Recent content by TJPoldervaart

In the western zodiac, the signs aries (ram), leo (lion), and sagittarius (often depicted as a centaur, which is part horse), are all associated with the element of fire. So, a ram, a lion, or a horse might make sense. If you want to go the animal route, there's also fireflies. Then you could...

There's also the writing excuses podcast. This is four fantasy authors talking about the art of writing. I incidentally just listened to season 10 episodes 31 & 32, and they're both about pacing and give some really useful advice. You can find them here if you're interested.

Nothing quite as important as enough space for bicycles. On a more serious note, there's endless amounts of rooms probably. Some others I can think of are a theatre, a chemical laboratory, and a workspace for technological projects/ magical experimentation. And I agree with Chasejxyz. There's...

So, it sounds like you're looking for spirit animals that would be fitting for a European/North-African setting. Now, that sounds to me like you would want animals that are both interesting and fitting for the heritage of your MC. So, a couple ideas: - Research flags of nations/provinces/cities...

I agree, it seems very similar to Christianity (virgin birth, son of god, holy trinity). And because they seem alike, I think the most faithful solution (excuse the pun) would be to have different factions within the religion, have them disagree, and let them have faith in their version of the...

The Stormlight Archive is similar, but not the same. I would say the biggest difference is that in the Stormlight Archive, most power lays with the men, while in your idea, most power lays with women. They are similar in the idea that men are warriors/workers and women are scholars/caretakers...

The Alethi society in the Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson) is very close to this. In this society, men are the leaders and warriors, while women are the scholars and artists, and it is actually shameful for men to be able to read.

Some ideas: - Pyromancy is the obvious one (so I get why you would look for something else). - Berserkers; heat and rage seem linked to me. It also would be nice in opposition of your knights of winter. - Undying/Phoenix; a magic where death is temporary, but might hurt the user in another way...

I try to not judge books by their cover, but I'd lie if I'd say it didn't play a part. For me, one of the nice things about books is they become the 'decoration' in my room after they're finished, and if a cover is extremely ugly, I'll make sure to stash it someplace I won't see it. Then again...

In The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, the antagonist turns out to be the protagonist from the future.

During one of his lectures on YouTube, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Stormlight Archive) advised aspiring authors to write novels as standalones with the potential to become series. Maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but I liked the advice and took it to heart. As such, I create an entirely new...

In one of the novels I'm working on, I decided to use some of the more 'traditional' fantasy races (dwarves and goblins), but use them in what I thought would be a fun new way. The novel is set in a booming industrialist city with many different races intermingling. The dwarves, for instance...

Rereading the first Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson an planning to read The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter next.

Hi Kyne, welcome to Mythic scribes! I might be interested in swapping out novels for proof reading/ beta reading. What's your novel about?

If you want a character to introduce your protagonists to the antagonist, why not make them a henchman of the antagonist? They could still fake being unconscious and be part of the trap to take down the protagonists. Or be mind, controlled as you suggested at first, which would give an awesome...