it's time for another installment of Using Polls to Create Art.
Unless otherwise stated every drawing was the result of a majority vote. This time around you may see some familiar characters, along with characters you have not yet met before, who will reappear in other posts. 😉
Let's begin...
A drawing in which Tesariel "Tess" Short is celebrating the winter holidays. I had the voters vote on which character I should draw celebrating the holidays, and Tess won. It's been a while since I drew her, and felt good to draw her again.
This drawing was based on a painting that the voters chose. Here is the painting that the drawing is based on, though I changed the setting from being outdoors to indoors.
On the wall is a portrait that I think looks like Felix, though it is actually a self portrait of Arthur Hughes. I decided when making this drawing that it would be fun to do a multimedia piece.
From the poll that I had in the previous post, here is the violinist as a fairy.
And here is the video showing the process of drawing it.
I had the voters vote on which outfit Elm should wear, and this one won. While Elm isn't a fighter with weapons (she uses her magical singing voice), I imagine that if she went on a quest with Oak (since they live in the same world), that she would probably borrow a sword from Oak for this.
This is a reimagining of one of my old super heroes, Cheetah Girl. I redesigned her outfit, since her original outfit had been pretty much a copy of the cheetah creature power suit from Wild Kratts (that I watched when I was a kid). I had the voters vote on which of my super heroes I should redraw and Cheetah Girl was the first to win.
Here is what her design originally looked like.
This wasn't a majority vote but it was suggested by Tammie Lee at Beauty Flows. The suggestion was a fairy that lives in a tree, and it was fun to draw. It made me think about what type of fairy would live in a tree, and I decided to make her like one of those Victorian-style fairies.
And here is the video of the process of making it.
This is Ocean Guy, he was a character who came from a super hero comic I made using Pixton. I had the voters decide on which super hero I should redraw/redesign and he won. I've been thinking that he would fit into the same world as Cheetah Girl and Skunk Girl, perhaps they could be a team of nature-related super heroes.
So, I had a lot of old super heroes I made when I was younger. One of them was Skunk Girl (not Super Girl, Skunk Girl), I don't know what made me want to make her a skunk super hero!? And she came from the same world as another super hero of mine, Cheetah Girl.
Now for a new poll: This one is a bit different, instead of asking which character I should draw, it's asking what a character should be doing...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? What are some of your favorite super heroes?
As a reminder, you can still leave questions for or impressions about Annabelle or Phoenix (or both) here. Your ideas will help me create character interviews for my blog's sixth anniversary in March.
But back to this post, all the drawings are responses to majority votes, unless otherwise stated:
I made two polls, and the result was Ophelia at a masquerade. It was very fun to draw her mask,
because I decided to make it bird-like.
This drawing actually came first, before the picture of Ophelia at the masquerade.
I like how it turned out, and it was fun to give Annabelle two masks.
I made a poll about Elm and how I should draw her. The end result was that I should draw in her Middle Earth. I based her dress on Arwen's dress; I think Elm would be an elf if she lived in Middle Earth.
This drawing was inspired by this painting. I was trying to decide which characters should take the place of the characters in the painting, so I had the pollers vote on it, and Matilda and Felix won.
I ended up taking inspiration with the poses the characters are in and tried to copy the style of the painting a bit, while still keeping it in my style.
This is a drawing of Riona's father. I had a poll voting on which character I should redraw from this post, and Riona's father ended up winning, so I decided to redraw it, and I like how it turned out.
Riona herself is warrior who can shape shift back and forth between being a phoenix and a human, but she wasn't originally magical. She was an ordinary human like her father.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? And if your characters lived in any fictional world (other than the one they currently live in) where would they live?
It would be good to read part one, and part two before continuing reading this post...
In Tolkien's story, it is quite clear that the elves are leaving of their own accord, but in my mine, the situation is different, because it is scarily unknown why the elves and fairies have suddenly vanished. There are clues here and there, but not much informations surrounding it. The elves are certainty not speaking about it, and the fairies run away before you can ask them.
