06.09.2005, around 32k words.
03.10.2018, around 40k words.

Considering before that I wrote 2x around 200k words in a few months,
that's slower than a glacier. Um.

So here I'm back again rambling on about the S&E (Seasons & Elements
Trilogy). First two books are the ones with each around 200k words, the
third got stuck, I got distracted with the ME (Magic Earth Series), and
then over the years kept trying to get unstuck.

Fixed a problem I'd found in the 2nd book (had forgotten a character),
wrote the scene I had in mind for later while I got stuck (though it
never got as grand as I had envisioned it), adding a bit here and there, creeping forward slowly.

For a long time I'd been set on keeping the first scene of the third
book as it is. I had written it before I'd even finished the 2nd, and
knew that was the beginning of book 3, though now I'm not so sure.

First two books go from day 0 to day 211 (with one scene 200 days before
day 0 squeezed in at the start).

That scene I had at the begining of the third is 5 years later (followed
by a bunch of scenes showing where everyone is). And one of the problems
is that I need to cover at least another 15 years, until some special
kids are grown up and might be able to do whatever they'll come up with
to prevent the bad stuff from ever happening again.

Not knowing what that is is good, knowing that they're supposed to do
something is kind of bad. I write as things happen and am surprised by
things turning up out of the blue (and then add/tweak things to make
that not totally out of the blue for any imaginary reader).

That works.

What does not work is that giant black hole^Wpage (I use gray on black
text - white background on a screen gives me a headache).

Hm, some details. Here's the "blurb" I wrote ages ago: ----------------------------------------------------------------

The blurb for Seasons & Elements, Controlled by Magic might misrepresent
it (the way they usually do) as:

"The peaceful life of the tribes was shaken when the unthinkable
happened; families slaughtered and people abducted. Gorash, the leader
of the Winter tribe, sets out to hunt down those responsible and get his
people back, while not only he struggles to continue in a world suddenly strange to him.

"Along the way his group grows, but with it the danger of starting a war between the tribes, for some of their ways differ as fire and water do.

"Meeting, and dealing with the other tribes, he has to remember that
they all share the same basic values, ignore his own customs to protect
the continuation of another tribe, and eventually learn that there is a
reason why they all live so far apart."

'This tale of dire fate alternating with light humour is reminiscent of
<insert morst unfitting author>.'



(Btw, I wouldn't buy it for that blurb, because it highlights all the
things I wouldn't want to read, thus I say 'misrepresent'; it's aimed at
what people put on covers to get buyers.)

----------------------------------------------------------------

First book, they find those responsible, big battle in the middle of the
book, then tending problems caused by bad events. First of the special
people I mentioned is met, and they find that their magic is different
(they're very rare).

2nd book, they start to travel home, more tending of problems, finding
people who'd been hiding. One ancient of the special people is met,
another is found near the end of the book. The people figure they need
more of these special ones to prevent the cause of the bad things from happening again. (Some kind of shield around the globe? For raw power, a
few more wouldn't do much, but their magic mixes differently when
shared, the hope lies on that.)

So they go about asking females whether they'd not like this or that
male and have someone help producing the desired result: more of the
special people. (To which they agree, naturally. They're all good guys.)
Plus some 'accidental' ones have already been conceived (they're sparked
by one particular bloodline).

Now, my guess is that the magic itself will supply the power needed. The
magic on this world is a force of nature like water, mindless but
determined. Water spreads and goes where gravity and weather take it,
sort of. The magic in this story 'wants' to exist in as many colourful
ways as possible (thus the 10 different tribes, Night, Earth, Autumn,
Fire, Summer, Water, Spring, Air, Winter, Magic), and works towards
controlling the creatures. (It's in everything, not just the people.)

People have minds, and the smarter ones can go somewhat against the
instincts of their magic, and as a result have a bit more magic (magic
trying to drown out their thoughts) but in the end the magic wins.
(Except with one male, where due to his tribe, it didn't quite work out
as expected.)

