Excerpts from Healing

This part I sweated over. It took me three days to write it, due to writer's block and a huge case of perfectionism.

"For as long as anyone could remember, all of the citadels in the south of Sarea always had a council. Tales told of the first councils, when the earth was very young and Dun Zarum had been frail and new. In those days the dangers were many, and dragons and marauding armies were the real rulers of Sarea. A meeting consisting of the prominent figures in the citadel was organized during those perilous years. Ever since then the practice was continued until it became a timeless tradition, part of the roots of Dun Zarum.

A council was a serious matter, only called together in times of trouble. Always the king was present, as well as his chief lords, high priest, chief healer, and all the knights.

Ehra could very well understand why the council had been called. The Stillbreath. It couldn't go on; otherwise, Dun Zarum would be no more. Already the once-mighty citadel had been transformed into a place of dying. Any longer and it would be too much for the city--it would become like the ones that had gone before and had been great int heir time, and then had been conquered. Perhaps soon Dun Zarum would become a memory."

Now one of my favorite parts. I love descriptions. And I love making vegetation up. =) Notice night flowers (also called moon flowers) and Bloodpetal flowers (a type of deadly poison).

"Twigs crunched underneath Ehra's feet as she started down the path towards the Blood Altar. Trodden only a couple times a year, the small trail was overgrown with grasses and was hard to follow at night. Pale, shimmering patches of night flowers, their delicate, translucent petals turned toward the sky, were scattered in the clearings. Because she had not taken a torch before she set off, the priestess's only light was the cold moon.

The path ended, and Ehra entered a large clearing. There, tall and grim and shadowy in the night, silently rose the Blood Altar. Fashioned in the olden days when the world was young, the stone, table-like structure still bore the carvings of black magic on its sides. The altar was so old that no one knew for sure who had made it, but all the surrounding cities used it as a center for their most important ceremonies. Deadly Bloodpetal flowers had sprung up all around it, and a bone pathway led to the mounting stairs.

Leaves and small branches had been blown onto the face of the Altar, and Ehra mounted the steps to brush them off. Her fingers uncovered the burgundy stains of blood on the stone, remains of the centuries of human sacrifice. As she climbed on to kick away a particularly large branch, a shadow caught her eye."

Please do not copy my book. It is mine and mine alone, and I will not be happy if you violate my rights.

Healing: My Epic Book

It all started out with my best friend, me, a cold December night, and a humidifier. It's first home was a notebook, practically torn apart by use. It was the first book that I ever finished. It was 80 pages long all typed up.

It was the first draft of my first ever real book, which I called Dun Zarum. That time, it was about a fourteen year old surf who is told by a traveling peddler that she's one of five children chosen to overthrow a tyrant king.

As my writing style matured, I began drastically editing my book. Over time, as I started to read better books (think 'The Boxcar Children' compared to 'Lord of the Rings') I saw that even the plot of the book was amateur.

Basically, the only thing that stopped me from throwing Dun Zarum in the trash was the characters. My six main characters--Ehra, Maki, Karo, Aera, Leela, and Gnomi--were more than half of my close friends. To delete them would be horrible. So then I started an extensive draft. It was better, but not great.

It was about that time when I set Dun Zarum aside and began to work on some other books. Unfortunately, those books struggled and ended after about the fifth chapter (at the longest). It was just after I quit my biggest idea yet that I began to feel homesick. I missed Ehra and Maki and the world they lived it.

I now call that book my 'home book'. Even though I work on other books that I love, I always return back to Dun Zarum.

Of course, now it's hardly recognizable. Ehra (her full name is Ehrathiwel Eladeen) is now a nineteen year old aristocrat of a kingdom that is struck by a fatal disease. Maki is now Maethar Eisling, a quiet knight. Now the main plot of the book is finding something to cure the Stillbreath, the Black Plague-like illness that is ravaging the kingdom. But the characters still survive and are the same friends from Dun Zarum.

I still have my beaten up first draft of Dun Zarum, which currently has the working name of Healing. Every so often, I flip through it and laugh over the cliche events and cheesy lines. Then I turn on my laptop and read Healing and see how much my characters and my writing has progressed.

I don't know if Healing will ever get published. When I finish, I might just squirrel it away somewhere for my eyes alone. I might read it to my kids. Or I could show it to the world, if it's worth it. But for me, Healing is the book where I feel like I'm home.

HEALING'S STATUS:

Began: December 16, 2008
Draft #: 6
Word Count: 10,064
Main Character: Ehrathiwel Eladeen
Villain: Unrevealed (meaning, I don't even know)
Deadline: Uh...December 2012

Coming up next: an excerpt of Healing!

Please do not copy my book and my book ideas. I will be very angry if you do.

I'm back from my 'break'....not to mention insane authors, and a quote from Bob the Tomato

...and I basically accomplished nothing out of the ordinary. Oh well! XD!!

Has my blog been rather boring these days? Sorry 'bout that. I really ought to do something...exciting. How about a book excerpt? Maybe that'll be in my next post.

