Young Writers Society

Well, a while ago I did post a chapter or two about one of the most cliche novels I've ever dreamed up. But it was enjoyable to write and plan up, so after some thought, I decided some real pre-writing should be in order.

Title is still a bit of a work in progress, but as of now it's been called Silver Soul (or An Unlikely Necromancer, which I've called it at some points.) More or less, it stems off of the 'normal elements' of magic, like necromancy, pyromancy, sorcery, etc. I don't have very much for a plot, though here is what I do have.

The main character is a teenage girl (seventeen I think) named Fiona. The beginning is a lot of back-story about her life and ya-da, ya-da. From the first part, she's out-cold having these flashbacks. Back-story is she's a wanderer, a loner, who moves around a lot. Though she has magic (life magic, can't think of the name at the moment), the reason she ran away in the first place is because of a bad accident involving the magic, so she doesn't practice it anymore.

Anyways, while in her current temporary home, an old ruin of a building, she encounters a strange man who is a necromancer and he, of course, attacks her. Knocking her out cold, he's about to 'finish the job' when another man shows up. Back-story to this is this evil necromancer has been attacking towns, ravaging villages and just being a pain, earning him the nickname "The Dark Necromancer." (Yes, bask in my original ideas! I'll change that eventually xD)

This man who saved Fiona, named Michael, cares for her and just protects her, 'cause she just kind of got whopped. Long story short, she wakes up, yearns for answers, gets none, and Michael becomes her 'tutor' to protect her from another attack, because the necromancer isn't a nice guy and doesn't appreciate his victims being alive. Mainly because he uses really, really dark magic and so, in him not killing her, connected the two and so now they know quite a bit about each other and their whereabouts.

So there's my completely original plot! Any comments and suggestions about how clean this up a bit will really be appreciated. This weekend I'll probably dabble a bit more into this and start some character profiles (whoot...) so that'll help 'un-cliche-ify' this monstrosity I call a beginning plot.

YAY!
A little problem is that I'm not good at giving people advices, like many other things I'm not good at. xD But I'll try!
First of all, I don't think the plot seems unoriginal. To me, a bigger part is how you go forward with the plot, and how it's written.

As you already know, the whole 'person shows up and protects important person from danger' has been used a lot. But that doesn't really mean you can't do it.
Something that could help making it original, is Michael accomplishing a goal or such by helping Fiona. Perhaps the necromancer has done something to his family, or got them imprisoned? I'm not sure, but I still suggest you to add something there.

I'm also not too sure on when to use prologues or not, so don't trust me on this. BUT, is it possible to reveal the information, which would otherwise be in the flashbacks, in another way? For example a prologue or dialogue? She scould also be writing it down in a diary or something? There's many possibilities! :p

I also got some questions I'm pretty curious about, like how magic is practiced and if she has/had any family, but don't answer those now. >_<

Anyways, I'm not sure if this was what you wanted, however, I hope it helped! ^^

- Zontafer

So, very recently, I came up with a new idea which has just overall inspired me much more than Silver Soul has. Thus, I switch my novel for which I'm prewriting. I never actually did anything with the other one yet, so not all is lost. I'll probably be able to keep up with this one more though because it seems to be a more interesting story to me. Expect more details soon.

Challenge 1 - The Plot Graph

I don't have the actual 'graph' just yet, but I'll get that later. Just remember that the first number is chapter number while the second is tension/confusion level between one and ten.

(1,1) - Veronica's Perspective: She's with her mother waiting to be shown into the room where she will be 'interviewed' for a prestigious boarding school-like program in a local high school. Once shown inside, she's taken to a lab and put to sleep. Time switches and she proceeds to go on with school with her best friend, Jinny. Tension is low for there isn't much action to go on.

(2,5) - Veronica's Perspective: As school life goes on, time seems to suddenly skip from the beginning of the day to the end of her last class. Right outside the school is a large field and she goes outside where she meets a boy named Wesley. After a short, seemingly meaningless exchange, Veronica finally realizes that she doesn't know anyone named Jinny. Moments later, she's approached by a group of menacing-looking boys who threaten her (yes, very random xD). One threatens to shoot her, pulling a gun out of nowhere. As the bullet comes towards her, she flicks it and kills the boy before her. At that moment she wakes up and is escorted out of the room. Veronica is a little panicked.

(3,3) - Veronica's Perspective: It's a day later and Veronica is just a little bit trouble about that dream and what happened to her 'interview'. She's afraid her mother is upset with her for messing things up. Later on the letter shows up telling she got accepted into the program.

