Fodder Story Plan - The Original Notes Part One
In honour of the release of The Taskmaster, the final book of my *ahem* "trilogy" the Plot Bandits, I'm offering up a little behind the scenes treat - my original story plan for a single book (believe it or not) called Fodder which was typed up circa 2007/2008 from even more original notes I'd scribbled in a recently rediscovered notebook. It offers some insight into how this beast started, which ideas were there in some form or another right from the start, which never made the final cut and which ideas, by their absence, can be shown to have invaded my brain and shot me off in a new direction at a later date. It was definitely a case of life imitating art in the writing of this - the characters completely took over in the middle! Because I'm aware people may not have finished reading The Taskmaster yet (honestly, what's wrong with you? ;p) I'm going to release this frankly massive haul of notes in two parts, saving the potentially spoilery final sections until next month's blog. I hope you find it interesting. :)
Fodder Basic StoryPlan
(Taskmaster Summary Part Three)
-Opening massacre and pick selves up after –
If there was one particular word that could be used todescribe Fodder of Humble Village, it was ordinary. His face was ordinary. Hisnose was neither hooked nor pointed, not snub or aquiline, neither especiallybig or notably small. His hair was brown – no fiery reds or midnight blacks forhim – and his eyes were just the same. He was neither fat nor particularlythin, no weakling but hardly of god-like physique, no towering giant but notnotably on the short side. He was an ordinary man on an ordinary day, dressedin rusty, badly fitting armour as he waited on a lonely road for the chance toget on with his job.
He could see thedust rising on the track ahead, the surge of brilliant, impossibly vivid lightthat cut into the ordinary, straightforward everyday grey of normal life andindicated to his companions to make ready. He gripped his spear more tightlyand adjusted the rough leather jerkin beneath his mail as he exchanged brief,weary looks with his companions; Shoulders, unshaven and rubbing at his neckwith a vague hint of resignation, burly Thump with the pet cudgel he’d named Ronaldand stick-thin Clunny, with awkward manner and perennial fidget.
He sighed.
“Well,” he said witha simple shrug. “Here we go again.”
INTO ITALICS FIGHT (SEE HANDWRITTEN NOTES FOR FIRST SECTION)
MB arrive, guards order them to stop – exaggerateddescriptions (weasel-like, huge and beard, scruffy and miserable looking and“lead guard”) – the fight kicks off, MB win and ride away.
- silence – bodies –then a gurgling from a muddy puddle – Fodder, with spear through his chest,sits up and sighs. Shoulders’ decapitated body staggers to its feet andmeanders over to the puddle and lifts his head out, wiping off the mud.
“Every time! Every bloody time! He doesn’t have to hit it sodamned far, it does it on purpose, I swear he does! If he had a sense ofhumour, I’d think he was trying to be funny!” He holds up the head and moves itfrom side to side so he can glance around. “Where’s Squick? He should be hereby now!”
Fodder pulls thespear out and stand up, remarks that Squick will be here soon enough and they’dbetter have all their bits ready to be reattached. And there’s no point inmoaning about Clank, he’s just doing his job. Flying heads is his trademark…Shoulders makes a raspberry sound made highly unpleasant by his still detachedhead. “Right. Doing his job.” Angles his head down to look at torso and sighswith plaintive irritation. “Has anyone seen my entrails?”
Fodder finds himself thinking he’s got a point – why arethey always the ones fishing their entrails out of bushes and searching formissing limbs while Clank, Bumpkin and the rest of the Merry Band lord it overeveryone? But thought interrupted as Squick arrives to fix them and they alltroop off to the pub in Humble Village (The ArchetypalInn? Never know what it will be like – one day a veranda and taproom and apainting of a rose, the next filthy and squalid with a giant fireplace and abroken sign – it’s redecorated between Pages)– there Bard the Minstrel isreciting a stylised version of the story so far which gets heckled from alldirections –
[Official Taskmaster Summary: The Ring of Anthiphion: PartOne
In which:
We meet our hero, young Erik, an ordinary young stable ladwho looks after the horses in his Uncle Alwin’s remote inn in the hill kingdomof Doss, and occasionally sneaks out to visit a friendly, mysterious andeccentric old man called Elder who lives in a crumbling tower in the woodsbehind the village and seems to know of many strange things and distant landsthat fuels Erik’s longing for adventure. But one day, a group of ill-matchedand mysterious strangers ride into the inn in desperate search of a manmatching Elder’s description – Erik hears them speak of a mysterious theftbefore he is caught eavesdropping and redeems himself by offering to lead themto Elder.
