Subplots and Storylines – September 2015

Tracey Dyck September 30, 2015 Uncategorized 14 Comments

Despite the calendar telling me fall began on September 23rd, I always feel that September 1st is a more accurate date for the autumnal equinox. Something about students returning to classes, the air turning crisper, leaves turning gold and orange and red . . . It’s just fall-ish. I adore this time of year, when sunny afternoons are still warm enough to wander about in sandals, and evenings are chilly enough to wrap myself in a sweater; when the bugs have started to die off; when you blink and suddenly the trees are shaking out their golden splendor. Perfection.

Maybe it’s the weather, but it feels like the subtle turning of a page. My siblings are burying their noses in schoolbooks once again (heavens, has it really been two years since that was me?). The garden has been cleaned out, down to a bare patch of dirt; and jars upon jars upon jars of canned goods line the pantry shelves. The tomato canning–salsa sauce, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, canned whole tomatoes–is done early this year. Hooray! My college & careers group (the young adult version of youth group, in case you’re unfamiliar with the term) has started up again. Change is in the air.

Other September happenings include:

A sleepover with a good friend, which consisted of movies, walks, and late-night conversations.
My parents’ 25th wedding anniversary! My siblings and I served them an Italian meal, restaurant style. It’s been our tradition of late to look for new recipes, shoo Mom out of the kitchen, and whip up supper for the two of them on their anniversary. We kitchen staff eat in a different room while they enjoy soft music and a candlelit dinner. This year we made baked ziti, caesar salad, and garlic toast. Oh, and afterwards we all gathered around to watch a video of their wedding highlights. Romantic!
I mentioned it already, but the weather has just been gorgeous.
Editing The Brightest Thread, my Sleeping Beauty retelling. It’s dropped from 30k to just over 27 k, and I’ve already gone through the first half of the story. Heh. I must learn to be more ruthless.
Last Sunday night, we stood on the driveway to witness a ‘blood moon.’ Or more accurately, the eclipse of a super moon. The moon was larger, closer to earth, and this particular eclipse turned it rusty red. (More like old, dried blood than bright scarlet blood.) Pretty neat.
Yesterday was Coffee Day, apparently, which I found out after the fact. Oh well. I did accidently celebrate with a pumpkin spice latte.

I watched a few things this month:

A re-watch of Mom’s Night Out. Just as funny the second time around!
The new Annie movie, watched during a girl’s night. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but it was actually very good. The songs got stuck in my head for a few days, which I didn’t mind at all.
During the sleepover, I watched the first four episodes of Once Upon a Time Season 2! (Captain Hook!)
Insurgent. While it wasn’t as compelling as the first movie, and I did skip a scene (NOT. NECESSARY. GUYS.), it was fairly good. I’m kind of undecided on my opinion. On one hand, it didn’t follow the book. On the other, the changes did accomplish something the book did not (see Tori’s review @ Geeks Under Grace; one of the last paragraphs). The different faction settings were sharply contrasted, which was visually beautiful. I continue to love Tris’s role. But as I said, it wasn’t quite on the same level as Divergent.

My September reading was sparse due to busy-ness. When I finally visited the library last night for the first time in weeks, my heart almost hurt at the number of books I wanted to grab! I settled for a realistic five. Anyway, here’s what I did manage to read this month . . .

Doon by Carey Corp & Lori Langdon: Aside from a few plot weaknesses, this was a fun YA romance/portal fantasy in which two girls cross over a magical Scottish bridge into the world of Doon . . . where they promptly fall in love with two princes. Some aspects of the book were quite original, and the princes’ lovely Scottish brogues are enough to make it worth the read. (Just a warning: though it’s a Christian book, it had a sprinkling of mild language that surprised me.)

Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson. FABULOUS. As a romantic suspense novel, it included awesome FBI cases, a really sweet and maturely-handled romance, and heart-plumbing depth. If you’ve never read Dee Henderson, go do so now. (Her O’Malley series is a great place to start.)

