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nanowrimo_ljCross-posted from my LJ, so if you've already read it, feel free to comment in either place :)
I'm stuck with something of a dilemma, ya see. . . I like to write pretty chaotically, but I do enjoy a good bit of planning of a few key things (Characters, world-building rules, etc.) beforehand. . . but it's a bit hard to do that planning if I can't decide which of my three major universes to cover. . . I want to write seriously about all three, but just can't pick which to use for NaNoWriMo.
So, since I someday hope to turn my NaNovel into something publishable, I figured it'd be good to ask you guys, my future audience, what you'd rather read :D
-------
1: Destin and the Untold Collective
Rowling/Pullman/Rice Ripoff
Basically, the idea is somewhere between Underworld, Harry Potter, and The Vampire Lestat. . . A secret underground society of mages of varying powers and allegiances has existed, casting vaguely DnD-inspired spells and crafting powerful artifacts, for thousands of years. Alongside them are many magical races, all living in secret, in the quiet places of the world. Magic is cast using a universal language to construct magical 'sentences' that are the basis of spells.
A great deal of tension is slowly mounting between the non-humans and the humans, as the humans tend to treat them as second-class citizens of the world. Covertly controlled by a mysterious group of evil individuals, the two sides hurtle towards a second 'schizmatic' war, the first of which took place during the regular world's World War 2 and cost the lives of 1 in every 8 magical beings in the world.
Into the middle of this world of politics, werewolves, intrigue, vampires, magic, and faeries is cast a young boy, Destin Phillips, grandson of one of the greatest 'Shaper' mages in recent times, Reno Phillips. Destined to be a key player in the magical world, he struggles to adapt in the harsh Academy, surrounded by hundreds of other young mages-in-training and the powerful teachers who oversee their education. He must somehow juggle 'mundane' classes like Math and Science with magical ones (like Summoning and Conjuration), bullies, adolescent hormonal stirrings, and the occasional bit of world saving and mystery solving. P.S. - Familiars play a huge role in the plot! And Destin's is a WHITE TIGER! HEE! XD
Strengths: Very complete view of the world and its rules, lots of ideas for future expansion, easy to write, my newest idea (And thus, freshest)
Weaknesses: Though part of a very epic trilogy, this first novel bears a LOT of resemblance to Harry Potter, no real idea for where the plot needs to go in the middle of the book, I keep putting too much of myself into Destin
-------
2: Terrastorm
Wing Commander/Freespace/Star Wars Ripoff
A grandiose space opera in the classic sense, the OK-DE chronicles is my scifi magnum opus, detailing the 4,000 year cataclysmic war between the Osharran Kingdom and the Dnnthraki Empire, led by their near-immortal monarchs, Menthar and Lothan. The two sides began as political factions in the world-government of a small Earth-like world in a nearby galaxy, but have now expanded into interstellar conglomerates of hundreds of worlds spanning seven galaxies. They battle relentlessly and ferociously, neither side truly good nor evil; only bent on the other's utter annihilation (Very Total Annihilation).
As the seventh galaxy to be colonized by the two warring states, Na Pali (Or, the Milky Way to us Earthlings) is, as of yet, avoiding the heat of the main conflict by simply being too distant and empty to be worth pouring many resources into. However, as the inner worlds and first six galaxies are slowly dried up by the War, the two sides have begun to move into Na Pali, and Earth is on the conquest lists of both sides.
Here, the main character, Gage Wilmouth, codenamed Eradicator, is forced back into war after a bloody miscalculation left him the only survivor of a hundred-person slaughterhouse in the Korean jungle. The governments of Earth's nations one by one align themselves with whichever interstellar empire they believe is bringing the best offer to the table, and as the two alien empires pour men and machines onto Earth, the battle lines are drawn. Terrastorm details Eradicator's rise through the OK ranks to become the commander of Earth's battle forces against the Dnntrhaki hordes, including several key battles and the deaths of both original commanders (Leaving open a plot point for his future rival on the other side).
Strengths: Extremely detailed timeline of all 4,000 years already written, my oldest novel idea, epic, constant action
Weaknesses: My oldest novel idea (Thus, the one I am most burned out on), stereotypical characters, very shallow, very unoriginal
-------
3: The Quest of the Select
Tolkein/Weiss-Hickman/Baldur's Gate Ripoff
In The Quest of the Select, I take two staples of the fantasy genre - the apocalypse and the uberpowerful god-children, and toss them together. The world, crafted by living embodiments of Good, Neutrality, and Evil, has gone on much the same for a thousand years, until, slowly but surely, a secret society of powerful individuals known as the Select begin to use their superhuman powers in strength, magic, intellect, and speed to overtake the world's major governments - the human empire of Arlantus, the orc kingdom of Bal'Truz Nagat, and the elven stronghold of Vaimeni. Their shadowy plot comes undone as the puppets they got into the governments decide to take matters into their own hands and declare war on one another, culminating in an apocalyptic battle when the three Select spy-leaders simultaneously cast the most powerful spell known to exist, The Ending, on one another's armies, causing a mile-high explosion which covers the world in a blanket of dust and kills millions.
Now, thirty-seven years later, the nations of the world struggle to rebuild, and already, power begins to creep back into the hands of a few key groups. From ancient circles of mages to the newly formed Fallen Nation of the warped mutants living in the blast crater, empires and brotherhoods vye for control in a world knocked on its heels. One can go in a few days from the largest thief enclave in the world to a city built by survivors of all three kingdoms called Friendship to a deserted farm town of Arlantus.
The story centers around a young bard, as of yet unnamed, who discovers he is, in fact, a Select. Banding together with two childhood friends, he sets out to discover more about his mysterious heritage and to investigate numerous strange rumors that have been filtering into his home village. Along the way, he meets other Select, some good, some evil, and some somewhere in between, and learns the true secret of the Select. He also eventually encounters the remnants of the original group of Select who brought about the Scourging (The explosion mentioned earlier), who even now are back to their old schemes. In the end, it all culminates in the standard fight against the living embodiment of evil or something like that.
Strengths: Pretty detailed world backstory, lots of action, plenty of settings to use for plot starters, can be very epic
Weaknesses: Pretty hazy actual plot (I know a lot of possibilities, but few definites), a tendency to backtrack, as this was originally an RPG idea, VERY stereotypical, very flat characters
-------
So, to those of you patient of enough to read all of that. . . which of those would YOU rather read?
I'm stuck with something of a dilemma, ya see. . . I like to write pretty chaotically, but I do enjoy a good bit of planning of a few key things (Characters, world-building rules, etc.) beforehand. . . but it's a bit hard to do that planning if I can't decide which of my three major universes to cover. . . I want to write seriously about all three, but just can't pick which to use for NaNoWriMo.
So, since I someday hope to turn my NaNovel into something publishable, I figured it'd be good to ask you guys, my future audience, what you'd rather read :D
-------
1: Destin and the Untold Collective
Rowling/Pullman/Rice Ripoff
Basically, the idea is somewhere between Underworld, Harry Potter, and The Vampire Lestat. . . A secret underground society of mages of varying powers and allegiances has existed, casting vaguely DnD-inspired spells and crafting powerful artifacts, for thousands of years. Alongside them are many magical races, all living in secret, in the quiet places of the world. Magic is cast using a universal language to construct magical 'sentences' that are the basis of spells.
A great deal of tension is slowly mounting between the non-humans and the humans, as the humans tend to treat them as second-class citizens of the world. Covertly controlled by a mysterious group of evil individuals, the two sides hurtle towards a second 'schizmatic' war, the first of which took place during the regular world's World War 2 and cost the lives of 1 in every 8 magical beings in the world.
