Twelve Days of Christmas: #7

 

On the seventh day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


seven strands a-tangling,

six skeins of black yarn,

five glowing wreaths...

four dragon eggs,

three blank stares,

two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap treeee


AND HERE WE ARE GOING TO THE FUTURRRRRRE.

to visit the Martyrs Saga.

Since this is in America, Christmas would be the same except that it's illegal now? So the whole smuggler/techies/soldiers/cinnamon roll crew is living in the same one hideout during Advent. Do they survive?

Ehh.

Yes.

Obviously.

So they decorate inside. And it is very bright. Wow. Very bright. But very pretty too. And they have a handmade Advent calendar, basically just a series of envelopes with a name of Jesus and a Bible verse declaring his birth inside. 

How did I end up with the lights? Well, when Lara went to pick up the gift, Bryce was literally wrapped head to toe in the lights, and most of them were burnt out. So when Lara helped Tessax and Sienna get him unwrapped, he just handed her the lights and said "Merry Christmas" because what a gentleman.

(Also Martha did send me a whole bundt cake she made along with a pretty poinsettia hand towel, so I'm all set.) 

Twelve Days of Christmas: #6


On the sixth day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


 six skeins of black yarn,

five glowing wreaths...

four dragon eggs,

three blank stares,

two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap treeee


Welcome to the cold, evil heart of Gerdin. Home to the Out from the Stellular crew.

Apparently, everyone heard me say, "Send me something that relates to your Christmas traditions so I can talk about you," and figured that meant just send me gifts. 

Or at least that's what Afi heard.

She went through and bought me six gIaNt balls of black yarn so I can crochet or knit myself a sweater. Apparently that's what Gavin gets her every year.

Kendall wanted to get me something that showcase the aCtUaL Gerdish traditions, but in true OftS team communication, Afi got me yarn without telling anyone except Perce who was reading and probably didn't even hear her.

Haydun managed to show me what they were going to send me, which is a six piece nativity, hand carved from alabaster stone. It is so cute, and apparently in Padong, nativities are very big and well respected this time of year. A little something that makes my heart happy in a story where it isn't made happy much.

Also I did not mean to say "apparently" as much as I did...

Twelve Days of Christmas: #5


On the fifth day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


five glowing wreaths...

four dragon eggs,

three blank stares,

two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap treeee


This is the day I was most excited about.

Team 14 from Kraidare. They celebrate what's called "The Festival of Lights," which after watching Tangled I realized is kinda similar, but I don't care because figuring this holiday out made my heart happy, and this story doesn't do that much.

Basically, instead of making lanterns, everyone makes wreaths, usually out of pine boughs, but one of the ones I got is made of maple, so I guess other leaves work too. 

After the wreaths are finished, they're coated in a special oil that will burn, but the plants won't burn.

They hang all the wreaths up, light 'em up, and it's so pretty and glowy.

Sometimes entertainers make their wreaths extra large so they can spin them and do other tricks while burning, and then it looks like some kind of crazy portal opening and spitting sparks everywhere. AND I THINK I HAVE ONE OF THOSE.

Thank you, Fyn and Regga, I was dying to have an entertainer hoooop.

Twelve Days of Christmas: #4

 

On the fourth day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


four dragon eggs,

three blank stares,

two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap treeee


Today we welcome to the gift giving the Caidin Chronicles! The CC are a series of short stories that I've written two and a half of, but they are also part of a larger story I've had in my brain ever since I got a dragon Beanie Boo. 

The basic idea of what the story is about?

Dragon riders.

So obviously I could Fangirl about my dragons for dayyyyys, but you came to hear about my gifts.

Apparently, being outlaws doesn't let the Riders or their dragons keep track of time, so they just declare their holiday whenever the dragon eggs are ready to hatch. So yes, they gave me four eggs. 

They're all teacup dragons, however. The big, ride-able dragons aren't hatched...

ANYWAYS I'M GONNA HAVE MY OWN DRAGONS Y'ALL!!!!

Twelve Days of Christmas: #3

 

On the third day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


three blank stares,

two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap tree


So apparently everyone in a Star Wars universe has no idea what Christmas is. They don't even have an alternate holiday. I looked it up: LIFE DAY. RING ANY BELLS, WINERA???

aPpArEnTlY being at war cancels out Life Day. Or maybe it's just not a Jedi thing. 

Whatever the reasoning, the Original Jedi Story, with Winera and Reyjin and Zenla and everyone, the Diamond Squadron, with Audra and company, AND the Midnite Squadron, with Zara and Heziky, all have NO IDEA what their traditions are because they HAVE NO TRADITIONS.

