Reading Choices

Booking Through Thursday (that's a link) weekly meme:

Have your reading choices changed over the years? Or pretty much stayed the same? (And yes, from childhood to adulthood we usually read different things, but some people stick to basically the same kind of book their entire lives, so…)

I was JUST thinking about this yesterday, actually! I was thinking about how even though some of my favorite books NOW are "children's lit" I didn't actually read them as a child. I didn't read Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Howl's Moving Castle, Ballet Shoes, etc, until the last 10-ish years.

Anyway let's try and go through this chronologically:

Years 0-12: I'm going to lump this all together because I really didn't read much in these years. I mean, yes, I liked reading, and I would get piles of picture books and what-not from the library, but I didn't do my research well. Also, I was an enormous animal: horse nerd so a lot of my reading was the Thoroughbred series, Margaret Henry, Walter Farley, etc. One of my favorite chapter books was Harriet the Spy, and I enjoyed the Little House on the Prairie books. I also checked out Big Bear's Book from the library possibly 100 times. I didn't read Goodnight Moon until high school, the same for Where the Wild Things Are. I eventually discovered the Young Jedi Knights book series, as well as Redwall, around 12 or so, and devoured those. I already loved Star Wars but finding sci-fi/fantasy books like these is probably what started my current life as a super-nerd.

Years 13-18: I discovered Tolkien around, oh, December 26th, 2001. XD I thank God those movies were made, because otherwise I might never have picked up the books (they always looked too big and scary and SRS BSNS). I read those at least 6 times that first year, and also started reading the other Tolkien books: The Hobbit, Sil, etc. Once I realized how Completely Awesome fantasy was (many, many years too late), I started trying out all the other big books in the Tolkien-fantasy genre, such as Narnia, Earthsea, Wheel of Time, etc. Other big books of this period: Paolini (restrain your shudders), Diana Wynne Jones, adult Star Wars (now that I knew I could read "big books"), and more Redwall. Star Wars led to Timothy Zahn, which led to more adult sci-fi, but I was very picky. I dabbled in Christian fiction (Frank Peretti, Left Behind series) but the main books that I still enjoy and recommend are Melody Carlson's books, particularly Diary of a Teenage Girl series.

Years 19-21: Going into college, I made BOOKISH FRIENDS who have helped and continue to help me expand my reading material greatly. I've gotten way more into YA than I ever have been (although I'm still extremely picky >.>) and have been catching up on some children's classics, but still mostly continuing in my favorite veins: kids or adult fantasy or sci-fi. Jasper Fforde, Naomi Novik, Hilari Bell, Terry Pratchett, James A. Owen, Cornelia Funke, Mervyn Peake, Elizabeth Marie Pope and Frank Herbert are all big authors of this period so far. I also started reading GOOD Christian fiction and non-fiction, by GK Chesterton, CS Lewis, and George MacDonald. Probably the biggest Book Effect of college, though, is my acquired love of classics (*waves to English majors*). Henry James, Jane Austen, and Conan Doyle are my current classics-loves but they change rapidly. I'm guessing I'll be specializing in 19th c. lit. XD Although I also have a soft spot for medieval romance.

So, current genres are fantasy, sci-fi, and classics, and those can be in kids, YA, or adult. :)

This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be: sorry!

Bibliophiliac Book Blog Read-a-thon

I signed up for another read-a-thon. Because I'm crazy. But I'm going on a family road-trip this weekend and I need something to keep me happy, even if it makes me carsick. XD

So! Books I am hoping to read:

Conqueror's Pride

Conqueror's Heritage

Conqueror's Legacy

(all by Timothy Zahn)

Alternates:

Finish Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So, goodnight dear void.

So I've been wanting to read Robin McKinley and Patricia A. McKillip for a while now. Does anyone have suggestions for what book of theirs to START with??? Too many options!

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey review

I was sorta forced to read this by Snazel. We were both visiting a friend at the time (we live on different sides of this particular continent) and I was going to visit her, Snazel, right after that. She left first, and left Guardian with me as well. So whenever I was tempted to stop, I just kept thinking, "But...she told me to read it! And left it with me! I gotta read it or when I go visit her she'll hate me!"

Don't ask. I have insecurity issues.

This book was SLOW GOING for me at the beginning. I wasn't connecting with the narrator (first person present, for those who care), I didn't like any of the other characters, and the plot seemed to be the whiny "I'm such a loser I refuse to participate in life" kinda books, a la Swan. But about three chapters in, I started sitting up and paying attention. The characters that had been introduced became more interesting, started doing things, and I cared. I don't really know how Healey made me care at that point, because by then I had such a bad attitude that I just kept picking up the book and saying "I DO NOT CARE." The rest of the experience was lovely: I just got more and more interested and by the end I was glued to the page, to the point that I didn't notice Snazel walking up to me in the airport.

So, I guess I should talk about the plot. The narrator, an insecure highschool girl named Ellie, has a best friend Kevin, who is involved in a college drama production. She also has a crush on a mysterious emo bad boy (I KNOW, RIGHT? He gets better!) named Mark. There is a strange woman also involved in the college play named Reka. Meanwhile, in the city a serial killer named Eyeslasher (guess what he does to his victims???) is, well, killing people. Reka starts trying to seduce Kevin, Mark starts to take an interest in Ellie, and somewhere along the way, plot happens!

Yeah okay I suck at plot summaries.

But what I loved about this book was the incorporation of the mythology. A big part of the book has to do with New Zealand mythology, which I am very unfamiliar with but was really interesting and cool! The main characters have varying degrees of knowledge about the stories involved (it's set in NZ), but they all learn more. I'm a myth geek, but New Zealand folklore was new to me, so all of those elements were delicious!

I also believed in the romance, which was nice. I didn't at first; I was like wow this is lame and thinking I could predict the whole thing. But by the end I did like both of them, so there you go.

The only thing I disliked about the book besides the lackluster beginning was the postmodernist viewpoint, which is just a personal thing. But really, when the main characters say "Stories are true if you believe enough in them" just gave me a bad taste and did NOT make me want to care about THEIR story.

Somehow I managed, though, which says something for the pacing (after the first couple of chapters), the action, and the characters.

I gave this book four out of five stars.

(debut challenge book #1)

The Scribe Delivers an Update on Her Progress, or Lack Of

So this year has definitely been a burn-out year for me, in regards to written fiction quotas. What have I even done? I don't know. Pretty much nothing, except for some drabbles, and I vaguely remember 17k being written on something earlier on in the year....*frowns*

Anyway. My bud Snazel challenged Kemendraugh and I to write 52 short stories in a year. So of course, like good little Snaz minions, we accepted, and are FIGHTING. lol. We started on July 1st, so I've submitted 5 stories to them so far. Although, we are allowing for a certain number of the stories we share with each other to be older ones, so I've used up one of my "reruns." But still! I've written 4 shorties in a month! And I kinda like all of them. One is part of my Alice in Wonderland retelling, two are about my Star Wars characters, and one is a weird fantasy-ish bizarre thing. XD The first three were really good for just getting my rusty fiction-writing brain into gear. The latter I kinda love, and I may use to do some world-building and eventually get a longer tale out of, but I'm not sure.

So the moral of the story? Deadlines are good, especially when you've got friends to poke you. It's especially fun because now I get to look forward to short stories from them on Monday and Fridays (my day is Wednesday). So we have collective creative juices at work here! XD And all of it helps to encourage the rest of us. Or so it seems to me.

I'll keep y'all updated on the year-long challenge as we go.

PS- sorry for all the layout changes here...I finally got around to exploring blogger's template designer. Also, welcome to a couple of new followers! ^_^ Let's be friends.

Read-a-thon Closing Comments!

Well, I read a lot more than I otherwise would have! XD
I finished Geek's Guide by Garth Sundem and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which was a total of about 400 pages.
I read How To Be A Pirate and How To Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell, which was a total of 433 pages (kid books).
I read 1 30-page fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Yay! Thanks Wallace for hosting! I had a lot of fun. This was my first read-a-thon; hopefully for the next one I'll be a bit more prepared.

Now I'm off to babysit my niece, read White Cat by Holly Black, and make wedding programs for my sis. It's going to be a crazy week.

Douglas Adams....AGAIN???

You're The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

by Douglas Adams

Considered by many to be one of the funniest people around, you are
quite an entertainer. You've also traveled to the far reaches of what you deem possible,
often confused and unsure of yourself. Life continues to jostle you around like a marble,
but it's shown you so much of the world that you don't care. Wacky adventures continue to
lie ahead. Your favorite number is 42.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Read-a-thon Update 3

I am just NOT in the mood for Andersen...I can't even talk about it. But here' s the remainder of my read-a-thon reading.

How To Be A Pirate by Cressida Cowell: Awww this book was too cute! I laughed out loud several times too. I liked it more than the first one, because both Hiccup and Fishlegs get more skillz and Toothless isn't QUITE as impossible. XD Stoick and Hiccup's father-son relationship is just out of control cute! This book was only 211 pages (including drawings) but too bad. :D

How To Speak Dragonese: 222 pages. Romans! Nanodragons! Frightening Foreigners 101! Sharkworms! Dragon-nappers! Kick-butt female!

