Shorts

New approach- rather than one big story, how about a bunch of little ones? Short stories, novellas, whatever you want to call them. Here are some ideas of stories I want to tell:

Let Live

• Nikolas encounters a wounded troll east of Northdale. Despite long hostilities between humans and trolls, Nikolas finds himself wondering what to do in the situation.

The Cult

• Nikolas helps a family escape from the Cult of the Damned in Northdale.

Torn

• Nikolas escapes from the battle at Darrowshire after seeing his father cut down by the Scourge. He reunites with his mother at the Marris home to the northwest, where he tells her the bad news. Together they leave for Hearthglen, to regroup with other Alliance soldiers.

Misgivings

• Nikolas discusses his suspicions about the Scarlet Crusade with Thalion. They talk about Lordaeron's fall at the hands of Arthas and the exodus west to Kalimdor.

Flight

• Nikolas escapes from imprisonment by the Scarlet Crusade. He helps a small group of Undead, Forsaken, escape as well, killing three Crusaders in the process. When he arrives in Southshore, he learns a price has been put on his head. He buys passage on a merchant ship called the "Queen's Gambit, captained by high elf Valnara Wavecrest.

Rook's Gambit

• Part I
• The Queen's Gambit is attacked by Southsea Pirates east of Steamwheedle. Nikolas helps fend off the boarding pirates, then aids in disabling one of the ships, allowing the Queen to get away.
• Part II
• After deducing that captives taken in the battle are being held at Lost Rigger Cove, Nikolas leads a rescue party to save them.

Home Again

• While the Gambit is docked in Stormwind Harbor, Nikolas visits his mother who is living in near the Tower of Azora. Together they visit the memorial to his father at Northshire Abbey. Naya gives Nikolas some of his father's mementos.

Enemy's Camp

• While sailing to Silvermoon, Nikolas goes ashore in the Tirisfal Glades and sneaks into the Scarlet Monastery as a refugee. He meets with Katya and the two catch up. While talking, they argue about the Undead and how they are to be treated. Despite their differing opinions, they part amicably and promise to keep in touch through their mother.

The Long Road

• Wanting to pass along some of his father's mementos on to Dobrin Hammerstone, Nikolas takes shore leave at Southshore. He joins a caravan traveling east, the members gathered to protect themselves against Syndicate bandits. Among them is a man named Marek, with whom Nikolas becomes fast friends. They find the road ahead isn't safe, despite the numbers of their group.

Shore Leave

• This is a five-parter in which Nikolas reunites with his "second family" of sorts and finds them in difficult circumstances. He discovers there amy be more than just bad luck, however, and not just from one source.

So, tell me what you think. Do any of these stick out enough to where you'd want it before the others?

Let me know in the comments (in English or some discernable language, please).

Greek to Me

For what it's worth, I love getting comments. I particularly like comments that give feedback or constructive criticism about my writing.

Most of the recent comments on this blog are in an Asian language with which I'm not familiar. Heck, I'm not familiar with any kind of Asian language.

Thus, I have a request: if you are commenting in a language other than English or Russian, please let me know (in English) the language you are using, so I can translate your comment.

A disclaimer- if the comment turns out to be spam, trolling or garbage, it will be summarily deleted.

Thanks.

The purpose of this entry is two-fold. First, I want to let everyone know that the plot is coming together nicely, and I hope to be able to start publishing excerpts soon.

Second, I want to try this feature on Google Documents that let's me publish a document straight from the editor, rather than cutting and pasting and worrying about formatting. Let's see how this goes.

P.S. To the readers, thank you for your patience. It means a lot that you keep coming back here, and I'm sorry to have been a letdown recently.


UPDATE: It looks like it works pretty good. There's no headline, so I'll have to see if I can work that out.

Flawed

I realized recently that Nikolas isn't flawed enough.

He's never been perfect, I never wanted him to be so. Such characters are annoying and very boring. Where's the fun if nothing is wrong? But I've struggled as to how Nikolas should be flawed. A recent post on WoW.com gave some interesting insight, that it might help to blame the character's imperfection on one of the common vices: Sloth, Greed, Vanity/Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath or Envy. All present intriguing options, but at the end, I didn't like any of them. So where am I going with this? Well, I had an idea yesterday, one that has stuck and that I kind of like.

Nikolas is, at the beginning of the story, well on his way to becoming jaded.

His upbringing wasn't exactly idyllic- he and his family were driven by war to another land and he saw little of his father who was in the fighting- but it wasn't really hard either. From his pre-teen days, he spent his time training to be a wilderness scout. He spent his years mostly outdoors, which he enjoyed, and didn't have to face the test of actual fighting until he reached adulthood. Even then, he had the teachings of the Light, passed on by his father, to keep him believing in greater things that transcend pain and suffering.

Where his difficulties begin is when he makes choices based on his convictions, only to find those decisions challenged, ridiculed or criticized by those around him. The difficulty grows when one starts to consider the implications of that choice.

