~

Torrunn - "If you kill me, you'll be no better than me"
Elloria (with a sardonic tone) - "I can live with that."

Even more from the FT universe.

So, a while back I mentioned wanting to expand upon the universe with some short stories and Wasteland, (both of which I still intend to do), but I also have an idea for a fifth (or maybe fourth, depending on how one looks at Wasteland) book.
Well, it's not all my idea, credit goes partially to my dear husband too as we were just chatting about stuff and he asked me how the book was coming along and so we got chatting about that and I told him about the Navak'orn warrior that the sisters would eventually team up with (temporarily) and his extremely detailed background - which includes mercenary work (sellsword) - and then my husband eventually said, you should just do a story about a merc/assassin.

I was slightly taken aback at this suggestion because it's quite brilliant. What I'm dealing with at the moment is a princess/queen who is a complete war machine and thrust in to these fucked up situations (just waiting for Weapon: PRIME in FT3) and it would be totally selfless and the merc would be the opposite, everything he does, he does because:
A - He enjoys it.
B - He likes the money.

We then came up with the basic premise, which would be that this (as of now) unnamed merc, about 6'5 in build with a large, muscular frame, a retractable scythe, a few scars and shaggy, long, dark hair is hired to kidnap the daughter of a person of nobility - not decided how high up the social strata these people will be yet though - take her to the neighbouring land (which kind of makes me think she may be a princess or baroness or something?) and kill her.
So the assassin takes his payment and does his job and kidnaps the girl (who is about 19) and takes her to the neighbouring land but along the journey the two connect, he's not a total dick and she knows she's about to die and it turns out that the man who hired the assassin/merc was her father.
Sickened by this, and feeling a strong attraction to the girl, the assassin changes his mind and gives the girl his payment and tells her to run away and change her identity before heading back so that he can wage a one man war against her father.

We jump a few years and the merc is in another part of Ariy'aan, completing another job... He's never forgotten the girl and by chance - he bumps in to her, she runs a little inn/tavern/rest house in a remote village and he's shocked to learn that she's unmarried.
So they catch up, then he goes to finish his job and when he goes back after the job a few days later, it turns out that she has been kidnapped by her father who had been keeping tabs on the merc for years in the hopes he would lead him to his daughter so he can finish what he started and our merc is then on a race against the clock to rescue her.

Now, I now that seems like a lot of info and it does spoil a lot of the story BUT this story is a few years away and a lot will probably change in that time.

But yeah, that's my idea.

One down, two to go!

I've now finished the first book of what I consider The Enchantment War trilogy. The Enchantment war is the second book in the Faerie-Tale saga and as you may have gathered, consists of three separate sections, much like The Lord of the Rings.
I must admit, I'm quite happy now and can begin to work on the second half proper, which is in my opinion, where all the fun is to be had.

Character profiles.

This seriously is more for me than anyone else. Just saying... not like anyone reads this anyway =p

Elloria.
Personality type: Headstrong, sarcastic, playful (at times) independent yet reliant on her friends and family. Proud of her species and bloodline, takes pride in her role as a warrior and looks to inspire.

Likes: Wine, combat, history, poetry, relaxing to nature.
Dislikes: rapists, spiders, the dark (after the Alderbaran incident), upper class society.

Elloria, despite her position as queen is still quite naive and inexperienced in the ways of the world. After her journey across the forest she has become over-protective of her people, especially her sisters. She is quick to react with violence yet fears becoming a monster.

Layanna
Personality type: Sarcastic, independent, often spiteful of others and often selfish.

Likes: Dancing, rude jokes, archery, flowers, debates, reading.
Dislikes: know-it-alls, thieves and bards, formalities.

 loyal to her sisters and quite un-trusting of others. She often disagrees with her sisters, especially Elloria, but seeing as she's queen she follows her commands and is often supportive of her actions, despite inwardly disagreeing with them

Keela
Personality type: competitive, funny, caring, sarcastic, organised

Likes: competition, singing, jokes, combat sparring with Elloria, organisation
Dislikes: disorganisation, people who can't have a joke, council meetings

Despite her normally playful disposition, she normally acts as the referee between her two sisters who normally butt heads over things and even though she loves to keep organised, she tends to find the normally formal and properly organised council meetings rather dull and uninteresting.

Imm'arog.
Personality type: Loyal, knowledgeable, protective.

Likes: Hunting, learning, respect,
Dislikes: rash behaviour, disrespect, lying.

Always loyal to his best friend, Elloria, Imm'arog has sworn to protect her with his life, feeling it is a penance for failing her mother, Queen Eyara, yet he likes Elloria's company and despite her tendency to run head-first into danger, will stick by her no matter what.

TBC

Expanded universe.

