Plotting Relationships

So, there I was plotting, just running through random ideas for a story. And I was like, well maybe at one point I could have two kingdoms pledge to each other, but how would they ensure that that particular treaty is kept?
Well, what do other kingdoms do? Like in other stories and movies and history and such?
Oh I know!
I could have two characters marry each other!

At this point....I realized -through helpful pointers from my characters-
That they're all already with someone.

>.< Shoot.

*Lightbulb*

But wait! There's one who is still available!

>.>
<.<
And also the one most likely to dig in his heels and refuse to any such thing.
And will probably not take it well if he realizes he was tricked into falling for a girl from a different kingdom so that the two could unite.

So the key to that would be.
To not trick him.
But provide the opportunity and see if anything comes of it.

Yah...this is going to be...a fine line to walk.

Should be fun though! :D

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Name In a Text

I always feel paranoid when I use someone's name when texting people.
Why?
Not sure.
It's like I think, just typing it out onto the screen...would connect the name automatically to the person's phone, and they'll read the text you just sent that mentions them.

Or the paranoid feeling that somehow, you accidentally send the text about the person to the person, or send a text to the wrong person and use a name that isn't theirs so they know you weren't talking to them, but to someone else....

Which brought to mind the question.
What if technology advances enough to do that?
And it's kept a secret?

Like secret technology, where if you mention a name somewhere, like on your cellphone, then all the people in your contact list on said device would get that text...without you knowing about it.
:S Talk about a lot of potential disasters there.
I mean, planning a surprise party? Totally ruined.

But oh, I can see how an enterprising evil villain could take advantage of this sort of thing, and use it to blackmail a lot of people.
Totally something for me to consider, if I ever get back into writing things that happen in the 'modern' world. ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Book Contests

Recently I've been seeing a lot of places online (in blogs and such) where I can enter a contest to win a free book (ARCs most of them.)
And I'm like O.O Ooo free book.
How could anyone pass up the chance for a free book! :D That's like every reader's dream right? Stumble across an awesome book, and you don't have to shell out tons of money to get it!

Then I read: If you win this book, you need to publish your opinion of the book somewhere online (Goodreads, Amazon, A Blog) within a certain time period. Entering this contest means you agree to do so.

*gulp*
:S Critic a book? Give my opinion? Publish it in the public sphere of the internet?

*small voice*
But...what if I don't like the book?

Seriously. What if I don't?
This is a new book coming out. Which obviously means. "Hey we want people to buy as many copies of this as possible! We need GOOD reviews!"

Granted, there are very few books that I've absolutely disliked.
But, if I were to enter, and actually win, I'd want to give an accurate review...
Not some fluffy vague thing of "this was fun to read." but something more...lengthy. Something that gives possible readers a good idea of what to expect.
Which probably means my review would be soo long and play by play that it would be totally boring to read. ;) haha.

Yah...of course, this is only a worry if I actually 'win' said contest 'if' I enter it.
Highly unlikely that I would in any case.

Hmm....yah...everyday the temptation to try it out grows stronger...we'll see if I actually take the leap anytime soon.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Magic vs. Modern Day

So there I was, trying to create a story in the modern world.
You know, cars, cameras, rifles, cell phones, camping. The whole thing.

And then....I tried to introduce magic to the story.
-I don't just mean 'spells/wands' when I say magic, but the whole fantasy concept. Mythical animals, gods, magic powers....

Do you know how difficult it is to bring that concept into the modern day?
Perhaps I'm over thinking it. I know there are other authors who do just fine with this concept.
But I find it difficult to do so. I mean. satellites. How can magical creatures avoid those?

*shakes head*
It involves a certain...belief level I think. A willingness to give into the unknown. And how is that possible...when you basically and go to google to figure out answers? There's a general lack of 'belief' when science can be used to explain almost everything. (if not in a satisfactory level)

Yah...just typing this out, I am realizing that I'm over thinking this.
I'm also realizing that this one story, probably shouldn't take place in the modern day. There needs to be a bit more 'belief' more 'willingness to believe in magic' then the current set up gives.

That doesn't mean that I can't bring magic into the modern world in a different story. ;)
It's just this one....looks like it needs more 'magicalism,' then what the modern world can give.

Ah. The joys of writing.
What doesn't work for one story, may not work for the next seven stories, but it will work for a story eventually. ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Shift

Reading books can be so inspiring for potential writers. There are so many concepts, ideas, characters, lines from books that can suck you into that world, or help you jump off into your own world and create your own story there.

