Because no one is responding to the thread it was merged to. ---------------- “Are you going to be ok?” Lorain asked from her position near the door to the small room. “Yes, Lore,” He responded, standing up from his sitting position on the small bed as if to prove his point. “It was just a fainting spell and I didn’t fall on anything or hit my head. Besides, it didn’t feel as powerful as the last ones, so maybe they’re finally going away.” He grinned at her as if showing he was the picture of good health. Lorain looked skeptic for a moment but smiled nonetheless. “Whatever you say, Sam. So,” She uncrossed her arms and began to walk toward his standing figure. “Now that you’re up, why don’t we go get something to eat? You’ve been out for maybe an hour or so and we haven’t eaten in a while.” As she finished making her suggestion she placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder, intending to help lead him towards the Dining Hall. The moment she touched him Sam’s eyes widened frightfully as the image of a blood-soaked corpse entered his mind and stayed there a few seconds, but the most frightening thing was that the corpse belonged to the girl in front of him. Like a kicked puppy he yelped and shot back against the wall next to the bed, the loss of contact instantly making the gruesome image dispel leaving the girl he had known almost his whole life in his vision. He looked at her through scared emerald eyes as she blinked from his sudden action before giving him a quizzical look. “Sam? What’s wrong?” The boy had never reacted towards her like that, not in all the years she knew him before and after his body changed. She noted how spooked he looked and it thoroughly worried her. Sam was breathing a bit harshly, as if he had just run a marathon and his cat ears were pressed against his head, like a frightened animal. “Sam?” She tried again. It always worried her when her friend was in pain. “I-I’m ok.” Came the meek response. Lorain knew he was lying, there was no way he was “ok” after what he just did. For a moment she felt some indignation curl up her spine at the fact that she was being lied to by her best friend and was about to demand for the truth, but the feeling melted away when he looked back up at her with sad, fearful eyes. At that moment, the thought entered her mind that maybe this was another side-effect to a half-demon’s awakening. The thought that it might be depressed her a little. Even though she did the best she could, she could never understand what the boy was going through with all the adjustments his body had to make to accommodate the demon half. She offered her full support regardless, because she was his friend regardless of this world’s twisted views and she was his only link to their world. “Really, Lorain, I’m ok.” Sam assured. Lorain hadn’t been aware that she had zoned out. She looked at him, smiling as if that was all the proof she needed. His ears weren’t pressed against his head anymore, but they were still slightly lower than they normally rested. She shot him a skeptical look, arching her eyebrow. Sam threw up his hands, “Really! I-I think I must still be going through some after effects of the previous fainting spell. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal once I get some more rest.” He insisted, smile growing a bit wider in an attempt to reassure her. “Alright…” she sighed in defeat. If he didn’t want to talk about it then she wasn’t going to force him, but the idea that he was adamantly refusing to tell her what was wrong made her all the more worried about him. As she was walking to exit the room she stopped momentarily in the door. “Sam?” She asked without turning around. His ears perked up before his eyes moved to look at her back. The earlier smile was no longer there. “If there’s anything you want or need to talk about, you can tell me. I’m here and I’ll listen, no matter what it is. Just like always, ok?” She looked back then, a warm and friendly smile on her features that silently said she would always be there. “I know,” he smiled a bit too, “Thanks, Lorain.” Her smile widened as she nodded her head a little before leaving the room to get food. When his hyper-sensitive hearing assured him that she was out of human earshot the smile instantly fell and was replaced by a worried, thin line. Weakly, Sam slid down the wall he had hit in his earlier shock and curled himself into as tight a ball as possible. The image from earlier resurfaced in his mind, albeit more faded, and he shuddered at its sight. There was so much blood, and in the middle of the pool was his best friend, pale and torn apart by what looked to be claws. He furiously shook his head, trying to make the image go away, but it seemed glued to his mind’s eye. Defeated, he wrapped his arms around his legs and pressed his face into his knees in an attempt to make the ball tighter, his ears lowering to rest sideways on his head. As the image continued to haunt him he felt hot tears begin to fall from his hidden eyes. He pulled his legs closer to him as he sobbed, shivering from a combination of the image and his tears. After crying for what seemed like a long time the image finally left of its own accord. Sniffling, he wiped the tears away with his arms and hands. The boy felt tired again so he weakly pulled himself up and collapsed back onto the bed, curling into a ball similar to the one he was in previously. Sniffling, he closed his eyes to try and get a little more sleep before having to face everyone again after his fainting spell. “What’s wrong with me?" he thought to himself before drifting into a restless sleep. -------------------------------- The emotions I'm looking to convey are Sam's growing fear of being half-demon and his desire to not worry Lorain (especially with what happens in this scene) and Lorain's frustration at being basically useless and incapable of saying or doing anything to help her friend since she's only human and therefore can not fathom what he's going through. I'm also trying to show a bit how much she cares about Sam. Any opinions/help?
