Jump to content

Writing Advice


Legolover-361

Recommended Posts

I disagree strongly with that idea. The author is the creator of the work; he knows what his story means, and while others can have differing opinions, his is the most important interpretation because it's the original and the one meant to be emphasized. Now, I'm sure there are writers who intend to let readers interpret their stories any way they want (I'm dipping a toe into this concept), but that's different: It's intentional.

When I finish my novel and my comic series, I'm not going to tell anyone the exact interpretation, even if I knew what it was. I like the idea of other people having varying ideas of what my work means. It's a lot more interesting than J.K. Rowling talking about how the death of Hedwig symbolizes the death of innocence. Um, I thought Cedric Diggory's death was the death of innocence, but okay I guess you're the author. <_< I was really disappointed when I accidentally happened upon those explanations. The annoyance hear comes from the fact it feels like you're saying people can't draw their own conclusions on metaphors, themes, all the little bits and pieces of a story. However I will not accept that someone's meaning is better than mine, not simply because I am the author, but because I have a different idea.

gallery_99567_147_39590.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I write songs, which I assume most of you count as a form of literature. I've always been kinda conflicted on how people should interpret writing and what emphasis should be placed on the author's true meaning. There are a lot of people who say, "I don't want my audience to know what I really meant by such-and-such", but when you're actually introducing the piece to an audience and they interpret it differently than you intended, you desperately want to correct them. I have that problem, anyway. I think it really depends on the piece, though. If it's something very specific and you're emphasizing one specific meaning and that's what you want to get across, then the author's opinion should matter. If you're writing and you want your audience to be able to relate, though, you should let them interpret it in the way that they wish. Consciously or not, they're probably going to interpret it in a way that relates most closely to them. However much you like the true meaning, your audience will probably like it more when it feels personal to them. For example - there's a song called "All I Ever Wanted" by The Airborne Toxic Event. I adore the lyrics; the song gives me chills and conjures up some beautiful imagery. However, I recently read the short story it was based on ("The Hitchhiking Game" by Milan Kundera), and it nearly ruined the song for me. The real meaning was something completely different than the personal meaning I put behind it, and it alienated me from the lyrics. Of course, I'm speaking solely with poems and lyrics in mind, but I think this applies to short stories and novels, too. Like I said - it really just depends on your piece and what you, as the author, want your audience to get out of it. If you're a good enough author, though, your message should shine through without any additional prompting.

Edited by Javi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:The way it has always been for me was that I would relive a scene as many times as necessary before it became perfect, then I would move on. There have been times when I have been on a role. For example, in the time region that I now associate with books 11 and 12, I really covered a ton of ground with a few imaginative spurts that really set the tone for a chapter in the epic struggle. I introduced a lot of new characters, built upon plenty more, and had pivotal plot moments. Now if onlyt I can live up to that when I rediscover the last several books in the series.Since JKK asked me for my plot outline, I think I can post some aspects of my outlines. I'll first post an example of a one of my new, more advanced outlines, though, for the sake of demonstration. Unfortunately, I have not converted all of my outlines to this style of writing and I can only give one example. I will post some of my more primitive outlines sometimes at the beginning of next week for the sake of convenience and giving the fullest description available of my first book. The overall look, regardless, is that I write a plot summary mainly detailing factual events that take place within the story, then I write profiles in the three broad categories of people, places, and things, going into more depth and explaining things named and mentioned in the event-focused outline.The way that my new outlines work is that I divide my character profiles into several sections that I can shift through. The 7 categories of information that I have are:1. Author's Interpretation (this is a behind-the-scenes on the making of the character, what they mean to me, and also functions as a general overview of the character)2. Background3. Personality4. Physical Appearance5. Strengths and Weaknesses6. Values and Beliefs7. Relationships With Other CharactersSo, to give an example, I can create a character profile of Buzzy and divide it between these seven sub-categories. I figure that if I were to print out all the profiles, they could go into a binder and I would know what tabs to include, perhaps with some color-coding, but for now I'll just focus on what this compilation of Buzzy notes would look like.

Buzzy was invented when I was eight years old. He started out as a doodle on a counter, inspired by various cartoons, among them I believe are Pokemon, Gargoyles, and Digimon, although it was only subconscious and it doesn't effect his character. I have attempted to distance myself from this idea as much as possible. To this day Buzzy still retains almost all the basic physical features given to him in the original doodle, except for the stinger coming from his butt, which was dropped instantly before I even intended to write my fantasies into books.He has a last name, but I do not intend to reveal it, nor do I want to ever even come up with one. As far as I am concerned, he is Buzzy, the one and only, and doesn't need any further identification. A surname would make his character a little too serious, too adult too mature. I don't want him to ever be Mr. So-and-so.Buzzy has always represented friendship and loyalty. His role in my life was to be the ideal and cool imaginary friend who would be at my side during adventures. He was not a sidekick but an awesome hero who, if he was real, I could brag about being friends with. Ever since his conception, he has not strayed from this original idea.I have, in fact, changed very few things about him. He still makes me think of the "William Tell Overture", which I was in the habit of humming around the time when I first doodled him. He still makes me think of cowboys, and something tells me that my love for Woody might have indirectly influenced the outcome of this character. The only thing, other than that ugly stinger, that has changed has been his exact place in the inmun military as a pilot, which changed to to plot elements, although throughout the series I do try to return him to that idea of a heroic pilot by turning him into the captain of the starship Eminuzzy.Even though Buzzy entered the canon of the IDES universe when I was eight years old, he makes his debut in the very first book of the series because he feels so characteristic of the series. Since the first book had to be invented from scratch, I had to make decisions as to who would be among the first characters, and he made the list. Since out of all the characters in the universe, Buzzy had the official title of my imaginary friend, the right was more or less his and it seemed to be the most natural choice.Buzzy has always been intended to be a supporting character and I have actively avoided making him the main character in any way. However, for the sake of the narrative, I have been forced to start off the first book from his perspective, although as soon as possible I switch to the perspectives of the characters the story was intended for. Even though Buzzy is otherwise always a supporting character, he is still one of the most important characters in the series. His role is not to be related to, as is the role of the main character, but to be admired, as we admire our friends. He is to be loved, and therefore, he brings humanity to the series.

Buzzy is an inmun from the country of Test on the planet Alantra. Many people in Buzzy's family have been prominent and colorful people in contemporary Alantran history. Although his family is famous, it is not the type of family where he's expected to leave a legacy of great deeds. The strength of the family is in its uniqueness and that it has a little bit of everything.[in depth family tree pending]Buzzy's father in particular was an influencial politician in the Teskite senate and close political friends with Laryn, another prominent politician who would go on to become the president of Tesk. Buzzy's best and only friend was La'ti, the beautiful daughter of Laryn and Varati. He did not have too many friends because there were not too many peers for such a young son of a senator such as himself, but since he was very young at the time he didn't think too much about diversity and stretching his boundaries. Back in the day he was naive and didn't understand that the world outside of the egalitarian section of the capital was ruthless. Even though his early life was sheltered, it still embedded him with positive values.When Buzzy was eight years old his father sent him to the military because it had the only decent education program in Tesk. Although it was tough to say goodbye, his father wanted what was best for Buzzy. Buzzy had to say goodbye to La'ti, and their departure was teary and sincere. Anyone who was a young child and had to say goodbye to a friend who was moving can relate.Buzzy trained on the main international space station in the Alantran cosmy (space navy). He trained in targeting and had experience in piloting. Asides from basic disciplinary classes, his curriculum consisted purely of math and science. He was able to ace these classes because he and his friends had a strong work ethic.

Buzzy has a positive attitude toward life. He does not often question why things are good or bad but accepts them for what they are. He is never a judgmental person.He is primarily known for being a strong and loyal friend. He often assumes the best in people and strives to get along with them and be helpful. He is easy, good-natured, and outgoing, and most people who get to know him becomes friends with him. Friendship plays a huge role in Buzzy's life. A favorite line of his is "A friend of [name] is a friend of mine." He is often the people that his friends need him to be and is there when they need him. He has a way of understanding his friends, and though it's typically not on the deepest, most penetrating level, it's just enough for them to feel comfortable with him.Although renowned for his friendliness, he is also defined by his training as a soldier. He is the type of person who will put down his life for a cause without second thought because it's his job. He is always ready to follow his leaders into even the darkest nightmares. He is daring, but too professional to be reckless. He is not a fighter who hates his enemy on any level, personal or not, but is typically more focused on completing the necessary mission.Like most inmuns, Buzzy is energetic and enthusiastic. He likes lively rock'n'roll and techno music, finds classical boring, and likes to have a good time. If he had the free time to lounge around in a college dorm and eat pizza with his friends, he most certainly would. Like any sane person, he wishes life could be more fun. He treads the fine line between adulthood and childishness and manages to find just the right amount of each.Buzzy has very few insecurities and he's content with who he is. He does not feel the need to prove himself. He's not out for something bigger. He doesn't feel obliged to attain knowledge for its own sake. He's content for life to jut be good. He applies the same standards to himself that he does everyone else, so that he doesn't have to work hard to be his own friend.

Buzzy is an inmun. All standard characteristics of inmuns apply. [Normally I would include all these descriptions in a special folder specifically designed for the inmun species as a whole, but for the sake of this post I will include all the details. Inuns are basically humanoid with a few exceptions. First, their hair all has blue pigmentation, and they tend to have excentric and picky hairstyles by our standards. They each have four thin arms and slightly narrowed shoulders. Each hand has 16 fingers and their feet have no individual toes, although they have all the same phalanges in their feet that humans do. They also have strong transparent insect-like wings on their backs which are powerful enough to lift themselves off the ground, and it takes about as much energy as running. Their ability to fly only allows them to carry themselves and a light load. These wings are capable of folding up and fitting underneath clothes, and they work poorly when wet, so they wouldn't do well in the rain.]Buzzy has short, messy purple hair, which he has finger-combed to the left. It is neither particularly stylish nor particularly ugly. It's simple and plain, and he doesn't ever change it. His smile is wide and his eyes are lively and big. His face is round and his neck is lanky. It overall looks very boyish.He always has his pistols on hand, and if he doesn't have those on hand he's at least dressed in his military uniform. It's skintight and warm, though to clarify it looks like a wet suit used while scuba diving or water skiing and not superhero spandex, so it fits the futuristic space cadet jumpsuit theme. The torso area is chartreuse and the waist down is electric blue, the national colors of Tesk. Unless it is impractical, he always wears his uniform. He even wears it to bed, which isn't so bad because the suit is self-cleaning and takes care of body-odor.His lower arms are often akimbo in case he has to reach for his pistols fast. Asides for a communication device, they are all he typically carries on his utility belt.Occasions where he has not worn his uniform have been his visit to Earth and his enslavement under the nuadine. On Earth he often wore baggy sweaters to conceal his second pair of arms, and under the nuadine he was forced to wear a green jumpsuit to mark him as a slave. He has also at times been known to carry things over his Teskite uniform, such as jackets and various supplies.Buzzy holds himself in a way that is casual yet upright. His training as a soldier is noticeable, and though he doesn't openly display strength the way a straight-backed human soldier would, something about his stance shows that he is ready for the next thing to happen, whether it's unexpected and life-threatening or not. He subconsciously keeps his balance in check.

[Again, some of his strengths and witnesses are better left in a profile of the inmun species and it can be assumed that these same strengths and weaknesses apply to all inmun characters. Inmuns are physically weaker than humans. A teenage human girl would take on two teenage inmun boys and it would be a fare fight. Their bones are slightly more brittle than human bones due to their lightweight. They have also adapted to a tropical environment and don't keep their body temperatures as well as humans do. They get hypothermia easily if exposed cool water or temperatures below freezing. Their flying abilities were also adapted for Alantran gravity, which is approximately 0.92 G, and they are incapable of flying if the gravity gets much higher than 1 G. After lasting hundreds of thousands of years as an advanced civilization, since guns have been a natural part of their environment for so long, evolution has given inmuns an instinct aiming, and this instinct is particularly refined among members of the military.]Buzzy is better than the average inmun gunslinger, which means that he's truly exceptional compared to humans. When he aims, he rarely ever misses, and he's known for shooting from the hip. He's also very good at avoiding friendly fire.His hand-to-hand combat skills are not impressive, although he can take on fellow inmuns quite well. If given a knife he knows how to use it, although he's not a particularly ruthless opponent. He won't be walking through a battle field like some legend. He is a mere mortal and needs to be refined when using weapons other than guns.He is very good in mathematics, although he is not nerdy. It was a mere result of his training in the military and rigorous education. He does not think that it's a result of any extra intelligence. His proficiency in mathematics does allow him to appreciate the calculations and theories various genuises.He can have a tactical mind when necessary. He knows how to follow orders, but he also knows how to understand orders and understand what's going on around him, and he can work independantly in the absense of a leader. His true gift of genius lies behind his strong common sense, which he always lives by.

