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Today while at work (ssshhh) I had the chance to scrub up my first chapter, incorporating the daughter's marvelous suggestion. As a result of that, I can update my word count!
Okay so it doesn't sound like much, but it is SUPER important given what I did with it. I still have some problems though. These 'can' be worked out later, and yet for many reasons, the first problem is pretty damn important as it sets down the level of technology in Breith at this time.
The first scene takes part in a prison cell. The problem with that is...prison cells, one would think, are rather dark. Especially at night. Duh. There are barred windows, but it is a cloudy night, the moon is repeatedly covered...and, it is late enough (around 11 I'd say) that lighting of some sort will be necessary. Now, silly me pretty much wrote the scene where Gwion (my MC) had very little trouble seeing what I wanted him to see. Given that there is little light in the cell room...well...a decision must be made regarding what kind of lighting would be in that cell. And whatever kind I decide must reflect the current state of technology--though it is possible, given Breith is small on the scale compared to at least other cities in Murron, well...I can have a bit of leeway with this, make this particular prison more rustic.
However...that leads me to a huge problem. How to establish that this is NOT a medieval fantasy? No no no no! No. KL's and Em's forays into the world of steampunk have truly fascinated me--but that is a little further along than I am targeting (pretty much late Elizabethan period). I do not, however, want this setting to be obviously "London, 1602" for instance...so I am going to mess about with the level of some technologies.
I really do fancy the steam world. So, tonight's ponderings will consist of my making a formal decision as to the level of technology in each of the five cities (and the villages) in this country o'mine. Steam just has to be a part of it--I honestly have always loved steam engines (and loved trains and since I work in the train business--heck, that's a natural, right?) and steam boats...I think, what I can do, though the lighting in the prison is not as modern as in say Laldafair (which is THE city, oh yeah), a distant rumble of a steam boat on the river might just be a way to ground the time period OUT of medieval. There will be more chances to weave weave weave as Gwion's adventure unravels. I rather fancy gas lights, frankly--grin--but I do want to make the technology levels make SOME sort of sense. Be logical, in other words. And gas lighting might just not have arrived yet. Darn. LOL.
Then again, this IS my story, right? Yeah... And fiction.
Something seemingly so small (lighting) has led me on a merry chase, and the realization that I still have soooo much more to figure out about this place! and I am loving it! I feel as if I've come home again. Today at work when working on chapter one (sshhhh!!! lol) I felt THE ZING. I haven't felt THE ZING in quite a long time. A happy ZING because I am prancing about in my own little world. I was so happy I even got a little impatient with N when he called and interrupted. Hangs head. I smacked myself though--I promise. After all, today WAS N's birthday... Did I mention that?
Murron is a creation I've had in my mind since...um...let's see, since I first started at Bartlett & West, some 7.5 years ago. I worked on a storyline set in the world for a good 3 years, before realizing, well, it was just not doable. Dammit. (There are characters who will live on though--in future books, which I hope to have).
I'm sad I don't have the little maps I made (borrowing Alaska--lol and Russia--for my land mass--this seems so funny to me now). Mentally though I've moved the whole shebang to a far different part of this world, plunking it down along the shores around the Baltic. That change brings about the necessity of changing all sorts of things--but given it is all in my head, well, no big deal. I wouldn't know where to begin explaining all I've got going in my head...but it has been percolating there for years. YEARS.
Just waiting for the right story to come along, I think.
My job now (in addition to the above) is to organize my information so I can actually use it. Nick created a storyboard for his fic that I really like--I've never utilized a storyboard before, but really like how he did it. So that is what I am doing next--I have my sparse outline--just enough to know where I need to next and next and next to get from A to Z--so will zap that all together and hang it in my room. Should look lovely in here.
What else? Oh I have more...but will save that discussion for next post. It concerns POV.
C
Okay so it doesn't sound like much, but it is SUPER important given what I did with it. I still have some problems though. These 'can' be worked out later, and yet for many reasons, the first problem is pretty damn important as it sets down the level of technology in Breith at this time.
The first scene takes part in a prison cell. The problem with that is...prison cells, one would think, are rather dark. Especially at night. Duh. There are barred windows, but it is a cloudy night, the moon is repeatedly covered...and, it is late enough (around 11 I'd say) that lighting of some sort will be necessary. Now, silly me pretty much wrote the scene where Gwion (my MC) had very little trouble seeing what I wanted him to see. Given that there is little light in the cell room...well...a decision must be made regarding what kind of lighting would be in that cell. And whatever kind I decide must reflect the current state of technology--though it is possible, given Breith is small on the scale compared to at least other cities in Murron, well...I can have a bit of leeway with this, make this particular prison more rustic.
