Sneak-Peek Quiz!

Sooo, ladies and gents, January is over in another few short hours, and I didn't get my chapter up because life exploded in January, and reality needed more attention than fiction.  Editing has gone slow, and writing has gone even slower (though I've been inspired as never before by death and cadavers and much more).  I hope you'll taste the fruit of life's rain of tears soon enough, but, for now, I thought I might treat you to a sneak-peek quiz concerning my third and final protagonist, who you'll meet in Chapter 5.

Enjoy!

~ ~ ~

Character name: Pleibea Katarion

Age: Seventeen

Appearance: Blond hair.  Brown, sparkling eyes.  Full lips.  High cheek-bones.  A model-worthy frame.

1. What do you know about this character now that she doesn't know yet?

   I know that one of her best friends will die...muahahaha!

2. What is this character's greatest flaw?

   She is antagonistic towards weakness and doesn't know the meaning of mercy.

3. What do you know about this character that she would never admit?

   I know that she is really, truly pretty and is an excellent doctor.

4. What is this character's greatest asset?

   She is very determined and easily gets what she wants when she puts her mind to it.

5. If this character could choose a different identity, who would she be?

   She would work for pay (instead of as a slave) as an out-going, cheerful free-man.

6. What music does this character sing when no one else is around?

   She's very fond of pop music, but she hates everything about pop culture...funny mix, I know.

7. In what or whom does this character have the greatest faith?

   Of everyone that she knows, Pleibea trusts her older (and only) brother Roz.

8. What is this character's favorite movie?

   Well, Pleibea has been a slave since she was five, so I don't think she remembers any movie that she currently appreciates.  Before she was subjugated, she watched a lot of princess movies, but she mocks those now and sees reality for what it "really is".

9. Does this character have a favorite article of clothing?

   Pleibea is rather third-world when it comes to clothing.  She practically wears what doesn't hamper her and doesn't bring unnecessary attraction to her, preferring comfortable over fashionable.  Also, even if she were given the chance, she'd never buy anything designer-made.

10. Does this character have a vice?  Name it.

   She's prouder than any of the other characters in this book, but she's fatalistic in her worldview, making her quite the paradox.

11. Name this character's favorite living/dead person.

   Her favorite living person would have to be her brother Roz.

12. What is this character's secret wish?

   She wishes to find a panacea for all of life's ailments - fevers, coughs, and slavery.

13. What is this character's proudest achievement?

   Pleibea is most proud of saving a sick patient from death using her medicine skills.

14. Describe this character's most embarrassing moment.

   Pleibea's most embarrassing moment was...er...hm...probably when she got beat by her overseers in front of her friends.

15. What is this character's deepest regret?

   She regrets being born into the family that she was.

16. What is this character's greatest fear?

   Pleibea would never admit it, but she fears the death of her friends and her brother.  As a whole, however, Pleibea scoffs at fear and sees it as an unnecessary emotion.

17. Describe this character's most devastating moment.

   Her most devastating moment would be when her own mother sold her as a slave.

18. What is this character's greatest achievement?

   Pleibea considers her greatest achievement to be her survival as a slave.  Most everyone expected her to die under slavery's harsh conditions, but she's lasted so far...

19. What is this character's greatest hope?

   She hopes most for salvation from slavery and for security from physical dangers; she's tired of looking behind her shoulder and taking measures to keep a wide margin.

20. Does this character have an obsession?  Name it.

   She's obsessed with medicine and helping others, though by her grim demeanor and determined fight for strength, you'd never tell.

21. What is this character's greatest disappointment?

   Pleibea is most let down with her father for leaving her mother.

22. What is this character's worst nightmare?

   She has a reoccurring nightmare of a real-life incident where Roz had been sick and in a coma, and she didn't think he'd recover.

23. Whom does this character most wish to please?  Why?

   This changes every day, as Pleibea treats different slaves daily, but she always seeks the comfort and stability of her patients.  As to why she does this, she says that she's been hurt to irreparability herself, so she's set to do as much good as she can before death takes her.

24. Describe this character's mother.

   From Pleibea's point of view, her mother is a selfish jerk who deserves to die.  Vivalee Katarion is a fashion designer and model who married the famous, Iron-man-esque Rayz, and she's like a more voluptuous version of Pleibea. 

