A Fictional Valentine's Celebration!

Warning! Ooey-Gooey-ness follows!

I got this idea from my new friend Brianne (her blog is therewebe.blogspot.com). She made a list of her favorite couples in honor of Valentine's Day, and since I wasn't doing anything else to celebrate the holiday of love, I figured I would write my own. With one small twist. None of the couples on my list are real people...

Yep, story of my life. But hey! This is a blog about fiction, right?

So here are my favorite couples in several different categories:

My Ideal Couple:

Walter & Ashley from the Dragons In Our Midst Books are about as perfect a couple as could possibly exist (except for the fact that she's two years older than him, but whatever). Walter is hilarious throughout the books, but really matures as the series goes on. They start off their relationship not on a BAD foot, but not really on a good one either. Their banter is the best thing about the entire series... As I think you'll find in many of the couples on this list, banter is a must. :)

Sweetest Couple in the History of the World:

Is this one kind of cheesy? Yes. But Prince Arthur and Guinevere from the BBC's Merlin show are just amazing. Taking the traditional legend (where Guinevere is a princess from a neighboring kingdom) and turning it on its ear, Gwen is a servant in Camelot in the BBC's show. Arthur falls for her, but has to keep it a secret, as his father would either have her executed or banished, if he found out. Gwen honestly makes Arthur a better person. She shows him a perspective that he never experienced, growing up in wealth and privilege. Yep, they're perfect together, and there's nothing anyone can say to make me think otherwise.

Current Overall Favorite Couple:

I know not everyone likes them, and they are often made fun of *cough*Rachel*cough*, but I really do adore Peeta and Katniss. And if you don't know what they're from, look it up. I pretty much can't wait until they cast them in the movie, and if they mess it up, I will be furious. Peeta and Katniss are amazing together and their story is so beautiful (in a really horrific sort of way). Anyway, I love them.

Favorite Couple that I Don't Want to be a 'Couple':

Remember what I said about banter? Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla from Syfy's Sanctuary have the most wonderful banter ever! He's completely in love with her and she likes him, too, but I'm not sure if I actually want them to get together. It's almost better when they are not getting along. I don't think I could handle it if Tesla permanently gave up his dream of ruling the world, and Helen gave up trying to stop him... (Of note, these two are the oldest couple on my list...they're both over 130 :)

Favorite Couple Involving a Nerd:

Connor has really matured over the four seasons of Primeval, and Abby has a lot to do with that. But he's still a nerd underneath. These two are just adorable together, especially when Connor's being a dork! And a bonus? The actor and actress are engaged in real life!

Favorite Couple I Forget About (For Some Reason):

I don't know why I don't remember Chuck and Sarah more quickly. Seriously, they're on one of my favorite shows, Chuck, and yet they don't come immediately to mind? Still, I do think they're a wonderful couple. I'm so glad the writers have let their relationship evolve, instead of playing out the eternal will they/won't they thing forever. They're actually engaged!!! I hope they pull off a wedding before the show gets canceled...

Favorite Couple that Makes Me Want to Rip My Hair Out:

Logan and Veronica (from Veronica Mars) are the most obnoxious couple ever. Seriously, if they were trying to fight/make each other insane, I don't think they could do a better job. Logan in general makes me want to yank my hair out, because he's such a dodo-brain, but Veronica should know better. They are completely in love with each other, they just have too many issues to see it.

Favorite Animated Couple:

Ok, this one is a tie between Flynn and Rapunzel from Tangled, and Beauty and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. :) Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite Disney movie, and I really can't bear to see them replaced, but Tangled was sooo good! Flynn and Rapunzel were too cute for words. So, they're tied.

There you have it folks! If you made it through that, take a cyber-cookie. I will now swear off all mushi-ness until next Valentine's Day...

Logan Echolls: Changing Perspectives

If he were real, Logan Echolls and I would not be friends.

In fact, it wouldn't even be close.

