THE STORY STORY

Ok, I said I would talk about how some stories write quicker than
others, in particular the Wyld PT5 that I wrote the other day.

First, the story line is fun for me. We had come to the end of the
Hook plotline and I was brainstorming with one of the other rps
over an idea she had for the next one.Now, I wish I could say
the Wyld storyline just sprang full blown from my own widdle brain,
but the spark was actually from the latest Charles De Lint novel
"Widdershins". In that, its a conflict between Amerindian magic and
Celtic Magic. Boggarts figure into the plot and it struck me that there
was a whole world of old British myth and folklore beyond even what
I'd already used in the Bran's Cauldron sl. We're talking old magic,
ancient magic, from times even before humans lived in Britain and after.
And in our Camelot, the oldest magic dwels in The Wyld. So M and I
came up with the Faery Courts and then worked out what the conflict
would be and we were off.

As to the latest story: awhile back I found a link to a site that described
how medieval buildings were frequently lit by rushlight candles.That was
stored away in one of the holse in my swiss cheese brain. Then when I
started wrtitng the Wyld stories, I wanted to show how the release of the
Wild Magic and the increase of appearances by mythical creatures would
affect the common folk. A father and son endangered by the Boar became
the Wyld 4.

About this time "Pirates of the Carribean 2 " came out and I think that might
have figured into the idea to bring a sea serpent into the list of creatures that
Camelot now faced. Originally, I had thought I'd have a ship drift along the
coast. no sign of a crew, and that it would eventually be revealed that they'd
all been eaten by the serpent. I planned to write a set up story where two
men gathering rushes in a marsh near the shore ((see? finally the rushlights !))
see the "ghost ship" sail by in the mist and run panicked to report the
inceident in Camelot. But another ship sort of turned up in the port and
got used for a shipboard miniquest, so the idea got shelved for a bit.

So the other day I'm home sick and sitting here and decide writing could
take my mind off how I was feeling. I'd finished off UC24 Sunday night
but feeling yechh and dealing with a balky computer had slowed the brain
down to a crawl. This time, everything clicked. George Jr behaved. Now
my rushgatherers would have to deal with a Will o' The Wisp, a British
legendary spirit that leads people astray to drown in bogs and marshes. The
first character that came knocking on my brain was Collen, who was whiny
and hungry and.wasn't happy at all working. Ellis came right along after as
the older man who was saddled with a lazy nephew as his helper.Once that
was settled, writing the rest came along at a steady pace. The hardest part
was not so much getting Collen into the mess but figuring out what would
happen to him and if Ellis was going to save him, how would it be done?
And that's where Caderyn the horse came from.


It took maybe 2 and a half hours to write the story. I admit that not to
boast but to show what I mean about how it was easy for me to let it flow.
I only wish they were all that easy! Why some are like that and most others
aren't, I don't now.

Anywho, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.