NaNoWriMo 2013: How and Why I Won

This year's NaNoWriMo was different from what I had expected in many ways. Unlike the easy, early and oh-so-fun win I had experienced at Camp in April, you could say my win this year was almost depressing in several places.

But do I regret the experience? No way!

I had known something was wrong all the way back in October, as shown in this post. I didn't want to plan. I was missing that spark of inspiration that had driven me to revel in the writing of Legends of Light, the book I wrote in the spring. So slowly, out of disappointment, confusion, and anxiety, working on the new book, Ice Quest, fell to the bottom of my to-do list and I found myself staying up super late on Halloween night to frantically do my outline, after, of course, collecting an amazing haul of candy. I admit, without that chocolate, I would probably have lost.

Boom! At midnight, National Novel Writing Month 2013 had begun, and I wrote the opening few hundred words. As much as I loved the opening line (If Etimard's entire existence had to be shaken to the core, he preferred that it not be done over a plate of fresh nut bread), my style felt off. Something about this book wasn't like the last.

At first, my word-count climbed upward at a steady and somewhat manageable pace. My first and second chapters I can absolutely say are some of my best first-draft work yet. However, I reached a snag at Chapter Four. This is a pivotal moment for the series, and I wanted to get it exactly right, since I had been looking forward to it for months. That was my downfall. The words couldn't come out exactly how I wanted them, and I slid into a sort of writing depression that I couldn't climb out of for several days. By then, I was far below the par.

Bribing myself with chocolate, which worked decently well, I wrote about 3,000 words a day until I reached Chapter Twelve. Despite the chapter being a lovely sequence with some great lines from my favorite wizard apprentice, my heart just wasn't in it, and I took a second depressed break, which turned out to be emotionally draining even though I wasn't actually writing at all.

At that point, I believed I had given up completely after about three days of not writing. There was no way I could climb out of this newest sinkhole, so I just stopped writing. I'm not proud of that, but I think getting a break was good for me. If I believed I had stopped writing for the month, I stopped worrying, too.

Soon, it was the day before Thanksgiving. I was in-game on Wizard101, decorating my Wooded Cottage and humming along to the Wizard City Main Theme. I was just putting up the wallpaper when something hit me. I'm still not sure what it was, but I shouted aloud, "WHAT AM I DOING?!? THERE'S ONLY THREE DAYS LEFT!!!" And then I opened up my document, still in the early 30,000s, and started writing.

I wrote 6,000 words that day, with plenty of chocolate eaten along the way. That evening, despite being very drained, I was exhilarated. I wrote only about half a chapter on Thanksgiving Day, which eased up my stress enough to enjoy the party with my extended family.

Then came Friday, the 29th. I'm not sure exactly what possessed me, but I took it upon myself to hit 50,000 words. Or else. If Emma could do it, I could do it, too. So I did. That day, I wrote 10,000 words and won, and there was much happiness and relief that night. It took all day, from about 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, but I did it, and that was my highlight this year. I never knew I could write so well (those 10K words had some of my favorite scenes), so fast, and so much at once!

Here's my graph at the end of the month. I was only above the par for about five days.

It looks rather similar to my cabin stats in the spring, only I won.

So in the end, I had my 50,000 words, albeit in a different way than I had anticipated, but I had won, and that was what I had hoped for all along.

~ Sophia-Rose

Improvement

I feel somewhat better after venting; I actually managed to get some planning done. I wrote the blurb for Ice Quest (although it has spoilers for the end of Legends of Light):

It has been over a thousand years since Torvara has seen the light of day, and she finds that troubles in the capital city of Handelan have deeply festered during her slumber. Jormunt, the tyrant who hatched a failed plan to bring down the city’s defenses, has taken the throne, and it is up to Torvara and her brother Etimard from the past to stop him. Meanwhile, Etimard faces troubles of his own as rumors of a mysterious and highly dangerous northern leader spread. While Torvara traverses the perilous path of time travel to find her brother and Etimard works to unravel the northern regime of death, their dangerous paths collide. Soon, they discover that they have only one choice: to gain powers that will end Jormunt’s reign forever, they must embark on the treacherous and legendary Ice Quest.

 I've also written the one-page summary, and I'm actually starting to feel slightly excited again. My plan for NaNo is to write as much of the story as I got up to with the detailed scene-by-scene chart (without it I get completely lost) and fill the rest of 50k with fanfiction, blog posts, random short stories, etc.

~ Sophia-Rose

Confusion

It's October 16th. At this same time of the month in March, I was cruising along in my outline, plotting, worldbuilding, and making lots and lots of blog posts. I was excited for NaNo.

Now? How am I doing on my agenda? Planning is going abysmally. I've drawn out half of the rough pencil outline for Map #1. I've gotten stuck on my outlining on the one-page summary, which is much less than halfway through the snowflake method. I'm not sure I can finish. I still hate my lead characters. As for blogging? Well, I was going to make a post about how NaNo is the most wonderful time of the year, based off the lyrics of the popular Christmas song. I was also planning a post on the intrinsic reward of writing.

The problem is that the intrinsic reward is gone. I feel stressed, sad, and confused. Why am I having so much trouble this time around? I had to drag myself into Blogger to write this post. Even though I've done barely any planning, I feel as if I have a case of severe burnout. I used to be so excited for NaNo. I loved planning, and I couldn't wait for November 1st. Now I dread it.

I don't think I can finish all of this. That means my novel will go unplanned, which practically means it will go unwritten. I have no idea what to do.

I need help.

~ Sophia-Rose

The More Specific October Agenda (no rants involved)

Here's hoping you read the post on the Artsy Theurgist first.

Anyway, it's October, the NaNo website is down for the count, and creative excitement is running high. It's almost time for NaNoWriMo 2013, and I'm so excited about finally planning Ice Quest. Elizabeth is going to try NaNo this time around - her username is StoryConjurer.

This is my more specific agenda:
~ Plan Ice Quest
     ~ Make pencil-and-paper maps for real
          ~ Updated world map
          ~ City map (this one will be hard)
          ~ Abstract map I'm not going to tell you about
     ~ Plot out the novel
          ~ Do the snowflake method
          ~ Make complete scene and plot chart
     ~ Fix up characters
          ~ Make my new male lead less like Rayand
          ~ Make my new female lead much more likable
~ Work out scheduling scrapes
      ~ Figure out how to fit IQ's complex plot into one month
      ~ See if I can get some more of my IRL friends to do it
      ~ Decide how I'm going to juggle this with school
~ Blog at least a few times a week here
      ~ Try a post series about how writing relates to art
      ~ Rewrite the lyrics of a couple of Christmas songs
      ~ Upload pictures of my new maps
~ Stay up until midnight on Halloween
     ~ Write at least a couple of hundred words

Whew! That's a big list! I think I can get most of these done. I have a friend who brought up NaNo on her own, not knowing that I'm planning to do it, and another who doesn't think it's humanly possible to write a whole novel in a month. (What's funny is that the latter is actually very studious - he's exactly the type of person whom I think could handle it!) Let's see if Elizabeth and I can get more people at school involved, and maybe get him to try it, too.

~ Sophia-Rose

You Can Now Read Legends of Light!

Here's the link to the file:  http://sdrv.ms/14iPXWE

In exchange for being able to read the book for free, I'd like it if you could please point out any typos, plot holes, suggestions, etc. I want to make this book as good as I possibly can, and there's a solid chance I missed a few things. Thanks! And enjoy. :)

~ Sophia-Rose

My New Blurb and Various Updates

First off: I originally named my series Wardiloth's Dragons. In my mind, before starting to write Legends of Light, the dragons were going to be the centerpiece of the entire series. The plot would revolve around them. Now, the dragons are more of a plot piece - an important and essential part of the series, but part of the plot rather than the basis for the plot itself. To reflect these changes, the series is now called the Prophecy Chronicles.

