When I think back to the first book I ever wrote - the 120,000 word epic that was What Lurks Through the Mirror, I can only think of one source of inspiration for it: choice.
I was going through a tough time. I had some social problems that I wasn't addressing. I had some big exams coming up. I wasn't sleeping right. I felt a lot of pressure at home to do well.
I wanted to change my whole life, right then and there, and I felt I was lacking one very important element: choice. To me, it felt like my whole life was being planned out for me by everyone else. It felt like I wasn't allowed to have proper friends, or to do anything other than study, or to have a night's sleep that wasn't disturbed by dread and bad dreams. Worse still, it felt like I wasn't allowed to talk about these things.
So, I created Sarah Tane, a teenage girl who was going to escape her boring, quiet life. At first, things were going to be scary. She was going to have to face monsters and magic, and none of it would make sense. But then, then, she was going to get away from it all. A magic mirror was going to fall on top of her, and drag her into a little room with large mirrors, and each one was an opportunity.
I gave Sarah a choice, to live a life without magic, exploring the streets of New York, and enjoying the hustle and bustle of a world so much like her own, but with the excitement that was lacking.
Or, she could explore the ruins of a broken world, all grassy plains and strange people - a strange breed of dragon and human, or angelic warriors missing only their wings, or a wizard in a house surrounded by a perpetual storm.
Or, she could find home in a very old kingdom, sit on a throne that she was told was rightfully hers, where magic existed in artefacts in the market, and people treated her with admiration and respect.
Sarah Tane was different. Sarah was Chosen. She could decide her own fate. She had everything I wanted, and I was able to give it to her just like that. I gave her adventure, excitement, magical powers to free a kingdom, and the noble heart to choose to do right by everyone - to save the worlds from an evil that threatened everything. I gave her courage, and found some of my own.
Fate and destiny were a big deal for me then. I didn't think everything was mapped out so rigidly, once I actually put some positive thought into it, because there was something Sarah had that everyone else had too: the ability to make a choice.
I spoke up about the social problems I was having, and guess what - everything else got better, too.
I was inspired to write the book because I didn't see that I had a choice in anything I did, and doing so gave me more choices than I ever dared dream of. I think it's fair to say that if I hadn't written that book, however poorly written it actually is, I wouldn't be writing anything. Writing makes me happy with my life, but I had to realise that first.
Showing posts with label destiny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label destiny. Show all posts
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
A (Lack of) Progress Report
As far as writing has gone this past week... well, I haven't done much. I've wanted to, but I haven't exactly had as much opportunity as I would have liked. The most significant thing I've done is actually figure out why I want to write a particular series. That was done by figuring out what the overall story is. It's important, but it doesn't bring me closer to my target.
The main problem is that I've been spending my spare time relaxing a lot more than usual. That, when combined with exhaustion from a series of sleepless nights (partially my fault for staying up too late when I have to be up early, partially the fault of alarms going off in the middle of the night), has resulted in me doing much less than I'd have liked to.
I'm hoping that tomorrow will help put me back on track, with a couple of things planned for the afternoon and nothing else planned for the evening.
This means I have to avoid the PS3, though. That's been the biggest distraction. You see, recently I came across Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, and, having played the first game a few years ago, I couldn't help but buy it and play it. And play it I have. Constantly. It's not just a nostalgia rush, of course. I genuinely love the game, and I love following the story.
Yes, some of the dialogue is ridiculously cheesy. Yes, the graphics aren't the best. Yes, it's a dated game at this point. But it also has an interesting system of religion at work. It demonstrates the struggle for ideals in equality and peace.
It's a game that helped form the sort of depth I've wanted to include in my fantasy novels. I want to develop a system of religion that fits into the world. I want to create a rulebook for magic users. I want to create a world in which life is actually at stake, but not merely on a global level.
This is why I play games, even when it means not writing. The games that explore religion, and the games that explore the concept of the martyr, they help to create human stories concerned with personal destiny in the wider scheme of life. Colette in Tales of Symphonia has to save the world, knowing it will end her life. The l'cie in Final Fantasy XIII have to make a decision: destroy the world they come from, or die tragically. Yuna in Final Fantasy X has to stop Sin, knowing that the summoner never survives the pilgrimage.
