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Subplots and Storylines – April 2016

Tracey Dyck 35 Comments
Somebody needs to tell me how in the world we’re one-third of the way through 2016. Because we can’t possibly be that far into the year! Nevertheless, my calendar usually doesn’t lie, unless I forget to flip it, which I didn’t, so it must be true.
By the by, I do realize this post is a day later than normal, and for that I apologize. But last night I was too zonked from a crazy weekend at work, and I was rather firmly imprisoned by the pages of the book I was reading . . . So I decided to put this off one day. You all don’t mind, right? (If you do, I shall unleash that dragon I keep in my basement.)
Anyway, I don’t think April was quite as flurrysome* (shh, that’s a word–I just made it up) as the past couple of months have been. It wasn’t quiet by any stretch of the imagination, but it was more normal, I guess.
*It was, however, flurrysome in the sense of wintery weather. Who gave April permission to sprinkle snow on us, then warm up enough to melt it, then snow again? Bleeeegh. I think it’s actually spring now. I’m currently sitting on my porch and enjoying the sunshine and birdsong.

Life

The month began with a retreat involving my college & career group along with my two middle siblings’ youth group. Mixing high schoolers and young adults does actually work, wonder of wonders. We rode in a bus to the same lovely camp we went to last time. It had been November (2014, I think?), and it had snowed. This time it was April, and it still snowed.
Some of the highlights from the retreat:
  • Playing Balderdash (which was an overdue delivery on my youth leader’s long-ago promise that we would play it . . . IT WAS FABULOUS AND WORTH THE WAIT).
  • Splitting up and putting on hilarious skits. My group came up with one loosely based off of this video, but with way more characters involved:
  • Sledding on an inner tube down a wooden slide in the bitterly cold wind.
  • Staying up late to watch a movie.
  • Finding out the speaker had been mentored by my late (honorary) grandfather.

On a different note, I’m buying my first car! My dad and I spent an afternoon doing a thorough cleaning of it. It’s going to be great to have my own wheels–up until this point, my parents have been generous enough to give me use of one of their vehicles for work and such, but with my brother soon graduating, he will be needing it. So finding this car at this particular time is an answer to prayer! I don’t have it in my possession yet, but it should be ready sometime in May.

We celebrated a few birthdays in the family. (April is birthday central around here, my goodness.) Thus, we had some special celebrations at home, as well as family gatherings to attend.

I sent off my blogoversary giveaway prize, which recently arrived at Anna’s place. Yay! Check out her pictures HERE. Seeing them gave me the warm fuzzies.

I got promoted at my job just last week! It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I know it’s going to be good.

That’s a little peek at the happenings of life this month. Now it’s on to all the bits of story I watched, read, and wrote!

Movies



The Help // This is the one I watched at the retreat. I quite enjoyed it! There were a couple minor things the movie could’ve done without, but other than that, it was a moving story of how black maids were treated in 1960’s America. (Hint: terribly. I wanted to punch certain characters for the way they treated their servants.) Skeeter, a young journalist, sets out to show the world the truth about the maids’ life. The maids themselves risk an awful lot to get the story out.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End // Watched this with my brother one evening. Hilarious! The PotC movies are ones you don’t really expect much depth from–just laughs and epicness, which it definitely delivered. The plot was so convoluted, I could barely follow it in the first half, but Jack Sparrow’s hilarity made up for it. “Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.”

Once Upon a Time (4 episodes of Season 3) // It seems my sisters and I are going through this show a lot slower than we used to. That’s okay, though–we’re savoring it. Almost finished with the third season, and I do not like the Wicked Witch.