When I started watching Veronica Mars a few weeks ago, I won't say that I didn't like Logan. In fact, despite the fact that pretty much everything he did was morally reprehensible, I was rather fond of him. He was funny, and his banter with Veronica was charming. ("Annoy, little blonde one! Annoy like the wind!") Aside from that, though, there was not much to like about his character. He was the spoiled son of a millionaire actor who attends all the underage drinking parties, etc. You know the type.

Knowing what I know about where the show eventually goes, I kept waiting for them to show a different side of Logan. But what they did instead was much more, well, much more powerful, in a way.

Revealing the 'good side' of a generally bad character has been done so many times it can easily be cliche. It often manifests itself in a peculiar weakness that hearkens back to a characters past in some way. The memory of a mother's face. A young boy who reminds a villain of his dead brother. All can be moving, when done well, and achieve the desired effect of endearing us to a character who isn't all that endearing, otherwise.

Logan's case is different, in that, he is not actually a villain. Merely a rather unpleasant character. But the idea is the same. If a character is going to be likable, whether 'good' or 'bad', there is one key thing that must happen. Viewers (or readers, in the case of books) must be able to sympathize with the character.

The episode where Logan's 'moment' happened started out like any other. He was a jerk to a homeless veteran at a gas station, then tried to pay the guy to participate in a boxing match the next night. A few days later, video surfaces of Logan cheering on two homeless guys to beat each other up at his late night 'fight club'.

His actor father, Aaron is embarrassed by his behavior, and frankly, livid. Not because of what it says about his son's character, but about how bad that looks in the PR department. It was then that we get the first taste things are not right in the Echolls home, when Aaron shoves Logan onto a couch in their living room.

In an effort to fix this PR nightmare, Aaron and Logan drive to a homeless shelter to serve supper to the residents, news cameras and reporters in tow. (Of note, on the way there Aaron talks to his agent on the phone about an eight figure contract for his next movie.) Logan puts on a great show for the cameras, serving food and giving a beautifully scripted apology in front of the cameras. The father and prodigal son embrace, both smiling with happiness, before Logan announces that he cannot hold in the news any longer.

Logan speaks, almost tearfully, about what an excellent example of generosity his father is and boldly announces Aaron's 'plan' to donate half a million dollars to the food bank. Everyone cheers, including the reporters who have caught every word on camera.

The episode cuts away for a while, tying of Veronica's side of the story, before coming back to Logan. I think that final scene was so powerful because of how unexpected it was to me. We see Logan open a closet full of belts and carefully select one. My biggest suspicion, frankly, was that he was planning on hanging himself (though how that would work, since he's in the rest of the series, I'm not sure).

But instead he takes the belt his has chosen and carries it to his father's study. That's when I realize what is happening, though I can hardly believe it. Logan removes his shirt and the door is discreetly pushed close before the sharp sound of impact is heard.

I have seen a lot more disturbing things, frankly, but that one left a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. What caused that? Well, as I said before, I think the unexpectedness of it really drove it home.

Then there is the fact that Logan was not being punished for misbehavior. Name a law and Logan Echolls had probably broken it. He was being punished because he was going against his father and had cost him half a million dollars (that frankly, Aaron could well afford to lose).

And last, it adds a whole new angle to Logan's character. A man does not beat his 17 year old son with a belt for the first time. It had certainly happened before. Aaron Echolls was far from a stable man. I can only imagine what kinds of problems a child growing up in his house would experience.

It is amazing how drastically a scene with no dialogue that lasts no more than a minute can change everything. How much it can say about a character. How suddenly, Logan Echolls' story can become one of my favorites.

Why you should read the Alcatraz series...

There is one reason you should read the Alcatraz books, by my all time favorite author, Brandon Sanderson.

They are more epically awesome than Dairy Queen Blizzards. Yes, this has been scientifically proven.

What? You're not going to take my word for it? Well, then, I'll just have to persuade you.

If you are looking for an exciting new adventure, with fantastical technology, a cast of humorous characters, and a surprisingly 3-dimensional lead character, look no further! What makes the Alcatraz books stand out, though, is all of the narrator. I think writers, especially, will find these books laugh out loud funny, because of all the rules that Sanderson breaks on purpose. And, of course, he starts with the first sentence.

