23 Sept 2016

NaNoPrep 2016 - Casting

With November uncomfortably close and the number of projects I have in mind narrowing from two to seven*, it could be helpful to start casting some of the ideas.  I've already worked on the Shadowrun idea and on Colony Base 183, and Unruly has a cast list already.  That still leaves five potential projects to be fleshed out.

University Detectives, Idea the 1st
The four leads are more or less worked out, since the project will be based on an idea I had already started working on.  The four main characters are roommates at Lakehead.  All but one are third year students who met in a first year core class.  There's Dani, who is in her third year of Geoarchaelogy, a redhead who loves being outside.  Tillie is a third year Political Science major who is close to graduation since she's not going for an honours degree.  She grew up with several brothers and enjoys working on cars.  Mia is in her third year of Business, going for a Bachelor of Commerce; she's two years younger**, having skipped a couple of grades, and has very protective parents in Toronto.  Then there's Hunter, a first year student who is about the same age as Mia and hasn't figured out what she wants her major to be.

University Detectives, Idea the 2nd
Once again, the main characters have been worked out previously.  First is Ayel, majoring in Business at Carleton University.  Ayel isn't fond of her full name, Amber-Leigh, and uses her initials, A-L, instead.  She's also skeptical about the supernatural.  Her partner is Kristi, who dots the i's in her name with hearts.  Kristi is far more open about the possibility of ghosts and fae and is the one who came up with the idea.  The third member of this intrepid group is Kieu Thi Vo, a science major with technical proclivities to come up with the spook-finding gadgets that may or may not work.

Draconic Magic
Right now, I have need for at least four characters.  The first is the dragon, who may be the primary point of view for the story, because why not add a level of difficulty to a story that only has an opening scene so far.  The dragon has a plan, though what it is, I'm not sure.  Next is the dragon's butler, a dwarf who has been by the dragon's side for some time.  The third main character unfortunately starts as a damsel-in-distress, but she gets better, though as a dragon's-paw.  And since it's fun to shake things up, I need the evil knight that the damsel can rescue the dragon from, and that may be the kernal of the plot.  Evil knights, of course, need an evil wizard as an advisor, so there's a fifth character.  However, I can paint with broad brushes when I start.  This may wind up to be a light-hearted work.

This isn't counting the other ideas that want attention, too.  Each of the above is more or less an ensemble cast, allowing me to switch points of view as needed, though ideally not in the same scene if I can help it.

Again, I should put it to a vote, but the vote won't be binding, but is there a character that you want to see expanded upon?  One that doesn't sound interesting, given that I haven't gotten into great depths on any?


* Possibly ten, really...  For the record, the extras are Skater, Mecha Academy, and University Detectives III (two main cast, both having issues).
** Mia may have been inspired by Time & Tied's Luci a bit.

2 comments:

  1. The Shadowrun idea has potential, based on prior posts. The Colony Base I'm less sure of; nothing jumped out for me about the setting in Araminta's blurb, and while I know it was more about character, she didn't stand out much either (aside from her Yomiko Readman tendencies). Unruly has potential, but I'm biased.

    I seem to recall something short about the Uni Detectives 1 related to mistaken identity? I almost feel the 2nd idea is more interesting because it seems like they'd be drawn together more naturally instead of situationally, though I could be biased again, with my urban fantasy leanings. The dragon story is an interesting inversion, but seems the most haphazard, the one that might be hardest to tame into shape.

    Of the new stuff, I'm actually the most curious about how Ayel and Kristi get along. It's also nice that one of my characters might have inspired another. ^.^

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    Replies
    1. You're touching on stuff that's coming up in tomorrow's post. :D The Shadowrun idea has the advantage of me having worked out the characters already plus having a good idea about the setting. The Colony Base idea started out more as a setting, and the actual story is still a half-built skeleton. Araminta needs more time to flesh out, really. Unruly is always a possibility; I have a few ideas working out in my head, including one featuring the Alternate Religion students.

      You do recall that, yes. I started writing it on a tablet during the bus on a long trip to a job. It's not as situationally dependant, but there is a lot of back-filling and set up to do. The second one, the situation starts with Kristi coming up with the idea, so the plot will derive from the characters. The dragon story needs more perculating time; there are a lot of questions to answer, including, why does the dragon have a butler? ^_^

      Would it be a spoiler to say they get along like sisters? :) Mia isn't quite an older version of Luci, but they share similar issues due to their age gap.

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