And, if you're lucky, picking up a book and reading through it, can totally help you with a problem you didn't know you had.

I had that happen to me while I was working on one of my various stories.
There was something wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It was just like...my story was so disjointed, pieces I wanted to include, needed to include...weren't working together.

I thought it was because I needed to have a 'world changing problem.' happen within the book to make it all work out. Otherwise, why were my characters doing what they were doing? Becoming what they were becoming if not to face some great problem that could destroy life as they knew it?

And while, yes, there can be a need for that in this story I'm working on, it's not the major focus of the story...at least not yet. It may be in the future, but I needed to know the now.

But then, I picked up Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance.

And I hit upon the problem.

I was in the wrong time period.

I'd been trying to force the story to work in a 'modern day' sort of time period.
And while many of the characters could potentially be seen in the modern day time period.
The main story/conflict....became way more believable if I took everyone back.
Back to the world setting that really makes fantasy, fantasy. a time of kingdoms. A time of peasants. A time of mythical creatures.

BAM.
Everything just slid into place. My perspective shifted.
And my characters for the most part slipped into their new roles with ease.

It was like they laughed and were like "Finally Sarnic! It took you long enough to figure this out."

*sheepish grin*
What could I say? They did a really good job at passing themselves off as modern characters.

Yet now, now everything is so clear. The world has come to life in my mind.
And while everything didn't slide across the time gap....it did inspire me to create things that could work like the modern counterparts and such.
Not every question has been answered, there are still quirks to work out.
But...I now have a better understand of this world/story I'm trying to set down on the page.
 
^^ So exciting!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Mapping the World

I've ventured into unfamiliar territory.
That of...map making.

While I've read dozens of books with maps within the pages, in my own writing, I haven't attempted to create my own maps of any of my worlds.

The only other time I attempted such a thing, was when I was working on a story based in a school, and I was trying to figure out where all the classes were in relation to each other.

But actual world maps. No. Haven't done.
I mean I've drawn maps before for class assignments.... but they've always turned out looking like big blobs that wouldn't actually exist in real life.

Yet, for the past couple of days, I've had this image in my head. A map. For my Forest Story. I've had some details in my head about the location of landmarks and events in the map, but I hadn't drawn them down.
But, with the decision to switch up some things in my forest story, I decided I really needed to get a better picture of what this Forest, actually looked like. And not just the forest, but the land surrounding the forest, and not just that land, but....the entire continent.

Surprisingly enough, I found myself world building.
Figuring out the whys and hows of actions some of my characters take, how different countries are trying to establish trade routes, why those routes would need to be established.

It's actually pretty exciting! :D
So exciting in fact that I stayed up waaaaay late just creating it.

Even more exciting, is that I found out I still had 'paint' on my laptop. So I wouldn't need to get some blank pieces of paper and draw that way, I just used paint to help me create my vision. ^^

It's still not completely done. And I'm sure details will change as I need them.
But wow.
Guys. ()_() I created a map! Of a world!
...Okay it's probably just a continent in the world. But still! I created a 'world!'

And really, I found it a lot of fun. ^^;;

Though I had a bit of help....with existing maps.
Like I said before, when I try to draw my own maps, I just end up drawing a big blobby thing that really doesn't look like a real map.
So, I took existing blank maps from our world and started small.

What did I want the territory of the forest to look like?
How big would it be? What is the shape of it?
Okay, now that that's done, what does the territory look like to the east of it?
(scrolls through map pictures, picks picture, adjusts it to fit with the forest picture and tweak it)
Okay, now to the west of it?
(repeats step)
Now, above it.
(easier, I had an idea of this already)
But...that above it doesn't look quite right.
(scrolls through maps to help it look right.)
Erase lines, add in lines,

Until I had this as my final project. :)




Pretty cool yes? I'm rather proud of it. ^^ Of course this is just the outline, I've filled it out and added more details since this point, but the overall look of this continent is cool looking on it's own. ^^;;

My problem now is....figuring out scale.
I mean, is this place as big as Eurasia? Small like Australia? Somewhere in the middle?
How long would it take to walk across this continent? How long would it take to get through the forest portion of the continent? Does this world even have the same 'day' structure as ours?
No idea, I suppose I'll figure it out if I need the details to figure it out.
At the moment I'm playing with an inch = a thousand miles. (this picture has been shrunk down to fit in the blog post)  Making it on the 'bigger' side of the continent scale.

