Whimsical.nu

Welcome to a Whimsical Blog~

Hi, I'm Angela, a girl with a blog on five different psyches:
girl, geek, reader, writer, gamer
Choose your poison ♥

Throne of Jade, by Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade by Naomi NovikThrone of Jade is the second book in Naomi Novik’s series Temeraire, set in the Napoleonic wars and following Temeraire and Will Laurence of the Aerial Corps. I picked it up as part of a three-book set right after I finished an abridged audiobook version of the first book, His Majesty’s Dragon.

Laurence started: it had not occurred to him that Temeraire might not have viewed the sea-serpent as the monstrous creature it seemed to him. “Temeraire, you cannot think that beast anything like a dragon,” he said. “It had no speech, nor intelligence; I dare say you are right that it came looking for food, but any animal can hunt.”

“Why should you say such things?” Temeraire said. “You mean that she did not speak English, or French, or Chinese, but she was an ocean creature; how ought she have learned any human languages, if she was not tended by people in the shell? I would not understand them myself otherwise, but that would not mean I did not have intelligence.”

The story so far

The Chinese had finally found out that the Celestial dragon egg they had given to Bonaparte had fallen into English hands–and he has been used in wars and is companion to a common soldier. Affronted, they have come to take Temeraire back–but neither Temeraire nor Laurence is of a mind to part from each other.

The solution: they both travel to China.

On a dragon transport and captained by Laurence’s old second lieutenant, Captain Riley, they spend months in the dangerous sea: storms, enemy ships, dangerous sea-serpents and dragon sniffles to boot, but also working out the rough relations between aviators, sea-men, and the Chinese, all the while England’s situation with Bonaparte is turning ever worse. Yet there is no assurance that things will be better once they land: they will have little power once in China, their only bargaining chip Temeraire’s refusal to part with Laurence.

It’s a slower time for Laurence and Temeraire, with no training or fights to worry about, but neither is it a less dangerous time: not only for the issues pressing on them, but on Temeraire’s awakening sensibilities, being exposed to more ideas and ills of the world he moves around in.

Poignant and thought-provoking from the start

The first few scenes of this book was wonderful–right from the start, it tugged at my heart and reduced me quite to tears. It’s definitely a more emotional book than the first–a bit slower, dealing more with Temeraire’s intellectual awakening, if you will. Faced with different customs, different creatures, slave-ports and ships, and the idea that his reality is not the only reality in the world–Temeraire needs to process all that, and while you’re also pretty sure he would never leave Laurence, sometimes you worry too, that maybe it’s not so clear-cut after all.

I loved seeing Captain Riley again, and interesting to see Laurence and Riley on equal footing–actually maybe with Riley slightly ahead, what with Laurence being on his ship.

The pieces where the characters try to make sense of the other group’s norms–like a couple of horrible dinners that seemed nothing short of disaster–were quite entertaining. It’s interesting to see the contrast between the English and the Chinese; as a fellow Asian, it really is quite hilarious to read through their dinners with chopsticks and noodles. The personalities in the Chinese party are also interesting, and while we don’t really see them until near the end, they are still a joy to read about.

A pleasing second

Throne of Jade was a pleasing follow-up to His Majesty’s Dragon, if slower in pace and more thought-provoking than the first. It doesn’t sacrifice a lot, however, and it’s certainly well-written and enjoyable to get lost in.

0 Comments

5 parallel worlds to visit

Parallel worlds have a distinct call to my imagination. The thought that right now, something magical and fantastical might be happening is a happy daydream that I’ve had since I was a child.

Because of that, I’ve always been impressed when writers create their own worlds. Most of my favorite books have their own worlds, and how these worlds “work” is one of the biggest pulls of a story for me: how they’re connected to ours, if it’s possible to travel between them, the small details that change every day living for the parallel world’s creatures.

Here are five parallel worlds that I think are worth checking out. Traveling to them would be another matter, likely dependent on when I would arrive there ;)

1. Stephen King’s Dark Tower series

Stephen King's The Dark TowerI’m not a horror genre fan. I scare very easily, and the after effects are unpleasant: the images stay with me a long time. I avoid horror books and movies, but may, at times, watch or read movies/books with only an undertone or horror to them.

Hence, I’ve never been a Stephen King fan. And I doubt I will ever be.

