Always Write discussion
Phoenix, Potatos, & Geoflame
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Ideas
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:D, WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!
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May 14, 2020 09:34AM
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Okay, so...I've gotta admit, I have absolutely zero ideas for books right now.
Well, that's completely fine. We can even start with another aspect if you want, or just play writing games until you get an idea
I mean...we could try coming up with characters before we come up with ideas and then sort of shape a story around the characters? idk if that makes sense.
![dagger [ain't that a kick in the head] (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1655308429p1/106560415.jpg)
AyyoI am here
That makes sense! I do that sometimes.
I like that idea!So you said we'd likely kill off a main character. would this be a POV character or a supporting character that's prominent in the story??
Wait, what POV should we write in?I prefer first but I am totally fine with writing in third.
I really don't mind who we kill off (well that sounds weird out of context). Maybe we should come up with what's actually gonna happen/who the characters are before we decide who we're gonna kill?
Also, character concepts:outwardly apathetic
pros:
it's really striking/shocking when they do get intense in any direction
backstory writing reason's they're apathetic
cons:
not as many opportunities for witty dialogue or personality
harder for people to get emotionally attached
enthusiastic but quiet
pros:
emotionally interesting
subverting stereotypes of "extroverts are loud and obnoxious"
cons:
might be difficult to write
confusing
professional who's super out of their element
pros:
fun to write
easy victory for them if they ever come across a challenge in something they're good at (for instance, a bard feels super useless travelling in an abandoned forest until they come across a tavern that's holding a fine arts contest of some sort)
lots of room for personality and growth
cons:
them being useless might start to feel like a gag
I'm chill with first-person
Cool! That's great. Honestly, I usually just start writing stories, I don't think about who the characters are and their personalities until later, which is not great. This is awesome! Thanks so much. I think maybe we could make an apathetic character in the story? I know that it will be harder for people to get attached but if we use the backstory idea and have a really devastating backstory people will feel for that character.
Just an idea! You're welcome to disagree.
Whoops, sorry, I was responding to geoflame's comment. Okay, first person's great!
So...who do we want our characters to be? Like, what type of people. Royalty? I know that lots of fantasy books have royalty in them as main characters, should we do that too or do something different? We could do, like, nobility but not royalty? But I don't think that every character should be nobility or whatever...
ha ha, this is difficult without even knowing the setting or what the world is like first.
Okay guys, I know that no one is currently on goodreads but Imma just put some more ideas/questions here. Because I can. And no one is responding.
Do we want our characters to be human or something else?
Also, here's a story idea that is very vague and I literally just came up with: There's a kingdom.
And it's ruled by a royal family. (I am just so specific.)
And there's nobility.
and there's this one noble family who are actually like planning to overthrow the royalty.
Because the royalty doesn't treat the poor well.
And then more things happen.
That I have not thought of yet.
And apparently I like using the enter key.
So yeah.
Jay wrote: "E the Phoenix wrote: "Okay guys, I know that no one is currently on goodreads but Imma just put some more ideas/questions here. Because I can. And no one is responding."I am not on a team with yo..."
I mean people who are on this team, but thanks for letting me know :D
I was joking.I didn't even realize that sounded creepy until I read it again just now.
Sorry.
Hello hello helloLet's get this party startedddddd
Yes, let's get this party started.
i"d say a mix of human as well as other species??and as an answer to your nobility question, maybe one person is nobility and we could lean into that "pro out of their element" thing????
I have an idea.
So You're thinking that one family of nobles is gonna try to overthrow the rulers, correct? So it's like a revolution?
That was indeed my idea.But if you guys don't like it we can change it. I literally came up with that in like ten seconds.
The ten seconds it took for me to write that comment.
But anyway1) I really like that idea
2) What if there's like some sort of weapon of mass destruction or whatever hidden somewhere
I now have another idea adding on to that!What if this girl in the noble family enrolls as a guard or something to get into the palace to find the weapon and destroy it but then way later in the book she realizes that the weapon is the princess but the problem is that she had fallen in love with the princess.
or something.
stahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOOstahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO
stahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO
StAhP iT jAy
E the Phoenix wrote: "I now have another idea adding on to that!What if this girl in the noble family enrolls as a guard or something to get into the palace to find the weapon and destroy it but then way later in the b..."
Bootiful
child
I am in love with this idea already
absolutelyso how magical is this going to be-
Potatos ♥ I have become one with the shrubbery ♥ wrote: "stahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOOstahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO
stahp it Jay DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO
StAhP iT jAy"
Maybe like a 50/50 thing? So there are like potions and shizz, but you can't just immediately kill someone by waving a stick at them
E the Phoenix wrote: "I now have another idea adding on to that!What if this girl in the noble family enrolls as a guard or something to get into the palace to find the weapon and destroy it but then way later in the b..."
