Blog Hop: The Dragon's Loyalty Award

You have now reached the edge of the internet.

But wait! It's alive? It can't be!

But it is.

That's right, this little blog got nominated for The Dragon's Loyalty Award in another blog hop!

First, I'd like to thank my friend Maggie Maxwell at The Wandering Quille for nominating God of Ephemera. That I must now resort to this blog necromancy is entirely her fault.

Second, I should probably explain how this works.

1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and a link back.
3. You must share 7 things other bloggers may not know about you.
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for Dragon’s Loyalty Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.
5. Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog.

In that vein, therefore, I bring you: seven facts you might not know about me! (Unless you know me in meatspace. You know who you are.)

Brace yourselves. There's a wall of text coming!

1. There are certain things I HATE wearing, and will only do so under varying levels of duress:
• Pants and shorts. ESPECIALLY jeans. Can’t stand ‘em. No matter how loose and pajama-like they are, I always feel like my midsection is being compressed. Ugh. That is why, unless it’s an activity that absolutely requires pants (like riding a bike), I’m almost always wearing a dress or a long skirt. Air flow. Freedom. I like those things.
• Socks…and shoes. Sweltering foot prisons, all of them! Unless I’m doing something that requires extra protection, I wear comfortable cushy flats. Socks IF it’s cold.
• Turtlenecks. Neck vices. HELL to the NO. When it gets cold, I rock the scarves or die trying.
• Sweaters that don't have a button-down front. Again it's because they make me feel suffocated, but I can get away with avoiding them, given that I live in Florida.
2. My handwriting never did settle down into one neat pattern like most people's do. It's not that it's terrible, or illegible. Neatness I can achieve, and it looks like an adult's handwriting, but  consistency is impossible. I can never make my letters the same size, shape, weight, or style, across more than two lines of text. It's easier for me to write legibly when I don't have to lift the pen or pencil as much, which is why I when I hand write anything, I write only in cursive/longhand. Even so, I end up with about five or six different styles of handwriting just on the same page. As for printing, NOPE. I can't be having with that.
3. I love gloomy, rainy weather. The nastier it is outside, the happier I am. Sunlight, hisssssssss! It burns usss! I like sad. It's like happy for deep people. Sad, yes. Sad endings, no. Much as I love drawing inspiration from the gloom, there must be at least a ray of sunlight at the end of the story. That’s the end though, and until I hit it, I love putting my characters through every level of hell. 
• My favorite mode of writing is to wait until it’s pitch dark outside (bonus points if there’s a thunderstorm), turn off all the lights, turn up the music, dim the screen, close my eyes, and pound away at the keys. However, having to wake up in the morning for work has made that a luxury. Still, in order to properly keep characters in the throes of existential angst, any sort of rotten weather is the way to go. I do my best writing then. 
• It's true, I function like a Terry Pratchett troll. The colder it is, the better my brain works. The hotter it is, the more I shut down. I work best when it's slightly chilly. Thus, writing-wise, my most productive months are the ones with dreary weather. Needless to say, living in Florida does NOT help. 
• Hurricane season this year has made it a little better though. While my coworkers groan at the miserable weather, I'm sitting in my cube or car grinning like a kid at the glorious thunderstorms we've been having. (Also, since music is as necessary to writing as breathing, I grin like a kid every time the riffs of the song I'm listening to sync with the lightning, because that is pretty metal, no lies.)
4. The only romance I read is by Georgette Heyer. I could probably write an entire post about why I love Heyer, so I'll just go with the short version here. Her stories are historically accurate, it's actual romance as opposed to mere smut, and her books are hilarious. In general though, I don't have any objection to romance as a genre, but I find so much of it to be an excuse for smut with not much in the way of character or world development, which just doesn't do anything for me. That said, I do love romantic subplots/arcs coupled with other main genres.
5. I'm obsessed with music, specifically metal and rock. I’ll talk about metal here, because it is the main source of many of my plot bunnies, and comprises the vast majority of my novel soundtracks. 
• Doom metal, death metal, black metal, power metal, prog metal, symphonic metal…I will listen to it, no matter how obscure or esoteric. I collect and categorize albums into my own arcane genres the way writers organize their bookshelves. 
• I trawl the internet daily for stuff I haven’t heard, and I pretty much listen to a new (new to me, even if it's been out for years) album every day for at least 5 out of 7 days of the week. 
• I’m pretty sure that all the albums I’ve amassed over the years (either via Spotify playlists, digital purchases, CDs, etc.) number in the thousands.
6. I’m increasingly realizing that while I’m a writer, I kind of enjoy being an artist too. My parents always knew I’d be a good writer, though I didn’t see it until much later. However, I know that I've been drawing things since my chubby little hand could hold a pencil. It trailed off after high school (though it never entirely stopped) for various reasons - time, lack of direction, tedious art classes that sucked all the joy out of it, hand injuries. 
• Those of you who were around when I started seriously writing after my first NaNo will know of the struggles I had wrestling with my story hydras, and figuring out how I worked, let alone how my story worked. Well, I was (and still am, to a degree) having the same troubles with drawing. 
• In suffering through those art classes though, besides gaining knowledge, I learned one thing: I just cannot draw anything that doesn’t have a story behind it. Landscapes? Still lifes? Abstracts? Pretentious interpretations of life, the universe, and everything? Copying a model from a magazine? Psh, I’d rather scoop out my eyeballs with a charcoal stick and serve them to a yeti on top of a hot fudge sundae. 
• Drawing a character enacting a scene from a story, though? BOO-YAH. Somehow, finding reference pictures of human models who looked like that character, scenes from our planet that looked like that scene, etc. all suddenly became fun. Practice became fun. 
• Strangely enough, I’m also realizing that the opposite is also true: I can’t write an entire story without drawing at least some part of it out. It’s a great tool for breaking through plot holes and POV problems for me. In fact, I’m increasingly coming to realize that drawing and writing are inextricably linked in my mind. I can’t do one without the other. 
• That's why I really want to do a web comic one day. This would help me use how I work in order to help me fill out my two greatest weaknesses: plotting a story beforehand, and designing the world, both of which are required for a comic, to some degree. It also lets me properly exercise and practice both my writing and my drawing, without having to switch and prioritize between them. That’s not to say that’s all I’ll ever do, but I would like to do at least one comic to practice with.
7. At this moment, I have 115 ideas. 92 novels, 39 short stories, 4 novellas, and 6 plot marshmallows (ideas and snippets that haven’t been formed yet.) Oh wait. Add one script to that, for which I just had an idea. Let’s just say that with the workload I’ve given myself, I’ll have to hope that some of the life-extending technologies I have in my stories actually come to life, because the only way I’ll get through them is if I clone myself repeatedly so that I really can work on multiple novels at the same time.

