November was a success. I wrote a 50k word YA Fantasy novel that needs a lot of editing, but does include a plot, character development and (surprising to me) a fairly solid theme.
While this blog is important, I'm going to drop to twice a month, as I had a lot of fun writing fiction and I want to make more time for it.
Other than the occasional mentions of it, this blog will remain focused on non-fiction.
I was hoping for a real post today, but alas my weekend was filled with other things. I'll have at least one real post this month, and I'll be shooting for two.
Showing posts with label blog-changes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog-changes. Show all posts
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The November plans
The plan was to write double-posts during October so that I could cruise through November without care.
I've failed that pretty severely -- as one week I even forgot to write anything. (I got a post out that day, but it was an "Oops, I forgot." post, so it doesn't really count.)
I think I'm going to accept what many bloggers accept: I'm going on hiatus for the month of November for NaNoWriMo. As this is the last Monday in October, this means my next post will be December 6th.
At this point, my planned story is a YA Fantasy. The basic premise is that magic is a consumable resource that was all used up during the early days of mankind. An eccentric hermit finds a way to replenish magic in the world. He hires a family of four, and madness unfolds. Well, not madness, exactly, but certainly excitement.
It is a variation of the idea that things were somehow more magical in the past and that for some reason all of the magical creatures went elsewhere. It is nice to think that they could just go elsewhere, but it is also possible they all died off.
For the story, it means it can start off like an urban fantasy -- totally real-world with just a promise of something magical -- and as the magic unfolds around them the limits of it are less confined to the "and no one else is the wiser" thing you generally see with urban fantasy.
The core idea is one that is backed up with stories like "Sleeping Beauty" where once the spell is broken the castle itself disappeared. To last that long, it laid waste to the area where the castle once stood. As the magic dried up and disappeared from the region it drew with it the very firmament itself.
While there are fewer restrictions on what magic can do, there are still restrictions. This is a world where magic has near limitless potential, but it can't reach the potential if it gets used up on vulgar affairs. Using magic for cleaning house? It will take longer to restore the magic used than it would to just clean it up by hand. Flashy transformations are extremely ostentatious, as after you transform there may not be any magic in the area to do anything else with.
This means that in the story world, magic needs to cause the least amount of change to produce the desired results. That said, since scrying works without a particular abundance of magic, in an area with more magic it works much better.
The device I'm using to restore magic in the world is essentially an orgone transformer. It takes "orgone energy" and transforms it in to magical energy. Instead of an orgone accumulator shaped like a box and designed to focus the orgone energy inside, we have a board composed of layers of different substances. It gathers the orgone energy, transforms it, and the magical energy exits. I call these boards "magic doors" -- which is also where the (current) title for the book comes from.
So that's what I'll be doing with my November. I'm excited. It will be my first novel, so I'm going in to it as a learning experience -- I know the quality only gets better with practice.
I've failed that pretty severely -- as one week I even forgot to write anything. (I got a post out that day, but it was an "Oops, I forgot." post, so it doesn't really count.)
I think I'm going to accept what many bloggers accept: I'm going on hiatus for the month of November for NaNoWriMo. As this is the last Monday in October, this means my next post will be December 6th.
At this point, my planned story is a YA Fantasy. The basic premise is that magic is a consumable resource that was all used up during the early days of mankind. An eccentric hermit finds a way to replenish magic in the world. He hires a family of four, and madness unfolds. Well, not madness, exactly, but certainly excitement.
It is a variation of the idea that things were somehow more magical in the past and that for some reason all of the magical creatures went elsewhere. It is nice to think that they could just go elsewhere, but it is also possible they all died off.
For the story, it means it can start off like an urban fantasy -- totally real-world with just a promise of something magical -- and as the magic unfolds around them the limits of it are less confined to the "and no one else is the wiser" thing you generally see with urban fantasy.
The core idea is one that is backed up with stories like "Sleeping Beauty" where once the spell is broken the castle itself disappeared. To last that long, it laid waste to the area where the castle once stood. As the magic dried up and disappeared from the region it drew with it the very firmament itself.
While there are fewer restrictions on what magic can do, there are still restrictions. This is a world where magic has near limitless potential, but it can't reach the potential if it gets used up on vulgar affairs. Using magic for cleaning house? It will take longer to restore the magic used than it would to just clean it up by hand. Flashy transformations are extremely ostentatious, as after you transform there may not be any magic in the area to do anything else with.
This means that in the story world, magic needs to cause the least amount of change to produce the desired results. That said, since scrying works without a particular abundance of magic, in an area with more magic it works much better.
The device I'm using to restore magic in the world is essentially an orgone transformer. It takes "orgone energy" and transforms it in to magical energy. Instead of an orgone accumulator shaped like a box and designed to focus the orgone energy inside, we have a board composed of layers of different substances. It gathers the orgone energy, transforms it, and the magical energy exits. I call these boards "magic doors" -- which is also where the (current) title for the book comes from.
So that's what I'll be doing with my November. I'm excited. It will be my first novel, so I'm going in to it as a learning experience -- I know the quality only gets better with practice.
Monday, August 30, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010 and shorter posts
I'm planning on writing a novel this November. I don't think the characters will actively be practicing any form of paganism or polytheism, but some of my ideas will definitely spill over in to the story.
It's a Young Adult Fantasy story centering around the idea that magic is a natural resource that was consumed when humanity was young. An eccentric hermit believes he has discovered a way to replenish magic in the world. The main characters are children whose parents were hired by the hermit.
It's a new way to think about magic in a story. It also allows for a very modern day setting that can get stranger and stranger as the story goes on.
