Day Thirty

Day thirty: Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about his/her characters!

 

Well, I really don’t have anyone to tag with this one … so instead what I am going to do with my time now that these daily entries have been rounded up. I have a few projects planned that I want to share before I start them.

 

First of I want to start getting some world building nailed down pat. So for a little while I was looking at different writing websites out there for something similar to this 30 days project. Didn’t really find anything specifically for that but I ran across some world building questions on a blog for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It was an entry from 2009 with a bunch of different questions to consider when world building. Around 350 or so questions that are divided into different categories (climate, geography, magic, people, etc.). So, I want to use those questions and start some kind of daily/weekly/whatever-ly set up where I go through those. There are quite a few of them, so I know if I do daily they will get done faster, but weekly will keep me busy as well. I think it’s all going to depend on whether I want to do one of the questions at a time or more. I haven’t decided but that’s my next big blogging project.

 

Second, I have been reading a significant amount of books. I want to do some basic reviewing of those books just for my benefit. Might change up the format of how I’ve been doing it but I want to get them done.

 

Third … well I have a few other things planned, but most of those are more a long the lines of single entries on topics that got sparked while answering these daily ones here.

 

I don’t know how many of you out there are reading this. Mostly I think I am talking to myself, but if I’m not, is there anything that you would like to see from me? Any questions for me? I’m now an open book and want to answer what you ask!

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four
Day Twenty-Five
Day Twenty-Six
Day Twenty-Seven
Day Twenty-Eight
Day Twenty-Nine

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Nine

Day twenty-nine: How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL (in real life) that reminds you of your characters or your story?

I think my writing is something that is always on my mind, whether consciously or subconsciously. It really doesn’t take much for me to get into the mindset of writing because it is something that is constantly right there on my mind and is easy to pull forward. Most of the time at least. I have mix feelings about that fact though, I mean its nice being able to pull all of it forward when I need it and to start writing, but it is slightly inconvenient if I get a sudden urge and need to write and I am no where that I can do that. That’s why I always have a pad of paper with me whenever I go anywhere; there is also one beside my bed and at work. No cute, small purses for me because I always shop with the fact that I’ll have a standard, letter-sized notepad that I have to fit into the bag in mind. I’m just crazy that way.

As for when it comes to different things in life reminding me of my writing and the characters and stories they belong in yeah some things do remind me of it all. One day that pops in to my head is when I went to the zoo with my step-daughters and we saw the big cats, tigers to be specific, and I got to watch how they lived in the “wild” (granted not really the wild, but my characters in tiger form aren’t wild either), I got to see them interact. Some of the best unintentional research ever!

Other then that, little things will show up but a lot of my characters and my story are in my head. The world is unlike ours in many ways and it’s a lot more difficult to see the world as they see it – at least in relation to viewing our own.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four
Day Twenty-Five
Day Twenty-Six
Day Twenty-Seven
Day Twenty-Eight

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Eight

Day twenty-eight: Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there’s nothing major to speak of tell us a few smaller ones.

Not really. I mean my characters have their flaws but nothing that would truly be classified as a disability (whether it’s mental or not). Some of my characters have interesting psychological things happening to them, but in their world it’s not really classified as anything more then weird magic. But we can go ahead and talk about some “flaws” my characters have that could be misconstrued as disabilities in our world.

Noah – His magic allows him to do a few things that would probably get him committed to a facility if this was our world but just makes him strong in his. He is a prophet, not only does he get visions but he gets ones that are prophecy for his people and is potentially life/world changing. He gets different visions of different forks off those prophecies. It’s interesting for me to write, and unfun for him to live. Another one of his gifts is he can see people in their different forms. Example: say he runs into a room of people and some are human and some are not – those that are human would just look like themselves but those who are not, say a Cat, would shimmer back and forth between his or her human shape and their animal shape.

Selene – She hears voices. Granted, the voice she hears is that of a very angry goddess that can use her voice to kill, but she still hears her in her head where no one else can. But like I said, this is how magic works in their world, to be talked to by a goddess would not cause anyone to blink an eye in their world. To hear voices in our world would have someone either institutionalized and/or medicated.

Aislynn – Her life is lived with a second personality in her head. Usually when a character in my books are shape shifters the form they take is one in the same with themselves. They are physically aware of the difference but mentally they are the same and are aware of the actions they do in either form. Aislynn, because of her heritage, is mentally separate from her tiger form. Though she is mentally aware when she is in the form of her tiger she doesn’t necessarily have control but she is aware. It is like she is two people in one body.

 

So, as you can see a lot of my characters have signs of what would be considered mental disabilities/illnesses, but in their world these are just signs of what would be considered strong magic.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four
Day Twenty-Five
Day Twenty-Six
Day Twenty-Seven

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Seven

Day twenty-seven: Along similar lines (as yesterday), do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters?