I love these books.

"The Ice Maiden" by Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tale): Not to be confused with "The Snow Queen," btw. 32 pages. I loved the fact that "Vertigo" was a character in this, and that he's an assassin sent by the Ice Maiden to get Rudy, a little boy, killed. Rudy didn't have the common decency to die when the Ice Maiden had him in her clutches, so of course she has a grudge now. XD So the villains are awesome; Rudy, not so much. He's like an Andersenian jock. :P And Babette the love interest is properly brainless and swoony.

Read-a-thon Update 2

I finished The Historian! Win! I actually started it in June...it's kinda sad. But I took a big break in July to read a bunch of other stuff, so...yeah. No, there's really no excuse. Sigh.

But it was good! *cue mini-review* It's a lot of libraries, history, research, etc, + vampires, + travelogue, so it's not for everyone, but I liked the writing style in much the same way I like the Inkheart series: dense, and not always good for pacing, but I just kinda heart it.

The pacing suffered a lot every once in a while, mostly because there are three plotlines going on: one in the 1930s, one in the 1950s, and one in the 1970s. I enjoyed the 1950s one the most, which is by far the longest. I also did not believe in one of the relationships at all...I DID at first, but then it was just totally pulled off all in two seconds and I was like...ok...that would not even happen. But maybe I am clueless. Anyway. Another relationship I was like "Oh man stupid man" but I was okay with it, and the other relationship I just heart. ^_^

Plus...VAMPIRES! The awesome evil BAMF kind (almost literally, hahahaha) not the sparkly kind.

Readathon so far:

Geek's Guide-finished: 87 pages

The Historian-finished: a bit over 300 pages

2010 Debut Authors Challenge!

Randomly decided I should try to do this... :)

What is the 2010 Debut Author Challenge?
The objective is to read a set number of YA (Young Adult) or MG (Middle Grade) novels from debut authors published this year.* I'm going to challenge everyone to read at least 12 debut novels! I’m hoping to read at least 30! You don’t have to list your choices right away, but if you do feel free to change them throughout the year. I will also be focusing on mostly Young Adult novels.
Anyone can join, you don’t need a blog to participate. If you don’t have a blog you can always share your views by posting a review on Amazon.com/BarnesandNoble.com/GoodReads/Shelfari, or any other bookish site.
The challenge will run from January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010. You can join at anytime!
* I would like to limit the novels to those released in 2010.

Books I've read so far:

The Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

The Line by Teri Hall

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

A Match Made In High School by Kristin Walker

Thirteen Reasons Why

My 12th novel will be one of these three:

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Tyger, Tyger

I Am Number Four by Pitticus Lore

Read-a-thon Update 1

I'm getting SO distracted reading all of the blogs by other people doing the Undoubtables Read-a-thon! It's totally counter-productive, is what I'm saying. ^_^ Why is it that reading about other people reading is just as much fun as, well, actually READING?

I also had to spread compost this morning.

However, despite all this, I finished my first book! Yay! :D Geek's Guide: Done and done! I only had 87 pages left of it to read, BUT it's tiny, nonfiction text! So...so there!

It's a pretty fun and interesting book, all told. Pretty much gives you an overview of geeky information. The math/science bits made me go O.O but the other stuff was really fun...especially logic stuff.

Read-a-thon!

My buddy kemendraugh let me know about this read-a-thon going on this weekend. I'm a bit late but I'm going to GO for it! I have a bunch of books I still need to get read this summer.

SO! My goals:

-finish The Geek's Guide to World Domination by Garth Sundem

-finish The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

-make progress on Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales

I'll just see how it goes. ^_^

I write like Douglas Adams. So they say.

I write like
Douglas Adams

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

"I know how you like news."

There is no excuse for my recent inactivity (sans book giveaways) on this blog. I could whine and apologize and excuse myself a lot. But the main point of the affair is, I have not been writing fiction lately. Sorry! The reasons for this are mostly psychological, compounded by academic, and I'm not going to go into it.

BUT! But but but! I have an exciting piece of news!

At the end of that fiction class I took last fall, our instructor encouraged us to submit one of our finalized pieces to a local writing contest. The League for Innovation Student Literary Competition is the full-name, and is a nationwide league of accredited colleges. I entered the fiction division of the LOCAL level of this competition. The winners of each local level are entered into the national one.

Anyways, I got a letter from my college yesterday, saying my story got third place! So win! On a stick! :D It was pretty hilarious because I picked up the letter, all disgruntled and betting it was either a "We noticed you're not enrolled with us this term" (I transferred this term to uni) or a "Oh btw we have your degree" sort of letter. So it took me several moments to comprehend the actual letter, and then I started squealing and dancing around the house. ^_^ My dog woke up and was very grumpy.

The amount of excitement I expressed was definitely excessive for third place in a county contest, BUT please understand this is really the only time I've submitted anything anywhere, and I wasn't expecting to place at all. :D

I'm pretty calm now....I purposely didn't blog yesterday because I knew it would be all caps and acronyms. :P

SO! The result of all this, is that I get a prize (I'm not sure what, because I didn't really pay attention to any of the info our instructor gave us), and I'm not sure if I go to the national level, because I'm not sure if "winners" mean people who placed, or just the 1st-place people.

Also, my friend who is in the graphic design program said that her class is working on a "book" and apparently I have a "page," but I have no further info on that at this time. ^_^ My college is hosting the national level this year, so I'm thinking I will only be in said book if I'm actually in the national level part. :P

Also-also, the letter I received told me to contact Denali, my college's lit magazine, because even though their deadline was past, they wanted to include the winners' stories. I emailed them, but they said the mag was on the way to the printers, despite their hope to include us. ^_^ They encouraged me to submit work to a future issue. Which is impossible, because I no longer go to that school, and is also hilariously ironic because I DID submit something LAST year, and was rejected, and now they're REQUESTING my presence?

I dunno. Funny.

Winter Pen Olympics Finale

IIIIIII didn't write anymore the last two days. As of this moment I'm trying to finish my final-final paper for my lit class and I would like to keep the stellar grade I have been maintaining. Merc said something about an anti-medal...maybe I could get one of those? XD

But I did write a lot more than I would have!!! 6858 words! ....yay! :D I have a lot more of the plot figured out and several crucial scenes written. I have lots of inspiration and ideas to continue writing--also, I want to work on The Other Country like nobody's business.

Winter Pen Olympics Day 16 (yesterday)

Daily wordcount: 1420

Overall wordcount: 6878

I've never written this randomly and haphazardly. Except for the first couple of days, I've just been writing whatever scene came to mind in the overall arc. Which means that I've been jumping around from the very end to the very middle and everywhere in between. Very strange and backwards; I don't normally write like this. Usually I HAVE to go chronologically because I don't have a clear enough idea of what is happening later. :P But it's kinda fun this way. I'll just have to connect it all eventually.

Winter Pen Olympics: 2 more days!!! O.o

Workshop post is coming!!!

But meanwhile!

Total wordcount for Olympics so far: 5458

I KNOW SO PATHETIC RIGHT????

But it's words. That's important. And I'm enjoying myself! Writing in class, writing when I have a few spare minutes somewhere and access to paper. I'm just so busy right now and tired all the time....which isn't an excuse, but there have been mental and emotional breakdowns, so I don't care. I'm still glad I made a goal. :D

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to write the scenes that are banging around in my brain, begging to come out! :D

Winter Pen Olympics Update

^_^

I've written ONE scene (592 words) since Wednesday. So. Er. Not much to say about that. Except it's a FUN scene. XD

BUT I was gone this weekend! So, er, there's an excuse??? I will post about the writer's workshop (SEE I WAS WRITING) soon. :D

Winter Pen Olympics: Day 6

Daily wordcount: 2,111

Scenes: 4.2

PWNZED IN THE FACE.

Finally hit my stride today (or something). There was battles, magic, epic torture, and heart-to-heart conversations.

I was also randomly inspired by a single line in a song that I hate? It was on the radio, and I heard the line and I was like ZOMG I UNDERSTAND YOU NOW MYRA. Lolz.

Winter Pen Olympics: Day 5

Daily wordcount: 487

Lolz I failed today! But to be fair, I THOUGHT a lot about my plot and how this is all going to go...I'm feeling very discouraged with this novel because somehow, without me noticing, it's become VERY unfocused (i.e. PLOTLESS) and I don't know how to get from where I am to the end. Sigh.

But Drem is behaving beautifully, as always. ^_^ I like that kid. That's probably my PROBLEM. I need to start DESTROYING him but I like him too much. Bleh. STUPID DREM I WILL MAKE YOU BLEED.

Winter Pen Olympics: Days 3 & 4

I seriously have no idea how this story is going to end. Or continue. Or really anything.

"You're just making it up as you go along!"

"But I do it brilliantly."

Day 3: No words.

Day 4:

Daily wordcount: 1021

Total wordcount: 3075

Scenes: 4

Notes: My characters are very, very cold. And Myra isn't here. I thought she would be, but she's not. Everyone ELSE is though so it's okay. And they're going to pwn faces with sharp sticks.

