Archive for the Category »Kingdom of Raydin «
I had this plan for my MC in Diamond Crier–she has a serious crush on a guy that’s a little out of her age range (which, of course, he doesn’t return) but there’s a boy her age that’s keen on her. She partly knows it but is a bit too focused on Fash (the older guy) to really care.
I wrote his initial entrance scene I think it was last week. He just kind of made an appearance, noticed her fumbling with some food and that was it. Not a fantastically good-looking boy but he’s not something to sneer at either. So here I am, trudging along during my normal writing time last night, getting the scene ready for their actual introduction when splat! Another guy drops some food on her shoe.
Now I did want that to happen but it wasn’t something I was going to dwell on and he was going to be a guy that Sabina (the MC) didn’t pay much mind to other than he just dirtied her shoe. But noooooooooooo. He had to go and make his presence known and has completely foiled the meeting of the original boy and Sabina. Nope, she’s telling me. She doesn’t want the blonde no-name. She wants the overgrown teddy bear that’s just as clumsy with food as she is. WTF? Where did he come from?
Not that I’m upset or anything. Really, I’m not. I just follow the writing, wherever it may go but I didn’t expect this at all. Talk about a wrench in my spokes. Although I can’t help but feel excited when something like this happens because, to me anyway, it means it was meant to be there, in that moment. I’m kind of jonsing to know just where all of this goes. It could rightly change the course of my story, at least in that relationship respect.
I’ve been thinking about it lately and I don’t think ‘Diamond Crier’ really represents my work since it took a turn for the sardonic. Don’t get me wrong. I do like that title but it better represented the work when it was more on the serious side. It really is a trivial thing to be worrying about, especially at this stage of the game but as I read more and more agent blogs and how they talk about accurately portraying your work in your query, I can’t help but think on it (and convince myself I’m doing it as a means of preparation and not procrastination). It’ll remain Diamond Crier for now, just for reference’s sake but by query it’ll have a title that more accurately depicts the story.
I’m thinking ‘Ugly Orange Dress.’ For now, anyway. See, in the Diamond Crier world, they have a week-long festival called Western Wane that celebrates, for simplicity’s sake, the autumnal equinox. It’s the end of the harvest, the sun becoming less and less present in the sky, the brightness of the western sky dwindles quicker . . . and so on. During the public festivities there’s a particular method of dress that’s meant to mimic the setting sun. No, not waning clothing! The women wear full dresses in their sunset shade of choice while men wear matching vests, cumber buns, ties and other standout accessories.
If you haven’t checked out a sunset recently, these aren’t exactly subtle colors. They’re very vibrant and very pretty up in the sky. I’ll even say that I do like to wear orange and yellow tops. The shirt I’m wearing right now could be deemed fluorescent salmon. I like bright colors, especially in the summer. But only in shirts. Anything more and it’s a little much. The women wear dresses that are head to toe vibrant, rich, single color pieces that while represent a sunset symbolically, look rather . . . ick on the person. Well, most of them anyway. They have choices of yellow, orange, deep red and violet (the latter two for the dark end of the set). Before Sabina got to the Giver’s castle, her mother dressed her in yellow to “match” her hair. Once she got to the castle it was a rich, pumpkin color orange. Can you imagine that in a whole dress???
The thing is, that’s the point. They’re not fashion statements (unless you’re of a much higher class). It’s a symbolic ritual.
Still wondering what the word “Previ” is? Well look no further than the lovely Cirellio who got it right on the first go!
“Previ” is short for “previous.” They’re ancient beings and I wanted something to convey that without using the word ‘Ancient’ because, to me anyway, it’s just so overused. Previ, in my opinion, sounds a bit more upbeat and less serious than Ancient and at least people won’t think they’re vampires since it’s an often used word in those stories. See? I told you it was much, much simpler than N-Laigh! The things you can do when you hack words in half.
Now for a little background–
The Previes were once human in a neighboring kingdom (whose name escapes me, I want to say it’s something like Lorvietha but I can’t remember the spelling) who were each born with one distinct power bestowed upon them by the stars who are, regardless of location, powers from above (different kingdoms worship different “gods” but the stars and Mother Cosmos are constants throughout). When the Previes discovered that they had such powers, they harnessed them and learned to control them for the betterment of not only themselves but anyone that sought them out. The ruler of that kingdom wasn’t too nice of a guy so the Previes decided to compensate.
When the ruler found out, he got cranky. The gods were supposed to give him powers, not the plebes so exiled they were because powers in someone else that wouldn’t adhere to his word were pretty useless. So off they went along with anyone that sought them out and came to them for help or protection. They and their followers founded the Kingdom of Raydin where they ruled, jointly, amidst a war between the new and the old kingdoms until it was time for them to leave the plane of the living.
So the posts are slightly sporadic and a bit far apart but at least I’m continuing it. That’s what counts. To see the deal with this, check out this post. Actually, a good excuse for the sporadic game would be that I had fewer mutated words than I thought and the ones I do have are buried in the writing. I’m not much of a note-taker as I write so anything reoccurring, or vocabulary, gets lost in the mix until the edit. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The word this time around is–
Previ (plural Previes, short ‘e,’ long ‘i’)
These kind-of-dead-but-not-really beings exist in a mirror set in the Mountain of Past. They’re the ones that bestow the gifts to the Giver when the changing comes. They’re the original founders of the Kingdom of Raydin and had their individual powers in life.
So, what’s the root? If N-Laigh could be guessed, this one’s ten times easier than that. I’ll give you a hint. I wanted to deviate from a commonly word used meaning the same thing. I also didn’t want to insinuate they were blood drinkers of any sort.
Well, I’ve had a rather blatant shift in tone in Diamond Crier. It just decided to tell me to go screw myself and shifted. The thing is, it’s not like I didn’t see this coming. The other three novels have a similar tone, kind of snarky, a little humorous with a little serious but balanced. This one was supposed to be pure serious and I fought the snark incessantly. I don’t know why I wanted to maintain a different voice, maybe because of a “should” I had, that this story “should” sound like this. Or perhaps it was because of the original pieces I wrote for the story. They were very serious, and very dark, and so I began writing the story around those two pieces of short fiction.
The thing is, logic came into play on the dark aspects. Like I mentioned in a previous post (I think), my evil overlord can’t abuse the Criers because they won’t manufacture tears like they should and they’ll die a lot sooner than he wanted them to. So the dark toned down. Then when I started reading Rachel Vater’s blog , she kept asking questions like, “When was the last time you recommended something dark and dreary all the way through to a friend?” And I went, “well I like the dark and dreary, but I see your point.” Misery loves company but how many people read for the misery? Unless it’s Misery?
