Monday, April 29, 2019

The Language of Worlds Linkup: Alicia


In which I realize that April is almost over and I have yet to do this Linkup hosted by the wonderful Liv  So I guess you guys get two blog posts this week, lucky you.

Since this month was Camp NaNo, I decided to talk about my heroine from my project I've been working on this month, A Matter of Curiosity. Her name is Alicia Hareton and you are about to learn a whole lot more about her.

1. What's your character's favorite song?

Um, I don't think I gave Alicia a specific song that she enjoys? I know that she would appreciate her theme Just Like Fire. In the first version of A Matter of Curiosity she did hear this song which she really liked. I eventually removed the song because it has literally nothing to do with the story. But it was this:


 “For the queen a dress I’ll sew
Hey dilly-dally-oh- ho- ho
For a maid, a dress I’ll mend
Hey dilly-dally all things do end
I’ll kiss me a handsome prince
Hey dilly-dally I’ve been imprisoned since
For revenge the king I’ll kill
Hey dilly dally- who needs a king still?
I’ll take that crown only for me

Hey dilly-dally-he-he-he...

2. What makes their soul thrive?

Amar, the unknown, exploration.

And she'll get mad at me if I don't mention him, but Dante too.

3. Describe their typical outfit.

That's an easy one because for several years, Alicia only ever wore the same outfit.


"I pull on the first dress that I come across. I think it’s my sixth favorite, but I don’t have time to check for sure. It’s sometimes hard to tell my dresses apart since they all look exactly the same. I know it doesn’t offer much variety. But when I find something that I like, I don’t see a reason to change it. And I like my light blue dresses that comes down to just past my knees, with short sleeves and a bodice."


She's branched out in book two, but she still really likes blue dresses. Right now, she's running around in a blue sundress and flats.



4. What do they look like? (Share a picture, if you want!)

Alicia has curly blonde hair and stormy blue eyes. This is a picture of what I typically imagine her looking like



5. Who cares most about them?

This is a bit of a harder question to answer because Alicia is dearly loved. Her stepfather adores her, her mother would sacrifice herself for her. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Hector, Dante, and Olivia would all gladly lay down their lives for Alicia. She just has a charming affect on people. And I'm pretty sure that they would all fight for eternity to try to see which one loves her more so we'll just leave it at those five.

6. Have they been called names beyond their own? (i.e. nicknames, insults, etc.)

In this book, Alicia is more likely to call people the nicknames, but I suppose a few characters will address her differently than her name. Primarily, her stepfather who will only call her Alicia if he's extremely angry or stressed. Generally he calls her sugar plum, sweetheart, and every other pet name under the sun. Her mother will call her pet names as well, including dear or goosie. Generally the servants on her grounds will call her miss.

Olivia calls her cuz or Licia. Dante has addressed her as Signorina, and sometimes calls her his Imaginary Friend.

She's also been called mental, mad, and crazy by a wide assortment of characters. And in A Matter of Curiosity she is called King.



7. What is their Hogwarts house and/or MBTI personality?

Hmm... Even though, she acts like a Hufflepuff, I'm actually going to say that Alicia is Ravenclaw. Because she would much rather be right than nice.

So, I didn't know her MBTI personality off of the top of my head, but apparently Alicia is an INTP. So now you know, and so do I.

8. Is there a psalm they identify with? What is it?

I can't think of one off of the top of my head, and I would look it up, but I really ought to get back to writing so I'm just going to go with Psalm 24. Because it kind of fits what with her obsession with different worlds and her inherent innocence.

9. How do they handle defeat?

Not well, not well at all. For the most part, Alicia won't even admit defeat. She'll keep going at whatever problem she has until either it is finally overcome or she is dead. If the decision is taken out of her hands though, well she will mope for months, constantly thinking of herself as a failure. Because it isn't so much victory to her, but more finding a way to avoid defeat. And if she is defeated anyway then she has failed her entire mission.

10. Without spoilers, how are they the hero of this story? (Even if they're the villain!)

Alicia is the hero of the story because she is the one who drives all of the other characters forward. She's the one who sets out on the difficult tasks in these books without a second thought. She's the only one mad enough to look at these tasks and actually think them possible. And she's determined to defeat the villain and have a happy ending no matter the cost. So that's what makes her the hero.




