A Boy and His (Gigantic) Mother

Alternative thread title: A Mother and Her (Magic Albino Rogue) Son.

Anyhoo, I’ve been mulling over this here story. The gist of it is that these two characters — 28-year-old Ursa and her son Canis are trying to do all they can to survive constant pursuit and harassment by a globe-spanning empire. See, Ursa has a problem on her hands: a cosmic event is causing her to grow at a rate of six feet a day, and it doesn’t take long for her to be a little on the tall side. Meanwhile, in spite of being ten years old, Canis is hunted for being an alleged descendant of an ancient sect of goddess-killing mages.

The story progresses over about a year in-universe as they try to survive. Canis is trying to find a way to change his mom back to normal before she becomes a living natural disaster. Ursa (THE main character, arguably) is trying to find a way to keep her son alive…because the goddess of fate says he’ll die before he turns eleven. So yeah, they’re in a pickle.

But enough of that. I thought I’d ask some of you tropers for tips/advice on how, exactly, I should handle this relationship. I mean, if it were up to you what direction would you take these characters in? How do I strike a balance between family ties and individual personalities (like, how do I make Ursa’s persona/motivations more than just “I’m a mom, so I have to do X”)? Any suggestions for writing a ten-year-old? Other thoughts?

Oh, and don’t put too much stock on being serious and meaningful. This is a story that features ancient Roman mecha, wrestlers out the wazoo, dragons on the wrong side of a piledriver, perpetually drunk archers, a celebration of cows, lampshading the preponderance of shirtless men, and discussions on whether or not the “Meat Fairy” exists. All bets are off.

As a teacher of mine always said, ask me lots of questions. I’ll do what I can to give a good answer, and it’ll help me think about the steps I need to take next. So what do you guys say? Let’s get maternal!

Erm, this might not be the best forum to ask for advice on writing a maternal relationship. All I can say is don't focus solely on her being a mom and him being a son, flesh them both out as individuals. Also, I assume she grows in both width and height, and stops growing or at least slows down a bit after a while, because 6 feet every day would get ridiculous.

On the plus side, the last part of your idea sounds ridiculous in perhaps an awesome way.

edited 18th Feb '12 12:43:33 PM by Firebert

Yeah, I haven't pinned down exactly how fast she'll grow (among countless other things); I just threw 6 feet out there because it's the Arc Number. Doubtless I'll have to nail the numbers somewhere along the line.

At any rate, I'm honored you think my ridiculousness is cool. My secret is the best drugs money can buy.