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So I'm Writing a Series

I've been working on this for a long time. Like a decade. I've been trying to develop the idea more, and feedback is always appreciated.

So to keep things brief, here is the basic idea of what it is:

In a post-apocalyptic, post-human world, wolves are now top of the food chain. They have made a new civilization, led by the Archivists. Intelligent wolves who are admired for their wisdom. They lead their country in the direction of peace and progress, but on one fateful day, the country is invaded by Inferno, wolves who pride themselves in their old traditions and virtues. This army was led by Vadim, an Archivist, now turned traitor. He has claimed the title of Tzar and rules the country strictly.

In a now-oppressed country, a wolf named Halina is left with the task of uncovering ancient weapons of mass destruction, before a cruel War-Chief named Artyom, can get his paws on them. With the help of Gaius, a clever fox, Yaromir, an old warrior, Nikolai, a creative engineer, and Maks, a fun-loving puppy, she must race across the country to uncover the truth, while uniting the country to fight back against their oppressors.

This is "The Archivists". A dark post-apocalyptic adventure drama. I have a rough draft of a PDF with the world-building information that I'm using as a guidebook while I write the story. Most of the images I just quickly pulled from google images, but some of the art, like the title, and characters (like the ones on the title) were paid commissions from an artist friend of mine.

You can check out the PDF here: Archivists Guide book Draft 2.pdf

It includes summarized details of the world's history, mythology, factions, regions, technology, and legends, basically, when I have an idea, I just add it to the book. It's rough, it might have some grammar issues, and feel free to tell me about it. I'm a guy who listens to feedback. :)

I'm always looking for thoughts and feedback, and I'm also more than happy to answer any questions about the world or story. I really hope I can get some interest in this idea and can grow it more to be an incredible setting for the story to take place in.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this world. :)
 
That's an impressive bit of worldbuilding. One thing missing (on a quick scroll through it) was information on the antagonists. Where are those inferno wolves coming from? what culture do they have? What do they want?
That's a great question. I'm wanting their faction to be antagonistic, but with more depth than simply being sadistic killers. They were one of the first tribes to exist in the new world in the First Era, and have been at war with the Archivists since the railway was first established. Since then they've had a complicated relationship with the Archivists, even at one point becoming part of society.

They believe in Domuethes' ideas of learning from man's mistakes, choosing to be ignorant of the old world. They are very prideful as warriors and hunters and think very highly of themselves. As far as culture, Inferno is very much a warrior culture. In fact, some will often fight and kill fully grown bears to gain respect and glory.

They want to take and keep control of the country as they believe their land was stolen and ruined by the Archivists. While they are the antagonists, My hope for their motivations is to be more believable than your usual one-note bad guys who want to take over the world because they want power or to be in charge. Inferno is very much revenge driven.

Thanks for giving this a look. I'm always happy to talk about this project with others, and it helps me to develop the idea more. :)
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
The PDF is impressive. Have you started writing any of it yet? and if not, what are you waiting on?

If they believe the land was taken and ruined by the Archivists, is that not enough reason to be the antagonists? I mean, cant let another one mark in your territory. Dogs might likely respond to that.
 
The PDF is impressive. Have you started writing any of it yet? and if not, what are you waiting on?

If they believe the land was taken and ruined by the Archivists, is that not enough reason to be the antagonists? I mean, cant let another one mark in your territory. Dogs might likely respond to that.
I actually have the first episode mostly written out, though the only real thing keeping me from completing it is a lack of confidence in myself to finish, topped with the scale of it just being intimidating to someone like me. I usually write comedy sketches, but I wanted to put my heart into something more meaningful to me than just another one-off comedy script. It's the main reason I joined the forum. To find like-minded people to share my work with, and see if that could motivate me to finish the script. It feels empowering when I see people take an interest in the project, and that fuels my motivation to continue writing. Once I finish the first episode script (which should be soon I hope) I'm hoping to share it here for additional feedback. It's good to hear others' input on this project.

I suppose you're right as well about the antagonists. I tend to overthink these things, so it's great to hear it simplified. It's like breathing a sigh of relief BECAUSE I was simply overthinking it. Something I need to work on with myself. Thank you for taking a look. :)
 

Curatia

Scribe
Wow, there is a lot of worldbuilding in this pdf. Your world seems very richly detailed, especially in its history.

I can understand how lack of confidence can hold you back from completing a project, but the best advice I can give you is to finish the draft of episode one. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can always fix anything you don't like once it is complete, but you can't fix a blank page. You have a great idea set in a fascinating world. You're ready to take it to the next level. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
 
Wow, there is a lot of worldbuilding in this pdf. Your world seems very richly detailed, especially in its history.

I can understand how lack of confidence can hold you back from completing a project, but the best advice I can give you is to finish the draft of episode one. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can always fix anything you don't like once it is complete, but you can't fix a blank page. You have a great idea set in a fascinating world. You're ready to take it to the next level. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
Thank you. It's encouraging to hear that. I'll see if I can have something ready by the weekend. It's better to write something than nothing. :)
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
No matter what you write 95-99 of 100 ppl wont find it to be their thing. You write for the 1-5 that it is. If your lucky, those ppl will admit it not blame the work but… ppl do what ppl do. You got to write for yourself first. Do you like it?
 
No matter what you write 95-99 of 100 ppl wont find it to be their thing. You write for the 1-5 that it is. If your lucky, those ppl will admit it not blame the work but… ppl do what ppl do. You got to write for yourself first. Do you like it?
The idea sprung out at me when I was watching the first half of All Dogs Go to Heaven, where you see all these dogs in their own world with jails, casinos, sort of like a junkyard civilization, and thought to myself "why couldn't this be the whole movie"? Then I ended up watching a documentary on wolves in Chornobyl, and then I had my premise.

This was back when I was in high school, 2012ish, and since then I have been constantly revisiting and adding to the idea of this world, and its society, and I found it to be super fun just building the world. So much that I would end up forgetting the story sometimes, but I have a story. It's just a matter of getting myself to sit still long enough to write it out. Most of it is already written, I just need an ending. :)
 
Sounds like you need to get it out. You dont have an end in mind?
I have kind of an idea. Like the framework for the story is there, important plot points, pivotal moments, characters, and arcs, the hardest part is the execution, making the dialogue organic, or situations making sense with the logic of the world. I may have written myself into a wall, but I think I know how to fix that now.

I'm writing it in screenplay format, and I'm focusing a lot on the first episode, where we get to meet the main heroes, and villains, as well as establish their goals, personalities, and a little bit of the setting. Making some progress now. Hopefully, I can finish the first draft by this weekend. Maybe sooner if things start to flow well. :)
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I cannot speak to your experience. For myself, I have very often written towards walls, but so far, the direction I should go has appeared as I got to them. Very few scenes pop out on page the way I first imagined them. So, I get used the surprises. As Bob Ross would say, there are not mistakes, just happy accidents.

If its a series, maybe the goal is to keep it going indefinitely.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
The first book is often the hardest to write, especially in emotional and psychological terms. With experience you learn to cut away a lot of irrelevant drek, but the first time out it's almost impossible to tell what's important and what isn't, so it ends up looking huge when it's merely big.

For my first outing (and, really, every one thereafter), it wasn't the world or even the story that carried me. It was finding one character I cared about. That got me going, because once I genuinely cared about that character, genuinely thought they were interesting, I felt sort of obliged to get the story told. Because it was *their* story. That expanded to three characters, and then included occasional characters (the kind that are around for multiple scenes but not the whole book). Along the way, I found ways to care about the story itself, but it was always through the perspective of the characters.

So, here's the advice: invest as much time in your characters as in your worldbuilding.
 

Babayaga321

Scribe
You can check out the PDF here: Archivists Guide book Draft 2.pdf
You're certainly covering a lot of ground in your worldbuilding (excellent work BTW), just follow some of the advice already written here by others and you should be okay. By what you said earlier, your path seems more or less clear right up towards the end.... whereas my beginning and ends are clear, it's just all the mucking about in between that I constantly struggle with... :) Good luck with it... and keep at it. :)
 
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