Timewaster's Guide Archive

Quote from: maxonennis on January 20, 2009, 04:19:45 AM

If Shkat is a replacement for a certain four letter English word that starts with the same sound, then I'd prefer to have a spade called a spade...

Does anybody else have any thoughts regarding this?  Yes, "shkat" was intended to be a replacement for sh**, and is Aric's way of using it.  I guess I could just call it what it is, but generally in sci-fi/fantasy, I see a lot of authors use replacements for cuss words.

It works really well in Battlestar Galactica, anyway!  Then again, using the work "frak" is just a really creative way to get around using swear words on TV.

I intend to use more cuss words in later chapters because the characters would likely use them.  But I don't want to pull the reader too far out of the world to do it.

What do you think?

PHYLES is the definition of experimental. It is written in a point-of-view that I don’t think anyone else has ever used (after taking six months to write just the first draft of the manuscript, I realize that there are probably several good reasons that no one has). Also there’s the tense, instead of being easy, I decided to get cute and write PHYLES in present tense due to the way the story is told. The added fact that I give none of the main characters’ true names, makes this the oddest of all my stories or any novel I’ve read for that matter.

The story revolves around five characters; Capstone, a kleptomaniac young foreign noblewoman; Magistrate, the morally confused leader of a the city state’s constabulary; Red Eye, a drug addict, cross-dressing assassin; Healer, a lying foreign doctor; and Shaman, the oldest living resident of the state, an unknown man who is the most mistrusted person in the city.

The plot is fairly simple, with a few major twists, but over all very basic. I wanted a story that stayed true to who the characters were, and let them shine. I think I did that. The world building isn’t too original, but I have, what I think is, an interesting magic system that ties into the story, setting, characters, and theme nicely. I don’t use the fantasy archetype species, characters, or plot points. There will be no hero’s journey, orcs, or damsel in distress. Also, don’t look too hard for a protagonist, antagonist, hero, or villain, because there aren’t any, as far as I can tell.

The story is a 90,000 word long, first person point of view, fantasy novel, with Shaman narrating while never (the opening and closing chapters aside) allowed to refer to himself as “I”. It is being told as Shaman is watching from the outside as the story unfolds. This means that there is no internal dialog, thus the characters’ personalities, thoughts, and feelings are relayed to the reader through sensory descriptions (you get a lot of the characters talking to themselves, facial expressions, and exaggerated body language). I call the POV First Person Cinematic after Orson Scott Card’s Third Person Cinematic.

The underlining theme of PHYLES is the nature of God (god, or gods); with minor themes addressed being insanity, and leadership. Minor-minor themes brought up, but not addressed are, homosexuality, gender confusion, self sacrifice, fascism, anarchy, and mental disorders.

Impersonal, controversial, disturbing, and layered, PHYLES is book that will leave a lasting impression.

Joe, glad you're enjoying the series (like we all knew you would).

I want to warn you, if you're like me you'll probably like Rand less and less as the series progresses.  That is, he gets weirder and weirder.  I think his character development is realistic and necessary, but as the story goes on, I begin to like other characters more and more in comparison, and to be glad when the POV switches away from Rand.

Moiraine, on the other hand, gets more likeable and more understandable soon.  I think you'll love Egwene's development too - though you'll have to wait till book 11 for some of her best moments.  Perrin and Faile (Zarine) have some cool stuff coming up too.

Quote from: maxonennis on January 19, 2009, 08:52:58 PM

I’m going against the grain here and saying that if you are a discovery writer, try writing it backwards. Start with the ending and work back (while using one POV) to the beginning. IF you like it, then go back and add other POVs to it to add depth to the story, and maybe a few related side plots. I’m doing that in my latest work and so far I’ve been able to discovery write the entire first half without any problems.

Don't you mean the last half? jk.
How does that work exactly? I think my brain would explode. You'd have to figure out what they did...and then right about what they were going to do...I'm confused already.