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Cause Everyone Needs a Little Inspiration Now and Then …

November 4, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 8 Comments

It’s just one of those days.

Cold. Grey. Damp.

Not quite raining, but drizzling every now and then. The sort that makes you want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of coffee and a good book, though you know you should be writing. So you stuff the book under a pillow out of reach and pull out your laptop … only to find yourself staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page with no idea how to get the words out of your head and into the story.

Ever had one of those days?

When I find it hard to write, it’s usually because there’s something holding me back.

Fear.

Fear that I’ll ruin what I think should be a good story. Fear that I’m a failure before I even get started. Fear that my story is terrible … and I’ll just make it worse.

In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about it once: When My Pen Runs Dry.

One thing that I’ve found helps me when I hit a dry spot in my writing, is to go back through my story and reread my favorite parts. This time, I decided to take it a little farther and designed a “quotes graphic” for each of the main characters to use as inspiration while I write.

I’m not a graphics designer by any means … it’s one of my many non-talents … but I had fun making these and they serve their purpose such as it is!

Ronan

Ceridwen

Want to design your own character-inspiration graphic?

Here’s what I did:

Color

First, I settled on a color for the graphic. I tend to associate certain characters with specific colors even as I write. I knew automatically that Ceridwen would be a burned-to-the-embers fire red. Ronan on the other hand was a smoky blue, like the sea on a misty morning.

Words

Second, I found words to describe my characters. These can be words your character would use to describe themselves. Or names others associate with them. Or words that encapsulate their identity in the story, even if they would never see themselves that way.

Ronan’s tale is in many ways a story of becoming, so all the different words in his backdrop point to the many different identities he bears throughout the story.

The fire and ash in Ceridwen’s backdrop, on the other hand, point to her past. A past that continues to define her present and her future.

The Quote

This, of course, is entirely up to you! I chose quotes that I thought captured some part of the character’s voice and history to help me remember who the character is and inspire me to continue to tell their tale. I made several graphics with quotes that aren’t actually in the story, but fit the character so well that I knew I would work them in somehow.

Are there any random things you do for inspiration when you hit those dull, grey days?

The World Ahead …

October 14, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 3 Comments

At the end of the summer, I wrote a post about coming home from a summer full of grand adventures. I wrote about how to me home is the Shire and camp is Narnia.

Well, I’ve received the call as it were, and the time has come for me to head back. To set off on a new adventure. To leave the Shire behind.

I have a new job.

I’ll be working full time at camp as a ministry specialist, overseeing the horse program, writing Bible Dramas, and who knows what-other-awesome-stuff! If I could have dreamed up a job for myself … well, suffice it to say it would have looked a lot like this.

So, I’m currently in the middle of packing and loading up and transporting one life to a new one. It always sounds easier than it actually is. At the moment, my room bears a distinct resemblance to a town decimated by a Kansas tornado.

I do have a sneaky sort of suspicion that packing up might be a whole lot easier if I didn’t have such an extensive library! But honestly … what is one supposed to do?

“I forgot we’ll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library.“

~ Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

That would be me. :)

I intend to continue my writing of course. (Packing up my desk … now there’s a chore I’m not looking forward to!) The first draft of The Epic of Aedonia is forging ahead like a runaway forest fire. I don’t think I could stop writing it if I tried … or if I did, the characters would appear to me in my dreams and haunt my sleep.

“There is no agony like having an untold story inside you.“

~ Zora Neale Hurston

But generally speaking, I’m afraid posts are going to become somewhat sporadic on here over the next couple of weeks. Well, that is to say, more sporadic than usual. Adventures of this sort tend to be a bit time consuming. I’ve got to get moved in and settle into my new job and everything that entails … so the blog will have to scoot to the back burner for a week or two.

After that, I should be back on track, and we’ll be able to get back to our typical fantasy musings, character in costumes challenges, quizzes, reviews, etc.

Providing of course, I remember to pack my pocket handkerchiefs! :)

The Beauty of Imagination

October 3, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 4 Comments

I was five years old when my dad started reading The Hobbit aloud to me at night, introducing me to a whole new world of imagination. A world full of goblins and dragons and magic rings and little hobbits who faced their fears and became the most courageous characters of all.

