Character Karaoke Tag // a post-ful of folk songs

Apparently it really is the tagging season at the moment. I've got half a dozen (okay okay, slight exaggeration there) draft posts of tags I've been tagged for just...sitting around until I can fit them in. Even I'm impressed.

It's beginning to get to the point where I'm just picking my favourites and whichever one I like the sound of best and deciding to do it, and then getting tagged for another interesting-sounding one before I even finish writing that post.

Quinley - Adventure Awaits - tagged me a little bit ago and this time it's a whole tagful of music, so I couldn't resist. If you like music YOU SHOULD HAVE FUN.

I'm a music person. I play five different instruments (flute, violin, piano, guitar and ukulele). I also like listening to music.

HOWEVER. Because it's about characters, I immediately turned to Agent Kit to answer them via Ben.

Ben is not a music person.

He doesn't listen to music. He doesn't play music. He certainly doesn't sing (and if he did, everyone would hurry to ask him to shut up). And also, the first question is about my character's wedding day. Ben is fifteen. Needless to say, I have not planned his wedding. AND SO BEHOLD. I'm going to snatch up a completely different character. Or rather, character couple.

Please welcome Kip Paxton and Karissa Tarley.

*cue me being super predictable and having an aesthetic picture ready for them*

Before we get into the questions though, I have a super cool story. The faceclaim I have for Kip Paxton is Roo Panes. I came across him and he was just perfect to what I'd pictured Kip to look like (and all other writers can relate to the excitement that gave me, I'm sure). So I then went and looked up the owner of this face, to find some more photos. And then I discovered that he's an English folk-styled songwriter. YES YOU HEARD RIGHT. And his songs are so. cool. They fit with Kip and Karissa so well and it's insane how perfect both the songs and the face are. Needless to say I still haven't gotten over how epicly cool it was with those 'coincidental' discoveries.

I don't believe in coincidences like that. I honestly found it such an awesome reminder of how God cares about even the littlest things. Little things like finding a faceclaim for my character and music to fit him as well.

ANYWAYS. Right into the questions now.


It's your character's wedding day. What song plays during their first dance?

I think Kip would just go for whatever Karissa said, and she'd firmly insist on something fun and folk-y. I feel like Hewlett's would totally be something that would fit.

What song(s) describe your protagonist(s)?

Kip's is definitely Ran Before the Storm - Roo Panes. It's just...so perfect for him. Particularly further on into his story.

Karissa doesn't have a particular song that fits her. But as a couple their music is all bouncy and folk-y and fun. I just love listening to it. Some of my favourites:

As you can see. Much folk-y-ness and lots of The Fretless. (If you've never listened to The Fretless before YOU MUST. I love their music.) My personal favourite though, is Wing Commander. It's got a brilliant name (because if you didn't notice from the aesthetic collage, Kip has a biplane) but it also just sounds so cool and I can really see it paired with Kip and Karissa so nicely.

Any instrument players or characters with ties to music?

Kip can play guitar, but doesn't really do it much. Karissa spends a lot of time with folk music playing on a radio-ish thing. (Their genre is steampunk so...this totally makes sense. xD)


Go-to songs, for battle, romance or intense scenes?

It honestly depends what I'm writing.
If I've got a battle/fight scene in Rogue Escarlate or Agent Kit, it's usually Bourne soundtracks.
In A Sprig of Green the one fight-ish scene (easiest chapter to write in the whole novella XD) was just the same music as the rest of the book. Halo soundtracks (I think it's a game maybe? or is it a movie? I honestly have no clue, I just like the music) or John Dreamer (I think he's the composer) are the main songs though.
If it's a superhero story. WELL AHEM. Obviously Spider-Man: Homecoming soundtracks. (Or other superhero movies, but, y'know, Spiderman is the best.)
Kip and Karissa haven't really had any intense or battle/fight scenes written about them, so I actually don't know. But their romantic music would be just some cool folk-ish songs by (can you guess??) The Fretless. :P


So there you have it. Basically a huge dump of Roo Panes and The Fretless music. xD *scrolls up* Actually no. It is a complete dump of those two, I didn't have anything else. THAT JUST SHOWS HOW PERFECT THEY ARE. *bestows pizza upon the wonderful musics*

I can't think of very many people who haven't done this already/already been tagged. *squints uncertainly* I honestly don't know because I've tagged people a lot recently (people have tagged me a lot recently) and I don't want to bother anyone.

Basically, if you want to do this, please consider yourself tagged. (and if you do it, poke me in the comments and I'd love to read your post!!!) You can say that I tagged you and everything. I have tagged you. And here are the questions (with a little addition from me if you don't have any character couples) if anyone wants to use them:

It's your character's wedding day. What song plays during their first dance?
(optional replacement for above song/question: What song/s do they play as background music on their birthday?)

What song(s) describe your protagonist(s)?

Any instrument players or characters with ties to music?

Go-to songs, for battle, romance or intense scenes?

Now pardon me. I'm off to listen to some more folk music because I love it so much.


Do you like finding songs that fit your characters/story?
What music do you think fits you??
(or that you just really like, or whatever. *shrugs* I just want to have all the music recommendations. :P)

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)

A Sprig of Green // editing is happening + snippets (as requested)

Yes. You heard (read?) correctly. I am doing more edits.

*dramatic music*
(because why not? Dramatic music makes everything more exciting, don't you think?)

It doesn't seem like too long ago when I was doing this for Rogue Escarlate, but now I'm working on a completely new story and it's still so exciting. I'm really enjoying working through it actually.

I've gone through the whole thing, fixing bothersome typos and mistakes so I can concentrate on what's actually going on. Then I read/scanned through and wrote down all the plot holes. Ahem yes there are several of those. XD Aaand I started to plan out how to fix said plot holes. I also need to work in the theme a little more so it's not quite as vague, and there's a heap of telling and probably tense switches where I accidentally went back into past tense instead of present. BUT for the moment, I'm happy with how it's going.

It's been really easy and fun to edit actually, and I'm not sure why? I'm motivated to go over it, and fix it, and spend hours working on it.

Plus if I ever need some more encouragement, or a laugh, I can just look back through some old comments on my short story version of this, that I asked some friends to alpha/beta for me...Some of them are quite amusing.

And now for some more stuff other than just talking about editing. Let's move on to some pretty collages!

This one is a collage that my friend (and alpha reader) Krystal made for me for my birthday and ack it's so cool. <33 I love it so much. *hugs picture*

Aaand this is one I made, and I don't remember if I've put on my blog before?? Help, I suddenly can't remember anything. xD

I also have a case of 'that character who doesn't seem to belong to any faceclaim ever' and it's very bothersome. Braden is still faceless. *squints at him* Rude.


BUT NOW. The thing you were really waiting for. YOU REQUESTED SNIPPETS AND I HAVE OBEYED. Because I'm a very nice person like that.

If you've already seen some of these snippets, please pardon my forgetfulness because I couldn't be bothered to go back and check. :P

Also they're purposefully vague. Aaand one or two may or may not have had a sentence or two (or three) cut out of them for spoilers reasons. *ahem*

BUT HERE GOES ANYWAYS. *bows out*


Standing again, I blow out another breath and cross over to the door. Someone could come in at any moment and then I’d be roasted. Knowing some of the people who stay at the Maestoso—the roasting may be literal.

I slip out on the landing and check both ways. All clear as far as I can see. The servant’s door is unlocked, and I go down the stairs two at a time. Reno will definitely be worried, since I rarely stay out this late at night.

Leaping down the last few steps, I duck out into the kitchen, and stumble straight into the barmaid. She lets out a yell of protest and spins, giving me a hard kick in the side.

“This is a staff only zone. Get out,” she orders, her brows furrowed in a fierce line.

I press my hand against my throbbing side and stumble toward the door. Falling through, I stagger into the street, looking for all the world like any drunk man. Why has everyone suddenly decided to start kicking me in the side?

