@linus-smallprint
Active 8 hours, 25 minutes ago- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
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And here is my first question for you:
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
A short introduction to Book II:
Title: The Narrow Path Trilogy: Book II – The Sword
Brief Plot Idea:
‘You may be done with magic, but magic isn’t done with you’
Alan is a wizard more powerful than any other. Once, Alan would have desired it, but now it is only a curse to him. The magic of Ehverwyld is twisted and crooked, destroying all it touches. To use it would be wrong, and Alan has resolved never to do so again. This has already cost him greatly, but Alan trusts The Saviour to look after him as he continues on.
But this is easier said than done. A group of wizards, led by the mysterious Iskyagus is after him, hoping to take his power for themselves and twist Klaw into their evil image for it. Alan is on the run, trying to escape them before it is too late.
Worse is the threat inside himself. Despite resolving not to use the evil magic, Alan finds himself drawing on his power again. And as much as Alan tries to stop it, the wizard within overtakes him. Can Alan stop it before he destroys his friends and the rest of the world with them? Will he have the strength to continue down the narrow path and trust The Saviour?
(Trying not to reveal too much from the previous book here)
Main themes:
Fighting sin
Trusting in God to help you as well as allowing other Christians to help you
Forgiving your enemies
Point of view characters:
AlanMartha
(There may be more, but I’m not sure at the moment. The story will be primarily be told from their perspective regardless)
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
ah, I see! What game?
I don’t think it would be your thing. It’s a high fantasy 4X board game called ‘Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea.’ Think World fo Warcraft-type fantasy. It’s a game that takes 2-3, sometimes 4 hours to play.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
(I’m guessing you like boats and wolves?)
Wolves definitely are my favourite animal, this may or may not be evident in my writing. (More on that later.)
The boat thing was more of a joke. I a board game I play with my friends, there is an option to build sea vessels, but it is rarely done. On the occasion it does happen, it is a big deal, and cries of ‘Guys, is that a boat? Boat! Boat!!’ ring out around the table.
Glad you’re still staying with it!
You’re welcome!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Tis Febuary. I will now start working on my outline. Not sure how long it will take. It looks like only you two plus my sister will be following this. But that is fine. Three is plenty for this stage, so I might just cap it off here anyway. I will let you know if I need any thoughts/ideas as I go. Thank you for helping with this!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Book 3 time!
So it’s Leon and Julian then. (Unless you suddenly decide you want to switch to Quin for the next chapter.)
(I wonder how much of the book you can guess by looking at the aesthetic!!)
War? War. Boat! Wolves! Snow. Orphans…
Never to return.
Ominus…
But yeah, just thought I’d give everyone a “trigger warning”
**Triggered**
Kidding. I believe you said book 2 was the darkest. And even if you didn’t and this one is darker, I’m sticking around.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Sounds fun. I would be curious to know how she acquired immorality.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Last I counted I was at 69 full length novel drafts.
Wooph!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had identical brains? (It wouldn’t, but it would at least be practical.)
If this were the case, then we would all be writing meaningful stories about boys whose dogs and mother die. (Really meaningful)
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
I’m going to kind of repeat what other people have said. Get to know your characters better. Often when I’m stuck and I don’t know what characters would do but have an idea of where I want/need them to go, I will quickly make up a list showing the thoughts in each character’s heads like this:
Brother
- Really would like some ice cream with his friends right now
- Also feels like he should help his sister clean up her room
- Is mad at his sister, because she always seems to need his help when he’s about to have fun
Sister
- Needs her room cleaned up from all the small choking hazard toys before the toddler she is babysitting is dropped off
- Is in distress because of her busy schedule with school exams and babysitting
- Feels terrible about always asking her brother for help, but sees no other way
- Is angry at her brother because he is part of the reason the mess is there in the first palce
Often as I am doing this, it helps something to click about the characters and suddenly their motivations or reasons fall into place and I can write the scene much more naturally. (Although this may just be something that works for me, but you could still try it to see if it works for you)
I think Ellette’s suggestion of finishing the whole story first is a good one.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
So, before I ever begin to write I pray. I write down the idea in my prayer journal and say, “Lord, here’s my idea. If you want me to write this book, give me the rest of the story” and He does.
This is really good. I need to do this more. And one of the major themes of book two of TNPT is trusting God!
8 drafts per book? Phew! I hear the usual is 5.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
I don’t think I’m quite the person to ask. I tend to hyperfocus on a single project and put any other story ideas to the back of my mind for later. I’ve only ever written two first drafts, and that was some time ago. So I am lacking experience in this area. (Looks like Ellette has you covered here though. @ellette-giselle, how many first drafts have you written again?)
Some advice I have heard with the first draft is to write without looking back. Forget about grammar and things like that, just get it out of your head and onto paper. I would say it is a good idea to put off that particular style for the first draft and worry about it later.
However, one this is one thing I know of that does help me. I find that something that motivates me is having people share it with me and give me some thoughts right away. Before I started posting second-draft chapters here for TNPT, I had written something like 6 chapters in 3-4 months and I kept getting distracted by other things. I also had plenty of free time here. Once I knew someone would be reading it right away and telling me some thoughts, my speed picked up to 1-2 chapters a week, even though at the same time I started a job and some post-secondary courses, cutting down my free time a lot. For my first draft of TNPT and the only other full story I wrote, Adventurless, I also had people reading it encouraging me to get through it. Also, if you have others reading it who are interested, then you have someone who will bother you for new content.
Keep in mind though that everyone is different, and what works for me might not work for you.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
@ellette-giselle @keilah-h @whalekeeper
I’ve done something similar once before when I worked on this, so I do have some idea of what I’m doing. (I think I’ve shown you this one before). It turned out all right, so I might eventually convert that cover idea I shared. Maybe I will make it my next drawing to protect if I have the time after I finish my current one.
I was going to do more in this series. I had a whole file with heads like this for other races, using Nickolas Kole’s style of art, but then I accidentally deleted the file and couldn’t restore it. Ugh. I was going to make some parts of her braid darker as well to make it stand out more. Now hopefully I will learn my lesson and not delete files I want to keep.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
You’ve certainly improved a lot!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Do you think the one with Sabina at the grave could be worked in as her memory/recap when she’s in the bedroom, or does it seem out of place.
Let me reread this.
I think this is fine. There is no harm in including an illustration of a flashback. I’ve seen it done before, such as in North! Or be Eaten when Podo is telling his tales of being a Strander. Little House on the Prarie books often add illustrations for the tales that Pa tells. It can help add to that flashback.
I would say though, make sure you include a picture of Joseph before this, or perhaps a dark street. Your first illustration should be one that sets the tone for the story. (Think of it like a first chapter.) That picture with the grave does set the grim tone, but it might make it appear that there is a greater focus on Sabina than there really is.
Is the one of Joseph when he is still a child? Maybe it is just because you haven’t finished this, but he does look older here. I might put both of his arms around the pillow instead of one as well as pull both his legs up so that he is curled up. But at the same time, that might make it look like he is in a resigned sleep, which isn’t what you are going for either. I think I may need to see the finished version of this one before I can give you more feedback on it.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.