The Next Big Thing! (Week 32)

Charlee Vale (click her name!) asked me last week to join up in The Next Big Thing blog hop, an event where we share some information about our current work-in-progress. I hope no one minds since it’s a sequel. Here we go! This is Week 32!

1: What is the working title of your book?

Flame Warriors.

2: Where does the idea come from for your book?

FW is the third book in a series, but honestly, it’s different from the others. The first book focuses on how far people will go for family. The second, how far they’ll go for power. My third diverges to address all that and more. Learning to forgive yourself and fighting fate are two main plotlines.

I’m not quite answering the question though. The idea came from something my mom said after she read the second book. She said, “You couldn’t really tell in book one, but Fortune has a soft spot for Ashley.” Fortune is the primary MC of Flame Warriors. Ashley is the MC of the first book, Flame Dancer. I considered the statement for a while and wondered why he would have a soft spot for her, and suddenly I had an entire book on my hands to address that simple question.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

YA Urban Fantasy.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Fortune: Callan McCauliffe – He needs to straighten/flatten his hair first though. (: No Edward Cullen hair permitted beyond this point.

 

Ashley: Joey King – She’s young, but her eyes are perfect.


Aroha: Mackenzie Foy. In myyyy opinion she looks a little like Joey, hehe.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis for your book?

Eeeek, I haven’t considered that for this WIP. I’m going to wing this (therefore it’ll be awful).

With a prophecy to determine the world's freedom over his head, Fortune Treston attempts to reconcile his past with the present to protect those he loves.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I hope to be agented first, and then represented by an agency.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

This question made me cringe... I started it in January of 2011, wrote steadily until August, and then stopped writing until July of 2012. I finished it in December. It shouldn't have taken so long considering in between July and December I wrote more than 100,000 words.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There aren’t really any books IN the genre. The closest one is The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa.

9: Who or what inspired you to write the book?

I always knew what the third book would be about, but my past books haven’t really addressed deeper issues such as love or faith. I guess this book was more of a challenge to see how well I could incorporate those worldly themes into the lore of this book.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Love, life, death, hugs of death, a manor, elements, immortality, some uncontrollable flames, purple eyes, a challenge to save the world, and a promise for redemption.

Now I’ll tag some super awesome writer buddies for them to answer these questions, so we can learn more about their works-in-progress! Make sure to check them out for Week 33, January 16th!

Danielle (and Will!)

SC!

 

Rules:
Answer these ten questions about your current WIP on your blog.
Tag (up to) five other writers/bloggers with their links so we can hop over and meet them.

 

P.S. I was tired when I wrote this. I apologize for any grammatical errors in advance. ): Have a good Wednesday!

Random Monday: Thought Tracing

I was just thinking about this like a few days ago and thought it might make a cool blog post. I don’t know if anyone else does it and I don’t really know why I do it.

You know how you can be sitting in class/at work (depending on how old you are, lol) thinking, and then you reach a thought where you catch yourself and start paying attention again? Do you keep thinking about the thing you were just thinking about? Some people normally continue to think about it as they go to work. I don’t.

Instead of changing my topic of thought to whatever comes to mind next, I try to trace it. I ask myself, “What led to me thinking about this?” Like, let me try to remember... A lot of times I forget these as soon as I finish tracing them. OH! Okay, I’ll go with something that happened last night.

As I was trying to go to sleep (prime thought tracing time) I caught myself thinking of an event in seventh grade, when I was in the middle of writing FLAME DANCER. I had been on Chapter 6 if I remember correctly, and I wanted to use the word ‘miraculous’, but I wasn’t quite sure how to spell it since I was longhand-ing this. I asked my teacher how it was spelled and one of my classmates asked why the hell I was trying to use words I couldn’t spell. (I still don’t like this kid. >.>)

Anyway, I thought, “How in the hell did I start thinking about this?” Then I traced it. Before that, I’d been thinking about the event in which I’d wanted to use the word ‘miraculous’—my main antagonist had caught a fireball on his sword and made the fireball disappear.

Before that, I’d been thinking about how in the sequel to FLAME DANCER he’d been able to uphold a clash with a frigging Indiana-Jones-style boulder—with his (sort of flimsy-looking) sword. (Of course, at this point in my thought tracing, I’m thinking, “lol, it’s a good thing his sword is infused with the power of an almighty and invincible element of lore because how else would he do this crap”)

And before that I’d been imagining one of the fights this character had in the third book with his archrival and thinking about one of their clashes. After that, I reached the CATALYST of this thought tracing.

