Let's Write A Story

[Sion]

As a way to get me out of the my several month long writer's block (and to atone for my abandonment of the FTB forums) I want to do something that is fun. I will suggest a premise for a short story (or novella) and then you guys in the Writer's Guild Forum will provide the rest of the information. Then I will write the story (and the fact that I am accountable to you guys for getting it out in a timely fashion will help me get out of my rut) and present it to you guys on Google Doc. I will do my best to keep the story the consensus of the forum, of course I have have to make a lot of judgement calls on minor issues, but I do want to make this a group effort. Which will be a unique writing challenge for me because, as a writer, i am a bit of a control freak. Only a bit.

Premise: A company of dwarves, both merchants and miners, set out to make their riches by exploring in the far off, unexplored mountains. My inspiration for this is watching/reading the Hobbit and wondering what the dwarves did before the story started. It is mentioned but not really gone much into detail.
Setting: A Young Earth Fantasy world. Meaning that this story takes place early on in the timeline of a Tolkien-style world. The age preceding the current time is made up of would be called the Mythical Age in later centuries, but for the main characters its just called history. The forests have yet to be felled, the humans are a young race and are still barbarians, the dwarves are at the height of their power and influence, and primordial evil is still a whisper in the wind.

Have at it guys!

[Magmoo]

Do you just want details tacked on? Are you looking for linear story beats?

[Sion]

Do you just want details tacked on? Are you looking for linear story beats?

More looking for character info and linear story beats, because I can add on the details such as names and places.

[Magmoo]

prologue

Two Dwarven elders leaving a council chamber.

Discuss the sacrifices made to gain approval for expedition. Discuss importance of expedition. Lament that because of the deal they are unable to lead expedition. Explore possible leaders and expedition members and their merits/flaws.

[clintmemo]

Bob is going because he has secretly committed a crime and wants to leave before he is found out.

Dave does not want to go but his tiger mom is making him.

Betty wants to go because she is bored in this town.

Doris wants to go because she is ambitious and wants to be rich and powerful.

Gary has been forbidden to go by his father but he is sneaking away anyhow.

Greg leads a group of thugs who are planning on robbing everyone in their sleep and running off.

[Sion]

I love both suggestions. I really want that scene in the Mountain Kingdom where the plan is being hashed out and the family politics is being dealt with.

Also like the idea for the characters. Let's focus on characters for a while because they are what drive any story.

[Leoff]

After a short stay in a strange and uncomfortable area/structure, one of them comes down a bit sick -- not enough to stop the group moving on, not enough to turn them back, but the illness passes. Later somebody else gets it, but worse, and it isn't like a regular illness -- it affects the mind or perception in odd ways.

[clintmemo]

I could see this type of setting working well for an anthology, like Thieves World - a bunch of loosely connected short stories/novellas that borrow from each other and take place in a generalized order.

Volume 1 - "Why we decided to go."
Volume 2 - "While we traveled."
Volume 3 - "When we got there."
Volume 4 - "After we had been there a while."
Volume 5 - "We accidentally dug too deep and found the dragon"
Volume 6 - "The dragon ruled over us"
Volume 7 - "We tried to overthrow the dragon"
Volume 8 - "After we killed the dragon and had to rebuild"
Volume 9 - "The great winter"
Volume 10 - "The goblin siege"
.
.
.

[The Blue Bandit]

I think it would be an interesting character arc if the leader/one of the leaders is locked in a struggle of change vs. tradition. Dwarf society is at its heights, and dwarves are a stubborn lot who resist the tides of time like the stone they mine - wearing away very slowly, until one day they realize all they've lost by not adapting.

The expedition is an attempt to help ease change onto the dwarf people, to strike out into new, unfamiliar territory and, perhaps, challenge some of the more rigid tenets of dwarf culture. It's a delicate balance, trying to determine which traditions are too sacred to be challenged and which can be subtly diverted. Perhaps the leader is a bit of a pariah among the well-to-do dwarves, something of a rebel, a frowned upon figure.

The support for the expedition may be provided by a few dwarves who, if not able to see the leader's vision, at least trust in it - and even more so by dwarves who consider the leader a problem that needs to be gotten rid of, and if a few good dwarves are lost in the process it is worth the cost for the security of their entire civilization.

[Magmoo]

I'd also like to say that Dwarven feminism is relatively undefined within the genre. Sometimes female dwarves exist sometimes they don't. Even when they do exist it seldom seems decidedly unique except to sya they have beards or something like that. It could be cool to develop a uniquely "dwarfy" version of female gender roles and different aspects related to it.