Storytelling

So I'm a few days late on this post, but that's because I had a really hard time thinking up a good topic. However, while I was on the plane today, something occurred to me. I don't think I've ever met a writer who hasn't described the sensation of their characters talking to them. Many of them say the characters tell them the story, and they just write it down.

The catch here, is that it doesn't seem to happen to all of us. Or at least, I've never managed to get into that sort of grove. It may be that the characters aren't well formed in my head. It's something I've been working on, that's why I'm playing with the modeling software. (Incidently, goal for this week is to start working on some clothing / props, assuming I ever get more stable internet).

This got me thinking about whether or not storytelling was a learned trait, or something more? I'd like to think I have interesting ideas, or at least they sound interesting to me, they just are a little incomplete. When I sit down and write them, it just doesn't come out that well. There are some things that I've been working on recently (with the magic system etc.) that may help me narrow this down, and get a clearer picture of the characters, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, what do you think: Storytelling skill is inherited? something you can work on? or just a glass ceiling?

Book Review: Jim Butcher, Jenna Black

I know this entry is late. I had fully intended on posting about the character modeling, but there's been some barriers. So instead, you get another book review post :).

Small Favor

The bad guys are back, and stronger than ever in the 10th book of the Dresden Files. The fae are back and calling in favors, and as usual, Harry pisses off everyone and somehow makes it out alive. The ending has some beautiful irony, though it brought up something that apparently was in one of the shorts I missed.

Turn Coat
There have been hints of a conspiracy behind the scenes in the other Dresden Files books. In this one, we see it come to life. My favorite character gets some awesome scenes in this book, and there are some AMAZING sequences when Harry walks in on his allies in compromising situations. There's also some big mysteries thrown around w/o explanation, with the hope that they'll come up again in the future.

Changes
The latest book in the Dresden Files starts and ends with a spoiler. It's a really tough one to talk about without giving stuff away. Some thinly veiled awesomenesses include my favorite character coming up with a spell titled "The One Woman Rave", which leads to a sequence with another character dancing while swordfighting. Pure awsomesauce. Harry actually mouths off to Odin, and gets away with it. Yes THE Odin. This book saw a few instances of magic that didn't click, or the MC getting around limitations through sheer contrariness. Some of it I'm not sure how I feel about, but it's worth investigating in the future.


The Devil Inside
The first book of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist series by Jenna Black. A good chunk of the reason I picked up this book is because the author will be signing in my town on Thursday. After reading the book, I'm pretty excited :). The story takes place in a world where possession is legal, as long as the host consents. So Demons are everywhere, and the heroine isn't a fan. She works as an Exorcist, getting rid of demons that are illegally possessing someone, or who have killed. And then she finds out she's possessed herself, without her knowledge. That part strained believability a little, but for the most part it was a very enjoyable read.


Modeling
So just for completeness, since I was intending to talk about it, I'll speak for a bit on what happened with the modeling. So I've finished the torso, and started on the arms and legs. I don't remember if that was in the last picture I posted. This weekend, I started in on the head and found out that my reference images are too far off to be helpful. I tried moving ahead anyway, but all the proportions are off and, to be frank, it looks pretty terrible. I'll have to do some thinking about how I want to progress.

Building a Magic system

As we prepare to run Dresden Files for the summer, I've been thinking about the magic system for my novels. I mentioned it in an earlier post, some of the rules and considerations for magic in general. This time, I'm going to take a less structured approach, but instead discuss some of the things I've been considering for my own system.

In my previous post, I discussed three basic portions to a well-defined magic system: Source, Control, and Drawbacks. To this list, I'm going to add thematic considerations, and move forward from there.

Control
I'll start with this for no better reason than it's first alphabetically. In the first iteration of the novel, I had nothing but a pure expression of Will. From a magic standpoint, that's pretty boring. In the second case, I was dancing with ideas of Sympahty and Runes, both of which I discussed a little before. In the latest version, I've got a highly individual, varying expressions of control. I've picked mostly 5, but there's some room for other consideration.

1. Blade - This is a variation of the physical / dance expression of magic found in Marie Brennan's Doppleganger (I believe it's been re-released as Warrior & Witch). The energies are focused through combat (will probably include dance here). 
2. Bard - This one explores the magic of Song. 
3. Weaving - This might be weaving fabric, or it might be more general symbology. There's still some room for exploration
4. Herbology / Alchemy - This one is mostly for a single character, but a couple others can get some use out of it. This weilder makes potions, poltices, etc.
5. Smithing - The act of creating an object, and binding energies to it.

Some of these might get transformed with the Themes I talk about a little later.

