I topped 100k words last night as I finished Randir's first scene and started in on continuing Cerryn's tale. Randir's tale is coming together quite well, and I even did some editing/reworking on some of the first part of that scene that seems to help it read more smoothly. Picking up Cerryn's tale is a bit rougher, but I suspect as I get back into her storyline, it will come more easily.
I'm jumping back and forth between Cerryn's and Randir's points of view in part to keep from getting stale as I write. I'm not certain yet how I'm going to blend those two tales together (scene by scene, or chapter by chapter), nor am I certain how Remy's tale, as well as the empire viewpoint tale will work in. For now, I'm writing along the chronologic time line of the entire story, which means that as I finish Cerryn's next scene, I should pop in and visit the empire to set their plots in motion. Then back to Cerryn some more before setting in on Remy.
Randir's tale will have a longer gap in the story as I'm going to gloss over much of his Kel training and instead focus on the Li'vanya training (Elorna's gatherer) that he picks up as he nears his kel training completion. The Li'vanya training will force the normally isolationist K'tath to spend some time outside of D'oril learning about the outside world, and that's where things get interesting for him. BTW, for ifgs'ers, the last Li'vanya was Brandis.
Meanwhile, Cerryn's training at the Eagles Forge monastery will focus on her sword dance specialization, as well as the extensive philosophic education that she struggles with, setting the stage for the theme of Imperfect Hope. I'm still putting together my thoughts on the philosophy of the Val'nar temples. I'll hopefully avoid the stereotypes of warrior-monks by having a distinctive culture built around the concept of Questors (a bit like questing knights, without the lord/government connection). The Val'nar temples have been trying to guide the confederacy civilization out of a devastating dark age that came about some time back with destruction of the preceding civilization, a humanish empire that spanned the western ocean with it's magical-navigation technologies. That, btw, is the core of my story idea that's been blurbed on the left here for some time, "Lighthouse". However, that tale will wait for another day to surface...
The empire storyline will involve the rise of the new emperor to power, and detail how he follows (and adapts) his fathers long term expansion plan that replaced the previous dynasties rather blunt-force plans. Those plans led to the disaster (for the empire) at Sha'te Valley and eventually led to the fall of the previous emperor. The new dynasty adopted a longer term, more subtle strategy to obtain the resources needed to keep the empire running. The current emperor's father will come across as a rather brilliant strategist, but his son, having fallen under the influence of a powerful seta high priest, will be less successful at long term planning. I've not really fleshed out the emperor's personality yet, since I only touched on him in one scene in my first draft. I'm sure as I start to work on that, I'll find out who he is, beyond the two-dimensional figure he is right now.
Time for a blurb, something from the tail end of Randir's first scene. It's first draft material, so don't expect too much.
Elorna laid the newly crafted j'tai on the log next to her sleeping li'vanya. Moments passed as she gazed at him, her face a mixture of joy at his choice, and sadness at the harsh path she had just placed his feet upon. The glade returned to normal, the wind picked up and snow swirled about the clearing again. Gradually, the guardian faded from view until only the faintest of outlines could be seen, though her eyes remained star bright as she watched until the storm began to wane and the sun rose.
Clear skies,
Jim
I'm jumping back and forth between Cerryn's and Randir's points of view in part to keep from getting stale as I write. I'm not certain yet how I'm going to blend those two tales together (scene by scene, or chapter by chapter), nor am I certain how Remy's tale, as well as the empire viewpoint tale will work in. For now, I'm writing along the chronologic time line of the entire story, which means that as I finish Cerryn's next scene, I should pop in and visit the empire to set their plots in motion. Then back to Cerryn some more before setting in on Remy.
Randir's tale will have a longer gap in the story as I'm going to gloss over much of his Kel training and instead focus on the Li'vanya training (Elorna's gatherer) that he picks up as he nears his kel training completion. The Li'vanya training will force the normally isolationist K'tath to spend some time outside of D'oril learning about the outside world, and that's where things get interesting for him. BTW, for ifgs'ers, the last Li'vanya was Brandis.
Meanwhile, Cerryn's training at the Eagles Forge monastery will focus on her sword dance specialization, as well as the extensive philosophic education that she struggles with, setting the stage for the theme of Imperfect Hope. I'm still putting together my thoughts on the philosophy of the Val'nar temples. I'll hopefully avoid the stereotypes of warrior-monks by having a distinctive culture built around the concept of Questors (a bit like questing knights, without the lord/government connection). The Val'nar temples have been trying to guide the confederacy civilization out of a devastating dark age that came about some time back with destruction of the preceding civilization, a humanish empire that spanned the western ocean with it's magical-navigation technologies. That, btw, is the core of my story idea that's been blurbed on the left here for some time, "Lighthouse". However, that tale will wait for another day to surface...
The empire storyline will involve the rise of the new emperor to power, and detail how he follows (and adapts) his fathers long term expansion plan that replaced the previous dynasties rather blunt-force plans. Those plans led to the disaster (for the empire) at Sha'te Valley and eventually led to the fall of the previous emperor. The new dynasty adopted a longer term, more subtle strategy to obtain the resources needed to keep the empire running. The current emperor's father will come across as a rather brilliant strategist, but his son, having fallen under the influence of a powerful seta high priest, will be less successful at long term planning. I've not really fleshed out the emperor's personality yet, since I only touched on him in one scene in my first draft. I'm sure as I start to work on that, I'll find out who he is, beyond the two-dimensional figure he is right now.
Time for a blurb, something from the tail end of Randir's first scene. It's first draft material, so don't expect too much.
Elorna laid the newly crafted j'tai on the log next to her sleeping li'vanya. Moments passed as she gazed at him, her face a mixture of joy at his choice, and sadness at the harsh path she had just placed his feet upon. The glade returned to normal, the wind picked up and snow swirled about the clearing again. Gradually, the guardian faded from view until only the faintest of outlines could be seen, though her eyes remained star bright as she watched until the storm began to wane and the sun rose.
Clear skies,
Jim
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