The Art of Writing

[Beestie]

This is the place for any and all discussion on writing, be it fanfic or professional.

[Zoysite13]

Ohh…so I can put my self insert monster girl brothel isekai fanfic story here!
(just kidding, I can’t write my way out of a paper bag, lol)

[MageHeart]

Welp you have a start there

[Keyblade11]

I have written a couple of yugioh GX fanfiction along with high school DxD and hazbin hotel finfics

[Beestie]

So . . . my Story Engine Deck. I’m going to run through a quick demo of what the Story Engine does.

Start with an Agent Card. That is the character you are going to be writing about. They are the characters who make choices in the story.

There are four options on each card, one along each edge. I’m going with the one on the bottom that face me correctly. My character is a merchant. I shall name him Nicholas.

Next up is the Engine Card.

The Engine Card has the motivations and relationships that drive the story. The card has two. Again, I’m taking the one that is aligned with me.

So now we have a merchant named Nicholas who wants to unmask a conspiracy.

Next card drawn is the Anchor Card. Anchors are objects, locations, or events of importance.

Again, four options are available. I’m going again with the one aligned with me. An auction item. tentatively I’m going with a goblin lass (naked, since she’s on the block) with obvious signs of physical abuse. Poor little gobbo’s taken quite the beating. Her handler has a bandage on one hand. Perhaps she bit him?

So we’re already getting ideas flitting through our neurons, scraping together the bare bones of a story.

Next up, the Conflict Card. Conflicts are obstacles, consequences, or dilemmas.

Two choices. Going with the one aligned with me. A place they would not want to go? Perhaps her tribe? They were the nasty bastiges that sold her off to the slavers to begin with, no?

Final card drawn for a basic quick setup is the Aspect Card. Aspects are adjectives that describe other cards.

Once more we have four choices and I’m going with the aligned with me one.

Gilded. Hmm. From Dictionary-dot-com:

Gilded: adjective

1. covered or highlighted with gold or something of a golden color.
2. having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth.

From the Cambridge Dictionary, it can also mean rich, or of a high social class.

Merriam-Webster says it can also mean having a background of wealth and luxury: prosperous, luxurious.

I don’t have an object here, so we can rule out the gold option. So does it go with our new MC, the gobbo, or the place they don’t wish to go?

Let’s go with our MC Nicholas. He is gilded in the sense of having a background of wealth and luxury. He’s not a mere merchant. He’s a merchant prince from the mighty Van t’Hof family, known and feared far and wide for their shrewd dealings and merciless retribution against those who cross the family.

Now we have the bare bones of a story to start with, all from 5 simple cards.

[Beestie]

@MageHeart since you asked what they do. ^^^^

[MageHeart]

[Beestie]

From those tidbits, I came up with this little blurb to start a story:

-=-=-=-

Nicholas stepped away from the street vendor with his purchase gripped in hand. A treasure! Street corn! He hadn’t had any good street corn in— Well, in a long time. He took an appreciative bite. Yes! Salty butter, the char from the fire, and the sprinkling of just enough fire pepper flakes to wake one’s taste buds without sending one dashing for a pilsner! He dabbed his napkin at a stray rivulet of butter that he felt trailing down the beard of his chin, mentally chiding himself after for not using a fingertip to bring it to his lips. Every gob of butter should have been appreciated and not wasted. His moeder would have slapped the back of his head had she seen him be so wasteful.

“This one’s a fiery little brat!” called a voice off to his right. Turning to look, he spotted the portion of the Faire he loathed the most—the slaver’s block. Right as his eyes found the source of the declaration he’d overheard, he spotted the handler backhanding a female goblin’s mouth as she stood on the block. “Bit me, right as rain this morning,” the greasy-looking man declared, holding up a bandaged hand. “What’s my opening big? Ten silver foxes? Can I get ten for this stubby gobbo? I promise she’ll be a fine servant once you beat the feral out of her!”

Nicholas looked over the woebegone female. Short, perhaps a little over three feet tall. Her skin was the color of the spring grasses—where it wasn’t yellowed with old bruises or dirt. Her hair was jet black as were her eyes. Her lips were full, albeit split in a couple of places from her beatings. Her hips were round, as were her calves and thighs. Her chest? There she fell short. She did not have much in the way of teats at this point. Nicholas knew that gobbos did not get busty until they’d spawned their first get. So this poor gobbo was a virgin.

He winced as the slaver kicked the gobbo in her ample arse. “Stand up straighter, girl, or it’s the lash you’ll get!”

“I’ll give you five copper mice,” Nicholas called out, surprising himself. He pulled his dagger out of its sheath and picked at some corn stuck in his teeth.

“What?” snarled the slaver, offended at the pittance Nicholas had offered, yet eyeing the fine dagger warily.

“I said I’m bidding five copper mice, and not a mouse more. You’ve beaten the product too much and damaged her.”

The slaver sneered at Nicholas, turning to the rest of the gathered crowd. “Surely someone else here can recognize quality product when you see it? Four foxes?” No one responded. “Three?” The slaver looked from face to face in the crowd, not finding any interest in his stock. “Fine!” he snarled, turning back to Nicholas. “Sold to the dandy for five mice!”

Nicholas and the slaver went over to the cashier’s booth set to one side. He paid the slaver his five mice and paid the cashier the bronze slug that was the tax on his purchase. Gathering up the bill of sale and tax receipt, he reached down and undid the collar on the gobbo, dropping it on the ground at the slaver’s feet. “Follow me unless you want him to sell you all over again,” he said, turning and walking into the crowd.

He paused at another street vendor to buy two more street corns, handing one to the gobbo. “You stayed with me,” he said. She nodded. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Fizzy,” she said, her eyes cast down at the ground. “Why?”

“Why what? Why did I ask your name, or why did I buy you?”

“That. Why did you buy me?”

“Good question. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

“So you don’t want to bed me?”

He stood there, looking at the poor thing for a few heartbeats before responding. “No, girl. I don’t intend to bed you.”

“Why don’t you want to bed me? Am I not pleasing enough? Do you not care to sully your loins with a goblin?”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to. I said I didn’t intend to. Want is another matter. You are a tasty-looking pudding.” He leaned back against the tree they had paused beneath. “Where are you from?”

Fizzy paused, her mouth full of corn. “Bresher clan, o’er’n East Dale.”

“Shite,” muttered Nicholas. “That was where I am heading next on my trade route. I suppose you don’t want to go anywhere near your clan, do you?”

She shook her head, her mouth full of corn again, her big black eyes locked onto Nicholas’ own green ones.

[Alucard]

The last paper i wrote in 2018 i had so much trouble concentrating that my mother had to take what i wrote and rewrote the enitre paper cause it was that incoherent. That what i get for “letting my thoughts flow onto the paper.” It was SUPPOSED to be about tchaikovski but in the end it went from him to some random artist i was listening to at that moment

[Beestie]

Writing prompt:

Your MC goes to the roof (breath of fresh air? smoke break? thoughts of jumping?) and finds little Miss up there.

“Yeah, I’m an elf. You got a problem with that?” (In my mind as I wrote that, spoken with a thick Brooklyn accent.)

[crabby358]

Since you bought the Engine Deck, has it helped spark creativity in your own writing?

[Beestie]

Yes, it has. Gonna be filling out a few chapters while my 3d printer runs this weekend.

[Beestie]

Why? You want to see me use it to flesh out this goblin story I started? As in on the forum? I can do that. Pull cards and write from the prompts.

[crabby358]

Sure. Write away. I’m sure people would appreciate your writings.

[Beestie]

Ok, I’ll drag out what I’ve written here into a separate thread tomorrow and add to it.