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Hello. My name is Dr. Calano Cornelius Corvus. I specialize in relationship advice, unofficial relationship therapy, and general being there for people. I'm here to listen to all of your problems with relationships, or your highlights of relationships. Those who need help can come here for advice, tips, free of charge, from me and others. Ask away, my friends. I will listen and answer.

The most important part of a book is the beginning. I think deep down all writers know that, but even though I know how important the beginning is, as an author I'm rarely willing to do the hard work to make the beginning really click with my audience. At the end of the day, you have about five minutes to get your readers' attention. I thought it'd be really helpful (especially for me, because I suck at beginnings) to do critique swaps of the first five minutes of your novel. (I'll say approximately ~1000 words.) I'm sure you're all busy people, so sometimes you don't have time to read a 100,000 word novel, but we have five minutes I think all the writers in this community could benefit from a place to practice their beginnings, and get advice and constructive criticism. And so I'll offer all of you the five-minute guarantee. I will read the first 1000 words of any novel you send me (through this forum or through DMs of you'd be more comfortable) and if you have five minutes you can do the same for me (although by no means should you feel obligated to, I'm just happy to help out anyone who could use a second opinion. Consider it my gift, for my 150th post, because this community is awesome.) When reading your 1000 words, I'll think about the promises I feel like you're making to me (as the reader) and I'll tell you about the genre vibes I'm getting, so you can see what's intentional and what's unintentional. Here's the deal guys. If you ever want to get published, editors, agents, and publishers never ask for more than the first five pages of your book. It doesn't matter if you're really good at writing endings (like I hope I am) because if your first five pages aren't great they'll never want more. The same goes for readers. So one way or another, writing the beginnings is a skill you'll have to learn. Also this is a great way to discuss how to write a good pitch for your book, what makes a good first line or "hook," what mistakes you should avoid on the first five pages, and things you should always have. So please, if you're interested in sending me something to read, don't hesitate to let me know! If you have any advice for me, a writer who struggles more with beginnings then anything, please let me know! And beyond that, happy writing. Now have a great day.

If I want to read more Brandon Sanderson books, could I read summaries of the early Wheel of Time books and jump in to Brandon Sanderson's WoT books?

Here is a thread for aspiring and established shard poets. Share your works get critique from myself should you desire it. Perhaps critique the work of others. Workshops possible if there is interest. Suggestions are welcome.

Okay, here's my "3,000"th post thread! Ask me advice! I do life, grammar, spelling, friends, just about anything. My AMA died, so this was the idea that people liked. Ask me advice! Oh, and I promise to try not to be intimidating. I don't think I'm intimidating, although I can get down on grammar.

Well I made an AMA twice and they were moderately succesful, but I think that it is time that I followed the emerging trend of advice threads. Thank you to all who paved the way @I Am A Fish @Condensation @Scarletfox. It's time that I used my knowledge for good. Ask for advice in writing, life, love, or anything else really. (Customer Satisfaction Not Guaranteed.)

So I’m going to be leading a game of mistborn adventure game with my family. Is there any tips for doing things? I think I have the basics of storytelling done, such as having good, 3d characters and not forcing people along a path, but I have never been a DM. I’m fairly bad a voice acting, but I think that’s fine for a family setting. one of the players are thinking of being secretly a Kandra. I’m going to give them the stats of someone with no powers because that is what the group sees them as, but secretly they have average powers in addition to average and strong stats. I think that will work. I also am a “member” of the crew with a character that doesn’t fight, but gives recourses and has contacts. Is that a good idea? I can use him as a tool to assist the plot, but I dunno. I’m thinking maybe giving him items might be a bad idea, given that it gives advantages to the group? But I do have someone built to mess with the plot, so maybe that evens it out? Should there be an in-game reason for him to mess with things? Maybe he’s a member of a third party trying to lead the group off course? I honestly don’t know. also this might not be the right forum to ask this. If it isn’t, could the mods move it to the right one?

Thinking about going to a convention next year. Any suggestions for how to make/buy a Mistborn costume?

