Thinking of the Future and my Big Fun Scary List

Hi there. It's been a while. Since October, actually. O_O

Since then, I participated in (and won) NaNoWriMo once more, this time with a LGBT fantasy. It needs much editing, but we'll get there, my book and I.

I just celebrated Yule, which is the winter solstice, and when my family does presents and all that fun stuff that most of you do on Christmas.
Everything is all festive, and as ones does at this time of year, I am thinking about the coming year.

Every year, after NaNoWriMo is over, they do something called a Big Fun Scary List, which is something like new year's resolutions combined with a one year bucket list.

I was thinking that I should share my BFSList with you all (if anyone's still reading this, that is, and even if not, that's fine as well), and maybe you might want to do a BFS list as well?

Whimsy's BFS List for 2010

*Continue on with ASL lessons

*Write six more songs on my guitar and put at least three on youtube.

*Keep in touch with my friends from the internet

*Audition for a new show

*Get REAL Theatre up and running for at least one more run of workshops

*Edit my NaNo enough so that I can get my proof copy.

*Be less sarcastic

*Post one new blog post every week for a year. This will be called BOW '11 or Blog Once Weekly in 2011. I'd like to invite you all to join me.

Here's to 2011, and BOW '11!

~Whimsy

Question time!
Who's with me for BOW '11?

I drew you a picture. Actually, two pictures.

I don't know if you know this about me, probably not, since I haven't spoken about it here, but I get obsessed with things.

You know, THINGS.

Dog breeds, ships/sailing/pirates, horses, guitar, theater/shakespere, Harry Potter, dragons, pottery, clothing-making, reading, ATC's...all past (or present) obsessions of mine.

Right now, however, it's my NaNoWriMo.

I will be continuing to yammer on about my novel-in-progress until I lose steam.

ONWARD!

So, I decided that I needed visuals of my characters, so I started drawing them.
Keep in mind that when I put pencil/pen to paper, most often than not, I end up writing, not drawing.

So.
I have representations of Talaith and Aniera at ages 10 and 18.

Here they are at age 10. Talaith is on the left in a tree, Aniera's on the right looking out a window.



And age 18, when I actually start writing about them. These images are right before the story starts, sort of both of them in their natural habitats, as it were.

Talaith is still on the left, but now she's lying on the ground. Aniera's looking out a window still, but it's a different window. She's moved in the eight years that's passed since drawing one. >.<




This is the first time that I have showed my artistic endeavors with the internet (unless you count the photos where I have painted my sister blue, but that's another story).

I'm planning on doing young adult pictures of Talaith and Aniera's parents as well, and those might just end up on here as well.
Or maybe a picture of both Talaith and Aniera in the same scene?
Or another character(s)?

Here's a bit about Aniera Llewellyn:
She's the only child of the king (Liam Newlin) and queen (Cairene Llewellyn). Her mother is the bastard child of the previous king, and she rose to the throne after killing the mages responsible for murdering her family and many other of her father's subjects.
Her father is a son of a blacksmith in a poor town, now king of the land.
Aniera is fiercely protected by her family, who is determined that she won't have to fight or suffer hardship like they did when they were her age.
She wants desperately to be out DOING something, but is met with opposition from her overprotective parents.
She's spunky, but subdued. Living in a castle hasn't been the best for her. She's always felt more trapped than regal.
She can be somewhat of a hopeless romantic, prone to long fits of staring out windows watching the clouds or daydreaming.
When Aniera gets set in her mind to do something, she's like a pitbull. She Will. Not. Let. Go.
She's emotional, and starts out not as self-confidant as she could be.
The views of her family are deeply ingrained in her, but she is now looking at the world in a more objective way.
Aniera has always been closer with the servants (a pastime that her parents are fine with) than with any of the higher-born royals.

And now, Talaith Bronwy.
Talaith is the daughter of a homesteader (Tavis Bronwy) and his long-dead wife (Ziska Riedwyn).
Talaith has always been somewhat of a loner, prefering to spend her days in the woods without company.
She doesn't live in a town, instead, she lives alone with her father in the mountains.
Talaith doesn't trust anyone or anything, but has always been told about her mother in glowing tones, and her mother's 'goodness' is the one thing that she trusts.
She's always been one who needs to DO SOMETHING, not just sit there.
Not having grown up in a town with others, she's a bit shy.
She has a "fighting spirit", and even when the odds are insurmountable, she will hang on and not give up.
Talaith is impulsive, quick to anger and suspicious.
She's also resorceful, loyal, and emotionally strong.
She's jaded, headstrong, and has always been rather closed to the world.
She is just now starting to open up, letting others in.
Talaith is a young mage, just beginning to use her powers in a land where using magic is a crime punishable in some cases by death.


So, continuing on, I realized that you can shorten Talaith and Aniera to Tally and Ani. I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Any thoughts/questions any of you have on Talaith or Aniera or the rest of this glorious mess of a work in progress, feel free to put 'em in the comments!

Writer-tastic-ly yours,
~Whimsy

BEDA, Day 31: A mishmosh; goodbye for now...

This is my last BEDA post.

I would like to thank you all for joining me on this crazy ride. It's been a month of insanity, as life usually is.

