Goodbye 2014

As we enter into the new year, I thought I'd come and say something.  The problem is that I can't really think of anything to write about.  It's not like things didn't happen in the last year, considering that I got another short story published, and I went to a workshop in Iowa, but otherwise?  Not a lot happened, minus figuring out what I really want to do next year.

The goal of 2015 is publishing, publishing, publishing.  In small forms, in big forms, but the goal is to get out there.  The goal is to push out and run into walls so fast that I leave a size the shape of me, like in the Road Runner cartoons.

So, that's it.  Goodbye 2014, you will be missed, but hello 2015.  Hello the year of getting stuff done.

A Happy New Year to everyone.  I'll see you in 2015!

Quick Note at This Hour

The About Me page has been updated.  Please feel free to leave all questions there or this post.  I'll get to them as soon as I can, which can be anywhere from 24 to 72 hours.

Thank you and Happy New Year.  I'll be back on either Thursday or Friday with a new post.

Blogging Circle: Resolutions Remix

It's two days into December and I'm already thinking about 2015.  What I want to do, what I want to change, and what I need to finish before the end of the month.  Hell, what I need to finish before Christmas and get my Christmas shopping done.  Plus, making sure my wishlist is up to date (it is) and debating a million times over if I really want what's on my list or not.  Just go ahead and smack me because, really, I should not be overthinking Christmas.  Yet, I am, and the rest of the year.  Sigh.  But this is not why you are here.  You are here because it is time, yet again, to dive into the WriYe Blogging Circle.

After that year of writing, you've seen the good and the bad that happens as time goes on.  You know your high months and you know your low months.  You should know where you are lacking and where you're awesome.  Take all of that into account and give us five resolutions for your writing next year.

First, for the rest of 2014, here's my five goals.  Why five goals for the rest of the year?  Because the title of the post is Resolution Remix due to talking about the last month of 2014 and the start of 2015.  :)
1. Finish Mystery of the Dark
2. Write my gift stories
3. Start world building the combo of Power/Hidden Scions: These two stories are both about children of mythical animals in hiding who need to go fight a big bad in a YA sense.  For me, it makes better sense to blend the two stories together and get this big trilogy / series out of it.  :)
4. Get Diana to type up the idea notes into a Google Doc for us to work on: Why yes, another story idea but this might be more of a game that we're going to make.
5. Love all the words that I write, no matter how stupid they sound.

Alright, for 2015, here's my five resolutions.
1. Write 1,000 words every day, no matter what: I've got a writing goal of 365,000 words for next year.  Considering I write better if I write every day, this is a reasonable resolution to put out there, even if it's just plotting words or actual fiction.  I need to get 1,000 words out of my system every day of 2015.

2. Finish What I Start: Simple as it sounds, but I'm going to add on one more.  I'm finishing everything, even things I started in 2014 like Prelude, because I want those stories to be written.  Also, I have a big ass fanfic sitting out there in cyber space (Ao3 land) that people probably want finished.  So, yeah, finishing what I started, even if it was started in 2013 / 2014.

3. Write what I want to write, not what society things I have to write: Okay, this is something that ties into the fact that I am a fanfiction writer.  I am and I am loud and proud about it.  Society thinks that fanfiction, for the most part, is silly and not real writing.  Well, BS to that and BS on anyone who thinks it, including me!  This ties into the words are words, no matter how small or silly, and I should celebrate that I am creating something.

4. Use my blog more to chronicle how I am as a writer: Yes, I really am going to do this.  I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I am, because I want to show off what I'm doing.  I'm not sure just how far I'll go into what I'm doing, as I have issues with sharing (and so do publishing people), but we'll see.  Considering January is going to be a big editing month, you might hear me complaining about it.

5. Love all the words that I write, no matter how stupid they sound: Okay, I put this in the goals of 2014 and adding it in here.  What this means is that I will write, without criticizing myself, until it is time to edit.  When it is time to edit, I can do as much critting of myself as I want.  Until then, I need to love the words that I am writing because they are more words than what I wrote yesterday.  They are more words than I wrote the month before and so on.  I need to love what I write and love myself for getting it out and not going insane.

So... that's about it.  Look for later this month about the goals for next year in terms of writing projects and in reading.  Happy holidays!