Eerie Lullabies
But it occurred to me when writing that it would be a scary thing from the perspective of the elves and fairies. And perhaps from the point of view of their children. When something scary happens around children, they are likely to make a song about it. After all, Ring Around the Rosie may have come from the black death, and yet we still sing it today, forgetting the background behind it.
After a singer, Ashley Serena, posted this Russian Lullaby (which does sometimes have a different ending to it, depending on what version you hear), I felt as if it would be neat to create a haunting song for my own world:
I thought this was interesting because this version of the lullaby has an eerie ending when other versions do not. Since something in the world like an object or creature must be connected to the incidents, either in fact or because of a misinterpretation for the poor elf or fairy children who have little to no idea what is going on to make a song about it. They may have heard bits and pieces of information that adults have said by accident, which then becomes an eerie song.
And I also found that the song itself, "Bayu Bayuski" ties into another part of the plot, even though I intend to write my own eerie song for it. Since one of my characters is now a shepherd, and shepherds are a few of the people who've noticed the strange happenings (and blame it on wolves), as I stated in the first draft:
There had been a lot of unexplained events, and one of them (the sheep disappearing) is misinterpreted as related to wolves.
In the first draft however I didn't bring these events to the scary level that they could have. I merely mentioned them once and never brought them up again after that. But, I feel I want to create some fear for the readers and for the characters in the story, and mystery to what is happening with the disappearance of the elves and fairies.
Ghosts
Ghosts tie into the gothic elements of the story that I have added. I considered all the places that have been affected in my story, and I thought it would be really neat if there were certain ghost stories told by different people in each area. Even with all the fearful things that are happening, I
want to add some light heartedness to the story, as well as actually adding ghosts into the story, but that will be talked about later.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Brown_lady.jpg)
Since Tess will be traveling (even if she didn't decide of her own accord to go to the places that she is traveling to), it would be interesting if there were a ghost story for every part of the world (like there is a haunted house, tree, bridge, lake, etc). Stories could be traded around to explain why they were haunted.
And besides there being the element of ghost stories (even if none of the ghosts come out in the places that are mentioned), I thought it might be neat if there were some actual ghosts, who perhaps act as an oracle to the plot-line or even a guide. I think I will have them appear and disappear at will, but not have it happen smack in the middle of a weird point in the story as I did with this scene in the first draft...
The problem with the first draft was that it happened and then no one seemed to be worried about what was going on at all. A friend of mine mentioned that it felt like Lida just shrugged it off and somehow forgot about it, without being concerned about her father in the slightest. And I also felt upon looking back at it that when I first wrote it I didn't really think too much about what happened to Mr. Short. I knew it was magical, but didn't consider an oracle like possession or ghostly one as a possibility of what it could be. So that is certainly a possibility of what it might be when I rewrite that scene.
Since paranormal things that appear to be bad are happening, I think it would be neat if something paranormal happened that actually helped the main characters as well.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Banquo.jpg)
This post will not only talk about Tess's powers but also about the other magic that resides in the world. I talked about Inny's powers in part two, which are more witch-like, but Tess's powers are different and more elven if anything. Though my inspiration was Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit, I will be giving my elves different powers than the powers J.R.R Tolkien's elves have. In terms of magic I noticed that the elves in Lord of The Rings did have some abilities, Galadriel is a little bit of a mind-reader (sort of psychic in some sense) and has some light related powers. Tauriel uses healing magic by chanting; however, I feel I want my elves' magic to be more involved, and perhaps more nature-like, perhaps druid-like, and have some elves use their powers more than Tolkien's elves would. I remember that in a Dungeons and Dragon campaign the elf druids and bards had much more magic than the elves in Lord of the Rings, which is something I am aiming for in my Fantasy world. And I've noticed that the powers are used more in Dungeons and Dragons than in Lord of the Rings, and the powers often tend to be more complex. This is something I enjoy, as well as the fact that the bard's music (in D & D) can actually do something magical or that they can inspire the other players with their music.
So, I want Tess's magic to be somewhat powerful (she is half elf, so it can't be as powerful as a full elves' magic), but not in the way that Galadriel's or Tauriel's is. And I want it to have some musical and non-musical elements to it, and be a lot more like elves' magic in Dungeons and Dragons than in Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit.
