Thinking about the A to Z Challenge?

Today's the day! Head over to the website and sign up for the Blogging A to Z Challenge! If you haven't heard of it, where have you been! No, seriously. :)

Okay, the challenge is to blog every day in April (except for Sunday) starting with A and ending on Z. Some people do it backwards, but some kind of order helps.

We were asked to give some tips to anyone who might be new this year:

1. plan ahead and schedule your posts so you can visit and enjoy the month
2. pick a theme you will have fun sharing
3. keep it short and simple
4. if possible, ask a question to encourage comments

I've been thinking about this year's A to Z Challenge since May of 2014. Last year I planned on doing X-Files for my theme. Unfortunately, I'm only half way through the show on Netflix. There are still 5 seasons to go and I just can't finish before April. My thought is all or nothing. How can you adequately cover something you haven't watched all of in a long time?

So, I've chosen a new topic.

Science Fiction Movies from the 80s!

Here are my rules for what I'll cover.

1. It has to be science fiction or fantasy from the 1980s 
2. It has to be a movie I've personally watched (most of them in the 80s when they came out)

As I made my list I revisited lots of favorites. Some silly, some scary and a bunch that fell somewhere in the middle. My goal was at least 2 movies per letter. There were some letters that I couldn't find (or remember) a movie from the 80s so I chose one from the 70s or early 90s. Hey, you do what you've got to do.

There are many of my "favorites" that didn't make the list because of the restrictions I set. If I could find 2 movies from the 80s I used them instead of the ones I loved. Rules, sometimes I try to follow them. ;)

(I may throw in a bonus paragraph every once in a while to highlight my new novel FADE INTO ME that was released last week.)

Hope you'll join me in April to revisit some great and some not so great movies. 

What are you blogging about in April?

Z is for Zee End!

Whew! We survived an entire month of posting alphabetically. I stayed on topic for the most part, didn't miss any days, and enjoyed reading other posts.

My failure for the month came in the form of commenting. I read hundreds of blogs a day but didn't post comments as often as I should have. There have just been too many things going on in my life. The great thing is they are all wrapping up at the same time as this challenge.

I'm closing on my new home this week and moving in. By the time I'm all unpacked and settled the kids will be getting out of school. It will be the end of a very stressful few months and the beginning of a wonderfully busy summer. Most of you know how much I love spending the summer with my kids. That means starting in June my posting will be sporadic at best.

Zee End is never the end though is it? And even a slow posting schedule can bring about some wonderful things. I plan on getting back to reading and posting reviews as well as writing and letting you know how it's progressing.

If you need a tour stop or are just looking for a place to guest post, let me know and we can work something out. Feel free to email me at charity.bradford @ gmail.com.

What was your favorite part of the A to Z Challenge?

Y is for Youth

Most of you know that The Magic Wakes was originally meant to be young adult. And then it grew up. People still confuse it as YA though and it's a bit annoying. And yes, I probably shouldn't say that, but it is.

However, I do have another story that has been haunting me, teasing me, for two years now.It is YA. It should have been finished a long time ago but deeper and darker secrets keep leaking into my brain. Every time another one solidifies I'm shocked. How did I not know Ryanne experienced THAT?

And I stop writing.

Why? Because I need to let it sink in, percolate a bit. Only then can I go back and add that layer to the story so that it makes sense and feels believable. Some things are so far out of my realm of experience that it's taking a lot of thinking time. This story needs to be done right.

Fade Into Me is another mixing of science fiction and fantasy elements--it's what I like best! It's about the confusion and sadness of youth and finding the strength within to move on into adulthood. Well, it's about way more than that, but for today's topic that will do.

Here's the blurb:

Everything you’ve ever heard about faeries is a lie.

Lies they told to keep humans from learning the truth.

What is the truth?

They walk the earth, sentenced to watch over and nurture their greatest mistake.

Us.

Ryanne Killian doesn’t believe in faerie tales, and yet all the eyes of the Fae watch her–hoping she will be the one to set them free. But Ryanne is afraid she's too broken to save herself, much less anyone else.

What do you think? How many of you write Young Adult?

X is for Xenocide

There aren't a lot of words that start with X that I think I'd enjoy talking about. So I picked one that I thought would at least be interesting, and since it does play a part in The Magic Wakes, it is appropriate for my topic.

Xenocide is genocide directed at an alien species.

Did that clear things up? Well, just in case...

