Monthly Summary: November 2016

November was thankfully I much calmer month. Not as much stress, cooler weather, and lots of Thanksgiving food and Christmas decorations! And but of course NaNoWriMo! 

What Being an Editor for a Website has Taught Me

September was my two year anniversary being with Geeks Under Grace. Two years ago, I had just left a really difficult job and I noticed this really cool organization my friend was a part of. Geeks Under Grace is a site where Christian meets geek. We review movies, games, and more with a Christian perspective. We also have a newscast and devotionals for the geek crowd. I love the vision. So I asked to join and the owner said yes. 

At first I was going to be a writer, but then my internet was out for two or three weeks (Thank you, Comcast) and I almost lost that position. When near the end of that long and extremely aggravating time my friend and colleague Casey, Editor-In-Chief of GUG, asked me to be an editor because she needed one desperately. Now I'm the head movie editor and I have six writers under my wing.

Interview with Vanmoriel (Starbloods)

Vanmoriel

Me:

Hey, everyone! It's time for this month's interview and it's with one of my villains from Starbloods, Vanmoriel. I mentioned her in the first Beautiful Books and in the Six-Questions Character Challenge. She's my most evil of all villains, so this should be an ... interesting interview. (Please pray for my life.) *turns to Vanmoriel in interview chair, tense* Hello, Vanmoriel.

Vanmoriel:
Hello, Victoria. *sitting straight with her legs crossed, has hands in her lap delicately, has a light British accent*

Me: 
Shall we begin?

Vanmoriel:
Yes.

A Book Review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Buy on Amazon!

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

Writing Lessons from Movies: The Incredibles

The Incredibles is one of my favorite Pixar movies if not my favorite Pixar movie. I love the concept of a superhero story set in the 1960s. I love the superhero family. And the dialogue is just gold. The characters are fleshed-out and so likable. Pixar is known for their amazing story writing, so I believe it's about time that I've highlighted some writing lessons from one of their movies. As Mr. Incredible would say, "Show time."

Questions for Vanmoriel (Starbloods)!

It's time for a call for questions! This is High Priestess Vanmoriel. She is my main villainess from Starbloods, and basically the most evil character I've ever created, so I'm a little nervous about interviewing her. I'm rewriting Starbloods for NaNoWriMo this year, so I want to flesh out Vanmoriel some more through a character interview! Not sure how honest she's going to be, but we shall see. Let me tell you a little bit about her!

Vanmoriel is a several thousand year old Star. She is a sorceress and a high priestess of a sacred order devoted to worshiping ancient pagan gods. Once she had blonde hair and blue eyes as characteristic of a star, but her corrupted abilities colored her hair red and her eyes green. Long ago she betrayed her race in devotion to her gods and has been loyal to them ever since. 

Because she is so ancient, she has become numb to most emotion. She rarely experiences joy, anger, sadness, or happiness. She gets sadistic pleasure from others secretly and primarily so she can feel some sort of emotion at all. She uses her feminine wiles to get anything she wants and if that doesn't work she kills until she does.

By sacrificing other races and stealing their abilities, she has gained power beyond a normal star's such as casting hexes from fairies and manipulating sigils from giants. She can crush the heart of anyone standing within ten feet with her with just a motion of her hand.  She rules the country of Ibreain, a realm of stars with corrupted abilities like hers, a realm she believes is free from the constraints of the old ways. She believes this way of life should be spread throughout the continent of Grathain and seeks to corrupt her sister country of pure stars to become just like hers. 

Leave your questions in the comments or in the form if you'd wish to remain anonymous or if you're having trouble with the comments. Vanmoriel will answer them on November 25th! Thank you! 

9 Non-Character-Related Obstacles to Make Your Characters' Lives Harder with Avatar: The Last Airbender

At this point in time, it's the halfway point in NaNoWriMo. If you're participating, you're hard at work typing away at your novel. Perhaps you're in a part that's giving you difficulty. The scene feels a bit flat and you need more tension or you need something to drive your character to do something and none of your other characters are helping. What better way to help with that then to make your characters' lives harder with non-character-related obstacles? These are the sort of devices that will drive your plot forward in the direction you need and your characters can't argue against you, because you're in control of these. HAHA! Avatar: The Last Airbender has all of these in the series, so I'm theming the whole post around this show.