We'll have to see though.
For now, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it's magnitude of greatness! ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Addicted

Have you ever been addicted to books?
So much so that you can't function as a normal person while in the middle of one?
Your thoughts are stuck in the world with the characters, and their story that's being told.
Your hands shake, they itch to be turning the next page.
Does this addiction get worse when you're forcibly forced to put the book down...and you're in the middle of a climax or a cliff hanger?
Do you find yourself thinking in the style of the book? Using their quirks, their manner of speaking?
Do you find it difficult to not have your mouth repeat those terms, speaking quirks?

Yah....I do.
There are just some books that are that good.
The ones that totally draw you into the world, immerse you, and make it difficult to surface back into the 'real world' without sounding totally obsessive.

I had was superbly addicted when I was younger.
I inhaled books like a second food source.
You rarely found me without a book in my hand, or nearby.
And you could tell when I was in the middle of a good one whenever my response to the 'how are you?' question included "I'm in the climax of a book....and I can't read it right now."
Yah, being social was totally difficult at these times. Because more often then not, others around me hadn't read whatever I was reading, and so I had no outlet to talk about it.
..not that I'm sure I would have wanted to talk about it when I got the chance, I'd be worried somebody would spoil it for me. And I hate being spoiled.

It was an addiction bad enough that reading the final page of the book, and not having the next book -if it was a series- right there to pick up....that I would get depressed. (not literally) but I would go into a reading funk. Where, surely no other books in the world could be as great as this one here that I just read. How could anything ever top that? That. Work. of. Genius?!
But days or weeks, after finishing that Wonderful Book, I would pick up another one, just to get my mind somewhere else, and discover. That truly. This book too is a masterpiece.
Or the next book would just confirm that not all books can be written like that one.

Only, has I grew older, I found it difficult to find such 'addicting books.'
I could still read them, like them,
but truly enjoy them? Truly get sucked into their world? Truly couldn't function whenever in the middle of one? Not so much.

So I would and still do return to 'the favorites' the books that really, I could read over and over again and not care because I love the books so much.

I was able to string the 'addiction sense' along a bit this way. Particularly if the book was part of a series. As once that book came out, I could go immerse myself back into the world that I found sooo immersable and real.

But really. Recently, I hadn't felt that addiction.
When was the last time that I truly couldn't participate in life until I finished a book?
Really, it had to be with the Harry Potter books.
I remember one where we were on vacation, and I was in the middle of reading it when I had to go to bed....and I spent that whole night tossing and turning, unable to truly sleep because I had to know. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? My mind flew in a hundred different directions, desperately wanting to know the answers. What happens afterwards? How will they get out of this predicament, how would the character react?
I barely slept a wink that night because I needed to know.
And it wasn't even the last Harry Potter book that did this. Really..It was one or two before that.

But since that point. Not so much.
I rediscovered this feeling this week.
When I reread Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and was able to continue straight into the new release in this series with Words of Radiance.
Everything seemed to be consumed with that need. That need to know what happens next. Does what I want to have happen actually happen in this book? Or will I be strung along waiting desperately for book 3 to come out...in a year or so or longer. Do my favorite characters live? Do they die? Do they come back? Do they ever get over this flaw?
I didn't quite spend the nights tossing and turning like I did on that Harry Potter book, but I found it difficult to fall asleep those nights where I had to put the book down. I found myself dreaming of the characters, or using them as jumping points for even crazier dreams.
If I had a moment to close my eyes during the day -like while on work breaks- I found myself working out possible solutions to why things had happened, how they could have possibly turned out this way, what could be done to make the problems better again.
Really, I sequestered myself in my room once I got home from my work obligations. I couldn't be social. I couldn't interact. I had to find out what happened next!
My work hours were spent trying to not run around the store screaming "BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" I found myself shaky in some cases. Needing to know.
I found that I had to leave the book home, just to keep myself from disregarding my work duties in order to find out what happens next.
Seriously. It was pretty bad.
Good thing it only took me 3 days to read the book.
But finishing it....ah. It was great. I loved it. I want book 3 to come out in two days. But seriously...it's not going to.
And now...now I find myself in that funk. What could I possibly read next?
I have options for sure. A couple of series I haven't read in a while that I want to reread.
But not yet. I have to 'detoxify' myself from this book first. Get it out of my head...kinda... enough to be able to not compare the two.

But oh. This small relapse into my book addiction. Felt wonderful.
Totally unhealthy for any socialness, but oh, so wonderful. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi