R.M. Archer's Blog

This list does not include rereads such as the last two books of the Wingfeather Saga (having started rereading the series in 2023) or the Truth series by Dawn Cook, which were also highlights among last year’s reading–or Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland, which I reread when outlining Thunder early this year.

Asterisked links are BookShop affiliate links. This means that if you buy through these links I make a commission at no extra cost to you. And the cool thing about BookShop is that it supports local small bookstores in the US!

The Story Raider and The Story Hunter by Lindsay A. Franklin

I read The Story Peddler all the way back in 2022, but unfortunately didn’t get around to finishing the series until early this year. Fortunately, that didn’t impede my enjoyment any! It was pretty easy for me to get re-situated in the story, and the strengths I had noted in the first book–namely, the way that the two female MCs are written and how they handle their differing strengths and weaknesses–carried through the rest of the series. Plus, we got to see more of the worldbuilding and more of the characters’ backstories in these two books, which was quite fun!

The Story Hunter was an excellent conclusion to the Weaver trilogy! It deftly wrapped up all of the loose story strands, character arcs, etc. and offered a very satisfying ending to everything.

TW: The Story Hunter does contain a scene of attempted SA. It is not sexually explicit, but sensitive readers may prefer to skip it.

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

This book sat unread on my shelf for years, despite having been one of my most anticipated releases the year it came out and having gotten a leftover ARC copy from the publisher; I was swamped with reads that year and most of the mainstream books on the list ended up disappointing, so A River Enchanted* got set aside.

I was quite happy when I finally picked it up to enjoy it so much! I enjoyed the Celtic-inspired worldbuilding, the promised magic music, the community dynamics, and the main character’s inner conflict. The world was integral to the story, and the character relationships were definitely a highlight. The way that marriage and family are handled in this book is especially refreshing, especially from the general market.

Content warning: There are 2-3 (brief, easy to skip) instances of sex between married characters.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan* had also been on my shelf for years (are you sensing a theme?) and I finally picked it up when it was referenced in a worldbuilding book I was reading and sounded interesting. (When it was referenced I didn’t realize it was this book and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a book I already owned.)

I loved the characters, they were written with such vivid voices, the worldbuilding of the alternate historical setting is really interesting, and it left me wanting to unravel the mysteries left for the rest of the series.

The Nightmare Virus by Nadine Brandes

I read The Nightmare Virus* in two days. I couldn’t put it down. Such a fascinating world, compelling characters, fun fandom references throughout… and of course it’s Nadine Brandes.

The themes were, overall, really strong as well! There were some places where the worldbuilding was a little odd and affected minor thematic points in a way I wasn’t sure was quite intended, so I do think that was probably the weakest point of the book. But again, it was minor, so “weakest point” isn’t saying that much.

Overall, another excellent Brandes book!

Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press

This was a really fun anthology! I was already familiar with Order of the Pen Press and the authors behind it (Helena George and Sarah Rodecker), but the other authors were new to me and many of them I look forward to reading more from in the future!

If you enjoy pirates, mermaids, sailing, etc. and you’re looking for new fantasy authors to watch out for, Sailing Magic* is a great anthology to check out!

You can find my full review of the anthology here.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

This book* sucked me right in, and I found it every bit as enjoyable as I’d hoped it would be. (No, I had never read it before. Yes, I know I was overdue to do so, lol.) It’s so much fun–and much longer than one expects when one is familiar with the story but hasn’t actually read the book yet. After reading it I dove right into comparing adaptations, and so far the ’95 is my favorite (which seems to be the general consensus among readers), but I’ve yet to watch the ’05 version. (I don’t have high hopes.)

Theseus vols. 1-2 by Jordan Holt

I picked these up along with the author’s new card game, Panomachea, and they’re so much fun! If you love Greek mythology, great artwork, and humor, you should definitely check out this series.

Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup

I’ve followed Jill Bearup’s YouTube channel for a while now, and I always quite enjoy her humor and approach to both combat acting (her professional expertise) and storytelling tropes–especially those found in fantasy and romance stories–so I was really excited to read this book that she fleshed out from a series of YouTube shorts she made which poked fun at common tropes. I was especially excited to get my hands on it when I found out she’s a Christian, which put to bed some of my fears about what the content might be like given the bent of some romance tropes. I am happy to report that Just Stab Me Now* was even better than I’d expected! It’s humorous, well-written and well-constructed, does an excellent job of turning romance tropes on their heads, and reflects a refreshingly healthy view of love, marriage, and motherhood! If you enjoy stories in which the author talks to their characters, romance tropes go… almost? as intended?, and the protagonists are adults with their heads screwed on straight, I definitely recommend Just Stab Me Now.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol* was another classic on my “overdue to read” list, and I’m quite glad my husband grabbed it from my parents’ shelf to borrow and started reading it aloud, because I never would have guessed that it’s written with such humor and wit in the prose!

While I already had some familiarity with the overarching story (who doesn’t?), it was quite enjoyable to actually hear read for the first time, and I look forward to reading it to our kids for future Christmases.

World-Building for Writers by H.C. Harrington

I wrote a full review of this book back when I read it, but the short of it is that I was very excited to discover a strong worldbuilding resource in book form; worldbuilding books seem to be fairly tricky to find, and not always as solid or comprehensive as one might like in a worldbuilding resource. Despite some complaints I had with it (which I outlined in my review), this is possibly the best worldbuilding book I’ve read so far in terms of covering foundational elements accurately, drawing in relevant examples, and discussing worldbuilding from a clear love for and understanding of the craft.

What were your favorite books in 2024? I’d love to hear about them!

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The post Top Reads of 2024 appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Happy New Year (just a little early, for those of us in the U.S.)! As 2024 comes to a close and we embark on 2025, the time has come for my annual post of reflection and new goals. Not interested in looking back with me? Jump to the section of 2025 goals for an idea of what to expect from Scribes & Archers in the coming year.

2024: An Overview

2024 has been a year of the unexpected–and, in some ways, a year of disappointment. The attempted launch of the Worldbuilders Guild didn’t go as planned, my timeline for Thunder went very much awry, my husband and I left the church we’d been attending since before we were married, Realm Makers wasn’t quite what I’d expected it to be, etc., etc. Come to think of it, it’s kind of no wonder I hit creative burnout for a large chunk of the year. A lot of the more “ethereal” goals I’d set for the year took a pretty big hit, as a result–relationships and spiritual disciplines in particular.

But it has by no means been a bad year. There have been a great many blessings and accomplishments, as well. My husband and I have found a new, much healthier church to attend; I’ve completed two book-length projects and two short stories, and made progress on other projects that just haven’t come to full fruition yet; I’ve interacted with a lot of amazing authors; I’ve gotten to spend time with long-distance friends; etc. (One of the biggest blessings, I’ll share in the final section of this post!) Despite all the difficulties, God has been beyond faithful in blessing the lives of me and my family, as well as my endeavors in the writing sphere, and I look forward to seeing what He accomplishes in the coming year as well.

2024: Goals in Review

Open the Worldbuilders Guild for enrollment

For those of you who don’t know, I have a worldbuilding mentorship program called the Worldbuilders Guild in development! Worldbuilding-focused coaching is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I didn’t have a functional setup for it until after I got married. As soon as I realized I finally had an open opportunity, I dove straight into figuring out the structure and content… and unfortunately dove a little too far, a little too fast. I quickly learned during the beta-testing that the structure I had set up wasn’t sustainable during seasons in which I had less energy to keep up with it, so I’ve been revising the plan to ensure that I can deliver on the Guild’s core purpose regardless of how I’m feeling. But, sadly, I was not able to open the Guild for public enrollment this year and have had to postpone it until a bit later.

