The Wayfaring Wordhack

Have you ever felt like you should post something but just don't know how to start, how much to open up, how much to put out there?

I have an uncomfortable feeling that after the year that was 2020, there are likely many more people than I am happy with having my same feelings I am.

My dilemma is that I do not want to be defined--nor have my year defined--by so much crap that has happened.  I want to rise above it and declare myself joyful because joy is not happiness, and it is not dependent on circumstances.  However, the Crap and hormones are trying to rob me of my joy.  Can you feel the tension inherent in the thought of having to fight to be joyful?

Let's do pjthompson 's meme instead of dwelling on it.

My first entry of 2020 came in June: 
Today* we welcomed a new bird to the property (and three potential others, more about that below) :  A Khaki Campbell drake, the titular Mr. Brown.

We have since eaten Mr. Brown. :(


July: 
An OS update, which I thought I had installed weeks ago, put an end to my horrid keyboard lag problem, and I can now type freely. Color me happy.

Nothing for August, so this is from September: 
What follows will be long and quite possibly uninteresting for anyone not into growing food, but I wish to get a copy of my thoughts and observations of this growing season (as well as a few comparisons to others) in one place where I can refer back to it. 

From the same day because it was my birthday:
 Birthdays when you are young:
Let's do ALL the things and have a PARTY!

Birthdays when you get older:
Please don't make me do anything, and party, meh. Let's have cake and call it a day. 

October: 
We've been having a very wet and windy week, actually almost two weeks.  

November:
(They're Alive...). My bees that is.

December:
November 29 began like the other mild days we have had thus far this autumn, but by afternoon a London fog had settled on the landscape.  

I have no big things for you, but Rabia Gale tagged me for this meme and I figured I'd play along anyhow. 


1) What is the working title of your next book?
Hmmm. Does "I have no idea" work as an answer? Seriously, though, I'm writing book two in a trilogy, which I like to think of as one big book because it is one big story. Because of that, I have a hard time dividing it up into volumes with titles. The working title of the trilogy is Witherwilds.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
I actually wrote about that here, and I alluded to a conversation that took place on a locked entry. Without divulging what was in that entry, I basically laid down a challenge to myself to write something that pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone. Two days later, the germ of Witherwilds occurred to me.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
Epic fantasy.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I don't often think about my characters in this way, and the sad truth is that no one in the Hollywood limelight occurs to me off the top of my head because my characters are not "Western/Occidental" looking. Those from my volcanic, jungle island most look like South Pacific Islanders and those in Semborain (a many-culture spanning empire) are rather hodgepodge with some Iranian, Ethiopian, and Turkish influences (physical types, not culture).

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Oh crap. One sentence? For a trilogy? With five POVs? Uh, um, hmmm....
I pass, unless you want something that speaks more to theme? In which case: Everyone is the master of his or her own destiny.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I just want to finish the thing first. Not chicken counting before the eggs hatch...

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Still writing. I have moved a total of six times (twice overseas, albeit once for a short stint) in the past year and it has played havoc with my writing time and writing brain. I hope to finish this draft by [insert something random here]....end of March.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
In scope, I hope it will be able to compare to Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
That entry that I alluded to above and Mayotte, where was living when I first got the idea for the trilogy. While not exactly a lush tropical island, Mayotte did give me the beginnings of an atypical fantasy setting. (Since then, I've seen and read some good books with jungle settings.) A visit to nearby Reunion Island--with its wildly varied micro-climates and vegetation, its cirques, and breathtaking waterfalls, not to mention its active volcano--really fired my imagination setting-wise for Paoqei (an island, home to most of my POVs). For Semborain--the enemy country, if you will--I was inspired by research I was doing at the time for another book, parts of which are set in Ancient Mesopotamia. Semborain really has nothing in common with the cultures that flourished in the Fertile Crescent, but I decided I wanted a vague hint of that flavor and a technological equivalent of the Bronze Age.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Birdserpents that live in symbiotic relationships with women who are capable of singing jewels--and birdserpent eggs--from the ground. A blight that is destroying an island, held in check by a Songwall powered by faltering, pain-ridden singers. Radioactive meteorites being touted as gods. Poisonings, corruption, political shenanigans, betrayal, wars....you know, typical epic fantasy stuff.  I just hope it doesn't end up reading as "typical." :P

Gakked from barbarienne atfrigg's persistent insistence:

The rules:

1. Go to page 77 (or 7th) of your current ms
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. No cheating.

Pg 77 of The Bitter River, in all its roughness:

After the boys were particularly rowdy in class, the Persian tutor made them write a report of why they had been acting up and how they might comport themselves differently in the future given the same set of circumstances. My father wrote a strictly accurate account of the morning, but Ahmed’s copy, like his speech, was peppered with falsehoods. Five times the tutor made him rewrite the account, threatening him with a lashing for each fib, but Ahmed could not relate only the facts.

