My story might suddenly become far darker than anything I've ever written--help?

[TheCrystallineEntity]

^Well, that's kind of the point of them exploring the afterlife.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Well, I did it: I merged both ideas into one [but got rid of the time skip]. I'm now unsure where to go from here.

 

[Mike Chara]

I have this problem too. I'll have a great plot outlined for the story in general, then put the characters in there and the bastards just run off and do their own thing, or get caught in something else – sometimes really horrible things.

Do you have a trusted reader somewhere?

I found where my last story lurched off into something particularly dark and troubling, I had to send it to a few friends who read a lot of fantasy. They let me know where it needed toning down, where it was okay, and helped me nail the subject matter tactfully.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I have this problem too. I'll have a great plot outlined for the story in general, then put the characters in there and the bastards just run off and do their own thing, or get caught in something else – sometimes really horrible things.

Do you have a trusted reader somewhere?

I found where my last story lurched off into something particularly dark and troubling, I had to send it to a few friends who read a lot of fantasy. They let me know where it needed toning down, where it was okay, and helped me nail the subject matter tactfully.

Characters can be so troublesome and impudent!

I tend to trust my characters. Perhaps that's not always a good idea, I don't know.

 

[Mike Chara]

Characters can be so troublesome and impudent!

I tend to trust my characters. Perhaps that's not always a good idea, I don't know.

Yeah me too, I find it makes the story more believable and organic! Trying to jam characters into plots they would never go for or into things they wouldn't do, seems a sure-fire way to make something bad.

To the OP, if you want a critique let me know, I'd love to give it a read. Also I'm new here, hopefully offering this is the done thing around here.
Either way I'd enjoy helping if I can.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I wrote the whole book in about a week. It's still a first draft, so parts need to fixed and expanded on here and there, but I like the ending I came up with.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

It can be difficult at times to keep characters in line. I'm redrafting (I think that's the right word) my WIP now, and have a new outline for it, based on beta reader feedback. But as I'm writing the new material or modifying existing material, I discover things about these characters that I didn't know before. They sometimes want to stray from the outline, and I let them, to see where they are going. So far I like where they take me better than what I'd envisioned for them. I readjust my outline to accommodate them, and am loving how the modified outline feels more natural. It's not easy thinking of everything in advance. So while I'm not pantsing exactly, I'm also not willing to strictly stick to an outline just because I have one. But I keep the outline, modifying it to keep it self-consistent and in sync with the story draft, so that I still know where the story is going and that it still makes sense to go there.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

After all, I just write the thing.

I've come up with a rather neat idea: that the semi-mythical Sereners in my book are sort of like guardian spirits assigned to a particular person whenever that person is about to die, to sort of 'ease their passing'. But what happens when a Serener falls in love with the person about to die? I'm excited to find out more about them when I fix up the first draft.

 

[Mike Chara]

After all, I just write the thing.

I've come up with a rather neat idea: that the semi-mythical Sereners in my book are sort of like guardian spirits assigned to a particular person whenever that person is about to die, to sort of 'ease their passing'. But what happens when a Serener falls in love with the person about to die? I'm excited to find out more about them when I fix up the first draft.

Sounds awesome, if you could kindly hurry up so we know too, that would be great

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I basically just solved one of the biggest plot holes [that is, why in the world Sereners Yinxi and Na-ah would marry flower maiden Lien; obviously they fell in love when Lien was dying--flower maidens don't live very long]. Now, however, that raises other questions--since Kisa [their daughter] has two Sereners and a flower maiden as parents, what does that make her?

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Trying to jam characters into plots they would never go for or into things they wouldn't do, seems a sure-fire way to make something bad.

That happened with my last book. I tried to make the MC have a change of heart sooner in the story than she was ready for, and I spent a long while trying to remedy the mess it got me in...

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I basically just solved one of the biggest plot holes [that is, why in the world Sereners Yinxi and Na-ah would marry flower maiden Lien; obviously they fell in love when Lien was dying--flower maidens don't live very long]. Now, however, that raises other questions--since Kisa [their daughter] has two Sereners and a flower maiden as parents, what does that make her?

Gonna echo Mike Chara above; write the story so we can find out!

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I once tried to make my heroes die before they were ready. That was a huge mess. They were annoyed for days.

^It is written; I just have to...edit...it. Oh, dear. That might take awhile.

 

[bestellen]

Do you have a trusted reader somewhere?

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I once tried to make my heroes die before they were ready. That was a huge mess. They were annoyed for days.

^It is written; I just have to...edit...it. Oh, dear. That might take awhile.

I'd be annoyed too.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Do you have a trusted reader somewhere?

Um...no, unfortunately. [I'm mostly too shy to share my stories much.]