Round Robin ‘Riting, for those who don’t know. Old hands can explain further, or use the search box to see past examples.
We’ll leave the topic open to discussion until consensus emerges.
Patience, Please
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Hi! Man, this brings back memories.
No suggestions as to genre, but I think we should have a few key characters- not a single, all-important protagonist, but not a RPG-esque melange of people’s “own” characters, either.
Hoo, boy.
What should the boy/girl ratio be? Even? Two each sounds good to me. There also should be an older main character, just to be different.
Ooh, new RRR. I’ll try to help with this one (despite my clear lack of writing abilities).
Maybe we should have 2 or 3 main protagonists. Perhaps we could have twins or really close friends. (I kind of like the twins idea.)
I’ve never done an RRR before, but I kind of want to do this one. I have a fuzzy idea on what to do (one person writes something, then another person adds on to it, and so on.), but if anyone can explain it better…
Ooh. I’ll help with this.
I’m in! I love RRRs.
Ooh! I’ll try!
Yeah, all right. I’ll join in. At the very least, the characters each need some flaw or fear to build on. Also, I think a romantic relationship would be good to include, as long as other MBers are OK with it.
What, be it so? Ah, my heart leaps in my breast, the music of delight floateth upon the melancholy air– the RRR hath returned! Oh happy day, that the hobbies of old should be renewed!
I think Kyra’s suggestion of five main characters is too many…it’s been discussed way too often but five is definitely the limit and most of the time it’s a bit much anyway. Dreamtime had five, it got out of hand and died prematurely. The Sea Roc has struggled on all right, but everyone knows we have too many characters. Still, five is such a nice convenient number… say four? I do like Speller’s idea of twins too.
As far as genre goes…I’d like fantasy or sci-fi, but any fantasy should remain in this world, no going off and getting surreal. No matter how much I like it, we’ve had too many lately.
I meant four, with one of them being older.
8- I’m OK with a romantic relationship, as long as it doesn’t take over the plot. It does seem to be everywhere, rather, and it might give the story a bit of depth.
I’d like to do this, but I’m not a very strong writer so I’m afraid I may not be up to it…
However, although I do think I have the basic idea of a RRR, is there anybody willing to explain it in a bit more detail? Are there any little things I should know? Thanks!
8-I like the idea of a romantic relationship too, but ditto what Alice said. Also, can someone explain what an RRR is to me? Or do I have a good idea already?
One person writes one section. Then the next person adds on to it. There’s no particular order (as long as you don’t hog it for too long). The amount of planning in advance varies depending on what the writers want.
13- I don’t think we should plan too much, it’s more fun when everything’s a surprise, y’know?
I think it’s important to note that in an RRR, writers don’t “own” individual characters. Anybody can write about any character.
Thoughts:
If we’re doing fantasy, magic should be… I don’t know… subtle and themed, not pyrotechnic blasts.
If we stick to this world, we could do something similar to Neverwhere: no actual, cohesive “Otherworld,” but snippets of times and places that don’t fit quite right, out on the edge of things.
16- YES, subtle magic!
I’d like to, but I’m going to be doing MuNoWriMo. Perhaps I’ll join in March.
Oh, I would love to do this if I can join. I agree with 4 characters and subtle or nonexistant magic.
13-Thank you!
I love the idea of a fantasy with some subtle magic involved.
I’m totally, thoroughly in. I haven’t been any too many RRRs, but the one I’m in, I totally love. So…
Subtle magic works. Two and two protagonists works too. So what sort of subtle magic? Creatures that don’t quite fit in this world here and there, (Squirels that fly, maybe, frogs that hop backwards, a magical deer with a unicorn horn that grants wishes? (Okay, so I went a bit overboard with the examples. I was having too much fun to stop.)) or things that don’t quite mesh with the ‘proper’ world (Jumps that land ten feet too high, distances too far to be thought of traversed in a week, etc.)? Or did you mean magic magic, that people use, etc., but magic that influences the world in slight, not flashy, ways?
Magic magic that influences the world in slight, not flashy ways was what I was thinking of.
OH!
So what if the subtle magic was being controlled somehow by the elderly main character, who stays in the background and doesn’t participate until he is forced to?
Seems a little too Gandalf-y at first glance.
True, I didn’t think of that.
22 – That’s a good idea! (By the way, I really love the idea of subtle magic!) Perhaps the elderly main character could be a person, (or creature) but who’s life is slowly revealed in parts throughout each section of the book?
21- Magic that is used by people but influences the world in subtly.
OK, so here’s what we have so far, with my own suggestions in parentheses:
A pair of twins (boy and girl, fifteen or so?)
One other (boy of about the same age?)
Older character, controlling magic (woman in her thirties?)
Set on Earth, subtle magic
Possibility of a romance
22,22.1- It doesn’t have to be Gandalf-y. When I thought of an older character, I thought of a woman, in her thirties maybe, and she’s not controlling ALL the magic, just some, ’cause there’s got to be an antagonist, you know. Maybe she doesn’t know she’s doing magic, or doesn’t want to help them (she could be kind of a recluse), and they have to convince her.
What about two evil characters and two good characters at the beginning, but by the end the lines between good and bad become more fuzzy?
