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.

 ☕

Writing ACTION 1: Action Scenes that Work

 

The Trick to Writing Action Scenes that Work:
Action THEN Reaction!

The #1 Most Common cause of Confusion in Action Scenes?
Putting the Reaction BEFORE the Action that caused it.

WARNING! This tutorial is NOT meant for those do Creative Writing.

This essay was originally written for writers seeking to be professionally published authors. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.

If you are new to my tutorials, please read this one first:
The Secret to Proper Paragraphing and Dialogue
Certain things covered in this tutorial are based on that information.

Why is Action THEN Reaction so Important? ​

The flash of pain exploded in my cheek from the slap her hand lashed out at me.

WRONG!

Why is this Wrong?
-- If you were watching this scene as a movie, that sentence is NOT how you would have seen it happen.

Actual Sequence of events:
1) Her hand lashed out at me in a slap. [Action]
2) A flash of pain exploded in my cheek [Reaction]

ACTION Sequences = Chronological Order​

Chronological Order --the order in which things actually happen-- is the ONLY way to write an Action Scene that won't confuse your readers. If you visualize the characters doing something in a specific order – you write it in THAT order.

REALITY =
Something random happens to you then…you react. 
- in Chronological order​

Action –> Reaction 

 

Dialogue and Action:
Which comes first?

ACTION.

Too many inexperienced writers put all their Dialogue at the beginning of their paragraphs -- before the action that caused that dialogue to happen.

The truth is, Dialogue belongs in the sentence when it happened; before the action, during the action, or after the action.

However...!

The finger pulls the trigger THEN the shooter wonders: “Oh no, what have I done?”​

Realistically, physical actions usually happen BEFORE dialogue. Most people ACT then comment because physical reactions normally happen faster than thought. Ask any cop or martial artist.

This Does Not mean that thoughts or dialogue don't happen before the gun or fist is raised and pointed! Bad-mouthing and instigation is usually how fights start to begin with. 

 

However, the human body has a habit of...jumping the gun -- reacting before the thought of doing said Action is even fully formed, especially if they are martially trained.​

Thoughts that come first FREEZE physical action. Not in the literary sense, for real. Most people stop whatever action they are doing, they pause to speak.

Fiction works exactly the same way.

FICTION =
The Plot happens to the characters then…they react.
- in Chronological order​

Action –> Reaction

1 - Something happened TO the character, (the Action.)
2 - The character feels the Physical Sensation - the effects of the Action, (the reaction.)
3 - THEN they have a thought and/or comment about what had just happened, (an Action.)
4 - THEN they DO something about it, (their Reaction.)

WRONG:

The flash of pain exploded in my cheek [Reaction] as the slap her hand lashed out at me. [Action]​

RIGHT:

Her hand lashed out in a slap [action].​

​

My cheek exploded with a flash of pain. [reaction]. “Ow!” [dialogue/action] I balled my hand into a fist and swung for her face. [reaction]​

(Stupid gif won't load. Click image to see Action!)

Why did I break that sequence into Two lines? ​

Because each character gets their own paragraph for their actions.

Why?

For exactly the same reason you separate each character's dialogue into two paragraphs. Dialogue is an Action.

And while we're on the subject, leave the Dialogue ATTACHED to that character's Actions! This way you never need to use dialogue tags such as 'he said' or 'she said' to identify who is speaking. The Actions do that for you.

Back to the topic...

Violating chronological order is a Bad Idea. If you knock the Actions out of order the reader’s Mental Movie STOPS because the reader has to STOP READING to Re-Read that sequence and mentally rearrange the sentences in into the correct order to get the movie back.

Making the story hard for the reader to PICTURE
-- is a VERY Bad Idea. ​

Anytime the reader has to STOP to rearrange the words to FIT their mental movie, you’ve made a break. Breaks are BAD – very, very bad! A break creates a moment where the reader can STOP READING your story, and start reading something else -- and possibly never look at your work again.

