I see I've got some comments already telling me about the larger story context for these excerpts. Thanks so much for your speed, guys.
My plan is to use this material for a devious purpose. :-)
With well-developed worlds like the ones I'm seeing, very often writers develop their own world-related notes and research at home. For a novel-length piece, it might even get its own file on the computer. A world developer will probably have worked to answer some of the following questions:
1. What is the nature of the environment? Planet? Nation? Underwater world?
2. What is the climate? What are the physical dangers?
3. What is the geography where the story takes place?
4. How do people live? In cities? In an air bubble on an inimical world? What do their homes look like/feel like?
5. What is the political layout of the area where the story takes place?
6. What do people wear? How does this reflect the climate and their social status?
7. How do people move goods around? Is it easy to obtain supplies in this environment?
8. What do people eat?
9. What kinds of objects or substances have value? Is there an economy? What kind?
10. Are there regional differences?
11. Are there religious differences?
Obviously there are many more questions that can be answered, and some questions are more relevant to a story than others. On the other hand, while you wouldn't expect regional differences between the different areas of Mars in Bill's piece, you might discover that the characters come from different regions of Earth, and that could conceivably have bearing on the plot. Which is just to say, think about all the possible ways that these world details can influence the story before ruling any of them out completely.
In this workshop, I didn't want to work with world descriptions so much as world demonstrations. So now that we've considered knowledge sets in each piece, I want to zero in on something else.
Consider how your world saturates your point of view character.
Let's take the questions above and put them differently, from the protagonist's point of view.
1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
Changing these questions from general world questions into personal protagonist questions can deeply change the way you write about your world. This is why I have asked you to tell me about the point of view character and the main conflict. Once I have all the descriptions in hand I'm going to go off and think, but I'd like you guys to start thinking too, because I'm planning to give each of you a set of questions geared to your particular piece, and in the end I'm going to ask you to make changes to your text.
Here's the central issue:
Think about who your main character is, and what that person's goals are in this scene that you've given me. What does he or she want? Then think about how that person's goals relate to the world that you've created and the personalized questions above. Why does he or she want it? What value does it have, and why? What is standing in the way of him or her getting it?
The goals of the protagonist, and the worldview that lies behind him or her, including any specialized knowledge or experience in his or her untold backstory, will influence the protagonist's judgment of everything.
So to summarize what happens next: once I have a sense of the main character and the main conflict from everyone, I'll post a set of questions for each of you that relates specifically to your own piece, and we'll see where we can go from there.
It occurs to me that while I gave you a lot about the plot and situation, I didn't give you much about any of the four main characters.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Shepherd is a sailor and trader. He owns his own sailing craft, the Silver Star, and pretty much works as a freelancer. That is, Morrow employs him, but he's not part of Morrow's entourage or household. I don't know if he went to university, but he is intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive, observant and feels perfectly at ease with university educated people. I think his upbringing was what we would call comfortably middle class. His goal in Chapter 1 is simply to get home; a goal thwarted by an unexpected and most weird circumstance. This circumstance is directly related to the geography of Nova Britannia, specifically of the Blue Green Sea, which he is crossing in this chapter.
Brontë Sinclair is the syon of a powerful political family, his father is a world senator, though he himself has little interest in or talent for politics. He is an engineer and architect by training, no doubt taking after his mother, a noted garden designer and landscape architect. Though wealthy, he is down to earth, even selfdepricating, handsome and quite charming. Charlie takes a liking to him at once. He is an accomplished sailor, though in the story so far we only see him as Charlie's crew on the Silver Star. In adolescence, he falls in love with Emma Morrow (qv), and throughout the story his driving motivation is to rescue her from an increasingly difficult and uncomfortable home life and to provide her with a safe, loving home. In the social/moral setup of Nova Britannia, this goal equates to marriage. He also has a physical goal, construction of the safe haven. We see the finished results of this goal in Chapter 1 in the form of the unexpected and most weird circumstance mentioned above.
Jocelyn Falconer is Charlie's sweetheart though not his wife. Since she is what we would call a Bohemian, a Science Fiction writer in fact, and since she lives in one of the more relaxed subsocieties on Nova Britannia, that's all right. She is physically and visually disabled, and has a PCR or Personal Care Robot, though she manages pretty well on her own most of the time. Provisionally, she went to secondary school with Emma, though I haven't entirely made up my mind about that. I need a reason for them to know each other, and that seems the most straight forward and likely. She owns her own small house, which is the wandering Charlie's home insofar as he has a home.
Emma Morrow is the daughter of Tom Morrow, the grain merchant we met in Chapter 1. He is more than merely a grain merchant, he is the head of the Nova Britannia Corn Exchange, a very powerful position. Emma's parents are very wealthy, but she is a personally modest person, even shy and difident. She is very severely physically disabled as well as totally blind. Her parents, especially her mother, are smotheringly protective. She is cared for by a PCR whom she sometimes thinks loves her more than her mother does. Despite her disabilities, she swims and rides horseback. If you want to, you can verify that here on Earth it is not unusual for severely disabled people to do these activities and even to do them well. I think she went to university where she majored in Economics, but I'm not certain about that. She adores Brontë. Though intelligent, Emma is rather more of a reacter than an actor.
I also didn't tell you much about Nova Britannia itself. It is part of the Nova Europa system, which contains at least two other inhabited (possibly terraformed or doamed) pplanets. It has an orbit around its primary (year) of 375 days and a rotation (day) of 26 hours. I'm a bit vague on all the geography... except there are planes, great, rolling planes, in the northeast and beautiful seas whose properties seem rather different than those of most seas and oceans on earth. There are tropical and sub tropical areas. I haven't thought about whether there are polar caps, though there probably are. There are towns and cities. The cities have what would seem to us futuristic mass transit. They have space travel, obviously. Provisionally, I have them using space fountain tech.
Nova Britannia is orbited by one large satellite, Nova Hibernia, inhabited, which is itself orbited by two uninhabitable moonlets, nova Scotia and Nova Cambria. Nova Britannia is also orbited by a smaller, uninhabited satellite, Nova Anglia. I haven't yet fully worked out the astrodynamics of the system, but they rise and set at different times. That is, Angie (Nova Anglia) is not a trojan of Bernie (Nova Hibernia). There is also a space station at L1 of the Nova Britannia/Nova Hibernia system.
