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villains everywhere
There has to be some number of villains, and the heroine has to know it within an order of magnitude or so.
She doesn't fight them, not directly, so much as regard them as a dreadful background she is trying to help others against. But their antics are, indeed, dreadful for those caught in them.
So I have to figure out what they are doing even if she doesn't bother.
She doesn't fight them, not directly, so much as regard them as a dreadful background she is trying to help others against. But their antics are, indeed, dreadful for those caught in them.
So I have to figure out what they are doing even if she doesn't bother.
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oh villains come and villainize
Ah, inspiration. I have the villains of the piece. Poisonous people, literally. Using a world as their chessboard, and abducting people from other worlds to push about it as their chesspieces, having murdered a lot of people to clear the way, and slandered the survivors.
Now, oh villains of the piece, come out on stage. Show our heroine what you can do. Give her a reason to run away from the people you are deceiving. Make her think on how she has to help protect some innocents. I know that she rejects you all in the end, but give her a reason before you tell her that you have to use this world to protect your own.
Now, oh villains of the piece, come out on stage. Show our heroine what you can do. Give her a reason to run away from the people you are deceiving. Make her think on how she has to help protect some innocents. I know that she rejects you all in the end, but give her a reason before you tell her that you have to use this world to protect your own.
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muddling through the draft
Was plugging along on the first draft, and realized that it might be more interesting with another character, the daughter of one I had in the outline. Breezily wrote pages with her --
And realized that she doesn't work. The hero has to be opposed by someone whose expectation is unreasonable, and so the daughter has to go.
I glowered and grumbled, and poked it to figure out where to set up the no-longer-a-mother do what was needed. I realized that after what happened to the hero's mother, I could set up a kind-and-unkind-girls tale.
Which relief lasted until I sat down and had to write it. I still needed to plot out three scenes and put them in.
Ah, well, at least the vague outlines have formed.
And realized that she doesn't work. The hero has to be opposed by someone whose expectation is unreasonable, and so the daughter has to go.
I glowered and grumbled, and poked it to figure out where to set up the no-longer-a-mother do what was needed. I realized that after what happened to the hero's mother, I could set up a kind-and-unkind-girls tale.
Which relief lasted until I sat down and had to write it. I still needed to plot out three scenes and put them in.
Ah, well, at least the vague outlines have formed.
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a problem in motivations
I know perfectly well why the hero lets the youngsters come with him as he leaves the house. Indeed it's overdetermined. He does not want to keep them prisoner -- in the final analysis, he may feel the temptation before realizing that he was kept prisoner once and does not want to do the same, and besides, it would make them unhappy. Also frighten them. He may even overestimate how terrifying it is. At that, he knows he probably could not, when push comes to shove, actually keep them prisoner, and he probably underestimates how
The problem is that he probably will have to offer some explanation why he, a mysterious man who shows up and does odd jobs and vanishes, is now showing up with six youngsters in tow. All of them old enough to be apprentices or servants, and as mysterious as he is, they would think there was some reason. Worse, they may gossip about him, and that might get back to people whom he really does not want to hear about him. And that can happen even if he holds his tongue, so mere silence is not an option.
Hmm. . . he may intimidate that they would not like to be known as people who were visited by the youngsters. Hmmmmmmm.
The problem is that he probably will have to offer some explanation why he, a mysterious man who shows up and does odd jobs and vanishes, is now showing up with six youngsters in tow. All of them old enough to be apprentices or servants, and as mysterious as he is, they would think there was some reason. Worse, they may gossip about him, and that might get back to people whom he really does not want to hear about him. And that can happen even if he holds his tongue, so mere silence is not an option.
Hmm. . . he may intimidate that they would not like to be known as people who were visited by the youngsters. Hmmmmmmm.
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wrangling skulls
Ah, the fun of being a writer. Figuring out where to put the skulls, and scratching the idea of following the fairy tale. If she, Baba Yaga like, put them on poles around her home, the hero and heroine would decide that collecting them would take too long. Decent burial for the dead had to take a second place to the escape of the living.
Whereupon I realized that the hero would have been grimly unsurprised to see them on the poles, but shocked to stumble on them out of place.
Whereupon I realized that the hero would have been grimly unsurprised to see them on the poles, but shocked to stumble on them out of place.
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persuasion
Our hero is trying to off-load the children onto their families.
So, he has to find out he can't.
Took me a bit to figure out why not for one. The family would certainly reject her -- she would, indeed, be in danger of her life -- but what persuades him when he testes the waters is that they are eager to assure him that they drove her off.
So, he has to find out he can't.
Took me a bit to figure out why not for one. The family would certainly reject her -- she would, indeed, be in danger of her life -- but what persuades him when he testes the waters is that they are eager to assure him that they drove her off.
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point of view
Hmmm. . . I don't think I want to go deep in this point of view.
It's the only time I'm going into a necromancer's point of view. They are not appealing folks.
Hmm -- wait, there is the scene from her point of view, so maybe I'm just indicating that it's possible, too. (It's good to not surprise people too much with allowed points of view.)
It's the only time I'm going into a necromancer's point of view. They are not appealing folks.
Hmm -- wait, there is the scene from her point of view, so maybe I'm just indicating that it's possible, too. (It's good to not surprise people too much with allowed points of view.)
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rule of three
The hero is about to kill another evil wizard living under the protection of the king's knights.
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the DM vs the writer: trope
The isekai where the trope is the heroine is inserted into a romance game as the villainess, facing disasters and often death at every turn because of the game heroine's path, is very popular. It's even overshadowed the original isekai subgenre where the heroine is inserted into a light novel as the villainess.
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on powers, good and evil
So, for plot contrivance reasons, there are not good powers and evil powers, beyond the obvious things like "animating the bodies of the dead" or poisoning people, which are intrinsically evil.
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truth will out
In fact, it will.
The hero realizes that those who took over his childhood village were in cahoots with the necromancer, but has no evidence.
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The hero realizes that those who took over his childhood village were in cahoots with the necromancer, but has no evidence.
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super vigilantes
In discussions of superheroes and the law, one thing that always comes up is that vigilantism is really, seriously illegal.
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not a necromancer
Hmmm -- if you can use magic drawing on death to do any sort of spellwork -- does that mean that necromancers can devise spells that other wizards can use?
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