Introduction
Aaaaaand guess who’s late again? Boo-yah, you got it right! But instead of being late as in posting late in the day, she’s posting after a deadline.
Y’see, the Know the Novel linkup (hosted by the fabulous Christine Smith) has you answer ten questions about your WIP each of the last months of the year (October, November, and December). Unfortunately, November of this year didn’t have enough Mondays in it for me to do my three-part plotting series, catch up on the review I missed in October, and write November’s review. (Yes, it had five Mondays, and was still not enough. XD) Therefore, I am answering November’s questions in December, and I’ll probably finish up the linkup in a couple of weeks. 🙂
Now that that explanation is out of the way, settle in for a really boring tour of my current WIP, A Tale of Two Brothers.
(Check out Part 1 if you haven’t already – this post will make more sense that way. :))
The Questions
1. How’s the writing going overall?
Well… considering that I haven’t actually started writing yet, pretty well. (Yep, you guessed that right: I’ve been plotting/developing charries/worldbuilding for the past months.) The worldbuilding has taken the longest (why is developing an economic system so difficult!?!?!), but the plotting was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get into the actual writing.
Watch me just stare at an empty screen when I finally get around to that
2. What’s been the most fun aspect about writing this novel so far?
Plotting. Seriously, I hammered out the whole plot in less than a week and I love it. There’s very few plotholes, it’s tight, and it looks like it will end up about the length I’m aiming for (between 200 and 300 pages, preferably nearer to the 300 page mark). Gooo reverse plotting!!! 😛
3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?
Whelp. Yeah. I haven’t started writing yet. BUT I have tried the write-an-entry-in-your-character’s-journal technique, which has really helped me get to know my protagonist (Myra) better. Does anyone else struggle with writing female characters? Is it just me, or are males easier to write? XD
As for favorites, yes, I know I’m not supposed to have one. BUT. My twin boys are just so sweet and so different. On second thought, I take that back. Irad is not sweet. XD I’m wavering between which one I like better as I plot more – right now, it’s Gilead, my calm, wise, blind dude who cares more about everyone else than what they think. Later, it’ll definitely be Irad – snarky, hurting, somehow a courageous coward. Poor guy. *pats his back*
4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?
Mostly with being so easy, up to the world-building point. I couldn’t believe how fast the ideas were coming when I was plotting! It was one of those moments when you have SO. MANY. TYPOS. due to your brain moving faster than your fingers are able. 😛 Other than that, no.
5. Have you come across any problem areas?
Finding faceclaims. It’s pretty much impossible to find people that fit your characters, especially when you want the picture to be un-copyrighted so you can share it on your blog. *groans*
And yep, world-building again. I’ve got the general idea in my mind, but filling out teh details is proving more difficult than normal.
Not to mention developing Myra… I wish she were more of a puzzle so that could be the problem. XD
6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?
MY PLOT!! Y’all, it may not be a good one, but I love my plot. It’s so tight, and the holes are so tiny I can’t see them (either that or so gihugic I don’t notice them) and the theme ties in so perfectly and… *melts* I love it.
7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?
Probably Myra, since she’s the only female in my cast of four characters. XD (That’s a big step down from having nine main characters, let me tell you.) Personality-wise… not really any of them. Gilead and Myra are too calm (though Myra does have those flashes of extreme emotion), but Irad is too… angry, I guess. Which leaves the villain, and I refuse to be like that man. *glares*
8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!
Well, my first sentence is only two words, so I’ll give you the first cheesy paragraph. (This is from last February, when I first had the idea and wrote it down. Ignore the bad writing, I beg you. :P)
One queen. Two babies. Three midwives.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll change it when I rewrite.
