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writers_loft2009-06-29 05:49 pm
swansneck.livejournal.com) wrote in writers_loft2009-06-29 05:49 pm
CoGaK series seeking creative assistant!
*x-posted everywhere - sorry*
Hi everyone. My name is June and I have been working on a new, unique, revisionist fantasy/speculative historical fiction novel series for a few months now. I am seeking a qualified reader and lover of fantasy literature to help me develop the series—a creative assistant or companion of sorts.
Concepts
This series has the working title of Crowns of Gods and Kings, or CoGaK for short. It’s a revisionist fantasy series in several senses:
1. A sense of historical “realism” which permeates the entire world-concept. The history, events, technology, environment, and plot events of CoGaK are all scaled to actual human history and experience. There is a lack of any kind of magic or supernatural power or presence, with the exception of that which exists in the minds of various religious and superstitious characters.
2. A radically new cultural setting that is both completely original and completely believable. Rather than sticking to typical (boring!) fantasy-novel conventions in which the entire cultural, historical, technological, and aesthetic ‘feel’ of Medieval Europe is simply steoreotypically replicated, I have created two entirely unique feudal-medieval cultures with their own geographies, histories, economies, languages, social/cultural heritages, aesthetics, and values.
3. A strong focus on historical realism. The series will try to focus its plot around the actual processes by which the bloody stories that shape human history are enacted, that is, primarily socio-economic struggle (the balance of social power, ecological issues, land ownership, production and consumption, supply and demand, trade-related conflict, wars of territory, class conflict, etc.) and cultural struggle (colonialism, religious strife, etc.)—as opposed to dark lords, chosen ones, arcane evils, and the like.
4. An attempt to subvert the typically masculine, macho, heteronormative world of high fantasy through a focus on the experiences of queer and female characters.
No dragons, no magic, no wizards… Lots of focus on transitional economies, population demographics, and colonialism… Sounds boring doesn’t it? I assure you that CoGaK will be anything but boring! A sweeping epic, filled with demonically intricate scheming, heartrending romance, wars of the vastest scale, duels to the death, murders, suicides, backstabbing, double-crossing, triple-crossing, sex, queer sex, exile, secret truths, devious lies, and torrential bloodbaths of fire and sword—oh yeah, they’ll all be there, and lots more.
World and Plot
The series opens in the six hundred and thirtieth year since the founding of the Elcan Imperium, a crumbling feudal society that extends its dominion over a small, mountainous continent about the size of the American West Coast. Society is rigidly grouped into four distinct classes: the uldren nobility, the feudal warrior-elite and rulers of the land; the tolsen yeomanry, who serve the nobility as artisans, scholars, and bureaucrats; the vast masses of sculgen commoners, most of whom toil as peasants, but some of whom have risen to great wealth and influence as merchants; and lowest of all, the despised gurgen outcasts—lepers, thralls, gongfermors, tanners, and beggars.
After many long centuries of peace and stability, the Imperium is sagging under its own weight. The uldren nobility were once the unquestionable masters of the land, a fearsome élite of knights and warrior-lords, bound by honor and fealty; now, they have grown complacent and corrupt, with only lavish tourneys, splendid hunts, and petty wars to remind them of their ancestral heritage of violence. Merchants, once counted among the lowest and most despised of the commoners, have risen to great prominence and power through their control of the grain distribution system; many uldren families have beggared themselves by amassing magnificent, crippling debts to the merchant guilds that serve them. The common peasantry grows ever hungrier—and more restless—in these times of famine and want, and violent uprisings have exploded across the realm. Meanwhile, the Imperator’s colonies in the distant Eastlands across the sea crackle with unrest, as the swords of Elcan knights futilely attempt to maintain control over the Eastern savages they but recently conquered. Amidst this increasingly volatile climate of tension and social conflict, powerful lords and disenfranchised commoners alike plot, scheme and struggle for their own interests, bracing against whatever fate lies ahead…
Wow that was really corny, I apologize—I guess I’ve been reading at the back covers of too many bad paperbacks :) Email me and I will send you a much more complete and much less cheesey summary of the world of CoGaK and the issues facing it. It’s interesting, I promise…
Here are some sample materials to keep you interested:
Map showing available pounds of grain (eren) per capita per week in the private fiefs of the Elcan Imperium, Sixth Month, 630 SR
Genealogy of the Imperial House Andraveth
Who I'm Looking For
I am looking for someone who, first of all, is highly creative, imaginative, intelligent, and a good communicator. I am a very very creative person with a strong imagination, and I need someone who can match me and challenge me with my work.
