HERE WE ARE. It is at last time for me to share alllll my thoughts on writing and finishing Dusk’s Broken Shadows.
I hope December is treating everyone well so far! I can’t believe we’re already a week in! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been listening to Christmas music pretty much nonstop. #noshame
SO. Being as how NaNo is fully finished, today I’m going to be answering the questions of my Know the Novel linkup! Annnd probably going to blabber way too much about my NaNo novel. (Hopefully you guys aren’t sick of hearing about it yet. This is the last NaNo post, I promise!)
Even though it’s been almost two weeks since I finished this thing, it still feels kind of weird not spending time with my Daystars every single day. I do this every NaNo—I get so excited to reach the end and be free and then once I do I…feel kinda empty. Maybe rambling about them one last time for the year will satiate me for a bit! *grins*
SO LET’S DO IT!
DUSK’S BROKEN SHADOWS
It was truly one of the best novel writing experiences I’ve ever had. And I just??? I’m so grateful! Like I said last week, this year hasn’t been the best in the creativity department. And I so miss just having fun storytelling, instead of seeing it like this big, overwhelming chore.
And Dusk’s Broken Shadows brought it all back to me. It brought back that thrill of watching blank pages fill up with words. That joy as characters really come to life and become people, ones to love and laugh and ache with. To see worlds in my head blossom into something tangible. And to experience all sorts of crazy, scary, wondrous adventures. It brought back my passion for storytelling, and that was more than I could ever ask for.
It also feels like my novel. (“Um yes, Christine, that’s because it is.”) Okay, okay, I know that makes no sense. But you know how sometimes you write a book and you like it, but it doesn’t exactly fill your soul or anything? But SOMETIMES you write something and it just feels like everything you were ever meant to create, everything you’ve ever loved, has come alive straight from your fingers? That’s this novel for me. The only other novel that has really done this for me was Burning Thorns. Which is funny, because BT and this one are so different, and yet so…me. BT and DBS are probably two of my most favorite things I’ve ever created (although last year’s NaNo novel, The Timekeeper and the Librarian is pretty high on the list as well.)
BASICALLY? I love this novel. These characters, this concept, everything. I’m pretty sure it’s a disaster and a half but THAT’S OKAY. Writing it was a JOY and I’m just so grateful for that. (And quite honestly, I’m already pretty anxious to start book 2 so there’s that.)
HA!
Being as how I went in with only some vague inklings of a beginning and the most random blotches of scene ideas for later on, I really wasn’t expecting anything. I was just along for the ride! I didn’t even know how it was going to end. I had NOTHING.
So yeah, it surprised me, but I expected it to surprise me so to answer the first question, um…yes?
As far as how I feel about the outcome, I’m quite pleased! Obviously I’ll have to spend some time away from it for a bit and then give it a full readthrough before knowing for sure, but I thiiiink I’m good with how the overall plot went, where everyone ended up, etc. Now, the writing itself I’m sure will need a COMPLETE overhaul. But as far as plot things? I don’t know, I never really came to many points where I was like, “Yeah, no, this whole scene needs to be dumped and changed.”
I may change my mind and think the whole book is actually trash once I go back and read it over, but for now I’ll just live in bliss and pretend it’s all okay. *twirls in happy oblivion*
Everybody say it with me now…
C H A R A C T E R S!!!
Like, OF COURSE! These dorks were everything to me. Literally, if I had written a 100k-word book of them just easting cereal together, I probably still would have had so much fun. Instead I wrote 100k+ words of pain but ya know that was cool too. Found family, big epic friend squads are my FAVORITE and I don’t know how I’ve never written a book like this until now??? IT WAS JUST SO MUCH FUN!
Trying to figure out where all my characters ended up for the climax/end of the book gave me a pretty major headache for a couple of days there. Problems of pantsing… BUT. I did manage to sort through it and am quite pleased with the outcome (even though I left SO many messes to clean up/explain /figure out for book 2 help meee).
Also I felt like my characters were way cleverer than me. XD Like, I often came to points where I was like, “Okay, I know they can figure out a way out of this mess, but that means *I* have to and just hooowww???”
