#taoki

[cilly-the-writer]

This is @stories-by-rie‘s Kora from her story TAOKI :D I hope you like it, Rie!

I really love this story and the magic so much! Please go check it out on Rie’s page here! 

[stories-by-rie]

my notebook / writing process

@writingonesdreams and I were talking about planning and pantsing a while back and I offered to show some of my messy notebook pages. So here it comes!

That's my notebook, containing a printed manuscript of my third draft that I wrote all the beta comments and planned edits in, and the actual notebook.

So after I wrote the first 4k of taoki in one go, I had a vague understanding of what I wanted to write about and hence this is the very first page. Kora was called Kore back then and Simon was called Connor. Kora's motivation changed immensely. But this is what I started with.

Later, I went much much deeper into my main characters' personalities, so everyone got such a fancy™️ page. They are actually still very much accurate and everytime I don't know what they should do or how they should act, I can look at this and then the decision becomes quite obvious.

So as I was half into the draft I started to go deeper into the plot. There were a lot of open questions and this is the "plan" I made. But this actually developed through the whole writing process. A lot of it is crossed out and the plot as it's described on the picture actually doesn't happen like that anymore ^^ it changed a lot on later drafts!

There is a map for orientation purposes. There are many places in taoki and the characters travel a lot so... Yeah! It's a little outdated by now too though.

The majority of it is handwritten chapters. This is a scene much later in the draft that I really loved but that was severely edited because it didn't make sense later. And yes, it's also the only page that looks tidy.

I also procrastinate. That quote is from New Girl, I have no clue why I wrote it down there.

So, this is an editing picture. I outline my novels with the story triangle by Gustav Freytag, so I wrote the chapters down where they belong to make sure the story has got structure. I also wrote down places and days on the bottom to make sure everything adds up (for example characters split up and plot happens at two different places). I blackened the chapters and actions because that's already too spoilery at this point ^^

And then I do it all again just more detailed. These are my newest notes for the current draft. It is mostly so I can check later that no item goes missing and stuff like that. For example Kora gets wounded on her right hand in the first chapter, so I write it down to make sure she doesn't use that hand in later chapters when it hasn't healed yet.

[rokokokokolores]

// Campanula rotundifolia

[stories-by-rie]

Find out which character you are from The Assassination of Keiko Ito! For those days when you forget who you are and rather take the personality of a fictional character instead. Choose between random questions and get a super accurate personality assigned!

It’s official! I created a quiz for TAOKI. Answer some fun questions and get a new personality for free!

[stories-by-rie]

character intro | Asteria Pachelbel | The Assassination of Keiko Ito

In midst the attic, that was fitted out luxuriously nonetheless, sat a young girl at a spinning wheel. She could hardly be older than fifteen years and she wore her red hair in a messy bun. Her face was still childlike, but her fingers worked at the spinning wheel so experienced as those of an old woman.

[stories-by-rie]

character intro | Kora | The Assassination of Keiko Ito

known as: Kora, the young assassin

info: 22 years old, orphan, lives alone in the mountains of Bergen, works as an assassin, she's always wearing her combat gear if possible

magic level: 3a (fair blue)

personality: introverted, intelligent, adaptive, arrogant, strong principles

her role: As the assassin hired to kill the most powerful magician, Kora is the protagonist of this story. She teams up with Simon, makes a deal with him, and is constantly confronted with his idiocity, and obstacles along the way. It's not like she actually wants to kill, it's more that she's got no choice.

// snippet from chapter 4

  “And how does that bring us closer to the girl?”, Kora asked.

  “I don’t know. But my gut tells me it’s the right thing. We have to go there.”

  “Your gut.”

  “Yes. Trust me. I can feel that this is going to help us.”

Kora thought about leaving him behind for a moment. She would be able to find the girl without his help as well. He just turned out to be way more irrational than she thought he was, and she didn’t really want to be bothered with that. She looked at the book that she stole earlier and back to his dark eyes. If she was honest with herself, hadn’t she picked the book out of her gut feeling as well though? She hated it.

  “Simon, I wouldn’t even trust you to find your way home from here.”

"I most definitely wouldn't find the way home alone."

[stories-by-rie]

last line tag

I got tagged by @thewalkingnerdx thank you very much! Here’s the last (spoiler-free) line that I wrote:

It had been a completely different kind of pity. One that whispered, I know what you feel. I have been there. But there is nothing I can do, I am sorry.

tagging (only if you want to of course): @musicofglassandwords @soul-write and @cilly-the-writer

[stories-by-rie]

last line tag

I got tagged by @writingonesdreams thanks!

Here a line I just added to taoki. I struggled with that scene for a long time, transitioning from dialogue to description, so adding this bit really improved it a lot and makes it sound more natural I think.

As Simon had reached Kora again she looked far off into the distance and barely noticed him as he reached her. He waved in front of her face which made her flinch in surprise – a reaction that made him giggle. Shooting him an angry look, she pulled her scarf all over her nose.

  “So what did she say?”, she asked, her words a little drawled. It’s been long days.

not tagging anyone today, but if you see this and feel like sharing, please tag me so I see yours!!