Another year, another interesting panel. It is always interesting to see what people feel are good and/or interesting story elements. No two are the same.
While we discussed what makes a good story, we also made some decisions on the story that this panel was working to create. They were as follows:
*It is a sci-fi story set on a cyber/steampunk style space station.
*It is going to be written in the 1st person perspective.
*The main thrust of the story is an alien invasion.
*The aliens want vengeance against humanity for a "bad first contact".
*That means that the aliens primary target is humans.
*The main character will be an androgynous android named "Toasty".
*Toasty will develop a better understanding of humanity, becoming more human in the process.
*There will be at least one giant monster "kaiju" fight.
*And here is the title. It is quite good, I think: "Juggernaut Star".
I will be writing a story based on these decisions. I will also post it here on this blog (as well as last year's LBaST panel story).
If you were a part of this panel, or last year's as well, feel free to write your own story based on the decisions listed. Here are the only provisos:
First, you have to use all the decisions made by the panel. Without modification.
Since we couldn't decide every aspect of the story, feel free to add to these elements. But they can't change any of the previous decisions from the panel.
Other than that, have a ball! When you are finished, I will even post your story here on this blog for everyone to see (only if you want, of course)!
This should be interesting...
Friday, October 20, 2017
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Notes for the "Let's Build a Story Together" 2017 Panel
These were the elements for our story that were all decided upon:
First, it will be written in third person. I told you that EVERY element would be decided on.
It will be an action-filled sci-fi story with fantasy elements (and some dark humor, if I can do it right). The depiction will be of a roughly PG-13 level, so no graphic details of the damage caused by, shall we say, visceral violence or, um, hentai level lovin'.
The main character's name is Richard. He is an intern who is an introvert and, physically, about as average one could be. Through the events of the story, Richard will become more assertive and principled.
Physically, he has brown hair and eyes and an average build. In fact, the only distinctive feature Richard has is a birthmark on the back of his left hand.
Richard is on a quest to restore himself back to his original state. You see, he was the victim of an unfortunate side effect from a scientific experiment on magic that changed him from a male to a woman. This quest will, perhaps, lead to the discovery of why magic exists in their world.
He won't be alone in his quest to "restore his pee pee". Richard will have a team of five scientists with him. In fact, one of them will be in love with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to decide on her name.
The setting for this tale is a modern city with some ancient, magical ruins outside of the town. The city is a colony on a planet long removed from Earth.
I haven't finished it because I thought that I would have the group from this year decide how to finish. The more I thought about it, though, I considered it unfair to those who started the process. So I will finish it based on the decisions we made.
I will finish the story for this year's participants of the "Let's Build a Story Together" panel in a more timely manner.
First, it will be written in third person. I told you that EVERY element would be decided on.
It will be an action-filled sci-fi story with fantasy elements (and some dark humor, if I can do it right). The depiction will be of a roughly PG-13 level, so no graphic details of the damage caused by, shall we say, visceral violence or, um, hentai level lovin'.
The main character's name is Richard. He is an intern who is an introvert and, physically, about as average one could be. Through the events of the story, Richard will become more assertive and principled.
Physically, he has brown hair and eyes and an average build. In fact, the only distinctive feature Richard has is a birthmark on the back of his left hand.
Richard is on a quest to restore himself back to his original state. You see, he was the victim of an unfortunate side effect from a scientific experiment on magic that changed him from a male to a woman. This quest will, perhaps, lead to the discovery of why magic exists in their world.
He won't be alone in his quest to "restore his pee pee". Richard will have a team of five scientists with him. In fact, one of them will be in love with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to decide on her name.
The setting for this tale is a modern city with some ancient, magical ruins outside of the town. The city is a colony on a planet long removed from Earth.
I haven't finished it because I thought that I would have the group from this year decide how to finish. The more I thought about it, though, I considered it unfair to those who started the process. So I will finish it based on the decisions we made.
I will finish the story for this year's participants of the "Let's Build a Story Together" panel in a more timely manner.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Let's Build a Story Together!
Hello again!
I had the fun experience of running a panel at SNAFU Con about creating a story with the attendees. My previous post detailed the decision we all made about the contents of the story I have started writing.
