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Making history Fun

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Tk101 View Drop Down
Knight
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  Quote Tk101 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Making history Fun
    Posted: 27-Aug-2007 at 15:56
hello i'm writing ( mostly in my spare time) a long, long story. about a fictional "history" that takes place on a distant planet.. the Main storyline is told from a (rather dull, IMO) sequence of events that occured to these "people" as the progress in the evolution of there civilization. I'm curious as to how i could tell it in an interesting way. I'm trying to avoid long and tiresome plots and repeatitions... so far i have done close to 200 pages in my first draft and in my second on. i have changed the format from a boring recap of a story that spans 500,000 years to  sometime that I THINK will make it interesting.  The new format is to add sub-stories to the original story sequence. These  substories offer a different perspective to the events of the story. Sometimes i detail how and why different things happen with these sub-stories. I would really like to show everyone what i have now., but i dont want to  spoil it... ( then agian it could turn out really bad)
my initial goal is to have  a 5,000 page story divided into 6 books with each book close to 800 or more pages. thats just a distant goal and not too important...I have just decided to worry about the first book (obviously)  i would really much life some ideas in which i can playwith or just comments... and please no negative ones...
thank you
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  Quote Dolphin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Aug-2007 at 04:30
I dont really understand what you need help with..
 
You need to give more plot details to allow us to help you, just give outlines so you dont give anything much away..
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  Quote Tk101 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Aug-2007 at 16:42
hmm i'm not too sure but i will try...
 
ok..basically its a story about a race of people and their history as time progresses through the many epochs (6)... the story itself begins on thier continent of origin, where they are just a stone age tribe ( collection of tribes).  the story tells of them diversifying and colonization of other continents. I mention current ( or at least plausiable) ideas of their development, such as the creation of fishing industries, agriculture, animal husbandry, hand tools etc.  I aslo mention hardships they faced during the ages.  as for the format  it goes something like this....
 
  - General storyline ( represents 1 or more paragraphs)
          -substory ( a detailed look of specific event from a different
                          perspective.)
                -other ( details reasoning behind certian events, genetic 
                            changes etc.)
  -  General storyline
 
 
 
i hope this makes things a little more clear. I would really like to get this story off the ground. i have also created maps, migration patterns, genetic haplogroup charts ( in progression),skeletal drawings, list of major civlization in the 1st & 2nd epoch, the events of history told via the view of major civlizations, technology and progression tracks etc...
 
 
agian i hope i didn't make it more confusing
and i would appreciate any comments...in case anyone is still lost..i will post the second draft ( just the intro so one can actually see what i am doing)
 
thank you once agian


Edited by Tk101 - 29-Aug-2007 at 16:46
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  Quote Dolphin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-Aug-2007 at 07:05
That's a huge story, tk101. My advice is to take each individual sub-plot and write them like a story in themselves. Ignore the main plot for the time being. When the sub-plots are in some way developed, even just as an outline of the ideas of the plot, then concentrate on the main story, using the information you have already acquired to link the plots together and create a realistic cultural context.
 
As a word of advice, the span of your book is probably too big to become a 'novel' as such, it looks more like a chronological historic epic, that concentrates on events rather than individuals. So maybe a focus to decide upon could be a specific family or group within each epoch, surrounded by the general descriptions and history that you will add for context, but also adding a focus and a personal interest to the perspective reader...
 
Just a few ideas, doesn't mean they are the right ones..Smile
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  Quote Tk101 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Sep-2007 at 15:06
actually that sounds pretty good Dolphin.  i thnk i will incorperate what you said... it makes much more since that way you put it. I though to fo something similiar to that but i was afriad that the readers would get so far into the subplots and forget the general plot. I was alos afriad that the subplots would take way from the main plot too much. but they way you put it, makes it seem as if i can make the two  work together...
thanks ...thanks a lot  :Thumbs%20Up)
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  Quote Aster Thrax Eupator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Sep-2007 at 05:06
...Good idea! Sounds like a fictional Titus Livy...
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  Quote Tk101 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Sep-2007 at 16:42
 this project is also helping me to learn new things such as details of ceramics, early human hand tools, formation and diversification of government systems,...etc
 
lol..i dont think mine would even approach Titus's standards....142 books..thats insane..
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Sep-2007 at 16:48
Well, just an advice. If you haven't yet, read Asimov's Foundation first.
The good doctor got inspired after reading Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire... LOL
 
It may help...
 
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  Quote Tk101 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Sep-2007 at 22:20
I have looked over looked over the recommendations and they intrigue me... I have never heard of them beforer but i think i will buy/obtian the fundation series.
as in regard to my own story i think i should have enough written down in the new format....
 here is  an exerpt.. please tell me how bad or good it is....
Also not the Main plot-substoryline:
 
Keep in mind that this just a draft, anything is subject to change ...
 
