Beautiful People #8 - Siblings

(Series by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In)

Alright! Getting back into the swing of things! So my plan is to post one of these every other Tuesday (until I caught up to the end) and then find or start a similar series afterwards, so you should be hearing more from me. Moving right along...

I'm going to go through two sets of siblings here - Allaha and the Mur de Rose clan, and (spoilers) werewolf triplets, Alistair, Brisbane, and Dandy (Corrina). Here we go!

New Short Story

I've added a new short story (well, more of a novella) for a Dungeons and Dragons character! To be honest, it's the dad of one of my current characters, Kyle the tiefling bard. The story is about the aasimar Kasesi and his interesting life; how it changed from chosen one to pirate to bard, and how he came to be the father of Kyle:

“Hello, gentlemen!”

The crew turned, and immediately weapons appeared in their grip as an aasimar paladin - radiant and in full armor - stepped onto their ship.

The man chuckled, a deep, warm sound like honey. He held up his hands, “Now now, there’s no need for that - I come in peace! In fact, I have a question for all of you.”

The men and women looked at each other uneasily, no one moving as the blue-skinned man cupped his chin in amusement. The aasimar shook his head, and walked over to a railing to casually lean back on it.

“You see, I have this problem,” he started, putting his palms together, “I’m supposed to be this… chosen one thing, you know, stop some big evil or something, the usual,” he waved a hand dismissively, then put his hands back on bannister and leaned back with a heavy sigh, “Which is a very sticky situation, considering I have absolutely no interest in it.”

“That is a… sticky situation.”

Digital Storytelling: Final Reflection Selfie

Hey guys! This is my final video for my Digital Storytelling class, where I talk about what I learned through the course. Hope you enjoy!

Transcript Below

Digital Storytelling: Collaborative Story

Hey guys! For the last assignment I did in my college class, some of my classmates and I did a group project we called "Landmarks for Life"! I hope you enjoy it!

Digital Storytelling: Is Writing Fiction Harder than Nonfiction?

I was talking with a coworker today, and he said the following, which caught my interest:

I heard that writing fiction is harder than nonfiction, because you have to make it believable. Like, when you hear something unbelievable in fiction, you’re just like ‘that wouldn’t happen’ - but when you hear something in nonfiction, you’re like ‘damn, I can’t believe that happened’.

At first, I thought this was kind of funny - it reminded me of situations where people would criticise a work of fiction for having POC in a European medieval setting… where there are also dragons. On the first count, it’s incorrect to say there were not POC in medieval Europe - as medievalpoc on Twitter has been excellently documenting - and second, you’re alright with a giant, fire breathing lizard (that might even talk) but you draw the line at a perceived historical inaccuracy?

Look, I’m no historian, and I might wish it otherwise, but I’m pretty sure there were not real dragons running around medieval Europe.

But then I started reading Joe Lambert’s Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community and came across the following passage:

When I am explaining an idea to you, I want to be clearly understood. I want very little distance between my intended meaning, and your perceived meaning. To accomplish this, I need to be precise. I need the ideas to be substantiated by argument, where each example, each concept, builds upon the other, toward a coherent conclusion.
But when I tell a story, reflecting on moment in time, and reflecting on that reflection, I am not so concerned about interpretation. Perhaps I imagine my meaning is evident. While I might hope you would read something similar to me about what this story tells about the source of my political views, I am not trying to convince you to share them. I want you to relate my experience to your own.

It suddenly clicked for me that fiction does have an extra layer of difficulty compared to nonfiction - cultivating authenticity.

It is by no means easy to write a nonfiction story - there is definitely an art to writing these kinds of stories, such as narrative histories, memorial stories, and biographies - but these stories do not have to convince you that they’re real because, well, they are. They actually happened to someone or something at some point in time. Even if the execution is inexpert, the story itself can still be powerful and relatable simply due to the fact that it has the face of a real person or people.

On the other hand, a fictional story has a lot of catching up to do - the author needs to create a believable setting, relatable characters, relatable characters that make sense within the believable setting, relationships between the characters that readers can understand - a character that exists in a vacuum without friends, family, a job, hobbies, etc, does not feel like a “real” person. Many fictional settings get criticised for not having rules - because without rules, things just happen and the reader doesn’t understand why and it breaks their suspension of disbelief. Or when a story contradicts its own rules without explanation - if it is equally unbelievable to the characters, the impact of the break can be mitigated, but readers will often still want an explanation later on.

As Lambert says, a fiction author has to explain an idea - their fictional world - but at the same time, they need to capture the voice of someone telling a story - “reflecting on a moment in time”. This is a balancing act that nonfiction stories can circumvent - the world we live in does not need to be explained for context, and when we tell stories of real people, we don’t need to fabricate the connections they have to other people and things.

