Ladyeriu
Jungshan
Matt Dixon
Feimo
Steampunkchile
Garystrange
Magic-spoon
Michelle Monique
Feimo
night_fate
Nath0905
Feimo
jutsukino
MsDudettes
tmiller4825
MsDudettes
maniacalhysteriaart
Jennlaa
Moonmomma
Happy NaNoing!
According to the Magical Random Gods, Claudie is the winner!
Claudie, if you want to e-mail me at cnicoll85 [at] hotmail [dot] com with your sketch choices and your character descriptions, I will get started on them.* Also, be as specific as possible.
Also, I promised bookmarks to two people, and those winners are:
Tricia and Margo!
Send me your addresses and I’ll send those out right away.
That is all. Now back to my Japanese dramas.
*This will not get in the way of me catching up to you. Or you, Tricia. You either Sierra.
My NaNo advice to you to today is simple: For the most Effective word paddage, give all you characters really long names. I’m not saying names like Triglaananonneski, or Wiewbbjixlinsdandsommnavichowitch. I mean names like John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, or the prince from the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella who had like fifty names or something like that. And have everyone in your book refer to them that way. No Nicknames in your NaNo draft!
“Hey, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schimdt, I want a name like you!”
“Well, Christopher Edward James Sydney Michael, I think you’re name is pretty swell too!”
Ok, I know that dialogue is terrible, but hey, it’s early and I was up late. I need coffee.
You could also give them long and winding nicknames, if that’s most your style. Like Voldemort for instance, he has the long nickname of He Who Must Not Be Named. There, instead of using simply Voldemort, you have added an extra 5words for every time his name is said.Which, doing completely made up and extremely complicated mathematical equations, added 6 pages to each HP book (10 to Deathly Hallows. It was a really long book).
And don’t let it stop with your characters. Give all your nouns impossibly long titles, like The Room In Which We Sit Down To Eat Delicious Food, or The Place That We Do Not Go Because It Is Scary.
It’s tedious writing, by your word count will thank you later.
Also, don’t forget to enter the character sketch giveaway. There are still 3 days left, but hurry! Here are the bookmarks, all finished and prettied up:
And the back
It’s the 1st of November, which means NaNo! Also my birthday (not today, but soon). I’m in a pretty festive and giving mood, so to remedy that, I’m doing another give-away. Since the last one was so popular, I’m going to do not 2, but 3 character sketches to the lucky winner!
Like before, it will be 3 sketches of your characters in any style you choose (head shot (like picture left), full body, color, black and white, etc.).
But wait! 2 runner’s up will get bookmarks of my new collections, Terrifying Beauty and Steampunk Fairytales! Once I decide which pieces will be turned into bookmarks, I will post them.
The contest ends November 9th at 11:59 PM. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment about your favorite thing about NaNo. The winners will be randomly chosen.
EDIT: You do not have to be participating in NaNoWriMo to enver the contest.
Be sure to stop by Sommer’s page if you’re participating in NaNo this year. She’s got some awesome support posts. And, Tricia at TL Conway Writes here has some awesome NaNo guest posts.
She is cheering you on, NaNoers
Ok, now back to writing.
Does anyone else obsessively update their word count?
Warning: You will now be subjected to a highly biased post.
In compiling this list, I realized that while I’ve read a lot of vampirey books, and watched a lot of sanguine movies, there are still many I have not experienced. This will be remedied.
As you will see, I’m kind of an Anne Rice fan. Yet again, I blame my mother.
Favorite Vampires
6. Akasha
From Queen of the Dammed
Akasha is crazy. She is also strong, powerful, and extremely old. She is the villain of the Queen of the Dammed, but she is by no means evil. A little zealous in her convictions, but not evil.
5. Hanabusa Aido
From Vampire Knight
Aido is what I would call a sneaky character. He is a secondary character and the comic relief in the series. He is cute and charming, and knows it. Despite this seemingly frivolous behavior, he is loyal, often risking his life for the Kurans.
4. Erik Northman
From True Blood
I like vampires. I like Vikings. Vampire Viking? Even better. Especially ones that look like Erik.
3. Damon Salvatore
From the Vampire Diaries
Damon is another crazy vampire. He does what he wants, when he wants, and doesn’t a damn what others think. Well, except for Elena.
2. Spike
From Buffy the Vampire Slayer
If you have ever seen Buffy, then you know why I love Spike. If not, well, what are you waiting for?
1. Lestat de Lioncourt
From The Vampire Chronicles
Lestat is the ultimate vainglorious vampire. He is willful, psychotic, and self-indulgent.
I’m starting to see a pattern in the characters I like. Charming. Crazy. Funny. That about sums the list up.
Favorite Movies/ Shows
6. Blood: the Last Vampire
5. Daybreakers
4. Lost Boys
3. Interview With the Vampire
2. The Vampire Diaries
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Favorite Books
6. Red Headed Step Child by Jaye Wells
5. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
4. I am Legend by Richard Matheson
3. The Queen of the Dammed by Anne Rice
2. Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino
Speaking of Vampire Knight, I bet the next chapter is available. *disappears*
1. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Things I would like to see more of in vampire fiction
6. Less sparkle, more sharp, pointy teeth please.
5. More YA vampire horror a la Lost Boys. That’s not really horror. Um, more horror, more stories like the Lost Boys. Something like that.
4. More vampires based on other cultures versions. As you can see, there is a plethora of vampire mythos to choose from. Some far more interesting than the traditional Western European vampire (still dibs on the Indian girl myth).
3. More novels based in a historical setting. I think that’s why I love Anne Rice so much. I’m a sucker for a good historical fiction.
2. More girl vampire protags, or love interests. I think the sexy male vampire falling in love with the average human trope has been done to death. I want to see a female vampire protag fall in love with an average male. Or a nerd (see below).
1. Nerdy vampires. That just goes without saying.
What are your favorites? What do you want to see more of? Or less of?
I was going to do a separate list for favorite books, movies, and characters, but when I tried to think of my favorites, my mind went strangely blank. So, this is a mish-mash of my favorites across all of them.
Also, forgive the lack of pictures. My computer still insists on acting like a rabid porcupine. Instead, there will be linky-dinks.
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
5. The Zombies (band)
4. Zombieland
3. Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
2. Thriller
1. Owen Harper from Torchwood
Next week in Monster Month is vampires! Hiss! (vampires hiss right?)
Margo over at Urban Psychopomp is hosting this blogfest in honor of her one year blogoversary. Happy Blogoversary!
The premise of the blogfest is to share what is EPIC LEGEND WIN about your WIP or favorite book.
It took me some time to figure out what exactly I would write. Originally, I wanted to talk about The Lunatic Fire because it was about a 30 year war between the gods. Or maybe, the villain Ken, who is crazy in an Alexander The Great kind of way.
However, due to recent paranormal events with a peeing camera, I decided to delve into my sci-fi, and talk about one of the characters, Metta Ravenheart. This is actually kind of perfect, considering Margo originally gave me the idea for her.
Metta is not the main character. She’s not even alive during the time line of the book. Metta, as the mother of two of the MCs, and the aunt of the third, is a legend. She is a woman recognized in life and remembered in death for her larger than life personality and immense wisdom, which are obscured by her seemingly strange ideas and crazy stories.
She was a woman, due to her abilities (she was a powerful Creator) and wisdom, was respected by the rulers of both empires. She was revered, feared, respected. She was charming, persuasive, cunning. Her presence is a constant throughout the plot; she haunts the MCs memories, shaping, altering their perceptions of reality based on what they learned from her.
She was a woman whose facts were so enmeshed in her fiction, that it is nearly impossible to disentangle the two. Consequently, she was the only one who knew the fate of the two empires, and knowing that she would not live to see it, left just enough breadcrumbs for her offspring to figure out. That is, if they can wade through all of the nonsense.
I finished the character sketches for Charleevale, and as promised, here they are:
Everybody, meet Calista and Kalor.
My camera is misbehaving today, so the pictures are a little fuzzy.
Also, last week, S.B. at Writing the Other, gave me the Blog on Fire award. thanks S.B.!
they used to get along so well… then puberty struck
I have consulted the Random Powers That Be, and divined a winner.
Charleevale!
*throws glitter*
Charlee, if you want to e-mail me at cnicoll85 [at] hotmail [dot] com with your choice of color or b&w, head shot or full body (you can do one of each if you like), along with the descriptions of your character(s). Please be as descriptive as possible so I can accurately portray the characters–hair and eye color, hairstyle, skin tone, body type, clothing style, personality, genre, and anything else you can think that might help.
I’ll try to start on them this weekend, but I’m babysitting Hurricane, Tsunami, and little Squall so it might be a little to tough. Now excuse me, red gatorade just exploded all over the kitchen.
Does anyone else feel like that after they’ve stayed up all night, they’ve drunk a bottle of rum and sung at the top of their lungs? No? Just me?
I figured out some snazzy new tricks for CS5 last night (hence the lack of sleep), and I will now say prematurely that I will be the next digital art master. I can get pretty obsessive with my art. Sometimes staying up all night to work on it, then returning after roughly four hours sleep to finish it. I tend to be like this because the urge to draw usually doesn’t last very long, so I frantically get it all out while I can.
Anyways, today is the last day to enter my character sketch giveaway. Anyone can enter, and it’s really easy. The winner is chosen randomly, so its not like if I don’t agree with your comment, you’ll be disqualified or anything.
I’m excited about the prospect of drawing someone else’s characters. It’s a whole new and exciting frontier of unknown. A break from the monotony of the same old characters, the same old fan art.
So enter. Maybe you’ll win. And I promise I won’t be a walking zombie when I start them.
