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| Thread: The twilight of the gods | |
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Nidhgrin
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baking cookies from stardust
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posted December 10, 2006 08:14 PM |
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Edited by Nidhgrin at 20:16, 10 Dec 2006.
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The twilight of the gods
I used to write bits and pieces of shortstories every now and then in the past, but never quite got past a couple of pages in length. One story was different, because for some reason the plot just played itself out inside my mind with no more effort required than just thinking about it. All I had to do was take some time to write it down.
When I started writing, I added about a page every two or three months or so. That was all the time I could/wanted to invest in it back then. But then my Heroes 4 CD got scratched bad, and I couldn't use the map editor anymore, which meant no more drawing new story maps 
With the two maps I had already drawn, I could still have continued for a little while, but unfortunately... because of some comp problems, and the story disappearing from an online messageboard I had once posted it on, the story got lost... 
About a week ago I found some prints that contained just about all of the story up till the end. Even better than that, the prints came from my personal webspace, where I had uploaded it once, which I had completely forgotten 
I've cleaned it up a bit, and with the map editor of Wesnoth, I plan to create any future maps, and redo the old ones if I have the time. The new maps won't be as pretty as the old ones were, but actually they're just there to give a better idea about time and space anyway, no?
So here it is, The twilight of the gods
More to come soon, or not so soon...  but more to come anyway 
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TitaniumAlloy
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posted December 11, 2006 04:10 PM |
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hey, I read a bit of it, I don't have time atm, but so far it's good. well written I'll have to read the rest later 
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John says to live above hell.
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 02, 2007 03:55 PM |
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Thanks  A next (small) part is all but ready and should be added one of these days...
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Consis
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posted January 02, 2007 05:41 PM |
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Hi Nidhgrin,
I enjoyed reading your story. Karissa is leading a number of men. This suggests she has had to overcome a great deal to be in her position. (prejudgments and male counterparts) Is her society matriarchal? Is she queen by birth? What are her idiosyncracies? What are her endearing traits? Even though she is queen, this does not mean men will automatically follow her into battle. What are her leadership qualities? Karissa is clearly a very important character. I was hoping for a great deal more background character description for such an important figure. I want to understand how she is able to successfully rule.
Enjoyed reading the story . . . It seems more like a story and less of a role playing premise. I wonder if this might find more attention in the Age of Heroes Coliseum.
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Roses Are Red And So Am I
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 02, 2007 11:17 PM |
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Edited by Nidhgrin at 23:21, 02 Jan 2007.
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*oops*
This post starts with a huge blush...
I've wanted to upload the next part of the story but... something went wrong and somehow the first page got replaced by the second, ugh
Guess you've got to have studied informatics to not make backups from your files, so I don't have the first part (Page1.html, the pic I have) anymore
I still have it on paper somewhere, but it would be much much easier if someone could salvage it from their temporary internet files - before visiting the site again (or can be done by going/selecting offline, and re-visiting the site). Meanwhile I've temporarily taken the site down. If anyone still has it, and can copy it from temporary internet files to a safer location (desktop or so), I'd be very grateful if you could send it to me. Just send a HCM for my email in case you still have it.
Sorry for this painful, though Nidhgrin-esque accident
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Consis
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Legendary Hero
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posted January 03, 2007 02:10 AM |
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Actually . . .
I personally believe that necessity is the mother of invention. How can we hope to leap forward unless we come face to face with a debilitating setback? Failure exhonerates achievment my friend. The more you fail, the more you learn, and the better your end creation can become.
If it is something that you love then I say 'never give up'. Give it your heart and soul; every fiber of your being.
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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TitaniumAlloy
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posted January 03, 2007 08:46 AM |
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I don't have it sorry all my temporary internet files and everything like that are deleted regularly
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John says to live above hell.
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 03, 2007 07:49 PM |
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Quote:
I personally believe that necessity is the mother of invention. How can we hope to leap forward unless we come face to face with a debilitating setback? Failure exhonerates achievment my friend. The more you fail, the more you learn, and the better your end creation can become.
If it is something that you love then I say 'never give up'. Give it your heart and soul; every fiber of your being.
Don't really know how I should interpret this. I'm a conceptually minded person, and I thrive when I can be creative. Tedious and repetitive work (like typing it all back from paper) is draining to me. I'm generally quite resourceful, but I'm almost out of ideas here. Otherwise I'd never bother you guys with this stuff. I'm not talking about giving up, but if you would still have the file, or the text, you would do me a great favor.
Easiest way to see if you still have it, is select 'work offline' in your 'File' menu, and then re-visit the site (I think). Then 'Save as' to a location on your disk, or even just copy paste of the text in a textfile would be really great.
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Djive
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posted January 03, 2007 09:00 PM |
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Edited by Djive at 21:08, 03 Jan 2007.
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Quote:
Easiest way to see if you still have it, is select 'work offline' in your 'File' menu, and then re-visit the site (I think). Then 'Save as' to a location on your disk, or even just copy paste of the text in a textfile would be really great.
I'd try to make a search on all the common search engines. It's been up for some time so it's cached.
Enter something like this in the search window:
+keyword1 +keyword2 site:www26.brinkster.com
This search still gives too many matches for me when seacrhing for God and Twilight.
The search results will give you links to cahced copies. Followed the cached link and download the page.
I tried to put in some words but didn't have much luck I'm afraid. You knowing the contents of the text should have a better idea of which keywords to pick.
The caches won't last too long so try to do this as soon as possible and using different search engines. Caches are replaced irregularly.
Edit:
I did manage to salvage a page 1 for you. Assuming you did not have a page 2, it should be OK.
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"A brilliant light can either illuminate or blind. How will you know which until you open your eyes?"
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 03, 2007 09:30 PM |
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Wow... amazing! I had high hopes after I read your post (am behind the comp for an emergency release anyway, luckily I don't play a technical role there... ), but didn't have much luck.
Couldn't find cached copies, perhaps because I never entered any keywords? Good idea though! You gave me the idea to randomly enter names and stuff and I did find an old version of the story.
If you have salvaged the much more recent version from my own website (Page1) that would be truly great! Will send you a HCM with my email address.
Many many thanks for your effort already Djive!
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 04, 2007 10:12 PM |
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Wooha!
Djive indeed managed to salvage the very last version of the first chapter! I'll put it back into html format, meanwhile get rid of all the table tags and stuff I once used on the pages for some reason, and upload it back, plus the last page of chapter 2, before the end of the weekend.
Before I do that, I will make at least three backups of the story, and never ever use that Brinkster editor again
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Consis
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posted January 05, 2007 05:43 AM |
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Excellent!
That's the spirit Nidhgrin!
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 06, 2007 09:22 PM |
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Quote:
I enjoyed reading your story. Karissa is leading a number of men. This suggests she has had to overcome a great deal to be in her position. (prejudgments and male counterparts) Is her society matriarchal? Is she queen by birth? What are her idiosyncracies? What are her endearing traits? Even though she is queen, this does not mean men will automatically follow her into battle. What are her leadership qualities? Karissa is clearly a very important character. I was hoping for a great deal more background character description for such an important figure. I want to understand how she is able to successfully rule.
Enjoyed reading the story . . . It seems more like a story and less of a role playing premise. I wonder if this might find more attention in the Age of Heroes Coliseum.
Thanks Consis! And you're right, this thread is better suited for the Age of Heroes Coliseum forum. I mistakenly placed it here...
This is really my first experience with writing a longer story. So I have no idea whether the way I usually write stories is a succesful path towards a book sized tale. But it's my writing style, and I'm not sure I could come up creative stuff if I tried to do it differently.
Basically, I have the main lines of the story in my head. From there, I brainstorm, and the characters and events in the story take shape. While brainstorming, I often encounter forks in my thoughts. Points where I have to decide whether I take path A, or path B. When you follow a narrow path, it may lead to unexpected plot twists and sometimes brilliant evolutions in your story... or you might get stuck hopelessly, and sometimes have to throw hours of writing away.
That being said, not all of the characters or ideas have taken solid form yet. That happens when I point my mind in one direction, and zoom in on a character. Even things that have taken shape in my mind, can still change, as long as I haven't put them on paper. For instance, I started writing this story in a post apocalyptic age, somewhere in the near future. The dangerous artifacts you read about in the beginning of the first chapter, were originally meant to be highly radioactive... Somewhere along the line though, and because I like writing with a fantasy theme much better, it changed into a sort of medieval setting with races like elves and wyverns.
So I guess you understand all that makes it somewhat difficult to answer all of your questions, but I'll give away the things that have been fixed in my mind for so long, I'll probably never change them.
