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"Seen not heard"

In every tale about heroes and adventure, there are always normal characters overshadowed by the magnificence of the protagonist. The most notable yet unnoticeable constant in epics is the humble guard.

They only talk to give the hero trouble, drink and talk inside taverns, and guard their posts.

Bundy is a washed up guard who wanted to be an adventurer. Reality hit him hard, now his back hurts doing mundane guard things. He'll probably have a seizure if he even thinks about going on an epic journey.

His peers are lazy, his wife teases him everyday, and he lies to his son about slaying monsters every time he gets home.

Follow the short story of a normal guard as he comes into terms with the fact that he is not the hero of this story. He hears whispers of action and scheming from people passing by his posts, yet he cannot realistically do anything because he has no magic weapon or secret powers. Just tons of anxiety from his midlife crisis.

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Characters:

Bundy: A tired and salty guard whose dreams as young man has been disillusioned by life. He now goes to work everyday just to put food on the table.

Ameli: A playful and witty housewife who loves to tease her husband to death. She does not hesitate to use for feminine wiles—which lured her husband in the first place—to get her way with him.

Dunby: A young boy who sees his father as a hero. He always eagerly awaits whenever his Dada comes home so he can hear about what he fought that day.

Kyth: A new recruit at the garrison. Kyth is full of motivation and vigor. He practices his swordsmanship everyday so he'll never get caught with his pants down, much to his fellow guards' amusement.


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Hello! I'll be joining Nano with this small project with a few irl friends who were nice enough to help me. More art is on it's way so I'll probably update this thread often.

I think this would fall into the category of Slice of Life and Comedy with a little bit of fantasy elements. It's gonna be really light and chill, but I hope it can keep the reader's attention until the end with it's themes which mirrors a lot of real life situations.

I'm keeping this kinetic novel short and fairly simple using around 20-25k words probably. I hope you it interests some people out there!


Questions:

1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?

2) How do you feel about the art style?

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?

Thanks for reading!

1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?: The selling point doesn't have to be grandiose as long as it works, and for me, it does. (Last year, I probably would've said no, but I've come to enjoy KNs a lot more than I used to.)

2) How do you feel about the art style?: It's really nice, dude. Like wow. So detailed and expressive. ^_^

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?: It'd be interesting if Dunby was ambushed by someone (either a "hero" or a "villain") at some point and had to deal with that aftermath. Not too badly, but seeing him have to deal with getting beat up for the third time this year seems like it could be an interesting part of the story.

Thanks! I'm a bit worried that it's not catchy enough for people to give it a try but I hope they'll give it a shot (it won't be long anyway).

Appreciate it. I'm going with my artist's strengths which is more textured art with finer details, something you'd probably see in graphic novels.

Yup, there will be parts like that so I hope you give it a shot when it's done .

Also, shit I mixed up my own characters (lack of sleep earlier but shameful on my part). Bundy is the main character and Dunby is his son (one of those doting father traits that loves to name their kids after them for kicks -.-), confuses me for now since they're still on text alone lol, my bad.

Is the protagonist's name meant to draw comparisons to a sitcom character?

ohlookatmeimspecial wrote:2) How do you feel about the art style?

It's a detailed 2D drawing - I like it. Doesn't remind me of any specific comic... what illustrated works influenced you, or your artist?

ohlookatmeimspecial wrote:3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?

It sounds like your story is a comedy about adult responsibilities, and not being able to achieve dreams. That could be interesting. You can use your story to show the protagonist's world -- people, society, technology, and what the protagonist thinks about it. A few possible ideas to consider...

* Was Ameli ever an adventurer? If not, does she have any goals or ambitions?
* What does Dunby want to achieve? What do his parents want him to accomplish?
* If there are adventurers in this story, then who are they? Do they seem exemplary? Are they cowards or braggarts? Do they have any other flaws?
* Will the characters grow during the story, or accomplish something?

gekiganwing wrote:Is the protagonist's name meant to draw comparisons to a sitcom character?


