Two Tales

[SilvCrimBlac]

I have two stories I plan to post either tomorrow or within the next several days or so. One is sitting near 10k at 3-4 chapters so far and is called Welcome To Sanctuary.
The other is at over 40k, probably closer to 50k and is at 7-8 chapters. I wanted to leave my synopsis for both and gather opinions on either.

Welcome To Sanctuary


Earth was invaded, conquered, and then annexed into the galactic space-faring, multi-species Amaranthine Dominion.

Some people find opportunities to become more than the useless nobodies they were in the previous world. However, they will have to wade waist-deep in the oceans of blood formed by those who also seek the very same things in life as they.

Some people just want to see and explore what else there is in the cosmos besides the same old drudgery that inhabited their lives before. However, they have to accept that the boring plainness of life before the Dominion might have been the better option.

Some people just want to have fun and be free of the shackles of the former society that restricted them in every way possible. However, they have to recognize that sometimes, too much freedom often brings about a copiously lethal amount of "fun".

Some people just want to secure a stable foundation, wealth, security, and then retire in luxurious comfort during their old age. However, they have to accept that the path to the luxurious stability they crave often comes at a price far higher than anyone can possibly pay.

Welcome To Sanctuary, where the galaxy is your oyster if you can stomach the consequences.
Welcome To Sanctuary, where anything at all is obtainable if you are strong enough to keep it.
Welcome To Sanctuary, where you can become everything you admire or everything you fear and hate.



For Camlann


Arturius Aurelius, usually called Artur, is the son of a former Roman officer who went into self-imposed exile due to his disgust for the gradually decaying Roman Empire during the late 4th Century. Currently, in the year 380 A.D., Arturius, his family, and their band of warriors rule over the Isle of Wight in their service to Prince Conan of the Briton Kingdom.

As the Kingdom of the Britons faces more external enemies than its current King, Eudaf Henn, feels they can successfully defy, he offers the throne and the hand of his daughter to a wayward Roman General who possesses strength enough to defend and protect the struggling nation. With a sickly King wishing for peace and prosperity, an ambitious Roman with far grander dreams of conquest soon to take the Briton throne, and an envious Prince feeling cheated of his birthright, it is no wonder then, that conflict erupts almost immediately.

However, what happens when The Interface appears and grants all men and women the potential to become gods amongst humanity?




Also, my writing usually has a slow progression. So my questions pertaining to this post are, do these synopsis's sound good? And is writing with a slow progression unpopular here? I mean is constant fast-paced, little description the norm here? From most of what I've read here...it seems to be so. Not all, but most.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

I wanted to leave my synopsis for both and gather opinions on either

, it is hard to say for sure... since its just the blurb.

But just reading from what is here the second story, "For Camlann" is clearer as to what story a reader will be getting in to. Whether you lean towards court intrigue or war drama, or anything else, having a starting point someone could bite into indicates that your story has a direction. The first few chapters will show if you can define your tone and how conflict is created and resolved, by then the reader will choose to be on board or move on.

So I would say, from my point of view, the pace could be anything, but setting up early what the character is immediately "chasing" from the get-go... might be good.

The first one "Welcome To Sanctuary", for me, it is impossible to tell. It is a setting, but regardless of me finding the setting interesting or not, I can't put my finger on what the "story" is or who the story is about. I would be able to form an opinion once I have some ideas of what I will be reading, but currently, I only know its a Sci-fi where some shit when down.

I think...

That is all I can say with the information provided.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Aurelius

Don't worry about the norms. Write what you want. Let me know if you toss in any polyandry, though. That's what I crave reading.

 

[OvidLemma]

Also, my writing usually has a slow progression. So my questions pertaining to this post are, do these synopsis's sound good? And is writing with a slow progression unpopular here? I mean is constant fast-paced, little description the norm here? From most of what I've read here...it seems to be so. Not all, but most.

I suppose that depends on what you mean by "slow progression". Some of the stories posted here take the form of web novels and can be hundreds of thousands of words long. They have multiple arcs, each of them spanning a standard novel length. However, these novels also tend to be fairly episodic in nature, with only little vignettes, scenes, or fractional story arclets present in each chapter, so not much progresses from chapter to chapter, even if there are a ton of them. Personally, in my writing, I write chapters between 4500-7000 words in length, though I usually split any 5k+ chapters into two chapters on Scribble Hub. Each of my chapters has a distinct arc and themes that distinguish it from the other chapters and serve a discrete purpose in advancing the overall plot. That's just how I roll, but it's mostly because of how I pace stories.

My advice regarding pacing is that, as long as your writing engages readers from paragraph to paragraph or page to page, it doesn't matter too much how quickly the plot progresses unless it's going absolutely nowhere. Even if you're just churning through side stories irrelevant to the main plot, you won't lose (or have trouble gaining) readers so long as the writing itself is engaging and interesting to read. So: pace however you like, but write so it isn't a chore for readers.

 

[Lazy_Acorn]

The second synopsis "For Camlann" definitely caught my attention.
By slow progression, do you mean that the general progress of history is slow? If so, I don't think it matters as long as the story is interesting.

 

[SilvCrimBlac]

The second synopsis "For Camlann" definitely caught my attention.
By slow progression, do you mean that the general progress of history is slow? If so, I don't think it matters as long as the story is interesting.

Yeah that's exactly what I mean by story progression. Didn't know if I got that point across or not. In "For Camlann", their is a lengthy period of introducing characters and setting up the political intrigue, plus some fighting, before The Interface, (the system more or less) appears. Which is what I meant by slow progression. It's 40k words in, and The Interface hasn't appeared and likely won't for another 40-60k more words. Basically, if it were a book, it would appear at the end of Book 1.

 

[Lazy_Acorn]

In "For Camlann", their is a lengthy period of introducing characters and setting up the political intrigue, plus some fighting, before The Interface, (the system more or less) appears. Which is what I meant by slow progression. It's 40k words in, and The Interface hasn't appeared and likely won't for another 40-60k more words. Basically, if it were a book, it would appear at the end of Book 1.

The beginning of every story is like this, always introducing characters and some other things that are important.
I don't think it's bad, as long as there are no excessive explanations.
If you think that the explanations are too long, you can explain little by little throughout the story, interspersed with some interesting events, so it doesn't make the readers bored.
Or just explain in a way that readers find interesting.

And about the part that the system will take a while to appear, you should remember that your story depends on you and not the system.
I know that whenever a system appears in a story, it will have a very important function.
But it's not as if you're not going to put anything interesting before the system appears, right?

 

[SilvCrimBlac]

The beginning of every story is like this, always introducing characters and some other things that are important.
I don't think it's bad, as long as there are no excessive explanations.
If you think that the explanations are too long, you can explain little by little throughout the story, interspersed with some interesting events, so it doesn't make the readers bored.
Or just explain in a way that readers find interesting.

And about the part that the system will take a while to appear, you should remember that your story depends on you and not the system.
I know that whenever a system appears in a story, it will have a very important function.
But it's not as if you're not going to put anything interesting before the system appears, right?

Of course there will be interesting things before the system? I have to set up the conflict that was mentioned in the Synopsis. The smaller battles/skimishes that take place and whatnot. I mean a city burns at one point. I can't have an entire 100k or more words of nothing interesting now can I? The Interface arriving introduces a new angle to the conflict, and as well as numerous other conflicts and key players for the wars to come.