Taking Stock: December

Savoring: The last few weeks of Christmas break; my new lemon-tea-scented candle.

Waiting: For snow.

Thinking: About fixing myself a cup of hot cocoa.

Reading: Li’l Gotham, volumes 1 & 2 (these stories are hilarious and adorable and BEAUTIFULLY illustrated—I can’t get enough of them); The Magician King (even better than The Magicians); Every Word (perfection).

Worrying: About 2016. Lots of things will be changing for me, and I’m both super excited and super stressed.

Binge-watching: The X-Files on Christmas Eve. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Writing: Very little this month. I’m not sure if it’s writer’s block or good old-fashioned laziness, but lately putting words on paper has felt like filtering Jell-O through a sieve (or some other equally bad metaphor).

Deciding: To make some New Year’s resolutions this time around. They might not stick, but it’s worth a shot.

Eating: Christmas leftovers.

Wishing: You all a happy New Year and a (belated) merry Christmas! Blogging has been such a wonderful experience, and I’m so grateful to everyone who took the time to read my posts. You guys are beyond lovely. 

All pictures via Pinterest.

Unofficial Best Book Award

   Thanks to Olivia from the cwtch for tagging me!

via

Rules:

Steal the tag.

Fill in the tag.

Tag people to steal the tag.

Be happy and have fun!

Best Male Character

   Today I’m rounding up three of my favorites: Ged from the Earthsea Cycle, Commander Vimes from the Discworld series, and Dr. Pellinore Warthrop from The Monstrumlogist. Ged is kind and wise, Commander Vimes is funny and wise, and Dr. Warthrop is also kind and wise (in his own eccentric, Sherlock-esque way).

Best Female Character

   This is even harder. I love Sissy from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Rachel Watts from Every Breath, Sorcha from Daughter of the Forest, Wendy from Peter Pan…At the moment, though, I guess my favorite might be Harley Quinn from the Batman comics. She somehow manages to be (almost) completely unhinged, yet still a joy to be around (assuming she’s not trying to kill you).

Best Protagonist (good guy/main character)

   Gen from The Queen’s Thief series. One of the things I find really interesting is that he’s always the main character, but not necessarily the viewpoint character, of every book he’s in. The guy doesn’t even have to be telling the story for it to end up revolving around him. If that’s not charisma, I don’t know what is.

Best Antagonist (bad guy/opposing party to main character)

   Long Lankin from Long Lankin. I can’t remember him without shivering.

Best Plot Development or Twist

   A Pack of Lies has a pretty fantastic twist at the end.

Book You Threw Across the Room the Hardest (in either a bad or good way)

   That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton. It’s a good book, but majorly depressing.

Best Romance

   I actually prefer friendship- and family-centered books to romance, but the three romantic subplots in Entwined are all wonderful. (And funny. I don’t think they’re nearly enough funny romances.)

Best Action:

   The Sisters Grimm books are packed with the wackiest action imaginable.

Best Other Book

   ???

   In the Heart of the Sea in a genre I don’t usually read (nonfiction), but I loved it.

Best Book That Made You Change the Way You Think

   The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I hadn’t thought much about poverty and class issues before reading it.

Best Inspiring Book

   Big Magic inspires me to create more.

Best Book That Made You Learn Something New

   Wallace: The Biography. Braveheart is a wonderful movie, but it'll never win four stars in the historical accuracy department.

Best Sad Book

   I cried every day while I was reading Betwixt and Between.

Best Funny Book

   I’ve been reading a lot of Batman comics recently, and Li’l Gotham is both adorable and funny.

Tagging:

Alyssa

Kelsey

Joni

+ Whoever wants to join in

Bookish Collages: The Tales of Beatrix Potter

   Since I apparently have nothing better to do, I spent the better part of this week making book-themed collages. These three are Beatrix Potter-themed, mostly because Christmas is coming and nothing puts me in a Christmassy mood like The Tailor of Gloucester.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were—

Flopsy,

Mopsy,

Cotton-tail,

and Peter.

The Tale of Mr. Tod

I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to make a story about two disagreeable people, called Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod.

The Tailor of Gloucester

But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that they say). 

Taking Stock: November

Looking forward to: Christmas!

Eating: Thanksgiving leftovers. There’s no such thing as too much mashed potatoes.

Watching: Jessica Jones.

Reading: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, Brooklyn, Winter’s Bone, After the Golden Age, Jim Henson: The Biography.

