Arthur's Quest - A peek into the creative process

[wiseheart]

This post will be full of spoilers, so, in the unlikely case that you intend to read the story, you shouldn't look behind the tag. On the other hand, if you don't mind being spoiled and love to discuss different aspects of a story, you're welcome to look.


So, I've finished Chapter 06 today, and the story has already taken a few interesting turns.

Canon characters I have included so far are (not counting the main cast, of course):
- Morgause - well, sort of; she isn't really active or whatnotand will probably be killed off, eventually. Morgana needs to become a person of her own, not just Morgause's puppet;
- Isilder, the Head Druid;
- Hunith;
- William (the farmer boy who posed as Arthur in "The Once and Future Queen");
- Lancelot;
- Gwaine;
- Sir Leon;
- Elyan;
- Percival;
- Alice;
- Gilli;
- Sir Godwyn;
- Princess Elena of Gawant;
- Geoffrey of Monmouth;
- Sir Owein and Sir Pellinor, the two young cockerels who fought the Black Knight and lost - I decided that they didn't die but had been lying in magically enchanted sleep between life and death ever since... and yes, I even came up with an explanation how that happened, even though that explanation probably sucks; Owein has also been identified with Sir Owein the Bastard from the legends;
- Branwen - the maid Lady Helen presumably kills in the pilot episode; I simply assumed that she recovered after Helen's magic had been broken, because I needed a familiar face in the castle;
- Alis, Beatrice, Cathryn and Rowena - all female characters who appeared chiefly in "The Witchfinder"; I promoted them to castle servants, for the abovementioned reason;
- Sir Bedivere - it is only mentioned that he somehow got lost when they hunted the Questing Beast; I assumed that he was injured and came away with a stiff leg, becoming Uther's cup-bearer;
- Sir Alynor - the highly successful knight from "The Once and Future King", where the assassin Myror killed him... well, badly injured, in my little AU;
- Sir Geraint, who had the common sense to retreat when he saw that they had no chance;
- Gregory, Captain and weapons master of the Castle Guard;
- Morris, one of the castle servants;

Characters borrowed from the Arthurian legends and twisted around to match the requirements of this story:
- Sir Erec of the Marshes, who here is the brother of Tristan du Bois' wife and half-brother of Lancelot;
- Sir Kay, who is the son of Tristan du Bois and the foster son of Sir Erec; he is, by default, Arthur's cousin;
- Gaheris, Agravaine and Gareth, who will soon be revealed as Gwaine's half-brothers;
- Sir Bors and Lionel, Lancelot's cousins, who are the younger brothers of Sir Leon here;
- Sir Orilus, the Duke of Lalande;
- Lady Itonje, his wife, sister to Sir Geraint and Sir Erec;
- Sir Erec, brother to Sir Geraint and Lady Itonje; supposedly injured during the Great Dragon's attack and still recovering;
- Lady Enide, his bride;
- Lady Cunneware, wife to Sir Geraint and sister to Sir Orilus
- Sir Yvain the Valiant, half-brother to Sir Owein the Bastard;
- Sir Girflet;
- various other knights were also introduced but had no role whatsoever so far, so I won't name them just yet;

Original characters:
- Benet, a journeyman blacksmith, working for Elyan;
- Zulfiya, the apothecary's apprentice; a character loosely based on "Robin Hood"s Saracen girl, Djaq;


A character list has been created and added to the Database of my Otherworlds fantasy and horror Yahoo group; unfortunately, only group members can see it. Currently, it contains 67 characters, but there will be more, eventually. I'll post another entry about what mythological/mythical/fantasy elements I have added to the series' quite convulted mix.

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Your comments are always helpful, because they make me rethink my concepts that tend to get horribly convulted at times. So, while I'm trying to explain them to an innocent bystander, they might eventually get some sense at the end of the process.

Whence come the weeks of hell?

[artemis10002000]

I'm already in them, actually. It'll last until 1st week of July, then I have to be done with lots of stuff.

Yeah, I know that feeling. When you just list it in your head, it all makes sense, you only notice the gaps when you try to explain it to someone else or write it down in a linear, organized manner.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Poor you! Is the stress work-related or uni-related?

I'm currentyl in the write down in a linear manner phase. I've just set up a notebook, with one page reserved for each chapter, and I write down the characters in order of apprearance and the basic events that happen in said chapter. Starting on the other end of the notebook, I'll write down the various concepts of the mythology, like the endless wars between the two main Houses of the Fallen Kings, the Celtic roots of the Old Religion, the practices that are actually even older, the family backgrounds of the various characters (like Cenred and his twin brother) and so on...

[artemis10002000]

Uni-related, actually. There will be work stress as well, but it looks currently like that'll just be the usual quarterly insanity, I don't even count that anymore XD

Oooh, that sounds very intriguing! and like a lot of work...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It is. But it's also very useful. I've already discovered a continuity error I was about to make in the next part, so it's good I started organizing myself.

I do it in several of my fandoms. Torchwood, obviously, or else I won't be able to keep my various alternate universes apart. Cadfael for the opposite reason, because there continuity is very important. And for the Umbar story, because the political relationships are so complicated there that I wouldn't be able to see through them otherwise.

[artemis10002000]

I should really get into the habit as well, especially since I have this nasty habit of abandoning my originals for a year or two at a time. I just can't find the discipline. Fortunately, I don't have any fanfics so big that they would require such meticulous planning.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Heh! For the Alternate!Voyager series I have this notebook, where the changes in the plot ideas are marked in different colours, and I even put on the date when I made a change, or else I'd forget where I started from and where do I intend to arrive.

Not that it helped the series much, but still...