The Cotton Anniversary

Apparently, the traditional anniversary gift for the second anniversary is cotton. I really don't have anything cottony, but I did make the small quilt featured in the picture below. It might be made of cotton. We're closing in on my anniversary so I'm reflecting on what's happened since the publication.

January 31, 2018 - Island Whispers became available.

The past two years I have grown as a writer and figured out what I want from writing. It was a long journey to get to this point, but I'm glad for every turn along the way.

Island Whispers is a book about friendship and magic. The two things I craved most in the world at that age. Time is a great fixer of many things, but Will is just as important to get things moving. The thing about Will is that it needs some inkling of Hope. The greatest thing Island Whispers can leave you with is Hope.

Hope for the future is a wonderful thing. It can spur people to action and banish doubt from their hearts. When life is hopeless, we need a light to show us the way. 

Sometimes that light is as simple as a story.

With gratitude and love, thank you to those who have supported me on this journey and to those who have been my light in the darkness.

Progress Update

Dear Reader of the Internet

I think I might have done one of these before, but I don't really tell y'all about my upcoming WIP (works in progress) and my plans. I think I briefly informed my writing bubble about Nanowrimo last summer and the faerie story I had worked on. There probably have been brief mentions of another project, perhaps the name "The Broken Bounty" will sound familiar to some.

My writing life has currently been absorbed by the world of the Broken Bounty. It has been my only WIP for the past few months and the only open document in my tool bar. I haven't dreamed about any other story or tried to plot anything else. Mostly this is because The Broken Bounty is nearly 4 years old and I want it to bring it into the world sooner than I brought Island Whispers (which took 6 years). We'll see if that's a possibility, but maybe you can infer from this update.

The Broken Bounty stands at 112,023 words. That includes the cover page and all of the chapter headings. We're still looking at over a hundred thousand words. I doubt that it will change much from that length. Most everything seems necessary or can be reasonably argued for its worth.

These words are split into 34 chapters and it is 380 pages in length. This is, of course, double-spaced. It has been rewritten more times than I can keep track of. But for the sake of some, I started doing "drafts" which sometimes seems silly to separate, and we're currently on Draft 3. Mind you, this is draft 3 of the draft that actually seemed likely for publication.

The original document for this book was a novella length story and contained only the skeleton of what it is now. This story has gone through multiple tweaks and it has actually had multiple readers. It has been beta read by Tori (a writer I met at State) and then the English Club (a group of writers I met at State) and even an unknown beta reader (who I do not know and will probably never know the identity of). I've sparsely discussed it among friends and hinted at it among those asking about my writing, but I've never really declared it. Now that time is coming.

I want to introduce The Broken Bounty to the world. To do that I plan on appealing to big publishers. I've already created a list: McElderberry Books, Scholastic Press, Magic Carpet Books Harcourt Inc., Viking, Firebird Fantasy, Random House, and Harper Collins. These are the names I pulled from the spines of some of my favorite books, and also books that are quite popular among others. Chances are slim, but I want to see if I can do this and I want to give The Broken Bounty its due.

For the time being, I'm polishing it up, tying over loose ends, changing things for clarity and checking the punctuation. Then I'll send out my query letters and wait. I'll keep y'all informed on the happenings and hopefully this journey will have a happy ending.

Thanks for being here!

Megan

Realism in the Imaginary

One of the challenges writers face is creating a story that is believable. Readers need to absorb our words and feel emotions related to our work. It can be a difficult path to navigate and often times treacherous when trying to make things "realistic."

What is "realistic"? How can anything realistic be interesting?

I ask the second question because I have experience listening in on conversations and observing humans in the world. I have been present at social gatherings and public spaces. On one particular noteworthy night, I sat on a concrete wall listening to music and jotting notes on the people around me. It was for a high school sociology class and my experiment was to observe what was imbibed by the people around me. From my fuzzy recollection, I recall tallying the wine and ice cream consumed by the people. I noted approximate ages and the number of people. I theorized that the music in question affected the crowd's demographic and thus, the consumables present.

