Because I am a demented human being, I once again volunteered to be the next sacrificial victim for my writers group. This is not demented because they're all insane flensers - they are, but I'm almost used to it by now - but because I have so much else I should be spending my time on, like my two papers and the two presentations that go with them that are due this semester. One of these presentations is due a week from the day of this posting. Oh God.
The story is another tale of what's coming to be known in my head as the Jemma-verse. So far I've produced two short stories, but with this one I think I should admit to myself that I'm really creating a novel here out of these vignettes. I have other ideas for big writing projects, but I don't want to start those out of writers group-induced "oh noes I have a week and a half to write this" panic. And once I got to thinking ideas and scribbling them on the back of a law review article, I had two concepts that I will not be able to put down until I have them fixed in a tangible medium: postmodern runes and magic climate change.
Actually, the runes aren't exactly postmodern because these people don't use that term to describe that sort of art, and the magic climate change is both highly accelerated and very localized compared to actual climate change. The MC of this is a museum director whose story opens with (probably) her dealing with the latest art exhibition of runic art, though it'll be called something different. For some mysterious reason--magic climate change induced by super-secret gov't testing of magical weapons--the pieces are't working right, and of course the artist(s) are being very difficult about it.
I sketched out a very vague plot arc for this which may well change when I sit down to write this. I have a bunch of homework right now, so this will probably wait for the weekend, but I'm suddenly excited about writing again! My evening classes have been terrible about deflating my enthusiasm because my most creativity productive time has been eaten up by class, travel time, and late dinner. But that class ends at the beginning of March, and I think this story will be a great start to shove me back into semi-regular writing.
Showing posts with label plot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plot. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Plotting - NaNo 09
Only 8k words in, and I began despairing of making word count. This isn't because I don't have sufficiently rich fodder for my fictional non-fiction account of a made-up cult but because I have a hard time organizing it and keeping the passages different from one another and interesting to write. I can only say "Cthulhu loves us" in so many ways, so many times.
But then I had a revelation: if I ever am desperate for words, I can re-write various Bible stories according to my modified Cthulhu mythos. The most fun of these will of course be Cthulhu Genesis and Cthulhu Revelation (in which we actually are eaten, but in being eaten, we are transported to a dimension of pure love and union and wisdom), but the more I think about it, the more I think that any Bible story can be re-written as a Cthulhu story. One of the founders claims to be the illegitimate son of African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa. I forgot which country he dictated, but the important thing is that he claimed to be the 13th Apostle secretly anointed by the Pope. Admirably crazy. This is a great way for this character to claim that he is a prophet and so has visions of the way various Biblical stories REALLY went.
Jonah and the whale? Jonah and the tentacle monster (who just ate him because he wanted to enlighten him). Dude on the road to Damascus? Dude on a sea voyage where he meets Cthulhu. Tower of Babel? Big tower that gets destroyed by the evil winged creatures because people were working together too much. I think there's definitely 50K worth of material there if I can't think of anything else. But I draw the line at the begats. Oh, and I also have arbitrary rules to make up. Woohoo!
But then I had a revelation: if I ever am desperate for words, I can re-write various Bible stories according to my modified Cthulhu mythos. The most fun of these will of course be Cthulhu Genesis and Cthulhu Revelation (in which we actually are eaten, but in being eaten, we are transported to a dimension of pure love and union and wisdom), but the more I think about it, the more I think that any Bible story can be re-written as a Cthulhu story. One of the founders claims to be the illegitimate son of African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa. I forgot which country he dictated, but the important thing is that he claimed to be the 13th Apostle secretly anointed by the Pope. Admirably crazy. This is a great way for this character to claim that he is a prophet and so has visions of the way various Biblical stories REALLY went.
Jonah and the whale? Jonah and the tentacle monster (who just ate him because he wanted to enlighten him). Dude on the road to Damascus? Dude on a sea voyage where he meets Cthulhu. Tower of Babel? Big tower that gets destroyed by the evil winged creatures because people were working together too much. I think there's definitely 50K worth of material there if I can't think of anything else. But I draw the line at the begats. Oh, and I also have arbitrary rules to make up. Woohoo!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Fanfiction - plotting the end
Not the end of fanfiction as a phenomenon, the end of a particular piece of fan fiction. As my two readers may recall, I have two outstanding - as in incomplete, not wonderful - fanfic pieces. One I've been working on with something like regularity, and the other has, until this afternoon, lain dormant for about two years.
No more! At the funniest request I've ever received, I decided to resurrect that story and to finish it once and for all. To my immense surprise I discovered that, despite some issues especially in the early part (wherein I try to be way too clever), I really enjoy this tale. I stopped where I did because I had a chapter to write that didn't fit very much into the larger story arc and because, until I had the action in mind, it seemed like a pretty boring chapter. I had it end with the return of a character who left the story ages ago, a gunfight, the uncovering of a genocidal secret rising to the highest levels of government, and our MC skillfully turning her enemies on each other.
The request went something like this: I'm really glad you're working on the story you're writing for me, [it's a birthday gift for an online friend of mine who loves fanfic more than some people love their spouses] but I feel bad that it's taking your time away from your other unfinished fanfic. We gotta be nice to our readers, right? So maybe you could take some time off my fanfic and update the other one, and I won't feel bad.
Or something. It was strangely sweet.
Anyway, I'm feeling a surge of affection for the story which I hope will be able to last me through the last couple of chapters. I even wrote up a two-page summary and posted it along with the new chapter, for any remaining readers I may have. It was a lot of fun re-reading my story, especially the romantic/sexual tension scenes between the MC and her two loves. So now I must plot the end and get writing it, hopefully before NaNo steals all my time and writing energy!
The fandom is Andromeda, and this fanfic is very AU. The MC is Beka Valentine, and the two male leads are Tyr Anasazi and Charlemagne Bolivar. For the first part of the story, Beka is wreaking criminal havoc and falling in love with Tyr as her loyal bodyguard under the auspices of a crime boss, Darjella Milein. For the second part, she's negotiating an alliance with Charlemagne Bolivar, a powerful leader of his Pride, after Tyr has left to pursue his Nietzschean ambitions. He keeps trying to seduce her, and she wants to marry him off. But Nietzschean family arrangements are odd, and the prospective bride is eager to become Beka's sister; she's under the impression that Beka and Charlemagne are lovers because only a Nietzschean's family would make such an offer on his behalf. Beka's seriously considering fulfilling the other woman's expectations.
Oh yes, and people keep trying to kill Beka for various reasons. She's made a lot of enemies. This story is going to end in a glorious Shakespearean bloody melee, complete with Tyr and possibly Charlemagne delcaring their love for Beka in very extravagant terms. I did already write one line of faux-poetry for Tyr to recite, and I have to say, crafting it was a lot of fun. The line is: “Never have mortals set mortal eyes upon these stygian flames resplendent, aureate damnation.” He doesn't usually talk like that, but he was rendered poetic by circumstances.
Good lord, this post is getting long. I just got a review from ff.net, thanking me in particular for the recap. I wrote it partly for myself, I must say. I would not have remembered half of what was going on if I'd just started writing cold.
Anyway, the plot!
-Having narrowly escaped an yet another assassination attempt, Beka finally going to allow herself to be seduced by Charlemagne, but not before getting a good night's sleep.
-The aftermath of her report on the investigation that nearly got her killed will be widespread chaos and violence on that world, not to mention serious threats of reprisals by the few remaining members of the decimated race.
-I'm not sure if Beka's going to have moral qualms about her job and lifestyle. I think that if she did, Darjella would be willing to employ her in a more diplomatic avenue, which would be fantastic. But that might draw out the ending more than I like. Hmm...
-After a series of meetings which will prove completely surreal for Beka, Charlemagne marries the other woman, and Beka for the first time in a loooong time will have something resembling a family. She will find this highly unsettling.
-Meanwhile, Tyr has started gathering the smaller Prides to him with the bones of Drago Museveni. I'm trying to decide whether he impregnates Freya as he does in the TV series... having little Tamerlane running around would complicate things, especially his willingness to die at the end. One of these Prides the Volsung, which are after all distantly related to his Pride (which is canon!).
-So the whole lot of our heroes are drawn back together again. Tyr needs Charlemagne to bring the Jaguar Pride to his alliance to counter the strength of his mortal enemies, the Drago-Kazov Pride. Awkward times ensue! Beka was once deeply in love with Tyr, and even though her feelings for Charlemagne aren't nearly as strong, she IS sleeping with him and sister to his wife. Soooo huzzah.
-The Jaguar Matriarch, whom we've already met, agrees to discuss the possibility of throwing her support to Charlemagne, against the Jaguar Alpha who hates Charlemagne on principle and opposes the alliance with Tyr precisely because Charlemagne supports it (and probably for various reasons of strategery). Beka goes planetside while Tyr and Charlemagne are negotiating furiously, and the ladies chit chat. Sidebar: conversations between humans and Nietzscheans are just as much fun to write as the ludicrously fancy places I have these characters visit. Nietzscheans cannot resist highly charged conversations, and humans are always intent to prove that they can hold up their end of any discussion.
-The Jaguar Alpha finds out about the meeting and stealthily brings his secretest forces to kill Beka and, if necessary, the Matriarch. It's a bold and probably stupid move, especially considering that Charlemagne finds out about the Alpha finding out and brings Tyr along, ostensibly to stop them from killing the Matriarch and destroying the aliance but obviously in large part to stop them from killing Beka.
-People die. Trance, who's been telling us this whole story, gives us a cryptic epilogue. Everyone proclaims their love for Beka.
Excellent! This is a very exciting prospect, full of loaded conversations and sexual tension and angsty romance. I think I can fit this all into something like three chapters, excluding the epilogue, unless I decide that more sexual tension is needed. It might be.
No more! At the funniest request I've ever received, I decided to resurrect that story and to finish it once and for all. To my immense surprise I discovered that, despite some issues especially in the early part (wherein I try to be way too clever), I really enjoy this tale. I stopped where I did because I had a chapter to write that didn't fit very much into the larger story arc and because, until I had the action in mind, it seemed like a pretty boring chapter. I had it end with the return of a character who left the story ages ago, a gunfight, the uncovering of a genocidal secret rising to the highest levels of government, and our MC skillfully turning her enemies on each other.
The request went something like this: I'm really glad you're working on the story you're writing for me, [it's a birthday gift for an online friend of mine who loves fanfic more than some people love their spouses] but I feel bad that it's taking your time away from your other unfinished fanfic. We gotta be nice to our readers, right? So maybe you could take some time off my fanfic and update the other one, and I won't feel bad.
Or something. It was strangely sweet.
Anyway, I'm feeling a surge of affection for the story which I hope will be able to last me through the last couple of chapters. I even wrote up a two-page summary and posted it along with the new chapter, for any remaining readers I may have. It was a lot of fun re-reading my story, especially the romantic/sexual tension scenes between the MC and her two loves. So now I must plot the end and get writing it, hopefully before NaNo steals all my time and writing energy!
The fandom is Andromeda, and this fanfic is very AU. The MC is Beka Valentine, and the two male leads are Tyr Anasazi and Charlemagne Bolivar. For the first part of the story, Beka is wreaking criminal havoc and falling in love with Tyr as her loyal bodyguard under the auspices of a crime boss, Darjella Milein. For the second part, she's negotiating an alliance with Charlemagne Bolivar, a powerful leader of his Pride, after Tyr has left to pursue his Nietzschean ambitions. He keeps trying to seduce her, and she wants to marry him off. But Nietzschean family arrangements are odd, and the prospective bride is eager to become Beka's sister; she's under the impression that Beka and Charlemagne are lovers because only a Nietzschean's family would make such an offer on his behalf. Beka's seriously considering fulfilling the other woman's expectations.
Oh yes, and people keep trying to kill Beka for various reasons. She's made a lot of enemies. This story is going to end in a glorious Shakespearean bloody melee, complete with Tyr and possibly Charlemagne delcaring their love for Beka in very extravagant terms. I did already write one line of faux-poetry for Tyr to recite, and I have to say, crafting it was a lot of fun. The line is: “Never have mortals set mortal eyes upon these stygian flames resplendent, aureate damnation.” He doesn't usually talk like that, but he was rendered poetic by circumstances.
Good lord, this post is getting long. I just got a review from ff.net, thanking me in particular for the recap. I wrote it partly for myself, I must say. I would not have remembered half of what was going on if I'd just started writing cold.
Anyway, the plot!
-Having narrowly escaped an yet another assassination attempt, Beka finally going to allow herself to be seduced by Charlemagne, but not before getting a good night's sleep.
-The aftermath of her report on the investigation that nearly got her killed will be widespread chaos and violence on that world, not to mention serious threats of reprisals by the few remaining members of the decimated race.
-I'm not sure if Beka's going to have moral qualms about her job and lifestyle. I think that if she did, Darjella would be willing to employ her in a more diplomatic avenue, which would be fantastic. But that might draw out the ending more than I like. Hmm...
