No not the song silly! My issue with any of my writing tends to be my need to be organized. By this, I mean I want the reader to kinda know what I'm thinking before I even think it... but that needs to be broken probably. I'm too organized with my writing, that shall break in time hopefully. Anyhow, on to the real problem... I have created a world that I wish my books to be based on. However, I have a lack of ideas to demonstrate this fact. On top of that, I'm still bouncing around the history of this world because I just can't decide. Here is how I have it now: Waaaay back in the Middle Ages, one of the popes was about to take a stand when he was assassinated (it appears as if he died of natural causes) and in a coincidental vote, his brother instead took the stand. A few months into his 'term' so to speak, and strange things begin to occur, not only in Italy it seems. Well the Pope is then contacted by an outside force (God) who tells him that since Lucifer cannot have the real Earth, he has decided to fight for this one instead (the parallel Earth). Anyhow, under commands from this outside force (trying not to offend anyone who is not a Christian here) the Pope rallies the forces of England, France, Spain ect ect. Even going so far at to head to the Americas, and obtain alliance from the Aztecs, Myans, Natives. So basically everyone (of course the outside force has to help in the convincing). Anywho, a huge force is established, and everyone takes hold in a massive fortress that can house just about everyone (with the help of some underground tunnels and of course a little Divine magic), just as the decent of the evil outside force begins to take hold on the parallel earth. A huge war ensues. (What a shocker) After the battle, which is narrowly won, the energies of the demons and of the outside forces seem to resonate in the atmosphere. The Pope then becomes known as Father Time, destined to protect the earth along with Mother Nature, and the entire council of elders (this includes Guardians of Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Animals ect. Just use your imagination here because I don't have them all set in stone yet) as well as a many lower councils. Through this also, the energy in the atmosphere is taken in by some people and not by others. This random pattern actually creates new species such as Centaur, Orcs, Elves, and even goes so far as to mutate animals so that some of them can talk, not all of them, but some. Well anyhow, this whole land is just based off of that, the parallel earth is actually double the size of the real earth (triple if I find that I can't fit all my wanted locations in there) but the point is its big! That is the premises... but along with my issue of how to introduce all this, I also fear of insulting people. You see, the lower councils are each going to be based on an old belief. For instance, one council can be the council of the ancient Greeks, in this many of the deities from the Greek religion take seat here (obviously these were people chosen by Father Time and what not after the great war). The other lower councils include deities from Inuit mythology, Viking Mythology, ect ect. I mean, you get the idea. Of course I won't venture so far as to include Deities from the Major religions of today (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist) for the sake of insulting people. Yet, I'm still worried I might inadvertently insult some... Any help?
I wouldn't worry about insulting people. That doesn't mean I think you should go out of your way to bash thier beliefs or whatever, but this is fiction, and if people can't cope with reading about religions set in a fictious world... well that's up to them to deal with it how they will. Sometimes you have to step on a few toes, and if they decide to burn you book becasue of it, well at least you'll have made the news ;D In regards to introducing you world, I don't think you really need to, but that a personal preference of mine. I like reading a story where the writer is going on and on like all this weird stuff is completely normal (which in that world it would be) and then explains things slowly as the story progresses or as need arises that the reader has to know some crucial information or history or whatever (I think Robin McKinley is reall good at this). I sugesst you build the world up mostly for your own reference, then just start writing your story. When you do revisions, you can look at it from the view of an outsider and then decide what can be guessed at, what can be assumed and what needs to be told. Just don't info dump, I hear that's bad form. Best of luck.
Hm, sounds very legit. I was deciding on, after a few of my books where things were just played out in the way you described, literally going back and writing an entire book about the great war. Let them see into this, but only enough to get them started with an "OH!" moment, and have them sort of learn the rest from the remainder of my writing.
definately DO NOT have words like pope, Catholicism, middle ages, europe, etc.. be common knowledge, when people become god-kings they destroy prior history, which must have happened, considering your head leader is called Father Time and not Pope Frank III, also make the stories of this world mystical, attribute the change in humanity and animal-kind to gods or mystic forces rather than magical evolution. all this information is a conspiracy theory in your world, the lies spread by the lower counsils, who want you to believe they are gods, are the truth. so don't just work out the real true history, also work out the mystical re-tooling of the history to fit in line with the new religion centered around father time. that said, think about this religion. this world has been shaped by a god-king who was formerly a pope, suffice to say everyone's religion and government is going to look a whole lot more catholic than before the "great war"
Y'know what I'd like to see? An earth from a parallel universe deciding whether or not to save this earth from destruction.
Well actually, I think you misunderstand. You see, the pope was actually commanded by the God of Christian faith, he is not warping everything to make himself a god, it is simply the fact that the Christian god has put him in charge while he takes care of the other numerous earth's that exist. I actually want Father Time to be a rather kind fellow, something of a Yoda to the 100,000th degree. I do understand what you are saying though, and where you get that it might have been changed. But I want the premises to be that two earth's were once parallel, and this one is just one of the many that strayed off in a different direction due to the fact that Lucifer seems to want control of each earth, and after his failed attempt at one, he would move onto the next. This means that this earth is not the first in the process of his attempt at takeover, but certainly not the last. Does that make more sense? I mean, after the great war is over, and after everyone seems to unite in one cause under the pope who will become Father Time, everything seems to revert back to what we know it today: differing religions. But this happens over time.