A lot of writers hesitate to break up the actions between characters because written chronological action and dialogue tends to look very choppy on the page. It doesn't look neat and tidy

Neat and tidy be damned!​

Who cares how the words are arranged on the page? Once the reader has their Mental Movie rolling the reader won’t even notice the specific words. They’ll be too busy watching the scenes playing out in their mental movie to care what they're reading.

Screw aesthetics! Your first priority is keeping that reader reading. That means keeping their Mental Movie going without interruptions!

How to FIX this chronic problem:​

VISUALIZE your scenes as you write them. Play them as a movie in your head and write everything down EXACTLY as you see it. If it comes out in a pile of one short sentence after another, then add some smart-assed internal comments and/or dialogue.

Just remember to keep the character's dialogue connected to their actions.

Don't Forget: Dialogue is an Action too!

What about Literary style?​

What about it?

If you simply MUST have stylish phrasing in your fiction, save it for the descriptions. Keep it out of the Actions!

If you want the reader to SEE the actions that you are trying to portray, Chronological Order is the ONLY way to make Action Scenes crystal clear in their imaginations.

-------- Original Message -----------​

"I can't write an action/fight scene worth a crap. Mind you, I can usually imagine them, I just can't write them." ​

-- Wanna Do a Fight Scene. ​

If you can imagine it - you can write it. The easiest way is by doing it in LAYERS.

A Quick and Dirty Method:
Writing Action Scenes in Layers

Start with a List of ACTIONS
and their following REACTIONS.

Don’t Forget! ~ Actions ALWAYS go Before Reactions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List of ACTIONS 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- IMPORTANT! Each Character gets their own paragraph. NEVER clump the separate actions of two different characters in the same paragraph or the reader will get confused as to who is doing what very quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

​Will lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​​ 

 

Jack caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab.​​

 

Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. 

 

​​Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target.​ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add DIALOGUE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

​

"You're dead meat!" Will lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​

​

Jack caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. "I don't think so!"​​ 

 

Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!"​​ 

 

Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add EMOTION.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

​

"You're dead meat!" Will bared his teeth and lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​​

 

Jack snorted in derision and caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. He smiled. "I don't think so!" 

 

​​Startled, Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!" 

 

​​Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. He chuckled. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."​ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add INTERNAL NARRATION. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Pick ONE character in that scene and add only THAT character's internal observations -- no others! (More than one POV in a scene is known as HEAD-HOPPING.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

​

"You're dead meat!" Will bared his teeth and lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​

​

Jack snorted in derision and caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" The kid certainly had guts. Too bad he didn't have the skill to go with it. Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. He smiled. "I don't think so!"​

​

Startled, Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!"​

​

Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. He chuckled, knowing it would piss the kid off. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that." He was hoping the kid would figure out that he was out-matched and just bolt. He didn't like killing those that didn't actually deserve to die.​

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seriously, if you can imagine it - you can write it.

Having problems imagining it?
- Watch a few MOVIES.


Morgan Hawke ☕
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making Magic 1 - A History of Magic?

Making MAGIC
For your Fiction

 NOT for LitRPG novelists!

If you are a LitRPG (Literary Role Playing Game,) writer, and you're trying to make a numerical leveling System for your fantasy story, please refer to: Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, the Dungeon Master's Handbook, specifically. However, just about any role-playing handbook will do. There are literally Thousands of them out there for every type of genre, and many of them are available online for free. Google is your friend. 

After all, that's where Literary RPG came from: table-top Role-Playing adventures that someone wrote down.

Also see:

 Making MAGIC 2 
Writing Magical Battles

 

☕ 

So you want to have Magic in your brand new fictional Fantasy world?

Alright then, lets start with a few simple World-Building questions, so you have some idea of what you're in for-- I mean, some idea of what you're going to need to know to make your new Magical world feel solid and logical to your Readers. 

How does Magic

Affect Your Fantasy World?

 

If you're a writer planning to use Magic in your world, here are a few things to ask yourself while you world-build. 

 

What are they using Magic for?

If Magic is in common use, are they using it to make War or Peace? Are they cooking their food with it? Storing their valuables with it? Building castles with it? Traveling across great distances, or only short hops from town to town? Do they have horseless carriages? Flying ships? Are they communicating across distances with it as commonly as we do with our cell phones? -

Or is it not in common use? If not, then what are they doing with their Magic? Are these magical people in hiding, or protected by the government? Are they gathered in special enclaves, or living scattered among everyone else?

