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.
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.
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