I’m a plantser working on my first-ever fiction manuscript (a sci-Fi thriller). I have mapped my major characters and overall plot. But, I’ve allowed many things to flow and change as I moved through the story, became more familiar with the characters, and recognized character & story needs.

You have the write idea. Simply write down your thoughts on paper and tidy it up later. It's okay to have a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft and then continue to work on it. It will continue to get easier the more you actually do it and you'll begin to understand some more nuances in how you write. Sadly, I do not know of any young science fiction writer groups, but I am positive they are out there.

Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. Makes perfect sense to me. So, for the characters, it seems like there are some messy situations with the whole age gaps and adoptions and whatnot. How they all navigate those situations should show the content of their character. Yeah, I can see the kids trying to get famous, and the vultures from the news media will be far too willing to interview them. Also, parents can do truly amazing things when it's for their children. The scientists seem to have an uphill battle. I don't see a way for them to keep any of this under wraps.

For a few months, I worked as a freelance editor for short movie scripts. To answer one of your questions, there is one particular script that comes to mind. Ironically, I don't actually remember what it was about exactly, the story itself was so bland. The main character was a man, and he had a female love interest that I thought behaved in a way no woman genuinely would. She showed no sense of self-preservation or reacted as anything but positive to some of his actions, some of which came across to me as potentially stalker-ish. He had no such intentions, but she couldn't have known that. From her very first appearance to the end, she welcomed any and all interactions with him without question, taking his strange behavior in stride without showing any hint of surprise or at least confusion. She always knew he was a good guy, and he never had to do anything to show it either - neither to her or to the audience. It is implied, obvious, unquestioned. (I also don't remember anything else about him besides this, not even his name, but that's a critique beyond the scope of the question, lol.) Whether we like it or not, the world can be a cruel place, and a lot of people (and very often women) learn to keep their guard up to protect themselves - even if most people aren't out to get them, letting someone in can sometimes be a game of Russian roulette. This, unfortunately, is considered a part of what it means to be a woman. Even if nothing happened to you personally, hearing about it and being taught to behave in a certain way to mitigate the risk shapes you, no matter how you personally see yourself. The absence of that element made me realize the author never had to actually think about this sort of thing, and made the character feel like their only defining trait was "female love interest" instead of an actual person. It was all the more dissonant due to the fact that she had a teenage daughter, and neither of them seemed to have anything going for them besides eagerly given pleasantries towards the main character, who they knew nothing about. There was a passivity to them, which made it seem like they had nothing else going on it their lives until he paid attention to them. Being friendly and polite is one thing, opening your home and sharing all the information to a stranger at the drop of a hat is just strange. Even without their respective genders, it seems odd to me to have any characters behave that way, not without some sort of personal motive. But it also makes it seem like the only reason why they did act this way is *because* of their gender - the female character acts this way because that's her primary role, she's *supposed* to like the main character, that's what she's there for. In short, I could see the strings the author was pulling a bit too plainly. 😅

As a black writer trying to adequately represent a massively diverse cast of characters from different cultures, ethnicities, gender identities, disabilities, etc., it takes a HUGE amount of consideration to build these ideas. Thank you for speaking on this topic!

I came across your channel by your writing character diversity video. I was intrigued with your personal dedication of authentic representation, despite concerns of cultural bias influences. I wish you success on your joint endeavor.

