Character Interviews: Oak (+ Questions Are Needed)

You might know Oak from my older posts, she is a half dryad ranger: 

(An old drawing of Oak)

Her story was one of my first novels...that didn't end up working. But since I eventually plan to rewrite it (not now, but later), I decided I would get to know Oak. She will remain a character in the story (along with Delphi and Emily Stella), who will be the three female leads. (There will possibly be a fourth, but I don't know for sure right now).

So, it is time for another character interview! *A neon sign lights up* 

*Audience applauds, and Oak walks in* 

Me: It's wonderful to see you again, Oak. It's been a long time...and you look very different.
Oak: *Nods* Indeed, *sits down on the seat and remains very alert* Indeed, it has been...
Me: So...to start, I'll just simply ask, how are you?
Oak: I'm fine, I just to need to make sure no one followed me here...*looks around the room*
Me: Why would someone be following you?
Oak: *Brings out bow and arrow* I don't know, but it would be better to be safe than sorry--
Me: *Looks over at the people who let Oak in* Weren't you supposed to take her weapons away from her? That's one of the rules.
Security Officer Two:  *Popping out from behind the curtain* It's been a long time since we have had one of these interviews, why do you expect us to remember these things?
Me: Because you're security!
*A shrieking noise comes out from the left side of the stage, Oak aims her bow at it and shoots it*
Security Officer one: Uhh...
Me: So you let a creature in too?
Oak: Don't blame them...these beings are very good at hiding. Anyway, you were going to interview me?
Security officer one & two: If you want to fire us, because she is better--
Me: Shh...not now, we have an interview to do....

If you were to pick a song, what song do you think would describe you the most?
I do know some ballads, but they are mostly romantic ones, which hardly describes myself, but...
I do think this song sort of describes the energy I feel when fighting in battle:

                              Underground by Lindsey Stirling 

You can also listen to it here

Also, I liked that Lindsey Stirling included the goddess Artemis in her "video."
                                         Ancient Greek music- Artemis 

You can also listen to it here

                    This reminds me of my forest home...before the forest fire,
                     so it sort of describes me in a way.

Artemis by Lindsey Stirling 

You can also listen to it here

I suppose this is now three songs instead of one song. 

But this song reminds me of the feeling I have when I go hunting in the forest. 

                       
What, do you think of romance, yes or no? 
I'm not particularly interested in romance at the moment. Other girls may be interested in talking about what they think of romance on stage *makes a disgusted face* but I don't think it is something really worth talking about. I would rather be friends with boys than being in love with them. Can we please talk about something like weapons as opposed to romance?

Me: Sure...here is a question you might like instead:
Sword or bow? 
Oh good! I've used bows and arrows more often, but I am not limited to only that.
I do use daggers and swords if my opponent sneaks up on me and I am unprepared...
So to answer your question, I like both.
If you were going to a party, what would you wear?
Even if it was a festive party, I can't let my guard down. And wearing a dress would limit my abilities to protect myself. Yes people would expect me to wear one...
but for safety...I would wear something else...

My first option would be this toga:

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse#/media/File:Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Odysseus.jpg (if you are uncomfortable with nudity, there is some nudity in a few of John William Waterhouse's paintings. I just wanted to warn you, if you decide to put the link into your search-bar.) )

Though it would be comfortable, it wouldn't provide much protection from possible attackers. Especially since it is easy to tell if one is hiding weapons in it.

And then I would consider this one:

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauriel)

It would protect me, but everyone would wonder why I was not wearing something fancy for the party and why I was being on guard.

So in the end to fulfill my need for comfort during a party, and my need for safety I would wear this:

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse#/media/File:Miranda_-_John_William_Waterhouse.jpg (if you are uncomfortable with nudity, there is some nudity in a few of John William Waterhouse's paintings. I just wanted to warn you, if you decide to put the link into your search-bar.) )

This isn't a see-through dress so I can hide daggers around my legs,

(Image from Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/photos/knife-weapon-middle-ages-blade-1730010/)

because carrying around a bow and arrow wouldn't exactly make everyone in the party feel comfortable.

A man out of nowhere. Asks you to marry him. What do you do? (Note that he happens to be a prince from a kingdom, and is looking for someone to marry and be his queen). 
I would decline, though ruling a kingdom might be an interesting thing, its not for me.
I know many girls would gladly give anything to marry a prince out of nowhere, so that they could rule a kingdom. But ruling a kingdom wouldn't be of much use to me, for it wouldn't help the world, because I would be helping but a single kingdom, and not the whole world itself.