Trying to find the balance between these two concepts is very difficult - it’s the root of arguments such as “show, don’t tell”, a common adage used by writers to prevent walls of text just vomiting exposition at a reader with no explanation. On the flip-side, there are author that can “tell” rather than “show” in a way that is engaging and catches the reader’s attention rather than losing it in textbook style definitions.

There are, of course, several ways for fiction writers to cultivate authenticity - relatable characters, clear rules for how their setting works, etc - and there are certainly ways for nonfiction writers to lose authenticity - lacking sources, telling stories too unbelievable to have happened, having an unreliable narrator, etc.

So, between cultivating authenticity and telling a (nonfiction) story, which do you think is more difficult?








Lambert, J. (2013) Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community (4th ed.). Routledge, New York:NY.

Digital Storytelling: Allaha of the Mountain Abridged

Ok, so before I share the video... I meant to have real people acting out everything, as I said in an earlier post. But then life happened to all my actors, so at the last minute I switched to.... sock puppets. 

Guys.

I made twenty sock puppets for this. And I could only find one more puppeteer (who asked to be known as "annoying hair flip") to help me out. It's.... it's rough. But I still had a lot of fun making it, and I hope you have a lot of fun watching it. Anyways, here it is: Allaha of the Mountain Abridged. 

(Script Below)

Allaha of the Mountain Abridged 

written by

Aurora Lee Thornton

FADE IN:

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY I"

Writing appears on the screen, matching what the voice over is saying. 

ALLAHA (V.O.)

I am Allaha. I am giving my final testimony before my sentence, death, is carried out. This should in no way be taken as the author giving readers insight into the thought process and emotional state of an otherwise stoic and emotionally unavailable character. Especially not by starting with the death of my mother, a very emotional place that shaped the rest of my life. 

FOREST - TITLE CARD READS "THE SEER OF HASTAPUT"

ALEC, ALLAHA, TAMARA, HIBU, and KAREJAKAL are standing around. 

ALEC

Hullo, I'm Alec and I'm here to kick start some forced exposition that introduces all the main characters.

ALLAHA

I'm Allaha, a Knight of the Mountain. As you can see, I am very stoic by my stern expression and formal speech. 

TAMARA

I'm Tamara, and I'm a Menori, a people that are loosely inspired by the Romani people. I'm an empath, but because I'm a teenager, I can get confused about why people are feeling the emotions they do. My main character traits are being wise for my years, but still being a teenager so sometimes I'm not. 

HIBU

I'm Hibu, a Journeyman Sorcerer of the Zho, the royal family of a country called Jeongwon that will be hinted at until we get to my emotional character arc about the abuses I suffered and how I'm still dealing with them. My main character traits are being curious and socially awkward. 

KAREJAKAL

Karej is Karej. Karej is a Tibu, and a child. Karej can summon ghosts to help Mama. 

ALEC

By the way Allaha, do you remember how we grew up together as children and how it is painfully obvious that I have an unrequited crush on you?

ALLAHA

I do remember that.

ALEC

Also, I'm going to bring up local superstitions about monsters in the forest that I'm going to scoff at as if they aren't true, because they surely aren't. 

ALLAHA

It's fine, it was prompted by plot. 

GORIC appears.

GORIC

Allaha has a past? Please tell me, Goric the demon whose main character traits are being annoying and perverted, all about it!

ALLAHA

Do not do that. 

ALEC

Then I won't.

GORIC

Drat. 

NARRATOR

So the group goes the Keep of Timerbrand, where they find out Alec's father, the Lord of Timerbrand, is dying. We get to see the group interact with each other, including giving Allaha a hard time about her mysterious relationship with Alec after the lordling asks her to meet him alone after dinner. They meet on the rooftop at night, because Alec is brooding, and literary convention requires that brooding occurs on a rooftop at night. 

EXT. ROOFTOP

ALEC

My father is dying. 

ALLAHA

I noticed.

ALEC

Your mother died - that gives us emotional solidarity while I go through a difficult time. 

ALLAHA

You are correct. 

ALEC

Also I'm marrying your sister.

ALLAHA

This does not surprise me. 

ALEC

Remember when I proposed to you when we were like eight?

ALLAHA

Yes. But we're adults now that have gone on different paths in our lives and that will clearly not work out. 

ALEC

Yeah, that sucks, cause I'm still totally in love with you despite not knowing anything about who you are now and even calling you a completely different person. 

ALLAHA

Well good luck with your father dying. 

ALEC

Oh right. I'm sad.

EXT. TOWN

NARRATOR

So the next morning they go into town and surprisingly, the people implied to be vaguely British are racist against the character implied to be vaguely Romani. Allaha finds a guide to take her to meet the local seer, a witch named Alistair, who is very obviously a not good person by the way he looks, smells, and acts.

DASBUL

A woman doing something I don't like! Whore!

ALLAHA

I'm going to get you to do what I want by threatening to turn you in for breaking the law. Also threatening to hurt you if you insult my charges again. 

