wednesday, july 4, 2001
theme music

i think i may have discovered why 2 of the novels i am working on are so much harder than the other two. well, more than one reason actually. for one, silverhall is a game that is done. i have my blueprint already laid out for me. i can deviate, and more than likely will do so, but i have a basic outline. i know the characters, know the events, and so on. uncrowned is a novel that plagues me. i dream about it. but even so, it is incomplete in my mind and i find myself hedging a bit when it comes time to work on the game or the novel. until, that is, i put on creed. uncrowned may be incomplete, but it already has theme music. music that reminds me of it, brings me new scenes, and actually motivates me to work on it.

as you may have guessed, the other two novels, keepers and thalionrhoe, have no theme music.

(btw, keepers players may not wish to read the following paragraphs to avoid spoilers, but i won't insist you skip it.)

keepers is an incomplete game that we're having some minor trouble getting off the ground (we're working on it) and i am still in the discovery process about not only the players' characters but also my own. boreal has history, but every game she has been played in has folded, so she has very little depth at the moment. i am enjoying the discovery process, some of which you can find in ink, but it makes it hard to write about her. i know her country is corrupt, ruled by an evil gargoyle lord who pays lip service to an evil demigod and just loves pretty women (and while that may give you the impression i know more about him than her, well, that's not quite true). i have a few significant events in her life and an over view of her childhood. i really have been able to write on less.

what i don't have is theme music. and we have had a few..."problems" (mostly mine, i think) getting it together enough to play. regardless of how well i know boreal, these things are interfering with my writing of the prologue and early chapters. as for music, well i now know def leopard and bon jovi are not conducive to writing keepers. however, since nothing quite "speaks" to me about the game quite yet, i am leaning in two different directions for what to try next: matrix soundtracks or collective soul. at the moment, matrix music is winning.

as for thalionrhoe, this was one of those "inspiration on a whim" novels. it has no game, i barely know the character and it has no music. kylara, the main character, hasn't even made a showing in ink yet. and while i have an idea of music to try for keepers, i have nothing in mind at all for thalionrhoe. so i suspect that the thalionrhoe novels, even though they are vaguely outlined and the idea for them is sound, will be a new experience for me in fiction writing. and i suspect the only two things that will make it easier are to see kylara more clearly and to get some music for it. problem is i can't even ask for suggestions, no one has a clue what i am talking about, the basic plot of the novel or anything. so i am on my own, writing a novel i know should be written (and i can't even explain that...i just know it needs to be done), with little to go on and no music to help. this ought to be fun.

i did mention that i always go for the things in life that are the hardest to achieve, didn't i?