We'll see how the writing goes in November. I wanted to warn people that while there will still be regular Monday posts, they may well be less in-depth than some of my recent posts. (If they get as long as some of the recent posts they'll be split up.) I plan to double-up my writing for the blog in the coming months, so part of the October and all of the November posts will all be written well ahead of time.
I'm less interested in preserving the remaining ancient natural places than I am about reclaiming spaces for nature and setting them aside for the future. Plenty of folks want to preserve. Fewer want to transform the refuse and waste of human civilization and turn that in to something that will one day be mighty, ancient, and filled with potent magics. This is really the foundational idea for my story.
Now, whether this idea is related in any form through the story is another matter... ;)
It's a Young Adult Fantasy story centering around the idea that magic is a natural resource that was consumed when humanity was young. An eccentric hermit believes he has discovered a way to replenish magic in the world. The main characters are children whose parents were hired by the hermit.
It's a new way to think about magic in a story. It also allows for a very modern day setting that can get stranger and stranger as the story goes on.
We'll see how the writing goes in November. I wanted to warn people that while there will still be regular Monday posts, they may well be less in-depth than some of my recent posts. (If they get as long as some of the recent posts they'll be split up.) I plan to double-up my writing for the blog in the coming months, so part of the October and all of the November posts will all be written well ahead of time.
I'm less interested in preserving the remaining ancient natural places than I am about reclaiming spaces for nature and setting them aside for the future. Plenty of folks want to preserve. Fewer want to transform the refuse and waste of human civilization and turn that in to something that will one day be mighty, ancient, and filled with potent magics. This is really the foundational idea for my story.
Now, whether this idea is related in any form through the story is another matter... ;)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Welcome!
The goal of this is to have a weekly blog about polytheism. As I am a parent with distinct opinions about child-rearing this seems an appropriate place for that as well. The blog will be primarily updated Monday morning, to honor the Moon's day. (This has the benefit of giving me the weekend to write it if need be.) With any luck there will be bonus updates as well, but the goal is weekly on Monday.
When I talk about polytheism it is distinct and separate from most forms of neopaganism. Some neopagans only actually believe in two deities, a male deity (or Lord) and a female deity (or Lady). Additionally, it isn't uncommon in some neopagan communities to find deities treated as being amalgams responding to any deity name you can throw out. I'm not like that at all.
When I say that I am a polytheist, I mean it. I believe in an infinite number of deities with an infinite number of forms and an infinite number of names. Names are meaningless, as every deity has an infinite number. Only trust the names they give you, as -- for you -- they are most likely to respond to that name. I have more to say on this topic, but it will wait for a later post.
What do I mean by the title of the blog?
The word "daemons" can mean, roughly, small gods. This directly ties in to the polytheist aspect of the blog as most of the deities I pray to are not commonly acknowledged. They are not the "big" deities as it were. "Raising Daemons" then, could mean uplifting small deities to a greater state of divinity -- effectively creating larger deities.
The fact that the blog will also cover some parenting stuff is also covered with the name nicely. The word "daemon" was used for the venerated ghosts of dead heroes. If I aspire to raise a great and mighty child who -- through whatever she decides to do -- can magnificently change the world for the better then it is logical to hope that she may eventually become a daemon.
I see it akin to Christians hoping that their children learn to be Christ-like, or Buddhists hoping their children learn the Buddha-nature. If you are down with ancestor worship at all it is only natural to aspire to raise a child worthy of praise and worship in the future ages. The more great and mighty people we raise the better the future can become.
I am looking forward to comments, as I plan to have posts in the future discussing things brought up in comments. If ever you find you need further explanation, please chime in! If you have a question -- even one unrelated to the current post -- please ask! Around these parts there are no stupid questions, though depending on your expectations there may be some really strange answers.
When I talk about polytheism it is distinct and separate from most forms of neopaganism. Some neopagans only actually believe in two deities, a male deity (or Lord) and a female deity (or Lady). Additionally, it isn't uncommon in some neopagan communities to find deities treated as being amalgams responding to any deity name you can throw out. I'm not like that at all.
When I say that I am a polytheist, I mean it. I believe in an infinite number of deities with an infinite number of forms and an infinite number of names. Names are meaningless, as every deity has an infinite number. Only trust the names they give you, as -- for you -- they are most likely to respond to that name. I have more to say on this topic, but it will wait for a later post.
What do I mean by the title of the blog?
The word "daemons" can mean, roughly, small gods. This directly ties in to the polytheist aspect of the blog as most of the deities I pray to are not commonly acknowledged. They are not the "big" deities as it were. "Raising Daemons" then, could mean uplifting small deities to a greater state of divinity -- effectively creating larger deities.
The fact that the blog will also cover some parenting stuff is also covered with the name nicely. The word "daemon" was used for the venerated ghosts of dead heroes. If I aspire to raise a great and mighty child who -- through whatever she decides to do -- can magnificently change the world for the better then it is logical to hope that she may eventually become a daemon.
I see it akin to Christians hoping that their children learn to be Christ-like, or Buddhists hoping their children learn the Buddha-nature. If you are down with ancestor worship at all it is only natural to aspire to raise a child worthy of praise and worship in the future ages. The more great and mighty people we raise the better the future can become.
I am looking forward to comments, as I plan to have posts in the future discussing things brought up in comments. If ever you find you need further explanation, please chime in! If you have a question -- even one unrelated to the current post -- please ask! Around these parts there are no stupid questions, though depending on your expectations there may be some really strange answers.
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