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Posted in Writing

Exhaustion -A ‘Poem’

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Exhaustion isn’t the word I’d use to describe how I feel.

It’s the feeling of no energy.

Of being drained.

Of the weight on my eyelids and

The pressure build at the front most part of my brain.

It’s the knowledge that I can’t rest

Until I get more homework done.

It’s the combined efforts of a long week

And not enough time for everything.

It’s the unfocused part of my brain and

The refusal of my eyes to remain open.

It’s the knowledge that I won’t be home until 1am.

It’s the obligation, commitment, and responsibility all wrapped in one.

I’m Exhausted.

Posted in Writing, Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt – D&D Adventure

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

“There used to be six of us . . . Now I am alone.”

Five pair of various colored eyes turned around and looked at me. Their brows were creased.

“What are you talking about?” the book loving wizard asked. “We’re about to be rich!”

I shook my head and didn’t respond.

“We have just liberated a cultist infected castle,” the beast of a barbarian spoke up. “We deserved to get paid.”

His smaller companion, only four feet in height nodded in agreement. “When you hired us, you said we could keep what we found.”

They were mercenaries after all. I wasn’t surprised not really. Sure, I liked loot too but if this was anything like the other chest, we were probably going to get our faces melted off like the lightning strucked sorcerer.

You would think he learned his lesson but no, he was up there along with the others staring at the red wardrobed.

It leaned against a dark wall. Beside it was a desk with documents spread all across it. The dwarf was there. Shifting through the parchment, trying to find any clues as to where the leaders of the cultists had gone.

“Good luck,” I told them.

“Then you get no loot,” the wizard piped up.

“You guys ready?” the small roguish mercenary asked.

She stepped forward, theives tools in hand. As she did, I walked out of the room. I pressed my back against the wall. There was no way I was going to get caught in the trap.

I heard the wardrobe open and a hiss. Cries of pain and shock echoed from the room. I waited for a few moments before peeking into the room. Acid bubbled and hissed across the ground. My companions laid on the ground, moaning in agony. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the room.

Whatever the wardrobe held at one point was gone. It now stood as a blob of melted wood. I squatted down by the doorway.

“So,” I said, “who needs healing?”

Groan answered me.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

A New Schedule

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s the start of a new month and that means Camp NaNoWriMo has ended for the moment. Yours truly was able to reach 50k words. While I didn’t exactly finish writing the entire story, the plot did move to the third act where a lot of reveals and betrayals happen. I call it the more exciting part of this story in particular.

Saying, I won’t go back and look at what I wrote. Instead, I’ll keep writing at my own space towards the finish. Sue to the original draft, I have a lot of it already prepared. For the most part, the last section of the story has been written and set in stone. Some of the events might change but the results will be the same.

New stuff is starting this month. Not only did I start school again (well it’s a certification program), I also plan to post 3x a week. It’s a lot that I’m putting on my plate but I think I can manage.

Mondays, I plan to post some helpful tips on world building, helpful websites, among other stuff. Wednesdays will be for writing prompts. The post won’t be super long. The purpose for this is to get me to write different sort of scenarios and genres. It will be a good learning experience. Lastly, Fridays will stay the same. The posts will mostly be about progress, exciting news, etc.

I will start the new schedule the following week. It’s going to be tough starting it out but I’ll manage to do it.

For those who finished all 50k words for Camp NaNoWriMo, congratulations! For those who didn’t, congratulations as well! Taking the time and effort says a lot about you. For that I applaud you.

Posted in Methods, Resources, Writing

Developing The Magic System – Part 1

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

There are a lot of how-to and tips on how to write a magic system for a story. It may be fantasy, it might not. In Part 1, I will focus on the questions I tend to ask myself when creating first. The questions about what magic can do, consequences, etc. will be addressed later.

To begin with, the first question you must ask yourself before anything else is:

Do you have magic in your world?

Assuming you are here because you do have magic in the world, then the next question you need to answer is:

Where does the magic come from?

Does it come from the earth? Mystical beings? Through study? What is the origin of magic?

Next, how do the people in your world access magic? Do they have to have special devices? Tombs? Spellbooks? Focus?

Once you’ve established this all of this. The next step is to think about who can use this magic. Can magic be used by anyone? Peasants? Nobility? How does this impact society? Are those with magic elevated in status or not?

Do people practice in the open, in school, or in hiding? These questions will impact how magic interacts with your world.

Some other questions that I like to ask myself when I create a magic system are: how widespread is magic? Are there specific regions that only have magic or the entire continent/ kingdom? Does every citizen in these regions accept magic or do they mistrust it?

How are magic users treated? This also has to deal with their social status and whether or not they have to hide their magic. If people do have to hide their magic, what caused this? Was there a specific event?

Do the magic users have their own government? Most importantly, who governs them? Is there a special task force that steps in when magic goes wrong? Does this government have their own power? Or are they overseen by a ‘non-magic’ user group?

What is allowed? Meaning, what can magic users do? Is there a specific rule that says, you cannot reanimate dead bodies? Or bring back the dead? Is this even possible at all?

These are a lot of questions and perhaps you might not have all the information and it can feel overwhelming. While these might not be all the questions available, I believe these are some questions just to get you started on exploring your magic system.

Lastly, I would like to add that these questions also help with world building. Society, trade, class systems, etc. are all affected by just one element. Every society, world, the regions of your story are different. There are endless possibilities but it’s up to you to make yours unique.

Thanks for reading. Part 2 will be up next Monday.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

A Battle Between Ideas AKA Focusing AKA Balancing

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

As April comes winding down and Camp NaNoWriMo is on its last legs, I have begun thinking about my next writing project. Even as I work on Crimson Queen, my mind refuses to focus on it. Instead, it wants to write something else. It’s a battle between ideas and I don’t like it.

I want to stay ‘true’ to Crimson Queen because Camp NaNoWriMo is almost finished. May 1st is only three days away. I know this. My brain knows this and yet it refuses to even wait. It is between two writing projects. Both are fantasy ideas. Both have a plot to them and a world built. All that is left is to iron out minor details and to write them. However, let’s not forget all the other ideas I have in my drawer for a rainy day.

To make matters worse – maybe – I’m sending out query letters and starting ‘school’ again. This time it will be for a teaching certification which I’m really excited about.

A lot is going on right now. Perhaps it’s best to also include balancing somewhere in herr. With life happening e.g. moving to a different place, taking classes, and work, there’s not a lot of time left to write. It sometimes gets so overwhelming, my brain refuses to work.

While this doesn’t happen often to me, it has happened before.