Writing Prompt: 08-29-2014

Origin: “Searching for Fairy Tales” by Melissa Nucera. I do not know the artist, so be careful if you decide to look up her, or her other work.

Feeling inspired? I’d love to have you write something from this prompt! You can post it in the comments, or move the prompt to your own blog* and leave a link in the comments. (And, really, this picture just begs to be told into a story. I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with!)

*If you do decide to move it to your own blog, do please remember to credit it. Artists work hard at their art, and they should get recognition for it.

[I really look forward to being able to read anything you write from this prompt, and I expect to enjoy it very much and for my readers to also enjoy it. That said, please keep everything as clean as it gets because otherwise I will delete the comment or link to your blog.”Only what is good for building up…” If in doubt, ask. My contact information is on the About page.] 

 

Injuring Characters: How much is too much?

When we talked about realistic injuries, I mentioned briefly how some people over-injure their characters. Instead of going into it on that post, I said that it was a topic for another time. That time is today.

Before starting writing this, I did a Google search with the words “How often should I injure my characters?” When that failed to bring up any satisfactory results, I switched around the words, used only certain words without any proper sentence structure, tried more specific questions and came up with—

Oh, you guessed.

—absolutely nothing.

I found several pages worth of why you should hurt your characters, how to write realistic injuries, how to describe hurt characters, how to deepen characters through injuries, and many other things, but I didn’t come across how often you should injure your characters. Maybe Google just doesn’t like me today, or maybe I picked the wrong words to search for, but even before today, when I’ve been on hundreds of writing sites, I don’t remember ever seeing any article on how often you should injure your characters. So today, I write this post to right (admit it. Puns are running through your head at this very moment) that wrong.

When most writers start out, they’ve already done quite a bit of reading, so they know that injuries are usually considered good things in stories. You injure your characters, you get a reaction from your readers. It seems perfectly simple, so when they start writing, the earliest stories are peppered with random injuries. In my first story, within the first two thousand words I had two characters injured; one fatally so. Cue miraculous healing. (That is another topic for another time.)

Even now, I sometimes struggle with finding the balance between injuring characters at the correct times, and going overboard with injuries, though now I have the opposite problem. After I realized that the characters were just getting injured too many times, I may have developed a slight phobia of injuries in my stories that even now I have yet to entirely break free of.

I never intended to eliminate injuries from my stories. I write fantasy and science fiction, during which characters have to go through some hard, dangerous times in which they have a good chance of getting hurt or killed. There were times where if I didn’t injure my characters, it would have been too convenient and illogical, something every author must avoid. I was faced with two decisions: Injure the characters—and what if I was injuring them too much?—or change the plot.

After a little while of considering the question, it brought me to my first conclusion regarding this subject.

Injure your characters when your story demands it. 

Don’t randomly injure your characters. Injuries are major things, and so they need to be caused by something in the plot and affect later events.

Occasionally, it’s best to change events so that your character won’t be injured. At several points, I’ve decided to change a part of my story because I needed my character to be able to walk immediately afterwards instead of having to spend the next three months recuperating. That’s all right; when you need to keep your character up and about, by all means, change things so that your character won’t be injured, but please don’t resort to the evil henchman without the ability to aim. Don’t under-injure your character to make it convenient for yourself or the character in question if it’s only doable using cheesy, unrealistic means.

But there’s another question for the topic, and one that more authors struggle with. What about over-injuring? 

First off: Don’t give your character injuries that would end up killing them. Research your injury choices and use logic when you decide how hurt your poor lad or lass is going to end up.

We authors like getting a reaction. When we’re new, we use injuries in an attempt to get a reaction (every now and then along with other reasons), and though we don’t really care to admit it, we occasionally still use injuries as a way to get a reaction. Who doesn’t like to hear readers gasp over how your character was just, in rapid succession, whipped, tortured, thrown off a bridge, half-drowned, and then nearly killed when their enemy attacked the hospital they ended up in?

Every author I know is made happy when people react like that. The problem is, after the third nearly-deadly event your character goes through, the readers don’t feel like giving a reaction anymore. Yes, the character is in a life-threatening predicament—again—but they’ve gone in and out of those dozens of times. Why be concerned now?