Second: I finally rewrote my blurb. Here it is!

A sinister plot by a dark stranger and a series of mysterious accidents force Gabby Nelson into an adventure she never wanted. Thrown head first into Wardiloth, a crumbling fantasy realm, she is assigned to the task of curing the city's dragons. Sent to work with her is Rayand, a city guard with a dark past and many secret regrets. A few reckless actions send them on a dangerous odyssey into the heart of enemy territory. While they face dark legends come to life and the subtle plots of a hidden traitor slowly grow, it becomes clear that the fate of Wardiloth rests entirely on the shoulders of these two teens who won't even trust each other. High risks, chilling betrayal, and tests of trust all face Gabby and Rayand as they search for their one final, doubtful chance: an enigmatic and powerful legend of light.

It's a bit long, but I like it a lot.

In a few days, I'm planning to upload Legends of Light as a free PDF. My general idea is that you could be like beta readers. I want to know how people in my target audience react to my book. More details on that when I actually do it.

Anyway, now that Legends of Light is just about done, I have more time for other things. You'll see exactly what I mean by this in a couple of days.

~ Sophia-Rose

I win again!

I finished editing LoL yesterday. After finishing it, I now have a greater respect for professional editors. I would never want that job.

To finish it by today, I had to have another editing marathon yesterday. Raisins were a big life-saver. The final wordcount is just over 70,000 words, slightly shorter than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm pleased with myself.

My parents asked me a whole ton of questions, including the classic "To what do you attribute your success?" I answered, "Raisins!" I think they might think something's wrong with me.

Anyway, soon I'm going to start showing it to people and work on self-publishing it, which shouldn't take too long. By the way, my last post was #50! :D I can't wait to start plotting out Ice Quest - it's going to be epic.

~ Sophia-Rose

Editing, Complete with Raisins

Raisins are the best snack ever besides chocolate. I could eat them all day. Once, I was so hungry at lunch that I ate almost half the container before realizing how much I'd eaten. In fact, they are superior to chocolate in just about every way besides general tastiness:

• Raisins keep for a long time
• Raisins won't make you sick if you have a few too many
• Raisins don't make you thirsty
• Raisins are better baked into various things, like banana bread. You wouldn't want chocolate in banana bread, would you? I didn't think so.
• Raisins are much healthier than chocolate, as the box advertises

You probably want me to get to the point. This post, as you may be guessing, serves more purpose than an advertisement for raisins.

Well, at first glance, editing and raisins are worlds apart. Editing is drudgery; raisins are a snack of solid happiness. Therefore, editing + raisins = productive happiness! So, I'm four days away from my birthday and six chapters away from the end of Legends of Light. I really need to get a move on. What better way than to have a day (today!) of solid editing, with raisins after every chapter? Lots of raisins. Enough to power my story.

I will begin my editing marathon at 10:30. Every time I finish a chapter, I will have raisins. Lots of raisins. Oh, and I'll post updates, too.

Wish me luck, and keep checking this post! (Oh, and did I mention that raisins are the best healthy snack EVER?)

Update 1, 12:01 PM: Chapter 10 is finally done. It was a hard one, since I decided to replace the skeletal dragons with something entirely different and much more interesting. The next few chapters are mostly action, so those should go by fairly quickly. Wordcount so far is 65,754. Hooray! Raisin time! :D

Update 2, 2:05 PM: I finished Chapter 11. Even though it was somewhat long, it needed surprisingly few edits since it was mostly action. I had to stop in the middle of this period for lunch, so in total, this chapter took me about 1.5 hours. Wordcount so far is 66,568. More raisins now.

Update 3, 3:07 PM: Chapter 12 is all done! It was on the shorter side and didn't need too many edits, so this was a really quick one. I'm happy about this. Maybe I can finish the book today. Wordcount is now 67,335. I'm now going to enjoy more raisins. (That was the best idea ever.)

~ Sophia-Rose

I hate orthodontists.

Yesterday I got my braces off. I'd been looking forward to this for a month, and I was happy happy happy the whole appointment, even though it felt like they were trying to grind my teeth apart. Ouch! After that, they took X-rays, stretched my lips unreasonably far apart for pictures, and then took some more disgusting goopy impressions, even though I'd just had them last week. Dramatized conversation afterward below:

Orthodontist: Okay, that's all done!

Me: So, can I...go now?

Orthodontist: No! You still have to get your retainer.

Me: Oh...

Orthodontist: Here it is! *pulls out weirdly shaped blue rubber attached to wire and weirder rubber strip* Let's try them on: one for the top teeth, one for the bottom! And they're blue, just like you wanted!

Me: I see.

Orthodontist: *slides the top one in* Fits like a glove! Aren't those impressions wonderful?

Me: Rmph. *face is messy with impression goo*

Orthodontist: Now for the bottom! *attempts to push onto teeth* Hmm, looks like this one is a bit tight. Come back in two more days for more impressions and we can fix it! *passes me mirror* Here, you can look at your teeth if you want.

Me: *silently stares at perfect teeth*

Orthodontist: Now, why don't you try talking? Repeat after me: Seven sailors sailed to sea.

Me: Shefed...AUGH!! Why cad I dak?!

Orthodontist: See? I'm afraid you won't be able to talk very well...but that's okay. Now here's the list of all the things you need to do to take care of your retainer. Don't get saliva on it, brush it four times a day, only touch it in certain places, and oh, if it breaks, you'd better call us up right away because if you leave your retainer off for more than a week your teeth will move and you'll have to get braces for another three years. Now let's go see your mom and show her your awesome retainer!

Both of us go out to the waiting room where my mom is waiting.

Mom: Wow, look at your perfect teeth! How does your retainer feel?

Me: *starts to tear up, to Mom's surprise* I cad dak vehy weh...

Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, I hate my retainer. And at the beginning of my braces, they showed me sparkly retainers as a reward for being good with my braces. REWARD?! I was a bit too old to be bribed by sparkles, thank you very much!

Crazy conspiracy theories: Orthodontists are torturers in disguise sent out to cause massive pain under the guise of being an amazing help to our teeth. Teeth are for eating, not being lined up in perfect sparkly little rows.

(By the way: Let's see if I can finish LoL by my birthday, the 19th. If I do, I have a surprise in store...)

~ Sophia-Rose

Tidbits from My Editing Journey

Hi. Long time, no see. Yeah, I've been busy this month, with going away and a few other important events that took up a lot of my time. But I thought you might enjoy some little excerpts from my book, including a few funny goofs, and just nice descriptions that I thought to add.

Nice description #1:

When they left the tower, Gabby was surprised at the quiet of the streets. The farmers’ stalls had all been packed up and moved away, and the crowd had dwindled to a few lonesome watchmen, staring off into the darkness and looking for intruders that would never come.As the small group passed by one of them, Gabby snuck a peek at him. He wasn’t much older than Rayand, if at all, and he seemed practically dead on his feet. His eyelids fluttered drowsily as he leaned against the wall of a ramshackle shop, but he managed to clumsily wave them on before slumping down into a deep slumber. I wonder if the Lightstone guard felt the same way as him, she thought. Maybe he got assigned to a night shift and could barely keep his eyes open.The walk back to the tavern seemed to glide by senselessly as the stars began, one by one, to pierce through the smothering tapestry of the night sky. Houses, shops, and important city buildings all seemed to pass them by, one after another in a monotonous circle. Gabby’s eyelids began to droop. It was so pleasantly cool and breezy…so dark and peaceful… A slow, quiet murmur seemed to float in on the nighttime air from far ahead, slowly growing into a loud rumble of song, laughter, and loud banter. Oh, no. Not the Sword and Flagon already. Here I was, just beginning to relax.Under Alcasor’s lead, the party of three rounded a corner and burst into a patch of dappled light. The blazing lantern from the table sent out warm rays of light through the grimy window, piercing and stinging Gabby’s darkness-adjusted eyes.