At five years old, I was afraid. Afraid of the dark. Afraid of goblins. Nothing like the brave hobbits.

So my heroic dad came to the rescue … and made me a sword. My first weapon! A magnificent blade, two feet long … crafted from the finest aluminum foil in the realm.

Yep. Aluminum foil. It was a mite flimsy. But I didn’t mind. I named it Sting and set it beside my bed in case of danger in the night.

I slept easy after that, comforted in the belief that if danger ever threatened, I could grab my trusty sword and it would become strong in my hand, a mighty weapon capable of slaying the fiercest dragon.

Imagination is a beautiful thing, is it not?

My older sister was an avid reader. She devoured books at a rate most rampaging dragons couldn’t hope to compete with. But on the rare occasions when she could be coaxed to set her book down, we played together in the back yard while she invented wonderful stories full of amazing people, places, and settings.

Together we sailed ships through terrible storms. Galloped across the hills pursued by enemies. Dug our way out of a prison camp.

But it wasn’t until several years later, when I picked up some of my older sister’s books, that I realized where her stories came from.

So many of the characters, places, and stories we had played over the years were drawn from the books she was reading at the time.

Imagine it for a moment. You pick a book off the shelf, flip it open, and suddenly realize that a character seems oddly familiar, almost as though you’ve met before. You recall a name, but can’t figure out how. The story you’ve never read tugs at your memory.

Deja vu?

The more books I read, the more I realized that I had already traveled a fair bit around the literary world in those games in the backyard.

I’d sailed to Treasure Island with Jim Hawkins. Traveled to Letzenstein and escaped from Julius Varenshalt along with Catherine Ayre from the Letzenstein Chronicles. Journeyed through the Wardrobe to Narnia along with the four Pevensies.

I think I can honestly say it was that first epic story I heard … and those wonderful little games we played … that inspired me to write novels of my own.

To create characters and worlds and events that would transport others to an imaginary place. To allow others to experience what I had experienced.

The beauty of imagination.

It’s a wonderful gift.

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan

Epic of Aedonia – First Lines

September 10, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 18 Comments

I recently started a new novel. A fantasy, of course, first in a series. And this one is looking like it will be one of those novels where each word is a drop of blood wrung from the heart of the writer.

At least that is my wish.

I’m quite excited about this story. And just a little nervous too, of course. Because this is going to be my largest book, grandest concept, most complex storyline, and most fascinating world yet.

It is the Epic of Aedonia.

Here are the opening lines of the book–one section from both of the main characters’ first chapters–just to whet your appetite.

Ronan’s Chapter — Cry of the Sea

The cry of the sea-demon awoke him. Shrill—more of a scream than a cry—the sound
pierced the thatched roof and walls of the fisherman’s hut and brought Ronan to
his feet, gasping for breath.

He swayed and clutched his hammock with one hand to steady himself. The scream
rang in his ears, a high-pitched wail keening across the lonesome shore. Always
the sea-demons called to him.

Always he tried to forget.

He clenched his fist, until his arm shook with the force. A stab of pain brought a
cry to his lips. Blood trickled down the sides of his hand, spattering his bare
feet with dark spots.

Ronan gazed uncomprehending at the blood and then at his hand. He was holding his
harpoon by the blade while the metal bit into his palm. He yanked his stiff
fingers apart and released the harpoon. It clattered against the stone floor.

Ceridwen’s Chapter — Outriders

The stench of death fouled the air. It filled her nostrils, seeped past the gloved
hand she instinctively held to her mouth, and clogged her throat. She could not
escape it.

Death was near.

Mindar, her horse, danced a nervous jig beneath her, hooves pawing at the forest loam.
A puff of black smoke burst from his nostrils. Ceridwen tightened her grip on
the reins, restraining the excited hylshum steed, and pulled her hand from her
face to stroke his neck.

Even through the thick leather of her gloves she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. If he didn’t calm down, the flamebreather was liable to hold true to his name … and the prospect of extinguishing a forest fire started by her own steed was even less desirable than investigating this stench.

Well, that’s it for now! Pretty rough still, though there’ll be plenty of time to sort it out later. Time I crack on though and finish writing the rest of the story. I’ve got over twenty pages of outlines and world building notes to help me out. And thank goodness! There’s no way I’d be able to keep all of it straight without them.

May Characters in Costume Reveal

May 10, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 15 Comments

This month, for our Characters in Costume, we did a “Meet the Character” challenge. This is our last challenge before we take a hiatus over the summer months and pick up again in the fall. So for this challenge, I decided to go back to the very beginning … (a very good place to start, or so I’ve been told) … and introduce you to the character who began it all.

It being my decision to become a writer, obsession with costumes, and propensity to reenact my characters and scenes (always a bit awkward when someone happens in on you in the middle of a highly dramatic chapter.)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Marya, from Out of Darkness Rising.

[These pictures were taken while filming the book trailer. Film/photo credit goes to Adam Terrell of Next Generation Video Productions.]

Marya is a young villager who lives on the Island, a barren rock shrouded in mist. All the villagers spend their days in terror of the Serpent, crushed beneath the oppression of his priests, the Tribunal. When Marya’s parents are slain by the Serpent for their belief in a legendary king, Marya becomes an outcast.

As an outcast, Marya is utterly forsaken and alone. She feels abandoned by the parents who chose a legend over their own daughter. She is cut off from her people and forced to survive in the wild.

[Photo credit: Holly Hamlin]

As a peasant, Marya’s clothes are rough and ragged. They’ve suffered a lot of wear and tear over the years. Most precious to her is her mother’s shawl (not pictured here). It’s little more than a ragged piece of material that Marya found on the stone where her parents met their doom, but Marya treasures it. And when she wraps it around her shoulders at night, it feels as if it is her mother’s arms wrapped around her.

Filming the book trailer was a lot of fun, but I found the prep work just as enjoyable. Characters and costumes that I had only vaguely envisioned before suddenly became concrete in my mind. I had to figure out just what sort of shirt, what color, and what style such-and-such character would wear, because if I didn’t, he was going to be immortalized on screen in a t-shirt and jeans. Lots of good incentive there. :)

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Be sure to stop by the other participating sites and meet their characters as well!

Victoria Grace Howell

April Antagonists – Characters in Costume Reveal

April 19, 2013 by Gillian Bronte Adams 13 Comments

It’s time to reveal those dastardly villains of yours! Drag them out of the dark. Boot them out of their evil lairs. Grant them the spotlight for one moment.

For the longest time, I couldn’t decide which antagonist to highlight for this challenge. Eventually, I settled on the antagonist from my fantasy Song of Leira.

This is Carhartan, second marshal of the Khelari and a servant of the Takhran. He is a deadly warrior and wields his red-stained sword left-handed with horrifying effectiveness.

Note for the Novel Police: If we were going to be completely accurate, Carhartan should be wearing black plate mail and a silver cape. Unfortunately, all I had on hand was silver chainmail and a black cape. But I suppose you get the general idea! ;)

As you’ve no doubt gathered from the pictures, Carhartan is a secretive man. (No amount of cajolery, bribery, or threatening induced him to allow me to take a face shot.) Likewise, Carhartan’s past is somewhat mysterious. His history is hidden, and he likes to keep it that way.

On the outside, Carhartan appears the ever confident, carelessly brutal, efficient warrior and leader of the Khelari. But deep within, he is haunted by his failures. He relishes the sweet taste of victory, all the while knowing the wine will turn to bitter ashes in his mouth at the thought of his defeats.

Oh and as a side note, I do beg you to keep the above in the strictest confidence. I have no doubt that my life would be in grave peril if Carhartan ever discovered that I had revealed such sensitive information. But there are no requisite privacy laws in the author/character relationship as there are in that between doctor and patient.

Though I don’t suppose that excuse would have any effect on Carhartan.

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Be sure to stop by the other participating sites and see their antagonists, villains, and sundry other characters of the nefarious variety. ;)

Enter the Writer’s Lair

Next challenge will take place on May 10th.