I also gave the ones who participated in the panel a chance to email me any other ideas they might have had. To that end, the fact that we didn't get a chance to discuss the antagonists was brought to my attention. (There are so many decisions to be made as a writer!)
I had a message detailing one participants thoughts on those very bad guys. As promised, I am taking the input to heart. He didn't provide names for the group that will be giving Richard and company so much trouble, but he did provide a concept:
The idea for how they are introduced is that after Richard and his/her group leave on their quest to find a cure for the condition, mysterious attackers invade the research facility, apparently after whatever the magi-scientists had been working on, before the accident. Whatever it is they are looking for, seems to be tied in with hero/heroine's condition, but as the attackers cannot figure out where exactly Richard has gone.
There would be five antagonists total; four of which are based off of the suits of playing cards (I do not have names for them yet, because this is just an idea.).
SPADE: The apparent leader of the four. A dark knight-type warrior, who uses his sword to cast spells. He is strong, and enigmatic, but has a deep sense of personal honor, and is protective of the other three in his group.
CLUB: A muscle-bound martial artist warrior, who envelops his fists & feet with elemental magic, and always seeks out strong opponents. He seeks out strong opponents though, because he does not want to hurt weak people.
DIAMOND: A sneaky nerdish guy, who summons monsters, but is too weak to fight anything on his own. He is aware of his own weaknesses, and has self-esteem issues because of this.
HEART: The token female of the antagonists, and the one most encountered personally. She uses powerful spells that are based on her current mood (i.e. Anger = Fire, Sadness = Water, Fear = Lightning, etc.), making her dangerous, but somewhat unfocused. The FIFTH antagonist is a shadow-boss based off of the motif of the ?Wild Card?, and commands the other four antagonists from the shadows.
WILD CARD: He is in fact a spirit trapped inside a magic crystal, and formerly one of the magic users from the ancient magic-using civilization that now lays in ruins. In discovering the origin of magical energy at the time, he attempted to achieve immortality through it, but ended up destroying the entire civilization himself. Although he is ?alive? and unageing inside of his crystal prison, he has no physical body, and requires the special magic energies inside of the hero/heroine in order to gain a physical form once again.
The Wild Card convinced the other four antagonists that they are decedents of the lost ancient magic civilization, but in actuality they are merely his pawns, and they also possess magic that the Wild Card will need in order to regain his body.
Now, as anyone who was in the Lets Build a Story Together panel can attest, this story grew to become much bigger than anyone originally intended. I do not think it will reach novel length, but this is going to be a pretty epic tale.
So, what I will be posting here is the rough draft of the opening scene. Since it is an action story, I decided to drop the reader right in the middle of everything. There is still a lot to reveal (pretty much everything about Richard hasn't even been mentioned yet) but I hope you enjoy what you see so far. More will be coming...
I had the fun experience of running a panel at SNAFU Con about creating a story with the attendees. My previous post detailed the decision we all made about the contents of the story I have started writing.
I also gave the ones who participated in the panel a chance to email me any other ideas they might have had. To that end, the fact that we didn't get a chance to discuss the antagonists was brought to my attention. (There are so many decisions to be made as a writer!)
I had a message detailing one participants thoughts on those very bad guys. As promised, I am taking the input to heart. He didn't provide names for the group that will be giving Richard and company so much trouble, but he did provide a concept:
The idea for how they are introduced is that after Richard and his/her group leave on their quest to find a cure for the condition, mysterious attackers invade the research facility, apparently after whatever the magi-scientists had been working on, before the accident. Whatever it is they are looking for, seems to be tied in with hero/heroine's condition, but as the attackers cannot figure out where exactly Richard has gone.
There would be five antagonists total; four of which are based off of the suits of playing cards (I do not have names for them yet, because this is just an idea.).
SPADE: The apparent leader of the four. A dark knight-type warrior, who uses his sword to cast spells. He is strong, and enigmatic, but has a deep sense of personal honor, and is protective of the other three in his group.
CLUB: A muscle-bound martial artist warrior, who envelops his fists & feet with elemental magic, and always seeks out strong opponents. He seeks out strong opponents though, because he does not want to hurt weak people.
