Thursday, January 22, 2009
1250 words
This story feels better than the last starting paragraph, but it already feels like its wandering a bit. I'll try to redirect it, but sometimes moving forward is better.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Initial Fail
Only 550 words written on the Fire Story, though I have finally finished the first draft of the Vance story that proceeded it, and I'm working on Novel #4 with Ken again. I should begin writing in that as of next week again.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Experiment: Fail
This is the start of the story from the 'helper's perspective'....didn't work.
"Vlurf loved his master. He felt honored to work for a man who made fate itself his tool. He knew that he would be able to help some in the near future. Still, the world was going to make him want to give up his position for something more normal, like a Crafter or Skald position.
Vlurf would have none of it. He belonged at his master’s side."
I'm clearly going to try something else. I think I'll try again with a foot soldier tomorrow.
"Vlurf loved his master. He felt honored to work for a man who made fate itself his tool. He knew that he would be able to help some in the near future. Still, the world was going to make him want to give up his position for something more normal, like a Crafter or Skald position.
Vlurf would have none of it. He belonged at his master’s side."
I'm clearly going to try something else. I think I'll try again with a foot soldier tomorrow.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Perspective
I'd considered telling this from more than one perspective, one from a heroic Speilglase person who is fleeing the approaching army and retreating toward Glashause, but for a story of 5000ish words, more than one perspective is...difficulty. Short stories are hard enough without mixing in half a dozen different camera angles.
The problem is that the Fate Binder is kind of a jerk. Alright, he's a total jerk. Do I really want the story to be about a guy who defies prophesy and gets burned by it? That's particularly ironic really since the ultimate theme of the novel WAS going to be that prophesy and destiny have a way of petering out, of not being reliable when you want them to be there.
Then again, this would kind of show the capricious nature of Fa's prophesy. After all, this anecdote in history is supposed to be THE poster child about why thwarting prophesy is impossible, but if I were to show that in the story and PROVING just how random Fa can be would be interesting. So instead of making the Fatebinder ignorant of Fa and blown up in a fit of solar rage, what if he deliberately plays a cosmic game of chicken, using his own rules against him and in the end showing him that he only follows those rules in name only?
That still makes him a jerk and a rather unsympathetic character. And yet I need to start writing next week. I think that the story has to be about Fatebinder, but I may give Fatebinder an assistant or a side kick of some kind. Someone with redeeming qualities that can see the good in Fatebinder while being blind to the bad. Of course, in the story, the irony will be how the reader is able to see both.
We'll see if it works.
In the meantime, I've dusted off an old story that I'm nearly done with, and will finish tomorrow or Sunday, that I'll be revising next week as I write this story. The goal is 500 words a day for two weeks, which will produce 5000 words, with then a week of multiple rewrites before submission. We'll see if I can do that.
The problem is that the Fate Binder is kind of a jerk. Alright, he's a total jerk. Do I really want the story to be about a guy who defies prophesy and gets burned by it? That's particularly ironic really since the ultimate theme of the novel WAS going to be that prophesy and destiny have a way of petering out, of not being reliable when you want them to be there.
Then again, this would kind of show the capricious nature of Fa's prophesy. After all, this anecdote in history is supposed to be THE poster child about why thwarting prophesy is impossible, but if I were to show that in the story and PROVING just how random Fa can be would be interesting. So instead of making the Fatebinder ignorant of Fa and blown up in a fit of solar rage, what if he deliberately plays a cosmic game of chicken, using his own rules against him and in the end showing him that he only follows those rules in name only?
That still makes him a jerk and a rather unsympathetic character. And yet I need to start writing next week. I think that the story has to be about Fatebinder, but I may give Fatebinder an assistant or a side kick of some kind. Someone with redeeming qualities that can see the good in Fatebinder while being blind to the bad. Of course, in the story, the irony will be how the reader is able to see both.
We'll see if it works.
