Q&A Forum

@godlyfantasy12

So you could add people (like the village folk) who want to gang control of the kingdom and maybe one of your characters runs into them and they might act out in violence. (Just an idea, I don’t know much about the story so you might have something like this XD Because in a town it’s kind of hard to believe that everyone likes it.)

Also, something to remember is in Narnia’s “Prince Caspian” three-quarters of the book is spent wandering around in the woods (Which sounds boring) but C.S Lewis focuses on the emotional battle of the characters and whether they believe in Aslan.

You have Peter who believes he was the one that defeated the white witch (even though it was Aslan)

Susan doesn’t like to get her hopes up and prefers to believe in the curtain

Edmund and Lucy who are both often treated like the youngest but when they see Aslan they have to try to convince the others

Overall C.S Lewis focused more on the emotional struggle which is still appealing and entertaining

Tell me if any of these helps XD It’s what I could come up with right now but I’ll keep thinking

@godlyfantasy12

Guurrl I struggle with the saaame thing. It’s almost like internal conflict is easier to invent than external conflict. XD

First off, I try to consider the character’s inward goal, and try to personify it with an outward goal. It takes a bit to think of one, but as long as you keep your character’s world and culture in mind, it’s a bit easier.

It can be super simple, but with lots of smaller conflicts leading up to it.

For example, my charrie Sebastian wants someone who understands his unique point of view, and loves him despite his testy personality. So, keeping his world and family in mind – his world is extremely hard to navigate, and his family is distant – I invented an outward goal.

Seb wants to find his missing mother. She is a famous and elusive actress, who only appears in the highest of societies, after leaving his father.

Now, I invent a bunch of obstacles. Seb has to become rich and famous super fast. He has to be super charming all the time. He has to hide the fact that he’s a ten-year-old genius from the public. He has to navigate complex relationships at dinner parties. AND he has to know which dimensions to shift to, at just the right times. ALL while his father is chasing him down, trying to stop him.

I like to think of that as the Basic Goal, plus basic obstacles.

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Okay okay, BRAIN DUMP TIME.

So November wants to impress his father? What is he good at? Let’s say he’s good at singing (that’s what Seb is good at, anyway… Nevember, not so sure about XD). He could plan a performance, and try to get his dad to come. Or maybe, if his dad is in a royal council, he could try to train under the council itself, as an apprentice counselor.

Maybe, in order to become a counselor, he has to get good grades in school. Will Ara help him? Will he discover along the way that he’s more interested in visiting Ara’s family?

He’s afraid of blood? Weave in moments where other boys scrape their knees or something during a school activity, and he’s afraid to participate, so he gets a bad grade, and his dad is disappointed even MORE.

He likes Ara? 😏 Let him impress her once in a while, with acts of November-ish bravery.

Let’s say he begins to see hints of his magical ability throughout the school year (I’m also assuming there’s a school XD). Are people afraid of fire, here? Was there an ancient war turned sour by his kind? Has the kingdom ever burned down before? Does he accidentally set his homework on fire?? 😂

Does one of the faerie tribes pop in, to warn the kingdom of a distant threat? Maybe one of these faeries is related to Pax!! And the kingdom keeps it under wraps, because they want everyone to be happy and peaceful. But Ara senses things are wrong, and enlists November to listen in on the counsil’s conversations!

Where’s November’s mother and (undiscovered) sister? Does he begin to discover old papers or scrolls about his family history, in the school archives? This could be the perfect place to slip some worldbuilding in. At the same time, maybe he reads about some ancient evil, that will awaken at the climax of the story!!

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I guess what I’m saying is, just completely brain dump. Even if it’s something you probably won’t use, it could lead you to better ideas. And connect some internal struggles to the actual world, through everyday struggles, like school, family, work, love life.

Like, I only wrote one question to start with – but my brain started to tick, and I couldn’t stop writing down ideas.

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Next up, what about the other characters? What are they doing? What about ARA?? I didn’t cover her very much. Mix her problems in, and things are even CRAZIER.

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Finally, if you want to, there’s the BIG GOAL. Aka, Change The World. How is this charrie’s story going to affect his entire universe?

I’ll admit, this is harder 😅 And I’m still figuring it out myself. But I’d say just trickle in the bigger problems through mysterious means, like that school archives I mentioned.

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So first off, establish the Basic Goal, along with smaller goals and obstacles. Do that for all the charries, connecting them to the internal conflict. Then, slowly introduce the bigger, world-size stuff – aka, the rebellion you mentioned.

I think what you need is just to brain dump a lot of side plot. That’ll give some meat to your story.

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Aaaaaand that’s it 😂 I hope that helped. It helped me, actually.

Oh and on top of that, it’s best to have all your obstacles follow a cohesive outline, so I’d recommend using the Three-Act-Story-Structure as a timeline to put your events on, if you haven’t already. Abbie Emmons has a great template if you decide to use it 😋

I kinda struggle with the same thing, so I found all these responses helpful even though they’re not addressed to me. XD

@mineralizedwritings @gwyndalf-the-wise @whalekeeper @godlyfantasy12 @freedomwriter76 @lightoverdarkness6 @theloonyone @anybodyelse (feel free to ignore)

Not to derail us from answering Godly’s question, (@godlyfantasy12 can I give you a different nickname? Like Fan? Or GF? XD “Godly” just feels weird.) but I also have a question.

I need a title for my comic book. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s a sci-fi series about two twin sisters who travel around in their squid-like spaceship, trying to find their place in the universe. Their names are Eddie and Ellie, they’re both super short, they do random odd jobs including bounty hunting for a living, annnd I don’t know what else to add.

Anyone have any title ideas? I’m completely drawing a blank.

@folith-feolin

Ooo that sounds cool… but I’m not sure if custodians fits? Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll probably use the cosmos part? Idk…