Do 4+ blog collabs

Worldbuilding Lessons from a History Major – Guest post by Cate VanNostrand“Graduating YA” collaborative series

I also participated in two freebie swaps via my newsletter! If you missed them and want to make sure you don’t miss any future freebie swaps, sign up to the newsletter below!

Finish the 1st draft of my worldbuilding book and send it to betas

While I did finish the first draft of what is now titled Building a World with a View, it has not yet been sent to betas–and will undergo some editing on my own end before it is sent out.

Finish the 1st draft of Thunder

Thanks to the fall FicFrenzy event and a November writing event in another writing group I’m part of, I was able to complete Thunder‘s first draft in mid-November!

Attend Realm Makers

I did make it to Realm Makers this year! You can refer to my recap post for my overall thoughts on that experience.

While I did not query Lightning to any publishers while I was there, I did query with Twenty Hills Publishing shortly after Realm Makers. While I received a full request, Lightning was ultimately turned down–which is for the best, as it wasn’t really ready to be queried yet and I don’t think Twenty Hills would actually be the best fit for it, either. That said, I’m grateful to have had the experience!

Start a new novel draft

I didn’t end up starting anything new, as Thunder took longer than expected–in part due to burnout, which also didn’t help the appeal of any new projects. But I ended up completing the first drafts of two full books and two short stories this year, so I don’t think the lack of a freshly started novel was any great loss, lol.

Reopen my editing services

I did promote my editing services more intentionally this year, with the result of one query that ended up delayed for later (on the author’s part), an editing swap with another editor to gauge whether we would be compatible for referrals, and a query for early 2025. While I would have liked the opportunity to work with more authors this year, I am grateful for the opportunities that did arise!

Read 52 books

I accomplished this on Christmas! My family gave me Unventing Language by Kristen Stieffel, Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle, and Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup and I read all three of them within the same day (in my defense, the first two were quite short/quick to read), which bumped me up to 52 reads for the year.

Crochet a garment

I crocheted my first cardigan this year! I also ended up making many more adjustments to the pattern than I had expected when I started (I’d expected to simply crop a longer cardigan pattern, but it ended up needing greater adaptation, and there were some issues of cut that I just wasn’t a fan of and worked to adjust), so I’m pretty proud of that project. I also have a second shawl/cardigan thing in the works, but it’s been much more detailed and slower-going.

Write a short story in French

This did not prove a high enough priority to be accomplished. In fact, my overall French study has fallen behind where it was, though I’ve managed to maintain a 300-day+ Duolingo streak despite that.

Attend an Andrew Peterson concert

Attend Hutchmoot

Neither of these happened this year. As far as I can tell, Hutchmoot was located in the UK this year, so there was no making that happen even if the timing had worked out, lol.

Visit the Library of Congress

Visit the Wayside

These, too, ended up pushed off ’til next year. (For those who don’t know, The Wayside was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriett Lothrop/Margaret Sidney, and Louisa May Alcott, at various times.)

2025: Concrete Goals

Open the Worldbuilders Guild for enrollment

While this won’t happen until the fall–if it happens this year–I want to at least aim for this and make great progress toward it this year. My hope is that full enrollment is open by January 2026 at the absolute latest. (More on the timeline of this–and other projects–the “2025: general hopes” section.)

Get Building a World with a View fully polished for publication

Now that the first draft is done, I’m excited to go back and fill in gaps, edit where needed, and send off this book for its first round of feedback in the spring! Beyond that, I have a full month-by-month plan for this book that should have it polished for publication–though not published–by the end of 2025. But, as always, plans can change, so I hold the timeline loosely.

If you’re interested in beta-reading the book, join the street team below!

Edit the Lightning duology and send it to beta readers

Again, I have a month-by-month timeline for this that may or may not prove reliable. However, I’m particularly excited to dive into the worldbuilding for this series and shore up that element of the duology in preparation for story-specific edits!

If you’re interested in beta-reading this, you can find the opportunity for that through the street team above, also.

Finish and release a reformatted edition of The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles

The formatting of the current edition of The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles is… not great. I started this reformatting project early in 2024, and in fact almost finished it. The only problem is that KDP won’t print the grayscale cover pages quite straight or (as a result) quite all the way to the edge of the page. As this is quite overdue, however; the error is slight; and even with the small error this formatting is way better than what’s currently available; I intend to just figure out which proof copy has the cover pages closest to perfect and move forward with that file. So this should be available early in 2025.

Do 4+ blog collaborations

I have a couple of collaborations halfway planned ahead, but if you’re interested in exchanging posts or doing some other type of collaboration together, feel free to reach out via my contact page!

Get my books stocked at a local bookstore

My husband and I have a particular favorite local bookstore that (sometimes, at least) accepts books from local authors, and it would be super cool to get my books in stock there. I just have to get over myself to make an appointment to pitch them to the owner, lol.

Guest post on Kingdom Pen

I’ve guest posted on Kingdom Pen a number of times, and I always enjoy the process, so I’d like to guest again in the coming year.

Start a new novel (or short story collection)

Now that I’m moving into the editing stage with both my current book projects (the Lightning duology and Building a World with a View), I’m more seriously turning my attention toward something new to draft. This may end up being an existing project that I pick back up (such as the Dark War Trilogy), or something I haven’t started drafting yet. I’m also intentionally leaving open the option of focusing on a short story collection, in case that ends up being more doable for this season than a full novel.

Write 5 new short stories

This will include a story for the secret Santa short story swap I participate annually, as well as a short story/novella related to a published project and possibly a brand new short story for submission to an anthology. If I work on a short story collection, I may well exceed this number, but we’ll see how things shake out.

Write an essay about the phoenix

I have a recurring interest in the mythological phoenix and the historical context surrounding it, and I have a full outline already for an essay I’d like to write about the phoenix, its color, and its potential connection to the feathered serpents that crop up in mythologies around the world–just for fun. If I do get this written in the coming year, I plan to publish it on my (very sporadically used) mythology-focused blog Splintered Fragments.

Read 52 books

Attend an Andrew Peterson concert

Visit the Library of Congress

Visit Monticello

I haven’t been to Monticello since I was a very small child too young to remember it, so I’d like to revisit it now that I’m old enough to appreciate the experience.

Visit The Wayside

2025: General Hopes

While I have a lot of goals set for 2025 and a lot I’d like to accomplish–and even plans for how to accomplish those goals–I’m holding all of my plans quite loosely because I know a great portion of next year, especially from the summer onward, will be somewhat unpredictable. Why? Because my husband and I are expecting our first baby in June! We’re very excited, and look forward to seeing what this new season holds–but, of course, it throws all of the writing plans that I tend to share up in the air. I’m already planning to take a summer-long hiatus from writing and blogging surrounding the baby’s birth (hence the Guild’s expected fall launch), and my editing timelines are planned out in such a way that the least attention-demanding tasks fall during the summer. The remainder of this winter and spring will likely go as they would in any previous year, so my plans for that season are more concrete; anything after the summer hiatus, I’ll be playing by ear and doing my best to set expectations for as the time arrives.