So Your is From Belgium ... Featuring Bieke @ Quite the Novel Idea + Kathy @ Books and Munches

It's time for this month's So Your Character is From Another Country! This is a monthly or bimonthly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last months's So Your Character is From Slovakia ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

The most I've seen of Belgium is in the Legend of Tarzan, and prior to that I frankly knew about it mostly from French fries, waffles, and the fact that I have some coins from there. Bieke and Kathy definitely shed some light on things!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

Beautiful Books 2016 ~ Novel Update: Starbloods

It's NaNoWriMo and I'm hard at work on my new novel. Well it's actually an old novel I'm completely revamping, but I'm revamping it so much it's practically new. I've risen out of my writing sanctum where I type away vicariously with my writing buddy nightly to give you an update on its progress. If you missed it, you can check out Beautiful Books #1 to know more about what this book is about! If you'd like to participate hop on over to Paper Fury and Further Up and Further In!

Note: I had a scheduling error and the Vanmoriel call for questions will be up next week!

A Book Review of Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Buy from Amazon

Celaena Sardothien is the king's Champion-yet she is far from loyal to the crown, for the man she serves is bent on evil. But working against her master in secret is no easy task. As Celaena tries to untangle the mysteries buried within the glass castle, she can trust no one, not even her supposed allies Crown Prince Dorian, Captain of the Guard Chaol, and foreign princess Nehemia.

Then, an unspeakable tragedy shatters Celaena's world. She must decide once and for all where her loyalties lie . . . and whom she will fight for.

An action-packed and romantic adventure that readers “will never want to leave” (Kirkus Reviews), the next chapter in this smash hit New York Times best-selling series is sure to please Sarah Maas's enormous and ever-growing fan-base–and to set the stage for an explosive third book.

Monthly Summary: October 2016

Fall has finally arrived! But it was still hot all month. Nooooo. What is up with the Southern weather? The leaves didn't start changing until about a week or so ago, which is super weird, because usually they start in the beginning of October. This has been an odd year when it comes to weather. Hopefully November brings cool weather because I miss my boots and scarves. October was certainly a better month than September. That's for sure. It had it's downsides and its highlights. 

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Other Florida October 2016 Adventures

If you couldn't already tell from my past Monthly Summaries, this year has been a rough year for me. A lot of awesome things happened, but a lot of rough things happened and it seems to be a never-ending string of them. And you know that saying that it takes many good things to make up for a bad one? That's what I've been feeling this year. And the bad things seemed to have crushed many of the good things. 

Rejections scattered throughout the year. Grandfather passing away in March. Car accident in April and dealing with the financial repercussions in consequence as well as debilitating anxiety and depression. Monumental job stress in September. Then this month losing my job and having my twelve year old cat pass away. 

Basically, I really needed a break, some time to not have a high stress schedule and just relax with some good friends. That's what this weekend was for. Amy and Casey are two good friends of mine that I've grown in relationship with the past two years. I'm so happy to have been able to have this amazing weekend with them. 

So Your Character Has Fibromyalgia ... Featuring Sky @ Further Up and Further In

When I was younger, I'd seen commercials about fibromyalgia. It wasn't until I found out someone close to me had it that I started looking into it a bit more. Furthermore, my character Elasa also has this condition. For those of your who don't know according to Wikipedia, fibromyalgia is "is a medical condition characterised by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response to pressure. Other symptoms include feeling tired to a degree that normal activities are affected, sleep problems, and troubles with memory. Some people also report restless legs syndrome, bowel or bladder problems, numbness and tingling, and sensitivity to noise, lights or temperature. Fibromyalgia is frequently associated with depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Other types of chronic pain are also frequently present."

So Your Character Is ... is an on going series where I interview or talk about myself about different people groups, countries, etc. for writing more accurate characters. Sky Destrian from Further Up and Further In has fibromyalgia and is gracious enough to let me interview her for both the blog and my own personal character research.