FairerStillTheMoonlight

Almost forgot to put these up! Let’s see.. what do I have for you all this time? (I can’t even remember what I wrote…)

 Oh! The Great Plot Twist and Mysterious Child. Heh, heh.

The plot twist was planned, and as I explained earlier, it isn’t a cop-out. You’ll still get to know the Plan 1.0, though it won’t be quite as satisfying cuz you’ll know that that’s not the version in effect right now.

Mysterious Child. Well, let’s say my over-allegorical mind tends to stick in things like this at the last minute. This was one of those cases. I’m not sure where things are going with the child, but maybe I’ll find out if I ever write the sequel.

Let’s see…. then there’s Tanya being evil again… but you’ve got to feel for her, Jeb was pretty rotten in his treatment of her; she has a lot of cause to be bitter.

Then we go into the wondrous mirror cube, adapted from Susan Cooper’s mirror maze in Silver on the Tree. Only Will and Bran are so much cooler than Fang (runs from screaming fan girls).

I had a lot of fun writing that one - I don’t usually read horror, much less write it, but every author deserves a chance to be evil now and again

Sorry about the rather gruesome cliffie. Things’ll get worse.

Keep reading, though - and please do review - and I’ll keep the story coming!

Val

As I was working on another portion of Flash - the bit with the sword on the battlefield - it occurred to me that it needed a reason for being there.

 Story ideas come from the weirdest places. And, lucky me, this time it wasn’t an idea for a simple one-shot. I may end up writing a long one - or two - soon. And all the people who are reading Tempest are giving me funny looks right now, and probably glaring at me for not updating….

So I’ll make a promise to myself, and to you: I will not post any Narnian epic until the Tempest is finished (meaning that I’m done with all the writing. It may not all be posted, but it’ll be finished).

Now, onto those wonderful ideas that are just waiting to hit the paper….

1) So I thought it would be good to write about how the Witch came to rule Narnia in the first place…. it would be a very tragic event for the Narnians (and I’m pretty decent at writing tragedy, right? I mean, look at what I did to Fang!) and there is just so much potential… I already have a few characters just begging me to write them, but I think I’ll do this next one first and have this be the prequel…

2) I even wrote a summary for this one! I’m so excited about it… but I won’t post it ’till the Tempest is done.

Rith, youngest and last of King Frank’s house (rather cliché now that I come to think of it) has a difficult choice to make: die at the hands of the invading horde (the Witch’s army, of course!) or take his own life (well, not literally… more like jumping off a cliff or something equally overused). He’s a warrior but he’s afraid to die, and makes a choice he will regret forever…

Basically, he (I hate this term but have to use it) falls into England through one of those many openings between our worlds. He has a rather hard time of it (details are fuzzy here) but eventually settles down there and grows up. When Narnia is just a distant memory, he meets a man …(guess who!) He finds out what happened to his family (he’ll be related to the main character in the prequel… boy is this getting confusing!) and how the White Witch was defeated, etc. And then we go into basically how he was ashamed of his decision…and then a, what’s it called, redemption process, I suppose, where Aslan comes in, and then there’s this wonderful twist at the end…. I am so excited about writing this! Of course, I’ll have to get it clearer in my head before I start, but I think it’ll be cool… no longer than 10 chapters, I hope. But sometimes I get carried away - like in the Tempest!

Well, I’d better get to imagining and finishing the Tempest before I forget myself and start writing drafts here… and by the way, I’m almost finished on the oneshot about Gwaihir. So that will be posted soon.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Val

It’s late at night and I’m sitting here typing for no particular reason. Nothing amazing has happened today…but then, I shouldn’t say that. Miracles do happen every day. I wish I could see them more often, but I know that they’re there. Friends tell me of things, a search on Google will turn up thousands of hits. If I only open my eyes, there is so much to see!

 Walking down the road in the mornings, walking fast, I hardly see the beauty of the trees around me. I’m hurrying to go places, I have things to do and I won’t let myself rest until they’re done.

Most days.

