Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
Hey Rigel, and welcome to Obernet!! I haven't seen you around before!! It's nice to find another fellow writer, the more the merrier i say... SO you are sort of a Historical fiction writer? Like you set your stories mainly around ancient Greek/Roman style worlds? That's interesting... do you use God's in your stories? I've got a ramble about that to discuss in a min... but i have to cook dinner so i can't get into it now [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
I used to write my stories by hand when i was little, before i got my laptop. And i had this epic piece which spanned about five notebooks, with little random notes everywhere else... I was looking over it the other day, and i don't know how i managed to keep everything in order.... it was like i was trying to have a physical example of how completely chaotic my mind can be... [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/> So, are you like Wilde and have to have a specific coloured notepad (I think it was Wilde who was like that) or do they simply all have to be spiral? [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
Well I wouldn't say I modelled my fics on any one set of historical peoples. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
I like the ancient worlds because of the complex political structures, so much backstabbing and grabbing for power. Real history is filled with all these fabulous people and situations so I do steal bits and pieces of them.
I am conflicted when it comes to gods/religions. I don't really like novels where the characters interact with gods/goddesses or become them. So I compromise. I like the idea of a separate race of very long lived people (almost immortal)
I am toying with the cliched (and I know it) scenario of a relationship between an ordinary girl and one of the imomortals. But I refuse utterly to make it out that she actually is half immortal by blood and thus they can live happily ever after.
I want to explore the tensions between two characters where one will stay young and beautiful while the other ages. Can it work? we'll see...
I do put things in my computer [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/wink.gif" alt=";)" border="0"/> as I'm not a total Luddite. I just like to write at odd times and I don't have a laptop. and spiral notebooks are cheap. hehehe
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
Gods, Goddesses, and how they fit in with it all…
Another thing I’m fascinated in, how do you all work your ways about the deities? A lot of us write in the world of Fantasy, and this seems to come hand in hand with a theology that doesn’t want to stay in the faith and the books. How do people handle this? Do you ignore them, do you put them in, do they play a major role, or are they simply background? How does it all work for you?
I have a huge interest in theology, I have always found it interesting, and like to investigate it in the real world. I try to place this into my stories, but I steer away from the gods being personified. While I like to place variety, and have people fight and justify their actions over various gods, the idea of having the actual gods feature in their personifications, does not sit well with me. I like to make my characters as real as possible, always feeling it as a bit odd to have someone who is a god, or a half god running about. It’s like in games where you can get ‘god mode’ cheats. “It’s okay, he’s a god, and god’s naturally can jump through walls and save the day.â€ÂÂ
I use magic as my cheat [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/> But we’ll discuss magic later on. At this time, it’s gods. How do you use them, why do you use them, and do you like them??
Go to town guys!
I write sci fi- so usually God's aren't my characters. I agree. It's cheating. Technology is a much better cheat to use [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/cheesy.gif" alt=":D" border="0"/>
But I have noticed (and so did you when you read my M-S), that God (as in the Christian God) ends up playing a fairly important role in almost everything I write. All my characters seem to interact with religion somehow, whether they be fanatics or atheists, it always seems to drive em somehow. I find it useful, often to explain what goes on in their heads, although as I write it, I don't realise that's what I'm doing!
I think it reflects something about me and my own faith. But that's a little scary for some reason :s
Quote:
Ooooh Biblicalesque!! A bit like the fall of Lucifer then?
Do you mean you don't know how to end the trial?
I'll *throw* an idea at you!
why not rework a similar biblical story of killing innocents and then being punished.
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16)
Cain and Abel were brothers, but Cain got so jealous that he killed Abel in a fit of rage. God got p!ssed and cursed Cain to forever wander the Earth and never recieve any of it's bounty (harsh!) he also gave him the 'mark of Cain' so that all who came across him would know him and know not to kill him because God reserved that right.
have Benji's bro banished to Earth to become as a mortal forever wandering/trying to atone and have Benji and friends accompany him to try and save his soul/find redemption.[/quote]
Well, I am up to the trial now and I am writing about what each person has to say for themselves.
In the story Benji is guilty, but his attourney is trying to prove his innocence.
Your suggestion sounds very cool, It's the best suggestion yet!I might go with it!
edit, just fixed up your quote-flit
Well, I have to say that reading over the last few additions to this thread has really whetted my writing appetite. I think I really have to get my teeth back into my stories. Thank-you all for your inadvertent inspiration!
