Come (What) May

As those of you who look at my fan fiction profile know, I will be leaving for Asia in May. While my host family in Japan has stated they're all right with me using their computer, I really have no way of knowing how often I'll be able to rely on an Internet connection. Thus, I have no idea when I'll be able to update this blog.

Since it's still a little bit before May, what do you think I should do? Should I go on complete hiatus here? Build up a backlog and schedule it? If the latter, how many posts would be good? One a week? Two?

Just let me know what you think. I definitely won't be able to write enough for every day of May, but I can put a little extra sweat in beforehand and schedule some updates ahead of time.

The Annals of World-Building II

In the first edition of this series, I went through some of the characteristics of The Empire's homeland. Now it's time to time a wider look at the world. 

I apologise for my handwriting and the quality of the picture.

It's difficult to see, but shaded areas are those under the control of or otherwise claimed by The Empire. This includes the following:
Alt!Eurasia: Cynilann (The Mainland), Helmalann, Crudeland, Mulsha, Silkland, Saricum
Alt!Africa: Brickland, Rubberland, Southern Holdings
Alt!Australia: New South Donnelon
Alt!South America: Errin, Trinon, Minctor
Alt!North America: Springland
Alt!Antarctica: Australia
Islands (left to right): Prover Islands, Saina, Mictan, Sealand, High Island, Limacle, New Rinheart, Lesser Colonies, Red Islands, Flail Islands, Stark Islands, Bay Islands, Fire Islands, Asman

Helmalann was where civilisation originated, and they originally colonised Cynilann; however, society and technology grew so much faster in Cynilann that in a matter of time they came back and conquered Helmalann.

Cynilann has had especially good trade relations with Silkland and has rather recently declared dominion over them, as well as Crudeland. (Most nations here ending in -land were dubbed as such by Cynilann because they couldn't pronounce the native names. Crudeland stays somewhat true to the real name, which is something like Khudan, but Cynilann doesn't have as much respect for peoples not so closely related to them and just names them what seems appropriate.)

At the same time, Cynilann rather respects Saricum, since the latter has pretty much always been the cradle of knowledge on the other side of the river. (Their Hetalian personifications are totally crushing on each other, just saying.)

Cynilann's claim over Brickland, Rubberland, and the Southern Holdings is almost entirely economical, though they keep enough of a government there to ensure they will continue to milk the area dry (and that nobody else is going to step in and try to share). This hasn't been entirely successful, and there have been some extremely threatening border disputes with Scewoa (belonging to Faxir), but it would have to be more of a problem before they would go to war over it. These three colonies are some of the most recently established of The Empire.

New South Donnelon, obviously named after the southernmost island of Cynilann, is a more appreciated colony. The majority of the native population (which wasn't large) was killed in a tsunami and subsequent (unrelated) plague a few decades before the Cynilan people landed there, and the few who remained were quickly assimilated when the Cynilan people colonised. The Cynilan population there now surpasses that of mainland Cynilann, though they're not quite as urbanised.

Errin was gained via a Cynilan citizen's marriage to the local royal family and Cynilann's subsequent passing of bills to secure it nationally. Once Cynilann had a military presence there, it quickly took over Trinon and Minctor by force. Cynilann claims that Stalmid, right in the midst of their territories there, is too worthless a piece of land to be worth the trouble of conquering it. Then again, they do lay claim to Australia, which is worthless for anything but scientific research. Perhaps the Stalmidians are just rather troublesome...

Cynilann had established trade connections with Springland, notably the part of the continent as far as possible from Grema. From there, they peacefully took over. Springland is a very popular tourist spot on top of having great tropical farmland.

Most of The Empire's islands were taken militarily, with the exception of Sealand. It was uninhabited previously due to surrounding currents being extremely difficult to get through. It's still rarely visited (quite a few of the islands are really just claimed without being taken particular advantage of). The Lesser Colonies, or "Coal Islands," however, got their popular nickname for a reason. One of the most strictly-guarded colonies of the Empire (in fact, it was there that Macbay did his military service), it has oodles of coal, mined both by Cynilan people and the effectively enslaved natives. The Bay Islands are a good source of sugar and molasses. The Flail Islands have massive guano deposits.

During the actual story, war has broken out. A minor conflict over Opalia (fought between Balaccia and Ganoria, the Iberian peninsula-ish country and the Britain-ish country to the south) escalated, got some colonies involved, and then allies. Cynilann was dragged in via Saricum and is now on the side of Ganoria and Lichper (and their colonies). Balaccia is allied with Vitrina and, more importantly, Cerdisa. Cerdisa and Cynilann have had bad relations and a lot of cat fights over colony ownership, so it wasn't hard for Cynilann to really get into things once Cerdisa stepped in.