Books

Merlin’s Blade – Robert Treskillard // I’ve seen this trilogy around many times, and finally got around to reading the first book. It took me close to half the month to read it, which was mostly due to my schedule and only partially due to the book’s slower pacing. I feel like I would’ve enjoyed it more had I read it more quickly.
But it was pretty cool that Treskillard blended the historical and fantasy genres, and as the story progressed, I started to form theories about how things will play out in the next two books. Another thing I liked: Merlin is almost blind, which is unusual, and I felt the author dealt with it well and figured out other ways to relate setting and action. Also, I hadn’t expected that King Arthur would be an infant. Most stories seem to have him all grown up already.
Knightley Academy – Violet Haberdasher // My brother recommended it to me, and for very good reason! It’s the rollicking tale of Henry Grim, a servant who gets the chance to sit the Knightley Academy exam. He passes (spoiler alert!–not really, though, since it takes place early on and the title pretty much confirms that particular bit of the plot), and finds himself befriended by two other commoners in a school full of the sons of posh nobility.
The book takes place in an alternate history of 1700’s Victorian England, which is awesome. I loved reading about Henry and Co.’s misadventures, and there’s just something about a slightly fantasy-ish school novel that I find charming. I mean, Latin and fencing and medicine and miserly teachers and kindly teachers and creepy tapestries and a mystery and detestable bullies . . . What’s not to enjoy?
And let’s just take a minute to talk about the characters. Henry was wonderful! So practical and level-headed for a fourteen-year-old, yet with a tender heart and a lovable underdog-ness about him. Besides Henry, Adam has got to be my favorite. He’s also a commoner, and he’s Jewish, which is yet another reason for his rich classmates to tease him. He also has a great sense of humor. (Although half the time he’s funny without trying to be. His whining somehow comes off as endearing rather than annoying.) Then there’s Rohan, an Indian orphan raised by rich white parents. He has the manners of a gentleman, and his voice of reason is just what Henry and Adam need to keep them in check. And lastly, Francesca–or Frankie, as this tomboy prefers to be called. Her father is head of Knightley Academy, and she’s been kicked out of so many schools, she finally has to get a tutor at Knightley. Unladylike, spunky, and mischievous to the bone, she does her fair share of troublemaking.
I’ve gone on long enough about this book, but seriously, it was fabulous. And clean, too!
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater // You can blame this book for the lateness of S&S. I got home from work yesterday and read it for hours. I hardly ever read for so long at a time anymore, but in the space of last week, I binge-read the last half of Knightley Academy on Sunday and the last half of The Raven Boys on Saturday. So fun.
But about the actual book: Emily from Ink, Inc. and I were having a discussion (on one of my posts, if I remember correctly), and she very highly recommended I read The Raven Cycle, then proceeded to logically and passionately explain all the reasons why. Convinced by her and also by Cait’s frequent fangirling over Maggie Stiefvater, I decided to try it out.
Firstly, Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is gorgeous. She has an amazing way with words. It’s like art in word form. Not only that, but her character development is top-notch. I am thoroughly in love with Blue, Gansey, Adam, Noah, and even Ronan. Their depth and individuality were so real, which made the relationships and interactions fabulous. Honestly, they’re the reason I liked this book so much.
And, just as Emily promised, there were good themes of wealth and class mixed in. Quite thought-provoking, actually. (ADAM BROKE MY HEART, OKAY.) So all of this plus an epic journal and a small town and questing for a dead Welsh king and pretty scenery and a baby raven and ley lines made for a great story.
My only quibble is the language–I was a bit surprised to find it there, and it cropped up more frequently than I would’ve liked (though not as often as some books out there). The F-bombs especially were unnecessary, as were a couple of crude jokes. I have to admit that a smattering of the language was in keeping with Ronan’s character, but he wasn’t the only one using it, so . . . I don’t know.
Blue comes from a family of psychics, which didn’t bother me much, interestingly enough. I think it’s like what Emily told me: it’s done in more of an urban fantasy style than one of realism, so it feels more like magic than anything else.
Bottom line: loved the story, loved the writing, could’ve done without the language, and will definitely be reading the rest of the series! (Thank you, Emily!!)

Writing

This was a rather nice month writing-wise! I wrote 12, 962 words in The Prophet’s Key, bringing the total up to 20,748. It’s kind of mindboggling to think that, if this were a novella for a Rooglewood contest, I’d be over the word limit . . . and yet the plot is just barely beginning. (Yeah. I may have some pacing issues to fix when editing. Things are happening quickly enough, but there’s still scenes I know I forgot to put in there. So obviously it will need to be streamlined somehow. But we’re saving the editing for later, aren’t we, Tracey?)
I’ve been struggling a bit with this book so far, but I think I may have found the key–oh, wait. A pun. Haha. Anyway, I think I figured out what my main problem is, which I discussed in an impromptu post HERE. I haven’t had a chance to write much since that discovery, but I’m hoping that the words will start to flow this month.
I’ve been writing in mostly small increments whenever I have the time, but I did have one serious writing day this month, during which I wrote about 2700 words. I know that’s not a lot compared to authors who do this thing all day, every day, but considering that I haven’t had much chance to work on my stamina recently, I was quite pleased.
In other writing-related news, I started that writing course by Ted Dekker I’ve talked about–The Creative Way. This month I’ve gone through the first four sessions, which is far slower than I intended. But that’s okay, because I’d rather absorb the lessons fully than rush through them. In between the sessions, I’ve been reading The Creative Way Meditations, a devotional-type book included in the course. Both the audio sessions and the book have already been so helpful. It feels like my eyes are opening and my vision is sharpening.
This first module (out of three) deals with the foundations of who we are and who God is, and what that means for us as writers. It’s incredible! I’m sure you’ll be seeing more posts in the future inspired by what I’m learning. And once I finish the next two sessions, I’ll be starting Module 2, which is all about the craft of writing.
Between all the drafting and session-ing, I somehow forgot to continue researching agents to query. Oops. I did look into one small press that I’ll put on my list, but other than that, zippo progress this month. I’d like to finish compiling my first list in May, however! My my, but I’m being ambitious. But seriously, though, it would be awesome to be ready to send out my first batch of queries in a month or two. (Hold me to it, guys!)

Farewell April, and hello to a bright May.

You know how I described life in March as running at a breakneck pace down the street? I think April loped along at a steady jog. I’m still amazed at how much can happen in one month. But there were, thankfully, moments I could stop and just breathe before plunging into the next thing.
(Still, I think someone needs to implement a three day weekend, and not just for long weekends. A two day break, often just one day because of work, isn’t long enough!)
Now tell me where your quests took you this month! What roads did you travel, either in life or on the page? Have any of you played Balderdash? Or read/watched anything I mentioned? And is it really and truly spring now–have we gained a safe distance from winter, so that we’re no longer in danger of it making a comeback? Pass around the chocolate chip cookies, and let’s chat.
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Subplots and Storylines – March 2016

Tracey Dyck 29 Comments

Sometimes life walks along calmly, sedately, hands in its pockets, whistling as it goes. And sometimes life dashes willy-nilly down the street, hat flying clear away and feet slapping a staccato rhythm on the pavement. My March was more like the latter. New subplots sprang up on the page at the same time old ones wrapped up, and I’m sitting here today blinking at the calendar and wondering how in the world a whole month is over already.

The weavings of life’s subplots . . .

