Consider: A Fantasy Series Where The Court Wizard Is Treated And Portrayed Just Like An IT Guy. Court

Consider: A fantasy series where the court wizard is treated and portrayed just like an IT guy. Court Wizard, fixing the Queen’s magic mirror: has’t thee attempted cleansing and reapplying the runes anew?

idk if anyone will find this useful, but this is how i go about planning my stories. i mostly write fantasy, so that’s what this is most applicable to. but it could work with other genres too.

so there’s three major components to a story: the characters, the plot, and the world. creating them individually is the easy part, but they all connect and affect each other in different ways. (like you can’t have a character who loves peaches and eats them every day if they live a peasant in a region that doesn’t grow peaches, for example.)

so i created a cheat sheet to help connect all three components together.

1) the world creates the characters.

this is related to the peach example above. the characters should be a direct result of the environment they grew up in and the environment they currently live in.

2) the characters are limited by the world.

also related to the peaches. characters can’t do anything outside of what the rules of their surroundings and universe allow, such as eating peaches when they’re not available. this also applies for magic users. they can’t have unlimited magic, so keep in mind what you want out of both the characters and the world when creating magic systems.

3) the characters carry the plot.

we’ve all heard it before: “bad characters can’t carry a good plot. good characters can carry a bad plot.” but we all like a good plot anyway. try to make sure you’re not giving your characters too heavy or too light of a plot to carry.

4) the plot pushes the characters.

if nothing in the plot happens, your characters will remain static forever. if you struggle with plots, try starting with what character development you want to happen, then go from there.

5) the plot depends on the world.

you can’t overthrow the evil government if there isn’t one. think of what your world needs most and what your plot is centered around, and fit those two together.

6) the world is changed by the plot.

even if your plot is centered around something most of your world would call “insignificant”, the world will still experience some change from the plot. either the evil government will be gone, or maybe that one teacher is now way more careful about keeping an eye on the test key. either way, the world will be different from now on.

final note: usually people will be able to write one or two of the components with ease, but don’t know where to go from there. i personally can’t write plots, but thinking this way has really helped me actually make a story out of the world and characters because i looked at what i needed from what i had. i really hope this can help you too! happy writing!

tl;dr this is a cheat sheet to help anyone who struggles with writing one or two of what i consider the three major components to a story.

Cheat Sheet for Writing Emotions Part 2

Grief

Remembering the small things about their friend

Sleeping too uch

Sleeping too little

Temporarily forgetting their friend is dead while doing something they used to do together

Loss of appetite

Getting agitated easily

Crying

Panic attack

Messy appearance

Not taking care of oneself well

Frustration

Jerky movements

Sharp tone of voice

Pulling at one’s hair

Gritting teeth

Unwillingness to comply

Shaking head

Rushed speech

Leaving the situation

Scoffing

Rolling eyes

Glaring

Furrowed brows

Pinched lips

Anxiety

Tightness in chest

Hyperventilating

Headache

Clenching eyes shut

Pulling at one’s hair

Crying

Fidgeting

Pacing

Restlessness

Bags under eyes if anxiety is chronic

Trouble sleeping

Trouble stopping one’s thoughts

Thinking of the worst possible scenario

Desire

Blushing

Warmth in body

Eye contact

Sweaty palms

Licking lips

Anticipation

Heavy breathing

Leaning forward

Stuttering

Smiling

Awareness of heartbeat

Hypersensitivity to touch

Dread

Holding stomach

Nausea

Tightening in chest or stomach

Body feeling heavy

Dry mouth

Licking one’s lips

Fidgeting

Having a feeling of wrongness

Darting eyes

Holding one’s breath

Avoiding eye contact

Shaking

Jealousy

Narrowing eyes

A burn in one’s chest

Possessive thoughts

Thoughts of hurting the person they’re jealous of

Clenching teeth

Taking action against person they’re jealous of

Scowling

Showing off

Kicking something

Follow me for more posts like this. Part 1 can be found here. Feel free to add more!

Cheat Sheet for Writing Emotions Part 2

Grief

Remembering the small things about their friend

Sleeping too uch

Sleeping too little

Temporarily forgetting their friend is dead while doing something they used to do together

Loss of appetite

Getting agitated easily

Crying

Panic attack

Messy appearance

Not taking care of oneself well

Frustration

Jerky movements

Sharp tone of voice

Pulling at one’s hair

Gritting teeth

Unwillingness to comply

Shaking head

Rushed speech

Leaving the situation

Scoffing

Rolling eyes

Glaring

Furrowed brows

Pinched lips

Anxiety

Tightness in chest

Hyperventilating

Headache

Clenching eyes shut

Pulling at one’s hair

Crying

Fidgeting

Pacing

Restlessness

Bags under eyes if anxiety is chronic

Trouble sleeping

Trouble stopping one’s thoughts

Thinking of the worst possible scenario

Desire

Blushing

Warmth in body

Eye contact

Sweaty palms

Licking lips

Anticipation

Heavy breathing

Leaning forward

Stuttering

Smiling

Awareness of heartbeat

Hypersensitivity to touch

Dread

Holding stomach

Nausea

Tightening in chest or stomach

Body feeling heavy

Dry mouth

Licking one’s lips

Fidgeting

Having a feeling of wrongness

Darting eyes

Holding one’s breath

Avoiding eye contact

Shaking

Jealousy

Narrowing eyes

A burn in one’s chest

Possessive thoughts

Thoughts of hurting the person they’re jealous of

Clenching teeth

Taking action against person they’re jealous of

Scowling

Showing off

Kicking something

Follow me for more posts like this. Part 1 can be found here. Feel free to add more!

You’ve known plenty of the Mages, Warlocks, and Druids who live within your town. But recently until the practice became formally legal, you had never met a Necromancer. To the dismay of your neighborhood one has recently moved into a house near your own. They mostly keep to themselves and don’t seem to bother anybody, but that doesn’t stop the swirl of rumors spreading from your neighbors that have now also piqued your interest.