 Who has Magic?

 

Does everyone have Magic, or only a special few? Why would only the special few have it? Were some born with the talent for it, rather like an Artist? Is it something anyone can develop as long as they have proper instructions, like an athlete? Is it something only a few families pass down through their genetic lines?  Is there a special substance that must be grafted onto the body to allow one to use Magic, such as a magical runic tattoo? Does one need a special artifact from a bygone age, or has technology finally developed enough to create a specific tool to access Magic? Does it take a super secret special ritual to awaken one's Magic?

 

What powers Magic?

Where does the ability to use Magic come from? Is it granted as a favor from Spirits? An endowment from Gods? Can one gain Magic from an elixir you eat or drink? Is it generated by an organ such as a Magical Core? Is it an aether that fills the atmosphere that one has to learn to collect, like in Cultivation novels? Is it a power that's already there that one must learn to Feel, like the Force? Oh wait, Cultivation novels use that one too.

 

How do people learn to use Magic?

 

Magic can be very dangerous to both the practitioner and the unaware people around them, if handled incorrectly. So, how does one learn to Control it? Do people have to go to schools to learn how to use Magic? Are the skills passed down through apprenticeship under an experienced practitioner? Does one learn to use Magic from the Gods or Spirits themselves? From dreams? Can someone learn to use Magic by complete accident? 

 

Has your world always had access to Magic,
or is it a new development?

When and where did the use of Magic start? Did a meteor hit the planet and just...irradiate people with Magic? Did some wellspring of pure Magic from the Soul of the World erupt to spray magic into the air like a geyser? Did someone just wish Magic to happen, and it did? Did some strange traveler come and bless certain individuals with Magic?

If Magic isn't a sudden new development, how long people have been using it? Are there a few famous practitioners? What kind of History does your Magic have?

What kind of Spiritual Background are you using for your brand of Magic? 

 

This is Not a trick question. You are basing your fantasy Magic on some form of real Magical/Spiritual practice, right? You're not trying to create a whole Magical doctrine from pure Make-Believe, or worse: relying on Dungeons and Dragons for your Magic, right? 

 

Surely you don't plan to rely on Make-Believe to create an entire System of Magic plus the History that supports that system, from scratch?! 

 

In the beginning, the spirits said, "Let there be MAGIC...!" And it was good. 

 

Writing a History of MAGIC?

It's more Headache than it's worth.

----- Original Message -----
...How am I supposed to explain how magic has evolved over thousands of years from singing and chanting to using magic circles to unleash devastating spells? Like how did people discover drawing circles in the air with magic text inscribed in them was better than singing your lungs out?

-- Concerned Fantasy Writer.

Making up a full History of Magic, or even a partial History of how early Magic progressed from using a shamanistic style of magic; rituals and prayer incantations, into glowing condensed mana imprints; spell circles cast on thin air, especially when there's thousands of years of progress between them, is a Big Project.

What you're trying to do here is similar to coming up with the history of how humanity went from using bows, swords, and horses to conduct warfare, to modern warfare using sub-machine guns, tanks, and helicopters.

To even attempt this, would take massive research. 

Just to start with: 

How much do you know about:
The History of Actual Magic?

Not make-believe magic, like what's found in Dungeons and Dragons, but Real, historical Magic as it is currently practiced here on Earth? 

 

 Stonehenge

A brief History of Actual Magic

The History of Magic starts at the dawn of human existence.

Sadly, most archaeologists and scholars who study history are Scientists. They don't always recognize the magical (or cursed,) even when it's right in front of their noses.  

Put It Back!

Magic after all, is the bailiwick of Dreamers, Artists, and Poets. It often takes a Dreamer to spot the Magic among the mundane, (and when certain things really need to stay buried.)

Luckily, there are a lot of Dreamers out there writing book after book, and blog post after blog post, about Magic and it's actual History.

Here's a very basic Summery:

-- The earliest form of Magic was basic shamanism which was practiced by native people all over the world in every country, and every culture. 

