Do you remember Lamp & Mirror?

I talked a little about this story (LaM) several weeks ago. It was intended to be a stress reliever story that I slowly serialized here for everyone to read and enjoy. Well, I learned pretty quickly that the plot I had for the story was very thin and not good reading and it was hard to write so I scrapped it pretty quickly. I didn't have any plans to continue it in any regard.

But last night an old idea I had rose to the front of my mind as I fell asleep. And I realized I actually really wanted to tell this little gem still, even though I haven't thought about it in a few years. My problem with this story? I didn't have the characters for it. I knew the roles for the main characters, but I didn't actually have people willing to fill it.

And then I realized= LaM was missing plot, old idea was missing characters... would it work? So I played with the idea in my head all night and GUYS IT WORKS SO WELL. So, so well. Everything fit like a puzzle and the story blossomed from a short story/novella to a full fledged trilogy and I added two new characters that didn't even exist in my head before and it's awesome.

I normally don't give out descriptions for things before I've at least begun writing them, but I'm so excited right now I just need to share at least part of this story, so I'm going to share how all the characters connect.

Alexander (Alecks) Lamp is adopted by the Mirror family after his own parents, who have been faithful servants and guardians for the Mirrors for nearly a century, are killed unexpectedly. The Mirror's raise Alecks alongside their son, Edward (Eddie) Mirror, who is only a year younger than Alecks. One night, when the boys are nine and ten respectively, vampires (a monster everyone is aware of and is afraid of- think Dracula meets Vampire Diaries for an idea of this version of vampires) break into the house and kill nearly everyone. Alecks keeps Eddie safe during the attack, even though he takes brutal injuries himself, and they are the only two left alive in the house when Eddie's oldest sister finally arrives to save them. From that point on, Alecks promises to be Eddie's guardian and protect him from every threat.
The two are inseparable until the night, when crossing a bridge, Alecks tries to keep a drunk Eddie from walking along the edge to prove his bravery. Out of nowhere thugs arrive, completely human thugs whose only real threat is a knife. Alecks is able to take care of them easily, but not before Eddie is pushed into the river below, his body never found... by humans.
Sebastian Locke is handsome, wealthy, and arrogant- he's also a violent and ruthless vampire who finds Eddie and turns him into a vampire after keeping him in a stasis state for three years.
Meanwhile, Alecks has been miserable since that night when he seemed to lose all purpose in life. He's taken a few jobs here and there and is employed as a small-time bodyguard meant to keep vampires out of a bar when he finds a homeless girl with no memories of who she is except her name, Caragh Bronwing. He takes her to his home, forsaking his job. Charmed by her, he agrees to help her find out where she came from.
But Alecks and Caragh's journey quickly intersects with that of the city's most violent vampire and its youngest.

The trilogy is planned to take place in London, I'm thinking a version of Victorian England, but that might change (certainly not modern, and not too far in the past). I plan to start writing this after I've made some headway with Wheel and Cog, and I'm so excited.

One thing about the romance- a large part of the plot for the book is actually built around romance (but I'm not saying who's with who!) and it is going to be integral to all four of the main characters during the course of the series. While it's not necessarily the driving part of the books, this series is more of a romance than the other two projects I've been working on lately. Side note: there are no love triangles.

The Hazards of Prewriting

Two posts in one day, that's pretty crazy!

Okay, so basically I wanted to do a bunch of prewriting and preplanning for WaC so that I could avoid continuity problems like I've run into with TQR. But WaC has been in my head so long, starting to plot it down on paper has been tough. And it feels stifling. The characters in my head are alive and reducing what they have to say to a few broad strokes that is my outline is really not working out. I got the first few chapters done, but honestly it's become not just a pain but a waste since I'm overwriting when I could just be writing.

So no more plotting/outlining for this book. I know all the major parts, and I know that they have to be hit and about when in the story they need to occur, it's just the connective tissue is missing the details. I'm sure they'll come.

