As I mentioned in my Thursday post, I'm currently at war with my WiP. Though we've begun settling our differences. I had a great CP session with Tobi last night, and we talked out a lot of the problems we've both been having with our books, and I got some great feedback on my A-Z snippets and my new plans for WS. Yay! ^_^
So, I totally missed Flash Fiction Friday, haha. It's a little belated, but I want to keep up the illusion of a schedule.
This FFF is a little different: This is an old prose poem from my first college level CW class. It's based on a prompt and set in the world of the very first novel I seriously sat down to write - and ultimately dropped. The two main characters - Shaye and Magius - have been floating around, homeless, since then. Magius is one of those characters that has a different incarnation in every book I write - Wolf (a little bit) from EQ; Matthew (a lot closer to the original Magius) from Knight. Currently, he has no incarnation in WS - maybe that's part of the problem, ^_~
On to the flash fiction:
Prompt – A Poem That Takes the Form
of a Postcard Written From a Place that Doesn't Exist
Greetings friend, whose distance as of
now has troubled me rarely. I admit I still hold slight bitterness towards
your scorn for my journey. Rellis! You laughed at my destination, in
turn, my dreams. But Rellis I have found. And though it's dappled horses are
weak and short, its water ill to drink, and its people downtrodden in spirit –
I bring light! Like a god: my goods, my spirit, my life. I tell them –
tell me all and I can heal you, for I can show you the good in the bad. They took me to
the capitols, old and new. In their wealthiest cities I was still king.
And that is how I am treated! I'm taken to Mt. Hirius, source of all
their troubles. Shaking my fist I announced, “You shall not beat
these people!” Cheers I received in abundance. Satisfied I have conveyed my triumph,
enjoy the mediocre. And farewell.
I've been super quiet lately, and my Google Reader is just about bursting with blog posts and articles I can't wait to read. I actually do catch up, most of the time. I'm still a fairly big lurker - I need to be in the right mood where I don't feel mortified about my lame commenting abilities in order to be social.
So, what have I been up to?
Well, The Wandering Shadow needed my attention. And more than just me half-heartedly poking at it during the week, wondering why it wouldn't behave and just write itself. Oh yeah, that's my job. I'm the one that has to write it, no matter how much I wanted it to finish itself. Or at least, start itself.
I've been having some major problems getting immersed in WS's world. Which is sort of a first for me. I normally love jumping into worlds and exploring. Then I start throwing together characters to wander around and blink blearily at each other like, "Ok, now what?"
Well, that's not entirely true. First I think up a character. But then I let the idea fight an epic battle with the other ideas in my head, and then itself, and then I'm all about the world! Once the dust settles and the fighting is done with, I normally have a grand stage to populate.
Not so with Wandering Shadow. Not so much at all.
This is how WS and I have been communicating lately.
I have these amazing characters (I think, haha) and they're ready to run around and bash people in the shins with metal poles, or rock out on top of crumbling skyscrapers, and I have them... standing in the middle of an empty road... staring. Just... staring...
This road is more interesting than the one I dragged them to.
And that was after painstakingly dragging them to that spot. Why did I drag them to such a boring place?!
Well, that's what has been occupying most of my time. I had a minor breakthrough on Monday night, which became a major breakthrough by Wednesday morning, so I'm hoping things start to flow a tiny bit better. And that's enough of my sorry news. Let me leave you with something more exciting.
1.The YA Scavenger Hunt started today! It's very exciting. It's 60 authors, I believe, and everyone's giving away tons of great prizes. I highly recommend checking it out.
2. I'm almost, sorta, well actually only halfway through my A-Z prepping. Luckily, I've gotten the first half just about done, so even if I don't finish all 26 before April, I'm good for the first couple of weeks.
Have you already heard about the hunt? Are you tearing apart a WiP? Or coasting through edits? I hope you're having a great week! Just one more day and then the weekend, right?
"There's a misconception about Blood Magic. A common beginner's error, if you will. So many believe the more blood, the more powerful. But that's not always the case. This memory spell, for instance," she let the tip of the knife dangling light in her fingers slip down, just enough to touch and pierce the top of the man's adam's apple. "It only needs a beggar's worth of payment. Just three drops."
