Happy Friday, everyone!

We’re almost halfway through NaNo. Hard to believe. This month has been lasting forever!

But here’s your Friday procrastination post that’s covering a rather fun topic:

Villains.


In my story, the villain (although he doesn’t have a huge part to play yet) is the Steward of Kianda’s throne, Lorcan. The Steward of the throne is a stand-in for the King until Rowan comes of age (the King is dead, by the way).



Um . . . Well. That’s *nervous laughter* a good question.

I would say that we both fight for our beliefs and become offended when people oppose us. He pretends to be tough, but inside he’s very sensitive against criticism. And we also both over-plan certain things, but don’t even think about others.

And, as for differences, he’s more murderous than I am??? #dontask



Lorcan gets very physical when he is angry. His favorite pastime is throwing new wooden chairs against a stone wall, thoroughly breaking them. XD Yeah, he might have slight anger issues....

As for a soft spot, I discuss that later down. Read on....



Lorcan's worst enemy is kind of himself, and also his family.

Himself - he never really tries to better himself. He thinks that the condition he is in right now is perfect, so he doesn’t need to grow.

His family - he feels like his brother stole the throne from him, and has never forgiven him or his children for that "wrongdoing".



Lorcan's weapon of choice would be (this will sound weird) other people. He doesn’t really like to personally hurt someone, but he would 10/10 send someone else to do the dirty work for him. One of his philosophy is that he shouldn’t be guilty for something that he made his servants do. (Definitely not problematic, no sirree.)



As I said above, he has a soft spot - a woman from the village. Usually he dislikes villagers and thinks they’re peasants and weak. But he wishes to marry a younger woman who - is a villager.

I have no idea how this guy justifies things.



He would never do the dirty work of killing someone himself.

Lorcan would also never stoop to "women's work." Although most people believe that women should be respected and that the work they do is honorable, he holds to an old, demeaning tradition that women are inferior.



Lorcan has never met Faye, but he thinks that Rowan is just like his father: a usurper and too self-righteous for his own good.



I like how Lorcan has the courage to do what he believes is right. And he also likes music (although it’s more rap-like than actual music, but still).

Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome back for Round 2 of Julian’s Shared WIP Tag!

I hope NaNoWriMo is treating you all well thus far. We’re a little more than a week in, guys! It’s hard to believe it’s been about ten days already. You can do it!

But, I’m assuming you’re procrastinating from your novel right now, so I’ll cut this intro short and get into Round 2’s questions, which deals with the main characters.....

Since this book has two main characters, I’m going to answer the questions for both Faye and Rowan. It should be fun!

*pulls up character sheets for reference*


(Both are fifteen, by the way.)

So, Faye is a Xi herbalist. She’s got rough hands from all the time spent in the gardens, and she’s fairly tanned. Her waist-length curly blond hair is usually in a bun. And - because she’s a Xi - her blue eyes glow in the dark. (Honestly, that would be really creepy.) As for something quirky . . . it’s not exactly a quirk, but a power of Xi is that they can read a person’s mind when they’re touching him or her. So she never - and I mean never - touches anyone.

Now, Rowan is the future king of Kianda. As is custom for the kings of that country, he’s tall (a solid six foot high) and has bright red hair. Since Kianda is under the threat of war, he has premature worry lines across his forehead. And one of his quirks is that he talks to himself. A lot. Even when others are around. Totally not based off myself, no sirree.



Faye values people accepting her for who she is, since most shun her for her Xi parentage.

Rowan values learning above all else. We have a definite Ravenclaw right here, guys.



Faye’s wildest dream is to become an acclaimed Xylem Garden herbalist and discover a new medicinal plant. Along with that goes being popular and famous, and no one caring that she’s a Xi. Her greatest fear is being hated by all, even those who don’t know her. Anyone seeing a trend?

As for Rowan . . . he wants there to be complete world peace when he becomes king. He doesn’t really want to have to deal with war in his lifetime. And he most fears that when people need him most, he will fail.



Faye is an excellent cook, actually, and although she’s an herbalist, she really likes meat. She doesn’t really care what kind it is - although cow is always beloved.

Rowan . . . *laughs*. That kid couldn’t cook even if he tried. And he’s a very picky eater, unlike Faye, so he really only likes:
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Fish

That’s really it. But, he did grow up in a palace, so some of that could be understandable.