NaNoWriMo and This Is Where I Leave You

You get a two for one post today, mostly because I'm awesome like that, and mostly because... reasons.  Reasons that are the second part of the title.  I really might have to start a campaign about that book and how I want those hours of my life back.  The movie isn't much better, but at least now I won't spend money on that.  Point being that I didn't spend money in the first place, since I borrowed the book from the library (yay libraries!), but still.  I want those hours of my life back and we'll talk about that in just a moment.

So, for the seventh year in a row, I have written 50,000 words in a month.  It is a sacred ritual, one that requires months of planning and then replanning and then hoping you've picked the right plot bunny.  The wrong ones, as I have discovered in years past, make for horrible experiences.  The right ones, as I have discovered since 2008 (jeez, ages ago), make everything bright and sunny and full of rainbows.  For, you see, this can only happen one month out of the year, where the stars align and everything is awesome.

If you can't tell, November is also when my sarcasm rises to new heights.  Just chuckle and scroll.  Just scroll if you don't like the jokes but I can't promise they'll get any better.

Anyways, it doesn't happen just one month out of the year.  It's just the one month where everything works out because I've planned for it that way.  And, you know what, the entire year could be like that.  If I didn't have to edit and finish drafts outside of the one month, but it can be done.  Yes, I've done it before, though not in one project, so yes, November is special.  November is the one month, out of the entire year, that the focus is just on one project.  And that's good, in the end, because it's what's needed.  I really doubt that Mystery of the Dark would have gotten a third draft if not for NaNoWriMo this year.  It's the kick in the butt near the end of the year that I needed.  So, I should be thanking it.  I do thank it, all things considered, and hope to continue to win for years to come.  However, there's an even bigger milestone.

This is the sixth year that I've done WriYe.  WriYe is NaNo on steroids.  You write for the entire year, or try to, one this one goal.  Mine went from 500,000 to 350,000 because that's the way life goes.  But you know what?  You still get the same amount of support no matter what you do.  You don't get people yelling at you and trying to poke holes in the fact that you can write so much in one day while they're struggling to get a 1,000 words in.  And, it is, in the end, something that I will always value more than NaNo.  For, while NaNo gives me the one perfect month where the stars are aligned, WriYe shows me that I can write all the other months too.

So, don't feel that you can't be a writer just because you don't have that one perfect month.  You can steal the time in other months.  You can carve it out of weekends and times where you're on public transportation or even when you're driving.  For the last one, I recommend a wireless speaker and some sort of software that will write for you.  Do not hand write and drive people.  It's up there with the silliness of texting and driving.

Now, for what I began my post with, I'll end with it.  Just don't read the book.  Go out and write better books.  Go out and have a definite ending.  It doesn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows, but it has to be better than there being no resolution at all.  It has to be better than making the choice that doesn't seem like making a choice in the first place.  So, go, be free and write.  I'm going to be left here by a book and stew over just how much I really hate it in the end.

The Weekly: Fanfiction

Every week, around Wednesday or Thursday, I will be blogging on a topic with the wonderful Tatra.  You can find her blog here and we'll be talking about a variety of subjects.  It'll be in a format that you're used to seeing with the WriYe Blogging Circle (WBC) posts, in that there will be a topic and questions to answer.  This is to help us get used to using our blogs more as well as just getting us thinking as writers.  Not that we're not doing that nearly every second or every day, but this is just a bonus.  Plus, it's something more for you, wonderful reader, to read.  :)  So, it's a win win.

This week, our subject is fanfiction.  Fanfiction is known as a work of fiction or art that is based on a work of fiction, non-fiction, or real people created by a fan of that work.  We'll be focusing on the writing aspect of fanfiction, although some people create art that is amazing and I really hope they're artists of original work that they can sell.  Like on the level of drawing a work that looks like a photograph / still from the movie or TV series but is actually done in pencil or ink.  You can find those easily through the handy dandy Google machine.  Now, you noticed I said non-fiction and real people.  Yes, people create fanfiction off of blogs like Badass Women in HIstory, CollegeHumor, Cracked, and so on.  There are also people who take a real person and put them in situations that come out of their head.  It's not really my cup of tea, but I feel that you should know about all types of fanfiction, considering that I've been writing it since 2001.