And I know for a fact that the typos and bleh writing are endless, but that just comes with first drafting. Plus trying to describe some settings gave me a lot of pause. I have some weird settings in this book, and putting them into words was HARD. And who even knows if I succeeded…
But OTHERWISE. There wasn’t all that much I disliked writing about??? ‘TWAS A GOOD TIME.
Like I said, typos, description, prose—that’s all gonna need WORK. Clean first drafts make I do not.
I’d also like to focus more on the character arcs come revision time. ALTHOUGH since this is just book #1, I still have plenty of time to focus on character growth and such. But I would like to put a bit more emphasis on certain aspects about each character that needs growth. Trying to juggle five different main characters PLUS a major plot that I was making up as I went made fitting in everything a little…difficult. But now that it’s all laid out, weaving in some more character growth shouldn’t be a problem! (I hope.)
I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM!!!
The end.
Ehehehe. Juuust kidding! Although, really, I feel like all I did in November was gush about these people. You guys are probably sick of hearing about them by now.
Choosing a favorite is IMPOSSIBLE and I don’t know what cruel person would ask such a question. Pft. And least favorite? Uhhhhh. No one??? Even the villains were fun to play with! (They were awful, but fun nonetheless.)
I did have one side character surprise me in his relationship toward another character. But it was a GOOD surprise, and totally helps set up some things I want to do with him later, so. *grins*
I honestly didn’t even favor one’s point-of-view over the next. I had a lot of fun getting a chance with each of them. ALTHOUGH I did always have particular fun when I got to see Aelin through Dayana’s POV. Do you guys ever do that? Like, it’s so much fun being in the POV of a character, but sometimes it’s even more fun seeing that character from a certain other person’s eyes.
INTJ, no-nonsense Day had such a fondness for ENFP, all-the-nonsense Aelin and it was so much fun to play with. Seriously, guys, if you’ve never witnessed an INTJ/ENFP friendship, you’re missing out in life. There are entire memes about it. INTJs and ENFPs are like THE most opposites ever, and yet they always adore each other and I love it so much. So yeah, watching Aelin through Day’s eyes was always particularly fun.
I also really, really loved the complete platonic, utter chaotic friendship between Aelin and Rune. Those two are disaster children separate, but together? WHEW BOY. XD
But man, I LOVED ALL THEIR RELATIONSHIPS SO MUCH. *sobs* Yeah no I have no favorites. I love them all!
What I particular loved is how they trusted one another wholly, leaning on each other’s different strength to accomplish things. And just their whole unstoppable attitudes. They faced countless odds and so many seemingly impossible things, but they were always willing to just keep going, no matter what.
They were honestly an inspiration to me, especially through this insane year. Even if no one ever reads this book, it was the book *I* needed right now, and I’m so glad I wrote it.
For now I’m letting it sit while I take a much needed REST.
And though far too often I write a first draft and then leave it for like, YEARS, I don’t want to do that with this story! It’s become too near and dear to me.
BUT. I’m actually not going to revise this one until I have all the books in the series written. Despite having just written a nearly 110k word novel, I still don’t really know the overall plot??? All the baddies kept hinting at this bigger scheme than what was on the surface but they. wouldn’t. tell me. WHAT IT WAS. And it’s kind of hard to foreshadow and such when you don’t know the actual MAIN PLOT. Plus there’s just SO MUCH HERE with this series. The possibilities are kind of endless. Some thing that happen in book 2 I may decide should go in book 1, or even vice versa. It’s all still very much up in the air and needs to be discovered.
So what does that mean? WELL. I’m not sure. I know this will be at least 3 books. It could be 4, but we’re gonna hope it stays down to 3. XD Which means I may try to blow through book 2 next NaNo oooorrrr even dabble in it some once the new year hits. I’m not making any plans right now. I’m gonna take December off to recuperate from, well, 2020 in general. AND THEN I’ll be taking all of January to really dig into my 2021 plans and see where I want to go with all my projects.
But, like I said, I am determined to not turn this book into one of my many other abandoned drafts lost in the dark recesses of my laptop. Whether that means writing book 2 soon or for next NaNo, I don’t know.
EITHER WAY. The next plan of action is to, eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later), throw together the first drafts of all the books and THEN dive into revision once I know the overall story. *nods*
Hopefully the baddies will reveal their overall plan to me one day.