If you choose the leader of the Christian faith (whether you name it that way or not) to become the shephard of all, you will emd up offending all non-Christians by the apparent favoritism. Better to elevate a common man who embraces and unifies the diverse faiths, and play no favorites.
While I agree with Cogito's statement, there are numerous christian-oriented books out there. This could just be another one However, if you tried to do this project without offending anyone, you would find it eerily similar to Anthony Horowitz's Gatekeepers series (The power of five series in britain.) You may want to check it out, as the plotline seems somewhat similar. The pope may not be the one to unite the religions, as you must see from his perspective: How well will the pope work with pagans? (as you refer to ancient greek mythos) How well will muslims (notably the shia sect) react to the pope being savior of the world? A large question in my mind is this: If, obviously God exists, then how are there other gods? And if there are not, then why are pagan disciples on the council? To write a story as brilliantly complex as this one, you must be able to see this story from each group's point of view. If you can do this and write it realistically, you could have an amazing story on your hands.
I understand what you are saying here, this will indeed be a conundrum. My thing with the Pagan religion deities being on the council, is that to help keep the world in more of a "Peace" the higher council (involving Father Time and such) decided to make lower councils that just happened to evolve over time into these people who resembled these Deities.
Whoo, back on the forums. Anyway, I really wouldn't worry about offending anyone; you're not writing for them, anyway, and if anyone would seriously get offended with that content, that's more their problem than your's. I don't see why non-Christians wouldn't like this book; I don't even have a religion and I'm now telling the TC to let us know when this book is published! I'll buy the first copy.
I agree, but I still worry about others sometimes! Haha, don't get your hopes up on the book though, still in high school and I don't see getting this thing published anytime soon! But I extend my great thanks for the vote of confidence!
Political correctness is going too far in this country. If people are offended by you using the Pope as an important piece in the plot, who really cares? It's your story, not theirs. If you're writing a story using many different religions, then focusing on one as the center-point is fine. In fact, it's good. Trying to balance all religions becomes almost altruistic, like you're struggling to pacify everyone. Write what you want. I like the ideas you presented in your original post here. It seemed very interesting, like you could do a lot with it. But when I reached the part where you talk about how universal disruption created orcs, elves, talking animals, etc., I was a little disappointed. It was an anticlimax, because you go from a very interesting concept to a very cliche one. I'm sure you can make your ideas unique enough that you don't have to introduce elves and orcs, I mean seriously. I always say that it's not cliche if you write it well, but falling back on these cliche elements shows that you don't have enough confidence in your ideas and that you're using these overused ones as a crutch. You could create something much better with your ideas than a cliche fantasy setting.
Well yes, I do believe I can create my own species and such; and I will. However, I must say that I love the traditional fantasy elements that exist through Orcs, Elves, Dwarves and other creatures of the like. I feel like if I don't keep those elements in my writing, for me I'm missing something and its not as much fun for me. I love the classic fantasy creatures, Centaurs being my favorite among all, but it just keeps it fun for me. So I like to think of it not as me not being creative enough to make my own, I'm just being creative enough to use them in my own way.
I respect what you're doing, and I understand. The problem is that potential readers might label it as uncreative when they see that orcs and elves and such are named as such. While centaurs have been given different characteristics throughout history, the popular versions of orcs and elves and dwarves are basically just the Tolkien versions, and are his creations, used in almost every modern mainstream fantasy novel. You need to at least call them something different so that people don't judge it without really getting into the story; you don't want it to seem too much like "Sword & Sorcery" fantasy.
why not? Sword and Sorcery is a legitimate sub-genre of Fantasy. And as for Tolkein, yes he created the standard races but he created all kinds of things that the fantasy lives and breaths. Tolkein is fantasy, you can't write in this genre without taking something from him. Also, its better to call a spade a spade, if the creatures are Elves or Centaurs they should be called Elves and Centaurs. You could even say that this Earth is connected somehow to ours and that's why we have stories about such creatures, because they could cross over, just an idea. Ultimately if you have tall, pointy-eared humanoids, even if you call them the Eldari, the reader will still call them elves. So just go ahead and write your story the way you want, I've learned that writing what you enjoy is the only way it'll come out well.
Can anyone say "Eragon"? Eragon is basically a cliche fantasy story, with some elements he added to make the story his own. I see nothing wrong with doing it here. Oh, and as for not publishing a book in high school, you can think again. Christopher Paolini published Eragon when he was fourteen.
One book series, two rebuttal's. You astound me my friend! You are correct in both senses, but considering my years in high school are waning to an end here, (one more!) I find it increasingly unlikely that I will be the next young author. However! I do aspire to at least get something of a book published in College, but don't hold your breath. XD
I didn't mean that he should use the standard races and call them by other names; I meant that he should replace the standard races with different ones. The background is creative enough that he can probably think of an interesting race that isn't necessarily pointy-eared humanoids. And the heavily religion-based background of the book is good in of itself for a story; just because Sword & Sorcery is a legitimate genre doesn't mean that he should incorporate it into a story that doesn't need it. Ultimately these choices are up to the author; these are just my opinions.