David Marshall sent this to my email...
ReplyDelete1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
Her home is the Great Reef, a city that probably looks a lot like a termite mound covered in Christmas lights, grown from a kind of coral-analogue. The walls that shield the city-dwellers from predators are the boundaries, at least as far as most arcati are concerned. Our protagonist swims from the city because the walls and the light pollution block the view of the stars.
Later, with the Watchers, there is a lagoon protected by a reef that has a transparent coral lens across it. The Watchers literally live inside a giant telescope. But far too many of them prefer to ignore their duties, since the title of Lord of Astrophysics was created so long ago that no one really recalls why it was created.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Water, water, everywhere. But not if she sticks her head through the veil and into the planetary atmosphere (the Lesser Void). I'm thinking maybe tropical ocean, with water deep enough that sandlurkers can't ambush arcati from the sea floor. She fears the predators, but not enough (It will never happen to me -- the foolish bravery of the young).
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
The Great Reef is honeycombed with tunnels and apartments. The tunnels can go up or down, or across. Arcati swim, they don't need stairs. Their comforts are kind of Spartan, and not through choice. They are fighting against their environment and not always winning. (This is going to contrast with the luxury of the Lord of Astrophysics later on.)
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
Anywhere she can follow her dream, even if all she can do is stargaze. I'm thinking that excessive luxury gives her discomfort, when many survive on so much less.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
The Lord of Astrophysics runs the show, but the Lordship is hereditary, and it soon becomes obvious that she cannot respect him. He would rather sleep than stargaze! But she fears him, for he has the power to punish her.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
So far, I haven't decided if the arcati wear anything, or if so, what. I have some vague idea that armour may help the warriors defend against predator attacks. Most of their technology is biotech -- since that seems to be the easiest to keep functioning in an underwater world. But this has given me an idea, about relics from the Old Times…
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
Until the end of the opening scene, she is supported by her parents. Once apprenticed to the Watchers, she relies on them. When she is captured by the human explorers…
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
The arcati diet consists of various fish, crustaceans and seaweeds, farmed within the reefs. The poor cannot be too fussy, though. Bloodrays and sandlurkers taste bad, and would probably eat any arcati trying to eat them. Kraken are simply too big and powerful to even consider eating.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
Again, I haven't decided. But I do have an idea now, some sort of jewellery or similar that identifies the wearer as belonging to a particular clan, reef and/or occupation. She has to give it up when she goes to the Watchers, and it hurts more than she thought it would.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
Teenage boys. And the differences are both charming and frightening. The Lord of Astrophysics is just alarming. The humans are...well, weird! But they can reach the stars!
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
She isn't in control of her actions for most of the story, despite her attempts to make it so. I'm thinking that she should find at least one person to believe in, another apprentice perhaps, but a fellow diligent Watcher.
As for the relics of the Old Times…well, the whole world wasn't always underwater.
David,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you responding to the questions. This is a great first step; now I'd like to see you push it even further toward your character. Consider writing your answers in first person instead of third, to try to experience her mindset.
This may seem like a point of view exercise, but in my experience of worldbuilding, I find people tend to take less advantage than they might of the protagonist's judgments to enhance the sense of the world.
K Richardson emailed this to me, an exploration of the 11 questions for her primary protagonist (not POV character in her excerpt), but I thought it was worth sharing:
ReplyDelete1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
I am bound to the surface of Eya. Unlike most projems, I have briefly left this enforced colony of a planet, plucked off the surface to satisfy the momentary curiosity of the Dalkans, and placed right back where I came from, none the worse for wear. My home will always be the Terran Compound. The community of Terrans there is kind and welcoming and generous. They cared for me, without obligation, taught me for the sheer joy of it, honored me for my singularity and celebrated my successes. I have found friendship and collegiality and love there without fear. The greater Eyan culture has only recently claimed me as their own, with a desperate pride, rather than the Dalkans’ curiosity. I enjoy it, I’m flattered by the attention, but I’m wary. I know these are my people, but I don’t feel truly of them.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
In a local sense, the weather is very stable. Eya’s an artificial planet, with minimal winds and weather systems. Although I am albino and can spend limited time above ground during full daylight, I don’t irrationally fear the sun as many Eyans do. I have some pigment in my eyes and am comfortable in the shade or in the sun’s weak hours. So much of our lives are lived underground, that unless you’re a farmer, the weather is of little consequence.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
Much of Caytal City, where the Capitol and the Terran Compound are located is underground, so the topography is of minimal impact. Above ground are groves of tall trees and farmland. There are several lake reservoirs and fish farms outside the city.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
I love the light filled rooms on the above ground floors of the Terran compound. It is an outstation for them, and the architecture is simple and square. Space is at a premium, and although people have individual apartments, they are made up of a few rooms at most. I am used to darker Eyan spaces with thin rectangles of light at the ceiling line and around doors.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
Turnover at the Terran Center is high, and the Terrans are short lived people. They generally stay 5-10 years and then are gone. The Commander is appointed from Earth. The Current Commander is Commander Rios. He is a warm friendly man, who considers everyone in the compound his family.
Eya is governed by the Presidium and the Council. The council is selected by the various surface districts, each in their own way. The Presidium is made up of 3 people. One voted on by the general population, one selected by the Council and the Justices and one appointed by the Dalkans. I can’t say that the local government has much impact on my life.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
I prefer to dress as the Terrans do, in a simple uniform. Technically, that’s against the sumptuary laws imposed on all Eyans by the Dalkans, but in practice, no one cares as long as I don’t go far. It’s not like I’m fooling anyone. Casual Eyan clothes are comfortable enough, but I dislike the more structured clothes and elaborate hair and makeup expected for more high status appearances.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
At the Terran Compound, the necessities of life, and basic equipment is provided. I have never had nor needed much more. Maeve, as an older distinguished scientist, had some luxuries. She loved music and bought extensive music files from on and off world. She loved to attend live concerts as well. I have begun to make more money from my appearances and lectures than I think anybody should. A ridiculous amount of it is spent on more appropriate clothes for my appearances, and make-up and hair services. (I’m rather hopeless at such things), but there is plenty I have just set aside. Maeve says it may someday serve us.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
The Eyan diet is made up of a great many vegetables and dairy, with some grains. Many families have meat once a day some less. Most of the Terrans seem to resent this, and they spend a lot of their culinary energy producing ‘mock meats.’ I don’t think that their protein requirements are any greater, but rather it is just what they’re used to. They also eat many more carbohydrates, less fish and eggs, but they need less vitamin D. I like their sweets, and fruit, although the thing I absolutely cannot live without is Coffee.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
I have a boxful of tokens from the Terrans, gifts they give when they leave to return home. I treasure them. Especially David’s plastic laminated cheat sheet of ways to avoid breaches of etiquette with Eyans, prominently displaying the admonition not to let any Eyans touch the many plastic and fabricated materials on base. It is the perfect reminder of him and I still take it out to finger occasionally, to remember him, even though it gives me a rash.
