#crystal kingdom is ESPECIALLY important in setting up major reveals/themes/moments

[apollos-boyfriend]

crystal kingdom will ALWAYS be the best balance arc to me because it’s just the one where Everything really starts to fall into place. the lich reveal, barry recognizing lup’s umbrella, the introduction of the planar system and the hunger’s destruction, the fact that undead are immune to the void fish, lucretia’s name reveal, kravitz, the seven birds poem, the allusions to the thb having been to other worlds, the reveal of the thb’s death counts, the idea that perfect disks can be transmutated into different crystals to create gateways to other planes, it’s literally ALL so good. also magnus eats a grand relic and gets turned into a fun little coil. what more could you ask for.

[wilde-writing]

WIP Prep Tag Game

@siarven​ and @kittensartsbooks​ tagged me. Thank you so much! I really want to do this.

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

I’ll do this for my Eskaron Wip (god, I need a better name...) which is still at a really really early stage. Most I do at the moment is figuring out the history of the world, but anyway. I’ll share what I can with you!

FIRST LOOK

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch).

A bunch of guys who don’t know each other end up relying on each other to face a colossal change that affects their whole world.  

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

I want it to be a series. Don’t know how many books yet. Let’s see what I can make out of it. 

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Mountains. Castles. Deep Forests. Crystals. Swords.

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

Obviously Lord of the Rings. But also Holly Black’s writing which was always a big inspiration to me regarding the fairy world. Also fairytales and greek/roman and norse mythology. 

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel.

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

If only I knew... I can give a a few character ideas I had yet. Because all characters I have yet are historical figures that don’t really act in the main story (cause they already dead).

a) Queen who killed her husband to rule over the kingdom instead and has to fight against the misogynistic laws of mankind. 

b) A royal shapeshifter whose shifter mother was forced to marry a human prince. He doesn’t know which race he owes his loyalty. 

c) Young girl who figured out that she is a witch and got chased out of her village. Now she has to find The Coven. 

d) Elf who was switched at birth with a human prince. It’s time to return to the elf kingdom now, leaving the human kingdom in a mess.

Aaaaand as an extra (because I can’t really answer any of the following questions) historical characters who are still pretty important in the present. 

Tysia and Doam: Belong to the direct descendants of the sparks (who literally created the entire world) and are some kind of gods to the elves because they created them. Tysia and Doam are responsible for the fact that sun and moon exist and also founded the two courts that the land of elves is split into. 

Aelin and Rowá: Human girl and shapeshifter wolf who made the first step for their races to trust each other again (and a few hundred years later this asshole comes along and destroys everything again). Their children married each other. 

7. Who is their closest ally?

//

8. Who is their enemy?

I actually have an idea for the antagonist, but I want to keep it a secret~

9. What do they want more than anything?

//

10. Why can’t they have it?

//

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

//

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

(Sorry, I was too lazy to make a proper scan. I’ll do that when the aquarelle is finished.)

Concept art of Tysia and Doam and some lazy doodling of the spark descendants.

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

//

14. What is the external conflict?

//

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?  

Die, I guess. //

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

I actually already know this, but I won’t reveal it yet. But I’m already excited because of it. :D

17. Do you know how it ends?  

I don’t even know how it starts...

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?  

Balance. Especially regarding to power. Which power lies inside the powerless (or those who think are powerless) and what can’t the mighty ones do? 

19. What is a recurring symbol?  

//

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

It all started with the idea of an island where the elves live (called Eskaron) and now I also have a giant (still unnamed) continent with four mighty human kingdoms and a bunch of shapeshifters and witches.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

Oh yeah, definitely. I managed to re-use the very first concept (which was for a short story) as a sub plot. It involves a dragon and a young girl that coincidentally stumbles into his halls.

 22. What excited you about this story?  

It’s been already such a long journey. My biggest desire was always to write a great fantasy story with elves and I want to fulfil this wish to me now. 

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!  

First comes worldbuilding. A lot. I don’t feel save navigating in my world, when there are still things unset. 

Then I note down the major plot points that I want to happen and make up everything in between (or almost everything). I want the story to develop naturally so I don’t create a strict plan anymore.

Then the writing itself... When I have a lot of ideas I make a sloppy pre-draft first. Means, I just write down major plot points and rough dialogues. The re-writing of that is the actual first draft. And this draft I give a first edit when I finished a chapter. So it’s at least readable. 

Then, when the story is finished I give it a second edit. Which almost never happens. 

Thanks to all who actually read all that, because it’s not a lot I could tell you, since I still have to work a lot on it. Bit this actually helped me to figure out a few things. Super hyped again! I can come up with the rest! It’s gonna be great!

I’m tagging @desperatlytryingtowriteabook, @unfocused-overwriter, @lumina-rhiver, @atelierwriting, @thewingwriter, @delphwrites and @madmoonink. No pressure though. As always.