Wisteria Writer's Tag // apparently it's tagging time

And after ages of silence in the tagging realm SUDDENLY TWO TAGS WITHIN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER.

Boom.

This time it's the Wisteria Writer's Tag which is perfect because it's Camp NaNo and this should fit right in.

and yes I know they're Rain Lillies or something like that, not Wisteria, but shhhh. Still flowers. :P

Thank you to Brianna for tagging me! (everyone go check out her snazzy new blog)

Rules:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions asked.
3. Add ten (writing or book related) questions of your own.
4. Nominate people.

1. Why did you start writing?

Because my older sister started. And older sisters always do the cool things.
So naturally I copied her.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.


2. What is your favorite book on writing?

Creating Character Arcs - K. M. Weiland
BECAUSE YES. GO BUY AND READ IT RIGHT NOW.
Also I won this in a giveaway and that was so cool because the giveaway hosts actually bothered to make the effort to send an actual paperback copy all the way to Australia. How cool is that??


3. Who's your favorite character to date?

How can I choose between all my precious babies??? YOU CAN'T ASK ME TO DO THIS.
I think maybe- BUT NO. I cannot do this. *curls up under a blanket and hides from the question*


4. What's your favorite way to write? (pen and paper, computer, typewriter, dictation, etc.)

Usually just computer/laptop, because that's the easiest and quickest. ALTHOUGH I do want to try a just pen-paper novel sometime because that would be super cool.

But can I just bring up that dictation is an option?? I WANT TO MEET SOMEONE WHO USES THIS METHOD. I could not possibly do that. Whenever I try tell a story out loud my brain goes on strike.


5. Plot first or Character first?

I have this thing called an obsession with theme and character arcs. Theme first. Always.
In plotting my Camp NaNo novel at last minute, I did it in the order of 
1) characters 
2) theme 
3) character arcs 
4) world building 
5) oh wait yes I also need an actual plot. 
(step five was completed 12 hours before Camp NaNo began)


6. Writing essentials? (coffee, a blanket, chocolate, etc.)

Basically the same list that I gave in my post last Monday. XD But just to change it up a little, another thing I like to have when writing (I've discovered this in the last week) is physical things. I printed out my face-claims for my main cast of characters, and it's been SO COOL. Also I did all my theme, character arcs, character profiles, world building, and plot stuff in one notebook. And that's been really good and I'm definitely doing it again.


7. Favorite quote about writing?

That has got to be one of my favourites. I think it's such an important thing to remember, and it's what I keep reminding myself as I'm writing my first drafts.

And right now I'm SURE there's some really really cool quote about writing that I have written down somewhere but I can't remember. So this'll have to do. :P


8. What's your current work-in-progress about?

OKAY YES. *grabs out handily written synopsis*
Actually no. I have no synopsis. Or pitch line. Or any of that stuff.

Basically it's a sci fi novella with hints of fairy tales, not very much green, a smol determined girl called Michayla and a stiff, logical and secretly insecure guy called Braden (who also happens to wear a suit and sunglasses constantly)
Oh yes and it's titled A Sprig of Green if I hadn't already mentioned that.


9. Music or silence?

It honestly depends on my mood. Usually I'm a very music-y person, and I've got playlists for all my characters. But then sometimes I just don't want to have music. And particularly editing, I'm not keen on having music. But again, it depends. Sometimes I like it with editing too.


10. What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started writing?

Sometimes I think about going back in time, calmly placing my hand on my younger self's shoulder and saying: YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BE PERFECT, JANE. DEAL WITH IT AND KEEP DOING THE THING. YOU'LL BE FINE.
Also maybe: JEEZ DO A BIT MORE RESEARCH.

*bows* And then my younger self would be terrified and quit writing right away. So I'm not sure there'd actually be any point at all.

Time travel makes everything complicated.


Now I get to think up questions and tag people and ack isn't it exciting?? I'm actually following the rules. *cue shocked gasps from all the readers*


1) What inspired the idea for your current WIP (work in progress), and how long have you had the idea?
2) What are you most looking forward to about this WIP?
3) Have you ever dreamed about your characters?
4) How do you go about naming your characters?
5) Do you plan out your theme?
6) Do you discover the MBTI thing of your characters? (if so, what are the types of your WIP protagonists?)
7) Have you a favourite genre to write in? (or do you like switching it up randomly)
8) What is a big inspiration for you in writing? (a person, book, quote, scenery, ect.)
9) Are you competitive in your word counts, or more chill and relaxed?
10) Do you like sharing small snippets of your work? (*hint hint* :P)


AND THE PEOPLES I AM TAGGING:
(note to said tagged peoples: if you don't want to do this that's fine by me I only spent half the day thinking up these wasted ten questions ahem)

Sarah // Novus Papilio

Clare // Clare's Spot

Quinley // Adventure Awaits

And everyone else who I didn't mention because really I just don't want to make you feel obliged to do this because you mightn't want to. If you haven't done this before, please consider yourself tagged. Like, honestly. Do. Please. I want to see your answers. DO ALL THE ANSWERING, OKAY? :P

Or else you could just answer them in the comments, because I'm a curious person.


