All through the semester, we have been asked to to analyze the works of other authors. What happens though when we decide to critically look at our own works that we have written? That's what I intend on doing to the best of my abilities.
There has not been significantly a lot of pieces that I have done through the semester that have a lot of ways to look at it, but one stands out: the 50,002 word monstrosity that is my ongoing project titled 'All Roads Lead to Alvent', a fantasy ride full of magic and sinister intent.
There has not been significantly a lot of pieces that I have done through the semester that have a lot of ways to look at it, but one stands out: the 50,002 word monstrosity that is my ongoing project titled 'All Roads Lead to Alvent', a fantasy ride full of magic and sinister intent.
Freyjaven, born as a corpse and to a tribe of northern elves, does think anything of her past: soaked in the blood of dark elf conflict, it has made her as cold as the terrain she once lived in. Now, a wanderer in the realm, she seeks a lifestyle that calls for her talents and to give her life meaning. |
Did I mention that this project has taken me a full month to get through the bulk of it? I am in the last few chapters so it is still an ongoing work.
I'm going to attempt to analyze key points in the story, one chapter at a time, using some of the methods that we've been practiced during these past several months. The question is: what will I be using to look at it?
Chapter 7: In the Ruins of Knowledge (Genre)
Chapter overview: Freyjaven, upon several days journey along with the Lore-Seekers, reach an ancient library that has been lost to the ages. Called the Grand Arcanum, it is guarded by an even older and potentially dangerous being who calls himself Thornskav: a great copper dragon who can assume a human form. It is in the halls which he overlooks that Freyjaven finds the answers to a question that has been coming back to her constantly as well as the potential wrath of a creature who is easily angered and quick to devour intruders whom have displeased him.
What other genre could this be besides fantasy? Dragons and elves? Of course it has to be this!
But something that I noticed when looking at this chapter in particular is how even though magic is a very real factor of the genre, that it does not overpower the rest of the story. It more focuses in on the characters. Yes, there are impossible things such as the famous fire-breathing terrors that populate many fantasy kingdoms but largely they do not take on a godly role. Magic users are few and far between, and even if you meet one in the streets he or she will not automatically resort to harnessing arcane powers.
I'm going to attempt to analyze key points in the story, one chapter at a time, using some of the methods that we've been practiced during these past several months. The question is: what will I be using to look at it?
Chapter 7: In the Ruins of Knowledge (Genre)
Chapter overview: Freyjaven, upon several days journey along with the Lore-Seekers, reach an ancient library that has been lost to the ages. Called the Grand Arcanum, it is guarded by an even older and potentially dangerous being who calls himself Thornskav: a great copper dragon who can assume a human form. It is in the halls which he overlooks that Freyjaven finds the answers to a question that has been coming back to her constantly as well as the potential wrath of a creature who is easily angered and quick to devour intruders whom have displeased him.
What other genre could this be besides fantasy? Dragons and elves? Of course it has to be this!
But something that I noticed when looking at this chapter in particular is how even though magic is a very real factor of the genre, that it does not overpower the rest of the story. It more focuses in on the characters. Yes, there are impossible things such as the famous fire-breathing terrors that populate many fantasy kingdoms but largely they do not take on a godly role. Magic users are few and far between, and even if you meet one in the streets he or she will not automatically resort to harnessing arcane powers.
His face portrayed the image of confusion of what to say in response to an angry dragon, who shook his head in disgust and circled around the party behind the desk. From nowhere, a wisp of green flame sparked at the end of his whip-like tail, moving up his length and consuming him. His body had been devoured in a brilliant blaze that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. A man now stood where he had just been, continuing in the same direction the legendary creature had been going in.
Humanoid now, his skin remained a vaguely scaly texture and lightly tanned. Hair sprouted from his head and fell to shoulder level but trimmed and kept under control as well as betrayed his true form: burnished brown with green streaks, giving his locks a metallic feel to them. Those same striking eyes remained as did sharp teeth and fingernails that could easily draw blood. Olive tattoos, of a sideways line and upside down triangle sat on his chin and their color matched the trimmings on his clay-colored tunic that dragged against the ground. His impressive wings remained, as did his horns.
Here we have Thornskav transforming into a much more manageable humanoid state as opposed to his usual scale-covered one. With magic, he takes up this guise so he can maneuver much more easily in his home and library. Even though he can easily wipe out Freyjaven and the others in a burst of lightning (which he nearly does later on in the chapter), he chooses not to and uses his ability for a minor feat rather then all-out destruction.
I suppose a main thing about the genre is the usage of magic, but even if it can be used, that does not mean it HAS to be utilized. Out of all the characters in the story, there are characters who say they use magic but it is even more scarce to see those who actually do the act themselves. That's one thing about fantasy that belongs in this, is just the emphasis on this small seemingly insignificant factor.
A Frozen Heart (Character)
The main heroine, Freyjaven of the alverdah elf tribe, is a character whom I have loved writing about from the first draft of her being to this mammoth project. I've seen differences in her in each version: the first was more bland and emotionless but here she has a bit more fire in her step. What drives her though to continue on with the oddball companions she's made.
