Another round of The Language of Worlds has arrived! And Liv has brought us a fabulous set of questions!
Just in case you have no clue what I’m talking about: The Language of Worlds is a writers linkup created by the magical unicorn that is Liv K. Fisher. Every couple of months she throws out 10 questions which we can then answer for any one of our original characters. It’s suuuch a great way to dig deep into your characters, as well as share fun tidbits about your story, AND see what other bloggers are writing too. Because we bloggers/readers are naturally nosy creatures. *cough, cough*
Technically I’m still working on Burning Thorns edits (I feel like I’ll be working on this story ‘til I die…), so my first thought was to do another BT character. But GOOD GRIEF. I’ve done so many posts about BT. You guys are gonna be sick of it before it’s ever published! (Er, if it’s ever published…?)
Soooo I thought I’d do a character from ANOTHER story, to prove that I do, indeed, have stories that aren’t BT. IT’S TRUE. In fact, my NaNoWriMo ‘17 novel, The Nether Isle, has been on my brain a lot lately. I don’t know why those characters have decided to fight for my very limited brain cells, but here we are! Actually I do know why… They’re some of my favorite characters I’ve ever written (yes, I totally play favorites, shhh, don’t judge) and I adooored that story. Truth be told, it’s on my mind A LOT. It’s just been even more lately.
BUT I really need to focus on Burning Thorns/Realm Makers/2398434 things right now and don’t need to even think about working on rewriting another book. Althooough, once this round of BT edits is done and I’ve sent it off for querying, I’m thinking maaaybe The Nether Isle could be my next big novel project? Possibly? I DON’T KNOW. We’ll see! If it is, that’ll be months from now, perhaps even next year. So…who even knows.
EITHER WAY, it’s been on my mind lately, and since I can’t work on it right now, I thought featuring a Language of Worlds post would help tide me over.
SO HERE WE ARE!
If you weren’t around during the NaNo ‘17 days, The Nether Isle is a weird 1920s-ish fantasy steampunk story about 17-year-old Karis Levine who gets sent to, you guessed it, THE NETHER ISLE. This island is a deadly place that only the worst of the worst criminals get shipped off to and dumped out to try to survive. No one actually knows why the isle is so deadly, as no one ever returns from it. Dun dun DUNNNN. Also, the reader has no idea why this bubbly 17-year-old got sent to such a place. Bwahaha! Of course, once she gets to the isle instead of dangerous beasts like she expects, she finds…fantasy thiiiings. *grins* Like I’d write a story that wasn’t full of fantasy stuff!
And yep, that’s the story! But not really. (Wow, I’m so great at explaining my novels.) If you’re dyyying to know more, I did a WHOLE POST on it back in October ‘17.
ANYWAYS. Let’s actually get to the point of this post!
KARIS LEVINE
Karis lives in the High City of the continent of Ilderwind. This large city sits right at the edge of the ocean and Karis’ townhouse is near enough to the docks that she can see the ocean through her bedroom window. She absolutely adores the sea, and loves to stroll out to the docks and breathe in the ocean air and watch ships come and go.
She also very often likes to just meander through the streets of the city and people watch. Walking is actually one of her favorite activities, as she’s highly energetic and can’t stay still for long. Moving around and being out where people are is her fave. She’s a puppy, basically.
She definitely has a sweet tooth! She’s not terribly picky when it comes to desserts. One of her favorite things is cherry pie, especially the cinnamon cherry pie her grandmother makes. Her grandmother usually sprinkles some extra cinnamon on the crust of Karis’ piece, which may be why Karis is an actual cinnamon roll. You are what you eat and all…
Karis’ life was fairly normal before, ya know, her author jumped in and destroyed everything because I’m nice like that. But back before all that, she was apprenticing to a doctor (more on why in question #7), which required being at his office fairly early and doing whatever he said. Though he wasn’t a great teacher, as he sent her out to take medicine to patients far more than teaching her the trade. But, truth be told, Karis didn’t mind. Getting to travel through the city all day is much more appealing than trying to learn medicine in a stuffy office.