Yes, you read that right.  Fanfiction is how I got into writing.  I'm not the first writer to start off this way either.  Mercedes Lackey, the author of the Valdemar series, got her start writing for fanzines.  Cassandra Clare, the author of the Mortal Instrument series, was a Harry Potter fanfiction author before she got her big break.  Fifty Shades of Grey was a fanfiction before E.L. James cleaned it up and published it.  So, yes, it is not unheard of as people think it might be.  These are just a handful of examples off the top of my head and there probably are more.  I put these out here to show you, dear reader, that it isn't as far fetched as you've been led to believe.  Fanfiction is becoming less and less of a black mark against a published author, which is pretty nice considering I have a lot out there.

So, now that you have background into the subject, let's get onto the questions.

• Do I write fanfiction?  What do I write in?  What don't I write in?

And you're all, Liz!  You already answered this!  And yes, I have.  But I haven't said what I write in.  I write mostly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock (BBC), Constantine (the 2005 movie, not the TV series coming out this fall), White Collar, and Leverage.  Those are my top five when I look at my Archive of Our Own profile, even though I haven't written anything new in the last two in a while.  Oops.  What I don't write in is less of the deal with the original work itself and more about situations.  While I dabble in the idea of kinks, I won't write an out and out rape scene.  Other than that, I follow where the muse goes when it comes to fanfiction.  If I can write it and I want to publish it, I do so.

• How do I compare original fiction to fanfiction?

I view original fiction as a harder and more satisfying than fanfiction.  While I love fanfiction and am not putting it down, I love creating my own worlds.  I love creating my own characters and putting them into situations of my own making.  Fanfiction, on the other hand, is easy to write because, when I love a fandom, I study it.  I know it nearly inside and out.  Like in the case of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can remember that, in Captain America: the First Avenger, Red Skull took hold of the cube and went "poof" somewhere.  He didn't die, he went "poof" in a way of transportation energy.  We know it's transportation energy because, in the Avengers movie, Thor uses the cube to transport himself and Loki back home at the end.  I remember details of Person of Interest that comes from watching complete seasons two or three times.

And, when all else fails, there are these wonderful things called wikias and the Google.  :D

• What if someone wrote fanfiction about my stories?

I'm going to be considered odd for this, but I would view it as praise.  Someone likes my work enough to write an idea that I wouldn't have thought of.  Or to put two characters together that I didn't have time to write together because I was focusing on the main plot line.  Now, will I read fanfiction based on my original works?  Nope.  It's just that thin line because, once you've known as reading it, people can and will sue you about stealing ideas.  I just hope that people don't try to make money off of it, as that would suck, and then I'd have to sue a fan.

Also, I really hope that nobody writes incest about some of the characters.  Like, in Mystery of the Dark, there's a lot of family stuff that I would groan about people putting characters together before they know about the family connection.  And then get angry fans who love the pairing but now it's labeled incest because I went all "yeah, they're half siblings".  But, otherwise, I feel that people should be free to write fanfiction about whatever they want to.

Bonus!: Where do I post my fanfiction?

You can find me as crescent_gaia on the Archive of Our Own here.  Read at your own risk and realize the tags are warnings of what you might not want to read.  Also, check the rating on the left hand side before you decide you want to read something too.  I go as low a general audience and as high as explicit.  So, yep, read at your own risk, but check things too.  If you complain about something I write on there because you didn't double check things, I will only laugh at you (in a polite way, but still, laughing).

Blogging Circle: Vroom Vroom! (September)

If you couldn't tell by the title, this is going to be about speed writing.  Now, I can speed write when I want to, past NaNos being done by the 15th being my evidence, but there are times when I don't want to.  I like savouring how to write a novel and going over what I'm doing.  Sometimes I drag my feet, because procrastination is nummy, but that's a subject for another time.

So, questions!

• How fast do you first drafts go?

Eh... it depends on how motivated I am in the end.  Sometimes I want to get something done and therefore, it'll go fast.  Other times, I'll get bored with a novel or distracted, like with a project called Prelude to a Kiss that I started in February for a challenge, and they just sit.  Not that they sit finished, they sit unfinished.  I really need to fix that.  At least with that project, because I love the story behind it, but I do need to work on the getting first drafts done faster.  If only so I can move onto a second and third draft and get something published.

• Do they take you a year?  A month?  Is your speed more of a NaNoWriMo style writing or trying to nail down each word perfectly the first time?