-After a series of meetings which will prove completely surreal for Beka, Charlemagne marries the other woman, and Beka for the first time in a loooong time will have something resembling a family. She will find this highly unsettling.
-Meanwhile, Tyr has started gathering the smaller Prides to him with the bones of Drago Museveni. I'm trying to decide whether he impregnates Freya as he does in the TV series... having little Tamerlane running around would complicate things, especially his willingness to die at the end. One of these Prides the Volsung, which are after all distantly related to his Pride (which is canon!).
-So the whole lot of our heroes are drawn back together again. Tyr needs Charlemagne to bring the Jaguar Pride to his alliance to counter the strength of his mortal enemies, the Drago-Kazov Pride. Awkward times ensue! Beka was once deeply in love with Tyr, and even though her feelings for Charlemagne aren't nearly as strong, she IS sleeping with him and sister to his wife. Soooo huzzah.
-The Jaguar Matriarch, whom we've already met, agrees to discuss the possibility of throwing her support to Charlemagne, against the Jaguar Alpha who hates Charlemagne on principle and opposes the alliance with Tyr precisely because Charlemagne supports it (and probably for various reasons of strategery). Beka goes planetside while Tyr and Charlemagne are negotiating furiously, and the ladies chit chat. Sidebar: conversations between humans and Nietzscheans are just as much fun to write as the ludicrously fancy places I have these characters visit. Nietzscheans cannot resist highly charged conversations, and humans are always intent to prove that they can hold up their end of any discussion.
-The Jaguar Alpha finds out about the meeting and stealthily brings his secretest forces to kill Beka and, if necessary, the Matriarch. It's a bold and probably stupid move, especially considering that Charlemagne finds out about the Alpha finding out and brings Tyr along, ostensibly to stop them from killing the Matriarch and destroying the aliance but obviously in large part to stop them from killing Beka.
-People die. Trance, who's been telling us this whole story, gives us a cryptic epilogue. Everyone proclaims their love for Beka.
Excellent! This is a very exciting prospect, full of loaded conversations and sexual tension and angsty romance. I think I can fit this all into something like three chapters, excluding the epilogue, unless I decide that more sexual tension is needed. It might be.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Brainstorming - NaNo 09
Something I forgot to mention in yesterday's post about Made-Up Religion is the financial shenanigans, which I'm thinking will prompt the investigative journalism that will make up part of the book. And what self-respecting wacky cult doesn't engage in financial (and possibly legal) shenanigans??
My ideas so far, are...
1) "Free" dream interpretation - I also forgot to mention that, because Cthulhu our all-loving savior sleeps under the sea, dreams are very important to this religion - which inevitably leads to harassing people for a longer, paid report or session.
2) Expensive hypnotherapy sessions to tap into the humanity's collective unconscious. During one's intensive hypnotherapy, one is encouraged to cut off contact with non-believers, even loved ones.
3) Expensive training to become an expensive hypnotherapist (unlicensed by the ignorant state boards, of course)
4) Ridiculous claims of trademarks over common phrases and the lines they use in hypnotherapy sessions
5) Ponzi investment schemes. As investors get higher in the ranks, Slytherin claims that they get more in tune with humanity and thus the stock market - and their returns will increase as more people join, especially if they become hypnotherapy trainers.
6) Aggressive litigation against people who criticize them. The journalist undertaking this book is risking a major suit and will probably remind the reader of this many, many times.
I think six financial/legal schemes is sufficient fodder, at least to begin with, in addition to the other things I need to figure out. Very exciting!
A friend linked me to this article, which I'm reading right now. I suspect it will be inspiring.
My ideas so far, are...
1) "Free" dream interpretation - I also forgot to mention that, because Cthulhu our all-loving savior sleeps under the sea, dreams are very important to this religion - which inevitably leads to harassing people for a longer, paid report or session.
2) Expensive hypnotherapy sessions to tap into the humanity's collective unconscious. During one's intensive hypnotherapy, one is encouraged to cut off contact with non-believers, even loved ones.
3) Expensive training to become an expensive hypnotherapist (unlicensed by the ignorant state boards, of course)
4) Ridiculous claims of trademarks over common phrases and the lines they use in hypnotherapy sessions
5) Ponzi investment schemes. As investors get higher in the ranks, Slytherin claims that they get more in tune with humanity and thus the stock market - and their returns will increase as more people join, especially if they become hypnotherapy trainers.
6) Aggressive litigation against people who criticize them. The journalist undertaking this book is risking a major suit and will probably remind the reader of this many, many times.
I think six financial/legal schemes is sufficient fodder, at least to begin with, in addition to the other things I need to figure out. Very exciting!
A friend linked me to this article, which I'm reading right now. I suspect it will be inspiring.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Brainstorming - NaNo 09
My vast and varied body of readers knows of my plan for NaNo 09, so I'll recap very briefly: made-up religion. Actually, that's exactly how it started in my head after I read a wiki article on one of those cult religions. I've been thinking about it ever since that fateful wiki surf, and I've had some more ideas elaborating the story.
For one thing, it will be written like a non-fiction documentation of the religion, with both narrative passages by the author describing the founders and practices, as well as pamphlets and things written by them. I'm not sure who the narrator will be; actually, this is the first time I've even thought to wonder about that. Hmm.
There are four founders, who my brain insists on associating with the Hogwarts founders. I may change the genders of some of them. Slytherin = the sleazy businessman who engineers the profit-making part of the enterprise. Hufflepuff = the clueless, obscure daughter of minor royalty who finances everything. Ravenclaw = the hardline fanatic who believes passionately in the religion. Gryffindor = the classic insane demagogue personality who attracts all the attention. I think he's the one who made it up in the first place. He's so self-deluded that he may actually believe in it.
The basic tenet of the religion is that Cthulhu loves us all. He wants us to be happy and to enjoy our full potential as his equals, which means accessing our collective magic. He sleeps under the sea and rules it through his disciples, but he's happy to give us the land. His enemies are the cloud-dwelling beings (sometimes mistaken for angels) who want complete dominion over the earth, including the land and the sea. The cloud-dwelling beings have been working all throughout human history to divide us and to pit us against each other so we don't learn to use our communal magic. They've also been working to give Cthulhu a bad name, and as you probably know, they succeeded pretty well on both counts.
So there are some points I need to ponder further, perhaps even outline. These are:
The backgrounds of the Founders, especially Hufflepuff's (supposed) lineage
The history of the cloud-dwelling beings
The history of Cthulhu
However, one of the best part of this project is that the details are completely allowed to be contradictory. The factual parts, the biographies, should be fairly consistent (though differing reports would be fun), but I imagine that some contradictions would not only be realistic for a made-up religion but also present a lot of fodder for pamphleteering and speechifying.
