The Ink Timeline that I probably won't follow / Another Challenge-Thing

T h e  I n k  T i m e l i n e

- AKA: the-flawless-timeline-so-I-can-finally-finish-something. Honestly.


WHAT?
Well, it's a timeline. You know, your average line with times...and events...
But the important part is that this timeline doesn't give us a glimpse of the past--it gives us (specifically me) a glimpse of the future. So it's like--like--an outline of all my writerly goals. It will include everything I hope to achieve in the year 2012 before I start junior year in high school, which is supposedly The Hardest Year. This is the ultimate timeline. So it overrules every past thing I've said about my NaNoWriMo or my WIPs or whatever (by the way, after this post, I'm updating my other post on my WIPs just to keep everything as consistent as possible).

WHY?
Because I've realized my lack of progress in everything I've been writing, and have decided to do something about it. Will I follow this timeline exactly? Probably not. Will I at least try to? Probably. And the trying matters the most. At least I'd be getting somewhere with my life.


AND THE TIMELINE IS...?
The timeline is this:
(UPDATED: 3/3/12)

January - February: Finish the Wikia-Article Profiles (WAP) and the Giant Outline of Dread (GOoD) for Depravity. 

• This did not happen whatsoever. Instead, I finished all of my Pre-GOoD (the timeline of the era before the start of my WIP series), about half of my Wikia-Article Profiles, and have only started on my official GOoD. Epic fail of the year. So far.

March - April: Write the rough draft of Shadowed; meet the two-thirds mark for Depravity revisions (no idea where that would be). EDIT: As of now this will include:

• Finish the Wikia-Article Profiles (WAP) and the Giant Outline of Dread (GOoD) for Depravity.

May - June: Revise Shadowed. EDIT: As of now this will include:

• Write the rough draft of Shadowed; meet the two thirds mark for Depravity revisions

July - August: Revise Shadowed. Finish revisions for Depravity.


September - December: ???


Simple enough of a timeline, but as for actually meeting the goals...well, not so much.


BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.

I'm participating in the Harry Potter Reading Challenge! Through 2012, I have to reread and possibly rewatch all seven of the Harry Potter books and movies. I don't have to post a review about them, but I can post discussion entries on my blog or on The Reading Fever (<--well, I would comment in this case). I'm super excited because I. Love. Harry. Potter. (Even though I've got to say, the Potter Puppet Pals are pretty funny.)

This might be the sixth time I've reread the series. I can't wait.

- E

W.I.P. Database.

'tis here

DEPRAVITY  {YA Urban Fantasy} -- in the Giant Outline of Doom phase. See The Ink Timeline.
is my current official work in progress. The story is about fifteen year old Gwen, who finds out she is a demon slayer and is sent to a demon slayer training school, where she must uncover the motives of a supernatural guild of assassins and its relationship with the disappearing students--and Gwen herself.

'tis here

SHADOWED: THE RETELLING OF THUMBELINA {YA Fantasy}-- see The Ink Timeline.

Thumbelina was born from the flowers. Maia was born from the shadows.


In the land of Celeste, Maia Amblyne lives a seemingly quiet life with her adoptive grandmother, but at night she faces vicious apparitions in her sleep: looming shadows that taunt her and draw her to them. So when Maia sees one of these shadows when she is awake, she is compelled to follow it. She will soon realize, however, that the shadow-like creature is a trap, and when it disappears with Maia's grandmother, Maia is determined to get her back. But to do so would mean striking up a bargain with a newcomer, a faerie prince from a completely different world named Zeric who claims he needs Maia to help his clan rise to power, but will be able to help Maia find her grandmother.


But Zeric is not the only one who needs Maia. For a malicious intent, the current ruling clan of Zeric's world needs her to control the shadowed creatures that stalk the night. And a mysterious faerie named Cassandra requires Maia's assistance as well. Maia herself must spend time mastering her skills of control over the shadowed creatures, but she must do it quickly. For despite the number of people who are willing to help her, there are many more who are willing to kill her; and each person she encounters can either take her one step forward--or one step back.

Shadowed was my NaNoWriMo project in 2010 and 2011, but both years I was not able to complete it (boo...)

* Shadowed creatures are gigantic things. Like this big thing.

A RUSH OF NEEDLES -- read it on FictionPress.

When sixteen year old Nell Carlton stumbles upon a strange man encased in needles, she is brought into the dangerous world of the puppets and their human puppeteers, where she must find her role and learn about her abilities to help a supernatural guild.

This is probably my most unofficial WIP that I'm actually writing. You can go to this post for a more detailed blurb, and for more information on ARoN.

That's it!

- E

December comes rolling in...

First and foremost, I'd like to say one thing:

I really didn't enjoy NaNo.