(My cover was pinkish rather than blue…)

Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge. I’ve been slowly working through this devotional all summer. All you ladies out there, whatever your age, this book will touch your heart. I’m serious, there’s at least one chapter in there for every kind of woman. Though I didn’t agree with a few theological statements, overall the book was amazing. It opened my eyes to some beautiful truths about real womanhood.

And that, my friends, was my September in a nutshell. October awaits!

How was your month? What are you looking forward to in October? And fellow Five Magic Spindles contestants: how is your entry coming along? (Can you believe we have three months left to finish??)

(Psst, stay tuned for this Saturday’s post. I am offering some writing tips at last!)

*Edit: I forgot to mention one very exciting happening this month. Anne Elisabeth Stengl held a Show and Tell on her blog for the Five Magic Spindles contestants, which I entered. It was so exciting to get a glimpse of over 30 stories! There’s a lot of talent and promising ideas this year. Go take a gander!

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Subplots and Storylines – August 2015

Tracey Dyck September 2, 2015 Uncategorized 12 Comments

Well, it appears that I am two days late getting this post up. But you patient questers don’t mind too much, right?

August. How shall I begin to describe thee? Thou art fleeting as the wind, capricious as the sea . . . Ahem. Now that I’ve got that Shakespearean hooey out of my system, I believe I can articulate myself in a more contemporary manner.

This month began on a relaxing note, what with family holidays (which I documented HERE). It was lovely to take some time off from life’s busyness together. One thing I forgot to mention in that vacation post was the night we had a campfire–complete with s’mores, naturally–and took turns telling each family member something we loved/appreciated about them. It brought on tears for some of us, and remains one of my favorite memories of the vacation.

And then it was back home–back to work! writing! movies! corn on the cob! Don’t laugh. Fresh corn on the cob, salted and slathered with butter, is one of the very best things on God’s green earth.

But I know you all have much more pressing questions than “what did you eat?” Unless you are Cait of Paper Fury. Because that is probably her primary question for everyone. (Pst, go check out her new blog design–gorgeous!) But the rest of you folk may be wondering . . .

What did you watch?

Too much.

A bunch of rewatches, which I mentioned in that vacation post.
The last three Indiana Jones movies. As with many things, I was late getting on that particular train. Those iconic adventure movies are pretty great, though, even when they make me howl with laughter over the leaps in logic and unintentional bits of hilarity. Indy, please explain to me how you and your crew managed to float down not one, not two, but THREE successive waterfalls without losing each other in the current or, excuse me, killing yourselves. While I’m asking questions, here’s one for Spielberg and Lucas: what possessed you to mix aliens into the fourth movie? But I digress. I did quite enjoy the Indiana Jones films. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is probably my favorite.
Rewatched Mockingjay: Part 1 with my brother, and remembered exactly why I can’t wait for the final Hunger Games installment.
Rewatched Teen Beach Movie with my sisters, Mom, and honorary aunt. It was a girly night, okay?
Because my littlest sis went off to camp for a week, us three oldest had the leisure of watching a number of older-audience movies. (Who am I kidding, we needed a diversion from all the tears cried over Kitty’s absence.) So we watched The Amazing Spiderman, Thor: The Dark World, and then we gals watched Pride and Prejudice.
Finished the first season of Once Upon a Time. I can’t say anything more here, otherwise it might swallow up this entire post, and it’s supposed to be a balanced summary, not a TV show review. (But my poor heart . . .)

What did you read?

Paige Torn by Erynn Mangum. A fun little bundle of chick-lit, and for all you gals who don’t prefer that sort of thing, you might find enough depth here to make this worth your while. I really identified with the main character Paige. Plus, Erynn Mangum’s writing is just hilarious.

The Spirit Well by Stephen R. Lawhead (Book 3 in the Bright Empires series). Another brilliant piece of the Bright Empire series! Things are building toward an epic climax, I tell ya.

Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Words cannot express how amazing this novel is. But I shall try to employ those feeble tools in effort to do so anyway. This book, with its pseudo-eastern culture (I’m not learned enough in that sort of thing to pinpoint its exact inspiration–probably Japanese or something), definitely had a different feel to it than the previous installments. Yet it was so distinctly Goldstone Wood, and it shed light on some very important elements of the series. I just might have to write up a book review . . . or more like a reaction post, because a review implies that there may be some negative opinions. And I have zero of those.

Mindwar by Andrew Klavan. I’m excited that this is the first of a trilogy, since his last few books have been standalones. Sci-fi-ish videogame stuff allows for a fantasy feel in some portions of the story, and the villains are wonderfully creepy. I started off wanting to hit Rick Dial (main character) upside the head, but he straightened out by the end. There were some nice allegorical elements worked in, encouraging readers not to live by their feelings, and demonstrating the power to be found within us because of Christ.

Above by Leah Bobet. *le sigh* I wanted to like this book. I did. I stuck it out to the end, hoping that the unique writing voice and cool elements would make it worthwhile. But poetically off-kilter sentences and people with crab claw hands, lightning powers, or transforming-into-a-bee abilities were not enough. Or I should say, they might have been, had the book not veered into hot-button-topic territory. (Talking to ghosts. A weird, almost-séance scene. Mental disorders, which isn’t a bad thing to address, but just didn’t quite click here. Gender issues. That one jumped out of nowhere and totally messed up the ending. I couldn’t even figure out exactly what the author wanted to say on that topic.) Also, the cover implies the book is about the girl with bee’s wings. It’s not. She’s the love interest of the main, a lovesick, melodramatic boy named Matthew.

What did you write?

Glad you asked! (Er, glad I . . . asked . . . myself?) I didn’t write anything the first half of the month (holidays, y’know), but afterward I got a good bit done in my Sleeping Beauty novella. And guess what? I FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT. Yay! But guess what else? IT’S EXACTLY 9,934 WORDS OVER THE CONTEST LIMIT. Oh no.

So it’s obvious I didn’t reach my goal of 20k by July 29th. But 30k by August 29th isn’t too bad if you remember I didn’t write a word for ten days. And that I worked a number of the other days. But boy oh boy, do I ever have my work cut out for me. I’ll have to chop off almost a third of the story. Can it be done? We shall see. I suspect my blood, sweat, and tears will stain this blog in the coming month or two.

Oh, and I still do not have a title. This is not good. But I do have a few possibilities I’m toying with, and I hope to settle on a keeper in time to participate in the Show and Tell being hosted this month.

I can’t leave the topic of Sleeping Beauty without sending a big shoutout to my lovely beta readers! Their responses have made drafting this story twice as much fun, and their input on various things has been so valuable. Thank you, gals!

Good heavens, you’ve been watching, reading, and writing so much–have you had time for anything else?

Yes, but the only noteworthy thing was the walk I took with an old friend the other day. We had a great time getting some exercise and catching up on each other’s lives!

So now I must ask you, questers, what your epic quests are for September. How was your summer? Do you have plans for the fall? And if you’re participating in the Five Magic Spindles contest, how’s your entry coming along? I, for one, will be attempting to trim down my inbox and catch up on some beta reading before jumping into edits (ahem, lumberjack practice).

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Subplots and Storylines

Tracey Dyck May 30, 2015 Book Reviews 15 Comments

Time has a way of marching along at a rather quick pace. I feel as if I’ve blinked and May has whirled by in a blur of color. It’s been an eventful month! If life were a story, this particular chapter would be chock full of new subplots. Shall I unspool them all for you? Yes. I shall.

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I’ve started working at a new job. Last month I had some training shifts, and the beginning of May brought with it a sizable chunk of online learning. In the meantime, I’ve been asking hundreds of questions as I learn the ropes and get settled into a new schedule. This job was a real answer to prayer, so I’m glad to adjust to a new season of life!

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Another notable happening was two dear friends’ graduations from two different Bible/leadership colleges. So exciting to celebrate their accomplishments!

