Writers Thoughts - Tumblr Posts

The Ghostbusters theme song has been playing in my head the whole time I’ve been writing a scene where Daron faces off against a spirit

“Questions are a danger to you and a burden to others” sounds like it belongs in an enemies to lover arc in a high fantasy novel but in reality I heard it in a spongebob episode

Yesterday one of my students told me that her teacher made the class watch that Disney zombies movie because apparently it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling and now I want to write a better Romeo and Juliet retelling

I wrote a line of dialogue in my first draft that said “I didn’t think it was possible to get you to smile like that. It’s nice” and that’s fine, but today I changed it to “You have such a kind smile” in my second draft because a friend said that to me and it was so sweet I wanted to immortalize it.

I have a hard time coming up with names for my characters and mostly steal them from people I know, so I thought it’d be fun to compare my characters to the real people I took their names from. These characters are from Spiritwalker. I’ll make another post about where I got the names for my We Faceless Folk characters.

Daron

I took Daron’s name from the manager at my first job. I mostly did it because I wanted a unique name and I was fascinated with Daron’s name because I’d never seen this spelling or seen it refer to a woman.

I thought it worked perfectly because my manager was a lot like my character. She kinda intimidated me with how monotone her voice was and how intense her gaze was. She always got right to business, like my Daron. And of course, both are leaders in charge of a lot of people.

Catalina

Catalina was the name of one of my classmates in high school. We were the only female trumpet players in our school band. I’d never heard the name before and I think that’s why I chose it. It’s one of the prettiest names I’ve heard.

The Catalina’s are completely different. My character is calm and a major part of her character is being an older sister. My classmate was energetic and younger than me, which it made it feel like I was an older sister to her.

Amiliana

Amiliana was a kindergartener I worked with at my second job. I liked her name and the nickname she insisted on being called, Milli, so much that I created a character just to name her that.

The character Amiliana, who is Catalina’s younger sister, is what I think an older version of the student Amiliana would be like. I was amazed at how smart the kindergartener was, so I made the character a magic prodigy. Both are social butterflies and have a lot of energy.

Ann Marie

Ann Marie is the name of my stepmom. I chose it to honor how much she’s done for me and because I thought it’d make a good fantasy name.

Once again, they’re completely different. My stepmom has a lot of energy and a big sense of humor. My character is more quiet and observant.

Kelsee

Kelsee was a team lead at the fourth job I worked at. We only worked together for about one week before she transferred, but I liked her and that’s why I took her name.

I feel so dirty for this but Kelsee is one of my antagonists. She’s a bully, a power-hungry manaic, and she kidnaps my other characters at some point. She’s nothing like the real Kelsee, who was nothing but sweet to me.

Took this picture my last night in Hawaii. It’s exactly how I pictured on of the settings in my wip.

The books we’ve been making the whole school year arrived! Want to see my contribution?

Even though this is my second year in my internship, it’s still so crazy to me to see my name in a book and my writing in print

I’ve been shopping lately so it’s time for another outfits I own that my OCs would wear

Aria

Cassidy

Daron

You guys are such a bad influence on me because now I have yet another idea for a wip and I’m tempted to work on it but I’m barely even managing to work on two

As a black reader/writer I feel compelled to talk about Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn. I also want to hear what other readers think of the series and to see if I’m not alone in the way I feel about it.

I picked up Legendborn two weeks ago and finished it before the week was even over. It was everything I wanted in a book. A black main character, a magic system based on legends, a romance with a guy who is actually nice. I dove in Bloodmarked immediately and I have never been more disappointed in a book. I haven’t even finished it yet that’s how disappointed I am.

Spoilers for both books below

Bloodmarked stripped Legendborn of everything I liked about it. I mean, I loved the beginning and it felt in line with the first book, but from the second Bree escapes from the regents, it feels like a different book.

I first started feeling something was off when William, Alice, and Sel told Bree that she had to go into hiding. We had such good development from the beginning of the book—Bree is king but isn’t treated like one then Bree is finally treated like a king and starts making decisions for her people. Then we regress back to Bree is not treated like a king. Such a big deal was made out of the argument too. Bree said they were shattered, but then…everything is fine a page later. No one brings this up again.

The second thing I noticed is Bree’s friends told her she had no time to train then immediately search for someone to train Bree. I tried to give this the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant they had no time to train her while searching for Nick, but they had time to train her in hiding, but more inconsistencies kept happening.