On some days I do notice, even as I step fast through the trees’ long shadows. I hear the slight birdsong, as clear as the cars driving past, the tiny noise of the crickets as they end their songs. I see all the people around, walking just as I usually do, fast and furious, empty eyes missing the wonders around them, and my heart breaks.

It’s not just because they don’t delight in the silver of the Spanish moss in the oaks or the sharp, perfect blue of the sky. It’s because they can’t see.

They’re lost, so terribly lost, and they don’t even know it. Perhaps they don’t even care. I know them; they’re my friends and they’re nice people, wonderful people, cool people, but I know that none of that will help them in the long run.

All that will matter is whether or not their hearts have broken.

I pray for them then, that God will break their hearts when they see their own sin, their own sordid sin in the face of His holiness. I pray that they will abhor it and fall to the ground, crying for mercy, crying for salvation, because they know that there’s no earthly way for them to save themselves; they’re already doomed.

Cry to Him; He will save you. Not because you’re a good person, but because you’re a sinner. Because when He sent His son to die on the cross, it was so that you wouldn’t have to face the penalty for your crimes. This is what sacrifice is; this is what salvation is.

Choose Him, I beg you. I pray it for my friends and family, for my city and country, and most of all for this broken, shattered world.

Lord, heal this broken land!

What is the first rule in writing?

 ”Write an extraordinary story that will leave your reader gasping”, according to Darcy, a character in one of my favorite books, Showdown by Ted Dekker.

Leave your reader gasping. What author could ask for more?

In the same book, Dekker lists the monastery’s four rules of writing:

 ”Write to discover.

“There is no greater discovery than love.

“All love comes from the Creator.

“Write what you will.”

“Write new stories and new characters, embarking on grand, unique journeys with twists and turns that will leave the reader wondering,” the monastery teacher continues.

Dekker certainly does a great job with that; but what of me - a young writer of fan-fiction? Can my stories leave you gasping? Do they reflect the love of the Creator?

I honestly don’t know. I do write to discover - I write to uncover the journeys of characters I already know and love, I write to delve deeper into the hearts of magical lands and the souls of stories. I don’t write romance, generally, but my greatest, the greatest story, the story of my life and all life, is a romance. The Great Romance, Dekker calls it, the love song God sings everyday to His people. The discovery of love is the discovery of God. He is love, and all love comes from Him.

So then I will write what I will. I’ll try my best to make it new and brilliant, to take my readers into magical places and eternal conflicts, but I won’t always succeed.

That being said, I’ve been flooded with story ideas in the last few days.

I’ll list them here just to hold myself accountable - I think they’re exciting and I don’t want to get to the point where I fail to write them down. If I don’t use them in a year or so, though, feel free to ask me if you can borrow them!

Lord of the Rings

My favorite poem ever is “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I was thinking about eagles the other day, and suddenly I had a picture of Gwaihir Windlord in place of the usual golden eagle I see when I think of Tennyson’s poem. So I was thinking I would do a piece on him, and weave in threads of the poem.

“Like Gold Fall the Leaves” - For some reason that song Galadriel sings to Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring has never left my head. I was wandering along the other day and the first line came into my head: “Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen…” - “Ai! Like gold fall the leaves in the wind…”

It’s a very sad song, almost a lament. I fell in love with the first five words, and saw a picture of Lothlorien, deserted and empty, and it made me so sad I wanted to write a lament - maybe the story of one left behind, or the last one to leave the land, or one who visits it many years later. I’m not sure if it’s canon, but I’ll work it out somehow.

Narnia

Another picture-story. Two, actually, though I wrote one up but haven’t posted it yet.

I saw a sword on a blackened field, its silver blade bloodied but still reflecting a ray of moonlight, a ray of hope when all seems lost.

I saw a crimson feather on a sea of lilies, and just beyond that an endless wave of water on the edge of the world.

And then I thought that maybe one day I would like to write the tale of the last of King Frank’s Narnian descendants in their ill-fated battle against Jadis. But that would be a very long fic… and I’m not sure I have the time to write it up.

In the meantime, though, I hope that maybe in my stories you are able to see a little of the Creator’s love.

