NaNoWriMo Pre-Update
Because a pre-update is totally a thing. Psh. So, I am doing NaNoWriMo this year, and I’m going to talk a little bit about how I’ll be posting for November and then you’ll get summaries of my NaNoWriMo novel and its characters, so stay tuned for that.
For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is a month-long challenge in November to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Does that sound crazy? That’s… because it is. But thousands of people participate each year, and a lot of them accomplish it. And even if you don’t, you still have more words than you did before, so there’s that. Would you like to know something even crazier? This year I’m among that group of nutcase authors who are attempting to write 100k in a month. Cue the screaming.
Anyway, for the month of November my blog schedule is going to look very different from the way it usually is. I’ll still be posting character interviews on Wednesdays and weekly updates on Saturdays, but most of my Wednesday posts won’t be writing advice. I have a couple of poems planned, a list of my favorite writing quotes, and one worldbuilding post, and I’m thinking about posting weekly encouragement for those of you doing NaNoWriMo. However, you’ll be getting daily excerpts from my NaNoWriMo project. Meanwhile, I’ll be going like this:
The newsletter will continue as usual, and I think that’s it for an explanation of how the month is going to go. Now we can get into the fun part.
(I don’t know why I’m doing Kermit gifs, so don’t ask.)
The book I’ll be writing for NaNoWriMo is the second book in the Dark War Trilogy, and my favorite of the three. The synopsis up on the NaNo site is this:
Nissa Quail is a thief in the capital city of Roenor. After an accidental meeting with the prince, the two become unlikely friends and Nissa begins to spend quite a bit of time in the castle. After the king is assassinated, she offers her skills to the royal council, and her attempts to find the king’s killer dig her country deeper into a war. A war, it almost appears, that they cannot win.
Fun stuff. I’d share more, but pretty much everything is steeped in spoilers, so let’s move on to the characters.
(Couldn’t find a Kermit gif. Sorry.)
Nissa Quail is the main character. She’s a thief and a shapeshifter, and her alternate form is a raven; she tends to get teased for her name because of this. She’s bold and optimistic, she loves glitter and sparkles, and she adores the fancy dresses that nobles get to wear. She’s a sixteen-year-old ENTP, Slytherin, and Candor (ooh, Slytherin and Candor? That’s an interesting pairing). Despite the fact that she’s the main character and I love (and am terrified by) her arc, she’s only my second-favorite character. ;)
Meet Detren Everlind, my favorite character and the second main character. This is probably really weird, but I love his name. I just think it sounds super cool. Detren is the sweetest, most noble character I think I’ve ever written, and he provides a nice counterpart for Nissa (his best friend), who’s a bit less moral. He’s an avid reader, he loves history, he has a pet dog named Devonly, and he loves the scent of pines. He’s a lot like me in some ways (see the above, except for the dog), but he’s more a picture of what I’d like to be: Noble, merciful, compassionate, moral even when it’s hard…
He’s eighteen (all of my characters are so young and I feel so bad for what they have to go through. D:), an INFJ, Hufflepuff, and Amity (that right there tells you a lot about him. ^-^). And he plays piano, which I’d forgotten about until I looked over at my notes, lol.
Next up is Alleyn Everlind (I really like his name, too). He’s Detren’s father, king of Roenor. He’s a lot like Detren in many ways (he raised him, so of course Detren’s going to be like him): Noble, merciful, always sticking to his morals, and rather playful sometimes. He once let Detren believe for a bit that the squirrel Detren had taken in during the winter needed their help and couldn’t stay out in the cold.
He’s almost as studious as Detren, but he prefers literature to history. He, too, likes the smell of pines, and also the smell of cinnamon. The latter reminds him of his late wife’s cinnamon rolls, which used to be a Christmas tradition.
He’s an ESFJ, Gryffindor, and Abnegation.
Prynn Nemea is Detren’s cousin, who takes care of him like a sister. She’s actually younger than him, at sixteen, but she doesn’t let that stop her from doing everything in her power to keep him steady when he’s going through tough times. She’s compassionate, bold when she needs to be, and willing to occasionally bend the rules if she thinks it’s worth it and no one is going to get hurt. She also plays the piano, and she’s more into music and art than more academic things like history.
She’s an INFJ, Hufflepuff, Amity. (And honestly I think she’s got a bit of Slytherin in her, as well.)
Terlon Screll is Detren’s mentor, as well as high steward of Roenor. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a picture I had permission to use, so I’ll link to his pin instead.) He was the one who helped foster Detren’s love of history, and he was almost a historian (the most prestigious occupation in Roenor), but… Well, I’m thinking to write a short story or novella about his backstory, so I won’t give anything away. ;)
He’s the wisest person Detren knows, even including Alleyn, and Detren consults him a lot throughout the course of the book because… stuff. There’s a lot going on, and he needs that wise council.
He’s an ENTJ, Ravenclaw, and Amity.
So, these are the main characters of The Shadow Raven. I’m really looking forward to getting to writing them and seeing their relationships play out, and I can’t wait for NaNoWriMo because there are cool character arcs, awesome characters, my favorite setting of the trilogy… I’m just super excited to get to work. :D
If you’d like to add me as a buddy on the NaNoWriMo site, that link is here, and it’s very likely that I’ll buddy you back. Let’s tackle this thing. :)