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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It appears May is going to be a busy busy busy month. Southern Faire (which is the Renaissance Faire my husband and I like to go to) is ending, friends are coming in from out of town to visit, and somewhere in between all that and my regular prenatal check ups my husband and I have to pack up our apartment, because we're moving!

In addition to that I just found out that Kristen Britain, author of the Green Rider series, has a new book coming! Yay! I fell in love with the series when I was in high school, and it makes me oh so happy that she's continuing it - I could dance if I wasn't afraid of throwing out my back or my hips!

So last week I mentioned that I had posted a new chapter for one of my fanfics that I hadn't updated in quite awhile. This week I added another new chapter - one I was very pleased with because it turned out oh so well. However I also knew that readers might have an issue with this chapter, and sure enough, one or two did make some comments. To my surprise, they weren't offended by what I thought they would be offended by, but by something completely different - a position two characters ended up using during one of those scenes.

Now, normally I try to ignore negative reviews, but I've been working on this fanfic since I was in college and these readers have been following it devotedly since then, so I figured they deserved an explanation of why I went the route I did. I sent them an email that explained my reasons (and I may have gone so far as to cite examples from the series and the guide books because I'm a really big nerd). My readers promptly surprised me yet again - once they knew why, they were okay with and no longer bothered by said position... though one was surprised that I put that much thought into the science and physics of things.

All is well that ends well - though I still find it funny that the thing that should have upset them didn't, and the thing that shouldn't have did!

In addition to plugging away on that fanfic, I'm also still working on rewriting Chapter 10 of The Undying Ones. It's proving to be tougher than I thought to make the scenes I copied over from the original short story fit in with the novel version because the story has changed so much. In the short story the castle was near the village and nothing separated it from the village, so the inhabitants of the castle could go and steal from the villagers whenever they wanted. Currently, the castle is separated from the village by a big ravine, so stealing from the villagers isn't an option... that we know of at least. Also in the old version, Rordan and Talesin were jesters for the King. Now we don't know entirely what or who they are.

And now on to WIPpet Wednesday!

Unfortunately, no matter how I tried to add, subtract, multiply or divide, there was just no way to get the section I wanted to share to coincide with the date - so I'll be sharing 14 paragraphs because the year is 2014!

Anywho, this week I'll be sharing more from Between Two Worlds, my other fanfic. In this scene Domick heads back to the Stewes (which is the name of the house that he lives in at Pembroke with Norah, her son, and the old musician named Mud) and is greeted by some strange music that has been haunting him ever since he first arrived at Pembroke.
When the last parade passed by the stand, pushing the last few straggling patrons ahead of them, the harper folded up the counters and closed the windows. Then, once he was sure everything was locked up tight until tomorrow, he ducked through the empty stage and strolled up to the Stewes. Once inside he was greeted by the haunting music that had kept him awake during his first few nights at Pembroke. He froze just inside the threshold, listening to the drums and violins swell around him once more.
He decided that Menolly would like it... if she were here to hear it, that was. It was basic, like her songs often were...
“You okay?” A young voice asked, breaking Domick out of his reverie. He glanced to his right to find that Marcus had sprawled out on one of the couches, holding that - what had he called it? PSP? - in his dirty hands. Judging from the sounds that spilled from it’s speakers, he was also playing that assassin game again.
“I’m fine.” The harper lied.
“Cool.” Marcus replied, oblivious to the world around him as he was sucked by the PSP once more.
“Do you know what this song is?” Domick asked, however, the boy didn’t reply. His brow was creased in concentration, the tip of his tongue poking out from between his lips.
He shouldn’t be surprised that he had lost Marcus’s attention - he had dealt with enough apprentices at the harper hall over the turns to know that most boys were easily distracted - however, it was a bit of a shock that he had lost him to the game so quickly. Most apprentices at least pretended to pay attention until his back was turned. Sighing, he crossed the room and slipped his hand between the boy’s gaze and the game.
“Hey!” Marcus yelped, glaring up at him.
“I asked you a question.”
“You did?”
“Yes. What is that music that’s playing?”
“Music?” He blinked. “What... oh, that’s just that belly dance stuff Mom likes to listen to.”
“Belly dance stuff?”
“You know, with the shimmying and the shaking and the snake arms.” Marcus proceeded to demonstrate, but all he did was burrow himself deeper into the cushions on the couch. 
To read more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Of Kitties and Kings...

