP at the moment is called _Alice into Darkness_. It's my own Alice in Wonderland story, except that there are many differences when compared to the original: My Alice is twenty-two years old when she travels to the Fantasy world (which is called Wander's Land) for a second time, and she is red-haired and also suffers from a severe form of colorblindness.

She happens to be a murderous psychopath, as well!

It's a weird and creepy story, something very different from most of my other works. You can find it at the Showcase, in case you are curious about it... Alice into Darkness is already more than 57 thousand words long, and there is still a lot more to come. I think that it's going to be the longest work that I have shared here in Mythic Scribes.

After this story I am probably going to start _Freya 7_ but that is a very different thing.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Nov 24, 2016)

Loving hearing about all the stories here.


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## Michael K. Eidson (Nov 28, 2016)

My WIP is about the efforts of a sorceress, Lady Ryley, to restore the god Pyrsloe as head of the world's pantheon. Pyrsloe was once known as the Torturer, but has lost that title. Restoration of the title involves the ritual sacrifice of a thief who stole Pyrsloe's symbol of power two thousand years ago and caused the god's downfall. After all this time, the thief isn't around anymore, so the fatal punishment is to be levied against a married man named Alonso. He's a reincarnation of the thief. Several past lives separate Alonso from the thief of old, but that won't adversely affect the success of the ritual, and might even strengthen it.

Locket is a young woman who can walk in other people's dreams. Lady Ryley has been Locket's benefactor for five years, ever since the sorceress rescued Locket from the house fire that killed Locket's parents. The sorceress asks Locket to spy on Alonso's dreams to help determine the best way to emotionally torture him as part of the ritual. Locket refuses to help Lady Ryley, but then she starts spying on Alonso's dreams out of her own curiosity.

In due course, Locket discovers that the ancient theft was carried out by two lovers, Lord Sunspark and Lady Rainseeker. Alonso is a reincarnation of Lord Sunspark. Guess who's a reincarnation of Lady Rainseeker. You can guess where this is headed.

Tehn Khar, the god of rebirth, is the current leader of the pantheon. He and the other gods don't want Pyrsloe to be restored as their leader, but they must tread carefully so as not to start an all-out religious war or, worse yet, lose status themselves. There's a prophecy involved, and Lady Fate isn't about to let the other gods interfere with it, or she'll lose status. With the gods, status is everything.

That's the main plot. There are numerous side plots intricately interwoven with the main plot. There are at least nine different viewpoint characters that I can think of now, including one of the gods.

The story is with beta readers now. I've received great feedback from a couple of them so far, and know some changes that I'll want to make, but I'm waiting to make any changes until I receive feedback from those who are still reading. After four years of writing and revising, I'm so excited to be at this stage of the publishing process with my debut novel, which is Book 1 of a planned series. Book 2 is halfway written.


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## Miskatonic (Dec 14, 2016)

I can sum it up in one sentence: A ton of fleshed out ideas and zero confidence to write them.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Dec 19, 2016)

I just spend that last four years working on my epic fantasy novel The Crystal Heart, which is far too complex to explain in one sitting. 
My current work in progress is collecting various short stories and poems into one book [now entitled Phantom Life] while also writing my newest 'big' story, which doesn't have a title so far. My newest book is about a genderless being [Kanna] who is found and rescued by a cheerful, child-like creature [Satori], and the two gradually bond while they live together in a very peculiar and wacky wizardry village and Satori tries very hard to take care of Kanna, since the latter is still recovering from near catatonia. The two are linked in many different ways, and are assisted [as much as cryptic comments can assist] by three mysterious feminine beings and twelve ghostly cats. Meanwhile, across the realm [which so far doesn't have a name!], everything is turning to crystal, and no one knows why. 

