How Important is Description in your Writing?

 

THIS Important:

 

Advice for ADHD Writers

 

Advice for ADHD Writers

There are certain problems that those suffering from ADHD have especially when writing fiction. Problems that can make Writing a terrifying, anxiety-ridden, destroyer of self-esteem, and an absolute destroyer of any stories trying to make their way out of your brain.

 

I am a writer with undiagnosed ADHD. (My councilor and I decided not to bother with the formal testing, for reasons.)

In my case, coming up with ideas for stories isn't the problem. 

 

It's shaving down the too many different directions the story idea can go in, and all the different rabbit holes each of those many different directions can disappear into, resulting in all too many different possible Endings.

 

To give you an idea of some of the stuff that goes through my mind in the first fifteen minutes of coming up with an Idea: 

• Should the World should I set the story in be Supernatural with ghosts and cryptids, medieval High Fantasy, futuristic Urban Fantasy, modern-day Contemporary, high tech Sci-Fi, low tech Steampunk, a Cross-genre?  

• Do I want to write the story as a Comedy, a Revenge tale, a Power of Friendship story, or Love Conquers All? (I hate Tragedies. I won't write them.)  

• In my Cast of characters, how many do I need to tell the whole story?  

• Should the Main POV Character be a clever Kid, a troubled Teen, a successful Adult with everything to lose, or a tired Adult disappointed with their life?  

• Should be the Main POV Character be Motive driven, Action driven, Emotion driven, or Apathetic with No drive? At the Crisis Points, which Drive should they switch to? 

• How smart do I want the Main POV Character to be?  

• What is the Main POV Character's one seemingly useless Talent that can be exploited at a Crisis Point, then built upon?  

• Should the Romantic interest be the same gender, the opposite gender, someone with both genders, or someone no obvious gender?  

• For the Villain, do I want to use a full-on psychopath, a misunderstood anti-hero, the Main POV Character, or the Romantic Interest?

• Should the Ally character be their best friend, a sibling, an animal, a spirit, a ghost, the Love interest, the Villain?  

• What kind of magic do I want to include? (Even my Sci-Fi's have some form of magic. I just don't say it's magic.)  

• What point do I want to make with this story?  

• Do I want to write a 100k Novel, a 60k Category novel, a 40k Novella, a 20k Novelette, or a short story?

 

In short: my main problem is FOCUS.

 

 

What I do to maintain FOCUS: 

 

 

from Romancing the Stone 

MUSIC.​

I use Movie Soundtracks, the kind that doesn't have people singing. Specifically, the Background Music soundtrack used to tell the story. 

 

No matter what genre I'm writing, someone has made a movie for it. It's just a matter of matching the Mood the music expresses to the story I'm writing.

Some people can ignore the words being sung in their background music. I can't. Anyone talking at all grabs my attention so hard -- I lose track of anything I happen to be trying to do.​

​

That's how easily my Focus is disrupted.​

I tried Classical music at first, but most of the musical pieces were too short. They were all one idea, one emotion, or one statement, expressed in 5 minutes or less. I needed music that would follow the ups and downs of a Story for hours at a time, and I needed the emotions that the music expressed to Match the story I was trying to tell.

Ballet music covered some of what I needed, but not nearly enough. Swan Lake, Wagner's Ring, The Nutcracker Suite, and The Firebird were just fine for writing Fantasy or Romance, but just didn't fit a Sci-Fi, a Mystery-Thriller, a Supernatural ghost tale, or Horror story.

The moment I listened to my first movie soundtrack; The Empire Strikes Back, my focus slammed into place and I was able to write in peace and comfort.

HYPERFOCUS
​

This is my favorite state to be in when I'm writing! The Writing Fugue, when the hours pass by while words simply pour from my keyboard onto the document, rushing though the scenes like I'm watching the most fantastic movie ever!

Ahem... I get tons of work written.

----- Original Message -----

"How do you even get into a hyperfocus state?" 

 -- ADHD Newbie Writer 

 

To trigger my HyperFocus, I start by removing all possible distractions.
 

I make sure to go to the toilet, set a fresh cup of coffee on my desk, have two bottles of water, all reference materials needed within arm's reach, an extra pack of cigarettes ready, phone muted or set on Do Not Disturb, and the door locked.

I then turn on the correct soundtrack for the book or story I'm writing, and open the document file I'm writing in. After re-reading, and editing the previous chapter, I'm usually triggered. 

 

For those with other people around while writing, I strongly recommend sound-dampening Headphones. 

The only way I know of 

to keep my writing fugue going is by Isolation. 

 

Isolation is relatively easy for me, I live alone with my cat. No live-in boyfriend, spouse, kids, or roommates to disturb me. My big L-shaped desk sits in the living room surrounded by my bookshelves of reference books. The couch, recliner, and coffee table are jammed in the far corner for other people to use when they visit. I live at my computer desk. 

 

I don't even have a TV because the only person in my house watching movies is Me. I can find anything my heart desires with Google -- and without commercials. 

Other author friends of mine that have lovers, spouses, kids, or roommates have a dedicated home office with a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door when they're working.

However... I also lose track of days, sometimes weeks when I'm in that state. Eating, bathing, paying the bills, and feeding the cat all fall by the wayside while I chug away at making Story happen. (I have a cat feeder and water bottle set-up for her specifically because of this. I also buy my cigarettes by the multiple carton so I don't have to stop writing to go buy more.)