I don't know whether or not I should write it.
Once I've finished the Faerie-Tale trilogy, I wouldn't mind letting the series rest, but I've so many ideas floating around in my noodle I don't really know what to do.
The Wasteland is one of those ideas, which I've detailed before -- a prequel to the trilogy and subsequently scrapped because I can't be arsed with it.
Thing is, last night I was watching Batman Begins and for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about this prequel idea, even got a shitload of notes written down and now I'm not too sure of if I want to write it after I'm done telling Elloria's story.
Other stories would include Elloria's grandmother and the battle against for the Navak'orn and even a few set before then and after Elloria's story in other parts of the world.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hate my brain.

Four years.

That's what it took, from conception to completion to finish Faerie-Tale: The Princess' Odyssey.
Four years... So much has happened within that time frame, but I'm glad it all did and I'm glad I now have a complete book that will always remind of certain little things I may otherwise forget. Things like typing away and thinking up new ideas whilst talking away to Lady J on MSN into the early hours, or sword fighting with Serra in the back garden just to make sure what I'd written was accurate and could be done.
It's funny though as over the four years, a lot of things have changed in not just my life, but the lives of my friends, we're more mature and have different opinions on things now that may not have been so back then, and as I look at The Princess' Odyssey and The Enchantment War, it's astounding to see that Elloria and Imm'arog have grown with us.
It's not just a sudden thing either, over the course of the first book, the characters grow, and by the second, we see the next step in that maturity which will only continue on the the second book and hopefully into the third.
I know it's seriously egotistical, but I'm proud of myself for what I accomplished. Especially when I had doubts about ever finishing Faerie-Tale.

Fight training.

Just omitted all of the below from Faerie-Tale: The Princess Odyssey, chapter 17 whilst doing my edit. While I find it had some relevance, it was unnecessary and slowed the story down, but I have a copy saved, maybe for future use somehow and decided to post it here mainly because I can HA!. Now, I just have to re-work the meeting of the Lorelei into something more natural and less of a Deus Ex Machina.


----------------------------------------------------

“Two handed or sword ‘n board?” she said as she took the metal sheet from her back with a single hand.

“Both” Rog replied sheepishly, Elloria kept the smile on her face and placed the shield carefully on the ground before unclipping the neck fasteners on her riding hood and then wrapped it into a ball to be placed under the leather straps of the shields support.

“I'll teach you the basics of both for now, but when we get back home, I'll teach you more,” she said calmly

“Thank you princess”

Elloria placed the sword in Imm’arogs hands and placed his palms upon specific points on the grip.

“The thing you have to remember with a sword is balance,” she instructed as she began turning Rog’s body and lengthening the gap between his feet to help him form a battle stance with his left hoof forward first. “The sword was designed for slashing, not thrusting, poking or hacking, though sometimes that's the only choice we have.

With your bodyweight equaled out you should be able to swing thoroughly enough to kill in a single blow”

The princess stood behind Imm’arog and raised his hands upwards to the right whilst still in the battle stance, ready to strike.

“Swinging just isn't enough,” she further explained before taking a few steps back “Try swing the sword diagonally downwards to the ground”

Imm’arog did as the princess instructed and felt the top-heavy sword carry his body round to face the princess as the momentum carried him.

“Now, I want you to swing again with the exact same motion, but this time, I want you to step forward with your right foot as you do”

Feeling rather stupid, the goblin once again did as his new mentor asked of him and planted his right foot in front of him as he swung at the air, the sword stopped dead where he wanted it to and he looked at the princess in shock and excitement.

“Weight distribution is key, as you've just seen, a single movement can make all the difference when controlling you're weapon” The princess said with a smile. “Upward strikes work the same way and can easily follow into a downward slash, just remember to move your feet accordingly and shift your weight… Try it”

Imm’arog gripped the handle of the sword tightly and stepped forward with his right foot as he sliced up into the air and then with a sharp stomp in front with his left, brought the weapon crashing back down to the ground.

“Good” the princess said as she clapped for her friends success “Now, we try the lunge.

Basically it’s the same as the slash, except this time, you rotate your arms down to your waist and thrust forwards with the tip of sword, don't forget your feet placements though”

The goblin soaked up this new information like a sponge and mapped out the manoeuvre in his mind before trying it for himself.

When he felt ready, Rog raised the sword as before and shifted his feet to the correct positions and concentrated hard before winding his arms down by his waist and pushing forwards with the sword while using the same weight distribution technique that he used with the slashing attacks.

“Excellent, simply excellent” the princess said proudly while giving a round of applause “You're a fast learner, all that's left now for the two handed approach are defensive maneuvers, then we move onto single hand fighting”

Slowly Elloria scoured the nearby environment for something with her blue eyes until she caught sight of what she was looking for with a simple grin.

Quickly she ran over to a fairly smooth sword-length and thickly rounded stick, twirling it in a single hand before taking her stance, ready to fight.

“Ok, first, I'll show you how to parry an attack, come at me and attack me, any way you like” she ordered

“What? With the sword?” Rog replied with slight confusion

“Yes, with the sword… Don't worry, me and my stick here can take out you and your sword quite easily,” Elloria answered with an overwhelming confidence “Come on, attack me”

Rog hesitated for a quick second and then moved in for the strike, quickly, Ella moved her left leg back and shifted her body weight to her left side as she raised the stick upwards to the right with what would be the blade end pointing diagonally down at her friend.

