Agent Kit // so many WIP projects

I did a WIP post on A Sprig of Green less than a month ago. Is that enough?

NO. NO, IT ISN'T.

Because, see, I have a new WIP. My novella is finished (though edits shall still happen) and I've moved on to a new project. Or rather, an old project that shall be rewritten.

Hahahaaaa no way. My pictures are never totally random. Ever. *cough*

Agent Kit was my NaNo novel last year. I finished it on day 22 at exactly 89,978 words. I flailed and the flopped and took several weeks to recover back to my normal self. (don't do this guys, look after yourself as well as write. DO NOT FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE. xP)

Since then, I rewrote book #1, Rogue Escarlate, in January-February, edited it in march + plotted book #3. April I wrote Operation Flint (aforementioned #3), then May was back editing #1. June I finished my edits and sent it to some wonderful alpha readers. *throws confetti on them*

AND WOW. That was a lot of stuff.

With all of that, I never really got much time to look at book #2 - Agent Kit. But now that I've taken my dystopian break and written A Sprig of Green I'm diving back in. Currently I'm trying to work out one factor.

One word, guys. One important word:

p l o t

Yeah. I need a plot. I meant to be a lot further through plotting by today, but ehh. Plotting is hard sometimes and it doesn't always do what I want it to. I have to work out a plot that fits nicely with book one, preferably book three as well, but I'm already going to have to majorly edit/loosely rewrite that. (I fail at romance. Don't ask.) It's just a bit more bothersome than I was expecting.

But it's still fun at the same time, and it's going along slowly but surely. I'm also quite excited about some ideas that I've had, like bringing in characters that I originally...completely forgot about. Oops. But they actually come into this draft and we've got a whole gang thing going on. Plus some Russian Mafia involvement, a bit of kidnapping, some Ben-doesn't-like-soup-ing, and some more character development that it didn't have before. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this plot stuff unfolds. *rubs hand eagerly*

Anyways. I have some random stuff for you today. Like...completely random. I don't know what to tell you about this WIP? So hopefully what I've got here will suffice. 

Musics

So after the question that came up in the Rising Authors Tag I was curious to see whether I could find any songs that fitted with Agent Kit specifically. I haven't come across anything that just hits perfectly and I know instantly that it's right, but I've discovered that For King and Country has a few that fit reasonably well. I like 'To the Dreamers' and 'Ceasefire' best. Also 'Take this City' by Everfound has a sort of Agent Kit-ish feel?
(Stalk my five-song playlist (to be expanded over time) here)

Aesthetics/collages

BASICALLY I JUST LIKE MAKING PICTURES, OKAY? :P

Will and Ben <33

the main cast of characters that hang around for the whole book. LOOK AT ALL THOSE BROODING EXPRESSIONS.

Aaand if you missed the ones from last Monday, click here to stalk them allll.

Snippets

And I got asked for snippets. Again. Because apparently you all like that?? So strange. :P I don't really have a lot, and I'd have a lot less but for the fact that I'm kind of (*cough*extremely*coughcough*) competitive and the OYAN forum had/have their annual Olympics. So I had to write something. (I came out with the highest word count for week number one, in case you wondered. The overall results haven't come in yet, but soooon they shall. *crosses fingers*)
(also I'm doing a test. All my posts with the word 'snippet' in the title have rather high page views and I'm curious to see if it's just because of the title, not the content. Because here's snippets and I didn't even warn you in the title. xD)


A high pitched buzz shot through the suffocating dullness. Just the shrill squeal and the pounding throb of his heartbeat.

Jeez what was wrong with his ears?

Ben forced his eyes open, squinting against the bright spots across his vision. Everything wobbled, warping in confusing waves.

Welp. The world had gone mad.

“Ben!” The sound of his name burst through the bubble of fogginess and the high pitched squeal stopped and sound exploded out on him. Falling metal, groaning and grating, and the snap of flames.

Will’s figure gestured frantically from the other side of the smashed windscreen. The entire vehicle shifted backward. Back toward the ground. “Ben, get out!”

Oh yes. Avoiding death would be nice.

- - -

Ben crouched in the deep window frame, tapping his fingers rhythmically against his knee. “To be entirely honest, I kind of imagined Russia to be a little bit more grey and gloomy colours.” He tipped his head sideways. “Not really expecting the cream and pastel buildings.”

A rustle came from behind and Will leaned sideways against the edge of the sill. “It’s ugly.”

“Hey!” Ben twisted around, furrowing his brow at Will. “What do you mean? These are no where near ugly compared to London. Though London does have it’s own charm.”

Will grunted. “Do you always admire a country’s architecture?”

Good question. Ben glanced back out at the coloured buildings. If he studied it, the paint did look a little dull, but a pastel sort of dull. “Not really.” He shrugged and swivelled back to the room, looking around. “But honestly—”

“It’s just a painted building.”

“A city-full of painted buildings. It’s cool.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

- - -

“Don’t look in the mirror—” Will warned, but Ben flicked his gaze upward just a little.

The mirror showed the room around him, small and pale and dirty. A utilitarian bathroom with one sink, one mirror and one toilet in a small cubicle. But mostly what Ben noticed was himself.

His jacket was burnt.

No fair. He liked this jacket.


And considering I have no plot, I think three snippets is enough for now. xD You can thank the oyan olympics for that.

Also - on the topic of snippets I thought it would be interesting to see the new snippet vs the old snippet just so you can compare, because it's cool. *nods*


Product of NaNo Insanity:

Grabbing Ben’s gun from the floor, Will dragged him forward. “Out.” He shook his shoulders. “Remember, we’ve got to get out.”

