Avatar FanFic: To Protect the Balance.
REVISED (Cause I had a major brain glitch)
(Well everyone I've been told that I should try my hand at writing a FanFic. Apparently as I am able to write poetry some people think I should be able to write fiction as well so... I'm going to give it a shot. Recently I went and saw the movie Avatar. If you haven't seen the movie you really should, it is absolutely incredible. You really need to see it in IMAX 3-D to get the complete effect. Those of you who have not seen it probably won't understand a lot of what's going on (or any of it for that matter). This movie really is beautiful.
This is the first FanFic that I've actually been able to capture that annoying plot bunny that's been bouncing around in the empty space between my ears. As this is my first fan fiction any comments, suggestions or positive Concrit is appreciated. I really want to thank the one person who has been naggi...err...umm...ahh encouraging (yeah... that's the word Encouraging ... yeah) ... me to try my hand at writing. She has also been kind enough to beta my first attempt.
So without further delay I give to you: To Protect the Balance.)
Currently my completed outline contains a total of 20 chapters. I am trying to limit each chapter to be between a min. of 1,000 and max of 3,000 words per chapter. I can't promise to hold to that for every chapter, as one of them is over 4,500 words and I can't find a logical place to split it into two. I know as a first time writer this might (ha ha ha) be a tiny bit ambitious, but I promise I will complete it if it kills me (and you) in the process.
After getting input from my favorite Author purpledodah along with some excellent advice from the Na'vi forums I decided to scrap and change a few things around.
The Chapter Posting is a bit different from what you might be used to. But I think it will help both readers and myself.
So.... A quick note about flow:
Chapter 0.00 (This page) is a quick overview to help readers understand the why of me going off on a tangent, chapter posting wise. Ya ya its not really a Chapter exactly..... but if you squint just right, and hold your head at just the correct angle.. (right about where the good gods split ya), sprinkle a bit of fairy dust (the white powder kind works best), well WALA!! its a Chapter!!! See that wasn't so hard now was it? Come'on people keep up with me here....
Chapter 0.50 "Chapter Reference Guide" This chapter will be an ever evolving reference guide to the story as a whole. Here the reader can easily find translations of Na'vi words, phrases, as well as Information on Pandora referenced in the story. (Erm, see above explanation of my definition of a chapter. Don't forget the fairy dust is helps a whole lot!!!)
Every reference point will be listed by chapter to make it easy to find the meaning of a word, concept etc listed in one of the previous chapters. Of course each chapter will contain its specific reference list as well. As the story evolves I may decide to change how the information is listed here, but for now it will be listed via posted chapter name and number. One of the great things about search functions is you can just highlight the word you are unsure of, open Guide Chapter and do a find to quickly refresh you memory.
I truly hope that this will aid the reader in getting a deeper understanding and feel for the incredible world of Pandora and the Na'vi who live there and in my mind.
Now here is the Kicker!! Look MA an actual CHAPTER. Words that tell a story instead of 'splainy, geeky babble. Knew he had it in him didn't ya. (Hurm... is that a little split personalityish?? Shhh, maybe he won't notice as he is playing with the pink fuzzy bunnies at the moment. Awww aint that just the cutest thing ever...)
Chapter 1: "To Protect the Balance" is the actual start of the story and a prologue leading up to the time in history that the story is set in.
Chapter 2: "Tristan" is the chapter that was previously posted ( Ya won't find it cause I blowed it up reaaaallll gud. Damn (sniff) I am so proud of that kid sometimes ya know)
Chapter 3: "To the PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP Chapter "The End": Look for future updates! (Unless he petted the bunnies 'till they went POOF! Then all you will get is Rabid plot DoDo's cause those bunnies don't always play fair.)
One last thing to note. I debated on using the actual Na'vi language or using italics to indicate the that a character was speaking in Na'vi. While the italics would be the easy way to go it left me feeling that the story lacked an added layer that I felt is important. One of the wonderful things about watching Avatar was hearing the Na'vi use their own language. It brought a deeper feeling of "reality" to the movie.
Na’viyä (The Na’vi language) was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at USC with a doctorate in linguistics. There are about 1000 words in the Na'vi lexicon to date, and Dr. Frommer has promised to continue to evolve the language as long as the Powers that own the Avatar franchise don't disagree with his and the Avatar fan base desire to expand and learn. There has been world wide support for the project, and Dr. Frommer is currently waiting for a decision.
If you wish to learn more please check out http://www.learnnavi.org and to hear the language spoken by its creator, as well as to add your voice to the growing petition to continue to evolve the language please go to http://masempul.org
I wish to thank the wonderful people at the Learn Na'vi Community for their aid in helping me understand an incredible complicated language and keeping me as true to that language when using it in this work of Fan Fiction.
So to you my readers, thank you for your patience and I look forward to your feedback! As this is my first ever attempt to write fiction, your comments and suggestions can only help me improve.
