Before Camp NaNo

Before NaNo begins, I usually try to get in a little bit of planning, world or character development, and then some actual writing done so that I'm not struggling to figure anything out right at the beginning. This time I haven't been able to do too much of that because work has kept me busy (and they added two extra days to my schedule this past two weeks... >.<), but I have at least been able to think a few things through, and make some decisions reguarding my story.

I'll be working on my rewrite of Takfin for this NaNo, so I honestly have no idea how it's going to turn out. I've never been very good at following through with rewrites, but I like the direction I'm going in at the moment.

But I'm making a lot of changes in the story over all. So it's taken a lot of thinking as far as how these changes effect the story later on, or even how it effcts the current story. So I figured I would list some of the differences partly for myself so I can keep track of them, and partly so anyone interested could see it.

The first change I've made is in the characters themselves. Bryin, Darvel, and the main antagonist, Vatan, are a lot different. Now for the twins I haven't completely changed their personalities, but some of the character development has been moved towards the beginning. I feel like I've given both of them more motivation, or development as far as their pasts are concerned. Almost like I've gone more in-depth into who they are. Hopefully. XD
As for Vatan, he's a lot younger then I planned for him to be originally. He's closer to the twin's ages and his motivation goes a lot further than just wanting to take over the world. He's much more a person than a villain this time around. And I think I'm a lot happier with that.

And speaking of characters, there was a newer character that I got the idea for late in the series. (Like in the book I'm currently working on now, which is book 7.) His name is Laine, and he's something of a personal guard to Darvel. Though, he actually hates Darvel and is responsible for most of Darvel's angry personality.

Next thing that's changed a lot is the plot as a whole. Darvel is introduced within the first three chapaters, whereas last time he wasn't introduced until about the second book and wasn't important until the third or fourth book. Since Darvel is one of my favorite characters, just like Bryin, I'm glad I figured out a way to bring him in earlier. I feel like he adds a lot to the story and to Bryin's character development as well.
Along with that the first book is going to take place in a new world that isn't Panin. In Darvel, Laine, and Vatan all team up (for their separate reasons) and attempt to get Bryin to hand Takfin to them. After a certain turn of events Laine gets frustrated and then tries to take Takfin away, but only causes them all to be stranded in a world that is unfamiliar to all of them. I feel like the first time I wrote this story, it was very focused on Bryin. Like the whole story was centered on him and there wasn't much else to it. But as I continued to write I added in different characters and stories and Bryin wasn't as important. Starting it like this I feel like I won't have to transition my focus to other characters, and instead it'll be about most of them as a whole. I don't know if that makes sense or not, though...

I think I would have written more of the rewrite if it hadn't been for the new world. I think I may have gotten stuck on ideas, or just didn't want to bother coming up with ideas for a new world, so I just didn't bother. But with NaNo coming up, I convinced myself to figure it all out, and along with that I even developed the magic of my books a little.

All in all, I'm pretty excited to see how much I can write, and where this new story takes me. Even if I had already written it once, everything is so different now, it really is like a new story.

Anyway, thanks for reading! If you have any questions or are curious about anything that I've mentioned, don't hesitate to ask! Also if anyone wants to read any short stories or anything on any of this just let me know. I may or may not feel up to posting a short scene with Darvel, Bryin, Laine, and Vatan in this new world if I can manage to get to that during NaNo. :D

Too Long

Hey! So, as the title suggests, I feel like it's been too long since I've blog. Lots of stuff happened last year, and my focus wasn't really on writing. But it is something I want to get back into, so here I am. :)

I haven't written a ton, obviously, but I've finally gotten a solid start on rewriting my first Wold of Panin book. I've actually lost count of the number of times I've restarted it, and I gave up for a while. But last month I wrote a start I was happy with, the only problem being that I changed a lot of the story. Actually, I change everything but the characters for the first book. XD But the important thing is that I'm making progress. And with Camp NaNo coming next month, I'm hoping to get most of it written so I can move on.

That being said, Camp NaNo is next month! I'm definitely not ready in the slightest, and I've been pretty busy, annnnd I don't have much free time either. But ever since finding out about NaNo, I've basically decided that I'm never not doing it, even if it's just Camp NaNo. (I actually like Camp NaNo more.) Anyway, so I am going to be doing that, and as a result I thought I might try blogging updates about it next month. I know I say a lot about what I'd like to do, or what I'm planning on doing and I almost never follow through, but since I miss writing and blogging, I'm hoping I won't forget about it this time. So, I think I'll try giving an update once or twice a week, Mondays or Fridays, or both, depending on how I feel.