(4,2.5) - Veronica's Perspective: Two days later, Monday morning. She's prepared for her first day, though regular school has been in session for about a month and a half and she's transferring from another school. Introduced to a professor (no current name, so I'll refer to her as Ms. R), she is led around the exclusive dormitory area for this program. Veronica relaxes a bit, starting to feel more comfortable in the place that is now her home.

(5,3) - Veronica's Perspective: It's about time for regular school to start, and Veronica experiences her first day of school, going through classes, meeting new people, learning what things are like. In her last block she comes back to the lab where she had the first dream. Just like before, she is laid down and falls asleep once more.

(6,4) - Veronica's Perspective: Back in the dorm, she unpacks her things then realizes that she hasn't met anyone else in this program. Curious, she explores the living space available to her but finds no one. Frustrated, she goes outside to the track. There she finds Ms. R scolding a group of boys, the boy she saw in the dream before, Wesley, included. Seeing him reminds of the dream she had before and asks herself if this is a dream.

(7,6) - Veronica's Perspective: Ms. R speaks with her some and Veronica hides her doubts, going along with what was being said. Like before in the other dream, a group of boys show up, but less menacing looking. She realizes what is to come and begins to panic. Out of nowhere, a tree house appears. Ms. R, Veronica and the group of boys Ms. R was scolding climb into the trees. The leader of the boys below gains a bow and arrow (logic, yes.) and aims specifically for Veronica. He shoots and misses twice. The third time he is on point, but she holds out an arrow and when the two clash, one bounces back and kills the shooter. Veronica proceeds to wake up, panicking again. Ms. R is above her, congratulating her on another victory.

(8,2.5) - Veronica's Perspective: Later in the evening, she has calmed down after the other dream, but still is told nothing by Ms. R. The two now sit at a small, round table and converse some. Then a boy enters the room, who is Wesley from Veronica's dreams. Veronica is curious on who he is, but he says nothing to her and only acknowledges Ms. R once. A few minutes later, two more boys come in, talking and laughing. Ms. R introduces them as Kyle and Jonathan.

(9,4) - Veronica's Perspective: Ms. R initates a conversation between them and then leaves. Wesley soon loosens up and picks up the conversation. Jonathan laughs along and speaks up as well. Kyle remains silent, not making eye contact with her, only answering when directly asked and never follows up. He makes Veronica slightly uncomfortable, and when dinner is served, hardly anyone else talks.

(10,4.5) - Jonathan's Perspective: The next morning all four are brought into the lab, Veronica first alone, and then the other three follow after she's asleep. They make a plan to try to mess with her and see how good she actually is. Then they all are put to sleep. Once again, they are in the front of the school. After a minute or two of looking around, Jonathan realizes he's dreaming. Then he spots Veronica. He goes up to her and tries to confuse her when he realizes that she actually acts like the dream; she doesn't know she's dreaming. Continuing to mess with her, the scene suddenly changes from mid morning to late evening. Veronica walks away from the dumbfounded Jonathan.

(11,5) - Jonathan's Perspective: After collecting himself, he follows her to where ever she went to realize that there is a forest right outside the school, something which she caused. An earpiece appears in Jonathan's ear and Wesley consults Jonathan, confused on what happened. Jonathan ignores him and continues after Veronica. He is more weary now, knowing its about the point of the dream the dark matter arises. On cue four very large, black wolves appear. Veronica, now aware of the dream, sees Jonathan and freaks out. He manifests four hatchets and gives two to Veronica. They both kill the wolves and wake up.

(12,2) - Jonathan's Perspective: Results of the test are shown. Ms. R fills in Veronica on all the statistics. Throughout the explanation, Jonathan starts to feel dizzy and see black spots. Kyle notices he doesn't look good and grabs Ms. R's attention as Jonathan passes out.

(13,5) - Veronica's Perspective: She freaks out a little bit and is explained why that happened. It startles her that it could happen to her too, but she is assured that Jonathan will be alright in a couple days. Afterwards she goes off to class. Kyle happens to be in her last class. She tries to approach in asking where he is going after class. He explains that he runs on the Cross Country team of their high school and leaves before Veronica can ask any more questions.

(14,4) - Kyle's Perspective: He is stuck with the job of explains to the team why Jonathan isn't coming to practice this week without giving him away. In their long run of the day, the boys on the team talk about different things, eventually getting to the topic of the new girl, Veronica.

(15, 7) - Kyle's Perspective: Kyle goes to the lab in the morning, going through a much different, supposably tougher test that Ms. R designed.

Challenge 2 - Character Profiles

This being a relatively new idea, a lot of my characters aren't extremely developed, so any suggestions to help make them seem more well rounded would really help.

Veronica Patel