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edenfalling---------------------------------------------
Writing for Femgenficathon 2008
---------------------------------------------
I am always fascinated by other people's writing processes, since everybody seems to have different habits (and then any given story may demand a totally different process from one's normal pattern). I also find ficathons interesting, since they're more directed than random plot bunnies.
So. This is how I dreamed up and then wrote The Affairs of Dragons for Femgenficathon 2008, with a lengthy digression into Doctor Who and a brief digression into The Dark Knight.
---------------
Prompt: #68 - The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. -- Ivy Baker Priest.
Friday, 5/30/08
The first question is, what fandom do I feel like writing in this year? Because almost all my current WIPs are long, plotty, and way overdue for closure. I want to try something new. So Harry Potter and Naruto are pretty much out of the running, unless I get an absolutely kickass idea that won't leave me alone.
The quote suggests to me a person who's reached rock bottom, the absolute nadir of her life, and can't see any way or reason to keep on. And then she keeps on anyway, and finds a new path, a new balance to her life.
So who do I know who's hit rock bottom?
...I do keep coming back to Mrs. Mudo. I tried and failed to write a story about her last year, but this theme might be more promising. I'll keep her in mind.
I would really love to write Doctor Who fanfic. So far, I haven't written anything, partly because canon is mostly satisfying for me, so I don't have a driving need to fix it; partly because I am intimidated by the forty or so years of canon that I haven't seen, read, or heard (TV, books & comics, and audio books, respectively); and partly because other people have already dealt with most of the niggling things that I might otherwise have written about.
You know, it would be very interesting to write about Jackie Tyler right after Pete's death -- either in the original timeline or the altered timeline -- dealing with the disruption of her world and the responsibility for her infant daughter. It would fit the quote seamlessly.
The trouble is that working-class London and council estates are not things with which I have any experience. But, you know, I am working class now (to most intents and purposes), and I can extrapolate most of the emotions. And the rest -- the little details that lend verisimilitude -- well, that's what beta readers and Britpickers are for.
The more I think about it, the more I like this idea! Yeah. This is now my default story starter, unless I come up with something better, or unless this story refuses to be written.
...
Of course, that isn't a story yet. It's just a scenario. I would like to have something by way of a plot, a theme, or a structure to hang my ideas around.
I'll come back to this later.
---------------
Sunday, 7/13/08
So, an outline, yes? The first thing to decide is which timeline I'm using. I think we'll go with the revised one, where Pete died at the church. It adds an extra air of 'why did that happen?' to the whole thing.
So. If we edit the reapers out of the scenario, how did he die? The first question is whether Jackie remembers Rose as anything other than an unnamed blonde girl who held his hand as he died. I'm inclined to think not. So she remembers having a fight with Pete before the wedding -- probably because he was late, and she suspected infidelity or something like that -- and then he told her he loved her, but he had to go do something, and then wham, he's so focused on whatever mad idea he just got that he runs into the street without checking for traffic, and dies.
His death is the first scene.
Then there should be funeral arrangements and stuff, possibly dealing with his will (did he even have a will?) and joint bank accounts and such-like. Whatever details are convincing without being too long.
Jackie gets help from friends and family. I must rewatch Father's Day for the wedding scenes, and Rose and Aliens of London to make notes on the Tylers' neighbors and extended family. Someone should come over and put away Pete's things, and cook, and look after Rose.
Jackie is... numb, I think. And furious. And guilty. And betrayed. But mostly numb. I don't know what job she had, but I think she quits or gets fired or takes a month of compassionate leave (or whatever slack they cut you when your husband dies).
The thing is, Jackie is a survivor. So she pulls herself together and finds something else to do -- it turns out to be hairdressing, which she may do in a shop or may do out of her flat. I'm not sure what canon is on that: another thing to check!
Through all this, Rose is growing. She's probably around eight months old during Father's Day, since she's 19 in 2005, and Father's Day takes place in 1987. (Must check exact date; it's in the episode!) So she'll crawl, and take her first steps, and say her first words, and teethe, and so on. Which means I'll have to dig out my old child development books, but whatever.