The sword hit the stick began to slide downwards away from the princess's body.

“Normally, the blade should run off the end and allow me to twist and strike like so” the princess said as she demonstrated slowly what would be a fatal blow if used on the battle field “But seeing as how I have a stick it doesn't show that, but I work with what I have.

Basically, all you need to do is shift your weight to the opposite side of an attacker, so if I attack from the right, you parry from the left.

Once you've shifted your weight, raise your weapon to that side and point it towards your opponent, but tilt your weapon slightly, this should create a gutter like motion and the attackers weapon will slide allowing you to strike, practice it and when you're ready, we'll try it for real”

Imm’arog recalled the princess's hand and body movements and slowly began to copy them until he felt confident enough to add speed to his motions.

Feeling confident enough after several minutes of practice, he raised his weapon and smiled at Elloria who stood in a stance quite different to what he was expecting, she had her legs positioned properly but her wooden sword replacement was held out in front, after a cheeky grin from seeing Rog’s baffled expression, she raised her arms into the position she had previously taught him and instantly went for the strike.

Thinking fast, Imm’arog moved his body weight to the left and raised the blade, Elloria’s faux weapon struck the sword and instantly slid off from her own momentum.

“Very good” Elloria said as she composed herself “Now the block, this is easy, I'm going to go for an overhead strike, your job is to simply raise the sword and block my attack, ok?”

Nervously the goblin nodded his head and the two friends took their stances for battle.

Without any word of warning, Ella swung her arms in a counter-clockwise motion and the brought the stick over her head, instinctively Imm’arog raised the sword horizontally upwards and met the stick.

“Good” the princess beamed as she kept the stick planted firmly on the steel blade “But how's your instinct and speed?”

Suddenly Elloria raised her hands and smashed the stick against the sword once more before diving round to Imm’arogs left side with lighting fast speed.

Confused, Rog barely brought the sword down to meet the stick before she moved again and went for his right shoulder, trying to block out all senses, the goblin swung the sword up and once again felt the stick strike it before Elloria circled around him with a jump and went to hit him in the back of the head.

Rog circled round to his right and raised the sword upwards to block the stick that was merely inches away from his face.

“Good work” Ella said as she relaxed her chipped weapon and patted Rog on the shoulder “Next, the counter-attack”

“Can we take a break please?” Rog asked as he tried to regain his breath after moving so quickly.

“No” the princess replied coldly “We've two more lessons left with two hand defense, then you can rest.

The counter-attack is simple, I'm going to go for another overhead strike, block it, and move to kick or knee me, got it?”

“I think so” Rog answered as he watched Ella get into position, quickly he followed and watched as she swung the sword around to go for the overhead strike, like before, Rog raised his weapon and the second it he did, he kicked the princess in the stomach, sending her back a few steps in slight pain.

“Ella, I'm sorry I…” he began, but before he could finish, the princess spoke up.

“No, that's what I wanted, when the enemy reels back, your sword is in perfect position to be brought down into their neck.

It works the same for all blocks and counters, or you could be daring with a side block and punch the opponent, staggering him so you can get in a good lunge or swipe. Now we'll move onto the side step.

The side step is the easiest of all, but the least practical, when I go to hit you, side step out of the way and go for either a punch, kick or pommel bash to the head” she explained as she readied herself once more.

Imm’arog took position and Ella attacked instantly and he moved out of the way with ease before bringing the swords pommel within inches of the princess's skull.

“Good, that's it, now you can rest for five minutes, after the rest I'll show you one handed fighting with a shield, once you get the hang of it you can easily duel-wield swords, though I don't recommend it for novices, same for fighting with speed defense like the sidestep.”

Imm’arog sat down looking rather pleased with himself and took out his water skin, drinking from it heavily as his friend detailed the second part of his impromptu training.

“What will follow next is the low sweep, high sweep and block sweep followed by a parry to a shield strike and a shield strike to a lunge.

What you have to remember about this form of fighting is that your arms will now move separately instead of as one, a lot of soldiers that were trained with this don't really like it because of the extra work involved in separating the two arms, but when you really master it, you find that they do in fact work in tandem with each other.

And a common mistake that you should look for is that people who fight like this normally attack from their arms at their side, I don't, I keep my arm ready, as you've seen.

This is because it takes a second to raise your arm and in that second, you could already be dead,” she explained with great enthusiasm.

“Which style do you prefer?” Rog asked as he passed the water skin to his well-taught friend.

“Neither” she replied before taking a drink “Both seem to be too rigid and when you fight, even in training, the flow of a fight is quite different so it pays to use both as well as tactics you craft yourself from personal experience”

“You should actually be an instructor,” the goblin joked as the princess handed the water back to him.

“I've actually thought about it, but I don't think my father would ever allow it, monarchy training the army” she replied perkily “So, you ready for the next step?

