starlitcastles Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 (edited) Hello and welcome to the small corner of what is known as my Novel Nest! I want to start by saying that for Jul Nano, I am working on my written projects that I have been meaning to work on doing so for years or getting myself to go back and continue it. To make things more feasible and obtainable as far as getting myself to write this time around considering that when I had unofficially tried to partake in Camp Nanowrimo back in April that didn’t go so well or as I hoped. This is due to the fact that I lacked given the fact that I hadn’t planned out the days while trying to go about it as if I’m having the mindset of a spontaneous person which I’m clearly often not. It’s ironic considering I’m a pantser if I’m being honest considering that I’m not a fan of outlines unless I really need to do so. Often, planning works far better for me usually when it comes to other aspects of life. For this camp, I've also decided to narrow it down from wanting to work on multiple projects of about five and more different types of stories but decided that I wanted to narrow it down to only three at the moment knowing that while I love to work only with just one project, my brain is going to be indecisive and the other two written projects are clearly not just for backup and a way to get me to also focus on working on them as well. Actually, to be honest, I find it more fun than writing with solely one project. My goal for Camp Nanowrimo is not to reach a specific word count goal or to completely finish as the years I participated in Camp Nano previously and instead, it is to keep writing this time around. This is also a battle against both self-doubts and the perfectionist editor side. To be fair, I’ve also have planned ahead, wrote things, and while I was, I found myself, unlike the previous time I took in Camp, to feel more confident in what I wrote. I want to keep being on the right track for the next month with combating the voices in my head and doing what I have been wanting to do for years which is to just write. Word count goal-wise, while it’s not everything to me this time around, I still want it to be a motivator in a sense that I can reach it if I can keep going or think of it as a way for me to keep on writing. EDIT: The word count goal also would definitely be around 25,000 words if I had any word count to go by and adding this now since I forgot to fix this. The three goals that I have for this upcoming JulNano are: • The Light of Eight (8 novel series) • Come What May (Harry Potter fanfiction) • Random Story Collection (the title of it might change but for now, it will consists of one shots, drabbles, flash fiction, short stories, and stories that aren’t novels or novellas). I will be explaining what they're about without giving too much away, talk about my goals for each of them, and why I want to write them and so forth. It's not mandatory for anybody to read all of the sections if they don't want to but if you do or have taken some of the time to (and aren't too overwhelmed by it) then I thank you for doing so out of your day. ❤️ The Light of Eight (8 novel series) Okay so you guys probably have seen this title being mentioned almost every Camp Nano and or Nano but the thing about this novel, however, is expansive and colossal out of all my written works. I'm also highly aware that it's going to a long while for it to ever see the light of day. The reason I say that is there’s many things to be worked on, not only the rough draft, but still researching and planning the other novels as well. The first book, to be more specific, is the focus of this Camp. As for what the story is about without giving too much away is that I have two main protagonists: a girl named Zen and a boy named Zyles who have superpowers and their world is like that of Earth but also different in that it’s ten times bigger in size and that there’s many different types of creatures living in harmony or you know, don’t always get along too. They also have a different but also similar monetary and political system, and yeah, the world is massive. So, in the novel series, they're joined by six other warriors (and some of them are friends) and are students at a prestigious school that helps these warriors train not only about using and controlling superpowers and fighting skills but also many other things such as what kind of warriors they want to be and how they as this type of warrior will be able to help their realm and by extension, Earth. There’s a villain from the past named Manifesto who finds a way to breach the planet despite claims of him being “exiled” but he and his brigade of villains decided to come back and exact revenge on everybody in the realm. So long story short, Zen, Zyles, and the six warriors must travel their realm to find ways to defeat him which includes yet not limited to: finding more about this legend known as Brightfire Elite, find a book that many people believe to be non-existent yet holds an immense power that would help them, and other warriors who are said to also be a key in their defeat of the villain. Progress-wise, I only written about 12 chapters so far and that was when I was in high school and all the way until my early or mid twenties. For some reason, during, my mid to late twenties, I struggled immensely to get back into the writing game and did not write as much which hindered my writing alongside the progress of this novel series. With that being said, even years after I stopped continuing with it, I felt not only like a fraud telling people about my novel yet trying not to get into. It's about time that I do come back to this project and focus on it in a way that not only challenges me but also remember why I had wanted to write this novel series in the first place. If I don't finish the first novel by the end of this month, however, then I’ll keep writing as much as I can until I do finish. Should add that I don't have any plans to publish it onto here although if I have a short story then you may see a character or two from the series. Harry Potter: Come What May This has been a struggle for me to write due to me having self-doubts about whether I could get this story written or not due to how many changes I had to make in comparison to the first attempted draft as well as the unedited version on Fanfiction. Net which I should of have taken of. However, despite this, I still want to persevere with it for two reasons: the first being that the Harry Potter series helped me growing up as a child to late teens and Charlotte's story is one out of all the possible ideas of Harry Potter related stories that I want to share the most. I feel what I struggle the most in trying to write this is trying to have her journey with Harry, Ron, and Hermione while trying to go along with other ideas that had bloomed as I kept writing it. The story itself is changing in many ways compared to how it was originally written so do hope that is a good thing. There's also the fact that I also have been planning as much as I can in order to at least get the first few chapters written. If all goes well then, I'll at least have 5 chapters done before the end of the month. Normally there would be a summary that is often copied and pasted onto here that sums up what the story is about. This year, however, is different, considering that I felt that I needed to change it, so it makes somewhat more sense than the last one. I will just say that it's a story about a girl named Charlotte Strayce who is a Harry Potter fan (along with her friends: Jayeson, Hubert, and Vanessa) who longs to go to the Wizarding World to have adventures with Harry, Ron, and Hermione and is unable to because it's considered fictious. However, through a series of events that led her to make a deal with a mysterious wizard, she finds herself being able to visit the Wizarding World. She not only discovers the joys and downsides of the world she's longed for but also finds herself unraveling a mystery that is more than meets the eye. From there, she must make a tough decision of whether she should stay in the wizarding world to risking that of her life and those around her or go back to her previous monotonous life that could provide her anything but one of comfort. The new changes and additions to the story have truly been a wonderful motivator for me to keep on going with this journey and truly cannot wait to start writing as much as I can. There's been complications as mentioned already with self-doubts yet it's still good to know that it will not stop me this time from composing this or at least a rough draft that I can finish. If all goes well and if I ever, that's a huge if, I hope to, of course, publish it on here. Oh, and shout out to anybody who's still patiently waiting for this and still interested in reading it! I apologize if you had to wait so long but it'll be worth it once I do write and finish it! Hopefully! Fingers crossed! Random Story Collection: This is a collection of different stories, and they consist of my original characters from many of my works be it novels to fanfictions and they’re mostly one shots, flash fictions, drabbles, or just short stories, or stories I wanted to write. Many of the writing in this collection are motivated and inspired by a variety of things be it my own mental health, special interests, and things in life that I wanted to vent or rant about or just thought about on a random day. If not, from my personal experience, may just things I want to write about. It does not have to be read in any type of order if it were to be published and read. This is also something that I plan to write if and when I don’t have the time and stamina for the days to write The Light of Eight or Come What May. It’s more than likely these stories will be published before the other two stories mentioned. Of course, that's only if I don't surprise myself, and publish the other ones first. These stories are some of the many that I would love to get these ones published hopefully onto the archives for sure! As for this upcoming Jul Nanowrimo, I truly want to make actual changes, not just me saying things like, “Oh I’ll get this done!” but then end up either not doing so with much of a wasted effort or not giving it my best which truly crush my spirit considering that I do want to do my best no matter what. The reason I say this is due to the fact that I haven’t taken myself seriously as a writer, and even if I have, I was constantly letting myself drown in a never ending cycle of self-doubts, perfectionism, comparison (and yes, I’ve learned that it’s dangerous, believe me!), and even having to deal with social anxiety with having to think about people reading my works especially ones that are longer than my drabble on the archives definitely had me feeling inadequate or struggling with feeling like a fraud. It hindered my ability to write and maybe that’s why I was so willing to let myself fail a few times as well as in the previous camps even if I hadn't realized at the time. Normally I would ponder as to me oversharing these personal things, yet I found myself wondering if anybody else needed to read this. If you are or can relate to anything mentioned then please know that you’re not alone. I'm also here to let you know that I will also be rooting for you as well whether it’s for this upcoming Camp Nanowrimo or beyond that. With that in mind, all I can really do for now is write and keep reminding myself that I can do this, I got this, and hopefully, even when things aren’t the greatest on my end, that it’ll be okay in the long run. Hopefully. If you're still here and have gotten around to reading this whole thread, thank you so much for sticking around until the end. It truly means alot that you stuck around and read much of this. On that final note, I would like to wish everybody and anybody partaking in Camp Nanowrimo whether it’s unofficially or officially a good luck and hoping you all reach your goals this month! It’s cliché that I always say this but please just know that I genuinely mean it: You can do this! You got this! I believe in you! ❤️ Edited June 29, 2023 by starlitcastles had to edit much of this to add a goal, eliminate wordiness, and add words to make it sense. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonian Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Yes, I read this post all the way through, @starlitcastles, and I'm really impressed by the scope of the stuff you have been working on. Kudos to you for hanging onto these big projects and not letting them just drift away downstream. I have faith that you can do it because, although I've read only your little drabble about The Tree, I was impressed by the writing style and by how much significance you managed to pack into one little drabble. I agree with what you say about the deadly error of allowing oneself to compare their works to those of other authors, people with different writing styles. I once told my daughter that when I was halfway through writing Tiramisu, I was convinced it was just garbage, and she said, "Really?" I hearken back to that memory when I start thinking that my current writing is garbage (a weird trick your mind plays on you). I hope that you do get some chapters written and that you post them here -- they're bound to be good. Thank you for writing this long introductory post. I feel as if I know you better than ever. Vicki 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonsGirlFriday Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 Wow, Di, I love that your Light of Eight series concept is one that's stuck with you through the years and that you're still working at it. Sometimes you just get those ideas that you never lose interest in, even during those times when you're not actually writing. Has anything about your story concept changed majorly over time? When working on projects that I take a break from for several months or years, I've sometimes found that the time and distance from the project - and then coming back to it - makes me realize new ideas for problems I was encountering when writing! On 6/28/2023 at 7:48 PM, starlitcastles said: Normally I would ponder as to me oversharing these personal things, yet I found myself wondering if anybody else needed to read this. If you are or can relate to anything mentioned then please know that you’re not alone. It's great of you to share this. These are really relatable feelings that so many of the rest of us have struggled with too. I like events like NaNo because of the way we all support one another. Good luck this month! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixileanin Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 Hi! All of the things you have struggled with, I have too. We are truly not alone, even though writing is a lonely sport. It's so great to come here and share with other writers who are pretty much doing things and feeling things in the same way. I am so excited about your 8 novel project and how you've been plucking away at it for all this time. I bet it's going to be great when you're ready to show some of it. If you need a beta one day (when you're ready, of course), I'd love to be considered! And yes, you've got this too. Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goatspeed Posted July 3, 2023 Share Posted July 3, 2023 I sympathize when you say it's been hard to get back to writing after stopping for a while. I put it aside for many years, not so much because I didn't write at all but because I was writing other things. Keep at it and good luck to us both, eh? Have you gone back to those chapters you wrote as a teenager? Do you still like them enough to use them without editing them? I've gone back to some old material and found things I like and things that are just impossible because nobody thinks some of that stuff is funny any more. Sometimes reading things you put aside can be helpful - at least I've found it so. Again, good luck with your July NaNo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prideofprewett Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 Hi Diana! It's always nice to see you around here! Your tenacity at sticking with The Light of Eight for as long as you have is admirable! Seriously, I don't know if I could do it hah. One thing I am always curious about is...how did you know that this was the story you wanted to stick with? Have you ever felt stuck within it or run into a metaphorical wall that has you questioning whether or not it's the story you're meant to carry on with? Asking for a friend. Hi, it's me. I'm the friend. Anyway, I have scraped plenty of projects myself after getting stuck, so I guess I'm just curious about how you figure that out for yourself (hopefully that makes sense hah). Since this story is not on the archives, do you seek out peer feedback for The Light of Eight in other ways? I always feel like writing OF can be a lonely process, especially if you aren't sharing pieces of writing with anyone, so I was wondering if this story is just accessible for your pleasure at the moment, how do you combat the loneliness? Are there multiple POVs planned in the series? Or will all the books be told from Zen and/or Zyles POV? Are you a planner, pantser, or plantser? I know some people draw maps or use visual references from Pinterest and/or take from already existing works for their world building process. Can you share one thing about your world building process? I look forward to hearing more about The Light of Eight! Happy NaNo! Courtney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonian Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 Hi, Diana. You have always been so encouraging of us all during the NaNo months, and it is exciting to read about your ongoing projects. You have so many ideas that for you, whittling down the list to "only" 3 projects is impressive to someone like me who works actively on one story at a time. I am struck by what you say about Harry Potter: Come What May, that it has a special place in your heart and is the HP story that you most want to share. Perhaps its importance to you is the reason it keeps growing and blooming in your mind -- a good reason to keep working on it as it grows into what it was destined to be. I loved what you said: "The new changes and additions to the story have truly been a wonderful motivator to keep on going with this journey, and I truly cannot wait to start writing as much as I can." I sincerely hope that you can find the time to write as much as you want without having your days completely filled with work, chores, obligations, entertaining out-of-town visitors, and so on. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlitcastles Posted July 15, 2023 Author Share Posted July 15, 2023 Hey, hi, and hello there! It's been a while since I have updated about my writing progress for Jul Nano but do want to say that I have days where I've gotten many words down on paper while other times are filled with struggles with me constantly scratching my head or having to ask myself: "Why did I just write this?" or "Who's going to want to read that?" and "This scene is great and all but will have to edit later." but often times, I just keep trying to keep on going with the flow of writing. You know, like Dory, when she sings to Marlin: "Just keep swimming!" and that's what I'm trying to do as I continue my writing journey for this month. If it's hard to write that day since I tend to get behind on writing schedule or have for several days, things that help me to keep going is to listen to my playlists, close out of tabs of things I don't need to look at, shut down any distractions, and or recall the reasons of why I want to be a writer or why I want to keep going on my written projects. The goal of to just write actually is far better motivator than word count if I'm being honest since it gives me a chance to be lenient with my writing in a sense that I don't have to worry about the word count (considering that it's a motivator) and rather getting down the words no matter the amount. Despite this, my confidence level is far from being high whenever my thoughts focus on sharing my work to others but I'm still hoping in sharing any of those on the archives or elsewhere, more so, the latter to, will help me gain that but for now, it's still in the rough draft stages and will continue to keep charging with those stories. Oh, and since the word count has been a great motivator, I am closing in on the 25k goal which I'm pretty happy about despite trying not to eye my document and constantly find myself still thinking it's garbage. There's definitely the matter of times where I do have to remind myself that writing garbage is great and right now, no matter how ridiculous this sounds, I'm glad to have written something even if it may seem inferior to me. At least something's being written done and that's all that should matter right now. I also do want to say a huge and massive thank you to those of you who've dropped by whether it's to express interest on my works and or to give me a form of encouragement and motivation as it's very much appreciated! ❤️ Oh, and I should mention that while I have had days where I also have outside factors that make writing difficult even for just day which includes but not limited to: having to go down to the basement two separate times due to the tornado warnings in my area, having my laptop not functioning properly by turning on, struggling with ADHD and time blindness with other distractions or just not being able to write, the internet giving the entire household grief, or having to deal with the stress of family issues and whatnot. I'm still, however, glad this Jul Nano has been going okay so far in spite of the constant negativity and issues cropping up since it's the most effort and time I put into it! That, and reaching new word goals to update has been a slight boost added to my day aside from being able to just get my writing down! Aside from the update of how the Camp is going so far, here's also the responses for those of you who dropped by! Thank you again to @Oregonian, @RonsGirlFriday, @Pixileanin, @Goatspeed, and @prideofprewett for either the encouragement, motivation, kind words, or thought provoking and or intriguing questions about writing and so forth! I definitely had a fun time responding to some of them as well so thank you for that! ❤️ On 6/28/2023 at 11:10 PM, Oregonian said: Yes, I read this post all the way through, @starlitcastles, and I'm really impressed by the scope of the stuff you have been working on. Kudos to you for hanging onto these big projects and not letting them just drift away downstream. I have faith that you can do it because, although I've read only your little drabble about The Tree, I was impressed by the writing style and by how much significance you managed to pack into one little drabble. I agree with what you say about the deadly error of allowing oneself to compare their works to those of other authors, people with different writing styles. I once told my daughter that when I was halfway through writing Tiramisu, I was convinced it was just garbage, and she said, "Really?" I hearken back to that memory when I start thinking that my current writing is garbage (a weird trick your mind plays on you). I hope that you do get some chapters written and that you post them here -- they're bound to be good. Thank you for writing this long introductory post. I feel as if I know you better than ever. Vicki Hi Vicki! Aww thank you so much for the lovely comment that you left on here and for reading the whole thing despite evidential typos, errors, and such on here that had to be edited constantly, it's very much appreciated! There’s many quotes that I love and one you might recognize is not from Walt Disney himself contrary to popular belief but actually a copywriter by the name of Sheralyn Silverstein who coined the term for General Electric (and there’s a lovely blog post about it too which rightfully credits her and is very much worth the read!) who says: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” It’s one of the quotes that I actually try to take to heart. It’s more than inspirational for me seeing as it’s more of an encouragement and motivator for me to keep chasing my dreams of writing. If you don’t recognize it then yeah, that’s one of the many quotes I try to remember from time to time. The writing projects are no exception no matter how long it takes to get it published, be it on here or outside of here! Thank you so much for that comment! I'm truly glad that you enjoyed reading Beyond The Tree despite it being a challenge for me as not only did I get a headache as I was composing it but it aso felt like a submission deadline was looming over my head! You wouldn't even know that drabble was a last-minute attempt to submit for an event had it not been mentioned! I should mention that short stories, especially drabbles, are hard for me to write since I can be very wordy and it’s a challenge to write a story when there’s a limited amount of words! Still, thank you for the kind words and compliment as it helps me feel pretty good about something I managed to type with the limited amount of words needed! It’s only a great thing that when it comes to stories, my imagination likes to try and work overtime! Yeah, it’s often because you can see their styles are eloquent or structured in a way that makes it easily readable or am I thinking of writing structures as there’s also that as well. Anyway, I still tend to notice writing styles if it captures my action and have compared to mine when it’s still in a rough draft stage which is an unfair comparison in all honesty! Well, I would concur with her “Really?” since I actually started reading The Crofter and Snake (and actually did read bits of Tiramisu which I hope to go back to at some point and give a proper review) and thought it was the opposite but yeah, that makes sense. The mind does play tons of tricks, be it trying to get you to stop writing or trying to remind you that anybody who reads your work is going to find it to be automatic garbage if that makes sense? But yeah, have to keep going no matter the ways that your mind comes up with to trick you! Can’t keep going onward if you let it win, now, can you? Unfortunately, Light of Eight is a project that I want to work on getting it published whether it's me trying the self-publish route or going traditional yet I don't want to think about it for now so I can't post the actual chapters here. Despite this, I do have plans on writing a short story or two that involves the characters and the world itself with different names that isn’t going to spoil much of the story. They are more like stories that are spin offs, AUs, or scenes that weren’t able to carry the story and instead are better suited for one shot, short story, or a longer version of a story. If you mean Come What May, that for sure, is a possibility seeing as I actually want to get published onto here! Oh, wow, I’m not sure how to respond to this but thank you for reading all of the lengthiness of this post and taking the time to do so and glad that you do as well! No, it truly means a lot! Thank you so much! 🙂 ❤️ On 6/29/2023 at 10:52 PM, RonsGirlFriday said: Wow, Di, I love that your Light of Eight series concept is one that's stuck with you through the years and that you're still working at it. Sometimes you just get those ideas that you never lose interest in, even during those times when you're not actually writing. Has anything about your story concept changed majorly over time? When working on projects that I take a break from for several months or years, I've sometimes found that the time and distance from the project - and then coming back to it - makes me realize new ideas for problems I was encountering when writing! It's great of you to share this. These are really relatable feelings that so many of the rest of us have struggled with too. I like events like NaNo because of the way we all support one another. Good luck this month! Hi Melanie! Thank you so much for dropping by and if you read all of that, wow, thank you! ;w; Yeah, the Light of Eight has been a story that has been in the making since I was in elementary school inspired by a variety of other stories in the media including this anime I loved as child called Digimon, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon, and A Neverending Story to name some of the many inspirations! This story has been running for so long due to the fact that I'm very persistent and if I want to achieve a goal, no matter how long it takes, then so be it--I'll go after it! My persistence in chasing after a story is one of the reasons that I still continue with it. Another reason is that it is the best idea (in my opinion) of all the ideas that I have by far. No other stories even come close. Lastly, I would say that I have seen, read, and or heard stories of how a variety of people in different fields such as musicians, chefs, athletes, entrepreneurs, and actors to name a few who are chasing after their dreams. Those stories highly motivated me not solely because of their successes but more importantly, their failures as the latter are important to face in life as not just a guideline of what to do but what you can learn from it. To answer your question about changing the story concept over these years, I would say yes and no. Yes, there are scenes that I had to go back in order to improve or rewrite again to help the story flow considering some of them made sense while others did not. Other times I say no because there's still the same element in the story that makes it what it is. Does that make sense? If not, I wrote a scene where one of my protagonists sees a fictitious creature that I made up near the beginning and that's not going to change. It's there for a reason even if it will read like an insignificant part near the beginning of the story. Yes, that's one of the best parts of writing is that when you need to leave whatever stumbling block you have with your story for some time and then you somewhere along the way without focusing on it find a way to fix that problem. That, and like you said about realizing new ideas to help with the problems you originally encountered also happens, yes! 