26- That’s not a bad idea. Not bad at all. In fact, I quite like it. A lot. But I’m hesitant to plan too far into the story, as then it stops being quite so much fun. Still, I think it’s a nice goal.
All right, here’s what I think, given all the suggestions so far, plus my own preference. Feel free to tell me it’s horrible or make such additions or adjustments as you would like. I’m not attached. And if everyone thinks vanilla’s suggestion is lame, we can just take it out, but right now I’m putting it in because I like it.
On the evil side, we have the twins. They are a boy and a girl who appear to be in their mid-teens. Actually, though, I think they should maybe be older–a lot older, maybe, like by a hundred or so years, or maybe just a decade or so older. In any case, they are wise beyond their years and quite crafty. They report directly to the main antagonist. While they are twins, they shouldn’t be the telepathic type. Really close, sure, with maybe twinges of what’s happening to the other one, but those are more like suspicions or premonitions than telepathy. As far as physical appearance goes–I don’t care. They could be really similar-looking or radically different–twins in mind but not in body, or something–stunningly beautiful or extraordinarily ordinary…whatever.
On the good side, we have two characters–a boy in his mid-teens and an older woman. The former is pretty aware of what’s going on, and determined to make sure that good prevails, but he doesn’t have any control of magic. He’s madly dedicated and kind of naive in this respect. He’s one of the good side’s most valued agents.
The latter is an ordinary woman with an ordinary life. She goes to work every day, comes home, lives in an apartment building. She’s kind of a recluse. Her friends tired of her grouchy pessimism a while ago, and stopped inviting her to their parties or asking her out to coffee. She spends her evenings reading in her apartment and doing magic. Because she can do this, the good side wants her on their side, and send the boy to convince her.
Eventually the two parties meet, the boy falls in love with girl twin, and all the lines start to blur.
Thanks! That sounds like a good foundation.
I like this.
27-It sounds pretty good to me, but I’m thinking the ‘actually a hundred years older’ sounds somewhat cliche. I’ve just seen it a little too often.
I’m also thinking that if the twins report directly to a major villain (maybe one in a network or council of many more?) said villain should be a parental figure to the twins– much more difficult to lose for either side towards the end of the story (protagonist won’t kill her because of girl twin, naturally, twins won’t want her gone). Although, this parental figure should be too cunning and distant for en to show actual emotion about en’s children/nephewneice/whatever, but the twins will be incredibly attached to en.
Make sense? Feedback?
28- Yeah I agree on the first point. And the second, too.
SFTDP,
but I just thought: Magic should be an incredibly physically demanding process for this aged 30 woman-hence no large scale, and not too big on affecting the plot.
Not that I’m against having magic, but if we have it on a small scale then what will its use be? Or should it be kind of like Eragon (sorry, sorry!!!!) where she’s slowly mastering the magic and therefore can’t do anything amazing/super/impressive/whatever with it until the end?
I kind of thought she should be good at it and stuff, she just doesn’t really want to use it.
Yeah, I agree with Alice.
It will definitely have it’s uses, just not in an omnipotent manner-not so that she can dominate the plot, see.
Ooooooooo. This sounds exciting! I’ll add some stuff once people start writing if you like.
Hope this one doesn’t die like the others…
33 – I agree. Although this seems like the plan that most people are leaning towards, I don’t think that the magic should get in the way of the main plot. It should be an added thing, not the whole story. Only subtle magic. Nothing too supernatural.
33, 35- I agree, subtle magic.
Whenever people start mentioning subtle magic I think of the butterfly effect. Magic changing one small thing so that the end result is completely different. It wouldn’t take a lot of power–but you’d need to know exactly what you are changing, and what the effects would be for it to work. Or make things even worse. The older character would have to be able to ‘see’ or ‘sense’ the way things would go–sort of like seeing into the future, excepts that it’s vaguer at not set in stone. And more feelings-based, as opposed to ‘fall to the ground screaming as she has a vision’. Being able to see all these causes and effects could explain her pessimism.
You know what? She doesn’t even have it make these changes with magic–just ‘see’ what changes need to made. Then change them herself, in a thoroughly mundane way. That would make properly using magic that much more difficult, and she more reluctant to use it.
I like that idea a lot: that her magic consists of a special (and probably occasional) insight that enables her to see how to achieve certain desired ends through non-obvious but non-magical means.
I think I’ll use an idea like that (along with others) for my MuNaNoWriMo. Anybody who wants a teaser about my MuNaNoWriMo should head to BiP
34- It will. You know it will. There hasn’t been one yet that hasn’t died sooner or later. But we might finish before it dies, that’s something to hope for.
Sorry I haven’t been on for the past day, I agree with all of the ideas.
Well, I like most of the ideas so far, but I’m a bit iffy on the twins being older than they appear. I think it’s good that they’re wise beyond their years, but I feel like there should be some other reason for it than them just actually being older. (I can’t think of a good explanation for them being wise without getting too sci fi-y, but maybe they’ve had some special training since they were young?) Otherwise, everything sounds good.
