Warning: Don't read this if you are in a hurry or already have a headache
Well, the deed is done. Today I have finished Seabiscuit for what I suspect is either the fifth or sixth time (I swear, the ending gets harder every time) and sent out the short story (dun dun dun). Maybe somebody will pick up something I've missed and save the damn thing. Unlikely but one can hope.
To amuse myself currently I'm poking at Meri to distract her from her anime. Whee, go me. I'm ranting at her about writing. I have a very one track mind.
Lately I've been discussing how certain stories have been developed my friends (or friend as the case my be). I think I had a lot to say on this subject once but I've forgotten it. It was nice to learn that I'm not the only one who makes up interviews in my head. I thought of typing out one of the interviews and then decided it would sound much better after the book (doesn't matter which one) hits the bestseller list. (Hey! Stop laughing!)
What Stephen King said about stories being found things keeps coming to mind. I happen to believe that whole heartedly. Some stories (like the short story, damn it to hell) are very consciously crafted. In some cased (DemonGate) I find the character but have to make up the story for him.
In Trent's case he just showed up in the void that was left when 'Cuno took Nuke back and told me who he was and the very basic hintings of a story (I think he was venting). From that I got his personality (which hasn't changed much actually). And when I say basic hints I mean like nothing. He gave me his situation and the names of two girls. The rest of the story came out of trying to explain how they got there. The thing has become very overworked and I've finally scrapped it (I'm more relieved than disappointed at this point) but I've kept the characters around for use in chats and for 'Cuno's story. I think we might do a collection of short stories and novellas about Silverfalls and Riverswell together someday, and for that I'll bring these three back.
The two places that feel most like places I found are Ta'Chrin my little elven island and the Rhease/Tales story. I created Ta'Chrin when I was little picturing it as a place to house my cliche fantasy ideas scrounged from kiddie books and videogames. It turned out to be a good deal more than that. Turned out to have a very long history and it's own set of religions and conflicts and so on. I lavished so much energy on the mythos of this world that I haven't bothered to create another one since, I've just used the same gods in all my fantasy worlds. Aerin showed up at some point when I was in 8th grade and showed me the darker side of Ta'Chrin's history, having lived through much of it, he was able to make the place's history come alive. He special to me, being the first character to actually have a personality (in that pre-webcomic stage being angsty and bisexual seemed really unique and daring, something my teachers would skin me alive for if they found out about it). Aww... I still think Aerin's special. He's certainly different from all my other characters (he reminds me of 'Cuno's characters more than one of my own). Even Trent, who he sort of predecessed.
Working on the Rhease/Tales story (which I have yet to name) has been like working on one long interview. The thing started out as several different story lines that I didn't realize were connected. Foremost among them was a desire to write a story about 'What if a fairy tale world became modernized?' Yes I know that's been done but I wanted to give it a sort of history instead of just plopping a pissed off elf in leather and a mohawk down on a motorcycle in some major city. I think this desire led to that Lord of the Rings fanfic which I never showed anyone (I think...).
The second story was probably inspired by Hexwood by Diana Wynn Jones. A post-apocolypse world where the nations are picking a leader by putting them through a sort of adventure test. I figured the main character would be a princess who disguised herself as her kidnapped brother to lead her troop or squad or whatever. The idea of spending the whole story looking for the lost Princess only to discover the Princess was the one leading the search and it was actually the Prince they were looking for amused me. Also, Hexwood gave me the idea that switching off between fantasy and sci-fi would be a fun thing to try.
Third was a story about a plague stricken fantasy world trying to pull itself together to fight against a wizard tyrant, the only wizard left as the plague had been designed to wipe out everyone with magic. I could see this little elf (possibly the only elf left in the entire world) trying to make all the races work together. Another little detail would be a type of warrior who could call down ancient spirits to help them, I believe this idea came from a story idea of Benney's called Praye (or something) but I didn't recognize it at the time. I named the main character Ailee after Teeu's goddess, wrote the first chapter describing the plague, and left it.
Also floating around were ideas like a futuristic sci-fi flight patrol led by a cheery guy named Jhereck (I had no idea how to do this one but it sounded fun), a little brownskinned boy (Danny) discovering he was a healer after getting caught by a soldier and getting his hand sliced off and then putting it back on, and attempting several times to write a story about a kid in an insane asylum that I hoped would blend fantasy and reality.