25. Describe this character's father.

   From Pleibea's point of view, her father is also a selfish jerk who deserved to die.  From the pictures that she's seen, Rayz had naturally-wavy dirty-blond hair and brown eyes that were sharp and deep-set, glinting with pleasure and happiness.

26. If she had to choose, with whom would this character prefer to live?

   Pleibea would love to take her friends and her brother and live together up in a mountain cabin where there is little grass and clear air.

27. Where does this character fall in birth order?  What effect does this have?

   Pleibea is second-born and last-born, so she always expects Roz to be her source of advice, rebukes, and leadership.

28. Describe this character's siblings or other close relatives.

   Well, I already described her mom and dad.  Roz is the only other sibling that she has; he has blond, wavy hair and the same glinting brown eyes as Rayz.

29. Describe this character's bedroom.  Include three cherished items.

   Bahahaha...wow...well, see...er...Pleibea's bedroom is a rectangular hallways that stores a hundred and fifty other slaves, and she doesn't own anything but the clothes on her back and a faded picture of her mom and dad, so...yeah.

30. What is this character's birth date?  How does this character manifest traits of his/her astrological sign?

   I prolly shoulda looked through this quiz before I took it...  x)

31. If this character had to live in seclusion for six months, what six items would she bring?

   Pleibea would bring a scythe, which is the weapon she is fairly proficient with, as she's used it for her harvesting tasks before.  She'd also bring the photo of her parents with her, a source of light, a pack of matches, a canteen, and a serrated knife.

32. What makes this character angry?

   She gets angry if others show weakness, but she's also upset whenever she sees the ostentatious living over the upperclass world.

33. What calms this character?

   Blowing off on a large rant always works for Pleibea, but she really prefers standing in cold rain with a cup of hot chocolate.

34. List the circumstances over which this character has no control.

   Practically all of Pleibea's life is out of her control.  Really, she chooses her friends and chooses her attitude, but her physical status is orchestrated by overseers.

35. What wakes this character in the middle of the night?

   Nightmares and abnormal noises wake Pleibea, but, if she's feeling very annoyed with someone and doesn't settle her differences before bed, she might wake in the middle of the night to demand that the matter be solved.

36. How would a stranger describe this character?

   One might describe her as having a crazed light in her eyes that balances on the verge of madness and genius.  She walks with pride and power, but she sighs frequently to herself and rolls her eyes even more frequently at her companions, proving that she takes herself very seriously.

37. What does this character resolve to do differently every morning?

   Basically, each morning Pleibea resolves to live another day and stifle her ire.

48. Who depends on this character?  Why?

   Though they both don't acknowledge it, Pleibea's best friend Jordelle is very dependent on the strength that she sees in Pleibea.  Jordelle was born into a generation of slaves, so she accepts her fate without much passion, but she admires the fire in Pleibea and will listen, enraptured, when Pleibea talks about her life before enslavement.

49. If this character knew she had exactly one month to live, what would she do?

   She would probably continue on as normal and spend as much time as she could with her brother...though I'm not sure.  Pleibea's rather volatile.  x)

50. How would a dear friend or relative describe this character?

   Roz would probably say she's the craziest, most stubborn-headed brat he's ever met, but then he'd laugh and hug Pleibea who would roll her eyes and push him away, saying that they had more important things to be doing than joking around.

51. What is this character's most noticeable physical attribute?

   Her eyes, by far, are the most attractive physical attribute that she owns, but Pleibea is overall really beautiful, being the daughter of a model.

52. What is this character hiding from himself?

   Pleibea would never admit to herself that she's scared of being trapped as a slave forever, and everything she does outside of her medicine world exhibits her fear being channelled into training. 

53. Write one additional thing about your character.

   I hope you guys like her.  x)  To be honest, Pleibea is more like me than Millis and Patra are.

~ ~ ~

By the way, if you've got your own writing blog, you should definitely copy and paste this quiz, fill in answers for your own character(s), leave a link in the comments below, and let me read about your charries too.  ^.^

Write on!

Clove

Truth-Weaving

"We throw tantrums like parties.

"We're not happy until everyone knows we're sick,

and that's just how we like it." 

"So, now, you know all my secrets.