From what I've heard, most of the population of NaNo writers love or loved NaNo. I guess I'm not of the majority. Not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. But the truth is, I suppose I just didn't really get into the writing zone, or my NaNo novel. Everything felt dull and pointless, and I wasn't motivated at all. It didn't help that schoolwork (a whole lot of schoolwork) was in my way. I suppose either Shadowed or Thumbelina didn't work out for me. Or maybe, it was because I was still so caught up in Depravity and Incandescent that all I could think about were demon slayers and not faeries and shadows. And what-not.

Which is why I finished NaNo with a messed up 30,535 words.

Am I going to start back up on Shadowed again? Maybe. I've never gotten such a creative idea before, and I'm still somewhat excited about it. But I'm not known for going back to old, unfinished novels. So maybe not.

As for Depravity, I'm doing fairly well. I'm more than a third in with my revisions, which are really tedious and annoying, but interesting all the same. For Depravity's sequel, Incandescent, I haven't written much, but I've gotten some pretty good ideas. This must mean something, right? I might not have won NaNo, but I at least had gotten somewhere with my Ascendancy Series.

Along with Depravity and Incandescent, I'm starting a third, 8,000-word novel for a Fiction Novel Writing Contest. Winner gets $1000. I'm not doing it for the money though. Not...really. I'm doing it because I'm just curious. I've never entered a contest before. It'd be good experience, wouldn't it? I have some pretty good ideas for my 8,000-word novel, but I don't have at title, and not many character names. Ah well. It'll happen soon enough. The submission deadline is January 15th, so I better get a move on.

Oh. And it's snowing over here...unfortunately.

- E

Being Dormant...

A quick notice before I get to writing for awhile.
This blog will be dormant until, pretty much, nano is over. I'm seriously behind and I can't afford to update anything anymore at all....aggh. Not that my updates would be lengthy anyway. They'd probably just consist of a bunch of word counts and such. Nothing too important or big.

So! If you want to know how I'm doing, just drop by on Nano. My username is, creatively put, "writerella".

Thanks a lot guys and I hope to be posting more in December!

- E

Way Behind.

Today marks, pretty much, the 7th day of Nano. And how much have I written?
Well so far: 3,600 words.

If that isn't sad, I don't know what is.

With Depravity, I had procrastinated, but I had written more than 100,000 words in a few months. But with Nano, I won't have a few months. I only have one. And being the careful planner that I am, I've realized that I need to write 1,800 words each day in order to reach my more-than-50,000 words goal. With this being day 7, I'm supposed to have around 12,000 words already.

But I don't.

I need 9,000 more, which I can't do in one day. I'll have to stretch this out again, like I had during my first draft of Depravity (when I reached 90,000 words). I'll be less busy now, at least.

- E

And Nano Begins.

It's almost 7 PM where I am, which means Nano is definitely underway. There are probably thousands of witers out there right now, writing furiously, their pencils or fingers flying across the paper or keyboard. Their minds are going at least a mile a minute, concentrating only on the goal ahead of them: to complete a 50,000 word novel in the span of the month of November.

At least, that's what I'm assuming right now, being a newbie in this whole Nano business.

I'm not sure how to take this whole entire thing--the first actual writing event I've ever entered willingly. Should I be jumping up and down, squealing in excitement and anticipation? Should I be slamming on my laptop, pounding those deep beginning scenes I've pictured over and over in my head of my novel? Or should I be writing this blog post, talking about nothing significant?

I know what I should be doing, and it's definitely not the last one.

But even with that in mind, I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. I keep on saying, Come on Ella, you need to get to Word and start typing away. I keep on telling myself that, but both my mind and body won't obey. It's pretty ironic, but I think it's my procrastinating self speaking to me.

However, once I do get everything under control, I swear I'll start writing, right after I dig up those sheets of paper and notebook that have my plans in. I don't have much of a feeling of how this month will turn out, but I hope it'll be a nice first experience.

And I wish all of the Nano writers out there luck--and enough coffee and chocolate to last a life time.

- E

October Already?

I'm just going to go ahead and say it:

I am not much of a fan of autumn.

I know this might come out as a shocker to those of you who actually read this blog, but it's the truth. Sure, fall is fine with me. I mean, I love the fresh smell of the season change, the sight of the leaves, and, of course, Halloween. And it'll all be spectacular and awesome right now.

But then the temperatures will drop, the leaves will already have fallen, and I'll probably find myself bundled up in jackets and coats that make me feel like all uncomfortable and awkward. And knowing that I will end up hating it is why I don't like it in the first place.

I already miss spring, even though it rains way too much. Everything comes alive in the spring--or at least they begin to. That's what I love the most about it.

