Envy and Kindness

I hope everyone is in a gluttony-induced haze of laziness for Boxing Day, having spent the previous day with their loved ones.  This week marks the true start of summer in my humble corner of the universe, with the daily maxima of 38 degrees C (100 degrees F) or above for the next week.  Thankfully, a ‘cool change’ of 34 degrees C (93 degrees F) will come next Wednesday.

Other than that, I have been throwing around some short story ideas.  A particular one that has gained traction is a science fiction story based in the closest earth-like atmospheric conditions in our Solar System.  I will just need to flesh the main idea out some more to see if it can work.

 

ENVY

1)                   (n) a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.

2)            (n) an object of envious feeling.

3)            (n) (obsolete)  Ill will.

 

This vice is one that many would feel at this time of the year.  No matter how much some people have, it seems like all they want is more, even though they don’t need it. Then there are others who only want an opportunity to earn some for themselves, yet circumstances prevent them from doing so.  Being in a poor area of the world, not having opportunities available, or even just having no motivation to put in the hard yards would be instances of this.

The character with this vice against shall be introduced very early in Book 2 (PoK), and be the focus of the main story in Book 3 (PoD).  Their embracing of envy will come through a long period of forced deprivation of liberty, which will mix with their sense of entitlement to create a understated yet formidable threat.

The one thing I am finding with my antagonists is that there has to be something likeable about them, as an unrelatable antagonist is just as bad to a story as the perfect protagonist.  Though people make it hard to believe sometimes, I do not believe people are born evil.  We are blank slates, who are continuously shaped by the chaos of events that make up our public and private lives.

Do you prefer your antagonists despicable, unpredictable and unlikeable?  Or as good people corrupted by the events of their lives?

 

KINDNESS

1)            (n) the state or quality of being kind.

2)            (n) a kind act; favour: his many kindnesses to me.

3)            (n) kind behaviour.

4)            (n) friendly feeling; liking.

 

With this virtue, is proved to be a difficult one to implement.  This is due to the fact that kindness is the basis of almost every good action a person performs.  Due to this, I altered it slightly to the term ‘contentment’.  It seemed a more natural antithesis to envy, since being happy with what you have is the opposite of never being happy with what you have.

The character with this virtue will be introduced in the later portion of Book 1 (PoP).  They will have a very strong historical link to the Lust character.  The issue will be that they were content with their life and had finally found peace with the raw deal life had presented them.  But the Lust character shows up, and everything will change drastically for them.

Double Dose: Sloth and Diligence, Gluttony and Temperance

My apologies for the double delay in posting.  More interviews to attend, more companies to research, and more anxious waiting for a decision.  And to add to the fun, my thumb drive with all my story information decided to stop working.  Thank goodness I backed it up two weeks earlier, though unfortunately I lost my new section of Chapter 3 and all the character questionnaires I had completed.  Darnfangled technomogy, dagnabbit!

But on the plus side, it means this entry is a double dosage.  We get to address the vices of sloth and gluttony, as well as the virtues of diligence and temperance… and no, I don’t mean Kathy Reich’s fictional forensic anthropologist.  The wife loving both the book and television series has fried the name into my brain, just as badly as her love for the CSI series has fried Horatio Kane in there too.

Back to business…

 

SLOTH

1)            (n) habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.

The vice everybody will be suffering from post-Christmas.  This will be built into a character from one of the families in Book 1 (PoP), and it will be the cause of a pretty horrendous event that will haunt the character for the rest of their days.  Such a vice would have to mean they are stinky, wear dirty clothes, do not do much in the way of focused activity.  As such, they should not look particularly appealing.  Despite this, there will probably be an important twist in their background somewhere…

 How would you present a slovenly character into your stories?  Can you make the reader care about such a person?

DILIGENCE

1)            (n) constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.

