Likaiars blog

A new week has passed. I started two more long term projects... I'm multitasking a lot.
I'm browsing Pinterest and come across art and pictures that inspire me. I add it to a project (in my head) and that project's plot grows. I'll have to write it down, lest I forget them, and so I'll have to make them active projects. I don't mind, but I do find it a bit hard to keep them apart.
I'll try to restrict myself to two projects, but my inspiration for the others won't be stopped. I'm glad, because a year ago I had lots of trouble getting my inspiration going. I guess I'll just have to get used to balancing XD

Anyway, I don't seem to have a lot of stuff to say, so I'll see you all next week.

~Likaiar

PS: The eurovision song contest was awesome!

Well... the story isn't new. I've had the idea for some time, I've even started writing. It wouldn't hold my attention though. I've worked out the plot, so I'll start working it out now. But as usual, my homework took most of my time. :(

I'll keep my blogpost short this week. My sister is visiting and I haven't done much to write about. I'll see if I can write something more useful next week.

~Likaiar

It's time for my weekly update, and I have no idea what to talk about. This may not be because of what I did this week, but mostly how I feel now.

Easter Sunday was awesome! I went to a fantasy fair with my family and it was fun. The weather was great, the people were beautiful. I bought lots of lovely stuff, among which two new books, originally Dutch books.

I've wanted to read more in Dutch lately, since I'm writing in Dutch. However, I mostly read Fantasy and most Dutch Fantasy is translated from English. I'm also a great fan of reading in the original language whenever I can, so I buy my books in English.
There exist however a few publishers who publish original Dutch fantasy, and they had stands on the fair. So I grabbed my change and bought new books. <3

Monday was slow, as I was tired. Tuesday and afterwards I was ill, probably caught the ongoing flu :( I'm feeling slightly better now, but I'm still tired and in a mood where I want to do everything and nothing at the same time. I'm forcing myself to write this, because if I don't I will loose motivation later on.

I'm currently reading 'The Killing Moon' by N.K.Jemisin.
For my writing project I'm switching every day. Sometimes I feel like writing a short story, sometimes I work on my novel project, and sometimes I even write on my series project.

...

Maybe I should explain.
I often work multiple projects at the same time. Next to the occasional short stories, I have two ongoing projects. One is something I'm hoping to contain to a single book and use for my debut (tradition or indie). The other is a longer project I'm hoping to turn into a series. Both are far from finished, far from a 1st draft even, so I'll be busy with them still for awhile.
There's also a third project, one that I plan to use for NanoWrimo this year, but I can't tell if I have enough for a series or just a novel yet. I'm not working on that a lot, though.
For my short stories, I have a 1st draft of something I'd like to submit to a contest (Paul Harland Prijs), I have an idea for another story that will either be very short (<1500 words) for another contest, or will be joining the first in the PHP contest, I don't have enough to know yet.

So that's it, a short summary of what I'm working on at the moment.

Now look at me... I didn't know what to write and yet I wrote a lot.

I'm not sure what project I'll do next week. I'm either plotting my single novel potential debut book, or I'll plot the second short story, to know what contest I'll be submitting it in.
Have a nice weekend, and for all Dutch people following - enjoy Kingsday!
~Likaiar

New week has passed and I'm glad to inform you that I finished my short story, on Monday to be exact. This gave me a very bad problem , being the question what I'll do next. I'm working on several projects, but none of them going as well as this last one, as I'm not immersed in it. So I started thinking about if I can do a new story. There's another contest coming up for which I can submit an ultra short story of about 1500 words. I have an idea, but that could become larger then that maximum. In which case I'll submit it for another contest. So many ideas, so few time.

I finished reading 'the ocean at the end of the lake'. I enjoyed it, but got into it a little slow. I'm reading (will be reading) 'the Killing Moon' now, wondering what'll it be like.

I'm editing my short story now. My goal for today is to polish it a little and root out some inconsistencies I noticed while writing.

