lazywriterkylie

[lazywriterkylie]

New cover art designs for Champion & Harbinger

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ventas' was the hardest (red) because it was the first one I did and I really struggled to get it just right. But my girl Birdie was a breeze. I used the character design made for her by @caraspiffen and was able to adapt it beautifully to fit the other two

It took days of pouring over references and fighting with my buggy art app, but I've finally settled on new cover designs for my ongoing web series! Soooo excited to debut it. I was gonna wait till Thursday when I post chapter 15, but Tumblr is my safe space and I'm impatient so y'all are getting it early here :)

Hope you like! If you wanna check it out, here's a link to my blog where you can read chapters 1-14

https://lazywriterkylie.blogspot.com/

You can also read it on Royal Road :)

[lazywriterkylie]

Character Movements #1

1. Sighing: The character releases a deep breath, conveying frustration, relief, weariness, or resignation.

2. Shivering: The character's body trembles involuntarily, often indicating fear, coldness, or a strong emotional response.

3. Trembling hands: The character's hands shake noticeably, suggesting nervousness, anxiety, or fear.

4. Clenching fists: The character tightens their hands into fists, expressing anger, determination, or frustration.

5. Biting nails: The character nibbles or bites their nails, indicating nervousness, anxiety, or anticipation.

6. Tapping fingers: The character rhythmically taps their fingers on a surface, suggesting impatience, irritation, or deep thought.

7. Pacing: The character walks back and forth in a small area, indicating restlessness, anxiety, or contemplation.

8. Slumping shoulders: The character's shoulders droop or sag, conveying defeat, sadness, or exhaustion.

9. Tilting head: The character inclines their head to the side, expressing curiosity, attentiveness, or confusion.

10. Rubbing temples: The character massages their temples with their fingertips, suggesting stress, tiredness, or a headache.

[lazywriterkylie]

Gathered my cast and stuffed them in Sailor Moon costumes to help promote the series. If only the boys would get with the program

(⊙▂⊙✖ )

Take a look at the first 8 chapters, out now (as always, ~for free~)

I've got a few more pics of my oc's in different franchise styles, but this one is my favorite

Believe it or not, Ventas was the easiest to convince. He secretly kinda likes the tuxedo

[lazywriterkylie]

Chapter 7 is out, and Epictus is only getting more and more chaotic.

http://lazywriterkylie.blogspot.com/2023/07/chapter-7.html

It's a shorter chapter this week, hope you like!

[lazywriterkylie]

Chapter 6 is out, and we are moving ever closer to the establishment of the best worst trio in literary history.

https://lazywriterkylie.blogspot.com/

[lazywriterkylie]

Ma boi Ventas, as imagined by me (mind the brainrot) and by the amazing Carostempo who actually does art for a living and takes her job seriously (how does she do it???)

Aaaaanyway, Love this little sassypants. If you wanna meet him go check out my blog at:

https://lazywriterkylie.blogspot.com/?m=1

You can read the first 4 chapters, out now. I publish every thursdayyyy

[lazywriterkylie]

Chapter 1 is officially out.

[lazywriterkylie]

Day 3 of meet the cast: Ventas

If Ventas has one fan, it's me. If he has a million fans, I'm the ceo of the fan club. If he has zero fans, I am dead. I know it's tacky for a parent to pick faves but he is my babygirl.

[lazywriterkylie]

Day 2 of meet the cast: Gabriel

That's my son. That's my boy. No spoilers, but writing him was like solving puzzles backward. I can't wait for you guys to meet him 🩷

[lazywriterkylie]

Alright, everyone!

Next Thursday, I will be posting my first chapter on my blog:

https://lazywriterkylie.blogspot.com/?m=1

The link is also in my bio on Instagram (@lazywriterkylie) and I'm gonna figure out if I can pin it here on tunblr 🥰. It is a Google blog, so all you need to do is follow the link and look for Chapter 1 right there on that website. Easy as pie! There is no need to create a separate profile or anything. You can follow my blog if you have a Gmail account so you don't miss any chapters!

However....

If you're more of an avid reader and creating a (free) profile on a website curated specifically with readers in mind doesnt bother you, then I have some good news...

If you follow this link:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68917/champion-harbinger

It will take you to the Royal Road website, where you can create a profile and read Chapter 1 right. Now.

How cool is that?

Thank you so much for following along as we've been building up to the release of my first chapter! I am so excited to start this adventure with everyone!

Also, like my placeholder cover for Act 1? 😁

[lazywriterkylie]

Meet the MC's of my upcoming web serial Champion & Harbinger

Day 1: Our Leading Lady

Birdie!

She is so much fun to write. When it comes to female protagonists, I (as a fellow woman) am VERY aware of how I protray their emotional motivation. It always inspires me to read about strong, but dimentional and imperfect women who press forward despite weaknesses and set backs. Hard work, self confidence, strength, care, kindness. I love all of these attributes in a protagonist, and I hope Birdie isn't the exception!

Birdie is strong, determined, and capable, but she is also lost and still trying to carve her way in this unfamiliar and dangerous world. Her looming adventure is going to challenge her notion of right and wrong, and flip her world view on its head.

I really hope you love her as much as I do!

[lazywriterkylie]

Babe wake up, title and log line just dropped.

Yep.

I'm publishing a weekly web serial.

Starting June 1st, I'm posting a new chapter every week. I am so proud of this project, and I hope it finds a reading community who loves it as well:)

Follow along here or on my Instagram @lazywriterkylie for regular updates (and maybe a give away soon? 🤫)

Thank you! <3

[lazywriterkylie]

Actually cackling.

