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July 30, 2018

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Realm Makers 2018 Recap [highlights and takeaways]

Ever since I went to Realm Makers in 2015, I’ve wanted to go back, and this was finally the year.

For those of you who don’t know, Realm Makers is a unique conference for Christian writers who love speculative fiction. And speculative fiction is an umbrella term used to encompass science fiction, fantasy, and all their subgenres. Basically—weird and fantastical stories.

So today on Penprints, we’re going to do a quick recap on Realm Makers 2018. (Spoiler alert: I lied; this won’t be quick.)

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Overview

I drove down to St. Louis for the conference Wednesday, and Realm Makers itself ran Thursday through Saturday, and then I drove home. That’s the super quick overview. :)

Favorite Moments

When Katie Grace and Jaye L. Knight showed up at my house Tuesday night so we could all drive down to St. Louis together.

When Katie, Jaye, and I walked into the hotel, and Jeneca Zody pounced on us.

Laying in bed Friday night, listening to Katie’s song for her novel Where Shadows Lie.

Seeing Kara Swanson come up a flight of stairs and hugging her for the first time.

That time we all got cult tattoos (okay, so they were just temporary tattoos to help promote Morgan Busse’s forthcoming release, Mark of the Raven, but they were black raven silhouettes, and they looked like we had all just been initiated into a real intense cult/gang).

Seeing Nadine Brandes for the first time in forever, baby bump and all!

Eating strange St. Louis style pizza with Jeneca, Katie, and Jaye.

Every time Katie and Ashely Townsend would *boop* each other on the nose.

Spending an hour or more in the hotel’s clocktower with Jeneca and Katie, talking about life and stories and this past year and the future.

Grabbing a dirty chai from Starbucks and then running into Gillian Bronte Adams and then chatting with her (!!!!!!!!) for like twenty minutes about our stories.

Hanging out with the other Ninjas (Nadine’s street team) and Mad Hatters (Mary Weber’s street team) over tacos.

Every time Stephanie Warner swept by in all her elegance with a little mischievous wink and smile.

Seeing Savannah Grace for the first time in person (knowing her over the internet had not prepared me for how much she is in person).

Every little random detail that would crop up about Jeneca, each proving that she was one of the most interesting people there (writes dystopian, was Alice in an Alice in Wonderland play and still sometimes quotes it with a British accent, took a train and bus to get to Realm Makers all by her lonesome with all her stuff for the weekend in two little backpacks, makes stunning art in this little notebook in her pack, isn’t afraid of a lot of espresso, had an Etsy shop when she was fifteen—before Etsy was cool—plus she sews, and a whole bunch of other things that kept coming up every time I turned around).

Tosca Lee signing my copy of Havah.

Watching Katie try to wake up in the morning (it was always a process until we got some coffee in her).

When my story, That Last Breath, was read and critiqued live on Thursday night (I gasped so loud when they started reading it; nearly died; my mind was blown).

Drinking in the prose from Kira Thomas’s short story that was read and critiqued live on Thursday night. It was easily the best story, and you’ll find it in the January 2019 issue of Havok.

Nearly every word that came out of Ashley Townsend’s mouth.

Ashley giving Katie a piggy back ride.

Hearing truth from Allen Arnold about God and creativity.

Hearing truth from Tosca Lee about God and creativity.

Four of us gathered around Ashley after the costume dinner, helping her out of all the tiny little braids and metal coils in her hair while she sat on the ground with her ultra-intense Viking eyeliner smudged under her eyes.

Katie, Jeneca, and me sitting down with the Serenity crew at the costume dinner… and then Katie and I simultaneously sniffing the brown liquid in our cups to figure out what it was… because neither of us wanted to taste it until we had a notion of what it was? (It was tea, apparently, and fairly odorless.)

Sitting with Lindsay A. Franklin during our mentor appointment and talking about stories.

Meeting Kayla St. Arbor on the last night, learning what a burnt cookie is (and that I am one), and finding out she’s an INFP Hufflepuff like me.

And there were hundreds of other moments and people that made it so good: Schuyler, Liz, Mary, Heidi, Jason, Josh, JJ, Brittany, Avily, Sierra, Tricia, Kensi, Kira, Carrie-Anne, Tracey, Audrey, Brianna, Lillian, Gretchen, Laura, Bethany, Emily, Tina, Ruthie, Rolena, April, and many more. <3

Takeaways

As with my recap of The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference, these takeaways are paraphrased, with the speaker in parentheses at the end.

Novel writing is a thing you learn by writing novels. (Tosca Lee)

creativity audaciousCreativity is meant to be audacious. (Tosca Lee)

We are not made to write stories and then die; we are made to love God and others well (which sometimes includes writing stories and then dying). (Mary Weber)

To write a great book you cannot please everyone. (Tosca Lee)

You need to be aware that you are being judged. But you need not be concerned about the judgements being made. (Tosca Lee)

Perfectionism is where nothing happens. (Tosca Lee)

An artist’s best work comes not from comfort but from the limitations and chaos of life. (Allen Arnold)

God doesn’t create “Christian” things; he creates trueness. (Allen Arnold)

You can’t tell a better story than you’re living. (Allen Arnold)

wildly unbalancedLive a wildly unbalanced life for what matters most. (Allen Arnold)

Free yourself from the lie that there is not enough time. (Allen Arnold)

Self-doubt can be a good thing because it means you’re still growing and learning. (Steve Laube)

The Pitching Appointment Situation

On a slightly different note, my pitching appointments both went very well—better than I had hoped.  I pitched to two agents, and neither of them said my idea (aka: False Gods) was an awful idea! Which is what I was afraid/expecting they would say—either because my presentation was bad or because it isn’t right for the market or because I’ve been deluding myself about False Gods’ potential this whole time. I was bracing myself for “No thank you”, and it didn’t come!

One agent wants a proposal when False Gods is finished (we discussed how I would know when it’s “finished”) because he finds the idea really cool (*cue my mind exploding*). The other agent wants a full manuscript and a couple other things after I’m done with this draft (*mind explodes again*).

Obviously, neither of these are contract offers, but I was able to discuss a few of my confusions about genre and such with both agents. Overall, the pitch appointments were super encouraging and helpful, and I’m so excited to see where Jesus takes this. Maybe he’s planning on getting False Gods out into people’s hands sooner than I had anticipated, or perhaps he’s going to help me work through rejection again. We’ll see. :)

So there’s a snapshot of my Realm Makers 2018 experience.

This was largely people-centric for me, which is highly unusual for me since I’m a little introverted snail, but it was good. So good.

Jesus blessed me in so many ways, but he worked most profoundly in the relationships forged for the first time and the friendships strengthened and deepened.

My heart is so full.

Have you been to a writing conference before? Have you heard of Realm Makers? Will I see you there next year?

With love,

Rosalie <3

p.s. – today happens to be the day when I celebrate twenty years of being out and about on earth. O.o

p.p.s. – the main thing Jesus drove home for me this weekend is probably this: You are not meant to create in isolation. You need your tribe of people, which is in this case, a very niche part of the Church as a whole.

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July 2, 2018

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The Get To Know Me Tag [writer’s edition]

Happy Monday, friends!

Today I am finally (finally finally) doing a tag that has been sticking to me for a few months now. Way back in March (or something like that), the lovely Savannah Grace tagged me with The Get to Know Me Tag: Writer’s Edition, and I am finally doing it.

So here we are.

The rules:

  • link back to the person who created the tag (Savannah)
  • thank the person who tagged you (Savannah)
  • tag eleven bloggers (I don’t know if I can do eleven, but we’ll see)

Fun fact about Savannah:

She and I are Splickety buddies! Her flash fiction, Shoot Straight, and my flash fiction, Our Family, were published in the same issue of Splickety!

And she’s since been published with Splickety twice. Yeah, she’s that cool.

And now for me actually doing the tag (question: is that what we call it? “Doing” a tag? Or participating in a tag? Or something else????).

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[Vital Stats & Appearance]

(pen)Name: Rosalie Valentine (it also happens to be my real name).

Nicknames: Rosie, Rose, Seeta, Honeywheat, and Sourdough (thank you for those last three, brothers).

Birthday: July 30, 1998 (aka: I’m very close to leaving my teen years behind me, which is oddly somewhat unsettling).

Hair color and length: Brown and down to my lower back (and straight like there’s no tomorrow; it won’t hold a curl or wave for more than half a day so woe is me if my life one day depends on having texture in these brown locks).