Not my normal day for posting, but April is drawing to a close and I had just realized that I hadn't actually done this post yet. I hope you all enjoyed reading a little bit more about Alicia! Writers, who is the main character in the book you're working on? Readers, who is the main character in the book you're currently reading? Comment below!

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Camp NaNo- Week 3



I guess since I don't have any other post planned I'll talk about week three of Camp NaNo? I've managed to write 5k words since last week. Not a ton more, but for some reason my job likes me to work? Who would have thought that.

So... I'm not going to write 90k words this month. Big surprise there right? But, the story is coming along, even if it is excruciatingly slowly. Probably some of the reason that I am not getting as much written is because I legitimately have no idea what to write. I am really just winging it here. My brain has been working double time just trying to figure out what the next chapter will be about. One of the problems with pantsing I suppose.

Anyway, I said last week that I would share about Marius and the Red Queen. My kinda sorta villains. And before you ask, no I'm not going to share about Fillias, my other kinda sorta bad guy. Sorry, but spoilers XD

Marius: The King

I'll start with Marius. He's an extremely interesting character because in My Time in Amar he isn't actually classified as one of my bad guys. Sure, Chelsea, Easton, Clint, and Bobby all hate his guts. But in the long term of the plot, he's actually a good guy because he is against the biggest bad guy. In Return to Amar however, Marius is the big bad guy in the story. Sure my characters have to deal with faeries and the likes, but Marius is the one they are spending the story trying to defeat. And that is really weird for me that he can be the big bad guy in one story and my character's ally in another. But also it's an interesting dynamic.

Even though he is such a prominent figure in both of my Amar series, I legitimately have no aesthetics about him? I mean, why exactly would I? Marius is an extraordinarily plain looking character with gray streaked brown hair and shapeless brown monk robes. The truly interesting part about him is his mind.

This guy is clever and crafty, and yes, insane. Probably some of his insanity has to do with his own sort of self-imposed exile. He hasn't been a member of society for more than six hundred and fifty years. That's right, he's also immortal. Something that happened to him in his past that destroyed his faith in humanity. Well, that is unless he can step in an intervene in their favors. Because he doesn't hate the people of Amar, quite the contrary, he thinks himself their protector. He just knows that he is better than them.

The Red Queen


So... there isn't a lot about the Red Queen that I can say. I can neither confirm or deny that she is Jane, so don't even bother asking. I will say that the Red Queen is in fact a character that you know, or at least you will know by this point in the series. But I'm not gonna say who because that's a pretty big spoiler.

Poor lass, she's a victim of her circumstances, and I'm afraid that she is probably going insane. She does some questionable things. Whatever it takes for her to win. Whatever it takes, you got that?

So... that's really all I've got for now, and since I'm already doing this last minute on Wednesday morning I'm going to wrap this up simply with a friendly reminder about the Amar fan art contest that is still going on.



The rules are:

  • The pictures must be of either characters or scenes of any of my Amar books I've written. That would include: A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses; A Certain Sort of Madness; as well as A Time of Trepidation, Pirates, and Lost Princesses when it is finally republished. (no vulgar content is allowed; because that is obviously not in my books)
  • No payments required, submit as many pictures as you would like to boost your chances at winning.
  • Email your pictures to me at nicky(dot)chapelway(at)gmail(dot)com
  • The subject of your email should be "Amar Drawing Contest"
  • Submissions end on August 8th, 2019

And there are prizes, my friends. Three of them.
First place will win signed copies of the first three of the My Time in Amar books. A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses; A Time of Trepidation, Pirates, and Lost Princesses; and be one of the first to receive a copy of A Season of Subterfuge, Courtiers, and War Councils when it releasesThe will also have a character named and created off of them in A Season of Subterfuge, Courtiers, and War Councils.
On top of these two things, they will win a print of a picture where I drew of ALL OF my main teenage characters from both my Amar series (that I have up to this point, anyway).









