Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “O” for “Outlining” and “Oh God, not more of this nonsense again.”
Because I’m going back to the fantasy well and dredging up some dead ideas that never quite worked before but will probably maybe most assuredly work this time. I
I’m talking about the Emerald Sword. The concept has always fascinated me, since I was a kid. A sword green as emerald, maybe carved from emerald. Maybe magic, maybe not. With a will of its own sometimes. I’ve written and rewritten pages and pages on it with dozens of characters. Most recently, I’ve been considering bringing the concept back for my tale about Skana Neidlin, the half-elven street urchin who becomes queen.
This time is going to be different because I’m approaching the project from more of a structured perspective. I’m trying to outline the story first before writing. What a concept, I know. The problem is, I’m not sure what should happen in the story.
So I thought I’d give you an inside look at how my brain tackles a problem like this.
The first thing that jumps to mind is Character. In the past, I’ve started writing around a concept, plot, or setting and let my characters grow from there. I don’t recommend that method as it takes for freakin’ ever. Much better to come up with characters first and see how their interactions with setting and each other creates the story organically.
Ok, so characters.
Skana of course, the heroine. Should she be gay? I’ve always considered her an LGBTQ character. Can’t say particularly why, she just came to me that way.
Calin, maybe. The thief with a heart of gold. He showed up in the last version of Emerald Sword called The Tang of Fate. He’s a bit comic relief, bit of an idiot. Fun to write.
Probably want to bring in Queen Selene the Black. A badass herself, she overthrew King Tarquin the Tyrant to become queen of Zargon. She makes for a good protagonist or antagonist. Maybe do a prequel on her at a later date. We’ll see.
Croli should probably come back too. Gotta have that wizard mentor figure. But what sort of wizard? The shape of the world and how magic works in this setting has changed a LOT. I’m stuck between leaving magic as an inheritable gift and having it be something everyone can learn. Maybe a bit of both? That does lend itself to more stories. Ok. So maybe Croli has some Fae blood in him that lets him work magic. That fits the setting.
Oh. I should probably mention I recently changed how elves, goblins, et. al. work in my fantasy setting. Rather than having them be fully-established nations of “good” and “evil” races, I’ve decided all the magical humanoids will be part of the Fae court. Some are winter, others summer. Winter tends to be crueler, less kindly toward humans, but otherwise neither side is good or bad.
This works especially better when you consider how many depictions of monsters and demons are rooted in racist stereotypes (broad noses, hooked noses, broad foreheads, big lips, etc.). Exaggerated features are a staple of fantasy creatures but can lend to easily identifiable, real-world stereotypes which we want to avoid.
That’s why my goblins are green.
That and goblins just ARE green.
I always try to portray truth in my stories, no matter how fantastical. How would elves be? How would goblins be? What’s the difference between an elf and a long-lived human beyond pointy-ears and skill at archery? That sort of thing. It’s come to me as truth that the number of Fae is limited. They cannot procreate among themselves, so there are always many more humans than elves, sylphs, goblins, etc. In the same way, it’s come to me as truth since I was about four I think that goblins are just green.
Luckily, so long as I don’t describe them with exaggerated features, I can avoid some racist connotations. We’ll see how that turns out.
Anyway, the only way Fae can procreate is with humans. That’s where heroes come from and is also where the gift of magic comes from. So the idea is that all the kings, nobles, and great men and women of this setting are descended at least somewhat from fairies, elves, gnomes, etc.
This becomes a problem as nobles begin seeing themselves as “better” because of their bloodlines and leads to abuses of power. Which is where we find ourselves at the start of what I’m currently calling the Elfblood Trilogy: A complete tale of Skana Neidlin’s rise and fall as a great hero among the people of Bel-Zargon.
For a while, I’d considered doing a story about an elven lordling who sought to unite all the different groups of elves under one banner: Dark elves, wood elves, high elves, and all of that. Then I started thinking: What would be the difference between that and any story of a strong human leader uniting disparate tribes a la Ghengis Khan or the Iroquois nation? What makes that an elven story? What is unique to elves that separates them from humans? That left me stumped for a while because in most fantasy that I’ve read (hi, there, Wizards of the Coast), elves aren’t too dissimilar from humans. They’re basically just longer-lived humans with pointy-ears and more magic.
Not very effective world-building in my opinion.
Better to have elves, goblins, and all of them be one race of limited population, a group from a singular place, all related to each other somewhat, who answer to a single authority. That makes Fae more unique, as there are fewer of them. When elves become too commonplace, they become just another neighbor. And that makes them ordinary. And one thing no elf would ever want to be is ordinary!
Lost my train of thought for a second.
I know lots of my readers aren’t big into fantasy fiction themselves, since many of you are friends and family, not giant nerds like me, though there are exceptions. I hope some of you have been able to follow along so far. If not, here’s the basic summary:
I’m working on a new fantasy book, probably the first in a trilogy.
It’s similar to my old book.
I’ve reworked some of the core world-building.
More good news is that I’m dedicated to getting a first draft of SOMETHING done before the end of 2023. It may be this book or the Gamebook Project I mentioned last month, but it will be SOMETHING. Something you can hold in your hand, whether in paper or electronic form, on your phone. Fun times.
I’m very excited about this new year. Hope you are too.
Please come along with me on this journey and feel free to invite a friend or two. I need more nerdy friends. :p