What Questions?

So it is to be a match up of questions which determines world and world that determines questions. That is to say, I think I want to determine at a fairly high level the kind of story I want to do, and some of the questions I want to answer, and then create a world, and then rework the questions and the story based on what I come up with. While it is true that you have to start somewhere, I think this time I will focus on the story first, followed by consistent world laws, followed by a modification to the story.

Of course, when I say 'story' I really mean broad questions. Some people think that theme should never be in the story, and that wasn't really my intention in my last two novels, but since this is High Fantasy (with dashes of other genres), I really have to be asking big questions....

And I think the first big one is, what is Good and what is Evil? I also like the idea of exploring Destiny, Freewill and Heroism.

One example I can think of is a character I created for a script that this blog is named after, "Tossing Grenades at Windmills." Frank Noble is a flawed character. He isn't sane. He's annoying and he's often oblvious to the world around him, but at the same time, he really doesn't waver in his desire to do what is right. Having tested this character somewhat, there has been an occasional response that such a concept was unrealistic. No one would do things for selfless reasons.

And yet, I see thousands of aid workers who literally risk life and limb every day in countries that I have absolutely no desire to travel to.

Cynics argue that these people have messiah complexes. I will grant you that sometimes there appears to be a disconnect from reality sometimes, but it is this kind of vision that truly changes the world.

Sometimes, when you dream big enough, the world changes you, you change the world instead.

I think that the argument made by most realists is that this is a fairly rare occurance, and that is the sad truth. That is part of the point of the journey in heroic fiction; to justify the exceptional nature of the hero and thus the corresponding change to the world.