Here's the second group of Beautiful People questions for Lord Gwendolyn Copperstone. Yeah, Lord. I forgot to say in the last post that she inherits a title, too. It causes kind of a scandal. Click here if you want to see the first group of BP questions. The following set of questions is from April 2011.
How old is he/she? About 26. I may change that, though. It depends on what I make the coming-of-age age in Spryll (right now it's 18). Also the marrying age. In lots of fantasies the marrying age for girls is ridiculously low. Like 13. Eww. Things are not going to be like that in Spryll.
What does he/she do with his/her spare time? She visits her neighbors and hangs out with her friend Sydrian.
Does he/she see the big picture or live in the moment? Before she inherits Noxumbra Manor, she sees the big picture, to some extent, but once she gets to the Manor, she has to take things day-by-day.
Is he/she a perfectionist? Mm, not really. She very careful, but not a perfectionist.
What does her handwriting look like? (round, slanted, curly, skinny, sloppy, neat, decorative, etc.) Neat and slightly slanted.
Favorite animal? Fireflies (Spryllian fireflies are blue).
Does he/she have any pets? She's got some chickens, and maybe a goat. The jury's still out on the goat. She might have a horse, too, for transportation.
Does he/she have any siblings? How many? Where does he/she fit in? Nope, she's an only.
Does he/she have a 'life verse' and if so what is it? She doesn't have one at the moment.
Favorite writing utensil? I hadn't thought about Spryllian writing utensils yet. For now I'll say quills.
That's all for me, folks! Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Beautiful People: Gwendolyn Copperstone
A few months back I found Beautiful People, a blog meme for writers to get to know their characters better. With NaNoWriMo coming up in a month and a half, I thought I'd start getting to know my main-character-to-be a bit better.
Some of you may recognize Gwen's name, since Gwendolyn Copperstone is my NaNoWriMo username and the name I comment under for WordPress blogs. Gwendolyn Copperstone started out as my dream pseudonym, then I used it for NaNo, and she somehow evolved into a character that lives in Spryll, a fantasy world I made up a few years ago, but never did anything with. Go figure.
Here's a blurb for Gwen's story, so the answers below will make more sense:
When Gwendolyn Copperstone, a young herbalist in the land of Spryll, suddenly inherits her uncle's insolvent manor, she finds herself flung into a world of deceit and danger. Her uncle had secrets, and someone will do everything they can to make sure Gwen doesn't find out what they were.
That's not really all there is to it, but it will serve for the purpose of this post.
There's usually a new set of Beautiful People questions each month, but the hosts are taking a break, so I'm just going to start at the beginning of their archive and play around for the next little bit. This set of questions is from March 2011.
What is her full name? Gwendolyn Owena Copperstone
Does her name have a special meaning? Not really. Her middle name means "born to nobility; young warrior" in Welsh, and that kind of fits with her story, so that's why I gave it to her.
Does your character have a methodical or disorganized personality? Methodical.
Does she think inside herself more than she talks out loud to her friends? (more importantly, does she actually have friends?) I'd say it's about equal. Gwen has some very close friends that she talks to, but she also spends a lot of time to herself in her garden.
Is there something she's afraid of? Hmm, this is not something I'd considered yet. Let me think. She's afraid of accidentally poisoning someone, and failing to save the Manor. Also thunder and lightning, I think.
Does she write, dream, dance, sing, or photograph? Dream, yes. The others, no. Unless you count writing letters.
What is her favorite book? (or genre of books) Ooh, another one I hadn't thought of yet. Somehow I forgot to include books in Spryll. Huh. Well, her favorite book would probably be her favorite plant and/or flower book. Maybe a book on herbal medicine.
Who is her favorite author and/or someone that inspires her? Hmm. Not any of the characters I've invented thus far. I will think about this.
Favorite flavor of ice cream? There is no ice cream in Spryll. I'll have to come up with a Spryllian alternative.
Favorite season of the year? Spring. Spring is when her garden comes back to life after the winter cold.
That was fun! I'll be doing more of these. Kirk Out.
Some of you may recognize Gwen's name, since Gwendolyn Copperstone is my NaNoWriMo username and the name I comment under for WordPress blogs. Gwendolyn Copperstone started out as my dream pseudonym, then I used it for NaNo, and she somehow evolved into a character that lives in Spryll, a fantasy world I made up a few years ago, but never did anything with. Go figure.