😄 Of course, writing can sometimes be a lonely journey at times so always have to remind others they aren't truly alone even if the road may seem that way at times! Glad to know that others can or do relate to this as it's always comforting in a sense that we can understand one another in that respect. Yes, it's great when you can support one another while also writing your own story! That's the joy of coming together for writing with fellow writers! Thank you for the well wishes and good luck! It's much appreciated and thanks again for dropping by! 💛 On 7/1/2023 at 7:33 PM, Pixileanin said: Hi! All of the things you have struggled with, I have too. We are truly not alone, even though writing is a lonely sport. It's so great to come here and share with other writers who are pretty much doing things and feeling things in the same way. I am so excited about your 8 novel project and how you've been plucking away at it for all this time. I bet it's going to be great when you're ready to show some of it. If you need a beta one day (when you're ready, of course), I'd love to be considered! And yes, you've got this too. Good luck! Hello Pix! I’m glad that you can relate but also am sorry that you struggle too as it’s no fun to have to go through it but am glad to know that, as you said, that we’re not alone. You’re correct in that writing is a lonely sport, yes as there are days you’re having to focus on writing your story without or with very little distractions to get your story done or at least on paper so to speak and don’t always want to show it to the world or those you are close to just yet until it’s done or ready to be read unless you have to ask a question or two about something maybe. It’s great that we have a wonderful and amazing community of writers as well! Ahhh I’m glad that you’re excited for it and yeah, if I don’t go after it, then what’s the point of even chattering about it when the possibility of crafting is there and I’m not using my time to do so? Thank you for offering to beta and will definitely keep you in mind as hearing another writer’s thoughts, constructive criticisms, and or comments would definitely be wonderful and helpful for sure! Thank you for your interest as well! Thank you for dropping by and sending well wishes as it’s very much appreciated! On 7/3/2023 at 8:50 AM, Goatspeed said: I sympathize when you say it's been hard to get back to writing after stopping for a while. I put it aside for many years, not so much because I didn't write at all but because I was writing other things. Keep at it and good luck to us both, eh? Have you gone back to those chapters you wrote as a teenager? Do you still like them enough to use them without editing them? I've gone back to some old material and found things I like and things that are just impossible because nobody thinks some of that stuff is funny any more. Sometimes reading things you put aside can be helpful - at least I've found it so. Again, good luck with your July NaNo. Hello there! Ahh yeah, I know what you mean and glad that you’re able to in that way. Does that make sense? Can I ask when you did stop writing for a while and put it aside, did you ever have thoughts about resuming your works? Hmm yeah, I can understand writing other things especially if it’s something that you cater to as it holds more importance or becomes the sole focus for other reasons. Ahh, yeah, thank you and yes, best of luck to the both of us! You know that’s a really great question seeing that I have tried but unfortunately do recall typing the first few chapters on an old desktop before transferring to a USB chip dating back in early 2000s that I recall that I had typed in a document but was not able to retrieve it. I actually still have an email that I sent to a real life friend of the first drafts of the two chapters and a collection of notebooks where I poured all my ideas, plans, and other chapters written that was enough to type it up for this Camp so that’s the bright side of it! Funny that I’m saying that seeing as that’s how one of my characters from that novel series would react to it since his optimism is contagious. You know what? That’s exactly how I feel about seeing my writing from then versus what I have now so I feel like I can actually say that I feel similarly in that sense. However, I try to archive my writings whether it’s in a dusty notebook in a wooden cabinet or an email sent to a close friend as a reminder of how far I have come in my writing. That, and it helps me gain a sense of nostalgic writings of the early ideas for it! Also yes, that is true too! Thank you so much for dropping by! Hope that you’re having a great month both writing wise and in general! On 7/3/2023 at 10:11 PM, prideofprewett said: Hi Diana! It's always nice to see you around here! Your tenacity at sticking with The Light of Eight for as long as you have is admirable! Seriously, I don't know if I could do it hah. One thing I am always curious about is...how did you know that this was the story you wanted to stick with? Have you ever felt stuck within it or run into a metaphorical wall that has you questioning whether or not it's the story you're meant to carry on with? Asking for a friend. Hi, it's me. I'm the friend. Anyway, I have scraped plenty of projects myself after getting stuck, so I guess I'm just curious about how you figure that out for yourself (hopefully that makes sense hah). Since this story is not on the archives, do you seek out peer feedback for The Light of Eight in other ways? I always feel like writing OF can be a lonely process, especially if you aren't sharing pieces of writing with anyone, so I was wondering if this story is just accessible for your pleasure at the moment, how do you combat the loneliness? Are there multiple POVs planned in the series? Or will all the books be told from Zen and/or Zyles POV? Are you a planner, pantser, or plantser? I know some people draw maps or use visual references from Pinterest and/or take from already existing works for their world building process. Can you share one thing about your world building process? I look forward to hearing more about The Light of Eight! Happy NaNo! Courtney Hello Courtney! Aww thank you so much for kind words and yeah, real life has been great at keeping me away from here so I’m able to stick around for Nanowrimos or try to whenever I don’t feel constantly overwhelmed! Still, working on trying to be on here, surely but slowly though! Thank you so much and glad that you think so! Perseverance is key or for me that’s how I get by in life especially in difficult situations, not always, but often. Writing is no exception! Ooh great question! It’s honestly kind of difficult without going too much into a lengthy ramble so I’ll try and make it short and swift but it was due to me being heavily inspired by C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series as well as Harry Potter, one of my favorite video games called Kingdom Hearts, several anime shows that I watched where I was in awe of the superpowers and or magical powers several of the shows had as well as being drawn to the characters themselves, wanting to share this story to the world no matter the reaction that I would get whether it’s negative or positive, and my faith. Without my faith, in all honesty, I wouldn’t be able to keep going on my dreams of writing. There are definitely times where I’ve gotten stuck or ran into the wall metaphorically seeing as I had some unique ideas or things that made me stop and ask: “Would this be okay to write?” and “How much are people willing to believe this can happen?” and truly had to ask myself questions of whether it was plausible to add some elements of the story in or not. More than anything, I have so many ideas that went into this so that’s one thing that made it easier to keep going. Another is the worldbuilding in this, as mentioned earlier, is massive, that I have to do research and still am doing so to this day. 😅 I still carry on because I have prayed about this as well as feel good in a sense that I have ideas for this more than any of my other works as well as this strange ability to keep writing in what I admittedly deem as garbage for now but with the hope that in the editing process that everything will make sense when it hopefully gets to the final draft. Oh, and of course as mentioned earlier: perseverance is key! Hope that helps answer your question! 😄 There’s been stories that I had to scrape from getting stuck on it so I definitely get what you mean. It actually is damper when that happens and if you love the idea. Personally, for me, it was a matter of contemplating the importance of the story as well as the reason for wanting to write it is how I was able to make the final decision of sticking to the story itself no matter what. This story has the most potential out of my story so there’s also that! It does make sense, yes! I’m not comfortable with sharing my writing for reasons of fearing that it can be plagiarized alongside feeling like I’ll need to have several drafts before I get to the final draft, I still do plan on having feedback although it will probably start with close friends in real life or online and my family members especially my dad who is a huge supporter of my writing and has been one of the few people who knows how most of the story will go. He is also great with giving critique as far as grammar and punctuation goes as well so I would start with him and then work on getting a few of my friends in real life afterwards. I do plan to share it with other people, especially fellow online friends who are writers even though it will take some time. Come again, I do want to correct myself and mention that I sent an e-mail to a real-life friend back in high school and she, apart from my dad, has seen my earlier drafts but other than that, I have been going back to keeping it to myself. Anyway, I still plan to get some feedback from other close friends and or family before I decide to share with others. I admit there’s a part of me that also has plans to share with friends online and made an event to share at least the first five chapters of it but am still working on planning that event. As mentioned earlier, I actually shared the first few chapters with a real-life friend and my dad who both liked it in spite of my grammar and punctuation needing massive improvement. There are definitely things that I definitely plan to work on editing once Jul Nano is over, so yes, it will only be accessible for me before I decide to share it with anybody else. It can be a lonely process for now, yes, but I feel that I want to at least get it all written down, no matter how much editing is going to be needed, before I make it accessible for others. I admit to having questions that need to be answered, yes, but I ask them either if I’m finished writing it or if I know that I can’t wait for it to be answered! I actually tackle the loneliness of not sharing the work by just trying to remind myself that I have to get it written down but also that I will get to share it with others if and when I do. 😅 The books are mostly planned to be told from both Zen’s and Zyle’s POV with them alternating but in third person omniscient rather than first person as I feel that it’s personally the best way to go about narrating this story. I admit to toying with the idea of writing at least three more characters and their POVs but it will probably be later in the series and if it does go well in a sense that it makes sense to the story. We shall see as time goes on! Hmm… originally, I would have said panster since that’s how I usually started writing or at least for Camp Nanowrimo but nowadays, I would say that I’m a planster! I may not use outlines as much as other writers do but I still try and plan out the story as it helps me to keep going as I’m writing or have a guide on where to go next for when I’m stuck! Admittedly, I’ll also stray away from things that are pre-planned if and when a better and improved new idea strikes so I write what the idea is down and go back to add it in the story later. That’s a really great question though! Yes, I normally use Pinterest for my dreamcast of characters for other works (or sometimes who I imagine as the cast of the characters in a book that I’m reading if that makes any sense) or would draw a map for any of the projects I'm working on as most writers often do. However, I’m also a visual person so I often try to draw things in regard to ideas of anything in the world whether it’s the character wearing their school uniforms or a creature like dragons and fairies (which I have in my series and can reveal that) and see how I can make them different from, say, a regular or common variation of what this world sees when they imagined it. I know there are different ways to interpret, say, a drawing of a creature or humans but when I do worldbuild, I look at it in a way that is hard to explain in articulate words. The best way I can explain is to imagine what I want to change in the design or go in a different direction from another example that I have seen on Google searches or artists work on art sites and whatnot. It also helps me worldbuild in a fun and creative way even though it's not conventional seeing as I’m doodling from the ideas and if not ideas that's already existent but then words or things that I want to focus on such as the politics, religions, or educational systems while using the key words or any other ideas for what I tend to associate it with and going from there rather than simply writing it down as that will come later. I also go back to look at the drawings so I can type up ideas or work on them as I write the actual novel, especially the descriptions of what’s happening, the characters, or the scenery. I also sometimes do take inspiration from anime as this series is heavily inspired by several of the ones that I watch or others I have seen a few episodes of and write them down and see how I can make it distinctive yet also unique! Does that make sense? Thank you for stopping by, Courtney! I hope the rest of Camp goes well for you too! 