 

WARNING! 

The HyperFocus State causes 

Fatigue!

 

Writing takes Brain Power. Thinking is Hard Work. For that you need Stamina. If you don't have enough stamina to think hard for hours at a time, of course you're going to exhaust yourself.

Believe it or not, Reading is excellent practice for gaining and maintaining HyperFocus. After all, you need to maintain strong Focus to read a story for hours at a time. When your focus is strong enough, you won't even notice the words flying by. Instead, you'll be too busy watching the movie of the story you're reading.

 

The real problem with HyperFocus
is when it Ends. ​

HyperFocus ends most frequently by being Disturbed.

Anything can break a HyperFocus fugue. A sound, a smell, sudden contact from a person or a pet, the need to go to the toilet, or to get something to drink... Anything at all.

I Hate, Hate, HATE to be disturbed when I'm in a writing fugue. If I'm disturbed, my Rage knows no bounds. I'll rage slam the Decline button on my phone, refuse to open the door and scream, "I'm Busy!" Even my cat knows to hide when I'm in that state.

However, the damage has already been wrought, and the Fugue is Gone.

All that lovely writing high dopamine drops off and you CRASH. 

 

After my rage-fit, I don't wanna do shit except Sleep. 

HyperFocus Backfire

& Writing Anxiety​

My HyperFocus can Backfire when I focus so hard on the current scene that I struggle to come up with a bridge scene to get to the next major scene. Or worse, completely forget what the next major turning point scene is supposed to be -- jarring me out of my writing fugue while still in the grip of all the emotions generated by the scene I just finished. 

 

However... 

Backfire is most often triggered if I am 

Disturbed. 

 

A Disruption in my writing fugue, such as a phone call from a bill collector, my agent, or someone else I don't like, or simply having to get up from my desk to answer the door, will trigger a Backfire. 

 

This can get really bad if I was writing a scene with strong negative emotions such as Anger, Futility, or Sadness.

Then comes the CRASH: the dopamine drop at the end of a HyperFocus writing high.

This is when my writing anxiety comes to call. I start doubting if what I'm writing is worth all the effort I've already put into it. This can then descend into a "I'll never get this right!"spiral, or worse, a "My Writing is Shit!" spiral. Then comes the screaming at my computer, the slamming of things on my desk, then the crying to my editor, or worse, the burying myself under the blankets and wanting to stay in bed and sleep for days at a time, and refusing to write anything more on that story at all.

The only ways for me to weather a Crash, also known as the Recovery Period, is through; eating a full meal, ice cream, coffee, petting the cat, watching some anime, or playing a mindless video game -- and getting some Sleep. Maybe even taking a shower!

In short -- NOT thinking about the story I'm writing until I am refueled, re-centered, and ready to power through the next fugue. 

OUTLINE to the Rescue!​

The best way I've found to avoid the biggest cause of writing anxiety: "What the hell do I write Next!?" -- is by having a loose outline of the story's major turning points. This way, I can use my HyperFocus to write One Scene at a Time, and comfortably ignore the Next scene until I actually need to write it.

My Outline is my Map that keeps me from getting lost in my own story, and wandering away from my chosen Ending. Even if whole weeks pass by without a single word written!

My outline also makes it far less likely that I'll write scenes that don't actually fit in the story I'm trying to write. When I do come up with a scene that doesn't fit the story, I copy-paste that scene into a separate document and save it for a story is does fit.

Because I use only ONE Soundtrack per book, the Music I listen to not only keeps me in the same same mental/emotional space I started the book in, the music also encourages a consistent story rhythm from beginning to end.

Since I already know where the story is going due to an Outline, and a specific soundtrack playing to maintain the proper emotional context, it's just a matter of making sure I have No Distractions. With all that accomplished, I can Focus on writing only the current scene, and keep the later events on the back-burner, so to speak, where they can simmer until they're ready to be written. 

 

In Conclusion... 

Believe me, having a loose outline, the right music, and focusing only on what's right in front of you will help keep the ADHD trait of scattered thinking --which leads to doubting your own ideas-- under control.

 

 

Don't Insult your Readers ~ A minor Rant.

Don't Insult your Readers.
A minor Rant.

"You don't need to put neon signs around your plot points.
Readers aren't as dumb as you think."
-- Mojo Castle Books, Editor in Chief --

Just say No to: 
PLOT WAFFLING!​

Plot Waffling is a form of Author Intrusion that appears when the author is convinced that their Readers are too stupid, or too immature to comprehend what's going on in the story without assistance.

For example, when a character keeps "noticing" what seems to be something relatively unimportant that adds nothing to the current scene.

✧ "Wow, that's interesting. Why is that there?"
✧ "I wonder who that is, even though I'm not interested in them, really."

Translation: "NOTICE THIS NOW! Hell, write this shit down!"

 

This form of Plot Waffling is even worse, and is commonly mistaken by the Author as Foreshadowing:

✧ Little did they know, but this would be the last time...
✧ If only they knew that...
✧ Don’t worry about it. You’ll know the truth soon enough.
✧ Anyway, I’m getting ahead of my story. Little Ozzie and Terrible Chester do not enter the picture until after the cow explodes.

This shit is not Foreshadowing! 

