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Jail Cell ~A future novel by WritingWolf~



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Sun May 19, 2013 9:10 pm
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WritingWolf says...



This is where I will talk about my most recent novel idea, share links, ask for help with small things like names, get peoples opinions on plot, characters, settings, give updates one my novel, and other stuff like that. I'm not sure if it should be in the Novel Workshop.


Progress
I'm still in the panning stage. I'd like to get most of the important characters names down, and a little about the city before I start writing.


The Plot
The main character is a young teenage girl named Max. She lives in a city that has been hidden from the rest of the world for a couple thousand years with her two friends.
She meets a boy named Charles who comes from America, he is in search of his mother, Zina, who he believes has been taken prisoner in this hidden city.
Together the four of them try to rescue Zina, and in the process they discover some very dark secrets about this city.


The City
This city was inspired by the old myth everyone has heard, Atlantis. I have now decided I'd like to base it off of as many mythic cities as I can. Which means I have to learn about these cities. So if you've ever heard of a myth involving some lost city please share any information you have. I really don't care if you tell me the myth, give me links, book titles, or just the name of the city/story. Anything will help.
Here are the lost cities I have heard about(I still need to research them, some in this list may be real and some may be myth, I will only be using the myths)...
Atlantis
Iram
Ciudad Blanca(I heard something about someone finding ruins that they think may be this city, if that is true, I will not be able to use this one)
Thinis
City of the Caesars
Paititi
The Cities of the Plain
El Dorado

More information about the city in my book will be given out as I get more infro on these(and other) mythic cities.


The Characters
I'm still debating on the names of most of the characters. And how much which ones will show up in the novel.
Here are some of the ones I already know will be important.

Max
She grew up as an orphan. Going from home to home for quite some time until she met Raphael who then started taking care of her, until she was caught again and taken to live with one of the noble men.
At the time the story begins she is 12 or 13. I'm still debating on that.
She tends to be very outgoing, brave, and a little to quick to act. She often forgets to think things through. She is very loyal to her friends, although it isn't all that befriend her.
She thinks of Katerina as her sister, and Raphael as a sort of big brother.

Raphael
He is also an orphan. Raphael is several years older then Max, he's probably 16ish(still undecided)?
I'm still trying to figure out is his past. It's been very unclear so far.
He is extremely friendly, and has a good sense of humor. It takes quite a lot to get him to stop making jokes. He is very compassionate, and took care of Max and Katerina when they where little.

Katerina
No one knows much about her, other then she was raised alongside Max by Raphael.
She's never told anyone her age, although she appears to be the same age as Max. In reality though she is a year or two older.
Katerina is very quiet and likes to do a lot of thinking. No one has ever been very close to her, Max is a little close, but still not really.

Zina
A nice American woman, friendly, kind, rather intellectual. She'd get along well with Katerina, despite their differences.
She has three children, Charles, Louisa, and Henry.

Charles
A quiet boy. I still haven't figured out much about his personality.
He's a very similar age to Max.
He has two younger siblings, Louisa and Henry.

The Prince
I'm still thinking about him. I know he will have to be Max's friend, or at least acquaintance. And that he disagrees greatly with his father. Other then that I really know nothing about him. I haven't even picked a name!

The King
The antagonist! I'm still trying to figure out some more about his personality and motives. At the moment I've got nothing.


Things I Currently Need Help On
Names. Always names.
I need a name for the king and the prince. I know you don't know much about them, but just go ahead and give any kind of suggestions, maybe it'll inspire me.

I need a name for Katerina, I don't think Katerina fits her very well. I find that I tend to link names with emotions and objects, if you do that too here are some words that may help you find a suggestion for Katerina...
Dream
Dark
Mist
Myth
Thought
Sorrow
Timelessness
Sly

I also need a last name for Zina and Charles. I am really bad at last names, all suggestions are welcome. I would like it to be just slightly odd, but still something you wouldn't be too surprised to find in America. Here are my ideas so far, let me know which one you like best...
Embry
Fernandez
Ponder
Irving
Farrell
Jarrett
Ashworth
Read
Amorin
Lopez
Levon

I also am looking for info on mythic lost cities.
And your general opinions of everything up here would be nice. :)


Links
none yet


Other
Thank you for taking the time to read through this. Please share all your ideas, opinions, suggestions, and general comments. :)
If you make a thread similar to this, feel free to post the link here and I'll check it out. :D
Last edited by WritingWolf on Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
~You can only grasp what you reach for~
  





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Mon May 20, 2013 2:08 am
Kale says...



You're in the correct forum, no worries! Novel Workshop is where you would post drafts of your novel to get critiques and edits.

Wikipedia actually has a nice overview of lost cities.

As far as names go, I have a friend with the last name Farrell, only she spells it with one L. It's definitely a plausible last name.

As for the others, sites like Behind the Name can be really helpful. Especially if you search by name themes.
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Mon May 20, 2013 4:39 am
Rosendorn says...



For cities/kingdoms, maybe check out Shangri-La? That link also has a bunch of other mythic cities that might be interesting for you to look at.

For antagonist motives, I tend to break it down based on one of the following:

1- Ego
2- Ideals
3- Chaos
4- Control

Ego

This is the want for power. Typical "take over the world" type deal. Their ego is so big that they want to rule everything. They want power for the sake of being able to show how much they have, and to feed their own ego.

Ideals

There is some sort of ideal that they are trying to implement. This is where well intentioned extremists come into play. They often want something good but go about it the wrong way. Or they want their own twisted sense of ideal and implement it.

Chaos

They want to wreak havoc on the populace. Remind people everything burns. They mess things up, are malicious about it, and often do it for fun. Or they feel it's their duty. Like the motive root suggests, they bring chaos where they go.

Control

Basically, the villain wants everything to run the way they want it to happen. They might believe they're the best to run the world, it's the only way to save the world, they have a serious sense of insecurity and want to remove variables for threats, ect.

-

These are by no means exclusive. You can mix a few to see what you get, but one does tend to be the root of them all.

Another fun concept I like to play with is foils. That is, a character who pulls out another's traits by contrast. They are so different from the hero it sharpens them both to have somebody so different.

There's also not so different, where the root desire can be identical to the protagonist. But, they go about it in drastically different ways. This is mostly fun when the antagonist says as much. It can mess the hero up mentally in rather fantastic ways.

Hope this helps!
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Mon May 20, 2013 5:03 am
AlfredSymon says...



Atlantis is a bit cliche already. El Dorado seems interesting to me, or maybe it's just that I haven't read about it yet. My thought: try to divide your main city into different parts that corresponds to the different cities. I think a more diverse culture is awesome.

Names, names, names. Fernandez, Lopez, Farell, well they're mostly surnames if I remember it right. It would be better if you won't use the norms; try using a portmanteau of the norms to make something unique but still 'normal'.

Finding someone is a great distraction to the main plot. The main plot, I believe, is something connected to the 'dark secrets' they've found. What are these secrets? Could you share some ideas about it? Are those secrets about the past? Future? The leaders? The culture? The world? Try not to expand on all sides because it can get complicated. Instead, lay out the smaller plot points then create a bigger one, which will be the main plot.

These are some suggestions, but still, it's your story! You can do everything you want! Have fun :D
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Mon May 20, 2013 4:32 pm
WritingWolf says...



Thank you all for sharing your opinions, and links. :) I'm so happy to see that there are already people interested in helping me with this new idea. :D
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