It’s not nice.

- - -

 “All I did was smash a vase on his head.”

- - -

He stands, slouched against the wall, hands deep in his dress-pant pockets, his suit jacket meticulously perfect and his white shirt buttoned right up to the top. His eyes are shielded behind impenetrable shaded glasses, but the corners of his mouth are twisted down just a little bit.

I start to cross the room, leaving the supporting wall and trying to get my knee to support weight properly without just crumbling underneath me. He doesn’t even shift slightly as I pull up beside him.

Am I invisible suddenly?

“Sir?” I wince as my voice comes out dry and hoarse.

No response from the man.

“Excuse me, sir?” I stand on tiptoe and try to talk louder so that he actually hears.

Still no sign of reaction.

I narrow my eyes. He isn’t deaf. He isn’t stupid. He’s just ignoring me. I grab a chair from the table and drag it sideways over to him. My leg folds beneath me and I only just catch myself on the chair. I will make him listen even if he doesn’t want to. I scramble onto the chair and use the wall to stand up properly.

As soon as I’m at the level of his ear, I clear my throat and speak as loudly as I can without yelling. “Please excuse me, sir. I’d like to speak to you.”

He pulls away roughly, the movement almost making me topple to the floor. “Leave me alone, girl. It’s not my fault. Go away.”

I scramble down from the chair and peer up at him, trying to see beyond the dark shades of his glasses. “I haven’t even asked you anything yet,” I protest.

“I don’t care. I already told you. Go away.”

- - -

The woman grabs out at my shoulder, but I duck back. Only to have the man grab my hair roughly from behind. I gasp in pain and clutch the box tighter. “Don’t!”

They don’t listen, the woman just grabs the box by the sides and tugs at it. “Let go, girl.”

“No. You let go,” I reply, holding on as tightly as I possibly can. “If you want something you should ask.”

She stops, her mouth opening as she stares at me. I reach up and pull my hair from the man’s grip. “And you. It’s not nice to grab a girl’s hair.”

He stares too.

I run my tongue over my lips, still not relaxing my grip. “If you want something, don’t try attack the person who has it.” And then I turn and run.

- - -

“Are you okay?” I manage to get the words out through the choking in my throat.

The words seem to snap him from some sort of dream. He straightens and shoves his hand across his hair, his pale eyes dropping away from mine. “Why would you do that?”

A tingle touches my fingertips. “Because I care.”

- - -

“Braden?”

I raise my head, straightening my shoulders into their fake, stiff position. Matthew Reno paces down the narrow walkway toward me, his hands deep in his pockets.

“I thought I’d find you here.” He settles down beside me, in the exact same position we’ve been in so many other times.

“Yeah,” I grunt, studying my fingernails.

“Look.” Reno slaps my knee gently. “I know it’s hard when you have to do things like you did today, but it’s got to be done.”

I don’t reply. I just sit, listening, trying to convince my conscience that he’s right.

He’s always been right before. Why is it only now that the doubts are coming?

“You did exactly as I’ve always taught you. It was wonderful.” Reno leans forward, waving his hand in front of my eyes.

I snap my gaze up to his and he smiles a little, his greying brows creased in a concerned frown. “Braden, are you feeling okay?”

“It just…I don’t know.” I clench my hand and press it against my thigh, trying to work out what I even meant by that.

Reno’s smile fades a little and he leans closer. “I’m proud of what you did today,” he says, his gruff voice so old and familiar in my ears. He pats my shoulder and stands, grunting at the movement.

I don’t move from my position as he returns along the raised walkway. I just stare downward, not really seeing the maze of pipes and mechanics below. The vibration of his footsteps fades and then stops fully and I lean my head forward into my hands.

He’s proud of me. That should make me happy. What else could I want? What else have I been trying to aim for all these years?

Nothing.

So why is this guilt building higher and higher like bile in the back of my throat?