In a fit of rage, he wrote in French, to the same effect. More lies, more lashes. However, when my father jokingly said that the Persian tutor’s English was poor and he would surely not be able to catch any errors in Ahmed’s telling, a curious thing happened. Ahmed was able to tell the truth. He burst into tears, and it took my father all of a day to understand that he was happy and not upset.

Last day for the meme, and the question is:


30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!

I'm not going to tag anyone.  Rather, I'd like to see a variety of people pick up the challenge of writing about writing.  If you are interested, the questions are under the cut.

All you have to do is answer one question per day, starting July 1.


( Writing about writing )

28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.

Yes, Tatterdemalion, my narrator for The Bitter River, is mute. He is an orphan who was found on the banks of a river by an archeologist and was raised in her household by a linguist.  Even though Tatter can't talk, he is very bright and can understand several languages. He loves words and the power they have over people. He communicates through sign language, but these signs are a made-up invention of the family he finds himself in, so he doesn't have much conversation or interaction with strangers.

Questions and answers under the cut because there are so many. None of them are long, however. I've not been feeling loquacious of late.

( Days 20-26 )

18. Favorite antagonist and why!

I don't particularly like writing antagonists. I guess because of that, they don't often figure among my favorite characters. That my stories don't often have the "recommended" protag/antagonist dynamic* makes it a doubly hard-to-answer question. 
I guess I would say Behrouz of To Be Undone. He is willing to do pretty reprehensible things in order to bring about a change that is for the ultimate good of all. I think a lot of people in life go wrong in this way. They have good intentions, but they become monsters in trying to bring about the change they desire. It makes him comprehensible to me in ways that other antagonists are not (frex, Valsidire in The Traveler's Daughter, who acts out of hunger for power).


________________
* I'm referring to the writing advice that states that the antagonist stands directly in the protag's way and the antagonist deliberately and step-by-step thwarts the protag's advance or achievement. 

16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? ;)

I do. I'm not sure how I do with them, actually. I don't think it is my forte, that's for sure. But then relationships, romantic or otherwise, are part of characterization, and I'm not up to par with that aspect of the craft.

I guess you could say I'm willing to go all the way because I have done. But not between the romantically-involved.  There has to be a reason for me to show a love/sex scene. I don't have a problem with doing it, but I doubt I will ever take the details too far. I don't have a story line/character arc that demands that in any of my present WIPs. 

13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

I would have to say the cultures--yes, plural--from To Be Undone. Each culture is very different and very connected to its place in the world. It is interesting to play with the rigidity and beliefs of each society that Phayn, the heroine, encounters.

14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?

The overall form of the world is dictated by the story, ie what I need to happen for the story to develop as I see it.  Frex, in The Traveler's Daughter, I wanted two continents connected by an isthmus to show the relation between the lands and inhabitants. Twin goddesses are the respective creators and patrons of these lands, yet they are still different. In To Be Undone, I took the idea of story informing world even further and there are geological differences that reflect a caste system. In Witherwilds, I had to plan two geographical features to incorporate for the plot to make sense.

So, yeah, plot is a big deal for me when designing a world. I plan on mapping out some floor plans, cities, etc. (something I don't normally do), but haven't done it yet. 


To see the maps that I have, you can check out the links in my Day 12 post.

11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?

I would have to say that my favorite character is Mirco, a slave in Witherwilds. For some reason, his is the most comfortable, facile POV I think I've ever written. His worldview is pretty dark and selish, but he is a product of his hard life. His voice is churlish and stark at times. But, whether he wants to admit it or not, he's capable of caring for others.

Least favorite....hmmmm. I can't think of a character in particular that I *don't* like to write. However, there are times when I have a problem catching the essence of the character--not just their voice but their motivations, fears, etc--and writing them becomes a chore. I know I'm failing them, and I hate that.