In my experience as a reader, the best injuries where I’ve seen done are the ones that happen rarely. When, three episodes into a television show, we first see the character battered, it’s more powerful than when he’s hurt in every single episode. If your character is injured every third pages, or even every chapter, people will stop caring. It will become old and no longer carry the heart-pounding tension it could have.

Deciding when, where, how, and especially how much to injure characters can be difficult. There’s a lot of options to consider and sometimes you have to decide between two good things that could happen in your story. When we randomly throw in injuries, the reader can be irritated at the fact that you expect them to be worried again. I cannot count the times when I’ve been irritated by an author because they’ve once again managed to hurt their character just to get a reaction, and they expect us to buy it. When a well-timed injury comes along, it’s lovely.

Have you ever struggled with when and how much to injure characters? What did you decide?

Writing Prompt: 08-22-2014

Origin: “The Drawing of the Sword” by Jenny Dolfen. I don’t know the artist, so be careful if you decide to look up any of her other works.

Feeling inspired? Tell us the story of these people. I’d love for you to write something from the picture! You can post it in the comments, or move the prompt to your blog and leave the link in the comments.

[I really look forward to being able to read anything you write from this prompt, and I expect to enjoy it very much and for my readers to also enjoy it. That said, please keep everything as clean as it gets because otherwise I will delete the comment or link to your blog.”Only what is good for building up…” If in doubt, ask. My contact information is on the About page.] 

 

Write Your Heart

Once upon a time (because those words are always a good way to start anything—except a novel. If you start a novel like that, prepare for your potential agent, editor, or publisher to put it down before they even reach the end of the sentence) authors gave a bit of advice to aspiring writers. “Write what you know,” they would say.

That “once upon a time” was a very recent time, just in case any of you were wondering. People still say that, though now they throw in other things. Several times I’ve found a picture on Pinterest that suggest that you write what scares you. Write what you know, write what you fear, write this, write that—all of it can  be good advice, but it isn’t always.

There is one thing that I’ve found to be steady throughout my time writing: if you don’t care, your readers won’t, either. The obvious solution to this is to make ourselves care about the book.

Clearly.

As to how… Well. Let’s just bang ourselves over the head with the paper often enough and maybe we’ll start caring. Oh, I know! We can chain ourselves to the table. Make our computer permanently locked as a Word Document.

Or maybe that wouldn’t work so well. Sometimes, it’s necessary to sit down and not get up until we reach our goal, or open up “Write or Die” and keep it open, and sometimes our interest will grow as we work on a story. Sometimes, we’ll just hate every single word of it and be unable to wait until it’s over. When that time comes, we’ll figure out that it’s really a very bad novel. There’s no substance and we hate what we just wrote.

Once, I had no idea what I was doing, and the novels I wrote were pretty terrible. Now, I still don’t know what I’m doing, but at least I’ve figured out a little bit, which I think gives me a significantly better chance of writing anything that’s even vaguely good. It’s summarized as the tagline of this blog.

(In summary of the summary:) Give your story your heart. 

When some people say this, they’ll think I mean to work on it with all of your heart. While that’s a good thing to do, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about your passion. I’m talking about what makes you cry, laugh, scream, smile. I’m talking about what you love and hate.

I’m not saying to make all of your characters exactly who you are, and thus give them the same passions as you have. Your characters should be their own people, with their own hearts. I’m saying that you are not who you are without your heart. You can’t write a good novel without putting your heart in it. I’ve seen people who believe things, and yet carefully try and keep them out of their novels. It’s like they’re afraid to put their hearts in there, and I always come away feeling like something is missing.

Other people go with whatever is popular at the time. They shove characters into dangerous situations and then pull them out again, introducing vampires, zombies, werewolves, whatever, and expect that it will be enough. They don’t put their hearts into their novel, and their writing suffers because of it.

You can have excellent characters, perfect plot twists, even things that would keep readers reading like their life depended on it, but in the end, and empty book is empty.