40- Yeah, I just don’t want them to be like normal kids. I want them to be a lot less naive than the boy on the good side. But I don’t want him to be naive so much…not naive like Ian at least–like he knows what he’s doing and he has an understanding of what’s going on but he’s really idealistic…I don’t know how to explain it. I suppose I’ll just try to portray it when I write about him.
Can we start soon?
Depends on if we want to write out brief character outlines. Aside from that, we may be coming dangerously close to over planning-the idea is just to let it flow and (ideally) not know where it ends up. Whatever other people think.
42- I think we should start because we are starting to overplan. It’s much better if there are surprises.
37- Oooh, yes!
I agree with the idea that the twins shouldn’t be really supernatural–it seems like in this RRR, the magic should flavor the story instead of being the focus of the story. What about names?
Hey, have we decided time period yet? If it’s a magical sort of thing happening in our world, my vote is for 20th century sometime. Mayhaps it is a total fantasy world?
I shall join after MuNo is over. Right now schoolwork is taking over my life, but I really want to do MuNo, but I’ve been sick for a week.. so I’ll join in March, ne?
45- Oh, names… ugh. Can’t we just leave them to the first author? They always take so long.
46-Cool! Totally seconded!
42-I can write the character outlines! So long as I don’t have to write any background or stuff like that.
46- I thought it would just be now, but 20th century sometime works too. I don’t care. Only it’s got to be our world, there are too many fantasy worlds…
What about a fantasy world that is like our world but it’s understood that it isn’t our world? Because otherwise, we would have to explain why magic is here and there might be some kind of secret society…blah. 20th-21st century sounds good. Could the woman’s name be Mirabella?
Oh! Kind of like Gaia on my BiP book? I like that idea. Mirabella sounds good.
51- But I thought the magic was going to be a really uncommon thing. Like no one knew about it except the people directly involved in our plot.
OK then. I’m still trying to completely understand how magic works in this world we’re creating, but once the story gets started it probably won’t be any problem.
52 – I agree with that.
I agree with Alice. I mean, I’ve never been involved in a RRR before, but I think we should worry about the little details as we got along. Let’s not over plan much, and vanillabean, I don’t think that we need to choose names right away. Mirabella sounds good though. Sort of wisdom old but not ancient old.
Here’s what I envision the background being: 1980s in our world-modern enough to not need historical research, but not our item. The Order (good guys) are fighting against an unnamed evil, or at least something they claim is evil. Nothing is known about this ‘evil’ outside the Order except that its agents include a pair of twins. (worry about them later)
The Order’s most determined agent is a teenage boy. He works for the Order, as his father and mother did before him. He is wiling to go to any ends to accomplish his goals, and despite the odds, he usually succeeds. His dedication often blinds him to the greater picture though, and he can get easily sidetracked. His latest mission is to convince a woman named Mirabella to help the Order.
Mirabella is, as Alice said, ‘an ordinary woman with an ordinary life.’ Recluse, grouchy, pessimistic, no friends anymore. Goes to work and comes back to her apartment again. Not very interesting life, but, well, she has her own reasons for avoiding ‘interesting’. And for making sure her life stays that way. (I think she tried to do something big with her magic a long time ago and it backfired horribly. It’s meant for subtle usage, not theatrics.)
She thinks that the Order and the boy don’t know how magic works. It’s not flashy at all. She can just tell things sometimes, and know what to do to make what she wants happen. Except she can’t always do that because she doesn’t have the resources and some of the ‘suggestions’ her magic makes is just unrealistic.
That being said…I think it’s time we get something started.
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Mirabella stomped up all thirteen flights of stairs to her apartment, footsteps echoing in the stairwell. Of all the idiotic things her boss could propose! What on Earth made him think that undercutting his competitors would benefit the company? These sorts of things always backfired…But the boss didn’t know that. She did. And she wasn’t going to do a thing to interfere. Not this time. She wasn’t going to be the one to stand up, speak out, and take the fall.
She reached her apartment door and fumbled for the key. She jammed it in the lock. It stuck. Mirabella growled at it and jerked it to the side just so…Finally it was open. She sighed as she stepped into her small, cluttered apartment–a sigh of relief and exhaustion. Too much had happened today, and tomorrow promised to be just as bad. Nothing Mirabella could do about it, even. She would look forward to curling up in front of the plug-in fireplace with hot cocoa and a book. She readied a pot of boiling milk.
As she stood in front of the oven, directly opposite the sole window in the house, Mirabella had the uncanniest feeling of eyes watching her. Were she more superstitious, she might have thrown salt over her shoulder or crossed herself. As ot was, Mirabella was used ot uncanny feelings. And she knew enough not to ignore them. When the universe was trying to tell her somethings, it was best to sit and pay attention–then go back to ignoring it.
So Mirabella walked across to the window–five quick steps–and peered down thirteen stories to the busy street below. She scanned the sidewalk. Now who was watching her…There! Teh boy in the trench coat and big sunglasses, who could not possibly have done a more pathetic job of hiding.
What to do, what to do… Mirabella mused, looking down on him form her lofty vantage point. Their eyes met, and she jerked away. Yell at him form her window–it’d cause to much commotion. Jump down from a thirteen story height and show him what for–physically impossible. She wasn’t suicidal, thank you very much. Close the curtains–yes! Thank you, universe, you have actually provided me with a good option for once! Nothing to see here!
