There's always time
to post before moving to more important matters, like writing my wintercompanion fic, which I didn't touch since the last couple of days, and there are only 5 days left until the deadline. But, it should be doable. I'm used to work fast since I don't seem to be able to make myself begin and finish a work in advance. I did the same for the last assignment, as well as the Gabriel Big Bang. And the NaNoWriMo was even more of a mess XD
So, for today, two questions, one about books and the other about writing.
Beginnings
What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?
I feel bad about speaking about books most of you won't be able to read but well... So, my favorite book beginning is from a French sic-fi novel called Le Déchronologue (the Dischronologist), by Stéphane Beauverger. It's about pirates and time travel (and it's pretty perfect in my mind).
"I am the captain Henri Villon and I will die soon. No, don't snicker while reading this sententious introduction. Isn't it the ultimate privilege of a doomed man to announce his demise as he wants to? It's my right. And if you don't allow it, so let's say I take it."
And yes, he really dies when the story catches up with that point, which is something I loved (not that it was less upsetting but well... XD)
And I picked another book, a classic this time. And everyone should be able to read it! That's the beginning of H2G2, which I love to death.
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the west- ern spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignifi- cant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
How Do Your Characters Die in Your Novel?
I won't tell what text I'm speaking about because of heavy spoilers (not that you'd be able to guess the fandom XD). Also, I'm going to change the names to lovely race names. I'll arrange it in a chronological order because it'll be clearer.
So, first death happen before the fic begin, but is shown through a dream. The Narrator's hometown is attacked by a dragon, Golem. Their son, Kobbold, dies when he was trying to reach the protective barrier where his parents were. He's melted by a giant fireball (it rippled on the barrier and he was on the heath/magma wave that was created).
One year later, as the Narrator and their mates travel through the land, they ambush a band of bandits. Amongst them is a child, Gnome, whom reminded the Narrator their son. Still, the Narrator kills them, piercing his heart with their sword. That's a pretty important plot point, actually, just like Kobbold's death.
Then, it's pretty deathless until the end of the story. And here we go again. So, the Narrator and their team (there's 8 of them) ends up fighting against Golem. And, I'll just let you see by yourselves XD It's the unedited draft version.
"Lutin [the Narrator's best friend] was crouched, rolling on the stairs to avoid it [one of Golem's tails], a smile on her lips when the dragon's jaws snapped on her midsection. And she fell on the ground with a thud, blood and parts of her staining the ground."
A few hundreds of words after.
"Troll was between the two, screaming when the fire blackened his back, but smiling at the young man in front of him [Troll is a giant, and he just protected Korrigan from a fire breath, by standing between the dragon and Korrigan]. [...] He let out a string of gibberish words, that seemed more like gurgles. And Korrigan stared at him wide-eyed. He didn't move when the small mountain the giant was fell on him, crushing him under his weight. There was a hole on Troll's back, where Goblin's [that's Korrigan's best friend, blinded in their last battle and he just Goblin his enchanted sword] sword pierced the friable carbonized flesh and skin."
And after a thousand words
"Selkie's Magic had protected [Goblin]'s body, but the human [that's Dwarf, Goblin's master] he kept against his side had taken most of the blow [fire breath, again]. When the sword bit hard into the dragon's flesh, just under its chin, transpiercing it until it hit the hilt, Dwarf was already dead."
Then, Goblin dies because Selkie's Magic broke his body. But everything's well, Golem is defeated and our fearless heroes can go back home!
That is, until one of the standing team mates reveals his true identity, and I'm gonna call him PMB for Petty Manipulative Bastard. Anyway, PMB wants to kill the Narrator because of Petty Reasons. Elve, who knew who PMB was since the beginning and was friend with him, isn't okay with that.
So, PMB plunges his sword into Elve's belly and twisted until she dies. Then, proceed to kill the Narrator anyway by ripped their heart out of their chest.
