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Sir Zyr

New Member
So I stumbled on this forum while googling around on how to make elves, well, not annoying and while the advice I found wasn't really applicable to my story, I poked around and liked what I saw.

Anyway, I'm writing a dark fantasy novel, currently, about, Raven, an eighteen year old elf woman who used to be a slave before she killed her master (right after he killed her mother, the one person who cared about her up to then) in a teary fit of rage, and later joined a religious priesthood (for the church of Nightfall) that secretly breaks into noble's homes and frees slaves while openly advocating for equality and an end to slavery (in part because it was founded by elves, who the largely human nobles largely see as beautiful savages only useful for slavery and all that implies, with a few "good ones" that rise to nobility. It does include humans among its ranks, though). I added an LGBT twist in having her fall for Evi, a sixteen-year-old human woman who she saved and took a liking to her (Raven was the first person to show her any kindness in her life), becoming her main source of growth.

The main plot, however, revolves around a noble who is targeting men and women saved by her friend and fellow priest, Tom, and their attempt to hunt him down and stop him from hurting anyone else.

I'm avoiding any explicit content, focusing on implying the things the slaves and former slaves went through, both because I don't feel comfortable writing about the things they go through and the fact that, per my bi-monthly writing critique group's leader, people don't respond well to explicit portrayals of such things anyway (plus no sleeping together for Raven and Evi, as does it make sense for two people who have gone through what they have to want to go that far very quickly?). I'm about 40% done with it (at the point where Raven realizes her feelings for Evi and the protagonists are figuring out what the nobleman is up to), but am also admittedly a very lazy writer so I expect another four or five months.

And yes, I really did want to talk about what I'm writing. I regret nothing
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Hail and well-met Sir Zir
Good to have you here.
"je ne regrette rien" as someone once sang.
It sounds like an interesting tale.
It will be a tricky path to follow. You need to make slavery awful but to not make in adversity "porn".
I must admit that I tend to gloss over battle scenes when the author starts writing about how muscles and sinews are torn and cut by an axe blade, or when they become "realistic" about how women were treated.
Hope you find Ms as helpful as I do.
Four to five months to write 60% of a book? I wouldn't call that lazy...;)
 
Welcome Sir Zyr! It's true, many readers are not fond of overly explicit descriptions, myself included, of the worst of humanity.

I've always found it amusing that much writing advice centers around including only what details are necessary and yet so many writers tend to decide that every detail is indeed necessary when it comes to the very worst of their characters experiences and actions. Of course, I DO love detail about places, people, food and cultures so I suppose it is just another side of the same preference coin. :) Best of luck with your work!
 
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