A challenge: writing a female protagonist.
Double challenge: writing a female protagonist who can kick some ass while not being a goofy, laughable comic book nerd fantasy.
I had a vision of a male character who was not strong, brawny or typically Rambo or Conan esque. In essence, he was more akin to the heroes in Arabian mythology: a hero who defeats the big bad guy through cleverness and wits.
Of course, he was able to hold his own against goons: a SWASHBUCKLER! Swinging from chandeliers and rigging to slice and dice and trip up the bad guys. Perhaps letting out a quip or two.
Also, eventually becoming captain of an air ship!
Now to make this dude a lady instead? Maybe tricky, maybe not. She does come from a traditionally matriarchal society... so it is not wholly out of place in her community to be a charismatic leader...
May 2, 2011
The world formerly known as Myr
No name for this world anymore. My concepts will be my own and not those of others. I will be borrowing concepts from my friends though.
I will have three protagonists. One of them will be called called Erik-for now and only because he's from a sort of viking-like culture, at least originally.
He was taken away from his home country as an infant during a particularly bad bit of civil warfare during which the royal family was being entirely assassinated. The survivors were spirited away as far as possible to islands much further south across the open sea.
Erik was brought to an island with a climate reminiscent of the foggy, cool shores of Western Canada - tall coniferous trees, foggy, lots of rain etc... He was raised there in a fisherman's family, never being informed who he was except that his family had died in a storm out at sea.
He liked his life there and loved his family. Eventually, a distant relative and servant of his true family came by a longship to retrieve him and tell him of his inheritance. Erik wasn't terribly pleased: the people on this Norse ship were a surly, hard lot visibly scarred by a life in cold, dangerous seas and a love for combat. He was also being taken away from his adoptive family and childhood sweetheart.
Being all but kidnapped, he was taken on board and went off into strange seas that grew colder by the day. They were hit by a vicious storm and they crashed upon a rocky desert island.
Erik and his distant relative were the only survivors, but the older man was practically comatose, only waking up occasionally to tell Erik about his homeland. After a month or two, they managed to construct a raft and set off again.
Once again, they were hit by a storm and got drastically diverted in their course: heading south instead of north (Erik's relative had become delirious and died).
Eventually Erik will get rescued by Islanders from that Hawaiian/Maori/Polynesian culture and taken in as one of their own (they were very accepting). Not wanting to go North, Erik accepted his new home with relish.
more to come...
I will have three protagonists. One of them will be called called Erik-for now and only because he's from a sort of viking-like culture, at least originally.
He was taken away from his home country as an infant during a particularly bad bit of civil warfare during which the royal family was being entirely assassinated. The survivors were spirited away as far as possible to islands much further south across the open sea.
Erik was brought to an island with a climate reminiscent of the foggy, cool shores of Western Canada - tall coniferous trees, foggy, lots of rain etc... He was raised there in a fisherman's family, never being informed who he was except that his family had died in a storm out at sea.
He liked his life there and loved his family. Eventually, a distant relative and servant of his true family came by a longship to retrieve him and tell him of his inheritance. Erik wasn't terribly pleased: the people on this Norse ship were a surly, hard lot visibly scarred by a life in cold, dangerous seas and a love for combat. He was also being taken away from his adoptive family and childhood sweetheart.
Being all but kidnapped, he was taken on board and went off into strange seas that grew colder by the day. They were hit by a vicious storm and they crashed upon a rocky desert island.
Erik and his distant relative were the only survivors, but the older man was practically comatose, only waking up occasionally to tell Erik about his homeland. After a month or two, they managed to construct a raft and set off again.
Once again, they were hit by a storm and got drastically diverted in their course: heading south instead of north (Erik's relative had become delirious and died).
Eventually Erik will get rescued by Islanders from that Hawaiian/Maori/Polynesian culture and taken in as one of their own (they were very accepting). Not wanting to go North, Erik accepted his new home with relish.
more to come...
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