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July 2021: Rissa and the Casual Writing



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Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:16 pm
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Mageheart says...



The Project: Rissa and the Dark King Draft #1



Also over in the Writers Corner here!


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I was really hesitant to do Camp NaNo this July because I very much need to relax and already know I'll have a lot of plans, but the temptation of doing a sort-of brand new novel was too strong. I'm also pretty sure I'd end up working on this novel for a good chunk of the month, anyways, so here's an official thread for it instead!

I'll spend this summer working on Rissa and the Dark King, a WIP about best friends maybe lasting forever, new friendships that feel like they've lasted a lifetime, and dark, forbidden magic that thrives on rosebuds and butterfly wings. If that description and title sounds familiar, you've probably read the Writers Corner thread I have for it. That's linked up at the top of this post, but you can also click here to get to it! Alternatively, you can just open up the spoiler that's below this paragraph to find out what exactly this story is about.

Spoiler! :
Briurn's Academy of Magic is under attack.

Butterflies dance in the woods at its borders, and roses keep turning up in its gardens. First years Zex and Ryme are sure that the Dark King is planning on turning Briurn's talented students into mindless minions for his legion of unstoppable nightmares. But when they investigate the woods the week before the start of classes, they don't find the king or his nightmares.

Instead, they find a girl from a world where magic doesn't exist. Rissa Hawthorne is a girl who has always been plagued by strange dreams, but ending up on a completely different world when she sleeps isn't normal for her, either. After Rissa is admitted into Briurn by its faculty, Zex and Ryme can't stop themselves from befriending her—even when all signs point to her having something to do with the Dark King.

As the school year progresses, the three become determined to find the sea that seems to be key to the Dark King's evil plan. But the sea is elusive, and the king is growing more desperate. It seems inevitable that he's going to do something before the partnership ceremony at the very end of the semester. With Rissa doubting which world she truly belongs to, and Ryme and Zex questioning if they should pick Rissa or each other to be their magic partner for life, things only get more complicated.

Rissa and the Dark King is a story about best friends maybe lasting forever, new friendships that feel like they've lasted a lifetime, and dark, forbidden magic that thrives on rosebuds and butterfly wings.


I'm totally stealing this from @soundofmind and @Carina, but I really liked the idea of a fancy, bulleted list that explains what my goals are for Camp NaNo—especially since I know I won't be able to do the formal 50k that I did back in November.

The Goal(s)


  • Getting back into writing a longer project more frequently, but still stay involved in roleplays. Balance is key!
  • Try to write every single day if possible. There's also not a specific word count that I want to achieve each day. I just want to get back into focusing on scenes instead of stats.
  • I'd love to go wild and write an entire novel draft, but that's probably not happening. Instead, I'd like to get to a point where the world of Eathering starts seeping into Rissa's life back on Earth. So almost-climax, maybe?
  • I don't want to do super formal plotting because that ruins some of the fun for writing, but I do want to flesh out the characters more. Theoretically, that'll be by throwing them into a roleplay or making them their own playlists.
  • I want to write scenes that don't necessarily happen in chronological order. I haven't done that in years, so I'd really love to get back into habit. The docs I store all of those potential scenes in are always a blast to read.
  • I can do a little Ghosted revising and podcast scheming. As a treat. >>
mage

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Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:30 pm
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Carlito says...



The concept of "forbidden magic that thrives on rosebuds and butterfly wings" is SO intriguing to me!! Usually you think of roses and butterflies as happy things (I do at least) so I love the idea that they could be connected to this dark thing. And I love a friendship story!
I too am a pantser with first drafts and can't plan too much in advance. I wish you luck and I hope you get back in your regular writing habit 💜💜
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Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:10 am
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Mageheart says...



Thank you so much, @Carlito! I'm not much of a romance novel reader or writer, so I wanted to have a story that focuses more on friendship inside. I also thought it would be fun to replicate the dilemma of a love triangle without having an actual love triangle involved. :)
mage

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roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.
  





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Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:16 am
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Omni says...



those pesky butterflies >.>

This sounds super interesting, though, Mage! I know you have a ton on your plate as it is, so I think it's awesome that you haven't set anything in stone for yourself just yet. Perhaps just plotting out scenes and trying to do a part of a scene every day might work better for you? However you write this, it sounds super interesting and I know you're gonna be great at writing it. I've seen your rps :P
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Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:28 pm
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Mageheart says...



those pesky butterflies >.>


Agreed. >>

And that's definitely a good idea, @Vincian! I tend to stick to projects when I leave a lot of room for improvisation, so I don't know if I'll ever write up an in-depth formal plans for scenes that I want to write. But I'm definitely leaning towards scenes as goals instead of words, so we'll see how that goes! :)

(Also thank you for the compliment!! I plan on having this be as wild as some of my more involved roleplays. c:)

Speaking of daily goals: I've officially kicked off Camp NaNo with a tiny snippet of this novel! I wrote for 21 minutes as part of #21in21 today, and I now have the very beginnings of this book's first chapter.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.
  





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Thu Jul 15, 2021 11:56 pm
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Carlito says...



Hey Mage! We're halfway there!! How are we doing with writing each day and throwing your characters into role plays? :)
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

Ask a Therapist!
I want to beta read your novel!


Ask me anything. Talk to me about anything. Seriously. My PM box is always open <3
  





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Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:13 pm
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Mageheart says...



Hi @Carlito! Thanks for checking in. :)

I completely forgot to update this thread, but I ended up dropping RaTD as my Camp NaNo project because I couldn't really get it started. I loved the idea of it and had some fun ideas for future scenes, but I had to keep restarting it because it didn't really click. I ended up switching to a new draft of an old story of mine called The Giving Curse.

I haven't really been able to add RaTD or TGC characters into roleplays yet, but that might change in the future! There's still a few more weeks of July. :)
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.
  








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