I truly believe the timidness instilled in people to not say or do anything to offend someone has divided us far more than anything else. Learning to laugh at both differences and our own eccentricities. One great thing about America, since this is Independence day, is how we are defined. Every country is defined by it's race and ethnicity...except America. We are defined by values. E. Pluribus Unum(Out of many one), Liberty, and In God We Trust. The first one is what I will talk about here. Originally it was meant to describe the 13 colonies becoming one nation, but most people see it now as meaning that many different races and cultures come together to become one nation. So, if you're a Turk, if you move to Europe, you will never be seen as fully German, or Swedish, or Spanish, nor will you children or grandchildren, but when you come to America you will be seen as fully American, as American as any other American, the moment you become a citizen. So for me, different ethic traditions can be important, but my own frame of reference is not to think too heavily about that unless you are setting it in a narrative framework where that affects the plot. Each individual is extremely unique and I find that whether you write black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, or any other character, you will need to be careful to not make the defining feature of that character their race. That is a very shallow way to write the character. Ensure that any character, no matter their background, can stand alone without their race affecting them. After that, I believe you can add some depth to the character by incorporating their background and traditions and ethic culture, but, and I don't think you two will do this, don't write in a character of a specific race, solely to have a character of a different race in there. You know, a token minority to get brownie points. Again, I believe you two will simply use this person's culture and ethnicity as a way to add some depth to the character, but people will know if she's 2 dimensional and only defined by what she is rather than who she is. People have made that pitfall in the movie and television industry a lot with all the failing woke writing that people just aren't interested in. You can't have an interesting, deep, complex, and relatable character if the only defining trait is that they are a woman, or they're black, or that they're x, y, z. You get the picture. So, why the long rant? It's simply to say, I think you are doing good to consider the details of this character, but don't worry so much in defining what she is as much as you define who she is. Alright, I'll shut up for now. Happy Independence Day to everyone in the U.S.A.

A symbol I'll contribute is the magnifying glass from Sherlock Holmes. This tool is emblematic of Holmes's meticulous attention to detail and his methodical approach to solving crimes. It symbolizes his analytical skills and his ability to uncover hidden truths. It sounds like you are coming along quite well. I'm sure you're getting more excited as your world develops and unfurls itself before you, with the setting, plot, and characters.

Whenever a good story reaches its denouement, the intended feeling isn't always of satisfaction. It's really what the writer wishes to share with their readers. One story I can think of that is actually a children's story of which the ending stuck with me is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. The end is...bittersweet, especially to a young reader, but it makes a point, I believe, that is good.

I wonder if the device used to send them back is leaking latent time energy that is affecting Janet's personal timeline. Oh, so the presence of Tyrone is causing the memory paradox she's having. Cool. I liked the structure of writing you used. Or, to put it another way, you seem like you're getting some good practice writing. Keep it up and that book will be written in no time. Maybe before the end of 2030. Okay, hopefully a bit before then. So, you could flesh out Tyrone more in this scene or you can intentionally leave it more vague and reveal more as events unfold. The choice is yours based on what his purpose in the story will be.

Depending on the situation, and this works best when having a dialogue between characters that are familiar with each other in my opinion, but having dry humor responses can add a little humor to the story. It's not gut busting, usually, but it can be used to deescalate a tense situation, sometimes. It can also work if a protagonist and antagonist are in conversation with either of them using it, either the protagonist, for example, using dry humor to show they aren't threatened by the antagonist, or the antagonist, let's say, belittling the protagonist's ideas. Here's an example. Let's say a hero is trying to get a villain to change their ways by telling them that there is good in them and the villain responds with something like, "So, I give up on all I worked for so I can join your little kumbaya therapy session to make me feel better? Give me a break!"

I learned the categories as aspects of compositional velocity, "sprinter vs. bleeder"--and was encouraged to sprint more, getting SOMETHING in writing that could be re-written, edited, or provide reference material. This mindset carried over from literature to code: building a minimal viable product focused on specific end-user stories in rapid iterations. That said: I have learned that some plotters may ruminate for a very long time in near-silence, then suddenly pour out a near-perfect solution in one marathon session. It could say more about differences in creative focus and work style rather than if either end of the Pantser v Plotter/Sprinter v Bleeder is "better". Interesting point about the genre driving which end of the spectrum is appropriate for spanning the gap between the story's world and your reader.

I believe you hit the nail on the head about the spectrum since I fluctuate between the two. Part of my writing is plotted out, such as major events, key plot points, and, as you put it, the history of the world as well as intrinsic properties of the world, where other parts are more natural and on the spot, such as a series of conversations between my characters. And just because I plot something out, doesn't mean the initial plot points can't change. I've altered part of my plot and the timeline events recently that doesn't change the overall outcome, but fits better with my story. Though, I will also say, when you have some plotting already in place to direct the flow of ideas, pantsing gets easier.