I want to tell my own story. I want to figure it all out before I start writing that book.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can use that as an excuse for not writing the books I've already planned. I have a feeling I'll be playing catch-up on my books for the rest of the 40-day challenge. So be it. But I'll be damned if I have to give up doing something else I enjoy, too, especially on the days when exhaustion takes it toll.
My progress is lacking, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about it.
The main problem is that I've been spending my spare time relaxing a lot more than usual. That, when combined with exhaustion from a series of sleepless nights (partially my fault for staying up too late when I have to be up early, partially the fault of alarms going off in the middle of the night), has resulted in me doing much less than I'd have liked to.
I'm hoping that tomorrow will help put me back on track, with a couple of things planned for the afternoon and nothing else planned for the evening.
This means I have to avoid the PS3, though. That's been the biggest distraction. You see, recently I came across Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, and, having played the first game a few years ago, I couldn't help but buy it and play it. And play it I have. Constantly. It's not just a nostalgia rush, of course. I genuinely love the game, and I love following the story.
Yes, some of the dialogue is ridiculously cheesy. Yes, the graphics aren't the best. Yes, it's a dated game at this point. But it also has an interesting system of religion at work. It demonstrates the struggle for ideals in equality and peace.
It's a game that helped form the sort of depth I've wanted to include in my fantasy novels. I want to develop a system of religion that fits into the world. I want to create a rulebook for magic users. I want to create a world in which life is actually at stake, but not merely on a global level.
This is why I play games, even when it means not writing. The games that explore religion, and the games that explore the concept of the martyr, they help to create human stories concerned with personal destiny in the wider scheme of life. Colette in Tales of Symphonia has to save the world, knowing it will end her life. The l'cie in Final Fantasy XIII have to make a decision: destroy the world they come from, or die tragically. Yuna in Final Fantasy X has to stop Sin, knowing that the summoner never survives the pilgrimage.
I want to tell my own story. I want to figure it all out before I start writing that book.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can use that as an excuse for not writing the books I've already planned. I have a feeling I'll be playing catch-up on my books for the rest of the 40-day challenge. So be it. But I'll be damned if I have to give up doing something else I enjoy, too, especially on the days when exhaustion takes it toll.
My progress is lacking, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about it.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Mutant Babies!
On Twitter, a discussion got going between myself and @Darke_Conteur about X-Men. It took a turn for the better - and strange, when taken out of context - when we started to talk about next generation mutants. The Mutant Babies, we thought, would make for more compelling stories in the X-Men comics. We've all seen the various incarnations of Scott and Jean get it on, and Scott and Emma, and Wolverine and Jean, and Gambit and Rogue, Rogue and Magneto, Iceman and Polaris, Polaris and Havock... you know what, I'm getting sidetracked. The point is: there are lots of mutant couples in the X-Men comics, and lots of possible pairings, and the on thing that doesn't last most of the time: the children.
Okay, so Scott and Jean technically have three children together: X-Man, Cable and Rachel Summers. Except X-Man was grown by Sinister in the Age of Apocalypse universe and Cable is from the future, and they're basically the same person. To make things even creepier, Jean's clone Madelyn Pryor had a child with Cable, called Stryfe. So, they have four kids whose powers range from: telepathy (from Jean), telekinesis (from Jean), superhuman strength and durability (cybernetic in nature), technopathy (cybernetic in nature), precognition (from Jean, if enhanced beyond her capabilities) and, er, cross-dimensional travel (that one bewilders everyone). Scott's part in the powers seems to be in enhancing what's already there - X-Man seems to be able to focus his telekinesis into an eye-beam. Sound familiar? (It should: Scott is Cyclops!)
Rogue and Magneto also have a child, resulting in the phrase, "Yeah, scientific sex!" making its way into the World Wide Web. He manipulated her bio-magnetic field to allow him to touch her skin... anywhere. So, they have a relationship and a baby. A baby that has telepathy. This raised the question: how are the children of Rogue's powers determined? One source on Oliver Raven, the child of Gambit and Rogue, says that Oli has his mother's powers, to the extent that he has permanently absorbed telepathic and flight abilities from unknown sources.
