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#Post#: 626--------------------------------------------------
How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Lumaria Date: May 29, 2016, 3:20 pm
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Every time I read an in-story legend or prophecy or historical
event or any form of background information that is needed to
understand how the world of one's story works, they usually have
some very distinct flaws that never get worked on. So I decided
to make a list of some do's and don'ts to help figure it out.
Choosing a tone:
When creating a legend, tone is very important. Most people make
the mistake of not trying to find a single tone. There are three
possible ways a legend (for a first chapter) can be told.
The first is the perspective of one of the main character or
supporting character, gives emphasis on what s/he believes is
the best part, uses some hear-say verbiage and may not know the
entire story behind it.
The second is told by a narrator. The Narrator can be an
undefined character designed only to explain The protecy/legend
or a specific character established in the story. There are
common tropes of Narration.
The first narrative style is the historian format. Often
depicting the background information using specific dates,
specific names and the name of the era. Also explains the
current relationship between nations or countries (if relevant)
in a more technical format.
The second narrative style is the oracle, this version is what
most people want to attempt. Emotion is added in rather than
being technical. They use colorful words and describe the events
in a more poetic tone.
Keep it Linear:
I don't know why people make some legends/prophecies non linear
but it's difficult to follow and understand. Legends should be
easy to understand and somewhat simple when used as an
introduction. Don't mix up events. From beginning to end. Don't
start in the middle or the end.
Make sure it has meaning:
This is mostly related to prophecies but it could apply to
legends as well. Usually the prophecy is foretelling an event in
the future but it has to be connected to the events in the
legend/past.
Think of them like ghost stories. When you hear a ghost story,
you don't just add a random event alongside the scary part.
People will be confused. People want to know the reason why
ghosts are haunting a specific location.
In the same way, you can't just make everything feel random or
just for the sake of having a bad guy or a good guy.
Keep it simple:
For an introduction, keep it simple. You can expand on it as the
story goes on. But this seems to be a serious problem that goes
alongsise from the first issue of not explaining events
properly.
every time I see people reveal specific details that don't hold
any important until later on and the introduction ends up
becoming too long and too much to process. So again, best to
keep it simple and whatever specific aspect you want to cover in
detail can in a more relevant time.
#Post#: 631--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Orchid Date: May 30, 2016, 10:40 pm
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I sometimes read original stories where they are just too weird
and I don't understand it at all. I remember reading an original
story about a futuristic world where aliens, androids and humans
coexisted. Does that count as a legend/prophecy?????
Probably not but I think it's somewhat connected.
#Post#: 635--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: guest4 Date: May 31, 2016, 11:30 am
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[quote author=Orchid link=topic=81.msg631#msg631
date=1464666054]
I sometimes read original stories where they are just too weird
and I don't understand it at all. I remember reading an original
story about a futuristic world where aliens, androids and humans
coexisted. Does that count as a legend/prophecy?????
Probably not but I think it's somewhat connected.
[/quote]
That is set in the future , so unless there's a statement in the
summary and/or in-story that implies anything to do with the
past , it does not count as a legend/prophecy .
#Post#: 655--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Lumaria Date: June 8, 2016, 12:07 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Im usually talking about an event that happens before the story
begins to help it. But if the background information isnt using
a proper theme or even trying to be definitive, then there are
problems.
#Post#: 659--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Crackhead Johny Date: June 10, 2016, 3:08 pm
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For legends and prophesies you take one of the basic story lines
and run with it. It will be basic and mostly lack detail and
description that you would have with something that is happening
or something that happened and hasn't had time for story tellers
to have their way with it yet.
With legends you take it over the top. How over the top depends
on whether you want the legendary character to show up or the
legend to come true again.
With prophesies you make it vague. The best prophesies can "come
true" many times.
#Post#: 660--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Crackhead Johny Date: June 10, 2016, 3:26 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=81.msg626#msg626
date=1464553244]
Every time I read an in-story legend or prophecy as an
introduction, they usually have some very distinct flaws. So I
decided to make a list of some do's and don'ts to help figure it
out.
Choosing a tone:
When creating a legend, tone is very important. Most people make
the mistake of not trying to find a single tone. There are three
possible ways a legend (for a first chapter) can be told. The
first is the perspective of one of the main character or
supporting character, gives emphasis on what s/he believes is
the best part, uses some hear-say verbiage and may not know the
entire story behind it. The second is told by narrative. But the
narrator also can tell it different ways too. The rest is the
historian format (gives specific dates, gives specific names and
the name of the era). The second is more of an oracle, this
version is what most people want to attempt. They use colorful
words and describe the events in a more poetic tone. This is
probably the biggest flaw I see in almost every story that's in
WIP.
Keep it Linear:
I don't know why people make some legends/prophecies non linear
but it's difficult to follow and understand. Legends should be
easy to understand and somewhat simple when used as an
introduction. Don't mix up events. From beginning to end.