Into the middle of this world of politics, werewolves, intrigue, vampires, magic, and faeries is cast a young boy, Destin Phillips, grandson of one of the greatest 'Shaper' mages in recent times, Reno Phillips. Destined to be a key player in the magical world, he struggles to adapt in the harsh Academy, surrounded by hundreds of other young mages-in-training and the powerful teachers who oversee their education. He must somehow juggle 'mundane' classes like Math and Science with magical ones (like Summoning and Conjuration), bullies, adolescent hormonal stirrings, and the occasional bit of world saving and mystery solving. P.S. - Familiars play a huge role in the plot! And Destin's is a WHITE TIGER! HEE! XD
Strengths: Very complete view of the world and its rules, lots of ideas for future expansion, easy to write, my newest idea (And thus, freshest)
Weaknesses: Though part of a very epic trilogy, this first novel bears a LOT of resemblance to Harry Potter, no real idea for where the plot needs to go in the middle of the book, I keep putting too much of myself into Destin
-------
2: Terrastorm
Wing Commander/Freespace/Star Wars Ripoff
A grandiose space opera in the classic sense, the OK-DE chronicles is my scifi magnum opus, detailing the 4,000 year cataclysmic war between the Osharran Kingdom and the Dnnthraki Empire, led by their near-immortal monarchs, Menthar and Lothan. The two sides began as political factions in the world-government of a small Earth-like world in a nearby galaxy, but have now expanded into interstellar conglomerates of hundreds of worlds spanning seven galaxies. They battle relentlessly and ferociously, neither side truly good nor evil; only bent on the other's utter annihilation (Very Total Annihilation).
As the seventh galaxy to be colonized by the two warring states, Na Pali (Or, the Milky Way to us Earthlings) is, as of yet, avoiding the heat of the main conflict by simply being too distant and empty to be worth pouring many resources into. However, as the inner worlds and first six galaxies are slowly dried up by the War, the two sides have begun to move into Na Pali, and Earth is on the conquest lists of both sides.
Here, the main character, Gage Wilmouth, codenamed Eradicator, is forced back into war after a bloody miscalculation left him the only survivor of a hundred-person slaughterhouse in the Korean jungle. The governments of Earth's nations one by one align themselves with whichever interstellar empire they believe is bringing the best offer to the table, and as the two alien empires pour men and machines onto Earth, the battle lines are drawn. Terrastorm details Eradicator's rise through the OK ranks to become the commander of Earth's battle forces against the Dnntrhaki hordes, including several key battles and the deaths of both original commanders (Leaving open a plot point for his future rival on the other side).
Strengths: Extremely detailed timeline of all 4,000 years already written, my oldest novel idea, epic, constant action
Weaknesses: My oldest novel idea (Thus, the one I am most burned out on), stereotypical characters, very shallow, very unoriginal
-------
3: The Quest of the Select
Tolkein/Weiss-Hickman/Baldur's Gate Ripoff
In The Quest of the Select, I take two staples of the fantasy genre - the apocalypse and the uberpowerful god-children, and toss them together. The world, crafted by living embodiments of Good, Neutrality, and Evil, has gone on much the same for a thousand years, until, slowly but surely, a secret society of powerful individuals known as the Select begin to use their superhuman powers in strength, magic, intellect, and speed to overtake the world's major governments - the human empire of Arlantus, the orc kingdom of Bal'Truz Nagat, and the elven stronghold of Vaimeni. Their shadowy plot comes undone as the puppets they got into the governments decide to take matters into their own hands and declare war on one another, culminating in an apocalyptic battle when the three Select spy-leaders simultaneously cast the most powerful spell known to exist, The Ending, on one another's armies, causing a mile-high explosion which covers the world in a blanket of dust and kills millions.
Now, thirty-seven years later, the nations of the world struggle to rebuild, and already, power begins to creep back into the hands of a few key groups. From ancient circles of mages to the newly formed Fallen Nation of the warped mutants living in the blast crater, empires and brotherhoods vye for control in a world knocked on its heels. One can go in a few days from the largest thief enclave in the world to a city built by survivors of all three kingdoms called Friendship to a deserted farm town of Arlantus.
The story centers around a young bard, as of yet unnamed, who discovers he is, in fact, a Select. Banding together with two childhood friends, he sets out to discover more about his mysterious heritage and to investigate numerous strange rumors that have been filtering into his home village. Along the way, he meets other Select, some good, some evil, and some somewhere in between, and learns the true secret of the Select. He also eventually encounters the remnants of the original group of Select who brought about the Scourging (The explosion mentioned earlier), who even now are back to their old schemes. In the end, it all culminates in the standard fight against the living embodiment of evil or something like that.
Strengths: Pretty detailed world backstory, lots of action, plenty of settings to use for plot starters, can be very epic
Weaknesses: Pretty hazy actual plot (I know a lot of possibilities, but few definites), a tendency to backtrack, as this was originally an RPG idea, VERY stereotypical, very flat characters
-------
So, to those of you patient of enough to read all of that. . . which of those would YOU rather read?
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