First lInes, decisions
Feb. 15th, 2014 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseWhile It's obviously the most *practical* to try and work on the Serpent Prince, which is *this* close to done, I don't currently want to do revision and rewrites.
(This WILL change if I win either of the con-or-bust novel critiques, but since I'm up against Kate Elliott for one and Andrea K. Höst for the other - among other writers - that's.... unlikely. But if I do, I can have Serpent Prince's current rewrites done in less than a week, and since it would be months at best to have Labyrinth even to half-decent, that's the way to go).
All considerations aside, my impulse is also to keep going in the raw text vein and save the revision itch for the critique and the labyrinth rewrite.
But I don't know on what.
So. Let me know if any lines especially sound intriguing.
In no special order:
Long Stories (Novellas, novels)
Gods in Flight:
To explain why I ended up where I did, at the right hand of the Bastard, of all Gods, I think I'd better start with a sum-up where I'm coming from.
I was born in nowhere-town in the county of nowhere in the province of nowhere in the farthest back corner of the most nowhere country on the whole planet.
Fantasy world but rather more modern than most of the settings. Gods versus fey, and a young human sharpshooter in the middle. This would be a true pantser exercise. Probably needs some research and worldbuilding help.
Gods in Flight: Armageddon
Geordie Kerr had resigned himself to heading up the mountain trail alone when the last car he had expected to see this weekend pulled into the lot.
In spite of the temporary moniker, not a direct sequel to the above. (The GiF stories are set well after the time periods of the others and involve Tovay the Bastard, that's the common thread). Portal fantasy into a post-apocalypse.
The Poisoned Tongue
It began, for me, when two of my ladies-in-waiting found themselves pregnant.
Traditional fantasy, third of a trilogy.
Still feeling a bit burned out on the project.
I'm actually thinking if I don't get to this before November, it might be best finished via another NANO charge.
The Blood Rose
Alcestos feigned continued unconsciousness, building an idea of the weight of his limbs and their position without daring to move.
High fantasy built around a tragic curse. This is somewhere between rewrite and new text. I have finished drafts, but I think it needs more than just a rewrite.
Novella length; good to submit to Eggplant if I get it back into shape.
Blood of the Woods
Zhared watched the camp from his meagre shelter, and wished they had settled themselves nearer the brink of the woods. The grain was ripe with summer's end, but the oaks were a much more certain escape, and grain could not stop a gunshot.
high fantasy if slightly more modern than usual, about a forest god, a group of selkies, and a demon-lord. Some of the gender stuff is both more relevant and needs a more thoughtful hand than in previous drafts.
Sophonisba and Tourmalina (Not actual title):
The page cried, "All do honour to the flower of the court!"
High fantasy court drama; politics and poisonous words. I have short story-ish versions of both womens' stories, but later realised that not only do the short stories not entirely work but the two happen simultaneously, and might work together as a novel. While I have about 3 pages of genuinely ancient draft (thus a first line, however weak, at all), this is one of the few that essentially starts from complete scratch. And would be another pantser.
Meri:
Meri had been wed a bare three weeks before, in a tight-throated mixture of joy and pain.
High fantasy. Girl vs. Fey. Poor Fey. The one complete draft of this extant is, um, painfully old. (1995 old). I won't even reread it to start writing. This opening comes from a handful of pages I tried in 2006.
Twist:
There are two extant drafts, in third and first person respectively. So, two possible opening lines:
I think I was born weak.
and
Biadei sat just off the beach, because however much the sun had warmed his chosen rock, it had warmed the sand more, and he had no desire to hop graceless from burning foot to burning foot to reach the water.
High fantasy. But this is the story that goes really dark places, and not in a good way. AND is chock full of plot relevant BDSM erotica - which is only part of where the dark comes from and not the bit I fear. But it haunts me. It's also VERY laden with backstory. Difficult terrain in almost every way.
Dark Water:
Hahleph-Ailce was not, by her own admission, a forest fox at all.
High fantasy about my fox people. While I Really want to get to write about my fox-people on their own at some point, some aspects of this story seem to have been stolen by other stories that do them better. I'm debating whether that means strip it down for parts entirely, or build it up with new ones to replace what are obviously personal tics.
Allerleirauh:
(excluding stage directions that ramble, rather)
VULPE: You can go on in, ELLERA. There's nothing to fear.
