my concept

[8017949444]

i have been writing for years, but never fantasy. in fact, i have not even ventured into the realm of fiction before, other than some lame short stories. i have always loved fantasy, from Middle Earth to Prydain, but i have always considered it a sort of closet-pleasure, the type of thing only nerds do so keep-it-quiet-if-you-want-to-be-taken-seriously.

recently i decided to write fantasy. probably the most alluring aspect of my newfound hobby is the stark good-versus-evil rhetoric when it is convinient write. i am a good guy, or i try to be, but there are few bad guys to fight when you are an american high school student. when i so boldly strolled into the library looking for a non-fiction book on the glory-days of good versus evil. i searched through everthing, and eventually found those glory days never actually happened outside the shabby shelf in the back so bitterly labeled "fantasy".

i re-read all my childhood favorites, daydreamed every day in class about being a hero or a wizard or whatever, and eventually arrived at a conclusion. "i'm already a hopeless nerd," i admitted. so there isnt anything stopping me.

my concept is a story in 4 parts, how long i cant yet know. the hero, told from the only point of view i could really get into, a classic teen male. the first part of the story is told in a land, as far as i can see now, a psudo-ancient land based on midevil eastern europe and west asia. the second part is a nautical adventure of arabian sea. the third is back on land, and the 4th and final part is told on both as well as it can be managed.

the hero starts out as a blacksmith, mistakenly ends up a pirate, is captured and put into prison on board a ship, escapes, makes his way back to land and is a farmer, self-motivated soldier, then becomes a captian of his own war vessel.

the reason i want the story to be so land-sea-land-sea is difficult to explain. nautical tales are extremely romantic, but they can get boring. as far as i can tell, the two different land situations, blacksmith and farmer, are similar enough, but to be a pirate and to captian a god war ship are very much different.

if there is any interest in what i am writing (i have a suspision this kind of crap gets posted all the time) i will write more. does what i have so far sound interesting?

 

[littlemissattitude]

I think you've done a lot of good thinking and have got an interesting idea. An especially good start is that you seem to kind of know where you're wanting to go with the story.

Have you been keeping notes? That would be a good idea. So would a sort of general outline, since you do know where you want to go, and the path you want to take to get there. Probably the next thing to do is to sort of fill in blanks, if you haven't. The incidents that take your hero from being a blacksmith to being a pirate. What happens to him while he is a pirate and leading up to his being captured. How he gets from being captured to being a farmer...and so on. Tim Powers (who is a good writer, if you haven't read him) does his plotting with index cards, and he makes timelines or calendars. You could try writing incidents down on cards as you think of them, that way you can rearrange them until you have the plot points of your story in the order you want them in.

Alternatively, you could just start writing. Other writers prefer that method. You need to do what works best for you.

But you definitely need to start doing something. Just thinking doesn't make you a writer. Writing does. And I think you could do something with this idea.

Have fun with it. And keep us posted.

Oh, and by the way, a lot of us around here are nerds. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and in fact some of us are very proud of it.

 

[8017949444]

thanks for the advice. and i am definatly the kind of writer that needs to make timelines, outlines and such. on top of that though, what i find is interesting is to write page-long excerps of certain parts, even before you have any of the introduction to the material written. and those fortunalty are short enough to post. i began writing letters and such (from one charector to another) to "get to know them better" a week ago. i can post those when they are revised enough to not be embarassing. thanks.

 

[littlemissattitude]

i began writing letters and such (from one charector to another) to "get to know them better" a week ago. i can post those when they are revised enough to not be embarassing. thanks.

That's an interesting writing exercise. I'd not thought of that before. What I like to do is write character sketches. I think there's a thread about that around here somewhere. If I can find it, I'll post a link for you.

Aha. Found it. http://www.chronicles-network.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1743. I don't know if this will be of any help to you. I learned to do this in a playwriting class, and using this or a similar format to flesh out a character helps me get the various characters set in my mind.

 

[8017949444]

thanks, that charecter sketch thing will help me a lot. here is one of the letters i have written. this is the part of the story where the hero is in prison and his friends are trying to break him out.
the letter is a cryptic warning that his friends are coming to help him escape, it askes where his cell window is, what time of day he is in the cell and what direction the cell faces. it also hints that the friends will be trying to drug the guards a few hours before the attempt, and that the prisoner should sing in order for his friends to find him faster. the reply gives all the necesary information, and even suggests the friends send some of the mentioned biscuits, which earlier in the story are used to poison someone.

An epistle to Jonas in Prison West Desert in Ckell, from his friend Tryth:

Reply as soon as you are allowed, Jonas. There are temporary circumstances that may hinder my further assistance to a mutual friend of ours, and both you and I wish very much for this person to be in freer conditions. Our friend needs my help to remove himself from his poor home, but I cannot as long as I am disallowed certain information. But no matter, my problems are none of your concern at the moment.

I hope you have a good view of the grounds from a nice window. A window is exactly what I need when I am confined. Tell me, can you see the sun set, or are you in a position to see it rise? I much prefer a view of the sunrise in the morning, as I am sure you can agree with me that the eastern breeze is very refreshing. Can a nice breeze make it into your cell, through a window; say covered in bars of iron? Try not to dwell on it, friend.

News from home I am sure is precious to you. An uncle and I are very much busy, harvesting our chosen crop, traveling much. We plan on a trip to our best friend’s place of residence soon. I hope he will oblige with a bit of whistling and happy song when we arrive, it hurts my feelings so much when a friend is unhappy to see me.

Fear not, I have a feeling that your brave captors will come to their senses and let you go free in a sense. We have sent a large cask of my finest wine to the prison for the relief of the guards and other such persons, after drinking which they will surely realize your innocence and set you free. In fact, why, I’ll wager not 6 hours after the wine arrives you will be unshackled, on your way back home.

I and your family will be lodging in Belk at the home of Ckris a Judge. Please write soon, we are much in want of your wit and honesty.

Keep hope brother. If reading this letter gives you strength, read it as long and as carefully as you want. Keep your head above water.

From your family; Tryth and and uncle.





In reply; To Tryth at the home of Ckris a Judge in Belk in Ckell, from his friend Jonas:



Good. I’m glad you wrote me. Sun sets over the deserts west of here. Unluckily, my window is very close to the ground. It is covered in only 3 bars, so dust falls into my cell, especially when a horse passes on the trail 10 feet from my window. Such traffic is common and overlooked.

I am so grateful to you for sending a token of your gratitude, and if I were you, I would send the wine with some of those great biscuits you used to make, those are a dream. After such a feast I’m sure the guards would be dead set on letting me go.

I must go, during the middle of the day I labor in the shops, and you don’t want to hear anything at all about that. Good luck in your journeying, I will sing a good song of home every night for you. With thanks.

From a prisoner.