Announcement - On break until January 9th, Q&A here if you want to ask me a question.
Added 2022-12-24 06:56:28 +0000 UTCI have been debating whether I want to do this for a while now. I have hesitated SO many times. But I think it COULD be fun, so I’ma give it a whirl and see how it goes.
If you feel like it, you can ask me a question on this post, and odds are good that I’ll answer it. It’s meant to be a fun Q&A about my writing process, or about random questions, or anything of the sort.
A few ground rules.
First, no specifically identifying questions. I like to keep my personal life at least moderately separated from my writing here. I wouldn’t say I think it’s SUPER important, per se, but it is at least a mild preference of mine. So questions about my personal life won’t be answered if it isn't related to a detail I've mentioned in an Author's Note somewhere. If I've already mentioned it in an author's note, I'm okay with sharing it, obviously, and if it's unimportant, I also probably don't mind sharing it. But personal questions might be iffy. If I choose not to answer a question, I'll write 'pass' or something below your comment, I guess?
Second, no questions about spoilers for my stories. I hate spoilers. I don’t want to spoil anything that’s going to happen in the future for either of my stories. If I can’t think of a good way to answer a question because it’s either reliant on stuff that will happen in the future to give a full answer, or because it will get discussed in more detail in a chapter I’ve already planned to write, I might partially answer a question or just write something like ‘pass’ to your question, since I can’t think of a good way to answer it without spoiling anything. Sometimes the distinguishing line between a pass or a reply may seem strange to you, but on my end, at least, my decision makes sense and I promise there’s some sort of logic to it. It may be very strange logic, but it does make sense, okay?
Third, once I get back from break on January 9th is the point in time where I will answer these questions. I probably won’t see them until then. Once I answer all of the questions upon returning from break, I probably won’t respond to any new questions added to this post, since I won’t see them.
I don’t know if anyone actually cares about this idea in the first place, and if no one asks a question to begin with, that’s fine too. I just thought it would be a fun idea and I wanted to see how it went. So, uh… ask away if there’s anything you’re curious about, I guess?
Comments
So, this is a bit complicated, but a bit of both is correct. Regarding how the System works as a whole, I have the breakpoints for specific classes and such planned out in advance. I knew, for example, what 'boost' Perks got at level 50 long before we got there in the story. As for specific Classes, it's a bit more complicated. I believe I've mentioned this a few other times, but this isn't the first draft of Budding Scientist. It is the third draft. My first draft of any story is usually a mess. I basically just write whatever comes to mind, no planning or worldbuilding. I think "I wanna write a story kind of like this' and then just hop into word and start writing whatever. The idea is to figure out what I need to do to make the story work - what do I need to plan out, what elements of the story feel missing or don't work properly, etc. During the first draft of Budding Scientist, Alice got to like, level 25 in Survivor? Her Perks for that class are largely left over from that draft of the story. However, I also started the story already knowing what the conclusion of the story would look like. I mean, I can't write it word for word right now, but as of chapter 1 I had a good idea what the last 10 chapters of the story would look like, and if I tried to write them at that point I probably would have only needed to replace like 50% of the words to make it 'match up' with the state of the story we will probably have by the time we get there. Since I know what the end of the story looks like, I think about what tools Alice should have to make her 'end build' work properly, and then go backwards from there. However, sometimes I also make up Perks based on what I feel a specific class would want in various situations. For example, the {Lie Detection} Perks of [Guards] wasn't something I specifically thought about at the beginning of the story. Instead, I was just thinking about 'if I were a [Guard] what magic abilities would I find most helpful?' Lie detection came up as one of my ideas, so I ran with it, and then realized 'this is really useful. More [Guards] should logically be taking this Perk, or Perks that do something like this.' And that's how [Guards] became a Class well known for Lie Detection. So Perks given to Alice are partially based on her end build and partially based on stuff I think she would find interesting or useful, and partially based on what other people with the same class would probably find useful. For other classes, it's based entirely on what I think they would find useful. Except for Immortals - they, admittedly, also get strongly influenced by the rule of cool. They're Immortals - if anyone can break the rules and find interesting and ridiculous ways to break their class or supercharge their class, an Immortal definitely would be the person to do it. Allira the [Bard], for example.
