I Finished an Old Half-Written Story

Tags

crying, half-finished story, old writing, tatiana's diary, the broken world series, upcoming anthology, writing about death, writing experience, writing vlog

I’ve forced myself to dig back into an unfinished story. I didn’t stop writing it because I didn’t want to finish it. I stopped because life got crazy, and I needed a different distraction, which was my new novel that I also put aside for similar reasons.

Funny how that works.

At the time, I was editing my fourth book in the Broken World series, the end of the semester was upon me, I had the flu and food poisoning and something else, and my kitty died.

So yeah, this got pushed aside.

But now, I’ve reopened the file for an official review and push to finish it. It is my story for my upcoming anthology after all.

I sat down to the first twenty-four pages. And I cried…six times.

Then, I sat down to write, and I cried for nearly an hour as I wrote.

To clarify, this is the diary of my main protagonist’s mother, Tatiana. The one who dies to give birth to Ria. Her death is no spoiler, but as I experienced in writing her father’s story—also dead—their inevitable deaths didn’t hamper my emotions.

I might have gotten this response on video, too, up on my channel via a writing vlog. It’s pitiful, but I didn’t edit out the crying. It was, like, three-quarters of my experience.

Overall, in my review and continued creation, I hope it affects others even a quarter as much as it did me while I was writing it.

I feel crazy sometimes, having these kinds of experiences while I write. But what else am I to do when people inhabit my head?

 

Do you ever have this kind of response when you write? Let me know in the comments below.

A Brief Look at Poetic Justice

Tags

crafting morality, Disney, dystopia, Equilibrium, good verses evil, karma and dharma, poetic justice, shakespeare, The Hunger Games

Poetic justice rewards the good and punishes the bad at the end of a story.

In a similar way to karma and dharma, we respond with phrases like, “she had that coming,” and “he got what he deserved,” thus developing a moral compass for the readers. Behave well and be compensated or behave poorly and be admonished.

Essentially, this prompts reader to see certain actions as a code of morality to set up easy identification of good characters and wicked ones so that we can connect with them appropriately.

Disney, for example, is great at wrapping up their movies with poetic justice: the prince and the princess fall in love, the villain is thwarted in the final battle, and those who clung to evil’s coattails are thrown under the bus.

In Frozen, Elsa and Anna are rewarded with the kingdom and family in one piece (kind of), their helpers also prospered. The villain, Hans is humiliated and exiled.

In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston is killed by the Beast, in part, due to his own arrogance, pride, and malice, while the Beast is rewarded with the love of a fine woman.

In Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin gain love and the promise of a better kingdom. The Genie gets his freedom, and Jafar gets trapped away with the power he wanted so badly but no means to use it.

 

In The Lion King, Simba regains his kingdom, brings prosperity back to the land, and gets to create the family he’d missed. Scar is killed, not by Simba, but by his own minions, the hyenas.

I could go on, but I won’t.

We see this trope happen in dystopian stories where the rebels fight the dictators and win, usually fating them to death and their heroes to glory—or at the very least, to peace.

Think The Hunger Games, Katniss and Pita get their quiet life and family as both President Snow and President Coin die at the end for their corrupt natures.

Think In Time, Will steals an elite young lady, Sylvia, and they work together to topple a corrupt system. They’ve created an impact by shutting down factories by giving people enough time to quit their jobs, and the good guy duo go on to rib larger banks and destroy the system. The bad guys, at least the ones who come against them in the movie, die. The larger villains are no longer able to horde their riches with absolute security.

Think Equilibrium, Father dies, the rebellion defeats the dictatorship, and the people gain their freedom to feel.

Shakespeare has plenty of examples of poetic justice in his plays, although a great deal of terrible acts befall good people, the Montagues and Capulets lose their children for their feud, Lady Macbeth’s plot falls apart and haunts her, Othello’s death is justified for his lack of trust and violence toward those who loved him, and Iago is tortured and executed for manipulating Othello, and etc.