Genocide--the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Neither is an attractive word, even though I think it rolls off the tongue nicely. When I was younger I thought only a great hatred could bring about something so ugly. Although this may be the most logical reason for xenocide/genocide, it's not the only reason. Fear, misunderstanding, ignorance. All could lead to the annihilation of a group of people.

The Dragumon have wiped out entire planets simply because they could. It wasn't a personal hatred or disagreement, just a general loathing for the sanctity of life other than their own. Sendek, however, is personal. Maybe that's why they take their time. Play their games. And that's where they messed up.

Spoilers (highlight):

Talia has time to come to terms with the fact she would need to destroy an entire sentient race. Although not comfortable with the choice, she does it and has to live with the consequences. It will haunt her for the rest of her life.

If it came down to kill or be killed, how would you justify it? How would you live with the guilt?

W is for World Building

World building. Believe it or not it's one of my favorite things to do, but then I cut so much of it out of my stories. Why? Because somewhere along the way I heard that people didn't want to read extensive world building and setting.

It's a shame really. I have all these amazing places in my head.

However, I finally realized something and I've made a decision. All those people with opinions read and write YA. Youth don't care as much about details like world building. However, I don't write YA. At least Talia's story isn't YA.

I'm traveling to a new planet in the sequel to The Magic Wakes and I'm going to indulge myself in my world building. And I don't plan on cutting it when I'm done with the story. I figure if I'm going to live my dream and write all of Talia's story, then I need to do it in the way that I experience it. And that means the worlds in my head.

You can look forward to a richer world in Search For Knowledge! More descriptions, sights, smells, colors and sounds. There will be a better developed government system and more science to mix with my magical world. And, the third side of my triangle will be introduced. Here's the complete tagline for the series.

Science, magic and religion...

Always at odds with each other,

But what if they originated from the same source?

Here are some great links to questions to help with your world building.

13 Basic Questions

SFWA's Extensive Lists of hundreds of questions 

TVtropes article

5 Foundations of World Building

Do you enjoy world building or dread it? Do you prefer a book with noticeable world building or prefer it to be minimal at best?

V is for Vengeance

There are a lot of V words associated with Jaron. Who knew?

Vengeance--punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense : retribution.
Vessel--a : a container (as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something
b : a person into whom some quality is infused
Venomous--a : poisonous
b : noxious, pernicious
c : spiteful, malevolent
Violence--intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force

And yet these words are not who he is. They are a part of him, they drive him forward, but he is more than the negative things that the demon brings out of him.

Do you know any positive traits that start with the letter V?

I tried to browse for other actors who could play Jaron, but it's just Jude Law. He became Jaron in my head and no one else will do.

T is for Talia and her Trees

Talia. Where do I even start with her? I talk about her all the time it seems, and yet I still feel like there's so much more to tell. But I can't tell you all or you'll never need to read the next three books that I'm writing about her.

Believe it or not, I do hate having to be mysterious about things.

A friend of mine pointed out some interesting things a while back. I guess I wrote a lot more of myself into Talia's character than I ever thought. Here are a few things we have in common:

• I'm a morning person. Sunrises are one of my favorite things to watch but I don't get to do it very often. 
• I get a lot of energy from the sun. Cloudy days leave me feeling drained and sad, so bring on the sun. 
• I have freaky dreams and the song "It's a Mad World" sort of fits me.
• Talia is deeply spiritual, she loves nature and feels whole when surrounded by the beautiful things of her world. So do I.
• I take great comfort in a warm fuzzy animal curled up on my lap or keeping my feet warm.
• I really wish I could see inside my hubby's head so that we could really understand what we each mean as opposed to trying to translate what's been said. 
• There are times I would rather hole up inside my head and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist so that I don't have to deal with it. 

She does what I wish I could do better. Motivate herself to take action in spite of her fears.

And now, the eye candy gallery for the guys. These are actresses I can see playing Talia.

Ashley Greene--with THIS hair

Amber Heard

Jessica Lowndes

Katharine McPhee

And, last but not least, here is the actress and photo that FIRST inspired Talia's character.

Emily Deschanel

Other Posts About Talia:

First interview-2010
Interview over at Michael Offutt's 2013 (with amazing pictures)
Podcast of an Almost Kiss scene 2013
Valentine's Interview and 1st Kiss scene 2013

Do you ever find bits of yourself in your characters that you didn't plan?