DIAMOND: A sneaky nerdish guy, who summons monsters, but is too weak to fight anything on his own. He is aware of his own weaknesses, and has self-esteem issues because of this.
HEART: The token female of the antagonists, and the one most encountered personally. She uses powerful spells that are based on her current mood (i.e. Anger = Fire, Sadness = Water, Fear = Lightning, etc.), making her dangerous, but somewhat unfocused. The FIFTH antagonist is a shadow-boss based off of the motif of the ?Wild Card?, and commands the other four antagonists from the shadows.
WILD CARD: He is in fact a spirit trapped inside a magic crystal, and formerly one of the magic users from the ancient magic-using civilization that now lays in ruins. In discovering the origin of magical energy at the time, he attempted to achieve immortality through it, but ended up destroying the entire civilization himself. Although he is ?alive? and unageing inside of his crystal prison, he has no physical body, and requires the special magic energies inside of the hero/heroine in order to gain a physical form once again.
The Wild Card convinced the other four antagonists that they are decedents of the lost ancient magic civilization, but in actuality they are merely his pawns, and they also possess magic that the Wild Card will need in order to regain his body.
***
Now, as anyone who was in the Lets Build a Story Together panel can attest, this story grew to become much bigger than anyone originally intended. I do not think it will reach novel length, but this is going to be a pretty epic tale.
So, what I will be posting here is the rough draft of the opening scene. Since it is an action story, I decided to drop the reader right in the middle of everything. There is still a lot to reveal (pretty much everything about Richard hasn't even been mentioned yet) but I hope you enjoy what you see so far. More will be coming...
-------------------------
THE QUEST FOR THE RETURN OF THE PEE PEE
(Working Title, not final)
By Spencer Stoner
(based on input from the Lets Build a Story Together panel at SNAFU Con 2016)
The figure dressed
head to toe in white stepped around the rubble. His pale pant legs
peeked out from his long colorless coat with each step, only to
disappear again as he maneuvered deeper into the room.
Stray sparks of
electricity popped to life from the ends of newly exposed wiring that
used to be encased in the now nonexistent wall. The building was
trying to keep the power on but the damage inside was too severe. It
was like trying to save a man by transfusing his life’s blood from
one artery to another again and again only to find the adjacent vein
severed every time.
The mask over the
individual’s nose and mouth pressed tightly against his face as he
inhaled, the smell of ozone strong in the destroyed lab. The fabric
stretched, as much as it could, when he exhaled with a heavy sigh.
“Sam, do not tell
me that Hearthstone killed everyone,” he idly kicked at the limp
hand of the deceased scientist at his feet, “again.”
A woman stepped out
from the adjacent room at the sound of her name. Each piece of
clothing she wore was some shade of red, although the palest hue
(belonging to the silk scarf around her neck) was flirting with pink.
Unlike the loose, almost floating scarf, the rest of Sam's wardrobe
bordered on skintight.
Except for her
boots, they had large, clunky soles. They didn't even fit her red
color scheme. They were black, although that could have been from the
burning debris the man was being so careful to avoid. Thankfully,
the potential fashion faux pas was alleviated by Sam's equally dark
hair that just brushed over her shoulders.
If the man had been
mortal, he would have likely described the woman as “beautiful”.
Mathematically, Sam's facial features were infinitesimally close to
the being perfectly symmetrical. But she wasn't standing around to
let him inspect her closely, in fact the woman immediately turned in
his direction as she entered the room.
While Sam was
walking toward the man in white, the woman in red was not looking at
him. Her attention was focused on the mere human wrapped under her
arm.
“Not from lack of
trying, Queensknee.” Sam responded. “But it seems he missed one
this time.”
“My soul is
absolutely aflutter with the joyous news.” Queensknee adjusted the
brim of the pale fedora on his head to be almost as flat as the tone
of his voice.
Sam tightened the
grip of her thin arm around the almost as thin neck of her prisoner
to force her prisoner to look in the man in white’s direction. The
human was asymmetrical, although she could have been described as
attractive in a nonlinear fashion, he supposed.
