Z is for Zany

zany |ˈzānē|
adjective ( -nier , -niest )
amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic : zany humor.
noun
an erratic or eccentric person.

This picture was a prompt back in June, 2010 for a little writing challenge I took part in. And actually, the scene I wrote has a character who is rather zany. Enjoy.

It wasn't easy.

Well, the spell was easy comparatively speaking but that's only the first part of the experiment, and the single aspect that I had any control over. The rest was up to my magical creation and the idea that there might be enough sustainable, aka not polluted air, for the birds to survive. It was a long shot but I decided to go for it. No one believed it would work in this industrial waste of an empire and I was going to prove them wrong.

I have one ray of hope. Sometimes when the wind moves the sky a certain way, I have detected a hint of blue. The bright bird egg color in the old animal encyclopedia books that showed brilliant colors of all animals that once ruled the land, sky and sea.

Despite every warning from my old mentor and the gossip of the city dwellers, all called me insane in my idea creation, I went to the perch I'd chosen especially for the spell. It was the best launch point for the birds to fly up into the sky on. After much watching of weather, I determined the perfect day for the experiment. It wasn't long and no matter how much I prepared there was this small bit of doubt that I can't shake. If I was wrong, then all hope of a healthy environment past the clouds of steamed industrial residue would become lost. I can't stand the thought of living in that world, of no true nature. The truth is... this was my last shot.

It's not easy doing a spell with that doubt, but I shoved it down to a dark recess of my mind and pulled out the two special cubes I'd created in the lab. With a tense moment of concentration, I breathed life on them, willing the change and it happened. The cubes morphed into two perfectly white birds that began to fly up into the sky at one.

They don't die right away and that is encouraging. I have to find them again to make sure they survived. It's not going to be easy but I'm up for the challenge.

Y is for Young Adult

Honestly, when I first started writing with the idea of writing novels, I never thought I would ever write anything young adult (and certainly not one that leans towards middle grade in book 1). I really didn't. That was not the plan. I thought I would be an adult fantasy writer and that is all.

Then came the mutant series. Yep, the first idea was for a young adult one, though it's actually the sequel to the one I have written (Tattle Tell). The adult mutant idea came after. And from there I have several young adult ideas that include Lighting the Wall and Ottohahn in E Minor, among others.

So, here I am writing young adult and guess what...

I enjoy it.


Do you write young adult stories?

X is for Xebec

Xebec (also spelled zebec) is a small Mediterranean sailing vessel that had three masts, a lanteen and sometimes square sails commonly used for trading.

(image link)

I am looking for ships to use and need a couple different kinds because in the world I'm building there are going to be water ships and air ships. Though for sure the air ship will have to involve a bigger base since there are many people that will fit on the ship. But there might be ones like this that are water ships. Very interesting, and it works for X. Yay.

What X word do you like?
Know of any more ships?

W is for Worldbuilding

Even though I have posts on here where I talk about worldbuilding but I'm still terrible at actually doing it before writing. But why worldbuild?

For one, I tried to write a scene from the novel that I'm kinda sorta worldbuilding through these posts and not having figured out the world stalled me for over 30 minutes. What caused the stall? I had no idea what to call the "store" that sold the fake starlight that had been ransacked. Just calling it a "store" didn't feel right for the world. So, because I hadn't figured out the world, the writing stalled.

I have a new idea that I've been working on for a character sketch challenge. However, since this is a science fiction story, I think I will have to worldbuild for that one too.

Guess I'd better get worldbuilding.


Links:
http://www.web-writer.net/fantasy/
http://hiddenway.tripod.com/world/
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/
http://yamuses.blogspot.com/2011/12/world-building-checklist.html



Do you worldbuild?
Why or why not?

V is for Violence

I'm not very good at writing it. So far my stories have way more dialogue in them and less on the action, especially on the violent actions. I have done a few one on one fight scenes over the years but not very many. I've never been much of a fighter myself, so that might be why some of my characters are against violence.

On the other hand, the times when the non-violent characters resort to violence can be almost more interesting than say someone who is prone to violence, at least to me.

Noah, the mutant main character from the adult novels, he is against violence. Since he tries to hide his abilities (or at least to make sure no one knows exactly how powerful he really is) in order to not become a weapon for anyone, he is not a violent character in general. Sure, he will stand up for himself or someone else when the moment calls for it but he tries to go the nonviolent route first.

Some of my characters aren't necessarily against violence, they just aren't very good at it. Feynethom, the elf, is terrible, for example. He can kind of use a bow, though not the greatest at it, but any other weapon and it's best to keep away from him cause there is no telling if he will hurt someone else or just himself.

While many of my novels don't venture into violent scenes, I'm going to have to learn how to write them because there are some stories that require those scenes to be shown.

Do your characters handle violence?
How do you write a violent scene?

U is for Utah

Yep, the place I used to live at and where I got my bachelor's degree, but no worries, this post isn't about me.

(image link)

The urban fantasy story I have in mind that includes a female main character is set in Salt Lake City Utah.  I almost wrote the story for NaNoWriMo 2011. Even went to SLC in September when I was in Utah visiting family. My awesome friend Ariana showed me around some places while I was there that might help me with my story.

I got the idea from an urban fantasy chat held on twitter to set an urban fantasy story in Utah, so it's also one of the few ideas that didn't come from a dream. In the chat, someone said that where they were from would be too boring for UF, and when they said they were in Utah I thought that SLC would actually be a good place for such a story. Not sure when I will write the story but hope to one day.

I guess U could have also stood for Urban Fantasy...

T is for Tell

Tell you something.... I'm not very good at show don't tell. Honestly.

I don't know what it is either but it's almost like I can't wrap my mind around the concept. I've done research on the topic, taken part in blogfests related to it, once held a contest around the idea, and still I struggle to write a story that is shown instead of told. Other people have even given me advice on it.

But still...

I try to look at first drafts as write and fix later. But fixing later isn't always easy because it's like how I used to try and fix passive voice on essays, the computer would still say the new way was passive too. Only there isn't a squiggly red line that shows when something is Tell instead of Show. There should be though.


Do you struggle with Tell?