Whyyyyyyyy

Twelve Days of Christmas: #2

 

On the second day of Christmas, my stories gave to me...


two chestnuts soaked,

and a blue crab in a scrap tree.


Today we have The Last Phoenix. Or, I suppose, Myleck in general.

For several hundred years, Myleck's landscape has been dead and rotting, and the trees are all very moist as a result of the never clearing smog, so fires are very rare, even for cooking.

Because of this, the "Christmas" tradition includes chestnuts, although they are not roasted over an open fire. They get soaked in water for several hours --less if it's hot water, very rare-- then the shell gets peeled off and the nuts get soaked again in some kind of flavored brine.

Perpetua's favorite flavor of brine I believe is basically making pickled chestnuts, which sounds dIsGuStInG to me, but she refused to send me any other kind of nut that wasn't saturated with vinegar, salt, and so. much. pepper. Kalleb, thankfully, sent a much sweeter nut with honey and cinnamon. 

So it's an interesting meal choice, but not as weird as some of the others...

Twelve Days of Christmas: #1

 

On the first day of Christmas, my stories gave to me....


a blue crab in a scrap tree.


Okayyy looks like we're kicking off the Days of Christmas for my stories with GANTON!!!

I realized I have said next to nOtHiNg about Ganton, so lemme explain that a little real quick. Some time ago, one of my older sisters and I started a roleplay game of sorts that we called Fathor the Factor. There were a few different planets called the "factors", and each one centered around a different machine. Ganton is my planet, and it is a complete water planet. Everyone lives in submarines and works on boats.

SO obviously there isn't anywhere to grow trees. And it is pRiCy to import several thousand trees when that money could be spent on food. So they make "scrap trees."

Basically the kids dive around and find some piece of scrap material underwater/on the beach/etc. and they put it on a stand. Then they either pull up lots of kelp or use longs scarves or other such fabric to cover up the pole.

My main character, Karen Tombro, is scared to dEaTh of kelp unless she eats it. Her family tends to do a scarf.

And the blue crab... that's their tree topper. it's dead. But it's fun to dive for without getting your fingers pinched off.

Christmas Fun-sies!!

 


So when I originally came up with the idea to do "Christmas Fun-sies," the plan was to do, like, a lot.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

After school ended, my imaginative juices died, so I just had no real idea what I'd even do for a "Funsie," and then I ended up taking a week long break from even touching my computer. Which was amazing, to be honest.

However, apparently all my characters got together for some big Christmas party at the Ruins? (the Ruins is my writing nook, an old, crumbling castle sitting on the edge of a dimensional weak spot so I can access all my stories. think Chateau d'If minus walls. see "Revenge of the Unwritten" for more about the Ruins.) I was, of course, not invited.

However, my good assistant Lara put together a list of highlights that she wants me to share. *Lara, are they gonna even know what any of this means? I haven't shared anything about Heroes Saga yet, and this entire list is focused on Rian and Ellysa!*

Oh wait sorry. Wrong list. hehehe

OKAY HERE'S THE REAL ONE LET'S GET STARTED. I will be sharing just the tiniest about each character so you actually know why this stuff was cute/funny/evil.

btw this is supposed to make you interested in my other stories. i'd love if you comment which characters intrigued you the most and i'll make a post about their story on upcoming Writing Stuffs. please

Nice little key to assist you through the chaos and tell you which story each character is from:
JG = The Jedi Story                            AWU = A Word Unbroken
T14 = Team 14                                   Ganton = i don't actually know what its really called...
MarS = Martyrs Saga                        Niinia = Tales of Niinia/THE Game
MidS = Midnite Squadrom                TLP = The Last Phoenix
OftS = Out from the Stellular            CC = Caidin Chronicles