However, I am a big fan of his Dark Tower saga. It is a series of seven books, each one thicker than the last, and chronicles the last days (uh, years? decades? centuries?) of Roland of Gilead, the last gunslinger. As he starts out traveling from In-World to Mid-World and End-World, you discover that his world is connected in some way to our world. He draws people from this world and we travel with them, this last ka-tet, this last group of people: the last gunslingers. Jake Chambers, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes all hail from different whens in this world.

What’s also quite interesting is that he managed to weave multiple threads/characters from his other stories into this series, so much that I almost want to read the rest ;)

2. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia

CS Lewis' The Chronicles of NarniaBy this time, everyone probably knows about Narnia–or has at least heard about Narnia–so there is not much to explain. What most know is that Lucy Pevensie stumbled into Narnia by walking into a wardrobe, and that there are talking animals and fauns and Aslan the lion who has Liam Neeson’s voice.

But my first experience with Narnia was its very beginning, having started with The Magician’s Nephew first: how Aslan sang the world to life, and stewardship of the land given to humans; how evil came into that world, so new and pure.

This was very interesting to me because of the parallels to Bible stories and Christian beliefs. I read this when I was young and it influenced me and my convictions significantly. In the same vein, CS Lewis’s contemporary and friend JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has parallels with Christian beliefs, just in a different, more obscure manner (case in point: I only realized it when I read The Silmarillon).

3. Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom/Abhorsen series

Garth Nix's AbhorsenThis is a “different sort” of parallel universe. The Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre live exactly side by side, on the same piece of land: Old Kingdom to the south, and Ancelstierre to the north. Each country–if you will–knows of the existence of the other, and crossing to the other “country” is permitted with proper credentials and permits.

However, that border–where the Wall stands–is the only thing they have in common. Ancelstierre is just like our reality, if set a bit further back; but The Old Kingdom is ruled by kings and queens, where the dead walk, where the Charter and Free Magic exist. The Charter can be felt at the border, and a little further into Ancelstierre if there is wind from the south.

In the same way that charter mages cannot wield the Charter when further into Ancelstierre, Ancelstierran technology breaks down when in the Old Kingdom. Paper disintegrates. Mechanical equipment like guns refuse to work. No communication lines. And the way the Northerners talk, it’s really as if The Old Kingdom was a completely separate reality. They scoff at its ways, its methods. Like any sane human, they think the existence of magic mumbo-jumbo is a load of bull. They may give respect to its King, but magic? Are you serious?

3.5 Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom

I felt like I needed to give a nod to Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series. It operates under a more “traditional” parallel universe structure, and would really garner a place in this list by itself, but I felt it a bit like cheating to include two worlds from one author ;)

4. Jasper Fforde’s Tuesday Next series

Jasper Fforde's The Eyre AffairBook lovers, you must know this book. There are no ifs and buts. Thursday Next is a literary detective: her day job requires her to look for forgeries and manage literature and its effects in a world where literature is pervasive.

Yes, that’s right, that’s her day job. Thursday is moonlighting as a Jurisfiction agent: as she can jump into books and novels, she has become part of the literary police force–literally. And this is the meat of that world: a world where book characters come to life, where being in books is their “day job”, where characters sometimes commit petty crimes. Like trying to become the protagonist when they’re only a supporting character. It’s a world where Jane Eyre originally ended sadly, but Thursday Next engineered it so that we have the much better ending we now know.

The “real world” is not entirely our world, being a lot more technologically advanced and yet retaining some “artifacts” of times long past. But the thought that the characters in the books we read are alive–that they are aware, and have their own thoughts and opinions–well, it’s such a heady feeling.

5. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series

JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsI’ll bet everyone expected this entry ;)

A list dealing with parallel worlds can’t be complete without the Harry Potter books. To be sure, the massive popularity of the books kind of turn me off (blame it on the last remnants of the need to rebel!) but this doesn’t detract from the fact that the books are vastly enjoyable and present a very vibrant, interesting world that runs right along with our Muggle existence.

The mixing of time in the “real world” (as necessitated by Harry’s living with his relatives) and “their world” I felt was done really well: an interesting meld of the mundane and the magical. It made me appreciate the fact that modern technology makes our lives a lot easier in ways we take for granted: nothing is more marked in reminding us of this everyday magic that we already have than Mr. Weasley’s attempts at understanding and replicating “real world technology”. The apparent fascination he has with our “magic” is not only charming, but a reminder that sometimes, we really don’t need to imagine so much to experience magic–or to be wary and vigilant about the Dark Arts in the form of guns and other similar modern objects.

