#a3c5e6
Name Colour
𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵
Warrior Fanatic
All hail me, the flower-flushing queen of Prague
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Post by 𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵 on Sept 11, 2023 16:22:36 GMT -5
In a broad sense it's good to be intentional with what you do borrow from real world religion(s) since being wholly original is pretty much impossible This is really important to keep in mind! I feel like we as writers get so caught up in trying to standout that we end up forgetting that literature has been around for many centuries, so nothing is ever going to be wholly original. In terms of religion, a similar thing applies, albeit on a much larger scale. Many Indo-European religions, for example, are believed to be derived from a single source due to the similarities so many of them share. My own world's religion even takes some inspiration from Ancient Greece and Rome and later Christianity (specifically Catholicism), as well as a bit of Germanic folklore for this one other fantasy country too. Point is, it's fine, so long as you admit it. After all, even Tolkien drew heavy inspiration from his own faith when he created the Valar and Maiar.
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 11, 2023 17:36:21 GMT -5
Screaming rn because I have a story i really like but I have written it 3 times and whenever it gets to 5000 words I decide I hate it and restart
Time to restart again
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2023 19:59:18 GMT -5
NOOOOO, discipline!!! Do it for meeee! I'm going through the same thing and can't get 200 words down. Do it, even if you hate it!!!
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 11, 2023 20:06:54 GMT -5
I am now at 1344 words
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Sept 11, 2023 22:18:45 GMT -5
I appreciate all the advice regarding creating a creation myth!
For some clarification, this serves as background for my story and is not the story in and of itself. However, the fictional religion(s?) does play a pretty significant role in the story, as it serves as a fundamental basis for a lot of the characters' starting worldviews and generally serves as a sort of philosophical context for the story at large. The messages of the work deal a lot with questions of virtue, integrity, and the place of morality in common life. So although I am fine with leaving the finer details for organic development later in the writing process, it's not something I can entirely push down the road. Gotta have at least a basic idea, y'know.
That being said, I did like the suggestion to look more into existent creation myths as a form of inspiration! Since my setting is rather Slavic in origin, I decided to take a peep at folk creation myths from that culture. Upon doing so, I realized a recurrent theme (the devil trying to trick God into doing something) offered a rich prompt off which to work.
I definitely want this fictitious religion to share similarities to my own faith, but the struggle is making it feel sufficiently different rather than just making it the same religion with a new fake name slapped over it, if you get what I mean? Shared moral underpinings but figuring out new ways to express/exhibit them.
Have to say, coming up with different sects and figuring out where/how/why beliefs diverge is really fun.
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#a3c5e6
Name Colour
𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵
Warrior Fanatic
All hail me, the flower-flushing queen of Prague
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Post by 𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵 on Sept 12, 2023 1:28:05 GMT -5
That being said, I did like the suggestion to look more into existent creation myths as a form of inspiration! Since my setting is rather Slavic in origin, I decided to take a peep at folk creation myths from that culture. Upon doing so, I realized a recurrent theme (the devil trying to trick God into doing something) offered a rich prompt off which to work. I definitely want this fictitious religion to share similarities to my own faith, but the struggle is making it feel sufficiently different rather than just making it the same religion with a new fake name slapped over it, if you get what I mean? Shared moral underpinings but figuring out new ways to express/exhibit them. I totally get that! I had the same problem not too long ago and looking into the culture you're taking inspiration from is definitely a great way to overcome this! Not sure how much help I can be since I'm working with a completely different system with mine and my own gods are flawed to hell (no pun intended) and back, but I'd recommend going over each religious figure as well; is the deity in your story absolutely perfect, or are they capable of being wrong, even on occasion? If you have a devil figure, are they pure evil or are they just doing their job? Things like that, basically. In my personal experience, just writing the worldbuilding/history out from the very beginning to the present day and going back to edit later definitely helps as well. Also, TV Tropes is your friend! If it helps, here's a recap of Tolkien's creation myth to see what I was trying to get at earlier. To quote Wikipedia because I do not have the time to summarize it all on my own: The "Ainulindalë" recounts the creation of Arda by the deity Eru Ilúvatar. The story begins with a description of the Ainur as "children of Ilúvatar's thought". They are taught the art of music, which becomes the subject of their immortal lives. The Ainur sing alone or in small groups about themes given to each of them by Ilúvatar, who proposes a "great" plan for them all: a collaborative symphony where they would sing together in harmony. Although the Ainur embody Ilúvatar's thoughts, they are expected to use their freedom to assist the development of the "great" plan.
The most powerful of the Ainur, Melkor, is introduced to the music. Although his "loud, and vain" music disrupts the harmony, Ilúvatar stands, smiles and raises his left hand to begin a new theme. When Melkor again spoils the second theme, Ilúvatar rises sternly and raises his right hand to begin a third. Melkor tries to corrupt this theme with the volume of his music, but it is powerful enough to prevent him from succeeding. Ilúvatar ends the music, chastises Melkor and leaves the Ainur to their thoughts.
The deity takes the Ainur to see how music, at the end of the Void, created Arda. When the third theme results in the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves and the Men, many Ainur want to go into the world to visit them. Although Melkor was the first of the Ainur to be named, Ulmo was the first to take action in Arda. Despite Melkor's efforts, Ulmo's water cannot be ruined by heat or cold; he and Manwë are revealed as the primary agents of Ilúvatar's plans.