YESSSSSSSSS
Mod
Hey! That's my thing! (Ask the foxes... XD)"
Yep! XD
What is going on right now...I thought this was for ideas for our story...
It seems to be only half that.
Potatos ♥ I have become one with the shrubbery ♥ wrote: "Maybe like a 50/50 thing? So there are like potions and shizz, but you can't just immediately kill someone by waving a stick at them"I agree.
E the Phoenix wrote: "Potatos ♥ I have become one with the shrubbery ♥ wrote: "Maybe like a 50/50 thing? So there are like potions and shizz, but you can't just immediately kill someone by waving a stick at them"I agree."
i actually have a potion-making system i invented sooo
cool! We should totally use that.
NOTE: This is not based in any religion or cultural idea about potions. I'm pulling this all out of my ear.=====
okay. there are three types of potion bases. the base determines a lot of factors about the potion.
water:
these potions are the most powerful, but also the most likely to have unintended consequences. they require a lot of preciseness and are most effective on biological factors (people, plants, animals, etc.) they're also often used in change based potions.
milk:
predictable and easy, these potions are typically recommended to beginners. they're unlikely to have side effects but usually have a time limit or a very weak result. they require a lot of ingredients but these are typically common and accessible things. this base is most effective on physical factors and makes surprisingly potent healing potions
grain alcohol:
these potions are the most flexible and can affect different people or objects differently. they often have side effects, but these are easy to predict and reverse. their results and power are almost entirely influenced by the ingredients added. they require a lot of patience and are most effective on mental factors. this base is most well known for its various memory class potions.
=====
there are two types of potions, each being an umbrella over many different potion classes.
type 1: physical
includes:
-change
-appearance
-elemental
-creation
-destruction
type 2: mental
includes:
-memory
-knowledge
-communication
-divination
-emotional manipulation
=====
there are also four types of ingredients.
stable ingredients, which always have the same connotation no matter what base or other ingredients they're combined with
queer ingredients*, which change connotation and effect based on what base and ingredients they're combined with
echo ingredients, which change connotation based on what other ingredients they're mixed with
simple ingredients, which change connotation depending on what base they're mixed with
*yes that's the actual name. it was decided when the word still meant 'weird' or 'individualist'
=====
some other things:
alcohol-based potions are typically either heated or mixed with at least one other liquid (or both) in order to nullify the normal properties of alcoholic drinks. they're also nicknamed 'lethe potions' after the river of forgetfulness in the underworld (regardless of function).
appearance class potions used to be a part of the change class, but after a boom in potions magic in general, many witches began seeking some sort of profit to support their magic. cosmetic potions and potions of invisibility sold very well, and more started being made and concocted. because of this, the Guild of Ancients designated a specific class of appearance potions.
technically, potions could be made from any liquid significantly different from the designated bases, but there's been so little research into it, it's considered dangerous, reckless, and unnecessary.
the colloquial term for potion magic is alchemy, which is a partial misnomer since it doesn't work the way alchemy usually does in fantasy stories, but whatever.
=====
~Memory Erasure Potion, Time Based (good for 2 half-litre bottles/4 uses)~
ingredients:
1 litre of grain alcohol
2 tablespoons of black salt
1 ounce of liquid nickel
2 1/2 teaspoons of turmeric
1 forget-me-not (full flower, stem and all)
3 grams of yellow candle wax
a small bucket of red sand (for emergencies only)
warnings: be sure to do this in a flame-resistant area, and to wear protective clothing. have a small bucket of red sand on hand.
instructions:
1. heat the alcohol until it simmers
2. pour in the liquid nickel and stir for about a minute. when the alcohol gains a silvery sheen it's sufficiently mixed.
3. add the black salt and stir until dissolved
4. allow to sit for an hour, maintaining the simmer
5. once reduced to about two-thirds of what it was before, add the turmeric and allow it to sit without stirring for about fifteen minutes or until the mixture smells of turmeric
6. light the forget-me-not aflame and hold it over the mixture from the base of the stem until the flower is too hot to hold, then drop it in.
7. the fire should be grey/silver. allow the mixture to burn. (if it burns for over 2 minutes, douse it with red sand. this will not affect the potency of the mixture, but it will likely cause the memory lost to return in flashes until five hours after consumption)
8. after the fire stops, bring the mixture to a boil and then put out the heat source
9. drop in the wax and stir vigorously for one minute
10. allow to cool
11. bottle and use as you wish
this still just me making stuff up procedure wise, but i took inspiration from science, culture, and specifically candle magic (thanks for the idea btw Pancake) for the connotation of various ingredients.
**this is still not an accurate representation of any culture and/or of witchcraft**
=====
~Memory Erasure Potion, Event-Based (Good for 3 half-litre bottles/6 uses)~
ingredients:
1 1/2 litres of grain alcohol
3 tablespoons of black salt
2 tablespoons of zinc powder
1 forget-me-not (flower head only)
2 grams of yellow candle wax
1 slip of paper per serving
warnings: do not serve without paper or the subject's entire memory of the alchemist who created the mixture will be irreversibly erased
instructions:
1. allow the alcohol to chill for 30-35 minutes in a refrigerator
2. sprinkle in the zinc powder
3. place over medium heat and bring to a boil
4. light a separate container of black salt aflame
5. place the forget me not head atop the flame
6. allow to fully burn
7. let the fire burn itself out. be sure to bottle the smoke for later use
8. place the salt/ash mixture in the alcohol/zinc mixture and stir vigorously for 30-40 minutes
9. add the candle wax and let simmer for 15-20 minutes
10. take off heat and bottle while hot
11. allow to cool and use as you wish
=====
~Animal Communication Potion, 1 Day (good for 4 half-litre bottles/4 uses)~
ingredients:
2 litres of grain alcohol
5 teaspoons of goat horn powder (works best if the horns were never filed down and the goat died of natural causes)
2 cups of red wine (must be over 100 years old)
3 tablespoons crushed peppermint sticks (traditional recipe, no additives)
1 quart of lemon juice, left out in the sun for 3 days
1 two-kilogram block of dry ice
7 orca teeth
warnings: take care to wear the appropriate equipment when handling the dry ice. wear a gas mask.
instructions:
1. bring the alcohol to a steady simmer over low heat and leave it there for about an hour
2. pour in the lemon juice
3. turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
4. return with the dry ice block and place it in the pot
5. cover the pot with a sealable hatch-lid top and affix an empty hydrogen tank to the hatch
6. leave until the top begins rattling, then remove the top and close the tank. be sure to save the tank. the resulting gas is a blessing among certain circles (i.e. transfeminine or nonbinary people who wish their voice to be higher pitched) be sure not to breathe the gas orally because the change is permanent
7. stir in the goat horn powder one teaspoon at a time
8. bring to a boil on high heat
9. pour in the red wine
10. turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes
11. return to a boil and add orca teeth
12. stir slowly for 15 minutes, then vigorously for 20
13. bring to medium heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes
14. turn off the heat and bottle while hot
15. allow to cool and use as you wish
That is very detailed! honestly, when I start writing, I don't usually plan out all the details like this which is bad, I know. But this is excellent! It will probably be a great help throughout writing the book to have this here. Thanks so much for making this.
i really like system buildingif you need a system of magic or a list of magical creatures, i'm your pal
Okay guys, we have a basic plot line now, but we need some characters! So we have 2 ideas for characters but we should prob have more characters (or maybe not?).
So...I have this giant list of names. All of the names are from name generators and we obviously don't have to use the names--a lot of them are sort of common though I do have a tendency to use uncommon names so there may be some in there that aren't used often.
Anyway, I just thought I'd post it here so we can see if there's names that we might want to use.
Here's the list:
Lilly-May Aggie
Josie Addisyn
Sabrina Funmilayo
Kristen Ramneet
Violet Oyindamola
Lydia Demi
Olivia-Rose Chantai
Jayden Maheen
Cathy Kulsuma
Emily Aseya
Christy Mireia
Cheryl Alexa-Grace
Rishi Areeba
Jamal Esme-Grace
Saoirse Callie-Rae
Aisling Chenille
Alix Lee
Raja Yasin
Roisin Kira
Zainab Alexander
Arun Ross
Eldrin Albert
Tarathiel Owain
Velma Travis
Heather Taylor
Kara Harold
Morgan Keaton
Valentina Timothy
Maximus Henry
Ismail Evangeline
Inaya Muhammad
Pola Rufus
Sullivan Ellis
Harley Scott
Ariel Maximilian
Syed Nathaniel
Cole Hamzah
Alfie Yahya
Armaan John
Ying Luis
Moe
Suniya
Ack, sorry, I'm just looking at this now and it turns out my computer deleted the multiple spaces in between the two columns! So yeah, there's supposed to be two columns there, it's not a bunch of first and last names. Only first names. Pretend that there's two columns. Sorry guys!
