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Friday, December 18, 2009

Test Drive: 10 Steps: Introduction Implementation

INTRODUCTION:
MY IMPLEMENTATION




(Image from:  http://www.writersstore.com/product.php?products_id=3378)


I mentioned in the article that you can use this on a first draft or a brand new story.  Well, to make this a true test drive, I'm going to be insane and try it on both simultaneously.  Here is the information on them.


WIP:  Walker#1
  • Genre:  Fantasy
  • Protagonist:  Walker or Pheteh. 
    • First thing to know about Walker is that he amnesiac.  So, the following names are not really his, in the real sense.  He named himself Walker.  Someone else named him Pheteh.
      • Walker - The meaning behind Walker is "fuller".  It was an occupation.  According to Behind the Name, "Walkers would tread on wet, unprocessed wool in order to clean and thicken it."  That's not the reason I picked it, though.  You see, I had an idea that Walker got that name off a flyer or poster of some sort.  Also, it reminds me of his occupation--he is courier.  A very special kind (see the concept below).
      • Pheteh - This was me playing with Egyptian names/people and sounds.  Pheteh came from a mangling of the god Ptah.  Wikipedia shows that it can be spelled Peteh, hence my mangling.  One allusion I wanted to make between Pheteh and Ptah concerned the "opening of the mouth ceremony" Ptah was said to have created.  Since souls can be transferred into a courier through the mouth in my world, it fit.  
  • POV:  1st person, single point of view.
  • Plot Concept:  Amnesiac Walker was a courier--he used to carry memories, souls, and even objects magically miniaturized inside his body. But few people know it; and he doesn't even remember ever doing it. Now he's a mehnset, someone who makes sure what the couriers carry won't mess up the worlds any more than they already are. But as they say, once a courier, always a courier. Well, Walker's sometimes-wife says that. She is counting on him to transport an item across the schisms (loco world borders) that mehnsets would kill to destroy; as a mehnset, he is the only one who could do it. He is prepared to tell her to go drop off a schism when she reveals what it is. A key ingredient for a cure for an adaptive plague that in his world raises the dead and turns them into parasitic succubi. She carries the thaumaturge soul who brewed it up. Walker has his own personal reasons for seeing the cure come to fruitation, but few people are willing to try. After all, the last attempt at a cure pissed off the plague and turned that world a great big mausoleum. That being the world from whence the plague originated. The world he called home.

New Novel:  Hunger
  • Genre:  Kafka-esque fantasy.
  • Character Names:   
    • Sorenn - Mangled.  Comes from a Romanian Sorin, which means "sun".  Thought it was ironic, given that he's a vampire.  
    • Anca - Is a Romanian name (female) meaning "grace, favor".  It's for a male character, though.  Quite frankly, I just like the sound and look of it.  He is a "food" product for Sorenn.
    • Mareis - Mangled.  Comes from Romanian Marius, either derived from the Roman god of war, Mars, or from a Roman word mean "man".  Figured, since she is the competitor of Anca, and Anca is originally a female name, it is fitting. 
  • POV:  Either first person (single pov) or close third person (multiple povs).   I'll know more once I start working with the story and character voices.
  • Plot Idea:  Influenced strongly by The Hunger Artist by Kafka, and maybe by Jackson's The Lottery.  It is the vampiric act put on display for public entertainment.  Sorenn is like those big cats you see in the movie Gladiator.  Except, he is kept starved and is mistreated, and then he is released to hunt down and kill prey.  The lucky food product survivor not only gets to live but gets a magically prolonged life.

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