It's a detailed 2D drawing - I like it. Doesn't remind me of any specific comic... what illustrated works influenced you, or your artist?


It sounds like your story is a comedy about adult responsibilities, and not being able to achieve dreams. That could be interesting. You can use your story to show the protagonist's world -- people, society, technology, and what the protagonist thinks about it. A few possible ideas to consider...

* Was Ameli ever an adventurer? If not, does she have any goals or ambitions?
* What does Dunby want to achieve? What do his parents want him to accomplish?
* If there are adventurers in this story, then who are they? Do they seem exemplary? Are they cowards or braggarts? Do they have any other flaws?
* Will the characters grow during the story, or accomplish something?

Huh, actually no. That's quite the coincidence.

Thanks! My artist has done a few commissions for graphic novels a few years ago, and he has a degree in art—it's mainly his personal style.

Comedy and fantasy will be a secondary trait because it will mainly be SoL, and yes, the reason for his mid-life crisis will be brought to light early on and the reason why.

World building details will be mentioned but won't heavily affect the story (except for distances from point A to B, geography, and news from other areas) and a few tidbits of history will come up in the form of small talk. Thanks for the input!

Ameli's history is touched briefly upon early in the story, as well as her ambitions and general goals.

Dunby's personality and likes is also shown in the first part especially when he talks to his father.

There is a scene where Bundy talks with these adventurers at the tavern. They tell him interesting things. The adventurers' personalities are different from each other mainly because of difference in wealth class, place and culture of origin, and levels of intoxication.

Indeed they will. They will be annoyed, happy, and tested through different parts of the story. I can't say much right now without spoiling anything, but I hope you find my answers satisfactory (if there's anything else you want to know, I can answer in non-specific ways).

Thanks again!

1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?

Absolutely! I actually really like short stories that are just about characters and their lives and relationships, and not necessarily any huge event. They have the potential to be much easier to relate to, and to contain a lot of meaning and emotion in a short time.

2) How do you feel about the art style?

From what little you have up so far, it looks really good! I like the guy's facial hair.

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?

I'm especially interested in the guard's relationship with his son. It sounds like it could be really sweet, but also really sad if the son also has to grow up and learn that his dad isn't really an epic hero.

Good luck with everything! I look forward to reading it.

parttimestorier wrote:1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?

Absolutely! I actually really like short stories that are just about characters and their lives and relationships, and not necessarily any huge event. They have the potential to be much easier to relate to, and to contain a lot of meaning and emotion in a short time.

2) How do you feel about the art style?

From what little you have up so far, it looks really good! I like the guy's facial hair.

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?

I'm especially interested in the guard's relationship with his son. It sounds like it could be really sweet, but also really sad if the son also has to grow up and learn that his dad isn't really an epic hero.

Good luck with everything! I look forward to reading it.

Thanks for the reply!

Though we won't see too much of a physical father-and-son interaction (because working father doing long hours), we'll be highlighting how familial bonds still exert influence our characters actions despite them not being present in the moment, (such as when making decisions) especially since Bundy is a family man. If Dunby growing up and perhaps disillusioned is something you'd want to see, you're in for a nice treat

Thanks again!

1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?

Absolutely. But in fairness, a story about a guard is catchy to me because I don't see it very often!

2) How do you feel about the art style?

The artwork is cool. It reminds me of Marvel comics.

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?

Yes. Any husband and wife things would be nice. I like seeing happy couples in general.

1) Would you read a short kinetic novel without any catchy or grandiose selling point?
Yes. Actually, I'm loving the premise. It's interesting to see things from the perspective of a non-heroic type of protagonist (the type of guy you wouldn't expect to be the protagonist, really).

2) How do you feel about the art style?
The concept art looks fantastic! Really looking forward to seeing the finished art as well.

3) Is there any scenario or theme you'd like to read in this story?
I'm quite interested in how Kyth will develop as a character, and how his actions might affect Bundy's. It sounds like poor Kyth's dreams (or just his perception of things) might be crushed. Also Dunby's perception of his father as an epic hero, but others have already mentioned that

Best of luck!