As for others, I don’t really have that much I’m proud to share. So here’s the rest of that prologue. 😉
One queen. Two babies. Three midwives. Her cries of anguish echoed from the room’s cold stone walls. Queen though she was, the midwives were not gentle as they tended her. One baby she held in her arms, pulling him close as she strived to send his younger brother into the world. “There we are.” The first midwife, a middle-aged woman with a shock of wild white hair, spoke without emotion. “Two sons, queen.” The queen slumped in relief, reaching for her other baby as the midwives cleaned the vernix off of him. But instead of handing him over, the second midwife, a pretty blue-eyed blonde, exited with the newborn, casting a scornful look over her shoulder as the queen shouted for him to be brought to her. The door closed with a bang. The queen bent over her firstborn, weeping into his fuzz of moderately dark hair, helpless to do anything but hold him close. The midwives watched their queen’s grief with hard faces. “It is better for him to perish, queen,” the third midwife said. Her poof of curly red hair enclosed her pointed face like a portrait frame. “He was defected. We did him a courtesy.” “Explain yourself,” the queen moaned. “He was useless. His eyes were as cloudy as the sky outside – blind. He was as pitiful as you are.” Her words were tinged with bitterness. The second midwife reappeared, empty handed. She motioned the other midwives over to the corner and whispered, “I threw him to the river, but he was fished out by a woodsman shortly after.” The first midwife pounded a fist into her palm. “Why did we bring the queen here to give birth if not to rid the kingdom of her and her vile offspring? Has the woodsman heard her cries?” The queen’s blind eyes roamed the room, her sharp ears listening intently. “Nay,” the second midwife answered. “He pulled the infant out of the water and strode away.” “Very well,” the third midwife replied. “These are ruins. Lead the queen to the remaining tower, and lock her up there. She may die of thirst, and her other son with her. There is little doubt that the other will fail to survive, because of the cold of the river, but we must be sure about these.” “So be it,” the first decided, turning to the queen. “Come, queen.” She spoke the word with contempt. The queen wailed as she was yanked to her feet and half-carried to the door. Her son picked up her cries, and his newborn squalls rebounded off the corridors. The second midwife covered her ears in annoyance. The tower was a bare room with a tall ceiling and nary a window. A worn ladder led up through a hole in the wooden ceiling to the second story. The midwives pushed the weakened queen to the cold floor, exited, and locked the door behind them. The queen found her way to the door and begged for mercy, but she hadn’t enough strength to raise her voice above a feeble whisper. “Please, no. Please, please, please.” The queen soon learned her way around the room. Her son’s cries didn’t annoy her, and she crooned to him in a singing voice lovely as the gentle breeze. Once she attempted to climb the ladder, but a rung broke under her weight and she fell to the floor, cracking her head against a stone. She lay there in pain until her son, newborn as he was, rolled his way to her and struggled to nurse. She moaned in agony as she rose, but a fierce love kindled her strength, and the unfathomable anguish of her other son’s fate fueled her determination to keep her firstborn alive. Two days passed, and the queen grew ever weaker. A loose stone she found in a wall, and through much strife she managed to push it nearly out. But there it stuck, and there it stayed, a reminder of her failure. Another day dragged on, and the queen could no longer raise her head or speak. Her baby cried for attention, and she curled around him, holding him to her breast, sure that the midwives’ schemes would be carried out. She and her son would die together.
9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)
Whelp… there’s really nothing interesting. XD I did make this graphic, though, so I guess now is as good a time as ever to share it. 😛
Myra
10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!
Oh. Now I get to admit that I’m not working on ATOTB every day. In fact, I tend to write more for a serial I’m posting on The Young Writer’s Workshop called The Caretaker. HOWEVER, if I do write for ATOTB, it’s usually later at night, when the younger siblings have gone to bed and the house is a bit quieter. I play soundtracks (these days mostly from The Hobbit ’cause that’s the mood I’m in) and try to concentrate on what I’m doing. I bang my head on my keyboard a few times during worldbuilding, grin a few times during journal entries, and do my best to keep from jumping up and down while plotting. And when I finish writing, I struggle to fall asleep ’cause my brain is going bonkers. 😛
Wrap Up
There you have it, folks! Now you’ve got a sneak peek into ATOTB. Think I need to change anything? Any tips for getting to know a character, or ideas for a different opening line? Do you like the Hobbit soundtrack?!
And, as always, take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth. 😀