One thing I find a skilled author can accomplish that goes hand in hand with world-building, is, in their description of their own world, allowing enough detail yet interpretation where each reader can conjure an image of that world in their mind unique to them even if certain elements are shared by other readers. In other words, they craft a unique experience for each reader who delves into their book.

On energy generation and the "type of power" being captured/used: it's always baffled me that humanity's primary means of generating electricity was to take one form of energy, convert it to a) motion to move magnets in a coil of copper OR b) chemical electron imbalance, and THEN produce an electron flow. No matter what the starting source takes form, the middle of the process is kinetic motion or chemically hazardous/unstable/degrades over time. What if the biological process discovered for energy production bypasses a kinetic/chemical middle step, directly producing electrical flow at the sub-molecular level? This may have the effect of allowing a sufficiently-bioengineered human to act as their own power source, IF they also have the needed genetic modification to prevent the power from impacting heart rhythm. So far as being able to identify others who have this bioelectrical capability: it alters the optic nerves to make the generated energy visible to the viewer. Just throwing those into the mix!

You all seem to be analyzing the common tropes of these type plots to whittle out those with superficial motives and the more complex motives that drive an everyday person. Cause, let's be honest, there isn't actually too much difference between an everyday person and those who start catastrophes, like the tyrants that lived in the 20th century and started world wars. Having the propensity to cause havoc and reigning it in is what makes a person competent and aware and allows one to persevere through adversity. Motives are hard to create when you only have a passing knowledge of them, however. It's not enough to just casually expose yourself to movie villains, but actually research them and their motives. For that matter, if you want to know why people might want power, you can research people like Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and even people like Vladimir Lenin. Or, Xi Jinping, who definitely didn't have the best of childhoods. Though the sci-fi mechanisms to achieve their ultimate goals will be different, the intrinsic human motivations haven't changed since Adam and Eve. I liked hearing all the ideas you two had. I think this brainstorming is good. Even if you don't use some of the material, forcing yourself to write down something allows you to kickstart your creative processes. Plus, it's good practice. Practice writing your thoughts down in the literary style you want your book to be in so you can practice writing and sentence structure even in these early stages. When I think of evil organizations wanting to cause havoc by using green energy, I think about what's happening today in the World Economic Forum. I think of these people wanting to go green and seeing the absolute travesty and death they leave in their wake. If you want a really sinister motivation for your villains and use the green energy monopoly, you could use what would happen in real life, which is large swaths of the poor and impoverished would die due to not getting enough food, improper heating in the northern countries, unreliable electricity in hospitals, and less manufactured goods to allow them to rise out of poverty. The twisted motivation could be that the people at the top, pushing for this believe that overpopulation would cause a larger issue and that they want to keep the poor to a minimum due to robotics taking off and replacing many unskilled labor jobs. The irony is that data shows that more people lead to better living conditions and more innovation, rather than less. So, it could be a twofold plan driven my both elitist ideas and an erroneous premise. No, I don't expect to be paid and I am sure you will find your own motives the villains can use.

That was a fun writing exercise! I paused the video to assess what I thought before Nathan reacted. I perceived that the director did not notice Arnold, that he seemed to be overburdened by work, and I took his wince at his reflection to be indicative of insecurity, either with his appearance or something deeper within himself.

Meet at Barnes and Noble or a coffeeshop. It makes a difference. You can also be comfortable easily inviting new people to the gang.

I could talk about writing tips and formulaic structures, but nothing beats receiving a spark of inspiration. It caused me to go from writing one short story to five for a particular scenario and write a short story that might have ended at 100 pages that turned into a 250 page monstrosity. When the idea strikes you and you feel giddy abut writing, it feels so satisfying to just let the stream of thoughts fill the pages like a rushing river of prose. I look forward to the sticky note episode coming up.

In college, my short story writing professor had a grandfatherly "vibe" and a dry sense of humor, often delivering serious philosophical statements and punchlines to jokes in the same sonorous baritone. One day he provided the "stickiest" piece of plot guidance I've ever heard! At the peak of a plot optimization diatribe, he seemed to gather his thoughts for what we presumed would be an eloquent summary of writing wisdom. "As authors, you must never lose sight of your reader's single most important question!" He paused a few seconds; we sat in silent anticipation... "So what?" Never forgot it!

