My Book....

It has come to my attention that many of those who read my blog know practically nothing about my book. Before, I tried to be noble and talk about things other than myself (no, I actually just didn't want to take the time to try to explain it all) but I have decided to stick my mind to it and write this blog post.

Here I go:

And now I want to say something silly. Just for the sake of it. But that will make you irritated with me. So I will just point out that I format my sentences the same way I format them on chat. That means short. And incomplete. And way too many periods. It causes dramatic effect. To my mind, at least. (Don't worry, I use punctuation in my book.)

Anyway... I started this book when I was nine. Yeah, it stank. I would seriously post my first start on here except that it contains major spoilers. I really didn't know how to format a story back then. Or create a character.

No worries, my writing ability has developed immensely. To this day, I have been through nine starts - the longest was like thirty manuscript pages - and I am currently on my tenth. I feel quite sure that this is THE DRAFT. THE DRAFT that will actually be finished because my writing ability has not changed much in the last year.

It is coming slowly. I started on February nineteenth of this year. I am now at 8, 162 words. But my pace is picking up. I wrote scene six in one day, 782 words. That is a record for me. (Unless you count NaNoWriMo, which was awesome, but really didn't count. I wasn't going for quality there. It was helpful, though. I now know the characters of that book.)

And now, I will stop with the explanations of my failures and tell you about my darlings. My books. I currently have five planned and three more ideas, two of which will be jointly written with Sarah because we came up with them together and she loves me. We are best sisters. And best friends. I don't see how other people make a distinction there.

All my current books are written in the same world. Which is definitely not ours. This post is dedicated to my Work In Progress, simply called Lia.

Before you exclaim in shock at such a pathetic name... no, it is not permanent. I have been through several names, they no longer work for the mood of the story. The best suggestion I now have is Thrice Bound, which makes hardly any sense but sounds cool. For now, it is Lia.
Lia is the only of my current books that is not a fractured fairytale. It is about a girl named - you guessed it - Lia. (And this is a book written mainly for girls, even if I commonly force Erik to read it; just to make sure a boy could enjoy it, if he set his mind to it.) Lia is a talented eighteen year old rebel and, before you think that is so cliche, know that she has been raised in a rebellion to be a killing machine.

Lia was brought up by Talen, one of the nine Eldests who rule the rebellion with absolute authority, subject only to the will of Father Vaun. Raised by a man of such power, Lia has been destined for greatness since the day he took her in, despite the fact that she was born of the detested ruling race.

This Lia has changed a lot from the girl of my first start. Both have red hair, neither knew their parents, that is about where the similarities end. For example, I have an excerpt from both stories (and Lia's name used to be Fyranna, that will help):

My First Start
(Complete with spelling and grammatical errors)

Fyranna was surprised to see the two men come through the door of her room. Okel she knew very well but the other man she has never seen before.

She saw the other man glance at her and felt him taking in her appearance, the green eyes, red hair, brown ripped dress, grey apron. She thought she was rather plain. But others privately thought her green eyes were like emeralds and her red gold hair was like fire.

Okel cleared his throat Fyranna looked at him. “Peter this is Fyranna, Fyranna this is Peter.”

Fyranna curtsied. “This the girl that burned my soup then,” he chuckled. Fyranna felt her face grow hot. “I've been needing a new servant for some time, I want your kitchen girl how much can I get her for?” Peter asked.

Fyranna stared at him. She did not want to be given away after fourteen years, It was true she hated her life here but all though Peter was plump and cheery looking she did not trust him.

“Please,” she begged Okel, “don't give me away, it's been fourteen years! You can't sell me after fourteen years!” Okel looked at her.

“Too bad,” he said, “I just did.” Then he left the room with Peter in tow. Fyranna collapsed on her bed and slept.

Yeah, that was pathetic. I hope you'll find the next excerpt rather more enjoyable.

My Current Draft
(Please point out any grammatical errors)

Lia paused in the gloom outside the training cavern and tugged her cap firmly down over her hair. Satisfied that not one wisp of red, Terren hair poked out, she strolled into the room.

The sweet scent of exertion, the cacophony of steel ringing against steel, engulfed her. Lia stood in the doorway a moment, soaking it in, then turned to look over the sparring pairs. Where is he?

Of course. Lounging against the wall to her right, Cayle casually conversed with yet another ebony-haired beauty. She ground her teeth. The ego those women gave him would be the ruin of him, even if he refused to notice it. She stalked over to them.

“…Bryn woke us at the beginning of the first watch,” Cayle was saying. “The local lord’s carriage was riding by. He must have turned off the main road at Penathon’s Crossing, probably because of some stone-headed notion of saving time. There were only two guards…”

Lia rolled her eyes and tapped her foot to the slow count of ten. They ignored her. The minx laughed at something Cayle said.

“Woman,” Lia snapped. The girl jumped and turned to face her. “I came here to spar with Cayle, not to listen to him talk to you.”

The woman’s glower melted into a condescending smile. "Lia," Her syrupy tone did nothing to conceal the hostility in her eyes. "I've heard about you.”

“Well I don’t want to hear a blistered word about you,” Lia growled. “Cayle?"

He touched the woman’s shoulder. “I did come to spar, Shalin,” he said. “But do hang around; I don’t expect this will take long.”

Shalin gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and brushed a curl of obsidian hair out of his eyes. “I’ll wait here.”

Cayle smiled at her, then straightened and turned to Lia. “I claimed section three.”

She raised her eyebrows. “An impressive amount of forethought, considering your obvious disinterest in sparring today.”


Comments on that excerpt would be adored. I didn't even need to ask? Aren't you darling! Yes, you are.

I'm not going to tell you anything more about the plot yet, I'm not that stupid. Suffice it to say that this book contains: adventure, abandonment issues, friendship, heartache, personal quests for belonging, adorable toddlers, several martyrs and clean, bright, healthy romance.