I look forward to finally writing WaC, but I'm also incredibly nervous and worried that it's going to be one heck of a headache. I mean, something this close to me is going to be something I need to wrestle down. Wish me luck.

XOXOX

Good books make me want to make good books

The book in particular, today, is The Raven King. I've just finished it not even ten minutes ago and I'm reeling. Reeling. I don't think I can put into words my feeling for this series. Saying I liked it isn't really right. Saying I loved it doesn't really capture what I mean to say. I can't capture what it is or what it means to me (which means the review is gonna be hell to write).

But it does inspire me to write. Not because Maggie Stiefvater is practically famous and her books do so well- no, because I want to see my stories on paper and I want other people to read my words and have emotions because of them.

It was good and now I want to write. So write I shall. The rest of the day, probably, will be dedicated to writing. So, thank you Mizz Stiefvater, for your beautiful inspiration.

Septology Project

This idea has just sort of snuck into my head and now it won't leave me alone. I haven't written a word down, but my head has just spiraled away with what this story is and where it will go. 

Here's what I know:

- Besides those four characters I outlined briefly in the earlier post, I have a bunch of spare characters floating through my head that had books/series' at one point but nothing substantial and so now they're waiting for homes and they would all fit in here pretty nicely.

- While there will be both male and female main characters, the only characters with POV points will be women. That's the plan! And that sounds kinda easy, but guys, can you think of an epic fantasy series that only relies on female narrative? I can't, at least not one of the extent to which I'm imagining for the breed of fantasy I want to write.

- It's going to be a cross between Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Throne of Glass. Okay I hate when publishers describe things like this, but those are the big influences on the series right now. It's not really a cross between any of those things but it's also definitely heavily influenced by those three.

- It's as much sci-fi as it is epic fantasy. So it's epic sci-fi (I guess??). Basically, there are at least four planets and each of them is a fantasy world (along the lines of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings so like "epic" fantasy worlds) and they do communicate with each other. There will be a way for cross-planet travel. I'm thinking maybe ships (but not the rocket kind, the ocean kind except in space!)

- It's going to be massive. Like the size of Game of Thrones (I keep tossing that one around, huh? yeah, I was talking about it with someone and it spurred some ideas into action). Each book will be probably be around 300k a piece if not more. The store is huge because there are at least four planets to tackle.

- The plot is a huge work in progress, but I know basic character arcs and I know where I want the first book (and the second) to end for many of the characters.

When will I have time to work on it? Well, it will be reward, I guess. When I reach a certain amount of writing in my main project I'll let myself dabble with these books and these characters. I don't want to go full steam ahead, though, because I don't want to dedicate all my time to the series quite yet. I have so many ideas clamoring around my head and only so much time. I want this series on paper, but it's going to be slow going.

Also, regarding the all-female narrative for this epic sci-fi series, I really love this idea. BAMF women are my thing. But there are a lot of interesting men in the series and I wouldn't balk at writing short stories or alternate scenes from their point of view that wouldn't be part of the main book.

Well, that's what I've got so far for Septology Project.

An idea and where I'm at

I've been posting a lot lately, this is strange! Strange in a good way. I hope I'm not too annoying, haha!

So, you may have noticed that TQR is at 70% now. Yay! I'm almost done and that's so awesome. I'm still behind, but not by as much, and writing, once I sit down and start doing it, has been really easy lately. No idea why but the words have just started to flow.

In my original plan I was just going to do some light edits, on a hardcopy, before sending it off to some friends to read, but because of all the continuity issues and the fact that I want to completely change the POV, I think I'm going to be doing some major rewriting instead of the light edits. It'll be a bit of a time crunch, but it's not going to involve me coming up with a story, just making the story better with clearer details and patching up all the major issues.

And recently I've just had another idea. It doesn't have an exact plot, yet, but it has a shape and it has at least five solid characters, that would all be viewpoint characters. I'm not sure if it's going to be YA or NA but it will hover somewhere around there. I almost want it to be NA so that I can play around with things in ways I can't with YA. I do know that right now it looks like there will be seven books.