In short, I am looking for someone who can help me develop my vision for CoGaK. I have so many ideas, so much built up and written down—I need creative direction, fresh perspectives, inventive ideas, and constructive criticism. Tell me what works and what doesn’t, what’s awesome and what’s derivative, what’s enthralling and what’s pointless. Let me know where you think the plot could go, how much more intricate and engaging you think we can make the story, how much life and complexity we can bequeath the characters.
It’s important that you’re able to get really enthusiastic about this project, because that’s how I work, and that’s how I read and experience fantasy. If you don’t think you’d be able to really fall in love with the characters, the story, and the world we develop, don’t bother contacting me… Reading and writing fantasy is such a passionate, personal experience for me, it’s all about immersion and involvement. I hope that you would be able to share that sense of immersion with me; otherwise, what’s the point of reading and writing this stuff? That’s fantasy, that’s the real magic of it…
I think it goes without saying that it’s important you know and enjoy fantasy. Please have read (and enjoyed) George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, as it’s my number one biggest inspiration for this series. The vast, intricately-developed historical scale of Lord of the Rings and the non-Occidental, geographically/culturally ingenious setting of Earthsea are also big influences, so it’d be great if you’ve read them (who hasn’t, though?). I would appreciate some degree of knowledge about medieval history and feudal societies (European as well as East Asian), but keep in mind I’m not looking for a historical advisor—I’m looking for a creative advisor.
Think you want to get involved? Contact me!
About Me
I’m a young queer woman of color, but don’t let that scare you off! I’m also a big nerd, a former history student, and a lifelong devotee of high fantasy. I went to college, so don’t worry… I know how to write, or at least I think I do! I’ve been writing fiction and nonfiction all my life, and inventing intricate fictional worlds since childhood. CoGaK has been an ongoing project of mine for the last sixth months, and I’m ready to take it to the next level. That’s where you come in!
Get in Touch
Shoot me an email—for this project, you can contact cogak.series[at]gmail[dot]com. Tell me about yourself. You can say anything—a couple of lines or a twenty-page essay, I don’t care. However, I would particularly enjoy hearing about:
What you’re like, what you’re into, what you do with your time, and how you think about things.
What your personality is like, and how you work creatively with others.
Your favorite books, fantasy and otherwise.
What you love about reading fantasy, and stories in general.
What bothers you about fantasy these days, and where you hope the genre can go in the future.
Why you bothered reading this long ad and responding to it.
Any questions you have for me about the project, or about working with me.
Thanks for reading all of this, I really do appreciate it. Can’t wait to hear from you!
- June
Hi everyone. My name is June and I have been working on a new, unique, revisionist fantasy/speculative historical fiction novel series for a few months now. I am seeking a qualified reader and lover of fantasy literature to help me develop the series—a creative assistant or companion of sorts.
Concepts
This series has the working title of Crowns of Gods and Kings, or CoGaK for short. It’s a revisionist fantasy series in several senses:
1. A sense of historical “realism” which permeates the entire world-concept. The history, events, technology, environment, and plot events of CoGaK are all scaled to actual human history and experience. There is a lack of any kind of magic or supernatural power or presence, with the exception of that which exists in the minds of various religious and superstitious characters.
2. A radically new cultural setting that is both completely original and completely believable. Rather than sticking to typical (boring!) fantasy-novel conventions in which the entire cultural, historical, technological, and aesthetic ‘feel’ of Medieval Europe is simply steoreotypically replicated, I have created two entirely unique feudal-medieval cultures with their own geographies, histories, economies, languages, social/cultural heritages, aesthetics, and values.
3. A strong focus on historical realism. The series will try to focus its plot around the actual processes by which the bloody stories that shape human history are enacted, that is, primarily socio-economic struggle (the balance of social power, ecological issues, land ownership, production and consumption, supply and demand, trade-related conflict, wars of territory, class conflict, etc.) and cultural struggle (colonialism, religious strife, etc.)—as opposed to dark lords, chosen ones, arcane evils, and the like.
4. An attempt to subvert the typically masculine, macho, heteronormative world of high fantasy through a focus on the experiences of queer and female characters.
No dragons, no magic, no wizards… Lots of focus on transitional economies, population demographics, and colonialism… Sounds boring doesn’t it? I assure you that CoGaK will be anything but boring! A sweeping epic, filled with demonically intricate scheming, heartrending romance, wars of the vastest scale, duels to the death, murders, suicides, backstabbing, double-crossing, triple-crossing, sex, queer sex, exile, secret truths, devious lies, and torrential bloodbaths of fire and sword—oh yeah, they’ll all be there, and lots more.
