Thursday, May 26, 2016

Thunderstorms

Today is the second day in a row, and the second time this season, that I have listened to the rumblings of distant thunder - a sound I've missed over this last winter. There's something about the sound of electricity hotter than the surface of the sun while it's ripping the sky apart that I find so fascinating.

When there's a thunderclap, I listen as it echos on forever. There's something comforting to me about listening of the acoustics of the sky as if it were a massive instrument...

These thunderstorms remind me of the project I've been working on for the last couple of months. It also reminds me of my love to listen to rain as I read a good book. It has been raining a lot here, and I'm grateful since Fort McMurray wasn't all that far from where I live. With the rain we've been having, we're just a tiny bit less like a tinderbox. I hope.

I currently have three novels on the go, but I've stopped to focus on only one since it's the one Bethany House Publishers sent me to review. It's titled From This Moment, and it's by Elizabeth Camden. I am absolutely in love with it. It's a Victorian mystery, and boy, it feels like a mystery. I believe that you guys - if you like mysteries - will absolutely devour it like I am.

The other two novels, the ones on hold, are The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and Star Trek: From History's Shadow by Dayton Ward. I'm enjoying them both, and I look forward to getting back to them once I'm done the review novel.

The project I'm working on is a collection of poems about spring, titled Blue Jays & Rainy Days. I was inspired to write it after seeing two Blue Jays in one day not long after the snow disappeared and buds began to appear on the trees. It's spring themed, and I hope to have it published through Pronoun before I head off to college in August.

I find myself enjoying writing poems a lot more than I did when I was younger. I guess, back then, I just didn't see the point of criptic messages strung out in the form of a poem.

But I love writing them now - and the haiku of all forms is my favourite! I just hope I'm structuring them the right way... lol.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

The Beginnings of The Scavenger

Recently, I came up with an idea for a novel series revolving around a family, and maybe  some unrelated characters that might come into the lives of this family. I'm really quite interested in it, and I thought I would share some spoiler-less bits with you.

I was inspired to start creating this story, titled A Galaxy So Fickle: The Scavenger for now, after watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens again with some friends. The whole concept of having to scavenge on a nigh-inhospitable planet struck my muse, which began to formulate and create a world totally different than Jakku, but still inhospitable enough that my main character would have to scavenge.

I didn't want my character's story to sound too similar to Rey's on Jakku - and in all honesty Scavenger is still in development - so I decided that my story would take place on a snowy world to distinguish it from Jakku. The difference between my world and Jakku is that on Jakku, the scavengers had to work and scavenge interesting ship and technological parts in order to trade for what looks like a gummy/Jello hybrid and instant bread (just add water!), which is pretty much the only food you could get on that world. I don't know where the water comes from, really.

On my world, water is common, because all you have to do is scoop up some snow, put it in a pot, and heat it until it melts. And half the time scavengers are scavenging for food in the forms of trapped animals (wild animals are something Jakku blatantly lacks), and fruit that hangs from trees that have adapted to the cold.

Speaking of the cold, that's the main danger that the denizens of my world have to compete with. Instead of having to worry about staying hydrated or getting too hot on Jakku, the people of my world's main worry is that they have to stay warm. They can't stay out too long or they may freeze.

The name of my world is Torvel, the only planet in the hospitable zone around its parent star Monovella. I'm having so much fun worldbuilding for Scavenger, and I hope that one day I'll feel comfortable enough to write it out and have it published :3

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia, a review

The Battle for Skandia . John Flanagan. 2006. Puffin Books. Pages: 294. Price: USD $8.99/$11.99 CAN. Setting: Skandia. ISBN 0142413402. [S...