The elves in the story are... not your average happy, friendly folk. Their long lives, among with other great traits, have over time, turned them into a superior race of dictators. Humans are just a race of slaves to them.
Actually the elvish society is neither patriarchal, nor matriarchal. One of their key principles, is that everyone should fullfill the role that lies closest to their personal strengths. From that point on, it's up to the individual to earn enough respect to climb the ranks of that function. Many elvish women are into politics, and other organizational functions, while men are generally more into tutoring and science. Labour activities such as agriculture, building houses and other structures, or manufacturing tools and weapons are as good as always done by slaves. Women are certainly not uncommon in the military, but they're usually found in the profession of archers and mages, rather than infantrymen and lancers.
Karissa is the daughter of a queen. A great learning position to start out from, and with many priveleges, but that doesn't necessarily make her the next queen. You're right, she's a very important character. And one of the highest ranked commanders of the elvish army. Some things about her I cannot discuss, or it would spoil part of the story. I have given a few hints already, but they might be too subtle? Karissa will be back soon enough though, once her party reaches Death ridge and Valdur. But in chapter two, there are other characters who get a bit of colored paint first.
By the way, story updated
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Consis
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posted January 06, 2007 11:47 PM |
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Edited by Consis at 23:49, 06 Jan 2007.
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Nidhgrin,
I am no expert and you would be wise to remember this. However . . . I feel strongly that the concept of your story must be re-visited before moving on. I think there is a reason why some people begin a story with "once upon a time" or "in a galaxy far far away". It is the quickest and easiest way to immediately tell the reader to seperate their real life from the story they are about to read. You have said that your story is post-acopolyptic. I don't have a problem with this being the premise. I have problem with this premise being used in connection with medieval themes. Perhaps I haven't a clue what I'm talking about. I am quite simply uneasy with mixing those two genres. I've made a thread about this in the Altar of Wishes. In making the thread I have learned that people don't like mixing science fiction themes with medieval themes. You're talking about 'radioactivity' in a book with armies and swords? I mean, "radioactive" . . . that seems like a very scientific word to me. We're talking about atomic science, weight, objects with mass being universally attracted, and the rate of their atomic decay?
Quote:
Actually the elvish society is neither patriarchal, nor matriarchal. One of their key principles, is that everyone should fullfill the role that lies closest to their personal strengths. From that point on, it's up to the individual to earn enough respect to climb the ranks of that function.
That is assuming that people are able to identify where their own personal strengths truly lay. Perhaps they will for the purpose of this story, yes?
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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Nidhgrin
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posted January 07, 2007 12:29 PM |
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Hmm, it seems I'm not communicating well here, or it might be a language thing... What I meant to say is, I originally started writing with the idea of a post apocalyptic story in mind. I pictured a world, where civilization had been all but lost, and where humans lived as nomads in a way that pretty much resembled the early iron age.
But then I changed my mind... I kept what I had already written at that point, adapted it where necessary, and continued writing with the idea of a medieval fantasy world in mind, eons after a great war had been fought. No post apocalypse scenario anymore, no radioactivity, no mixing genres. I don't think I'm up to writing a surrealistic blend of two genres anyway, I lack the experience to do so
As to making the story more accessible, by not throwing the reader right in the middle of a course of events, from the very beginning of the tale, well... since I'm still thinking up so much while I write, it would be difficult to write some sort of an introduction right now. I see your point though, but will have to think about it a little more... Perhaps, when a large part of the story is finished, I can add an introduction that makes sense later?
Quote:
That is assuming that people are able to identify where their own personal strengths truly lay. Perhaps they will for the purpose of this story, yes?
The current idea I have about this, is that elves recognize strengths and weaknesses in beings, like we humans are able to distinguish different facial expressions or physical traits. I'm not entirely satisfied with this idea, and it might become as simple as a logical result of their long lives, and the fact they have much more time than we do to explore their abilities and skills, or are expected (culturally for instance, or through education) to do so.
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Consis
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posted January 07, 2007 02:59 PM |
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Nidhgrin,
Quote:
Perhaps, when a large part of the story is finished, I can add an introduction that makes sense later?
I must admit that I use this very same technique when sometimes creating a post in any given thread for Heroes Community. There are often times when I leave the subject (title/premise) blank until after I have finished writing my post. Exactly as you had described, I too feel I should complete my post before thinking of a title. Perhaps we share this writing habit in common.
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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