More background

     I've spent the last week answering some of the questions I raised for myself in reading Imperfect Hope v1.0.  Several pages went into detailing the history of the confederacy a bit more, putting a more specific timeline in place and naming/defining the different regions.  The east and west marches have taken on very different flavors, important for other tales in the D'oril world, as well as having a mild effect on the politics of the Empires plot.  I put some thought into the reasons for the various regions coming together over the last 120 years, covering the influence the triad enclaves (the three main religions of the confederacy) that they've wielded in influencing the course of the region, as well as the power that the trade consortiums wield in their own way.  The barons, dukes, and other regional rulers owe much of their continued success to the wealth that the merchants bring, as well as the knowledge that the enclaves provide, and as such, have been guided by them over the decades.

     This doesn't have a direct impact on Imperfect Hope, but it shapes the characters, especially Cerryn, who's father is one of the barons of the western marches.  It also has helped me define the role of the questors, the adventuring hand of the enclaves.

     That info is important for my writing the new first five chapters.  Cerryn's early life at her fathers keep, and her subsequent education at the Eagles Forge Monestary, will lead her to investigating the chaos forest (temporary name for a place ruined by excessive wintergem harvesting), and ultimately introduce her to Randir.

     Randir's tale begins with his own journey as a kel healer, and the internal politics of the K'tath as they wrestle with their desire for separatism versus the need to engage help from the south in keeping their own wintergem forests secure.  When a small clique within the sen, guided by Elorna, decides to recreate the companions of Elorna from Brandis' time (despite the perceived problems they brought back from the empire lands), Randir is sent south to an enclave university to educate himself, as well as the scholars of the enclave about the k'tath and the wintergems.  Eventually, Randir and Cerryn will meet, and begin their journey towards the beginning of Imperfect Hope V1.

     Once again, it may seem confusing, but I've a strong sense of where to begin the tale now, and how to proceed.  I've a bit more groundwork to lay, including a rough outline of the new start, and... Soon, I hope.

     In the meantime, I'm playing with some opening ideas, either Cinda in my frame story concept, or foreshadowing the empires plot with...  Something dark and dire.  Perhaps when I finish this scotch...

TTFN,
Jim

The Big Picture, or, boy did I underestimate how much background I need.

     Imperfect Hope, v2 is still in the planning stage.  This last week, I spent quite a bit of time taking notes on the story as it is, from revising the opening chapter storylines, to asking myself questions about what/why/where/who/how with regards the overall world picture.  As a result, I've been focusing on history of the world (part 1???).  There are a lot of questions to be answered.

     First of all, I'm going to have to come up with a catchy name  ;-).  D'oril is really the only named area I've got, and it's a relatively small area, albeit one with huge storytelling impact.  The confederacy, lands south of D'oril, occupy nearly half of the continent, with barbaric wilds to the south of that.  However, Confederacy is, right now, more of a descriptive of the government form than a land name.  I have to name the continent, name the confederacy, and name the baronries, trade consortiums, and enclaves that compose the confederacy.  The south, as yet unimportant in my story, just took on a level of importance as I've referenced it in the confederacy timeline that details the relative youth of the confederacy, so I've got to define it with more than "here there be barbarians". 

     Compare that to the continent of the massive Empire of Tallux.  It (the empire) has a name (from the founding emperor), though the continent, regions, and so on are completely undefined.  In Imperfect Hope, I've a scene that takes place in "Imperial City", but otherwise I've never detailed any aspects of the land.  Until this week, anyway.  It too has been given a timeline, and some basic regions have been crudely sketched out to give weight to events referenced in IH.  However, much more is needed if I'm going to really flesh out the antagonists, I need to have a good sense of the political environment back home if the characters are going to be believable.

     I've gotten a very rough sense of history for both continents down, the Empire back about 650 years, the lands of the confederacy back only 200 years.  Oh, and the k'tath legends of D'oril that in my oral storytelling from Brandis go back "thousands of years".  Blending the time scales gives a date for Sha'te Valley as having occurred 68 years prior to the beginning of Imperfect Hope.