Annnnnd... This has been a post about nothing... >.<

Because I haven't really said anything important, I'll go ahead and just post a little bit of what I managed to write. I was pretty pleased with the way the scene turned out, especially since Kent was originally just a background character I needed to fill the roll of typical bully, meaning he wasn't really adding much to the story. It's pretty different now, though he's still not a major character as far as the series goes, and he probably won't be in the book for more than three chapters if everything goes as planned... Anyway, here's a little scene. Sorry for not posting more often!
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As they sat in the office waiting to see the principal, Bryin just stared at Kent.

“What?” Kent finally growled, glaring at the floor. “What do you want?”

“Why did you do that?” Bryin finally asked. “I was trying to help you. I’m the one who should have been in trouble, so why did you just go along with that like you were involved too?”

“Because there wasn’t any point in arguing.” Kent huffed, rolling his eyes. “She wasn’t going to change her mind, and it wouldn’t be right to distract everyone else by trying to argue. Which is exactly what you did.”

“Only because it wasn’t fair! Yeah, sure the other people might have been distracted, but she wasn’t failing them, so it didn’t matter.”

Sighing, Kent’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. “There’s no point in arguing with you either. It’s like talking to a wall… But… This wouldn’t be such a big deal if I wasn’t getting an automatic zero.”

Bryin nodded slowly, then stood up. “So this is bothering you… Well, I don’t want to give you any more reasons to hate me, so I’m going to go give her a piece of my mind. Maybe then she’ll at least give you credit for part of the test.”

Kent started to tell Bryin to sit down, but before he even got one word out Bryin was five steps down the hall. “You idiot!” Kent shot up from his seat and ran after Bryin, tackling him in the process. “You’re just going to make everything worse just like you always do!” He huffed once he had successfully pinned Bryin down. “Just… Just stop being so stupid!” He punched Bryin in the face as hard as he could, the pent-up anger all being released in a single action.

Bryin winced, being more hurt by Kent’s words than anything else. He opened his mouth to say something, though he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to say. But before he got a chance to say anything, a shadow fell over both of them.

“So you thought this would be a good way to make up for getting in trouble in class?” The principal asked, glaring down at them.

“I-it’s not what it looks like!” Kent said as he hurried to his feet. “I… I was just…”

“Enough.” The principal held up a hand and gestured to his office. “I’ll hear what you have to say in there. As for you…” He looked down to Bryin who was still on the ground. “I just got off the phone with your mother and she said she would be on her way to come get you in thirty minutes. Until then you are to sit in a chair and stay there.”

Bryin sat up and crossed his arms, frowning deeply. “No.” He mumbled, in a worse mood now that his mother was coming to get him. “I’m staying right here.”

The principal sighed. He didn’t want to leave Bryin sitting in the middle of the floor, but it was a miracle Bryin had agreed to sit still at all. “Fine… Just remember that if anything else happens, your mother will be hearing of it before you leave.”

And with that he and Kent went into the office.

When they had finally finished, Kent plopped back down in one of the chairs just outside the office and put his head in his hands. Bryin watched him, feeling bored out of his mind, and went over to him without a second thought.

“Are you alright?” Bryin asked quietly.

“Apparently, my brother is on his way here too…” Kent sighed. “Of all people he has to be the one coming to get me.”

Bryin tilted his head. “Why is he coming instead of one of your parents? And why is it a bad thing that he’s coming?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Kent huffed, finally looking over at Bryin. After a moment he added, “My parents aren’t around, and my brother is my legal guardian. And… And I know he’s going to be disappointed with me, so I don’t really want to face him right now.”

“Oh… Yeah…” Bryin cast a glance towards the front doors to the school. “I know what you mean…”

“Mm.” Kent stared at Bryin for a long moment before grunting, “Look, I’m sorry for hitting you back there.”

“It’s fine.” Bryin said, waving a hand dismissively. The tone in his voice said that he didn’t care one way or the other. “But,” Bryin suddenly looked back to Kent, confusion written all over his face, “are you sure you’re alright? Because you’ve never apologized for anything, and especially not when it was my fault…”

“Just shut up!” Kent yelled, glaring at Bryin.

This only caused Bryin to nodded. “Oh, good, you really are yourself. I was getting worried you had been replaced by an alien or something.”

“Ugh, would you just quit already? I’m trying to be nice for once, and you’re not making this easy!”

“Nice?” Bryin snorted, and gave a bitter smile. “Why? Why would you even think about doing that? Don’t you hate me?”

“Because.” Kent looked away, digging his nails lightly into his arms. “Because even someone like you needs a friend sometimes.”