Thursday, July 26, 2012

Editing fun

I have been re-reading my rough draft and documenting all the various things that happened throughout so I can shore up any plot holes. Well a funny thing happened. I found some things I wrote which I had forgotten about.

First a little background. In my novel when a rider is bonded to a dragon they are able to communicate instantly, sharing thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even normal communication. In addition to dragons, there are a few genetic cousins, such as the sea dragons, aka sea monsters, and the drakes which look just like dragons but are much smaller. The largest of drakes will only reach about the size of a large horse, not counting the long neck or tail. They, so far, have been unable to communicate with language, only imagery, impressions, and emotions. But all dragons, drakes, and sea monsters, have a consciousness so vast and powerful it can overwhelm a human's mind in seconds if left unchecked.

In this scene my main character's half sister, Hiali/Ali, has been incapacitated by her drake, Roan, who is babbling incoherently with images and feelings. My main character, Shael, and his dragon, Dasy, are trying to calm him down and find out what is going on.


     Shael closed his eyes and lightly brushed against the consciousness of the scared little drake. Seemingly random images and feelings flashed all about. Shael felt very confused. He dove in deeper. More random images and feelings flashed by, he now under stood what dasy was talking about when she said he was babbling incoherently. Finally, after a few seconds, Roan focused on a single image it was an image of a large mouth full of razor sharp teeth bearing down on him. It reminded him of his dream, only this was worse, much worse. That, coupled with the sheer terror emanating from Roan, caused Shael to wet himself. Shael quickly let go of the physical contact that kept his link to Roan active. 
     “Are you ok?” Dasy sounded worried. 
     “I will be. Despite how close we are, dragons in general scare the piss out of me. Literally, it would seem. Damn, this is really embarrassing. I'm sorry you had to see this. I just hope everyone else out there will go easy on me,” said Shael. 
     “You don't have to be embarrassed with me. You are my rider, I am your dragon, we are one. What you feel, I feel, you should know that by now. Besides, you should see what I did out here.”
 In this scene, Dasy has figured out what Roan was trying to say. Also mentioned is the head of the council of the Bishamon, the freedom fighters in my novel, her name is Ariana.


     “Are you sure they are all headed here?” asked Shael.
      Dasy emitted a deep rumbling growl.
      “Stop that, you damn well know that I believe what you tell me, it's just that this is so...improbable that my puny human brain is having a hard time accepting it. Yes, I know you know that. Which is why I'm not questioning you because I see what you saw when you were out flying.”
      “Wait, she saw this herself?” asked Hiali.
      “Yes, apparently the random images Roan was sending you seemed random because he was trying to show you everything he saw. Unfortunately it appears that drakes have issues with linear thinking.”
      Hiali shot a fierce look at Shael. “No shit, ya think?”
      “We need to tell Ariana about this.”
      Dasy nosed Hiali's arm so she was included in the conversation. “I already informed her.”
      Shael chuckled. “How did she take it?”
      “She took the news just fine. She's quite calm and collected under pressure.”
      “I meant being connected to a dragon's mind.”
      “Oh, she threw up.” The corners of Dasy's mouth lifted just a little bit.
 That's all I have for now. Thanks for listening.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Story Complete

I did it. I finished my book. Well, the first draft anyway. Now comes the fun part. Re-reading what I have written, condensing it into a few short sentences for each chapter, and doing what will probably be a full rewrite after I figure out what my characters want to do with the story. I already know that it's going to end differently, in a big way. Should be fun.

P.S. Some free advice for those of you thinking of writing a novel. Get a writing partner. Someone to go on the journey with you. You can push each other to finish. I know I would never have finished if not for my writing buddy. And he would have never started if not for me. Now we both have a completed novel.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Dragons and Bunnies

I really love the beginning to this particular chapter. I had been looking forward to writing it for some time. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the opening to "Dragons and Bunnies."



When Shael and Dasy returned to the camp they found the grounds at the edge of the battlefield littered with little white bunnies. Most of them had tiny suits of bunny armor, bunny breast plates and such on them, and they clinked while they hopped.

What the hell happened here?” asked Shael. “Why the hell are there all these fluffy white bunnies hopping around, and why are most of them armored? Don't get me wrong, the tiny clinking sound is cute but...”
 
Boodah chuckled, “These are the stupid ones who didn't leave when they showed up.” He gestured over his shoulder to the wall of multicolored dragons off in the distance.

Ah, and why did you turn them in to fluffy white bunnies?”

Because its funny.”

No seriously, why did you do that.”

Because bunnies can't swing a sword...and, because its funny.”

Oh, ok,” said Shael.
 
Kiki snatched up an unarmored bunny and swallowed it whole. “Look Dasy, hors d'orves.”
 
Dasy wiggled her butt then pounced on one. “Couldn't you have made them something bigger, like sheep. I'm hungry.” Dasy swallowed the bunny she had in her claws.
 
Boodah muttered something under his breath, turning the bunny Dasy just swallowed into a sheep inside her belly.

Ohh, that tickles,” said Dasy. She picked up an armored bunny. She turned it over in her claws trying to get at it from the right angle. She sat down on her haunches trying to puzzle it out. “I hate armor. It's nice that they try to prepackage food like this, but it's a pain in the butt to get the packaging off. Why does it have to be so difficult to get at the creamy center?”
 
Kiki picked up an armored bunny, “Dasy, you need to hold it like this. Then bite the head off and the rest will just slide out the back.” Dasy proceeded to demonstrated the technique to Dasy. “See?”

 “Ooh, ok. I get it.” Dasy picked up another armored bunny and mimicked what Kiki had done.
Shael and Boodah laughed hysterically at the sight of them trying to figure out how to get at the bunnies in the armor.

That's gross,” said Shael between laughs.
 
Kiki turned to Shael, "We don't criticize what or how you eat, who eats green stuff? green stuff is what food eats.”

Seriously,” added Dasy.

Ok, ok. You two enjoy your snack,” said Shael. “We are going to go report in.”