Her glasses, with
one lens cracked in a pattern that resembled that of a crumbling
planetoid, magnified her blue eyes. Queensknee figured that
enlargement was the source of whatever attraction this woman was able
to project.
Because, otherwise,
she had nothing that any artisan would want to immortalize in marble
or watercolor. He could only hope that her mind held her true appeal.
That being the information that he wanted now, of course.
Queensknee bent
slightly at the knee and waist to lower his masked face to the level
of the woman in the headlock. “I trust that you realize that
resisting us is a truly poor idea?”
“Y-yes.” She
squeaked her answer.
The man smiled
behind his mask, not that she could tell. Good. The woman had a basic
survival instinct, at least. Now to see if she had good sense.
“Then you will
tell us the location of the Kwisatz Haderach.”
Despite the obvious
pain in the prisoner’s neck, she stared back at Queensknee blankly.
He let out a
displeased sigh. “The glass box that glowed on one side?”
“Oh.” The woman
frowned back. “Richard has it.”
“And who, pray
tell,” Queensknee pressed a gloved finger under the prisoner’s
chin, pulling her face towards his to ensure that he had her full
attention. “is Richard?”
-------------------------
That is the opening gambit for our tale. Everyone in the panel can tell that we have a LONG way to go!
You know what? Another participant said that she wanted to write her own version of this story based on the decisions we all made. I hope she sees this and decides to share with the rest of us!
You want to create your own? All the notes are in the previous post. I would love to see what you come up with!
And keep an eye out! You can find out what happens next in my version this coming Friday (October 21)!
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
A Taste of Things to Come
I have just returned from a great time at SNAFU Con. I ran a panel there called "Lets Build a Story Together".
Now, the plan was that the participants would decide every, and I do mean every, element of a story that I would write for them. A first draft for, at least, the elements that we were able to get to will be here on Friday. (I gave the participants a chance to e-mail any last minute ideas they wanted to add.)
Here are the elements for our story that were all decided upon:
First, it will be written in third person. I told you that EVERY element would be decided on.
It will be an action-filled sci-fi story with fantasy elements (and some dark humor, if I can do it right). The depiction will be of a roughly PG-13 level, so no graphic details of the damage caused by, shall we say, visceral violence or, um, hentai level lovin'.
The main character's name is Richard. He is an intern who is an introvert and, physically, about as average one could be. Through the events of the story, Richard will become more assertive and principled.
Physically, he has brown hair and eyes and an average build. In fact, the only distinctive feature Richard has is a birthmark on the back of his left hand.
Richard is on a quest to restore himself back to his original state. You see, he was the victim of an unfortunate side effect from a scientific experiment on magic that changed him from a male to a woman. This quest will, perhaps, lead to the discovery of why magic exists in their world.
He won't be alone in his quest to "restore his pee pee". Richard will have a team of five scientists with him. In fact, one of them will be in love with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to decide on her name.
The setting for this tale is a modern city with some ancient, magical ruins outside of the town. The city is a colony on a planet long removed from Earth.
As I mentioned before, the participants had a chance to e-mail any additional elements they wanted. Those won't be listed here but I will note them on the post of the rough draft.
This is going to be interesting...
Now, the plan was that the participants would decide every, and I do mean every, element of a story that I would write for them. A first draft for, at least, the elements that we were able to get to will be here on Friday. (I gave the participants a chance to e-mail any last minute ideas they wanted to add.)
Here are the elements for our story that were all decided upon:
First, it will be written in third person. I told you that EVERY element would be decided on.
It will be an action-filled sci-fi story with fantasy elements (and some dark humor, if I can do it right). The depiction will be of a roughly PG-13 level, so no graphic details of the damage caused by, shall we say, visceral violence or, um, hentai level lovin'.
The main character's name is Richard. He is an intern who is an introvert and, physically, about as average one could be. Through the events of the story, Richard will become more assertive and principled.
Physically, he has brown hair and eyes and an average build. In fact, the only distinctive feature Richard has is a birthmark on the back of his left hand.
Richard is on a quest to restore himself back to his original state. You see, he was the victim of an unfortunate side effect from a scientific experiment on magic that changed him from a male to a woman. This quest will, perhaps, lead to the discovery of why magic exists in their world.