I’d just gotten to bed and told myself I was going to listen to a few songs on my iPod, so I was going through shuffle and I came to one of the songs in which they fought. So I started to imagine how that fight could go, which led to the imagined swordplay, which led to old clashes his lol godmoddish sword could uphold, which finally led to the time where I’d tried to use the word miraculous.

I just think this is a kind of unique exercise. I don’t know if it benefits anything I do, but it’d just something I do. I thought I’d share it; it makes for a sort of interesting topic. X3 Sorry I haven’t posted anything of relevance for the past week or two. I just suddenly lost a lot of drive. With that, have a nice Monday! (School just started for me. I am NOT having a nice Monday.)

Interview with ASHLEY VAANDERE, mateys!

This is a long'un, lads and lasses... 'pologies for that! I hope you stick through, because I would love to see what you guys think of my character!

Well, I dragged Ashley away from the journey to find her brother and brought her to the Flame Writer blog for a quick hello!

ASHLEY: *Waves and turns to leave*

Stop it. Your brother will be fine for like five minutes. Alright...here we go!

FLAME WRITER: Alright, if you could change something about yourself, what would you change?

ASHLEY: My neediness. I rely on so many people for opinions, for help, for advice... I’d like to be able to rely on myself. When I can’t, it makes me feel useless.

FLAME WRITER: We can all relate to that. What’s your biggest fear?

ASHLEY: Losing anyone or anything close to me... *Glances off to the side* And I’m afraid it will be my fault, that I’m the catalyst that would cause me to lose them.

FLAME WRITER: I love this one. If you found a genie in a magic lamp, what would your three wishes be?

ASHLEY: *Grins* I’d like to end the war that me and my friends are in for wish one, ten million dollars for wish 2, and more wishes for wish 3.

FLAME WRITER: Niiice. What is your happiest memory and most frightening memory?

ASHLEY: My happiest would probably be... *Raises eyebrow* I’m going to say it’s my seventh birthday when pretty much everyone played a game of Hide-and-Seek. As for my most frightening, isn’t that a spoiler? Am I allowed to say...? (Keep it vague.) Uh... Well, basically, I try to kill my brother and I can’t stop myself. That’s my most frightening.

FLAME WRITER: What sort of activities did you participate in when in school?

ASHLEY: Basketball and volleyball. They’re fun and fast games and don’t have too much authority involved because you share the leadership. Football is too messy. Cheerleading feels like there’s a leader involved. I hate authority.

FLAME WRITER: What’s your greatest talent (aside from controlling fire)?

ASHLEY: I would say being able to relate to people. I can understand a lot of people and the situations they’re in, so I can sympathize with them and make them feel like they have a friend.

FLAME WRITER: What’s your relationship with your parents like?

ASHLEY: I love them so much. I’m more of a mommy’s girl—Alex is daddy’s boy. My family was like the freakin’ Brady Bunch. Mom’s usually home more, which was why I related to her more. Alex went to work with Dad a lot when we were younger. That doesn’t mean I love him any less though.

FLAME WRITER: Do you say what’s on your mind?

ASHLEY: God, I’d hope so. Then I’d feel like crap about having so many people who hate me. *Grins* It’s not hard to get the tyrant of the world to put you on his Red List if you piss him off a few times.

FLAME WRITER: Do you have a pet?

ASHLEY: I have a white Chihuahua named Snow. She is SO CUTE. The neighbors hate her though. I don’t get it...

FLAME WRITER: What character trait do you think is most important? Why?

ASHLEY: Bravery, that way I’m not afraid to protect those I care about.

FLAME WRITER: What is your biggest fault?

ASHLEY: My arrogance, and I pay for it later.

FLAME WRITER: What would be your advice to anyone with a goal in mind?

ASHLEY: Persevere. Never give up. There will always be friends who are there to help you, so never let yourself give up, or you’ll be letting them down. Don’t let yourself doubt.

And that’s all the time we have! Ashley’s going to get back to searching for her brother, and I’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you for learning more about my protagonist, and soon I’ll head off to check the interview with your cap’n in chiefs! Thanks for your time, and I’ll see ya next time on the big blue sea, lads and lasses!

The Blog Hop list expired!? D: