Tag Archives: excited

Plot Number One, 2011 Style

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This post officially kicks off my NaNo posting extravaganza!

For all the work I’ve done, I still feel a little behind with my planning.  My idea is as formed as it’ll ever be. 

What is plot 1, you ask? 

It’s about a girl, Poppy, who discovers she’s a mermaid, and it goes terribly wrong.  Originally, I was going to have her die, but now I’m not so sure.  My novel is based on the whole idea that she dies, and I don’t really feel like changing it.  But for now, she dies.   

I had a list of potential creatures, and mermaids were the one group that really jumped out at me.  Plus, I loved the stories!  My favorite one is from One Thousand And One Arabian Nights, where mermaids are anatomically identical to humans, and their children are able to breathe and live underwater.  I found that was the one I could work with the most, and while I don’t have my own mythology for mermaids, and Poppy’s own origin story, I have an idea of what I want to do.

I like the idea of her dad being stationed in the Middle East and meeting her mom.  I have no idea how he’ll end up with her, but he’ll end up with her somehow- her mysteriously showing up at his doorstep seems cliché but I’m working on an inkling.   

As for my own mermaid mythology, mermaids definitely have their own underwater world, with underwater cities all over the world.  I don’t have anything further than that, or how she knows she’s a mermaid.  Or how the child of a human and a mermaid would look.  I mean, what happens when she takes a bath, or otherwise goes into water?  Besides the fact that she’d be a good swimmer- which would be a cliché thing to include- it might be hilarious for her to be afraid of the ocean, and either can’t swim or is really bad at it. 

Actually, that could be a sign that something is wrong with her mermaid side. 

I think for now, her tail could be something that starts to appear when she reaches 16, and only appears when she goes into the ocean, or some other body of water, but not when she’s in a pool or taking a bath. 

One of the big questions is how being a mermaid could kill her.  There are a couple things I settled on.  One- being half-mermaid, she’s really connected to nature.  Pollution is really bad, but for someone so connected to nature, it’s even more toxic, and the more she breathes in polluted air and all that, the more of an effect it has on her.  Being in an underwater city would definitely help her, and while the merfolk in these cities feel some effects, it’s not as bad as it would be if they were living on land like Poppy is.  And with all the processed food, and food recalls, it would not be a good thing for a mermaid.  Two- Something about the human side doesn’t react well with the mermaid side of her, and when combined with pollution and processed foods and everything…it’s disastrous and potentially lethal. 

I did get an interesting idea from Fablehaven that I really want to include.  Oh, and an idea I got from someone in my writer’s group, since they go pretty well together.  First, the Fablehaven inspiration.  There are magical sanctuaries all over the world, where all kinds of magical creatures and being go when their natural environment disappears.  And the idea from my writing group is this: a magical council, who decides on things like a common language for all magical creatures and who can be let in on all the secrets.  I might include some sort of registration system.  I do like someone who knows her- a teacher or neighbor- being on the magical council and suspecting that she’s a mermaid, and keeps asking her questions.  On a related note to how being a mermaid could kill her- if she had known about this magical council, they might have been able to save her.     

Character-wise, I have Poppy and Jordan.  And Poppy’s mom and dad, but I don’t know anything about them yet.  I’ll probably through in a couple friends, a couple neighbors, and maybe a teacher and a few others.  At this point, it’s too late to do complete profiles on everyone, but I only need profiles for her parents, the 2 friends, and the person who suspects she’s a mermaid.  Everyone else, I just need names for. 

Tomorrow’s post will be the novel’s soundtrack plus some other things that I’ll be listening to while I’m writing.

Research

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As November approaches, I’ve actually been working on my plots.  I’ve only been working on one, the one about the 2 friends who make a pact.  I’ve narrowed things down to either fairies or mermaids, but even more questions have popped up.  There are definitely a lot of things I need to work out between now and November.  Like, how is it going to kill her?  Is it something she’s allergic to?  Why can’t her body handle the fairy or the mermaid part of her?  Are there other people who are having the same problems as Poppy?  Does the fairy blood/mermaid whatever show up as something foreign or does everything appear normal because people think fairies and mermaids don’t exist?  Or is it a combination of both where there’s something weird but no one realizes it’s because she’s a fairie and so they think it’s some new disease or something?  How did she become part-fairie or part-mermaid?  Is one of her parents a fairie or a mermaid or is it some totally bizarre genetic mutation that turns people into mythological creatures?  Or maybe everyone has the ability to be a fairie or mermaid but only a certain segment of the population becomes a fairie because of a random mutation?