In the meantime, I've dusted off an old story that I'm nearly done with, and will finish tomorrow or Sunday, that I'll be revising next week as I write this story. The goal is 500 words a day for two weeks, which will produce 5000 words, with then a week of multiple rewrites before submission. We'll see if I can do that.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Binder of Fate
The mover and shaker in this case is an individual who has mastered the secrets of the Scoungers who follow the Prophets around everywhere, the Hushers and the Wizards. He makes a pair of Goggles that allow him to see who is significant to a prophesy and who isn't.
The long story short of the situation is that he is determined to thwart a prophesy to prove that there it is merely a by product of people's beliefs, rather than a force on its own. He will start by outright killing several of the principle people involved in the prophesy, only to see the significant players shift. He then turns one of the princples involved into a mindless vegetable, and finally just assembles a gigantic army, playing on the tensions between Spielglas and her neighbors to invade the city states, taking them one by one until he has a massive force not seen since the days of the last empire ready to lay waste to the city.
He avoids several small threats and assassination attempts the prophesy moves in his way, because he can see them coming with the goggles, until Fa just gets sick of the whole thing and just fries the army to a cinder.
The long story short of the situation is that he is determined to thwart a prophesy to prove that there it is merely a by product of people's beliefs, rather than a force on its own. He will start by outright killing several of the principle people involved in the prophesy, only to see the significant players shift. He then turns one of the princples involved into a mindless vegetable, and finally just assembles a gigantic army, playing on the tensions between Spielglas and her neighbors to invade the city states, taking them one by one until he has a massive force not seen since the days of the last empire ready to lay waste to the city.
He avoids several small threats and assassination attempts the prophesy moves in his way, because he can see them coming with the goggles, until Fa just gets sick of the whole thing and just fries the army to a cinder.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Glashause
How does one make a boy come from nowhere? Somewhere where something important happened once a long time ago but that nobody cares about any more.
Long ago, Glashause served as the scene for the rise of the Second great imperial human dynasty, the one that confirmed the prophetic cycle of empire and chaos and then a rise from the ashes. It was so famous for so long, that eventually it became a backwater. The people were initially full of themselves, and then forgotten, then hicks and then something else altogether. Of course, to one degree or another, thousands of years of human history could make most of the planet like that, but Glashause was one in particular.
It is the largest and oldest of the city states, best known for the Light House which served in the last empire. It is also known as a center of learning. The worst kept secret in the world is that the next prophesy will take place there. This isn't another empire, that isn't supposed to happen until 200 years later with Ful, but everyone knows it is the last big 'foreshadowing' event.
And one guy (who I'll detail tomorrow) attempts to manipulate prophesy to the point that he tries to keep the prophesy from happening. The thing is, that no one really knows about Fa, or the fact that he's ultimately the one behind the prophesy, because most people either worship Gods or one of the ancient powers. The fate manipulator is in for a bit of a rude shock, despite his incredibly sophisticated methods of manipulating prophesy.
Long ago, Glashause served as the scene for the rise of the Second great imperial human dynasty, the one that confirmed the prophetic cycle of empire and chaos and then a rise from the ashes. It was so famous for so long, that eventually it became a backwater. The people were initially full of themselves, and then forgotten, then hicks and then something else altogether. Of course, to one degree or another, thousands of years of human history could make most of the planet like that, but Glashause was one in particular.
It is the largest and oldest of the city states, best known for the Light House which served in the last empire. It is also known as a center of learning. The worst kept secret in the world is that the next prophesy will take place there. This isn't another empire, that isn't supposed to happen until 200 years later with Ful, but everyone knows it is the last big 'foreshadowing' event.
And one guy (who I'll detail tomorrow) attempts to manipulate prophesy to the point that he tries to keep the prophesy from happening. The thing is, that no one really knows about Fa, or the fact that he's ultimately the one behind the prophesy, because most people either worship Gods or one of the ancient powers. The fate manipulator is in for a bit of a rude shock, despite his incredibly sophisticated methods of manipulating prophesy.
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