Beyond the fact that authors use poetic justice to create morality and paint potential punishments for when we don’t behave, how do we ensure that we properly craft this kind of ending with a lack of preaching to our readers while creating universal ideas of good and evil? There are varying degrees of what these concepts mean after all.

 

I’d love to know your take on poetic justice and its role in society. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.literarydevices.com/poetic-justice/

https://literarydevices.net/poetic-justice/

http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/literary-devices/poetic-justice

https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/poetic-justice#Modern_Examples_of_Poetic_Justice

https://www.softschools.com/examples/literary_terms/poetic_justicel_examples/332/

https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/globaldrama/poetic-justice-in-othello.html#.XrMvfC-z1Bw

 

Last Month, I Won Camp NaNoWriMo

Tags

Camp Nanowrimo, chronological, crafting character, erotic stories, hear our characters, lose control, pantser, winner, Wooing the Alpha, writing craft

So, I pretty much spoiled it, yeah? I won camp. I wrote over 15,000 words, which was my goal—aka 500 words a day, and I was reminded of a few things about my writing process.

Mostly, I learned that I have no idea what I’m doing at any given moment. I mean, I like to think we’re all in that boat, so if it’s not true, don’t burst my bubble.

Essentially, as much as I want to plot and plan a story, I am ultimately a pantser. I also have to follow my story chronologically, even when other characters are screaming in my head.

No, it’s not your turn. You have to wait.

Why? Because what happens before you affects her time with you! Now, calm your ass.

I sound like a crazy person, right?

My husband recently read an article that described how authors described their interactions with their craft and their characters. Some of us “hear” our characters. Some of us “lose control” of our characters.

And some of us, experience our characters.

I’ve done all three. But most of the time, I hear them…like a schizophrenic. They have their own minds, and I wonder how crazy that makes me.

The funny thing about this is, as loud as Thunder and Torrent—my first and third male protagonists—were, North—male protagonist number two—was silent until I dropped into his perspective. Then, wham, his personality hit me like a battering ram.

Why? Because he’s quiet and polite and knows how to wait his turn!

I’ve rather rambled in an odd direction, haven’t I?

Okay. So what camp reminded me of most importantly was how much love I have for writing and creating and how much fun it can be when I don’t take it too seriously.

I plan to continue writing in this fun, erotic set of stories for May as I learn to re-outline and plan my sequel to the Graves series. It’s going to be a lot of work, so it’s nice to have Wooing the Alpha to keep me sane.

Fun times.

Want to see my process? Watch my Camp Nano vlogs here:

What have you been writing in April? Do you have plans for May? Let me know in the comments below!

Diary of a Workaholic: the Funk Follows Me to 2020

Tags

burnout, changing focus, editing habits, fitness habits, pandemic, quarterly goals, quarterly review, reading habits, workaholic, writing habits

The funk of 2019 befell my first quarter of 2020.  Get sick for a couple of weeks, lose some loved ones, and fall desperately behind, and I suppose it will linger for a while.

Now with the world the way it is, I have to admit that the last month of quarter one hammered me with some more setbacks.

Since I’m not one to complain too vehemently, I want to focus on my lessons and what I did accomplish instead of focusing too greatly on what I didn’t. So, let’s get the icky bits out of the way.

Honesty: I gave up trying to write in my current project because of the state of the world and the stresses it caused globally, nationally, locally, and personally. Two weeks of no words means a loss of  roughly 7,000 words. Sigh.

I also had to give up on my edit catch up for two weeks as I graded papers and replanned the rest of my semester to film, edit, and add participation for my new online classes.

Finally, I back-burnered my fitness goals and my marketing/ad/sales planned for the quarter.

All right, let’s get on with the positive and lessons learned over the last three months.

First, I finally finished a project that I’ve been trying to complete since July of 2019. Something that should have taken me three months stunned me with its difficulty. I hated writing in it most of the time. Then…I read it.