Make sure it has meaning:
This is mostly related to prophecies but it could apply to
legends as well. Usually the prophecy is foretelling an event in
the future but it has to be connected to the events in the
legend/past. Think of them like ghost stories. When you hear a
ghost story, you don't just add a random event alongside the
scary part. People will be confused.
Keep it simple:
For an introduction, keep it simple. You can expand on it as the
story goes on. But every time I see people reveal specific
details, the introduction ends up becoming too long. So again,
best to keep it simple and whatever specific aspect you want to
cover in detail can in a more relevant time.
[/quote]
What you are trying to say is not clear at all, so it feels like
an idea popped into your head and didn't get vetted before it
got written.
"The rest is the historian format (gives specific dates, gives
specific names and the name of the era)"
This fails at legend as hard as you can fail at legend. If you
have specific dates you have a history lesson or news report.
Legends happen at a time when a story could not be recorded and
thus got passed on as a story by word of mouth. This is how you
get "long long ago" and "Long before our father's fathers did
X.." story teller after story teller takes the story and
embellishes it as they pass it on.
" There are three possible ways a legend (for a first chapter)
can be told. The first is the perspective of one of the main
character or supporting character"
Absolutely not. That is a story not a legend.
A legend is told as a past event whose details have been
inflated by getting passed from story teller to story teller. A
direct account is just a story even if that is how some legends
start. Think of Jack the Giant Killer in this regard, this
covers how a story becomes legend.
The difference between legends and fairy tales is that legends
are claimed to be true. A good legend is a fairy tale.
#Post#: 662--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Lumaria Date: June 10, 2016, 5:41 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Crackhead Johny link=topic=81.msg660#msg660
date=1465590392]
What you are trying to say is not clear at all, so it feels like
an idea popped into your head and didn't get vetted before it
got written.
"The rest is the historian format (gives specific dates, gives
specific names and the name of the era)"
This fails at legend as hard as you can fail at legend. If you
have specific dates you have a history lesson or news report.
Legends happen at a time when a story could not be recorded and
thus got passed on as a story by word of mouth. This is how you
get "long long ago" and "Long before our father's fathers did
X.." story teller after story teller takes the story and
embellishes it as they pass it on.
" There are three possible ways a legend (for a first chapter)
can be told. The first is the perspective of one of the main
character or supporting character"
Absolutely not. That is a story not a legend.
A legend is told as a past event whose details have been
inflated by getting passed from story teller to story teller. A
direct account is just a story even if that is how some legends
start. Think of Jack the Giant Killer in this regard, this
covers how a story becomes legend.
The difference between legends and fairy tales is that legends
are claimed to be true. A good legend is a fairy tale.
[/quote]you're concerned too much about semantics. Although,
truthfully in Manga it's a very very fine line.
The goal is to know what tone you want because the tone will
help you decide if you want it as a legend and/or prophecy or a
historical event. Especially when it's used as the
prologue/backstory for a Manga or even western comics.
#Post#: 677--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Orchid Date: June 17, 2016, 4:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I tried digital and gave up instantly. Too much hand eye
coordination for me
#Post#: 2170--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Lumaria Date: December 6, 2017, 8:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I expanded slightly on it. But not much. I may expand more soon.
#Post#: 2182--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to create a good legend/prophecy
By: Crackhead Johny Date: January 1, 2018, 6:28 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=81.msg662#msg662
date=1465598498]
[quote author=Crackhead Johny link=topic=81.msg660#msg660
date=1465590392]
What you are trying to say is not clear at all, so it feels like
an idea popped into your head and didn't get vetted before it
got written.
"The rest is the historian format (gives specific dates, gives
specific names and the name of the era)"
This fails at legend as hard as you can fail at legend. If you
have specific dates you have a history lesson or news report.
Legends happen at a time when a story could not be recorded and
thus got passed on as a story by word of mouth. This is how you
get "long long ago" and "Long before our father's fathers did
X.." story teller after story teller takes the story and
embellishes it as they pass it on.
" There are three possible ways a legend (for a first chapter)
can be told. The first is the perspective of one of the main
character or supporting character"
Absolutely not. That is a story not a legend.
A legend is told as a past event whose details have been
inflated by getting passed from story teller to story teller. A
direct account is just a story even if that is how some legends
start. Think of Jack the Giant Killer in this regard, this
covers how a story becomes legend.
The difference between legends and fairy tales is that legends
are claimed to be true. A good legend is a fairy tale.
[/quote]you're concerned too much about semantics. Although,
truthfully in Manga it's a very very fine line.
The goal is to know what tone you want because the tone will
help you decide if you want it as a legend and/or prophecy or a
historical event. Especially when it's used as the
prologue/backstory for a Manga or even western comics.
[/quote]
Oh Jesus no!!
All you want is a good story with solid bone structure.
Could be a book, manga, anime, movie, etc
What you create is just supposed to be good. There are no
excuses for plagiarism.
You want to go homage? Rough territory. Good luck if you make it
work.
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