The idea is to link Jackie's recovery to Rose's growth, so they sort of discover life together. Jackie thinks that Rose saved her after Pete's death, which is one reason she's so loathe to let go later on.
Mmm. I will hash out thematic stuff later.
---------------
Thursday, 7/17/08
Forget that. I have a new idea. [Note: this references the 10-first-lines meme I posted on July 17th.]
I am going to write about how Morwen came to live in the Enchanted Forest, and her first meeting with Kazul. I'm using my unfinished "A Question of Familiarity" as background, which assumes that Morwen started out as the village witch of Tolchester, a small town. Eventually she had to leave -- possibly she was being mistaken for an enchantress, possibly the town council voted her out, possibly both those and some other reasons as well.
So she has nine cats, a large book collection, all her supplies, one broom, and nowhere to live. She doesn't want to run home to her Aunt Grizelda (I have further backstory that says Morwen was an orphan raised by another witch). She can't go to Telemain, because they still haven't figured out how to break the familiar spell.
Morwen is... not devastated, she's too practical to be devastated, but thoroughly unsettled, upset, and at loose ends. She really did want to be a traditional sort of witch, the kind who lives just outside of town and helps out when you have a really big problem, but is scary enough that you never bother her otherwise, and who gets to terrorize the local children for sneaking into her garden. She wanted to be friends with the local midwife, and maybe do a bit of makeshift godmothering. That's what her aunt did.
So now her life has been disrupted and she has no idea what to do next.
At which point, while she's camping in the middle of nowhere, she meets Kazul.
Her cats also meet Kazul, which complicates things a bit. *grin*
The upshot is that they strike up a tentative friendship, and Kazul suggests that if Morwen doesn't want to come live in the Mountains of Morning -- which Morwen does not, for various reasons that I will figure out later -- then she might try moving to the Enchanted Forest and going into research and freelance quest aid. "Most of the inhabitants of the Forest are a lot less hung up on tradition than outsiders," Kazul says. "They know firsthand how annoying the restrictions can be." She smiles, with a lot of teeth.
"I see," Morwen says after a moment.
And then, after a mini-discussion on what to do if any knights trying to fight dragons come to her for advice, Morwen packs up and heads for the Enchanted Forest. Kazul goes with her. (And the cats snag a free ride on her back.)
I shall call it... um... Negotiating With Dragons? Nah. Career Advice? Consulting With Dragons?
Suppose that Kazul is out in the wilds dealing with a runaway princess and a knight -- definitely at least a knight -- and Morwen gets involved in the confusion? That would give more of a plot. And then I could call it something like The Annoyance of My Annoyance Is My Friend. Or, maybe, Meddling in the Affairs of Dragons. *ponders* Um, no. I don't like that one. Meddling By Dragons? Again, no.
How about A Beautiful Friendship? It plays well with "An Honest Opinion," which is my story about Morwen meeting Telemain, and "A Question of Familiarity," which is my story about Morwen getting her cats (and having to separate from Telemain). And it's true -- Morwen and Kazul do have a beautiful friendship. Or I could go with A Matter of Opportunity.
Hmm. I think, on balance, that I like "A Beautiful Friendship" best for describing Morwen and Kazul's new relationship, but for the story as a whole, "A Matter of Opportunity" works best.
---------------
Tuesday, 7/22/08
Forget that, I'm just going with "The Affairs of Dragons." So my three Morwen stories are "An Honest Opinion," "A Question of Familiarity," and "The Affairs of Dragons." I may write another few, but those get her from birth to the start of Dealing with Dragons, which is quite enough work for me. *grin*
---------------
Planning:
I just had a few thoughts upon rereading Dealing With Dragons. Suppose one of Kazul's former princesses really had been interested in magic? What if she'd stolen something from Kazul's caves when she ran off? And suppose that thing, whatever it was, turned out to be an important draconic artifact that didn't actually belong to Kazul, so now Kazul has to track down the princess and her knight (who has already 'defeated' her, for some value of 'defeat') and take back the whatsit?
