Writer Tips

    Shock of all shocks, a post that doesn't feature my writing. (Although one of the next planned posts does.) Instead, writer tips that I've seen recently on Tumblr that were really good.

    First.

    Ten Questions to Ask a Friend Who Just Read Your Novel
  1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”
  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?
  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?
  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?
  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book? 

  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?
  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?
  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)
  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)
  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

    Isn't this neat? And incredibly handy, in my opinion. 

    Whenever "Anomaly, Not Prodigy" gets finished, I'm going to attach this to whatever format my novel is in for my family and friends to make use of for my benefit. 

    And now an actual writing tip when it comes to describing characters. (Found on Tumblr, so I'm going to rewrite it and then you can check out the original post here.)

    "Describing eye colors isn't actually very helpful as a description. Talk about the makeup smeared on the left side, the lines under their eyes, the sloppily cut hair obscuring their eyes from view, how bloodshot or sunken them seem in the face, how wide they go at the slightest sound, how glassy and unblinking they seem, how they're always darting away.

    All of that tells me a bit more about the character than whatever shade of gemstone they most resemble, seriously."

    Seeing as I've been having trouble with describing background characters myself lately, this struck me as a good reminder.

    Don't just go with the basics. Describe the ticks, the hungover expression, the hunted look in their yes, where their gaze goes while conversing.

    Little details make the written world a pleasure to read.

    And that's all I've got in the take for tips currently, but hopefully they were helpful and I shall see you all in short order. (It's a day for blogging rather than studying Sociology.)

    Ad astra per aspera.

    To the stars, through difficulties. 

Merry Christmas! + Writing: J&D - Who Does What (Christmas Edition)

    First off, Merry Christmas! I sincerely hope that you all have had (or, are having) a fantastic morning with your families and that the rest of your day is just as memorable. 

   As happens every year, Christmas helps signify the closing of one year and the opening of the next chapter of our lives, and while that's as poetic as I'm going to get today, I'm planning on making it a good one. 

    Write your story. Finish that class. Record that song. Go on that trip. Make good with that friend. Forge new ties. Work harder. Go further. Be more.

    We've all got it in us, it's just a matter of finding it and hanging onto it. Keep that in mind, yeah?

    And, on that note, a short Merry Christmas from Jandy and Dechlan. 

    who wears the ugly Christmas sweaters

    Well, after they went wandering through a department store at the beginning of the holiday season and passed the quite horrifically large displays of Christmas sweaters—for both men and women—featuring large Rudolph heads or prolific scatterings of snowmen, Dechlan had to go and mention how much he doesn’t like those articles of clothing, mostly because he had a great aunt who visited every Christmas, wore the garish sweaters, and had the gall to pinch his cheeks while she was at it.

    He comes home from work two days later and Jandy is prancing around in a wash of bright blue that has a rather overpowering nutcracker stitched across the front, and has the most mischievous gleam in her eyes.

    who picks out the holiday movies and who makes the hot cocoa

    With the very tight budget that Jandy and Jane grew up with, extravagances like bringing movies home, at any time of year, was basically unheard of. They did hot cocoa, but it was the instant type that tastes like cardboard half the time.

    So Dechlan will pick up old classics for them to watch together and Jandy will experiment with fancy (that is, not instant) hot cocoa, following a recipe to the T to create the perfect brew, and even though Dech isn’t a huge fan of overly sweet beverages, he concedes to a mugful in front of their movie of the night.

    who starts the snowball fight

    It goes back and forth, actually. But it is Dechlan who tends to initiate more often, just because he is able to keep his intentions to himself for a smidge longer than Jandy, which means he is able to have the element of surprise. 

    Jandy’s mind is always wide open and the moment she even considers stuffing a handful of snow down the back of Dechlan’s coat, he knows about it. So after the first several spoiled attempts at an ambush, she let the idea go and moved onto other antics.

    who drags the other under the mistletoe

    Oh so Jandelyn. Dechlan likes his privacy—and, by extension, their privacy—and so usually keeps the PDA at a minimum when in public, but that doesn’t mean that Jandy always agrees with this sentiment.

    Meaning, when they get invited to a Christmas party for the habitants of their apartment building and she spots that green sprig above a doorway, and with her veins are buzzing (because you can’t have a decent Christmas party without spiked eggnog), no amount of withering looks from Dech are going to stop her. 