Oh, the titles.
1st Controlled by Magic
2nd Controlling the Magic
3rd Colluding with Magic (Unless I find a better word with C that fits.)

So my guess is that the magic, 'wanting' to protect and preserve all the
life will rise up and supply the needed power itself.

Now, I don't know what will happen if all those special people will mix
their magic. I have the idea to add a scene at the start of the third
book showing the two younger ones we met in the first and 2nd book work together.

Another idea is to show how the one they found at the end of the 2nd
book is fixed (healed - she's a bit crazy when they meet her), which
involves linking her to someone else, to knit the holes in her spirit
after the pattern of someone who's sound - which happens to link them
mentally.

I don't know who with though, and I need to know that to continue the
scene I added at the so far last bit of the story (her viewpoint).

Also already started a scene that shows one of the kids being born (not
like the human process at all), and then continuing that viewpoint a bit
more, but kind of got stuck again.

Also moved a bit that should really be sooner than 5 years later, and
will have to tweak that accordingly.

After some rambling in a Steam thread (I asked if it's ok), about not
knowing how to continue the scene at the last bit, someone joked that
it's not as if I'd want a meteor crashing down, or something like that,
and I thought, why not. (The cause of the bad stuff happening also came
from something that fell from the sky, so it would be a reminder.)

Not a wipe-out-dinosaur meteor, more like the one that went boom over Tscheljabinsk some years ago. But I need to know who the viewpoint is
linked to. The hole of not knowing that prevents me to really get into
the viewpoint. (Btw, it used to be a particular character, but I decided
he's not a good choice, he already is linked with someone else, and
especially with this tribe, "even more of the same in one head" would
not be a good idea.)

So that's where I am now, and not knowing how to fill the 15 years until
the kids are grown up. (Everyone finishes the change into an adult at 20
of their years. It's just part of their species.)

Any ideas how to cover the missing stretch of story?

Or who to link with the female? Maybe I should not just be looking at
those available where they found her? (Except the one who can help with
it has a 'do it now, if possible' attitude, hm...)

Hey, even far off ideas of what happens when you mix magic draught/heat
with magic water could help (even if it only tells me what can't
happen). (Water with Winter made green slush - green is the colour of
the Water tribe, btw.)

Oh man, this turned out its own novel. I hope someone's still reading,
and may offer a comment.

Thanks! :)


--
Her eyes were nowhere near as friendly as the man's. ...
"Don't look at her eyes, look at her-" [Karja] frowned at [Sil]'s
legs, then adressed her. "You should wear skirts, so I could show him."
-- Magic Earth 7/6


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On Saturday, December 15, 2018 at 6:48:12 PM UTC-8, A. Tina Hall wrote:
[...]

So, you've decided to join me in thinking out loud in this forum?

Your immediate question is how to fill in 15 formative years in the lives of the kids...I suppose it's not suitable to summarize in one paragraph. Have you blocked out how long that section does need to be? What needs to happen that will be referenced
anywhere else in the story?

From your description of the "magic" that rules these people's lives, it would appear that it's best understood as a force of nature that has guided their evolution, and thus their very nature, since time immemorial. It's fate, if you like. Like it or
not, they must accept that the patient workings of magic will eventually wear down whatever efforts they make to oppose it, and that they therefore must conduct themselves with the understanding that anything they achieve means anything only in the
context of the magical milieu's rules--in the same way that human work and literature must always revolve around the fact of death.

What happens if you decide that all the eventualities they're trying to avoid--the wars and such--not only do happen, but happen all the time? Can you write that scene? Does that spoil the whole story, or does it liberate it? If you build a story
around someone's effort to oppose forces of fate that will not be defeated in the end, that's called tragedy.

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On 18.12.18, Brian Pickrell <bobthrollop@gmail.com> wrote:

December 15, 2018 A. Tina Hall wrote:

[...]

So, you've decided to join me in thinking out loud in this forum?