"I want out; I know I don't need this.

"Can you find me friends that don't rank me on what I've been through?

"The more battle scars, the more attention it gets you.

"Don't tell the others, but it's all getting old.

"I mean, how many more times must our stories be told? 

Being lonely's only fun in a group,

but it sort of loses it's charm when it's true."

~Get Well (Icon For Hire)

It doesn't matter what we do or how we do it; under our technique-tatooed skins, we're all the same.  Some authors will type all of a first draft and then edit all of their first draft; others can't get past three paragraphs before they are urged to go back and fine-toothed comb their writing.  Some think writing is easy, smooth, and natural; others think it's a hard, lonely business.  Some write by hand; others on computers.  Some, with music; others, without.  Some will write while feasting; others prefer to be empty-stomached and handling a cup of warm tea.

But...no matter how we write, we all convey emotion by our writing.

Recently, though, I feel as if I've been wading through a swamp of thinly-veiled sob-stories.  In many stories that I've read recently, main characters own striking resemblance to their authors, physically and emotionally.  Those characters meet friends and enemies, and the plot...oddly enough...includes all of that author's personal, detailed issues.

No, I'm not against this cathartic method of writing.  I've used this sort of writing myself throughout all of my life, and I'm something of an addict to this style of writing.  I'm begging, however, for these accounts, not to be destroyed, but to be better weaved.  The best stories own reality, yes, but the best stories own ugly reality in a coat of chocolate, half buried under a few pounds of dried roses, and intertwined with adrenaline and glorious victory.  All over literature history, we see those poor authors who veiled truth too thinly and were put to the rack by critics.

Truth is a tricky thing.  Authors everywhere are seeking to find the most encompassing truths, the truths that touch the heart-strings of every reader, and encase those truths in glass cases surrounded by show-lights.  But truth is delicate as well, and, if not handled well, it becomes the most ridiculous mud pie, thrown into the face of the disgusted reader.

Be careful with your truths, authors, and take that extra step to understand truth.  Don't go avoiding problems or missing out on opportunities to experience new things.  Take that extra step to find good truths...and the extra step to veil truths...and the extra step to edit your truths.  Put work into your stories, and - I promise you - you'll like them better.

Write on!

Clove

CHAPTER 3 - Author's Notes Part II, aka. EUREKA!!!

Okay, okay, okay.  Muahaha!


Geud nooz, gyz.


If you remember from the chapter that accompanied this post, a dance occurs between Patra and Myreap, then another between Patra and Syne.  As with all dances, there is music!

For a long while, I was scouring Pandora's online radio, seeking to find the perfect accompaniment track, and, sadly, for a long while, I found nothing that truly fit with the threatening aura of both dances.  Even the dark, menacing songs that were cast at me didn't fit Syne's obviously-fake mask of cheer and hidden heart of grim foreboding.  Every flowery, cheerful song wasn't quite right for the blossoming, awkward romance between Patra and Myreap.

Until...today.

Unfortunately, the song is not at all well-known, and Youtube has yet to possess it, thus, I can't display it here.  Nonetheless, I have found the full track here, and, even if you don't follow my story or aren't interested in the bizarre "fandom" I hold over my own story (yes, I'm vain, but, shhh...don't tell anyone), you should still listen to the song.  ;)

The artist name is "Elise Lebec", and the track is called "Letter from Elise".
Buy it and support her, guys.
She deserves it.  x)

To be honest, this song works for both dances, in my opinion, and I'm absolutely psyched for Providence to have cast down this piece of musical genius into my ear canals.

Bwahaha, quit reading this blog, go listen to great music, and, as always...

Write on!
Clove

A good laugh

How's it going all?

Want some good inspiration?
Go jogging on a clear night with the shining-pearl moon casting your shadow in front of you, your breath as a thousand silver ringlets curling from between your parched lips.  For added inspiration, run on a lightless, misty night in the most torn-up garb you have with music chasing you onward from your iPod/MP3 Player.

Anyway, you're waiting for that laugh, aren't you?