There was a slow building light of sanity and hope entering his eyes. She watched as he resisted the desire to swallow. The stench of his breath made her nose scrunch and lips thin.
"Then, p-p-please, you, then you'll-" his babble became thick and wet, red bubbled at his lips as his eyes widened.
It probably had something to do with the knife shoved into his gut.
"But sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry. Don't you agree?"
{AN: I'm beginning to develop the characters I've created for my novella. I'm beyond excited to see how this lovely lady's intentions and past will unravel.}
I would first like to share a letter to The Weather.
Ahem.
Dear Weather,
Seriously? 80 degrees in March?
You've probably made a lot of people happy this past week. And according to my widget, this is going to last for a few more days.
But, being a person that enjoys 'late winter/early spring' & autumn weather best, please, remember it's not quite time for summer. Not yet.
Sincerely,
K.S.
So, after the laziest weekend ever, which is odd since last weekend was fairly productive, I'm starting off the week with a little more oomph. I've got plans for a novella of sorts that I'll probably be posting about soon, and I'm reading through The Jester's Apprentice, a medieval mystery I picked up during Read an eBook Week. I've been craving a mystery novel lately. So far it's been a lot of fun, though I keep forgetting it's medieval. So when they do very medieval-y things I'm always surprised, haha.
And I'm happily chugging my way through my A to Z Challenge planning. With my spotty memory, a day's worth of anti-shyness rallying before posting anything on the internet, I figured it was best to prepare my posts before April. And, since I did sort of find out about this a little close to deadline, haha, I'm keeping things simple by centering them all around my current W.i.P, The Wandering Shadow.
But how is any of this writing news more important than this: Minecraft works on my computer! Granted, it only works for about twenty minutes, and has a high rate of causing my computer to overheat and crash, but it works!
I like Minecraft, even if I think it's one of the scariest things I've ever seen. And I like scary. But I like reading scary. And watching scary. Playing scary? Not so much. I'm a total coward! And Minecraft does such an amazing job of creating a creepy vibe even when you're in a perfectly safe part of the game.
No, I mean it. Need inspiration for a tense or horrifying scene? Look no further than creepers, zombies, haunting music, and the dreaded Endermen!
Apparently these guys are not that threatening or scary.
But I turned around in the game and this guy was just standing and staring at me and I totally yelped.
That's right - yelped.
It's like when I stumbled upon the Something Awful creation - The Slender Man. Talk about creepy!
Now that I've made myself paranoid for the rest of the day, I'm going to go write. And... not play Minecraft.
Happy Friday everyone! And have a great St. Patrick's Day weekend?
This flash fiction isn't really themed, but, it's one I've been wanting to write since the beginning.
Flash Fiction #4
He draws the circle with the pad of his finger. The paint is thick, but by the time the ending point meets the staring point, the line is beginning to thin and waver. He bites the inside of his cheek as, behind him, he hears the scratching of a quill. The circle is weak. He'll need to fix the last small arc. It will be a point against him. Inside the circle is a triangle, which he completes with three even, bold lines that almost makes him sigh with relief. Inside that is another circle, and inside that two triangles, overlapped and in opposition. A six pointed star. He's doing well now. He doesn't hesitate to go back to the original circle, to the framed, clean wood caught between curved lines and straight lines. The triangle has separated the space into three, for the three gods, and he draws their symbols with new paint. He can really feel it now. A bubbly warmth inside his gut. A pressure behind his eyes sinking deeper into his head to crawl down his spine. It's unsettling and uncomfortable but also exhilarating. He never feels more alive than in the moment right before a spell is complete. In the center he lays a thick branch, already covered in runes. He places one hand to the right of the construct, and the other hand on the to the left. The spell barely leaves his lips before the branch ignites. The flames are blue and hot for an instant before fading to cheery yellow and read. He can feel the sting of the heat on his face, but not much else. Inside the flames, they say, he should be able to see his future.
My CP and friend Tobi tagged me in this snazzy bloghopping phenom: 11 Questions. I was compelled to answer them.
