Where'd you get the concept? Your own mind? I Googled botchlings and found an entry on the Witcher wiki that made no mention of the limitation you're dealing with here.
The answer, with respect to a specific version you're inventing, seems to be wrapped up in the nature of magic itself within...
I've been struggling with this same thing, but my tentative conclusion is different. I think this is a case of clash between motivation (edit:discipline?) and inspiration. When I write the notes, my entire state of mind is different from when I read them, and that creates a kind of tension that...
Every sample given here was a gem for me, but I gotta say the Martian one was something else.
Hot, warm, steam. These words here were solid. And I love anything that makes reality and imagination/memory/dreams react together. That passage is a great reminder of why this stuff is so great...
Edit: I think I misunderstood something about your concept of the limitations, but my points wrt to that are still important in answering the question of the thread. Weirdly enough, even though most of my brainstorming and daydreaming seems to be about concepts and stories that aren't suited to...
If you're gonna start reading YA Fantasy I recommend The Bartimaeus Trilogy (plus fourth book that's an almost standalone prequel).
Alternate London in a, come to think of it, ambiguous time period that sorta resembles an even more modern 1940's or so. England is the world superpower and is...
Look at the effects of adrenaline. Isn't that precisely a form of overclocking? Our muscles have way more potential than our bodies give us access to in normal circumstances, but it requires us to genuinely fear for our lives or the lives of others. The classic example is mothers who lift cars...
To me this sounds like a very ripe Terry Pratchett setup. If I were working with this kind of idea I think I would make it really on the nose that prophecies are inherently strange, and make it clear from the get-go that not only is Tuck NOT the chosen one, but that it's a casual and somewhat...
Imagine meeting a historical idol of yours unexpectedly, or in analogous circumstances to your fantasy-characters meeting this god. It won't be exactly the same, but you know how analogies go.
I want to just say "imagine it," what your characters are going through, but it feels like the...
I know you already explained yourself twice, but I'm still a bit confused. Can you put your problem into more specific, practical terms that I (or we) can directly grasp?
Are you saying that you feel like your perception of your character's perception is misaligned? Cupofjoe and pmmg have put...
All I'm saying is that we set the parameters by which we judge ourselves. This includes you. There's no more reason that humans are inherently evil than that they are inherently good. But we can explore good and what it means, without needing the actors to be perfect. In fact far from it. And in...
Try applying something of your fan-fiction mindset to original writing. Ask yourself what your character would do if they were in exactly the same situation as a character from something you love. See if their path can wildly shoot off at some point. Be okay with dropping it if you can't make it...
Who says humans are bad? Humans.
Who determines what a "clean" slate is, and then respects hypothetical beings for having traits they gave them? Humans.
Who experiences fear, uncertainty, starvation, betrayal, etc? All animals, and humans are animals.
Who asked for these things? In the words...
Futhark and the orc actually started this. That's what I get for making my post before reading through the new stuff. Can't edit my comment for some reason. Guess there's a limit?
So yeah like they were saying.
You know what's a fun thought expander for giants? Applying different levels of realism to their interactions with whatever world you're plopping them in. These different levels of realism also have subcategories - the physical, the biological, the cultural, to name a round three. On one end you...
Devor I love that setup, especially with the two vials. Would the mist be less effective when the delirium is thicker? I guess that might put too much of a time limit on using them. It's cooler to me that the protag has these two chances to see his friend again. I also wonder what the giant...