Curtains were closed, but Mirabella dared not move. After fifteen minutes, with her hot cocoa growing cold in her hands, she peeked through the blinds. He was still there. Ignoring him hadn’t worked. Mirabella’s eye twitched. She set down her cup, leapt over her pile of vintage National Geographics, and was out the door before you could say, “Go get ‘im, girl.” Jumping out a window might be too dangerous to even think about, but that was what stairs were for. Mirabella stomped down them, a smirk growing bigger and bigger on her face. This guy, whoever he was, was in for the scolding of his life.
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I’d write more, but looking at how much I’ve done already, I think I’d better let you guys have a turn. And my fingers have gotten tired. The mysterious watcher is supposed to be the good guy come to recruit her, but you can make him whatever if it fits.
38) Way to be optimistic Alice.
Let’s continue shall we?
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The figure had not moved from his position when Mirabella strode out the door of her apartment building. She lifted her chin with a smirk and motioned for the boy to join her: a gesture that the boy obeyed promptly. “You were looking for me boy?” she interrogated in a less then friendly manner. The stranger leveled her with a stare that would have been unnerving if Mirabella had not been confident that she was totally in control of the situation. “Yes. I was.” he answered softly. “My name is Rus. I’m here on behalf of the UMF*.” He held out his hand as if to greet her, but Mirabella simply stared at it as if it were suddenly covered with slime. “You must be mistaken.” she said coldly as she slowly backed away from the strange boy. “I assure you that I am not.” Rus argued. “We at the UMF request your service Mirabella.” At the sound of her name, the woman jumped and almost fell against her door. Fumbling with the knob, she finally pulled the door open under her suddenly sweaty palms and stumbled backwards into the lobby of her apartment building, refusing to turn her back on her mysterious visitor as she did so. Only when the door had swung shut over his solemn face did she catch her breath. Hardly a moment had passed when the receptionist at the front desk looked up and gave her a cheery wave. “Well hello Mirabella.” she said. “It was so nice of you to empty out your apartment at such a short notice. I do hope your new house is as nice as it sounds.” Mirabella’s knees trembled and she leaned against one of the fake trees by the wall for support. “Oh, yes. My new house you say?” she replied faintly. “Why, yes.” the receptionist answered with a frown. “Are you alright dear? You look pale. Would you like me to get you something?” Mirabella shook her head mutely and forced a rather thin smile. She hurried past the woman at the desk after a polite goodbye and caught the elevator up to the thirteenth floor. She didn’t think she could trust her feet to remain steady on the stairs. The elevator doors seemed to open in slow motion as Mirabella walked out of the elevator and headed down her hall, trying to appear as normal as possible. She paused by her door and gripped the knob, attempting to steady her breathing. Whatever she would see beyond this door was not going to shake her. She would be ready for it. Her courage thoroughly built, Mirabella twisted her fist and pushed into her apartment. One glance left her doubled over on the floor, mouth gaping open in disbelief. Everything was gone. Her walls were blank. Her furniture was gone. Her plants were gone. Her stove that had so recently warmed up a pot of milk was gone. Her entire life shipped away in one instant. The circumstance was so shocking that Mirabella could not even muster any tears. She leaned against her wall helplessly and put her head in her hands as she gasped in shock and disbelief.
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* UMF stands for Universal Magic Foundation. If y’all can think of something better, you can use that instead.
Rus is short for Lazarus. It sounded good at the time. Any better ideas?
After this part, I was kind of thinking about the kid teleporting into her room or something. You know, kind of introducing the magic part. But whatever the next writer wants to do is fine.
Any suggestions? Was that OK? Feel free to change anything and everything!
The Order is a great name. Unfortunately, it’s already been taken. It’s the name of a secret society in A Great and Terrible Beauty, and I really wouldn’t like to break plagiarism laws. I’m really sorry, Fantasy Fan.
“The Order” has been the name of any number of secret societies, I don’t think any one book can claim on it.
By the way, as someone suggested earlier, it might make the story easier to read if you use “replies” for commentary or questions. That way all the posts on the left margin can be the story.
Huzzah! Story! I love story.
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She looked around a second time. Maybe she had missed something. Maybe she was confused-something had gone wrong and there was a massive mistake. Her breaths shortening, she dashed to the closet in a few long steps, nearly falling forward in her haste, and she ripped the door open.
Emptiness. Everything that had ever enjoyed housing in that closet had been stripped away. Any books, shoes or clothes were gone. Everything of hers was gone. She reached, hands quivering into the back wall of the closet. There was one place they couldn’t have looked. She slowly pulled the knob nailed to the wall backwards, revealing an empty drawer. Empty. Just as empty as she felt. “Not even…” she whispered to herself, “not even those books…” Stumbling over to the wall, she slid to the floor in a muffled moan. It wasn’t possible. Something wasn’t right.
She sucked her head out of her puddle of confusion to catch a dark figure in the bedroom doorway. Uttering an empty scream, her lips trembled as she tripped over her feet backwards, falling back to the floor. She hadn’t even had time to question how he had the time to get ahead of her into the apartment.