The 11 Questions I Had to Answer:
1. Favorite TV show? So hard to choose! Though I'd probably say One Piece. Hmm…
Can I pick more than one? How about I just split it into three categories - 30 min, 1hr, and animated. In order, Parks and Rec, Castle, and One Piece!
2. Beach or ski resort? Hmm… well… I'm scared of the thought of skiing, and I hate deep waters (where mysterious creatures lurk, like sharks and jellyfish and Cthulhu). I guess the beach for the ice cream. Yum.
Cthulhu waits for you. Let's snorkel and see the jellyfish.
3. What's your favorite part of the writing process? Writing character interactions. Nothing was more fun inEQthan writing Red/Wolf conversations, or Hunter/Tertius. And in Knight, Erin/Matthew convos.
4. Self-publishing or traditional? Hmm… I guess self-publishing. I'd like to be a part of both.
5. If you could have any one food every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Rice. Maybe ice cream. I don't suppose the two would combine well, huh?
6. If you met an alien, what would you do? I hope I would act like Pegg and Frost in Paul. We'd all chill and hang out and have an adventure. Just, no drugs. Alcohol is ok.
8. How do you relieve stress? Video games, for sure. Tetris or Picross are great no-thinkers, or any RPG to level-grind. I like to do monotonous tasks, haha. And, of course, read.
9. If you ever got the chance to participate in a really big tomato fight, would you take it? Omg, yes!
10. Craziest thing you've ever done/would like to do? Hmm… I'm a fairly boring person… I guess moving to Chicago after college! Does that count?
11. What are your favorite boys' and girls' names? Well, my favorite boys' names are: James, Matthew, & Tobias And my favorite girls' names are: Emily, Emma, & Anna
Ok, so, 11 new questions for any of you awesome people that feel like doing this. I have no clue who to tag, so if you see this and would like to answer some silly questions, have at it.
1. What's your favorite fairy tale? 2. Have you ever written a scene that suddenly introduces a new character not previously created, and that character becomes important? 3. Quick! You're trapped in a library with a zombie! You just threw Pride and Prejudice at its head. It doesn't appreciate classics. What do you do next? 4. How bad was that joke? 5. Do you have a favorite genre? 6. Would you stay in a supposed haunted house overnight if given the chance? 7. Favorite color or pattern? 8. What made you want to start blogging? If you don't have a blog, would you ever consider starting one? 9. Seven-leagued boots or invisibility cloak? 10. What's the oddest thing you've heard/seen while in an elevator? Or, if you've never been in an elevator (hey, anything's possible), the strangest thing you've heard/seen while waiting in a line? 11. If you woke up inside your favorite movie, what is the first thing you'd want to do (besides find a way back home)?
Write-a-Thon #1 Overview
Well, how many words can I write in a day? Not many, when I let myself get distracted. Haha.
I did fairly well from 10am to 2pm. I didn't write many words, maybe close to 4,000. But I did plan out the first 2/3s of Damsel, a little bit more of WS, and I wrote chapter 6 of WS, and I had a lot of fun. But, and I can't believe I did this, I turned on the TV!
I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe for bg noise? Terrible idea because the next thing I know I'm sucked into two dramas - Morgan Freeman's Lean on Me,and Matthew McConaughey's A Time to Kill And then at 7pm, which was the time I expected to stop, Once Upon a Time, Desperate Housewives and GCB came on.
(For the record, I don't watch Desperate Housewives regularly. I've seen two episodes, and that's because it's between OUaT and GCB. But I kind of wish I did watch it, because it seems pretty interesting.)
(Also for the record, this is probably one of my favorite episodes of OUaT. Though I was disappointed by one or two things in the real-world of the show. The fairy tale portion was flawless.)
Snow and Red plan to hunt the wolf, in the episode: Red-Handed
Why did I turn on the TV?!
So, I think next Sunday or the one after that I'll try a mini Write-A-Thon, to see how many words I can write in half a day. And this time I won't turn the TV on.
So... my crazy plan to write the day away is going both well and terrible.
What I've discovered so far:
1. My plan to 'write whatever I feel like writing' is not a good one. I think I need to decide to work on just one thing, or maybe two, splitting the day at a definitive point. Because, man, my brain jumps to different things WAY too often.
