Stories in Time

I was going to do this in a few weeks, but since Lil has talked about timelines, I thought I might as well too.

My Observer Chronicles have been changed around several times because of when they took place. So I decided to release and edit them in order; from the beginning of the timeline, to the last and its overall conclusion. Well most of them.

It makes it a little easier for me. Although I’m still working on a kind of prequel that is not attached to The Observer Chronicles at the same time; it’s more of a character development story than a prequel though. But she is mentioned briefly in ‘Dreamers’. Take it as you like I guess.

Anyway, here is the order in which the timeline runs:

Dreamers: Beginning of the timeline, in which Janice, Joe’s mum, becomes the central protagonist for ‘The Fairy Tale Complex later’; which is set when she grows up with her own parents (before). The antagonist, the ‘Devourer’, was called this purposely to show the relation to the later Devourers in ‘Fire that Withers’; as they are technically children of this book’s antagonist. Also, the shadow folk mentioned here are explained how they fit in later.

Silver Cathedral: This is when the Neon war starts on Astora. Which eventually explains how Astora has defended against the Neons and survived. Explains the origin of the sceptre of power.

Tribal Guard: This is when the Nexus Chamber is explained in detail. Plus, this is when it all starts to heat up on Earth. The protagonist encounters what will be ‘Fire That Withers’ and ‘Earth That Fills’ antagonist, recruiting the Devourers: Calibre Drake. There is also a reference that ties in where my superhero story is set (Earth Alpha), a parallel Earth that the protagonist notices the name of on her journey. The most important part–is that this story explains why the collection is called ‘The Observer Chronicles’.

Fatal Femmes: Set on Earth Alpha, a very different earth to our own. This is essentially a break from the overall story arc, and gave me a chance to develop something very different and exiting; I am enjoying writing this so much right now. This story is technically happening the same time as the ‘Tribal Guard’, but in another world.

177th Swan: Continues with the ‘Silver Cathedral’ story, and explains not only the importance of the 177th swan, but the treachery behind it. This story goes into depth how the Astorians will live and play a role in the last battle in ‘Earth that Fills’.

Fire That Withers: Earth has been hit–hard. The Edeolon warriors are sent there to stop the source of the Neons growing. They realise the magnitude of the war is bigger than they were told, and know they will not be enough to win it alone. Calibre Drake is revealed as the true antagonist, and reveals he has been planning and growing his armies for years. Pt1 of the climax.

Earth That Fills: Shadow folk are explained here and how they fit in with the Neons. People have fallen, some have been found, but the warriors must take the risk to travel to the word Adalas–to take out the last machine that is making all these Neon soldiers. The ones destroying all life around them. And with doing that, they must fight against Calibre Drake–with the sceptre of power. Pt2

In which I worry about the most pointless things I own.

So, I was hoping that I’d have a thing to briefly mention this week, but I don’t, so that’ll have to be mentioned when it’s mentioned. Something needs to happen before I can talk about it properly. Well, I can talk about it but I’m going to choose not to until this thing happens. And all of that makes it sound like a massive deal, when it’s really not the BIGGEST news ever but it’s exciting for me so… Wait and see. (I bet it’ll happen within about half an hour of me posting this blog. Bah.)

So, on… Tuesday? Yesterday, on Twitter, one of my followers asked me how many pens I have. So I went through the whole “do you mean fountain pens or everything?” Everything apparently. So, out came my six or so pen cups, my six or so pencil cases and a couple of binder pouches stuffed with pens I’d stacked on a World of Warcraft Monopoly box by my desk. (Side note: what’s better than World of Warcraft Monopoly? Free World of Warcraft Monopoly! Ahem.)

I went through every pen storage device thing that I own and I wrote down every pen. Except refills for pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, highlighters and felt tip pens.Or multi-pens actually, ’cause I wasn’t sure whether to count those are one or four (each of my four multi-pens has four ‘cartridges’ in is, thus four pens? I don’t know.) Anyway. I have eight A4 sheets here with every pen written on a new line.

So, I counted all my fountain pens, all my roller-balls, all my biros, all my gel pens and all my… Whatever’s not in the exclusion list. I have about 289 pens kicking around.

Two hundred and eighty nine pens.

Just let that sink in.

Yeah, I can’t believe it either.

Do you know what’s even worse?

Most of them are biros.

OH MY GOD. I don’t understand why either! I hate biros, I really do. I don’t understand why I have so many of the things. I swear to Chuck that they’re multiplying. I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of the things. It’s a well known fact that biros are notoriously difficult to run out. It’s like they just… I don’t know. I hate the things and I have no idea why I have so many.

