Alright guys I need some assistance in filling in the gaps for my book. Here's the basic information you need to answer me questions. Hayben(Main Character) is a warrior who is training and eventually joins the Aincaad Empire's forces to become the best there is. Didren(Main Supporting) is an orphan who trains and becomes a mercenary in order to earn a living. Didren and Hayben cross paths and end up following the same goal, to learn about an ancient civilization that's covered in mystery, and to uncover the location of a special book and its secretes. throughout the story Didren has flashbacks of his past, of his parents that he never knew about. Their faces were always blurred in these flashbacks. In the middle of the book he is told that his parents were in fact the King and Queen of the Aincaad Empire. His parents were ambushed while traveling, his mother killed instantly and his father was forced to hide Didren. In order to protect him from the people hunting down the king, he left him at the front door of an orphanage. The king has passed away and Didren is expected to be the heir to the throne as is expected. Didren refuses the crown feeling unfit to be king not only because of the things he had to do to survive as a mercenary, but because he let three people die in his travels with Hayben. Also Hayben has always been the one to lead the way and direct them to what was next every time they were in the middle of a problem. Didren offer's Hayben the crown. Hayben Accepts. The spots I have to fill in the story: How does the king die. (keeping it simple with death by old age/illness, or complex with assassination) How does Didren learn that he is the heir the the throne and he must take action. (should it be simple and obvious to get to the main story of their travels, or should it be more complex/detailed) I guess my main question to you is, what would you like to read that would keep you interested? Would you like these gaps to be filled in with treachery, assassinations, and political power aside from the main story of Hayben's and Didren's travels together? Or should I keep these gaps simple and to the point with some background story in order to stick to the main objective of the book which is Hayben's and Didren's travels.
"King" is a job, and jobs have duties. Does your MC have what it takes to fulfill these duties? I wouldn't want to see a story where the writer chose between the procedural aspects of royalty and the dramatic aspects, I would want to see a story where the procedural aspects of royalty are the drama. (Like a startlingly large number of Frozen fanfictions. Have you ever watched Frozen?)
Hi, It may not be helpful but there was a sci fantasy book I read ages ago - it may have been by Le Sprague De Camp - where a man became king by accident. He was literally wandering among a crowd of people when the former king was publically decapitated having served his five year term and our MC caught the head as it was tossed to the crowd by accident. He then spends the rest of the book trying to abdicate rather than lose his own head! Cheers, Greg.
Hi, and welcome to the forum! What would keep YOU interested? There is a lot of truth in the saying that writers should write the book they would love to read themselves. Don't fall into the habit of asking other folks to help you plan your story. That will hamstring your efforts no end. You can do it! In fact, as a writer, you can do anything you want. Have fun, be bold and be confident. Invent a pathway for your character. It's the only thing that will actually work for your story, anyway. What sort of things would make this an irresistible story? Something unexpected? Either in the setting or the character himself? Do you find treachery, assassinations and struggles for political power engrossing to read about? Or do you prefer personal struggles against elements from a character's past? Or maybe both together? You decide. It's your story. As to how the old king died, etc, that's also your job to figure out. It may well impact on what else happens. A king who is murdered will have a different effect on a story than one who simply dies of old age. Then again, maybe the king has disappeared and nobody knows what happened to him. He may still be alive? All sorts of possibilities. This is what sets creative writing apart from the assignment writing we all learned at school. There are no boundaries. Resist the impulse to let others set them for you. You create. You design. And you write. Do what would please you. And if an answer isn't immediately forthcoming, beaver away at it until you find or invent the answer. Myself, I would be interested in seeing what you come up with here. I love being surprised and intrigued by what I read. I'm not interested in helping to create this particular story myself, however. I want to see what YOU come up with. By the way, a lot of writing work is done away from the computer. Daydreaming and thinking about your story and your characters are VERY important activities. Don't feel you're wasting time. Just keep a notebook handy and jot down any ideas that come to you, whenever they do. Just daydream. Make up a few scenes. Put flesh on your characters in your own imagination. Don't treat them like gaming pieces on a game board. They are 'real' people. Play around with what they do, think, feel, dream. Put them into scenes (in your head) where they interact with each other. Visualise the settings. Have fun. And don't look upon this phase as time wasting. It's probably the most important phase of all. Writing can be polished, critiqued, tweaked, embellished, etc. But this phase can't be rushed or controlled by anybody but yourself. Go to a quiet place, or go for a walk, or get up early in the morning but stay in bed and just think. Listen to music that gets you in the mood. Read any books that might give you ideas. If it's a story set in a medieval-like fantasy world, read about actual medieval history and events. Look at pictures. Visit websites that do re-enactments. Look at artifacts either online or in a museum. Immerse yourself in the world of your story.