Faye and I both don’t trust someone immediately, but once we do, we’re loyal for life. We also both hate prejudice. On the flip side, Faye is definitely more put-together than I am, and, you know, she can cook. Also, she’s illiterate (the Xylem Garden taught her to identify plants by appearence, so she doesn’t need to read labels).

Rowan and I both love learning and reading, are Ravenclaws, have conspiracy theories but keep it to ourselves, don’t like being leaders, and don’t like letting people down.

*glances at list*

Well. That’s interesting.

However, Rowan is more athletic than I am, and he’s also a fan of nonfiction. He likes reading history books - FOR FUN.

Something is clearly wrong with this kid. XD



Faye believes that no one in the world could like a Xi, and that her life will always be hindered by her parentage.

Rowan believes that failure is a form of weakness, and that to fail means to let down everyone you love.



Faye’s “best friend” at the beginning of the story is this one boy who lives in the same village (and I haven’t named the village or the boy yet....). She kind of has a crush on him, and they wrote letters back and forth to each other when her apprenticeship began. However, that’s kind of died out now....

Rowan’s best friend is the palace librarian. XD



*frantically shuffles through Spotify* *realizes that all my songs are instrumentals* *picks randomly*

Faye’s “theme song,” if you will, would be “Trust Goes Both Ways” by Michael Giacchino.

Rowan’s would be “Loyal to the Throne” by Ludwig Goransson.



Faye is an ISFJ-T. Rowan is an ENTJ-A.



I hope that the people who read this can connect to Faye and Rowan and see their flaws and struggles mirrored. Also, they’re both well-meaning teens who are thrust into awful scenarios. *evil author laugh*

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Now that I’m done sharing my answers, you guys NEED to check out the epic main characters the other participants have crafted:

Jules @ Saver of Memories
Ceci @ Ceci Creates
Lisa @ Inkwell
Gray @ Writing is Life
Julia @ Lit Aflame
Jem @ Jem Jones, Writer
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
Brooklyne @ Showers of Blessings
Ariel @ Scribes and Archers
Keturah @ Keturah’s Korner
Sarah @ Pen of a Ready Writer

See you guys next week for round three, in which we talk about VILLAINS! And good luck with your story endeavors!

-Nicole

Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo!

(For those of you unaware, this is a month-long challenge designed to make writers go insane and lose lots of sleep while trying to cram out 50,000 words in one month. Why everyone loves it, I have no idea. XD)

During NaNo, Julian over at Saver of Memories is once again hosting her 5-Part Shared WIP Tag! This week’s topic is “General Questions.”


Okay, here’s my attempt at a blurb:

Faye Grenswick has a secret: She belongs to the diminishing race of Xi, known for their mental powers. Unfortunately, they are also highly persecuted. If she told anyone of her ancestry, she would lose everything in her life, including her job at the magical Xylem Garden. However, when she accidentally releases a dangerous criminal from his binds, she has no choice but to leave her life and maybe, just maybe, trust the criminal.
Prince Rowan also has a secret: He doesn’t want to be matched. But he has no choice in the matter - all kings must have a queen. His potential wife, Erin, will do almost anything to become queen. The situation gets even more complicated when a figure from Rowan’s past arrives at the castle, threatening the truth of everything he thought he knew.
Faye and Rowan don’t know each other, but they have a common purpose - keep the throne of Kianda safe. But this might just prove harder than either of them thought.

For now, my working title for this story is "The Silver Sword," because SPOILERS. :)



This is rather interesting. Usually, when I get ideas, it’s nicely hand-wrapped, with a conflict, characters, and a villain all rolled into one. This time was different.

The idea for Faye to release a criminal came from a Band trip to Nashville, TN my freshman year. We were touring some weird hotel that had a lot of plant life in it, and we were all kind of bored. At one point, I noticed that in the middle of the greenery, there was a creepy door than led down into darkness. I wondered why it would be there, in the middle of a garden, and Faye and the criminal (who’s name is Whit) were born.

Rowan and Erin's story used to be about a girl who was matched to a prince, but fell in love with the prince’s brother instead.

Yeah, it’s changed a lot from where it used to be.

I knew that both stories were set in the same world, but each tale was missing something, and I wasn’t sure what it was.

So one day I decided to combine them together. And voila.

(As a side note, I don’t really regret combining the stories, but Rowan and Erin's story had a rather unique aspect to it that I had to cut in the Silver Sword outlining process.



Um . . . I walked around a Nashville hotel.

