Labotomy of a Writer

This blogfest I think was the hardest for me! But, I was in a synopsis workshop this month too so my mind was alredy thinking of "What's really important here?"

Make sure you go to Bryan's blog to see the list of the other entries! I'm pretty sure the other participants have something better than what I came up with here - after all, I did it at the last minute!

So, here we go. I wrote five different ones for this. Tell me what you guys think! This novel is the one I'm desperately trying to rewrite, and have ready to query by the end of this year - so this is perfect practice!

The Faery's Tale: Burden of Prophecy

1. Spurred by an ancient prophecy, Princess Rosyani Celter desperately tries to hang on to her new marriage as they battle old ideals rooted in ignorance and hatred.

2. Princess Rosyani Celter is thrown into an epic journey spurred by an ancient prophecy, but will her marriage survive the onslaught?

3. An ancient prophecy threatens to tear apart Rosyani's new life with a loving husband who saved her from the hatred of her sisters and his own Father.

4. Prophecy and a journey across the world threatens to tear apart Rosyani's wonderful new life with the faery that saved her from death.

5. Will Rosyani's new life, threatened by old ideals and an ancient prophecy, fall apart before it even begins?

I like #4 the best! What do you guys think? You have read the many blurbs I have put out there so you basically know the jist of the story - so please be honest and tell me what you think. I can take it! Give suggestions if you have anything better! I'll take them gladly!

Oh and on a side note - you all know that I have two other series I'm working on "The Kinir Elite Chronicles" and "The Ryn and Ciyme Adventures". I was able to get titles for the individual books the other day AND thought of plot lines for the rest of the series too!

So here they are!

"The Kinir Elite Chronicles"
Book 1: Cleansing Fire (This is the one that is already written)
Book 2: Death Air
Book 3: Water Requiem
Book 4: Earth Blood

"The Ryn and Ciyme Adventures"
Book 1: Incinerating Harmony
Book 2: Broken Ally (This is the one already written)
Book 3: Pack Bonds

I can't wait to come up with some cover art for these - esp the ones for The Kinir Elite - since their titles have elemental themes it'll be great to come up with some cover art covered in flames or raging water! And of course, I'll post them up here so you guys can see them!

I know it's late - hubby, the little man, and I are all sick with chest colds. NOT FUN! But, I still had to make a post as this is fun and relaxing for me, so here we go!

The Internal Conflict Blogfest by Jessica Bell! It was a hard choice deciding which novel to take my excerpt from. I even thought to write something brand new so that I would have to choose.

I finally settled on something from "The Adventures of Ryn and Ciyme". You guys remember learning about Ryn from my entry for the "Bad Girl Blogfest". Well, this is from R'av's POV - the guy she beat up!

Scene: It is dawn, Ciyme convinced Ryn to allow R'av to travel with them to defeat the Snake People. It really cements R'av as a character here and everything he does following this is based on his thoughts here. Remember Ciyme and Molten are tiny dragons!

He watched Ryn with interest as they ate breakfast and packed up camp. Her purple hair was a bit dirty but it still looked like violet silk. She had dark circles around her eyes and for the past two days he’d watched her posture become worse and worse.

Ciyme had told him what happened to her father and her brother and he wondered how she soldiered on. He remembered when his wife was murdered that he wasn’t able to get out of bed for days.

He felt so guilty that he froze up when the snake people attacked the day before. Seeing Ryn trying to fight them made him think of his wife. She was unable to fight and her death was met without resistance. R’av, outnumbered seven to one, was unable to save her. He couldn’t remember exactly how long ago it was that he lost her. It seemed like eternity when in fact it had only been only a year.

R’av, a Duke at the time, gave up his title and left all his possessions behind – wanting nothing that reminded him of his life with her.

As they traveled that day, he kept his eye on their surroundings. He had to protect Ryn – to redeem himself. She was a strong girl but if something happened to her it would be his undoing. Losing the woman he loved was hard but losing another would snap the final string that R’av was desperately holding onto.

“R’av, do not think so hard. It will boil the blood in your brain,” Molten whispered.

“Very funny. Just for your information, I’m not thinking. I’m watching.”

“Yes, but what, or should I say who, are you watching?”

R’av rolled his eyes. “I’m watching out for snake people as you should be also.”

Molten took flight, flying above the trees to get a clear view of the landscape. R’av returned to thinking about Ryn.

She was different than any woman he’d ever met. R’av wasn’t sure how to act around her. Any attempts made to be a gentlemen was met with sarcasm and disdain. He wanted to know why that was. Even if she was so independent, surely any other woman wouldn’t turn down niceties from a man.

R’av wondered if something had happened to her that made her hate men. He dismissed the thought quickly when he remembered that she didn’t act that way towards Y’ron. She cared deeply for the skinny waif and R’av wondered what it was about him that made her hate him so much.

He was about to ask her but quickly shut his mouth again. Suddenly, he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to know the answer.

They crossed the boarder from Fernan into Hithin. The scenery gradually changed from forest to fields of bean plants. Ciyme began picking beans and brining them to Ryn who smiled and ate them raw.

R’av liked her smile. It was bit crooked and her teeth weren’t perfectly straight but it was still beautiful. Her smile lifted the look of misery from her face for a few seconds and in that moment she lit up and glowed.