💛 On 7/7/2023 at 10:59 PM, Oregonian said: Hi, Diana. You have always been so encouraging of us all during the NaNo months, and it is exciting to read about your ongoing projects. You have so many ideas that for you, whittling down the list to "only" 3 projects is impressive to someone like me who works actively on one story at a time. I am struck by what you say about Harry Potter: Come What May, that it has a special place in your heart and is the HP story that you most want to share. Perhaps its importance to you is the reason it keeps growing and blooming in your mind -- a good reason to keep working on it as it grows into what it was destined to be. I loved what you said: "The new changes and additions to the story have truly been a wonderful motivator to keep on going with this journey, and I truly cannot wait to start writing as much as I can." I sincerely hope that you can find the time to write as much as you want without having your days completely filled with work, chores, obligations, entertaining out-of-town visitors, and so on. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hey again Vicki! Thank you for dropping by and commenting about Come What May as well! I definitely still have a goal of at least getting a chapter or two hopefully on the Archives eventually! I feel so bad that I’ve had a few people still waiting for it mostly due to a combination of differing factors but the major ones are dealing with the real life, self-doubts, worrying about writing canon characters (which I’ll explain in a bit), perfectionist editor in me trying to correct every single thing in a draft, and figuring out the answers to the questions that will be evoked if and when this story does get posted. Confession time but I do want to be honest and say that the stories that I read on the archives such as Chiara’s ( shoutout to @Felpata_Lupin) Jimmy Portman series or yours: The Crofter and The Snake (which I'm still working on the review for) as some of the examples have motivated and inspired me to keep on writing my own story. Charlotte's story is one that still needs to be shared and trying to write this as an alternative universe while trying to remain true to canon has been a challenge. I guess that it’s because of it being an alternative universe is both what excites but terrifies me. I’m wanting to stray away from it being about Harry but also at the same time wanting him to be in it if that makes sense? I also hope to keep it blooming and growing seeing as the story changes massively from how it originally started! So funny thing is that Come What May originally was supposed to be a story about an original character (Charlotte in this case) and her being shipped with a Harry Potter character (and a minor character to be more specific) from the results of a poll that I posted during the good old Tumblr days back in 2010? It was either a tie between Seamus Finnegan or Fred Weasley but the latter won! Even so, things definitely changed considering the fact that the story is no longer going in that direction anymore. At least not this one--but doesn't mean that I'll have another story up my sleeves but am keeping that on the back burner for now because still have to focus on the three projects mentioned above for now! Anyway, getting back to the actual topic, there’s going to be questions about the events that may crop up when you first read it but I'm hoping as I keep writing this story that I’ll be able to figure out the ending as I go along with it. The focus for now is to mainly get it written down, edit the story, and then hopefully try and get it onto the archives! ;w; I should mention that I struggle immensely with trying to write canon characters considering that while I may have got down their personalities in my head although when I do try to execute it in writing, well, it somehow it ends up either not sounding like them or I’m relying too much on my own headcanons of who I think they're like and at times it just doesn't feel right. They deserve to be written with care and attention and sometimes I don't know if I'm writing them in that way. There are many questions that I would like to ask those who wrote stories with canon characters in terms of help with it. The only problem with asking others these questions is more of feeling like I have more questions than one could probably handle. 😅The questions, however, is more of thinking between the lines of “What is something this character would not say, do, etc.” or “How would that character react to this, that, or something happening?” which is something I’m heavily considering as I write the scenes with them in the story. Ahhh thank you and it’s no lie that the new changes and additions to the story have been truly a blessing for me when writing Come What May given how the original draft was a complete fiasco in that I had no idea what I wanted to do with the characters or the plot itself to the point that I had to scrap whatever I originally wanted away and accept the changes that were immensely needed to make it hopefully improved and better. There was actually the matter of my characters actually helping me run their story in where one wanted me to switch Hogwarts Houses while another was adamant on not having a romantic interest, so it’s been pretty great to know where to go with them especially if they’re making it known whose journey that I’m writing! There are days where I haven’t written as much as I have been hoping to but still charging through despite those few days of struggle with everything in my head that tries to tell me otherwise or being distracted by my phone which I’m putting to the side and telling myself not to look at it until I get the words down on paper. I also hope that your writing journey is also going wonderfully and if not, that you’re still able to push through or get at least some words down! Thank you again for dropping by with your wonderful and kind words, encouragement, and motivation as it’s always very much appreciated! ❤️ Whew! I think that's everything that I have answered so far up to here! Sorry if it takes me forever considering how I like to take some time in my day to respond to things and it's hard when you've been getting overwhelmed by things happening or life trying to throw you a curveball but didn't want to flake out or make you guys feel like I'm ignoring you or anything--which I would never do on purpose by the way, but I digress! This is a pretty wordy update but again, thank you, thank you, and thank you to everybody who dropped by and or if you're reading this! I also hope that you guys are faring well and that your writing progress, journey, whatever term you want to use here, has been going steady or doing okay so far if not the greatest! Keep it up! Let's keep on charging until the end of July! We can do this! We got this! Yeahhh! *sends all the motivation, encouragement, and cheering your way* and if you're not in Camp, good luck with your writing too! ❤️ -Diana/Di 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goatspeed Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 19 minutes ago, starlitcastles said: Can I ask when you did stop writing for a while and put it aside, did you ever have thoughts about resuming your works? After writing fiction daily for several years, I stopped cold when I started law school. Why? Because law school, and later the practice of law, is all writing - it completely wrecked my ability to concentrate on creative material. I did pick things up several times over the years, but never got beyond reading a bit. When I retired last year I thought I might try again, and when I finished recovering from assorted health issues I found this site and a few folks who are willing to give encouragement when they read my stuff, so here I am. I never was very good at writing for myself - I need to be a show-off, cause of being Gryffindor all the way. 27 minutes ago, starlitcastles said: I actually still have an email that I sent to a real life friend of the first drafts of the two chapters and a collection of notebooks where I poured all my ideas, plans, and other chapters written that was enough to type it up for this Camp so that’s the bright side of it! Yes, that's always fun. I have two complete manuscripts in hand-written drafts from the 1970s - one of them was even typed for me on a manual Olympic typewriter with a bent "T" key. That typed manuscript got mailed and returned to and from several publishers! The invention of word processors was tremendous, wasn't it? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixileanin Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Hi Di! It was so fun reading about your mid-month progress and your thoughts about these cool projects! I'll keep cheering you on for the second half of July NaNo! Happy Writing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlitcastles Posted August 25, 2023 Author Share Posted August 25, 2023 (edited) On 1/4/2020 at 11:57 AM, Felpata_Lupin said: Hi, Anni, lovely! I'm here for your wishlist! Hope you had a great holiday season! Okay, questions... I just r&r Beyond the tree and I would like to know... will you ever write more about Jenny and the answers she found? Is there anything you would like to share about her story/character that doesn't come up in the drabble? What do you enjoy writing more between OF and fanfic and why? I'm very excited about Come what may How's the writing of it going? Can you share a little detail with us? You said in your wishlist that you like colours... which is your favourite? Which HP character do you relate to the most? What about characters in other fandoms? Hope you'll have fun replying to these! Hey Chiara! I'm so sorry this is later than usual and what about 2 years? Welp! But am not finally getting around to responding to your questions! Hope you enjoy reading the responses if and when you can or have the time! Thank you so much for your questions for my wishlists as I definitely enjoyed answering them! ❤️ 1. When I had typed up Beyond The Tree, it was nearing the deadline for the event and the drabble came at the last minute seeing that it was actually Halloween when I typed it and all I can remember thinking is: "I want to make this fun and slightly intriguing but nothing else." and when I submitted it, it was honestly my intent to solely get something written and do my very best. So, during that moment, I didn't have anything regarding Jenny and her siblings story as it came at the last minute. If I do, however, I'll definitely let you guys know! As of now, nothing so far as I've been preoccupied by starting work and other things happening in my life! I'm glad that you did like Jenny's story though! If I truly come up with anything beyond that, no pun intended by the way, then I hope to write more of it, yes. For now, it was always meant to be a short story. It could be expanded, yes but at the moment, I don't plan to do so. Jenny's came randomly from a member who shares the same name as her but it's with an i rather than a y. I also had her siblings named Lisa (who's also a Blackpink member and Thai so yay! <3), Mark (after one of the NCT members), and Chris (aka Bangchan from this group called Stray Kids) but the names were just inspiration and for fun! Not truly inspired after them but more so, just have the names, so if anybody who loved kpop read it, they would get it. But that actually changed since I didn't expand the story and I hadn't mentioned their names. If I do write anything else regarding Jenny then I'll probably write her siblings too just because it'd be fun and it'll be a short story and I don't know if it's related or not related to this specific story. Also I'm open to anybody wanting to expand it though as I do have some of the lore. As for the lore, I only had to think about the name of Oracle Woods and then just things about magic and Halloween because it was Halloween then and the rest was history. But otherwise, getting to the point: no, not at the moment in terms of writing! Great question by the way! 2. Original Fiction! I feel that I'm horrible with getting accurate. I still like writing fanfiction as you already have the characters, setting, and know most of the plot from the existing world and get to expand, add, omit, and or change it in a way that usually wouldn't get you into trouble unless you downright plagiarize it! I realize that many people struggle with original fiction, myself included, but there's something personal, thrilling, and wonderful in regards to painting, crafting, and making the world--yours in a sense as well as your characters. People can't truly critique your character as far as accuracy goes--and what I mean is that, the character is not expected to act, say, or do this or that like in the original source material because it's yours and yours alone. I mean talking about this original character-wise. That's not to say that I'm saying that you shouldn't write a BIPOC characters in a way that's based off stereotypes or inaccurate depictions about them, if that makes sense? More so, in the context of the character being your own, and not another person in that aspect. Hope this makes sense! Original fiction, as challenging as it is, feels like a fun sandbox and hence why I prefer it to fanfiction! Of course, I'm always open to writing fanfiction and reading it! I just prefer original fiction because it's comes from the person themselves and it's not always about people's expectations in that regard. Again, I hope that answer made sense! ;w; 3. Come What May has been a very tumultuous ride if one has to describe it seeing as I've been going back from writing a rough draft to the planning stages. I've had about more than just one rough draft of the story and even since the beginning whether it was for the main character: Charlotte to meet a random wizarding world family whose last name was Courtley but changed to Ingham or even her last name had changed. Sure, there's the similar premise of her going to the Wizarding World, and it's still the same, as well as her, being a fan of the book series. However, there's character changes, plot changes, and things I found myself omitting, replacing, and or creating entirely. I do like earlier ideas of her interacting with the canon characters but also trying to make a story for her while interacting with the canon story is also a fun yet challenging task that I've had to deal with when trying to write this story/fanfic. I feel the rewrite is going to be far better than the original in the sense that I can expand on Charlotte as original character while also trying to stick to what made me love the Harry Potter series while growing up from my childhood to early adulthood, well, to now. I feel that I want the protagonists to be apart of Charlotte's life but also have her own story in a way that makes sense. What I can share for now is that Charlotte's story, hopefully, will be more truer to her as a character and while she's going to be in the same timeline as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, there's more to her story than I want to give away. So if you're coming in, thinking that she's going to meet the Golden Trio and experience the events of the Wizarding World but as you read on, there will be deviations that you'll notice especially the plot's route and hopefully, her as a character as well! Hope that answers your question! 