My books always have at least three-five rules: 

1) Dead characters stay dead [unless they reincarnate]
2) There are always crystals, cats, braided hair, cloaks, spiritualism, mystical energy/magic, and angelic, healing beings. Oh, and everyone has bizarre skin colours/hair colours and are often energy beings.
3) No sex, ever. :skull:oop: Beings reproduce by energy fusion. 
4) There is always multiple 'Mega-Twists' throughout the story, which all need good foreshadowing


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Dec 19, 2016)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I just spend that last four years working on my epic fantasy novel The Crystal Heart, which is far too complex to explain in one sitting.
> My current work in progress is collecting various short stories and poems into one book [now entitled Phantom Life] while also writing my newest 'big' story, which doesn't have a title so far. My newest book is about a genderless being [Kanna] who is found and rescued by a cheerful, child-like creature [Satori], and the two gradually bond while they live together in a very peculiar and wacky wizardry village and Satori tries very hard to take care of Kanna, since the latter is still recovering from near catatonia. The two are linked in many different ways, and are assisted [as much as cryptic comments can assist] by three mysterious feminine beings and twelve ghostly cats. Meanwhile, across the realm [which so far doesn't have a name!], everything is turning to crystal, and no one knows why.
> 
> My books always have at least three-five rules:
> ...



Your writing sounds amazing. The ideas, anyway. I'd like to read this stuff. 

How'd you come up with those rules, though? Why do you have them? I don't have any rules to govern my writing...but I totally agree about the dead characters staying dead!! I'll probably break that rule someday though...that's why I don't make rules, lol.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Dec 19, 2016)

Thank you kindly. Of the few people who have read my work, they mainly comment on the good descriptions yet somewhat confusing narrative [my writing is often as dense as Tolkien sometimes!] 
I'm not sure where the rules came from; they sort of amassed throughout the years. Clamp manga gave me the idea about making sure dead characters stay dead, come to think of it [specifically, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle].


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## Futhark (Feb 11, 2017)

My project is a little clichÃ©, but that's because I want to do a more classical fantasy.  I aim to hit the old tropes head on with a twist and a modern edge.  It's about two young men, Natan and Boshen, who have great ability, opportunity, and enthusiasm.  They are part of a nation of clans that are returning to power in their corner of the world.  It has an eastern feel as it is inspired in part by the anime Naruto.  Honour is very important.  Natan is a Runecaster, but his anxiety limits his abilities, and he feels he is disappointing his family.  Boshen is basically a samurai/ranger (fumida?).  Natan has a near death experience and it gives him glimpses of the future.  He is not chosen because he is special, he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the right aptitude.  So he becomes the author of prophecy, and the agent at the same time.  Meanwhile, Boshen is bitten by a supernatural critter and starts to become was he has been taught is evil.  Somehow their fates intertwine and they stop the big bad.  In the end they are feared and reviled, chained and exiled, but somehow more free than at the start.

However, I have to admit, I'm really struggling with actually writing.  I love the world building side, everything from tectonic plates to technological advancement to cultural diffusion.  Nations view the same event differently, legends get warped, adapted and adopted, there's trade routes, lost knowledge, and a system that is flexible enough to incorporate pretty much whatever I want.

*BUT*

I can't write.  I know I just need to practice, but it is so frustrating when your a systems (or pattern) learner, and writing is a linear format.  It don't process well.  I was going to start with a prologue to introduce the bad guy and his long game, but I think I will drop that.  Reviewing my notes for the first chapter I realised that it serves the same function in that it describes the fundamentals of runecasting, only it starts with Natan going through his last test at the temple.  There is little dialogue because he's in a transitional stage and there's not many people in his life and, I don't know.  I feel like I'm telling someone how the house was built instead of showing it to them.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, just had to get it off my chest.


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## Alyssa (Feb 11, 2017)

Miskatonic said:


> I can sum it up in one sentence: A ton of fleshed out ideas and zero confidence to write them.



This, so much this.

My project is a dystopic high fantasy. 300 years ago a war precipitated the death of almost all the worlds magicians and the loss of most of their magical language (except among those who survive), however, due to magic being a recessive trait, new magicians were eventually born, without knowledge of the language. As such they were easily enslaved, becoming human energy sources that were used to power a magical industrial revolution. 300 years later, there's been a boom in agriculture and population. Greater urbanisation and a huge boost in military as magic obviates the need for workers in certain fields. An empire has developed around the source of the industrial revolution, connected by railways and a magical telegraph system. Meanwhile, despite the advances, due to the limitations of the magical language and the fact that a few individuals hold an absolute monopoly on it, progress, while initially advancing relatively rapidly has stagnated to a point where there's been no new developments for decades. The free distribution of magical power sources has made it impractical to develop a chemical industrial revolution, as there can be no profit in it and thus, no competition.

