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Subplots and Storylines – August 2015

Tracey Dyck 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 – July 2015

Tracey Dyck 17 Comments

July has been a string of hot, humid days punctuated by rainstorms. Stepping outside was like hitting a wall of muggy air most afternoons–the temperature has hovered around 30 degrees Celsius (that’s close to 90 Fahrenheit, for all you Americans).

Pea season and strawberry season have come and gone. Fresh sugarsnaps just taste of summer, and a slice of pie stuffed with just-picked strawberries confirms that yes indeed, we are in the midst of summertime. And we can’t forget those few meals that were strictly composed of watermelon and rohl kuchen. (That’s a Mennonite/German dish . . . a deep-fried doughnut-y thing that looks like braided/twisted bread. It’s absolutely delicious with watermelon.)

You’d think these hot days would ooze by slowly, but noooo. July galloped by nearly as fast as May and June. I won’t inundate you with all the details, seeing as much of what filled my month was the same as last time (and the time before that): work, family time, gardening, general life activities, etc.

However, a few new things did happen this month.

My family and I celebrated Canada Day with friends. Snacks, fireworks, more glow sticks than I knew what to do with, and all-around fun times.

I wrote like crazy for my Sleeping Beauty novella–have I mentioned how desperately that thing is trying to grow into a novel??–and am currently at 17k. I hope to reach 20k in the next day or two, if I push hard. Not like that will signify the end of the story . . . The prince is just now on the cusp of going off to rescue the princess. Sound like a problem? It is. Even so, I’ve been having a delightful time unspooling this story, untangling threads and plaiting them into a design that will need some tweaking later not. Plus, Luci and Hadrian and Aleida and all the rest have completely captured my heart.

Recently, one of my dearest friends spent two and a half days at my place, during which time we enjoyed catching up, goofing off, watching both Captain America movies (her first time seeing them!), and bike riding out to a park to do a fun photo-shoot in the heavy July heat. Yes, we made sure to guzzle lots of water.

My two sisters took care of a friend’s little dog for a week, so we saw lots of that adorable pooch here during that time. (Do you know how hard it is to put her in her kennel for night and have to leave her whimpering there? Do you? She’s like a bratty child at bedtime, but how can you say no to that sad little whimper? My sisters had to drag me away.)

It was quiet on the reading front this month–only two novels. Now I know all you bookworms are gasping in horror right now, but in my defense, I was busy and one of the books was Pride and Prejudice.

This is my exact copy, picked up in perfect
condition at a book fair. For $3, that’s a win,
wouldn’t you say?

It took me almost three weeks to read, and every chapter felt like an accomplishment. Not that it was a bad book–not at all! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s just not the style I normally read, what with long sentences and heavy narration. But the cast of characters is a delight. Spunky Lizzie, kindhearted Jane, enigmatic Mr. Darcy (oh, my dear Mr. Darcy), indolent Mr. Bennet, frantically flighty Mrs. Bennet, adorable Mr. Bingley . . . Plus, the book is surprisingly witty. Can’t go wrong with formal, wordy insults.

The second book is Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

On a whim, I picked it up at the library because the cover was pretty and the blurb interesting. The simple narrative style is deceiving, though. I was expecting the story to sit comfortably on the younger YA level, but the darker themes and sparsely poetic prose nudge it up a bit. Seriously, Ms. Bow knows how to paint a stunning picture. I’m in love with her style. And with Kate herself, an orphaned carpenter thought by the townsfolk to be a witch. Simultaneously gutsy and fearful, this plain-featured girl possesses remarkable skill with a knife. Her cat, Taggle, winds up talking (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler), and very quickly chose a spot in my heart as well. He’s just . . . very catty. If you’ve met Eanrin from Tales of Goldstone Wood, you’ll understand what I mean; yet Taggle is still his own unique self. Just hear him speak:

“Hello,” he said, then rolled over and peered up at her appealingly. “I am fond of you and present my throat for scratching.”

Besides, he offers to kill things to make Kate feel better. HE IS SUCH A CAT. Anyway, I’m nearly finished. This last quarter is raising all sorts of questions about the “villain.” Such as, should I remove the quotations and consider him an actual villain, or is he merely a sympathetic antagonist?

Well, that about sums up July. Not as much to detail here this time around, which is why I went on and on about books. But that’s a topic we all love, right? (And if you don’t, I must question why you read blogs in the first place, especially the blog of a writer. Stick around and I’ll convert you.)

How was your July? Do you have plans for August? I’ve got a few, one of them being to actually finish Sleeping Beauty’s first draft, title it, and start editing it (a.k.a. chopping it into pieces with my Big Editing Axe). Do tell! I’m interested to hear how your summer’s going. And since we were talking about food–quick, what’s your favorite summer dish?

