30 Days of world building - Day 3: Mood and Setting

Mood

I want it to be a little dark, it is supposed to take place in a country that's been at war for years. Everyone should be touched by this, the older generation because they remember what it was like when it was peaceful, the younger generation who only know what war is like, there just isn't much room for happy faeries flying around etc.

Setting

Most of the story would be set in a Middle Europe type place, cold winters, walm summers, rain etc. The made up world is very earth like in climate, countries to the north are cold, the further sounth the warmer.

30Days of World Building - Day 2: The Physical Planet

10 Plot devices related to weather:

1. Storm during travel by sea - near death experience bonding, shipwrecked, killing off a few characters, stopping ships sailing for a battle, hiding ship that is being followed by other ship.

2. Sudden snow storm/blizzard - holed up in a cave, opportunities for one on ones, secrets coming out, nursing someone back to health. Getting lost, getting ambushed, avoid ambush and slip away from enemies.

3. Heavy rain - creates a depressing mood where secrets are confessed, making a river bigger so it cannot be forded, flood an area, make some one ill form being soaked, create a cosy homey atmosphere.

4. Very hot - no food, no drink causes irritation dissent. also hallucinations

5. Draught - set's off the hero's journey, family needs money, food etc so he goes off to find it.

6. Fog - good for getting lost or hiding from the enemy

7. The changing seasons (not technically type of weather) - if a journey needs to be undertaken then changing seasons puts a time pressure on it, there might be places they cannot get pas in the winter for example or rivers impossible to cross during the spring floods.

8. Hot and humid - losing patience with the cause/journey, beig fed up with each other

9. Thunder storms - hero encounters a primitive people who worship the God of Thunder etc. they try to kill him but when it start thundering think he is their God instead.

10. Floods - make the hero's party split up, lose a character in the flood waters and everyone thinks their dead only for them to turn up again later.

30 Days of world building - Day 1 - Climate and Variety

Different climates:

Tundra (Siberia) - frozen, uninhabitable
Arctic (Greenland) - lots of snow,very cold
Temperate(Mediterranean) - hot summers, rain and cold winters
Tropical - hot hot hot, rain period (rainforest)
Sub tropical (Sydney) - mild winters, HOT summers
Desert (Sahara) - lots of sand, HOT days, cool nights
Cold (scandinavia) - warm summers, freezing winters

A Plot, A Plot? Now I just have a genre

So it's finally decided, I'm gonna do Fantasy, though with the plot I though up a few days ago. Haven't gotten too far into the plot yet, but been researching in the Fantasy Forum on NaNoWriMo and found several world building tools.

I have now settled on one of them located at 30 Days of World Building by Stephanie Bryant written by Stephanie Bryant, which is 30 days of buliding exercises. Since I don't actually have 30 days left until NaNo I'll be doing a few day and posting them here.

Please remember that all the exercises are created and thought up by Stephanie Bryant, and I am just following her advise.

If you would like to have a look at her website the like is Magical World Builder's Guide by Stephanie Bryant

I will also link to each individual exercise as I do them :)

I have a plot, I have a plot

I might have lost then plot figuratively speaking, but now I finally have a plot I think I can work on. Actually to be honest the minute I though of the plot several other ones made their presence known, but you can't really argue with that now can you, at least if this one falls through I have some other choices.
If I go with my newly cooked up story I'll be doing something completely different from what i have been doing before. Every year I've been doing Regency based stories, and now I'm going contemporary with a thriller/horror/suspense story.
Gaaaah, maybe this isn't a good idea, after all i have no idea that I'm doing, at least if I migrated over to Fantasy i would be writing about something I enjoy reading about. Horror though is definitly not soemthing you will find in my bookshelf, not that i don't like it, it's just I'm so easily scared :)

Thinking about it though I could quite easily convert the story to a horror/fantasy, that might be fun. Good Gods I should stop writing and thinking, I'm just confusing myself now.
Maybe a little more thinking about it will be good, work out how it could be in the different genres, also i only have an idea, so need to form the plot better :)

Time limit for forming basic plot - 16:00 today, which gives me 5 hours :)

Crikey...it's OCTOBER

OMG, how did October come so quickly? I feel stressed now, nothing planned yet, no plot conveniently falling into my head. And on top on that there is of course uni work, which still is sort of a novelty for me. hard to start back after a long break.
Any whooo, back in work tomorrow, after being off since the 20th of Sep, had a lovely holiday in Turkey btw, still, no plot bunnies arose from the trip.
Being back in work though is sure to get me focused on Nano, nothing like mundane boring work to bring out ones creative side.

So hopefully I'll have an update in a few days about what the HECK is going on with my NaNo

NaNo2006: Salamanca - Main Character Descriptions

Lady Clarabelle Leigh Tremayne

She is the only child of the widowed Earl of Deysbrooke.
Having been motherless since the age of 6, when the countess died in childbirth after several miscarriages, she adores her father and he in turn dotes on her.She is a happy and social lady with many friends, and many hobbies. She is not afraid to speak her mind and quite independent. And most of all she thinks the best of everyone and will do anything within her power to help a friend in need.
The earldom and belonging estates are entailed away to a distant cousin, but the majority of the Earls possessions and wealth is not entailed away and will fall to Clarabelle when her father passes away.This is one of the main reasons why Clarabelle is married before she has even experienced a season. Her father indulges in a little matchmaking with some old friends of the family and an arrangement is made between her and the 3rd son of the Marquess of Rawdenstall, Captain Lord Ashley "Ash" Lyvedon.
Though the march is initially arranged without either party meeting each other, it all works out for the best as they fall in love within moments of meeting each other.The engagement period is set for a suitable amount of time, the end of the summer so that Clarabelle can experience a London season. However the ongoing war disrupts these plans, when Ash's regiment is ordered to the peninsular, and the couple marries in haste before his departure.
It will be 4 year before they see each other again, and by then Ash is a completely different man to the one Clara fell in love with. But can she make him confide in her so she can help him or will his defensiveness and cold demeanour drive the two of them apart?

Captain Lord Ashley "Ash" Rodrick Lyvedon

He is the 3rd son of the Marquess of Rawdenstall and captain of the 14th Light Dragoons.
Ash has never thought much about getting married, he enjoys being in the army and being his own man. But when his parents suggest a match between him and the daughter of a family friend he does not object. He knows he must marry some time and as he does not really have the inclination or disposition to go traipsing around balls and parties for a wife he is more than happy for his parents to make this choice for him.
Of course when he meets his future wife he thanks God for his luck, for she is really his soul mate and true love ,and it would have been a disaster if his parents had made the wrong choice.Somewhat unconventionally their courtship does not start until after they are engaged, but as they have been given a nice long engagement period to settle in and get to know each other this is perfect for them.
This all changes though when Ash regiment is ordered to the peninsular and he must leave Clara at home. he is torn between his first love Clara and his second love the army, but Clara knows how long he has waited for this opportunity and gives him her blessing to go.In the Peninsular he sees things to terrible to mention, both in an out of battle. He distinguishes himself by saving a fellow campaign and is promoted (was lieutenant, now captain), but more and more he longs home to Clara and away form the atrocities of the war.
At he battle of Salamanca he is injured, and when recovered enough is sent home to England. This should have been the solution to his problems except he cannot reconcile the gruesomeness and horrors he has experiences with the beauty and purity he sees in Clara. He shuts himself away from her, for he now thinks he is not worthy of her and he thinks he will damaged her as he is damaged himself.To shut out the pain and horrors he starts drinking heavily and isolates himself completely.
Will he realise that Clara can be his saviour before they are totally estranged or will he fade away from everything he once loved and cared for?