Holy shit. It’s good! I’ve impressed myself. The consciousness I had during the process really paid off, even though it seemed like torture at the time. And now, I have a cover and just need to set up a landing page to shove it out into the world! Quarter two, I have plans for you!

Speaking of quarter two, I had planned on finishing my new novel, the sequel to The Girl with the Glowing Hair, dubbed Graves Two currently. But since I tabled that, needing a serious amount of my brains to fix some of the outlining problems I’m currently experiencing, I’m trading it in for a new idea in April. One that’s fun and not so serious that I can crank out and let consume me at times. 

It’s seriously necessary at the moment. And May will mean picking up Graves Two…unless I get hooked into finishing this project, which could happen.

Back to last quarter, I wrote a nice 29,500 words. That’s nothing to scoff at given the amount of work I put on my plate. Was it the 45,000 I wanted? No, but you know what, that’s 29,500 words that I didn’t have before, and I’m excited about it.

I also made SOO much progress on my freelancing project. The website almost done, pitch written, a loose cover letter and  resume on standby, and my scripts are ready for me to film. I was so scared to do this for so long, and it feels nice to see some actual, tangible progress. Woot!

Now, the real successes have come in my reading. Three books a month!? Are we serious right now? I went from three last year to three a month. I am loving it. And it’s taking the place of my work when I get overwhelmed. 

This has lead me to making more videos, too. Almost enough for two videos a week, and it’s tailspinning me into an addictive line of thinking for the summer when classes are over….daily challenges. But this isn’t the time or place for that.

Not yet. We’ll get there.

In any case, this last month has been a great reading month, and I’ve enjoyed each of the books I’ve read so far. And even the books that I struggled with, especially in February…cough cough, Lord of the Flies, cough cough…I’ve appreciated pushing through until the end. Poor Piggy.

I’m really hoping that I can build my reading up to four or five books a month, but if we’re being honest, which of course we are, I’m not sure how realistic this is with the amount I read otherwise. We’re talking up to 650 essays a year, 300-plus short story submissions, plus editing the ones I accept at least twice, thousands of articles from research, hundreds of thousands of emails, and I’m sure I could keep going. So, I’m  just setting myself up for failure. 

But still, books. I want to read more of them.

Finally, quarter two is going to refocus me on my health. I’ve restarted my favorite work-out regime, Chalean Extreme. Weight lifting makes me happy. I’m going to refocus my writing, participate in Camp Nanowrimo, and jump on my #100daychallenge to write 500 words a day for 100 days. I want to publish at least three new shorts during this time. I plan to build my online course for college students and new writers. I will absolutely finish up our On Time anthology, Kickstarter, and hardback book box. And finally, we will be cleaning and fixing our house. I have the summer set up for this, so we will at least be starting if not finishing this project.

So, am I crazy? Yup, probably. Welcome to the diaries of a workaholic.

Tell me about how your quarter was, your plans for quarter two, and let me know how you are otherwise.

Editing Tip: Give Metaphors a Chance

Tags

concrete details, creative writing, description, editing advice, figurative language, metaphor, simile, strong images, writing advice

 

Writers utilize figurative language because it helps us express abstract ideas in an effective manner. Typically, this tool triggers familiarity and emotions. It attracts attention, arouses action, and crafts concrete details.

One of the easiest forms of figurative language is he simile and metaphor—since they’re siblings after all.

I’m a fan of the simile. Let me tell you, like and as litter my page. It’s fun to create comparisons. Unfortunately, too many of those in a small space are really obvious. That distracts from the original intent of using figurative language to begin with.

That’s why I say to give metaphors a chance.

Besides, they provide stronger connections than similes do. I’ve actually been told their akin to lies, thus implying the strength of using them.

I could prattle on for a long time trying to explain why they’re more effective; therefore, I’m just going to show you.

Heh, showing verses telling, right?