I mean, I can use up all my gel pens. Easy enough. But then I’ve got all these darn biros to get rid of. How on earth am I going to do that? I can’t just get rid of them – I find it almost impossible to throw away a pen that still works just fine. Time for lots of colouring and scribbling and stuff I suppose? I don’t know. That’ll be my next “mission” after all my gel pens are gone. I’ll keep you updated on that, ’cause I’ll need your prayers guys.

Good lord.

Er, yes! I don’t have much else to say really. I just wanted to lament about that horrifying discovery to people who’d understand.

Until next week!

Danni

X

Blog post word count: 514 words.

Timelines, Timeframes and Timetables.

This week I want to talk about surrounding your characters with their own personal timelines and placing them in a specific time and place.

Just a note, most of the examples I will be using in this post will be from my novel, which is 70,000+ words of (hopefully) well planned war literature.

For the two main characters in my novel I created timelines as a way to map their lives before the story started, so I could keep track of dates and ages for back story purposes and to hopefully avoid continuity errors. For example, I didn’t want a character to say that they went to a certain place when they were 20 and then in the second half say it happened when they were 19.

The timelines read something like this brief excerpt. (There are two separate timelines but I cross-reference them, so the births of both characters are on both lists)

Timeline L.

(Monday) 18 Aug 1890 K.E.C is born
(Sat) 7 Nov 1891 L.E.L is born
1909 A.L is born when L. is 18
4 Aug 1914 England declares war on Germany7 Nov 1914 L. turns 24
19 July 1915 start of book

and so on for most events in the book.

Another advantage of these timelines are having a definitive list of dates so that as I mentioned before I don’t forget important dates and “life events”.

Using a time frame to build a story around (a year, two years, once every year on the same day…) can be helpful to try and keep structure but I don’t rely too much on this. Having too rigid a time frame can also trip you up if you don’t plan every single month of the story line. There’s the chance you could say which month you are in and then say two months have passed and then it’s not the right month! If this makes sense. Planning, if the novel is going to be really specific about when and where things are happening is really important.

I tend to get a bit willy nilly with weeks and days so I try not to mention exact dates or days of the week, just in case I say “It was Monday. Three days had passed and tomorrow was Saturday” or something stupid like that. My novel only has three exact dates (to my knowledge) throughout the whole thing. One of them is in the first line, the other is the mention of a character’s birthday and the third is a very vague hint that it is the armistice. Because of the nature of the book and the state of mind that my main character finds himself in, I found that for half of the book it doesn’t matter what day/date it is as my character wouldn’t know or care anyway. How much or how little time passes in that section of the novel is irrelevant, but I’m sure if you squint hard enough there is some clue.

That’s all for now,

Lil

Character Arc/Development

I am back. Hello again!

I’m going to talk about character development this time.

If you are a rare subspecies who wants to avoid spoilers of my superhero story that will come out in about two to three years, then I advise not reading this post. It’s not possible to give details of this character’s development without some kind of spoiler.

My empath character was created because of my compassionate side; she is based a little on myself, and also on my mother; which is why she is called ‘Jacqueline’, because that is my mother’s name.

First of all, I knew this kind of character did not only have to be a part of the Fatal Femmes, but be an important character from a very different perspective on the team.

Each character has very different problems and perspectives, which is why I think this might become my biggest story so far. It works on so many levels with so many perspectives merged to create one entire story. And without delving into these perspectives nobody would understand their actions and reactions in the action scenes when they are all together.

Jacqueline was created to be the conscience of the team; the one with so much compassion and understanding of morals; these are not looked at as skills or even intelligence; but they can be honed to strengthen ourselves and those around us.

My mam has all of the above; there is no doubt my mother is a trooper! There will never be enough words to tell her how much she means to me. She has always been there for me. She has always worked her hardest to give her big family the best she can; I would be very lucky if I turned out to be half the person she is.

Okay, so here is the arc in bullet points:

Jacqueline

Abilities: Empath; able to feel and sense other peoples emotions, inflict and make specific emotions arise on multiple targets within line of sight (or with one individual when not in line of sight). Can also hone on people she has come to know over time and track them from afar with what she calls ‘empathic identity frequencies.’