Ben blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes. A dull numbness surrounded his entire body. He started to look down.

“Don’t,” Will said, grabbing his chin and stopping the movement. “Whatever you do, don’t look at yourself. Save that for later.”

Ben took his gun from Will’s offered hand. “Is it really that bad?” he asked blearily.

Will didn’t reply, turning on his heel and kicking forward through the debris. The wailing of police sirens made Ben follow him with a lurch.


AND BLAH BLAH. You don't need to see any more. xD

Rough Rewritten Scene:

Will’s lips drew into the flat line of worry that had become all too familiar. “I can’t help you here. We have to get out first, then you can rest.”

“But what’s wrong with me?” Ben shook his head, but that didn’t make anything any clearer. “All I did was crash the car.” He tilted his gaze downward to look at himself.

Will caught his chin, gently pushing his head back up. “Look at yourself later. I can’t have you fainting on me now.”

“I don’t faint, I’m more manly than that—wait.” Ben closed his eyes, trying to think over what Will had just said. “Why would I faint if I looked at myself?”

Will lifted Ben’s arm over his shoulders, standing up and half lifting Ben with him. Ben fumbled for footing and gritted his teeth. He could walk. Whatever was wrong with him would just have to wait.


I THINK IT'S PRETTY SAFE TO SAY I'VE IMPROVED A BIT?? I hope so anyway. (also LOOK AT THAT you get four snippets actually xD) I'm honestly having so much fun writing little snippets and playing with Will and Ben and their relationship. Will is like a big brother trying to learn what big brothers are meant to do, and Ben always forgives him for anything as long as he gets lunch on time (and usually when he doesn't as well). 

Aaaaand I think that's all for now. Or did I miss anything?? *squints at blog post* *squints at novel document* *shrugs*


What's your WIP about?
Is there anything else about Agent Kit that I forgot to satisfy your curiosity on?
(I'll answer in the comments if there is *fingerguns*)

Rising Authors // I HAVE A NEW WIP *flailing*

Some of you who have been around for more than a short while, might remember waaaay back when I did a post called "Of Rising Authors and the Number 777"

Those who don't remember can count yourself lucky. Because I went back and hunted it up and laughed at myself. It was all about my original version of what is now Rogue Escarlate and actually a slightly decent manuscript. *pats my past self on the head* Ah, good times.

Anyways. I did this tag a year and a bit ago, and since then it has meandered through the blogosphere and somehow managed to find me again. Many thanks to my friend Middle Earth Musician for tagging me. Known to her friends/camp nano cabin mates as MEM. Because in the middle of Camp, no one has time to type out the whole of Middle Earth Musician.

And GUYS GUYS. I have now officially decided what I'm writing/working on this month. *drumroll please* Book two of my trilogy. Agent Kit. *runs in circles excitedly* (aka Rogue Escarlate's first sequel) It needs a huge complete and utter rewrite. Because...I wrote it in November last year. 80k in 22 days. 80-plotless-k to the bargain.

Oh suuuure it was full of action, but...that's all it was. Action scenes. Lots of explosions and car chases and fun things like that. But plot is also important. And theme and character arcs and I could write it all so much better now. So that's what I plan to do.

And you know what?

I'm not even depressed or annoyed that my 80k NaNo from last year needs complete scrapping. I'M JUST EXCITED. Super excited. (As you can see with all the caps. Though I use caps about 99.9% of the time anyway. *looks thoughtful* maybe I'm always excited...)

So you guys might just get in a WIP post on Agent Kit sometime this month, eh?


And anyways. Another THANK YOU to MEM because there's no rules so I can just chill out and do whatever. xP Also she's thought up some brilliant questions that I can't wait to answer so YEEP. Let's get right into this.


1. Do you listen to music while you write?

Sometimes. It honestly varies.
Actually no, if I think about it, YES I do listen to music the majority of the time. It's only when I'm not on the laptop (instead on my desktop out in the main room of the house) and hence can't really play music without disrupting other people.


2. If so, what genre?

(the answer of this question = me describing music genres without using technical terms for music genres because I don't know them)

It depends on the story (naturally). If you check out my Playlists section on youtube (*inserts handy dandy link*) you can see that I have a few different character and story lists. Will's playlist is a good example of the basic feel and style of Rogue Escarlate and pretty close for the following books as well (although they each do have their own unique themes). I haven't actually made one for Agent Kit, but it would be faaairly similar.

A Sprig of Green is completely different, with a whole lot more peaceful music and less...angsty?

Lando is more dragony. Green Trident (his story doesn't have a name yet) is allll the superhero-ness. Kip and Karissa (they're from the same story) are more folk-ish.

So yeah. Short answer: it depends what I'm writing.


3. What song do you think is your WIP’s theme song?

Ack, I have no idea?? Something like Renegades or Extreme Ways both work for the trilogy in general. But I haven't yet found a song that would fit for Agent Kit specifically though really.

I'm curious now though. xD I'll have to do some hunting and see if I can find anything.


4. Who is your MC in your current WIP?

Oh only Benjamin Kit. One of my favouritest characters ever.

*throws out a bunch of aesthetic pictures because why not*

5. What is their deepest, darkest fear?

Ooh, this is an interesting question...He's afraid of losing his family. He's afraid of failing the people who trust him.

So naturally I play on those fears. Oh yes. Yes I do indeed.


6. What is your favorite scene you’ve written in your WIP?

I actually do have a few favourite scenes (even though the whole manuscript is pretty messy). I rather like one of the exchanges between Ben and his sister. It's a nice moment where Ben can just be a teenage boy, not burdened by the responsibilities of staying alive and saving the world and where in France to buy the best french fries. (He takes that responsibility very seriously, trust me.)

Another favourite is actually one that I wrote recently, and is just a little snippet that shall be included in my complete rewrite. It's action. aka my favourite thing to write. And it's got Will and Ben interacting and it's so cool to compare that Will to the Will when the two first meet. It's rather cool, I will admit.


7. Do you enjoy writing from children’s, teen’s, or adult’s point of view?

I actually enjoy writing from ALL of them. Little kids are so fun and can have such hugely unique and interesting views on everything (for example, my little 4 year-old Zap Lorde). Teens are a wide range and all different, but probably what I'm most comfortable in. Probably because I'm a teen (*gasp* Who ever knew?). Adults aren't really a whole lot different than older teens. They just have a bit more experience usually and are maaaaybe slightly more mature. And they don't have the cuteness factor of the little ones. (Will is actually an adult, would you believe it. I think he's 23. But he's actually the only character of mine ever that I forget the age of. I keep losing track because it's changed multiple times over revisions.)


8. Do you prefer writing first person or third person?

Rogue Escarlate and co. are in third person. I really like that and it was comfortable and me.

A Sprig of Green is in first person (and present tense to the bargain). I just wanted to try it out and see what it was like and I actually turned out to really love it too.

The Adventures of Lando Erif + other blog stories have been in first person past tense and I also really enjoy that.

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE. XD I just love everything and all the options yes please and thank you. I play with different genres. I try different aged characters. I test with pov and tenses. And I usually enjoy them all. They all have their quirks and pros and cons. For me, though, I think there's a little bit of sticking with a certain feel. Because Rogue Escarlate wouldn't feel right in 1st person. And A Sprig of Green would be no where near as feelsy in third.
So I usually just use whatever flows with the style of the actual story.


9. What writer would you say handles action scenes the best?

Great pizza and pastry I can't pick one author out of all of them. I have a horrible attention span sometimes so if I say I really liked a book, there's about 70% chance that it had epic action in it. That's all for me. (I'm the stereotypical 'short sentences, short paragraphs, lots of action' sort of reader and writer. :P) If you want some epic action-y book recommendations YOU'VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. Just ask me and I'll throw them all on you immediately.


10. What is the best book you’ve read on writing? Who is it by?

If Theme Mastery were a book, I'd say that. BUT NO. It's just a super epic online course (which you should all totally go buy immediately right now)

If I had to choose a book (okay honestly, you should all be able to see this coming) it'd be Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development by K. M. Weiland. IT'S AMAZING. So many character arcs. *hugs book* You guys have heard me go on about character arcs but you need reminding. 

I LOVE CHARACTER ARCS.

I love them to pieces.

So this favourite book choice makes absolute perfect sense really. Now you may spend your life's fortune and buy this book (unless you're lucky like me and can manage to win it in a giveaway *flails*) because it must be read by every writer ever. DO ALL THE CHARACTER ARCS, PEOPLES.


And now is when supposedly I think up a bunch of new brilliant questions to give people BUT HONESTLY these questions were so good I'm actually just going to steal them all. Aaand add a few tweaks of my own.

1. Do you listen to music while you write?
2. If so, lyrics or no?
3. Do you have a 'theme song' for your current WIP?
4. Who is your MC in your current WIP? (basic description/snippets/aesthetic pictures)
5. What is their deepest, darkest fear?
6. What is your favorite scene you’ve written in your WIP?
7. Do you enjoy writing from children’s, teen’s, or adult’s point of view?
8. Do you prefer writing first person or third person?
9. Do you like trying allll the different genres or just sticking with the same one mostly?
10. What is the best book you’ve read on writing?

AND THE LUCKY PEOPLE I SHALT TAG. *throws confetti randomly to see who it lands on* Oh look. Everyone. Everyone who wants to do this can consider themselves tagged.
Though actually I'm going to grab out some names because names are good, guys. (there's a reason your parents gave you one, really. You should ask them why, one day. It'll be funny)

Anna // A World Through Her Heart
Quinley // Adventure Awaits
Catherine // The Rebelling Muse

(note: you guys don't have to do this?? I'm just tagging you in case you wanted to, so pizza to all even if you'd rather not.)
And everyone else who finds this even vaguely interesting...PLEASE DO IT. I'd love to see your answers. (just poke me in the comments and I'll come check your post out! *nods*)


What genres do you like writing in??
Do you have a favourite writing book?
(give me alllll the recommendations, yaass)

3 ways to get rid of impossibly persistent story ideas

As some of you probably know already, I'm currently working through the third (ish?) draft of Rogue Escarlate. Editing has happened, and I'm giving it a last polish/read before sending it off to alpha readers. *screams dramatically* 

And I have one very important exciting plan for once I do that.

I'm going to take a break.

No more writing. No more editing. Just life. And I'm really looking forward to it.

But there's just one problem. If you're flighty or easily scared, don't read the next paragraph. Just warning you.

Plot bunnies.

SOMEONE HELP. I'm being surrounded by these amazing little creatures of fluffy evilness and they won't stop. I keep getting more and more ideas.

(Shhh yes this picture totally relates to the post. It's a road, because everything about writing is a journey. OF COURSE. *ahem*)

Now, I'm sure you've been in this situation too. Drowning under fluff and cuteness and floppy ears. But have no fear, because I am now officially an expert and today I'm here to tell you three ways to get rid of these impossible, persistent story/character ideas.