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Subplots and Storylines – June 2015

Tracey Dyck 10 Comments

I have accidently discovered time travel. How else could I have ended up on June 30, 2015 so quickly? Because, excuse me, last time I checked, June was just starting. So my theory is that, in my sleep, somebody threw me into a time machine and I ended up here.

Right?

Okay, no, June was just so full and intense and amazing that it zoomed right by. But the time machine sounds way cooler.

Work has jumped from moderately busy to almost-fulltime-how-DO-adults-do-it, and back to moderately busy again. I had a little stretch in which I worked six out of seven days. Great for the paycheck; a stretch for my hobbit (read: I love home) self. But I can already see personal growth, so that’s fantastic!

And I have been writing, but not nearly as much as I wanted/expected to. My writing progress notebook tells me I only wrote eight days this month. The result: a whoppin’ 5800 words collectively. Let’s hope July cooperates better, yes? I worked a little bit on book two early this month, but then, of course, that Rooglewood contest was announced and of course I had to start brainstorming for it! (I just realized that I have enough to say about that process to fill another blog post. Maybe in a week or two?)

Anyway, it’s going to have a very classic fairy tale sort of feel, but I’ve got a few twists stewing in the ol’ inspiration bog. As of now, I only have the first two chapters written. But my goal is to have the first draft finished before the end of July! When I set that goal, that broke down to an average of 500 words a day. So it’s quite doable. I’m just . . . heheh, a little behind at the moment.

Speaking of writerly things, I read some good books too!




The Chance by Karen Kingsbury: a heartrending story of forgiveness and restoring relationships. Allegiant by Veronica Roth: as I have stated before, I have no words for how this series ended. There were aspects of the series I disliked, but all in all, it was a great ride! And excuse me while I scrape my heart off the floor. The Anatomy of a Miracle by Dr. James B. Richards: I’ve been going through this one slowly, and happened to finish this month. Really eye-opening! So many things just finally clicked for me.

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker: Wow. How does this guy manage to write such mindblowing stories? On one level, it’s a creepy, suspenseful tale of how 17-year-old Christy Snow and her friend Austin are mistaken for psych patients and get trapped in the ward–and on another level, it’s a sucker punch right to the heart, with raw messages on identity and perception. Go read it. Right now.


Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry: A quick dystopian read, and pretty neat too. I liked the worldbuilding, and how you could tell a person’s age by how many syllables were in their name. This is a sequel to The Giver, but I haven’t quite figured out the connection yet. Maybe the next two books will tie them together . . . ?

Life things. Those happened too. The first half of the month, I was “catching a healing” (as I like to call it) from a cold. So were the rest of my siblings. And then mid-month, my grandma developed an infection that resulted in multiple trips to the hospital and many hours waiting for doctors. So thankful that it didn’t end up being too serious. She’s well on the way to full recovery now!
A couple weeks ago, I went to the city with two close friends of mine for a girl’s day out. We went mini-golfing, which I haven’t done in years . . . went shopping and tried on pretty dresses . . . had a fancy dessert worth wearing heels for . . . had a BBQ supper at one girl’s place and then watched Pride and Prejudice together. Such a wonderful day! We had an amazing time. I always feel uplifted after hanging out with them.

(Now I see what the big deal is about Mr. Darcy.)

Just last week, one of those two girls and I went out for supper at a great new restaurant in town. She’s moving to Mexico in a matter of days, so having that one last (for now) outing together was perfect.

And I was going to get some more writing done yesterday and the day before, but . . . I succumbed to the pull of a story I’m beta reading, written by Mirriam Neal–an insanely talented girl with a penchant for heartbreaking backstories and vibrant characters. Needless to say, I was glued to her Alice in Wonderland retelling, This Curious Madness, and could. Not. Leave. But I caught up on roughly twenty chapters. Yippee!

Random other thing about this month: we painted our front door. No longer is it white–it now gleams burnt orange. Our home exterior renos that we’ve been slowly working on are looking more and more complete. Maybe I’ll post a picture of that eye-popping door once the second coat is done.

So that was June. A conglomeration of books, coughing, social outings, paint, general busyness, and a dash of writing. How was your month? Any plans for July? Have you set any goals for yourself, writing or otherwise?

I will leave you with a collage of the gorgeous flowers blooming at my place. May your eyes be open to see the beauties God is displaying right in front of you, even through the veils of sorrow or weariness.

And to all my fellow Canadians, in anticipation of tomorrow:

Happy Canada Day!

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Subplots and Storylines

Tracey Dyck 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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