Woke up around 10am thinking it was 9am because, haha, did you know the clocks changed last night? Well, wrote 300 words of random fun to start off my day and then ate a late breakfast with Ghost Adventures on as background noise, because I was eating something too messy to type while munching on. Jumped back in for another 200 words of random fun. Then trouble hit.
2. Mapping out a book counts? No? Darn.
Around noon is when I decided to switch tracks. I wanted to do something a little more focused and useful, so I re-read chapter five of WS to jump into chapter six. Got a couple of hundred done for that and then, bam, mind jumped. I decided, hey, why not map out Damsel (book 2 of Mist Walkers)?
So, I started mapping out Damsel. I must say, I'm super excited for Damsel. Mist Walkers is four books long, and, while I shouldn't be picking favorites, I think Damsel is going to hold a special place in my heart. I was relieved at how easily mapping out the first third of Damsel was, compared to how WS drags its feet through almost every chapter and planning session.
3. That's when I realized that this experiment for the day was working both great and terrible. I want to be able to sit down and focus, but I had essentially told myself it was ok not to focus so long as I was writing. Pros and cons on both sides.
4. I probably shouldn't type with my laptop actually on my lap. Ouch. Hot.
5. So, I'm going to try and spend the second half of today, after my break for lunch and before I quit for Once Upon a Time at 7pm, working exclusively on chapter six of WS and the first section of a short story I started last week.
But, all in all, the experiment has been great fun so far. And that's really what counts.
Why did I wake up at 7:30am on a Saturday? And sometimes I have the most random dreams. I was a waterbender (like from Avatar: The Last Airbender), and I was running from some firebenders on these train tracks (but think cyberpunk-ish, weird train tracks/trains) that circled a big waterfall gorge (being a waterbender, this was rather fortuitous). I ran into these twin ninja assassins that were also hunting me, but a tall, muscular old knight helped me out... and I woke up while in the process of trying to buy a horse called SweetSugar - the horse was not sweet by the way, but insane. The hermit selling him in the middle of nowhere told me so.
Wah? That was an odd one.
Anyway...
1. The WiP Movie Blogfest was awesome. I'm still jumping around to other blogs to see the entries, because I'm slow about these things, haha.
2. I received my proof copy of the EQ from CreateSpace! (print-to-order book seller, if you didn't know) It looks amazing! I'd have flagged is as good-to-go if I hadn't found one chapter - one chapter! - where I accidentally forgot to delete some header content. So, it's not up for general sale that way yet.
I apologize for the dopey look on my face. And my crazy hair. Except not really because eeeeeeee PROOF COPY! I love eBooks, but I'm always going to love print copies more.
For those who don't know, which is probably most of you, haha, I'm interested in both sides of the publishing field - self-published and traditional. The Eternal Queen is a weird book (though I think it's great and a lot of fun, as did my beta readers), but weird from a traditional published/marketed type of book pov, so it didn't seem like I'd have a better reason to jump into the self-published world then with EQ.
3. Speaking of EQ - Today is the last day of Read an eBook Week! You can still find The Eternal Queen for free on Smashwords (coupon RE100).
4. Do any of you watch Awake? It's a snazzy new show on NBC. It has a) Jason Isaacs, b) weird 'which world is a dream-world' or 'are they both dream worlds?' concept, and c) the acting is quite top-notch. Apparently, I heard the ratings aren't that great, which baffles me. It's only the second episode, so I hope they don't think of shutting it down before it has a chance to start.
5. And since I got on the topic of TV - Who else is super excited for the Red Riding Hood story on Once Upon a Time? Since Red Riding Hood fractured tales hold a dear place in my heart (EQ is heavily inspired by RRH), I cannot even begin to tell you how patiently I've been waiting for Ruby's story. ^_^
I think that's all the exciting news from the past week. I'll leave you now with the delayed Flash Fiction Friday! Happy writing everyone!
FLASH FICTION FRIDAY: #3
The first time she sees Marla trapped in a vision it's a Friday-night-that's-really-Saturday-morning-damn-it-to-hell-it's-so-early-it's-still-late and she's just managed to slip into the strange floating realm of exhausted almost-dreams. A blood-curling scream rings throughout the house, ignoring the boundaries of doors and walls like they're not built for the purpose of keeping unwanted things out.
