Writing Process Blog Hop

Writing Process Blog Hop

I’ve been tagged by a good friend Jespah to participate in a Blog Hop. I shall answer some questions and then tag three fellow bloggers to continue the chain. I hereby nominate fellow Wattpadders and bloggers: Bruce Elgin, Tiara Harvey/Chemical_Insanity, and Jessica B Fry.

Check out all of my free stories on Wattpad:

1) What am I working on?

My current project is called “Rise of the Vengeful Dragon”(RotVD), an epic fantasy adventure (/histfic) about a young girl, Aerith, who has lost her only family at five years of age. In a world where dragons had been living peacefully with humans for millennia thanks to a magical treaty that tied the lives of dragons to human Draconian Families, a clash between two dragons resulted in destruction and one death. As she hid among the ruins of her town, Aerith watched her mother and her family’s dragon get killed, and swore revenge.

This project started as a combination of my desire to (finally) write a dragon story and as a prompt for a user competition I saw on Wattpad back in January 2014 called “Essence of Gisella”, which is to write a story based on a cover made by the competition host.

I actually won that competition and got some pretty banners and covers, reviews, and comments as prize. Since then, RotVD has been entered into The Write Awards, another Wattpad competition, and gave me many sleepless nights because I made the poor choice of regularly posting a story on Wattpad without fully plotting it out. Most of the kinks are sorted now, and the near is in sight. However, because the first third of the story was pretty shrouded in terms of world mechanics, I’m itching to rewrite it!

2) How is my work different from others of its genre?

RotVD utilises an unreliable narrator first and foremost. I focused a lot on what Aerith sees and how she sees things. As a bitter and ruthless girl who grew up in harsh circumstances, there are people whose names she wouldn’t bother learning and important aspects of life (such as camaraderie and trust) she would cast aside and focus entirely on her goal of revenge.

Many dragon stories tend to have dragons who serve humans or can be controlled or bargained with, somehow. In my view and the RotVD world, dragons are majestic, extremely powerful, and very old. So old that puny humans’ existences wouldn’t even cross their minds, let alone obeying them. I try to go back to traditional views of dragons: huge powerhouses who can literally flatten mountains.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I write because I love creating: sketching, painting, crafting. When I read or watch films/anime, I see snippets of storylines unfolding in front of me and characters whose stories I would love to tell. And when I write, I live through my characters. When they cast magic, I feel the power coursing through my veins. When they cry, I feel my eyes prickling. When they fight for their lives, I feel their adrenaline. I love living through the fantasy magic and mystical creatures in my characters’ world. It’s a lovely escape and, as I am a visual writer (meaning I see more or less everything I write about), it’s my dream to share those visions with my readers.

On my "off-fantasy-duty" days, I do write more down-to-earth stuff. I have two short story collections on Wattpad. One is horror, called "My Nightmares", which are gruesome, gory, freaky stories that I dug out from the deep crevices of my twisted mind. The other is a more serious general fiction, called "Tear Drops and Ink", which requires me to put on my mature hat and talk about difficult topics; so far, I've written two shorts, one about the importance of a bone marrow donor for a little girl with childhood leukaemia, and another about the devastation of bullying and the "Not in my backyard" attitude of bystanders.

4) How does my writing process work?

I can’t say I have many stories under my belt, and some of my earlier stories I don’t consider as part of my collection, simply because they are too rough and terrible. For my existing books, because I get inspiration from many places as previously mentioned, they mostly come from the stuff I watch and from dreams – I’m a very vivid dreamer. “Seeker”, what I consider my first completed novel, was inspired by a dream where I was part of a superpower team à la “Power Rangers”. I had telekinesis and was levitating this huge rock over to my enemies, and so, Tora, the hot-tempered telekinetic, was born. “The Windcaster” was inspired by Studio Ghibli’s animation of “Tales of Earthsea”, as mentioned in a previous blog post. “Rise of the Vengeful Dragon” wasn't inspired by anything in particularly. Perhaps that’s why it is so difficult to write.

