Zkribbler
Deity
My story doesn't need a Kunta Kinte. It needs a Billy Budd.
Watcha Writin'?
- Thread starter Zkribbler
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I just thought of Kunta Kinte since he was in a similar position to the character you described.
No matter what, your main character needs to find some reason to keep surviving. It doesn't have to be a grandiose reason, just a reason. If he doesn't care, why should the reader?
No matter what, your main character needs to find some reason to keep surviving. It doesn't have to be a grandiose reason, just a reason. If he doesn't care, why should the reader?
Zkribbler
Deity
He's not my main character. Aside from his backstory in Chapter 11 [in which we come to understand why he is spineless, and we get a sense of my epic geography, plus learn the importance of the distant Cocoa Wars and Sugar Rebellions], my King has only two brief appearances: a meeting with my main character in Chap. 9, and in Chap 13 or 14, his vengeful arising to shatter the power of the evil Regency.
Sorry, I must have misunderstood. But my suggestion applies to any character. They need to have a reason to do whatever it is they do.
That's why I do fairly in-depth backstories for so many of my characters. I never know at first which ones might end up being more important, or playing recurring roles in some influential way. So whatever they do, they all have some motivation.
That's why I do fairly in-depth backstories for so many of my characters. I never know at first which ones might end up being more important, or playing recurring roles in some influential way. So whatever they do, they all have some motivation.
Zkribbler
Deity
Tell me about it. After I finished the first drafts of my first two novels, I discovered that in both of them, the side kick had eclipsed my intended main character.
BTW: 2,000 words of Chat 11 are done. I've hit the midpoint.
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How did it go with the fanfiction.net issue? You did receive the reply I sent to your PM?Tell me about it. After I finished the first drafts of my first two novels, I discovered that in both of them, the side kick had eclipsed my intended main character.
BTW: 2,000 words of Chat 11 are done. I've hit the midpoint.
Zkribbler
Deity
I did receive it. I can usually circumvent using g-mail, but this time, no. So I'm pondering.
Zkribbler
Deity
Uh oh.I've realized that in the remaining 2,000 words of Chap. 11, Umntwana must meet his future adoptive parents, be adopted by them, and received from them, clear, concise, and incredibly wise tutelage on how to be a great, benevolent, and effective king.
I could probably do that easier if I had any idea how. 
I just scurried downstairs to look for my copy of Machiavelli's The Prince, but it's missing [probably a victim of a bookworm attack that decimated my library].Wikipedia has articles on Machiavelli and Confucius. Maybe I can steal some ideas from them.
Oh yeah, and because my novel is a parody, I need to present my insightful legal treatise in hilarious manner. 
Project Gutenberg is your friend (and good luck cramming all that into 2000 words; are there any places in the story where you could swap out some room?).
I've realized that in the remaining 2,000 words of Chap. 11, Umntwana must meet his future adoptive parents, be adopted by them, and received from them, clear, concise, and incredibly wise tutelage on how to be a great, benevolent, and effective king.
Wikipedia has articles on Machiavelli and Confucius. Maybe I can steal some ideas from them.
The Prince
It's the English translation, available in a variety of formats. If you don't want to read it from the Project Gutenberg site, you can download it to read later. Kindle for PC is a free app from Amazon, so anything available for Kindle is readable on your computer, if you prefer it that way.
I've just downloaded it to my own desktop Kindle. Since my Kingmaker project involves a lot of court intrigue and a royal family that I'm not sure just which way everyone's going to jump (hopefully any future installments of the game won't make any of them evil; I just want them to go through ups and downs and still come out as basically good people), it might be helpful to read this myself.
Zkribbler
Deity
After Umntwana is renamed by his adoptive parents, he will be called Prometheus. Years ago, when I was paralyzed by writers' block, I downloaded Prometheus Unbound from Project Gutenberg in preparation of the scene where he breaks out of his imprisonment as a madman. Project Gutenberg is good. 
For my current problem, I believe that printing out copies of the Wikipedia articles on Machiavelli and Confucius will give me the info I need.
I've decided that the most humoristic
way to teach Prometheus this political wisdom is NOT to have the King tell it to him directly. But you see, the King has this parrot named Birdbrain...who is a gasconade poet. He loves to swashbuckle around the room while emoting.
For my current problem, I believe that printing out copies of the Wikipedia articles on Machiavelli and Confucius will give me the info I need.
I've decided that the most humoristic
way to teach Prometheus this political wisdom is NOT to have the King tell it to him directly. But you see, the King has this parrot named Birdbrain...who is a gasconade poet. He loves to swashbuckle around the room while emoting.
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Zkribbler
Deity
Umntwana is out of the slave compound and is creeping through dark streets, which will take him to the house of his future adopted parents.
Eek. I've realized this is going to be the most daunting part of my novel to write. It shall be the political heart of all I am doing. It must be clear, concise, and incredibly wise. It must be funny. Now it must be in poetry too. 
Yet, I fear not.
Half a league. Half a league. Half a league onward! 
I've decided that the most humoristic
Eek. I've realized this is going to be the most daunting part of my novel to write. It shall be the political heart of all I am doing. It must be clear, concise, and incredibly wise. It must be funny. Now it must be in poetry too. Yet, I fear not.
Half a league. Half a league. Half a league onward!
So a parrot is going to impart political wisdom via a funny poem?
How is the recipient going to react to that?