 

Magical songs, magical music, and magical dances to celebrate the sun, create rain, call the wind, bring down lightning, stop floods, walk in the bodies of beasts, encourage fertility in people, land, and livestock, or call an end to winter, are all shamanistic practices.  

Japanese Shintoism for example, is a somewhat advanced form of shamanism still in practice today. 

 

-- Prehistoric metal workers; Smiths, were considered powerful Magicians who sang over their forges and knew the secret of how to turn rough stones into gleaming weapons. Especially magical were the sword makers; the bladesmiths who used all kinds of sacred and profane ingredients, including fallen stars, to make mystical unbeatable swords that could empower or curse their wielders. 

-- Long before Christianity began, Judaic ceremonial magicians worked with divine beings and developed the Tree of Life as a progression map. Through prayers and songs they recorded in their Torah; the precursor to today's common bible, they called down divine retribution, parted seas, sealed ifrits and genies into bottles, and introduced the idea of an Evil counterpart to the Divine: Shaitan; the Adversary. 

-- From India came the sutras; massive, long, and convoluted prayers that induce a meditative state so strong --and useful-- that the entire far east jumped on their bandwagon, branching out into thousands of different forms of Buddhism.  

 -- In China, Buddhism was added to the native forms of Shamanism, Astrology, Alchemy, and Numerology. This developed into a new form of Chinese Magic; Taoism, side-branching into Feng Shui. (Keep in mind, I'm being VERY general here.) Both the Buddhists and the Taoists slew demons and monsters, laid the walking/hopping dead to rest, broke curses, tamed spirits, and subdued ghosts. However the Taoists also cultivated enlightenment to reach immortality, and apparently flew on swords as well. Much later, Confucianism was added to the mix and the fortune-telling Tao Te Ching emerged. 

 -- Chinese Magic; Taoism, eventually spread to Heian Japan. It mixed with the native shamanistic practices and Buddhism already there, and the Onmyoji sorcerers came into being. They did all the same thing as their Taoist counterparts did, except cultivate to immortality and fly on swords. 

-- The Celestial or Sacred Mathematics known as Geometry started in ancient Babylonia. It was used for surveying, astronomy, and construction of their massive temples. The Egyptians grabbed onto it and developed it further. They used it for surveying, astronomy, and construction too, but they wanted their sacred palaces, sacred temples, and sacred pyramids to also line up with their favorite stars. 

-- India developed their own form of Geometry for all the same reasons, and built gigantic sacred temples like everyone else, only a lot more decorative. 

 

The Greeks snatched Geometry from both India and the Egyptians, then developed Geometry into a high art form. They used it to build even fancier temples plus palaces that lined up with the sun, the moon, and certain planets. 

-- When the Romans took over Greece, they got a hold of Geometry, and developed a brand new invention called Cement; liquid stone that hardened into any shape you had a mold for. They combined the two and promptly went insane. They used Geometry and Cement to build massive domed temples of every variety for every god, plus aqueducts, fountains, sewage systems, drainage systems, irrigation systems, road systems that covered most of the known world, central under-the-floor heating, heated in-home baths, whole apartment buildings, outdoor theaters, coliseums, purely decorative grand arches, and huge Imperial palaces. 

 -- By the close of the Roman Empire, Sacred Geometry was firmly under the control of a brotherhood of architects and builders known as The Masons, and was jealously hidden away from anyone that wasn't a Masonic Architect. For over a thousand years the Masons kept Geometry as a Magical secret. Only they knew how to construct the massive, awe-inspiring Sacred temples, mosques, and cathedrals. 

 

-- The modern 'Order' of the Free Masons had their start here. In fact, if you look at any modern Mason ring you'll see the "G" and the tools used for Geometry.  

 

-- During the Byzantine era, a Syrian Alchemist created the chemical bomb known as Greek Fire for the Byzantine Emperor. Greek Fire was considered very Magical indeed because no one could figure out how he did it. The Syrian never told anybody. 

Much, much later someone invented something similar under the name: napalm. However, it wasn't considered magical in the least.