Elder introduces themen to him. The first is Sir Roderick, first knight of the Kingdom of Nyolesseand legendary for both his skill and for his tragic love of a mysterious womanhe could never have. The second is Slynder, a thief renowned for his skillthroughout six kingdoms. The third is Halheid, a gruff barbarian from thenorthern reaches, brutish, uncivilised and quick to anger. Fourth is Zahora, aquick-tempered warrior woman who dislikes Halheid for his attitude that onlymen should fight. And finally there is Gort, a dwarf miner with an unexplainedhatred of Slynder.
They tell Elder thatthey have something important to tell him and Erik is sent from the room, butfrom listening at the door he learns that something has been stolen and thatsomeone called Myhessia is pleading for his aid because the age-old prophecy madeby the Seeress Mydrella will soon be fulfilled. Elder agrees to come and whenErik bursts in and pleads to come, Elder looks at him oddly and agrees, overthe protests of the others who feel he will be in the way. They head back tothe inn to tell his uncle only to find it has shockingly been set on fire andhis uncle’s body nailed to the wall. Mysterious, deformed creatures surround them and Erik in his fury slaysseveral with a skill he never knew he had and drives the rest away with astrange force that seems to emminate from his body. The band leave, taking onlyErik’s loyal, favourite horse which fortuitously survived the fire and ride offtowards the mountains.
Official Taskmaster Summary: The Ring of Anthiphion: PartTwo
On the way to the mountains, they encounter a party sent bythe King Cyrus of Nyolesse, lead by an official named Frein, telling SirRoderick he must return for the wedding of Princess Islaine to Prince Tretaptusof Mond is fast approaching and he is needed to protect her against threatsmade by the bitter High Lord of Sleiss over being rejected as her suitor. WhenSir Roderick says his current task is more important, Frein says he will returnor be dragged back and they are forced to beat the soldiers away. They are alsofollowed by the strange, deformed monsters from the inn, who Halheid tells themhave been slinking through his kingdom out of the wastes to the north where,legend has it, an ancient, evil warlord once vanished thousands of years beforeand where Mydrella’s ancient prophecy states “great evil will rise again”.
After days oftravelling, passing via the friendly capital city where Elder was treated withunexpected respect by the King of Doss, Gregor, they arrive at a spectacularentry to a temple carved out of a cave. This, Erik learns, is the Temple of Anthiphion. Anthiphion was a great kingwho united the six kingdoms against an enemy from across the sea and, using amagical Ring fashioned for him by the legendary sorcerer Eldrigon that made himunbeatable in battle, saved them all. He decried that the Ring would only workfor those of his blood and gave it to his noble younger son Avikhelion, for hisolder brother Craxis was cruel and malicious. But Craxis stole the Ring, killedhis brother and tried to take over, only thwarted by Eldrigon and his daughterMyhessia, who reclaimed the Ring by means of a trick and drove Craxis back intothe Northern wastes. But he had discovered evil magics and vowed to liveforever, return and rule and to kill his brother’s infant son, the only otherpossible Ring bearer and so, legend said, Myhessia took the ring and hid it ina Temple of stone, carved by dwarves and guarded by female descendants ofAvikhelion’s female bodyguard, tying herself into the stone itself to protect it.Eldrigon took the infant boy and hid him far away from his evil uncle and somesaid he protected him still for Mydrella’s prophecy proclaimed that he and healone would be able to defeat the great Evil and unite the six kingdoms as one.
At the temple, Eriklearns that it is the Ring that has been stolen and is astonished when his oldfriend is addressed as Father by the mysterious, eternally youthful andbeautiful sorceress Myhessia – he is indeed the legendary Eldrigon. He alsodiscovers the connection of the others – Zahora is chief of the female guards,Gort is one of the dwarves who maintains the Temple, Halheid is part of theforce from the north set to patrol the surrounding mountains and has reportedstrange and evil creatures moving in the Northern wastes and Slynder once triedto steal the Ring for the challenge and was brought in to see how it was done.As for Sir Roderick, it soon becomes painfully clear that his forlorn andtragic love is for Myhessia and she returns it, but they cannot be together forneither can abandon their duties. It was only news that she had been hurt thatdrove him to defy his king and join the search for aid.