I'm very excited about this. It's an ultimate parody epic in its own right!
For one thing, it will be written like a non-fiction documentation of the religion, with both narrative passages by the author describing the founders and practices, as well as pamphlets and things written by them. I'm not sure who the narrator will be; actually, this is the first time I've even thought to wonder about that. Hmm.
There are four founders, who my brain insists on associating with the Hogwarts founders. I may change the genders of some of them. Slytherin = the sleazy businessman who engineers the profit-making part of the enterprise. Hufflepuff = the clueless, obscure daughter of minor royalty who finances everything. Ravenclaw = the hardline fanatic who believes passionately in the religion. Gryffindor = the classic insane demagogue personality who attracts all the attention. I think he's the one who made it up in the first place. He's so self-deluded that he may actually believe in it.
The basic tenet of the religion is that Cthulhu loves us all. He wants us to be happy and to enjoy our full potential as his equals, which means accessing our collective magic. He sleeps under the sea and rules it through his disciples, but he's happy to give us the land. His enemies are the cloud-dwelling beings (sometimes mistaken for angels) who want complete dominion over the earth, including the land and the sea. The cloud-dwelling beings have been working all throughout human history to divide us and to pit us against each other so we don't learn to use our communal magic. They've also been working to give Cthulhu a bad name, and as you probably know, they succeeded pretty well on both counts.
So there are some points I need to ponder further, perhaps even outline. These are:
The backgrounds of the Founders, especially Hufflepuff's (supposed) lineage
The history of the cloud-dwelling beings
The history of Cthulhu
However, one of the best part of this project is that the details are completely allowed to be contradictory. The factual parts, the biographies, should be fairly consistent (though differing reports would be fun), but I imagine that some contradictions would not only be realistic for a made-up religion but also present a lot of fodder for pamphleteering and speechifying.
I'm very excited about this. It's an ultimate parody epic in its own right!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Brainstorming - CannRomCom
CannRomCom is the nickname I just made up for my cannibal romantic comedy. I'm not sure that's entirely accurate; the cannibal in question may not actually be a human being. I haven't decided.
I was despairing of thinking up a good premise for this story and doubting whether it was even worth trying to brainstorm until last night. A vigorous 30-ish block walk got my brain working, as 30 block walks often do, and I decided that the MC should be a flesh-eating monster, along the lines of an X-Files critter I vaguely remember. That was a very helpful revelation for me; I still don't have a lot of the plot or any of the ending down, but I feel like I might actually be able to write this.
So. X-Files flesh-eating monster. I was debating telling the story from a neutral third-person perspective, first person of the MC, or possibly first person her best friend, who gets bits and pieces of the story at a time. I'm thinking I might go with the third option because I have in mind a funny (well, to my reckoning) opener where the narrator is confiding to MC that she's thinking of going to therapy.
It goes something like... "For what it's worth," she told me, "the decade I spent in therapy taught me two things. One, as a flesh-eating monster, I was just as entitled to my life and my happiness as anybody else. Two, everybody else is entitled to their lives as well." MC stopped going to therapy shortly after she had these two revelations because, as you might suspect, her therapist was trying to get at the root of her delusion that she's a flesh-eating monster. Considering that she really is a flesh-eating monster, clearly their relationship was doomed to stagnate.
MC's thing is that her cannibalism (or whatever it is) is only roused during sexual ecstasy. That's fortunate for most of the people in the world, but, since she had her revelation that she can't eat people without their full, informed consent, it's unfortunate for her sex life. Where it goes from there, I haven't quite decided, but I really like the premise. And I think I like the narrative I'm leaning toward, that of her friend. We'll see what comes of this! If I ever get it on paper (after which I'll immediately hate it), I'll even try to muster up the courage to workshop it.
I was despairing of thinking up a good premise for this story and doubting whether it was even worth trying to brainstorm until last night. A vigorous 30-ish block walk got my brain working, as 30 block walks often do, and I decided that the MC should be a flesh-eating monster, along the lines of an X-Files critter I vaguely remember. That was a very helpful revelation for me; I still don't have a lot of the plot or any of the ending down, but I feel like I might actually be able to write this.
So. X-Files flesh-eating monster. I was debating telling the story from a neutral third-person perspective, first person of the MC, or possibly first person her best friend, who gets bits and pieces of the story at a time. I'm thinking I might go with the third option because I have in mind a funny (well, to my reckoning) opener where the narrator is confiding to MC that she's thinking of going to therapy.
It goes something like... "For what it's worth," she told me, "the decade I spent in therapy taught me two things. One, as a flesh-eating monster, I was just as entitled to my life and my happiness as anybody else. Two, everybody else is entitled to their lives as well." MC stopped going to therapy shortly after she had these two revelations because, as you might suspect, her therapist was trying to get at the root of her delusion that she's a flesh-eating monster. Considering that she really is a flesh-eating monster, clearly their relationship was doomed to stagnate.
MC's thing is that her cannibalism (or whatever it is) is only roused during sexual ecstasy. That's fortunate for most of the people in the world, but, since she had her revelation that she can't eat people without their full, informed consent, it's unfortunate for her sex life. Where it goes from there, I haven't quite decided, but I really like the premise. And I think I like the narrative I'm leaning toward, that of her friend. We'll see what comes of this! If I ever get it on paper (after which I'll immediately hate it), I'll even try to muster up the courage to workshop it.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Ideas - Short Stories
The flaying tonight was quite encouraging, on the whole, and my success with them as opposed to longer projects has me wanting to write more of them. Now, the hallmark of this blog so far has been "I plan to do X" and never actually finishing X--but I realize, only where long projects are concerned! So that settles that, whatever exactly that is.
--The UFPE requires short stories, namely Magely and Elvely ones. Ayrisella's history is much less interesting. I could also do some Might Have Been shorts with specific scenes I've had in mind for as long as I've thought about the MHB.
--More Archon-verse stories, as I've dubbed them. Jemma's advisor needs a story; he's being held at (probably metaphorical) gunpoint when he calls Elorna to cancel their meeting, and she has no idea of this. And I think Agent Glebick needs one too, as she continues the investigation. Of course, the Bad Guys need one too! I'd like to do a week's worth of stories which, considering the average length so far, would make it a novella.
--I have one line repeating in my head that could develop into something, "news that didn't really happened," along the lines of reality disintegrating, not your run of the mill fake news (I'm not naming names, but...). I feel there may be a way to tie this into Archon-verse, but I don't want to push it.