However...that leads me to a huge problem. How to establish that this is NOT a medieval fantasy? No no no no! No. KL's and Em's forays into the world of steampunk have truly fascinated me--but that is a little further along than I am targeting (pretty much late Elizabethan period). I do not, however, want this setting to be obviously "London, 1602" for instance...so I am going to mess about with the level of some technologies.
I really do fancy the steam world. So, tonight's ponderings will consist of my making a formal decision as to the level of technology in each of the five cities (and the villages) in this country o'mine. Steam just has to be a part of it--I honestly have always loved steam engines (and loved trains and since I work in the train business--heck, that's a natural, right?) and steam boats...I think, what I can do, though the lighting in the prison is not as modern as in say Laldafair (which is THE city, oh yeah), a distant rumble of a steam boat on the river might just be a way to ground the time period OUT of medieval. There will be more chances to weave weave weave as Gwion's adventure unravels. I rather fancy gas lights, frankly--grin--but I do want to make the technology levels make SOME sort of sense. Be logical, in other words. And gas lighting might just not have arrived yet. Darn. LOL.
Then again, this IS my story, right? Yeah... And fiction.
Something seemingly so small (lighting) has led me on a merry chase, and the realization that I still have soooo much more to figure out about this place! and I am loving it! I feel as if I've come home again. Today at work when working on chapter one (sshhhh!!! lol) I felt THE ZING. I haven't felt THE ZING in quite a long time. A happy ZING because I am prancing about in my own little world. I was so happy I even got a little impatient with N when he called and interrupted. Hangs head. I smacked myself though--I promise. After all, today WAS N's birthday... Did I mention that?
Murron is a creation I've had in my mind since...um...let's see, since I first started at Bartlett & West, some 7.5 years ago. I worked on a storyline set in the world for a good 3 years, before realizing, well, it was just not doable. Dammit. (There are characters who will live on though--in future books, which I hope to have).
I'm sad I don't have the little maps I made (borrowing Alaska--lol and Russia--for my land mass--this seems so funny to me now). Mentally though I've moved the whole shebang to a far different part of this world, plunking it down along the shores around the Baltic. That change brings about the necessity of changing all sorts of things--but given it is all in my head, well, no big deal. I wouldn't know where to begin explaining all I've got going in my head...but it has been percolating there for years. YEARS.
Just waiting for the right story to come along, I think.
My job now (in addition to the above) is to organize my information so I can actually use it. Nick created a storyboard for his fic that I really like--I've never utilized a storyboard before, but really like how he did it. So that is what I am doing next--I have my sparse outline--just enough to know where I need to next and next and next to get from A to Z--so will zap that all together and hang it in my room. Should look lovely in here.
What else? Oh I have more...but will save that discussion for next post. It concerns POV.
C
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 04:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 04:30 am (UTC)I love balloons. Geesh, how can I put a balloon in my fic...maybe next one? LOL.
You know, knowing you've known your world since you were a child--I wonder, do you have notebooks all over the house, with information about everything? Or do you rely on your brainpower to remember?
I am thinking that is a dangerous thing, after attending a book singing for Susan Wittig Albert, mystery author. She admitted she once killed off a character only to use them in a later book--she just grinned about getting tons of mail about the 'walking talking dead woman'... little bits she forgot.
I wish there was a crash-course or workshop on 'organizing your fantasy--keeping the dead people dead.' Anyone suggest anything like that for Flycon? I would so be there...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 07:09 am (UTC)I mentioned how the small city of Baldwin (sorta Syracuse NY size, I think, but more towards the NY-PA border) has developed for me over time from a town that I could write Dark Shadows type fic to a town that all sorts of short stories and books in all sorts of genres can, and will, take place. Ambergrin is set there; my short stories Wishful Thinking, Invisible Me and (I think) Navarre, and now Christmas Ghosts. And still those old superhero and supernatural stories would also fit right in. It's fun watching it develop and grow suburbs and small towns around it.
Can't wait to see where yours is going!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 09:09 am (UTC)But yes I have notebooks, and have been inventing and reinventing methods for keeping track of things since I was a kid. My atlas is pretty good, and I began index cards for people, but what I really wanted was hypertext!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-12 08:58 pm (UTC)