Listening: To the Sussex Carol.

Burning: Honeysuckle-scented candles. I love having one close to my desk when I’m writing.

Waiting: For snow.

Craving: A cup of tea and a window seat to sip it on.

Wishing: I had more time (and more motivation) to do the things I want to do.

Seeing: Mockingjay Part 2 at the theater. 

Finishing: “A Forest of Bones”, my short story retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. You can read it here. 

All pictures via Pinterest.

WIP Tag: A Forest of Bones

    Hey guys! I swiped this tag from Joni and modified it to fit one of my current WIPs, a short story retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I’ve been thinking of posting it on Figment once it’s done, but for now I thought it would be cool to share a few bits of the process.

How many words are you up to so far? How long is your story going to be?

The first draft is 3,024 words long. It’ll probably get a little longer once I flesh things out in the second draft.

What (if any) are some images you’re drawing inspiration from for your story?

I love the whole rococo/baroque type look, plus traditional fairy tale illustrations:

     

            

Music?

Not usually for short stories.

Do you have any other writing rituals/inspirations for this project?

Well, I wrote all but the first paragraph and the last two pages of the first draft in one day. I wrote the first paragraph at something like 12:30 the night before.

I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time—almost a year, I think. Very early on I knew the title and the last sentence, but it wasn’t until a couple of days ago that the plot finally started to come together. So you could say that the idea of finally being able to day, “I did it!” was a big motivator for me.

Pantsing or planning? 

Pantsing.

Share one prop from your draft:

A turnip-headed doll.

One character name:

Amity

And lastly, share one sentence from your rough draft:

When he asks where they've been going, Noble says, “Under the floor.”

All pictures via Pinterest

Inspirations: Cartoons

I love books. I really do. But I’d be lying if I said that they’re the only things that inspire my stories. I’ve always been really visual, and in some ways I think movies and TV have inspired my own personal projects MORE than books—at least in terms of the feel and aesthetic. Plus, there’s a certain wackiness to some cartoons that doesn’t often show up in books, but is always fantastic when it does.

Catscratch

Let’s start with the wackiest of the bunch: Catscratch is a Nicktoon about three brothers, who happen to be cats, who live in a mansion with their butler, Hovis. When their owner, the insanely rich Ms. Cramdilly, died, she willed her entire estate to them. Surprisingly (not) this show only lasted for one season.

 

I only saw two episodes of Catscratch when I was younger: The Ghost of Cramdilly and Zombie Party A-Go-Go! But, for some reason, those two episodes influenced me in a big way, and I’ve always remembered them. Crazy plot? Check? Crazier characters? Check. An uptight deadpan snarker (Hovis) and the lovable wackos who torment him? Check!

Hercules: The Animated Series

I love the movie, but the cartoon show is pure gold. It’s basically Percy Jackson before Percy Jackson, with Hercules attending Prometheus Academy and trying to avoid Hades along the way (he doesn’t succeed, obviously). It’s also very funny and insanely clever, but the thing I love most, next to the humor, is the setting. It’s a very modern sort of “Ancient” Greece, where they take their driving tests in chariots and get summer jobs at Gyro World. Watching in it, I can’t help but think about ideas for my own eventual mythic retelling.

Treasure Planet

Anybody who thinks that cartoons are nothing but time-wasting fluff should watch Treasure Planet. Actually, everyone should watch Treasure Planet. The idea of a scifi retelling of Treasure Island isn’t especially original in itself (believe it or not), but it’s SO wonderfully executed that I still choke up watching it. Or even thinking about it.

 

All right, I’m a sap, but Treasure Planet taught me that a story can be set in a world that's weird and unfamiliar, but still have a very deep and truthful emotional core. And that’s one of the most important things to remember when you’re writing fantasy.

Batman: The Animated Series

I’m just starting to get into this one, and it’s already influencing me. It’s a kid’s show, but the atmosphere is grim and brooding, and the plots are usually pretty dark. But it doesn’t skimp on quirkiness, and every character is a joy to watch.

 

My favorite part of this show is probably Harley Quinn. She might be insane and have terrible taste when it comes to men, but she’s also sweet, funny, and surprisingly warm and loving. And yes, she does try to kill Batman. But you never get the sense that she hates him the way the Joker does—sometimes they even act like friends. And Harley always has fun. More than anything, I think that she’s showing me that even villains can be lovable.

That’s all for now, folks! What are some of your favorite cartoons?