--Over IM just now, I had an idea. Sadly, I find writing comedy very difficult, but I could try a page or two. It would be a comedy romance (romantic comedy?) about a relationship wherein one of the parties (beknownst to both) is planning to kill and consume the other after they, um, consummate the relationship. I feel bad puns would abound in the most glorious way possible. If it worked, it would definitely be the strangest thing I've ever written... well, depending on one's calculus.
I'm debating as to whether I should set a concrete goal for myself - one a month? I'll think about it further.
--The UFPE requires short stories, namely Magely and Elvely ones. Ayrisella's history is much less interesting. I could also do some Might Have Been shorts with specific scenes I've had in mind for as long as I've thought about the MHB.
--More Archon-verse stories, as I've dubbed them. Jemma's advisor needs a story; he's being held at (probably metaphorical) gunpoint when he calls Elorna to cancel their meeting, and she has no idea of this. And I think Agent Glebick needs one too, as she continues the investigation. Of course, the Bad Guys need one too! I'd like to do a week's worth of stories which, considering the average length so far, would make it a novella.
--I have one line repeating in my head that could develop into something, "news that didn't really happened," along the lines of reality disintegrating, not your run of the mill fake news (I'm not naming names, but...). I feel there may be a way to tie this into Archon-verse, but I don't want to push it.
--Over IM just now, I had an idea. Sadly, I find writing comedy very difficult, but I could try a page or two. It would be a comedy romance (romantic comedy?) about a relationship wherein one of the parties (beknownst to both) is planning to kill and consume the other after they, um, consummate the relationship. I feel bad puns would abound in the most glorious way possible. If it worked, it would definitely be the strangest thing I've ever written... well, depending on one's calculus.
I'm debating as to whether I should set a concrete goal for myself - one a month? I'll think about it further.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Brainstorming - Legal Fiction
Yes, too long has passed since last I posted! I think working on a computer all day gave me an aversion for working on a computer in the evening, even in the context of writing. I've been writing a bit of fanfiction for a friend of mine and doing that in a notebook. It's much easier on my weary eyes.
But I have been thinking over the legal fiction story, and it's developing nicely in several areas except arguably the most important - plot. Normally I like to focus more on characters, but for the short story I'm imagining, the plot needs to hook the reader from the start and speed along from there. I'm planning to write this the way that my writers group suggested I revise Jemma.
The MC is named Elorna Mynee, an IP lawyer who specializes in magic stuff. Of course, I need a more official name for magic stuff - writers group suggested thauma- as a prefix, which I'll probably use. She's been in touch on and off with Jemma, and Jemma's supervisor (whose name I've forgotten) contacts Elorna the day after Jemma disappears to ask what Elorna knew about Jemma's work. Elorna has other things on her mind, namely a huge Supreme Court magic IP case, the outcome of which will be announced on the day the story dawns.
But she's a true professional, so she takes on the work and conducts some serious investigation. While she's working hard and trying not to think about the case, a pair of National Security lawyers come in and warn her off the case in a very genteel-like way. They end up chatting about the case, and Elorna brushes it off. I'm not sure what should happen during the afternoon - the Supreme Court case comes down then - but during the evening she contacts a friend of hers from undergrad, a conspiracy nut, who meets with her at a vast, dusty library.
Elorna records their conversation with her futuristic blackberry, and when her friend wanders off for a moment to use the restroom (or something), she absently leaves it laying around somewhere conveniently nearby but not clearly visible - perhaps inside a stack of scientific journals. When friend doesn't return, she heaves an irritated sigh and goes to look for her. On the other hand, maybe she leaves it in the shelves near the journals she's reading.
And doesn't return before the janitor or library intern comes to re-shelve all the stuff she's taken out. JanIntern finds the blackberry and takes it. What shall be revealed from its contents??
This is classic sort of open-ended ending I love and a lot of readers hate. Alas. Now I have a week to write the story and post it for a flensing!
But I have been thinking over the legal fiction story, and it's developing nicely in several areas except arguably the most important - plot. Normally I like to focus more on characters, but for the short story I'm imagining, the plot needs to hook the reader from the start and speed along from there. I'm planning to write this the way that my writers group suggested I revise Jemma.
The MC is named Elorna Mynee, an IP lawyer who specializes in magic stuff. Of course, I need a more official name for magic stuff - writers group suggested thauma- as a prefix, which I'll probably use. She's been in touch on and off with Jemma, and Jemma's supervisor (whose name I've forgotten) contacts Elorna the day after Jemma disappears to ask what Elorna knew about Jemma's work. Elorna has other things on her mind, namely a huge Supreme Court magic IP case, the outcome of which will be announced on the day the story dawns.
But she's a true professional, so she takes on the work and conducts some serious investigation. While she's working hard and trying not to think about the case, a pair of National Security lawyers come in and warn her off the case in a very genteel-like way. They end up chatting about the case, and Elorna brushes it off. I'm not sure what should happen during the afternoon - the Supreme Court case comes down then - but during the evening she contacts a friend of hers from undergrad, a conspiracy nut, who meets with her at a vast, dusty library.
Elorna records their conversation with her futuristic blackberry, and when her friend wanders off for a moment to use the restroom (or something), she absently leaves it laying around somewhere conveniently nearby but not clearly visible - perhaps inside a stack of scientific journals. When friend doesn't return, she heaves an irritated sigh and goes to look for her. On the other hand, maybe she leaves it in the shelves near the journals she's reading.
And doesn't return before the janitor or library intern comes to re-shelve all the stuff she's taken out. JanIntern finds the blackberry and takes it. What shall be revealed from its contents??
This is classic sort of open-ended ending I love and a lot of readers hate. Alas. Now I have a week to write the story and post it for a flensing!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Contest - New Story
I think I've settled on a vague idea - but no more than that - for the story I want to write for the legal fiction competition I posted about a day or two ago. I want to set it in the Jemma universe and have it be from the POV of the Grienyte family lawyer (or one of them), whose mundane practice is turned upside down by her murder/disappearance/whatever. I already started writing bits of it in my head, and besides the plot, which remains a mystery to me, my main challenge is to make the protagonist a distinct character from Jemma. Actually, she could sound exactly like Jemma from the perspective of the judges, but I don't want to have One Stock Character I bring out whenever I write something original.
I'm thinking that Unnamed Lawyer is an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in magic business (which has a fancier name, after suggestions of critique group). This sounds awfully close to my own interests, but I promise that it actually works within the Jemma story. I'm thinking that Jemma pulled something along the very cliche lines of, "Send this story to the papers if I'm killed," but left something with her family's magic-specializing lawyer instead.