  • Upon arrival, the first thing Zara did was shriek and run halfway across the Great Hall to tackle Aima. (Zara is from Midnite Squadron, and Aima popped up in there a few times although she is technically one of my friends' characters, but she hopped universes into the Jedi Story/JG world. I suppose when two buddies have been in different universes for a couple years, that'll happen, but I wasn't aware that they were that good of friends...)
  • Rian, Kloie, and Ilyrruh met up by the fireplace and took turns turning the flames into different colors and shapes. (Rian is from HS, Kloie is from T14, and Ilyrruh is from the JG. all three can control fire in their stories)
  • Karen was very uneasy about being around so many magical beings and warriors, but she started to warm up when Perpetua and Kalleb gave her a crash course in knife throwing. It was cute until she almost cut Byrd's tail off, but apparently that's just a normal danger of being a teacup dragon. (Karen is from a completely water planet called Ganton where there is nO fIgHtInG and she spends her days trying to avoid diving into kelp. Pet and Kalleb are from TLP)
  • Audra arriving very fashionably late in time to sing a very rousing rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," drop off a stack of books that all appear to be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and leave again. (You should all know Audra from Revenge of the Unwritten... I am not sure at all where she got all these Harry Potter's from, or why they are all the one I am currently rereading...)
  •  Tirzah and Keiran led a Christmas carol sing-along. Ollyn joined them to do a three-part harmony for O Holy Night, being the first time he has sung in close to three years, and it was simply lovely. (Tirzah is a music writer from twenty-second century America in the MarS, Keiran from T14 has a magic stone that controls sound although she promises never to use it with music, and Ollyn is from AWU and apparently is an incredible singer?)
  •  Apparently Emma, Juli, and Sunny brought three giant sacks of Christmas sweaters so they could all have a sweater contest. Most decided to participate, although they had to force Besk and Elly to put them on. Caidin wore two, because there weren't any in Julius' size. Jafeth changed the colors on his and Evvy's so they'd match their trademark colors, but they didn't win because they didn't look Christmas-y anymore. The all around winner was declared to be Lillie, since she dressed Nido up but for some reason they couldn't count the dog as the winner. (Emma, Juli, and Sunny are from the HS and are all terrifying cinnamon rolls. Besk is a Jedi who is rather buff and by now refuses to wear anything that doesn't look "regal" while Elly is from AWU and is rather grumpy all the time. Caidin and Julius are from the CC, and Julius is a dragon... Jaefeth has Magic, and Evvy is just smol, and their respective colors are gold and purple. Lillie and Nido are also from TLP, and Nido is my first fantasy service dog.)
  •  When a vigorous round of "Capture the Christmas Sweater" began, both teams were fighting over who got to pick first because they all wanted the smugglers on their team. In the end, Kendall's team picked first, and her first choice was little Callyx instead of a smuggler. Wilson ended up being picked last. (capture the Christmas sweater was their name for capture the flag. the smugglers are all from the Martyrs Saga, with Wilson and Lyra and Sienna and co. Kendall is from OftS, and she is nicknamed "Teddy Bear." Callyx is twelve and the youngest/best SI agent in the later days of the Jedi Story, but she is very smol and innocent. Wilson is, in fact, considered to be the best smuggler in MarS.)
  •  After burning themselves out in Capture the Sweater being on different teams, Serwrenna and Kel settled down by the fire to relax, and Wren fell asleep on Kel's shoulder. Miraculously, Kel fell asleep too. (Both are from AWU, and yes they are a couple. and Kel. Never. Sleeps. EVER.)
  •  Aero, Roha, Zarkah, and Ellysa organized an archery contest with the prize being they got a kiss on the cheek from their crush/boyfriend. When Isli won and revealed she had neither crush nor boyfriend, Krever snuck up behind Zarkah and kissed her anyways. (Aero and Roha are from Niinia and are outlaws. Zarkah is from T14, and she is also technically an outlaw, but officially she's a freedom fighter. Ellysa is a super genius from HS who never misses her mark, and claims she lost on purpose. Isli is, well, also an outlaw, and she's the Robin Hood in my fairy tales/Legends retelling mashup. Krever is also from T14, and he and Zarkah... yeah.)
  •  Some of the less feisty warrior type girls --pardon boys-- organized a cookie decorating contest. Marta, Zenla, Felicity, Dophie, Perce, Halifax, and Moon surprised everyone by continuing to make cookies even after the contest finished, along with giant mugs of hot cocoa. (Marta is from Niinia, Zenla I hope you know a little from the JG, Felicity is from Martyrs Saga, Dophie is from Te14, Perce is from OftS, Halifax is a pirate from the fairy tales/Legends retelling mashup that I have yet to name, and Moon is from Ganton, the water planet I mentioned earlier with Karen.) 
  •  Apparently there was a snark contest between Gemma, Kairo, Tyra, and Afi that would have ended when Lara sent their counterparts in to stop it, but Heziky, Zeccariah, Lyrek, and Gavin just got roped into snarking as well. (Gemma+Heziky are from MidS, Kairo and Zeccariah are Bros!™ from Ganton, Tyra and Lyrek are Not A Thing Yet from the JG, and Afi is Gavin's insane smol assassin child from OftS.)
  • Sierve and Jordi were the first ones to notice that Lara was getting tired and that the Great Hall was a wreck, so they started dividing everyone into cleaning groups so they could straighten things up before they left. (Jordi is from AWU and Sierve is from T14) 

So, that is what I was given by Lara to announce as the highlights of the Christmas party. Even more miraculous than Kel falling asleep, there was no deathly emergency! No one almost died. Most of them I don't think can believe they survived last night. 