4. I love orange, purple, green, pink, blue, and definitely gold, silver, and black! But orange and purple are my top two favorites! Orange--I love how it's exciting for me and screams: vibrant but not too vibrant in a sense! I know it's bright for many people but I could argue that yellow is brighter. (Sorry to anybody who loves Yellow). I love orange because it's just a color that gives me positive vibes! Also pumpkins are orange--and we're coming close to fall so there's autumn leaves too! Oh, and guess what else is orange? Camp Half-Blood T-shirt! Green comes very close since I always loved it and uh, it's my BTS' bias' favorite color but actually I loved how calming the color is in actuality! Oh, and I definitely fell for the color pink over time although I was in denial about it at first! So if and when I see Barbie which I haven't yet then I'll be wearing pink even if it's at home ehehe! 5. I would say that I can relate to more than one because it's actually true I do! I'm going to need a blog entry to describe more in depth of how I relate to many of them, but I'll try and give you the characters I relate to and short reasons why as to not take up all the answers. I'll start with most to least and only ones that I can say for sure is relatable to me for sure. Harry Potter: Yes, I know he's the main and titular character of the series but hear me out: Order of The Phoenix remains to be one of my favorite books alongside The Deathly Hallows and The Half-Blood Prince because Harry...oh gosh...most people hated Harry yelling and being what they called: "emo" but at that time, I understood his loneliness, the pain he was going through, and feeling like his friends didn't care about him, or why he was treated the way he was and guess what? I felt seen, heard, and even understood in a way that is so hard to explain anybody who is not or has been in the same situation as Harry's like imagining having to share a mind with the villain of the series, dealing with a Professor who's punishing him in a cruel and unethical way and in a way, if you think about it, is a victim of her abuse, and also somebody whom I think he relied on or would for help at 15 years old and not being able to have that while he's going through alot is brutal. This is one of the reasons I don't like Dumbledore. He's got alot of reasons to feel what he needs to feel. Maybe there are people who deal with what he's dealt with even if it's not that accurate or similar or anything like that or exactly but still close to it. His bottled-up feelings, the pent-up rage, the anger he has, him having to lose somebody who was close to him, and just...so many other things...I felt that. I mean, not at the first few reading of the book but over the years when I reread Order of The Phoenix. I can relate to alot of what he went through. In different ways. Feeling isolated during summers and having to be upset with friends because they've let me down that way or made me feel as if they didn't care about me. He's also gone through trauma. He and I both also wear glasses even though his is more circular, we both have dark hair (but arguably mine is dark brown in the sunlight), and he's not the most talkative person. I'm not the most talkative person if you meet me in real life unless we're super close and I can relate to Harry in that sense. I can understand Harry not talking as much as say, Ron. He was also an orphan (and guess what? I was too) but unlike him, I was fortunate enough to be in a loving home as opposed to being with family members who didn't want me around. That's not to say that I don't understand how he felt, I did in some ways but with other people. I guess that I can relate to him in that way is what I'm getting at. Oh, and like Harry, I wasn't the brightest student even if I did do well in classes but nothing like Hermione or anything on that level. Neville Longbottom: I always felt like I could relate to Neville's insecurity since I always struggled with it while being school all the way college and even now. Having social anxiety and struggling to speak up as well as having fears and many things, I found myself relating to him as I recall having a teacher or somebody I recall being scared of or trying not to fail in front of or try to do everything I could to please the other person and so forth. I also could relate to his Luna Lovegood: We're both unique, eccentric, and placed in Ravenclaw. People finds us odd, weird, and strange. We don't have many friends (or at least she didn't have many at the start). We both believe in things that people can't see and or have tendency to believe in things that people don't think exist or find it too....out there or weird if that makes sense? I also sound like Evanna Lynch in real life according to some of my friends and if there had to be somebody doing a fandub (basically fans who make dubs of the media mostly video games to animated movies and shows, kind of like a voice over/voice talent) of Luna, I'd be a perfect candidate for it or so my friends tell me. ;w; Most ironic thing? I look physically nothing like her! Ron Weasley: We're both afraid of spiders, we can get jealous of or more accurately: have been jealous our friends (but for me, it's not always often and if I do, I try to be mature about it and question it), we both wore hand-me-downs, our family hasn't been the riches (although I will say, mine is fortunate so it's debatable), I have a sibling (even if he has more than me), and we're both loyal friends if we're close or best friends to somebody. Ron is almost like me in a sense but also not like me in a sense. I definitely don't have red hair or freckles and am not a boy. I feel there's more and I'm so sorry if I haven't listed it. I recall reading the first three books and thinking that we'd be friends. Dean Thomas: He's not a major character yet I wish he was because I love that he's been, for the most part, a good friend to Harry. I think we both can draw and how loyal we can be to our friends. If I existed in the same world as Harry, I try to be on Harry's side but otherwise he's a loyal friend for the most part. I feel that I'm actually like Dean in some people's lives in a sense that they're the main characters in the story of their own and I'm like Dean who's there and whatnot. Does that make sense? Of course that's me thinking deeply on things. Oh, and I was the person of color in my group of friends so there's also that so can relate to Dean in that sense. Voldemort (Tom Riddle): Most people are surprised to see that he would be on this list but I have my reason for putting him on the list even if it's like one thing that he and I can relate to. One thing about me is that I tend to like anti-heroes as well as villains even if I don't always agree or condone their actions. I feel that's the case with me and Tom Riddle/Voldemort. I think one thing I can find myself relating to him is that we're both raised in an orphanage that we both didn't like. We also hate the orphanage itself. I actually wrote a very rough draft of his short time in the orphanage or something like that just solely focusing on my headcanons about what it would of have been like for him. Still working on researching the orphanage. He's actually one of my favorite villains because of it aside from the writing of his character. As an adoptee, I always try to find a character who's not just an orphan but one who I can connect to and in a strange way, even if I don't agree with him or anything he does, we can agree that we both don't like the orphanage. As for other characters....I have many....uh....let's see, I'll try and think of the three in my mind: Anne Bounchuy from Disney's Amphibia: So the girl in my icon, yes, that's her. Anne Bounchuy. She's the protagonist in this awesome animated show from Disney called Amphibia and it's one of the best as well if you ever do check it out--it's quirky, weird, but also fun and great in its own way! The first thing I should mention is that as somebody who is Thai American who adopted from Thailand and growing up in America, seeing Anne (and Molly McGee) makes me feel seen because she's also Thai American like me! thank Mat Braly everyday for the show and her! I'm definitely working on finishing the show as it's done and writing a letter to him. Anne and I are similar in that I can relate to her positive and negative traits. For example, I can be stubborn, I've had bad friends and done slightly bad things, and admittedly selfish at times and still constantly working to not be. The positives are that she's determined and I'm the same way too! Other ways I can relate to her positively is that she's kindhearted and compassionate and am still working on that. We also both have similar interests or like reading manga, romantic young adult novels, eating pasta, being on our phone alot (which I am guilty of doing if something like a mobile game or an app takes my time), and watching cat videos. I definitely can relate to being Thai American like Anne and having a few Thai traditions and while I need to work on re-learning to speak Thai fluently again as well as trying to get back into my Thai roots, am always going to mention her and say: "I wish I had a character like her growing up as a child." but I digress! Oh, and sure there's differences but I definitely am happy to name her as a character that I can relate to! Percy Jackson: While I may not struggle with dyslexia, I do have ADHD like he does and I can see there are times in the story. In The Sea of The Monsters, he doesn't kill Polyphemus in spite of what's happenin even though he could and that's something that would be like me as well. I don't kill unless it's for self defense or in that situation. I can also relate to being loyal to my friends that way he is with his. I also don't give up and or hate giving up and would probably be persistent in not knowing or maybe knowing when to quit but not wanting to. I try not to give up or quit unless I seriously or truly have to but that doesn't mean that I have had my fair share of unhealthy moments where I don't give up or haven't given up. Like Percy in a situation, I would do everything I can if needed to and could to not give up so easily. Sure, I have times where I start something and tell myself that I'll come back to it but for the most part, it's like: "Go, go, go, don't give up! Come on! We got this!" and yeah. (Hint: my 8 novel series protagonist, Zen is alot like Percy in that regard because guess what? Her author is that way as well). Another thing I can relate to him is that we both have dark hair. Oh, and I'm not humorous as Percy but I can definitely relate to using sarcasm or being sarcastic if and when I need to be or am around people that, well annoy me immensely. But I still use sarcasm as well as am sarcastic at times. I can also be oblivious about things at times. Yes, I'm observant but I'm also oblivious so I can relate to Percy in that sense. Eleven/Jane Hopper from Stranger Things: Without the whole superpowers aspect and being used for a government lab project or something like that, there were many things in season 1 that reminded me of the time I had in the orphanage that I grew up in and I guess I felt that Eleven resonated with me deeply as character. I feel like we were in a place that we struggled or grew up with that caused us trauma. On the brighter note, I feel Eleven and I could relate in that we're both loyal to those we love and or close to, we can be independent, and like Eleven, I often don't give up on things or people for the most part. I feel that we differ in other ways but I also see that El. I know that I may like Nancy, Eddie Munson, and Mike Wheeler a lot but Eleven is the character I can relate to. She, like me, is also adopted as well and while she may not know her birth mother directly, still loves her and I'm the same way in that regard. On 4/30/2020 at 6:28 PM, just.a.willow.tree said: Hi hi, Anni! I have some questions for you! 1. Looking through your WJ so far, it looks like you've thought of so many in-depth, ambitious story ideas -- I'm so envious! Currently, what is the story you are most focused on, and why? How much of it have you drafted? 2. You mentioned listening to a playlist! Do you make writing playlists for every story you work on? Could you give examples of some songs that you associate with a particular project? 3. What is your writing process like? Are you a planner or a winging-it-er? 4. Will we see any of your OF pieces on the archives? I would love to read some of your longer works! 5. All your short stories sound amazing and sweet and touching and sad. In particular, I'm fond of the pinwheel story's idea. How do you come up with such a lovely concept? What inspires you? Hi Eva! *hugs* I wanted to apologize for the fact that my response to these questions have been way later than expected or when this was posted admittedly, since I wanted to try and take some time to sit down, really go through these set of questions, and not just answer them without putting any thought into them. Sadly, there have been so many things that have prevented me from doing so yet have been trying to get to it albeit slowly. However, am finally getting around to responding to your questions and pushing aside some time to answer them! Thank you so much for the questions! ❤️ 1. Yes, I have so many ideas that always seem to sprout within the depths of my mind that it does become overwhelming to the point where I have to try and write them down somewhere and not think about it for a while. That, or make it a point to try and keep them organized and not cluttering with other things on my mind and that’s not easy to deal with at times. I, however, find that I’m trying to use journals and note taking apps to help me organize my thoughts and dilemmas. That, and it makes my journal and or notebook buying habit more useful. ;; Still, I am hoping to fill up more journals though since I only have very few note taking apps and I want to make it a habit to write more in the unused journals and or notebooks that I have scattered in my room. Currently the stories that I’m wanting to write andt trying to get back to focusing are: The Light of Eight, When Nothing Cried, Come What May, and several other projects not discussed as much as well as some short stories as far as the main writing projects goes! There’s also a newer story called Chaos Nine which I hope to expand upon later on. I’m currently trying to put hiatuses and or not work on smaller stories that require my attention as it can be overwhelming. I will, however, try to write them, if I do end up stumbling on Writer’s Block or need to pause on the longer stories for research purposes or anything else that deems me to do so if that makes sense. For the story that I’m most focused on currently then I’ll say for now: Chaos