Okay, so the main plot will be the slave trade! It will mostly be underground, especially in Tansy and...what's-his-face's country. Oh wait, what did I name him? Torm? I can't remember. :x He shall be Snaky for the purposes of this blog post from my friend's house, so I can work on Novel #2. -_-;;
And I think that for this to work, there have to be other species involved, other than the main "intelligent" three from Tansy's-and-Snaky's home country. I'm thinking something along the lines of a cat (haha, like Marlau!) or a bear (like the houma!). Maybe some of the big ones could be 'livestock" or for something like labor? I dunno. I guess that works? And since Tansy-and-Snaky come from a country with a social system that considers three species intelligent and ONLY those three species intelligent, they won't be used to the idea of accepting other species as being intelligent. And maybe, to mirror OUR mentality here in the real world (oh, the real world...haha), the other species won't be intelligent in the same way that the humans/birdthings/snakethings (hey, I've only been working on this for a spotty single week! Gimme a break that I don't know the names yet - it's not like I can crosscheck on MY FRIEND'S hijacked computer :P )
Anyway...I'm just going to spew for awhile (spew lists yay!) and see where it gets me. Who knows, maybe something useful will appear. :P
COUNTRIES:
- Tapan (the "triad system" country, the setting in the beginning, promotes species equality between the "three intelligent species", but is very strict about lifestyle and customs - if you defy them, you are shunned, and that's that...it's kind of smallish, and has a lot of dense forests. It is ruled by an oligarchy, with three leaders, one from each species)
- Mortek (mountainous country on the eastern border of Tapan. It has only birdthings as its intelligent species, and generally views humans and snakethings as less important or intelligent. It's also small, and very barren. Ruled by clan rule.)
- Ulua (on the north and west borders of Tapan. It is a flatlands country with some forests, with a mix of species each setting up their own small citystatethings in it. It's kind of in disarray that way - making it perfect for the slave trade, despite its generally accepting population)
Nehhhhhhhh I'm gonna be nice to my friend for now. :P (Edit: never mind)
You know what, I'm just gonna draw a map, and go from there with the whole country thing. -_-;;
So like...oh god, I have to do worldbuilding for this thing. This sucks. :/ Now I'm starting to like the idea of something that takes place in the real world. Oops. -_-;; Um maybe this will help:
Stuff that comes to mind that might be nice for my world to have:
- Clan warfare/disputes (oh dear god, it's Highness all over again)
- PIRATES (well, I'm listening to the soundtrack...)
- Ninja? (I guess I already do)
- Slave trade (dude, have you been reading?)
- OH BUT there is modern technology...didn't I already tell myself this? It's seems weird, but fun and cool (...but not Naruto...I hate Naruto)
- High school issues! (Tansy visits people in another country! And gets caught up in their HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA)
- Maybe relationships or "lackthereof" issues along those lines? (cuz I didn't feel like it for Highness...ugh, I'm still debating about considering Tansy/Snaky, or if I should go with my initial intuition of "ugggh no")
- A town that has a lot of stuff underground
- A town that has TREETOP HOUSES
- A town that "floats on the waves" (pontoons?)
- As an added issue: Tansy and Snaky might find a way to communicate with Cirrus (HAHA I REMEMBERED HIS NAME...sorry, Snaky, you know I love you). But not right away - they have to travel first.
- Tansy and Snaky act as tourists sometimes! I don't want this to be a standard fantasy "quest" thing. Those things suck. >:(
- ...Airplanes! (haha, back to my summer job all over again)
- Traveling on a ship! Like in Pirates of the Caribbean! (and we're back to the fact that I'm listening to the soundtrack again)
- Nurrr...I dunno...WINGED GRIZZLY BEARS. Or maybe not. I dunno. But grizzlies are so cool, and I dunno if the "winged grizzly bear quota" for Highness was filled enough by what's-his-face the houma spirit physician near the end. :P
- Insects! I think I should go for beetles instead of spiders this time. Why? I dunno. Spiders are hella cool, though...
- Ummmmmmmmmmmm...rainbows! OMG! NORTHERN LIGHTS. Or something. Hahah, I'm going to go see them yay! :D
- Hrm. I dunno, actually. Right now, I just want to write something in the real world. Um...short story time? -_-;;; I PROMISE TO WORK ON THIS, THOUGH. I'M JUST NOT QUITE IN THE MOOD FOR PLANNING. BUT I JUST ENDED SCHOOL, SO I GUESS I DESERVE IT. MAYBE. AGH, CAPSLOCK SUCKS. >:D
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PrequeltoHighnesseventhoughitwillbedepressingbecausethemaincharacterwouldbePalor?
Okay, I'm done for now. :P
Friday, December 21, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
1000 Words of Ramen
Alright, so one of my NaNoWriMo dares was to include ramen noodles. Bonus points would be if it took up at least 1000 words, if somebody had an allergic reaction to it, and if it wasn't being used for food. So far I've typed up 1184 words on the subject and voiced the fact that it was not going to be used for food, though Lampur hasn't yet had his allergic reaction to the noodles. But that will come, I promise!
Here is what I have so far on the fearsome ramen noodles:
When she grew close enough for me to see her clearly, I could see that the small container was a cup containing…
Wet noodles.
I blinked, not sure whether or not to believe what I saw.
When I looked again, sure enough, she still held a cup of small, soggy noodles.
“Jamie, why are you carrying wet noodles, wan?” I asked, raising one eyebrow (or whatever Irish wolfhounds had above their eyes).
She grinned. “These aren’t just any noodles. These are ramen.”
I gave her the same look. “Why does that matter, wan? They’re still noodles, and I fail to see how noodles will save Sen Rali from a trio of drunk teenagers, wan.”
