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Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:52 am
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Snowery says...



Dear Journal,

This shall be my attempt at Challenge the Ninth. When I first started this challenge I was worried. I don't know half of what will happen in my story and thought I probably wouldn't be able to answer half the questions, but it quickly turned out to be one of my favourite challenges that I've attempted! The questions were a lot of fun and got me thinking about stuff. Anyway, enough rambling and here it is:

Spoiler! :
1:  What is the quickest way to get from your starting point, to your ending point regardless of what you want to have happen, your characters, or your plot?
There probably is no quickest way. This is the type of novel that kind of drags out. The ending will happen regardless of what my characters do and will come at it's own time.
2: What is normal life like for your character?
Well, Vauren is in charge of the royal army and during peace his job then mainly comprises of palace security and keeping the army in good shape. Any major occurrences within the palace will be reported to him.
Liuren's days consist of investigating whatever mystery gets thrown at him, so every day is a little different.
3: When is normal life disrupted and how?
For both characters investigating the odd is part of their everyday jobs so I wouldn't really give a defined point where this happens but things definitely get less normal as the story progresses. Generally as it becomes more clear that there is blood magic involved in both the cases which they are working on.
4: What causes the story to go back to normalcy?
It doesn't XD
5: How would a different character solve the problem given to the main character?
This is a little hard to answer seeing as the novel will have around 4 active povs and each of them are independently investigating something with their own agendas.
6: What are the tools at your character's disposal to discover information?
Vauren has many contacts and spies who can help him, however he doesn't have a natural ability to piece things together (however this is isn't important for him).
Liuren has a fantastic brain and has a wonderful flair and ability to solve the most intriguing of mysteries (think Sherlock Holmes meets Ichabod Crane)
Yvianne has an in depth knowledge of necromancy and blood magic and is a necromancer/blood magician herself.
Siara is a scribe so has plenty of writings which she can analyse.
7: What are the tools for your character to end conflict?
Hmm... Not really too sure, although their lack of tools presents no problems considering the novel's ending.
8: How would the plot change if your main character wasn't in the story?
Which one? XD
I'll go with Vauren, basically without him there is no story. He is absolutely pivotal and is both sides of the coin.
9: Is the plot driven by the character, or outside events in the story?
Definitely by character.
10:  Looking at your story from the perspective of someone who believes that  all people are good in some way, what rationality would you have for  your plot points?
Okay so in the story the kings brother is planning to depose of the king and take his place. The person described in the question might believe that he was doing this out of genuine concern for the nation because many view King Diander as weak and too compassionate.
11:  Now, looking at your story from the perspective of someone who believes  that all people are in essence greedy and bound to do bad things, what  rationality would you have for your plot points?
For the same point as above, they might think that he was just greedy and jealous of his brother.
12:  What is the main conflict in your story, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, Man  vs. Machine, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Nature...?
Good question. I guess there's a lot of Man vs Man and some of Man vs Self too.
13: What is the main point you want to say through the story?
Nothing is as it seems. :D
14: If you had to write the story in 1,000 words, what would the plot be?
Probably a guy walking through a palace surrounded by dead bodies with everyone looking to him for help, only to find at the end that he was the one who killed them all I might actually write something like that 0.0)
15: If you had to convey the story in a five minute speech, what would you focus on?
The many deceptions the novel will try to weave, in terms of simple and complex plot points.
16:] Do you need all of your plot points to further the plot, or are some of them just for spectacle?
Once I find my plot points I'll tell you XD
17: Can your story start farther in without interrupting the plot or losing key details about any specific events?
No, I don't think so.
18: How would you summarize each of your chapters in 50 words or less?
I couldn't XD
19: Where does your character, and your reader, get a break?
When the main characters think that they have everything figured out.
20: What is the time period of the story?
Hmm... Probably weeks to months?
21: What would the story look like if you wrote it from the point of view of your least-favorite character?
I am writing from the pov of my least favourite character. :D
22: If your last challenge came first, how would the rest of the story go?
There would be no story :)
23: What would happen if your conflicts all happened at the same time?
That's not possible, this story relies on a domino like effect. One cannot happen without the other occurring first.
24: What sort of devices will you write into the story to get your  characters out of situations where there is no solution, and how can  they be used earlier to avoid getting into those situations?
There won't be any of those kind of situation right until the end. I'm still contemplating the course of action.
25: How do you justify the change, or lack of change, of your character at the end of the novel?
I think everyone will learn something about themselves. A lot of things happen I think which will mentally rattle them a little.
The World Is Mine.
  





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301 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 20262
Reviews: 301
Sat Oct 11, 2014 12:50 pm
Snowery says...



Dear Journal,

Okay, so I've realised I haven't actually said what the book is about yet. Bad Silverlock! I posted a very miniature blurby thing but really who understood anything from that right?? XD

So the genre of the book is fantasy but it'll hopefully be written more like a crime novel. It'll also have elements of horror in it. It will be set in Ascerai during the reign of King Diander. The novel will have six points of view, however only 4 main characters (Vauren, Liuren, Yvianne and Siara). Two of the povs are somewhat "anonymous" and when read it could be applied to at least two of the major characters (at least I hope so). They appear much less frequently than the others though.
So plot! Well the novel begins with the dead body of a Vriasari (sort of a warrior wizard, as comical as that sounds, quite difficult to kill though) found dead within the Ascerian palace grounds. Now this causes a big hoo haa because as I said these Vriasari are quite difficult to kill, along with the fact that the cause of death is fairly odd and mysterious. Ooooh. Also a lot of people are taking the fact that it was found in the palace grounds as some sort of political statement. So feeling scared, palace officials call in Vauren the kings second youngest brother and the Commander of the Royal Army (during peace he deals more with palace security). The palace officials also call in a Necromancer to determine the cause of death. He suspects that blood magic (more on this later) was used but strongly advises Vauren to summon an Allurian Necromancer staying in Nordyire to help confirm. The Allurian necromancer is busy solving another problem so she sends her Adept Apprentice (Yvianne) who is close to graduating in her stead.

Now simultaneously to all of this, Liuren (a high inspector) receives another report of a child gone missing. Realising that the numbers of missing youths, children and especially infants have increased drastically recently he decides to report this to the palace. Liuren somehow ends up reporting this to Vauren, Yvianne who is with him at the time overhears and begins to suspect that something extremely ominous is occurring. (Blood magic uses blood, preferably human and the younger the better.) They then begin to investigate further as a group.

So simultaneously to all of that we follow the story of Siara, who is the youngest sibling of king Diander (and therefore a princess) who works as a scribe. Siara is doing her own little investigations of which the reader at first isn't sure what. She seems to be almost obsessed with finding out something. We find out later that she is actually a Necromancer and is actually scared about it and has been trying to find out about it b working as a scribe and having access to the royal library. Viander (the necromancer at the beginning who first suspected blood magic) recognises what she is and tries to help her and eventually takes her on as an apprentice. Yvianne also realises but doesn't let on, preferring to guide her through hint dropping (although they don't actually get along very well at the beginning. It's king of hard to get along with Yvianne :/ ). Eventually Siara's research help the team realise that there is a much larger conspiracy afoot within the palace.
The World Is Mine.
  








You can't choose your parentage. But you can choose your legacy.
— Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus