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Post by veryblessedmom on May 4, 2012 20:11:31 GMT -5
Help me brainstorm please? I have a character in Edwardian England who goes to meet his maternal grandparents for the first time when he is 10. He is in a wheelchair at the time. Turns out his mother's family are some sort of supernatural beings. His grandmother is a healer and corrects his legs. But his grandfather gives him the gift of flight. What are his grandparents? Are they elves? Fey? Leprechauns? And how does he fly? Wings? If so, what kind? Or does his flight come from magic of some sort?
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Post by Kessie on May 4, 2012 21:10:49 GMT -5
Why is he in a wheelchair? Polio or something different? I think it'd be interesting to see a flying character who can't walk. People in wheelchairs have tremendously developed upper bodies and it'd make sense that he could fly. Does it have to be the fey? They have so many rules, whether seelie or unseelie. I mean, just check out the Fairy section on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairyI imagine dragons are overdone, too. Especially dragons in human form. Why not try another sort of magical creature, like a griffin or a phoenix? Or even a kitsune? They take human form, but they're actually magical foxes with up to nine tails. They're from Japanese mythology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsune
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Post by yoda47 on May 5, 2012 8:30:35 GMT -5
Question: When you say "Edwardian England", do mean 1841-1910, or 1936?
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Post by yoda47 on May 5, 2012 8:37:09 GMT -5
Nevermind, a little research points to the first date... I always get the British monarchs confused....
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Post by Kessie on May 5, 2012 8:57:14 GMT -5
What if the setting was steampunk? You know, alternate history, if steam had become the dominant technology rather than the internal combustion engine?
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Post by veryblessedmom on May 5, 2012 9:52:17 GMT -5
What if the setting was steampunk? You know, alternate history, if steam had become the dominant technology rather than the internal combustion engine? IT IS STEAMPUNK!!! What's crazy is I've never read any. The way I write is that characters show up in my head, sort of like visions. And then I start asking questions about who they are b/c if they take up residence in my head, I feel I have a right to know about them. Anyway, On vacation a couple of weeks ago a guy showed up in my head in an old fashioned wheelchair. Not sure why so I started hanging out with him. Turns out he had Polio as a child but he could fly. So investigated that and when he was 10 his mother took him to meet her parents back in her old country. Not sure if it was Scotland or Ireland but she and her family had a strong burr to their accents. Anyway, get got the ability to fly and his mother stayed behind with her folks as part of the deal. He's never let his human grandfather know. The only one who does know is a little girl who fell from a tree outsid the church when he was about 12. She was 6. No one was around and he saved her but never saw her again. Then as a grown man, this American woman has come in search of investing her father's money to marry her to peerage for a title to welcome her into society with their new money. So then I met the love interest in my head. SHE IS AN INVENTOR. ***STEAMPUNK*** I was so surprised to realize I would be writing Steampunk.
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Post by tris on May 5, 2012 15:28:06 GMT -5
If it's steampunk, he doesn't need magic to fly. Just add special gadgets and gizmos to his wheelchair and he's airborne like an airship. check out girlgeniusonline.com to get a better idea how steampunk works
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Post by Kessie on May 5, 2012 18:00:18 GMT -5
Did Girl Genius launch steampunk as a genre? I didn't see much of it before I started reading. Now it's officially a Thing.
Also, thick German accents for the win. "Any plan vere hyu loze your hat iz a bad plan!"
I think wikipedia pretty much covers steampunk, too. Have you ever seen that song on Youtube about steampunk imitators called "Just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk"? Hilarious.
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Post by veryblessedmom on May 5, 2012 22:06:00 GMT -5
Here's the thing about how I write. I can't change what comes to me. It's more like I report what I see and hear so the accent is what it is. It's a Scottish Burr.
And it will be a merge of probably Fae and some altered version of steampunk b/c he is magical and she is gadgety.
Some things in a story I can change or control but I cannot change what the characters show me. It's too real to me.
But the genre it will sell under will probably be Para Rom because it is first and foremost a romance. You can get by with mixing all kinds of things there unlike straight up traditional genres
And I've noticed my belief that Christ didn't make the church to be the little wife always needing rescue but after salvation, we come alongside with gifts and abilities. Actual couples are like that and My fictional couples are always like that. He can be a superhero but she brings her own things too that are totally different and some how work well together. They will solve crimes like a magical/steampunk version of Heart to Heart (If anyone remembers that show LOL)
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Post by Kessie on May 6, 2012 15:40:51 GMT -5
VBM: My stories are like that, too. I'm working on one that's been rewritten five or six times, and although various elements have changed, the characters and basic plot are the same.
I'm currently in a bit of a quandary, because the hero of my current story just walked up to another character and yelled in his face, "See this obituary? It's mine! You have to come stop me from dying!" And I don't see how to do it yet. :-)
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