#fantasticprompts 24/3 What type of fantasy creatures do you like?

Youkai, ghosts, kitsune, kami

My bread and butter in writing.

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#FantasticPromptsEnglish Sep 18: What do you pay particular attention to when building the world?

That things make sense.

#FantasticPromptsEnglish 31.08.2025
Start a story by typing 1-3 sentences. Dear prompt answer readers, please check what answers have already been given & complete the story with another 1-3 sentences.

I’m not one to interfere, but a vulnerable woman wandering around at night was clearly not going to end well. I recognized Nichole from the 8 PM convenience store, walking down the road ahead of me. She was coatless on a cold autumn evening, and from her staggering gait, I guessed she had been drinking.

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#FantasticPromptsEnglish Aug 29: From your main character's (MC's) perspective: "What has been your biggest failure as a writer so far?"

For yuri she was a little light on the romance and relationship stuff starting in volume 3. The gun in volume 2 turned into a McGuffin. And my talent for memorizing sutra should have been foreshadowed right from the beginning.

It's a good eerie story, though with good characterization, with lots of interesting things happening.

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#fantasticpromptsenglish 30 Plot or not.

Plot even when I "discover" I have an idea where I am going.

#FantasticPromptsEnglish August 30: To plot or not to plot? What's your path?

I've begun to question my path with the current WiP. My usual course is to have an idea that I follow to a predetermined probable end. So too it was to be with Bolt's story, Reluctant Courier. I knew she'd been blackmailed and that her life was difficult and lonely, as depicted from the outside as an empathetic supporting character in another completed story. However, I wanted to approach her POV of those times as more of a cozy mystery SF tale, as slice-of-life rather than adventure. I know how the parallel stories tie together in half-a-year—a ticking clock if you will—but I chose different earlier endpoints for Bolt so my series main character doesn't overshadow her new friend.

So, to the point. I've been imagining as I write the story various "beats" along the way. Really, it's more like I am writing parts of the story in my head as they occur to me, never quite in order. The mob boss will do X. The devil-girl will do Y. The neighbor will do Z. Mentally, I am left with a saw blade full of missing teeth. Some scenes I've written immediately, some remain vague as things I will write.

When I think of the process of writing what was visualized as a novella but is already around 25K half-written, it feels like I am plotting out the story! I am creating the chapters in my head, writing them non-linearly, but as I decide I like this or that, it fills in her life and leads to elucidating the main mystery in her story.

What do you think? Am I plotting?

Certainly I am NOT writing an outline!

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

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