“As ready as I'll ever be”

“Good”

Elloria pushed her riding hood from out of the shields leather straps and affixed them around Rogs left arm, one strap tightened in the grip of his palm and the other around his forearm.

“Right, get your feet in the battle stance” the princess commanded, the goblin did as she said and stood awkwardly in the position she had taught to him.

Carefully Ella circled around to the back of her friend and raised his shielded arm so that it was held out in front of him yet covering his chest and twisted his body so that his left was slightly more forward, finally she positioned his arm so the blade was pointing upwards behind him as he held it above his head.

“Right, first the high sweep.

The technique is similar to the downward slash, only this time, you'll sweep across instead of downwards as you strike with your right and as move your feet, move your shield to your left”

Imm’arog instantaneously tried the maneuver the way Elloria had told him and felt pleased with himself after she applauded his actions.

“Right, I want you to try it again, only this time, I want you to pull back into the start position so your shield and right foot should flow along with the sweep and quickly into defense”

Rog nodded and performed the action once more as instructed, stepping forward as he horizontally swung the blade and shifted the shield, only this time he pulled back his foot and re-positioned his shield as he returned his arm to be poised to strike once more.

“That's absolutely perfect Rog, just perfect, just remember that if it comes to it, the return to form can be used as another sweep with the sword if need, but it can be risky so try and assess the situation first as it can be awkward” the princess beamed “Next, the low sweep, and this can be quite awkward so watch me and be careful” she advised as she took hold of her battle stick.

Elloria quickly took her stance with her arm up as if she were holding onto a shield and raised her arm, Rog watched closely as she lunged forwards onto her right foot as usual while moving her shield, but know her legs went into a crouching motion as she swung her weapon at shin height before stepping back into her originally stance in one swift and fluid motion.

Nervously the goblin agreed and readied himself into the starting position and took a deep breath as he tried to remember the motions.

“Don't think about it too much” The princess advised with clarity “Clear your mind and let your body flow like water”

Rog took the princesses words to heart and thought about what she said as he lunged forward with his right leg.

The shield on his wrist moved out of the way and to his side as he brought the sword slicing through the air diagonally until it quickly leveled out and swiped across.

With grace and speed, the goblin brought the sword back to his head and the shield round to cover his chest, as he stood upright once again.

“The block sweep is next, this can be quite tough to learn as you need an attacker to help, but if something should go wrong, I, as the attacker can end up badly hurt or even dead.

It requires you to block an opponents attack with the shield and use the shield to direct their weapon away while you go for a sweep or strike, its entirely up to you.”

Imm’arog shook his head in understanding and maintained his stance while Elloria prepared hers with her stick

“Remember, just move my weapon away, and go to strike, but don't actually hit me” she advised with a nervous laugh.

As soon as they were both ready, Elloria brought the stick down over her head to try and hit her friend, Rog brought the shield up and batted Ella’s makeshift sword away and motioned to go in for the sweep to her gut while she was defenseless but stopped as soon as his arm jerked to go forward.

“Way to scare me,” Ella laughed as Imm’arog lowered his weapon “but good job.

“Now, the parry to a shield strike, this is difficult as it only works against an opponent attacking with their left.

Basically all you have to do is catch their sword with yours and direct it away from you then hit with the shield, but timing must be almost perfect otherwise your better off blocking”

Elloria changed her weapon hand and shifted her weight to her left to accommodate her friends training and waited for the simple nod to signify when he was ready.

Once the princess saw the motion, she swung the stick down hard at Rog who immediately caught it with his sword and brushed it to one side before going for a shield strike and stopping just inches away from the princess's face as she reeled.

As Elloria regained her composure she threw the stick away as far as she could as she picked up her riding hood.

“Right, the last thing I'm going to teach you is the shield strike and lunge, all it requires you to do, when you get an opening, hit the opponent with the shield and follow through with a lunging stab of the sword, try it” she explained as she began putting her cloak back on.

Imm’arog followed the princess's instructions and moved forwards whilst swinging the shield out and to his side and quickly followed by thrusting the tip of the sword outwards and then reverting back into the defensive ready stance.

“Brilliant Rog, just brilliant, you've learned in the space of an hour what some can't even grasp in a month!” she said with a smile as she congratulated her friend and re-claimed her items.

Carefully she placed the sword back in the sheath before slackening the straps of the shield and carefully slotting it onto her back.

Q & A.

So I have friends asking me shit about the book(s) constantly, be it about the book itself, its inner workings or anything related to it. Normally I dismiss these questions as I can't be arsed answering them, but over the weekend, I asked them to ask questions via facebook which I will answer here, and shall also update with other questions that make be asked down the road.

How do you pick names for characters?