Here's a blurb for Gwen's story, so the answers below will make more sense:
When Gwendolyn Copperstone, a young herbalist in the land of Spryll, suddenly inherits her uncle's insolvent manor, she finds herself flung into a world of deceit and danger. Her uncle had secrets, and someone will do everything they can to make sure Gwen doesn't find out what they were.
That's not really all there is to it, but it will serve for the purpose of this post.
There's usually a new set of Beautiful People questions each month, but the hosts are taking a break, so I'm just going to start at the beginning of their archive and play around for the next little bit. This set of questions is from March 2011.
What is her full name? Gwendolyn Owena Copperstone
Does her name have a special meaning? Not really. Her middle name means "born to nobility; young warrior" in Welsh, and that kind of fits with her story, so that's why I gave it to her.
Does your character have a methodical or disorganized personality? Methodical.
Does she think inside herself more than she talks out loud to her friends? (more importantly, does she actually have friends?) I'd say it's about equal. Gwen has some very close friends that she talks to, but she also spends a lot of time to herself in her garden.
Is there something she's afraid of? Hmm, this is not something I'd considered yet. Let me think. She's afraid of accidentally poisoning someone, and failing to save the Manor. Also thunder and lightning, I think.
Does she write, dream, dance, sing, or photograph? Dream, yes. The others, no. Unless you count writing letters.
What is her favorite book? (or genre of books) Ooh, another one I hadn't thought of yet. Somehow I forgot to include books in Spryll. Huh. Well, her favorite book would probably be her favorite plant and/or flower book. Maybe a book on herbal medicine.
Who is her favorite author and/or someone that inspires her? Hmm. Not any of the characters I've invented thus far. I will think about this.
Favorite flavor of ice cream? There is no ice cream in Spryll. I'll have to come up with a Spryllian alternative.
Favorite season of the year? Spring. Spring is when her garden comes back to life after the winter cold.
That was fun! I'll be doing more of these. Kirk Out.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Book Review: Dark Destiny
Yesterday morning, I finished Dark Destiny by M. J. Putney.
Here's the summary from the author's website:
Tory and her friends are celebrating the success of a second mission to aid WWII Britain when an urgent summons calls them back to their own time: Napoleon is on the brink of invading England. Can a handful of young mages stop an army? In desperation, Merlin’s Irregulars ask Rebecca Weiss, an untrained telepath from 1940, to come back to 1804 and change Napoleon’s mind before it’s too late.
As Tory and Allarde make a commitment that will cost him his inheritance, Rebecca promises to do what she can to stop Napoleon even though she is unsure of her magical abilities. But Tory and her friends saved the Weiss family from Nazi imprisonment, and Rebecca will risk anything, even her life and her budding relationship with Nick Rainford, to repay them.
Tory and her friends undertake daring missions to Wales and France, where Napoleon is gathering ships and plotting invasion. But while their success may save England, they must still face the bittersweet consequences of their decisions when they return home.
Star rating: **** (Four stars)
Dark Destiny is the third (and I believe final) book in the Dark Mirror series.
A little back story:
In Dark Mirror, the first book, 16 year old Lady Victoria Mansfield finds out that she is a mageling (she has magical powers). In "polite" society, magelings are frowned upon. Tory tries to keep her magic a secret, but winds up exposing it when she saves her nephew's life. She then gets sent to Lackland Academy, a school for "curing" magelings of their magic. She eventually finds Merlin's Irregulars, a group of mages who want to use their powers to defend England. She joins them, and they have dangerous adventures. She also finds Merlin's Mirror, a magical device that allows her and her friends to travel through space and time.
My thoughts:
Dark Destiny was lots of fun, much like the other Dark Mirror books. The action was good, and I like the characters. That pretty much all I have to say about the good parts of the book.
This book had a lot more romance, and not in a good way. There was much more kissing, some couples spending the night together (just sleeping, thank heavens), and too many uses of the word "handsome". Really, Tory, Cynthia, and Rebecca, I got the fact that your true loves were handsome when you said it the first time. After looking at the author's website, specifically the covers of the adult books she's written, it's nor really surprising that the romance in this one got more.... physical. ***SPOILER*** The one piece of romance I really liked was when Allarde's father decides not to sign the disinheritance papers about three seconds before his death, and Allarde and Tory decide that they will stick it out, even though society will give them the cold shoulder because of their magic. ***End Spoiler***
That's about it. Hope you have a great week!
