What are you working on right now?

[Rob Arnold]

Thanks Wayne and THX (cool name THX, I bet you get that a lot!) Lots to think about.

I am interested in how transgender could work in my fictional world. Biology is linked to magic, essentially, I'll never want to get too "midichlorian" about it but magic is linked to the womb, so if you don't have a womb, you won't have magic, in my world.

So it might be interesting to see a man who was born a female, but does not identify as one. Nevertheless, he can still do magic. Again I'm brainstorming perhaps unwisely, but this man could perhaps have the element of surprise here. In a world where all women have magic and no man does, BAZINGA! This guy rocks up.

Or a man could identify with and become a woman, hanging around with powerful sorceresses, but unable to so much as create a spark with their magic-less hands.

I also like the idea of a group of learned men who, both for good and bad reasons, are obsessed with discovering exactly how this works, what is it about the physiology of the womb which is the source for this.

 

[GeorgeL]

Hello everyone!
I’m at the final stages of the first draft of my fantasy novel i want to (probably) self publish, that is a part of a trilogy.
Today i write and try to polish the most important dialogue of the book, where the ghost of the father of the villain reveals important plot elements to a protagonist about his son’s secret plan, because he disagrees with his actions and wants him to be stopped. I’m very excited that it finally came to this because i estimate that after five small chapters my first draft will be finished (And thankfully i have a detailed outline).
I like to imagine the writing of the first draft as a journey the writer takes with the characters in order to understand who the characters really are and what are their (secret) goals at the time the plot of the book is happening.
A very interesting and fun experience (with its shortcomings of course) that i finally hope will come to an end shortly.
Also i know most people are not very fond with the editing phase but i actually am excited to edit my work and make it better.
Good luck with your work too and have fun writing

 

[THX1138]

Hi,

My thought is about the power dynamic between men and women. If every woman has magic - and it's any magic and possibly powerful, would men have any place at all? My thought would be that the gifts have to be limited and mostly weak - otherwise men just become slaves at best.

Cheers, Greg.

There is a saying, 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.' So, take that into thought.
There comes a point of 'Godhood' with magic. If so, then all women are indeed 'Goddesses,' due to childbirth and the choosing of life or what have you, then what are men and what 'Goddess' reality/truth do they follow or are subjective to? (Millions if not more.) That is too many 'Matter of opinion realities.' So, the answer is science, as nether accept a single God or a god at all, because neither sees themselves as a god, but god period.
Talk about a multiverse!

The other answer comes from Star Wars 'Jedi's'. The Force is not magic, but a 'symbiotic relationship' from a virus. There for, if the men infect/inoculate them self with this virus, they will be a force to be reckoned with. (no pun intended). The rest I leave up to you. There is a reason for men. Other wise, how did we get here and what did they keep us for? (I test positive for the Force, you will do as I say.)

Brainstorm it for your story. If you follow Josephe Cambells, 'The Power of Myth,' then make your own.
(Not my thing, but that is how stories come to be.)

Good luck in your writings!

Hi,

My thought is about the power dynamic between men and women. If every woman has magic - and it's any magic and possibly powerful, would men have any place at all? My thought would be that the gifts have to be limited and mostly weak - otherwise men just become slaves at best.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[THX1138]

There is a saying, 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.' So, take that into thought.
There comes a point of 'Godhood' with magic. If so, then all women are indeed 'Goddesses,' due to childbirth and the choosing of life or what have you, then what are men and what 'Goddess' reality/truth do they follow or are subjective to? (Millions if not more.) That is too many 'Matter of opinion realities.' So, the answer is science, as nether accept a single God or a god at all, because neither sees themselves as a god, but god period.
Talk about a multiverse!

The other answer comes from Star Wars 'Jedi's'. The Force is not magic, but a 'symbiotic relationship' from a virus. There for, if the men infect/inoculate them self with this virus, they will be a force to be reckoned with. (no pun intended). The rest I leave up to you. There is a reason for men. Other wise, how did we get here and what did they keep us for? (I test positive for the Force, you will do as I say.)

Brainstorm it for your story. If you follow Josephe Cambells, 'The Power of Myth,' then make your own.
(Not my thing, but that is how stories come to be.)

Good luck in your writings!

Also, there would be no place for men. It would be a Wonder Women Amazon story with nothing but magic.

But there is also the Stalag 13 approach to it.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Just finished / pubbed my fourth Barton Villa book and having my usual period of inertia. I usually feel wiped out after a books done. Problem is, I want to just do something mindless - watch the telly. But the only thing on is the war!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[worldofmutes]

I’m working on my resume and different cover letters for various jobs. My dad says they’re pretty decent. Used some books he’s given me for writing CV’s over the years, and happy with it. Applying for jobs is more exhausting than the work itself…

Sent one out to a Solar company for warehouse work. Now I’m procrastinating on a few I need to make for bookstores.