When the gang went to the Crossroads Lounge, this is really when I felt Deonn lost the plot. We are damn near 35 chapters into this book and Nick hasn’t been found. My man was Kristoff’d. Most of the characters from Legendborn don’t exist anymore. Even new characters like Lark disappear and don’t seem to have any importance. Bree has learned nothing about controlling her powers and somehow seems weaker than in the first book. Remember, she defeated Vaughn. She punched through a hellfox. Now she needs now be rescued at every instance.

It doesn’t even feel like it’s written by the same author anymore. There is no plot. There is barely any mention of Bree’s mother, which was her driving force in the first book. And now a bunch of new, unneeded stuff is being added in.

I feel like everything about the lounge, Valec, and the other aether users could have been a spin off book without Bree. This series was supposed to be about camlann coming, which I guess waits for Lancelot to be ready.

Back to the inconsistencies. After William, Alice and Sel made such a big deal about how Bree is such a damsel and will die if she doesn’t go into hiding, the second Nick is in danger they’re like “ok bye Bree”. This one nearly took me out. There isn’t even a discussion about it. They just changed their minds for absolutely no reason.

I don’t get why Nick even told Bree where he was because when she first spoke with him he begged her not to find him because it was too dangerous. Guess he changed his mind for absolutely no reason too.

I again nearly lost it when Valec finds out that Bree is king. He not only said the pendragon was not welcome, he insinuated he would kill Arthur’s scion. He was so serious…and then said nothing when Sel, who was previously intent on keeping Bree’s identity secret, tells him she’s the king. Not one word about it. The only thing he does after is help her.

The part that made me stop reading entirely is when they said Bree was bloodmarked. First of all, don’t change canon like that. We saw it happen in Vera’s memory, why are you acting like we didn’t. Second of all, I don’t see what the point of doing that was. To me, it feels like it undermines what Vera did. Like yeah, Bree actually isn’t powerful as the product of racism, it’s because of a demon.

Don’t even get me started on Bree’s relationship with Sel. I knew from the first time she met him that the author would force them together, but I prayed the entire way she wouldn’t fall for such a stupid cliché. I was so happen when I saw the chemistry between Bree and Nick and thought I was mistaken, but now I feel worse about Bree and Nick being together. Because why would you have her kiss him for a second later to be swooning over Sel. It feels less like a love triangle and more like emotional cheating. I hate it.

I also hate how every ya author feels the need to make the girl end up with a guy who repeatedly hurts her instead of the one who treats her like the goddess she is. What are we trying to teach young girls?

I could say so much more, but in summary Bloodmarked feels more like a poorly written excuse for a love triangle than the black empowerment Legendborn was. Legendborn stood out among the crowd and it felt like something I needed. Bloodmarked is like every other ya fantasy and makes me wish Legendborn was a stand alone.

But I don’t know. Is it worth it to finish it?

I’ve noticed since I started working on my wip every day that I’ve gotten better at writing nonsense to fill the word counts on my assignments

I realized today that I wrote 199 pages

Huh… really interesting to read that you think Sel is more trope than character when it seems like that’s how everyone feels about Nick. I have always felt weird about not really being into Sel. We have seen the brooding, dark haired love interest a million times.

Exactly my thoughts. I never really liked that type of character to begin with. I think people don’t see Sel as a trope because 1. they eat that trope up and 2. they think being morally gray means a character has depth. They do not, in fact, have depth. They are all copy and pastes of each other.

I actually rolled my eyes when Sel was first introduced because these characters are so predictable. They all start off hated by the FMC (yet she always ogles him). They all hurt people, including her. But they all also do some nice things which makes them immediately forgivable in the FMC’s and audience’s eyes. For years I’ve been wondering why these characters are so popular in books made for girls in their formative years. Why are we trying to teach them to love men that hurt them?

About Nick, I think he seems like a trope because Deonn wrote him off in order to give Sel a romance arc. He could have had so much more depth than Sel with the identity crisis thing going on, but then the romance Deonn wanted wouldn’t have worked.

I try to write MMCs more like Nick. I will admit it is challenging to create a character who is both nice and compelling, but there are ways to make it work. And we need to make it work. We need more diverse storytelling than falling back on what everyone else is doing, and we need to move past the internalized misongyny that keeps making its way into books made for girls.

