small ramble.

I'm putting my recent lapse of silence down to the turn of the school year and newly discovered freedom.

(Or, we can blame the first few chapters of Tellan.2 taking shape, and Tellan.1 starting to look like a cleaner version of its glorious self.) 

I feel like I'm going to ramble, for that I apologize. It's just been so long!

I cut about 20,000 words out of Tellan, much to my own surprise, and I've had to put is aside because I fear that my ruthless weeding of chapters might almost be over-editing.. since iv'e been at it since February. 
However I still feel that what I have isn't my 100% best. Of course, I still haven't properly edited a bunch of chapters.. and then there's the prologue which is unusual at this point.... and sometimes I feel like it won't be my best until other eyes see it. Or maybe it'll never be 'my best' because, to be honest, i'm not even sure that standard even exists.  

Enough of Tellan though (for this post). The second book is crawling into existence and I've barely ever mentioned it! 

(Iv'e decided that my best course of action at this point is to give Tellan to Beta readers and work on .2 for a few days/weeks. And get a query written)... 

First things first, i really hate books (from sequel's) that take three or four chapters to recap their predecessor. This blabble is often boring and frustrating for people who actually read books in order. Therefore, I made the decision to include a book one summary in the start of book two. It's unrelated to the actual story so those who have read the book can skip it and those who haven't can read it for a vague overview of what they've missed. It's like that annoying part of every TV show that recaps the last episode... 

The second book is pretty awesome, if i may say so myself, the plan makes me wish someone else had already written it so i could read it. I say this knowing that when its written i'll probably throw at walls for a few months wishing it were as cool as it sounded.

Queries. I'm trying to write something 'different' that still fits acceptable guidelines  I am currently stuck on how to advertise me, because i'm really rather random. I haven't won any awards, or had anything published (unless you count English prizes at high-school.) my biggest achievement appears to be finishing a year of university with good grades... and lets face it, that's boring, no one cares. Perhaps I should angle toward the Jenn that ran away with the circus and was inspired by the rest of the world...
Also NZ doesn't have many literary agents that offer what i have written. How far across the world do i send it!?

Also, the singer 'Birdy' could totally be my protagonist... from most angles..  Birdy. And I don't say things like that often.. In fact I never do. So this is like.. revolutionary.
It's really weird when you see people in real life who like like the people you invented in your head. 

(I mean the internet, I've never seen Birdy in real life. the internet is real life...)


On a completely different tangent. I make playlists that are filled with random songs that I listen to while i write, here are two that have been added to Tellan.2's writing list. To me they are relevant and make sense to a couple of characters and numerous situations and messages. But you have to use your imagination. Or maybe they don't make sense, they just have the right mood... ?

Whatever it is, both songs are epic.  Iv'e also been making jewellery, (which some will know is how I came up with 'sparrow and the wolf boy'..) It's been great, and I adore all those who check it out (also Christmas is coming so. you know..) my shop. take a look :D

Uni VS Edits.

It's so much more fun to go over the posts that I wrote before university whilst still in the early stages of Tellan. I spent that time learning about and exploring my own world, creating three-dimensional people from two-dimensional idea's.
University and editing are a little bit more of a brain drain. And as I've said countless times before, A whole lot less exciting to write about. So why am I writing this now? Easy, because I have a huge assessment due on Monday and some procrastination is required...

In one of those old post's I said that I would finish Tellan, that University wouldn't stand in my way, that I could do both. I certainly will never take that back, but it is just as certain that this 'quest' I set out on (editing a novel whilst juggling full time study) probably isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

It can difficult to find inspiration when you're fried from reading pages and pages of tedious readings, or writing pages and pages of equally as tedious essay's.
I draw motivation enough for editing Tellan by working on Tellan maps and making shiny little necklaces.. that and the fact that I am a crazy perfectionist... It needs to be perrrrrfect. But also, I am as determined as they come, and as passionate about the story as I am about eating... or life (even if I sometimes think the way it's written is a little hopeless...). I've taken it upon myself to take printed chapters of Tellan to school with me, so that I can edit between classes, (when I should be studying) or edit on the bus.

And of course there are those days when I decide that my writing is useless, until I read something that makes me think, JESUS, if this can get published then so can I...

In the last week or so Tellan has lost, from three chapters, more than 1000 words. And I am only just getting started... It's amazing how much text, that I once believed to be so vital, is really superfluous to requirement... (like many words in that sentence).

Since a lot of my old posts we're short, this one will be too.  here's 'Synopsis in a sentence' from a very old post... Peace.

"The book follows a member of the 'missy's', hidden at 5 months she grows up a dreamer at 14 she is given information -and a revelation- there ensues her quest toward great power and a list of discoveries -truths beyond her imagination- at the conclusion there are new beginnings, a bit of success and a series of endings all resulting in one outcome -the start of an epic journey......"

just checking in.

yellow!

