Sooo.....

So I actually seem to be getting somewhere with my dragon story. I officially love working on it a ton. Now I just need to hopefully finish it before the end of November. If you all are at all into creative writing then maybe you heard that this month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)... Basically its a challenge to write 50,000 + words in the month of November. I currently have a little over 61000 words and I still feel like if I end it sort of soon that I am cutting it too short. Oh well. I guess I have to figure out what I want to do with it. While I'm figuring it out I'll post an excerpt that follows the last post. Enjoy and if there are ever any suggestions feel free to post a comment and tell me. :)

“My loyal friends are on the way over now. The first should be here in five or so minutes but it could take as long as thirty for others.”

“So what shall we do while we wait,” Demetrius questioned.

“Um, maybe let me unpack some?” I walked towards the front steps and the pile of my bags. The three guys followed. “You three can help if you want? It will make getting settled so much easier. The least you can do is help me get all these bags upstairs before I search out a room.”

I quickly grabbed the two lightest bags before letting the guys take control of the others.

“What the hell have you got in here?” I heard Mathieu complain.

Looking back, I saw he had the heaviest of the bags. “Clothes and weapons,” I replied.

“Seriously,” he began to unzip it to look.

“Yes,” I said, jumping back down the stairs. “Here I’ll take these bags since you are complaining.” I handed him my two light bags before hauling my weapons up the stairs. Once in the master bedroom, I emptied all the clothes onto the bed before moving back into the hall and moving to the study with all the weapons.

By the time the guys tracked me to the study, I had already found the right book to pull on to allow the bookcase to slide off to the side. It was exactly like home. Same hidden levers to reveal the weapons stored there as well as all the empty space.
Slowly arranging all the weapons on the table, I could feel the shock of the three behind me. Once everything was laid out, I began to put them up on the walls, occasionally cleaning a piece that was dirty.

Once done, I sighed in contentment before finally turning around. Everything was in its place and all I needed to do was unpack my clothes, memories… and a few more weapons. Actually one more bag worth of weapons.

That was exactly when the doorbell rang. I pushed the men out of the room before closing it and going to answer the door. They were right behind me but did not get in my way or even try to answer the door for me.

I opened the door to two guys about my age talking about how they “thought this place was deserted.” After letting them in, I went back upstairs to unpack. Mathieu stayed down there but Jeremy and Demetrius followed me and watched me continue my task of unpacking.

I only finished one bag before being yelled at to come downstairs. My two followers led the way to the living room. I made a pit stop to get something to drink before going into the room. “Oh joy,” I murmured when I entered.

I scanned the faces and stopped on a grinning one. “Byrd?”

I knew it was him when he opened his arms wide so I could run to him. He spun me around quickly before setting me on my feet. “How’s my little Tigress doing?”

Byrd was my first cousin and was like a brother to me. He was a few inches over six feet tall and could become very protective over me at times. He had night black hair with emerald green eyes that always sparkled when he was up to some sort of mischief. I rarely had seen him when growing up but it had always been a great surprise to have someone my age around that I did not need to impress.

“Could be better. Time will tell and once I kill a certain friend of yours I’ll definitely be much happier.”

Back to Blogging + Writing

So I know I haven't posted in forever. Been woorking on a new story... Still haven't finished the Werewolf/Mut story I put excerpts from in the past 5 posts... It's complicated. I sort of finished part 1 and needed a part 2 to explain the story.

So current work is on dragons in Australia. Excerpt follows. Yeah I need to put more grief in the beginning.

Today, October 10th is the day that qualified as the worst in my life. Five days ago I had just turned seventeen and today I get home from school to find out my parents had died, a few hours ago, in a car crash.

You see, this is where all my plans of having a good senior year of high school fell through. I mean literally fell through. The police were waiting for me at the door to my house. They had already dug up my parents will and needed to get me to my guardians so I had somewhere to stay.