I'll make you sweat for it a few seconds longer.  You know, I find it...amusing, being 100% home-schooled -- 33% in real life and 33% online and 34% on my own.  The most amusing bit is that I get two finals weeks, one week before Christmas break for my real life classes and the other after the partying for my online classes.
Like all good Asian girls, I've been studying my glasses off, but, apparently, I'm not doing enough of that because I still had time to post here and find the below:

"I am thoroughly convinced that mankind needs a laugh once in a while." -- Clove, January, 14, 2014

All that to say, forgive the sporadic posts and, as always...

Write on!
Clove

Memorization and Presentation?!

Last Wednesday at school, I was told that the five pillars of idea-portrayal are invention (what you are saying), arrangement (how to structure what you want to say), elocution (how you actually say it), memory (memorizing what you have written), and presentation (delivering your idea to an audience).

As an author, invention for me includes brain-storming and lots of mulling.  "This kind of character?  No...this type would be better for this plot.  What about this plot-hole?  Well, if he goes there, then she has motive to look for him, which will lead to...and...then...or..." etc. etc. etc.  You get the picture; no doubt, you've done the same sort of thing.  :)
Arrangement is also a very familiar pillar of idea-portrayal for me.  After all, I have outlines, character profiles, chapters, and scenes.  Those are all part of structuring my ideas.
Elocution includes the actual process of writing: choosing adjectives, nouns, verbs.  Accordingly, commas, quotation marks, and other grammar rules fall under this category.  Most authors spend the most time working with elocution: writing then editing, writing some more, then editing some more, and so on and so forth until they are satisfied with their work.

Memory and presentation, however, are lost pillars of idea-portrayal, and sadly so for us authors!

Yes, I know this sounds a little vain, but I make it a point to memorize some of my dialogue, not so I can flatter myself with my "awesome" writing 24/7 (well, I mean, partly - don't tell though) but because I like to contemplate the accuracy of what I'm saying in my writing.  ;)
If a certain character's words are close to reality, I might notice myself repeating him/her in real life conversation because I like the phrase so much.  (Mom says, "Good morning" on a rainy day, and I mimic Morgan, an old story character, by saying the memorized phrase, "Or lack thereof.")  On the other hand, if a character's dialogue is awkward, I'll be sure to notice it when I speak it out loud.

Of course, we all have way too much to memorize between school and other hobbies, and no one wants to hear a random presentation on conversation.  x)  Therefore, an easy way to practice memory and presentation is to merely read your chapter out loud to yourself.  If a character's dialogue is too stiff and unnatural, you'll notice by an out-loud read.  Sometimes, the wording may be too flowery, or the intonation is set to create bizarre fluctuations of the voice; those inconsistencies are the flaws that will make your reader get very easily lost, and they must be fixed!

Do not take this for granted!  Reading you work out-loud just once will save you loads of editing time!

Write on!
Clove

Clutter!

As a writing geek, I, at fifteen years of age, have been reading through The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White as well as On Writing Well by William Zinsser...recreationally.  That said, be prepared in this post to take out your two-inch thick, steel-rimmed, bridge-taped glasses.  You'll need 'em.  :)

So...clutter.

I have a lot of clutter in my writing.

I'm the person who abuses ink and spills words out needlessly, probably more so than Mr. Anonymous-Author down the street.  Mark Twain says to James Fenimore Cooper, "Eschew surplusage," and, in those two words stand the greatest bit of advise that I could give to any editor.  Chunks of description could go; dialogue doesn't respect my reader's time; action is for the sake of adrenaline, not for the sake of the plot, and all these things must go, go, GO.  Vas.  Shoo.  Self-defenestration.

Even beyond that, though, I could still chop even more away from my writing.  Don't believe me?  Allow me to quote the first of aforementioned books:

"Vigorous writing is concise...many expressions in common use violate this principle.

• "The question as to whether / Whether

• "There is no doubt but that / No doubt

• "Used for fuel purposes / Used for fuel

• "He is a man who / He

• "In a hasty manner / Hastily

• "This is a subject that / This subject

• "Her story is a strange one / Her story is strange

• "The reason why is that / Because

"The fact that is an especially debilitating expression.  It should be revised out of every sentence in which it occurs.

• "Owing to the fact that / Since (because)

• "In spite of the fact that / Though (although)

• "Call your attention to the fact that / Remind you (notify you)

• "I was unaware of the fact that / I was unaware that (did not know)

• "The fact that he had not succeeded / His failure

• "The fact that I had arrived / My arrival

"...Who is, which was, and the like are often superfluous.