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The first couple weeks of May were grey and rainy. Perfect weather for curling up with a book, either one to read or one to write. I’m not a slow reader, nor am I the devour-ten-books-a-week sort of girl. But I am pleased with the six novels in which I’ve spent time this month.

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Outlaw—really different from the usual Dekker book, but still with his distinct hue. Not for the faint of heart!

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Divergent—a reread, and a good one at that. It was interesting to remember how the book differed from the movie.

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The next three books are the result of a little something I did with my siblings. The four of us visited the library and picked out a book for each of our sibs to read. So we all ended up with three new books to try. It gets us out of our usual reading zone, and also gives us some common reads to discuss afterwards. 11 Birthdays was chosen by my youngest sister, and was an adorable tale of two friends stuck reliving their eleventh birthday over and over and over again. The Storybook of Legends was picked by my middle sister, and basically smashed a bunch of fairy-tale characters into a story about choice versus fate. The False Prince was selected by my brother, and lulled me into the happy trance of a good fantasy before jolting me awake with a great plot twist. I was a wee bit jealous of the author’s idea, to tell you the truth.

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Right now I’m in the last third of Insurgent! And, um, it’s kind of . . . sad . . . and heavy . . . but really intense, so I’m not complaining. Apparently I like getting my literary heart ripped out.

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Oh! Speaking of which, in May I have also had my heart ripped out by some awesome movies.

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The Battle of the Five Armies: all I have to say is OUCH. Well, that and OHMYGOODNESSITWASAMAZING. Intense battles, fabulous character development, and great set-up for LotR. An epic conclusion to the Hobbit trilogy!

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Guardians of the Galaxy . . . What. In. The. World. Okay, it was quite hilarious, and I loved how it didn’t take itself seriously at all. (And guys—Lee Pace was in there! I didn’t know until I heard him speak, because he looks nothing like the Thranduil I’m used to.) My main complaint would be the language. But you have no idea how much I loved this:

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And perhaps my favorite flick of the month (okay, it’s tied with TBotFA) was Age of Ultron. I’ve heard people say it wasn’t as good as the first Avengers film, but I have no idea what they’re talking about. This was EPIC. And it ripped my heart out too. See, I’m just a bleeding puddle of feels this month. (Ew. That was graphic. My apologies.)

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Anyway, I did say it was the perfect rainy weather for writing books as well as reading them, did I not? So because my book 1 is sitting on the backburner for now, I decided to tackle book 2. I wrote the first draft three years ago at the ripe old age of sixteen and declared it marvellous, full of tight writing and great characters. I recently reread it and . . . well, yes, I did marvel at it, but only in the sense of “Ahahaha, you say I wrote this monstrosity? Did I really?” The writing was . . . er, yes, we could call it tight. We could also call it bland and lackluster and far too fast. The characters displayed great amounts of inconsistency, passivity, and stupidity—so of course sixteen-year-old-me was partially right in labeling them ‘great.’ And let’s please ignore the plot’s gaping, dragon-sized holes. Yes. We won’t comment on that.

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Needless to say, I was (and am) faced with a good deal of work. All of which I’m very excited about, don’t get me wrong! I can’t wait to plow into this project, kick it all into pieces, and put them back together again in a much better way.

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A peek at my brilliance. 😉

So during this month of May, I have been masterminding. What’s that, you wonder? Well, it stands to reason that if I, the author of this obstinate fantasy series, am the mastermind behind the story, then the act of worldbuilding and hatching brilliant plots could be called ‘masterminding.’ We can definitely change a noun to a verb, right? (Aaaand I just checked. Apparently I’m not as original as I thought: masterminding is already a word. Phooey.)

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Anyway, this masterminding is more than plotting. It goes beyond worldbuilding. It’s not even the same thing as brainstorming, although all three of those things play significant parts. For me, it was pulling my scattered notes, thoughts, and ideas together and deciding, once and for all, exactly how the big story elements work. I took a look at the people, worlds, and objects that are important in these books, and documented how/where/when/why they do what they do. It was great fun! My file isn’t entirely complete, but it’s a good launch pad for what I have in mind.