Also, I wrote a large-ish outline (250 words! lolz!) for the rest of the novel...I was having so many plot problems I literally couldn't write another word till I figured stuff out. But I think what I have will work, as long as "then they beat the small army" doesn't take too long. Heh.

Writing Workshop 401

I am attending this this next weekend. I'm pretty excited! Oregon coast=win and writing=win, therefore Oregon coast+writing=Epic Win. My famblee is going with me, actually, and taking the opportunity of having a beach vacation weekend. In February. Heck yes. Sideways rain ftw.

I want to pick a theme or maybe even a recurring object or person that I HAVE to include in ANYTHING I write during the weekend. The question is, WHAT? If you have any suggestions, please put it in the comments! :D

I don't have any expectations for this workshop, really, since it will be pretty different from the last one I went to. The last one, only Bob was there, it was 101, and there was only 25 people. This will be bigger and more advanced, so I'm back to square one in the expectations department. Hopefully it will be jolly though! I'm also going to explore (again) the used bookstore there in search of treasure. ^_^

Winter Pen Olympics: Day 2

Daily wordcount: 1065

Total wordcount: 2054

Scenes: 2

Progress made: Well on the way to establishing the next arc.

Notes: omfjam two of my favorite characters have RETURNED. :D Hint: they're both very good with swords. And I want to nom them.

Winter Pen Olympics: Day 1

Daily wordcount: 989

Total wordcount: 989

Scenes: 3

Progress made: I ended "Part 1" of the three parts of the novel, so now I get to skip ahead 5 years, plot-wise. Yay!

Notes: I like Drem's horse and am fond of randomly inserting scenes with her. Also, Byrn is getting more serious. :( Poor Byrn. Has to be all responsible.

Winter. Pen. Olympics.

Greetings.

I have taken up this challenge, which is basically...any challenge that I set myself. Which sounds good. The challenge is Feb. 12-28, so it STARTS TOMORROW so get on it.

I'm on Team Fiction, and in Drafting Events, and am planning on 17k written on Drem. :D

Comment if you are doing it as well. I will try and post daily updates since I've been failing at writing and blogging for so long.

"The gods are angry," he said, but I had used the lightning myself.

I'm just in a blog-updating sort of mood. This is just a general update on all aspects of me writing.

Uhmmmm I've been writing...off-and-on.....Yes? :D No, really, I have. I've worked on my experimental, a bit more on Alice, and fiddled in Drem. And, of course, I've been writing a ton of papers and am currently procrastinating a 5-page beauty on The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. I just can't decide the best way to combine those two plays in a paper. It may involve Jessica and Horatio. Or not.

A couple of weekends from now is another writing workshop I am attending. It's sorta the same deal I went to before, but with another writer in addition to the guy before. I'm sorta excited and sorta intimidated again.

I've been reading Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, which, while VERY fun, leaves a LOT to be desired. I loved that Dionysus, or Mr. D, got a lot of screen-time in the third book.....I enjoyed reading Riordan's take on the Theseus/Ariadne/Dionysus/Minotaur/etc legend. But of course, this made me want to continue HHNF SOOOO MUCH. OM NOM NOM NOM. So I'm trying to resist that. What also really amuses me is that Riordan didn't mention that the original Perseus was very much responsible for Ariadne's death....I felt like that would have been a great thing to mention, seeing as Mr. D hates, or pretends to hate, Percy Jackson all the time. ^_^ It's cool though because reading Riordan's version, I don't feel the desire to copy him in the least, but I did get a couple of ideas for remastering Ariadne's string and the labyrinth, which I've always felt could do with a lot of fixing in my version.

Let me paint the picture of a perfect place

I totally wrote today. Why no, I have pretty much NOT written during 2010! *weeps with horror and shame* It's really pathetic. I don't even know what my problem is anymore. I like writing. I really do. So why is it SO HARD?

Ahem. I actually did write like a paragraph on Alice a couple weeks ago. *nods* But it was like pulling teeth out of my own mouth. While my hair was on fire.

Anyway, what I wrote today was Nothing and No One Will Ever See It. :D But it was fun! I just started a random project, just to get myself WRITING. I think I'll just use it as a forum for myself, to experiment, to get myself to write when it's hard, and to work on things that I don't like about my writing. This will mean it will be very messy and a little on crack, which means that, as I said, no one will ever see it. :D Yay for being stuck in the library with nothing to do so I HAVE to write. :DI wrote about 3 pages and it's mostly a self-contained scene. There was magic, angst, and descriptions of moonlight. XD

In other news, I've been wanting to write Latin poetry again. Kinda creepy, but I just may try it again.

Fiction Class: Workshops (or, How To Take Criticism)

Halfway through the term in my fiction class, we started workshopping short stories by other people in the class (before that we read and discussed classic short stories, like Flannery O'Connor and stuff, which was an experience all on its own).

The process in a nut-shell: we would turn in the short story we wanted workshopped, the teacher would make copies and hand them out, we would take them home, read them, mark them up as much as we wanted and make comments in the margins, and then we also had to fill out a critique sheet with a basic summary of our thoughts, and THEN we came back to class and discussed it with each other, whilst ignoring the author. ^_^ At the end, the author could say a few words if they wished.

So that's the process. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to submit one of mine, because....well I just felt really insecure. The short story I had written at that point (note: other than 2 short stories the entire term, we wrote a million 300-word scenarios) was a reimagining of Alice's encounter with the Cheshire Cat. I knew it was horrible so....yeah.

But meanwhile, I had a lot of fun reading other people's stories. Craft and skill aside, everyone in the class had GREAT brains and imaginations, and the stories we read were all wildly different and very interesting. There were really only a couple that were sooo bad I had problems reading them... XD It was really fun to critique them, too. I think we all got more nit-picky as we went along though. But it made us really look at the words we were choosing, the way we were telling a story, plot, characters, and most especially what we were all leaving OUT. I think every single story had some fairly-major element that was VERY unclear to most of us. ^_^

One frustrating thing for me, and this is going to make me sound like a conceited bitch, was that probably about 80% of the people in the class still didn't have their technical writing skills down (by that I mean spelling, grammar, etc). Even their "polished" stories they were submitting were sometimes riddled with errors. They were all works-in-progress, so, I was trying to ignore them, but it was like everyone would praise these stories that still needed a TON more work, just because the premise or a character was well-written or good, and then they would HATE these other stories that were way more polished, just because they disagreed with one little aspect? I dunno, I think all of us, including me, were very inconsistent in that way. Anyway, I just felt myself needing to come to the defense of a couple of stories that were perfectly decent but the loudmouths in the class were totally bashing.

Okay, so meanwhile. As I was reading these other people's stories, it gave me a bit more confidence to submit my own. After a couple edits, I felt like it was at least not going to shame me into my grave, and anything they said would be probably more constructive, as opposed to them reading my rough and just calling it crap and have done with it. XD

I might have been wrong about it not shaming me into my grave. XD The class period when they discussed my story was MORE than a little humbling. Pretty much they reached into the stories guts and completely disemboweled it. It was an interesting psychological process because I was struggling so hard to stay open-minded and tell myself that this was GOOD, I was getting a ton of good constructive criticism, plus I knew from the beginning that the story was kinda iffy. But honestly, after that class, I wanted to burn the story and pretty much everything I'd ever written and never write a word again.

That particular story got ignored for the rest of the term, until the VERY end. For our final we had to take the 2 short stories we'd written and completely rewrite and revise them. I cautiously took all my "pink sheets" (the critique sheets my classmates had filled out) and set to work on my story. I had already read all of them, and I was surprised as I re-read them that I was so much calmer and readier to work with the criticism and the story again. I still was angry with the story, but I was just more business-like and objective about it? I completely reworked the story (at this point it was the 4th or 5th draft), and I was amazed at how much the suggestions they gave helped. At the same time, I didn't use ALL of their suggestions: I ignored a few because I didn't agree. But that was OKAY. :D I was objective-minded enough at that point that I could find the good suggestions and make them work in the story, and ignore the rest. The result was a much stronger, more polished story. Overall the work isn't one I'm particularly proud of, as it wasn't well-thought-out from the start, but the whole process was a MAJOR jump in knowledge and skills for me. :)

Wow, this turned out kinda long. I'm sorry? If you're still reading, here's my conclusion from the whole madness:

-Having critical readers is a blessing.

-When you receive criticism, let it stew in your brain for a while before freaking out or before attacking your story with a cleaver.

-Revision is lovely and VERY satisfying.

2010 Writing Goals

*notice I didn't use the "R" word. It scares me.

