Oh, the muses! Why is it that they delight in waking me up at 3 o-bloody-clock* in the morning with flashes of inspiration? Feast or famine it seems like, and they have not a care in the world... evil blessed things.
But yes, flash of inspiration, three a.m., and me fumbling about in the semi-dark [only semi as I have a wee booklight for just such situations. I have learned from the wickedness of the muses.] to record the flash in as much detail as I could without fully waking up. Why do they do this, too, on work nights? I'd have gotten up and typed like a fiend if it were Friday night [or more properly Saturday morning] and I could sleep in, but no...
I find that I shall be like a woman possessed on my breaks today to get the outline fleshed out and words written to give the outline rudimentary form. This is one of those kernels of inspiration that won't wait, which is good as my 'to-do' list is ever growing and few items are actually getting crossed off it. Perhaps this flash is what the muses ordered to get the log jam opened up and more words flowing. I hope so, because it's going to be a heavy tea drinking day.
*This is an example of tmesis, which is splitting a word into separate parts with other words occurring between the parts. It's absolutely genius to use playing Scrabble! Why yes, we did have two snow days, why do you ask? *Grin*
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
A new year~
New years are always fun things. They are fresh slates and new pastures to be explored, and that sense of limitless possibility always breaths new life into creative fronts.
They also help me rein in and look at realistic commitments. I've got my cast of characters for PanHistoria mostly organised in terms of their personalised homepages, as well as where and how they will be playing for the time being. Now that much of the framework is erected, I will focus on the luxury of filling it in and doing so with care and deliberation. There is no sense in rushing and finding that I need to redo everything, for the process is as satisfying as the end result.
I am also hearing the new stirrings of older stories that had gone into the realms of creative fallowness. I will be giving myself until March to let them fully awaken and emerge before picking them back up to write. They won't be going onto PanHistoria at the moment, mainly because they are different and more private stories to be nurtured by myself from the beginning until the end*. To do this, I will be using the Novel-in-Ninety approach, which is to write 750 words a day for 90 days on your main novel. The idea is to write amidst all of the other things life brings to you that day, including but not limited to sick pets, algebra homework, and really fun RP threads that are begging to played in. We'll see how this goes. If it fails, then I begin again. If it works, I celebrate.
* The exception to this [there is always an exception] will be Vanth's story. That short will be written and go into the novel Short Cuts as part of Gwynne's Equinox Road: Tales from the Broken Worlds as an Autumn Tale.
They also help me rein in and look at realistic commitments. I've got my cast of characters for PanHistoria mostly organised in terms of their personalised homepages, as well as where and how they will be playing for the time being. Now that much of the framework is erected, I will focus on the luxury of filling it in and doing so with care and deliberation. There is no sense in rushing and finding that I need to redo everything, for the process is as satisfying as the end result.
I am also hearing the new stirrings of older stories that had gone into the realms of creative fallowness. I will be giving myself until March to let them fully awaken and emerge before picking them back up to write. They won't be going onto PanHistoria at the moment, mainly because they are different and more private stories to be nurtured by myself from the beginning until the end*. To do this, I will be using the Novel-in-Ninety approach, which is to write 750 words a day for 90 days on your main novel. The idea is to write amidst all of the other things life brings to you that day, including but not limited to sick pets, algebra homework, and really fun RP threads that are begging to played in. We'll see how this goes. If it fails, then I begin again. If it works, I celebrate.
* The exception to this [there is always an exception] will be Vanth's story. That short will be written and go into the novel Short Cuts as part of Gwynne's Equinox Road: Tales from the Broken Worlds as an Autumn Tale.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Character creation
Every character starts with an idea. Where you go from there is unique to you, the player.
How do YOU create a new character from scratch? Do you have any rituals, a step-by-step guide?
Tell us about your character creation process, from vague idea to ready-to-write.
For the characters that I have in play in public forums, there is generally a small kernel of an idea that catches my imagination and sparks the questions 'why does/would...' and 'what if...' It is easy to go from there.
Gwynne is a new character for me. She is from a five page story in a game resource book about Britain in the Dark Ages. There are a handful of facts about her:
1. She can summon and speak with the Fae
2. She has a self-appointed apprentice that barely knows anything about her magic
3. She is currently in Winchester and has some dealing with magii of diverse magical heritages
4. She has willingly let the forces of the Inquisition take her into custody
The question that hooked my interest was why she would let herself be taken. What reasons are behind it and how will she get out of the situation?
