11 Tag: Shortened Version

So, Solace Utara tagged me in her 11 Tag; considering I’m feeling rather lazy, I’ll only be answering the questions she asked this time around instead of also coming up 11 facts and then 11 questions and then 11 different people to tag. I also couldn’t get the questions to copy over right the first few times (wordpress, although efficient, can be frustrating every blue moon) but I think it was worth it in the end because I had a lot of fun answering these!

What movie are you looking forward to the most this year? Well, that would be a toss up between Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, at least for the most. Other movies I had on my want to watch list like Monsters University, Despicable Me 2, The Lone Ranger, Catching Fire, Oz: The Great and Powerful and Warm Bodies; those last two there I’ve already seen.

Opinion of Maroon 5, One Direction, Fun., and Taylor Swift? Well I’m afraid I have no opinion of Maroon 5 and Fun. because I live undera rock and haven’t heard them before. One Direction is overrated but I have nothing agianst them personally. Taylor Swift is a good artist although I’m not a country music fan; she seems like a sweet person. A few of my favorites include Our Song, Mine, 22 and Picture to Burn.

Describe your best friend. Wow, okay, I’d descibe Kayla but she says siblings don’t have to ‘count’ as bestfriends and she doesn’t count me as her best friend even though I am, so… I’ll describe The Doctor instead since he’s my other best friend. He’s pretty much Victorian nobility coping with the twentyfirst century and it’s deteriorated English language and dress style; he’s very observant, he can both tease and be considerate at the same, he’s really funny, he’s a good storyteller, he’s smart and supportive and kind and a pretty good dancer. I also do not mind saying that his hair is awesomeness itself and I don’t think he would mind me saying that. I really miss him and our weekly talks of Sherlock Holmes and just life in general.

What did you think/what are you expecting of Iron Man 3? Expecting to cry at least once, I will be surprised if I don’t tear up. I am expecting to be wowed and I hope it’s as good as everyone has made it sound!

Harry Potter or Hunger Games or Percy Jackson? Hunger Games; I’m afraid it’s not really fair for me though because I’ve not seen Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. But I do like The Hunger Games; that was a good movie.

How long have you been blogging? Two years and almsot five months. I can be that exact because I began blog on New Years Eve of 2010/opening of 2011 (same day I saw A New Hope for the first time). It’s been such a fun journey; I’ve learned a lot about myself, my writing style has gone through some growth of its own and it’s made for a great tool to speak my mind and meet other people who think or have similar interests to me.

Five main fandoms? OH MY GOSH HOW DO YOU JUST PICK FIVE MAIN FANDOMS I LOVE SO MANY NOW THEY’RE ALL PART OF MY LIFE GAH. Okay, seriously, I can give you four for sure: Star Wars, The Avengers, Sherlock and Dr Who. The fifth would be, I suppose, a toss up between Grimm, Warehouse 13, The Office and Merlin. Because those are all special to me in different ways; only some of you will really understand what I mean because we all have those special fandoms that mean something to us.

Last thing that made you smile. Mmmm, not sure; I’ll say finding some new clothes at Savers for 25 percent off the other day, that made me very happy. I’m mean, these were super cute tops, people, and putting on something new and fresh for only a few dollars really made me feel brand new. I felt cute and attractive and I could tell that my personality really came through. I’ll have to get some pictures sometime, I suppose. I just felt really good…

What do you want be when you grow up? Well, what I would really like to be is a stay at home mother but that’s all really out of my control and I don’t see it happening anytime soon, so I’m trying keep my mind ground in reality right now. If my head and emotions ever settle down, I would like to put more engery into writing fiction but for now, blogging consistantly again will be probably be all I’ll be capable of doing right now. Now, when I was little, I used to want to be a vet or a paramedic. Go figure; at least about the paramedic thing; that is not my thing now. I understand the vet part though, I love animals.

What is the object left of you? Uhh, a scented candle and my bedroom wall. Wow. Really amazing, I know.

Well, I believe that was all! Thanks for tagging me, Solace Utara, I had a lot of fun coming up with answers for these! Have a good Sunday, everybody!

~Jamie

Last Day of Challenge//Surprise

This is the last day of the writing challenge at The Climb with Emily and it’s been AMAZING for me as a writer. I’ve been needing something to really jog me into world building for Forever Fairy, and this has been the thing to do it (more on this in a moment!)

Today’s final challenge was to share the “why” behind everything. Why do I write? I love it and I truly think it’s the gift God has given me. There’s just something about expressing my thoughts on paper that feels natural and right for me. Not just my thoughts, like here on my blog, but also things like stories. I love expressing stories with relate-able character, interesting plot threads and redeeming themes.