I have my prize medallion.
I keep every piece of personal mail I have ever received. Maeve doesn’t approve. It was one thing, she says, when they were trickling in, but now that people from all over Eya write to praise and thank me daily, she thinks there is something desperate about it. It helps me to feel connected, to feel wanted by my own people. It is one thing when I am out in the world, but it is quite another, when I come in and turn on the shields and am alone, to have something tangible to show I am loved.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
I know the Terrans are unlike me. They aren’t psychic and are many hued in skin and hair and eyes. I know that the conventional wisdom is that they lack an eternal spark, but even without projecting their feelings, they are a warm and giving people. They are delightfully singular and have many different cultures and traditions on their home world. Just when I think I know them all, a new appointee will arrive and prove me wrong. They are certainly nothing to be afraid of.
I don’t actually feel much like other Eyans. As much as I would like to be part of the greater collective, I will probably always feel like an outsider. I fear that this current infatuation with me will pass, and that they will see me as who I am. I know there are important gradations and variations, but from the periphery, Eyan culture looks fairly monolithic. There are many points where it seems there is no room for compromise. Maeve and my love is one. Deviancy is technically punishable by death, but we are careful to only be lovers in the compound. Outside, she is my mentor nothing more. She won’t appear with me just to be sure.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
I control my actions. Despite the many disadvantages of my breeding and upbringing, I have made of myself a success beyond what was thought achievable for my race. I have found a great love that was not supposed to be a possibility. I am my own governor.
I believe in reason and science. I believe in Maeve and myself. We have made our own happiness.
K,
ReplyDeleteCool stuff. It's clear that you know your main POV protagonist pretty well. Are you planning to use Lison's POV much in the story? If so, it's worth doing something similar for him. I won't ask you to do another whole file, but I will give you some questions tuned to the piece you turned in, which will involve Lison's viewpoint.
1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
ReplyDeleteHome, my real home is millions of miles away, but the place I'll call home for the next 2 earth-years is the Squyreston settlement, which is a modular construct built along lines similar to the old ISS. The first boundary, of course, is the airlock, along with any view outside. The interior has been designed with as many Earth colors as possible, but rather than making me feel soothed and relaxed it the decor makes me eager to get out and scale the Columbia Hills behind the settlement.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Hmm. Naturally, it's very cold during the daytime, and one thing I really enjoyed while watching my first sunset on Mars was bringing up the external auditory channels to listen to the crackle of the CO2 freezing.
Weatherwise, what I fear are sandstorms, though our meteorologist is hoping for a really good one.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
Good question. I grew up in LaGrange, a little town in the California gold country. I'm used to extended time outside. When I was older, I spent a lot of time exploring the Sierra Nevadas as well as parts of the Great Basin.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
I feel most at home outside, where ever I am. Open sky, unexplored areas, mountains give me the most comfort. The six month trip here was a lot to endure.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
Eric would like to think he's in charge, but Jada could just about break him with her little finger. I think Eric's a bit of a prettyboy, useful to keep the interest of the people back home, but with little substance. Jada, I respect, and though I don't like to admit it, fear a bit.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
For most of this expedition, I hope to be dressed in the pressure suit. It's been designed to be comfortable for prolonged use and no matter what psychologically friendly shades the contractors used for the exterior, they're all going to end up with orange ground into it outside. Since discomfort in a pressure suit means its heating system is probably not working and that can get fatal pretty quickly, it's not something to tolerate.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
Most of the things that I own came from Earth, but weight restrictions limited me to what I could bring along. I've brought a PDA with a pretty varied library, a photo of myself in the middle of the playa that used to be Lake Owen, and a small piece of granite from the top of Mount Whitney. I hope to add a sample from the caldera rim of Olympus Mons to that.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
I look at food as fuel. Freeze dried beef stroganoff during a rim to rim crossing of the Grand Canyon or a MMRE (Mars Meal Ready to Eat) of some liquidy attempt to replicate real food, it's all the same as long as I'm someplace interesting. Though, of course that may change as the trip to the top of Olympus takes longer than anticipated.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
On this trip, my most prized possession would be either my pressure suit or the tent that will keep me out of the elements during the Martian night. Though I don't really look at the tent as a possession, it is going to be a growing irritant when circumstances require that Eric and I share the same tent.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
I'd say Eric is most unlike me. He's a by-the-book sort, I'd prefer to leave my options open. If one branch of a lava tube on Olympus seems interesting, I look at this as a once in a lifetime opportunity where he sees it as a distraction. I suspect the differences will get more alarming as the trip goes on.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
I'm somewhat in control of what happens, though as one person in a group of ten, some compromise is bound to be required from time to time, even on things I feel strongly about. Perhaps we will learn enough about the Martian environment to have the capacity to anticipate what's coming, but there's not much that can be done about a prolonged dust storm.
I also have a distrust of fate, manifested in my references to the Ghoul of Mars that's claimed 2/3 of all probes sent here.
Very cool to see this from you, Bill. You've given me a great idea for your questions. Got to go start working on those...
ReplyDeleteI love reading these. :)
ReplyDeleteJuliette- I do use Lison's POV extensively, so ask away! I worked through the original questions for him, and learned a lot. I'm anxious to see everyone's individual questions.
-K.
I don't want to be pushy but do want everybody to see this material before I start on more specific exercises. Sent it to Juliette on the Tenth, before posting what appears as the first comment here.
