Welcome to the 25th writing club update! 😊
I hope you’ve all found some nice cozy spots in the shade, to do some creative thinking or writing. Or perhaps some of you have been taking a break, there’s nothing wrong with that either!
The usual info about how this writing club update works:
To anyone stumbling upon this post and wondering about the rules – there really aren’t any! This is a club for mostly the same regulars and semi-regulars, but visitors are encouraged to comment on writing updates or share their own. The main idea is to set a goal for yourself and try to achieve it by the next month’s update. :)
Feel free to comment and tell us how things are going for you, regarding writing, creative works, and everything related!
I started working on a book two weeks ago using a new method:
Then I wrote some bullet point outlines for the first few chapters indicating what I wanted to happen and tied them back to the arc progression.
Finally, I started writing some of the text of the story.
So far, I really like how it is working out. Probably spent way too much time worldbuilding, but I’d do that anyway, hehe.
It’s litRPG, BTW.
Love that!! Gives you guidelines but plenty of room to wiggle or change tracks. What’s it about?
It’s about a shapeshifter. Not your usual, “they can turn into animal(s)” or “can become whoever they want” shapeshifter. No.
This shapeshifter uses their knowledge of biology (from their past life) to manufacture stuff using their body.
I’ve seen and read so many stories with shapeshifters in my years and I always wondered, “if they can change their body however they want, why can’t they just make shit with it?” Hehe.
I mean, imagine how cool it would be if you could pop an entire set of bone keycaps off your arm? Complete with enamel or nacre (mother of pearl) coatings.
My story is fantasy isekai, so keycaps aren’t going to be a thing, but I thought it was a good way to demonstrate what I’m talking about.
This character unlocks a whole lot of skills that let them produce just about anything that an animal can produce and shape these objects (if they’re solid; no need to shape oil or poison, hehe). Ultimately, they also end up unlocking a skill that lets them shapeshift other people—which probably sounds overpowered—but shapeshifting isn’t exactly the fastest skill, hehe. Not early in the story anyway.
It’s a comedy, though!
The MC joins up with some other folks and one of them—a [Warrior]—ends up with the [Hot Rod] subclass because the MC is constantly tinkering with her biology.
that’s incredible!! I love it!! We’ve seen plenty of the “can look like another person” but if they can truly change their shape, then why not the shape of some keycaps, or specialized tools, or parts to repair a wagon… That’s fascinating, and I bet it’ll work really well for the comedy aspect too :D
Hah! I actually have a scene where they repair a wagon wheel.
The adventuring team is jumping along in “speed pouch mode” (see note below) and they come across a wagon with a broken wheel. The payload is too heavy to repair it while the wagon is stuck, so the owners are unloading it.
MC: “Wow, could you pick a bigger trope?”
Also, the adventuring ranks are:
(Who needs A-F, S, SS ranks when we have something so much better‽ Ahahah)
The [Warrior] on the team wears armor crafted by the famous blacksmith, Mr Plott. Distantly related to the King of the Kingdom of Plott.
Speed Pouch Mode: Where the MC turns herself into something like a kangaroo with a human head and a huge, oversize pouch that the other two ride in—after they’re transformed into Chibi mode, haha. They can move at about 45MPH in this configuration which is waaaay TF faster than horses, so they inadvertently end up being like first responders, surprising TF of medieval-age people (“how has help arrived already‽”).
At first I thought you meant “Advanced Reader Copy” and I was quite confused 😅
What would have been your previous method? Glad to hear that your new process is working out well!
My previous method was to just fill in a plot outline template for a 3-act story. Then I tried a Save The Cat! Template and both seemed like they don’t map very well to a web novel style of writing.
They (those outline styles) are obviously tied to the traditional publishing model, where every little thing is meant to conclude by the end of say, 80,000-120,000 words. With zero consideration of things like world maps, systems (so you can keep track of say, leveling), etc.
For litRPG, I want more. In fact, I need more. Otherwise I’ll write a chapter and realize that character X hasn’t even earned the skill necessary to complete the plot yet!
I plan to use a new publishing platform that I invented/coded to publish this story too, which accepts Obsidian export. So when the story is complete, I can export the parts I choose and it’ll sort of have a built-in wiki along with notation for a world map (so the reader can check the progression while reading the story; it’s in the sidebar and reveals more of itself as the story goes different places).
I already wrote the publishing platform, so now I’m working on “the example story” that shows off the features. The biggest one is being able to pull up the sidebar to view the characters current profile info (which includes their stats, levels, etc).
Example: When you read that a character just leveled up [Screaming Internally], that will be reflected automatically in the sidebar. In the text, it just uses Obsidian call-outs for that so it’s pretty native/natural.
Oh, another Save The Cat! hater? Fascinating! 😮 (I’m not saying that’s a bad textbook, but it’s just not for me.)
Well, it’s alright. It’s fine for outlining a normal book I think… My only problem with it is that it’s primarily designed to make old fashioned books like they’re Hollywood movies or TV shows.
That made a whole lot of sense when people were still going to the movies and watching TV. That way, your book’s layout (not the story… That’s a different matter) would match what people are used to.
It’s made for short-term consumption: ~6 hours.
When a reader picks up a printed book, that is what they expect: To be entertained for about six hours, then put the book down maybe forever.
When it comes to web novels, that style of outlining makes no sense. The longest-running web novels that are still popular focus on character development for the most part.
How much of Save The Cat! is focused on character development? Like, zero. It’s about tightening your story into a concise, easy to read format that readers have historically enjoyed. It makes a lot of sense for traditional publishing!
You can wave your hands in the air and say that character development is something you’re supposed to fit into the story e.g. just write well when writing say, Dude with a Problem.
You can also say that even if you’re trying to write something big, you should still divide it up into volumes and each volume should follow a traditional publishing plot flow (e.g. 5 act, 3 act, Save The Cat!, Hero’s Journey, etc).
All fine advice, LOL. I believed! It made so much sense! Not only that, but what other advice are we all told to follow?
I believed all of it until I read The Wandering Inn. It’s all bullshit!
80,000 word chapters, colorized text, emoji. It’s fantastic. Reading that was so refreshing and completely made me do a 180 on all that other advice.
I’ve read other extra long web novels and enjoyed them too. Not only that but I really appreciate bullet points and tables! Also, colorized text here and there looks fantastic and can be super immersive.
Even the occasional emoji can be super fun and make the reader smile.
Now, I haven’t fully read the book but I heard a lot about the theories in it. And they make sense if you “write for the modern mainstream market”. I don’t think truly old-fashioned books followed this formula either, the Save The Cat formula from what I’ve heard seems - with this narrow focus - to be a more modern invention.
For example, I write these type of books where people say Save The cat applies, yet I don’t consider it useful because I write for the purpose of art, not for the purpose of sales.
Edit: and I’m not entirely against streamlining. I do it as well, for aspects where I think it fits my work. However, I don’t like writing books that only present the streamlined view as the correct one, I just decided against buying a similar one yesterday for that reason. I think writing books should be broad and open-minded, so that new artists choose the narrow mainstream path consciously rather than because they think that’s the only option.
Oooh, I love reading about other people’s processes, thanks for sharing.
I dust off Obsidian now and again, and feel like it would be so powerful for certain workflow, I just haven’t found the right one for myself.
So you write the “arcs” before the actual plot progression / scene outlines?