Although it is not a conscious philosophy, Buzzy puts a lot of value on friendship. He's never absorbed in just his own interests alone. He's too caught up in life to do that, and life throws so many things and, more importantly, so many people his way. He believes that he's there for his friends, and he believes in trusting his friends. They are what makes life worthwhile. He believes that the love between friends is more powerful and more real than romantic love.He is a member of the Egalitarian Party, although he never thought too much about the politics of the country. He just believed that Tesk had good ideals and that he lived in a country founded upon the principles of some ancient idealists hundreds of thousands of years ago by some idealists who must have had something right.He believes heavily in the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", which is the foundation of the Ackachist philosophy, although within the Alantran religion it is worded a little differently due to semantic differences. He does believe in a higher force in the universe (which Ackachism doesn't teach), though he's typically not too opinionated on what it should be. He has been around a number of religions and taken everything he's heard from each seriously, although he never professed a specific faith in any of the belief systems he's come across.Buzzy is not a highly philosophical person. He knows that perhaps some people have the world figured out better than he does, although he's content with where he's at because if he made too much of an effort to be wise, he'd end up being a fool. As such, he finds wisdom in simple, everyday common sense.

Laryn: Buzzy met Laryn when he first started out in the military. As a child, Buzzy at first felt guilty calling someone new his best friend when only a short time ago he was best friends with La'ti, but he became best friends with Laryn anyway. They have been extremely loyal to each other and have gone out of their way to make life easier for each other. When Laryn died, Buzzy was shocked and angry. He was also sad, but he did not grieve.Dexter:Buzzy had an easy friendship with Dexter. They were good friends and Buzzy made of habit of complimenting Dexter whenever Dexter felt melancholy. However, Dexter became the one person Buzzy was unable to trust when Dexter killed Laryn. Buzzy had trouble forgiving Dexter and it took several years to come to terms with him. He could still work with Dexter, but there was always an uneasy tension where Buzzy would be a bit less talkative and he always had to avoid saying anything about Laryn, who was often on his mind. Often times Buzzy would be a bit judgmental of Dexter, though he never said it to Dexter's face.Red: Buzzy thinks that Red is a very trusty and competent nerd and would put his own life down for him as a fellow soldier. Buzzy will never underestimate Red or make him feel unvalued. Under Buzzy's watch, Red was always treated as a member of the team.La'ti: She was first Buzzy's childhood best friend, but he didn't see her for many years after being sent into the military. He never quite forgot her and every once and a while thought about her. When they met each other again as young adults enslaved by the nuadine, Buzzy began to like her. He had never been in love before, although even in the middle of his struggle for freedom, his heart had touched some tangent. She had survived so long under the nuadine and he assumed that it was a sign of strength in her. It wasn't hard for that feeling to come up. After all, La'ti was a rare pink-haired beauty that would get any inmun boy to turn his head, and when Buzzy met her again he was hit by a sweet nostalic feeling. Yet for the most part, while under slavery, he admired her from afar assuming that it would work out once things were over and as far as she was concerned they were only acquaintances. His infatuation never overcame him, which was a good thing, since when he finally mentioned that maybe they should get together after the struggle for freedom was all over, she turned him down harshly. After this harsh encounter he realized that he wasn't a guy for romance anyway, and that his feeling of romance actually corroded his truer feelings of friendship, which for him were much stronger and truer.Monosmith: When they first met, there was a level of distrust between Monosmith and Buzzy, especially since Buzzy was working against him and Monosmith was a obstacle on Buzzy's first mission. However, Buzzy respected Monosmith and once Monosmith got to know Buzzy, the respect was mutual. Perhaps it was because anyone who's intellectually or emotionally competent and has a positive, constructive attitude toward life inevitably gains his respect on the long run. They settled their differences the instant they were captured by the naudine. Buzzy was paired with Monosmith when the group was split. When Laryn was killed, Buzzy initially showed his anger to everyone but soon died down to only show it in private with Monosmith. Buzzy also trusted Monosmith when he wanted to share his feelings about La'ti. For a while their friendship lasted on a level of formal respect and soldier's trust, but after they went through enough hardships together and became veterans of multiple struggles together, they truly did consider each other best friends. Throughout the series, they often come to each other when in need of counseling, or if one of them is lovestruck, or heartbroken, or troubled, or confused. In many ways, they each inspire each other.Brutus: Before knowing Brutus as a leader, Buzzy was working undercover on Earth and was Brutus's high school calculus teacher. Brutus had a good relationship with Buzzy and asked a lot of questions after class and even sent Buzzy gifts on Christmas based on inside jokes. At that point Buzzy just personally really liked Brutus. The relationship became even more significant after being enslaved by the nuadine. Buzzy has a lot of faith in Brutus. The tactical part of Buzzy's mind instantly thought that Brutus should be put into a position to inspire slaves. He did not let Brutus realized how much he valued him until Brutus found out for himself just how valuable he was.Nixon: Like Brutus, Buzzy really liked her as a student. She was exceptionally intelligent and went out of her way to be friendly to the teachers. She would give Buzzy math related presents on Christmas, similar to Brutus. Buzzy was always a little perturbed by how persistent they were in finding him after school to ask him questions, which interefered with his sometimes rushed schedule, but otherwise he had a very friendly relationship with her. After being abducted by the nuadine, it was his friendship with her that made him very nice to the rest of the stowaway humans.Michelangelo: Buzzy trusts Michael more than he should. He thinks that Michael has a lot of strength and a lot of potential, similar to Brutus. His friendly nature had somewhat blinded him to Michael's flaws. Even by the end of the story, he wasn't fully aware that Michael had been consumed by hatred. He only wanted to help Michael get away from Craytus.

Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh

Edited by Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:Contrary to Gorag, I actually do read every single post in this topic. So far I've been agreeing with JKK Tekulo, who put down ideas that I subconsciously adhere to but didn't consciously think to explain in this topic.

...Wait, are you saying you've been agreeing or disagreeing with me? O.o Not that I really care too much, it's just I wasn't sure how to decode that part of the sentence. XD And yeah, I tend to disagree a lot... But, hey, what's a discussion if everyone just plain agrees? It's boring is what it is. ;D And real-time, huh? That sounds cool, actually! I don't do it real-time. I visit back to the plot here and there and try to make up my mind on my ideas. I continue from the chapter where I leave off, but I still have a general idea of what I want to do with the plot. I just hope I can get there with my characters and setting. It's like my characters have a life of their own, their own persona and their own thoughts and soul. I'm just there trying to record what's important and trying to figure out how they would act. And so far, all that's done is progress the plot to my liking (even when I didn't realize it at the time). It's kinda strange to think about... But my characters come from my own persona, so I can relate to each of them to a degree. But then the character turns from a base into its own person, and then I find I can relate a little less as I probably wouldn't react the same way to things as they would (if that makes any sense).

Executive Vice President of Tomato Throwing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:I've been agreeing with you because you've been saying things that I wish that I could have expressed myself. They had a lot to do with points that I was feebly trying to make. I notice that there was a typo there: I meant to say "JKK and Tekula", but I guess I just forgot that middle word. I hope that helps. By the way, I just saw The Glass Menagerie. It's an awesome play. And it's really inspired me as far as understanding the character Theo, who I was brooding about earlier as being elusive. I didn't go into the play expecting to be inspired in how to write my own story, although I did keep my mind open in case I saw something that helped me figure out certain areas of the story better. It looks like it payed off. Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:What's the protagonist group's name? While I'm at it, in case you've posted it and I've overlooked it, can you also explain what your story's about? It would help to see things in context.While on the subject of debating between names, I'm debating between Arcite and Arcane as names for the first president of the AZA. I want something that sounds noble, and preferably two syllables long. Unfortunately, Arcite is the name of a character in the Canterburry Tales and Arcane (which sounds better) is already a word. I'm erring slightly to the side of Arcane, though, because it has the word "cane" in it, which kind of sounds cool. However, I might go with something completely different. Either way, I'm looking for something noble and powerful, like Washington or King Arthur, that's worthy of the first president of an interdimensional empire. And it has to be one name, and it has to fit the culture of the planet he's from, et cetera. Too bad I don't have the culture of his world fully figured out.The second president, is good old Brutus Nobody. I'll have to dedicate a post to him sometime.Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh Edited by Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome back! This topic has been a bit too silent for my taste :)I do agree that Arcane sounds better. Does it fit his personality? I'd imagine a character named Arcane to be hard to understand, perpetually off in another world, yet full of practical wisdom.Arcien is another name that came to mind when I read your description, but again, I don't know if it fits.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:Arcane's character was never too developed. He was mostly there because he logically had to be in my worldbuilding process. I mean, if Brutus was the second president of the AZA, then someone had to be first. Here's the best profile I can give at the moment:

Author's Interpretation:

Arcane came about primarily due to inspiration from the Toa Hagah sets, back when I blatantly incorporated characters from other franchises into my own stories, before I truly considered making my little sandbox into its own original story. One being I imagined in the form of Norik, and he was the right-hand man of Emperor Kraggh, a wiseman, and a loyal subject and warrior. Toa Iruini was thrown in for the sake of having them both, although he played a far less prominent role in the narrative of the twelfth and sixteenth books. The figure in the form of Norik was turned into Brutus. The more distant Iruini, who was known simply for having been in the struggle, became Arcane.Initially Arcane was viewed as being a tall, lean muzcoid [Note to JKK: Within the context of my writing this merely means an anthropomorphic wolf, and the word is used like the word "humanoid" to describe species similar to the muzca] with long sideburns, so as to match Iruini's frame and mask, but he was recently turned into a species that resembled a anthropomorphic lion so as to be more noble in appearance. Although this created a few continuity problems (Kraggh initially made allies out of Arcane's people because he himself was a muzcoid), a little stretching of Arcane's background made it possible. Since I had no particular attachment to Toa Iruini, it wasn't too hard to remove any tips of the hat to him from Arcane's physical appearance.One of the goals with Arcane is to create a legendary first president who sets a high standard for later presidents, much like George Washington did in America. However, he is not meant to be analogous to George Washington.
Background:
Arcane was the king over the nation of Iniuri [Hey, it looks like I have a reference to Iruini after all :)) on the planet of Gatho. On this world the sword has been the pinnacle of technology for thousands of years. Throughout the world, the predominant species was muzcoid, although a few other minor races existed as well, including Arcane's lion species.Ancestors of Arcane have been great war heroes and leaders, which in turn established his family as the long-ruling and respected royal family of the kingdom of Iniuri. Prior to being introduced to the IDES, Arcane ruled over a peaceful time of economic prosperity. However, this time was also culturally stagnant, and it had been six generations since Iniuri had last seena cultural golden age. Pride of kingdom was scarce and a sense of national identity was vague.In his personal life, Arcane was married to Queen Sabi and fathered a single son named Astar. He kept his family matters private and the only people who knew much about the royal family were the people at the castle and a few nobles, as well as other noble lion families with daughters with whom Astar might marry.He made a habit of travelling around the kingdom to make sure he had a good understanding of the needs of Iniuri's economy. One of his major achievements was that under his reign he began to help establish the rise of a strong middle class that replaced the peasant class. Because of this he was very popular with the people, although they did not harold as a champion with the same reverence that heroes during a time or crisis were given, like Arcane's ancestors. However, he still enjoyed complete political stability, which had not happened for some time, since the last several muzcoids had grown to resent having a ruler from another species and there was traditionally some tension between the common people and the royalty.When the planet Gatho was introduced to the Inter Dimensional Economic System, Arcane took advantage of the contact immediately and set up trade relations. He was interested in attaining new portal-age technology because he thought that it would revolutionize Iniuri culture if he could successfully implement it. He was, however, very careful about how to incorporate portal-age technology into his civilization without turning it upside down, and began to first focus on using the technology to slowly improve his kingdom's infrastructure. He initiated a policy of hiring Kitilik Kizers to come over to Iniuri and teach Iniuri youth in the ways of the advanced societies of the stars. Meanwhile, he worked hard to create a plan so that Iniuri could be technologically advanced and still retain its culture of swords and shields. What he imagined was making a transition to a society styled after steampunk literature.Before long, however, contact with the rest of the IDES led to a conflict with the Bankish Empire, which invaded the technologically inferior Gatho in order to expand its territory. All nations except for Iniuri were annihilated, who called for the protection of the Defenders. He allowed for a Defender base to be located within his kingdom. The Defenders later created a diversion on Gatho by using spies to convince large amounts of Catharine armies to believe that they were relocating the Mathazon Crystal to be guarded by Arcane. This trick was used as a diversion so that Monosmith, then going by the alias Mr. Maker, could steal a few important items from Master Legious. This diversion led to a giant battle that lasted for two months, and for the most part involving regular ground troops and a combination between advanced weapons and regular swords. Arcane took part in this battle, especially because the Bankish Empire was on the opposing side.Early in this battle, Mr. Maker was successful in attaining three of Legious's prized weapons, and Kraggh was given the Bar of Summer. By wielding this weapon, he became a significant force on the battlefield. Although the Defenders were outnumbered, he turned the tide of the battle, and Arcane fought side-by-side with him. Kraggh, who had already had dreams of creating an empire of his own, proposed his ideas to Arcane. The deal was that Iniuri would become an ally of Kraggh and the first in a number of zones in the Amalgamated Zones of Alphega. Kraggh needed them in order to gain his first followers and initial army. The Iniuri would have the full benefits of being the empire's first citizens. Kraggh would also protect Iniuri's territorial claim to the rest of Gatho, since they were the only society left on the world. Arcane, seeing Kraggh's potential and being on good terms with him, agreed.Several conquests later, a formal constitution was written, containing three branches of the government, with Kraggh forming the royal family within the judicial branch. Arcane was unanimously elected president with Brutus Nobody as his vice president. In order to have this position, however, the constitution required that he give up his seat as royalty over Iniuri. In response to this, Arcane abolished the royal family of Iniuri and became a regular citizen of his home zone. In his place, he arranged for a muzcoid nobleman to start the new royal family.Arcane was a very popular president, especially because in Alphega's early years the country was at constant was with the Bankish Empire and other Catharine nations. During the downfall of the Defenders, he spent much time on the battlefield risking his life. He was an expert at making conquered territories happy with their new empire. After his four year term was up, even though the Alphegan constitution only limited him to two, he did not run for a second term, even though he could have won unanimously again. Brutus Nobody was unanimously elected the second president of the AZA.
Personality:
As Arcane was only ever there as part of historical detail, his personality has not been developed. His actions give some indications to his intentions and desires, but a personal knowledge of him has not been realized. It ca be assumed that he has very reliable skills in self-control.
Physical Appearance:
Arcane looks like a bipedal lion and stands roughly eight feet tall. His fur is golden. Before contact with the IDES, he was known for wearing green and gold robes. After contact, he tended to wear shiny metal armor. After becoming the first president of the AZA, he set a trend on his inaugural day for wearing advanced and practical technological armor custom-made for him. As the national colors of Alphega at the time were black, white, ad gunmetal gray, his armor was composed purely of these colors.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Arcane is very strong and resistant to harm due to his imposing frame. He can take many wounds before wearing out. He is talented on the battlefield, having been trained by a private tutor when he was a prince. Arcane is very brave.He is known by his family to also be very loyal to them. Having only one son, the responsibilities as a ruler have not been too much to take away his time with his son.Arcane was known for being a particularly good orator, though this is linked to his lion's voice and the overall effect of his present.As a ruler, his strength lies in his ability to look ahead and adapt.
Beliefs and Values:
Arcane is not concerned about himself but for the people for whom he serves as king, and later president. He believes that his rule has been ordained by God and that as such it is his responsibility to be a righteous ruler. Another philosophy he has adopted as ruler has been the principle of humility, which led to his single term in office as president.When he gave up his position as king of Iniuri, his most important objective when finding a new kind was to appoint someone who would carry through on the policy he started of slowly integrating Iniuri into contemporary society. Arcane's goal was to use the historical moment to bring back the old national identity of Iniuri. Hopefully the new technology would be a catalyst without changing the face of Iniuri society. As a governor, this issue was perhaps of most importance to him.
Relationships with Other Characters:
Kraggh: Arcane got on very good terms with Kraggh after being assisted in the Mathazon decoy. After enough mutual struggle, Arcane was willing to give Kraggh his original army. This was Kraggh's big breakthrough. However, he did not quite develop a close personal friendship with Kraggh as Brutus did.Brutus Nobody: Arcane and Brutus were expedient political partners. Both of them had fought together in war.