These are just big, scary, goals I'm going to make, and see if I manage to get them done. It would be very, very lovely if I could. :D

• Finish Drem rough draft-I love this story. :)
• Write second draft of Wyrd-I also love this story. I love this world. It's barely even sketched out so far in Drem and Wyrd, but I know everything about it I just need to get it all down.
• Write more short stories! One of the things I learned in my fiction class is that shorter fiction is REALLY REALLY fun AND satisfying. To this end, I'm going to write at least one short story a month, either in my Alice in Wonderland world or my Dimension Tournament world. I'm hoping to revamp those novels into linked-short-story sequences, and possibly take those sequences and turn them into novels later, DEPENDING on the results, lol.
• Catch up on this blog. :) I have several posts-in-progress to finish.
• Write every day. I always make this res-er, goal, but I'm just going to keep making it until I accomplish it! :D

Self Doubt

So I know I promised to write a post on critiques, but first I'm posting this. Because this is already written, and the other post is NOT (great excuse, no?). This was an in-class assignment wherein we had to write about our own personal self-doubts about writing.

I didn’t want to open the door. I had just settled into the rented cabin and I was finally ready to start writing. And yet there came Beatrice, my know-it-all big sister, down the icy dirt path, up to the thick oak door, and rapped on it with all her might.

“Let me in, Sharon!” she demanded. “It’s freezing out here!”

I sighed. No help for it. I got up from my warm cushioned chair by the fire, walked across the bare wood-paneled floor to the door and hauled it open.

Beatrice charged in at once, her waist-length blonde hair covered with a snow-frosted shawl. I shut the door behind her as she looked around.

“This looks nice and cramped,” she observed.

“What are you doing here, Bea?” I asked wearily.

“I’ll have some coffee, thanks,” she answered, walking over to my cushioned chair and sinking into it, dripping melted ice onto my blank notebook.

“You realize this little escapade is totally pointless, don’t you?” she asked, pulling off her gloves and dropping them onto the floor. “Even if you can get a lot written out here, you won’t get it published. Do you realize how hard that is? You’re still learning, after all. And if there’s no hope of getting published, what’s the point of writing?”

“For myself,” I murmured, plugging in the coffee machine and getting out two chipped mugs.

“You’re just ostracizing yourself,” Beatrice plowed on. “Writing isn’t a career. You never see your friends, you never spend time with the family—“

“That’s not true!” I exclaimed.

“Well, you don’t even have a boyfriend, your job sucks, you need to spend more time on those things before you go gallivanting off to the mountains to spend time on a hobby—“

I dropped one of the mugs. It hit the floor and broke with the satisfying sound of shattering pottery.

The sound made Beatrice pause and look. I marched over to the chair, my chair, grasped her by the elbow and hauled her to her feet.

“Sorry, I don’t have time for visitors just now,” I told her. “I believe I made that clear when I left.”

Hustling her to the door and ignoring her protests, I added, “I have a lot of work to do. See you in two weeks.”

I hauled the door open; a gust of freezing wind hit us in the face, drowning Beatrice’s angry retort. I pushed her out, slammed the door, and lowered the bolt.

I turned back to the fire, sat in my chair, and picked up my notebook.

Perfect writing conditions.

An Anecdote on Revision

Owing to my overloaded schedule, I had to write a 4-page analytical literature paper in a matter of hours on Friday (it was due by midnight). Normally for final papers like this one, I like to spend about a week on them, pondering, pre-writing, roughing, and editing/revising/rewriting (whichever is necessary). So I was pretty depressed Friday morning, to say the least. It was even more depressing because my sister and her fiancee were coming into town that day, and my little brother had his black-belt confirmation for karate (which I went to, it was just stressful to go away for even a little bit).
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that my sister is a genius. I wrote the rough draft of the paper, feeling okay about it, and printed out a rough and gave it to my sister. She read it thoroughly, and then said something very close to this: "Yes, it all made sense, generally. But I really don't think your conclusion is right. I would take these two paragraphs [the last two], put them at the beginning after your intro, then take these paragraphs [random ones in the middle] and put them at the end, and oh, rewrite this part to make it make sense."
I did what she suggested and VOILA the paper made sense in my brain and on paper. XD It was pretty much the most awesome and hilarious experience ever. I always have issues with conclusions, but this paper in particular was in completely the wrong order. The paper went from being "Meh-licious" to being one that I'm pretty proud of; there were minor errors in the rough too, of course, but the basic structural madness was what really made it so much better.

So, shout-out to awesome beta-readers who manage to find exactly what's wrong and tell you! :D

Coming soon: Fiction-Class Critiques (i.e. How To Take Criticism)

Nano 09 Wrap-up: Drem

I wanted to post a Nanowrimo wrap-up post, but wasn't sure what to even say. Luckily, Snazel's blog is always there to rip off of.

Basic stats:
Total wordcount: 65,071 words-this is partially fake because some of this is just fiction I wrote during the month and incorporated into the novel. Only about 60k of this is actually pure novel.
15 day wordcount record: 40k (I'm pretty pleased with myself that I actually did this....even if I didn't reach 80k overall like I originally self-hypnotized myself to do while under the influence of Halloween zombie-cookies)
Overall sanity casualties: My brain stayed with me for about a week. My emotional equilibrium lasted a little longer.

Stuff I learned:
1. It's hard to have a plot when no one, not you, not your characters, have any clue who the villains are. Bad stuff happens. Okay. Mystery.
2. I not only suck at writing action scenes, I hate writing them. Weird. I always play them out like movies in my head but I can't write them to save my life. Or their lives. Heh.
3. I have a LOT of world-building to do. A lot of stuff I just gave totally lame names (like fortresses and military ranks) because I didn't do any pre-writing, it wasn't covered in Wyrd (Nano from last year that this one is related to), and I had no inspiration whatsoever.
4. Suffixes and prefixes SEEM like a good idea at the time. I still haven't decided how that's all going to work out.
5. I suck at first-person male POVs. Drem is kinda a woman a lot of the time.
6. There is always a good reason to write scenes that involve gratuitous fire of some kind.

Shout-outs to some of my characters (in no particular order except for the first 3):
Drem: Thank you for being easy to write, even though this is probably due to the first-person POV more than your personality. I put you in the hospital-equivalent a lot, didn't I? Sorry about that. I'm looking forward to writing you when you're a bit older and even MORE cynical and world-weary. XD
Byrn: I think I'm in love with you. No, really. *cough* I mean, you jerk, you kept trying to hijack the novel! Luckily it's in first person so that's pretty hard to do, but you still tried to pull a Great Gatsby. I hope you live. Really.
Myra: I had high hopes for you, which you promptly dashed, and then rebuilt yourself. Thank you for surprising me and being a great counter to Drem. He's an idiot, huh?
Vakko: OMJAM I'm in love with you too! You almost took Byrn's place. Almost. It was close. I probably will bring you back at some point because there are just too many possibilities when you're around. Although don't you think the hair is a BIT Malfoy?
Cray: You became more important and more interesting than I thought, but then you just kinda disappeared? Sorry? You'll be back.
Hadric: WOW Byrn kinda HATES you, doesn't he? I thought you were a nice guy but I'm not really sure where you stand right now. But thanks for taking care of Drem for a while.
Akkaro: I really need to change your name because you're trying to channel a certain other character whom I do not own. But I'd like to bring you back, too, maybe in a combo move with Vakko.
Petra: Ahahahahaha. Sorry.
Deia: Wow, I kinda love you too! You were a total surprise. I enjoyed watching you behave like a total b**** and yet somehow totally loveable at the same time. You go girl.

nearing the end

Wow I really haven't been posting here, have I????

The truth is there isn't a whole lot to say. I wrote 40k in the first 15 days of Nanowrimo, and since then I've written 8k chronologically, and 18k in total. I keep having problems because some days I literally have no time to write, and then a couple days pass and when I sit back down I'm all disconnected from the story. IRRITATING.
Yes, I HAVE given up my 80k goal. :P I'm just going to concentrate on getting as much as I can in the last 4 days. :)
I have a lot of stuff to say about my fiction class but it will have to wait for December. Watch this space, I guess???

Oh, I HAVE reached 50k though! w00t! Third win.

everything burns, everyone screams

I hit the third burnout this month today. Third is definitely the worst. It gets better after that, right? *hopeful look*
It's really kinda tragic too cuz I JUST CAUGHT UP yesterday. Blargh.

I did do SOME writing today, though. I critiqued several stories for class, and I wrote 300 words of a short story that's due for Wednesday (a full short, not just a scenario). Can I count that in my nano? PLAX? Whatever.

Starting tomorrow I'm just going to move to 3000 words a day, so hopefully if I miss days or don't make the count certain days, I'll have a cushion? I don't know if that's a good idea though. And I've decided that for the next week at least, school takes priority to Nano. I mean, it was already, but basically what it meant before was that I'd finish hw around 11, and then START Nano for the day? Now I'm going to put a little more emphasis on sleep. :) So we'll see if I reach the 80k. I will definitely reach 50k, though.

It is SO stormy outside! It's been windy all day but once the sun went down its' been pouring and trying to tear the house down. Yay!

Before I Sleep

WHOOOO! This weekend rocked as far as wordcount went. I got 4k in yesterday, and about 3.5k today. :D I might write the remaining 500 before I sleep. I dunnoes.
Of course, tomorrow another week begins, and it's NOT going to be a fun one. Oi.