She laughed, though she luckily laughed quietly enough to not draw any attention to the three of us. “Well yeah. But take a look – these ramen are no ordinary ramen!”
She held out the plastic Styrofoam cup toward us, and Marlau and I bent closer to take a good look at the ramen. It looked like what normal ramen probably looked like, as I really hadn’t seen ramen noodles before, just probably a bit soggier. Taking a look at the container, I assumed that ramen were supposed to be submerged in steamy broth, so I figured that one of the reasons this particular cup of ramen was unusual was that it had no visible broth, and that the noodles were simply soggy. However, this did not seem so far out of the realm of ordinary ramen to contribute to Jamie’s treatment of said cup of ramen noodles.
I took another good look. The ramen were soggy, yes, so they sort of stuck together and glistened in the light from the parking lot. I noticed that there were a few things that weren’t noodles in there, such as bloated little peas and carrots, as well as things that looked like tiny shriveled dehydrated shrimp that had suddenly been submerged in liquid, then promptly taken out. Or something. Either way, they failed to look appetizing, nutritious (unlike “real” shrimp from the Earth plane, which actually sounded quite tasty), or all that filling. However, these little additions to the mass of wet ramen noodles probably appeared in normal cups of ramen, so I doubted that they had any sort of importance in the matter.
Could the cup itself be important, I wondered, bending down to take a look. It was white with orange and red lettering and a triangle design, but I didn’t think this had any sort of effect on the ramen as a whole, either.
What could it have been?
I paused.
Then I realized that the alcohol smell grew stronger when I bent closer to the ramen. I had simply shrugged off the sharp, pungent smell since I first realized that berating Jamie for drinking would get me nowhere (since she was handling her drunken state quite admirably, probably due to years of learning how to cover it up, so I figured I should try to ignore it for the time being and focus on more pressing matters), but now I realized that I should have paid attention to my sense of smell before my sense of sight.
The thing that was unusual about the cup of ramen noodles was that it smelled very strongly of the alcohol that Jamie had been drinking.
The liquid that caused the noodles, peas, carrots, little shriveled shrimp, and any other nasty thing inside to become soggy was not any sort of normal broth, but the very same alcohol that Jamie (and probably Mister Dupuis) had been drinking.
Well…that was certainly…strange.
“Alcohol, Jamie, wan?” I asked, disappointed and confused. “Should I even ask for more information on the alcohol-filled ramen noodles, wan?”
Jamie grinned. “Yup.” I gave her a disapproving look, and she shrugged. “I was kinda hurting for a high of some sort, and I was also kinda hungry, and it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
“Ramen noodles that were soggy with alcohol, wan?” I repeated, shaking my head. Jamie really needed to have a good idea of how to use such a strange, despicable item to our advantage to grow even a little bit in my eyes.
“Yeah…but I also have this!”
Then she held up a rectangular black metal object that I didn’t recognize. I stole a glance at Marlau who, like me, had been eyeing the ramen noodles with a large amount of distaste. I realized that the yinto might not have had as good senses of smell as the peau, on account of their smaller noses, but that their noses must have still been pretty sharp. And that horrible alcohol stench wafting from the ramen cup wasn’t exactly subtle…
It sort of made my nose hurt, in fact. Stupid Jamie with her stupid ramen and her stupid alcohol…my nose really hurt, too!
I turned my gaze back to the object in Jamie’s hand. “What is it, wan?” I asked, not expecting a good answer.
She laughed, flicking a switch on the object. A tiny flame erupted on the edge of the object, casting a flickering orange glow on Jamie’s grinning face. “It’s a lighter!”
“You use that to smoke, don’t you, wan?” I asked, glaring at her.
“That’s not important.”
Groaning, I decided to just go along with it. “What does the lighter have to do with the…wan. Oh…wan."
“Do you get it?” Jamie asked, almost unable to contain her excitement.
Marlau pouted. “I have no idea,” she muttered, looking away. Apparently, House Jiral didn’t have to have her learn about lighters and alcohol-filled ramen noodles.
It amazed me, in fact, that the thought of how the lighter and the alcohol in the ramen related to each other, but I still managed to come across the idea. “Alcohol is flammable, right, wan?”
“Hell yeah!”
“So…we’re going to light the ramen on fire, wan?”
“Hella!”
“I assume ‘hella’ means ‘yes’ in this situation, then, wan?”
“Well, yeah!”
I looked at the cup of ramen noodles. So this was to be our main weapon against the drunken teenagers on the other side of the pickup truck?
Well, considering from what I was hearing from them, it sounded like they were currently ignoring Sen Rali, and dancing around and singing.
Using a flaming alcoholic noodle dish against such a trio suddenly seemed to make sense…possibly even poetic.
Ramen noodles…
Well, you had to give Jamie some credit for creativity, even if it was probably brought on by the thing we were going to light on fire to save our friend.
“Well, let’s go do it, wan.” Looking over at the dim football game in the distance, I sighed. “Let’s just make sure not to get caught, wan. The fire might draw attention, wan…”
Jamie scoffed at my nervousness. “Don't worry about it. If it was that easy to get caught doing something drunk and weird, don’t you think there would be more teens getting arrested?”
I didn’t feel like bringing up the fact that most of the time, such teenage humans weren’t dealing with flaming ramen noodles.
Here is what I have so far on the fearsome ramen noodles:
When she grew close enough for me to see her clearly, I could see that the small container was a cup containing…
Wet noodles.
I blinked, not sure whether or not to believe what I saw.
When I looked again, sure enough, she still held a cup of small, soggy noodles.
“Jamie, why are you carrying wet noodles, wan?” I asked, raising one eyebrow (or whatever Irish wolfhounds had above their eyes).
