That's right! I'm writing a book. I'm not sure how I want to go about this, I know I've done a lot of planning *cough* 14 pages of info later *cough*. All I do know is I want to share my work with the avid readers/writers in the community! I don't trust my skills enough to share my progress with my friends and family, so I would love for anyone willing to step into that role and offer some advice during this.

I would be honored to have so many wonderful people help. I am currently through my first chapter! So the hard part (at least on my end) is over with haha. And if anyone wishes, I can share and excerpt or even the whole thing here.

EDIT: This isn't to publish, this is just to have a quality work I can be proud of so I can say I wrote a book. Maybe if some brave souls know the publishing process and can coach me through it, I'd consider it.

Premise:

Safiya is a young girl who has lived away from society in a nomadic tribe called the Kazadar. This is only one out of a larger network, and they all fall under the race of Moharans (Moe-ha-rahns). They span across the continent and have traveled from far countries once this kingdom began to prosper. However, they are unique. Each tribe has a shazar which acts like a queen or king would, and they have the unique gift of Wordspinning. This gift allows them to bend words to their will, and as such allows them to bend others to their will to an extent. Once the emperor discovers this, he begins a hunt to exterminate them all. Now, after the multi-year hunt, only four remain: Safiya, her mother, and two other shazars. They have all hidden well until recently when Safiya learns of her ability to influence others and turns to thievery to support her family. However, she isn't sneaky and leaves trails that an elite group of soldiers follow. These are Riders, as in dragons, and to avoid her death they induct her in their ranks to keep an eye on her. From here, Safiya is thrown into a world of danger and intrigue when she moves between the riders, the emperor's court, and the need for revenge for her people. Even worse when they learn of a new evil, worse than the emperor, known as the Valdis. They seek her power to take over the world and the emperor has fallen prey to them.

***

My current issues:

I'm not sure if I like the dragon idea. I love the thought of using them in my book, however I don't want it be common or cliche, though with so much literature already out there and currently being written, it's bound to have some similarities. The thought of dragons entices me because I can do a lot of emotional parts with it. The exhilarating feeling flying, the way creating a bond with a creature of such raw power feels, etc. and even some heartbreaking scenes such as it's eventual death/injury, being driven away from connections the main character has made because of the threat against the dragon, and even more.

However, if I were to change it now, I'm not sure what to change it to. I wan't to include magic, but not in a pushy, in-your-face magic system. I want it to be something bizarre and rare so it gives my main character challenges and truly tests the bonds of who she can trust and who she can't. The original idea is after the last great war was won, dragons abandoned the humans and took their source of magic with them for fear of it being abused to enact revenge even more than the loss of a war would cause. Since then they have been revered as a symbol of strength and wealth, now mainly used by the royal family in certain symbols.

But dragons are super easy to fit into such a long history, that I'm not sure what to replace them with if I did unless it was some system of the gods, at which point I'd change it to be some kind of big, every 100 years type spectacle where magic is gifted to one person, and it will follow her journey through the trials and such but that doesn't sit right either. I also considered a military type system and an academy, but it feels very similar to a lot of popular books that I'm not sure I could make it as unique as I want.

Anyways. Thoughts?

EDIT: New link <3

FirstLightFarms said:

Keep the dragons. They're popular for a reason- everybody loves a good dragon story! And you can play with the mythology of them to make it fit your specific book.

Okay so the latest update I have:

Trashing it all. I'm keeping dragons, riders, magic. However, to tie in that nomadic tribe type thing that I wanted my character to have, I'm going to have her with the gift of Wordspinning. Basically it's an ancient language-based magic that allows her to control people she speaks to, talk to anyone with minor language barriers, and even some animals/creatures, along with other things I have to work out. Being it's from her tribe, where it's normally used to tell stories about their history and dieties, not many people know if it or are gifted with it so when she get caught being a thief, the whole "inducted into the riders to avoid being killed" thing happens which is the start of the story. The rest is evil creatures, betrayal, etc.

I heavily considered the king being evil and possessed by on if these creatures that he created to bring in some more depth but I'm not sure.

Caaldir Equestrian said:

An update! I am three chapters in, been a little too busy until now to work on it. Do people prefer first person or some form of third person? A lot of the popular books are set in the I, mine, my kinda format but a part of me feels she, he, etc. would feel better for the story :)