Do you make character or story playlists?
(drop me a link if you do!!! Mine are on my youtube channel: here)
What's your's or your character's MBTI??
(as I said, I'm curious. :P)

The Adventures of Lando Erif :: The Day I Banned Chocolate (Pt. Two)

FIRST DAY OF CAMP NANO TOMORROW. Who's staying up until midnight to write? *raises hand*

But anyway. I haven't really decided whether I'll be continuing Lando during the next month. At this point, I'm thinking not because I have quite a bit that's happening and no back up stories for if I forget to write one and not enough time to pre-write four week's worth. Basically you'll just have to wait until next Friday to see what happens. :P

For today, though, we have the second part of the story with the controversial name of 'the day I banned chocolate.' (I really just wanted to have everyone's reactions to me titling something like that. xD)
I hope you enjoy!

I don’t like chocolate.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re all thinking. ‘But Lando, how can you not like chocolate???’

Honestly though. A) it doesn’t actually taste as nice as it’s made out to. And b) I’ve had some bad experiences.

After the shopping trolley incident, I’d hoped that I was finished with Fate for good. But apparently it was not to be.

Fate paced up and down in front of me, the bars of the cage around me making his long trench coat look like it had stripes. He’d been pacing for the last few minutes, ever since his dragon dropped me into the cage. And he still hadn’t said anything, and I was starting to get bored. Not to say a little nervous.

“Soo…” I ran my tongue over my teeth and shifted, fiddling my fingers together. “Why am I here?”

Fate turned on me with a growl. “Shut your mouth, you fool,” he snarled.

Rude.

“You are here because I have a question to ask of you,” he continued anyway and I looked up again.

“Ookay?”

“Silence.” He glared at me and then continued pacing.

Well fine then. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for him to continue in his overly dramatic villain-speech.

“My cousin is still missing.” Fate grabbed the bars between us, leaning toward me as far as he could.

“Oh.” A frown creased my forehead. “Should I know this cousin?”

“Zey Nabra,” he shrieked, his voice cracking and slipping into a very un-villainous tone. Recovering, he cleared his throat and returned to pacing. “Where did you send—Zana Bradford, as you call her.”

“I have no idea,” I replied in complete honesty. “We ReLocated her and—”

“LIES,” his voice broke again and he subsided into low muttering. “Ah. I know just the thing to make you talk.” He looked up at me and smirked, sliding his hand into his pocket

I tensed, waiting for him to pull out…whatever it was.

“I can see you shivering with fear already,” he smirked, leaning towards me.

“I am not,” I protested.

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Fate shook his head. “You’re about to start, then.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket again, something clenched between his fingers. Sending me a half grin, he uncurled his fingers.

It was a piece of chocolate.

Well. That was slightly anticlimactic.

I looked up at Fate, scrunching my eyebrows. “Is it, like, a grenade in disguise or something?”

His eyes narrowed. “Of course not.”

“A gun? A magic spell?” I stared at the square of chocolate on his palm.

“No.” Fate shot me a scornful glare. “It’s chocolate.”

Was I meant to be terrified? Was there something about chocolate that was meant to make me quake in my boots?

I mean, sure I didn’t like it a heap, but it didn’t terrify me.

“I think I’m missing something…” I squinted at the chocolate and then up at Fate again.

Then the chocolate flew off Fate’s hand, right at me.

I threw myself flat on the ground, feeling the chocolate whiz past right over my head. Pushing up, I twisted over my shoulder. Fate’s dragon pounced on the chocolate.

Chocolate had dairy.

Dragons were intolerant to dairy, some worse than others.

Fate yelped and ran forward, waving his arms about. “No no no, you know that’s not good for you.”

Something bounced against the back of my head and I ducked, letting out a yelp as another chocolate bar bounded past toward the dragon.

“Hey, you don’t want to do this. Remember what happened last time?” Fate held his hands out toward the dragon, slowly advancing.

The dragon didn’t listen.

It ate both chocolate bars in one swallow.

I ducked behind my hands, tense and waiting. Something bad was going to happen, I knew it. But what?

Fate backed away rapidly, getting back and cringing down behind the other side of my cage. But still no crazy dragon. I looked at Fate and at the dragon and then lowered my hands.

“I kinda expected something bad to happen—”

I never finished.

The dragon spat a ball of fire at the warehouse door, exploding it into smithereens.

A blast of smoke swept over me and I clapped my hands over my mouth and nose, trying not to breathe it in. The dragon roared from the side of the warehouse and sent another fireball at the opposite wall.

I blinked rapidly as the smoke cleared, unable to hold my breath much longer. Fate stood from behind the bars, clapping his hands together as he looked toward the now-smashed doorway.

“Well well well,” he said slowly. I followed his gaze.

The twins stood, half crouched and shielding their faces behind their hands. And looking slightly singed.

“I’m honoured. So many visitors in the one day.” Fate stepped to the side and reached up, tugging a rope that hung just beside his head.

“Watch out—” I was just too late in my warning. A rope net snapped up around the twins, tangling them into the impossible trap.

“Hey. That wasn’t nice,” Thomas’s voice came from somewhere in the kicking pile of twins.

Fate ducked to a crouch as a ball of flames rushed past over his head. “I wasn’t trying to be nice.” He advanced across the floor and grabbed the net, dragging it, Thomas and Titus yelling protests inside, over to me. He dropped them, sniffing disdainfully as an unidentifiable foot kicked at his leg.

“Leave them alone.” I stood up, only just able to in the cramped space of the cage. “They don’t know the answer any more than I do.”

Fate turned on me. “Wait. Did I ask a question? Ohh yes, so I did.” He narrowed his eyes and glared down at me. “Then there’s only one option left.”

The twins stopped kicking, and for a moment the warehouse was silent.

Except for the rampaging dragon about to blow us all sky-high, but that was entirely beside the point.

Fate waited another dramatic moment and then smiled. “You are all caught in the snares of Fate, and Fate will oversee your demise.” And then he laughed.

Talk about over dramatic.

But it worked. I was worried. I’ve had enough experience with manic fairies to know that they will carry out their threats or die trying.

Fate straightened himself and lifted his hands, closing his eyes. “Prepare to meet your—”

“Fate!” A yell came from above and the fairy spun around. A blur swung down and smashed into Fate, sending him flying backward into my cage. The metal bars broke like cardboard when his back hit them.

My leg barely avoided the same fate.

Scarlette continued swinging over our heads and then she dropped, releasing the rope and landing neatly on the floor.

Fate scrabbled for a moment and then shoved up from the wreckage, turning to face Scarlette. “You will regret that, girl. I will destroy—”

Scarlette crossed the space separating them, flipping a pocket knife open with a twist of her wrist. “Say that again?”

The fairy stopped short, raising his hands defensively. “I wasn’t going to hurt them,” his voice changed to a more conciliatory tone.

She snorted. “Back up and put your hands flat on that wall there.” She pointed with the blade of the knife.

Fate moved backward slowly and then turned and pressed his palms against the warehouse wall. I held my breath, but he didn’t make any move. Scarlette stood behind Fate, watching narrowly for a moment.

Still nothing.

She snapped her knife shut and pocketed it. Brushing her hands together briskly, she turned back to me. 

“You three quite finished—”

“Watch out!” I blurted as Fate moved.

He clenched his fingers into claws and ripped a wooden board from the wall. Spinning, he brought it down at the back of Scarlette’s head.

She would’ve been dropped right then and there. If she’d been any ordinary Recruit.

But no one ever accused us as being ordinary.

Scarlette lifted her hands behind her head, catching the board before it hit. She ducked and twisted sideways, wrenching the wood from Fate’s grasp. And then in a beautiful swipe, she smacked it right in his face.

Needless to say, Fate collapsed.

I snapped myself out of the shocked freeze and clambered out over the remnants of the cage, hurrying to the twins. “You guys okay?” I grabbed at the weave of the rope net, trying to work out where the opening was.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Titus wriggled, and Thomas let out a yelp.

“You’re kicking my face,” he protested.

“Sorry—”

A fiery explosion almost knocked me back with the blast of heat and I looked up. Scarlette waves her hand. “Don’t worry! I got this.” She charged forward at the dragon.

I nodded, even though she wasn’t looking anymore, and turned back to the net. “There’s an opening somewhere.” I gritted my teeth and tugged at the ropes.

Another explosion and half of the warehouse wall started crumbling.

“Not good,” Thomas muttered from beneath Titus somewhere.

I finally found the opening and jerked it up, pulling the net far enough to let the twins get out. Titus rolled up to his hands and knees and scrambled out, followed closely by Thomas.

“Phew,” I said, shoving a hand through my hair.