I hope the girlies aren’t too mad about this take.

Wow, I did not expect the results to be so split! It’s amazing to me that 4 of my girls got the same number of votes. I was so sure Aria would win too.

I kinda expectated Daron to be the least favorite, despite her being my main character. I’ve been reflecting lately on comments I got about her from other writers, and I think she’s really misunderstood. Since she lost, here’s some more about her.

Daron is supposed to come off as perfect, but with something slightly off about her. Other witches practically worship her. She’s talented, patient, and elegant. Daron even sees herself as perfect, but she has a different definition of it. Her clan deals with life and death on a daily basis, and on top of that, she is their future leader. Their standards are to be emotionally reclusive, put the needs of spirits before themselves, and to uphold a system that subjugates some of them to serve witches in power like Daron. She exceeds in these standards more than most. Especially as a lady, she puts the needs of spirits and her whole clan before her own. She is in so deep she doesn’t even register her needs.

Because of this, Daron is a really hard character to write, especially as this is my first wip. Instead of displaying her personality through emotions, I mostly show it through her speech patterns. Daron is used to being a leader, so she doesn't ask people to do things. She tells them, no matter who she is talking to. She isn't trying to be malicious; it's just her upbringing. Other times, someone will thank Daron, and instead of saying "you're welcome", she will say that she is doing her duty or serving her purpose. It is so natural for her to help other people that she sees it as something she is meant to do rather than an act of kindness.

Obviously we can see how wrong a lot of this is, but Daron can’t until she is exposed to witches from other clans. It's like how fish don't know they're in water because they're surrounded by it their whole lives. Daron's arc is unlearning what she knows so she can be a better leader, and learn how to be a friend along the way.

The irony of Daron is that her strife for perfection is what causes her flaws. In the beginning, she seems so perfect that she is an idol figure. Closer to the end, when we really begin to know her and her cognitive dissonance begins to set in, her flaws grow so apparent that they manifest when she accidentally scars herself. In trying to do what she is best at, she is left with permanent reminder—right where she can always see—that she will never be perfect.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from her. It's her response to Naomi saying she is kind.

“I prefer to think I am just. . .Just people can be kind or unkind depending on what is needed.”

Spiritwalker taglist (ask to be added or removed): @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

OC Poll Tag

Thanks for the tag @yourpenpaldee !

Rules: Make a poll with five of your all time favorite characters and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favorite!

I have five main girls in Spiritwalker so of course I'm going to do them! Here’s their mood boards.

Gently tagging @somethingclevermahogony @alinacapellabooks @i-can-even-burn-salad @kaylinalexanderbooks @the-golden-comet

Chapter 30 is one of my favorites to work on. It’s after the main problems have been solved so the girls go out to town to celebrate. It’s really an excuse to indulge on pretty clothes and cute friendships and shopping…and then it ends with an assasination attempt on my mc.

Maya

I never really post about Maya, despite her being one of my most important characters and unique creations. I have so much to say about her.

Maya is doomed.

I created Maya with two things in mind: she is Daron's attendant and she is doomed. It’s impossible to talk about Maya without her relationship to Daron because even after she’s no longer a part of the story, these two characters are intertwined.

Maya’s backstory is that she trained her whole life to be nothing more than a servant. She excels in her duties, which is why she was sent to attend to Daron. This training resulted in Maya being completely unhinged. She goes as far as to ask Daron to break her arm once because she grabbed onto her when she thought she was in danger. Maya is not Daron’s friend; she’s more like a worshipper.

Other than Daron, Maya is the hardest character for me to write. At first, I made her aggressive to everyone but Daron, but during my second draft I thought that didn’t allign with Spiritwalker values, so I made her more emotionless. She’s often described as having eyes like coal and more often than not only speaks when Daron speaks to her first. This makes it hard to keep Maya from falling into the background, especially as I slowly add in my four other main characters. I fixed this by acknowledging Maya’s fall from being a main character. She questions if she’s good enough and desperately needs to know why Daron would want anyone else around.

As a member of the Spiritwalker Clan, Maya is very similar to Daron, but horrifically intensified. Daron changes throughout the novel and represents the future of the clan. However, Maya represents the clan's imperfect past and is therefore unable to change. This is why she is doomed.

