Writing Project: Manumission
May. 5th, 2005 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsWarning: if you plan on reading any of my stories, there are spoilers here.
Manumission. I have this annoying feeling that Manumission may well be unsaleable, but I've enjoyed writing it so far. Target audience: The kind of people who enjoyed Gunslinger Girls.
The plot: It is 315 in an alternative universe (the same one, curiously, as Toby and Kasserine. Rome lives, but it is a Rome that is falling apart because magic is fading. It still works, but it has become harder and harder for Roman sorecerors to make it work.
Gaius Parellus Timaneus Prospero is a comfortably wealthy man. He owns a farm three days' travel from Rome but his real miracles are industrial: Pross is the world's first master of industrial espionage. He has stolen from the Chingu the secret of paper and from the Carthaginians the secrets of glass. Because he is wealthy, Pross keeps what many Roman patricians kept: a harem.
Timneaus is a ship's captain, and Drak a merchant, who work for Pross. Together, they trade Pross's manufactured goods while secretly collecting the industrial secrets that Pross can turn into money.
Marcellus is a young mage working for the Roman Army in Germania. He is backed by Pross's as a patron and mentor, but he has never been outside the shelter of Rome, and this is his first look at the brutality of war.
Together, these three threads will involve Pross in a threat to the Empire, and the ultimate decision that will make Pross a real threat to Rome. Thanks to Roman sorcery, there has never been a Spartacus, there has never been a rebellion. Slaves in this Rome simply don't want to rebel. As the magic wanes and it becomes harder and harder to make slaves docile, Pross comes to realize that the whole practice itself is morally monstrous... and when Marcellus brings him the power, he decides to do something about it.
Desired successful outcome: To establish my reputation as a reliable storyteller outside of the internet. And to make money, of course. To win a new contract.
Next actions that will move towards the desired outcome:
Manumission. I have this annoying feeling that Manumission may well be unsaleable, but I've enjoyed writing it so far. Target audience: The kind of people who enjoyed Gunslinger Girls.
The plot: It is 315 in an alternative universe (the same one, curiously, as Toby and Kasserine. Rome lives, but it is a Rome that is falling apart because magic is fading. It still works, but it has become harder and harder for Roman sorecerors to make it work.
Gaius Parellus Timaneus Prospero is a comfortably wealthy man. He owns a farm three days' travel from Rome but his real miracles are industrial: Pross is the world's first master of industrial espionage. He has stolen from the Chingu the secret of paper and from the Carthaginians the secrets of glass. Because he is wealthy, Pross keeps what many Roman patricians kept: a harem.
Timneaus is a ship's captain, and Drak a merchant, who work for Pross. Together, they trade Pross's manufactured goods while secretly collecting the industrial secrets that Pross can turn into money.
Marcellus is a young mage working for the Roman Army in Germania. He is backed by Pross's as a patron and mentor, but he has never been outside the shelter of Rome, and this is his first look at the brutality of war.
Together, these three threads will involve Pross in a threat to the Empire, and the ultimate decision that will make Pross a real threat to Rome. Thanks to Roman sorcery, there has never been a Spartacus, there has never been a rebellion. Slaves in this Rome simply don't want to rebel. As the magic wanes and it becomes harder and harder to make slaves docile, Pross comes to realize that the whole practice itself is morally monstrous... and when Marcellus brings him the power, he decides to do something about it.
Desired successful outcome: To establish my reputation as a reliable storyteller outside of the internet. And to make money, of course. To win a new contract.
Next actions that will move towards the desired outcome:
- Create a plotwall.
- Create character profiles of Pross's harem
- Create character profiles for Marcellus' general and those around him, as well as the Germanic tribesmen with whom Marcellus will interact.
- Make plot cards for the first five chapters
- Re-read The Germanic Wars