My overall hopes are generally to accomplish what I can, release what I can’t, and enjoy my family and its growth as the second-most important thing. As the first most important thing, I want to renew my spiritual disciplines with more, well, discipline, as I’ve been easily distracted for much of this year and I want to be more faithful in the coming year. Which is maybe the best focus word for me in 2025: Faithfulness.

How was your 2024? What are you looking forward to in 2025? Do you have any exciting goals or plans for the year?

The post 2024 Wrap-Up & Goals for 2025 appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Welcome to the final installment of the Know the Novel link-up, hosted by Christine Smith! This installment usually goes up in December, but I’ll be taking a hiatus through the month of December (and Thunder is already finished) so I’m getting an early start on Part 3.

Want to keep in touch through the hiatus? Subscribe to the newsletter to continue receiving consistent updates through the end of this year and into 2025!

1. How did writing this novel go all around?

The first half was difficult; I dove right in after finishing Lightning and burned out not too far into Thunder, then kept trying to push on anyway until Sarah Grimm talked sense into me at Realm Makers and gave me permission to shift gears for a while. Once I did that–setting Thunder aside to work toward finishing my worldbuilding book instead–I was able to get back into a much more consistent and easy writing habit, renewing my energy and productivity in such a way that carried over once I picked Thunder back up last month! The second half went much smoother, especially after getting those skipped POV chapters caught up first thing.

2. Did it turn out as you expected or completely different? How do you feel about the outcome?

It came out much shorter than I expected, lol. The target word count was 80k and I was expecting the first draft to come out around 60k, but a lot of the latter chapters ended up quite short and it didn’t even quite break 50k. It will need a lot of bulking up in edits, and I think a lot of this book was too easy for the characters, so there will probably be a lot of added conflict in the second draft that this draft is presently lacking.

That said, I’m happy just to have it all down on paper! At the height of my burnout–and even as I was coming to the end of my worldbuilding book–I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get past my disinterest in the story and get it finished this year like I’d planned. I’ll admit that I didn’t get back as much interest in the story as I’d had when I started Lightning, but I was able to at least invest enough in it to finish the draft, and I’m hopeful that diving into the worldbuilding between drafts will reignite a lot of lost interest.

3. What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

The tropes? XD Thunder integrates some tropes that I find quite fun in crime-adventure-type stories, and those scenes tended to be the most fun for me. I don’t feel like I can quite say the “plot” as a whole, because it doesn’t have enough conflict yet (though I do like it’s overall shape); I don’t feel like I can say the characters, because even though I like a couple of them quite a bit, it was hard for me to stay emotionally invested in them after the burnout; and the worldbuilding and prose are both too spotty to love right now (though I think there’s a lot of potential there to be drawn out in edits). Overall, I guess there are a lot of little bits and pieces that I like a lot, but I don’t feel like any of them are strong enough on the whole yet, and I’m looking forward to strengthening them in future drafts so they really live up to their potential and those bits and pieces are more representative of the whole.

4. What was your least favorite part?

Probably still Rhys’s POV. Of all of the characters, she is the one whose arc clearly needs the most work. She gets told toward the end that her part of the story is important, and I kind of chuckled to myself as I was writing it because I have actually asked myself more than once, from an authorial perspective, whether that’s actually true. But, as with all things, it can be fixed in edits!

5. What do you feel needs the most work?

Rhys’s POV, lol. And the worldbuilding, which has strong bones and lots of good bits and pieces but is lacking real cohesion and depth at present. The problem with finally writing a novel set in a world that has existed in some vague form in your head for over a decade (but that you haven’t really developed with much intention) is that you realize where alllll the holes are, lol. On the bright side, this means I’ll finally give this world the attention and intention it needs so that it’s better fleshed out for the next novel!

6. How do you feel about your characters now? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!

I am disappointingly ambivalent toward most of them (again, I blame burnout). However, I don’t hate any of them (even Rhys, difficult as she may be), and I have, at some point or another, quite enjoyed all of the others and therefore know that I can like them all again. Especially Nyla and Ash (and Erika is fun, even if I would never get along with her in real life). The most surprising has probably been Alaric; his arc turned out… perhaps better than expected? He improves quite a bit as a character over the course of Thunder especially, and the only thing I might have to do is slow down that development so it’s a little more believable, lol. But he’s a pretty pitiful character in Lightning and becomes quite a bit stronger in Thunder in a way that was really fun to see develop–and I hope will be enjoyable for readers, as well!

7. What’s your next plan of action with this novel?

Ignore it completely until next year, then focus on developing Concordia in more depth for the first few months of 2025 so that I have a firmer foundation from which to work once I go back to edits (hopefully in the spring). I have a whole editing timeline that stretches all the way into 2026, but whether or not it’ll work out as planned remains to be seen.

8. If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?

Because it’s a pseudo-superhero story, I think it would be very cool to see this duology adapted into movies and/or graphic novels. I think those formats suit the genre quite well, and it would be neat to see the GenDevs’ abilities brought to life in a visual way, in particular. (Plus, gala heist. We all need more movies with gala heists, right?)

On a smaller scale, I hope it awakens interest in this world for readers and opens the door for more of the books connected to it to succeed; I have a fair number of book ideas set in Concordia, and they’re a large part of why I’m so excited to introduce the setting on a larger scale than the short stories I’ve previously published here and in Short Story Collection vol. 1.

9. Share some of your favorite snippets!

Finding snippets I like that aren’t ridden with spoilers is hard, so refer back to the previous installment for my favorites. XD

10. Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?

If you’re not enjoying a story anymore, step back, don’t keep pushing. Whether you need to step back just for long enough to remind yourself why you love this story or you need a longer break to avoid (or recover from) burnout, it is okay. The project will still be there when you get back, anyone who’s waiting on it will forgive you for the increased wait, and you will have so much easier of a time coming back to it than if you keep pushing and pushing yourself into worse and worse burnout first. The longer you spend burnt out on a project, the longer it takes to recover your appreciation for that story, the longer it takes before you can write it as well as you possibly can. Rest is not giving up; it’s an investment in better writing later.

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The post 2024 Know the Novel: Part 3 – Words Written appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

As we near the end of the year, many of us are already turning our attention toward goals for next year. (If you’re like me, you started thinking ahead all the way back in September or October!) Whether you have what feels like an overwhelming list of goals, or just a few big goals that you’re trying to prioritize well, this post is all about how to set the right kind of goals as an author–and how to ensure that those goals serve the purpose you need them to serve.

The Purpose of Goals

First, it’s important to define what your purpose is for setting goals. If you’re someone who needs to complete every task on the list, then you want to be very clear on what you can or can’t achieve in a given time-frame so that you’re not causing yourself undue frustration. If you set goals so that you have something to push toward but you don’t expect to complete every goal off the list (or even any of them), only make progress, then you may have more freedom to set a lot of goals all at once. Essentially, you should know whether you view goals from a perspective of progress or completion and adjust your goal-planning accordingly.

Evaluating Past Goals

I always start a new goals list on the basis of the previous list, adjusting and adding as necessary but using the previous list to inform my new goals. With this approach, you’ll start off with about three categories of goals: goals you accomplished last time, goals left unfinished from last time, and new goals you’re adding on.

Goals you accomplished last time fall into two categories: ongoing or stackable. This would be like the difference between “read 52 books this year” and “finish the first draft of my novel.” The first goal is one that can be repeated, it’s an ongoing goal that you work on over the goal’s entire time-span; the other is something that you would stack a new goal on top of, like “revise my novel.”