 

"Not much change occurred until 145,000 y. a. when Theism developed. Certian tribes defined the planet's forces as Gods and these "Gods" would require appeasment. While others gave birth to monotheism/a supreme diety, inwhich that Diety ruled over all and created all things. there was no real trend seen in the tribes choice of religion across the face of the planet. Some stuck with animism others went with poly or monotheism. Of course living amongst all these were people that disbelievers and agnostic. They would be subjugated for centuries. During this same period, we see the evolution of society itself. Tribal units became Chiefdoms and secural chiefdoms forming large villages and  villages clusters. The first developed is seen in the Bay of Bawagn area on the river delta of Vorash. We later see this cccur in north central Xia and northeastern coast of Xia. Over the course of centuries the spread of these "villiage-states" signaled the beinging of organized societies and basis for complexed cultures.

The exploreres of Kull'toa.

(to be continued)

The Isolated ones
 
210,000ya

"NOOO", Sheba screaming at the top of her lungs. Eyes wide open, clinching her staff with tears falling.... the narrow passage between their home in Northern Xia and Northeastern Sumeria iced over during an avalanche. As Baka comes running he is astonsihed as well. Rerality reared its ugly,grotesque head. with its  hard boils, bumps and wreaked physique, it installed fear in them.They knew they may never return home. Baka runs into the piles of rock and ice that towered thousands of feet above them. " Damn it", Baka screams. Sheba thinks to herself this must be a dream. As she reminance, in a flurry of out rage her hunting partner behaves like a wild animal, beating his hands on the wall of ice, snow and rocks. In their hunting party their was a hierharchy of command. Sheba was second in command; inwhich her job is to bring up the rear when traveling. Baka was a subordiante and was still learning the trade. Baka was left behind becuase of his one incompantince droping his hunting implements and his kills. . So beucase of this both of them were left behind. AS Baka calmed down, he hears rustling in the crumbed bushes slightly covered by snow. Baka stalks the bush with his spear in one hand and his other hand obtianing Sheba's attention. His hand slides across her smooth, but weathered right cheek. SHe instantly drops into kill mode armed with here knife they both lurk and aproach the bush. Eyes staring...glaring feircly with rage, anger and curiousity. Thier grips tighten...sweat and body heat radiate. Tensions escalate. Just before they where ready to strike they discovered it was Clun, another hunter party member. His eyes were blood shot red, arms strained and compacting the pillow soft snow. The other two helped him up to his feet with a loud omniscient yelp. Clun's leg was broken, crushed by the stones that fell. He relapses into his former imprint. His abnormal collapse forced his leg to contort worse. He, lying there like a tattered rag doll, becomes histerical. sheba instantly drops her backsack to retrieve medicines to help Clun, "GO...GO GET THE HERB OF THE ROCK", sheba yells at Baka. Baka, inshock, stands and glares at Clun with his eyes opened wide. He was bearly able to comply. After rustling around in her backsack she turned toward Baka. "GOOOO" sheba screams with a look that can kill. With this reinforcement, Baka takes out like a bat out of hell, tripping over rocks and stumbing towards the alpine treeline a few meters away. Clun clining to Sheba's leg in fear of death, he pants heavily. You see, Clun suffred from some sort of head trama in his early childhood. SO he can't feel pain. " you will be fine" she states with a meek demeanor. She correctly align his leg and places it between two wooden boards of the Polak tree. Baka comes with the Herb of the Rock plants, his feet dive into the snow, shifiting it, creating odd shapes. She simply applies the mushed herbs with some plant she had in her backsack and placed it on the wound followed by a clothe and finally a strip of hid WIth it.

In Clun's mild histeria, He stumbles to his feet leaning on the frozen rockface, scratches his other wounds. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING....STOP IT...NOW?" Sheba shouts. While the hunters confront eachother Baka glares toward the point on the horizon, where the Picturisque Alpine timberline meet the omnisce sky. "Storms are comming" he muttereed mildy, gawking at the quicksilver-like vail of darkness. " And with this the other two immediately haulted their bickering to take notice. The omnisce cloak advanced in a great quickness,spreading its devastation. Sheba's years of training took hold of your, forcing her to comply. "Lets go", she said. The others, like defunct drones, followed her. Both, sheeba and baka helped Clun to his feet.

Walking sumberly amongs the coniferious forest, a blanket of muffled silence came with no warning. Seremity befelled the travels on their journey. " We need to find sheltor..quickly that storm looks very dangerous.      ( to be continued)

 

 The Zelnok cultural groups developed boats for fishing in lakes and wide riversin the Plateau of W'on in North Xia. Eventually adapting their designs to use as offshore (ocean) vessels. Some reached as far away as Sever island in the Punt ocean. Form 130,000 ya to 129,090 the climate fluxated lapsing between cold-dry and hot-wet trends, where along these warming trends ended the ice age."

Agian please provide any  constructive comments...
thnak you


Edited by Tk101 - 25-Sep-2007 at 22:40
there is only one truth
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Sep-2007 at 14:20
It sounds similar in idea (if not in scope) as Edward Rutherfurd's books - London, Sarum, Russka, etc.  You might want to check out his stuff to see how he deals with the issues of combining historical narrative and fictional story.  Likewise, I think James Michener's work might help in this area as well.
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