This virtue is another that I would associate directly to a warrior type.  With all the drills and discipline involved in their training, it would have to be the number one attribute to have.  The character I have in mind is lined up for introduction in Book 3 (PoD) so far, though they have a quite similar background to Wrath.  A fake-out to who is which may be in order…

GLUTTONY

1)            (n) excessive eating and drinking.

The other vice that will be making itself known during the Holiday season.  This character will also be from  another of the families in Book 1, though they will probably the most unlikeable out of all of the main characters… well, in any case I don’t like them very much.

 

TEMPERANCE

1)            (n) moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc.; self-control.

The character with this will be tightly linked with the Diligence character.  Due to the connection, they will also find their way into the story in Book 3.  It is likely that this character will be of a religious bend, as the monks and practitioners of the day seemed to deny themselves a lot of the creature comforts that others would not forgo.  They will also play a part in expanding the story world east, as some parts of the world will be briefly addressed in Book 1 (PoP), and start the true world expansion will start in Book 2 (PoK).

The next post will be on Boxing Day.  Hope you all have a great Holiday Season, gets lots of pressies and that a few more notches in your belt buckle will help decide your New Year Resolutions =)

Greed and Charity

After far too long, some more of Chapter 3 for PoP has been written.  Unfortunately it was only 630 words, but it is a start towards a steady momentum.  The bit has got me back into study of Middle Ages water distribution systems.  But, more importantly, it has helped me clarify the positioning of the family Houses in the city layout, so now it will be easier to describe main pathways and where the characters are moving to and from.

I have updated my Category names slightly, due to my regular referrals to Book 1 as PoP.  Each Book now has its initials, such as Book 2 now showing PoK.  During the update, WordPress noted that the only Books that had not been categorised in any posts were Books 5 (PoA) and 6 (PoR).  Book 5 I cannot refer to, as it would reveal the ‘Game Changer’ component of the saga.  Book 6 I can give a small teaser for; tribes with the colours Azure, Vermilion, White, Black and Yellow.

I have a couple of thank yous to give out.  Firstly to DuckofIndeed, who is taking the time to create cover art for ‘Mune and Mura’.  To do such a thing for a complete stranger is extremely generous.  The second round goes to Emma McCoy, for her latest post which provided a character study template.  This has already helped me iron out some aspects of two main characters =)

 

GREED

1) (n) excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

The definition’s focus on desire is good, as a desire for recognition can be considered a form of greed.  The character with this vice will be introduced in the first five chapters of PoP.  This vice will come to define the character over time, but will not be apparent in the beginning.  Their inspiration would give away why this vice would exist at all, so that’s hush hush for the moment 😉

 

CHARITY

1) (n) Generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless.

2) (n) Something given to a person or persons in need; alms.

3) (n) Benevolent feeling, especially toward those in need or in disfavour.

This character is currently one of four main characters scheduled to make their debuts in Book 2 (PoK), alongside Patience, Envy and Pride.  The pacing of introducing main characters is the hardest part to balance, as there are six introduced in PoP, four in PoK, two in PoD, and two will be ‘hidden’ throughout the story.

The character’s name will immediately give away who inspired them, but it was fitting.  Definition 1 is the closest to how I envisage them, with a greater focus on the ill aspect.  They will share a strong bond with Patience, through the sharing of a life-changing event… though they were on opposite sides in the conflict.

What do you view as the definitive idea of Charity?

Setting description when the storyworld is acting like Tel’aran’rhiod!

JUST STARTED: ‘Krondor: The Assassins’ by Raymond E. Feist

HANGING OUT FOR: ‘A Memory of Light’ by Brandon Sanderson (Final book of ‘Wheel of Time’ series)

Creating a story world is a difficult task, as it seems in a constant state of flux in one’s mind. And the more one researches, the more one finds new things to incorporate.

I’ve written the first chapter. As I’ve mentioned, each chapter is four portions. The first scene chapter introduces Antagonist #1 and #2 in their ‘special place’. The second scene follows them to A1’s ‘House’, serving the purpose of ‘City expansion’ by illustrating the city layout. Third scene introduces the five people who essentially ‘run the country’, but am endeavouring to make it not in the sense one would expect. And the fourth scene… Fight scene!

The second chapter has proven to be anchored in one place, the ‘House’ of Antagonist #2. First scene follows A2, sowing seeds of his backstory. Against my expectation, the next two scenes have followed the House leader (a supporting character), met in Chapter 1 Scene 3. And now I am stuck on writing Chapter 2 Scene 4. Trying to keep a steady pacing is the aim of the game, and this is messing it up. It is building to be another ‘city expansion’ chapter, with a greater focus on one locale. But it means going back to Chapter 1 Scene 2 to ensure city layout continuity is kept >(

There was a show on recently discussing the unravelling of the gene code, and what it has shown of the development of life on Earth. It discussed a part of the world where divergences in the genetic code were more readily identifiable. And, of all things, Antagonist #2’s name was part of one of the ‘class’ names. Finding links in different worlds… Awesome for storyworld composition =)

Objectivity in Character Motivation

The fourteen main characters of my story have yet again had their assembling reassessed.  It seems to have worked out since the character teams are in equal numbers.  If they are at the end of Book 2 is another story…

Where there were clear-cut motivations for the characters that appear in Book 1, now it seems their motivations are to be muddied until the end of Book 2.  This has been driven by trying to consider different character perspectives objectively.  Where Antagonist #1 and #2 were shown to be ‘evil’ very early in Book 1, now its final chapters have made me reassess if this should be so.

Antagonist #1 is driven by lust for power, but should her decision to seek the power be for a ‘good’ cause?

Antagonist #2 is tormented by his past, but is his cause driven by desire for revenge or to protect innocents from the suffering he experienced?

The descriptions below I will not classify as Antagonist or Protagonist, as it would require a *SPOILER ALERT* tag.

Character #3 is being driven in different directions by his past.  He runs from what he has lost, yet he is looking to reclaim it at the same time.  Sounds like a conundrum, but I promise it will be understandable.  But is his cause good or bad?

Character #4 runs from persecution for a deadly event he accidentally caused.  I am still working on clarifying his motivation, though the public wanting his death seems reason enough to flee.

Character #5 runs from persecution for a deadly event he deliberately caused.  I cannot find a way to bend his story other than to desire revenge against those who condemned him, pure and simple.

Character #6 is saved from certain death very early in Book 2.  Her story will be the driver of Book 3, and is the one I’m most proud of.  While her actions will be understandable, they will most definitely be evil.

Character #7 is a ‘wild card’.  You’ll never be sure which side of the fence he sits on.

Character #8 has found contentment in his life after many years of emotional pain.  Yet he will find what he thought was lost forever never was lost.  I could not come up with his character, until I found out about a folklore story that existed in my story’s historical timeframe, and it was PERFECT!  That the lady in the story had the same first name as Antagonist #1 made it even better.  Now even Book 1’s desert sequence has meaning!  I would be as proud of this as Character #6, but this is not as original a thought.

Now for the other 6 characters…  well, having something to focus on is better than nothing I suppose.

The perils of research

One child has been put down for a sleep (and is still there), the other has fallen asleep due to sickness-related exhaustion (and some Panadol), and the wife is watching one of her TV shows.

Woohoo, time to finally sit down and get some more of Book 1 written.

Two hours later, no more has been added to Book 1.  Argh!

However, I have managed to revamp the progression of Books 2, 3 and 4.

 

1)  Book 2 will now have 3 main locations, as the planned fourth has been moved into Book 3;

2)  Book 3 will now need to have double the locales to keep in line with its title; and

3)  Instead of Book 4 starting at its super-important locale, that locale will be reached in second quarter of the book.

 

No plans ever seem to go according to the prophecy.  You have focus for one thing, but end up getting diverted into something else.  Well, at least it was a semi-productive diversion.

As an aside:  Should you ever find yourself there, Almaty in Kyrgyzstan is a good place to get some apples =)