Wow thanks alot, its exactly the reply I needed. I guess I've always been held back because I've never done any creative writing before this. Also with the reply's of everyone else and you information I think I know what to do now. I do love drama but I enjoy the idea of past struggles effecting the decisions of becoming king and the duties behind what it means to be king. I'm going to put all of this together.
I appreciate the reply, I completely agree I was thinking about the drama because of their past I didn't think about what the roll of King actually means and requires. Im not going to make it as simple as Hayben just simply accepting. He has to take his time and compare his actions to those of the previous king, the things he would have done to make things better that the past king didn't, ect. This will definitely be more interesting.
I would recommend reading up on Springhole. Actually, I'd recommend them on general principle but specific to this moment I would recommend http://www.springhole.net/writing/write-better-royal-noble-and-upper-class-characters.htm
I think you have a nice blueprint here already. The fact that Didren questions his own abilities and declines the kingship make him a very interesting character. It's your story, so you should write what you want to read as jannert already said. Me, personally, I would like to read how the revelation to Didren that he is descended from the King works out on his feelings and psyche. Make him struggle with his past. Make him turn inside and discover about himself. Have him questioning his actions and, in the end, discover qualities he did not realise he had. Qualities that might indeed make for a good King.
I read that book! "Why does the crown have a chinstrap?" "Because some years ago, one man caught the head, and the other the crown, and a civil war ensued." Back to your usually scheduled thread.
Hi, Found it. It's a trilogy: The Goblin Tower, The Clocks of Iraz and the Unbeheaded King by L Sprague De Camp. Very funny. By the way of relevance to the thread, the books tell the story of Jorian - the unfortunate King who wants to keep his head. But one of the themes of the books is the riches to rags theme. He's had enough of "Kinging" and it was fine while it lasted, but his dream / quest is a simple life. Suburbia - in an alternate Earth / fantasy sort of way! Cheers, Greg.
My question right away is: why didn't the king return or send someone back for his son? And if the king were being chased down - war time perhaps? - which is why he couldn't come back for his son, then Didren's timeline and location would coincide with when the war took place and the route the royal family took to flee. He would have been in unusually fine clothes, which perhaps an orphanage staff would remember. All things you could use for him to somehow discover is heritage. My second question is: how does he prove he's the heir? Why would he do that if he never wanted the throne? has someone been looking for him all this time in order to bring him back to the throne? If there was, then I can't see this person would accept Hayben quietly. I really doubt, in any case, that politically speaking all the royal staff and fellow politicians are gonna just go hail Didren, we don't know you but hey you claim to be the heir, so here's the throne! Oh wait, you don't want it? Doesn't matter, you can give it to whomever you want! That just wouldn't make any sense. Also, who's been ruling the kingdom all this time? I can't see the existing ruler and his family going away quietly either. For me, it's actually the throne just being "given away" that makes it kinda unbelievable. A king isn't a king unless his subjects recognise him as king - Didren has his own problems with getting recognised, and now you're saying a man of questionable heritage that people in his kingdom are just meant to believe he's the heir is actually just gonna give the throne to someone of non-royal blood, and everyone accepts this sitting down without protests? Lady Jane Grey holds the shortest reign in English history - just 9 days. She was the Queen, and got executed. The dying king passed his throne to her, but someone wasn't happy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey
That is one heck of a great site! Can you put it up in the Resources section of the forum? It's fantastic. Not only for writing upper class characters, but for writing characters in general. There's an excellent section on how NOT to create a Mary Sue. And one I found particularly interesting that has to do with corsets. As my novel takes place during a corset-wearing era, I found it good reading. Fortunately nothing that derails my story train, but still....