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.

 

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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.

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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!

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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?

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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Cara Mia Amore