Nine, Chaos Nine, and getting back into the Light of Eight and the Unity of Seventh yet due to events of 2019 as well as last year’s pandemic, I’ve decided to put a hiatus on most of my works and haven’t written as much as I hoped to which actually has been a hinder to me not only in terms of writing skill but spirit. Despite this, I’m hoping to try and pick myself back up, getting into writing, and just slowly try and work on the stories I want to tell. 2. Yes! I have this habit of making playlists for my stories and while it mostly will have EDM, kpop, and or soundtrack music in it, I’ll also try to add other music from genres that I normally don’t listen to as much or quite often as I do with other artists. To answer your second question, I will try to make a playlist for the stories I have yet not all of them get a properly finished and or filled playlist due to reasons of me either not continuing on with the story itself or adding more songs onto the playlists or sometimes both! As for your question regarding writing playlists for every story that I’m working on, I actually have three separate playlists for three of my original characters from my Harry Potter fanfiction: Come What May. Charlotte, Vanessa, and Hubert. While they all have different music tastes, admittedly Vanessa and Charlotte both have similar taste as they both like pop and hiphop and there’s artists like J.Cole and Ellie Goulding on their playlist. Meanwhile, their friend, Hubert, on the other hand, has classic rock such like The Who and Queen and while I’m not a huge fan per se, the thing I try to do with my playlist like writing the story is to imagine him being the one listening to it when I write his character. I also have a separate playlist of the soundtrack for the first three Harry Potter video games that is composed by the wonderful Jeremy Soule to also help me get in the mood to write Come What May and it just helps me immerse myself into the Wizarding world. I love the movie soundtracks too yet I feel the video game feels more suited for the story but that’s just a personal preference if that makes sense. Also to answer your question about examples of songs being associated with my stories, I do have some, yes. One example is this song called Moonchild by RM from BTS and it’s from his mixtape called Mono. The song works well for one of my projects: Chimera’s Light as it has themes regarding the moon as my main protagonist: Kit is from a place where they worship the two moons and have the moon as part of their faith and beliefs and regarded as a deity in a sense. I also love the track itself as the lyrics and chorus somehow helps with only getting into the story’s tone and or theme but also the character too! 3. I'm definitely more of wing-er and or pantser often times since I like to write but ever since I started writing for Camp Nanowrimo, I decided to work on trying to plot more as it helps me not only organize my ideas but also know where I am in the story, what to do in each scenes that I either have drafted earlier or would want to change, replace, and or omit. I feel that I'm still a panster/wing-er so I guess I will go with the answer in that I am a planster since I want to do or seem to start doing both as it makes writing or at least getting the planning somewhat easier and prepare for Nanowrimo/Camp Nanowrimo/any time I want to write a story or get started on a project! 4. You'll definitely see more of my original fiction hopefully soon! I admit that ever since Camp Nanowrimo ended for me in July, I haven't written as much as I should and gotten in the bad habit of writing for a roleplay or trying to get back into journaling but actual writing? No, not really. I will try and work on organizing the stories that I want to commit or work on most as I actually need to do so again! There's also a debate with participating in Nanowrimo in November despite having to deal with work and other things in life! I am hoping to edit my previously written short stories that I wrote for my college's Creative Writing course onto the Archives first and then followed by other works as that's still a goal one of mine! How soon though? Hopefully soon. If not, I can't promise anything but will promise that I will try and do my hardest to hopefully getting onto the Archives! As for the novels, that depends on which as I still am hoping to share The Light of Eight with people but not the on Archives. I'm hoping to maybe work on some other ones that I have planned onto here though! We shall see for now though! Thanks for asking though! 5. Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you think so! As for that story and what inspires me, I always wanted to write a story about one of the Unity of the Seventh (or the Sept 7)’s protagonist, Nathan, who is one of my favorite characters to create and his story about friendships and how his went downhill and his memories regarding it and tie it back to how it affected him now and what it reminded him of. It’s a story about friendship but one that is bittersweet if that makes sense? For me, I’m inspired by many friendships that are one sided, broken, and or when the other person decides to be flaky, spare my feelings, or just don’t like me anymore, and of course, having trouble maintaining friendships. I always told myself that pain can be written. It’s one of the ways I’ve vented about the past friendships as well as friendships that hurts me. I know for a fact that I’m not alone so I truly hope to publish this and hope people can either relate, resonate, and or just find Nathan’s story of friendship which does involve the Pinwheel to be something in their life even if it’s not 100% or always the case! As for inspiration for my other stories, well that depends on the story that you want to know about and I’ll probably be rambling longer if I tell you and only answering to the Pinwheel story one for now! On 7/2/2020 at 9:39 AM, VaguelyCreativeName said: omg these are so many cool ideas!! I'm particularly intrigued by Inspired by Sender, I love the intertextuality and metafiction of it! I think it could be super fun to feature those writer's block scenes (and maybe a got way to work off frustrations if you ever get stuck on your other works :P)! I also love the secret notes and post-its aspect of it, especially that you've hinted that those notes/their writer might not necessarily be too trustworthy! If you think about it, receiving notes from an anonymous stranger definitely has a creepy vibe to it, but I don't think I've ever really seen that addressed, so I'd be super interested to her more about that! I also have a few more general questions! You said that a lot of your writing is inspired by your favourite bands and musicians, are there any songs/artists in particular that you connect to? Do you usually listen to music while you're writing? Also, do you plan on posting any of your work? Good Luck with JulNo ❤️ Hello! Thank you so much for your interest in Return To Sender as well as your comment about it being meta fiction considering that I actually hadn't thought of it like that until now. Come again, I might have had a sense that it was that but not that exact word if that makes sense? As for somebody leaving post-it as well as anonymous secret notes--it definitely can be viewed as creepy now that I think about it considering the person has no idea who's writing to them or their intentions, yes. However, I was trying to do this from a secret admirer perspective, seeing as I wanted readers to figure out who the person behind it was and that there would be many possibilities and or guesses. I do think if I went with a mystery and or thriller route then I definitely would try and make it seem more creepier than it is. I just hope it doesn't come off too creepy or weird, otherwise I may have to try and rework some things. Then again, is a Secret Admirer even still a thing nowadays or are people off that boat? Just wondering! ;w; To answer your question about the playlists, I do connect alot with BTS and Madeon as they're not only the artists who helps fuel and keep engaging creativity and also inspire me to keep dreaming and writing but I love the former as people and who they are and the latter for his views on his music and artistry as well as several singers like Ellie Goulding, Lenka, and Elizeveta, and Taylor Swift although I feel that I have to work on finishing or getting caught up with her discography or songs that I haven't heard and that's a long story. I don't know if I connect to any artists as deeply as I do with BTS the most though. I have had so many artists mostly of the kpop and electronic music variety as well as pop that I like but not heavily into them if that makes sense? Like I can give you a list of whose music I listen to help me write or write a scene or two but not anything like I connect deeply with this artists or this group. Does that makes sense? Also I do like to listen to music when writing especially if I'm motivated, inspired, or just wanting to get things going! Good question! As for your last question, I plan on writing more short stories as well as posting my short stories onto here first if it's original fiction. I'll have to see which novels and longer-form stories I want to try and post on here as many of them, I have every intention of sharing with other readers but not in the Archives. I still want to share other ones but it does depend on the importance and if I was okay with sharing it or feel that way if that makes sense. There are stories I do want to keep locked in my head or to myself until I can get it published or looked at outside of here but do hope for other stories that can be posted onto here as well! As I mentioned earlier: we shall see! ;w; On 7/2/2020 at 11:48 AM, nott theodore said: Hi! You have so many exciting projects to work on that I couldn't resist stopping by with a few questions for you (I also completely understand the wariness about trying to do NaNo when other ~life things are getting in the way, so please feel free to drop me a message if you're ever needing encouragement! ❤️ ) 1. How do you find it managing multiple projects at once? Do you tend to rotate between them (and fic/OF), or just write whatever you're inspired to at the time? 2. Similarly, you write in quite a few different genres - do you find it difficult to keep the different worlds straight in your head? 3. The Light of Eight sounds absolutely fascinating - can you tell me a bit more about the villain? Is there anything specific which drove them to hate money and greed? 4. Do you have any music/playlists/stories etc. you're using to inspire you to write these stories? Good luck with NaNo - your projects really look amazing and I hope you find the time and motivation to write when you want to! On 12/22/2020 at 7:21 PM, Hawksquill said: Hi! Just scrolling through this, it's really interesting and inspiring how you've kept working on Come What May for so many years, including having the courage to start over, scrap major sections, etc. I've been working on the same fic on and off since 2016 and I know how hard it can be to keep working at it! 1) How do you know when it's time to scrap something (either a sentence, a chapter, or an entire fic)? Do you edit as you go, let things marinate for a long time before deciding, move all your cut scraps into a separate Word doc so you have them for later? 2) Is there a particular moment in Come What May that you're looking forward to writing the most? 3) Emblem also sounds so interesting! What's Marisa's relationship with Scorpius like? She seems resistant to being in Slytherin (or at least all the symbols that come with it), so how does she feel about a housemate who comes from THE ultimate Slytherin family? 4) How do you develop your OCs? Do you have a plot idea and then develop an OC that fits in, or do you start with a character and then build the plot around them? 5) Do you listen to anything (music, podcasts) while you write? Do you make playlists for different fics and stories? On 12/25/2020 at 9:26 AM, Felpata_Lupin said: Hello, my sweet Anni! I thought I'd stop by here as a little present for your wishlist! Before questions, I would just like to tell you once again how much I appreciate you! You are such a warm presence around here and your enthusiasm and positivity always make me smile! Never stop being your sweet, bright self, my dear! 💛 And now... questions! I saw your Tweets about getting back to working on Come What May and some new ideas you've had for that story (and planning to start posting it soon, yay! 🥳) Can you tell us something about one of the changes you are planning to make and what prompted it? You said you are a big fan of BTS, and I confess I'm a bit ignorant about them... what do you love most about them? What's your favourite song and why? Out of all your other projects (wow, you have so many, and they all sound so interesting!) which one is the most dear to your heart, if any? Since you've created so many fantastical settings and plots ("Chimera's Light" especially seems so complex and detailed), do you have any planning/worldbuilding hints to share? We all know you are (not so) secretly a Disney princess But which is your favourite Disney character and why? What's your favourite holiday tradition? Merry Christmas, lovely!!! On 7/19/2021 at 7:36 PM, prideofprewett said: Hi Di! Here with some questions for JulNo gift tag! You mentioned The Light of Eight was something you came up with when you were about 10...do you remember what the original inspiration was for it? Who were some authors and what were some books and/or media that influenced your love of writing? If you could only pick one ancillary "writing accessory for inspiration," would it be pinterest, playlists, or a notepad? What is your favorite thing about writing? Are you a mood writer or do you have a way you prioritize writing your different projects? What is one thing you discovered this month in your stories you were working on that you didn't know before? Favorite sentence you recently wrote? I hope your month of writing is going well! 💖 Hey Courtney! Thank you for the gift tag on here as it's always much appreciated! Onward to answering your questions: 1. Yes! Initially my inspiration for The Light of Eight was a various of things including a character named Rika Nonaka from Digimon Season 3 (which is an anime show that I love and still do to this day) or Digimon Tamers as it's actually known who was one of the biggest inspiration for my character: Zen at the time especially an appearance, having a fictional character named Marinny Baker and imagining him meeting Zen at a train station, an image of a tall girl riding motorcycle in the sky, and people going on an adventure in fantastical and different world than ours but also similar if that makes sense. Let's just say those few things along with many thoughts and inspirations from later years whether it's eight teenagers traveling from world to world or them wearing trenchcoats like the characters in the Matrix and you get pretty much what is known as The Light of Eight today. Hope this answers your question! 