Some Ainur remain in the Timeless Halls with Ilúvatar, and others go into Arda as the Valar and Maiar. The Ainur begin to prepare for the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar; Melkor repeatedly thwarts their preparations, desiring to rule Arda. Manwë summons the Ainur to resist Melkor, who retreats. When the Valar later assume bodily form, the first war of Eä begins, but Manwë's efforts make the Earth habitable for Elves and Men.
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Sept 12, 2023 8:34:50 GMT -5
hey all!
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 12, 2023 8:43:21 GMT -5
hiii
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2023 8:47:21 GMT -5
Hello
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2023 15:12:36 GMT -5
Good, you?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2023 15:26:17 GMT -5
I'm forcing myself to write Chapter 1 and I'm pretty proud on how it's turned out so far.
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Sept 12, 2023 18:25:14 GMT -5
I need to force myself to write, too. There’s just been so much going on in my life right now that I haven’t been able to focus on anything ): It’s been a rough few months&weeks.
But I’m cheering for all you guys!! And I’d love to hear about your projects (:
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2023 9:07:25 GMT -5
Thank you, I would love to hear about any projects you have!
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Post by valleylight on Sept 14, 2023 10:44:29 GMT -5
Hey everybody, what’s your ideal writing environment?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2023 13:20:41 GMT -5
Alone
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Sept 14, 2023 17:05:28 GMT -5
Alone, too. But more specifically, I use to write on the couch. But then I moved to writing on my bed. And then I moved to writing in the corner of my room on the floor XD And then back to the couch, haha.
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Sept 14, 2023 21:02:10 GMT -5
Hey everybody, what’s your ideal writing environment? I don't know if I have one, honestly! I'm very sporadic with my writing since it's mainly based off inspiration right now (bc I'm in the planning phase). Usually I'm just at the kitchen table.
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Post by *Ɗαɾƙρσσℓ* on Sept 15, 2023 0:51:19 GMT -5
i think my ideal writing environment is mostly just having multiple writing environments? I kinda need changing scenery, I loved writing on my college campus cause I could wander from a cafe to the library to a park bench throughout the day and write for shorter time periods in each place lol
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 15, 2023 2:55:35 GMT -5
Sobbin rn because I have a story idea that I really like and i've already written the first two chapters (its the one I deleted 4 times btw) but now I can't post/ keep writing it because I have to plan out the story
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2023 6:46:08 GMT -5
but now I can't post/ keep writing it because I have to plan out the story May I ask why? The keep writing part, I mean.
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 15, 2023 6:48:21 GMT -5
but now I can't post/ keep writing it because I have to plan out the story May I ask why? The keep writing part, I mean.The problem is, whenever I write a story I want to have the whole thing (or at least an idea of the whole thing) planned out because I like to have foreshadowing and not have plot points appear out of nowhere, and there's less chance of me deleting stuff or getting stuck on ideas for chapters if I have the chapters planned out
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2023 6:52:57 GMT -5
May I ask why? The keep writing part, I mean. The problem is, whenever I write a story I want to have the whole thing (or at least an idea of the whole thing) planned out because I like to have foreshadowing and not have plot points appear out of nowhere, and there's less chance of me deleting stuff or getting stuck on ideas for chapters if I have the chapters planned out Hmm, interesting. How does this process work?
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Sept 15, 2023 6:56:36 GMT -5
The problem is, whenever I write a story I want to have the whole thing (or at least an idea of the whole thing) planned out because I like to have foreshadowing and not have plot points appear out of nowhere, and there's less chance of me deleting stuff or getting stuck on ideas for chapters if I have the chapters planned out Hmm, interesting. How does this process work?Okay so I start off by coming up with an idea, then I dump everything about the idea down onto a notes page. i'll reread it to change things I don't like and do a lot of thinking to brainstorm ideas. If it's a multi-chapter story, I'll divide the dump into several chapters and convert it into dot points, so its basically footnotes for the chapter. I also write down stuff i want to include but I'm not sure what chapter it should go in, and then decide where to put it after I finish my footnotes.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2023 7:44:52 GMT -5
Hmm, interesting. How does this process work? Okay so I start off by coming up with an idea, then I dump everything about the idea down onto a notes page. i'll reread it to change things I don't like and do a lot of thinking to brainstorm ideas. If it's a multi-chapter story, I'll divide the dump into several chapters and convert it into dot points, so its basically footnotes for the chapter. I also write down stuff i want to include but I'm not sure what chapter it should go in, and then decide where to put it after I finish my footnotes. This sounds very organized. Shame I could not learn this power. You have been blessed with patience, I wish I could be given such power.
*why does this give me Megamind vibes?*
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Post by *Ɗαɾƙρσσℓ* on Sept 15, 2023 10:57:39 GMT -5
grappling with what point an unlikeable character becomes too unlikeable/when does morally grey become too dark to tolerate in a protagonist.
this might be less of an issue if i wanted this WIP to be grimdark, I've seen people ignore/forgive really atrocious things with grimdark protags, but that's not what I'm going for D:
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Sept 15, 2023 14:06:09 GMT -5
grappling with what point an unlikeable character becomes too unlikeable/when does morally grey become too dark to tolerate in a protagonist.
this might be less of an issue if i wanted this WIP to be grimdark, I've seen people ignore/forgive really atrocious things with grimdark protags, but that's not what I'm going for D: I can only speak for myself, but for me personally, I think the character needs to have at least one strong redeeming quality (loyalty, trusting, determination, etc) and a reason to root for them (e.g. if we’ve seen them in a better previously and know they’re capable of it, or if they’re seeking justice for a horrendous legitimate wrong)
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Sept 15, 2023 20:04:10 GMT -5
well, i opened my word doc and then I closed it. It has been 3 months since i last wrote.
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