She grinned. “These aren’t just any noodles. These are ramen.”
I gave her the same look. “Why does that matter, wan? They’re still noodles, and I fail to see how noodles will save Sen Rali from a trio of drunk teenagers, wan.”
She laughed, though she luckily laughed quietly enough to not draw any attention to the three of us. “Well yeah. But take a look – these ramen are no ordinary ramen!”
She held out the plastic Styrofoam cup toward us, and Marlau and I bent closer to take a good look at the ramen. It looked like what normal ramen probably looked like, as I really hadn’t seen ramen noodles before, just probably a bit soggier. Taking a look at the container, I assumed that ramen were supposed to be submerged in steamy broth, so I figured that one of the reasons this particular cup of ramen was unusual was that it had no visible broth, and that the noodles were simply soggy. However, this did not seem so far out of the realm of ordinary ramen to contribute to Jamie’s treatment of said cup of ramen noodles.
I took another good look. The ramen were soggy, yes, so they sort of stuck together and glistened in the light from the parking lot. I noticed that there were a few things that weren’t noodles in there, such as bloated little peas and carrots, as well as things that looked like tiny shriveled dehydrated shrimp that had suddenly been submerged in liquid, then promptly taken out. Or something. Either way, they failed to look appetizing, nutritious (unlike “real” shrimp from the Earth plane, which actually sounded quite tasty), or all that filling. However, these little additions to the mass of wet ramen noodles probably appeared in normal cups of ramen, so I doubted that they had any sort of importance in the matter.
Could the cup itself be important, I wondered, bending down to take a look. It was white with orange and red lettering and a triangle design, but I didn’t think this had any sort of effect on the ramen as a whole, either.
What could it have been?
I paused.
Then I realized that the alcohol smell grew stronger when I bent closer to the ramen. I had simply shrugged off the sharp, pungent smell since I first realized that berating Jamie for drinking would get me nowhere (since she was handling her drunken state quite admirably, probably due to years of learning how to cover it up, so I figured I should try to ignore it for the time being and focus on more pressing matters), but now I realized that I should have paid attention to my sense of smell before my sense of sight.
The thing that was unusual about the cup of ramen noodles was that it smelled very strongly of the alcohol that Jamie had been drinking.
The liquid that caused the noodles, peas, carrots, little shriveled shrimp, and any other nasty thing inside to become soggy was not any sort of normal broth, but the very same alcohol that Jamie (and probably Mister Dupuis) had been drinking.
Well…that was certainly…strange.
“Alcohol, Jamie, wan?” I asked, disappointed and confused. “Should I even ask for more information on the alcohol-filled ramen noodles, wan?”
Jamie grinned. “Yup.” I gave her a disapproving look, and she shrugged. “I was kinda hurting for a high of some sort, and I was also kinda hungry, and it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
“Ramen noodles that were soggy with alcohol, wan?” I repeated, shaking my head. Jamie really needed to have a good idea of how to use such a strange, despicable item to our advantage to grow even a little bit in my eyes.
“Yeah…but I also have this!”
Then she held up a rectangular black metal object that I didn’t recognize. I stole a glance at Marlau who, like me, had been eyeing the ramen noodles with a large amount of distaste. I realized that the yinto might not have had as good senses of smell as the peau, on account of their smaller noses, but that their noses must have still been pretty sharp. And that horrible alcohol stench wafting from the ramen cup wasn’t exactly subtle…
It sort of made my nose hurt, in fact. Stupid Jamie with her stupid ramen and her stupid alcohol…my nose really hurt, too!
I turned my gaze back to the object in Jamie’s hand. “What is it, wan?” I asked, not expecting a good answer.
She laughed, flicking a switch on the object. A tiny flame erupted on the edge of the object, casting a flickering orange glow on Jamie’s grinning face. “It’s a lighter!”
“You use that to smoke, don’t you, wan?” I asked, glaring at her.
“That’s not important.”
Groaning, I decided to just go along with it. “What does the lighter have to do with the…wan. Oh…wan."
“Do you get it?” Jamie asked, almost unable to contain her excitement.
Marlau pouted. “I have no idea,” she muttered, looking away. Apparently, House Jiral didn’t have to have her learn about lighters and alcohol-filled ramen noodles.
It amazed me, in fact, that the thought of how the lighter and the alcohol in the ramen related to each other, but I still managed to come across the idea. “Alcohol is flammable, right, wan?”
“Hell yeah!”
“So…we’re going to light the ramen on fire, wan?”
“Hella!”
“I assume ‘hella’ means ‘yes’ in this situation, then, wan?”
“Well, yeah!”
I looked at the cup of ramen noodles. So this was to be our main weapon against the drunken teenagers on the other side of the pickup truck?
Well, considering from what I was hearing from them, it sounded like they were currently ignoring Sen Rali, and dancing around and singing.
Using a flaming alcoholic noodle dish against such a trio suddenly seemed to make sense…possibly even poetic.
Ramen noodles…
Well, you had to give Jamie some credit for creativity, even if it was probably brought on by the thing we were going to light on fire to save our friend.
“Well, let’s go do it, wan.” Looking over at the dim football game in the distance, I sighed. “Let’s just make sure not to get caught, wan. The fire might draw attention, wan…”
Jamie scoffed at my nervousness. “Don't worry about it. If it was that easy to get caught doing something drunk and weird, don’t you think there would be more teens getting arrested?”
I didn’t feel like bringing up the fact that most of the time, such teenage humans weren’t dealing with flaming ramen noodles.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Hi, My Name is Jamie Kissinger
Alright, so I just realized why I was having trouble prodding Jamie through some character development.
She had no clearly established character to begin with. Here I was, having Lampur whine about her and watching her go through some changes, when she never had a chance to get some clear footing in the character world!
