I’m bravely putting plot ideas down, taking into consideration the world I’ve built and the characters I’ve created, carefully weighing the ideas so they gel together to create verisimilitude, and trying to stay true to what I’d like to read most in a high fantasy novel.

I think I’m gonna let this topic simmer a bit while I continue sorting out my files.
Let’s pretend you have been collaborating on this story with me and I just presented you with these ideas.
What would you honestly say to these ideas if you knew your name would be side-by-side with mine on the book cover?
The doors are wide-open here for opinions.
If you don’t say anything NOW, forever hold your peace :)

Some of my favorite narratives use cycles. Immediately what comes to mind is the Wheel of Time, where each Age is a full turn of the wheel and Rand is struggling to put a stop to the recurrance of the Dark One.

Final Fantasy VIII had a cycle (spoiler),

where the powers of the witch are forever passed on to the matron.

Final Fantasy X had a cycle, where Sin kept coming back, reborn after each Calm. The characters had to go through a lot to try and break that cycle.

I think cycle-breaking is a good goal to struggle for, because the heroes aren’t just stopping a threat that’s been around for a little while. They are fighting against something that has caused immeasurable suffering for countless generations. There’s more at stake; they are avenging all past generations, rescuing the current generation, and saving the future generations all at once.

;)

This really struck me. I’ve always been intrigued by villains or antagonists that can easily fulfill roles as the protagonist in the story, complete with true motivations, which, in some cases, they believe is the “right” or “just” thing to do (because truth and justice are man-made ideals and are subject to relative interpretation, right?) for their misdeeds.