1: YOU CAN'T
Just face it. You can't now and you never will be able to stop these. They will come and go as they please and you have absolutely no control over them at all. I'm sorry, but it's true. You're just going to have to deal with it.


2: Maybe...listen to them instead?
If you're struggling to focus on your current dystopian work in progress because of all these fantasy characters dancing around in your brain, maybe that's actually something you need to think about. What if your futuristic creativity needs to take a break? Take a breath and listen to these bunnies and maybe even schedule in a break -even as short as one day- where you'll either a) stop writing altogether or b) write some of those snippets that are dyyying to be written. 
It might be just the thing that your creativity needs.

(And as it happens I'm soon taking both option a and b and hoping for the fullest result. But I'll have to tell you that in July when I've finished the experiment.)


3: Humour them
Do what they want. Write them. It'll be fun, even if it distracts you from your current WIP. And seriously! Why else do you write except for fun? Over the last month or so I've had plenty of fun writing little snippets of different things. And playing around with different tenses (about 80% of them were in 1st person present tense because that intrigues me and I wanted to try it out) and settings and ideas and gosh. It's just so much fun.

And because I KNOW you're all so curious to know what random plot bunnies I've been having recently (you weren't? WELL TOO BAD. Because I'm putting them here anyways. XD), I thought I'd include some of the little scraps of stuff that I've written randomly.


- contemporary road-tripping (pov character is about 17) -

I think I'm going to pass out.
His foot goes back, but then he howls something incomprehensible, clutching at his shin. Zap is scowling up at him, positioning herself between the boys and me.
"Stop it." Her voice is clear and not even quavering.
Better than I could do.
He stares, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "What?"
"Stop hurting my brother." Zap crosses her arms over her chest, head tipped far up to look at him. "Or else."
If not for the pain pounding through my temples, I might laugh. A five year old girl, facing down a teen boy.
And winning.
He backs off a pace, his gaze flicking to me for a moment before waving a hand impatiently at his friends. "Come on," he snarls. "I'm sick of this."
Zap stick out her tongue in his direction. "And don't come back!"
I can't do anything but stare as she turns to me. She smiles nervously, curling a finger in her hair. "Are you okay?" This time her voice wobbles a little bit.
She's still my little girl.
I push myself onto my elbow and hug her quickly. "I'll be all right."
A real smile comes this time and I smile back. Reaching out, she brushes a finger against my cheekbone, elicting a wince. "You need fixing."
I nod slightly. "We'll go back to the hotel and see if we can get an ice pack."
She takes my hand, trying to help me to my feet. It makes it harder actually, but I let her try anyway. The throbbing in my head dizzies me, but her hand clasped in mine is like an anchor.
"Come on." She tugs me lightly. "We need to fix you now."

- fantasy + seers and magic powers - 

The long grass swayed above his head, deceitfully peaceful in the contrast to his throbbing heart.

He gulped in shaking breaths, trying not to let any audible gasps pass through his lips.

But he knew that the dog could follow his scent. It didn't really matter how loud he was if he couldn't keep running.

Shoving up from his hands and knees, he started running again, stumbling on twigs and roots that seemed like branches and trees to him. His hair kept flopping into his eyes, but he didn't have time to push it back.

The ground vibrated slightly and fear swept up behind him, engulfing him in the form of a low, canine growl.

He could never run fast enough.

- more fantasy + dragons this time -

I flop back onto the grass, staring up a the sky. "Ugh."
The dragon puffs a curl of smoke over above me and I roll over onto my elbow.
"Really?" I jump to my feet and kick a tuft of grass. " 'How do I save the princess?' 'Go ask the dragon of course.' " I mimic the warlock's voice and tone perfectly, bending and yanking out a piece of grass from a bunch and proceeding to rip it into small shreds.
"And not even the smallest question of whether I actually can talk to dragons." I throw the grass viciously, but the dragon puffs again and it all flies right back into my face.
I splutter and collapse onto the ground again, groaning. "I don't care if you're nine-hundred-and-whatever-ridiculous-number years old. You're absolutely no use to me because I can't understand dragon's tongue."


- beauty and the beast retelling (and yes the main character is invisible) -

He shivers, wrapping his arms over himself. "Wish there was a moon." His breath puffed white in the air.
"But nights without the moon are better."
"How so?"
I gaze up at my home in the sky. "Because then you can see the stars."
Shivers trill my spine and for a moment I feel light, tiny galaxies sparkling in my transparent fingertips.
"Huh." My Prince hunches his shoulders to his ears. "Talking to myself again." He shakes his head, turning back to the door.
Everything is cold again.
I can hear the stars sighing.


I also have a fairly new superhero character and a steampunk aviator who has a tragic backstory that makes me feel like the most evil person ever. (And also a short story but more about that in another post. *nods*)

But I'm still getting places with my editing, and I'm hoping to have it finished and ready for my alpha readers in a day or two. (*screams again*) And then I'm going to take my own advice and take a nice break from writing until Camp NaNo smashes into me before I'm expecting it and I promptly drown after crash-landing in the ocean because I failed at winging it.


Are you hyped for July Camp already??
(I would be, but I'm stubbornly ignoring the fact that it's ALREADY INSANELY CLOSE)
(also - post upcoming about available spaces in my camp nano cabinnnn *flails excitedly* so watch out for that so you don't miss it)
What do you do to deal with plot bunnies?

(and shhh no one point out that this post was basically useless and was me just whipping something up randomly because I wanted to post something today. >.<)

April Camp NaNo // I flail about first drafts

April 2017 Camp NaNoWriMo went kaboom.