S is for Sendek and Shishali

Sendek is my world. I don't even remember when, where or how I came up with that name, but it stuck. Sendek is a lot like earth, but it resides in a binary system. I think more than anything, its where I'd rather live on days that are hard here on earth. The fact that it was seeded by the dragons because of its potential for magical energies makes it that much more attractive to me.

Shishali (pronounced--Shh-shaw-lee) is perhaps the only truly evil being in The Magic Wakes. She's just down right scary. I've already shared a character snapshot 2010 and the beginning of her final scene with Talia in 2011. Both of those received some edits before the final draft. However there is still so much to her that never made it to the book. This is another reason why I want to write a novella just about the Dragumon and their history.

If anyone is taking my Dragumon Art Contest seriously, maybe you want to draw Shishali? She's the only red Dragumon referenced in the story. Red's are rare and it's always set her apart. I don't know if she could have ever been "nice" but I do know when her spirit was twisted. She was only a year or two old and Elvin took her to visit the red dragon clan. He thought they would want to raise her in their ways instead of having her stay with the greens. However, Thraned called her an abomination and refused to even hear Elvin out. She was turned away for her first exile.

Having heard every word of Thraned against her, she became even more aware of her differences. She watched the others, studied them, waited. Her only goal in life was to become not just one of them, but the best of them. Unfortunately she didn't have any natural charisma that others flocked to. It's like they could sense the darkness in her.

What she did have was the magical ability to twist the emotions of others and augment them. She watched Kansisi for a long time. He had the charisma to lead. She noticed how others followed him without question. But he was good. He wanted to help others and take care of the land. It was only a matter of time before she learned how to twist his goodness to her needs. And the death of Elvin at the hands of the humans sealed her control over him.

She made his emotions stronger and then spread them to the other Dragumon. In essence she created a mob mentality where there was none. And she kept it in place and tweaked it for hundreds of years. This made it possible for her to enjoy the freedom to hunt and kill anything or anyone she wanted. Eventually she didn't need to use her magic to keep it strong, it had become a way of life.

In the end, it didn't matter that returning to Sendek began to heal Kansisi's spirit. She was already the leader and she thought that would be enough. She didn't count on the power of love that one violet eyed mage had for a soldier...

Do you have a favorite villain? What is it you love about them?

R is for Royalist

Way back at the letter A I promised to tell you more about my military monarchy. And then I searched all over my house for the research I did several years ago. Of course I couldn't find that particular notebook! If only I didn't prefer notebooks and pen to computer writing. *sigh* So, you'll just have to take my word for it that military monarchies are a real thing. I did find it somewhere and based my Royalists on it...actually, I think I found it HERE. It looks like a bunch of papers written by college students. :)

Anyway...

The components of this style of government include the support of soldiers to their leader instead of to their country (military), a direct line of succession (monarchy), and the appearance of a government that follows the state constitution in spite of the first two qualifications. ~Group : Kamela Culver

And that's exactly what/who the Royalists are. Algodova has always had a monarchy, but when the war with the dragons began (all over the creation of the Dragumon) the military grew stronger. So did the Signum (a group of advisors to the king). With all the conflict raging around him, the king felt it necessary to bind this military to him. With their support regardless of what the people wanted, he ensured his line would continue even after the Signum turned against the monarchy in search for it's own power.

My real question was this. How would you keep the men loyal to you when their families constituted the "people"? The answer? You take care of the people and let them believe they have some modicum of say in their lives.

In essence, the Royalists have maintained their power over centuries because the kings were good men who kept their people a priority. However, not all men are good and Algodova's run of good fortune is waning.

But you'll have to wait for book three to see the end of the Royalists.

What's a military without a sexy dress uniform? Since I can't draw, see the Dragumon post, I've found a design I'd use from online.

All it needs is to be navy and add the red military stripes and whatever medals. :) You know, this kind of stuff...

Do you ever spend hours designing the clothes your characters wear?

Q is for Quest

Quest--a difficult task or jouney that must be undertaken to achieve a goal or earn a reward (Myth Encyclopedia)

Talia's story is in effect several smaller quests leading her on the greatest quest of her life. I believe this is what really gives The Magic Wakes it's natural slant toward fantasy. There will be more science in the fiction as the series continues, but then it will take a decidedly high fantasy turn as well.

Why?

Because that's where the quest leads. The quest in book one isn't obvious. It's more of a series of small quests: find answers, find a certain Tree Elder, find a dragon, find the strength to do what you must. That kind of thing. No where near a traditional hero quest. However, the end of The Magic Wakes leaves Talia and her world with a problem. One that needs solving and quick before things deteriorate into civil war. This leads to her second quest and what she thinks is THE quest. How to blend magic and science peacefully on her world.