I totally finished the "Writing Fiction" book I was reading for class today. It's by the Gotham Writing Workshop and was surprisingly good! The last chapter was kinda the business end of it, in a 30-page chapter. ^_^ It was interesting though to see it all in that kind of clear, summarized form. Overall the book is a very good, overall-look at writing. It also has lots of little prompts sprinkled throughout that are VERY helpful for working on the particular things they talk about (they're not the normal, annoying kinds of prompts you find in self-help books that drive me crazy).

kthxbai

"I don't think I feel that way about you Byrn." But *I* do!

This years' Nanowrimo just keeps getting more and more interesting. On the one hand, I love my novel. On the other hand, scraping out the words each day is getting more and more like Professor Umbridge's Quill. You know what I'm saying???

I wrote only like 700 words yesterday, but TODAY I've written 3k so far. :D Probably my most productive day so far. I'm going to attempt to write 1k more today, and then somehow try to get 4k tomorrow, cuz then I will be caught up for my 80k goal. I VANTS 40K TOMORROW. TRUFAX.

Question for the comments: During Nano, when it comes to travel exposition, do you like writing long, drawn-out accounts so that you have more words? Or do you like just writing a brief summary and moving on?

Even the man in the moon disappears somewhere in the stratosphere

Writing has been particularly difficult the last few days. Not really sure why. It's Week Two, maybe? I dunno, I don't like blaming EVERYTHING on the poor dear.

Things I've been noticing about my writing:

• my words get ENORMOUS and beautiful when I write longhand. It's hilarious! No one should have that many SAT-test words in their writing (examples: rhetoric, diatribe, self-deprecating). Sorry.
• I've always heard Nano advice-givers say that it's a good idea to stop in the middle of a scene when you finish writing for the day, because then it's easy to get back in the flow the next day. I have been coming to realize that, for me, this is COMPLETELY UNTRUE. If I stop in the middle of the scene, even if I was writing full-tilt the day before, the next time I sit down to write, I just stare at it for many long minutes that I don't have to waste. It's much better to keep writing until I run out of steam, and then when I come back with fresh eyes it's easier. Usually.

In other writing news, I got a great idea for my next short story, due next Wednesday (short story, not short-short or whatever they're called). Yay! Will talk more about it if/when it works out.

Writing was like pulling teeth today. Like pulling teeth out of a werewolf. But I am NOT BEHIND DARNIT! Have a wordle to celebrate 20k:

Um um um MARBLES

I went to my third official regional write-in today! I haz three marbles (our ML is giving us a different-colored marble for each event we attend, have I mentioned this?): an opalescent black one, a green striped one, and a normal classic one.
I wrote about 1500 words there, in 2 hours, which isn't bad....I suppose...>.> Still working on the rest of the day's count right now. :) We had it at a pizza parlor, and it ended up being hilarious and psychotic cuz it was SOOO BUSY AND CROWDED. Part of it was the fact that there was over 9,000 birthday parties there, and the other part of it was that the Duck game was on (football, vs Stanford, they lost 51-42 and I cried). So yeah that was very exciting...our little group was crammed into a corner and told to just be quiet and write and avoid all other people.
We had a word war that I TOTALLY would have won, only reddening suddenly is like "Oh Stanford got a field goal!" at the very end, so of course I turned and had to watch and cry, and then she beat me by 10 words. CURSE YOU REDDENING. :D
Um yeah I guess I should go finish writing now. kthxbai.

she will reach for a story.

Writing went really well today! I wrote about 800 words in the morning, and then wrote the rest during a write-in at a bud's house. I didn't write OVER my daily count, which I suppose I should while it's going well, but I have HOMEWORK OKAY??? Plus, it's better than physically forcing myself each night to pound out the words, staying up several hours past my bedtime and making me grouchy about the whole process. ^_^ I want to love Nano, not hate it. It needs love.

Widgets are online! You can see my wordcount over there: --------------------->

My fiction class has entered a different phase. We're still doing scenarios, but our midterm was a full short story. Now she's assigning the short stories for us to read, and then we have to mark up the story and fill out a review sheet on it. Basically, we're critiquing them for the authors. Then we'll discuss them in class and pretend the author isn't there. It's pretty fantastic, I'm having a lot of fun doing my best to criticize CONSTRUCTIVELY. :)

And that's about it. I love my MC. Which is good news. It was touch-and-go for the first 10k.

show them how funky and strong is your might!

Total wordcount: 12,206
I plan to be at 13,332 before I go to bed. But first, I'm procrasting and telling you a funny story from the write-in tonight!!

Well, the first funny part was that I forgot it was happening. But I'm over at the community college campus cafeteria (oh yeah) at that time anyway, so I walked in, saw them sitting in the Nano corner, and was like "Hey, it's a bunch of people working, looks like the Nano group does when...Oh. That IS the Nano group." and then had to hastily remember that it was Thursday. XD

Anyway, halfway through the hour that I was with them, I suddenly remembered again that it was Guy Fawke's Day. I'm like "OH it's Guy Fawkes Day! Everyone needs to burn something!" At which they all laughed, of course. Then the ML is like "I feel a word war coming on," and the other ML is like "Yeah."
SIC ML (after explaining how to do a word war): "Okay, we need a noun."
Me: "FIRE!"
*group laughter*
SIC ML: "Okay, then. We also need a phrase."
Me: "'LET'S BURN SOMETHING.'"
Hahaha my end of the table was collapsed in giggles. Because I am so lame. But yeah, she ended up choosing someone else's phrase. XD I don't think she appreciated my pyromaniacs.

Plz continue selling your soul for moar words.

it's too close for comfort

Nanowrimo is actually going pretty well. This makes me nervous, because it should not be happening.
My overall goal is 80k.
Current wordcount is 5349 (which is about the amount I should have for the first two days....haven't written today yet).
My homework is suffering but I haven't actually fallen behind yet. XD I'm planning to catch up today, somehow, so nothing is actually late. I really don't have very much time, though, so I'm not sure how I've been writing.
Anyway, here's to finding the time to write without understanding exactly how you're doing it! It's like Time Lord tech at work or something.....time is bigger on the inside? XD

Day 1 and I'm already using Write or Die?

This is a bad omen.



Total wordcount: 2843

I should mention that I'm not doing "The Missing Door" after all. I started outlining at last only a few days ago, and decided that Stargate has invaded my brain too much for me to be able to write that at all. I also didn't want to try Dimension Tournament because of the popularity of a certain book called The Hunger Games. My other options were Eros/Psyche retelling and HHNF sequel, both of which require a lot of research. So I'm doing Drem, the companion story to Wyrd, instead. :D

Wrimos will look up and shout "save us" and I'll whisper.......no.

Wow, I have an absurdly long list of posts I need to make on this blog....and probably all of them will have to wait until Dec, unless I get really procrastinatory.

NANOWRIMO HAS BEGUN! THE WORLD WATCHES IN TERROR.

I went to my local midnight write-in last night. :) It was fun, although special, experience. XD
Got to Shari's, told them my age, and was told the Wrimos were in a room that minors aren't allowed in. I was like ohhhkay. But then it wasn't actually a room, it was just at one end and slightly partitioned off. So I started an awesome kids table right outside it and ended up being joined by all the COOLEST people. Not even joking, all of the annoying people I remember from last year were totally BEHIND THE WALL. LOLZ it was great. Then the women at my table and I were being super chatty and silly as we pwned words, so then this woman from BEHIND THE WALL came and sneered at us. After a very polite argument, she left and made fun of us to her table-mates and we quieted down a TAD.
I wrote about 1644 words before my head started nodding so I figured I should go home.

Current wordcount: 1644.

List of Shiny

This is more of a mix between Shiny List and Magna Carta I.
Shiny from: Liana
Magna Carta I from: Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem!

Here is mine:
-traitors
-characters saving the lives of other characters
-big bodies of water
-interesting weapons
-badass little-girl-saving
-comedy of errors (things just keep going wrong but hilariously as opposed to disturbingly)
-actually, lots of disturbing errors is shiny too
-romances that start out with hate
-fun hiding places
-snipers
(notice how my brain went from "fun hiding places" immediately to snipers? I saw that. I know.)
-snappy dialog
-interesting inventions
-bizarre locations
-spaceships that go fast. if you know what i mean. *is shot*
-soldiers
-military operations
-the smell of rain
-freaky dreams
-warm colors
-snow

What's up in my writing life

So I believe I mentioned in a previous post (maybe. I'm so behind on here WHO KNOWS.) that I'm taking a fiction-writing class this term. The only reason I've been writing ANYTHING this month is because I HAVE to for the class. Which is pathetic. But also encouraging, because it shows that I CAN write if I have a deadline and creative people poking my brain. ^_^

I don't really understand writing slumps. I mean, I love writing. I really do. So why do I sometimes (OFTEN) want to do just about ANYTHING besides write???? Is it because all my current projects are giving me way too much pressure? That sounds truthful as I type it. :P

But, wow, this post isn't supposed to be self-awareness catalyst. I want to blog about my class, darnit!!!!

