Wrestle it to Submission

205

I wrote that many words today. I hope to write more. I hope that they come out right. I'm terrified with every single word I write down that it will come out wrong. I keep second guessing myself. I need to do some writing exercises to get back into it. Have any ideas?

Also, in case anyone was curious, it does start with 'Once upon a time...'

Friday Fun Time, Yes?

I thought I would get this in there before it got too much later and I started to pass out. I have Friday off (yay!) and HOPEFULLY I can go out and start some writing! Saturday is going to be nuts because I will be gone for almost all day for my brother's drumline competition. They made it to finals, which is awesome. I can't wait. There's also the fact that RCC (Riverside Community College) who is the number one drumline and/or marching band used in television and movies will be there. Their drumline's show? My Steampunk Heart. I haven't seen it yet. I'm excited.

Okay, so I think I owe you more details on Milo. I don't think I can keep myself awake long enough to do it justice, but I'll have something for you tomorrow, hopefully. I don't even know who is reading this and following along. Clearly I've been neglecting it, but I knew that life was going to eventually get complicated. I still can't wait to get writing. I WILL DO IT, I SWEAR! Let's just make it through work tomorrow.

I hope you have a great night. See ya tomorrow!

Uhhhhh... What's Today?

Yeah, definitely not doing a good job at this whole 'stay on track' thing. I am failing miserably. Even though I do know that there is all of 12 people subscribed, one of which is myself. I am trying to get my head wrapped around this and the first thing I do when I get home should be that I make a post. I need to start writing, as well. I am excited, believe. Who knew that this whole 'job' thing would make me such a bum. Oh wait, I totally knew.

 

You were supposed to be reading more about Milo and how unbelievably awesome he is, which still holds totally true. Unfortunately, I'm being horrible and posting this while I'm at work. I have some down time at the moment and can do it really quick. I'm trying to figure out what to write more about in this blog. I'm really hoping that I can get on a writing schedule soon though. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I'm in need of the motivation at the moment.

 

Hope your week is awesome even though it has been distinctly lacking a lot of me. I know, I know. That is so lame, isn't it? Maybe I will have to start posting on weekends to balance out my weeks. I don't know. I can't even think at the moment. But tomorrow is Friday! I think tomorrow should be 'Suggestion Friday' instead of 'Question Friday.' Anyway, have a great evening!!

 

LL&P

This is Getting Hard

I'm having a hard time posting every day apparently. Granted, this week has been chock full of insanity and running around. I can't really help that. Yesterday I was home for about a couple hours, but I was mostly getting ready to leave again. Don't get me wrong, it was mostly choice that I was out, but I was running errands, too. 


I'm apparently failing my own resolution. Then again, I knew going into this that at some point I'd screw it up and I was just going to have to work with it as best I can and keep moving forward. It isn't about the logistics, anyway. It was about doing something productive. It was about stepping out and saying that this is what I'm doing. I'm writing a trilogy. The end goal is in sight. This is just a means to remind myself every day of what I am supposed to be doing.


So, I'm sitting here, looking forward to the next couple weeks and praying that with the changes going on and the time restraints, how I will fit in this writing. I'll do it. Believe me, I will do it. I can find a way and I will. I'm still going to post here, I'm still going to be moving forward, it just might be a bit boring for the rest of you. Milo Monday returns next week. Hopefully Question Friday will, too. I'm hoping to have some writing done this week. That was the goal, but we'll see. With life happening at the same time, sometimes it just isn't feasible. It doesn't mean I'm just gonna wait it out. I just need to get past this next week. Then we'll buckle down for sure. 


Here's some info on Julian's beliefs. I told you that character profile was long.

Beliefs

1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?

I’m not sure I’ve picked what month he was born in. I think its probably June or July. That makes him a Cancer. Even if I did associate anything about my characters with their sign, he is nothing like it.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?

Religion and spirituality are very personalized in this world. I don’t see him is as much of anything other than just free spirited.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? 

Everyone with an education is sort of raised with a sense of ethics and morals. The more rural or corrupt the area, the less ethics and morals have to say in the way they live their lives. Julian has a very proper understanding of what ethics and morals are expected of him. It was basically taught to him, but of course there are certain things that are simply just built into him. As for compromising them, he will learn that there are situations in which morals will change.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? 

He is indifferent for the most part. He hasn’t had a lot of run ins with people with vary different moral standards from him and so he doesn’t have the experience with it. He will learn that there are limits to that indifference though. He will come up against quite a few foes that back him into a moral corner.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? 