Yup. :)

Your immediate question is how to fill in 15 formative years in the
lives of the kids...I suppose it's not suitable to summarize in one paragraph. Have you blocked out how long that section does need to
be? What needs to happen that will be referenced anywhere else in
the story?

I don't know how to block out that I need to cover those 15 years. I'll
find out what happens while I write it. (It's just the way I write, once
I got a start on it, some vague idea what to show, or rather who, when.)

Btw, there's also at least one bad guy on the run that the characters
know about. The territories are now protected with magic, but they don't
have the power to cover the area in between. (I can't have someone
stupid wander off though, would go against everything I want in a story.
And not even the Spring tribe is air-headed enough to do that. Not that
they would want to leave their tribe.)

Travel is done on drakes (far distantly related to the people, they pick
a rider from them and help when there's need), and a trip to the next
territory takes at most half a full day (like, 12h for us) speed flight.
Except to the Night tribe, but that needs help from the Water tribe,
through the water. (The bad guys can't swim. Hm, most anyway, at least
the initial ones. Maybe another group escaped the battle and there were
some others, hm...)

Spoiler (Rot-13): Gur onq thlf ner angvirf jnecrq ol fbzrguvat gung sryy
sebz gur fxl, gurve zntvp novyvgvrf qrcraq ba jung gevor gurl jrer sebz, jnecvat fbzr unezyrff hetr. Gurve abezny novyvgvrf, naq n anfgl irefvba
bs gurve nggvghqr, pbzr sebz gurve bevtvany gevor.

Anyway, it's not just the what, but also the how to do it. I have some
vague idea of skipping over months or years at a time, having a peek at
their lives. But again, big blank hole on what that is, or where the
next 'stop' is.

From your description of the "magic" that rules these people's lives,
it would appear that it's best understood as a force of nature that
has guided their evolution, and thus their very nature, since time immemorial.

Yes! Exactly.

It's fate, if you like.

Nah, don't like fate. :)

Like it or not, they must accept that the patient workings of magic
will eventually wear down whatever efforts they make to oppose it, and
that they therefore must conduct themselves with the understanding
that anything they achieve means anything only in the context of the
magical milieu's rules--in the same way that human work and literature
must always revolve around the fact of death.

That doesn't sound right to start with, and then drifts off ever
further.

It's more direct in that regard. Like, the magic of X drives him to do
Y. X knows Y would be a bad idea, so he does not run off to do it. Hm, I
think I'll quote a bit that describes a gathering of their leaders.

I'll replace the names with their tribe and caste so it's not that
confusing. The leaders are all Lords (unless mentioned otherwise).

There's 2 male castes (genders, but I call it caste - it's determined
before they're born, and previously thought to be unchangeable, until
events in the story): Lords lead (what depends on what they are most comfortable with, from just their family, to the whole tribe), Priests
heal, advise, do complicated magic wherever it's needed.

2 neutrals: Warriors fight, hunt, help on farms as they can, Drones tend
the house, cook, know how to tend farms and animals (along with the
Lords and Priests).

1 normal female: Breeders. They have what the others think of as the
real magic, the magic that sustains unborn children and then sparks life
in them at birth, and they know how to raise the children each according
to their nature. (Males can't respond without a Breeder heating - which
needs magic - and the magic won't spark when it doesn't like the
circumstances - as you said rightly, evolution! :) ) They don't have
much magic to do stuff with, beyond writing, reading and cleaning
themselves or a kid of course.

1 accident long ago prompted a rare caste of females that have magic to
do stuff with like Priests, Shamans. That's the special ones the people
hope will add something beyond raw power to protect their globe, when
they're grown up, one or two from every tribe. (Except Spring, they
didn't dare try for a Spring Shaman. Maybe the magic should add one
anyway? Hm... Would seem like a too direct act.)

Anyway, male and neutral magic (or even the magic of the parents
creating that of a new child during mating) mix according to certain
rules, for example Fire+Magic=Summer. When females mix their magic,
something unexpected, different happens. The only example I have is the
green slush that a Winter Breeder produced when the Water Shaman shared
her magic with the Winter Breeder (to see if they could give her magic
to defend herself).