My only real and valid writing tip is that you google every word you make up for your fantasy stories. That's It

[lazywriterkylie]

*Screaming into the writing Tumblr void*

If I were to start posting a web serial, (for free with chapters uploaded weekly) what is the best platform to post the chapters on?

[lazywriterkylie]

Love this 🤌

10 worst ways to start a book

1. An irrelevant point of view

It’s extremely frustrating as a reader to read the opening scene of a novel, get invested in the story and start rooting for the POV character, only to have that character never show up again or show up as an unimportant character.

Your readers will feel betrayed. Why did they get emotionally invested in this character? Why did they care?

One of the most important functions of your first scene or chapter is introducing your main character and getting the reader to root for them.

Don’t waste that crucial moment on an unimportant POV.

2. Too many characters

Starting to read a new book is usually a bit confusing. You have to get to know new characters, a new world, a new writing style etc.

Don’t add to that confusion by introducing two dozen characters in the opening scene. Readers won’t remember their names or care about them; they’ll just feel overwhelmed and confused.

Additionally, readers will also struggle to root for the main character, because there are too many other people crowding the scene.

3. Telling

My name is Lisa. I’m a short, feisty brunette who loves horse riding. I have two best friends called Anna and Daniel, and we carpool to college every day. I have a crush on Josh, one of my tutors, but he’s twenty-seven and isn’t interested in me.

Telling is boring. It has its place, but the start of your novel is not it. The above paragraph could have been an interesting scene in which you showed the reader all the information via action and dialogue.

Unless you’re using subversion to surprise the reader, e.g., My name is Lisa and I’m a class-three demon, don’t start with telling. 

Immerse the reader in the story through action, dialogue and the senses. Show us who the main character is, don’t just tell us.

4. Description

Please don’t start your book with a page-long description of the setting. In fact, I would recommend not starting with description at all. 

Yes, a few lines of description later in the opening scene is fine. But the reader needs to care first. 

No matter how beautiful your writing is, readers won’t be sucked in by a five-paragraph description of a field.

5. Worldbuilding info dump

Please don’t start your book with an explanation of your world’s climate, politics, history, magic system etc. 

Once again, the reader needs to care first. 

There needs to be action and conflict and a compelling plot. The world exists as a backdrop for the story and the characters – it’s not the protagonist and it shouldn’t take up the opening scene.

6. The dream sequence

The main reason that this is a bad way to start your book is that it’s been done way too many times.

But that’s not the only reason.

It also feels like a betrayal to the reader, because they got invested in the story and the character and the events, and then you tell them it was never real.

And oftentimes the storyline and world of the dream is much more interesting than the actual story, which makes the latter look very boring in comparison.

7. Looking in a mirror

Once again, it’s just been done too much: A character looking in a mirror and describing their physical appearance to the reader. 

Firstly, no one describes their appearance in detail when they look in the mirror.

Secondly, the reader doesn’t even know who this person is. We don’t know if we’re interested in the character yet. We don’t know why we should care. So, we don’t want a detailed description of the character’s appearance right off the bat.

Show us interesting aspects of your main character’s personality, hobbies and life. Weave in physical description as it becomes relevant. It’s not important enough for the very first paragraph.

8. Starting way too early

Yes, most books don’t start with the inciting incident (although I recommend that they do), but the start of your book shouldn’t be too far away from your inciting incident.

So, don’t start with a long scene describing the main character’s everyday life. The readers want the thing to happen.

Providing context and introducing the main character is fine, but don’t leave the reader hanging for too long before you get to the good stuff.

9. Trying too hard

“Your first line has to be amazing and hook the reader. It needs to be something no one has ever read before.”

I bet you’ve heard that piece of advice hundreds of times. It’s not bad advice, but taken to the extreme, it creates an opening that is disjointed, conflated and confusing.

Your first scene should introduce your character, story and voice. So, don’t write a single line of profound purple prose that has very little to do with your actual story as a first line.

Focus on writing a good story. Introduce the reader to the book and make the main character intriguing. You don’t need a mind-blowing first line.

10. The lesson

Most books have a theme or something the author wants to say. Oftentimes, that takes the form of a life lesson.

This is good, but the lesson needs to be subtly woven into the story.

It should not be forced down the reader’s throat in the very first scene.

Don’t tell me what I’m going to learn, show me the lesson through the story.

If you’d like to read a Fantasy Adventure novel that does not have any of these opening mistakes, check out my debut To Wear A Crown.

Reblog if you found this post useful. Comment with your own tips for writing a good opening scene. Follow for similar content.

[lazywriterkylie]

The only writing advice that matters is this:

Persist.

Against all odds, despite doubt and scorn, with joy in your heart,

Persist.

Fly in the face of common sense and refuse to grow old where it matters most - your mind and soul.

Persist.

[lazywriterkylie]

My rough draft is officially finished.

I created the google doc to record my novel idea on March 8th, 2022. It took me almost 15 months start to finish to bring that little idea to life. I've dreamed of this moment since I was 10 years old.

I feel like I should be manic right now, but I'm just chilling at my mom's dining room table staring at my computer like ?_. Did I really just do this?

Now what?

I'm going to let it rest for 3 weeks. I might elicit the help of a friend or two to beta read and just let me know if things make sense. But I'm not going to touch it for at least 21 days to let my brain settle down.

Then my objective and thorough first edit begins.