Winding Down the Story

One more day left in July and then it's August!

Which means that Camp Nano will end in one more day. 

It has been quite a month. For those unfamiliar with Camp Nano, basically it is the "off-season" of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and it is a time for writers to work on projects of their choosing. Participants can also set their own goal for the month, choosing between words, minutes, hours, or even sentences!

I've been working on a new project. A story of fae and faeries, magic and wonder. I've had the idea on my mind for several months, (since last fall, I think). I had come across several stories with faeries. Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series, Holly Black - The Cruel Prince, mentions of the fae in Cassandra Clare's The Dark Artifices, along with stories and other small mentions in literature. Besides that I have always been fascinated with and enamored by faeries.

Side tangent - Have you ever built a faerie home?

Back when I was below the age of ten, I went to Girl Scout camp and they had a faerie forest with a place to add homes for the faeries. The homes were built from twigs, leaves and everything was natural. You had to construct something welcoming and sturdy. 

The Little Folk are shy creatures but they pervade every natural place. While in England, I told my friend Griffin (as we walked to Stonehenge) that the fun of imagination lay in the possibilities of everything. Including little faeries hiding in the trees and hollows, watching and waiting, and if you polluted their homes - you'd find mud and bugs in your bed!

So you see, my world has been primed with faeries and the idea of them, but for this story, I wanted to focus solely on the Fae. Most stories are stories with faeries and I wanted this story to be about a fairy. 

Also, have you noticed that there are variations on spelling and terminology?

We have faeries, fae, fairies, fairy, the little folk, the little people, fey, fays, faery, the fair folk, etc...

Setting aside all those different ways. My story is about Kira Ragwort. As a teaser, here is the beginning of the first chapter:

What do you think?

Beginnings are tricky.

They are the hooks that draw a reader into the story-world and if they don't add mystery and questions, people may set them down. So for this entire month, I've written and worked on this story. Since I'd put thought into it before hand, I had a general idea of where I wanted to go. I actually had titles and vague plans for the first fourteen chapters. 

Of course, stories rarely go to plan and once I really dove into the world, I discovered more characters and events then I'd originally thought of. 

Before the month of nano even started, I reworked the beginning and order of events. I'd sent a very rough draft to my friend and she'd given me some feedback on how to really get the action moving. It's a habit of mine to go into the mundane before the exciting which can be off-putting and disinteresting to a reader. I tend to over describe the littlest things and gloss over the big which really should be the other way around. Which is why I'm so grateful for my writing friends, I have so much support in the writing community and my buddies help me figure out where improvements need to be made.

If you want to see some quotes from the work, check out my instagram. I go by author.meganwong - not super creative, but it makes me easy to find. I'll be editing and revising the story in the coming months and I'll update on Kira's journey as I go. Perhaps something new shall hit me and create a new twist. All will be revealed in time.

What are your favorite "fairy tales" or encounters with the fae?

I'm a bit behind on my goal, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be furiously typing away now

Literature Lessons: Colliding Clans

Families can be messy. These days we're familiar with the terms divorce, remarriage, step- mother, father, children, brother/sister, etc... Families are modge-podge creations like a scrapbook (that may or may not be bulging at the seams).

The family situations in Island Whispers are mixed as well. Angelica has just lost her father, but for a long time she grew up with a single parent (since her mother died while she was a baby). Monica still has two parents and extended family who are involved in her life. Adam lost his mother when he was young and has a mixed relationship with his father. Lastly, Grant comes from an interesting family situation that we learn more about in the story.

For this post, I'm going to focus on Grant and the vampires.

If you haven't read Island Whispers, let me warn you now - there will be spoilers. I can't delve into Grant's family situation and not reveal things that we learn about in the book. So if you prefer to have your stories unspoiled before you read them, stop here. Don't click "read more."

Thank you.

A Quick Fix Society vs Slow Thinking and Intuition

It is often the nature of our society to look for "quick fixes." Speed is of primary importance because we are so conscious of time, or the lack of it. This "quick fix" mindset finds its way into daily life through our thoughts about to-do lists.

"I need to do laundry, get groceries, finish that work assignment, etc..." Then our mind switches to, "I can start the laundry and get the groceries, start the work assignment, finish the laundry, etc..." Our ability to think, organize and solve problems helps us a lot. It makes us efficient.

Efficiency is beneficial, but it can also be harmful. There are certain activities that require slow thought and time for intuition and great ideas to manifest. Mostly creative and scientific work require this "thought time." These endeavors seek new ideas and stimulation from synthesizing information to adding onto it with insight.

As much as a computer is likened to our brains, the two are fundamentally different, and disregard the Imitation Game and Turing's theories for now. I mean to say that while our thoughts have a flow of various ideas, there is a limit to how much we can absorb. We created machines like computers to do the work that we can't do alone. Thus, if the computer is able to calculate or dispense information to us, we should be able to do our part and use that data/info to create new ideas.

However, the "quick fix" society is concerned with getting to the answer quickly. Since speed is valued. The time needed for ingenuity and creative ideas is not given its full weight and not appreciated.

Perhaps, as a writer, you can recall times that the story got stuck. Your mind began working at the problem, the moment it occurred, but you couldn't see the full picture. So you put it to bed and took time away, perhaps to sleep yourself or some other activity. Later, in the process of something else or as you wake up, the answer comes to you, as magically as waving a wand. It would be nice if those ideas hit us in the moment, but our brains can't operate at the pace of society. We need our own time to reflect and think, which is why there seems to be a battle between "quick fixes" and the slow thinking required to cultivate intuition.

The more time we take to think, the more the rhythm of thinking and imagining become easier to manage and slip into. The issue occurs when we don't give ourselves time or berate ourselves for slow thinking. It's a necessary process and natural. We're so focused on getting things done, one after the other, that we lack the creative thinking which gave us the power of technology and the ease of other devices.

You might be wondering why the focus of this post is technical and contemplative. Partially because I'm in school again and reading articles always sets my mind spinning, but also because I think it is important for people to be aware of this.

If you get the chance, read "No Time to Think" by David M. Levy. The history and scholarship mentioned in the paper is fascinating. It's useful to learn about the historical intentions for current processes that we take for granted. Perhaps the article will send your mind spinning too.

The Reason Why I Write

I think many writers are often asked about why they started writing. 

"What inspired you?" 

"When did you know that this was something that you wanted to do?"

But, like everything else in the world, there is never one answer. Each writer will tell you something different. Depending on the person, there are various reasons that they began writing. This is my reason.

If I go back to the stories I wrote in elementary school and with my friends, then it was because I was excited by stories. I wanted to tell and make up stories because I enjoyed the ones that I read and I wanted to invent the adventures that we would have together.

Years later, I remembered my fondness for writing and decided that I wanted to write a story that others would want to read. I wanted to share the stories in my head. So I began with a story about a girl and scuba diving.

Why this watery tale? I think it was because I had an interest in the ocean at the time. I wanted to do something realistic. The time period changed over the course of that story from an Edwardian period to modern day. I couldn't really decide what I wanted and where it was going. I was trying so hard to be a writer that I thought everyone would want (with a story that the public would like) that I forgot about the writing that I loved.

I abandoned ship on that project in 8th grade. That was when I started writing for myself with the intent of sharing it later. The stories that I loved to read had magic and magical creatures, so I started there. Angels, demons, vampires, they would all be present in my story. Not only that, they would be the main figures with the greatest population in my world. They would become the "humans" of my story. Several times I thought about actual humans featuring in the story, but that seemed to follow everyone else's pattern. Besides, I was tired of humans and most of all, I wanted every character to have magic. To complete the idea, I added a fourth group: merpeople.

My four characters came to life and perhaps you know them, Angelica, Monica, Grant, and Adam. This story would show each of their lives. They would be young. Around my age and a little older than I was (at the time), and they would be everything I dreamed of.

Book Review: July

My mother told me the Hobbit made her hungry. Well, The Magic Thief made me doubly so and with a craving for buttery biscuits. Although, biscuits are so delicious that it takes very little to make me crave them.

My mother bought this book for me. She went to the store
when the author was there and got me a signed copy.
It is one of the most touching gifts I've received and
I absolutely adore this book.

The first thing you should know about The Magic Thief is that it's fun. That might seem simple, but never underestimate the power of a fun book. Most of the time I want to read a book to be entertained. I want to read something that will capture my imagination and show me things that I've never seen before. A good book is powerful because it can light those fires in your mind and turn mere shadows of a story into a stained glass window of color.

I suppose I'm being a bit dramatic, but I was drawn to the cover and the books appearance. The pages are edged and create fun ridges. The first line drew me in: "A thief is a lot like a wizard." Just breathe that in. A thief and a wizard, comparing the two, it makes a lot of sense actually.

The voice is strong though. Conn, the main character and pick-pocketing thief, is on the street when he picks the pocket of a wizard. Thus begins his life from a street urchin to living in an old manor and making a life for himself with Nevery (the aforementioned wizard) and his muscle, Benet.

I love the language used and how things are described. Conn is direct and yet, he has a talent for comparisons and stating things that just ring true. "No luck that day for my quick, pocket-pick hands..." or "I hunched into my lurking spot..." or "Old man, I thought. A bent, bearded cloak-wearing old croakety croak leaning on a cane." How can you not love those words and not want to know more about the character behind them.