nano ramblings, part deux
Oct. 25th, 2008 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ontologyFirst off: Here I am on NaNo! Friend me, or however it works in those parts, and we can keep tabs on each other. (Also, my user-picture has me missing my hot pink hair all of a sudden. Perhaps after my cut and going strawberry-blonde-red, streaks could potentially come back into being.)
So: when we left off, Evangeline Nox was a probably London librarian around the turn of the century with a strange proclivity for slaying vampires -- and also a vampire ally, for some reason. There's an underground vampire city, and maybe Tam-Lin? I don't even know. (I am getting too attached to this Tam-Lin idea, except I haven't the least idea what it would mean, in terms of the story.) There's a Possibly Secret Organisation which recruits her, though she is reluctant, to say the least. There may also be problems with the government using vampires for things, but I am wary of teh epic (though it makes sense).
Originally one of my story problems was whether or not the world at large had any idea that vampires existed, and while I love the idea of thinkgs lurking in the dark that nobody else even believes are real, my universe has since proven that idea wrong. Apparently there are various elements of the supernatural in this world -- magic is prominant, but not especially strong; it's the sort of thing you'd use to keep from getting soaked in a rainstorm, or keep your keys from going missing, or for lighting dark places. There are also garden fairies, which are not proper fairies, as Evy will firmly tell you, because they're little and sit under mushrooms and are either pests or silly or benignly beneficial, like spiders -- they tend to make things grow better, and sometimes speed magic along. No-one really knows if there are real proper Sidhe, and neither do I, and I doubt that will figure prominently into the story. There's a lot of that, really -- things which may be real magic and which may just be old superstition. And possibly -- I am just now thinking of this -- recent upsets in terms of magic, magical folk, old customs, because of the Industrial Revolution? (How would this affect London Beneath?) I've always loved the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the fascinating upheaval, the old world changing into the new so very abruptly. This is a good chance to play with that a little.
As I mentioned previously, Evy is the eldest of three sisters. The middle sister is Camilla, the most pragmatic of the three, who tends to mother them all and be fondly appalled at the others' more absentminded and impetuous ways. (Although she is quite stubborn and impetuous herself, silly girl.) Briony is the youngest, fifteen or sixteen, still a bit the baby of the family, and quite possibly the feistiest of the three. I'm really unsure as to their ultimate roles in the story, other than being important to Evangeline, a driving force, as it were -- they're a very close-knit family. Also they exist to fill the three sisters archetype, which I have always loved, and perhaps the three-sistersness will turn out to be significant.
The Nox parents I am having considerably more difficulty with. I am fairly certain about the father, in a vague sort of way; he seems to have some sort of job that involves him reading a lot, and working in a home office. The mother is extremely vague, and vascillates between being dead and not being dead, and I keep leaning more towards her being dead, because she just won't come into focus, either as a character or a part of the story. Anyway if they had a proper mother why would Camilla feel the need to mother everyone else? (Including their father, I imagine. She probably goes into his office and makes sure he remembers to eat -- he tends to get lost in his work.) But then I am more than a bit annoyed, because I would like to have just one fictional family where nobody is dead or an antagonist, oh bother.
I really am beginning to be excited about this project, and writing it, however, so that's a relief. Only it seems to be missing all of the really crucial information: the goal of the story, for one thing. There is a Concept, but I don't know what the climax is. Or how people get into the positions they need to be in for the story to happen.
Right, church in the morning, so sleep now.
So: when we left off, Evangeline Nox was a probably London librarian around the turn of the century with a strange proclivity for slaying vampires -- and also a vampire ally, for some reason. There's an underground vampire city, and maybe Tam-Lin? I don't even know. (I am getting too attached to this Tam-Lin idea, except I haven't the least idea what it would mean, in terms of the story.) There's a Possibly Secret Organisation which recruits her, though she is reluctant, to say the least. There may also be problems with the government using vampires for things, but I am wary of teh epic (though it makes sense).
Originally one of my story problems was whether or not the world at large had any idea that vampires existed, and while I love the idea of thinkgs lurking in the dark that nobody else even believes are real, my universe has since proven that idea wrong. Apparently there are various elements of the supernatural in this world -- magic is prominant, but not especially strong; it's the sort of thing you'd use to keep from getting soaked in a rainstorm, or keep your keys from going missing, or for lighting dark places. There are also garden fairies, which are not proper fairies, as Evy will firmly tell you, because they're little and sit under mushrooms and are either pests or silly or benignly beneficial, like spiders -- they tend to make things grow better, and sometimes speed magic along. No-one really knows if there are real proper Sidhe, and neither do I, and I doubt that will figure prominently into the story. There's a lot of that, really -- things which may be real magic and which may just be old superstition. And possibly -- I am just now thinking of this -- recent upsets in terms of magic, magical folk, old customs, because of the Industrial Revolution? (How would this affect London Beneath?) I've always loved the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the fascinating upheaval, the old world changing into the new so very abruptly. This is a good chance to play with that a little.
As I mentioned previously, Evy is the eldest of three sisters. The middle sister is Camilla, the most pragmatic of the three, who tends to mother them all and be fondly appalled at the others' more absentminded and impetuous ways. (Although she is quite stubborn and impetuous herself, silly girl.) Briony is the youngest, fifteen or sixteen, still a bit the baby of the family, and quite possibly the feistiest of the three. I'm really unsure as to their ultimate roles in the story, other than being important to Evangeline, a driving force, as it were -- they're a very close-knit family. Also they exist to fill the three sisters archetype, which I have always loved, and perhaps the three-sistersness will turn out to be significant.
The Nox parents I am having considerably more difficulty with. I am fairly certain about the father, in a vague sort of way; he seems to have some sort of job that involves him reading a lot, and working in a home office. The mother is extremely vague, and vascillates between being dead and not being dead, and I keep leaning more towards her being dead, because she just won't come into focus, either as a character or a part of the story. Anyway if they had a proper mother why would Camilla feel the need to mother everyone else? (Including their father, I imagine. She probably goes into his office and makes sure he remembers to eat -- he tends to get lost in his work.) But then I am more than a bit annoyed, because I would like to have just one fictional family where nobody is dead or an antagonist, oh bother.
I really am beginning to be excited about this project, and writing it, however, so that's a relief. Only it seems to be missing all of the really crucial information: the goal of the story, for one thing. There is a Concept, but I don't know what the climax is. Or how people get into the positions they need to be in for the story to happen.
Right, church in the morning, so sleep now.