There is also a group of sorceresses that come together when they are most needed. (Ariel is part of that group.) Otherwise the members are solitary sorceresses, whose goal is to make the world a safe place by using their powers to frighten off anything that may cause a threat to the world. They also are the ones people turn to in times of need. But mostly they turn to a single sorceress and not the whole group. The group is very much against witches since most witches of the world tend to perform dark magic. They may have mixed feelings about Inny's using witch's magic even for good since there has never been a case besides her where someone used witch's magic in that way.
As a side note, I see this as a theme song for the group:
(Which includes fairies' magic, elves' magic, magic performed by sorcerers & sorceresses, etc.)
Shapeshifting
(Shapeshifting has rarely been used in a bad way, except when you turn someone into an animal against their will, but the group is all for shapeshifting).
Potions
(On and off, it really depends on the type of potion you make)
Psychics
(Some of the sorceresses in the group have psychic abilities, so it would be very difficult to be against that (it would also be very hypocritical), and besides, it has been useful.)
Things that the group of sorceresses is against:
Evil magic
(Witch magic. They are unaware that someone has used it for good, and that seemingly
evil magic can be turned good or at least gray magic).
Necromancy
(There is a some moral issue here, which is rather controversial (in Tess's world) about whether or not it is alright to raise the dead and make them alive again. (Several philosophers have debated it, but they came to no good conclusion))
Monsters
(Ogres and trolls aren't exactly considered to be people by this group. From what they see ogres
and trolls seem to have a very animal like reaction to anything and therefore don't deserve the respect that elves or fairies would get.)
Things the group has not yet decided on...
Intermarriage between species
(Even if Ariel supports it, the rest of the group isn't sure what to think of it).
And there are few other things they haven't decided upon, I just don't know which ones they are yet.
What are some of your favorite ghost stories? Do you have a favorite eerie lullaby/song you enjoy listening to (for the enjoyment of the eeriness)?
-Quinley
P.S. Some upcoming posts in the near future are a rewrite of a story I posted in 2017 (set in the same world as this novel), and a monologue from Romeo and Juliet spoken by Romeo. (Though I don't know when exactly I will post the monologue, since it still needs to be filmed), but be sure to keep your eyes open for those.
Happy Holidays everyone! Since there are so many holidays celebrated during winter, and I didn't want to make someone feel left out by mentioning only three or four, I decided that I should write a story that captures something that all those holidays have in common...which is love. I also decided to set it in the world of my novel, The Silver Key. By doing this, I will show how people (humans and shapeshifters) who would usually be enemies, can be friends around this time of year...at least for the time being. "The Fairies or the Faylena" is talking about winter holidays celebrated in my Fantasy world. I haven't figured out the exact dates since they don't fall at the same time as our world's holidays. But one thing I do know is that these holidays are celebrated during winter. My inspiration for the story was this song: The Fairies they Draw Near
I imagine songs like this played (by local musicians) during the holidays in the world of The Silver Key. Though these two holidays take place in winter in two religions that celebrate fairies or faylena, I believe there are other religions in the world that celebrate the fairies or faylena (just not at the same time of the year.)
So, let's begin the story.:
The Fairies or the Faylena
This is the night, where many sit by candlelight
Hoping to get a sight of a fairy in the pale moonlight
Every child will tiptoe over to the window, hoping to see a
fay down below.
Far above the trees the fairies fly, into the night sky
All their voices are heard, and many rejoice at hearing a fairy’s voice.
Round the bend they fly, and some hope to apprehend,
In the starry sky they float, and many writers wrote about the fairies and how they were beautiful beyond compare with wild wispy hair,
Even the bards let out a tune, about the fairies seen above the moon,
Soon the winter’s frost is gone, and the fairies leave at dawn, to promise to return when the frost returns and laces the winter ferns.
—Phoenix
She sat outside on the steps of her apartment and looked down at the streets.Some houses had candles on the windowsill at this time; on others there were none, or the candles were snuffed out. Out the window of some of the houses, flowers were hanging: they were blue, silver, and sometimes even pink and yellow. While other windows had paper stars and even rainbow fabric flying out of them.