DASBUL

I am supringly cowardly and easy to convince. 

NARRATOR

But Dasbul is also really fast, and abandons Allaha in the forest. Goric joins her to make fun of her, but it's alright, because a rooster guides her to the witch she's looking for, leading to this conversation the author is very proud of:

On screen flashes the words "ACTUAL DIALOGUE".

ALISTAIR

Asvorian?

ALLAHA

Are you Alistair?

ALISTAIR

Who would like to know?

ALLAHA

Allaha of the Mountain.

GORIC

Did you REALLY name your chicken after the Angel of Fertility?

ALISTAIR

He’s my familiar. My most common requests are for childbirth and fertility.

GORIC

So you use your cock for-

ALLAHA

Peace, demon.

GORIC

What? I was just going to say it made sense...

Flashing text ends.

NARRATOR

Anyways, it starts to rain, so Alistair lets the knight stay in his cabin for the night - this will in no way lead to a giant misunderstanding the next day. Back in the village, character development is being set up. 

KAREJAKAL

Whey are you angry at Hibu?

TAMARA

Because he did something I'm going to leave vaguely explained that caused me to get get hurt by being arrogant. 

KAREJAKAL

But he said sorry. 

TAMARA

I know. 

KAREJAKAL

And he was just trying to help. 

TAMARA

I know. 

KAREJAKAL

And mama said it wasn't his fault.

TAMARA

I know! Gods, can't you just let me be an emotionally immature teenager for five minutes? I'm going to go dance in the rain because I'm emotionally distraught and no one understands me!

KAREJAKAL

Ok, have fun. 

NARRATOR

Back at Alistair's cabin, howling wakes up Allaha. To everyone's absolute surprise in a fantasy novel, there are actual werewolves living in the forest. They bring an injured wolf to Alistair for treatment after being shot by Dasbul, and Alistair leaves them naked in his back shed to heal, which will surely not lead to a future misunderstanding. The werewolf leader, Brisbane, is also suspicious of Allaha. 

BRISBANE

Why is there an outsider here? 

ALISTAIR

She's here to see me.

BRISBANE

Why?

ALISTAIR

Doesn't matter. 

BRISBANE

Well I don't trust her. She could be lying. 

ALISTAIR

Knights of the Mountain can't lie, so that's impossible.

ALLAHA

I'm here for a vision. 

BRISBANE

A vision? No, no, no - a vision killed our mother, I won't allow it!

ALISTAIR

You aren't the boss of me! (To ALLAHA) Also, I'm a werewolf. 

BRISBANE

Well don't come crying to me when this ends poorly.

ALISTAIR

It won't.

BRISBANE walks out of frame.

ALISTAIR (CONT'D)

So want to have an emotional talk about our dead mothers and messy sibling relationships?

ALLAHA

Sounds good. 

NARRATOR

The next day, things end poorly. 

DASBUL

I'm angry because the witch is a werewolf and it scares me!

ALISTAIR

I have literally done nothing wrong.

ALLAHA

Yeah, he really hasn't.

DASBUL

Look! The knight stayed in his house! They must have frick-fracked, which knights don't do, which means he used magic to seduce her!

ALLAHA

That makes no sense.

DASBUL

Having a naked woman in his shed makes no sense either!

ALISTAIR

She's a patient.

DASBUL

Naked!

NARRATOR

And then the other wolf left to guard the naked woman attacked and a mob ties up Alistair and Allaha and takes them into town to burn Alistair at the stake and end his evil witch magic. On the way, Allaha sees Brisbane and tells him to go to the nearby Sanctum for help. 

Tied up ALLAHA and wolf BRISBANE nod at each other. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D)

In town, the stake is set up and Allaha is secured nearby. Tamara, Karejakal, and Hibu come to talk to Allaha. 

TAMARA

Well this is bad. 

ALLAHA

Yes. 

HIBU

Should I use magic to help?

Text flashes on the bottom saying "ACTUAL DIALOGUE". 

ALLAHA

No. They intend to burn Alistair for being a witch. Magic like that will only add fuel to the fire.

GORIC

Literally. 

Flashing text ends. 

DASBUL

What? Children!? We can't have this!

ALLAHA

That's a bad idea. 

KAREJAKAL

I want mama! 

NARRATOR

So Karejakal summoned a bunch of spooky ghosts that chased everyone away, breaking the hysteria. A bunch of priests show up from the Sanctum, admonish the townspeople for hurting innocents, and banish Alistair because of vaguely discussed politics. Brisbane declares the Pack sticks together, so thanks Allaha for saving his brother's life before they leave.

BRISBANE and ALLAHA shake hands and BRISBANE and ALISTAIR walk off frame. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D)

Then Alec shows up to let Allaha know his father has died. She gives him a hug as a gesture of comfort, and he awkwardly kisses her for closure on his childhood crush. And so ends chapter one. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY II"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

It's now time to talk about my rocky relationship with my father due to him not paying me enough attention after my mother's death. This includes a healthy dose of self reflection, and surely none of the background I'm giving has anything to do with a later part of the story. 