     Reading the first draft set me up to ask a lot of questions, seeing things that need explanation (either in the story, or in the background so I can remain consistent).  The gaps in the first draft are significant, but seeing them has helped me start refining the story to make it viable.  The ruling council of the Confederacy, previously undefined, has to take a shape in order to make it clearer to me how and why the empire spy has manipulated certain members to achieve empire goals.  In turn, the empire goals have to be better understood in the context of the history of Tallux, as is the reason they're attempting the subterfuges at Mud Bay.  I set the time gap since Sha'te, and as a result, I've been able to explain the changes in K'tath culture since then, which clarifies Randir's presence in the story.  And understanding Cerryn's fathers position in the confederacy allows me to zero in on Cerryn's early attitudes and mores, which makes her actions in Imperfect Hope understandable. 

     It is a lot of work.  Some of it I'll flesh out while I work on the rewrite, but a couple of things feel like they need to be addressed first.  I'm making a list of my questions, and I'll sort them into "flesh out now" and "work on later".  Hopefully the "now" won't be too big...

     In the mean time, wish me luck and good scotch...

TTFN,   Jim.

    

Adding Content

     I've made a decision.  Imperfect Hope, first draft, needs more content.  Specifically, I've added to the outline what turns out to be four chapters to be added to the front of the existing first draft.  I'm planning to rewrite Cinda's opening monologue to reflect the new beginning, and then weave together Cerryn's tale of growing up in the Eagle's Forge, the Vendarian training temple (think Shaolin monks from the old tv series in a vague way), then gradually drop in three other storylines, one involving Randir and his journey to becoming a companion of Elorna, another involving Cerryn's older brother, and the third involving Del, a retired adventurer turned brewmaster.  Cinda's opening monologue will mention Del, one of the old ones she remembers, effectively tying his story line to the long term tale.  He'll also eventually link up with Cerryn's brother, but in the opening chapters, He'll start out linked with her, and then his story will diverge as hers starts to converge with Randir.  It all sounds so confusing, the way I'm describing it, but in my own imaginations, it seems to make sense.  Of course, IH v1.0 seemed to make sense, and it needs a major reworking.  But, hey, that's what rewriting, as opposed to revising, is for.

     I am puzzling on exactly how to start Cerryn's tale.  Some time ago, I wrote an exercise introducing Cerryn to a visiting monk from the Eagles Forge, that might make for a good start.  If I do work from that initial point, I could then drop her brother in (an older brother, something of a black sheep, who Cerryn looks up to (and later, her idealized memory of her brother will undoubtably affect her questor training in some manner)).  From there, I might skip years to touch upon her questor training before introducing her to Randir (an introduction I'd already mentioned in IH v1.0 as musings from Randir's point of view.) 

      The as yet unnamed brother's tale will revolve around his own path of growth to where He'll take a center stage in IH part two in resisting the Empires efforts in Moon Harbor.  The black sheep aspect of his tale may involve his interest in the confederacy navy, something his traditionally oriented father would strongly disapprove of.  That would put him in the right place during the empires initial moves off the coast.  I'm still mulling over it, though, so this storyline may change drastically.

     Randir's tale would begin at a later point than Cerryn's tale, and give me the opportunity to show the k'tath culture, and his own path toward Companion of Elorna.  This line is as yet the most nebulous, but it's also the one I've probably got the most background material from which to draw.  More will come, I'm sure.

     As I mentioned, Del's tale will be referenced by Cinda, in a completely revised opening first person/present tense monologue that will encompass foreshadowing and the like.  From there, I'll refer to Del's story toward the end of the beginning four chapters, setting the stage for his link up in the primary story with Cerryn's brother.  His role will expand in book two.

     All this gets me to ask myself, how many major and minor characters can I safely run in this story.  I've read some books (Harry Turtledove, for example) who will weave 7 or 8 major characters viewpoints together, but honestly, sometimes I get lost.  In looking at IH V1.0, I was running 3 major viewpoints, and 4 minor viewpoints, however two of the major viewpoints spend much of the time together (Randir and Cerryn).  In version two now, I'm looking at 4 major viewpoints and 5 minor views, which pare down to 3 and 4 through much of the bulk of the tale.  In addition, 1 of the minor viewpoints is a 1 scene cameo, and another of the minors is the Cinda "Frame" story.  I don't think this is excessive, but...  I'll see how it looks when I put it together.

     So.  Time to get back to writing.  I'll see if I can grind out a new start to Cerryn's tale over the next couple of days.  Wish me luck...

TTFN,
JIm