Ha, I don't really. I tend to make up names and if I like it and it sort of suits the character, it will stick.
On occasion, if playing a game or watching a movie, I might steal the name. The blacksmith Dwynn in FT2 was the name of a cowardly dwarf in the game Dragon Age: Origins, I chose Dwynn for the blacksmith because dwarfs by lore are supposed to be brilliant craftsmen.
And Jareth, his name is also the name of the Goblin king from the film Labyrinth.
I don't steal names often though, I think I have stolen maybe four or five.
Then there are names like Ferenc which have hidden meanings. Ferenc is old Iclandic for franc, which is another name for French, nobody likes the French and nobody like Ferenc.
There are some based on mythological lore like Lorelei, Bahamut etc, but I didn't really want to change their names as I want it to be a homage to these great mythological beings.

Why did you choose to use fairytale creatures over the regular fantasy races (elf, dwarf etc)

Because I wanted to do something different. Everything fantasy seems to focus on these. Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, Tolkien and many more. It's cliché.
I must admit, I've used goblins and trolls, but I have twisted them, the goblins aren't ugly evil creatures, they're now intelligent and civil and the trolls whilst still being seen as barbaric are also intelligent and they too show signs of civility.
Also, I love faeries and fairytales, and the original poem Faerie-Tale is based on was about a faerie, so it only made sense to keep it as such.

What the hell were the dreams about in the first book?

Sadly I can't answer this as it will be revealed during The Enchantment War.
I will tell you this though, when I was writing them in, they served no real purpose and I kinda hoped their reason would manifest itself. It wasn't until I really started planning the second book that I figured out what they are.
Originally though, they were to represent Elloria's drive to keep moving forward, a figment of her imagination only, though the necklace she is gifted says otherwise, but I had always given myself a scapegoat to that with the fact she was drowning and could have subliminally grabbed it from the river bed.

Will you try to outdo book 1s dragon fight?

Oh yes! I got an idea about this last year, and it's pretty kick-ass, again I can't say nothing of it as it will spoil the event.

Is Elloria actually scared of anything?

You mean aside from shadow monsters than hunt her through a forest? Yes, she's not fond of insects but she is absolutely terrified of spiders. This is evident in Dark Day woods of the first book and I shall be using a similar setup in FT2 and turing it up to 11.

Will you be resuming writing chronicles any time soon?

Yes. As soon as I've finished the edit of the first book, I shall get back to writing The Dematri'aan Chronicles

I've always wondered what keeps you going? What pushes you to keep on writing?

Good question as I actually have no real intention of publishing it.
I guess the answer is that's its now such a big part of my life that it's almost habitual, but I also need to get the story out of my head. My noodle is constantly thinking about Faerie-Tale, but once it's over, I'll be free of its grip.

Are the any hidden metaphors/messages?

Not that I'm aware of.
Metaphors, definitely not, though if it were published, some prick could maybe think that Elloria's pink dress is representative of her innocence and as time goes on, her dress becomes filthy, ragged and stained, indicating a loss of innocence.
Bollocks pal, her dress is pink, end of!
As for a meaning, I guess the only suitable one would be that sometimes it's better to dream as the reality may be a nightmare instead.

How did u come come up with the name Elloria?
it's a beautiful name!

Thanks.
Believe it or not, its origin comes from this chick.

Her name is Ellie Dibble. Back in 2007/2008 she used to be a host on a late night phone in quiz show called Pop the Q.
I was actually addicted to this, I'd watch it every night from midnight to 4am.
One night as I was planning Faerie-Tale, she referenced herself as Ellie D.
I remember saying it to myself and thinking it sounded like quite a nice name and wrote it down in my note book as Elliedee.
When I first starting writing Faerie-Tale, I used that name, which then soon became Elladee, but it didn't quite sound right and I was reading up on Greek mythology and came across Rhea, mother of Zues.
I toyed around with the name, switched the spelling and it became Ellaria. It still didn't look right, so I changed the middle 'a' to an 'o', Elloria was born.
There are still throwbacks to the Elladee name as her mother in the prequel and her sisters sometimes refer to her as Ellie and/or Ella.

Have you ever thought of expanding the world once you have finished the trilogy?

Actually I have.
I've got ideas for a prequel which I've outlined before as Wasteland, but I wouldn't mind also exploring other aspects of ariy'aan, its history etc.
Once the trilogy is finished, that's it for Elloria, her story is over and she won't be seen again as a character. Maybe referenced depending on the time-line of the spin-off story but other than that, she'll be retired.

Just how many of your characters are loosely based on family and people you know?

The three sisters are loosely based around me and my sisters, their mannerisms and the way they carry conversation is based off of the ones I share with my family.
But Serra, my closest friend is also the basis for Elloria's darker side, other than that all characters are based on the personality traits I give them.

Do you pre-plan your stories? If so, how?

Yes, I write notes. I normally have a large scale overview of what I want to do with the story, FT1 was cross the forest, FT2 is retrieve the Sorceress sword and FT3 is dethrone the empress.
Once I have this in mind, I start thinking of what I call set-pieces. Large events that serve as plot markers, from there I plan smaller events that will happen between the large events and in between those, I make it up and work off of notes that just are, they have no relevance, they're mainly just awesome shit that has no real place.
That's pretty much how I plan my stories.

