Hey.
A few of you will know me from the debating forum, most of you won't. I've been a long time lurker on the site, but haven't found time to post a whole heap in the last couple of years.
My writing's been on the back burner for my honours year (in english literature), but now I'm finished and ready to jump back on the horse. If that wasn't a folk metaphor, it is now.
I just posted the first two scenes of a project that I've been planning for ages but haven't found the time to put to paper. I'm going to be writing the scenes in 500-700 word blocks and posting them up with minimal editing. I've been planning it for too long and I don't want to get caught up double checking myself.
So what's the project?
I've read fantasy for about 15 years and been trying to write it for about 7. I've recently been studying the pointy end of literary academia, and I'm wondering whether I can write a story that's both accessible and meaningful. One that can be enjoyed by both teens and adults, and contain scenes that appeal to the dreamers and the armchair academics alike. I know it can be done: if it couldn't, I wouldn't be a fan of the genre. But this is also a test of my writing style. My style is descriptive, but also dense, which is why I've limited the size of the scenes.
I'm interested in loyalty: the loyalty that is shown in how a master treats his slave, and how a lord treats his vassal. Are men pawns to be moved around for entertainment, for the greater good, or only their own benefit? I'm also interested in justice: what can be forgiven, tolerated and excused for the sake of a cause, and what must be avenged for its own sake, damn the cost.
There will we knights and battles, schools and slaughter. There will be love and betrayal, politics and warlocks. Demons and druids will stalk the shadowy forests, but what if the real monsters have lived all their lives in the light of day?
If this sounds interesting, come join Arvid, as he begins his journey in the Plains of Ulusami, a hundred miles south of the forested duchies that will be the focus of his and our adventure.
My tasks for you, my loyal reader, are to test the standard I set here against the drivel I post on the forum. Are my themes borne out? Is my writing getting in the way of my ideas, or are the ideas getting in the way of a kick-ass mage battle.
Scene 1 is here: work.php?id=95584
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