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*