 

[THX1138]

I have only been here a short time and I have done some very long, confusing and out of context posts!
Very sorry.
So, I am working on writing posts that are short, appropriate and meaningful to the discussion and topic at hand. And also, reading the what the discussion thread is about first before I post.

With that in mind, my true apology to Phyrebrat for the poor judgement and poor grammar I did on his discussion thread.
It was very uncalled for on my part.
Thanks everyone!

 

[worldofmutes]

I have only been here a short time and I have done some very long, confusing and out of context posts!
Very sorry.
So, I am working on writing posts that are short, appropriate and meaningful to the discussion and topic at hand. And also, reading the what the discussion thread is about first before I post.

With that in mind, my true apology to Phyrebrat for the poor judgement and poor grammar I did on his discussion thread.
It was very uncalled for on my part.
Thanks everyone!

Don’t worry bout anything Thx.
I’ve said a lot of things I thought were too long, confusing, out of context- and dumb. But it doesn’t matter none. People come here to banter and kid around I guess and that’s how it be.

 

[THX1138]

Thanks Wayne and THX (cool name THX, I bet you get that a lot!) Lots to think about.

I am interested in how transgender could work in my fictional world. Biology is linked to magic, essentially, I'll never want to get too "midichlorian" about it but magic is linked to the womb, so if you don't have a womb, you won't have magic, in my world.

So it might be interesting to see a man who was born a female, but does not identify as one. Nevertheless, he can still do magic. Again I'm brainstorming perhaps unwisely, but this man could perhaps have the element of surprise here. In a world where all women have magic and no man does, BAZINGA! This guy rocks up.

Or a man could identify with and become a woman, hanging around with powerful sorceresses, but unable to so much as create a spark with their magic-less hands.

I also like the idea of a group of learned men who, both for good and bad reasons, are obsessed with discovering exactly how this works, what is it about the physiology of the womb which is the source for this.

Thanks. I went with THX1138 because it's a good thinker sci-fi movie. A oldie but a goodie.

 

[Devin]

I am trying to finish a third book that started as a fantastic history of rome and its neighbors, specifically Julius Caesar's gallic wars, but abandoned realism about halfway through to create a high fantasy world instead, although its still based on the conflict in fundamental ways. I just didn't want people being like JC would have done X not Y.

recently I just started a short story series about Dr. Moreau creatures solving crime in NYC.

 

[LisaMaeLove]

Hello everyone!
I restarted a concept I had begun in highschool (I'm 31 now,) but I lost all of the physical writing I'd done then. Working from memory now, which is slow-going and a little frustrating. It's a paranormal romance set in the late 1800s on in island very close to me. Here's hoping things go well.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Hello everyone!
I restarted a concept I had begun in highschool (I'm 31 now,) but I lost all of the physical writing I'd done then. Working from memory now, which is slow-going and a little frustrating. It's a paranormal romance set in the late 1800s on in island very close to me. Here's hoping things go well.

Sounds like an interesting concept. I wouldn't fret about not having what one had written as a teenager; you will find that you remember the key points and that with your current life experience that you will do a better job of telling the story than your teenaged self. Keep in mind that writing is an up and down experience -- some days will be good and some days will be bad -- but, in the end, it will all seem worthwhile. On the bad days, I think you'll find that this is a nice group of people that can help you refind your enthusiasm and provide helpful ideas along the way. Don't worry about starting late, you got going a good thirty years before me!

 

[sknox]

Huh. I thought I'd post an update herre and saw that my last update was one year ago, exactly. Curious.

Anyway, I started The Signet Ring about a year and two months ago. First in a series of fantasy mystery/adventure stories. I have a draft that I'm reworking. I really think I would have been done, even with the usual life interruptions (original target was last December!), but health issues have knocked me sideways for a while. New goal is around June. At least I have a draft and a cover, and that's a start, to paraphrase a song.

Not that anyone asked, but I'm fairly happy that I've been able to write something like a mystery. Fantasy is comfort zone for me. Mystery adds a layer of complexity, at least for me.

 

[Zach777]

Huh. I thought I'd post an update herre and saw that my last update was one year ago, exactly. Curious.

Anyway, I started The Signet Ring about a year and two months ago. First in a series of fantasy mystery/adventure stories. I have a draft that I'm reworking. I really think I would have been done, even with the usual life interruptions (original target was last December!), but health issues have knocked me sideways for a while. New goal is around June. At least I have a draft and a cover, and that's a start, to paraphrase a song.

Not that anyone asked, but I'm fairly happy that I've been able to write something like a mystery. Fantasy is comfort zone for me. Mystery adds a layer of complexity, at least for me.