    Of course, he doesn’t really put up much of a fuss when she grabs him by the collar and pulls him across the room to stand under the mistletoe. He never has been able to keep up his resolve when she gets that spark in her eye and that honest, open smile. 

    (They don’t realize almost the entirety of the party guests are watching until after, because they all burst out in applause and good-natured laughter. It’s a well-kept secret from them, but Jandy and Dechlan are something of their building’s OTP, and it’s hard to catch them in the middle of such displays.)

    who decorates the house

    They both do that, but Dechlan is the one to drag the boxes out of the closet on December 1st and by the time Jandy rolls out of bed, there are decorations strewn across the living room. He does inventory every year, to check their lights and decide if they need any replacements. 

    And Jandy is the one to decide where everything is going that year, because she likes to change it up annually just for it to be fresh and new. Dech doesn’t mind, because it makes her happy, which makes him happy, and it always looks nice in the end.

    who hangs up the ornaments on the tree

    Dechlan performs this duty, because by the time they get to the tree at the end of the day, Jandy has worn herself out and is usually cocooned on the couch in a blanket with a mug of coffee. She’s content to let him arrange and just sit and watch. 

    He’s good at it, anyways, that somewhat-analytical mind working to keep any one area from being too heavily populated with the ornaments.

    who cooks christmas dinner

    Neither of them are master chefs—far from it, actually, but Jandy has at least a bit more practice with cooking something that’s palatable, so she’s the first to pioneer the effort and Dechlan will pitch in and help where he can.

    When he’s not “checking for poison”, that is.

    And there's your weekly dose of cavity-worthy adorableness from Jandy and Dech.

    One of these days my sadistic side is going to kick back in and then there's going to be drama and trauma and angst. Just sayin'.

    Thanks for another year of hanging in there with me, guys! It really means a lot to me to know that my "shout into the void", as it were, is being heard by someone. 

    Again, Merry Christmas!

    Ad astra per aspera.

    To the stars, through difficulties.

Writing: Who Does What, pt. 2: Jandy & Dechlan

    So I found some more of those "who does what" type prompts while scrolling around the internet the past few days and decided that they'd be a good thing to fill out as a tide-over until I get something of actual weight written.

    Which could be a while, or it could be tomorrow. You never know, with me. 

    This series is pretty similar to the last set, in terms of topic. Day-to-day life type thing. But I do have a couple of Christmas-themed sets that I'm planning on working through in the next few days to post as well. After all, t'is the season.

    And these are for original storyline Jandy and Dech, which might be hard to remember, because I have posted both Trinity's Prompt storyline and Fringe!AU storyline most recently. If you have trouble remembering the original storyline, let me know and I'll dig up the posts for you. 

    Shall we, then?

    who holds the umbrella when it rains

    Jandy is the one who bought the bright blue umbrella with the white polka-dots, on a whim, merely because she could, and while she remembers to bring it with her when she leaves the apartment, but tends to forget about its presence in her backpack when it actually does begin to rain. She’s not accustomed to little niceties such as an umbrella, not after spending the years before Dech, growing up in Akita with Jane, without them.

    So he’s the one to tug her to a stop when it does start to drizzle, to retrieve the (ridiculously, in his opinion) bright umbrella from her bag and then hold it over them. Jandy is pleasantly surprised each time but has no qualms with using it as an excuse to stick to him like a burr.

    They get a lot of smiles from elderly folks during these occurrences. 

    who is the grumpiest in the morning

    On a normal day, neither of them are too bad. Jandy is a slow-riser, but it doesn’t make her too grouchy. Bad days, however, are a different story altogether and picking the worse of the two is nigh impossible. 

    For Jandy, it’s when she’s had a cruddy several nights of sleep, filled with dreams about subjects she’d much rather avoid—Warren, his Dyad program, Jane—that she gets into a snit right when her eyes open. She slams doors and drawers, contemplates kicking her dresser, and seriously considers just breaking something, because she would rather take her heartbroken anger out on inanimate objects than on Dech.

    And Dech… Dech gets surly in the mornings when he’s stressed and isn’t sleeping because of it. He’s off beat and going up the wall with the strain of trying to figure out the problem. He isn’t as demonstrative in his mood as Jandy is, but heavens help anyone who crosses him on those mornings.