I liked that one. I was metaphorical without seeming cheesy. Score! Two points for me!

Aaaaaand a funny goof for you, since I know you probably want a laugh. So, I was editing a scene in which my main character can't sleep, so she goes out to a garden for a walk. I was making some edits and cutting a few passages, and a few of the paragraphs came out like this:

Ugh. Now my entire room smells. She slammed the window shut. I think I need a nice walk to clear my head. Maybe after that I can get a few more hours of sleep.Directly outside, there was a little walled garden. The ground was covered in a soft blanket of lush green grass, and webbed with gravel pathways. Vibrantly colored flowerbeds were interspersed along with stone benches, and there was a fountain in the very middle. Someone must have left it on, and streams of water spurted from the shell designs on it, splashing into a pool in the bottom and distorting the once-clear reflection of the crescent moon above.Gabby took a seat on one of the benches.

Basically...Gabby wants a walk to clear her head. She's in a stuffy room on the upper floor of a tavern. Then I suddenly start describing a random garden outside, and apparently she teleported there while I wasn't looking. Yep. I accidentally cut the part where she walks down the stairs and out the door. >.<

I added it back in, and now here's the same part of the story again.

Ugh. Now my entire room smells. She slammed the window shut. I think I need a nice walk to clear my head. Maybe after that I can get a few more hours of sleep.Gabby clambered over her bed and slipped on her sandals. She quietly pulled the door to the hallway open and looked around. The tavern noise had subdued into a quiet murmur of activity, the most rambunctious revelers having staggered home to bed. She didn’t want to wake Rayand or Alcasor, so she stepped quietly past their rooms to the end of the hallway she hadn’t explored.It plunged steeply downward in a narrow staircase which led to a small back door. She hesitated only a moment before climbing down to it. Her footsteps creaked on the old wooden steps, but she didn’t hear the sounds of stirring from the upstairs rooms. She pushed the door open and stepped outside into a little walled garden.The ground was covered in a soft blanket of lush green grass, decorated with a spider web of small gravel pathways. Vibrantly colored flowerbeds and stone benches were interspersed along the web like dewdrops in the morning, and there was a fountain in the very middle, like the web’s beautiful crowning glory. Although it appeared to be broken, tiny droplets of water trickled out of the shell designs on the fountain’s center column. They fell into the partially full basin and created ripples stretching slowly outward in perfect circles, making the image of the brilliant stars above contort and realign with an unearthly sparkle. 

Isn't that so much nicer? The one downside to it? Gabby no longer has epic teleportation powers. :(

I think I should probably stop this post here because who knows how long it would be otherwise? Anyway, editing is going well.

~ Sophia-Rose

A Last-Minute Decision

I've been falling behind on my editing lately...I'm losing motivation...I'm not so sure I'm going to finish editing this summer...so I've decided to do Camp NaNo as a rebel!

My word goal is 13,000 - 250 words (my minimum) for each scene I have left to do. After I finish a scene, I will add 250 words to my counter thing, regardless of how many I actually added. Should be fun! I think I'll do it faster if I have a cabin to cheer me on (and that I'll try not to fail in front of.) Even though I'm going away to real summer camp for a week, I'm pretty sure I can do it.

This should be fun!

~ Sophia-Rose

I've Created a Doppelganger (Unintentionally)

This post concerns Peregrine, my favorite character that I wrote. He's a hilarious, short, naive wizard apprentice who always is getting into trouble.

His name sort of came out of my head one day, and it immediately stuck. It sounded a bit familiar but I didn't dwell on it. It just seemed like the perfect name for him.

Earlier this evening, I was watching the Fellowship of the Ring. Anyway, you know the four hobbits, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry? Turns out Pippin is short for Peregrine. *groan* At first I felt like a copycat. Especially considering that the hobbit is awfully like the apprentice, personality-wise!

I'm unsure whether this is a problem or not. I wasn't intending to steal the name. Just like I would never name a wizard Gandalf or Dumbledore, I wouldn't have named this character Peregrine had I remembered this hobbit shared the name. Besides, if it is a problem, it's too late to change it now. Peregrine has been Peregrine in my mind for over six months now, and his name is a part of him.

Lord of the Rings is a classic. Maybe I should just consider it a tribute to the best fantasy novels in the whole world, like a subtle reference for those who catch it, and leave it at that. What do you think?

(By the way, I'm leaving on a week-long vacation in three days. Don't expect any blog posts during that time.)

~ Sophia-Rose

I Briefly Return from Editing-Land

Hi. I haven't posted in a while. I'd love to say that I've been busy editing, but...I'm not even done with the third chapter yet. -.- It's slow business. However, I'm happy to say that instead of adding 250 words a scene, I'm now usually adding at least 500 and sometimes even doubling the 750 word length of a scene! :D If I keep up at this rate, my novel will come out at...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...












80,000 words! :D Hooray!
Also, adding more thoughts just makes my characters come to life. Gabby, one of my main characters, used to be quite flat. I'd thought of a personality for her...sort of...but it never quite made it to the page. Now, it's evident that she has two sides: one that wants to say anything that comes into her head, and another that tries to restrain her words with creative imaginings. It's more interesting.

I'm also working on renaming the rest of the books in the series. None of them really feel right except Legends of Light. Last night, it hit me for book #2: Ice Quest. :) I have a feeling that the name is now perfect, not to mention not taken. If these books ever get published, I don't want them getting confused with other fantasy novels. There's nothing similar to Ice Quest, and for Legends of Light the closest title is Legends of Light: A Michigan Lighthouse Portfolio. Somehow, I don't think the two will get confused at all. I'll see you around soon! (Hopefully before I go on vacation.)

~ Sophia-Rose

My First Edited Scene: Transformation and a Teaser

I just finished editing the hook and first scene of Legends of Light. The verdict? I loved it! I have a way better hook now, and it came out great! The first few sentences went from this:

Crack! A twig snapped under the black-robed man's feet as he stepped through the dense thicket of pine trees. As distasteful as it was, especially for royalty, it had to be traversed for the common good of the population.

To this:

All was quiet as the black-robed man silently flitted through the woods. To most, he was a mysterious enigma. Nobody knew who he was, but he was a man on a mission, and an urgent one, at that.

Doesn't that make you more interested? Now that the scene is done, it looks completely transformed. My prediction that it would come out looking like a complete rewrite seems to be fairly accurate. Since it's done, I've decided to give you the whole scene as a teaser. It ends in a cliffhanger. You have been warned.

All was quiet as the black-robed man silently flitted through the woods. To most, he was a mysterious enigma. Nobody knew who he was, but he was a man on a mission, and an urgent one, at that.

Upon reaching a small clearing, he halted and drew a beautifully engraved sword, holding his breath and peering through the dark thicket. To his satisfaction, there was nothing there but softly rustling pine branches and ghostly moving shadows. He let out a long, slow sigh of relief, sheathed it once more, and strode toward the clearing’s center. As dawn began creeping over the wispy clouds on the horizon, he checked his watch. Although definitely a strange contraption, it often came in handy.  Apparently those naïve earth-dwellers were good for some things. Six o’clock in the morning, he thought with a smile. Perfect.

