Unexpected Joys
WANTED: CHOSEN ONE, NOW HIRING is almost finished. There were two problems before that ground the writing process to a halt. To resolve this, I went back and added six new chapters, tweaking how they transitioned from accepting their quest to finding a patron that could move them to the endgame. The previous method was adequate in the lowest sense of the word but the new method works. It's what should have happened from the beginning. I also killed a character I had not planned on killing until later. I wasn't sure how I was going to kill him later, only that he was going to die. Actually, I did know. He was going to fight and kill another character and then die from his wounds, but that character died in the new six chapters in an awesome fight scene, so really, I just advanced the death timetable all around.
What has me excited about though is a reveal that I did not know was coming until I began the chapter in which it is revealed. When world building, there are things I just don't explain. There are phrases, cliches, and idioms that people use that I'm not going to explain. When I use an idiom, I don't explain it to the person I say it to. They understand it too. So I don't explain it in my work (now, if you're watching Green Street Hooligans--a wicked awesome movie--you have Brits explaining their idioms to a Yank, and in that case it works, but I rarely have such blatant outsiderism). So here go our intrepid adventurers beneath the capital city, Brandarbra, into the catacombs, a place all the great heroes earned their names fighting fantastic monsters.
I don't want a fight with a monster. I have assassins and there was just this big fight seen. If I throw in a monster chase, then I'm just writing Scooby Doo. No, there are no monster chases. (I did end up with a cool line, "There are no monsters, just men and metaphors" which got me really stoked. It's better in context, though.) In a previous chapter I intimated that the history these people know isn't the true one. Their kingdom was not founded by colonists from Reliarach, but by conquerers. A previous civilization lived here and that was where they had to go to complete their quest, an underground city beneath the capital.
But how to make it special? How to make it more than just description of empty buildings. Wait a second, how is one city built on top of another? If there wasn't some kind of natural disaster, the first city would have to be torn down or some way modified to accommodate the new one. They couldn't walk down streets. Those streets would be filled with dirt or something. Unless something was holding it up. What could hold it up? Atlas could hold it up. God could hold it up.
Oh, hello light bulb.
The religion of this society is the veneration of saints. A truly heart-felt swear is "Forgotten Gods!" which is a true statement. They have forgotten the gods of their ancestors. That's because they were never their gods. They were the gods of the civilization they conquered. And the saints they worship are revisionist history of the gods they once were. (Saint Sumad, patron of peace = Sumadaren, god of mercy and protection) Oh, but we do not stop there. The ceiling is black glass (obsidian? some other magical effect? I do not explain because the characters do not know). That ceiling is held up by a GIANT statue of a man.
"What is it?"
"Who is it?"
"Tis Sumadaren, god of mercy and protection?"
"How do you know this?"
"I remember."
Oh yes, that's right, the forgotten gods are remembered at the end (or at least one of them, and only by the chosen one). Where will I take this? I DON'T KNOW! But it is awesome.
Oh, and I figured out what Nashau is lying about. Everyone who isn't the chosen one is lying to himself about something. Farmer is an extortionist, Bastin isn't noble, Podome is noble, and now Nashau. Yes, I got him too. Oh I love it when a plan comes together!
Of course, this wasn't planned, and it's even better. Woo hoo! Five+ more chapters and we'll rock this one to its conclusion. Can I do it all today? No. But I wish I could.
What has me excited about though is a reveal that I did not know was coming until I began the chapter in which it is revealed. When world building, there are things I just don't explain. There are phrases, cliches, and idioms that people use that I'm not going to explain. When I use an idiom, I don't explain it to the person I say it to. They understand it too. So I don't explain it in my work (now, if you're watching Green Street Hooligans--a wicked awesome movie--you have Brits explaining their idioms to a Yank, and in that case it works, but I rarely have such blatant outsiderism). So here go our intrepid adventurers beneath the capital city, Brandarbra, into the catacombs, a place all the great heroes earned their names fighting fantastic monsters.
I don't want a fight with a monster. I have assassins and there was just this big fight seen. If I throw in a monster chase, then I'm just writing Scooby Doo. No, there are no monster chases. (I did end up with a cool line, "There are no monsters, just men and metaphors" which got me really stoked. It's better in context, though.) In a previous chapter I intimated that the history these people know isn't the true one. Their kingdom was not founded by colonists from Reliarach, but by conquerers. A previous civilization lived here and that was where they had to go to complete their quest, an underground city beneath the capital.
But how to make it special? How to make it more than just description of empty buildings. Wait a second, how is one city built on top of another? If there wasn't some kind of natural disaster, the first city would have to be torn down or some way modified to accommodate the new one. They couldn't walk down streets. Those streets would be filled with dirt or something. Unless something was holding it up. What could hold it up? Atlas could hold it up. God could hold it up.
Oh, hello light bulb.
The religion of this society is the veneration of saints. A truly heart-felt swear is "Forgotten Gods!" which is a true statement. They have forgotten the gods of their ancestors. That's because they were never their gods. They were the gods of the civilization they conquered. And the saints they worship are revisionist history of the gods they once were. (Saint Sumad, patron of peace = Sumadaren, god of mercy and protection) Oh, but we do not stop there. The ceiling is black glass (obsidian? some other magical effect? I do not explain because the characters do not know). That ceiling is held up by a GIANT statue of a man.
"What is it?"
"Who is it?"
"Tis Sumadaren, god of mercy and protection?"
"How do you know this?"
"I remember."
Oh yes, that's right, the forgotten gods are remembered at the end (or at least one of them, and only by the chosen one). Where will I take this? I DON'T KNOW! But it is awesome.
Oh, and I figured out what Nashau is lying about. Everyone who isn't the chosen one is lying to himself about something. Farmer is an extortionist, Bastin isn't noble, Podome is noble, and now Nashau. Yes, I got him too. Oh I love it when a plan comes together!
Of course, this wasn't planned, and it's even better. Woo hoo! Five+ more chapters and we'll rock this one to its conclusion. Can I do it all today? No. But I wish I could.