If you accomplished an ongoing goal, you know that the goal you chose fit well into the time-frame you were working with and you could probably set it the same way again–or adjust for new variables, if you know of something that will impact your time and energy for the coming time-frame, with the original as a baseline to work from.

If you accomplished a stackable goal, ask yourself how much of a break is necessary between the accomplished goal and the next step, and whether or not that project is still a priority for you this time around. If the break is short enough and the project is still a priority, then the next step logically goes onto the new goal list. Note that the next step of a stackable goal does not always have to be the next “big” step; maybe you’re not ready to add “revise my novel” to next year’s goals, but you want to set a goal of writing 20,000 words’ worth of worldbuilding to get a firm grasp on that before you dive into revisions.

If a goal was unfinished from the last list, evaluate why so that you can adjust accordingly. Some goals fall victim to changing priorities, some weren’t articulated in a way that was easy to keep track of, some didn’t have enough of a plan behind them, and some just didn’t quite fit within the time-frame of the goal list.

If a goal no longer suits your priorities, it doesn’t need to go back on the list; if your priorities have shifted back to something that makes sense with the goal, then maybe it makes sense to add it back in.

If a goal wasn’t written in such a way that you could keep track of it, then you might need to rethink how you wrote it. Maybe “make progress on developing my coaching program” doesn’t work, but “prepare three months of coaching program content” does the job.

If you didn’t have a sufficient plan for accomplishing a goal, maybe it would help to focus on the planning this time around–whether that means repeating the goal but making a plan to accomplish it, or actually making the planning the goal itself for this particular list. Let’s say I wanted to sell 50 books this year. That’s great, but it won’t happen on wishful thinking alone; a goal like that needs a marketing plan behind it. So I might say again, “sell 50 books,” but set up a sales funnel for my email list to help make that happen, or I might scratch the “sell 50 books” goal in favor of goals like “set up a sales-specific email funnel,” “update welcome sequence according to written plan” (if I’ve already brainstormed such an update), “publish my next book,” etc.

If a goal just didn’t fit within the time-frame, then you might set a goal to finish the project at hand within the next time-frame (if it’s not ongoing) and try to adjust other, similar goals accordingly (whether ongoing or stackable). For example, you might have not quite finished a draft, and you may not only put “finish the draft” on the next list, but also adjust the goal of “write the entirety of the next book’s draft” to just “reach the midpoint of the next book’s draft.” If you’re just a few chapters away from finishing a first draft, “finish my first draft” might be a no-brainer goal. If you weren’t quite able to read 52 books in a year, maybe you set this year’s goal to 45 instead. Of course, this depends on how much effort you think you put into the goal last time, and how much you’re willing to put in this time around; maybe you want the challenge of reading 52 books even if you didn’t quite make it this year, or you want to increase your drafting speed so you still put “draft a new book” on your list even though you didn’t quite make it last time. For progress-oriented people, especially, these can still be very helpful goals!

Some goals just aren’t helpful to us, personally. I have learned (over many frustrating years) that I hate sales-based or financially-based goals. I’m bad at planning to accomplish them, I never get close, and they just leave me depressed and frustrated as a result. But I still need ways to keep track of whether I’m actually growing in those areas and keeping my business afloat, so this year I plan to focus on more task-oriented goals that are designed to benefit my business’s financial well-being–along the lines of the examples earlier. You may find that there are categories of goals that consistently leave you frustrated, too; some of these you might be able to throw out because they’re not actually serving you or don’t actually align with your priorities, and others you may need to find a new perspective on.

Types of Goals for Writers

When you’re thinking about new goals, it can be helpful to think in categories so that you can be sure you have a well-rounded list. Some of these may be more or less relevant depending on your specific situation and priorities, and you may like to do multiple goals in various categories or just one per category.

Reading goals

Reading goals can take different forms depending on what you want to prioritize and how much you want to intentionally direct your reading. I participate in the Goodreads reading challenge every year, so I have an annual goal of (usually) 52 books; I’ve also been trying to read more classics over the past few years, so I have an annual goal of making 10 of those books classics I’ve never read before. You might aim for a minimum number of books from a certain genre, on a certain topic, published a certain way, or just generally for the duration of the goal list. Maybe you want to read a certain number of books you own but haven’t read, or check out a certain number of books from the library, or read a certain number of books specifically for analysis or review.

Looking for recommendations? Sign up for genre-specific recommendation lists and my sortable running database of book recommendations!

Learning goals

It’s important to continue learning and growing over time–both in your writing craft, specifically, and in other areas that can (and will) naturally inform your work.* Whether you want to take (or complete) a particular course, read up on a certain element of the craft, read a certain number of writing craft books, enroll in a mentorship program, reach out to a potential writing mentor on a more personal level, etc.–or whether you just make additional goals that extend beyond your writing into life experience–make sure you’re creating room for growth and learning in your goal lists.

* Not sure how to integrate your broader skill set and interests into your work with intention? Get the “worldview focus questions” worksheet!

Writing goals

Obviously, as writers, this is a big category! You might aim to draft a new book, finish a draft in progress, write a certain number of chapters, write a certain number of short stories, write a certain number of articles, etc. Whatever it is you’re writing, set a goal for it! I would also categorize pre-writing goals here, such as doing a certain amount of worldbuilding, outlining a certain number of chapters, etc.

Editing goals

These may be set in addition to or in place of writing goals, depending on the time-frame of your list and how you find you need to balance projects. Any edits or revisions fall into this category, which I’m counting as separate because 1) it tends to be a very different sort of process from writing/creating and 2) it can involve additional collaborators, depending on where you are in the process. One editing goal, for example, might be to research editors or assemble a beta-reading team!

Publishing goals

If you have publishing goals for the coming time-frame, they may include sending out a certain number of queries, writing up a book proposal, getting your book formatted, acquiring a cover, etc., depending on which route you’ve decided to take.

Going indie and not sure what goals to set? Grab the self-publishing checklist!

Marketing/Sales goals

If you’re a published author (or you’re going to be soon), you might have goals for how many books you’re hoping to sell, how many reviews you ask for, what means you want to have in place for selling automatically, how you want to optimize your book page, etc. This category might also include things like setting up a bookshop on your website, running a Black Friday sale, or launching a new course.

Setting Effective Goals

Once you know the categories you’re looking at, you can think about how you might create effective goals within those categories. Not all goals are created equal, as we’ve already seen!

First and foremost, your goal should align with your priorities. If you’re setting a goal to write a short story per month because you feel like you “should,” but you’re not actually interested in short stories and haven’t enjoyed writing a short story in months, then that’s probably not a goal that really aligns with your priorities right now and it probably shouldn’t be taking up space on your list. Or maybe you need to make the goal more specific and say you want to write a certain number of short stories connected to a particular project you’re interested in, so the goal has more direction keeping it more in line with your priorities. As an extension of this, your goal should align with your longer-term goals; if one of your goals is to publish a collection of short stories in the next three years, then maybe pushing yourself to write more short stories makes sense even if you’re not “feeling it” right now.

Your goal should fit the time-frame. As we discussed, some goals might be good to set a little outside of what you think you can accomplish, for the sake of the challenge. (Not so far out that you’ll feel like you didn’t even get close when the time-frame ends!) But even that requires you to know how much you can currently accomplish within the time-frame–or at least to have a ballpark idea. In general, your goals should be suited to the time-frame for which you’re setting them–or at least stay close.