Oh, yeah, I did get a good bit of a re-writing start on 'Dun Zarum' (once again, a working title). The only thing is...because it's a second draft, should I be more picky with what I write? Or should I just write like mad and hope like it turns out to be as good as my NaNoWriMo book?

Y'know, the only thing that keeps me from ditching the whole Sarea thing is that I'm really attached to my character.

O.O

*gasp* Don't worry, Ehra! I was never...EVER...considering abandoning your book! Ouch!!! You didn't--stop hitting me over the head with my math book! You're going to rip it!!

Scratch that. Please, Ehra, go ahead and rip my math book. You'd be doing me a wonderful favor. And please pay extra attention to the 'Pythagorean Theorium'...or whatever it is. Not to mention the algebra.

Oh, great, now my crazy book character's just ran off and got...

NO!! HELP! Maki, don't you start that too--whoops. I called you Maki; sorry about that. I forgot that I was going to re-name you because your name reminds me of macaroni and mackerel.

*ahem*. Sorry about that little episode. My characters don't like it when I mention ending their--uh, when I mention that delicate subject.

I just read over the above post. Are all authors crazy? Or is it just me, Enna-Rin, and igirl (sorry for the lack of grammatical structure there--it should really be igirl, Enna-Rin, and me, or something like that).

We started schooling today. It actually feels good to stop lazing about the house all day and to actually have a mission! Although I have over-load history and grammar, and of course a report on Clara Barton.

Soooo...that was probably my most random post ever.

*shocked gasp* I almost forgot about Harry!

Harry is a ball that we got for Christmas. Not just any ball though, he's all squishy and has these...well, I suppose you could call them tentacles. And his tentacles are pink with purple ends. It's really cool lookin'! Basically like a sea anemone. I knead him while I'm doing math.

To quote Bob the Tomato...

'It's good to be back!'

Izori

Dun Zarum and VBS

I am sooooooooooo tired! Two and three year old kids can be so cute and funny, but when they start crying because, well, if you had ever gone somewhere when you were a kid, placed in a room with other children that are laughing and screaming, and then your mom hastily exits the room, you'd understand. I just try to remember that it's really good that they miss their parents so much. Some kids, like one little lad in particular, just sat and smiled all the time (it's so cute) but others would be fine until they notice that their parents aren't there. Then they set up a wail. When you've just finished comforting them, someone else starts crying and it starts them all over again. And then one assistant couldn't make it today. But, I have to admit...this is fun!

I'm on the last stages of editing the technical stuff that my Dad pointed out (punctuation, terms, and so on) of the one-third of my book (this section's called Dun Zarum, for all of you who don't remember), and then my Mom will proof-read for plot problems. I'm nearly half-way through the next section of the book, too! Yipee!

It seems like a long time ago that I started writing my book, but it's really only been about...six months. And I'm getting much better at writing for longer periods of time more frequently, so it won't be long when I'm finished!

Izori

Advice Needed!

I could use a little advice here on romance. The book that I'm writing (Dun Zarum was the name of one third of the book; the actual name for it is 'Sarea'. For people who don't remember, the main character is a 14-15 year old girl named Ehra (pronounced Ee-ruh, although my dad, who's my 'editor in chief' pronounces it Ay-ruh). She's a serf in the land of Sarea, which is ruled by an evil tyrant named Baashil. King Baashil has 10 Sorcerors at his command, and his grip on Sarea is growing stronger by the hour. Ehra is given a chance to change this when a mysterious 'peddler' named Gnomi (pronounced No-mee) shows up at her village. He tells her that she is actually one of five Elashae, humans who can control a respective element as well as other magic. The Elashae were started long ago by one of the good kings of Sarea, and now it's up to the five current ones (no older than sixteen), and Gnomi, an Elashi of Earth of a former group, to stop the Sorcerers and get Baashil off the throne so they can put the rightful ruler back on.

I'm at the point now where the Elashae have defeated the Sorcerers and 'sunk' their castle. They are now traveling up to the land of Songaia to try and convince the Elves to ally with them to overcome Baashil, who's going to be even more powerful then the Sorcerers.

I'm hoping for Ehra (Elashi of Water) and Maki (Ma-key, the Elashi of Fire) to get married at the end of the book. And I don't want it to be no warning and then poof, they get married, but I don't want the romance leading up to Maki's proposal to be...well, something my dad would raise his eyebrows at when he reads it. I really like the romance in the Redwall Series, but I'm not sure exactly how to write it. My mom suggested that I could have it that Ehra and Maki are just friends, and then something happens that makes them realize their true feelings for each other. Does anyone have any other suggestions? If you do, please share them with me.

Thanks so much,

Izori

P.S. I almost forgot! The notebook which I wrote the first draft of Dun Zarum in and also part of Songaia has been filled up, so we went to Walmart and bought a new one! Yeah, I know, only an author would be excited at the prospect of a new notebook.