The Writing (and Artistic) Ranting Thread

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Pretty sure if I follow through with the whole "life in review" concept, Arcane Guardian will no longer count as a prequel. It'll still be under "The Spectrum Chronicles", but if I go through with the changes, it won't be Book One anymore...and the WoN trilogy will sort of be nestled between it and Shadow & Flame (which will become the new Book One in The Spectrum Chronicles--again, if I go through with this). :unsure:

Yeah, my head hurts, too.
 
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I've been writing a lot.
A lot of gibberish goopiness that are meant to be love poems.
Why? I don't know. I'm not a poet and I'm deep in the dumps and have been for a long time now. Not nearly close to being in a good or happy or romantic or sappy mood.
Yet I'm sitting here with two pages full of sappy poems.
Dit gaan my verstand te bowe.

Also, high-five for having to google translate to check the spelling in my native language. :rolleyes:
 
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Double posting,
dante_and_trish_by_yvellblonde-d7yrtpd.png
I've never had this happen before so I had to share it.
I am about to go reread some of my old fanfics (thanks to @Shadow lol) and am getting ready to probably go mad-edit while I read it. Naturally that means I've got to get the playlist I used as background noise/inspiration ready to go, too.
Only the songs I had in the list are all suddenly blocked in my country or deleted by the original posters.
How the heck am I supposed to get back into the zone?
DMC4SE-Trio-4-devil-may-cry-4-39170025-500-200.gif
 
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So, because I'm changing Arcane Guardian from being a prequel to a companion novel of S&F and the WoN trilogy, I've had to change my synopsis for it as well:


There are those who have lived for millennia. Those who have seen mankind and the world around them go through all manner of change. The ingenuity of invention, of artistry and architectural marvels; the rise and fall of empires—Forneus is one of these such individuals.

A concentrated mass of ether given conscious form, Forneus is gifted with the ability to experience what it means to be human, with a touch of godly essence thrown in for good measure: Power. Magic. Near-immortality. Gifts bestowed upon all daemon kind, entities serving as intermediaries between gods and man—a role which Forneus has carried out time and again over the centuries.

From a precocious child who once sought out all manner of mischief, to the guardian who protected a young girl and her world from oblivion; Forneus has experienced much in his nine-hundred and thirty years of life, has fought more battles than he can count. Now a new threat is on the rise, one that endangers the Spectrum itself—and one Forneus has been to chosen to lead the assault against. But before he can do that, the High Council needs to be certain he is equal to the task, and that requires delving deep into his past…

Will the transgressions of Forneus’s youth stand against him? Or will centuries of loyal service prove that he is just the guardian the Spectrum needs in this most dire of times?

(Companion novel to Shadow & Flame and the Whispers of Nowhere trilogy).

Opinions are welcome. ^^;
 
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"Some readers are just scared or have anxiety! It's okay if they don't comment!" Yeah, it is...but what do you do if the sequel everyone was pestering you for, from the eye of a publisher, is doing so poorly that the series, in a professional setting, would be dropped despite the few people who do comment enjoying it?

"But writers need to stop pretending writing is hard! I wrote one thing once and it wasn't hard at all! You people are just greedy! It's not the same thing as paid (read: real) writers and no one owes you anything!" No, they don't. But I don't owe them anything, either. So excuse me if I ignore the rude comments, look just at the numbers, and consider no longer writing anything for public consumption. I have the right to be tired of what keeps being demanded of me. I have that much, if nothing else.
 
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I just had another one of those moments where you question everything you've ever known to be true.
This time it was deciding which preposition is the correct one to use in context.
Obsessed with, or obsessed over?

Some people say one sounds more American?? than the other whilst others say that one is more active than the other.
Either way both are acceptable and interchangeable.
But way to go for questioning my skills, brain. :facepalm:
 
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Not following an official outline is both liberating and frustrating right now. On one hand, the previous outlines, aside from the odd detail here and there, have been rendered moot by recent changes. On the other, I feel like I need to stop where I am on both stories, and write up new outlines in order to have a sense of direction (and to ensure my still-relevant details get implemented along the way).

Some of this definitely feels like it's enriching the plots, but I'm also worried it will switch over from good spontaneity to "meandering completely off the reservation with no chance of returning" spontaneity. >.>
 
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You guys want a major pro tip that's going to make me sound elitist but will save all of your readers' lives and possibly your own?

If you have a prophecy, or a huge long story about an OC you came up with that's supposed to introduce us to them without having them on screen, and you want to make that your prologue, consider this: don't. I have spent the last 3 days trying to get through a 500 word prologue that's a backstory for an OC and it's so boring; I'm tempted to skip it, though I'll probably miss important information. "But my intro is really good and important!" someone, somewhere, will probably say upon seeing this post, and I'm sure they think so, but...most of the editing I've done for other people is high fantasy, which uses this trope a lot, and, of the few dozen times I've seen it, it's never read well. Ever. I'm not saying "don't ever have a prophecy or a story others have told about your OC"--y'know, write what's good for your story. But...well...here, let me just explain the reasons it reads poorly and how I think it would sound better:

Reasons you shouldn't do the thing and possible solutions:
1) you're giving away 90% of your plot (mainly the problem of prophecies) - I'm not going to be surprised when you break out the whole "oooh, magical prophecy" routine because you've already told me everything. I already know the entire story with your intro. What is my motivation to keep reading at this point?
Possible solution: save your prophecy until a later time to reveal it, that way it'll be an actual surprise. You could break your MC with this information or rebuild them with it. Use it as you would any other important plot device.