Constructing three dimensional characters takes practice. Writing someone who isn't a Mary Sue, who isn't two dimensional, who can act with agency, and who goes through some really difficult adversity to actually drive the plot takes practice. Most authors go through multiple rough drafts before finally polishing their stories into something they feel is adequate, or sometimes a masterpiece. Some ways to write really good characters is having experiences and then translating that to the page. I would like to suggest you read up on the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He truly lived and was able to write the most iconic detective novels of all time with his Sherlock Holmes series, which he ended up not exactly liking in the end, but Doyle lived. How can you breathe life into your characters from your own experiences? Now, obviously some things you won't relate to. None of us have lived in a 1984-esque dystopia. You wouldn't know the physical toll these time travelers deal with. Some things we must simply research. Still, it seems like both of you have been researching quite a bit and I hope you can start writing soon, or I guess, typing, to let your ideas out. Take copious amounts of notes while writing about your characters, the direction the plot is going, general information about your word that is intrinsic to the background of everything, and anything you feel like you might want to reference later. I'm getting excited about the progression you two have made.

Secondary character introductions, eh? Well, before we get into that, let me just say, your writing is fine. A tip I learned from an unlikely person is that Sometimes, when you're writing a poem - or a story - your brain gets fixated on a specific point. If you try so hard to make it perfect, then you'll never make any progress. Just force yourself to get something down on the paper, and tidy it up later! Another way to think about it is this: if you keep your pen in the same spot for too long, you'll just get a big dark puddle of ink. So just move your hand, and go with the flow! In other words, you'll go through many rough drafts, more likely than not, before your finished product. Now, back to the question. I will give an example of a secondary character I wrote. To give you some background, the main character is a dark elf named Craidte Enoshima. He and another character are inside a burning building, a detective agency, because they are investigating the death of a certain bank president and believe a lich that uses fire magic is responsible. Craidte is looking for survivors and this is when the character is introduced. Flynt Cole sat in his chair, in his office. He rested his feet on his desk, thinking over the case. It was a dark and stormy night. I sat in my office, much like I am now, though, without the building burning down. I hadn’t had a case in months and was worried I’d have to take a part time position at McGiggity’s...again, when she came to my office. A young dame, who happened to be the new bank president’s wife. She thought her husband possibly caused his own father’s demise and couldn’t get the cops to investigate him. They searched for the late bank president, but couldn’t touch the new one, who held a clean record. I accepted. As this private eye mulled over his current case, someone opened his door. The half not yet turned to ash, at least. This someone was a tall, muscular dark elf, probably seven and a half feet tall. How lucky for Flynt Cole to possibly get two cases and in such unwelcome circumstances no less. “What are you doing just sitting here?” Craidte said. “I’m breaking a case wide open but if you want my expertise as well, I’d be happy to help, sir.” Flynt Cole explained. Craidte punched a hole in the wall, grabbed Flynt Cole and jumped out of the building. Upon landing he jumped back only to notice Flynt Cole grabbed him on takeoff. “Do you want to die?” Craidte asked. “I need my case files and my coat and hat. Essential items for a private eye such as myself.” Flynt Cole informed as he quickly grabbed his coat and hat from the coat rack, snatched up a briefcase and then walked over to the hole in the wall. “I will need you to take me back down though since I’m on the third floor.” “You’re an imbecile but maybe you can help me.” Craidte grumbled. “Wait outside for me to finish searching the building.” Craidte then jumped out with the investigator again.

Very interesting. I am really enjoying these sessions.

I am not really a sci-fi fan, but happen to love time travel books! I really am looking forward to the progress of your process, and the result.

Hey! Author and screenwriter here. Just want to say I’m excited to follow your journey together. I found this on a particularly rainy day and it cheered me up. Absolutely offering my expertise should you ever need it. Keep on at it and keep making videos!

I'm blown away by how alike they look!

Not watched this yet but I'm just happy to I see a father and son working together on a project. You both look alike and are very handsome 💯

One protagonist can be an antagonist for another protagonist. That also create conflict that can be used to drive plot forward and the resolution, good or bad, can create character growth. It can also be a way to make your protagonists more human, dealing with hurt, and loss, and resentment, and feeling lost and confused. I know that a mentee became antagonistic to their mentor in several stories, but as for the mentor becoming antagonistic, I feel like there are some where the mentor was evil all along, but not with the dynamic you're going for, so it should be interesting.