1. Jacqueline is introduced via the opposing team in school. The team it focuses on first is Iris, Lena and Lorna. Opposing team: Marie, Jacqueline and Eva. Also know in the story as the teams A-17 and A-27.
2. Jacqueline and her team A-27 fight for the first time against A-17. Though no one wins technically (even though A-17 does on a combat and power basis) as the property is damaged by both teams, and is the main point in it; as the government doesn’t employ navics (supers) that destroy their property to rebuild and lose money over.
3. The empath becomes out of tune with her ability for a few minutes in school in  a corridor; because of the mystical energies channeled through Iris (which is explained much later on), who walks past, subconsciously. When Iris goes to help, she is fully restored, which is explained later on why also.
4. A-17 and A-27 end up in a bank heist together, and the criminals end up killing large amounts of people inside; A-17 figured out Jacqueline sent out a distressed empathic emotion to all those near, which made the team curious about the situation in the bank before they entered. Though both teams were driven to help, only the empath and A-17 could use their abilities because of the bands placed on navics in training; these are only activated in controlled rooms in school. But Lena creates a way around them; and psionics (a type of navic) like Jacqueline can use their abilities on different frequency waves to by pass them if really needed (though this is not known by the government yet).
5. Iris is possessed by the goddess Hecate in the bank and seeks justice on those killed; the end of the scene gives both teams a very good reason to start working together, and essentially is Hecate’s view of the way she wants the world to see women now. But both teams see this is also a great way to manage these abilities in a much more people driven way, and also a positive way nobody has ever done before them.
6. First time in real battle, Jacqueline realises that big numbers of enemies’ hate and fear fuel her own, and cause her rage to almost kill someone as she uses a combatant second skin Lena creates to enhance kinetic energy; this person becomes paralysed; they eventually become allies, and realise there is a much bigger plot by several groups of people at work though later on in the story.
7. Jacqueline soon becomes very afraid of using her ability because of the last fight scene. She fears tuning in with her emotional empathic ability might lead her to actually kill someone someday. But also fears she will be of no value without her empathic senses; as it becomes the ground for the Fatal Femmes’ tactical intelligence in the field. So she turns to Lena for help, and begins to hope something can be done.

That’s all folks. There is a lot of spoilers in there. I still don’t want to reveal everything I’ve done and have planned; but you can see how she is starting to develop pretty well here; at least I would say so.

Thanks for reading folks

This is Jon saying… BYE. Waves.

Review: BroLeatherWorks’ Midori-style Leather Notebook Cover.

Hi guys.

So I have a review for you today. Just a small one mind, especially after the mammoth size of last week’s post.

First! I have not been asked or paid or anything to link to any of the following sites or to do this review. I purchased my notebook cover with my own funds, and all opinions are entirely my own.

(Also while I’m thinking about it, please forgive the slightly terrible photos. Especially the last one, ’cause it was taken under my yellow desk lamp. The others were taking under natural light.)

It started with the Midori Traveller’s Notebook, which was an interesting concept in itself. Then came along the Pelle journal; a cheaper version of the Traveller’s Notebook, but with three sizes instead of two and a few more leather colour options (I think the sizes are more standard too). And then, the lovely Kate over at The Life of the Perpetual Student posted a video about her Midori style notebook. It turned out to be an A5 version.

That was more attractive to me. A5 is a size that I use on a more regular basis. And it’s easier for me to get my hands on, and for cheap too. The Pelle and Midori notebook refills are a) not quite sizes I’m used to b) not exactly cheap especially in the case of the Midori ones, and c) not easily obtainable here in the United Kingdom. (More to the point, the Pelle journal is practically impossible to get from a UK source, the Midori a little less so.)

So I thought about it for a little while, and then I saw a “customise your own” listing on Etsy, from a shop called BroLeatherWorks. I messaged the seller, Stefano Bramato, a few times. He was very quick to respond to me, very helpful and very friendly. So, I ordered one; an A5 cover that opened like a notebook instead of a reporter’s notebook in canyon tan coloured leather (which reminded me of the 5th Anniversary Edition of the Midori Traveller’s Notebook to be honest), with a single strand of light turquoise elastic. (Stefano also does double elastic, which looks quite good, but I know it would’ve gotten on my nerves.)

I paid $33.50 (that’s American dollars, just so you know), which worked out, according to my PayPal history as £22.24. Including shipping. Yup. That’s like, half the price of a regular (not passport sized) Midori notebook cover.

I purchased it on the 1st May, Stefano dispatched it on the 6th, and it arrived on the 10th. From Italy.

So, the postman knocked on my door, I signed for it, and took my armful of post upstairs. This is what I was greeted by when I opened the envelope:

My dear lord it smelt so good. And that leather smell hung around until… I think Monday evening. Here, let me give you a little close up on that bow:

That badge is so cute. It’s on my elastic at the moment, but I think I have another plan for it, so we’ll see whether I keep it or not. Anyway. So that’s the outer packaging. Simple, yet elegant. And I’ve kept the tissue (though it’s a bit stronger than tissue so I don’t know what to call it) it was wrapped in. So, what was under the wrapping?