 

When it comes to description and my characters, I am currently a little slack on describing them. I see them in my head when I’m writing, but I’ve had some difficulty in getting the descriptions out in the writing. Been working on that. One of the goals I have is to nail down, in writing, exactly how I see my characters and that’s been fun to do.

 

But when it comes to certain descriptions that I find import in the story – say if a character gets hurt and gets a scar that might play a role – I am usually good at describing that. An example would be Aislynn, in one of the chapters of her story a major turn of events is when she gets her dreams “hijacked” by a Dallion priest and that priest plans on scarring her using the standard that is used for his people. Basically carving symbols in a person’s body, and he uses this to try and punish and hurt her. When she wakes up she ends up covered in these symbols and blood and they are left on her forever. It’s a fun scene that I think I used description well in.

 

Along that same line I have the Dallions. Part of their culture is to be marked and/or tattooed as they go through life. Different symbols that represent different stages of their life and they begin to receive them from birth until death. These are similar to marks that are forced on Aislynn all at once in the scene above but the Dallion’s marks become colored in unlike regular scars and take on a bluish tint.

 

I have a lot of fun describing abnormalities and I am attempting to broaden those descriptions to other aspects of the story as well.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four
Day Twenty-Five
Day Twenty-Six

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Six

Day twenty-six: Let’s talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OC (original characters) and post your favorite picture!

 

I may have touched base on this once or twice in different places, but I don’t believe I’ve ever talked about it here. I could not draw to save my life. Well, no that’s wrong. I can draw maybe one or two things. And not very well. I can draw a very simple flower (you know the one you learn in kindergarten where you take a circle and then add half circles for petals – that’s the one I can draw), a heart, sometimes I can draw a shape that looks like an eye but other then that I’m really a failure. Even my stick figures kind of suck which is a slightly depressing thought.

 

So, in answer to this question, no I do not draw. And really I have never asked anyone to try and draw my characters. Never really thought about it in any extreme. Maybe one day when I’m really famous someone will draw me fan art! (Psh … if I ever get to the point of really famous I hope if I ever felt the need to get my characters drawn I’d ask one of the few people I know to draw them. But fan art would be an interesting concept.)

 

So, since I can’t draw, I’m going to tell you a story about art. When I was in … middle school I think, I decided I was going to take an art class. Mostly because my two best friends actually had a wonderful artistic talent and I wanted to take a class with them. Hah, that was ridiculous. I found out I was not very bad at certain things like basic shapes. I was actually reasonably good at one of the projects they did where you took a current image (like some picture taken from online) and they you plotted it out and either enlarged it or shrank it. I think I was only good at it because the concept and work of the job was already done, I just copied it and did what I needed to do. I was also reasonably good at the calligraphy part of the class, but that’s mostly because my mom used to do it for fun and I had dabbled in trying it myself before.

 

But really, the point of this story is that I took an art class and realized that I was decent at mimicry of others’ work but when it came to coming up with my own idea I complete failed. A little back story before I move on: about this time of my life my friends and I were also fans of an anime called Sailor Moon. I imagine there are some of you out in the internet world that have heard of it (or at least have reasonable research skills to pull up Google, Wikipedia, or some other such tool to look it up) and each of us had our favorite characters. My favorite was Saturn, I also was addicted to purple. So taking that back story a little further, our final project was to come up with our out image involving something we like. Of course my friends and I chose to do something with the characters from Sailor Moon. Well let’s just say the picture sucks. I decided to do a picture of Sailor Moon herself in her usual getup. I think I even still have the picture. It was complete disproportioned, she had a razor-edge pointy chin (if she was real she would cut right through ya!), there was know depth to the picture at all.

 

So I hope you enjoyed my confession on my lack of art skills and I’ll talk to y’all tomorrow!

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four
Day Twenty-Five

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Five

Day twenty-five: Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.

As of right now, none of my characters have “pets”. I don’t find it to be an important aspect of my story, at least as of yet.

When you take my story, I think you would consider it in most circles to be paranormal or urban fantasy. A lot of my characters are focused on a race of people that physically change their form into a different creature. Mostly, cats like tigers, lions, etc and to bring domesticated animals into the picture kind of seems weird. One aspect that I’ve been thinking about incorporating into the story is the idea of familiars. Animals that are used to emphasize powers in my people but I don’t know if that is going to come to pass or not.

Even if I do decide to bring in that idea to the story, the animals themselves are not going to be pets per se, more like characters unto themselves and so I plan to develop them as much as the character they are there to support. But, like I said, I’m literally on the fence about this idea. Some days I really like the idea and other days I really feel like it is one of the stupidest things I have thought up as of yet. Not only stupid but cliché.