So basically, I need more JAMIE. I blame this on having the thing be written in first person POV with the main character NOT as the narrator. Plus, it's making it seem like Lampur is either just as important or more important than Jamie, which is WRONGWRONGWRONG.
I can't go back and add stuff to the first couple of chapters to flesh Jamie out there, which is where she really NEEDS to be fleshed out (I wrote it in a very disjointed way that made it too difficult to continue with, so I jumped ahead to some more interesting events), since NaNoWriMo tells me not to. :P This means that either I have to go back and add it in after I finish (which I will probably do anyway, since she's the MAIN CHARACTER and all), or add it in later in the story, which I guess I will have to do.
So as of right now...I'm doing neither. I made a fresh new document, and decided to write little diary-like blurbs for Jamie Kissinger, in HER voice, focusing on HER thoughts, trying to get HER character down on paper (or, rather, computer). I'm trying to tie it into the plot so I can shove these little character gems into the story later, but hey...it's a start. And, so far, I got 758 words out of 'em that I can tack onto my wordcount in addition to the 200-something I randomly wrote into the actual story. (I'm still ahead in terms of overall wordcount, too, so it doesn't matter that it doesn't add up to 1667.)
So neh.
Jamie, please tell me more about yourself! (I'm just going to give up on Sen for now. I need JAMIE to be more of a person to me! BE MORE REAL, JAMIE, BE MORE REAL!)
She had no clearly established character to begin with. Here I was, having Lampur whine about her and watching her go through some changes, when she never had a chance to get some clear footing in the character world!
So basically, I need more JAMIE. I blame this on having the thing be written in first person POV with the main character NOT as the narrator. Plus, it's making it seem like Lampur is either just as important or more important than Jamie, which is WRONGWRONGWRONG.
I can't go back and add stuff to the first couple of chapters to flesh Jamie out there, which is where she really NEEDS to be fleshed out (I wrote it in a very disjointed way that made it too difficult to continue with, so I jumped ahead to some more interesting events), since NaNoWriMo tells me not to. :P This means that either I have to go back and add it in after I finish (which I will probably do anyway, since she's the MAIN CHARACTER and all), or add it in later in the story, which I guess I will have to do.
So as of right now...I'm doing neither. I made a fresh new document, and decided to write little diary-like blurbs for Jamie Kissinger, in HER voice, focusing on HER thoughts, trying to get HER character down on paper (or, rather, computer). I'm trying to tie it into the plot so I can shove these little character gems into the story later, but hey...it's a start. And, so far, I got 758 words out of 'em that I can tack onto my wordcount in addition to the 200-something I randomly wrote into the actual story. (I'm still ahead in terms of overall wordcount, too, so it doesn't matter that it doesn't add up to 1667.)
So neh.
Jamie, please tell me more about yourself! (I'm just going to give up on Sen for now. I need JAMIE to be more of a person to me! BE MORE REAL, JAMIE, BE MORE REAL!)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Dear [INSERT]
Today I passed the 21k mark! I'm so happy to be AHEAD of my word count, as opposed to behind. I'm proud of myself for catching up over the weekend...then getting a day ahead! That will be good for this week...ew, school. Oh, well, at least there are only four days of school this week!
Anyway, while taking a break from writing yesterday, I posted in the Dear [INSERT] thread on the Fantasy forum of the NaNoWriMo forums. Here is what I put:
Dear Jamie,
Give Lampur a break, and stop freaking out when you hear Polly's name. Yes, I know you're going to kill me now that I've said it. And no, I won't change the end of the story, and swearing at me and calling me names won't help. Oh, and please stop eyeing all those liquor stores - I won't order Lampur and Sen to loosen up on controlling how you spend your money. Sorry, kid, but you're going to have to suffer through cold turkey on all that.
Please stop making death threats,
Your "Mother"
Dear Sen,
Why are you so hard to write? Stop being so cryptic, and tell me what you want! Do you have evil plans for Jamie? Or do you just have your own agenda? What are you DOING right now? And, more importantly, what are you GOING to do? Please stop telling me right before (or after - I hate this) I write it down, you're stressing me out!
Signed with nervousness and stress,
Your Unwilling Minion (I think...)
Dear Lampur,
Hey, man, chill. Jamie's doing the best she can. Sort of. And stop rambling so much - I thank you SO MUCH for getting my word count up, but let's move the story along! I mean, with great power (FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW, thankyouverymuch) comes great responsibility, and all that jazz. Oh, and stop telling the story so disjointedly. My Inner Editor wants you to know that linear stories are much easier to edit.
But dude, I love you so much compared to Mister Inner Editor (or is it miss?). You are awesome. Just slow. But you get my word count up, so I guess I shouldn't complain...
Your friend (who thanks you for being easier to write than Jamie and Sen),
Your Loving Author
Dear Polly,
I'm sorry you're dead. Get over it. Or wait - have you already gotten over it? You need to tell me...please?
Confused in California,
Your Grim Reaper
Dear Unnamed Younger Brother,
So...um...your name. You wanna tell me what it is?
Respectfully,
Your Creator
Dear Cast of Highness,
Hahah, you people are WEIRD. :D
LOLing outside your world,
Your GOD(dess)
Anyway, while taking a break from writing yesterday, I posted in the Dear [INSERT] thread on the Fantasy forum of the NaNoWriMo forums. Here is what I put:
Dear Jamie,
Give Lampur a break, and stop freaking out when you hear Polly's name. Yes, I know you're going to kill me now that I've said it. And no, I won't change the end of the story, and swearing at me and calling me names won't help. Oh, and please stop eyeing all those liquor stores - I won't order Lampur and Sen to loosen up on controlling how you spend your money. Sorry, kid, but you're going to have to suffer through cold turkey on all that.