March began as it usually does, and as all months tend to do: on the first. But this first of March was special. The long-awaited announcement of the Five Magic Spindles contest had arrived! I was scheduled to work an early shift that day, and wasn’t sure if the news would be posted before I left. Fortunately, it was up in time. With my brother (who’d entered that awesome Japanese samurai story I mentioned a while back) looking over my shoulder, I scrolled down . . . and saw five names that were not ours, nor those of any of my friends who had entered.
Naturally, we were disappointed. But then I checked the list of the Top Ten Finalists–AND MY NAME WAS LISTED.

I could hardly believe it. Me? Among the top ten?

Let’s just say it was a good thing my work shift was short, and even better that I was working in the back room the whole time. I seriously doubt I would’ve been much help to customers. My brain was running in ecstatic circles, screaming the same thing over and over: “I’m a finalist!” As if repetition would make it sink in.

Needless to say, that was an amazing way to start my month!

The next subplot of life to be woven in was a week-long trip my parents took, during which I ran the household. Not that it needed much running. My siblings are fantastic and helped out a lot. (Love you guys!)

The morning after my parents returned, I packed up and headed out of town for my dear friend’s wedding. I got there the day before to help set up and decorate. The wedding was gorgeous. The weather was perfect for outdoor pictures (meaning I didn’t go completely numb like I’d expected), I had so much fun with the bride and my fellow bridesmaids, and the ceremony and reception were beautiful! My friend has found an amazing, godly young man. They’re perfect together. I was honored to celebrate their special day with them. And you know how most weddings have something that goes wrong? There was nothing like that for theirs. Crazy amazing.

(I snagged a couple pictures off the photographers’ Facebook.)

The happy couple!
If you look really closely at the left picture,
I’m the bridesmaid on the far right. 
a collage of my own pictures
My Bible study group began a series on the heroes of the faith listed in Hebrews 11. We started with Rahab, and guess what? If you check the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, you’ll see that Rahab married a guy named Salmon. Multiple historical sources say that Salmon was one of the two spies that Rahab hid in her house! How cool is that?! We’ve also spent two sessions studying Gideon, which was quite inspiring.

Spring is well on its way. Only a teensy tiny bit of snow is left on the yard, and we’ve had some sunny, warm days, which is very welcome. (And also snow. Falling from the sky. That’s just Manitoba for ya.)

You know that quick decision I made that just felt right? Well, that decision was to sign up for a writing course offered by an author I respect and admire. What he’s already posted freely online has helped me gain new perspectives, so I’m excited to dive into the actual course material soon.

My brother and I attended a college info night. The application is sitting on my desk, waiting for me to fill it out. I’m honestly so excited for fall!

And basically there were Easter gatherings, long walks, errands, way too much pizza, journaling like crazy last weekend to try to sum up my month, and falling behind on my inbox and blog reading. (So sorry, folks.)

Storylines on screen

As you can see, life’s goings-on didn’t leave a lot of room for media, but I did watch a few things.

  • Epic (rewatch): I love this movie about tiny leaf men who ride hummingbirds, and a villain rotting the forest, and a young girl trying to connect to her absentminded father. This time around, I found myself paying more attention the storytelling techniques, and appreciating the strong chain of cause and effect.
  • The Scorch Trials: I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know how much it deviated from the source material, but I thought it was good. My biggest problem was with the frequent swearing. Not too sure what I think about the Cranks, either. I couldn’t decide if they were so exaggeratedly creepy that they were almost comical, or if they were simply creepy. Either way, they are wince-worthy. But I did really enjoy certain characters, especially Thomas, Minho, and Newt. (I don’t even know why, but I’ve loved Minho’s character since The Maze Runner.) With fast pacing, awesome scenery, and even a difficult and thought-provoking ethical dilemma, The Scorch Trials was a great sequel.
  • Once Upon a Time (part of Season 3): You probably saw this coming, huh? My sisters and I are quite enjoying this season! We’re about halfway through, and lots is happening. Lots. I have a few minor complaints, but most of it is fantastic. Peter Pan. The Wicked Witch. And the development happening in some of the key characters makes me a really happy Oncer. (Is that what they’re called? I don’t even know.)

Storylines on the page

Only two books this month. To be fair, I am 100 pages into my third book, but seeing as I’ll finish it in April, it doesn’t count.

  • Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I’ve heard mixed reviews on this one, so finally I picked it up for myself. And I loved it! The whole cyborg element was a fresh twist on Cinderella, and it was fun to pick out the references to the original fairy tale, such as the old fashioned orange car (aka pumpkin coach). This novel was by turns intriguing, heart wrenching, and adorable. Seriously, I ship Cinder and Kai SO MUCH. With every chapter I finished, I kept wanting to write up a fangirly email to send the author, but then I remembered this was published and I wasn’t beta reading a friend’s book. For some reason it felt like I was. Anyway. If I starred books, I’d probably give this one four and a half!
  • Paige Turned by Erynn Mangum: This is the final instalment of the Paige Alder trilogy that I started last summer, and it continued to be what the first two books were: fun, lighthearted romance with surprisingly profound moments. Paige is such a relatable character. I was rooting for her all the way. It was great to see her finally doing what she’s always wanted to do, and finally dating the “right guy.” And the ending was perfect!

Sort of in the reading department–I went to a book faire and scrounged up four books to bring home. Tada!

Clockwise from top left: Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge, Storm Siren by Mary Weber, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and Greatest Adventures by Jules Verne (a 2-book collection including Journey to the Center of the Earth and Round the World in 80 Days.)