That’s about it, come to think of it. Most of the “research” I’ve done involves Google and my imagination (like, for instance, what a spear wound would be like).

I’m not an adventurous person, okay???



I’ve been thinking about this story a lot recently, and ever since combining the two storylines I’ve really wanted to write it.

I also didn’t have any better idea for what to write, so I just picked it and went with it.



Usually during, but I may just make stuff up just to hit my first-draft word-count. I’m not really sure how I’m going to handle the research portion yet. I’ll figure it out. ;)

Haven’t done any research, but it usually consists of me Googling stuff.



So, I have a different way of “plotting.” I figure out the major points of the story, but don’t plan any more than that. It usually turns into one big mess.

I’ll probably write a post on this one day, but my basic plotting process is this:
1. Get a story idea
2. Wait two or three days to make sure this is a good idea
3. Go outside and play around with a basketball while I figure out scenes. (Sometimes moving around helps me think.)
4. On nights when I can’t sleep, role-play certain scenes that are emotionally charged (because if they’re physically charged, I just wake up more)
5. Repeat steps three and four until I know most of the book by heart.
6. I don’t write it down for some weird reason.
7. Six months later, I regret not writing the story idea details down.
8. Repeat for the next idea.



Definitely type. I edit things too much while I’m writing to hand-write the draft. (And I usually wear out my pencil erasers.) I’m pretty sure my Spanish teacher is sick of seeing 5000 scribbles on my homework assignments. XD



Unfortunately, no. But that’s a good idea!



I honestly don’t know. “Faye” just came to me; it seemed like a good healer name.

“Whit” is actually a play on words, because - get this - Whit has a sense of humor. Get it? He’s witty?

(Just pretend that my sense of humor is funny and move along...)

“Erin” is an Irish word for “peace,” since at one point I was trying to base Kianda on Ireland. So is “Rowan,” which means “red-haired.”



One theme that will come up in the duology (oh, did I forget to mention that this is going to be a duology?) is forgiveness, like in the Inhumans. But others are self-acceptance, teamwork and relying on others, giving second changes, and that good will always win out.

As for how I find themes, I’m honestly not quite sure. They’re usually just there and come with the characters. *shrug*

————————————————————————————————

Well, there’s the first part in the Shared WIP Tag! Here are the others who are doing the tag:

Jules @ Saver of Memories
Ceci @ Ceci Creates
Lisa @ Inkwell
Gray @ Writing is Life
Julia @ Lit Aflame
Jem @ Jem Jones, Writer
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
Brooklyne @ Showers of Blessings
Ariel @ Scribes and Archers
Keturah @ Keturah’s Korner
Sarah @ Pen of a Ready Writer

Definitely go check out their awesome stories, and don’t forget to check back with all of us next week, because the next segment is about MAIN CHARACTERS.

-Nicole

GUYS.

NANOWRIMO IS IN FOUR DAYS.

I AM NOT READY.

*existensial crisis*

But, before we go diving into all the NaNo craziness, let’s take a look at the craziness of October....

Wow. October has been INSANELY busy. This has been, by far, the busiest month of the year.

I went on my first ever college visit. I AM NOT READY YET. But the college was actually really nice - and the town had a book store. So I bought more books. XD

My family had their annual reunion in the middle of a cow pasture. (That sounds really weird when I read that.) But it was fun! And extremely cold - but that’s why we built a fire.

I went to go see my cousin's school play!

Yesterday I took the ACT. *screaming*

Also, remember back in my last wrap-up post when I said I got my wisdom teeth taken out?

I genuinely thought that my tooth problems would be over.

NOPE.

So, while we were visiting the college, it turned out that the right side of my mouth got infected. *facepalm* I have no idea how, or why, but it happened. So I had to go on meds for another week.

And then I had to have ANOTHER oral surgery to take out these two little gum flaps that were covering parts of two of my teeth.

It gets worse.

When I finished the second surgery, the surgeon told me, "Oh, yeah, you can pretty much eat whatever you want." So I went home and ate - literally everything over the weekend.

Fast-forward to Tuesday morning. I woke up, and the right side of my mouth hurt and was swollen.

Guess what. It got infected. AGAIN.

And guess why?

Well, when the surgeon was trying to figure out why, he saw a LOT of food back there.

Hmmm... maybe I’ll just avoid solid foods for a while.

BUT, it’s on the way to recovery again, So, HOPEFULLY this is all done and I won’t have to worry about my teeth anymore. #famouslastwords

(I apologize for that. I needed to rant.)  