As you can tell, most of my impressions of Arcane are derived from simply having him in the background during a certain battle, back then in the image of Iruini Hagah. Most of everything else comes from my understanding of certain battles and historic events.I'm also debating whether or not Iniuri should be the name of the kingdom or the lion-like species. I'm a little more swayed to name Arcane's species Iniuri, although then I'll be back at having to name for a kingdom I've referenced often enough.By the way, here's the plot summary you asked for, JKK:

Chapter 1: The legend began with an evil from long before any living memory. It continues now in the present, and its name is Craytus, a monster of pure evil. He arrives on the planet of Caith, where there is a hyperdimensional space warp storm. With both his intelligence and his immense strength he captures many of them and puts them on slave ships. He stops when he finds in a temple a black sword that glows white when he holds it, which he takes for himself, and a special crystal, which he destroys, saying something about "death taking his enemy".Chapter 2: Buzzy is an 8-year-old inmun from the country of Tesk on the planet of Alantra. His father is an influential person in the senate, and since he has the money he sends Buzzy to military school in space, where the education and quality of life is far better. Buzzy has to say goodbye to La'ti, who is his lifetime friend and the daughter of two other influential politicians. On one of the space stations, Buzzy then meets kids his age, Laryn, Daxtorum, and "Red", who all become his friends, and they help each other survive the expectations of their commanding officers.Chapter 3: Buzzy is 14. An espionage mission has managed to get information from the nuadine. The nuadine are a species of space pirates that travel through outer space, have great knowledge of the hidden nooks and crannies of the universe, possess efficient warmhole technology, and terrorize most people they meet, which include the inmuns. The information retrieved gave coordinated for two planets with bipedal species. One of these planets is Earth. This is the first contact that the imnuns have made with another world, albeit indirect. They decided to send an expedition to one of these planets in hopes of finding an ally against the nuadine menace. Buzzy and his friends are chosen to be on this expedition because they are young enough to be able to integrate into Earth society without too much suspicion, and because they are still young enough to learn a new language easily. One of the first warm holes in inmun history is opened for the expedition.Chapter 4: Buzzy and his friends get used to Earth. To their frustration, it is not as advanced as they hoped, though Earth society does develop nearly one thousand times faster than inmun society. Then, they discover a top-secret American compound hidden underground in Iowa, where three scientists in the military invented a small, practical, and reusable interdimensional traveling device (IDTD). The technology is far more advanced than anything invented by any species. The inmun expedition party knows that they must somehow attain the technology, though they know that trying to infiltrate the fortress will take another few years. The night after they discover the secret, Buzzy goes to bed and begins thinking back to life on Alantra, and begins wondering how La'Ti is doing. Meanwhile, on Alantra, a revolt is taking place in the capital city of Tesk, Damatar. Sualls, the power-hungry and slightly vain leader of the giant gang Gruy Fdanga, leads an attack against the capitol building. La'ti caught in the mess because she was visiting her father, who had been elected president. This instability distracts the cosmy (space military), and the nuadine are able to penetrate the planetary defense, knowing in advance that this was going to happen because Craytus had manipulated it to happen from afar. He captures all the people in the capitol building, most of them without the help of his fellow nuadine.Chapter 5: Buzzy is now 21 and under the guise of Buddy Booker. He has already earned a Master's Degree in math and has been teaching the subject in a high school near the underground military facility. Their commanding officer had died a little while back and no one really stepped into his position, so the mission continued to keep focus through the strength of the friendship of the people in it. They had managed to uncover calculations and blueprints for the invention of the IDTD, but they were so complicated that the inmuns deduced that the only way to figure an IDTD out was to steal a prototype and reverse-engineer it. Although he is preoccupied with his mission, he is often pursued by two of his most dedicated students, a sophomore named Nixon Zweifel and a senior named Brutus Nobody. He also encountered a man named Mark Monosmith in person, who he knew was one of the inventors of the IDTD. Approaching Christmas time, the inmun team finally manages to infiltrate the underground facility and steal the original prototype. They were intercepted and had to flee as fast as possible. As they reach the farm they made their hideout, Monosmith is waiting for them, having had suspicions about Buzzy from their past encounters. They hold Monosmith hostage and bring him with them when they launch from their rocket ship hidden under the silo. Little do they know, Nixon, Brutus, and their younger brother and sister, Michelangelo and Gertrude, had been visiting the house to talk to Buzzy and became stowaways on their ship.Chapter 6: Buzzy and his friends come to the consensus that Monosmith is valuable for his knowledge of the IDTD, and eventually they come off on good terms and respect for each other, although uneasiness still lingers. Monosmith discovers the youth trapped on the spaceship and initially tries to keep them secret, but then others find out. Some inmuns want to depose of them, since they are a burden, but Buzzy is against the idea and convinces everyone to take responsibility for their human stowaways. Everyone gets to know each other better for another two days until they round the moon and come to the giant warmhole generator hidden on the other side. The inmuns land on the moon, activate the generator, and head back to Alantra.Chapter 7: The ship arrives in the middle of a giant space battle with the nuadine, is damaged, and captured. They are taken through another warmhole to a colossal nuadine ringworld. They find out that they will be enslaved. Knowing in advance that they will be stripped and dressed into green slave clothes, Brutus removes his clothes and hides them. Laryn, Monosmith, Buzzy, and Michael follow suit. As they are being led to the facilitation area, there is an explosion. Amidst the commotion, Nixon and Gertrude escape into the catacombs. Michael attempts to follow, but is unsuccessful. Not only is he caught, but his eyes get burned out by fire and ashes, and he is rendered blind. Everyone is dressed in green clothes, given a number branded onto their hands, and made to work on feeding Quarr, the giant organic part of the ship. Everyone is split up. Group A) Brutus, Dexter, Laryn, and Michael Group http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.png Buzzy and Monosmith Group C) Red and the remaining inmunsChapter 8: Michael is tied down to a table in a dark room and Craytus stands over him. Without the use of anesthetics, a surgery is performed on Michael. He is given an artificial spine which glows red under his skin. It sends messages of all-consuming pain to his mind that are 53 times more intense than what humans are neurologically capable of comprehending. Michael suffers for 3 days before the pain subsides instantaneously. He discovers that he can now see through the eyes of others nearby (with the exception of nuadine), speak the nuadine language, and has a rather high pain tolerance. He is leased back to his group of people, where he is made to translate for their nuadine master, Molgog. Upon checking his hidden watch, he determines that his surgery was done on Christmas Day.Chapter 9: Laryn began rebelling against the nuadine and actively disrespecting them, being an idealist who could not stand slavery and wished not to compromise his freedom for his life. His behavior began to result not only in punishments for himself, but punishments for everyone else. Fearing death, Dexter kills Laryn, and is witnessed by Brutus. Brutus ponders the wisdom of this action. Later, Brutus begins exercising when he is not being supervised by Molgog. It is hard because the gravity in the ringworld is twice as strong as that on Earth, but with steadfast determination he progresses to be stronger and stronger. Michael is taunted by Molgog, who knows that he can understand what he says, and begins to brood.Chapter 10: After some time has gone by, Brutus discovers an opportunity to sabotage the sedation area of their holdings without getting caught. Now when locked up and put under sedation, Brutus can fake sleep and break free of his holdings, allowing him more flexibility. When he is officially supposed to be retired for the day, Brutus takes advantage of being unattended. With Michael's help, he dismantles some of the security measures set up to contain and maintain them. They are now able to leave when they want, but know that their absence will be noticed. He asks Michael if he can use his abilities to scout their giant prison when the opportunity arises.Chapter 11: When more people are being shipped in, Michael leads Brutus to Monosmith and Buzzy in a long and complicated journey. With them happen to be La'ti and Sualls. Sualls has also gone blind and has received the same implant as Michael. Brutus explains to Monosmith and Buzzy his hopes of establishing a network amongst allies and stimulate an underground movement so that slaves aren't entirely at the mercy of the nuadine, and he also shows them how to sabotage their sedation tanks. In private, Sualls tells Michael that Craytus had captured her as well, and that typically the procedures aren't as painful unless done personally by Craytus. Michael develops a deep personal hatred against his torturer.Chapter 12: A journal entry by Nixon. She was wandering through the catacombs with Gertrude, avoiding particularly monstrous nuadine, until they are spotted and tracked by a nuadine with a particular lust for eating children. He hunted them down, and as they fled they came across a large chamber at the heart of Quarr. Nixon saw the eye of Quarr and the eye of Quarr saw her. Its vision penetrated into her soul and tormented her, but then she had a vision, and she was in a field of stars. She could still see Quarr, but she sensed that Quarr was now looking past her. She turned around and saw a silver figure with a rainbow light coming from its crown. It told her to come with it, and to be safe from Quarr. Once she followed, she sensed that she could no longer be seen by the red eye. The silver being then showed her a haven for her to hide in and also explains the background of Kaiac, the child-eating nuadine that hunts her. When Nixon asked the being why she was having a vision, the being tells her that she was always a person of vision. When she came back to the real world, she found that she was somewhere else, Gertrude at her side. Nixon then followed her vision to find the safe haven.Chapter 13: On another day, Michael lurks around the ring world with Monosmith trying to find Red. Michael is separated from Monosmith when he gets sidetracked. He sees through someone else's eyes Craytus, and he breaks from the mission in order to stalk him. He follows Craytus to a hangar with a single ship. Here, Craytus catches Michael and brings him to a chamber with aliens whom he had long ago seduced, performing a haunting firedance in honor of Craytus. All of them had received the same surgery as Michael. Craytus tells Michael that this is his destiny, and then lets him go without question.Chapter 14: Michael reunites with Monosmith and they hurry to find Red before their masters realize that they are missing. Fortunately, they are successful. Unfortunately, they get lost on their way back. They stumble across a place with thousands of pieces of armor on the walls. Monosmith notices an upside-down drawing of an American flag on an exceptionally heavy cape and investigates. They find that the cape is draped over a tunnel. Deep inside, they find Nixon and Gertrude in hiding, along with a sick alien they have been caring for. Their secret annex is large enough to hide many runaway slaves. Michael explains everything that happened to him, and she helps him and Monosmith back to their places before the work day starts again. Monosmith believes that she will provide a safe haven for injured and otherwise afflicted slaves in a possible "underground railroad". On the way, they are attacked by Kaiac, who attempts to eat Michael. They are capable of fighting the nuadine off.Chapter 15: As time passes, Brutus successfully conspires acts of sabotaging various sedation chambers within several miles of his own place. Then he finds out that Buzzy and Monosmith, with the help of Sualls, have been spreading word of him among the slaves in hopes that he would inspire and lead a rebellion. Then one day, as he and his fellow slaves under Molgog are awake and free of their sedation chambers, their master enters. Brutus's fellow slaves disperse, but Brutus stands defiantly. Molgog approaches Brutus intending to kill him, but he underestimates Brutus's strength. Someone tosses Brutus a spear, and he is able to overpower Molgog. While being held by the neck by Brutus's branded hand, Molgog curses Brutus and calls him by his slave name, to which Brutus shouts "I AM BRUTUS!" The slaves cheer Brutus on, and Molgog is beat until he has lost all spirit. Brutus blackmails Molgog to help the slaves conspire, since the experience was humiliating for Molgog. Upon this success, Brutus begins to genuinely hope for the first time for escape from the nuadine.Chapter 16: Knowing that he can only keep Molgog on a leash for so long, Brutus hatches a plan for immanent freedom. He has Molgog give them weapons and a map of their section of the ring world. He locates the nearest hangar and warmhole generator, and then has Buzzy and Dexter learn how to operate them. Yet unknown to Brutus, Michael is conspiring with Sualls to find support among aliens who were personally enslaved by Craytus. Michael has little intention to help with the escape and is more intent on sacrificing the freedom effort in order to get revenge on Craytus. Sualls has even agreed to stay behind during the rebellion and look for Craytus. He tells Nixon how he feels and what his plans are. Nixon, meanwhile, has had many people come to her haven and has been allowing children to stay permanently.Chapter 17: The day for the rebellion comes and Brutus feels bound by honor to lead a diversion against the nuadine. Dexter, however, who has been sulking around, volunteers to go instead, for after sacrificing Laryn he owes it to sacrifice himself. He only asks Brutus that Buzzy knows his reasons. Nixon knows that Michael might actually sabotage the effort and decides to tell Brutus. Brutus chooses to have faith in Michael and consider the information false, though he is uneasy. Nixon decides to stay behind and keep the safe haven running, just in case, and so that Dexter and the others can get to the hiding place if they survive. Along with the remaining unnamed inmuns, Dexter travels to another section of the ring world, carrying weapons for sabotage on a large scale. While nuadine are distracted by the rupturing of a power core, hundreds of slaves meet at a docking bay. As they are trying to dock the ships, they are ambushed by nuadine. Michael had found out that his spine was also a tracking device, and he found a way to send out an alert, which he did, hoping that Craytus would arrive personally, which he didn't. Most of the slaves involved are killed, and Brutus is taken elsewhere to be severely punished. Mortified that his plan didn't work, Michael surrenders.Chapter 18: The sedation chambers are fixed and improved to be free of sabotage, yet Michael finds himself freed anyway by Gertrude. Asides from Brutus and Nixon, she's the only person who knows about the counter-conspiracy. She tells him that she doesn't think that he's bad for what he did. Using weapons stashed away in the secret annex, they find more violent ways of breaking the sedation cells. Knowing that now they have no chance at keeping their conspiracy secret, they decide to herd everyone to the secret annex. With Gertrude, Michael also travels to the chambers of Buzzy and Monosmith to set them free. Monosmith and Buzzy, after waking up, decide that after resting in the secret annex the most important thing to do is to save Brutus, who was the inspirational leader that was necessary for uniting the slaves. When they head back to the secret annex, Michael tells them that he has a tracking device built into them and that he cannot follow, but Sualls has established a nomadic clan amongst her Gruy Fdanga followers that is willing to take him in. Gertrude tells him that she only hopes that he's more concerned for his own safety than for bringing Craytus justice.Chapter 19: With everyone but Brutus, Michael, and Sualls in the secrete annex, people begin to make themselves home. Buzzy and Monosmith even dressed in their normal clothes and Gertrude wore her brother's letterman jacket. Nixon tells Buzzy of some of the adventures that Michael had, and Buzzy recognizes from its description that the ship that Michael met Craytus on was the Eminuzzy, an inmun ship. Monosmith and Buzzy both volunteer to leave the place to gather supplies when necessary. One day while guarding the entrance, Buzzy asks Monosmith what he thinks of La'ti. Monosmith gives a rather stoic reaction. Buzzy tell La'ti how he's come to feel about her after they find out if Brutus is alive or not. One day a message from a Gruy Fdanga member comes to them. Michael has found out where Brutus is and gave them instructions. Excited, Buzzy finds La'ti and tells her the news, then asks her if things work out in the end if they could start a relationship. She tells him "did you know that I don't like you anyway so stop stalking me". Buzzy never stalked her or treated her any different, so he's shocked by her reaction, an a bit heartbroken. Monosmith flinches when Buzzy tells him. Dexter and Red join them, and they launch a mission to save Brutus, who is being held hostage by Craytus. Several miles later, they break into a lair, where they find Brutus in a tank, where he is being held as a trophy. As they free him, Craytus watches over them. Nuadine appear and attack the freedom fighters, but they are able to carry Brutus out and flee.Chapter 20: While they are fighting, Michael and Gruy Fdanga are lying in wait nearby. They ambush the nuadine who ambushed the rescue team. Craytus leaves the scene and Michael pursues. In a great chase, Michael gets exposed the eye of Quarr. It pierces into his soul and he is filled with hatred and other evil thoughts. A struggle ensues within his soul. The fight for Brutus is also taken into the heart of Quarr and it battles all around Michael. Monosmith finds out that Sualls has the lost IDTD prototype and fights against her to gain it back. Brutus awakens and joins the fight. Craytus kills Sualls and gains the IDTD.Chapter 21: Craytus leaves the battle and heads strait to the secret annex, having somehow learned of its position. Michael tries to catch up with Craytus, but is too late. As people flee from the secret annex, Craytus singles out Nixon and kidnaps her, Kaiac accompanying him. Michael tries to keep the best pursuit he can and follows Craytus to a docking bay, where Craytus takes Nixon onto a fighter ship. Michael follows Craytus on. He stows away on Craytus's ship before it lifts off. Craytus goes through a warmhole and on the other side is a magnificent nebula. He flies through an ice field and discovers a hidden temple in outer space. He docks and brings Nixon in. Michael waits a while and follows. Inside the temple, Craytus has Nixon tied to a stake with Kaiac lusting over her. Michael loaded his shock rifle and fired it on Craytus, only to find that he was invulnerable to its energy. Craytus draws the sword that glows white, then demonstrates that it can indeed cut him. Then he throws it and Nixon's necklace to Michael. He tells Michael to have faith in the sword and he will be able to use it. Michael tries a few times to attack Craytus with it, but then remembers the red eye of Quarr, and also his hatred for his own father, and is able to turn the sword white. Craytus tells Michael that he has met his destiny, and a great white force is summoned. Kaiac backs off as Michael puts up a worthy fight, but Craytus casually knocks him to the ground, then leaves them both for dead.Chapter 22: While fighting, Buzzy tells Brutus of the Eminuzzy, which should be easy to operate, and is large enough to fit all of their allies on. They find out where Craytus, Michael, and Nixon are, then decide to pursue them. After managing to get them to the Eminuzzy, they spot the warmhole left by Craytus and pursue. When they find the temple in space, they dock as well. They find Craytus in the temple about to leave. Brutus immediately runs to free Nixon. Buzzy and Monosmith fight with Craytus, but find their weapons next to useless. Brutus, Michael, and Nixon flee to the outskirts of the fight. Nixon flees, but Michael insists on staying. Once again, he is willing to kill Craytus even if it puts everyone else at jeopardy. Brutus realizes that he must fight against his friend and betray him. Monosmith finds another sword stuck in the mirror floor. As he picked it up, he sees that his reflection in the floor is that of a black figure. He then severs the staff that Craytus wields and decapitates Craytus. He takes from Craytus's body the IDTD. During the fight, damage was done to a life support system that kept the temple habitable. Buzzy and Monosmith manage to flee to the ship before it goes off, but Brutus and Michael were not so lucky. When the inmuns on board the Eminuzzy searches later, they found no bodies left. Monosmith had to tell Nixon and Gertrude the news about their brothers.Chapter 23: Monosmith uses secrets of the IDTD technology to get the energy to open another warmhole. They set their course for Alantra. When they arrive, Buzzy takes on the mantle of acting captain, which is not questioned by his own military. The country of Tesk has since recovered from the invasion on its capital and is open to being hospitable to the several hundred convicts. Yet, there is a problem. The United Alantran Cosmy has sent all ships to invade the strategically important gas giant Jorunge from the nuadine. Before heading home, the Eminuzzy must join Fleet 53 and fight for the planet. When the epic battle starts, Nixon realizes that Kaiac has sneaked onto the Eminuzzy. He begins stalking and eating children whom Nixon had taken into custody while operating the secret annex. When Kaiac appears next, Nixon rushes to save the next victim. She ultimately kills Kaiac while Protecting Gertrude and other younger children.Chapter 24: In the battle for Jorunge, Monosmith secretly uses the IDTD as a special weapon. Because of this, he and Buzzy are ultimately able to destroy one of the largest ships in the nuadine atmosphere. After the victory, the inmuns fortify the planet and the crew on board the Eminuzzy is allowed a safe voyage to Alantra. Buzzy confers with Monosmith that he will do everything within his power to ensure that someday the three surviving humans will be returned home. Some things have changed and others have not. He still begrudges Dexter, but he has put La'ti in his past. He realizes that friendship is more important and more real to him than love. He then tells Monosmith that he is his friend.Chapter 25: A journal entry by Nixon They are currently living on Alantra. She wrote about the giant celebration in the streets of Damatar upon the victory with Jorunge and of the hero's welcome they received. She misses her younger brother, but Buzzy, Gertrude, and Monosmith have become as family to her. La’ti mentioned that perhaps it was a good thing that Brutus died because otherwise he would have violated Nixon’s dignity by asking her out like all men do. Nixon doesn’t care whether Buzzy’s over La’ti or not and punches her in the face. And she met a mysterious hooded stranger...THE END

Recently I have come to understand my own writing style a bit better, however, and I know that a few details of this outline will change. For example, part of my epic narrative is that I have many characters taking part in multiple subplots that all intertwine and play critical roles to the story while also being dramatic stories on their own. I believe that I have a bit of that here, but not as much as I'd like. For example, Gertrude needs her own subplot and Nixon's is not developed enough. There's enough that needs to go on, plus there's one plot element I have yet to tie in that needs to be there for a later book (something like book 12). Still, you get the general idea of how this outline works. Plus I have plans to write in-depth character outlines to cover the details of individual characters, as well as basic place outlines and thing outlines. Perhaps I will also have outlines for ideas, now that I think about it. As I've said earlier, my fully matured format has not been applied to all the charaters as it takes a lot of time, so the best I can offer you is this:

PeopleBuzzy: He is an inmun soldier known for his friendliness and his loyalty. His father was an influential Teskite politician, and other people in Buzzy’s family history have been prominent and colorful people.Although it is not a conscious philosophy, he puts a lot of value in friendship. There are the types of outgoing and popular people who are easy to hate, but it is impossible to be annoyed by Buzzy. With his good social skills he can naturally adapt to various different types of conversations with different people. He is trustworthy, fair, and committed to his friends. A favorite line of his is “A friend of [name a person] is a friend of mine.” When the love of his life, La’ti, turned him down, he was able to get over it fast and realized that he didn’t care so much about romance. For the rest of his life he never married nor got into any relationship that exceeded the platonic level. To him, these relationships felt more genuine. Laryn had been his best friend since joining the military, although since Laryn’s death Monosmith took on the role after many shared experiences and struggles. However, although renowned for his friendliness, he is also defined by his training as a soldier. He is the type of person who will put down his life for a cause without second thought because it’s his job. He is always ready to follow his leaders into even the darkest of nightmares. Like most inmuns, he is a professional gunslinger and is known for carrying around his pistols whenever possible. He also wears his military uniform to bed. He is exceptional in mathematics and understands math far better than most humans. This is not out of natural intelligence but out of rigorous education within the military, which valued math and science. Buzzy is not obsessive about math and does not come off as nerdy. He personally does not feel an obligation to attain knowledge for its own sake. His gift of genius lies behind his common sense, which he always lives by. He has very few insecurities and he’s content with who he is. He does not feel the need to prove himself. He also often accepts other people for who they are. Buzzy has messy purple hair with a roundish face and boyish features. His uniform looks similar to a scuba-diving suit, and has a chartreuse top and a sky-blue bottom. Brutus Nobody: Born Brutus Poepjes, he legally changed his surname upon turning 18 in May because it was embarrassing, even though he respected it as part of his heritage. From Sioux Center, Iowa, his father died when he was eight. His younger sister is Gertrude. He has a history as being good in both sports and academics. He was the quarterback his senior year. He would have also won a bid for class president every year, but he never ran. Among his friends and associates, he brought an air of decency. People were more respectful of each other while he was around. One reason for this was because he would help other people with their homework and other challenges. Upon attaining adulthood he began to think much about what his rite of passage meant. Asides from changing his name, he also bought a small piece of property with a nice view, upon which he hoped to build a house someday, which complemented his desire to build houses for a living. He also stopped dating and focused more on a few more important things, such as his academics and finding ways to personally improve himself. Even so, he didn’t quite feel that he had fully grown up. He feels that he has proven himself as an individual, what with his impressive track record in school, but feels that there are greater callings still out there for him. By the end of the first book, he feels that he has truly become a man. Brutus possesses the qualities of a leader. He is strong and puts the needs of everyone before his own. He is a believer in causes and doesn’t give up on them. He is a good listener and open-minded. He is able to swallow tough decisions, even willing take on the burden of guilt and contradict his values if he feels they get in the way of what is ultimately the right decision. Brutus is destined for great stress beyond what most people endure, but he will manage to survive, albeit a changed person. He wears a letterman jacket with an academic letter over the heart. On the right it displays his first name and his graduation year. This is his signature appearance in the first book, especially since it helps slaves identify him based off of a simple description. His appearance is very plain but sincere. Throughout the series, he changes dramatically, but he will always be truly noble. Craytus: He is a nuadine of pure evil. His background is shrouded in a mystery. No one, save for Quarr, knows his past, which extends for at least 10,000 years. In the present he is known primarily for being a slaver for the nuadine. Given the choice between serving in Heaven and ruling in ######, Craytus would choose the later. Furthermore, given the choice of ruling in heaven and serving in ######, Craytus would still choose the later. He fully understands and believes in the doctrines of the Trinity and salvation by God’s sacrificial grace, but he rejoices in being an enemy of God. His ultimate goal is to corrupt others to evil as well. He feels no shame I being as wicked as possible. Even though he knows the consequences, he uses the free will that God gave him to choose evil, knowing fully the difference between right and wrong. He has no motivation for adopting this mode of existence. He did not turn evil due to emotions, nor was he corrupted to evil from outside influences. It is he fundamental quality of who he is. “Craytus” is the nuadine word for “evil”. He is a plotter and a schemer of frightening intellect. His foresight overextends that of almost any living being. Nobody surprises nor intimidates him. He is the one with the power to surprise and intimidate. He also seems to know everyone on a deep level, often better than they do themselves, and even before formal face-to-face encounters. He seems to bring out the worst in people without having to lure them away from the light with sweet melodic lies. He has seduced people to love evil without disguising it as purity, and has caused people to fall into blasphemy without first tripping them up with heresy. Craytus has a personal relationship with Quarr. Somehow they know each other in a forgotten past. To outsiders, it is difficult to tell who the master is. One would assume that Quarr, as a master over its world, and a force of great evil itself, is the greater power and the master over Craytus. Yet, Craytus is so wicked that he doesn’t even answer to his own nuadine lord. Craytus stands apart from the other nuadine. He is more evil, more powerful, and certainly older than almost all others. Although he associates with them, it is primarily because his fellow nuadine are wicked enough that association with them will suit his needs. However, Quarr understands the independence of Craytus. Just as Superman doesn’t belong to America, but the world, Craytus doesn’t belong to Quarr, but instead belongs nowhere. He is a tall, dark figure of about six and a half feet, not including the horn on his head. He often wears a black cape draped over his wide shoulders and gauntlets. His head appears to be a helmet with mandibles and angular eye openings, from behind which his eyes glow red. He had a horn on his forehead that makes him look all the more demonic. His voice is that of a dragon’s, deep, ominous, and powerful. His figure is humanoid. His strength is legendary, and can overcome gravity thousands of times greater than Earth’s. Characteristic of him are his staffs, which are 125 pounds and glow blue energy at the tips. They are well-balanced and quite destructive. He wields these fluidly in combat and can overcome a legion of people. He has a large supply of these energy staffs. He is also protected by a powerful, invisible energy shield. Altough this is common among nuadine, his is far more powerful, and he can resist not only bullets, but also energy blasts by shock rifles and his own staffs. He’s far from indestructible, but even if his body was destroyed, Craytus’s essence would still survive and manifest itself in a new body on another day. Craytus is a Satanist and a witch-doctor. He has also explored occult practices, and believes in spirits. Only Quarr knew of the full extent of Craytus’s occult plots, although Craytus had a few corrupt followers who worshipped Craytus’s ends and had a vague idea of how close he was to realizing his visions. His ambitions were far greater than what anyone could have expected, and intends to summon the angel of Death into a physical reality so that it may be a God among men, and so that his plans for the damnation of the sons and daughter of God can be realized on a higher scale. It is to Death itself that Craytus acknowledges himself an apprentice to.Dexter: He is an inmun born in the city of Damatar. For the first part of his life he lived in the slums and gangs of the city. He is accustomed to violence and struggling to live. He understands the art of compromise. He is very streetwise and knows how to deal with shadier personalities. He has a good poker-face. Like Buzzy, he joined the Teskite military at age 8. He felt that it was a viable means of escape from the filthy gang life. Accustomed to adopting façades, he was able to pretend that his background wasn’t so unruly, although he still had a darker personality than everyone else. It could usually be seen in the subtleties of his expressions but not through his words and actions. People would typically interpret this as insecurity. Unlike Buzzy, Dexter feels the need to prove himself. Since he was very young, Dexter has been engaged in computer hacking. He has grown to be very adept at it. His knowledge of computers will one day be unsurpassed. Save for a few gang members, no one knows that he understands computers, as he has kept it a complete secret. He is a little rougher than other soldiers. It is not a tough and masculine roughness, but more of a reflection of his background in the slums. In some ways he handles war similar to how he handles surviving on the streets, only with a more professional, trained approach. Dexter is cautious and doesn’t like to take risks. Given the choice between confronting a problem and avoiding it, he would prefer to avoid it if at all possible. He is brave like his fellow soldiers, but in some ways more pragmatic.Dexter’s brand of easygoing is that type that has a disregard for rules. When he’s free of stress, he can seem to be very relaxed and doesn’t seem to take too many things seriously. In fact, he never bothered going back to his real name, Daxtorum, after he began going by the name Dexter on Earth, because he didn’t take his own name seriously. Sometimes his humor can be dark.He is instantly recognizable by his large nose and high forehead. His hair is navy blue and is pulled back in a pony tail. Gertrude Poepjes: Brutus’s often overlooked little sister is 13 years old when first introduced. She looks up to her older brother but feels sad that he is often too distant from her. They never had a bad relationship, although they didn’t always communicate. Growing up, she pursued music, which was something Brutus wasn’t good at, and learned to play the piano, flute, and violin. She also started taking singing lessons, and her dominant idea for a career was to be a singer. Gertrude is a masochist and a glutton for punishment. She often dwells on sadness and will not do much to ring herself out of it. There is some insecure part of her that feels good for feeling bad, so when she knows that she will not like to hear bad news, the beast within tells her to hear it all. It’s not conscious, but is still a character flaw that she does not know when to block negative feelings.She is often silent and reclusive, and hides behind the veil of her hair, which she cuts short and leaves combed foreword to hang over her hazel eyes. On the inside she is longing for attention. For one, she wishes for her big brother to be an actual brother and not just a relative. Then there is the matter of Michael. She is vaguely aware that she likes him, even though she does not know him very well, although she was always aware that he had a close relationship with his older sister Nixon and she was a good friend of Brutus, which certainly put him in a positive light. He was also reclusive, so she was always curious about him.Either way, it made it easier for her to decide to rescue him even when she knew he was a traitor. It was true that she felt guilty, but that was when the inner masochist took effect, and she felt good to be guilty and conflicted.She put a lot of trust in Nixon, who protects her like a sister. That’s particularly significant when dealing with the child-eating Kaiac. Gertrude is fairly short and has freckles. If Michael had noticed her he would have noticed that she was attractive. Kaiac: Putrid and sickening as all nuadine, this creature is a monster that has a fetish for eating people considered to be children by the standards of their species. He has, in fact, researched as many known species as he could just to learn about what qualifies for a child in various cultures. In his mind, the younger child is the better it is for eating. He is perfectly sane, although sometimes thinks of himself to be a little eccentric. Kaiac is a believer of Craytus and a casual follower. Choosing to actively pursue evil as a way of life, he feels that by eating children he has found a good way of expressing it and of further perverting his mind. He does not speak too much, although he does have a sly sense of humor. It wouldn’t be apparent to people who couldn’t understand his language, but it does exist. His personality is not quite as important as his appearance ad is presence. He is the primary horror element of the first story. He showcases the horrific appearance of the nuadine and their disturbing nature. Around his head, his skin is made out of a material like pantyhose. He has no eyes, although he does have a humanoid mouth, although disproportionately large and with hideous teeth. His body is spindly and he moves like a spider. He blends into the nuadine world very well. Even in a few other environments, such as the Eminuzzy, he manages to stay camouflaged and is capable of appearing and disappearing very fast. However, sometimes he will make his presence known by purposely making subtle sounds. Sometimes it is enjoyable for him when a victim knows that they are being stalked. Kaiac takes particular notice in Nixon and Gertrude in the story. Laryn: He is an inmun soldier and Buzzy’s best friend until his untimely death. Laryn is characterized by his jumpy, energetic personality and his tendency to make up words. Like most imuns, he loves to have fun. Laryn was also known for being uncompromising. He came from a clean family and didn’t live on the streets like Dexter. He was always outspoken on when something was wrong and didn’t know when to refrain himself. All his life Laryn also had an interest in ships. His favorite ship of all time was the Eminuzzy, which he always wanted to find. Thanks to him, all of his friends knew more or less everything about the fabled ship. His name is short for Larynonim, but that was a mouthful, and it’s only one out of a dozen different variations of the inmun name Laryn, so he always uses his abbreviated name, much like person of the name Jacobus would rather go by the name Jack. La’ti: She was a childhood friend of Buzzy, since they were both of the same social status and their parents were friends. However, when Buzzy went away she forgot about him and when she saw him again she regarded him as just an obscure person from her past who for all intents and purposes she did not know. Buzzy liked her, though. It’s a little hard to not to notice someone’s attractive when they have light pink hair like hers, which is truly rare and considered beautiful among inmuns. Her name is a combination of her parents’ names, Laryn and Varati. Both of these people are influential politicians, and her father eventually gets elected president of Tesk. With this social status La’ti has often been sheltered from the world and although she looks strong, she really isn’t. She’s sensitive and she will take out her feelings on others, who might not understand that she’s not angry at them. In public, however, she can look calm and composed. She’s even capable of joining a political or military meeting and understanding everything that goes on, but for the most part she’s just there, and she lets others make important decisions. Leonidas Rhesus Zweifel: Among the few friends he has, which consists only of his younger brother Xenocrates and local police officer Marco Martinez, he is known affectionately as Leo. There also happens to be his ex-wife, who also calls him that. The only person who ever, ever calls him by his full name is his father Theo, who reserves the name for the classical moments when a parent scolds the child they so carefully named. Leo’s background story is significant in shaping both him and his children. When he was a teenager, his parents divorced. Perhaps he was fortunate that his parents never did so when he was younger, but even when he was younger he knew that their relationship was rocky. Theo was a wolf who handled people roughly and dropped them. He was arrogant and knew how to use his power to get what he wanted, both financially and in the family, and would do it, even if it meant playing dirty. Theo never complained one bit when his wife divorced him. Leo swore he’d do better. It didn’t help the way that his father would give a smug smile, though, when Leo got married to Helene Rommel. In high school, Leo was a very serious person and only had two friends, the ones previously mentioned. He was not talkative and paid serious attention in class. He was always known for his intense focus and amazing attention span. He was more intelligent and competent than everyone else and they knew it, although he never flaunted it, nor did he even bother to think about it, because he was thinking about other things. He was a very serious person. His laughter, when he laughed, was a silent chuckle, although usually he would just smile to himself when he found something funny. In other words, he was not the jovial person his brother was. When he went to college he knew that he wanted to become a lawyer. He also learned to speak Latin in his spare time. He was also a track runner who ran cross country, although not as a part of the school team. He ran because it allowed him time to think, and it brought him peace. Secretly, on the inside, he harbored anger against his father that was never resolved. He never noticed girls or women his entire life until he met Helene Rommel at the end of time in college. She took his heart and he proposed to her while running after her when she was taking a ride on a train. Leo is the father of Nixon and Michelangelo Zweifel. Upon starting a family he overworked himself. His workdays in Sioux City lasted for up to 18 hours per day, six days a week. He was so intent on being a provider for the family that he was never there for them. One day Helene figured that Leo hardly even had a family to support and she divorced him. They say it took him a month to notice, but in reality he glared at the note she left him for an hour. Then the next time he saw his father, he received that same smug, canine smile. In the divorce process, Leo got Michael and Helene got Nixon. Helene moved only a short ways away, so the children still saw each other regularly at school. However, Leo never did seem to learn his lesson. Ever since the divorce he shut himself down and went to work as usual like it was his katharsis. Michael was left with a parent who neglected him. Leo lived every day angry with his father and with himself, though his face remained as controlled as ever. Perhaps his face didn’t give him away, but when no one was looking he developed a habit of clenching his fist. He was a handsome man, too. His hair was combed perfectly and was a wonderful shade of orange. His face was long and so slender and so streamline that he looked like he could have been conceived in a wind tunnel. He also looked very slender in the black three-piece suits that he wore every day. In the honeymoon, he was surely the prince Helene had dreamed of, but he was never the best husband. Finally, his relationship with his brother is important to note, for Xenocrates is the only person he fully understood. The feeling is mutual. Xenocrates was there for Leo when he was down, and Leo is there for Xenocrates. He always cared for Xenocrates’s happiness. Michelangelo Rommel Zweifel: He always did look exactly like his father. As if someone had cloned him. Similarly, his sister looked like a clone of her mother. The resemblance was unnatural. Michael was angry with his father for neglecting him. He was also intimidated by him because his father was like a giant, an intelligence that everything. Whether he liked his father or not – and he didn’t – he still had to honor him as someone who was far smarter than him. Still, even though the relationship had respect, it wasn’t as if there was someone there for Michael to respect. Whenever his father was home there was a silence, and Michael could only guess at what was going on inside the man’s mind. It was demeaning that one of the most significant people in his life was nothing more than an occasional presence. What Michael lacked was love in his household. His father loved him, but Michael never quite knew it because he never understood his father. When they did talk, it was when his father was asking him about his homework. Michael always felt pressured to be greater. When homework came, Michael felt a knot of frustration grow in him when his father reviewed it and was visibly disappointed. Michael’s expectations were high, and he never could reach them. The most he would ever see of his father was on Saturdays when his father took him along to work. It was here that Michael picked up on the higher language of his father, who would automatically explain what he was doing as he talked, although never looking up from his work. Michael was bored, and personal discussion wasn’t common between him and his father, but over time he did gain an enhanced vocabulary, although he decided never to use it. The spark of anger in Michael was always with him. The lack of love caused him to care less about himself. In school he never associated with anyone except for his older sister. Otherwise, he went into small little projects, such as the thankless job of helping the football team set up it supplies for games. He was, however, noticed by Brutus, who thought he was an interesting young boy with plenty of potential. His father bought him a Rolex ad several other Swiss watches. As a point of fact the entire paternal side of the family was Swiss, and Mr. Zweifel did educate his son a bit on his heritage at one point. Michael has a fascination with Swiss watches and always wanted to be a watchmaker when he grew up, and he loves time. Throughout the story, he checks his watch regularly and keeps track of the date. He swears that he will never become a banker, like his grandfather, or a lawyer, like his father, or in any way adopt a white collar job. Other fascinations of his include Christmas and cooking. He loved every sort of food here was. When the series picks up pace, however, his fascinations are eclipsed by the much darker obsession with Craytus. Yet, at the end of the day, though he doesn’t know it, he is still angrier with his father than with the villain who directly wronged him. After receiving a surgery by Craytus, Michael becomes pain resistant. He still feels it, but no amount that he can humanly feel will overwhelm him. Upon receiving the spine replacement, his attention span also went down due to excessive sensory input. He used to be very similar to his father. He noticed this change and grieved it as a loss. Later in the series he struggles very hard to regain his natural attention span. Yet, some of his forms of intellect were not diminished. He proved himself to be a quick thinker and a MacGuyver of sorts. The vocabulary that he rarely uses is still with him. In fact, he learned even more words through his sister and Monosmith, and occasionally he will enjoy fun new words like “xanthous”. He is highly insecure and really doesn’t know where he wants to go in life. He has always felt alone and that no one, save for his sister, was on his side. Molgog: This is a nuadine who oversees that Quarr is kept well. He is proud and he likes to think of himself as powerful, enjoying the superiority that he has over his slaves. Watching them suffer brings light to his life. He can best be expressed as a tyrant, ruthless and aggressive in his tactics against those under his control. Before taking the occupation of working slaves, he was a hunter. Around seven feet tall and
Edited by Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. I'm really tempted to tl;dr this one, but I've decided to give some feedback.Until I complete my epic journey through this great field of text, I had a couple of preliminary thoughts:

  • [*]Why don't you call Arcane's kingdom Iniuri, and the species Iniurians?[*]Thanks for the sample! I'll probably do something similar for my plot outline, but I'll leave off chapters; because I have two parallel stories, it's going to be tricky to sync them and I'd rather nail down roughly what happens in each first.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:To answer your two thoughts:- Because the kingdom is one of several to initially exist on the planet, and the species exists elsewhere. It would sort of be like calling China by the name "Human" and the Chinese "Humanians". I want to distinguish between species and nationality. Although I have taken the route you have suggested before, as in the case of the Kitiliks from the planet Kitilika.- It's okay. I wrote this out several times before I added chapters into the outline. Setting the chapters in place was just an exercise for me as I experimented with the narrative.I'm a little ashamed of the character outlines, by the way. I know I've said this many times, but I truly feel that in their old format they were a bit of random. Like Monosmith, for example, was merely a collection of scribbles that I could come up with at the time and a bit embarrassing, and since the initial time that I sat down and wrote those thoughts I've thought of about three times as much stuff that I also should have included. At the very best those character notes can be used to give the reviewer a vague feel for how the story patches together.Plus, I've developed TRZ quite a bit since that brief sketch and I have a maturing grasp on his character.One of the later topics that I might get involved in are some of my thoughts on Brutus, by the way. I've been putting that off for a while, but I think that it would trigger a worthy discussion about how to make prototypical heroes great.Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, yeah, I was under the impression that the lionians were the original citizens of Iniuri, and the rest of the species came along later. Iniurians sounds pretty cool, though...I went through as much as I could, here are my thoughts:

Chapter 5: It’s interesting that you tell this chapter from the perspective of Buzzy. Since Earth is involved, I wonder if it might be a bit jarring to read about our home planet from the perspective of an alien, especially at the beginning of the story?If I were writing this, I would probably start at Chapter 5 (Chapter 1 I’d actually probably keep at the beginning, but I’d call it a prologue), but tell it from the perspective of Mark Monosmith as he begins to suspect that Buzzy is up to something. When Buzzy and co. capture him (and the stowaways), they would explain how they got there, which would be Chapters 2-5 from the perspective of Buzzy, in the form of a flashback.Totally up to you! It’s your world, your story, and your writing style is probably totally different than mine. I just wanted to share my thoughts.Hmmm... now that I think about it, that's very C.S. Lewis-like. I actually tend to avoid flashbacks in my own style.*keeps reading*An upside-down American flag on an alien planet that barely knows Earth exists? Symbols for underground movements - you’re doing it right.*keeps reading*End with a mysterious hooded stranger?…For the sake of all that is not cliché, is there any chance you could be talked out of that?*starts skimming through character bios*Craytus is especially interesting. Not only is he a being of pure evil (not exactly popular around this topic), but he’s integrated into Christian doctrine and theology, which is something I definitely don’t have the guts to do for any of my characters.Sorry… had to tl;dr the rest of the character bios and places.I’m really interested in reading your story. You’ve put a lot of thought into all this and it’s way more in-depth than I plan to get before I begin writing my own story.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question: When you guys have to write a lot of words in a short amount of time (read: NaNoWriMo), do you do anything special? Do you push out of your mind the idea of editing as you go along? Or do you just write as normal, except for a long time?

Throw caution to the freakin' wind and pump out whatever semblance of a coherent narrative comes to my mind. Then I edit it later on.

calvin_and_hobbes_under_tree.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question: When you guys have to write a lot of words in a short amount of time (read: NaNoWriMo), do you do anything special? Do you push out of your mind the idea of editing as you go along? Or do you just write as normal, except for a long time?

I find that if I edit as I'm writing a draft, the draft never becomes a finished product. So instead, I spit out what's in my head immediately with the idea of refining the diction later on, or perhaps adding/omitting scenes that in retrospect seem out of place or stupid. However, right now, the NaNoWriMo project I have underway feels as if it's one of my better written drafts, and I don't have many scenes so far that I absolutely despise, which allows me to think "maybe this won't be half-bad" and try to finish it. :PThat mindset allowed me to write 6,000 words in just a few hours, and has kept me going to get past 10,000. I've fallen a bit below the quota for today (302 out of 1666 or such), though I also have an essay to work on that took up a lot of my writing time. (Plus reading a fantasy romance novel coupled with 1984, and playing Dragon Age, seems to keep me constantly inspired for some reason). Wish I could go into the details of what I'm writing, but doing so would cross too many rules on BZPower and I feel that, even mentioning what is technically allowed, would lead to some strange happening that would ultimately violate the rules. (Thus why I speak sparsely of it in my blog/don't really post about it in this topic). But it's something I've never tried before, so it'll be a learning experience all the same. ^_^The most challenging thing I face is picking a title, I've had a placeholder of Sacred Vows, and currently am toying with titling it Benevolent Tyrant. (In reference to the antagonist, not so much the protagonist, even though people would be more inclined to place the protagonist as a "tyrant" based upon the associations created over the centuries). I might end up renaming it after I finish, likely something that ultimately sounds a bit romanticized.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:"Tyrant" used to refer to people in Greece who overthrew rulers so as to help the people. If that's the older association that you were alluding to, kudos.Anyway, to continue my conversation with JKK:- The first chapter could very well be called the prologue, although I know for sure that I would want to write a foreword to the book, and I wouldn't want two non-chapter sections of the book right in a row. I could write an afterword instead, although I think that I would also want to include various pages in the back that include things such as maps, guides to alien grammar, and so forth, similar to the Eragon books.All my books have a beging that essentially functions as the prologue, actually. What I like to do is immediately create a major conflict or event that sets the rest of the story in motion. It's big and dramatic, and I use elevated language. In this way, the sequence of cause and effect is strong within the narrative of the story. In this way it also sets the tone for the rest of the story and the reader knows what type of story that it is. A lot of my inspiration for the introduction sequences I envision come from Star Wars and The Fellowship of the Ring. I could very well call this the prologue and probably will because it does truly function in that manner.- I am very reluctant to write from Monosmith's perspective. I want to go for as many books as I can without looking at things from his perspective, ad yet make him a character that makes a strong impression. For a while, for my own narrative purposes over the course of the story and because of what the story means to me, I want the audience to be on the outside looking in. Meanwhile, I'm pretty adamant about what characters I want to focus on at certain times and which ones I want to be supportive.Initially I did have the story start out with Monosmith growing suspicious of Buzzy, back when I first began contemplating the origins of my entire series, which had never been explored before. I kept it that way for a long time until I realized that I wanted younger characters to start off the series, whose potential is much more immediate. Monosmith's development is not obvious until looked at in the context of the entire series. Not only that, but it's not until halfway through the series that I begin exploring his needs instead of just his objectives.Meanwhile, I do plan on starting the story from Buzzy's perspective on Alantra. This is due to criticism I received on the old forums that, although harsh, I took positively after I was initially done being defensive. Basically, the argument was that having Buzzy explain his origins made that chapter of the story passive. That claim was true. I also supported it with other reasoning after a while: it interrupts the consistency and subtlety of the narrative, and it also takes away from my method of straight cause-and-effect storytelling. The only time I know of a flashback scene in the entire story is when Dreamcatcher regained lost memory and discovered his past.- I can easily be talked out of the mysterious hooded stranger. I just threw that in there as I was writing. Basically that was supposed to be Craytus, who would return in the second book. The characters would not recognize him because he had a different head, and then it would be revealed that the malevolent second book nuadine was none other than him in the third book. However, I suppose that describing some sort of energy escaping from Craytus's body should be foreshadowing enough. I think that what I was hoping to foreshadow in that brief encounter was a "new" villain for the second book. Really, what I was happy enough with was seeing that Nixon punched La'ti and that there was a big, grand happy moment as good celebrated a triumph over evil, and overall I do prefer to keep the story that way, because then it can truly be a standalone and feel as though it had a complete beginning and a complete ending. Wholesome. Universal. And other buzz words.So yeah, I can definitely be talked out of including direct reference to the hooded figure as I write the ending, although I do want to include some hidden detail that somehow sets up for the second book. After all, I know that he's there. It's part of the background knowledge. By the time he gets introduced in the second book I want to somehow justify his presence with information available to the reader in the first.By the way, this gets into me having fun with making the audience love a villain. What's more fun than defeating a villain only to reveal that he was far too good to be killed? By revealing that he was another cool villain who was shaping all the events in between, of course! To draw comparisons, Makuta and Voldemort followed a similar thread, although between the two of them I preferred Makuta. He was pretty simple in the first three to four years, although he was portrayed in such a way that he was nevertheless cool.A little note that I thought I'd take into consideration, by the way, is that I do think I will portray Craytus as wielding Death's sword quite a bit more in the first book, now that I know that he uses it throughout the eighteenth and final book in the saga.Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, well when I write a good length, I normally try and do the editing in my head (i.e. "How am I going to drag this out? What else can I do with my character in this setting?" etc) Normally, that's done in my head (and can be done quickly, actually). Also, if I know I'm going to be writing a lot, my style kinda changes to a more descriptive format. Or, if I'm just writing for fun, I'll go to extremes to go over-the-top for maximum silliness. XP Just whatever comes naturally with my sense of humor. Also, I try to view the same events of the story at different angles. For example, say my character is going for a swim. I might delve into his or her mind and thoughts and then wonder "What are they doing while they're thinking of this?" or "Do I want to show the reader what they're doing while they think of this?" or even "Do I want to tell the reader what they're thinking while they do this?" Stretching before/after the swim is a fine time period to convey thought, and why not throw in the action? It'll show that the character has some discipline/they're in the habit of taking at least some care of themselves. Or, if they're in a backstroke or doggy paddle (something that doesn't require much focus on their part), I would probably show both action and thought as both can show mood and perhaps skill level in swimming. Just a few little things that could help the reader piece the character together. Having vertigo as they go for a high dive, and then taking a sudden, willing plunge into the pool may not be the best area to show internal dialogue or thought. I like those types of things to just be action. When they're just dipping their feet into the water or sitting under an umbrella, I'm not going to focus on their actions or surroundings- that's when the character is deep in thought and when the reader (as well as I, the writer) would decide to show more of what's going on inside of the character's head.(You know, if any of that made any sense. XP). But, yeah. Doing that while I'm writing helps me learn more about my characters and, well, my story overall. It gets more complex when there are multiple characters I focus on in the same group. That's when I think "What is he going to say to her and how is she going to react?"Imagine if I ever did a fight sequence between two main characters. @_@... Not exactly sure why I'm talking about this, but... well, presto! XP