With our thoughts, we make the world

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

Did I miss any of your favorite parallel worlds?

2 Comments

Progress, or lack thereof: list o’ links instead

I wish I could say that I’ve seen some progress with my NaNoWriMo research, but I haven’t been able to look into it again. Shameful, I know. But I’ve bookmarked a couple of sites to read through/study in preparation for NaNo, and I thought I’d share some of them in case it’s useful to someone else.

The most research I will likely be doing that may be relevant to others are on language creation and world building, hence the list of links is geared towards that.

On making languages

On Philippine history/legends

General worldbuilding

If you know of other websites, please share!

0 Comments

Starting The Wheel of Time, and a giveaway

I'm talking about: The Wheel of Time

The Eye of the World, by Robert JordanI’ve started reading Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time last July. Actually, that’s not strictly correct: I started listening to it last July. I was going on a trip with a friend, and I wanted to have a book with me. And I wanted to make sure it would last any downtime we needed.

So I went on Audible and, and seeing that the audiobook version capped at a whopping 29 hours and 32 minutes, I was sold. I’d always wanted to try reading it, but just never got around to it.

Admittedly, I never did get around to listening to it seriously during the trip. The next month, though, I was bedridden for dental surgery, and having nothing to do, I resumed the audiobook. I was promptly hooked, on to the second book before the week was out, and since I was still bedridden, I used up another Audible credit for it.

It’s probably too early to tell, but Jordan’s world is amazing. It may likely be a bit dragging for people who prefer quick reads like Harry Potter, as Jordan has a very descriptive style of writing, but I can certainly see why this is a classic. I still have a lot to read before I get up to speed, but I do have a fair bit of time, I think ;)

A giveaway

Before I left the Philippines, I had gone hunting for the books, since books are cheaper in the Philippines than Singapore. I found only found a small selection, but that’s likely because I only went to a small branch of Powerbooks–we didn’t have a lot of time.

I am a sucker for having series books in the same edition however, which means when I got here in Singapore and saw Kinokuniya with a complete collection in an entirely different edition set…well, I was sold.

Which means, I have a completely new, still-wrapped edition of The Eye of the World to give away. (What else would I do with it? It’s such in pristine condition.)

To enter, you can do either of two things: comment on this entry with who your favorite character in The Wheel of Time is, and why; or if you haven’t read WoT before, why you’re interested in it. Names will be run through a randomizer, so you don’t need to feel pressured to write an essay ;)

A couple notes: I don’t mind spoilers for this kind of epic series, so don’t worry about that. I’ll be contacting the winner via email, so be sure to leave a working email address (and I assume you are alright with giving me a mailing address). The book will be sent from Singapore to wherever via regular mail in a bubble-wrap envelope, so standard shipping duration applies.

Giveaway ends next Thursday!

Giveaway has ended, and congratulations to Demory!

4 Comments

Bridge to Terabithia

After picking up Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia from a book sale a few months ago, I finally took it along on the way to Ikea last Sunday. And it affected me so much that I had to distract myself–I was in danger of crying right on the bus on the way home while reading.

I’m glad I finally picked up this book. Initially I was rather unsure about it–the start wasn’t entirely too good for me, although the writing style itself was interesting and kept me going. Sure enough, soon Jess, Leslie, and even May Belle gripped me and made me feel for them, and appreciate their simple adventures. You could feel the simple joys they had, mixed in with all those little “life and death” issues we always have as kids ;)

As a child who was (is!) interested in fantasy, and stories, and creating make-believe worlds and scenarios with various versions of myself, I could relate a lot to Leslie–or at least the Leslie that we are given a treat to see from Jess’s eyes. I could certainly relate to the two children, being a kind of wallflower when I was in grade school–a bit of a geek, but not even geeky enough to be notorious. How they interacted with the worlds mentioned in the book–Lewis’s Narnia, and Alexander’s Prydain–was similar in many ways to how the books affected me. Jess’s hunger for these worlds and Leslie’s transformation of her fantasy-enriched imagination to Terabithia struck familiar chords in me.

