Quote:Kristal,
Your novel sounds really cool. I am writing a fantasy epic story about a slinger too! But your plot sounds a lot more complex and I am writing in Chinese. So we are not direct competitors.
I really like the special powers in your world. They make the characters special yet believable. What is healing power? is it to heal others? or just the person who process the power? or both?
As far as slinging goes. I would recommand the helicopter style. There are a few reasons for this:
1) It is easy to visualise. Everyone have seen someone else swing a flexible object overhead at one time or another ie. cowboy with a rope. It make a lot of sense even to readers who have very little understanding of physical activities and I believe this is the style that most people would try when they pick up the sling for the first time without a demonstration beforehand.
2) It is relatively powerful.
3) Can be used with any length of sling. (unlike the figure 8 and other styles with vertical wind up)
4) In situations where the character need to be one against many. The helicopter style with an extended wind up would make every man standing on the same level, even those standing behind him, a potential target.
5) The rapid fire move (a rather advance technique that reload the sling quickly), should you decide the character to be able to perform it, can easily be done with this style.
The major draw back with it is that it does take a while to get the momentum for good power. Also it takes a bit of open space to perform the move.
It would make sense that the character would start the cross train between different styles over time. He may have a favourite move but as he gets to be more adept with the sling, I believe he would want to experiment with other ways to throw.
I think there is a common misconception amoung non-slingers that longer wind ups means more power. To us slingers, it is like Popeye swinging his fist around his shoulder a hundred times before punching the bad guy, it make no sense. Unless your character is using an extra long sling (4ft or more, I'd say) he would release the stone with no more than 3 rotations for optium power. He might want to have an extended wind up while waiting for the right time to release or have a few extra rotatoins to get himself ready but he wouldn't do it to gain extra momentum for the shot.
Good luck with your story. I'd love to read it someday. Please let us know when it is done.
You ought to know by now if you have anymore questions, we are egar to help!
Peace,
Tint
Wow, a Chinese fantasy novel? Do you mean you are actually writing it in Chinese or it is about Chinese?
The healing power in my book is both self and other healing. However, when they heal someone else, they absorb their wounds first, and then heal them with their own body. So you can see that a healer must like you to want to heal you...because they will have to momentarily go through your pain. They also can't heal if the person is already dead, because it will kill them. However, it will bring the other back to life.
Thanks for all the info! You guys are great.
--Kristal
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Writing a Novel...looking for sling advice. (Read 6541 times)