All this coupled with the fact that I was trying to read far too many from diffrent genres at the same time as well as a growing obsession with shows like Batman Beyond (that's why the city in which Rhease lives is sort of futuristic and Kade was going to be named Terry before I found out he was an elf and not in highschool) combined to make one story. I found all this out one night after getting thuroughly sick of Mists of Avalon (my guitar teacher insisted I read it) and sat down to write. I wrote a scene between this gang of street kids led by a boy named Endeth (nicknamed Ender, or End by his friends) meeting this strange man-thing named Gwydr (Gwydr is black because I'd also just finished rereading "Stick" by Charles de Lint). The scene was a mind duel between Gwydr (who I knew had to be some sort of spirit thing or a demon, though at the time I thought a good one, from the start) and Ender (who would have some strong mental powers, the gangs not-so-secret weapon, probably inspired by a Zoids fanfic I had been reading). The result was the key to figuring out the whole mess in my head.
I sat down and tried to write, trying to find some way to connect these three different worlds (sci-fi, fantasy, and futuristic teen angsty place). I started by trying to introduce my main character Rhease (named in honor of the best Dragonlance fanfic in existance, Hourglass). He was in an insane asylum (of course!) for talking to voices in his heads (Ailee and Danny). I had my tie between the worlds and nothing else of value. In the intro I'd used a character, Taelson or Tales, who snuck in to visit Rhease. He was a character designed in the grand tradition of Kender to be in the story for one or two chapters to balance out Rhease and give the story some comedic relief. As Tales was quick to point out, boy did I have it wrong. You just don't give an ex-deity minor that sort of billing. I had my final key element. Since then it's just been a matter of trying to find time to work on it and to not screw it up (the stories are great until I try and work on them).
A lot of the time my characters end up feeling more like research partners. Figuring out historical and geographical details, and teaching me stuff about their various societies. Probably a good thing because if I had to remember all this stuff by myself I'd go nuts.
So now I've ranted about that for a good hour. More than you ever wanted to know about my stories eh? Too bad. Now I have to go find something else to do before mom catches me on the internet.
TTFN
To amuse myself currently I'm poking at Meri to distract her from her anime. Whee, go me. I'm ranting at her about writing. I have a very one track mind.
Lately I've been discussing how certain stories have been developed my friends (or friend as the case my be). I think I had a lot to say on this subject once but I've forgotten it. It was nice to learn that I'm not the only one who makes up interviews in my head. I thought of typing out one of the interviews and then decided it would sound much better after the book (doesn't matter which one) hits the bestseller list. (Hey! Stop laughing!)
What Stephen King said about stories being found things keeps coming to mind. I happen to believe that whole heartedly. Some stories (like the short story, damn it to hell) are very consciously crafted. In some cased (DemonGate) I find the character but have to make up the story for him.
In Trent's case he just showed up in the void that was left when 'Cuno took Nuke back and told me who he was and the very basic hintings of a story (I think he was venting). From that I got his personality (which hasn't changed much actually). And when I say basic hints I mean like nothing. He gave me his situation and the names of two girls. The rest of the story came out of trying to explain how they got there. The thing has become very overworked and I've finally scrapped it (I'm more relieved than disappointed at this point) but I've kept the characters around for use in chats and for 'Cuno's story. I think we might do a collection of short stories and novellas about Silverfalls and Riverswell together someday, and for that I'll bring these three back.
The two places that feel most like places I found are Ta'Chrin my little elven island and the Rhease/Tales story. I created Ta'Chrin when I was little picturing it as a place to house my cliche fantasy ideas scrounged from kiddie books and videogames. It turned out to be a good deal more than that. Turned out to have a very long history and it's own set of religions and conflicts and so on. I lavished so much energy on the mythos of this world that I haven't bothered to create another one since, I've just used the same gods in all my fantasy worlds. Aerin showed up at some point when I was in 8th grade and showed me the darker side of Ta'Chrin's history, having lived through much of it, he was able to make the place's history come alive. He special to me, being the first character to actually have a personality (in that pre-webcomic stage being angsty and bisexual seemed really unique and daring, something my teachers would skin me alive for if they found out about it). Aww... I still think Aerin's special. He's certainly different from all my other characters (he reminds me of 'Cuno's characters more than one of my own). Even Trent, who he sort of predecessed.
Working on the Rhease/Tales story (which I have yet to name) has been like working on one long interview. The thing started out as several different story lines that I didn't realize were connected. Foremost among them was a desire to write a story about 'What if a fairy tale world became modernized?' Yes I know that's been done but I wanted to give it a sort of history instead of just plopping a pissed off elf in leather and a mohawk down on a motorcycle in some major city. I think this desire led to that Lord of the Rings fanfic which I never showed anyone (I think...).
The second story was probably inspired by Hexwood by Diana Wynn Jones. A post-apocolypse world where the nations are picking a leader by putting them through a sort of adventure test. I figured the main character would be a princess who disguised herself as her kidnapped brother to lead her troop or squad or whatever. The idea of spending the whole story looking for the lost Princess only to discover the Princess was the one leading the search and it was actually the Prince they were looking for amused me. Also, Hexwood gave me the idea that switching off between fantasy and sci-fi would be a fun thing to try.
Third was a story about a plague stricken fantasy world trying to pull itself together to fight against a wizard tyrant, the only wizard left as the plague had been designed to wipe out everyone with magic. I could see this little elf (possibly the only elf left in the entire world) trying to make all the races work together. Another little detail would be a type of warrior who could call down ancient spirits to help them, I believe this idea came from a story idea of Benney's called Praye (or something) but I didn't recognize it at the time. I named the main character Ailee after Teeu's goddess, wrote the first chapter describing the plague, and left it.
Also floating around were ideas like a futuristic sci-fi flight patrol led by a cheery guy named Jhereck (I had no idea how to do this one but it sounded fun), a little brownskinned boy (Danny) discovering he was a healer after getting caught by a soldier and getting his hand sliced off and then putting it back on, and attempting several times to write a story about a kid in an insane asylum that I hoped would blend fantasy and reality.
All this coupled with the fact that I was trying to read far too many from diffrent genres at the same time as well as a growing obsession with shows like Batman Beyond (that's why the city in which Rhease lives is sort of futuristic and Kade was going to be named Terry before I found out he was an elf and not in highschool) combined to make one story. I found all this out one night after getting thuroughly sick of Mists of Avalon (my guitar teacher insisted I read it) and sat down to write. I wrote a scene between this gang of street kids led by a boy named Endeth (nicknamed Ender, or End by his friends) meeting this strange man-thing named Gwydr (Gwydr is black because I'd also just finished rereading "Stick" by Charles de Lint). The scene was a mind duel between Gwydr (who I knew had to be some sort of spirit thing or a demon, though at the time I thought a good one, from the start) and Ender (who would have some strong mental powers, the gangs not-so-secret weapon, probably inspired by a Zoids fanfic I had been reading). The result was the key to figuring out the whole mess in my head.
I sat down and tried to write, trying to find some way to connect these three different worlds (sci-fi, fantasy, and futuristic teen angsty place). I started by trying to introduce my main character Rhease (named in honor of the best Dragonlance fanfic in existance, Hourglass). He was in an insane asylum (of course!) for talking to voices in his heads (Ailee and Danny). I had my tie between the worlds and nothing else of value. In the intro I'd used a character, Taelson or Tales, who snuck in to visit Rhease. He was a character designed in the grand tradition of Kender to be in the story for one or two chapters to balance out Rhease and give the story some comedic relief. As Tales was quick to point out, boy did I have it wrong. You just don't give an ex-deity minor that sort of billing. I had my final key element. Since then it's just been a matter of trying to find time to work on it and to not screw it up (the stories are great until I try and work on them).
A lot of the time my characters end up feeling more like research partners. Figuring out historical and geographical details, and teaching me stuff about their various societies. Probably a good thing because if I had to remember all this stuff by myself I'd go nuts.
So now I've ranted about that for a good hour. More than you ever wanted to know about my stories eh? Too bad. Now I have to go find something else to do before mom catches me on the internet.
TTFN