The 6 Wives of Henry The 8th

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It’s one of the books I’m rereading right now.  It’s written by Alison Weir.  I’m still on Anne Boleyn, so there’s 4 more wives to read about.  It’s been a slow reread, mostly because I’ve been baking a lot for Christmas, but I’m hoping to pick it back up once Christmas is over.

I really liked the book, and found that it gave a lot of insight into his wives.  Most of the book is devoted to Katherine of Aragon, which makes sense considering he was married to her the longest.  A good portion of it is also devoted to Anne Boleyn, which also wasn’t a surprise given the lengths he went to marry her. 

Jane Semour, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard were the most interesting to read about. 

Jane Seymour, because Henry had convinved himself that he loved her the best out of all his wives, and apparently liked to say that she was his 1st lawful wife.

Anne of Cleves was really interesting as well, mostly because the portrait of her that was painted by Hans Holbein made her appear more beautiful than she was, and because Thomas Cromwell exaggerated what he had been told about Anne of Cleves.  The fact that Henry had felt he had been mislead would lead to their anullment.  She went on to live a happy, and private, life.

Katherine Howard is another I found really interesting because of her upbringing- she had spent part of her childhood in poverty, and then went on to live her step-grandmother, who didn’t pay much attention to her upbringing.  She really was ill-prepared to be queen, but nonetheless Henry obviously found her to be the perfect wife.  Her downfall was also fairly interesting as well- committing adultery.  Being married to Henry the 8th couldn’t have been easy, but that she would die the same way as her cousin Anne. 

I’m definitely leaning towards doing something set in Tudor England for my historical fiction novel, and writing about one of the women mentioned above would be interesting, as most of the (very few) historical fiction I’ve read focuses on Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth the 1st.

Kiora Mackenzie Jackson

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

This is my first character spotlight.  The format for it may change, depending on the characters.

Kiora’s around 5’4″, green eyes, auburn hair, and is fairly petite.  She’s an only child, wears glasses most of the time, but will wear contacts every once in a while.

She loves arts and crafts, so it’s one the ways she copes with everything going on around her.  Making mosaics, collages and scrapbooks, knitting and crocheting, and sewing are some of her favorite things to do.

I originally thought her to be more introverted and shy, but she definitely came across as more extroverted.  She definitely sees herself as quiet and artsy.  The whole artsy part is somewhat funny to me since she loves math and science, but she’s trying to be a well-rounded person.

The thing that strikes me the most is the relationship with her dad.  Her grandma’s been pretty involved with Kiora’s life- up until her death anyway, and Blake seems to be a workaholic.  She’s had a hard time adjusting to being in Washington D.C., and being the daughter of a cabinet member.  I still have no idea what being the kid of a cabinet member is like, but I’m assuming that she has to go to…stuff.  Like dinner parties and that kind of thing- at least a few a year.  For that matter, what exactly is a “typical” day like for the cabinet?  Meetings, phone calls, that sort of thing I guess.  I have a very vague idea, and I didn’t really focus on Blake at all, but if I can ever get my lazy behind to edit/revise, then I have to figure it out/make it up. 

Random Facts: Loves! Disney movies (the little mermaid is her favorite movie, along with Finding Nemo).  She loves daisies, softball, and brussel sprouts (which is funny because I hate brussel sprouts).  Hates hand sanitizer, wearing shoes, and bingo.  Loves headbands, teatherball, and bowling.Would like a pet aardvark or a pet badger.

Historical Fiction

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Unfortunately, I haven’t been as productive as I’d like, so not much got done in the way of writing. 

What I do have, however, is another potential project.  Historical fiction popped into my head the other day, and it certainly posed some interesting problems.  One: I love history, so narrowing it down to one time period would certainly be hard.  Two: I’d have to do research.  The amount of research would depend on which time period I go with.  Three: Knowing me, I’d get way to involved with the research, and not focus enough on getting the story out.

That being said, I could always attempt to ignore most of the research I’ve done, or do just enough research to get me through the first draft.  Tudor or Elizabethan England is definitely one of my choices, as is the American Civil War, something set in ancient Rome or Greece, and something set in medieval france.  Or possibly the early middle ages, or anthing set in the U.S. before the 1950’s. 

Right now, I’m leaning towards something set during Henry the 8th’s reign or something during Elizabeth the 1st’s reign because I have a few books on the time period, so researching the time period wouldn’t be too hard.    

I’ll definitely be doing some research, quite a bit, by the looks of it.  I may end up with a few novels to plan, by the looks of it, so it looks like I’ll have plenty of potential novels.

Historical fiction scares me a little, because it’s something I’ve never tried before, and it’d have to be detailed and at least somewhat well-researched.  On the other hand, it’s something new, and there’s no better time than NaNo to try something new.

Music, Part Two!

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I’ve been using Pandora a lot over the last few days, and it got me thinking about music that I can listen to while writing without changing the station every 5 seconds or skipping through songs until  I find something I can listen the whole way through.

What I listen to largely depends on my mood, and what I’m writing, but I do have a (fairly short) list of artists I can listen to all day.  Here’s the people I can listen to and never get tired of: 

  • The Gin Blossoms
  • Black Stone Cherry
  • One Less Reason
  • Rascal Flatts
  • Taylor Swift
  • Starkid Potter
  • Draco and the Malfoys
  • Harry and the Potters

  As far as Pandora goes, I’ve been listening to the showtunes and swing stations a lot.  Swing seems to be mostly instrumental, so I’m not distracted by singing along.  As for the showtunes, they’re fun enough that I’m not too distracted.  I’ve been adding a ton of new stations, so I’ll have plenty of new music to listen to. 

I get a lot of inspiration from music- one of my novels from 2008 was inspired by a song.  Other times, I’ll be writing, and a song will come on that’ll go perfectly with what I’m writing.  Music is a really nice distraction, and sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps me writing. 

And this year, I found that if I included each characters favorite music and artists, then it would be slightly easier to get into their head.  Like if I listened to what Kiora likes or what Chloe likes, it would be easier to write them.  Not that I ended up doing that, because I didn’t, but that was the reasoning behind it.  And it’s always interesting to know what kind of music they like.  Of course, it ended being stuff that I like, so I didn’t do it for everyone, but maybe next year.

Food!

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Don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth.  

Food is really important to writing, at least for me.  Last month, I averaged 5033 words a day, which only took about 4 hours or so.  Food’s pretty important, since I don’t write well when I’m hungry.  Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to cook ahead, and make enough food for the month.  I never do, but I imagine it would be helpful because then I’d just need to heat everything up, and wouldn’t actually have to cook anything.  And since I’m the only one who’ll actually eat what I make (it’s the byproduct of being vegetarian/fairly healthy eater- no one will go near it with a 10-foot pole), food tends to last me for a while, especially since I tend to make everything exactly as is stated in the recipe. 

November, though, is when I want to bake and cook, interestingly enough.  Cookies and any other baked goods make excellent snacks for several hours of writing. 

Snacks of any kind are essential.  I tend to go for stuff like crackers (Cheez-its and wheat thins are especially yummy!), fruit snacks and other finger foods, since I can type with one hand while eating with my other hand.  It’s pretty hard to write when both hands aren’t free, in which case, it would be a most excellent time to take a break.  Nothing too greasy of course, because it’ll get all over my keyboard, and grease all over my keyboard bugs the heck out of me. 

As for as actual meals, though, it depends on my mood.  Cereal is the best, because it takes no effort, and I could eat cereal all day.  TV dinners/hot pockets/microwave burritos/veggie burgers are also something I rely a lot on, since they don’t require a lot of effort, and if I can put it on a napkin or in something I can throw away, it means more time for writing, because I don’t have to clean anything up. 

Maybe next year will be the year that I make enough food for the month.  I’ve been on stumble upon a lot the last few days, and I’ve definitely found a bunch that look good, so I’ll have to try them out.  Maybe I’ll end up putting a list together, and leave a couple of things to make during November as a nice break from writing.

My Top 10 Books

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Here are my top 10 books:

10- Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley; it’s King Arthur told from a woman’s perspective.  I haven’t read any other King Arthur stories, so I can’t make any comparisons, but it’s certainly an interesting take on King Arthur.

9-Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen; it’s about a 93 year-old man in a nursing home who’s recounting his time in the circus.  I love the way it goes back and forth between past and present.  The main character, Jacob, is a really likeable character, and you can tell he really misses his time in the circus.

8- Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock; it’s about an 8 year-old girl who lost her dad and has a mom who isn’t there emotionally.  She’s protective of her younger sister, and they run away from home.  It’s heartbreaking, and while I won’t give away, it’s not what I was expecting.  I just wanted to protect Carrie, and her courage stuck with me.

7- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee; it’s one of the very few required readings that I actually liked.  It’s a classic, of course, but the characters drew me in.  Boo Radley, Scout, Dill, and Jem.  And of course, Atticus.  It’s been a couple years since I’ve read it, so it’s long overdue for a reread. 

6-The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; in a way, it’s a coming of age story.  Lily (who’s 14) never knew her mother, so Rosaleen became her stand-in mother.  They make their way to Tiburon, South Carolina, which was written on the back of a picture that had once belonged to her mother, and they get taken in by 3 sisters.  It makes the list because home and family can be found in the most unexpected places.