FT3 is supposed to be set 2000yrs after FT2, was this always the plan?

Yes and no.
Originally Faerie-Tale was to be set in the 1400's, it was going to be a story about why there are no more enchanted creatures., FT3 was going to be set in the present day and basically be a mirror of FT1, which would be that of a human obsessed with Faerie's goes on a search for the "lost" fae kingdom of Dematria. The human would eventually find the kingdom and in turn meet a very bitter and resentful 600yr old Elloria who would without question send the human to execution.
Unfortunately, the historical time-line for what I wanted didn't match, mainly in terms of technology, so I decided to move FT to a post apocalyptic future 200'000yrs later. This also gave rise to the mutation origin of the Enchants.
This also meant that I had to change FT3 as I could no longer keep my original idea, but this is also when I decided to set it in an advanced future which will greatly contrast the first two books, but still keep the same spirit.

How the hell have you still got such a imagination to be able to write such stuff at your age?

Because I enjoy such things, because I don't have to act "mature" around my friends to win their approval like with most people my age and because I just have a very active imagination with a lot of imaginative stimuli.

How did you originally come up with the story?

Originally, I had this image of a bunch of Faeries riding into battles on unicorns.
This is The Enchantment War. Then I started asking myself the question, why are they at war?
I pondered about this and in the meantime wrote this poem.
I then decided to turn this poem into an epic poem, then decided to turn it into a full novel (with some drastic but necessary changes), though the ending was originally different and didn't lead to a sequel, when I changed the ending, I thought back to that vision and connected the two.

What have been your biggest influences?

Alice in Wonderland and Labyrinth are my main influences for the first book, the games Dragon Age: Origins and God of War II are my main influences for the second and Ghost in the Shell: The Stand Alone Complex and Mass Effect 2 are my main influence for the third and all three have influence from the Tomb Raider series of games.

Whats your preferred environment for writing?

Either in my office, with no distractions and music that has specifically chosen based on its style which can lead to inspiration for whatever playing, or on my laptop in the living room watching a film.

Are there any homages to other works?

Several, Jareth is a homage to the goblin king from Labyrinth, there's a scene in chapter 6 of Faerie-Tale that references The Terminator films,the demon bull (Gulli) is a reference to Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (fact tidbit, the whole asylum bull battle was originally written as part of a Tomb Raider fan-fic)
I won't list them all, but they're definitely there.

Was the story for Faerie-Tale always the way it was planned?

Pretty much, yeah. Though as I've said before, I never planned for it to be longer than 100 pages, that definitely changed, and the ending was altered but all in all it's pretty close to how I envisioned it.

We have lift off.

As I've said, I'm back on board with writing FT2, even though I never finished editing the first book. It seems like I haven't had any time away from it, but I'm glad I did because I am refreshed and now plouging through the book with renewed enthusium. Also, 90% of it is now fully planned.
The only thing I really have left is a couple of events in the second part and the little things (the way I write is that I have events A, B, C etc already planned and I improv the things that happen inbetween)
So yeah... I'm firing on all cylinders now.

Back on the job.

I'm back to my writing after a pretty lengthy break, and it feels good to be doing so. I never did get finished with editing FT, but I'm going to continue doing so inbetween my writing of its sequel.
Sadly, The Dematri'aan Chronicles will still be put on hold until it is finished.

Why had i never thought of it before?

It's so simple and I feel foolish for have never doing so. Especially with the second book.
Sibling rivalry.
I briefly allude to it within The Dematri'aan Chronicles and somewhat in The Princess Odyssey with Layanna taunting Elloria for her obsession with humans. But I've never shown them as sisters so to speak.
I've always based their relationship on the one I have with my own sisters, in that we're supportive of each other, playful and will tell each other straight, but the rivalry dynamic between us does occur from time to time. And it's always one on one with the other sister acting as a mediator that stops the "fighting".
What you'll read next is a rough draft of one of these spats between the Fae sisters, and whilst the situation is unique to me, the overall tone is something that I have experienced, and any feedback would be welcomed.