Greatest dream? WELL. If we’re keeping the sky the limit here…
It’d be the best thing in the world for a big publishing company to pick it up and it form a large fanbase to the point that people are making adorable memes about the characters and such. Kind of like The Lunar Chronicles (who else loves finding TLC memes on Pinterest? Just me???).
Yeah, I know. That’s prettyyyy farfetched, but hey, the question said greatest dream, and I’m all for dreaming big! You never know!
But in all honesty? If a story of mine touches the heart of one person, that is more than I could ever ask for. Because storytelling isn’t about fame and money (LOL writers don’t really make much of that…). It’s about reaching hearts and simply sharing the passion of stories. Stories are one of the most powerful tools we have on this earth, and it’s a privilege and honor to tell them, no matter where my books end up.
Alrighty, here we go! Just know these are, ya know, very first draft-y…
“How ‘bout I join this one?” Kezrin pushed up from where he leaned against the turret’s railing. “You and me against him, eh, Aelin?”
Aelin’s heart did a strange flutter, but she accounted it for all the physical activity, and leered at Rune. “Oh yes!”
Rune rested the edge of his practice sword across the back of his shoulders and shrugged. “If you think it’ll make it even.”
Smirking, Kezrin knelt down by the open hatch in the turret floor. “Hey, Day, pass up another practice sword.”
“Oh heavens, no!” came Day’s long suffering cry from below. “I can smell the sweat from down here. You’re not adding more to it.”
“It is getting a bit smelly,” Tala said from across the turret. She sat on the floor, leaning against the three foot wall railing with a cushion beneath her and knitting in hand.
“Oh, you think?” Rune grinned wickedly, dropped his sword, and sprinted toward her.
“Rune, don’t you dare!” She threw her hands up as a shield.
He dropped down beside her, caught her up in both arms, and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Stop it!” She squealed again and tried to push him away, grinning and giggling all the while.
“You know, maybe Day has the right idea retreating below,” Kez said, wrinkling his nose. “It is getting a bit disgusting up here.”
Aelin swatted his arm. “Hush you.”
“Aelin, are you focusing?”
“Maybe.” She was, in fact, not focusing, and instead dangled on her stomach across the side of Dayana’s bed, wiggling a loose piece of yarn above the floor. A white paw appeared from beneath the bed, batting at the string before slipping back into the shadows. She grinned.
“Then what’s the answer?” Day said from across the room, where she somehow managed to do stretches and call out arithmetic equations at the same time.
“Mmm.”
“I thought so.” Though she did not sigh, Aelin could hear the intent of it in Day’s voice. “You are aware that your exam is in three days?”
“Yeah, but today is practically a holiday. Do you really expect me to study on a holiday?” The white paw appeared again and she jerked up the string. Meela’s snowy face and pink nose popped out, trying to catch it.
“I’d hardly call Kez’s birthday a holiday.”
“Though he probably would,” Tala said.
“All right, children,” Tala called, clapping her hands. “Everyone inside!”
Ty wrinkled his nose. “Who you calling a child?”
She grinned and rubbed his tuft of dark hair, making him frown all the more. “You. Now could you please pry your sister’s eyes off her sketch long enough to stand?”
“I’m getting there, I’m getting there,” Mikyla moaned, drawing furiously.
“Kyla, sweetie, you’re going to ruin your eyes drawing in the dark like that.”
The girl huffed a sigh but, to her credit, she did pull down the sketchbook.
Rune wrapped an arm around Tala’s shoulders and leaned close.
“No kissing!” Olen and Jax cried.
Tala caught that mischievous gleam in Rune’s eyes just before he spun her to face him, pulled her close, and kissed her soundly. She happily kissed him right back, in front of all five siblings.
“Uggggh!” came a collection of groans.
Rune’s lips smiled against hers before he pulled back. “You people will appreciation kissing one day.”
“But not one day soon,” she added, shooting him a scowl. Never mind that they were a year younger than Ty when they started kissing.
“Day, wait!” Aelin caught up with her in the now empty battlement interior, trying to breathe, trying to think. There were flaming horses and winged people and swarms of undrig and cracks bordering the entire city. Screams and the stench of burning flesh wafted from above. She clung to the grips of her knives until her fingers ached. “It’s impossible,” she gasped, struggling to fill her lungs with air. “It’s all impossible. We can’t…we can’t fight this.”