This is fairytale Narration shit, and it does not belong in books or stories meant for anyone older than Twelve! It definitely doesn't belong in books or stories meant for Adults.

Ahem...

Plot Waffling, and Narration mainly appear in fairytales, published kiddie books, and story books intended for middle-school children and younger. Readers that actually need help comprehending what they're reading. For example, the very first Harry Potter book; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written specifically for eleven-year-olds and younger, had it all over the opening chapter.

When this shit happens in published novels meant for Adults, it's usually accidental.

The culprit being the Author's publishing house Editor who didn't recognize that it should have been red-lined and removed. Either the Editor was very new at the job, and wasn't fully trained yet, or the Editor recently came from the Children's Books, or Young Adult department where this shit is considered acceptable for publication -- because their Readers are children.

In short, these Editors had yet to learn that this shit Should Not be in books read by Adults, and is supposed to be Removed with Extreme Prejudice.

If this shit appears in a novel written by a top named Author, that Author likely has a multi-billion dollar contract that states that they don't want an Editor, and no matter what they write, or how badly they write it, it will be Published. Such as: Nora Roberts, Stephen King, Laurell K Hamilton, Anne Rice...

So! If you're not writing a kid's book, and you're not a top named author with a contract that says you can skip the Editor...?

Shut up, and go edit that shit out of your work.

Web Stories & Fan-fiction​

On Web Story and Fan-fiction sites, Plot Waffling and Narration show up for three main reasons.

Reason 1:

-- The Author hasn't read nearly enough books written for Adults to realize that Plot Waffling and Fairytale Narration is only acceptable in stories meant for Children.

Reason 2:

-- The Author has deliberately written a story in a Manga, Lite Novel, or WebNovel style because they thought it would be easier to write, and popular.

It is plainly obvious that both of these types of Authors gorged on a high concentration of fairytales, middle-school story books, translated Manga and Manhua, translated Lite Novels, and Young Adult novels. These stories are well-known for having very simplistic wish-fulfillment plots, cliché wish-fulfillment characters, no romance or relationship development, very little description, and a limited vocabulary -- because they are meant for kids under thirteen with difficulty in Reading Comprehension.

None of which appeals to most Adult Readers.

Seriously, No Adult enjoys reading a story that's been Dumbed Down for Kiddy Comprehension -- especially if that story contains Adult Content!

Adult Readers generally prefer stories they can't guess the ending to by the fourth chapter, flawed complex characters dealing with personal issues, realistic relationships even if the adult scenes happen behind closed doors, rich and detailed descriptions that allow the Reader to clearly visualize the story's world, and a college-level vocabulary to support the full breadth of the story. 

 

#1 Excuse: 

"But WebNovel stories are all written that way!"​

 

The WebNovel sites available to readers in English are almost all Amateur Translations. Even the pay-to-read sites are translated by Amateurs. Professional translators are far too expensive for a WebNovel site to afford, especially when some of those stories have over 1000 chapters. 

 

Note: Both Lord of Mysteries and Shadow Slave were written --and posted-- in English, not translated to English, and it Shows. 

 

The only free stories easily available on the internet are amateur porn, amateur fan-fictions, amateur translations, and stories written by amateurs who read all those amateur translations then tried to write their own by imitating those amateur translations.  

Amateur imitation of Amateur translations 
will only result in Poorly Written Amateur work. 

 

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean WebNovel stories are published by the Chapter because these authors are Paid by the Chapter. These stories are Designed to Have No Ending, which is why those stories have such large casts of characters, and never really resolve their major plot points. The longer the story, the more money they make. 

 

This has been causing Bad Writing Habits in all those amateur writers imitating the WebNovel style. 

• Passive writing
• Simplistic vocabulary 
• Poor or No Description
• Cliche characters  
• Frequent POV switching 
• Cliche plotting or No plotting
• No End
• Lack of research 
• Plot Waffling 

Also, amateur Translators generally only translate 1000 to 1500 words at a time, cutting the original posted chapters into 3 to 5 parts -- so they can post their translations weekly. Another Bad Habit being imitated by amateur writers. 

• Chapters that are Too Short (under 2500 words.) 

 

~~ 📚~~​

 

There are Adults out there that prefer reading simplistic adventure books meant for teens and younger. However, they are vastly out-numbered by the rest of us Adults looking for something good to read.

~~ 📚~~​ 

Reason 3:

-- The Author has been abused in the Comments section by far too many Immature, and likely Under-aged Readers.

In my opinion...!
-- Too many story sites that allow Adult Content also allow Thirteen-Year-Olds Membership, when the minimum age for membership should be Sixteen, or better yet: Eighteen.

Not that age-restriction on memberships actually matter.

It's all too easy for an under-aged brat to LIE about their age and sneak in to a site they have no business viewing, and gaining access to content they are not legally old enough, and certainly not mature enough, to be seeing. Sadly, there's not a whole lot the site admins can do about it. Even if a brat is caught and thrown out, they can just create a new ID and sneak right back in.

To make matters worse, not all Immature Readers are under-aged.

However, Immature Readers of all ages have two major flaws in common, that makes them very easy to identify:

Impatience and the constant need for Attention.
​

Immaturity & Author Abuse​

On fan-fiction and web novel sites, Immature Readers are easily spotted by their nasty habit of battering Authors for spoilers in the Comments section. These spoiler questions tend to appear in the early chapters as puppy-eyed begging, or snotty demands for characters' motives, romantic interests, when sex scenes will happen, and how the story is going to end. Things the story itself will answer in due time.

Don't be fooled. Both the begging and the demands are signs that you're dealing with an immature, impatient, attention-seeking Brat.

In addition to spoiler-begging, these brats also tend to post half a dozen times on the same chapter by adding snippy, snotty, or outright nasty comments on other people's comment posts.

These brat posts are especially prevalent when the Author has not set their comments to "Members Only", "No Anonymous Guest Posts", and "Approve before Posting".

All too often, instead of telling these immature brats: "Go read the Chapter again, idiot," or "You'll know when it happens," or just plain IGNORING them, the abused Authors Give-In to the brats' demands and deliver on those spoilers in their comments. AKA: Feeding the Trolls. This is especially virulent when the author is desperate to be seen as Nice, and Friendly.

Rather than stop those brats from posting, it backfires spectacularly and encourages the little shits to Do It More. After all, they've been getting loads of attention this way. Why should they stop?

Sometimes a desperate Author will start adding explanations in their Author Notes, specifically for those Brat Readers that repeatedly post that they did not get it. Worst of all is when the Author starts adding Plot Waffling to the story to make Story Comprehension easier for those same Brat Readers.

In the meantime, what they're actually doing is Ruining the Story for the rest of their reading audience!

Stop that!

 

So how do you deal with

 Immature Bratty Troll Readers?

Never accept Anonymous Guest posts, and if the brats get through anyway, ignore them. Don't Answer their Posts.

To get rid of a Troll, you have to
Starve it of Attention.
There is No Other Way. ​

The truth is, these immature troll brats are not looking for answers, they're looking for ATTENTION from the closest famous person they can get to talk to them: the Author of the story they're reading.

If you must answer them, just politely tell them: "I don't want to give away all the surprises," or "The answers are in the story," or "Just wait and see!" Then disengage and don't add any more -- especially if they're provoking you!

Report them if you can. If not, your only recourse to utterly ignore them, no matter how nasty they get. 

 

~~ 📚~~
​

So...! 

 

How does an Adult tell an Author 

to Stop treating their Readers like children? 

 

This is easily done with an Email to the Author, or a post in their Comments section:

Dear Author,​

-- Please stop dumbing down the story. I am a working, tax-paying, Adult with an Adult's level of reading comprehension and the vocabulary to go with it. I am Not an immature brat who hasn't graduated high school yet. Nor am I an idiot. I don't need pointers, hints, or asides to help me understand what's going on. I am fully capable of following context clues to figure things out for myself, thank-you.​

 -- Looking for a Good Story 

 

 

In Conclusion...

You get what you Pay For. 

 

If you want something good to read, chances are, you're going to have to Pay for it.

 

Most free-to-read stories available on the internet are written or translated by Amateurs with little experience on how to write decent fiction. 

 

Stories written by experienced professional authors however, are not free. 

 

Del-Rey, the largest publisher of Sci-Fi and Fantasy does not allow any of their published books to be posted anywhere for free. Nor does any other US publisher, including eBook publishers. Even the authors' own sites are limited to posting no more than four chapters. 

 

While eBook publishers can compete with brick and mortar publishing houses for decent authors, pay-to-read Web Novel sites can Not. Writing a chapter a day for a professional author is far too much pressure for far too little pay. Free story sites aren't even a consideration.

 

☕

Jay's Synopsis Formula

Jay's Synopsis Formula
will work on your Novel.

 by JayDirex

It does not matter if your story is slice of life about a GENDER-BENT BLOB OF ENERGY. My synopsis formula works. All you have to do is Describe your Genre then answer these FOUR QUESTIONS and you can create a great synopsis.

0. Describe the Genre:

1. Who's the Main Character(s)? 

2. What are they about? (What do they do?) 

3. What is the conflict that broke up the normal? 

4. How do they attempt to resolve the conflict?

EXAMPLES

Story: The Villainous Lee Twins 

0. Describe the Genre:  

 -- An action packed shoot-em-up!

1. Who's the MC? 

 -- The Twins, Bro and Sis.

2. What is he/she they about? (their normal thing) 

 -- Kick ass Bounty Hunters/wild pair.

3. What is the conflict that broke up the normal? 

 -- A high-risk bounty job goes wrong, now crews trying to kill them.

4. How do they attempt to resolve the conflict?  

 -- Lock-load and shoot their way out- who knows if they lives or dies

SYNOPSIS:

-- Notice how each question is answered in order below:

In this action packed shoot-em-up, we meet gutsy twin bounty hunters, Bro and Sis. A wild pair who thrive on snaring high-reward fugitives. 

One day a dangerous job goes violently wrong, and the twins become the target of two murderous crews out to kill the bounty they're transporting. 

Trapped between warring sides, BULLETS FLY as the siblings go full metal jacket to guard their bounty and stay alive!

Assassin girls, Baka Twins, Battle Rifles, Crime, Action Packed! 

Story: Rica Wants Him Dead

0. Describe the Genre: 

 --  Crime/Drama/Romance

1. Who's the MC? 

 -- Teen Ko

2. What is he/she they about? (their normal thing) 

 -- Kick butt Assassin, one of the best.