So, everyone is everyone else's guide in this hero's journey kumbaya circle? Isn't that called teamwork in general? All jokes aside, I feel like that is an interesting dynamic. I'd be interested in seeing you flesh this out. There are stories where a group has such trust between each other that they can work together without any need to worry, but not really a circular mentor cycle like that.

I'm familiar with the start, stop, keep practice as well. For that, it's hard for me to really do a start, stop, keep with your KZfaq format, because it's rather simplistic. Not in a bad way, but there isn't anything I can say, stop, really. Start also is hard because since you've just started these videos, I have no knowledge of your video editing skills and wouldn't want to ask you to add something you can't actually achieve. As for keep, that I have a suggestion. Keep the honest, candid opinions of your work and your lack of work. Reading all types of writing is good. I could recommend a variety of fantasy/fiction-style writing so you get a broader scope of the good, bad, and ugly of it. I'll mention A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin, a fairly unknown book series, at least in my opinion, has its first book called Sabriel, by Garth Nix, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, and to add a little craziness into the mix, The Dream_Quest of Unknown Kadath, by H.P. Lovecraft. That will give you a wide range of writing styles and slants on fiction. Now, this isn't something I'd recommend to you normally, honestly because of the darker subject matter and use of some questionable, okay, bad language, but for time travel fiction, you could also watch an anime called Steins;Gate that has an extremely unique take on time travel. Still, for the basics of story writing, sticking to the books is just fine. Plus, you all are busy and I doubt you'll be able to get through all the books you probably have listed to read already.

So, yes, a great many times, authors will create a string of setups and payoffs to keep the readers hooked. That's what cliffhangers at the end of chapters are for, creating this dissonance in your mind that seeks a resolution and keeps you reading. In KZfaq videos, similar setups and payoffs occur. When you do this in the title or thumbnail, I believe it's called clickbait. Okay, so clickbait is a little different. That usually doesn't have the payoff you were expecting. I like both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's books, but I prefer Tolkien. No offense, Steve. So, let's see how you entice me to watch these videos.

Here to watch y’all rise to the top brother!

Hey there! Can you publish a podcast URL somewhere so I can take this along with all the rest of my commute-time podcasts and such? Any thoughts on putting character sketches and worldbuilding lore into a private LLM AI so you can ask it questions and brainstorm?

Funny how your first three videos popped up in my notifications, but these didn't. Literally, all the others didn't pop up. I was busy with other things anyway, so I might watch the rest of these tomorrow. Either way, I'll watch them all. Now, for the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, pokery-jiggery of your plot...I like the premise. I wonder how you will flesh it out. The nefarious group might not have the full amount of resources for a full transfer, but could send the small packets of information. Scientists sound like they should be very logical and calculating, but let's be honest, if they got information from the future, they'll be extremely giddy and may act impulsively on it. Also, if the scientists and some government organizations heard this future message, then a political entity might act on the information for their own political gain. Why some people would willingly trap themselves in the past, you can't knock the power of indoctrination. There are a lot of why questions and I look forward to see what your answers to these gaps and issues are.

Look at my old college roommate getting all scholarly with his son! Brent and I would be so proud if we had known back then!

Well, of course I'm watching this. Shoutout noted. Sorry the library meeting didn't work out. Whoops. So, as for time travel, I know that it's rough to somehow pass a whole human as opposed to, let's say, snippets of digital information, into the past. Aside from building a robust machine to protect someone during the trip, maybe the genetic modifications better allowed the future humans to survive the travel back to the past, better allowing them to deal with the ebbs and flows of time and the radiation of that experience? Still, you all do what you want with it and I'll be here every step of the way.

Continuity and staying true to the ideals of the characters you create to ensure a more realistic setting is sometimes extremely difficult, so I understand your struggles. How does someone balance where they want to go in the plot with the nature of their characters? How can someone convey everything going on without a large exposition dump? Should everything be completely flexible until you craft your finished product or should you have key points that remain unchanged? There are a lot of fun and frustrating questions other than these simple ones I listed here that you'll likely encounter or already have. I'm very interested to see how things play out for you two.