“Who are you? What do you want?” She screamed. “I… I’ll call the police!”
“Please,” the figure said calmly, walking into the light, and removing his sunglasses. The face was unmistakable: it was the boy from outside. “I think you’re jumping to conclusions, Mirabella. Everything is secure. Safe. Even those books you’re so worried about?”
Mirabella breathing shortened to shuddering gasps.
“How… how do you know about-?”
“Mirabella, I’m asking you again not to worry. Everything will make sense in a moment.”
The young man grinned.
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Yeah… someone else can write about the UMF…
I’m replying to Gim’s simply because it’s the most recent, as very little of what I have to say relates solely and directly to his post.
I don’t think they should be the UMF. Magic is supposed to play a small role. Which I must admit is belied rather by the fact that everything in her apartment just vanished…but we can fix that later.
If that happened in our universe, you’d think “impossible.” Maybe in the story’s universe, you’d wonder “who could afford that much magic?”
UMF sounds kind of, well, silly. And the magic does need to be more subtle. Maybe Mirabella can scold Rus for using so much magic?
So what did you have in mind for magic? If we want less magic, then by all means we should change it! So this is going to be the kind of thing where there isn’t any in your face magic, just like of in the side lines? But what does that mean exactly? For example, what kind of magic is Mirabella practicing? Or is she not really practicing it and she just has magic without knowing? Perhaps you mean that this will be sort of like when Harry Potter could make his hair magically grow back without meaning to and blow up his Aunt on accident? Or something else entirely? I think I’m just confused as to what y’all want out of this story… (and I’m also embarrassed about the UMF catastrophe
)
Don’t be embarrassed. It’s no big deal.
Mirabella does know she has magic, but it’s a subtle knowing sort of magic, a little like divination maybe (I can’t recall exactly what was decided and I don’t care to go that far back at the moment). The main plot of the story will not be based around magic, or if it is, the actual use of magic will be limited and subtle. Things that you wouldn’t notice–not physical things. The good side has some higher goal, and they think Mirabella can help them achieve it, because she has magic (which is not a thing normal people know about. They’ve done their research). Mirabella doesn’t want to help–it’s taxing and she doesn’t see why she should bother.
I believe what was decided upon was being able to tell the flow of causality and being able to effect it. Basically, she can see what will happen if a specific set of actions will happen, but has to ensure those actions happen herself, non-magically. Taht can sometimes be difficult, so using magic isn’t always practical.
Oh I see. so she can see what COULD happen, depending on what she decides to do?
SFTDP. but couldn’t that essentially be not magical at all? I mean, she could just have good intuition.
I’m going to (try to) introduce the twins
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MEANWHILE, IN AN OLD, ABANDONED THEATER…
“You idiots!” the shadows cried. A hand, pale as snow flew out and nearly struck the boy, then stopped, and returned to the shadows. “How could you have let Lazarus escape! He was crucial to our plan!”
“B-But Master,” said the girl, “we-”
“Shut it, Oblyx!” the shadows growled. “Now, I need to have that boy! He could ruin the whole plan! Now, Oblyx,”
“Yes Master?”
“You will lure the boy here, and Efren,” a hand pointed to the boy, “will trap and restrain him.”
“Aww, why me?” whined the boy, but something stirred in the shadow, and the boy fell silent. “Now go!” said the shadow, and the boy and girl slipped out of the theater.
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Sorry it’s so short.
Dear lord, it can’t die down on the low that quickly.
58-Do you mind if we move your section to a little bit later in the story, so we can fit in more about the encounter b/t Rus and Mirabella? I feel it would seem a bit less… confusing and loose-ended that way.
Sure. PEOPLE, COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Calm down. It’s not dead yet. If I wasn’t so terrible at writing/lacking inspiration, I’d write some.
Hm. I’m not sure about this…
I don’t want to be a control freak (well, I do want to, but I try to contain my natural control-freak impulses), but so far the use of magic seems incredibly mundane. I mean, Universal Magic Foundation… I really thought it would be a bit more mysterious.
OK OK! The UMF was bad, I agree, but I couldn’t think of anything else at the time.
*head desk* Tis just a name I say! Easily changeable!
No, no! Don’t feel bad at all – in fact, even if no one else does, for the record I do like the name.
I just don’t like there being a specific group at all (or at least, openly) devoted to magic. See my post below, which I posted before I saw yours. Sorry.
Please! We’re not here to criticize, nor tell ourselves our ideas are bad. Don’t worry about it.
(shh. So do I, but we must keep it to ourselves, musn’t we? *deranged grin*)
Hey, we haven’t really talked much about the UMF in the writing yet. Even kiwimucher said we could change up the mention of UMF a bit. Now’s your chance to step up and mold it-while the piece is still fresh.
I agree. So I guess I’ll just have to be a control freak with you.
But I mean, although I do want to be in a RRR, and I don’t really like the idea of so much fantasy. The UMF is really pushing it on that level. It’s not a bad idea, not a bad one at all. But I don’t like it fitting into the context of the story and the plot we’ve “made up” so far. Now, obviously stuff can change and we can be flexible and move it around so that fantasy can be a main thing. But in my humble opinion, I would prefer if we didn’t. Subtle magic was the original thing, and although I’m open to new ideas and such, I think we should stick with that. The magic, if directly brought up at all, should be interested much later in the plot.