Your goal should be measurable. I know you’ve heard this one before, but it’s true. If your goal is ethereal and can’t be measured, then you’re setting yourself up to be confused and/or frustrated later. You need to be able to look at a goal and design a way to accomplish it. “Write something cool every month” is way too vague to do anything with, because what you think is “cool” could change from month to month; “write something every month” or “complete a piece of writing every month” are measurable goals. Maybe you have a personal writing hall-of-fame where you keep pieces of writing you’re really proud of, in which case “write something each month that gets into the hall-of-fame” might actually be a measurable goal. But all of those are more specific and achievable than “write something cool every month.” Keep specificity in mind!

Your goal should be something you’re responsible for making happen. This is another easy pitfall of sales-related goals, for an example. You can’t make people buy your book (and would you really want to, anyway?); you can only provide opportunities for people to buy your book. The outcome is out of your hands. Goals in which the outcome is out of your hands are not productive goals. Your goals should be things that you are able to do–or at least make a great deal of the effort toward–on your own. This does not mean that all collaborative goals are bad; if you want to do a blog collaboration each quarter, you have a great deal of power over making that happen, by reaching out to potential collaborators and having enough of a list that the goal isn’t completely shot if one person says no. Even more specific collaborative goals can be useful–if, say, you want to collaborate with Brandon Sanderson specifically–though in such cases it might be more productive to make your goal “Reach out to Brandon Sanderson about a collaboration” rather than “Collaborate with Brandon Sanderson” so that the goal measures your productivity/initiative and is not dependent on a particular outcome from someone else (especially someone as busy and popular as Brandon Sanderson!). Again, this will help prevent frustration when your goal’s time-frame expires!

There are my best tips for setting writerly goals! If you’ve already started setting your goals for next year, I’d love to hear which goal you’re most excited about–and which one intimidates you most. If you’re willing to share (one or both), comment below!

My list isn’t finished yet, but right now the most exciting goal is to launch the Worldbuilders Guild–and that’s also the most intimidating, lol. I know that life circumstances are going to make that goal more difficult in the coming year, so it will be a matter of God’s will and timing!

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Welcome to part 2 of the Know the Novel link-up. If you’re looking for an update on how Thunder is going, you’re in the right place! Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for putting this link-up together!

1. How’s the writing going overall?

Simultaneously faster and slower than expected. I’ve been pretty fatigued lately, so it’s been hard for me to write with as much consistency throughout the week as I had when finishing up my worldbuilding book, but on the days I have had energy to sit down and write I’ve been able to get in high word counts in shorter time frames! Getting back into the practice of writing has enabled me to get my hourly word count back up to where it was several years ago, on some days, which has been very exciting to see. And the story has been flowing sufficiently well for me to sustain such speeds without big blocks, so overall I would say the writing is going quite well!

2. What’s been the most fun aspect about writing this novel so far?

For this portion, it’s probably been writing about Nyla using her abilities.

3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?

Overall, I’ve felt less connected with the characters while writing Thunder than while I was writing Lightning. They’re still themselves, I just feel less personally invested? (Hopefully I can remedy any issues that’s causing when I go back to edit.) But Nyla is probably my favorite; I think she’s the most normal/relatable in this part of the story, and one of the easiest characters to like as a whole, so she’s the easiest/most compelling to write right now.

4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?

It’s surprised me that I’ve been able to get back into it so smoothly. I burned out on it pretty bad the first time around and I wasn’t sure how resuming the draft would go, but I’ve been happily surprised to see my focus and speed carry over from my work on the worldbuilding book in between.

5. Have you come across any problem areas?

When I got back to this draft, the first thing I had to do was backtrack and fill in several chapters I’d skipped because one of the POV characters hadn’t been working right and I’d left her chapters to come back to later–which worked fine until I hit a chapter from another POV that required me to know how her plotline had developed to that point, lol. So filling those in was the most tedious part of the process, during this portion of the drafting process (and that POV was clearly a problem when I was drafting the first half of the book).

6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?

Getting those POV chapters done and being able to move on to writing the rest of the draft in order, lol. I was very pleased to have those out of the way and get back into the chronological writing process that’s worked best with this duology!

7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

This question is always one of the hardest of the link-up for me to answer, lol. I imagine I’d be either Rhys or Nyla, if it’s based on pure similarity in personality, etc. If I were Nyla, I’d have a much harder time putting up with Erika, lol. If I were Rhys I don’t think I’d be able to stick out the jobs she gets put into; I’d go home to the family farm and relax around the horses instead of dealing with tech and government jobs.

8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!

First sentence: “I knew that motorcycle.”

Attempted city vibes:

Erika was already several strides ahead, and [redacted] took a couple of extra large steps to catch up—forcing me to jog a few steps—before settling back into a pleasantly slow pace again with a glance down to make sure I was still okay.
The buildings grew steadily taller as Erika led us into higher-traffic parts of the city, the single-story garages and warehouses giving way to multi-story businesses and apartments, then to the skyscrapers that had surrounded me all my life, some nearly blinding in the sunlight. As the crowds increased, we were able to disappear into the masses. I was practiced at avoiding brushing shoulders, though no one would bat an eye even if they bumped me; in this city, it was expected. Erika’s red hood helped us keep track of her even as she moved ahead. I hoped we were the only ones using it that way.
Erika crossed a street and we followed, moving against half the crowd as we crossed in front of automatically-stopped vehicles. I looked down a street to our left and found myself shifting closer to [redacted]. We were only a few blocks from Grantech’s main campus. What if someone saw us? What if they put us right back where we’d started—or worse?
[redacted] squeezed my hand gently. “Okay?”
I nodded and forced my attention back to Erika’s hood, peeking here and there from between dark hats and expressionless faces.
We made it to the harbor and Erika took a seat right on the edge, on a concrete railing. I sat beside her, looking out at the skyline of the other half of the city across the water, tracing its edges. [redacted] released my hand but stood close, looking across the water with us. I glanced over at Erika to find her not looking at the city at all, but out to the open water where the river met the ocean and swept out who-knows-where.

Since you already know that Nyla uses her abilities in this book…

I rolled his shirt out of the way, careful not to skim his skin with my fingers. Because they were probably cold, or so I told myself. I shifted the bandage out of the way next, so I could see the damage. I grimaced at the gaping bullet wound, which went clear through his side.
Taking a deep breath, I set my hand beside the wound, framing it in the crook of my thumb, and closed my eyes.
As soon as I tried to draw my abilities to the forefront of my mind, I could see the frays in his side, in his skin and muscle and kidney. Taking another steadying breath, I envisioned the gap closing. It fought, the frayed edges barely brushing as the wound tried to reopen. I grit my teeth, pain shooting through my own side, and a grunt escaped me.
“Nyla—“
I shoved [redacted]’s voice to the back of my mind, picturing a golden thread stitching into one side of the wound and pulling the edges together, stitching them back together. The pain in my side intensified and I yelled as I fought the wound closed.
“Nyla stop!”
I could barely feel my head shaking as I got the first few stitches in. It was too late to stop. Too late…
Finally, the wound was halfway closed, the golden thread stretching to hold it. The pain in my side was trying so hard to pull my attention away. Pulsing, stabbing, throbbing, screaming at me to stop. Was my face wet?
I stabbed the golden needle with its thread through again, and again, and again. Finally, it needed only two more stitches. Two more… I had slumped in on the stabbing pain in my side, as if shielding it would stop the pain. It hurt… so badly…
The image of the nearly-sewn wound began to waver, and I forced my attention back to the golden thread, jamming the needle through one more time, pulling it over to secure the opposite side. Once more…
Finally, the stitched wound fused and faded away, and the power disappeared again into my subconscious, leaving me to slump against the edge of the couch.
I felt [redacted] sit up.
“Nyla? Nyla?” He dropped down beside me, arms around my shoulders. “[redacted]. Are you okay?”
My awareness returned to find that I was shaking in his arms, tears streaming down my face, the pain in my side still pulsing as though I had a bleeding wound. I didn’t have to look to know there was no such wound.