3. What is the conflict that broke up the normal? 

 -- He rescued a mob boss kidnapped daughter, now bad-dudes trying to kill him

4. How does he attempt to resolve the conflict?  

 -- Seeks help from dangerous girl from his past- who knows if he lives or dies.

SYNOPSIS 

 -- Notice how each question is answered in order below:

In this Crime/Drama/Romance, we meet Teen Assassin, Ko, one of the best in the business. After rescuing a Korean mob boss’s five year old daughter from kidnappers, he becomes a hunted man in New York City. 

On the run and desperate to protect the child, Ko discovers there’s only one person willing to help him: the beautiful and deadly Rica Reyes, a villainous Teen Rifle Girl from Ko’s past, who once tried to kill him. 

Out of options he's forced to trust Rica and accept her aid, but Ko is no fool, and he knows that the price Rica will extract for her help could cost him everything. 

Teen Romance, Tsundere, Light Novel, YA, Assassins

DO YOU KNOW WHY THIS SYNOPSIS
WORKS WITH ALL STORIES?

Because your story is about 

1. CHARACTER(S)

2. Who do a normal thing.

3. Suddenly something abnormal happens--conflict.

4. The character(s) now has to resolve this conflict.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Post by JayDirex

Writing Adult or Romance? There IS a Difference.

Mage & the Succubus
Romance or Adult?

 

 ----- Original Message ----- 

A quick question about romance...

I'm writing an adult story about a succubus who yearns to be with a human and forms a loving attachment with him. The story was meant to originally be kind of short and sweet, but has evolved into something much longer. I'm now debating on breaking it up in two books, where the first book ends before they formally get together. But I wanted some advice from romance readers. Are you ok with the ultimate payoff (the two characters getting together) taking a while to reach? Or do you need that payoff before the end of the first arc of the story? 

 -- Romance Confused

First:
-- Do you want this story to be ADULT?
or
-- Do you want this story to be ROMANCE?

 

Do you want to Write
Adult or Romance?

There IS a difference.

In fact, there's a huge difference. Romance and Adult are two completely different Genres. Each focuses on, and details, different things. They also have different Plot patterns. 

Additionally, Adult fiction is split again into two different sub-genres. Erotica and Adult Adventure fiction, AKA: Erotic Romance. 

Romance

While Romances can have Adult scenes, the Focus of the whole story is on Feelings and Emotions and DRAMA, so those are what need the highest detailing in the story. Dramatic secrets, angst, pining, misunderstandings, and Sexual Tension all need to be lovingly Detailed for pages and pages.

 Adult scenes in these stories can easily be cut down to mere kissing scenes, and still satisfy your Romance reading audience.

The Plot only needs to frame the two main leads, and give them the occasional reason to Do things, like; show off for each other and possibly the occasional rescue, or escape.

The Love Confession generally happens in the second to last chapter, with the very last chapter being reserved for a wedding, a love scene, or some other show of happiness and affection. The End.

 

Adult

Adult stories focus on Action. Sex Action specifically, so Describing everything is Paramount. 

The flowing silks, the sweeping vistas, the glittering palaces, the sweat dripping down her thigh... These scenes should appear in the Readers' minds as clearly as a Motion Picture -- especially if you are writing for a Female reading audience. 

 

Erotica

Erotica is short and simple. The whole story focuses on the getting Sex, having Sex, then maybe a paragraph or two on what happened after Sex. The ending could even be as simple as: They fell asleep.

The Adult action scenes are loving detailed in cinematic style: what the characters look like, what they feel like, what they smell like, what they taste like, what they sound like. Everything else is Unimportant -- including names. Locations are merely stages for the characters to have sex. 

Basic Erotica Plot:

They saw. 

They conquered.

They came. 

 -- The End. 

Adult Adventure AKA: Erotic Romance

If you're writing Adult Adventure fiction, the focus is on Action, but that Action is split between the Adventure and the Adult. The very least being 60% Adventure to 40% Adult.

And those Adult scenes need to be HOT, like Erotica -- and just as thoroughly Described.

Adult Scenes in these stories are ideally used to show the Progression of Affection as it grows between the two main leads. In other words, the closer the couple gets, the hotter and possibly kinkier, the Adult Scenes should be.

The PLOT in Adult Adventure fiction needs to be fully functional. As in, a real Plot for an actually full blown, fully realized Story.

Unlike a Romance, where the Plot is merely decoration and window-dressing to frame the two main leads, in Adult Adventure fiction, the PLOT is just as important as the Characters, and the Sex. 

In fact...

The PLOT should be what compels the main leads to have Sex -- regularly.

