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I liked hearing more about your writing!

Congratulations on finishing your undergrad and being so close to getting your book published, @nikiflorica8783 ! Your excitement is absolutely contagious!😄 I wanna ask, how did you get to take part in writing part of the series with Jill Williamson? That sounds really cool that a new author like yourself gets such a great opportunity to be involved in an established series like this and I'd love to hear how it came about! Anyway, I'm absolutely looking forward to hearing the updates in your future videos!

Congrats Niki! Excited for you!

Hi, Nikki, that is so awesome. I'm happy for you and it sounds like an interesting endeavour. May I ask whether you do traditional publishing and if you do, what type of publishing houses do you think is good for Christian writers?

Let me be the first to say, nice shelf. Blanket is also cool.

*wipes away single proud tear* That's my bestie...Congrats, Niki 🥹 So excited for you! I remember ages ago when you told me you were writing this book. Onto another note, I'm not, per se, an interior designer 😅 but I am good at making houses/settings in The Sims.

That's amazing Niki, congrats! two new series to add to my TBR <3 prayers that it goes smoothly & that you can focus <3

Awesome news!! That is pretty awesome to be able to contribute to a series with a team. Congrats!

Niki, all you have to do to learn about how to be a christian fantasy book author is follow the best christian fantasy book that we already have, which is the bible. It is 2,000 years old, it was written by a large collaboration of authors, and it has tons of fans and spin-offs. It is the perfect example of christian fantasy to take inspiration from.

i love portal fantasy because its easier to imagine myself in it! but this bothers me too, so I'm actually writing one where they stay in the fantasy world!

A few of my earlier plots that I am still working on putting on the page seemed to write themselves. How could they write themselves without being written yet? Well, how I got the ideas for these stories is I told them to myself a while ago. The first telling had a few errors and problems, naturally, but over the first 5 times or so i told it, the narratives fell into a coherent and recognizable order. How I told them to myself is sort of a mystery, how did I know which idea to start with? But once I had the starting concept, it pulled the entire tale along after it like a child's toy on a string. I am working on a book series now that will have a definite romance B-plot (pray for me? this is new territory). I am intending that the romance plot write itself, as I would likely bungle it; all I will focus on is the basic story beats of the relationships, and the plot of the main storyline for each book.

I guess the essence of a great story is not only giving the main character an internal and an external goal, and not just having them shown in equal proportion, but also showing where and when they contradict each other and exploring which the protagonist will follow in those situations. Maybe there is also a third element; the moral compass? I will reference it in my example below. My main character from a story I am writing (he is also my POV character) has three forces within and around him that shape and inform the decisions he makes throughout the narrative. They are External drive: survival Internal drive: reunite with his family, especially his father Moral compass: generic North; he values integrity and has a built-in sense of many of the Ten Commandments These clash at various times: My opening scene features a miniature conflict between the External Drive and his Moral Compass but he chickens out after it is too late and needs to be rescued. The inciting incident (this is a slight misnomer if you read the book, but I need to call it this to not give anything away) revolves around the clash between the protagonist's Moral Compass and his Internal Drive. The middle section includes multiple situations where his External and Internal Drives are brought into opposition. The beginning of the climax is a series of events where the main character finally does go through with putting his Moral Compass ahead of his External Drive but it costs him dearly. The climax continues with an epiphany where he must choose what he will do; his External Drive is clearly threatened and fulfilling his Internal Drive and satisfying his Moral Compass hang on the outcome. The result that follows is intrinsically a result of the choice he made. As the story concludes, his Internal and External Drives are distilled into one and brought to bear upon his Moral Compass and what he ultimately chooses resonates with the entire story, setting it pulsing with meaning as though it were a tolled bell.

FR THE ENDING OMGGGGGG

the book can also be pretty slow in the beginning but once you get into it, it doesnt stop

this is my fav book series def love red as heart as paint the most tho

I've never watched a K drama, but this makes me want to give it a try.

I've yet been able to get into K drama but I may try it again when I've run out of other things to watch, lol. I would've still watched if this had have been 28 minutes. I love listening to you ramble, especially when you're excited about something. Keep up the good work Niki & hope you had a great Christmas 💙

Hi, my name is little did you know i want to be an author can you help me please ?