I made an analogy around the middle of the novel where Daron thinks of herself and Maya as opposite ends of a spectrum. They grew up with very different expectations and circumstances, but ended up so similar that those opposite ends almost touch. As Daron changes, she sees Maya as less like herself and questions if she ever was at all.

Maya only cares about Daron and doesn't interact with other characters much, but she does have some banter with Aria, as she is the only character to call Daron out. Aria refers to Maya as "little sheep" because of the way she always follows Daron around. I didn't intend for this, but love the accidental connotation of Aria, a character associated with wolves, referring to Maya as a sheep because Maya ends up being a wolf in sheep's clothing. Aria is also the only character to see that Maya is doomed. Not even Daron sees it until it is too late. Or maybe she doesn't want to see it.

In the end, Maya is her own demise, but the old Spiritwalker ways needed to die. Her death is Daron's push to change the whole clan and not just herself. That's why she is more important than any other character.

Because Maya's character is intertwined with Daron, here is a conversation with both of them that encapsulates her character:

“Do not hold yourself back, Maya. I want you to have fun.” “I will do whatever you ask of me, Lady Daron.” I shook my head. “I do not want you to have fun because I said so. I want you to do it for yourself.” “Myself? I am nothing on my own.”

Spiritwalker taglist (ask to be added or removed): @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

Reblogging because I added some new content :)

Spiritwalker Masterlist

Finally compiled all my important posts about my wip into one list. I’ll keep adding more as I post more.

@wyked-ao3 @unrepentantcheeseaddict since you were interested in my wip and I promised updates here you go!

Spiritwalker taglist (ask to be added or removed): @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

Worldbuilding

Spiritwalker Clan

Herbneivorous Clan

Fang Clan

Psychic Clan

Arsonite Clan

Aquatic Clan

Nightbeam Clan

Characters

Mood Boards

Daron

Kelsee

Cassidy

Maya

Playlists

Aria

Naomi

Cassidy

More coming soon

Snippets

Chapter 17 Snippet

Chapter 21 Snippet

First Draft v Second Draft

I just went through six weeks of working a full shift and doing an online class and now I finally have a full week of no responsibilities! So much is writing is going to happen

It's so funny editing the last few chapters of my first draft because it's so obvious I was rushing to get to the end. Take a look at the difference between my first attempt and my second draft.

First draft

It took several minutes for my morning haziness to wear off the next morning. I was dressed and ready, waiting for Maya. Then I remembered what she had done and that she was not coming. I was almost late to class. Catalina pulled me aside after class to update me. She said there was not much her mother could do since we were attacked outside of school, but she was going to announce later that we are all to stay on campus for the time being. 

Second draft below cut

Maya did not show up to my room the next morning. I did not wait for her. Dressing was harder than ever with only one completely functional hand. I struggled with buttons and tying up my hair, and the strain I put on my hand worsened the pain so badly I had to stop multiple times. It took almost the entire morning to ready myself, but I could not rely on my attendant. Not anymore.  I pushed Maya to the back of my mind on my way to class, having decided the night before that the best course of action was to discuss this issue with Madame Spiritwalker. As the highest authority figure in our clan, she had the right to know.  I trusted her to make a decision that deep down I knew I could not. A month with Maya as my attendant made me emotionally involved, and that was the last thing a Spiritwalker needed. My mother taught me how to be just. I did not want her to see how I fell short of that quality in this situation. By the time I made it to the hallway, classroom doors were already slamming shut. Catalina waited outside one of them, her concern placed elsewhere. She frantically glanced around the hallway, visibly letting out a breath when she saw me. When I came close, she pulled me off to the side with her. “Are you alright? I’ve been waiting for you all morning.” She was thinking about last evening. I knew because I was too. Placing Maya out of my thoughts left room to be filled, and the knowledge that someone tried to kill me demanded that space. I realized that in the chaos of the event, I never did get to tell everyone that I was alright. I reassured Catalina then, making sure she knew my lateness was about my hand, not the attack. The bell rang mid-sentence, but from her softening features I knew she understood. “I wanted to tell you,” she hurried, “that my mother said since the attack happened off campus there is nothing she can do, but she is going to address it.”

Spiritwalker taglist (ask to be added or removed): @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

My new desk set up in my new apartment in the city is making me so excited to do some writing!