How do you see writing? My mom once told me that she imagines writing to be like running through a forest: You start at the beginning and run through twists and turns and circles until you finally get out of the forest. So after many years of thinking and pondering I have my own vision of writing. Writing, to me, is like sewing a quilt. Your needle is what you use to write your story with (be it pencil or keyboard), the threads are the sentences and the quilt as a whole is your story. The patterns you choose to add to your quilt represent the characters and scenes of your story. The colors of your quilt represent the various personalities and themes of your story. The layout of all these various elements is essentially the sequence of events in your plot. Sometimes as you sew a rip might occur to create a plot hole. You then have a choice of sewing the hole back together or patching it over with something else that could potentially ruin the whole design of the quilt. There are also times when loose threads might occur. You then have the choice of tying these threads or snipping them off. At the end when every loose thread is tied or snipped, every pattern and color is put into place and the quilt is ironed out you are left with a lovely and unique creation to show off to the world. So I ask you, what is your vision of writing?
Edit: new song (that's actually not dark-ish for once) I guess this is what tends to happen when you listen to too much music while letting a plot incubate. I won't give any details, but the following songs I've listened to (and like) seem to fit portions of the plot and/or characters. If you want to listen to a song, Youtube it. These are also NOT in the order that they might be if they were "following the plot". ------------------------------------ Hand of Sorrow -- Within Temptation All I Need -- Within Temptation Those Nights -- Skillet Falling Inside the Black -- Skillet Cadence of Her Last Breath -- Nightwish Whoever Brings the Night -- Nightwish Monster -- Skillet The Last Time -- Within Temptation Blue Eyes -- Within Temptation Destroyed -- Within Temptation A Dangerous Mind -- Within Temptation Dead Inside -- Skillet Awake and Alive -- Skillet It's Not Me It's You -- Skillet Sometimes -- Skillet Forgiven -- Skillet No More -- Three Days Grace Life Starts Now -- Three Days Grace Frozen -- Within Temptation Take My Hand -- Simple Plan From Heads Unworthy -- Rise Against Long Forgotten Sons -- Rise Against It's The Fear -- Within Temptation Deceiver of Fools -- Within Temptation Even In Death -- Evanescence How Did I Fall In Love With You -- Backstreet Boys Forever You -- Evanescence Surrender -- Evanescence Supernatural -- Flyleaf Justice and Mercy -- Flyleaf There For You (Album Version) -- Flyleaf Breathe You In -- Thousand Foot Krutch E for Extinction -- Thousand Foot Krutch Watching Over Me -- Thousand Foot Krutch ------------------------------------- Naturally, there might be more added if I happen to hear another song that I think fits in with the plot in my head. I wonder how many songs I'll find. This is getting pretty big o-o.