Simile: Her lips were as sweet as candy.

Metaphor: Her lips were candy.

Simile: Metal twisted like a ribbon.

Metaphor: Ribbons of metal twisted.

Simile: She sparkled like a diamond.

Metaphor: She sparkled diamond bright.

On a small scale, these are easy transformations. Others, if implementing some of my other writing/editing tips—liking nixing to-be verbs—these can extend to eliminate the need for an example, which is what similes offer us.

 

Let’s expand.

Simile: He had a heart like stone.

Metaphor: When I reached out to touch his heart, my nails scraped and broke, leaving only a dirty residue on my fingertips.

Simile: I am as fast as a cheetah.

Metaphor: My paws thunder against the ground, spraying grass behind my tail as I race for my prey–the finish line.

Simile: He eats like a pig.

Metaphor: Slop gushed from the corners of his mouth, leaving a trail down his hairy chin before pooling on his belly. Snout snuffling as more slop slurped in: gushing, trailing, pooling.

With a little more space, these become strong images that fog the line between figurative language and a simple description. These are the kinds of metaphors that deserve a little more consideration.

They can generate props, create reminders, weave larger threads together, and extract a reaction from the audience that is otherwise untappable.

In all, similes and metaphors are both useful. But when like or as litter you page, give metaphor a chance.

My Writing Routine: Testing My Ideal Day

Tags

critical brain, ideal work day, internet guru, My Ideal Routine, pie charts, power blocks, productivity, workout trends, Writing Routine, writing trends

Spoiler: It didn’t work for me.

 

Watch me test my ideal plan and discuss this with much more detail in my video.

 

Okay, that’s a bit of an absolute. But I was duped by the internet guru trends of writing and working out early in the morning. Nope. It didn’t work.

Now, disclaimer, I do enjoy doing both of those activities in the morning, but not for my ideal work day.

The idea of having specifically designated power blocks throughout my day that I could dedicate to one specific type of task worked brilliantly.

So, this was my original plan in pie-chart form:

My day is clearly defined: family time, workout time, writing time, editing time, admin/copy/content time, and a big chunk for dinner and other food stuff.

For the most part, this worked, but I figured out a bit about the way my brain and body work best, especially since this ideal day is one where I stay home, which is four out of seven of them.

I kept most of the chunks the same, then rearranged them like so:

I’ve broken the bits up a little more, separating content and admin work. I also swapped around my blocks.

First, reading in the morning while we wait for the boy to go to school has meant that I’ve finished nearly four books in January. I think that may be more books than I read last year…for fun. I read a lot in general, but that’s a different conversation for a different time.

Second, I pushed my workouts back. For a good reason. It’s too easy in the morning to say that I’m too tired. I had a personal trainer that said she always worked out in the mornings to get it done and life wouldn’t get in the way. Well, she may have been right because I do miss workouts in the afternoon because I’m in the middle things.

But knowing that I will have a break between the heavy lifting stuff of my first two power blocks pushes me to finish what I’m working on. It also recharges me for the second half of my day. I also like this because my shower is done, and I’m not going to bed with my hair wet.

Third, I made my first power block the most taxing for my critical brain. Between eight and noon is the prime time for my analytical work. That’s why I teach during those times. But, when I’m at home, it makes the most sense to grade and edit during that time.

That makes power block two the time for content creation—yay, marketing! Actually, I really like this block. It’s still using my critical brain, but I’ve begun to make the swap towards creative, too. I really like mixing the two, and it drains the rest of my problem-solving juices. Time for a workout to refill them.

I made the admin stuff in my third block before the boy gets home and I have to run off to make dinner because it’s the easiest to get up from. Just being honest. Emails and scheduling content and setting up advertising all fit in here.

Finally, I swapped my writing chunk for after dinner. People don’t need me and are less likely to interrupt me, so it’s my time to bang out a couple-hundred words in an hour and a half. And I usually accomplish this. The best part of this is that all of my work for the day is done, so I’m free to be 100% creative. I’m not worrying about all of the other things I have to do because I didn’t procrastinate. Hopefully.

