Over the course of my life, I’ve spent most of my hobby/free time reading fiction. That’s obviously influenced me and helped me build the skills I need to write. It gave me perspective on the world as a child, seeing other people’s lives and being able to compare them to my own, which I think was immensely valuable to the development of my character.
I read fantasy, science fiction, and I also like romance but have a really hard time finding romance stories that I enjoy.
But if I’m not reading fiction, my second favorite hobby is learning. (I’m a #1 Learner on the Clifton Strengths assessment.)
“Learning” may sound very broad, and that’s because it is. I’ve developed several skills from scratch throughout my lifetime to varying levels of competence. (Writing fiction being one of them.) I’ve also educated myself to a basic level about many different topics, several of which have either become useful to my writing or may become useful in the future.
I get antsy if I’m too long without something new to enrich myself, and can find myself jumping into new projects instead of resting.
Most recently, my big learning project (in addition to a lot of smaller topics here an there) is learning Korean. I enjoy language learning in general, but I especially love how difficult Korean is. On the CEFR scale, I would consider myself a low A2.
Of course, once I become fluent, I’ll be reading books in Korean.
Yes, it just doesn’t manifest the exact same way that it does in our own world. The Stewards of Intention and the Order of the Radiant Maiden are both examples of larger, more widely accepted religious practices. There are more niche practices and beliefs as well, along with some that many would consider cults.
However, widespread “faith”-based beliefs like one sees in our world are much less plausible, because so many of the powerful people watch as the world bends to their Will. The arrogance necessary to decide that reality is unacceptable and the power to then conform reality to your desires leaves one less likely to look for or believe in an undefined higher power. They also don’t want the masses to gain some collective power via the church, which in our own world historically had a comparable amount of power to the king.
That’s not even getting into the power of belief as it regards to magical concepts.
There’s been quite a lot of speculation about where the Undreaming Order and the Raven Queen are going, though my memory is hazy about specific threads covering the topic, and much of it might also be in the comment/reply section on individual chapters. Other readers might be able to link you to some interesting discussions.
It all depends on the spells you’re casting, and the rules for growth don’t really change.
How many thaums are you channeling? How novel is the spellwork you’re doing, to you?
Splitting the will to dual-cast makes things more difficult in and of itself by adding on an additional complication, but it doesn’t change anything about the individual spells you’re casting.
If your safe limit is 6 hours, and you tire your mind and run out of the ability to deeply concentrate more quickly by dual-casting for 3 hours, perhaps you have a net negative result.
Your main question is too detailed/multi-faceted for me to answer and then get to other people’s answers, but you generally seem to have an understanding of magical energy conversion to physics, and you are correct about the value of a thaum.
Some of these situations you’re hypothesizing contain some nuance on possible outcomes, too.
It is an artifact set up so that people channel power into creating light via a basic application of modern sorcery/simple spell array, but depending on the settings, the artifact creates resistance. Someone with 2000 thaums might be able to blind everyone in the room, but with the right resistance settings on the artifact, would instead only create a rather bright glow.
The Sacrifice and light part for the person being tested are just a super simple spell array setup, built in to the structure. It’s true that familiarity with creating light is relevant, but that’s literally one of the most basic spells that most people will have practice with, so it’s less likely to skew test results, especially over time.
My one and only question: Now that you are 250+ chapters in… is there anything you wrote in the first few chapters that you now wish you had written differently or not included so early on?
When it comes to free-casting, previous rules and “laws” begin to break down. I would need to see some specific examples of Thaddeus doing this (and I think I only remember one, in which Sebastien thinks he’s forming the Sacrifice sub-Circle around a beast core out of his own hand–he’s holding the Sacrifice, basically, and she’s wondering if it’s relevant that his fingers are touching around it) to give you specifics on a case-by-case basis.
For a free-caster, creating a quick and dirty Circle like this might be a mnemonic device to ease the mental load of casting, it might be part of an esoteric spell, or in rare cases might otherwise have a specific use for casting a specific spell.
He doesn’t need a physical Circle for most spells. That can be kept in the mind, too.
The entrance exams tested material that would be learned in a formal schooling/tutoring setting. Siobhan got very little of this, and then was on the road learning random magics like how to keep your cows milking for an extra three months, ward against bogles and erlkings, and kill a ton of various pests with an assortment of alchemical concoctions. She took what she could get, practiced it obsessively, and dissected how it worked, but that is very different from the kind of learning the Crown Family students were getting from their tutors.
Consider how an IQ test doesn’t actually test IQ, but tests how good people are at taking IQ tests.
Beyond her very sporadic knowledge and lack of a lot of basic foundation, she did not have the test-taking skill geared toward the entrance exam. Those were not being graded by hand, by a person, except for a few particular questions or some fringe cases. Since most questions are not an A/B/C/D answer format, gearing your answers toward the grading criteria is really important.
I’ve always planned for the University to remain relevant, long-term. However, I’ve also long been planning some specific long-term conflict arcs. When I dig down into exploring how to realize those conflicts and the outward ripples that originate from them, the story can shift to follow what’s most reasonable.
So the answer is Maybe, Probably, I’m Not Totally Sure.
Beyond those particular conflicts I want to explore, nothing else is really set in stone. I’ve got a strong, detailed outline for the next book, a fairly clear progression of events for the book after that, and then things start to get much looser. I’ve got an idea of the next 2 super large conflict arcs, reaching another 4-6 books, and then some ideas for further things to explore if I want to keep writing the series by that time, as well as some things that need to happen before I wrap up the series.
Thank you for the response and the advice. I’ll go make that appointment right now tbh. I’ve been procrastinating long enough, and this is a good push.