The first time I ever won NaNoWriMo, it was with a novel called Power.  I did the 50,000 words in November and then it sat like a lump until next April/May.  The reason behind that was because I was just feeling done, even though I had to write the ending.  The only reason that it got finished was because I wanted a printed copy of it and that was one of the winner goodies.  It's still back there at the NaNoWriMo draft, which I call a draft zero, and stuff needs to be done with it.  However, it is done and I know I can do it within six to seven months.  Which I feel is fast.  Not James Patterson fast, but still fast.

• What suffers because of your speed?

The ability to use the correct tense dies a certain death.  :D  So does other proper grammar stuffs.  But that's why there are second drafts and then third and so on.

Bonus: What was your shortest novel?  Your longest?  And what was the main problem in each?

Power was only 80,000 (on the nose, wow) and Mystery of the Dark is about 100K.  The main problem in Power is the annoying grammar / tense issues.  The issue of MoD is... well, it's MoD and annoying.  :)  Annoying to write.  It's going to be awesome to read.  

So, that's about it for now.  Stay tuned for tomorrow and a post about fanfiction!  :)

Blogging Circle: Who Likes Short-Shorts? (August)

Yes, I'm a bit behind.  Apologies for that and... I dunno.  I thought I had done this but I guess I hadn't.  So we're doing it now, quick and dirty style, because there's another post about it.  That post is over here and you can feel free to read it.  It talks more about tightening prose than what I'm going into here.  This is more focused on the stories themselves rather than the effort that goes into them.  Let's get to the questions.

• Do you write them?

From time to time, I do.  When it's fanfiction, I write a lot of them.  But, as I said last year, I'm a novel writer.  50K+?  I'm in.  It's kind of hard to do below that, even though I can, because I want to dig into everything and take everyone on a big journey.  So, yes, I write them.

Sidenote: I've been writing more of them this year because we did two competitions on WriYe.  I say competitions, but it's more like friendly stuff with good amount of feedback.  We did Last WriYe Standing (it's like Survivor, but with prose!) and Contrasts.  Of the two, I'm liking Contrasts more but I think that's because the feedback is better.  Or it's less competition and more writing for fun.  Maybe, after I clean up some of them, I'll post a few here and there.  We'll see.  :)

• Do you hate them?

Hate is such a strong word.  Strong dislike, but I'll write them.

• Do you think they're lovely but there's no market for them?

There's such a big market for them.  My library has a section that's devoted to just short stories.  Also, I keep on seeing new ones and people are buying them, so there is.  For people who say there's no market, I just think they're not digging hard enough.  You can find a market for anything if you Google enough.

• For those who wish to be published, many people tell you that short story publications get your foot in the door.  And while that is true, I'm not sure how many people really focus on the short stories.  So tell me your own views on them.  Have any been published?  Are you looking to publish some?

I've been published in Milestone (that's Volume 1; I'm also in Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, and Volume 6).  I'm not sure if I'm looking to publish more but that's now.  In the future?  Yeah, I'll probably look more into it if I can't get the novels published.

Bonus: What is your favorite magazine / anthology of short stories?

I really don't have one.  I'd love some comments on magazines / books to look into.  Neil Gaiman wrote Smoke and Mirrors but it's all his own work and not an anthology.  He also wrote Fragile Things.  Both are good to read, if you're looking into a different take on short stories, and he's one of my favorite authors.

Alright, that's it for August's blogging circle.  Tune in tomorrow, when I'll post September's.  Going to try to get on a schedule for posting, joining the amazing Ana with her weekly posts.  

New thoughts, new month - Welcome to September

So, it's the start of a new month, along with the start of a new school year for some, and this seems to be the time of year that I get flooded with plot bunnies.  It's like something turns on in my brain with the fall season more than any other season of the year.  Sure, I get some with spring and summer, but nothing like with fall.  It seems like anything I look at might be a good story.

Case in point, at the library, there's a book about ghost haunting places in Chicago.  Wouldn't it be a cool idea to research a story like that and tell it from the ghost's point of view?  Or even doing some research and doing a historical fiction novel about the Salem witch trials.  Although, I think that one has been done to death but it's an idea.  There's also the fact that I keep on reminding myself I want to research more into steampunk, which is not the easiest thing to do.  Well, it is if you read the genre, which I do, but otherwise?  It's kind of like fantasy; you make it up as you go along and hope that it all meshes in the end, I guess.