Earlier today, I started to think on this. Looking back on what I’ve written, I can find my heart in my works. In Joy of Stars, it’s no surprise to find street kids. In IOTW, I find a broken, pagan culture. In a Goldstone Wood Fanfiction I’m working on for the contest, I find a girl who’s desperately looking for someone to really love her and is looking in the wrong place.

There never was a moment  where I stopped and decided “Oh, yes. Let’s put street kids in Joy of Stars.” None of them were intended to bring people to a conclusion or conviction.

They’re just the things that make my heart hurt. They’re a part of me, so they become a part of my novel automatically.

This topic is a hard thing to discuss on a writing blog. There’s no bulleted list of how to do it, no “How to Put Your Heart in Your Novel in Five Easy Steps.” Very rarely is it planned for. Occasionally, a person will sit down and think through things to find their passion, their heart to put in their novel, but usually, it just creeps in without us noticing.

I think there are ways to put ourselves in that mindset, though. We can write our hearts onto the paper with our characters. We can put what we love and what hurts us into our novels on purpose. We can be honest. In truth, there is no greater thing in fiction than honestly. You’re writing about dragons and portals and otherworldly things, but you’re also writing about how God can take the ashes of a broken life and make it beautiful. You’re writing about how hard standing up for what you believe in can be. You’re writing about how there is hope. You’re writing what you believe, what you fear, and what you love.

You’re writing your heart.

Character Interview: Elric

Happy Tuesday, readers. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing to yourself Prince Elric, main character of Bethany Baldwin’s currently-in-the-editing stage novel, The Prince’s Quest. 

Living as Crown Prince of Linaeus isn’t so bad. Elric can live with the whispers behind his back, and the obvious dislike the servants hold for him. But, without warning, his situation changes when King Rath decides to test his son’s loyalty, and see if he really can be a great king one day.

Elric is on a quest, a quest he would rather avoid. Someone in the small village of Redge is publishing false information about the king. It’s Elric’s job to find the perpetrator and bring him- and anyone involved- to justice.
The prince is plunged into a moral dilemma as he evades bandits intent on his capture, searches for truth, and meets a girl who could change his view on everything.
Life is filled with choices. The problem is, making the right one.

Hello, Elric (Or should I call you Your Highness?), and welcome to Red Lettering! It’s an honor to have you here. To start with, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Elric: Of course. I enjoy reading. I read all the time. I also like to stroll in the garden and visit my mother. I have a younger brother. I had an older one, but he died many years ago. My father is the king of Linaeus, which makes me Crown Prince, I suppose.

Reading is always good. That makes you the Crown Prince… You suppose? From what I can tell, if your father is the king and you are the oldest child in the family… at the time, you’re the Crown Prince. Speaking of your father… What’s your relationship with your him? (Don’t worry. This is a secret revolutionary pamphlet that will only be passed around rebels. Your father will never see your answer. No, not for real. Don’t give me that look. Your father won’t see it, though.)

Elric: I still don’t know about the rebels. But if it won’t be found out… My father and I have a… strained relationship at best. I feel… I know that I do not measure up to his expectations. He has been known to publicly humiliate me if it is his fancy. So, my relationship with my father? There really isn’t one.

I’m sorry. That must be hard, especially since you’re the royal family and most everything would be public, even when it wasn’t intended to be so. Who do you remember looking up to when you were a little child?

Elric: When I was a child things were different. My father was different. I remember looking at him in wonder. He was hero. He was the king. He was amazing.

Wow. The change, I imagine, would be very strange. I wonder if your father changed, not only in your eyes, but in actuality, because of the death of your older brother? But, we should move on. Who would you die to save?

Elric: This is not an easy question. No one wants to ponder death, but if I were faced with it I would hope to save my mother and her unborn child. Perhaps there are others.

A good choice. Though, I wonder if I could name a few others… *clears throat* Anyway. We’ll come to that later. As a flip-side to the previous question, is there anyone you would die to kill?

Elric: I find killing a heavier matter than death. There is no one I would want to kill purposefully. I hope that anyone can change.

I think you’re on the right track. What was a dream you had as a child, and how has that changed now?