First off, my cats would like to take over my blog for a second as they have an announcement to make:


Yup. That's right! We're having a baby boy in September!

The baby cooperated just long enough for us to find out, and then went right back to being his stubborn self. If this is any indication of how he's going to be once he's born, his father and I are doomed.

I've actually done quite a bit of writing this week. I know I should be focusing on my original stories, but one of my older fanfics that I haven't updated since... oh... November, I think... started demanding my attention again last Thursday. This fanfic is one of those ones that had been shelved because I had no idea where to go next. Oh, I knew what needed to happen eventually, but I had no idea how to get from point A to point B. Every option just seemed boring to me, or would stretch out this section of the story even more, and frankly, it was long enough already! I finally ended up writing an info dump chapter, which I hated doing, but it moves the story along nicely and the readers are happy. Now that that chapter is out of the way, I can finally move onto the fun stuff! Things I've been waiting to write for years!

Now that that's out of the way, I have figured out another solution to the problem I was having with The Undying Ones. It means copying over a great deal of text from the original short story and editing it to fit in with the new story, plus going back and tweaking the previous chapter, but I think it'll work quite nicely.

And now.... it's time... for WIPPET WEDNESDAY!!!!

Since today is the 23rd of April, here are 5 lines (2+3=5) from the next chapter of The Undying Ones. This is part of the short story I'll be copying over and editing this week. The King, who has not been seen in public in years, finally makes an appearance:

“It’s madness for them to be out there now,” Rordan said. “Someone might get the wrong idea and tell the King.”As if whispering his name summoned him, the doors to the great hall slammed open. As one, Mattie, Talesin and Rordan turned and watched as the King strode into the Great Hall.

To see more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

I'm Baaaaaaaack!

I'm truly sorry for not responding to any of my last posts comments, or getting around to commenting on anyone else's blog the past couple of weeks. I was so miserable from allergies/sinus infection that I did not want to do anything. But I finally beat the allergies into submission, so life is good!

I've been busy working on a corset for my god-daughter to wear to Wondercon (She's going as Ariel from the Little Mermaid, but she'll be wearing the dress from the Kiss The Girl scene) so I haven't had much time to write this week. While I've made plenty of bodices, I have never done a corset before, so it's been quite the learning experience!

Anywho, on to WIPpet Wednesday!

Since today is April 16th, here is 12 lines from Between Two Worlds (4-16=12). This is a continuation of this scene. Today we finally find out who the mystery woman is, and what Domick thinks of certain piercings she has and what she's done to them (That sounds way more ominous than I meant it to!)
Norah’s jaw dropped. “Atiya?” The woman nodded. “You look so different! I didn’t recognize you at all!”
“It’s because I’m not all laced up and miserable like you are.” She giggled. “And the make up.” She gestured to the black dots and lines decorating her cheeks and chin, and the jewel pasted between her eyebrows.
“And the hair, and the earrings” Thick round wooden hoops with decorations carved into them hung from either earlobe, the skin stretched to go around it. “You’ve gone up a gauge haven’t you?”
“A couple, actually.”
“They’re pretty.”
“Thanks.” Atiya preened under her compliment.
Domick looked back and forth between the two women. Were they mad? No one in their right mind would willingly mar their body in such a way back on Pern. But then, should he be surprised? This wasn’t Pern, and the people here seemed to have more free time to spend on useless modifications. He had seen men walking around shirtless with drawings on their skin and women with piercings in their noses and lips and other odd places.
Well, that ended up being a little more than 12 lines, but I swear it was 12 on my original document!

To check out more WIPpet Wednesday Posts go here!