DOOM! and an Aouthentica Excerpt

Heeeere it is! The long-awaited, barely anticipated excerpt from my NaNo project, Aouthentica. This is about one third of the first chapter, which I'll add the rest of if I get requests for it.

ALSO. Before we get to that, I want to tell you about DOOM. It stands for Definitely O-normous O-uthor Months. It's a variation on NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo.
We'll be writing 50K (50,000) words over the months of March and April.
That's 820 words a day for 61 days. Amanda Wikoff came up with it over at The Ramblings Of A Wayward Author. If you want to do it you should head over there and let her know you're in!

On that note, my goal right now is to finish editing what I already have of Aouthentica by the end of February and then add onto it for all of DOOM.

Onto the excerpt.

This Is War (Updated!)

Guest Post by Trinity! No wait... I'm not a guest. But you wouldn't know that would you? Because I've been gone for three weeks straight.

There is blame to be placed and I choose this: 

SCHOOL

Alright, onto the subject matter. Quite a while ago (meaning, maybe a month and a half ago) I discovered the song "This Is War" by 30 Seconds To Mars. I'm not a fan of hard-rock-screaming songs for the most part, (they give me a headache and hurt my ears) but I like this song, which has minimal screaming and a pretty cool melody. Also, because of this video, I link it strongly to Harry Potter.

AND! For those who maybe don't do Harry Potter, here's an Avengers version.

One of the reasons I liked it so much was how for each part, they matched up a character that fit that description. For example:

Each character fits their label in some way or another. Albus Dumbledore is headmaster of Hogwarts School. Sybill Tralawney is the Professor of Divination and makes a prediction that is important to the plot. Etcetera, etcetera.
So, after listening to this song multiple times, (like many many times) Hannah and I started thinking how we could match it up to our stories. It's a surprisingly difficult exercise, but fun!

This is what I listed for Aouthentica (Think Rienna, Jrew, and Liza), along with a little explanation as to why I chose them.
Note: Two I left out so I wouldn't ruin any surprises.

A warning to the People: █████████ ← A secret

The Good: Jrew Arion-

Jrew is obviously the good guy. He wants his throne back, and he wants revenge on his second-cousin, Talman Arion for murdering his parents and his uncle.

And the Evil: Talman Arion -

Again, obviously the bad guy.

To the Soldier: Eyrik Duell-
Eyrik is head of the Commandos in Gillam (secret renegade town in Aouthentica), which are kind of like their police force. Everything he does is carefully calculated, either for the good of his men or the good of Gillam. (That's why he thinks Rienna is such an idiot, because she's largely unattached on her missions and thus is a lot more spontaneous and reckless.) He's there to do what needs to be done to get the job done so he can move on to the next job that needs to be done. He's a soldier and he really doesn't have much of a life outside of that.

The Civilian: Cam and Cara Rogdriguez-

Poor Cam and Cara (they're twins). I'm not really sure how they got to be living in Milliayn, but they work for Jrew and they're just kinda along for the ride. They haven't been trained for this their whole lives, but they get sucked in and have to do the best they can.

The Martyr: Anai Arion-

This would be Jrew's father. He went back to help his brother (Avigdor, the king at the time), while sending his son on ahead (to get out of the country). Unfortunately, he never made it out. 

The Victim: █████████ ← Another secret

A warning to the Prophet: Cerra Samerest
Okay, so Cerra has no powers. Just want to clarify that once and for all. Nobody in Aouthentica gots an superpowers. BUT she is one of, if not the most sensible one of the group. So she can kind of predict what's going to happen if someone does something. She'd be the one going, "Someone's going to get hurt." And then someone would.

The Liar: Daven Cortez - 

Daven is a double agent for Falk Halcon (read: assistant bad guy). He "works" for Jrew, but ends up betraying him. I don't like him. He's a liar.

The Honest: Jesse Stoiker - 

Jesse's a Commando under Eyrik. He'll tell you the absolute truth, and if he can't, he won't say anything. He's  also Eyrik's best friend. 

To the Leader: Luc Walker - 

Luc is the Director of Gillam, and he's good at it. Now, why did I choose him instead of Jrew? Because Luc's a good leader and he's been doing it solo for many years, whereas Jrew is.... not as good of a leader and he needs a lot of help.