After her work day was over, she’d go to her little brother Harland’s school and walk him home, where they then had dinner with their parents and enjoyed a relaxing evening.
She honestly had, like, the most normal, chill life than…any of my other characters. Until, ya know, THIIINGS. *cackles*
Usually during the afternoons, actually. Once she’s fully awake and has moved around for a while, she’s good to go. She’s such an active person, by evening she pretty much crashes. XD
Definitely her family. Her mother, father, and younger brother Harland are her world. They’re a close-knit group and will do anything for one another.
Shockingly…no, not really. I mean, she still has both PARENTS. It’s a miracle! She’s one of the fewwww characters of mine with an intact family and fairly normal life (except for certain things which I am not telling you about *smile, smile*). Honestly, it was so nice writing a character with loving, living parents. There are not nearly enough of those around and even I’m bad about having characters with dead parents. This whole book was a bit of an experiment from my norm and I LOVED it!
But ANYWAYS. Yeah. Karis hasn’t had to experience much loss at this point in her life. :)))
In Ilderwind, education is pretty standard to ours, EXCEPT for your last year. They have what’s called the Final Year in which you take on an apprenticeship with any trade of your choosing. You then spend that year learning the trade and, afterwards, graduate and choose to either go to university to keep learning the trade or, if you feel like the year of apprenticing was enough, jump into work immediately. Of course, if you don’t like the trade you can take on a new apprenticeship for another year.
But yeah, the schooling system is similar to what we have, you just take on apprenticing for you “senior year” basically.
Karis decided to try her hand at being a doctor because her greatest desire is to help people.
Funnily enough, Karis isn’t quite sure. A big part of the novel is her trying to decide what she wants to do with her life. The doctor apprenticeship isn’t going great—partly because the doctor is treating her more like an errand girl, and partly because she’s not super into medicine. It was just the best way she could think of to help people.
Of course, once she gets sent to the Nether Isle she doesn’t think it matters anymore since she’s probably going to die. Eheheheh.
But her true talent lies in thinking outside the box. She’s not much on organization and logic, but she can come to some great creative ways to solving a problem.
She’s also a master at making new friends. Kind, bubbly, and talkative—it doesn’t take much to be her bestie.
Underneath that happy-go-lucky exterior lies an ocean of doubts and fears and questions. Karis feels like her life is purposeless. Her doctor apprenticeship isn’t going well, and her greatest fear is that she won’t be able to ever make a different. She has such a deep passion for helping people and is on a constant search of finding her calling. So when she gets sent to the Nether Isle to just die, it destroys her. Because more than the fear of death is the fear of living an empty life. Of never making waves before her time in this world is done.
She needs a sense of purpose as well as encouragement from others (especially her family) to truly keep going. Being seen as useless and unable to help people undoes her.
At home with her family surrounding her and the windows opened letting in the fresh, salty air of the sea. That is her happy place.
Buuuut later she also finds deep comfort in the presence of a certain guy named Jonah she stumbles upon on the Isle. *smile, smile*
And that’s my bby girl! I feel like these answers were pretty boring… This story is really hard to talk about because I feel like if I say any tiny thing it will spoil eeeverything. Eheheheh. But let’s just say this is the Karis before certain events take place. *grins*
Welp. Writing this just made me want to work on this story more not less. Whoops…
Don’t forget you can snag the questions and join the linkup HERE! It runs through June, I believe, so there’s still plenty of time!
What do you think of Karis? Do you like writing extroverted or introverted characters more? (Random question, I know, but Karis is one of my most extroverted of characters, so it just got me thinking about it.) And have you joined in on this linkup? It’s SO much fun!
So I may have silently squealed when I saw this post AND that it was about KARIS!! I was thinking about The Nether Isle the other day and wondering when you might get back to it. 🙂
Also, I totally relate to feeling like you’ve been writing/will be writing one story for the rest of your life. 🙂 But the fact that you’ve worked on BT so long means that it still holds a special place in your heart, and all this work WILL be worth it!
Haha, I laughed at the account of extra cinnamon and “you are what you eat”!!