“Audite in alio seculo magistrum,” he whispered. The foreign words seemed to hang in the air like a magical incantation. After nervously glancing at his watch once more, he gritted his teeth and began to pace. How much longer will this take? He glanced around, relieved that it was still mostly dark. I can’t wait forever. Soon, people will arrive, and I can’t risk discovery. Finally, he saw a flash of red light against a pine tree and turned around, sighing with relief. At the exact center of the clearing, a flickering window of blood-red light hung suspended in the air. He stared at it, once again enraptured by his recently acquired ability. The glowing crimson tendrils spiraled within the rectangular vortex, hypnotizing, beckoning. Although the portal window was the perfect size to jump through, he knew that to do so meant instant death.

The man was jolted out of his trance by a thundering voice, emanating out from the portal and echoing off the trees. “Back so soon, my accomplice?” He winced. Still under his black cloak and veiled in secrecy, talking so loudly would mean this little project would come to a screeching halt.

“Ssssh!” he whispered, furtively casting another glance around the surrounding pine trees. Is anyone coming? “Talk a little more quietly, please. We don’t want anyone else to overhear our discussion.”

“I was wondering why you had returned so soon. You just told me yesterday that nothing of much importance was happening.”

“That was before we launched another sprite.” He fumbled in his leather pouch, his fingers searching for something small and elusive. Those blasted little blighters never seem to cooperate. “The girl is getting suspicious. Our next launch will likely tip her over to our side. She may be unsuspecting for now, but she’s not an idiot.”

“Excellent. So you came here asking for permission to send one more and finish what we’ve begun.”

“Well…yes.” The black-cloaked stranger shivered. The fact that his accomplice always seemed to know what he was thinking was unsettling, to say the least. He wondered if his friend in the other realm had powers he had yet to reveal. Then, he shook off the idea with a silent laugh. Of course, they weren’t hiding anything from each other.

“According to your updates, you sent a sprite out only yesterday.” The being beyond the portal spoke again.

“That is correct.”

“Hmm…” The voice on the window’s other side seemed lost in thought. “Normally, that would be exceedingly hasty, but since she’s so close…Yes, I suppose it could be a good idea, just this once. The stakes will become so high that she’ll have to be insane to refuse our offer.”

“Exactly. There won’t be much room for error, though.” He finally found what he was looking for in his bag, and triumphantly pulled out the little wicker cage. Inside, a tiny golden winged figure – a sprite – was trapped. Drawing it close to his face, he whispered, “Just do exactly what we planned. Try not to have too much fun out there.” Springing the latch, he opened the tiny door, and the little sprite zoomed away with a cackle.

“What did you say?” said the voice behind the window.

“I was only repeating the plan to the sprite. I think we caught a good one this time. It didn’t make any fuss in my bag, although it did put up a good fight before I could catch it.”

“Excellent. Soon, our opportunity will be at hand.”

The man stooped and plucked a small white flower, twirling it between his fingertips. “But there may be a problem.”

The voice was silent for a minute. Then, it spoke again, this time quietly. “Go on.”

“There may be one of Rynveros’s spies posing at the school as well. If he manages to convince the girl to his side, all would be lost and we would have to start our search all over again.” He stroked the delicate, colorless petals, thinking about his plan and what the girl could mean for it. She was a lucky find, he thought. She has no idea that she could change a world.

“Perhaps not. If the girls in our home world are any indication, it is possible that we could still force her to join us. I find that most of them love their family and friends very much. If gentle persuasion does not work, a well-placed threat can work wonders.”

The man’s shadowed face betrayed no emotion, although he mentally winced. He didn’t want to do anything that might give the girl any doubt of his benevolence. “I’d rather we don’t threaten her. I want her to trust us.”

“All right, then. You know what to do instead.”

“Yes. She would be quite dangerous used against us.” He closed his fist, crushing the blossom’s delicate petals. “It would be better off if she was out of our way forever, in that case. If she won’t join us, I will ensure that she is killed.”

Dun dun dun!! Like it? If you read all that, here's a little treat: a graphic I made. Click for craziness!

~ Sophia-Rose

The Editing Slog Begins!

It's June and over 90 degrees. I'm getting cooked nicely. -.- Hot temperatures aside, I'm off of WD (Wardiloth's Dragons) break now and it's time to begin Legends of Light editing month #1. Whoopdedoo. *sigh* Somehow, I don't think I'm going to like editing.

By the way - about that blurb? You know, the one I said I was going to do more than a month ago? That's not going to happen until after I finish editing. I'm going to be making a ton of changes, and it'll probably come out looking like a complete rewrite. More thoughts, more description, less blather. Who knows? Another subplot might even weave its way into the story! I've heard tell of that happening in additional drafts. I'm also hoping to add way more words in the process. I have a sneaking suspicion that this book will look quite different once I'm through with it, so I should probably wait on the blurb.

But I'm not going to just sit down and begin making changes without a clue. Oh, no! I have a strategic plan! :) (I think I'll need it.) I hope to make two to three editing passes.

1. Add a whole ton of thoughts and description plus any other surprises, and cut dialogue rambles.
2. Optional: make a second pass for cuts or more additions.
3. Fix grammar issues and typos.

Should be fun! (Not.) Well, wish me luck! (By the way, is treehouse one word or two?)

~ Sophia-Rose

The Greatest Treasure Chapter Seven

The seventh chapter of my Wizard101 fanfiction is finished. Click the tab to read it! I hope you enjoy. :)

~ Sophia-Rose

Blog Update Notes

Hi. *awkward silence*

I made a lot of changes to the blog today! Here's a list of them, using my favorite bullets.

• Switched the blog over to a new account (Sophia-Rose)
• Changed "About Me in a Nutshell" to be my blogger profile
• Changed the About Me page to include my...erm...new situation with my other blog
• Changed the About Me page's top 10. (I forgot to include that I'm left-handed!)
• Added the "Taggy Thingies" widget and labels to all my posts
• Links will now show up in a different color from normal text. Hooray!
• The "Links Warning" widget has been removed.
• A few widgets have been moved around.
• The blog's description has been changed.

I also attempted to add a banner, but when I uploaded it, it looked like this:

Ack!

I didn't want to make you suffer through that, but does anyone know how to fix that? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for reading!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 24 ~ Victory

You might have been wondering why I haven't been blogging much recently? Reason A: I've been horribly busy. Reason B: I've been writing a lot. So, yeah. I finished the book and won at the same time. :D I'll be able to validate it tomorrow. Final word count? 50,093. I'm honestly relieved that I got it over 50k, and I'll be able to beef it up a little when I edit. I don't have much description at all, it's mostly raw dialogue and action. I had hoped to pull off an early win, and I did. First NaNo? Check.

I'm going to give Legends of Light a long rest. I'll return to it in June. Sadly, July will be really busy so I can't do a NaNo then, but I'll probably still have time to edit LoL.

So, I'd say I'm pretty happy right now. My one little pet peeve? I achieved my word count goal, but my arrow isn't in the middle of my profile target. Just take a look at it if you want, you'll see what I mean.

