Monday 29 November 2021

background

 Born beneath a full moon in high summer can only mean one thing, lots of adventures and lessons learned. The first one I learned early in my pup days on my very first day learning how to stalk.

A lone rabbit and five Woulvin cubs should have been easy and fun unless you are me. My curse chose this day and these classmates to manifest to first. I have my own name for it but most people would call it empathy (telepathy).

Stalking is easy. You get downwind of your target, slink forward slowly on your belly until you are about one body length from the intended target. You stay still until the target turns away from you then push your hind feet into the earth and jump towards the target. If you get it right you land on it and bite its head off (at least if it is small like a rabbit)

We were not supposed to pounce today only to practice the slink but Stripe got a little too excited and went for it. It would have been great for a laugh later but something happened in my mind. I felt this great fear and then heard a shrill scream. Both the rabbit and I took off. I don't remember much of it as I tried to get away from the fear and the scream, thankfully I went in a different direction than the rabbit or who knows how long I would have run.

When I came down from the terror it was to find myself curled in a hollow beneath a bramble breathing hard and my classmates nowhere to be found. I was lost and a long way from home. Once I calmed down I crept out from beneath the bramble and started following my own trail back the way I had come.

As I travelled I kept getting flashes of emotions from the beasts around me, I figured I was going crazy so when I got back I didn't tell anyone what had happened. Whenever anyone asked I just said I didn't remember. 

It was so noisy in the village that I began looking for places to get a rest from all the feeling bombarding me. On top of that, I occasionally began to hear actual voices in my head and had become so silent and withdrawn that my parents got worried and arranged for me to talk to Ms Ivory who was the local medicine woman.

She taught me how to meditate, which means she taught me to block out all those voices. I remained quiet but did begin to interact with my age group again so they figured I was all better. Life went more or less back to normal with a little extra teasing about my wild run through the woods around our home.

My name is Woulf  Wolven and I was born and raised in Candytown. (need a better name) We are one of four villages along the River. Our trade partners are varied but for the most part friendly.

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Fast Forward to my 16th birthday which marked the beginning of the end of my life in the village.

On that day we are required to enter an apprenticeship, we get a chance to try out several if we are not sure what we could contribute to our village. 

In the five years between that and the day I left home I tried out several different things but none of them really fit me. For the most part, I lasted on average of six months before I was asked to try something else or left because it didn't really suit me. 

On my 21st birthday, I was out of options within our small village and it was time to go search outside of it to find a place I could contribute. I would be allowed back when/if I found a way to contribute to the village until then I was a lone wolf.


Blurb

 Through the forest,

Across the moor, (something that translates to fire) plus I think the order is not quite in the same order as the planned path he will be taking.

Climb the mountain,

Swim the lake,

To human town.


Along the way the people you will meet; the places you will see

Means high adventure for the likes of thee.


Elements, peoples, mysteries, and rewards all are part of the story

Plus lessons learned and growth made

_____________________________________________________________________________

Leaving out the science part is a maybe but I'm not sure, if not a planet that traps people on it or it is a  place where many different intelligent species live separate but all part of the same planet. 

It is still a rescue that requires everything he learned and gives him a clearer perspective on his life.

I am considering two different viewpoints but have not developed the female or her story much beyond young, trapped in the clutches of a megalomaniac.

 I am thinking it may be a young planet as in there are only a few small villages along the path he needs to take so the population is sparse or they could have all emigrated from another country like the British came to Canada. 

There are so many ways the storyline could start but I only have the vaguest ideas beyond Woulf and his need for finding his place since he really doesn't fit into his village as he is. 

Tuesday 19 January 2021

Thoughts

 A shifter controlled his change, choosing when and where to alter his body into the shape of a wolf. A werewolf was a feral mixture of human and wolf, melded into some grotesque half-and-half creature. Neither wolf nor man controlled it, and it could change at random—though often with the moon—for reasons unknown.


Storm, Riley. High House Canis: The Complete Wolf Shifter Box Set (p. 936). High House Press. Kindle Edition. 


Chapter by chapter short diary entries the life of a misfit on a strange world

Surrounded by family but alone just the same. Friends who know his name but not him. Seeking a story, a meaning, a place in this time and space

(it seems simple when written like taht but to make it real in someones imagination???)


POem

 My wings feel tattered today

My mind scattered every which way

Nothing much mattered

From the beginning of the day

Friday 30 October 2020

Getting to the Premise questions

 Exercise #1: Start by answering the following questions. If you don’t currently know the answer to any question, skip it and keep going. Return to fill in the blanks after you’ve figured out more of your story. There is no right order in which to do any of this. 

