Amanita
Maester
Given that you’ve all been so helpful with my last questions, I’m going to ask another one.
I’ve finally gotten my motivation back, so far, so good. There’s another problem groping up however. The story is getting very long already, but there’s so much to come. I’ve got five chapters and a prologue now, about 25 000 words and my main character Lenima is still struggling through her magical illness and I’ve realised that the ritual they’re going to do to cure her will probably take up another chapter.
After this she has to travel to another country to meet her mentor, be attacked on the way to his home, learn to control her magic and go to school, where she’s going to find out quite a few plot-relevant things. Only when this is done, the actual quest is going to start where she joins a group travelling the country to find dangerous magical substances hidden by a past villain before the current villains do.
While Lenima is getting her training from the male main character Corin, there’s a rebellion happening in the country where they’ve been attacked while travelling through. The antagonistic terrorist organisation is coming out of this victorious, leads this country from then on and prepares for war. Outright war will be avoided as I assume at the moment but I can’t say for sure yet because it also depends on what would make most sense when I’ve gotten there.
The second female main character Rijuna is trying to track some of the villains down together with her partner before they meet to go on the quest. She’s met Lenima before because she’s helped her with her magic and they meet again to go on the quest later.
If I continue at this pace, that will be one very long story. I’ve already cut a plotline I really liked because it would have made the beginning too long but it’s still quite long. Now I’m wondering if I should separate the stories in some way. At least to me, they all seem linked, but there’s also the problem that Lenima’s and Rijuna’s stories have quite different tones.
Lenima is a very innocent character in more ways than one and her first part is a typical coming of age story, she’s seventeen at the beginning. This part has quite family-friendly messages too and would probably be good for younger readers.
Rijuna’s part however is quite different. She has suffered human-caused trauma in the past and the political situation in her country has had quite an influence on her character. In addition to that, her sexual morals aren’t exactly what’s common in our culture either. She’s getting herself into a relationship with a character whom actually sees as an enemy, partly attracted to him and partly wanting to manipulate him, while he’s doing his share of manipulating as well. While hunting down their enemies, they unlike Lenima aren’t above killing if necessary or resorting to measures that would be viewed as torture by most of us. Those two parts don’t really have the same target audience or so it seems to me.
The second part has both because it also has both main characters.
Splitting it doesn’t really work in my mind because everything is interlinked. The thread on war rape might have given you an idea.
Not writing Rijuna’s part in detail but only through bits of information the other characters receive is a potential option, this would also help to make the beginning a bit shorter. I do think that it’s quite important though.
Given the fact that I highly doubt the story will ever be published I don’t really need to worry about that just yet, but I still do and I’d like to hear what you think. The simple fact that it’s getting very long is a problem for any publishing ambitions as well because a first time author probably wouldn’t get away with that either.
I’ve finally gotten my motivation back, so far, so good. There’s another problem groping up however. The story is getting very long already, but there’s so much to come. I’ve got five chapters and a prologue now, about 25 000 words and my main character Lenima is still struggling through her magical illness and I’ve realised that the ritual they’re going to do to cure her will probably take up another chapter.
After this she has to travel to another country to meet her mentor, be attacked on the way to his home, learn to control her magic and go to school, where she’s going to find out quite a few plot-relevant things. Only when this is done, the actual quest is going to start where she joins a group travelling the country to find dangerous magical substances hidden by a past villain before the current villains do.
While Lenima is getting her training from the male main character Corin, there’s a rebellion happening in the country where they’ve been attacked while travelling through. The antagonistic terrorist organisation is coming out of this victorious, leads this country from then on and prepares for war. Outright war will be avoided as I assume at the moment but I can’t say for sure yet because it also depends on what would make most sense when I’ve gotten there.
The second female main character Rijuna is trying to track some of the villains down together with her partner before they meet to go on the quest. She’s met Lenima before because she’s helped her with her magic and they meet again to go on the quest later.
If I continue at this pace, that will be one very long story. I’ve already cut a plotline I really liked because it would have made the beginning too long but it’s still quite long. Now I’m wondering if I should separate the stories in some way. At least to me, they all seem linked, but there’s also the problem that Lenima’s and Rijuna’s stories have quite different tones.
Lenima is a very innocent character in more ways than one and her first part is a typical coming of age story, she’s seventeen at the beginning. This part has quite family-friendly messages too and would probably be good for younger readers.
Rijuna’s part however is quite different. She has suffered human-caused trauma in the past and the political situation in her country has had quite an influence on her character. In addition to that, her sexual morals aren’t exactly what’s common in our culture either. She’s getting herself into a relationship with a character whom actually sees as an enemy, partly attracted to him and partly wanting to manipulate him, while he’s doing his share of manipulating as well. While hunting down their enemies, they unlike Lenima aren’t above killing if necessary or resorting to measures that would be viewed as torture by most of us. Those two parts don’t really have the same target audience or so it seems to me.
The second part has both because it also has both main characters.
Splitting it doesn’t really work in my mind because everything is interlinked. The thread on war rape might have given you an idea.
Not writing Rijuna’s part in detail but only through bits of information the other characters receive is a potential option, this would also help to make the beginning a bit shorter. I do think that it’s quite important though.
Given the fact that I highly doubt the story will ever be published I don’t really need to worry about that just yet, but I still do and I’d like to hear what you think. The simple fact that it’s getting very long is a problem for any publishing ambitions as well because a first time author probably wouldn’t get away with that either.