As mentioned before, a screenplay attempt. The title is a giveaway if you know your Grimm.
Merlin's Dive:
Colleen Dukas arrived at the television studio after a weekend of significantly more drinking than she had assayed even in college.
I figured out a new opening scene for this one last night. So clearly it's on my mind, and clearly that won't be the opening line if I do it, though it might be of chapter 2. A slightly kinky modern-day story: Woman tries to keep a man alive after an attempt on his life by the fey. She's also trying to figure out how to explain to him that the reason she won't admit her feelings for him is because in about three weeks, at her 28th birthday, she's going to do what she does every seven years, and change gender.
The Secret Visits:
16th, Sheola Ascending, the Amnan year 247
It's past the setting of the first moon; possibly past the second; I have not been watching the skies too closely. I'm shaking
High fantasy, a major culture clash. This is an idea I want to play with eventually, but it doesn't feel like its time has come. There's another kernel needs to pop, or something.
Short stories
Rustle and the Beanstalk:
There were two things everyone knew about Rustle, once they met him. The first was that Rustle liked being small.
I have NO idea where this is going. But I suspect it will be fun. Rustle is a critter on the narrow balance between cute and silly and way too twee and he said he wanted his own story, please please please. And I thought the thing someone so little needs is giants.
Titanic story: Apparently I managed to only put the current first line in the last first lines meme. Which i cannot find this moment, oh dear. Yup, this snippet is still around. Needs research but not daunting research.
So Far From the Clyde: Clementi had felt the scales under her hand growing cold, and as the storm faded, felt them shrinking, compacting. Zegielnichka had of course made herself larger to carry them all, thinning her substance as dragons were wont, but when the magic began to falter, she began to return to the size of nature.
Wizard in the Wilderness: I'd been travelling the wilderness for a good many weeks when my walking stick grumbled at me, "If you're not going anywhere in particular, Huw, you might veer westward. That's where I'd like to go."
Bristol Harbour: Conalio thought much of their new steam ships, based on models twenty years old or more as far as we Fauconarans were concerned.
The song is only backstory. (Said song is about almost-cannibalism). A piece of weird with some erotic elements, but mostly about broken people finding each other even if they can't fix each other.
(This WILL change if I win either of the con-or-bust novel critiques, but since I'm up against Kate Elliott for one and Andrea K. Höst for the other - among other writers - that's.... unlikely. But if I do, I can have Serpent Prince's current rewrites done in less than a week, and since it would be months at best to have Labyrinth even to half-decent, that's the way to go).
All considerations aside, my impulse is also to keep going in the raw text vein and save the revision itch for the critique and the labyrinth rewrite.
But I don't know on what.
So. Let me know if any lines especially sound intriguing.
In no special order:
Long Stories (Novellas, novels)
Gods in Flight:
To explain why I ended up where I did, at the right hand of the Bastard, of all Gods, I think I'd better start with a sum-up where I'm coming from.
I was born in nowhere-town in the county of nowhere in the province of nowhere in the farthest back corner of the most nowhere country on the whole planet.
Fantasy world but rather more modern than most of the settings. Gods versus fey, and a young human sharpshooter in the middle. This would be a true pantser exercise. Probably needs some research and worldbuilding help.
Gods in Flight: Armageddon
Geordie Kerr had resigned himself to heading up the mountain trail alone when the last car he had expected to see this weekend pulled into the lot.
In spite of the temporary moniker, not a direct sequel to the above. (The GiF stories are set well after the time periods of the others and involve Tovay the Bastard, that's the common thread). Portal fantasy into a post-apocalypse.
The Poisoned Tongue
It began, for me, when two of my ladies-in-waiting found themselves pregnant.
Traditional fantasy, third of a trilogy.
Still feeling a bit burned out on the project.
I'm actually thinking if I don't get to this before November, it might be best finished via another NANO charge.
The Blood Rose
Alcestos feigned continued unconsciousness, building an idea of the weight of his limbs and their position without daring to move.
High fantasy built around a tragic curse. This is somewhere between rewrite and new text. I have finished drafts, but I think it needs more than just a rewrite.
Novella length; good to submit to Eggplant if I get it back into shape.