This means that there won't be many posts on this blog for a while. I'll probably make a new blurb, and maybe give occasional updates on the editing, but that'll be it. I'll see you...later, I guess. And on the other blog.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 21 ~ Derail

I took a break yesterday. To be fair, I needed it. I wrote more today, but I'm not satisfied. Why? Well, to reach today's goal, I had to write five scenes. The first four went fine. When I reached the fifth, my day derailed. Why? I was supposed to get 750 words out of an ambush scene where the fight doesn't even begin yet. Here's the catch: If I'm even one little word short, my story will end before 50k. Ugh. So, I put it off until tomorrow. Yeah, I should stop doing that, but I have a good lead. Anyway, highlights:

• Writing wasn't much fun, but...I found my perfect noveling music! It's actually a theme from Wizard101, and it suits Wardiloth perfectly. Really. It's perfect. Here it is: Avalon glorious theme.

Well...all the scenes include spoilers, since I'm really, really close to the climax. Sorry. (These posts just seem to get shorter, don't they? Sad.)

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 19 ~ Trouble

So, yesterday one of my highlights was that I killed a major character. That was at the very - I mean VERY - end of yesterday's writing, so today I opened with elaborating a little. And there lies my problem. I began to feel horribly guilty. Can't tell you why, but it really made it hard to write. It wasn't a hard decision to kill him, either. I had to do it to move the story forward. But I did have some highlights:

• Wrote ANOTHER whole chapter
• Went over 40,000 words :D
• My characters have finally escaped from their prison
• I developed a lot of characters
• I actually managed to write decent action scenes
• I ended on another great cliffhanger. Dun dun dun!!

It's pretty late right now, so I'm going to end this here. Sorry for the short-ish post. If I keep up at this rate, I'm slated to finish on the 22nd. :)

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 18 ~ Dullness

Today had a great start. I got inside the head of my favorite character, whose point of view I don't usually do, and had fun with it. Then, my day just...derailed. Writing got boring. I don't know why, but I pushed through. Highlights:

• Wrote mostly hilarious scenes
• Wrote another whole chapter
• Killed a character (gasp!)

Yep, I killed a major character. However, I won't use it as an excerpt because I don't want to share which one I killed. Instead, here's a funny excerpt:

Alcasor sighed and shook his head. 'Peregrine, Peregrine,' he said. 'What am I going to do with you?'

Peregrine turned his grimace into a grin. 'I don’t know. Maybe take me on more adventures after this?'

Alcasor didn’t seem to think it was funny. He frowned at Peregrine. 'This is not a laughing matter!' he hissed, lowering his voice and nervously glancing around. 'We could all be killed, and you got us into it! I expect you to be quiet and cooperative while we try to get you out!'

That isn't the best part of it, but it's the best one I could find without spoilers.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 17 ~ Exhausting

I just wrote nearly 5k words in one day, which amounts to the longest chapter in the entire book. That's almost 1/10 of the story right there - I really impressed myself! And it was mostly action, so that was really good. Basically, it was a solo marathon - I wrote for four hours straight, got most of it done in one sitting. I feel good, and I'm three whole days ahead. Highlights:

• Wrote all of chapter 10 (So. Long. Six whole scenes!)
• Showed more of my favorite character ever!
• Had my characters disguise themselves, made some pretty funny scenes
• Set the stage for the next several chapters, building up to the semi-climax

I'm pretty tired right now, so I'll keep this short. No excerpt today, sorry. See you tomorrow.

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 16 ~ Intense

Well, today was...intense. But fun. I tried out my first real action scenes, and I relaxed a little when I discovered that I could squeeze more than about 200 words out of each one. That was definitely one of my highlights. The rest are:

• Wrote another whole chapter (only six from the end - eep!)
• Went around a huge story turning point (about to begin one of the most intense sequences - yikes!)
• Showed my villains happy, for once
• Introduced my first elves
• Hit 1,000 pageviews on this blog! Thanks, everyone!

I'm undertaking an intense challenge. This week is school vacation week, so I'm a lot less busy. I've decided to challenge myself to write one whole chapter every day. If that goes well, I'll finish the book this week. Early wins ftw! Right now, it's going quite well. I'm about 1k words above tomorrow's par. What some of you may find a little strange is I'm having a lot more fun now in Week 3 than I was in Week 1. Want to know my secret? Okay. Here it is.

NaNo is very rigid in general. To win, you have to write at least 1,667 words every day. I've discovered that it's so much more fun if you stop thinking of it that way. We're writers! We use words, not numbers! Instead of thinking, "I need to write 1,667 words today," think, "I want to write up to the part where _____ happens." It's more interesting that way, and feels less robotic. Just a tip.

I've decided that action scenes don't really have spoilers, so I'm going to go back to excerpts. There's A LOT of action in the next few chapters, so expect excerpts in the next few days! Here's one to kick it off:

"When Rayand heard Gabby’s urgent whisper, he knew what was coming. It came as no surprise to him when he saw the skeletal dragon walking out of the trees. The problem was that it turned its malignant beady eyes on Gabby. Rayand rolled his eyes and slowly stepped toward it. It didn’t seem to notice him, and blew a blast of black fire straight at her. She shrieked as the edge of her cloak caught fire, and tamped it out on the rocks.

The skeletal dragon leaped forward to claw at her, eyes blazing with fury. Rayand charged at it and smacked it with his sword. It faltered, stunned, and then staggered over to a nearby tree, where it clattered into a pile of bones. Rayand stared at Gabby. 'Did I actually just save your life?'

A growl sounded from the other end of the path. Everyone froze as another skeleton emerged, this one even bigger than the last. This time, it wasn’t focused on Gabby, but instead Alcasor, who stood calmly in its path. The skeleton paused, surveying its target, and then lunged."

Enjoy your cliffhanger! :D 

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 15 ~ Milestone

So, I'm back now. And I hit 26k. Yes, I know that's not a very big milestone, but I had to hit 25k first. Which is halfway. :D And I wrote a whole chapter in a day, which is pretty rare for me. Basically, it was a 3k day! Highlights:

• Wrote all of chapter eight
• Wrote a scene where all my characters went crazy (not literally)
• Used more runes (hooray!)
• Ended on a cliffhanger (again)

So, fun. Yup. Want an excerpt? Sorry, no. I'm eventually going to post it on here, and from this point onward, everything has major spoilers. That's right: everything. So sorry. No excerpts = short posts, so instead I'll just talk more about my experience today. Like I said, I wrote 3k today, which is about as good as Day One! (And you know how happy I was on Day One.) Basically, it was like back to the beginning: new motivations, big story changes, etc. I had fun, and honestly, I was surprised. I'd heard that week 3 is terrible, and well...it wasn't - yet. We'll see how it goes.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 12 ~ Stress

My thoughts today while writing were mostly, "Aaah! I'm going to be gone all of tomorrow and some of Sunday and I need to get ahead!" Just so you know - that is NOT a good atmosphere for writing, and only serves to get you totally stressed out. I think I'm nicely ahead, though. I'm at just over 22,000 words, which is about 500 words above the par for tomorrow, so even if I'm a little behind when I get back, I can manageably regain a lead. Highlights:

• Quiet garden scene to catch my breath. This is good, since soon I'll have 2.5 chapters of nonstop action. Ah! That isn't my strong point.
• Did some character development on my FMC (Gabby)

All in all, though, today was sort of painful. It was a combination of quiet thoughtful scenes with the attitude of I NEED TO WRITE-WRITE-WRITE-WRITE-WRITE NOW!!! Not a good combination.

Most of what I wrote today either contains extreme spoilers or is very boring, so there will be no excerpt today. Sorry. Maybe I'll schedule something for tomorrow. Possibly an archived excerpt?

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 11 ~ Inspiration

You may notice that I added a word after the "day 11" title. It's so much more interesting, isn't it? I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that I hit 20k words today! 20,396 to be exact. The more extra words, the better, right? I also got hit by a huge blast of inspiration. More about that later.