That sounds like something she'd be grateful to have Morwen's help with, and it would be a good reason for the dragons to let Morwen use the Caves of Fire and Night to get into the Enchanted Forest. It would also explain why other dragons know who she is, and have at least some respect for her.
I like this thought. *grin*
---------------
Original Outline:
[This fell by the wayside in scene two, because Thelistra refused to be an idiot. Oh well, I'm rarely all that attached to my outlines... and Thelistra and Andovan were, at heart, a device to get Morwen and Kazul to meet. It didn't really matter how they made that meeting happen.]
Scene 1: Morwen, having been evicted from Tolchester, attempts to set up camp in a clearing in the Mountains of Morning. Her cats make sarcastic commentary.
Scene 2: A princess interrupts her work (cooking dinner, or pondering maps), mistakes her for an enchantress, and begs for aid in rescuing her beloved knight from a most vicious and evil dragon, who held her captive for a year and a day. Morwen, her patience already at a low ebb, turns the princess into a newt. Fiddlesticks asks if he can eat the newt; Morwen, though tempted, tells him no. (Possibly the princess attempts to approach Morwen as 'a sister in the art,' since she's studied a bit of haphazard magic during her stay with Kazul.)
Scene 3: Morwen pieces together the more plausible bits of the princess's story and finds Kazul, who has the knight pinned to the ground and is attempting to question him. At first, Kazul assumes Morwen is in league with the princess (who has stolen an important magical knickknack from the dragons), but eventually she and Morwen establish a truce. Morwen turns the knight into a newt as well. More sarcastic commentary from the cats.
Scene 4: Morwen offers Kazul some dinner (or maybe only dessert; Kazul catches something else for dinner) and they discuss their problems. Morwen needs a new place to live, where people will stop bothering her for being such a non-traditional witch. Kazul needs to recover the knickknack in order to get rid of the social obligations left to her by her late... not husband, but the father of her children. (Hey, Kazul is canonically a grandmother, so I figure she must have had a lover at some point. It's easiest to set that before canon, since she seems asexual during all her acquaintance with Cimorene.) They chat about magic and books and the difficulty of dealing with stupid people and their expectations.
Scene 5: Morwen un-newts the princess and the knight and persuades them to relinquish the knickknack. Then Kazul directs them to Tolchester, since, as she says, the village needs a new protector now that they've lost their witch. The cats insult the knight and princess behind their backs.
Scene 6: Kazul offers to help Morwen move to the Mountains of Morning as repayment for her aid. Morwen refuses, saying she'd rather not trust her library around a race known for short tempers and fire-breathing. Well then, what about the Enchanted Forest, Kazul asks. Why not go into research and freelance quest aid -- most heroes and knights could use a bit of sensible advice, and anyway, "Most of the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest are less concerned with tradition than outsiders. They know firsthand how annoying the restrictions can be." Kazul smiles, with a lot of teeth.
"I see," Morwen says after a moment.
And then, after a mini-discussion on what to do if any knights trying to fight dragons come to her for advice, Morwen packs up and heads for the Enchanted Forest, via the Caves of Fire and Night. Kazul goes with her as an escort. (And the cats snag a free ride on Kazul's back.)
---------------
New Outline:
[I basically winged it from Thelistra's first appearance through to Kazul's first on-page appearance, but after that I knew things would be complicated enough that I wanted a guide rope, so to speak. Otherwise I might well have written the story off a narrative cliff a few times before I found a workable path. It saves time and effort to keep one's cliff-diving restricted to outlines. *grin*
This outline is in faux-narrative form, which is often how I find it easiest to think. It's basically an extremely sloppy and undetailed rough draft, with no quotations marks around any dialogue. (I have never figured out why I avoid quotation marks when outlining this way, but adding them in tends to kill my momentum.)
Anyway. Outline.]