I already have a short tangent in mind about how the incorporation of magic into the legal codes and things finally spurred Congress or whomever to pass a law officially striking down the law against perpetuities. Okay, that might have to go, but the idea tickled me as I was thinking of it. The RAP is basically evil and complicated and stupid.
Anyway, the poor lawyer is bewildered by the wackiness that ensues, and I think that's where Unnamed Lawyer is going to differ from Jemma. Jemma was always pretty hyped up about what was going on, the point that my critique group mentioned several times that she's on the verge of a heart attack, and Unnamed Lawyer is going to be the opposite - bewildered but really laid back about it. Hey, you don't put in your obligatory three years in BigLaw in magical law only to jump out of your skin every time you get a death threat.
So that's all I have for now. Plot still needs to be figured out, but I have a character I like and a universe I vaguely know, which is pretty good progress.
EDITED to add: Check this out! Etymology of the word "prestigious": 1546, "practicing illusion or magic, deceptive," from L. præstigious "full of tricks," from præstigiæ "juggler's tricks..." Oh, that's going in there.
I'm thinking that Unnamed Lawyer is an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in magic business (which has a fancier name, after suggestions of critique group). This sounds awfully close to my own interests, but I promise that it actually works within the Jemma story. I'm thinking that Jemma pulled something along the very cliche lines of, "Send this story to the papers if I'm killed," but left something with her family's magic-specializing lawyer instead.
I already have a short tangent in mind about how the incorporation of magic into the legal codes and things finally spurred Congress or whomever to pass a law officially striking down the law against perpetuities. Okay, that might have to go, but the idea tickled me as I was thinking of it. The RAP is basically evil and complicated and stupid.
Anyway, the poor lawyer is bewildered by the wackiness that ensues, and I think that's where Unnamed Lawyer is going to differ from Jemma. Jemma was always pretty hyped up about what was going on, the point that my critique group mentioned several times that she's on the verge of a heart attack, and Unnamed Lawyer is going to be the opposite - bewildered but really laid back about it. Hey, you don't put in your obligatory three years in BigLaw in magical law only to jump out of your skin every time you get a death threat.
So that's all I have for now. Plot still needs to be figured out, but I have a character I like and a universe I vaguely know, which is pretty good progress.
EDITED to add: Check this out! Etymology of the word "prestigious": 1546, "practicing illusion or magic, deceptive," from L. præstigious "full of tricks," from præstigiæ "juggler's tricks..." Oh, that's going in there.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Short post - epiphany!
I had an epiphany as I was walking home tonight and thinking about the UFPE re-write, which I decided I'm going to do without referencing what I've already written. Or at least, without having printed out pages beside me during the re-write. I realized it's been almost a year since the UFPE was born, and it's evolved so much during that time.
But that's not the epiphany that gave this post its subject line. I was thinking about the Book of Might Have Beens and the Vol. 1 re-write, and I realized that the prologue to the Book of Might Have Beens shows that Bad Guy's early life is a lot like MC's. In fact, Bad Guy is sorta MC's life gone wrong, or hers is his life gone right. They don't line up perfectly, but they have a lot in common.
They: ran away from home, were isolated from their communities and the world at large, found nice people early on, met up with a specific character (I may have mentioned this before), wanted to learn about their heritage and the larger world... I think there were others, but I've forgotten them for now.
However, MC wasn't able to share in her family's privilege in the community, while Bad Guy did share in his family's disgrace. MC ran into mean folks, in the form of Seaton, while Bad Guy had almost uniformly good experiences, or at least uniformly un-bad ones. MC doesn't know anything about her ancestry early on, while Bad Guy does; his quest is more to understand his people. MC is a charming young lady, though she doesn't know it, while Bad Guy is awkward and shy.
The parallels were very interesting to think about. I can't tell if I just wrote them that way because they're such fantasy tropes, or if I was subconsciously being clever. Perhaps it's some of both! I love that their lives followed such a similar path early on and led them ultimately to such different places - Good and Evil, that is.
But that's not the epiphany that gave this post its subject line. I was thinking about the Book of Might Have Beens and the Vol. 1 re-write, and I realized that the prologue to the Book of Might Have Beens shows that Bad Guy's early life is a lot like MC's. In fact, Bad Guy is sorta MC's life gone wrong, or hers is his life gone right. They don't line up perfectly, but they have a lot in common.
They: ran away from home, were isolated from their communities and the world at large, found nice people early on, met up with a specific character (I may have mentioned this before), wanted to learn about their heritage and the larger world... I think there were others, but I've forgotten them for now.
However, MC wasn't able to share in her family's privilege in the community, while Bad Guy did share in his family's disgrace. MC ran into mean folks, in the form of Seaton, while Bad Guy had almost uniformly good experiences, or at least uniformly un-bad ones. MC doesn't know anything about her ancestry early on, while Bad Guy does; his quest is more to understand his people. MC is a charming young lady, though she doesn't know it, while Bad Guy is awkward and shy.
The parallels were very interesting to think about. I can't tell if I just wrote them that way because they're such fantasy tropes, or if I was subconsciously being clever. Perhaps it's some of both! I love that their lives followed such a similar path early on and led them ultimately to such different places - Good and Evil, that is.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Story idea - revelation!
As I am writing the next scene of the much neglected UFPE vol. 1, I had a revelation. The fellow leading the troupe of performers FMC is about to join is going to be the same guy who inspired MMC all those years ago at the carnival. This is just too delightful. I'll have to write that guy younger than I had originally intended, but that's okay. Or maybe he's one of those fantasy old men who is born at age sixty and never ages from there.
Story element - free cities
I'm writing with friends right now, and of course I decided to work on the UFPE. There are other things, like the as-yet untitled story of Jemma, that are begging for some attention, but sadly, they seem unlikely to get it anytime soon. Today I'm working on an outline of the rest of UFPE Vol. 1. The second-to-last setting of the novel, I've decided, is going to be a place with the working name "Shore City." Simple, but accurate.
As I was outlining, I thought to myself that perhaps Shore City should be a city-state. It would be a nice change of pace from the kingdom that covers the rest of the continent, and for various reasons they are very popular in fantasy. They're often written as a sort of pre-modern Las Vegas-meets-New York City, where exotic people and fashions and foods come together to create a riotous clash of international color where laws tend to be lax in the extreme. And next to the picturesque little villages where much of UFPE Vol. 1 takes place, I'm anticipating that these cities will be a lot of fun to write.
I'm envisioning that the entire west coast of the continent is a string of city states, all loosely allied in case the king tries to annex them again. Oooh, and this works especially well since I've been imagining the Mage Towers on the west coat. Maybe they lend some of their mojo to the defense of the city states - the only interference they permit themselves (and that they are permitted) in the political realm.
The major city states of history range from ancient Greece to Renaissance Italy to modern-day Singapore, all of which conjure up exciting imagery in their different ways. It might be really fun to base the different cities on these different eras - maybe the northern ones are more Greece-like, the middle ones more Italy-like, and the southern ones more Singapore-like. The Mage Towers particularly would blend in well with the Greece-like atmosphere, I think.
So I should get back to the writing, but this struck me as such a fun idea that I had to post it here. This league of cities needs a name. Ahh, maybe a constellation. Let's see... the continent is shaped vaguely like South America, which means that the the west coat curves outward for a ways and then descends in a more-or-less straight line down to a point. So it's sort of a backward question mark. A scythe! So the cities need a dramatic, fearsome name to warn the king (well, duocracy) not to mess with them. I think collectively they call themselves the Ten Notches of the Glittering Scythe. Very nice - and very useful for word count.
I should think about how this affects the Book of Might Have Beens. Surely the Glittering Scythe will have something to say about L! Or not? They might like the idea of a weakened kingdom, after all.
As I was outlining, I thought to myself that perhaps Shore City should be a city-state. It would be a nice change of pace from the kingdom that covers the rest of the continent, and for various reasons they are very popular in fantasy. They're often written as a sort of pre-modern Las Vegas-meets-New York City, where exotic people and fashions and foods come together to create a riotous clash of international color where laws tend to be lax in the extreme. And next to the picturesque little villages where much of UFPE Vol. 1 takes place, I'm anticipating that these cities will be a lot of fun to write.
I'm envisioning that the entire west coast of the continent is a string of city states, all loosely allied in case the king tries to annex them again. Oooh, and this works especially well since I've been imagining the Mage Towers on the west coat. Maybe they lend some of their mojo to the defense of the city states - the only interference they permit themselves (and that they are permitted) in the political realm.
The major city states of history range from ancient Greece to Renaissance Italy to modern-day Singapore, all of which conjure up exciting imagery in their different ways. It might be really fun to base the different cities on these different eras - maybe the northern ones are more Greece-like, the middle ones more Italy-like, and the southern ones more Singapore-like. The Mage Towers particularly would blend in well with the Greece-like atmosphere, I think.
So I should get back to the writing, but this struck me as such a fun idea that I had to post it here. This league of cities needs a name. Ahh, maybe a constellation. Let's see... the continent is shaped vaguely like South America, which means that the the west coat curves outward for a ways and then descends in a more-or-less straight line down to a point. So it's sort of a backward question mark. A scythe! So the cities need a dramatic, fearsome name to warn the king (well, duocracy) not to mess with them. I think collectively they call themselves the Ten Notches of the Glittering Scythe. Very nice - and very useful for word count.
I should think about how this affects the Book of Might Have Beens. Surely the Glittering Scythe will have something to say about L! Or not? They might like the idea of a weakened kingdom, after all.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Story Building - re-writing
Though I'm still a ways from having a solid outline for UFPE Volume I, I have resolved to begin the re-write soon for it. I have an extra binder lying in a locker; I think I'll start by printing off the first ten or so pages and completely rewriting them, then printing off more, re-writing, and so on.
No long post tonight - I know I've been shamefully bad at keeping up with this blog. But I have had a few ideas about what to change about the first few pages, and I'm very excited about it.
*Instead of beginning with MC doing some boring embroidery, it's going to begin as she's fleeing on the back of her beloved unicorn. She'll probably be sobbing.
*Instead of the squicky attempted rape that spurs her flight, her "uncle" will strike her, probably hard enough to leave her bleeding. I originally wrote that in keeping with the rich tradition of attempted rapes of beautiful female heroines, but I'll both feel less squicky writing and re-reading the beginning AND this will serve the plot in later ways.
*Specifically, MC needs a struggle during the first volume. I know the struggle in the second volume - preventing MMC from carrying out his Dastardly Scheme. In the first one, I've come to the conclusion that her struggle will be against her own fear. She'll keep thinking that maybe she should have stayed home after all when things get overwhelming. I have a slightly easier time imagining her thinking about going back after a physical assault than attempted rape.
*In a detail that will probably turn out to be as unimportant as it sounds, MC is going to have a floaty white wrap that she wears to keep the desert sun from roasting her to a crisp. I know, not very interesting.
*After some debate, I'll be keeping the Seaton episode. I plan for him to be important in Volume 3, when MC has to convince Seaton to take up arms against MMC.
We'll see if I remember to print these things off after class tomorrow. I am constantly amazed at how much I'm growing to like this story. After recent plot (and character) revelations, I'm even starting to warm up to the MC.
No long post tonight - I know I've been shamefully bad at keeping up with this blog. But I have had a few ideas about what to change about the first few pages, and I'm very excited about it.
*Instead of beginning with MC doing some boring embroidery, it's going to begin as she's fleeing on the back of her beloved unicorn. She'll probably be sobbing.
*Instead of the squicky attempted rape that spurs her flight, her "uncle" will strike her, probably hard enough to leave her bleeding. I originally wrote that in keeping with the rich tradition of attempted rapes of beautiful female heroines, but I'll both feel less squicky writing and re-reading the beginning AND this will serve the plot in later ways.
*Specifically, MC needs a struggle during the first volume. I know the struggle in the second volume - preventing MMC from carrying out his Dastardly Scheme. In the first one, I've come to the conclusion that her struggle will be against her own fear. She'll keep thinking that maybe she should have stayed home after all when things get overwhelming. I have a slightly easier time imagining her thinking about going back after a physical assault than attempted rape.
*In a detail that will probably turn out to be as unimportant as it sounds, MC is going to have a floaty white wrap that she wears to keep the desert sun from roasting her to a crisp. I know, not very interesting.
*After some debate, I'll be keeping the Seaton episode. I plan for him to be important in Volume 3, when MC has to convince Seaton to take up arms against MMC.
We'll see if I remember to print these things off after class tomorrow. I am constantly amazed at how much I'm growing to like this story. After recent plot (and character) revelations, I'm even starting to warm up to the MC.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Character Building - Plot Walk
Tonight's is a short post, partly because I must retire soon and partly because I got my daily dose of creativity on a walk I from which I just returned. I have very good luck with walks and inspiration - the best plot twists and world building ideas I ever have come from walks and conversations. Getting my body moving gets my brain moving in new ways, I think.