Example:​

~~~~~~~~~~~~​

A succubus and a scholarly mage are trapped in a closet.​

 

The succubus has a crush on the mage, so she's been skipping meals because no one else compares. However, she's gotten very hungry. The mage rubbing up against her smells delicious.​

 

The mage has a crush on the succubus. She's so pretty and has been very attentive as his secretary with no hint of her...appetites. The succubus rubbing up against him smells of sugar coated strawberries -- and sex. He's getting hard fast, and isn't sure what to do about it. Also, his magic has been running a little low from all his work on a new spell. He could really use some...input from a willing magical source.​

​

The busty succubus blinked at the handsome mage holding her in his arms. "Um, Mr. Mage, why are we in the closet?"​

​

The mage sighed and closed his eyes. "I am so sorry, Ms. Succubus, but if I go out there, that Dark Scholar will try to drag me off to their Tower. They want my latest spell, you see." He lifted his chin and gazed into her eyes. "If I left you out there, they'd probably kidnap you as a hostage and likely do...bad things to you." He took a deep breath. "And...I just can't let that happen to you."​

​

Ms. Succubus gasped and tightened her arms around his shoulders. "I mean that much to you?"​ 

​

"You're--" He swallowed hard. "Your my secretary. Of course, I...care what happens to you." He winced. "And...I'm a little low on magic at the moment. I haven't had time to...recharge."​ 

The succubus's stomach took that moment to grumble.

​

Cue: Sincere affectionate dialogue that leads to the succubus confessing her hunger, and the mage volunteering to assist her.​

The main problem I see, is that
one of your main characters is a Succubus. 

This implies to the Readers that the story is going to be Adult, because succubi appear almost exclusively in Adult stories.

If you decide that Adult is Not the way you want to go, then you may need to change the Succubus into something Less sexually-oriented.

Also...

Watch how you Label your story.

If you Label your story Adult, the Readers will Expect Sex.  

Romance often has Love Scenes, so that label is safe to use. Just make sure you've got a heart-pounding angst-driven Drama for the Romance readers because that is what they are looking for.

 ☕

AFTER the Basic HORROR Story Idea

Another:
A Japanese mystery horror story about a boy who transfers to a middle school with a cursed class and becomes involved in a series of gruesome deaths.

You have a cool Horror Story IDEA.
What's Next?

----- Original Message -----

You know the basic idea in a horror school story; terrible incidents occurred at school, mysterious accidents, disappearances, and murders. Mostly the stuff of bad memories and ghost stories… Our heroes think it's a good idea to test these stories and are dragged into an inner dimension of hell by the ruthless psychopathic ghost who's main goal in life was being her bullies sole murderer. (And killing other innocent people along the way.) Eventually through her interactions within the protagonists she begins to show a kinder and sweeter side behind closed doors and frees them.

 -- Wanna Write a Horror School Story

 

It sounds like you have a basic idea.
Now comes The Hard Part:

 

From: Another

Who the Main Point of View (POV) Character?
WHO is Telling the main overall Story?

Traditionally, stories are Not told from the Hero's point of view, (POV,) nor the Adversary/Villain's POV. They're told from the POV of the Victim; someone Wronged by the Villain (Monster,) then Betrayed by the Hero. 

In Another, the character Mei Misaki is Wronged by the monster by being forced into playing the monster's part as a Proxy monster making her an Outcast to her whole class. She is Betrayed by the Hero when he accuses her of being behind one of the murders.

Sometimes the story is told from the POV of an Ally to either the Hero or the Monster; also Wronged by one then Betrayed by the other. However, this is rare in Horror stories. It is far more common in Other World/Isekai stories.

• Note: In Romances, the Adversary/Villain and the Hero are often the same character.

It's your story though, so do as you please. 

However....

 

 

If you choose to tell the story from a Monster's POV, you might want to consider using a Gothic story structure, rather than the ordinary Adventure plot; AKA: The Hero's Journey, that most common Horror stories use. 

In a Nutshell:​

Horror Story: "There are Monsters! What do we do?!"​

Gothic Story: "I'm a Monster! What do I do?!"​

Gothics tend to focus on the Monster's struggle between their Human nature, and their Monster nature -- while dealing with people trying to kill them.

• Examples: The Wolfman, Frankenstein, The Count of Monte Christo, The Matrix, Spider-Man. For Anime: Ergo Proxy, Shiki, Another, Tokyo Ghoul, Darker Than Black...

If you're interested, here's a couple Links:

• Gothic Story Structure.
• So you Want to Write a Gothic - TV Tropes

How LONG do you want to make this story?
What is your target Word Count?

​

WHY is this Important?​

The shorter the Story, the smaller the cast of characters you'll need.​

• Short Story: 5000 to 10,000 words.
  • One POV character, one Ally, one Adversary
• Novelette: 10,000 - 20,000 words
  • One POV character, 2-3 Allies, one Adversary
• Novella: 20,000 - 40,000 words
  • One POV character, 2-5 Allies, 1 Main Adversary, 1 lesser Adversary
• Category/Light Novel: 40,000 - 60,000 words
  • 2 POV characters, 2-3 Allies for each POV character, 1 Main Adversary shared by both POV characters, and 1 lesser Adversary for each POV character.
• Novel: 60,000 - 100,000 words.
  • Up to 3 POV characters, 2-3 Allies for each POV character, 1 Main Adversary shared by ALL POV characters, and 1 lesser Adversary for each POV character.
• A series? 
• New Villain each episode, or every three episodes.
  
• One major Boss Villain working behind the scenes per season.
  

You CAN add more characters, but each POV character added = additional plot to be Solved before the story Ends.

• Remember: Each POV character is telling Their Own Story, which means Each of those stories need a satisfying END.