It's the middle of mid-semester break, A break riddled with procrastination, Tellan-fixing and thing-making! Annd while its been great, I realise that I have committed a little blog-abandonment. So here I am, making up for it. x

I brought a new bow, which i suppose we can justify by calling it 'Tellan research,' It's awesome, there's an arrow in my hedge somewhere and an arrowhead stuck in the retaining wall... (went through the target and lodged itself in the fence.. sooo not my fault). I suppose constructing a target out of cardboard boxes and trying to shoot in the very short range that is my garden was always going be a tad tragic. But also tragically awesome..

I have these essays that I should really get started, they're both 2500 words, but they both sound really boring.. So, iv'e been using my time to get some jewellery made instead! it's what I like to call creative procrastination!

Anyway, they can all be seen here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sparrowandthewolfboy?ref=si_shop

and Here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sparrow-and-the-Wolf-Boy-jewellery/117988131618205?ref=hl

Anyway, TELLAN! I planned to get a lot more done these holidays, but it has been ticking along as always. I'm tidying the last excerpt, next on the to do list I have to back and fix the beginning. With the company of Sanzha (my cat) I should hopefully have that completed before school starts again and all the blah that goes with it... what that will mean is that Tellan will be tidy and I can think about querying. Whoop!

short post. I'll be back when I have something interesting to say. xxx

This is what happens when I edit for eleven hours then try and write a blog post.

I just spent eleven hours editing, which is a bad idea.. and now I'm here, don't expect anything special...  

Eleven hours is a long time to spend going over the lead up too and the climactic chapters of any book, and the end of Tellan isn't exactly 'happy.' Needless to say, I've been tidying war, and blood and guts and stuff since 10am and I feel like my brain has turned inside-out. 

It'll be worth it in the end!! (beta readers better be ready.)

things I've done in the last few days include: bringing a character back to life (not necessarily.. I just decided not to kill her right now), removing two very well woven-in sub-plots, and revoking my hatred for full-stops 

I've had well over 1000 people accidentally stumble upon this blog now. 100 of those visited the last two updates.. admittedly a good portion of those people were probably unwilling internet trawlers googling pictures of that guy I blogged about ages ago (they were then assaulted by my mostly-incoherent rambling) but hey, cool! For that I am honoured.

Tellan in physical form?

So I'm heading back to the capital tonight (which to me means I'm going to spend all day procrastinating whilst my bags lay about unpacked). I'm happy to be going back to my room in the basement of a 'Warwick castle' but a bit depressed to leave the warm wood-fire and good (real) homey, Wai-itian, food.

Anyway, I had the opportunity yesterday to have half of Tellan printed and bound which, of course, I took. So, thanks to my mother and the office staff at Waimea college I can now hold the first 50,888 words in my hands. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day carrying the thing around in a glad-bag then slept with it beside my bed. It may only be half of the book, but there is something magic about having some of Tellan in physical form. I am now doubly inspired to cut what needs to be cut from the second half and and get that printed too!
In the meantime I've already drawn all over the first half, and its now sitting in my window awaiting some quality time with a red pen. I was very honoured to be graced by the presence of faux-sister Gayle Hay, while I printed this beauty...

As if I needed more inspiration, I'm seeing Christopher Paolini tomorrow night and I have bagged me a few new readers. (they don't know what they're in for.)

I'M BACK. school is out, Tellan is in.

SO  school is out for the semester and I can tell you that I am more than ready for a break and some quality Tellan time. I feel bad for the poor fools whose exams are still looming. I also feel bad for my lack of blog love and the pitiful edits I have accomplished during semester time...

I’m back in ‘sunny Nelson’ (which is funny because last time I checked it’s been monsooning for 48 hours and there’s a lake in my driveway, not to mention the thunder storms and power loss) and I’m tidying Tellan because aside from cat cuddles and tea, I haven’t really got much else to do. It feels a smidgen unusual being assessment free but it’s nice to escape all of those looming deadlines…

(It might have been a bit irresponsible of me to jet off to Auckland the last weekend of school but hey, Gaga is my queen. Went to dance my toes off at her concert in the vector arena for my 21^st celebrations and let’s just say I’m glad I wore flat shoes.

Had the time of my life!)

But now im back, study is over and I've had time to think about my word count, matters of fantasy fiction, get my ticket for Christopher Paolini's chit-chat and talk to people about the bookish things that consume my day-dreams.

The word count?… Tellan, that splendiferous little pile of joy I penned over summer, was officially word counted at 123,546 words (I was aiming for 90-100,000. I failed). I've knocked out probably 10,000 of those between studying and classes. I'm proud of myself. I am moving some small twists over to book two, only major issue that’s going to create is that my protagonist might not find some itching truths till a later date than expected. I did try to add a scene whilst resolving this issue...
so yea,
Step backwards there. (two steps forward one step back, get there eventually) 

since most of the book has been 'tidied' and is looking a bit more ship-shape, i should have a clean draft ready for mid-July. Ambitious? perhaps... but i wont rest till its done ;D

Matters of fantastical contemplation? Lets be honest, I didn't need to wait for my exam to be over for this one to truly take root. Talking about books and writers has been one of my biggest forms of procrastination! 

I like to enter conversations (arguments. And often with myself) regarding the amazeballs world of fantasy fiction and with it all those topics that give me food for thought... I don't pretend to be an expert just another observer amidst the masses (I know someone must agree with me).

