In an attempt to not suck at writing, I’ve decided I’m gonna set myself a daily 800 word limit. Hopefully this’ll allow me lottsa practice, and give me a better chance of improving.
I’ve got a couple of projects swilling around, in various states of completion. These are they:
The Broken
‘A person whose only existence is War: to fight, to kill, and to die. Can you think of anything more broken?’
A fantasy novel with a word limit of around 80,000 (it’s YA, so it’s allowed to be this short). This is the story for me. This is the one I’ve been working on since I first began writing, six years ago. Of course, since then just about everything has changed - the only things that remains from the original concept is that swords are involved, a boy enters the fantasy world from the real one, and the character name ‘Julia’; everything else has changed.
In this fantasy world - which isn’t actually all that fantasy-like - there have been many, many wars. As a result of this, their weapon technology has advanced so far that it’s actually beginning to regress. Personal shields that are able to withstand bullet shots are becoming increasingly common, and as a result of this specially charged swords - which are the only thing able to easily penetrate the shields - are frequent.
The titular ‘Broken’ are teenagers from the real world who wake to find themselves in the fantasy one. They are all tragic heroes, and it is around them that the story focuses.
(Previous versions:
‘A Shadow’s Cry’ - written around 2003. In this version, the fantasy world is very much your stereotypical high fantasy world, rather than the technologically advanced one in the current version. A teenage boy arrives in a small town and stays in an inn, where a pair of assassins promptly make an attempt on his life. Count the clichés.
‘Choiceless’ Chapter One - from 2005. This opens with Leo waking in a dream, in which a girl dies. The next day, he hears of the girl’s death in the news. Another mysterious figure from the dream - who Leo takes to be the murderer - then appears in his school. This is all prior to entering the fantasy world. This version of the story is written in the first person.
‘The Broken’ Chapter One - from 2006 (for NaNoWriMo). Similar to the ‘Choiceless’ version, but in the third person and better written. Also, the mysterious murder does not appear at Leo’s school, but instead in his house, where he promptly kills Leo. The whole dream sequence and the character of the murderer have been cut from the current version, which instead opens with Leo waking in the fantasy world.)
Whispers of the Fallen
‘This girl is special to my Mistress; you have harmed her, and so I shall harm you, old friend.’
The first chapter of the current incarnation (albeit the first draft) of this story is currently on this site. This is another YA fantasy story, although it is very different to ‘The Broken’ - it is set in a modern, urban location, and features horror elements.
The story revolves around a teenager girl, Tess, becoming partially possessed by a malevolent, supernatural being: a ‘demon’, if you like. This demon is able to speak to her and advise her from inside her head, and if Tess so wills it, is able to take full control of Tess’s body for short periods of time. And from the demon inside her, Tess receives dark powers, which she is forced to use against the invading demons.
(Previous versions:
Whispers in the Dark - an early version from 2005, written in the first person. This details the events described above up until Tess discovers the scar on her wrist.
Whispers in the Dark, Revised - an edited version of the above.)
Change
‘We’re just trying to survive, anyway possible, in a changing world. And my God, if that involves killing people like you, so be it.’
A rather sketchy idea for (yet another) YA fantasy novel. A group of teenagers - right now, I imagine there will be around a dozen of them - accidentally release a dark and ancient entity upon the world. As a gift from it, they are given ever lasting youth. They are forced to see how the entity twists and changes the world over many years, making it darker and darker all the time. And the teens themselves plot a change from innocence to experience, as they do everything they can to survive for as many years as possible in this new, harsh world..
(Earlier version:
Change: Prototype - a ‘prototype’ for the idea, written in 2006.)
Untitled
‘You look yummy.’
A rather dark story, set some time after civilisation has collapsed. Food is scarce, and as a result, a tribe of people have taken to cannibalism to survive. This tribe attacks the village of the main character, and they all but wipe the village out. In a desperate bid to survive, the main character joins the tribe, and he too is forced to eat humans to survive. Eventually though, he has to leave the tribe (for reasons not yet known to me) and along with only one or two companions, travels the world, picking up further companions as he does so.
The novel would contain a certain amount of black humour - assuming I could pull it off.
Not much of a story yet, I know, but it’s a new idea. Needs more fleshing out….
And so, fair reader, those are some of my current projects. I have others, but they’ve taken the backseat. I’m currently writing the first drafts of ‘The Broken’ and ‘Whispers of the Fallen’. Also, I’m developing the concepts and storylines of ‘Change’ and the untitled story in my head, until I’m satisfied that both are fleshed out enough to bgein work on the first draft.
-- Sureal
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