Please stop making death threats,
Your "Mother"
Dear Sen,
Why are you so hard to write? Stop being so cryptic, and tell me what you want! Do you have evil plans for Jamie? Or do you just have your own agenda? What are you DOING right now? And, more importantly, what are you GOING to do? Please stop telling me right before (or after - I hate this) I write it down, you're stressing me out!
Signed with nervousness and stress,
Your Unwilling Minion (I think...)
Dear Lampur,
Hey, man, chill. Jamie's doing the best she can. Sort of. And stop rambling so much - I thank you SO MUCH for getting my word count up, but let's move the story along! I mean, with great power (FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW, thankyouverymuch) comes great responsibility, and all that jazz. Oh, and stop telling the story so disjointedly. My Inner Editor wants you to know that linear stories are much easier to edit.
But dude, I love you so much compared to Mister Inner Editor (or is it miss?). You are awesome. Just slow. But you get my word count up, so I guess I shouldn't complain...
Your friend (who thanks you for being easier to write than Jamie and Sen),
Your Loving Author
Dear Polly,
I'm sorry you're dead. Get over it. Or wait - have you already gotten over it? You need to tell me...please?
Confused in California,
Your Grim Reaper
Dear Unnamed Younger Brother,
So...um...your name. You wanna tell me what it is?
Respectfully,
Your Creator
Dear Cast of Highness,
Hahah, you people are WEIRD. :D
LOLing outside your world,
Your GOD(dess)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
School VS Highness
Alright, so Highness is doing okay in the VS School battle...though I had NO TIME yet today to write. :( I've been always ahead or on top of the word count...up until today, that is. (My profile just says I wasn't because I forgot to update my word count on one of the first couple of days, or something.) I really hope I can catch up tomorrow or something...I reallyreallyreally want to reach 50,000 words.
Currently I'm at 12150 words. I need to be at 13336...
Anyway, I've got some great inspiration for the plot of my novel...but I just remembered I posted in the dares thread on the NaNoWriMo Forums awhile back! So after some digging, I finally found my post (from October 29), and here is what I had to say for myself:
Still building my plot, so random funny dares might help with a few chapters. :)
I am taking:
- Pick a side character, any side character. When this side character was a small child, instead of a stuffed animal, he (or she) carried around and snuggled a knitted left mitten made of soft purple wool. They called it by two names, the second one beginning with 'Mc'. (example: Lala McPinny, Georgie McNoopsie, Mr. McNuttio) (and the mitten, in my novel, will be called...hmm...Red McToma) (Suggested by Fireblade K'Chona)
- "Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
+++1 if the character saying that is actually telling the truth about the cookie thing
+++2 if the character is actually a 'light' sider (gonna try to do all the extra things - no clue how yet, though) (Suggested by LadyAbby)
- Include ramen.
+Bonus if over 1000 words are devoted to the ramen.
++If somebody has an allergic reaction to the ramen.
+++If the ramen isn't even being used as food. (I actually have an idea for these... :P ) (Suggested by Greenling)
And since I decided to take three...I'll leave three as well.
Dare 1:
- Include a singing hairless cat.
BP: If it sings in another language.
DBP: If the song is never translated, so nobody knows what it means (not even the reader, unless they know the language)
TBP: If the song's meaning is actually important to the plot, but since nobody understands it...
Dare 2:
- Have your main character say this: "But honey, I thought the moon was made of SWISS cheese."
BP: If the moon is really made of swiss cheese
DBP: If "the moon" being referred to isn't any sort of celestial object whatsoever
TBP: If this results in a major turning point in the plot
Dare 3:
- Have a bunch of pairings that are completely reasonable and believeable for the first half of the novel, then have EVERYBODY switch partners for the second half.
BP: If this is done abruptly and without any sort of explanation
DBP: If this results in one or more characters ending up in a relationship that goes against their sexual preferences (like if they're a straight woman, have them in a relationship with another woman)
TBP: If they stay this way without complaining or questioning too much
So yes. I am taking all of the dares I committed myself to ALL THE WAY.
So for the mitten one, the purple woolen mitten, Red McToma, belonged to Polly. Maybe I can make this significant to the little bit of plotness I thought up for Polly? ;) I dunno how, though. I'm thinking Jamie will say the cookie thing, and the "dark side" is just her druggie friends, or something. Meh. As for the ramen, I'm thinking a chapter will involve an unorthodox usage of Cup Ramen in order to fend off something, and then Lampur has an allegeric reaction. Mwahaha, I love making Lampur suffer! >:)
Currently I'm at 12150 words. I need to be at 13336...
Anyway, I've got some great inspiration for the plot of my novel...but I just remembered I posted in the dares thread on the NaNoWriMo Forums awhile back! So after some digging, I finally found my post (from October 29), and here is what I had to say for myself:
Still building my plot, so random funny dares might help with a few chapters. :)
I am taking:
- Pick a side character, any side character. When this side character was a small child, instead of a stuffed animal, he (or she) carried around and snuggled a knitted left mitten made of soft purple wool. They called it by two names, the second one beginning with 'Mc'. (example: Lala McPinny, Georgie McNoopsie, Mr. McNuttio) (and the mitten, in my novel, will be called...hmm...Red McToma) (Suggested by Fireblade K'Chona)
- "Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
+++1 if the character saying that is actually telling the truth about the cookie thing
+++2 if the character is actually a 'light' sider (gonna try to do all the extra things - no clue how yet, though) (Suggested by LadyAbby)
- Include ramen.
+Bonus if over 1000 words are devoted to the ramen.
++If somebody has an allergic reaction to the ramen.