But Thomas was already sprinting toward the dragon.

Scarlette wasn’t doing so well, and as glanced over, the dragon pounced on her, trapping her between it’s paws like the piece of chocolate. Thomas dived forward and shoved her sideways, ending up on his knees right beneath the dragon’s opening jaws.

On his knees with a squashed looking sandwich held in his hands above his head.

I stared, unable to look away as the dragon’s mouth opened wider above Thomas and started going down. Toward him. I started running, not knowing what I could do, but just running toward them anyway.

And then the dragon paused and —very daintily— took the sandwich between its teeth and gulped it down.

I skidded to a stop, panting. The dragon straightened, shook itself and then dived through the burning wall with a sweep of its wings.

Thomas staggered to his feet, wiping his hands against his shirt and looking like he was either going to start laughing or throwing up. Titus ran forward and grabbed his twin’s arm. “You okay?”

Thomas nodded, leaning against Titus’s shoulder. “Got rid of the psycho dragon.”

“I thought you were going to be eaten alive,” I blurted.

“No such luck.” Thomas grinned and bumped his fist into my arm.

Scarlette rose from her crouch, shoving her messy hair back over her shoulder. She gave Thomas a glance. “Well. I guess your weirdness actually turns out to be useful sometimes,” she said, her voice holding an admiration that was only slightly grudging. 

“Oh. Thanks. You never know when you might need a vegemite sandwich. I always carry one, although normally I eat it.” Thomas flushed. “Sorry about your chocolate.”

“I think I’ve been put off chocolate for a while actually.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “It just doesn’t have the same appeal anymore.”

“I concur,” I agreed wholeheartedly.

- end -

So how was that?? I half feel like this story was a bit of a mess and half feel like it's just my brain that's a bit of a mess at the moment really.

Hard to tell sometimes.


Are you staying up for a midnight write to start of Camp?
(join me??)
Do you have any ideas for more possible Lando stories?

The #VoicesofYA Tag // an excuse for me to shriek over books + writing

Well it's been a while since one of these, hasn't it.

BUT WE'RE BACK. Tagging has come upon me again, this time by a certain Jonathan Trout (check out his blog: Fishing 4 Ideas) so many thanks to you. *gives pizza*

This time it's all about books so brace yourselves, my readers. I am about to begin. (and who knows when I will stop, once I've got going) (actually, I'll probably stop when it gets too late and I'm too tired so there you go, deadline for me)

What draws you to YA?

Well possibly because I am a young adult?? I'm sure there's some deep philosophical reason for this but I can't think of one for the life of me.
Also because adult books are a bunch of 'eh' and terrible content. And there's only so many middle grade books out there that are well written enough to hold my attention. (but if you were looking for recommendations, I definitely have several up my sleeve) So that leaves me with YA. So YA it is most of the time.


Describe your writing process. Do you like outlines and structure, or seeing where the story takes you?

Normally I'm fairly plotted out. I do a bullet-point list of chapter-by-chapter short summary (like 'Gets kidnapped by russian mafia, bargain with them, gets released') for the entire thing. And plotting out character arcs and theme and alll the fun stuff.

Unfortuantely I haven't gotten time to do that for my Camp NaNo one yet -what with trying to finish my Rogue Escarlate edits- so eep. I'm trying not to freak out over here.


How long have you been writing? Where are you in your journey?

LONG WINDED ANSWER:

Okay so when I was 10-11, I wrote these short stories about a little girl (apparently she was 5) and her dad and the plot line of every single one was: girl has a random thought - asks father a deep question - father grabs bible and reads a passage that answers it - girl goes off happily with this newfound knowledge.
I was very proud of those stories. (actually, reading back through them, there is one that is legitimately really interesting because it was written in the middle of when I was clearly struggling. It was basically a true story with names changed, and I'd almost forgotten the event itself, so it was almost like reading a diary entry five years later.)

Then a little bit after that, I wrote the most horrible, weird...thing. That was pretty much a retelling of The Man from Snowy River.

AND THEN (somehow this turned into me telling you about all the awful things I've written) I coauthored the unspeakable fanfic/cliche/plotless/horror that-must-not-be-named. BUT THAT'S OKAY because I burnt it dramatically in April this year and it shall never rise from the ashes again.

Then along came OYAN and The Bridge of Anskar and yeaaah. Also cliche. But hey, it wasn't too bad considering that Man from Snowy River parody thing. *nervous laugh*

And now I have a first-draft-trilogy and several other various stories and I'm pretty sure I can confidently say that I've improved.

SHORT ANSWER:

About five years.

