McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Author In Progress
Ren:
Well this sounds like a good place to say hello and ask a question;
Hello! Like everyon else here I aspire to be a writer though I have nothing, not even a short story that has been completed enough to be a short story; no wait there is one I sent into a contest somehwere. Sadly I am easily distracted and have TOO many ideas to write myself but here are some highlights:
A science fiction series set in an alternate universe where startships are made of wood, swashbuckling is the norm and the lead character is a Zombie. It has inadvertantly become a vehicle for a large mportion of sci/fi, fantasy and internet memes (zombies, Pirates, Nonjas, Robots, psychics etc...). Its not very devloped but I have a rough outline.
And its not all about the memes, has intrigue, action, some romance and lots of dirty little secrets.
A near future Multi-generation Superhero story with a Unique (as far as I know) origin story for the super-heroic gifts and a fair mix of intrigues and politics and of course love. This story/setting has been in development of one form or another for close on fufteen years now and I think I've got it down to where I want it to be...but I haven't touched it in some time now.
A modern-day fairy-tale story (of the original brothers Grimm variety) of a group of high-school kids and some fo their teachers stumbling into the a secret haven for strange creatures and beings. All of the characters have a reason for being there and the story ranges across a multitude of mythologies and again more horror, intrigue and politics etc...It's one of my newest and more original ideas.
As an added bonus, for amusement sake, I have a short idea about what would happen if the Greek/Roman, Norse and other Old Gods were reborn in new bodies; the short scene I wrote had Thor and Ares sitting in a beach-bar run by Balor one-eye ogling girls in swimsuits...yes its intended to be humorous, if I ever get anything else written for it.
My best developed and most worked-on series is a pure fantasy series set in a world I've been working on for probably as long as the super-hero story and likewise has gone through MANY incarnations. It's also the only project I've been semi-actively working on of late. Like all of my stories it has elements of intrigue, politics, horror and strained romance. It also includes a moslty full though lost origin story and ancient long-buried and mostly forgotten evils.
And thus we come to my question...almost. In this series there are a number of races based on blendings of humans and other elements whether plant, animal or the elements themselves. Amongst them is a wolf-man species I call the "Canen" and have been fairly happy with their hunter-like nomadic mentality.
Then this year I started reading Jim's Codex Alera and discovered his wolf-man species, the "Canim"...or "Cane" for short. You see my problem? I don't want to have a race that is too similar to Jim's creation, but I don't want to lose them either. At one point they were a Bull-man/Minotaur species called the "Thaur" which I liked well enough, but were too close to Wow's Tauren so I changed it to avoid any possible lawsuits. I'm trying to be as original as possible in my ideas and concepts so I don't want to be coying someone elses ideas, even if I've been workin on my book for a very long time.
Any suggestions on how to handle this? Should I even be worried about it?
meg_evonne:
Personally, I like Thaur. :-) Welcome!
Ren:
Well I like the Thaur as well and they still technically exist in my World as the Thaur and Canen are subspecies of the same overall group of Beast-men. I think I'm going to swap the Thaur back to the more major role, and leave the Canen as a background race for the most part. Except for the Canen Investogator character, because a Hunting-dog detective just makes sense...literally sniff out the criminals!
But I really wanted to avoid the potential for for Cow-related jokes...8P
Granted they could amke a good traitor-race, make them COWardly...*ba-dum, ching*...see what I mean?
Or maybe just perceived as Cowardly because they are for the most part pascifists...except for the males, don't wear red near them...
sigh...good imagination and a love for bad jokes will not a good fantasy novel make...entertaining maybe...but not really the tone I'm tyring to set...
sorry for ranmbling...off I go
adamsoa:
Hello All,
My name is Andy and I'm still trying to figure out how write that first novel. I've written several short stories, mostly comedy about my exploits in life. I occasionally do some things that others find funny.
I've been an avid reader most of my life and there are few things I enjoy more than a good story. I've always wanted to write and share some of my imagination with others. The hardest part is the how. How to set something up that will make sense to others and allow me to keep up a great flow for the story.
Now that I've decided that I'll figure out the how as I go, I'm working on my first novel. I'll let you know how its working out as I go.
meg_evonne:
adamsoa, welcome. the best advice I've heard is write, write, write... everything else will come as you explore the craft, read up on it. we always point people to Jim's writing blog, which is an excellent place to begin. enjoy!
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