Writing, As It Were
Dec. 14th, 2008 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madshutterbugLast month I began nattering on about posting something I'd written mumbly 20-ish mumblthing years ago. Back in the days when I played in the Current Middle Ages, also known as the S.C.A. (Society for Creative Anachronism). Not to slight anyone, as some folk are fairly serious about accurate re-creation of the time periods they play in between the Fall of Rome (approximately 400 C.E.) and the early Renaissance (1600 C.E.). Others, however, are not quite so serious. It's all good, particularly now from a distance. I've not been a part of the SCA a bit over 10 years.
One of the salient points is that one is supposed to create a 'persona', someone who could have lived some time within those limits, and while the 'rules' say anywhere in the world one of the more common 'unwritten' rules (at least while I played) was Western Europe, possibly as far east as the Holy Land or the Ukraine. I didn't play in those realms. My interests turned much Farther East, to the islands of Japan.
Another salient point, related to persona, is that one is supposed to create one's personal history for that persona. Now, I expect this gets done more often than not. I also experienced that some folk would become only passing familiar with that history, and others significantly more than passing familiar, and I think I fell somewhere in between. I would be much more likely to answer to the persona name once at an event than my legal name. It also astounds me, these days, to learn that the persona I portrayed intimidated a lot of people. Well, I did approach the whole thing as theatre, playing a role, being in character. I suppose not to far from what some folk do today, in LARP get-togethers.
But, intimidating? Moi?
At any rate, I did start to actually write this persona biography, as opposed to merely composing it or outlining it, as a series of stories. This started after the second Masque Laureate of Trimaris contest, an event which almost didn't happen, as it required three people to participate at the minimum. Trimaris (Baja Jorja) in those days stood as a Principality of the Kingdom of Meridies (most of the South East, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia but not the Carolinas nor Virginia nor points north). And Trimaris wanted very much to be a kingdom of our own, which we demonstrated in many means, including creating the Masque Laureate.
This is the third of a triumvirate. Nearly all Kingdoms in the SCA have a Poet Laureate, and a Bard Laureate, titles held for six months to one year, for original works in the respective categories. In Trimaris we felt this prevented a number of other artists, performance artists, from being able to compete and showcase their talents (ensemble drama in period forms, dancers, and such).
So, to help the infant Masque Laureate get off the ground I signed up to be the third competitor, with someone who would be reading an excerpt from an original tragedy they were writing (in iambic pentameter), and a Middle Eastern dancer, Damara Narissa. Now, I fully expected Lady Damara to win, because she is very good, and within a 12-month of this particular event she did receive an Order of the Laurel for her dance.
She did not, however, win. Nor did the dramatist. Ah well.
The stories. The first of these three is the one which featured in the aside above. The second and third followed that, both chronologically and in terms of the persona history. I did receive a bit of constructive criticism from a writer mentor on the first of the three, and their critique resulted in the form you will see here.
And, I decided to wait until after the NaNoWriMo frenzy passed. *G* I admit to being tempted to post notes about This Many Words... nah.
This is open season, folks. Seriously. I'm looking for critique. One very specific question I want to know the answer to is this: Both these stories and Holt City Heist (previously posted here) are told in First Person Singular. Are the two narrators different people?
That same mentor I mentioned, one thing he told me is never apologise for unfinished work when asking someone to read it. These are all part of a larger composition, and hopefully stand on their own to some extent.
And, for what it's worth, I also wrote them at a point when I greatly enjoyed a particuler TV series, fairly long-running, and which had episodes (but not all) which had portions where the primary character would do first-person narrative.
And, when I first tried posting this today, LJ told me the post (included all three parts under individual cuts) was too large. So, it will be in three parts. Part the First: Gembuku. Part the Second: Sakura Ban'nin. Part the Third: Kurokuma.
In other news, Houdini enjoyed a long ride today up to Oleno State Park to help Herself pack up and bring home the leftovers from Feast of St. Benet's.
One of the salient points is that one is supposed to create a 'persona', someone who could have lived some time within those limits, and while the 'rules' say anywhere in the world one of the more common 'unwritten' rules (at least while I played) was Western Europe, possibly as far east as the Holy Land or the Ukraine. I didn't play in those realms. My interests turned much Farther East, to the islands of Japan.
Another salient point, related to persona, is that one is supposed to create one's personal history for that persona. Now, I expect this gets done more often than not. I also experienced that some folk would become only passing familiar with that history, and others significantly more than passing familiar, and I think I fell somewhere in between. I would be much more likely to answer to the persona name once at an event than my legal name. It also astounds me, these days, to learn that the persona I portrayed intimidated a lot of people. Well, I did approach the whole thing as theatre, playing a role, being in character. I suppose not to far from what some folk do today, in LARP get-togethers.
But, intimidating? Moi?
At any rate, I did start to actually write this persona biography, as opposed to merely composing it or outlining it, as a series of stories. This started after the second Masque Laureate of Trimaris contest, an event which almost didn't happen, as it required three people to participate at the minimum. Trimaris (Baja Jorja) in those days stood as a Principality of the Kingdom of Meridies (most of the South East, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia but not the Carolinas nor Virginia nor points north). And Trimaris wanted very much to be a kingdom of our own, which we demonstrated in many means, including creating the Masque Laureate.
This is the third of a triumvirate. Nearly all Kingdoms in the SCA have a Poet Laureate, and a Bard Laureate, titles held for six months to one year, for original works in the respective categories. In Trimaris we felt this prevented a number of other artists, performance artists, from being able to compete and showcase their talents (ensemble drama in period forms, dancers, and such).
So, to help the infant Masque Laureate get off the ground I signed up to be the third competitor, with someone who would be reading an excerpt from an original tragedy they were writing (in iambic pentameter), and a Middle Eastern dancer, Damara Narissa. Now, I fully expected Lady Damara to win, because she is very good, and within a 12-month of this particular event she did receive an Order of the Laurel for her dance.
She did not, however, win. Nor did the dramatist. Ah well.
The stories. The first of these three is the one which featured in the aside above. The second and third followed that, both chronologically and in terms of the persona history. I did receive a bit of constructive criticism from a writer mentor on the first of the three, and their critique resulted in the form you will see here.
And, I decided to wait until after the NaNoWriMo frenzy passed. *G* I admit to being tempted to post notes about This Many Words... nah.
This is open season, folks. Seriously. I'm looking for critique. One very specific question I want to know the answer to is this: Both these stories and Holt City Heist (previously posted here) are told in First Person Singular. Are the two narrators different people?
That same mentor I mentioned, one thing he told me is never apologise for unfinished work when asking someone to read it. These are all part of a larger composition, and hopefully stand on their own to some extent.
And, for what it's worth, I also wrote them at a point when I greatly enjoyed a particuler TV series, fairly long-running, and which had episodes (but not all) which had portions where the primary character would do first-person narrative.
And, when I first tried posting this today, LJ told me the post (included all three parts under individual cuts) was too large. So, it will be in three parts. Part the First: Gembuku. Part the Second: Sakura Ban'nin. Part the Third: Kurokuma.
In other news, Houdini enjoyed a long ride today up to Oleno State Park to help Herself pack up and bring home the leftovers from Feast of St. Benet's.
