A Poem

I was feeling writer-ly yesterday, so I wrote a poem. It's the second of my sonnets inspired by The Hobbit (there may or may not be more in the future...). Yes, I did write a Shakespearean/English sonnet for fun. I posted the last one probably about a year ago in this post where I also describe the type of poem that they both are (a Shakespearean or English sonnet). I really enjoy the structure of these sonnets because I think it makes it easier to write. Poetry isn't really my thing... I'm not big on abstract concepts. But I do like these! Here's the one I just wrote:

Master of Bag End

I miss the comforts of my home and fire
The warmth and food, the simple, pleasant rest
These dwarves, they aim to raise a dragon's ire
What made me think I would enjoy this quest?
The wizard said I would not be the same
I do already have a prize to show
A birthday present from a riddle game
For now, I think I'll keep it secret, though
Perhaps, I guess, it hasn't been all bad
Adventure isn't what I thought it'd be
Perhaps, in all the close calls that I've had
I've come to like this Tookish side of me
The 'getting there' seems better than before
It's 'back again' that worries me much more 

So, yup. That's it. :D Oh, and the character in this one might be easier to guess than the first one... 

Let me know what you think!

Dystopian Books -- What They Are and My Thoughts on the Topic

One genre of books that's hugely popular right now is the dystopian. You might never have heard the word "dystopian," or you might have read every book in this genre you can get your hands on. Either way, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the genre and my thoughts on it.

Now, I'm certainly not an expert in this genre (or any for that matter). I've read a lot more fantasy than dystopian, but hey, I'll use what I have. Let's start out with the logical beginning: what does the word mean?

The word "dystopian" is derived from the word "dystopia" (imagine that...) Here's a definition:

dys·to·pia
an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly
OR
an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. 

It always bothers me when definitions use other big words that I don't understand. In case you're wondering (like me) exactly what "totalitarian" means, here's the definition for that word: "controlling the people of a country in a very strict way with complete power that cannot be opposed." So basically a dictator-based government. 

Anyway, the word "dystopia," and the genre based on it, is closely related to the word (and genre of) "utopia":

uto·pia
an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect

Basically, a utopia is someone's idea of a perfect world, while dystopia is an imagined way that everything could go wrong. 

Here are some things the dystopian books I've read have in common (to help get an idea of the genre):

• They fall into the category of speculative fiction, but they lean farther to the side of science fiction than towards fantasy.
• They tend to be based in a "future earth" type of setting. Actually, most of the ones I've read have been placed in a future USA.
• The societies usually have some type(s) of advanced technology, which is a logical continuation of the whole "future" thing. Not all dystopians have this, but it is pretty common.
• Things are arranged (usually by the government) so that people in general have easier lives. Everything is organized, and the way things are set up is supposed to make everything easier for everyone.
• The government is typically corrupt. Either that or there's someone corrupt taking over the government. Or the government is oblivious to the evils of society. Which leads to the oh-so-popular revolution.
• The main character(s) are young people, usually pre-teen or teen-aged people. This is probably just because of the audience authors are catering towards, but it's still something they have in common.
• In most, the emphasis our current society has on everything physical and everything immediate is taken to the next level--kind of, again, the logical extension of what we have now.

So, there are some general things that I've noticed. Hopefully, you're starting to get an idea of what this genre tends to be like if you didn't already know.

Now, my thoughts on the dystopian genre. In all the dystopians I've read to date, one of my favorite parts of each book has been the authors' ideas of what society might become. While they obviously have things in common, there is always something that makes the setting and society unique. Some of them have settings where people originally tried to set up a utopia, but, through corrupt government and/or natural human issues, things are starting to fall through. Most of the ones I've read take a clear side on a semi-controversial issue, like the value of life/when life becomes valuable, and when they're well-written, those are good messages. But with that type of thing, dystopian books can tend to include some rather disturbing things or situations. Again, when they're done well and they help teach an important lesson, that can be OK. Sometimes a different and more disturbing take on something can help get the message across when it otherwise might feel forced or like "the same old thing."