And where am I on my journey? I'm only right at the very beginning. I have barely begun to discover the twists and turns of this business. There's so much more that I haven't even started to learn.
I can't wait to continue on this endless journey.


What do you need to write? Coffee? Music?

a) Laptop
b) Fingers
c) Brain

Plus optional bonus chai tea and music (although chai tea does make it hard to type?? because it requires me holding the cup and one day I'm going to tip tea on my lap and shriek very loud - just a warning for all my family). Fingers and laptop are partially optional also, but they're preferable. Brains are not optional. JUST SO YOU KNOW.

If you could offer one piece of advice to another writer, (OTHER THAN "don't give up"), what would it be?

Never forget who you're writing for.
Are you writing for yourself, because you like doing it?
Are you writing for the readers who will love it one day?
Are you writing it for the money you'll get when you top the bestseller's list?

OR

Are you writing for the Creator of the universe, you gave you the gift? Are you writing to use that gift for His glory?

It shouldn't be a hard question to answer.


What book still has you reeling from its plot twist?

Two books:

           

Read them.
That is all I have to say.


What books are you most anticipating for this year?

Renegades - Marissa Meyer // I have a huge liking for the Lunar Chronicles and I love the idea of this book, so I'm definitely looking forward to it's release.

The Ship of the Dead - Rick Riordan // I have the first two books on my shelf so obviously they need number three. AND ALSO the Magnus Chase books are so funny. Almost funnier than Percy Jackson. *fangirl gasps* (and on that note, Percy is going to be in this one so yeet another good reason that I'm excited for this)

Exiles - Jaye L. Knight // I HAVEN'T ACTUALLY READ THE REST OF THE SERIES. I've read Resistance and the preview of Half-Blood and I loved them both and all the feels and so much epicness so yes. I am excited for this even though I probably won't be reading it for a while yet. :P

In your opinion, which YA book/series has the most unique premise? 

NOTE: I'm really bad at 'premise's so just pardon any misconceptions I might have over the word, but if you have a good definition - tell me in the comments because I'd love to know. XD

Okay this one is hard. I've read so many books with quirky an unique concepts and choosing is super tricky. But just to pick two random ones:

Storming: biplane flier in a small-town meets steampunk flying worlds. It caught my attention easy.
The New Recruit: (I just wanted any excuse at all to mention this book really :P) A stubborn nonchristian becomes a member of a Christian...spy organsation? Cool. Very muchly so. 


What is your all-time favourite quote from YA?

Excuse me. How could I decide something like that?? *distant screams* I'm just going to go for a super memorable, feels-y one.

“KISS ME, HARDY! Kiss me, QUICK!” - Code Name Verity (Elizabeh Wein)

It doesn't really make a super lot of sense by itself, but in the book it's heartbreaking. Trust me on this one. Or actually no, read the book and you'll see. It's not a romance. It's about planes and war and friendship.

What book do you most hope will have a movie adaptation? 

I'm assuming that this is an utterly perfect movie adaption. Of course. Humm, that's a tough question though.

Out of Time - Nadine Brandes
Ilyon Chronicles - Jaye L Knight
Storming - K. M. Weiland

I CAN'T DECIDE. *bookworm's brain explodes because that question is too stressful*


And with that, I complete my question-answering at last.

AND NOW FOR TAGGING PEOPLES
- now I shall just note that if you don't want to do this that's fine. I won't be offended. 70% guarantee that I will have forgotten anyway after about three weeks and won't even notice, but if you do do it, it'd be a pleasant surprise -

Jem Jones

Gray Marie

Jess Penrose

+ anyone else who wants to do this thing

Everyone else: GO CHECK OUT THEIR BLOGS. I'm eternally in love with Jem's owl, it's so cute. And Gray's posts are amazing (also she has the most cool curly hair, honestly). And Jess is my cousin, so I can personally confirm that she's a pretty cool person.

And look at this. I have a handy dandy list of the questions here for you to copy-paste as you will.

What draws you to YA?
Describe your writing process. Do you like outlines and structure, or seeing where the story takes you?
How long have you been writing? Where are you in your journey?
What do you need to write? Coffee? Music?
If you could offer one piece of advice to another writer, (OTHER THAN "don't give up"), what would it be?
What book still has you reeling from its plot twist?
What books are you most anticipating for this year?
In your opinion, which YA book/series has the most unique premise? 
What is your all-time favourite quote from YA?
What book do you most hope will have a movie adaptation? 

And there we have it. I hopefully didn't bore anyone and you're all adding books to your TBR already like the good little minions you are.


Are there any books that left you reeling from the unexpected plot twists?
What's one of your favourite book covers?
(this is one of the questions that were sadly left out, obviously)
JUST TALK TO ME ABOUT ALLLL THE BOOKS.