Key: E = Elloria. K = Keela. L = Layanna

* The sisters hear something rustling from beyond the bushes, a bear springs forth.
E. "RUN!"
*The sisters run, L looks back, trips. She turns over and backs away on her rear, calling for help (movie cliché)
* E comes out of nowhere with a dagger in hand, jumps on the bears back and stabs it repeatedly in the neck until it dies.
* L gets up.
E. "I told you to run! Why did you look back?"
L. "Because..."
E. "No, not because. You sacrificed footing for a glance at your assailant. You lost focus!"
L. "But..."
E. "And then you stayed on the ground, cowering".
L. "Yes, but"
E. "Next time I tell you to run, you run! No looking back, just move as fast and as far as your legs can carry you."
* L pushes E
L. "How dare you talk to me like that! You may be my Queen, but you're still my baby sister"
* E pushes L
E. "I'm sorry for wanting to try and keep you alive. But lest you forget, I've been in this situation before! You think a damn bear is bad? Try running from a black, shapeless... Thing, in the dark with little to no light and terrified because it's hounded you for over a week and nothing you do to it seems to even have the slightest effect!"
* E pushes L again
E. "You want to stay alive, you do as I say! So if I say run, you run. Do you understand?"
* L slaps E
L. "Don't you ever talk down to me sister!"
E. "Do that again if you dare"
* L slaps E again.
* E raises her hand, ready to strike L, K grabs E's hand and stops her.
K "Will you two knock it off?"
E. "She started it!"
L. "Did not"
E. "Did so"
K. "I don't care who started it! I'm not going to walk through a strange forest on the other side of the world with you two fighting!"
E. "Whatever"
* E storms off, angry.
L. "Oh that's very mature and majestic that! The mighty warrior Queen of the Fae, sulking"
K. "And you can shut up as well! I don't care if you're the eldest, or if she's the damn Queen, I'll knock both of your arses to the ground if you carry on!"
L. "I'd like to see you try"
K. "Don't tempt me... Now move!"
* L sets off, gritting her teeth and mumbling incoherently. K sighs and follows.

Something new and simple.

I've been busy as you know (if you know me) and I've read my main blog (Everyone in the world is crazy) and I've noticed there are a lot of Faerie-Tale related posts. So to separate the FT posts from the EITWIC blog, I shall be moving them all here and all future FT updates shall be here within this blog page.
It's nothing extravagant, it's just something simple and it's more for me because the FT related rambling of my head-brain are hard to keep track of, and whilst I do have things noted down, it can be hard to find the notes so it'll all be here for my own convenience.
Also, I'd like to note that the Letters from the Wasteland page has been scrapped because I don't think it would go anywhere and the Dematri'aan Chronicles will resume when I have the time. I've been really busy and can't really keep on top of things at the moment. So just please bear with me on that.
Thank you.

The writing of FT2 shall resume soon

Righty... I've decided that I'm going to be resuming writing FT2 in the new year, whether or not I've finished editing the original book.
I have had a lot to focus on lately, so I haven't had much time for anything, but now. like I did when I was originally writing FT, I will be setting aside at least an hour a day to finish it. So that gives me a little over two months to finish editing. That should suffice... And to be quite honest, I cannot wait to get re-started on The Enchantment War.

The future of Faerie-Tale

Three years on and I'm still working on Faerie-Tale, despite the fact I finished it last summer... Finished, not completed.
As of now I'm just giving it a final edit, making sure it all flows, sorting grammatical errors and the like and also adding new bits (not much) if they're needed.
But this isn't the reason why I'm writing this post. What it is, is that I hate my brain, whilst Faerie-Tale has always been envisioned as a trilogy, I've never been able to solely focus on the one story, whilst writing the first, I was also planning the second. Now that I'm writing the second (Well, it's actually on hold whilst I sort out FT) I'm planning the third. I'm always several steps ahead. A good thing in a way, but also bad because I now have several notepads filled with stuff I can't even use (yet)

A while back, I decided to do a fourth book after "FT3", but I've since scrapped that idea. The basic premise was the "Arcanic realm" bursts through to the real world and Elloria essentially ends up sacrificing herself to stop it. Thus ending the Ellorian saga.
But now I have a new idea for a fourth book. "Wasteland"
That's just it, no "Faerie-Tale" heading like the other three will have, just "Wasteland" (Maybe The Wasteland, I'm not sure yet)
It will be a prequel of sorts to the Faerie-Tale series, but it will be its own beast altogether.
The plot for the story is as follows.

A few years from now, the economy completely collapses, most of the world is left destitute. Plague levels rise and sweep through the homeless, killing millions of the populous as they can no longer afford healthcare.
Whilst everyone is left to die from hunger and disease, the governments still argue over oil, the price of which has rocketed to unimaginable prices. Tensions fray and allied nations turn on each other.
The "End War" begins as military forces mobilise, but after one country launches its entire nuclear arsenal, the other countries follow suit. The "war" lasts less than three hours, the world is obliterated and left in darkness as the ash falls from the sky, coating everything in grey whilst the sun is shrouded behind nuclear clouds... Nuclear winter sets in shortly after. Freezing the Earth.
The nuclear holocaust also caused the "Ring of fire" to be set off, all around the globe volcanoes erupt and further help to blot out the sun. Earthquakes and tsunamis ravage the planet as 99.5% of all life on Earth is wiped out in a matter of weeks.
Most of the remaining lifeforms have moved underground, to cave systems, sewers, subways and those who knew nuclear extinction was inevitable reside in special military bunkers... Life crawls on.

Twenty years after the world has ended, a wanderer leaves the safety of the bunker where a basic community has started back up, in order to return to the place where their family was killed during the protests that occurred during the economy collapse.
The wanderer is not alone, s/he has a single companion who will accompany them and brave the cold, harsh, radioactive wasteland that is now filled with rabid animals and cannibalistic "raiders" under a permanent cover of darkness in order to reach their destination... Will they survive the journey, or will they finally succumb to the hell that humanity inflicted upon itself all them years ago?