So, there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians.

Guess what? I have read all four of the currently published books, and I have yet to reach the part of the story where he is actually about to be sacrificed by the evil Librarians. As the narrator, Alcatraz, so kindly explains later in the first chapter...

You may have noticed that I began my story with a quick snappy scene of danger and tension-but then quickly moved on to a more boring discussion of my childhood. Well, that is because I wanted to prove something to you: that I am not a nice person. Would a nice person begin with such an exiting scene, then make you wait almost the entire book to read about it?...Of course not.

And this is just the first of the literary rules he breaks. The others? Addressing the reader directly (He does it ALL the time, and it's the best part of the book!). Drawing attention to your writing. Making it hard to read in places (in book 4 he wrote a whole chapter where everyone spoke like they were in Hamlet). And generally breaking other conventional rules. But all of these things are what gives the book it's charm!

What other series contains even a few of the following things: Evil Librarians. Jokes about Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Wheel of Time. A narrator who tells you it is important to act out what you are reading. Fake last pages to punish people who look to the end in books.

Yeah, I know. Your brain is going to explode from the awesomeness of it, isn't it? There is only one solution. You must go buy these books right away, starting with book one, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. Trust me. You won't regret it. Click here! The paperback is only $7! And don't you dare be dissuaded by the fact that it's a kid's book. That takes nothing away from it's awesomeness.

And now, just to give you one more incentive, here is one of my favorite passages from the entire series:

Some people assume that authors write books because we have vivid imaginations and want to share our vision. Other people assume that authors write because we are bursting with stories, and therefore must scribble those stories down in moment of creative propondidty.

Both groups of people are completely wrong. Authors write books for one, and only one, reason: because we like to torture people.

Now, actual torture is frowned upon in civilized society. Fortunately, the authorial community has discovered in storytelling and even more powerful-and more fulfilling-means of causing agony in others. We write stories. And by doing so, we engage in a perfectly legal method of doing all kinds of mean and terrible things to our readers.

Take, for instance, the word I used above. Propondidty. There is no such word-I made it up. Why? Because it amused me to think of thousands of readers looking up a nonsense word in their dictionaries...

Yes, it really is that amazing the whole way through.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

So, my dad and three of my siblings went to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader at midnight on Thursday night (or rather, 12:01 on Friday morning) and I really enjoyed it! In some ways it was my favorite of the three Narnia movies to date, but in others, it was the weakest. Without spoiling anything, lets just say that one of the added storylines (not from the book) was a little weak. It just didn't work all the way for me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the movie, but I was not happy with some of the changes they made. Along those lines, I decided to rewrite the story in a way that would fix all of the film's issues. At least for me. Mind you, this is only a quick fix; with more time I could do better. But I would have had no issues with the movie if the basic story had gone something like this...

(Warning! Here be Spoilers! But if you've read the book, I tried to be vague with the movie-specific spoilers.)
(Second warning, the writing is kinda rough on this. I just did it for fun, and didn't feel like putting too much work into it.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

Edmund and Lucy, formerly King Edmund the Just, and Queen Lucy the Valiant, are staying with their cousin, Eustace. A fact neither of them is very pleased with. While the siblings are having a nice talk in Lucy's room, Edmund notices how 'Narnian' a picture of a sailing ship looks. Edmund has a nice monolouge about all of the amazing things he did when he was king, before Eustace interupts to mock their 'childishness'. Eustace tries to say something clever, but every time he does, Edmund says something infinately wittier. Then the picture comes to life, and they fall into the ocean of Narnia, as Prince Caspian's ship, the Dawn Treader, is passing by.

Edmund, out of the kindness of his heart, saves Eustace from drowning, while help from the Dawn Treader arrives. They are hauled aboard, and everyone bows to the returned King and Queen. After honoring them, Prince Caspian obviously hands command of the ship over to High King Edmund, who ranks above him. They sail for a while and Edmund takes advantage of the time to beat Caspian repeatedly at swordplay and give first aid training to all the deck hands, all while knitting socks to donate to children orphaned by WWII.

