DreamerHi guys!
My first actual question!
It may be a bit stupid, but there's a serious issue, here.
Prologue: sorry for the length, but I need some "feelings" and insights about my work. If you don't have time or don't want to read, feel free to avoid this.
I THANK everyone who'll dedicate me some of his time.
I'll remember. A LANNISTER ALWAYS pays his debts.
I'll try to explain: I'm workin' on a novel that "shuould be" the first part of a Saga. I'm not sure about the number of books I'll need, but that's not the point.
Just think about the fact that I want to tell different stories in the future and not only different angles of the same-storyline.
Outline of the world
I'm pretty sure that I found the right way by writing about multiple-povs.
Before showin' the actual problem, here's the "mood" of my world: it's divided in big islands. It's not clear (to the readers) if there's another part of undiscovered world...that'll be part of the mistery.
Now: the main story I'm writin' about, focuses on the two "main" islands. The first one is similar to europe and it involves, north to south, the cultures in between Italy and Denmarks.
West to east, we have something like belgium to polland.
It's mostrly covered by a big EMPIRE and noble dinasties, except for a couple of "independent" regions.
The second one is a mix of arabian/pre-muslims egypt and some southern africa environment. It's covered by a "spiritual empire", where little GIRLS become empresses one after another, showin' their connection with a mysterious God with weird folklore around Moon and Sun.
There are other isles, but right now they're just part of the background story.
Gods...or concepts?
I won't explain the cosmology or mythology in details. Just think about the fact that in my world, GOD is a world intended to describe a "universal concept", something like a "living" concept.
We have:
- the concept of "what exists" (Thi'neh, entity of nature, elements and animals, also called "The Surge");
- the concept of "what IS" (Mh'oth, deity of human strength, both physical and intellectual, also called "The Strength");
- the concept of "what KNOWS" (G'hnom, deity of knowledge and discovery, also called "The Knowledge");
- the concept of "what's DARK" (Ah'thun, deity of mystery that lives in between all the other concepts, also called "The Nothing In Between");
- the concept of "what CHANGES" (Ah'ghit, deity of movement and anarchy, also called "The Chaos").
Those are the main cults and beliefs, but the universe is FULL of concepts and people can rely on each concept they prefer.
The people who channel the divine power are called E'tehn, the "guides", the "ones who understand the primordial language". An e'tehn is someone who's been taught to read ancient runes and understands the "voice of the created", to ask favours to the concept by offering HIS OWN BLOOD (the symbol of human essence).
There are people who follow the Ah'thun cult that obtain favours with no effort: they don't pay with blood, they just ask and get what they want (based on they're knowledge and faith, obviously).
These people are considered "bad" and they're called "TAINTED E'TEHN" or just "SORCERERS".
The sorcery is the art of obtaining favours from gods without the use of Blood.
It is known that Sorcerors have very short and painful lifes.
THREE MAIN THEMES: behind the tells, there are a bunch of "universal theme". They're not my ideas, just part of the thoughts that lurk around the story.
1. Conflict with family: personal will vs. family needs.
2. Everybody needs a superior guide: freedom is nothing without a lead.
3. Nobody is good, nobody is evil.
The plot of this book is divided in three inter-connected parts (most connections are incidents, actually...it's kinda trick ahahah).
1. Empire intrigues (nothing more to add).
2. Troubles around a family called "Norskelyn", pretty "mystical" and mysterious.
3. A horrific "fever" that comes from south, burnin' people from inside, connected both with a region called "The Cradle" and the "southern empire".
I have 5 MAIN POVS (right now)
- Oystein Keisarth starts at the southern continent and makes a long travel to the north (it's the twin brother of the previous emperor, escaped from the family when he was 10 years old, to become an "e'tehn", kinda "magic priest", one of the two magical archetypes in my worlds).
He's an e'then to a deity called G'hnom, as another character (Amalia), deity of knowledge and discovery.
Keisarth is the name of the emperial dinasty.
- Shovél Izdihaar is the son of a lord in the above mentioned "The Cradle", an independent but still "friendly" region to the empire of the Big Continent. It hosted 4 dinasties with a blessing and a curse. Two of the dinasties disappeared, one destroyed by emperial forces and another dinasty, self-destroyed to help.
Our Shovél is an "Izdihaar". They're blessing is "incredible physical qualities", like resistance to fatigue, poison and so on. They're curse is "rage." They fall in uncontrollable "rage states" when betrayed or heavily insulted.
It serves as the TELLER of things relied to Norskelyn and Cradle stuff and a slow discovery of the threat of the fever.
- Wyctor Dorren is a young "Shield" (the term used to describe the basic militia-unit of the empire). It has strong conflicts with his family. It experiences the troubles around Norskelyn and the Cradle and personal involvement with his family intrigues.
Dorren is the name of a family of merchants and farmers. They became increasingly rich and now pretend a major role in the empire. People think they're not the honest workers they've been anymore.
- Fey Alander is a young lady, promised wife of the actual emperor, a weak and sick guy called Even. She knows him by LETTERS they're allowed to write one to another. Her chapters show her travel to meet him and all the things she discovers about intrigues at the capital city.
Alanders are the dinasty that is tied to the emperial one, the Keisarth. 3 of the 4 previous emperors married an Alander girl and a lot of Alander people have important role in the empire politics and militia.
- Amalia Norskelyn is an e'then of a deity called G'hnom, that incarnates the concept of "Knowledge" or "Discovery". She's daughter to Lord Ilah Norskelyn, the "boss" of the Norskelyn family, a mysterious man married to a woman of the Cradle, with dark purposes but still with a "cool" feeling.
She shows us the "e'then" environment and the troubles of his family with a "inner" eyes, revealing, from chapter to chapter, what's going behind the dark walls of their castle.
Norskelyn is the name of a family discended from one of the three ancient breeds that forged the big continent, the "L'hyn", that in the "primordial language" means "Keepers". They were the "spiritual" guides: lot of 'em study folklore and arcane knowledge. Some of 'em are G'hnom E'tehn.
That can be a bit "disturbing", because, except for "supernatural" stuff, you know that they're alive and there's no tension about their health.
Again, it can be "disctracting" because jumping between 5 first person narrators can be too much.
On the other hand, this tecnique gives me the opportunity to go in depth with their thoughts and I can play with their UNRELIABILITY, in some cases. ahah
Now: I have other perspective too show. I planned out other 4 POVS that, FOR NOW, are "occasional". One gets 4 chapters, another 3, another one 2 and the last one a SINGLE chapter (the epilogue).
The question: WHAT NARRATOR SHOULD I USE FOR 'EM? I don't want to write 'em in FIRST person.
Third "inside"? Third "distant"? Third "omniscent"?
It may seem a STUPID question, but believe me, it's going to make me crash.
I ask you to "motivate" your answers, just to get the point.
Thanks a lot!
Sandor, aka "Marco"
My first actual question!
It may be a bit stupid, but there's a serious issue, here.
Prologue: sorry for the length, but I need some "feelings" and insights about my work. If you don't have time or don't want to read, feel free to avoid this.
I THANK everyone who'll dedicate me some of his time.
I'll remember. A LANNISTER ALWAYS pays his debts.
I'll try to explain: I'm workin' on a novel that "shuould be" the first part of a Saga. I'm not sure about the number of books I'll need, but that's not the point.
Just think about the fact that I want to tell different stories in the future and not only different angles of the same-storyline.
Outline of the world
I'm pretty sure that I found the right way by writing about multiple-povs.
Before showin' the actual problem, here's the "mood" of my world: it's divided in big islands. It's not clear (to the readers) if there's another part of undiscovered world...that'll be part of the mistery.
Now: the main story I'm writin' about, focuses on the two "main" islands. The first one is similar to europe and it involves, north to south, the cultures in between Italy and Denmarks.
West to east, we have something like belgium to polland.
It's mostrly covered by a big EMPIRE and noble dinasties, except for a couple of "independent" regions.
The second one is a mix of arabian/pre-muslims egypt and some southern africa environment. It's covered by a "spiritual empire", where little GIRLS become empresses one after another, showin' their connection with a mysterious God with weird folklore around Moon and Sun.
There are other isles, but right now they're just part of the background story.
Gods...or concepts?
I won't explain the cosmology or mythology in details. Just think about the fact that in my world, GOD is a world intended to describe a "universal concept", something like a "living" concept.
We have:
- the concept of "what exists" (Thi'neh, entity of nature, elements and animals, also called "The Surge");
- the concept of "what IS" (Mh'oth, deity of human strength, both physical and intellectual, also called "The Strength");
- the concept of "what KNOWS" (G'hnom, deity of knowledge and discovery, also called "The Knowledge");
- the concept of "what's DARK" (Ah'thun, deity of mystery that lives in between all the other concepts, also called "The Nothing In Between");
- the concept of "what CHANGES" (Ah'ghit, deity of movement and anarchy, also called "The Chaos").
Those are the main cults and beliefs, but the universe is FULL of concepts and people can rely on each concept they prefer.
The people who channel the divine power are called E'tehn, the "guides", the "ones who understand the primordial language". An e'tehn is someone who's been taught to read ancient runes and understands the "voice of the created", to ask favours to the concept by offering HIS OWN BLOOD (the symbol of human essence).