So, as an answer in short: Pets, no. Familiars … er, maybe.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three
Day Twenty-Four

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Four

Day twenty-four: How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What’s the most interesting way you’ve killed someone?

Simple answer: YES!

I like to kill my characters because I’m morbid like that. Granted, I don’t do it just because I can, but death plays a big role in my writing. There are many characters that I kill, including some big time main characters. I like to think that a lot of the deaths have a point to them. A certain growing moment for some of the different characters in the stories.

I’ve also brought people back from the dead. Most of the time because, in rewrites, I’ve realized that the death of a certain character doesn’t give the right lesson that it initially had. So, I bring a character back to life and they get to play a further role. Sometimes I kill them again, different context and a different lesson learned to the people who survive the death. It’s an amusing occupation to be a god of a world.

One big thing that I want to point out is that the world that my characters currently live in is terrorized by a war. Two countries are fighting for dominance of the land and the people. Like with every war, death is a common ailment. Families get torn apart, children loose parents, and some parents loose children. War is a destructive topic to focus around and even though the war is not always constantly a part of scenes, its still a part of the character’s lives and so death is something that goes with the plot.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two
Day Twenty-Three

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Three

Day twenty-three: How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story – from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

Sad as it is for me to admit, I really haven’t finished any of my stories. My problem is that I run in to blocks and can’t continue or I think of an idea for where it needs to go, but in order for it to get there I would need to revamp what was written. It’s an endless circle that I need to stop falling in to because I really want to finish these stories.

Not only that but I will have writing slumps where I don’t write for a period of time. Most recent one was while I was planning my wedding. Too much going on at once that, sadly, my writing got neglected. Granted, not as neglected as this blog had been, but it was neglected. (I swear with that wedding I was trying to fit at least 30 hours in a 24 hour day – was not a pretty sight at all).

All in all, it’s my goal to get the three main ones I am writing finished. I want to shoot for the end of the year, but we’ll see how it goes.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One
Day Twenty-Two

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-Two

Day twenty-two: Tell us about one scene between your characters that you’ve never written or told anyone before. Serious or not.

Okay, here’s the deal. When it comes to my writing it has always been a private affair for me. When I was younger, a lot of my writing was a … journal of sorts. It was a way for me to get out my frustration and things that were bugging me through my day. I was never that great at the whole “dear diary my day was blah” type thing and so when I was around 11 or so I really started to write. Crappy poetry and stories, and I’ll be honest, none of it was really that great (see entries on depressing teenage poetry) and since it was such a private part of me I never really shared it. I didn’t want it to be something that someone else looked at and looked down upon. That would have hurt more then anything else.

So, to the question, sharing my writing is a very recent aspect of my life and really I am still very hesitant at doing it. There are only a select few that have seen it. Pretty much just my husband and some of my closest friends, I think I’ve also shown bits and pieces to my parents but very little. And honestly when I shared that poetry on here that was a big step for me, a release of sorts, something to share and show that I am serious about what I do (even though a majority of it was terrible). There are plenty of pieces of my writing that I keep close to my chest still and it’s still very difficult for me to give that permission for someone to read it. I mean, my writing is my “diary”, something my mind classifies as private.

One thing that really helped me break away from that privacy shell, or at least cracked it enough for me to show some of my work, was meeting my husband. I told him about the fact that I wrote and he wanted to see some of it. I started off slow and I started showing him random things. Then I started showing more of what I wrote and I started talking about it. Being as close to him as I am and knowing that he would never do anything to hurt me helped me start to share my writing with the world. Plus he always encouraged me; there was no looking down upon or doubt. So he alleviated all the fears I had had built up around my writing.

Basically, there are plenty of scenes I haven’t written or shared with people. There are plenty of people out there who haven’t even seen a single line from my writing. But I’m starting to share more and more and hopefully won’t be as fearful to share any longer. I mean how can I even think about getting published if I’m not willing to share what I’ve written?

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-One

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty-One

Day twenty-one: Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?

 

Yes, my characters have children. And I have decided that that is a very boring answer. So let’s show you some genealogy here (side note: only going to give information on the actual ones that matter, I mean everyone has parents…):

 

• Noah and Atarah: They have two children – twins – Vanessa and Selene.


• Selene and Micah: They have one child, Aislynn.


• Vanessa and Luke: They have one child, Silvanius.


• Mirabelle and Raymond: They have one child, Haizea


• Aislynn and Douglas: They have one child, Sierra.


• Aislynn and Conall: They have one child, Isis.


• Cadeyrn and Nadine: They have one child, Aileen

 

Those are the main parent-child combinations that show up and mean anything in my story. Like I said in the parenthetical above everyone has parents, so technically if I wanted to I could go in to more combinations. I at least generally know most parentages of the characters that have a biggish part in the story and could give you more but the above combinations are ones you actually see both the parents and the children in one story or another.