Anyone else ever annoyed by things that Characters in fantasy don't do? I always knew I couldn't be alone in this, and then recently this link (Lytherus.com by guest author Lev Grossman) popped up on my twitter feed and whammo, I was pleased. This link is marvellous, so read it. 

Its all so true.. and not necessarily limited to fantasy or the size of the list.  
Number 2 (as an example) has got to me before ... I don't mean to say that writers should ensure they incorporate their characters pee-schedule into each page, lets be honest no one really wants to read about it. But it can think of so many stories where characters have sat on a horse for eight hours or run from one city to another and never needed to take a break to pee... or eat, or remedy the serious chafing riding a horse in a dress might evoke ("#7. Suffer chafing issues).... I don't think its good for you.

Number six strikes me as being uncomfortably true. ("6. Meet a non-white person and not subsequently discover they’re from the Burning Lands Far to the South or something like that.) 

Then there's number 20 ( " Get eaten by a dragon. Come on, if dragons were real they would eat _everybody_.) I totally agree... 

I think some characters just need to be a tad more awkward (human) sometimes.. like number 15, ("15. Sneeze at an awkward moment.)

I suppose a lot of the other points come from the fact that fantasy has adopted traditions, conventions, laws I guess you could say. 
I watch/read a lot of interviews (with authors and fans alike) and recently I have stumbled upon too many saying things like; "this can not happen in fantasy," "this is wrong because and elf wouldn't do that," "A dragon with two legs is not a dragon, this is wrong..."  I had to ask myself the question, why not? fantasy is fantastical right? who says there are limits? who decides what is right for an elf? has anyone actually met and elf? If I decide that my elves are purple and live inside a volcano is that wrong? I certainly don't think so.. Personally I believe that if you want to say a dragon has two legs and six eyes then fine. A dragon has two legs and six eyes. Its fantasy, you can do what you like. It's not based on fact. Granted a lot of fantasy is based on myth or legend, but should that mean that we must create limits on ourselves in the world of fantasy fiction? 

On a completely different note, I just watched 'Brave' and loved it! I couldn't help but think that they had made some very accurate horse noises.. and the hair! I may be biased as an archery loving red-head but I thought it was brilliant. 

alsoooo got my ticket to see Christopher Paolini next week, expect a dedicated blog post :D
Just got to get these babies back to Wellington!

p.s, don't know how I made this weird s*** happen to the post. Blog was determined to be awkward. I stayed up late trying to fix it.. and failed, so WOOHOO, weird text. I don't know what I did... that includes the gaps. *shrugs* 

daily ramble.

I may be guilty of being a lame blogger recently. Editing -as I've said countless times- just doesn't seem to be an interesting topic to blog about.
Saying that, my leave-of-absence could very well have been influenced significantly by what has been re-named 'the bitch-chapter.' It's one of those super-long but unfortunately necessary, slightly political and over-read chapters, Located conveniently in the centre of the text... It took me a rather long time to find the precious hour or three necessary to 'tidy' it. Heap some assessments on top of that as well as a sudden immersion into an actual social life and suddenly I am a busy lady. Not that that's any excuse for being a lame blogger.

So after my last post I asked people to give me something to blog about (this goes for this post as well. Anything bookish just lemme know). One of my wonderful flat mates said that she liked to hear about the writing process.
There's little more to say than 'my process is chaos.' A semblance of some kind derived from an unholy amount of raw material, an untidy pile of plans, notes, notebooks, songs, chapters and drawings. It's organised chaos. The best kind of chaos.
My process for the draft was this as well as a series of plans... endless plans, experimental conversations and a bunch of structural diagrams that were pinned to my wall. I had ever chapter planned on paper before it was written. These plans were mainly bullet-points and key-ideas.. then there was this triangle thing that I drew... I did a lot of research into chapter structuring, then cam up with my own little laws (e.g, each chapter had to end with and ending, a reflection or a cliff-hanger). For the book as a whole I had a few questions that I kept referring to, for example; what does the character want? How am i going to make that difficult? how am I going to make everything else difficult? Then I had fun with character studies by writing a 'journey' for each of them. What their purpose was, what they wanted, what they would get and how their part in the story would end. Adding layers was the fun part... there are several mysteries within the book that can be solved if the reader can collect all of the clues. I tested this out on some friends (complied the clues and presented them) they were able to figure out some rather important info that my protagonist doesn't even know yet.. that was entertaining.  

(If you don't want to hear rambling there are some fish over there somewhere ---> )

Back to character.. because that's an interesting topic. One of my pet hates in YA fiction is when you come across characters that are 'normal' or 'perfect.' They aren't fun to read about.. In fact they're boring. I attempted to weird mine up a bit. I mean in 'real life' there's a wee bit of crazy in all of us. I'm a bit crazy -or so I have been told- were all a bit crazy.... Perhaps some of my characters are too-flawed, I couldn't really say. I like them I suppose that has to count for something.
There has to be a mention here of my absolute favourite character. Carver. Who has some serious and possibly repressed emotional issues due to a range of factors that he could not control, weird family things and all that hooey... His flaws made him fun to write about. I really only wanted to mention him because he is -as I said- my favourite, and that seems to stem from his issues more that his perfection. Flaws in my opinion are up there with redeeming qualities in bad guys. Every person has their flaws, things that shape them, annoying habits etc.... There's no relate-ability  in un-flawed characters. which brings me full circle back to the weirdo's. We need some weird in our literature people.