I can't say much about it, but I really love it so far (at least in my head) and it's such a wide world I think I could have fun there. When I have spare time between writing TQR and starting back up on my prewrites for WaC I want to work on this one. For the sake of things let's just call it Septology Project.

Here's a little peak at the characters (each line is a character and I have them each based around the idea of duality):

The Soldier/The Coward
The Lover/The Thief
The Hero/The Villain
The Healer/The Assassin
The Queen/The Prisoner

What do you think?

Welcome to my petty, competitive side:

I'm not normally a petty person but in some things I get so angry that I just want to have the last laugh.

Lately I've been thinking about high school. I'm currently a sophomore in college, so high school wasn't that long ago. But during the last year or so I didn't really let myself think about it. I was ready to leave and, honestly, there are only a few things I miss (my old history teacher, the french fries, the warm cookies, a pair of English teachers) and little else. The people I wanted to stay connected with I did (more or less).

But near the end of the last school year and this summer I've really given a lot of thought to it. And I realized that I had really hated high school. Maybe not actively, but passively. It wasn't really an environment I enjoyed learning in and I always felt like an outsider.

So much of an outsider that I didn't realize it until after I had graduated. I had known I wasn't really a popular kid, but looking back I'm able to see, now, that I was never on anyone's radar. I really ignored that while I was there and I think that's probably a good thing. My mental health was starting to deteriorate around junior year anyways, and had I fully recognized my role at the school during that time I think things might have progressed much more disastrously.

I'm not going to go into details (today. I might someday. When I feel like I can talk about it without getting really upset about certain things I've only just begun to recognize and realize about my high school career) but I just wanted to set up as to why I have this little fire lit inside me regarding high school.

I'm always setting goals for myself (have you noticed, haha) and this most recent one is a petty little stab at all the people I went to high school with.

By the time the five year reunion rolls around I want to be a published author. Or about to be published. I want to have at least signed a contract with a publisher agreeing to publish a book I've written. Ideally I'll already have a book borne into the world and sitting on shelves at Barnes and Noble.

By the ten year reunion I want to be a New York Times bestselling author. Wow, that's a jump, you're probably thinking. But, honestly, it's a dream I've always had. In fact, I've talked about it here on the blog before. I don't have to be number one on the list by the ten year, but I want to have at least hit the list once so that my books can, from that point onward, tell the world that I was on the list.

By the fifteen year reunion I want to have a stable career. Okay, maybe this should be ten year, you're thinking? Well, who knows. If they both happen, then great. But if I can just write for the rest of my life and not have to ever have another job then I would be happy. If I can manage to secure this dream by the fifteenth I'll be pretty happy.

By the twenty year reunion... well, actually I don't know what I want this goal to be. Yes, I want a milestone to be passed at this point, but I don't know what I want that milestone to be. That goes for the rest of the reunions after this as well.

So maybe you're thinking, that's not very petty, Sam. Well, it is because there's an extra motivation working outside of my regular ones for these goals: I want to prove to these people I went to high school with that I'm fucking awesome and rub it in their faces. (A few people in particular, but I'm not naming names.)

To recap (mostly for myself): in 2020 I want a book published, in 2025 I want to be on the bestseller list, and in 2030 I want a steady writing career.

A little bit of writing inspiration and some goals

I am ten days behind my schedule for when I wanted certain things done. Which wouldn't make me so frustrated except that I was just being lazy and had already elongated my schedule quite a bit to make room for these sorts of things. So I thought I'd put some goals out on here that would really motivate me since you guys are reading it and judging me.