Executive Vice President of Tomato Throwing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lol! I didn't realize you had already made the decision to start from Buzzy's perspective. The more I think about, the way you currently have it is the best. While it would be a bit more of a dramatic reveal to start with Monosmith, it doesn't really add anything unique or shocking ("That guy's an alien in disguise" has definitely been done before) and it comes at the cost of a verbal flashback, which I, and it sounds like you, can't stand. Remember Prince Caspian? Half the book was a verbal flashback and it really didn't make for an interesting narrative... the movie did it much better by actually showing the set-up events as they happened. (Although they didn't make any sense at the time, they were explained later... which is still better than a flashback)Personally, I don't plan to do any major flashbacks (although, again, I tell stories in parallel from various points of the chronology, so I don't really have to) beyond another character summarizing past events that are relevant. Back to your story - if the characters don't recognize his head, why is he even hooded? Losing the hood would make the appearance a lot less painfully cliche. On the energy escaping from Craytus's body... it seems a bit obvious to me what's going on, although you have been describing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff to me. Energy escaping from a "dead" villain's body... I mean, how many ways could that really be interpreted? Maybe offer an alternate explanation or throw in some red-herring foreshadowing that would throw off the readers. Maybe say that the energy caused the explosion? Giving it an immediate purpose would allow readers to plausibly dismiss it until it comes back in Book 3.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question: When you guys have to write a lot of words in a short amount of time (read: NaNoWriMo), do you do anything special? Do you push out of your mind the idea of editing as you go along? Or do you just write as normal, except for a long time?

I just write normally; that is, I do as little editing as possible while I am writing the story. Even during NaNoWriMo, my style hasn't changed much. As long as I keep up my current (and normal) schedule, I should hit 50,000 words before the month's over.So no, I don't change things up unless there is a really urgent deadline that I have to meet. And I don't consider NaNo an urgent deadline that I have to meet.-TNTOS-

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

A Writerly Blog

The Tasty Library of Sugary Goodness

(My Little BIONICLE: Friendship is Explosive Completed 01/05/14)

{The Shika Trilogy Omnibus Completed 03/31/14) (Review Topic)

(In the End Completed 09/01/14) (Review Topic)

The Biological Chronicle: (2001) (2002) (2003) (2004) (2005) (2006) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2010)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My only advice on the matter is to avoid being formulaic. I've had pieces that were built around a title, I've had pieces that started with one title, and I've got one magnificently silly short story that wasn't titled until a week after I finished it, and I'm still not sure if I like the title.Songs are, I think, somewhat easier to title, but not by much.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*Incoming Transmission*Ugh. Titles. Sometimes I can come up with a title pretty easily. That usually happens when the story is written around the title. Most of the time, though, I can't for the life of me come up with a title that I like. I have three stories swimming around in my head (I actually have more, but there are three that I think about quite often) and not one of them has a title. Though now that I think about it, a title might come more easily if I actually started, you know, writing the stories.*End Transmission*

My epic: For Them (Review Topic)

 

BZPRPG: Trauer and Faora

 

Bionifight Ultimate: Daedalus Drachoren and Von Worten Undtränen

 

The Elder Scrolls: Ashfall: K'Larn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
:kaukau:One writing method that I just reminded myself of was that a major way Ive gained ideas throughout the history of my writing has been by reading large books with epic tales and imagining my characters worming their way into the story. Then I imagine the settings of the book I'm reading and the setting of my own story to collide and do a crossover in my mind. After a while, it helps stimulate ideas. Most recently, I imagined how my own characters would have solved the events in the book Inheritance.In the past the bulk of my story used to be a bunch of different franchises rolled together, back before I considered writing things down in my own fantasy. There was Pokemon and Digimon, Bionicle and K'nex, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, and lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), to name a few. I can in fact tell you exactly where many of my characters and concepts were initially something else bbefore they were changed into something more original:

Silver Bird: LugiaMath: MewLucy: MewtwoVee and Vizor: Veemon/Flamedramon (from Digimon) and the Hork-Bajir (from Animorphs)Master Legious: Count DookuBlitz, Kraggh, Mathias, Iceheart, and most other characters affiliated with them: NeopetsSneeze: PokemonEugabs: GabumonImp: ImpmonStinger: Stinger (a Beanie Baby)Hetagon: Rahkshi KaitaJail Lund (Gloves): GatomonThe Strong Bullies: Tentomon and his various formsVira: Violet ParrQuarr: Crayak (Animorphs)

Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm always very cautious with stuff like that, because the ideas never really feel like my own.In point of fact, I've scrapped pretty much everything of mine that started that way, because there was no real way for me to move it far enough from someone else's work for me to ever be happy with it.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Titles? Normally I think of the story/chapter first and then do the title second. Like, with my epic, I thought a lot about what I wanted my story to be and what characters I wanted to go on what journey. The setting helped me loads, also I thought of popular sayings (or forgotten sayings that were once popular) and then I looked for something that might give a bit of a double meaning or something that just fit with what I had on paper (err... word document. XD). Though, with the short story contest that's going on, I have to do the exact opposite. It's a bit of a challenge, but I like what I have so far. ^^Kraggh, that's actually a cool idea! I've thought a little about what my characters would do in situations I find in a TV show or a book, but I haven't gone too far into that mentality. I might have to try that sometime. ^^

Edited by Tekulo: Toa of Wind

Executive Vice President of Tomato Throwing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the topic of inspiration, sometimes it can be helpful to relate characters to other stories; one time I Sorted some of my characters into Hogwarts houses to help me understand their personalities (Down the road, I'd also like to put fictional characters through Myers-Briggs and Emergenetics, but Hogwarts is a lot easier)Other times when I relate characters to other characters, I can determine a subconscious source of inspiration. Once you realize your influences, you can both take the strong points from others' work and emphasize the differences between the characters. Here's an (abridged) internal dialouge I had once regarding one of my characters..."So his main goal is immortality - that makes him a bit like Voldemort. ... Oh, snap, he's kind of basically Voldemort. No wait, this character is also committed to genocide of -- dang it, Voldemort again... "I finally did identify some major differences in the character (namely, that Voldemort wants immortality first while genocide is kind of an added bonus, while my villain is primarily interested in not dying because there are still people he wants dead) Hmm, Harry Potter seems to be a theme here... well, like I said, it's a good opportunity to scan for obvious similarities while applying general concepts and themes that I liked.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:Most of the characters I've mentioned that started off as something else started off as something else perhaps up to ten years ago, and even then they were sort of my own. Take Silver bird for example: he used to be Lugia. I thought that the fictional character was so cool that he became my friend. Except most of the time he was anthropomorphic. And he tended to ride a scooter in his spare time. And he was nerdy with an underground laboratory. And he Princess Kita from Atlantis as his scientist apprentice, because they both spent a lot of time underwater. He could be healed by music and he was the inspirational leader of the Defenders. There was a special Bacta tank set aside for him. He sometimes wore metal armor. He was a swordsman, too.See how that's totally different than Lugia? Now the character's evolved into what I call an Aardse, which is a race of seemingly angelic people. He is humanoid and takes the role of a mentor in the books. He is mentor to Clear Water (who was not a reference to Kita, although looking back I noticed many coincidental correlations). He knows several secrets of the planet Aarde. He's had to defeat temptation several times. And it's a little-known fact that he visited Earth through magic thirty or so years before the series began and adopted Helene Rommel under the pseudonym Sebastian Bach, lived in secret on Earth as her father for some time, and returned to Aarde in equal secrecy when Helene married a man, Leo Zweifel, whose father wanted Sebastian Bach not to get involved with the lives of their children. He is therefore the grandfather of Nixon and Michelangelo.And there's so much more that can be said about Silver Bird. The thing is, even though many of these characters started out as something else, I made them my own anyway, because my mind worked differently when I was young, and in addition to that my present mind is sentimental and nostalgic to the old personalities that I invented when I was younger. I think that it's the nostalgia that additionally helps to content me.Some of those characters, by the way, that I based them off of I actually had no clue what they were like, so I might have only used their images and voice acting to inspire a whole new character. For example, my incarnation of Gabumon was a guy who liked to wear berets and shout "Cut! Cut! Cut!" over a megaphone from his director's chair because he was a whilly-nilly perfectionist when it came to putting together movies. That became what is now Waldo the Eugab, who looks vaguely like a Gabumon because of his height and the color of his fir.A few of the characters, by the way, started off as Pokemon or Neopets, which are species invented for franchises. Since they were species and not characters, I could really apply whatever personalities I wanted. Ultimately all the personalities survived, but now I've adapted their physical appearance into a more original form, although I still keep many things. Rukis from Neopets are now Kitiliks, although both have antennae and Kitiliks are lean and slightly insectoid, so I feel that their essence has been kept. Milby was a Wocky, but now she is a Tajiir, which is very different, although they're both on the feline side of things. Sneeze was a Sneasel who was the daughter of one of the villains, and although the turned into a good character she is still disliked primarily for being far, far too annoying with her love of dance music, and through this is the source of numerous running jokes that are too numerous to reasonably fit into this simple introductory sentence. However, she's no longer a Sneasel, but she's still small, black and visibly agile.The same goes for Stinger, too. He initially was a Beenie Baby for the longest time, and because of that his personality was completely open for me to invent. That's the wonderful thing about toys. Similar rules apply to some of my Bionicle sets and MOCs which have since inspired characters. Jack and Monthus were also inspired simply by Halloween ornaments.However, I can see how for an older writer, such as The Shadows Out of Time, it would be hard to get past the unoriginality of it all for recently inspired characters.You know what? I swear I was going to post something other than a reply to The Shadows Out of Time, but during that post I completely forgot what it was....Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, the decisions regarding characters like those are always a balance between how nostalgic you are and how much the characters and their origins make you a little uncomfortable. For you, the nostalgia side of it was more important, which is cool. For me, nostalgia was never really much of a factor, so they all got scrapped, which works, I guess.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Along the same lines of character meta-development, I once had a character who I intended to be a really serious soldier-type. Whenever I imagined him in a scene, though, he was always cracking jokes. So I gave up and made him a character who deals with stress by attempting to lighten the mood.Now, however, he's starting to develop that serious trait again in certain situations, so now I'm not quite sure what to make of him.Although, on the bright side, it's probably a good thing that I'm having trouble with this - it means that the character has a personality of his own, and not one that I'm forcing him into, and I'm pretty sure that will make for better reading in the long run.