It started and then was over waaaay too fast. But even with all the craziness of time doing it's thing and life being busy, I had a pretty super time and really enjoyed myself.

So today I'm going to throw all the stuff at you and then give you a compass and a paddle and good luck maybe you'll find the end of the post before July Camp NaNo and I start going on again. xD (Although on that note, I'm not sure what you're going to do with the paddle seeing as I didn't give you a canoe or a log or anything. Maybe try surf on the paddle.)

This April, my goal was 50k. Because I'm a little bit crazy, but not quite crazy enough to have a higher goal than that. Yet.

My cousin and I were talking online almost every day and word warring like crazy for half the time. And on day five she (jokingly) challenged me to a 10k1day thing and I (not realising that it was a joke) said something along the lines of "OKAY LET'S GO." And we ended up totally smashing it. We got our 10k each and had a ton of fun doing it.

And then between day 7-17 we actually got together and she was at my place for a weekend and then I was at her place for a week. We didn't actually get an insane amount of words that week, but it was still a huge lot of fun involving groaning (about stupid main characters who won't do what they're told), brainstorming, camping, laughing, telling jokes, telling spoilers, and allll the fun stuff.

During this week I learnt two things:
1) People just like volunteering me for things without asking me first. 
(I was volunteered to play in their church worship team for that Sunday)
2) I'm a biplane nerd. 
(I don't even know. Apparently I sounded very nerd-y when I was ooh-ing over a diagram of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.)

Also notice the cabin stats next to mine, WE GOT TO 104.7 %!!!!

And then two days onward after getting back home I hit my 50k on day nineteen.

And from that point onward I had a new goal. I'd reached my official word count goal, but what I was really aiming for...
Finishing the first draft of the final book in my trilogy.

So the rest of the month I was creeping along, smashing the keyboard and freaking out several times every few days.

And then

on day twenty-nine

I did it.

I finished.

I finished the last book. And therefore I finished my trilogy.

-ahem-
The first draft of it anyway.

BUT it was a momentous event so I flailed excitedly and freaked out and started thinking about edits.

*cue distant screaming*

WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET INTO THAT NOW, THOUGH. >.< My next few months are going to be full and I might do a blog post on my plans some time in the near future (when it isn't after 10 pm and I haven't completely forgotten to write up the blog post for the day...cough cough. No this totally didn't happen today...)

So anyways. Time to toss in a few pictures that I made in honour of the characters and story...

Precious Ben. *hugs him forever*

Gloomy, yeah I know. But that's actually -sadly- what quite a bit of the book is. Depressing.

And this one was because Clare was complaining that all my collages were depressing and dark colours *happy sighs over all the smiles*

Now that I've dumped those on you, it's time for...
SNIPPETS!!! 
Now now before you can get too excited, I can't give you very many snippets. For several reasons.

1: It's book three and spoilers for book one.
2: Spoilers for book two.
3: Spoilers for book three as well.
4: Alllll the spoilers basically. xP

But on the other hand, I can still give you some because I'm so excited and want to throw them at all of you just nice like that. *wise nod*

Note: Yesss some of these are purposefully obscure and don't have names. But that's because extra spoiler caution. Although if you know my characters very well it should be faaairly obvious who does what.

---

“Code Echo Foxtrot Charlie…Repeat: Echo Foxtrot Charlie.”
“Unaccessible to this user.” The cool voice buzzed smoothly in his numb ears.
Jonathan Flint growled in the back of his throat. Stupid security programing, he was wasting time. Time he didn’t have to spare.

---

Milson’s pizza had gone floppy when he’d heated it up.
He hated floppy pizza.
Scowling to himself, he slumped back into his chair, wishing he’d had enough time to shower before coming down to the office. But no. And he’d barely gotten four hours of sleep the night before. 
Actually, come to think of it, he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep for ages. Weeks. Maybe months.
It was all the General’s fault. Obviously.

---

“Lie down.”
He chose not to hear her. “Where am I?”
“Lyon, France.” She picked through the box, pulling out a needle and sterilised thread.
“Lie on…France?” He couldn’t work out what she was saying. Something damp dripped down his arm, warm and sticky.
The young woman nodded, threading the needle.
“How the heck am I meant to lie on France?” He squinted down at her.
She stared at him for a moment before her cheeks flushed a sudden pink, stammering awkwardly. “Oh I don’t mean— that’s not— I meant—”
His brows creased, watching her in confusion. “You what?”
She blushed fiercely. “I meant the town called Lyon. In France.”
“Oh…” Idiot. His brain was still fuzzy, obviously. “That makes sense.”
“Now, lie down,” she repeated.
“Should I lie on France?” he mumbled, not really thinking before the words came out.

---

Jonathan glanced down at the murky water of the Moskva River, the current dragging past with slugish sludge. No way of knowing what sort of disgusting things were in that water. It could be sewerage for all he could see. “No way I’m ever going in there.”
Will shot him a glare. “What’s a better plan then?”
“How about we walk along the bank wall?”
“Yeah and be shot full of holes like a darned pasta strainer. Good plan.” The sarcasm in the outlaw’s voice almost stung physically.
If anyone else in the world was more sarcastic than Will was, Jonathan never wanted to meet them.
He scowled. “I’m not going in that water.”
“Yes you are.” Will was suddenly beside him. “Look, Techo. This is for your own good. I’m just saving your life here.”
“You aren’t—” he didn’t get any further, cutting off abruptly as Will’s hand wrapped around his upper arm and shoved.
He yelled, grabbing for something, anything, to hold on to as he overbalanced and started slipping backward. For a moment he grabbed onto Will’s jacket cuff, but his fingers slipped and he lost his grip completely. The water smacked him hard in the face, taking his breath away with the stunning cold that enveloped him in a moment.