So, you can see my problem in actually working out some of the details, but I’m determined to make it work.  I think it’ll be easier to work out some of these questions once I actually pick something.  This is why I prefer to (mostly) wing it.  It’s just easier to make stuff up as I go along, but unfortunately, this isn’t something I can really make up as I go along.  I can, but I think I’m going to have to put in a lot of work ahead of time.  I’m thinking about shifting between her journal entries and the present but I’m not sure yet.  If I can think up of some more characters, and *maybe* plan some of the journal entries, then I’ll do that.  Otherwise, I’m not sure how I’m going to do this.  I definitely need to go back and forth between past and present…somehow.

I generally avoid research, but I have it to, I try to do just enough to get me through NaNo.  It’s interesting that after several years, I’m shifting more towards things that require me to do research.  I usually avoid research because I’ll focus too much on research and not enough on everything else.  I still have trouble finding the right balance, but maybe I’ll get better at it as I keep coming up with ideas where I actually need to research stuff before writing it.  I suppose I could always just ignore any research and write things that are potentially inaccurate, but where’s the fun in that?  I think I’m going to let the novel dictate how much I research because different things require different amounts of planning.  You wouldn’t plan historical fiction and fanfiction the same way, and you wouldn’t approach fantasy and romance the same way, so I really should try to let the novel dictate the amount of effort I put into planning and researching it.

Hopefully the research I do turns out okay, and it’s definitely going to be fun!

More TV Talk!

Posted in TV by

Grey’s Anatomy and Person Of Interest are next up on my season premiere recap.

First off, Grey’s Anatomy.  It was a 2-hour premiere, and Meredith loses her job, the board at the hospital deciding a suspension wasn’t good enough.  She sticks around the hospital though.  Kepner is chief resident, but no one listens to her, and Bailey tries to find a gunther, which a patient used as a team-building activity to get the residents to work together.  Everybody’s made at Alex because he ratted on Meredith.  Let’s see…there’s a giant sinkhole in Seattle, so all the injuries go to Seattle Grace or Mercy West, or whatever the hospital’s called now.  Christina ends up getting an abortion and Owen supports her decision, which is a big change from the end of last season.  And with Meredith getting fired, the separation from Derek, and the “red flags” raised by the interview with the social services lady, the baby Meredith and Derek adopted is taken away, and will be placed with another family while they re-evaluate the life Derek and Meredith could provide for Zola.  Richard covers for Meredith, saying it was him who switched the results instead of Meredith, and so she gets her job back.  I have no idea if he’ll still be working there but not as chief, or if he’ll be gone completely.  He did hand off his clinical trial to Bailey, but we’ll find out next week.

I didn’t see Richard stepping down, but considering how much Meredith gets away with, and his relationship with her mom, I really shouldn’t be surprised.  And that is why I love Grey’s Anatomy.  It is dramatic, and over the top, and in general, it’s fairly predictable, with an occasional twist thrown in.  I’ll be tuning in next week, that’s for sure.

As far as Person Of Interest goes, I watched the pilot, and I really like the premise of the show.  It was interesting, but I’m not sure about it.  I think I’ll keep watching it online to see if it’ll keep me interested.  It was definitely hyped up, but I don’t know if the show actually lived up to all the hype.  Maybe it’s one of those shows that takes a while to get into, like The Event, which was weird at first, and then I got into it.  So maybe the same will happen with Person Of Interest.  For the moment, I’m glad that that Grey’s Anatomy was higher up on the priority list of tv shows to watch.

So, I’m not at all done talking about tv yet, so I’ll be back with a few more season premiere recaps!

So Many Shows…So Little Time!

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What a week for t.v.!  On America’s Next Top Model, the girls got makeovers, which is always one of my favorite episodes.  There was a meltdown, which always seems to happen, and one girl was so happy she cried.  Not much else to report, though, but I’m really glad Kayla didn’t get eliminated.

We also have CSI and Revenge on Wednesday nights.  I was really torn about which one to watch.  A DVR would really come in handy, and I’m not sure if I can convince my grandma to get one.  If I had a way to pay for it myself, I totally give her the money every month for it.  I wasn’t up to going back and forth, so I figured I would watch one and watch the other online.  CSI won out, mostly because it’s the first time I could actually watch it…the only problem is that I have no clue what’s going on, since I’ve only seen the first season in it’s entirety, and random episodes from the subsequent seasons.  On the plus side, though, it’s one of those shows where you can randomly pick up and generally get the gist of what’s going on.