Once I get the basis of the story (e.g. “telekinetic girl fights demons and saves human lives”) I then work on a conflict (e.g. “telekinetic girl gets mysterious visits from boy alongside increasing demon attacks”). Working towards several climaxes, I then pave from climax to climax, adding mini-climaxes in-between, until the Big Battle with the Big Bad is in sight.

Like my puppy friend who tagged me, I also have an idea bank, called “Initial Ideas”. This is a folder full of all the snippets of storylines and a few bones of a story skeleton. More often than not, an idea gets filed away there forever and never sees the light of day. On the odd occasion, a few ideas get merged into my current book or merge together to form a future book. One current brewing idea is a combination of three ideas plus the X-men films.

I always plan my stories out ever since my first, and last, unplotted story went on for ever and ever. 800k words later, there was no end in sight. In retrospect, it was like a serialised piece of work, like an anime or TV series, so it’s actually OK it will never end. Nevertheless, the idea scared me so I filed it away and always meticulously plot from now on. “Seeker” went according to plan. “The Windcaster” did not. In fact, it went so far off the plotline that characters who were supposed to die did not, and vice versa, and Tia, the MC, ended up in a very different place towards the latter half of the book. But having a plan organised my brain, set me in gear, and motivated me whenever I hit writer’s block.

Passing the Baton

And here, I pass the blogging baton onto:

Author of free mystery paranormal Wattpad book "Schism" and fellow blogger : Bruce Elgin

Author of free epic fantasy adventure Wattpad book "The Last Nephilim" and fellow blogger: Tiara Harvey/Chemical_Insanity

Author of free epic fantasy adventure Wattpad book "Tue-Rah: Identity Revealed" and fellow blogger: Jessica B Fry.

Go and check out their blogs and work. They come recommended! And thank you for reading.

Wattpad: The Windcaster

Wattpad: The Windcaster

Current cover

Magic. Starvation. Inequality.  

In the Kingdom of Dernexes, where Wind magic equates to status and power, there is unrest among the people. Slaves live in desolate conditions, with no rights and are treated worse than dogs. Neighbouring countries border on war as King Ea lives in lavish luxury at the expense of increasing poverty and death among the civilians.  

Tia, a sheltered, naive Caster apprentice travels with a Windcaster when he is summoned for council with the King. The journey through the various, apparently well-to-do areas of the country shows only how much people need help, help which the King is adamant to withhold. Desperate times call for desperate measures.  

Times are about to change...

http://www.wattpad.com/story/7803020-the-windcaster-fantasy-adventure-complete-the

This post contains no spoilers.

About the Book

The Windcaster is a coming-of-age epic fantasy-adventure story I wrote for Wattpad, started on 21 August 2013 and completed on 25 December 2013: a total of 112k words. It is a tale of a young magician-in-training growing up and learning the perfect world she sees through rose-coloured glasses is actually corrupt; socioeconomic inequality is destroying the poorest and the most destitute. Slavery is rife, and those unfortunate enough to be under its system have no human rights and are treated as less than dogs.

The main character is Tia, a vivacious and naive Windcaster apprentice, who has lived all her life in the pretty seaside city of Mooncliffe with the man who trains her, Master Anu the Windcaster of Mooncliffe. Her love for fun and utter lack of heed for danger means she gets into trouble often, creating worry for her nervous but compassionate colleague, Mommu, who also lives in the same little house on a hill.

An early sketch of Tia

In Tia's world, Windcasters -- magicians who can utilise Wind magic with their innate talents and magic staffs -- are revered above all else. Their powerful affinity to the Wind is of great contribution to Tia's influential and prospering country, Dernexes. However, Windcasters are also allied, not to their country, but to the Wind. As such, ethical dilemmas have risen in the past and will rise in the future regarding its use, particularly as Dernexes's king, Ea, remains living in lavish luxury and in denial of his country's suffering.

Initial Windcaster staff sketches

When Master Anu, the Windcaster who trains Tia and Mommu in Wind magic, receives a summon from the king in the Capital, Tia's dream comes true: she finally gets to leave the small, peaceful city of Mooncliffe and travel the country. She will, at last, get to see all the wondrous places the Master spoke of, taste all the delicious delicacies, and meet all sorts of lovely people.