The gods have been gone for centuries, and being directly interventionist gods prior to their disappearance, belief in them has dropped precipitously, greater than if they had never actually interfered at all. Coupled with the inculcation of the belief that they were constructs created by magicians to enslave the rest of society has led to many religions disappearing entirely, and the rest becoming endangered species.

As such the world is one where there are new railways, machines, towering buildings and sprawling industrial complexes, against a backdrop of crumbling temples and the ruined schools of magic, the largest of which (the Factory) is now ironically used as the centralized workhouse of the entire enslaved magical underclass as they produce magical power to fuel the empire's lifestyle.

The war, which killed many civilians as well, caused a massive suspicion of magic in general. Coupled with the boost in technology it has led to a total extermination of the greater dragons and the keeping of the lesser dragons as pets, or ersatz-furnaces in luxury metalworking. 

The dwarves are a conquered race, subject to extreme discrimination. Driven out of their cities and their Delves they have only recently been permitted to work in state-run mines (which are often their own Delves), although some find a place in circuses. Their knowledge of metallurgy has been stolen, and applied in the industrial machine on an epic scale (i.e. no more dwarven smiths)

Elves have disappeared entirely, with no idea where they've gone.

The boost in technology has allowed for the mass production of boats with metal plated hulls, a necessary defense against a race of aquatic insectoids called the Fisherfolk, which have a tendency to bore hulls in ships and sink them. As such there is now a nascent naval power for the first time in the history of this world and with the main continent mostly conquered it is now seeking to expand into new territories rumored to exist across the seas.

Expansion into the Southern Deserts, beyond the Greyrise Mountain range (which is the source of the magical crystals essentially used as batteries - surprise, they're harvested from sentient magical creatures) led to the discovery of giant humanoid rock formations which have been crippled and domesticated into being walking collectors for a windblown narcotic found exclusively in the desert, known as Dust, which is used widely throughout the empire.


Now, for the main gist of the story. An enslaved magician girl, Aia, is transported to power the railways (the most powerful magicians are taken away from the Factory and stationed on the trains to ensure that the empires transport system never stops) but manages to escape into the Southern Desert, which because of its distance and relative inaccessibility has maintained a measure of independence. Finding a small group of sympathetic individuals (mostly dwarves - because of the way they're discriminated against). From here she sets out to free her fellow magicians from the Factory, blighted by the fact that her magic is running amok in sympathy with her emotions (as it's not being drained by continual work, and is building up) but finds that 1: some magicians, despite living a horrendous life of hunger, fear and exhaustion, are terrified to leave. 2: that their rebellion will result in the total grinding to a halt of the empire's machinery, transportation and agriculture. Resulting in an artificial Malthusian Catastrophe and an even greater hatred of magicians.

With no way to use their collective magic (despite causing a disaster by its withdrawal) they try to track down the missing gods (the only ones that they suspect can teach them magic, now that knowledge of it has faded from the world) with their overflowing magic causing minor natural disasters all around them. Some feel guilty about the devastation they've caused and turn themselves in, to continue a life of slavery. While others continue to find a way to achieve ultimate power (the fear of this eventuality coming around again, being what had led to their enslavement), in order to finally be free.

There are 2 other MCs as well and their points of view, but I think this sums it up pretty well... there's something wrong with me... I'm just a bad, bad person.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 11, 2017)

Now I am working on a new story. I wrote mostly half of it in a week, but then only kept around 20% of what I had written, if that. It is a quiet, unassuming, poignant tale about a genderless, semi-mythical being named Oueyia, who embarks on a quest to find their missing heart, accompanied by their beloved Kisa, an emotionally and physically scarred, mute girl; Kisa's bickering grandfathers, Annys and Oak; and Oak's feline familiar, Katea, who is definitely more than she seems. The trouble is, no one really knows where Oeuyia's heart actually is, and so they just end up wandering aimlessly for awhile until it becomes apparent that Oeuyia will die painfully without it. Shortly thereafter, Oeuyia is forced to make a heart-rending decision as certain revelations come to light.


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## ThinkerX (Feb 12, 2017)

Futhark and Alyssa (and others) -

You are not alone. Writing a major epic is intimidating.  Hence, 'Iron Pen,' and its successor, 'Top Scribe.'