Have a blessed day,

Val

Thanks for reading, guys! I really don’t have much on this chapter, except for cackling over GRAND PLOT TWIST #1. Hope you’re thoroughly frustrated with me for that. Just when you think I’m gonna tell you the Plan, it’s no longer in effect. This is not a cop-out, by the way, I’m still going to tell you the Plan v. 1. ‘Course, it does save me from having to write the Plan v. 2 for right now… but it’s so much more evil than the first version. Sigh. Our poor Flock.

I hope things with Fang and Jeb didn’t get too intense.

 Well, that’s all I can think of for now.

Blessings,

Val

Now that I think back on it, I wonder why I didn’t want to get out of bed on Thursday. Usually, the reason that it wasn’t Friday would be enough to keep me under the covers - who wants to suffer through another long labourious day without the promise of the weekend directly ahead? - but this Thursday was a little different.

 Ok, it was a lot different, and I was very glad about that.

 Let me tell you, there is nothing better than waking up and finding a lovely little letter in you inbox saying you won second place in a fan-fiction contest. Well, some would definitely argue that first place has more power to charm, but as a first-time contestant, I was thrilled. I’ll be smiling for weeks. Now, how to make it so that something like that happens again right before mid-terms….

 Anyway, enough of the bragging and down to the facts. First, a huge thank -you to everyone who voted. I don’t care whether or not you voted for me, but no contest can run without judges. Second - the story is called Double Blessing and it’s posted here in my blog, of course. I have mixed feelings about people reading it; the author in me wants them to enjoy it, but the person that I am cringes at the thought. This was a challenging story to write because it’s very personal. So far, though, all the reviews I’ve received have discouraged me from burning it.

Well, if you do end up reading it, please let me know what you think. I always appreciate feedback - mostly because I want to know if I accomplished one of my main objectives as an author: to bring enjoyment to the reader, and, on occaision, to make them think.

Thank God it’s Friday! Because that’s the only reason I’m slacking off enough to post a new chapter and write these comments.

Welcome to my blog. It’s a lot easier to write here than update my profile page every week. But I’m guessing you came here for inside commentary on the Tempest, so I won’t keep you.

 I had so much fun writing this. At first, I knew that I somehow wanted to get Fang from the School into Tanya’s clutches (just because I’m so nice!), but I didn’t know how. So I was right glad when the idea of an Eraser chase came along - and some nice stunt ideas, too. If I dare say so myself. I’d meant to prolong the chase, actually, but then it would’ve been… too long. The point of the section was to get Fang and Tanya to meet, and having a long, adrenaline-rushing chase, while exiting, would’ve detracted from the impact of their meeting.

As for Tanya…. please remember it’s been ten long years since we’ve seen her last. She’s had a lot of time - and reason - to grow bitter. If Ari was 7 when Max was 14, Jeb would’ve remarried about six years after he divorced Tanya. (I’m assuming that he divorced her - I mean, he just left her there, the creep! Without a backward glance!). And when people are bitter and feel wronged, they can justify about anything - so she may even feel entitled to take over the world now.

So what’s coming up? I’ll warn you - plot twist. I can see you groaning - not another one!

Sorry, that’s the beauty of this piece, IMHO

I haven’t had time for writing at all this week, so the posts may slow down some. I like to keep a buffer zone of at least four chapters between what I’ve posted and what I’ve written. 

I have a massive case of writer’s block, so I haven’t even gotten around to editing Portraits of the Past, my series of drabbles on Susan of Narnia. That’s why I haven’t posted chapter 1 of it today.

However, I have learned that The Lion’s Call has monthly Narnia fic-writing contests, so that may help break my writer’s block. Plus, the Teitho contest voting ends next Wednesday, and if I did well I probably won’t be able to stop writing for months!

I’ve been reading a little fic here and there, but not much. But if you’re looking for good stuff, here’s some recommendations:

Max Ride: Try Impress Meby Dragonology. Oh, my - I just checked - it’s updated! More reasons to read it!

Narnia: Knowing by Thalion King’s Daughter is a must. I was crying when I read it. And I’m one of those stone-faced people who hardly ever cries. And she updated Only Children… wow, Friday seems to get a lot of activity in the world of fanfic!

Another good one is The Lantern by lightsabermaster, if you’ve ever wondered what Narnia’s only lantern thinks.

If you’re in the mood for a novel-length fic, read A Sea of Golden Sand by Andi Horton. You’ll think Lewis wrote it, it’s that good.

LOTR: Haven’t read much LOTR lately. Except stuff for the August Teitho contest. But if you want a really good, long fic, read The Wrong Path by WhiteWolf1. The climax is pretty amazing.

And I haven’t read any SG-1 at all in the past month - or looked at my stories that I’m working on for that category. Sigh.

But I hope that chapter of The Tempest whetted your appetite… there’s much, much, more of that in store!

God bless,

Val

I think blogging may become addictive….

Here’s a quick explanation of the title:

The phrase “Fairer still the moonlight” comes from one of my favorite songs, Fairest Lord Jesus. It just caught my attention because I truly think, as the writer of the song obviously did, that the moonlight is far superior to sunlight. And the woodlands are fairer than the meadows. And that Jesus is fairest of all. So here are the lyrics of the second and third verses, written by Munster Gesangbuch and translated by Joseph August Seiss :

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably read some of my fanfiction. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it.

 This blog will contain some of my author’s notes - changing my ff.net profile page every week was getting to be a bit of a hassle - as well as my general thoughts on writing and anything in the universes I write for.

I may occaisionally list some ideas for stories that I have. And if you have a great idea for a story you want me to write, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. It’s true that I haven’t had much time to write lately - combine that with writers block and you get absolutely nothing… no words on the page, no new chapters or stories, nothing.

 Anyhow, if you want to borrow a story idea of mine, you’re welcome as long as you let me know about it and let me write it up first if it’s one I’m actually going to be doing.

In case you didn’t know, here’s a list of worlds I write for/dwell in. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these worlds. I may own the occaisional original character, but the ’canon’ all belongs to: C.S. Lewis, James Patterson, MGM (or whoever owns Stargate nowadays), and J.R.R. Tolkien. Also, I am not making any money off my stories. Too bad.

Narnia - first and foremost, I am a friend of Narnia. It’s a beautiful, magnificent world with a rich history and endless possibilities to explore. My current obsession is Calormen - this may be inspired by Andi Horton’s excellent fic, A Sea of Golden Sand. It certainly rekindled my fondness for Aravis, Cor, Corin, and Archenland.

 Maximum Ride - when I started writing for this, I’d only read the first two books, which captured my imagination. Unfortunately, I read the third book. Were that not enough, I heard that the fourth would be called The Last Global Warming Warning. I am now thoroughly disenchanted with the series. Which may be why I’m finding it hard to finish up The Tempest.

Stargate: SG-1 - I am eagerly awaiting the start of the tenth season! This is a wonderful world - especially because there’s just a slight chance that it might all be real…

I will soon start posting the longer works I’ve written for this series. It takes a lot of research to write a good Stargate fic, though, so I’m finessing the details right now.

Lord of the Rings - Double Blessing

I’m not a great fan of Middle-earth, but that may yet change… we’ll see. It’s a detailed, full world to be sure and I love the way Lothlorien was pictured in the movies. I’ve got a certain fondess for the Golden Wood… and Rohan.

I’ll close with a short list of the stories I have posted:

Narnia:

Night’s Song, Knight’s Song, Sun Rise, Son Rise (a quartet)

Final Sentence

Maximum Ride:

Twilight’s Last Gleaming

MaX2

The Tempest

Stargate: SG-1

Valley of the Shadow

What’s Your Major?

Original Fiction (fictionPress.com):

The Bunny in the Box

How the Horse Came to Be

Arson

Foreboding

I’ll try to post the stories themselves here; I think they will be easier to read here than on ff.net, which has all those banner adds. Of course, if you want to review, I’ll include a link to the story on ff.net so you can do it there. Or you can just leave a comment.

That’s all for now. I think I shall be writing here often.

God bless,

Val