acaswell
2023-01-10 00:26:24 +0000 UTCFor writing, I usually start out by making a cup of tea. Then, after that, I start working on Markets and Multiverses first. Since it's less... delicate than Budding Scientist, I find it a little more relaxing to work on. I write in 1 hour cycles - I write for 50 minutes, then take a 10 minute break, and repeat this cycle until I finish the first draft of the chapter. Then I take a one hour break to clear my head a bit, before I start the second draft, repeating the same cycle. During my ten minute break I usually read another book. I'm good at jumping from one story to another, so I find this cycle helps me clear my head a bit from anxiety while writing and helps me recharge a bit. And taking a break between each draft of a chapter helps a lot with making sure I pick up (More) of the problems with a previous draft of the story. I then do a third draft if I feel it's needed, before posting it. Then, I eat dinner, make more tea, and repeat for Budding Scientist. For Budding Scientist, I don't need to squeeze multiple drafts into the same day, which is good. Instead, I start on Monday, by writing about 1,000 words of the story. Since it's just the first draft of the chapter, I don't usually worry too much about what I'm writing - I look at the end of the previous chapter, looking at the plotline, and then figure out what the most logical continuation of the previous chapter is that leads the story towards the next major plot point. I often delete 70-80% of the first draft of the next budding Scientist chapter before it makes it to public. Tuesday's goal is to fix whatever mess I left on the pages on Monday, fact-check it with my worldbuilding doc, and get to 2K words. Wednesday's goal is to flesh out whatever parts of the chapter feel barebones, and not detailed enough. Or feel too detailed. basically, it's the detail edit to make sure everything feels just right. Thursday is the semi-final draft. I finish my draft of the chapter and send it to my beta reader. On Friday, they send me the return, I fix grammatical errors and whatever other issues were left in the chapter (Usually the changes from Thursday to Friday aren't that big, although occasionally I have looked over a chapter and decided it's a mess ,before cutting like half the chapter and rewriting it. In that case, Friday looks a lot like a Markets and Multiverses chapter XD) and then post it on Patreon, along with the public chapters, moving chapters to the right tier, etc. I'm not entirely sure if that answers your question, but that's what my daily and weekly process looks like for each story. For recharging/ finding inspiration... well, I admit, on Mondays, especially for Budding Scientist, I tend to feel pretty unmotivated to start the next chapter. That's why I have given myself permission to just make a mess on Monday's draft. I don't mind if it doesn't make sense - I just need to break the mental barrier of 'ugh, I don't want to start' that I usually feel on Mondays for each chapter. I would even argue that monday is mostly about getting back into the headspace of writing the story. But I do also note that I've always been especially good at getting myself to be productive, especially when I know a deadline is coming up. For me, that's Friday, when I need to upload the next chapter of the story. Since I know you guys are waiting for the next chapter, I use that as motivation by thinking about how some people would be sad if they can't read the next chapter. I do also have a complicated set of timers on my phone letting me know when to start and stop writing each day. I live by the timer! I'll pass on other parts of the question for now. XD
acaswell
2023-01-10 00:10:41 +0000 UTCHow much of the class and perk system did you actually plan out? This seems like the most complicated bit of the world building and I wonder how you approached it. Obviously a full map is out - you've committed yourself to probably many thousands of known classes, never mind magic seeds or perks, but did you decide on common ones ahead of time? Make them up as you need them? Map Alice's final build first and work backward to come up with perk options leading to it?
Margaret Lloyd
2023-01-07 15:00:34 +0000 UTCCan you describe your daily writing process? How are you managing, recharging, finding motivation/inspiration? Will you eventually publish a book? Are you thinking about employing an editor?
Luboš Hemala
2023-01-05 22:01:56 +0000 UTCQ: if Alice hadn’t found the book on magic, would she had lived through winter? Could she have figured out magic by accident or is a magic seed to difficult to form even by a coincidence?
kade Holder
2022-12-24 19:38:45 +0000 UTCQ:What is the highest class tier and level an immortal has reached?Also how old is the oldest immortal alive?
Magic Blaze
2022-12-24 13:46:54 +0000 UTC
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