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Also, “blog, revamped”!  What do you think? But on to the important stuff.

I’ve already mentioned that Proxy is returning, so here are a few updates:

Roe: I’m gonna let y’all see her great big personality changes for yourselves, but I’ve altered her appearance as well.  Instead of a kind of Saoirse Ronan look, she’s more of a slightly plainer Katie McGrath, pictured below.

 

 

 

 

 

The Messenger.  Calder (Jude Law-like in appearance, but younger) is going to be quite different from my original intentions, mostly because I didn’t have all that much personality planned for him.  One of the many reasons that I restarted this book: realizing it was laaaaame.  I’ve done extensive “interviewing”, background describing, and personality delving, and I finally feel like I’ve got a real, breathing person to work with.  Now if only I can convey him (and the others) onto the page.

 

And Jude is still Jude, but I’m deepening his character as well, with lots of character profiles and fake interviews .  He’s also still Liam Hemsworth with dark hair.

 

 

So anyways, I’m excited, and I’m so happy that some of you are willing to give this another shot and struggle through it once more with me. 🙂  I’m planning on posting the first prologue (which seems as if it’s unchanged, but is, in fact, much altered) tomorrow.  See you then!  (And I’m using a new cover- let me know what you think!)

 

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Emphasis on “may”…the first one.

I’m just going to get right to the point: I’ve got writing issues.  I can’t go three months without something new on my plate, or I get stir-crazy and frantic, like my world is closing in.  It’s sad, people.  Pity me.

Thanksgiving night (after eating far too much food, playing thanksgiving-themed games, singing in a talent show, tying for first place in said talent show, and then eating far too much dessert)I had a dream.  It was so epic I think it might have tied with Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.  I’m not even joking.

It was set in the 1890s, in the alleys of London, carrying the feel of Newsies and themes from The Thief Lord, and woven with romance, jealousy, oppressive family ties, secret background-stories, betrayal, and adventure.  My favorite “character” in the dream was a carbon-copy of Alistair Brammer as he appears in the new Les Misérables film, and was consequently named Alistair.  (I’m more than happy to have him feature in my book since he’s rather a favorite of mine in the musical theater world.  If you don’t know his work, look him up!)

I definitely overslept, though it didn’t matter since I always do at Gramma’s house.  People kept trying to wake me up and I’d shove them away, because even mid-dream I could tell this would make a fantastic novel.  My consequence was that most of the Thanksgiving dinner left-overs had been eaten by the time I finally got up at almost noon.

But I think it was worth it.

I’d love to promise that I’ll be unveiling this new book soon (since the dream covered all the major plot points, and since I wrote it all down the second I woke up, I only have to write it now! cha-ching.) but I’m afraid I have to finish at least Esmeralda before I can conscience that.  If it sounds at all interesting to you, though, never fear! It will appear soon enough.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a temporary cover image, since even before I post it I must have a cover (oh yes, I’m calling it simply “Dream” for now, since that’s what it was, even though that has nothing to do with the story).

(And I think that “Ava” looks something along the lines of the girl in this picture, though I’m not positive yet.)

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It’s kinda awkward when you have a crush on one of your own characters.

It is not, however, infrequent among writers, I’ve surmised.  And this is certainly not the first time it has happened to me.

Des (Despard) Morrisay is my most recent “crush”, though that sounds mind-blowingly vain and conceited and arrogant, since I did think him up, after all.  But….he’s kind of adorable.  Trust me, whether or not it works out on the page, he’s basically perfect in my mind.  In an entirely different way than Tam is perfect.  Because…*River Song voice*…”Spoilers!” sadly, most of this book is about Isla learning to be strong without Tam, so there isn’t as much character development as I’d like for him.

Oh! Before I forget, Finding You is on Pinterest! Check out the board I’ve created here (I’ll be adding to it fairly often)!

But anyway.  I mentioned when I first announced Finding You in this post that I had a cast of supporting characters that I was excited about, and now you’ve met some of them- so here they are.