Just my two cents.
I agree with all that has been said. I also don’t think the furniture should vanish or there should be teleportation or anything–that’s kind of the more flashy magic that we weren’t going to use, I thought. But all that we need is a wee bit of cutting/editing, and I’m willing to step aside if the majority disagrees with me. (See how well I’m restraining my control-freak tendencies?)
Mayhaps Mirabella is one who requires a lot of magic to be spent on convincing her, considering she’s so important to said unnamed magical group.
Well, the furniture disappearing seems like a bit much, but possibly, Rus could teleport a short distance once, because he doesn’t really understand the implications of magic. And of course, we’d have Mirabella tell him off for it.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as all “UMF SUX! CHANGE NAME NOW!”
Don’t worry too much. We all overreacted a bit….
It’s OK.
Do not hesitate to put your opinion out, because it’s typically absolutely right.
Som’n gunna write? Preferably about the encounter betwixt Mirabella and Rus first, so the whole story doesn’t feel to loose-ended.
I would, but I don’t know what to write about exactly.
My vote is for what’s going on conversation-wise with Rus and Mirabella-trying to break the news to her, etc. about said cryptic organization.
Me too. One of the more experienced writers should do it. *coughnotmecough*
I may not be able to write much in here now. I mean, not only because of time constraints and the fact that I’m not a very good writer, but also because my schedule is just crazy right now. Maybe I’ll try to join in on this later.
I think I can manage it, but I’m not sure where we’re starting from. Has Mirabella spotted the boy outside?
64- I think that’d be a good place to go from.
Are we cutting out the vanishing furniture?
I’ve been following this, even if I haven’t done anything with it. I’ll try to join soon, but I lack motivation, usually. Meh.
So. I’m continuing from FantasyFan’s post, number 54.
*
Mirabella reached the bottom of the stairs, somewhat out of breath now, and strode out into the street. The kid was still there, wrapped in a coat that seemed two sizes too big.
“Well?” she said, in the polite, slightly too cheerful tone that was more effective at driving people away than crankiness and dire threats. “Something interesting?”
The kid returned her smile, at least with his mouth; his eyes were inscrutable beneath the wraparound sunglasses. “Not really, no. How long have you lived here?”
Mirabella snorted. “Look, if you’re following me around, you’ve definitely got a few lessons to learn. I mean, trench coat? Sunglasses? Spies and stalkers typically look like normal people.”
*
Some thoughts on magic in this story (we don’t have to use this, but it’s an idea I like):
I think that at its heart, magic is the same everywhere, but people tend to use nonsense words and props, knucklebones or Tarot cards or magic circles or spirit guides, as a sort of mental crutch, to rationalize it and make it fit into the world. Because human brains have been wired for a strict progression of cause and effect, ever since we started walking upright, and magic is something that defies natural physical laws: it is an effect without a cause, except the intent of the user. It’s technically possible to do magic just by thinking about it, but seeing the effects messes with the human brain on a deep, subconscious level and may eventually drive you mad. That’s why magic tends to be subtle; it’s easier to rationalize a sudden change in the weather or an intuitive hunch than a fireball tossed across the street.
There are… other beings that come to magic more naturally, but most of them are long dead, sleeping away the Age, or imprisoned in little pockets of misfit Time. Those that remain around the borders of our world have learned to look and talk like humans and/or animals, at least enough to allay suspicion. They tend to view humanity with a curious mixture of envy, fear and reluctant admiration, cloaked beneath a layer of feigned contempt.
Oh. I guess my post didn’t make it.
Really? What did you say?
No, no. I just meant, “oh look, we’re cutting a section of the story.”
Well, I think the consensus was that the vanishing furniture was not quite “subtle” enough. But we can put a modified version back in.
It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t really mind.
The boy seemed unperturbed, or at least, if he was bothered, Mirabella couldn’t tell from the lower two thirds of his face. “You don’t know that I’m following you,” he said. “It’s just a hunch.” He placed soft emphasis on the last word.
Mirabella gave him a quick glance. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Just a hunch.”
The boy smiled, with an air of finality.
“But you are, aren’t you?”
He seemed taken aback. “Maybe.”
“Why?” she demanded, with a sinking feeling.
“Can we go inside?” said the boy.
Mirabella stared, wondering how many cliched movies this kid had to have watched to think this spy stuff was effective. “Fine,” she said.
They took the elevator up. Mirabella had always preferred the stairs, but the boy seemed to think the elevator afforded more mystery, and didn’t wait for Mirabella’s opinion. He knew which floor she lived on.
As they rode up, Mirabella stared at the little blinking lights above the door. The boy stared at Mirabella.
She opened the door to the apartment and stepped over the pile of National Geographics. Her cocoa was stone cold and had a thin white film floating on it. She poured it down the drain.
“Tea?” she asked politely.
The boy looked up from the bookshelf, where he was examining her photographs. “No thank you.”
Mirabella put the kettle on anyways, casting a glance at the boy, who was now reading the titles of all her books, still wearing the inscrutable shades.