Like the rest of her dorm-mates, she stumbles from her room into the hallway, feet slapping the hardwood without care, eyes wide, a half-formed spell caught between upper teeth and bottom lip. Once they realize they're not in danger or under attack or about to be pulled into one of Gregor's mad drills, they focus on the important thing – Marla.
Marla's mouth is opened wide, but the shadows from the dim lighting make it look like a black hole, an abyss, a gateway to hell – that's the only explanation for the inhuman screech. Her lips are red and wet in the flickering candlelight. Gregor's thick arms are encircling her bird-like body, cradling her.
She thinks, later, when she's nestled back under her covers and the adrenaline of surprise has faded completely, that it wasn't that impressive. The terrifying scream had only lasted a second, and then the only sounds escaping Marla had been strange, low whimpers, like a begging dog. Her body hadn't convulsed in a seizure. She'd just lair there like a limp doll and then suddenly closed her eyes and gone to sleep, mouth clicking shut with a loud snap.
'In fact,' she scowls into her pillow. 'It was barely nothing. But she'll get all the attention for months after this. Just what she'll want.'
1. Post a photo of actors/actresses you would like to play the characters in your WiP if it were to be made into a movie. Can be one character or whole cast.
2. Soundtrack your movie! Head over to YouTube and post a song that best describes one of your characters, or your story as a whole. Again, you can pick one song or several.
Well, I got stumped on the soundtrack for the better part of "up until now". So it's good we're starting off with the characters! I actually envision The Wandering Shadow as an animated movie, so it was sort of fun to hunt down "real" actors/actresses. The great part is, they work as the actors for a live-action movie, and they could be perfect voices if it was animated! Win-win.
The Wandering Shadow has four main characters:
RYAN LEE as Art {though Art has dark brown hair}
DEV PATEL
as James/Chester
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
as Barnard/Baggaro
ELLE FANNING
as Elpirt/Ellie
As for the soundtrack, well, there are two main themes running through WS. They can be boiled down to 1) the way Art sees the world, and 2) the way James sees the world. I'm not sure I found quite the right song to represent James' pov (the popular one), but I tried. It is one of the songs I most often listen to while writing WS.
ART'S POV:
OP Opening # 6
Brand New Day - D51
{The video quality isn't the best, and it's not the full song since it's an anime opening version, haha, but this version has the English subtitles! One Piece is the main influence on the WS.}
&
JAMES' POV
We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service
{Actually, last night was the first time I've seen the official song video - it's sort of awesome, even if it's not really the complete vibe I was going for, haha.}
And that concludes the WiP: The Movie blogfest for the Wandering Shadow.
Looking forward to hopping around and seeing everyone's entries throughout the day!
{PS: Since I don't want to post two things on the same day, so Flash Fiction Friday #3 will be posted tomorrow morning. ^_^}
First things first, you might have noticed an addition to the sidebar. Smashwords is currently celebrating Read an eBook Week, 3/4 - 3/10. I've got EQ all signed up and free to purchase for the duration of the event. You might already know this if you follow my Twitter feed. I don't blame you if you don't, I'm still very quiet on Twitter.
Eternal Queen is my debut novel, self-published with Amazon and Smashwords. It's a dark fractured fairy tale with kidnapped royalty, whimsical story-telling, nefarious plotting, and straight-up murder. If you're interested, nab it now! (Don't forget the coupon code, RE100)
That's the big, big news. Now, some smaller things.
So, after a very lovely and productive weekend I was worried I was going to slump this week. I've been a dreadful CP lately, though Tobi's been kind about kicking my butt into gear. One of my problems is that I've done very little writing during weeknights. So it was a huge relief when I just sat down after work today and wrote a whole chapter!
First, I love it when that happens. Who doesn't? But it came at a cost - tenses.
I'm dreadful with tenses. Sometimes I'm on course. Most of the time when I make a tense mistake I do catch it. But sometimes... well, let's just say I wrote all of Chapter 5 in present tense, got to the end, stared at it, and wanted to bang my head into the keyboard. I could recognize that something was completely off about the chapter, but when my brain doesn't want to jump up and wave at the present tense and sing, "wrong, wrong, wrong"... well, I'm not going to find it myself. Luckily, my bf rarely minds when I shove my laptop into his hands with a frustrated, "Something. WRONG. Help."
