{ ＩＮＫＬＩＮＧＳ v.4 } A Thread For Writers

[Ranger of the North]

I've... stumbled across a problem in Dragon Flightless. Lightning finds Anima unconcious and injured, and his friend Sunset encourages him to help her, then they end up going on a journey because... why...? The only reasonable way I can think of for Lightning and Sunset to leave home is to make it a Doomed Hometown.

Well Lightning's a flightless dragon, right? Maybe he's viewed as useless and cast out, maybe there could be a misunderstanding/fight and he sets off to proves himself, or maybe, since you wanted their to be a kind of them, right? Maybe Anima is damaged permanently and Lightning has to help her get home, or he befriends her, but dragons and griffins have been enemies since way back and the other dragons want to kill her so they need to escape? Just a few ideas that you may or may not find useful c:

I sort of like the escape idea, but it sort of reminds me of a combination of How to Train Your Dragon and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team.

It does?
Okay, well HtTYD never crossed my mind once, and I don't play pokemon, so that's kinda funny hahaha XD

[Captain Peregrin]

@Ranger of the North: In my experience, you're always borrowing from something or other - the secret is being aware of your influences and doing your best to present it in a unique way.

I'm Captain Peregrin, by the way xD I literally just discovered this forum after about five years on CS and decided to hang out because it looked fun. I studied English and Linguistics in college (although I'm currently on an extended hiatus), and while I'm chipping away at that mountain of debt, I'm maintaining a literary blog which basically amounts to me writing about the stories I love. I haven't actually written much fiction, but my dream is to become some sort of critic.

[Nitro Indigo]

What does "since you wanted their to be a kind of them" mean?

Also, I'm planning on having Lightning learn that "flying is overrated anyway" by the end of the story. The pseudo-archosaur-person who would hypothetically convince him this is a drake (a species related to dragons with no wings and a kangaroo-stance) named Greenback. I'm thinking of having it be a five-man band by the end, but the problem is, I'm not good at making characters with distinct personalities. I should try, then.
Also, thankfully Lightning grew up with dragon-people who were accepting of his disability. Maybe I could deconstruct Disabled Means Helpless once he leaves the valley?

I sort of want to write a Pokémon fanfiction to test my skills, since that's what I'm most used to. But what should it be about? A Deconstructive Parody of all the Pokémon fanfic clichés?

[Ranger of the North]

@Ranger of the North: In my experience, you're always borrowing from something or other - the secret is being aware of your influences and doing your best to present it in a unique way.

I'm Captain Peregrin, by the way xD I literally just discovered this forum after about five years on CS and decided to hang out because it looked fun. I studied English and Linguistics in college (although I'm currently on an extended hiatus), and while I'm chipping away at that mountain of debt, I'm maintaining a literary blog which basically amounts to me writing about the stories I love. I haven't actually written much fiction, but my dream is to become some sort of critic.

Huh, that's actually true... "There is nothing new under the sun!" cx
Welcome along, anyway! Ooo a critic, eh? c: What do you use to learn'n' stuff? And like a structure/style critic, or a grammar one? c:
Interesting...

Indigo, this site is useful for developing characters, and here's a test that's pretty helpful with discovering whether your character's a Mary/Gary Sue/Stu or not c:

[Nitro Indigo]

I don't think I'll be able to use all of those questions for Dragon Flightless, since it seems designed for human characters, but it still might be helpful.
I think the most interesting characters I've ever come up with are Teagan, an OC from my scrapped Legend of Zelda fanfic A Spirit That Shines Forever Bright, and my weird OC Stand-In, (to reference an old meme here) looks-like-could-kill-you-but-is-actually-a-cinnamon-roll version of Siddeley from Cars 2.

Anyhow, how about...
Lightning is a flightless dragon who's best friends with a not-flightless dragon named Sunset, the daughter of the elder of the valley village where they live. When they find an injured griffon, named Anima, they agree to leave the valley to return her home.
There will be a mystery aspect in how Anima ended up there in the first place, but I'm not sure why. Part of the fun is coming up with the story on the way?
I can imagine Dragon Flightless becoming an important historical event in Glory, about how the different species learned to live together.

[Captain Peregrin]

@Ranger of the North: In my experience, you're always borrowing from something or other - the secret is being aware of your influences and doing your best to present it in a unique way.

I'm Captain Peregrin, by the way xD I literally just discovered this forum after about five years on CS and decided to hang out because it looked fun. I studied English and Linguistics in college (although I'm currently on an extended hiatus), and while I'm chipping away at that mountain of debt, I'm maintaining a literary blog which basically amounts to me writing about the stories I love. I haven't actually written much fiction, but my dream is to become some sort of critic.

Huh, that's actually true... "There is nothing new under the sun!" cx
Welcome along, anyway! Ooo a critic, eh? c: What do you use to learn'n' stuff? And like a structure/style critic, or a grammar one? c:

Mainly structure/style, although obviously I know a thing or two about grammar, too. Not really a grammar nazi, though xD It's fun to look at a story and figure out why it succeeds or fails in different ways.

The main way to learn what works and what doesn't is to immerse yourself in good stories! It's shocking how much you can just sort of absorb that way. Aside from some great teachers, Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" is a must if you want to do anything with fantasy. I've also studied Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle.

I'm not just into literature, either - I love stories of all kinds! Film and animation are of great interest to me, although I've never officially studied them (again, I learn mostly by osmosis). Honestly, on that front, I've learned a ton just by reading good critics. I'm generally drawn most to fantasy, no matter the medium.

[Greenleaf]

Hey! Haven't been on here in awhile, lol. How many people here participated in NaNoWriMo? :3

Also, if it's not too much to ask, could I possibly send a short story to someone over PM for critique? It's only about 2000 words long, genre mild science fiction. I just got it prepped for a competition coming up in some two weeks, and I'd love some feedback before I send it out. Just shoot my a PM/reply below if you're interested, and thanks so much in advance!

[Captain Peregrin]

I've never been a NaNoWriMo kind of person xD The idea of writing 5k a day for a month kind of terrifies me. I'm more of a small, compact story writer.

I could take a look at your story if you'd like (although it might be a few days before I could look at it properly on my laptop).

[TheSongOfTheStars]

*I,666 words a day*

[Greenleaf]

I've never been a NaNoWriMo kind of person xD The idea of writing 5k a day for a month kind of terrifies me. I'm more of a small, compact story writer.

I could take a look at your story if you'd like (although it might be a few days before I could look at it properly on my laptop).

As FiveSecondsToFly said, it's true that you only have to write 1666 words a day to get fifty thousand by the end of the month. :) Though I totally feel you - I 100% thought that a little over 1500 words a day would be easy, but then I actually got around to trying it and effing died on the first day. I'm also very much of a short story writer myself. I highly respect those people that can churn out 15000+ stories regularly. o_o

And thank you so much! I really appreciate it; I'll send it over now, if that's fine with you!