Pessimistic thoughts aside...October means that NaNo is less than a month away. Less than a month! I still have so much to do though--planning, outlining, brainstorming...with all that's been going on, I haven't written Shadowed since I'd started thinking of it. Horrible, I know. I'm so ashamed =P

At least I've found a nice article here on Let The Words Flow that talks about outlining new novels and such. It should help me with my NaNo somewhat this year. After all, I'm pretty new to this.

- E

Shadowed's Characters.

After glancing at the pages of Depravity and noting character strengths, it got me thinking on my NaNo novel: Shadowed. What, I'd wondered, are my characters like? Do I know them at all? Of course I know Soraya from Depravity much better than Maia from Shadowed; Soraya is like an old friend--I've known her forever--where as Maia is a newcomer. A stranger, almost. And that just won't work when I'm writing about her.

To help me figure her out, I found this nice link suggested by someone on the NaNo forums. I've answered a few personality questions about Maia in her POV, and I've come up with results. Here they are:

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (40%) moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (36%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

messy, irritable, depressed, fragile, worrying, emotionally sensitive, does not like to lead, phobic, weird, suspicious, low self control, paranoid, frequently second guesses self, dependent, unproductive, introverted, weak, strange, unassertive, submissive, familiar with the dark side of life, feels invisible, rash, vain, anti-authority, heart over mind, low self concept, disorganized, not good at saving money, avoidant, daydreamer, unadventurous

 

Now I don't know about you, but I find these answers hysterical, especially because I know Maia would hate to be known as "fragile" and "weak". She would definitely agree that she is fragile and weak, but she'd hate to admit it. It's this pride thing she has going on, unlike Soraya, who has a low self-esteem. Maia has a high self-esteem.

Apparently Maia though isn't that much of a problem. The problem's probably Zeric. So I took the same quiz as well for him. And the results are here:

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (66%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Orderliness (46%) medium which suggests you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

rarely irritated, positive, tough, non phobic, fearless, likes the unknown, self reliant, high self control, confident, trusting, strong instincts, prudent, optimistic, willful, likes parties, prefers a specialized career, takes charge, altruistic, strong, high self concept, adventurous, practical, thoughtful

This is different for Zeric, though. He has a different personality throughout most of the novel than what he's really like--if that makes any sense.

I like to think that Maia and Zeric are polar opposites. And I'm pretty sure that even these personality tests agree. It's gonna be really fun to write about them...I can see it now....

- E

Shadowed: The Retelling of Thumbelina (Synopsis #1)

This is my current--and first--novel attempt for NaNoWriMo. The summary might change, but for now, this is what it is:

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Thumbelina was a girl born from the flowers. Maia is a girl born from the shadows.

In the land of Celeste lives orphan Maia Estelle, a sixteen-year-old girl who has had nightmares of harmless, but peculiar shadows for as long as she can remember. Her foster mother had disappeared, and her parents were presumably dead. So when Maia, who has nothing left to lose anymore, sees one of these shadows in her conscious state of mind for the first time, she is determined to follow it. But then a mysterious person shows up and cuts in, dispelling the shadow with a suspicious looking weapon.

He introduces himself as Zeric, a Prince of one of the twelve clans of faeries who are determined to overthrow the current king of the supposedly mythical, dystopian land of Troy. Prince Zeric requires Maia’s help to control the immensely powerful shadow spirits so he can obtain the throne. And if she does, he will take her to her foster mother, who is currently locked up in Troy.

However, Maia declines Zeric’s offer. In doing so, she somehow shatters the sheath the Prince’s clan had put on her—a sheath that hides her shadow abilities from everyone else of Troy. Now that her power is out in the open, many will target her for their own wants. And if Maia is to change her decision of the bargain, she better do it quickly; The King of Troy has issued an order to hunt the shadow spirits, and the number is slowly diminishing. Time is running out. Soon Maia, who is slowly grasping her control, must either learn to trust the Prince and restore Troy to its previous glory—or fend for herself.

An Introduction of Sorts

Actually, I wanted to create a blog once NaNo started, but I'm way too eager to wait. I've blogged before, but this'll be my first public blog. Well, sort of.

So an introduction is required. Er...let's see. I'm [known as] Ella. I'm 14 at the moment, and I'm a writer--more or less. This year will be my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'll be writing the retelling of Thumbelina. And it'll be classified as dark fantasy.

But NaNo Novel (titled "Shadowed" because I suck at naming my novels) won't be the only thing I'll be working on. I've completed my first novel at a total of 104,000 words a few years ago, and I'm revising it. Yay! (/sarcasm) It's known as Depravity, and will probably be known as Depravity for the rest of its existence. Depravity is about demon slayers. It's Buffy Meets Harry Potter original and awesome and right now, it sucks.

I'm on revision draft number seven.

But yep, that's it on me. Nothing too extravagant. I'll be blogging about both Depravity and Shadowed, but more on Depravity once November comes.

- E