Elric: When I was a child I was interested in knighthood. Swords and horses and fighting seemed interesting. But things change. A trip to the library, and witnessing a foal’s birth changed me. If I could have a dream that is not the one set before me, I would like to teach, or be a physician.

Something of a drastic change,that, though not a bad one. I think I could imagine you as a physician. Could you tell us about the girl you met—Anya?

Elric: Anya. She is a lovely girl. I haven’t met lovelier. And I don’t mean her looks. She is pretty to look at, yes, but there is something special about her that seems to light her up. She glows. She is kind, and makes me feel good inside, as if all the bad things disappear when she is nearby. But that is perhaps too much information. She is merely the daughter of the owner of Two Moons, an Inn.

*clears throat* Merely the daughter of the owner of an inn. Right. I can definitely see how the “merely” belongs in your statement about her, daughter of an inn owner or no. In fact, I do think she might make it to the list of people you would die for. Okay, last question… Do you have a favorite story?

Elric: I’m not certain if you mean favorite story from my life, or favorite story that I’ve read. My favorite story to read is The Captive Song. It is the story of a beautiful girl who is turned into a bird so that she will always sing. But with true love, she becomes human again. I just find it to be such a lovely tale. As far as favorite personal stories go… I cannot tell. It would have to be the night my horse was born. I happened to be near the stables, and heard the news that a foal was being birthed. So I arrived in time to see the miracle take place, and Silver and I have been companions ever since. (Silver is my stallion.

Elric: Thank you for having me today.

The Captive Song sounds like a wonderful story. Maybe if I’m ever in the area, I’ll stop by the palace library…Assuming your father wouldn’t mind, of course. Oh, seeing Silver born must have been amazing. No, no…Thank you for coming! It was a pleasure to have you here.

Bethany Baldwin is an eighteen-year-old  writer working on several novels, and enjoying the life God gave her. The youngest of five siblings, she has plenty of imagination to apply to her writing, and adds to her imagination by reading great books. When not writing or editing, she can be found in the theater, acting with Characterworks, singing and teaching children at church, spending time with friends, poking around the internet, and dreaming big things. Find her online at her blog or like her book page on Facebook, or even follow her on Twitter. Jeremiah 29:11

 

Writing Prompt: 08-15-2014

Origin: “Crowned by the Moon” by Randy Vargas Gómez. I don’t know this artist or his work so be careful if you search for more of his art.

Do feel inspired and tell the story of this little girl. You can leave a response in the comment, or move the prompt to your blog and leave a link in the comments!

[I really look forward to being able to read anything you write from this prompt, and I expect to enjoy it very much and for my readers to also enjoy it. That said, please keep everything as clean as it gets because otherwise I will delete the comment or link to your blog.”Only what is good for building up…” If in doubt, ask. My contact information is on the About page.] 

Setting Writing Goals

Most of us have at some point, seen something about setting writing goals. I know that over the course of my use of the internet in connection with writing, I’ve seen dozens of them at best; hundreds at most. Yet, even with how much posts on blogs and websites, with how many more you can find by searching Google, there are many different ideas about setting goals, and many of the articles written about goals don’t present clear reasons as to why, how, and how much of goal-making.

The Why: If you’re a writer, you have to write. Even when we don’t want to write, we have to, but often, it’s not when we don’t want to write when we have trouble, it’s when we want to write, but we can’t make time.

Or so we tell ourselves.

While sometimes we can’t find time to write, sometimes we can, and we simply don’t try hard enough. Yes, life is… Well, life, sometimes, and when life happens, it’s hard to write. Hard being the key word here; hard is not impossible. When we set goals for ourselves, we force ourselves to find the time to write regularly, an essential part of getting things done.

When we’re writing stories, particularly stories that are difficult to write, when we pause in our writing, we step out of the story-world. We’ll move farther away from our characters, losing touch with them as time passes.  If we’re writing regularly,  we spare ourselves the pain of trying to force ourselves back into the story when we start writing again each day.

When you sit down and start to write, distractions will start to fade away. If you’re making yourself write, you might hate the first five minutes of it, but you’re likely to enjoy being productive after that. 