 

-- In the early to mid 1200's, Roger Bacon, a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar, was also regarded as a Wizard. He was attributed to the invention of gunpowder, (clearly stolen from the Orient,) and the magnifying glass. 

-- In the late 1200's, Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher published three works of fiction that pretty much changed how every single Christian in the world saw Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. His Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, were published just in time for the invention of the Gutenberg Press. These books, alongside the first printed bibles, promptly spread all over Europe to every home that could afford a printed book.

 

-- Dante's stories introduced the nine levels of Hell, and the names of the demons that lived there. They also described the levels of Purgatory, and what could be found there, and the nine levels of Heaven and the names of the angels that lived there. King Solomon was also tossed in and said to have captured and sealed away a great many demons into bottles. Dante listed the names of those demons too. 

Dante's books also introduced the concept of a War in Heaven. This war featured a peerless angel that rebelled against God, and was punished for it by being thrown out, or down rather, to become the ruler of Hell. He even named that fallen angel and gave the ruler of Hell a title borrowed straight from the Torah: Shaitan -- Satan. 

-- By the mid 1300's all the demons and angels mentioned in Dante's works of fiction, were accepted as being actual demons and angels. Absolutely everyone accepted that the War in Heaven actually happened, and the story of the fallen angel as Fact. There was a Satan in Hell, just ask anyone, even your local priest -- who likely had a copy of Dante's books sitting right next to his personal bible. For reference.

 

-- There was actually a reason why Fiction suddenly became Fact. Namely: the Black Plague and the Bubonic Plague.

The only explanation anyone had for everyone dropping dead around them was either "God hates us," or "There was no God." After all, God was supposed to be a being of pure Goodness and Light! God wouldn't allow a Plague to go killing off innocent people!

Well, the Catholic Church certainly couldn't have people stop believing in their God. That was an awful lot of tithes (money) they'd lose out on. So in all their wisdom, the Catholic leaders in Rome decided they needed Someone to take the Blame. 

They looked no further than Dante's books. 

The plagues were Satan's fault. 

Satan, a fictional character from a work of fiction: Dante's Inferno, has been blamed for everything wrong with the world ever since.

-- By the late Middle Ages (c. 1350–1450), the major plagues were pretty much over, so there were plenty of farmers growing crops and breeding livestock once again. 

With the sudden surplus of food, after decades of famine, all the peasant farmers, and the lords that ruled them, started celebrating -- with Pagan festivals dedicated to the old gods of Fertility, and Alcohol. 

Pagan rituals and celebrations were a lot more fun than sitting in a cold stone room crammed in next to your unwashed, smelly neighbors on hard wooden seats being snarled at by the local Christian priest for hours. 

Nobody wanted to be yelled at for enjoying making love to their own spouse, enjoying the beer and mead they brewed in their own cellars, or for women using their skills to make an income to help support their families. So they stopped going to church. 

More importantly however, they stopped paying for the churches' upkeep.

 -- To deal with the crisis, (the churches were losing a lot of money,) the Christian leaders in Rome did two things. The first was to make the local gods into Christian Saints. This allowed the local celebrations, now sanctified by the local churches -- as long as they still went to church on Sundays.  

-- The other thing the Christian leaders in Rome did, was start a Smear Campaign against anything, and everything to do with Magic. 

It worked on the uneducated peasant populous. The local herbalists and midwives had a hell of time Christianize their herb names, and changing all their incantations into Prayers. 

The educated populous however, smiled in church on Sunday, but held secret book club meetings the rest of the week. In their private parlors and hidden rooms alongside close friends and associates they perused old obscure books about Geometry, Alchemy, Philosophy, and Magic.

-- As a result of those secret book clubs, in the 1400's, Middle Eastern Alchemy became quite popular in Europe, and split into two distinct branches. One branch was very practical in nature. These Alchemists developed the earliest techniques for creating artificial, manufactured, jewels: diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. They did this by combining base ores and certain chemicals in a high pressure furnace called an Athanor. Of course a lot of them blew themselves up doing it too. 

Today, Cubic Zirconium; manufactured diamonds, are created in this exact fashion. With a lot fewer people being blown up.