And welcome to you, Rigel. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
Well I shall answer your Gods question Flit.
And my answer is that it all depends on what is nec. for the story. Like in Questers, for example, the Gods are HUGELY HUGELY important. It tells the story (among other things) of a Holy War. So obviously, the Gods are hugely important. Some of you are reading Questers, so not to give too much away, but two of my characters ARE half Gods. But I don't normally do that. I made them half-Gods for the purposes of the plot. I hate it when people do that for the sake of doing it. It seems cop-outty.
As for other stories, I don't use religion as much. Gods are usually mentioned, like they obviously exist, but I don't make them part of the story as I do in Questers. In the collection of "stuff I dreamt", each kingdom has a patron God which helps me decide what kind of place it is, but it's not all that important to the story.
Gods have their place in fantasy, i guess, but there are other ways. Like magic (let's talk about magic, Flit dear!)
KSL
I tend to write more "ordinary" fantasy, so gods don't play a huge role in many of my stories. One exception is Postcards, where two of the main characters are gods, with their own social life and little group of annoying characters who surround them. So I suppose I should say I never take gods all that seriously in my stories.
Flit, Kayt, I'd be most interested to hear your views on magic. Do I sense a long-standing debate there? [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/cheesy.gif" alt=":D" border="0"/>
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
not really a long standing arguement, just a difference of approach.
I have a heacy science background. I was going to be a scientist for such a long time, so it's apart of my nature, almost. I have a hard time believing in things just for the sake of believing, and this echoes in my stories. So, my magic is very much science based. There are strict rules, and usually having magic is more of a detriment than a blessing. My thinking behind that is things are too easy if you use magic to solve everything, so if magic is the solution to something, there has to be a personal cost. As a result... let's just say, i'm not very kind to healers. (Kayt will insist i'm a downright b!tch to my healers)
I've developed magic around the concept that it is a parasite almost.. i could say symbiote... but it's a little more dangerous than that. Say, a person who has magic has to keep using it. They just can't decide not to. It doesn't work. If they do decide not to use magic, then their magic decides to use them. It drives them crazy and eventually kills them by going out of control. So if a particular witch or wizard had a skill in fire... well... they'd go 'poof' eventually.... well, not always just a 'poof' sometimes they take out whole buildings, depending on their power base. That doesn't happen in any of my stories, except for one... but that's one of my fanfic pieces of my main fantasy... The bonus of this relationship, is that the magic will go out of its way to make sure the body doesn't die prematurely. So, if a mage finds himself in a nasty spot, say about to be shot, or something, a particularily strong mage will suddenly transport somewhere else without them actually having a say so. Self preservation kicking in.
Another rule is that they can only use so much at one time. There comes a point where their magic run out (this is while they are using it, so in one day, or whatever) the mage can keep going, but it takes it out of themselves to keep going. So a healer that keeps healing long after they should have rested, will probably have some organ fail on him. You can only do so much.
And another rule is levels of magic. Wizards can only really specialise in one area. So, a war mage couldn't begin to be able to work plants (unless its that type of war mage....) same as in any occupation, really. But the main difference is size. If you train yourself to work on a huge scale, you can only do that. using the war mage one again, a wizard who is trained to stop armies, may attempt to light a single candle, but that attempt will usually cause the candle, and half the room, to be incinerated. It is only a scare few wizards (name the top order ones) who can adapt a little bit better. But it's usually better not to try.
So basically, the rules are there because it can't be easy. Just because someone is a wizard doesn't mean they have it all. The highest level mages lead lonely lives anyway, simply because of their craft. They spend their whole childhood training, and when they get out, people tend to be scared of them. Hence, they rarely have families, or even friends. Only really amongst their own type, but because wizards of that level are so few and far between, they tend to be spread so far apart, they never would get to know people of their rank really well.
Oh, and why not keep this ramble rambling, while i'm here, the magic i use functions on four elements. Earth, Air, Water and Fire, ranked from most common to rare. Earth have green magic and a common as muck, they're the herb witches, the war mages, the clerks etc. (anyone who has a bit of earth magic in them gets seasick... [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>) Air is blue, and are all healers. Water is yellow, and they are typically weak seers, Fire is red, and they come along once in a million leap years (rare, if you couldn't tell [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>) and they are Seers as well.
