Author Topic: Some writing advice  (Read 4673 times)

Jubal

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Some writing advice
« on: March 31, 2012, 07:21:32 PM »
Okay, I have two stories in process, and I'm wondering which one I should work on.

Which of these premises etc takes your fancy?

1. Fire and Water
Designed as the first part of a trilogy, I started writing it about four years ago. The plot is epic fantasy in a classical style fantasy world, with Byzantine Greek, Iberian, and Saxon elements and themes, involves various machiavellian plots, an schism'd order of uberly powerful mages with powers linked to different elements, and so on. Currently sitting at about halfway written, fifty thousand words in. Will need quite a bit of rewriting of current sections, though the plot thus far is fairly fleshed out so that'll mostly be stylistic.

2. Guns, Swords, and Steam
A story to go with my RPG rules, centres around an army officer seconded to an early 18th Century version of MI5. It's in the GS&S world, with some steampunk and clockpunk elements, a few bits of gothic and high fantasy lobbed in in places as well. I've written about twenty of twenty-five short chapters and made a start on 21 to 23, but that would leave it quite short so more chapters and more padding would be needed to fill it out (it was written for A Call To Arms, so I'd basically have to pad it up from a snippety e-mag story to a more bulky work).

Thoughts? Questions?
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Cuddly Khan

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2012, 12:41:53 PM »
As I said on the chat, I like the first one better. I think I'll let other people voice their thoughts first though. Tell us a bit about the main character. Looks, skills, traits, likes, dislikes etc. I would also gladly help you with anything such as a read through and give ideas and stuff like that.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2012, 01:13:49 PM by The Khan »
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Andalus

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2012, 02:24:48 PM »
FIRST ONE FIRST ONE FIRST ONE
Du bist kein Schmetterling! Du bist nur eine kleine Raupe in Verkleidung!

Jubal

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2012, 11:06:12 PM »
Right, I've just come up with an idea for a serious plot rewrite of F&W. The old plot was at best stereotypical, but I think the new one is more interesting and has a bit more grit to it. I'll take a look at what I need to rewrite in story terms tomorrow...
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Captain Carthage

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2012, 09:24:00 PM »
I hope there's a total bastard in it, they are always fun to write.
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Jubal

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2012, 11:09:04 PM »
Actually did some writing on it today, mostly editing bits to take account of plot changes but a small extension at the end as well. Hopefully will get some more done tomorrow. Good to get back to my setting, it's been a while. :)
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Cuddly Khan

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2012, 07:12:28 AM »
So how's it going Jubal?
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Jubal

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2012, 09:38:21 AM »
I've got a fair bit further, still got a loooooong way to go though. It's rather grittier now than in its original form (there's more psychological stuff, violence a bit more pronounced, have given up avoiding things like torture/rape where those fit into the story), but it's still definitely a grand-scale epic at heart. I'm still tussling with different ideas for the final climax (but since said climax is two and a half unwritten books away, I'm not in too much of a rush).
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Cuddly Khan

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Re: Some writing advice
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2012, 04:07:44 PM »
Sounds like good progress to me. What ever makes the story good is fine with me.
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