 -- The other branch of Alchemy was highly philosophical in nature, and considered one of the earliest forms of Psychology. The very earliest form of psychology being talking to your local shaman or priest.  

This 'spiritual' Alchemy became known as Hermeticism. 

-- During this period, the Northern Europeans went through a Magical Renaissance. By dredging through every obscure book they could find, they developed a whole new system of Magic. 

This new Magic combined the Judaic Tree of Life/Sefirot magic, Masonic ceremonial magic, different forms of fortune-telling, Astrology, Greek Philosophy, Hermeticism, mathematics, and a dash of shamanistic spirit summoning. 

As a result, this form of Magic invoked Heavenly and Unholy powers using angelic and demonic names straight out of Dante's works of fiction, through basic addition and subtraction called Magic Squares. These Magic Squares were later made circular and stamped on medallions.

 -- You can find a bunch of these squares and the symbols created through simple addition and subtraction in the Ars Goatia, also called the Lesser and Greater Keys of Solomon. The Ars Goatia is where all those fancy circle spells you see in manga and anime were borrowed from.  

-- In 1478, the Spanish Dominicans, a branch of rabid Christians who murderously loathed anything that wasn't their brand of Catholicism, (and women in general,) petitioned the Monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom for permission to combat heresy and demon worship in Spain. 

These Dominicans were known as: The Spanish Inquisition. They were also nicknamed; Domini Canis; Dogs of God -- implying just how rabid they were. 

This Inquisition had their own form of Magic that utilized prayers from the bible plus a few they created themselves, consecrated hosts, holy water made by their churches, blessed swords, and lit torches. 

Permission granted, they went absolutely insane. They grabbed anyone and everyone that wasn't their brand of Catholic, from peasant to noble. Especially if they were female. Once they tortured confessions out of them, they burned or hanged them to death. Then they took the deeds to their property -- for God. 

They killed a lot of people.

The Inquisition remained in operation burning and hanging heretics, demon worshipers, and witches all over the world until they finally lost their permission in 1834. 

 

-- In the early 1500's --despite the threat of The Inquisition-- a German Renaissance philosopher named Agrippa, came up with the Angelic Script, Transitus Fluvii, and Malachim alphabets to make communicating with Heavenly beings easier. 

-- During this period, telling the future by Scrying; seeing, by peering into a bowl of liquid, or crystal balls, or reading the swing of a pendulum over a laid out alphabet, plus Astrology, and Tarot card reading, became very, very popular. Everyone who was anyone was doing at least one of them during dinner parties and afternoon teas.

-- In the late 1500's, an an English Renaissance occultist and scryer called Sir Edward Kelly, and his friend John Dee, an English court astronomer, came up with the Enochian alphabet. This was also meant for communication with Heavenly beings -- and taming ghostly beings. 

-- In the 1600's, Voudon, (voodoo), a form of native West-African shamanistic magic mixed with prayers and songs from the King James bible, developed in Haiti and quickly spread through all the islands close to it. It also spread to the Southern US and outward with the slave trade. 

-- By the mid 1700's, the British isles developed two distinct forms of magic. Witchcraft; based on native shamanistic rituals, and Ceremonial Magic, which was pretty much a cleaned up and polished version of what was being practiced in Europe mixed with Masonic rituals. 

Currently, the witchcraft forms are called Wicca, Paganism, and Heathenism respectively, and the ceremonial forms are mostly under the headings: Hermeticism and Western Esotericism, with thousands of variations under both types of magic. 

-- In the 1800's consumption; tuberculosis, began to kill large numbers of people all over the place. Because everyone had someone they dearly missed, a pretty large occult revival happened all over Europe and in the US. Seeing and talking to spirits of the dead by way of seances: featuring full on possessions by ghosts, table-tapping, levitating objects, and the appearance of ectoplasm, became very, very popular. Especially in England.  

 -- In the mid 1800's, the Rosicrucian Fraternity appeared in the US, a mix of Occultism, Hermeticism, and Christian gnosticsm. Supposedly it had a long and involved history that went back to the 1500's. Said history has since been debunked as Fictional. However, the Magic works just fine. 

