Creating Conflict
One of the key elements to any writing is a climax. Usually, a climax involves the resolution of conflict. And then the denouement shows the characters continuing on in their lives.
When I start to plan out a new trilogy, I have an overall plan for the trilogy. In the case of Dichotomies, I needed to figure out what the dichotomies were going to be. I started with land people and sea people - half the human population lives on "islands" created by magic generations earlier. Those islands - called res - are sinking. Whether that's because the sea - or moc - is rising or because the res are sinking, no one knows. All the sea people - the Resani - know is that the change is occurring. They don't know that magic created the islands; therefore, they don't know that they need magic restored to fix the islands.
From the land people's perspective - the Canians - they don't seem to need magic. They get along just fine without it. Except their lands are not as fertile as they used to be. And as a result, the Canian population has reduced. This population decrease has happened naturally; people just aren't having as many children. But towns are being deserted (pun intended) due to lack of population. The governments of the Canians are worried.
The two ethnicities have grown to distrust each other. Each thinks the other is "evil", though specifically how is unclear. I haven't yet decided if there will be some big event that created the distrust in the past or whether it's just the result of distance and lack of communications. People who don't know each other tend not to trust each other.
The two ethnicities have also evolved to have different physical characteristics. This, too, creates some conflict - the continued feeling of "other". Some of the conflict among the three mages who have to save the world comes solely from them not trusting the other ethnicity.
But each book also needs a conflict to create the arc to the climax. The words of the prophecy tells us something of what that arc looks like.
When darkness sees the light, when the silence joins in the song, when pain finds happiness, the truth will be restored.
There has to be more to the story than just finding light, song, and peace.
Today, I figured out the storyline for Hallas. I have the barest of sketches for Kymri and Tyagi. I know Kymri has to learn to be a warrior and lead an army despite being blind. I know Tyagi has to proselytize to all the humans, to get them to believe. Still working on the details.
When I start to plan out a new trilogy, I have an overall plan for the trilogy. In the case of Dichotomies, I needed to figure out what the dichotomies were going to be. I started with land people and sea people - half the human population lives on "islands" created by magic generations earlier. Those islands - called res - are sinking. Whether that's because the sea - or moc - is rising or because the res are sinking, no one knows. All the sea people - the Resani - know is that the change is occurring. They don't know that magic created the islands; therefore, they don't know that they need magic restored to fix the islands.
From the land people's perspective - the Canians - they don't seem to need magic. They get along just fine without it. Except their lands are not as fertile as they used to be. And as a result, the Canian population has reduced. This population decrease has happened naturally; people just aren't having as many children. But towns are being deserted (pun intended) due to lack of population. The governments of the Canians are worried.
The two ethnicities have grown to distrust each other. Each thinks the other is "evil", though specifically how is unclear. I haven't yet decided if there will be some big event that created the distrust in the past or whether it's just the result of distance and lack of communications. People who don't know each other tend not to trust each other.
The two ethnicities have also evolved to have different physical characteristics. This, too, creates some conflict - the continued feeling of "other". Some of the conflict among the three mages who have to save the world comes solely from them not trusting the other ethnicity.
But each book also needs a conflict to create the arc to the climax. The words of the prophecy tells us something of what that arc looks like.
When darkness sees the light, when the silence joins in the song, when pain finds happiness, the truth will be restored.
There has to be more to the story than just finding light, song, and peace.
Today, I figured out the storyline for Hallas. I have the barest of sketches for Kymri and Tyagi. I know Kymri has to learn to be a warrior and lead an army despite being blind. I know Tyagi has to proselytize to all the humans, to get them to believe. Still working on the details.
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