On the other hand, Grema (which has considerable influence over the other nations on its continent) was once Cerdisa's colony and still has a good relationship with them. Together, they're nicknamed the "Twin Beasts of the North," and it should suffice to say Cynilann really hopes Grema stays neutral over there. Certainly Cynilann is still sure they'd win, but it's enough to concern them.

This is only a rough map of the world, and several of the smaller nations and islands were cut out, but they don't play big roles in the time of the story. This is enough for now. The world isn't *entirely* fleshed out, but considering the actual story is limited to one island of The Mainland, I probably shouldn't be too worried.

New Fan Fiction Idea #7

Working Title: The Bard Games

Fandom: Shakespeare and Hunger Games crossover

Genre Tags: I never know how to label HG works. Let's say Horror/Suspense.

Length: Long multichapter

Protagonist: Othello Moor (District 11)

Other Main Characters: Romeo Montague (District 3)
Hamlet Prince (District 5)
Ophelia (District 5)
Macbeth Findlay (District 6)
Antonio Venis (District 8), volunteering for Bassanio
Portia Belmont (District 8)
Nerissa (District 9)
Desdemona (District 10)
Cleopatra Feyra (District 11) 

Antagonists: Our Career pack consists of
Caesar Julius (District 1)
Lady McBeth (District 1)
Antony (District 2)
Brutus (District 4)
Juliet Capulet (District 4)
Others with a clearly negative role in the story are
Iago Ensign (District 10)
Shylock (District 12)

Plot: A Hunger Games, from reapings to final kill, plus an epilogue. It's going to be one of the earlier Games.

Setting: A large, polygonal arena. It is split down the middle by a river (with a few rickety wooden bridges); on one side is ground, the other a wooden jungle-gym of sorts. The wooden part inclines, with the river side being the lowest and the edge of the arena being the highest. The section is split into nine rectangles (as in an octothorpe) with each rectangle containing a different type of wood. The other side of the arena is flat ground, rather muddy, for a stretch  but eventually leads to a three-storey sort of loft area. Also wooden, the area starts with a ground layer with decent barriers and, through a single ladder, leads up to two more levels, each less stable than the last. Various mutts, edible and otherwise plants, and traps dot the arena. The Cornucopia is just to the ground side of the river. 

Point of View: First-person, switching between each of the 24 tributes as appropriate.

I'm really looking forward to this one, although my cast list is incomplete, and I'll have to read more Shakespeare to fill it out. A reread of Macbeth could be nice, too. I still need to come up with surnames for a lot of the characters.

Protagonist assignment is arbitrary. At this point it seems Othello's alliance is going to get a good bit of screen time.

Still working out the setting, although the basic form is going to stay the same.

Prioritizing a Priority

In writing down basics for every story idea that comes to me, it's become obvious I can't do everything at once. While writing already has its own place on my list of priorities (somewhere below Bible study and possibly not wisely assigned in relation to schoolwork), each writing project has its own rank or general area as well. Now that I've hit twenty original novel ideas (including my fan-fiction-turned-original), I feel like I ought to do a bit of ordering.

Top of the List:
These are stories that I really want to write (or at least plot out/world-build, etc.) as soon as humanly possible.

1. The Long and Winding Road (mid-writing)
2. Mayflies (going through online course)
3. New Fiction Idea #17 (I feel like I need to do a lot of world-building first, but I may at least test the waters of the first chapter before risking another Vortex of Infinite World-Building)
4. Chasers (have begun writing, but barely)
5. Macbay Transportation Services (will start writing once I get out of the Vortex)

Almost Top of the List:

These are stories that really interest me but aren't yet demanding to be written.

1. Wanderers (love the world, not quite sure about plot or characters)
2. Entrapped (hadn't been taking it seriously, but reading Incarceron makes prison-steampunk sound even better)
3. The Heiress (not looking forward to world-building for some reason, but the actual story seems fun)
4. Mount (a bit of back-to-basics steampunk just sounds nice)
5. Chemists (once Jacob is properly tweaked and I've gotten over my first failed attempt, this is worth the trouble)

In the Middle:

These are stories I may or may not write, depending on whether some discovery about the story suddenly makes it more appealing.

1. Revolution (might as well have some lightheartedness among the slaughter and hard steampunk if I can manage a whole story of it; also [somewhat] contemplating it as an opera)
2. Family of Ibro (it interests me a lot, but the characters aren't really speaking to me yet)
3. New Fiction Idea #14 (could be neat to play with a dystopia and utopia in the same story)
4. War (the format would be weird, but it's intense enough to arouse some interest)
5. Carmine (not liking how the romance shoved its way in, but a fantasy Cold War espionage has to be written sometime)

Just Meh:

These are stories that really don't particularly appeal to me yet. I may not feel capable of handling the material or style, or it was just a passing whimsy I wanted to note.

