Dreamworld Intro Post
One sentence Summary: A girl raised by a unicorn tries to find out why her crush has gained wings and ends up discovering both a new world and disturbing hints about her past and her own mind.
Elevator Pitch: Sophia Lincoln is moderately happy living with her adoptive father Kieran Einhorn-Chang in the suburbs of a magical-realist Los Angeles. When her best friend’s brother cripples himself by gaining wings, she starts investigating. She quickly finds herself embroiled in an age-old battle across the world of dreams and imagination, caught between the forces of personified Truth and Falsehood. With the help of a family of oracles and a sidekick or ten, she uncovers her past (she was kidnapped by her adoptive father and some very important information is stored in her head), starts doubting her own motivations (Truth may not be the good guy) and tries to muddle through the twin obstacle courses of dream battles and high school life.
Characters:
Sophia Lincoln: “Ordinary high school girl.” Obviously, since she’s the main character, she’s less ordinary than she seems. Actually, her dad’s a unicorn (he looks human unless you get him in certain lights), and she’s absorbed a few strange ideas (work is enjoyable, CHASTITY, purity of heart etc.) from her years living with him (since the age of five). He also told her a secret about his master, Truth, that she is incapable of forgetting, but doesn’t realize she knows. Unfortunately, her dad’s fear of being discovered led him to semi-brainwash her into acting as normal as possible. Her virtuous upbringing and her need to be normal are constantly pulling her in different directions, making her an awkward outsider at school and guilty about her own interests. She loves her father, though this gets complicated as the story goes on.
Kieran Einhorn-Chang: A unicorn captain, charged with leaving dreamspace and entering the physical world to hide an intolerable piece of information inside a human mind. He finds a young girl, Daisy, and kidnaps her (he thinks he’s taking her away from an abusive family). He loves his adoptive daughter, who he renames Sophia, and tries to protect her and raise her to his ideals. This is complicated by his need to keep them both hidden from Truth’s greatest enemy, False. He does his best to help her act like a normal girl, but isn’t very good at this.
Jeffrey: Sophia’s pet nom (an import from Soorim’s world). They meet in dreamworld, he follows her out into the physical realm and does his best to eat her friends and family, make her more nom-shaped and generally ruin her life in every possible way. He eventually gains the ability to turn into a human, a tank, a plane and more. He’s often a plot device, and his greatest desire is for more ham or for unicorn meat.
Vivian: Sophia’s first real friend. She’s fiercely protective of the people she cares about, and is almost always cheerful and bubbly. She goes a bit crazy when her brother is crippled, and goes a bit too far trying to help him and avenge him against their stepsister Morgan. There may be a redemption-equals-death sacrifice in her future, but I hope not.
Kay: Vivian’s older brother, a tall, gawky nerd Sophia starts out with a bit of a crush on. His and Vivian’s stepsister Morgan convinces him he is fated to have wings and he gets really excited. He does find a ritual that gives him wings, but it hollows out his bones in the process, crippling him. He’d like to get back to normal, please.
The Troth family
A matrilineal family of oracles, favored by the personified Truth. Every generation, 3 girls have the ability to see into the future. This is an extremely dangerous ability, and comes with downsides, including at least a year or two of complete insanity. Around puberty, the entire future opens up, and the girls get mentally lost in time for a while. They slowly learn to pull themselves back to the present, and live the rest of their lives in fear of losing themselves again. The entire family has lived off of the information from the oracles for centuries, if not millennia. They have three branches, one for each girl. Lots of interfamily politics and abuse/guilt ensues.
Morgan: The oldest of the current oracles of the Troth family, she is also stepsister to Kay and Vivian. She sees a vision of Kay with wings, and tells him so because she knows he likes fantasy. Otherwise, she’s rich, hot and charismatic, and she knows it. Her wardrobe contains a surplus of thigh high leather boots, very short skirts and cool hats. She has henchmen, too much snark and a history of destructive behavior. She’s actually a genderflipped version of the tall, dark and handsome love interests scattered throughout ya paranormal romance, so she’ll get together with Sophia at some point. Expect major detours and accidents en-route (I have to be careful with this dynamic, since I hate the direction most authors take this kind of relationship. I want it to have somewhat creepy overtones, but don’t want it to actually get abusive). She’s post-insanity, and you can tell.
