Unicorns, those magical creatures of legend, are mistreated by humans. This is why Gatekeepers exist. They guide unicorns to the Other World, where they will be forever safe, one at a time. This is the story of Loriselda Trestie, a young Gatekeeper that's about to start her journey to guide Gabriel -her unicorn- to the Gate, for a world of peace awaits at the other side. Written by Ricky from January 1, 2007, to January 26, 2007, this is his Month of Words '07 entry!

 

    Do you want to read the fiction? Come on, you know you do! You can download it here, and read it at your own leisure.

    Feel free to comment on the story, and tell us what you liked, didn't like, and your overall opinion of the story! To comment, simply send me a private message. You'll have to register at the RP Haven forums to do so, but is that really a bad thing? Didn't think so.
    You may also send me an e-mail with your comments, if you prefer.

 

Some general information regarding The Gatekeeper's Diary
This fiction was written by Ricky. The story is a fantasy.

This fiction was started on

Monday, January 1, 2007

This fiction was finished on

Friday, January 26, 2007
This fiction was 25 posts long. The story is 30,081 words long.
This story took 26 days to complete. On average, 1157 words were written per day. 

    Here we have an interview with the writer of The Gatekeeper's Diary, Ricky; questions were asked by Trauma Advocate. Warning, there may be some spoilers here!

Interview with Ricky
First things first. How'd you come up with the story for The Gatekeeper's Diary?
    When I first got the idea for Gatekeeper's Diary about a year ago, I wanted it to be an RP that featured "diary posts" rather than the "3rd person" posts, and "finding a gate" was the first idea that came to mind. At the time, Loriselda needed to find the gate because it was a seal on a realm of monsters. However, I decided to use the idea for the Month of Words instead, and, four days before it started, I decided to stick the unicorn in, because I have not been able to find a good unicorn story and decided that maybe I should write one.
Heh. So you kind of decided to use this for the Month of Words at the last minute?
    No, actually. I decided to use Gatekeeper's Diary for the Month of Words pretty much the minute I announced the Month of Words, but the unicorn was last minute.
How confident were you that you could pull off 30,000 words with this story?
    I had no idea where I was going with it, but I knew that, since it was a diary, I could pad it a little. So, I guess I was 50/50 about it.
Well, when you're on a schedule like this, you get twice the trouble getting past those little barriers. How'd you deal with writer's block?
    I actually didn't have much trouble with writer's block during the event. If I got stuck, I just rambled something out, threw an idea, and chased it without looking back. Amazingly, it worked out really well.
Well, what was the hardest scene to write then?
    There were a few, actually; Loriselda's stay at the first town, her stay in the second town where she met Joy, when she was alone in the Other World, the return home... the whole Mantisa thing... they were all kinda difficult because I was worried about it being boring. But the hardest part was the short section where Joy writes in the diary. I had the hardest time changing styles for her.
I usually enjoy that kind of challenge... writing for someone with a completely different mentality.
    It can be fun in third person, but doing a first person diary with a twelve year old girl without much education while trying to hit 1000 words a day was a recipe for disaster, which is why her period of writing is so short.
Heh, I can believe it... so what was your favorite scene, then?
    The forest scenes, to be honest, after the goblins are taken care of, and the zoo break-in.
Were any of the characters in The Gatekeeper's Diary based off people in real life?
    No, though Loriselda might as well be me, the way she thinks. In terms of rambling, and the things she thinks about, and such.
What about the antagonists? Was there any story behind them, or do they speak for themselves?
    There was a story behind Lebreaus that Loriselda knew about, thinking it was a legend. However, it ended up being rather anti-climatic. That needs to be fixed.
Hah, I meant how you came up with them.
    Oh, whoops. Heh. Nope, there was no story behind their creation. Just random ideas that I threw out and chased.
So, what have you come out of this story with?
    I've come out with a completed draft one, a knowledge that I can pull 1000 words a day off, and, of course, a feeling of accomplishment that I completed it. Also, the story is different from my usual fare, so that's a pretty cool feeling, too.
Anything you've learned?
    That I need to stick with my original idea sometimes, and stop veering off in the wrong direction. That happened near the end with the Gate, where I did something different and it turned out a bit wrong, and I'm doing it now with Disciples.
But you can't have a good story without a twist or two.
    No, I mean that I had one twist in mind, and changed it up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Gotta take a chance now and then, I say. So, any final thoughts?
    I'm really happy with how it turned out, and, to be honest, this is my favorite draft of the three stories I'm working on. I have a really good feeling about Gatekeeper's Diary... who knows? One more draft might get it to the publisher!
Pretty cool.

    Here we have comments from the people who have read the story.

Name Comment Date
GeminiSaint     Well; generally, I liked this one. This means there are some things I want to point out; things that keep this story from being better than just okay.
    1) Setting: This fiction has many issues in defining its setting. You see, it's supposed to happen in the year 2006, on planet Earth, I guess. Then unicorns and certain staples of the fantasy genre appear, such as fantasy-sounding names (such as Loriselda), goblins, magical gates, and other such stuff. So far so good, then -without a warning- disaster strikes: Just when you pictured a standard fantasy world, modern-world stuff is forced in! Such as modern cities, electric power and appliances, cars, trucks, roads, etc. The end result is... chaotic to say the least. There's rampant anachronism, and the feeling that "this stuff doesn't belong in this world". Somehow, these elements that come from worlds so different don't go along very well. Like water and oil, they don't mix. Or at least they didn't in this particular case. Taking risks like that is, well, risky. It would have been much better -and safer- if Ricky chose only one setting and stuck with it all the way to the end.
    2) Loriselda's negative view of the world can become extremely annoying and unbearable. She exaggerates human corruption to quasi-emo levels. She thinks trash of mankind at every opportunity. Myself, being a human being, and a reasonably optimistic one at that, don't want to hear such things every passing second.
    3) Oh, by the way, Loriselda = recycled name.
    4) Minor oddity: Placing your hand on the unicorn's side somehow makes you... keep up with him as he gallops at top speed? That's just odd. Just riding him on horseback (and say they wouldn't fall off because they're protected by the unicorn's magic or something like that) would have worked so much better.
    5) The ending drags on for way too long, watering it down significantly. And that's a pity.
    All in all, I have to wonder how much better this story would have turned out if it weren't for the restrictions placed by the Month of Words event for which it was written. A lot better, surely. As it is now, I think this story needs several tweaks and a good helping of polish before I can fully recommend it. For the time being, Jageheti is still the better option out of those two fictions.		 April 23, 2007

    Here we have fun facts about the fiction.

        · This fiction was Ricky's entry for the Month of Words 2007 event, which took place in January, and had contestants write a complete fiction from scratch within that month, and it had to be at least 30,000 words long.
        · This fiction was the first to be completed in the above-mentioned contest.