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In other words: writing is hard
I have a project. A writing project and/or dare of sorts. And I've actually started getting some words together for it. Since the story is based on a corruption of a card game this early stage involves just writing down the rules of play and how they transpose into a basic fantasy world.
Fantasy? I hear you say. You're writing fantasy?
Sort of. Basing one's story on the adventures of a pack of standard playing cards does rather lend itself to feudalism, castles, kings, queens, sorcerers etc. No elves at this point, but it's early days. If I can turn the castles into spaceships before I'm done I would be happy.
But I get ahead of myself. I've played a lot of Patience over the years, particularly before the invention of sleeping pills. After a few thousand games I started to mentally translate the game play into bog-standard phat phantasy language. What made it interesting was that I would cheat, but by cheating I (or rather the cards) would incur terrible penalties. With enough cheating one would end up with four columns of cards, each suit neatly lined up in the order that god intended BUT WITH A HORRIBLE PRICE TO PAY. Some more than others.
Something like that.
Thousands of hands later the stories and variations got quite elaborate. Mercenaries, prison breaks, back room deals, fights, promises. All would end as far as the game would go, rather like the introduction (or indeed Book 1) of a fantasy trilogy. We would end with a handful of characters in a world gone skewy.
A few days ago I managed to install some authoring software (I DEFEAT YOU WINDOWS 7!), and started outlining parts of the project in whatever order they occured to me. This will allow me to write a note here, a paragraph there, a chapter over there. I'll need a few fight scenes, natch, so I can insert those where required, and write a Revolting Peasant versus Prince kitchenware battle or a Two Queens versus Three Enemy Soldiers mud slinging scene as required. Even a Knight versus Assassin Kung Fu flurry.
I rapidly came across the problem that Kings were in charge (although Queens actually had some room there to get on with things themselves if the Kings weren't getting off their arses, but which causes later complications if the Kings get loose or try to talk their way back in), and everyone in society was neatly and perfectly pidgeonholed in a strict hierarchy down to the 2's. Aces are the guardians of the gates, so their social status is a little ambiguous. Or amphibious, that could be fun.
Unfortunately at this early stage in the game the worldbuilding is socially problematic. I have ways around most of it, but I'm quite frankly finding it a bit hard to justify the usefulness of all that royalty. They embarrass me, frankly. I have farmers and plumbers and doctors and librarians who are doing their bit, but the princes in particular are just getting in the way and the intrigue amongst the courtiers is a serious waste of everyone's time. You have your places people; snap to it.
We got sexism, racism, elitism, and determinism. Enough to ensure that I'm never spoken to again by the people I most respect. But if I try and "fix" everything we'll all end up learning valuable lessons about the true value of friendship and there will be vomit. Blood, certainly.
So, in the process of writing this post (and indeed the purpose of writing this post) I have decided to just go with the feudal patriarchy thing for now, and let it work itself out naturally with snark. I like snark. It's just too depressing to try to handle all the social and economic problems at once. So what if the Kings are all in charge for now and the peasants are covered in sh*t? There's always Book 2 ;-)
EDIT1: It's OK, I've got it sorted. I'll just run the film backwards.
EDIT2: Oh no I just had a horrible vision of time travel and destiny a la Traci Harding. Nooooooo!!!! I'm doomed. It's my *job* to absorb material from a variety of sources and synthesise it. I'm not sure it's possible for me to write with any originality at all. I'm trying hard to not pressure myself into requiring originality first up, but if I'm going to unconsciously recycle ideas I want them to be the good ones.
Fantasy? I hear you say. You're writing fantasy?
Sort of. Basing one's story on the adventures of a pack of standard playing cards does rather lend itself to feudalism, castles, kings, queens, sorcerers etc. No elves at this point, but it's early days. If I can turn the castles into spaceships before I'm done I would be happy.
But I get ahead of myself. I've played a lot of Patience over the years, particularly before the invention of sleeping pills. After a few thousand games I started to mentally translate the game play into bog-standard phat phantasy language. What made it interesting was that I would cheat, but by cheating I (or rather the cards) would incur terrible penalties. With enough cheating one would end up with four columns of cards, each suit neatly lined up in the order that god intended BUT WITH A HORRIBLE PRICE TO PAY. Some more than others.
Something like that.
Thousands of hands later the stories and variations got quite elaborate. Mercenaries, prison breaks, back room deals, fights, promises. All would end as far as the game would go, rather like the introduction (or indeed Book 1) of a fantasy trilogy. We would end with a handful of characters in a world gone skewy.
A few days ago I managed to install some authoring software (I DEFEAT YOU WINDOWS 7!), and started outlining parts of the project in whatever order they occured to me. This will allow me to write a note here, a paragraph there, a chapter over there. I'll need a few fight scenes, natch, so I can insert those where required, and write a Revolting Peasant versus Prince kitchenware battle or a Two Queens versus Three Enemy Soldiers mud slinging scene as required. Even a Knight versus Assassin Kung Fu flurry.
I rapidly came across the problem that Kings were in charge (although Queens actually had some room there to get on with things themselves if the Kings weren't getting off their arses, but which causes later complications if the Kings get loose or try to talk their way back in), and everyone in society was neatly and perfectly pidgeonholed in a strict hierarchy down to the 2's. Aces are the guardians of the gates, so their social status is a little ambiguous. Or amphibious, that could be fun.
Unfortunately at this early stage in the game the worldbuilding is socially problematic. I have ways around most of it, but I'm quite frankly finding it a bit hard to justify the usefulness of all that royalty. They embarrass me, frankly. I have farmers and plumbers and doctors and librarians who are doing their bit, but the princes in particular are just getting in the way and the intrigue amongst the courtiers is a serious waste of everyone's time. You have your places people; snap to it.
We got sexism, racism, elitism, and determinism. Enough to ensure that I'm never spoken to again by the people I most respect. But if I try and "fix" everything we'll all end up learning valuable lessons about the true value of friendship and there will be vomit. Blood, certainly.
So, in the process of writing this post (and indeed the purpose of writing this post) I have decided to just go with the feudal patriarchy thing for now, and let it work itself out naturally with snark. I like snark. It's just too depressing to try to handle all the social and economic problems at once. So what if the Kings are all in charge for now and the peasants are covered in sh*t? There's always Book 2 ;-)
EDIT1: It's OK, I've got it sorted. I'll just run the film backwards.
EDIT2: Oh no I just had a horrible vision of time travel and destiny a la Traci Harding. Nooooooo!!!! I'm doomed. It's my *job* to absorb material from a variety of sources and synthesise it. I'm not sure it's possible for me to write with any originality at all. I'm trying hard to not pressure myself into requiring originality first up, but if I'm going to unconsciously recycle ideas I want them to be the good ones.