It's Finally Here!

Oh my gosh. I finally, just now, got the book The Name of the Wind in. It feels like I've been waiting forever! But I guess that's what I get for having to get the one from England. I haven't started reading it just yet since it just got here but I will read it in just a minute, I'm just trying to draw out the anticipation for as long as I can before I start reading. . .


I also got in those alchemy books that I talked about last post and, again, that is a subject that has defied my expectations. Alchemy is actually really interesting, like way interesting. I had not expected to get sucked into the subject for much more than a bit of research but I'm getting invested in the subject. If anyone has ever wanted to learn about alchemy I highly recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy. It's jam packed with information and easy to understand; I find that most of the Idiot's Guides are pretty good books for whatever subject you want to learn about.

Anyway, off to read that book!

Some Major Changes

My first post of the year!

Yeah. I have no excuses for not posting for so long. I was just being lazy. So much for the 'Quit procrastinating' thing.

BUT! The good news is that my story, The Chronicles, is slowly coming together, bit by bit. I think that I'll actually begin writing it within a month. Something that sorta bothers me though is that the story is pretty much completely different then what I wrote for NaNo. I mean, don't get me wrong; what I have now is way better than what I had during NaNo. But this will just be another first draft, not a revised or second draft or anything.

The basic idea of the plot I originally used is still there, if you peer really closely. It's been so stretched out of shape that it's almost completely different. New elements are being added, one of which I am so excited to have thought of, and others are being taken away some that I wish didn't have to go.

Like the dragons. I'm still on the fence about it but I'm pretty sure they wont make it into the story. At least not with human or greater sentience. If dragons appear in the story it will most likely be as an animal. This is disappointing for me, because I am attached to the dragon characters I had, Oris in particular, but there's just no need for them, really.

Another race of beings will be taking their place though, and these beings aren't there just to be there, they are actually important to the plot this time around. If only I could figure out what they looked like. . .

And remember the remnants in my first NaNo book (the one named 'Remnants' :p)? I believe I mentioned them in the summary. Well, their numbers have been cut. There used to be nine. Now, this may be a silly reason for cutting down the number but when I realized that was the exact number as the ring wraiths in The Lord of the Rings it just had to be cut down, not entirely because I was thinking of other people noticing but because once I had made the connection that was all I could see. Nine ring wraiths. Crap.

But having to cut the number down has actually worked in my favor! You see I cut it down once, being very disgruntled about having to do so in the first place and so, focused as my mind was on the number I had to cut it down to, a brilliant idea popped into my head. The number was a significant number, very significant. Apparently significant to a certain religion in my book, which I didn't know it was until that moment. But I would have to increase their numbers by one, thankfully it wasn't the number nine. And so, this had given a solid reason for there to be as many as them as there are other than mere coincidence!

And the third most prominent thing that is being changed is that the main character, Siron (name now subject to change), is getting a sibling. This is going to completely change his personality and psychological state from what is was previously, especially when it comes to fighting against the 'evil' people and what not. And no, it's probably not how you're thinking.

Remember that book The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss that I talked about awhile ago? Well I finally ordered it. I had to get it from the internet though because, well, I got the UK edition instead of the US edition. Why? Because I like the cover for the UK edition so much more! That may superficial, and yes, it probably is, but hey, it's really cool looking. And it took me forever to find it in hardcover, seems like they don't print the UK Hardcover edition anymore or something. Can't wait until it gets here, and more importantly to read it!

Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll try not to go so long without posting this time!

A Somewhat Major Breakthrough

I have belatedly realized that my series needs a lot more work than previously anticipated.

A lot more.

Though, really, this shouldn't be so surprising to me. After all it was a NaNo and everything. But really, I don't think I could ever have expected the sheer amount of work that will need to go into this story. The research and the reworking and everything. Last night, I discovered that every single one of my characters are as flat as the paper they're written on, and will continue to be so unless I work on them. I learned that the world needs a lot more work, and not just the history and legends and that kind of thing,  but the lay of the land. Mountains, forests, things like that. Even the cities themselves are flat. The cities I wrote about have no character, aren't unique in any particular way. I didn't differentiate very much of anything between countries and the like, I actually hardly even mention them.

And then there is the magical system which needs to be much more defined and developed than it is at the moment. It's really quite pathetic right now I think. I've still gotta figure out the rules for the magic and so many things.

So, in short, my book is a pile of slush at the moment and is in desperate need of revisions and research.

But, even though I am a bit put out by this revelation, I am actually excited. Like, really excited. The only problem is that I'm not entirely sure where to start. I mean, I know what I need to research, but I just don't know where to start with it all.

But I did actually do something substantial regarding my story today. I greatly expanded the small map I had previously. I really like it, I want to take a picture of it but am wary of doing so. I had to break out the giant floor pad paper that we got years ago for my baby cousin. This thing is like two and a half foot wide and two foot tall. I traced my previous map onto here and then added to it, bringing more of the world onto the page. It's fabulous but still only a small fraction of the world. I have a very strong urge to tear out a bunch of these large pieces of paper and tape them together and draw until I have all the world finished. I might actually do that tonight, it sounds fun! But I have a feeling it will be ridiculously large. . .

I have decided that it is a near waste of time to read through my book any longer at this point because so much of it needs to be trashed and I already have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. I'm going to get all this research and stuff out of the way so I can have a more developed world and more developed characters and then I will start over, write everything from scratch again. I have a feeling that by that point the whole story will be different, but I know that it will be a better different, and that it will be so much better than what I have right now.

And also, has anyone read or heard of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss?

I remember finding it awhile ago and thinking it might be good but I never bought it or anything, just put it on the wish list. But the other day Ted Cross mentioned Patrick Rothfuss's blog and I checked it out and remembered The Name of the Wind, read the excerpt and have decided that it will probably be one of the best books I will have read.

I had totally forgotten about this book until the day before yesterday, but since then, I have been obsessed with it and made the mistake of tacking it on to what I want for Christmas. So now, I can't really buy it until after Christmas because someone may have bought it as a gift. I so wish I had said nothing.

And another awesome thing is that this is a BIG book. Like nearly 700 pages big. And his second book (which will be out in march)? Well, it's just over 900 pages long.

So, if anyone has read this book, please let me know what you thought! (Spoiler free, of course.)