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Fascinating. On just that barebones description I would do something of in the vein of the jungle book. A series of stories occurring in the forest with the forest being the witness to it all (plus interacting) I might play further into that and have a young creature in the forest that the forest is taking care of. That way your other characters are bringing the conflict and rising actions into the forest.
I like it. Is it a kid's book?
For some reason it made me think of a book I read a few years ago: The girl in the well is me.
The entire book is about a girl who gets stuck in a well. At first I thought, How could you breathe life into a plot like that. But the author managed to write a whole book about it.
Anyway, it's very different from your concept but my point is: What does your main character want? It's not about breathing life just into a cool concept. It's about breathing life into the character of the cool concept.
What does this character want and what's the antagonist or the obstacle in the way?
You can do it. Unravel it. Let the forest speak to you.
Research how forests communicate through fungus(science fact!) And how they budget water and give each tree their fair share! Forests are sentinel beings and science is amazing !
The movie Avatar is all about sentient forests. But yes, you need some guardians or tree shepherds, or something similar. How about a mad scientist or magic person who gave the forest its sentience?
Read some of the books by George Stewart, particularly the books like Storm and Fire, in which the main characters are things, not people. It might help you get some perspective, and they are great books!
One of my MCs in a children’s fantasy story called “Breeze” was a wind sprite, who only became aware of her true self when she was about 11, on the threshold of womanhood. She suddenly became aware of the spirits that in the fantasy world I created were in everything she encountered. One of my favourite characters was an ancient wood, a remnant of an old royal hunting forest which had long been protected by law. The spirit called herself Old Mother Mars and was a refugee from the Red Planet, who Mother Earth had given sanctuary. I gave her a wise, sage-like personality but also had her full of fun, acting like Breeze’s mischievous grandmother, giving the girl advice and guidance, but with a twinkle in her eye (if she had one!)
I think if you imagine a sentient being who has been around a long time, is immortal and freed of responsibility, where he/she has time on hands and wants to wring enjoyment out of every second o a long existence, you might have the right frame of mind for your sentient being … or you could go a whole lot darker, full of resentment for those beings who are mobile and can chase the seasons they prefer rather than imprisoned and perhaps threatened by woodsmen, fire, etc.
Think about all the wisdom it has from seeing time through the ages. Maybe that’s your story, how time and its characters pass in and out of the forest and the tree reflects on their differences and similarities.
I would go out to the neighborhood woodland bring a pencil & paper scribble anything I see and not see go home and type anything that comes back to mind connect to the earth barefoot while sitting in the cool noisy breeze with or without that pet just bring that white clean empty bond paper with hard cardboard scribble like crazy inventor write little keywords in every notable objects u sketch authors are inventors imagine is there really a duck that talks to a monkey or other animals or a mouse sings/dances
Last bumped by Anonymous on Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:45 am.