-- In 1940 in England, Neopagans, and very witchcraft Wicca, emerged onto the public domain. Their brand of Magic was shamanistic at core, celebrated old Celtic and old Scandinavian gods, utilized divination, and was only loosely organized. These practitioners also borrowed bits and pieces from just about every other form of paganism, mysticism, and the occult -- depending on the practitioner's personal feelings, beliefs, and curiosity. 

-- In 1969 modern Satanism happened. This form of magic and the belief system that went with it was put together by one man: Anton LeVay. He used bits from the common King James bible, some demonic names from Dante's books, created a philosophy of Self-Worship based on European Hermeticism, added a few European magic squares, and mixed it all together with basic Golden Dawn brand ceremonial magic to make it pretty. Strangely enough, it actually works.  

-- In 1977, the US government recognized Wicca as an official legal Religion. This prompted a massive explosion of books for and about witchcraft. Some of these books are quite informative and well researched, others, a jumbled rehashing of what was already floating around from the last occult movement during the 1800's. Buyer beware. 

And that's just skimming the surface of the History of Magic right here on this world. If you want to know more, Google is your friend.

Knowing the Facts about real Magic can assist you in making any form of fictional Magic, no matter how Make-Believe, not only logically operable, but feel Real and possibly even familiar to the readers.

 

As for the original question...

Magic using Computers: 

The Irregular at Magic High School, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

You Don't need to Invent a whole
History for Magic.

Writing a whole history; even in note form, would be a massive amount of work.

Instead, focus on how your spells are Powered; Gods, Spirits, the Force, a magical core? Then work out the reasons why the spells were progressed from shamanistic incantations to the form you plan to use in your story. 

A good place to start would be looking up the early Magic practices of the culture you're writing about. For example, JRR Tolkien's high-fantasy stories about wizards, elves, dwarves, ents, and trolls was based on early Scandinavian mythology. 

 

 

 FullMetal Alchemist
Magic through Memorization.

As for Mana Circle Imprints... 

Just coming up with how mana imprints happen will be headache-inducing enough, forget trying to write a history for how that came about.

I mean seriously, if we use most fantasy anime and manga as examples, and skipping the fact that most of the circles came from images in the Ars Goetia books... To use projected mana circles, those magicals have to Memorize every circle they intend to use; like in FullMetal Alchemist, then project the right amount of mana to create each memorized circle -- then supply mana for the effect they want to create, every single time they want to cast a spell.

Are you aware that at this point in time in the Modern Era, only Idiot Savants and extreme geniuses are capable of doing that kind of memorization? The regular human brain simply can't hold that much information without the memory degrading -- in minutes.

Clearly, normal-brained magicals need something to assist them in making the right circles occur, so they can then put their mana into them.

Here's a few ideas: 

• For magicals that live in a time before computers, books with all the circles written down for easy access is commonly used in most RPGs. By the way, hunting for books with more powerful spells is a very common subplot. 

• Magical Objects with pre-loaded spell effects; such as talismans and artifacts, commonly appear in Chinese Wuxia and Xanxia stories, and Oriental Onmyoji ghost stories.
  

• Magical Tattoos; spells written on skin, are a common shortcut in Celtic, Norse, and Gaelic legends.
  

• If your magical lives in a modern or sci-fi world, a hand-held computer like a smart-phone that projects those circles via holograms can be used. In fact, this technique is used in the manga and anime series: The Irregular at Magic High School, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.

Trying to add a History to how all this came about is a sure-fire way to kill all your inspiration to write. Better to just skip it entirely -- like everyone else does.

 

In Conclusion...

If you're determined to create your own brand of Magic for your stories, the best place to start is with the History of Magic that already exists for whatever culture you happen to set your story in; Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Celtic, Polynesian, African, European Medieval... 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.

Just please be aware that there will be actual practitioners of magic in your reading audience. We will Know when you mess up and don't keep to your own lore, just as easily as we know when someone is using Dungeons and Dragons as a base for their magical system.

After all, we love Fantasy stories too. If we didn't, we wouldn't be practicing magic in the first place.

☕

Morgan Hawke