Young Writers Society

I'll be working on my current novel, Flightless.
Goals:
- Write through Chapter 10
- at least 4,000 words per week (this goal might change)
- Update my 24in24 thread consistently, or at least keep track of the days I write.
^^^We're keeping it simple this month.

So I'm doing this very last minute because until now, I didn't even think I was going to do NaNo. or NaPo. And now I'm doing both!

We love a last minute chaos decision to join!! And we love simple goals! 4000 words a week is 571 words a day - super attainable! Best of luck this camp <3

So, I have bad news. I didn't even get close to my weekly goal. I've still been writing, though! I am more focused on NaPo, so set your expectations low for camp NaNo. Good, now drop them 10%.
I'll be updating weekly since I have weekly goals. Sorry if you thought I just gave up on this before I started. (I didn't. I've been writing, I promise) Also, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be putting in the thread since everyone is doing something different, so I'll just go along with what I have here for each week:

Words written: 1175 (spare me)
Chapters finished: 3&1/2
Total word count: 8,247
Favorite line/quote from this week:

I don’t know how long I stand on the corner of the street. I barely register my feet hitting the concrete as I walk toward my house. The door is too loud when I open it, the lights are too bright when I walk in, and everything is too much and too little at the same time.

Favorite silly line/quote from this week:
enspoilered because there's a swear word.


I also might include some sneakpeaks or character creation/ world-building things every once in a while. I am posting chapters on yws, though, so if you want to check out the novel, it'll be in my portfolio.

wooooo awesome job, avian!! you can update as frequently or infrequently as you like xD i'm uhhhh kinda random with updates >.>
i love the lines you shared! the whole section with "everything is too much and too little at the same time" sounds poetic :3 and the out-of-context insulting Cal and Orion is hilarious xD
(i am also always here for character creation/worldbuilding notes :eyes:)
you got this!! =D

Whoo!! A week of writing down!!
You can include whatever you want in your updates -- some people share a lot, some people share very little, totally up to you!
Almost 1200 words in a week is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when you're also doing NaPo

UMMMM I have worse news for this week. I didn't write for my novel at all... Oh wait, never mind. I wrote 127 words. Instead of a little update thing like I did last week, I'll be sharing the origin story of this novel.

It started with a Roblox game. if you know, you know. Anyway, after I played this Roblox game, I said, "Woah, it would be cool if I wrote a story about this." Thus, the idea of winged humans was born. Now, I don't know when my obsession with birds and the idea of flying started, but I assume it was around this time.

None of the characters in Flightless existed in the first universe I created with the Avians. The main character was actually an Avian girl named Rune, who was a former assassin with no Ability (if you know the Flightless lore, you'll understand what an Ability is. If you don't, it's basically just a superpower) Now, Rune wanted to change her ways of living, and escaped her assassin cult group. The story followed her as she learned what she wanted in life.
The problem with this story: It had no central conflict. I just threw random things into the story, and the characters really had no clear goal. For a coming-of-age novel, this could work, but this was meant to be a fantasy, action/adventure story, so it didn't quite fit.

After this, I decided I needed to do much more world-building in this universe before I could start writing again. So, I created a whole bunch of kingdoms, cities, towns, clans, and groups in this society. I dubbed it "Avainia" (Creative, I know.) much more planning went into this, but we now had Avainia established.

In between the previous paragraph and the next, I had about seven different plot ideas, all within the same universe that I could use. I have so many characters that live in Avainia, and I might share them here or on another thread because I love character creation.

Anyway, the idea for Flightless actually came to me in a dream. Here's how the dream went: I had wings. But I didn't know how to fly. Lucky for me, there were some people at my house who also had wings and knew how to fly. They told me that my wings hadn't been activated yet, and that's why I couldn't fly. So, they activated my wings, and, naturally, my wings turned into blankets. Then I woke up.
And when I woke up, I said, "Oh my gosh I need to turn this into a story." I decided, though, that this idea wouldn't work in Avainia, as everyone already knew how to fly there. This needed to be set in the human world.
Originally, the story starts off with Athiya seeking out fellow Avians so that they could teach her how to fly. The end of this novel was also going to lead to the creation of Avainia and how it came to be, but I decided that I didn't like that idea.