However, many of the dystopians I've read are not written by Christian authors, as far as I can tell. Obviously, I don't know them and I don't know where they are spiritually, but from what I've read just in their fiction, I don't think they're Christians. I don't have anything against non-christian authors (or people in general) by any means, but it does affect my opinion of the books they write. See, many dystopians end up with or at least include, perhaps even unintentionally, a feeling of hopelessness. There's no meaning. One book I read had a great concept, even some interesting plot things, but even though the author was clearly trying to include symbols and meaning, it just didn't work. She wanted to leave it open to personal interpretation, but to me at least, it ended with absolutely no meaning at all. Because the author didn't assign meaning to her symbols they ended up pointless. Which is never good. But honestly, it makes sense. If you're imagining a future without God, of course it's going to be hopeless. Of course it's meaningless. When humans and human actions and human desires are all there is, what's the point? To be completely blunt, there isn't one.

So yes. I think dystopian settings are fascinating. It's really neat to imagine what might happen far in the future. And yes, that has to include both good things and bad things. I think that's part of why utopian books don't do as well as dystopias or utopias-gone-wrong--things have to go bad for them to be realistic and relatable. However, when everything's going wrong, what do you do without hope? You can hope in people for a time, but they fail. You can hope in technology, but it fails. You can hope in yourself even, but-- you wanna guess? You'll fail too. Only God never fails. That's why we can have hope in him. It's also why many endings to dystopian books are unfulfilling--there's no real hope. No real meaning. Without God, in the end, there's nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that's an awful way to imagine the future.

Anyway, that's my take on dystopian books. Great idea, sometimes good execution. If you want some really good, Christian, dystopian books, try Jill Williamson's The Safe Lands trilogy. Those are great.

College Stuff/Update

Something exciting happened Monday. (Can't you tell? I seem so excited...) Wanna guess?

I registered for classes at Cornerstone! :) It was a little bit odd, because typically one would actually go to the college itself to enroll and visit the place, but, well, that wasn't going to work so well for me. So I did it over the phone.

It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting. Mom and I looked at some of the online resources they have (last year's academic catalog and a thing called WebAdvisor that tells you what classes are available), and we figured out a schedule and stuff that we thought would work. Then when I talked to my admissions counselor later in the afternoon, I was able to get the same schedule we had planned out. Yay! That was nice.

So, of course, you're probably wondering what classes I'm taking. They're mainly (or actually, all, I think) core classes, so general education stuff. But I think they'll still be interesting. Cornerstone is Christian school, so some of the required classes are Bible classes. This first semester, I'm taking Old Testament Literature, which I think will be cool and probably plenty of work. But that's OK :). I'll also be taking some classes required for every freshman, CU Foundations and Creativity, Innovation, and Problem-solving. I don't know exactly what those two will involve, but they sound interesting, so hey.

Let's see, what else... I'll be taking a writing class (kind of the general required English class) and a communication class (a.k.a. public speaking). I had considered taking an Intro to Literature class, but decided with OT Lit. and Writing, I'd probably have enough of that. As much as I love English, it can be possible to have too much of a good thing... especially in school. So I'll probably take Intro to Lit. second semester.

The last couple classes I have next year are Total Fitness and Wellness, which is kind of a general fitness and health course, and an activity course. I wasn't sure what to expect from the activity course, because there are several to pick from and I didn't really know what any of them were. But the ones I saw look really cool! Like, they have a beginning dance class with swing dancing, line dancing, and ballroom dancing, among other things. It looks really cool, but unfortunately it was already full, so... I'll take it another semester :). This coming semester I'll be playing volleyball! It's not for the actual team or anything and it'll probably be mainly basics, but I'm excited to get to play for fun. I'm going to miss playing with all my friends here! But hey, maybe I'll make some new friends and we can be an intramural team or something :).

Anyway, knowing what classes I'll be taking has made the whole college thing a lot more real (besides the fact that graduation is 3 weeks from Saturday...) But it's also made me a lot more excited, to know that this is real! I'm actually going!

Oh, I found out when I'll be moving in, and it's definitely after Pre-season, so I'll be there to watch people :).

I always title my post afterwards in case there's a main point. There isn't.

