Five Facts About My Main Character!

I was tagged by Beth von Staats over on Facebook to share five facts about the protagonist of my current WIP, and because the majority of my friends on Facebook aren't writers I thought it'd be a lot more fun to post my facts here instead, and even tag some other bloggers!

My current WIP is Bloodroot and Bracken, a historical/paranormal novel set in 16th century Lancaster. My protagonists are Jane Allerdice (née Ask) and Thora Allerdice, Jane's daughter. Today Jane is going to be the character I focus on, though in future I might make another post like this for Thora.

1. Jane's mother, Annabel, died not long after her sixth birthday. She thinks about her every day.
2. She grew up with two older brothers, Matthew and David, and never understood why they were allowed to cut their hair and she was not. When she was seven she took matters into her own hands. By the time her father found her she'd already cut short half of her hair, and was left with a head of uneven tufts for weeks.
3. Under the tutelage of her brothers, she learned how to throw a mean punch.
4. She never goes to watch the executions on Gallows Hill, and she's unusual in that respect. When she was a child her father once took her to watch a hanging, to show her why their family didn't go, and for weeks afterwards she had nightmares about kicking legs and purpling faces. Some nights the person being hanged was her mother. Some nights she still has those nightmares.
5. Her favourite flowers are forget-me-nots.

I'm going to tag Amy, Cole, Caitie, Emma and Melanie. You don't have to do it, but it's fun!

J.

WeWriWa | 23/03/13

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, a weekly blog hop for writers to share 8 sentences of a book or WIP with one another. I first came across this just last week over on Carrie-Anne Brownian's blog, and thought it was such a cool idea that this week I decided to join in!

So, without further ado, here are the very first 8 sentences from my current WIP, Bloodroot and Bracken, a Historical/Supernatural novel set in 16th century Lancaster.

~*~

The weather was wet and miserable the day they buried Jane's mother. Barely six, she held onto her father's work-roughened hand and watched the burial with a frown, a little crease in her forehead, which suited her more than a smile ever had.

     A fair crowd had gathered outside St Mary's for the funeral, huddled together and quiet in the rain. Everyone loved her mother, and her father was well-liked. Though Jane would have been upset if no one had come she hated that some of their neighbours were crying. What did they have to cry about? When they went home their families would be going with them; there wouldn't be an empty space by their hearth tonight.

     The coffin looked far too small to hold someone as lively as her mother, in fact Jane half expected her to appear beside her, soaking wet and smiling.

~*~

I always enjoy writing funerals, there's something so atmospheric about them, and I think you can tell a lot about a person by how they grieve. I recently edited this opening scene, but I'm still not 100% happy with it. I just have to keep working at it!

Thanks for reading! J.

What's Up Wednesday! | 26/02/13

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to share with one another what they get up to each week. 

This week I thought I'd start joining in!





What I'm Reading

I'm nearing the end of Grave Mercy, the first book in Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin trilogy. I was a bit unsure of it at first, but now that I'm into it I'm loving it! Luckily for me I already own a copy of Dark Triumph so I can jump straight into that once I'm finished.

What I'm Writing

I'm still working away on Bloodroot and Bracken, my historical/paranormal novel. Right now I'm trying to write the scene in which the main character discovers her daughter's a witch and it's so difficult - turns out I'm rubbish at writing shock!

What Inspires Me Right Now

As it almost always does, music is the thing that keeps me inspired when I need to write, and I've found that Florence + the Machine is perfect to listen to when writing about witches. I can't stop listening to these three songs in particular.

What Else I've Been Up To

Mainly stressing about my future, which is never fun. I'm in my early 20's and in what could be my last year of education, and while the big, wide world is exciting and full of possibilities it's also absolutely terrifying!

But it's something of a comfort to know that the majority of my friends feel exactly the same way. I don't think anyone really has their life on track when they're 22 - there's no fun in knowing exactly where you're headed, in fact I think now is the ideal time for the wise words of J. R. R. Tolkien: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

And now I'm going to make myself a delicious bowl of macaroni cheese and head to the library to get some work done!

Camp NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is one of those events that I want to try each year, and yet each year I either try and fail utterly or something comes up that prevents me from taking part.

I hoped to take part in NaNoWriMo last year, but in November I was only a month into my Creative Writing MA and I just couldn't bring myself to start working on two projects at once. One of the main reasons I chose to do my MA is because I used to find it incredibly difficult to focus on just one project at a time, so starting my academic year writing two novels at once wasn't a good idea.

Last year I also had a go at Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I thought Camp NaNoWriMo would be ideal for me because it came at a point in the year when I wasn't busy. In fact in July I finished my undergraduate degree and graduated!

... And graduation ended up being my downfall. That and many other things. I hadn't really planned anything specific for Camp NaNoWriMo - in fact I'd love to go back to the novel I started working on in future because the idea has changed a bit since then and I'm still eager to write it.

I ended up spending a week of July away from home, visiting family and friends and graduating, and during that time I just couldn't find the time to write every day. Not much of an excuse, I know, but I couldn't just whip my laptop out and start typing when I was in the middle of a conversation with my sister or my brother-in-law!

One thing I did love about Camp NaNoWriMo, though, was the choice people had in regards to their wordcount. Writers could attempt 50,000 words or 5,000 words, anything that made them feel accomplished and helped them to write more.

Personally I'm fairly certain that I couldn't write a novel in a month - not even an incredibly rough draft - but I think I could write a novella, and I have an idea for one! So this year I'm thinking of giving Camp NaNoWriMo another try.

Rather than July, however, I'm thinking of taking part in April, over the course of my Easter holiday. By the time July comes around I'll be done with all of my seminars, but I'm going to need all of summer to hopefully finish my current WIP and then pick the best extracts, edit them and put them together for my portfolio at the end of August/beginning of September.

Are any of you taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo this year? What are your thoughts on the event?

See you next week! J.