I bought Captivating because I enjoyed it so much earlier this year, but didn’t have my own copy. Storm Siren because I’ve heard many people like it, so for a couple dollars, why not? (Also that cover!!) Strange & Norrell because my good friend Sarah recommended it numerous times. And the Jules Verne book because . . . well, mainly because of that delicious old cover. And because owning classics makes me feel smart. Hey, just being honest!

With every book faire I go to, I keep my eyes open for any Diana Wynne Jones books–specifically Howl’s Moving Castle–and have had no such luck. This time was just as fruitless in the DWJ department as all the times before. Sigh.

Subplots of my own making

According to my monthly goals, March was to be the month I began drafting (or redrafting, to be more accurate) book 2 of my YA fantasy series. I didn’t get as far into it as I might have liked, but considering the circumstances, I’m quite pleased with the 7,786 words I wrote. I’m on chapter three by now. Things be happening, folks.

I feel like I’m starting to hit my stride. The beginning of a writing project is usually the slowest for me–I’m getting used to the story, oftentimes reorienting my brain into drafting mode (instead of editing or planning mode), and figuring out what I’m doing. But I’m beginning to get back into it, and I have high hopes for April’s writing.

Once I’m further along–perhaps once I’ve finished writing this book and started editing–which means like *cough* a year from now?–I may have to write a more in-depth post about sequels. It’s so weird to write one! I’ve been stuck on book 1 for so long, in which I’ve been able to mentally check off all the techniques and elements needed in a first book. “Yep, this sets up that plot thread. Here’s the incident that motivates Character A to do this. And there’s the foreshadowing for that . . .”

It’s all different, and yet all somehow similar, in a sequel. There’s a whole book behind you to build on. It’s a blessing and a curse, a pro and a con. You don’t have to set up everything all over again, yet you have to reference the first book in a clear, concise way that moves this story along. Your characters have grown, so they’re better at what they used to struggle with, but at the same time, they’re struggling even harder with other things. It’s fun, but definitely not easy.

Also in writing news is something I’ve mentioned already: I was featured in a guest post on Stori Tori’s Blog called So Your Character is From Canada. I had tons of fun participating, as well as getting to interact with commenters afterwards. If you haven’t checked it out yet, there’s lots of great stuff to learn from all three of us who were interviewed! Kudos to Tori for such a brilliant series of posts. There’ll be more on other countries yet.

Oh yeah, and I wrote a poem for the first time in months, which you can find here.

And I did a bit more agent research too. The list of potentials is slowly growing . . .

March was a whirlwind, but I’m still alive.

Actually, it was an amazing whirlwind. Tiring on some days, but when I look back on just how much was packed into this month, I’m–what? Content? Excited? Satisfied? Looking forward to April? Is there a word that combines all of the above? I don’t know. March was a good month.

So how about your wonderful selves? Was March like a lamb or lion for you–tame or wild? (Or some other animal, such as a platypus. Interpret that creature simile as you wish.) I’ve blabbered on quite long enough about my own life. Now I want to hear something about yours!

P.S. Today marks one year since Adventure Awaits began! I had grand plans of posting this S&S yesterday, and having a blogoversary post ready for today, but I overestimated the time involved and underestimated my schedule. So hopefully I’ll have a late blogoversary thingamajig ready for this weekend sometime. Stick around–it should be fuuuun . . .

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Subplots and Storylines – February 2016

Tracey Dyck 29 Comments

This month was a whirlwind from start to finish! I hardly know where to begin.

Life happenings

Well, for starters, I have an absolutely wonderful family . . . a family that takes every opportunity to celebrate each other and enjoy holidays together. So Valentine’s Day is actually a thing in our house.

We all make or buy cards for each other, my mom does her magic in the kitchen, and we enjoy said magic by candle-light. This year, dessert was candle-lit rather than supper, simply because the supper table was so full of food that attempting to eat in semi-darkness would’ve been unwise. We had one of my grandmas over for the special dinner, and afterwards we exchanged cards.

Okay, I don’t normally do this, but I feel inclined to give you a peek into the Valentine’s evening at the Dyck household:

[from Mom to me] . . . God rejoices over you with singing! He carries you close to His heart! He has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of His hand. You are not forgotten!

[from Dad to me] . . . Look back to see how far you have come. Now look forward to see how far you will go. Now look at the present and see who walks with you. He has always been with you, He will always be with you, and He is with you.

[my brother Josiah is not into crafts–nevertheless, he made one card to give to all of us. sweet guy.] 

[from Miss C to me] . . . You have a great writing voice; you are caring and helpful; you still know how to have fun even if you’re an adult . . .

[from Miss K to me] . . . Thanks for hanging out with me. I love how goofy and sweet you are.

And then a few words between other family members:

[from Miss C to Dad] . . . Some of the things I love about you are . . . your warm chuckles . . . your wisdom; your courage; and your wonderfully safe hugs . . .

[from Miss K to Dad] . . . Thanks for being there for me and being my hero. You are awesome!

[from Miss C to Mom] . . . Here’s a few things I love about you . . . your wonderful little quirks; your gentle touch; your caring personality; your encouraging words; and your prayers . . .

[from Miss K to Mom] . . . You always have a hug for me, right words for me, and you always are ready to help me . . . You are the GREATEST mom ever!! 

[from me to Mom and Dad] . . . Thank you for living out the meaning of love, for treating it as a verb and not just a noun . . . Home is still–and will always be–a safe harbor. Thank you for teaching me both how to trim the sails and venture forth, and how to sail home again . . .

[from Dad to Josiah] . . . You remind me of a superhero, an all-around nice guy who comes to the defense of those who can’t defend themselves, who does good to others even when he isn’t noticed . . .