The Adventures of Lando Erif :: The Day I Banned Chocolate (Pt. One)

One week left until Camp NaNo kicks off. Are you ready? *cough* I'm not. But I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise to anyone considering my renowned preparedness for everything. (particularly blog posts like today's *awkward laugh*)

But anyways. Today I have the first half of a story for you all. I've mentioned it before in all its random-first-line-ness, so the very beginning might be familiar to some. The ending, however, is as yet unfamiliar to me. BUT I'LL DEAL WITH THAT ANOTHER DAY. :P

So, on to the story!

The cocoa bean jumped onto the road.

“Er, do cocoa beans normally do that?” Titus asked with a frown.

The bean jumped again, bouncing along the black gravel surface.

Thomas straightened his tie. “I dunno,” he said, squinting after it. “But not as far as I’ve heard.”

The twins were leaning against the school fence, chewing the remains of their lunch. All the other year seveners were playing soccer but neither team wanted the twins—they had a reputation for accidentally kicking the ball in the completely wrong direction. Thus they were alone and waiting for the bell to go off, when the bean started acting oddly.

“It’s almost like it’s alive,” Thomas mused, brushing the crumbs off his uniform.

At that moment a familiar figure came dashing down the street, running as if his life depended on it. Which, in fact, it did.

“Lando?” Titus stared in astonishment.

A second later, a dark shadow swept across the school ground and a frying stream of flames scorched the road around Lando. The twins looked up, gaping as they saw the dark dragon diving toward the ground.

“Great smelly socks—” Thomas choked.

Lando emerged from the fire entirely unscorched. He dived to the side as the dragon swooped low, scraping its claws along the road.

Titus exchanged a glance with Thomas and they scrambled up and over the fence, ignoring the now-tolling bell. Titus dropped to the ground, stumbling as a swoosh of air heaved him backward into the fence again.

Flames seared across the ground and Titus jumped to his feet again. The dragon plunged down out of the sky on top of Lando “Watch out,” he yelled, but it was too late.

Lando disappeared beneath the huge dark green wings and the dragon soared upward again. With Lando clutched in its claws.

“No, help,” Thomas yelped, jumping toward the dragon too late to do anything other than land flat on his face.

“Come back here right now.” Titus dashed forward as the dragon swooped toward another street. “Or else I’ll call Sir George.”

The dragon obviously had never met Sir George, so the name didn’t baulk it at all. It just kept on flying.

Titus paused beside his twin and hauled him up from the ground. “Come on. We need to save Lando.” From whatever freakish random attack was happening now. 

Surely Zana couldn’t have gotten back from her ReLocated island that fast?

Right?

Thomas rubbed his hand across his face and shook his head, holding onto Titus’s arm. “I don’t like the ground.”

“I don’t blame you.” Titus started running, dragging Thomas with him. “Come on.”

He pounded across the road, heading for the street that the dragon had plunged down. A billow of smoke exploded out of the street and Titus staggered, slamming his shoulder into Thomas by accident.

“Whoa what—” Titus stopped, clamping his hand over his mouth.

Not good.

“Not good,” Thomas voice his thought.

“No kidding.” Titus gulped in a deep breath and sprinted forward into the grey cloud. The smoke stung his eyes, but he could see the street clear enough as the grey started to drift away.

It was empty.

No sign of a dragon. No sign of a Lando.

No sign of anything at all.

Titus gaped at the emptiness. No dragon could fly fast enough to disappear like that. It must have just gone down another of the streets. He started to step forward but a sudden blast slammed into him and he stumbled back, Thomas yelling out beside him and ending up face first on the ground again.

With a thud, a girl appeared, landing lightly in a superhero-crouch.

“I wish I could do that,” Titus mumbled to himself, watching in awe.

The girl spun around, her hands instantly raised to a defensive position. “Thomas?” She lowered her hands, straightening. “What are you doing?”

“I was going to school. Until Lando came running along the road chased by a maniac dragon.” Titus shook himself back to attention. 

“And anyway, I’m Thomas.” Thomas grumbled, rolling up to his knees from the ground.

Scarlette Broome raised her eyebrows. “Should’ve guessed you lot were involved somehow.” She tipped her head and looked down her nose at Thomas. “What are you doing on the ground?”

“Just casually chilling out, as per usual.” Thomas stood, brushing his uniform off.

“You knocked him,” Titus explained, stepping forward. “The safety force-blast to clear the area before you can Net travel cleared us both backwards.”

“Ah.” Scarlette shook her head. “Next time, try not to get in the way.”