Source
 The one thing that hasn't changed since this story's conception is that the source is elemental in nature. The elements also will be part of the expression of magic, parts of the themes. More on this later.

Drawback
This is the big thing. I've no idea what drawback I feel like employing. I've been dancing with a couple life energy ideas, or working out a weakening of emotion, but that seems...well dangerous. I dont' want to give my magic users cause to forget emotions, because then they'll all become psychopathic. So I don't think I want to go that way. Memory is cool, but I'd feel too much like a rip-off.

Themes
In this, I'm investigating the sorts of magical effects. That's kinda what I mean by themes here. As mentioned before, I really want to have the elemental effects. I was having a few other effects per person, but I've recently decided that each character gets general elemental control, one literal expression, and one figurative expression. I'm not sure yet how the first two will be separated in all cases, but some of them will be handy. For the character I've posted before, Jeshi, the element is Fire. Her figurative expression is giong to be the blood magic, which I've been workign on. It might not be as figurative as I wanted it to be, but I think it'll fit. Blood is the carrier of the inner fire, and as such is symbollically attached to a persons life force, and to their magic. My protagonist for the first book is going to be limited to Water, as much as I wanted fire as well. That was too mary sue-ish. The literal expression is going to be a mistform, which might still be mary sue-ish, but I think it'll work. THe figurative expression will either be traveling magic, or shapeshifting. While I prefer the latter, the former might be more useful. If I decide to limit it to one personal expression, then I'll drop the mistform.

So that's about all I've got for the moment, but I think it's a decent start.

Character Modeling (Take 2), Book Review: Lisa Shearin, Jim Butcher, Julie Kagawa, Dan Brown, Kelley Armstrong

It's been a while since I've done a book review, so I have plenty to talk about.

Blood Rites
Book #6 in the Dresden Files pu the hero in a quite unusual situation. At the risk of a spoiler, I'm just going to say that he's investigating murders in a rather unusual setting. There were PLENTY of LOL moments, many of which came up because of the situation. We also find out more about Thomas and the White Court Vampires, which is pretty cool as well.
Dead Beat
 Book #7 in the Dresden Files brings Necromancy into the fold of things that go bump in the night. We get to meet more Wardens as well, which is something I had been looking forward to the entire series. Some fallout from an earlier book is also explored in great deapth, and this is the first time we see Harry truely outside his magical league. Refreshing.
Proven Guilty
Book #8 in the Dresden Files brings the character who's fast becoming a favorite into greater light. Harry goes to a horror convention, and sees his friends daughter all growed up. This would be so much easier if I was allowing myself spoilers, but I did really enjoy this book :)
White Night
For the last Dresden Files book this week, we see book #9. Here there's someone killing women, and they leave messages for Harry..messages that only he can see. His first love comes back, and adds to the complicatedness of the situation.

The Iron King
Written by Julie Kagawa, this book was actually suggested by Rai, even though she hadn't read it. A girl finds herself thrown into the world of Faeries, accompanied by the now-infamous Puck (yes...THE Puck). We see both the courts of Winter and Summer, which are lead by their typical leaders, Mab and Titania (incidently, Dresden uses them too, but even some non-Mab queens of the winter court are identified as the Queen of Air and Darkness. I think there's something here, but I've not the knowledge to chase it down). Still, we even see hte rise of a new threat, and the sequels still have room for a few big twists.

The Reckoning
The last book in the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong(Site #2. Chloe and the others are starting to learn more about their abilities, and what that entails for them. This book marked the end of their original arc, but she's seeded the next arc, and they will eventually meet up again. She does that a lot. I also got to meet her on Wednesday, which was a boatload of fun. She read the first chapter from her new book, and it sounds like it'll be a fun read.


The Lost Symbol
I know there are people out there who will loose any respect for me since I've read this book, but  it was an entertaining read. Like many of Dan Brown's books, there are many huge infodumps, some cleverly disguised, some not. The plot was twisty but confusing. The portrayal of the masonic brotherhood was interesting, though not very flattering to that same brotherhood. It's given me the idea to try and work with some secret society things for my Mage game, but more on that later.

Trouble with Demons
The last book I finished (just yesterday in fact), was the third book in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series. The cover/title was for this book was what got me to pick up the series in the first place. The Demonology professor who got elaborated on in this book is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I hope she comes back. I've been on a Demon kick recently, and this helped with that. It also got me thinking about some more details for my magic system in my own novel, but that's for another post.


Character Model
So last time didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I did a few things that were, in retrospect, pretty obviously wrong. I've told some of you, but what I basically did was start over, and try a new method. There's still work to be done, but it's a much better start than last time.