WIP Wednesday

So, word count wise, I haven't gotten a whole lot done on my work-in-progress in the past week. This was mainly because I had a lot of other things going on (my sister had a baby, the puppy got sick, I had to do a presentation for work, etc. Life stuff, basically). But I did come to a couple of important realizations about my story:

1. It's not actually about faeries. I've been calling my variety of humans with magical blood "faeries" for want of a better term—and while they share some features with traditional faeries (invisibility, metal allergy, existence of changelings, etc), I think they are different enough to be considered a separate breed entirely. My characters are human; a split in our evolution several thousand years ago—fueled by genetic mutations—created two distinct human populations: those with magic and those without. I've mostly been using the term "Folk" to describe those with magic, but I've decided to remove references to "faeries." I generally don't like it when modern fiction redefines mythological creatures (for example, vampires who can go out in the daytime), so I certainly don't want to try to redefine faeries.
2. Despite its title, Dyllan and Abigail, the book might not actually be about Dyllan and Abigail. Of course, their plot line is important, but recently other plot lines have gained strength and might even outshine the two characters who were originally the center of the novel.
3. Both 1 and 2 are okay! After all, first drafts are for finding out who and what the story is about.

This week's word count: 2,000-ish.

Ferrets make good familiars for sorcerers, sorceresses, and other advanced magicians. However because they are unpredictable, they are not advised as familiars for young or inexperienced magicians. Image: Psychonaut, 2007. Wikimedia Commons. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Frettchen_in_blanket.jpg

Story soundtrack: Enaid and Einalem's Celtic Nights, and Birdy's self-titled album.

WIP Wednesday (er, on Thursday)

I was going to do another WIP Wednesday yesterday, but then I got distracted by things like spoken word poetry on YouTube and walking my in-laws' puppy in the snow and sipping hot chocolate by the fire.

So, my work-in-progress! It's good; still a lot of fun, and I love seeing how everything falls together as I get closer to the end (I'm at just over 70,000 words out of about 100,000). Characters I didn't know were important at first become key to the plot, witches and magic cats abound, not to mention there's a plot involving the hybridization of magical trees and the disastrous repercussions thereof.

I thought it would be fun this week to post a few photo representations of the novel (see below).

How is everyone else's WIP going this week?

Magic groves of Miros, Northernmost Abernwyth. Photo source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/friday-field-photo-138-foggy-spanish-orchard/

The Dragonspine Mountain range that bisects Abernwyth. Photosource: http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/lectures/clocksmobile.html

Prague castle by night is close to how I picture the golden city of Averell in Abernwyth. Photo source: http://www.prague-czech-republic.com/photos/s/5/hradcany-prague-castle-at-night-prague/

And lastly, the wildlands, wherein lies the Wildlands Witch Colony at Covendale. Photo source: http://www.citypictures.org/r-north-america-151-united-states-156-california-6-death-valley-california-80.htm

Girls who read

My friend Eric from high school posted this on Facebook today, and I felt it was too good not to share with all you reading types. I've always felt the same way about guys who read, which is another reason I'm lucky to have ended up with my amazing, book-obsessed husband.

Enjoy!

January reads

So last year I read fifty-four books, and the majority of them I didn't mention much on this blog. Why? Well, when I started the blog I wanted to do a lot of book reviews. So the first few posts were in-depth, enthusiastic reviews of what I had recently read. But soon I became a little uncomfortable, because some of the books I didn't rate very well. Which is fine, but it felt a little mean when it was a book by a living author who had a web presence. I mean, it felt weird to be criticizing a novel when the author—or anyone else—could easily use Google to look up reviews. So, like they teach you in elementary school, if I didn't have anything nice to say...

But I wasn't entirely happy with that either, because I read a lot of books and I love to talk about them.

So I've decided to start doing monthly updates of what I've been reading. Nothing too in depth, just a quick summary and some of my thoughts on the books.

Okay, here we go!

January Reads 2012

• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson—The third installment in the Millennium trilogy. Lisbeth Salander has been captured and must face the Swedish justice system, but she's got a corrupt police organization trying to bring her down. Luckily she's also got Mikael Blomkvist and a team of international hackers on her side. Thoughts: This book was way too long and way too slow. The only reason I stayed with it to the end was to find out what happened to Lisbeth, a character I really liked in the first two books.

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green—Sixteen-year-old Hazel loves to read, and attends a local community college, having already earned her GED. She also has stage four cancer. When she meets Augustus Waters at her cancer support group, she can't imagine the adventures they will have together. Thoughts: I may have mentioned, I love this book! I now own two copies: an e-book version and a signed copy that I found in Foyles book shop in London. But I think when I blogged about it before, I labeled it as a sad book, which doesn't really do it justice. It's also funny, honest, well written, and thought-provoking. Recommended, strongly, but be prepared to cry.

• The Marvelous Land of Oz by Frank L Baum and Eric Shanower—Tip has been raised by the sinister witch Mombi since he was a baby. But when Mombi plans to turn Tip into a statue, he decides to hit the road with his newly-made friend, Jack Pumpkinhead. Thoughts: As with The Wonderful World of Oz, I loved Skottie Young's artwork, but there was a significant amount of sexism in this story, which made it hard for me to enjoy.

• Look at Me by Jennifer Egan—New York model Charlotte gets into a terrible car accident that results in the drastic reconstruction of her face. Meanwhile, a plain teen girl in Rockford, Illinois, also named Charlotte, meets a mysterious older man. Thoughts: Meh. There are a lot of interesting ideas about identity and appearance, and the writing is good, but for me personally the book is a little long and the characters not quite sympathetic enough.

• Death Note, volumes three and four by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata—Intellectually gifted teenager Light Yagami finds a Shinagami's (god of death's) notebook and gains the power to kill anyone just by knowing their true name and face. He begins to use it to rid the world of evil, but genius detective L is hot on his trail. Thoughts: I like this manga series, and I was initially happy that volume four brought in a prominent female role. However, I still find the series very male dominated and wish the creators would include some actually competent women. Aside from this, the story is great.

• One Renegade Cell: The Quest for the Origins of Cancer by Robert Weinberg—Everything you wanted to know about the basic biology of cancer. Thoughts: It's a little outdated, having been written in 1998, but I still found it interesting and informative. Cancer has affected my family a lot over the past few years, and I found that this book answered a lot of the questions I had about it.

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan—Two teenage boys—one gay, one straight, but both named Will Grayson—meet randomly on a Chicago street one cold night, setting off a string of events that culminate at a spectacular high school musical. Thoughts: At first I thought I would find the teen voices annoying, but after I got through the first two chapters I was hooked. This is a funny book, with a lot of good ideas about love, friendship, forgiveness, and loving one's friends.

So, there you have it! What have you been reading in 2012?

More blog awards!

So, I have once again had the honor of being nominated for some pretty nifty blog awards, compliments of my super cool Blogger/Twitter pal, Sarah from Squidink (actually she's from Idaho, but her blog is Squidink. Incidentally it's a good blog and you should check it out.) Ahem. So, thank you, Sarah!

Now, as per the rules, ten random facts about me:

1) My sophomore year of college I lived across the street from a super loud, super obnoxious frat house. My friend Adam bought a water balloon launcher, and he and my best friend Audrey and I hid behind cars in the parking lot of my building and launched water balloons into the frat's back yard when they were having loud, obnoxious parties. Immature? Yes. But also hilarious.

2) I was in marching band in high school. Alto sax FTW!

3) I also participated in two sports and I was terrible at both.

4) The first time I ever saw falling snow was Thanksgiving Day in Norwich, England, during my junior year abroad. It was one of the most magical moments ever!

5) One of my favorite cities ever is London, and I'm lucky enough to live just a short train ride away from it. I love how so much history and culture is jammed into such a small area in central London. I love exploring the museums, parks, galleries, shops, and cafés. I love the British Library, the Tower of London, Foyles book shop, Hampstead Heath, and London Zoo. Love!

6) I work in a college library. College in the UK is like 11th and 12th grades in the US. So I work with a lot of British teenagers.

7) Big Chimp and I really like pub quizzes, which are what they sound like: you get a team together and take a general knowledge quiz in a pub. If your team gets the highest score, you win a prize. The one we like to go to gives away free chips (fries) at half-time. Mmmm, chips.

8) We also like quiz shows on TV. Our favorites are Eggheads and University Challenge.

9) Aside from the aforementioned quiz shows, I don't really watch TV. This is partly because advertising is unspeakably evil, but also because there isn't much on that's worth watching. Exceptions are Dr Who and Sherlock. And Downton Abbey is my guilty pleasure :)

10) I just learned how to crochet, and I'm getting ready to attempt my first scarf. I just need to buy some more yarn for it.

And for the next part of the rules, I shall pass on these blog award nominations. Mainly to the same people I nominated last time, because they're still awesome:

1) Audrey at ChiquePeek—Style Scrapbook, because she's my very fashionable and awesome best friend/maid of honor.

2) Jeff at JRussellTeacher, because he continues to fight the good fight against bad grammar.

3) Susan at Harry Potter for Writers, because it's an amazing blog, especially for YA fantasy writers and Harry Potter fans.

4) Lora at The Scribotarian, because all of her posts are interesting and insightful.

So, there you have it! Please feel free to pass on or ignore these awards as you see fit.