Writers?

[magicalbookworm]

I started making maps to go along with the novels I write. I was wondering if anyone here is also working on some novels.

[Ryan K]

Guilty as charged.

Not putting pen to paper until I got maps, excel spreadsheets, terminologies, plot arcs, sub-plots and all that other gumption worked out. I want to have enough to fill five trilogies. I don't do small. Totally setting myself up for dissapointment, but what is life without lofty goals?

[magicalbookworm]

Guilty as charged.

Not putting pen to paper until I got maps, excel spreadsheets, terminologies, plot arcs, sub-plots and all that other gumption worked out. I want to have enough to fill five trilogies. I don't do small. Totally setting myself up for dissapointment, but what is life without lofty goals?

Wow, five trilogies. Good luck. Have you started on any of this yet?

[Ryan K]

I have made a few attempts, but each time I keep finding other stories I want to tell which predate it, so any works done thus far have been archived for future reference.

The long and short of it is a boy who joins a Roman Legion-esque style army called the Emissars to help support his family going through some difficult times, and the several trilogies follow him throughout his life as he takes on various roles and their challenges. He becomes an Emissar, then a marauder (which is sort of like a forward-scout), then leaves combat to become an administrative assistant for a provincial governor, then a mercenary, then works as a master-of-arms for the capital city's reformed constabulary, then gets involved with an underground movement. All on the backdrop of this particular country's civil strife and the growing threat of (and eventual war with) a large western aggressor. After all that, I might have a sixth-saga in me which involves a natural catastrophe that reshapes the world forever.

I am trying to make it a very individual experience, basically a guy who is just trying to help his family survive as best he can while dealing with his immediate problems. Just an ordinary guy who finds himself in some situations which demand extraordinary measures, whether good or bad. There is no magic in my world (beyond perceptions of it), but there are elves, dwarves and other bits and bobs.

[magicalbookworm]

wow, Ryan sounds like a great idea! Don't get caught up in the build of the world or the novel. Get the first series outlined and go for it. It's always easier to edit something to your liking after you get the words down. (Though I shouldn't be the one to mention editing, I have a dozen novels that need editing and i'm horrible at it.) Do you belong to any writing groups? I would have never finished my first novel if i hadn't found fmwriters.com and the people that popluate the chat room there.

My large 6 book series is based around five friends who are all heading into a differnet part of their live, each taking a differnet path, some staying in the city they were born in and some leaving to find what their world has to offer. (i really need a better blurb!) I have books 1 - 4 written. Five and six are outlined. Only a few chapters of book 1 are edited.

I've taken a break from that set of books to work on another fantasy novel. Hopefully the break won't do me harm when i head back to the large serise.

[Ryan K]

wow, Ryan sounds like a great idea! Don't get caught up in the build of the world or the novel. Get the first series outlined and go for it. It's always easier to edit something to your liking after you get the words down. (Though I shouldn't be the one to mention editing, I have a dozen novels that need editing and i'm horrible at it.)

I'm actually finding the worldbuilding immensely fulfilling, especially in terms of getting down to character bios and things like that. It stops me before leaping in to ask questions about how the streets smell, what does the cooper down the road look like (or his daughters for that matter), who lives with, near and around the protagonist, who are his friends and what do they do... yes, in terms of writing the story, the world-building is certainly getting in the way of that. But some of the best ideas and aspects for the stories are popping up while I am moving mountains in Fractal Terrains, or conditional formatting in Excel.

For instance, when I stopped and asked myself "what are their units of measurement?" I began researching the 'Roman Mile', and after doing up some nifty distance calculation/conversion formulas in Excel, I found out that an Emissar is expected to be able to march xx amount of miles in a day, and this distance predetermined the definition of a 'league' by their reckoning. Yes, details, details, who cares for such details? Me, and I am finding it immensely fulfilling.

Do you belong to any writing groups? I would have never finished my first novel if i hadn't found fmwriters.com and the people that popluate the chat room there.

Ehh.. way back when myspace was more popular than Facebook, I joined a writer's group there, and it was dominated by a few unhelpful condescending 'authors' and a slightly larger body of pandering nit-pickers. It has largely deterred me from those sort of faceless interfaces. I prefer friends and family who have given the brief on 'what happens in the study stays in the study'. I have also swapped notes with a few honest co-writers, who aren't afraid to call a spade a spade, and continue to do so when I am actually committing finger to keyboard.

My large 6 book series is based around five friends who are all heading into a differnet part of their live, each taking a differnet path, some staying in the city they were born in and some leaving to find what their world has to offer. (i really need a better blurb!) I have books 1 - 4 written. Five and six are outlined. Only a few chapters of book 1 are edited.

That's a good blurb. I have a strong fascination with fantasy stories where the protagonist isn't always an adventurer, but a common man (or woman) with real problems. Give me a potter trying to survive the local criminal elements beating protection money out of people any day over the adventures of the brave, young farm boy seeking adventures on the back of dragons or on the belly of elvish women. I think that is where the drama is. I think your story sounds like it will pay it's due to the common folk.

I've taken a break from that set of books to work on another fantasy novel. Hopefully the break won't do me harm when i head back to the large serise.

It might just be what you need. A bit of fresh air in another world can keen your mind when you return to the old one.

[Malken]

My large 6 book series is based around five friends who are all heading into a differnet part of their live, each taking a differnet path, some staying in the city they were born in and some leaving to find what their world has to offer.

I love that idea! I actually had something slightly similar in mind for one of my series, but no worries, it's only the fourth one on my list of possible series, so you're extremely likely to get yours published a good five years ahead of me...at the least!

[eViLe_eAgLe]

I plan on making lore and a long huge backround surrounding the world im making maybe 90 pages of lore and backround or something told through a story teller.

[jtougas]

My Kingdom of Shendenflar is a long running project of mine. It started as a a campaign setting (and still is) that sort of grew a life of it's own in my head. There was so much stuff going on I HAD to write some of it down so that I could sleep.

[magicalbookworm]

I love world building, but the more novels I write and more worlds I end up creating. I find I only use a forth of what I end up making. I have a 6 book series that i've been working on here and there. I did so much world building for this set of novels and I've barely touched most of it. The maps were the most important thing I needed.

There was a cool comment on io9 about GRR Martin and that he only builds what he needs in his world. I like that idea.