5- But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock; it’s the 2nd Elizabeth Flock book to make the list.  Isabel is a news anchor working for the fictional ANN News, and while broadcasting Princess Diana’s car accident live, falls apart and ends up at a psychiatric hospital.  What struck me the most about it was her struggle to accept that she denied the problems in her life, while trying to accept that she is, in some ways, like the other patients at the hospital.

4-The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; the reason why this is so high up is the fact that it’s told from the perspective of 14 year-old dead girl, who’s watching her family from her version of heaven.  I love that she’s narrating from how she sees heaven, and the aftermath of her death and the effect it has on her family.

3- The Pact by Jodi Piccoult; I mentioned this yesterday when I was talking about one of my plot bunnies.  Emily and Chris grew up together, and were best friends.  In high school, they start dating and she ends up getting pregnant.  She can’t deal with her pregnancy, and wants to go to college, plus, she saw Chris as a brother, not a boyfriend, so she decides to kill herself.  Chris tries to stop her, but he can’t.  He said they had a suicide pact.  He’s accused of killing her as he was with her, and because the gun used was his fathers, but he’s proven innocent.  It was a really difficult read, and took me several months, because I’d start crying every few pages.  I definitely identified with how hopeless she felt, and how she didn’t see any other way out.

2- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; I can’t put my finger on why I love this book so much, but it’s one of the few that I can read over and over without getting tired of it.  Can I just say that I love Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy?  Because I do.

1-The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling; I love Harry Potter!  It’s not funny how much I love Harry Potter.  It’s my all-time favorite book because I can read the entire series, and then start reading Sorcerer’s Stone the second I finish Deathly Hollows.  I love the good-vs-evil, and how the choices we make are important in determining who we are, as shown with Voldemort and Harry.  And the characters!  Harry Potter’s been a big part of my life since high school, ever since I saw Sorcerers Stone on DVD.  So I’ve been a fan for about 8 years.  It’s had a huge impact on my life, and no matter how old I get, I always remember going to get Deathly Hallows at midnight, and staying up all night to read it.

Plot Bunnies!

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Sometimes plot bunnies are great, especially when they come out of nowhere.  However, sometimes they show up at the worst time.  They usually right before NaNo or sometime during November, and never when I’m trying to come up with ideas, so I try to remember different people I see or ideas that pop into my head. 

I have a few ideas in my binder, and I think I have a document or two saved on my USB drive, so I’ll have to compile everything into one document. 

I’ll be working on my plot bunnies.  I’m still not sure if I’m going to be saving them for November, or if I’ll work on them before that, so I’ll start planning them and see how it works out.  I want to save them for November, though, because that’s my best bet for getting anything done.  And for now, I have enough to work on, so I’ll wait and see.

My first idea came from watching this one special on the History Channel, about whether there’s a presidents book of secrets and what would be in it.  In the special, they were talking about how there was one agency that was kept from the public for a long time, and also about whether there’s stuff the president doesn’t know.  An agency that was so secret that even the president doesn’t know about it would make an interesting premise for a novel. 

My other idea came from a book called The Pact by Jodi Picoult.  I’m not going to go into details about the plot of the novel, as it’s in my top 10 books.  I don’t want to be redundant or anything.  What if there were two friends who made some kind of pact that had serious consquences?

I’m definitely looking foward to working on these ideas, and it’ll be nice to have something new to work on.  I’m not sure how often I’ll work on them, just here and there.  I haven’t done any writing today, but I’m not going to worry about not writing every once in a while.

2006 Sequel

Posted in Post-NaNo Wrap Up, Wildflower by

This one started off well, and then halfway through I had no idea what to do with it. 

I was glad I got to continue Chloe’s story, and look closely at the past that changed her.  From not knowing anything about her dad, and the overprotectiveness of her grandparents, I really put her through a lot. 

About halfway through, I had no idea where to take it.  There were a few directions I could go in, and unfortunately none of the them spoke to me.  I could have furthered the finding her dad thing, I could have furthered her personal struggles to get over her past, I could have focused more on her writing struggles and work problems (which was what I had partly wanted to do at the beginning of the month).  Since none of them appealed to me mid-November, and as she complained/talked about her past, I decided I’d have her complain/think/reflect about different things that happened in her past.  It worked out okay, but it got tiresome after a while. 

It did give me insight into her past, which will prove useful in any editing I do for this one.  I know I can rework her complaints/reflections into something more constructive and interesting, and even if  I end up cutting out that half of the book, it’s still really good background info on Chloe.

Considering I lost my steam halfway in, I’m really impressed that I managed to write 50k without using any dares or wordpadding techniques.

It’s highly likely I won’t be working on this one anytime soon, but I’ll still post character spotlights, and any updates should I start working on this one again.

Victory Song: Wildflower by The JaneDear Girls.  Yes, it’s country music, but I love country music.  Besides, it seemed appropriate because the story really is about Chloe changing and growing as a person, and figuring out how to cope and accept with what’s happened in her life. 