+++If the ramen isn't even being used as food. (I actually have an idea for these... :P ) (Suggested by Greenling)
And since I decided to take three...I'll leave three as well.
Dare 1:
- Include a singing hairless cat.
BP: If it sings in another language.
DBP: If the song is never translated, so nobody knows what it means (not even the reader, unless they know the language)
TBP: If the song's meaning is actually important to the plot, but since nobody understands it...
Dare 2:
- Have your main character say this: "But honey, I thought the moon was made of SWISS cheese."
BP: If the moon is really made of swiss cheese
DBP: If "the moon" being referred to isn't any sort of celestial object whatsoever
TBP: If this results in a major turning point in the plot
Dare 3:
- Have a bunch of pairings that are completely reasonable and believeable for the first half of the novel, then have EVERYBODY switch partners for the second half.
BP: If this is done abruptly and without any sort of explanation
DBP: If this results in one or more characters ending up in a relationship that goes against their sexual preferences (like if they're a straight woman, have them in a relationship with another woman)
TBP: If they stay this way without complaining or questioning too much
So yes. I am taking all of the dares I committed myself to ALL THE WAY.
So for the mitten one, the purple woolen mitten, Red McToma, belonged to Polly. Maybe I can make this significant to the little bit of plotness I thought up for Polly? ;) I dunno how, though. I'm thinking Jamie will say the cookie thing, and the "dark side" is just her druggie friends, or something. Meh. As for the ramen, I'm thinking a chapter will involve an unorthodox usage of Cup Ramen in order to fend off something, and then Lampur has an allegeric reaction. Mwahaha, I love making Lampur suffer! >:)
Thursday, November 1, 2007
It starts!
So much stuff I managed to think up in 603 words (and that's 602 words of story - my title is only one word: "Highness"). :P
But I'm procrastinating...
I'm just excited to begin!
Already, I have some new characters. And hella terms...
Polly/Kiu Lishan: little kid, heiress in House Lishan
Ki Lishan: Polly's mom maybe
Unnamed peau: the narratorrrrrr!
And some stuff:
House Lishan: Polly's family, wealthy
Liandou: the region Polly lives in
Ki: "miss" (adult)
Kiu: "miss" (child)
Peau: guardian (or something)
And the narrator is polytheistic. Or something.
And Polly is dead. (Or something? No.)
Bahahahah.
PROLOGUE IS OVER. NOW THE STORY CAN BEGIN! :D
But I'm procrastinating...
I'm just excited to begin!
Already, I have some new characters. And hella terms...
Polly/Kiu Lishan: little kid, heiress in House Lishan
Ki Lishan: Polly's mom maybe
Unnamed peau: the narratorrrrrr!
And some stuff:
House Lishan: Polly's family, wealthy
Liandou: the region Polly lives in
Ki: "miss" (adult)
Kiu: "miss" (child)
Peau: guardian (or something)
And the narrator is polytheistic. Or something.
And Polly is dead. (Or something? No.)
Bahahahah.
PROLOGUE IS OVER. NOW THE STORY CAN BEGIN! :D
Monday, October 29, 2007
Jamie Kissinger
The last name came outta nowhere, but I guess it fits. :P Anyway, I'm going to brainstorm a few things about Jamie in this post. She's the main character in my up-and-coming NaNoWriMo novel, and I can use all the help I can get in planning it out. I like to type, though I'm trying to scrounge up a small notebook or composition book I can take elsewhere to jot stuff in in, so a blog might be a good place to put some notes. I think a blog would be more user-friendly to me than a Word file - I seriously dislike doing planning stuff like this in a Word file. Though I still might make a "novel notes" Word file, as per Mr. Chris Baty's suggestion in No Plot, No Problem, but I think I'll do that for when I'm actually writing the novel.
Anyway...so right now, I have a FULL name for Jamie (I'm giving her the middle name "Audrey", too, because I FEEL LIKE IT), and a person in real life who I'm basing her off of...a person I don't know that well, I might add. So this brainstorm session is going to be for Jamie at some point in her life. Let's hope I get some helpful information!
First, a basic character sheet I used during a brief "I wanna be a writer phase" in seventh grade (I think):
Name: Jamie Audrey Kissinger
Personaity: Kind of gruff on the outside, usually in a bad mood (thanks to certain substances), but somewhat friendly when in a good mood and not under influence
Description: About 5'4", died black curly long-ish hair, brown eyes, pale skin, stocky figure, caucasian face, usually wears black, dark, or greyscale colors, generally wears skinny jeans with less-tight shirts (low-cut), black nail polish, black eyeliner, and multiple ear piercings.
Good qualities: Somewhat attractive (to certain people), funny when in a good mood, friendly when in a good mood, likes to work with animals - especially reptiles (and is generally calmer around them), good at visual art (especially painting/drawing)
Bad qualities: Addiction-easy, usually in a bad mood, doesn't try in school, doesn't care too much about the future, bad relationship with parents, ignores people a lot, not friendly when in a bad mood
Favorites: Art, anything to escape reality with, spicy food, swimming, hanging around the animals at the shelter, certain people at certain times, the rain
Hates: Many people at many times, schoolwork, people who are better than her at anything, super-salty food, running, reality, her life, when the sky mocks her life with clear sunny days
Weird qualities: Wakes up every weekday morning at 6:27 AM without fail (unless seriously sick), she splatter-painted her blue car with white and darker blue paint, she hates wearing anything around her left wrist, she hates it when her black nail polish is COMPLETELY unchipped (so she always puts a chip in right away)
Reaction to a bad thing: Drown out the badness in something mind-altering
And here are some quizzes from Facebook (haha) that I'll steal and have Jamie fill out the answers for! :P All in the name of...homework procrastination. Hahah. I need a break from physics.