The bad news is that Camp NaNoWriMo feels so much more camp-ish now. "Well, why is that bad news?" you may ask. That's because the cause of it was that I got real poison ivy. >.< I'm super sensitive to it.

So, back to the good news. Highlights first, and then I'll talk about my huge blast of inspiration. Okay? Good.

• Finished Chapter 6! (Woot! It was loooong.)
• Wrote my rhyming legend, and threw some prophecy in there. (It isn't morbid, though.)
• HUGE BLAST OF INSPIRATION!
• Wrote more Peregrine awesomeness!
• Laid out the character's plans for the next several chapters, although they might not go as planned.

So, my huge blast of inspiration. Right. Ever since I first typed up the last few scenes on my spreadsheet, I've thought they were a little weak and boring. I just figured I'd see to them when I got there, and maybe I could write them so they wouldn't be so weak and boring. Well, today I was writing up the last verse of my legend/prophecy poem, and thinking about how it applied to my planned ending. Then, I thought of a whole new way it could apply to the ending and how that would totally help my plotless sequels get a plot! Awesome! Now I'm super excited to get there.

As for my favorite excerpt, this was easy. I left off the last two verses because they were the prophecy verses, and they have minor spoilers in them. Please, don't ask for context of this legend. Be forewarned: It probably won't make any sense.

When dragons of the glowing light

Have lost their family name

They seem to be in endless night

Without their powers’ flame.

But when all hope turns to despair

For light without a cost

There is another way, though rare

To bring back powers lost.

An ancient artifact of stone

By banishing the dark

May, by its light, its brilliant tone

Return the powers’ spark.

’Twas forged in fires of mountains old

And cast in magic’s spell

But is it valuable as gold?

Only the wise can tell.

When held with purpose strong and good

Its light, drawn forth, is cast

But when evil is understood

Its light is hidden fast.

The Lightstone of the mountain’s spawn

Has caused conspiracy

It was desired by elven brawn

Yet held in secrecy.

The powers of the Lightstone’s glow

When touched by elven hands

Are gone, and they no longer show

When cast throughout the lands.

Now hidden behind bars of black

This artifact is gone

It takes a warrior to bring back

And resurrect its dawn.

Is it any good? Personally, I like it quite a bit, but verse #3 could use a little improvement.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 10

I wrote lots today! :D It was fun! Let's see if I can list the amazing highlights:

• Finished Chapter 5
• Developed more tension between FMC and MMC, and reasons behind it
• Gave the characters a dangerous warning and everyone freaked out
• Introduced Peregrine (best. character. EVER!!)
• Laughed at my own writing again
• Wrote almost 1,000 extra words

There is absolutely no contest about my favorite passage. The dilemma comes in on when to cut it. It's 800 words of awesome which I sadly can't put on this blog right now, but here's the best part:

"Peregrine opened a closet and gestured toward it, still talking. 'You can put your cloaks in here. It’s pretty empty right now, since it only has my and Alcasor’s in it right now. That’s the way…there you go. Now, can you do me a favor? Alcasor doesn’t have much patience for my tricks, see, and he’s always demonstrating or reading or transforming things for customers. It can get boring being his apprentice, so you wouldn’t mind if I could show you one of my spells, would you?' He only waited about half a second before continuing his ramble. 'Great. Are you hungry? Good. Just watch me transform this bowl of water into tomato soup. You’ll love it!'

Peregrine pulled a bowl of warm water from a cupboard off to the side and waved his staff over it. 'Akwas cunvertendy is in pulmanty!' he shouted with a grin. 'Now, just watch the magic.' The water began to steam and swirl, turning a variety of rainbow colors. He jumped up and down, and some of the water sloshed over the sides. He ignored it and stared at the bowl, his grin growing wider. The miniature whirlpool slowly stopped, and the mixture turned an orange color and thickened. 'It’s working! This is exactly what’s supposed to happen! I’m brilliantly amazing!' His smile vanished as the mixture continued darkening and solidifying, much more than tomato soup is supposed to. When it stopped changing, it was a thick, brown sludge. He tentatively stuck his finger into it and tasted it. The face he made quickly morphed into a strained smile. 'Want some?' he asked, extending the bowl to Gabby and Rayand."

:D Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 9

Hello again. Today's scenes were thoroughly depressing. There was a death in it, and a few monologues. I wonder if it would be boring to read. I just sort of ground out 2,000 words, but I have one highlight:

• Introduced dragons! Big part of the series right here.

I did change a few titles in the series, though.
1. Legends of Light --> unchanged
2. Battle's Chill --> Power's Chill (this was awhile back)
3. Burning from Within --> Omens of Burning (love this one!)
4. Stormy Seas --> unchanged
5. Doom of the Dragons --> Dragons in Darkness (like this a lot, too)

Do you like the new titles? I sure do. Most of what I wrote was very depressing, so I don't really have a favorite excerpt. Tomorrow will be very interesting, though. I will introduce my favorite character ever!!

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Day 8

So...yeah. These posts seem awkward and empty without the song, don't they? It was a pity to abolish my song, but it had to be done. Today was mostly dedicated to catching up, since I was behind. I hit the par, but that's about it. Tomorrow will be mostly dedicated to trying to regain my lead, since I'll be away for the weekend. Yikes! But I still have highlights!

• Showed MMC (Rayand) as someone other than a paranoid whiner. He has friends!
• Showed a somewhat humorous dishing-out-orders scene
• Had my FMC (Gabby) get lost
• Started Chapter 5!

Now for my favorite excerpt. I always have trouble picking these things! But here you are. By the way, Sulok is Rayand's best friend. I'm quite fond of him, even though he's just a minor character.

"Sulok counted on his fingers. 'The general said something about a precision attempt, so he’s probably only going to send a few people. I think that since it’s a spying mission, he’ll want one expert spy, one super quick person and one strong warrior for defense. The best choices would be Thendoryl, me, and you, but are you sure he’s going to pick the best of us?'

That got a laugh out of Rayand. 'Actually, I think he’s going to pick Thendoryl, Enthard, and Roydran, but that’s just my opinion.'

Sulok sighed. 'You’re probably right. Those are usually his favorites for spying missions. It’s too bad. Some of us could use a special mission to be promoted from guard to soldier.'"

Sulok is hinting in that last part. Well, wish me luck. And...

Happy writing!


~ Sophia-Rose

Day 7

You may notice that I didn't put a song. That's because today was terribly busy and I didn't get any words done today, and I was running out of ideas for the song anyway. I'll try to write lots tomorrow, but I'm not sure how that will go.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

On the sixth day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me six grammar errors
Five cabin mates!
Four times 2k words
Three new scenes
Two more characters
And a month full of writing fun, free!

So, today actually went quite well other than the word loss fiasco this morning. I'm still ahead, so I'd say I'm doing quite well. Lesson learned: always manually save the file every few hundred words. Highlights:

• Wrote a hilarious tavern scene

And...I'm sorry to say that's really the only new thing I wrote today. :P But here is another excerpt!

Just kidding! I already did an excerpt today, so there won't be another one until tomorrow. Sorry, folks. But...

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

Update! (This is good news, folks!)

Okay, I rewrote both the scenes I'd lost, hit 10k again, and even picked up 50 extra words. I won't complain. To thank you for the support and celebrate some major scene improvements, here is an extra excerpt (hooray for portal description!):

"Gabby touched down, much more lightly than she would’ve thought, in a round room, or perhaps a building, made entirely out of stone. She seemed to have gone back into the medieval era. On the wall ahead, the stone seemed to reflect a strange greenish tint. Curious, Gabby turned around to try and find the source. It wasn’t at all difficult. Directly behind her, there was a portal vortex exactly like the one she’d seen on earth, except this one was vibrant green instead of stark white. She wondered if portals were color-coded. If so, it would make sense for a green portal to lead to Earth.