It also doesn't hurt that he's been wanting me to write this book for at least a year and a half now, so every time he reads a chapter he gets super excited. Yeah, I've had the Wandering Shadow, well, wandering around in my head for a long time, haha.
So, my last big writing update that I can think of is this - I have a crazy plan. It was born, as most of my plans are, when I hear someone else did something crazy and must test it for myself. This idea unfolded just so this past Sunday,
'Drew,' I said. 'I read somewhere that some people manage to write their whole NaNoWriMo novel on the first day. That's crazy, right?'
'Not at all. It just means that they have no fear!' (My bf's number one motivating technique when he thinks I need to write is to point at me and say, 'No fear! Just write!')
'Huh. I don't think I could ever do that.' I said.
'You totally could. You should. Start right now!' (My bf's number two motivating technique is to point at me and say, 'Go! Just write! Right now!')
'Well,' I said. And because I'm crazy, I continued. 'I don't think I could write 50,000 words in a day. But I've never tried to see how many words I could write in a day.'
'Well. You should test it out.' He said.
'I think I will.'
'Awesome. But first-' And, of course, he pointed. 'Write the next chapter of The Wandering Shadow!'
So, after not writing the next chapter of WS, and instead writing a piece of flash fiction (look for it on Friday), I decided that this Sunday, and maybe one Sunday of every month, I'm going to clear my schedule and just write from when I wake up to when I fall asleep. It's not going to be 24 hours, because a) I'd be a zombie at work the next day, and b) I think I'd die, but, it will be more or less "all day."
I have no idea how this plan will go down. I'm hoping it's not a complete flop. I doubt it will be just writing WS, so I have one long short story I've been meaning to write, and maybe a few of my flash fiction pieces to contemplate fleshing out. I suppose I will be a little more active on Twitter that day, so if you want to watch my progress I'll try and update it there.
And, well, I guess that's it. Awesome updates and crazy plans all laid out. I'll leave you with a small clip from my favorite TV show, One Piece. Needless to say, Luffy doesn't read much, ^_^
Kyra Lennon (Write Here, Write Now) and Rachel Schieffelbein (Writing on the Wall) have a new blogfest. I'm really excited to be participating in this, since I've never officially participated in a blogfest before. Being super shy, this is just another step towards being a little more active. Check out their blogs, and think about perhaps participating.
So far I've figured out the actors, but I'm stumped on the soundtrack. Good thing I have a week left to think about it!
Details are as follows:
WiP: The Movie - March 9th Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to post a photo of the actors or actresses you would like to play the characters in your WiP if it were to be made into a movie. It can be just one character, or the entire cast!
Secondly, we want you to soundtrack your movie! Head over to YouTube, and post a song that best describes one of your characters, or your story as a whole. Again, you can pick one song, or several, it's entirely up to you!
All we ask is that you follow these simple rules: 1, Follow me 2. Follow Rachel (We will follow back) 3. Sign up using the linky list at the bottom of the page 4. Add one of our funky graphics to your blog to promote the event 5. Post your entries on March 9th, and hop around to see the other entrants on the list!
The Prizes
Rachel and I will each pick a winner at random, and we will be giving away a copy of one of our favourite books which were turned into movies!
Please note: If you write a blog post about this fest before March 8th, you will get an extra name in the draw to win a prize!
Myra dips her toes into the water. The cold makes it feel like the small waves are taking bites out of her skin. But it’s worth it.
So is the way the wood beneath her is smoothed with age and impressions from all the people who came and sat in this same spot before her. And the way it creaks as loud footsteps make their way to where she sits.
When he plops down, all chattering energy and coltish charm, when his arm goes around her shoulders, she grins.
“It won’t be long until summer.”
“Right.”
They are happy.
AN: Not for a contest this time. Just for fun. I wanted to write something under 100 words. And I was sort of using the word 'joy' as inspiration.
Hope you're all having a great start to the weekend.