I watched Revenge online, and so far, it’s really good!  It’s definitely something I’m going to keep watching.  I like how it flashed back to her childhood and the present.  You get little bits and pieces of why Emily returned to the Hamptons and what happened, but you don’t get the full story right away.  It’s all very mysterious, and I can’t help but want to know what happened.

And NCIS!  That fanfic I wrote back in July for Camp NaNo?  There was a lot that I unknowingly got right!  It wasn’t E.J., just like I thought, but the microchip she took out of Levin’s arm was definitely connected.  It turned out that it was Cade…but not really.  There’s some guy named Stratton, who said he worked for the FBI, but the FBI has never heard of him, and he’s not showing up in any kind of database.  Another person had the microchip, which I had written back in July, and Tony does disappear for a while, like I had written.  And the FBI is kind of but not really involved in the pilot, while they were featured a lot more in the fanfic.  I definitely need to rewatch it, since it goes back and forth between past and present, which reminded me of the episode where they go looking for Ziva in Somalia.  I feel like I missed a few details, but I can tell you right now that this micro-chip thing is going to be a season-long arc.  It all comes down to something called Phantom 8, which the new SECNAV, Director Vance and this Stratton guy are connected to somehow.  Good lord, everyone being involved in Operation Frankenstein at the end of the last season was enough, do we really need more secret projects that people are involved in?  I don’t trust the new SECNAV at all- he’s definitely up to something.  I really wish they’d go back to the stand-alone episodes- the whole “grab-your-gear, there’s a dead marine” thing.

I’m waiting for House and Once Upon A Time to start.  The season premiere for House is in October as is Once Upon A Time.  I think House is October 3rd, but I’m not sure about the date for Once Upon A Time.  I think it’ll premiere at the end of October.  And Terra Nova starts on Monday, so that’s another one I’ll be recapping.

I watched Grey’s Anatomy yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to watch Person Of Interest, which was on at the same time, so I’ll give a recap for both tomorrow.

More Podcast Talk

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I went look for some more podcasts over the weekend.  I got caught up on the one’s I listening to, and found a ton of new podcasts to listen to.  Some I found at iTunes, but there were a bunch I found over at Pride48, which had their 48 hour marathon event.  I guess they have it every year, and since some of the podcasts I listen to were participating, I thought I’d listen this year.

I had heard of some of the podcasts before, but never listened to, so I downloaded those.  And there were a bunch I downloaded that I had never heard of.  I’ve listened to a few of them, and I’ve definitely found some new podcasts to listen to.  There are definitely a few that I tried listening to months ago but couldn’t get into.  I think I’m going to give them another listen, because I definitely have a few podcasts that I tried listening to, deleted, and then listened again…and liked them.

Back to Pride48, though.  It was really fun listening, especially since all of the Vegas shows were live, in front of an audience.  There were quite a few shows that weren’t broadcast from Vegas, but overall, it was really fun.  It made me wish I was there, but that really wasn’t an option this year.  And I don’t know if a non-podcaster can attend anyway….maybe if I start podcasting, I’ll be able to go next year, even if I don’t do the live show thing.  And hanging out in the chatroom was really fun!  I mostly lurked, but every once in a while, I commented on something.  I can’t wait for next year!

Anyway, I have lots of potential new podcasts to try out, and maybe some of them will stick.  I’ll probably post some kind of podcast update when I get through everything.

I Got In!

Posted in Harry Potter by

Yesterday was monumental…I got my Pottermore welcome letter!  I was checking my email (one of them, I have 2), and I was surprised to find an email from Pottermore.  I completely forgot that I had originally registered with my yahoo email; there were some weird issues going on the first day with Yahoo, and felt confused as to why I hadn’t gotten after an hour.  So I signed up with my gmail, got that confirmation email, and impatiently waited for my welcome email.  So imagine my surprise when I got my pottermore welcome letter!

I jumped up and down screaming, and calmed down long enough to log in.  I still wasn’t sure what to expect, but you go through the entire book chapter-by-chapter.  Within each chapter are “moments.”  And within the moments, you can collect items and galleons and you can click different things to learn more about the characters and places.

I’m really impressed with all the art: it’s beautiful, and whoever worked on the art did a fantastic job.  I have my wand, Cypress, 11 inches, Phoenix feather core, slightly springy.  I have a cat, and most importantly…

I’m a Hufflepuff!

I was hoping to be in Hufflepuff, and failing that, Ravenclaw would have been my second choice.  Gryffindor would have been disappointing, and Slytherin would have been a shock.  It’s nice to know that the House I feel the strongest attachment to is the house I ended up in.

For both the wand and the sorting, you answer a bunch of questions.  For the wand, I remember there being a question about my height and my eye color, and a few other random questions that I don’t remember.  For the sorting, some of the answers, you could pinpoint to certain houses, but there were others that were super random and you couldn’t attach them to any of the houses.  Or at least, I couldn’t.

It wasn’t as interactive as I thought, and certainly not in the way I was expecting.  The story itself (Philosopher’s Stone) wasn’t very interactive, but the wizard’s duel part seems to be pretty interactive.  And you get to make potions and practice spells!  And the common room and Great Hall seem to be a mix between Facebook and Twitter, although I’d say that it leans more towards facebook.  Some of the pages are a little awkward, which I’m hoping they change for the next 6 books.

I think that’s it for now, so have a great weekend!

Waiting For My Hogwarts Letter

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I’m currently waiting for my Hogwarts letter, and I’m somehow managing to not check my email every 5 seconds.  It’s rather impressive if I do say so myself.  I’ve seen previews of people who have already gotten in, and the common rooms look amazing!  I’m definitely hoping to be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw…even Slytherin looks pretty cool.  I’ll admit that I’ll be disappointed if I end up in Gryffindor, but I’ll end up wherever I end up.  And I can’t wait to get a wand and everything else!

I also have another blog!  I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I’ve decided to start my own food blog.  I’ll still talk about food every once in a while over here, but for the most part, all food-related thing will be over at Nikki Bakes.  I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating it, but it’ll be once or twice a week, maybe more.  It really depends on what I’m making, and what pops into my head.

I’ve been writing too, but the last few days, I haven’t really wanted to write.  I like my idea and all, but my heart just hasn’t been in it.  I’m trying to write something everyday, since that’s better than nothing.  Even if it’s not as much as I want to write, at least I’m writing something.  I’m currently at 26,023, so if I get on a roll, or if I tack on some exta words, I should finish with 50k sometime this month.  Random stuff keeps happening, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

I Love The 90’s

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I like all kinds of music, but 90’s music is one of my favorites!  One of the local radio stations here in San Diego had a best of the 90’s weekend, and so I just had to listen to it!  This is my list of essential 90’s music:

  • N*Sync:  I have a soft spot for boy bands, in particular the Backstreet Boys, so no 90’s weekend is complete without boy bands!
  • Alternative and Grunge: it was a really important part of the 90’s, and I heard a lot of bands like Garbage, No Doubt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  And no 90’s weekend is complete without Nirvana- it always seems like Smells Like Teen Spirit is at the top of any best songs of the 90’s list.
  • Will Smith: when he actually had a music career!  Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It is an essential 90’s song, and it’s another fun song.
  •  Insane In The Brain: I love this song, and it’s so fun!  It’s a fun song is something I’ll probably be saying a lot.  Back to the song really quick, it’s insanely catchy.
  • Nothing Compares To You: It’s not a 90’s weekend until you hear Sinead O’Connor!  Of course, this is the only song of hers I know, so I wouldn’t know anything else of hers, but it’s an essential part of any 90’s playlist.
  • New Kids On The Block and Color Me Badd: I have no idea why they’re not included with the other boy bands, but whatever.  Hangin’ Tough and I Wanna Sex You Up…why I like those songs, I have no clue. 
  • MMMBop: I love this song.  So much, in fact, that I’ll randomly sing the chorus.
  • Macarena: Oh, macarena.  The macarena was annoying, yes, but oh so fun!  They played it, but I missed them playing it.  😦
  • Spice Girls: I’ve mentioned a bunch of boy bands, it’s only right I mention the Spice Girls.  Girl power!  Sadly, I never heard them play the Spice Girls…and I have no idea what they were thinking.

I noticed they tended to repeat certain songs and artists.  I was sad I didn’t hear Aqua, Right Said Fred, and Kris Kross. At least they played TLC.  Waterfalls is a good song.  Actually, there were a bunch of songs I never heard, but since I wasn’t glued to the radio for the whole weekend, it’s possible they played it when I wasn’t listening…if they played them at all. 

It was fun listening to 90’s music almost all weekend, and I found myself singing along quite frequently.  Have a great day!

Ready For Another Session!

Posted in Camp NaNo, Harry Potter by

I have a very vague idea for my August novel, so I’m just going to write and see what happens.  It’ll be fun, I think, as long as I don’t get bored or anything.  Even if I do get bored, I have a list of back-ups.  And this month, we get to be a part of cabins, which seem to be a more toned down form of the NaNo forums. 

I’m currently at 3,888 words, and I’m having no problem keeping things moving.  I doubt it’ll last very long, but if I can keep up this pace, I should be good for the rest of the week!

And Pottermore!  I got in!  On the first day!  I checked it sometime after midnight, and the clue was up, so I figured it out and got my registration email, and validated!  Now I’m waiting for the welcome email, which will come sometime this summer.  I can’t believe I finally got my letter to Hogwarts!  I’ve seen some sneak peaks of Pottermore, and it looks amazing!  I’m seriously excited about Pottermore!  I even did a happy dance after registering, and I did another one after I validated!  I’m pretty sure I’ll be talking it about it once I get my welcome letter.  I’m really excited, can you tell by all the exclamation points?  I even love my username, which is SpiritCharm15, so if anyone’s going to be doing Pottermore at some point, look me up!

I think that’s it, so have a great day!

More Thoughts About Seeing Deathly Hallows

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I have more thoughts about Harry Potter- some stuff I thought was weird, some stuff I wish were included, some stuff I wish were done differently, and some other stuff that I liked about the movie.

  • Why did George have 2 ears?  He should only have one, because the ear that got cursed off wasn’t able to be fixed.  Did he magically get a prosthetic ear or something?
  • Cho Chang: First, she was hiding in the room of requirement, and then she was a student in the Great Hall.  There are two things wrong with this.  One, she should have graduated from Hogwarts, so why is still a student?  Two, if she’s a student, then why would she need to hide in the room of requirement?  It makes no sense.
  • I wished that Harry killed Voldemort in front of an audience.  There was also no celebration either, which was sad.  Harry takes down one of the most evil wizards of all time, and no one seems to care?  How did Harry explain that to everyone?  “Oh, hey guys, I killed Voldemort.  I’m pretty sure he’s dead because he just vaporized.”  The movie was just over two hours, I’m pretty sure they could’ve worked a celebration in there.
  • As much as I loved the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix, I expected it to be a lot more epic.  It was still really cool, and I loved how Mrs. Weasley got all don’t-mess-with-Mama-Weasley-or-else. 
  • I loved the soundtrack: it didn’t overpower the movie at all.  In fact, it added a lot to the movie.  I loved hearing Hedwig’s Theme and Harry’s Wondrous World a lot.  And the music definitely added a sense of urgency to all of the battle scenes. 
  • Breaking into Gringott’s and then riding away on the dragon was a fun scene to watch.
  • One thing I thought was really cool was showing how destroying the horcruxes affected both Voldemort and Harry.  And when Harry went to the forest- the scene with him, Ron and Hermione was really touching. 
  • More thoughts on the epilogue (aka, the 19 years later bit): I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thought it was really well-done.  And honestly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the epilogue when I read the book…but now I don’t mind as much.  Seeing Harry just be a normal guy, and passing the torch to the next generation was pretty touching.
  • Why didn’t Harry fix his wand with the elder wand?  I suppose they could have filmed it and then it didn’t make the final cut, but again, it is something they could have added without worrying about the length of the movie.
  • Another scene I wished they included was Harry going into Dumbledore’s office.  Would’ve been nice to see Harry talking to Dumbledore’s portrait.
  • I loved Neville’s speech to Voldemort, but I kinda wished that it was a little more like the one in the book.  I definitely expected it to be more in line with the book, but it still made me cry! 
  • Speaking of the chaos of the battle, what was going on with the Slytherins being banished to the dungeons, but none of the younger students being escorted to safety?  Yeah, Voldemort doesn’t care if he kills an 11 or 12 year old (he did try to kill a 1 year old, after all), but really?  Was there no one to escort them to safety? 

Seeing it a second time was amazing!  I still loved it, and I still laughed and cried.  I think it’s one of my top favorite movies in the entire series.