Surprise! My favorites are from Nyla’s POV. XD

9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)

I feel like most of the interesting tidbits already came up in answering previous questions, lol. Nothing particularly drastic has changed. Although, I did end up shifting that troublesome POV character’s situation and stakes a bit (which helped somewhat and will hopefully help even more in edits) per a friend’s suggestion. I didn’t take the suggestion exactly, but it was critical to figuring out what I did need to do to motivate the character more effectively.

10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!

I’m generally writing at my desk, usually in the afternoon or evening, coinciding with the scheduled writing sprints in my Discord server. Whether or not I’m writing with others depends on how much activity a given sprint gets; it can vary from just me to 3-4 authors joining in. Lately I’ve been pretty boring in the beverage department, just drinking water. XD My Thunder playlist is pretty much a must for getting myself into writing habit mode; it makes it so much easier to focus when I sit down to write. Though I do still get distracted by other tasks here and there, especially during the first sprint or two before I find a solid writing rhythm. ;P

The post 2024 Know the Novel: Part 2 – Within the WIP appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Twenty Hills Publishing is a fairly new publishing house that caught my attention earlier this year as a Christian publishing house that tries to emphasize Christian values and light-centered stories without requiring those stories to be 100% squeaky clean in every context. When I entered a giveaway over the summer, one of the entries was to sign up to one of their street teams, so I ended up receiving an ARC of Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies to review and was glad to have the opportunity to read something from Twenty Hills Publishing.

(Required disclaimer that though I received a free copy to review, the following opinions are my own.)

What is Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies about?

The country of Umbra is caught in a war between its magical history filled with spellcasters and the new modern revolution. At the core of this civil war is the missing princess, who is prophesied to end the war and put the spellcasters back in a position of power.

To figure out where the heir is, the spellcasters throw a ball and invite all twenty-year-old women to see if one of them is the princess.

Though she’s forced to attend, Hazel Cartwright has no magical powers, so she can’t possibly be the missing heir . . .

Right?

Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies is a short story full of political intrigue, a missing princess, magic versus modernity, banter, and spies.

This story starts off with a very Anastasia-esque premise, albeit a much more rough-around-the-edges protagonist than Anastasia. Hazel’s nation (kingdom?) is trying to locate their missing princess, and she fits the criteria to be tested with the other girls of the right age. It’s hard to review such a short story in a comprehensive manner without spoiling the story, but I’ll do my best.

My first issue was with Hazel herself; she seemed edgy for the sake of being edgy, and I didn’t feel she had many redemptive qualities. Sure, she tries to support the more moral political party and acknowledges even their weaknesses, but in terms of her everyday behavior, she just didn’t come across as likeable or respectful at all. This might have been fine if the male main character had balanced her out, but he was just as crude and “grey.” And their relationship was not clear enough through her POV to come across smoothly instead of just weird in the context of the whole middle portion of the story. (Again, it’s hard to be clear while avoiding spoilers.)

The world was interesting, and the writing was fine, but the story felt like it had no clear theme and the characters were unlikeable enough to me that if this story were novel-length I likely would have DNFed it. I also would have liked for the “twist” to have been better set up/foreshadowed so that the characters’ relationship felt more believable and the reveal didn’t feel like it came out of left field. As a short story, this was a decent enough tale, but I was glad it was short and while I would be interested to see more in this world, I wouldn’t want it to be through the eyes of–or even following the story of–these characters.

Rating: 2 stars

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Beauty standards have been a topic on my “to blog about” list for a long time now, and honestly a topic that has intimidated me, lol. But I reached a point in my worldbuilding book where I had to push past that fear and write about them anyway, so here is some of my advice for developing your fictional culture’s beauty standards (and a sort-of sneak peek at my book)!

(As a side note, I find it amusing that this ended up coming out so soon after the release of the new Uglies adaptation. That was not intentional, but it does seem oddly fitting.)

General Beauty Standards

Before getting into your culture’s specific beauty standards for characters, you should know a bit about their overall perception of beauty. Think about whether your culture prefers sleek, straight lines or swirling curves; think about whether they draw inspiration from the natural world or prefer for things to look man-made; think about whether they prefer minimalism or ornate detail. Where your culture falls on each of these “sliders” and how these interact with each other will help you to create a unique look and feel for your culture’s aesthetics—in areas beyond personal beauty, as well.

What resources, skills, and technology your culture has access to will help to shape the direction and scope of their design. This is true in areas like apparel and architecture, but also with personal beautification; a culture without ink won’t have tattoos, for example, regardless of any opinions for or against them.

It is also important to consider whether your culture prioritizes beauty or utility on the whole; a culture that values utility may stick to personal routines that are easy and practical without going out of its way to beautify things, but a culture which values beauty might encourage special effort to make one’s natural features more beautiful or to imitate neighboring cultures that they see as having a similar eye for beauty—or might encourage alterations for achieving their idea of beauty in otherwise impossible ways.

Natural Features

Think about what natural features, what overall colors and shapes, your culture generally finds attractive. Maybe they generally prefer fair coloring or dark coloring, or high-contrast coloring; specific hair colors, eye colors, skin tones. Maybe certain body types are considered more beautiful, whether those be bodies with high muscle tone, big bellies, or little by way of anything. Think about whether your culture prioritizes health, strength, diversity, indulgence, etc., as this will affect what body types are viewed positively.

These preferences will likely be guided primarily by what is common in this culture—whether they prefer the familiar or they prefer more foreign appearances. Perhaps they like the rounder eyes of their foreign neighbors because they are different, or perhaps they largely prefer fairer coloring because their own people are quite fair. This will reflect their values, whether they are proud of their own culture or whether they are adventurous and embrace other cultures, whether they are isolated or nomadic, etc.

Eye color and shape, as well as hair color and style, may be details to consider. Maybe they not only push for red hair, but red curly hair is considered the most beautiful. Or red hair worn long and braided. Think, too, about how standards may differ for men and women; perhaps long, braided hair is considered beautiful for women but distasteful on men who are considered more handsome with shorter hair, or vice versa. You could also push this further and think about unfair differences in how beauty standards are pushed on one gender over the other, if that is a theme you are interested in exploring, or how they might balance out as different areas are prioritized for different genders.

Think about how looking more feminine or masculine might influence whether you are thought to be beautiful/handsome. Think about whether your culture has a preference for feminine vs. masculine looks (i.e. is it beautiful to be masculine and handsome to be masculine, or the opposite) or whether they prefer men to be masculine and women to be feminine and beauty lies in embracing your given gender.

Body hair might also be a factor, from facial hair to leg hair. Your culture might believe that all natural hair should be left alone, that it should be groomed but kept, that some of it is private, that some of it (or all of it) is distasteful, etc. This, too, may differ between men and women.

Beauty Modifications

The first question when considering modifications to enhance beauty is whether modification as a whole is seen as acceptable in the first place or is viewed as a disservice to natural beauty. If this culture is one that believes only what can be accomplished naturally is beautiful, then piercings may be out of the question no matter how subtle or tasteful. Other cultures might not bat an eye at modifications for beautification.

