Wednesday Words: Fourteen Hundred Cowries and Other African Tales

It is the last Wednesday in January; can you believe it?!

It's also the 5th Wednesday in the month, which means another glimpse into what I am reading! I'm doing research for a new NA/Adult fantasy project, and the research entails looking into African literature. I was really excited to find my library network had a few books, and the first one I'm reading is Fourteen Hundred Cowries and Other African Tales by Abayomi Fuja.

 I'm really excited by the stories I've read so far. We don't get the chance to learn about these tales in school unless you take a college course, but if only people could see more origin tales and mythologies from outside of Europe! These tales are clever, funny, and a little dark. There are a few fables I never would have heard about had I not picked up the book. One tale in particular that sparked my interest, "The Twins"--because I have an infatuation with twins and like to put them in my stories--had an interesting plot featuring the revenge of a sea monster's mother. Sound familiar?

There are tales explaining why leopards have their spots, why the ega bird isn't hard pressed to have its young taken away by hawks (that one was funny), and tales that show just how clever tortoises are (I love turtles and tortoises). It's a fast read, so if you get a chance, I urge you to take a day or two to read these tales.

What are you reading this week?

Final Fantasy Friday: FFIX's Dagger and My Jonnie

Happy Friday!

On the last Friday of the month, I geek out about anything Final Fantasy. If you don't already know, my YA fantasy project Fractured Princess is an homage to the franchise, and I use influences from the games in my story. One such is Princess Garnet, aka Dagger from Final Fantasy IX.

My main character Jonnie is based on Dagger. I was playing FFIX when I started writing FP. Dagger was a very proper, very naïve princess who wanted to figure out what was up with her mother who had basically lost her mind and was attacking other kingdoms. It was hard for Dagger to fit into the general public because she spoke so properly, so there were many moments where she practiced speaking like her laid-back, sarcastic co-MC Zidane, an actor/hired thief. Still, she often got herself into more trouble than she could handle because she'd been shut up in the castle all of her life and didn't understand the world.

This is one of the first concept drawings I had for Jonnie, back before I changed the color of the Crystal Bearers. When I first wrote Jonnie, she spoke super properly. When I think about it now, I cringe. I was trying really hard to go for that Euro-medieval dialect, and it was terrible. She was also very sheltered and child-like, but unlike Dagger, Jonnie was a very reactionary character, only acting when things happened to her. Dagger had a solid motivation before we even knew what it was: she was going to escape the castle to get help for her mother (what she didn't know was that her uncle Cid had hired Zidane's crew to kidnap/rescue her, but it worked out perfectly).

I had to get Jonnie to that point of being proactive, find out what she wanted before all hell broke loose and how it would fuel her motivation once everything went left. In the last couple of revisions, I decided that instead of just wanting to survive (because that's super basic), Jonnie would want to learn to fight off danger alongside her Watchmen. Subconsciously, I continued to model her after Dagger, who refused to sit by the sidelines as the world around her fell apart. Both girls have an overbearing protector over them, though Steiner is FAR more annoying than Cyan, but they're not afraid to butt heads with them to reach their goal, and that makes for interesting princesses and much rounder stories.

Have a great weekend!

Tuesday Tales: Sitting Down with Jonnie

It is time for the first Tuesday Tales of 2018! I have set aside the 3rd Tuesday of the month to share tales about my project Fractured Princess and speak to the characters when they a moment free. I liked the questions I had Jonnie and Cyan answer about Cyan last month, so I thought I would have Jonnie answer them about herself this time around. Let's see what she has to say.

Hi again!

Hi, Jonnie.


What words or phrases do you overuse?
Jonnie: Well, I suppose I always counter my own thoughts, so I say "howbeit" more than most. I like to see both sides to an argument, howbeit. Damn it all!


How do you display affection?
Jonnie: Though I make sure I know them very well before I do so, I like to hold hands or hug. It makes me feel warm.