• "His cousin, who is a member of the same firm / His cousin, a member of the same firm

• "Trafalgar, which was Nelson's last battle / Trafalgar, Nelson's last battle"

Crazy, isn't it?  Reading that section made me want to go into all my documents and search for these extraneous phrases, deleting them with editing gusto.

If my point isn't made yet, let me also quote the second of the two aforementioned books:

"Clutter is the official language used by the corporation - in its news releases and its annual report - to hide its mistakes.  When one big company recently announced that it was "decentralizing its organizational structure into major profit-center businesses" and that "corporate staff services will be realigned under two senior vice-presidents," it means that it had a lousy year.
"...Clutter is the language of the Pentagon throwing dust in the eyes of the populace by calling an invasion a "reinforced protective reaction strike" and by justifying its vast budgets on the need for "credible second-strike capability" and "counterforce deterrence."  How can we grasp such vaporous double-talk?
"...I could go on quoting examples from various fields - every profession has its growing arsenal of jargon to fire at the layman and hurl him back from its walls.  But the list would be depressing and the lesson tedious.  The point raising it now is to serve notice that clutter is the enemy, whatever form it takes.  It slows the reader and makes the writer seem pretentious.
"Beware, then, of the long word that is no better than the short word: "numerous" (many), "facilitate" (ease), "individual" (man or woman), "remainder" (rest), "initial" (first), "implement" (do), "sufficient" (enough), "attempt" (try), "referred to as" (called), and hundreds more."

So what to do about these pieces of clutter when editing?  William goes on to say:

"I would put brackets around any component in a piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work.  Often it is just one word that got bracketed: the unnecessary preposition that is appended to a verb ("order up"), or the adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb ("smile happily"), or the adjective that states a known fact ("tall sky scraper")."

This information has been priceless for me, and I hope you too will get to utilize these tips to their fullest!

Write on...cleanly!

Clove

P.S. Okay, okay, I admit.  I'm not as geeky as it may seem.  The Elements of Style, I got from a friend for my birthday/Christmas gift; she knows me well.  ^_^  On Writing Well, I found when I was looking through a bunch of books to sell online; I pulled it out of the box and skimmed through it and am now engrossed.  :P

Character Imbalance - the REAL plot - Part II

After my first post on character imbalance, I suppose some of you may be complaining, "But...but...Clove!  You keep talking about how important these flaws are, but what if imbalance makes my character look stupid?!  I want a hero, not a dork!  I want a knight, not a wimp!  I want confidence, not a coward!"

Yes, yes, well, we're getting there.

When crafting characters, I try choose imbalances closest to reality: harassment, loneliness, pride, overconfidence, or a flaw that hits home with me, something with which I've struggled.
You ought to do the same for your characters.  If you haven't ever felt the acute pain of being mocked for having a birth defect, then go with something more vibrant in your heart.  Is it timidity?  Make your protagonist timid!  Is it excessive knowledge and the relentless temptation to brag?  Make your protagonist a genius!  Do you, Mr. or Ms. Author, feel weak?  Give that weakness to your protagonist, and marvel at the sight of not a dork, a wimp, or a coward, but a human being with a range of anguished emotions that all exude from within you.

With this new model, you then have to approach plot.  Let's go back to our example of Sam, the Alien Pummelor.  To be more realistic, I'm going to make Sam less god-like in strength and a tad bit stronger upstairs, but I'm also going to throw in a marriage problem.  When he wakes up without his wife, he suddenly thinks that she's disloyally running away because they had a heated argument the night before.
Suddenly, my created-in-thirty-seconds plot is now going to take several hours to reshape.  Does Sam even want to locate her?  If not, how long does it take for him to realize he needs her?  If it takes him several months, then wouldn't it be wiser to start the story after those months and go back and explain?  When he realizes that aliens have taken his wife, does he want to risk his life for her?  She never did anything for him...but...ohhh...he has to...doesn't he?  They could be doing anything to her - experimenting, torturing, or...who knows what guiltless cruelties those beasts had developed?  Sam's imagination was endless...