'Iron Pen' was created at this site years ago to help budding authors hone their writing skills, to weave disparate elements together, and most importantly, to get them to finish a tale, even if it was a 'mere' short story.  I participated in most editions of Iron Pen, and even helped judge a couple.

When Iron Pen went away, I took note of the budding writers appearing on this site, and decided that challenge needed to be revived.  Hence, I started Top Scribe last year.  Top Scribe took the holiday season off, but now it is back, with a February edition - check it out in the 'Challenges' sub forum.


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## A. E. Lowan (Feb 12, 2017)

Here's the Blurb in Progress for _Faerie Rising_, the First Book of Binding, which we finished YESTERDAY!!!!

_Winter Mulcahy is many things to Seahaven, Washington.  The City of Peace.  The city with the highest per capita preternatural population in the world.  She is a physician.  Wizard.  A woman trying to survive a personal apocalypse while being the last flickering light of law keeping chaos at bay. 

She holds the city together by the skin of her teeth, the blood of her friends, and an addiction to stimulants that is killing her.  The young wizard is approached by a tarnished faerie knight who claims that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a prince, and that he is on a mission to rescue the boy.

They investigate, and what they find are wild magic, rifts between realms, and the deadly waters of preternatural politics all colliding to rip the city both figuratively and literally apart.

She's losing the fight with her personal demons.  He's been hiding from his for centuries.  Together are they strong enough to save the city and themselves?_


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## Malik (Feb 12, 2017)

My WIP is Book II of my series, titled _The New Magic_. Blurb in progress follows. I'll have to rework it so that it makes sense if you haven't read the first one. It's harder than I thought it would be.

*“Tell me who you ride beside, and I'll tell you who you are.”
- Falconsrealm proverb 

Former stuntman and swordmaster Jarrod Torrealday is now Lord Protector of Falconsrealm and a knight officer in the Order of the Stallion. He awakens one glorious fall morning to find his castle under siege and his alliances shattered as a new threat rises in the west. 

As Gateskeep rocks on its heels under a revolution he thought he’d averted, and foreign armies push into the borderlands, Jarrod must choose between siding with a sworn enemy for the greater good of the realm, or risking total war to save the life of an old friend.*

I'm on my second draft, which is a total rewrite; the first draft was mostly crap. Some scenes were in present tense, some were just pictures that I found on fantasy sites to tell me what I wanted to put in there. I started a complete rewrite from a blank page about a month ago and I'm at 50K words right now. I have the story; it's just a matter of picking the right words and putting them in the right order this time.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Feb 12, 2017)

I have 4 WIPs. 

1) Blood Iron- presently in the rewrite stage. This book is abbout a young man that has a disease that makes him an outcast. He struggled with who he is. Goes to college and joins a magic MMA college sponsored fight club. But also joins a terrorist organization. He leaves the organization and eventually fights against the terrorists. 

2) The Fallen-In the initial drafting stage. This is about a young man and his three friends. They were born into a religiously sanctioned thieving clan. Their clan is murdered in chapter 3. The boy finds out that he's a mage. He kills the man who betrayed his clan. Rips the soul away from a friend he made while spying on the friend's home country. And eventually becomes a despot of three different nations.

3) Father Novel (working title)-This is in the prewrite and early drafting stage. It's about a middle aged father who chased after his sons kidnappers. The bad guys are trying to sacrifice a two year old to summon a demon. The father is also an angel of death. 

4) magic lawyer novel (working title)-this is in the world building stage. The magic system is based on property law (so how you get magic depends upon your treatment of and access to real property.). The three main characters are a lawyer,a politician, and a soldier. The lawyer takes a case for a client that could change the concept of magazines c. The politician uncovers a huge corporate conspiracy. The soldier goes on a more traditional quest.


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## Insolent Lad (Feb 14, 2017)

My current WIP (unless I get sidetracked) is not speculative fiction at all but a bit of 'chick-lit' that should appear under a pen name. No need to go into that! But I have some projects in development — one is an SF/spy novel (shades of Poul Andersen) set on a world set up according to distributist concepts, possibly to be titled 'Feudal Planet.' And sequels to many of my other novels are in one stage of development or another — a new Polynesian-themed fantasy in my Mora series is a certainty.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Feb 15, 2017)

Malik said:


> I'm on my second draft, which is a total rewrite; the first draft was mostly crap. Some scenes were in present tense, some were just pictures that I found on fantasy sites to tell me what I wanted to put in there. I started a complete rewrite from a blank page about a month ago and I'm at 50K words right now. I have the story; it's just a matter of picking the right words and putting them in the right order this time.