Because what better place to go for help designing a magic system than a Brandon Sanderson fan forum, right? One of my big inspirations in designing a magic system has been Sanderson's Metallic Arts in the Mistborn books. I especially admire the storytelling simplicity of Allomancy, a list of ten twelve sixteen powers that are easy to remember, thematically linked with each other (Pushes and Pulls), and all seemed like an intuitive fit for the kind of epic fantasy heist novel that The Final Empire was. I'm trying to do something similar, only instead of making powers that would fit well within a heist novel, I'm trying to think of interesting magical abilities that would fit within a detective/mystery story. How the magic will work is already decided, but I'm having trouble actually deciding what it will do, if that makes sense. I'm trying to think of a good thematic link for them that also would make them useful to a detective-like character. I'm leaning towards two ideas: Magical effects that alter the user's interaction with/perception of time (since interacting with the past seems like a very useful magical skill for a detective character) Magical effects that share a thematic link to blood (since blood sacrifice and bloodletting are an important component of how the magic will work) Basically, I'm looking for ideas on not how the magic will work, but what it can do, and giving the "things magic does" a connecting theme/element so they don't feel like a bunch of generic fantasy spells thrown into a box. Any suggestions are welcome. If you need more details on the "how magic works" side of the equation, I can elaborate, though in general I'm leery about giving away too much.

Hey all! I'm new here- to the forum and to Sanderson. I read WoK and was blown away. I'm now very close to finishing Radiance and was wondering what people thought I should tackle next? I haven't read any other Sanderson or any Wheel of Time (although I think I want to save that for later). What I really want is to start digging into the Cosmere. Are there certain books that will link interestingly with the Stormlight Archive that I can check out before Oathbringer? Or should I jump right into that? I'd love to hear your spoiler-free thoughts! Oh, and thanks for having me!

I want to be good at making other people happy. I don't know how to make other people happy. I was wondering if you could help me?

Hello. Its been awhile since I posted on this forum. I decided to get back on here after reading Elantris and watching a couple of Sanderson's interviews that inspired me to keep on writing. It sounds weird but how Sanderson studied Robert Jorden, I am studying Sanderson's writing and consider him a mentor that I have never met (Can't wait to meet him for the first time in Toronto 2017). Being 100% honest I am writing to a dream of being published by a company like tor; its something that I can not shake away but deep down I love telling and writing stories. Writing for me at this moment in time is strictly a hobby, currently studying Computer Science at Sheridan College. One thing I know I need to do going forward is read a lot more books. And books of different genres. I am currently collecting all Sanderson's books, wheel of time books and stephan kings novels as well to start with. I also need to start writing more often and also find time to write even during crazy times like exams. Well getting to the point of this post here is my idea for a fantasy standalone novel(no title yet, names and such will change): Elass is the most powerful and wealthy kingdom in all the land compared to the Elraz Kingdom and The Old Kingdom. This is due to their king, well partly, who turned the kingdom around after a century of war, bringing happiness, power and wealth to the races. After the century war the people of Elass have been drugged(Aether Ore) making them happy and delirium, because the king couldn't of just flipped the tables without a dark side. The king is running out of Aether Ore and the next generation of children will be free from the delirium and have magic- which the Aether has suppressed. These people are banished by the king, because without the Aether in their blood they can feel and see the wrong things the king is doing. All historical records have been destroyed, the people of the Elass kingdom are not allowed to leave except for the king and the king's army who know the truth and some have magic to. Also magic has been banned from the lands making it hard for The Old Kingdom which is the most magical land. Elraz Kingdom has an understanding of one another and hope to destroy The Old Kingdom together. To achieve the spread of this Aether Ore the king has put it into there water source. The moment you are exposed to it it takes a hold of you, gives you happiness and strength when you are actually very weak and ready to die. Plus you can't live without it once you are exposed to it. Here is a prologue bit that I wrote that has new ideas that I want to introduce like loremasters: PROLOGUE “Are you alright, sir?” a scrawny, malnourished servant asked walking over to the prince’s nightstand with a worried look. Gently setting down the tray of food the servant stepped back to observe the prince in an attempt to figure out what was wrong. “Shall I get the leech?” Searing pain laced through the prince’s nerves. Something did not feel right, and it was not the prince's throbbing hangover. He grabbed the edge of the nightstand and pulled himself upright. There was a clang as the food tray hit the floor, eggs and apple juice painted the floor. His breath got trapped in his throat as he fought against crying out. Beads of sweat broke out on his flushed face as he pulled himself the rest of the way up and glared at the servant, panting slightly, with his left hand still on the nightstand to steady himself. “Your hand, sir!?” the servant shrieked. Fear pulsed over the prince as he to noticed a purple symbol glowing on his wrist. He stumbled forward letting go of the nightstand. With one foot in squashed egg his right foot snagged his bed clothing sending him to the floor. Not knowing what to do the servant just stood staring at the fallen prince still shocked at what had just happened. W-what's happening to me? The prince asked himself with no answer to follow up. This was not normal in the Kingdom of Elass, the prince was a human which meant the strange and unknown were not supposed occur. Humans were none magic folk unlike the elves and gnomes in the faraway kingdoms. The only magic that occurred in the human kingdom was with the Loremasters. The prince would be accused of using magic; making him an enemy in the eyes of his father and the public, even if he was the prince and only heir to the throne. The prince knew he would have to deal with that servant soon enough. He could not afford to allow the servant to gossip about this… event to others in the castle. Just another issue on top of another issue. At least this issue is far worse than yesterday’s issue of not being able to beat Sir Will in sword combat. The prince's father was so angry at him, said he had failed him as a son and disgraced his kingdom for losing to a mere knight. At this very moment though all that seemed little, there were ancient symbols still carving into the skin of the prince and the pain was unbearable. With one swift motion the prince threw off his nightgown and watched in horror as purple glowing symbols slowly curved their way up his right arm. So there you have. A bad plot followed by bad writing. I would love to hear your thought. What you think about the plot. How my writing can be improved and such. If this is not the place to ask such questions well, ignore what i asked and move on Also who here is excited for Stormlight 3?