Have a great weekend, Happy easter!
~Likaiar

Interesting rebuttal of the argument against content warnings in the romance genre. I agree with it.

So I'm making big progress with my short story, maybe a little to big. I need to fix one piece of my plot puzzle still (and actually write it) and I need to write the ending. But with less then 3000 words before I reach the max wordcount for my purpose, I'll need to cut a lot when it's over - maybe that's good though, it forces me to make hard decisions.
Well, maybe I should just finish my story and see if the problem actually exists. I have a tendency to solve problems that haven't arisen yet.

I have a writing day planned with a friend tomorrow, so maybe I'll actually finish then, that would be great. When that happens I will probably put it away for a week or two and continue my novel project - or start a new short story.

I finished reading 'The Vampire Federation:Uprising'. I guess I just have to say it's not my kind of book.
I'm reading the 'Ocean at the end of the lane' since today (well, technically it was yesterday) and I'm having some trouble getting into it. I guess that will get easier when I continue reading.

I'm in serious need of sleep now, so I'll leave you with this. Have a nice weekend.
~Likaiar

I fear this weeks update will be less inspired then last weeks, and I'll be less poetic about it.

This week Camp NanoWrimo started, and so I have to type. But I'm not really inspired to do so. This is strange, as last week I was really hyped up about it after my plotting. Am I scared it will come out wrong? I'll think about this.

I'm currently reading Vampire Federation:Uprising by Sean McCabe, but it fails to keep my attention, not sure if it's the book or me.

On anothe note, tomorrow I'll be attending a pricegiving of a contest I joined back in october. I haven't heard if I won anything, and I'm not expecting to (I am hoping, but not expecting it). Seems like an interesting event non the less. Maybe I'llupdate you on that after tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend.
~Likaiar

It's Saturday again and the weather is beautiful. I've been to town today to get some stuff and vitamin D. Now it's time for another weekly update.

I finished reading The Last Wish (a The Witcher novel) just last night, and am now falling in the 'what am I going to read now' hole. I've still got a number of to-reads, so I probably won't be bored.

More importantly, I think I finished the plot of my short story. I'd love to tell you all about it, I'd love to shout all my (in my eyes) brilliant ideas out into the void that is the internet, but I'll keep myself in check and won't.|
I do want to talk about plotting. I've come to think that plotting is like solving a puzzle. You have the idea, the inspiration - that's your start. The novel, short story or epic series (or anything in between) is your end result. The period in between is asking questions, coming up with good answers, creating places and characters. Often you answer a few questions, new ones come up and somewhere along the road you'll discover that two points contradict one another. Then you'll have to 'erase' a part of what you've done and start all over again. And sometimes (much rarer in my experience) the answer you find somehow clicks. All the pieces of the puzzle, all the questions you've asked yourself about your story suddenly join together in a beautiful whole, which gives your idea the direction you so desperately needed for it to become a story.
So yes, I solved the puzzle of my short story - only a few stray pieces remain to be fit, a few details remain to be filled out.

I can start writing it now, and I don't think I'll be able to wait a few days till April. :)

How's plotting for other people? I'm curious to know.
Have a nice weekend, and a splendid week!
~Likaiar

– Meg Medina, Author of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass and one of CNN's Top 10 Visionary Women

This week I hade an oral exam, and I passed. My next homework assignements are due in more then a week, and though I do have to keep up with my work, I will have some time to relax - mostly because approaching deadlines are stressful, and stress is tiring.

I've started reading a Dutch fantasy novel, which is a bit of a slow read. After that I will start reading a novel in the Witcher series, which is originally written in Polish. Since I cannot speak Polish I have to read a translation. This is a pity, I usually try to read books in their original language - but then, most books I read are written in English.

I've gotten some motivation for my novel project, though I still haven't been able to reach the 10000 word goal.
I'll be spending next week writing on a short story project for a contest (a Dutch one, the Paul Harland Prijs.).