Day turned to face her, shoulders back, good hand curled into a fist, and eyes flaming as intense as the creature above. “We have to.” The words came quiet, but the determination, the strength, the fierceness behind them thrummed down Aelin’s core, and she took a breath. Her head cleared, her heart beat hard and strong.
No matter the threats, the impossible creatures, the odds against them, they were Sealer and Watcher. This was their home, and they must protect it at all costs.
She raised her weapons. “I won’t let anything touch you.” And she meant it. As long as she could still move, could still breathe, she would keep her princess, her best friend, safe.
Day’s face softened, only for a moment, and then that flame returned to her eyes and she gave a single nod. Together, they marched through the door to the outer city.
Aelin’s determination faltered at the sight. Starting a few yards away, the lines of cracks began. From here she could see it was not one crack, but dozens, hundreds of cracks lining up. The earth shook and they widened, reaching toward one another, ready to close in the city completely.
Red light burst from the ground, accompanying another tremor. A new crack formed farther into the field, and a flaming horse exploded from its depths. Others circled overhead like vultures. Undrig plagued the earth.
It looked like the end of the world.
Dayana dashed forward, straight to the line of cracks. Aelin readjusted her grip on her blades and chased after her. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they had anything to do with it.
Without pausing, Day leaped over a three foot wide crack and when she touched down, golden light sparked around her violet slipper. An undrig crawled from the crack. Aelin sprinted and slashed her blade, sending the creature into smoke. And Sealer and Watcher danced.
I definitely believe every single book teaches me something. No words are wasted words. We grow in our craft with every word we write, and with each novel I finish, I feel like a different person.
A few things I learned writing DBS:
– That writing deep friendships is my favorite thing ever. I mean, of course I’ve written books with strong friendships, but this is probably the most I’ve ever done. And it just reinforced for me all the things that make me excited about storytelling.
– It showed me once more that pantsing really is my best method of writing. I went years outlining books, despite having been a pantser from the beginning. I forced myself to be a plotter for years on end and I don’t know why??? Pantsing works so, so much better for me.
– Blogging a little at a time during NaNo is way less stressful. This is so random, but for every NaNo prior to this one, I’d write my weekly update blog post every Sunday night. Like the WHOLE thing and usually end up staying up until 2 in the morning trying to get it done for Monday morning and it was stressful and exhausting and made me dread Sundays (when during non-NaNo months, Sundays are usually my rest days). But THIS year I thought, why not write the blog posts a little at a time each night??? So every night after I was finished writing I’d just add my little daily writing log (or answer a couple of questions of the Know the Novel post I did), and then, by Sunday I pretty much had almost a full post ready to go. Took me 11 years, but I finally found a method of blogging during NaNo that’s not too overwhelming!
– The easy way is never the answer. Remember how I said my characters taught me things? Yeah, this was the big one. So many times they could have given up and taken the easy way out. But they didn’t. They kept pushing through because even though it was hard, it was right. Too often I want to take the easy road myself, but it’s the hard road that leads to the greatest reward.
Even in the darkness, we have to keep dancing.
And there we have it, guys. My crazy, wild, exhausting, caffeine-induced, absolutely amazing journey writing Dusk’s Broken Shadows.
I cannot thank you all enough for coming on this journey with me and cheering me on every step of the way. You made this NaNo such a JOY! Not to mention have given me so much motivation to keep working on this series. Your enthusiasm for it means more than I can ever express.
I’m already looking forward to next NaNoWriMo! (But first: SLEEP.)
LET’S TALK!
Let’s chat writing and life! Do you ever get inspired while writing? (Stories are just such amazing creations, guys!) What are your plans for December? What are you most looking forward to this month? I’d love to hear about it all!
And don’t forget you can join this linkup yourself HERE!
Ahh Tala and Rune are my OTP!
OH MY GOODNESS. What a compliment! I am thrilled you like those two. (I do too. *grins*)
Aaaand I’m starting to ship Kez and Aelin!