The story was again the Ultimate Fantasy Parody Epic, and the MC again was Bad Guy L. I thought up the rough outline of his flight from home (which ties into the larger story) and his first experience with human beings. It's almost completely a positive experience too except for one tiny sour note, and that little bit of rejection is enough to eventually convince him to wage war on all of humanity - not just the guilty parties who may have destroyed his kin.
He also learns the human tongue along the way, and yes, all the people in this land do speak the same language. For some reason, in my head he sounds a little bit like the Japanese international students in some of my classes, and for equally unfathomable reasons, the people he meets up with have southern accents. It's all inexplicable but made for very amusing exchanges in my head.
And now - to bed. I plan on a more substantive post tomorrow.
The story was again the Ultimate Fantasy Parody Epic, and the MC again was Bad Guy L. I thought up the rough outline of his flight from home (which ties into the larger story) and his first experience with human beings. It's almost completely a positive experience too except for one tiny sour note, and that little bit of rejection is enough to eventually convince him to wage war on all of humanity - not just the guilty parties who may have destroyed his kin.
He also learns the human tongue along the way, and yes, all the people in this land do speak the same language. For some reason, in my head he sounds a little bit like the Japanese international students in some of my classes, and for equally unfathomable reasons, the people he meets up with have southern accents. It's all inexplicable but made for very amusing exchanges in my head.
And now - to bed. I plan on a more substantive post tomorrow.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Story Building - Another Short Story
I started the UFPE short story last night, and I like where it's headed. I need to work on the descriptions, which is funny considering that I usually have to restrain myself from letting description take over a story. I fear that I've restrained my sense of description so much that I've (temporarily, reversibly, I hope) stunted it a little.
That is not, however, the point of this entry, though I may address that in a future entry. Until an hour or so ago, that would have been the subject of today's post. I've had another idea for a short story, and I want to expand upon that instead. It came up during the discussion of a favorite novel of mine, speculation about how the state of things in that world came to be. The specifics are not important, but it got me thinking about an idea that could be the foundation for an original work of fiction.
The idea is this: a typical fantasy world eventually grows beyond its sword-and-spear level of weaponry technology, first to guns and then to bombs of increasing destructive capability. Pure practitioners of the magical arts look down upon these crude tools, of course, but there are always shills willing to sell their skills to the highest bidder. While the military has used magic in the past to enhance their weaponry, someone has the brilliant idea to create something along the lines of a magical atom bomb - technology and magic fully integrated to create a sort of deathly synergy.
R&D for this weapon starts to unravel tiny threads in the fabric of reality, perhaps interfering with whatever it is on the quantum level that allows magic to exist. It's not like real world physics, where an atom bomb isn't an atom bomb until the necessary pieces are put together; each piece of destructive magic created and tested bores little holes. On the level of killing individual people, even of razing a small village, these little holes are papered over in the grand scheme of things, perhaps by equally powerful acts of creation. But where the magic reaches further and further, with the idea of annihilating millions of people, the effects start to reverberate.
Meanwhile, a lowly graduate student at Magical Princeton is keeping an eye on boring experiments and starts noticing weird blips. Maybe these correspond to strange events happening in the real world. S/he eventually follows up and investigates and after much exhaustive research, not to mention ridicule from colleagues, traces it back to Magical Area 51. S/he confronts the military scientists with these findings, and...
Threats? Untimely death? Untimely death but not before Graduate Student has left incriminating notes behind?
I like to think that things become progressively worse and worse in this world, so clearly the military cannot take Grad Student's advice right off. Of course, the military must have good reasons for doing what it does; it has access to resources beyond Magical Princeton's, and perhaps it sees a threat even worse than its own assault on reality. Are Elder Ones from the outer reaches reaching their squamous tentacles toward Magical Earth? Or are the bad vibes the military is getting actually stem from the shocks of what they are undertaking now? Somehow both?
So how does the story end? I'm currently discussing this with that same friend. Okay, I have it settled. It ends with an article, of the WWN variety. It's a morbid ending but also a little bit funny and ultimately ambiguous. Does anyone take these guys down? Or do they successfully cover it up and laugh it off?
That is not, however, the point of this entry, though I may address that in a future entry. Until an hour or so ago, that would have been the subject of today's post. I've had another idea for a short story, and I want to expand upon that instead. It came up during the discussion of a favorite novel of mine, speculation about how the state of things in that world came to be. The specifics are not important, but it got me thinking about an idea that could be the foundation for an original work of fiction.
The idea is this: a typical fantasy world eventually grows beyond its sword-and-spear level of weaponry technology, first to guns and then to bombs of increasing destructive capability. Pure practitioners of the magical arts look down upon these crude tools, of course, but there are always shills willing to sell their skills to the highest bidder. While the military has used magic in the past to enhance their weaponry, someone has the brilliant idea to create something along the lines of a magical atom bomb - technology and magic fully integrated to create a sort of deathly synergy.
R&D for this weapon starts to unravel tiny threads in the fabric of reality, perhaps interfering with whatever it is on the quantum level that allows magic to exist. It's not like real world physics, where an atom bomb isn't an atom bomb until the necessary pieces are put together; each piece of destructive magic created and tested bores little holes. On the level of killing individual people, even of razing a small village, these little holes are papered over in the grand scheme of things, perhaps by equally powerful acts of creation. But where the magic reaches further and further, with the idea of annihilating millions of people, the effects start to reverberate.
Meanwhile, a lowly graduate student at Magical Princeton is keeping an eye on boring experiments and starts noticing weird blips. Maybe these correspond to strange events happening in the real world. S/he eventually follows up and investigates and after much exhaustive research, not to mention ridicule from colleagues, traces it back to Magical Area 51. S/he confronts the military scientists with these findings, and...
Threats? Untimely death? Untimely death but not before Graduate Student has left incriminating notes behind?
I like to think that things become progressively worse and worse in this world, so clearly the military cannot take Grad Student's advice right off. Of course, the military must have good reasons for doing what it does; it has access to resources beyond Magical Princeton's, and perhaps it sees a threat even worse than its own assault on reality. Are Elder Ones from the outer reaches reaching their squamous tentacles toward Magical Earth? Or are the bad vibes the military is getting actually stem from the shocks of what they are undertaking now? Somehow both?
So how does the story end? I'm currently discussing this with that same friend. Okay, I have it settled. It ends with an article, of the WWN variety. It's a morbid ending but also a little bit funny and ultimately ambiguous. Does anyone take these guys down? Or do they successfully cover it up and laugh it off?
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