In speaking about story ideas, I'm realizing all I have left to do for the year.  I have stories that I want to finish up before jumping headfirst into NaNoWriMo with two story ideas - the steampunk one called Sky Pirates and a fantasy one called the Scribe's Daughter - and I'm trying to think on how it's going to get done.  Well, no, I know how it's going to get done because you sit your butt in the chair and write.  That's the simple answer.  I think it's more that I'm feeling overwhelmed and it's best to just take one project at a time.  So, here's the projects left and the order they're going to be written in:

~Mages and Sorcerers - Unofficial 3 Day Novel Project
~Hidden Scions - Novel I started writing in August
~Prelude to a Heart - fantasy/romance novel that I started in February.  Yikes.
~Mystery of the Dark 3.0 - my dhampir novel that really needs to get going or something.  This seems to get written whenever I want to write something that's not the other projects.  Lovely.

I could have sworn that I started more this year.  Maybe it just feels like more?  Or they were short stories here and there instead of novels.  Oh well.  So, that's the plan - finish what's already started.  Also, I'm not allowed to start anything else until November.  *laughs*  Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

Blogging Circle: Limits and the Fantasy Genre (July)

Let's start with the definition of limits.  A limit, when not used in math, is an extreme value or boundary.  There's also BDSM limits, but that's for an extremely different post that needs to be marked as NSFW.  Our post today deals with limits of my own writing.

There are two questions for the month's post.  Extremely open ended, but I'm not the one who asks them.

• What will you absolutely not write no matter what?

I seem to be unable to write straight up literary fiction.  I need a genre to play in or I simply don't know what I'm dealing with.  I won't say "no matter what" because there could always be a case where I have an idea and then it just suddenly fits.  Also don't think there should be "no matter what" when it comes to writing because what doesn't work today might work tomorrow.  

That's my problem with the entire topic, to be honest.  I don't think there should be limits on your own writing.  Yes, there are things that you have problems with writing or simply don't want to write, but to say that you have limits on your writing is to sell yourself short, in my opinion.  There are other who are going to say "well, I won't write fanfiction no matter what!" and that's up to them.  But again, it's not really a limit but a choice.  You're choosing not to write a specific genre and that's okay.  You are choosing what you want to write, which writer do every single day, and it's not limiting yourself.  It's going where the story wants to take you.  Which leads us into the next question.

• Where do you put your foot down in your own genre?  For example, do you write fantasy but not a darker shade than a medium shade of gray?  Do you write erotica and rape is not acceptable to you?

First off, this "not a darker shade" thing is a bit of bullshit for a fantasy writer like me.  There's fantasy and then there's dark fantasy, which is a sub genre of fantasy.  Right now, there is a lot more dark fantasy out there, thanks to the Song of Fire and Ice series, but it is not the standard barrier of fantasy.  That belongs to some of the older and classic authors, like Tolkien and Lewis (we can go round and round on how Chronicles of Narnia isn't really YA but later), and some of the newer like Anne McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, and Neil Gaiman.  I say newer because they aren't really classic just yet, although a case could be made for Neil Gaiman because he's epic in his own right.  If you don't believe me, go read American Gods and then get back to me.  I'll wait.  

While we're waiting, let's get back to the question.  No, I cannot write dark fantasy at the moment.  I like happy endings and good triumphing over evil; it feels right to have a story that goes with that sort of flow.  I also have issues with killing off my characters, which I'm trying to get over, but it's hard.  So, no, I don't go beyond the medium shade at the moment.  That's not to say it won't happen in the future, but at the moment, no.

As for erotica, no, I wouldn't be able to write rape.  Then again, I don't think a lot of erotica writers like to write rape, but not my genre, so I couldn't say.  Any erotica writers reading that would like to chime in are welcome.  

That's it for this month.  Any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll try to answer them the best I can.  Cheers!

Coming in August!

A few things. One you don't have to wait for until August because there's a subject up this month.

1. A return to writing the WriYe Blog posts. I've got a back log of prompts to write for, but I'm really just going to write the one for this month. I might go back and grab another month or two, but if I don't jump in now, I'll never start them up again. So look for that before the month is out and then around the 15th every month.

2. The first big thing is that I'm going to be handwriting a novel starting August 1. I'm going to use the blog to show how it's going, probably with pictures of my handwriting and all. You might be getting rants about how hard it is to handwriting most days, but that's what'll be happening. That will be a Monday and Wednesday post with a Friday post showing off some writing - either part of a chapter or a picture.

3. The second big thing is that I'm going to get seriously cracking on the editing / rewrite of Mystery of the Dark. The trials and tribulations of that will be Tuesday or Thursday, depending on how it's going and if I want to rant about it. That will make Saturdays being the showing off what's been done during the week.

4. The third (and possibly last unless I think of something) big thing is that I am going to be generating new content as well. I've got a YA-ish fantasy novel to write called Hidden Scions. I've got an epic fantasy novel to overhaul in terms of editing and just basically writing it all over again. There's NaNo coming up as well. So, whatever day I don't post about Mystery of the Dark, I will be posting about new content. Or it might be the same day and then more on another day.

So, that's about it. I'll probably post random interesting articles I find or book reviews of new things that I'm reading. I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed which was really good, considering I devoured the entire book, and how it's making me want to make my own walking the wild plans.  Other than that, look forward to things in the future.

April, the Fail Month

Heh, April.  I had such great plans for April and then... nothing.  I got some writing done, like about ten thousand words, but that's about it.  So, let's talk about it.  Or, I'll ramble about it and you guys will just scroll down past it if you want.  This is also going to be on the <a href="http://wordsnbooks.blogspot.com/">wordsnbooks blog</a>.  Plus with the March and April WriYe blog circle thingies.  Maybe.  We'll see.  :)

First off, what is a fail month?  A fail month is where you set up a list of goals and then don't really get any of them done.  This can happen with any sort of path you take in life.  Us writers associate it with writing, because of ya know being writers, but it could also be that you wanted to take five different hikes and you didn't get any of them done.  You could call that a fail month if you wanted to if you were an avid hiker and that's what you did for your hobby / job / whatever you want to call it.  Basically, you set a list of things to be done over a month and none of them get done.  That's a fail month.

With April, I got some things done.  I was proud of myself.  And then about a week into April, I gave up on what I was trying to do.  There was no good reason to do that, other than self diagnosing myself with many things, and just needing time off.  Sometimes it just happens that a writer needs to just throw everything away and take time off.  Pushing through will only harm yourself, even though a lot of people say to write everyday, but I'm not of that thought.  I'm of the thought that if you stress yourself too much, then you will only associate stress with what you want to do.  Therefore, I just left and gave myself time.

It could have also been because I was fighting with a project that didn't want to work and it went over to everything else.  Like, I was trying to figure out a plot and character creation during the challenge instead of being done before the month started like I should have been.  So, um, yeah, I kind of set myself up to fail as well.  But I also think that I could have worked through it and done something if I wasn't wrapped up in myself and my issues.  But, you know, sometimes issues are a good thing to make you take a step back and realize that something is missing.  Or something is pushing against a wall and nothing is working that sometimes it is better to give up, take a breath, and find another route.

That route, for me, is to take May and June to finish up everything I've started already in 2014 / carried over from 2013.  I've got a great project I'm still working on from February called Prelude to a Heart that I'd like to get done and maybe published as a novella.  I've got fanfic that I'd like to get off my plate and I'd like to finish up the planning that I have for the rest of the year stuff.  I might pick up a new project in June or maybe in May as a secret goal, but I'm thinking nothing new until July.  That's the plan and that's my new route.  Will it be successful?  Only time will tell.  Until next time, readers.

Blogging Circle: Character Relationships (February)

Alright, so I kind of forgot February.  Oops.  So we're going to go back and do the post for that today.  And also probably get in March today as well, even though I have other writing things to do.  Other writing things that I don't really want to do because I'm here writing blog posts.  Also, spring needs to decide if it's here or not already.

So, character relationships.  Due to it being February and the month of luv (sometimes twue luv bwings us together to-day), we're going to focus on relationships.  Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference in the parenthesis above.  So the questions are as follows:

• How hard is it for you to create character relationships?
• Do you pre-plan them or do you end up letting them develop as the novel goes on?
• Have your characters betrayed you and paired up with someone you didn't expect?
• Give us the story of how your favorite written characters got together and what makes their relationship strongest.

