World building and Back story

It’s an amazing thing when you look down at your own ideas and realize you’re creating a world. It makes you feel much more like a ‘real’ writer, even when you’re, like I am, so far from even trying to be published. It’s not something I expected from myself. I always thought my stories would jump around. Worlds weren’t for me. I wasn’t that creative.

I did try to create worlds, fantasy ones, as a child, but the task was always overwhelming. There’s so much TOO a world that you have to think of, and this has plague even great fantasy and sci-fi writers to this day. In fact, while I dislike his writing personally, my biggest admiration and praise for Tolkien is that he managed to create such a large, realistic world. So, a few years ago, I gave up medieval fantasy when writing. It was too hard for me and I couldn’t see the big picture that well. I also gave it up because after 16 years of medieval fantasy I had grown bored with the genre.

So I turned my eye to modern fantasy. (I still love my magic.) I figured, here we go, no need to worry, the world is set up for me. I don’t have to worry at all. Then, to my utter surprise, when the pressure is off, I started to build my world.

This might not work for everyone. I don’t know, I can only give advice for what worked for me. The other day I learned that someone published a novel five years after she started. I always assumed if you were one of those people that said you spend x years working on something, of course it wouldn’t work, you let the project drag out too long. What do you know?

But for me, when world building, it’s nice to start small. Magic Quarter started small. At first, I just had the Themes. One word that your magic gathered around to varying strength depending on the person. Then I decided, how can this magic work with the world at large, so I decided on the magic quarter. When I sat down to actually write Jokers, I worked on it a little bit, enough to understand the setting better. I thought about what would work and how. As my characters evolved, my setting had to evolve to make sure their backstory still made sense.

Then I made a Knight character for an RP with my muse, Astrid. I wanted to use him in a story and I was trying to think, “What could motivate a knight to exist in modern times? Why would one exist, especially with the level of motivation and backstory my character has?”

That’s how my magic users got an enemy, the Knights. Now I have two sides of an ancient war. Best of all, I could switch sides as the stories demanded. Magic users were selfish and cold as a whole. Knights were over driven and close minded. Both could be villains and heroes. I like the idea of that, no clear good and evil.

The point is, I would have never come up with such an enemy for the Magic Quarter without letting the idea comes as it may. If you start small, with a set of characters and a simple setting the setting may grow as your characters grown. I believe a naturally grown world is best, it comes off as more natural.

Try not to push anything in your writing. Pushing forces blocks. While sometimes you’ll have to push yourself, you shouldn’t have to push your writing. You’d be amazed at the gifts your story can give you, so long as you treat it right.

Themes

So while I was editing today I started thinking a little about a different project I currently have on hold so I can edit. I wrote in Jokers that every Theme has its opposites. Taking Jokers as an example, there's a reason Chaos and Control were born at the same time. The world without both would be unbalanced and it's a risk to have all the power on one side.

In my other story I'm thinking of having Dawn and Shadows. (Which is different from Light and Dark by term of power, Light and Dark are special and I'll explain about the different kinds of Themes in a different entry). I realized that I wanted Shadows to be much older, so I wondered how that would work.

Then I thought, well, it'd be silly for every opposite to be twins. I mean, not that many twins are born. There are a lot of Themes. Then I realized this explains why most Theme users are born to magical families but why sometimes someone born to a human family gets a Theme. (Which I'll have to explore someday)

When someone with a Theme dies, that Theme becomes 'open' for a new baby to get it. If the opposite Theme still lives , that Theme needs to be reborn pronto. Obviously whatever assigns Themes can't just make life, (Unless I wanted to make Gods, which is getting WAY too big), so they have to give it to about to be born baby, as soon as birth as possible. If there isn't any available among the magic folk, which is more natural for a Theme, then it will have to go to a more open human.

For you wondering just what Themes ARE, Themes is a brand of magic where people can do anything relating to a single word Theme. Taking my heroes from my last post:

Clara has a Dream Theme, (rhyming ftw) and can make people live out their greatest fantasies naturally. With control, she can manipulate dreams and make people see whatever she wishes. Stronger Themes can also communicate though dreams, and enter sleeping people's minds.

