On Life and Writing

    A) Be glad this post didn't start with "of". I'm into "of" for the starting word in titles.
    B) Shockingly enough, this post is only about writing, and not actually of writing.

    Well, hopefully it'll turn out being about writing. Depends on how my brain is doing and, judging by the massive mood-swinging that's been going on today, anything is questionable at this point.

    Anyways. This is the third week that my siblings and I have been back to school after Christmas break, but it's only the first week that Dad has implemented the two week break off movies and video games. And I am proud to admit that the only 'movie' I've watched since Tuesday (we had a four day weekend that included Monday) is Jane Eyre, which I watch to put myself to sleep. So it doesn't count as a movie so much as bed... music? Some such.

    The point of that pointlessness is that, with the lack of movies and tv shows to fill my brain and distract me with feels, I've found that my imagination has come back in force and, as such, words seem to be spilling out my fingers tips. Well, they were yesterday. The mood-swings today aren't helping me feel like writing.

    But, a general update on my various drabbles.

   Nuada and Argyros: I do want to write more for Nuada, maybe show a bit of what they actually do and just write more in general, but I don't have anything firm to go on at this point. I'm probably going to back it up a bit and try to figure out when Nuada sort of figured stuff out between herself, Argyros, and Maggie and then maybe another scrawl with some foreshadowing of... stuff... that I've been considering putting in there. Plot twists can be so much fun, you know? You can also expect to see a fair deal more of Carson; there's a little bit of stuff with him and Nuada that's important-ish. Man, that's a lot of... what are they called? Qualifiers? Anyways. I'm churning over this, but it could take some time before something crops up.

    Marks and Kelsey: Now, with these two, I actually do have a next section in my head that's been there for a while now. I just have to, well, write it and I've been caught up in other things over the past few days. Hopefully, the urge with strike me soon and I can scrawl it all out without it turning out to be too crappy. We'll see how it goes, yes?

   Jaz: Not Jaq, mind you. Very different characters with very similar names and not to be mistaken for each other. I realize that I've just sprung Jaz on you all recently and that you're probably not attached to her at all (and maybe never will be) but my interest in her has been renewed, so expect to see more of her in the coming days/weeks. (I never know how long my interest will last.) At the moment, I'm editing through my initial, introductory bit that I wrote for Jaz a long, long time ago. It shouldn't take much longer, and I would've finished last night, but staying up until 1:30 with an 0700 wake-up call for Ortho... Yeah, not cool. Beyond that, I'll probably fiddle with the original storyline I had for Jaz' mission, editing my bits for that and then writing more as it comes. Expect a lot of jumping around when her bits crop up eventually.

   Garrett and Breen: Again, I don't know how attached you all are to these two, but they've always been, hm, important to me, I guess. I'm not sure how to explain it. But, they've been on my mind as well of late, and I have written some for them in the past couple of days that I'm going back and forth between posting, though not because it's violent/mushy. Just... I don't know, personal? As I said in one of my recent posts, there are some ideas that I find very important to me, but don't like to share because I don't know if other people will take them the wrong way. Knowing me, though, I will likely end up posting what I've got before too long and maintain a "don't like it, don't read it" majooger.

    Sean and Lindsey: I got a rather positive response to these two and wouldn't mind doing more, if I had more to write. I've only got a rather small blurb in my head right now, but beyond that, it's all up in the air. They're relatively foreign characters to me, and I don't know what path I want the story to take. Revenge mission? Skip a couple of years and have the two meet up again? Or maybe the people who took out her parents will come back for her, who knows? That's what I mean by "up in the air". Haven't got a clue what to do with it, and, with every other idea I've got running through my head, it will probably fall down the ladder of priority very quickly.

   (Aha! Stroke of genius! My cousin and I have a running joke between us about him wanting me to put camels into my first novel [no, you may not read it. It's very raw and needs editing.] and I've just now stumbled across something to tease him with in return. His alias is Dana MacDonald [those who read Penny Kearney's blog will recognize that] and what familiar children's song has a MacDonald in it? "Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o." I shall ask him if he plans on starting that farm soon next time we should speak. Bwaha.)

    Sorry, that was really random, but maybe it amused you?