Mirabella opened the door to her apartment
Oh, never mind that last line. That was thee beginning of something else. I replaced it.
“All right,” she said, clearing a chair that had previously been inhabited by a large stack of unopened mail. “Sit down. Why are you following me?”
The boy opened his mouth to protest, but changed tack. He sat down gingerly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and removed the sunglasses, to reveal brown eyes and a frank, open face of a sixteen-year-old.
Oh, darn! Must go to school.
Well heavens! Where did the people go! alas. This seems to happen whenever the RRR goes off of the main page.
Sorry I’ve been gone. School is evil and demented and a lot of other choice words.
Well. This kid is amusing, if not very weird. What is going to tell her? Erm… “We know you have magical powers and we want to recruit you”? If I was Mirabella, I wouldn’t do it. So they have to have some insentive. *brainstorms* Well… her power is to see possibilities to reach certain gains rights? What is Mirabella’s goal? to survive? What if sees that if she doesn’t go with him that the enemy will kill her or something? Well, gotta go now. Bye!
Don’t die thread!
“Hello, Miss ((Does Mirabella have a last name?)). I’m here with the United Ma-”
“I know what you’re here with. Boy, their standards are slipping. Last time, they at least had the decency to send someone over 18. The answer’s no, by the way. Now, why don’t we start with your name?”
The boy obviously was startled. He clearly had expected it to be a suave spy mission where the person being recruited has their doubts but never really thinks of quitting. “I’m, um uh, Lazarus.”
((Sorry it’s not terribly long or good. Feel free to throw it out if you like.))
“Spring from a tomb lately, Lazarus?” Mirabella asked coyly.
The boy stared at her in a way that made his forehead bunch up and his mouth do a crooked spasm as the allusion whizzed over his head. He must have missed that Sunday school lesson.
“No…” he answered with a frown. (continue with what he has been doing. Which I don’t know exactly.)
(yeah. Not long. And you don’t have to keep it either. I just couldn’t resist. It cracked me up.)
So, uh, this is dead. At risk of sounding annoying, come back people! (I would continue it, but I have no idea how to…)
Wow. You’re right. It did die. This is sad.
Hm. I still remember the days when RRRs popped out of the woodwork and you couldn’t get them to stop. (oldbiesnark)
I think in our attempt to make magic subtle, we made it a bit dull. That’s what killed this thing.
Starting over so soon seems pointless, though- it’ll just be an endless series of restarts if we do that.
Now, Lazarus… what have we decided about him?
I’ll c+p FantasyFan’s post.
The Order’s most determined agent is a teenage boy. He works for the Order, as his father and mother did before him. He is wiling to go to any ends to accomplish his goals, and despite the odds, he usually succeeds. His dedication often blinds him to the greater picture though, and he can get easily sidetracked. His latest mission is to convince a woman named Mirabella to help the Order.
Mirabella is, as Alice said, ‘an ordinary woman with an ordinary life.’ Recluse, grouchy, pessimistic, no friends anymore. Goes to work and comes back to her apartment again. Not very interesting life, but, well, she has her own reasons for avoiding ‘interesting’. And for making sure her life stays that way. (I think she tried to do something big with her magic a long time ago and it backfired horribly. It’s meant for subtle usage, not theatrics.)
She thinks that the Order and the boy don’t know how magic works. It’s not flashy at all. She can just tell things sometimes, and know what to do to make what she wants happen. Except she can’t always do that because she doesn’t have the resources and some of the ’suggestions’ her magic makes is just unrealistic.
Both characters have a number of flaws and sympathetic traits, but Mirabella seems to have more of the former than the latter. We should perhaps make her less crotchety and unpleasant as the story goes on (character development FTW!) and hint at some things that made her crotchety and unpleasant.
Lazarus is an interesting chap. Despite his apparent incompetence at spying, he succeeds more often than not. This leads me to believe that the UMF/Order/Whatever Caking Name We Pick Eventually is fairly small (otherwise it would choose someone a bit more adept), or else he has some hidden talent that makes him good at this sort of thing. It would be expected for him to have some kind of aptitude with death, healing or resurrection from his name, so that’s as good a reason as any not to write it that way.
So… what Enemy is the Whatever Caking Name We Pick Eventually fighting? I think we should leave it sort of ambiguous- have it speak through some kind of proxy, maybe a magician that it’s driven mad and/or possessed, like Orannis through Nick in Abhorsen. But I believe the original idea for the Enemy was to have it not as evil as the WCNWPE claims… so perhaps it’s more of a symbiosis that seems like a possession at first glance. And the WCNWPE may demonstrate certain unpleasant tendencies later.
76- Oh, yes, character development is a must. Mirabella can’t stay grouchy and pessimistic for an entire book.
I’m pretty sure the WCNWPE is somewhat small. I think Lazarus’s main strength is not his skill, but his determination and powers of persuasion. He thinks it’s fun to dress up as a spy and use all sorts of cliched techniques in his missions, but when it comes down to the important bits, he throws it all away, and that’s when he’s really good. The WCNWPE doesn’t watch his tactics; all they know is that he usually succeeds, and that’s all that matters.