Tristan: Was never supposed to be an oracle (he’s got the wrong lower bits)-that was supposed to be one of his sisters, Juliet or Elizabeth. He’s very confused, and would rather be playing football. He gets pulled into the adventure rather unwillingly, and has his own later. Pre-insanity, and terribly nervous about it.
Cynthia: From the East coast branch of the family, upper class New York private school type. She’s sent to the rest of her cousins for her period of insanity, and spends most of the plot staring vacantly into space. She has a couple bodyguards following her around to keep her from walking into oncoming traffic and to record every word that comes out of her mouth (the family’s wealth and power depends on her rambles).
Dream world characters:
Truth: Personification of all truths of the world. Thinks of himself as the good guy. He talks in a deep sonorous voice, prone to either talking in riddles or revealing uncomfortable truths at awkward moments.
Aurelia: Truth’s main captain. A unicorn. Loyal, upright to a fault.
Various unicorns, elves, and other creatures that people associate with goodness and truth. Because truth is associated with goodness, all creatures that value these concepts cluster around him, whether or not they’re actual species in the real world or not.
False: Personification of everything that isn’t true. If you listen to his enemies, he’s the Lord of Lies. However, he’s also the personification of all creativity, all stories and imagination. Also talks in riddles, is usually lying. He constantly shifts between forms, and it’s difficult to look at him without feeling sick to your stomach. Is considered the villain, and often thinks of himself that way.
Marime: False’s main lackey-she was created out of False’s desire to be loved (you can make anything out of dream-stuff, even people if you’re powerful enough). She adores him obsessively and somewhat horribly. Sadistic and terrifying to anyone other than False and his allies.
Trog: False’s second lackey, a deformed “good” creature. He joined False because False appreciates oddness and corruption, whereas Truth’s camp has no space for imperfection. He’s very loyal to False, based on choice and logic rather than obsession, so he’s the first hint that the lines of good and evil aren’t as clear as everyone thought.
Various fairies, demons, monsters etc. -most of everyone not in Truth’s camp. False has the advantage in numbers, but has lots of infighting, so they’re usually about even on the field.
The dragons and several other groups are split between Truth/False and often just do their own thing.
Plot (Very quick form): Morgan tells Kay about the wings, Kay cripples himself, and Vivian gets Sophia involved, hoping to fix her brother. Sophia starts investigating, finds out about dreamworld, starts wandering around looking for information, and attracts False’s attention. He can tell she knows something and chases her through both dreamworld and the real world. She and her allies eventually start fighting back, but in the process she realizes her entire life has been manufactured for Truth’s secret. This results in lots of big confrontations wherein Sophia realizes her secret and hopefully helps bring some balance to dreamworld.
Her secret: Truth and False and brothers/two sides to the same coin. This is intolerable to Truth, and it has therefore been hidden in a human mind for centuries.
Setting:
Los Angeles: Looks mostly like the real thing, with some elements of magical realism (a couple of oracles, a magical bubble tea shop, etc. Nothing flashy, just hints)
Dreamworld: Created by people’s thoughts, contains lots of empty space that shows up to most people as gray fog. This is basically “blank space,” and can be manipulated most easily. The areas that have been more extensively contemplated gain permanence or at least stability. They often exist in islands based on various bastardized mythologies. It’s easiest to get into dreamworld while asleep, because then the boundaries of what is possible are stretched, and you expect to do impossible things. Once inside, you navigate by imagination. Anything you dream up can be created, but you need both creativity and willpower. Sophia has lots of the second but very little of the first, so she has a hard time making her way around at first. She is almost killed by wandering orcs or chimeras or monsters-under-the-bed during this period, until she learns how to dream up weapons and getaway cars.
What do I still need to work on?
Ironing out details of dreamworld and the magical realism, finalizing the plot structure, and just sitting down and writing it J
Dreamworld (I really need to work on my titles)
There’s a lot of new stuff floating around, and so I got inspired to try summarizing my oldest cohesive story, which is also the first story I’ve ever held on to for more than a couple of months. I had to put it away for a while after I saw Inception, because it had too many similarities with this story (battles inside people’s minds, creating within a dream, etc) and was too cool not to affect my writing. I think it’s been enough time now, and I’d like to get back to it.
