Month: October 2008

Flower magic

Alright, here is a really cool idea for a magic system that I came up with while hanging out with friends.  I have no idea exactly how it came up, I just know that it did.

What if you had a magic system that was based entirely on flowers?  I just don’t mean recycled My Little Pony or Carebears or something cheesy like that–I mean a thoroughly researched, methodical magic system based on different colors, varieties, etc of flowers.

I don’t know how exactly it would work, but I think that there would be special women with enhanced powers based on their names.  For example, a woman named “Rose” would have an enhanced ability to use the magic associated with roses.  Or perhaps the women would only have the ability to use the magic associated with the flower of their name.

The specific powers of each variety of flower would correlate with their symbolic meanings.  One would drain magic from the flower itself, so that once the magic was spent, the flower would wilt. Thus, the “flower mages” would have to keep different kinds of flowers in great abundance to be able to use their abilities.  Since flowers wilt quickly after they’re cut, people would only be able to use their powers in certain seasons, when the flowers are in bloom.  Also, it would be hard to use massive amounts of this magic when traveling, unless the particular flower is abundant in the wild.

At the same time, perhaps it would make it interesting to say that each person has the ability to rejuvenate a particular variety of flower as well.  Thus, one could drain certain varieties of flowers, but through meditation or some other ability could cause other varieties to flourish and thrive.  Thus, natural alliances would form between people of different abilities, based on the growing seasons of different flowers.

To be really cool, you’d have to really do your research for this.  I mean, you’d have to know all the different varieties of flowers, their colors, growing systems, scents, etc, and their symbolic meanings. But if the research was solid, this could be REALLY cool.

Esh Raykom?  What do you think?

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Making it up on the weekend

Yesterday, as I was writing a small paper (~500 words) for PLSC 201, I realized that I would be FINISHED with classes this week today at three o’clock and I wouldn’t really have to worry about homework.  What a delicious breath of freedom!

So today, after I slept through the four hour-and-a-half classes that I have today (no joke–I sat next to Gretchen Belnap in history and she doodled on my notebook!), I thought to myself “you know, I could take all this extra time on the weekend and use it to catch up on my writing.”

I was really stoked until I remembered that General Conference is this weekend.  Not that I wasn’t looking forward to Conference–I really enjoy it–it’s just that it’s going to eat up a lot of time, hanging out with friends and family between sessions and all.

But regardless of that, tomorrow is almost totally open!  I’ve just got work from ten to three (which, even though it sounds like a lot, really isn’t), a writing meeting at five, and I’ll probably drop in on a mission reunion sometime in the evening just for a little bit. And even though conference is all weekend, I’ll probably have time in the morning and/or between sessions.

So I’m going to take that time to sit down and do some serious writing, especially in Hero in Exile.  Does 3,000 words sound like too much to shoot for?  I just want to sit down and immerse myself in that story.  Phoenix too–maybe I can get through ten or fifteen pages.

Everything else is going really well for me.  My classload is really light, which is great because it’s leaving me time for other stuff, like a social life.  Work is awesome–I have so much fun going over people’s papers!  Even though I sometimes feel like I’m BSing too much, I find it both relaxing and productive at the same time (if that makes sense).  Plus, all my coworkers are way cool.  My supervisor is way chill and thinks that I’m really amazing for writing novels.  It’s just a lot of fun.  Plus, I calculated that with my sixteen hour week, I can expect to earn $280 every pay period.  SWEET!

Finally, here’s something interesting I was looking at today.  It’s a really cool steampunk webcomic called Girl Genius.  I heard about it when Brandon Sanderson and his buddies did a podcast with the creators of this comic, and got hooked on it shortly thereafter.  It’s got a really complex storyline that I honestly don’t understand yet (I’m slowly making my way through the archives), but each strip is hilarious in itself, and the characters and setting are so interesting that it’s not hard to get swept up by it all.  I mean, airships…need I say more?  If you like steampunk and/or good quality webcomics, this is definitely worth checking out.

And now, I’m going to finish this post because I should be writing in my stories, not on my blog.