Blood of the Woods
Zhared watched the camp from his meagre shelter, and wished they had settled themselves nearer the brink of the woods. The grain was ripe with summer's end, but the oaks were a much more certain escape, and grain could not stop a gunshot.
high fantasy if slightly more modern than usual, about a forest god, a group of selkies, and a demon-lord. Some of the gender stuff is both more relevant and needs a more thoughtful hand than in previous drafts.
Sophonisba and Tourmalina (Not actual title):
The page cried, "All do honour to the flower of the court!"
High fantasy court drama; politics and poisonous words. I have short story-ish versions of both womens' stories, but later realised that not only do the short stories not entirely work but the two happen simultaneously, and might work together as a novel. While I have about 3 pages of genuinely ancient draft (thus a first line, however weak, at all), this is one of the few that essentially starts from complete scratch. And would be another pantser.
Meri:
Meri had been wed a bare three weeks before, in a tight-throated mixture of joy and pain.
High fantasy. Girl vs. Fey. Poor Fey. The one complete draft of this extant is, um, painfully old. (1995 old). I won't even reread it to start writing. This opening comes from a handful of pages I tried in 2006.
Twist:
There are two extant drafts, in third and first person respectively. So, two possible opening lines:
I think I was born weak.
and
Biadei sat just off the beach, because however much the sun had warmed his chosen rock, it had warmed the sand more, and he had no desire to hop graceless from burning foot to burning foot to reach the water.
High fantasy. But this is the story that goes really dark places, and not in a good way. AND is chock full of plot relevant BDSM erotica - which is only part of where the dark comes from and not the bit I fear. But it haunts me. It's also VERY laden with backstory. Difficult terrain in almost every way.
Dark Water:
Hahleph-Ailce was not, by her own admission, a forest fox at all.
High fantasy about my fox people. While I Really want to get to write about my fox-people on their own at some point, some aspects of this story seem to have been stolen by other stories that do them better. I'm debating whether that means strip it down for parts entirely, or build it up with new ones to replace what are obviously personal tics.
Allerleirauh:
(excluding stage directions that ramble, rather)
VULPE: You can go on in, ELLERA. There's nothing to fear.
As mentioned before, a screenplay attempt. The title is a giveaway if you know your Grimm.
Merlin's Dive:
Colleen Dukas arrived at the television studio after a weekend of significantly more drinking than she had assayed even in college.
I figured out a new opening scene for this one last night. So clearly it's on my mind, and clearly that won't be the opening line if I do it, though it might be of chapter 2. A slightly kinky modern-day story: Woman tries to keep a man alive after an attempt on his life by the fey. She's also trying to figure out how to explain to him that the reason she won't admit her feelings for him is because in about three weeks, at her 28th birthday, she's going to do what she does every seven years, and change gender.
The Secret Visits:
16th, Sheola Ascending, the Amnan year 247
It's past the setting of the first moon; possibly past the second; I have not been watching the skies too closely. I'm shaking
High fantasy, a major culture clash. This is an idea I want to play with eventually, but it doesn't feel like its time has come. There's another kernel needs to pop, or something.
Short stories
Rustle and the Beanstalk:
There were two things everyone knew about Rustle, once they met him. The first was that Rustle liked being small.
I have NO idea where this is going. But I suspect it will be fun. Rustle is a critter on the narrow balance between cute and silly and way too twee and he said he wanted his own story, please please please. And I thought the thing someone so little needs is giants.
Titanic story: Apparently I managed to only put the current first line in the last first lines meme. Which i cannot find this moment, oh dear. Yup, this snippet is still around. Needs research but not daunting research.
So Far From the Clyde: Clementi had felt the scales under her hand growing cold, and as the storm faded, felt them shrinking, compacting. Zegielnichka had of course made herself larger to carry them all, thinning her substance as dragons were wont, but when the magic began to falter, she began to return to the size of nature.
Wizard in the Wilderness: I'd been travelling the wilderness for a good many weeks when my walking stick grumbled at me, "If you're not going anywhere in particular, Huw, you might veer westward. That's where I'd like to go."
Bristol Harbour: Conalio thought much of their new steam ships, based on models twenty years old or more as far as we Fauconarans were concerned.
The song is only backstory. (Said song is about almost-cannibalism). A piece of weird with some erotic elements, but mostly about broken people finding each other even if they can't fix each other.