Can I have a tag?
Elevator Pitch: Sophia Lincoln is moderately happy living with her adoptive father Kieran Einhorn-Chang in the suburbs of a magical-realist Los Angeles. When her best friend’s brother cripples himself by gaining wings, she starts investigating. She quickly finds herself embroiled in an age-old battle across the world of dreams and imagination, caught between the forces of personified Truth and Falsehood. With the help of a family of oracles and a sidekick or ten, she uncovers her past (she was kidnapped by her adoptive father and some very important information is stored in her head), starts doubting her own motivations (Truth may not be the good guy) and tries to muddle through the twin obstacle courses of dream battles and high school life.
Characters:
Sophia Lincoln: “Ordinary high school girl.” Obviously, since she’s the main character, she’s less ordinary than she seems. Actually, her dad’s a unicorn (he looks human unless you get him in certain lights), and she’s absorbed a few strange ideas (work is enjoyable, CHASTITY, purity of heart etc.) from her years living with him (since the age of five). He also told her a secret about his master, Truth, that she is incapable of forgetting, but doesn’t realize she knows. Unfortunately, her dad’s fear of being discovered led him to semi-brainwash her into acting as normal as possible. Her virtuous upbringing and her need to be normal are constantly pulling her in different directions, making her an awkward outsider at school and guilty about her own interests. She loves her father, though this gets complicated as the story goes on.
Kieran Einhorn-Chang: A unicorn captain, charged with leaving dreamspace and entering the physical world to hide an intolerable piece of information inside a human mind. He finds a young girl, Daisy, and kidnaps her (he thinks he’s taking her away from an abusive family). He loves his adoptive daughter, who he renames Sophia, and tries to protect her and raise her to his ideals. This is complicated by his need to keep them both hidden from Truth’s greatest enemy, False. He does his best to help her act like a normal girl, but isn’t very good at this.
Jeffrey: Sophia’s pet nom (an import from Soorim’s world). They meet in dreamworld, he follows her out into the physical realm and does his best to eat her friends and family, make her more nom-shaped and generally ruin her life in every possible way. He eventually gains the ability to turn into a human, a tank, a plane and more. He’s often a plot device, and his greatest desire is for more ham or for unicorn meat.
Vivian: Sophia’s first real friend. She’s fiercely protective of the people she cares about, and is almost always cheerful and bubbly. She goes a bit crazy when her brother is crippled, and goes a bit too far trying to help him and avenge him against their stepsister Morgan. There may be a redemption-equals-death sacrifice in her future, but I hope not.
Kay: Vivian’s older brother, a tall, gawky nerd Sophia starts out with a bit of a crush on. His and Vivian’s stepsister Morgan convinces him he is fated to have wings and he gets really excited. He does find a ritual that gives him wings, but it hollows out his bones in the process, crippling him. He’d like to get back to normal, please.
The Troth family
A matrilineal family of oracles, favored by the personified Truth. Every generation, 3 girls have the ability to see into the future. This is an extremely dangerous ability, and comes with downsides, including at least a year or two of complete insanity. Around puberty, the entire future opens up, and the girls get mentally lost in time for a while. They slowly learn to pull themselves back to the present, and live the rest of their lives in fear of losing themselves again. The entire family has lived off of the information from the oracles for centuries, if not millennia. They have three branches, one for each girl. Lots of interfamily politics and abuse/guilt ensues.
Morgan: The oldest of the current oracles of the Troth family, she is also stepsister to Kay and Vivian. She sees a vision of Kay with wings, and tells him so because she knows he likes fantasy. Otherwise, she’s rich, hot and charismatic, and she knows it. Her wardrobe contains a surplus of thigh high leather boots, very short skirts and cool hats. She has henchmen, too much snark and a history of destructive behavior. She’s actually a genderflipped version of the tall, dark and handsome love interests scattered throughout ya paranormal romance, so she’ll get together with Sophia at some point. Expect major detours and accidents en-route (I have to be careful with this dynamic, since I hate the direction most authors take this kind of relationship. I want it to have somewhat creepy overtones, but don’t want it to actually get abusive). She’s post-insanity, and you can tell.
