I've always been into fantasy growing up, and along with my sister we read an awful lot of Dragon Lance, and Forgotten Realms, and others like it. To be honest, it was my sister that got me into it, and at that point I read an awful lot, much more than I do now.
A friend of mine recently asked me about some of the old books that we used to read, one called "Kendermore" within the Dragon Lance Series. I remember it being a great story, and it was stories like that, which inspired me, and made me want to be able to write by myself. I must admit, I should probably read those stories again and remind myself of exactly what happened. Maybe it'll inspire me again to improve upon my own writing as I continue to get better.
I guess those books based around a Character called "Tasselhoff Burrfoot" if I remember that correctly, were the most inspiring, and for years after wards I spent my time writing short stories and trying to make my own characters. I made my character "Raslin Icewind" years ago, my first real character that I used in several stories, in which he always triumphed over his enemies. Yet, I always wanted more, and as I got a bit older I made him more realistic, with his own issues and beliefs, strengths and weaknesses and more. He's changed a lot over the years, probably waiting for me to get better with my writing.
He began as an elf, but quickly became human when I realized I didn't want him to appear as perfect as the general description of an Elf goes, it was at this point I gave him a stronger personality, and removed him from his perfect background, into something that felt real, something that had its problems that made him the way he was. Only thing is, I continued to change that about him, until one day I met a friend on a writing website, who included her own character, and our characters became close friends and went on adventures together. It was at this moment, Raslin finally became the character I wanted him to be, and my friend helped me find him. He's not changed since, for about five years now, and his story, will eventually be my Prequel to Fully Aware and how he comes to meet Ayithe.
So, this is where Ayithe appears, I had found Raslin, but I wanted to experiment, and while I'd previously written with other characters, they were always male, and besides Raslin, always pretty perfect. So Ayithe was someone I wanted to change with, and she unfortunately suffered because of that, she goes through some terrible things, she gets beaten, embarrassed by friends, looked down on by those around her, and in the original short story of Fully Aware she was raped.
I shared my original short story a lot, and I was impressed with the response, apparently it was good! So once I had improved with my writing again, I went back to Fully Aware, with Ayithe and decided there was so much more to her, and really she was probably the strongest character I've ever written about, because she had to over come so much. The short story of Fully Aware is nothing like what I've done now, its improved, much bigger and better and maybe a little more forgiving during that same scene which I used for the short story, for Ayithe has so much to get through in the long run.
Fully Aware, brings Raslin and Ayithe together for the first time, in a more real story. A world I felt they were destined to be in, and be part of a big adventure, that wasn't about just killing the big baddie, but about how they cope/survive in a world that isn't easy to live in. Fully Aware, is about Ayithe's story, her life and how it changes drastically when she leaves home. Most importantly, Fully Aware is also my first story, and has helped me learn as I write it, and the challenges that I've learned the characters must sometimes go through to become who they are.
Not only that, but the world that they live in, creating the world was, and is, a massive task, one which I have enjoyed greatly. I'm still creating Carnus, its a big place, and isn't touched upon much by Fully Aware, which is based in a break off part of the world Toltheria. The old map I made is still sat in one of my earlier posts. But, as I've planned more stories, Carnus will come into play with the next in the series. I do hopefully soon, plan on showing a more detailed view of the world this story is based in, I'll try for my next post.
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