THAT is what was waiting for me under the wrapping. (The thing on top is a little handwritten thank you note, with a note about his shop.) The leather is so thick and so smooth; the colour is so pretty and I can’t stop touching it. I’m not currently using it properly, it just sits on my desk and I keep petting it, but I know what I’m going to do with it.

It even has the shop logo hand stamped on the back;

Stefano even included a little home and hand made insert too, which I love. (You can even see the little bookmark):

Oh, and one more thing. Look:

(This thing is -mine- baby!)

Basically. I have nothing bad to say about this seller or this product. I’m extremely happy.

Until next week folks!

Danni

x

Word count: 698 words

Oh! If you want more information on the Midori Traveller’s Notebooks and the Pelle journal then the lovely Azizah over at Gourmet Pens has a review of each, and then a massive comparison review:
~ Azizah’s Midori Review.
~ Azizah’s Pelle Review.
~ Azizah’s Comparison.
Finally, the folks at Ink Nouveau have a video on the Midori Traveller’s Notebook.

Marks

This  week I am here to talk about book marks, marks in books, books by Mark and marks by books.

I originally found this on youtube, but for various reasons, I can’t link to it right now. I shall endeavour to come back and amend this post with the link in due course.

Here goes:

1) What are you currently using as a book mark?

I’m reading three books at the moment (though it’s actually probably more than this) and these are the three bookmarks I’m using. The one on the left was free, the one in the centre from a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye (where I spent a lot of money) and the one on the right was a present.

2) Best thing ever used as a bookmark?
Probably the one in the picture above from the Richard Booth Bookshop (which I also have a tote bag from which they gave me for free after spending so much). I just like the way it looks and feels. Bit weird, I know.

3) Weirdest thing ever used as a bookmark?
Probably a tissue. Don’t worry, it was clean!

4) Do you ever annotate/highlight/write in books?
I wrote a whole blog post about this a few weeks ago, so in brief, yes sometimes, depending on what it is. I am going to do it to my uni books once they arrive.

5) Share something you’ve found written in a library book/used book/book that didn’t belong to you?
This is the best example I could find. I looked through a lot of my books and apart from names, this was the only one with anything in. This is on the first page of a biography of Alexandre Dumas.

It’s quite hard to read, but says “With all good Dumasian wishes, A. Craig Bell.” Wonderfully enough, A. Craig Bell is the author of the biography.

6) What books in your collection are by someone named Mark?
The only book I could find (in about 300) was  The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss.

7) What book has made the biggest mark on your life? (figuratively?)The easy answer here would be Harry Potter, as anyone who’s read my Dear Harry post would see, but I fear that it is a bit of a cop out. Harry certainly reintroduced me to reading (not that I ever really stopped), but only a slim part of my life is now directly influenced by Harry. If we can use the term book very loosely (and I hope we can) my true, ultimate ‘book’ that has made the biggest mark on my life is Tintin , more specifically probably Tintin in Tibet or The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure double story. As for adult books, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Brideshead Revisited hadn’t had some effect on me. I think I have it to thank for the many books of the same era and earlier that I read now. Also, Jonathan Coe’s The Rotter’s Club for helping me read outside my comfort zone.

8) What book has made the biggest mark on you? (Literally – do you have any literary themed tattoos? If not, and if you had to get one, what would it be?)No, I don’t but let me direct you to this website, which is a gallery of literary tattoos. Some great, some not so, but still interesting. It’s been a point of thinking for me for some time. I can never settle on something I’m still going to love in twenty years. That said, I’d probably go for some sort of quote rather than a pictorial representation of a book.

9) Which book has made the biggest impact on your generation?
Harry Potter. Obvious answer, but true.

That’s all for this week! Would love my other bloggers to have a go at this too!

Lil

Routines

I wish to apologise for my recent absences on this blog. The combination of thinking of worthwhile subjects to write about, staying with my grandmother for a week while she’s away and other things I won’t bore you with have left me strapped for creative time.

I don’t know about my fellow bloggers but I find that writing works best as part of a routine. Writing should be a pleasure, not a chore or nagging responsibility, and breaking away from the routine to write can be as pleasing and productive as setting time aside from the routine to do so. In a way, they may both be the same thing – it’s entirely plausible to have a busy routine and get away from it by planning specific times to write. It all boils down to the writer’s own requirements.

Having just finished eight weeks of work experience, I find myself back in a less-productive routine, resuming my search for work while keeping myself busy with other things. Perhaps this time around will provide more inspiration to write. The key to a successful writing routine is knowing when you work at your best, and when you have to settle for just getting words on the page. Either way, I need a refresher course in both.