Morwen begins to talk with Kazul, while Thelistra sneaks over to Andovan and begins to untie him. Morwen explains about leaving Tolchester and asks Kazul where she is, exactly, and they're beginning to get along, when Andovan suddenly exclaims that he doesn't want to be rescued, Thelistra, please stop, this is all a huge misunderstanding!
Kazul realizes that Morwen was trying to trick her, and is annoyed, but Morwen manages a credible explanation, so they all sit down to talk. (Andovan remains tied up, to ensure Thelistra's good behavior.)
Kazul explains that the previous king of the dragons, Murzig, had become irresponsible in his older years, and had carried on an affair with another dragon's princess. (How did that work? asks Thelistra, appalled. He was good with transformations, Kazul says, with a tone that says 'don't push it.') When the princess was rescued, Murzig gave her one of the king's magical tools, a box of shadows from the Caves of Fire and Night. Nobody noticed for years, because it wasn't needed, but now the current king, Tokoz, would like the box returned.
That princess, Kazul says, staring at Thelistra, was your grandmother. That's why I was in Veritand -- I was searching for the box. That's why I agreed to the contract with your parents -- I'd hoped the box would be in the bags of treasure, or the wizard's books would tell me where to find it. And I was right; two days ago, I figured out what became of the Shadow Box.
You're wearing it, she says.
See, it turns out that Thelistra's grandmother's locket is the Shadow Box, which Murzig transformed into something decorative, and which the queen then had enameled in the classic Veritan style. Kazul flew after Thelistra and Andovan, hoping to trade something for the locket, but they assumed she was angry about the invincibility charm and ran. So Kazul knocked Andovan down and tied him up so he'd stay put, hoping Thelistra would come back for him and they could talk.
She was not expecting Morwen.
Anyway, Thelistra and Kazul make a trade and the princess and her knight go on their merry way to Kaltenmark, via the castle of Ballimore the giantess -- Kazul lends them her name and tells them to ask Ballimore for dinner, a place to sleep overnight, and a flying carpet. Once they leave, Morwen offers Kazul some cider, which Kazul gratefully accepts.
Over dinner, they talk, and Morwen explains the rest of her troubles -- continuing their interrupted conversation -- and Kazul suggests staying in the Mountains of Morning. The dragons can always use sensible people, she says, and she wouldn't mind having a friend nearby.
But Morwen is not willing to be in any sort of client relationship anymore, not after Tolchester, so she refuses. Well, then why not try the Enchanted Forest? Kazul asks. They discuss that for a few minutes, and Morwen wonders why she never thought of that as an option. Probably she was afraid she wouldn't be up to the challenge. Nonsense, says Kazul, if you can deal with me in a temper and Thelistra in a panic, you can deal with the Enchanted Forest. I think you'd love it there -- you won't be constantly bothered, but there are enough people around that you won't be bored either, and it's close enough that I can visit now and then and drink more of your excellent cider.
So Morwen agrees, and they set off for the Caves of Fire and Night. The End.
---------------
Distractions:
After I'd written a few hundred words of "The Affairs of Dragons," I lost all motivation to write for several weeks. Then The Dark Knight ate my brain for a bit, and I was attacked by another plot bunny that fit my theme quote, dealing with Anna Ramirez and various loose ends from the movie. I am still writing that story -- it's called "Obstruction of Justice" -- but when I ran up against the ficathon deadline, I went with "The Affairs of Dragons" because it required much less real-world research.
---------------
And that is one way I write stories.
...
In real life news, I refused and returned the unwanted books, turned the bad checks over to my bank (which will try ordering them again), bought two more shirts, bought some wire for making Christmas ornaments, and bought two more Doctor Who DVDs, thus exhausting the stock of my local Borders. *sigh* I really need to spend less money, but I suppose I could say that I'm doing my part to support the economy?
(I'm not really in debt -- I pay off my credit card bill in full every month -- so I suppose it's not as bad as it sounds to me. But my family will definitely be getting stories and homemade ornaments for the holidays this year, rather than presents that cost actual money.)
Writing for Femgenficathon 2008
---------------------------------------------
I am always fascinated by other people's writing processes, since everybody seems to have different habits (and then any given story may demand a totally different process from one's normal pattern). I also find ficathons interesting, since they're more directed than random plot bunnies.
So. This is how I dreamed up and then wrote The Affairs of Dragons for Femgenficathon 2008, with a lengthy digression into Doctor Who and a brief digression into The Dark Knight.
---------------
Prompt: #68 - The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. -- Ivy Baker Priest.
Friday, 5/30/08
The first question is, what fandom do I feel like writing in this year? Because almost all my current WIPs are long, plotty, and way overdue for closure. I want to try something new. So Harry Potter and Naruto are pretty much out of the running, unless I get an absolutely kickass idea that won't leave me alone.
The quote suggests to me a person who's reached rock bottom, the absolute nadir of her life, and can't see any way or reason to keep on. And then she keeps on anyway, and finds a new path, a new balance to her life.
So who do I know who's hit rock bottom?
...I do keep coming back to Mrs. Mudo. I tried and failed to write a story about her last year, but this theme might be more promising. I'll keep her in mind.
I would really love to write Doctor Who fanfic. So far, I haven't written anything, partly because canon is mostly satisfying for me, so I don't have a driving need to fix it; partly because I am intimidated by the forty or so years of canon that I haven't seen, read, or heard (TV, books & comics, and audio books, respectively); and partly because other people have already dealt with most of the niggling things that I might otherwise have written about.
You know, it would be very interesting to write about Jackie Tyler right after Pete's death -- either in the original timeline or the altered timeline -- dealing with the disruption of her world and the responsibility for her infant daughter. It would fit the quote seamlessly.
The trouble is that working-class London and council estates are not things with which I have any experience. But, you know, I am working class now (to most intents and purposes), and I can extrapolate most of the emotions. And the rest -- the little details that lend verisimilitude -- well, that's what beta readers and Britpickers are for.
The more I think about it, the more I like this idea! Yeah. This is now my default story starter, unless I come up with something better, or unless this story refuses to be written.
...
Of course, that isn't a story yet. It's just a scenario. I would like to have something by way of a plot, a theme, or a structure to hang my ideas around.
I'll come back to this later.
---------------
Sunday, 7/13/08
So, an outline, yes? The first thing to decide is which timeline I'm using. I think we'll go with the revised one, where Pete died at the church. It adds an extra air of 'why did that happen?' to the whole thing.
So. If we edit the reapers out of the scenario, how did he die? The first question is whether Jackie remembers Rose as anything other than an unnamed blonde girl who held his hand as he died. I'm inclined to think not. So she remembers having a fight with Pete before the wedding -- probably because he was late, and she suspected infidelity or something like that -- and then he told her he loved her, but he had to go do something, and then wham, he's so focused on whatever mad idea he just got that he runs into the street without checking for traffic, and dies.
His death is the first scene.
Then there should be funeral arrangements and stuff, possibly dealing with his will (did he even have a will?) and joint bank accounts and such-like. Whatever details are convincing without being too long.
Jackie gets help from friends and family. I must rewatch Father's Day for the wedding scenes, and Rose and Aliens of London to make notes on the Tylers' neighbors and extended family. Someone should come over and put away Pete's things, and cook, and look after Rose.
Jackie is... numb, I think. And furious. And guilty. And betrayed. But mostly numb. I don't know what job she had, but I think she quits or gets fired or takes a month of compassionate leave (or whatever slack they cut you when your husband dies).
The thing is, Jackie is a survivor. So she pulls herself together and finds something else to do -- it turns out to be hairdressing, which she may do in a shop or may do out of her flat. I'm not sure what canon is on that: another thing to check!
Through all this, Rose is growing. She's probably around eight months old during Father's Day, since she's 19 in 2005, and Father's Day takes place in 1987. (Must check exact date; it's in the episode!) So she'll crawl, and take her first steps, and say her first words, and teethe, and so on. Which means I'll have to dig out my old child development books, but whatever.