Des, my personal favorite, is imagined quite a bit after Dominic Cooper in appearance, with a bit of Peter Pan’s personality thrown in (my impression of Peter Pan from reading it as an 11-year-old, when I fell in love with him).  I haven’t honestly seen Dominic Cooper in many movies (for Sense and Sensibility I prefer Greg Wise as Wickham) but there’s something about him in Mamma Mia! that I really love.  My impression of his personality showing through in the role definitely impacted the character in my mind who later became Des.  Here are a couple of images to give you an idea.

    

Quite the charmer, huh?  I think so.

I’ve also been introducing y’all to the other girls in the cell, one-by-one.  Here are two of them, who play larger parts than the others:

    

The first is how I imagine Valentina looking- I don’t know who the picture is off, but the second I saw it I knew who Valentina was. She’s a bit more upfront of a character than some of the cast- at least, I think she’s a little more open.  You can tell who she is right off by what she does in a crisis situation, how she tries to be strong/put others first, etc.  At least I hope that’s obvious.  Even still she surprises me at times.  I hadn’t planned the bit about her brother getting shot until I was writing it and thought, “Of course she had a little brother.”

The second image is Abbie Cornish, in Sucker Punch.  That movie….oh man, it rocked my world.  I watch it whenever I can get my hands on it, and blast the soundtrack like nobody’s business.  It’s…oh man. I don’t even know. It’s epic.  One of my favorite movies ever, and the opening scene is by far the greatest opening scene in the history of film.  Anyway.  The character of Sweetpea, played by Abbie Cornish, is strong-willed and kinda kick-*ahem*-butt, but aside from appearance, that’s where the similarities end.  Sweetpea is protective and, when it comes to her sister, selfless.  She’s also not one to take risks that have little-to-no chance of paying out.  My Phoebe is very different, as I hope I’ll be able to portray.  Escape, and not the people around her, is what she cares about.  She also dresses a little differently. 😉

I’m nearly ready to introduce y’all to Oliver, who I am super excited about, and Josiah Boyne, who is also….um, exciting.  He’s a character at least.  Though I’ve already let you briefly meet Zachariah Curram, I’m holding off from giving you my thoughts on him, and any pictures for the time being because I want his character to speak for itself.  There’s a scene with him coming up that I am really excited about writing.  I’ll post a second wave of character introductions a little later. 🙂

Thanks for reading!  Comment and let me know what you think of the way I’ve imagined the characters, and let me know how your imagination differs!

READ FINDING YOU HERE

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Here they are, folks! [Most of] my cast!  I’ve had a few characters that only exist because I someone to shape them around [Leopold] and others that took me months to figure out what they looked like [Evy’s mother, the queen].  But here’s what I’ve come up with.

To see them better, view the image in a new tab; I had to make it a bit small so it would fit my theme. 😉

Going down each column, left to right:

Nicolai [Liam Neeson],

Roman [Chord Overstreet],

Natalia [Natalie Portman]

Leopold [Henry Cavill],

Evangeline [random image I found],

The Queen (Evy’s mother) [Femke Janssen]

Leopold (again) [Henry Cavill],

Evangeline (again) [Mischa Barton],

The King (Evy’s father) [William Fichtner]

Aron [Peter Facinelli],

Jakob [Daniel Craig]

Daria [Kate Micucci],

Yurik [Rupert Penry-Jones],

Ivan [Matt Bomer]

There you are!   Tatiana is not pictured here, as I’m still sorting out her exact appearance, and neither is the maid who gave Evy a hard time (and returns soon), who looks like Eve Myles, or Luka, who is based a little off of Sean Palmer in the original cast of the Broadway Little Mermaid.   I haven’t yet gotten Mikhail figured out either. :/ Let me know if these aren’t how you pictured the characters, if they are, or if you have any suggestions on changes!  Thanks!

p.s. I’m about to post two new chapters! Check them out!

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Before I begin, I’d like to make it clear once and for all that Esmeralda has NOTHING to do with gypsies.  I promise.  It’s the truth.  Gypsies are awesome and all, and yes I’ve written a dozen cliched and possibly thrilling stories about heroines who join gypsy troupes, but this is not one of those.  Just putting that out there.  (This is a hint to all those lovely people who ask me to please stop.)

Now, to business.  A brilliant friend of mine once shared via her blog some of her personal strategies, quirks, pet peeves, and idiosyncrasies (than Heaven for spell check on that one) about writing.  One thing she mentioned that inspired me to no end was an, “Inspired By” list. She says she keeps them at the beginning of her stories, to remind her of the feel she wants her book to have.  For instance the list for her pirate novel, Privateer, includes the song “Woman” from Boubil and Schonberg’s musical, The Pirate Queen.  You can see instantly why we’re friends. I THOUGHT NO ONE ELSE HAD EVER EVEN HEARD OF THE PIRATE QUEEN.

So I thought I’d do the same for Esmeralda.  I’ve come up with some of the items, settings, characters and old stories that for a time roiled my mind until coming out as Esmeralda.  So here are a few:

Marie Antoinette, the fate of her family, and the French Revolution in general. (Best history subject ever much? YES.)  This also includes the book The Red Necklace.  I get chills just thinking about it. *shiver*

The fashions / weapons / prisons in The Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The jail cell in The Count of Monte Cristo. Not gonna lie- I basically just described that cell, no imagination necessary.

The old myth of the tragic lovers, Pyramus & Thisbe.  (I’m pretty sure Shakespeare was inspired by them as well.)

The bloke who plays Monsieur Thenardier in the 1998 movie adaptation of Les Miserables.  He just kinda stuck in my mind, and then boom! One day I needed a jailer, and there he was.  No Armand Dorleac, to be sure, but I couldn’t really plagiarizeThe Count of Monte Cristoagain.

The book and the movie(s) of The Scarlet Pimpernel.  Again with the French Revolution.  I don’t know why since the stories have nothing to do with each other.

Random things like masquerade balls, decorative masks, black feathers, purple silk, dingy cellars / jail cells, clock faces, clock chimes, roman numerals, flintlock pistols, hook & eye boots…the list goes on.

And then of course people: Henry Cavill, Chord Overstreet, Daniel Craig, Mischa Barton, Peter Facinelli.

That’s about it, at the moment.  There are lots of scenes and memories I can’t place, but I don’t want to bore y’all by wracking my brain for too long.  That’s the basics. 🙂

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I know I’ve done this “announcement” thing in the wrong order, but I’m here to tell y’all about my latest might-be-masterpiece-after-a-dozen-drafts, “Finding You”.  I had this idea for the first scene (though instead of a rooftop it originally took place in a field) and started writing, with no thought to the fact that I had no storyline whatsoever.  I didn’t even have names for the characters.  But I saw something in my head and had to write it down.  “The Flash” (as Emily Starr would have me call it) of inspiration comes to me like this A LOT, but 9 1/2 times out of 10 it results in crumpled papers that sit for years in my file box and never see the light of day after the first moment I’ve written them.

This time, however…it worked.

I decided I wanted my world to be a SteamPunk one (I’ve never read or written any SteamPunk before; my experience comes completely  from video games and internet image searches, so bear with me) and I wanted it to be about separation, and then searching.  I didn’t know that a mixed up plot about war and trafficking and white-hot brands and outlaws and a brothel and other crazy random happenstance would evolve, though.

But…it has!

I’ve written about twenty pages (the chapters are less than a page each) and I’m anxious to post more, after I make sure that what I’ve got lines up with my vision for the story.

For once I’m super excited about my supporting cast: that’s not to get your hopes up, because they could be absolute rubbish, despite my best efforts, but I’m looking forward to their stories as much as I am to my protagonists’.

