Prologue pt3

Prologue (part 3)

“I am nathius Parag,” the old man began his voice sounding stronger and full of pride, “I was alive when mans troubles began and when he won but the small victory, the results of which we have enjoyed for generations. I have travelled the world many times over and have realised that the true history of the world has never been written. Here then is that history, I cannot speak of the things I don’t know. I don’t know where we came from or how the world came to be, but the things I shall say are a tale unlike any other. So write as I tell the reader of things from the earliest of times. The world existed when I came to be born so I know not how it arrived but the facts I do know is that there was one race of people, we the humans were all that existed of intelligent life. We lived peaceful lives. Some of us were hunters finding and killing animals for food and clothing, Some were farmers who worked endlessly to farm the land and cultivated it. That is how we had lived for generations, yet we only filled a small potion of the land. One day though all that changed, beyond that day, when the sky lit up, things would never be the same for us humans. On that day a great fire was seen spreading across the sky, in the middle there was an object that crashed into the ground causing devastation and chaos amongst us. As we approached the object we noticed that it was not ablaze as it had been in the sky, it looked like a massive winged creature though it was lifeless and stiff. A doorway opened in its side sending fresh panic among everyone and a metal gangplank extended from it, down the gangplank two beings slowly descended. All of the villagers present ran for an kind of hiding place though me and my three brothers stood where we were, more out of fear than of bravery. The beings stood close enough for us to hear them yet far enough away to not be in any danger of an attack. At first they made many strange noises which could neither decipher or understand, then they said ‘we are here as friends please come closer.’ The way they held themselves and the sense of safety that came from them left us with no fear and so we approached these beings. After a small time exchanging pleasantries with them we invited them to the village. At first people were cautious to come forth and meet them but before long the whole village had overcome their fears.
That night we learnt many things as the creatures explained about our world, how the land as we knew it was but a small part of the world and that across the water were other lands like this one, even bigger! They said one day we would learn to travel across the oceans and visit these other islands, but more than that. Just as our world was made up of many islands they told us that the sky was full of many worlds. Many could not believe that but still stayed to listen to there story. It was from one of these other worlds that these beings came from, they said they had come with a warning though. A mountain was going to fall from the sky and strike the ground with terrible power causing a great disaster killing many people and animals, worse still was the fact that the land would be wounded and start to die. That was why they had come, not to stop the mountain because nothing could stop that, but to show us what we needed to do to survive and also to give us something that would heal the land and help us rebuild the planet.

Getting into character

SOME IDEAS FOR MY CHARACTERS.

How have I developed my characters? That’s a tough one to answer really. There are many things I’ve had to consider when I thought about characters. Firstly what I want a character to accomplish. Most fantasy books I’ve read have the hero of the story as someone who doesn’t want to be the hero (if you understand what I mean). They normally find that they have a gift, normally some form of magic or special ability and then they have the most unforgiving quest set before them. I want to try and have a fresh look on the role of a hero. One of my favourite films has helped me in developing one or two of my main characters and also some of the background characters too. The film is ‘last of the Mohicans’ a great film. The final battle scene shows one of the heroes running to save his love, he takes on a good number of the enemy before finally and very brutally failing by being killed. To me this is a significant part of the makeup of a hero. To go into a battle or situation regardless of injury to self, and although having great skill, still being the weaker of the two forces. Fighting against the odds with the very chance of failure and even death. I recently watched ‘House of the flying daggers’ which shows another aspect of what I want my characters to be like. In that film the two main characters come to a sad end. No living happily ever after there. (I suggest skipping a few lines if you haven’t seen the film for this next bit is a spoiler). Even when the girl is stabbed at the end of the film and dies, I didn’t want to believe it. She was a main character and would live forever of that I was sure. Sadly the writers of the film had other ideas. That uncertainty made the film refreshing for me. (Ok you can read again now).

I want my book to keep the reader guessing as to where it’s going. How are the characters going to fair? Then when it seems that a certain course of events is assured I want to change the story and throw the reader out of the comfortable line of thought and make them wonder how things are going to turn out. Since I haven’t written all that much of the book at the moment there is no set path for the character. I know the general direction the story will take and what it’s all about but I’m treating each character as expendable. When I start to type I let my mind open up and I go with the flow of the story. If in the course of me typing one of the main characters comes to his/her demise then so be it. This helps me to keep the story interesting for me while I write it. I’ve have written down the introduction of most of the characters into the story and where I want them to appear, I also have the point to which they journey plus one or two of the main events that will happen along the way written down, but that’s it. So I hope that you enjoy the story and the characters that I’ll introduce. I hope you enjoy watching them grow and develop as much as I’m going to. Any way for now you’ll just have to be patient while I write the next bits of the story. It’s not the easiest thing to do while at the same time taking care of my family and work, but the following posts will include more from the history of my world and soon the introduction of the first few characters.

Prologue pt2

Prologue (part 2)

The old man stirred and woke up, sensing the nearness of the young man.
“If your ready then so am I,” the old man said with a weak horse voice. The boy sat with a quill and paper ready, preparing to write the things that his master was going to say.
“You may begin to write, my friend and pupil, but do not change a single word I utter for it must be written as I tell my story,” he said with an even weaker voice. The boy nodded his agreement and sat poised, ready to write.