“Writing About Magic,” a book review

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Jackerbie

Rayne Hall - Fantasy Horror Author - Portrait by Fawnheart
If you are a writer of fantasy, or plan on writing fantasy, having a grasp on magic is necessary to tell a convincing story. Magical systems must make sense, and to contribute to the plot of a story must not be a quick and easy solution to every problem the protagonist faces. Rayne Hall’s how-to eBook, “Writing About Magic,” is a great starting place for those unsure about the workings of magic in fiction. It is also somewhat useful to those more experienced with writing about magic, though more as a refresher and reference than as a guide. The eBook is part of a larger series of how-to guides titled “Writer’s Craft.”

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Plotting, Planning, Probably Perspiring

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Jackerbie

NaNoWriMo 2013!It’s that time of year again! Those of us in the northern hemisphere are searching for scarves, wrapping our hands around hot beverages, and pretending we’re dragons with each warm breath. Those in the southern hemisphere are… I’m not too sure what goes on down there, could someone fill me in? I’ll just assume the Australian crowd is busy avoiding spiders and drop bears as usual.

Whatever the weather in your part of the world, October brings a challenge to all writers: preparing for National Novel Writing Month! For those of you unaware, NaNoWriMo is a month-long marathon of novel writing held each November. Anyone can win this race, and many people do! Your only competitor is yourself, and simply finishing a 50,000 word story of some sort qualifies you for a nifty badge. (“Simply” might not be the best choice of adverb. I’m open to suggestions on that one.)

Most of the fun is over on the NaNoWriMo website, but that’s not to say you should abandon Protagonize on November 1st!

The official Protagonize NaNo group is dusting itself off in preparation, and offers lots to this year’s participants. You can find a writing buddy to keep you on track, get advice on preparing for your NaNo Novel, and maybe even get some inspiration if you become stuck along the way. Many authors also choose to post their novels-in-progress on Protagonize.

So, how prepared are you for this year? Will you be obsessively world building until midnight on October 31st, sugar-high on Halloween candy? Or are you going in blind with nothing but a few notes on a dirty napkin? Let us know how you’re doing in the comments!

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month.

Posted in Contests & Competitions, NaNoWriMo, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Protagonize, Spam, and You

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Jackerbie

Spammy word cloudBODY GET HEALTHY.
MAKE MANY MUSCLE.
GREEN HYPER NEED.

What fun phrases do you see? This word cloud was generated from the spam text of several dozen advertising profiles on Protagonize. Did you know our community attracted spammers? Whether or not you did, here’s a quick guide to “Protagonize, Spam, and You.”

What is spam?

Simply put, “spam” is any undesirable and unavoidable content on the internet. The name refers to the well known processed meat product, but we can track its current meaning back to a Monty Python skit. The more you know!

Alright, but what does spam look like on Protagonize?

Most often, spam on Protagonize comes in the form of advertising profiles. They’ll generally have paragraphs of nonsensical text containing buzzwords and catchphrases (to trigger search results) as well as a link to the website or product they are promoting. Sometimes these fake accounts will post a “story” containing the same gibberish.

However, spam can also come in the form of repetitive comments or direct messages to our users. A common example is someone asking half of Protagonize to add them on some social network, to forward them a manuscript for publication, or critique something they would like published. The last example can be tricky, since sometimes people are just desperate to have their work read and aren’t trying to generate spam.

So what do I do if I come across spam or a spammer?

Report it! One of the options when you report a user or content is “Spam or Advertising Material.” Any report you make will be sent to the moderators for review.

That said, the moderation team is usually pretty good at weeding out spam accounts before anyone else notices them. We’ll typically delete about a dozen spam profiles each week, though it isn’t unheard of to delete that many in a single day! But on the off chance we’re in the middle of writing a new chapter and you come across some spam, report it and we’ll delete it when we have the chance.

And that’s it!

If you have any other questions not answered here, you can ask them in the comments or send a direct message to one of the moderators.

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A Home for Every Orphan

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Jackerbie

A Home for Every Orphan

You might already know that Protagonize has it’s own Pub, but did you know there’s a Protagonize orphanage, too? There is! Sort of.

Stores with only one chapter, the root, are known as orphans. You can look at all the orphaned stories when browsing by story type.

Just like their namesakes, Protagonize orphans are in need of a little love. Adding chapters to an orphan is often a great way to meet new authors, get your name out in the Protagonize community, and participate in collaborative writing. Even if the story doesn’t end up going anywhere, it’s always nice to see a chapter or two added to one’s work.

But what if you want to see an orphaned story completed?

Well, you might be interested in the Collaborative Writing Contest! We’ll be taking an orphaned story and challenging the participants in the contest to write on chapter each in chain fashion. There will be a small panel of expert judges who will review and critique each chapter, eventually selecting the three top contestants. These three will then submit a final chapter to be voted on by all the contestants and judges to determine the ending! Exciting, eh?

And what’s a contest without a prize? In addition to the pride of winning the first ever Collaborative Writing Contest, the winner will be able to participate in the next contest as a judge, where the orphaned work is one of their own!

For details on signing up and the contest structure, please visit the official contest group page.

Photo courtesy of opensourceway on Flickr.

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Adventures In Self-Publishing

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Mark A. Sargent

Mark A. SargentThis is a guest blog post by Mark A. Sargent, author of the newly self-published novel Clockwork & Old Gods, which originated as a story here on Protagonize. Mark is promoting his book and was kind enough to share his experiences with self-publishing for the first time. You can check out his website for more information, or buy his book on Amazon.

Mark is also giving away free copies of his ebook to 10 randomly-selected Protaggers who take the time to post their thoughts on the following in the comments below:

“Are you working on a book or other project you hope to publish someday? Are you already in the trenches, either self published or traditionally published? Or are you just writing for fun? Tell us all about it in the comments! The best thing we can do for one another as writers is share information, tips, and tricks of the trade.”

Do you have something to say that might be of interest to our members? Feel free to contact us with blog ideas, and share your passion for writing with our readers.

Hi there. My name is Mark Sargent, and I’m a self-published author. My first book, Clockwork & Old Gods: Incursion, is a fantasy/steampunk epic. It went on sale in early February. I’ve been a member of Protagonize since 2009, and I want to thank Nick for giving the opportunity to write a guest post here.

In the beginning…

Four years ago I started writing a story on Protagonize. Clockwork and Old Gods wasn’t the first thing I’d ever started writing, but it would be the first I ever finished. It would eventually become the first book I ever published. I’m pretty sure I have Protagonize to thank for that. The ratings, comments, favorites and recommendations it got provided much needed motivation. People were actually reading my work. Not only were they reading it, they liked it! Over the course of the next two years I plugged away at it bit by bit until it was finally finished. That was step one.

Step one is always the hardest when you set out to be an author, but it’s the most important. If there’s any secret to being a successful writer, that’s it – just keep writing. The more you write the better you get and the more likely you are to finish a project.

So what comes next?

Once I had my book completed I had a choice. I could shop it around to agents and publishers, or I could self-publish. After doing a lot of research, I chose to self-publish for several reasons:

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Posted in authors, General, Guest Posts, Self-Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments