A Rather Late New Year's Resolution

Yesterday I was thinking about one of my books that I hadn't worked on in such a long time, Sarea (working title, y'know). Originally, it used to be what I considered my greatest 'masterpiece'. It was 135 pages long (enormous, as I ignorantly thought), and had characters based on pretty much everyone I knew, from two of my closest friends to a girl from my soccer team. In my twelve-year-old eyes, it was the best thing I had ever written.

And then came the revelation.

That's what I hate about writing styles maturing. In just one summer I had expanded my literary accomplishments to 'Sense and Sensibility', 'The Two Towers', 'Inkheart', 'Eragon', and a number of other really good books. And of course, that improved my writing skills almost too rapidly.

After writing my NaNoWriMo Novel, which turned out really good (even if I say so myself, hehe), Sarea just seemed so...so weak. Dull. Pointless. Immature. I tried re-writing it and keeping the basic concept, but I quickly lost interest.

The more I kept thinking about it, the more I would tell myself, "Y'know, there's no point in just letting it sit. You should just ditch it." And immediately afterward I would gasp, "Whoa! I can't believe I would even THINK of doing that!!".

Well.

I finally deleted the blasted thing.

And then I immediately started writing it again.

*sigh* I guess I just can't shake it. Not that I mind! (lol)

Yes, I really do want to keep that old thing. And so I've decided to take the 'NaNoWriMo approach'. I'm going to just plunk myself down and write a thousand words or so in a day, not caring how bad it sounded. I'm going to try (try--key word!) to jam the book with exciting scene after exciting scene, and not read the thing over until I'm done. Hey, it worked with my NaNo novel; maybe it'll work with Sarea.

Basically, all I've figured out is that I'm at least keeping my main character. However, she's no longer a serf, and she might just have one sibling instead of three. Also, I don't think there's room for her best friend. *gasps in realization* . That was one of the characters based on ME!! Never mind, I'm keeping her. XD

Yeah. That's a glimpse of my spectacular plan.

Izori

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

Oh, joy (not)!

I've been looking over Sarea (working title) and I have found the worst. I knew that I would have to edit the book--but I only pictured a few changes, and perhaps one or two re-written scenes. Well...

I have decided that I need to just re-write the whole thing. Re-name a bunch of characters, and even re-do a bit of the plot. Igirl has been kind enough to edit Sarea for me, and once she's done correcting (no pressure, igirl!), I'll rewrite.

Also...I have Masters Accompaniment Class tonight. We go to this music school called Allegro, and all of their best students attend the Masters Accompaniment Class. I'm one of them; but don't get me wrong. I am NOT a musical prodigy. It is simply because I have been playing the piano for over half of my life (I'm 13). And for playing that long, I'm not very good. So I'm REALLY nervous. I have to accompany this dude on the clarinet, see, and I wasn't able to practice the piano much in November because of NaNoWriMo.

So anyway...ignore my complaints and whining.

Good news...I'm a good way done with editing my NaNoWriMo book. It was actually sort of fun reading over what I've written. Also, I'm starting to get ideas for the sequel.

Izori

Book Excerpt

People have been asking me if I could put up a excerpt of Sarea on my blog, and well...all you writers have most likely experienced this.

You see, I'm a rather shy person at heart (although sometimes you may not be able to tell :) and when people usually ask me about my book, I'm usually like "Well, it's about this girl...who finds this portal-thingy, and she goes into another world..." and I totally leave out all the battles and quests and the other 'good things'. It's sort of like a feeling that other people will think when you're telling them about your book, "Man, that sounds like a dumb story," or "Her writing style is NOT the best!". Y'know?

Well, I was trying to get around all the excerpt requests, but then a poll showed that 'Excerpts from Sarea' was the thing that you wanted me to post the most of. So I guess there's no wiggle room now...just don't laugh, and remember that you asked for it!

--- --- ---

Betha slowly turned over, groaning to herself. She still was sore from harvesting a crop of winter wheat, and she certainly wasn't looking forward to getting up and facing yet another day of back-breaking labor in the fields. The sun hadn't even begun to peek over the Opeladami Mountains yet.

But time was wasting, and no doubt she would be even more sore from the whipping she would get if she was late. Sarono, Jerad, and Father had most likely left already for the fields. And she supposed she would have to wake Ehra up, too.

To tell the truth, Betha was rather concerned about her little sister. Ehra seemed to be the one who always got the most whippings, and she was always so worn out at night. All that work wasn't good for someone so young...

"Ehra?" Betha slowly rolled over in the dark, reaching out to shake her sister awake. "It's time to--" She stopped in the middle of her sentence.

Ehra was gone.

Her side of the bed was neatly made, and her spare change of clothes--the ones with the large patch in the knee--were missing.

Stay calm! Betha tried to reassure herself, even though she was quivering from anxiety inside. She could have just left early with Father and the twins.

But she couldn't deny the facts that spoke against that possibility. Betha knew that Ehra would never get up that early if she could help it, and why on earth would she have taken her spare clothes? There was something seriously wrong. And Betha had a suspicion that it had to do with that strange peddler.

--- --- ---

So there you have it. Helpful comments and criticisms are appreciated!

Izori

Characters: Ehra

Just for fun, I'm going to tell you all about my main character! Aren't you so excited? (Hint: you're supposed to be ;)

name: Ehra, Elashi of Water

age: 14-16 in my book

personal status:
-married: no
-best friend (s): Mina, Leela, Aera, Betha

appearance:
-hair color: black
-eye color: dark brown
-skin color: slightly darker than peach, yellowish undertone
-facial features: small, straight nose, largish eyes
-height: 5'3"
-posture: neutral posture, walks with a teeny, weeny limp.

personality: not particularly out-going, yet not shy, either. Usually peaceful, but can really fight when she has to. Slightly pessimistic, sarcastic sense of humor.

weapon: sword, although she can be an archer in a pinch.

fighting style (w/sword): both hands on hilt, although she can fight excellently with only her left hand.

faults/weaknesses (physical and mental): sometimes assumes without finding all the facts, slightly prejudiced occasionally. Also can have a bit of a temper (which she has learned to control a lot). Small stature often tells the enemy that she is the most vulnerable, and therefore she gets plenty of action in the sword fights.

qualities/strengths (physical and mental): good aim, quick, loyal. Good self control and has a strict conscience. Brave (aren't they all?)

scars/markings (physical): scar from a sword slash on her forehead (from her first real battle).

family:
-father: Lerikan, Elashi of Fire
-mother: Ruth
-siblings:
-older: Jerad, Sarono, Betha
-younger: none.

ancestry: Mother has roots in Latronia and Uraith. Lerikan's family is Sarean.
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Isn't it funny how characters take on a life of their own? Ehra was supposed to be based off two friends of mine: Tatiana and Rin. But Ehra now is like neither! True, she still does look the same, but she is sort of pessimistic and a tad sarcastic. Tatiana nor Rin is like that (I think), and I didn't mean at all for Ehra to be like that! But she has. Oh, well. See what I mean? I can't even keep control of my own characters!




P.S. This is a scheduled post. I actually wrote it on September 15, 2009