She wasn’t sure when the fay would come, but she was excited about it anyway.Few have been said to see the fay during this time of the year. Some waited out all the night until sixteen o’clock and never caught glimpse of them. But, she had a hope they would show, surely fay would take an interest in humans, wouldn’t they? For they were said to come every year, she reminded herself, and she had heard that some passers by had seen them, once.
She picked up her match box, and walked down the road singing tunes to herself, looking around, and lighting the matches as she went. Her daily wages she had earned had paid for them. She lit another match as soon as the second had gone out, as she ventured into the dimly lit street. Several carriages passed by her: some of the passengers looked out the window, but only for a moment, until they looked back at the driver and told them to keep going.
She passed store windows. Some stores still looked open, while others looked closed and locked for the holidays. She stood to the side of one of them that appeared to be open, and she opened its green door, closing it once she got inside. She exhaled, glad that she could get some warmth that wasn’t being generated from her match. She walked around the store—elaborate dresses were hung there. Some had feathers sticking out of them, which had an unusual feeling to them, as if they weren’t even normal bird feathers. She eyed it for a moment, and then walked over to an another one, it was long and blue and a lot less elaborate than what the one from the feathers had, but yet intricate patterns were woven into it.
“Do you like it?” came a voice, she turned around, she nodded her head in the spur of the moment. “Well, the reason you might, it was because it was modeled off the dress Ashalena wears.” He nodded his head, he then pointed her in the direction of the feathered dress, “and those feathers? You may be wondering where we got them, well you see, someone gave them to me, and told me that they once were owned by a shapeshifter.” She nodded and looked down at her hands, she hadn’t exactly wanted to go in and look as if she wanted to buy any of the clothes, in truth she didn’t.
“And this.” he said pointing to a pink dress, “was previously owned by a rich noblewoman—“
“I’m sure that’s wonderful!” she stuttered, stepping off to the side.
“Oh, well, do you think you would like to have a dress made to look like any of these? I’m not sure if we could get shapeshifter feathers, but we could try—“
“Thank you, but I am in a rush to go somewhere!” she said, feeling as if she had walked into the wrong shop. She did not have nearly enough money to buy any of these dresses, no matter how beautiful they looked. She smiled, rather falsely “I just came in…to, get out of the cold.” She put her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, and walked out into the cold once more. She wrapped her shawl more tightly around herself, she wasn’t sure if that would help in the slightest. She decided that she would walk to the woods in hopes of seeing a fay, even if the forest were swarmed with shapeshifters. She didn’t care as long as she had a chance to see the fay. She walked even more until she had left the city and reached the dark forest, her feet were sore, but she saw that the trees around the forest were tightly growing together and moss was around their roots.
She continued to walk. Even though she had been told many times that fairies were more likely to be seen where humans thrived, she had a sense that they would be in the forest tonight, as she had also been told they had a connection with nature. And it didn’t make sense to her for them to be in the city, even though some had seen them there. Besides not everyone in the city had seen fairies, some had said they caught glimpses of them, and she wasn’t sure if she fully believed all of them. There came a sound of something walking near her, she heard the sound of branches cracking underneath their feet, her first thought was that it couldn’t be a fairy, what she had heard of fairies was that they walked on the air and not the ground. But whatever it was she assumed it was a shapeshifter, shapeshifters were known to roam the woods and were very hostile, very, very hostile she had heard. She looked around, no thought to pray to the god of protection and safety came to mind (though that probably would have been of use). Her only thought was of the dress she had been shown and the feathers. The sparkling feathers that had been sewn into it came to mind, it wasn’t a ridiculous thought though, she knew whoever had got the feathers surely had come across a shifter and survived. Though she wondered how exactly they did that…. She didn’t wonder for much longer, for a figure appeared. They were wearing leaves, and there were a few of them in their short, black hair. But something was different about this figure beyond wearing leaves. Which was highly unusual for her to see, since she lived in the city and no one she knew of walked around wearing them or remarked on leaf-made clothes as “high and wonderful fashion." But the fact that they were not carrying a weapon of any sort brought a small burst of comfort. Even though she looked around for any sign of hostility, there was none.