I hope that you end this month feeling like you know me a bit better than you did at the beginning of the month.

What a truly great time this has been. I am going to miss BEDA, I really am.

But wait!
Just because BEDA is over, doesn't mean that I will stop writing blog posts!
Oh heck no! I really love writing these, and there is no reason at all for me to stop.
I won't be posting EVERY DAY, but I'd like to post somewhere around once or twice a week.

Tomorrow, Hogwarts term starts. This has always seemed to me to be the End Of Summer. Since I don't go to school, I judge the time where the schoolkids are going back to school with the time where Harry Potter and company are gettin' back to Hogwarts.

For the day before September, it's quite hot here. All the cats are stretched out along the floor...hot cats are adorable. They get all floppy and melted. Sorta like chocolate. Mmmmm, chocolate cats.

Oh! I changed the way I look quite a bit from the last photo you all saw of me.
Here's an updated version of The Whimsy. Yes, that's a sock puppet. His name is Polonious. Polonious Maxwell Aldabert, if you want the full name.
Yes, yes, yes. I know that it LOOKS like I have blue hair, but it looks green in person sometimes, and sometimes it looks teal. Or aquamarine...

I suppose that's all from me.

I hope your August was splendid, and that your September shines with AWESOME.

Happy today, dear readers!

~Whimsy

BEDA, Day 20: Names, backstories and plotlines, oh my!

So, my friends. I have bits about my novel to share with you.

I've been thinking about my NaNovel, and I have come up with (what I think are) some good ideas.

I have two stories that I'm working off of this year, a plotline and a (stupidly extensive) backstory. The backstory follows the lives of the FIRST five people on my list, and the main plotline follows the daughters of the first five.

The idea behind the story is that the BACKSTORY is your everyday fantasy plot with good triumphing over evil, etc, etc. However, the perceptions of "good" and "evil" have been skewed by the people who are telling the history/public perception/combined with the fact that scared people will believe just about anything, even though both parties are equally in the wrong.

Anywho...

I'm VERY picky about names, so picking what I'm going to call my characters is a BIG deal.

I'm including a bit of a bio about each of them, and be warned...NEARLY EVERYONE DIES. But it needed to happen. I am sad about killing them, honest. :(


So far, I have these:

Cairene Llewellyn - Princess who was born by the King and another woman, shunned since birth, only member of royal line left; becomes Queen by end of the Backstory.

Liam Newlin - Commoner boy, family dies in combo flood/famine, teams up with Cairene, eventually marries her, becomes King by end of Backstory

Tavis Bronwy - Loner-type young adult, marries Ziske for appearance's sake, has child with her by end of Backstory.

Ziska (Ziske) Arwydd - Young woman from the mountains, powerful mage, married to Tavis, but her heartmate is Shivaun/Carys/Malia. Dead by end of Backstory by Liam and Cairene; has infant.

Shivaun/Carys/Malia Riedwyn - Young woman, mage from small village in upper country, loves and is together with Ziske. Tavis and she get along fine, no battle for Ziske's heart. Dead by end of Backstory.

---

Talaith Bronwy (Arwydd) - Daughter of Tavis, Ziske and Shivaun.

Aneira/Ariene/Elain Llewellyn - Daughter of Cairene and Liam.

--------

So, waddya think?

Also, I will be away until Monday. Expect regular posts, but comments shall be replied to when I get back.

Have a wonderous weekend, all!

~Whimsy

P.S. I shall miss keeping up on my other BEDA friends's blogs. :( However, I am off to do AWESOME THINGS, so it's all great. ^_^

BEDA blog 7: Dear Reader...

Oh. My. God.

I missed a day of BEDA. Let the flogging commence.

...

KIDDING.

Anywhozer...

I have honestly no clue about what to blog about. I feel like it's kinda lame of me to just make a list of god-only-knows-what, so I shall attempt a coherent blog.

Let's talk, y'all. (I am not southern, yet I use y'all when I type. Go figure.)

I have come to the conclusion that I need a name for my audiance. Something short and sweet, so I can call you something other than "dear reader(s)".

First, I thought that since I am a blog-ger than you as the reader might be blog-ees, then I changed the spelling about a bit and came up with bloggies.

I then realized that "bloggies" seems like a four-year-old's name for plural blogs. ("Mama, mama, lookit mah bloggies!" Why a four year old would have a blog, let alone two or more is beyond me)
So, scratch that.

Bloggetts sounds to feminine and bloggles sounds just plain...dumb. (You'd stop reading if I called you bloggles, wouldn't you? Yeah, thought so.)

What to do, what to do...

And then I realize, with a blinding flash of realization, this:

if this is the most I have to worry about/make decisions about/freak out about, my life is pretty dang good.

And it is.

So, after all that, I guess I'm back to "dear reader(s)" and I guess that's okay with me.

So what if it makes me sound a bit odd, or old fashioned, or what have you, my other linguistics point in that direction as well.

There was no point to this post. I have ended where I began, calling you all my dear readers.

I don't mind if you don't. ^_^

Off to enjoy today, and hopefully write another blog before bed tonight so that I can be caught up with BEDA,

~Whimsy