That leaves me a couple of hours to get out of my office, sit and read or watch a movie or draw or whatever it is that fits in with family time.

So, there it is. My ideal plan didn’t work. But trying to implement it did give me a new ideal that does actually work.

 

What does your ideal day look like? What gets in the way of your productivity? Let me know in the comments below!

Writer’s Tool: Props

Tags

building character, Chekhov's Gun, foreshadowing, props, tension building, what makes good fiction, world building, writer's tools, writing with props

One of the best tools for character building, world-building, tension building, and creating beats and foreshadowing. When used with purpose, it smooths over that drop into the dream and helps keep us there.

My favorite use is to replace dialogue tags and build character. Showing a character rub the hem of their shirt so much they rip a hole in the bottom creates an image, indicates nerves, and suggests a repeating habit. It shows their true feelings. This type of prop, when used with specific intent, can signal a certain emotion that relates scenes and build foreshadowing.

The more unusual the prop, the greater impression the character has on the reader, like a green, shoe-shaped stone that links a protagonist and her recurring savior. Or a metal tuning cuff around a boy’s ear, almost hidden beneath his hair, that he uses to hone his alchemy skills.

An equally important and better used prop will remind the reader of the world and the rules present. A silver charm with the dirt from a grave serves a twin purpose of pulling an old vampire myth to showcase genre and what type of rules govern these creatures. As a secondary element, it functions to remind readers of werewolves’ aversion to silver, especially if used in a fight.

A particularly tense scene might use a prop to build tension. A ring in a young man’s pocket, might feel like such a weighty object—one he brushes to ensure is still there, when he might have the confidence to ask the question, avoids when his conviction plummets; a prop can signify a defining moment.

Here’s a great example of real-life drama using props. A woman takes a pregnancy test and tricks her husband into finding it. The test stays front and center for most of the exchange as he tries to uncover her trickery until, finally, he comes to terms with the positive result. The test itself signals a wide variety of tension—shock, pain, denial, acceptance, humor, and ultimately the new addition to their loving family. The scene would not be the same without it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lms9d3eo1g

Also, one can create foreshadowing in several ways, but foreshadowing with props is essentially using Chekhov’s Gun. This technique signals the significance of an object early on by the amount of attention it’s given. The rule is that it must be utilized by the end of Act II within the three-act structure and play an important role in the plot. Like a character finding a pendant in an old box of her mother’s things, which she recognizes in her mentor’s office and knows to use it help save a dozen kidnapped children.

I love props and how versatile they are for adding depth to a story. How do you use them in your writing? Tell me in the comments below.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.mentorless.com/2015/09/01/how-writing-props-help-adding-layers-to-your-story-and-characters/

https://flyingscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/props-in-writing-how-and-when-to-use-them/

https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/surroundings-props-screenwriting

Varying Heroines in the BLOOD PHOENIX Saga

Tags

diffuse situations, femininity, kick-ass female, make a difference, mother's sacrifice, strong female character, strong female lead, writing advice, writing characters, writing tips

I love creating strong female characters—if not already evident by the way I typically describe my protagonists. Ria is a semi-typical kick-ass personality. She’s learning to balance the evils of her vampirism with her morality, which means she gets beaten up and beaten down on quite a regular basis.

But she’s not the only heroine in the series, even if she’s put out front.

What I’d like to do instead is highlight some of my other strong females in the series to explore the depth and variance of what makes a character “strong.”

It’s hard to start anywhere other than with Ari, Ria’s long-time bestie. She’s mentally tough and able to surf through chaos since it’s unavoidable given her childhood friend. Her ability to navigate people is her best asset, dissecting and diffusing a situation before it escalates.