“…you’re…you’re…not armed!” she muttered out loud expecting the shifter to not understand. The shifter stared at her for a moment and then looked down at their arms and gave a quizzical look, “oh.” she muttered, “you understood…sort of.” The shifter walked over to her, or rather scampered across the ground and stood close to her, surveying her every move and staring at her with their dark green eyes.
“What I meant, is that you aren’t carrying a weapon. You do, however, have arms.” The shifter looked at her, and let out a few sounds she didn’t completely understand. But they reminded her of the sounds wild animals made, and strongly reminded her of the chirping of birds. Then they turned and looked up at the sky as if waiting for something, something to come.
“…I wonder if the fairies will come this way.” she thought to herself, perhaps a little too loudly, the shifter looked over at her, a look came across their face one that seemed to understand the word, but not quite agreeing with it, but now the look was far from quizzical.
“You mean the faylena—“ they said, in a voice that still had a remnant of the bird sounds it had made before.
“You can talk!” she nearly shrieked, she had half expected the shapeshifter to remain talking in an incomprehensible language, and she found herself to be a bit surprised that they could even speak her tongue. It was a guilty feeling surprise like she had lacked the knowledge or thoughtfulness to even believe the creature had intelligence beyond the ones of an animal“in my tongue—“
The shifter sighed, “yes I am able.” they replied, their voice still following the pattern of a bird’s song. “Anyway, you mean the faylena.”
“What is the faylena?” she asked, feeling a little upset that she had been corrected on what they were called, of course they were the fairies, what else would they be?
“They come every year from their land, where nature is ever in bloom, where nothing disturbs the peace.” they replied, the shifter looks up again, “the feylena are kind and just, and know no evil—“
“you mean the fairies.” she replied, feeling like she could end up teaching the shapeshifter what it really was, “they come from a land far away, where no human or shifter can go, but they return at this time of the year to bring peace and joy—“
“…Aren’t we talking about the same people?” asked the shifter, she bit her lip,
“no, we aren’t.” she replied in the single moment. “Yours are obviously some shapeshifter deities that…that,are well…related to nature.”
“What?”
“Yours are shifters of sorts.”
“No, they aren’t. I mean they can be seen in different ways by different onlookers…but they aren’t shapeshifters, or gods, for that matter. They are something in between…they are the Feylena, or the fairies depending upon what you desire to call them.”
The shifter looked over at her,looking down at the ground and then back at her, “and, besides you just said yours are from a land, faraway…“
“it’s probably a different land.” she muttered. “A very human-like creature land.”
“…alright, then.” muttered the shifter, looking up at the sky once more, “they are said to arrive around this time.”
First there was nothing the sky remained the way it was with little hints of light in the sky here and there, but a light a light like no other came across it. The light shone for a few minutes in the sky and then separated into several.They seemed to be darting around, but not for no reason, they seemed to have a cause to fulfill. A goal as they darted around the sky.
“By the gods!” she sighed, looking over at the shifter, who smiled back at her, “it’s really them.”
“Indeed it is.” replied the shifter.
“But…wouldn’t a shifters’ Feylena be different than our fairies?” she asked, “with wings and talons and—“
“Oh stop.” replied the shifter, staring up again at the sky,
waiting to see what one of bright lights did. It stood there for a moment, and thenslowly went down to the trees. And then something changed about it, as it went down, and emerged but in a different less loose form…
“oh, it’s a fairy, it’s a real-life fairy!” she squealed, the shapeshifter merely smiled, “the faylena.” they both looked at each other for a moment, a small laugh escaped each others lips, any anger or disagreement that had gone on between them had slowly, ever so slowly faded away. And they both looked over. What the shapeshifter saw was a beautiful creature with wings made out leaves, and flowers blooming in her hair. What the human girl saw was a woman wearing a flowing green dress, but the hair of the fairy or faylena was of a rainbow hue.It hung about her shoulders and her wings were of bright light. She didn’t just stand there in the radiating light which shown from her body, she walked over to them, or rather floated over them and greeted them with a smile. And placed her hand, her warm hand which seemed to have an unearthly feeling to it in their hands, she looked over at the girl and the shifter surveying them both, “I suppose you are the two I was told to meet—“ she said, her voice had a soft feeling to it, but yet felt like nothing from that world, “the human and the shifter who waited to see us, in this beautiful night.”
