About my NaNoWriMo project:

For years and years I’ve been a fan of Sword & Sorcery type fantasies. However, with the exception of G. R. R. Martin and Tolkien I harbor this belief that they’re easy to write. I’ve never tried, until now.

My NaNoWriMo project will be “high fantasy.”

I'm writing my novel based on a strange opening phrase that came to me in a dream while I was stationed in the Middle East in the Navy.

On the night that Ossifer's mother coupled with the dragon,
she carefully swallowed a whole raven's egg.
And two-score weeks later when she delivered him,
he came out clutching the bird.

The character Ossifer didn’t have a name when that dream first hit me. Instead, because I kept thinking of this wandering, raggedy man with a Solomon-Kane style Puritan hat, a walking stick and a talking bird on his shoulder as somehow “amusing” I decided to construct his name with a meaning. I chose the name Ossifer as a nominal form of “Ossify” – meaning, in my intent, “bone.” Then I selected the last name “Bean” as synonymous with “head.” So Ossifer Bean literally meant “Bone-Head.” However, I later decided that I didn’t want the character to be stupid, so I’ve changed his basic nature to being stubborn in the sense of “tenacious” but hopefully not stubborn to stupidity.

Yet that clearly doesn’t make any kind of story. That’s just a character.

So I’ve added the following other characters to my tale:

Caul – a bird
Fox – a thief
Keg – a fighter
Jade – a half-orc monk

But when I went to fill out my NaNoWriMo form, I knew I wanted Ossifer to be the main character. I figured he ought to be fighting somebody – or falling in love with somebody. And I figured putting this antagonist’s name in the title (or title in the title) might help me focus my thinking better.

But would anybody actually publish a story called, “Ossifer Bean and the Very Naughty Sorceress”?

Maybe. But I don’t intend for the tone to be as light as all that.

What you may observe I have not included here is any kind of plot. That is because I don’t have one put together yet. At this point (October 12, 2006) I’m working on Character outlines, a map of the territory – and then I’ll be working on politics in the region. I've got rules for the world, and some simple ideas for the main story - but a lot of work to be ready by November 1st!