Chibi Art of Tia

Chibi Art of Mommu

Or so she thought.

With neighbouring countries bordering on war, slaves living in desperate conditions, and dissatisfaction brewing amongst Dernexans, the facade of the stable world she grew up in is about to be shattered. Through a series of unfortunate events and new friendships forged, Tia grows up and makes a choice, made all the more difficult when all the options lead to dire consequences and she has to choose the lesser of many evils.

The Writing Process

I am very much an amateur writer, although I do enjoy storytelling. I've never taken any creative writing courses (my high school/secondary school qualifications were biology, physics, chemistry, maths, and classical civilisation) but here, I share my writing experience of "The Windcaster" in hopes it may be helpful.

Initially inspired by "Tales of Earthsea", the Studio Ghibli animation, I've always had that scene in my head where Sparrowhawk takes Arun to that beautiful seaside town. That was where Mooncliffe was born. In my head, a little brown-haired girl skipped her way down the stone steps, ponytail swinging, and was loving every step and breath of sea air. That was where Tia was born.

A still from "Tales of Earthsea". Image from www.manga-news.com

From there, that scene sat in my head for a good six years until one day, I decided to expand on that scene. The Windcaster played itself out in my head like a movie for the vast majority of the book, so what I had to do was to translate that into text. After Tia makes her way down, she meets someone who will later become important in her story. A bit of mischief, some trouble, and a bruised ego later, her journey begins.

For those who may be interested, Tia's namesake, Tiamat, is from the Final Fantasy XII monster, which is in itself named after a Babylonian sea monster. From there, you can see all of my other characters are named after Babylonian deities or significant characters: Enlil the god of wind, Mommu/Mummu the god of crafts and technical skills, Anu the god of heaven and the sky.

This post contains no spoilers, but I will talk about the plotting and writing. I thought of several highlights of the story where Tia's maturity furthers and the world around her moves on ahead. There are some turn-points when she sees a little more of the world she was so naive about. Between each of the highlights, I have a few smaller peaks for building character and the world, and as I write, I pave my way from peak to peak, and, in the long run, from highlight to highlight.

Concept art of Tia and her trainee uniform (L) and Windcaster trainee's cloak and staff (R)

The story is built to a crescendo, which is then built down again for a bit of breathing time and in anticipation of the final showdown. I also allowed self-discovery and independence for Tia here, because as the main character, she has to play a major role in saving the day.

I hit several writer's block along the way. Most of them were in the second half of the book, where not only I had difficulty visualising the world, I also didn't know where to take Tia next. I knew in the long-term where she was to go, but paving the way there proved to be difficult. With most of them, I just skipped that scene and carried on writing: the next scene, the next week's events, additional scenes that never actually materialised in the Wattpad book. The ending was actually very different to what I had in mind, but I do feel this ending is better. There is enough closure -- the big bad is defeated, the world is saved -- but also leaves enough for me to write a sequel should I wish to.

Fan art by deardiary96

Fan art by Rosaimee

The Sequel

Although I say in the end author's note I am not planning a sequel, it is an idea sitting in the back of my head. I think I left Tia in a rather perfect world, to the point where I want to ruin it and see how she fares -- oh, how sadistic I sound! But it is what makes a good read: characters in difficult situations making something good out of it. And Tia, with her heart of gold, deserves her struggle for happiness.

So what I'm trying to say is: I can very well envision a sequel to "The Windcaster" once the rewrite is done. When that will be I cannot promise, but I do have several ideas brewing in my head, as well as a new story that runs along the theme of "The Windcaster" although it doesn't happen in Tia's world.

The New Cover

And without further ado, I shall unveil my new cover for "The Windcaster", courtesy of my good friend and extremely talented Photoshop artist Wendythestoryteller. This cover will be implemented in the upcoming week or two.

What are your thoughts about it? I love it; it's gorgeous, and I can't wait to show it off to the Wattpad world.

Until next time, when I'll probably blog about some other pets of mine!