May142013
604 - Jalstan Marks is born.
608 - Arif Tanner is born.
610 - The current book I’m writing begins.
611 - Anita Marks is born.
628 - Anni Marks is born.
632 - Melody Rychland is born.
645 - Anni’s book begins.
This means that Arif is 3 years older than Anita, and Jalstan is 7 years older than Anita.
Anita flees her home when she is 17, and her daughter also has to flee her home when she is 17.
After Anita leaves Artasilya at 17, she doesn’t see Arif again until 17 years later, when she is 34 and he is 37.
February222013
It’s a very weird feeling… Marks and Anita are at odds with each other ALL OF THE TIME and have completely separate opinions on things and make totally different decisions, but I understand and agree with both of them. I’m not sure how my moral compass deals with that. Haha. But I don’t see either of them as doing something WRONG and the other is RIGHT, even though both of them see it that way. I think everything both of them did was understandable from their point of view.
6PM
I read an angry rant about something another book did, and it’s made me rethink the fact that so many of my royal characters are only children (as in had no siblings). u_u; Like… that’s actually really stupid. And while I can make up an excuse for some of it (the queen was weak and had difficulty giving birth, the king was old when he started having kids…) ehhhhhhhh.
I’m thinking of having a harem situation for kings, like the primary heir is the one born from the queen, but they have lots of other heirs with other women too, like royally sanctioned and accepted by all, and it’s an honor to bear a child for the king. It’s not a sexy mistress situation, it’s a political maneuver. You gain power by having your child be next in line.
TL;DR - I think out loud for a long time and eventually come to a vaguely believable solution via bullshit. Also ramble about Marks/Anita’s different circumstances growing up.
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6PM
I think I’m going to name Anita’s mother Cecibel. Cecibel Marks. It’s not a super magical queenly name because apparently I am writing her backstory and she was a small town/small life kind of girl. u_u; Like a sweet, wholesome, “girl next door” kind of person.
5PM
I have no passion/enthusiasm for any projects right now, really. I feel aimless. So I thought I’d try working on Anita’s childhood, like maybe it would give me some enthusiasm for what happens with her as an adult. I had always planned on having a prequel to Anni’s story. So. I dunno. I’m writing this post because I wrote “Anita” at the top of a word document and that’s about as far as I got.
January202013
This is one of my favorite parts of the story so far (from my outline).
Anni is relieved that her mother is safe, and happy to see her, but immediately it is obvious to everyone that the sweet little Anni who sat in her basement and sewed dresses with a docile smile on her face is not the same Anni standing in her father’s house, controlling a magic so powerful her mind had to shut off its connection to the world’s life force so it wouldn’t break her. Anita tries to use her manipulative way of explaining the situation, and Anni is having none of that shit. Anita loses control of Anni, (like she loses control of everything). Anni brings up all the lies that Anita has been telling her over the years and she has no good answers in response. In a rage, Anni storms out of the house. Rebecca chases her, begging her to understand, to hear her mother out. She spits back the perfect venomous response, something about how all of this was their fault, that they’ve been shoving her around since she was a child, that nobody trusts her with information or with her own wellbeing. She says she’s going to go confront Marks, and just talk to him instead of letting this drag on and on. That people have died over this, over HER, and she is sick of it.
Somehow this story became about making your life for yourself, and standing up to people who try to control you. Sort of. Both Anita and Anni (whose names need to be changed bweh someday) have been pushed around by the decisions of others and the situations of their lives, and have just barely been able to hang on. And by the end of the book they’ve decided not to ever be there again.
January192013
Like… anita sort of projects her own vulnerability onto others and then serves as their protector in order to guard herself against pain. She deals with other people’s problems as a method of dealing with her own.
5PM
As marks needs to prove he is useful in order to gain love, anita needs to protect others in order to protect herself.