I could probably write a book about this. I have a lot of accumulated knowledge and almost as many opinions.
I think publishing exclusively through Amazon (and in Kindle Unlimited) makes it easy to get started. (I did, when I first started.) It’s a lot of work to learn all the different distribution platforms, and especially for new authors who are just trying to get the next book written. KU also is a way to get paid while still lowering the barrier for entry to new readers who aren’t sure about you yet. Amazon owns about 80% of the ebook market.
However, Amazon is predatory, arbitrary, and untrustworthy. Some people make really good money with them, and for certain publishing models it actually does make sense to remain exclusive, because the algorithms create extra boost. Despite my imprecations, I don’t think that everyone should go “Wide.”
It’s harder to make money outside of Amazon, and I’ve seen many people try to leave and then go back again. If you want to avoid reliance on Amazon, you have to have a specific strategy that allows that. You have to learn more skills, and do more research. You have to be patient enough to wait.
For anyone who wants to become a self-published author, or create a micro-publishing house to publish others, my first piece of advice would be to get in circles with large numbers of other successful authors to learn the basic stuff, which is a TON of stuff. Then, once you have experience and skill, you can start to suss out where your own opinions differ and where you think there are missed avenues/opportunities. There are also several courses offered for varying amounts of money.
I’m happy to talk further about this, but I’d need more specific questions.
Thank you for your reply! I love books that focus on magic and schooling, however, your book series captivates not only with its previous focus, so I’m very excited about all your plans and where the story will go!
Your first question is great, but since it’s something we’re likely to explore in the story at some point, I will not answer it.
Shamans definitely still function as storytellers/oral historians, but they’re becoming increasingly rare, and communities that hold a respected shaman are becoming rare, too.
There are some things I find magically interesting about that. I’m not sure what I can say without spoiling any worldbuilding, though. I’m having some brain fog about what I have and have not revealed already, and I don’t want to say too much without taking the time to check for sure what everyone already knows.
The People: We’ll be learning a bit more about them in the upcoming book, so stay tuned for that.
My Health: Generally doing well, and noticeably better than a few months ago, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be totally 100% again. But I’m still set to live a long life, so I’m happy about that.
Background and Culture: This is actually another potential minefield, but I’m not secretive or touchy about it.
I was born in Texas, and both of my parents were unstable/abusive in different ways. Of course, they were complex people with backstories of their own, some of which I know, and some of which I don’t. I won’t dig too deep into my father. I understand him the least. I’m not sure what was wrong with him, but as a layman I think he may have been a clinical narcissist with a need for power and control. My mother was/is incredibly religious—I wonder if some subconscious part of her thought that if she could punish herself through religion enough, “God” would love her and stop hurting her. We lived with my mother, in varying levels of poverty. Throughout my childhood, we went through a series of increasingly strict religions, until at the time I was 18 we were in what I would now consider to be one of those pseudo-cult religions, complete with an acceptance of polygamy (well, multiple wives) and buying women with silver.
I read a lot from a young age to escape reality (and got in a lot of trouble for being repeatedly caught with books that involved magic.) I was able to experience many different worlds and lives through books, and it kept me from becoming a bigot. It kept me from thinking there was no hope, and no way out. I knew there were different possibilities out there, and that if I could make it to adulthood, I could grasp them for myself.
The trauma I experienced made me weak in some ways, because not everything you survive makes you stronger. But I also gained a kind of resilience that I feel is a superpower in its own way. I am able to empathize with people who have experienced hardships very outside of the standard lifestyle. I cannot imagine hardship that I would be unable to endure.
And both of my parents were highly educated, intelligent, and placed an emphasis on education, which I think is a kind of privilege in its own way. My mother loved/s me.
Everything I’ve ever experienced influences my writing, but I feel like my perception of how the world works can be just few degrees skewed from “normal” people, and you’ll see that come through in characters like Siobhan and Thaddeus Lacer.
With some military training, even a layman can wield a battle artifact. And beyond that, there are a lot of moving parts that keep an army running that can be facilitated by, but don’t require magic to operate.
Scattering thaumaturges throughout the army in different position greases every hinge, but the majority of an army will still be normal people.
However, the percentage of thaumaturges to the general population is higher in the army than elsewhere. This is partly because the army will pay for magical training at times (with restrictions and the requirement for recompensation.)
Skipping your initial question, due to potential spoilers.
Ana is not a POV character in the main series. I don’t like it when stories just add tons and tons of POV characters, so I’ve always known that mine would be limited. I have no plans to add more POVs.
However, non-POV characters can still have POV chapters/side stories as bonus content, if enough people are interested.
Thaums aren’t the true limiter here; it is the time and effort spent in the correct direction of development and mental clarity.
Additionally, there’s a difference between someone who can free-cast one or two small tricks, and someone who can free-cast a wide repertoire of spells.
Several Masters at the University can free-cast a couple things. Their capacities might range from 6,000 to 20,000+ thaums.
Thaddeus and Archmage Zard are both accomplished free-casters, and have capacities tens of thousands of thaums higher than that. (I’d have to check my notes for specifics.)
But hypothetically, one could start to free-cast at a lower capacity, if the Will was stable and clear enough. I have not created any specific lower bound number.
I try to imagine how they could do it. There are a lot of ways to approach problems from new angles. If I can’t find a way for them to do it, then I conclude that it’s not possible. Usually, though, things are possible, just super dangerous, or require unrealistic inputs.
Some things aren’t possible because transmutation, specifically, has to follow certain rules of physics and reality.
But in our reality, too, a lot of strange things are technically possible, just rather unrealistic.