    They’re adjusted to living in each other’s heads, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. They’ve learned when to intervene on each other’s bad moods and when to slip out of the apartment for a few hours so they both can breathe.

    who worries more when the other is sick/hurt

    Seeing as Dechlan is the one who didn’t practically raise a younger sibling all on his own, this one falls on him. Jandy’s is well-versed in what counts as a serious illness and what doesn’t, and, as such, knows when it’s time to worry and start considering a trip to the hospital.

    His lack of experience means that Dech tends to hover when Jandy comes down sick, or during one of the admittedly multiple times she is injured in some way. Like she’ll slip through his fingers if he’s not careful.

    Jandy is much more relaxed about it. Sure, she’s concerned when Dechlan’s under the weather or laid up in some other fashion, but she’s been through this gamut before. She knows what to expect. And knows that, even if his forehead is burning hot beneath her hand or he’s moving like an old man after getting shot, as long as those things are happening, he’s not gone from her life.

    who plays pranks on the other

    Does this even need answering? Jandelyn Elsie Sparks, folks. Not a grand prankster, on any account, but every now and again, she’ll catch Dechlan off-guard with a simple trick that tends to make him stand there, blinking in surprise, while she cracks up following his train of thought. 

    And though you wouldn’t think it, Dech does, in fact, get his revenge for his mischief in quiet ways. Such as the quite unfortunate occurrences that all her shirts have to go in the laundry at the same time, or those times that he forgets that she doesn’t like a particular food product…. for three weeks in a row.

    who is always the first to suggest cuddling on the sofa

    It takes them both time to acclimate to each other physically, even after their minds are connected. Dech isn’t inclined towards touch and it’s been so long for Jandy, since before she lost Jane, and even then, she was working so much that there wasn’t a lot of extra time to spend curled up with her sis. 

    But after they do figure it out, get closer, adjust to each other, then things like napping on the couch together start happening. While Jandy is given to impulse hugging (and poking, and tickling, and hair “fixing”), it is Dechlan who enjoys coaxing her into the living room with him on a lazy Saturday afternoon when the sunlight is warm and they have nothing to do. She might put up a good show of considering his offer, but it never lasts, and she’s always the first to drop off, humming in contentment to have Dech near with his heartbeat under her ear.

    who insists on creating nicknames for the other

    Jandy, Jandy, Jandy. As you’d expect. She was the one who started off their unorthodox relationship by calling him “Soldier Boy” when she was annoyed or just felt like getting on his nerves. But he broke her of that habit pretty quick, along with a handful of other inclinations that he didn’t agree with. 

    So she’s settled into just “Dech” if she doesn’t feel like saying all the syllables of his name and he calls her Jandy, because she both doesn’t like her full name, and who on earth wants to say Jandelyn on a daily basis, and it works for both of them. 

    who drools on the other when they’re asleep

    This one’s on Jandy again. It doesn’t really bother her, once she’s comfortable with Dech, because, hey, she raised her sis and do you know how much kids tend to drool? But it still kind of weirds out Dechlan and he tends to lay there, nonplussed, as she wipes it off his shirt, sort of apologizing, but not really. Because what’s the problem? And then she starts laughing when his reaction sinks in and she realizes how unused he is to this. Then she calls him a big baby, and goes to get ready for the day.

    who says ‘I love you’ first

    Because this is Jandy Sparks and Dechlan Scott, and because they don’t tend to do things in an orthodox fashion, there is never an outstanding moment where one grabs the other and blurts out those three, life-changing words. There’s just never a need to. 

    They live in each other’s heads, are privy to each other’s most private thoughts and emotions, and thus they both know when their attachment to each other shifts from affection, to caring, to love. And they don’t need to say it because they are it.

    Even if they hadn’t been linked in the Dyad program, they know they wouldn’t have ever found someone else who complements and completes them like the other. The “I love you” just begins getting tacked on at the end of farewells in the morning, or at the end of a wandering thought that ends with a “I can’t believe how much I love him” or just in a quiet stare across the kitchen in the evening. Nothing momentous or memorable, particularly, just… them. 

    And that’s how it’ll always be.

