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!

Secret Narnian Hour (Day 7)

Well, last night during the secret Narnian hour (the daylight savings 1 am-is-two-hours-long thing that most of America and some of Canada does) I wrote 2,000 words in only an hour and a half and I was so happy cause I thought I'd be able to write a bunch today.

WRONG!

Of course today was the day that my mom and dad finally decided to move our furniture and everything into the living room. So, I still have about 800 words to go to reach my usual 5,000 daily goal and I might write some more after that. And to think I was going to try and get 10k in today >:|

And also, my current overall word count is 34,961! I cannot believe I'm already nearly at 50k! And to think that last year I struggled to get to 50k! Anyway, I thought I would just put it out there what my real goal for this month is so I have more pressure to actually do it. My goal is 150,000 words this month and I aiming for Remnants, the book I'm writing right now to be about 75k long before I start on book 2. So, writing has been very productive this month!

I hope everyone else is having a productive month as well and for those who aren't I know you guys can do it! If I can you guys can too, all you have to do is the butt-in-chair strategy and then click away at the keys, or move that pen/pencil on the paper, even if it feels like one more word will kill you! ;)

An Excerpt (Day 6)

Well, I haven't written anything yet but now that I've eaten lunch I think I'll get to it! Anyway, I wanted to share the first Excerpt of my book, it's kind short but there will be others that should be longer.



“Samuel?” Siron asked, walking forward and looking over his shoulder before he too froze.

It wasn’t exactly what he was seeing that made his body seize in fear. What he saw was strange. There seemed to be many black shadows, seeming like black mist that hung in the air flitting about. Strange and, yes, fear inspiring, but that was not what made him unable to move.

It was the feeling. The dark coldness that was seeping into him at the sight of these shadows. It felt like these things would eat his soul if given the chance and it took every ounce of his strength to gain control of his limbs and take a gulp of air. He grabbed Samuel's arm and yanked him backwards. Samuel seemed to suddenly come to life, sprinting like death was behind him, which may very well be, and making a beeline back the way they came, towards the faint sound of the stream.

 M'kay, that's all for today, gotta get that wordcount up!

Dragons

Well, I have to say I was on the fence about putting dragons in the Chronicles. Mostly it's because, no matter how much I may like dragons, they seem cliche to me. Plus they just didn't seem to fit into the chronicles. If I were to have dragons I knew they would be a entirely sentient race, not animals, not something to ride on (in fact, a human riding a dragon is about the lowest of the low for my dragons).

So, still undecided I've been vaguely thinking about them from time to time and then I had the perfect idea: Mages and dragons have a mild rivalry going on between them, namely who is superior than the other. This idea just grew and grew bringing with it history and how dragons came into existence, the scuffles between the mages and dragons and now, they fit perfectly. In fact, I already have dragon a character (though unfortunately he shouldn't make an appearance until book 2) and it was really him who said, "Yes, us dragons do exist," with an eerie smile on his face. His name is Oris and here's a simple drawing of him:

 (Click for larger version)

Probably not the best but it catches him. He's not the nicest dragon and is rather frightening at times.  As you see my dragons do have hair, as well as tusks and horns. They don't look very much like giant lizards anymore but more on the mammal side. I think that actually may have been why they didn't seem to fit into my world because I was imagining the stereotypical dragon with all the scales and the long snakish neck and the fire breath and everything but once Oris came into my head that all went away and I knew that they would be looking a bit different.

So, now I got some new things to outline in Remnants cause I'm sure there will be dragons! This will be great, having this added diversity. Quite honestly I can't wait till I get to book two so I can write about Oris!

I hope everyone is having a good time with their NaNo stories! And if you haven't already, click the NaNo Bloggers image at the top of the sidebar to get a list of blogging wrimos and to add your blog if you will also be blogging for NaNo.

Good Luck!