OUTSIDE - TITLE CARD READS "THE WISEWOMAN OF BADEREAD"

ALLAHA, HIBU, KAREJAKAL, and TAMARA pretend to ride horses. 

NARRATOR

After a lot of boring walking that helps establish the setting and passage of time, our heroes come across a giant graveyard, and Karejakal breaks off to go play with ghost children. 

HIBU

H-h-h-hey guys, s-s-shouldn't we m-move on?

TAMARA

Don't tell me you're scared?

HIBU

W-whaaat? N-no way!

GORIC

Yeah, that's really convincing. 

NARRATOR

After a brief rest, the group continues on to find a spooooky abandoned town. Allaha doesn't trust it, but does trust the spooky abandoned Sanctum overlooking the town. The group decides to spend the night there, but Allaha wants to investigate the town. 

ALLAHA

I'm going to investigate the town. 

GORIC

Guess I'll just stay here then, pookiebear. 

ALLAHA

You do realize I've caught onto the fact that you're just trying to make me angry, right?

GORIC

You have?

ALLAHA

Yup. You'll just have to find new ways to annoy me. Farewell.

NARRATOR

After showing how their relationship is progressing, Allaha goes into town and ends up finding a bunch of spooooky ghosts who aren't very helpful. Then she runs into a random old woman and they head to her home. Meanwhile, Karejakal runs away, and Tamara and Hibu find him in the middle of a giant GHOST PARTY. 

Flashing lights, sirens, etc.

NARRATOR (CONT'D)

While they're out having fun, the old woman tells Allaha the story of what happened to the village because honestly the author forgot what she had planned when she got to this part and made some stuff up but she's pretty happy with how it turned out overall. At the end of the night, Tamara and Hibu have a fight because while Tamara's powers of empathy give her insight into how people are feeling, she's still a teenager and isn't actually all the great at the why part. Allaha gets back to the group after the old woman dies, freeing all the ghosts and causing the village to melt away like morning mist. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY III"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

By the way, the way knights are trained includes both physical and psychological torture, which is why I'm so emotionally unavailable. 

TITLE CARD READS "THE HERMIT OF DANABANE"

NARRATOR

After some more boring walking and character development - who needs that? - we find out heroes scaling a mountainside. 

HIBU

I still hate bad weather, and it is very cold and snowy here. 

GORIC

Don't be a baby.

NARRATOR

But they soon enter an in built into the side of the mountain, where some 9 foot tall dwarves greet them because the author thought if Tolkein got away with making elves tall, why not make tall dwarves? Anyways, they have a weird accent and their entire city is built inside the mountain. The group travels to a Sanctum inside the mountain, where they get to enjoy some natural hot springs for bathing. Allaha and Tamara discuss differences in their personal beliefs, and soon Allaha goes out into a magical blizzard because it's preventing her from seeing the oracle outside the town. After some struggle, she meets a man named Karaby. 

GORIC

Or Estalvo. 

ALLAHA

The Angel of Death in my religion?

KARABY

It's Karaby. I'm not an angel and I hate you religion and your god. 

ALLAHA

But you are Estalvo?

KARABY

Yes. 

ALLAHA

I really don't know how to react to this. 

KARABY

Well since you're not here for me I guess you can see Rhyodacite, the hermit you came to see. 

ALLAHA

Thanks?

NARRATOR

On the way Allaha slips on some ice and Karaby catches her, but then acts like touching her physically hurt her and never explains why - though it is heavily implied that Goric knows why. Naturally, he shares nothing, so Allaha gets her vision from Rhyodacite - it only took 130 some pages OT get to the first one - and returns to the Sanctum so they can get ready to go to the next place. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY IV"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

Hey remember how I have a bad relationship with my father? I'm here to remind you of that again. 

TITLE CARD READS "THE ORACLE OF BAKHAA"

NARRATOR

Once again we're going to skip all the travel time and possible character development therein (such as Tamara realizing she's been acting like an immature teenager, reconciling with Hibu, and both forming a deeper bond as surrogate siblings) and go right to the heart of the chapter. After indulging in the author's old style military uniform fetish for a few paragraphs, we meet Commander Scorun, a Jaspernian who seems nice as he explains the tensions between his people and the Irikish and Carboneans at Hibu's request. The fact that his description is almost as long as the character descriptions form the beginning of the book means absolutely nothing, and certainly does not indicate favoritism on the author's part. Anyways, some Irikish and Carboneans arrive and the Commander flees, which seems suspicious to Allaha and Goric. That night, Tamara can't sleep and goes exploring the hotel. She comes across a secret meeting where the Carboneans and Irikish are being made a deal to help get a Jaspernian out of the way. On her way back to the room, she gets waylaid by the Commander, who reveals he's the target of the deal. He insists Tamara not get involved, but she wakes up Hibu to try and do otherwise.