Okay, wow, it is SO much fun to learn all these new details about Karis! I don’t you mentioned any of this during ’17 NaNo…either that, or I just missed that Karis had a life and a normal family before All The Plot Things. 🙂 Also, the depths to her cheerful and carefree personality is amazing!!
I’m thinking we should implement Ilderwind’s school system. Any takers?
Oh, yes, Jonah! I don’t suppose you could do a second link-up featuring him…?
Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me whether the character is introverted or extroverted–both types are fun to write. Even two extroverted characters or two introverted characters won’t have the same personality or see the world the exact same way, and that’s always interested to consider and portray! When reading introverted/extroverted characters–it all depends on how they’re written. If an introverted character is a walking stereotype or just rude to everyone, then I am going to be annoyed. Or if the extroverted character is a walking stereotype or written by an introverted author who clearly has no idea how an extroverted mind works…I’m going to be annoyed. And if the character has no personality beyond introverted/extroverted, I’m still going to be annoyed. Introvert/extrovert is really just how someone finds and processes information. It’s not a character trait on its own. So yeah, I’ll like any character, introverted or extroverted, if they’re consistent and fleshed-out. *gets off soapbox* Also, I do think writers need to be nicer to extroverted characters! And write them in such a way that they’re NOT walking stereotypes or clearly the introverted author’s pet peeve. *gets off smaller soapbox*
This was awesome to read! Thanks for sharing more about this story and character!! And I hope work on Burning Thorns goes well!
And see you at Realm Makers!!!!!! 😀
Awwww, really? GIRL. You are the sweetest Nether Isle fan! I still adore my TNI fanart with ALL MY HEART AND SOUL. <3 You encourage me so much with that story!
And oh my goodness, thank you so much for the encouragement about BT as well! I NEEDED to hear that! And I'm going to flip those words right back at you. Because they're TRUE. All the work we put into our stories will definitely be worth it!
I probably didn't mention much about Karis' life back when I was writing it. Lol. It's just so HARD to talk about this book without hitting on spoilers. I don't know why. And, unfortunately, that's why I prooobably don't need to do a post like this for Jonah. As much as I'd LOVE to. But ugghhhh SPOILERS. EVERYWHERE. *collapses* I'm honored you want a Jonah post though! He'd be flattered (and a little shy about it hehe).
As far as the extroverted/introverted thing...PREACH IT!!!! People just do NOT seem to get that alllll that means is if you're energized by people or by being alone. THAT'S IT. It does not mean if you're shy or not, or even outgoing. It just describes where you get your energy. I mean, I'm SUCH an extrovert but people mistake me as an introvert ALL the time because I'm kind of quiet and don't hold a conversation well (unfortunately, because I LOVE to talk but I never know what to saaaay ugh. Erm, in person. Obviously I never run out of things to say in written form eheheh). But being shy and not a great conversationalist does not mean being an introvert! In fact, some of the BEST conversationalists I know are ultra introverts.
And THANK YOU for saying something about writers needing to be nicer to their extroverted characters! OH MY GOODNESS. I don't feel so alone now! Because YESSS. It seems like the majority of writers are introverts and, well, they don't always seem to understand us extroverts? It's kind of hurtful sometimes. But I'm sure we extroverts don't always portray introverts perfectly either! It DEFINITELY goes both ways. As anything would. But it's so nice to know someone who gets this!
Ahem. Okay, now I'll get off my soapbox. You just totally nailed it and I had to flail. Hehe.
Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! And YESSS. Counting down the days to July 18th! *dances*
I’m doing this linkup in a couple weeks! ^_^ I’m very excited about it 😉
I love the sound of this character SO MUCH. The Nether Isle sounds like such an amazing story, and I always squeal quietly whenever you talk about it, because AGH MAGIC CAMERAS AND ISLAND PRISONS AND EXTROVERT CINNAMON ROLLS AND JUST ASFDLJKGHDAKFJDSKLJ. Ack. I needs more about this one *squeals*
Also I love the fact that she has a family! I feel like decent parents are so underrated in fiction xD
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS POST!!!!!!
You are? YAAAAY!!! I CANNOT WAIT!