The idea is to link Jackie's recovery to Rose's growth, so they sort of discover life together. Jackie thinks that Rose saved her after Pete's death, which is one reason she's so loathe to let go later on.
Mmm. I will hash out thematic stuff later.
---------------
Thursday, 7/17/08
Forget that. I have a new idea. [Note: this references the 10-first-lines meme I posted on July 17th.]
I am going to write about how Morwen came to live in the Enchanted Forest, and her first meeting with Kazul. I'm using my unfinished "A Question of Familiarity" as background, which assumes that Morwen started out as the village witch of Tolchester, a small town. Eventually she had to leave -- possibly she was being mistaken for an enchantress, possibly the town council voted her out, possibly both those and some other reasons as well.
So she has nine cats, a large book collection, all her supplies, one broom, and nowhere to live. She doesn't want to run home to her Aunt Grizelda (I have further backstory that says Morwen was an orphan raised by another witch). She can't go to Telemain, because they still haven't figured out how to break the familiar spell.
Morwen is... not devastated, she's too practical to be devastated, but thoroughly unsettled, upset, and at loose ends. She really did want to be a traditional sort of witch, the kind who lives just outside of town and helps out when you have a really big problem, but is scary enough that you never bother her otherwise, and who gets to terrorize the local children for sneaking into her garden. She wanted to be friends with the local midwife, and maybe do a bit of makeshift godmothering. That's what her aunt did.
So now her life has been disrupted and she has no idea what to do next.
At which point, while she's camping in the middle of nowhere, she meets Kazul.
Her cats also meet Kazul, which complicates things a bit. *grin*
The upshot is that they strike up a tentative friendship, and Kazul suggests that if Morwen doesn't want to come live in the Mountains of Morning -- which Morwen does not, for various reasons that I will figure out later -- then she might try moving to the Enchanted Forest and going into research and freelance quest aid. "Most of the inhabitants of the Forest are a lot less hung up on tradition than outsiders," Kazul says. "They know firsthand how annoying the restrictions can be." She smiles, with a lot of teeth.
"I see," Morwen says after a moment.
And then, after a mini-discussion on what to do if any knights trying to fight dragons come to her for advice, Morwen packs up and heads for the Enchanted Forest. Kazul goes with her. (And the cats snag a free ride on her back.)
I shall call it... um... Negotiating With Dragons? Nah. Career Advice? Consulting With Dragons?
Suppose that Kazul is out in the wilds dealing with a runaway princess and a knight -- definitely at least a knight -- and Morwen gets involved in the confusion? That would give more of a plot. And then I could call it something like The Annoyance of My Annoyance Is My Friend. Or, maybe, Meddling in the Affairs of Dragons. *ponders* Um, no. I don't like that one. Meddling By Dragons? Again, no.
How about A Beautiful Friendship? It plays well with "An Honest Opinion," which is my story about Morwen meeting Telemain, and "A Question of Familiarity," which is my story about Morwen getting her cats (and having to separate from Telemain). And it's true -- Morwen and Kazul do have a beautiful friendship. Or I could go with A Matter of Opportunity.
Hmm. I think, on balance, that I like "A Beautiful Friendship" best for describing Morwen and Kazul's new relationship, but for the story as a whole, "A Matter of Opportunity" works best.
---------------
Tuesday, 7/22/08
Forget that, I'm just going with "The Affairs of Dragons." So my three Morwen stories are "An Honest Opinion," "A Question of Familiarity," and "The Affairs of Dragons." I may write another few, but those get her from birth to the start of Dealing with Dragons, which is quite enough work for me. *grin*
---------------
Planning:
I just had a few thoughts upon rereading Dealing With Dragons. Suppose one of Kazul's former princesses really had been interested in magic? What if she'd stolen something from Kazul's caves when she ran off? And suppose that thing, whatever it was, turned out to be an important draconic artifact that didn't actually belong to Kazul, so now Kazul has to track down the princess and her knight (who has already 'defeated' her, for some value of 'defeat') and take back the whatsit?
