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So, I’ve got two WIP’s.
First – A modern fiction novel entitled Firefly Town. I’ll just try to put the blurb I made up here, but it’s my first time doing a blurb, and… yeah, it ain’t that great. But here it is…
“Felicity Jones’s life is ruined. Kicked out of her foster parent’s home for dropping out of college, her belief in God’s perfect plan is tested to the limit. Unable to forgive the people who turned her out, Felicity sets off on her own with no plan for the future. Then her world is flipped on its side when a bicycle accident lands her in a one-horse town where no one follows society’s norm and everyone accepts her. In the weeks she spends there, Firefly Town and all its oddities slowly find its way into Felicity’s heart, proving that pineapple waffles and forgiveness can go a long way.”
My other WIP has no blurb. It’s called The Apprentice Spy. Told third person, but jumping around in four main character’s views, and occasionally to half a dozen others, it’s one of my favorite stories so far.
Gideon was an apprentice at the Academy, a school for training spies, headed by the Waymaster. But he never fit in, never excelled, and struggled with feeling unwanted and worthless. To prove himself he sneaks onto the Governor’s train and steals the Auris, a spherical object of great importance that I won’t reveal what it does. Deciding not to give it to the Waymaster, he escapes from the Academy and sets out with Ernest Flayvor, an inventor, to find Raven’s Eye, a legendary fighter and spy.
The governor, Blank, (no, that’s not his name, I just don’t have a name for him) is desperate after losing the Auris. He takes his train to the Central, a semi-secret station for the controlling of the country. Shadowed by ghosts from his past and plagued by a conscience that speaks against what he is doing, he’s determined to retrieve the Auris and prove to the Master of the Central that he can indeed run the country.
Keera, nanny to Blank’s young daughter, never suspected anything about her employer until it was too late. She thought he was a good man, trying to save the country. Now all too sure of the truth, she is trapped in the Central, a prisoner, waiting for her chance to escape. The hardest part is dealing with her own heart, and her confusion about motives and who we are to say someone was good or evil.
Ernest Flayvor is an inventor with flaming red hair and odd speech, having not completely mastered the common language. He joined Gideon on his search for Ravin’s Eye, and currently is my favorite.
Aimee was a kitchen maid back at the Academy. Gideon was her only friend, and she was devastated when he left her. She also may be sweet on him. Now she is contemplating leaving the Academy to search for Gideon. Loneliness is driving her mad.
The Waymaster has run the Academy for years on end, always searching for the one student, the one who would have a chance at going against the Governor. Unfortunately, not everything can be under his control, and things seem to spin out of hand as students start escaping, news of the missing Auris circulates, and the governor offers new lives to his apprentices, effectually turning his Academy against him.
Those are the main ones, although there is Tisha, Blank’s daughter. Mental genius, though a lot of children are, I suspect, and absolutely adorable! I’m sorry this is so long, but I just have to put up a part with her and her dad here… it makes me cry.
“You can come too. You can come, and meet all sorts of important people and dazzle them with your beauty.” Blank tickled her under the chin and was rewarded with the fairy laugh he loved. “You will enjoy the attention, my princess.”
“Papa.” Tisha slipped off her chair and slid her hand into his as he picked up the coat draped over his bed. He loved the warmth of it, the complete trust she gave him. “I’m only six. I’m not supposed to enjoy boring grown-up things.”
“But you will all the same, because you are a bright little thing, yes?”
She nodded solemnly, walking very fast beside him, though he did slow down for her. “Only, Papa…”
“Yes? Is this a heavy question?”
“Yes. What does ‘a bright little thing’ mean? I thought it meant you were shining and all light, but when I told that to Keera, she just laughed and smiled, like you are doing. Papa, what’s it really mean?”
“It means, darling, that you are incredibly smart. Almost a genius.” Blank touched her nose and she wrinkled it, dimples flashing.
“I see.” They made their way down the ramps, her taking two steps for his one. “But… how can I be a genius if I don’t know what bright means?”
Blank swept her into his arms and carried her down the hallway. She shrieked with laughter. “Because no one is perfect.”
“Aren’t you perfect, Papa?”
The astonishment and disappointment in her little face was enough to make him want to lie.
“No.” he said it very low, gently setting her on the ground and stroking her hair. “I’m not.”