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Oh, and did I mention that I decided on almost three thousand years’ worth of history in another world? Just the big events, but still, it left me feeling quite powerful in an author-ish sort of way.

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While I found the drizzly weather lovely for bookish pursuits, one of the resident robins felt that the wet conditions were perfect for nest-building. This would not normally be a notable thing, except for the small detail of where he decided to construct it: on top of an outdoor light.

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(I apologize for the poor zoom quality.
Birds don’t like you getting too close.)

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I suppose he was tired of living in trees like a sensible bird, and wanted a better view of the goings-on around him. Not the tidiest nest-maker, either, is he? Sadly, we did not allow that pile of seaweed slop to stay. (At least I thought it resembled seaweed.) But lucky for the robin, there are plenty of spruces in which to nest instead. Thankfully the rain stopped and the sun returned in time for garden planting, walk taking, and sun tanning.

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And with the big series elements in place, I took a deep breath and plunged into outlining book 2. Version One (or Version Horrendous; you choose) is itty bitty. 68,000 words, eighteen chapters. The new version is looking to be twenty-eight chapters or more. I am positively bursting with excitement! Since I’ve grown so much as a writer in the last few years, this will be an entirely different book once I’m through with it.

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And that, fellow questers, is what my May looked like! The life of an employee has begun, a new book is underway, some friends are entering new phases of life, and several literary/film adventures wriggled their way into the cracks in my busy schedule. How was your month of May? Anything new happening, or perhaps something old-yet-significant?

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(By the way, if you’re still reading this longwinded thing, my hat’s off to you.)

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And just a quick heads-up—I have a special announcement coming early next week. Stay tuned!

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Oh, and one other thing. I’ve been wanting to do these summary-of-the-month posts because they’re excellent places to throw in all the random bits of life that don’t necessarily merit their own individual articles. But I’m not sure about the title, Subplots and Storylines. What say you? Does it fit? Too cheesy? Other ideas I had were Wanderings or Far-Flung Paths or Motley Tales. Any suggestions? Nothing’s too out of the box around here.

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Well, here’s to an adventuresome June! Wherever the road may take you, I hope you find courage to step around the bend and strength to lift your sword.

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Favorite Screen Characters Tag

Tracey Dyck April 29, 2015 Tags 14 Comments

Hark, I have been tagged by Victoria Grace Howell! The rules are simple:

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-List your ten favorite screen characters (from movies and TV; but since I don’t really watch TV, we’ll stick to movies).

-Tag ten other bloggers.

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Narrowing it down to only ten—that part is not so simple. I could list twice as many. In fact, it would be so much easier if we could define the category further. Ten favorite superheroes, for example. Or ten favorite female characters, male characters, animated characters, villains, supporting characters, funny characters, or favorite despised characters! I mean, really, I have at least ten favorites in all those categories. Probably more.

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But I am forced to pick just ten. *le sigh* Here we go!

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1. CAPTAIN AMERICA

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Favorite. Superhero. Ever. He’s upright and courageous, one of the only heroes who consistently holds to his morals. (Not the only one, but pretty close.) He’s not perfect, but he does his best. Grounded in “old-fashioned” values, he does his
job with humility and commitment. Plus, he’s got the best one-liners.

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“I know I’m asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been.

And it’s a price I’m willing to pay. And if I’m the only one, then so be it.

But I’m willing to bet I’m not.”

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2. TOOTHLESS

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I adore dragons, and an uber-fast dragon with powerful breath, adorable personality, and an affinity for fish will instantly steal my heart. Look at that face—how can you not love that face? I want my own Toothless.

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3. BILBO BAGGINS

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I confess, I have a bit of hobbit in me. Home is my favorite place in the world, and I enjoy the comforts found there. So, like Bilbo, I sometimes need a Gandalf to knock on my door and drag me into an adventure. All that aside, Martin Freeman pulled off Bilbo’s character perfectly. His mannerisms and personality—everything. And our dear little hobbit turns out to have a giant load of courage.

