Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Turning RP Worlds Into Novels

Hello everyone!

My best friend Eros_Calls and I have been writing together for five years. We started with a simple story, which has since expanded into a massive world.

We have decided to take this world and turn it into a series of books, but as it turns out, it has many, many difficulties involved!

Feel free to ask myself or Eros any questions!

It has always been a dream of mine to write a book. I tried many times to do it solo, but always found that I lost steam and ideas about the half way point. But by writing with TheCaffeineQueen we don't allow that to happen. We motivate each other. Challenge each other. And explore every twist and turn to see how it all links together.

Even with the difficulties of turning posts into a book, this has been the most rewarding experience.

So, What kind of difficulties have you faced with writing together? And how have you overcome them?

I would have to say learning curves. When we first began, we were trying so hard to impress each other while staying polite that we weren’t staying completely true to ourselves or our characters.

We had to break down that wall to figure each other out, which did take quite a bit of time. Now that we have, I believe that we are much more in the same place, which allows a much much easier communication.

Adding to the above.

I replied to an ad in the forums regarding a topic TheCaffeineQueen really wanted to make come to life. With the primary idea being hers, and honestly, I had little knowledge of the topic, I did everything in my power to move the story without changing the trajectory of her vision. I followed more than led, which was...not the easiest for me. My posts were much shorter than usual, but that was because I wanted to compliment her vision, not take it over.

Five years later, we have done the same amount of research. We have created and modified our characters around each other, so they make sense. We have discussed and agreed upon events that need to happen for the story to flow correctly and give us future points to write towards. The story can get as messy crazy as we want, as long as we are working towards the next goal.

I am writing a world I want to make into a published book series. Any tips?

Outlines, guidelines, bullet point your goals! Set small goals to write towards.

As things change in your mind and when you write, you must make sure that it stays consistent across the entire plot line, otherwise you’re going to wind up with inconsistencies everywhere.

The biggest advice I think we can give is outline the entire plot before you ever begin to write, because that is your basis. Make sure it’s the story you want to tell. That is what you always refer back to for beginning, middle and end.