The winner will also receive a paper copy of the official map of Amar:


Second Place will win signed copies of both A Certain Sort of Madness and A Week of Werewolves, Faeires, and Fancy Dresses as well as their choice of either the map or a copy of the character drawing.
Third Place will win their choice of a signed copy of either A Certain Sort of Madness or A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses as well as their choice of either the map or a copy of the character drawing.

Anyway, that's all for now I've got some catching up to do. What do you guys think of Marius, is he a bad guy or just misunderstood? Should I have included more aesthetics? How are you doing on your NaNo projects? Comment below!

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Camp NaNo Update: Week 2



Spoiler alert: I SURVIVED. Unfortunately, my orderly writing system did not. Big surprise there (not really). Since when have I ever been orderly? And for my writing at the moment... it's pretty much a hurricane of colorful snakes. (if that didn't make sense to anyone, well then I think I described it accurately)

Or maybe I should describe it as a car that has been caught up in the grasps of a fiery tornado (never mind why I am suddenly obsessed with storms). It crashed and burned. Crashed and burned, I say. I went about five days without even really writing anything at all. Got lost in memes (I am implementing serious time constraints on Pinterest). Got tired from work. Procrastinated from doing everything. It wasn't pretty. At first I told myself that I needed a little break, and I probably did. But then that little break turned into a massive act of procrastination.

But whatever. All is good. I'm back on track now and going to be way more strict with myself.

I've already written 30k words in the first half of the month when normally that's the amount of words I get done in a WHOLE month. So maybe I won't make it to the 90k, but I'm still going to make this a fight to remember.

Maybe A Matter of Curiosity won't even be 90k words? And I will be perfectly happy with however long it ends up being, even if that means that I don't finish my Camp goals. Of course, I always reach this point in my books where I think they'll be super short and then they end up being way longer than I anticipated, so who knows what will happen. I certainly don't.

Anyway, this week I thought that I would share a little more about my Camp NaNo project because I realize that some of you haven't read A Certain Sort of Madness yet and so probably have no idea what is going on. So, allow me to share a little bit about the cast of A Matter of Curiosity. So you guys can know who these people I'm always talking about are.

Alicia: The King



Alicia has maybe a little too much power, both due to her magical abilities and her friend's loyalty. But no worries, she means well. Sometimes she just gets... carried away.

Quote: I’m not sick! It happened. There were dragons and faeries, but it was still real."

ThemeJust Like Fire

Olivia: The Queen



Alicia's sassy cousin, Olivia has a good head on her shoulders. Assuming she can keep it on her shoulders, that is.

Quote: I’m not entirely sure what is going on anymore. All I know is that it isn’t good.

Theme: Land of Confusion

Dante: The Rook



Dante Carlos Alessandro III, The Huntsman, Imaginary Friend- the man of many names. The jack of a thousand trades. The trump card that will very likely turn on you if you try to use him.

Quote: Even in my dreams, Dante is still the sassiest person I know.

Theme: A Million Dreams

Eugene: The Bishop



An illusionist and pickpocket with more secrets than he has tricks up his sleeve. And he has quite a few tricks. Would give his life for his monkey.

Quote: Chandler does like glory. If I don’t go, he’s liable to go without me. And you are the only friends I have so why not? If we die at least we die together.”

Theme: The Greatest Show

Hector: The Knight



Loyal and steadfast to a fault, Hector will do anything for those he loves. Even kill for them.

Quote: Hector’s eyes flash murderously. “If I ever see that son of a snake again-”

Theme: Come Alive

Jane: The Pawn



Jane is the quiet member that never seems to fit right in. But don't let that fool you, she's just as brave as the rest. And she is no one's fool.

Quote: That was a rubbish explanation,” Jane says. “I still have no idea what is going on.”

Theme: Tightrope


And there you have it, my main characters in this series. Some of you are probably wondering about the chess names. Well... you know, it's all fun and games over here. Even when everyone is getting hurt, apparently. Maybe next week I'll share more about Marius and the Red Queen and the setting...

So what do you guys think of this post? I sort of realized that I had no post planned yesterday and just winged it. Hopefully you found it enjoyable.

