Beautiful Books + New Title

I noticed the Beautiful Books linkup and decide I wanted to do it. Before the end of the month. So I have an extra post.

So I haven't been doing NaNoWriMo, but I have still been writing. I'll be talking about my story Restrained or Protected which I just renamed to: The Weaver and the Brigand.  (or possibly Spinner) This isn't the only name I've come up with though. For a while it was The Maiden and the Brigand in my head, I have a document called, Her Outlaw Knight, and the exercise book I use for outlining stuff says: So Called Freedom. I really like that name. It just does not fit. At least at the moment I don't think it does. 1. Is the book turning out how you thought it would be, or is it defying your expectations? It's becoming more complicated than I expected, but also deeper. I had an idea this week that adds a whole new layer to it. That's why I changed the name.

2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? I really don't have one. I've written many and at the moment I don't like any of them. Most of the have something about a knight or prince in them though.
3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Have you ever tried both methods and how did it turn out? I plan, but not in great detail. When I've made changes, I might make a note, but I won't go and re-outline it.
4. What do you reward yourself with after meeting a goal? Last month I bought myself Captivated, by Molly Evangeline. Next time I meet a goal, I'll have to come up with something else.
5. What do you look for in a name? Do you have themes and where do you find your names? I want them to be somewhat distinctive, yet simple. Most of my names have an anglo-germanic feel to them.
6. What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?  The beginning is hard to get right. Lot's of interesting things things happen in the middle and I'm just at the beginning of the end. Which is fun, but i don't really know quite where I'm going.
7. Who’s your current favourite character in your novel? Right now it's actually Adel, my protagonist. I was a bit surprised to realized that. Especially as every time I do a personality test with her, I get a different result. And when I think about it I'm not sure what makes her cool.
8. What kind of things have you researched for this project, and how do you go about researching? (What’s the weirdest thing you've researched?!) I'm just starting to research Roman-Britain. I suddenly thought that would be a good flavour to add in. I've got some books set there I'm planning to read. Weirdest things I research was about knocking people out and making sleeping potions.
9. Do you write better alone or with others? Do you share your work or prefer to keep it to yourself? Racing someone else can help me but I usually write alone. At the moment I'm keeping it to myself. It's not quite at a stage I can share it.
10. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space! I don't really have any particular habits. Sometimes I listen to music. I really don't know what time I write best. I write in all kinds of places. Either of my desks, sitting on the lounge, at the bench, outside. I've even ended up writing at the library and in the mall. That has worked well. None of the wrong kinds of distractions there. Well at the library I had a bag full of books and did get a bit distracted. So that's what's happening with my writing. I'm having fun. I'm not stuck at the moment, but I'm rather busy and can't get a lot done. At's it's probably terrible, but I don't care, I can fix it later. God bless you all. I hope you have a great weekend.

Writing Intentionally

Welcome to my blog. I hope you will enjoy and be encouraged by what I write here.

Let me introduce myself. I am a writer. I go by Anna, but some people might know me as Bria. I'm fairly new to writing. I was the girl who never enjoyed writing assignment very much. My parents were very surprised when I started writing. I was slightly less surprised, I'd given myself more time to get used to it. I honestly didn't tell them until after I'd been planning for several months.

It really started when I had a good idea. Before that I'd only thought of mixing up fairy-tales and a few other stories. Those ideas were not original at all. I did make up other stories in my head and play act them with my brothers, but I never thought of writing any of them down. They probably weren't that good anyway.

I thought I should start by explaining my motto/tagline. I'm going to do it one part at a time, probably posting once a week. I might have some extra posts occasionally though.

So writing intentionally, what do I mean by that? I don't mean that I always write exactly what I meant to, or that I write whenever I intend to. (I wish that was the case though) I mean that I write with an intention, a purpose.

I don't want to just be entertaining, I want to make people think deeper at the same time. I want to to show truth. By showing, not telling. I don't want to write another preachy story or an overdone allegory.

I'm going to share a quote from one of my favourite writing books, Story Trumps Structure by Steven James. This is a great book even if you outline your stories in detail. It has great insights in to many parts of writing. Chapter 20: Meaning, is simply amazing. The quote is from there.

"Propaganda is when a viewpoint is promoted regardless of truth. Art is when truth is rendered regardless of agenda. Art rips the veil away, revealing reality in a way we cannot ignore. It forces us to see the world as it is, to see ourselves as we truly are, and to embrace once again the deep actualities of human nature that we know but so easily forget. Within art, truth touches time, debate becomes irrelevant, and thematic summaries are unnecessary.

Every story happens within a distinctly moral universal. There may be immoral stories, but there are no amoral stories. They’re all told from a certain world view, from a specific perspective. Every story is based on perceptions of right and wrong, good and evil, life and death. They all come from a set of beliefs and assumptions about the world and about what matters.

Or, perhaps that nothing ultimately matters.

That God doesn't exist.

That he does.

That he’s in control.

That he’s not.

That he cares about you.

That he doesn't.

Do our choices really make a difference, or, at the end of the day, are our lives inconsequential in the big scheme of things? Will justice prevail, or is it an illusion? All of these questions and issues matter, and the views of the author will affect how they are approached.

There’s a difference between a story’s moral fabric and your own moral agenda. Strive to let your fiction depict the truth of the world as it really is, rather than how you wish it were.”

James, Steven. Story Trumps Structure (Pages 239-240). Writer’s Digest Books.


That is my goal. To present the moral truths of the world. Not necessarily the historical or physical facts. I am writing fantasy, but I'm not going to distort God's reality. At least that is my prayer. I know I'm not perfect. There is no way I could write a perfect book. But I will do my best. I certainly intend for it to be fun though. And or it to be different. I hope to make other people's live a least a little bit better in some way by my writing.

Also Matthew 12:36 says that we will have to give an account for every idle word spoken. I think that applies to written words too. They are much more permanent and spread far wider. So with God's help I will write well.

I'll be back here next Tuesday for a special post. and I may just have something else in between.

There you made it to the bottom of my first post. That wasn't too hard was it?