Awww, thank you! That makes me so ridiculously happy to hear! It was definitely a fun story to write. ^_^ I mean, it’s a DISASTER, but it was fun nonetheless. Hehe.
PARENTS ARE SO UNDERRATED IN FICTION YES. And, well, I’m even guilty of it. It was so refreshing to actually write a protagonist with a proper family. I need to do that more! Lol.
THANK YOU, M’DEAR! <3
She sounds so cute! I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a heroine in a novel who was a doctor! Or doctor-in-training, as Karis is. It’s kind of surprising there aren’t more doctor heroines, because that skill would come in a LOT of use during all the dangerous situations heroines find themselves in 🙂 I guess it just takes a lot of research.
Characters with intact families are amazing. I’ll admit that most of my characters have one dead parent, or if their parents are still living, they’re probably separated or divorced or whatever. I don’t even know why that happens, unless it’s just because I’ve absorbed all the other stories with dead parents and can’t imagine stories being told differently now. *shrugs*
I have plenty of extroverted side characters, and I try to treat them fairly–I feel like some novels portray extroverted people as shallow, and I try not to do that. But all my main characters tend to be socially awkward introverts, probably so I can relate to them XD
Thank you! 😀 She’s fun to write! And you’re right. It DOES seem like there’d be more doctor protagonists. But you totally make a point that it would make for some serious research. Haha. I am TERRIBLE at remembering medical stuff, so I’m not sure how well I’d do writing a full-on doctor character. Lol. But it sure would be a handy companion to have! I feel like ALL the fictional adventuring squads out there should be required to bring a doctor along. It would make things way easier. XDD
I’m with you on the family thing! This was a fairly new one for me because YEP. Sooo many of my characters have at least one dead parent or something. I have no clue why it ends up like that. I like your theory though, of how us reading so many books like that has just ingrained it in our brains that that’s how fiction supposed to be. That could totally be it!
GIIIIIRL! As an extrovert who sometimes gets annoyed with books always portraying us as shallow, that means SO much that you see that and treat your extroverted characters fairly! But I LOVE me some introverted characters now. In fact, the majority of the people in my life are introverts so, even though I’m an extrovert myself, I write a LOT of introverts because it just feels natural since i’m surrounded by so many. Introverts are the preciousest of peoples! <3
UM SO YES THE NETHER ISLE SOUNDS AMAZING KARIS SOUNDS DARLING AND I NEEEEED THIS BOOK <333
*HAPPY FLAILING* LIVVVV. THIS IS MAKING ME GRIN SO BIG. THANK YOU!!!
This sounds so awesome!!!! You definitely made me want to read this book, just by reading your questions and answers. And now I want to join this Link-Up! Thank you for sharing.
AWK. That makes me SO SO happy! Thank you!!! And YESSS. Do the linkup. It’s the BEST! 😀
WHOA THIS STORY SOUNDS AMAZING THOUGH. Like um. I need it right now? xD
Karis sounds like such a sweet, fun person! I loved learning about a character from one of your other stories. 😀 (which is nooot to say I’m sick of hearing about anything else because that’s definitely not true.)
I think I kind of tend to write extroverted characters more? Which is funny because I’m totally an introvert. xD And hmm, looks like I have another set of questions to answer! *already starts planning which character to use*
theonesthatreallymatter.blogspot.com
EEEEEP! THANK YOU! That makes me so ridiculously happy that you think so! 😀 And I’m so very glad you enjoyed hearing about Karis! <3
That's funny! Maybe we tend to write characters different from ourselves? Because I'm pretty sure I have WAY more introverted characters than extroverted. Lol.
Oooh yessss. Do the linkup. Do iiiitttt. I love it so much!
I remember the Nether Isle… was it really two years ago? I’m still as fascinated by the story as ever!
(trying this comment the second time.)
BLUE YOU PRECIOUS BEAN. That is so sweet! Thank you!!! And I literally had to double check that it WAS my NaNo ’17 novel because it seems like I had written it way sooner than that. Goodness me, the years go by fast!
(Oh dear, did it send you to spam the first time? I was trying out a new plugin for comments but it seemed to be marking everyone as spam bots, so I switched it back to the default comments. Sorry about that!)
AGGHH THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME HOW AWESOME THIS STORY SOUNDS. :DDD Karis sounds like such a sweet little bean! Extroverted characters are so fun to write! ^_^
Thank YOU for totally making my day with this comment! I’m glad you like my Karis bby girl. I’m quite fond of her. Hehe.
Oh my goodness, Christine!!! I love this story SO SO MUCH!!! I remember squealing while reading your posts on it way back in 2017, and apparently my excitement for it has not dwindled an inch. XD Karis is honestly one of the sweetest characters I’ve ever heard of, which makes the fact that she got sent to the Nether Isle a very intriguing mystery… (*desire to read this book escalates*)
And UGH. I TOTALLY get having to prioritize which projects get worked on first. Right now I’m first drafting a brand new WIP, but I also want to start working on beta revisions for EV (a.k.a. the book of my heart XD) so that’s gonna be difficult… But holy guacamole, I am SO excited for the day when I finally get to read one of your books! I just KNOW you’re going to be one of my all-time favorite authors!!!
Oh my goodness. That question you asked at the end made me realize something really weird about my writing: I usually only write extroverted characters. And that is kind of interesting since I’m an extrovert myself, but my current WIP, SK, has a man lead that’s an INTROVERT, and now I’m beginning to understand why I’ve been having so much trouble cracking him open… Oh my goodness…. *existential crisis*
AAAAHHHHH, KENZIE! This makes me so happy. THANK YOU!!! It still just blows my mind that people are truly interested in my stories. It means so much! <333 (But yissss. Karis is actually quite a mystery. Bwahahaha!)
SAME SAME. As much as I WANT to work on like 12 projects at once, I know I'd die trying. Lol. So I usually only have ONE novel going at a time for the sake of my sanity. Although it doesn't help the plot bunny epidemic. >.> BUT OH MY GRACIOUS. I can’t even imagine being someone’s favorite author. YOU SAY THE NICEST THIIIIINGS! I feel the same about YOUR novels. You are SO creative. I know your novels are EPIC!!!
OH NOES. I caused Kenzie to have an existential crisis. :O NUUUUU!!!! But but but. Maybe this’ll help? Now that you KNOW he’s an introvert, you can work from there? Because I feel you on this. I usually have to know like ALL the things about my characters to truly get a good handle on them. Like what Myers-Briggs type they are, what their love language is, every single detail of their backstory–ALL OF IT. I maaay go a little overboard with character bios. XD
I’m so excited I get to meet you in a little over a month squee! Karis is a gem. That’s so cute that she likes cherry pie.
OH MY GOODNESS. SAME, GIRL, SAAAME!!! I can’t stop squealing about it! 😀
Awww, thanks! I do love my bby girl. ^_^
I remember this story! Karis sounds like such an adorable little cinnamon roll!!!
Your answer to number 6 had me rolling! XD
So accurate.
Awwww!!! She is quite the cinnamon roll. I loved writing her POV. ^_^
Hahahaha! Right??? So many poor orphaned characters out there. It’s an epidemic… *shakes head*
Karis sounds like a fabulous character! I can’t wait to hear more about her or perhaps meet her in a book… 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks for reminding me about this link-up! I think I shall try to participate before June flashes past.
Also… random… but we may have a need for a new blogger during the Silmarillion Awards (which will be in September again this year) might you be interested in joining us? (It’s really not very time-consuming or anything, and you’re really only committing to 1 original blog post which is the awards ceremony, the other 2 posts are just basic posts saying which award you’re hosting and opening up nominations/displaying the voting form). Anyway, I know one of my regular bloggers can’t participate this year, and I haven’t heard back from a few others and instantly thought of you when I was mulling over other awesome bloggers I know who might be interested 🙂 🙂
D’awwww! THANK YOU!!!
Oooh, you should! It’s so much fun! I’d LOVE to learn more about your characters. 😀
Oh my goodness, I am so honored!!! I would be very interested! These days I’m struggling to find time for anything though… But I just love the Silm Awards so very much and would love to be part of the team. ^_^ I’m gonna toss you an email so we can discuss it more!