Can't even describe how much I relate to this hahaha


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## Chessie (Feb 17, 2017)

@ AE Lowan: congratulations on finishing your novel. High five! 

So yay, I've started a new novel. Back to fantasy this time and it's good to be writing in my world again. The story is a fantasy romance based loosely on Beauty & the Beast. I know, I know. But I've always wanted to write a twist to this fairytale. I still haven't decided yet where the rose bush will come into play. There are some ideas floating in my head...one in specific that'll probably make the cut. For now, I'm just writing the story according to what's been marinating in my noggin'. Letting the idea sit for a few months always seems to be what works for me. I outlined the last two novels I wrote but will be pantsing this one, looks like. I'll also be putting it up on Wattpad and giving that another go.  -_-


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 18, 2017)

I suddenly stopped writing my second fantasy novel [roughly more than halfway, just when it was getting funny, too[, and and now working on a new story entitled Hatchling. For once I came up with the title right at the start instead of at the end.


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## Ronald T. (Mar 6, 2017)

After being gone for a month or so, I'm finally back from the necessary tunnel-vision I needed in order to complete my second E-book tasks.  They always seem to take forever.  I'm not that good at multi-tasking, so if I want to get something done in a timely fashion, I have to focus down on the challenge at hand.  

For the last few weeks I've had to place all my social networking on the back burner while I did a final edit on A DIRE ONUS.  It's only a couple of pages short of six hundred, so it takes awhile.  Plus, I had to write and edit all my front and back matter for the new E-book, and that takes a huge amount of time as well.

I'm so glad to be back with all of you here at Scribes.  My posting might be a little sporadic now and again, because I trying to finish the last hundred pages of book #3, already weighing in at five hundred pages.  I feel that six hundred pages is a good size for my novels -- not too long and not too short.

I'm waiting for the formatter to send me my formatted E-book, A DIRE ONUS, Book #2 in my epic-fantasy series, "The Blood-Rune Saga".  It's supposed to arrive some time this week, and I'm beside myself with excitement.  Of course, then I have to go over the entire formatted work to make certain there are no formatting errors.  It seems the work never ends. 

Book #1, THE UNNAMED RUNE, came out last September.  And if all goes as planned, book #3 will be ready for e-publication by the end of this year.

But you know what they say about plans..."Plan in one hand and sh..."  Well, you get the idea.

As always, my best to all of you.  I hope to be more active here once again, at least, moderately so.

Keep dreaming my friends, and may all your dreams be fulfilled.


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## Michael K. Eidson (Mar 6, 2017)

^ 600 pages. Yikes. For my own reading pleasure, I seldom buy anything longer than 400 pages, and prefer books around 300 pages. That's primarily because my time for reading is limited, and I don't like to be reading only one book for more than a month.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 6, 2017)

I read books anywhere from 300 to 600 to even 900 or more.


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## Michael K. Eidson (Mar 6, 2017)

Yeah, I know there's a market for the big books. I used to be part of the market, back when I had time. I look at one of those bigger books now, and I break out in hives.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Mar 6, 2017)

^iii liiiike big books and I can not lie...


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## Ronald T. (Mar 7, 2017)

I like long books as well, T Crystalline E and Dragon O T A.  In fact, I've read many that were over 1000 pages.  Once I get into a book, I never want it to end.  

But I certainly know what you're talking about, Michael K.  Time always becomes an issue.  And if you look forward to the final payoff at the end of a book, a longer book can be a bit frustrating.  Over the years, I've found the straightest pathway to happiness is a simple path:  one is less stressed when functioning as life and time-limits demand.  But who knows?  Someday, you might enjoy longer books once again, as you did in the past.  However, the best way to enjoy life is to do what suits you at the moment.  I usually don't go wrong with that philosophy. 

And as I said, it's good to be back.  

My best to all of you.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 7, 2017)

> Once I get into a book, I never want it to end.



Me, too.  It becomes a problem when the books in question are the ones I am writing, though,


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Mar 7, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> Me, too.  It becomes a problem when the books in question are the ones I am writing, though,



Lol! Don't I know it!!


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 7, 2017)

I've been trying to end my first book for four years. There's something like five books' worth of material.


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## Ronald T. (Mar 9, 2017)

Don't forget, Crystalline and Dragon, that if the book seems to be getting too long, you can split it into two books.  You just have to find a good breaking point, then create a satisfactory ending for the first portion, and finally, write a great tie-in for the beginning of the next volume.  Authors do it all the time.

And it might make completing a smaller project easier on you, and more satisfying when you eventually have a finished project in hand.  An additional value is...you have much of the second novel already written.  It seems a win/win opportunity.

May the universe smile upon you and lead you swiftly past those temporary stumbling blocks.  

I've been where you are now, and I had to break my first novel (originally right at a thousand pages) into two volumes.  It took awhile, but it finally came together.  Now I have two completed novels -- one at approximately 500 pages, the other right at 600 pages -- and the third novel in the series is less than 100 pages short of the final 600 pages planned.  

From the sound of it, you both have all the material you need.  Now it's just a matter of how to arrange and complete what you already have.  I have every confidence you can do it.  It sounds like you're so close to success, it just takes that final push.

As always, all my best.


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## Chessie (Mar 11, 2017)

@Malik & A.E. Lowan: product descriptions are a bitch. I just spent an hour cleaning one up, that I had already outsourced. Someday, I hope to find someone who can do the entirety of it!


(Here's part of mine)
_The Countess Of Shimmering Bay:
A sorceress has cursed him. 
A countess of profound beauty with a rare ability is his single hope.
To avoid becoming a monstrosity, Duke Filip Durand of Ilesia devises a plan to draw near the countess and learn her mystical secrets. There is only one small problem—he never intended to fall in love. Now she knows the truth about his affliction and after all they’ve endured together, it may be too late for him. 

Some suitors have desired her riches.
Others have coveted her power. 
Therefore, Countess Ida Almassy of Kalmar protects her heart behind a veritable wall of ice. Even from the charming duke visiting her castle, with whom she shares an inexplicable chemistry. His proposition of marriage promises to align their lands against a menacing darkness that threatens their future and the welfare of their people. However, she soon discovers the man she loves harbors a deadly secret—one leading to heartache and the destruction of the magic sustaining her life.

Together they must band against the evil that plagues their homeland and promises to destroy their most valued asset: each other. 
_

(And of course, I had to add in a sex warning, since some readers would probably like to know what lies between the covers heh)


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Mar 11, 2017)

Chessie said:


> @Malik & A.E. Lowan: product descriptions are a bitch. I just spent an hour cleaning one up, that I had already outsourced. Someday, I hope to find someone who can do the entirety of it!
> 
> 
> (Here's part of mine)
> ...



The part about avoiding becoming a monstrosity intrigues me. I'd say it's good then.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 11, 2017)

Ronald T.: Thank you kindly.  My main 'problem' is that I have a lot of background information that is really interesting but not really related to the story.


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## Malik (Mar 11, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> Ronald T.: Thank you kindly.  My main 'problem' is that I have a lot of background information that is really interesting but not really related to the story.



It doesn't have to go in the story. This is the whole "iceberg theory" of worldbuilding, again. The size of the iceberg beneath the water is what stabilizes the tip that the readers can see. There is no such thing as too much worldbuilding; only too many infodumps. And that's for your editor to decide, anyway.


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## Insolent Lad (Mar 13, 2017)

Though it is not at all what I thought I would be working on right now, I find myself about halfway through typing out another 'fantasy adventure' almost certainly to be titled The Crocodile's Son, and following the life in retirement of the former Pirate Queen, Qala, who was a secondary character in my The Eyes of the Wind. Her life is complicated by the fact that a god-in-disguise got her pregnant and more or less abandoned her (hence the title). Plus said god's relatives are taking an interest and her noble neighbor's bride-to-be has run off and her young bailiff has fallen in love with her and, oh yes, she kind of prefers girls herself.


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## Ronald T. (Mar 13, 2017)

I just received the first formatted version of my second novel, A DIRE ONUS, last evening.  And now my work begins again as I go over everything with a fine-tooth comb.

If all goes well, and there are only a few typos and formatting corrections to be made, I will be able to e-publish the second volume of “The Blood-Rune Saga” series in the next week or so.  You can watch for it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the Smashwords sites. 