They reach Terebinthia, and the Dawn Treader send a boat to shore. They are worried, because things do not seem to be right on this island town, and soon their fears are confirmed. They are captured by slave traders who rule mercilessly over the common people of Terebinthia. Edmund alone eludes capture and single handedly rescues the entire crew of the DT, along with Caspian, Lucy, and Eustace, from being sold as slaves.

After freeing the slaves, Edmund finds out about an evil green mist which comes from the east, and sets out to vanquish it.

They sail to the next island, and after doing most of the work himself and teaching all of the crew the ancient, deadly, art of Kung Fu, Edmund leaves Caspian to watch over Lucy, and falls asleep.Unfortunately, Caspian, who had eaten a very large dinner and drank several glasses of wine, falls asleep on duty, allowing the Dufflepuds to kidnap Lucy. When the camp awakens, Caspian regretfully informs Edmund of his failure. Edmund stalks off to find his sister, deeply irritated by Caspian's failure to be competent.

Everything turns out all right, and Aslan meets them in the mansion where he warns them of the tasks to come. He especially warns Edmund of the trials he will face, and encourages him to stay faithful to what he believes.

They sail to the next island where Eustace is turned into a dragon, an Edmund is the only one who believes at first, trying, out of the kindness of his heart, to see that Eustace is well cared for. Later, Edmund, followed by Lucy and Caspian, find a magical pool which turns everything to gold. Caspian and Edmund are severely effected by the pool, and they start shouting at each other. Edmund makes several very good points, but everything Caspian says is false and malicious.

After Edmund snaps himself out of it, entirely on his own, he appologizes to Caspian. Caspian, though, seeing the truth in Edmund's complaints, bows to him, and again declares him High King of Narnia.

They leave the island, which Eustace flying behind the ship. At the next island, Edmund figures out the way to stop the green mist, and they sail off to the Dark Island to fight it.

The fight scenes here are too epic to describe accurately, but they involve lots of Edmund doing awesome things, like the hag and werewolf scene from the Prince Caspian movie.

Then, in a total Crowning Moment of Awesome, Edmund defeats the temptations of the White Witch, who continues to haunt his mind, destroys the sea monster and saves the ship just in time. Eustace does his thing, and then they win.

After finding Aslan's country, Aslan makes a point of telling Eustace how wonderful he was, and commending him for standing firm in his beliefs, despite the fact that his betrayal from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, still haunts him. They go back to England, and there are five minutes devoted to talking about what happened to Edmund next.

The End.

Anyway, as I said, these would have been quick (but effective) fixes. I would like to try to actually rewrite the plot in a serious way, but this was more fun. Honestly, if the movie really had gone like this, I would have died from happiness. So it's probably best that it didn't. :)

Nanowrimo: VICTORY!

I did it! Wahooooo! 50,000 words in 30 days!

Ok, I'll spare you all my running around and screaming from the rooftops, because frankly, I'm rather embarrassed about that. Now that the first draft is done, I am looking forward, rather nervously, to the long haul of actually getting this book into something I would let someone else read. And it isn't even close, right now. But before I look ahead to all of that craziness, I'd like to take a minute to tell you about the craziness that has already passed-some of which happened during Nanowrimo, and some of which happened before.

I have been working on the story called 'Dark' since last December, when I finished Dark (the first book in the series), if not before. And when I say 'working' I mean thinking about it. Because, like my dad always give me a hard time about, I rarely write things down. Even story ideas. Most of them bounce around in my brain, colliding with other ones, and sometimes sticking together in exciting ways. The only things I physically wrote down were as follows: "Arrow captured in riot; meets up with gang leader. Whispering room (ellipse shaped room where whispers can be heard at the foci)"{I came up with that last idea while taking geometry} All written on a piece of scrap paper, shoved into my writing notebook. And this didn't even make it into my story.

So I thought I would walk you through some of the steps that did influence my story, even though they were never written down.