Her weakness is her boredom—with the several jobs, with the cycle of men, with the struggle to stay afloat. Yet, Ari comes into her own when she arrives at the training facility, traversing an entirely new world without the veil of safety.

Is she a kick-ass-and-take-names heroine? No, but most of us aren’t. She is the kind who steps up when she can, and she makes a difference. That’s something to celebrate.

Next would be Tahe. Although she can fight well and came to help Ria save her seven-foot-tall leprechaun, her ability to embody femininity and eschew traditional depictions of it gives her a different kind of strength.

She is a lipstick lesbian, who loves to tinker with cars, learned to harvest a field with a scythe, worked with an old-school magician, had tea with Nikola Tesla, and has a trend of back-sassing authority. Tahe’s got a hell of a complex backstory to showcase how she uses others’ natural tendency to underestimate her to her advantage.

Tahe represents the long-term fight to be a woman any way we want to be. Something I have struggled with for decades.

Finally, I want to showcase Ria’s mom. Writing more about her in the last few stories I’ve explored has revealed a lot of what I think about motherhood and what I know about Ria. Tatiana is excited to be a mom; scared, too. She has to shift from the new adult freedom to a real adult so quickly. Then, she has to come to terms with her mortality and the knowledge that she’s going to die from childbirth.

It takes a hell of a strong woman to give her life for her child. Complete selflessness. Honestly, I don’t think I could do it, but I’ve also never been put in that situation. Regardless, that type of decision makes Tatiana all the more heroic to me.

Three very different types of strong females, and there are plenty more worth exploring, like Julia sacrificing herself instead of taking down her lover, like Deanne’s unwillingness to give up on escape even when it’s hopeless, like several other characters who use their motherly instincts and life experience to help themselves and others in bad situations. What I’m getting at is that muscles and fighting skills aren’t the only way to make a character strong.

 

Do you have a favorite strong female lead (whether someone else’s or your own)? Tell me about her in the comments below!

Re-Evaluating My Writing Process with Fun Templates

Tags

brainstorming, Heart Breathings, plotting, pre-planning, project booklet, Rachael Stephen, Sarra Cannon, The Writing Process, three-act structure, writing templates

For every new project, I seem to check my system, tweak it, revise it, see if I can’t improve my writing process. Well, let’s take a fresh look at it, shall we?

 

Pre-Writing

I have a couple stages for my pre-writing process, and it really depends on the length of the piece as well as if the characters are completely new to me or not.

If the world is new, I like to do some character and world building first, and I’ve created a document based on Rachael Stephen’s videos on brainstorming. Download the free .pdf here if you’d like to add it to your pre-writing process.

Here’s what my first page looks like, filled out:

For a world that I’m already familiar with, I do incorporate some of those elements in to my pre-planning. Yes, I pre-plan before I plan, and maybe even pre-pre-plan. Is that a thing? Is it all just planning? If it is, don’t burst my bubble. Okay?

Here’s what my first pass at plotting looks like. I use another template. The left has two long boxes for me to note the conflicts and tension, the big themes and threads and scenes. Aka, the shit I know already. This is where I may also use a shortened version of the brainstorming template, simply listing their main motives, what they avoid, what’s at stake, and their main conflicts. It helps focus what thread is there for what reason.

In the next four columns, I split the three-act structure up the same way Sarra Cannon from Heart Breathings does—separating act two into two columns. She focuses on the main beats in each act, like so:

This is the finalized version in my project booklet. Ignore some of the fuzz, but I haven’t written the book yet, and I don’t want to reveal who done it.

One last step before I dive into my drafting process. Plotting out the chapters. Can you guess it? That’s right. I use a template. This one in fact:

Four pages, one for each column from the three-act structure. The left column is for the main themes, the scenes I need to hit, some that I may not know where they go yet. The fifteen boxes are for chapters. I try to put the points in order for each chapter.

I transfer this into a booklet with six chapters to a page because I like the clean look of it.

