I spent today designing my villain for the first novel. He's really just an element of a larger force, of course--the first book can't exactly reveal the full scale of the conflict--but that doesn't keep him from being pretty bad.
He's insane. He's an artist. He's brilliant and diabolical. He's possessed.
Altogether, I'm enjoying this artist side of him. There's something about aesthetic detachment--especially as I've studied James Joyce--that just seems pernicious in that it separates what is beautiful from what is moral. So he is the grand designer, artist, and orchestrator of the destruction of the world. Chaos and annihilation have their own brand of beauty, a darker shade of black and fire.
He does it because he enjoys it. It doesn't help that he's a demigod.
Playing around with multiple personalities is fun, too. You can never tell which side of him you're talking to--especially when the sides of him that aren't him are trying to manipulate you on several levels. This kind of thing is going to be fun to mess with.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Vaetkryter
I just came up with a religion.
This is after the fact that I've held two workshops in the past week for the Underground--Southern Virginia's creative writing club--and I've been feeling hungry for some good solid brainstorming of my own. So the thought came to me that my world needed more culture, and that the culture needed to be more fleshed out than simply nations, communities, and histories.
Essentially, I needed religion. I needed aesthetics and macro-level motivations. My world needed a reason to exist the way it does, and it needed to exist more vibrantly than it had been.
Enter the Vaetkryter.
The Vaetkryter believed in a god named Vaed, the god of the sky. At some point before the creation of the world, Vaed reached the end of his then-current life cycle, necessitating rebirth. He formed the world as a chrysalis or egg in preparation for rebirth. What he demands of his followers is that they help to free him by destroying the world, and he promises new powers of creation as he remakes all creation with his new degree of divinity.
So his followers turn out to be apocalyptic zealots who strive to physically destroy creation, waging international warfare and subterfuge. This plays a large role because there are certain key characters that hold (or held) to this religion, and it's going to drastically affect their actions throughout the book.
I rather like it, even if it's a bunch of nonsense. Vaed doesn't really exist--at the very least, not the way his followers think he does. He might actually exist in a different manner than previously thought... This actually ties in quite well with another event in the series.
This is after the fact that I've held two workshops in the past week for the Underground--Southern Virginia's creative writing club--and I've been feeling hungry for some good solid brainstorming of my own. So the thought came to me that my world needed more culture, and that the culture needed to be more fleshed out than simply nations, communities, and histories.
Essentially, I needed religion. I needed aesthetics and macro-level motivations. My world needed a reason to exist the way it does, and it needed to exist more vibrantly than it had been.
Enter the Vaetkryter.
The Vaetkryter believed in a god named Vaed, the god of the sky. At some point before the creation of the world, Vaed reached the end of his then-current life cycle, necessitating rebirth. He formed the world as a chrysalis or egg in preparation for rebirth. What he demands of his followers is that they help to free him by destroying the world, and he promises new powers of creation as he remakes all creation with his new degree of divinity.
So his followers turn out to be apocalyptic zealots who strive to physically destroy creation, waging international warfare and subterfuge. This plays a large role because there are certain key characters that hold (or held) to this religion, and it's going to drastically affect their actions throughout the book.
I rather like it, even if it's a bunch of nonsense. Vaed doesn't really exist--at the very least, not the way his followers think he does. He might actually exist in a different manner than previously thought... This actually ties in quite well with another event in the series.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Kampchalla
Tonight, I mapped out divine power. This is, of course, one of the central themes of the Caiorr, so I needed to get it done sooner instead of later. What I find particularly satisfying is the way that it lines up with crucial plot points and ideas that I've already had--as if signs that this is where the milieu needs to go.
The Kampchalla isn't a new concept--in fact, it's rather core to my LDS beliefs, but in the Caiorr it's expressed in such a way that it makes it approachable, essentially compiling ordinations, covenants, exaltations, and powers into a simple-yet-comprehensive system. That may sound pretty vague, but it makes sense to me. More on this will be forthcoming.
I promise that I provide better exposition in my book than I do on this blog--for obvious reasons. I feel like if I reveal very much about any of my ideas, it'll give away too much later on. I guess I might just say that the Kampchalla feels like the Church meeting the Force. Justin would probably be pleased about that. But it goes much further than that.
