Does this science fantasy story sound interesting?

[P.K.Acredon]

Where are you in the development process of the story? First draft? Revisions? Solicited feedback from critique partners?

What is your end goal for the story? Personal satisfaction? Self-publish? Traditional publish?

What is the form factor? Short? Novel? Epic series?

That's a ton of questions. I've made a **** ton of revisions for years. And I'm planning on making a series. But why do you care so much? Are you interested?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think what people are trying to get at here is that they can give you more useful advice if they know more about what you are trying to accomplish with this story. But even then, they need to see a sample of your writing to give you the most useful advice. So far, you have described a lot of your ideas, but ideas are not stories, and, as some people have already mentioned, what most readers tend to respond to is story, and how it is executed.

When you've been around here long enough to have 30 counted posts, you can post a portion of the story in the critiques section if you like (not too long—there is a word limit) and you'll get more specific comments. More than that, you will find out to what extent what you are writing and how you are writing it is interesting. You're trying to get a yes-or-no-answer on that particular point, but the truth is that the answer to most general writing questions is always the same (and not the sort of answer you are apparently looking for): "it all depends." It depends on the characters, the plot, the prose. The best ideas in the world are worth nothing if the writer can't execute these three things well.

I suspect that at this particular point no one here is much interested in your story, because they don't know what that is. What they really are interested in is trying to help you—because that is what we do here, we try to offer each other constructive advice—which is why they are asking you so many questions. If you can't answer those questions because you yourself have not yet decided what story you are going to tell, then it is going to be very hard for anyone to give you the help you are looking for. Not because people aren't willing, but because that is just how things work.

But you sound passionate about your worldbuilding and your ideas and that is important. That should take you through the sometimes frustrating process of trial-and-error which may be required to decide for yourself what specific story you want to tell. That may change with time and experimentation and any critiques you get—which may sound like a waste of time to you, but while you are doing that you'll also be developing skills you will need so that the all-important execution will ultimately do justice to your ideas.

And one way to get to those thirty posts is to poke around the critiques section and do a few critiques of others work. One can learn a lot by critiquing, and if you take a look at the other critiques you will get an idea of what to expect when your own story is critiqued.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Teresa’s advice is excellent. Chrons folk really do want to help, so stick it out here, get your 30 qualifying posts and put a section of your story up for critique.
I can feel your enthusiasm and your frustration, but bear with us. It really is worth it.

In the meantime, why don’t you take part in the writing challenges we always have running? It’s a fun way of flexing your writing muscles and you might even be able to utilise some of the wonderful world building you’ve already completed. Writing flash fiction really helps us hone our craft, because we have to get rid of the dead wood and learn to create character(s) and tell a story within tight limits.

 

[JS Wiig]

I've made a **** ton of revisions for years.

That sounds like a good start. Have you let others read it, particularly other writers, like a critique group? What was their feedback?

Are you working on any other projects? Sometimes getting bogged down with one idea can be counter productive, and it can be helpful to set it aside for a time and work on other things.

That's a ton of questions.

These are questions I think important to consider if you would like to make your work available to a larger audience.

Are you interested?

I’m interested in reading about compelling characters in riveting situations making difficult decision, rather than world building synopses, which can be important but are generally best kept to the writer.

 

[P.K.Acredon]

Teresa’s advice is excellent. Chrons folk really do want to help, so stick it out here, get your 30 qualifying posts and put a section of your story up for critique.
I can feel your enthusiasm and your frustration, but bear with us. It really is worth it.

In the meantime, why don’t you take part in the writing challenges we always have running? It’s a fun way of flexing your writing muscles and you might even be able to utilise some of the wonderful world building you’ve already completed. Writing flash fiction really helps us hone our craft, because we have to get rid of the dead wood and learn to create character(s) and tell a story within tight limits.

"30 qualifying posts"? What does that mean?

 

[Phyrebrat]

Critiques

Post your writing here for critique and constructive criticism. YOU MUST HAVE A POST COUNT OF 30 TO POST A PIECE TO BE CRITIQUED.

www.sffchronicles.com

Read the top post

 

[msstice]

"30 qualifying posts"? What does that mean?

At the left of each post here you will see a brief user profile, including yours for your posts. You will see an entry called "Messages". Once you reach 30 you can post a sample of your work in the "Critiques" forum and get responses from other members.

The limitation is there as a way to prevent spam. Once a user is here and engaged, it is very unlikely they are sticking around and making 30 posts just to be able to post spam later, is the idea behind this. Also once the user has made 30 posts, they likely have understood the tone of the forums in general and have decided if this is the right place for them.

 

[P.K.Acredon]

At the left of each post here you will see a brief user profile, including yours for your posts. You will see an entry called "Messages". Once you reach 30 you can post a sample of your work in the "Critiques" forum and get responses from other members.