Only people who are magically inclined can see magic, there are people known as Sensitives, who have no magic, but can use a powder over their eyes that will allow them to see magic, as well as see lies and other bits and bobs. And then there are people who are magic intollerant. They can't suffer healers, so they have to heal normally, and some people are so allergic to magic that they can sense it around them. Mainly because it gives them a reaction. One of my characters is a mage-hunter, and he is so allergic to magic, he can almost tell which magic belongs to which mage... being in the same room with one of the most powerful causes his eyes to go itchy, puffy, and nearly completely clogged.... like i said, it's the science logic coming out.
Anyway, that's a ramble on magic for you, i'd be interested to see how other people take it?
I think it's a fascinating ramble, good Flit, particularly because we seem to share many views about magic. I can't claim to have a scientific background at all, but I've always wanted magic to be more that just some delightful power that some people have and can use without any consequences. It's one of the reasons I enjoy the Ober Chronicles so much, because people really suffer for their abilities.
I don't often use magic in my stories, beccause it's hard to make it seem real. It seems weird to be writing fantasy stories without involving magic, but sometimes they just seem too much like a deus ex machina. That's not to say I leave it out all the time, though. One of my favourite stories proprosed the idea that if you have magic, then you lack something else to keep the balance of things intact. The most common "lack" in people who had magic was emotion, but sometimes rarer "lacks" came along. One character, for instance, lost their sight in return for magic; another gave their blood (or at least a vital part of it). The magic in this story satisfied me because it wasn't just a handy add-on - it fitted in.
And now I'll sit back and wait for other people's views on magic. They should be quite interesting, really. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
Hay look at this comming and siffting here wasn't all that bad after all [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/cheesy.gif" alt=":D" border="0"/>
My view on magic (as a story thing. I use it to add some interest all though I believe in the supernatural though a christain point) is that it has rules and laws that there are things that are theoretical possible but can't be acheived without lossing something of yourself. One of these such things would be to summoning some sort of life, which would have you lose some of the life you had but not to death just a darker form of life.
Some of this idea is also from an Anime called Full Metal Alchemist (it so cool) and I wont go into details but there are and it explains the laws of Alchemy when they come up in the show giving it a 'real-ish' feel (although it is a animation) but yeah
Kayt i have been thinking about Questers for the last week or so... can i have some more to read? pleaase? Its one of those stories that keeps coming back to you and you just have to finish it! I know you're probably still writing it.. but is there anymore?? I'm 39 Word pages in (i dont want to say where cause it might ruin it for others)
Gosh!!! That was unexpected Talisha. I don't think I've actually written much more than that, but when I get home, I'll take a look and send you whatever I have after that point!!! Guess I'd better get writing now, hadn't I? Gosh!!!
Now, to magic and it's applications in the Quester's World.
First of all, it's Magik. With a K. For no particular reason other than to set it apart from "magic" as the force usually in fantasy stories. Because Quester's magik isn't a force, it's a thing. Magik is alive.
There are 3 kinds of magik user in Questers. Magikans (like Garathan for those who've read it), Sorcerers (like Taqan) and witches. Magikans and Sorcerers actually have magik flowing inside their veins. It's like blood to them. It mingles in with the blood, to varying percentages. A magikan has less than forty percent, which is really extremely common. A whole lot of people have forty percent or less blood-magik and never even know it. A Sorcerer has more than forty percent. There's a difference in how they use magik too. Magikans are all chanting and hand waving to access the magik in their blood. Sorcerers are more instinct based and just tend to fling things about without words. A fireball here, a healed injury there. They can do all kinds of pretty wacky things with their blood-magik.
An important thing about magik is that you have to be intelligent to be able to use it. You have to have a certain amount of brain power to actually access it and make it work. So Aiadiam, for example, is the most powerful Sorcerer in the world, but he simply doesn't have the intelligence to use magik. He just can't grasp the concept of accessing the power. He does have a special benefit of blood magik though. Blood magik is a concious entity. The magik in blood has things it wants to do, and it can go wherever it likes. If all the magik wants to stay curled up in your toes, that's where it will go. Blood magik shies away from wounds, so if someone cuts you, all the magik runs away to another part of the body, and blood seeps out. However, Aiadiam is a special case. His level of blood magik is 99%, meaning he has almost no blood. So when he is wounded (in the new version anyway), the blood magik flows out and over his wound. And being magikal, it has healing properties, so his wound is instantly healed. Which is kinda handy, really.
