Musings

Dragonfly. Elephants. Memories.

"Hello. Are you still chasing the memories in shadows? Some stay young, some grow old. Come alive. There are thoughts unclear you can never hide."

Shinedown's I Dare You is turning out to be the story of my life for the past five years.

What are my elephants? What memories lurk in the shade of those trees? I never saw any. And I am not sure that I know. Perhaps at some point they will come out into the light. They probably are already, and I just haven't spotted them yet as the elephants that they are.

I think this is the point where fiction departs from me. I can think of ways to tell a story about the old man with the dragonfly and the wall, and a life and memories that I can create for him. It won't be a true story anymore, but it would be more meaningful to other people and have more impact as a story.

In the meantime, I've been ruminating on what I want to do with my What is it to be Human? story. (That's not the title of my story; that's the game title. I don't know what my title is yet.) My basic premise is that Craig will come into the city pursuing a different target. Said target turns out to be someone important to the master of the city, who isn't so keen on letting Craig take them out. And so Craig gets to work out a deal with the master, wherein he has to perform some sort of complex task that only a vampire hunter can do well - and if he does a good enough job, the master will reward him with the target. Rumen, as the master's second, is assigned to work with Craig. And so as they work together, Craig and Rumen get to know each other. Eventually when they're friends, the truth comes out of their shared past. Mayhem ensues. I don't know how they will react when the story gets to that point; it kind of depends on what happens before, which I won't know until I write it.

And as I'm thinking this over, I'm noticing that this bears a striking resemblance to Taint. Same general setup. Thomas - who hates vampires even though he is one - finds himself trespassing in King Stranahan's city, and is forced to become Jacob's stepchilde. Jacob and Thomas get to know each other and eventually become friends. Of course, in Taint, they stay friends... and also there's nothing sinister about Jacob at all.

I've also noticed that the two of them aren't exactly cooperating when I attempt to write the first few scenes of this. They're in-character, with the right motivations and actions and all ... but it makes me feel like I'm writing the wrong story. (Actually, come to think of it, Thomas isn't too terribly cooperative with very much of what I've written with him as the focus...).

Other differences ... Rumen is the tragic duality figure in the first story, while that's Thomas in Fortress Launne.

Either way. Somewhere I'd read that we tend to write the same things over and over until we succeed in saying what we need to say. I wonder what I'm trying to say.