Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

magic runs wild

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:13:29 GMT

I need more magic in the world, to hide the heroine in it.

I throw in magic where it would be useful.

It occurs to me that the magic would be exceedingly useful -- plot-breakingly so.

grouse, grouse grumble

Time to curb it.

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magic tricks

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 03:21:31 GMT

The heroine has her magic. She can use it for useful tricks, such as running errands without being pestered, because she can't be seen.

THEN it occurs to me that that particular trick would be of mind-boggling importance in the politics she's involved in.

Unless I curb it.

So out come the whip and the chair. Back, ability, back! Into your cage. You are a fun trick and little more!

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Who Are You, And What Have You Done With The Villainess?

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:43:02 GMT

I essayed

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Plot Devices, and Places

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:51:50 GMT

I essayed!

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Speaking Of Secrets

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 23:13:36 GMT

I essayed

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A Problem With Portals

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 21:44:15 GMT

I essayed

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magic here and there

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 05:01:24 GMT

So plugging along on the story, and three characters manifest interests in new magic, which, I abruptly realize, are going to have to have significance.

And indeed some other characters need an interest or they will seem flat. Maybe I can give two of them the same interest.

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Sorcery And Subtlety

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 22:23:08 GMT

I essayed

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Temperance, The Cardinal Virtue

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 23:30:21 GMT

I essayed

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How Do You Feel About That?

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 20:13:55 GMT

I essayed

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I Know Something You Don’t Know

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:39:33 GMT

I essayed

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that terrible toad

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 02:48:50 GMT

A minor comment in the outline, how the heroine got the attention of the wizards.

But it wasn't detailed enough.

( Read more... )

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Color By Numbers Series

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 21:42:54 GMT

I essayed

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Curses!

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:55:11 GMT

I essayed

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The DM vs. The Writer -- Curses!

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 17:05:31 GMT

I essayed

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Worlds Beyond Worlds

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 18:58:32 GMT

I essayed

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The Much Maligned Blue Curtains

Tue, 06 May 2025 17:05:12 GMT

I essay'ed

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ah, descriptions

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 03:14:27 GMT

While stymied on one work, I went to work on another. And realized I hadn't described the characters.

Lucky me. The opening scene is when the viewpoint character remembers her life in another world. Nothing is more natural than her looking at her own reflection and at the members of her family and trying to remember whether her family looked like that. Her real family. If it was real. . . .

At least the descriptions are in.

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What In The Woods

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:25:42 GMT

The heroine has gone into the woods. Several other scholars are with her.

I know that they will threatened by monsters of shadow. Probably lions. I know that her woodcraft will be vital -- you can tell you really reached the top of a hill when you see the sky ahead of you.

Nothing else is clear.

Furthermore, this will lead into an eruption, where the villain, having been foiled at every turn by our heroine, goes all out to make her play.

Nothing about that is clear, either.

sigh

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juggling two stories

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 04:59:49 GMT

Oh you plot bunnies!

Two very different stories about a character who finds herself in another world. The means by which they are moved differ, the situations they find themselves in differ, their powersets differ, and the reasons they have powers differ. Their enemies differ, and so does the conflict.

This probably means they should have different reactions to arrival, perhaps all the more in that they do not glide over it as a machine that the readers will simply accept as not relevant to the plot. (It is relevant in both cases, though -- the reasons differ.)

Both are going to have metaphysical questions, though. No matter how different I make them.

(And I don't even know if either one is a full story yet.)

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big, little, big, little

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 04:39:54 GMT

Was plugging along on a story.

Knew there was a character, a servant, who knew about a cursed prince. Needed him as a plot device to keep the prince alive, and also he gave me a way to keep the prince busy. Made him a big solid guy, a huntsman.

So writing along on the outline and realized that I had to name this servant. I dug up a name, decided it looked good, and if it's a diminutive, it's ironic he has it.

Put it down on the character list. Character started to wonder whether he could be a lean and wiry huntsman instead.

Ah, the game of names.

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Fairy-Tale Weddings

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 22:35:53 GMT

I essayed. For tomorrow

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cloak's got to go

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 05:13:53 GMT

I lay out the plan. The heroine goes somewhere wearing a cloak, so she can take it off and be recognized.

A scene opens with her waiting and thinking about how hot and heavy it is. It ends with her being recognized.

But I never actually took the cloak off. . . .

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Dealing Out Drama

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 02:19:35 GMT

essayed again

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Magical Technology

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 19:26:21 GMT

essayed again

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