ReplyDelete---
Though I have ambitions - pretensions? - for a novel, in its current state of incompletion the story is novella length. It is a romance; but, the first person narrator, Charlie Shepherd, is not the romantic lead. We don't meet him, Brontë Sinclair, till Chapter 2.
As I currently envision the tale, it contains two conflicts or problems. The lesser of these conflicts is between Charlie and Brontë and concerns, one might say, the nature of reality. Brontë has well developed psychic abilities. These lie outside Charlie's experience; so, not unnaturally, they lead him to distrust Brontë to some extent despite the immediate liking he takes to the younger man. The disagreement goes deeper than mere psychic abilities though. Both young men are Catholic. (The faith is, of course, not called Roman Catholicism in a solar system untold light years from Earth.) But, they have a fundamental disagreement about the role of psychic powers in the faith and thus in the world at large. Brontë maintains that such abilities are innate, natural to Man and that, being True Man, Man as he was meant to be, Our Lord himself possessed such powers. The lessening of these powers among men of Earth and the coming to see them as evil is for Brontë one of the results of the Fall. He feels that, as an innate part of Man, they are intrinsically good and can be recovered.
This part is very nebulous in my mind, but I think the concept of psychic powers being innate to intelligent beings also has a connection to the indigenous inhabitants of Nova Britannia. In his 1938 novel, Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis introduces us to three intelligent nonhuman races on Mars who know and serve God. Its sequel, Perelandra, 1943, suggests that since the Incarnation all intelligence on all worlds takes human form. This concept has not been accepted in Science Fiction since many practitioners of SF are violently anti-religious, and especially anti-Christian. Nonetheless, perhaps because I am myself a Catholic who finds no conflict between my faith and the gradually revealed truth of Science, Lewis' idea appeals to me. Though as yet the indigenes of the planet they know as Vracally play a very small part indeed in the story, I hope to explore their history just a bit. When settlers from Earth arrived, they found that the indigenes already had a rich knowledge of the Trinity, so no efforts were made to convert them to Earth-style Christianity. As yet I know nothing about their faith except for the vague idea that psychic ability is accepted in it as a gift from God.
For his part, Charlie has the conventional Settler idea that Psychic powers are evil. The result of this difference of opinion is not a conflict but a friendly argument, which I have not yet fully resolved. (I said the story is shockingly incomplete. Sigh)
The major conflict or problem is that of bigotry. Because of a mysterious illness dubbed "the Plague," a whole cohort, five years' worth, of children were born with disabling neurological damage. As with most things connected with humans, this disabling damage runs the gamut from very mild to life threateningly severe. The presence of this entire generation of disabled has changed Nova Britannian society, and young people like Charlie and Brontë, seeing nothing strange or threatening about their disabled countrymen, are free of prejudice against them. But, bigotry lingers among older people.
In this story, that bigotry is principally embodied by Mrs. Muriel Morrow, wife of the Tom Morrow we met briefly in Chapter 1. While Charlie's sweetheart, Jocelyn Falconer, is moderately or perhaps mildly disabled, needing assistance and adaptation rather than actual care, Brontë is in love with the Morrows' daughter Emma (the Miss Emma referred to in Chapter 1), who is wheelchair bound and completely blind. Though Mrs. Morrow loves Emma (by her own lights at least), she is notably unimaginative and cannot accept or indeed conceive of the idea that someone as severely disabled as Emma could lead a normal life, with friends, university and a boyfriend, much less a husband and home. Thus, the bigotry conflict is played out largely, though not exclusively, through Mrs. Morrow's refusal to accept the relationship between Emma and Brontë. The spacecraft scene I sent you shows another face of the same prejudice, unsoftened by any pretence of love for Emma.
I guess maybe the resolution is a bit corny, though not totally unrealistic. Papa Morrow, who has never been as virulently against the relationship as his wife, finds that he has a mortal illness and wants, as he says, to see his baby happy before he goes. I haven't yet started developing the final couple of scenes, but they will be wrap-up.
Thanks, Catreona.
ReplyDeleteI guess I lost track of how you delivered these comments to me, or I would have posted them to comments earlier.
1. What is the nature of the environment? Planet? Nation? Underwater world?
ReplyDeleteNova Britannia is an Earthlike planet in the Nova Europa system. I haven't worked out the full profile of the system. For all practical purposes, Nova Britannia is indistinguishable from Earth in matters of breathable atmosphere, gravity, etc., which makes it very easy to work with. I suspect its close similarity to Earth may have made it the first planet of the system to be settled, but the settlement is so far in the past, and has no particular influence on the story per se that I've given it little thought.
2. What is the climate? What are the physical dangers?
The story takes place largely in the subtropical and tropical zones of the planet. No idea about physical/environmental dangers. There must not be many, or they would already have impinged on my awareness through the perceptions of the characters.
3. What is the geography where the story takes place?
A large city. Also a provincial town, possibly regional capitol of its island chain. This is a bustling and picturesque little port. Also a bucolic island, not associated with the just mentioned archipelago; a perfect or fantasy island if you like. Assorted interiors. A spaceport and a short haul spacecraft. A sailing craft.
4. How do people live? In cities? In an air bubble on an inimical world? What do their homes look like/feel like?
See Q 1. Homes very much like those on Earth. No doubt there are differences, but these have not yet become apparent or important through the writing.
5. What is the political layout of the area where the story takes place?
The planet has a world government of some sort. I think it is also part of a larger federation or consortium within the Nova Europa system. One important legal detail: Nova Britannia is one of a minority of worlds where the age of majority is twenty-one. On most worlds, the age of majority is seventeen.
6. What do people wear? How does this reflect the climate and their social status?
*Shrug* See Q 1.
7. How do people move goods around? Is it easy to obtain supplies in this environment?
People and goods can be moved by ground, sea/river systems, air and space. I haven't worked out the economic situation. My characters, being middle to upper class, have no procurement problems.
8. What do people eat?
That's an interesting question. Obviously, there are local Nova Britannian foods. I think, though, it's pretty much a diet and cuisine structured on what we would recognize. They have tea in the afternoon. They eat fish and chips. Again, I haven't worked this out in detail yet, primarily because it doesn't impact the storyline.