Official Taskmaster Summary: The Ring of Anthiphion: PartThree
Elder and the band agree to follow to trail of the stolenRing and Erik finds that for some reason, he can intuit which way it went. Asthey follow the trail, local guards attempt to apprehend them but are tossedaside. But then, while crossing a mountain pass they hear screams and ride upto find men in the livery of Sleiss [Fodder and co – this is the point atwhich things go wrong] attempting to abduct Princess Islaine who is ridingto Mond for her wedding. With the princess rescued but her guard dead, SirRoderick feels he must see her back to the palace and since the Ring trail goesin a similar direction and they need to speak to the king about shoring up theborders against the possible return of Craxis, Elder agrees to the detour. Theprincess and Erik argue incessantly as she tries to push him around and by thetime they reach the palace, they hate each other. ]
Fodder expresses his opinions on the futility of it all (asreads Part Three Summary just handed round?) and how the Merry Band get all theglory while they just get their heads chopped off – most of the Disposables saythat’s life and such but Flirt is on his side – says she’s sick of being ageneric, pump up the bosom and change the hair colour barmaid – she wants to bea warrior woman! (when there’s a big final battle, everyone including the womenjoin in dressed as ordinary extra soldiers in armour – but Flirt loves it!)– (remarkof Flirt that she only ever has to change her hair colour – doesn’t anyonenotice it’s always the same girl? Flirt retorts since when does the barmaid getdescribed as anything other than a hair colour and a bust?) - most people laughbut Fodder says why shouldn’t she? Why should this be their lot in life? Whyshould the Taskmaster get to decide how they should live their lives? Whatwould happen if they just decided to do things their own way instead? Shouldersjoins in the moan – says they should just do it- but shuts up quickly as Preenarrives to hand out assignments – they are to try and kidnap Princess dressedin Sleiss livery (Preen hands it to them– all set out but Fodder’s mind isstill on his thoughts and when ambush starts, he breaks with the schedule bykilling Thud the barbarian and succeeding in making off with the princess (defyingthe page very difficult – perhaps Page events interspersed with Fodder’sthoughts – can’t think straight, like wading through treacle but some part ofhim finds the strength to rebel – lulls you into a kind of stupor and findyourself doing exactly what the words on the schedule said) – Shoulders ishorrified – Fodder points out he supported him in the pub but Shoulders repliesthat was in theory! In practice this is a disaster – they’ve broken with theschedule! They’ve ruined the plan! They’ve killed a character on page who wassupposed to live and kidnapped a princess who wasn’t supposed to be kidnapped!What are they going to do? Fodder says keep doing it! They head back to thepub, Shoulders moaning all the way and saying maybe if they just gave her back,they’d be okay – find Flirt, she’s thrilled by what they’ve done and eager tohelp – but then hear Preen and Thud screaming for them and make a run for it –realise the Page is following them – ambushed in woods by unprepared lookingother Disposables who admit that Preen sent them to put the quest right (haveto keep them there until MB and Page can catch up) – Fodder tries to get themto join him but they can’t accept it.
Fodder sighed. Thump had his armour on back to front andClunny’s axe was clutched rather perilously upside down. It was obvious thatthey had been rushed and hurried into position.
Fodder raised hisarms “Now boys…”
Thump was shaking his head. “Sorry Fodder mate, I really am.But Preen came by with an emergency schedule just now and he said…”
“Preen said, Preen said!” Flirt erupted sharply. “When willyou lot realise that you don’t have to do what Preen says? We aren’t!”
Thump and Clunny exchanged uncertain looks. “But… theTaskmaster…”
“Forget the Taskmaster!” Fodder tried to ignore the looks ofdesperate horror that crossed the faces of his fellow Disposables at suchblasphemy. “We don’t have to do what the Taskmaster says any more! If we did,we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“I’ll bloody say,” Shoulders muttered, as he rested hiselbow on the head of the infuriated princess. “Look Fodder, you’ve made yourpoint. Why don’t we just go home?”
Outwit Thump and Clunny and escape – Fodder says they haveto get away from the Page – head up to the mountain trapping station and try toget trappers to help them hide, but they are a conservative bunch who insistthey don’t want trouble – outside they run across Cringe who is rattling aroundwith the ring before he has to head down to the Salty Port for his big fight –they think as a principal, he might turn them in but he sympathises – says itsalways the same – he sets minions on them, he lurks a bit, then he dies in ahumiliating manner, usually at the hand of a comedy character. Tells themthey’re asking for trouble keeping the princess though! Says if they reallywant to disrupt the quest, he’ll give them the Ring of Destiny… Shoulders wantsno more of it, says the princess is enough trouble, but Flirt takes it andhangs it round her neck, gleam in her eye as she says they’ll have to fight herfor it! Cringe wishes them good luck and also suggests why not take theprincess to Grim, the Dark General – after all, the quest is that he wants tomarry her – why not let him? He’s just hanging about in the Grim Fortress,being hearsay – he’d be glad of something to do.