How do you want to be seen by others?
Jonnie: I want others to see me as strong, independent.


How do you think others see you?
Jonnie: Hm . . . I believe most see me as child-like, certainly carefree.


How do you react to praise?
Jonnie: I love it! *laughs* I don't have many chances to try things out for myself, so when I'm doing well, I love the encouragement.


How do you react to criticism?
Jonnie: I don't love it as much, but I understand its necessity. If no one ever corrected anyone, where would we be?


What is your perception of family?
Jonnie: Family is . . . the people you would die for, and the people without whom you would die anyway.


What advice would you give your younger self?
Jonnie: Never look back. Always move forward. You can do it.




That's all from Jonnie for this week. I hope it's warmed up for some of you. We've gone from single digits and below-zero winds to a pleasant 27 degrees. Ha!

Wednesday Words: Shades in Shadow by N.K. Jemisin

Happy Hump Day!

Is this week dragging for anyone else?? Maybe it's just that slow so I'd remember to post. I set aside the second Wednesday of the month to share with you all what I'm reading or writing. I've written up a storm the past couple of days, and on different projects, so that's always a good thing. I'm also reading poetry at the moment, and I don't feel like sharing that.

What I will share, though, is what I read last week, and that was N.K. Jemisin's Shades in Shadow, three short stories preceding the stories in the Inheritance Trilogy.

Anything N.K. writes about Yeine, Nahadoth, Itempas, and anyone else in that world, I'm here for. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was my first taste of her writing, and I was hooked for life. These short stories especially make me want to reread the trilogy sometime this year. I'll share a piece from "The God Without A Name," a glimpse into the life of Nahadoth's human prison after Yeine freed him and made the prison its own half-god person (Hado in The Broken Kingdoms, Ahad in The Kingdom of Gods).

"How's my other half?" he asks, to be cruel and to distract himself. "You and Nahadoth getting along? His black hole finding your balance beam with no trouble and all that?"

She chuckles. "You're very predictable. He doesn't ask about you at all, you know. Why would he?"

She takes off, running into the ocean and jumping gleefully into a wave that is cresting near the shore. He leaves while she's preoccupied so she won't she how much her words have hurt him.

I like this moment because he tries really hard to act like he hates Yeine and Nahadoth, but it's clear he doesn't.

What are you all reading this week?

IWSG: This is The Voice!

Well, technically it's the voice.

Firstly, Happy New Year!

Secondly, it's the first Wednesday, which means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Visit our great sensei Alex J. Cavanaugh and the IWSG site (linked in the previous sentence) to join us and visit the hosts for this month!

A couple of years ago, I said that I wouldn't do another pitch contest. Then, I entered Fractured Princess into one in Fall 2016, got a SLEW of agent likes and requests to see more, and then received rejection after rejection after rejection. Though I did get two "Can I see more?" requests after sending the query, so I didn't lose hope.

Fall 2017, I did it again after a major overhaul to the manuscript. I didn't receive as many likes, but that actually saved me some time in sending out queries. Unfortunately, no bites this time, either.

The general consensus is that the voice isn't grabbing them. This is one of those moments where I wish at least one person said WHAT about the voice didn't grab them, because then I'd know if it's something I'm missing, or if I just haven't found the agent who loves the voice. I don't want to lose hope, but it's not as close as it used to be.

Tuesday Tales: Sitting Down with Cyan

Merry Day After Christmas! It's time for another Tuesday Tales Q&A with one of my characters! This time, I'm holding onto Cyan's legs so he can't get away (though Jonnie might answer for him anyway). I took today's questions from The Ultimate Character Questionnaire. It's a huge list, so anyone with Microsoft can download it.

All right. Hi, Cyan!

 

Cyan: . . . Hi.
Jonnie: Stop frowning! This will be quick.

 

Jonnie, what words or phrases does Cyan overuse?
Jonnie: He likes to curse things *laughs*. He says "The damned of you" all the time.