I get everything you were saying in this video 100%. My father doesn't believe Christianity and fantasy can mix, but the rest of my family (myself included) disagree. I have this being in my story that is basically God. A part of me is intimidated by this idea because "What if I make God sin by accident?" or "What was God's reasoning for doing this that or the other?"😂 I ask God every day for guidance with my story, but most definitely, with this being in particular. I'm like, "Hey, God, this thing is basically YOU. Help me to understand YOU so that I don't mess YOU up."

Its 1 year...

This was a really cool video and helped me realise what I've been doing wrong with my book... For me I only get this feeling when I'm world building; different locations, towns, and creatures stack and build themselves. My characters though... nah, not really haha. I had to pause this and write out everything I knew about my characters, and its crazy how much better I understand them and their motivations now. Hopefully they can start picking up the slack and start writing themselves haha

My character killed an important npc because I as a player couldn't see another way to save there sister.. The problem is that this npc was a high standing political person and because of some complicated context my character was sentenced to 9 years of prison time. Now I play a wizard student that is juat here to have fun on an adventure 😊

I liked how you mentioned that sometimes we have to accept that our characters may have done darker actions. No matter what we do, none of us are perfect; so the pivotal mistakes that are showcased and learnt from make the characters more human and more impactful.

I love it when this happens. Makes writing easier, so long as you don't fight it 💙

Such a great video! 👌👏👏💜 I completely relate and yes, characters do come alive 😊 Cheers from Argentina

Yeah, I can totally relate! That's why outlining does not work for me 😂 My story literally writes itself.

How do you write the stuff the MC doesn’t know about, especially twists, if you write from the perspective of letting the characters drive their own story?

I think it's fun when this happens! It usually is harder to follow the characters, but it turns out more realistic.

And yet again, I'm having a moment of, "She knows me! She knows me!" *cue GIF of Kermit excitedly waving his hands* While also simultaneously thinking, "Wow... Writer experiences really ARE universal" 😂😂😅

Christians who complain that there's too much darkness in a book we create, should complain that there's too much darkness in the bible to GOD. If you sin, you will be sent to hell to be tortured for all eternity with no way of escaping or a do-over. These people who complain arent writers and have no idea of the amount of pressure we feel constantly of trying to glorify GOD through our story and doing our story justice. Its so scary and all we could do is trust that GOD and Jesus are guiding us as we write to glorify GOD. Also, creating fantasy worlds is what I think when writers are the most close to GOD. Because GOD created everything: The planets, the stars, the universes themselves, the people, nature and etc. And although our work are fiction, its the most similar thing we can relate to and connect with GOD. We are created in his image, after all. I'm so glad to find a writer who's facing the same dilemma as I do when trying to create a fantasy story.

Thanks for a great video @nikiflorica8783 ! I like how you explain internal and external drives here! It's very helpful for the characters I'm trying to write for my own book! When I took a movie production course 7 years ago, we talked about a character's wants (the external goals they are consciously pursuing) vs a character's needs (the internal desire/missing thing that they don't realise they need to fulfil). The need I think ties into what you said about a character's internal drives, and it's the one thing that must always be narratively satisfied or answered in some way by the story's end, while the characters want may or may not be fulfilled depending on the story. Have an awesome day!

You pointed out a lot of things ive experienced especially the balance because I had felt I would have to be overtly christian or else id be in the wrong or sinning, but now im finding my sweet spot where im still being inspired by God by the Bible with the stories im creating.

Thank you for this video. I've come to a stand still in my currently draft about 15,000 words in. I'm realizing after some pondering and listening to this that I hit a wall because the extrinsic goal was there, kinda. the work God was trying to do in the character from the outside in was there, but the inner biom of these main characters and their inner motivations was foggy at best. Now to brainstorming and outlining!

I think a really solid way to get both "ingredients" right is to tie your character's internal conflict to their external goal; then you can make the story more engaging by creating obstacles that constantly force your character to overcome their internal conflict and put to death their misbeliefs in order to achieve their goal. For example, the protagonist of my novel is an extrovert who desires lasting and meaningful relationships, but he struggles with depression and severe guilt that drives him to keep others at arms' length, and he believes he's cursed to bring misfortune on anyone who gets too close; when he discovers the truth about his parents' deaths, he's forced to rely on those he loves, form new friendships and allies, and allow himself to be vulnerable in order to ultimately defeat the antagonist.

This sounds like intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Might be slightly different but those are the terms we use in psychology that sound a lot like internal and external drives you describe here.

I was at the edge of giving up writing tonight as the creativity has been waning, but then again maybe journaling will be enough for now. After all, I am a literal existing character with goals: External: Try and learn new things. Internal: Find friends so I'm not alone.

I **still** want to buy the Heir of Ariad 😂

It would be interesting to hear about what support system of people you've cultivated in your creative endeavors. On the flip side, how do you handle the conversations when someone is negative towards your aspirations?

Isn’t it interesting though that the most celebrated fantasy stories have had Christian themes. Ironically people hate reading the Bible and they’d find these themes very prominent.

In the Chronicles of Narnia, them having to come back to the real world leaves the reader with a strong sense of discontent and LONGING. And I dont find this a fault with the story. I think its completely intentional. I think CS Lewis wants his readers to feel that there's something out there that this world cant satisfy, to feel that maybe we are made for another world.

Hey, what camera and mic do you use for your videos? Looks really good! I enjoy watching your videos and how you are always smilely :-)

Having time to just be quiet is so good.

Congratulations on your last semester!!!

These habits sound great! Even if they aren’t grand life altering changes, your motivation is spot on! It’s always refreshing to reassess and make some adjustments and improvements.

These are some really good ideas! I'll definitely give them a shot, particularly stuff to do with time management: that's been my kryptonite lately. Stay well, Niki!

Great video! Honestly, this is a topic near and dear to me, as...both a reader and a writer. I have a hankering for deep takeaways, as that's truly what makes a story "extra awesome" to me. When I think back on some of my most favorite books, it's not just the characters, worldbuilding, or plots that really hooked me, but also the underlying themes. So, as a writer, I endeavor to incorporate whatever theme the Lord leads me into. Usually, the theme tends to be something He teaches me prior to or during the process of writing the story, and it's a way of learning for me, and I hope, if I ever publish books, it can be the same for someone else. My current WIP is perhaps...the hardest I've ever had to wrestle with, so far. It's so beastly, in fact, that I blatantly refused to write it at first, even though the basics of the plot excited me as a sci-fi fan. I looked for ways, loopholes, to get out of writing it. I even asked God why He set it on my lap. It touches on a lot of themes: revenge vs. justice, redemption, innocence...lots of those. It also deals with a lot of sensitive and, honestly, hard to swallow topics. I mean, my alien villain is targeting children for murder. My MMC, also alien, has severe PTSD from a traumatic past and struggles with a violent dualism that threatens to rip him and others to shreds. FMC (human) was abused as a kid, including SA (which is probably the toughest pill for me to swallow, personally). Just...a lot of hard stuff. I didn't want to touch it. But it wouldn't leave me alone. Any time I tried to give up on it, God tugged me back for some reason. Maybe He wants me to hit on these themes to give someone hope? Especially since so many other books mishandle these themes? To boot, I have a pretty emotional connection to this story that kind of made it difficult to handle (still does on occasion). Last year was very difficult for me, wound up getting a case of PTSD. Very dark and sad time. My grandpa had cancer and a serious heart condition (he's now healed, PTL!). My great-grandma got cancer too, but there was nothing that could be done, so she passed away this past fall. Hit me hard. She was a precious person to me. She enjoyed crime thrillers and mysteries. She loved birds. And, since I love sci-fi, I decided to mix what I enjoy with what she enjoyed into a story--birds included (they even reinforce my themes)--as a way for me to grieve and honor her memory. It was also then that I realized what my WIP's theme was, because prior to that, it was kind of a shell. I recognized the root of my alien species' inspiration: PTSD personified (even though they are, by no means, archetypes). Grief is like a parasite (they're parasites, and it also represents the sin nature in-story, but for the sake of my point--), it can be subtle...you forget it exists...but it's still there and it eats at you. So, for a while, my MC's rage was a good output for me, and I'm learning alongside him not to let the darkness overshadow the light. It was also heavily inspired by Psalm 94.... I'll admit, there have been times where I've asked God why He hasn't dispensed justice at a particular time and place (how small my mind is). Normally, I'm not that big into rap music, but one day, I came across Zach Hemsey's "Teachings of a Ronin" and it legit gave me pause. Especially the line "Live or die, choose the former or the latter." Straight up reminded me of Deuteronomy 30:19, for one thing. For another, there were MANY times over the last year that I've wanted to just give up writing, to let that part of me "die." Once again, the Lord says "hey, no, I have other, much better plans." All in all, the entire song itself made me think, "hey, that's my book" as well lol. Like, wow. Regarding the birds: so, the song mentioned "black swan" and I wondered what exactly the term meant, so I dove into research. Discovered Talib's theory and the Aboriginal mythos surrounding it. Loved it all and it just fit SO WELL with the theme I had going. The entire past year has been filled with "black swan events," but like the black swan of myth...we can get our feathers back--That's a verrrry basic rundown of a verrry complicated theme, but here we go lol. That further led me to the crows. For the most part, crows in fiction are pretty much boxed up with "the bad guys." They don't necessarily have to be, imo. So, in my story, they're messengers and guardians. Only two other projects out of several have this kind of place in my heart, and this one has probably caused me to weep the most. Ultimately, for good cause. But yeah...I've nicknamed it my Ninevah for good reasons.😅

This was an excellent exploration of Christian responsibility in creativity and I thank you for your insights. I'm just getting started on my second novel (scifi-urban fantasy) and so far the live bird analogy has really held true. If you hold onto your allegory to hard, you squish it, it cannot sing, and is near to death. I find that I have to be willing to let the same thing represent different things in each chapter or perhaps even sentence to sentence. First off as a Christian you have to trust the spirit to guide people's heart on whatever level He knows is best. Trying to write without that trust is like trying to evangelize, you might as well be talking about the tooth fairy if not for the spirit teaching and softening those He can. I also think its important that you allow Christ figures to be just that, rather than perfect characters who if real would be Christ himself and no figure. Joseph, Abraham, Issac, Moses, Joshua, and so many others were Christ figures and yet they were imperfect. You must be also be willing to let your Christ figures be finite in their power as was every biblical Christ figure. The fact that they do not wield the full power of God and cannot call down ten legions of angels if they so desire makes them a Christ figure in the biblical style and not a failure on your part as a writer.

Yet another cool thing to learn about myself and how my midnight pacing through the house like a cat doing 1:00 o’clock zoomies isn’t so weird. I’ve been writing this story series in my head and on “paper” for about six years. Only in the recent two have I discovered how much outlining is important for me. At first I didn’t like it, but then I saw that it was actually gleaning better results. I’m very close to finishing the 3 act structure for book one, soon as I fine tune the subplots. After that I can FINALLY go on to actually writing the more detailed outline so I have all my ducks in a row for the first draft. Thank you so much for this video! I’m glad my daydreaming isn’t just procrastination!

I may not be writing Christian fantasy books, but i am making a Christian fantasy sandbox decision game where you make up the story as you go along. Its called "Tarnished". Its a solo multiplayer Roleplaying game where you can be mostly anybody. From a priest, to a crusader, to a being of divine or fallen power. There are two factions of power in this game. Divine blessing and dark magic. You can fight demons, battle false prophets, and even have peaceful encounters with angels and god. There are also references to the nephilim and the old gods of the ancient times. Theres also a couple of bosses like the beast of revelation, the witch of endor, the giants, and many other things. Ive already got a couple of "Tarnished" games done. One is exiled angels and the other is echoes of the dragon. This game also takes place in the medieval dark ages. Its very cool.

What I really liked about the books was the collins family, i really loved the morals of the father also alice’s character was funny as i remember