[from Miss K to Josiah] . . . I love hanging out with you and laughing with you. Thanks for playing Wii with me, which is very fun! 

[from Mom to Miss C] . . . You are such a beautiful young lady–inside and out! You have eyes that shine with the love of Jesus! God has great plans for you and your future . . . Thanks for adding such sweetness to my life!

[from me to Miss C] . . . Keep discovering the immeasurable height, depth, and width of God’s love for you! It will blow your mind.

[from Miss C to Miss K] . . . I love the way you smile and laugh; your beautiful big brown eyes . . . the way you encourage me with kind words and hugs when I’m sad . . .

 [from Dad to Miss K] . . . When God made the world, He knew that one thing was missing–joy and laughter. It took Him many years to perfect it, and when He did, He made you!

See what I mean? Families like this are rare, and I absolutely don’t say that in any haughty way. But I am proud of these special people and the bonds we’ve forged. We’re not perfect. Far from it. I hope I don’t present us in a cleaned-up light, because the truth of the matter is, we’re messy humans who sometimes snap at each other or say unkind things. But we love each other fiercely.

My sisters went all out this Valentine’s–they spent hours holed up in their room, making art for all of us. On a whim, I decided to present my siblings with sketches too.

Miss K’s drawings–aren’t they completely adorable? The otter on the left was for me.
Miss C’s drawings, which are so very lovely. Especially *cough* the Captain America she drew for me.
I drew pop star Ross Lynch for Miss K.
And Once Upon a Time’s Peter Pan for Miss C.
(Though the more I look at it, the less convinced I am that
he turned out right.)
And lastly, I drew Ultron for my brother.

A bridal shower!

A very dear friend of mine is getting married next month, and I’m one of her bridesmaids, which is incredibly exciting! So for about two weeks this month, my brain has been in bridal shower mode, with little room for anything else. From invitations to food, activities, decor, and supplies, the four of us bridesmaids brainstormed and made it all happen on a short deadline. It turned out beautifully, and I couldn’t be happier for my friend.

Miscellaneous life stuff:

  • The long weekend (February 15) was a welcome breather in the middle of the month. We went sledding with friends and had a lovely day.
  • My mom slipped on the ice while running errands, but thankfully she’s fine now!
  • Inventory happened at the store. Lots of work involved. And counting. So much counting . . .
  • There have been some health issues with a relative, but she seems to be doing better. We continue to pray for her.

On a lighter note, I fell into the behavior of the stereotypical, clueless-about-cars kind of girl. I’ve had my license for over two years now, okay, and I’ve been a working woman for about a year. And yet until recently, I’d never filled up with gas by myself. So I pull up to the pump and ask the guy to fill it with mid-grade. “Can you open your gas cap, please?” he asks.

I freeze. Because oh my goodness, where is the switch for that?! I shoot my sister a panicky look. She smirks. (Thank you, C.) I flutter my hands over the dashboard and steering wheel area. I pop the trunk. Then the hood. Finally I call out, “Um, this is embarrassing, but I’m having a blonde moment and forget where the switch for that is.” The guy didn’t know, either. Or wouldn’t tell me. I asked him to hold on, then called my dad.

“Tracey, we’ve been over this,” he says.

“I know!” I wail. “But I forgot!”

So he tells me where it is–it’s a silly little switch down on the floor, on the left side; and I’ll probably never forget that again. When I climbed out to go pay, I apologized again to the guy, who said, “No problem. Happens all the time . . .” Except his voice trailed off uncertainly, telling me that no, it doesn’t actually happen all the time, I’m just trying to make you feel better.

Screen happenings

  • Finished Once Upon a Time Season 2 and started Season 3. My sisters and I adore Peter Pan, in case you didn’t catch that with my portrait. All this Neverland stuff is quite fun, and I am ever so conflicted over certain things!
  • I SAW THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. Oh stars, it was amazing. I can’t believe I went this long without watching it! Being the extended edition, my brother and I watched it in three sittings over the long weekend (in between family activities, you understand). We were blown away. It was perfect. Soon after the final credits, I was ready to watch the movie all over again. I went from feeling cozy and comfortable to laughing uproariously at the four hobbits, to feeling chilled (Black Riders!!), to being gripped with the excitement of the quest, to– Oh, I don’t even know. It’s glorious. That’s all I can say. (Also, Aragorn.) And the Shire musical theme makes me stop and smile wistfully into the distance every single time I hear it.

Book happenings

The Invaders by John Flanagan

I love the Ranger’s Apprentice series, so of course I’m reading his newer series, Brotherband Chronicles. In this second Brotherband book, I found myself enjoying all the usual Flanagan trademarks: smart protagonist, clever battle/weaponry tactics, and wry humor. Plus lots of sailing stuff. A good read, for sure.

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

If you’ve been reading Adventure Awaits for a while now, you might remember way back in summer when my siblings and I picked out library books for each other to read. It gets us out of our usual ruts and gives us something new to try. We just did it again this month, and A Snicker of Magic was Miss K’s pick for me. And this book is now one of my all-time favorite middle-grade novels! Seriously, Natalie Lloyd’s voice is just crackling with magic. The story has a Southern, small town, whimsical, hilarious, heartwarming, spindiddly flavor to it. Felicity, the protagonist, catches the words she sees hovering over people and places. Along with her mom and little sister, she arrives in the little mysterious town of Midnight Gulch. What ensues are new friendships, old legends about the Brothers Threadbare, an upcoming talent show that scares Felicity right out of her word-covered sneakers, and buckets of ice cream. The supporting cast is delightfully quirky, and my heart ached for poor Felicity as her mom longs to uproot and move the family for the hundred-millionth time.