As I matured as a writer, I’ve wanted to infuse more–the word isn’t controversial–but deeper themes into my stories to work out and help make the plot. Forever Fairy is my first story where I’ll be including magic, which has been an especially touchy topic for me for most of my childhood. I’m learning to look at it with a open mind and I’m looking forward to seeing it effect my story, my plot and my characters. That is how much I’ve grown over the years as a writer.

My future in writing; well, it’s all fuzzy, but I would love to be published one day. And if I develop a good enough story that has enough promise, if I have enough support from family and friends, I would pursue publishing. Really, thinking about publishing—honestly—scares me. It really scares me. But if a story shows enough promise, I’d be willing to pursue it.

The story on my mind and heart right now is Forever Fairy. I’m on a ball when it comes to world building for this book. There’s something about writing my world building in post form (something I’m familiar with) that has really helped get it out and I don’t want to stop. However, I don’t want to over-take my personal blog with writing posts.

Here’s where the surprise comes in.

I’ll be writing and posting the rest of my world-building for my NaNoWriMo book Forever Fairy on my new writing blog! May I announce the opening of Fairies, Fantasy and Faith? To all my followers who have enjoyed my writing posts, you need to either go bookmark or follow this blog. I’ve reposted all my posts over there already and I published a character post on my male lead Will this morning. so hop on over there now if you’d like to read that or simply check the blog out.

All your comments and enthusiasm has been SO ENCOURAGING, everyone; it’s really been so encouraging getting some feedback on the snippets of the story in my head. So, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who commented this week, thank you very much!

Fairies, Fantasy and Faith will be the place I share my world building, character development, and plot planning. I’ll be posting as inspiration comes (which will have to be often!) And I’ll be getting my blog here back into it’s normal groove again.

Thank you again, Emily, for hosting this challenge, it’s been soooo good for me as a writer! I’ve loved every challenge and once again, congrats on three years of blogging, girl!

~Jamie

Day 5 of Writing Challenge/Visually Building a Character

Today’s challenge is to find a picture that portrays your main characters (I have not created all the characters yet from the fantasy novel, so we’ll only look at my main two.)

Now, visually picturing my characters has never been something I could do very well, especially with girls. They always end up looking like two basic ideas: either someone who looks like me with blue eyes and curly brown hair or a pretty blonde. Yeaaaaah.

I wanted to do something different for Penny; at least different than what I’ve always done. She can’t be another clone of me.

I might as well post the picture now.

This picture is the closest one I’ve found to represent my main character Penny. This girl looks several years younger then she would be, but outside of that fact, she looks very similar.

I decided I wanted Penny to have dark black hair, with dark brows and big black eye lashes (getting away from the brown and blonde hair I typically use). She also has blueish/greenish eyes that are large, sad but observant. I’m not going to make Penny very tall either; most of my main female leads not only resemble me but they also are very tall, like myself. I’m going to make Penny an average height, maybe 5 feet and 6 inches. And unlike my other female leads, she’s more fair-skinned and not as tanned.

She’s really very different than any female character I’ve created. Not even just how she looks, but her personality and disposition is different. She’s not very confident, she’s very quiet, she’s not in a secure situation making her an unstable young women. Most of my other female leads are confident in themselves, they’re outgoing and they’ve all been in secure situations.

So, this is new for me. But I like it.

Now, my other main character is Penny’s best friend, Will. I’ve not spoken that much about Will, but that’s because I’m still working him out as a character. I need to make him my own character, make him unique with some quirks, some flaws but with some heroism deep in his guts. I’m still not sure what he’s going to look like either, but here’s the closest picture I’ve found of Will:

I don’t know. What more do I need to say.  There he is! He looks awesome. I still have a lot of work to do on his characteristics still, but that will come soon enough. He’s going to be different than a lot of my male leads, as well, but not as different as Penny has proven to be. So, I feel more comfortable to be working with him.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough today; I’m off to watch Toy Story 3!

~Jamie

Day 4 of Writing Challenge//My World

Today’s challenge was suppose to be sharing and except of your story but since I’ve not written any yet, I thought I would share something even better. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, right? Well, I’m going to share several pictures of the fantasy world that Penny and her friend Will get pulled into: Arrahiem.

These pictures are the closest to what I imagine Arrahiem to look like.

I picture a lot of water in Arrahiem. Lot of creeks, rivers and waterfalls. So there can be lot of epic bridges.

Like that! ^

I see Arrahiem as a very green, foresty place. With some tall mountains that have daring passages ways and roads winding throughout.

And houses and communities where you least suspect. Made up out of all sorts of creatures and peoples. Little fairies with their houses hidden inside the trees, the great woodsmen with their massive cabins, the hidden shallets and hideouts of the bounty hunters who silently stalk the countryside and then, right on the edge of the sea, the high people, the rulers, the majestic.

Yeah, like that! ^

You never know what you might see. Great bridges, hidden homes, one of the governing unicorns gliding up a creek in the early mist, keeping watch over the peoples put under them.

And maybe even a little magic.

You’ll never know, I suppose.

~Jamie

Day 2 of Writing Challenge/Character Depth

Edit: I don’t know why WordPress has squished some of my writing; so, my apologies if this is hard to read.

Day two of the writing challenge is to interview your main character. I have two main character for Forever Fairy that I’ll be using (ie going from their perspectives.) However, I’m going to cover the female character today, seventeen year old Penny.

As I’ve been developing Penny’s back story, I’ve been looking for ways to make her a layered, flawed character. This little challenge from her viewpoint has actually helped pin down some aspects of how she thinks and what she thinks is important. To my non-writer friends, I won’t blame you if you don’t read the whole thing, lol. This is more for me to get to know my character better. However, any feedback you have will be appreciated.

1. What is your full name?

My full name is Penelope Jennifer Taylor, but most people call me Penny. I’d be happy if you did too.

2. What do you want most out of life?

Feeling like I matter, like I’ve made a difference in someone’s life. I also want security. I want to feel safe. I don’t like change very much, especially bad change. That’s one thing I want, is security.

3. If you had the chance to change ONE thing in your past, what would it be?

All the parental problems. It’s complicated and I don’t want to go into very much, but if mum and dad could have worked things out that day instead of there being that blow up, things would be better. We’ve always been together, and now they’re living separated for a little while to let everything cool off. I would go back and change the day things really went down…

4. What is your family life like?

Right now, it’s very different because dad is living somewhere else right now. It’s all very hard and insecure right now. I don’t know what will happen.

5. What three words describe you best?

Mmmm…. you’d probably get a better idea by asking a friend, but if I had to pick three words, they would be quiet, observant and sharp.

6. What is your view on life?

Life is hard. I believe life is one big stage and the Storyteller is orchestrating a big plot. Like in all my favorite books, life is always hard and difficulties try the characters but it all happens because the author is trying to get the characters into the next section of the story and by the end, there’s the big finale and the plot threads tie up and we read ‘the end’. I think Providence uses life to move us as characters throughout our stories. And like the characters always end up facing their deepest fears and hardest trails, we end up going through all hell too. I feel like I’m going through that sort of plot twist; all hell is broken loose and it feels like we’ve fallen into a big pit. But that’s how stories are. . . . . I just don’t know how my story will end. Life… is hard.

7. If you had the chance to give your life to save someone else, would you?

That’s actually a hard question. It’s easy when I’m sitting here to say, “yes, of course I would!” But if I was actually put in that situation, I honestly have to say I don’t know. I don’t know what I’d do in a situation like that. . . .

8. How do you view yourself?

As a small girl in a big world. It’s all pretty scary. Sometimes I wish I could become a kid again; I was so naive but it was much easier back than. It’s much hard having to be grown up.

What have I learned about Penny from listening to her voice in my head?

Penny is an insecure teenager in an insecure situation in an insecure world. She’s been woken to a harsher world by her parents separation and is in desperate need to feel secure again.

While she understands the hand of Providence by comparisons of her favorite novels, she has a hard time seeing it’s ultimate work in her own life, at least when she’s in the darkest part of her journey. She wants to feel important and that she can make a difference in people’s lives but she doesn’t know if she can do that if the situation sprang at her in an unexpected moment. These inconsistances in Penny will help me make her dimensional throughout the story as she reacts to life around her. How will she react when she and her best friend get sucked into a fantasy novel where they’re in pain but have no choice but see the story out to help break an old curse?

How will she feel when the little security she has is smashed by her reality giving way to fiction? And then having to face the consequences of her actions in that fictional story? Will she be able to stand up under the pressure to look deeper into the power of Providence and how it shapes life long stories? Or will she collapse under the strain of insecurity, fear and anger when pushed to her limits and is unable to completely understand her many questions?

Does Providence still stay in effect in a fictional world created by another human being? Is pragmatism, like using witchcraft in a fictional world to make things easier, okay when you’re no longer in reality? How does one break a curse without going against one’s personal convictions of magic? Will good things come out of all her struggles at home? Penny needs to have answers to all these questions by the end of my novel, so I’ve got quite a challenge ahead of me.

 I’m excited to see how I can make Penny grow as a character while keeping her fragile, flawed and …. well, real.

Anyway, if you read all of this rambling then you’re pretty awesome. Now that I’m at the bottom of my post and am looking up at it, I certainly feel more familiar with Penny than I did at the top. There are a lot of questions in my story and I’m excited to give some answers. What do you all think? Have I piqued your interest in the slightest? What do you think of Penny and her weaknesses and strengths? Any feedback or critiquing is welcome; anything might help me make her a better character.

~Jamie