    Misc:
      Lorelei and Gil - Mostly done, I'd say. There haven't been stirrings from their direction in a while now and, while I like the idea, I have others that I enjoy more.
      Ianthe and Isra - If I can ever get my brain to cooperate when it comes to this idea, I would very much enjoy writing it. The idea has always been one of those that I've clung to for quite some time and I really like the characters, so, maybe sometime in the next few weeks I'll figure out a style to write it in and sit down to weave some words together.
      Tatsuo and Shard - Not sure how that blip went over, but again, I enjoy the characters enough that you may or may not be seeing more of them in the near/far future. Depends on if the mood strikes me.

    Now I can't decide if I've forgotten anything... That seems like most of it, at least for the time being.

     If you've got questions about anything, please don't hesitate to let me know and I shall do my utmost best to answer them. And if you have any requests, I'm open to receiving them but I can make no promises about being able to fulfill them.

   (Hm. Did I ever post that one bit about the girl and the dragon? Let me check. Huh, I don't believe I did. I'll add that to my mental queue and see about getting to it before long.)

    Right, then. That shall be all.

    Stay awesome, drink some tea, and thank you so very much for reading my writing. It makes me very happy.

    Ad astra per aspera.
    To the stars, through difficulties.

Writing: Tatsuo and Shard

    Maybe one of these days I'll actually write something that isn't at least vaguely romantic, eh? But, to quote Aragorn, "It is not this day!"

   I can't rightly remember the inspiration for Tatsuo and Shard. It probably all started with the very first line that Shard utters. I tend to do that. Growing a story idea out of a simple line of dialogue, that is.

   There isn't much to tell about this scrawl that isn't explained within. The dragons are at war with the elves and Shard -- or Shardallian, as her people call her -- is a prisoner at the dragon king's castle. Please know that none of the other elves are quite like Shard, making her something of a curiosity not only to her own people, but to the dragons as well. I won't detain you on rambling details any longer.

   Wait, hold on, one more thing to say. If you've read my post entitled "Jaq", please note that Tatsuo and Shard's story is in no way related to Jaq's.


    “You want me dead? Then do it yourself, coward. Drive the knife into my heart with your own hands. I dare you.”
    She slammed the weapon into his chest, eyes burning with rage. “If you can’t work up the gut to do the deed yourself, then don’t kill me at all!”
    With that, his short prisoner turned and stomped away, hissing to herself under her breath, leaving him standing with a dagger in his hand and the eyes of the room on him.
    The dragon prince growled low in his throat, fingers tight around the blade’s hilt. One day, the elf would pay for her impudence towards his person.
    But he would never be able to make her pay with her life.
    It wasn’t because of her usefulness as leverage against their enemies, nor because she held any information of importance, but because she’d made his mother laugh.
    He had no remembrance of his mother laughing when he was a child, not even of her smile. But when this golden-eyed prisoner had been captured and brought to the palace, his mother had been captivated with her from the start.
    The first time the elf had made her laugh had been during a meeting involving both his parents and many of his father’s councilors. Tatsuo had made a passing remark as to the elf’s, Shard’s, heritage, if only because she was far from the elven norm. She had heard him and, in front of the entire room, had shouted many choice words regarding Tatsuo’s own bloodline.
    He and his father had been ready to tear her to pieces when Mother had started to laugh. Not quietly, either. She had been almost in tears, gasping for breath, as if it had been lying in wait for years, awaiting such an opportunity.
    The dragon-kind had been flabbergasted. Shard had been smug.
    And that had been the end of the confrontation. As cruel and heartless as the dragons were made out to be, the remarkable display of emotion from their normally serene queen was something to be encouraged, not stamped down.
    Since then, Tatsuo had born many of the elf’s tongue-lashings just to see the amusement on his mother’s face. He never encouraged it, of course, but Shard often found fault in things he said and had no issues in letting him know.
    Today, she had blatantly disrespected not only himself, but his father, grandfather, and their mental health in front of several of his father’s generals and advisors.
    He had threatened to kill her on the spot if she didn’t control her tongue, and her fiery words had been the end of it.
    And in the last few moments, he had realized he’d never, ever be able to kill the source of his mother’s joy.

  
    Did I mention this would be rather short? I do have a fair amount more written, but, as per usual, it skips about a bit and it's old, meaning I would have to edit through it. Yeesh, editing. Writer's worst enemy and best friend.

    Thank you so much for reading and should you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. Also, as I stated on my last post, OYANers without an account enabling them to leave comments can feel free to drop a note on PenWielder62's profile feed.

    Ad astra per aspera.
    To the stars, through difficulties.