“I didn’t try this time,” Thomas protested hotly.

“Anyway. I actually have stuff to do. Sir George sent me after a dragon and I’d better get it before anything happens to anyone because of it.” She turned away from the street, heading toward the school.

“Whoa, whoa, hold it right there.” Titus scrambled sideways to block her path. “Lando just got kidnapped by a dragon right here, so chances are it’s the exact same one as what you’re looking for.”

Scarlette’s eyes narrowed around the corners, surveying him closely. “Is this a joke?”

“No,” Titus assured her at exactly the same time as Thomas did the same.

She looked between them both. “Okay.” Propping her hands on her hips, she pursed her lips. “Give me a good reason to believe you.”

Good reason? Why did girls always need good reasons before they did anything?

“Because Lando isn’t here now. So that proves that he was taken,” Thomas tested.

“Not buying that one, Titus.” Scarlette shook her head firmly.

Titus bit his lip, desperately wracking his mind to think of something to convince her with. He could just leave and who cares if she helped or not. But where had Lando gone? By now the dragon could be anywhere.

Then he noticed Scarlette’s jacket, tied around her waist by the sleeves. And more specifically, he noticed that the pocket was moving.

It flinched and wiggled next to her leg like something alive.

He only vaguely heard his twin trying to convince the girl that she was getting their names mixed up. The corner of a piece of packaging appeared, jerking outward a little way.

“I don’t even care if you’re Thomas or Titus—Okay fine. From now on I call you both Kanter and if you don’t answer to that, then it’s your problem.” Scarlette huffed loudly and started to turn away. “You’re wasting my time with your stupid pranks.”

The chocolate bar slipped all the way out of her pocket.

But then, instead of falling on the ground like any normal chocolate would do, it flew straight toward Thomas’s face.

He yelped and slapped it away and Titus lunged forward, snatching it in his hand before it could escape. “Ha. Gotcha.”

The chocolate almost slipped from his hands again, as if it was being tugged by some invisible force. Like a magnet.

Scarlette turned around, her frown turning into a look of indignation. “That’s my chocolate bar,” she protested, starting toward Titus. “How dare you take that.”

Oh wait. Not good. Grumpy girl. How did one deal with a grumpy girl?

“No, no. It’s not what you think,” he tried to explain but her glare left him stumbling into silence.

“Give that back.”

The chocolate bar jerked from his hand and went flying right past his ear and Titus turned, throwing himself after it. He just managed to get the edge of the packaging between his fingers and grab a hold of the rest again.

“What in the world are you doing?” Scarlette demanded, standing over him.

“The chocolate. I think it’s attracted to the dragon in some way. That’s why the cocoa bean was bouncing so weirdly. It’s like the dragon has some magnetic force only it pulls cocoa toward itself,” he was thinking aloud now, feeling the pull of the chocolate in his hands.

There was a moment of silence and then Scarlette cleared her throat. “Yep. You’re definitely as crazy as I always thought.”

But…if the chocolate bar was pulling toward the dragon, then it could lead him to Lando. Titus scrambled to his feet, shooting Thomas a glance. Instantly he knew that they both had worked out the same thing.

He started running, following the pull in his hands. “Come on!” 

Thomas ran after him, keeping pace just behind.

“Hey you two. Come back here right now and don’t you dare run off with my chocolate bar,” Scarlette screamed behind them.

Titus ignored her, staggering and taking a skidding turn to the right as the chocolate jerked sideways.

“Don’t make me run, boys, or you will regret it,” Scarlette’s voice went slightly dimmer as buildings rose up between them, but still considerably earsplitting.

Titus followed the steady tugging in his hands, almost running into walls and crashing against unexpected dumpsters as they sped through streets that he hadn’t even realised existed.

Then he stopped just in time to avoid smashing straight into a door.

Thomas stumbled into him from behind and he went forward another pace, bringing his hands up to protect his face from smashing into the wood. The chocolate bar slipped from his grasp and evaded his snatching fingers, skittering up the wall as if gravity didn’t exist anymore.

Scarlette skidded to a stop at the same time as her chocolate disappeared through a cracked-open window.

Titus sucked in a deep breath, taking a step back and looking up at the building. The wall were nets of cracked and peeling paint, and at least three storeys high. Spiderwebs draped off the top corner of the door right in front of him.

“Well. No one lives here, obviously,” Thomas said, his voice startlingly loud in the eerie stillness.

Scarlette’s shoes scuffed the ground as she stepped back. “I’m not sure if you guys read very much, or even watch any movies, but this looks like the exact sort of place where the supervillains hide out and kidnap the unsuspecting heroes that are stupid enough to walk in the front door.”

Titus swallowed hard. “But if the dragon’s in there, then Lando must be in there too.”

“And we’ve got to save him,” Thomas added, his voice croaking hesitantly over the words.

Scarlette shook her head again, shoving her hair behind her ears. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m going in.” Titus stepped up and set his hand on the doorknob. “If anyone is game, feel free to follow.”

“Of course,” Thomas and Scarlette said at the same time.

Scarlette glared at Thomas. “Don’t you dare start saying the same things as I do, Kanter.”

Titus turned his back on them both and twisted the doorhandle.

And then, with a crash that could’ve been heard by a deaf old granny a hundred kilometers away, the door exploded.

- - -

And there you have it, an almost late (seriously guys, I was this close to running out of time and you almost got this posted tomorrow, but backdated to today. :P) installment ALL ABOUT FOOD AGAIN.

I wasn't even hungry this time, I promise.

Are you excited for Camp NaNo?
(who isn't??)
Do you like chocolate or nay?

Camp NaNo 2017 // Fellowship of the Keyboards // what am I writing?

For those of you that have been around for a while (a year at least) you might remember my post last year by the name of 'The Fellowship of the Keyboards' and thus may be experiencing a random flash of déjà vu.
And here we are again and it's a full year later. And the Fellowship of the Keyboards has free spaces again. (if you're interested in this, shoot me a message on Camp NaNo (Jane Maree) or comment here or whatever. Just contact me in some way and we can sort stuff out and woot you could join the fellowship) But this time I'm not going to rave on about how epic the cabin is because you've probably all heard it before. Because I have a certain habit of repeating myself. Ahem.

Today I'm going to be -sort of- organised and randomly, spontaneously join in a Camp NaNo Countdown linkup whatsit. Spontaneously as in, I decided five minutes ago that ohey I'll do this thing actually.

But before I ramble on for too long, I'd best get to the actual point.

I'm going to be writing a story called A Sprig of Green. It's sci fi, and sort of fairy tale retelling-ish? Nothing specific though, it just has random hints of lots of random different stories.

I think.

I DON'T KNOW ACTUALLY.
I need to plan some more about this or else July will come upon me like a dragon and eat my vegemite - jars and all. And then I'll have nothing left for lunch.

But I am hoping to have some brainstorming sessions with friends to see what we can come up with.

A Sprig of Green was actually originally a short story. But then I ended it, gave it to my friends to read and promptly received requests that I write the rest of the novel. (note: most of these requests included broken hearts and sobbing and lots of caps, so I could hardly deny them) And I myself was rather curious to know more about the story. And therefore more is coming.

I have worked out some vague parts. Friendships, betrayals, backstory. All that fun stuff. And honestly I'm really looking forward to seeing where this story will go.

It has a hugely different protagonist than Rogue Escarlate. She's a smol dark-skinned girl with springy hair and very low self esteem and very high sense of determination and loyalty. I also have half-baked plans of an ally character to go with her. And if he works out, it'll be a split POV, first person, present tense novel. WHICH I'M EXCITED ABOUT because I love exploring different ideas and styles and ways of writing and I haven't done this one yet. New things just excite me and I'm very hyped about this one. I think it'll be just the experimental creative change my brain needs. (It's sci fi, so not as big a change in setting as I was originally planning for, but I think the characters and 1st person/present tense thing will make a big difference *nods*)

And WOOT. I'm going to randomly slap a snippet on you BECAUSE IT'S FUN AND I LIKE DOING IT. (even though somehow it also terrifies me at the same time?? Humans have very strange brains.)

“See look, Michayla.” Mother takes my hand, splaying my fingers open and gently placing a thin blade of dead grass on my palm. “Just imagine that as a bright green, and covering this entire plateau.”

I stare at the grass for a moment and then lift my eyes up to the red-brown clay of the plateau in front of me. For a flash, I can see it swaying with green stalks in my mind. Then a puff of wind brushes the grass off my palm and a cry slips between my lips.

Mother pushes to her feet and snatches the grass back from the playful grip of the breeze. “Don’t worry.” As she smiles, her teeth flash pale against the brown skin that matches mine. “I’ve got it safe.”

I run forward a few steps and wrap my arms around her waist, nestling my face into the fabric of her skirt with a happy sigh.

“I’ve got you safe too, Michayla.” She crouches again and pulls me onto her lap, pressing her lips briefly against my forehead.

“For always?” I tip my head back to look up at her.

“For always.” She nods and I lean back against her.

Safe. For always.


Are you in a cabin yet?
(if not and you'd like to join the Fellowship YEET. Shoot me a comment or something and I'd love to have you)
What are you writing?