August 11
TQR for half hour
August 12
TQR for half hour
August 13
TQR for 45 mins        
edit for 15 mins          Reward: giant cookie slice from pie five
August 14
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins
August 15
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour
August 16
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour          Reward: try new "coffee bar" place
August 17
TQR for half hour
August 18
TQR for half hour
August 19
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour          Reward: treat myself to a cookie dough shake from Sonic
August 20
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins
August 21
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins          Reward: get small sketchbook for school

Big Rewards:
Finishing Chapter Six  Buy the first book in the Codex Alera series
Finishing Chapter Seven  Buy new pens

***Can you tell that food, books, and art motivate me? Haha I hope this works I really do. If I fuck up and don't meet a goal I will be commenting below that I have messed up and, so, that's how you'll know I guess.***

Why is writing so hard?

If it was easy I suppose it wouldn't be worth it. But still.

I haven't written in a few days. It's awful! I'm so far behind where I want to be right now. Ugh, I'm so lazy sometimes. It wasn't even depression this time that stopped me from writing, I was literally just being a lazy person.

Well, I've promised myself I can buy the first book in the Codex Alera series if I manage to catch up, so tomorrow (and tonight) I'll be hitting the keyboard pretty hard.

Hello, Unexpected Sequel

Or should I say companion? Because you're not a proper sequel are you?

You're set in the same world as TQR but in another part with different characters ten years later.

A cursed solder? A violent princess? A sphinx? All wrapped up in an Aladdin retelling?

Hmmm you've piqued my interest. Perhaps I'll spend some time with you sooner than expected, little companion novel.

For now, I shall call you "A Whole New World" (WNW) as I don't know your proper title yet.

i want to talk about something serious and personal:

I want to talk about weight.

More specifically, my weight.

I weigh 158lbs. And for my 5foot1inch frame that puts me into, according the bmi (body mass index) chart, in the obese category.

<<Deep breath>> This is hard to talk about but if I put it up here I think it will help me stick to it.

I want to lose weight. I've wanted to lose weight for a while. And now, I really really need to lose weight. Here's why:

For health: Lately I have been feeling sick and sluggish and just icky. My chest has been hurting, my skin is bursting with uncomfortable and messy acne, and I'm super emotional and have very little motivation. I think my weight has something to do with all of this. Not only is it a drain on my physical health, but I think it's also hurt my mental health because I am both stressing over things like chest pains and also unhappy with how I look.

For vanity: Yeah, this is a part of it and I'm not ashamed by it. I've never been very skinny and I've always felt clunky and a little of an outcast because of it. Say what you will about body positivity (and I've never been bullied because of my weight or anything it's just been a silent thing I may be hallucinating about but still) but as much as I try to be positive I only manage it about 50% of the time. And if I want to lose weight because of vanity, why not? It's my body and if I think it will make me happier and healthier why wouldn't I try it?

So here's how I'm going to do it.

End Goal: Get to 120 lbs in less than a year. 120 is a healthy and, according to BMI charts, "optimal" for me so that's my goal. I'd love, for once in my life, to be "optimal".
Step Goals: Lose 2 lbs a week. I think this is totally possible. At least for now. If I find this a far too easy task I'll definitely raise the goal.

Working Out: I plan to work out every day or so. Even a little is something. I want to wean myself onto harder workouts. So next week is when I'm going to really kick it into gear and try to run a mile every single day. It's a little intimidating but also a little exciting. I'll have to find something to watch/read/listen to as I run. I'm up for suggestions!

Dieting: The big thing right now is going to be cutting out snacks and extra sugars. Which means only soda thrice a week. Thrice sounds good. And then I can have a soda Friday, Saturday, and Sunday which is when I tend to want soda with a meal as I tend to eat out then anyways. I think I can do it. And I definitely have to cut out a bunch of candy. I eat far too much as it is. Having smaller meals and stopping before I'm full are also things I want to implement but they're not the major goal at the moment.

When I'll post next about weight: when I lose ten pounds and keep it off for a week. I think that sounds good. Or this time next month. Whatever ends up coming first. I think both will happen at the same time.

That's it for me. It's easy to put goals down and it's harder to face reality and deal with these things. So, this is just to put it out there and help keep me accountable.