Thus there's also me wondering what could happen when the Water Shaman
and an already adult Summer Shaman would mix their magic. I draw a
blank. (Summer magic is either affecting the mind, for example making
someone be certain of something other than what's really there, or just
plain draught. Including drawing dryness out being possible, btw.)

Despite using the word 'Priest' there is no religion.

Anyway, the quote (from the third book, Colluding with Magic):

----------------------------------------------------------------
"Why are they all gathering, anyway?" [Summer Lord] asked [Autumn
Breeder], ...

"Don't ask me." she replied. "You funny Lords rarely make much sense."

[Summer Lord] looked at her sceptically.

She shrugged and smiled. "I think Jodra's comment about [Magic tribe
leader] fainting when he sees you might not be too far off, except it's
more likely that he'll explode." She lifted up his hand. "They're all
more or less worrying about what this means. Except [Summer tribe
leader]. He is trying to stare them down, and is surprised that it
doesn't work. [Spring Lord - he leads the Night tribe though, Spring
tribe has no leader] is staring, too, at [Autumn Priest - they appear to
take turns leading their tribe], who likes to look like someone who has
merely lost his way. [Magic tribe leader] seems close to panic for some
reason. [Winter tribe leader] says they shouldn't jump to conclusions,
looking ready to jump on the others instead. [Air tribe leader] and
[Earth tribe leader] are trying to keep things moderate. [Fire tribe
leader] is arguing with your father [who's a Fire Lord]
about who should represent them. [Water tribe leader] seems to be
ignoring them all. He's brought some striates along and is reading
them."

----------------------------------------------------------------

That shows a bit of their personalities, and what they'd like to do but
don't actually. They all work together against the bad guys, despite
their differences. Plus, they're the best of their tribe (except maybe
Magic tribe leader, but that's another story), so they know best when to
not follow their instincts.

What happens if you decide that all the eventualities they're trying
to avoid--the wars and such--not only do happen, but happen all the
time? Can you write that scene? Does that spoil the whole story, or
does it liberate it? If you build a story around someone's effort to
oppose forces of fate that will not be defeated in the end, that's
called tragedy.

They do have the occasional war, or had in the past, they won't have
that in the story, as it's imperative that they're good guys and not
getting in the way with stupid things (like you find in other stories,
idiots starting a war when there's something threatening everything).

Btw, the story itself, with the raids and the bad guys doing bad things,
and the good guys all banding together against them, and then tending
the problems that turned up (traumas and side-effects), is on the very
bottom line just an excuse to show the people. Not humans (but humanoid)
that do the right thing, no intrigues or struggles for power or other
stupidity getting in the way. To create the kind of characters that I
want to read about. It's not about the fight, or the overal story arcs
that so far just happened on its own, but how the people act and think.

I don't know how that can help you help me, but I thought I'd mention
it. :)

Normally certain tribes (well, their Lords) easily clash with Fire
Lords, and others with Magic Lords, for different reasons. (I'm already
getting too long in this post, again.)

Mind, that only involves those willing to fight, not families. So it's
Lords and Warriors, and with most tribes also Priests, but never
Breeders, Drones, or children. (That's something the bad guys did,
previusly unthinkable.)

..

I went to make coffee and get some food while reading over the post
again, and got to thinking. Travel through water. There's that erratic
Water Shaman, who mostly just swims around who knows where on her own
(well, with her Water Lord drake), ever bored with staying in one place
too long. I think I'll keep that in mind. :)

Thanks! :))

--
"We are Farseers. We know."
"My brother is a Farseer, too. He knows better."
-- One of the council and Senar, Magic Earth II: Without Heart
Excerpts at: <http://home.htp-tel.de/fkoerper/ath/athintro.htm>


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On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 12:48:16 PM UTC-8, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 18.12.18, Brian Pickrell <bobthrollop # gmail> wrote:

December 15, 2018 A. Tina Hall wrote:

[...]