Anyways, so sorry again for the fact that my "Christmas Fun-sies" were kinda non-existent, but I plan to do a full 12 Days of Christmas for how each of my stories celebrate Christmas. Keep your eyes open for that! It will be coming out AFTER CHRISTMAS. and there will be an end to a certain sort of chaos on New Years. 

Thanks for reading, y'all, good bye!!!!

Writing Stuffs: Know the Novel part 3!!!!

 


Well hello there.

It is time.

For.

Part 3 of Know the Novel!!!!!!

CHECK OUT MY OTHER TWO KNOW THE NOVEL POSTS FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!

okay we're gonna be really chill for this post.... maybe... probably not...

ANYWAYS

Know the Novel is a 3-part tag for writers, one for each of these last three months of the year. Each part features ten questions you can answer on your own blog (or anywhere else on social media!). The questions focus on different parts of your novel and how the writing is progressing.

Check out Christine Smith's blog to learn more about this tag and to read other (better) bloggers/writers' posts!

ALRIGHT DIGHTY

ze questions


1. How did writing this novel go all around?

The war's not done... 

It's slowed down a good deal as school progresses, but still trekking along. It's been fairly smooth sailing.

2. Did it turn out as you expected or completely different? How do you feel about the outcome?

So far, it has derailed a good bit from where I was expecting it to go, but I'm really liking how it's going.

3. What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

Well, I'll always adore my characters. I have been screaming at the plot to pick up its insanely slow pace so I can actually get to the interesting part, but it will not listen. I've really enjoyed working on side things to do with this story that I'll probably never tell anyone (at least not in this draft or story).

4. What was your least favorite part?

ze plot

it has slaughtered me so many times

also the timeline

ack

5. What do you feel needs the most work?

the plot?

JK

I probably need to work on cutting down POV's. Last time I counted, it was getting close to 10 or 11 POV's, and I'm not too opposed with that since I have a large cast, but not the whole cast has a POV... and then it feels like I'm emphasizing the other characters as more important, which they really aren't... so I'll definitely be playing with that in the second draft.

6. How do you feel about your characters now? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!

No. No no no nononononononononono. NOT THE CHARACTERS.

Believe me, I love my characters to high heaven, but they are killing each other literally in one case and they need to stop but they WILL. NOT. STOP.

However, my favorite is probably either Ryder (because he's such a pure lil' cinnamon roll) or Garrin (because he's an overworked, clueless, #1 needs-a-hug/needs-to-be-punched, sugar plum who will smack the snot from you), although I have been surprised by really liking Elly. She's... erm... not dead yet. WHY DID I SAY YET SHES NOT THE ONE WHOS DYING. or is she ANYWHOO

My least favorite is probably Alith, but not by a lot. I really like my characters, and I really like Alith, but she's just the same as most of my other female leads in other stories, which is definitely something else I need to work on. I do like her, she's just not unique like the others.

7. What’s your next plan of action with this novel?

I need to finish it, first and foremost! Then... probably sit on it for a while. It'll be a rather large stack of papers and could be a nice cushion. 

8. If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?

Getting it published, of course. That is the ultimate goal, but it will have to take a few thousand years before that's the case.

9. Share some of your favorite snippets!

nO, you want mOrE snippets? I gave you like thirty last Know the Novel? greedy greedy greedy.

fine

because im nice

Certain he was alone, he tilted his face upward. Through breaks in tree branches, the sky was shifting from the peaceful saphire of the midday to the vibrant hues of tangerine and coral. Out of sight because of the dense tree trunks, the horizon would be dyed a pale indigo.
They’d be looking for him by now. He’d been gone for most of the day. Left during breakfast, returned for lunch before departing again. It wasn’t unusual for him to be out for hours, but if he didn’t return before the stars were out, they’d worry.
But he still had a few minutes to himself. A few minutes to be himself.
_____________________________

The flames in her eyes dimmed again as she stared back at him. Her tone was icy as she whispered, “Ask Jaun again. Ask him what his orders were.” Her voice rose in volume. “Ask him why he didn’t keep them.”

Jaun took a step toward her. “I did nothing to--” Andre’s lumo-gat was up and aiming at him instantly, and he retreated back a pace. “I did not do anything to {REDACTED}.”

“Then where is he?” Hakkyn hissed.