This is the quest that sets book two into motion and the consequences of this journey will lead her to the ultimate quest. I never really thought of my plotting as quests building on quests, but there it is.

What are some of your favorite character quests? 

P is for Perseverance

Perseverance. It's a big word that we all need a lot of. As humans and especially as writers don't you think? I like the way Merriam-Webster defines it: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

Talia had to keep working toward a solution even though she wasn't making much progress. What was her other choice? Give up and wait to die? I don't think so.

But you know what? I don't really want to talk about The Magic Wakes today. Nope, I want to talk about the ways we persevere as writers. So many of us are on this journey, all in different spots and often on different paths entirely, but all with the same end goal. We want to share our stories with others. So, whether its a dirt path, cobblestone, asphalt or zipway, we have to find ways to keep moving forward.

I wrote an article for Savvy Authors on this very topic the day my novel was released into the world--Finding the Strength to Journey On. In that post I cover 5 things that I feel are important in my journey, the things that I must always remember in order to keep from giving up.

• Remember why you write
• Be willing to learn
• It's all subjective
• Prepare for the reality of being a published writer
• Focus on the positive

Check it out if you'd like to read more.

How/where do you find the strength to keep writing in spite of the obstacles in your way?

O is for Orek

Sendek and Orek. Two planets set on a course by the same creators. Both left to fend for themselves and figure out their greater purposes. One was much older and therefore farther along it's journey. Perhaps this planet could have mentored Talia's world, helped them reach a state of balance between science and magic.

Unfortunately, the Dragumon found Jaron's home world, Orek, long before Sendek. In my mind the two worlds were always similar because they were created or "seeded" by the same beings.

Jaron's world was very much like Alderaan from Star Wars. Beautiful vistas, gorgeous cities sweeping across the horizon. The best in technology and the wisest wizards. Scientists and wizards worked together to keep balance and harmony on their world. This in turn made for an idealistic life for the citizens of Orek. The people were free to travel between other planets or live peacefully at home.

Talia and Landry are going to visit the remains of Jaron's world in Search for Knowledge, the sequel to The Magic Wakes. Their expectations will be way off of course, but there wouldn't be a need for me to write the book if everything were to go as they planned. I mean think about it, a life sustaining empty planet is prime real estate in any universe!

What they find is a microcosm influenced by my love for Firefly. I found it interesting that Whedon's universe had such distinct lines between the haves and have-nots. Whole planets were wealthy and blessed with technology while others were back water dumps. That's what I want the new Orek to be like.

The Controllers have all the power, water, food, tech. The general populace has nothing and is left to fight among themselves for whatever they can get. The Controllers take the children and train them to be soldiers or sell them into slavery, but the people are so busy trying to stay alive that they can't bind together to form a rebellion.

They need a leader. Someone who can teach them to fight. Talia already has a group waiting for her leadership. Will she lose Landry to a cause he can't turn away from?

Oo, that came out pretty good!

Question:
Have you ever watched Firefly? Who was your favorite character?

N is for Nightmares

Nightmares. What a deliciously heart pounding subject. We've all had them. Mine usually involve spiders. In fact for years I had the same recurring dream. I would be asleep in my bed and wake up to find thousands of spiders spinning a cage of webbing around me. Even though I knew I was asleep, my heartbeat would speed up and it would be hard to breathe. Worse was the inability to move and swipe the webs away.

They say that dreams are our brain's way of working through all the psychological mess we avoid during the day. Or maybe I'm making that up, but it sounded good, right? Anyway, I can remember one nightmare from my childhood that seems silly now, but at the time I was terrified (I was around 8 or 9 years old). It went something like this...

I'm hiding behind the couch while my parents watch TV late at night. Suddenly the roof is ripped off the top of the house, my parents disappear and a giant alien space ship is hovering above me in the air. All I want is to remain hidden, but a bright light sucks the couch up and I'm exposed as the alien flies toward me on a large disk. When he's right in front of me I realize it's a humongous chocolate chip cookie. I don't remember what the alien looked like, or what my fate was, but I remember the chips sticking out that were as big as my head.

Weird...

Did you see Rise of the Guardians? It came out last December maybe? Anyway, LOVED the nightmares in it. They're made of black sand, easy to slip into your dreams one grain at a time.

The Magic Wakes all started with a nightmare that I had when I was 19. It grew and developed as I had others that could be linked together. Eventually I gave them all to Talia and let her find a way to work through it.

For those of you who have read the book, each of Talia's dreams were a dream that I had. Yeah, I've got some deep subconscious issues I think. But you know that iconic song...

"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had." (I loved Adam Lambert's version)

But, hey. I'm a writer and weird dreams are a blessing I guess. Here's a clip from TMW and one of my disturbing dreams with a bit of extra that didn't make it into the book.

"Talia crouched behind the charred remains of an aeroflyer (was a helicopter in my dream). She squeezed her eyes shut, but since she dreamed, the chaos and carnage remained visible. The familiar scene permanently burned on her retinas.
As she watched, the aeroflyer transformed from a charred mess to a perfectly bright and smooth metal. Her reflection stared back. Half her face was badly burned and falling away from her skull. The other half was blood splattered but otherwise unmarred."

Here I deviate from Talia. My dream jumped to a crowed hospital where I sat on a gurney surrounded by those that barely survived the invasion. People moaned and cried, doctors and nurses ran from place to place, but I sat feeling nothing. I just stared at everything around me until a man came towards me. He was a doctor and he carried a syringe. He lay his hand on the good side of my face and whispered he was sorry and I could feel my heart breaking. The tears burned like acid as they slid down the ruined side of my face. He then kissed my good cheek and gave me the shot. End of dream.

Did I die? Did he kill me? Or was he helping me? I'll never know, but I know I loved him dearly in that dream. *sigh*

Question:
What is the one dream or nightmare that has stuck with you through the years?

M is for Moons

Sendek has three lovely moons to decorate the night skies. This makes it a bit hard to see the stars, but there is almost always a soft glow of some sort on Talia's homeworld. Someone once asked why I chose Greek names for my moons. I simply like the way they sound. Does there need to be any other reason?

Below are my three moons and some information about them. The story behind the Greek mythology is in the parenthesis.

Atreus--(His life was messed up! You can read about it HERE. )

Atreus is the moon closest to Sendek and the most like our own moon. No atmosphere, no water, just barren rock and sand.

Cadmus--(I love Europa but couldn't very well use that name for one of my moons. However, in Greek mythology Cadmus was the brother of Europa and the founder of the city of Thebes. Source)

Cadmus is the smallest of the three moons, and the quickest. It's described as a massive asteroid that got caught in the gravitational pull of the other two moons and Sendek. If not for it's speed, the three competing gravitational forces would pull the small moon apart. As it is, the volcanoes make it the least likely candidate for settlement. And one day it will get ripped apart since it's slowing down with each pass between the two larger moons.

Daedalus--(A famous architect, inventor, and craftsman. Among his inventions and creations were the wooden cow he constructed for the queen Pasiphae, the Labyrinth at Knossos, artificial wings for himself and his son Icarus, and he was even said to have invented images. Source)

Daedalus is Talia's choice for the first Sendekian moon colony. It's only slightly smaller than Atreus, but it has a very thin layer of atmosphere and large polar ice caps. She's spent most of her time working up terraforming simulations for Daedalus.


As she works on this project, Talia begins to hope that she can move to a moon colony and escape the death from her nightmares.

If given the chance, would you be willing to help settle our moon?

L is for Landry, the Love Interest

*sigh*
Landry, my dream man, and yet he's not perfect. I loved that one reviewer said she wanted to slap him in the beginning because of his arrogance and rudeness, but she loved him by the end.

From the beginning I wanted Landry to have all the qualities that I love in my hubby, one or two I wish he had, and enough flaws to make him real. And no, I'll never reveal which traits fall into which category. :)

In a way, Landry is as much a loner as Talia. Even though he has family and people that respect him, he keeps most of them at arm's length. When our lovers meet you have two strong willed, socially inept and fiercely independent people butting heads. That's why I felt it appropriate for them to fight the attraction and each other in the beginning.

There have been two interviews with Landry in my search to know him better. The first was way back in 2010 and you can find it HERE. The second one was part of my release blog tour in February and can be found at Chandara Writes.

It's interesting for me to see the little details that changed as I got to know him better. He went from being older than his cousin to younger. One interview is after he met Talia, the second is before and therefore has a lot of irony in it. :) You'll have to know Talia to understand. And, I've tried to pick younger men to play him in the movie (yes, not a reality yet, but I'm good at dreaming big!) However, for today I'm just going to post the men I would pick to play him without a single thought to appeasing the masses.