He won't be alone in his quest to "restore his pee pee". Richard will have a team of five scientists with him. In fact, one of them will be in love with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to decide on her name.
The setting for this tale is a modern city with some ancient, magical ruins outside of the town. The city is a colony on a planet long removed from Earth.
As I mentioned before, the participants had a chance to e-mail any additional elements they wanted. Those won't be listed here but I will note them on the post of the rough draft.
This is going to be interesting...
Monday, August 8, 2016
How Often Should One Post On Their Blog?
I've been making a point of being more active on the interwebs once I became a "professional" writer. I make sure to post a special "Wisdom of Ophelia" once a week on Twitter (and then Facebook and Tumblr) and share post that I like with my audience and audience in potentia.
While doing all this, I realized that I haven't actually posted anything here on my blog in a couple of months!
I didn't mean to ignore the blog. I guess I just haven't had anything to say that wasn't around the size of a tweet or a picture that I have drawn. I know that you can post pictures here but it doesn't seem, well, appropriate to just have pictures here.
I always thought of a blog as a place that you share ideas in a more detailed way. Now, I'm before I get into this next portion of my tirade, let me preface it by saying that I'm not saying that other blogs do what I am about to describe en masse. I'm not one for whining or reading a long rant about problems that aren't really problems but are because they make the writer annoyed and/or upset. Nor am I one who thinks that I have all the answers in regards to the problems in and of this world.
With all that being said. I wonder what a blog should talk about. I think the most opinionated post I have here is my defense of the video game Metroid: Other M. While I enjoy playing video games, I don't think most anyone would really care about my current game of the month.
Or maybe you do. Perhaps you take the opinion of other gamers over that of critics who seem to be bought a paid for by those they are supposed to be reviewing in an unbiased manner. But then, video games aren't something I devote 100% of my time to, either. I mean, I do have to take time to eat and write my books, short stories and draw some pictures, right?
So this blog can go all over the place when it comes to subject matter. That still begs the question of how often should one post before a blog becomes derelict?
While doing all this, I realized that I haven't actually posted anything here on my blog in a couple of months!
I didn't mean to ignore the blog. I guess I just haven't had anything to say that wasn't around the size of a tweet or a picture that I have drawn. I know that you can post pictures here but it doesn't seem, well, appropriate to just have pictures here.
I always thought of a blog as a place that you share ideas in a more detailed way. Now, I'm before I get into this next portion of my tirade, let me preface it by saying that I'm not saying that other blogs do what I am about to describe en masse. I'm not one for whining or reading a long rant about problems that aren't really problems but are because they make the writer annoyed and/or upset. Nor am I one who thinks that I have all the answers in regards to the problems in and of this world.
With all that being said. I wonder what a blog should talk about. I think the most opinionated post I have here is my defense of the video game Metroid: Other M. While I enjoy playing video games, I don't think most anyone would really care about my current game of the month.
Or maybe you do. Perhaps you take the opinion of other gamers over that of critics who seem to be bought a paid for by those they are supposed to be reviewing in an unbiased manner. But then, video games aren't something I devote 100% of my time to, either. I mean, I do have to take time to eat and write my books, short stories and draw some pictures, right?
So this blog can go all over the place when it comes to subject matter. That still begs the question of how often should one post before a blog becomes derelict?
Monday, May 16, 2016
Story Excerpt (Star Wars Edition)
Are you a Star Wars fan? So am I!
I am such a big fan, in fact, that I write a serial for another Facebook page called The Star Wars Bash. (Feel free to check it out here:https://www.facebook.com/starwarsbash/)
In a belated celebration of George Lucas’ birthday, I wanted to share part of the first story that I’m proud of in that galaxy far, far away that he created.
So here is an excerpt from the first episode of the first serial.
Anyway… Enjoy!
-
Excerpt from Ryotan is Only the Beginning, Episode One:
Excerpt from Ryotan is Only the Beginning, Episode One:
“Why do you keep such a neurotic droid around?” The woman asked out of genuine curiosity rather than any malevolence toward T-23. “He doesn’t seem to match your personality at all.”
The pilot laughed outright at that. “You know how many short circuits or malfunctions my ship has had since I got him? None. T-23 cares about the Icarus and doesn’t stop checking up on her.”
“Almost like he has a little crush?” Terra grinned.
“Oh, no.” Aryl leaned back in his seat again. “I think it’s outright infatuation.”
Neither spoke for a short while, each enjoying the silence together before Terra finally sighed. “I can’t wait to get back to Coruscant.”
The pilot arched an eyebrow over at the Jedi Knight. “T-23 is annoying you that much?”
“No.” The twi’lek straightened in her seat. “When I get back, I’m getting my first Padawan apprentice. He’s the same species as Master Yoda.”
“Understandable.” Aryl turned for a moment to press a few buttons. “I’m anxious to get back myself.”
“Why’s that?”
“Queen Amidala is getting sworn in as a Senator soon. What Noobian would want to miss that?” Aryl smiled.
Terra smiled back, relaxing into her chair. While the pilot had been living on Coruscant for years, at least according to his records, he still had a sense of pride in his place of birth, the planet Naboo.
Terra herself was born on Coruscant but, once she became a Padawan as a child, only returned rarely to the planet. Even then she spent most of her time in the Jedi Temple until it was time for her Master and herself to leave for their next assignment. She didn’t feel that same pride Aryl did, and wondered about that feeling of… connection.
The twi’lek watched the stars stream by in silence, stealing occasional looks over at Aryl, who busied himself with piloting the ship. Neither spoke, they didn’t feel the need.
Once, when she looked over at Aryl yet again, she caught him stealing a glance at her, just as she had been doing. She blushed, her cheeks turning a dark green, when the sheepish look on his face reminded the woman of what Aryl said to Gingi the engineer about twi’leks when she first hired their ship…
“Hey, Aryl! Can you hear me up there?” Gingi’s baritone voice popped over the comm.
With a flick of the switch, Aryl responded. “Yeah, I hear you Calamari-boy. What’s up?”
“Could one of you come back here and collect T-23?” Both Aryl and Terra had to stifle chuckles. “He’s messing with my engines again.”
Suddenly the ship lurched as if it had hit a wall! The human clamped his hands around the edge of the console to keep from being thrown into the cockpit’s viewing port. The Force kept the Jedi from reeling out of her seat, but only just. The momentum threw her head tails forward and back, giving her a slap on the cheek on their return.
“What happened back there, Gingi?” Aryl’s brow furrowed as looked over the instrument panel.
“I don’t know!” The Mon Calamari’s voice betrayed how uneasy he felt.
Terra glanced out at the stars as she rose from her seat… and they weren’t there. Outside the ship was only blackness, no points of light or any hint that they had even been there.
“I’m going back to see what I can do.” Terra hopped to her feet.
-
-
Want to find out what happens next? And, perhaps check out all three story arcs, you can find them here :
https://starwarsbash.wordpress.com/page/3/
https://starwarsbash.wordpress.com/page/3/
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Postcards from Honua #3 (short excerpt from Ophelia and Lyan are Dead Meat)
Continuing my feature that shares bits and bobbins from my stories, I decided to showcase another part from my first novel (and currently only but the second is on its way!), Ophelia and Lyan are Dead Meat:
Skeletons weren't exactly known to have supernatural strength. Hopefully having nothing but sinew holding them together would make them more brittle and they could get through before the air power and behemoths could reach. Ophelia slashed for the neck of the nearest skeleton holding a torch and a longsword.
The undead creature's head flew from its shoulders and she started for the next. The first didn't fall, though, and chopped for the woman's neck much like she had to it.
Ophelia ducked under the strike. When she looked back up at the skeleton warrior, she saw the undead being place the flame from the torch in its hand at the base of its neck, as if it was going to light it like another torch.
It worked. The monster tossed the now extinguished length of wood to the ground and its skull was now replaced by what looked like a demon's head sculpted in fire! It reared back and shrieked its displeasure at Ophelia.
“Okay... panicking is looking like a better idea now.” She said before bringing Havarti down on the creature again.
---
Want to see what happens next? (Or what happened to lead up to that?) You can pick up Ophelia and Lyan are Dead Meat in paperback or ebook formats here:
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