How does he display affection?
Jonnie: You'd be surprised how affectionate he is! He is a hugger. He also likes to touch the top of my head.

Cyan: Teorre. I don't like to; 'tis just a habit.

Cyan, how do you want to be seen by others?
Cyan: I would like for them to see me as a good Watchman. People have been watching my progress since I was a kid, so I hope I have made them proud.

Jonnie, how is he seen by others?
Jonnie: Well, I'm biased because he's my big brother, but he is the best! He may get on my nerves at times--

Cyan: Likewise.

Jonnie: --but I know he just wants what's best for me.

How does he react to praise?
Jonnie: Oh, dear Teorre, just don't. He has no idea how to handle compliments. Just say, "Well done," and move on.

How does he react to criticism?
Jonnie: You can tell he doesn't take it well--he frowns and sulks and sometimes talks back. Howbeit, he does consider and incorporate changes as necessary.

Cyan, what is your perception of family?
Cyan: Well, I suppose, family isn't just your blood. 'Tis who you can rely on from day to day and who you would die for.

What advice would you give your younger self?
Cyan: I haven't seen it happen yet, but there must be a day when she will tire herself out, so hang in there.

Jonnie: Easy now!

All right, that's enough out of them haha. There are a bunch of other questions to explore, so I'll probably come back to them next month . . . or should I say NEXT YEAR!?

Wednesday Words: 2,000 Words Down!

All righty, so because I posted a Friday post early, I'm doing Wednesday Words this week! This is when I share with you all what I have been reading or writing. I've set down both the e-book and the e-comic I was trying to read, so nothing on that front. But, after NaNo, I did open up my WIP with comments from Jodi Meadows to work on her notes.

I also want to say WHEN this book gets published, I want to do a special book of the draft stages and my favorite comments from her. Some of them still make me laugh when I look at them.

The main problem this go 'round was distancing. I had trouble bringing readers into the POV characters' heads, which I could see right up front. I usually write: "This happened, and I felt like this when it did" when it needs to be more like "This happened, and oh why is happening?" I did better in some areas than others. I have a chat with a Spec Fic group creator hopefully this week to see her thoughts, too, but I have a feeling they'll be about the same.

Are you writing or revising this week?

Final Fantasy Friday: FFXV Episode Ignis: SPOILERS AHEAD

So, I forgot to post Wednesday Words this week, but I'm also not reading anything, so why not mess up the rest of the month!?

More importantly, Episode Ignis came out this weeeek! Ignis was my favorite FFXV character, and I've been waiting impatiently for his episode! So much so that I bought it before I went to work yesterday morning!

A little backstory: during the main game, there is a major battle against the Imperial Army and Noctis's guard while he's going off to win over Leviathan. His fiancée is killed in this struggle, and somehow Ignis loses his sight.

This episode lets us see what happened, but first, this opening (and Noctis's little face!):

This opening!! #FFXV #EpisodeIgnis #PS4sharehttps://t.co/2aurjCg0ga pic.twitter.com/NYln9ID1DX

— דבורה המחבר (@DebTheAuthor) December 14, 2017

Ignis has been with Noctis for the longest, I believe, and to be honest, he spoils him all through the main game. I was devastated to hear he was blinded in this scuffle.

Playing the game straight through only took an hour. You have the option to venture off and reclaim districts in Altissia, but I was trying to get a handle on Ignis's battle system and also getting up on the roofs without falling back into the water all through the city.

But also, Ignis is a BEAST! I was taking out Imperials with hardly any need for a potion until I had to fight Ravus and then Ardyn. I also didn't realize Ravus had a prosthetic arm, but he thought he was chosen to fight off the darkness and tried to wield the One Ring--oh, sorry, wrong...well anyway the Ring of the Lucii. The past kings of Lucis said, "Nah, fam," and his arm burned away! So, when Ignis picked up the ring to fight Ardyn, I knew he would live, but didn't have any details. He called on the kings to give him power to fight Ardyn, and they said, "Sure, but now you're blind." We were able to fight him off long enough for Gladio and Prompto to find us, and then Ignis collapses from exhaustion.