The next afternoon they called P.T. and headed for Terabithia. It had been more than a month since they had been there together, and as they neared the creek bed, they slowed down. Jass wasn’t sure he still remembered how to be a king.

“We’ve been away for many years,” Leslie was whispering. “How to you suppose the kingdom has fared in our absence?”

“Where’ve we been?”

“Conquering the hostile savages on our northern borders,” she answered. “But the lines of communication have been broken, and thus we do not have tidings of our beloved homeland for many a full moon.” How was that for regular queen talk? Jess wished he could match it. “You think anything bad has happened?”

“We must have courage, my king. It may indeed be so.”

I will have to find the movie to borrow somewhere and finally check it out–I’ve been wanting to watch for a while now, but have been holding off as I wanted to read the book first. :)

0 Comments

The WETA chat on The Hobbit

I heard about the WETA chat with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, and I have to say I can’t wait to see The Hobbit. Probably because of its shorter nature, I love The Hobbit best, even though my favorite characters are in The Lord of the Rings–Eowyn and Faramir. I love Balin best of the dwarves in The Hobbit though, so I have high hopes of them giving him justice.

Some of the parts I loved/found interesting best:

WetaHost: Peter & Guillermo: What do you envision Gandalf’s role will be in this film? He seems to go off on his own and disappear in several sections of the book. Do you want to stay faithful to that or give him a more active role? How do you think you’ll ingratiate his character into an effective, cinematic storyline?

Guillermo del Toro: I believe that Gandalf is meant to be used in that way- coming and going in and out of the narrative. If anything, this creates the perfect setting for those “gaps” to be bridged by the second film…

Peter Jackson: Those gaps are great! There’s a lot of stuff going on, which is distracting him. I’m just pleased to be getting Gandalf the Grey back for two more movies. Ian and I loved him best. We were a little sad when the Gandy the White took over.

Jessalyn: When do you expect filming to begin?

Peter Jackson: Dear Jesslyn – at this point in time the plan is to write for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs. 2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back. Post productin follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released Dec 2011, and F2 release Dec 2012. That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment.

Trotter_the_Ranger: What will be the title for the second movie?

Guillermo del Toro: Too early- but not “H2 Electric Boogaloo” that has been discarded.

tigerlily: Hello Beren, as no bugger is going to answer our questons we may as well talk to eachj other! I guess we should have submitted questions earlier on as it seems they are being answered!!! (I included this because wow, what snark!–a.)

WetaHost: Peter, perhaps you could clarify what your role will be in the production of these films: What exactly does an executive producer do? Will you follow that model or “forge your own path?” How will Guillermo’s role and your role be different? Do you plan on writing the script again with Fran and Phillippa?

Peter Jackson: Truth is “Executive Producers” do a range of things on movies from a lot to virtually nothing! I see myself being one of a production team. My interest is helping Guillermo make the very best films he can. I love writing and I’m looking forward to that. Guillermo will be writing, along with Fran, Philippa and myself. As a director, I could never direct something I didn’t have a hand in writing, and we’re not expecting Guillermo to do that either. If the director is part of the writing, it means he was there when the discussions took place, story decisions were made … he knows why things are the way they are, and what they need to achieve. Everything is in a script for a reason, and only by being part of a writing team (or writing it yourself), do you really understand the intention of every beat. I see my role as being part of that writing team, which will create the blueprint, and then helping Guillermo construct the movie. I want Guillermo to make his movies, and I want to make sure we end up with a 5 movie series that’s as good as it can possibly be.

WetaHost: Hello Mr. Jackson and Mr. Del Toro! Thank you very much for this time. My question is one that I think you will hear alot of from many of us…from what material will you pulling the second movie from? I know it’ll be great with you two on board, but I am mighty curious. I am a huge fan of both of you and I look foward to more Tolkien films!

Guillermo del Toro: The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There’s omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film.

Peter Jackson: I’m really looking forward to developing Film Two. It gives us a freedom that we haven’t really had on our Tolkien journey. Some of you may well say that’s a good thing of course! The Hobbit is interesting in how Tolkien created a feeling of dangerous events unfolding, which preoccupy Gandalf. There’s an awful lot of incident that happens during that 60 year gap. At this stage, we’re not imagining a film that literally covers 60 years, like a bio-pic or documentary. We would figure out what happens during that 60 years, and choose one short section of time to drop in and dramatise for the screen. I’m really interested in how it effects The Hobbit – do we show what happens to Gandalg during his trips away? We’ll see. We may well have seeds for Film Two that we’ll subtly sow during The Hobbit.