There are people who follow the Ah'thun cult that obtain favours with no effort: they don't pay with blood, they just ask and get what they want (based on they're knowledge and faith, obviously).
These people are considered "bad" and they're called "TAINTED E'TEHN" or just "SORCERERS".
The sorcery is the art of obtaining favours from gods without the use of Blood.
It is known that Sorcerors have very short and painful lifes.
THREE MAIN THEMES: behind the tells, there are a bunch of "universal theme". They're not my ideas, just part of the thoughts that lurk around the story.
1. Conflict with family: personal will vs. family needs.
2. Everybody needs a superior guide: freedom is nothing without a lead.
3. Nobody is good, nobody is evil.
The plot of this book is divided in three inter-connected parts (most connections are incidents, actually...it's kinda trick ahahah).
1. Empire intrigues (nothing more to add).
2. Troubles around a family called "Norskelyn", pretty "mystical" and mysterious.
3. A horrific "fever" that comes from south, burnin' people from inside, connected both with a region called "The Cradle" and the "southern empire".
I have 5 MAIN POVS (right now)
- Oystein Keisarth starts at the southern continent and makes a long travel to the north (it's the twin brother of the previous emperor, escaped from the family when he was 10 years old, to become an "e'tehn", kinda "magic priest", one of the two magical archetypes in my worlds).
He's an e'then to a deity called G'hnom, as another character (Amalia), deity of knowledge and discovery.
Keisarth is the name of the emperial dinasty.
- Shovél Izdihaar is the son of a lord in the above mentioned "The Cradle", an independent but still "friendly" region to the empire of the Big Continent. It hosted 4 dinasties with a blessing and a curse. Two of the dinasties disappeared, one destroyed by emperial forces and another dinasty, self-destroyed to help.
Our Shovél is an "Izdihaar". They're blessing is "incredible physical qualities", like resistance to fatigue, poison and so on. They're curse is "rage." They fall in uncontrollable "rage states" when betrayed or heavily insulted.
It serves as the TELLER of things relied to Norskelyn and Cradle stuff and a slow discovery of the threat of the fever.
- Wyctor Dorren is a young "Shield" (the term used to describe the basic militia-unit of the empire). It has strong conflicts with his family. It experiences the troubles around Norskelyn and the Cradle and personal involvement with his family intrigues.
Dorren is the name of a family of merchants and farmers. They became increasingly rich and now pretend a major role in the empire. People think they're not the honest workers they've been anymore.
- Fey Alander is a young lady, promised wife of the actual emperor, a weak and sick guy called Even. She knows him by LETTERS they're allowed to write one to another. Her chapters show her travel to meet him and all the things she discovers about intrigues at the capital city.
Alanders are the dinasty that is tied to the emperial one, the Keisarth. 3 of the 4 previous emperors married an Alander girl and a lot of Alander people have important role in the empire politics and militia.
- Amalia Norskelyn is an e'then of a deity called G'hnom, that incarnates the concept of "Knowledge" or "Discovery". She's daughter to Lord Ilah Norskelyn, the "boss" of the Norskelyn family, a mysterious man married to a woman of the Cradle, with dark purposes but still with a "cool" feeling.
She shows us the "e'then" environment and the troubles of his family with a "inner" eyes, revealing, from chapter to chapter, what's going behind the dark walls of their castle.
Norskelyn is the name of a family discended from one of the three ancient breeds that forged the big continent, the "L'hyn", that in the "primordial language" means "Keepers". They were the "spiritual" guides: lot of 'em study folklore and arcane knowledge. Some of 'em are G'hnom E'tehn.
WE FINALLY REACHED THE POINT!!!! BE HAPPY!!!
I found that I'm VERY confortable with FIRST PERSON writing, at least for this book. So, I've decided to use this tecnique: EVERY main-character tells the story by his eyes (not clear the person they're tellin' the story to, at the moment, I'll figure that out). That can be a bit "disturbing", because, except for "supernatural" stuff, you know that they're alive and there's no tension about their health.
Again, it can be "disctracting" because jumping between 5 first person narrators can be too much.
On the other hand, this tecnique gives me the opportunity to go in depth with their thoughts and I can play with their UNRELIABILITY, in some cases. ahah
Now: I have other perspective too show. I planned out other 4 POVS that, FOR NOW, are "occasional". One gets 4 chapters, another 3, another one 2 and the last one a SINGLE chapter (the epilogue).
The question: WHAT NARRATOR SHOULD I USE FOR 'EM? I don't want to write 'em in FIRST person.
Third "inside"? Third "distant"? Third "omniscent"?
It may seem a STUPID question, but believe me, it's going to make me crash.
I ask you to "motivate" your answers, just to get the point.
Thanks a lot!
Sandor, aka "Marco"
Last edited:
Troubadour