Eye color: Hazel!

Braces/piercings/tattoos: Pierced ears (I got my ears pierced for my fifth birthday).

Righty or lefty: Righty all the way (though who hasn’t had the ambidextrous dream?).

Ethnicity: A lot of European blood with just a little Cherokee mixed in.

[Firsts]

First novel written: Truly, a Cinderella retelling novella (and that was right before it got cool to write retellings).

First novel completed: I’m not sure if setting aside a story because it is irreparable counts as completing it, but we’ll just go with that. That would be Truly as well.

Award for writing: N/A

First publication: A flash fiction for Havok magazine back in 2017 titled The Necklace. It’s still one of my favorite stories I’ve written. :)

Conference: Realm Makers 2015!!! This is where I first met Katie Grace for the first time! I literally cannot imagine my writing life without Katie because she inspires and encourages me in so. many. ways.

And I finally met Nadine Brandes at RM 2015 after I was on the launch team for A Time to Die (A Time to Speak was coming out in just a few months at that point, and I was DYING with questions). And I got to ask Steve Laube a bunch of questions in a mentoring session. And I met Victoria and Jordan there too! And Jill Williamson for another mentoring session!! So many amazing things happened at Realm Makers 2015. :)

Query/Pitch: Possibly False Gods by the end of this year. We’ll see where it’s at after this draft and then what alphas and betas think. But guys, my heart is so ready for the world to meet these characters and this story; I cannot wait to see what God does with it (especially since it’s the most direct, not-subtle-at-all story I’ve ever written).

[Favorites]

Novel (that you wrote): Lol, False Gods for sure.

Genre: Between flash fictions and novels, I’ve dabbled in science fiction, various kinds of fantasy, contemporary, and YA. My default seems to be fantasy, but there’s a sci-fi story-possibly-novel that I am dying to write.

Author: Just one? It’s impossible. I’ll go with two—Anne Elisabeth Stengl and Nadine Brandes.

Writing Music: It really varies on the story! A lot of my stories/characters have tailored playlists depending on the genre and situation. Lots of film scores (Hans Zimmer and Trevor Rabin are some of my favorite composers).

Time To Write: Early morning or late night it seems.

Writing Snack/Drink: Gummy bears, granola bars, coffee with enough cream to make it tasty, chai or lavender lattes, and water.

Movie: This is where I cannot do one or even two. Prepare for a list, kids. The Dark Knight trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Lion King.

Writing Memory: Hmmmm, this is an interesting one. My favorite writing related memory was probably when I got the email telling me that Havok wanted to acquire The Necklace.

My favorite memory of writing is probably when I drafted the climax scenes for False Gods. So much of me and what I’ve learned about God is in the story and the themes and the characters, and so when it was all coming together for the first time, it was all rushing from my heart to my fingers in a way that doesn’t happen very often.

Childhood Book: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and the Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl are my childhood.

[Currently]

Reading: Fawkes by Nadine Brandes (which, by the way, releases in less than two weeks!!!!).

Writing: A flash fiction to submit for the Realm Makers live critique and False Gods editing/revising.  The flash fiction has to be 300 words or less, and it’s related to one of my other stories (but I won’t say which because it would be so fun/cool for you guys to one day figure out which story/character it’s connected to). And my project for Camp NaNo this July is False Gods again. We’ll see how it goes with Realm Makers in the middle of it.

Listening to: The Piano Guys because I somehow forgot about them for two years and just rediscovered them last week! And re-listening to my 2018 and worship playlists a lot recently.

Watching: Lost in Space—the new one that Netflix made. I’ve seen four episodes and like it so far!

Learning: To have faith over fear and to dream better regarding everything, including my writing life.

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(how did you not see this gif coming?)

[Future]

Want To Be Published: Yes! So very much! … but I’m in no rush. I keep submitting short stories and working on novels, but it’s not consuming like it used to be. If I get published again, it will be when God wants it to be, with the story he wants it to be, and with the publisher he wants it to be. Until then, I’m at my leisure.

Indie or Traditional: It varies! For novels, I want try for traditional first, but as far as some short stories/flash fiction collections, those might be self-published.

Wildest Goal: Get False Gods published and into the hands of people like me, who have doubts and struggles like me, who need to hear Asha and Adele’s stories like I have. My best hope and prayer for my writing right now is that God will use False Gods to do in others what he’s used it to do in me.

It’s crazy how much Jesus has changed my desires and goals for writing over the years. At one time (and sometimes still), success was writing and selling lots of books; now success is writing stories with God and seeing what he does with them—in me and in others.

I hereby tag:

Thank you so much for tagging me, Savannah! This was fun!

What about you? What is your childhood book/series? And leave your strangest nickname in the comments too, because I need to know. ;)

With love,

Rosalie

P.S. – another memo of High Command is going out this Friday (not last Friday like I said it would on Instagram because I forgot that last Friday was still in June and that it won’t be the first Friday of July until this Friday. #oops)

P.P.S. – anyone else kind of appalled that it’s July 2 today? Like, where has the first half of the year gone? Riddle me that.

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June 25, 2018

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The 2018 Penprints Flash Fiction Dash WRAP-UP

Well, kids, today is the day.

Today is the giant wrap-up for the 2018 Penprints Flash Fiction Dash.

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Before we get to the stories themselves, I just want to say a few things (because I’m charge and can do as I please, mwahahaha).

I wasn’t going to do a flash fiction dash this year just because of the time it takes, but almost last minute, I decided to launch it because it had been so much fun last year. And I decided to give it an Instagram so that I could give the stories another spotlight and hopefully be able to interact with all you lovely people on another level.

Guys, you made it so worth it.

It was so fun tracking the hashtags and seeing people work on their stories, but when the stories actually started to come in…. man, you guys blew my mind.

So much imagination and creativity and talent has gone into each of these stories, so many unique angles on the prompts that I never dreamed of, and I feel so privileged and humbled to be able to interact with these writers and compile these stories.

I know I sound like a broken record because I keep telling people “I love what you did with the prompt”, but it’s just the way it is–they did amazing things with the prompts.

So, without any more of my rambling, let’s go on 25 different adventures. Click the prompt to read the story.

Disclaimer: neither I nor any of these writers own any of these pictures; they were found in the depths of Pinterest.

[Science Fiction]

To the Stars Who Listen by Athelas Hale.

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Human Error by Faith Song.

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Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Moya Tobey.

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[Fantasy]

Sun Eater by Just B. Jordan

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The Painting by Alina.

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Dragonborne by A.K.R. Scott.

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The Last of the Lightning Bearers by Sarah Rodecker.

 

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Rimewhittling by Spruce Holly Nogard.

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The Deal Is Off by Julian Daventry.

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Song of the Wind by Emily Jayne.

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Letters from the Banned by M.

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Ambush by Katherine M.

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The Pond by Melinda Wagner.

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[Contemporary]

The Day We Say Goodbye by Micaiah Saldana.

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The Decision by Andi L. Gregory.

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Different Storms by J.M. Jablowski

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Survival by Abigayle Claire.

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A Change of Heart by Anika Walkes

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[Historical]

To See by Tapar – through the desert.
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Between the Raindrops by Amanda Harder.

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[Other]

[aka: the category for stories that I can’t figure out what genre they belong; all I know is that they’re mostly speculative]

Replaced by Aebli.

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All for a Sip of Hot Chocolate by True Shaw.

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Black + White by Lisa Elis.

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Ribs by Heid Melo (and she’s a girl after my own heart–she has a playlist for it).

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Not for Me by Michael A. Blaylock.

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And that’s the end of it.

The 2018 Penprints Flash Fiction Dash has come to a close. Here’s a huge thank you to everyone who participated, and a huge thank you to everyone who’s stopped in to read these fantastic stories.

What story was your favorite? What prompt was your favorite?

With love,

Rosalie

P.S. – For news of the 2019 Penprints Flash Fiction Dash, keep a weather eye on the Instagram account.

P.P.S. – The July memo for High Command (aka: my swanky newsletter) is slotted to go out this Friday; sign up now to receive the secret updates.

P.P.P.S. – Flash fiction dashers! Also be on the lookout for a debrief email about this year’s challenge!

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May 28, 2018

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How to Deal with Rejection [tips on handling it in a healthy way]

So you’ve labored over a story, be it a six hundred page novel or a six hundred word flash fiction.