The limitation is there as a way to prevent spam. Once a user is here and engaged, it is very unlikely they are sticking around and making 30 posts just to be able to post spam later, is the idea behind this. Also once the user has made 30 posts, they likely have understood the tone of the forums in general and have decided if this is the right place for them.

So I have to post 30 critiques for every piece of work I post? Does that mean if I would write 10 chapters I would have to write 300 critiques? If so, I don't have time for that.

 

[msstice]

So I have to post 30 critiques for every piece of work I post?

You just have to have 30 posts of any kind. For example, you are now at 13 messages. After another 17 messages, you can post as many pieces as you like in the Critiques forum. You don't have to post critiques to get critiques. A colleague had good advice earlier in the thread: you can try out the writing challenges for example.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

No, it means you have to post 30 posts between qualifying areas of the forum. Like if you just post comments in the Sports forum or the Lounge, or play games in the Playroom, those don't register in your post count. If you comment in threads about books and movies and television shows and writing your post count will likely go up fairly quickly. It's all about engaging with the members and the forum, and not just coming here because you want our help, and then dropping out the moment we're no longer of use to you. Not that I am suggesting that you would do that, but before the rule was made there were a lot of people like that. The worst of it is that the kind of people who do that sort of thing tend to be ... a bit self-centered ... and react badly to criticism, so it was a waste of time critiquing their work because they only wanted to hear praise, not constructive criticism and generally left in a huff as soon as they realized no one was going to tell them how utterly brilliant they were.

On the other hand, if you don't have time to return the favor by doing some critiques, you are less likely to find that other people have time to devote to commenting on your writing. These things work best when everyone participates and reciprocates to some extent.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

OK, there was a bit of a spat, and I have removed all the posts in that sequence, even the ones where people were trying to calm things down because they wouldn't make sense out of context. For those who took part in what happened, you know who you are, and that we expect much better of our members. I'll leave the thread open for now and hope it will be constructive from now on, but if there are any further recriminations or attempts at justification (or if an admin decides it ought to be locked) it will be be closed for good.

 

[sknox]

The original question was does this sound interesting. I think it has potential. You absolutely would have an audience; I don't think you need have any concerns on that point. Getting the thing written is one huge challenge. Getting it marketed is another, but let's fall off that cliff when we get to it. <g>

To repeat: you asked if your ideas as set forth in the OP sounded interesting. Yes.

 

[P.K.Acredon]

The original question was does this sound interesting. I think it has potential. You absolutely would have an audience; I don't think you need have any concerns on that point. Getting the thing written is one huge challenge. Getting it marketed is another, but let's fall off that cliff when we get to it. <g>

To repeat: you asked if your ideas as set forth in the OP sounded interesting. Yes.

Awesome. I can continue writing now. Thanks a lot.

 

[tachyon]

There are definitely some popular books with science/magic combination worlds, such as Jack of Shadows by Zelazny, Sabriel by Garth Nix, the Split Infinity series by Piers Anthony. I can't think of more recent examples where there's a distinct zone in which magic works and science doesn't, but there are plenty in which both magic and tech are present.

The worldbuilding you've done is interesting, keep it up.

Magic systems don't need explicit rules! This can be very popular and people do like to work out the implications and possibilities of specific magical rulesets but it's definitely not a necessary part of worldbuilding. Magic can be difficult and changeable, unpredictable but still useful. Or you can have magical adepts who can control things reliably but just not be explicit about what those rules are.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

"30 qualifying posts"? What does that mean?

I see your question has already been answered above, but I will reiterate my advice. Stick with us. This is a great forum and the writers on here genuinely do want to help other writers. I've received so much excellent advice and help here, as have many of us, and we do try to pay it forwards where we can. If you come here with an open mind and a willingness to listen to constructive critique [which you don't have to follow – that's always going to be your decision to make], you'll have a ball here.

 

[Toby Frost]

The answer I would give is that there's nothing in the original post that automatically disqualifies this setting from working. To be honest, that's quite a low bar for a novel to pass but it is definitely one that has to be passed.

For me as a writer and reader, though, the important thing is not the setting but the story. That means that interesting characters have to do interesting things. And that in turn means zooming in on them - not just as representatives of organisations and armies, but as individuals. While the grand setting may create the conditions for the story to happen, it's how the individual people act and react that makes the story (and the novel) happen.

 

[P.K.Acredon]

"The answer I would give is that there's nothing in the original post that automatically disqualifies this setting from working."
You have no idea how much that means to me. I understand that there are other things to focus on aside from the setting. But for me, the setting was the hardest part to make and the main reason I suffered from writers block. It literally took me years to decide the setting. So to hear that phrase makes it feel like a huge weight finally left my shoulders.
And I can do character. That part of writing is easy for me.

 

[msstice]

This may be relevant