1. The Rules (about the reverse of Family of Ibro—the characters are fine, repeated plot device not so much)
2. Specials (just seems too unoriginal)
3. Crumbling (not worrying about this until I get a good, original system for ghosts other than that used for Chasers)
4. A Murder of Crows (never done a basic mystery, and not sure how much bird group puns could propel a story)
5. Intolerant (has actually been handed off to a friend)

What do you think? Disappointed or encouraged? Had a different list of what you wanted to see first? Not so fond of ordering yourself?

I might do something like this for fan fiction ideas, etc. as well, though I don't have that many yet.

And, unrelated to everything else in this post, the Russians have invaded (there are officially more hits from Russia than the United States this week)! Not that that's a bad thing. Здравствуйте! (Because I can totally pronounce that in real life. Ahem.)

Dream Journal #6

I'm not sure how I managed to remember this. I'm pretty sure I went back to sleep afterwards, but I really thought this was worth keeping and so rehearsed it quite a bit before dropping off again. Apparently it worked.

28 March—29 March

Some ambiguous school friends and I were hanging out in a normal house, with sort of an old-person feel to it. It wasn't well lit, mostly by desk lamps, and the carpet was light. At some point we left the house, going along a path of worn, rectangular stepping-stones across the front lawn and onto the road. It was dark, probably a bit before dawn. No streetlights were on.

I'm not sure what happened, but we scattered. It seemed like a game at first, as I ran through the dark cul-de-sac, but at some point I found myself rather frightened and hiding at the front porch of someone's house. I couldn't see if I was that hidden, so I got a bit of light from my mobile phone before quickly putting it away. Still, the others—I'm not sure who in particular, or even if they were still my school friends—found me and tried to take me away. They grabbed my arms, but I managed to wrench myself away (this kind of thing happened quite often in the dream).

I ran away harder. It started to become lighter as I reached some sort of hotel. In an attempt to stop the others from following me, I ran straight across the edge of a large, blocky swimming pool, a sharp-edged hole in the otherwise undecorated concrete. I managed not to slip, and three boys that had been following me, one of which was Caleb*, came to a stop at the edges of the pool and argued with each other.

Still running as hard as I could and knowing I was still pursued, I went through the actual hotel and ended up in an indoor shopping mall. After some time of running across the main floor, I ended up going in a "store" that was really a type of popular shooting game, akin to laser tag. With no time to lose, I kept running through, dodging the crowd. I almost ran into a girl, donning the game's white, mecha-like costume, on the way back out and apologised to her for it.

After going across the main floor of the mall for a bit longer, I ended up underneath the building. There was a series of criss-crossing, otherwise deserted hallways on different levels that seemed very much like hotel hallways. The carpets were a bit darker than mint green, and there were few doors, only near places the hallways bent. Somehow Amelia had managed to almost catch up with me as I ran here. She caught me by my long skirt, and I couldn't quite get away. Crying, she begged me to stop running. I told her I couldn't do that, but also that it wasn't because I hated her. I couldn't convince her, but we did emotionally hug before I escaped and fled to the main mall.

Not feeling safe enough in the open area of the mall, I ended up running through stores in my attempts to dissuade my constant pursuers. I seemed to have lost them in some trendy but sparsely-stocked clothing and accessory store before I ran into another store. It was quite large, with two columns of various recliners spaced some distance from each other and extending back for a while. As I entered, a man in a coaching uniform who worked there asked if my shoes (which were my normal navy, undecorated walking shoes) were for the [city removed] team. I told him that they weren't, but my father coached at the school (which is true). With a grin, the man revealed he actually was my father and shook my hand, saying no one had complimented him like that before. He asked me what I was doing at the mall here, and I quickly thought to tell him some school friends and I were playing the popular shooting game.

Dad was fine with that, and I left the store, running from the pursuers again. At occassions they caught up and grabbed my arms; I managed to get away every time. We went through all types of stores, none of which I remember well, before I finally lost them. Wanting a break, I ran until I saw the front of my favourite bookstore chain. Although I knew it was terribly predictable and the others could try to look for me here, I entered anyway. Passing some typical displays of children's books, I realised how badly I had to use the restroom and looked at ceiling signs to find one. One sign pointed to a sort of atrium area, which included a rock wall (as in, a slab of grey rock in the gap between escalators that reached to the next floor) and various displays of small, square pieces of speckled soap.