While I fantasized that I was doing very important research and made my observations with sarcastic side comments, it wasn't revolutionary and frankly, if not for my ability to find humor in the mundane, it would have been quite boring.

I generally don't write stories that take place in our modern time and world because I find them yawn-inducing. That's not to say that writers don't succeed at making the mundane entertaining, but consider those stories. Are they realistic? Drama is played up. Emotions are out of control. Every sensory detail is heightened. Who experiences life that way?

I don't believe that I do. Most of my life seems to fade from my mind once the day is over. What happened yesterday? Hmm, yes, read something, ate something, read something else, ate something else, possibly saw someone. There aren't noteworthy moments at every second of the day and that's key. When you read a novel, you are getting the crucial points that need to be made. You're not getting agonizing descriptions of every meal and the MC getting ready for bed (not usually). Each scene highlights an important moment and we even skip over the things that would get tedious.

Think about Harry Potter. Sure, Hogwarts is exciting. It's a school for witchcraft and wizardry but, at the end of the day, classes are classes and we would be tired if J. K. Rowling explained each in detail. Once we've gotten a basis for classes, time just flies. It's the start of term, then it's Halloween, now it's Christmas, then they're leaving for the year. Each book is a year, but not every moment is described which is why we find it entertaining.

This topic came to my attention because I read an article about books that depict "Realistic Romances" and the writer of the article posed the same question of what does that really mean and are there any realistic romances?

From my cynical mind, no, there are not any realistic romances depicted in most literature (I can't say all because there are always exceptions). Full blown romances that stand the test of time with nary a problem are unrealistic. I do not believe they are possible. Skipping all the awkward moments - even more unlikely. We're not perfect and our relationships with others are far from perfect.

People fall in love, they get angry or jealous, they break-up, they make-up, maybe they make-out, and then possibly it falls apart again. Then the same sequence happens again. Throw marriage in there or some type of commitment. You'll still end up with problems.

Now, I'm not against romance and I do believe that relationships can last, but there are a lot of forces that prevent that from happening and it seems most aren't able to handle it. I doubt I'm capable. So while the concept of love conquers all and it being a strong force to reckon with is nice (butterflies and daisies), it does not seem realistic. End of story. Try to convince me otherwise. Actually that would be fun. If you've got a point that differs, let me know. I love constructive arguments and differing opinions. It's how we learn.

If you want to read an opinion on Realistic Romances, check out this article by Gina Barreca from Psychology Today. This was the inspiration for my post today.

Beauty of the Inspired Place

I know I've taken a bit of a hiatus. Two weeks and no posts at all, yet I imagine that most people were busy and the truth is, I was too. Busier than I expected since I'm far from everyone I know. It just goes to show you that no matter where you are, you're never alone and you don't have to be alone if you choose to engage with others. I crashed three different family gatherings and attended a few neighbor parties. It was fun and so I hope that you also had some good experiences over those last two weeks in December.

This post is going to be long and picture-filled.
This is the first picture that I want to showcase
because it shows the simple life I lived in Oxford.
I spent 4 weeks of summer there and took classes.
We traveled about on the weekends and it was wonderful.
I had so much time to think and write.

There are places that you can go and feel inspired. My theory is that different characteristics of places make them inspiring to people and that since each person is inspired by different things, many places could fill this list and they would all be correct.

However, it can generally be agreed upon that certain places are universally inspiring. Whether it's a hidden spot in nature or a bustling human metropolis, there are places that just light our imaginations on fire.

Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials series) has the same inspiration as me: Oxford. In his collection of essays and speeches (Daemon Voices), he explains that just walking through the morning fog or gazing at certain buildings creates a fanciful air that inspires him. While I was in Oxford, I felt similarly inspired. There is beauty in the familiar and unfamiliar and, for me, Oxford was unfamiliar. Sure, I'd heard about it and I'd read Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, so I knew the names of some of the buildings, but I hadn't seen it or walked its streets. Being there was a whole other experience that had me daydreaming.

This is the Radcliffe Camera. It's a library and
supposedly has underground tunnels that connect
it to the Bodleian library. While you have to be a
student to enter the building, tourists can gaze at the
majestic outside and imagine its interior.