40 'Off the Wall' Questions
1.) What side of the heart do you draw first?
Left.
2.) Can you dive without plugging your nose?
Yeah. People who can't are stupid.
3.) What color is your razor?
Black, but the blade is metal.
4.) What is your blood-type?
AB.
5.) Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
Nobody. Or somebody who would shut up and not annoy the hell out of me.
6.) Where would you go to live for the rest of your life if you could?
Near the ocean, where I can paint or something. I don't care.
7.) How do you feel about carrots?
...Screw carrots...or just eat them.
8.) How many chairs at the dining room table?
Two, but I put stuff in one.
9.) Which Spice Girl is the best?
They suck...
10.) What's your favorite color?
Red.
11.) What's your least favorite animal?
I dunno...caterpillars are kind of creepy.
12.) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with your bf/gf?
DON'T HAVE ONE. If I did, it would be something not for the eyes of little kiddies.
13.) What's your favorite kind of gum?
Doesn't matter as long as it covers up smell.
14.) Do you scrapbook?
Hell no, that's lame.
15.) Do you use words that you don't know the meaning to?
No, who cares?
16.) Do you like to sleep?
Sleep or sleep AROUND?
17.) Do you know which United States states don't use Daylight savings?
Don't. Care.
18.) Do you know the song Total Eclipse of the Heart?
No.
19.) Do you want a bright yellow '06 Mustang?
Ew, no. Blue Toyota Prius is fine right now, since I splatter-painted it. It's kind of lame still, but I do save on gas.
20.) What's something you've always wanted?
SOMEBODY ELSE'S LIFE.
21.) Do you have hairy legs?
Hell no.
22.) What does "Semper Fidelis" stand for?
How much I don't care about Latin or Greek or whatever it is?
23.) Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
Ocean. Lakes are boring.
24.) Do you wear a lot of black?
What do you think?
25.) Describe your hair?
Dyed black, curly, kinda messy, past shoulder-length.
26.) Who is your best friend?
Some random person who gives me stuff.
30.) Do you have a tan?
I did, but it went away when I quit swim team.
31.) Are you a computer addict?
Not really.
32.) Do you enjoy spending time with your mother?
Hell. NO.
33.) Are you a sugar freak?
Sugar is for the weak.
34.) Do you like orange juice?
Only without pulp.
35.) What sign are you?
Um...horse...and Taurus. I think.
36.) Can you count to ten in more than one language?
I might remember enough Spanish to say it in another language, but I don't feel like trying to.
37.) Who did you copy this from?
Some random person. I don't remember.
38.) How do you know them?
Don't remember them.
39.) Have you kissed anyone in the past week?
Probably.
40.) What are your plans for this weekend?
Working, hanging out, volunteering...painting maybe. Dunno.
Jamie's weird. O_o
Anyway...so right now, I have a FULL name for Jamie (I'm giving her the middle name "Audrey", too, because I FEEL LIKE IT), and a person in real life who I'm basing her off of...a person I don't know that well, I might add. So this brainstorm session is going to be for Jamie at some point in her life. Let's hope I get some helpful information!
First, a basic character sheet I used during a brief "I wanna be a writer phase" in seventh grade (I think):
Name: Jamie Audrey Kissinger
Personaity: Kind of gruff on the outside, usually in a bad mood (thanks to certain substances), but somewhat friendly when in a good mood and not under influence
Description: About 5'4", died black curly long-ish hair, brown eyes, pale skin, stocky figure, caucasian face, usually wears black, dark, or greyscale colors, generally wears skinny jeans with less-tight shirts (low-cut), black nail polish, black eyeliner, and multiple ear piercings.
Good qualities: Somewhat attractive (to certain people), funny when in a good mood, friendly when in a good mood, likes to work with animals - especially reptiles (and is generally calmer around them), good at visual art (especially painting/drawing)
Bad qualities: Addiction-easy, usually in a bad mood, doesn't try in school, doesn't care too much about the future, bad relationship with parents, ignores people a lot, not friendly when in a bad mood
Favorites: Art, anything to escape reality with, spicy food, swimming, hanging around the animals at the shelter, certain people at certain times, the rain
Hates: Many people at many times, schoolwork, people who are better than her at anything, super-salty food, running, reality, her life, when the sky mocks her life with clear sunny days
Weird qualities: Wakes up every weekday morning at 6:27 AM without fail (unless seriously sick), she splatter-painted her blue car with white and darker blue paint, she hates wearing anything around her left wrist, she hates it when her black nail polish is COMPLETELY unchipped (so she always puts a chip in right away)
Reaction to a bad thing: Drown out the badness in something mind-altering
And here are some quizzes from Facebook (haha) that I'll steal and have Jamie fill out the answers for! :P All in the name of...homework procrastination. Hahah. I need a break from physics.
40 'Off the Wall' Questions
1.) What side of the heart do you draw first?
Left.
2.) Can you dive without plugging your nose?
Yeah. People who can't are stupid.
3.) What color is your razor?
Black, but the blade is metal.
4.) What is your blood-type?
AB.
5.) Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
Nobody. Or somebody who would shut up and not annoy the hell out of me.
6.) Where would you go to live for the rest of your life if you could?
Near the ocean, where I can paint or something. I don't care.
7.) How do you feel about carrots?
...Screw carrots...or just eat them.
8.) How many chairs at the dining room table?
Two, but I put stuff in one.
9.) Which Spice Girl is the best?
They suck...
10.) What's your favorite color?
Red.
11.) What's your least favorite animal?
I dunno...caterpillars are kind of creepy.
12.) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with your bf/gf?
DON'T HAVE ONE. If I did, it would be something not for the eyes of little kiddies.
13.) What's your favorite kind of gum?