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

Miss C picked this middle-grade book for me. It took me a little while to get into it, but I soon realized how great the author is at setting the mood. The book starts off feeling kind of hollow and gloomy as the main character (another Felicity) leaves England at the beginning of WWII to stay with her relatives in Maine. Without her parents, so far from home, the poor girl is without an anchor. Her uncle receives strange letters written in code from her parents, and refuses to let Felicity read them. But things begin to look up when she meets Derek, a boy with a paralyzed arm. Together they strive to crack the code, and in the process, begin infusing the gloomy old house with a little bit of life.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Josiah’s pick. It’s a very unusual sort of book, I must say. Artemis himself is a veritable villain, so you’re left to cheer for a handful of exceedingly strange fairy creatures. There’s Holly Short, a rebellious LEP-Recon officer (haha, get it?) . . . Captain Root, her boss, a guy with anger issues . . . Foaly, a technologically brilliant centaur who’s paranoid that the humans (disdainfully referred to as Mud People) can read his mind, and thus wears a tinfoil hat at all times . . . and Mulch, a dwarf who, ah . . . Well. Let’s just say that these dwarves can unhinge their jaws and chew through dirt at a rapid pace. And their metabolism is extremely fast. Hence, their digging pants are equipped with a back flap. Yeah. You see where this is going. This book is written with young guys in mind, but nevertheless, I found much to snicker at, and I give Mr. Colfer points for the unusual fairy elements. I’ll likely keep going with this series.

You Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G. by Ben Carson, MD

The first half of the book tells how Dr. Carson was born into poverty, and through his mother’s guidance, God’s help, and his desire to learn, became a neurosurgeon. There are some amazing anecdotes from his career, such as the time he removed half of a little girl’s brain in order to stop the hundreds of seizures she was having every day. And she survived. And went on to graduate from college and live a fulfilling life.

The second half goes over some principles for thinking big, specifically in regards to the future. He covers Talent, Honesty, Insight, Niceness, Knowledge, Books, In-Depth Learning, and God (T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.).

Blog Happenings

On a whim, I started a month-long linkup called Lovely Books, in which we discussed:

I have had such a great time celebrating books and characters with all of you! Many thanks to all who have participated–you’ve made my first linkup a success. And it’s been so fun to hear about your favorite bookish things! There’s still time to join, if you so desire. You have until March 5th.

Oh, and you may have noticed my embarrassing mistake . . . Whilst drafting the quotes post in the middle of last week, I accidentally hit publish. I noticed it less than half an hour later, and hurried to revert the post to draft form before anybody could read my half-formed jumble of words. To my dismay, however, the post remained on my dashboard–and the dashboards of everyone else who follow me. Clicking the link led to nowhere, of course, but still! It looked as if I had posted it half a week early. Of all the times to do such a thing, it had to be for something I’d hoped to keep secret until Saturday! And then when I did publish the post, it didn’t appear at the top of the dashboard like normal new posts–it remained waaaaay down with the other ‘four days ago’ posts on my feed.

Ah, well. Lesson learned. Keep the cursor far, far away from the publish button until ready.

Anyway, thanks again, all you lovely bookworms! We’ll have to do something like this again someday.

Written Happenings

I made a game plan for my 2016 writing goals, if you’ll remember from January’s Beautiful People post. I planned for February to be my research month, so it’s harder to gauge whether I reached those goals.

I started out by taking a deep breath and diving into the murky waters of . . . gasp . . . querying agents. No, I haven’t actually sent out any queries yet. But I did begin researching, looking online for agents who represent my kind of work, reading some articles on how to query and what agents look for, etc. The amount of information, ambiguity, and general unknown-ness of it all is daunting, but I’m excited to rise to the challenge.

After reading Jenelle Schmidt’s comment on Christine’s BP post, I spontaneously chose to purchase a book Jenelle recommended: Guide to Literary Agents 2016! The things I’ve learned from even just the beginning articles are so, so helpful. I haven’t yet delved into the listings of a thousand agents, but I know it will be an invaluable tool in the coming months. Thanks, Jenelle!

I did a little bit of research on different locations featured in my fantasy book 2, which I plan to start redrafting next month. This is where I didn’t get far at all, so I foresee much more Googling and librarying in the future. I want to look into British Columbia, Ireland, Greenland or Iceland, Russia, and Australia. Yes indeed, this book includes a fair bit of globe trotting on our world, followed by daring escapades in the other world!

And I felt rather officially author-ish this month, questers, because I actually interviewed someone for book research. A certain character in book 2 gets diagnosed with a mental illness–which is a complete error, because the wild tales he tells are 100% true–so I needed to know how this process would work. What would he be labelled as? What would treatment look like? How would others respond? How would the family be advised to act around him? Would he be medicated, counselled, taken out of school?

All these questions and more were answered by a fellow my dad knows through work. As a Christian working in the field of mental health, and as someone with a big enough imagination to accommodate my fictional situation, he was the perfect person to talk to. So we chatted over coffee one Saturday, and I scribbled three pages of notes and wound up borrowing four books from his office. Armed with all this information to make my character’s life miserable (and believable), I am most excited to start writing next month.

And that, my friends, was February.

Like I said, it was a whirlwind! There was so much happening, at least in my brain, that I found myself identifying with this amazing song:

March looks like it will be full speed ahead as well, but I hope to catch up on your Lovely Books posts–and blogging in general.