Rewind: while Ignis and Ravus battle through Altissia to get to Noct and Luna, we run into Pryna, one of Luna's husky-German shepard mixes (no idea what these puppies are), and she either dies or collapses but not before giving Ignis a gift of foresight, so he sees everything that is going to happen to Noctis. This helps to explain in the main game why sometimes it's like Ignis can see after this battle: he's already seen the future happen!

So, as the credits roll and take us through the rest of the game, it ends on a moment at their last campfire where Noctis is telling Ignis that even if Ignis isn't there in the end, he's there in Noct's heart. And then...well watch for yourself. I almost lost to tears:

The bloody FEELS!!! #FFXV #EpisodeIgnis #PS4sharehttps://t.co/2aurjCg0ga pic.twitter.com/LB7TDHj5ze

— דבורה המחבר (@DebTheAuthor) December 15, 2017

This episode was perfect. It was the one we deserved all along. I'm going to play again this weekend.

Insecure Writers Support Group

I've been so busy today that I forgot it's the first Wednesday of the month. UGH.


I hope everyone did well with NaNoWriMo. I did more than I thought I would but didn't reach my goal. On the bright side, I've successfully started a brand new story, so I have something to work with.


I don't have time to say much and don't have much to say, so visit the Insecure Writers Support Group website to view this month's optional question, see the co-hosts, and to meet some new people. As always, thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this group!


This month's question: As you look back on 2017, with all its successes and failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?


Sheesh, can I start in 2016? No? Okay. Um, I'd probably like to have read more this year, definitely written more outside of Fractured Princess.


How about you?

Wednesday Words: My NaNoWriMo Project!

Happy Hump Day!


It's a 5th Wednesday, and that means it's time for me to share with you all what I am either reading or writing.


Firstly, how did everyone do with NaNaWriMo? I set a goal of 500 words a day for myself, and started out pretty well, then petered. I'm terrible at these kind of goals, so I'm not sure why I kid myself, but on the bright side, I have the beginnings of an entirely new writing project! I've been so focused on Fractured Princess, I was starting to lose sight a little about writing. This November helped me break out of that, and I'm excited where this new story will take me.


For now, it's called The Queen's Daughters, a story based off of a dream I had (which is also how FP came to be). I haven't gotten to that particular scene yet, but some other circumstances in my life helped me put down the first few words, so I thought I would share those. They're bleak, just so you know, but here they are.

~*~*~*~

They killed our mother.

Then, they expected us to live in this place without her and be happy about it. Our father’s castle. This is not our home. It never has been. It’s just a place we visited during the off season so he could look like a good father.

Once, we thought he was.

But she was better. She was always better.

So now, we are taking her kingdom back, little by little. We may die doing it, but we will let the world know that we are Adasia’s daughters, and we will take shit from no one, not even the King.

Tuesday Tales: Ghuli is Getting A Name Change

Good morning!

This isn't really a Tuesday Tales, more like a brainstorm session that I've already gone through. BUT it's something for Tuesday, and it's about my characters, so it almost fits into the category.

For as long as I've written Fractured Princess, my main character has been named Ghulien, Ghuli for short. Now, in my head, it's pronounced JOO-lee. Over the years, however, I've had people read it as GOO-lee. It never occurred to me that in the English language, gh is--as far as I know--always pronounced as a hard g. Somehow, I thought the h would make it soft. But not only is that not how h's work haha; in the Crystalline language, h's aren't silent.

Also, I believe Ghuli was just a name I grabbed out of thin air when I needed one and don't really have much of an attachment to the name besides it's what I've been calling her for 13 years (yeesh, 13 years).