So, you've decided to join me in thinking out loud in this forum?

Yup. :)

Your immediate question is how to fill in 15 formative years in the
lives of the kids...

I'm still not quite clear on what the meaning of "stuck" is for you...in other words, what would have to happen before you can call it done and be happy with it?


Is it that you've committed yourself to three books and you've only completed two of them? I think you're saying there's a 15 year chronological gap between the end of Book 2 and the next planned scene in Book 3, and you don't feel you can just pick up
Book 3 at that point, is that it?

Do you feel that the rest of the work is useless without completing Book 3, or are you just continuing to write because you like doing it? (In which case, not doing it for 10 years tends to indicate that it's not such a pleasure after all...)

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On 19.12.18, Brian P. <bobthrollop@gmail.com> wrote:

On December 18, 2018 A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 18.12.18, Brian Pickrell <bobthrollop # gmail> wrote:

[...]

So, you've decided to join me in thinking out loud in this forum?

Yup. :)

Your immediate question is how to fill in 15 formative years in the
lives of the kids...

I'm still not quite clear on what the meaning of "stuck" is for
you...in other words, what would have to happen before you can call
it done and be happy with it?

The book being finished, at least.

Mind, I'd not mind adding to the story, but once I got 3 books with
around 200k words each (can't have the third be less, would feel wrong)
and an end I see as end, I call it, well, "that's the end of the
trilogy".

Polishing while rereading doesn't count. I do that anyway, on the 6+1
book story I have finished, too. That was finished with the end of book
6 (where I finally found out what it was all about and that "journey"
was concluded successfully), and I just wrote a bit now and then after
the end, tying loose ends, showing what happens to the people, finally
getting rid of the evil overlords.

Is it that you've committed yourself to three books and you've only
completed two of them? I think you're saying there's a 15 year
chronological gap between the end of Book 2 and the next planned
scene in Book 3, and you don't feel you can just pick up Book 3 at
that point, is that it?

Book 3 has so far 40k of 200k words, 20%. It started 5 years after the
end of the 2nd book, but now I'm inserting scenes before that that
happen in those 5 years.

Whatever the solution will be, they'll have to wait for those special
children to grow up, which is in 15 more years (20 after the end of the
2nd book).

I can't write any solution or end without getting there first, with
writing the bit in between.

I feel I should also show a bit now and then of them growing up, find
out their personality, and what the others do, some more fun time to
spend with the characters. Plus, something relating to the bad guys
before the final solution would be good.

Initially, I was just stuck as in not knowing the next sentence, with
some scene for later in mind, and then that other story intruding on my
mind, so I wrote that, well, the mentioned 6 books. (And eventually,
adding more after the end to that, finally tamed what I call the puppy
story, which just came up after being written, wanting to play, not
getting a 'not now', no matter what other story I tried to start.)

I think the problem is mainly having some idea of where it should go (to whatever the special people will do). I write best just finding things
out as I go. So in all those years I just try to find ways to get things rolling again (and hopefully crossing the gap and writing the end).

Do you feel that the rest of the work is useless without completing
Book 3, or are you just continuing to write because you like doing
it? (In which case, not doing it for 10 years tends to indicate that
it's not such a pleasure after all...)

None of that.

I won't give up! :)

I write to have something to read that is what I want to read, because
no one else does. And I like rereading and rereading... :)

Imagine one of your favorite stories stopped at a bit more than 2/3, and
you might have a vague idea of what should happen, but the author didn't
write it.

--
"What's that about the horns then? Arentus thought it mighty funny."
[...] "The one residing over that Hell place, is usually depicted to have horns, like a bull."
"Oh. What a bastard." -- Kaymen and Ranes, Magic Earth I: Getting Caught


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On 12/19/18 7:07 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 19.12.18, Brian P. <bobthrollop@gmail.com> wrote:

On December 18, 2018 A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 18.12.18, Brian Pickrell <bobthrollop # gmail> wrote:

[...]

