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Kill this Thread

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I can't even begin to explain how thrilled I am. It was everything I wanted and more. I just wanted a serious, focused setting and people to collaborate and play with each other. I mean, that's what writing exercises are about, practicing, getting creative, and having a good time. I LOVE IT!!! and every single post has been freaking great. I am having a blast, and all I can hope for is that everyone else is having as good a time as I am. I love the characters, and I just love the enthusiasm.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I'm going to post more and more when I get something flowing. Expect results within the next week or so.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I'm going to break my cycle of procrastination tomorrow. Whatever else I do, I am going to finish something I have started, dammit!
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I really wish I knew when this thread was dead or not. I'm hours ahead of most of you, so I can't determine when it's dead. It's like checking old milk.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
The loving scene?

What are you leaning towards?

I'm only seeing these now. This is really driving me crazy, so alright, I'll spill.

Right now I'm working on six short stories to set up a slew of characters for the novel I want to write. It's based on my YoD entry. I actually want to use Yaiku, years later, and I'm trying to figure out his love interest and create a moment to help define the starting point of their relationship. With all the chasms, I've decided that she's a mounted patrol, so being a light-weight figure helps her mount to jump farther chasms and reach areas that a heavier male counterpart cannot. Strangely enough, the long jump record for a human is about the same as the record for a horse, so Yaiku may still be able to go farther.

I want the two characters to be at a point where they're just about to settle down right before war breaks out in the region. They have a friend who goes out, somehow witnesses something bad, and is pursued by another character back into their town, bringing the conflict. In the meantime, I need something to establish their relationship, both for readers and for me while I outline the bumps and jumps of their relationship.

I think it may also help to create a new character who can help to push their personal conflicts as things go forward, and I think it should be someone in her life instead of his.

Their home is going to fall apart, and they're likely to face serious tests of character. They may be separated for a while. That's why I want an established relationship, instead of a new or budding romance. I don't know if they're married. I think maybe.

If it sounds like I'm still in the same place I was in the other thread I mentioned it, it's true. I've been focusing on the six short stories, the plot, and on other aspects of the novel. But I care most about getting this one piece right, and I seem to be blocked on it.

Any suggestions will be a big help, if only to prod this jumble of thoughts in my head.


I really wish I knew when this thread was dead or not. I'm hours ahead of most of you, so I can't determine when it's dead. It's like checking old milk.

That was only 15 hours.
 
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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Yeah I really liked your YoD entry so it would be good to see that stretched out to something longer.

What if your characters share a love for the drakes (I think that's what you called them)? They could form a bond over their love of riding or some such. I remember I met a girl when I was a kid who really liked riding horses and she taught me how to ride some and it felt like a nice, innocent moment. Maybe she could teach him how to jump. Sometimes mentor relationships can cause a romantic spark.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
@Devor I'm really good at this sort of thing. Way better at love and tense relationships than war and fighting, so if you want some help, I'm happy to give you some suggestions. What do you have written so far? Can you send it? I feel like I have ton of ideas, but it's hard without knowing anything about the context of the story.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Anihow - The only thing that's written, that's relevant, is my Year of the Dragon entry, entry #3. The updated version adds ziplines and pole vaulting. The other stories I'm working on cover different characters and different parts of the world, so they aren't really relevant.

I'm debating whether or not I should bump one of the six stories to make one around her character, but I don't have the slightest idea what that would look like yet. Each of the stories, on top of the characters, also has two paragraphs introducing one of the six gods and their role in the world. Those paragraphs are going to be combined into a prologue at the start of the novel. If I gave her a short story, it would introduce the Tortoise-god, the only one whose role I'm still unsure about. By role, though, I mean something different than what might come to mind. The Pheonix god, for instance, manages the reincarnation cycle, and the Elephant god, who is partnered with the Tortoise, deals with the spirit stuff. The Dragon god's role is just being awesome. The other two deal with the behavior/philosophy concept that I don't want to explain. So doing a short story about the girl would have to tie in to something dealing with the Tortoise god.

Honestly, I don't know how typing all of this out is going to help. Your first post in the other thread was very useful to me just being vague. I think just more of that would be the most help.

Phil - The drakes were the bad guys. The girl rides an animal called the Feichiru, which is an antelope with bird-like qualities, but can't fly.


((edit))

I think maybe the characters are currently married, and living in Yaiku's family home on the farm, where part of a room has been partitioned off with Japanese-type sliding doors. But they're moving out, or planning to move out, or have just moved out, when the story starts. Maybe it's a home she's able to acquire because of her work in the patrol. I think that's where I want to start. I don't want the "will they or won't they" romance. I want to see what happens to their relationship when their home is destroyed and the people they know have to endure hardships, and their personalities move from happy and heroic into a place full of tension, sadness, anger and responsibility.

I still need a moment.
 
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Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I was once a Knight of Badassdom.

Also dabbled in kendo and spent some years training in iaido. (No fighting in iaido, but it's fun practicing with an actual sword--or an unsharpened one if you don't trust yourself to not accidentally cut your hand sheathing your weapon.)

Sword fighting is fun when your limbs can't get hacked off.
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
("....i should've killed Reaver when i had the chance," the goblin said laughing crazily and rubbing his tiny, gnarled hands together..."but i think i'd rather kill this thread...".....)
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Ghaa, I thought it had slid far enough to be out of view... Dammit! My record then is 15 hours.

I think you'll have to bump more threads than that. They like to play with your emotions.

Really, though, I thought info-dumping was the best way to kill it. I'll have to think of something else.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
That's okay. I like this thread. I get to say all the crazy things that pop into my head and it's okay to say them here.
 
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