Another random character insight- or rather insight to an insight. My favourite scene in Tellan includes a rare glimpse into the mind of the books most 'misplaced' character. Here enters Gambola. In said scene she merely sits beside the protagonist and asks some questions while another character sings -then forgets how- chuck in some rain and melancholy, blah, blah. I keep thinking that If i took her from that scene and sat any other character in her place the whole chapter just wouldn't work. The balance she creates -with the weird workings of her mind- makes it.


Saw hunger games at last. The whole ordeal made me quite nervous. Not gunna lie. I always get rather anxious when they turn a book I've read -and enjoyed- into a movie. The hunger games books are good, devour-able in a single day and easy to get lost in. I liked Suzanne Collins' strong female character/s. It isn't very often that we get those.
I discussed heroines with a friend recently. Its good to see a world where the females are not utterly useless. I feel like I should point a finger at Fantasy fiction in general here. Too often are we seeing world based on a collision of Tolkein and Medieval- earth -depicting the females as hopeless damsels or just ridiculous and naive. Again. At risk of sounding like an angry feminist...
Collin's did well reversing these roles and the movie did well depicting it. I liked how Katnis got to save Peeta, for once a female protagonist stepped up and saved her man-friend.
I considered the first hunger games book a considerable amount better than the other two, but look forward to seeing the second and third films!

peace. x

Computers, virus' and WRIT101. The survival guide.

Murphy's law; The supposed law of nature, expressed in many humorous popular sayings, to the effect that anything can go wrong will go wrong.



Or; when you don't back up your book for four days your computer will die...
Which did in fact happen.
I casually went to check my emails and my poor laptop had turned itself inside out, was thoroughly munted and had basically decided that it was confused and screwed beyond fixing... There are harsher words I could use.
I had a small scale panic attack, threw my computer to the flat mates and held my breath.
The initial decision was that the mother board was destroyed... Then Mr Geoffrey managed to rescue my hard-drive!
So it's all OK. The baby is safe.
Three days later and my computer is OK, restored to factory settings and wiped, but alive. (In some ways it's nice to have my computer back to it's factory settings. I feel like I have a brand new computer.) Turns out the whole ordeal was a small flock of pesky virus' that had infiltrated almost everything...
I came so very close to losing half of my book. Of all the days to go up s**t creek, my computer chose the day four days after I had decided to put my data stick somewhere else... in a 'safe place'.
I should also mention that in the hours following my laptops demise, I rushed madly around the flat and couldn't find said data-stick. The thing had hidden itself just to further mess with my head.
lesson learnt.
I will back up my work every day and I will never put my data-stick in a 'safe place.' When it comes to the book this sort of thing just isn't funny. I don't know what I would do if I lost the book. There would be tears for sure. There were a few tears....
BUT IT"S OK.

WRIT101. Had my first class at Uni, it was brilliant. Three hours talking about writing then we had to write a literacy autobiography. Not many people will apply the word brilliant to a first class in which they were required to write an essay but I had a good time. It's a tiny class, there are about twelve of us, but I feel like its going to be fanfriggintastic. That could change. Watch this space.
When I got home the temp flat-mates decided to have a short story competition... not entirely sure how that came about, but they all sat down and wrote stories which I have to judge at dinner. I told them I might post the best one on my blog. An extra reason to watch this space.

On the book front things are going splendidly. I'm chewing through the beast bit-by-bit and having a tidy. In about 20 chapters time i'll be looking for some more readers. keen?

Catch up's cause I've been gone awhile x

Catch up..

I am well and truly immersed in the editing process. I'm going to call it the editing adventure, makes it sound way more interesting. My first draft journey may be over but the bookish journey has only just begun.
I moved out a week ago which had the potential to make writing complicated. To be honest though it hasn't. The capitol has been treating me well. Apart from the general study link and flat hunting stresses I have little more to do but familiarize myself with a new city and edit, edit, edit. Admittedly it took me a couple of days to really get into the flow.. I spent a good amount of time looking at funny cats and complaining about grammar and how crap editing was compared to writing. The day after the first draft was finished i started to edit but really achieved very little. Now however I am rolling.  
As per usual I have discovered the most complicated method's of editing and dived right on in. My method includes dragging my way through the whole book twice, changing and weaving then grammatically adjusting. It's been great re-discovering tiny things that I had forgotten about.

The last few days of first-drafting were intense. This was my computer the moment I finished. And yes, I am one of those annoying people who takes photos of useless things. It was just such a mess that i couldn't resist. Unfortunately this picture doesn't show the pencils jammed between the keys of my computer or the piles of paper on the floor behind my chair.
I have missed having a desk, moving off into the wide-world has it's downsides.. no furniture. However all that editing has demanded from me so far is coffee, time, a couch and my lap-top.