Here's my personal eye-candy gallery in no particular order:

Karl Urban looking JUST LIKE THIS.

Chris Pine

David Boreanaz

Henry Cavill

And a dark haired Chris Hemsworth--none of this blonde stuff!

Jay Ryan

Question for you:
Which one of these guys would get you to the theater the fastest?
And guys, you can comment about who you think would be the better action star. ;)

K is for Keeta vs. Kansisi

Today I get to talk about two of my favorite things/people in The Magic Wakes.

Keeta
Keeta was a late addition to TMW. After the first read through my editor suggested that Talia needed a friend or familiar. Someone for her to interact with and make her more likable. Talking with trees just wasn't enough. Amie made a suggestion that fit Talia's character but it wasn't quite right. And then it came to me.

I was sitting on the couch with my laptop and my sweet puppy Chewy was sleeping on my feet. Talia needed a warm, fuzzy pet that would love her no matter what and bring her comfort when she needed it most. That's when I sat down and started creating my little treeb.

He needed to be small enough to fit in her bag when Talia traveled, soft, warm, cute, and a bit alien. My puppy has this adorable fluffy tail, so my treeb got one that he could fan out in a display of emotions. In  my mind, I see something that's a combination between a flying squirrel and a chameleon like eyes that can swivel.

Finally this pet needed a name. The first pet I remember having was a puppy back in kindergarten. Her name was Keeta and she had a birth defect that took her from me before she was a year old. It was fitting considering the plans I had for this sweet creature.

Kansisi
In early critiques, people commented that my antagonists were not very scary or evil. The problem was I knew the Dragumon's story from creation up until they returned to Sendek. And they really aren't evil. Shishali, yes, but not the rest of them. They were simply a product of their experiences and Shishali's manipulations.

I actually have a soft spot for Kansisi and all of his lost potential. In fact, in his original "end" I hinted at some of it, but ended up cutting the scene. I thought of sharing it with you but the writing is really bad and the poetic part is vague since you don't know about his life.

*sigh* I am going to write this story. It will be part of the short story anthology called DRAGUMON. For today I'll just leave you with the knowledge that I felt bad for Kansisi and that's why I couldn't make him a truly evil villain. I saved that honor for Shishali. Come back on S day for her story.

Do you have a pet? What's the thing you love best about having a pet?
Have you ever liked your antagonist too much for your own good?

J is for Jewel, Jaron, Joharadin

Wow! Lots of J words in The Magic Wakes! I guess it's one of my favorite letters? I'll try to keep the sections short since we're going to cover three topics today.

Jewel

Sketch by Chris Beaumont

This dragon sure has held onto her secrets! In fact, when I started writing TMW I thought she was a boy dragon! Several revisions went by before she let me in on that secret, and now she's clued me in on the big one. She'll be back and she has a major roll to play in Talia's life. But you'll have to wait for that.

Historically, Sendek had five dragon clans--green, gold, blue, red and silver. Jewel is a member of the green dragon clan. The same clan whose leader teamed up with Elvin Thule to create the Dragumon. She was too young to have a vote when it came time to decide if the Dragumon should be destroyed or exiled. Her magical powers were strong though and she had felt Shishali's evil and how skillfully she manipulated Kansisi and the other Dragumons. This along with some personal reasons is why she decided to remain on Sendek in hibernation waiting for their return. Every thousand years she would wake from her sleep and travel through portal to the home of the dragons and report the conditions on Sendek. But you'll learn more about that in a future book.

Jaron
*sigh* Jaron is perhaps the biggest surprise of TMW. So many people have told me he was their favorite character and they wanted more of his story. Alas, much of his appeal is his mystery, and why ruin a good thing? Truth is, he likes his privacy even more than Talia does. Perhaps one day I'll discover a short story or two about him, but most likely not.

I'm sort of in love with him too. He symbolizes all our internal struggles. And he chooses to live with them for so long because he knows it makes him strong enough to reach his goal. But when the goal is within reach he makes the decision to let go of all the hurt and evil he's held close. We have to make the same choices every day of our lives. Do we let our demons control us?

When I close my eyes and picture Jaron in his true form (not the Sendekian desguise), I see a blond Jude Law. The piercing blue eyes that are strong while conveying the depths of his pain and loss. Can't you just imagine him being tortured from the inside by a demon he summoned?

Joharadin
The city of Talia's nightmares. The place that she knows she will meet her death. The place she avoided all her life until she couldn't run from fate any longer.