What Gabby found especially interesting wasn’t the portal but instead the thin stone archway that surrounded it. It was engraved with decorative markings that didn’t seem to follow any particular pattern. Intrigued, she stepped closer and discovered that it was actually a fascinating runic handwriting that looked a lot like elvish runes out of Lord of the Rings."

Since I wrote the original 2k words that I lost completely in the afternoon, I think I can still write 2k more words today. I don't have much else to do except for another fiction writing project. The only problem: this one's for school. Thankfully, the maximum is 6 pages double spaced, so it shouldn't take too long.

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

It's gone...

My computer had to install so-called "updates" so it restarted and my past 2k words that I thought were totally awesome are ALL GONE. ALL GONE!! I'm going to lose now...it's all gone...hours of work and great story...gone. I can't stand it! I feel sick.

~ Sophia-Rose

On the fifth day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me five cabin mates!
Four times 2k words
Three new scenes
Two more characters
And a month full of writing fun, free!

I have one thing to say. 10K WORDS!! :D Yep, I just hit 10,076 words on Legends of Light! I'm so happy! Well, okay. I actually have a lot more than one thing to say.
1. 10K WORDS!! :D
2. I wrote so much awesome today.
3. I've contracted NaNoFever.
And now, it's time to highlight that awesome mentioned in thing-to-say #2:

• My FMC (Gabby) and MMC (Rayand) finally met. They hate each other! :D
• Gabby entered the fantasy world for the first time
• I slyly introduced some very important plot points in upcoming books in a very subtle way
• I first wrote down some fancy runes in my novel (they look unspeakably cool, by the way)
• I introduced hints of a romance that I assure you will never develop further

In other words: awesome. The hard part was choosing which awesome to share with you on this blog. At first I wanted to do a segment of the part where Gabby and Rayand meet, but I didn't want to spoil it and I can't really cut that down to a few paragraphs. (It's all awesome!) Instead, I chose this awesomely cool piece of description of some portals in a special portal building. By the way, the green portal, not mentioned in this text, leads to Earth.

"'The blue portal leads to a valley in Elvindor, the northern region of Wardiloth, which may or may not be flooded at this point. It’s a good thing the elves currently don’t know how to activate portals, otherwise we’d be in serious trouble. We’re at war with them, you see. The orange one leads to the halls of time and magic. All the magic in every realm originates there, and even the power of time itself. Although nobody’s sure what, if anything, lives there, it’s probably best to be cautious just in case.' He lapsed into thoughtful silence.

'What about the purple one?' Gabby prompted.

'Ah, the purple portal. I suppose you would ask about it, wouldn’t you? The truth is, nobody quite knows to what realm it leads. We’ve sent scouts there to look, but not one returned. Eventually, we just decided that we should call it the realm of darkness as a warning to anyone who may want to try the portal, and leave it at that. We’re not sure what threats lurk behind the vortex, but it must be something gigantic. Everyone agrees that it’s a door best left closed.'"

Those excerpts just get longer and longer, don't they? I hope you'll understand. I couldn't bear to cut this one, since it's just better in its entirety! 

Happy writing!

~ Sophia-Rose

On the fourth day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me four times 2k words
Three new scenes
Two more characters
And a month full of writing fun, free!

So, you can probably tell from the song that I hit 8k words today! I feel awesome. I don't have much time to write this post, so I need to make it short. Sorry. But here were today's highlights:

• Wrote my real fight scene
• Wrote a passage that made me giggle (that's really rare in my own writing!)

And here's my favorite passage. Guess what? It's the one that made me giggle!

"Gabby noticed a tall shadow up ahead. Was it a tree? That’s what it looked like. If so, she’d probably almost reached the park. She began to run, then winced at the slapping sound her feet made. Stupid sidewalk, she growled to herself. She wasn’t particularly interested in waking the whole town, and now she’d take that much longer to reach the tree. 'Unless, of course,' she thought with a dry smile, 'it’s actually a giant feather duster.'

When Gabby reached it, it turned out that it was neither tree nor duster, but instead a large, decorative shrub on a rotary in the middle of the street. 'It’s a good thing there aren’t many cars at this time of night,' she thought as she crossed back to the sidewalk, 'otherwise I wouldn’t be able to make those crossings without being seen!'

Suddenly, a rumbling noise came from Gabby’s left, and two tiny pinpoints of light began drawing nearer. Closer inspection revealed that they belonged to a car."

Happy writing!


~ Sophia-Rose

On the third day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me three new scenes
Two more characters
And a month full of writing fun, free!

Today was very good. I hit my word count goal, and didn't get quite as many words down as I normally would have liked, but that was okay because I wrote three very high quality scenes in a relatively short amount of time. And speaking of quality...

When I look around on the Camp NaNo forums, I see threads full of people talking about how terrible their writing is. I don't know about you, but I find this really depressing. I understand that your first draft, especially one written during NaNo, is going to have some mistakes in it, but that's okay. Nobody's perfect. However, I'm seeing comments from people who think their writing absolutely sucks and completely hate it. Come on. Writing a terrible 1,667 words takes only about twenty minutes. Writing a good one takes an hour or so. I'm opting to take the extra time and make it decent. I find that I'm more motivated to write if I actually like what I'm writing. There's really no better way to lose motivation than to convince yourself that your writing stinks. Instead of complaining how bad your writing is, try taking a few extra minutes and make it just a little better so your inner editor doesn't throw a screaming fit. Personally, I absolutely love how my story is going right now!

Speaking of loving how it's going, here are today's highlights:

• Finished chapter two with another chilling cliffhangers (cliffhangers rule!)
• Wrote another very creepy meetup scene, including a very chilling murder

Here's my favorite excerpt from today: (Note: this one has a very different flavor from the other ones. Be warned.)

"Crackling noises suddenly alerted him to a presence in the woods. He drew his sword and held it behind his back, waiting for an opportunity. Suddenly, a young woman stepped forth from the trees, and before she knew what was happening, he pounced forward and thrust his blade into her stomach. Before she could cry out, he forced his hand over her mouth. In a few minutes, he no longer felt a pulse.

'No,' he said to the window. 'My swordplay is definitely not out of practice. No, not out of practice at all.'"

Murders. Good stuff, right? (In stories only. I do not mean real life!)

~ Sophia-Rose

On the second day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me two more characters
and a month full of writing fun, free!

Today wasn't as good as yesterday. I didn't quite reach my word goal (a few hundred words off), but that was okay because I overshot it yesterday. To be fair, though, I was totally going to do it. I was all, "Okay, after dinner I'll get to 1,667 words, blog, AND I'll still have time to run that dungeon I need to do!" Sadly, it didn't quite work that way. A last minute shopping trip cropped up, and well...the rest is history. I did have a few highlights, though:

• Wrote an awkward conversation in which FMC now thinks minor character is totally crazy
• Wrote a very short sneaking-around short of chase scene
• FMC is now completely weirded out by two other characters

Not as great as yesterday, but I tried. Here's my favorite thing that I wrote today:

"Gabby silently slipped around the bookshelf she was hiding behind and slowly moved toward the novels section. The footsteps stopped for a moment among the biographies, then continued on the same path she had taken. 'Are they following me?' Gabby wondered. She circled back around toward the reference books. Once again, the footsteps followed her. She glanced toward the door. This couldn’t go on forever. If the clock above the door was correct, then the school would close in twenty minutes."