Imagine you're walking along the street when you see a man stumble in the middle of a crosswalk. Oncoming traffic has a green light, and a bus is speeding toward the fallen pedestrian. You do the heroic thing and push him out of the way, saving his life. That's a good thing, correct?

What if the man robs a bank later that day? What if he kills someone during that robbery? What if he goes on a crime spree that leaves death and destruction in its wake?

There could be a host of philosophical discussion concerning the rightness or wrongness of your decision to save the pedestrian (is it the act that makes it good or the result and so on), but think only of this: what would you think if those consequences happened? What would that do to your moral center, your sense of good and bad, right and wrong? Add to that criticism from peers about your decision and the results. Maybe once isn't so big you can't brush it off, but what if it happens several times? What then?

That's what Nikolas is going through at the beginning of the story. He tries to do the right thing, but more than once that has led to less-than-pleasant consequences, even life-threatening ones. So for him, is it worth it to continue trying to be the good guy? What if no one around you wants you to be the good guy?

Those are the thoughts I have right now. What do you think? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Models to Follow

Yes, I know it's been more than four months. But I haven't been slacking off completely. Nikolas is a developing character, and I'm finding it time-consuming to try and hone down my ideas into the story I want to tell. So, that's still in progress.

In the meantime, let me share some Warcraft fan-fiction discoveries that I found truly enjoyable. There are good fan-fics and bad ones, and far too few of the former. But I found a couple that you might enjoy if you like this sort of thing:

Kuma's Song - I'm not sure who wrote this, but it's very well-written. The tauren warrior Kuma is among the first to fight alongside the Horde in the Eastern Kingdoms, but finds the new war is not what it seems. He then discovers that a new path may be calling to him.

It's deep while simple, easy to follow while deep in its message. Worth the small amount of time.


Travels Through Azeroth and Outland - Destron, an Undead mage who can still pass for a living one, makes his way through and around the two worlds, cataloging his journey and finds and meetings.

Entertaining and painstakingly loyal to the world of Warcraft as it is.


Blood and Light - I haven't read a lot of this yet, but it has things that have interested me since I started playing WoW- the Plaguelands, the Scarlet Crusade, Stratholme, etc.


Okay, that's all for now- I'm putting these links in a list on the sidebar and will add as I find new gems. Hopefully some kind of update on my story will be up soon. Thanks for sticking around!

The Will of Darkness, Part I

What parts of Northdale might have looked like before the Legion invaded

"Brothers, tonight everything we've worked toward will be ours. All the promises we've been given will be fulfilled. The glory to which we all aspire is within our grasp, but you must do your duty this night."
James Grekov leaned on the table in front of him, staring intensely at each of the men (and a few women) gathered before him. The Wolf's Tooth Tavern was packed, each person fully dedicated to the same cause as the one next to him. Well, James thought, almost everyone was so dedicated. Standing tall again, he continued his speech.
"There may be some with doubts. Our calling is to bring every soul in this land to our Master, willing or otherwise. Many are your friends, and some are your family. They do not, will not understand what it is we do for them. But you know, as well as I know, that all may partake in the great future promised to us.
"Some will resist, but we must not give in. Some will fight back, but we must not falter. Some in this room may even lose their life this night, but take heart, my friends: such are blessed to be able to taste the glory for which we all strive. Such are the luckier of us, for their fate shall be sealed soon."
James slowly began adding volume and intensity to his voice. "But to those who survive, though we all wish for the sweet taste of death, that we may then taste life, I say this: we must live, so that others may die and be reborn. This is our calling, this is what our Master would have us do!
By now, James was practically shouting, speaking with as much fervor and zeal as he could muster. "Death will come to us all, my friends, but not yet. First, we must do our Master's's will this night, and then we may stand ready for the reward which is promised. Are you ready?"
The walls of the packed tavern shook with cries of support and affirmation. James couldn't help but smile as he saw dozens of men and women just like him, people willing, even desiring to lay down their lives for their Master, though none, not even James, had ever seen him. Oh, James thought, he was real enough. James had felt his power, had felt his embrace when he traded his soul for the promise of immortality. Some others here had similar experiences, but most were going on faith that what was to happen tonight was the right course of action.
Well, James promised each one of them silently, your faith will be rewarded. And soon.
With a final word he dismissed everyone from the tavern, each person knowing his or her assignment. Tonight, James mused, they would spread across the land like the darkness they had come to love, and by sunrise, Northdale and its surrounding farms would be covered in the blood of those not willing to submit to the will of darkness. Yes, blood would flow tonight, and James would drink it in; he would glut himself in a show of devotion to the One whom he served.
As he followed the driven crowds out of the tavern, James failed to notice that not everyone had left. A tall figure clad in dark clothes slipped from the shadows into the kitchen, and outside through the scullery.

Update

I think I've got a good thing going right now- I'm working on a few short stories to sort of flesh out the characters before diving into the big story (the details/plot of which I'm still turning over in my head). I should have part of one of the short stories up soon. I think you'll like it.