Tristan: Was never supposed to be an oracle (he’s got the wrong lower bits)-that was supposed to be one of his sisters, Juliet or Elizabeth. He’s very confused, and would rather be playing football. He gets pulled into the adventure rather unwillingly, and has his own later. Pre-insanity, and terribly nervous about it.
Cynthia: From the East coast branch of the family, upper class New York private school type. She’s sent to the rest of her cousins for her period of insanity, and spends most of the plot staring vacantly into space. She has a couple bodyguards following her around to keep her from walking into oncoming traffic and to record every word that comes out of her mouth (the family’s wealth and power depends on her rambles).
Dream world characters:
Truth: Personification of all truths of the world. Thinks of himself as the good guy. He talks in a deep sonorous voice, prone to either talking in riddles or revealing uncomfortable truths at awkward moments.
Aurelia: Truth’s main captain. A unicorn. Loyal, upright to a fault.
Various unicorns, elves, and other creatures that people associate with goodness and truth. Because truth is associated with goodness, all creatures that value these concepts cluster around him, whether or not they’re actual species in the real world or not.
False: Personification of everything that isn’t true. If you listen to his enemies, he’s the Lord of Lies. However, he’s also the personification of all creativity, all stories and imagination. Also talks in riddles, is usually lying. He constantly shifts between forms, and it’s difficult to look at him without feeling sick to your stomach. Is considered the villain, and often thinks of himself that way.
Marime: False’s main lackey-she was created out of False’s desire to be loved (you can make anything out of dream-stuff, even people if you’re powerful enough). She adores him obsessively and somewhat horribly. Sadistic and terrifying to anyone other than False and his allies.
Trog: False’s second lackey, a deformed “good” creature. He joined False because False appreciates oddness and corruption, whereas Truth’s camp has no space for imperfection. He’s very loyal to False, based on choice and logic rather than obsession, so he’s the first hint that the lines of good and evil aren’t as clear as everyone thought.
Various fairies, demons, monsters etc. -most of everyone not in Truth’s camp. False has the advantage in numbers, but has lots of infighting, so they’re usually about even on the field.
The dragons and several other groups are split between Truth/False and often just do their own thing.
Plot (Very quick form): Morgan tells Kay about the wings, Kay cripples himself, and Vivian gets Sophia involved, hoping to fix her brother. Sophia starts investigating, finds out about dreamworld, starts wandering around looking for information, and attracts False’s attention. He can tell she knows something and chases her through both dreamworld and the real world. She and her allies eventually start fighting back, but in the process she realizes her entire life has been manufactured for Truth’s secret. This results in lots of big confrontations wherein Sophia realizes her secret and hopefully helps bring some balance to dreamworld.
Her secret: Truth and False and brothers/two sides to the same coin. This is intolerable to Truth, and it has therefore been hidden in a human mind for centuries.
Setting:
Los Angeles: Looks mostly like the real thing, with some elements of magical realism (a couple of oracles, a magical bubble tea shop, etc. Nothing flashy, just hints)
Dreamworld: Created by people’s thoughts, contains lots of empty space that shows up to most people as gray fog. This is basically “blank space,” and can be manipulated most easily. The areas that have been more extensively contemplated gain permanence or at least stability. They often exist in islands based on various bastardized mythologies. It’s easiest to get into dreamworld while asleep, because then the boundaries of what is possible are stretched, and you expect to do impossible things. Once inside, you navigate by imagination. Anything you dream up can be created, but you need both creativity and willpower. Sophia has lots of the second but very little of the first, so she has a hard time making her way around at first. She is almost killed by wandering orcs or chimeras or monsters-under-the-bed during this period, until she learns how to dream up weapons and getaway cars.
What do I still need to work on?
Ironing out details of dreamworld and the magical realism, finalizing the plot structure, and just sitting down and writing it J
Dreamworld (I really need to work on my titles)
There’s a lot of new stuff floating around, and so I got inspired to try summarizing my oldest cohesive story, which is also the first story I’ve ever held on to for more than a couple of months. I had to put it away for a while after I saw Inception, because it had too many similarities with this story (battles inside people’s minds, creating within a dream, etc) and was too cool not to affect my writing. I think it’s been enough time now, and I’d like to get back to it.
Can I have a tag?