If modifications are acceptable in this culture, then you can consider which specific modifications are acceptable and, beyond that, which are seen as enhancing one’s beauty. Perhaps tattoos are acceptable, but not seen as beautiful, or perhaps they are both. Perhaps it depends on the specific tattoo, its placement, or its color. Tattoos, piercings, makeup, etc. would all fall into this category to think about.

Even more specific than this would be those modifications that are specifically designed to push someone closer to a cultural beauty standard. For example, think about plastic surgery used to fill out areas that are considered more beautiful when more full, or to change the shape of facial features or body parts. In fictional worlds, perhaps there are products or magic tools that can be used to alter one’s appearance, and these are used to help characters better resemble the “beautiful” ideal. This may serve its intended function, making the characters appear more beautiful by their culture’s standards, or it may be seen as ugly and fake, a selling-out of one’s natural beauty. This may be a principled view, or a double-standard that says “this is what we think is beautiful, but only if you can attain it naturally; otherwise, tough luck.”

Modesty

Modesty may come into play in what is viewed as beautiful, as well. Think about whether modesty is perceived in this culture to add to one’s beauty or to cover it. This will reflect how your culture actually views modesty as a concept, and how much it follows its own rules. For example, do they harp on modesty but make modest dressers feel ugly? Or do they back up what they say they believe by viewing modesty as something beautiful?

In some cultures, function may supersede “modesty” and utilitarian beauty routines and clothing may be seen as more beautiful than what may be seen by other cultures as more modest routines and attire. Modesty may not be a factor in perceived beauty at all, in some cultures, but a secondary matter or a separate consideration altogether.

What is Ugly?

The natural counterpart of beauty standards is that there will be features that are considered ugly, those that are the opposite of “beauty.” If fair hair is considered beautiful, dark hair will be seen as ugly or at least undesirable. If you have to be plump to be considered beautiful, then those who are slim will be considered ugly. In some cases, these can also be independent of beauty standards; perhaps fair hair is considered beautiful, but red hair is even worse than dark hair because it is associated with an evil mythological figure or its infrequency has given it a reputation of being unnatural. (Sorry for picking on the redheads; I actually love red hair.)

These beauty standards will not only shape the appearance of characters apart from their clothes, nor affect only their accessories (in the case of piercings, etc.), but may also influence the design of clothing items. Garments might be designed to make characters look taller, shorter, slimmer, broader, long-necked, long-legged, etc. depending on what is considered beautiful. Even in cultures that look down upon physical modifications toward beauty standards, clothing is often a more subtle tool to similar effect, so keep these standards in mind as you develop your culture’s apparel.

Need someplace to keep your worldbuilding notes? Check out World Anvil* or sign up below for my worldbuilding worksheet template!

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As we hit the season of big writing challenges and you may be trying to decide what to write next or endeavoring not to be distracted by plot bunnies, it seemed like a good time to refresh an old (messy) post about my process for capturing, organizing, and prioritizing story ideas.

(P.S. Interested in participating in a fall writing challenge but not sure where to start? This post offers some alternatives to NaNoWriMo.)Idea Receptacles

Inspiration can strike anywhere, so I have notebooks and other means of collecting ideas in all sorts of places. I have small notebooks in my purse and by my bed, another on my desk, and a note in my phone designated for collecting random ideas. I also designate a “story ideas” page whenever I start a new full-size, general-purpose writing notebook and jot down ideas there until it fills up and I have to start a new page.

These spaces for collecting ideas are not organized at all; any short snippet of a scene (no longer than a couple lines), line of dialogue, description, gets written down (or typed up) directly after whatever disconnected idea came before it. These spaces are for the sole purpose of capturing ideas so that they’re not lost, and organization comes in the next step.

Idea Filing

Every so often, I go through and copy the ideas from my assorted idea receptacles into a neatly organized document. This document has sections for

characterssettingstitlesrandom lines (single lines of dialogue, description, etc.)plot ideasnames (for settings, characters, and objects)scenes/paragraphsand miscellaneous ideas that don’t fit anywhere else.

With these categories, it’s easy for me to find something if I want to start a new story with a particular element as its prompt, or if an existing story is missing something specific. If I want to prompt a story with a character, for example, I can reference the “characters” section of this document to find one who can lead the story. If I need a new side character for a work-in-progress, I can do the same thing.

Ideas are usually copied over from my main writing notebook whenever a “story ideas” page fills up; notes from other sources are copied in more sporadically. This document is also where I put notes on story elements that have to be cut from other stories–such as characters or settings that didn’t fit anymore but I still wanted to make use of later.

Idea Development

While my organized “writing adoptables” document has sections for scenes/paragraphs and for more comprehensive plot ideas, these sections don’t get a whole lot of use anymore. Instead, I’ve begun creating new Scrivener* projects for any ideas that have deeper or more specific notes attached to them, or ideas that are rattling around in my brain enough that I’m likely to need space for more notes pretty quickly. This also applies to ideas that have pieces in different categories, so I’m not sticking the main character of a story in the “characters” section, disconnected from the scene I’m keeping elsewhere in the document and the title I’ve already picked out for the story.

Starting a new Scrivener project gives me the space to begin fleshing out an idea with more depth and breadth, allowing me to keep its various pieces all in one place while still separating what I need to into different documents within the project. I can come back and add a note whenever one pops to mind, focus on fleshing it out for a bit when I want, and pick it right up wherever I’ve left off when I’m ready to start outlining and/or drafting the project.

*This is an affiliate link, which means a purchase made through it earns me a small commission at no extra cost to you.Idea Prioritization

The last step of taking an idea from “idea” to “project” is to add it to my project prioritization spreadsheet. This may happen as soon as an idea is big enough to warrant its own Scrivener project, or might not happen until I pick up the project for outlining/drafting, but from there I can keep track of a project all the way from the beginning to the end of the writing, editing, and publishing process and know where it falls on the priority list throughout that process.

The spreadsheet keeps track of how deeply developed an idea is, what draft it’s in, its current status in terms of activity (in progress, on standby, resting, etc.), and some other details I just like to make note of for my own use (like POV balance and general notes). This is great for record-keeping purposes (especially if you add columns for “date started” and “date finished”), knowing how many projects you have in total, choosing your next project, etc. The version you’ll get if you sign up below is stripped back to the essentials, but those essentials are 80% of my own spreadsheet and the template is highly customizable to whatever you want to keep track of.

Want to get your own copy of the project tracker I built and use? Sign up below to get access!

What does your idea-keeping process look like? What are your favorite tools for capturing and developing ideas? Comment below!

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Hello and welcome to the third annual Know the Novel focused on Lightning and Thunder! Y’all asked for a re-introduction post, so here we are, and today’s post will be a little different from the previous two because I’m primarily working this year on finishing Thunder while the past two years have been spent working on Lightning. I’m going to do my best in this post to focus on Thunder without giving away spoilers in the process. Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for hosting the Know the Novel link-up!

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

While I was outlining Lightning, I realized the story was longer than I’d thought and would need to be split into a duology. Plus, with a title like Lightning it was only natural to follow it up with Thunder, so I was pretty pleased to have an excuse to use that pairing of titles.

2. Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!

My blurb is decidedly spoilery, so, um…

The city is a bigger part of the setting in Thunder, there’s a lot more tech focus, just about everyone is faced with hard choices to make, and I got to write about a gala heist.