TAMARA

Look he was super nice and also people plan to kill him, we should help!

HIBU

I don't think that's a good idea...

GORIC

He's also a liar. 

TAMARA

What? He wasn't lying! I can tell with my magic!

GORIC

Ok, he didn't lie per se, but he did manipulate your perception of the truth. 

NARRATOR

So Goric explains the slightly convoluted way that the Commander tricked her using the help of another Jaspernian named Desrae, and they all go to bed afterwards with no harm done. The next afternoon, they head into the desert to get to their next destination, when a bunch of naked snake women kidnap Allaha and drag her off. The children race back to the inn, and Tamara confronts the Commander to blackmail him into helping them. 

TAMARA

Wow that is a lot of scars. 

SCORUN

What do you want?

TAMARA

You tried to trick me, and if you don't help, I'll expose you!

SCORUN

... damn it all to hell. Des! I'm blaming you for this!

DESRAE

I don't think it's my fault, but I'm going along with this anyways.

NARRATOR

So after the Jaspernian rogues get dressed, they go to rescue Allaha. She's being held by a demon named Malia.

Blank screen reading "Explicit Content Not Shown".

NARRATOR (CONT'D)

But on the way, they realize that the Carboneans are following them. The Commander shows Tamara how to use Insight - a power they both have - to trick the Carboneans into fighting the snake women for them. Goric appears in corporeal form for the first time to egt into a big fight with Malia. They rescue Allaha, but there's only one hitch... 

SCORUN

(Dragging Desrae)

You're coming with me.

DESRAE

Isn't this a weird time to want to frick-frack?

SCORUN

I agree, unfortunately, being in a room full of aphrodisiac tends to change things. 

DESRAE

Well can we at least make things interesting?

SCORUN

... you want to invite the demon, don't you?

DESRAE

Duh.

SCORUN

Fine, but be quick.

NARRATOR

So off they go to play patty cake, and all is well for the rest of the night. Allaha wakes up, they learn that the oracle they had come to see was a fake, and at the end Allaha calls Goric by his name for the first time due to a promise in the last chapter the author forgot to put in the script and you probably forgot about while reading the book, showing more character progression between the two of them. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY V"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

Here I tell you about the magical process used in becoming a knight, the part that makes us immune to magic and could not possibly have an explanation the author intends to reveal later. 

TITLE CARD READS "THE MAIDEN OF THORNS"

Scene is the author at her kitchen table. 

AUTHOR

Okay, guys, look - this is the longest chapter in the book. The next longest chapter is only half the length of this one. This is because the way the chapters are structured in the book are based on the length of time they spend in the location where a prophet of some kind resides - in the other chapters, it was only a day at most. In this chapter, they spend two weeks in one location, which is why this chapter is so SO long. So to save time and my patience, I'm just going to summarize it myself instead of in a skit. 

The author pulls out a script and begins reading. 

AUTHOR (CONT'D)

The group is riding through the Forrest in Ruruak when they learn that the next prophet they're going to see is in Allaha's home town. They then run into a hunting party, which it turns out is being led by Allaha's older brother, Aubin. Her other brother, Dorian, is a bit of an ass and acts like it. They start riding back while the siblings sibling, revealing the Allaha was a bit of a wild child. But then Dorian brings back their father who - you'll never guess - Allaha has a bad relationship with. Also, he's a Duc and the King's Champion. They get to the Duc's keep and get rooms, and Allaha immediately goes off to talk to her bother about seeing the prophet. Tamara, Hibu, and Karejakal are left to the Stewart, Winoc, who tells them a really long story that is definitely not foreshadowing. Along the way they meet a page named Michel who tells Tamara she's pretty and Hibu and Goric recognize trouble because he said it in a pretty racist way. Allaha meets up with Aubin and his boyfriend and girlfriend and they tell her about the attempted coup her sister, the prophet, staged while she was away. Allaha goes OT her mother's cabin, where her sister is banished, and after they talk she goes to take care of her grandmother's garden and visit her mother's grave. Hibu, Tamara, and Karejakal get dressed up for a birthday ball for Allaha's other sister, Sylvianne. Because the Ruruach druids see demons as spirits, they help Goric take corporeal form again and he goes to retrieve Allaha for the celebration. They have a bit of a tiff - 

Text on screen reads "The author apologizes for writing this while watching a British crime show. Not Sherlock - the Midsomer Murders."

AUTHOR (CONT'D)

And Allaha runs into her sister Sylvianne on the way and her sister's fiance, Theimo, at the head of their mercenary band. Sylvianne convinces Allaha to wear a dress to everyone's surprise, and at the ball we meet the King - a crotchety old man - and the Dauphin - 

Text on screen reads "French word for crown prince"

AUTHOR (CONT'D)

And then they wait because Lucette, Allaha's traitorous sister, said she needed the full moon to give a vision. Tamara and Hibu are invited to noble parties, where Tamara gets caught up playing noblewoman and Hibu plays some shell games to try and keep her from getting hurt. Marcellin, the Dauphin, notices and starts flirting with Hibu because of it. Tamara finds out what hibu did and they have a big blow out fight and stop speaking to each other. Meanwhile, Allaha is off doing other things and leaving them to their own devices for once. Goric comes to ask her and she imparts the wisdom of siblings and letting them sort out their own fight to him. They have a quiet moment and soon after Karejakal becomes concerned with Allaha's absence. He goes and yells at Tamara and Hibu for being dumb teenagers, and the pair make up and all three go to look for Allaha. They run into Marcellin, who takes Hibu to see griffons hatch after he noticed Hibu seemed interested in them. Hibu ends up being gifted an albino griffon and talks about his difficult past. This causes him and Marcellin to have a sweet moment together where Marcellin reveals he likes Hibu for being a good person. Tamara and Karejakal go to see Winoc the Stewart -

Text reads "Bet you forgot him"

AUTHOR (CONT'D)

Who is married to a man name Taulb, the stablemaster, and they share some insight on the relationship between Allaha and her father. For the second week of their stay, Tamara and Hibu act like themselves, with Hibu taking care of a grifflet. Allaha doesn't really seem to care about Marcellin's involvement, and the King gives her a book with her mother's portrait in it. They finally get a prophecy out of Lucette and SHOCKINGLY Allaha is the actual person who is going to save the world. She really didn't expect this, she kind of just thought she'd help. Even though the vision was triggered by her and everything. Also - foreshadowing. 

AUTHOR pauses to shrug.

AUTHOR (CONT'D)

So they go back to the keep to pack and say their goodbyes, including Allaha's father seeing them off to show the way they've made a little progress towards repairing their relationship. And we're done.

AUTHOR throws the script away and lays down. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY VI"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

Just the vow of the Knights of the Mountain. 

TITLE CARD READS "THE SOOTHSAYER OF MEYAYA"

NARRATOR

After a brief variation of "The Landlady" meets "The Most Dangerous Game" which scars Tamara for life, the trio head to Tibu to meet their next prophet. On the way they see a trio including a Derovon, a Jaspernian, and a Demoroki woman who are in a relationship and will be more relevant in later books. Anyways, they get to the village of Meyaya and Karejakal decides to stay with the chieftain and learn with other Tibu. Hibu and Goric decide to stay as well and look after him. Allaha and Tamara go on to the Sanctum, which they learn is full of only female knights. While there, Allaha meets with their Knight Captain, a Carbonean named Dalti, and the High Priestess, a Korinwanese woman named Akoni. 

Text on screen flashes "ACTUAL DIALOGUE"

DALTI

So you travel with a demon? Has that caused you any trouble?

ALLAHA

It has on occasion, ma’am. But nothing I could not handle.

DALTI

I like that answer. You know nothing in our laws actually says we have to kill them, right?

ALLAHA

Captain?

AKONI

She’s right, we checked. Strange, though, isn’t it? Lord Devera was the first Head of the Order to start hunting them in force the way we have.

DALTI

Odd how long he’s lived, too, don’t you think?

AKONI

There is something I do not understand. Why did Lord Devera send you to find those with the Sight? Especially with your charges?

DALTI

She means it would have made more sense to have them come to you. If you all are supposed to play important roles in this, why risk you by having you traipse all over Magdra?

NARRATOR

Allaha has no answers for these questions which are not plot holes because the author does have answers she's not going to tell you right now. In the village, Hibu gets hit on by the girls and this almost starts a brawl that they manage to turn into a dance party instead. You know, how you do. Goric is corporeal some more, and then Allaha comes to ask Hibu to do magic. The prophet they're looking for is Genoarian, making him a merman who lives underwater. Hibu, who has been very nervous about using magic ever since that vaguely explained accident at the beginning you probably forgot about, very nervously agrees to magic himself and Tamara to breath underwater the next day. They all have some good bonding moments the night before that would be much sweeter if this had included all that character development from the rest of the book, but that's why this is abridged. Anwyays, they go to see the prophet, K'Div, the next day after Hibu gives them gills.

NARRATOR (CONT'D)

They go through an underwater city and find a giant glowing pearl. K'Div turns out to be a giant sharkmerman, and Hibu touches the pearl. K'Div tells him it is a source of Old Magic, and after touching it Hibu gets some new powers. K'Div then gives them a vision, which Hibu's new powers let him see as well. K'Div then helps them get to the surface, and they all return to the cabin near the Sanctum they were staying in. While Hibu and Tamara recount their journey, Alistair shows up. You know, the werewolf witch from the first chapter? He brings his rooster, too. The other knights warn Allaha both to stay and to run away, worried something bad is going to happen. She decides to continue her quest anyways.

