Ring Masters

There are a hundred excuses I could come up with for this post being a day later than normal.  The simple honest truth is that I fell asleep.  A long working weekend followed by a busy start to the week left no time to recover any missing slumber.  A quiet Wednesday morning in a comfortable led to a sudden urge to catch up on all the sleep I had been deprived of.

Delays aside, today's post isn't something that didn't come from my mind, yet I still had a significant hand in creating.  It is a story idea from the notebook of my oldest son.  He is a fan of both Marvel and DC comic universes.  Influences from tales like the Green Lantern and Infinity Gauntlet can be seen in his writings, with details that are entirely his own.

The words below are entirely his.  The only changes I made were some basic copy editing for spelling and simple grammar.  Otherwise, the story is directly out of his notebook for future comics.

Okay.  We didn't ask for these powers, but here is the story.  The date was March 19, 2019.  My friends and I chose to walk home through the forest.  That's when I came across six rings.  I thought two for each of us so I shared them with Hank and Tim.  As we put them on weird things happened to us.  I felt like I was on fire in an earthquake.  When it was over I had power over fire and earth.  Hank had power over water and wind.  Tim had power over light and dark.  We chose to call ourselves "The Ring Masters."  We were on our last year of high school and would be going our separate ways.  However, when there is trouble, you can count on The Ring Masters to be there!

Other stories in his notebook hint at the possibility of multiple related titles with chances of crossovers and other interactions.

I am proud that he has decided to express himself in the same way I do and with tales of his own creation.  Sharing our skills with the next generation gives our children a safe outlet for their thoughts while keeping important creative skills alive in a dynamic and changing society.  Now, if only I could get him to clean his room.

Notes on Demons

I've never been one to use outlines for my books or stories.  Instead, I have a file of notes about the characters, story, plot details, and world where the story takes place.  Some of these notes are broad generalizations that frame the environment.  Some are simple comments about the direction the story is going or what kind of turn I want it to take.  Others still may be preferences or feelings the characters have that aren't obviously stated but come out through their actions and interactions with others.

Sometimes a story doesn't develop past the notes stage.  This may be due to an excess of clutter in my headspace, a lack of time to develop it properly, or just not enough story there to expand on.  One such story is one that I've had notes on for decades.  While there is a major plot conflict to base the story on, I just don't seem to be able to come up with enough to fill out the world it takes place in.  Maybe some day the rest of the tale will come to me in a dream.  In the meantime, here are the notes as I have them so far.  Derf is just a placeholder name I use until the character is fleshed out more and a proper name comes to light.

• Long life span of hunters, but not immortal. Just don't age normally.
• Communicate with "Hunter Council" via meditation and a special crystal
• Council catalogs Demons based on activity. Ranks them based on strength and shares information with Hunters.
• Smaller, weaker Demons not named, simple to catch.  Stronger Demons are given names and require more elaborate rituals to satisfy and catch.
• Each hunter chosen by "Hunter's Spirit." When one Hunter dies, the spirit moves on never know who will be next.
• Spirits don't clearly speak to Hunter, but can enhance vision to detect Demonic energies and give a Spidey-sense to hidden Deomnic presence.
• Number of Spirits is fixed, Number of Demons is variable, has gotten down to zero in past but increasing recently.
• Father/son team of Demon Hunters considered best in the realm, very rare for family members to be selected as hunters.
• Main plot point! Main character (Derf) must hunt demon that has taken his father
• Papa Derf disappeared while transporting crystal to "jail."
• Evidence of demons that had been caught by father-son team reappears.
• Demons are caught in and transported via crystals to one-way portal to "Dungeon Dimension"
• Demon possessing Derf's father is known as "The Corrupter" spoke to Papa Derf via the crystal
• Derf lives life alone except when hunting with Papa, chosen before starting a family.
• Papa Derf father of 3-5 kids, chosen after family started and years before Derf.

Leave a comment if you think the story should be developed further or left at this stage.  Suggestions for filling in any of the blanks would be welcome.