Silverthorne

Can't sleep, and not really up for RP, even though I owe a ton of tags.

Am pondering a few things though.

First of all, anyone know where I would be able to play soulboundhunter? I'm good with most genres, and I can probably adjust her into a total OC if people don't mind me using blood elf icons for generic hunting elf #101. Just seems a waste to have the journal and icons and nowhere to put her. Current game doesn't allow for canon OCs and I don't want to get side-eyed for the icons (or have to change them, either. I like them) if I tried to use them for an OC of my own making.

And semi-related and having to do with world building in that I have a story. It has elves. It even has the arch typical forest elves and ice elves and even sea elves (My Elfquest and D&D roots are showing). But here's the thing--first, they're more like offshoots of the same race (that they share with the humans, bast-types, dragon, etc) rather than their own complete species.

And I'd rather refer to them as Sidhe/Shidhe (although they'd be missing a lot of the seelie/unseelie influences, so I'm not sure if that's appropriate). So I'm kinda waffling between usual fantasy convention (they're elves, dammit, just call them elves) and using my preferred term ('you didn't read the mythos did you?') or just saying screw it, calling them by something else entirely, and then have my audience going 'but they have pointy ears, do nature, and look like Tolkien elves. SO CALL THEM ELVES, SNOWFLAKE!'

Er yeah. Advice?

And...who else plays RIFT, and what's you fav class combo?

And if I manage to fall asleep before anyone answers...sorry.

*Obligatory 'I'm not dead yet' goes here*

So yes, I'll do it again this year. I didn't quite manage to finish the novel I did last year, but then, I derped around for half of the month, too. So, with a definitive 'yes' set long before the start date, maybe this year I'll actually finish. (or at least meet the word count requirement. >.>)

This year, I'm considering three possibilities:

1) A total revamp of the novel ideas from last year. I've spent most of this past year looking at the original and finally deleted the whole thing; it was a good experience, but not bookshelf worthy. It also had a few good ideas, but I think I actually wrote better crap in high school...which is kinda scary if you think about it. I learned a lot from the experience, though.

2) Something that already has a working title: "Jamjar City". Uh yeah...anyone I RP with MIGHT be able to guess at the content. *cough* I actually want to do my own jamjar rp (On the horror side of things) and this might be a good way to figure out the setting, what happened before players got there, and so forth. Again, might not be bookshelf worthy when I'm done with it, but I'll still learn from it, and IF I ever get my lazy self going, it would definitely help with the game.

3) Working on 'my' part of a novel idea Ruthy and I had started a while back, but we both pretty much dropped. Again, working with the (maybe overly) familiar here, but since I suspect I'm going at this thing from a 'I'd like to finish it this time' mindset, that might be best. Once I have a semi-coherent, full story down, it might help with the rest.

So, that's that.

BTW, does anyone know how good Ol' Jon is doing after tearing his leg up? I kinda lost track of that (I'm assuming he's fine since the tour date announcements keep showing up in my inbox, but I still wonder...because I'm like that).

Oh yeah...THINK ME GOOD LUCK THOUGHTS. I bought a lotto ticket. Winning would be awesome. >.>

I hate being a girl.

Also, for those of you that did NaNo...did you pull names out of your asses for the characters and/or place names? If you did, did you change or keep them once NaNo was over and you were writing/editing to make the story something worthy of the sight of others? Inquiring minds and all that (yes, I'm still working on it, although with as distracting as being around my family is, I haven't gotten far....but I'll still have 5 days more of vacation once I get home...).

Stupid realization, but I had it.

This stuff that I've been kicking around as a solo project in my head since...man...years in the past? The one where I keep messing around with the world, the origin of the characters, and so forth, but rarely get very far into the story itself? I finally figured out why I keep setting it aside.

I was telling myself I was world/plot building for the book. My brain knew better.

I'm trying to set up a gaming world. I'm just too dense to realize it. :P

Right, then.

Now that I know what I'm actually trying to build, here...(and yeah, actual stories may come later, but I just realized that how I'm going about developing the world and what my brain is actually focused on makes for a better structure for building an RPG world with, rather than, say, a series of books, which is what it was supposed to be originally).

Way to trip myself out, there.

...and what the hell am I going to do with an RPG world?

Although it's been kinda 'dead' for a while, now that I've finally settled in and the stirrings of creativity are starting up once more (I actually sketched a little when dad was here), my private 'working' site, carpentersbride is going to be deleted here and moved exclusively to IJ under the same name. Rumors are starting up again that deletions are happening without warning, and at the moment without a definitive pattern, and even if it isn't true, I think moving what I can is in order, especially in regards to original works.

Anyone on the flist who might be interested in seeing anything that eventually goes up over there is welcome to drop a line on the open post I'll be setting up there (Stuff is still going to be flist-locked since it's original work), and I will add as I see you and recognize you.

On a planet with a ring, how often and how severe would 'meteorite' storms be? For that matter, assuming the planet was Earth-like (is that possible if there's a ring?), how would the rings gravity affect weather, air current, and so forth? Would there be an area that was unlivable because of too many 'hits' from ring debris? What would the trajectory be for such debris? Would it be a constant worry for the inhabitants of the planet? Or a seasonal or even centurial/millennial event? How would it affect society, religion, simple day to day life? How close or far does the inner edge of the ring have to be to the planet to make it workable?

Space flight Considering the space shuttle and the huge amount of heat and 'flame' take off produces, what would the damage arc for a very large, very powerful space faring cruiser be? Would the damage arc e minimal? Or would the heat and flame extend so far out from the platform that even the 'distant' stands that grace the space shuttle pads be too close?

How big of a hole can you make in the atmosphere with a space craft before the damage is not repairable once the craft has left (because leaving the atmosphere does, indeed, create a temporary hole)?

other brain-wasting questions...:D

If several races all stemmed from genetic as well as magical manipulation of the human race, would those new races still be considered human, or 'new' species of their own, especially if they all ended up with non-human traits that consistently bred true in the off-spring? How far can you go from the human genotype and still call them human? And how far, if they share the same base, can the differences be taken before intermingling on a genetic level is no longer possible?

Can horns be used as a cooling mechanism for a desert dwelling creature?

How likely is it that a horse like creature would develop in a forest?

If you're writing a fanatasy novel, but want to use scientific basis for some of your ideas, how far should it be pushed in either direction to make it believable, and yet not staggering under either 'weird' science that will ruin the 'educated' sound of the ideas, and yet not be so bound up in science that the 'fantasy' and 'magical' feel is lost totally in the 'hard facts'?

How many people have used the idea of "Ice Elves"? Or ice ships as transport and home, for that matter?

Okay, this can come from either a writers perspective, or a readers, or both. And I would dearly love imput on this, so...

In your opinion...do you find you like a story where the inital conflict that sets the events of the main plot in motion are written about first, or do you prefer to start with the main plot and have the situations that led to it mentioned during the course of the story?

I'm having a little bit of trouble trying to decide where to start a story...I know the situation that sets everything in motion, how it happens, even bit of dialogue...however...

Although it would give shape to both the world and some of the characters, I'm afraid that it might detract by taking too long for the set up, especially since it is an event that happens several years before the main story. I would like the reader to know where they are and what's going on, but am also afraid of overwhelming them with information from the start...so...

What do all of you think? Any preferences? Any fantasy stories (other than HP and LOTR) that stick out as great as far as beginnings and presentation of present/past events? Any help would be appreciated...