Doesn't matter as long as it covers up smell.
14.) Do you scrapbook?
Hell no, that's lame.
15.) Do you use words that you don't know the meaning to?
No, who cares?
16.) Do you like to sleep?
Sleep or sleep AROUND?
17.) Do you know which United States states don't use Daylight savings?
Don't. Care.
18.) Do you know the song Total Eclipse of the Heart?
No.
19.) Do you want a bright yellow '06 Mustang?
Ew, no. Blue Toyota Prius is fine right now, since I splatter-painted it. It's kind of lame still, but I do save on gas.
20.) What's something you've always wanted?
SOMEBODY ELSE'S LIFE.
21.) Do you have hairy legs?
Hell no.
22.) What does "Semper Fidelis" stand for?
How much I don't care about Latin or Greek or whatever it is?
23.) Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
Ocean. Lakes are boring.
24.) Do you wear a lot of black?
What do you think?
25.) Describe your hair?
Dyed black, curly, kinda messy, past shoulder-length.
26.) Who is your best friend?
Some random person who gives me stuff.
30.) Do you have a tan?
I did, but it went away when I quit swim team.
31.) Are you a computer addict?
Not really.
32.) Do you enjoy spending time with your mother?
Hell. NO.
33.) Are you a sugar freak?
Sugar is for the weak.
34.) Do you like orange juice?
Only without pulp.
35.) What sign are you?
Um...horse...and Taurus. I think.
36.) Can you count to ten in more than one language?
I might remember enough Spanish to say it in another language, but I don't feel like trying to.
37.) Who did you copy this from?
Some random person. I don't remember.
38.) How do you know them?
Don't remember them.
39.) Have you kissed anyone in the past week?
Probably.
40.) What are your plans for this weekend?
Working, hanging out, volunteering...painting maybe. Dunno.
Jamie's weird. O_o
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Oh hey look, a blog
Spontaneity reigns supreme in my life. :)
Hey there, I'm Annie. Nice to meet you, if there are any readers at all.
Like I said indirectly, this was a spontaneous decision. There was no real logic behind it, and although I've always thought it would be cool to have a blog (just for the sake of having a blog), I have no idea what to do with this blog now that I have it. Did that sentence even make sense? I sure hope so. I don't really understand why I have this blog, because it's not like I don't have a real-life journal or anything...and besides, I don't think I'd want to spread my deep dark secrets (do I even have any?) over the web. :P
Smilies... :D
Anyway, I guess I'll think up a reason for this blog's existence soon enough. I got it because NaNoWriMo was talking about LiveJournal, and I remembered I had a Gmail account (two, actually), and I could make one through Blogger. Not sure that's easier than LiveJournal, but whatever.
Hey look, I have a blog now! And it's called Fizzly Imagination! No clue where that came from.
Maybe I'll use this for NaNoWriMo? I sure as heck need to figure out what I'll be writing about. I just finished No Plot, No Problem, the book by Chris Baty (the guy who founded NaNoWriMo), and I just realized I should have been planning my novel, at least to some extent. He recommended getting a little notebook to jot down stuff...I haven't done anything other than pick my main character and give her a name (Jamie).
Other than that, though, Jamie's pretty much all I've got. And I don't even have much on Jamie...eheheh.
So maybe I'll use this to brainstorm? Ehhh...maybe it'll work. I think other NaNoWriMo people are brainstorming and getting ideas through their blogs (actually, I know, since I've seen one), so maybe I should follow suit.
Eh, in any case...I'm super excited for Thursday! Day 1 of NaNoWriMo! I've never seriously done this before (I pondered it last year and I think fulfilled one day's worth of words, but then it fizzled out because I couldn't access the site, and therefore couldn't sign up, and didn't feel like doing it completely on my own), so I'm really excited.
Mwahaha. Blogs are...fun? :D (Bye bye?)
Hey there, I'm Annie. Nice to meet you, if there are any readers at all.
Like I said indirectly, this was a spontaneous decision. There was no real logic behind it, and although I've always thought it would be cool to have a blog (just for the sake of having a blog), I have no idea what to do with this blog now that I have it. Did that sentence even make sense? I sure hope so. I don't really understand why I have this blog, because it's not like I don't have a real-life journal or anything...and besides, I don't think I'd want to spread my deep dark secrets (do I even have any?) over the web. :P
Smilies... :D
Anyway, I guess I'll think up a reason for this blog's existence soon enough. I got it because NaNoWriMo was talking about LiveJournal, and I remembered I had a Gmail account (two, actually), and I could make one through Blogger. Not sure that's easier than LiveJournal, but whatever.
Hey look, I have a blog now! And it's called Fizzly Imagination! No clue where that came from.
Maybe I'll use this for NaNoWriMo? I sure as heck need to figure out what I'll be writing about. I just finished No Plot, No Problem, the book by Chris Baty (the guy who founded NaNoWriMo), and I just realized I should have been planning my novel, at least to some extent. He recommended getting a little notebook to jot down stuff...I haven't done anything other than pick my main character and give her a name (Jamie).
Other than that, though, Jamie's pretty much all I've got. And I don't even have much on Jamie...eheheh.
So maybe I'll use this to brainstorm? Ehhh...maybe it'll work. I think other NaNoWriMo people are brainstorming and getting ideas through their blogs (actually, I know, since I've seen one), so maybe I should follow suit.
Eh, in any case...I'm super excited for Thursday! Day 1 of NaNoWriMo! I've never seriously done this before (I pondered it last year and I think fulfilled one day's worth of words, but then it fizzled out because I couldn't access the site, and therefore couldn't sign up, and didn't feel like doing it completely on my own), so I'm really excited.
Mwahaha. Blogs are...fun? :D (Bye bye?)
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