Soo.... I already told you about what I'm learning about personalities. And I haven't worked too much more on Aubrinn in the last few days (other than narrowing down the is she is for sure an Artisan and either ESTP or ESFP-- I knew those two would be close, because T and F were consistently the closest when I did her personality test. Yes, I attempted to take a personality test as my character. Anyway...)

I did have an idea for my sic-fi novel the other day that has pushed me back into thinking about that too. I don't really want to be working on two stories at once, but this thing I came up with will actually help we work out some things I wasn't sure about, I think. Some. I still need to figure out my villain's motivation, and I've really only focused on Cambriel's side of the story so far. Because it was originally going to be from her point of view. But now that I've decided to add Ainsley's side too, I need to figure out exactly what's going on with her as well. Which shouldn't be too hard, and I like her :).

Ooh, I also had an idea for Aubrinn's story as a plot-twist kind of thing (are you mad that I'm not telling you what these ideas are >:)?) I had originally thought of something slightly different, but I'm not sure either way would really work. I'm sorry, this is probably not making any sense. Ok. I'll explain. It still might not make much sense unless you know at least a little bit about this story... So I was trying to come up with a way to make it so Aubrinn, who does not want to be queen, would have to be queen *evil author grin*. Obviously the best way to do this is to have her father die. But I wanted her to have something that she could work for so that she wouldn't be the heir to the throne in the first place. So I thought, why not give her an older brother? Not obviously, of course. Something happened-- he got kidnapped or ran away (I haven't worked out the details...) and she never knew about him because either they just didn't talk about him or they assumed she knew (or both... family dynamics are fun... :P) So anyway, she has to find her brother so he can stop the villain and she won't have to be queen. Yay! Nope. He dies, not too long after she finds him and thinks he's awesome. Evil Tynon >:(. Poor Aubrinn, losing all the influential guys in her life. Except Drey, almost forgot about him (oops). Ok, sorry.

Anyway, my new twist on this idea was to make the brother Aubrinn's twin. Which would be fun because she's always felt kind of alone and different from her family. I also really just wanted a reason for her to impulsively cut her hair short. Which she would do just to spite her mother, soo...

Okay. I think I've rambled enough about my random ideas for stories that you haven't heard much about in the first place. One last thing for today:

You may remember the original picture I showed you a few weeks ago. Mom found this online photo-editing thing called PicMonkey that's completely free (unless you upgrade, but that's not really necessary.) It's super cool, and there are all sorts of things you can do with it, so I've been messing around with it a little bit for fun. Hence the different versions of the fairy picture. I'm also doing some things for my graduation announcement/invitation with it. And I edited some of my character pictures too (yay for Ainsley's rainbow hair! that was hard...). I'll show you sometime, but you should mess with it yourself. It's cool *nodnod*.

Understanding Personality

As I told you last week, I've been doing some research on personality types as I try to get to know Aubrinn. It's a fascinating topic! I just recently got this book, which was recommended in Plot Versus Character:

Like I said, it's really cool. I haven't gotten super far into it as far as reading about all the different types of personalities goes, but what I have read is just fascinating (and the type I've been reading about seems to fit Aubrinn, so that's a plus).

You may (or may not) be familiar with the 'traditional' Myers-Briggs personality types. There are sixteen of them, based on four different sections that can each go two different ways.

Extraverted (E) or Introverted (I)
Sensory (S) or Intuitive (N)
Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

The one I typically have the hardest time understanding is the S/N level (honestly, they aren't words I use a lot...). Basically, Sensory people are observant of things around them on the outside, while Intuitives are more observant of their own thoughts and emotions. I think. The J/P part can be a little confusing also, but Keirsey explains it as J's being more likely to plan and keep schedules, while P's will look for alternatives and opportunities (Guess which one I am...). Lastly, (I'm almost done explaining these, I promise!) the Thinking/Feeling aren't just 'thoughtful' and 'emotional' in general, but more along the lines of how people relate to others. Mrs. Peterman has also explained it to me as describing how we make decisions. According to Keirsey, Thinkers are more objective and impersonal, while Feelers are more sympathetic and personal. Now that I've explained everything except Extraverted vs. Introverted, lets move on (I trust you can figure that one out on your own...)