9. What kinds of objects or substances have value? Is there an economy? What kind?
There is an economy. Again, I haven't worked it out, though I have a feeling it's not quite like any economy we would recognize. Some people employ, others are employed. But I haven't bothered with the currency or whether they're on the gold standard or anything. Again, this is something the characters are so familiar with that it doesn't impact the story; so, I haven't had any need to know about it.
10. Are there regional differences?
There are, as there would be on any world. However, the inhabitants speak one language, British. Some also speak the indigenous language, officially designated "the Aboriginal language."
11. Are there religious differences?
There are, but fewer than you might think. Brontë and Charlie happen, coincidentally, both to be Catholic. Emma, and presumably her parents as well, is some sort of evangelical Protestant. I don't know Jocelyn's religious views if any. I need to investigate the indigenous faith.
---
Such intense thought is very tiring. Not sure I'll be able to answer the second set of personalized questions tonight.
Catreona,
ReplyDeleteThanks for engaging with the questions even though it's tricky. I hope you have a chance to do the second set, but don't push yourself to do them today.
I think it was the similarities to earth that gave me a sense that this was a fantasy and not a science fictional world. It might be worth pushing your world knowledge further in the "shrug" areas, because even a single detail here or there can really give your world extra dimension. Though the characters will not necessarily think consciously about these questions, they will be built into the characters' concepts of what is right and wrong, what is normal and not normal. For example, the economy of the world may have some influence on the plight of the disabled, since it may be difficult to support them.
Juliette @ 3:51
ReplyDeleteRoger that. Though I hadn't conciously thought of it, you're right that it may well be details in the shrug areas that make this world stand out, make it real.
I don't quite like the perhaps unconscious assumption behind "it may be difficult to support the disabled." Everyone who is capable of being schooled and is capable of having some sort of job or making some sort of contribution to society is given that oppertunity, be he disabled or able bodied. The disabled are not some dependant underclass, as unfortunately we all too often are here in the United States.
You know, writing that last sentence brought something clear, something which was till now an unspoken assumption that I never really thought about. Nova Britannia is not some sort of Eutopia, nor is it in any sense what we would recognize as Socialist or Communist. Perhaps Social Democrat... But, one undergirding principle of the society is "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." That is, those who can, do; those who can't, are provided and/or cared for.
Very interesting. Another whole facet, socio-economics, to investigate. Thanks.
I'm glad to see your thoughts are deepening; it's really a great thing to have your convictions built into the underpinnings of a world.
ReplyDeleteWhen I said "difficult," I didn't at all mean that it shouldn't be done. However, there are different ways of supporting the disabled. Technological support for their disabilities, such as wheelchairs etc. can present a cost to the individual and the family. The question then becomes who is standing up to support this cost. In a case when the family is expected to cover it, you would expect that disabled people among the poor would have a tougher time integrating than those among the wealthy. In your world there seems to be a government system that covers the cost of adaptations to allow full integration; on the other hand, I know that bigotry against the disabled is a big deal in your story. Is it only outside the planet that they encounter this? Or is there also a more subtle form of discrimination associated with the more supportive society? All of these issues might be interesting to explore at some point, though they are largely beyond the scope of this workshop.
Oops! I didn't realize we were supposed to post answers to these! Here are mine. I'm scrambling to finish the semester and prepare o poster for a conference next week, so I answered these pretty quickly, but here are my answers:
ReplyDelete1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
Curo grew up in his hometown of stormhaven. His father is the lord of Stormhaven, so he has led a somewhat sheltered life, but at the same time is better educated about the world than an average peasant. Stormhaven sits on a peninsula, so the boundaries of "his" land are the sea on two sides and the Cloud forest and Windy hills on the landward side.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Stormhaven, as its name suggests, is on the windward coast, and rain and wind are the norm. Of course, that also means that Curo has a healthy respect for bad weather, and especially fear being caught at sea in a storm.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
It's generally pretty flat on the west coast near Stormhaven. Curo is not used to rugged mountains and thin air which he is now encountering as he approaches Highpass.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
Most comfortable in a snug stone building, sheltered from the elements. Low, trapezoidal structures are most familiar. Tall, exposed places, and delicate or overly ornate, curly decorations would be unappealing.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
The emperor is in charge. Curo's father surrendered to the emperor rather than fight, a choice which Curo is not entirely comfortable with. He has now been forced to leave home and travel to Highpass to learn the Choque ways. He doesn't respect them yet, and doesn't fear them either. His attitude is more skeptical and stubborn.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
I admit, clothes are my weak point... I know very little about the clothing of Andean cultures (which I'm using as the basis for the Choque and their vassals). What I have found indicates that men typically wore wool tunics and cloaks. Curo's would be of pretty high quality since he is a lord's son. Clothing in my story is often colored for the wearer's patron gods (and therefore reflects their hometown). Stormhaven's gods are wind and water, colored grey and blue.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
Curo doesn't worry too much about this since he is of noble birth. He knows that women spend much of their time spinning wool and weaving, but doesn't think too much about it.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
Fish and corn are common foods, and Curo would prefer these over other foods. A universal delicacy in the Choque empire is pharu egg. Very expensive, and eating even a bite is considered a great honor.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
I don't have a ready answer for this... Curo is wealthy so I don't know that he values any particular item very greatly. Maybe later in the story, when he is in less "noble" conditions, he will find a certain posession that becomes most prized...
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
The Choque! I actually need to flesh this part of the story out more. What are the differences between Curo's home culture and the Choque? I think they will be similar, but different enough to be uncomfortable.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
Yes, he's in control of his actions to some extent. But not so much that he was able to get out of the trip to Highpass. I originally had Curo not very religious, but after thinking about question ten, I think he would believe in the local religion of Stormhaven, which could be incorporated into the Choque wind and water gods, but Curo would see as quite distinct.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I guess I should have been clearer about what I wanted - thanks for giving it a shot. It's very helpful information for me, and I hope will help you focus on some areas to deepen as well.