“He’s gone.” Dabernell’s voice was low and angry. He let go of his sister and stepped toward Hakkyn. “He’s gone, you monsters, your loyal lap dogs killed him. I hope you’re happy, you killer--"

Hakkyn’s hand flashed out, catching Dabernell’s cheek and sending him flailing back. “Shut your mouth, boy, or I’ll shut it for you.”

___________________________________
He let out a laugh of his own, although his probably sounded super strained since he was not amused in any sense. “So you’re actually trying to kill me now?”
“Not me. And no one else yet, I don’t think.” Jaun paused for a second before grinning, his eyes sharp and narrow. “Did you say bye to your friends?”
Ryder’s heart froze. “What?”
“I got you right where I wanted you.” Jaun’s grin grew as his gaze shifted to a point just beyond Ryder’s head.
__________________________________

He interrupted. “Where are they?”

“Garrin?”

He turned again to face her. “Alith.”

Alith stared at him, her eyes tired but less hard and threatening than he’d seen in the past. She didn’t speak; she simply watched him.

He stared back before realizing they were losing precious time. “We need to get you out of here.”

“Why?” Jordi asked, her voice tight.

He turned to her. “Hakkyn found out.”

“What?” Alith gasped.

“Hakkyn did what?” a new voice butted in.

Garrin found himself rotating yet again to face the speaker. It was the blond boy, the Trellish boy. He stood just behind Alith, his hand resting on the hilt of a knife. His brow was puckered as he stepped forward. “I heard you say Hakkyn. Please tell me you’re saying you’ve killed him.”


10. Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?

Errrrrm.

I mean, not really? 

I've been working for a while on building up my former writing style, since there was a period of time (aka this time last year...) that my style was just not mine, and I didn't really like any of my writing. I've always prided myself on writing really vivid descriptions, and I'm not sure how I lost that exactly, but for like three or four stories, it was just nonexistent. So I feel like I finally managed to get it back, so I was really working on just fine-tuning that more in this draft, but I don't think that's really a new writing skill.

Just improving what I once had.


Anyways, thanks for reading today! I hope you've enjoyed getting to learn more about A Word Unbroken throughout the Know the Novel tags, and I'm so excited to share more with you at a later point!

If you liked the characters, stay tuned for the Christmas Funsies coming out later this week! ;) ;)


byyeeee y'all!

November Doings

 


Well, it appears to be back to that time of the month. 

Yes, I did miss two weeks in a row. I haven't done that in a while, so some grace? I was also travelling... so I couldn't... post... ANYWAYS.

Let's get into it.

HIKING

Sadly, I did not actually go hiking this month... We were travelling most weekends, and my hiking buddy (a.k.a. Father dearest <3) is not the most available during the week days. Come to think of it, I'm not really available during the week days either due to the villainous schoolwork. So no hiking.

However! on one of our visits up to Virginia (we were up there twice within three weeks!) we did visit Manassas Battlefield, so I guess kind of counts?? No, not really...

PICTURES

I do have plenty of pictures, however, so let's grab those!

^ one of my favorite pictures taken of Daddy and the small bean
view out the window on the way to Viriginia -->

^Manassas Battlefield ^

 <-- GUESS WHO HAS THEIR PERMIT
Visiting Anderson University --> 
da bird 
 Thanksgiving
 CHRISTMAS TREEEEEEEEE
pretty lake -->

MUSIC

Yes, new section. BUUUUT something came out this month. So here's my Spotify Wrapped:







I blame my little sister for all the movie songs its all we listen to together
bonus points if you know the rest of the titles and artists whose names were cut off

READING

Alright well I'm lazy again.

Defy - Tricia Mingerink *5 stars*

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card *5 stars*

Falling Kingdoms - Morgan Rhodes *3 stars*

Heaven Came Down - Bryan Davis *4 stars*

Dragonflight - Anne McCafferey *5 stars*

Secret of the Swamp King - Jonathan Rogers *4 stars*

The Burning Bridge - John Flanagan *5 stars*

The Icebound Land - John Flanagan *4 stars*

 The Battle for Skandia - John Flanagan *4.5 stars*

The Sorcerer of the North - John Flanagan *3.5 stars*

The Green Ember - S.D. Smith *4 stars*

Just so y'all know, I am not suddenly obsessed with the Ranger's Apprentice series... okay maybe just a little...


OKAY SO THAT WAS NOVEMBER.

My hope is to do more than the three posts this month, since I have some Christmas funsies planned, but we'll see! School is on break after next week, so that'll make life much easier, but we shall seeeeee. 

Thanks for reading, bye.