The Bridge to NaNoWriMo

Let's talk world-building, peeps.

Last night as Nathan and I were driving down for our friend's 30th birthday party I started grousing about my novel. Primarily I was complaining that I need more excitement, because right now it's mostly about feelings and as we all know, feelings are boring.

No, seriously- feelings are important and yes this is meant to be a book about the emotional maturation of my characters but still- feelings without adventure are boooooring. Or at the very least not the sort of book I would want to read, so why subject my readers to it? Not to mention the fact that if I ever want Nathan to actually read it, I have to provide some entertaining action. Which I feel is fair.

Anyway I was saying that the main problem was that I needed to put Sera into a life-threatening situation, but I didn't want it to be something stupid like a natural disaster; I wanted it to be someone trying to kill her, but I have no conflict! Nooo conflict, gentle readers. Beyond the feelings. No wonder there was boredom on the horizon!

So Nathan combined his giant brain with my brain concentrate, and we sparked up a few ideas about the conflict coming from my already handily-established Immortals. And today I sat down and pounded out about 1500 words of getting-it-straight-in-my-head, which I have streamlined for your reading convenience! I also wrote about 800 words on the novel, but honestly I've gotten to a point where I need to go back and rewrite/expand large swaths before I can go forward any more. Seriously- I have to incorporate what I figured out today in terms of EXCITING CONFLICT! before I can go anywhere else.

I asked my writer's group if they thought it would be fair to count my world-building as part of my word-count for the day, and was told (paraphrased) "Absolutely yes!" "Absolutely no!" "That's your call!" Ah, my helpful compatriots... in the end I'm opting not to use it, because I'm just kind of strict with myself that way. I do feel that I could use it- I wouldn't fault anyone for doing so- but I'm far enough ahead that it'll be okay even if I don't. And if I manage to refine it enough to work into my story over the next few days then it won't really matter, anyway, because those words will be in there, one way or another.

Now, as promised, the streamlined version of what I came up with:

(PS Spoilers, obviously)

***

The Celestial Courts consist of Four Courts, roughly aligned with the elements:

(in descending age/order of power)

Empyrean (Fire/"Radiant Court")- mythological creatures, Dragon Regents
Welkin (Air/"Feathered Court")- birds, Phoenix Regents
Hyetal (Water/"Court of Scales")- fish, Sea Serpent Regents
Alluvium (Earth/"Court of Skins")- land-bound animals, Unicorn Regents

(There are some monarchs that cross between courts [bats , dolphins, etc].)

The gods are never seen in the story- they are not prone to blatant interference the way Immortals are, preferring to subtly manipulate natural events and seeming coincidence- but the immortals are aware and afraid of them, for they are their makers and their power absolute.

Most of the Immortals have “gifts” unique to them (ie Sivon’s ability to See truth, Dramen’s manipulation of perception, Aniqi’s luck) in addition to the standard immortal powers (telepathy, teleportation, agelessness, command of their animal subjects).

***

Unnamed gods create the world, and then the Empyrean Court (sets of mated twins) to watch over it. An epoch goes by and the Empyrean Court is super-bored with looking after the world, so they create the Elder Immortals of the three lesser Courts (Welkin, Hyetal, Alluvium) to correspond with various mortal creatures. They, too, are created in mated pairs, but not twinned. Some of the Elder Immortals get pissed off that they’re just expected to do the Empyreans’ work for them, so they rebel, lose, and are cast down to become mortal humans. One of them is the oldest of the Welkin Court, the Seagull King, and when he falls his mate (the Seagull Queen) goes mad with grief and follows him to the mortal realms. The remaining Elder Immortals set about creating the Younger Immortals from their own essence (hence Dramen is Sivon’s “younger brother”) to replace those who fell (replace their numbers, not their roles). The Younger Immortals are created singley, without mates. The Empyrean-natured rotate stints as Regents for each of the Lesser Courts (hence the Phoenix Regents currently rule over the Welkin Court) to keep the Lesser Immortals in line. In a bit of known-only-to-them-logic, they use a bit of the mad Seagull Queen to create a Lesser Immortal in place of her and her husband (Storm Petrel).

Because Petrel was made from a flawed source, rather than being most powerful of the Lesser Immortals (as she should be as eldest of eldest), she is much diminished in powers and a bit cracked mentally, to boot. Her lack of power makes her insanely jealous of all the other Younger Immortals- especially Dramen, whom she feels has usurped her rightful place as first among the Younger Immortals, and who doesn’t display any sort of gratitude for his gifts. She becomes a mage in an attempt to augment her powers, and when Dramen breaks Nightingale’s heart she helps Nightingale craft the curse that will essentially rob Dramen of his power and influence.

Eventually Dramen brings Sera (a mortal descendent of the Seagull King) to the Welkin Court, which attracts the attention of the mad Seagull Queen (in permanent bird form). When Sera flees the court and is caught in a killing storm of Petral’s creation, SQ rescues her and takes her back to the mortal realms, where she remains as her companion (because being around Sera helps SQ feel better). Eventually SQ regains enough sanity to want to transfer her essence to Sera- essentially killing herself, but leaving someone whole and sane to watch over her people as a new, Elevated Immortal.

In the meantime Sera and Dramen are beginning to fall really and truly in love, which will break Dramen’s curse. So Dramen is on the verge of getting his powers back and there is a potential Elevated in the lineup- someone to receive the power Petrel believes is hers by right. This infuriates her, and because she doesn’t understand the nature of love (that it is not dependent upon being alive) she looks to kill two birds with one stone (hah!) by killing Sera.

What’s up Conflict.

***

So, one last time, to clarify- the older the Immortal, the closer in essence they are to the gods, and therefore the more powerful they are. (Also the less concerned with the doings of the mortal realms.) So, in descending order of power (with helpful "class labels"!)

Empyrean Court (Oro/Ara)
Elder Immortals (Sivon and her mate Irroc)
Younger Immortals (Dramen)
Mortals (descendants of fallen Elder Immortals)

Then there are the wild-cards, the Elevated Immortals (Robin). By and large they are the least powerful of all the Immortals, because they are formerly-human rather than created.