On to the story.....
TBC
(Well everyone I've been told that I should try my hand at writing a FanFic. Apparently as I am able to write poetry some people think I should be able to write fiction as well so... I'm going to give it a shot. Recently I went and saw the movie Avatar. If you haven't seen the movie you really should, it is absolutely incredible. You really need to see it in IMAX 3-D to get the complete effect. Those of you who have not seen it probably won't understand a lot of what's going on (or any of it for that matter). This movie really is beautiful.
This is the first FanFic that I've actually been able to capture that annoying plot bunny that's been bouncing around in the empty space between my ears. As this is my first fan fiction any comments, suggestions or positive Concrit is appreciated. I really want to thank the one person who has been naggi...err...umm...ahh encouraging (yeah... that's the word Encouraging ... yeah) ... me to try my hand at writing. She has also been kind enough to beta my first attempt.
So without further delay I give to you: To Protect the Balance.)
Currently my completed outline contains a total of 20 chapters. I am trying to limit each chapter to be between a min. of 1,000 and max of 3,000 words per chapter. I can't promise to hold to that for every chapter, as one of them is over 4,500 words and I can't find a logical place to split it into two. I know as a first time writer this might (ha ha ha) be a tiny bit ambitious, but I promise I will complete it if it kills me (and you) in the process.
After getting input from my favorite Author purpledodah along with some excellent advice from the Na'vi forums I decided to scrap and change a few things around.
The Chapter Posting is a bit different from what you might be used to. But I think it will help both readers and myself.
So.... A quick note about flow:
Chapter 0.00 (This page) is a quick overview to help readers understand the why of me going off on a tangent, chapter posting wise. Ya ya its not really a Chapter exactly..... but if you squint just right, and hold your head at just the correct angle.. (right about where the good gods split ya), sprinkle a bit of fairy dust (the white powder kind works best), well WALA!! its a Chapter!!! See that wasn't so hard now was it? Come'on people keep up with me here....
Chapter 0.50 "Chapter Reference Guide" This chapter will be an ever evolving reference guide to the story as a whole. Here the reader can easily find translations of Na'vi words, phrases, as well as Information on Pandora referenced in the story. (Erm, see above explanation of my definition of a chapter. Don't forget the fairy dust is helps a whole lot!!!)
Every reference point will be listed by chapter to make it easy to find the meaning of a word, concept etc listed in one of the previous chapters. Of course each chapter will contain its specific reference list as well. As the story evolves I may decide to change how the information is listed here, but for now it will be listed via posted chapter name and number. One of the great things about search functions is you can just highlight the word you are unsure of, open Guide Chapter and do a find to quickly refresh you memory.
I truly hope that this will aid the reader in getting a deeper understanding and feel for the incredible world of Pandora and the Na'vi who live there and in my mind.
Now here is the Kicker!! Look MA an actual CHAPTER. Words that tell a story instead of 'splainy, geeky babble. Knew he had it in him didn't ya. (Hurm... is that a little split personalityish?? Shhh, maybe he won't notice as he is playing with the pink fuzzy bunnies at the moment. Awww aint that just the cutest thing ever...)
Chapter 1: "To Protect the Balance" is the actual start of the story and a prologue leading up to the time in history that the story is set in.
Chapter 2: "Tristan" is the chapter that was previously posted ( Ya won't find it cause I blowed it up reaaaallll gud. Damn (sniff) I am so proud of that kid sometimes ya know)
Chapter 3: "To the PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP Chapter "The End": Look for future updates! (Unless he petted the bunnies 'till they went POOF! Then all you will get is Rabid plot DoDo's cause those bunnies don't always play fair.)
One last thing to note. I debated on using the actual Na'vi language or using italics to indicate the that a character was speaking in Na'vi. While the italics would be the easy way to go it left me feeling that the story lacked an added layer that I felt is important. One of the wonderful things about watching Avatar was hearing the Na'vi use their own language. It brought a deeper feeling of "reality" to the movie.
Na’viyä (The Na’vi language) was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at USC with a doctorate in linguistics. There are about 1000 words in the Na'vi lexicon to date, and Dr. Frommer has promised to continue to evolve the language as long as the Powers that own the Avatar franchise don't disagree with his and the Avatar fan base desire to expand and learn. There has been world wide support for the project, and Dr. Frommer is currently waiting for a decision.
If you wish to learn more please check out http://www.learnnavi.org and to hear the language spoken by its creator, as well as to add your voice to the growing petition to continue to evolve the language please go to http://masempul.org
I wish to thank the wonderful people at the Learn Na'vi Community for their aid in helping me understand an incredible complicated language and keeping me as true to that language when using it in this work of Fan Fiction.
So to you my readers, thank you for your patience and I look forward to your feedback! As this is my first ever attempt to write fiction, your comments and suggestions can only help me improve.
On to the story.....
TBC