I did manage to haul all of my chapter notes up here -thankfully. (picture, and above view of their awesomeness).
And I have had several long conversations about literature to keep my mind ticking over. Wellington has many wonderfully like-minded people. We have been nana-ing around reading books and watching game of thrones. Anyway, the book ticks on and I have many things to blog about when I can manage to organize myself into a flat and study.
Uni starts soon (first class is 'writing') which should be a riot.
xx

Finishes the first draft...

I know that I was going to post 'more often'. When people say that it's almost always a lie. See this whole moving up North thing has been consuming a lot of my mental effort.. and time, mainly time. I've had a horse to worry about relocating. A boring job. Friends who are already heading back to school and moving to new cities.. Birthday's, wedding's.. it's all excuses of course. The honest truth is that in that final 'crunch' I didn't really feel like writing anything else. (Note the past tense and the fact that I am writing now) Yes... I finished the book. I finished writing my book.

Now what.

Actually I'm super lame. I finished the final chapter, got really excited for a few minutes, skipped around the house -found it empty, made coffee, got ready for work, went to work which was reaaallly quiet, made ice-creams... Tad anti-climatic, Total buzz-kill. Death of buzz.


Now that I am onto that editing stage (I actually came home from work and opened the prologue, away we go back to the start). I'm not entirely sure what to blog about. I mean I can blog about editing but that sounds unexciting even to me.. I could be a real YA Fiction blogger and write reviews I suppose. That would fit in rather nicely with my studies this year. That and editing. My kind of fun!

So February 14th 2012 'Tellan's' last first-draft words were written. Initially it was omg moment. I hadn't realized how close I was to the end. How does it make me feel? Surreal. really. I was so caught up in the story, It was rather emotional those last few chapters really. For a lot of reasons. All of a sudden I was telling myself to sum the story up in 400 words. It did it 537, sat back and felt a little weird. There's no words that can describe that moment when you finish a story that you dreamed up as a 12 year old. Of course my 12-year-old brain would probably have done things much differently.. I don't know what to say other than A series of well-intended swear words and a rather freakish grin.I feel like I should be celebrating or something alas no. It's like any other day.

Of course I left it on a wee bit of a cliff hanger.. which made me want to keep writing. Book two is going to be a shocker!

On an un-related note I recently had to stop and go back after deciding I needed to switch one character for his sister... That turned out to be an epic pain in the everywhere... Consider going through a book, finding every mention of a particular character and changing every name, he, his and him for another name she, her's and her.

I wont be changing it back that's for sure.

Thanks again to Oliver (my wall) who knows the most about my characters next to me.. To SAM (I wrote 'sam' and spell check game me SAM. right.) who has consumed my book and put up with me messaging her about it constantly. Annd to my followers and Auntie Wendy and Sarah and Kristen and James.. And everybody. Just you wait. Now I'm editing you are all in for it... and I love you all.

this distracted me from posting this earlier...

waffling..

So I woke up this morning curled up at the end of my bed, still in a dressing gown, Ipod headphones in my ears with a pencil stuck to my face. Good look.... The floor was monopolized by my giant book time-line, two half-finished drawings and the plans for the end of my book.... That's right. The end... Half of a short chapter, One very long one and two very short ones and that's it. Done.

chapter the 27th is being dominated.

I had a great time away from civilization for five days. That included three in which I didn't have my lap-top on... or two maybe. We ate, drank, swum, sunbathed, explored, and witnessed a beautiful wedding. Nice to see the sounds before I head off into the real world again in a few weeks.
I  hadn't actually gone a day where I hadn't written a part of my book in months... even just in a notebook.. and it was very weird. Anyway, I got home and made up for it by writing until I lost my marbles... (as you can tell from all these elipses...). All's I know is that I'm back in the frackin Ice-cream shop everyday till the end of forever or at least until I move to the mother ship in a few weeks. (Wellington) then I'll be editing like a squirrel on speed for a while....

Hmm. OK. So I really don't like it when authors write books (or series) and they're like 'it came to me in a dream'. But I now have be extraordinarily hypocritical, because I was thinking about this other little run-off series that I would love to write one day and then I dreamed about it.. but in the dream everything was different.. the setting was different and they were calling people by different titles. I think it was brains way of telling me that I have to write that story next.. and that it has to be post-apocalyptic...

Going into the Wilderness...

Impromptu blog post. I'm about to bask in the glory of mistletoe bay for five days. Thought i'd better touch base before I shoot out of town.
I'm going to be yabbering on about bookish things more often for the next couple of weeks. My story is taking it's final breaths before the plunge.

Firstly, cheers to Tom, my six-hundredth viewer since i started nattering on here a few months ago. Thank's for pointing out my bad spelling and pitiful attempts at grammar. I have now changed the language of my blog so that it doesn't spell-check all my words into American-English. I did that for you. No promises on the grammar front though.

I'm edging my way into the final climax of my book. A few more chapters and I'll be back at the beginning, editing this baby like a mad woman. The chapter I'm finishing at this current moment (or procrastinating from..) is chock full of fun, some purple seeds, a wolf-hat or five, kitten faces, more rain and a handful of flaming arrows....

anyway I don't have anything more to say other than a huge thanks to Sam, who has plowed her way through a chunk of my chapters in the last few days and has responded with exclamation marks, kind words and just the right amount of enthusiasm..

This picture never ceases to cheer me up.  

This one has clues in it!

I'm contemplating how i should move my small army of pens to Wellington. Also discussing ferry's and how many bags i need for all of my bits and pieces... getting very close this whole moving business. Which means that completion of my first draft is only weeks away. weeks. I'm going to cry a wee bit now.

Today while i was chatting with a Wellington friend and trying to start chapter twenty-something, she informed me that the four chapters she had read were the 'best story she had read in quite a long while.' I considered this happily whilst trying to stop my cat from scaling a woolen coat into the top of my wardrobe. Ultimately i failed on the cat-front and she sat up there perusing me with her little yellow eyes. (she's up to something).
It was around then that I was gathered up to help clip the wings of the families hens... (I wonder what hens would think of us if they knew we ate their eggs? I mean it's pretty weird...). Being the best inheritor of the 'small-gene' I was commissioned to crawl into the smallest chicken-village, where i crouched for a while trying to convince the rooster that he should hand over his woman-folk. Negotiations failed. My Characters were given a chicken lunch.

Here... this is a new synopsis for all the people who want to read it. for those who don't scroll down to the unicorn, the mermaid and the army of man-eating-squirrels.
I have still kept it vague. Iv'e not included names, places yadayada, but it's longer than the last. (it has full stops at least).

synopsis in more than one sentence 

The story follows a member of the misplaced...
At five moths old, she makes the snaggers list- a list of children hunted by an old enemy. She's a future threat.
Quickly she is removed. hidden from the world by a Murean with a horse called Ben (there's a name hah). For thirteen years she is raised in the harbor, no status but orphan-status, no family but her tutor and minder.

Like all Children in the empire. She is taught to fight. As orphan-status she learns to fight with whatever she can get her hands on. If she cant afford a broadsword she'll have to learn to survive one.

On her fourteenth birthday She knows that the days of dreaming are over. She will be moved into employ. Employ worthy of her status, but that isn't to be...

Her Murean show's up with snaggers on his tail and news that shocks her life into a new trajectory. Port-ella and a city protected by a wall...
She is taken to a new tutor, given a chance to prove her worth and fight for the chance to break free from orphan-status.

Not long after arrival the walls begin to crumble. An old enemy has been picking away at them, now he is starting to gain the upper hand.

Faced with a series of truths, minor and major tragedies she (our protagonist) eventually discovers her own kind of power. The really, really powerful kind.

She's thrust into training and eventually takes her bow to meet her chance at redemption, and a chance at revenge for the family she never had and the fate she never knew. She meets truth instead.

The mist clears, she cracks a riddle and she realizes that the only piece missing from the enemies puzzle was her. She rides to meet a demon and ultimately destroy a box that has sucked the 'safe' out of 'safety'.
 
the books ends with her success, her failure and the start of a new life as a missing-missy.

A matter of decision.

Goodness, I made some strange decisions about this book yesterday, but it turned out for the better (possibly). I really just turned two convoluted chapters into three very straight-edged ones and added a song. It seemed to change everything, all of a sudden the story hadn't dissolved into mess it had become a little bit poetic... gory situation became a little bit more 'touching'.

cheesy? maybe, but a bit of cheese is always nice. Especially mixed in with the havoc I've been trying to pen lately. It seems that when I wrote this synopsis sometime in the past, I didn't care to tone down the action.

One thing I have been fighting with myself over is narrative. The story is written in third person, but i recently have come to question that decision. My protagonist is very internal, it would almost make more sense and certainly be easier for me if I wrote her story in first person. However i'm not sure if I like writing in first person. Sometimes I feel like I write better in first person, others I feel it sounds all wrong. I toyed today with the idea of editing two books simultaneously, one in first, one in third. Either that's insane or it's the closest I have come to a solution.

I suppose as the book is slowly encroaching that final chapter, I am now making my final decision's. Characters that weren't supposed to die are on the brink, (or perhaps past it). I have some truths to reveal and others to hide. I promised myself that my protagonist would learn something vital about herself before the close of this book. I now have to delicately begin weaving it into the story.


A friend asked recently If I had based any of my characters on real people, (Kristen I believe?). Truth is no, no I haven't but then It isn't really that simple either. There are some characters which I have in a sense 'given' to people. I have a couple of characters like that.


Just re-read the first hunger games book cover-to-cover in eager anticipation of the film. I just took it off the shelf and devoured it. yum.

Iv'e not been sharing much story spoilers here, sorry i suppose...

Its not that I don't want to share, I really just don't want people to have to hear about it unless they truly want to. I don't want to be forcing my story onto people who don't want to know about it, I despise the idea. If people want to know I am all to happy to sit and divulge. come find me, or just keep reading. Because I have a new synopsis coming very soon.
I do clutch this story very close to my heart, few have looked upon it's drafted words. When an eight year old idea starts to take shape, that's bound to be the outcome.
In saying that however, those people who genuinely show an interest never hear the end of it. (apologies)..
I should mention Sam, who walked with me in the hills and heard a very detailed version of the synopsis. Mainly though I should mention my wall (Oliver) who next to me knows the most about this story, thanks to a very long series of fantastic emailing (because you can't really re-build a world without first establishing a solid wall).


STILLL considering the blog unfinished. sorry about that. that's why i keep changing things around. I understand that it isn't entirely user friendly. sorry. Enough from me. follow me here and there (twitter) xxxx

I'm at a loss.

When I sat down to re-start this book in September it started with a new notebook. On the very first pages of that notebook I wrote the outline for a scene in a hurried, nonsensical scrawl. It the margin the penned the words 'this will come later, after most major events.'
Iv'e wanted to write this chapter ever since. It's probably the chapter I can visualize the best. Rain on the lake, wolf in the water... tears, demons, abandoned boots..

I pass it every time I open that notebook--it was starting to drive me a little crazy actually.

Yesterday I set myself down and started it. in fact I am
jolly close to finishing it (4.033 words) . When you have high expectations of a scene like this it's going to take some thinking about. Then i had to work out where I'd written parts of it because Iv'e written them everywhere.. I don't feel any sense of elation. This scene is rather dark, it isn't like 'the pinnacle' where I finished the chapter and felt like singing. This time I feel bad, bad because I came very close to killing a minor character, in fact I came so close that I might just have to accept that she isn't coming back to the story.

Sometimes these things happen, the story starts to write itself in new directions. Nothing major, just twists that were never meant to be, characters that don't, can't or wont do as intended. I suppose if  I wanted to turn this into some sort of extended metaphor I could talk about the rogue arrow (I did once or twice promise to write about it). It's a seemingly straight arrow that I have that always flies ridiculously off course, recently it went though the target was deflected right by a post, went through the side of our old hen house, hit the floor, veered upward and embedded itself (vertically) in the roof. It's not important, certainly not worth blogging about, but one of those moments where you find yourself standing in a hen-house absolutely bemused as to what just happened.
My protagonist did this to me today. So did the minor character who is now balanced precariously on the lip of the void. She was meant to be A OK. not so sure about that anymore.. it just no longer seems like that will be the reality.

I should theoretically have started this chapter the day before yesterday. My deadline for the previous one was three days ago. I made a spontaneous decision however to revive my mountain conquering habits of old. I'm talking literal mountains here. I drove to the lake, got out of my car and walked straight up the mountain. Felt good for about the first hour. four hours later -not so much. It wasn't a book-writing exercise, but it turned into one (like everything seems to).
I based a few places on the park here, being so close to home why wouldn't I? based is maybe the wrong word, 'associated' would fit better. It was nice to be able to see these places again before I put fingers-to-keyboard and wrote that unfortunate chapter.

One of the main reasons I like climbing this mountain is the basin you can see from the top (on the other side obviously) its a people-free slice of untarnished NZ goodness, and you have to climb a faffing mountain to see it. Suits me. The first time I set eyes on said basin and it's wee tarns, I dreamed up a hidden country, a sanctuary if you will. I was sixteen at the time -funny how things stick.

This has come a long way from raging Dub-step and brutality. I think the books getting rather serious, my characters a being whittled down to tougher stuff.

O gosh, this ones just random...

I seem to have a habit of posting here when it's really late at night, I feel this might affect the quality of my posts... so I tried to do this during the day.. day turned into evening now it's later evening, I tried. Really.

(It's still going to be average.)

I'm still learning to use this blog, that's why I keep changing things around. People have emailed me to say they can't follow or comment. HAH shame.. I actually don't know how to fix that sorry. Thanks for reading. I love you. Your emails make me smile even if they are pointing out my incompetence at setting up a blog.

Another habit which I previously touched on was the findings. Yes.. since this book-writing project has spanned several years I keep finding bits (read 'bit of an idea' if you haven't already, i linked it last post but here it is again. also  synopsis in a sentance because I'm writing you up a synopsis that's a little more meaty). Anyway I found a bit, or rather two. The first 'bit' was a character that I had invented who -quite conveniently- would show up in about half a chapters time. He's a soldier with past and a whole lotta miles under his belt.. but despite that he's seventeen and quite the ginger. I don't think he'll have the part he was once intended, but i can assure you he will be there...
I would be lying if I said that I had only 'found' the second finding. Actually it found me. Or rather I went looking for something else and I stumbled upon it knowing perfectly well that it was there. That 'thing' was the list. The List. The list mentioned left that I had to write in fourth form.. OK it might be strange that I still have this paper but believe it or not I actually carried it with me while I lived abroad, and it's been tucked in the back of an old travel diary ever since. It quotes that I will finish university -which lays rest to my conundrums in the previous post. It also states that I will build a mansion that is a replica of Monty Monty's mansion from the film version of  'Lemony Snicketts a series of unfortunate events' annd that I will have chinchillas, lizards and birds in what was his reptile room. It also says (and this part I had completely forgotten about) that I will have A horse named 'Tella.' For the two people in the world who know the significance of that name, know only that the list was written before Tella was called Tella. complete coincidence. Also very odd considering how it isn't exactly a common name.