Also, Adversary simply means: the one that particular POV character is Against/Opposing.

 

Example: In a story told from Darth Vader's POV, Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda are Minor Adversaries with Darth Sidious being the Main Adversary.​

 

Most Importantly:

 

 

 From: Another

 

What do you want to SAY with this Story? 

What point are you trying to Prove with this story? 

 

THIS is your Premise.

• Revenge?
• Redemption?
• Justice?
• All Three?

Want to make this story even more Complicated?

Make Each of the main characters have their own Personal Premise, Proving or Disproving them through the Results of their Individual Stories.

• Oh wait, you're supposed to do that. Never mind.

 

Once you know these things,
the story will practically write itself. 

 

Making MAGIC 2 - Writing Magical Battles

 

Jujutsu Kaisen

 

 

Making MAGIC 2
Writing Magical Battles

 

Have you read the first one?

Making MAGIC 1
A History of Magic?

 

----- Original Message -----

I like 10 shadows from JuJutsu Kaisen (JJK). The essence of the ability in a nutshell is the ability to [summon spiritual beasts]. I want to change the summons, but leave the main point. Authors who made abilities similar to this one, what problems will I face in writing fights? 

 -- Wanna Write Magic Battles

 

Here are some Problems that Will come up when
Writing fight scenes
with Multiple Magical Participants.

Your first major problem is knowing how to Put into Words that kind of a battle scene; one with Many participants, without confusing the Readers.

I suggest figuring out how to write a basic one-on-one fight scene first.

Link --> ACTION and the Evil "AS"

Multiple fighters makes using Action THEN Reaction vital to write that scene clearly enough for the Reader to Visualize.

Take Notes!

Once you add more participants to a fight scene, you're going to need a pencil and some scratch paper just to keep track of where all of them are, in addition to who and what they're fighting, plus what powers each is using.

Just make things more complicated... A scene where a character switches from fighting one opponent to fighting a new opponent, once they finish their first fight, will end up in a nasty mess if you don't keep track of everyone, and every thing, involved in the fight. 

Scene-Switching will Need to Happen.

The Pacing and Timing of your scene-switching from one set of fighters to the next, will be crucial -- because there is no way in hell you can write that sort of pitched battle without scene-switching.

Just remember to do a line break of some kind, such as: * * * between each and every scene switch and POV change. If you're writing online, you need a black space, a line with * * * then another blank line.

It looks like this:

Tanjiro nodded toward their father. "It's in the way he breathes."​

​

Naoki frowned at his older brother. "Like when you told me to breathe with the drum?"​

"Tanjiro nodded. "Exactly, but that's just the beginning." He grinned. "Don't worry, Tou-san will teach you, just as he's teaching me.​

​

* * *​

​

Naoki awoke under the heavily padded robe he used for covers staring up at the ceiling rafters wondering how he even got into bed. He'd slept so hard, he hadn't even dreamed. He sat up slowly, mildly disoriented with the distinct feeling that something was not quite right.​

​

You can use other symbols if you like, but No Names announcing whose POV you're switching to.

Writing the character's Name as a title at a POV switch is Not Done in the publishing industry. It's something that appeared in Fan-Fics written by beginners. No professional publishing house will allow it. 

One POV per scene! 

Having more than one POV (point-of-view) in a battle will make your fight scenes a snarled mess to read. Stick to Only One per battle scene. 

More importantly, Never pick the Bad-Guy's POV.
 -- It ruins all the surprise and suspense generated by the fight, especially if that Bad-Guy has one more Ace up their sleeve. 

As for your Summoner, Do Not use their Summon's POVs.
 -- If you have to do a scene with Summon vs Summon, use NO POV at all. In other words, No internal thoughts, feelings, or narration. Write it from an Outside Observer's POV. Just the Facts, Ma'am. Mainly because a summoned beast's thoughts and feelings should never be seen by the Reader, unless the Beast actually Speaks what they feel themselves. 

The main reason for this is: the Summoner --whose POV you should be using-- should always be worried that their summons will Turn on them. Don't ruin the mystery. Keep out of their Summons' heads. 

Be Careful with your
Over-Powered Characters!

Make sure that your Magical Fighter doesn't look like a Mary Sue/Marty Stu, over-powered, Wish-Fulfillment character. Add realistic character flaws and internal conflicts to balance out all that power. If you do it right, you'll have an awesome story.

Link --> Common Mary Sue Traits -- TV Tropes

 

However your most difficult problem will be coming up with How the summoner summoned their beasts, and what kind of beasts they can summon.

In short: the Magic that makes Summoning happen. 

 

How does your Magic do Summoning?
And What are they Summoning?

If you haven't figured that out yet, THIS is where research really needs to happen.

Rather than trying to make up a whole new form of magic, it is much easier is to base your Magic on an existing magic or spiritual tradition. 

In JuJutsu Kaisen, the author bases their summoning powers on the traditional Onmyoji skill set. In fact, most of the 'powers' in JJK are from traditional Onmyoji myths and stories. So are many of the monsters.

Historic and Mythical Onmyoji: Abe no Seimei

 

Historic Spirit Summoning
in Japan

Abe no Seimei who lived during Heian period, is the most famous onmyōji (Onmyōdō practitioner) in Japanese history. He summoned his beasts and monsters with Shikigami, meaning: paper spirits. 