Our teacher is really an interesting person. She's the kind of free-flowing, purple-vested, burkenstock-wearing hippie person that normally drives me BONKERS. You know, the smiley teacher that wants to be friends with everyone immediately and says things like "precious" and, well, "precious"? Maybe I'm the only who's bothered by nice people. LOL anyway, she did drive me bonkers for the first three weeks, but I suddenly realized this week that she has ceased to bother me really at all (and today we had a lecture about MEDITATION. Not that I have anything against meditation, but it was just what she WOULD do in a fiction-class.).
Our assignments are mostly 300-word "scenarios" with an assigned prompt, usually involving an emotion (such as love turning to suspicion, which is this week's) or a list of details we have to include (these are killers). I'm really enjoying the scenarios for the most part, though. I'm taking the opporchancity to practice writing stuff I normally don't do, like sci-fi, first-person, future tense, and zombies (I did it for you, Merc. I did it for you. lol.). The future tense and the zombies have been among the most fascinating.
We're also reading short stories by people like Flannery O'Connor (okay, mostly Flannery O'Connor) and a writing how-to book by the Gotham Writer's Workshop??? It's surprisingly good (by surprisingly I mean yes, I DID judge it by its cover). It has good essays by different people about important elements of craft (like plot, characters, description, etc).
Besides all that, we also have two full-length short stories due over the term. I've completed the rough of one.
This leads me to the best part of this class, and that is FEEDBACK. Just having the opportunity to work on our work with other people is great. The teacher gives us TONS of notes and suggestions on our turned-in work, especially the short stories, and we can get lots of verbal feedback if we opt to read ours aloud (I chickened out on the zombie-one. I'm pretty sure you have to have a Zombie Reading Voice, which takes years of training and a special diet.).
All the people in the class are CRAZY, too. It's so refreshing cuz everyone WANTS to be there, and there's no shy or reserved people, so we all discuss and bash and praise. :)

That's really all I have to say about that. :) I'm writing a ton of random fiction that I never otherwise would have, and it's given me plenty of great ideas and lessons for what I should include in future stuff. #win

THIS IS WHAT I CALL epic.

September Recap:
My goals for this month, I believe, were to finish the rough draft of “The Other Country” and add more stuff to HHNF. I failed miserably, of course, in both of those. ^_^ I did work on TOC a bit: I probably got about 10 pages done. I might post teasers of the scenes I wrote on my LJ. Maybe not. None of them are very good.

October Goals:
Read my existing material for “The Missing Door” and plan for Nanowrimo a bit. That’s all I’m attempting this month. XD I just want to remind myself of where I was GOING to go with the story, and figure out if I want to stick to the same plan or change it. Also I need to re-familiarize myself with the characters. :P
I am writing other fiction, though, for my fiction writing class. Most of it is really short pieces but we have a full short story that will need to be written and reworked.

Nanowrimo is NEXT MONTH! I can’t believe it. So crazy. I’m not really excited at all right now, but I think that’s just cuz there’s too much stuff in my brain right now. Hopefully once it starts I’ll get into the swing of things? I’m REALLY excited about the video-casts (or whatever you call them) that they’re doing. The one they’ve done is soooo cheesy but so win.
I haven’t done much recruiting this year, either. I’m pretty sure most of my friends are sick of hearing about it. :) I did mention it in my fiction-writing class, though, and I also sent info on it to a columnist in my area whom I’m in kinda-speaking terms with cuz I went to a workshop of his. :) He has another one in Feb and my father is bothering me to register. It’s moneyyyyyy...Blarg.

On THAT happy note, I'm off! :)

this is my now

*waits eagerly for Nanowrimo site relaunch*

Bahnree's Brain: My Muse

Warning: this is an extremely long post about one of my characters, "Alec" the Horsemaster.

His current role (he's been in several other stories) is in "The Other Countr," my Screnzy about my third world country. I was trying to describe his relationship to the MC, Bahnree (basically my fictional self) to myself. I knew Alec wasn't the love interest, because that would be creepy on so many levels, but I couldn't figure out what his position in the story was, whether he was like the best friend, the brother, the conscience, or what. I realized, with the sudden clarity that a warm snickerdoodle brings, that Alec is nothing more or less than MY MUSE.

I was shocked! I always questioned the existence of my muse, because my "creative works" are so erratic and inconsistent. But, as I thought about it more, whenever I'm the most productive creatively, Alec is there, either peering over my mental shoulder or actually performing in one of my stories. I'm not talking about an imaginary friend, here, either (although I have a long and infamous history with those; personally I think I jsut channeled all my imaginary-friend-creating powers into my writing, so in that sense, all of my characters are imaginary friends....Confused yet?). Alec is just special. During Augustine he was particularly present in my brain, which makes sense, seeing as I drafted HHNF, started The Missing Door and Dimension Tournament, and wrote plenty of other stuff during that year. He also stars in no less than three of my stories: Dreamwalkers, Dreambenders (quite different from the former, fyi) and The Other Country.

When did Alec show up? Very early in my fiction-writing career. Well, not really. Very early in my fiction-writing that actually was productive (he pre-dates my first novel-in-a-month by only 6 months, and I wrote plenty in between). The first story he was in was Dreamwalkers. This was a story told through fictional journal-accounts of myself. So....kinda like day-dreaming, but again I stress the fact (for my own dignity) that Alec was not the love interest. He was the guide between me and my boring life and the crazy adventures I wrote for myself. This was imagination working on its purest level, and this more than anything makes Alec my muse.

The second story Alec appeared in was Dreambenders. This story is retarded, so I won't say much about it. Basically a normal, boring church girl finds out she can control dreams (both hers, other people's, the dreamworld in general) and this has consequences in the real world. Alec shows up at her church and turns out to be, what do you know! A guide sent to help her figure things out.

Seeing a theme here? Pseudo daydreams written down, always containing a guide between worlds. The theme continues in The Other Country, where Alec is Bahnree's advisor and knows a lot more about her country than she does. Or seems to, anyway.

One random-yet-slightly interesting thing to note is that the Dreamwalkers and T.O.C. Alecs look exactly the same and have the same powers (elemental mage). But Dreambender Alec has blonde hair, can only use magic in dreams and has much more limited magic. I don't know what this means.

[This is SO much info that no one cares about but me. Oh well!!!]

I kept wanting to write Alec-centric stories at Augustine, because he was so present, but instead I wrote other awesome stuff (really, I am proud of my creative output that year). Dreamwalkers and Dreambenders, btw, were written March-August 2006, before I did PEN in December and before I did Nanowrimo for the first time in November 2007. The Other Country was written last spring, at the tale-end (tail-end?) of my last productive writing period.

What is Alec doing now, and why isn't he forcing me to write more? I think two reasons. 1, Alec is WAY too laidback. He likes me to motivate myself first before he lends a hand. >.< 2, I think being in T.O.C. so much is taxing and distracting for him. I really should finish that story so he can get back to being my muse full-time.

August Goals Revisited, September Goals, and The Stranger Soundtrack

August Goals:

• Finish third draft of HHNF: Completed!
  
• Finish roughing and editing the last episodes of the Stranger: Just about finished! I just have to rewrite the epilogue cuz it's crappy. :) Episodes 1-20 are on dA and Soul Collectors. I haven't posted 21 yet.

September Goals!!!!

• Add more scenes to HHNF, re-check facts, pay attention to time of year/weather. :) After I do this, I think I'll do a fourth draft to make the writing style consistent (Thanks to Snazel for helping me with this). But the fourth draft will have to wait until October, at least, because I also want to:
  
• Finish the rough of The Other Country (my 09 ScriptFrenzy)! This story is just for fun, but once I finish it I might end up polishing it or, GASPAGE, changing it to prose. I've decided script-writing isn't for me. But still want to finish this.

For the last, er, three episodes of the Stranger I listened to a LOT of Linkin Park (urgh, let's not do that again) but I was amazed at how appropriate the music was for the Stranger and especially for what was happening in the story. Cuh-raze-ay. So this is the Stranger's soundtrack so far:
"In The Shadows" by The Rasmus
"In The End" by Linkin Park
"Somewhere I Belong" by Linkin Park
"Hit the Floor" by Linkin Park
"Easier to Run" by Linkin Park
'Faint" by Linkin Park
"Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park
"What I've Done" by Linkin Park
"Breaking the Habit" by Linkin Park

Various peeks at "The Stranger" final episodes

There are four remaining episodes. Two of them I've finished and the other two I've outlined. The titles of these episodes are:
THE STRANGER and the Dark and Mysterious Fortress
THE STRANGER and the Dark and Mysterious Dark Lord
THE STRANGER and the Struggle for His Soul
THE STRANGER and the End

One character you'll meet is Arden, one of the agents. I wanted to have him in the story a lot, but it's not working out. He would have been the leader of the agents who attacked the good guys in "Unraveling of Mysteries" but the Stranger got too bloodthirsty there and I didn't want to kill him off. He's the most badass, violent, and loyal of the hundred. ^_^ I kinda love him. He's a short half-elf, half-human. His soul-collecting weapon is a scythe. He doesn't let any of the other agents use a scythe because it's his trademark. ^_^ He's kinda egotistical that way. He has no redeeming qualities except a certain protectiveness for his men, whom he views as his possessions (a trait he gets from the DAMDL, of course.).