Unable to find the restroom, I went to the second floor hoping for it there. Not far from the escalator sat one of the moderators of the improv contest I had the evening before (in real life). I knew he was one of the people after me, but I decided it was time to stop running. He seemed rather shocked and unsure how exactly to react to me just standing there watching him. As we were at some sort of video game station (consisting of a large, wooden box), he invited me to play with him and another girl, who had been sitting there with him. I agreed to it but asked where the bathroom was, hoping he wouldn't think I was just trying to get away again. He directed me towards them, but warned me the women's were a lot worse than the men's, with a score of 7-0. I tried to pull up the back of my jeans (apparently I was no longer wearing the skirt from the rest of the dream) but was unsuccessful and instead pulled my shirt down before hurrying towards the restroom.

*Caleb is a school friend, though we don't see each other much. We both went steampunk for Halloween, though, so that was cool.

Wow, this was a dream of rather epic proportions. And surprisingly consistent, as far as dreams go. I wonder if it actually meant something.

The Amelia Special

Or: The Best Way to Visualise Characters is by (Others) Drawing Them.

Amelia is a friend and almost-neighbour who, unlike me, is able to draw people in non-manga styles. She's also willing to sketch things on request when we're stuck on a long field trip. As such, I have requested a few character drawings, though with differing specificity.

Clyde and Pink

(Sorry for the blurry snapshot of her sketchbook.) Having read only the first section of Chasers, she didn't have much to work with. Still, there was a decent description of Clyde, so I asked her to draw him, and she came up with all of this. It's really nice, because Clyde's eyebrows are perfect (I'm a freak about eyebrows, okay?), although they didn't show up too well in this picture, and I didn't have much of a physical design for Pink (I had actually just vaguely imagined her as a blonde Tayuya), so this worked out really well. Clyde's missing his top hat, but it's nice to see what his full head of hair looks like, so I'll forgive her.

Laurie

These and the following sketches were actually from a trip much earlier, but they definitely deserve in, too. I asked Amelia to draw Macbay's beloved truck. While I'm not going with the treads (they were a cool idea, but the speed limit just isn't going to work) and the dashboard got flipped somehow, it was really cool watching this come to life. Now I know where the advertising panel is (though it's probably going to say "Macbay Transportation Services"), and all of the smoke pipes and mirrors are cool to see, too.

Max Webb

We didn't take this one entirely seriously, but this is a really good head-image for Macbay Transportation Services's antagonist. A bit plump, none too jolly, and well-dressed. And with a gap in his eyebrow from his time in the army (Yes, I even characterise people through their eyebrows. Shhh.). And last but not least...

Bartholomew Macbay

...We were rather tired by the time we got to him. Note that his arms are not like they appear in this sketch. Ahem. Otherwise, pretty accurate. Not all that handsome, not all that well-dressed, and a little bit classy without possibly being called a gentleman. His teeth are also pretty grody, which I wouldn't be able to draw at all.

New Fiction Idea #19

Inspired by an unfocused glance over a part of my history book I actually didn't have to read. Barely even an idea at this point, but worth scribbling down.

Working Title: Carmine

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Protagonist: Alizarin, a twenty-something man with shoulder-length indigo hair and an unassuming build. He's an excellent actor and quite charismatic. He has some training in magic, but it's limited so it doesn't prevent him from carrying out his job.

Other Main Characters: Cerise, Alizarin's preferred assassin. She has shoulder blade-length red hair and is quite attractive despite having muscle tone. She enjoys playing on others' lust, and she's also a very powerful sorceress and skilled assassin.
Alizarin has several other assassins with equally "colourful" names. [rimshot]

Antagonist: The local government, which has gone to great lengths to clamp down on the assassinations.

Setting: Mesopotamian-like, low-tech world. Magic is hereditary (though not weakened by non-consanguinous marriage) and always creates more energy than is used. Fantastic hair colours are the norm.

Plot: Alizarin's beloved national espionage organization has been hit hard by the security measures put in place by the opposing government. Only those with weak or no magic are able to get within a certain range of their leaders because of new barrier magic. But the spies have found another weapon: masks. By transforming their assassins into inanimate masks with only a small amount of magic radiating from them, they are able to get them inside the barrier. From there, the assistant (Alizarin) slips on the mask and transforms into the assassin. Once the deed is done, the assassin can return to mask form, bringing the assistant back. The story follows Alizarin in his dutiful assassinations and his growing attraction towards Cerise.

Point of View: Third person, limited to whatever character is appropriate.

The "red" theme is due to "Masque of the Red Death." Because Poe allusions automatically make a piece better, right?

(And where in the world is Carmine? Hehe)