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY VII"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

Here I finally talk about the death of the Oracle of Jourmaju and the broken prophecy that started this whole thing. 

TITLE CARD READS "SEER OF THE PARK"

NARRATOR

So the werewolves are with Alistair and Allaha and the kids start traveling with the pack. It's super obvious that they're really nervous about something, which leads to a confrontation that would be much more rewarding with more character development like the kind you'll find in the actual book. Anyways, they end up having to tie up Allaha and travel to the abandoned Sanctum in Baderead to hide out from spoilers. Hibu doesn't agree with tying Allaha up, and ends up summoning an army of skeletons to rescue her and spirit her away to spoilerville. There's a small section at the end full of spoilers, and then spoilers happen. 

TESTIMONY - TITLE CARD READS "TESTIMONY VIII"

ALLAHA (V.O.)

Uh, foreshadowing?

TITLE CARD READS "EPILOGUE"

NARRATOR

So it turns out that spoiler is spoiler, and the spoiler he spoiled spoiler away was in spoils that spoiler would get spoiled along the spoiler. Spoiler had spoiler spoiled because spoiler thought spoiler spoiler spoiler's spoiler spoiler, but spoiler didn’t. Spoiler doesn’t spoil because spoiler’s still spoiling spoiler. Spoiler also spoils spoilself so spoiler can spoil spoiler, and the spoiler spoils spoiler from spoiler.

TITLE CARD READS "END"

Sound of a book shutting. 

Digital Storytelling: Learning the Anatomy of a Story, Part I - Technique

“The first obstacle is the terminology most writers use to think about story. Terms like “rising action,” “climax,” “progressive complication,” and “denouement,” terms that go as far back as Aristotle, are so broad and theoretical as to be almost meaningless. Let’s be honest: they have no practical value for storytellers.

I quite like the way John Truby phrases this in his book, The Anatomy of Story. It reminds me of my favorite rule of writing: “Everything is a rule… until it isn’t.” 

I think the thing I enjoy the most about Truby’s book so far is the way he breaks down the problems with traditional schools of thought when it comes to writing, and how, as he puts it, “a mechanical view of a story… inevitably leads to episodic storytelling. An episodic story is a collection of pieces, like parts stored in a box. Events in the story stand out as discrete elements and don’t connect or build steadily from beginning to end. The result is a story that moves the audience sporadically, if at all.”

Truby goes on to state that “just as many writers have a mechanical view of what a story is, they use a mechanical process for creating one… the result: a hopelessly generic, formulaic story devoid of originality.” 

Enough quoting (for now) - let’s discuss what Truby is saying here. While Truby used a screenplay for his example, I’ll dive into my favorite genre of literature: fantasy. 

I’m sure all the fans of fantasy have seen the lists. What lists, you ask? Well, the list of “Ways to Tell you Are in a High Fantasy Novel”1, “The Eight Character Archetypes of the Hero’s Journey”2, or even “6 Signs You’re Not the Main Character”3. These often humorous lists are ways in which fans acknowledge tropes in their favorite genre. When Truby talks about a mechanical process, these are the kind of things he’s speaking of. 

For example, what makes a book a fantasy book? Well, in general:

• There is magic and/or magical creatures

That’s it. There are a lot of subgenres, though, so once again I’ll stick to what I know. So, what makes a book a “high” fantasy? What “defines” the genre?

• There is magic 
• There are magical races (usually elves, dwarves, orcs, etc)
• It takes place in an alternate (typically medieval) realm
• The protagonist is a hero
• The protagonist is on a great quest to defeat an evil

The high fantasy genre was established back with Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings series, which is why most of the “qualifiers” are from his books. So say that you decide you want to create a high fantasy novel, and you decide you need to follow all the rules of the genre. You make a hero who is on a quest to defeat a great evil, in a fantasy realm where magic and magical races abound. 

How many stories can you name with that plot?

(Here’s a hint - mine’s one of them. Hey - I’m honest.)

None of these things are bad on their own - something I like to say is that cliches are cliches for a reason - they work. But the problem comes in when a story relies solely on cliches and adds nothing original. Cliches are not a story - they’re parts of a story. A “collection of pieces”, if you will. Things such as “the hero gets the girl” - there have long been criticisms of this trope, usually because no time is devoted to developing the relationship between the protagonist and their love interest. No one minds that “the hero gets the girl” - they just want it to mean something. 

As Truby stated, having the hero get the girl just because he’s supposed to won’t move an audience - not without proper build up from the beginning of the story. 

So how do you write a high fantasy novel without following convention? It’s a genre because of the similarities in the stories in it, and if that’s the kind of story you want to write, how do you write a specific genre without falling back on a set of rules? 

Well, I’ll tell you what I did, and then we’ll go back to Truby for his advice. I’ll also throw in a breakdown of another author in the same genre, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, as I and many other would consider him, as Truby phrases it, a “master storyteller”.

