Young Writers Society

Goal: Finish drafting Act III from my planning

I don't really have a wordcount goal, but I have around Chapters 14-18 to finish, plus maybe an epilogue, so I'll report on that instead. I plan to write this like it's a first draft because in most ways it is.

Before April I do need to figure out the outline for Chapters 16-17, so I'll use PlanMo to help a bit with that!

PlanMo but it's somewhat specific to one act

Elevator Pitch

In a medieval-like setting, an individualistic soldier finds herself having to compromise her personal desires in order to benefit the group in their social system. She brings a piece of legislature to the Queen and hosts a tense and long-awaited dinner.


^ The first line kind of summarises the story as a whole, the second line describes what happens in Act III.

Nice Lim!! Since you mentioned an epilogue, I'm guessing you use a three act structure and this should take you to the end?

@Carlito Yep that's right! The draft kind of meanders away a bit from the original three act structure plot points, but that was the basis for my outline.

Character Motivations/Goals

Golzar wants to advance the welfare of serfs by restraining the actions of heroes in a piece of legislature. She also doesn’t want to annoy her fellow heroes *too* much, so she wants to make her ceremonial dinner as a Guild Councillor run smoothly despite the politicking. She wants these things because she feels obligated to carry out justice against a broken system but also feels loyalty and care to people from the same group as her. If she can negotiate the two, she won’t feel like she’s forsaken one for the sake of the other (which would make her feel bad/ regretful). Her biggest fear is the fear of betraying her values. I’m not actually sure what Golzar’s wrong belief here is – that’s something I can hopefully figure out for the second draft. I know she has a discomfort with the ‘high culture’ of Lucrece and also with manipulating people for political purposes, but she does end up manipulating at least one person in the third act. But I can’t really pin it down to a belief she has.

I haven’t come across a whole lot of books that really focus on the politics of fantasy worlds, so this is quite fascinating. You got this!

Loved reading that character motivation, Lim! Golzar's character exudes conflict and she seems to be really torn between her morals and her loyalties.

I’m not actually sure what Golzar’s wrong belief here is – that’s something I can hopefully figure out for the second draft.

I'm sure you will figure it out! Sometimes characters reveal themselves on paper, during the process of writing and not a second before.

Thanks so much @Lael and @RandomTalks!

The stakes

If the Queen’s decree part of the third act doesn’t work out, the heroes will stay unreformed. Rogue groups like the Lions will continue to pillage villages even if the Guild Council continues their discreet investigations of this behaviour. Golzar will feel like she’s betrayed her values and inadvertently helped people in power that she didn’t want to. (Since her main reason for joining the heroes in the first place was her hatred of unjust authority.)

If the dinner part of the third act doesn’t work out, there could be more conflict between the nobles and the heroes and Golzar could be ostracised from both. That would be bad for her as a young and new leader and also would be bad for the people following her.

Story arc

The Queen’s decree scene is a high point for Golzar’s fortunes where she successfully ‘tricks’ the system and gets her reforms approved by the Queen. I’m not sure if the specifics of it make sense because I did *not* do enough worldbuilding for this kind of story. It’s basically that she ‘registers’ the Heroes’ Guild as a different type of organisation than some of the preexisting laws have been supposing it was, using evidence from other sources, which allows her to argue for the Guild’s independence while still benefitting from royal support on her reforms.

The dinner scene has something of a mini Icarus arc (fortunes start low, then rise and then fall again). It starts out tense but some of Golzar’s plans give a good impression to both the other heroes and the nobles, culminating in a speech she gives, but then one noble’s criticism of the speech leads to a quick breakdown of the momentary understanding and civility that had formed among the different social classes and groups. Since the dinner scene comes after the reform scene, it will be a low point in Golzar’s fortunes overall, and lead into the ambiguous ending.

Not challenging per say but I do need to keep in mind all the different nobles and heroes, especially during the dinner scene when they're all going to be in the same room.

Lord Redvine is self-serving but generally quite subtle. I don’t think it’s in-character for him to be the one criticising Golzar directly though he might add some fuel to the fire. His main role was to criticise the Miscreants in front of the Queen, but not in front of Golzar. His rose red robes and short stature make him stand out.

Lord Raymond might be an interesting character to have at the table, though I don’t know how plausible it is for him to show up because he’s the Queen’s ‘right-hand’ supposedly. He might show up because of the importance of the Guild Council and their ceremonies to the royals and show up in the Queen’s stead. After all, he’s ambitious and wants to vy for more power and social status even though he doesn’t like the heroes. I think if that’s the case he might be a challenging, although somewhat inexperienced presence at the dinner. His auburn hair and red mantel are identifying features.

Lady Dene Skyroot being there could complicate things because she’s also very involved in a separate sideplot, so let’s say she skips out here because of a conflict with her father. Instead her aunt, identified by the silver shawl around her shoulders, is here.

Lady Brookwood might be an interesting one because so far she has alternatively been friendly or hostile to Golzar based on her own changing interests and relationship with the Queen, so it could be good to have her voice the criticism directly. She wears a yellow dress.

Day 1

Current chapter: Chapter 14
Words today: 538

Day 2

Current chapter: Chapter 14
Words today: 214

Day 3

Current chapter: Chapter 14
Words today: 141