From: A_Tina_Hall@kruemel.org   
      
   Shawn Wilson wrote:   
   > On Tuesday, August 26, 2014 6:33:00 AM UTC-7, A. Tina Hall wrote:   
      
   Sorry about the odd threading, I only found this on google groups so did   
   a copy&paste into my software to reply.   
      
   >> There are 10 different tribes that each have different magic. (Plus the   
   >> bad guys.) It's not called Seasons&Elements for no reason, there are   
   >> Night people, Earth people, Autumn, Fire, Summer, Water, Spring, Air,   
   >> Winter, and Magic people.   
   >   
   > Ideas   
   >   
   > 1- people who don't fit the stereotype, or who fit the wrong   
   > stereotype   
      
   /me scratches head.   
      
   There aren't really any stereotypes.   
      
   Even the Magic Lord who rebels against the structures in the Magic tribe   
   (mainly by wearing way off clothing) is still a Magic Lord. Through   
   suggestions of other characters he (and his brother) end up living in   
   the Autumn tribe, where they are happy. That's how things go with the   
   odd one (on average one per tribe per hundred years or so); they find a   
   place they like better, with help if needed.   
      
   > 2- nature(who you really are) versus demeanor (who you seem to   
   > others).  Even if nature is externally fixed, if your demeanor doesn't   
   > match how will others react to you?   
      
   [more head scratching]   
      
   I don't really know what you mean.   
      
   And with the exception of the Autumn tribe, people are exactly who they   
   appear. (And Autumn people like the game.) There's no stepping out of   
   place, because people are in the place they want to be. If they can't   
   find that on their own, floundering, others will help. And no one would   
   perceive anyone else stepping out of place.   
      
   They aren't humans.   
      
   >> Some of the tribes and how they differ is introduced in the first book,   
   >> while they hunt for the bad guys and then free those that had been   
   >> abducted.   
   >   
   > 3 Are good and bad as obvious as they initially seem?  Contesting   
   > ideas of good may look evil to one another.  And evil may call itself   
   > good, or even seem so.   
      
   Well, the natives are all good guys. There's some clearing up of odd   
   rumours about distant tribes, getting to understand why they live in a   
   way that looks alien or even bad to other tribes, mostly in the first   
   book when they all get together to fight the bad guys.   
      
   (The bad guys were caused by something dropping onto their planet ages   
   ago being met by the consequences of something that happens now and   
   then. The real cause is really that not-from-this planet thing. Anything   
   native can't be truly bad, only undesirable or unfortunate.)   
      
   > This is close to my heart because as an economist   
      
   Oh, you're that guy.   
      
   > I often promote good that others in their ignorance deem 'evil', while   
   > promoting ideas themselves that they think are good, but are evil from   
   > where I sit.   
      
   Well, I don't know what that has to do with being or not being an   
   economist. There's a lot I consider wrong that other people think   
   normal. I don't want those things in stories, that's why I write my own   
   with characters who behave the way I want and don't do what I think   
   wrong.   
      
   >> Another problem caused by magic turns up and is solved. Another minor   
   >> problem might be heading for a solution. They are all gathering for a   
   >> festival in a new area where people from different tribes live mixed   
   >> (which isn't a good idea, but necessary right then).   
   >>   
   >> Now what?   
   >   
   > 4 Previous solution is now the problem...   
      
   Well, actually the solution was repeating 'a problem' they had   
   earlier...   
      
   >> The tribe's areas are protected, I can't have someone being dumb and   
   >> wandering outside the protected areas (not even the air-headed Spring   
   >> tribe).   
   >   
   > 5 Why not?   
      
   Because _I_ can't have someone being that dumb. I'm not going to write   
   something that I think is stupid and should have been prevented by the   
   more sensible characters.   
      
   > People often don't listen or believe.  'Why should I heed YOUR   
   > rules... blah blah blah'   
      
   That's humans. The Spring tribe is just air-headed, and had to be shaken   
   pretty badly to even get them to acknowledge bad things were happening.   
   And while they had to be watched to not wander out of the initial camp   
   (heading home), they have no reason to leave their territory.   
      
   >> 15 more years have to be covered for the kids to turn into adults and do   
   >> what the characters planned will fix everything. Their solution makes   
   >> sense to me. But how to get there?   
   >   
   > 6 Ah, but the kids won't go along with the plan...   
      
   They're not humans.   
      
   >> Maybe I just need a viewpoint to start writing with (it's multiple tight   
   >> third), but I don't even know who to pick for that.   
   >   
   > 7 Teen rebelling against older generation and their plans.  Can they even   
   > comprehend the explanation of whys and wherefores?   
      
   They're not humans.   
      
   And of course they'll understand what's at stake when they're grown up.   
      
   But them growing up with the threat outside the (rather large) protected   
   areas, I now wonder how that will affect them, and a lot of these kids   
   might like to explore when they're older. (Normally, few people want to   
   see other places.) A trip (with protected camps) might be interesting.   
      
   > In general I have two recommendations-   
   >   
   > A) role playing games (other than dnd), they often have interesting takes.   
   > I got the nature v demeanor stoff from an old edition of Vampire, the   
   > Masquerade.   
      
   No one to play P&P RPG with.   
      
   > B) the podcast Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff, by Ken Hite and Robin D Laws,   
   > both high order game designers.  They often talk about this sort of thing, as   
   > storytelling is their lives.   
      
   Hm, am not much for watching people talk about stuff, if it's just   
   talking I prefer reading it.   
      
   Thanks for your reply though. Anything that might spark some inspiration   
   is good, even if the suggestions themselves do not fit the people.   
      
   Hah! Nicky suggested focussing on the kids, here I got the idea of a   
   trip. There _is_ a trip planned to have a Night child visit her Summer   
   mother (who couldn't stay with them - the environment the child has to   
   live in made the mother sick).   
      
   Btw, that's the magic creating problems at work there. From when and how   
   a Summer Breeder had to pick a mate from a different tribe, and chose   
   one that would give her Night children at that (her reasoning for why   
   that's a good idea caused by the bad guys), to how that combination is   
   undesirable because of the different needs.   
      
   And the solution won't leave the child feeling abandoned. (Never mind   
   that there's still her father, there's also other Breeders looking after   
   the child along with their own.) That's decent people and good solutions   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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