For those who ask questions about my book, and know that I was stuck for a whole week in a rather ridiculous place -I have fixed it. Yes, I was trapped, incapable of moving forward because for a moment I had lost sight of where this particular half chapter was taking me. For that reason I changed it.. then changed it back... then created a hybrid chapter.
Heres how I fixed it (because I feel like i learned something).
Firstly I canned the whole thing (kidding). actually I stopped myself and went back to the drawing board I looked at the breakdowns for that chapter and the three chapters that would follow. I re-planned them. i worked out what the vital action was -what was important about that chapter. I focused on it. Then I remembered this post I had read after CP tweeted it. I remembered how it had helped me once before.. I gained a little enthusiasm for my crappy chapter. I went through what I had already written and took the bits that were really important for that chapter or for the later three. I pasted them together, added a juicy argument a smidgen of a theme and whammo, I ended the chapter this morning with a little moral contemplation. If that doesn't make any sense then I'm not surprised.


I'm amused by this author wearing a book on her head, so this is me blogging about her hat-book habits in vain hope of achieving a hat-book of my own (this). everybody should go there and enter and have hat-books... also I enjoyed this post of hers http://www.laurendestefano.com/blog/?p=322

It makes me think of a letter I once wrote (down there in another post somewhere -look for the green dragon) in which I confessed that while I read a lot of books and know their creators names, I really am guilty of not knowing enough about my favorite authors. The few i have had the pleasure to meet, research, watch or learn from have inspired me greatly. Another lesson for me there I think. More Author researching less dilly-dally.

The day the earth fought back.

Happy new year!

welcomed it in style this year, jandal wars, cool people, fire dancing, terrible badminton, rum, food (etc).


I like it when people are straight up. Not mean but honest, put your cards on the table and say what you feel. No beating around the bush.
If I'm going to be brutally honest and say what i think then it would apply to my book-writing-ventures as follows.

Firstly publishing. I said from the beginning, the aim of this wasn't to be a published author,( read this) it was to see if i could actually do it. I stand by that, though now that i have made it this far i think about 'when this is done and published', to be honest i have started to think that the moment this book is in print will be the moment it is truly 'finished'.
I don't want people to think i'm deluded, sitting here thinking thinking 'I'm writing the next best seller,' it isn't like that.. just 'I'm writing my book. my book makes me happy and it makes me sad and if everybody else hates it then so be it. It might be terrible (it's a bare-bones draft, it's not meant to be amazing) perhaps edited  it'll be better -perhaps not. we'll see. to see it in 'book form' would be a dream come true, so perhaps i should think more about it.

University.

My classes from march are as follows, English literature (narrative, genre stuff), Art history (analysis whatsit and historical whatsit) film (101) and writing. I'm excited about finally getting around to making these choices, but secretly wonder how it will affect my book-writing-ventures. I can't live without writing, my notebook army agrees... My aim is to finish this draft before march, i should be able to do it, it's more than halfway there, then i have the task of editing, finding me some readers then what.....???
sometimes i wonder, if this was published then it's 'book one', 'book one' of a proposed five books, and if i published this then i would have to sit and write book two -hell, knowing me I probably will write it anyway, i'll have too.
I wonder if it's possible to be a university student and a novelist simultaneously?

good thing i like chaos.


On a far less than cheerful note, not a very smiley faffing blog post (I'm sorry).

Visited Christchurch for the first time since all of the big earthquakes (and by all i mean so far). I realized that it was bad, but i suppose that recently i had started to think about it less, like the quakes were dying down and it wasn't as big of a deal anymore or it just kept happening so you don't think about it as much. It's become weirdly common now to just live with quakes... like they're completely normal.
The center of the city is still cordoned off -since the Feb quake- which is just so odd.. all of the tall buildings in the city, the shops it's all just empty, dilapidated, destroyed. There's tall grass growing in places where there shouldn't even be grass, over-grown spaces where there used to be proud buildings, holes in the road and tall fences you can't cross.
the seaside was worse, most of the houses were just empty, roofless or clinging precariously from the broken edges of the coastal cliffs. There's tattered tarpaulins hanging over hollow windows, buildings with no sides -like weird cross sections- and the roads have moved and become bumpy, broken or drowned in liquefaction.

The weirdest thing was the quiet. We stood in a park next to the fence -right at the edge of downtown- and it was dead silent. The city center and the apartment buildings around it have been empty since February, looking around there was like walking into some strange, macabre, museum exhibit -maybe because that's where we learn about these disasters... Everything within has been preserved as it was in February, the day the earth fought back (almost everything) they can't do anything till the quakes stop, and the quakes don't stop. you can see onto the balconies of high rise apartments, the tables there are still lying on their sides where they would have fallen after the February Earthquakes, furniture inside too has fallen against the windows where it has remained and shall remain.

http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

 War zone, that's what people told me it looked like. which is so true. Christchurch is like a war zone.

kia kaha.