2. Truthfully, if I have to answer this question then I'll say the authors that inspired me are: J.K. Rowling (although this was years ago rather than today although I'm not going to lie that she's inspired me with the Harry Potter series so may say that her books inspire me as well or more so but putting her name just because it was the truth about twenty years ago), C.S. Lewis, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Tamora Pierce, and my writing birthday twin: J.R.R. Tolkien! I am guilty of not reading The Lords of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit yet, but I have plans to do so and read through The Chronicles of Narnia as I'm guilty of saying that I have read it only to realize that I read only one or two books in the series and seen the movies so far. As for books and media then I can safely say that I've been inspired by video games, movies, and about one or two shows or rather anime to be more accurate. Oh, and here's a list as well: The Chronicles of Narnia (book series but mostly The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe) Digimon (all the way to Frontier or Season 4 and it's an anime show). Pokémon (mostly the mainline games and some of the anime show). Kingdom Hearts (a video game that holds one of the biggest inspirations in writing and especially for The Light of Eight as well!) A Never Ending Story (the movie is pretty great and having rewatched it years ago made me realize there are things in the movie that I want to put in my 8 novel series) Star Wars (especially the original and prequel trilogy because you're in another realm and not relality! Also relates to different life on different planet so there's that too!) Harry Potter series (the books and some of the movies! Oh, and we have a fictional school like Hogwarts in this novel series soooo yeah.) Percy Jackson and The Olympians as well as Heroes of The Olympus (the books of course + characters + Greek mythology! Need I say more?) .hack//sign (an anime and the music is one of the things that helps inspire me in a way that's hard to explain but it feels like you're in a world that's not reality and that's how I want the world in The Light of Eight to feel, just like this anime and the soundtrack that accompanies it) Spirited Away (an anime/animated movie from Studio Ghibli and more so for the creatures and the music itself) Bleach (this anime that I stopped watching but still harbor a love for and will continue one day and some of it inspires me in that in the show they have a group of characters that are not exactly heroes but protectors to protect the lives of people who are dead or ghosts we call them from malevolent souls known as The Hollows who definitely gave me creeps and they also in turn helped inspire one of the villains I enjoy writing: Manifesto). Naruto (another anime show that I'm inspired by in some ways such as the ninja school and the characters!) Cardcaptor Sakura (another anime show I love and it's very cute! There's some inspiration from this show as well!) The Matrix (okay I will say it's the coats and not much of an inspiration as much as the look if you get what I mean). And that's quite a list I know but those are some of the biggest inspirations and have been wanting to list them for some time or have been when talking about this novel series so there you go! Oh, and they all influenced my love of writing in different ways that I'll have to one day find a way to answer this question properly. I will say the authors I listed have helped me in various of ways with their words of wisdom, advice, and what they have stated in interviews or what I've read of them! Seriously will have to get back in detail about that since I can go ages about that. I feel the anime shows, movies, and or TV and or streaming shows that I watch all inspired me to write my story in different ways but will say that nonetheless they also have influenced me as a writer because I want my stories to be meaningful, profound, and exciting as the way they kept me engaged. Oh, and I love characters so any characters that I loved, I wanted to write either something similar to what they wrote or create characters inspired or influenced by them. If not, just have names as a reference to that. Does that make sense? 3. This is such a hard question as I would love to fill out the notepad, have spent hours on, and love, love, love listening to the music especially the ones on that of the playlists I make! 4. Ooh that's such a difficult question or at least it was at first but now that I think about it...I would say that it's crafting the characters and writing about them as well as how they are in life to their journey in the story! I always liked and am a character-driven type of fan! I'm still learning but do hope to write characters that fascinate me as I was fascinated by other people's characters. It's a dream in that way as well! ;w; ❤️ 5. Truthfully, I've been a mood writer for most of my life as I would often swing from stories to stories based on my mood which can have its ups and downs. Ups, you're able to write what you want to write and continue anything that is needed or write away as you pleased. The downside? If you needed to write other stories or time away that could either lead to burn out or not giving the story enough attention that is needed. As of now, I'm slowly learning to prioritize my writing based on the significance and reasoning behind writing it rather than using the moods that I have for it. I would only switch from one story to another one if I was able to think up a scene, character, or detail that needs to be written in another story and so forth or if I needed to spend time on my other story and wasn't focusing on that. Otherwise, I try to focus on the story that holds great importance for now. 6. To Be Answered 7. Here's something from The Light of Eight in one of the many scenes of the series and won't say which but still a scene: "Within seconds, the red-orange flames started to dance around her fingers before it started to latch tediously onto her arms and soon it had begun to engulf throughout her entire body." Honestly, that's the only thing I'll ever share from it in regard to the actual story. Otherwise, I'm going to be very tight-lipped apart from what I want to reveal of this novel series. Thank you again for these questions! Hey, hi hello, hello to anybody who reads my Writer's Journal or knows that I owe them a response or two! I'm FINALLY setting down some time to or getting around finally answering questions even though it's been 2-3 years since I've done so mostly due to distractions, life, and trying to compose answers yet not being able to complete them so I made it easier for me to answer the past questions from past Camp Nanowrimo, Nanowrimo, or gifts for events mostly ones pertaining to the holidays and so forth! With that in mind, you don't have to read every single answer to questions I'm answering but if you do read my response to yours: a fair warning: I'm going to be wordy as much as I can because rambling and these questions are going to have me ramble more than I usually do! Thank you to everybody and anybody who asked me questions and am so sorry for the super late response! It's very much appreciated and have wanted to get back to answering these questions! ;w; EDIT: If you don't see any answers to your questions, I had meant to originally respond to them one by one but somehow while I was typing them, my keyboard that I'm getting used to that I got months ago, I accidentally pressed enter. The answers will be appearing once I answer the questions so please forgive me if it seems like I haven't or didn't answer your questions! Am working on it, have done so and haven't copied and pasted, and so forth! Thank you for your understanding and patience if you do see this! Again, thank you for the WJ questions and am so sorry about this mishap! ;w; ❤️ Edited April 9 by starlitcastles Okay somehow I pressed the 'Enter' button on my keyboard before I was done and haven't been able to answer any questions so my bad! I am editting this to respond to the questions! Thank you if you're seeing this and giving me the chance to do so! ;w; 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlitcastles Posted December 5, 2023 Author Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) As somebody who's not very enthusiastic about being in the cold outside considering that I come from a warm country (unless I'm with somebody who insists on having me outdoors with them), I'll probably be remaining indoors watching the snow fall while also trying to gain all the warmth that I need with cozy blankets and being situated near the fireplace trying to enjoy a good read and sipping peppermint hot cocoa and always up for having company and sharing stories of fantastical winter adventures as well! So, if you’re needing to escape the cold weather for some time then feel free to join me for much warmth and great stories! Another year for wishlists and while I may not have made one last year due to wanting to try and gift more than receiving, decided to make one to join in the festivities and more importantly: am hoping to fulfill as many wishlists as I can! Definitely looking forward to a season of much warmth, happiness, and gift giving! 💚❤️🎁✨ My Wishlist: Reviews (but not really mine unless you want to): Anything on the archives is fine! She says this as she’s only got one piece of a miniscule work on the Archives. Hopefully if I don’t have anything else then I'll probably surprise you all and get a short story from the past that is edited or something else on there. If not, then: one day that will change, one day! If the current short story doesn’t interest you then please feel free to review another person who has 0 reviews and or has a story or two they want you to review and feel free to tell me that you reviewed them as I’ll be happy! Graphics: Picspams (I love picspams! <3), signatures, profile picture/avatars, story banner, and just any type of graphics that you’re willing to make is fine by me! If not for my story or stories, interests is fine and I’ll list the interests below! WJ Questions: If you want to motivate me to keep writing, remind me that I need to answer your question from previous WJ questions as that’s allowed as well, and or curious about what I have done in the past regarding holiday traditions or anything else, feel free to leave me some questions! Recommendations: I’m always open to recommendations of just about anything! Be it movies, shows, books, music, video games, korean, well actually, any asian dramas, anime and or manga, pretty much anything! If you’re struggling to recommend anything then I suggest that horror be exempt from it as they are not my cup of tea and I'm not fond of anything where the ending is bleak and hollow unless there's a reason that has alot of depth or makes you really think because those ones just don't work for me! Oh, and as music goes: I'm into more than just kpop and like alternative rock, j-pop/techno/pop, pop punk, punk, electronic (think Daft Punk, Porter Robinson, and Madeon name some examples), soundtrack, and classical are some music genres that I'm really into! Word of The Day (or you know, just words): Got any word that you would like me to learn about and or know that’s unknown, intriguing, fun, and or just a favorite or two of yours? I’m actually trying to collect words to give to the students I work with as they find it fun and knowledgeable plus they love guessing if they're right or close to being right! If you know any fun words that’d be cool! If not, just about any word is fine. Well as long as it's not inappropriate, of course, please and thank you! Profile Comments/Private Messages: If you’re interested in keeping in touch, catching up, or prodding me to get to your fanfiction reviews or writing even, feel free to leave me a message on here be it on my profile or messaging me! Gifts for others: If somebody has something that you can fulfill on their wishlists be it leaving them reviews, WJ questions, giving them recs, recording a podfic or two, and or gifting graphics then by all means do that! Just let me know if you left them a gift! That’ll be more than okay with me! Also spreading love, kindness, and joy is always a wonderful sight to see as well so if you want to leave them a message or anything like that then I encourage you to go for it! ❤️ Other gifts: You can gift anything not mentioned above such as: fun, colorful, funny, and or cute gifs, memes, and or fun, heartwarming, and or cute stories about animals in general since I love animals especially big and small cats like tigers, cheetahs, and tabby cats are some of my faves and also love Black cats, kangaroos, wallabies, orcas, dogs, ducks, wolves, llamas, elephants, dolphins, chipmunks, and giraffes to name some!, some jokes and or humor but please no toilet and or dirty humor as I’m not into that, quotes, advice (of any nature), recipes, you can write me a story or fanfiction based off my interest but am not making that a high priority for reasons, and I would love it if you were to keep spreading love and joy to others as that’s the most fantastical and magical gift of them all! Interests: I was going to give you that annual list that I often give people almost every year since I actually didn’t leave a wishlist last year so had people look at my interest on my About Me page to help but hoping this one helps for this year. 😅 The Hunger Games (the original trilogy as well as the prequel: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes): If Lucy Gray Baird wasn’t fictitious, I’d be one of her biggest fans! Also love Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Rue, Cinna, Mags, and definitely Johanna Mason as far as character goes and I would say that I’m from District 7 if I were to do go back in time to do a What District Are You? quiz and am really into District 4, 8, 11, and 12 as well--aesthetics-wise! Pokemon: I’m a fan of the games (I love Platinum, Emerald, Ultra Sun, Black and White, Black and White 2, Legends Arceus, and X and Y if we have to go with favorites and or games I really like) and do like the anime but I prefer Generations and Evolutions anime despite it being short because unlike the anime with Ash, they somewhat did better with focusing or appealed more to the characters from the game’s canon even if it’s not that expanded especially for the Black and White and Black and White 2 games. Raboot (and the evolution line) is my favorite but I also love Victini, Raichu, Zekrom, Dialga, Kyogre, Charmander evolution line, Eeveelutions, and Greninja are some of my favorite Pokemon! Kpop: I like many artists and group but in honesty, I’ll just go with BTS (and also Jin’s birthday is today in the States and it’ll be past and soon Taehyung’s birthday is on the 30th of December so if you want to make me a picspam then maybe both or one of them would do! ❤️ But OT7/all seven boys are fine too!). And maybe TXT (MY BIAS IS BEOMGYU ;w;) and New Jeans. Actually New Jeans was in my #1 top spot in my Spotify Wrapped. Make that with what you will! But I love BTS alot! Demon Slayer: An anime show I love among many other animes. Zenitsu, Tanjiro, Mitsuri, Nezuko, Shinobu, Sanemi, and Muichiro are my fave characters but I basically like almost all of them except for most of the antagonists even if Musan and Akaza are interesting. Percy Jackson and The Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus: With the series coming out in 17 days, I thought I would mention how much I love this series and that I love it out of all the Camp Halfblood series by far. Oh, and still working on finishing The Chalice of Gods but oh my gosh, I love Percy, Annabeth, and Grover as well as Clarisse a lot and despite the flaws it has, I still love it! I also love the Heroes of The Olympus as that help me get through some summers and vacations that I took during then and I love meeting more characters like Hazel, Frank, and Leo as well! Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra: I like the latter series but I prefer ATLA and I love Toph and the Earth Kingdom and I really also love Zuko and I was a fan of Toph/Zuko even if that ship never sailed which I’m sure would be fine by most people and I even wrote a rough draft of Beauty and The Beast fic of Toph and Zuko somewhere lost in my old desktop computer files somewhere...yeah. Stranger Things: Anybody who knows me knows that I love this show despite the fact that it’s got horror but the Sci-Fi, mystery, the characters, and the setting of it it being in the 80s is what pulls me in! Eddie Munson, Mike and Nancy Wheeler, Eleven/Jane Hopper/El, Max Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, all the Byers, Steve Harington, and Kali are some of my favorite characters! Super 8: The movie, not the filming camera, although I get it and have a rough draft of a story where Joel Lamb and his friends meet Alice Dainard for the first time and it’s enjoyable to write because I like the group dynamics) Kingdom Hearts: Sora is my favorite character and my baby boy (coincidentally I was the same age as him in the first two Kingdom Hearts games not counting Chain of Memories and I will protect him from haters and also: “MY FRIENDS ARE POWER!” If you love Disney, Final Fantasy, and video games and played this game then I consider you one of the coolest being and or I'm in awe and kind of respect you for it. ❤️ Star Wars: This movie is my childhood and also growing up so it’s kind of important to me and also love many characters especially Rey and Kylo or you know: Reylo and if that’s not your cup of tea, I understand that. I also love a little droid named R2-D2, other characters like Luke Skywalker (like my aunt loved Han Solo and claimed all the girls love Han but I was Luke all the way!), Ahsoka Tano, Queen Amidala/Padme, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Cal Kestis and BD-1 (from the video game: Jedi: Fallen Order and still have yet to play Survivor but did watch gameplay videos of it and have enjoyed it--just need a PS5 which I don't have and I digress ), Merrin (also from the same video game series), and Rose Tico who deserves all the love and a fangirl of her because she’s the closest representation for me in the movies and Kelly Marie Tran is a lovely actress who deserves nothing but love and appreciation and still think Finn deserves better than how they wrote him in the films! Chronicles of Narnia: C.S. Lewis is one of my writing role models and I aspire to be like him as far as writing goes but more so story-telling-wise if taht makes sense? Chronicles of Narnia is a book series that I'm reading through and do love the first two books but do love the movies I've seen--yes even the Voyage of The Dawn Treader--like I know it's bad but it's not bad as other book-to-movie adaptations I've seen and can name. PercyJacksonandTheSeaofMonsters Disney and Disney Pixar: Should mention that Amphibia and The Ghost and Molly McGee are awesome cartoon, no animated shows that feature Thai American or half Thai American characters and hence why I’m mentioning it–I’m working on watching both series and do love it! I talked about Disney before in my Writer's Journal as well so if you want to see what other Disney interests I have then you can check it out there! Godzilla: Or more accurately pronounced: Gojira. Most people are shocked to find this on my list of interests but what can I say? Even if 2019's The King of The Monsters is part of the Monsterverse and not the greatest film, it was the gateway of my interest being piqued to Godzilla and it's a film I still enjoy despite its flaws. Before that, I wasn't sure if I was intrigued by him or not. He was just there and or I just heard about the Godzilla films and that was about it. Now I'm learning and trying to watch more of the films that I haven't from the Showa, Hesei, and or Millenium eras as they're on my To Watch List. I also love Mothra and Rodan alot. Mecha Godzilla too even if he's a foe. Random things I like not fandom related: snowglobes, fantasy stories involving dragons, non damsel in distress Princesses, and a great storyline with amazing adventures, quotes, messages, and things about kindness, love, peace, and all those kind of things, books (just in general), sweets, bright colors (just not into neon as much), the rain, the stars, sweaters, animals, stationary, cute things, flowers (tulips, crocus, daffodils, hydrangeas, and jasmine are some of my favorites!), coffee (especially iced variety and yes I love iced even in the winter season), the holidays, the season of summer, and locations like Thailand (because that's where I'm from), Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and many parts of Europe, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan as those are places I’m intrigued with and or want to visit! Anyway, thank you for coming to sit down and chatting with me near the fireplace! Hope you all have a wonderful wishlist gifting season as well as wonderful holiday season and a great New Year! ✨❄️💛💚❤️🎁 Edited December 15, 2023 by starlitcastles Had to adjust the spacing + added/edited more text! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonsGirlFriday Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Happy holidays, Di! I seem to remember already making this connection before, when we talked some other time, but I love Reylo too! Do you read Star Wars fanfic? What kind of Reylo stories do you like? Any favorite tropes for them? Do you like to lean into the dark and angsty aspects of Reylo, or do you prefer giving them all the fluffy happiness? What is it that you love about Reylo as a ship? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanyFire Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Hello! I have an idea for a gift for you! But before I get to work on it, I just wanted to let you know that we have a few of the same interests! I was happy because it would make my gifting that much cooler! I will get your gift to you soon! Also, do you have any preferences for gifts? That might help me decide what to work on for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlitcastles Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 23 hours ago, DanyFire said: Hello! I have an idea for a gift for you! But before I get to work on it, I just wanted to let you know that we have a few of the same interests! I was happy because it would make my gifting that much cooler! I will get your gift to you soon! Also, do you have any preferences for gifts? That might help me decide what to work on for you. Hmm truth be told, I'm not too picky with anything that anybody wants to gift me in all honesty even if it's something small! I do like picspams alot just because of the creativity that it comes with as well as graphics and the fanfictions/stories people can come up with but I'm also okay with other things like WJ questions, a review on my short story (but I feel this only if people want to read it and so forth), and or even a few words for Word of The Day, and or just any recommendations they know they have and or can think up of! Fandom-wise, I'm up for anything that I've listed and if you can't think up of anything--my comments are a hint like if you wanted to gift me anything for The Hunger Games fandom, let's just say, I love Lucy Gray Baird right now or I'm into the Reylo shipping and would love to see what kind of fanfiction somebody could write for me or I love BTS so if you want to gift me a picspam with all seven members or any of the members that I like so my bias (or my favorite member) are Jungkook and J-Hope or Hobi as we Armys (BTS fans) like to call them although I do ask for V and Jin because it's their birthdays this month although Jin's passed and V's is near New Year's Eve then I would also love that! But again, I'm not too picky and I don't really mind what you gift me as in the end that's up to you! So whatever you gift me, thank you in advance! ❤️ Hope that helps you somewhat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanyFire Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 2 minutes ago, starlitcastles said: Hmm truth be told, I'm not too picky with anything that anybody wants to gift me in all honesty even if it's something small! I do like picspams alot just because of the creativity that it comes with as well as graphics and the fanfictions/stories people can come up with but I'm also okay with other things like WJ questions, a review on my short story (but I feel this only if people want to read it and so forth), and or even a few words for Word of The Day, and or just any recommendations they know they have and or can think up of! Fandom-wise, I'm up for anything that I've listed and if you can't think up of anything--my comments are a hint like if you wanted to gift me anything for The Hunger Games fandom, let's just say, I love Lucy Gray Baird right now or I'm into the Reylo shipping and would love to see what kind of fanfiction somebody could write for me or I love BTS so if you want to gift me a picspam with all seven members or any of the members that I like so my bias (or my favorite member) are Jungkook and J-Hope or Hobi as we Armys (BTS fans) like to call them although I do ask for V and Jin because it's their birthdays this month although Jin's passed and V's is near New Year's Eve then I would also love that! But again, I'm not too picky and I don't really mind what you gift me as in the end that's up to you! So whatever you gift me, thank you in advance! ❤️ Hope that helps you somewhat! I just may have more than one thing in mind. I hope you don't mind multiple gifts from one person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlitcastles Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 3 minutes ago, DanyFire said: I just may have more than one thing in mind. I hope you don't mind multiple gifts from one person. Oh no, I certainly don't mind! Whatever you're wanting to do is fine by me! ❤️ :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanyFire Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 1 minute ago, starlitcastles said: Oh no, I certainly don't mind! Whatever you're wanting to do is fine by me! ❤️ I will get your gifts done sometime tomorrow. I'd do them tonight but I have early morning RL stuff to do, which means I'll have to go to bed a bit early. I hope you will like your gifts! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanyFire Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) Gift number 1. I suck at graphic making so I can't do picspams and stuff, but I did this. It's not much but it was the best I could do..... Edit: Pic was from a Google search. I just played around with my graphic editing program to make it look better. Edited December 9, 2023 by DanyFire Add something I forgot to put 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixileanin Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Hey! @starlitcastles Talk to me about Stranger Things. Talk to me about Eddie. Dustin. Favorite moments? I loved when Dustin was taking care of the little critter, like it was his new little pal, and then it turned into one of the Big Evil Things! Eddie's big moment with the guitar solo was awesome! I loved his arc, but was SO SAD how he got cut down! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WriteYourHeartOut Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 Hello there! Here with some questions for you! 🎁 1. You've mentioned your love for Lucy Gray, and I wondered what it is about her that has made you such a big fan? 2. How do you rate the book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes against the original The Hunger Games trilogy? How about the movies? I haven't seen the newest one with Lucy Gray yet, but have you? Would you recommend it? 3. Do you have any plans to write a Hunger Games fanfic? I know you have several WIPs already, but none for the Hunger Games yet from what I can tell. Which timeline and/or characters would you like to explore further? 4. For Katniss, who are you going with: Team Peeta or Team Gale? Why? 5. You asked in your snowlodge topic about words of the day, and I was actually wondering, of your collection, what is your favorite word? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WriteYourHeartOut Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 Hello hello! I've left you some WJ questions here! 🎁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonsGirlFriday Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Ummm I did a Reylo thing for you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owlpost68 Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Hi! Just want to say, I've always admired how you say how you feel and why about things. I'm a little too self conscious about that, even when I wrote in my personal journal. I always thought I just sound whiny or complain about stuff. What helps by reading your thoughts is that you go into why you do things how you're doing them, if that makes sense. You're also confident enough to just put your thoughts out there just in case it helps someone else. Though sometimes I don't always have time to read it, I see your posts and smile to myself. How do you think writing out your thoughts has helped you in your writing fiction? I suppose, if I were to do something similar, it would help to just get the words and thoughts out instead of keeping them to myself and not getting anything written. I might try that more and see if it helps me. Thank you for being you! -Heather 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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