The How: ‘Tis simple, really. Decide on a number, amount of time spent, or event you want to reach in your novel. Whether it’s five hundred words a day, one hundred, or two thousand, it’s a goal. Whether you’re spending one hour, thirty minutes, ten minutes, or eight hours, it’s a goal. Whether you’re taking your character to the end of the prologue or to the climax, it’s a goal. They’re words, and words move your story along. Make it doable and start small, especially if you’re not used to writing every day or every week.

Make sure you stick to it. Find what makes you work hard, and apply it to your writing. For me, if I tell someone I will get it done, I usually will. Pride works as a pretty good motivator for me, though it’s chocolate for others.

Don’t panic over missed goals. Even if you don’t make your goal daily, don’t panic over it, and don’t exhaust yourself trying to catch up. As the song continually prods us, “Let it go” and make sure you do better next time. You’ve failed that day. Accept it, and move on.

Set aside a day to rest. In all the years I’ve undertaken major writing projects (NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, a challenge to write 500 words a day), Sunday has been the day of rest. I think that it’s always good to have some period of time to take a break from your goals. Don’t write anything, don’t look at your novel. If you do get a brilliant idea, you may write it down, but other than that, try to avoid writing on the days you set aside. When you rest, you’ll be able to lose some of the exhaustion you’ve gathered, which will make your work in the future better.

The How Much: This changes drastically from person to person. How often you should set goals, how large your goals should be, how frequently you should reward yourself for reaching goals–that all changes depending on who you are. I have seen people say to set daily, weekly, or monthly goals, and they stress varying degrees of urgency on reaching your goal on time. I think the only solid, steady “rule” I’ve found is this: Your goals are meant to stretch you, but also be attainable. 

Make your goals fit you. At the moment, my goals are to finish a short story I’m working on this week, write a snippet from a Prompt this month, and patiently wait until I’m allowed to start editing my novel. They’re not normal “write five hundred words a day” goals. They are the things I need to get done.

What are the things you need to get done?

Writing Prompt: 08-08-2014

Origin: “When the Rain Comes” by Isaiah Stephens. As is normal, I don’t know the artist and haven’t seen any of his other pictures. Keep a ready hand on the “X” on the right-hand corner of your screen.

Feeling inspired? Write a prompt from this and post it in the comments below, or move the prompt to your blog and post a link in the comments! I can’t wait to see what you write.

[I really look forward to being able to read anything you write from this prompt, and I expect to enjoy it very much and for my readers to also enjoy it. That said, please keep everything as clean as it gets because otherwise I will delete the comment or link to your blog.”Only what is good for building up…” If in doubt, ask. My contact information is on the About page.] 

(As a special challenge for this week, give us something we wouldn’t expect from this prompt. Use your imagination exceptionally well. )

Little Clothing Choices that Could Kill Characters

Dear Characters,

Today, we’re here to talk about clothing choices. These choices are the little ones, the ones you probably will never even notice, and that come naturally to you. It’s not your fault; in truth, it’s the fault of writers who don’t think through your wardrobe, and so call on you to pick outfits not suited to your adventure. Well, readers, the next time your author asks you to do something relating to clothing that makes no sense, tells you no one will notice the foolishness of it, and expects you to go along with it, say no and show your author this letter.

Since cloaks are considered cool, we’ll start with those.

Try to avoid sleeping with your cloak clasped. Now, I realize that sometimes you just can’t help it, but in those times you’re more unconscious  than actually sleeping, so don’t worry about it. At other times, however, especially when you’re on your grand quest and you take a break to sleep, do make sure that you unclasp it. If you don’t, you risk the danger of strangling yourself in the middle of the night or, if you expect to be set upon by your enemy in the middle of the night, you’ll regret leaving your cloak clasped. When the surprise attack comes, you’ll find that, rather than dramatically swooshing out behind you as well-behaved cloaks should, your cloak will be thoroughly tangled around you. Have fun fighting off attackers like that.