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?

It takes place primarily in the city of Newbridge. There are a few specific settings within that, including the Grantech facility of course, a townhouse, a garage, and a fancy gala venue. My favorite thing about the setting, I think, is how I get to use it to showcase the characters and who they are (and aren’t). As I flesh out the world more between drafts, I’m sure other details will be a lot of fun to work with, but right now I really like the effect of the setting and I’m excited to strengthen that as I strengthen the setting itself moving forward.

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s).

As she was in Lightning, Erika is the first POV character. She’s sarcastic, doesn’t take (or dish) any nonsense, and likes to think she’s invincible. She’s often abrasive and thoughtless, but we get to see a bit more of her heart in Thunder. She and Nyla butt heads quite a bit over their differences in values (and sometimes morals), but she’s beginning to learn how to be a team player. Mostly.

Nyla is still the most frequent POV character, despite the fact that she doesn’t get to start telling the story until chapter 5 in this book (she kicks off with chapter one in Lightning, beaten out only by Erika’s prologue). She’s kind and selfless but she’s still getting over her feelings of being less-than and unwanted. Ever since Grantech’s experiments on her, she’s dealt with chronic pain and malfunctioning powers that she generally tries to ignore. (Guess who has to face her fears anyway?)

Ash is the only main character who doesn’t have any scenes or chapters from his POV, through either book, but he’s a key member of the team all the same. There’s a lot going on with him in this book that I can’t really talk about, but I’ll just say his arc is going to be really interesting when all is said and done (after lots of revisions and help from beta-readers and editors, lol).

Alaric and Rhys are still critical to the story as well, but they largely take a back seat to these three. For anyone wondering, Rhys is my new problem child since Ash vacated the role, and I owe thanks to my friend Bethany for pushing me to make Rhys more desperate in order to make her more interesting, because I think that’s actually going to help, lol.

There’s another character, too, but that’s literally all I can say.

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

Still Grantech, but now with an added force that you’ll just have to read Lightning to learn about. Also, inter-personal issues cause a lot of conflict in this book, for… reasons.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

Um… having it done? This draft has been so. slow. and I’m very excited to check it off the list. But also, the climax is one of the most interesting parts so I’m excited to get to the end for that reason as well. Plus, I want to be another step closer to getting this duology into your hands, since I know a lot of y’all have been waiting for it for a while and are anxious to read it.

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

‘Tis a duology. I’ve thought about adding a third book that’s basically just the story from Ash’s perspective, since he doesn’t get to share his perspective in the main duology, but I don’t think that’s really a necessary addition. (Maybe I’ll change my mind if readers and I both have enough interest and I’ll offer it as a newsletter freebie or something, but right now the idea is off the table.) Of course, the duology also fits into a much larger series of books taking place in Concordia over hundreds of years, and it’s actually on the later end of that timeline, so expect some “sequels” and a lot of “prequels” in the future.

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

I’ve plotted this series. Most of Thunder‘s outline was written all the way back in January, so that tells you how long I’ve been trying to get this thing drafted, lol. It’s entirely outlined; I just have to sort out the knots that pop up as I’m writing–like Rhys being problematically boring. But we’re working through those things, and right now I feel confident about the plan, so hopefully the remainder of the draft will go fairly smoothly! I’m about halfway through the draft, altogether, so we’re looking at a 58k word count if the current count doubles, which is probably about right since my ultimate target is 80k and Lightning was close to 20k under its target word count too, lol.

9. Name a few unique elements in this story.Chronically ill “superheroes”“Superheroes” with mental health issuesA mix of 3rd-person and 1st-person perspectives

Any of the more unique elements I can think of that are specific to Thunder vs. the duology as a whole are, unfortunately, spoilery.

10. Share some fun “extras” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

 

Also, here are the previous Know the Novel introductions for this series: 2022, 2023

There you have a little more insight into Thunder! Let me know what you think, what aspects of the story intrigue you most. And if you’re working on a project this fall, whether as part of an event or not, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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The post 2024 Know the Novel: Part 1 – Introduction appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

I recently discovered the existence of a couple of worldbuilding books I hadn’t previously come across in my searching, to my mingled dismay (that I had managed to miss them) and delight (that there are actually more authors writing about this topic). One was a series, and its collected volumes are huge, so it’s on the list to get later, but one was a reasonable impulse-buy price so I grabbed it, so here I am today with a review of World-Building for Writers!

What is World-Building for Writers about?

You Can Build A World

For many authors, there’s nothing that slows down their writing process more than world-building. Whether it’s deciding on what types of fantastic beasts to include in their stories or how to name characters and locations convincingly H.C. Harrington, Amazon Best-Selling Author of the Daughter of Havenglade Series, explains step-by-step how to create deep and engrossing worlds while saving time.

World-Building For Writers breaks down hundreds of examples of effective world-building from novels, films, and television to demystify the process, make it enjoyable, and help readers unleash the inner voice they never knew they had for creating worlds.

Prepare to enter the realm of your own imagination.

“In your hand is a map of creative imagination, good habits, and practical examples to ensure that you build a world that’s fun and functional, that births heroes, cultivates epic tales, and inspires awe in readers.”-Dustin Porta, author of The Dragon’s Hide

Review

Let me get the negatives out of the way first, most of which are fairly minor or specific to me and those of you who share similar priorities (as evidenced by the fact that I only docked half a star).

First, this book is split into two sections… except not really. The author talks about how he’s covering things in brief in the first half and will go deeper in the second half, to serve both writers who want to do bare bones worldbuilding and those who want to build deeper worlds. That’s all well and good, except there is no dividing line, so it’s a little confusing when he starts revisiting the same topics he already covered, and I would have liked for the chapters in the second half to have not only covered different and deeper details than their first half counterparts, but also to have been longer and more in-depth overall, which they were not.

This brings me to my second gripe, which is just that I don’t understand how or why all authors who write about worldbuilding seem to keep all of their chapters to 3-10 pages. The topic is worldbuilding, which is vast and varied and deep, and such brief chapters can only scratch the tiniest bit of the surface. When chapters are that short, it’s no wonder that the authors only explore very limited options and perspectives on a given sub-topic! If you’re looking for a book that will start to hint at some of the variety of options for founding and developing an element of your world, my advice is to look for a worldbuilding book with longer chapters.

For Christian readers, I would warn that the author is not Christian, so some of his examples reflect a secular worldview and his assessments of some Christian-authored stories–such as Lord of the Rings–often lack depth. There is also one use of “s***” used in a literal context in one of the excerpts he includes. His segment on potential foundations for magic systems is also very narrow in its scope and mostly covers options that many Christian authors may be uncomfortable with.

With all of that said, this is possibly the best worldbuilding book I’ve read so far in terms of covering foundational elements accurately, drawing in relevant examples, and discussing worldbuilding from a clear love for and understanding of the craft. It is also excellent at highlighting the connection between worldbuilding and other aspects of storytelling such as character and theme and touching on how one might tie these aspects together well; the author clearly understands the integral connection that should exist between a world and its story, and it was great to see that emphasized and encouraged in this book.

There are elements left out that I might include (notably, cultural worldview), and I do wish that the whole thing were less snappy because of the topic, but this is a solid worldbuilding resource to have on the shelf as a speculative fiction author.

Rating: 4.5 stars

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The post Book Review: World-Building for Writers by H.C. Harrington appeared first on Scribes & Archers.