 

As for how I write them is and how well I do at it … I think I do alright. I’m not so good at the character interactions with babies, mostly because I’ve never had the experience of a 24 hour day with a baby. I have step children that were toddlers when I entered their life and I think I do a lot better with my character’s interaction with toddlers and above.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twenty

Day twenty: What are your favorite character interactions to write?

 

I’m not really sure I have any favorite interactions … and I’m not really sure I know how to answer this question. Are we talking about the interactions themselves? Or are we talking about the actual interaction between multiple characters? I guess I can take it any way here since it is my blog ‘n all but I like to know what I’m answering.

 

Anyways, when it comes to the actual interaction, I don’t think I have any favorites. Each has their ups and downs (see post on relationships and dialogue) but there has never been a time where I go “Oh! I get to write that [insert scene type] today!” I like to watch them flow out on their own and see where they go. If I don’t like how they turn out they get trashed and if I like how they turn out then they stay.

 

But if we go along the lines of what combination of characters do I like writing and which would be my favorite, that’s a little easier to go with. Each interaction between characters is fun to experience but there is one that I am really enjoying writing at the moment. And that would be the interaction between Selene and the Voice.

 

Since right now where I am writing scenes is focused heavily on when they first “come together” they are really learning about each other and one another’s limits. One thing I am really enjoying is the discovery of just how crazy the Voice is. Selene is learning this too, she doesn’t find it enjoyable though.

 

Their banter is fun to write and I look forward to that interaction more and more as I write scenes in Selene’s story.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Nineteen

Day nineteen: Favorite minor character that decided to shove him or herself into the spotlight and why?

Well in this entry I am going to talk about a few characters that would be considered “minor” and the evolution they have gone through in the stories that I’ve written. I have had several characters that have started as minor, once mentioned characters that have completely pushed their way into the scene and some that have even become so insistent that they are being given the chance to tell their own stories. But let’s go through them.

First, let me reiterate the fact that when I first started writing people in this world it was Selene’s story all the way. Then as I continued to write it there were several characters that have stood out. Some that demanded a lot of me and took the spotlight away from Selene. Which I found unfair because I still wanted to tell Selene’s story and so I turned around and started to write other stories based around these loud characters.

Second, this entry is really going to go through the evolution of some of these characters. Some that were minor and became main and some that were minor and stayed minor but had some big scenes in the stories. This is probably going to be a long one, it seems I like to talk about my characters …

Aislynn – When Aislynn’s character first showed up she was the daughter of Selene and her mate (who at the time was named Alec, then Leo and then Micah, but we’ll get to him later) and when I first realized that Selene was pregnant I had a nagging feeling that her child would be special. Fast forward to when I started writing Aislynn’s character as a toddler and, wow, I was right. She was special. She was clairvoyant and had some major visions of the life they all lived. When she started showing of pushing herself forward in the story I decided that she needed a story of her own. So Aislynn and her life became the focus of my next big story and boy-oh-boy I have definitely been enjoying discovering all that she is becoming as a teenager and adult. I think her evolution from a minor add in character to a main character has been one wild trip. I think her pushiness was what first attracted me to her as a character and she really reminds me a lot about myself and some of my own insecurities.

Noah – This is another minor turned main character. When the original story started with Selene he was mostly a minute detail, not really ever mentioned other then in passing. When Noah’s character really came around it was when I was writing Aislynn’s story. There is a point in the story where some of Aislynn’s powers grow to the point of her being able to commune with ghosts and is one thing that becomes a big part of her story. One of the ghosts that visit her is Noah to impart some pretty important information. When he came to talk to Aislynn it was actually a surprise to me. I had never intended to bring him into the story, but when I was writing he showed up. He basically took the spotlight and said “look at me, I really need to tell Aislynn something important” and so he came on the scene. What ended up happening is that I discovered he had a story that needed to be told, so I decided he would get the chance and started his story. This is a recent development that I am enjoying. I’ve already talked about why I like his character in my protagonist post so I think I’ll stop here for him.

Alec/Leo/Micah – This is Selene’s mate. He is a major spotlight grabber. I had first intended on him being a relationship of Selene’s. Something that was part of the book but something that didn’t take up a large amount of the writing but Alec at the time did not like that idea. He became a big part of Selene’s life and so I started to write him in there more. He became very bossy and told me his name was Leo. Which sounds funny but is true – his name has constantly changed on me, we can’t settle on what he should be called. As Leo he started to take more responsibilities and supported Selene in many ways through her journey. As I continued to write Selene’s story I kept getting a tap on my mental shoulder from Leo and he kept whispering to me “I could do more for Selene, let me help her more.” At this point I had hit a block in Selene’s story – something just wasn’t adding up – and I decided to listen to Leo and his nagging voice. And so Selene’s story got a major overhaul and we learned what the real problems in her life were. With these changes Leo changed to Micah. As Micah he really started to tell his story along side Selene’s, he became a major-minor character and one of the biggest supports to Selene.

