Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Plot #2

After I've thought about what my plot will entail and come up with a couple scenes in my head I like to refer back to honestly one of the most awesome books on writing craft, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. I'm not going to explain anything, just tell you what i use. I would seriously recommend this book to anyone who has some problems really narrowing down not only what plot is, but also how to 'plot'. Im one of those people who needs things drilled into their head a million times and lots of examples before I really get it and Story Engineering really does that. So here are a list of scenes and sequences that I'm going to figure out before I start writing

Opening Scene
Hooking Moment
Inciting Incident
First Plot point
First Pinch point
Context shifting midpoint
Second pinch point 
Second plot point
Final resolution sequence


The sentence-- I'm not quite happy with it but honestly i could keep re-writing this thing forever, but the truth is that everything could change between now and the end of Nano.

Hunted by loan-sharks, Naida realizes the only place to hide is with the creatures she blames for her parent's deaths-- werewolves. Forced to marry the Alpha in exchange for asylum for her family, the only way to offset her insurmountable debt is to finish what her parents started and find the formula to the wolves potent drug before she meets the same fate as her parents.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Character

Character.
It's pretty much the whole reason why people write and read books. If you create completely rounded character that people can relate to and in some way see themselves in ( or at least who they want to be ), then people will read your books. They will fall in love with your characters. And that's what  keeps them coming back. At least it's what keeps me coming back to writers and their new books, more-so than the plots of new books. If I've read a book by an author, and I've fallen in love with the characters and fell into the plot, odds are pretty high that i will return to read their other works. I'm even more inclined to read something out of my comfort zone if they've had awesome books before.

So here's what I know about my two main characters:
Naida -
17 years old
Born in Nashville, Tennessee
Parents [Mikel and Whitney] were killed when she was young (10)
Sent to live with her uncle at 9.
She tends to her uncle's "girls", getting anything they need and basically taking care of them.

Samuel -
25 years old
Born in the *Outskirts [ Kairi nation ]
Parents are both dead, his father very recently.
Alpha by blood-- and by fight. The 5th alpha of his name.

And here's what I need to know:
Sam's
Relationship with -
     The Twins [
     His pack - He's trusted and obeyed without hesitation because it's just the nature of the relationship of Alpha and pack. It's a lot of weight on his shoulders.
     The Elders [the remaining pack that used to he headed by his father]
     Naida - On principle he doesn't like humans. He never has. It's not that he's blindly judgmental but he's actually spent time across the border he just can't fathom why
     His brothers [Benjamin, Joshua, Andrew, Elijah, Micah]
       Benjamin [after his sister's suicide] Constantly challenged by Ben. He's always having to put him in his place, much more frequently than he would like. Ben hates him because of his sister, but is forced to respect and obey him.
       Joshua [after his mating to Cala] he feels separated from his second, like he can't talk to him about anything anymore because of his affiliation with Cala.
       Andrew - The oldest of his wolves, a remainder from his father's Brothers. He is critical of the way that Sam does things, since they're different than his father's way.
       Elijah - He really just runs under the radar. Barely ever noticed. He always seems to be doing what needs to be done without anyone having to ask him. He's dependable. 
       Micah - The newest, and youngest. He needs the most direction.
     Cala - (his ex) He doesn't like her, never really has. But it's worse now because she still pursues him though she is mated to his best friend.


Naida's
Relationship with -
     The "girls" (Aleksander's prostitutes) [Isla, Cruz, Kiona]
       Isla - The girly girl. She loves makeup and pretty clothes and is always urging Naida to 'try' a little harder. 
       Cruz - Is the Protector. She's always there to stand up for someone else. She see's Naida as her little sister and fiercely protects her. She's been hurt and doesn't want to see it happen to anyone else. 
       Kiona - pretty indifferent  They don't really have very much of a relationship. mostly Kiona just keeps to herself but doesn't let anyone bother Naida. 
     Sasha [Naida's Uncle Aleksander] - He loves her. Deeply. Sometimes she thinks that she is the only thing that he loves or respects. He's always protected her and made sure that though the harsh reality of their lives are inescapable, that she never has to 'get dirty'. She basically sees him as her father, as she really hardly remembers her parents.
     Sam - At first sight she's afraid of him. From what everyone says about the wolves they're savage and just a bit more civilized than animals. She's almost disgusted by him.
     The Brothers - Pretty much the same as she feels about Sam, but she can see the need for them.
     The Kairi as a whole - They see her as every human that's ever wronged them. They don't like her and they make it clear. She is given a wide birth, no one wants to associate with her.
     Viktor - [the guy Sasha owes money to.] She likes him. She's had a crush on him for a very long time, until she finds out that Sasha owes him a lot of money. He's always been pleasant, if not openly friendly toward her.


And a list of all supporting characters:
Benjamin, Joshua, Andrew, Elijah, Micah, Cala
Isla, Cruz, Kiona, Sasha(Aleksander), Viktor


currently listening to : Elastic Heart - Sia feat The Weeknd & Diplo [Catching Fire OST]

Plot


So, today is Day 1(It's not really day 1 this post was not saved and almost everything was lost) of my serious Nano Prep overhaul. I've been thinking about this story and getting things together in my head all year, but of course nothing was concrete. I never really gave it more than just a passing thought and it shows.

I'm going to start Plot. I'll admit it's always been one of my weak points. Not necessarily conflict in it's basest sense, but the overall Story Problem. I'd spend hours, days, months writing thousands of words to a project only to stall before the middle because there was no real Problem. The big thing that needed to be solved before the end of the story was always missing. So this year in my quest to write as close to a complete first draft of *Thirst as possible I'm determined to go in with a plan. 

What I need to know:
Antagonist - MFC's uncle Sasha
Inciting Incident - MFC is sold in exchange for asylum.
Story Problem - In exchange for her life and the lives of her family, MFC must find the formula to the wolves' drug before her uncle's debtors find them. ( This needs reworking...)
Conflict -  MFC vs MMC, MFC's family vs Wolves, Wolves vs other Wolves, MFC vs Sasha
Turning Points -
Darkest Moment - MFC's betrayal, Sasha's Betrayal
Solution -
Resolution -


I'll update this as I figure out more...

*The title of my 2013 Nano novel.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

It's what?

So, I can't believe it's almost that time already. I feel like this year has passed so quickly and i'm constantly trying to grab hold of anything that I can to make it slow down, even if it's just a little bit. Nanowrimo is what...16 days away and I feel grossly under-prepaired. I won't say unprepared because I have a rough idea of what i would like to write this year, but I'm nowhere close to where I need to be.

The characters are still blurry-so much that i can't even tell what they look like. The world is unfamiliar (I always seem to want to write about things that I know absolutely nothing about.) And the rules. Oh the rules. I have no idea. There are no rules. Now usually that would be a good thing, but when creating a different culture from your own, and especially creating one with supernatural elements, rules are MANDATORY. I mean, how else are your readers going to know when you break them?

Anyway, I logged into my NaNoWriMo account for the first time in a long time today and realized that I need to really get my head in the game. The amount of work I have to do before NaNo start is actually quite daunting. But exciting! 

Let's start the countdown!

Nano Prep - Step 1

Step 1 is all about figuring out what you know and you need to know. In my case there is much more that I need to know than what I actually know. As always, I have a long way to go before November and not a lot of time to get there.

Okay here's what I know about Thirst (This is the first time I've actually had a potential title before the end of November! Yay me.)

What I do know:
Concept
Main characters - Though I don't know too much about them.
Main Conflict
Antagonist

What I need to know:
Relationships
Sub-conflicts (Is this even a thing? It is to me.)
Supporting Characters
Terrain-- for both cultures
Main Character's Choices -- Consequences
Resolution
Culture - One for MFC, one for MMC
Character Arcs - MFC, MMC, Ant.
Goals for Main Characters
What I want to write
I want mountains--Huge green trees and nature. Real nature, wild and beautiful.
Addiction- and the harsh reality/consequences
Reluctant Love- It's not fun if there's no falling in love.
Different definitions of family


Tomorrow the work starts. I'll update this page as I go along.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

March's books




Divergent by Veronica Roth


In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.




Insurgent by Veroncia Roth


Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.




Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Lena Haloway is content in her safe, government-managed society. She feels (mostly) relaxed about the future in which her husband and career will be decided, and looks forward to turning 18, when she’ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother’s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden “I love you”) or the supposed “Invalid” community made up of the uncured just beyond her Portland, Maine, border. There’s no real point—she believes her government knows how to best protect its people, and should do so at any cost. But 95 days before her cure, Lena meets Alex, a confident and mysterious young man who makes her heart flutter and her skin turn red-hot. As their romance blossoms, Lena begins to doubt the intentions of those in power, and fears that her world will turn gray should she submit to the procedure. 


Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward


Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a 
Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a 
family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another....
Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: it seems Qhuinn has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young. It’s hard for Blay to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. And Qhuinn needs to come to terms with some dark things before he can move forward…
Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions... but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together... finally become one.





Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
Yet she spares Cas's life.



Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake


It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.
His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.
Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.
Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

February's Books






Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.
And then he meets a girl.
First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.

I went to the movie, because I loved the book but more importantly, I love Nick Hoult. 


Jessica's Guide to Dating the Dark Side Beth Fantaskey

The undead can really screw up your senior year . . .

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancĂ©. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction


Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?



Wolf Signs by Vivian Arend 

Robyn Maxwell doesn't care that her brother has to cancel out on their backcountry ski trip. She can do it alone. The fact she's deaf doesn't make her survival skills any weaker. The chance to get away from it all and relax in the Yukon wilderness is just what she's been craving.
Meeting wilderness guide Keil at the cabin starts cravings of another kind. Keil's one hot hunk of ripped, tasty male. Now she has to deal with raging hormones as well as strange questions about wolves and mates and challenges to the death.
Keil was trying for a nice reflective retreat before challenging for the Alpha position of his Alaskan pack. He wasn't planning on meeting the woman destined to be his mate, or finding out she's not aware she has the genes of a wolf.
Between dealing with his accident-prone younger brother, a deaf mate with an attitude and an impending duel to the death, his week--and his bed--is suddenly full.
Far from the relaxing getaway any of them had in mind...


Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.


Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.


Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood (Isn't this cover absolutely GORGEOUS?)

Everybody thinks Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship--or an early grave. Then Cate finds her mother's diary, and uncovers a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. But if what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe--not even from each other.


Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway

Jodi Marshall isn't sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she's in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she's being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.
After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he's not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she's part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendants of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.
Jodi's deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn't difficult enough, Jodi discovers she's the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can't figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.