First, I should explain that I use a lot of music to give me plot inspirations. No one who I explain this to really understands, but I find it very helpful. I think I get this from the fact that I watch a lot of Fan Videos on YouTube and telling a story with music has become almost a habit to me. Here is an example I found. I do the same this as this person, only with my stories, instead of TV shows (if that makes any sense at all). Warning: This loaded in really poor quality by default. If you want to really appreciate it, put up the quality to at least 360.


With that in mind, here is a particular fanvid for Firefly/Serenity that definitely influenced my story. I hadn't seen Firefly or Serenity at the time and when I saw this video, for some reason I got the idea that River (the girl in the video) was the villain, even though she didn't really want to be. That influenced my character, Bruna, a lot, and really informed her arc through book one (Dark), and Dusk. Warning: Same as before. Bump up the quality before you watch.


The next big plot inspiration that I got from YouTube came courtesy of a scene from a show I have never watched. Knowing what I did about the show (from a blogger read who likes it), I totally picked up on the tension. I watched this video over and over for several days, and finally realized that it needed to be in my story. The only problem? I didn't have a character that fit Damon's role. I played around with the idea in my head for a while, and finally decided to turn my insane (sort of villainous) child, into an insane (quite villainous) young adult. And thus, Svein's character was born, as was one of my favorite subplots!
Sorry, this one wouldn't embed. Click here!

Ok, enough YouTube. Now for the crazy things that happened during Nanowrimo. Honestly, I can't list them all, but I'll give you the major ones.

The one that surprised me most was the fact that my 'main character', who's storyline I started with at the beginning, was such an utter disaster. As I said before, I had been planning this storyline for quite some time, and had everything that was going to happen worked out. No one was more surprised than I when it blew up in my face. So I had him abducted, and forgot about him. Well, not actually forgot. Just, set him aside for a while until I have time to give him the major attitude adjustment that he needs.

Most of my other 'plot deviations' were pretty small. There was the two page college football tangent that I went on a few weeks ago. It honestly wasn't more than that, since the story got on track again as soon as I started writing. On Sunday a friend of mine actually asked if everything was all right with my story, considering the Boise State loss Friday night. Surprisingly, everything was alright. Had the story not been going fairly well at the time, thought, there probably would have been some sort of mass genocide. It would totally have fit my mood.

Then, at the end of the story, my favorite character from the Wheel of Time books, Mat Cauthon, decided to stop by. I was writing a scene and couldn't stop myself from thinking how awesome he would be in it. So I put him in it. Surprisingly, he actually ended up playing a pretty important part in the plot, and turning into a character that was not really that similar to THE Mat, except in looks.

There is your taste of the crazy things that go on inside my head. Nanowrimo was crazy this year, mostly due to the fact that we had so many things come up. But the important thing is to never give up, and get the words written in whatever way you can. And I did that. Now I just need to wait for my Nano Winner's shirt to arrive, so I can show it off to all you people!

Apologies to my Characters

Because they have to put up with a lot from me...

Dear Ember,
I'm sorry for writing you out of the story. Trust me, you're not dead or anything, I just couldn't deal with your intense depression right then (or now). You'll be back in a future draft, but for now, you'll just have to stay with the Asian ninja woman who abducted you. Let this serve as a warning to you. Get your attitude issues under control.

Dear Flynn,
I'm sorry for writing your best friend out of the story. I only realized after I did that how lonely you were going to be. Also, I'm sorry for the fact that you and Arrow can't seem to get along, despite the fact that you both like each other. I'm pretty sure you've hit the bottom now, so things should be looking up for you two. I'm sorry that whenever someone needs to be injured, you are the one that takes the fall for it. I'm sorry for branding your wrist, breaking your ribs, and torturing you last book. And in this book, I'm sorry for breaking your foot, giving you a limp, and letting Svein break your hand and give you a black eye. If it's any consolation, he didn't mean anything by it.

Dear Arrow,
I'm really sorry I had Svien fall in love with you. I know he's kind of (ok, alot) creepy, but he doesn't know any better. Things are about to get much worse, as far as he goes, so sorry in advance. Also, sorry for making Flynn clueless. And I'm sorry I made you say those mean things about him. I didn't realize you were going to do that. I promise things get better. Oh, and sorry for killing your best friend. It hasn't happened, yet, but it will, so be prepared.