Atarah – She is the mate of Noah. She is one character that is involved in all the stories I currently am writing as a minor character. She is sweet and strong and demanding. As a queen she should be. With this she really becomes someone who gets to make some big decisions in the lives of some of my characters. With those decisions she tends to take the spot light from some of my characters.

Silvanius – Sil has gone through a lot of changes from the time I started writing the stories in this world. He was never an intended character and snuck up on me. He is the son of Vanessa and Luke and cousin of Aislynn. When Aislynn’s story came about and I decided I needed a group of character’s to be the ultimate defenders of their race that is when I truly decided I needed him to enter into the story. He was a timid character at first but has become more persistent in the writing. He plays a main bit in the group to defend the race and has some very touching moments.

Haizea – She has always been a part of the story. She was actually the product of a prophecy that Selene had in her story. Haizea was born as a Cat to two human parents and so started the revelation of a long line of prophecies coming to pass. I knew when I started writing her character that she would play an important role. That role changed a few times and she is still part of Selene’s story but her biggest parts take place in Aislynn’s story. She is the most timid of my characters and I like how it balances out with the other characters in the stories.

Douglas – Douglas has had a relatively easy evolution. When I decided that Aislynn would have her own story and part of that story would involve the group of defenders I needed someone to even out the numbers. It would be an even four. I had Aislynn, Haizea and Silvanius. I then decided I needed to add the forth and that forth would be a love interest to Aislynn so I would have two couples. At first when I started writing to him, he was very shy and not very outspoken. And then I started having things happen in Aislynn’s life that he was not happy about and he started to speak. He became protective of her and their love grew. The path it is taking is a bumpy one but its interesting to see how he balance her out and at the same time really butts heads with her.

Conall – Conall has changed a lot from the beginning of my writing. In Aislynn’s story there was going to be only one love interest, one person to be involved in Aislynn’s love life and that was Douglas. Conall began as a messenger from the king of the Dallions. But when I first introduced him to Aislynn he instantly felt he wanted her, and surprisingly Aislynn wanted the same. Their relationship has evolved and developed on a slightly deeper level then Aislynn and Douglas’s relationship which caused me to develop the current love triangle between the two men and her. Conall becomes a wonderful balance to Aislynn on all levels, much like Douglas is, but in different ways. I love the evolution of who Conall is.

Those are really the big spotlight stealers of my stories. Though, in truth, I could probably spend hours talking about my characters. All of the big players, and some of the minors, hold a special place in my heart. I enjoy writing with them and love the places they take me.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen
Day Eighteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Eighteen

Day eighteen: Favorite antagonist? Why?

 

Like we talked about yesterday, all my antagonists have fun sides and boring sides. But I think I’ll avoid yesterday’s format and just write about the one that is the primary bad guy that I have been focusing on in one of my stories.

 

Currently she is called The Voice though once she did have an actual name it is now forgotten. She is a goddess that has been imprisoned the entire time she has had her godhead. She began as a human but was granted godhead by mistake. Her powers are focused around pain and death and she uses them whenever she can. Because she has been imprisoned by the other gods of the world, she doesn’t get the chance to use her powers often, but when she does it’s not pretty at all. She likes to torture her victims and when she is done with them she makes them suffer an agonizing death.

 

Right now she is currently the antagonist of Selene’s story, but she has made an appearance in Aislynn’s as well. Selene is her victim in her story, the first one in a few centuries and the Voice is especially grateful to have her because she is a Cat. The Voice doesn’t like the Children of the Gods, they are the one – in the long run – that got her trapped where she is now.

 

The reason I like her so much is that she is abso-freaking-lutely crazy. Seclusion for thousands of years causes that, and her prison is sense deprivation at its finest. I love the way she thinks and the way she acts because its so off the wall that its almost funny and I know it will occasionally give me chills when I write her character. She is just a very freaky lady.

 

Past Entries


Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
Day Seventeen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Seventeen

Day seventeen: Favorite protagonist? Why?

 

This one is hard. I don’t think I really have one favorite over another. So what I will do in this one is give you why I like each of my main characters in the stories I have. It’s a three way tie.

 

Noah – He is relatively new in the sense of protagonists. His voice and his newness is a lot of fun to write right now. He’s very talkative in my head and he is very pushy. I love the abilities he is discovering he has. His magic is unique and his personality strong. I love the fact that he has completely secluded himself from his family and all that could help him (not gonna tell you why neener-neener) to find his place in the world and get answer. Since his story is relatively new I don’t have much to say about him right now but he will be fun to work with.