It's amazing how much I know or assume about this world that never till now, thanks to your questions and observations, made it onto paper (or computer screen). It's also amazing how much I simply forgot to tell you at the beginning, no doubt because the world is so very real to me, though the story remains incomplete.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have thought about some aspects of the problem you raise. With a large number of disabled children being born and growing up, both society and technology had to adapt pdq. It wasn't so hard for society, at least in principle, since it was already integrated (recall the indiginous people of the planet). Tech, spurred by adaptive tech, boomed. I presume there came a sort of plattoe of sci/tech some time, perhaps a few generations, before the "plague." Needing to provide adaptive tech gave engineering, manufacturing etc., etc. a boost. I have a feeling this boost was also good for employment and probably for higher and tech ed.
See? More underlying assumptions, some of these things I'm telling you now, that I never before articulated.
Bigotry exists on Nova Britannia but is rare. It's just Emma's bad luck that her mother is an unimaginative, narrow-minded person, which leads her to be a bigot with regard to Emma's disabilities.
Thanks, Juliette. I'm so glad I overcame my hesitation and joined this workshop.
Catreona,
ReplyDeleteI'm very pleased to have you in the workshop and I'm glad that you're finding it helpful.
I'll have to do one for Charlie too, since he's the viewpoint character in the excerpt from Chapter 1. But, when I sat down to do the exercise, Brontë's voice came through.
ReplyDelete---
Brontë Sinclair
1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
Home has expanding spheres of meaning. The house I live in is large, old fashioned and comfortable. It is also designed to be maximally accessible. Being an architect and engineer, I designed and built it myself, so no doubt it reflects my own tastes and idiosyncrasies. But, I build it for Emma. Without her, it feels as sterile and impersonal as a spacecraft lounge.
The island where the house is located, Marooner's Haven, was also designed, engineered and constructed by me. Topographically, it's a lovely place, with a harbor, beach, gardens and several square miles of land including a river that ends in a spectacularly high waterfall on the side of the island opposite the harbor. It also has remarkable qualities or properties, qualities and properties that seem (and I emphasize "seem") to defy the laws of Nature.
Nova Britannia is my home planet. It is what is known as an E1 class world, apparently meaning that it is very similar to the semi-legendary Earth from which the "Settlers" came long ago. There are traditions of Earth, but some no longer believe them. My family, the Sinclairs, though have a very strong tradition of what you might call genealogy or family history that we go right back, in true line, father to son, to Earth itself. However that may be, we are certainly an ancient family on Nova Britannia, with a heritage of politicians and leaders, as well as of artists and musicians. I follow that latter tradition, not taking after my father and grandfather who are talented politicians and diplomats.
In the largest sense, I am a citizen of Nova Europa, the solar system consisting of inhabited (or in some other way domesticated and exploited) planets, moons, asteroids and space stations. I myself have never been further abroad than Nova Hibernia, the larger of Nova Britannia's two moons.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Nova Britannia is a fair sized world as terrestrial planets go, with distinctive geographical regions which have their own distinctive weather. It also has five distinct seasons. Having said that, I grew up in Raklebad in the southern hemisphere, on the western coast of the Blue Green Sea. That's a semitropical climate, with rainy yet overall bright Springs, warm to hot Summers and Autumns, cool, wet Falls and chilly to cold winters, though snow occurs but is not routine. Not unnaturally, this is the climate I feel most comfortable in. It is rare for anywhere on Nova Britannia to have damagingly severe weather. So, I don't generally fear weather as such. Lightning can be very dangerous to aircraft and to watercraft, especially masted, that is sailing craft. I'd have to say that I'm pretty wary of lightning.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
I grew up in Raklebad, a large city with plenty of green spaces. It is a seaport built mostly on flat land. What hills it possesses are gentle and rolling. Perhaps because I'm a city kid, I prefer walking to flying or taking masse transit, though of course masse transit is completely familiar and comfortable to me. Perhaps the most obvious result of my being a Raklebader is my love of sailing. It is normal on Nova Britannia for those who grow up near the sea, navigable rivers and the like to feel at home on watercraft, while those who grow up inland tend to be somewhat less comfortable on the water and to prefer aircraft or even spacecraft.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
I'm a pretty easygoing guy. I feel at ease in many if not most places. Perhaps the place I feel most at home is the house on Marooner's Haven. There I have surrounded myself with old fashioned, familiar, comfortable things. I also feel at ease on my sailboat, Spindrift.
I prefer natural fibers: cotton, linen, wool. I prefer to be outdoors, especially on or near the sea.
4. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
Being the son of a World Senator and thus growing up around politicians and other powerful men and women, I can say that I respect some of them, but hold none in awe. Nova Britannia is not a police state. So, beyond a healthy respect for the rule of law, I fear neither the government nor its representatives.
5. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
Certainly not. One dresses appropriately to the circumstances or occasion, of course, but my life circumstances are such that I seldom have to wear evening clothes or other fussy getup. I habitually dress like most young men, in chinos or sailor's dungarees and an open neck shirt.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
A few of the things I own may be personally made by hand for me. For the most part, though, my worldly possessions come from shops, from manufactories large or small. Most of the things I own are of domestic make; a few come from off planet.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
I mostly eat fish, eggs and dairy products, baked goods and other grain products, fruits and vegetables. I don't much care for meat or alcohol, though these are personal dislikes and fairly unusual on Nova Britannia. I understand many Nova Hibernians prefer not to drink. I love chocolate. There are a couple of Aboriginal foods that I just can't get down; one is made with fish eyes and cinnamon!
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
My most prized possessions are the house on Marooner's Haven and Spindrift, my sailboat. I am not a hoarder or packrat. I am generous, but not recklessly so. Money is a tool that is designed to be used, but it must be used wisely and conserved when possible.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
Unlike me? That's a puzzling question. All men are created equal, endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - the words of a wise Earth dweller. People are different from me, since all people are individuals: Some are taller than myself, some shorter; some more intelligent and/or better educated, some less; some from different parts of Nova Britannia or Nova Europa; some women whereas I'm a man; some Aborigines whereas I'm a Settler; some disabled whereas I'm able bodied… Some are even robots whereas I'm human. But, we're all brothers and sisters, children of the same Trinity, Creator, Redeemer and Spirit of Love. Well, I'm not altogether sure about the robots. I'm no theologian, but I certainly know that the two robots I know best are unquestionably people, so they must also be children of the Trinity, if only by adoption.