Deja vu. Still, there is one comment I could make, being that one that says "First" but that isn't my style, really. I'll simply reiterate how much I'm looking forward to seeing this journey you've chosen to share with others online and look forward to the other videos coming up.

So, Nathan, you wanted three likes and dislikes. I'm not going to give dislikes, but rather, let's call them critiques. What I like, however, is the premise behind the video, opening up your journey into literature with all the viewers. Another aspect of the video, visually, that I enjoyed was the intro bit with the typewriter effect fading into the video. That's just a personal like of mine. The third aspect I like about this is the candid atmosphere where you both set the stage and are honest about the fact you have no clue what this journey entails and the excitement and perhaps trepidation that goes with that. Now, for critiques. Since this isn't your format going forward with an outline you follow and this is your first video, most of the improvements you can make will become evident with your own review of this video. Still, I'll go ahead and give three critiques. One, using filler like um, uh, or other ways to fill silence. You can use pauses and silence to emphasize an important point. Second, leverage other social media platforms and online communities to promote your KZfaq videos. Share teaser clips, behind-the-scenes footage, or highlights from your videos on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit to attract new viewers and drive traffic to your channel. Third, as you practice and have outlines and specialized topics you'll discuss, you can make more eye contact with the camera to appear like you're having a conversation with the viewer, unless you also want to add in different effects or animations to add pizzazz to your videos when you get comfortable with experimenting and editing the videos. Still, these suggestions aren't aren't musts, of course, just the opinion of someone excited to see this journey you're undertaking.

I'm honored to be one of the first to see this video. I can provide you with some general advice to start out with, a lot of which you might already know. I don't think it will fit in the comments section here, but I'll try. Creating a compelling story or series of stories involves several key mechanisms and best practices to develop a strong plot, relatable characters, and an interesting world. Start with a strong concept: Develop a clear and intriguing concept or premise for your story. This could be a unique idea, a compelling theme, or an interesting setting that will captivate your audience's attention. Outline your plot: Plan the main events and plot points of your story in advance. Create a structured outline that includes key plot twists, character arcs, and story beats. This will help you maintain a cohesive narrative and avoid plot holes. Create complex characters: Develop well-rounded and multi-dimensional characters with unique personalities, motivations, and flaws. Give your characters depth by exploring their backgrounds, beliefs, and relationships. Readers should be able to empathize with your characters and understand their actions. Show, don't tell: Use descriptive language and vivid imagery to bring your world and characters to life. Show your audience what's happening through action, dialogue, and sensory details, rather than simply telling them. This will make your story more engaging and immersive. Build a rich world: Create a detailed and immersive world for your story to take place in. Consider the history, culture, geography, and politics of your world, and how these elements influence the characters and plot. Make your world feel authentic and lived-in, with its own unique rules and dynamics. Include conflict and tension: Every good story needs conflict to drive the plot forward and keep readers engaged. Introduce obstacles, challenges, and conflicts that your characters must overcome, whether they're internal or external. Build tension throughout the story by raising the stakes and creating uncertainty. Maintain pacing and momentum: Balance action-packed scenes with quieter moments of reflection and character development. Keep the story moving forward with a steady pace, avoiding long periods of exposition or filler. Hook your readers with compelling openings and cliffhangers at the end of chapters to encourage them to keep reading. Foreshadowing and payoffs: Plant seeds of future events or revelations early in the story through foreshadowing. This creates anticipation and intrigue for readers as they try to piece together the clues. Make sure to follow through on these setups with satisfying payoffs later in the story. Revise and edit: Writing a good story often requires multiple drafts and revisions. Take the time to review and refine your work, focusing on improving characterization, tightening the plot, and polishing the prose. Consider seeking feedback from beta readers or joining a writing group for consultative criticism. Stay true to your voice: Develop your own unique writing style and voice that reflects your personality and vision as an author. Don't be afraid to take risks and experiment with storytelling techniques, but always stay true to the heart of your story and characters. By incorporating these mechanisms and best practices into your writing process, you can create compelling stories that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impression.