“…you knew about us?” asked the girl, “did the gods tell you?” The faylena or fairy looked over at her,
“if they did, I am not allowed to exactly tell.” she smiled,
“But I was told to present these to a shifter and a human who met tonight, despite their underlying differences…” She brought out two golden chains. They both had lockets attached to them which had something inside of them, radiating light like the one they had seen before with the fairies or faylena, “..and met to this very night in hopes to meet us.” She floated over to the shifter and placed the golden chain around their neck, and floated over to the girl and hung it around hers as well. The shifter despite the amazement of the experience, felt they had a need to ask what exactly these beautiful fairy-made or faylena made necklaces did. For they knew that whenever a fairy or faylena was to present a gift to a mortal, be they shifter or human or the gods know what, there was usually an underlying meaning to it. And it wasn’t just there for the beauty of it.
“What exactly do they do?” asked the shifter, the fairy or faylena looked over at them. “They have two uses, one to call us for help when you are in need of it, and two, to sustain and help this friendship which you two have formed…or at least are beginning to form. How exactly it does this, this is up for you to find out, in time you will know. But you must know that this friendship must not end this night, like so many friendships between humans and shifters do, but that it must continue…” The faylena or fairy looked down at the ground as if trying to figure out how to form what to say next. “Even if others want to pull you away from it, don’t let them!” The girl nodded, so did the shifter though the entire meaning to them, wasn’t exactly clear, they knew they had to remain friends though, but they had only gotten a little bit of what was to come, at the moment they felt the current love which surrounded them that night, the night that they met the fairies and the faylena at the same time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What winter holidays exist in your Fantasy world(s)? Do they have any religious reasons for happening? (Like did a god or goddess, or prophet (or another supernatural being) cause it?)
Happy holidays to everyone!
-Quinley P.S. An upcoming post (that will probably be posted after the New Year) is one about my progress on my animation project, Pandora's Box. So be sure to keep your eyes open for that.
(You may want to read this blog post before continuing reading this one.)
Hello everyone,
Since I recently finished writing Tess Short (Book one) which is the book's title for now, until I come up with a better title. I thought I should make a blog post about it so that I can keep track of my editing process...
World building within editing
Since Tess Short (book one) was one of my first novels, first fantasy ones to be exact. I didn't know that much about world building or what religions fantasy worlds have and stuff like that.
When I looked back at it I realized I didn't know much about the way the world worked. (Other than it being a world that was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth.) So I decided I would focus a little on the bits of religion that were left out of it...
Like how a (religious) wedding for an elf would go, and how a (religious) wedding for a hobbit would go. And even how weird it would be if a hobbit did a wedding the elf way or even how weird it would be if an elf did a wedding the hobbit way.
The reason I bring this up, is because one of the controversies in Tess's world is why on earth would a hobbit and an elf get married? And are they really able to have children? (The answer is yes, since Tess was born, but it is still a hot topic in her world.)
I thought that I should focus slightly on the way of which Mr. Short and Princess Gletta got married, and how the elves and hobbits reacted to it. (But mostly the hobbits since they are the ones who show up in the prologue.) And why it is so outlandish to have happen in that world. And also how people react to it socially. Some of the questions I am turning around in my head because of this are... Are they treated like an lower class because of the marriage? How well are Tess (and her siblings) treated because of it? Is there any possibility that other elves and hobbits could have married before Gletta and Mr. Short? (If so, are theirs undocumented, and are Mr. Short's and Gletta's marriage the only case of a documented marriage between an elf and a hobbit?)
One thing I am also trying to do is make the world seem a little less like Middle Earth. Though I do want the readers now and then to think that is somewhat like it in ways. But I don't want them to be thinking "oh wow, that sounds exactly like how things work in Middle Earth." This is why through the editing I am going to be expanding both the religion, the magic system, and the world in the rewrite. I also slightly want to use magic more in the story than I did in the first draft.