---

“Keep the noise level down, would you?” A voice grunted from above. “Climbing a brick wall isn’t actually that hard.”
“Yes it is,” he replied bitingly. “I’m an IT agent. I don’t do push ups and stupid things like that.”
“My bad. Just hurry up then.”

---

And I will resist the urge to keep going. Because aaaack there's so many more snippets that I want to show you all but I can't. Because allll the spoilers.


So now, because I wrote this in the crazy of Camp and because my first drafts are a little bit insane...I thought it would be amusing to give you a few shots of sections of my story. That may or may not have me yelling at myself in caps for no apparent reason.

Here you are. The collage of random Jane first draft-y-ness that only I get to see normally. For a good reason. *snickersnorts* Anyway. I hope you enjoy:

Note: YES THAT MIDDLE ONE IS LEGIT AND UNTOUCHED ORIGINAL. That's what some sections of my writing look like. All the heared hima dn jist Gjere makes me crack up every time I look over that bit. It's one of the worst. I haven't even worked out what that 'Gjere was a surprising amount considering the time of night' actually is meant to be... Like, it doesn't really make sense in the context of the rest of the scene.
And I accidentally called the villain 'King' instead of 'General' here, too. *pats poor sleepy Jane* My brain was a mess.

Fun fact of the month: It is possible to fall asleep writing (and sitting up) and actually keep typing the thoughts/dreams/VERY VERY WEIRD STUFF that goes through your conscious brain. *cough cough* Totally not speaking for recently discovered experience or anything...*cough cough*


And that about wraps me up for now. (I'm running out of time to finish writing my post so I can publish it before midnight and it's no longer Monday xD) I've rambled on about my novel for long enough (and adamantly avoided the topic of editing) BUT NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!!


How was your April??
(writing/life/basically everything. Just tell me whatever.)
Feel free to share a snippet (or two dozen, I'm not fussed xP) of your WIP in the comments!!
(I'd love to read them alll.)

Camp NaNo // WATCH MY AWKWARD FACE RAMBLING

Okay so that title sounds very weird on second thoughts, but I'm keeping it anyway. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU GET TO DO!!

Yup. Today I'm giving you a vlog of my awkwardness and answering a couple of random questions I've been asked about Camp NaNo. Because why not.

Aaand this one was just me by myself, so I may have gotten a bit more...random...at times, because I was just sitting around talking to myself at the time of filming. And now I'm showing you how weird I am in normal life.

Now, I filmed this before April even started, so there were a few awkward moments of me attempting to pretend that it was April already, and completely failing - or forgetting that I was meant to be pretending and blurting out something that made absolutely no sense.

And it was actually a really hot day and I was sweltering. Ugh. Soooo hot. Hence I might look it once or twice during the video.

BUT ANYWAYS. Here you go.

*cue me completely mindblanking how even to upload a video onto youtube*
*and then cue youtube having a spas and taking a gajillion hours actually loading the silly thing*

[also warning: I did the most awkward introduction ever so just brace yourself for that. xD]

"Oh...how do you stop these videos? Do you press the same button- oh yes. You do."

My super sister Alice was great and put this thing together for me again, and Clare entrusted me with her camera all alone in the room so big thanks to them both or you wouldn't have gotten so see this.

*snorts* The amount of times I accidentally repeated myself or lost track of my sentence halfway through talking, though. So many. But anyways.


And more recently than my filming - it's been confirmed that I'm going to be away for a week mid-April but you're still getting a chapter of Lando! I'll be scheduling it to post, so I don't have to worry about it while I'm gone.


Just so you know, I DO ACTUALLY OWN CLOTHES OTHER THAN T-SHIRTS. I just don't wear them as much. :P I almost wore the same shirt as my other vlog just for fun, but I picked up the one on top of it instead.

Also, fact of having glasses: reflections. I happened to be sitting opposite a window, so that there would be a decent amount of light so you could see me properly, but *huffs* that means reflections in my glasses half the time.

I was going to bring some Tiger Pear along to show you as some of the dangers of camping in Australia, but I completely forogt until I read out the question and at that point I figured it wouldn't be a good time to duck out the door and run down the back paddock and grab some. So just google it and be scared by the horrendous images of terror and spikiness. (And then come visit me and I'll take you camping. xP)


SO YEP, I WILL NOW STOP RAMBLING. There's your message from me. GO DO THE WRITING STUFF NOW.


And you should totally go check out Jonathan's blog
(because he's a genius -obviously- and you all should meet the guy behind the white board calendar idea thing.)
How is your Camp NaNo???
(Tell me allll)

(p.s. you will get a writing/word count update from me some time...I just couldn't be bothered to put it in today. xD So hang in for that. Just know that I'm quite happy with how I'm going. *nods*)

I FINISHED MY 1ST DRAFT //writing tag (+SNIPPETS)

[WARNING: this post includes screaming in caps, snippets and long winded explanations of I-forgot-what about half way through explaining]

EEEK. YES.

The title speaks truth.

I am finished.
(as of today)

So wait on. What novel was I actually writing?? Glad you asked.

I was actually working on what was Monsieur Scattlocke and completely rewriting it, changing the genre, setting, characters, plot, all of the above. 
Several of the most significant changes are a) it's now called Rogue Escarlate because I completely got rid of the French bits and welp can't really keep the Monsieur in the title if it's not in the book, right? b) IT HAS A THEME THAT'S ACTUALLY HALF DECENT AND I'M HONESTLY RATHER PLEASED WITH. c) it fits with its sequel a ton better. d) I'm a lot more happy with how it is and way more enthused about it.