Look for the new episodes soon. :D

Soul Collectors

this was never the way i planned: not my intention

I'm just about done with The Stranger: Episode 19. I still feel like it's too self-indulgent and not humorous enough, so I'm going to keep bashing on it today. I have four days left of August to rough and edit the remaining two episodes. Yes, I'm fairly sure that there's only two more episodes after this. I'm still annoyed I couldn't make it a perfect 20. Stupid agents taking too long to die!!!!

The good news is I ironed out the remaining issues in my outline. ^_^ So I know exactly what's going on. I say that a lot but I rarely mean it, have you noticed this??? But this time I mean it. Any problems that exist, I am unaware of them and will not discover them until I'm in the midst of writing. And by that time it will be TOO LATE! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Or I'll just revert to the classic "Rocks fall; everybody dies" plan.

EDIT: Now with photos!!!

The draft of Episode 19, modeling my old drawing board that I unearthed today (now I can say, "Back to the drawing board" even while writing, and it'll be true! Win!!!):
And from the back:
Next up, the proof copies of my two Nanowrimo wins, from CreateSpace. I'm not going to publish through them, but it was fun to get the copies. ^_^
And from the back:

I should know that you're not gonna change

I am technically done with the third edit of "Hell Hath No Furies." However, it's still absurdly short, and I'm trying to decide if I care. Haha. And, if I do care, what I should add. I've considered adding a sub-plot with Adrastus and Minthe, but I feel like that would make the story unfocused. Ya know??? Also, if I gave THEM a sub-plot, wouldn't ALL fourteen of the Athenians want one??? Haha. My beta-readers want more of the gods. Again, I kinda feel like that would make the story unfocused.
I'M TOO CONCISE AND FOCUSED DAMMIT!!!!
Athena and Eros could get more scenes, but I feel like they'd be repetitive. Zeus and Hera could get some scenes, perhaps even a scene with Hades or something.

I have two questions for the comments:
1. Do you like including a lot of sub-plots in a story? Either the kind that are actually very connected to the main plot and only show this at the end, or just the kind that are about people or things nearby the main story.
2. How important is weather to you in a narrative? Do you include a lot of it, do you care, does it matter?

Nanowrimo '09 Thoughts

Here are my current ideas (only four!!! shocking!!):

• The Missing Door: I only have about 10k written on this story, even though I love it and want to finish; but what I have was written last year so I wouldn't feel bad just scrapping and starting over. EDIT: It's a sci-fi/mystery/thriller in a universe where people travel from planet to planet through teleportation devices called doors. Yes, one goes missing.
  
• Eros and Psyche retelling: something like what I did with HHNF. As much as I love the Eros character I've developed, I really have no other ideas for what I would do with this story, or really much inspiration for it. Snazel wants it a lot, though. ^_^
  
• HHNF sequel: This would center around the battle with Perseus, Ariadne's death, and Dionysus' quest to get her and Semele back. I've been wanting to do this since December 07. Lolz.
  
• Drem Escalion: This story takes place in Wyrd's universe, and is a first-person story about an infamous character in Altera's history. I don't have a whole lot sketched out for this story but I would also love to do it. ^_^ EDIT: Drem is known in "Wyrd" for betraying the country, starting a war, killing some people.....basically I'm going to tell the story from his POV, where he tries to explain what he did and did not do, and why, since there a lot of truths and lies in everything he's accused of.

I meddled in the future, in all possible futures...in the end they created me.

I've managed to trap Macana and the Stranger in a completely impossible situation. I made the mistake yesterday (orrrr the day before?) of writing out a fairly comprehensive outline of the rest of the story. It took me 15 minutes of staring at the screen to come up with ANY way for them to win, and the way I wrote is just absurd and cheesy. Although I suppose the heart thing that saved them last time was cheesy too.
So, of course, I sent off the whole thing to my professional "Stranger" consultant (well, not technically pro, but she's pretty amazing ^_^) and we've been batting ideas around since then. We're at the point where the metaphysics are exploding my brain, and I'm considering more and more just killing off BOTH of them. >.> But since the story is (supposedly...it started out this way) a humorous parody of fantasy, I think killing them both off would be rude. *gives Lint a significant glance* I've actually been comparing the Stranger to Lint a lot lately, actually. They both started as just random, silly things for fun by people with few skills and then just turned into epics. ^_^ I think I'm just as self-indulgent as Lint's author is, anyway. Oh, and I DID start writing the Stranger before I read Lint, btw.

HHNF is being edited. :) I'm still doin' it! Go Go Go! That's really all I have to say about it.
Actually, I've been remembering how much I fail at weather. I don't mean I fail at describing weather (although that's entirely possible). I fail at even mentioning what is going on outside when characters are outside. And in HHNF, when they're outside MOST of the time, I think this is kinda necessary. I meant, this time around, to decide for certain what time of year it was, what weather the area would be getting, and insert at least MENTIONS of this at appropriate places. I've been mostly forgetting to do that. ^_^ So I'm going to do a "weather-round" when I'm done, I guess. Just waltz through and sprinkle some weather. Oh my goodness I am so lame. XD

the sky was thick with crows

Wow so one of my favorite writing bloggers ever posted out of the blue today!!!! She hasn't posted since Nano, I think. Anyway it made me happy so here I am. ^_^

Still working on August goals, despite all the distractions being flung my way!!! Summer is almost over. :( Very tragical.

I have the rough done for the next Stranger episode but still need to rewrite it, and I have (I think) 3 more episodes after that? So I need to get on that.

Hell Hath No Furies is coming along...slowly....This is the third edit and I think I'm going to put it in a dark box in a dark corner somewhere and never look at it again. ^_^ I don't think it's good enough to even attempt publishing and I don't think I could ever get it into shape for it. Which is okay, I just want to finish this edit and put the thing to rest.

I've got him monologuing now, chaps!

I'm going to start again on HHNF tomorrow. >.< I am! It's true. I shall. I'm finally done with all the crazy reading for my class, so I have a bit more time. Although my sister and her new fiance are also coming tomorrow, sooo who knows how crazy that's going to be. :D
Ummm but I have been working on the Stranger a lot! I didn't write anything new today, I mean further chronologically, but I edited two episodes (which are now up, btw) and I've kinda squared away on how I want to divide the rest of the episodes. I'm sad cuz I thought I was going to be able to pull off an even 20 of episodes, but I've had to add one, and I'll probably have to add more. :) I have three more for sure, and one of those will very possibly sprout like five. hahaha. Yeahhhh.

I have yet to touch HHNF this month, but The Stranger is going well. ^___^ I've written, well, okay, I've only written about 2k but I'm TRYING, okay? XD
Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep (been suffering from insomnia lately), I suddenly had one brain-wave after another about stuff that is going to happen in the Stranger. It was hilarious, just all these things previously I had no CLUE about (like, for example, who the DAMDL is or what he/she/it is trying to do....oh yeah, and if the DAMDL was a man, woman, or creature) were suddenly all falling into place. At first I was like, "Yeah, okay, remember that for the morning." but after around the 10th epiphany I just got up and started writing it all down. ^__^
So, in conclusion, I totally know everything now. EXCEPT where the Stranger's soul is. And also, how they're actually going to BEAT the DAMDL now that I've made him/her/it freaking invincible.
*shakes head*

Also, is it just me or has Numair been wittier than normal, lately? I didn't intend to make him the go-to man for comic relief, but that's kinda what he's doing. *glowers at Numair*

not thinkin' bout tomorrow, singin' sweet home alabama all summer long

My fellow writers (specifically Snazel, Merc, and Sparky) are shaming me with their productiveness, so I'm going to make some GOALS! Lolz! And totally complete them. So without further ado:

AUGUST GOALS (look, the letters are all large and friendly!):

• Finish The Stranger roughs for the remaining episodes
• Finish the third edit of Hell Hath No Furies
• Keep up with homework ^__^

After that, if I'm a good girl, I can work on DT. <3

I have written over 1,000 words today, though, it's true. I have this enormous assignment for my children's lit class. Basically we have to read 20 books and write up summaries and answer a lot of questions for each one (this is aside from all the normal writing and reading assignments for the class). It's just absurdly epic. Anyways.

We've been smoking funny things

In an effort to keep from cutting myself in class today (I jest, but only just), I did a freewrite of thoughts about DT. Basically before today I have a very VAGUE idea about who the "good guys" were, and an even vaguer idea of who the bad guys were. But now, ta-da! I have a lot of it figured out. Not all the details, of course, but I know where I'm going. XD
One thing's for sure, I'm going to have to develop Miranda a heck of a lot more. I knew I was going to, eventually, but it wasn't so much necessary as satisfying my curiosity. ;) And no, Miranda is *not* a planet, you crazy Browncoats.

HHNF is at a standstill for lack of any sort of kind-hearted feeling toward it.

The Stranger is progressing, but I decided I can't post any more episodes until I reach the end, because there's too much madness and I'm not sure how I'm splitting it up.

it's the night of our nightmares

I've been working on Dimension Tournament, off and on-ish lately, mostly outlining but working on some scenes too. The problem is, what I have (about 13k) was written more than a year ago, so I kinda have to rewrite what I have before I can really move on. That's just the kinda girl I am. So Snazel, I AM working. Trufax. I just don't have much of anything new for you yet.