Granted, I am still creating her, but the four pillars of her character core are the ones mentioned above. These cannot change or the character will change in ways that I may not wish to see happen. With those fixed points firmly in mind, I am creating the story of how she came to be in Winchester. Starting with her name, I gave her a Welsh [Brythonic] background as opposed to a Saxon or Norman one. With this in mind, I am working on developing the core story to pillar one of her foundation; which will lead to pillar two [and Gwynne has told me that she meets young Jerome on the road to Winchester] and then to pillar three, etc.
How do YOU create a new character from scratch? Do you have any rituals, a step-by-step guide?
Tell us about your character creation process, from vague idea to ready-to-write.
For the characters that I have in play in public forums, there is generally a small kernel of an idea that catches my imagination and sparks the questions 'why does/would...' and 'what if...' It is easy to go from there.
Gwynne is a new character for me. She is from a five page story in a game resource book about Britain in the Dark Ages. There are a handful of facts about her:
1. She can summon and speak with the Fae
2. She has a self-appointed apprentice that barely knows anything about her magic
3. She is currently in Winchester and has some dealing with magii of diverse magical heritages
4. She has willingly let the forces of the Inquisition take her into custody
The question that hooked my interest was why she would let herself be taken. What reasons are behind it and how will she get out of the situation?
Granted, I am still creating her, but the four pillars of her character core are the ones mentioned above. These cannot change or the character will change in ways that I may not wish to see happen. With those fixed points firmly in mind, I am creating the story of how she came to be in Winchester. Starting with her name, I gave her a Welsh [Brythonic] background as opposed to a Saxon or Norman one. With this in mind, I am working on developing the core story to pillar one of her foundation; which will lead to pillar two [and Gwynne has told me that she meets young Jerome on the road to Winchester] and then to pillar three, etc.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Shameless Promotion
This is a repost from my Welcome to Writer's Muses response. I cannot help myself, I adore both WM and PH, so today I am promoting them in the blogosphere.
I apologise for being tardy in joining in with the welcome post, but rest assured that I am very excited to see Writer's Muses here on PanHistoria.
The beauty of Writer's Muses here on Pan is, for me, two-fold.
1. I get to post the character development pieces for Isabel here. You know the ones, those posts and ideas that just don't fit into her blog/diary but that I, obviously, enjoy sharing about her. We all have such beautifully complex and well-thought out characters here, and any chance to share the things that occur behind the scenes in making them who they are, but don't quite fit into our novels and/or blogs is one to be grabbed.
2. Seeing the prompts and what others post about their characters can jump-start my own stalled creativity. Sometimes, it's just good to read what others write and share and be inspired by them. It takes a certain amount of bravery to hit the post button, and seeing so many others hitting that button here on Pan is wonderful! Especially after those days when mired in the 9-5 muck that pays the bills so that I can play here in my free time.
Okay, to end this before I keep gushing in my excitement and glee. In the immortal words of Ms Frizzle:
Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!
Your muses will thank you for it.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Coming together
Gwynne is beginning to speak and it is very satisfying. I am giving her free voice in the first person present tense at Short Cuts in her own story thread called Equinox Road: Tales from the Broken Worlds. So far, I have a post on 'The Rites of Spring' for her, and need to add the edited beginnings of The White Lotus Clan to that thread. Vanth's tale will be in the Autumnal thread.
Which leaves some summer and some winter stories to think of soon. I will do that just as soon as I finish the co-written piece with cousin Gino.
Which leaves some summer and some winter stories to think of soon. I will do that just as soon as I finish the co-written piece with cousin Gino.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Something in the air
Well, it didn't take too long for more of the Giovanni to pop up out of the woodwork. As soon as I had this blog made, seemingly, Kay and Roberto decided that they, too, wanted to play with their own pages at PanHistoria. So, they have joined my motley crew of characters and I hope bringing reading enjoyment to more of my fellow writers and readers at Pan.
They are not getting their own blogs however. Pages at WordPress will have to suffice for their character development right now. Until I find a Sugar Daddy or get a huge publishing deal. One day, at least one of those will happen.
They are not getting their own blogs however. Pages at WordPress will have to suffice for their character development right now. Until I find a Sugar Daddy or get a huge publishing deal. One day, at least one of those will happen.
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