So, you've decided to join me in thinking out loud in this forum?

Yup. :)

Your immediate question is how to fill in 15 formative years in the
lives of the kids...

I'm still not quite clear on what the meaning of "stuck" is for
you...in other words, what would have to happen before you can call
it done and be happy with it?

The book being finished, at least.

Mind, I'd not mind adding to the story, but once I got 3 books with
around 200k words each (can't have the third be less, would feel wrong)
and an end I see as end, I call it, well, "that's the end of the
trilogy".

I think that a book's length is its length. I believe that in two of my trilogies the third book was shorter than either of its predecessors.
Try not to get chained to the word count.

That said, if both of the predecessors were 200k (!), readers would probably expect at least a full-size novel (100k) to finish it off.


--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.dreamwidth.org

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On 21.12.18, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

On 12/19/18 7:07 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 19.12.18, Brian P. <bobthrollop@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm still not quite clear on what the meaning of "stuck" is for
you...in other words, what would have to happen before you can call
it done and be happy with it?

The book being finished, at least.

Mind, I'd not mind adding to the story, but once I got 3 books with
around 200k words each (can't have the third be less, would feel
wrong) and an end I see as end, I call it, well, "that's the end of
the trilogy".

I think that a book's length is its length. I believe that in two of
my trilogies the third book was shorter than either of its
predecessors. Try not to get chained to the word count.

Sounds reasonable to suggest that. It's just that I'd feel bugged if it
were a bigger difference than, say, 30% less.

Most of my writing is by not thinking about it and feeling this or that
fits or is off, it works out best that way. I write what happens, notice something needs to be tended (like something not coming out of the blue,
or characters know and warn about something they should know and warn
about, before it happens), tend that, then go on writing.

Can't do that here, so I'm looking for alternatives. :)

That said, if both of the predecessors were 200k (!), readers would
probably expect at least a full-size novel (100k) to finish it off.

So far, I'm the biggest fan and reader, and I'd expect more, too. :)

--
Her eyes were nowhere near as friendly as the man's. ...
"Don't look at her eyes, look at her-" [Karja] frowned at [Sil]'s
legs, then adressed her. "You should wear skirts, so I could show him."
-- Magic Earth 7/6


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On 12/22/18 6:21 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 21.12.18, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

On 12/19/18 7:07 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 19.12.18, Brian P. <bobthrollop@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm still not quite clear on what the meaning of "stuck" is for
you...in other words, what would have to happen before you can call
it done and be happy with it?

The book being finished, at least.

Mind, I'd not mind adding to the story, but once I got 3 books with
around 200k words each (can't have the third be less, would feel
wrong) and an end I see as end, I call it, well, "that's the end of
the trilogy".

I think that a book's length is its length. I believe that in two of
my trilogies the third book was shorter than either of its
predecessors. Try not to get chained to the word count.

Sounds reasonable to suggest that. It's just that I'd feel bugged if it
were a bigger difference than, say, 30% less.

I can understand that.

Is there a secondary or not-quite-protagonist character who has enough importance to the plot that THEIR story could be added into the mix?
That's how I got my superhero novel _Legend_ to a reasonable novel
length; a character who was important but had been sidelined got her own chapters, and that brought the length well up.


--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.dreamwidth.org

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On 22.12.18, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

On 12/22/18 6:21 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

On 21.12.18, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com>

On 12/19/18 7:07 AM, A. Tina Hall wrote:

Mind, I'd not mind adding to the story, but once I got 3 books
with around 200k words each (can't have the third be less, would
feel wrong) and an end I see as end, I call it, well, "that's the
end of the trilogy".

I think that a book's length is its length. I believe that in two
of my trilogies the third book was shorter than either of its
predecessors. Try not to get chained to the word count.

Sounds reasonable to suggest that. It's just that I'd feel bugged if
it were a bigger difference than, say, 30% less.

I can understand that.