Have you read A Certain Sort of Madness? If so, who is your favorite character (and since I'm sinking so many of them, ship)? And if you haven't, who do you think would be your favorite character? Are you doing Camp NaNo? If so, how are you doing with your goals? Let's talk!

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Wonderland Blog Tag


So... I was tagged a little while ago with this tag and since I'm working on A Matter of Curiosity book two in a duology inspired by Alice in Wonderland for Camp NaNo, I thought that now was the perfect time to delve into the twisted world of Wonderland.

The Wonderlander-ful Rules
1. Link back and thank the person who tagged you. (Tagged by the fantabulous Merie Shen at https://imperialscribis.wordpress.com/)
2. Link back to the creator of the tag, Catwing.
3. Tag a random number of Wonder-ful bloggers and notify them (Probably not all the way to an eight that fell over, but whatever number that isn’t too high over 20/20. (Your vision can only be so good.) But not less than nothing, that makes some people’s heads spin. (Don’t take this ramble too seriously) :P)
4. You can use the creator’s tag graphic if you like.
5. Have fun!
1-ish. If you could be any creature (real, wonderland-ish, or otherwise) what would it be?
It's a toss up between dragons and faeries. I suppose that since I'm choosing to be one it would be faeries, but if I could be a dragon that could shapeshift into human form that would also be awesome.


Picture via Pinterest

But in all honesty, I would probably go with faeries because magical powers beat shapeshifting in my humble opinion.

1/2. Think of one/halves to five/ones of impossible things. What are they?
I actually finish A Time of Trepidation. I somehow do something without first procrastinating. Super powers (a pity though). I am actually a faerie or a dragon. A half breed of some kind? I'm actually tall.

3 is odd. How is a raven like a writing desk?
They can both produce notes but they are rather flat... or something or the other.

4/4. Do you have a character named Alice?
Sort of, her name is Alicia actually. She's actually based off of Alice in Wonderland.
"I shouldn’t feel this way, but I can’t help but think that I’m Humpty Dumpty and I’m tottering. And when I fall, I’m never going to be put back together again."
She's awesome and probably the sweetest of my heroines, and the most naive. She is very agreeable, and imaginative. Also she's slightly crazy, magical, and in way over her head.

5/8. The Queen of Hearts thinks you have stolen her tarts, so she yells, “Off with their head” What do you do?

If I'm a dragon then I'll transform into my firebreathing self and get the heck out of dodge because not even a dragon is going to stand up to the Queen of Hearts. If I'm actually a faerie then I'll use my devious mind to trick her into thinking that she is mistaken and someone else ate her tarts (I probably ate them though). If I'm a human, however, I suppose I will simply offer to bake her some more tarts.
6/0. Red or blue?
Blue, definitely. It's in the big three of colors so of course it has to be blue.

7-ies. It is tea time. What is your favorite tea or hot beverage?
I don't drink tea, or coffee even so hot cocoa all the way!
 0/8. What type of flower are you?
Eh, I had to take a quiz for this. Apparently I am a Heather?

Look at that, I'm so pretty


6/9. The dormouse asks you, “Hats or hares? Or was it hairs?” (Warning: some are March-y and/or Mad)
It depends on the hat. I love me a good top hat or stetson, so they would get the one up on a hare because I prefer rabbits anyway. If that makes any sense XD

10/6. Where are you headed? Somewhere, Nowhere, Everywhere,  Over There, Elsewhere?
I'm definitely headed everywhere and I've been heading there for quite a while.


Reality is Cracking...

And since it is my Camp NaNo project I suppose I can share a little bit about A Matter of Curiosity. My goal is to write the entire book this month. The first draft of book 1 was about 99k words so I'm estimating that this one will be 90-something thousand words. So far I am to 24k words. So only 60-something thousand words to go right? *dies* XD I'm to chapter sixteen. Book one was thirty-five chapters long so I suppose we shall see if this will be more or less than that.

I'm finally past the beginning. Now we're getting onto the main plot.

So there you have it! Wasn't that just wonderland-ful? But wait, there's more. Because now I tag:

Nicole Dust
and
Quinley

Now it's your turn to talk! What is your favorite Alice in Wonderland retelling that you have read? Who is your favorite character from Alice in Wonderland? What kind of flower are you? Comment below!