Korbin has two Themes (VERY rare, three Themes are impossible), Chaos and Emotion. With Chaos he can gather it around his skin, it's like a mix of water and electricity running across his skin except it's a dark purple. This allows for an random affect to happen to both him and whose attacking him. Chaos sometimes favor its host and sometimes it doesn't. When it does, in general it will hurt who ever is attacking (or whoever Korbin is attacking) and help Korbin, but it can make everything worse too. Obviously unstable. It always makes it impossible for Korbin to live too structured a life and he has a high risk for insanity later in life. Emotion is a bit more stable. He can see people's emotions as colors that surround them and manipulate them with his mind. He can grow or suppress a person's feelings but he can't create or destroy.

Phoenix has two Themes two, Manners and Control. Manners is a suck Theme. All it does is force you to be polite, always. He can never be rude, or so he thinks. Phoenix is a bit of a defeatist and has a very self-fulling prophesy personality. I'll explore that more in his book. Control is much more fun, for him. Control allows him to control anyone he choses. Well, it could, depending on how strong it is. Problem is that it's very rude to take control of someone so Phoenix doesn't get to use it much and even then, only with permission. Side affects include a high chance for OCD and he can't get addicted to anything or get that high or drunk (all include loss of control). He's also good at a lot of sports, and surprisingly, video games. Not that he'd ever play them.

Rachael's Theme is Lust, part of the special Seven Sins Team. Her Theme is kind of sucky too, but only because she doesn't want to be a slut. Lust is attractive to everyone the host is attracted too. (I.E, straight people? Just opposite gender. Gay? Just same gender. Bi? Everyone! Whoo!) It works stronger when person does want someone and is semi-activated by puberty. (It gets stronger thanks to hormones). Problem is, that if it's strong it tends to just encourage molestation without proper control and people being aware. Rachael is human born so....yeah. But that's a story for another time.

Alignments

So this is just for fun. I was discussing with my muse Astrid possible DnD alignments for my characters for Jokers, my novel I'm editing (slowly, damn you laziness!). Ether way; this novel has Clara (main character), Korbin (her love interest), Phoenix (Korbin's twin) and then for the sequel, Rachael (Phoenix's love interest, hence sequel).

Clara is definitely Lawful Good, she Catholic (though lapsed) and kind of a coward, which means she feels better toeing the line. All forms of establishment calms her, and while authority figures tend to scare her, she also is drawn to them.

Korbin is obvious. It's in his Themes. XD He's Chaotic Good, can't stand establishment and authority figures makes him thumb his nose at them. He tends to break rules and patterns for the hell of it but you cant rust him while breaking those rules and patterns that he's doing a good thing on the side. Ironically he'd make a good knight, since they tended to wander around saving girls.

Phoenix must be opposite of Korbin always! So he's Lawful Evil. I think in my edited version this becomes more clear, since I'm not so eager to get him and Clara close, but when I orginally thought these two up, Phoenix was supposed to be the 'evil' twin. (I thought these up for a soap opera mocking RP, hence why they're a little cliche) I wanted him to appear good and Korbin to appear evil while being good. So while he ended up becoming a good guy for me, and hero of his own novel, I still see him as evil.

Then Rachael, which no one knows because the small bit of Phoenix's story I posted before I took everything down had Eve. Rachael is her stronger replacement. Eve was a little too wish washy, and it became uncomfortable to write such an unbalanced relationship. Rachael is Lawful Neutral and with much more of a spine than Eve. She's also not that into 'good' or 'evil', but definitely obeys the law because she feels she owes it to her 'parents'. Her story will be reveled eventually.

So it's been a while since I posted here. Sorry, school hit me hard and I've been quietly working away. I'll try to post things here, like new projects, what's been going one, ect. I'm not quite sure what to use this for, I'll be honest, when I don't have much to update writing wise. A part of me feels I should use it to give lessons on writing like many writers do, and make it less all about me, me, me and perhaps I'd get more readers but that requires work and effort and I'm bad at both. XD

Ether way, I'll try to post more fun stuff like this.

Oh, and editing is going okay. Not as good as it should. I have finished my first edit of chapter '3' of Jokers.

Join me on Facebook for more updates. I love it when my readers friend me and I tend to post more there.

So...its been a while...

So it’s been a while since I updated my story, and even longer since, I posted here in my blog. I did warn you that school might eat my butt. This is sort of what happened. School is keeping me busy; in fact, since school started (a month ago) this is the first day I don’t have homework to do and I still have to go into school for a group project, but there has been other factors.