Is there a secondary or not-quite-protagonist character who has
enough importance to the plot that THEIR story could be added into
the mix? That's how I got my superhero novel _Legend_ to a reasonable
novel length; a character who was important but had been sidelined
got her own chapters, and that brought the length well up.

One? The story is multiple tight third, I got plenty characters, and
viewpoints showing things from their side. Lots of stories and
histories. :)

Though past experiences are shown in dreams - the Night tribe can work
on a person's dream (with them aware, normally) to have them face
traumas and help them that way.

Around 20 viewpoints in book 3 so far, showing where everyone is. Most
have had viewpoints in the past books, too. One is new, an attempt to
get things rolling again, but first I had not much idea what to show, meandering over the festival from viewpoint to viewpoint in hope of inspiration, and now that I have that (with the meteor, and the latest character) I need to determine something before I can continue.

And then I still wonder what to fill the rest with. Or rather, how to
span 15 years.

Let me ramble on a bit...

They're all meeting again for a festival on the longest day of the year,
so that in the evening, even while it's still light, it's at least
technically already night (to allow for all tribes to be comfortable).

Brian's post had me compare his character's planned vacation with that festival, and they'd truly not know what to with any of it. They
wouldn't know what 'shopping' is, even. They don't have money, and only
one tribe does bargains. [1]

They have tents of each tribe in the tribe's colour put up with food,
they do displays for kids and interested adults, magic (like sparkling
lights) and non-magic (like juggling), chatting, meeting friends from
other tribes,...

The whole thing takes place on a new territory that was built in the
previous book to allow for people from different tribes living together.
(They all need different living conditions, some are compatible though.)

A lot of families had been torn apart by the raiders (the bad guys,
warped ones). Males and Warriors and kids killed, Breeders and Drones
abducted. (The Drones were warped, I keep wondering whether I should add another that resisted - very few did - maybe I should combine that with
the idea that the erratic Water Shaman could run into someone on her
trips. Hm.)

Many freed Night Breeders found themselves without a family to return
to, and joined Earth families that had lost a Breeder or more. (Night
families are 2 Breeders and 1 male, plus neutrals, Earth families are 2 Breeders and 2 males, plus neutrals. And Night + Earth makes Night
children, to get their numbers back up, Night tribe was hit pretty bad.)

A lot of freed Magic Breeders decided to find a mate from the Fire tribe
to bring the Summer tribe's numbers back up (Magic + Fire = Summer, and
the Summer tribe was hit worst. Both Magic and Fire tribe families are
just 1 female and 1 male plus neutrals.) Summer tribe is also nearby to
help explain weird habits to the Summer kids, so they won't end up
thinking their parents don't have all wits together (like some already
adult ones with that heritage think of theirs :) ).

There's a few more odd combinations that now live there, too, that
happened mostly in the previous books.

So I've been meandering from viewpoint to viewpoint, trying to find
something to write about (plus that one scene I had in mind while I
first got stuck, it just didn't come out as grand as it would have
initially been), then I thought the adult Summer Shaman they found at
the end of the 2nd book looking into the Water tribe's tent would be a
good idea, but got stuck again. Even having more people piling in and
eyeing the water hole in there sceptically didn't help. (Neither Summer
nor Fire tribe people can swim, due to none of them voluntarily entering
any body of water large enough to make learning necessary.)

Then I got that meteor. But I need to know who told her of it.

There's that someone she was linked to to fix her, with whom she now has
a mental link. They can communicate, share images and/or feelings over
any distance. Summer people have the best eyes, so they'd spot the
meteor first and tell her. (Reading over it now, I either forgot that or
was deliberately vague.) Anyway, I need to know who that is.

(Priests and Shamans can talk over large distances, though Shamans are
hard to contact for the others. And even if I had a Summer Priest she's
related to tell her, I'd still need to know who she's linked to.)

Which brings me back to the scenes I want to add at the start of the
story; her being fixed. Initially I had thought her father would be
linked to her, but he's already got his brother in his head (from fixing
the brother), and even more mind-melting Summer magic -effect in his
head would not be a good idea.