WetaHost: I’d comment on the awesomeness of director choice, but I’m sure that gets old. Concerning The Hobbit and the numerous Dwarves, I was wondering if all of them are going to find their way into the film. In Lord of the Rings, you had 9 in the Fellowship, but you had three movies to flesh them out. In the Hobbit, you have 13 Dwarves and one film to throw them all in. I’m definitely hoping to see all 13 make their way in, but what are you doing about this?

Guillermo del Toro: Tolkien wrote 13 dwarves and I intend to use 13 dwarves. I am, in fact, thrilled to keep them all and have them be distinguishable and affecting as characters. Much of the drama and emotion in the last third of the book and film will come from them.

WetaHost: Guiilermo, I have always thought of you as a visionary director, and I love your work- could you please tell me what was the deciding factor that made you agree to direct The Hobbit?

Guillermo del Toro: Of all of Tolkien literary work I was only familiar with THE HOBBIT. I purchased it at age 11 and it struck a chord with me but, back then, I failed to connect with the Trilogy and the Silmarillion (Which now I find delectable) eluded me. I found them –unlike the HOBBIT- to be “too dense” for my young mind. I dreamt of Mirkwood and Smaug for ages (in fact, a Smaug-like dragon was scripted as part of the “fairy tale” Ophelia narrates to her brother in PANS LABYRINTH and was sculpted but was cut for budget reasons) but when I saw Peter undertake the Trilogy I thought thet the HOBBIT would never come to be for me. The proposition of spending half a decade crafting these films received- as Peter will atest- a 5 second “YES” from me. To people in my industry I’m usually a guy that tries to generate his own projects and I remain very elusive when people try and attach me to big projects. For decades I have passed on films of enormous scope but this is a fantastic privilege and I immediately said “Yes”.

WetaHost: Which of the actors from LOTR will be back to reprise their roles in The Hobbit and its companion film?

Guillermo del Toro: Obviously, at this stage, the second film is still being figured out- so the actors that have been approached may or not have appeared in the HOBBIT as a literary work but still may appear in the second film as it “blends” into the Trilogy and expands. Therefore what can be said is: Unequivocally, every single actor that originated a role in the Trilogy will be asked to participate and reprise it. If Health, availability or willigness become obstacles – and only in that case recasting would be considered.

Peter Jackson: Like Guillermo says, apart from extreme circumstances, we would never recast a character who appeared in the LOTR trilogy. You can read The Hobbit and pretty much see which characters play a part. The unknown facter is Film Two, which we are still developing. If we wished to write one of the LOTR characters into the narrative of Film Two, we would only do that with that actors blessing, and willingess to take part. Otherwise we’d take the writing in another direction.

That was a pretty lengthy chat, but a fantastic teaser for all that is to come! I personally can’t wait to watch this; even though PJ’s trilogy deviated at times from the books, it was still a fantastic piece, and I feel hopeful that these two new films will be just as good, judging from their responses.

What do you think?

0 Comments

Eragon

I just finished Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, after resolving to read it since it’s been turned into a movie (no, I haven’t watched the movie, and yes, I heard it wasn’t good). As a YA fantasy novel, to me it was pretty typical: fast-paced adventure, magic, dragons, a likeable protagonist who is coming of age. It was an enjoyable read, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next installation soon.

(Spoiler warning! I will be talking about some plot elements that affect the ending of the book.)

I don’t exactly know if I feel it’s doing a good bit of foreshadowing or if it’s too much. I obviously haven’t read Eldest, but already I feel like it’s going to be a no-brainer. For one thing, Angela the witch’s foretelling of Eragon’s future felt like… wait, already? So we already know there’s a near-death, someone who’s family will betray him, and there’s a noble love on the horizon.

I felt the near-death would be Brom right off. I mean, seriously, who else was it going to be? Who else (who’s still alive) was close to Eragon other than Roran, Brom, and Saphira? If Saphira dies, there goes the story. There was a chance it would be Roran, but I felt that Brom would make more sense, more impact.

