This story is 97.9% humour, 0.5% heart, 1.5% drama and 0.1% romance (in the author's humble opinion). The style is quite light, except for a few moments. The series is inspired by various fantasy novels, including The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Discworld by Terry Pratchett, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, Cosmere by Brendon Sanderson, and many others. The story is full of references to classic and modern fantasy, as well as common fantasy tropes. I also included a central theme (just in case) that runs throughout the story. I wanted to write which of these authors metaphorically wrote the recipe, who prepared it and who stood by and rushed everyone, but it would read as if I thought my work was on their level, which is not the case. The setting of the Faltess world is a cross between the worlds of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls (FallTES).
I tried to deconstruct the monomyth, but I think I succumbed to the power of tradition in some places, and Gloomeye became one of the faces of the thousand-faced hero, albeit with a touch of irony.
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I decided to start writing books, and the easiest way I could think of was to write them and put them out there for everyone to see, so that I could get feedback that would help me adjust my writing and thus improve my writing skills. The only possible downside is a lot of non-constructive criticism, which demotivates me to stop writing. But the alternative is to spend 10 years writing for the desk drawer, and that would be much longer, and the only feedback would be my own biased one. Not to mention my ever-increasing paranoia that if I do anything long and alone, something will happen to it or to me, and all the work will be lost.
I have no experience of writing books, I have not studied any courses or lessons, only reading experience. To learn something, I do practice and then theory with ready-made empirical data and questions. Just by reading a lot of theory, I forget the beginning by the end of the reading. It sounds technical, but what is writing if not engineering meaning with words?
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
I can point out two main disadvantages of Maginarium (it's strange to talk about disadvantages in the preface? Perhaps it is selfish, because my aim is to improve my skills, not to sell the product (but the soul is bleeded in the text, I can guarantee that)). The first is the pace of the story, which is fast. Normal writers write descriptions of the weather, places, backstories of everything, speculations, and fill scenes with details. I do all that too, but more to visualise what is happening in the reader's head.
The second is prose. It is neither poetic nor ornate (although prose does not have to be poetic, it is defined as non-poetry). My style is not the most serious, but I would like to have a good style. I think this can only be solved by experience.
Another problem is grammar. This is a translation of my book. Although I've tried to lick every sentence, I can't rule out my mistakes and unsmooth flow of text. Fortunately, possible grammatical errors are easier to correct than anything else (it's easier to add a comma than to rewrite the character arc of the main plot). I did what I could, come what may.
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Soundtrack - https://audiomack.com/tonalarchitect3000/album/maginarium
The album generated with Suno and Udio. If I only have one chance of your attention, I choose Boiriann and Splinter. And then, if attention is retained - Gloomeye+Splinter. Yes, you can tell who my favorite character is. The eclectic nature of the story naturally shaped the music. Some tracks are meant for reading, while others simply capture the atmosphere of key moments.