Hi,
I'm writing a story in which the main plot is as follows:
A warlock has arrived in the magical town of Black Heights and is draining people of their powers for his own survival. The story also deals with a book of prophecies - spanning almost two hundred years. No one is allowed to read the future ones, but of course my hero does and sees that his love interest will die the next day. Obviously he saves her and the future as it was prophecised unravels.
The problem is that:
A: The future has to be sorted out and go ahead as planned
B. I can't think of an exciting way for the fabric of time to unravel.
C. I have no idea how my character is going to finish off the warlock or how to tie it up into a dramatic finale.
Any help anyone could give me would be much appreciated. Ideally I want to have the whole thing sorted by Sunday so I can stick all my notes in a box and forget about them until the 1st so I can build up some excitement without niggling away at it all.
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[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/EmmyAngua/badguy.jpg[/img]
50,521 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2007 - 02 56
I'm having a similar prophecy issue with my nano! Not sure about B and C, but for A, you could try wording the prophecy carefully so that when read the first time round it seems to say that the love intrest will die, but by the end it's turned around and means something different, which then does come true...?
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Project One: Spirit, a TV pilot about the crew of a Most Haunted-style show who discover they can see real ghosts
Project Two: The Laureate, a graphic novel. Teachers meets Harry Potter set in Gormenghast, starring Thierry the Heroics Professor.
50,086 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2007 - 10 58
Oh, I like the suggestion you already have.
Here's another one or two. The day after the girl's intended death, the Warlock's treachery was to be discovered, by means of the girl's death. But the wording's vague enough that the villagers can't work who the culprit is, they just keep getting weaker.
Maybe time can unravel by having day lengths change (winter's coming on, but days are getting longer instead of shorter, and the weather's a little odd, and why are the summer flowers blooming again?) Or time could unravel by having ordinary events not lead to obvious consequences all the time. (I let go of a ball in mid air, but it doesn't drop until three or four seconds later.) People could have more deja-vu events. There could be sightings of people known to be dead.
Perhaps the day could be saved through a ritual overnight entombment of the girl (thus satisfying the wording of the prophecy), fooling the warlock into sneaking out in the night to drain her because the town's already 'sacrificed' her. But the Hero is watching the Warlock approach the crypt, summons witnesses, and they take the bad guy down, release the girl, and set everything back on the intended path, just a few days behind.
----------~If my backyard resembled the world of my imagination, I'd be inside, nailing the windows shut.~
50,577 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2007 - 13 36
I have a thought for B. You could have somewhat random unexplainable things happen. For example, some one doing something and then bam they are gone because they died in a previous reality. Or other similar events, basically things seemingly unexplainable changing because the fabric of time in unraveling and different realities are converging (sounds crazy, but it somehow makes sense in my head).
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NaNoWriMo 2006: The Management (Won)
NanoWriMo 2007: Untitled (Currently Unwritten)