The Pariah: Liza Vulken-

Liza is not generally accepted anywhere other than Jrew's headquarters, and even then she mostly hangs around in the back, just keeping an eye on Rienna (her unofficially adopted daughter). She did something pretty bad, though I don't remember what it was, that turned everyone against her. So now she's an outcast, but because of Rienna, she sticks around.

The Victor: Rienna Lee-

Ah, Ri. She jumps in headfirst all. the. time. But she usually manages to get herself out of it, and really, Jrew probably wouldn't become king or defeat Talman. And Eyrik would still be brooding in Gillam. And Terra would still be queen of Bairek. And Erde would still be meekly following his sister (Terra) around. So I'm putting her in the Victor category. 

The Messiah: Erde-

(Okay, quick orientation: Bairek = Country next to Aouthentica, host country of the town Milliayn. Terra: Queen of Bairek. Erde: Her younger brother.)

Terra is the "rightful" ruler of Bairek, but she's really not a very good leader. She was spoiled rotten as a child, so now she's pretty much a bratty queen. However, everyone in Bairek loves Erde, who wasn't nearly as spoiled, because no one paid much attention to him. He refuses to take the throne from Terra, even if it would be better for the country, but eventually, erm.... she's not... well, queen anymore. Or anything, actually. But that comes later. In any case, he eventually becomes king of Bairek and pretty much rescues the country from utter ruin.

Alrighty. I think that pretty much wraps it up, and I'm sorry if it's confusing (or even boring), because I was distracted while writing it. And I'm sorry that it's been so long since I posted. I'll try to remedy that. But no promises. 

Beautiful People - Rienna Lee

-By Trinity

Ah, Rienna. She is one of my first, original characters. And my personal favorite. She is largely based on myself, or possibly what I would like to be, so it's difficult to let her develop her own flaws. I have to consciously give them to her. (On that note, I'm going to add that I'm skeptical of the whole idea of characters developing on their own. If I'm the author, and I created them, and I control them, then they can't do anything without my approval. Right? Now, I have experienced making my characters react or act in a way that is inconsistent with how I think they should or would act, and then wondering why I thought it made sense at the time. But I don't think that's the same thing. If anyone can explain this "Characters Going Rogue" phenomena, please let me know.)
Anyway, back to Rienna. Her biological parents are lost to her for unexplained reasons, but she was raised by Liza Vulken, and kind of by Arron Vitez (Jrew's guardian). Because of this, she and Jrew were raised alongside each other and are absolutely the best of friends. As they get older, Jrew starts focusing more of his attention on running Milliayn, and getting ready to take back his throne, so Rienna starts working just as hard to become his right-hand... man. Person. She's kind of his captain of the guard. But she doesn't have captain-type duties.
Jrew has a lot of Milliayn-ites working for him, and most of them do about the same things: Assist him with paperwork and go on whatever missions he sends them on, but Rienna's his most trusted agent.
She's well-trained to do a lot of different things, but she has the most training in tactical type skills.
Um... let's see. What else about her?
She's got a kind of sarcastic personality, but she's largely cheerful. She and Jrew tease each other a lot. She teases other people quite a bit. She likes to wear black (like me). She looks pretty much like the picture above.

Well, okay then. Let's move on to the Beautiful People section -

1. If your character’s house burned down, and they were left with nothing but the clothes on their back, what would they do? Where would they go?
Well, first of all, of Rienna has the clothes on her back, she has her gun on her hip. Basically, unless she's in bed, she's always wearing her gun, and even then, it's within arm's reach. So, then, if her house (actually, she lives in an apartment, but for simplicity's sake, I'm gonna say just her apartment) burned down, she'd go across the breezeway to Jrew's apartment and crash there. His "guest" bedroom is pretty much designated as her room, since it's very common for her to spend the night at his apartment, especially when they're working late.

2. Are they happy with where they are in life, or would they like to move on?
For the most part, Rienna's content with where she is. As long as Jrew's around, she's in Milliayn, or wherever Jrew's sent her, she's happy. If she's off on a mission, she'd probably rather be back in Milliayn. And for sure, she'd rather Jrew have his throne back in Aouthentica, but otherwise, she's pretty much dedicated herself to doing whatever Jrew needs her to do, and that's all she really wants to be doing.
At least, for now. That could be different by the end of the book.

3. Are they well-paid?
Yes, and no. Rienna doesn't get "paid" per se. However, all of her needs (and most of her wants) are provided for by Jrew or paid out of the Milliayn budget. So she doesn't get a paycheck, but she doesn't really need one.

4. Can they read?
Yes... Most of her reading is done while filing reports, because she doesn't have a lot of time for recreational reading. She enjoys it when she can, though.

5. What languages do they speak?
Just English. At one point she could speak some ancient and secret tongue, but that was brief, ridiculous addition that didn't last long.

6. What is their biggest mistake?
Hmm. I don't know if she's made one biggest mistake. Her recurring biggest mistake is probably leaping before she looks. She just likes to go-go-go, and too often she doesn't stop to consider whether or not she can handle the situation she's throwing herself into. About 50% of the time, she ends up coming out unscathed, but just barely. 35% of the time, she gets herself into big trouble and needs help, and the last 15%  she really can just go in and take care of the problem.

7. What did they play with most as a child?
Jrew, I guess. They did a lot of sword-fighting with sticks, I would imagine.

8. What are their thoughts on politics?
Rienna's not personally all that interested politics, but her job and circumstances and friends, etc. etc, mean that she actually has to know a lot about them. So, she's kind of neutral on her feelings for politics. Necessary, but not necessarily her favorite.
Now, her political opinion is that Talman's a vicious traitor, Falk's a treacherous sleemo, and Jrew's blood-line claim to the throne is legit and he'll make an excellent king. That's probably almost word for word what she'd say.

9. What is their expected life time?
?
Expected life span? There is no telling with Rienna. She could live to a ripe old age (I already have plans for who she'll marry and what her children are named, if she gets that far.), or she could get shot down tomorrow. Probably the former, though. Since I've invested so much thought into it.

10. If they were falsely accused of murder, what would they do? How would they react?
Depends. If she were in Milliayn, she'd go to Jrew. And he'd laugh. And then they'd have lunch. Case closed.
If she were in Gillam (where she's kind of new), she's probably blow up. She'd deny it a million times. And hold a grudge against whoever accused her. If she let them live. She's not used to being viewed suspiciously, so it would probably really bother her. Even if Luc, and all the Commandos (director and police force of Gillam) said they believed her, it would probably still niggle at the back of her mind until she found definite evidence proving herself innocent.

Welp, that's all the questions, so that's the end of this post. I hope it kind of gave you a picture of what Rienna's like, because she one of the most important characters, Jrew being the second most important. Or maybe vice-versa.
You'll probably hear (or see?) her mentioned a lot on here, so that's her. She's awesome. :)

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!
-Trinity

Aouthentica - Synopsis Part 1

Ever since I (Trinity) last posted, I've been working on my synopsis of Aouthentica. It's taken a lot longer and has become a lot more detailed than I thought it would be. It's helped me find and patch plot holes (no one can find plot holes in my story like I can), and to remember what's going on, since I hadn't worked on it for a couple months and the details were starting to slip my mind. 

So here's the first part, and I do apologize if it's a little too detailed, but I was really just trying to get everything out so I'd remember it in the future. 

Um, first, a quick list of names for reference (in case they get confusing): 

Avigdor Arion - Jrew's uncle, king of Aouthentica 

Anai Arion - Avigdor's brother, Rayla's husband, Jrew's father, prince of Aouthentica

Rayla Arion - Princess of Aouthentica, Anai's wife, Jrew's mother, Avigdor's sister-in-law

Talman Arion - Second cousin to Avigdor, Captain of the Guard

Falk Halcone - Right-hand man to Talman, ambassador, in charge of Triennia

Keyla Bardon - In charge of Triennia under Falk, Eyrik's peer, Falk's assistant

Arron Vitez - Avigdor's right-hand man, Jrew's surrogate father

Liza Vulken - Previous agent for Avigdor, Rienna's surrogate mother

Anjrew "Jrew" Arion - True heir to Aouthentica's throne, best friend of Rienna, son of Anai and Rayla

Rienna Lee - Best friend and agent for Jrew Arion

Kisha Garreth - Agent for Jrew, nurse, cousin of Cerra

Cerra Samerest - Agent for Jrew, cousin of Kisha

Cam and Cara Rodriguez - Twin brother and sister, agent for Jrew.

