Kamikaze!

No, Kamikaze isn't the title of a novel I'm planning on writing (although that would be an epic title). It's the name of a song by Owl City (also known as Adam Young).
Before you start telling me it's not writing related, hear me out.
When I first got Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful CD, I was borderline obsessed. I listened to it every chance I got. In bed, during school, in the car, at the store...

One of my favorite songs on that CD was Kamikaze. After listening to it about forty times, I began to get the inklings of a novel idea lurking there.
Encouraged by this, I told my mom to leave me in the car while she and my brother went into the grocery store.
While they were gone, I listened intently to Kamikaze, and, lo and behold, the novel idea hit me (not the whole plot, but you get the idea)! If you hear something that sounds like a character in the song (such as 'captain on a snowy horse', my personal favorite), or an event (such as 'maybe I'll ride to save my life'), I'm probably going to put it in the story somewhere.

That was the beginning of Dreamscape, a novel I haven't written one word of, but one that I've been brainstorming and thinking about since Winter of 2011.
The basic plot I've gotten done is as follows (not a synopsis; I'm no good at writing those yet).

Riley Pierson and Derek Gates are best friends, yet they're as different as can be--Riley is in training to become a medical surgeon, while Derek dropped out of high school and goes from job to job.
Both of them get together one day, and that is when everything changes.
Somehow (I haven't worked this aspect out yet), Riley and Derek are transported into an alternate reality of sorts. A future where all of the mythical creatures and medieval warriors who used to be in charge have taken control of Earth once again, and are transforming it more to their liking. This alternate future is called Dreamscape.
((Author's Note: Yes, that means that in the future, there will not be flying cars. There will be Gryffins and Dragons. There will not be laser guns. There will be swords and bow-and-arrows. Why? Because the past is making a comeback in the future, so to speak.))
Riley and Derek now have to find a way to get back home. As they search for someone who can send them back home, they are called upon to do quests for witches, wizards, army captains, and other beings--and they do them, mostly so they can avoid being killed or drawn and quartered or whatever.

That's the main plot. I still don't have the fine points planned out, after all these months...then again, I've been pretty darn busy, and I want to finish the first book in my fantasy trilogy before I start something else.

So...yes! I included a YouTube video of Kamikaze up there; let me know what you think! Also, do you have any ideas for my plot? If so, please let me know!

I Discovered Something!

I was editing the first chapter of The Night Phoenix today. As I did so, I was trying to think of a plausible excuse for the two shapeshifters. I mean, it's not like everyone will be completely ignorant or oblivious to the fact that a wolf or a fox shapeshifts into a mouse all of a sudden--even if they're not paying close attention.

As always, the answer was right in front of me, and had been for quite some time.

I started a roleplay with a friend of mine, Mary Hills (you can find her blog here: Writing Progress ). Rowan, who is one of my shapeshifters from The Night Phoenix, is one of my characters in the roleplay.
Well, in that roleplay, I had Rowan shift into the form of a human. My brain, I think, was telling me, "It's just a roleplay, you don't have to play by the rules of your novel."
This afternoon though, I realized--why in the world is one of the rules of my novel a rule that says the shapeshifters can only shift into the form of animals? I mean, why?

I don't quite know. Perhaps I made that rule up at 4:00 in the morning, which was when I first started writing The Night Phoenix (I got up early, since it was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I wanted a head start on this race I was involved in).

Anyway, I'm extremely excited about this. The shapeshifters' ability to become a human could take the novel into so many different directions! So, I'm going to decide on what their human forms look like (I already have Rowan's human form mostly created, I think; not Aelfcynn's), and then decide which places in the novel they'll be human.

If anyone has any ideas what Aelfcynn's human form should look like, please let me know! ((Oh, and as a sidenote; she usually shapeshifts into the shape of a pure white wolf with green eyes.))

Thanks, guys! You rock! : )

I'm Thinking of Teaching a Creative Writing Class...

Indeed. Earlier today, I was searching the Internet for a curriculum to use.
The one I found that looked most interesting and promising for my tastes was the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum, which my mom had actually found last year.
See, I don't want to teach some random English class; I want to teach a creative writing class to a handful of kids I know are going to be interested and consistent with the assignments I give them--not kids who will skip every other assignment with some crazy excuse, like that they had gone on a vacation. I mean, for heaven's sake, if you wanted to sign up for this class, why bother going on a vacation smack in the middle of it? Sheesh.
Also, I'd rather teach novel writing instead of short story writing, or report writing, or whatever.

So, besides the OYAN curriculum, I haven't been able to find anything else I like. There's the Excellence in Writing curriculums. However, as I suspected, they focus on mostly short stories and reports--and they tend to focus more on outlining than the actual character development and plot development. The upside though is that the EIW curriculum is cheaper.

See, the OYAN curriculum costs about $200.00 for the whole set (DVDs, workbook, teacher's guide...). Most of the EIW workbooks and teacher guides come at around $30.00 for each.
Of course, OYAN looks like it will be more informational, as well as more enjoyable.
So...I don't know. I could create my own curriculum; I know enough from reading 'How-To-Write' books from the library. All I need to do is look at the OYAN curriculum, see which kinds of chapters they have (Character Development; Editing; whatever) and write up an assignment and chapter about it using the knowledge I have. It might be pretty hard, though, and I have a lot of writing on my plate already.

Do any of you have any ideas?

The Night Phoenix

The Night Phoenix is, as some of you may know, a novel I finished for National Novel Writing Month, 2011.
Truth be told, I was supposed to have been finished editing it by now. The fact is, I haven't gotten very far at all. My life got insanely hectic right after National Novel Writing Month ended. Then, once I got some free time, I was feeling so depressed, I didn't feel like doing any writing at all--except for poetry.
However, as of Tuesday, I decided to continue on with my editing. My inital plan had always been to at least get the manuscript of The Night Phoenix sent to a publisher by summer of 2012; and that's still my plan. I'm simply going to have to force myself to stop procrastinating.

I've made some major changes so far, and there will most likely be more to come. One of my supporting characters had originally been called Ian Asher; I've changed it to Ethan Asher now. That's probably the biggest change I've made--so far, anyway.
Besides that, I seriously have to get back on track and do some more researching on Area 51 and the FBI; they play integral parts in the novel, and I'm afraid I slacked off on describing those two things accurately.

Anyway, after I'm finished with the inital editing processes, I'm going to send a query letter to one of two publishers: Malachite Quills or Black Rose .
If--the tiny amount of optimist in me wants to say 'when', but I'll refrain--my novel is accepted, I'm definitely going to be busy promoting it and creating a book trailer for it. Nothing too fancy; probably just artwork and maybe a few clips of scenery. I don't have very many resources to actually film a trailer with costumes and everything as of yet. Perhaps one day...

Whispers of Wind and Song

This is a new blog of mine, which will be completely writing related. Information about my novels, the processes of publication, writing tips, writing clubs and organizations I've joined--stuff like that.
It's called "Whispers of Wind And Song", because of several reasons. The word 'whispers' implies the story ideas that appear in my head, seemingly out of nowhere. 'Wind and song' refers to two or three different things.
'Wind' basically refers to stories--fantasy and magical stories mostly, but others as well. Because I've noticed that the wind tends to be a bringer of news and prophecies in several different fantasy novels.
'Song' refers to the poems and songs I write, as well as the music which plays an integral part in my inspiration process.
So, the literal (very literal) translation of the title "Whispers of Wind and Song" is "Story Ideas of Magic and Music".