And here we are now. With lots of characters and lots of world-building. Technically, the Flightless project has been in the works for.... two or three years. Who knows?

Fun fact about Athiya: She has really good fashion taste. Like many other Avians, she's been sewing and hemming her own clothes since she was just a little girl. Clothing that allows room for Avian wings is very uncommon in the human world. When they are produced, however, the clothes are either really ugly or don't fit right. This forced Athiya to get really creative and thoughtful when choosing her outfits.
This is not an uncommon thing for Avians, but the "First Gen" Avians have the whole sewing thing down and help their children with their clothes. Since Athiya is a "Second Gen" born into a human family, she's better at it than most Avians her age.

Fun little character sheet because I just can't help myself. Meet Dylan, who was originally just a little side character. Then I decided I really liked him and developed his character more.



Just a side note: Dylan will not appear in Flightless, as he does not live in the Flightless universe or timeline. And, if I do decide to have him make an appearance, it will be as a minor background character. (But technically he's Avian so that's why I can post it here >:])

Sigh I barely wrote again. But, hey, this was a fun learning experience, you know? I think the problem is that a) I am not a goal-oriented person and b) I've been super busy lately, and more focussed on NaPo than my novel. That's okay, though! This week, I wrote...712 words. Hey, it's more than last week.
So, the little thing you get today is Ability categories. My favorite part about Flightless is creating new abilities, and the power structure within it. There is one little aspect about Abilities that I can't put here, or else I'll spoil part of Flightless, but you can have the rest!!

Basically, all abilities fall into one of these categories. The ability is then named with the category. (ex. Fire Manipulation, Speed Enhancement, Future Sight) Examples of each ability will be listed below the definition and category. Listed in order of most common Ability categories to least common.

Manipulation - The ability to control a specific thing or element.
- Fire Manipulation
- Mind Manipulation
- Time Manipulation

Conjuring - The ability to create something out of nothing.
- Object Conjuring
- Illusion Conjuring
- Sentient Conjuring (Being able to create sentient beings like animals or other Avians)

Enhancement - The ability to enhance capabilities beyond typical Avian nature.
- Speed Enhancement
- Smell Enhancement
- Avian Enhancement (Enhancing another Avian's Abilities or stats)
- Object Enhancement (Enhancing weapons, basically)

Sight - The ability to see things that regular Avian eyes cannot see.
Yes, this is different from Enhancement Abilities
- Future Sight
- Past Sight
- Borrowed Sight (Seeing through someone else's eyes)

Transformation - The ability to change one thing into another.
- Self Transformation
- State of Matter Transformation
- Object Transformation

Restoration - The ability to restore something to its original/ normal state.
- Healing Restoration
- Object Restoration

Analysis - The ability to immediately understand something when desired.
- Language Analysis (Understanding any language
- Math Analysis
- Emotional Analysis (Understanding what someone is feeling)
- General Analysis (Basic understanding of anything the user desires)

Essence - An ability that draws from an object, giving the holder those properties.
This one is the most unique to Flightless. I guess Spider-Man would have an ability like this, but other than that, I haven't seen much of this in anything else (I haven't looked into it, though) So this one will take more explaining.
- Angel's Essence (Grants the user healing, enhanced stats when fighting, a natural talent for fighting and handling weapons, etc.)
- Cat's essence (Grants the user enhanced balance and agility, retractable "claws", night vision, etc.)

Although two different Avians can have the same Ability, neither of the Avians will use it the same. The best example of this is with the Essence Ability. If two Avians both have Cat's Essence, they will both inherit different cat-like abilities. One Avian might inherit night vision, the other might not. However, with the Essence Abilities, the user will inherit multiple traits.

Another aspect of Abilities is Ability Specials. The Special is a unique way that an Avian can use their ability. An example of this is Dylan's ability. Dylan has Temperature Manipulation. This means that he controls temperatures. This ability within itself does not allocate the ability to withstand extreme temperatures. (I guess you could lower or raise the temperature around you, but that doesn't count.) However, Dylan's Special allows him to do so. The Special must somehow connect with your main Ability. It doesn't make sense for someone to have Water Manipulation, but their Special is Fire Resistance.

This concludes my Avian Ability instructional course. I hope you had a wonderful time.