That sounds like something she'd be grateful to have Morwen's help with, and it would be a good reason for the dragons to let Morwen use the Caves of Fire and Night to get into the Enchanted Forest. It would also explain why other dragons know who she is, and have at least some respect for her.
I like this thought. *grin*
---------------
Original Outline:
[This fell by the wayside in scene two, because Thelistra refused to be an idiot. Oh well, I'm rarely all that attached to my outlines... and Thelistra and Andovan were, at heart, a device to get Morwen and Kazul to meet. It didn't really matter how they made that meeting happen.]
Scene 1: Morwen, having been evicted from Tolchester, attempts to set up camp in a clearing in the Mountains of Morning. Her cats make sarcastic commentary.
Scene 2: A princess interrupts her work (cooking dinner, or pondering maps), mistakes her for an enchantress, and begs for aid in rescuing her beloved knight from a most vicious and evil dragon, who held her captive for a year and a day. Morwen, her patience already at a low ebb, turns the princess into a newt. Fiddlesticks asks if he can eat the newt; Morwen, though tempted, tells him no. (Possibly the princess attempts to approach Morwen as 'a sister in the art,' since she's studied a bit of haphazard magic during her stay with Kazul.)
Scene 3: Morwen pieces together the more plausible bits of the princess's story and finds Kazul, who has the knight pinned to the ground and is attempting to question him. At first, Kazul assumes Morwen is in league with the princess (who has stolen an important magical knickknack from the dragons), but eventually she and Morwen establish a truce. Morwen turns the knight into a newt as well. More sarcastic commentary from the cats.
Scene 4: Morwen offers Kazul some dinner (or maybe only dessert; Kazul catches something else for dinner) and they discuss their problems. Morwen needs a new place to live, where people will stop bothering her for being such a non-traditional witch. Kazul needs to recover the knickknack in order to get rid of the social obligations left to her by her late... not husband, but the father of her children. (Hey, Kazul is canonically a grandmother, so I figure she must have had a lover at some point. It's easiest to set that before canon, since she seems asexual during all her acquaintance with Cimorene.) They chat about magic and books and the difficulty of dealing with stupid people and their expectations.
Scene 5: Morwen un-newts the princess and the knight and persuades them to relinquish the knickknack. Then Kazul directs them to Tolchester, since, as she says, the village needs a new protector now that they've lost their witch. The cats insult the knight and princess behind their backs.
Scene 6: Kazul offers to help Morwen move to the Mountains of Morning as repayment for her aid. Morwen refuses, saying she'd rather not trust her library around a race known for short tempers and fire-breathing. Well then, what about the Enchanted Forest, Kazul asks. Why not go into research and freelance quest aid -- most heroes and knights could use a bit of sensible advice, and anyway, "Most of the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest are less concerned with tradition than outsiders. They know firsthand how annoying the restrictions can be." Kazul smiles, with a lot of teeth.
"I see," Morwen says after a moment.
And then, after a mini-discussion on what to do if any knights trying to fight dragons come to her for advice, Morwen packs up and heads for the Enchanted Forest, via the Caves of Fire and Night. Kazul goes with her as an escort. (And the cats snag a free ride on Kazul's back.)
---------------
New Outline:
[I basically winged it from Thelistra's first appearance through to Kazul's first on-page appearance, but after that I knew things would be complicated enough that I wanted a guide rope, so to speak. Otherwise I might well have written the story off a narrative cliff a few times before I found a workable path. It saves time and effort to keep one's cliff-diving restricted to outlines. *grin*
This outline is in faux-narrative form, which is often how I find it easiest to think. It's basically an extremely sloppy and undetailed rough draft, with no quotations marks around any dialogue. (I have never figured out why I avoid quotation marks when outlining this way, but adding them in tends to kill my momentum.)
Anyway. Outline.]
Morwen begins to talk with Kazul, while Thelistra sneaks over to Andovan and begins to untie him. Morwen explains about leaving Tolchester and asks Kazul where she is, exactly, and they're beginning to get along, when Andovan suddenly exclaims that he doesn't want to be rescued, Thelistra, please stop, this is all a huge misunderstanding!
Kazul realizes that Morwen was trying to trick her, and is annoyed, but Morwen manages a credible explanation, so they all sit down to talk. (Andovan remains tied up, to ensure Thelistra's good behavior.)
Kazul explains that the previous king of the dragons, Murzig, had become irresponsible in his older years, and had carried on an affair with another dragon's princess. (How did that work? asks Thelistra, appalled. He was good with transformations, Kazul says, with a tone that says 'don't push it.') When the princess was rescued, Murzig gave her one of the king's magical tools, a box of shadows from the Caves of Fire and Night. Nobody noticed for years, because it wasn't needed, but now the current king, Tokoz, would like the box returned.
That princess, Kazul says, staring at Thelistra, was your grandmother. That's why I was in Veritand -- I was searching for the box. That's why I agreed to the contract with your parents -- I'd hoped the box would be in the bags of treasure, or the wizard's books would tell me where to find it. And I was right; two days ago, I figured out what became of the Shadow Box.
You're wearing it, she says.
See, it turns out that Thelistra's grandmother's locket is the Shadow Box, which Murzig transformed into something decorative, and which the queen then had enameled in the classic Veritan style. Kazul flew after Thelistra and Andovan, hoping to trade something for the locket, but they assumed she was angry about the invincibility charm and ran. So Kazul knocked Andovan down and tied him up so he'd stay put, hoping Thelistra would come back for him and they could talk.
She was not expecting Morwen.
Anyway, Thelistra and Kazul make a trade and the princess and her knight go on their merry way to Kaltenmark, via the castle of Ballimore the giantess -- Kazul lends them her name and tells them to ask Ballimore for dinner, a place to sleep overnight, and a flying carpet. Once they leave, Morwen offers Kazul some cider, which Kazul gratefully accepts.
Over dinner, they talk, and Morwen explains the rest of her troubles -- continuing their interrupted conversation -- and Kazul suggests staying in the Mountains of Morning. The dragons can always use sensible people, she says, and she wouldn't mind having a friend nearby.
But Morwen is not willing to be in any sort of client relationship anymore, not after Tolchester, so she refuses. Well, then why not try the Enchanted Forest? Kazul asks. They discuss that for a few minutes, and Morwen wonders why she never thought of that as an option. Probably she was afraid she wouldn't be up to the challenge. Nonsense, says Kazul, if you can deal with me in a temper and Thelistra in a panic, you can deal with the Enchanted Forest. I think you'd love it there -- you won't be constantly bothered, but there are enough people around that you won't be bored either, and it's close enough that I can visit now and then and drink more of your excellent cider.
So Morwen agrees, and they set off for the Caves of Fire and Night. The End.
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Distractions:
After I'd written a few hundred words of "The Affairs of Dragons," I lost all motivation to write for several weeks. Then The Dark Knight ate my brain for a bit, and I was attacked by another plot bunny that fit my theme quote, dealing with Anna Ramirez and various loose ends from the movie. I am still writing that story -- it's called "Obstruction of Justice" -- but when I ran up against the ficathon deadline, I went with "The Affairs of Dragons" because it required much less real-world research.
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And that is one way I write stories.
...
In real life news, I refused and returned the unwanted books, turned the bad checks over to my bank (which will try ordering them again), bought two more shirts, bought some wire for making Christmas ornaments, and bought two more Doctor Who DVDs, thus exhausting the stock of my local Borders. *sigh* I really need to spend less money, but I suppose I could say that I'm doing my part to support the economy?
(I'm not really in debt -- I pay off my credit card bill in full every month -- so I suppose it's not as bad as it sounds to me. But my family will definitely be getting stories and homemade ornaments for the holidays this year, rather than presents that cost actual money.)