I've been a member on this site for roughly 24 hours now... and I felt almost floored by how shockingly welcoming and friendly you guys could be here. When I asked for help about writer's block and procrastination, I received very thoughtful and empathetic advice. Part of the reason, I think, for my difficulty in following through on my projects is how unpracticed I am at balancing tone... and maybe, just maybe, it's keeping my ideas so close to the chest out of a paranoid fear someone might steal said ideas from me that has... really stunted my ability to write them in the first place. That said, someone pointed out rather astutely that no novel is ever the same as it started out in the rough sketches. A legit point! And again, it's nice to meet wonderfully nice people around here. So, bearing that in mind... With some of the good new friends and acquaintences I've made here in the last day, could I share the rough outlines I have for my current project(s)? Off the top of my head, they're each my attempts to write... New Weird fiction in the vein of Michael Moorcock, H.P. Lovecraft and China Mieville. Urban Fantasy/Dark Fantasy following in the vein of Brandon Sanderson and Jim Butcher. A melancholic, bittersweet, Studio Ghibli/Shadow of the Colossus/Watership Down/The Last Unicorn-inspired tale about the fading twilight of wonders this fantasy world will never see again... (cheery, I know) A seemingly standard high fantasy yarn... except it's written in the style of a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It's a fusion of the genres, blended, certain tropes married together til death do they part. Is it safe to share?

First let me say that I feel like a whiny moron for bothering anyone with this and if this duplicates a previous topic a link there too will be appreciated. I did a few searches but it's really easy to miss something similar but not the same. For years i have been writing a thousand words a day and I've felt pretty good about it. I did NaNoWriMo a couple years ago and that went pretty well. For a several years I've been using Google Docs for my writing and it is very convenient and works pretty well except that I can't seem to get my ideas into a usable format. I just end up with a massive block of text but I don't have the first idea of how to parse it. I've tried different documents. I've tried sections of a single document. I've tried physical note cards. Given that I'm asking for help it's safe to say I've tried everything I can think of. Recently I decided to try a different medium. Something that would make creating blocks of information easier. So I tried Gingkoapp and Bibisco and have been considering Scrivener. Only now I can't get ANYTHING written because I'm flitting from place to place and format to format and I've hit Tool Paralysis. I know that the way past it is just to write but I want to actually finish something and my current methods haven't worked and... and I'm just really frustrated. Thanks for any help you might be able to provide. Have a nice day, Geo