*BEAMS* I am totally fine with that. ;D
YES for Aelin and Kez!! They would be adorable, I’m thinking. 🙂
D’awww! (Gotta say, it’s super thrilling having people ship your own characters. You guys make novel writing 100000x more fun! <3)
YES!!!!! I’ve been shipping Aelin and Kez since Christine first started talking about this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m grinning so hard over here! XD
AH!!! This sounds like such an amazing book!! I want to read it so hard, now!! You know, I bet if you just published it without editing, I’d be 100% fine with it. 😛
(Absolutely. I would devour it.)
YES!!!!! I’d be 100% fine, too!! I WANT TO READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my gracious, GIRLS. Nooooo. You do not understand the complete atrocities that are my first drafts. Even I cringe reading them. But your enthusiasm for this story means so much to me I JUST CAN’T!!! This is definitely a huge motivation to get it to the point that it is readable! <3
(Nonsenseeee…if that’s your first draft, it looks like SO much fun!)
I, too, would be completely fine with the unedited version.
*dies* I can’t with you sweet people. I feel like I should toss you some particularly messy scenes to prove that no, everything is a disaster and makes no sense. Also the TYPOS. My word. I definitely de-typoed (we’re pretending that’s a word) these snippets before sharing them. The amount of typos is honestly hilarious. XD
Hehe! I’m with them! ^_^ ;D
I cannot express how much I love the Daystars, like… the words do not exist. And the whole premise/world is just SO creative! This story brings me so much joy and I am so excited to read the series one day!
I’M GONNA CRY. Now *I* can’t express how much this means to me, not to mention how motivating it is! Thank you so so so much, Jorja! <3
CHRISTINE!!!! PUBLISH THIS PLEASE!!!! I’m begging you, do not shove this into a corner. If this is the story you feel you were meant to write, others need to read it too.
YOU PRECIOUS SOUL. I am going to try my hardest to not shove it in a corner, I really am! Everyone’s enthusiasm for it just gives me ALL the happy feels. I just…I can’t! I needed that reminder, that maybe others need this story to. Thank you so much! <333
Aghh I so want to read this book. (Also, whyyy are your snippets nearly devoid of Kez/Aelin?? Like I already love them together so much. GIVE ME MORE.)
EEP. Thank you, Maya! (D’awwww! I’m so glad you like them! But hey, I gotta keep some things to myself. *smile, smile*)
*looks up sharply from my TLC memes* I AM NOT THE ONLY ONEEEEEEEEEEEE. Please, Christine, do everyone a favor and publish this. PLEEEEEEEEASEEEEE
YOU UNDERSTAND YASSSSS. The TLC memes are life! And memes for pretty much every other fandom I’m in. I’m obsessed. XD
But oh my goodness, I can’t stop grinning over all this enthusiasm! Publishing is a looooong road, alas, BUT I’M GONNA TRY. I really am!
LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! Especially the snippets!!! And I think you should finish this series as soon as possible so we can all read it!
Awwwww, Hannah! Thank you so, SO much!!! I absolutely hope to continue it SOON. These characters have captured my heart and don’t seem to have any intentions of letting go. And I’m just so honored you want to read it! <3
*gasp* NEVER THINK I DON’T JUST ABSOLUTELY ADORE HEARING YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CHARACTERS!!!!!!! THEY ARE JUST THE BEST AND AMAZING AND I WANNA BE LIKE BEST FRIENDS WITH THEM. Especially Aelin and Day. I LOVED THAT WHOLE SNIPPET WITH THE TWO OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *contended sight* PLEASE PLEASE PLLLEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE PUBLISH THIS BOOK. I NEED it!!!!!!!!!!!!! As always, I ADORED reading your answers and just LOVE hearing you talk about your book. I love seeing how much you love this books. Your excitement makes ME even more excited to read this!!!! (If that’s possible, that is. 😉 ) I LOVED how you said “Even in the darkness, we have to keep dancing.” SOOOO TRUE and it fits sooo well with your story. You should put that in your book, if it’s not in it already.
Also, if it’s okay. Is the title Dusk’s Broken Shadows or Dush’s Broken Shadows. ‘Cause you always say Dusk but your cover says Dush? Thxs. Enjoyed reading this, as always!!!
AWK. MAGGIE. How do I even respond to all this niceness??? I AM SO SO SO HAPPY YOU LIKE IT ALL!!! Publishing is a long, long journey, but I really would like to try with this one. We’ll see what the future holds. ^_^ And all the support and enthusiasm definitely motives me SO MUCH. So THANK YOU!!!!