Hours upon hours (upon hours) of thinking and revising and thinking and editing and more thinking have been poured into this story. It’s been critiqued and fiddled with, and you’ve gone through all the phases of loving it, hating it, not quite hating it as much, almost liking it, hating it again, actually liking it, and you’ve at last come to terms with the story.

It’s never going to be perfect, but my goodness, it almost is. And my goodness it better be almost perfect after all that. You might even say you’re happy with it.

Off it goes to The Publisher (or the agent or the magazine or the website).

After days and weeks of angsty waiting, an email pops into your inbox. From The Publisher (or agent or magazine or website).

Your heart seizes in your chest and your hands go clammy. You take a fortifying breath and open the email.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to acquire your story…”

Your little heart crunches like a tin can, and the wind whooshes out of your sails, (probably for forever, you think to yourself).

All that, and your story’s been rejected.

I’ve been there, done that, and it’s never fun. In the last year, I have submitted nine different pieces for publication, and seven of those nine have been rejected. Today we’re going to get into how it can be a little less awful; we’re going to talk about dealing with rejection in a healthy way (and yes, there is a playlist in here somewhere).

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Recalibrate your view of rejection.

So often we view rejection as a bad thing, which is our natural instinct when something is painful, but rejection actually isn’t a bad thing. I promise (and I’m quite serious and quite sane).

Rejection is not failure. Rejection does not mean your story wasn’t good. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. But rejection does not mean you’re a no-good writer and you don’t know what you’re doing. Maybe you are and maybe you don’t. But not necessarily.

Just to be clear: rejection does not equal bad. Pain does not equal bad. Frustration and disappoint do not equal bad.

Rejection is actually very, very good for you (and me, especially me).

  • Rejection grows you as a person and as a writer. If you’ve been around Penprints for any length of time, you know that I am a firm believer in anything compels personal growth. Suffering through rejection can help you mature far more than publication.
  • Rejection thickens your skin. All art is painfully subjective, and thus there will always be differing opinions about your story. Hypersensitivity to anything resembling criticism reveals a shallowness of character. But rejection, which isn’t outright criticism but can feel like it, can deepen and grow you so that you don’t take things personally (because when people take things personally, they become angry, bitter, and they lash out).
  • Rejection teaches you humility. Nothing helps you maintain a realistic view of your writing skills as much as rejection. Humility isn’t having a low view of yourself; humility is having a realistic view of yourself. It’s so easy to forget how much we all still have to learn about writing, and sometimes we start to think we deserve it. We deserve publication. We deserve to sign with an agent. We’ve worked hard. We’ve put in the hours. By this time, for sure, we deserve. Rejection is a reminder that, no, you and I won’t get just even if we might “deserve” it. No matter how fast we’re rising in the industry, we are not entitled to anything.
  • Rejection means that God has a better home for your story. Now, better does not mean bigger. Better means better, be it the drawer of your desk for you to revisit and enjoy alone (an art that is quickly being lost in a world that wants everything experienced together) or the little publishing house you meet at your next writer’s conference or a really huge home ten or twenty years down the road.

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Reckon on rejection.

Your stories will get rejected. That’s just the way this industry goes, the way life goes. Don’t fall into the mindset of thinking you’re the exception to the rule what, no, I’ve never done that I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Expect rejection. Anticipate it. This isn’t to psych yourself out but to set yourself up for a shorter fall if/when your stories get rejected. If you submit something with the mindset that it could get published but is more likely to be rejected, you’re just being realistic.

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Return to why you write.

When the rejection is smarting, take some time to remember why you tell stories in the first place.

(Note: If your deepest motivation is publication, well, that’s not going to be much help. Publication is a great goal and dream to work toward, but it isn’t big enough. It won’t help you much in the long run; it isn’t rich enough fuel. Dream bigger, want bigger, and write bigger for bigger, better reasons, and remember those reasons.)

If your deepest motivation is to tell a good story, you can do that and still have your story rejected. But it doesn’t burn as badly because if you wrote a good story, you accomplished your goal.

If your deepest motivation is to have fun, you can do that and still have your story rejected. But it doesn’t burn as badly because if you had fun with the story, you accomplished your goal.

If your deepest motivation is to glorify God, you can do that and still have your story rejected. But it doesn’t burn as badly because if your story magnifies God in some way—be it in the excellence, themes, or characters—then you accomplished your goal.