Factor one: despite my great excitement over Innocent Sins, it has never been fun to write. The more and more I move forward with this project the less and less I like it. I kept looking forward to new events and found them disappointing. It bored me to write and it bothered me to write. I do normally get inspiration for my story ideas from Astrid, but this is the first time where my female lead was HER character with a name and some tiny details changed. I never liked that and I knew she never liked that. So I’m putting Innocent Sins away until I can figure out what I want to do with that.

Factor Two: I am getting more and more uncomfortable with posting my work to FictionPress. When I started to write, I needed readers, you guys, to make me feel like my writing was worth while and it worked. I’ve had popular work posted there and always felt the love and support you guys gave me, but it’s time I stop using that crutch. Also, I don’t think publishers would publish work that is available, for free, online. So, starting today, I’m taking down all my novels from FictionPress. I’m sorry to any who likes to read it, but I am going to try to publish soon.

Anyway, with these decisions in mind, and with some emotional turmoil starting up again, I have continued to write, and edit. I started a new novel, under the working title of Family Bonds. I described it once. It’s my first non-supernatural story and I imagine it will be shorter than some of my other novels. It has a surprising life considering how little time I can dedicate to it, but I’ve enjoyed writing it. This will be my first novel I write without posting, at all.

I will keep my ‘readers’ updated on my Facebook account. I made a list of friends for people who are my readers and keep updates on my writing, and editing. If you want to add me as a friend, just look for Nica Borders-Chagolla. I think I’m the only one. Ether way, you have a picture here, so you know what I look like.

In other news, I’m editing Pair of Jokers. I’m on page 60 now, of the first edit read through. There are 188 pages. I edit by dividing my story into segments about 30 pgs long, and then use these report folders to keep them together, while I edit. I’m on the third segment out of six, so when I’m done with this, I’ll be half way though with the second step! (This is big news to me people, never gotten this far, I simply chose to rewrite Beasts.) Anyway, once I’m done with this, I’ll make my changes and then send them of to my ‘editors’. Let them fix up my grammar, and hear about what they think needs changing. Then I’ll decide what I’ll listen too, fix the grammar, and, well, we’ll see after that. It’s a while away.

Ether way, I’m planning to keep this blog up. I might start keeping it as a place for me to discuss certain parts of writing and reading, give you people something to read rather than a list of my writing activities. If you guys have any questions, don’t be afraid to leave comments, and for now, happy readings.

Update and some thoughts on Poetry

I haven’t posted here in a while. Things have been boggy as far as writing goes. I read over the unedited manuscript for Pair of Jokers and something amazing happened, for me at least. I loved the story, I loved the characters and I even liked the writing, but the best part of all of it, was I didn’t love the story from the point of view of a writer reviewing her work, I loved it from the point of view of a reader.

It’s an amazing thing when your writing reaches your reading level. Keep fighting until it gets there, only practice can make you a better writer.

So I’ve been slowly editing Jokers, and even slower writing on Sins. Sins is giving me issues, but mostly I just feel really blocked AND fogged. I have to keep pushing forward on my writing but it’s a little harder than with Jokers, but I am not giving up. Sins will be finished and then I’ll focus heavily on editing Jokers.

In other news, school starts for me on Monday. I have no idea what this will mean for my writing. It will probably make me focus more since I’ll have less time but we’ll see. I’m very excited about heading off to school, and while I don’t have any creative writing classes this year I’m probably going to start working towards my degree next year, which hopefully will mean good things for my work.

But some of you, those of you with Author Alerts, might have noticed I posted something new and rare on my profile; a poem. I do have several poems on my profile, but I’m not a poet. I do like expressing myself though poetry but I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to poetry.

My senior year I took a creative writing class that taught me a lot about poem structure and form. I loved it. I loved how it made me work hard for my poetry to have meaning. I loved trying to fit what I wanted to say into a certain form or rhyme structure, but it was hard and I’m a lazy person. So I turn my nose up to free form poetry but don’t like to write anything other than it. (Except for a sonnet now and then.)

But this poem I found in a notebook while cleaning my room. I wrote it last year I think, on a way from school. I was dealing with the break up that made me start writing seriously all together, a break up that still affects me in some ways today. As you know, I am a Leo, hence the title. The emotion is something I can still relate too as I read over the work and with some minor editing I decided to post it.