 

Selene – She is, like I’ve said before, my oldest character. She has been on this journey with me from the beginning and I love her just for that. She is such a strong voice in my head. She has grown up like a baby to a teenager and above, her attitude has changed and grown with her and it’s a lot of fun to work with. Her story has become a very interesting one. It explores a different life style that I’ve never been involved in and is going to require a lot of research that will probably cause eye brows to be raised but it’ll be entertaining. Her magic and her battles are going to be fun to write as well.

 

Aislynn – She’s a trip. She has been an interesting girl to write. She has attitude, she has insecurities. She is wonderful in how she talks to me. She reminds me of some of my own problems when I was her age. Granted I didn’t have to worry about my body ripping itself apart to turn into something else, but her emotions are closely tied to mine. I love that her powers are something that scare her. I love the fact that she has to make tough decisions and some of them are life changing for more then just her own life. The trials she goes through in her story are hard, or at least I would think so, and she has to make a lot of sacrifices. But even when she is having problems she is always good at making the mood lighter with a snarky comment.

 

What is funny about these characters is that they are so close to me. They are like children that I tend to and grow with. Even if it’s only in my imagination my characters are an important part of my life. I think that’s something that makes me such a good writer, that I let my characters tell me what to do instead of forcing them to do something they would never do.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Sixteen

Day sixteen: Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing?

 

The easiest answer here is yes, I write romantic relationships. My opinion when it comes to romantic relationships is it helps in build the world of the characters. I have several different relationships and struggles involved around those relationships that are part of the story line, not necessarily the main plot line but usually something that goes hand in hand with it.

 

When we get in to more detailed answers here in regards to writing romantic relationships, many of those relationships are build ups and part of the growing process of my characters. Their relationships are a part of the story and grow alongside the actual conflict and story line. What I want to do is talk about the different character relationships I have going in this story and then I will go on to the second part of the story.

 

Noah and Atarah – These two characters are from the first part of the “series” on the family I focus on. I wouldn’t really call it a series, because even though parts are mentioned in each of the book, the story lines are individual. But I digress so let’s get back to the point of this. Noah and Atarah’s relationship is sweet and simple. The fall in love and stay in love. Granted, like any relationship there are speed bumps in that road to bliss, but this is one relationship meant to last. Noah is the son of a monarch and Atarah is a simple girl. Both of the Cat race, and both are trying to make it on their own. They meet each other and connect and the story for Noah is focused heavily on this relationship as a sub plot to the actual conflict of the story. These two characters are a relatively new story I am telling and I am riding the relationship with them and seeing how they react.

 

Nadine and Cadeyrn – This relationship is a new idea of mine. Nadine is the twin sister of Noah. Cadeyrn is/will be a faction leader of the Dallions. Nadine ends up being “kidnapped” in the beginning of Noah’s story and this is what starts much of the conflict in his story – him trying to find her and bring her home. Since Nadine is so young when she is kidnapped, much of her life is spent in the Dallion world and culture, and because of this she meets and falls in love with a Dallion. Their relationship is going to be conflicting and mentally abusive. I want the drama of this relationship to add to who Cadeyrn is and will become.

 

Selene and Micah – Selene is the main character of the second part of the book on this family. She is actually the oldest character I have written and has been with me from the beginning of this writing adventure. Granted her story has changed from the beginning as I actually start to listen to her, but she has been constant with the times. Micah is a relatively new concept of a character. He has is the mate of Selene, but he has gone through changes through the years and is no starting to really become a part of the story. Selene is the daughter of Noah and Atarah and Micah is a demi-god born of the Voice (or Ezra) and they are put together when Selene becomes bound to the Voice and starts to become tortured. Micah trains her from a young age to withstand the powers that his mother has over her and survive and on that journey the two take together there is blood, sweat and tears but they fall in love despite the world around them. This relationship ends up facing many challenges: her family’s hatred of who he represents, the fact that their relationship is based around pain and survival, and the anger of a very mean goddess. I like who Micah and Selene have become through the years as they’ve “grown up” and I am enjoying telling their story in the book that Selene is a part of.

 

Vanessa and Luke – Vanessa is the twin sister of Selene. Luke is a man that was chosen to be her husband by her mother and father from a family that was their friend. Their relationship develops in Selene’s story and is continued is Aislynn’s. Since their relationship is arranged, things are not as smooth as a normal relationship. Vanessa is attracted to him right away but Luke is standoffish during the beginning causing both to try and avoid each other. Since Vanessa and Luke are both considered minor characters most of their relationship is developed through snippets that happen in the story. They do grow to respect and then love each other which become a lot more evident in Aislynn’s story then Selene’s. I’ve enjoyed figuring out how to write about arranged marriages and the like and how they take effect in our world, and since these people live in a different world, there have been new changes to the world of arranged marriages when it comes to my world.