(Bit of context: Gabby, the FMC, has heard weird footsteps out in the hall and thinks they belong to her new enemy. When the footsteps enter the library where she is currently, she sneaks around behind bookshelves trying to stay out of his sight.)

I'm excited. Soon things in my story will really get rolling! MMC will be introduced in a day or two and I'm really looking forward to the first meeting scene!

~ Sophia-Rose

On the first day of writing...

...Camp NaNo gave to me a month full of writing fun, free!

I'm not sure how far I'll take the song, but we'll see how it goes. Today was GREAT! (Yes, it needed the caps.) I pounded out slightly less than twice the necessary daily word goal, and every word was lots of fun! My train of thought, and I voiced some of this, was literally, "I love this! I'm having so much fun! NaNo is awesome! I love my story!" All the while, my "at this rate, you will finish on" counter cheerfully prophesied that I'd finish on April 16th.

Some highlights of today:

• Wrote a whole chapter (almost a fourteenth of the story right there)
• Wrote an eerie nighttime meeting scene between the two main antagonists
• Described an explosion in graphic detail (don't worry, there was no blood or gore)
• Wrote a 400 word rant (literally!) from an absolutely psycho character (fun, fun!)
• Ended Chapter One with a very chilling cliffhanger

In other words: Day One of literary awesomeness accomplished and then some! I wonder how long it'll last.

This is the favorite thing I wrote today:


"Gabby found Mr. Crosby sitting behind his desk and giving her one of his signature death glares. His face was flushed, his lips were pursed, his eyebrows were plunging steeply downward, and his green eyes glittered with unspoken malice. 

"Soon enough, the malice shown so plainly through his expression entered into the open air. 'What,' he thundered, 'Is the meaning of this, Miss Nelson?! Lockers exploded, students unconscious, hallways a mess – is this your idea of a practical joke?'"

This is the beginning of the aforementioned 400-word rant that was pure joy to write. I was cackling madly throughout the whole ordeal. If you have not yet written a completely psycho character like that yet, do it. It's outrageously fun. (I think I should add it to my list of must-haves!)

The road to a month of awesomeness in writing stretches out before us. To infinity, and beyond!

~ Sophia-Rose

It begins in four hours.

Are you ready?

~ Sophia-Rose

Closer and closer...

NaNo starts in two days! Are you excited? Nervous? Maybe some of both? Since this is my first NaNo, I'm mostly nervous right now, although there's some excitement, too. (This happens to be my just-before-it-starts post, but I'm posting it today since tomorrow will probably be too busy.)

We're probably all doing this for a reason. Whether it's to improve our writing, have fun, or just keep busy, there's an underlying reason for undertaking this crazy task. So, why are you doing NaNo? What (if anything) do you want to accomplish? Here's my list. (Yes, I know most of my posts on here lately have included lists.)

• Learn to stop procrastinating.
• Actually finish something that's somewhat long.
• Try not to use parenthetical remarks anywhere in the novel. (For me, that's really hard!)
• Learn to create more interesting dialogue and give characters unique voices.
• Improve descriptions.
• Learn how to describe things in more detail and write chapters that are more than two pages long. This has already been partly accomplished with the Greatest Treasure, but I'd like to keep working on it.
• Have lots of writing practice!
• Most of all, have fun!

Okay. I just proved to myself that I'm not completely insane. What about you?

~ Sophia-Rose

Story Must-Haves

Hello again. Guess what? I'm not dead. Hooray for that. As NaNo draws ever nearer, most of us are either frantically finishing their plot and character sheets, desperately hoping they can wing their novel in April, or sitting back in their chairs, all done with their planning and relieved that they get a few days of peace before it begins. I'm now among the latter. Hooray for that, too!

To return to the title of the post, there are some things I just can't seem to write a novel without. They are by no means required for a good story, but for me, writing becomes exceedingly boring without some or all of the below. Laugh if you want. I have weird tastes sometimes. For me, a story should preferably have:

• A morbid prophecy. Do I ever love morbid prophecies! Not only is it terribly fun to prophesy doom and destruction for your characters, they're pretty easy to write and help set the tone as well. I'll take a morbid prophecy over a love poem or rhyming legend any day. (However, it isn't possible at the moment to include one of these prophecies in Legends of Light, so I'm settling for the rhyming legend.)
• A funny character. Many of the stories I write have some dark themes and plots to them, and they'd be just plain depressing without this essential element. Everybody loves reading witty dialogue or the hilarious antics of their favorite trickster, and they're also great fun to write!
• A creepy ambush scene. I don't know about you, but I like to write confrontations that will send chills up the reader's back! And nothing says chills like a container of ice cream creepy ambush. Have your characters get shocked by their mortal enemy's sudden appearance. Not only does it give you a great start to an intense fight scene, it acts as the perfect hook so your readers just can't stop reading!
• Two characters who hate each other. This makes the perfect subplot to add several thousand words to your story without having to insert fluff. It's also so much more interesting to have two characters on the same side despise each other than get along perfectly. Bonus points if they still don't like each other by the end. MORE bonus points if they do without a cheesy I-suddenly-like-you scene!
• A magical creature of some sort. Unicorns work fine. Elves are good. Dragons are even better! (This is my own personal preference. Despite being a theurgist at heart, dragons are hands down the best fantasy creatures ever. Sorry, unicorns.)

What are your story "must-haves"?

~ Sophia-Rose

Not burned out yet

So, it's been awhile (sort of) since I've posted. The reality is I probably won't be posting every day until it starts, but I'll be trying to post more often. I haven't been neglecting my writing work over the past few days, though. Oh, no! Here's what I've done just this evening:

• Made a change to a certain scene: it now takes place at midnight rather than dawn.
• Decided that a whole legend would be told in rhyme rather than prose. After all, there's no morbid prophecy in this story.
• Fleshed out the plans for some intense and crucial action scenes.
• Made lots of decisions regarding just how the characters discover their new powers.
• Filled in some gaping holes involving important scenes.
• JUST ABOUT FINISHED MY STORY OUTLINE!

But I'm not done planning. Oh, definitely not. I still need to finish my character sheets. Those are quick, easy, and fun, so they shouldn't pose a problem. But after that I need to write a complete list of all the scenes in my novel. Uh-oh. I guess I can handle it. And I suppose it's worth it. Wouldn't want to leave something out, right?

To be honest, I'm surprised I made it this far without getting burnout, especially considering I've never seriously plotted a novel before. I think it's going quite well. Hopefully I'll be able to power through, dig 50K words out of it, and finish in a month.

~ Sophia-Rose

Legends of Light - Final Cover

Here you go. I think it looks pretty good. I'm now going to add it to the page on here and on the NaNo website.

Oh, and by the way: in case you were curious, S. B. Forrest is my "author" name. That's what I put on my book covers and such.

~ Sophia-Rose

Legends of Light Covers

Hello again! I've decided that for the rest of the month, most of the posts will be about NaNo itself rather than writing.

I made eight potential covers for Legends of Light, and all this afternoon. However, there are really only three different designs, and the rest are slight variants, so altogether they took about two hours to make. I'd like your input on which one you like the best (although stating multiple favorites is helpful, too.) Ready? Here are the covers based on the Dragon Template:

Without background text

With background text

Here are the covers based on the Legend Template:

With background text and sparkles

Without background text, with sparkles

With background text, without sparkles

Without background text or sparkles

And now, the ones with the Simple Template:

Without background text

With background text

So, which one's your favorite?

~ Sophia-Rose