So return to why you want to tell stories when the rejection email is sending your excitement and contentment up in flames. If you did what you set out to do, that’s enough.

So what the story isn’t published (yet!)?

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Final thoughts

  • It’s okay to be disappointed and disheartened. It’s okay to cry. You need to process.
  • Remember that your worth and your identity are not bound up in your writing—published or not. Your value and identity are in Jesus and Jesus alone.
  • Process your disappointment, but don’t wallow in it.
  • I listen to this little playlist when I submit stories and articles, and then I listen to it again after I get a rejection or acquisition notice. It’s about true wealth and worth and all that jazz.

Dealing with rejection in a healthy way begins long before you submit your story. It begins in the mindsets and habits you intentionally develop as you go along your little writer way.

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That’s all I’ve got for today!

What have been some ways you’ve dealt with rejection? I’m always looking for more tips since I get rejected most of the time, haha. Are there any stories/articles you’re prepping to submit somewhere? If so, tell me about them! If not, you should definitely give it a try!

With love,

Rosalie

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May 7, 2018

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Camp NaNoWriMo & All That Jazz [aka: an explosion of all my craziness about my WIP]

April Camp NaNoWriMo came to a close last Monday, and I’m happy to say it was a successful month for me!

[Warning: Kat from Sparks of Ember gave me permission to just be myself here on Penprints, so the proverbial hair is coming down. Prepare yourself for a super casual post full of run-on sentences and my explosive excitement for my WIP.]

camp nanowrimo and all that jazz.jpg

Now, for those of you wondering what Camp NaNoWriMo is, here’s the short version: “NaNoWriMo” is slang for “National Novel Writing Month”. National Novel Writing Month is a virtual event that takes place every November where writers around the world try to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in April and July and has a similar idea except you can join virtual cabins with nineteen other writers where you can chat, compare your goals, word war and such. And speaking of goals, you set your goal any way you want for Camp. Lines, hours, minutes, words, pages, etc.

I had planned to continue pulling teeth working on Beasts for Camp NaNoWriMo, and I set myself a goal of 55 hours. Three days before Camp started, I decided that Beasts and I needed to take a break and come back to reevaluate our relationship after we both had some time away (why, yes, I did just refer to Beasts and I as a “we”, as if Beasts was another person and not a figment of my imagination. #unashamed) Unfortunately, at present, it seems like it’s a toxic relationship. Hopefully this detox from each other will bring us around to a better state of mind and heart. Hopefully.

So I had to scramble for a project for Camp. Should I just write a bunch of flash fictions? Finish a sci-fi short story that’s been rolling around in my head for months? Revisit Flickering Lights and finally make decisions about its fate? Not do Camp at all??

Ha. None of that happened.

Instead, I went straight for False Gods, the novel I drafted last November (during normal NaNoWriMo). Because I’d been dying to get back to it (no, I have not been mentally cheating on Beasts, hush) since December 1, 2017.

So I stowed my Beasts notes and playlist and pulled up the False Gods Pinterest board, the character playlists, and the embarrassingly rough first draft that I somehow still adore even though it’s a complete mess.

An Example Of What A Mess This First Draft Is:

*second week of NaNoWriMo 2017*

*in the midst of drafting False Gods for the first time*

*my small group was also in the midst of a study on the book of Acts and we had just finished the part where Paul is on Malta, a snake comes out of the fire, bites him in the hand, the natives expect him to swell up and die, and then he doesn’t die because God*

Me: *whining* I don’t know why this character is going on this trip with them! I don’t want him on this trip! He ruins the whole dynamic!

Daddy: What if a viper bites him, he swells up, and dies?

Me: Haha, psh. You’re cute. No, I would never do that. *laughs* That would be ridiculous.

*literally 20 minutes later*

“… So-and-so let out a sharp cry. A viper hung from So-and-so’s calf…”

And yes, this character definitely swelled up and died on the spot. Problem = solved. Don’t worry, kids. I’m a professional.

Anyway, April began with a huge bang and kept right on steamrolling. About halfway through, I lowered my goal from 55 hours to 50 hours because there were a few days when I had far better things to do than work on False Gods (and if I’m saying that about The Novel That I Love, you know it’s true).