Nightcrawler's children all seem to have powers that link back to his biological father, Azazel, just as Nightcrawler's siblings share the same trait. This is likely due to Azazel not being entirely human - beyond the extent of being a mutant. It's suggested, a lot, that he's a demon. Go figure.
Examples out of the way, we started to wonder: what sort of powers would different couples' children have? Havock and Polaris - radiation and magnetism. She took her father's powers, his are similar to Scott's, his brothers. But would there be a cancellation of one parent's powers, like Scott and Jean? Or would there be more devastating effects? Remember, Polaris's siblings have powers completely different to her own: Quicksilver has superhuman speed and Wanda can alter reality for frick's sake! There's no telling what Havock and Polaris would produce. The same goes for Kitty and Piotr, both of whom alter their density in one way or another, and the list keeps going on and on as the writers attempt to add new twists to the tale.
I'm not even going to go into the matter of Legion, Xavier's son with the multiple personalities and abilities. Lets just call it complicated and move on.
The basis of the discussion resulted in the big questions: why haven't the writers utilized the children more? Why are they telling the same stories of the same characters over and over again? We get it: Scott's not exactly faithful. We get it, Logan likes Jean. We get it - they're adults, they have sex.
But for God's sake, why can't the writers let the children take the stage?
Think about it for a second. Say you take Rachel Summers. She's essentially Jean, in terms of abilities. Complicated. Cool. Take the child of Havock and Polaris. Rachel has a cousin. Maybe that cousin is a villain. Lets face it, someone has to be. Suddenly you have a new and complex story, because maybe the cousin - the grandchild of Magneto - hates humans. We're going somewhere. You might have to kill off Havock and Polaris for the story to work, but it's going somewhere.
Kitty and Piotr, say they have a couple of kids. They already have Michael together, though his powers and most records of him are missing from the Internet from what I can see (he was in Astonishing X-Men). So, their kids also have half-brothers and -sisters. (Fidelity... not the X-Men's strong points...) They don't all have to appear, but the ones with powers - and complicated powers, at that - would add to the mix.
The list goes on, of course, because the X-Men have been in circulation since 1963 - that's 58 years of sex they could have been having, and they haven't aged much. But with all of those stories told, the writers just have to pick the ones that can match up: stick to a story and keep it that way. One that's over, mind you, not one that they will decide will contribute to the same database of cannon as others.
Would I like to see this comic? Of course I would. It would be dynamic, exciting and it would add to the development of the comics. But it would have to be done correctly. A World War X type situation might help: they've been delving into mutant hate since the beginning, so making a war out of it won't be going too far. The set-up in the upcoming X-Men: Destiny is ideal - people hate mutants, so new mutants pop up along the way. Having the children struggle in this war-filled world, perhaps sent off for safety before puberty like English parents did during World War 2 and therefore separating them from their parents just as their powers pop up, would be a new and interesting story.
Once they don't bring in the frickin' aliens again. God, I hate the aliens in X-Men, especially the Brood.
Anyway... thoughts on that? The development of the comics seems to have gone from What If to What If, and it's possible people might get tired of it all. There's a reason people aren't liking the look of Destiny - I will still be playing it, because I love X-Men games! - and it's because they're not doing it right. But I do like the set-up of it, with new mutants and anti-mutant riots picking up. And let's face it: Marvel could do with some fresh blood. And the family drama? Well, try explain to your four-years younger half-sister why your shared daddy isn't around while the sky lights up red (and green, and blue, and then goes black... mutant wars will be colourful, obviously).
Okay, so Scott and Jean technically have three children together: X-Man, Cable and Rachel Summers. Except X-Man was grown by Sinister in the Age of Apocalypse universe and Cable is from the future, and they're basically the same person. To make things even creepier, Jean's clone Madelyn Pryor had a child with Cable, called Stryfe. So, they have four kids whose powers range from: telepathy (from Jean), telekinesis (from Jean), superhuman strength and durability (cybernetic in nature), technopathy (cybernetic in nature), precognition (from Jean, if enhanced beyond her capabilities) and, er, cross-dimensional travel (that one bewilders everyone). Scott's part in the powers seems to be in enhancing what's already there - X-Man seems to be able to focus his telekinesis into an eye-beam. Sound familiar? (It should: Scott is Cyclops!)