2) you're info-dumping us (mainly the problem with revealing a character's backstory before the story starts) - you know how some people hate reading descriptions? This is exactly why. You're throwing a bucket of info at me, expecting me to be able to piece together what's important and what's not, and expecting me to somehow come to like this character in the process? I don't, because I still have no emotions attached to this character and I don't even have the urge to keep reading this story because of it. It's just too much. And it's usually a sign that you have no plans on building on your character.
Possible solution: just...don't...do it? That's not a good solution. Okay, real answer: reveal their background info through the plot. This seems straightforward and, yeah, it's exactly how it sounds. Have little things in the plot or their environment, or conversations with other characters, or even just memories, reveal this info instead of you throwing it at me. That's literally all it takes. Let us get attached to the character before you bring on all the bombshells. Pepper the backstories through the series and readers will adore learning about this character. Otherwise we have no reason to be invested.

3) it's usually a sign of an under-developed story - that's...really it. Like, really. It's a sign you haven't developed your story enough, because you're trying to inflate things with artificial drama. The thing is: we don't care. Does that sound callous? Yes. But, if this is the opening of your story, we know nothing about the characters or the world and we have no attachment to anything you've written. We need a living, breathing world to connect to, not some random Wikipedia article.
Possible solution: okay, so...if you absolutely have to do this and start your story this way, then please, for the love of Avo, write it well. Most of these read somewhere between extremely pretentious and that bland, textureless way a cheap tv dinner tastes. Make sure your world feels alive and vibrant so that, while we're reading about your prophecy or your OC's entire life story, it feels like I'm in the world and not just staring at some boring text book that cost me $600 and will end up not even being required reading. Give it life, not a painful amount of dust.

...okay, that ran on longer than I meant it to. Fingers crossed I'll make it through this ridiculous intro.
 
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The fact that my Phenex is one of three humanized phoenixes I know about chafes me more than it should. Okay, I could deal with it happening in the Darkside series; but to be reminded of the one in Supernatural--which has a considerably larger fanbase, in which the phoenix there was similarly wronged--just made it a far bitterer pill to swallow. I'm used to a lot of concepts I work with not being "new". But goddamn it, Phe was supposed to be. >.>

I think it just bugs me because someone is bound to make that parallel sooner or later--without me presenting it.

C'est la vie. I'm not bloody well changing him for the world.
 
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I forgot my laptop charger at my aunt's house so i'm not able to work on my script yet. She mailed it back so i can get back on track after saturday. So i switched gears and decided to work on the pitch bible. Its a 5 or more page document that explains the world of the show and why you should watch the next 5 seasons of it.

No pressure:banghead:.

Before i start tho, I'm just brainstorming the series arc and organize my thoughts on what the show should be.

My mentor is fond of saying "small bites of the elephant at a time" so thats good advice to share.

@Rebel Dynasty tbf supernatural only had a phoniex for one wild west episode years ago so yiu got room to play with.

Fun fact is that eric kripke was reluctant to use vampires in season 1 because he didnt want it to be like Buffy. So he was in your shoes too.

Soldier on.:thumbsup:

@Shadow
The movie Bright did something like that and it didn't work there either.
 
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Z218 said:
@Rebel Dynasty tbf supernatural only had a phoniex for one wild west episode years ago so yiu got room to play with.

Fun fact is that eric kripke was reluctant to use vampires in season 1 because he didnt want it to be like Buffy. So he was in your shoes too.

Soldier on.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

True, lol. If their phoenix was a recurring character, it would be so much worse. xD Good to know Kripke had the same kinds of reservations I (and most other creators) do. Makes me feel a bit better about things. ^^ Thanks. :thumbsup:
 
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how in the dead people,s hell do i use one of my pictures for a signature i have the link right there man right there someone helpme helpme helpme:angel:
 
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thanx that was big help dante,s stalker you know who can find dante for you any street gum chewing little dog haha and are you smiling because we are at a party of the new site or if it is because it is your birthday i was going to be born in your birthday but i let you go on ahead and be borned before me thanx for talking to me in this empty desert lately everybody ignores me but know i see there s also an ocean in the desert write to me anytime you like because if you leave me here alone the desert will be your new home forever :laugh: your scape will be tru a dream because every dream is a different world if you cant scape write to me and i,ll go into a coma and meet you :cautious:i think you should make the deal for the shinigami eyes from deathnote so you can see dante at night tehehehe allright im going to definitely now see all of your tv movies :cool: so since one we are still dreaming in the desert of the forums the sun follows us and we follow the sun but there,s no way to follow dante here :wink: gilbert
 
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