Ashley Hale - Agent for Jrew, best friends with Lydia

Lydia Mening - Agent for Jrew, best friends with Ashley

Daven Cortel - Agent for Jrew, kind of new

Lord Anson - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Lord Carter - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Lord Dominick - Previously adviser to Avigdor, advises Jrew now

Luc Walker - Director of Gillam

Eyrik Duell - Captain of the Commandos in Gillam

Jesse Stoiker - Commando, best friend of Eyrik

King Domhan - King of Bairek, associate of Avigdor

Queen Lurra - Wife of Domhan, deceased

Queen Terra - New queen of Bairek

Prince Erde - Younger brother of Terra

Aouthentica - Country ruled by the Arions for hundred of years

Aryeh - Aouthentica's capitol

Triennia - City in Aouthentica

Gillam - Town in Aouthentica

Bairek - Neighboring country to Aouthentica

Cordyne - Bairek's capitol

Milliayn - Town in Bairek

Okay, and here's part one of the actual synopsis on this ever-so-long post:

The kingdom of Aouthentica has been ruled by the Arions for over two hundred years. The current ruler, Avigdor Arion, has no wife and no heir. However, his beloved brother, Prince Anai, and sister-in-law, Princess Rayla, have a son, Anjrew Arion, who he is perfectly content to leave the throne to.
Unfortunately, the brother's second cousin, Talman Arion, finally puts his crusade for the throne into action, using his position as captain of the guard as an opportunity to turn the Aouthentican military against their own king.
His coupe, culminating with an attack on the palace itself, is successful: The king is killed, as well as Anai and Rayla. His loyal subjects are scattered and driven from Aouthentica. His right-hand man, Arron Vitez manages to escape with the two-year-old prince to the neighboring country of Bairek, along with a few other palace occupants.
Arron goes to the King of Bairek and requests refuge for the true heir. Seeing a valuable bargaining chip to use against the new king of Aouthentica, the king of Bairek agrees, and gives the refugees Milliayn, a half-built town. A few more Aouthentican refugees trickle in and are redirected to Milliayn, but soon they stop coming due to Talman locking down the borders.

Nineteen years pass with little to no political activity in Bairek or, presumably, Aouthentica, which has become a very closed, secretive country under Talman's rule. However, all reports convey that the people are happy and prospering.
Then the king of Bairek dies, leaving the country in the hands of his daughter, Terra, who is not known for her wisdom or discernment.
Doubt and worry falls over the minds of the Millianites concerning their future. Jrew Arion is now 21 and the people miss their homeland. With Arron's guidance, and three lord's (from Avigdor's old counsel) advice, he decideds the time to take action has come.

First, he goes to speak with the new queen in person, along with Arron, Daven Cortel, Cerra Samerest, and the Lord Dominick.
Second, he sends his best friend and right hand, Rienna Lee, her surrogate mother Liza Vulken, and Kisha Garreth in one team to "investigate" the state of Aouthentica.

Almost as soon as Liza's team enters Aouthentica she is recognized and arrested. Barely escaping, Rienna and Kisha flee farther down into Aouthentica. They tell Jrew what's happened and he sends Ashley Hale and Lydia Mening to rescue Liza.
While travelling back roads and through the woods to avoid the Central Police, Rienna and Kisha come across a large cement compound, with walls too high to see over. They stop to investigate, but before they can they are captured by an unknown group.
Meanwhile, Jrew is having his own troubles with Queen Terra. Talman has sent ambassadors to influence her against Milliayn, and she is very hostile toward them, trying Jrew's patience. After a particularly frustrating meeting, Terra's younger, but more mature, brother, Prince Erde, offers his encouragement and a little secret assistance as he feels it would be better for Bairek if Jrew were on the throne. However, how much assistance Erde can offer greatly depends on convincing Terra of their side of the argument; While Terra holds the throne of Bairek, Erde holds their hearts, a fact she is well aware of. If she decided against backing Jrew's claim to the throne, Erde could be committing treason; Or worse, if she decided to back Talman's claim to the throne, Erde could start a civil war, something he is not willing to risk.
Unbeknownst to everyone at the meeting Daven is recording it to give to Talman's ambassador, Falk Halcone, who's greatest delight would be to start a civil war, as that would weaken Bairek enough that Aouthentica (Or more specifically, Talman) could take over the country they were once equal to.