So, you want to write a fantasy, and you want to have a magic system. Perhaps you've never tried this before, perhaps you don't like how that last one turned out. What ever your reasons might be, you might have come here looking for ideas on how to proceed. Or you might have come here looking to help someone else build a magic system, in which case, you are also welcome here. I've noticed that this section of the forum has a regularly reoccurring request: I need help with my magic system. Recently, Cstryon asked a slightly more interesting question. He asked for help with the process and the documentation of a magic system. I thought that was a really good question. Mostly because I've designed quite a few magic systems, and most of the inside the last two years. And yet when I put my fingers to the keyboard, I found that I didn't know how to respond. I have magic systems, but they just . . . happen, I guess. Several times over. Whenever I want them too. That answer did not satisfy me one bit. I listen to Writing Excuses. I hear professional writers dissect their writing process on a regular basis. And here I sit, on the edge of a yawning chasm full of swirling mist in the middle of my world building process. I hesitated for a day. Then I dove in. My rules: 1) Start from scratch. I cannot analyze what I did if I'd already done it. I had to find a combination of ideas that I had never even considered for a magic system before. Luckily, I managed to scrounge up a couple of interesting seeds in somewhat short order. 2) Write down EVERYTHING. I do a lot of world building and character design while I putter around doing menial jobs at work. But this time, I needed notes on everything. So I had to force myself NOT to think about the project unless I had it up on my display. 3) Analyze after. Corollary to rule two. I needed something close to stream of consciousness notes. I had to focus on the building and the writing. Finding the order behind the process could wait. The rest of this post is what I learned about my process, along with the notes from my sample. I hope that those who want advice can find something useful. I am open to absolutely any type of feedback people want to leave. Including the people who want to have fun building a world from the magic system presented here (if this is you, the orderly presentation is under the Spoiler in Step 6). Step 1: Concept Like most everything in writing, I wasn't going to start without something cool. And more than that, I like to work on the intersection of multiple cool ideas. I took a plot conflict that I'd been sitting on, and the magic power of an old magic item I'd crafted for a role-playing game, and set to work. Grab an idea, or several, that makes you say "OOOooooo." Saying "The claw!" is optional. Step 2: Broaden Next, I went over the ideas and asked myself what they meant together, and what all the pieces meant by themselves. I prowled around with a shovel, turning everything over and looking at what was underneath. Two cool ideas can set a direction, but I was out to build a road. Why are those ideas cool? What parts do you like? What does that imply? John Brown talks about a technique he calls list and twist. This is the list part. Step 3: Define Now that I had a pile of ideas and concepts, I tried to carry them farther. I went through the concepts and tried to fine dependencies and mixtures that maintained that cool factor. More than that, I wanted ideas and combinations that sounded cooler than what I'd began with. And beyond that, I wanted the things that mixed with the original and took cooler up to awesome. Compare the ideas to the original direction. Set your path toward the most fun. Bring in other ideas you want to use, like character elements and plot conflicts. Remember that your magic system is there to add to the story. I put a {research note} into this section. If I were doing this to write a story, that is when I would have started cross-referencing my ideas. Since I didn't, I wound up running with four different system ideas trying to find a solid direction. In the John Brown list-and-twist, this is the twist. Step 4: Focus As I said before, The magic system needs to add to and support the story (or the gameplay, or whatever your objective is). I knew this was coming back at the {research note}, and now, it was time to buckle down. Ever heard of world builder's disease? It's bad enough with only one world. I wasn't going to do four. Ideas are cheap, so piece together what is working now, and toss the rest in the bin for later. The first steps worked on the breadth, next comes the depth. Time to pick one. Step 5: Refine This is where I got into the gritty details of the magic. This is the part where cool ideas become powers with costs, and limitations. This is when the magic becomes a system. How did I do it? I've mentioned this part in answer to other threads. Ask questions, look for consequences. Pick answers arbitrarily, try them on, throw them out. Find themes, use them for guideposts. And this time, my advice comes with examples. Be warned. This section gets deep. Over 5,100 words deep. There are a bunch of cool ideas in here, but be prepared for a lot of reading. Step 6: Summarize Did you try to read that example above? I don't recommend it. That's how I thought the system through, but there is no way I'm going to be able to use that as a reference while I'm writing the story. This is where the ideas need to make sense, not just in your mind, but on the page. This part was not written as a stream of consciousness. This part is methodically arranged for clarity. It is a bit dry, but I prefer my system rules that way. I aim for them to give shape to the ideas in my head. Then I add in sections for examples, or write the examples in my other design documents. Feedback? Did I miss something? Want additional explanation? Found a hole in the process or the system? Wondering how Sanderson's Laws are applied? Want to springboard off of something I said and build your own system? Want to make use of the systems I dumped in step four? Want to ask for applied advice for your own system? Found some horrible grammar in my "clearly written" system manual? Want to tell me to stop asking so many questions? =) Sorry, it's compulsive.