(Last question) Who is your favorite Greek goddess? And why?
This is probably very obvious.

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis#/media/File:Diane_de_Versailles_Leochares.jpg (warning: if you are uncomfortable with nudity, there are a few nude paintings of Greek gods in the article, so be warned.))

But Artemis the goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and the wild is my favorite. I've always looked up to her archery abilities, and especially the fact that she loves nature.

Me: Well...that is all the time we have for now. But the next two characters who are going to be interviewed are Riona "Fire" and Celtiere *points to the audience* and I need your questions for them! I am going to make Character Interviews something that the audience (readers) can participate in. So it would be very helpful if you could leave comments asking questions for Riona and Celtiere.
See you next time! *Curtain closes and fades to black*

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Who is your favorite Greek goddess? How would your own characters react to the questions I asked Oak? 

-Quinley

Announcing my April Project: The Silver Key (+ part two of my Plotting Progress)

Hi everyone, before you begin, I should say it's necessary to read part one of this post before continuing reading this one, because there are some things I said in the previous one that may not mentioned in this one.

Synopsis- 
(I figured out a little bit more of the plot than I did last post.)

At the age of twenty every young man and woman finds out what they were in a past incarnation.

Phoenix has reached that age and went to the record keeper's building, where he received his scroll, 

and a silver key. The key seems to have a mysterious feel to it, he just can't place it. 

At the same time, however, Princess Ashalena has to deal with a problem. A loyal servant of her parents' has been found turned completely to stone, and she doesn't know who or what did it. 

And most of all, why would they do it? 

The characters- 

                                           Phoenix

Phoenix is an orphan who writes poetry and short stories. 

He has a dislike for love poems and romance novels -- he just can't stand them. 

                           Princess Ashalena 

Despite the fact that she will rule a kingdom one day, Princess Ashalena passes her time drawing, since it helps her calm her nerves.


                                 Silverling  

Silverling is a fairy, who I can't say much about without accidentally spoiling the story.
She will show up in the Silver Key...sometime.

(My currently unnamed character)

Though I do not know her name yet, I have a feeling it will come out when I am writing the story.
She is a trained martial artist, and hopes she can use her skill to help people.

(My other currently unnamed character)

I also have a feeling I will find out his name later. 

In a way he is a comic relief character, 

because he hums theme songs that he makes up for the other characters. And he hums them at the worst possible times. 

The world- 

The world has grown since I last posted,
currently there are many creatures other than humans. However, I haven't figured out all of them yet...
                                                   Creatures: 
                                                                  Humanoids- 
                                                        Humans
                                                     Shape-shifters*

                                                     

                                                                       Fairies

(Fairies' real forms are unknown, and they are known to be seen
in multiple ways by many different mortals. The drawing above is one
of the many forms in which a mortal may see a fairy.)

                                                     Mermaids and Mermen

                                                                        Sirens

                                                                 Demigods
                                                                         Non-Humanoids- 
                                                             Phoenixes**

*As well as human shape-shifters there are also animal shape-shifters in this world. In a way all shape-shifters fit into both the humanoid and the non-humanoid category, but the shape-shifters that are born in human form fit into the humanoid category, because the human form is their true form.

** Phoenixes kind of had to exist in this world, because I had to explain why phoenix was Phoenix's name. Plus phoenixes are awesome so why not have them?


And as I said before there are 32 hours in a day which makes the world run a on 16 clock:

(The reason the numbers are moving is that this clock has entered the fairy realm.
Most of the clocks don't act that way unless that happens.) 

                                     The fairy realm 

(Unlike the rest of the fairy realm, the purple object in the distance never seems to change.
It remains the same for everyone who enters the realm and no one knows why.) 

The fairy realm is connected to the world, but very few people can reach it. Some are said to have accessed it through dreams.
If you do manage to get into it, you will find it is quite whimsical, and that the fairy realm will be different for each person.
No one exactly knows what fairies actually look like, all they know is what they have seen themselves.

Story soundtrack 

Last time I posted songs that were part of the story soundtrack, but I didn't post the playlist because I didn't feel like it was ready. Now I feel that it is ready, so enjoy:
The Silver Key (story soundtrack) 

                                                               You can also listen to it here 
**A warning for I Hate Love Songs: slightly strong language (usage of the word "H---"), so if you are uncomfortable with it you can skip that song** 






Since I decided that I would be combining two posts together, I'll get to the plotting progress part of it....