It is not hard for me to create character relationships.  I like having characters interact with each other, even on a platonic or romantic level, because it just makes the plot go easier.  I think there is nothing that I've written where there wasn't a romantic undertone, which is kind of scary, but I think that goes hand in hand with how much romance is wanted in stories.  It is extremely hard to pick up a novel where there isn't some sort of romantic subplot and I should know because I've searched for such a thing.  And then I'm a hypocrite because I don't write what I would read.  Oops.  :)  But it's also fun in the end because, sometimes, as I'll explain with the favorite written characters, the plot builds up around the relationship.  

I pre-plan my relationships because I like to plan everything.  I need to know what is going to happen with all the characters or nothing really makes sense.  Well, it will make sense, but it's too chaotic in the end.  Like the time that I wrote Power without too big of a plan and romance snuck in between the female main character and the rogue of the story.  That wasn't supposed to happen, as I was trying to write fantasy without any romance, but eh.  It happened and I'll probably keep the relationship whenever I get around to the second draft of that story.  Don't ask me when because I really don't know, honestly.  That's on a back burner so far away it's in the next zip code.  I think that also covers the third question as well, so woot woot.  Didn't think I would do that.

So, story time.  My favorite written characters, at the moment, are Justinian and Kate.  They're from Mystery of the Dark and seem to bring out the snark in each other.  It's fun to write them when they first get together because they're not sure how to work - he just wants to be together and she's all "but you're the enemy" - but they get together in the end.  She gets used against him and he gets used against her and it's a lot of fun.  What makes their relationship strong is that, no matter what, they accept that they might never be on the same side but still love each other.  And he's very much of the mind set that she will kill him one day.  But there's nobody else who he would let kill him, so it's all good in the end.  Yes, he's insane, don't mind him.  They're still my favorites of the moment, until I get into Watchers, but I haven't started that yet.  

Bam, February done.  Now onto March and that post.  I'll try to actually write April in April too.  :)

Blogging Circle: The Hows and Whys of Planning

And we're back.  Kind of.  It's time for the 2014 Blogging Circle, which will go until it doesn't go anymore.  I'm thinking around October / November unless I get bored sooner.  I did talk last post about distractions.  :)

This month, we're talking about planning.  I'm also doing the One A Day WriYe video blogging, so this goes hand in hand with this about plotting.  The questions are as follows:

• What's your favorite planning method?
• Do you prefer to plot by hand or use the computer?
• What part of planning do you hate the absolute most?
• Or do you hate all planning and pants your novel?
• And the most important - why?

I'm going with the question that is the easiest and simpler to answer first - the plotting by hand or computer.  I like to plot by computer because I either misplace the notes if I write them by hand - I have a million and one journals - and I can better organize myself by knowing where things are.  Plus, all of my planning stuff is up on Google Docs, which means that I can be on any computer and work on my novels.  Or, you know, have Google Docs up on my phone due to the internet being down and use Word to write.  It's a win-win, honestly.

My favorite planning method... well, it's outlined in the WriYe Basic Stats document.  You put in the title, how many words you want to write, a summary, and then follow the links in the other sections to create a novel.  Before there was this amazing document, I tried to outline first and then create the rest with the outline.  Or have the characters down and then try to outline.  The linked document just makes things a lot easier for everyone, including me.

If you noticed, I didn't include world building in that paragraph.  That's because I loathe world building.  I really like using the Earth and cities that we have - it's probably why I took like a duck to water with all the urban stuffs.  It just makes it easier with writing to have a city already set up and you just put what you want to happen in there.  It's a lot like roleplaying in a way, which I also do, so yeah.  I do not world build all that much.  Or, if I do, I pants the world building.  In the novel I'm going to be working on in February - Prelude to a Heart - I have a very basic world build going on there.  It has to do more with the characters than any sort of shape the world has.  I figure that I can work up how the place looks as I go because I really don't care how it looks right now.  I might change when it is the 31st and I'm freaking out about it, but for right now, I'm okay with not having a good map in my head.

As for the why - I'm not sure I can answer that.  I'm comfortable with the way that I create my novels before I dive right into them.  It's taken some trial and error - like failing NaNo a few times - but this is good.