I automatically called my best friend, Mel, to see if I could stay with her until they found said guardians that I did not know even existed. By then, I was completely numb. The police dropped me at my friend’s house where she and her family tried to comfort me. All I could think about was what I did not say to my parents and how I was never going to see them again.

I had no appetite the rest of the day, so I just went to my friend’s room and cried myself to sleep. Mel’s parents said they would gather my parents’ friends to put together the funeral and that all I’d have to do was show up.

The next few days went by in a daze. I didn’t eat, nor did I sleep too well, and just stayed at Mel’s house refusing to go to school. And then Friday came along with my parent’s funeral. I found out before leaving Mel’s house that I would be leaving the next day for my guardian’s home.

I slowly began to sink lower and lower into my misery. I was in shock as the funeral slowly progressed and it did not get any better when I was introduced to some guy who came over to bring me to my guardian. I still had no clue who my guardian was and even where they lived.

After the reception and a ton more tears and hugs, we went to my home. I was only going to be there long enough to pack up everything I needed… clothes, pictures, books, and whatever else. I packed all my clothes, shoes, jewelry as well as my favorite books and pictures. I also packed a few things of my mom’s and dad’s so that I could be able to remember them.

When we finally left, Mel’s mother gave me a letter that the lawyer asked her to give me. It was from my parents:


To our little Tiger,

If this letter is getting to you, it must mean that something happened to us. We’re so sorry to have to leave you on your own but I hope that you will be strong for us.

I know you have no clue who your guardian is but he will always be there for you when needed. And I’m sure you know you will be leaving our little house for elsewhere. There is a school where you are going as well as a college but your journey will probably be difficult.

A long time ago, we built a house in your guardian’s town. It is fully furnished and all yours, so you can stay there if you wish but someone will always be nearby to check up on you.

Our suggestion is that you get a pet, to take care of and be able to hold when you miss us. It was hard for us when we lost our parents, and I’m sure it will be just as hard for you.

Know that you will always be in our hearts and to expect numerous surprises. Don’t forget your training. Take care, baby. We love you.

Your Mom and Dad

The Reason... The Why

So by now... I'm sure anyone who has read through the last four posts is wondering why I write. I guess I should start with the when I started to write. I started writing when I was bored in an English class in sophomore year of high school. It all started from a weird dream. From there a story began to develop. To be truthful that story has never been finished. I have written around one thousand hand written pages and have no idea how to finish it. I doubt it ever will be finished. I have way too many characters that I can not keep track of names and have already had two wars plus a numerous of other incidents. It just turned into a never ending way to test my ideas.

I wrote two stories after that. Both are completely typed up on some computer or flash drive. They both needed to be edited because my timeline for both are awful. The stories are awesome but just need to be extended into a longer amount of time. I am working on finishing my werewolf and Mut story to make a third story that will be finished.

I guess I should really get back to the main topic since I strayed for long enough. Writing is my way to relax. I can get away from all my troubles and stress. I can't be angry or sad while writing because that may influence what I write. I just have to completely forget all my worries and focus on what is going on in the story. I absorb myself into the story to stop the worry or the stress. Some people may go to the gym or run or play sports or hang with family and friends. Writing is just my way to get rid of all the stress and it fulfills its job quite well, even if typing and editing it is a major pain in the ass. It's hard to explain my thoughts of writing but am awfully glad I got into creative writing.

The Dreaded Timeline

This is the one part I really really hate the most about my stories. I never pay attention to the amount of time that a specific event take to occur. I just write. Until I go on to editing I never really notice. It just all seems to flow perfectly but the tiny detail of the time is the major problem. My current story is almost done but the whole timeline happens in just over a month. From the first meeting to the happily ever after, that is not too good. A previous story I wrote happens in about a few weeks, which is even worse. Plus one of the characters is unconscious for a good part of the time.

On to the how to fix this problem... I have a few friends who willingly read my stories whenever they have free time. Mainly it was for editing anything I may have missed but also to help me with my writing problems. From then on I'm always nagged until I actually work towards fixing the problem, the timing. To add trouble to me trying to fix the timeline is the dislike of editing. Whenever I have free time I try to edit the stories but always am trying to find ways to drag out the timeline. To the story I keep posting bits of, I need to add more descriptions of what the characters look like and have my main character, Kat, take a longer time to get to know the werewolf pack.

The when... My thoughts are that I need to first finish the story before actually beginning to work on the timing problems. I should be finished with the story *fingers crossed* by the end of the semester but that is not definite. Then I would be going onto typing the story on the computer. That is definitely not what I'm looking forward to.

I could not find a good passage that went with this topic but found what follows. Katrina, the Mut, is sort of a conservationist of animals thought not to exist, like dragons, griffons, centaurs, etc. The problem with the timing in this excerpt is that she only knew Shane, the alpha of the werewolf pack for about a week to two. They had a small argument before this which explains the first line.

“I like winning hate losing, and refuse to give up or give in,” I told Shane. “It’s a difficult habit to break. What time is it?”

"About midnight. Why are you asking?”

“Because if you want me to trust you, I might as well take you to meet the animals since it looks like I won’t be able to sleep.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, but there is one requirement. It is you having to be blind folded on the way over.”

Naming of Characters

One of the hardest parts for me is naming my characters. Most of the time everything else comes easily, the setting or the main plot, but as soon as I get to names I have problems. The names have to work for the time period that the story is written in or the time period that the person was born in but that is not all the requirements. The names have to be easy to say as well as short enough or with a nickname that does not have to be thought out each time.

There are numerous ways you could come up with names. One is writing random names on a piece of paper and assembling them into some semblance of a name. I have to thank one of my awesome friends, Laeia, for giving me this way to find a decent name for a few of my characters. She is sort of also an inspiration because she already self published a book that is just awesome and interesting (see picture *points left*). For example, take the letters t, z, a, l, i. Some names you could make from those letters are tali, zail, liza, litza, etc. Another way of finding a name would be to go on the internet searching. The last way I have found inspiration for names are from books and history. For example, one character I made is named Artemisia. Artemis is the god of the hunt and I figured that was a good werewolf name.

Some of the names I have used so far are Katrina, Shane, Shawne, Willow, Artemisia, Erica, Emilia, Ivan, Night, Dia, Mia, Fernandez, as well as numerous others. These are just the ones that come come to the front of my mind.

I figured I might as well add another small excerpt... It is a little further along from my first blog post. It's a bit choppy but gets the point across and hints what my thought of a Mut really is.

I was not happy and changed into a lynx. The man, who turned out to be Shane, released me. I turned to face him.

"I just want to chat,” he told me. “I don’t mean any harm.” As an emphasis, he had his hands raised.
“And there is nothing to worry about my pack attacking.”

I growled disliking him being the dominant. Especially disliking him for being stronger than little-ole-me.

“I know your scent missy and I’m sure the town would give me your address since I can describe you. I just want you to hear me out.”

I growled even louder. 

The Original Ideas

Everyone has an original idea, from which a story comes. It could come around at a random time when your mind is blank or it could come from dreams or even come from the inspiration of adventures with friends or families. Everyone has their own way to come up with ideas and it takes time for a perfect idea to come around. Most of the time these ideas are written down, whether in notebooks or on a computer. It just depends on the person and how they best work with writing.

So by now you may be wondering how my ideas came along. Every story idea I've had up to now has come from dreams. Normally the dream's idea is only a small part of the whole story. I might as well point out that the only dreams I remember are sort of scary or could be but I morph them, when in stories, into a sad part with a happy ending. Yeah I wish I could have happy dreams since I've had enough of spiders or giant bugs and random kidnappings (where I am the observer, and seem to be hovering there) with a few vampires but then dreams really do not like me obviously. The bugs and spiders will never come part of any story I create especially seeing how much I hate and fear them.