Good good. I hope I didn't lose the plot of that a-d list too rapidly.

Just in case you didn't get the point... *cue me spending an hour or so making a random aestheticy collage*

COOL EPIC STUFFS

This novel was not easy. Actually it was probably one of the hardest I've ever done. Particularly about three/four weeks back, I was really really struggling to keep going. I wasn't happy with my word count. I wasn't happy with how many chapters I had. I wasn't happy with how little words I was managing per day (aka 1k).

Then one day I did something that I probably should've thought of sooner. During my morning Bible reading I stopped and started praying. I listed off all the things that were dragging me down, the things that were feeling like burdens. Every single one. Then I took a deep breath and committed them all to God. 
Maybe my novel wasn't going to be as long as I wanted it to be, but that was okay. God would do what he wanted for me. 
Maybe I wasn't writing as much per day as I wanted to be, but that was okay. God has a plan for everything.

And I really believe that God was using that time as a lesson to me. He's so awesome and good yet somehow we still forget that when struggles are weighing us down until we feel like we're just going to snap we can go to Him and He's there ready to take our burdens.

And you know what? Not only since that prayer have I felt an amazing sense of peace and that He has a plan that He's working out in me. But that day that I prayed about my word count? I wrote five times as much as I had other days. And dude, that was not me. That was all Him.

STATS AND SYNOPSIS THINGAMY

As you hopefully gathered, my novel didn't turn out anything like the length I was hoping for BUT I'm cool with that. It might be only about half as much as I would've wanted really and yet God's taught me a beautiful lesson through it and I wouldn't have it any other way. 
Wherefore here are my chapters and word counts and stuffs.

I ended up with the full word count being 56,135 words, and thirty-one chapters.

Aaaand my scrambled thingamy of a synopsis which I really should try edit/rewrite before revealing it to your eyes but it's late and I finished my novel and I don't really care. :P


Two thousand, five hundred, and fifty-six days exactly.
Seven years of running from the Great Federation’s Agents didn’t leave much time for much else but running. That’s what an outlaw does.
Run. Or get caught.
Will preferred running.
And so he ran.

William Escarlate has spent his life running through the grasping fingers of the authorities. Escaping from the capital Moscow, he manages to slip beyond the borders of the Great Federation, only to find himself embroiled with another country’s rebellion. England is in the middle of a political struggle, gangs riot in the streets every second day, danger lurks to anyone who would step outside their door. 

Will is drawn into a gang of outlaws, fighting to regain his footing in a new country. It isn’t long before his hunters catch up with him, and he can never stop running if he wants to keep his life. Dodging agents for week after long week, he begins to hope that he might just have a chance of freedom after all these years.

But no one can escape the Great Federation forever.
Eventually everyone is caught.


SO YEAH. That's my synopsis at the moment. I think I'm actually going to change the seven years thing or else Will's age because I messed somethng up in my rewriting BUT THAT'S MARCH'S JOB. shh don't tell me that March is, like, a day away

WHAT'S NEXT?

GOOD QUESTION. Now...what is next??

Every now and then I feel like my writing plans for this year are slightly insane...but really. They are. They are insane. (I'm hoping to write at least three books and rough edit two and fully slam bang red pen edit one other. As I said. Insane.)
That said, my hopefully-completable-in-the-near-ish-future plans are more along the lines of

- Plot out Operation Flint! Aka the third and final book of my trilogy. I'm actually really excited for this because more Ben and Lexi and Jonathan and eep yes. And then I plan to write Operation Flint in April Camp NaNo. Which shall be epic fun.

- Sketch a rough edit over Rogue Escarlate. Mainly grabbing the typos, and adding in a few more scenes of a character that I forgot existed for most of the book.

- Once that's done I'm going to hand it over to my epic sister Clare and run away screaming as she cackles evilly and scribbles red pen all over it. Hopefully I might be able to get to that point by the end of March. Hopefully. GOSH THIS YEAR IS DISAPPEARING SO FAST ALREADY. I can't handle this.

- Yes yes official beta reading will happen eventually. I don't want to give out any dates but I desperately hope it will be this year. *screams into the abyss*

- I also want to try find time every week for some reading because I'm waaaay behind and I'VE ONLY READ FOUR BOOKS THIS ENTIRE YEAR AND THAT IS SHAMEFUL. Last year I'd read twenty-six books by this time and four isn't even comparable to that. But I really like reading and it's good for me to chill a bit and do something I enjoy and to keep that inspiration coming along nicely.

- And on top of all that, I want to keep up with my school work and being an epic big sister (and little sister hopefully too :P) and not shut myself away but to actually Live.

Phew. I would be daunted but...God's got this even though I don't.

FAVOURITES

I think my favourite chapter would probably be the climax because it has hopefully character arc and theme and making the 'right' choices and ironic poetic justice.

Not sure if that made sense to anyone else but anyway.

Favourite character is SUPER easy because BEN ALWAYS. Not sure why but Ben is just the best. He's probably my top favouroitest character I've ever written. I can seriously do so much when he's around though, and I pretty much never feel like I'm not sure about something with his personality.

And also, he doesn't like tomato soup, but tomato soup likes him. *wise nods*

YES I PROMISED SNIPPETS

So here goes!!