Question #1: Who is your protagonist? Woulf

Question #1.1: Is your protagonist ordinary or extraordinary? Extraordinary

Question #2: What is his situation at the beginning of the story? He has failed to find a place where he fits within his pack

Question #2.1: What is the protagonist’s personal condition at the beginning? Sad, Overwhelmed, frightened

Question #2.2: How is it going to be changed, for better or worse, by the protagonist himself or by the antagonistic force? Brave, more in control

Question #2.3: Is your protagonist’s situation ordinary or extraordinary? 

Question #3: What is the protagonist’s objective? Rescue the girl

Question #4: Who or what is the main opponent? Mr Black

Question #5: What early disaster will befall the protagonist and force him out of his “normal world” and into the main conflict? rabbit, the mayors party, failed apprenticeships, 21st birthday

Question #6: What conflict will result from the hero’s reaction to the disaster? forced to interact with his year group, rejection by the dream girl, shame

Question #6.1: What is the logical flow of cause and effect that will allow this conflict to continue throughout the story? 

Question #7: Is this idea plausible? 

Question #8: Is this idea original? 

Question #8.1: How is this idea different from similar stories? 

Question #8.2: How can you strengthen its originality?

 Question #9: What is the focus of your story? 

Question #9.1: What will be its genre? 

Question #9.2: Who will be its intended audience? 

Exercise #2: Using the information you’ve discovered in answering the above questions, put them all together into a premise sentence(s). Reference: Outlining Your Novel, chapter 3, pages 50-52.


Plot Outline

 Act 1

Hook

Set up

Inciting event

Build Up

!st Plot point


Act 2

Reaction

1st Pinch Point

Realization

Midpoint

Action

2nd Pinch Point

Renewed push


Act 3

3rd plot point

recovery

climax begins

confrontation

Climatic moment

resolution

Thursday 27 August 2020

What if Tangents

 Exercise #2: Once you’ve selected the few ideas that might work, start looking for tangents: “If such and such happened, then what if this also happened? Or what if this happened instead?” The possibilities are endless. Be sure to return to this section and add to your list whenever a new idea strikes.

A VARIATION OF the “what if” question is “What is expected?” Exercise: Divide your notebook page into two columns. In the first column, list everything you can imagine the average reader expecting to happen in your type of story. In the second column, across from each item, write an alternate event. Put a check beside any idea you want to fulfill. Examples:

Exercise: Flip the previous exercise on its head and brainstorm concepts readers would not automatically expect from your story, based on its genre, its characters, and its early plot. Put a check beside any idea that sounds promising. Examples: It is unexpected the hero will lose his superhuman powers. (Spider-Man 2 directed by Sam Raimi) It is unexpected that opponents in a crucial contest will fall in love. (The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern) It is unexpected a teenage girl will set out on the trail to avenge her father’s murder. (True Grit by Charles Portis)


Exercise #1: Start by answering the following questions. If you don’t currently know the answer to any question, skip it and keep going. Return to fill in the blanks after you’ve figured out more of your story. There is no right order in which to do any of this. 

Question #1: Who is your protagonist? Woulf

Question #1.1: Is your protagonist ordinary or extraordinary? 

Question #2: What is his situation at the beginning of the story? 

Question #2.1: What is the protagonist’s personal condition at the beginning? 

Question #2.2: How is it going to be changed, for better or worse, by the protagonist himself or by the antagonistic force? 

Question #2.3: Is your protagonist’s situation ordinary or extraordinary? 

Question #3: What is the protagonist’s objective? 

Question #4: Who or what is the main opponent? 

Question #5: What early disaster will befall the protagonist and force him out of his “normal world” and into the main conflict? 

Question #6: What conflict will result from the hero’s reaction to the disaster? 

Question #6.1: What is the logical flow of cause and effect that will allow this conflict to continue throughout the story? 

Question #7: Is this idea plausible? 

Question #8: Is this idea original? 

Question #8.1: How is this idea different from similar stories? 

Question #8.2: How can you strengthen its originality?

 Question #9: What is the focus of your story? 

Question #9.1: What will be its genre? 

Question #9.2: Who will be its intended audience? 

Exercise #2: Using the information you’ve discovered in answering the above questions, put them all together into a premise sentence(s). Reference: Outlining Your Novel, chapter 3, pages 50-52.