One of the major scenes I'm going around and around with in my Kingmaker fanfic is that while the game developers made sure to include some detailed explanations of the true heir's lineage to the heir's brother (really his foster-brother, as it turns out), there was no explicit explanation to the heir himself... who grew up not having the faintest idea that he was the true heir to the throne. So suddenly he's going along with this whole "we need to find the ancient crown of King Edwin the Great" scenario to prove his claim, yet there's no scene where they actually tell him he's the true heir.
So that's an important scene that was omitted from the in-game story, and I've mostly settled on just where to insert it and not disrupt the dialogue and action too much.
How is the recipient going to react to that?
One of the major scenes I'm going around and around with in my Kingmaker fanfic is that while the game developers made sure to include some detailed explanations of the true heir's lineage to the heir's brother (really his foster-brother, as it turns out), there was no explicit explanation to the heir himself... who grew up not having the faintest idea that he was the true heir to the throne. So suddenly he's going along with this whole "we need to find the ancient crown of King Edwin the Great" scenario to prove his claim, yet there's no scene where they actually tell him he's the true heir.
So that's an important scene that was omitted from the in-game story, and I've mostly settled on just where to insert it and not disrupt the dialogue and action too much.
Zkribbler
Deity
To him, the parrot is obviously a god! So he will slavishly learn to repeat its words.
I'm trying to decide if a jungle boy has ever seen a talking macaw. His is a hunter-gather tribe. If they got their hands on a macaw, they'd probably just eat him.
Edit: "His is a hunter-gather tribe" is not true.
I clearly describe him living in a village. Hunter-gathers live in camps, so they move when the game moves. Villages require agriculture.
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Zkribbler
Deity
I have now perused Wiki's articles on Machiavelli's The Prince and on Confucius, and my pursuit of them was a race to the end of a cul de sac.
They provide tools for governing, but tools touch only callouses, not hearts, not spirits. They do not inspire. They do not aspire. There is little poetry within them.I'm looking now to political speeches, e.g. Obama's 2004 keynote speech.* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html
Also I've realized I do not have to make the speech itself funny.
A parrot emoting poetry will be funny enough. 
______________________
* Reading Obama's speech and comparing it with Trump casts me into the TOS Star Trek episode, Mirror, Mirror, where one universe is civilized and one is filled with barbarians.
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Zkribbler
Deity
I'm 4,111 words into Chapter 11.
We're rapidly approaching The Poem, which will be three verses of eight lines each and then one of four lines. I've sketched out the first three lines, but after that, I have nothing.
We're rapidly approaching The Poem, which will be three verses of eight lines each and then one of four lines. I've sketched out the first three lines, but after that, I have nothing.
Is it rhymed or free verse? If the former, what's the rhyme scheme?
Zkribbler
Deity
a-b-c-b-d-e-f-e
g-h-i-h-j-e-k-e
l-m-n-m-o-e-p-e
q-e-r-e
whew, I haven't done one of those since school.
g-h-i-h-j-e-k-e
l-m-n-m-o-e-p-e
q-e-r-e
whew, I haven't done one of those since school.
3 stanzas of 8 lines, and a last with 4 lines... might be easier to plot it out vertically.a-b-c-b-d-e-f-e
g-h-i-h-j-e-k-e
l-m-n-m-o-e-p-e
q-e-r-e
A
B
C
B
D
E
F
E
G
H
I
H
J
E
K
E
L
M
N
M
O
E
P
E
Q
E
R
E
Looks interesting. Your "E" lines will need a long list of commonly rhymed words.
Zkribbler
Deity
I took this from a poem in Wee. in which an imperial dragon [in D&D, a purple dragon] is challenged by a lowly magma wyrm [in D&D an orange dragon]. During the fight, the cocky little wyrm recites poetry, with the last two words of each verse being his prediction: "You die."
Edit, Two hours later:
Well, that was surprisingly easy.
I bounced around like a ping pong ball gathering up the spirit of Obama's speech http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html, rhymes from the RhymeZone https://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=wall&typeofrhyme=perfect&org1=syl&org2=l&org3=y, the rhythm from my Wee poem, and key words from Thesaurus.com https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/bathe?s=t. And two hours later: ta-dah! It's only a first draft, but it's done.
By the way, the E-line is: "Look there! It's writ on the wall."
Edit2: Ten hours later
The first draft of Chapter 11 is done.
Edit, Two hours later:
Well, that was surprisingly easy.
I bounced around like a ping pong ball gathering up the spirit of Obama's speech http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html, rhymes from the RhymeZone https://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=wall&typeofrhyme=perfect&org1=syl&org2=l&org3=y, the rhythm from my Wee poem, and key words from Thesaurus.com https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/bathe?s=t. And two hours later: ta-dah! It's only a first draft, but it's done. By the way, the E-line is: "Look there! It's writ on the wall."
Edit2: Ten hours later
The first draft of Chapter 11 is done.
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Zkribbler
Deity
Well, not really. Chapter 11 came to a natural break, so I stopped writing. My editor likes me to keep my chapters at approximate the same length. In this story, they average 7.25 single-space pages. I was already at 8 pages and was looking at another 3-4 pages.
Chap. 12 begins with me introducing a new character. When she looks back at the events of those 3-4 unwritten pages, they telescope nicely down to 3/4 of a page.
This is good because it frees me to return to my main storyline. I've now gone 9 single-spaced pages with no mention of my main character. 