They head up to theGrim Citadel and with the protesting princess in tow and find Grim, the DarkGeneral being bored and waiting for the Final Battle – he likes the idea ofdisrupting the quest – he’s tired of being hearsay and then dying in battle,it’s getting repetitive – but as trying to rustle up a priest’s uniform forShoulders – Grim receives new instructions – the Page and MB are coming and aregoing to nobly rescue her – Grim suggests they take her and run – says he can’tdefy the Page when on it, it’s like wading through treacle and he hasn’t thestrength– still doesn’t know how Fodder managed it – the quest is stillsalvageable, they have to try harder! After a narrow escape, Shoulders declareshe knows how to disrupt the quest – get Pleasance killed on Page – Bumpkin’sinevitable romantic subplot would be shot! Pleasance is fuming, says she can’tdie on Page, she’s never died, it’s undignified! Fodder and Flirt reckon itmight be worth a try, head up to try and see where Page is – Princess kneesShoulders and manages to get away and heads for the palace to try and get the questback on track…
[Part Four at Palace
Official Taskmaster Summary: The Ring of Anthiphion: PartFour
At the palace, they are greeted royally by the King andQueen and then by Prince Tretaptus who has ridden in from Mond and agrees tohave the wedding here. Islaine hates Tretaptus, who is pompous and arrogant andwhen the band leave, she hides away in their party. They leave quickly at newsthat the Northern Wastes are crawling with creatures who claim that Craxis is comingjust as the prophecy of Mydrella foresaw and that they will be defeated – asthey go, the King, Prince Tretaptus and Halheid’s cousin, the King of Sverdinare massing their forces to defend themselves. The trail goes to the wild port of Saltania where they encounter the thieftrying to book passage up the Great Inlet to the Northern Wastes – it’s theHigh Lord of Sleiss’s brother Vagg! He has evil creatures at his command andhis brother has given Sleiss, Sverdin’s neighbour, over to Craxis. He attacks themand Gort the dwarf is killed, taking a creature’s axe for Erik. Erik,infuriated, takes him on but rather than fight, he flees into the mountains,saying that Craxis will rise and his brother will have Islaine, it has beenpromised! ]
– they pursue but she’s already got back to the King andQueen in the palace (Queen turns into a gutter mouthed chav off Page!)– sneakinside through the garderobe and find themselves in Prince Dullard’s rooms – herealises who they are is eager to help – he’s sick and tired of bested,humiliated, running like a coward and killed in battle – he wants the chance tobe interesting! Manages to lure Pleasance to his rooms and they smuggle her outof the palace minutes before the MB arrive! (princess ask how they got in,Fodder explains they climbed up the loo, Pleasance says a hero would never dothat, Fodder says he thinks they’ve established he’s not a hero!) Dullard isclever, if geeky, (very, very talented at things but doesn’t think he isbecause he learned them for geeky reasons) and likes their idea of her gettingkilled on Page and suggests talking to Poniard the assassin, who’s in the cityand try and persuade him to take Pleasance onto Page and kill her – but he’sdepressed, says what’s the use? He’s a skilled killing professional in a worldwhere no one can die of anything but old age! Bloody Duty Pixies fix every finepiece of work he does without a scratch! Why kill her, she’ll just come back tolife again once the Page has gone, it makes no difference – no one he killsstays dead, it reflects so badly on his work! Fodder and co leave the moroseassassin but Dullard has another suggestion – why not get a ship from Salty Portand just sail off the edge of the map? They head to Salty Port and Reel theSeadog is open to the idea but then Thud arrives leading a horde of Disposablesfrom all over and Cringe’s AFCs (Assorted Freakish Creatures) who pursue themand try to corner them so that MB can catch up and deal with them on Page – butAFCs are actually a friendly bunch (although never know which one talking tosince look difference every time you see them – friendly jobsworths) and theyreally don’t like being ordered around by Thud who treats them like he does onPage– “accidentally” let them go – and manage to fight their way out on Page –Flirt manages to defy the Page (finds it exhilarating) as does Dullard butShoulder falters and Clank chops his head off – but his body falls off Page andDullard is able to pick his head up on Page and escape!
And that's just what became The Disposable folks - more to come next month!