In summary: I'm not nice to my characters in semi-original/and original fictions and they all have a gruesome and meaningless death (except for Goblin, but his death is meaningless in the end) XD And Selkie doesn't die either, but that's because he's a powerful incorporeal spirit.
So, for today, two questions, one about books and the other about writing.
Beginnings
What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?
I feel bad about speaking about books most of you won't be able to read but well... So, my favorite book beginning is from a French sic-fi novel called Le Déchronologue (the Dischronologist), by Stéphane Beauverger. It's about pirates and time travel (and it's pretty perfect in my mind).
"I am the captain Henri Villon and I will die soon. No, don't snicker while reading this sententious introduction. Isn't it the ultimate privilege of a doomed man to announce his demise as he wants to? It's my right. And if you don't allow it, so let's say I take it."
And yes, he really dies when the story catches up with that point, which is something I loved (not that it was less upsetting but well... XD)
And I picked another book, a classic this time. And everyone should be able to read it! That's the beginning of H2G2, which I love to death.
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the west- ern spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignifi- cant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
How Do Your Characters Die in Your Novel?
I won't tell what text I'm speaking about because of heavy spoilers (not that you'd be able to guess the fandom XD). Also, I'm going to change the names to lovely race names. I'll arrange it in a chronological order because it'll be clearer.
So, first death happen before the fic begin, but is shown through a dream. The Narrator's hometown is attacked by a dragon, Golem. Their son, Kobbold, dies when he was trying to reach the protective barrier where his parents were. He's melted by a giant fireball (it rippled on the barrier and he was on the heath/magma wave that was created).
One year later, as the Narrator and their mates travel through the land, they ambush a band of bandits. Amongst them is a child, Gnome, whom reminded the Narrator their son. Still, the Narrator kills them, piercing his heart with their sword. That's a pretty important plot point, actually, just like Kobbold's death.
Then, it's pretty deathless until the end of the story. And here we go again. So, the Narrator and their team (there's 8 of them) ends up fighting against Golem. And, I'll just let you see by yourselves XD It's the unedited draft version.
"Lutin [the Narrator's best friend] was crouched, rolling on the stairs to avoid it [one of Golem's tails], a smile on her lips when the dragon's jaws snapped on her midsection. And she fell on the ground with a thud, blood and parts of her staining the ground."
A few hundreds of words after.
"Troll was between the two, screaming when the fire blackened his back, but smiling at the young man in front of him [Troll is a giant, and he just protected Korrigan from a fire breath, by standing between the dragon and Korrigan]. [...] He let out a string of gibberish words, that seemed more like gurgles. And Korrigan stared at him wide-eyed. He didn't move when the small mountain the giant was fell on him, crushing him under his weight. There was a hole on Troll's back, where Goblin's [that's Korrigan's best friend, blinded in their last battle and he just Goblin his enchanted sword] sword pierced the friable carbonized flesh and skin."
And after a thousand words
"Selkie's Magic had protected [Goblin]'s body, but the human [that's Dwarf, Goblin's master] he kept against his side had taken most of the blow [fire breath, again]. When the sword bit hard into the dragon's flesh, just under its chin, transpiercing it until it hit the hilt, Dwarf was already dead."
Then, Goblin dies because Selkie's Magic broke his body. But everything's well, Golem is defeated and our fearless heroes can go back home!
That is, until one of the standing team mates reveals his true identity, and I'm gonna call him PMB for Petty Manipulative Bastard. Anyway, PMB wants to kill the Narrator because of Petty Reasons. Elve, who knew who PMB was since the beginning and was friend with him, isn't okay with that.
So, PMB plunges his sword into Elve's belly and twisted until she dies. Then, proceed to kill the Narrator anyway by ripped their heart out of their chest.
In summary: I'm not nice to my characters in semi-original/and original fictions and they all have a gruesome and meaningless death (except for Goblin, but his death is meaningless in the end) XD And Selkie doesn't die either, but that's because he's a powerful incorporeal spirit.