After all the endless hours and hard work, I must admit, this is always an exciting time.

As usual, my best wishes to all of you.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Mar 14, 2017)

Ronald T. said:


> I just received the first formatted version of my second novel, A DIRE ONUS, last evening.  And now my work begins again as I go over everything with a fine-tooth comb.
> 
> If all goes well, and there are only a few typos and formatting corrections to be made, I will be able to e-publish the second volume of “The Blood-Rune Saga” series in the next week or so.  You can watch for it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the Smashwords sites.
> 
> ...



OOH! That's so exciting! Congrats!!!


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 15, 2017)

I'm hoping to publish my first book in the coming months. I'll see what happens, though.


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## skip.knox (Mar 15, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I'm hoping to publish my first book in the coming months. I'll see what happens, though.



Here's to moving from hoping to planning to scheduling!


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 15, 2017)

^Thank you! I have pretty much all I need to publish it; I found this great publishing website, my book just needs a bit of editing, and then I need to paint the cover.


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## Malik (Mar 21, 2017)

Side project, a children's picture book with my wife. _Rosie the Toad and the Pie a la Mode Overload._ 

My wife found a frog in a rose, and painted it from memory last Saturday, and I started dorking around with rhymes about toads in rose abodes, and then we got drunk and started rhyming and sketching, and now we're storyboarded and she's starting on the art. it will probably be a Christmas present for family and friends who have small children. It's a nice break, though.


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## neodoering (Mar 22, 2017)

I'm working on a short story about how 3 Maya Indian heroes in 2071A.D. conquer the United States.  I am deeply interested in the Maya and enjoy writing stories and whole novels about them.  This one is mixed fantasy and science fiction.  It needs another week's worth of work before it'll be ready to show to anyone.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Aug 16, 2017)

What's new everyone?


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## Garren Jacobsen (Aug 16, 2017)

Just completed my first draft of my first ever serious short story ~3500 words. It's about a grizzled ghost hunter and a young boy. The young boy steals some bread, the hunter chases. Boy eats bread. Finds out oh snap it's magic ghost bread. Man takes boy so that boy isn't killed. Evil ghost eating demon shows up. Gets killed gets turned into ghost spice that will be excellent on a dry rub if paired with saffron. It's in the showcase if you want to be an alpha reader.


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## pmmg (Aug 16, 2017)

My Current WIP is a sequel to a story I began to write some years ago that was never really intended to more than a short, but it grew with a life of its own. I have been working on it for some years, unfortunately, as life happens, the kids got older and my free time diminished. 

The story is more a traditional fantasy novel in a northern setting. When I started, the world (our world) was actually quite different than it is today, and some of the themes in it no longer seem relevant. I wrestle with whether the story should change because of it. I feel like some of the things it is saying are now kind of moot, but others still prevail to this day.

This second installment has not been easy. Every piece of it has proven difficult to get on paper, and I am not really sure why. At present I am on chap 27. Unlike its predecessor which was more of an action story, this one is a mystery with more political intrigue. 

I have no elevator speech for the tale. It takes on many ideas (I suppose most stories do). Essentially it is about a girl with a magic sword in a troubled time, and all the difficulty it brings.


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## skip.knox (Aug 16, 2017)

I posted last November. _Tuck the Unchosen_ and _The Falconer_ are both still waiting in the wings because another story has shouldered its way past. (hey, no cuts!)

My current WIP is _A Child of Great Promise_, the story of a a girl who is half elf, half human who finds out she is neither. How do you figure out who you really are when you are nobody?

_Goblins at the Gates_ is done, waiting on cover art.

I have a revamped web site, but I'm delaying roll out until _Goblins_ is ready to market.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Aug 16, 2017)

TheCatholicCrow said:


> What's new everyone?



I'm redrafting Red Nights. It's going rather slowly.


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## Insolent Lad (Aug 16, 2017)

Around 30,000 words into the next one, to be titled (most likely) The Ways of Wizardry. I was editing a short story where I had been inconsistent about whether to refer to a demon as 'he' or 'it' and when I reached the end I just kept writing with no real plan. Decidedly unusual for me as I generally have a bunch of future projects sketched out and waiting. Nothing startling new or groundbreaking with this one, just a young wizard and his journey (while being stalked by varied demon assassins).


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