Blood magik is hereditary. It can skip over generations, just like genes can. But it does mean that ALL magikans and Sorcerers, without exception are descended from the same single ancestor. Who was a God. That's how come ordinary people can have magik in their blood, they're descended from a magikal being.
Witches have no magik in their blood, they've just learned to manipulate the magik in the air. Which brings me to another point! There is blood-magik but there's also air-magik. It's kind of everywhere, all the time and people can learn to manipulate it, channel it and use it for their own ends. But like blood-magik, it's alive and has it's own wants and needs. I have a character who can suck the magik right out of the air. She can only do that because she's a powerful sorcerer, but she couldn't do it if the magik didn't want to go. Magik likes being inside people, settling into their veins and being inside in the warm really.
Magik can also be in other things. There are familiars, talking animals, that have been given that power by a God. They can only be understood by sorcerer's though. It's an odd phenomonen. Then there are objects that have magik in them, like a sorcerer's staff. Such things have personalities of their own. Taqan's staff, for example, is a total snotty cow. Another staff is bouncy and cheerful and not very bright.
I think of Questers magik as being like a small furry animal. It likes to be with people, and it enjoys a pat. Sometimes it's naughty and doesn't do what you want, but usually it likes to help you. It has no actual conciousness or self-knowledge, it just knows what it wants. And mostly it wants to eat and reproduce and make friends. But it has personality. One person's blood-magik might be cheerful (making the person cheerful, usually, on account of them being as one), while another person might have grumpy blood-magik that doesn't co-operate so much.
Consequences for using magik? Not really. I've had my magik-air-sucker get all the skin torn from her arms, by magik desperately trying to get into her body, it kind of rips into her skin. And she has occasionally been injured by trying to use too much magik. Aiadiam's high level of blood magik means that if said girl starts sucking magik from the air, his blood-magik gets sucked too, which causes him to faint and scream and it really really hurts.
Oh, and magikans and Sorcerers can't hold their liquor and are prone to incredibly painful hangovers, because their blood alcohol-content is increased, obviously. The less blood you've got, the more one standard drink will affect you.
Magik doesn't have any particular consequence, though. But at the same time, you can't just use it all the time, indiscriminately. Because the magik has a will of it's own. It gets tired and stops working, air-magik can sense evil intent, so you can't manipulate it if you're being nasty. Blood-magik can be used to do naughty things, but it's limited to the amount of power you have, and the individual personality of the blood magik inside you.
It's... difficult to explain.
KSL
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
Jul 2, 2005, 12:46am[/url], Iced Bunne[/url] wrote:
I don't often use magic in my stories, beccause it's hard to make it seem real.
[/quote]
That's an interesting remark... that's my goal in everything i do, have to make it as realistic as possible, yet present fantastical ideas... The way i seem to get about it is grounding my characters. Whenever something is said that is cheesy (and there is no way to get around it without making it sound cheesy) i always seem to have one person making a side comment about it.
One of my characters (Evan) has an infectious humour, and can never take anything seriously. So whenever someone say something lofty, or whatever when he's about, he tends to have a hard time keeping a straight face.... But i always have a character with similar traits. And then, all of the most powerful mages, are complete ditzes. One of them is heavily involved in the university with teaching, and found out one day (much to her horror) that the older students have a recurring bet each year as to how long it will take the newer students to loose the glamourous view they have of her. Usually this is by her tripping over a rug, walking into a wall, stumbling into a class she is meant to be teaching late, with no idea what the subject is. I figured if i ground the characters, the reality, the believability of the rest will come.
And then my baddies are always lofty snobs who have a habit of saying the ridiculous things.....
I've never thought about it that way. I never have been good at planning stories.. in fact I've never planned a stopry in my life. I'm starting to do that now with one, to get the plot and detailed characters and things like that to make it easier. I used to hate doing it, but I think that was me just being a defiant little twat to my teachers that would make me. It's actually important! I'd have never thought. lol
And yes please Kayt!! You better start writing!! Or perhaps next time you shoulnd't write somehting that won't quit nagging at me till I know what happens!!!
We seem to have a very similar attitude towards writing fantasy and magic, good Flit. I like to try and do similiar things to you, as far as "grounding" characters goes. If I notice that I'm writing a lot of ellipses, then I'll have another character comment on how annoying it is when the first character won't finish their sentences. I also like my characters to do ordinary things, such as two gods attending a party, or growing sick of looking for another god's cat.