Onto my werewolf and Mut story, as I've recently been calling it. The original idea came from a really weird kidnapping dream. It became really weird when I actually thought about it later and really did not fit with my ideas after I began writing. So the dream was the main character being kidnapped via a taxi, driven somewhere out of the town, thrown in a dark cell with vampires, and eventually being rescued. When I had finally gotten to writing the scene there was a major problem... The setting is a small town where one could easily walk around and thus no needs for taxi's. *Cue the death march* Well my solution was the only one I could come up with. I had the made the werewolf pack into a group of outcasts, to say the least. It turned into a sort of rival fight with the main character getting in the way.

Below is the excerpt of that portion. It is really choppy though from lack of editing. There is some background to keep it from being too confusing. As a note, apostrophes mean talking telepathically...

“Are you beating up my second in command, Kat?” I heard Shane ask from behind me.

“You are the one who wanted them to keep an eye on me,” I replied turning to face him. I went back to twirling the staff. “Finally done?”

“Almost. There is still a few things but that’s all.”

I dropped to the ground as I heard the air moving as Tomas swung at my side. I switched into a panther and attacked. I caught him in the leg before he hit me aside with the staff and werewolf strength. I got to fly.

I landed unsteadily on my feet and dropped onto my stomach immediately. I knew I had some bruised and cracked ribs. It was a bit hard to breathe and I realized my clothes were in rags.

I stood and realized something was wrong with one of my front legs, since it was painful to put any pressure on the leg.

Inspirations

You need to have some sort of inspiration before you begin to think writing. If you had never read anything related to what you wish to write about, you may not be able to fully write as in depth about it. Personally I had a huge break in reading anything... middle school was just the time that I hated reading but eventually I got back into reading. Reading mainly about vampires and werewolves, that is.

I only brought a small sampling of my favorite books from Cincinnati to college. All but two of the books belong in a series. All but three have werewolves, vampires, some form related to the two like a mix or a creature based off them. Back in Cincinnati, there are about four to five times as many books that I love. Ever need some recommendations  I'd willingly help if you read the same type of literature... in other words fantasy.

Now back to the topic, inspiration. My main inspiration is werewolves and vampires. There are multiple variations on both creatures. For example take werewolves. Some books have werewolves that can only change the night of the full moon. There are others that have to change more often than that, once a week or they would be forced to change at bad times. There are even some that can change whenever but take some time to change and consists of a large amount of pain. Every werewolf created is different from the original thought one may have.

The main story I have been working on is one with a werewolf pack and a new type of creature, that I call a Mut, which is a mixture of Were's, shifters, and a vampire. My types of werewolves are able to shift within a second or less depending on the rank in the pack, ie. alpha, beta, omega, or anything in between. The alpha's can shift into a wolf in under a second while those at the bottom of the pack order may take a few seconds longer. As you can probably tell, my form of a werewolf can change into a wolf whenever he or she may choose.

On to talk about the new form of creature, the Mut. I came up with the idea with my love of shifters and Were's. From there I came up with the creature, a Mut, that I can write about and enjoy. I end up having only four total in the story and they end up having their variety of animals they could change into, depending on their hetitage. My main character has a number shapes she can take on including big cats, wolf, and a winged amazon like creature I created. She is a bit rough around the edges and does not trust easily, which makes the conflict between her and the invading pack all the more interesting.

Posted below is a bit of the story I am nearly done with. It is in first person because I feel like you can connect to the story better. Please note that I have not really edited it and have major issues putting things together in a reasonable amount of time... More will be posted later.

My story begins on a full moon night when my territory was invaded. My name is Katrina West and I chose to have some “fun” trying to defend my home turf and sort of got into a huge mess on my part. Oh and I may as well mention that the species I am is classified as a Mut.

You see being a Mut means I have almost any type of shifter, Were, and vamp with a few other strange creatures in the mix. It all has to do with my genetic background and I really don’t want to get into that complicated mess. Back to the story, well the night of the full moon, I have to change into one of my many Were forms.

The night I met Shane I was in my were panther form. We had a little dispute. You see, I had lived in the town for years without any Were’s living there. It was peaceful. Well, anyway, Shane and his pack must have moved into town after the previous full moon.