Not everyone feels as strongly as I do about this, of course; and, there are those who will point to some group or groups and smugly tell you that they are better than "those people." Call me naïve, but bigotry isn't something I can understand.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
I am my own master insofar as I don't have an employer.. My time is my own, and I can use my skills and abilities as I see fit. Yet, no man is entirely free nor entirely in control of his own actions and destiny. I am constrained by several things: convention and morality, as we all are; my desire to protect and take care of Emma; the strictures her parents have imposed.
I believe in God, the Most Holy Trinity. This belief, that I am His child, made in His image and likeness, liberates me. At the same time I suppose it does limit me. Morality is a constraint, if you choose to look at it that way. A Christian doesn't do certain things, just as a gentleman doesn't do certain things. I believe that God created the universe and everything in it, from the smallest quark to the greatest galaxy. I believe that God loves and cares for His creation, though his motives and actions, what He does and why, must by necessity remain unknowable to Man. I'm not good at withholding my own puny, human judgment. Yet, I know in my heart of hearts that everything works for good in God's plan.
Catreona,
ReplyDeleteThis is very cool. I feel like I'm seeing many nuances in Bronte's answers that I didn't see when you originally tackled the questions. I'm sure you won't find the effort wasted, even though Bronte isn't the central character in the excerpt you gave me.
Here are my answers for Lison, the POV character for my excerpt:
ReplyDelete1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
I have a home in one of the better districts in Caytal with my long term Registered Romantic Partner, Mala. It’s her home, but it’s where we spend our time together and it suits us both. I keep an apartment, close to work, for when I need it- for when I’m working long hours, or privacy of mind.
Caytal is my home. It is the largest city on Eya. It is the political and economic capital of our world. It is here that decisions are made- things happen and destinies are fulfilled. When I came here as a young man, and felt my heart throb with the energy of the city, I knew I had come to the home that was meant for me.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Normal weather variability is minimal and the province of agricultural and surface workers. However, the Dalkan’s control our access to solar light, and although they have not done so in over 200 years, I am all too aware it is still a possibility and of the dire global consequences. That is the stuff of my nightmares.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
I grew up in a single house in Olibri, a prestigious neighborhood outside Orr, with every privilege afforded by good breeding, standing and money. My eyes were pigmented at birth- it was a risk of course, I could have been blinded, but instead I am gifted with excellent vision and can make my way through the world with an unusual ease. My psychic gifts were well fostered and I have superior affective control, allowing me to work in the public sphere, in government, even interact with other races. I am a sworn Ysterian like my father. Olibri and Orr are much smaller places than Caytal, more provincial. I have always known that much is expected of me, that the Divine Collective did not grant me this blessing for my mere enjoyment, and while I do enjoy the many luxuries of my life, I strive to serve the collective in a way that makes me worthy of them.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
I can’t think of a circle I travel in where I am not at home. It is rare that I walk into a room and don’t immediately have the advantage, either by my natural gifts or my position. I am comfortable in the robes life has placed upon my shoulders.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
I am the Director of Psychic Resources, arguably the single most powerful government agency on Eya. I oversee the Corpa and enforce the rules that allow us to live in communion. I answer to the Presidium, and the Greater Collective, of course. Presidi Muhn, was a good friend of my father’s and and a fortunate mentor when I first came to Caytal. He placed me in Pyschic Resources. He is also a Ysteri brother. I have the greatest respect for him. He has the most influence of the three Presidi because he was selected by the representatives and justices and knows the avenues of power like the street he lives on. The people’s Presidi, UinTho, is an idealistic fool who doesn’t recognize the currents swirling around him. The Dalkan’s man- Ruyn is a man to be reckoned with. His destiny has put him in a tight place, and he is a difficult man to read, but I believe he acts with dignity and honor. I don’t fear him per se, but I do fear those who have put him in his place.
As much as we strive for autonomy, we are still very much under the shadow of the Dalkans. They control our access to solar light, contact with the greater universe, Terrans and Stadelites, from whom we still need some of the basics to maintain society. They ensure that no projem may leave Eya. They do not interfere, in fact are happy to ignore us, as long as we do nothing to concern them, and keep ourselves in check. It is our great claim that we can regulate ourselves, that we can be the check on the danger we pose to others, that we have in our greater collective the moral content to do so. It is my job to make sure that we make good on that promise.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
Authority is expressed in innumerable ways:
in the silhouette you present,
in the feel of the fabric of your clothes, their weight and the sound they make as you move,
in the way you carry yourself,
in your ability to chose how much of your affect to infuse in a conversation,
in the very tone of your voice,
in the way you position yourself in space and in a room,
in the company you keep and your expectations of those around you,
in whom you chose to speak with and to whom you chose to listen,
In your ability to look another in the eye and read what is written there.
I try to be aware of them all. I dress as a man in my position should, and am very comfortable in the weight of my robes of office.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
I was born and bred an Eyan elite. I know what quality is and the importance of surrounding myself with it. In my early year in Caytal with a modest salary and striving for autonomy from parents, I had to make smart choices about how to spend my limited resources. But I am very comfortable now, and give generously to various collectives now that I am able.
Since, Mala is a trader, I have ready access to more goods produced off-world and it is a fascinating thing to handle the artifacts of other worlds, where they have so much of what we are striving for.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
I eat to sustain myself. Expensive food was an easy luxury to give up. I eat simply, and often while working, although not when it would offend my peers sense of tradition. It would be rude to say it, of course, but I suspect gastronomic pleasures are keener to those less able to appreciate visual and psychic stimuli.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
I prize my sight. I prize my mind and my psychic gifts. I prize the power I have over my own destiny. Things are means to an end.
I am conscientiously generous with my money.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
The Corpa are as unlike me as two sentient creatures can be. I am responsible for them, but they essentially inhabit a parallel world. They neither have, nor are scarcely effected by psychic influence. That is enough to make most Eyans uncomfortable. Add to it what they don’t generally know, that most of them look every bit the part of our Dalkan ancestors, made up of well pigmented parts. They don’t scare me, though. I find the Corpa to be deeply moral men and women. They have a strong sense of who they are, and the role they were born to play. I find them honorable.