“You’re staring,” Molten said, flying just above R’av’s head.

“Please. Would you bugger off?”

Molten laughed – that sounded like a drum roll – and flew ahead of them to see the land.

They came to a fork in the road and Ryn stopped her horse.

“Something wrong?” R’av asked reaching for his sword.

Make sure you check out the other entries! They are sure to be great!

And check out my guest post at Wicked Writers about research!

Yay for another blogfest! This is the Bad Girl Blogfest hosted by the awesome Write Runner (Andrew). Make sure you go check out the other entries, they are going to be awesome, I'm sure!

Here is what Andrew said about the blogfest::

So, what is a Bad Girl? Do you have a female character who’s a little bit mean? Haughty? Conniving? Wretched? Does she lie? Cheat? Steal? Is she on the run from the Law? Or is she an Enforcer, dealing out Justice to those who deserve it? Bad Girls come in all shapes and sizes, from the not-so-innocent schoolgirl to the mad Empress of your fantasy Kingdom. Does she think she’s better than everyone, and that the world owes her something? Does she shoot first and ask questions later? We know they’re out there, haunting nightclubs and stalking graveyards, mixing potions and casting spells, hacking bank computers and pushing drugs, you name it. There’s no end to the variety of good-girls-gone-bad out there. Bring it on!

So, here is my entry, from "The Adventures of Ryn and Ciyme". As it always seems, this is a rough draft from NaNo 2008. I haven't gone back to it yet, as I am focusing on other things!

As she knelt to make the fire, a black horse rode into their camp. The rider sat tall in the saddle, the muscles in his arms flexing as he tried to rein in his horse. His long jet black hair was tied back with a thong and his piercing black eyes were looking straight at Ryn. She was frozen with shock and fear.

“Lady, what are you doing traveling without an escort?” he demanded. His voice was deep and rough but Ryn didn’t seem to notice.

“What makes you think I need an escort?” she said returning to her work. He suddenly was no longer appealing to her.

“All ladies need escorts to protect them from other men and wild animals,” he said matter of fact.

Ryn snorted. “Oh that’s right. Women are so stupid that couldn’t possibly take care of themselves. Go away stranger.” The wood sparked and she gently blew on it to get the fire going. She added firewood before she noticed that the stranger had not moved.

“I told you to leave. You’ll regret it if you don’t,” Ryn said.

The man dismounted, with a smooth grace that even Ryn was jealous of. “I couldn’t possibly leave you without an escort, Lady. What kind of man would I be?”

“A smart one,” Ryn said just as Ciyme came down from a tree branch.

“Ah-ha!” Ciyme yelled before setting fire to the man’s hair.

He calmly patted out the flames before pulling out a bottle of tonic. He sighed with irritation as he put three drops on his hair. Ryn was wondering how and why he had the hair growth tonic when a black dragon the same size as Ciyme flew out of his saddle bag.

He attacked Ciyme and the two tiny dragons fought in the air.

“Ciyme! Stop! Don’t fight him!”

“Molten! Let her go! Stop that!”

The two dragons stopped in mid air, looked at each other, then flew back to sit on the shoulders of their pets.

“Are you alright Ciyme?”

“Yes I’m fine,” Ciyme said out of breath.

“Now, please before anyone gets hurt. Will you just leave?”

“I told you I can’t do that.” He turned to unpack his horse.

Ryn lost her patience with the man and drew her sword. Without giving him warning she lunged. He easily dodged her attack and in the same movement drew his own sword.

Molten and Ciyme settled on the stranger’s horse to watch.

Ryn was having trouble fighting this man. He was so strong that with every block, she felt the force of it in her entire body. Her arms were getting sore but she was not going to let him win.

“Who do you think will be the victor?” Molten asked Ciyme. His voice sounded like drums beating in a flourish.

“Ryn, my pet. She’s a mean fighter and she would never let a man beat her anyway. She’ll fight dirty I’m sure.” Ciyme said proudly.

As if she heard Ciyme, Ryn kneed the man in the groin. He bent over in pain just long enough for Ryn to hit him over the head with the hilt of her sword. He fell into the dirt and Ryn quickly grabbed the rope, tying his ankles and wrists together.

“I could easily untie him,” Molten said.

Ciyme pounced on the black dragon before he could take flight. They fell off the horse and into the dirt. They rolled around for a few moments before Ryn went over and picked them both up.

“You aren’t going to do anything,” she said. She wrapped Molten up in a sac then hung him from a tree.

Then she went to investigate the stranger’s horse. As she was looking through his bags, he came to.

“Hey! What is going on here?” he demanded still lying in the dirt.

“You were beaten by a girl.”

“You didn’t stick to the rules of warfare.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was that not lady like? I’ll have to work on that,” Ryn said sarcastically as she continued to rummage through his things.

“Ryn! What happened here? I’m gone for thirty minutes and you tie up a man!” Y’ron said stepping into the small clearing with two rabbits in his hand.

“This pompous man insisted that I needed an escort. I tried to tell him I don’t need one but he refused to leave so I subdued him.”

“Ryn, you are the weirdest girl.”

“I know.”

Tada! I hope you like it. Ryn is definately one of my favorite characters, she's just so spunky.