Which brings me to this point: good Flit, do you let any of your stories out for people to read? Because I'm most curious to read something of yours. I may be induced to return such a favour. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
I do let them out, but only after they are really close to finish. Like, in rewriting stage. I rarely let a unfinished piece out, usually because it ends up with people hassling me for the next bit, and taking my manuscripts hostage until i finish it.... that only happened once, nearly six years ago now, and she still hasn't given that manuscript back.... evil wench! *cough cough* okay, won't go on that rant.
If you do want, i might be able to find something for you, i'll have a dig through my stuff..... it really depends what you're interested in. I have a few short stories, and then there's my Hadan novellas which are fantasy, which i rant on about a lot.. so it's up to you. Do you want fantasy, sci/fi or goth, the three genres i can't seem to stay away from.
But, to answer the question, cuz i don't think i have, sure thing! [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
Plendiferous! Well, I'll take a short story and a novella, if that's alright with you. And I don't have any preference for genre - just send me your favourites. I can't wait to get into them. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
(I'll PM you my email address - that should make things a bit easier for you. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/> )
I dont often put magic in my stories per say... Like buneater I can't quite seem to make it work in a realistic manner. I like to write fantasy fiction, but only in the sense that it is set in a different world where fantastical things are possible but rarely witnessed.
I am more interested in the interactions between characters, and the political machinations of the worlds in which they inhabit. My favourite kinds of stories are ones where they make a comment on the human condition. What it means to be, to exist and to live. Where characters wrestle with dilemmas and moral choices.
If I tinker with magic it is often very limited. People with magic have the ability to create illusions. They could make a fire light up, but only with a phantom flame. It would give off heat and light but not burn. So they can't really affect the world around them in any permanent manner but illusory powers can come in handy...
One ability I am fond of is the ability to sense memories from inanimate objects. If someone who is sensitive picks up a sword, they could feel the emotions and memories of the people who had wielded it and the feel of the sword slicing through flesh... So again handy, in certain situations but not exactly an all powerful mage.
this thread is great!
*grugs all round*
Jul 10, 2005, 6:12pm[/url], Rigel-in-the-leaves[/url] wrote:One ability I am fond of is the ability to sense memories from inanimate objects.[/quote]
I like the idea of someone being able to walk into a room or a building and to be able to feel something of what has transpired, especially if it was something dramatic or tragic. It's a fascinating concept in general, or so I believe. It's quite easy to walk into an old house and feel a chill or a sense of discomfort - so why not use it in fiction?
This is a good thread, isn't it? I really like talking about this sort of thing and it's both intriguing and educational to hear what other people have to say about such things. It makes me quite eager to read more of everyone's writing, really. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
I like the thread too! I thought only for it to be a place where i can ramble when i am lonely and or tipsy and have only a computer, but i am loving that everyone is contributing to it! Tis interesting [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
I have to ask, do you guys get hang up words? Words that you can't resist using over and over again, even though they aren't really that nice, and are in fact boring words, but they pop up all the time?
Mine is sigh, sighing, sighed etc. I have the physically stop myself using this. Trawl through a piece and stop being sighing. People don't sight that much!!! Honestly! GAH! I get so annoyed with myself. I have a huge bank of words in my head, yet i always go back to sigh... why i doubt i will never know. [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/> anyone else suffer this particular problem?
I have words which I avoid like the plague!! My pet hatred atm is alot. I hate it!!
I have worn out my thesaurus looking for alternatives [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
This may have something to do with the fact that as a youngster I could never spell it properly 'There is only one L'
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
Oh, yes, i have hate words too, "got" i go out of my way to get rid of that word. Shan't use it if i can avoid it. Just nasty. and 'Then' then this then that then those, irritating, hate it too
"got" is indeed an ugly word...
also "hence". It sounds soooo pretentious
lol about the constant sighs. Are all of your characters so melancholy?
I have similar bad habits though. I tend to repeat descritive words - sometimes twice in the same paragraph!! which is why all of my work goes through substantial rewrites. I must be vigilant! [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
Jul 10, 2005, 9:44pm[/url], Rigel-in-the-leaves[/url] wrote:
lol about the constant sighs. Are all of your characters so melancholy?
[/quote]
Who told you that [img]http://s3.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
actually, come to think about it, a fair few of my characters should probably be on anti-depressents.... but then they wouldn't be as much fun to screw about with...