And one somewhat magical element I have been trying to explore is why names have power.It is something that has shown up in the story that I didn't exactly know the answer to. But I hope to figure out the answer when I rewrite. It seems to be along the lines of why Hades's name (from Greek mythology) was not talked about among the ancient Greeks. In fear that he would take them to the underworld early. But other than that I am not exactly sure what the reason is for elves' names having power, yet.
Fixing the dialogue
One problem (which is also going to be fixed through rewriting) is having the character spout words like...
This I found to be a problem, since it sounded way to similar to the way we speak in our world. And not in the slightest old fashioned (as I intended it to feel.) I feel as if when I was writing the first draft I forgot that I didn't want the characters to sound like how a child or an adult from our world would talk. I also want to fix the dialogue and pacing in general.
When looking back at this dialogue, it felt a little flat...
And it just happened so quickly in the first draft. Out of nowhere Tess is asked to go on an adventure, and I didn't even give the readers enough time to get to know her before the adventure began. There were little weird things here and there like Tess not knowing her own age and somehow thinking one hundred years had past when so little had (I think it was because I didn't know Tess's age when I was first writing it, but, I found a way to fix it within the storyline now.)
More character development
Tess was a developed character, but everyone else in the story I felt as if I didn't take that much time to develop...
One character I have been exploring is Gletta Short (formerly known as Princess Gletta.) Since she in the first draft was a (somewhat) peaceful character. And now since I know her it turns out that she is in on a daily lookout for monsters (since this is what she is used to doing.) Though she is calm sometimes especially when around her husband or children, but is much more used to being on the lookout at all times. Due to learning this information, I figured out what her day job was.
Which turned out to be a blacksmith, the particular kind of blacksmith that she is, is one that specializes in making weapons. Which is appropriate to her character since she is a fighter.
But yet, I can imagine despite all her active fighting and everything that she is used to doing, I can imagine her singing a lullaby that sounds like this to her children:
(Though the term "angels" that is used in the song would be replaced with a spirit-like figure that is protective in the elven religion.)
Because of how useful this development was, I think I need to focus more on each member of Tess's group...
(an old drawing I found of each the members from left to right, Silena, Thistle, Tess, Robin, Inny)
And figure out what their motivations are, since I haven't fully figured that out.
I know what Tess's motivation is, but I don't know what everyone else's fully is.
I also want to know why Robin wanted Tess to go on the adventure in the first place, why did he choose her? Also, did he think the adventure was going to turn out of the way that it did? These are questions right now, that I haven't figured out the answer to. But I assume I will once I start developing each of their characters.
So I hoped you enjoyed the look at my editing process so far...
To celebrate the holidays I thought I should introduce some holiday themed characters (and bring back the Introducing Some Characters series):
The Holiday Fairy
She shows up in a story from last year. Representing all the winter holidays, she spreads joy and cheer to everyone who celebrates them. Though her job can be very tiring she manages to find time to do it. (The holidays that are represented on her outfit are Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa.)
Mistletoe (AKA Niamh)
The Christmas elf????
What is an elf who is skilled in archery and fencing doing working in the north pole?
No one is sure, not even the fairies who work with the Christmas elves, but even though her skills are different from the other elves, she manages to wrap the presents and make them for the children in the most surprising and awesome ways. She also gets very excited about the holidays, but unfortunately at some times she is prone to get nervous about attacks from monsters and is on alert at all times, and to be safe she keeps daggers in her socks.
Alyssa the Reindeer Trainer
Training Santa's reindeer is one of the hardest jobs, and only a fairy who is purest in heart can do it. That's why Alyssa was asked to train them. When she ended up getting the job, her wings were turned magically into beautiful and colorful wings. She dearly loves animals. It is natural for a fairy to love them, but she has been attracted to reindeer the most, and has always wanted to see Rudolph's red nose glow. To train the reindeers how to fly she uses special fairy dust. Glorfundor
Though he doesn't work as a Christmas elf he lives with Mistletoe (Niamh) and is one of the very few elves who isn't a Christmas elf. He goes on quests around the north pole, is a very quiet person and rarely talks about his adventures.
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