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Celebrating the Beginning of my Blog//Three Months Later...



So last month I started gathering questions to answer for the celebration of my blog and now you get your answers.

-Would you like to learn a foreign language? If so, which one? Yess! I want to learn so many foreign languages. I guess if I had to chose only one it would be German since that's where my ancestors are from. But I also really want to learn Spanish, Russian, and French to name a few...

-What animal, real or fictional, would you want as a companion? I'm going to go with just fictional for this question because if not, it's my dogs without a doubt. But I would really like to have a dragon (can I PLEASE have a dragon?). If I had to pick a specific dragon, I would go with Odysseus from My Time in Amar because he's awesome and would totally be my best friend.

-Do you like musicals? If so, which ones are your favorites? Of course, I LOVE musicals!!! My favorites would have to be The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. Also Anastasia, though I prefer the cartoon version to the Broadway one.

-Which of your own male leads is your favorite? Okay, that's just mean, and you know it. My favorite of my male leads? But... but... I love them all.  If I had to choose just one, I guess it would be Cedric. Because I'm assuming that you mean male leads that I've actually written... if not, Dirk has always been my favorite.

-Which of the books you've written is your favorite? (and not future WIPs, the actual written ones that I've read or am waiting to read. Mwahahaha.) Wow, someone must have been taking their psycho pills before they decided to ask these questions *glares at person in question*. My favorite book that I've written? Well it's certainly not A Week of Werewolves, Faeries and Fancy Dresses or At Time of Trepidation, Pirates, and Lost Princesses just for the trouble that they put me through. Winter Cursed is just a novella as is A Winter Grim and Lonely and A Winter Dark and Deadly is over there in the "too much work" department. That leaves A Certain Sort of Madness and Of Gold and Iron, both were relatively easy to write and edit and I'm super proud of both of them, but I think I love the banter and family feeling of A Certain Sort of Madness just a little bit more than the tricky tricks of the fae. So A Certain Sort of Madness it is.


-What is your honest opinion of Tony Stark? I love him. Like, he is the me character in this franchise- 
minus him being a dude and a technological genius and super rich (second place goes to Peter Quill- we will drown out our pain and worries with music and jokes together, my son). Tony is just the character that I get. Now, I was team Captain America, but that was nothing against Tony. It's because I understand Tony that I chose Cap's team. Because I knew that Tony would be blinded by emotions and other people, Cap would do the right thing no matter what so knowing that I am more like Tony and how easy it is to be blinded by emotions I would side with Cap to have that strong moral center that keeps me from going too far. Still think that Cap should have let Tony get at least a few punches on Bucky. The guy did kill his mum.

-Who do YOU think is actually going to die in Endgame? (because I think the whole world who's interested has seen Infinity War now)- I think Tony definitely. I know, I know I just spent the past question raving about how much I love him, but yeah. He's gonna die. So probably is Captain America. And I wouldn't hold out for Thor either.


-What is your favorite Tales of Goldstone Wood book? So this may come as a surprise for some of you, but I'm not actually the hugest Tales of Goldstone Wood fan. Please don't lynch me! With that said, I have read the books up until Dragon Witch (then I set Dragon Witch aside because I was bored and I never picked the series up again). Starflower is definitely my favorite and Eanrin and Dame Imraldera is a ship that I will go down with to the very bottom of the ocean.

-What is the weirdest dream you've EVER had? (Because now you've got me wondering...xD) You did not know what you were asking when you asked that question. Everyone, buckle up, I'm going to take you on a wild ride. So I had this dream years ago back during the height of my zombie phobia and I guess the reason I liked this dream so much was because it was my first dream I had about zombies that didn't scare the stuffings out of me.


I dreamed that I was a black basketball player... and I was a dude. Coming from an uncoordinated white girl, that's enough to make this dream my weirdest, but we haven't even begun yet. We were also in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. No worries, though, because as you will recall, I was a skilled basketball player. And if you throw a basketball just right at a zombie's head you can knock it right off. I was a full blown zombie slayer with nothing but my old team's uniform, my sweatband, and my trusty basketball.