Felt like writing out some basic things. The main characters are Sam Baxter and Lorain Claire (both of their names came to me as they are when the story idea hit me). The world they are both transported to, for now, has no name. However, it's similar to Earth but society there is similar to the medieval ages (although not quite the same). In this world there are three distinct races: Humans, Elves, and Demons (not Satan's minions, more like humanized animal spirits). Humans are a rather weak species unless they have a weapon of some sort and live in villages and towns. Only a few humans can use magic if they have the talent for it. Elves are as they usually are, slender-framed, pointy-eared beings with high magic skills. The elves in this story, though, are an endangered race. They're endangered for several reasons: The humans destroying their forest homes in order to make room for themselves, and the Demon King who has captured and killed many elves in an attempt to learn their magical abilities. Demons are a race of creatures that have two main forms: a human-like form and an animal form (their "demon" form). They were named demons by the human race who were scared and judgemental of their shapeshifting abilities. Demons are typically physically stronger than the average human male and have more stamina and heightened senses than that of a normal human. Demons also live much longer than ordinary humans. Supremacy amongst the demon race is not decided based upon the animal to which a demon is connected. Instead, supremacy is decided on strength and intelligence. In other words, a lion demon will not always be above a mouse demon, if that mouse demon happens to be stronger or more intelligent than the lion demon. This is also how the Demon King is chosen every 1000 years, through a series of supremacy battles with the prize being the title and position. The strongest demon becomes the Demon King for that period. Humans detest the demons for their shapeshifting abilities and being seen as physically inferior to the demons. Most demons hate the humans because of the injust beliefs about them and for the fact that a lot of humans have murdered a number of demons with their weapons out of fear whether it was just or not. Despite that, there are some demons whom choose to take a human for a mate and some humans who take demons for their lovers. The products of such unions are the half-demons. Half-demons are a slightly odd sub-species. When they're born they look like any other normal human baby. For most of their early life they look human, until they hit puberty. Once a half-demon hits puberty age that's when the demon half of their blood "wakes up" and they gain a set of demon abilities based on the animal spirit their demon parent was connected to. Usually, the changes are a pair of ears/horns (depending on the animal) on the top of the head which replace the human ones (those sink into the head until that part is smooth like the rest of the skin), increased senses, increased physical strength (although because of the human blood their strength is only partially below that of a full demon), increased stamina, and some other misc attributes exclusive to each animal (cat half-demons gain longer fingernails to resemble claws, wolf half-demons might have their eyes slightly altered in shape to resemble a wolf's, etc). Half-demons going through "demon puberty" are usually prone to fainting spells (some might become a little sick in the stomach, but usually it's random fainting) because of their bodies struggling to adjust to their changing make-up. Demon puberty, for most half-demons usually lasts a month with their ears being the first things to change. Half-demons are the most discriminated sub-race in their world. The parents of half-breeds, biological or adopted, are usually abused and mistreated by other humans/demons for being associated with a half-breed (or for a married/mated demon and human with no children, it's because of their union in general). Half-demons, because of their social status, are often abandoned by their birth parents who have no choice in order to protect them. For this reason, many half-demons are orphans because of either abandonment or their parents being murdered. Also because of their low social status, if a half-demon is known to live in an area near humans or demons, they are required by law of both humans and demons to expose their ears so that it is known to everyone else who the half-demon is. This often means that a half-demon who tries to buy something might be charged too much or shorted change whether they're aware of it or not, but they are not allowed to make a fuss over it because doing so opens them to being brutally beaten to death. For most half-demons, their demon puberty goes smoothly and lasts however long it does with the normal side effects. However, there's one mysterious side effect that happens to some half-demons and no one is sure why. This side effect is the creation of a split between the human and demon halves of the half-demon's mind. This can be an extremely dangerous side effect as the demon half is nothing more than a wild, rage-filled animal with a will of its own seperate from the human half. Because of this wild nature, the demon half will frequently attack the human half causing a lot of pain to the half-demon. In some extreme cases or with enough provoction the demon half will take temporary control of the half-demon's body and cause a bout of amnesia for the time it was temporarily in control. The only way to counter the side effect is for the effected half-demon to take measures to try and control the demon half so that the human half is always the dominate one. In some cases the half-demon may be able to merge the two halves back together, but this is hard to do. Controlling the demon half is a very exhausting ordeal, but if the demon half is not taken back under control by the human half the half-demon risks going crazy and reduced to nothing more than a wild and raging animal. Half-demons that have succumbed to their demon half can't be recovered 98% of the time and thus have no other choice but to be killed. In the other world, there is a group of half-demons who have banded together to rebel against the unfair treatment they, as half-demons receive and strive to dethrone the current Demon King since they feel he's the main cause of the prejudice. The group is fairly small in size, about ten or so half-demons, and as a whole they are loosely organized. However, they function well together due to their common goal and their bonds grown from years of working together. That's all I have worked out for basic info. More will be added later.