 

Aislynn and Douglas and Conall – This relationship is a triangle like all other triangles. One thing about writing this triangle is that I’ve made sure each side of the triangle gets its own share of time in the writing and I make sure to try and develop both sides of that triangle because I’ve made it become a big part of who Aislynn becomes. Its been a lot of fun writing this triangle as a side line to the main conflict.

• Aislynn and Douglas – This relationship is a giant rollercoaster. When the two of them first meet they are instantly attracted to each other. Aislynn is hesitant, mostly because she is feeling manipulated and pulled in to it. Douglas is persistent and eventually they get together. Things aren’t all sunshine and roses when they are together because many things are discovered when they are brought together. They are both part of the Elementai – the protectors of their people – and in essence are meant to be together because of it. I’ve enjoyed writing this relationship, exploring Aislynn naïveté in regards to how relationships work and seeing her be less confident. I have a part that I’m thinking about writing in that is bound to really strain this relationship and I am looking forward to seeing how both these characters respond.


• Aislynn and Conall – This relationship is heat. Its warm and passionate and life changing for Aislynn. The way this relationship develops has been fun. To Aislynn he is a visitor in her dreams, and same goes for Conall. Neither know the other truly exist anywhere besides their dreams. It’s a friendship at first, Conall becomes someone that Aislynn confides to in this story but soon it becomes more. All the doubt that Aislynn feels when she is with Douglas is alleviated here in this dream relationship. But nothing is ever easy or perfect, they have their share of fights and things go up and down as well. When things finally become revealed that its more then a dream, that is when the triangle stops.

 

Silvanius and Haizea – This relationship has evolved with my book. At first it was something that was known but not really developed, now since I divided my stories, I wanted to work their parts of the story a lot differently. With that, I decided one thing I wanted to work on more was the way their relationship works and how it plays a part in the story. Parts of their relationship are going to cause a lot of conflict in the story at certain places which I needed because these character were slightly lopsided, not quite flat but not as round as should have been. (I just got a name for that type of character, a half deflated balloon character … don’t mock me, I’m sleepy and I enjoy that name). One of the main reason I decided to round out their relationship in this story is I decided that in my head the four Elementai would be a group of four people – two boys and two girls – and part of the strength of the group would be the relationships and how their power heightens when they work together. So since I had Douglas and Aislynn I decided to do Haizea and Silvanius together as well – or at least defined that relationship more.

 

So those are my main romantic relationships that I have going right now. Granted there are other relationships in the story but they are completely flat and undefined. Minor characters and their spouses and other familial relationships that are in the story but are not necessarily part of the story.

 

Now on to the second part of this question: How far do my characters go in their relationships when I write? And this is surprisingly a hard question. As I write my stories now, there is definite kissing and definite scenes of sex. I’ve never been very good at writing a sex scene where it is tame enough to not make you blush but not so boring as to make it bland. I’ve been working on it but its one of those areas that my I need to teach myself the limits of what is acceptable or not. I don’t really have any boundaries when it comes to what I write, but if I don’t think its good writing then I kick it out as I should. I want to be comfortable with what I write.

 

Well, I’ve talked a lot more then I thought I was going to talk in regards to this, so I think I will just end it right here. Hope I didn’t bore any of you to tears reading this one.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Fifteen

Day fifteen: Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not?

This is actually a hard question. Because honestly there are a lot of writers that I admire out there and I would never be able to pick just one. Even if I divided it among professional or not the list would be endless.

 

Instead of picking one writer I am going to do a shout out to all writers great and small. Writing is such a unique life style. It’s gruesome and awe-inspiring, happy and sad, hard and easy, solitary and communal. You will have a rollercoaster ride of ups, downs and side-to-sides. Every one of you amaze me whether you are a pre-teen writing dreadful poetry or a best selling author, you blow my mind.

 

To stick with this craft is a journey. One that you are constantly learning and teaching yourself about because no only do you need to know the grammar and spelling and all of those lovely mechanics of writing but if you plan on proceeding to that glorious stage of “published” you are also going to have to do a lot of research on agents, querying, publishers, and the actual industry you are trying to be a part of.

 

So this is my hats off to all of you! Keep at it. There will be times when its hard and you’ll question yourself and your ability (or at least I have been there myself) but, I know for me, it will always be that wonderful world to live through and hopefully get to that top of the rung!

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Fourteen

Day fourteen: How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?

I have general ideas for maps in my head. I know what thinks look like in general but I’ve never been artistic in the sense of drawing out what I see. Trust me I wish I was, would make a lot of things a lot better some days when I am trying to nail down a look. I actually attempted pencil drawings of what I see but really they haven’t been touched in years and I didn’t really like what I had previously as it was.