Title: Nothing really jumped outside out to me, but Wildflower seems pretty appropriate, so I’ll stick with that one for now.

Harry Potter and The Giant Prehistoric Chicken

Posted in HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken, Post-NaNo Wrap Up by

The thing that amazes me the most about this one is the fact that I got off to such a rough start, and still managed to finish this one first!  November 1, I had 414 words, and didn’t write anything for a couple days.  I managed to get up to a few thousand words on the 4th, and got completely caught up about a week in.  But even then I struggled with it, and it was because I was trying to mimic the 5th book too much.  The characters were too in character, and I was trying way too hard.   Once I realized that it didn’t have to be exactly like Order of the Phoenix, it got a lot easier to write.  After all, if I wanted something like the 5th book, I’d be reading it, instead of writing my own version.  And with the struggles that I had the first week or so, I’m amazed that I managed to write 50,707 words without wordpadding!

The focus gradually shifted from Harry over to Hermione (who is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters), which may have been one of the reasons why it became easier to write.  I definitely see a lot of similarities between myself and Hermione, so writing from her point of view is a lot easier than Harry’s.  Also surprising me was that characters who didn’t have huge roles in the series had much bigger roles than I expected.

I won’t be doing any character spotlights on these characters or anything relating to the Harry Potter world, but definitely check out the Harry Potter Lexicon, which has been my saving grace over the last month.  On the rare occasion I needed to look something up, I apparated right on over to the Lexicon, where I could find everything I needed, as opposed to becoming wrapped up in reading Harry Potter whenever I needed to look something up. 

So instead of doing an in-depth character profile, I’ll be talking about each character and why I like or dislike them.  There’s definitely going to be a mythological aspect as well, since they’re going to the underworld, so I’ll probably highlight the places, creatures and gods/goddesses they encounter, plus any spells or potions I personally make up. 

I don’t really have a clear plan on how much I’ll be working on it, but anywhere from 500 to 1000 words, depending on my mood.  I haven’t actually written anything for it the last day or two, but I just need to sit down and write it!

The title should be well obvious by now (or so I hope anyway). 

Victory Song: I was listening to No Way from A Very Starkid Album when I reached 50k.  I knew that it definitely had to be something relating to Harry Potter, and No Way seemed to fit the best, because I was absolutely surprised that this was the novel that I “finished” first, and not only that, but a day early!  And as a side note, Potter Puppet Pals, A Very Potter Musical, and A Very Potter Sequel are absolutely genius.

The Secret Service Novel

Posted in Post-NaNo Wrap Up, Turning Point by

This one went really well year, which was a big surprise.  Maybe it was the fact that I did a little more planning for this one than I did the others.  Maybe it was because I had conflict and tension in oodles.  I’m not quite sure what was going on with this one, but I’m definitely going to keep working on this one!  I wrote around 800 words or so yesterday, which I’m proud of because it’s something I’ve never done before.  Also impressive is that I wrote 51,045 words without wordpadding at all!

At the beginning of the month, I didn’t really have a clear plan of what Kiora’s life was like, or how Secret Service protection would affect her life.  As the story unfolded though, it’s been hard for her to adjust to being the Secretary of Education’s daughter, and it’s been hard for her to fit in with her classmates, who are much more used to being the child (and in some cases, grandchildren) of important politicians, etc.  She, for the most part, seems like she’s kind of gotten used to secret service protection, but she’s not really the type to say so. 

Also taking me by surprise was Kiora and Dustin.  I orignally decided it would be a one-sided thing, with Kiora having this huge crush on him because she thinks he’s cute.  Out of nowhere, he kisses her, it causes issues because he’s feeling guilty, and she thinks it means something.  I was leaning towards the idea of them dating for a day or two, but found I couldn’t write it.  However, I came up with the brilliant idea of replacing Dustin and Kiora with Sienna (a classmate of Kiora’s) and a secret service agent.  I’m still not sure how everything will play out, but Kiora and Dustin are definitely realizing and coming to terms with the gravity of what they’ve done. 

Victory Song: Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. 

I know I briefly mentioned it before, but I thought I’d have a victory song for each novel.  I’m not quite sure why I picked this particular song as the victory song, but somehow it seemed appropriate. 

I won’t be working on it frantically like I was last month, but I plan on writing 1000 words or so everytime I work on it.  The rules of just writing, and ignoring my inner editor still apply, of course, at least until it’s finished.  Whenever that is.  I’ll be posting how it’s going, plus I’ll be talking about each character in-depth.  I’ll also post the weird stuff I’ve written.

Title: Turning Point.

I know I’ve mentioned the title before, but I’ll be referring to the title from here on out.