When she is first introduced in chapter 1, she is trudging through the woods of a fantasy landscape: irritated with her slow progress and how the horse she had bought had been stolen. It had a lame leg, so she doesn't think it would have helped her make any progress anyway. She has a history already steeped in violence and untrusting: her people have been in a bloody conflict with dark elves (also known as drow) for a good portion of her life and she had to execute one of them that she had fallen in love with. Her cautious nature is evident in what she does at many points, from keeping a hand on the hilt of her sword when entering a new area to always keeping an eye over her shoulder in a crowded city street. Her reasons for being so paranoid is justified with the kind of environment she was born into.
After writing so much about her, finding out what drives her for is still difficult for me to pin down. Through her journey, it is revealed to her that she is something known as the Gatherer: a being who is meant to find the lost city of Alvent through the reclaiming of four stones called Crossroad Eggs. She has been plagued by a voice speaking to her constantly when a situation is going to be potentially dangerous or just likes to spite her, and she wants to know what exactly it is. It seems to be an over-riding topic of the story: a search for knowledge will set her free from the ties of being in the dark, but it is also keeping her safe. When such knowledge is revealed, danger comes along with it but this seeking out of the truth is what drives her along no matter the risks that are entailed. And risks are indeed there: lightning-spewing dragons, murderous cultists and an air elemental who likes to deceive mortals are all along the way to the hidden city.
A point about her constantly wanting to seek out answers to her woes is in chapter 8. After being seperated by the Lore-Seekers, she undergoes a ritual to commune with the source that has been speaking to her more now as well as using her voice to speak it's own will and anger. Revealed through this is the name of the force held at bay and tied to the woman: Shirshri, the Highest Airs. An air elemental, apparently it has bought her back from the world of the dead. The section of text seen below is Shirshri speaking to Freyjaven.
I suppose a main thing about the genre is the usage of magic, but even if it can be used, that does not mean it HAS to be utilized. Out of all the characters in the story, there are characters who say they use magic but it is even more scarce to see those who actually do the act themselves. That's one thing about fantasy that belongs in this, is just the emphasis on this small seemingly insignificant factor.
A Frozen Heart (Character)
The main heroine, Freyjaven of the alverdah elf tribe, is a character whom I have loved writing about from the first draft of her being to this mammoth project. I've seen differences in her in each version: the first was more bland and emotionless but here she has a bit more fire in her step. What drives her though to continue on with the oddball companions she's made.
When she is first introduced in chapter 1, she is trudging through the woods of a fantasy landscape: irritated with her slow progress and how the horse she had bought had been stolen. It had a lame leg, so she doesn't think it would have helped her make any progress anyway. She has a history already steeped in violence and untrusting: her people have been in a bloody conflict with dark elves (also known as drow) for a good portion of her life and she had to execute one of them that she had fallen in love with. Her cautious nature is evident in what she does at many points, from keeping a hand on the hilt of her sword when entering a new area to always keeping an eye over her shoulder in a crowded city street. Her reasons for being so paranoid is justified with the kind of environment she was born into.
After writing so much about her, finding out what drives her for is still difficult for me to pin down. Through her journey, it is revealed to her that she is something known as the Gatherer: a being who is meant to find the lost city of Alvent through the reclaiming of four stones called Crossroad Eggs. She has been plagued by a voice speaking to her constantly when a situation is going to be potentially dangerous or just likes to spite her, and she wants to know what exactly it is. It seems to be an over-riding topic of the story: a search for knowledge will set her free from the ties of being in the dark, but it is also keeping her safe. When such knowledge is revealed, danger comes along with it but this seeking out of the truth is what drives her along no matter the risks that are entailed. And risks are indeed there: lightning-spewing dragons, murderous cultists and an air elemental who likes to deceive mortals are all along the way to the hidden city.
A point about her constantly wanting to seek out answers to her woes is in chapter 8. After being seperated by the Lore-Seekers, she undergoes a ritual to commune with the source that has been speaking to her more now as well as using her voice to speak it's own will and anger. Revealed through this is the name of the force held at bay and tied to the woman: Shirshri, the Highest Airs. An air elemental, apparently it has bought her back from the world of the dead. The section of text seen below is Shirshri speaking to Freyjaven.
They called out to your kind’s chosen goddess and instead invoked my power and wrath. I told them of their grave mistake, offering to take the woman’s husband instead of restoring your life. I would have been delighted- no, ecstatic, to see him die there in the cold in order to take your place in the world of stillborn children.
Perhaps it would have been better for her to not try to seek out answers from beyond her world, because now she knows that her future has been damned: after being bought back from the underworld, with being a stillborn child, Shirshri literally has her future in his hands and can do whatever he so desires with it as the price to be payed by her due to her parent's actions. She now knows the truth behind that voice but it may have been wise to not seek it out. The knowledge has given her the truth but now the reality behind it is much darker then she would have liked to think. In the end, she at least accepts this information, as grim as it is, and keeps on moving forward. There is something in her that wants to know more and is prepared for the trauma and danger that may come out of it.