I think it’s a fine poem, not great, I still wish it had structure but it works and I like the last line.

Boy I’m glad I’m not there anymore.

Innocent Sins is up!

Okay, so it’s a day or two late, but I wrote two chapters to make up for it. That’s right, Innocent Sins is up. It was great to slide back into this story; it almost makes me look forward to editing Jokers. I enjoyed the beginning though it lacks the hook that Jokers had but not every story can have that great hook. I can only hope that everyone enjoys it. I do admit I’m a little nervous about posting my work again. I got used to writing by myself, all closed up. I might just start writing like that all the time soon, I don’t know.

If anything, this story will be up because people deserve the sequel that I actually want to write. I don’t know what’s going to happen once I finish this story. I think I want to spend this year focusing on getting some of my work polished and sent off. I’m going to put in a mental drawer some of my younger aged protagonist stuff, until I know exactly what I want to do with them, and focus more on this.

So I think my next project will be editing Jokers, getting that polished and then sent out. I find it a little ironic what a strong influence the Catholic Church is having on my two female leads. I never planed it that way but somehow religion just seemed to work for both the characters. I’m going to walk on some careful ground with Sins I think, since I have some ideas how that is going to go but I’m sure I can handle it.

Side note: If you’re Catholic, hit me up. I’d like to know more about how the church works, though I don’t think it will come into much play, but I do know I want to know more about the teachings, which I know little about. That was okay for Clara, who left the church out of disinterest a while ago once the story started but Eve is still an active Catholic.

I didn’t realize that until I started writing that Eve would be even more devoted right now than ever. So, I wouldn’t mind some help with that, though I’m not going to worry about it too much. I have a Catholic friend I can discuss things with to fix it up in later drafts. For now, I want to get the story out.

Ether way, I hope you like Sins and we’ll see what the future brings, right?

EDIT: First post of 2010. Also, first time writing 2010!

Update!

So…I think it’s time for an update. It’s been a little while and things are changing over here. New Years is coming up, meaning I just have one more month off (whoo!) before I go back to school and have to deal with homework and a much longer drive. So I’ll be loosing a lot of time, so what I really wanted to do with my time off was rewrite Beasts and then write a whole another novel but there’s a slight problem with that first one. I like Beasts, I like it a lot, and in someway it’s great to see where it’s going but…

I’m starting to hate it. I resent working on it, and as much as I want to move forward with a piece I think it’s time it goes back into a drawer. I’m sorry I keep being so silly about my work but sometimes things need to go in drawers, Timeless (and it’s sequel) is currently in the same drawer.

I’ve decided what I want to work on next is Joker’s sequel. I had so much fun writing Jokers and I miss it. I want to return to those characters, they have always been jumping around in my mind. So I’m going to give in and write Phoenix’s story, I took time off, I distanced myself from Eve’s source material and found some changes for her that I think will help. I have this story pretty well outlined out, so I’m hoping to start today or tomorrow. I went though all my pre writing questions.

I don’t know what I’ll do after I write Innocent Sins (the sequel’s current title), but I do know that I got ideas on how to rewrite Mantle and Written, two novels that I really wanted to rewrite. I have some problems with Beasts is that while I like that it’s a high school novel I’m so enjoying writing stories where the characters are older, and able to control their own lives. That’s what I loved about Jokers; I didn’t have to worry about realistic parents or homework.

I am a little worried about Mantle, it’s one of my most cliché ideas, and I have a hard time starting projects when I can see their clichés. I feel like it’s still a good story and I can deal with the clichés well enough but…well, the ideas came from a parody RP and I can not write parody, so you can see the problem.

Ether way, Written interests me, it will be right in between my old style and new. While I like writing the older characters, I liked Kit’s relationship with her father far too much. So I plan to cut out Caldur’s parents, and have Kit be 18, and a senior in high school. I also am debating including a subplot with a nurse for her father, which may or may not work out romantically. I just see a great scene that would show a lot about Kit’s personality.

Like I said, I don’t know when I’ll write these ideas, but Innocent Sins is currently next. Expect the first chapter soon; I plan to try to match my NaNo pace. Maybe cut out weekends though, for my mom. We’ll see.