Young Writers Society

A novel regaling the endeavors of Daniel Dawson, a drug-shipping, rough-housing, tickle-me pirate by trade, along with his familial crew; however, when global bending revolution is ignited by his mother, we will find what length he will attend to save--or gamble away--the day.

- - -

Let's confess this as a rewrite of a project that began as a storybook and made its way into a novel-plan-without-product. The execution will be different, and I promise I will try to hold back the purple prose, but hey! I'm not a novelist, so no REAL promises.

Also I think my fight choreography needs sharpening, so this will be a good exercise.

Four elements. Fire, earth, water, air. Terms bending, bender, bent, etc. appropriated from ATLA because there's nothing else that sounds as sweet yet.

Other magicks will exist in-canon, and there will be tangible laws for them, probably just not written in the prose to avoid boredom.

Uhhhhhh yeah. Gonna stay pretty real with the fact that I'm not a novelist and keep the project on-par with my ability to entertain, which I'm unsure of.

The characters we'll need to start out with:

Daniel Dawson, described a bit above. Illiterate, incredibly loving, rougher than his first incarnation I believe?? Bisexual as the story unfolds. Earthbender.

Simone (Unknown), a fierce waterbending gold digger with a bloodlust for the centuries. Brought into the Dawson Trade from her home nation of <fantasy France> she lives loyally as Danny's right hand.

Ahmed, a pious airbender and identity searchdog. The most lighthearted of the three original crew, he has a penchant for diplomacy and negotiations (as well as lying through his teeth.) His history with Danny is riddled in-narrative with back-and-forth give-and-take, and they make a beautiful team.

More to come later, when I'm not bleeding from my thumb!

Ahh, good luck! Having the storybook base and AtLA framework I think will help give you a boost into the novel, even though you don't consider yourself a novelist.

Plus, pirates are totally rad. I'm very interested in your pirate being an earthbender. Will they be a pirate on water or something else? Did they do that on purpose to avoid bending, or are they always a little uncomfortable away from land?

Also <fantasy France> xD

Four elements. Fire, earth, water, air.

Tbh I 100% expected you to dive into the "long ago...but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked" for a moment there before actually getting to deets about your story lol.

Uhhhhhh yeah. Gonna stay pretty real with the fact that I'm not a novelist and keep the project on-par with my ability to entertain, which I'm unsure of.

I mean, I am a novelist, and...I spend a lot of time figuring crap out as I go. (Which is prob going to become increasingly obvious as I hurtle ever closer to the climax and suddenly things happen that have not been established well, if at all.) So I think you'll be fine in terms of actually getting it written, especially if you just let yourself have fun with it - especially since it started as a Storybook! I know Storybook =/= Novel, but at least it's something other than poetry, with a more storied structure, so I think that's probably reasonably good practice.

Have you come up with any other details yet? I'm 100% here for bisexual earthbending pirate.

I have the general plot structure in my head for the first while, which is sort of set up in a rising and falling boss focus (like a vidya game would.) So early chapters will be introducing an expanding cast of confrontations--a gaslighting cult mistress; a sheriff with a grudge for the Dawson family; a fanatical preacher, his followers; others who need polishing for positioning.

I've decided that Danny's father has recently died and that will be explored, maybe not early on. I'm super excited to just play with these characters again!