I’ve been trying to look into computer generated maps, mostly because it takes the place of me needing to generate maps myself. Haven’t really found anything as of yet, but I honestly haven’t spent any significant time looking in to it for a couple reasons. First, when it comes to maps in books I’ve realized they are rarely ever looked at by the readers and are mostly a waste of space so a lot of the mapping out would be more for me then my readers. Second, most of my time has be devoted to writing lately.

Along the same lines of mapping though, one thing I’ve always wanted to do with my world building is getting a model doll house and model cars. There is one house that plays a big part of the novels and I would love to have something that is a physical representation of that house. But those cost a significant amount of money, also would need somewhere to put it. So it will have to wait til I have an office to put it in.

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Thirteen

Day thirteen: What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

 

My favorite cultures to write are definitely my fictional ones, but mostly because of the fact that most of my main characters belong in cultures that do not exist in our world. Granted, the human world does occasionally interact with the magical world of my stories, but there really isn’t much of any character development revolving around existing cultures in our world. Most of the humans in my stories are flat characters though there are some exceptions but even the rounded characters that are human are so intertwined in the magical world that their culture mostly falls into the magical community they live in.

 

Of my races that I write, the one that I have the most fun writing right now is the culture of the Cats. I love learning the intricate details of their lives and how it differs from what I would consider every day life. It’s been interesting learning their rules and their laws, about what they find common and what would be considered unusual. I’ve been trying to develop their culture a lot more and allow it to come out on paper and I am learning that I love their world even when there are times it’s as harsh as it is beautiful.

 

Since most of my characters are of that race, there hasn’t been much development into the other cultures of my world. But I have been trying to develop at least the Dallion culture further. I see them as such interesting people in my head and I am sorry to say that that hasn’t come out on paper as of right now. I am trying to fix that because I do know that I want them to seem as wickedly amazing as my Cats.

 

I have learned, though, that creating cultures is a lot easier and more interesting then actually creating a world. You would think it would be just as easy or as hard in any case, but I am finding it’s not. Interesting, no? Then again, worlds and life on those worlds follow certain rules that are not malleable like rules in cultures can be. So… I don’t know why I’m rambling but there is the gist of what I have to say today. See you all tomorrow.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve

 

Cara Mia Amore

Day Twelve

Day twelve: In what story did you feel you did the best job of world building? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?

 

Well we can take the a few different ways. When my stories started, it was one story and based in an alternate version of Earth. I was young and I did very minimal world building. I found out that that kind of world was a lot harder then coming up with my own because I kept trying to work things into the world we have now.

 

About 2-3 years ago now I decided having one story wasn’t going to work for many reason: first, I had too many voices vying for ownership of the book, second, I couldn’t make our world work for them and needed to develop things more.

 

During this revamp I first figured out who my main voices would be in the stories. And then I thought of the worlds they live in. It is the same world but they each touch a part of different things. As I thought more of my stories, I realized I really needed to sit down and work on true world building.

 

First I told myself “Where do people live?” and with that I started working on the geography aspect of the world. I got a basic idea of how many countries/continents/main land whatevers that I needed. I needed names and came up with them. The hardest part with this little bit was that I discovered since I have been working on this story for so long, it took me effort to pull myself away from Earth and put myself in my newly named Torrest Reyenne. I’m still working on that becoming a comfortably needed concept of my story.

 

The next big things for my world building that I did is I decided I needed to right down the rules and laws my people live by. This became a more personal world building project then an actually written in project, they get very minor parts in my writing, but for my personal comfort level I needed to develop them in detail so that I could understand the world that was being created around me.

 

With this world building I developed a lovely notebook. I call it my god’s eye view of the world. It holds all the details I’ve developed on my characters and on my world. I think its one of the most beneficial things I have. It’s all organized and accessible and makes keeping track of little details a lot easier.

 

That’s my world building structure. I thought I’d talk about that more then the actual world since I’ve talked about it before. I think the most important thing for any person who is going to attempt any world building is to keep organized and consistent.

 

Past Entries:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven

Cara Mia Amore

Day Eleven

Day eleven: Who is your favorite character to write about and who is your least favorite?

 

This is honestly a very difficult question for me to write. Each of them have their own ups and downs and make them my favorite at times and horrid at others.

 

When it comes to deciding who and when I write in a character’s perspective it is usually when their voice becomes the loudest in my head. Right now I have about three stories going on, meaning I have three characters vying for my attention.

 

When it comes to character I am the least excited to write about its usually when I am trying to concentrate on a scene and the people in it aren’t wanting to play nice with others.

 

Past Entries

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten

 

Cara Mia Amore