Well, it's been almost an entire month since my last update. I thought I should tell you all how it's going.

I'm into week 6 of semester 2. So far I have told a tutor to shut up in the middle of class, managed to link a presentation on global citizenship to Harry Potter and gain a 73% pass, and failed completely to do any forms of homework. Wolf Lovers is powering on, now that Horinth, the Werewolf Goddess, has been resurrected, Lucia killed, Olivia and Charlie mortally wounded and the world thrown into chaos.

In short, a typical Holly story.

News on The Devil's Wife is non-existant. I managed to gather the courage to ask my publisher, Jeff, about I, and I recieved the following reply that lightened my heart at 2am: So, that's all good in my world.

I guess the point of this post was actually share my dragon with the world, while I have pics of it being all artistic (I have yet to get a decent painting out of these fingers (now stained blue from the oil paint). So, without further adieu... The Dragon (until a better title is decided on)
                               
Those playing close attention will notice that these three are in order of the way I painted them.  There's about 30 mins between the first and second pictures, and eight minutes between the second and third. it's hanging from my wall, in case someone out there was wondering about the stuff around it - I don't have an easel.

Hope all's well!

So, it's almost day 4 of my fourth day back at university, and I have to say, it's very thought provoking. I mean, trying to accurately predict if I'll be able to get to uni before it rains, or calculating how long until the internet comes on and I can go back to the library is very, very difficult stuff. Not everyone can do it. Or so I read.

Today's thought of the day is scientific, logical, and mathematical (vaguely). Mostly weird.

There's no such thing as invisibility. It's impossible. You can't bend light enough to become invisible no more than you can absorb sound enough to be undetectable by radar. It ain't going to happen.

So, what of the air? The air is invisible, right? Wrong. The air is transparent. But that's stupid. You can't get something that transparent. It's impossible. Science - and countless comic books, movies, books, etc. - prove it. You can't be so transparent as to be invisible. For one, there's still edges. Edges mean bent light. Bent light means fragmented rays, and fragmented rays mean that you'll see movement.

So if the air isn't transparent, isn't invisible, then what of it?

I propose - and I am aware that this may sound insane - that the air is not there.

Anything and everything has a shadow. Even glass has a shadow. And yet the air is shadow-less. Thus, it must not be there. I think there's nothing there, that the scientists are just picking random things out of - pardon the pun - thin air. Transparency leaves edges and detectable movement. Invisibility means substance, and substance means shadows - you can't influence or hide your shadow with invisibility - major flaw. Air has neither. So, it does not exist.

Thus, the latest and most groundbreaking theory in the History of Mankind is born. Think about it.

Pic of the Post: Cat-Skeleton. Started as a detail on the front-left paw, including skeleton, and grew outwards.

Witty Words: Air does not exist. Breathe Nothing; Live Long.

Well, I've been going through a rough patch, writing-wise, lately. I've been trying to write, but over the last 6 days, I'd be lucky if I've crossed the 1,000-word mark. Between them. In November, I'd be going slow if I was typing 1,000 words an hour. Oh, the joys of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Kicking my butt past 150,000 words every November since 2006 [/shamelessplug].

Over the last 2 days, frustrated with myself, I've thrown tantrums, thrown things, yelled at my girlfriend. I've been especially spiteful to her (Sorry!) and I've learned to loathe myself all over again. I've been behaving like a spoilt little kid throwing a tantrum in the candy aisle of a supermarket. *writes self a note to use that in a story somewhere* As my girl said, "you know what? so many writers struggle so much more than you have, and they got rejected until they were f***ing 40 or something, you know what, i think you're spoiled because the devil's wife went so easy and now you're experiencing what other writers go through!" and I'm "just a spoilt little writer who wrote a novel way too fast to be normal."

Aside from cyber-bitch slapping me, my girl did raise a good point about my writing, which I conceed to her now, with grace. Well, with as much dignity as I have, anyway. I'm naturally graceless. I am spoilt with the speed with which I was accepted. Another thing occurred to me, as I apologised for being a child: This, my friends, is the dreaded Week Two syndrome.