I actually did have that line in the book, more or less. Yep! It ended up being a big theme. I’m glad you approve! 😀
OH. Lol. It’s Dusk’s Broken Shadows. It’s just the weird font I used has K’s that look like H’s, is all. If you look, the K in “Broken” looks like an H too. That was kind of bugging me, but I really liked that font so decided to overlook it. And the cover was just made for fun anyway, so. XD
Oooooohhhhh, that makes a TON of sense. I couldn’t quite figure it out at first, but yeah. Thanks for clearing all of that up!!!!!!! Ooooh, I like the font you chose for it REALLY well, too! It’s worth all the k and h confusion. XD 😉
Yeah, I definitely questioned using the font since this K’s looks so weird. Lol. But I’m glad you like it! ^_^
Aaaaah Christine! So excited to hear about the result of your NaNo!
The friendships sound amazing! INTJ/ENFP friendships are AWESOME (I have some of that going with my brother–I’m an INTJ and he’s an ENFP/ESFP–and it’s amazing) and chaotic platonic friendships are the BEST and books with fantastic character relationships are my FAVORITE, and I love hearing about all of your character friendships! And I can’t wait to hear more!
WHAT YOU HAVE TO WRITE ANOTHER ONE? Before you work on this one more? Wow, that makes a lot of sense, but at the same time, it will be a lot of work for you. XD
THE SNIPPETS! THE LAST ONE ESPECIALLY! Just. Gorgeous. Christine. What. Even.
I hope you have a wonderful and restful November!
Awww! Thank you so much, Samantha!
OOOOH. That is the best you and your brother are the INTJ/ENFP pairing. Seriously, it’s just amazing and I adore it. My best friend is an INTJ, and watching her interact with ENFPs is one of my favorite things. XD
And AWK. I am thrilled you enjoyed hearing about my characters! That means so much to me! <3
LOL. Honestly, at this point I’m used to it. My stories do so love to turn into series. >.> And I went into this one already knowing it was going to be at least 3 or 4 books, so it’s no great surprise. But yeeeah, quite a bit of work. Although, at the same time, that just means more time with the Daystars, so I guess I can’t complain too much. We’ll call it a labor of love. Hehe.
EEP. GIRL. I’m grinning so hard! Thank you!!! 😀
You as well, Samantha!
Hello! I just discovered your blog, and it looks AMAZING. I always love connecting with fellow writers. Just want you to know you have a new subscriber! 🙂
Ooh, this challenge thing sounds super fun! My blog is not even a day old, LOL, but I think it would be fun to answer these questions. I think I’ll do it sometime this week!
Hi, Joy! Oh my goodness, I am so honored, and absolutely thrilled to have you here! Thank you so much for the follow and your kind words! <3
Congrats on starting a new blog! Blogging has been such a blessing to me, and I hope it is for you as well! And I would LOVE for you to join the linkup! 😀
MY HEART. THOSE SNIPPETS. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. Christine, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE x100000000 all of it!!!!!!! I don’t even know how to describe my emotions during the last one. I literally FELT like I was Aelin in that moment. That first paragraph actually reminded me of the portals scene at the end of Avengers Endgame. XD I don’t know why…..maybe it was the whole destruction description (ooh, look that alliteration)??? It just seemed so real and I could see it all playing out it my head. So, yes. That was the
PERFECT amount of description–not too much, not too little!!!
NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WILL NEVER, EVER, IN A HUNDRED YEARS GET TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT YOUR STORIES!!!!!!!!! I love every single minute of it, girl! Your creativity just ASTOUNDS me. XD I don’t even know how you come up with all these incredible ideas! Your devotion and and perseverance even through the hard days of writing are a.m.a.z.i.n.g. and you’re seriously and inspiration for me not to give up and push away any of my writing when it gets difficult or overwhelming!
Eheheh, I’m excited about everything this month! We have a few weeks of break from school again so that’ll give me a whole lot more time to write! I usually don’t write often on school days because sometimes I feel like passing out when I’m done or just laying on my bed and staring at the ceiling for three decades. XD My sister’s birthday is also soon and CHRISTMAS. ’nuff said. 😉 Soooo, yeah. There’s my plans for the rest of the year! XD How about you (well, besides recuperating from NaNo and catching up on a month’s worth of sleep)? 😀
OH MY GRACIOUS VICTORIA YOU PRECIOUS SOUL!!!! I can hardly handle the utter niceness and this comment! *melts in a puddle of happy feels* That is such a compliment that you really felt that scene. And I hadn’t thought about that scene from Endgame but hey, I’ll take it! That’s one of my most favorite cinematic scenes in the history of ever! So having someone compare a scene of mine to that is honestly one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received! XD
GIRL. You’re gonna make me cry! I just…I don’t even know what to say. Except for THANK YOU!!! Thank you so much for all the kind words and enthusiasm and just everything! <333
Awww yaaay! That all sounds lovely! December is seriously the best month! (And hey, I don’t blame you a tiny bit for not writing much during school. I never got super serious with writing until I graduated. SO YES. I totally feel you!) I definitely plan on recuperating, yep! My sister and I have a huge list of TV shows/movies we hope to watch, so I’m looking forward to that. Otherwise I’m just happy it’s the Christmas season. It’s such a cozy time of year! I love it ALL!
For first draft snippets, their already so good!!
I love it already!
Oh goodness me, what a compliment! Thank you so much, Skye! <3
I’m still stuck on how to edit TW…but I have an idea for a blog post that may also be part outlining because I need to figure out a big theme. There was something else…I forgot.
And I’m gonna have to agree with Allison: Tala + Rune are OTP.
Edit: NOW I remember: What’s an Undrig?
Awww! I hope you’ll find a way to get unstuck. I’m sure it’ll come to you! And YES. I often find writing out things like that helps me get unstuck. That would be awesome!
AWK. I’m so happy you like those two! They were my sweethearts. <3
Ah yes! They’re completely made up creatures. They’re like shadowy monster things that appear out of the cracks that split the worlds open.
AHHHH, I CAN’T WAIT TO READ THIS. I mean, really, Dusk’s Broken Shadows has EVERYTHING I love in a book. AND THOSE SNIPPETS. Those snippets are the best! *squeals*
INTJ/ENFP relationships are the best (and it’s just so fun to observe them IRL). My two sisters sort of have that dynamic (except one’s an ISTJ instead of an INTJ), and it is awesome.
And there’s-there’s going to be more books? It’s going to be a series? *dies of happiness*
Also, pantsing 10000% works better for me, too. I mean, sometimes I change a character’s name halfway through a story, and then have to go back and make the changes, but it’s fun.
I hope you have a great December!
D’AWWWW!!! Your excitement is just giving me all the happiness! I’m so honored you like all of this!
RIGHT??? My best friend is an INTJ and watching her interact with ENFPs is just the greatest. XD That’s so fun your sisters have that sort of dynamic! It’s just a blast!
*BEAMS* YEP! 3 or 4 books I believe. It was WAY too big of a story to contain to one book. Lol. I’m so honored you’re excited about that!
Aaahhh fellow pantser! *high-fives* Pantsing is definitely a wild ride, but so fun too as we get to basically experience the story and be surprised right along with our characters! But lol YEP. I threw in a ton of names and things in this one that’ll probably get changed. XD Definitely just the nature of pantsing.
Thank you so much for all of this, McKayla! Happy December to you! <3
I’m already invested in Aelin and Day’s relationship just from these few snippets 😳
Awwww! I’m so glad! Their friendship is honestly one of my favorites I’ve ever written. ^_^
This. This. THIS. Wow, this is sssssssssssooooooooooo good. *jaw hits the floor* We want moooooooore, Christine!
OH MY. *grins and squeals and blushes* I am so honored you like the sound of it so much! EEP. Thank you!!! <3
Those snippetttssss!!!! ADHGKDLADGHLA;DS;!!!! I LOVED THEM ALL!!! NO WORDS ADEQUATE, JUST HEART EYES AND LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!! Also, I will NEVER be sick of hearing about your stories! Bring on all the posts about your wonderful stories!!! ^_^ Oooh, are the undrigs like the heartless?