He doesn’t have many because he is so sheltered. He doesn’t know what is out there to be prejudice about. All he knows is that there is a kingdom that he will have to take care of, he will protect and no one in that kingdom is exempt from that protection. He might change his mind later. We’ll see.


LL&P

Explanation

These past two days have been full of busy and fun. Last night I would going to post, almost right before midnight, until the internet crashed and I didn't get the chance. Today, I'm not posting anything interesting because it's been a fun filled day and I'm tired. That doesn't make up for it, but I'll have you know that tomorrow marks the first day I decide to really sit down at get writing. I can't wait.

Percy Jackson's Got Nothing On Me

I told you I was going to rant about Percy Jackson and the Olympians and I totally am. The reason is, there seems to be a very prominent theme at the moment in movies and books that use Greek Mythology. Now, I don't know when this all started before it actually got popular, but that's just how it all tends to work. I mean, we've been on this stupid vampire kick for a while now. It is how it goes. We always have these trends in movies and books. We are all hoping this vampire thing ends soon.

Anyway, I was talking to my mom about my book and she was asking questions about it. She was wondering about my use of Greek Mythology and wondering if I was cutting it kind of close with all the myths that are going around right now. That's actually a very big concern. If I get in on the trend too late, I look like a knock off. If I come in on it too early, no one wants to read it because they don't have an interest. Then again, I'm taking on a genre that doesn't really get much attention. I'm hoping to change that.

Here's the benefit to using Greek Mythology as inspiration and not directly. I am taking the characters that i develop and linking them up with a myth or god or goddess. For me, this gives me something to compare it to. Greek Mythology created so many major themes in literature. You can't really escape them. There was love and revenge, there was adventure and tragedy. It took the conventional idea of god or gods being all-powerful, all-knowing and perfect beings and turned them into nearly human creations. They did the worst things. They fought with each other and betrayed each other. They fell in love and fell out of love. It was an amazing concept for an ancient culture to have developed. That is why I fell in love with it and that is why I chose it to use it as a base. I'm not taking stories directly from mythology, not completely. There are definitely parallels between my plot and characters and those found in mythology. However, there is nothing new under the sun, as they say. Everything will have come from that in the first place. So, I decided that seeking inspiration from mythology was a good way to make sure that I was hitting very human driven plots.

As for Percy Jackson, I must be the biggest nerd ever. I basically watched the movie and corrected the mythology the whole time. I understand that the author, Rick Riordan, gets creative license and I respect that. I felt like maybe there were things that could have been portrayed better. Unfortunately for me, I haven't read the books yet, but that is on my list of things to do because I'm dying to know how he approached most of mythology. Some of his ideas on the use of gods seemed a little off, but that still could have been the movie and not the actual books. We'll see. I was basically able to predict the entire thing because of the myths that were present and I could figure where it was going because of that. I felt super cool, even if it was super nerdy. It wasn't great, but that's what you get for making movies out of books. I would suggest you go see it if you like mythology. It seems to make more sense that way.

Cross my fingers that I get some work done tomorrow. I need to develop two more characters and I should be able to get writing. The first few captures should be easy enough, its going to be the rest of them when I need to know where Julian is going that I have to wait for my map to be finished. I'm so excited to get that finalized and looked at. Have a great night!

LL&P

The Antihero

Probably my favorite character in any book, movie or television show is the antihero; not to be confused with the antagonist. Where an antagonist is a villain, the one causing the problem that is progressing the plot for the hero or protagonist, the antihero is the protagonist with a less than conventional characteristics of the typical hero. Yesterday, I noted that the hero was courageous, self-sacrificing and morally right. The antihero tends to be selfish, morally ambiguous and show more signs of being cowardly in the face of danger.

Its true that everyone loves a great villain. The villain, with all their endless evil and conniving, create the plot that stories are surrounded by. The antihero is all that corruption without making the reader feel like they are siding with evil while they love them. The best part about them, is that you get all of the faults, mistakes, malicious behavior and sharp wit of the villain, but they are, in a way, fighting for good. Occasionally, they aren't fighting for good or bad, they are fighting for themselves. Let's go through a few examples. Here are some of my favorites.


Pirates of the Caribbean - Captain Jack Sparrow
This character single handedly created a franchise. It brought life to the pirates of old and he was the antihero that everyone wanted to be like.

Lost - Benjamin Linus and James "Sawyer" Ford
Both of these characters have very distinct 'bad guy' feelings. Ben being the more questionable of the two (since we still aren't sure what side he is one). Sawyer is fighting more for good, but doing it in a way that serves him best. (Not to mention Kate, who is technically a fugitive. Just saying.)

Dexter - Dexter Morgan
This show just put the lead actor in a place for a Golden Globe. The character is a serial killer hunting murderers. It's the ultimate antihero in that he will kill to find, what he believes is true justice.

Fight Club - Tyler Durden
Brad Pitt's portrayal of this fictional character created quite a stir. Honestly, I can ask any guy what their favorite movies are and there is no doubt that Fight Club with it's chaos creating character will make the list.


I could go on and on. The antihero is one of the most loved characters in all of literature and media. We want to love the bad guy. Woman want to change him, men want to him him. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly the female antihero. What about Pam from the Southern Vampire series? Or even someone a little more mild, like Meredith Grey of Grey's Anatomy? She's repeated described as being 'dark and twisty inside,' labeling her as the antihero and still the protagonist.

I promise, the women in my book, most of them are the antihero. With the exception of Julian's mother and sister, the rest of them have a distinct flair for self-serving, self-preservation, and morally ambiguous behavior.

DISCUSSION! Talk about your favorite antihero in any book, series, show or movie. Also, it's Question Friday tomorrow!! Ask me anything, everything and all you want to know will be revealed... well, within reason. Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

Welcome!

Every New Year I make up some stupid resolution that I promptly break. I figure that way I can get the disappointment out of the way and not worry about it later on. I've even made the resolution to not make a resolution, which essentially breaks the resolution immediately and therefore taking care of the whole thing in one go. I like my little game I play. It's fun for me and probably no one else, but that's the point. This year, however, demanded I do something better than scoff at people who have things like 'goals' and 'a future.' Ha! Who needs that? Well, apparently I do.

I've been planning to write a book... a few books. Most of the ideas get developed enough to start, but not enough to finish and half way through I decide that it wasn't as good an idea as I thought. But in the past few months there has been an idea that has been nagging me, pulling at me, and demanding my attention. I've been pushing it around all the corners of my brain, waiting for it to take hold of a more solid plot. Not too long ago it finally became a full fledged plot, from beginning to end. There's details to work out, of course; all those little things about the characters, plots, subplots, and the world this story will exist in. That is what this blog is for.

My New Year's Resolution came to me from watching Julie & Julia. When that movie came out, I figured that I could write a blog, too. Yes, there's a lot of people that assume they can write a blog just because they have a thought in their head, but this is more than just writing a blog to show off my skills of knowing how to use a computer. Instead, I am using this blog to keep myself in check. I am going to post here all kinds of information about my book, my ideas and the characters. You will get little snippets of plot and events that took place even before the plot.

Here are the rules:

• I will post a minimum of five times a week. Usually this will mean Monday through Friday, but there may be a few times that I post something on the weekend. 
• I will use this blog to post information about my book. This means that I will be sharing information about the characters, plot and world I am creating. 
• I will post even when I haven't done any work on my book. This gives you permission to yell at me when I post something that has nothing to do with my book. 
• I will post design ideas, plot ideas, and art. This means I have to work on it daily, even though I accept the fact that sometimes I have other responsibilities and I can't dedicate a lot of time every day. 

Here's the summary. I am writing a blog to develop my book and create a fanbase for characters that you all haven't even read yet. This will help me dedicate time to writing as well as keeping myself in check. These first few posts will be me throwing around ideas of how to keep my readers interested and what you can expect out of this blog. I have to come up with my set format for posting and such. We will see how it goes.

But before I thank you for reading, you probably want to know what the heck this story is about! Well, it is an epic steampunk fantasy about the quest of a kingdom's prince. Steampunk is a fantasy genre where the society is more old fashioned, but with technology that is advanced past even what we are at. It is an extremely industrial age with old social standards. A good example of this is the Disney movie Treasure Planet. Some of the things you can expect is flying ships, harnessing lightning as energy and kings, princes, bounty hunters and pirates. It is a trilogy, so all three books will follow the main character (who you will learn more about soon) and his epic journey into finding his place in the kingdom.

Some great resources for figuring out what this 'steampunk' thing is is by searching it through Deviant Art. There are so many amazing pieces of art that very much embody the feel and ideas that I am going for.

Thanks for reading and I really hope you decide to stick with me through this journey. If you love to read and love to discuss ideas, I can't wait to get your feedback. Recommend this blog to your friends! I can't wait to get started.

Always,

Alexandra