The divine collective will send us what we need. In order to be autonomous, we needed enforcers who were not subject to psychic influence. Some are born in the natural order of things, and some we breed. We mask their appearance so as not to alarm either Eyans or Dalkans with their resemblance. That history is too strained to allow a clear seeing from either side.
I am unlike most of the populace I deal with in enforcement: unfortunates, limiteds, deviants. The people who must be contained or eliminated for the greater good. Our rules and regulations are just and necessary, but I know they cause pain and hardship for some. It is our great hope that our breeding program can be perfected so that no innocent need suffer so for the collective, but until then we will be fair and far sighted.
I am not so unlike the very most dangerous individuals I deal with- the pseudopaths- as people would think. As an adolescent I showed such psychic acuity that the specter of my being a pseudopath was raised. I will never forget my parents fear in the weeks leading up to my testing. I will never forget the experience itself, or our shared relief at the results. I know that my gifts give me incredible power, but I am unfailingly committed to the collective good. I may have an unparalleled ability to control what I reveal, but all I reveal is true. The pseudopaths fascinate me, and scare me. Sometimes I frighten myself.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
I believe in the Divine Collective, that all of us with an eternal spark are assembled into an identity as a combination of many pure elements. This physical time is a trial to test these combinations to see what good and bad can come of them, before being sent back to the crucible of the other life to have one’s negative elements burned off. The greater one is able to contribute to the greater good, the more integrity of self you have to carry with you from one life to the next, the less you need to be changed, until your ‘self’ is perfected and worthy to become a voice and actor in the Divine Collective itself. I believe I am close to that point, that if I can do enough good here, that at my physical death, I may be worthy, or perhaps come back as something very near what I am now to refine myself. Why else would I have such a position of power and influence?
Even as I believe that most of us move through our many lives here on a path to perfection, I know there likewise those that must be truncated when we identify their destructive power. There are those combinations that are so toxic, that they are incompatible with our collected experience and they must be completely separated from one another, sending the associated identity to oblivion for all time.
Those determinations are made by the collected wisdom of the ages and are not the purview of any one man. There are very few rooms where I would dare speak it, but the collected wisdom of the ages has much wisdom, but is slow to learn, and a slower ship yet to turn. We hold ourselves back as a people, when we do not let us be governed the most from those who have advanced the most, and refuse to adapt and grow in our own lifetimes. The Corpa, although frightening, were a gift, no doubt sent to us from the Divine Collective, to meet a particular need. Is it not possible, that some of these others we have labled incompatiable have some greater function they could serve? The pseudopaths in particular have great power and though the Dalkans would rain fire down on us if they suspected for a moment that we actually had such individuals and did anything other than immediate exterminate them, I can’t help but feel there is a lesson from the divine collective itself that is not making it through the veil between their world and ours. There aren’t half a dozen people I could say it to, but I believe these pseudopaths have the key to wresting control for our collected destiny from the hands of the Dalkans.
-K.
Catreona said: "It's amazing how much I know or assume about this world that never till now, thanks to your questions and observations, made it onto paper (or computer screen)."
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with that.
Charlie Shepherd
ReplyDelete1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
I am a trader. By definition, then, I'm a vagabond. My home, insofar as I have one, is Jocelyn's house in Fairport. In a very real sense, though it's not something I consciously think about, I also feel that the Silver Star, my sailboat, is my home and in a broader sense, the sea itself. I feel much more comfortable at sea than in cities. Small towns like Fairport don't bother me too much, but the open sea is where I'm most content; the open sea, and with Jocelyn.
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
Nova Britannia doesn't have extremes of weather. I've heard that on some worlds, even ones where the living areas don't need to be enclosed, there are perpetual gales, or subfreezing temperatures, or whatnot. As a Britannian then I suppose I'm spoiled. It never gets unbearably hot, at least not for more than a week or two at a time, even at the equator. At moderate to high latitudes Winter is cold to very cold, often with snow. But conditions are seldom brutal except in the polar regions. I guess you'd say we're a temperate planet, maybe even pretty close to perfect.
It's a pleasure to sail on Nova Britannia, especially in the Blue Green Sea. I've experienced some pretty spectacular, heart-pounding storms at sea; but there's nothing quite so awesome or frightening as a storm on the Planes. Of all weather phenomena, I'd have to say that's the one that scares me.
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
I grew up in the interior, along one of the great rivers. That's probably a large part of why I don't much care for cities; I didn't first visit one till I was in my mid teens. Farming communities, woodlands, that's the sort of environment I was raised in. I like to think I'm sensitive to Nature.
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
I feel most at home outdoors, specifically on the deck of a solidly built, reliable sailboat with up-to-date instrumentation for when I need it. Like to be outdoors but am not fond of roughing it. I tend to feel uncomfortable in showy public buildings. Smaller, more intimate, more personalized for me.
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
There is a world government, but it doesn't touch my day to day life particularly.
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
I'm an unremarkable chap with no pretensions. I dress neatly (no need to be a slob) but for utility and comfort.
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
The things I own, such as they are, come from shops and domestic manufactories. Once in a great while I might buy something for Jocelyn from off world. Since I have what I need, and don't need much, I'm not all that concerned with getting more.
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
I like chocolate, also lemon meringue pie. Pretty much like plain, simple food, what my grampa used to call a meet and potatoes kind of chap.
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
As a vagabond, I have little in the way of worldly goods. The physical possession, the object I prize most is the silver Star, my sailboat.
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
I'm not a prejudiced man. I take people pretty much for who they are. If they have dislikable traits, I dislike them; but my general inclination is to like people until given reason to do otherwise. I am told that I'm outgoing and likable. Don't really know about that, but I don't usually have trouble getting along with others. Maybe that's more than my own disposition. Maybe it comes from seeing all people as my brothers and sisters in the family of the Trinity, though I have to admit some people seem to have gotten less of the Image of God than others.
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?
I believe in God, the Most Holy Trinity. I believe that my life is in His hands, yet I have free will. When I was a teenager I spend a lot of time pondering this conundrum, as teenagers often do. As an adult, though, I don't have time for such metaphysical monderings. I do what my faith and my conscience tell me to be right, and leave the rest to the Trinity.
David,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have you in the workshop. I'm glad it's working for you, particularly since this is the first time I've done something like this.