So, I've spent a couple of days thinking of names that 1) follow the rules of the Crystalline language, 2) sound good, and 3) that could be transferred into a nickname. One thing I never thought of is that Ghuli is passing for a Human, and also, her parents had close ties to their Human scholars, so they might give their daughter a nickname that sounded a little Human without anyone questioning it. Also, I still wanted to keep the j sound, so that played a big role.

Therefore, come December (so I can get back full swing into NaNoWriMo) my MC's new name will be:

*drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll*

*cymbal*

Jonnie
(Not sure what it's short for yet.)

What do you think? I've always loved the name Jonnie for a girl, and I've only used it for a fan fiction back when I was in college, so it's a great way to reuse it.

I'd go back to all of my old posts and change the name, but that would be so tedious. Maybe I'll put a disclaimer. That'll suffice.

Wednesday Words: Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone's doing well who is participating in NaNoWriMo. Save yesterday, I've reached my goal of 500 (I said 1000 last week, but I think 500 is a good start for me) words a day on the days I planned to write (all days but Sunday, unless I'm really compelled). The real task for me will be to keep it up but also to not touch the words I already put down. I'm one of those pesky writers who edits as she writes. It's just how I was raised. ;)

Anyway, it's the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and that means sharing with you all a piece of what I'm reading. Funny enough, I'm not reading anything that can be spoken of at the moment, but I did finish Jodi Meadows's Before She Ignites last week.

Officially plotzing (also, the taaail!) #BeforeSheIgnites pic.twitter.com/BK4Td34WBp

— Deb the Author (@DebTheAuthor) September 12, 2017

I must have spoken of Jodi before because she's in my tags, but at the risk of repeating myself, I had the pleasure of meeting Jodi via Twitter during last year's DVPit when I had a SLEW of likes from agents. Sadly, my work wasn't as ready as I thought, but I did actually receive TWO requests for my full following the initial query, so I know I'm getting somewhere. Anyway, Jodi was kind enough to look over my first few pages and give me pointers. Then, a little later, she gave me a full edit letter! In that time, she also asked me to be a sensitivity reader for the title book, and while I pointed out places she could improve, I loved this book from page 1.

Before She Ignites is about a young woman who has a treaty named after her and so despite all of her awkwardness, obsessing over dragons, and high anxiety, she has to be the figurehead for the people. She discovers a huge secret that brings danger to the islands on which the people live, and is subsequently thrown into prison. We follow her attempts to adjust to now being at the bottom of the bottom and also receive wonderful flashbacks that include dragons of all shapes and sizes. The imagery in this book is so cool, and not to give anything away, I'll just say, Aaru is everything. lol

Because I finished the book and am typing this up at work, I'm going to share a piece of my favorite scene that I still have on my Kindle and that no one will understand unless they've read it, so it's not a spoiler.


I was immense. Immeasurable. Infinite.

I bridged the spaces between stars with my fingertips. I crossed galaxies within breaths. Aeons poured through me like thoughts, and my inferno heart beat with the tempo of the end of the world.

If this was what it felt like to die, it was almost a mercy.


Are you reading anything this month? Are you doing NaNoWriMo?

Insecure Writer's Support Group: NaNoWriMo is here!

Where is the time going?! It's NOVEMBER. The first day of November to be exact. It's also the first Wednesday, and so that means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Visit our great sensei Alex J. Cavanaugh and the IWSG site (linked in the previous sentence) to join us and visit the hosts for this month.

November also means it's time for National Novel Writing Month projects! And that is the topic of the question for this month: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I think I've only tried NaNo once and gave up, but this year, I actually have two projects I want to work on: a fantasy piece about rebellion and a rom-com featuring demisexuals. Because of recent events in my personal life, I was actually able to write an opening for the former. The latter, I have smatterings in my head that I can most definitely flesh out. I'll just have to make the time to write 1,000 words each day, which I'm almost sure I can do if I actually focus. Wish me luck!

Have any of you finished your NaNo projects? Will this be your first year trying NaNoWriMo? Would you like to try the not-yet-popular NaNoReMo? lol