DABB musings

[owlmoose]

As previously mentioned, I signed up for the second wave of dragonagebb, and although the rough draft isn't due until early December, I haven't written a single word yet and am starting to get a little concerned. Not *too* concerned -- a draft of a 20k word story in two and a half months shouldn't be a problem, especially if I end up unemployed for some of that time -- but a little bit. Mostly because it's not the execution I'm stalling on, it's the idea.

It's like this: I have a story I want to write, but I have a feeling that to be told properly, it would need to be much longer than 20k words. And it's not only a time issue, it's an interest issue, because the much longer story would essentially be a Blight retelling, which I'm not sure would hold my attention as a writer. So that's the conundrum -- finding a complete story that can be told in 20-30,000 words (somewhat longer is fine, just not an epic) without rehashing the entirety of DA:O.

The idea I've been toying with writing is an AU in which both dwarf Wardens -- a noble and a commoner -- survive the events of their origin and become Grey Wardens. I think there's a lot that could be done with an Aeducan and a Brosca being forced to work together and find common ground, especially if it turned out that the Brosca was a better natural leader than the Aeducan but the Aeducan resists the idea of letting a casteless be in control. Even better if the Aeducan thinks she is being understanding and charitable, but it turns out she isn't. Lots of potential for conflict: with each other, with Alistair, with the rest of the party. So I think the basic concept is sound. But how far do I have to take it? Can I tell this story to a good resolution without carrying out the whole campaign? Or do I have to carry the premise all the way through to the battle with the archdemon? The answer that I keep coming back to is "yes, I do", but then I shy away from the amount of work that would be, and the sheer number of words I would spend slogging through Ferelden.

But if I don't do that idea, I'm not sure I have a backup plan in mind. And so we return to the beginning of the cycle.

If anyone has any thoughts on ways to take this idea and cut it down to a more manageable size, I'm all ears. I bit off way more than I could chew with "Wardens of Ivalice" for Mega Flare last year, and I'd rather not do that to myself again.

Comments

[sarasa_cat]

Having Duncan recruit both Brosca and Aeducan as wardens has a lot of potential for interesting social dynamics. Although I see your point about length because the Orzammar+Deep Roads quests alone could become a 20k word story.

One possibility is to select a single quest such as Orzammar+Deep Roads or Landsmeet+Denerim and organize the whole story around that quest. Start the first scene with the inciting incident that sets up the story problem (getting Orzammar's help with the Blight; or getting Landsmeet settled), then sprinkle some of the backstory into the next few scenes (why Brosca and Aeducan are working together, how they have/haven't been getting along so far in recent months), and then spend the rest of the story ramping up the tension, resolve the main story question (Orzammar has a king; or Ferelden has a ruler), and end with Brosca and Aeducan coming to a new understanding of each other (either worse or better). That can fit into 20-25k easily and it has a nice juxtaposition of outer conflict (a ruler for Orzammar or Ferelden) and inner-local conflict (Brosca vs Aeducan).

Obviously, the other possibility is to cover the Blight in a selective manner. This is something I've been thinking about a lot. I have two completely separate 5th Blight stories I want to tell (neither are for DABB, both conceived quite a while ago). In both cases, I don't want to write doorstopper sized novels that detail the entire 5th blight from end to end. My solutions are still in flux but here's what I'm thinking about in both cases.

Alistair's epic: This is being written in 1st POV memoir style and Alistair's telling is non-linear. As the narrator, he's highlighting the one thing that is most important to him: belonging and being recognized for who he is. Given that Alistair is telling a story that happened in the past, he knows the outcome (Anora queen, Alistair renouncing all claim to the throne and remaining a warden with Surana). Thus, the text is really about him coming to terms with decisions he made during the Blight. The only thing that matters to him about the Dalish "nature of the beast" quest is that he gave The Rose to Neria and started to consider their relationship more seriously. The Orzammar+Deep Roads quests are being whittled down to Alistair remembering himself silently comparing Orzammar's situation with Ferelden's and the macabre romantic weirdness of being in a relationship with a warden while in the deep roads. Redcliffe, Kinloch Hold, and Denerim figure in far more, as does his OGB sex with Morrigan. But, since it is a memoir that is about his feelings and decisions, time in the story can compress and expand as needed, and one event can be used mostly to foreshadow or frame another. I don't know what the final length will be but I don't want it to become very long. (But it is longer than a DABB story.)

The other case is an alt-canon/au-canon DAO where the warden springs Cullen from the tower and takes him along. I've changed the warden to a Dalish just to make it a little different (serious rare pair!!) and offbeat. Last spring I mapped out a 17-stage hero's journey/monomyth for Cullen where he discovers something important about himself as his relationship with the Andrastian Chantry and the Templar Order. I need to update that hero's journey map to work with a Dalish warden, but, if I am disciplined, I can write the entire story in 12 to 17 chapters (depending on how I write/collapse the monomyth's structure) and while the story covers the length of the 5th Blight, some parts will hopefully pass in the blink of an eye. Instead, the story will focus on Cullen's story problem: confronting the lies that the Chantry/Order told him.

So, I guess the overall theme in all of these is picking out the story problem and then scoping the blight events to fit the problem that the character(s) are trying to resolve?

[owlmoose]

These are all good suggestions. I think you're right, and that the key is whittling down the story to a more simple conflict that it can be "about", rather than that conflict being the whole Fifth Blight. Over on the LJ side, here_be_dragons suggested that the conflict could be who is taking leadership of the Ferelden Wardens, which would allow me to put the focus on the two dwarves (whether they be Sereda and Kasia or two new characters created specifically for this story -- I had been planning on the former but now I'm think that the latter would allow me greater flexibility) rather than making it so epic in scope. It's a good idea, one that I need to think on a bit.

Picking and choosing quests to cover the whole Blight is also a possibility, but that's less interesting to me than picking one aspect to cover more in-depth.

[sarasa_cat]

Just read the LJ side of things. Your idea of "the two dwarves enter into a power struggle for leadership of the team" creates a perfect story conflict because the story question is very clear, and the 5th Blight is just the setting rather than the story. If you tackle it linearly, the only scenes you need to focus on are ones that move the story question forward. Trips to Dalish (or wherever) might be glossed over in a scene or two.

One thing that might help is making a list of all the reasons why Aeducan and Brosca struggle for power and then select portions of the 5th Blight that best illustrate the struggle conflict ratcheting up. Also think about who will change (Aeducan? Brosca? Both?), what forces the change, and how it turns out, and then pin point the scene in DA:O where that change happens. That becomes your story's climax, and that climax might be completely independent of DA:O's climax. Everything after that is wrap up and dénouement, and can be summarized rather than plodded through. (This is the approach I'm taking in my Cullen-as-a-recruitable-companion version if DA:O because telling all of DA:O would be far too much.)

[owlmoose]

Oooh, like who to put on the throne of Orzammar. A Brosca has good personal and political reasons to crown Bhelen; an Aeducan can be played either way politically, but in general would not want to see their treacherous little brother within a mile of the throne. Lots of potential for conflict there, and if it's the Aeducan who changes, they could be brought to see all the reasons Bhelen is best for Orzammar and the Wardens. Hmm.

[sarasa_cat]

Hmmmmm indeed! :D

[lassarina]

You could maybe just run through one of the main quests - perhaps even Orzammar - and have them come to some kind of understanding by the end of that?

It sounds really intimidating and imposing though.

[owlmoose]

If I picked just one quest, it would probably be Orzammar, for the reasons I just mentioned above. Certainly it's the place that resonates the most for both of them. And if they went there first, it would definitely speed things up for the story. Something to ponder anyway.