IrMSNn3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:kaukau:The tricky part is when I'm less comfortable than nostalgic, and yet I still want to do justice to the original concept (Initially I wanted to say "stay true" but I think you'll understand how the term "do justice" suits my purposes better). Then the challenge is to change the character as much as I can while still maintaining the original feel and I can tell myself that I have kept the essence of the character without replacing him or her (or the concept of a plot event or place or thing) with something else.I have remembered what I was going to say earlier: a few things came to my mind because of Inheritance.Here's my first thought and talking point: When your series is long enough, how do you conclude all of the loose ends? the Inheritance Cycle had many of loose ends that all got tied together within the last 120 pages. Personally, there were a lot of things that I would have done differently about that. I'm not criticising the ending: I'm just saying that it made me think of how I personally would have done things.See, my series is 18 books long and on average they're each about the length of one of the Inheritance books, so there would be several 900 page volumes in there. Illustrations will take up some of the space, but the books are nevertheless each epics with a lot of different events packed into them. There will most likely be a hundred different subplots, many of which will last until the end of the series. How do I satisfactorily conclude all of the strands within my story?As opposed to Inheritance, I would prefer to try to fit as many of the conclusions into the main body of the final book as possible, while the action is still strong and the plot points still relevant.However, I still run into another question: Which conflicts should I choose to emphasize within the story, and what villains should meet their demise and when? Which villains should be prominent in the final book? Obviously many expectations would be hinged on the final installment of the series, so how do I live up to them and conclude with a final epic conflict that feels just right?Inheritance did inspire me in one way. In that book, Eragon engaged in several conflicts leading up to his final confrontation. What helped the final book feel more monumental than the others was the impossibility of the task. Galbatorix was an enemy who seemed almost unbeatable, and yet Eragon had to confront him before time ran out. The hero's solution to the problem was simple and beautiful.Well, in my series I have a few parallels. I've been avoiding bringing the Second Empire back into the narrative for some time now because its population was somewhere around a googleplex, but now I think I will, along with the Mathazon Crystal, which gives Master Legious the power to create anything with a simple thought. What's more, the ultimate villain is Death, and he has more tricks up his sleeves. Such power at the dispense of evil makes the conflict seem rather...loaded. I'm sure that it will give me a challenge in finding a way for the heroes to find a plausible solution to the problem.And that reminds me of another thing I like: When the villain gets everything he or she wanted and keeps it for a while, then they get defeated anyway. Like in Avatar: The Last Airbender when the Fire Nation gained control of the entire Earth Kingdom, destroyed the assault against their capital, and launched their assault on the day of Sozin's Comet, not to mention Zuko was allowed back into his family for the majority of the final season. What's more, not only did they have everything they wanted, but they had everything that they wanted for a while. Another example would be Hannibal Lecter escaping his prison, and later in the second movie getting quite a bit of attention from Clarice. Scar got to have the King's seat for the majority of The Lion King's time period.In contrast, there are stories where the villain does not get what he or she wants, or at least not for a reasonable amount of time. I don't like it when the villain gets what he or she needs only during the final confrontation. That to me is unexciting and turns the climax into just another plot point. I want it to be clear that the hero destroys the villain after they have got what they wanted, not right before it. The best example I can think of at the moment is Lord Voldemort trying to get the Philosopher's Stone and failing, then trying to come to life through the Chamber of Secrets and his diary only to fail again. Which is why J.K. Rowling made the series much more interesting by ensuring that he was coming back to power as a force to be reckoned with after the third book. At the end of the fifth book he was the great menage once again, and in the final book he was in charge of the entire wizarding world.Of course, exceptions apply to that preference. For example, there was Star Wars, which ended with the heroes destroying the Death Star before the Death Star Destroyed them, but then there are reasons for that that I am not taking into account, like how in the series as a whole Darth Sideous becomes emperor halfway through the saga and gets Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice, which sounds like a good bargain for the villain.So basically, I enjoy heroes overthrowing villains in power rather than seeing villains failing to get in power, and I'd prefer a hero with a quest over a villain with a quest.And this had always been a part of my series, thinking back. Starting halfway through the series, it becomes almost apparent that the villains are in control of the world and that the heroes are outcasts.Anyway, here are the villains I know I want to be in the final story:Megstra - leader of the Second EmpireCraytus - Pure evil being who started the whole conflictClear Water - She needs to finally convert back to goodVizer: Personal guard of Master Legious who sometimes questions himMaster Legious - Figurehead of all the villainsMonthus - Ghost King who's behind the scenesDeath - The force of evil that unites all the evilsThe problem is, which ones get overthrown and how? I suppose that leading up to the final book, what I'll have to do is get the readers to ask several questions, such as "How on Earth is that villain going to be dealt with" and "Who's going to deliver the final blow?" and "Who confronts who?"And that leads into the question of which heroes are going to take on which parts and how they all fit in together to create a unified narrative. I know that Monosmith's journey is of utmost importance, but so is Mary Maria's, Michael's, Leo's, Vee's, Dreamcatcher's, Blitz's, Mathias's, and Clear Water's. It's all so confusing.One of the things I'm considering is that they all get involved in one giant scene where they go down together, inspired by the furnace scene in Toy Story 3. Still, I also want character's like Blitz to take on their personal nemeses like Hetagon. So it's going to be a challenge.By the way, I mentioned "Quests" earlier, which I think is an element missing at the onset of my story. The initial conflict is freedom vs. slavery, along with Michael's conflict with Craytus and Brutus's internal conflict with how to deal with Michael and Nixon's duty to protect young refugees from the predator Kaiac. Oh, and there's Buzzy's troubles with Dexter and La'ti, but ultimately I don't think that there's anything that feels quest-like, which should be a major element to the type of fiction that I'm writing.There is, however, Monosmith's underlying subplot. When Nixon had a vision in the first book, she saw Dreamcatcher, who in the future would be created by an n-dimensional being under the moniker Professor White. It is Professor White who Quarr has an unsettled score with that goes back to the beginning of our universe. It was Professor white who also prevented all three dimensional minds from being able to conceive the IDTD technology and time-travel, and it was Professor White that implanted the understanding of the mathematics into Monosmith's conscious. Until Professor White is killed by Craytus in book 11 or 12, Monosmith is the only person capable of conceiving the IDTD technology and the amazingly complex mathematics behind paradox-proof time-travel. After that, theoretically characters such as Deleta, Craytus, Master Legious, and Quarr can comprehend the mathematics as well.What I suppose I can do with that is to make Monosmith curious about the mystery behind his understanding, in which case I have a quest for knowledge.Okay, and that is one thing that I should hope that all villains fail to get, by the way. While I've somewhat gone back upon my unconditional statement that there is no time-travel in my universe, I'm still not going to let it actually happen. It's something Monosmith safeguards, and he will succeed.Alright: another statement that I was reminded of while reading Inheritance was the indestructibility of Amakor. While it did not give me any new ideas, it reaffirmed the ones I already had of them. The Amakor are indestructible in several ways:Physically: They cannot be affected by any physical force. For that matter, they can't be affected by almost all forms of magic as well, with a few exceptions.Existentially: The're existence cannot be negated by different laws of physics. Furthermore, is a time-traveler messes with the time stream, it will not prevent them from coming into existence, and they will spontaneously start existing at the same point in time that they existed in their original timeline, with all the same memories.Mentally: The Amakor's mind cannot be overwhelmed. They are the only beings with the ability to read minds, which might be overwhelming, but they have an automatic safeguard that prevents them from losing their identity and self-control within a sea of thoughts. It's also hard to bind them through magical contracts.I can't remember the other major preponderance I had while reading Inheritance. Perhaps I covered it already. Although I'd like to say that the books helped solidify my believe that third-person narrative can be as personal and internal as first-person..Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello. I write a little bit for fun, and for me it's a new thing in general. I take a creative writing class, and am a member of my school's Lit-mag (I am also the only male that is part of it). I like writing, mostly because I am interested in what sort of things I can come up with. I intend to have a career in science (specifically Cosmology), but for me this is a nice hobby.The things I think about are more... abstract, I suppose would be the word. I'm more interested in emotions in their most basic forms than distinct, clear, realistic fiction. Oh I think much can be learned in realistic and non-fiction, but my eye is turned to fantasy and science fiction. But the sorts of things I think of are not quite science fiction and somewhat fantasy, so in general I call what I think of fantasmafiction.One concept of mine is called Treasure the Obscure. The main characters are not in any way human nor humanoid in form: they are condensed clouds of gas that evolved inside a dense Nebula. The only characteristic we can connect with is that they each have a single, luminous eye for seeing and have various "opposadendrites" that they use to manipulate objects with. Their names are not in any way human either, and go like Red who is Ponderous or White who is Curious. Each has a certain color of their bodies, and has an adjective attached to them that stems from what they choose as their death-quest. This is basically what they want to do with their lives after their biological purpose, having children, until they die. Some choose to go out and explore the Nebula, others wish to teach the young, and so on. Anyway, the story focuses on a single one of these entities that by mere chance and coincidence has the ability to hear radio waves. He does this for some time, until he hears something very peculiar. He hears the radio transmissions that came from earth thousands of years ago, and so the entirety of the book is based on him and others trying to understand humanity and why we do what we do. I came up with this because I wanted to see if I could try to understand humans from a non-human perspective, a sort of reflection on humanity.Another, distinctively more fantasy-esque, is what I call Dustworld. The entire world is a vast, unending flat desert that is constantly expanding over the Skin of Reality - the very bottom of the physical world. The great winds blow the dust ever outward, and dust periodically falls from the sky like rain. Everything in the world is made of dust, including all living things. There is, of course, rock and stone (very compacted dust). There is not one sun but hundreds, that roam the skies in unpredictable patterns, literally flying a hundred miles above the world. In this way night and day are unpredictable, and since each sun is a different color and of different luminosity you will always see a different sunrise and sunset. I have not developed this idea much, but I am thinking that some great event happens where humans find a way into the Dustworld.I have wrote a small bit of poetry too, but nothing worth mentioning. As for character development (since that is the subject being discussed now), I try to focus on a set of behaviors and predispositions that I want a certain character to have. Once I have these, I literally explain exactly why they have these traits by writing down their entire life histories. You never have to display this to the readers, it is simply for you so you can always have a very detailed picture of the sort of mind you have put into your character.

-[bZRPG Profiles]-

- [Vejmeq] - [isiak] - [Qathek] -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Featuring Death as a character is an interesting thing to work with. I think Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman did an excellent job of it in Good Omens, because Death wasn't really defeated - he can't be. Death is a constant.Of course, the whole concept of Death being defeated usually hinges on him being a villain. A guy who's in the general group of people that you want to see defeated, because otherwise Death is going to have a big workload for about five minutes and then the rest of time (assuming that doesn't get wrecked to) to, Idunno, twiddle his thumbs or something. And from the point of view of Death's eventual clients, that's bad for some reason.But then, there's other ways you can play Death. Sure, he makes a lot of sense as a villain, but, really, being Death is just a thing that Death does 24/7.It's his day-job, and being as omnipresent as he kind of has to be, there have to be patches of space-time where he can take a breather. So what if Death's just some guy, you know? He just has a job to do, and he does it, and where he's off work, he gets to hitchhike to the Bahamas or something.Then, of course, what if Death was defeated? What would the world do if Death died? Sure, the world would do immortality, but Death didn't take pain and dismemberment with him, they're still kicking around.Suffice it to say, I've got ideas.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then, of course, what if Death was defeated? What would the world do if Death died? Sure, the world would do immortality, but Death didn't take pain and dismemberment with him, they're still kicking around.

I'm not sure how much you watch Torchwood, though you've got a Who avatar, but the fourth season was (ostensibly) focused around this very idea. Regrettably, while the first few episodes had some very interesting ideas to them (hospital overflow, "categorization" of life, human rights for those who should have died) it ultimately passed them by in favor of a generic Evil Corporate Conspiracy story. But the ideas it brought up were quite interesting while they lasted, and I'd like to see a good take on them at some point.Though I meant to do some writing this month out of celebration of NaNoWriMo, I've been so busy I haven't had a chance. Still, it's nice to see people I introduced it to working on their novels. Edited by GSR

Hey: I'm not very active around BZP right now.  However, you can always contact me through PM (I have email notifications set up) and I will reply as soon as I can.


Useful Topics: The Q&A Compendium | The Official RPG Planning Topic
Stories: Fractures | An Aftermath | Three Stories | LSO 2012 Epics: Team Three | The Shadow and the Sea | The Days They Were Needed | Glitches | Transformations | Echoes | The Kaita and the Storyteller | Nui

BZPRPG: Komae · Soraya · Bohrei

Blog: Defendant Lobby no. 42

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm familiar with the Miracle Day storyline in Torchwood, and the implications of what happened (before the cause was revealed) were part of what I was thinking of.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Death in a story? My mind immediately moves to Beowulf. Well, that and the ghost of Christmas yet to come (even if he wasn't technically death, he was still very much in tune with that mentality, I thought).Hmm... Normally I leave those things (forces of nature) to symbolism as opposed to personification. Though, personification is still interesting.Anyway, I mentioned this topic to a friend of mine elsewhere. She said it's helped her get out of a few problems she's had with writing so far. Not really a subject for discussion, but I thought it was noteworthy. ^^

Executive Vice President of Tomato Throwing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Death is a big character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which is a satire of everything in fantasy. Whenever Death speaks, he does not use quotations and TALKS LIKE THIS. He is probably the one character you will laugh at the most in the books, although he is never a main character. He even refers to himself as an anthropomorphic personification.

-[bZRPG Profiles]-

- [Vejmeq] - [isiak] - [Qathek] -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...