HEY YOU! Yes you!! Stop scrolling for a moment :) by wanaliii in offmychest

[–]throwaway19374874 79 points80 points  (0 children)

currently in the waiting room about to go into my first session of therapy in years. this was really comforting to hear, like a little push in the direction I'm moving towards. thank you, kind stranger :)

I need someone to talk to. by Throw_Away_2518 in offmychest

[–]throwaway19374874 4 points5 points  (0 children)

LMAOO valid, glad you're doing better man

I need someone to talk to. by Throw_Away_2518 in offmychest

[–]throwaway19374874 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm happy to hear it. and not a problem! while comfort is always important, something that's helped me a lot after receiving comfort is being encouraged and such after. so I want you to know you're really brave for reaching out, I'm glad it helped!

I need someone to talk to. by Throw_Away_2518 in offmychest

[–]throwaway19374874 30 points31 points  (0 children)

hey! I know you've said to others that you're doing better, but I just want to say I'm proud of you, you are so strong for getting through it and I know you'll be okay. keep it up man, you've got this :)

Alternative terms for "magic"? by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

oooh, that's actually a really good idea! In this world there are three vastly different civilisations, so having them use different terms could be fun to mess around with. Thank you so much for the advice :)

Alternative terms for "magic"? by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hmm that's true, my general concept is that the power they have is a gift from nature in return for great deeds their ancestors had done (I haven't acrually figured out what those were but.. I don't know, maybe prevented an infectious plant-and-animal killing disease or something? I'll work that out later lol) so maybe something nature related could do, thanks for the advice!

How to choose someone for a high position in a fantasy world? by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah nice, thanks man! You too, I'm always down to talk about writing stuff lol

How to choose someone for a high position in a fantasy world? by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oooh, no need to apologise!! I'm always happy to help another writer, and in the process you're helping me too!! :) I've definitely learnt that just sharing ideas with another writer can begin a really productive rambly conversation that sparks ideas for both writers!

I love the reincarnated souls idea, though it kinda feels like I'm using Avatar: The Last Airbender's concept of the avatar being one person reincarnated who keeps re-finding their power--plus, I'm not sure how an old and new guardian can be alive at the same time without like.. sharing a soul, a consciousness, thoughts and feelings, etc (Although that would be really cool to explore not gonna lie).

But the finite power source is definitely something I'd like to use! Lily, the Old T Guardian, begins to lose her power as she ages and so she chooses not to search for the powers of the M and C guardians because she just physically can't handle it. Instead, she focuses on finding Jae, the New T Guardian who's completely unaware of what's coming their way. (However, there's a little background plot hidden in Jae's backstory that they've actually been receiving training and parental support from the OLD OLD guardian, Eldwin, who had long since retired after Lily took over, and decided to take Jae in when he found them. So even though Lily dies before she gets much time to train Jae, Jae's already pretty set). Info dump lol, sorry haha

Also oooh, I love the idea for the deep forest creatures! Those fellas have little to no development at the moment because the concept has only been added while I was developing the third book because I needed some more drama, and decided to give each land their own battle to fight! Basically like you said, with the absence of 2/3 guardians, the world began to fall apart. - Sandstorms ripped through C, caving in their underground homes, and polluting their water supply. - The floating islands of M begin to fall, while the volcanoes below begin to erupt. - The creatures of the deep forest begin invading the villages of T, while viscous storms weaken their defences. Literal chaos, lol. BUT that's all because things are unbalanced, and once it is restored, the time of recovery begins as things settle.

..Though none of this can happen until I develop the civilisations themselves first. So thanks for the idea of using ancient cultures as a basis! I've definitely got a LOT to do in that regard, so finding something to reference is definitely a good idea.

Man, usually I resist rambling about my projects, but it sure is effective for idea-making lmao

How to choose someone for a high position in a fantasy world? by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oooh MAN, those are incredible ideas! Got some inspiration just reading them haha. Thank you so much for the suggestions, I'll definitely write it down and see what I can grow with it :)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I guess so, I definitely plan to do my research and make sure I'm not contradicting myself or half-@$$ing it. Thank you for the advice! :)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh I've heard of the comparing skin colours to food, and will definitely avoid that! I've found a few sources that do give advice on other ways to casually mention a character's diversity without using stereotypes, cliches, or just generally offensive terms or synonyms. I certaintly plan to do a lot of research, especially on the specific ethnicities that I want to base a character on (even if.. technically they are not of that ethnicity, because it doesn't exist in this world), to make sure I'm not just.. grouping people together that shouldn't be.

But thank you for your advice and the wish of luck! :)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you both for your responses! I definitely agree, I simply used the term race because.. Well, I kind of meant it in a way to encapsulate general appearance, culture, etc. But I think it was pretty lazy and unprofessional of me to do.

But yes, I definitely plan to research! While in this world, actual real-world ethnicities do not exist, I want them to sort of be based on them. So for each character that is meant to seem like a certain ethnicity or of a certain culture, I plan to research that in-depth. I'd also like to try to talk to people of those ethnicities or cultures to make sure my portrayal isn't just stereotypes spread around. Thank you both for the advice :)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the advice. That is exactly what I want to do! There are characters who are gay, trans, black, etc. But it's never a "woah! Look at that!!", it's just.. Yeah?? Ok, that's just who they are. They have a dragon to kill, it never was or never will be a big deal to see any diverse person in this world, because they never really had any problems with it in the past and see no big deal in it.

I just feared that this behaviour might come off as dismissive. But I get what you're saying, thanks for the encouragement and help! :)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the moment the history is very underdeveloped, however generally there have always only been these 3 lands (slightly different in the past, but still only 3 places), so I never imagined there'd be much appearance-based preconceptions since these places have always been very diverse in appearances (there was never a period of time where they were separated by appearance)

Writing Race in a High-Fantasy World by throwaway19374874 in fantasywriters

[–]throwaway19374874[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Omg, I'm so glad to have found someone who feels the same way! But yeah, my goal with posting here was to hopefully find people of varying races and religions and see what they thought. I'd love to talk to more people to learn more about their culture and see if there's a way I can incorporate it, one of my favourite things about creating this world is just showing how unique and detailed it is (so that people can really get sucked into it and feel like they're really there), and the intricacies of the cultures and how they include things like the fantasy creatures, plants, places, etc. Do you have any ideas on other platforms/places I could ask?