Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Seven Plots Enter, One Book Leaves

Doing something a little bit different for this entry.  Over at Crystal Collier's blog, she recently talked about the 777 challenge.  The challenge is to take your current work in progress, go to the seventh page, count down seven lines, then share the next seven lines and talk about them.  I thought it could be interesting and was worth trying.

However, my current WIP is a mysterious beast that's affecting me in unexpected ways, so I'm not going to mess with it by quoting any of it before it's done.

So instead, I'm delving into my plots-in-progress, because gods know I've got enough of those.  I'll sample something from a significant seventh page of those, with a little surprise at the end.  Let's see what happens, shall we?

From a magical army training sort of thing:
     "[He] is already moving into a leadership role, while [she] is artillery and loves it."
This is one I'm actually in the middle of reworking, but the brother and sister described here will still fit with these roles.  The new version of this is my current shiny new idea, just waiting until I'm no longer writing a book so it can fully take over my brain.  >_<

From the working-titled Dragon Saga, part of one of many revisions:
     "The council declares a trial by artifact – she must descend into the ruins beneath the city and retrieve something from the draconic days."
Ye gods.  This story is currently on its fifth revision, and I think I've finally got it right, but I've said that twice already and it didn't work.  I really do like the plot I have now and I think I can make it work, but only time will tell.

From one of the three books I plotted for this year:
     "Volcanic craters that blaze with bursts of brilliant yellow light pour smoke into the sky.  It’s a hostile environment to say the very least."
I really want this one to work out.  Part 'The Amazing Race', part 'Guardians of the Galaxy', it's an interplanar journey heavily inspired by both GoTG and 'Firefly'.  It still needs some character work, but once I figure that out, I think it'll be ready.

From a story inspired by a comment on a WoW site:
     "This would mean altering the states of being of the gods themselves, but the humans believed it was the only way to make their world livable.  Stupid humans."
Most of this is world work, with no character stuff at all yet.  That's nothing new for me - sometimes I need to shape the world before I figure out who lives there and what their stories are.

From a sort-of fairy tale reworking:
     "There are more kinds of magic than the mirrors my mother and all the queens before her favored.  There are things that can be done with fresh blood."
Really not sure about this one.  I was more interested in it before I wrote the antagonist's story from her point of view, as she became a great deal more sympathetic.  I haven't worked on this since last year, so I'm not sure what will come of it.

From my original notes for my current WIP:
     "When she’s freed, she’ll pull out [the sword] herself, turning back into flesh with a hole right through her chest."
My original notes were batshit crazy.  This is one of the plot points that makes the most sense.

From page seven of The Book of Lost Runes:
     "Shiloh bit back a gasp.  The Lady of Chains.  Just as Edwin said."
Not much I can say here without giving things away.  I just wanted to post something from it, since I plan to start the editing process next week.  ^_^

Which, coincidentally enough, will be my IWSG post for next week.

14 comments:

  1. I like the sound of the Dragon Saga and the one with the volcano. Although you can't argue with batshit crazy.

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    1. Dragon Saga is currently driving me crazy, much as I want to write it. >_< And there is such a thing as too crazy, which is why most of my initial notes for that story got scrapped. The book turned out well, though.

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  2. Wow, you have a lot of pots going at once, eh? SHEESH. I have like two and I can barely manage to get to them. I'm impressed. Oh, and I really like the sound of the sort-of-fairy-tale retelling that somehow got LESS interesting because the antagonist got more sympathetic. See, that makes it WAY more interesting to me!

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    1. This is what happens because I write everything down - I end up with all kinds of stuff in various stages of progress. It's kind of maddening.

      As for the sort-of fairy tale thing, making her more sympathetic screwed with my plans, which were admittedly incomplete. It's the sort of thing where I need to really find the story to make it work.

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  3. Okay. I feel little. I have 2, maybe 3 going on and I already feel like I'm drowning. Tons of great ideas, though.

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    1. If it helps, this is why it takes so long for me to actually get to writing something - I have all these ideas fighting for my attention, and I get frustrated when they don't work out. >_<

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  4. Mason, you tease! I like them all. :)

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    1. Thank you. ^_^ I really, really hope to someday write them all. And I actually have written two of them, so there's a chance!

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  5. I'm with Alex. I really liked the ones (and ideas behind) the Dragon one and the volcano one. I also want to know more about the Lady in Chains.

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    1. Still hoping I can make those first two work out; the dragon one has many more problems than the other. As for the Lady of Chains, she's an important character in the book I start editing next month. ^_^

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  6. Goodness, and I thought I was busy! I love the line from the fairy tale reworking. My ears perked right up about the fresh blood (very intriguing). Good luck with these. I'm never brave enough to share my work like this (not sure why), but maybe one day I will.

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    1. Thanks. ^_^ Though I think part of why I do this is because I worry about how many of these stories I'll never actually tell, so I want to get them out there, at least a little bit. >_<

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  7. Wow, you've got a lot going on. I've only got 2 that I am trying to keep my focus on (4 brewing in my head though). I keep getting distracted by #3, but I really have to finish #2 first. You know, series and all. :)

    Best of luck with all your WIPs!

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    1. I'm seriously jealous that you actually get to write a series. :P For all the books I've finished, I've never written an entire sequel. Hopefully that will change once I eventually get published.

      And thanks!

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