• There is magic
• Ok, well how does it work? By setting up unique rules for how the magic in your fantasy setting works, rather than leaving it vague - even if it isn’t explained to the reader - you’re differentiating your magic from the magic someone throws in who just adds magic because it’s supposed to be there. I actually have an entire document breaking down how magic works in Magdra, and it does follow a specific set of rules to work the way it does. There is a little explanation in the books so far, but I don’t (at the moment) have any time when I pause to go into a long complicated discussion on how magic works. You can tell there are rules just by how the characters interact, though. 
• Brandon Sanderson - in Mistborn (I’m only going to discuss the first novel as far as I remember it), magic also has a particular set of rules. Characters that have magic need to eat metal to “fuel” their powers - alternatively, another set of characters can store power in metal (usually jewelry), but the fact remains that a component is needed for magic to work. It is also shown that only particular individuals can use magic - which is not explained in the first book, but the reader can tell there is an explanation. By setting up these unique rules (and the puzzles they add to the story), Sanderson creates something unique out of a convention. 
• There are magical races
• Well, I tried to stay away from “traditional” fantasy races - elves, dwarves, orcs, etc - but they did in some form end up in the story. Where they do exist, so also do other, nontraditional (though not entirely unique) races exist. I tried to create societies around these races that differed from normal fantasy races - I put the elves in a swamp and made them anthropomorphic frogs, I made “dwarves” extremely tall, I have harpies that are obsessed with love, and deertaurs as opposed to centaurs. 
• Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn is a lackluster example of magical races, but in Sanderson’s other works he includes entirely original races not found in other fantasy stories. 
• It takes place in an alternate realm
• I tried to include cultures that were inspired by non-Western medieval countries, which is what many fantasy stories do. I have entire pages on each country as well, while still not detracting to tell the reader all about every single on in detail. Many of the countries are inspired by real world places, which is something I hope to move away from in the future, but others are their own creation devoid of such inspiration. 
• Brandon Sanderson - the world of Mistborn is wholly different from the “standard” high fantasy world. It contains few countries, and is not based on any real world location. It is still not our own world, but it not a world based on convention, either. 
• The protagonist is a hero
• Allaha is the protagonist of my story, and throughout she follows a strict moral code and is, in fact, a hero. However, throughout the story, she runs into more morally gray situations, and sometimes has to make hard decisions that may not necessarily be “right”. She also has to deal with more personal issues, such as her relationship with her family and her faith - complications that help separate her from other heroes in the same genre. 
• Brandon Sanderson - Vin is the protagonist of Mistborn, and is a bit more of a classic hero story. She is a street urchin that is blessed with great power,  brought under the wing of a wise mentor. However, Sanderson takes the time to develop Vin’s personality, her likes and dislikes, and also has her run into morally gray situations and have to make tough decisions. Flaws are often the saving graces of fantasy heroes - when they have them, they feel more relatable. 
• The protagonist is on a quest to defeat a great evil
• My “twist” on this is that unlike other stories, my hero has no idea what evil she faces or how to stop it. In fact, the first book is all her and her companions trying to find answers to these questions. Usually the quest a hero undergoes in a story is straightforward - go get this evil-stopping weapon, go to this place for evil-stopping power, stop the evil before it happens by sealing it with this ritual which requires etc etc etc. Making the quest more complicated, or the path to victory harder to visualize, the quest becomes less by the numbers. 
• Brandon Sanderson - ok, this man is a master of foreshadowing, so I can’t really explain without giving away spoilers. If you’ve read the books, however, you likely know that you will not see the endings of his books coming. 

So using my own work and the work of a celebrated author, I’ve shown how you can write for a specific genre without making your story exactly like every other story in the same genre. So let’s see what Truby has to say on the subject of writing stories without following a mechanical process. 

Truby’s goals to his readers are that he will:

• Show that a great story is organic - not a machine but a living body that develops
• Treat storytelling as an exacting craft with precise techniques that will help you be successful, regardless of the medium or genre you choose
• Work through a writing process that is also organic, meaning that we will develop characters and plot that grow naturally out of your original story idea

One of my personal favorite phrases that Truby uses here is that “your characters seem to be acting on their own, as they must, even though you are the one making them act that way”. I like this phrase because as many writers and avid readers know, many great authors will tell you that their characters do act on their own. I myself have changed parts of my stories because my characters derailed my intentions, and oftentimes to authors their characters feel like real people, just as they do to the readers. 

In the next part of this series, I’ll get more into the processes Truby discusses - well, as much as I can without giving the book away. 

[1] http://the-toast.net/2015/01/23/tell-high-fantasy-novel/

[2] https://mythcreants.com/blog/the-eight-character-archetypes-of-the-heros-journey/

[3] http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7043736/6-signs-youre-not-the-main-character

Truby, J. (2007) The Anatomy of Story. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, NY.