 

Drafting

When I drafted the first book in this series, THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR, it was the first time I planned each chapter in such detail. Last time, I had to wrangle a few extra chapters in the middle for the pantsing ideas, but I stuck pretty solid to that outline. The first time I used my current templates with INFERNO, I combined a few chapters instead.

Because I’m basically a pantser. Yes, with all of this planning, I still feel like a pantser. My bare notes are enough to provide me with an idea, but I still have to hammer out a lot of details in draft. I just have fewer links to make.

Once I’ve begun the drafting phrase, I pretty much put butt in seat and write. I have a set amount I want to write a day, and I stay at it until I’ve hit my word count.

Sometimes, this is really easy. It got easier by building a habit: 250 for two months, 500 for three months, then July’s Camp NaNoWriMo pushes me to finish what I have left. Last year, my goal was 2 hours a day. It worked, and 500 a day would have been so much easier. But I enjoyed the torment, too. You know, in retrospect.

Also, I’m one of those writers who HAS to write everything in chronological order. Some people jump around, but I won’t even let myself flesh out a scene stuck in my head. I mean, I do jot notes down sometimes. I phrase or two. An image. But only on paper.

I find that I can’t move forward until I uncover the details of difficult scene. If I don’t, what I write from there is too up in the air for me. Too much could change. Although this takes me longer because I can get stuck, the revision process goes so much more smoothly.

 

Revision, Editing, & Publication

I’ve written about my revision and editing process before. Here, in fact. And not much has changed in this regard. Publishing changes per project. I’m still finding my way around marketing and launching books.

I do always write blog posts, create book trailers, send out newsletters, and work through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo for distribution.

The rest is up in the air, depending on time and resources. When I sell hundreds of thousands of copies, I’ll tell you how I did it. Until then, I’ll keep playing around.

 

Welp, that’s it. My writing process. It took a lot of books and stories to find something that worked for me more than once. One of my favorite things about talking writing processes, is that every write does it different. So, what’s yours look like? Tell me in the comments. Write a blog post and tag me.

Hybrid Humanity | Mixing Phoenix and Vampire

Tags

blood phoenix saga, duality of man, good and evil, hybrids, phoenix themes, rebirth, resurrection, sacrifices, the broken world series, vampires

If you’ve read my Did You Know…About the Phoenix post, you’re aware that the phoenix is a symbol for rebirth, renewal, and resurrection. It only makes sense that my Blood Phoenix saga begins with Rebirth and ends with Resurrection (or at least, it will).

Besides, vampires have a similar cycle of death and reanimation (or being born into a new life) and the struggle of immortality. I’m sure plenty think I’m crazy for comparing the two since phoenix are the epitome of light and life and purity, and vampires are the epitome of dark, death, and debauchery.

What happens when you mix them? Well, you get my main character, Ria.

The thing about hybrids that interests me the most is the ability to play with the line of morality. What is good and bad? Where does one transform into the other? Can one do evil things for the purest of goods and great things for the darkest evils?

Yes.

It’s a powerful philosophy that I haven’t begun to explore, and I doubt I could truly understand it with eons to explore its possibilities, but duality will forever intrigue me.

That’s why I love to play with characters like Ria, and her antagonists. Phea, my big bad and first-ever vampire, was once a sweet and innocent girl that loved a god. She destroyed an evil that plagued her people, but killed hundreds of thousands of them to save her baby.

Wickedness seems to taint those who set out to do well in life. Even Ria feels the affects, learning to take life swiftly as a mercy when hundreds of captured people are tortured in prolonged dramatic sacrifices. But when she runs to save her own baby, she refuses to let Phea murder the innocent people around her to get away. Ria would like to think her humanity makes her empathetic, but it’s her phoenix.

That’s why I like the mix of phoenix and vampire. They balance each other out and make Ria all the more human.

 

How do you feel about good and evil, hybrids, and using paranormal creatures to reflect on humanity? Let me know in the comments below!