World and Plot
The series opens in the six hundred and thirtieth year since the founding of the Elcan Imperium, a crumbling feudal society that extends its dominion over a small, mountainous continent about the size of the American West Coast. Society is rigidly grouped into four distinct classes: the uldren nobility, the feudal warrior-elite and rulers of the land; the tolsen yeomanry, who serve the nobility as artisans, scholars, and bureaucrats; the vast masses of sculgen commoners, most of whom toil as peasants, but some of whom have risen to great wealth and influence as merchants; and lowest of all, the despised gurgen outcasts—lepers, thralls, gongfermors, tanners, and beggars.
After many long centuries of peace and stability, the Imperium is sagging under its own weight. The uldren nobility were once the unquestionable masters of the land, a fearsome élite of knights and warrior-lords, bound by honor and fealty; now, they have grown complacent and corrupt, with only lavish tourneys, splendid hunts, and petty wars to remind them of their ancestral heritage of violence. Merchants, once counted among the lowest and most despised of the commoners, have risen to great prominence and power through their control of the grain distribution system; many uldren families have beggared themselves by amassing magnificent, crippling debts to the merchant guilds that serve them. The common peasantry grows ever hungrier—and more restless—in these times of famine and want, and violent uprisings have exploded across the realm. Meanwhile, the Imperator’s colonies in the distant Eastlands across the sea crackle with unrest, as the swords of Elcan knights futilely attempt to maintain control over the Eastern savages they but recently conquered. Amidst this increasingly volatile climate of tension and social conflict, powerful lords and disenfranchised commoners alike plot, scheme and struggle for their own interests, bracing against whatever fate lies ahead…
Wow that was really corny, I apologize—I guess I’ve been reading at the back covers of too many bad paperbacks :) Email me and I will send you a much more complete and much less cheesey summary of the world of CoGaK and the issues facing it. It’s interesting, I promise…
Here are some sample materials to keep you interested:
Map showing available pounds of grain (eren) per capita per week in the private fiefs of the Elcan Imperium, Sixth Month, 630 SR
Genealogy of the Imperial House Andraveth
Who I'm Looking For
I am looking for someone who, first of all, is highly creative, imaginative, intelligent, and a good communicator. I am a very very creative person with a strong imagination, and I need someone who can match me and challenge me with my work.
In short, I am looking for someone who can help me develop my vision for CoGaK. I have so many ideas, so much built up and written down—I need creative direction, fresh perspectives, inventive ideas, and constructive criticism. Tell me what works and what doesn’t, what’s awesome and what’s derivative, what’s enthralling and what’s pointless. Let me know where you think the plot could go, how much more intricate and engaging you think we can make the story, how much life and complexity we can bequeath the characters.
It’s important that you’re able to get really enthusiastic about this project, because that’s how I work, and that’s how I read and experience fantasy. If you don’t think you’d be able to really fall in love with the characters, the story, and the world we develop, don’t bother contacting me… Reading and writing fantasy is such a passionate, personal experience for me, it’s all about immersion and involvement. I hope that you would be able to share that sense of immersion with me; otherwise, what’s the point of reading and writing this stuff? That’s fantasy, that’s the real magic of it…
I think it goes without saying that it’s important you know and enjoy fantasy. Please have read (and enjoyed) George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, as it’s my number one biggest inspiration for this series. The vast, intricately-developed historical scale of Lord of the Rings and the non-Occidental, geographically/culturally ingenious setting of Earthsea are also big influences, so it’d be great if you’ve read them (who hasn’t, though?). I would appreciate some degree of knowledge about medieval history and feudal societies (European as well as East Asian), but keep in mind I’m not looking for a historical advisor—I’m looking for a creative advisor.
Think you want to get involved? Contact me!
About Me
I’m a young queer woman of color, but don’t let that scare you off! I’m also a big nerd, a former history student, and a lifelong devotee of high fantasy. I went to college, so don’t worry… I know how to write, or at least I think I do! I’ve been writing fiction and nonfiction all my life, and inventing intricate fictional worlds since childhood. CoGaK has been an ongoing project of mine for the last sixth months, and I’m ready to take it to the next level. That’s where you come in!
Get in Touch
Shoot me an email—for this project, you can contact cogak.series[at]gmail[dot]com. Tell me about yourself. You can say anything—a couple of lines or a twenty-page essay, I don’t care. However, I would particularly enjoy hearing about:
What you’re like, what you’re into, what you do with your time, and how you think about things.
What your personality is like, and how you work creatively with others.
Your favorite books, fantasy and otherwise.
What you love about reading fantasy, and stories in general.
What bothers you about fantasy these days, and where you hope the genre can go in the future.
Why you bothered reading this long ad and responding to it.
Any questions you have for me about the project, or about working with me.
Thanks for reading all of this, I really do appreciate it. Can’t wait to hear from you!
- June