Dear Kaeth,
Sorry for killing Charis. Though, actually, you should be thanking me. When I realized how upset you were going to be, I decided that he didn't need to die after all. You'll see him again soon, so stop complaining.

Dear Charis,
Sorry for trapping you inside your own mind. But hey, it's better than being dead, right? Oh, and you lose all your powers. Sorry about that, too. Sorry for making your twin sister, Bruna, insane. I know it must be hard to watch, but trust me, she redeems herself in the end.

Dear Bruna,
Sorry for driving you insane. Your brother needed to be abducted for plot reasons, so I didn't really have a choice. You should be happy, though, considering you saved his life. Killing innocent people (or guilty people) won't help, though. And Charis isn't going to be very happy with you, when he wakes up.

Dear Village People,
Sorry. You were written into the story for the express purpose of dying.
Just...sorry.

Dear Jenna,
(see: Village People)

Dear Svien (or Svein),
Sorry I can't remember, or decide, how to spell your name, and sorry it's such a lame name, too, since you're a great character. I just typed random letters that sort of made a name. Sorry for making your life so awful. Sorry for giving you panic attacks. Sorry for making you, essentially, a sociopath. I wish I could say things got better, but I think you're at the high point in your story right now. Sorry for giving you super awesome powers, but making you too scared to use them most of the time.

Dear Delfi,
Wait, what am I apologizing to you for? I rescued you from twenty-one years of imprisonment! I owe you no apologies, at all. (Unless you want me to apologize for putting you in the tower in the first place. Which, I suppose, is valid.)

Nanowrimo: Week Three is the new Week Two

So, most people are supposed to struggle most in week 2. Well, I had my share of ups and downs that week, but it was nothing like what hit with week 3. I suppose part of my problem was that I got stuck in a scene that was necessary, but not enjoyable. I didn't want to go back to it, but I didn't feel like skipping it either. But there was also the problem of real life getting in the way of things. Whether it was work, or other school, or the tragedy we had occur in our family, non-fictional stuff was getting in the way. Which is just not cool.

So after pressing through that annoying scene, I realized it was Friday and I had gotten hardly anything done. Now, Friday presented an entirely different kind of problem. For those of you who don't know me very well, I'll have you know that I'm a HUGE Boise State Broncos fan, and college football is a large part of my life during the fall. So Friday, with the BSU game coming up, and general busyness going on, I didn't get anything done then either. Saturday is college football day, so I really couldn't get my mind off it. As a result, I made two decisions.

The first decision was that I needed to write 10,000 words on Sunday, so I could catch back up to where I should be. And the second was that, since I couldn't get football out of my head, I should write it into my story.

That's how college football ended up in my medieval fantasy novel, and that's how I got 9,000 words written on Sunday. Frankly, the football didn't last long. Once I got it out of my system and got back into my characters, it was no longer a distraction. However, I still think it's a funny story to relate. As for the 9,000 words, I'm pretty satisfied with that, even though I didn't quite make my goal. As of today my word count is up to 33,944, only about a 1,000 behind (plus today's word count). After yesterday, that seems like nothing...

Anyway, you can bet their was some pretty awful writing yesterday, aside from the college football. One of my characters had a very long discussion with another character about every aspect of a relationship that has been going on since the beginning of book one, and that was a great passage! I accomplished lots of dialog, forced backstory, and bad writing all at the same time! Then two of my characters who are supposed to be in love got in a fight and said some very mean things to each other. Yeah, it was one of those days.

On to the excerpts!

Worst Sentence: Streets were not placed in firm grids and alleys were as jumbled as pizzas. (Where do I start with this one? First of all, I don't think pizza has been invented yet. Second, that analogy. I don't know where that came from. Pizza was the first thing that came into my head so I wrote it down. I guess I was hungry.)

Best Sentences: The were pale blue, like the winter sky, and cold. But they were not merely cold. They were dead. That was the closest thing he could compare those eyes to. Dead eyes. (There weren't many to choose from, yesterday, but this worked better than most, I think.)