Who else have we got.

Brother (Summer Lord) who's shares the same father, but he's linked to
what humans would call a cousin, to help him. (Yeah, I have a character commenting whether they're now tying everyone together, but it's really
not everyone. :) ) The 'cousin' is also there (Summer Priest).

Brother (Summer Lord) who shares the same mother. I don't know him
really, nor her, they and their Warrior sibling (all from the same
mother) were just found at the end of the 2nd book. The neutral is not
an option, btw.

A suitable mate they brought along, expecting her to be in heat (which
worked out well enough). He's from a different group that hid out.
Proper Summer Lord, same age as the Summer Shaman.

Not-Summer is not an option btw, or I'd list them, too.

Hm, now my rambling got me 2 options. While fixing her they could go
into her dreams (there's someone from the Night tribe present) and I
could learn more about that little group - beyond "she's crazy, and
living with her didn't have a good effect on the other two either" (the
other two are tended more normally, by an Autumn Priest who's also
there).

Not sure whether I can do that while actually planning for it though.
All those dream scenes were just written as they happened.

The 2nd option is of course the mate. Stable, sensible (for a Summer
Lord, some other tribes would point out :) ), no other problems weighing
on him. Hm.

If you're still reading, what do you suggest?

The one who can make it possible (due to what else happened at the end
of the 2nd book) doesn't like wasting time doing nothing (typical Summer attitude), so it's unlikely they'll travel for weeks before tending
this.


I also wonder now, maybe the ruckus the Water Shaman caused close to the festival time in the 3rd book might have the others get the idea to fix
her too. So far they just let her be, healthy people can see that
there's something off with her, and it's not her fault, after all. But
there are still some that aren't in top (mental) shape due to what the
bad guys did, and just comfortable living in safety. (Like emotional
padding, they're fine as long as nothing disturbs it.)

Would be something to do too.

Thanks for letting me ramble! :)


[1]
Because they have nothing better to do, one of the things that happened
on its own. I associate Autumn with harvest and changing leaves, and
they turn out to have such a fertile influence on the environment that
they have to kind of fight being overgrown and overrun by game, and do
silly games to make things more difficult - never endangering or harming anyone! - to pass the time. Like bargaining for almost anything, and
scheming and lying when it does not get in the way. I repeat, never in a harmful way!

Like a character explains to another: "Don't get upset at Chareyna
telling more lies than there are sand-grains in the steppes. The other
tribes have to relearn that that's what they do. Right now they're
expecting the sneaky shifters to be as honest as a violet-haired
wizard."

(Sneaky shifters = Autumn tribe, wizards = Magic tribe. The terms come originally from the Fire tribe, but some others use them as well.)

--
"Whatever happened to your patience?"
"The Shan ate it."
-- Kian and Senar, Magic Earth VI
Excerpts at: <http://home.htp-tel.de/fkoerper/ath/athintro.htm>


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Did I scare everyone off with the too long posts? Or just bore you to
tears and you fell asleep on the keyboard, landing on the delete key? :)

I'm trying to not highjack someone else's thread with rambling about
this, so I moved what I typed in the other reply here.

Currently I still haven't gotten to write more of the story I'm stuck
in, and am actually wondering about re-reading the other one.

Even asked (relatively new Steam chat feature) random number generator
for what to do.
1. Reread ME.
2. Reread S&E from start.
3. Try to write stuff in 3rd book of S&E.
4. Do something else.

Results (on different times/days): 2, 4, 3, 1. Even with the first I was saying, hoped it would be 1.

I'm so not getting anywhere.

Hey, could someone convince me that things might turn out different in
the Seasons and Elements trilogy than I expect and I should just write whatever? I've been wrong at guessing before, after all.

Any other advice?

--
[horns] "I tried them when they first made it up, but no one got the joke."
-- Arentus, Magic Earth I: Getting Caught Excerpts at: <http://home.htp-tel.de/fkoerper/ath/athintro.htm>


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