I think that's why I've grown so attached to Freyjaven: it's because she manages to keep on fighting the odds thrown against her time and time again. She was one of the first real characters I've put thought into in a very long time and although she's not perfect, she's at least more then she was for the first draft.
Where All Roads Lead (Reading For, Conclusion)
Let me reword this section. It's not what I read for, rather then what I WRITE for.
Like Freyjaven, I feel like I am searching for something but I'm not quite sure what that end goal is. Is it to my own personal Alvent or just a means to follow the crowd of what seems to be written about as of late? I'd like to think it's more along the lines of escapism, and so it kind of is like the first thing mentioned. But I can't help but be unsure of what I write for or what the end goal of it is. I think one of the characters, Erebau, describes it best:
I think that's why I've grown so attached to Freyjaven: it's because she manages to keep on fighting the odds thrown against her time and time again. She was one of the first real characters I've put thought into in a very long time and although she's not perfect, she's at least more then she was for the first draft.
Where All Roads Lead (Reading For, Conclusion)
Let me reword this section. It's not what I read for, rather then what I WRITE for.
Like Freyjaven, I feel like I am searching for something but I'm not quite sure what that end goal is. Is it to my own personal Alvent or just a means to follow the crowd of what seems to be written about as of late? I'd like to think it's more along the lines of escapism, and so it kind of is like the first thing mentioned. But I can't help but be unsure of what I write for or what the end goal of it is. I think one of the characters, Erebau, describes it best:
"Your fate is an uncertain one, that much is clear as pure water. You have a hand in it but the… the grasp of something dictates what you do, what you believe to be your own doing. It will come.. in spring? No, when the seasons shift power…. the thrill of the hunt will fill your veins and joyous rage clogs the brain. A death perhaps or is that a life given form? Or given up? No that’s not it…"
Erebau is a quirky sort of soothsayer, a fortune teller who looks at the actions of animals to dictate what is to happen further in one's life. Like his prophetic claim, I'm unsure of where my writing is going to take me. Will it take me down a path of success or just more disappointment? I know that whatever is going to come to me I actively play a role in making a reality, but what is it that makes me do what I do? I think that may be my projections as a writer: if I write, surely I will be successful someday, after looking to the likes of J.K Rowling and her rise from poverty to fame. But then there is also the flipside to that, the shadowy elemental that likes to play with my perception on what I call a talent. For all of those who are successful, count the ones who have not made their big break yet. Is that going to be you? Another thing which keeps me ever wary each time I pen a word to piece of paper or Word document.
It's a hard thing to balance out, what you think you want out of your writing and what you actually want to get out of it.
What does Erebau mean when he says "A death perhaps or is that a life given form? Or given up?"? I'd like to imagine that his lunatic rants hark the end of my former writerly self: he is a fortune teller, after all, seeing past the writer that I was at the start of the semester. The elf that had walked into his domain, Freyjaven/the reader, is confused on where she is going but the wise (and psychotic) sage is the one who reveals that changes are under way for her, whether they are for better or for worse. He does not reveal it's inherent nature, just that something is happening or is going to happen eventually.
At the end of all of this, I think I started to figure out why exactly I write what I do. I think, ultimately, it is because I love to punish myself. Not in a physically violent way but mentally beat my own sense of worth and creativity. I pound them with invisible fists and wear the bruises on it's skin with a sort of demented pride. They scream "I AM AN AUTHOR AND I TAKE PRIDE AND PAIN IN THAT FACT". I live for "the thrill of the hunt" which "fills your veins and joyeous rage clogs the brain" when you finally finish that arduous chapter that hasn't been easy to complete.
That's what I write for. That's what keeps me going day in and day out, and I'm not going to be stopping at any point.
It's a hard thing to balance out, what you think you want out of your writing and what you actually want to get out of it.
What does Erebau mean when he says "A death perhaps or is that a life given form? Or given up?"? I'd like to imagine that his lunatic rants hark the end of my former writerly self: he is a fortune teller, after all, seeing past the writer that I was at the start of the semester. The elf that had walked into his domain, Freyjaven/the reader, is confused on where she is going but the wise (and psychotic) sage is the one who reveals that changes are under way for her, whether they are for better or for worse. He does not reveal it's inherent nature, just that something is happening or is going to happen eventually.
At the end of all of this, I think I started to figure out why exactly I write what I do. I think, ultimately, it is because I love to punish myself. Not in a physically violent way but mentally beat my own sense of worth and creativity. I pound them with invisible fists and wear the bruises on it's skin with a sort of demented pride. They scream "I AM AN AUTHOR AND I TAKE PRIDE AND PAIN IN THAT FACT". I live for "the thrill of the hunt" which "fills your veins and joyeous rage clogs the brain" when you finally finish that arduous chapter that hasn't been easy to complete.
That's what I write for. That's what keeps me going day in and day out, and I'm not going to be stopping at any point.