AND THERE YOU GO. *throws confetti* Allll the snippets for you. Originally I went a bit crazy and had an insane amount of snippets and then I changed my mind because "nooo let's not tell them all this so that it can be an exciting surprise one day."

To wrap up - here you go with a youtube playlist that I put together for A Sprig of Green!

(It's a perfect ending, don't you think? I started and ended on dramatic music. *bows* Excellent planning on my part, definitely.)

Do you have a favourite stage of editing?
Do you like listening to music while writing/editing?

#WIPjoy // A Sprig of Green

A day or two ago, Katie Grace did a #WIPjoy post all about her book Where Shadows Lie. IT WAS VERY COOL. Basically, I loved it so much that I decided to jump in and do a post of my own.

(If you don't know what #WIPjoy is, don't worry, I don't hugely either. XD Check out Katie's blog post though because she actually explains it. :P)

But loosely - it's a bunch of questions about your work-in-progress and I'm going to pick my favourites and throw some stuff around about my wee li'l novella A Sprig of Green.

Describe yourself and your WIP.

Me: an energetic, joke-teller, always looking for a laugh...Bare feet, outdoors, callouses on my left hand fingertips from musical instruments, always hungry. I don't even know how to describe myself. XD

WIP: A Sprig of Green, one young girl trying to save her father, one young man trying to save himself.


Your 1st inspiration for this WIP.

It started out because Kingdom Pen was having a Sci Fi themed month and I decided that I was actually going to submit something for once. So then in popped a random idea for a world with no plants and a girl who is looking for them. And it developed from there into a short story (which was then submitted to Kingdom Pen AND ALSO ACCEPTED and (after lots of edits) published *screams* READ IT HERE).


Would you rather: get trapped in your story for a week, or have your antagonist enter your own life for a day?

Can it be after the story is ended?? Because it has a happy ending and everything is all okay again, so I'D BE FINE WITH THAT PART. Before the story...not so much.

And antagonist in my life? No thank you, good sir.


What would your MC be like as an antagonist?

Okay so I have two MCs. Michayla -smol girl- and Braden -a young man. They are both VERY different characters.

Michayla would be the sweetest antagonist ever.

Braden would be confusing. He would have so many internal dilemmas that the hero/MC of the story just gave up and surrendered to him.
He's a fun character. (And technically is sort of an antagonist already, because 'antagonist' is the term for anyone who stands in the way of the plot, not necessarily the main villain.)


What would the antagonist be like as the MC?

VERY EVIL. He would be an exceptionally evil protagonist. XD Ruthless, willing to do anything at all (even deny his own family) to get to his goal.


A line you nailed perfectly.

I can't say that I nailed any line of this absolutely perfectly. BUT STILL. Some of the lines that I am the most proud of currently:

I am not worthy to be called a man.

- - -

Notes of paper money go fluttering everywhere like butterflies with broken wings.

- - -

There’s always another chance in the world.

- - -

“The first leaf means hope.”

Choose an ideal reading spot, food, drink, and music to go with your book.

Reading spot: outside on a warm (but not too warm) day, on the grass. Or, even better, a patch of clover.

Food: ohh this one is actually harder than I was expecting. *hums* How about honey jumbles (yes, I believe it's an Australian recipe (maybe?). Look it up and make them. You won't regret it.) because they're all happy and outdoors-adventure-y.

Drink: Chai tea. I can definitely see Michayla drinking chai.

Music: Rise, True Strength or Becoming a Legend - John Dreamer. Look them up on youtube if you've never heard them before. *hugs the music* But I'm also equally leaning toward having no music and just having the sound of birds and breeze in the background of reading because that also fits.


What's something you're still figuring out about this WIP?

A LOT OF IT.
I need to work out some details with Braden, and something *coughcough* slight spoilery detailish *cough* about him.
Also another character that I kinda ignored from about the midway point of the book. I need to work out what happens to them.
Plus a lot more, but those are the main important factors, I think. (Actually no, there's probably other super important things that I just can't remember right now. XD)


Would you rather: have tea with your antagonist, or be stuck in an elevator for 3 hours with your MC?

Tea is good. I'm not sure that having it with my antagonist would be good though. But still, I can imagine him being quite gentlemanly.
On the other hand, being stuck in an elevator with Michayla for three hours could be quite interesting. I feel like she has so many good thoughts on life and she's a very wise girl (though somehow naive at the same time?? I don't even know if that works, but she just...is.). We could get into some very deep conversations. Braden and me stuck in an elevator...hmm not so sure about that one though. :P


And there I shall leave it! :D Hope you enjoyed some random odds and ends about A Sprig of Green.

Here's the full picture of all the questions. NOW GO AND WRITE A BLOG POST. I wanna hear allll about your stories. Yes please. Even if you don't have a blog/don't feel like posting, just answer some of them in the comments because I'm a curious blueberry and I want to hear everything. :P


Would you rather have tea with your antagonist or be stuck in an elevator for three hours with your protagonist?

Spider-Man Homecoming // warning: much fangirling

*starts humming the spider man theme*

One week ago, my dad took me to the movies to see Spider-man Homecoming and it officially earned a place waaaay high up on my favouritest movies of all time list. I absolutely and utterly loved every moment of it. 

So of course I'm going to do a blog post solely to flail over it.
This post is spoiler-less, so don't worry if you haven't seen the movie yet, you're all safe.

My reaction basically: I LOVED IT SO SO MUCH AND HELP I CAN'T GET OVER ANY OF IT AND YEEEET.

This movie and I started off on a good foot from the very first. Spider-Man has always been my favourite superhero. I watched the 2002 Tobey Maguire version a year or so back, and before that, I'm fairly sure that I read some comics too. Not the super originals probably, but I have a recollection of Spider-Man comics and absolutely loving them. So when I saw the Spider-Man Homecoming teaser trailer- well, it happened something like this:

Me: oh hey I'll watch this trailer. it's Spider-Man after all.
Me: *watches*
Me: OH SWEET PIZZA AND PASTRY WHEN IS THIS MOVIE COMING OUT I MUST SEE IT.

And for the past two months, my family can confirm that I have been going on about Spider-man...a lot. :P I'd watched every single trailer that I could find - several times over. I even quoted the movie before it was even released. I was hyped, to say the least.

The day when I was going to see it, I was so nervous. I was worried it wouldn't be all that cool. I was desperately trying to not imagine all the awful things the movie could be like. But as soon as it started BOOM. All worries were gone.

SO GOOD.

I have always loved Spidey so much because he's just so relateable, and Homecoming has done this in a super great way. HE'S JUST A TEENAGE KID TRYING TO WORK OUT LIFE AND HELP DON'T WE ALL RELATE??? I'm sure I do, anyway. 
And another thing Peter was so dyyying to get out of school and be spider-man again. THAT WAS SO GOOD. IF I COULD BE SPIDER-MAN I'D WANT TO DO IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Like...who wouldn't?! And he's my age. Not some college-going Superman or some billionaire Batman (or even the other versions of Spider-Man). He's just a kid like me, going through similar things to me (though I'm not spider-man, and I'm not in 'school' school - yay homeschooling XD but still, it's true) and I love that so much.

I'd watched a ton of interviews that Tom Holland (the actor who plays Peter/Spider-man, for those non-geeky people :P) did and once or twice I had a flash of concern of: 'wait, if I do this, what if I can't see him as Peter, but only as actor Tom Holland' BUT NO. It wasn't like that at all. Tom was Peter and the casting of everything was just so perfect.

Have I mentioned how much I liked the characters?? Peter was amazing. Aunt May was young and I really really liked that actually. Ned and Michelle cracked me up. (Michelle though guys, a female character who wasn't the love interest?? How cool is that?) And the villain was super well done. He made so much sense and was so real but so scary at the same time. (scary in a good way)
Gosh I just loved them all. No one felt flat or unrealistic at all.