Rienna and Kisha find themselves in separate prison cells, guarded by surprisingly courteous jailers. Rienna finds a way to make a break for it, but is confronted by Captain Eyrik Duell, and (to her shock) is defeated in hand-to-hand combat and taken to the mysterious Director. The Director turns out to be an older gentleman named Luc who politely interrogates her and eventually reveals that she is in Gillam: the place all of the other Aouthenticans who wanted to leave fled to after Talman closed the borders down. Rienna mentions the concrete walls and he quickly corrects her. The compound she saw before was not Gillam, but an invention of Talman's. The entire country is now run by blackmail. There is a member of almost every family in Aouthentica in a compound somewhere. Talman has the compoundees working for him and simultaneously uses them as leverage to enlarge his army and prevent uprisings.
Rienna believes him, but only reveals half her story. In exchange, Luc only gives her half her freedom: she may explore Gillam to confirm the validity of his story, but she will be accompanied at all times by a Commando (Gillam's peacekeepers), and she must return to her cell at nightfall. Rienna agrees to this, and, to her disgust, she is assigned Eyrik Duell as her watchman.
She meets up with Kisha, who is assigned Jesse Stoiker, and the two compare stories. They are relieved that they both chose the same course of action in only sharing the barebones of their mission in Aouthentica. During the course of the day they learn that Luc was indeed telling the truth and they agree to share the rest of their mission with Luc, who releases them from Gillam's custody.

Back in Milliayn, the Lords Anson and Carter are alerted that Queen Terra will be sending representatives to inspect Milliayn's structures in comparison with Bairek's building codes since the town was only half built when Domhan let them move in.
Unfortunately, the ongoing construction of Milliayn was and always has been a haphazard affair, each citizen building on as they saw fit, without a thought toward building codes.
The Lords, along with Cam and Cara Rodriguez, must think of a way to immediately improve almost every structure in Milliayn, and quickly, because they're beginning to garner public attention, and the inspection itself is no doubt a ploy by the Queen to further discredit and disgrace Jrew.
|••| With no other solution the Lords muster the Milliaynites and begin repairing and rebuilding Milliayn as quickly as possible. Cam and Cara are assigned to learn the building codes as quickly as possible. |••|

Upon getting their possesions back, Rienna recieves a call from Ashley and Lydia, informing her that they cannot locate Liza in Aryeh, but they heard a rumor that she was sent to Hospitality Center. Rienna directs them to come to Gillam to regroup, and relays the message to Luc and the Commandos. Luc tells her that the politically correct term for the compounds is a Hospitality Center, as the occupants are now "enjoying" Talman's hospitality and Eyrik may be able to help locate Liza.
He explains that Eyrik lives a double life, spending half his time in Triennia, undercover as an officer directly under Falk Halcone, who runs Triennia when he is not running errands for Talman. He has only one peer, Keyla Bardon, as he is above everyone else.
His high status allows him to visit regularly, and to warn and protect Gillam.
Eyrik vehemently opposes the idea, especially when Rienna decides to go along. She lays out her plan: Eyrik will take her into Triennia under the pretense of just making a pit stop after having captured her and being under orders to personally take her to join Liza.
Luc likes and agrees to the plan, but he must give Eyrik a direct order to carry it out.

In Cordyne (Bairek's capitol) Jrew's troubles are mounting. Terra has found out about Erde and Jrew's secret meeting, and is absolutely furious, accusing them both of plotting against her. Erde angrily confronts Jrew, demanding to know why he told Terra. Jrew assures him that he wasn't the one to tell Terra, and the two princes conclude that someone from their meeting must have betrayed them, though neither is willing to suspect their own men. Finally, they agree to quietly investigate their own group.
Jrew tells Arron of the development, and Arron promises to help him investigate Lord Dominick, Daven, and Cerra. Jrew continues to struggle with the idea that one of them could be a traitor.

Remember, I'm still working on it, and that's not the end (for those who complain about my "bloody cliffhangers"). This will be going on my "Trinity's Works" page when it's completed.

Also, since I'm a geek about my own stories, I may do a post where I share all the nitty-gritty details about Aouthentica's past, which is very long and (IMHO) very interesting. 