Keirsey splits these sixteen personalities into four groups based on what letter combinations they have: SPs, SJs, NFs, and NTs. There are (obviously) four possibilities or variations within each group, but the types in each group tend to be more similar to each other than to those in other groups. Each group also has an alternative name that is slightly easier to talk/write about (so you don't have to keep using letters); the SPs are Artisans, the SJs are Guardians, the NFs are Idealists, and the NTs are Rationals. The words do have some relation to the personality groups, but they're not an overall description of everyone in the group, at least in my opinion. Not all SPs are artists, but they do tend to be the ones who are experts in whatever they try to do, especially in active things or activities using specific tools. I'm not sure how I feel about the word "Guardian" being used to describe the SJs (I'm an ISTJ, by the way), but I haven't read that chapter yet so I might accept it :P. Artisans are the ones I've been reading about mostly so far, and like I said before, I think Aubrinn could fit well in that group. I want to look at the others a little but too, but I really don't think she'll be either of them (I already know she's NOT a Guardian... nope.)

There is SO much to talk about on this subject and I'd love to discuss it all, but there's no way that's possible. Definitely not in one blog post. Although all of it is cool, you'll have to read the book. :)

Except there is one more thing I want to talk about. With these four groups, Keirsey organizes them or characterizes them somewhat by how they use words and tools.

So, people tend to use words in either an abstract way (figuratively, symbolically, theoretically) or in a concrete way (literally, specifically, detailed). I'm still figuring out exactly what he means by this, but I think it's more of the way some people tend to use the literal meaning of the word while others make word pictures or metaphors. I think.

Then tools are used either cooperatively (in the way they were made to be used, in the traditional way) or in a utilitarian way (whatever is most practical or useful at the moment, even if it's generally "wrong").

With both of those things, then, you can see that each group has one that it is related to in how it uses tools, one in how it uses words, and one that is completely opposite. These two things (words and tools) can help you identify what type of personality other people have, since they're actually observable things instead of, say, the person's thoughts.

OK, now I'm done. I just found this stuff incredibly interesting (especially as a character-first writer!) and I wanted to share what I was learning! I'd love to talk about it more if anyone's interested :).

Developing Aubrinn

Yay, more writing stuff! Sorry, people...

I believe I told you last time that I'm going to be working on revising/re-writing my first novel. I've been reading this incredible book by Jeff Gerke (a speaker at OYAN Summer Workshop) and I want to try to implement some of what I'm learning.

This is the book:

It's amazing. I've learned much of the basic concepts from his sessions at SW, but he expands on it in the book (and it's just nice to have a paper copy). I shared some of the character stuff with you in this post about a character's inner journey. The plot stuff is about basic three-act structure, but also about using it to amplify the character's inner journey. It's really neat stuff.

But like I said, I want to try incorporating some of what I'm learning into my writing. I feel like there's some things I can put into my sci-fi novel, but it's such a complicated thing and I'm still not super comfortable with it. However, I am slightly more comfortable with the characters and ideas in my first novel. I also have been wanting to work on it again, and the complete failure of my original plot gives me a perfect opportunity to try new things with basic plots and characters I already kind of know.

One of the first things I've been doing is working on identifying Aubrinn's personality. It's a little bit tough, because I feel like she became a bit too much like me in the first draft. Not that it's bad to have a character like myself, but it's not... Aubrinn. It's Aubrinn pretending to be me. Or maybe the other way around (me pretending to be Aubrinn?) Anyway, it's not who I originally imagined her to be, and it's not a unique person. So I've been researching personality types and figuring out which one best fits the real Aubrinn. It's fun :D. So far, I think I've narrowed it down to ESTP or ENFP. Not completely sure yet, but obviously pretty clear on the E and P.

Now that I've told you all that, I'm realizing you might not know much about Aubrinn. I told you about Bryllen and her story last year and a lot about Cambriel and her story this year (go away, SpellCheck). I really can't remember if I've told you anything about Aubrinn, which is sad. She's fun. And her story is... getting there. So, let me introduce you.

Aubrinn is the crown-princess of the kingdom of Alendais. She doesn't want to be. She doesn't feel like she should be, and she certainly doesn't want to be queen. Her sister Beth was supposed to be the heir to the throne, but after the terrible accident, Beth is gone, and Aubrinn is left trying to fill her place. And feeling horribly out of place. Beth was perfect. Aubrinn is hardly queen material, especially in her mother's eyes. Playing tag in the gardens is fun. Diplomacy lessons are boring. But now Aubrinn is practically grown up, and playing with her little sisters (at least, the way Aubrinn likes to play) isn't particularly queenly. Plus, Aubrinn doesn't want to take Beth's place. She doesn't want to deal with the fact that Beth is gone forever.

There you go, some basic set-up. Aubrinn is not happy that I told you that last part, but it's an important part of who she is AND of her inner journey. Sorry, Aubrinn dear.

Oh! I also have these pictures that kind of remind me of Aubrinn. I found this one first and it really seemed to fit her, so I looked for others (of the same person, of course).

I just like her facial expression even though she's in handcuffs. This is another of the ones I found.

Ta-da! Now you hopefully have a better idea of who Aubrinn is. You can expect more updates in the future!

Character (and Writing) Updates

Ok, it's about time for a writing update! (It's been what, a week?) So maybe there's not a whole lot to share, but I'm excited about what's new.

First off, I named a few more characters! Yay! If you know much about my process of character development, you know that my characters often spend their first several months without names. Well, for these two, the wait is over. Allow me to introduce them to you.

This is Malea Scott, my Hero's mother. I feel like I've showed you this picture before, but now she has a name, so you have to have something to associate with it.

She's a very sweet person. I don't know her that well yet, but I think I'll like her. Even if some parts might be challenging to write (for more than one reason!) If I remember correctly, I've told you a little bit about Malea before, especially if I've talked about Cambriel (my Hero). If you look back at this post you'll see a little more about her (as well as links to other previous posts). I haven't worked out a ton of her history, but we'll see how much I actually need… Probably more than I think. ;)

Now this little darling is Laramie Cartland, officially the most adorable baby ever. Ok, not officially. But still adorable! She's the daughter of my Ally/Secondary Hero.

Aww! Yes, I do love this picture… Once again, I haven't developed Laramie very much, since she's kind of a secondary character. She's still important to the story, though, so she'll need some development! Which might be kind of hard, since she's not quite two… Yeah, we'll see. But I think it'll be fun :).

So there are my newly named characters! The other thing I've been working on lately is getting information from my Mentor. I'm taking a different approach than I did with Cambriel and Ainsley in that instead of just asking him questions, like an interview, it's more of an interrogation. I'm also writing it as a little scene instead of just his answers. So it's kind of a little short scene thing of his dialogue and actions as well as mine. Like we're acting together in an imaginary interrogation room. Which I know sounds really weird. Asking imaginary people questions is bad enough, but interacting with them…? Well, sorry. I'm a writer. And I'm getting useful information. Not quickly, mind you, it's hard to get him to talk. But even though I'm mainly asking about something specific he does, I'm also getting insight into his character and seeing him a little differently. He's not exactly the person I originally thought, and he's a lot more complex. Like everything else in this novel….

Ok, enough weird stuff. I'm also getting ready to start rewriting my first novel. It doesn't have a title (imagine that!) but in case you don't already know, it's the one about Aubrinn. Not that that helps a whole lot. Anyway, I've been thinking about ways I might change things a little bit and brainstorming plot twists *evil grin*. If I do actually get started on this, I think it could turn out to be pretty good. And a lot better than the original draft/idea/mess. Maybe. I'm hoping. But I think it will be really fun to work on it and get to work with my other characters again. I don't plan to drop the sic-fi one, by the way. It'll still be my priority (I think) but I definitely can't finish it in time for the OYAN contest this fall, so I want to revise Aubrinn's story for that. We'll see how it goes, but I'm excited to work on it, so that must be a good sign, right?

Well, that's what I've been working on recently. There are still a ton of names to come up with, and Katrel needs to tell me a lot more before I know what I need to know, but it's coming. Slowly but surely.