Every writer that you have ever read has hit this wall, from Garth Nix, to Tamora Pierce, to Neil Gaiman, to Terry Pratchett. However, it is the people at NaNoWriMo who actually gave it the first (and only) name I have ever heard it called: The Dreaded Week Two Syndrome.

Week Two Syndrome (W2S) hits writers just as the shiny of a new book clocks off, and you cross the 1/4-the-way-through-the-story line. Suddenly, the story sucks. There's no plot, there's nothing good in the story. You wonder why you keep going. It's here that 90% of all stories - both the unfortunate good and fortunately bad alike - are shoved into a cupboard and never spoken of or looked at again. You don't have to be writing a story in 4 weeks to get W2S. W2S, as a name, is specific to the NaNoers. The syndrome itself, however, hits every writer.

Sadly, there's only 2 cures for W2S: Give Up, or Keep Going.

Now, 90% of people reading this journal (ie, just me) will look at their story and think "Stuff it, it's not worth it, I'll try something else." It's at that point in time that a new idea, bright and sparkly enough to seize your attention, will appear, and you'll chase that, only to hit the same wall. The GU sure is not a cure at all, but a treatment, one that means certain remission. 

So, the only real cure is KG, no matter what. The advice my girl yelled at me last night is one of the pieces I constantly tell her: "You can't edit an empty page". Keep writing, keep fighting, and you'll win through to the halfway mark. And, at halfway, it all picks up again.

With that in mind... 10,000 words to go 'til I get to 1/2 way, yay.

At least my tantrum about not being able to write isn't as bad as Stephanie Meyer's rant about being the victim of an illegal download which is far less damaging to book sale profits than, say, movie ticket sales or CD sales - Ten months and counting! Go, Stephenie, go!

Witty Words of the Post: I want my copy of Twilight back. Not only do I need a good, hearty laugh, but I want to save my aunt from it. Why did I buy a copy? So I could write remarks through it - I should put it on ebay! (Stay tuned for news of that one)

Pic of the Post: Lucifer's personal shield. I thought family shield, but, as he really doesn't have a 'pedigree' more than "God made me in about 3 seconds flat", it wouldn't really be one - so it's tuned specifically to him.
White Wings: Angel wings, white-scaled with a thin membrane between the bones.
Red Wings: Demon wings, red leather (scales burnt off in the Fall, thus the redness), with skin alone between the bones.
Guns: His one way to really fight. They're Glocks, but I can't remember what model - might be of his own design!
Spear: Pointing the way to his Kingdom. It would have been an arrow (he mentions them in the story, but not a spear) except I drew it too wide and long.
Eyes: Those are his eyes, to go with his blonde hair.
Red Background: The colour of his skin, Clarissa's favourite colour, and The colour of the caverns of Hell (which, contrary to popular belief, is a nightclub hidden underground)
Green Back-Background: The forests he loves.
See? Very thought-out.

I thought about making this journal witty and smart and all that, but there's no way I'll be able to keep it up. I'm more into explaining the dynamics of sword fights (the Achilles Vs Hector fight in TROY is so obviously BS) or movements of an army than cracking constant jokes or being able to come up with a funny story.

But you know, that's alright. You utilize what you have (Thus my stories with characters constantly at war) and run with it to make the best story you can. You avoid all the things you hate about some stories, but fall into at least a couple of the most commonly-used plots, and you won't help but compare it to all the books just like yours out there (Supernatural/Paranormal Romance will forever be defined by Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, for example [It's sad, but true] and Epic Fantasy by Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien).

But, don't let it worry you. There is a distinct lack of plots out there that are brand new. What is new, however, is what you do with those plots, the characters you add to them. In order, the Twilight Saga is a rewrite of any romance novel you've ever read, Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and King Lear with a dash of Hamlet. Lord of the Rings utilizes old fables and mythology from the Norse and Celtic traditions.

Stories, no matter their plot or their subjects, their genre or their target audience, all rely on one thing: Using anything and everything at the author's disposal to make the audience believe and love the story. Whether you use the setting of ancient Egypt or a far-off planet in the far-off future, there is nothing new under the sun - at least, in terms of plots.

So why waste your time worrying about it? Use your characters to their best advantage, use them to further your goal, and don't worry about how cliche the plot is. Every plot is one of eight different lines. What you have to do is make that same plot different. That is where your characters come into it.

Regardless of archetypes, it is your characters that makes your story, not your plot. While not optional, plot isn't everything in your story. Focus on the Makers&Breakers of your story, the characters, and you'll succeed.

Witty Words of the Post: Characters are the key to a story, not the plot.

Picture of the Post: Revamped Creature Comforts poster.
Next: Devil's Wife Poster

First up, a great big HELLO!!! to anyone and everyone reading this! If I'd had the brains, I would have started this journal all the way back in February, and used it to record the process I went through to write, edit, submit, re-edit, curse rejections, scream acceptance and such for my first-ever published book, The Devil's Wife!

*crowd 'yay's Monty Python-style*

So, instead, I'm going to use it to chronologue my next story, that I'm writing now: Wolf Lovers.

It's been almost 2 months since I received the acceptance letter (well, email) for The Devil's Wife, and I still can't believe it. I spent 5 years writing, editing, submitting, rewriting, resubmitting, reediting my first story (which later turned into 6 books) The Family Legends (in order: Longistara, Shinarca, Grantania, Minos, Huang, and Xerti) including 3 years of writing and research for the history-heavy plots and characters, just the first draft.

But between then and now, there's been a lot of stories written that've been rejected. Creature Comforts, The First Werewolf and The Vampire Conspiracy are just a couple (and the longest ones that I can remember). It's a long way to the store if you wanna be in print, but you know, it's not really that hard. It's really very easy. The problem isn't difficulty - it's patience and perseverance, and creativity.

Writing isn't a talent I own. My girlfriend would say it is, along with my choir-girl singing voice, moderate artistic skills, and ability to spectacularly foot-mouth when I talk to her. However, all these are skills, not talents. Anyone can learn to write a decent story - I didn't seriously start until I was 13 (for those lousy at math: 6 years ago) - you don't have to be born with it. It's like playing the piano, or playing football, or just being a tool. You aren't born with these things, you make them, learn them. Three years' training in a choir, and I can only sing relatively well. Nine years of art class, and I only rarely create a masterpiece worthy of showing off (like Matt from The Vampire Conspiracy here to my left, or the digital art I created for Creature Comforts, below that).

But, despite my denial of any talents I might or might not have, I am going to be published. I don't know the release date yet, because I'm only on the first round of an editor's opinion, so there's no way we'll know until that's over. But I will definitely post when I do know, and for all sorts of other publishing-related information.

As for writing information, I figure I should get to a start on that, shouldn't I?


So, my latest story. I started it on June 23rd, and I'm 10,000 words in (to be technical, 10,567 words in), aiming for 50,000 words by August first. I'm writing as I go (rather than the 'Devil's Wife' approach, with a pre-written copy guiding me) so it could twist and turn in any direction at any time.

Summary (As far as the characters have informed me, this is accurate):
Olivia Wolfen has been attacked by a werewolf while camping with her family. She's taken to Emo Hospital, in the south of Ontario, Canada, where it's discovered that she has received the curse of the werewolves. Olivia's mother Marie steals her daughter from the hospital and to Montreal, Quebec, to hand her to Grandmother Lucia.

But Lucia is not a kind woman. She keeps Olivia as a slave for 10 years in her home, Flow Manor. In April, 2020, Olivia finally lives up to Lucia's expectations - she becomes a full werewolf, transforming under the full moon for the first time.

Olivia's success is short-lived. She, her girlfriend Kyda, and her friend Lydia come across three humans that first night. Sensing something about this boy, Olivia attacks Kyda and Lydia, protecting him from them.

There is something familiar about Charlie, something that defies her explanations. She must protect him until she works out why he is so familiar. but Charlie had better watch out. Kyda is not easily replaced, especially by a human.

At this point in time, I have the plot to about 15,000 words. That's another 35,000 I'm going to have to search for on the fly. Uh oh...

Witty Words of the Post: I hate my characters.