    Sappy/cute/humorous enough? Yeah, I had fun. Goofing off and having to actually think about what they'd do under these circumstances. It's a lot of fun and fairly helpful in character development, if you're looking for easy ways to add some quirks to characters of yours who happen to be a relationship.

    And.... yeah! 

    Thanks for reading!

    Ad astra per aspera.

    To the stars, through difficulties. 

Writing: Trinity's Prompt // stolen moments

    Well, hello there.

    Obviously, I did not get anything posted throughout November, but guess who finished NaNoWriMo for the first time. 

    If you guessed Siani, then you would be correct. 50,052 words got put towards Anomaly, Not Prodigy and I finished on the 29th, a day ahead of schedule. Despite the craziness that has become a part of my daily life. So that's pleasing to me.

    My family is now planted in South Carolina and will be for the next couple of months. Which is nice, because we get our own space again and will be able to keep warm through the coldest part of winter.

    And how did everyone's Thanksgiving's go? Hopefully you all made some good memories and ate way too much rich, fattening food, as the tradition goes. 

    At any rate. Trinity, would you look at this! I haven't given up on your prompt altogether. It's really quite an intriguing idea, I just need the brain power and will to put words towards it, as always.

    I did Jade this time, however, instead of Jandy and Dech. Not sure when this drabble falls into the storyline, but I'm going to go with before the mission to kill Sean and Lindsey. Because Jade would never risk a visit in the middle of an operation.

    And... yeah. The rest is self-explanatory. 

    Jade entered the quiet room on soundless footsteps, her hands already deep inside her pockets. Even though she’d been on edge since she’d gotten into the atmosphere, she prowled around the small space, checking for transmitters and receivers.

    Only once her examination was done did she let soft breaths draw her in.

    The crib of the past had been replaced by a toddler bed but Jade could no longer determine when the switch had been made. It’d been years and she’d visited so rarely. 

    Dark eyes fell on the golden-haired child, her gentle profile illuminated by patches of moonlight. Vivian hated the darkness, always wishing to sleep with her curtains open so she could see the stars and moon if she should happen to wake during the night.

    The irony never escaped the hunter. Vivian might’ve disdained the dark, but in the same turn she embraced one completely swallowed in a black unlike the child would ever know.

    Jade’s ruminations were interrupted when Vivian awoke with a start, bolting upright and sending loose curls into further disarray.

    Her green eyes searched the room, noticing after a delay the woman standing at her bedside, unmoving and silent.

    It didn’t surprise Jade when Vivian began to cry. So similar to Ruusan, even after years of separation from her mother. 

    Longstanding routine kept Vivi from being loud when she cried, “I didn’t think you were ever gonna come back.”

    Jaydn bent at the waist when the child held up her arms, tears still leaking from the corners of verdant eyes, and kept her hands buried deep in the pockets of her coat. She would not draw them out until long after she had departed and left the innocence in this room behind.

    Years of practice had given them a routine that they were well-used to following. The small girl clung to Jade like a monkey, arms clamping around the hunter’s neck so that she cleared the gate at the side of her bed designed to keep her from falling out.

    Jade’s nose was filled with the gentle scent of laundered clothes and floral bath soap that came off of Vivian. It made her heart twinge with homesickness.

    Once reassured with Vivian’s hold around her neck, the woman straightened, easing upright and watching as Vivian wrapped her legs around her hips. She took a couple steps backwards and then settled the two of them on the floor, crossing her legs to create a place for the child to sit.

    Vivian’s little hands loosened from their grip on the back of her collar but then curled into the front of Jade’s shirt as her weight settled onto the woman’s lap. A quiet sniffle rose from her before the little girl buried her face in Jaydn’s chest.

    Bowing her head over Vivi, Jade breathed her in, eyes fluttering shut as she felt knots of tension begin to ease as they only did in these sheltered moments, so far from the bloodshed of the hunter’s day-to-day business.

    Vivian trembled against her, a hiccup escaping her. If she’d looked at her face, Jade knew the toddler would be nearing full-on waterworks again.

    A soundless exhale leaving her, Jade rested her cheek against her niece’s mussed curls, eyes still closed. It had been some time since her last visit, but she hadn’t felt it safe enough to come until just a handful of days ago. And security was everything, because if he caught wind of Jaydn’s attachment to this faultless, elfin child—

    “I want you to stay,” Vivian burst out before Jade’s razor sharp mind could envision an even blacker future. Clinging close, Vivi pressed her damp face closer to her aunt’s shirt, seeking comfort.

    Jade pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, amongst loose, golden curls. “I can’t.”

    A long sniff came from the five-year-old. “But I love you and it makes me sad when you’re gone.”

    “I know. But I cannot, Vivian.” Too long, she’d been striving to bury any hint of emotion. There was little trace of sentiment in her low, modulated tone as she sought to reassure Vivian.

    However, that she spoke at all seemed to be enough for the child who was so desperate for Jade’s consistent presence in her life. Even though a muted sob wracked Vivi’s small body, she gave a tremulous nod.

    “Because you’ve gotta rescue Momma, and Gramma, and Grampa, right?”

    Smooth, deadly hands curled into fists. There was no other external reaction. “Yes.”

    Dad and Ruusan. Vivian didn’t know about her grandmother yet and would not for a significant portion of time if Jade had any say in the matter.

    “But when you bring them home, you’ll stay?” Vivian pleaded, tilting her head back to look up at the hunter—killer—green eyes still watery. 

    Jade stared back, dispassionate even in the face of this whole-hearted, trusting emotion.

    This small child, who loved her so guilelessly, oblivious to the danger that every stolen moment brought to her. When Vivian’s lower lip, one half of her rosebud mouth, wobbled with her upset, Jaydn relented.

    “I will visit.” It was all she could offer. There was no telling what would happen when she was able to leave this nightmare behind and put it to rest. The blood staining her soul would be inescapable by then.

     Vivian nodded several times, reminiscent of a tourist’s bobble-head and then buried her face against Jade’s chest once more. “I love you, Aunt Jade. So, so much.”

    “…Aa,” the woman breathed, bending her neck to inhale the calming fragrance of flowers and a hint of Charle’s cologne from her niece’s hair. 

    This was the most she could offer—the most she would ever be able to offer. Moments in the dark, stolen meetings while the rest of the world slumbered.

    Anything else was too dangerous. She shouldn’t have been coming at all, but Vivian was the one thing she had been unable to give up. Everything else had been sacrificed—friends, attachments, choices, morals—but not Vivian.

    Sweet, little Vivian with her elfin visage and soft, gold curls. The only light twinkling in Jade’s black sky, not untouched, but as of yet untainted by evil.

    

    Puir, wee Vivi. I put her little heart through so much. But her Momma goes through way more than she does. Poor Ruu.

    At any rate, there were some allusions to the situation Jade finds herself in, and I can't remember if I explained it in a previous post, so allow me to expound.

    Some big, powerful evil baddie captured Novarr, Sarris, and Ruusan (somehow missing Vivian) back when Vivian was just a few months old, and used the three of them as leverage to get to Jade and use her for his own devices. She's made an effort to find them so she can rescue them, but it's slow going because if the darkness-shrouded he realizes what she's up to, he'll just kill one of them.

    Sarris didn't make it, though. Probably between Jade initially digging in her heels and Sarris' own resistance to be used as a pawn, Evil Puppetmaster knocked her off both to keep Jade in line and so he didn't have to deal with Sarris anymore. 

    Now I feel bad for Novarr, because last time Sarris died before him he just kind of faded and then died as well before too long. Very sad.

    Anyways. Charles, who some of you might recall as an informant friend of Jaydn's who originated in the Steampunk Storyline way back when, is now raising Vivian. They're holed up on some backwater planet under a pile of aliases and no doubt moving often to keep Evil Puppermaster off their scent, just in case.

    Jade visits occasionally, but it's dangerous.

    And, yeah. It's a mess. Woot woot. 

    I have no idea when I'll post next. My brain is quite burnt-out after NaNo and I'm attempting to give it a break before attempting any more serious writing, along with continuing on Anomaly, Not Prodigy. Because, of course, 50,000 words was only scratching the surface. ::sigh::

    Thoughts are welcome, as always. I hope you all are doing well and that life isn't too stressful as the Christmas holidays approach with concerning rapidity.

    Thank you for reading!

    Ad astra per aspera.

    To the stars, through difficulties.