However, first he needed a spirit willing to be summoned. This was done by presenting an offering to get a spirit's attention, then creating a contract with a spirit by promising to do it a favor in compensation for doing him favors. In some stories, the spirit wanted revenge for a wrong done to it. In other stories the spirit just wanted to stay in his company. He then wrote the spirit's name on a small piece of paper, or had the spirit write its own name. Sometimes these papers were folded into origami animal or flower shapes, sometimes they were people-shaped cut-outs, sometimes they were talismen. It depends on the story.

To summon a spirit to him using the papers, he supposedly used a drop of his own blood as offering.

Historically, the spirits summoned were invisible. However, according to his myths, he gave a portion of his own life force to bring them into reality.

Abe no Seimei did Not make 'shadow puppets' with his hands. (Ahem...)

Everything Abe no Seimei is recorded to have done to gain his spirits, call his spirits, and fight off other spirits, were basic Shamanistic techniques. Anyone familiar with shamanism would recognize his skill set immediately because contracting and summoning spirits is what every shaman does.

Of course, working with spirits wasn't all that Abe no Seimei did.

Onmyōdō (陰陽道, also In'yōdō, lit. 'The Way of Yin and Yang') covers a heck of a lot more magic than just summoning spirits. 

Onmyoji practitioners, especially the ones that worked for the Imperial Court, did a lot of fortune-telling using astronomy, calendars, and the five elements, to divine good fortune in terms of date, time, direction, and general personnel affairs. They also borrowed Feng Shui from China to check if a home or business property's location, direction, and furniture set-up drew in Luck and Prosperity, or Ghosts and Malice

Beyond the shamanistic spirit work, the rest of the techniques an Onmyoji used came from the philosophy of yin and yang and wuxing; magical traditions that had just been introduced to Japan from China, at that time. Rather than separate the two styles of magic, they just...added them together. 

And that's just Japan. 

 

Don't Limit Yourself!

There are spirit summoning traditions all over the world, in every native culture, contained in every form of shamanism that exists. 

However many, many of those traditions summon the spirit into the practitioner's body rather than as an external creature. The old Norse Berserkers summoned Bear spirits and Wolf spirits into themselves before going into battle. Many of the Native American traditions did the same.

Make sure you do your research. 

 

What Magic or Spiritual Tradition
are you basing your Magic on?

Cultivation novels use Chinese mythology for their monsters and spirits, and Taoist or Buddhist traditions for their magic.

The movie Black Panther uses African traditions for their magic.

The Harry Potter magic system was pretty much made up by the author, but was influenced by Celtic, Wiccan, and Norse traditions mixed with mispronounced Latin incantations. 

The movie Serpent and the Rainbow showcased many actual voudun (voodoo) traditions from Haiti.

My magic is based on the Wiccan traditions and borrows heavily from the Celtic fairy stories and myths from the British Isles.

On the flip side, Author Jim Butcher's modern wizard series; the Harry Dresden books, uses a magic system based on the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), a table-top role playing game created in the 1970's that was based loosely on JRR Tolkien's books. Butcher freely admitted this.

In fact, many, many anime, manga, and manhua use the Dungeons and Dragons magic system. 

-- And it's Obvious to all of us that actually play D&D, or one of the other role-playing games, such as Magic the Gathering, Vampire the Masquerade, WarHammer 40k, or Pokemon.

 

A Few Signs that the Author
is using D&D books for their Magic:

-- The skill Blink. This is an exclusive D&D ability. It does not exist historically.

-- A wizard's abilities are magically bestowed by Books, without needing to Read them.

-- The Orcs look like Pigs and are Green. This whole race comes straight from JRR Tolkien, however Tolkien's Orcs were Not Green, they were the colors of dirt and stones because that's what they were made from. The color change was introduced in the D&D game.

-- The Goblins are Green. JRR Tolkien's goblins were Not green. They are gray skinned with black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They were originally elves that were corrupted by Morgoth the Evil. The color change was introduced in the D&D game.

-- Dungeons that aren't in the basements of castle towers.

-- Adventurer Parties. 

-- Adventurer Guilds. This originally came from RPG video games, but D&D picked it up and ran with it.  

 -- The existence of Ents. Another thing borrowed from Tolkien. 

The most obvious sign of all: 

-- Stat Lists. While all RPG games use Stat Lists, D&D did it first.

 

 

 

There is nothing wrong with writing a 

Literary RPG (LitRPG) story. 

 

Many, many readers adore them. There are even a few very well written stories that I enjoyed: Kill the Hero, Solo Leveling, That Time I was Reincarnated as a Sword. It's just not something I would write. However...!

If it's your genre of choice, have at it!

Just please be aware that there will be actual D&D players in your reading audience. We Know when someone is using Dungeons and Dragons as a base for their magical system, and we will definitely notice when you get something wrong. After all, we love Fantasy stories too. If we didn't, we wouldn't be playing D&D in the first place.

 

In Conclusion...

If you're determined to create your own Magic, your best place to start is with looking up the History of Magic that already exists for whatever culture you happen to be writing in, even if you're just using the D&D books. Use it as a jumping off point, or a framework that explains why your magic works the way it does. Simply adjust the facts to fit the story you want to write. Add things, or subtract things as needed. 

Also, please, please try to make it Not look like you copied it off of a turn-based table-top game you played last weekend.

Most of all, for all of your Readers' sakes, Do Your Research. Far too many of your reading audience will Know when you get something wrong, even if it's just the math on your stat sheets.

Morgan Hawke