I am shipping Rune + Tala and Aelin + Kez SO HARD! I just finished reading TLC and, as much as I loved all the couples and friendships, I am loving yours EVEN MORE!!! So, yes, once this is published, because I KNOW it will be, I will be the first to make DBS memes of all your adorable charries and their wonderful relationships!!! (But first I have to learn how to do so, lol. XD)
“Even in the darkness, we have to keep dancing.” SO BEAUTIFUL AND TRUE!!! That is the essence of hope! Where no matter how dark is gets, even when all light is gone, we can still choose to dance despite it all, especially if our faith is in The One Whose Light never goes out! ^_^
AAAAHHH!!! I am just feeling so bittersweet that this NaNo is over and everything but I cannot wait to hear what your next plans are for this series! I fully support whatever you choose and will cheer you on through it all! ^_^ <333
Also, yay you for knowing you need to write the whole series before editing book 1! I think that was my problem when I was trying to edit the book I talked about in our emails, (which I am going to reply back to soon {hopefully}!) I can’t properly tell book 1 without fully knowing what happens in the rest of the series. I always kind of thought you were supposed to write a book and then edit it, I’m still learning what process works best for me. 🙂
AAAAHHHHH, JEN!!! You are such a cheerleader and just make my day every. single. time. YOU SWEET SOUL YOU! Thank you so, so much!!! And you caught me. The undrig were definitely inspired by the heartless. XDD You found my secrets. Hehe.
Oh my goodness, you’re liking my couples even more than the amazing TLC crew??? That is like the best compliment EVER. I LITERALLY CAN’T HANDLE ALL THIS NICENESS. *happy tears* (But also, you finished TLC EEEEEE!!!! We need to discuss it sometime! :D)
Awww! That is EXACTLY right. Shining light in the darkness and pushing through no matter what is really the main theme of the story, and you encompassed it so, so well! Because YES. As long as we have faith in Jesus, we will always have light and hope. <3
I’m STILL in shock that NaNo is over. It went so fast! But it was such a fun one! And thank you so much for the support. Seriously. It means the world to me and motivates me more than I can express. You’re such a good friend! *hugs*
I feel ya! It’s always hard to know how to handle that. I’ve had some books where it helped to get the full story of the first book down pat before thinking of sequels, and then some where I really just need to write ALL the books before even thinking about editing. So I think it just depends on the series. There’s really no one way to do anything when it comes to writing. It’s definitely just a person by person, story by story sort of thing. ^_^
Thank you again for all your support and cheerleading and enthusiasm and just EVERYTHING. You have made this NaNo and working on this story SO MUCH FUN! <3
This NaNo seems like it was a wild ride for you! I love great character dynamics. I had some good ones in my story too. 😀 I’m doing some Christmas baking tomorrow and on Thursday seeing some lights in the city!
It was absolutely quite the NaNo, but such a fantastic one! Aaaahhh yes! Fun character dynamics just make a story for me. I’m so glad you had good ones in your story too!
Oh, that sounds PERFECT. I love going to see the lights! ^_^
Where to begin??? There is so much to talk about and I’m just speechless with its awesomeness at the SAME TIME. I’m just so in love with this story and I am so not sick of it and I just LOVED every detail you mentioned in this post!!! The villains not telling you their big, evil scheme?? Wicked! XD Seeing the fire horses in action for a bit? So awesome. Anddddd my mind is going blank on mentioning random things but just so you know I LOVED all rambles and details about this book!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3
ALL OF THE THOSE SNIPPETS ARE JUST AMAZING!!!!! I couldn’t choose cause they seem like great moments, though I REALLY enjoyed the one with Rune and Tala and the siblings. Just because I loved reading cute couple moments and these two are already one of my favourite couples ever so seeing them like in that snippet gave me all FUZZY FEELS. (And I totally ship Kezrin and Aelin. I hope that happens!!!)
And I just loved that lesson of “the easy way is never the answer.” It is so true, but something we all need to reminded of. <3
Awwww, Miranda! You make me smile so big! I just…I don’t even know what to say. Your love and enthusiasm for this story has made it 10000x more fun for me to write. And EEP. I’m thrilled you liked the snippets! Rune and Tala are honestly one of the sweetest couples I’ve ever written, and I adore them. I’m just so ridiculously pleased others love them as well!
Thank you so, SO much, girl! I can’t stop grinning! <3