So many things to look forward to in the next thirty-one days! My friend’s wedding, delving into book 2, more agent research, and who knows what else? Actually, there is one thing pressing rather insistently at my mind tonight, and that is . . .

THE FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW MORNING. Ack! The suspense!

For all of you who entered along with me, I hope your hearts are prepared for whatever the results may be. Know that you accomplished something crazy awesome with your novella(s). You crafted a story, a living, breathing tale of wonder. You finished it; you got all the way to the end and most probably edited it many times over. And no words written are ever a waste. You learned something with this novella. Maybe how to retell a fairytale, or how to write a better plot twist, or how to be concise (looking at myself over here!). Maybe you refined your dialogue skills, or fell in love with a genre you’ve never written before. Maybe you discovered the camaraderie of fellow writers through this contest. Maybe you conquered the fear of letting others see your work. Well done, I say! Well done!

How were your February quests? Was your month a hurricane too, or more like a quiet breeze? What do you think of the Lord of the Rings movies? Have you ever sought people out for research purposes? And do you think you’ll survive till tomorrow morning?!

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Subplots and Storylines – January 2016

Tracey Dyck 21 Comments

Well, my friends, the first month of 2016 is almost behind us. I hope yours was a good one! Mine was. It started with a belated Christmas gathering, was sprinkled with various social doings, and ended up being a productive writing month in the midst of all that.

I stepped out of my comfort zone by driving to my friend’s place an hour away, in a part of the city where I’ve never driven by myself before. I was going to take the GPS, but it went on the fritz, leaving me to check some maps, punch the address into my phone, and tape written directions to my dashboard. It sounds ridiculous, but I wanted to be prepared. Getting lost is not my idea of fun. Anyway, I’m proud to report that I made it there and back just fine, and had a great time with my friend to boot! I hadn’t seen her in several months, so it was awesome to catch up.

City driving happened again when I spent an afternoon in the city with another friend, discussing the details of her upcoming March wedding. (I’m going to be one of her bridesmaids!) A few days later, we met up again to find bridesmaid dresses. They’re going to be gorgeous: wine-colored, floor length . . .

Life at work has definitely been different than usual lately, as we’ve had a crew renovating certain parts of the store. Funny anecdote . . .

I met possibly the strangest customer yet–a young man (wearing rainbow socks) who thought he could take a pair of boots out of the store . . . without paying . . . in order to compare them to something in another store. Um, no. “What if I jezt take one boot?” he asked.

“Sorry, I can’t let you leave the store with unpaid merchandise,” I replied.

“What am I going to do wiz only one boot?”

I shrugged and reiterated the policy.

“Well, what eef I leave you my wallet? It has one hundred dollars een eet!”

Apparently there are people who think we still use a medieval bartering system . . .

On another note, Old Man Winter has been a capricious beast this month, first dropping the temperatures down to minus thirty degrees (Celsius), then warming up to near-melting weather. None of us are fooled, of course: a month or two of winter still lies ahead.

Between the bitter cold and yucky slush, I went ice skating twice and had so much fun.

Oh, and guess what came in the mail?? Just kidding, don’t guess. I’ll tell you. The Raising Dragons graphic novel! I was so excited. As a Kickstarter backer, I’d pledged enough to get a copy, so I’ve been following James Art Ville’s journey of adapting a book into a graphic novel. He has worked so hard, and by the looks of these beautiful illustrations, it’s really paid off!


January Films & Shows

  • Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – I didn’t realize how much I loved spy/heist movies until watching this one. (My first MI, actually.) Seriously. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. The plot, the humor (Benji’s lines were the best), the suspense . . . So good! Now I want to watch all the ones that came before. Also the Bourne movies. Really need to see those.
  • About a dozen Once Upon a Time Season 2 episodes – My sisters and I are almost finished the season. One of my favorite episodes was Manhattan. All the relational conflict! All the secrets revealed! The family relationships are seriously messed up, though.
  • Everest – I can sit back and calmly watch entire fantasy armies run at each other, or superheroes fight to defend a city, or teenage girls overthrow their government. But watching human beings attempt to scale Mount Everest–and not only try to make it to the summit, but to make it back down again safely–that is intense on an entirely different level. I literally gasped aloud numerous times. My forehead hurt from being scrunched into a frown of apprehension for so long. One character had it right: “This is suffering.” People walk across ladders set up over impossibly deep crevasses. They endure the buffeting winds and freezing temperatures and freak storms. Some freeze to death. Some succumb to frostbite. Some, their brains swelling from the high altitudes, go crazy and do things that could (and do) kill them. Brave people on the way down to safety turn back to help their fellow climbers. And how do I feel about all this? Let’s just say I won’t be looking to climb any major mountains anytime soon!
  • Hotel Transylvania 2: 89 minutes of nothing. This was a sequel that needn’t have been made.

January Reads



Illusionarium by Heather Dixon: Remember me buying this last summer whilst on holidays in the States? I bought it solely based off Deborah’s glowing recommendation, which is really saying something. [I almost never purchase a book that I a) have never read, or b) have never read anything by its author. If a UBO–unidentified bookish object–looks interesting, I’m much more inclined to get it from the library first. Anyway. Deb convinced me so thoroughly of this book’s awesomeness, and the cover is gorgeous, and HELLO, STEAMPUNK, that I actually did buy it.]

And I don’t regret a single nickel spent. This book is fabulous! The steampunk settings range from an aerial city to the Tower of London to airships to an alternate-reality-London that’s all crumbling and decrepit.