And besides, there was the whole thing about the betrayal of someone who’s family. That instantly pointed to Roran, but! We skip to the end of the book, where we, omg, find out about Murtagh’s past. Murtagh Son of Morzan who, when sparring with Eragon, was his equal in every respect, even when they tire. There was mention of them being so alike each other, but yet differing in beliefs. Let’s not forget Murtagh’s mother, who came from an unknown village, who mysteriously left when Murtagh was three, and returned just as mysteriously.

Oh, what’s that about Eragon’s mother? His mother, who had become apparently rich, went home to Garrow five months pregnant with Eragon, gave birth, and then pleaded that he be raised there, and then disappeared. I mean, seriously? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to put, omg, two long-lost brothers together and, in the end, have them face each other in a heart-rending, emotional battle between good and evil! Not to mention battle for the heart of a noblewoman, Nasuada, apparently. There was a stray thought about it being Arya, but you never know. Would that be possible in Eragon’s world?

Okay, maybe I’m wrong about some of these points. I don’t even know what I think about all these guesses of mine. I feel like, what, why is this so easy?? I don’t know if I enjoy it, making all these guesses.

2 Comments

Watch the Skies, and free ebooks from Tor

Saw this around (from Lenneth’s post, actually): Tor Books has a promotion called Watch the Skies, which seems quite mysterious but has free digital books as part of it! Obviously this deals with the science fiction and fantasy genre, and the next book (at the time of this writing) is Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, 2006′s winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

This sounds promising, so I signed up — I love me some SF/F.

0 Comments

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

I finally read and finished The Bartimaeus Trilogy a few weeks back, due to recommendations of friends. The trilogy, written by Jonathan Stroud, is made up of the books The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, and Ptolemy’s Gate; it follows three principal characters, all of them coming from different backgrounds in life: Nathanial (also known as John Mandrake), blessed to be raised as a ruling-class wizard; Bartimaeus, a long-lived djinn of the fourth level; and Kitty, a magic-immune commoner girl chafing under the highfalutin wizards. They way these three characters interact and affect each other’s lives (and the world they live in) is both real and otherworldly: they draw you in even if they exasperate you plenty of times.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

I can’t rightfully say which character is the best for me; they’re all portrayed with wonderful depth, drawing you in with their (usually suppressed) emotions. The book jumps from the perspective of one major character to the next, the narrator focusing on him; the difference is that when we’re seeing events through Bartimaeus’ point of view, the book shifts to a first-person POV. I feel that this is an ingenious way of differentiating Bartimaeus from the human characters; the book also makes use of footnotes to implicitly express the nature of Bartimaeus: in Stroud’s world, the djinn (and other beings) are able to see other planes of reality, while humans can only see one plane. In the same way, djinnn can think different thoughts at a single point in time, while humans, the oh so sluggish humans, can only think one thought at a time. The Bartimaeus chapters are then peppered with footnotes whenever Bartimaeus thinks of a rather interesting quip or trivia that he wishes to express.

Read the rest of this entry »

14 Comments

Slowly but surely

I was able to write a bit yesterday, and although I’m still quite behind, I feel a bit of optimism, still. I’m now at 5,716 words, and I only had to stop writing yesterday not because I was all out of words or anything but because of external factors like I need to go, etc. Yay!

[pfmeter id=1 target=50000 progress=5716]

Obviously I have high hopes for the next few days, or the weekend. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fully catch up with my word count, but who knows? If my schedule cooperates I just might be able to make the needed word count or even over. ;)

One thing that dampers me, however, is that I need a language. I was able to skim some language-creation articles, but haven’t been able to actually sit down and work it through. I need the language for the story, obviously! Since I’m writing a fantasy, it’s pretty much needed. So far I’ve been able to keep them from saying anything in the other language — or at least nothing that I have to write (I plan to only write in the other language if I mean it to be indistinguishable to the reader or the character whose head I’m currently in; so for example we’re in Alexander’s point of view, we’d see the native language of the island in English).

I still don’t have a final name for the island, or for the queen, or for the inhabitants. For now I’m rehashing the old names — Chimerage, Lilymirth, and faeries. I don’t want to say faeries because they’re so damn used everywhere already. Eww.

I haven’t talked about my Nano story at length yet, have I? I should talk first about the older short story it’s coming from, but I’ll do that some other time. :)

0 Comments