But that's still not all because I was also caught up in a vicious love triangle. On one hand, we have the love of my life, a blonde girl I'd known for some time and had even dated for a while... before she'd become a zombie that is. And on the other side we have this feisty Hispanic chick whose father lead the human resistance movement. My zombie girlfriend seemed to have retained some of her humanity, enough that she didn't attack me, but she was still a zombie. I wanted to find a cure for her, I remember that was my purpose in this dream so I went to meet up with the human resistance (killing a bunch of zombies along the way, I had a superior throwing arm), there I met the leader's daughter. She kinda had a crush on me from the start, but my heart was already taken. Anyway, we started working together to find a cure, we had just found a lead when the zombies all started attacking the base.

The leader told his daughter to take me and find the cure while he and the rest of his men held off the zombies in a vicious life and death game of dodge ball. I kept telling them that if my zombie girlfriend was one of the ones attacking that they couldn't attack her. I was, after all, trying to save her. But eventually we had to leave and I could only hope that she wasn't one of the zombies attacking. That's about the point that I woke up.

Sounds twisted and messed up right? So yeah, that was probably my weirdest dream. Though... I still wonder to this day if I could have found a cure for my zombie girlfriend or if I would have ended up killing her and staying with the freedom fighter.

I have another dream where I was a freedom fighter against the government who controlled zombies with my trusty allies Superman and Wonderwoman and my kid sister but the prize still has to go to the black basketball player dream.

-If you could visit one and only one storyworld, which would it be and why? Oof, that's a tough one. I'm probably going to have to go with Amar so I could meet my charries. And besides, as Alicia once said, everything is just more in Amar.


- What is your favorite fairytale (because I literally ask this to... every blogger who has a Q&A session)? Cinderella! I don't know why I love it so much, I don't even like the Disney Cartoon all that much, but man I do love Cinderella.

- What is one place, anywhere in the world outside your home country, that you would love to visit? Scotland. Anywhere in Great Britain, really, but Scotland primarily.


- What's your favorite foreign food (Italian, Russian, Korean, etc.)? I love Chinese food. I have nothing more to say there.


- What's your favorite (specific shade) color? Lol, so that's actually kind of funny because I don't have a favorite color. I have three. Purple, green, and blue and every shade that that counts as one of those three colors. I don't even want to say how many times my color code on my laptop has switched between these three colors.


If I had to pick just one I guess I would say sea green because it's kinda a combination of green and blue- two of my three.

- What are some popular fandoms you don't understand/are terrified of? Oh wow, this is a hard question because I'm actually part of a lot of fandoms. I guess I'm going to have to go with Downton Abbey. I was actually a part of this fandom for a while, but long story short after they killed off my favorite character (I cried, I actually cried. This was the first time I cried over a fictional death since Thorin) and sunk both my ships for that show, I now do not understand why people still like it.


Granny states my current feelings toward Downton Abbey beautifully
Though I also don't understand why people are into Avtar: The Last Airbender (to be fair, I've only seen the movie, maybe I would have liked it if I was allowed to watch the show)Voltron (I watched the first season or so of the original show and it was awful), or Anime (even though most of my friends irl have become obsessed with it).

- What would you give as an acrostic name poem for your favorite fictional character?


This is not only an extremely difficult question because I have to write a freaking poem, but also you're making me choose a favorite fictional character. Oof, so I love a ton of fictional characters (and we're not even getting into the ones that I created myself) but I'll give this one to Zachary Goode from Gallagher Girls because I seriously love him so much. Although, in hind sight, why does his name have to start with a freaking "Z"????

Zzzz- Are you laid back or acting?
Are you friend of foe
Choices are hard when you're around
How about you pick a side?

Gallagher Girl is what you say
Oh sometimes you get carried away
Of course, you are a spy
Despite being a Blackthorne Boy
Everyone deserves a happy ending

I'm actually kind of ridiculously proud of that poem so please no one bash it even if I could only manage to slip in one rhyme XD

Well, there you have it. You probably know more about me than you wish you did. These were all great questions everyone, even if some of them were particularly cruel!


Now I have some questions for you. What was your weirdest dream? What's a fandom that you dislike? What's your favorite fairy tale? Musical? Comment Below!