And at that crucial point, ladies and gentlemen, when your character chooses to overcome his imbalance, that is when you see that you have in your hands a remarkable human with real, negative emotions and real, winning confidence.

Imbalance does not create bums.

Imbalance creates victorious warriors and champions, those who have made decisions and forced on into plot, knowing that they would be changed but letting themselves be changed because they have to or else.

If you want a two other examples in cinematic works, here you go:

--Cars by Disney/Pixar.  Lightning McQueen's imbalance is obviously pride.  (And now, here's a little fault on Disney's part called "Deus Ex Machina" or "God out of the Machine", which is where things just happen to...happen:)  While riding to his next race, he "coincidentally" falls out of his trailer and is forced into plot.  He realizes his pride when he is forced to do menial work; he faces his pride when he realizes that he loves people cars and that...er...cars...love him.  His imbalance climax is at the final race, we're all holding our breaths when the King flips out...aaand!!!  He displays humility by helping the King finish his race.  The end.

--Kung Fu Panda by Disney/Pixar.  Po's imbalance is his self-doubt due to obesity.  When he is forced into plot and made to face his own physical ineptitude as Dragon Warrior, Po comes to believe that he doesn't have enough self-discipline and therefore is defeated by his flaw.  Shifu, however, realizes that Po's answer is not self-discipline but food, and that is the turning point of the story.  From there, Po trains with food as his motivation; he overcomes his self-doubt when he reaches new limits (in an ehhhpiiic mauuuntauuuj); and, in his climax with Tai Lung, you even see him using his fatness to his advantage.  The end.

There you have it!  Now you know what imbalance is, and you're fully equipped to use it in your stories.  Congratulations!  :)

Write on!
Clove

Character Imbalance - the REAL plot

Imagine this type of story:

A brilliant and dashingly-handsome man of great expertise in all weapons wakes up one morning to find that his wife has been abducted by aliens.  In a explosive rage, he decides to take revenge and sets out to the nearby NASA facility, which he quickly sneaks through in order to get to a space ship.  Using his highly-intuitive mind, he flies to Mars where his wife is being held captive, rescues her, and defeats an army of aliens, breaking the heart of an alien princess who fell in love with him meanwhile.  Back at home, he is seen sitting down to dinner with his wife, happy once more.

I wrote that off the top of my head, guys, in, like, twenty seconds flat.  Maybe you might be wondering why I don't write more if I put together such a full tale in such a short amount of time.  Or...maybe, if you're smarter, you might be poking holes in such a sketchy outline.  ;)

Either way, the story above was crafted quickly and easily because it lacked a certain element, being character imbalance.

So what is character imbalance?

Well, I'll tell you for one, it's the stuff that makes writing so stinking difficult.  See, in the above story, I've already established the fact that our man in distress (let's call him Sam for the sake of the example) is practically invincible, not to mention extremely handsome and talented with weapons.  Fortunate for him (and for me, his author), his abilities make the plot move along quite swiftly.

Now, just for fun, what if I were to take away his inhuman strength?  He would be incapable of sneaking into the NASA facility and would have no way to defeat the alien masses, thus ending the story then and there.

What about if his good looks were gone?  He wouldn't meet that alien princess, and, more than likely, he might not even be married.  Sayonara, plot.

Of course, the last element is his brain, the brain he uses to navigate his space shuttle.  Without it, the plot wouldn't get very far either, now would it?

What we just did to Sam - take away certain elements of his flawless character - is called character imbalance.  Those few crucial flaws that could be anything - a physical ailment, a mental disturbance, an emotional frailty, or a spiritual need - make every story worthwhile reading and worth far more than a while writing.

If you want a good example of character imbalance in olden literature, take a look at the Song of Roland, with Roland who was heroic and chivalrous yet impossibly proud.  American Literature shows character development in a novel like The House of Seven Gables with Hepzibah Pyncheon, a kind-hearted, elderly lady who is dramatically misunderstood due to an unfortunate scowl plastered on her face (the result of near-sightedness).  Modern day novels also show this element in books like the Hunger Games (where Katniss is self-centered) and Harry Potter (where Harry is a misfit).

So now that you know what character imbalance is...the question remains: how do you use it?

Dun dun daaah!

Part II will be here soon, folks.

Write on!

Clove