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Nanowrimo musings
27 hours to go before Nanowrimo and I think I've finally decided what I'm going to write. This could still change. I'm still quite attached to my dark mythological epic, but that requires a ton of backstory and world plotting which I don't have time to do. Anyway, antics are much easier (and fun) to write.
Some impressive number of years ago (to be decided) the Generic Dark God was defeated, and sealed beneath the Earth by means of blood and stone - all across the continent men and women spilt their blood in the perscribed places, spreading a net across the land. They then set about building stone towers, to fasten that net into place. The people, who had been nomads of necessity before then thanks to the upheavals and land and weather and the beasts created by GDL, began flocking to these places, to help to build the Towers, to help pin the GDL down by the weight of human souls, to begin to build the first stable human communities history had ever known. Gradually, the land became settled, trade developed, the beasts that still roamed in the large tracts of land between the Towers were hunted down until there remained only small remnants, hiding in the remote places. And at last, cities began to develop in the empty places between the Towers, places of study and learning.
Present Day: The Lord of Asterbond Tower is dying and Keir, the result of one of his flings, has been called to attend the Succession. The Lordship is past down through blood, as only the heir to the blood that was spilt to create it can inherit the weight that keeps the GDL imprisoned, but any member of the family might be chosen. By the God. So Keir is kind of unnerved by the idea he might end up responsible for hundreds of lives but also kind of attracted by the idea. That he would belong.
He doesn't get picked.
But the new Tower Lord, his stranger- sister does invite him to stay on and help with running the place. What she doesn't know is that her new, shy, bashful brother is in love with any and all beasts created by the GDL and is quietly but vehemently opposed to the idea of their deliberate extinction. And that he has a habit of picking up strays.
The other main character is Evelyn, a city-trained Doctor brought in to try and keep the old Lord alive long enough for his potential heirs to gather. Sharp, prickly, opinionated, brilliant, Evelyn couldn't wait to shake the dust of Asterbound Tower from his heels - until he found out that the illness the Old Lord died from is one suffered by every Tower Lord before their deaths and suddenly he has a new thesis topic. 'The GDL trying to break free' is not a good enough explanation for him. The fact that he loved the stories of the First Binders as a child has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to stay.
The Towerbound are feudal and religious. The city-folk are secular and egalitarian. The Towerbound think the city-folk are ungrateful bastards, the city-folk think the Towerbound are backwards louts.
Eventually they end up at the City. This happens to have the added advantage of using one of my other plots which was basically Scholars at the royal university do wacky things, King is resignedly amused, only replace 'King' with 'some of the city councilors' and add a smidgen of plot. The second half of the novel might turn out more political, as Keir goes from being a slightly kooky person with slightly kooky friends to the leader of a charitable organisation with a Mission.
To put it simply:
This tale is the tale of Keir's quest to save... the animals. And of Evelyn's to get someone to give him permission to perform an autopsy. And to get published. And to get his own lab. And to figure out the true cause of disease. And why all Tower Lords sicken before they die. And maybe save some lives while he's about it. And to not let Keir turn him into a veterinarian.
Some impressive number of years ago (to be decided) the Generic Dark God was defeated, and sealed beneath the Earth by means of blood and stone - all across the continent men and women spilt their blood in the perscribed places, spreading a net across the land. They then set about building stone towers, to fasten that net into place. The people, who had been nomads of necessity before then thanks to the upheavals and land and weather and the beasts created by GDL, began flocking to these places, to help to build the Towers, to help pin the GDL down by the weight of human souls, to begin to build the first stable human communities history had ever known. Gradually, the land became settled, trade developed, the beasts that still roamed in the large tracts of land between the Towers were hunted down until there remained only small remnants, hiding in the remote places. And at last, cities began to develop in the empty places between the Towers, places of study and learning.
Present Day: The Lord of Asterbond Tower is dying and Keir, the result of one of his flings, has been called to attend the Succession. The Lordship is past down through blood, as only the heir to the blood that was spilt to create it can inherit the weight that keeps the GDL imprisoned, but any member of the family might be chosen. By the God. So Keir is kind of unnerved by the idea he might end up responsible for hundreds of lives but also kind of attracted by the idea. That he would belong.
He doesn't get picked.
But the new Tower Lord, his stranger- sister does invite him to stay on and help with running the place. What she doesn't know is that her new, shy, bashful brother is in love with any and all beasts created by the GDL and is quietly but vehemently opposed to the idea of their deliberate extinction. And that he has a habit of picking up strays.
The other main character is Evelyn, a city-trained Doctor brought in to try and keep the old Lord alive long enough for his potential heirs to gather. Sharp, prickly, opinionated, brilliant, Evelyn couldn't wait to shake the dust of Asterbound Tower from his heels - until he found out that the illness the Old Lord died from is one suffered by every Tower Lord before their deaths and suddenly he has a new thesis topic. 'The GDL trying to break free' is not a good enough explanation for him. The fact that he loved the stories of the First Binders as a child has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to stay.
The Towerbound are feudal and religious. The city-folk are secular and egalitarian. The Towerbound think the city-folk are ungrateful bastards, the city-folk think the Towerbound are backwards louts.
Eventually they end up at the City. This happens to have the added advantage of using one of my other plots which was basically Scholars at the royal university do wacky things, King is resignedly amused, only replace 'King' with 'some of the city councilors' and add a smidgen of plot. The second half of the novel might turn out more political, as Keir goes from being a slightly kooky person with slightly kooky friends to the leader of a charitable organisation with a Mission.
To put it simply:
This tale is the tale of Keir's quest to save... the animals. And of Evelyn's to get someone to give him permission to perform an autopsy. And to get published. And to get his own lab. And to figure out the true cause of disease. And why all Tower Lords sicken before they die. And maybe save some lives while he's about it. And to not let Keir turn him into a veterinarian.