And, if you're very very very lucky, I may post part of my original Milliayn story, which makes me want to sink into the floor, curl up in a ball, and claw my eyes out all at once when I read it. So, ya'll will probably think it's hilarious. 

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!
-Trinity

P.s.
This little thing: |••| doesn't mean anything except to me. It's just a note to remind me that the stuff between is new, and so I can find it quickly.

Blurbs: Rienna and Jrew

Trinity here!
It's been a while since I posted anything writer-ly, but I did write something recently about my two of my three favorite characters, Rienna Lee and Anjrew Arion.
They're from my Aouthentica novel that I've been working on since 2007-ish. They're also the very first characters I ever wrote in, and the first characters I wrote with any depth. It's also my only novel that is not set in a fantasy, dystopian, or middle-age type of setting. They've got guns and cell phones and whatnot.
Rienna's nineteen, and has no clue who her birth parents are, though she's pretty sure they're deceased. She was adopted by Liza, another character, so she's kind of got a mother.
Jrew's twenty-one (That's what everyone calls him, though his full name is Anjrew) is heir to the throne of Aouthentica, but is currently living in the refuge city of Milliayn in a neighboring country because his uncle (the last king) and his parents (the prince and princess) were killed in an uprising by one of the generals.
I really ought to write out the whole story for a post soon. It's very interesting (to me anyway), as well as long and involved. Plus, it would be good for me to have a complete synopsis written out for future reference.
In any case, Jrew and Rienna have been best friends since she was two and he was four, and she blew out the candles on his cake and they both burst into tears. They're more like brother and sister than best friends really. And just for clarification, there is absolutely nothing more to their relationship.
So, here's my blurb for them, which I wrote while pondering how the two would greet each other after being parted under various circumstances. Sometimes Jrew would just chew her out for almost getting herself killed, and other times he'd be absolutely frantic. He's kind of a worry-wart like that.
Then I thought what Rienna would be like if Jrew went off on a long trip and what her reaction would be like when he came back, and this is what I got.
It also surprised me how easily their dialogue came, and then I realized that of all the characters I've brought to life, I know Jrew, Rienna, and their friend Eyrik the best. Like, I know their brains inside and out. I wish I knew all my characters like that. It would make it so much easier to write. Of course, I've also put Rienna through all sorts of horrible things in my many blurbs, so I think that helped me develop her character a little more. (That and I've known her for nearly six years now.)
Okay, NOW here's my blurb:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Jrew shifted his duffel bag to hang behind him and began to fumble with his keys. He finally found the right one and inserted it in the doorknob. It clicked faintly as it unlocked, making him smile with relief. It was good to be home.

He pushed the door open, picked up his other suitcase and went into the kitchen. Dropping his bags on the floor, he flicked the light on and opened the fridge to see if anything was still good after his trip.

A dull thud came from the other room. Jrew straightened and frowned. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else in his apartment. He shut the fridge quietly and turned to face the rest of the house. Footsteps were approaching rapidly. Suddenly a figure clad in all black turned the corner. Jrew pulled his gun, placing the red dot sight on the intruder's chest.

"Jrew!" Rienna shrieked, completely ignoring the gun as she launched herself at him.

"Oof!" Jrew took two full steps backwards before putting his free arm around her. "Holy- Ri, I almost shot you."

"Did you just get back?" She asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yeah. Crossed the border about ten minutes ago. What are you doing here?"

Rienna pulled back to give him an offended look.

He grinned. "No, I'm glad to see you and all, but how did you get in? And what are you doing here? It's three in the morning!"

She smiled sheepishly. "Cerra said you'd be back any day now, and I didn't want to miss you if you came in late, so I started staying over in my room."

Jrew extracted himself from her tenacious hug and gave her a push towards the kitchen table, saying, "That's not your room, it's the guest bedroom."

"I'm the only one that ever sleeps in it, and all the stuff in there is mine." She argued. "Oh, and we're out of shampoo."

Jrew looked away from making himself a sandwich. "I bought a new bottle before I left. You used it up already? How many days have you been staying here?"

Rienna picked an apple out of the fruit bowl in the middle of the table before answering, "Three nights."

"You do realize your apartment is just across the way?" He reminded her, bringing his sandwich to the table. "And that this one is actually mine?"