Out of Time series. If you haven’t read this series yet, YOU NEED TO. I’ve read the first and second (because my library only has those two) and they are so inspiring. <3

Lord of the Rings. My family just finished watching the three Hobbit movies. I cried, to say the least. And I’m FINALLY finishing up The Two Towers book (it's been taking me forever, for some weird reason).

Amulet. You guys - I READ SUPERNOVA!!!!! (I think I was the first in the library to check it out. That’s a great feeling.) You can read my short review on Goodreads HERE, but in case you don’t want to, here’s the condensed version: I liked it, but it needed more Trellis.

So, not much actual writing happened in October, but I DID plan my novel for NaNoWriMo! It’s confusing (I virtually did no worldbuilding - it’s going to be great), but I love my main characters and plot. *sighs happily*

I’ve also been scheduling the posts for Julian's 5-Part Shared WIP Tag! But I’ll talk about that more below.

Here are the posts I wrote this month:


And, around the blogosphere.....

Ivie did an AMAZING inspirational writing series that you NEED to read. (Check out parts ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR.)

Gray Marie also did a short series on writing spooky stories that’s perfect for Halloween! (Here are the links to part ONE and TWO.)

And I know this happened in September, but both Nora and Lacy started new blogs, so definitely go check them out!

So, you may have noticed that there has been some changes around here.

Again.

*facepalm*

I’m pretty sure that in an older post, I said that I was not going to change my blog design anymore. Well, that didn’t happen. XD

But for anyone planning on changing their blog design in the future, here’s a couple things I learned that might make it easier!

(also, Madison recently did a similar post about this topic, so when you’re ready, go check it out!)


Let’s face it: if you’re planning a major blog design change, and you’re getting a template off the Internet, chances are that not everything will work the way it should.

It’s irritating.

What’s even more irritating is when you’re trying to fix it, but have no idea what any of the HTML means.

There are hundreds of websites that you can read through that give a basic understanding. I’m not saying you have to become a coding master. But you do need to know the basics.

However, if for some reason you don’t have the time . . .



If you’re like me and forgot everything you learned about coding in school, Google it. That’s literally how I solved every single problem I had with the design.

Thank you, Google. *applause*

I’m not kidding. Within six hours of me deciding that I was going to change my blog design, I already had one up. I had no idea what I was doing. (Heck, I still have no idea what I’m doing.)

Do at least a little bit of research. Put serious time into finding a blog template that looks good (if you want to find one online). Don’t just pick the first one that you like and stop there - if any of you were on my blog on Wednesday night, you saw the mess that was the first blog design I chose.

Most of the time (at least in my experience) it always helps to have a fresh pair of eyes evaluate your new design. If I hadn’t asked my mom to take a look at my new blog look, that atrocious layout would still be up today.

Which leads me to my next point.



If any of you are naturally gifted with an eye for aesthetics, you all need to know that your talent is a blessing. Not everyone has an eye for design.

I know that I have absolutely no idea for what is "aesthetic" or not. That was the reason I picked out the first bad blog design in the first place. I like the one I have now much better, but I thought that the first one I had was "easy on the eyes."

It wasn’t.

So if you spend countless hours trying to make your blog nice and neat, you are not the only one. Aesthetics are not easy. Trust me.

(shoutout to Lisa, Katie Grace, Savannah, and Allison for having some of the most aesthetic blogs I’ve seen!)

For those of you who are debating between blog designs, I only have one piece of advice: If you try to cram a lot of stuff on your blog pages, it will hurt your eyes.

More often than not, the blogs I like to follow are relatively simple, clean, and easy on the eyes. You don’t need obnoxiously sparkly titles and then neon green font as your body text color.

Please, please, please don’t do that. You will scare off more people than you will attract.

In my experience, white is usually a good color for your background. It’s easy on the eyes and looks cleaner.



Blog design should be fun. It shouldn’t make you angry or ticked off or want to throw your computer at the nearest wall. (Well, okay, coding can sometimes tick you off. But that’s why you do a little research!)

While the initial phase may be tedious, when it comes time for you to pick colors and fonts, and rearrange widgets, that should be enjoyable. (Or maybe I just love redesigning blogs. XD)

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And one other thing - YES, I AM ACTUALLY DONE CHANGING MY DESIGN. FOR REAL THIS TIME.

(Let’s see how long it takes for me to start tweaking again. XD)

-Nicole