ANYWAY, I've been thinking a bit about Nanowrimo lately as well, cuz people/Nano have been thinking as well, and I was thinking about Chester again. Anyone remember the poor guy? My nano novel last year, Wyrd, was originally going to star him and Marly. Then, as the plot evolved, Marly faded into the background a bit and Chester/Cheron was replaced by Fenwick, who is a completely different kind of awesome.
Tonight I was thinking about where I could possibly put him, and realized that he would be PERFECT for DimTourn. I mean, really, he's completely homeless and friendless, so a multi-world story where I wouldn't necessarily have to give him an entire world and backstory and everything, would be excellent. Here's a brief character design (not history) for you:

Chester is a 23-year-old gentleman, typically dressed in an all-purple three-piece suit. He occasionally sports a purple fedora as well. His ethnicity is similar to a Native American, although he will not be placed in our world. He wears his hair fairly short. His weapon is a two-bladed spear, about 6 feet in length: each blade is about half the length of the handle and leaf-shaped, while the handle is well-worn brown leather wrapped around a steel core. He himself is just over 6 feet and rather thin. His personality is particularly callous, but he enjoys his callousness and is rather charming about it. He can come across as extremely charming and gallant when he wants to, but his lack of friends and abundance of enemies would tell you otherwise. He has a liking and affinity for cats, however, and is often to be found with one, although he has no constant feline companion. Despite his wealthy appearance, he owns no property. He likes to travel and rarely stays anywhere longer than a week unless he's found something of profit to work on. His skills are in the use of his weapon, gambling, and politics.

A Fairy Tale

When do you use "further" and when do you use "farther"? That is my question, friends.
I had to write a fairy tale as part of my children's lit midterm (other parts of the midterm include analyzing my own fairy tale....gross). I had to make sure there were some cultural and/or social values included, and I also had to choose 5-7 elements from a list and incorporate them. I chose the prince, the sea, a talking fish, a lion, a golden ball, and a sword. I also had to do it in 2 double-spaced pages, which was DEFINITELY the hardest part of the whole assignment.
Here it is, and my apologies for its utter lameness, clicheness, and overall hoity toity tone. I haven't done a hoity toity in years; it was kinda fun.

Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a castle by the sea. His father the king ruled over his people, the Marans, who all had a great love of ships and seafaring. The prince, too, loved ships, and when he was fifteen years old he began to build himself a seaworthy boat. When he was 20, it was finished: a beautiful light ship, fast and sturdy. He named it the Spearfish. Obtaining leave from his father, the prince sailed off on his first sea-voyage alone. He had decided he would not return home until he found something of value, or something to prove that he was worthy of being the king’s heir.
His voyage started smoothly. He visited several nearby islands, and then ventured far away from the mainland, farther than he had ever gone before. After many days he had nearly depleted all of his food. The prince tried to catch a fish to feed himself, and at last caught one. It was very large. The sun sparked off its silver scales as the prince dropped it on the deck of his ship, about to kill it and clean it. To his surprise, the fish stared up at him and spoke!
“O Prince, please do not kill me. If you release me, I will show you to an island no man has seen before!”
The prince, amazed that the fish could speak, felt sorry for it. He put it back in the water, even though he did not believe the fish would actually show him to land, and said, “Be free, fish!”
The fish swam around the ship, happily, and then poked its head out of the water and said, “Now, if you follow me, I will show you to the island, where my mistress lives and rules over the animals.”
The prince, still not sure if he believed the fish, decided to follow it anyway. He followed it all of that day, and just as the sun was setting, they reached land. The prince did not recognize the island, but moored his Spearfish and went ashore. Just as he set foot on the sand, a woman came walking out of the trees toward him. She was very beautiful, with golden hair and bright blue eyes.
“The fish has told me of your kindness,” she said. “Now I am hoping you may help me as well. I have lost something very important to me, my magic golden ball. It was stolen from me by a lion; he ran off into the woods. Could you go after the lion and get it back to me?”
The prince, although surprised by this turn of events, told her he would. After all, she was a beautiful lady, and he was a young man. He started off in the direction she indicated.
A few miles into the trees, the prince found signs of the lion. He followed them, eager but cautious. He tracked the lion to its cave, and saw places where its hair had rubbed off, but of the lion he could see nothing. The prince walked carefully up to the cave and peered in. He saw a glint of gold somewhere inside so he entered. There at the back of the cave was the golden ball! The prince hurried over to it and picked it up; it was cool in his hand.
At that very moment he heard a growl, and turned around. There was the lion, blocking the entrance of the cave! The prince drew his sword with his right hand, holding the ball in his left.
“Give it back to me,” the lion growled, threatening the prince with a massive paw. “It belongs to me.”
The prince shook his head. “It belongs to a lady. She has asked me to give it back to her. I will not fail.”
The lion roared furiously and leaped at the prince, who dodged aside. The two battled in the cave, one using teeth and claws, the other using his sword, until at last the prince saw an opening. He ducked under a swipe of the lion’s paw, moved in, and was about to run his sword through the lion’s chest when the lion looked down at him, and the prince locked eyes with it. He dropped his sword with a clatter, and instead held the golden ball out to the lion.
“Here is your treasure, lady,” the prince said.
The lion roared, and then transformed back into the beautiful woman.
“You have done well,” she said. “You are both kind and clever. You are worthy of being king after your father.”
After that, the magical lady from the island went home with the prince in the Spearfish, and when they arrived back at the castle, she became his wife, and they lived happily ever after.

Things will not calm down. They will, in fact, calm up.

Work on the Stranger continues! At a belabored pace. I'm so amused at how confused I am now about the last few episodes. There's sooo much that has to happen, and not really any of it can be assigned to one episode or another? So I don't know if it should just be a massive four-parter or what. :P I've written quite a lot, I just can't really decide where the episode should stop. Soooo yeah.

In other news, I have to write a fairy tale for my children's lit class! *excited* It has to incorporate a few elements from a list that we were given, and has to have some sort of a moral lesson. I haven't really gotten inspired yet but I'm going to do some freewriting today and see what happens. I know I'm going to use a prince, possibly not as my hero.

I am, therefore I fail. ;)

I started writing the next Stranger episode today, and realized I could NOT, because I screwed up about five things in the episode I just posted. Soooo I'm pulling the episode for now until I can fix everything. *shakes head* I think I was asleep when I reviewed my continuity checklist for that episode. :P

Hahahahaha funny story, too! I realized (in class today, good grief) that I could totally write a spin-off series and call it, "The Stranger: Atlantis." That made me choke back a laugh in class, let me tell you. I'm NOT, of course, because...that would be stupid, plus I really just don't want to write that much about the destiny-obsessed crazies over there.

"That's the dramatic warning I was expecting."

"Ohmigosh, no wai!"

I wrote today! I totally did! And it wasn't for school, or blogging!
I finished the next episode of the Stranger. It needs a lot of editing, though, cuz it's too long and really rambling. :P I'll try and work on it later today, I guess. After this one, there's only 3 more! Yay! I HAVE to finish by September 6th, because there is NO way it should have taken a year to do the series. :P Let's face it.

I have to go do stuff now, but then I'm going to force myself to come back and edit some of HHNF. I want to finish the third edit of that before the summer ends. *fierce* I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

something for snazel to read

I'm in a serious writing....I dunno....hell? Any self-motivation that I managed to scrape together during my short life has completely fled away to the far corners of the galaxy. Any inspiration or desire or liking for writing went with it. I think they're having an affair, personally. I try to write, and get a couple sentences down, and then I wince at the pathetic-ness and slink away. I have soooo many projects that used to be fun that I *could* work on. I just don't. I don't force myself to write every day like I should. It's summer, so I finally have TIME to work on projects, and I don't.

On a slightly more positive note, I *am* helping snazel to write more. Not that she wasn't doing an excellent job of productivity before. ;) One of my favorite bloggers, Merc, wrote this post about how to finish stories. I sent it along to snazel, who immeditately asked me to physically threaten Varesh Elm, a character of mine. He's one of the leads in Dimension Tournament (working title, it really needs an actual title, lol) and also stars in this short story. If she fails of her goal, I'm going to be really annoyed cuz I'll have to kill him. And I would really rather not. *glares severely at snazel* I will do it, though.

Anyway, as I said, nothing productive, enlightening, or even particularly entertaining in here, but go read Merc's post! Follow her! Adore! Worship!

black holes and book covers

I'm sorry I haven't been posting regularly in this blog at all. :( I'm still made of fail, fail, fail.

But happeh news! I got my copy of Hell Hath No Furies today! That is like epicly speedy, cuz I ordered it on the 27th, I think? Or the 28th? No earlier, anyway. My mom kinda freaked out, despite me telling her that it really doesn't mean anything to have a proof copy of a self-published book. :P Or maybe I'm just overly cynical. But I don't think so. Anyhow, Nanowrimo/CreateSpace contract FTW!!

[I was going to insert pictures here but they turned out crappy so I'll try again later.]