I think we have to be careful not to end up making a complete switch, where the enemy ends up being the good guy and vice versa–the point is for them to sort of meet in the middle, so there’s not much to choose between them. Both are pretty bad, but they both have good elements to them. I like POSOC’s idea of symbiosis though.
lol. Sounds great!
We should get writing… *wants someone with an idea to go*
Holy snap! I just realized that I was the first to post since March 7th! *sob* This is ridiculous!
Yeah… So would someone care to continue it?
Do you think that the problem with RRRs now is that people just keep waiting for someone else to write instead of themselves?
78.1.1.1- I think the problem with RRRs now is that we have a different crowd, a less writing-y one. Sure, they write, but if you look at the writing threads now vs. writing threads two years ago, there’s a big difference. RPGs have replaced the RRRs, and people can’t be as dedicated to both, and they like to roleplay. Most of the RRRs were either in full swing or thoroughly dead by the time the current generation came along. Lastly, in the past, RRRs tended to be supported by a few very invested inviduals–You, me, POSOC, Meow, and E2MB off the top of my head, but there have been others. Unfortunately, we got busy. E2MB left, Meow couldn’t be relied on, POSOC grew out of it or got too wrapped up in school or something, and when nearly everyone from the Golden Days of RRRs sort of vanished or grew away, my dedication seemed kind of misspent–especially since I have given up on writing most of the time. The thing about RRRs, is they have always died. The few that were finished, were finished back then, in the Golden Days. That crowd was the one to hold up the RRRs in our generation, as there was a different one for the Original RRR and the following ones. Maybe there’ll be another generation that will perform the same office in the future, but in the meantime–there’s not much point.
The latter thing for me, I’m afraid. (skool is so horrible) Although I was always a bit too much of a control freak to share stories with other people.
I’m sad. Etheterre seems silly now, Terraformed rife with deus ex machina… yet it seemed like such a great achievement at the time when we finished them. And it really was- writing them was amazing and fun. But now I can’t re-read them without cringing. I feel like the person who wrote them is gone, and in his place is a sour “old” (16) shell who glares at everything with beady little critic’s eyes. I’ve become one of the oldbies who ruins everybody’s fun.
I wonder why the current generation are less writerly? Vixen in the Eyes of the Moon, Penty, etc. are all gone, Ebeth and Jadestone visit rarely…
Maybe I’ll go back in time and become Grant O.
Minions! Fetch me a TARDIS!
I know, see! I tried so hard for so long, but now when I look back on the stories they were not very good. Well, I never thought they were, really. But now I no longer think they are worth saving. Maybe it’s because I’ve moved on, to better, more well-written and stunningly beautiful, thought-provoking stories. I’m not reading generic YA fantasies anymore…and next to Aegypt and Folk of the Air and Gormenghast, The Sea Roc and Terraformed seem incredibly juvenile and trivial.
I know exactly what you mean, about being an oldbie. Isn’t it funny? I used to be so scared of them, all the snarky fifteen-year-olds who were so much wiser and more hardened than me, always complaining about the posting rate and the way things aren’t the same. But now I am one! Pretty soon I’ll vanish into legend, probably. I wonder how long it’ll take before my spot at the top of the posting list is usurped. Oh gosh, it all seems so young and innocent. I think I’m growing out of the MuseBlog. But I know I won’t really, as long as the people I still have some sort of connection to remain.
Alice: Very few people will ever write as well as John Crowley, Peter S. Beagle, and Mervyn Peake, but writing can still be worthwhile for them.
Still, to everything there is a season. A time to write, and a time to read. Maybe this is your time for reading.
Yeah, I know what both of y’all mean. I was really gung ho about Etheterre the first time I read it but when I went back over it like a year or something later, it was like the life was sucked out of it.
And the Searoc… I just love that thing. I know it isn’t all that great of a piece of writing, but that was what got me really interested in writing as a hobby and, I mean, it’s got good memories. And parts of it make me smile.
And about being on MB for a while… it really is weird. It’s kind of like life I suppose, how everyone says that we will sooner or later become our parents.
Sea Roc- It’s too bad it ended before I got the guts to post on MuseBlog. I really wanted to write on that thing. It’s got character. I think perhaps the sequel should be written, instead of editing it. I feel sad just leaving it there. It doesn’t even have a chance of being published, and if it did, nobody’s editing it anyway. There. I said it. I think we should return to the land of pirates and try to finish Ren’s story.
And I was thinking of posting this on the actual Sea Roc thread as well. Maybe I’ll post something there in a couple of days.
The Sea Roc story is fundamentally unsatisfactory, in my opinion. This is not because it’s bad or whatever (though…it is. Sorry. Having written about half of it, I can say that), but because in its very early and formative days, it took a turn in a direction that I didn’t like, and I tried to wrest it back to the original path, but without any luck–now I can hardly remember what the original path looked like. I stuck with it until the end, but I’m not going any further with it. I have been unhappy with that story since the third? second? day of its existence, and I’m not going back. That said, I wish you the best of luck if you do try to continue it, and I will definitely read it when you finish.
Well, I was hoping for some support, but yeah, the story did take a strange turn with the Unknowables and such. Ah, well. I guess it was worth a shot.