Rienna didn't look up from polishing her apple on her sleeve. "Are you saying you don't want me here?"

"Yes. Wait, no. Oh, forget it!" Jrew groaned and started in on his sandwich.

Rienna bit into her apple, froze, then yanked it away. "Bleah! It's fake!"

Jrew grinned and swallowed. "I was wondering if you were actually going to try to eat it."

"You knew?" She threw the apple at him and it bounced harmlessly off his shoulder. "You could've told me."

"I thought you knew." He shrugged, taking another bite.

They sat in silence until Jrew finished his snack, then he stretched and said, "You should get back to bed, Ri. I'm gonna do a little unpacking and hit the sack myself."

"Do you mind if I stay up with you?" She asked hopefully.

Jrew stretched and put his hands behind his head. "I'm only going to be up for ten more minutes, and I'm just gonna be getting out my toothbrush and stuff. Go ahead and go back to bed. I'll still be here in the morning."

She sighed and got up. "All right. You promise we can talk in the morning?"

"Yes, I promise." He got up and gave her another hug. "Incidentally, what did you knock over when I first got here?"

Rienna's face went a little red. "Nothing. I fell out of bed."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

And that's all I've got for them right now. I hope that gives you a bit of a better idea about their relationship and personality. You'll probably being hearing more about them soon. But no promises, 'cause you know how bad I am about posting what I say I might post.



Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!
-Trinity

First Post!

Trinity here! And I believe it's high time we had a post or two around here! 

Now, my first thought was not to introduce myself since I have an "About Trinity" page that you could read to figure all that out. But, really, you need to know some background about my writing. 

I have two main hobbies. Photography and writing. We can discuss photography another time and on another blog.  But I have been writing for a long time. A really really long time. 

My first novel was called Village of Milliayn and I started it when I was about seven years old. It. Was. Horrible. I got to about 100 pages and then went back to reading the beginning and it... it was too awful. It wasn't that the plot was sagging in the middle or the beginning or the end. It was that the plot had collapsed on itself at some point in it's conception and I somehow didn't notice and kept happily picking my way through the rubble.

There was some treasure in the rubble, however. My beloved characters. Rienna and Jrew especially, but a whole host of others as well. I couldn't just dump them. 

So I rewrote Village of Milliayn, and it became simply Milliayn. This time, being a bit older and having read a lot more, the plotline was much better, and the dialogue was good as well. Relative to Village. I tweaked my characters a little bit, bringing some background characters more to the forefront, working out settings and all sorts of awesome stuff. 

And yet still, there were gaping plot holes when I looked back over it. 

Obviously, scrapping it and starting over was the best option. It worked last time, right?

And so another thirty or forty pages became obsolete. Again and again I would write and scrap, write and scrap, write and scrap. It always helped bring out the storyline a little more, but not quite as drastically as the first time. 

I'm still working on that novel today, only now it's titled Aouthentica (the name of the country), and I am bound and determined to finish it someday even if it's the last thing I do!

And I am still using quite a few of the original characters. They're like faithful dogs, going through whatever tragedies and horrible plots I happen to send their way in any particular incarnation of the story without holding anything against me.

And that is my novel. Besides that, I've written a ton and a half of short stories and started just about as many. 

More recently, though, I've started a program called One Year Adventure Novel (which will probably be called OYAN from now on), and I've enjoyed that so far. It really makes me think and consider about what I'm writing, rather than just banging out random things on the computer. 

         

However, for the month of November, I will be setting aside both OYAN and my photography to do something called NaNoWriMo (commonly called NaNo) which stands for National Novel Writing Month . Your goal is to write a whole novel, which is defined by 50,00 words or more, in November, which is exactly 30 days. 

     This goal is made more achievable by the fact that you're just supposed to write without worrying about too much about grammar or plot. The editing can wait until December. 

During the rest of October I will be finishing up a Photography Challenge I'm doing here, and attempting to work out a plot line for my NaNo novel. I'm not allowed to actually write any prose until November 1st, but I can outline and do research and character building. Which is stuff I love to do. My only problem is, I haven't decided what I want to write about yet! Not usually an issue for me. But I will figure it out before the first, and I will post about it when I get a little more work done. 

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass! 

~ Trinity