Well, so there's that monolith for you to ponder over! Make of it what you will.

Ideally, this is the part where I would nominate some fellow bloggers to receive this award next, but this is the edge of the internet. Any who go beyond are liable to fall off into the void, where the tumbleweeds live.

Therefore, I dangle this shiny badge in the eyes of the cyber stars and electric wind. 

Who among you elusive spirits is brave enough to take on the dragon? 

If you so dare, and would like to be nominated next, post in the comments or let me know through your usual channels (forum, message, whatever). 

NaNoMongering 19: Blog Hop - The Next Big Thing

Introduction:

I almost forgot about this. I know, right, bad Agent Double Oh Zero! Well, it's still November 21st in my time zone, so I guess I haven't technically missed the mark. Anyway, I volunteered for a blog hop. This one is called The Next Big Thing, in which the participants answer questions about their Works In Progress. I was tagged by fellow NaNoer NicoleT.

And now, without further ado, let me introduce you to my baby holy terror of the seven hells Plot Hydra novel series, Dark Arcana.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book?

The title of the series is Dark Arcana. The current book, the first, is tentatively titled The Amber of Time. For the rest, I am throwing around possibilities, such as The Octodyne Inheritance, The Clockwork Monk, and The Wells of Acheron.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

It is almost entirely the fault of Doctor Who that this idea exists. In October of 2010, I suddenly decided to do NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. I immediately knew I wanted to play around with time travel. I started off with certain concepts from Doctor Who which piqued my imagination, and started expanding them. The idea of an agency that sat outside of time, where the members played with timelines, was fascinating. My initial plot bunny started off as a short historical science fiction time travel story with an element of romance. The main characters were an arrogant scientist and a spunky smart-mouthed heroine, and the enemy were a race of alien gargoyle-like beings who went around changing past events for their own ends. It was supposed to be a quick throwaway thing, but over the course of November, it developed into anything but. Now I have an entire hulking Plot Hydra on my hands.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Science Fiction. Fantasy. Steampunk. Can anyone say genre patchwork quilt?

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ethan Brooke (MMC) - No clue. He has green eyes, and dark blond hair. I guess someone who looks like that, but not just anyone. I sort of have his face in mind already.
Aurana Lockhart (FMC) - No clue. She has medium toned skin and curly red hair. An actor who looks like that, I guess.
Oscar Tenebrous - Matt Smith
Jonas von Drachenmire - Tom Hiddleston
Madam Pulovski - Eva Green
Caliiry ren Tandoraen/Ante ark Helain - Milla Jovovich
Pergator - No clue. Maybe voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, maybe not.

There are a whole bunch of other characters, but the list is too long to include here, and I don't know who would play them anyway. Although...it is kind of sad that I have no idea who would play my main characters.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In a sentence? Impossible. Well, here goes...

Everyone in the universe is after a maguffin called the Amber of Time that will allow them to have complete mastery of history.

Complete crap, I know.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am thinking of publishing this the traditional way. I want a paper copy, and I want to see this in actual bookstores!

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Oh, am I supposed to have finished? ...I haven't. Two years and counting. Well...that is, if you include all my first drafts, most of which I have abandoned. The latest first draft... 21 days and counting.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

To my knowledge, there really is no other series which is exactly like this one. That is, there is nothing I could point to and definitively say 'if you like this, then you WILL like my series.' Mind you, I think this is a good thing! However...

In terms of certain subjects and recurring motifs, Dark Arcana reminds me of the His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman, most especially the last book, The Amber Spyglass. Dark Arcana has a similarly diverse cast of both human and non-human characters, all of whom are battling for dominion, some for survival. His Dark Materials also has multiple universes.

In terms of plot development, Dark Arcana subtly follows the Hero's Journey archetype. Certain characters go through a transformation from human to superhuman (sometimes metaphorically), as they gear up to face the Big Bad. In that respect, it's reminiscent of such stories as Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars.

In terms of conflict, I suppose... A Song of Ice and Fire. The genre is completely different, but like ASOIAF, none of the characters in Dark Arcana really fit into 'good guy' and 'bad guy' categories. Each person has their point of view, and their motive. Each is capable of being a great hero, but also a great villain. That's not to say that they are all equal. Some are more villainous than others, while others could almost be heroes...in different circumstances. Basically...there is no telling who will win. However, in terms of actual content/genre, Dark Arcana actually more steampunk/science fiction than high fantasy.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Doctor Who. I absolutely love that show. At the time I came up with the idea, I had just finished the 10th Doctor's episodes, and I absolutely loved the vast variety of worlds, ideas, cultures, and philosophical questions that came up. The things that struck me the most in this case were the parallel universe, the fact that the Doctor was the last Time Lord, and the Weeping Angels. In the show, time travel was mostly restricted to just the one universe. The Doctor was a lone god. The Weeping Angels were mere monsters.

I thought: What if, instead of just the one universe, there was a whole mess of universes with different laws linked together into one huge multiverse, and changes actually spawned a new timeline, rather than changing the old one? What if there were a whole group of beings (human or otherwise) with the power to mess with the multiverse like gods, and whose job it was to guard history from...harm? What if there was a race of sentient beings who were biological time travelers, and natural predators of the stream of causality, and thus needed time travel in order to survive?

From there, my imagination exploded, and...Dark Arcana was born.

I suppose, after that, my characters inspired me to continue writing. Dark Arcana, though born almost entirely out of Doctor Who concepts, was never Doctor Who fanfiction. Although I freely admit that I based my MMC, Ethan Brooke, on the 10th Doctor, he soon took on a personality of his own, and pretty much took over the entire series. The same happened with Aurana Lockhart, my FMC.

Now I have to tell their story.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The story is actually multiple genres, depending on whose point of view it is, and what world it is. To Oscar, a peasant child, everything appears as fantasy. To Ethan, who is familiar with science at least up to the 19th century, everything is steampunk. To Caliiry, a Time Agent from the far future who is familiar with advanced tech, everything is explained in almost hard science fiction. To Aurana, a slave with mental blocks installed, magic and tech don't exist. To still others, the use of magic and tech do exist, but are both gross blasphemy against their religion. In this sense, Clarke's law applies: that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

However, it goes beyond that. The story logic allows for different worlds to have different laws of physics...or not physics. In some worlds, magic exists, and science flops, and in others, science dominates, and magic is impossible...and every shade in between. The resulting discrepancies in perception fuel conflict between the characters.

I realize that in all this, I have mentioned precious little about what the series is actually about, so I will attempt that here. There are actually multiple levels of conflict.

The backdrop conflict is between the Time Agents and the Nocharen Sideas. The Time Agents make up a group called the Guardians. They are just regular humans, but they have been pulled out of their own natural history and placed in a facility outside regular time, in order to serve and protect the existence of all sentient species in the multiverse, as well as preserve all the scientific knowledge therein discovered. The Nocharen Sideas are a group of shapeshifting extra-universal aliens, who travel up and down the time streams of the multiverse, and who feed on the energy of temporal paradoxes. Being so at odds in their natures, the Guardians and the Nocharen Sideas are locked in a perpetual time war that has raged through all of known history. The repercussions are felt even within the worlds...

The mid-level conflict takes place in 19th century Terra, where both tech and magic coexist...if not quite peacefully. A few powerful nations have suddenly made striking advances in both. The exception is technophobic Engleter, where the use of both is strictly regulated by the Lord Protector. However, when a power-hungry diplomat from a hostile neighbor tries to overthrow the Lord Protector,
Suddenly, world war looms on the horizon, as nations battle for religious and political supremacy...

Ethan Brooke is a self-titled disciple of chaos and brilliant mad scientist, whose only quest is higher learning, and whose passion is for justice. In the midst of a superstitious society that censures the arts he loves most, and makes them downright illegal, Ethan secretly works on his pet project, a lens to reveal truth. When Ethan uses his invention to acquit a wrongfully accused criminal, the country erupts in chaos. Ethan has always longed to prove that not all those who seek knowledge are necessarily greedy for power. His powers fully exposed to the world, he finds he's unwittingly given the would-be world dominators the perfect weapon with which to quell the dogs of war: himself. Unless he agrees to help develop a superweapon that will protect Engleter's future, Ethan Brooke faces punishment for his unsanctioned practice of the sciences: death.

Aurana Lockhart is a slave of the diplomatic but dictatorial Lord Protector of Engleter II. Provided with wealth and comfort, she is still at the blind mercy of her master's whims. Subconsciously aware of the chains, she still fears to escape, for it means death. Then, a foreign diplomat attempts to overthrow the Lord Protector, and reestablish the forces of tech and magic in Engleter. Seizing her chance in the chaos, Aurana escapes by the skin of her teeth, unknowingly taking with her the AWESOME MAGUFFIN that is the source of all Engleter's blocked magical power. All she wants is to live quietly, but the price of freedom is dear when one's very existence threatens the balance of politics. Thus begins the Hunt...and she is the prey.

Sorry about the crappy vague summary. One day I will nail down just what this book is about, so that I can write an AWESOME synopsis without giving away the whole plot.

Unfortunately, regarding other blogs, I suppose this is a bit of a dead end. I'm not a huge blogger, and most of the ones I know have been linked already. I will update as and when I do come across some others.

Anyway, to those who actually made it through this giant block of text: thank you. To those who didn't...I apologize. I am far better at word vomit than I should be. XD