Tisha studied him carefully, then smiled.
“That’s okay Papa. I still love you.”
He folded her into his arms, laying her head down on his shoulder.
“I love you too.”
ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
@seekjustice Sorry this is late! I am *finished* with the first draft of Book #1 which is called Substitute and I’ve written the Prologue and the beginning of the first chapter in Book #2. 🙂
A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)
I currently have two WIPS on the go right now – the first one is called “In the Name of the King” and it’s about a young king who has lost two of his siblings to magic but finds himself confronted with a difficult choice when he finds another blood mage being tortured by a Lord from another kingdom. There’s lots of sibling moments and angst and (possibly) a bit of romance 😃 This one is the first fantasy I’ve ever written and the characters are my babies 🙂
My second WIP is another fantasy still in the brainstorming stage. It doesn’t have a name as yet, but it’s about a kingdom in turmoil in the aftermath of a war, knights who aren’t really good guys and assassins who aren’t really bad guys. There’s captive children, more sibling stuff, lots of sarcasm and angsty/fluffy moments.
As to themes, I think the first one is about forgiveness, while the second one is about courage, hope in dark times, and family being more than just blood 😀
*whispers aggressively* "The HONOUR!"
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I love how everyone’s ideas are so different! Honestly, I’d probably read all of them. Anyone need a beta reader? 😉
Anyways, @daeus, I’ll finally spill what my WIP is about. It started out as a standalone fantasy novel, but the direction it’s going, I’m gonna write at least one sequel. My main character is a teenage girl whose family is a bloodthirsty clan infamous for conquering new lands mercilessly. However, she gets kicked out when she refuses to execute an enemy out of fear as part of her coming-of-age ceremony. Several years later, when the story starts, she’s living in a little village in the middle of nowhere. Seawyrms, which are sorta like dragons that function as the clan’s army, start heading inland and she knows her family is planning something big. Soon, people show up to ask for her help to defeat her family, and she’s eventually forced to help them. My themes/messages are still a bit unrefined, but right now I’m aiming for “Revenge hurts more people than you intended. But love, in turn, can heal many more souls than you think.” Writing out my theme is good. Helps me keep on track.
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Haha, just realized only two of my tags worked. Oh well.
@ingridrd I honestly like all of my characters, but my main character the best. I have a hard time making my main characters interesting, and as I write her, I finally feel like I’ve done it.@waterlily Ah, isn’t it the best feeling ever when you know you’re writing an awesome character? 🙂
A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)
Oh, this is pretty cool! I’ve got several things.
First is Clouded Fury: Young Cassandra (affectionately called Casse) lived a sheltered life until she saw the execution of her family when she was six-years-old. For the past ten years she has taken to stealing to survive. When offered the chance to steal from the Royal Family, she jumps at the chance to hurt the king who killed her family. She gets caught in the attempt and is given a choice: become the handmaiden for the Queen or be executed.
Second is Silent Dawn: A young woman is found is found unconscious in the middle of a blizzard in Denmark. Her savior takes her to his home and his wife nurses her to health. When she wakes up, the young woman has no memories of her past, no idea who she is. Those around her end up calling her Dagny (which means new day) and she grows to love those around her. Then it is revealed by someone who knew her from before that she is in actuality an Irish slave.
My third doesn’t have a name, but the MC’s name is Janice. She gets abducted by aliens who don’t speak English and think of her more as a pet. The story is about all of her adventures out in space and how she shows the galaxy that humans are more than meets the eye.
My fourth doesn’t have a name either, but this MC’s name is Jordan. In the future there are AIs that seem almost exactly like humans. There’s just this tiny quality that is missing. The wealthy of the society want true human-like AIs and are willing to pay out the nose for them. A privately funded company develops a mobile time-travel device and they go back in time to kidnap people who history says contributed nothing to society. The minds of these people are then put into a robot body and are given a program to prevent autonomous decision making. Young Jordan is one such victim, but the programming malfunctioned and he regains his ability to make decisions on his own. He has to find a way to get back into his original body and get back home.
My fifth doesn’t have a name, and the MCs don’t have names. But a few years in the future all electronic devices in the world stop working simultaneously. The world is thrown into anarchy. In this one town in Texas, a family takes control of the city and expands into the county and takes the entire state in a few years. Texas becomes it’s own country and this family creates an entirely new set of rules and way of life. At first it’s a militaristic government, but as time goes on it becomes a monarchy. Two hundred years later, electric devises still don’t work (no matter how people try), everything is steampunk, and a pair of twins are the leaders of Texas. I’m working on the worldbuilding on this one. It is quite involved, but so very interesting!
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
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@waterlily Oh wow! Um…hmm, well I like all of them for different reasons. But, if I am perfectly honest I think that Clouded Fury, the first one, is my favorite. Probably because I know the characters better in that one. And there is going to be a sequel. Depending on how that one goes, there may or may not be a third. But, yeah, I think Clouded Fury is my favorite.
An interesting thing about my futuristic steampunk story is that the rules the people will live by, and their laws, will be based on the rules given in Leviticus – Deuteronomy.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
@Waterlily Ooh, nice topic. My book is a little cluttered at this point, since I’m still organizing a few details, but the main gist of my WIP is… Hghggmm, how to sum this up.
My protagonist, Liriel, lives in a world divided by extreme racial differences—the immortal Aeterna and their reserved, holy ways, and the Mortalus, humans of squalor and warfare. When a strange, violent creature begins a rampage in the north, a monster that seems to choose its victims based on their unworthiness, not how much meat they’ll pack, it’s thought that only an Aeterna will be holy enough to defeat it. In an attempt to break a line of corruption that plagues her family’s past, Liriel sets off to kill the beast and prove her righteousness to her people.
Things… don’t quite go as planned.
She meets this kid. A shabby little human street rat, who somehow finagles her way into Liriel’s quest. And this girl, Lotch, is as unabashedly mortal as they come. In other words—or, more to the point, in Liriel’s words—pathetic. But there’s something strangely admirable about the humbleness of Lotch’s inferiority, and as their journey together progresses, it starts to dawn on Liriel that maybe this kid—this pathetic, little human kid—might have something far beyond what Liriel can ever hope to achieve. And as Liriel spirals into self-doubt and inner-torment, questioning both her motives and her quest, things…
Go from bad to worse.
In short, that is the very rough paraphrase of my book.
I want it to be a study of humanity. I don’t know if anyone saw a thread I started a bit ago, chronicling the progression of my themes, but they include Human Worth, Racism, and The Meaning of Strength, all swirling around this much larger theme of Man’s Unrighteousness and need for redemption. Much like the Old Testament, I want to show humanity rising up out of the dirt, only to fall. Rising again, falling again. Again and again and again. Failing God and their promise to Him, until at last they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their strength and their goodness is immaterial and impossible. Humanity is depraved. And only through God’s mercy and love can righteousness truly be attained.
Man, that was kind of fun to write. I need to do this more often; writing down my thoughts about my book helps me sort them out in a tidy fashion.
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
Here’s mah blurb. Just ’cause.
When a monster from the ancient world breaks a centuries-old estrangement between two races, threatening to annihilate both, Liriel Willowtree is chosen as a symbol of the all-powerful and immortal Aeterna and sent to protect the lower races of humanity. But when the power of her people fails her and she is forced to rely on the resourcefulness of a scrappy human waif, she comes face to face with fallacies in a doctrine she believed infallible. With a weapon that could change the future in her hands and the fate of races at stake, Liriel must choose between two worlds in order to save both: To abandon her kindred and claim allegiance with the well-meaning but often dishonorable Mortalus, or to forgive the ominous truth of her people’s past and accept the sovereign paths of the Aeterna.
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
@Daeus Good glory, I want to meet one of those bards.
Hey, what’s the story with that guy Joy Maestron drew for you on Art Exchange a while back—Teedletiden, or something like that? He periodically makes an appearance in my memory. Too adorable to forget.
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
@ethryndal Oh, yeah. The teedletiden are one of my fantasy races. They’re short and they live in the trees. I’m going to introduce them near the end of book one and I plan on hauling along one of them for the other two books.
🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
@rochellaine @daeus thank you!
@ingridrd cool! I hope it goes well with the next book!
@ethryndal That. Sounds. Amazing. Oh. My. Word. Tell me when you need a beta reader 🙂INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
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