“The Road To Redemption”
I hate to admit it, but I’m a post apocalypse junkie! I’ve read everything Kyla Stone has on Amazon. And when I ran across StoryDRAFTS I had to give it a try. Here’s my first attempt.
Here’s the premise:
“Seventeen-year-old scavenger Rylee Blake must cross two hundred miles of raider-controlled wasteland to rescue her sister, the only medic still alive in Redemption. The warlord has given the settlement 72 hours to open the gates before his army starts shelling the village. the settlement’s leaders are already preparing to surrender, guaranteeing her sister’s execution.”
It needs work… but it’s a good start…
Chapter 1: Scene1
“The static crackled through the salvaged radio like breaking bones, sharp and brittle in the pre-dawn darkness. Rylee Blake hunched over the battered receiver in the corner of her shelter, the metal casing cold against her palms, her fingers trembling as she adjusted the frequency dial with the precision Maya had taught her three years ago. The air tasted of rust and the acrid smoke from her dying candle. The voice that cut through the white noise made her breath catch—familiar, desperate, and impossibly far away.
“—anyone listening. This is Maya Blake, the only doctor left here in Redemption. The warlord’s forces are seventy-two hours out. Repeat, seventy-two hours.” Her sister’s voice fractured, reformed, each word edged with the tinny compression of distance. “The council’s talking surrender. They don’t understand what he does to medics. If you’re out there, Ry—don’t come. It’s too—”
The transmission dissolved into static. Rylee’s hand shot to the dial, twisting frantically, but found only the empty howl of dead air. She pressed her forehead against the cold metal casing, her heart hammering against her ribs, the sharp scent of ozone lingering in her nostrils. Seventy-two hours. Two hundred miles of wasteland, raider patrols, and radiation storms. Maya had always been the one with the plan, the one who kept them alive after Mom and Dad died in the outbreak. Now she was trapped, and the Warlord—the man who’d left a trail of executed doctors and burned settlements across the eastern territories—was coming for her.
Rylee lifted her head, jaw set. The shelter’s single candle threw dancing shadows across the wall where she’d marked every day since Maya left to help the only settlement where children are still born alive, each scratch visible in the flickering amber light. Three hundred and forty-seven marks. Three hundred and forty-seven days of waiting, of surviving alone, of hoping her sister would come back. She reached for the leather jacket hanging by the door, her fingers brushing the cracked surface that still held the faint smell of Maya’s soap—lavender, impossibly precious, a ghost of the world before. Maya’s voice echoed in her memory: “Sometimes survival means knowing when to run. Sometimes it means knowing when to fight.”
The wind outside moaned through the gaps in the corrugated metal walls, carrying with it the sulfur stink of the dead zones to the east. Rylee pulled the jacket on, feeling its familiar weight settle across her shoulders, and tasted copper fear on her tongue.”
Have you ever finished a novel and found yourself thinking; “I’d have written that differently.” or “That ending made no sense.”
Then you probably have a book or two inside you, just waiting to get out. But asking “could I write a book” is the wrong question. Professional authors don’t WRITE books, they BUILD them, by following step-by-step recipes.
And the difference between these two approaches is huge.
“Could I WRITE a book?” implies staring at a blank page while you’re waiting for the “Writing Fairy” to show up and sprinkle “Inspiration Dust” on your head. And we both know that ain’t gonna happen.
Picture grandma in her kitchen, pulling out her recipe book and setting her ingredients on the table. No waiting for the baking fairy…. nothing mysterious or mystical. She simply followed a recipe.
And that’s how the professional writers do it… they simply follow recipes.
My first novel took me 12 years to finish. My last book took me less than a month. The difference? The tools and formulas found in “StoryDRAFTS”.
Can’t come up with a killer story idea? With the app, you simply click through a series of multiple choice questions, and when you’re done, it will take those choices and generate two story ideas. If neither of them trips your trigger, just go back through the Story Wizard, clicking different choices.
Don’t know how to structure a plot? No worry, just choose one of the story outlines in the app.
Have characters rattling around in your head, but can’t seem to bring them to life? Use the app to create believable characters — with backstories, motivations, fatal flaws, and the kind of depth that makes readers fall in love with them. Or hate them. Which is sometimes even better.
If you’ve ever wondered, “Could I actually write a novel?” Then you owe it to yourself to create a free account and spend some time playing with the tools.
At worst… it’s really good therapy. At best? You might become the next John Grisham. Or Nora Roberts… the next writer whose book somebody else finishes and thinks “I wish I could write like that!”
But I gotta warn you, creating characters so real that they literally tell you what to write is so addictive you may wind up cured of your Youtube addiction, and disappear from Facebook altogether. Wouldn’t THAT be a tragedy!
So… if you’ve ever asked yourself, “Could I actually write a book, one that people would enjoy reading?” Then click the link below this video, register for free, and let the system personalize your workspace.
Then, just follow the yellow brick road.
And prepare to be amazed!
Just so you know… (Especially in the early stages.) the more thought you put into your plot and your characters, the better the AI’s output will be. If you want a quality product, the best way to hurry is to SLOW DOWN!
Start with the Wizard
The Wizard asks you a series of multiple choice questions about the kind of story you want to tell. Just click the ones that feels right. At the end, AI hands you a story idea… based on your choices. And don’t worry, you can change any THING at any TIME in the process.
Meet your Cast
In the Codex you’ll find the core characters the Wizard suggested for that book. Fill in what you know about each one — their wound, their want, their flaw, their strength. The more you give the AI to work with, the more consistent and human your characters will become.
See your Blueprint
The Blueprint is in the Edit section of each of your books. It holds your story premise and notes — the DNA of your book. Like everything else in the system, you can edit it any time.
Open your Outline
Your Outline breaks your story into chapters and scenes, each one with a purpose. You don’t have to fill it all in before you start writing — but knowing what a chapter is supposed to do makes it a lot easier to write.
Write
Click any scene in your Outline and you’re in the editor. Write in your own words, at your own pace. If you get stuck, hit Help Me Write This Scene and the AI will take a pass — you keep whatever you want and throw out the rest.