I need your input! We decided that the promise Moxie made to her "benefactor" (character TBD) in order to secure his help in reviving Cy was to remove Cy's essence of fey. But the original discussion cited Moxie's promise as being to continue replacing parts of Cy with steam tech parts in order to remove Cy's essence of fey. These are very different promises with very different effects on our story. Please let me know your preference so I know where you want our story to go!
Option 1 (epic fantasy): Moxie promised to do something that would remove Cy's essence of fey and make him fully human. Cy's living parts needing to be replaced with mechanical parts is an unexpected side effect of either saving his life or Moxie's attempts to make him human. Effects: 1) Our story stays mostly out of the realm of horror. 2) Moxie is a protagonist who made a bad choice; Moxie and Cy's love story is a subplot. 3) Moxie's benefactor isn't necessarily vicious or evil. 4) The main villainous part comes from the people who tried to murder Cy in the first place.
Option 2 (kind-of-dark fantasy): Moxie promised to continue replacing Cy's living flesh with mechanical parts, but doesn't know that this will also result in removing his essence of fey. Effects: 1) Our story veers toward dark fantasy; the tone of our story darkens. 2) Moxie is somewhat of a villain, but is morally ambiguous enough that she could still assume a positive role later on; Cy and Moxie's story is one of love gone wrong. 3) Moxie's benefactor is an insidious, trickster villain.
Option 3 (dark fantasy): Moxie promised to replace Cy's living flesh with mechanical parts, knowing that this will also remove his essence of fey. Effects: 1) Our story becomes dark fantasy/horror (slash steampunk); the overall tone of our story is dark, punctuated by shining bits of brightness. 2) Moxie is irredeemably a villain. Her "love" for Cy is obsessive, not real. 3) I don't know where else this will take us, but it could be fun.
Option 2 would be my vote. I feel that there should be a chance at redemption for Moxie and Cy, whether Moxie chooses to take that road or not is really not up to me. Most people like a happier ending rather than see evil win out overall. Just my two cents worth.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking option 1, but I don't think her decision to remove his essence was a bad choice as much as her hand being forced. Which I think will give moxie and even some of the other characters interesting internal struggles to deal with along the way
ReplyDeleteI spoke with Anthony (aka azoth de firenze) to get his opinion because he doesn't have internet access at the moment. He's for option 2. He likes the idea of Moxie not knowing that the purpose of replacing Cy's flesh with mechanical parts is to remove his essence of fey. He wants that to be a mystery that will be revealed later in the novel.
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