Here's the summary from the author's website:
Tory and her friends are celebrating the success of a second mission to aid WWII Britain when an urgent summons calls them back to their own time: Napoleon is on the brink of invading England. Can a handful of young mages stop an army? In desperation, Merlin’s Irregulars ask Rebecca Weiss, an untrained telepath from 1940, to come back to 1804 and change Napoleon’s mind before it’s too late.
As Tory and Allarde make a commitment that will cost him his inheritance, Rebecca promises to do what she can to stop Napoleon even though she is unsure of her magical abilities. But Tory and her friends saved the Weiss family from Nazi imprisonment, and Rebecca will risk anything, even her life and her budding relationship with Nick Rainford, to repay them.
Tory and her friends undertake daring missions to Wales and France, where Napoleon is gathering ships and plotting invasion. But while their success may save England, they must still face the bittersweet consequences of their decisions when they return home.
Star rating: **** (Four stars)
Dark Destiny is the third (and I believe final) book in the Dark Mirror series.
A little back story:
In Dark Mirror, the first book, 16 year old Lady Victoria Mansfield finds out that she is a mageling (she has magical powers). In "polite" society, magelings are frowned upon. Tory tries to keep her magic a secret, but winds up exposing it when she saves her nephew's life. She then gets sent to Lackland Academy, a school for "curing" magelings of their magic. She eventually finds Merlin's Irregulars, a group of mages who want to use their powers to defend England. She joins them, and they have dangerous adventures. She also finds Merlin's Mirror, a magical device that allows her and her friends to travel through space and time.
My thoughts:
Dark Destiny was lots of fun, much like the other Dark Mirror books. The action was good, and I like the characters. That pretty much all I have to say about the good parts of the book.
This book had a lot more romance, and not in a good way. There was much more kissing, some couples spending the night together (just sleeping, thank heavens), and too many uses of the word "handsome". Really, Tory, Cynthia, and Rebecca, I got the fact that your true loves were handsome when you said it the first time. After looking at the author's website, specifically the covers of the adult books she's written, it's nor really surprising that the romance in this one got more.... physical. ***SPOILER*** The one piece of romance I really liked was when Allarde's father decides not to sign the disinheritance papers about three seconds before his death, and Allarde and Tory decide that they will stick it out, even though society will give them the cold shoulder because of their magic. ***End Spoiler***
That's about it. Hope you have a great week!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Sarah F. Brings Me Back to the Blogoshpere
Thank you, very much Sarah!
Like 99.9% of awards, this one has rules.
1. Thank the person who gave you the award. (Done!)
2. Answer the five questions given to you, and ask the next person five new questions.
3. Award five people.
4. Post the rules. (Also done!)
Sarah's questions are:
1. What is your favorite part of blogging? Well, I'd have to say the other bloggers I meet.
2. What are some of your favorite blogs? See my Great Blogs! list on the right.
3. Are there any blogs you follow that have really huge followings? Go Teen Writers just topped 500 followers!
4. What's your favorite subject to read in? To write in? I'm assuming by subject, Sarah means genre. (If I am mistaken, Sarah, please correct me). Reading: I like fantasy, mystery, some paranormal stuff, and historical fiction. To write: I've written 1.5 mysteries, and I must admit that I love figuring out motives and clues and stuff. This year for NaNoWriMo, I will attempt my first fantasy, and it will also be a mystery. So, I guess mystery.
5. If you could interview one author on your blog, who would you pick? Ooh, tough question. I really have no idea.
My questions are:
1. If you were a dragon, what color would you be?
2. If you were only allowed to write in one genre for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
3. What was the last book you read?
4. Did you like it?
5. What is one school subject
I nominate:
Allison @ Allison's Bookish Life
Erin @ Laughing at Live Dragons
Sarah @ Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish.
Pheris @ The Word Asylum
Liam, Head Phil @ This Page Intentionally Left Blank
In other blogging news, since I was awarded this award, I've had five post ideas. Now I have a request: Someone please threaten me with something creative if I don't actually post. (Disclaimer: any threats posted in the comments may be used in future stories).
Have a great week, all!
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