Is Spider-Man a funny superhero? Hmm, let me think. UM YES. And Homecoming captured that perfectly. Even in the super intense epic action scenes, there's humour and comedy dropped in there. And it's not forced at all. It's just realistic. Because honestly, if I was in that situation YES. I'D DO ALL OF THAT. I'd be like "WHOA THIS IS SO COOL I'M A SUPERHERO - AVENGERS HERE I COME." And it's so quoteable and memorable.
(I have had several gif conversations with a friend in which I use solely Spider-Man gifs and I'm very proud of myself. xD)

And speaking of action, I was so in the movie. I was shivering with tension some of the scenes and I'm sure my heart almost stopped for a moment there with THAT PLOT TWIST. Not to mention that I was discreetly absolutely definitely not crying nope not at all in one certain scene. I just wanted to give Peter a hug because I could relate so much.

And, like the avid fan I am, I've now seen the movie twice. First time when my Dad took me and then I dragged both my older sisters along because I liked it so much and needed some more people to get my quotes and references. IT WAS JUST AS GOOD THE SECOND TIME. *shrieks and fangirls forever*

This is BY FAR my favourite Marvel movie (granted, I haven't watched a heap (*cough*two*coughcough*), but shhh that's beside the point. Silence peasant. XD) and way high up right near the very top of my favourite all-time. It's just so epic and cool and YES.

Help. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop flailing and fangirling over this movie.
Actually no, don't bother send help. I'm quite happy right as I am. xP


Have you seen Spider-man Homecoming??
(if you did, FLAIL WITH ME, you know you want to XD)
Are there any movies that you've been flailing over before they're even released?

The Beauty of Poems // I bought my friend's poetry book!!!

You probably noticed in my vlog on Friday, that I read out a poem written by Julia Ryan. And not only that, but it was read out from an actual physical paperback book.

That, my friends, is because Julia Ryan has her AMAZING poetry available to buy.

Hence today you get a post with lots of beautiful photos (credit to my sister - obviously) and not very many words (I blame camp nano).

When I heard the news, I was so super insanely excited. I bought it that day. And YES, it was, like, a bit over twenty dollars (what with converting US dollars to AUD + postage) but that's the price I have to pay for about 80% of new books. And this was absolutely and definitely worth every cent.

"I laugh a lot

for no good reason

sometimes

I just catch myself doing it

and then I grin

and keep on laughing"

"her laugh

it's changed

it seems a bit more open

almost a bit more

f r e e "

 

"I thought that books were

harmless enough

but I was wrong

they aren't just a bunch of words

printed out on paper

they play with your mind

giving you a sensation

of a world

you are yet to be a part of"

Poetry is such a beautiful gift. Reading through this was so amazing and I could honestly feel the realness that was behind each poem. Every poem has a story that shows just a little bit of the author's heart. The part of them that isn't often on display for anyone to see. 

That's one of the things that I love most about poetry and about songs and about writing. It's all like a little glimpse into a deeper person.

"you have to be brave

to let people in

to trust them

with your story

and heart

and love

you can't just run away

bc you are scared"

. . .

"be brave

trust in God

and then

my dear friend

you will find beauty"

I know that with some of my artistic creations (using words, of course, because drawing/paint = nooope) I pour my time and my energy into it and there is so much of me in the stories and the characters and the words and phrases. 

To be entrusted with reading someone else's story and heart should be just as scary as telling people yours. Because we're handling something that is so close to them that it should be frightening. And for me, it is. But in a way that makes me excited and so alive.

Because we've got to be brave, even if it doesn't feel like we can be. 


Check out the lovely Julia Ryan at her blogging corner of the internet to find out more about this wonderful person - and hop over to her poetry blog for some of her amazing works!!
Blog - The Barefoot Gal
Poetry blog(!!!) - Twilight to Dawn
and don't forget to check out her 'my poetry book' page and BUY IT NOW.

Do you like reading or writing poetry?
(if the answer is yes - shoo, off you go and buy Julia's book. If the answer is no. . . off with you and do it anyways)