If you’ve read any of “Finding You” on Figment, you’ve met Tam and Isla, my hero and heroine.  They’re opposites: he’s bold and thrill-seeking, she’s quiet and meek, friends all their lives, and basically, they love each other.  This love is newly realized when circumstances cause Tam to join the army, and misfortune finds Isla kidnapped and on her way to be trafficked with a score of other girls to be sold to underground brothels and clients.  It’s not fun.

But amidst her horrific circumstances, Isla (unable to get word to / from Tam, obviously) learns who she is, and becomes one of a cast of other “unfortunates” that I cannot wait to write about.  Including, but by no means limited to two of my guys:

Des – modeled in looks after Dominic Cooper, in personality kinda (wait for it…) after Peter Pan.  Let me just say that I’ve had a “back-of-my-mind” crush on Peter Pan since I read the book as an 11-year old and thought he was the greatest thing to hit planet earth…sort of.

Oliver – a slave since he was a kid, when he got his tongue cut out (he can’t talk now…in case you didn’t derive that) but happens to be quick with anything that involves his hands: machinery, sleight of hand, lock picking, etc and is rather adorable and is kinda like a kid even though he’s like 17.

And then I’ve got some fairly sinister villains planned, with names like Zachariah Curram and Ambrose Hoctor.  So I’m feeling happy about this story.

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Oh, and these are Tam and Isla:

(Alex Pettyfer)

 

(same as cover…random image)

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I’m pleased to announce that I’ve officially introduced my favorite and also most hated character into Proxy: The Messenger.

In my head he’s the greatest thing to hit planet “whatever-planet/world-my-book-takes-place-on”, but unfortunately my execution so far has been less than brilliant.  To put it bluntly, I’ve written 85 pages of Proxy and I can hardly stand the guy, even though I love him! And wrote him to be quite the character! And as far as working through his relationship with Roe (who I am siding with at  the moment because she’s at least being true to who I told her to be) to get to the point where there’s some chemistry between them?  Yep, not happening.  He goes between seeming like a jerk, to being cryptic, to being flat-out impossible to understand.  And I swear, he hasn’t listened to a word I’ve written about him! It’s completely driving me nuts.

However, if it’s any consolation, he’s rather gorgeous.

I wrote this story years ago about this girl who was going to have an arranged marriage, then this guy comes to her family’s home in the middle of a storm, stays a bit with them, they fall in love, and then her fiancé arrives and the cool guy has to leave, because it’s awkward and painful to both of them, and then the girl runs away, and then there’s a search on for her, and Cool Guy volunteers to help (because he wuvs her) she does too (in the guise of a boy) because she wants to be close to him, and there’s confusion and all the clichés you can imagine and he eventually realizes who she is and BAM. They decide to run away together. And I never really wrote the ending or decided what the conclusion would be.  You probably don’t care a hoot for any of that. Anyway….I based Cool Guy’s appearance on Jude Law.

Why? You ask.  Just kidding, you didn’t ask, because it’s obvious.  It’s Jude Law.

But when I trashed that story I kinda wanted a place for the overly attractive and thoroughly British Mr. Law among my writings.  And hello! Here he is: The Messenger.

 

So there you have it.  I wanted to rant about how troublesome he is for me to anyone out there, and you, my dear blog (and possible readers), seemed like the best option.  But now I’ve got to get back to work on writing him.  And eating copious amounts of mashed potatoes to sooth my irritation.  And listening to the overly-epic Master and Commander soundtrack.

Also…new chapter!!

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Some of you know that I have an embarrassing and ongoing love affair with sticky-notes.   I’m sure my family thinks I’m some kind of freak, since my mirror, walls, bureau, headboard, and desk are all covered in them, some scribbled feverishly in the dark when I’m supposed to be sleeping and slapped to the nearest hard surface, others when my eyes pop open in the morning and all I can think of the next plot development or character’s back-story I’ve thought (or dreamt) of.

It’s pathetic.