The characters are just–gah, I don’t even have the words. The first-person narrator, Jonathan, is so lovable and ordinary, with a dry wit and a smart, science-y brain. I love his family too. And then there’s Lieutenant Lockwood, a cocky, eye-patch-wearing firebrand brimming with snark and mad fighting skills. I’d mention other characters, but it could be spoilery, so let’s just say some of them are maddening and some are evil and some are both with a  dash of sympathy thrown in.

This book definitely has a creepy factor, which I loved in a wide-eyed, horrified way. There’s a disease that turns the victims’ veins black. Later on, we meet people who are splitting . . . they have multiple eyes and noses and mouths and fingers and blegh, it’s gross. But also fascinating. The whole concept of the book actually contains some great symbolism regarding moral choices and our sin nature. I loved it immensely.

Oh, and there are footnotes! Footnotes in a fictional book! Sarcastic footnotes! It’s delightful. Go read it this instant, I command you.

Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor: Atrocious. I started my reading year off so wonderfully with Illusionarium, only to find in myself the desire to throw Shadowmancer across the room. See, I read book 2 (Wormwood) years and years ago, and liked it. But I hadn’t realized there was a book that came before. So I picked up both books at second-hand book fairs some time ago, and finally got around to reading the first one this month.

Where do I even start?

The writing was . . . passable, I guess. It had its moments. The comma splices were annoying, though. The POV was so distant that it floated around from head to head, never settling anywhere. We’d be with Character A knocking on the door, then suddenly we’re observing Character B waking from a drunken slumber inside the building. I wouldn’t even call this omniscient; it’s just poor writing. And let’s not get started on the all the botched sensory details! He could see, she knew, they could hear, he felt angry, she was sad, they were all THIS EMOTION THAT MUST BE SHOVED IN MY FACE BECAUSE I’M TOO DUMB TO PICK UP SUBTLER CUES. Ahem. Sorry for the rant.

Moving along. This is a Christian fantasy. I wish that were a good thing. In this case, it meant watered down Scripture references, weird (and inaccurate) supernatural dealings with angels and demons and a mystical object of power, and unrealistic stuff everywhere. Instant conversions. Instant turnarounds in beliefs and feelings and thoughts. People being good just because, or bad for the sake of being bad.

A character doesn’t know which door to take when sneaking through the bad guy’s house, so he prays. Fine, that’s good. But then dust swirls up around the door to the right, and he just knows this is where God is leading him. The narrative even says something to the effect of: “He didn’t stop to think that Demurral [the villain] could be behind the door.” I’m all for praying for direction, don’t get me wrong. And I totally believe that God guides us. But it’s not usually with swirling dust, and it’s usually guidance given in conjunction with the usage of our brains. You have a brain. Use it.

The book’s pacing was off. The main characters were passive. Thomas, the Main-main character, hardly ever thinks about his dying mother, whom he supposedly loves very much. Kate, another main character, spends far too much time crying when she’s supposed to be a rough-and-tumble tomgirl.

Demurral, the villain, blabbers his plans to just about anyone who’ll listen. His backstory reveals a moment in which, surveying the land and its resources, he suddenly and instantaneously turns evil. (Because that is so realistic, and the path of evil is a sudden drop off a cliff, mm-hmm.) Every trace of goodness flees him. He is overcome by greed. He goes on to trick the current vicar out of his position (by getting him drunk and then racing cockroaches across a table–um, what?) and seizes the vicarage.

I could go on, but that rant is long enough. I normally don’t like to bash books because I feel bad for the author, knowing how much work and heart goes into a novel . . . but in this case, it was a real slog to reach the final page. My family heard of my distaste, and asked why I didn’t just quit the story. Problem is, I hate quitting.

Moving along! Those are the only two books I finished this month, though I’m well into a couple others. Apparently I had a lot to say about both January reads. Eheheh.

January Writings

I’m a rather happy dragon, because I reached my January writing goals a week early! Woot!

I’ve no clue where this gif comes
from, but isn’t it cute?

To jog your memory, the goal was to finish the final read-through/edit of book 1. There was very little to do, but still. I did deal with a couple issues that had been hanging over my head the last few months as I worked on The Brightest Thread, so it felt good to clear them up for good.

My brain can hardly comprehend the fact that I’m actually . . . done editing this book. I’ve been working on it for years. In fact, this March will mark eight years since I first started writing it! As I was telling a friend this week, it feels like I’m lying to say, “I’m done.” It can’t be true, can it? Surely there’s more for me to tweak and fiddle and completely overhaul? But no. This is pretty much it.

Maybe it will sink in when I start researching the querying process next month, something I’m super stoked about. Mind you, once this book lands on the desk of an agent or editor, I suspect there’ll be a whole new round of editing to complete.

In other writerly doings, I wrote a guest post (it goes up in March–I’ll announce it here when that happens), and got clonked over the head with an idea for Welcome to Absurdity. I’ve mentioned that little seedling in passing here, but haven’t elaborated much. That’s because I know next to nothing about the actual plot. But now I have a few very fun ideas. It’s still percolating, of course, and I don’t foresee having an opportunity to write this thing anytime soon, but I’m excited for when that day comes!

So that was January.

I stepped out of my comfort zone, watched some great (and not so great) movies, read a couple of polar opposite books, and finished editing book 1. I’d say it was a good month.

Next month promises to be an exciting leg of the journey. I’ll dip my toes in the waters of querying, for one thing. For another, I have some fun stuff planned for the blog! Stay tuned for a brand-new series of posts.

What did your month look like? What sort of dangerous quests did you undertake? Any dragons slain? (I hope you left the good ones alive. Kill all the Smaugs and keep all the Clefspeares, okay?)

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