I love the idea that by finally facing her greatest fear, and walking toward what she thought was sure death, she found what she needed most in her life. Love. Acceptance. Hope.

This city has several different layers in my head. I see it as Johar in it's ancient history. This is the place where the Royalist rose up. This is also where Elvin chose to present his Dragumon to the world of men and in the process he met his death. That ancient city looks just like the City of the Kings from LoTR. A great city built into the side of the mountain. Organic.

I started building a language system (which I quickly gave up when I realized it was A LOT of work) and the suffix -din meant child of. So, Joharadin is the child of Johar. Over the centuries it was ravaged and rebuilt as the kingdom of Algodova grew and struggled toward it's world domination. The final city, the one of Talia's day was much more like the cities from Star Wars--Coruscant or the natural melding of cities on Alderaan.

Today's question for you:
What kind of secrets do your characters keep from you? OR What kind of secrets do you keep?

I is for Imagination and Inheritance

A quick note about the High School Short Story Writing Contest that I'm judging. It's in it's third year and is titled Imagination Begins With You! I helped judge the first year and really enjoyed it, stepped away the second year but came back this year! Holy Cow!

There were over 700 entries from all over the country. Each of the four judges are reading about 300 pages worth of stories and picking their favorite 8 or so from them. This has been so hard! There really wasn't any specific guidelines for the teens, just write a short story 1500 words or less. How do I choose from so many great and totally different stories??? Well, I finally came up with a plan. I would read and write notes on the ones I really liked and delete the ones I didn't. Here was my "delete" criteria:

• not a story with a beginning, middle and end
• too many grammar and mechanics mistakes to the point I couldn't see the story
• travel log
• so confusing that I had no idea what just happened

Everything else got notes until I had read everything. Then came the hard part. Whittling it down to the 8 favorites. At this point it was mostly just subjective. I picked what I related to, understood, just LIKED best. I found myself wishing I could send notes to the ones I liked but had to cut. There were so many really good ones but I couldn't pick them all!

On April 15th all the judges' picks will be combined and we will start the reading and choosing all over again from the smaller pool. There are some great new writers out there!

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And now, the wonderful L. Blankenship is also going to talk to us about Inheritance and the role it plays in her novel The Disciple.

Wodenberg, the kingdom in my hard fantasy romance Disciple, is a small nation controlled by three saints. Saints are powerful, long-lived magic-users, so rare and strong as to be considered sacred. How they govern their nations depends on their individual personalities and the traditions of the people they rule; therefore Wodenberg is a bit different from its neighbors, and its inheritance traditions are one of those differences.

The inheritance of titles is especially important in Wodenberg. The kingdom is constantly on guard against invasion and its nobility must always be ready to defend its borders. Thus, Wodenberg's saints have added the following requirements to the ancient tradition of passing titles to the eldest child:

1. The inheritor must have earned knighthood. This requires extensive training, commitment, and natural skill to meet Saint Woden's high standards. Unlike tradition in our world, knighthood can only be bestowed by the saints or a small number of saint-approved judges.

This requirement does not exclude women; if a daughter has the fighting spirit to take up the sword, she's encouraged to do so.

2. The inheritor must be currently capable of serving in battle. This is a constant requirement, though allowances are made for recovery from wounds or illness. Chronic illness or disability can result in one's title passing to the next claimant.

Only the title and the holdings directly tied to it, though. One cannot be stripped of personal property because of illness or disability.

3. The inheritor must be able to document his or her blood lineage to the clan which held the title in antiquity. This serves to choose between equally qualified candidates, and the preference here will lean toward the older sons. But the final decision will be made by the saints, and especially Saint Woden.

Wodenberg is a small kingdom, so its feudal structure is not too complicated and the list of inherited titles is limited to: king, duke, margrave, and baron. These positions are primarily concerned with military functions -- mustering the populace into companies, maintaining supply lines -- and the economic aspects of the kingdom are handled through a separate structure of guilds and civic offices.

Because of Wodenberg's traditions, these military titles are never complicated by being passed to a spouse with no martial talents, or hampered by a regency if an eldest child is too young to lead.

Inheritance of all other property is influenced largely by the people's faith, which holds that all one's children are valued members of the Flock and deserve some portion of their parents' estate.

War is coming to Wodenberg, in Disciple. Its entire populace will be put to the test, especially Kate -- she has studied hard to be ready to serve as a physician, and she wants to save lives. But...

Back cover of Disciple, Part II

The prince first kissed Kate Carpenter for fear of missing the chance if they didn’t survive the journey home through the monster-prowled mountains.

Now that kiss seems like a fever dream. It’s back to work for her, back to the fellow physicians jealous of her talents and the sneers of an infirmary director who wants her shipped off to some tiny village. Kate means to be on the front lines to save lives. She’s worked too hard to overcome her past to let them deny her the chance to serve her homeland when the enemy’s army reaches their kingdom.

The grand jousting tournament is a chance to prove she can manage combat wounded, and at the royal Solstice banquet Kate means to prove she isn’t an ignorant peasant girl anymore.

But the prince’s kiss still haunts her. Their paths keep crossing, and the easy familiarity they earned on the journey home is a welcome escape from their duties. It’s a small slip from chatting to kisses.

This is no time to be distracted by romance -- a vast and powerful empire is coming to slaughter anyone standing between them and the kingdom’s magical fount.

Kate ought to break both their hearts, for duty’s sake.

Disciple, Part II on sale now

along with Disciple, Part I

at all major online retailers

More information, updates, and extras at Disciple of the Fount

Sample of Part I • Sample of Part II

Disciple, Part III coming in late 2013

Disciple is complete in six parts and will make a lovely doorstop

when all 400k words have been published.

Goodreads links:

Disciple, Part I • Disciple, Part II

H is for History and Hope

We started talking about history yesterday. Even when we forget, it affects our future. In the case of Sendek as a whole, history is the reason for the story. In the distant past a young boy with magical potential found a dragon egg and the course of history took a drastic turn for multiple planets. His good intentions would lead to death tolls too great to be numbered.

I know I'm being vague again, but Elvin's novella is almost complete and waiting for revisions. No need to spoil it for you. ;)

If history has such an impact on us, what keeps us striving for a better future?

Hope.

Hope that we can correct mistakes from the past while learning from them in order to prevent future mistakes. If nothing else, history teaches us that we all have to make choices. Choices that will send out waves of consequences. Without the hope that some of those waves will be positive, we would lock ourselves away and never do anything.

Talia and Landry are, in their own way, a bit of history repeating itself. But you'll have to wait and read all four of the books to see how.

Although fear is one of the driving forces in Talia's life, so is hope. Why search for answeres unless she hopes to find a way to live through the invasion? Why take the chance on trusting Landry and let him in her life unless there is the hope that he will accept and love her?

How are you a product of history? 

What is it you hope for in your future?

G is for Gneledar

Gneledar is Talia's hometown. And it's still giving me fits! If it seems a bit "off" or under developed it's due in part to the history fluctuation during story development. Originally it was a village, not a city. When Sendek took a leap forward time-wise, I knew Gneledar needed to grow up too. But I also needed it to retain its slightly backward superstitious nature because it contributed to Talia's development.

And yes, you can read that last sentence as laziness on my part. But I didn't plan on us spending much time in Gneledar anyway, so why develop it?

Back to this post...Why would a technological society hold onto superstition? I finally worked it all out in my mind but none of it made it into the final draft of the novel. Here are a few tidbits for the curious.

Chris Beaumont 2012
Click to enlarge and see the city

1. Geographical
Gneledar is an isolated valley on the eastern edge of Algodova. Surrounded by mountains, the most notable being Riyou and Gair, it escaped Royalist attention for hundreds of years. The people lived simple lives, happily oblivious to the rest of Sendek. They farmed, fished the streams, lived and died. Life was hard and the population never grew large enough to push them out of the valley.

When the Royalist arrived there was a brief time when Gneledar tried to defend themselves, but they were out classed on every level. The invading army conquered with as little death as possible and then brought in advancements like the metabolizer and better health care. The city grew and the people prospered with very little effort on their part. Even in Talia's time, most people just accept the situation because life is good. Does it matter how it works as long as it works?

2. Historical
The valley of Gneledar has a rich magical history. In fact, Riyou and Gair were the summer home of the green dragon clan anciently. Elvin was born and raised there, and when he created the Dragumon he brought them there. The creatures of Talia's dreams swam in the same river she did and hunted in her very own trees.

That magical history soaked into the earth and wildlife. Perhaps this is why several direct descendants of Elvin were born there--there is a reference to at least one other in TMW. A boy who changed the course of the river.

And now, my question for you comes from the fact that I never lived in one place very long growing up.

What is the thing you love most about your hometown?