Awwwww, sweet, sweet Karis! So nice to meet her again! She’s MOST DEFINITELY a cinnamon roll. And WHAAAAAT—living parents??? We SO need more of those!!
Love this! TNI is also on my auto-buy list. *^ – ^* <333
SARAAAAH!!! You say the nicest things! AWK. Thank you!!! She is my little cinnamon roll child. ^_^ And YEP! Living parents. It’s a miracle! XD We DO need more of those in fiction. Even though I’m totally guilty of writing orphans myself. Gotta do better…
I want to read this story!!!!!!!!!!! And I have ever since you began talking about it in 2017!
Karis sounds so awesome! This whole post gave me Howl’s Moving Castle vibes. She sounds like a more extroverted version of Sophie. 😉 And it’s Steampunk which is a genre that I’ve been coming to love. All your reviews recently about Steampunk fairy tales have been fueling that desire to read more Steampunk. 😀
Needless to say, I will be so excited if you ever publish this story!!! And if you ever need Beta-Readers for The Nether Isle, sign me up!
AAAAHHHH!!! THANK YOU, HANNAH! That means so much!
Hmmm. I haven’t really thought about it having HMC vibes. It’s kind of such a mix of genres, I guess some of it kinda does. 😀 It’s a really weird book. Lol. But yes, STEAMPUNK. I love steampunk soooo much! One of my most favorite steampunk books is The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann. It mixes creepy faeries with steampunk and oh my goodness, IT WAS EPIC. It honestly felt like a Tim Burton movie. It was just WEIRD, but in the best way. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is another good one!
HANNAH. You are so precious! THANK YOU! It’ll probably be a long time before it needs beta-readers, but when it DOES I would be utterly ecstatic and honored to have you! <333
Yeah, I think the HMC vibes came from the setting of her growing up years. 🙂
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll have to look into them!
You’re totally welcome! I would be honored to be able to read it! 😀
This book…sounds…amazing. Gosh, Christine, how do you do it?!?!
And Karis!! *Screams* I want to read about her so badly!! 😳
Ehhh, either works for me. Extroverts are fun to write because they’re a challenge for my introverted self. Plus, they really brighten a manuscript with their shenanigans. And hen there are the introverts. So super easy to write, because I’m one of them. xD There are benefits to both, I think!
Nope, I’ve never joined in a link up before, but this one looks like so much fun to do!! ^^
Blessings to you, dear!!
~ Lily Cat (Boots) | lilycatscountrygirlconfessions.blogspot.com
AWWWWW!!! Thank you, Lily! <3333 The draft is a MESS, but it was still fun to write! One day I hope to make it readable. Haha.
I totally love writing both myself! Even though I'm an extrovert, I think I actually have more introvert characters. Most of the people I know are introverts and I'm just comfortable with them, so that types seeps into my writing. Which I love. ^_^ But yes, having a good mixture is the BEST!
Oooh, you should totally join this linkup. It's my faaaave!
Awwww I love Karis!!! She sounds like a ball of energy, but super sweet, and I love that both her parents are living! That’s something that I need to work on, I always tend to have dead parents… 😛 Can’t wait to hear more about this story!
(Also, I’m so sorry but I just realized I never replied to your reply to my comments on BT! I really appreciated you going through all of them and sharing your thoughts. <3 I hope they helped you throughout your edits, and let me know if you ever need another pair of eyes on BT!)
Sweet and a ball of energy is the BEST description for her. That’s exactly what she is! XD So glad you like her. ^___^
I am with you on the parents thing! Karis is a rarity for me, because I have sooo many other characters with just one or no parents. It’s bad. XD
(Oh my goodness, that is FINE. You don’t have to reply to all that! I’M JUST SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU BETA-READING. All your amazing notes were utterly invaluable to me! YOU HELPED SO, SO MUCH! Gracious me, all your encouragement and help has been everything. THANK YOU!!! <333)
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[…] their characters and share their answers with others. I was introduced to the challenge by Christine Smith, whose wonderful interview was inspiring. The challenge itself is hosted by Liv K. Fisher, who […]
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