The Secret Oasis, part 3
Part three of "The Secret Oasis". +10 internets to whoever can identify the homage to a well-known manga.
( It was easy enough to pick up their traces from just behind the dune ridge. )
( It was easy enough to pick up their traces from just behind the dune ridge. )
Action sequences aren't so bad. Not that they're easy, but in many ways it's just mechanics and finding ways to make it sound exciting. What's harder is getting inside a character's head and presenting a realistic point of view in an area where I have no actual experience of my own, or which I find unsympathetic. For instance, I'm about 185 cm tall and I like tea, so I have to get creative when I try to imagine how a shorter man like Kit, who has no real inadequacies but maintains in his own mind an heroic ideal that involves being more physically imposing, might feel in a situation where his height is an obstacle -- or how someone like Tam who doesn't like tea perceives it when he tries it. I can't really know if I've done a good job in cases like that unless I get feedback from someone for whom it rings true, or maybe false.
Tam's "white fire" is explored in "Along the Forest Road" and "The Shadow Duke", and explained a little bit in "Colder than Ice, Hotter than Flame", and yes, it's a kind of battle-madness. He actually doesn't understand it very well, and has no head for the technical details when Kit tries to explain them. As a result he can only use it crudely, and becoming more proficient with his own power comes very slowly. At this point it's "all or nothing", but 5 years later he's able to turn it up or down more finely based on the needs of the moment.
...By the way, if I am going to write that fanfic for you, I'll need to pick your brain about your setting and characters a bit more at some point. I have an idea for something, but I don't know if it would work or not.
Reply
One thing I can tell you for sure, even though you say you find it uncomfortable, I think you portrayed Kit's height "complex" very well...
I know it's not the same since I'm female but, being only 5'0", I've been rejected and treated like a brat countless times (finding a job is one of them, since people tend to judge you based on your appearance), simple things like wanting to watch a movie can be an issue as well because they always ask me for my I.D. and when they realize I'm over 20 y.o they go "oh, I'm sorry" but their expression reads "you look like a kid, what the fuck?". So, in these kind of situations I have to resort to intimidation or act like an older woman to prove I'm just as capable as anyone else.
Point is, Kit is perfect!! You wrote him in an extremely convincing way.
I've also read your other stories, in which Tam often used his white fire, but I still don't know how he ever 'gained' this ability, if you did write it I apologize since I must be forgetting. But it makes him a deadly opponent on the battlefield, which is pretty interesting to read.
And you're free to pick my brain any moment, just P.M me here or email me or something (raya.prototype[at]gmail.com), don't forget to ask for your smut lol I feel brave enough to draw it!
Reply
Leave a comment