I still need to work out the technicalities behind demonic power, because it draws from the same source. How can both angels and demons have access to the same power? There have to be rules made, I guess. I need to make all of the rules terribly specific and technical, otherwise it'll become something easily exploitable to get it to do whatever I want, at the cost of audience interest and belief. If power--even godlike power--becomes too cheap and trendy, then how can it be seen as the incredibly powerful thing that it is? I need to establish some ground rules so it becomes obvious that when someone is calling upon the power of the gods, they're not merely bringing out bigger guns--they're pretty much ending the fight.
That's okay, because it means that there will be serious repercussions to the fight's conclusion. Godlike power is not used lightly. Consequences follow. This could get really crazy.
The Kampchalla isn't a new concept--in fact, it's rather core to my LDS beliefs, but in the Caiorr it's expressed in such a way that it makes it approachable, essentially compiling ordinations, covenants, exaltations, and powers into a simple-yet-comprehensive system. That may sound pretty vague, but it makes sense to me. More on this will be forthcoming.
I promise that I provide better exposition in my book than I do on this blog--for obvious reasons. I feel like if I reveal very much about any of my ideas, it'll give away too much later on. I guess I might just say that the Kampchalla feels like the Church meeting the Force. Justin would probably be pleased about that. But it goes much further than that.
I still need to work out the technicalities behind demonic power, because it draws from the same source. How can both angels and demons have access to the same power? There have to be rules made, I guess. I need to make all of the rules terribly specific and technical, otherwise it'll become something easily exploitable to get it to do whatever I want, at the cost of audience interest and belief. If power--even godlike power--becomes too cheap and trendy, then how can it be seen as the incredibly powerful thing that it is? I need to establish some ground rules so it becomes obvious that when someone is calling upon the power of the gods, they're not merely bringing out bigger guns--they're pretty much ending the fight.
That's okay, because it means that there will be serious repercussions to the fight's conclusion. Godlike power is not used lightly. Consequences follow. This could get really crazy.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Forces of Corruption
News for this week:
As of last night, I've reworked the forces of corruption and expanded their individual roles. In doing so, I've incorporated my other planned projects into the Caiorr. The series will now feature appearances of both the Korshar and the Tymantia. I've identified specific roles for both the Orraim and the Aedylonians. I know how the Ardror fit into the big picture. I'm getting a better feel for how the whole thing will work out.
Now that the worlds of Tymant and Movremit Coriah are a part of the overall universe of the Caiorr, I can start implementing ideas developed for those works into the universe of The Power and the Corruption. For instance, the idea of blood containing the soul from the world of Coriah. How can that be implemented into the worlds of Hylos and Tymant? I can see the Caidonians being superstitious about blood spillage and burial.
Perhaps the landscape can reflect the impact of bloodstained ground or something. Violent seas after tremendous sea battles or martyrdoms. Barren landscapes after bloodshed. The land reflects the violence. Weapons of power because the weapons truly reflect the slain. See? The ideas have begun to flow. And as long as I keep working at them and putting new and old things together, they'll continue to flow in beautifully new ways.
As of last night, I've reworked the forces of corruption and expanded their individual roles. In doing so, I've incorporated my other planned projects into the Caiorr. The series will now feature appearances of both the Korshar and the Tymantia. I've identified specific roles for both the Orraim and the Aedylonians. I know how the Ardror fit into the big picture. I'm getting a better feel for how the whole thing will work out.
Now that the worlds of Tymant and Movremit Coriah are a part of the overall universe of the Caiorr, I can start implementing ideas developed for those works into the universe of The Power and the Corruption. For instance, the idea of blood containing the soul from the world of Coriah. How can that be implemented into the worlds of Hylos and Tymant? I can see the Caidonians being superstitious about blood spillage and burial.
Perhaps the landscape can reflect the impact of bloodstained ground or something. Violent seas after tremendous sea battles or martyrdoms. Barren landscapes after bloodshed. The land reflects the violence. Weapons of power because the weapons truly reflect the slain. See? The ideas have begun to flow. And as long as I keep working at them and putting new and old things together, they'll continue to flow in beautifully new ways.
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