And if my story was not enough to read, here is something else.
The evolution of ?Chain of Souls?, from simple back story, to snowballing monster.
(or how I wrote this tale)
First off, let me tell you how I write. I start with a basic idea, then ask myself where I want to start and how to finish. I don?t try to think of the plot. Instead, I think of what I would like to see happen. Once I have that done, I create the entire story in my mind, planning each chapter out carefully to achieve the ending. I don?t say, ?This is where I start and that is where I will end?I wonder what I should do in between?? and start writing. That would surely have killed my story. Then, I write a short list of reminders for each chapter.
Like this:
~First Light~
Wake up
Parents
Girlfriend
Leavetaking
~What Time Forgets~
Evil fog
The Beast/portal
People die/pulse/alive again
Chain of Souls
Portal
~In The Labyrinth~
Beast trapped
Dieing
New friends
Azure Sun
Shaln Vae/only hope
~Ending~
On the ship
In Shaln Vae
A cure?
Earthquake/pulse/little girl dies
Sailing back/washed overboard
Ashore/ships gone/ages passed
The end
??Four chapters? That?s not the story I just read!That is absolutely right. But that is the story I knew I could write, the story I planned to write. But, at the end of the second paragraph, this line changed everything:
?As I turned to go, my eyes came to rest on a large gouge cut into the doorframe?. A past was born; a back story to my back story. And thus, the snowball began?
First Chapter? ~Enter Sabrene~ add chapter 3 to the plan
This may have been the biggest change to the entire story. As you can see by the reminders, it says ?girlfriend? not ?Guardian?
WHAT?!? Yes, Sabrene was to be a minor character, only there to produce a sense of loss when ?Aeden? went through the Portal?alone. I say ?Aeden?, because I had no plan for a name yet. I was actually planning on having the PS community name him for me. But as I progressed, a name presented itself. Sorry. Then came this:
?What are best friends for??. BAM! The plot takes another hit, the snowball starts rolling. Too late to stop now.
~Enter Ulaisha and Con~ add chapter 2 to the plan
This line:
?Connely and Ulaisha must be wondering if we fell into a hole by now.? Added the reason for chapter two. A whole chapter?just for them. Aren?t I nice. But it helped develop the stress between Aeden and Sabrene and help create ?Leavetaking?.
~Dentali~ add Ree?ann
Maybe the second biggest change. I made the Dentali, but I had no idea what to do with them, or who made them. As you read my story, you can see that this changed a couple of times. The ?truth? becomes a lie, and a new truth is born. But Ree?ann was also born.
Chapter Two, Friends and Teachers? expanded from chapter one
~Master Ty~ add the chapter that never happened
You read that right. Believe it or not, I actually left out a chapter. There was to be a battle between Yamuel and the Guardians. Lots of people were going to die, including Ty. But it just didn?t feel right. When Yamuel interrupts the story, I meant that Ty had no future, not Aeden. But it still fits, so I left it in.
Chapter three, The Truth in Tears? the chapter that was never meant to be, but became one of the longest.
This one changed the rest of the story. It planted the seeds for chapters 5 through 12 by setting up Yamuel and Ree?ann?s story, which I later changed, then changed again as the story proceeded. I now planned on bringing Sabrene through the Portal and making a little ?love triangle? with Ree?ann. Also added Sabrene?s past. Spur of the moment thought turned her into a Higher Class Lady. She gave up her whole life. I wanted to show her devotion to Aeden. This is the instant she moved into a major role. The snowball has now grown too large to stop, I can only guide it.
Chapter four, When Time Forgets? the death of a chapter
Yes, this is the one that killed Ty?s chapter. The more I wrote, the less I felt that the Guardian chapter fit. So not only did time forget, so to did I?and a chapter died. This is also when the black helm came into existence. Your going to laugh at the reason. I couldn?t get the head to look right on my 3D mesh of Yamuel, so I stuck the helm on his head. This changed the second to last chapter so Aeden never gets to Shaln Vae. It also opened the door for Laanx to walk through. Yay, Blender!
Chapter five, Why Gods Cry? welcome to Planeshift
I decided that now was a good time to tell what had happened so long ago with the spear. It is also when I made Ree?ann mortal and created the ?true? Yamuel and the gold link. That expanded the next chapters by a lot. Ree?ann was supposed to tell Aeden about the past, and it was supposed to be the truth. Best laid plans. The bandits openned the door for some new friends in the next chapter.
Chapter six, Under Darkness? a new truth
~enter Yamuel~ the path is set
This is when I finally got my story strait?and stuck to it. There would be no more change to Yamuel and Ree?ann?s past. However?
~enter Yore~ toss in a monkey wrench
Oh boy. You can?t believe how much four letters can change things.
\"Ellese. Yore. Come greet these good folks.\" You guessed it, until I wrote that sentence, Burgas and Ellese were alone. There was no Yore. But now there was, and he got me to thinking?
~Sabrene~
Remember in the reminders it said ?dieing? and ?A cure?? Well, it was supposed to be Aeden that was dieing, since Sabrene shouldn?t have made it through the Portal. But, since she was there?
Chapter seven, Lies and Fear? a new twist
Yore changes everything?again. Damn him. And I finally thought I was getting close to the end.
Chapter eight, The Price of Betrayal? No changes this time. Just telling the whole truth about Ree?ann and Yamuel. For once.
~enter Jakkar~
*winks at Crimsonsky*
Chapter nine, Under the Azure Sun? ~The Oath~ add chapter ten
I did it again. I should have known that something so simple as an oath would sprout a new chapter.
Chapter ten, An Oath and Broken Vows? Yikes! I wasn?t expecting to write something like that, and neither were you. But, Ree?ann is Diaboli after all, and it just came out that way. No changes to the plot though.
Chapter eleven, Waiting for Hope? the chapter that Yore made
No changes to the plot?thankfully.
Chapter twelve, Out of the Mist? a new chapter
I decided to make the ship bigger at the last second. Much bigger. No plot change except that I wanted to separate this chapter from the next one, and make this one happy to really contrast what is about to happen.
Chapter thirteen, Fury and Fate? The ?blue eyes? scene is the only thing that never changed about this story, as it is the defining moment of my character. Everything that comes after, hinges on that moment. It was also the hardest to write. I feel so bad, letting that fenki girl die, even though I created her. Maybe that is the reason after all.
Chapter fourteen, No Forgiveness? And I though I was done. But then I began thinking to myself, ?Who is hearing this tale?? Stupid! Stupid! When will I ever learn that thinking is bad.
And, as Burgas would say, done is done. As you can see, I started with a small simple story, and let it evolve into something more. I think that is why I liked writing it so much. Not even I knew what was going to happen until I actually put it to ink. I hope you enjoyed it too.