More of my character's Casting Choices  
With this novel, I feel as if casting is in the air, since my characters seem to be a little (over) obsessed with casting actors to play them, or at least to look like them, so...
here are some of my character's most recent casting choices...

                      Gates McFadden as Silverling 

(original un-cropped Image from Wiki, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Beverly_Crusher?file=Crusher_and_Picard_imprisoned.jpg) 

So, despite Silverling being a relatively new character, she seems to have already made up her mind  about who looks like her and she immediately chose Gates McFadden.
(Gates McFadden has acted in Star Trek: Next Generation, and in several other films and movies. She also choreographed the dancing for Jim Henson's Labyrinth.)


                                      David Tristian Birkin as young Phoenix 

(images from wiki, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/David_Tristan_Birkin?file=Jean-Luc_Picard%2C_age_12.jpg,
and https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Newton_Scamander?file=Newt_with_Grindelwald.jpg) 

No, Phoenix did not change actors on me! The actor Phoenix chose this time is no longer a child, so Phoenix is using that actor's younger self. As you can see from the picture both Eddie Redmayne and David Birkin look pretty similar, but I went along with it, since my characters seem to be controlling the story more than I am.

(David Tristian Birkin has guest starred in the Star Trek episode "Rascals" as a twelve year old Jean Luc Picard, and acted in a film adaptation of Les Misérables.)

More gods and goddesses- 
This is continued from my previous post, so I will not be including the same goddesses and gods again. I will be mentioning what inspired me from Norse, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology at the end of each of the descriptions of the gods and goddesses. However, I have not figured out the characters' god and goddess names yet, so I will be referring to them as the god or goddess of whatever they represent.



                                                             The god of comedy 

God of comedy in plays, literature, and songs, etc. 

Both the goddess of tragedy and the god of comedy were born at the same time. 

He rejoices in making mortals (and gods alike) laugh, and loves helping mortals craft their 

plays, songs, and stories.  

(He was inspired by Thaila the god of pastoral poetry and comedy from Greek mythology.) 

The goddess of music 

Goddess of songwriting and singing. 

The deity who is favored by singers and songwriters.

(Inspired by Apollo and the Nine Muses from Greek Mythology) 

                               The goddess of tragedy  

                               

Goddess of tragedies in plays, literature, 

songs, etc. 

She is the exact opposite of her twin brother in many ways, but is willing to join with him for a comedic tragedy, when one is needed.  

The words that she inspires are about tragedy, and she delights in seeing a mortal do a tragic ballad, story, or play. 

(Inspired by Melpomene the muse of Tragedy.) 

(I have not figured out what to call them yet...)

They are the four gods that decide how a mortal's life will play out. 

The first of them sculpts and creates the bodies of all animals and creatures. 

Two of them, a twin brother and sister, write out the lives of mortals, one of them writes the beginning the other writes the end. 

And the last one combines all of the things they did, and breathes the soul into the body, 

and sends them to the stage of life. 

(Inspired by the Fates (from Greek Mythology) and the Norns (from Norse Mythology) 

and inspired by the gods and goddesses from Hinduism or Buddhism) 

Other Gods and Goddesses

I also recently started working on another culture's mythology for my fictional world. 

It's for the race of shape-shifters, who are around nature enough that I thought they would see their gods and goddesses as half human/half animal (like the Egyptian gods from Egyptian mythology).

Here are the ones I have so far (they don't have names so I will be referring to them as the animal they look like): 

The white stag

Creator of the world, and the animals and creatures in it.

The first god to ever exist, and out of loneliness created the earth, 

the forests and the people and creatures in it.  

Also, while doing that she made the other gods as well. 

The Rabbit 

Goddess of love, marriage, and natural beauty

She is a very gentle goddess, who loves seeing people 

happily in love. She also loves seeing mortals with natural beauty, 

and not forced "beauty."

The Peacock 

Goddess of vanity, and narcissism and unnatural beauty.

She is sister to the goddess of love, but is the opposite kind of love or beauty. 

She represents narcissism, unnatural beauty, and the vanity that some people

are prone to show. 

The Butterfly 

Giver and creator of reincarnation 

She noticed while flying in butterfly form through the world, 

that mortals lives were so short and they never got to finish what they wanted to do. 

 So, with a little talking to the white stag, 

she was granted permission to find a way to fix it without making the mortals immortal. 

She came up with a solution which was reincarnation. It didn't make the mortals live forever, 

but allowed them to fix mistakes they had made before, and finish what they wanted to finish. 

And a question for Phoenix: 

And since I most recently got a comment from another blogger in the comments section for part 1, I thought I would allow Phoenix to answer it...since it was directed at him (I should mention that Phoenix thinks people from our realm are fairies.):

Phoenix: "The reason why I don't like food is-- "

Another character interrupts and causally takes food from Phoenix's plate. 

Phoenix: "Hey!" 

Other character: "You just said you didn't like food, so I thought it was alright 

to take the food from your plate--" 

Phoenix: "No, it is not!" 

Other character: "So you like food?" 

Phoenix: "No, of course not, anyway, stop eating my food, please." 

Other Character: "You said you didn't like food...but I'll stop." 

Phoenix: "Thank you, anyway as I was saying, I do not like food, but I like some foods, such as the ones you were eating! But, food is rather difficult to chew--" 

Other character: "I disagree." 

Phoenix: "For me, it is. Alright fine, if you aren't going to allow me to answer this question, I'll...go answer it somewhere else." 

Phoenix walks away from the table and leaves the room, and closes the door behind him. 

Phoenix: "Thank goodness, now I can answer this question in peace." 

Decides to read the question five different ways before answering again...

Phoenix: "As I was saying before, food is difficult for me...to chew. 

And the eating of food, is difficult and not enjoyable, unlike what other people think...

I still don't know why they enjoy eating it. But there really is a deeper reason to this..." (side note: the reason is not a spoiler but merely a fact about Phoenix) "I was sick when I was younger, from a disease of sorts, and no one knew what exactly it was, even I don't know, the disease only went away after a long while. It involved lots of vomiting, and a few other symptoms as well...but the vomiting made it difficult to eat food. Hence why....I don't like it. 

I hope that answers your question, fairy of the other realm." 

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Are you excited for April's Camp NaNoWrimo? 

Does one of your characters share the same distaste for food that Phoenix does?

Oh, and feel free to ask one of my characters a question in the comments. ;) 

-Quinley 

My Plotting Progress (part 1): The Silver Key

Hello everyone! 

Ever since I finished Tess Short (book one), I thought I should make a post about the novel that I have been plotting and what I have so far...so let's begin: 

The inspiration for my story was Doctor Who, though I admit I have never watched the show. I like the fact that the character dies and then comes back in a different body and has a different personality and yet is the same character and is aware that this is all happening. So, instead of one character, I decided to do this with all the characters, and make them aware of it, thus...
All is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again was created.

Synopsis (what I have of it so far)- 
(First book in the series (though it is not the first in the time line for the world) All is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again)
At the age of twenty every young man and woman finds out what they were in a past incarnation.
Phoenix has reached that age, and is interested in finding out what lies ahead...
The Main characters-  

                                             Phoenix 

Phoenix is an orphan, who wants to promote change for the orphans through his poetry. 

(I'm currently trying to find a good name for her) 

Her father is a martial artist and she was trained in self-defense by him. 

Princess Ashalena 

A princess who is rather upset that her parents are not 

focusing on the orphan problem that looms over the kingdom. 

(Another nameless character) 

I don't know much about him yet, all I know is that Phoenix met him one way or another. 

And that he has some secrets that will be revealed later in the book. 

One distinct characteristic about him, is that he loves food, compared to Phoenix, who, 

does not like it...at all.  

       
The Gods and Goddesses- 
One of my favorite things about this novel is creating the mythology for the world. I thought I would introduce you to the gods and goddesses I came up with (most of the gods or goddesses are loosely inspired by Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology, and I will mention what inspired them):
                                                   The creator goddess 

 The creator of the world and the people in it and the queen of the gods, 

and later creator of reincarnation. 

She is known by many names, but people (the mortals that is) call her "the queen of the gods" or 

"the creator" or "all powerful." She is known for creating the world and the people in it. She pitied them for dying and not being able to finish all they wanted to, and because of this created reincarnation. 

However, no mortal has exactly seen what she looks like, no one has seen her face. All they've seen is silvery white hair, and that is why it is one of most recognizable features, and was in fact given to mortals of high class. 

(Since in most mythologies I have read there is a king of the gods who oversees everything, there is never a queen of the gods who oversees anything, so I thought why not change it and have there be a queen of the gods in this world's mythology).
                                                   

Nisis/Nyro the goddess/god of

 love, beauty, marriage (both female and male sides of marriage), etc. 

No one exactly can draw the god/goddess of beauty, since Nisis is prone to change her shape to reflect what a specific person thinks is beautiful to them, and so is the male side Nyro. 
The only reason there is a drawing of them is because one of my characters just so happened to see them in this form. Their symbol is two snakes intertwined, 
which is similar to Hermes's Caduceus but not on a wand. The fact that they can shape shift between male and female was inspired by the myth of Tiresias, who hit two snakes who were mating and got changed into a woman by the goddess Hera as a curse. After seven years, he was able to turn back from being a woman by trampling on two mating snakes. (In some versions he leaves the snakes alone and remains a woman.) The female version of this god's name (Nisis) was also derived from the Egyptian goddess Isis's name. Isis was also the creator of the cobra. 


                                            The King and Queen of the sea                                                

The god and goddess of the ocean, 

marine animals, sailors, etc. 

They are the rulers of the sea.
(Inspired by Greek mythology's Poseidon) 

I have still more gods and goddesses that I am working on that will be posted in later posts about this novel. 

My characters' casting choices-
A habit of my characters is to decide that they look like an actor or an actress. I thought I should mention it in one of my posts since it never really gets mentioned in the other posts about my novels:

                          Eddie Redmayne as Phoenix 

(image from Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantastic_beasts_and_where_to_find_them#&gid=1&pid=n-1382982)

 I knew from the start that Phoenix looked like Eddie Redmayne. Surprisingly, the moment I began writing the beginning of the first chapter Phoenix independently decided he looked like him, too. This rarely happens since my characters usually decide they look like an actor or actress when I am in the middle of the story or series.
(The actor Eddie Redmayne has acted in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Les Misérables, and several other movies)  

                                   Sara Martins as (my currently un-named character)

(image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Bordey) 

Once again, this character also decided right away what she looked like.
(The actress Sara Martins has acted in Death in Paradise and some movies.)
                         
                          Linda Park as Princess Ashalena 
                                                         

(image from Wiki, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hoshi_Sato?file=Hoshi_Sato%2C_2154.jpg)

Princess Ashelena also surprised me (yet again) by deciding that she looked like Linda Park.
(The actress Linda Park has acted in Star Trek: Enterprise and Jurassic Park III and several other movies.) 

In later posts about this novel, I plan to do photo edits of the actors/actresses as the characters. 

The world- 
 I don't have much information about the world figured out yet, other than that what I wrote in the Synopsis. So far humans and fairies, and possibly other different creatures live in this world. 
And there are thirty-two hours in a day, which makes the world run on a (modulo) 16 clock. Not just the clock is different but the world rotates more slowly than ours, so there are eight more hours than our world's clock.  I don't exactly have the clothes figured out yet, at least for that particular time period in the All Is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again series, so that is why in some of the drawings you never really get to see the character's clothes.
As I continue world-building, I will post again. 

Music that goes along with the story- 
The story soundtrack (aka music playlist) isn't ready to be posted yet, but I will give you a preview of some of the songs that go along with the story...

                            Book and a Cover by Suzanne Vega 

You can also listen to here

This is one of the many theme songs of the story. 

To my Dear Friends performed by Erutan 

You can also listen to it here

This is a theme song for one of my minor characters. 

Howl's Moving Castle Theme 

You can also listen to it here

This song first came up in this post , and was the clue that I gave out about the novel. 

If this novel were a movie, I would say it is the soundtrack for (part of) the first chapter. 

                          

Awake by Kalie Shorr 

                            You can also listen to it here
If I told you what part of the story this song reflects it would be spoiling it.
But let's just say...this talks about something Phoenix has to go through.

And one more song that reminds me of the story (well, more of Phoenix...than the story) is a song
from Les Misérables called Empty Chairs and Empty Tables sung by Eddie Redmayne but I couldn't find a video that was actually officially from the musical/artists,
so I couldn't post it here, but it definitely helps me understand Phoenix's voice...
And just to assure you I don't plan to kill off every character like you may think I have been trying to say.

As I continue to plot this novel, I plan to make more posts about it.
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What is your favorite thing to do when plotting novels? Do you work on the world first or the characters? Also do you like to create mythology (or mythologies) for your fantasy worlds? Also do you enjoy doing world building? 
Love,
Quinley