With the help of my amazing cabin, I made it to my goal of 50 hours by the end of April, and I made so much progress!… sort of… okay, so, looking back at where False Gods was at the start of April, I’m like, “Woah!! I’ve done so much work on it! It’s come so far! Woohoo! FULL SPEED AHEAD!”… but then when I think about having spent 50 hours (50 HOURS) of work on it, I’m like, “How is this all that’s gotten done in 50 freaking hours of work??!”.

So here we are.

I’m going to briefly share a few things—we’ll  call them fun facts—that have happened with False Gods over the month of April.

  • I read and annotated the first draft.
  • Existing plot points and new plot points went on index cards and were arranged into the semblance of a plot. (Side note: why the heck do we even have plots? Who needs them? *distant sobbing*)
  • I dug into Asha (my main character who I adore) and his past, figuring out more of his history and emotional wounds and such. (Hint: hurt people hurt people, people.)
  • I dug into Adele (my secondary POV character) and her past a little more, but she’s been in my head longer than Asha, so I already knew more of her history, but I was able to smooth some things out with her.
  • Asha and Adele were classified and explored according to their personality. Asha’s a rebel according to the four tendencies and a ESTP according to the Meyers-Briggs system. Adele’s an upholder according to the four tendencies and an ISFJ according to Meyers-Briggs. (Yeah, they ended up as almost complete opposites. #oops.)
  • While working on Asha’s brain, I compiled a list of his flaws and his virtues because that’s what professionals do. It turns out that he has eight flaws and counting. His only virtue is his wicked sense of humor, which I don’t think actually counts, especially since “wicked” describes it perfectly.
  • Despite how depraved it turns out Asha is, I still like him, and I think other people will too.
  • Adele, on the other hand, has seven virtues and counting with only three flaws.
  • I cemented down some of the major history for my storyworld (particularly, Asha’s heritage).
  • I finished sorting through an entire book of baby names and compiled a complete list of characters and why they’re there.
  • I revised the first sixteen chapters (part one) of False Gods.
  • A rough map of the storyworld has been drawn.
  • I did some focused work on Adele’s POV voice and settled on a tone that suits her.
  • 47 hours into Draft Two, I finally came roaring out of the honeymoon phase with False Gods (meaning: I started to despair about how much work it needs, began to hate it, etc.).
  • 52 hours into Draft Two, I zipped right back into the honeymoon phase. (Something about these characters, people. I can’t hate them or ignore them.)
  • I realized that False Gods is indeed the correct title for this story. If you remember from my recap post from NaNoWriMo 2017, I wasn’t sure if it suited Asha’s story after I brought Adele out of her story and into his. Spoiler alert: oh, it works.
  • Speaking of Asha’s story, I also figured out that Asha is indeed my main character. One would think I would have already known this, but alas. For a while there, I wasn’t sure which of them was my main character because they both have so much at stake, are so dear to me, etc., etc.. But then I realized that this isn’t about the mortal who goes toe-to-toe with an immortal pantheon; this is about the immortal who gets defeated by a mortal. This is about a dude who actually thinks he’s a god and all the lies he believes that have to be unraveled for him to become truly great. So, yeah, that was just nice to finally get sorted out in my brain.
  • False Gods is not subtle. At all. Most of my flash fictions have been fairly indirect in how they reflect Christ. That’s not at all the case with False Gods; the themes are very direct, born from a season in my life that’s felt like a spiritual wilderness. I’ve come to terms with the fact that while I want to write subtle fiction, False Gods is just not one of those stories. It never has been, and it never will be.

Anyhoo. That was a crazy long post, and it’s not even helpful or anything like that. It’s just me spazzing my way from one thought about April and False Gods to another like a rabbit on caffeine (Out of Time series reference, yo).

Part of me is like, “Oh, this level of hyper is probably incoherent and/or annoying”, but then the rest of me is like, “Lol, do it anyway.”.

SO. This is one of the things I’m super jazzed about right now. What is something you’re excited about right now? A project? A trip? A novel?

With love,

Rosalie

P.S. – thanks again to Kat for telling me I don’t always “have to be on” here on the ol’ blog.

P.P.S. – don’t forget to sign-up for the 2018 Penprints Flash Fiction Dash and check out the giveaway that’s currently running.