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Have you ever done that thing where you keep 3 or 4 plates spinning in the air on sticks? Well, I haven't because I have shit for ablance - ok, have you ever carried an overful tea tray or a box full of precariously balanced fragile things up some stairs and you reach a moment when you freeze because you know in any second the whole world is going to tilt and everything will fall down?
Well, that's kind of how I feel now with Sparkindarkness (the fic, not me :)). See, the main plot with Darren and Rick is going ahead on bright shining rails and they've finally landed in England surrounded by Camaalis and Camaalis culture.
And there's the problem. Camaalis culture is pretty opaque. If I just continue as I am doing there will be lots and lots and lots of references that are just going to go over everyone's heads and be quite annoying. Sure, they're supposed to go over Rick's head, but you will just end up with vast amounts of the plot and implications passing by without the reader even realising that plot has gone by.
I could introduce endless reams of world building or painful explanation. But that's rather dry and boring and Darren's giving me a hard look about the latter - sure I could try and force him to explain it all to Rick, but that would be very boring, Rick probably wouldn't be interested and Darren's not going to be eager to tell him anyway. The rest of Camaalis? Yeah, they're really in a happy sharing mood.
So, how was I going to handle this? Well, in theory I had Shadows of History (Kyernath's background fic) and Tales of Camaalis (Rhiannon, Liam and Katherine as teenagers fic), Prisa's Camaalis Histories and the not even posted Reaching for the Sun (Vassal Family fic). All of these are set in Camaalis lands, in Camaalis culture, doing Camaalis things. In theory, they would naturally and easily lay out lots of insight into Camaalis in a way that is natural and doesn't involve me forcing anything.
Except... I'm late. All these fics are waaaaaaay behind schedule. Reaching for the Sun has 5 total fics and hasn't even been posted and all the others are way behind and generally not co-operating. Sparkindarkness IS co-operating... but makes no sense to post without this foundation.
On another note, I feel I need these fics because Camaalis is presented poorly in the main Sparkindarkness fic. I don't mean I disagree with how I've presented them - they screwed up BADLY over Darren and acted really badly and tried to fix it really badly. Darren has every reason to be pissed at them and they deserve every thrown egg and rotten vegetable - but that's not all they are by any stretch
Gah, I'm going to have to sort out the prequels and other Sparkindarkness-world fics before I go forward I think.
Well, that's kind of how I feel now with Sparkindarkness (the fic, not me :)). See, the main plot with Darren and Rick is going ahead on bright shining rails and they've finally landed in England surrounded by Camaalis and Camaalis culture.
And there's the problem. Camaalis culture is pretty opaque. If I just continue as I am doing there will be lots and lots and lots of references that are just going to go over everyone's heads and be quite annoying. Sure, they're supposed to go over Rick's head, but you will just end up with vast amounts of the plot and implications passing by without the reader even realising that plot has gone by.
I could introduce endless reams of world building or painful explanation. But that's rather dry and boring and Darren's giving me a hard look about the latter - sure I could try and force him to explain it all to Rick, but that would be very boring, Rick probably wouldn't be interested and Darren's not going to be eager to tell him anyway. The rest of Camaalis? Yeah, they're really in a happy sharing mood.
So, how was I going to handle this? Well, in theory I had Shadows of History (Kyernath's background fic) and Tales of Camaalis (Rhiannon, Liam and Katherine as teenagers fic), Prisa's Camaalis Histories and the not even posted Reaching for the Sun (Vassal Family fic). All of these are set in Camaalis lands, in Camaalis culture, doing Camaalis things. In theory, they would naturally and easily lay out lots of insight into Camaalis in a way that is natural and doesn't involve me forcing anything.
Except... I'm late. All these fics are waaaaaaay behind schedule. Reaching for the Sun has 5 total fics and hasn't even been posted and all the others are way behind and generally not co-operating. Sparkindarkness IS co-operating... but makes no sense to post without this foundation.
On another note, I feel I need these fics because Camaalis is presented poorly in the main Sparkindarkness fic. I don't mean I disagree with how I've presented them - they screwed up BADLY over Darren and acted really badly and tried to fix it really badly. Darren has every reason to be pissed at them and they deserve every thrown egg and rotten vegetable - but that's not all they are by any stretch
Gah, I'm going to have to sort out the prequels and other Sparkindarkness-world fics before I go forward I think.