I have finished the cover
art for my erotic gamelit harem fantasy adventure, “The Road to
Aquibonya.” It was initially conceived as a fantasy about a
slavegirl who could give any owner who fucked her immortal youth by
returning him to age 26. (That's roughly the point at which your
brain stops developing, generally considered the attainment of full
physical maturity. Mental maturity is a different matter –
demonstrably, many never attain it.)
I eventually decided it
would be more interesting and fun to have an entire race of
slavegirls who could bestow this benefit on their owners. A single
slavegirl who can do this is just a MacGuffun. A whole race of
slavegirls who can do this are a commodity! I play with this idea a
bit and also introduce a potential penalty clause for owning such
girls into the story. You can read it to find out what it is. Let's
just say it keeps our male protagonist busy.
The male protagonist is
another bit of characterization where I play off a favorite
character. In this case, it's the typical Roger Zelazny protagonist –
very capable, very powerful, sometimes an actual god, but male but
also very human and very much a worldly-wise smartass. He was a
refreshing change from the usual windbags you got in fantasy stories
back in the day.
The real challenge with
writing a Zelazny style protagonist is capturing the combination of
power and smartassitude without creating a Marty Stu. I'm not saying
Zelazny's protagonists are Marty Stus, Zelazny had a way of making
them relatable without nerfing them, but for us mere mortal writers,
it's difficult. I gave it a shot, with some surprises about the
character as the story develops.
I guess you'll have to
read it to discover those surprises. I plan to have it out early this
week, mid-week at the latest. Meanwhile, it's full charge on
finishing “Conquest of Incel World” and marketing “The Visitor
from Incel World.”
No comments:
Post a Comment