Rogue and Magneto also have a child, resulting in the phrase, "Yeah, scientific sex!" making its way into the World Wide Web. He manipulated her bio-magnetic field to allow him to touch her skin... anywhere. So, they have a relationship and a baby. A baby that has telepathy. This raised the question: how are the children of Rogue's powers determined? One source on Oliver Raven, the child of Gambit and Rogue, says that Oli has his mother's powers, to the extent that he has permanently absorbed telepathic and flight abilities from unknown sources.
Nightcrawler's children all seem to have powers that link back to his biological father, Azazel, just as Nightcrawler's siblings share the same trait. This is likely due to Azazel not being entirely human - beyond the extent of being a mutant. It's suggested, a lot, that he's a demon. Go figure.
Examples out of the way, we started to wonder: what sort of powers would different couples' children have? Havock and Polaris - radiation and magnetism. She took her father's powers, his are similar to Scott's, his brothers. But would there be a cancellation of one parent's powers, like Scott and Jean? Or would there be more devastating effects? Remember, Polaris's siblings have powers completely different to her own: Quicksilver has superhuman speed and Wanda can alter reality for frick's sake! There's no telling what Havock and Polaris would produce. The same goes for Kitty and Piotr, both of whom alter their density in one way or another, and the list keeps going on and on as the writers attempt to add new twists to the tale.
I'm not even going to go into the matter of Legion, Xavier's son with the multiple personalities and abilities. Lets just call it complicated and move on.
The basis of the discussion resulted in the big questions: why haven't the writers utilized the children more? Why are they telling the same stories of the same characters over and over again? We get it: Scott's not exactly faithful. We get it, Logan likes Jean. We get it - they're adults, they have sex.
But for God's sake, why can't the writers let the children take the stage?
Think about it for a second. Say you take Rachel Summers. She's essentially Jean, in terms of abilities. Complicated. Cool. Take the child of Havock and Polaris. Rachel has a cousin. Maybe that cousin is a villain. Lets face it, someone has to be. Suddenly you have a new and complex story, because maybe the cousin - the grandchild of Magneto - hates humans. We're going somewhere. You might have to kill off Havock and Polaris for the story to work, but it's going somewhere.
Kitty and Piotr, say they have a couple of kids. They already have Michael together, though his powers and most records of him are missing from the Internet from what I can see (he was in Astonishing X-Men). So, their kids also have half-brothers and -sisters. (Fidelity... not the X-Men's strong points...) They don't all have to appear, but the ones with powers - and complicated powers, at that - would add to the mix.
The list goes on, of course, because the X-Men have been in circulation since 1963 - that's 58 years of sex they could have been having, and they haven't aged much. But with all of those stories told, the writers just have to pick the ones that can match up: stick to a story and keep it that way. One that's over, mind you, not one that they will decide will contribute to the same database of cannon as others.
Would I like to see this comic? Of course I would. It would be dynamic, exciting and it would add to the development of the comics. But it would have to be done correctly. A World War X type situation might help: they've been delving into mutant hate since the beginning, so making a war out of it won't be going too far. The set-up in the upcoming X-Men: Destiny is ideal - people hate mutants, so new mutants pop up along the way. Having the children struggle in this war-filled world, perhaps sent off for safety before puberty like English parents did during World War 2 and therefore separating them from their parents just as their powers pop up, would be a new and interesting story.
Once they don't bring in the frickin' aliens again. God, I hate the aliens in X-Men, especially the Brood.
Anyway... thoughts on that? The development of the comics seems to have gone from What If to What If, and it's possible people might get tired of it all. There's a reason people aren't liking the look of Destiny - I will still be playing it, because I love X-Men games! - and it's because they're not doing it right. But I do like the set-up of it, with new mutants and anti-mutant riots picking up. And let's face it: Marvel could do with some fresh blood. And the family drama? Well, try explain to your four-years younger half-sister why your shared daddy isn't around while the sky lights up red (and green, and blue, and then goes black... mutant wars will be colourful, obviously).
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