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Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
He works as a sort of paranormal investigator (I'm not really sure exactly how to describe what he does) but the basic idea is that he deals with things like haunted houses, possessions, weird monsters, and whatever other strange magical and occult stuff he might happen to come across.
She haunts the house where she was killed (by Alex... I did say complicated, right? ) and can only appear at night.
Alex is very much a loner, and he's got a very serious disposition most of the time, and he's extremely intelligent ... One of the main reasons she is in the story is basically to give us more information about Alex, since he isn't going to give it to anyone else, and I'm not using the omnscient form of narration so I won't be showing what he's thinking, in order to make him more mysterious. (it is 3rd person narration around Alex most/all of the time)
In the past, he used to use magic and dabble in the occult and that sort of thing, and he didn't care who he hurt or what price he had to pay for his power. After he killed Nicole (I haven't decided precisely how, but I'm thinking he sacrificed her in some kind of ritual) he had a change of heart and dedicates his life to helping and protecting people from the very sort of thing he used to be. He also swears off using all magic for any reason; he solves and fights his problems without it, though he will use the knowledge he has of it to help him.
I'm more interested in things like, Would you actually want to read something like this? Does it sound interesting?
I'm also not sure how much planning and outlining i should do beforehand, or whether I should just start writing without really thinking about it. (I've been going quite slowly right now) I've got some more details about Alex and Nicole jotted down than I've given here, but I'm still worried I perhaps haven't planned them out enough (particularly Nicole) and that as a result they might not behave consistently.
in the one I started, he will travel to Harvard to investigate the suicide of a professor found with all sorts of occultic things at the scene
I want to keep Alex's past a deliberate mystery…
…he used to use magic and dabble in the occult and he didn't care who he hurt or what price he had to pay for his power …
Alex is very much a loner, and he's got a very serious disposition most of the time…
…and he's extremely intelligent.
The only two characters that will appear in every story are Alex (the 'detective') and Nicole, who is kind of like his girlfriend.
After he killed Nicole (I haven't decided precisely how, but I'm thinking he sacrificed her in some kind of ritual)
He also swears off using all magic for any reason; he solves and fights his problems without it, though he will use the knowledge he has of it to help him.
I'm also not sure how much planning and outlining i should do beforehand, or whether I should just start writing without really thinking about it.
I'm also not sure how much planning and outlining i should do beforehand, or whether I should just start writing without really thinking about it. (I've been going quite slowly right now) I've got some more details about Alex and Nicole jotted down than I've given here, but I'm still worried I perhaps haven't planned them out enough (particularly Nicole) and that as a result they might not behave consistently.
Originally posted by ShadowArcher
I don't know about posting stuff on ATS. Personally, I would not. While there are many members who would happily give constructive feedback, there are just as many who would love to come in and rip it to shreds for no reason.
The best place, I think, is Authonomy, where other writers, both published and not, will read and give feedback on your work. It's free, and because it is what the site is for, you will get next-to-no trolling and so on. I keep meaning to get back on it as it was pretty helpful, and I got my first fan on there
EDIT: I'll add this here, since I used up my characters in the post below - another reason posting here may not be the best is that it takes time to read over someone's work and come up with constructive criticism. Even the post below took me about 40 minutes reading your posts and then thinking about stuff and typing my replies (though admittedly, I kept stopping to stare out the window). Doesn't mean you can't try though - just be prepared for unpleasant comments.
EDIT 2: Having said all of the above, I now realise there is a forum section dedicated to short stories I never knew it existed, so if it works, great.
[edit on 27-7-2010 by ShadowArcher]