And then one day my friend Anderson mentioned in casual (facebook) conversation, this thing called “Listhings” that he thought I might enjoy. Little did he know…. *maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh*

I’ve become obsessed. It’s like sticky-notes…on my laptop.  And you can have pictures, and put script in bold, and italics, and cross it through, and you can drag things around and add checklists and…I’m in love with it.  I’ve made half a dozen “boards” (not to be confused with the nearly as epic Pinterest-style boards) and I have to force myself to stop at that for now.

So anyway.  Because I love y’all, I will let you in on my secrets.  In previous posts, such as “Leopold” and “Evangeline” Ihave introduced you to my leading characters.  I’ll put a couple of screenshots of my board here, but if you’d like to officially view it, put a comment on this blog and I’ll send you an invite to view the board.  🙂  Be warned that there are dozens upon dozens of spoilers.  Don’t read beyond the section with the pictures if you don’t want to know the entire plot. 😉

I like to put questions I’m pondering as well:

And then random things that overwhelm me because I want to live up to them:

Anyways, that’s it for now.  Comment or message me if you want the password to view it in full!

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So guess what? I just added a chapter to Proxy!!  I’m sure you’ve all been holding your breath.  Yep. It’s taken me long enough, but there you have it, chapter two.  So I thought I’d introduce you to a few of the characters (I can’t include my favorite yet as he hasn’t shown up in the story yet…grrr) :

Firstly, there’s Roe.  That’s obvious.

I don’t have her completely pegged yet, but I have a kind of wispy idea of her in my head.  Since in the three years I took trying to write this story and failing over and over again I was spurred on to write this draft by watching the movie Hanna, I identify Roe a little bit with Saoirse Ronan- I’m a big fan, even though I don’t find her all that pretty. Perhaps that’s why- she fits with the idea I have of Roe, but more in mien and personality than looks.

I kinda like it.  But watch Hanna and you’ll get a better idea, aside from the light hair.

Other random pictures that inspire me:

I love this last one even though there’s not a masquerade (that I’ve planned, at least) in Proxy.

And then as far as Jude goes:

This may be the only attractive picture ever of Liam Hemsworth (and I’ve yet to find one of his brother), in my opinion.  I cannot bring myself to join the “Liam-Hemsworth-Is-So-Hot” bandwagon. I just don’t see it. Plus he kinda annoys me. Aside from being Australian, I don’t personally think he has anything going for him.  Especially since he played Gale…but I swear that’s beside the point.  Howevvvverrrr…he’s exactly as I picture Jude from the second I thought of his character.  So there you have it.

Anyways… NEW CHAPTER!

(I have actually written over 60 pages, but I haven’t yet typed them into my computer.  Old-fashioned, I know.)

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{New story I’ve begun that I’m contemplating  posting.}

So there’s this girl named Rosamond, right?  And she lives in a kingdom at war with another- her father is an advisor of the king’s and she is no stranger to the strife and anger that plague the political climate.  Since she was very little she has known that one day she would marry the prince of the kingdom her own was at war with, in hopes that her vast dowry and her father’s political standing would help to bring peace to the lands.

Or at least that’s what’s commonly circulated.

Unbeknownst to her mother, Roe and her father have greater things in mind.  For almost two decades, as long as she can remember, Roe has led a double life: in the mornings her governesses try to instill lady-like qualities, and in the afternoon her best friend and trainer teach her combat and survival skills: archery, melee, hunting, and riding.  As the future wife of their enemy’s crown prince, Roe volunteers to act as her king’s spy now that peace seems unlikely.

So when the announcement is made for her advantageous betrothal and the messenger arrives with the first letter of courtship, Roe is as cool as can be.  She thinks she has everything under control.  She has practiced feigning emotions and lady-like behavior all her life, and she’s ready to play the part.  What she didn’t figure on was how difficult pretending would be when the possibility becomes very real that she is falling love, not with the prince she’s betrothed to, but with his messenger…who might have a few secrets of his own.

~~~

So yeah…I know I start new stories all the time but trust me, you don’t even hear about most of them.  Let me know if you actually eve think this sounds remotely interesting.

There’s a preview HERE.