That sounds pretty interesting. I don't read a lot of mystery books, but I like the idea you have. Where'd you get the idea for it?

Right now I'm working on two standalone sci-fi books: City of Glass (title is tentative) and Children of Earth. City of Glass is about humans settling on their first planet outside of our solar system. Children of Earth I really only have a vague idea for. It takes place 25 years after human first contact with Neanderthals on another planet.

 

[sknox]

I like the idea of us having first contact be with a primitive culture rather than an advanced one.

As for my story, I got the idea on purpose, as it were. I'd written a couple other novels that touched on the person or group going off to deal with problems, work for the emperor, but it was all post-story implication and that's all. I started to wonder if I shouldn't write something like that intentionally and whether I even could.

The chief hurdle was to come up with a pretext. I didn't really want a sort of medieval MI-6. No government work. Just someone who gets entangled. To do that, you gotta move around. Who moves around? Ah, performers! Jongleurs, minnesangers, troubadors. The Catalan spelling gave me the click, because in French trouver means to find or to discover. From there it was a matter of assembling cast and backstory.

Oh and actually writing the damn novel. Mysteries are *hard*!

 

[magpie Asylum]

Currently I'm working on a Sci Fi crime noir novel, set in far future earth were machines have become the dominate force in the world. It's about to head out for editing so we will see how that goes. This is my second novel I've written. The first was well, a first novel (not good but a great learning experience).

 

[Valtharius]

Trying to maintain my sanity.

 

[Toby Frost]

Editing the third Up To The Throne book. It's bigger than the others and some pretty heavy editing is involved.

 

[sknox]

Currently finished the last of the revisions on The Signet Ring. The specific task at hand is figuring out how to make a believable encounter--involving both a fight and a chase sequence (on foot)--between a mage and an acrobat. Neither can do anything like hurl fireballs, but each has some modest capabilities that are directly affected by having to do stuff on the run.

It's an interesting challenge. It's my own fault. I brought them to this point, so now I have to figure out a way through.

 

[Oochillyo]

Currently finished the last of the revisions on The Signet Ring. The specific task at hand is figuring out how to make a believable encounter--involving both a fight and a chase sequence (on foot)--between a mage and an acrobat. Neither can do anything like hurl fireballs, but each has some modest capabilities that are directly affected by having to do stuff on the run.

It's an interesting challenge. It's my own fault. I brought them to this point, so now I have to figure out a way through.

hey Sknox how are you

This sounds very familiar to a one of my fav scenes of my story (that I am still working on ha) , now I am no expert and feel free to make it your own, this is what I did :

So I had my main character vs a character who is spectacles with bow's and arrows and is magically gifted (they would later become friends so they will fight each other as they just met but not fatally) , I set the scene in an abandoned park at night, the world has been wrecked by nuclear war ect so rubble everywhere ect therefore I tried to keep the action and fights quick but injure my character a lot so I think it would feel more intense and that the main character may actually die and if they get the upper hand it feels more earned.

I used the setting as help like my character would hide behind rubble jumping to take cover in the muddy areas but harming himself more in the process though my character is very determined and young (this world is full of people with battle scars) , the archer character with magic powers was placed a far distance back and on top of a hill so they characters could only sort of see a dark figure shadow of each other at first, lots of explosions shrapnel, trying to make/find cover out of whats left tactics ect and eventually my main character will close the ground on this archer and jump on them pin them to the ground, I think all of this add risk, tension, pace and stakes plus makes it feel earned and that both are highly trained and will later respect, become friends and be a great team together.

So I think main tips in the scenario depending on if you want your character to be very determined and or violent as well as the stakes and damage you wanna include is too have things fast, use various tactics (one of your characters is magically gifted so maybe that could play into it in an interesting way like moving the cover rubble rocks ect from the main character) , make it feel real stakes even in a fictional world with magic ect and maybe have a twist at the end or a well planned turn around for the character to get the upper hand or something outside their control, and its up to you but maybe dont kill off the magic person or who ever you want to lose as they could be useful and interesting character later and this fight scene could be a feather in their cap to look back on things, grow relationships, learn a lesson, keep things real any of those or whatever your after.

I looked back at your message, I think many of these elements could fit with the fight and the action of running ect too, fast paced the characters own skill and tactics ect just wanted to bring this up cause I forgot about the chase element but my advice and that's all it is I hope can be adapted to elements of a chase scene

Good Luck and enjoy this scene, I think the more fun your having with it the more fresh, quick and great ideas you can come up with

Hope this helps quite interesting for me to work on this I sound professional to myself I liked this might help me too

Thank you

Take care hugs

Regards - Declan Sargent