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“I just need to sit quietly for a moment.”

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4. SPIDER-MAN

I specifically mean the amazing Spider-Man. (Don’t get me wrong, Tobey Maguire really brought out Spidey’s awkward and geeky side. That’s lovable. But the new Spider-Man played by Andrew Garfield is just awesome.) Cap may be my top favorite hero, but Spider-Man comes pretty close. He’s young, he makes mistakes sometimes, but he puts his life on the line for the sake of helping others. And his humor. Oh, his humor.

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“I like to think Spider-Man gives people hope.”

5. WINNIE THE POOH

I know, he doesn’t seem to be in the same league as superheroes, dragons, and burglar hobbits, but this bear with a very little brain has a special place in my heart. I have never outgrown the Hundred Acre Wood; I’ve laughed harder at Pooh movies in the last five years than I did as a child. Pooh is a rather straightforward sort of person: the most important things in life are honey and friends. Silly old bear.

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“Think, think, think…”

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6. FLYNN RIDER, a.k.a EUGENE FITZHERBERT

This guy is impossible to dislike. He’s handsome, charming, full of himself, hilarious, and deep down . . . a really great guy with a soft heart. He may have started out with ulterior motives, but in the end, he sacrifices for the ones he loves. And did I mention he’s hilarious?

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“They just can’t get my nose right!”

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7. EUSTACE CLARENCE SCRUBB

Aha, so not all of my favorites are the nice guys. Eustace is a complete brat, at least at first. But he’s the kind of brat you love to despise, until he begins to
change, and then somehow, you find yourself liking him quite a bit. His
character arc is fabulous. (And I was very sad to see the Narnia movies halted,
because I so wanted Will Poulter to play in The Silver Chair.)

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“That giant rat thing just tried to claw my face off!”

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8. LUCY PEVENSIE

Can I list two from the same storyworld? Lucy is an amazing girl. Her faith in Aslan never wavers, even when she can’t see him, even when others doubt, even when it doesn’t make sense. And if it wasn’t for her, the Pevensies would never have found Narnia! Oh, and her struggle with temptation in Voyage of the Dawn Treader is also inspiring, as she learns to accept herself and goes on to encourage
another girl to do the same.

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“When you grow up, you should be just like you.”

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9. TADASHI HAMADA

What a hero! And he officially broke my heart. I won’t give any spoilers, but . . . he did make me cry. I’m not a very weepy movie-watcher, but his role in Big Hero 6 was a bit of a tear-jerker. He’s a great older brother to Hiro, protecting him, teaching him, looking out for him. Tadashi is the kind of big sibling that I aspire to be.

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“Welcome to nerd school, nerd.”

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10. LOKI

See, here’s another really not so nice guy. Loki has got to be one of my favorite villains. There’s just no explanation needed. He’s terribly evil, yet with a sympathetic backstory, and in the middle of his diabolical plots, he manages to make me laugh. Is that not perfect? He is also an extremely quotable character.

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“You’ll kill me? Evidently there will be a line.”

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That was hard! I have so many other characters that almost made the list. Brave ones like Katniss Everdeen or Captain Nichollsen of War Horse or Gandalf.

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Funny ones like Larry the Cucumber, Radagast the Brown, Olaf, Gru and his minions, Dory of Finding Nemo, Mater, Jack Sparrow, and Baymax. Heartbreaking ones like Bucky.

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Inspiring ones like Aslan. Miscellaneous ones like Thranduil, Jack Frost, Mary
Poppins, Gwen Stacey, or Diaval of Maleficent. So many!

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(And I just realized how few girls actually made my top ten—only Lucy. Hm. That makes it sound as if I don’t like the female characters, which is completely untrue. Somehow the males dominated this list.)

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On to the tagging! I choose these wonderful gals:

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