I have been working on a short story for  the contest before, but though I liked its atmosphere, it wouldn't go anywhere. So I decided to start a new one. The weird thing is that I like starting new stories, exploring new worlds and creating new characters. But though I like the feeling of creating something new, I often have no idea what that new thing will be - and that's a very weird feeling. I have a few tricks to get some ideas.
One is a game called 'once upon a time', which is a storytelling game. The cards used for the game can also be used for story inspiration. Tarot cards are another way to get some inspiration, especially with an established character - it's terrible fun to read a characters card and interpret them.

The method I used now is browsing Pinterest. I used the keyword 'fantasy', as that is what I write. I look at all the pretty pictures and keep browsing, letting ideas form in my head. I really feel that what came out of it is pretty good. I'd like to share it with you all, and shout it out for the world, but I hope you'll forgive me for not sharing my idea with everyone. I'd like to submit is still.

My target goal for the short story is 10000 words, just like what I'm unable to reach for my novel project. In any case, camp nano is next month and I'd like to reach the goal by the end of april. I then have 2 months to review it, and maybe even rewrite it. Wish me luck.

I wish you all a great weekend!
Likaiar

A bit early this week, as I'll be gone all weekend. And it'll be short, as I have no idea what to talk about.
I read quite a lot this week, but did little writing.
I'm currently reading 'city of bones' by Clarissa Clare.

well.. short update, but I'm way to tired to bother

I'll make it up next week!
~Likaiar

This is so accurate.

First of all this is not a review (it's great if you really want to know), it's about some differences between the book and the movie which bugged me. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS. well... that's out of the way

By the way, I'm writing this from the perspective of someone who's seen the movie so many times, and recently read the book for the first time.

So first thing I noticed where the little details. How the wall was guarded by two guards (in stead of one) that actually changed shifts, about how the market at the wall was a recurring event that happens every 9 years. But these details don't really bother me. Some freedom should be allowed in a movie.

Most of all I was pleasantly surprised how some other things were handled in the book, and annoyed when I remember them in the movie.

I really enjoyed the book, and I will also enjoy the movie if I'll see it again.

Hank Green raising some interesting points...

First I'd like to call out to all publishers to LET ME KNOW IF A BOOK IS PART OF A SERIES!!!!!!!!! *breaths*
So yeah, this book has a slightly open ending and ends with the words 'to be continued'. Which is one of the most annoying things to come across if you're expecting to finally know the outcome of the story.

Now that that is out of the way, I can focus on the actual book.
I liked it a lot! It's not a classic fantasy in the sense that there is no magic involved in any way, basically the only thing that makes this book fantasy is that it's set in a fictional land in a fictional world. That's one of the things you will have to know before reading it.
The book turned out to be more of a who dunnit, in a beautiful setting.

All in all, this book was not wat I was expecting, but that didn't matter, because what it turned out to be had me enjoying it all the way through.
The book is about a young prince who suddenly becomes ruler of a land after his brother had been killed. While he is getting adjusted to  his new role as ruler of the land and dealing with the grief over his dead brother, the investigation of the assassination is in full order and a possible threat is approaching from one of their neighbouring countries.

This novel had an interesting plot that kept me guessing and surprised at its twists, though I saw some of them coming. Also important is that the novel had a full scala of interesting characters that all have their reasons and plots. I'd recommend it to anyone that would ask!

I've given up on reaching that 10000 word mark for the time being. I've had a pretty busy time at uni.I had to give a presentation last friday and as you could imagine that has kept me pretty busy.
Non the less, when I least expected it, I got inspiration for a new story. I'm not going to tell you though.

I've forced myself to go to sleep ontime, and allowed myself to read a little before bed. I've finally finished reading HP4, and I'm currently reading Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. I have rewarded myself with a weekend of reading, and I bought a new book, which also made me very happy :)

Next week will also be quite busy, which means I have once again little time to write. However, I will try to get some new inspiration on my short story. I'm planning on submitting it at a contest due before july, so I do still have a while, though it never hurts to start on time - as all my years in study have told me.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next week!
~Likaiar