Eyara's Lament

So I've just finished editing Eyara's Lament, a short story prequel to my book Faerie-Tale: The Princess' Odyssey. (Faerie-Tales new full title) so I thought I'd talk about it a bit because it was tough to write, and tough to re-read.

Writing this was tough for me because of the content within it, and although the basics of the story are explained within Odyssey, I feel it was necessary to tell the story in full.

Aside from detailing the tragic events, it also gives insight into what the Kingdom of Dematria used to be like before the tragedy, what Jareth was like before and ultimately what Eyara was like. Which I feel was most important as she is to play a vital role in the second book The Enchantment War.

On top of everything, there are some interesting parallels I've thrown in, such as the carpenters shop that has replaced Eyara's family bakery, this is the same workshop Elloria will visit 18 years later and the apprentice becomes the master.

There are little things like that dotted throughout, though without Odyssey they are useless references.

My goal when writing this was to create a perfect life, a fairytale life if you will... And then tear it all down. And I did just that, and upon editing it, because I know the character of Elloria so well, I found myself smiling as she played with her mother in the palaces gardens, but I honestly found it hard to continue knowing what was about to come next. I honestly feel cruel for creating this character who rose up from poverty to have this dream life, and then destroying in one fell swoop.

When I'd originally written it, I remember sitting there in silence for about half an hour, not able to comprehend what I'd just written, and it's not like I could just take it away and make it "not true", it's a core element to Odyssey's plot so it had to be done.

But it's writing this that gave me the idea of letting Elloria get retribution later on, though at a price. Her actions corrupt her and she struggles with accepting the fact she enjoys taking the lives of those who deserve it, yet she doesn't want to become the thing she hates so it creates a duality within her.I'd love to talk more about the whole thing, but I have work to do so I will leave it here for now and possibly do a similar post once I've finished editing Odyssey.

Finished

My book that is.
It's been a long and strange journey writing that, right from its conception I always had more ideas than I could handle... Which will actually split it into a trilogy.
Though to be honest, the idea for the second book came first, which was just the image of a faerie riding a unicorn into battle.
Then I got thinking, how did this battle start? Is it a war? How did that start? Then I began piecing together the wars origin which soon became Faerie-Tale.
Even though it is a trilogy and that I shall be re-using the same characters, I'm saddened by the fact I no longer need to write FT (Faerie-Tale) anymore, it's been with me for so long now and has journeyed through key moments of my life with me.
My wedding, the opening day of my salon, finding out I was pregnant, the UK road trip, birth, my darling daughters first smile.
All that in the space of just a little over two years. And through the two years the concept of FT was with me, it had become a part of me.
Now, I didn't really start writing until Christmas of 2008 (I had bits and pieces complete, but nothing major) but the idea and planning had been in my head since May of that same year... And now... Now it's not there... There are no more plot ideas to think of, no more new ways to drive the story forwards, no more striving to reach the ending... It's just done and laid out exactly as how I had envisioned.
Sure I'm proud of this, as I never thought I'd finish it, hell, I only just finished writing Chapter 9 of 25 this Christmas Eve just passed.
But it's gone and I don't really know what to do with myself, sure I have the sequels to write and the odd spin-off book, but I just feel lost not having FT to write anymore.
It feels as if I've lost an old friend, though I'll always remember the good times we had.

Doing a Frankenstein

So I'm writing this book, Faerie-Tale... yeah, snappy title I know, but I feel with it I have created something now far beyond my control.
It started out as a simple poem (which will be on my other page "Live, Laugh, Love" when I decide to put it up) and from there, I wanted to expand on it, open it out, so out came this idea for a book.
Well, actually what came first was the idea of an epic poem and the image of a faerie riding a unicorn and waving her sword around like a... well... fairy.
BUT that simple idea has evolved, I thought, "yeah, a nice easy project for me to work on".
It was originally going to be 100 pages long and spread out over 5 chapters with about 20 pages in each, I still keep that estimate as a guideline, but now I'm looking at 25 chapters and as I write, I'm constantly coming up with new ideas, new things to add, i know that it isn't actually a bad thing, but I set myself deadline, and I can never meet them, I know I shouldn't set them, but without them I'd hardly get anything written.
But beyond the ever evolving story, I have also written a simple 25 page prequel, and I have plans for two sequels, while the third book is actually still quite the mystery to me, the second book is pretty much fleshed out.
It will be double the size of the one I'm writing now... at least, and will actually jump around three separate plots and time-lines with each chapter, like in The Grudge, the story doesn't follow a set chronological path!
On top of this, I have also got plans to write a years worth of diary entries for my books main heroine... Sometimes I just feel like I have created a monster as this project seems to dominate so much of my time and my life... and even though I have a child on the way I'm still going to set time aside to finish this work... all of it! maybe after it's all done, I can finally lay it to rest and be done with it... but it's me so I doubt it...
Especially with the idea me and my husband concocted back in 2008 for a zombie horror novel... or three...