Don’t (don’t, don’t, don’t!)  pull your hood up for camouflage. I cannot stress this enough. I realize that you want to blend in with your surroundings, and your cloak is (either by the dye used to make it, or some unexplained, non-Earthly phenomenon) the perfect color to match the landscape. As soon as you do it, though, you give yourself a handicap; in effect, you’re putting blinders on yourself like you would put on a horse. If you want to blend in, use face paint. Your author will protest at this, saying that hoods look far nicer, but while painting your face green and black and grey isn’t glamorous, a hood is to keep your head dry. I’m afraid it won’t do much else for you without the cons completely outweighing the pros. Go with the face paint. After all, if you’re embarrassed, that’s one extra reason to be sure you blend in well and aren’t detected by whoever you’re avoiding or hiding from.

Avoid Long Cloaks in the Forest. I’m afraid only evil over-lords can get away with it. The moment you step into most forests in a long cloak, it will seem that every single branch, twig, thorn or tree is permanently attached to it. Unless your author wishes to thoroughly irritate you, or completely creep you out with cries of, “No! We love you, cloak! Don’t go. Stay with us!” from the forest, stick to short cloaks in the forest—or, better yet, go with a jacket. If you must wear a cloak, were one made of heavier, tightly-woven material.

This next part addresses mainly women, but you fellows who care whether or not a woman will come out of battle alive, might want to read this and insist on certain things (or, if they’re not listening, a prison cell is always an option).

Wear Armor. Women mainly have trouble with this, though occasionally men will go without vital pieces of armor. You should know that battles are not  calm affairs. In a battle, people will be everywhere, swords will be everywhere, and you will be injured. Be aware of this and make sure that your armor choices reflect that. While I’m aware that you may or may not be human, the neck, stomach, and chest contain vital organs for most of us. If you lack those, wear armor there anyway; you’re the hero of a story, and people will be watching. You wouldn’t want the rest of us to think we could get by without wearing armor into battle, would you? Our deaths would be on your heads.

Don’t Wear a Skirt or Robe into Battle. Out of curiosity, are you interested in coming out alive? If so, don’t wear a skirt. As far as I know, there are no Biblical commands against girls wearing pants. If you don’t want to wear pants, don’t enter the battlefield. The occasional Faerie Princess or century-old monk can get away with it, but most of us would die in half of a heartbeat. Don’t take the chance. Even if you can manage, your author’s credibility goes down considerably when you do, so support your author! Don’t do things most of us would consider ridiculous.

Watch Your Hair. First of all, I would like to offer a quick apology to any Elven characters who might happen to be reading this. I like your hair. I really do, but there comes a time when practicality takes over. If you’ll be navigating in a thick forest, running from people, hiding, battling armies, or shooting a bow, do something with your hair. Whether you want to cut it or put it up is completely up to you, but there are certain things that have happened to people because they did not take enough care to make sure their hair would not endanger them. It may seem small, but Absalom died because his hair got caught in a tree.

Most of you may or may not even know what your clothing is made out of, but if you do have that pleasure,  avoid cotton in cold areas. As soon as cotton is wet, you have officially lost any insulation against the cold you might have previously had. Since cold does bother most of us, when you’re planning to go into a colder area or don’t know where you’re going, choose wool over cotton. Of course, if you live in another world and your people don’t grow cotton, this probably isn’t something you need to worry about.

And, to those people on Earth: Avoid Wearing Flip-flops. You never know when you’ll end up in a medieval world and have to walk miles through wild land to get to civilization.

There are some other things that might need to go on this list, but since most of you are probably ready to head out and begin your quest, I’ll close here.

Sincerely,

Athelas Hale

(A person very concerned about your survival)

Authors? What are some other illogical clothing choices you’ve seen characters make? Are any of these things that you’ve done? There’s a comment box just below.

 

Character Interview: Lyric Valvo

Happy Tuesday, readers! Today, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Lyric Valvo, from Alea Harpers trilogy-in-progress, “Mind Wars.”

“It doesn’t matter. Wherever you want. You have about a million to choose from,” I laughed lightheartedly. Suddenly, my vision blurred and spots flew before my eyes. The world began to spin. Was this what vertigo feels like? My heart pounded. Was I dying? I struggled to take a breath and my knees buckled. My eyes closed and my head never hit the floor of the stadium.