And since few days ago I got tagged for this writing tag by Gray, I thought that this would be a perfect post combo and boom yes it worked out quite well. (Thank you very much Gray!)
(also note, Gray is a brand new blogger and has already gotten some great writing posts so you should go check them out) So this whole post is some sort of mishmash of me rambling and some sort of tag that got lost off the cliffs of insanity. 

(and for those people that noticed, I accidentally posted this half of the post, like, when it was half written and not properly done and I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER CLICKING PUBLISH??? I just clicked save. I'm sure. But anyway. Ignore that post. This one is the right one. *face palm* Oops.)


Snippets? YES I LOVE SNIPPETS.
Except...that means...I have to show you my unedited first draft of a scene.
And it also means I somehow have to choose a scene?? Good luck with that.

Okay brace yourself. I'm going to throw snippets at you now.

- - -

“How did you do that?” Will couldn't move, everything frozen in the whirling thoughts and theories darting through his mind.

Ben shifted. “Well, uh, I hit that one, and then I hit that one and then I kicked him.” His lips lifted in a smile. “And hey, looks like we’re even now.”

“What?” The frown creased his brows tighter.

“You saved me, I saved you. Even.” The boy paused then shrugged. “Or not. Never mind me.”

“That’s not how you’re meant to use a gun, you know.” Will looked him up and down.

“This is generally not what you do in the middle of a street riot, you know,” he replied instantly.

An explosion came from right nearby and the boy stumbled a pace, almost tripping on a loose brick. Will caught his arm. “Don’t crack your head open, preferably, kid. I’m not finished talking with you yet. Now come on.”

- - -

-not sure I mentioned but Will kinda gets motion sick which can be interesting-

- - -

In reply the car serged forward, wheels spinning for a moment before gripping and skidding forward. The police scattered, diving aside with shouts of warning. Will braced himself, and the car slammed through the doors, smashing them into flying shards.

“This is insane,” Kins panted hard, steering the car straight down the hall, scraping the sides against the too near walls.

The front doors of tinted glass came speeding toward them far to fast. Will twisted, covering his face in his hands. The sound came like an explosion, shattering glass scattering across the sides of the car and onto the floor of the building. A chip cracked in the windscreen but it remained intact.

Kins whirled the wheel, turning onto the main road and speeding faster. Will’s stomach lurched, and he wrapped one arm around it, the other hand pressed against his firmly shut lips.

“That way!” He pointed frantically as Kins almost missed the turn off to the route back to the base.

Kins slammed on the brakes so hard that Will’s head knocked forward, forehead slamming into the roof. Stars spun in front of his eyes. Kins looked up anxiously. “You okay?”

“Just look where you’re going.” Allan yelped, grabbing the steering wheel as they almost crashed into the side of a brick wall.

“You can also go slower,” Will managed through his teeth, not daring to say more in case something came out that he didn’t mean to.

- - -

- - -

A small smile tweaked the corners of Ben’s mouth and Will shook his head. “What’s the point of being infamous if it doesn’t gain respect?”

“I have full respect for your infamousness.” Ben’s face was completely blank.

Will grabbed him into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into the top of Ben’s head. “Oh really?”

“Ow,” Ben yelled, struggling and bursting  into laughter. “Lemme go.”

“Full respect, eh?”

“No.” Ben slapped at his arms, choking against the laughter. “I have no respect at all actually.”

Will released him, ruffling a hand through his hair. Ben ducked away, a wide grin transforming his face. “That’s better,” he said, satisfied. A moment later, he realised he was smiling.

Maybe that wasn’t such a strange thing after all.

- - -

- - -

Will rolled up the sleeves of his blue and green shirt, brushing a bothersome strand of hair from his eyes. He looked across the table at where Ben was sitting, his eyebrows going upward questioningly at the grimace on the boy’s face. 

Ben wrinkled his nose, mouthing something. 

A frown creased his brow. ‘What?’ he mouthed back.

Ben’s lips moved again but he still couldn’t make sense of them. He lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. He returned his attention to his bowl, waiting for the pot of soup to come down the line. When it came he reached in picking up the small tin they used as a ladle and dribbling the thick liquid into his bowl. Ben grimaced again from across the table, blanching slightly.

“Something wrong?” Will asked softly.

Ben leant forward as he passed the pot along. “Can I have your slice of bread?”

“Why?”

“I don’t like tomato soup, remember.” He grimaced. “It’s, like, the height of gross.”

A smile broke across Will’s face and he nudged the bread from the edge of his plate over to Ben. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” Ben scrunched his nose again. “I don’t know how you eat the stuff.”

“I guess we’re just tougher than you.”

Ben snorted. “Or I’m just better educated in the art of eating food that actually tastes nice.”

Will swallowed a mouthful of the soup. “If it makes you feel better to phrase it like that.”

The boy sniffed, grimaced, and took a bite of the bread.

- - -

And I just realised that practically all of those snippets are Ben moments. OH WELL. XD I'm keeping them there anyway.

I'm very proud of that last one. See look. They're doing a practical thing called eating. This is an unfortunately rare occurrence in my books.
On that note they didn't actually get any further than the snippet shows because SURPRISE. Something action happened and they never got to finish. 
But hey, Ben mentions food in the climax! That's got to count for something.


Well. this is probably one of my longest rambly posts in a while. No guarantees that any of it made sense although it was written before midnight. (yay me for being super speedy and whipping up this half decent smash of a thing to throw at you)
*gives pizza to anyone who actually read the whole entire thing* GOOD JOB IF THAT'S YOU.


Has God been giving you any lessons through your writing recently?
Feel free to share some snippets from your novel!!
(aka PLEASE DO SO BECAUSE I WANT TO READ THEM)
What are your writing plans?