When Lyric Valvo wakes up in a strange forest that she doesn’t recognize (more due to the fact that she has never seen a forest), she and her best friend Finn are mistaken for runaway soldiers and treated harshly. How did she get to where ever she is? Are the fabled Mind Wars real? In this exciting retelling of the classic fairytale, “Sleeping Beauty”, you will encounter adventure, thrilling sword fights, mystery, and friendship.

“Lyric Valvo,” by Alea Harper.

 

Hello, Lyric, and welcome to Red Lettering! It’s an honor to have you here today. To start with, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Lyric: Thank you so much for asking me! Usually I wouldn’t accept something like this, I’m more of an introvert, but I absolutely love your blog and I just couldn’t say no! Well…umm…where do I start? Umm…I’m 16 years old. My favorite thing to do is spend time with my best friend, Finn. When I still lived in The Building, I enjoyed helping out Mom and Dad…well…I guess I can’t call them that now…in their jewelry store. I get scared very easily. *Fidgets nervously* After my…umm…adventures, I have conquered some of that.

You love my blog? Wow… I have readers in more than one world! My stat page won’t show when I get visitors from other worlds, so I’m very excited to hear that. But, right. We should stay on track.  It’s nice to meet you!  Where did you grow up? What was it like?

Lyric: I grew up in a city called, The Building. It was just that: a very tall skyscraper. The entire city was inside it and no one went in or out. It really was a pleasant place to grow up being very safe, and it just had a nice atmosphere.

That sounds lovely. I suppose with so many people in the same place, you would know many of them…  Who would you consider a hero?
Lyric: I would definitely consider Finn, my best friend, a hero. He has saved my life numerous times and really helped me emotionally. But, if you asked him if he thought he was a hero, he would say no in a heartbeat.

Most heroes would say that if you asked them… I think it’s a part of the job description. If you could change one thing in your past, what would you change?

Lyric: Hmm…that’s a hard one. I guess that I would change my parents sending me away to live with my adoptive parents. They could have protected me well enough…right?

I can’t say whether or not they could have… I don’t know either your parents or your adoptive parents, but if your parents wanted to protect you, I would say trust them on this one. Did you have any favorite story as a child?

Lyric: Well, I never did like stories where people died. Those gave me nightmares. And ones with scary beings in them. *shivers* So, my favorites were probably the ones that I learned in history. There was no mind control or any of that. *Smiles, thinking about fond memories*

I can agree with you on that… Though, I do think that sometimes, scary stories might teach us how to act when we get scared. What is your goal in life? What do you strive for?
Lyric: I-I don’t know. *Looks down and blushes* Honestly, that is something that I have…err…am struggling with. The majority of the people of Sylvae, my real parents’ country, believe in something they call God. They say that He is what, and who, they live for. I guess I’m just not sure I believe that…at least right now.

I understand. I hope you find what’s true. I suppose you kind of already answered this question, when you mentioned dying and mind control in connection with stories, but… What do you fear?
Lyric: Death. I am terrified of dying and what happens after…well, I guess what scares me is the unknown of what happens after. But, I am also afraid of so many other things…

Death… That’s something that many people are afraid of, though some much more than others. You probably wouldn’t really be able to trust what I could say, so I’ll just tell you to talk to some of the people who believe in God about death. There’s no uncertainty about dying when it comes to those who believe in God.

Thank you so much for being here today; I really appreciate that you took the time to come, and I look forward to hearing about your adventures in more detail.

 

Alea Harper is a Christian writer (and hopes to one day be an author). She loves to write (obviously), make movies, serve others, and tell people about Jesus! Almost every day, she is on some adventure; whether its joining the Fellowship and defeating Sauron in “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien, running from Emporer Daicen in “Resistance” by Jaye L. Knight, or going on her own adventure that she writes, something exciting is always happening! You can read more about Alea and her writing at her blog: http://www.elvishpensfantasticalwritings.blogspot.com/