Jessica Werner's Blog, page 5

Give ’em names – Subscriber Contest

As I have told you before, I am working on the second book of the Ashwood Falls Trilogy. Without giving away much of the plot, I can tell you that this time we do not have just one Villain but a group of them.

Now while I sat here and began to write their introduction, I noticed that my system of name giving makes them all sound kind of similar. So I had an idea. Why not ask my readers and followers for name suggestions. So here we are now and I will make this really simple!

The contest is for my newsletter subscribers! So all you will have to do is subscribe to the newsletter, the button is on the right side, first up top – the big blue one ;).

After that fill out the really super short form with your ideas. :)

What is in it for you? Apart from helping me greatly, this is your chance to see your suggested names in Ashwood Falls Part 2, which I am working on at the moment. In addition to that, those people whose name has been chosen, will receive a pre-release copy of the book, once I finished. Now that still may take a while, since I just started, but it will not be forgotten. :)

What I am looking for is names for guys and girls, unisex is fine too, that work for villains in a mythological setting. Some of these people will be really old, some really young, so it can be old fashioned and modern, but unusual is preferred.

Deadline is August 31st, at which point I will choose the names that I like best and start weaving them into the story!

Are you up for it? Is your mind already playing scrabble? Then head on to the form and give me your ideas! If you have any friends that have great ideas? Share the news with them and enjoy the creativity!

I am looking forward to see your ideas!

Filed under: contest, Fun, iamwriting, naming characters, novel, Writing Tagged: contest, iamwriting, naming characters, novel, writing

Let’s talk about … rewriting

Today I want to talk about rewriting. Now that is some scary stuff right there. You have a story in your mind, a poem, a speech – anything really – and somehow it doesn’t work out. I don’t know about you, but that completely blocks my mojo and it can happen that I stop writing for a while, breaking my brain on how to make it work.

Well, just recently, while writing on my first draft of the second part of my book series, I stumbled over that problem. I kept reading the last chapter I had written, but I was still blocked. So I did something that proved to be the first step in the right direction: I questioned what I had written. The reaction of Alana getting some news just seemed wrong, despite me feeling it was alright when I initially wrote it.

So what do you do in that situation? I don’t know what you would do, though I’d love to know, but I asked some friends. I explained the situation and asked them how they would react. The answers were eye opening. Only one of them told me what I have written, the others all had the an answer similar to another, but it was the opposite of mine. So I decided to rewrite the whole chapter.

It might sound strange to some, but that is an extremely hard thing to do. A story is like a baby to me as writer, so changing or even deleting it is tough. To be honest, while it is difficult I do know that it is for the best. It will make the whole situation more believable and I am excited for that and the added development it will provide. Of course I cannot tell you what situation that was, because that would give away an important part of the second book. It is important though, which I keep realizing and learning over and over again, to not be afraid to change things up, to delete scenes if needed, or to adjust them. I want it to be more realistic, so I’m getting on that. Cross your fingers!

What is your experience with this? I believe every writer had to go through that at least once, if not even more often. I’m curious to hear your stories, so share them in the comments. :)

Filed under: Let's talk about, Writing Tagged: i am writing, iamwriting, novel, rewriting, writing, writing experience

Snippets – Prompt #3

It is past time for another Snippet! For those among you who are new here, here is how this works:

I am posting a Snippet below. It is something I wrote down at some point and did not develop, but I would love to see get its own life. Then you go and write whatever pops into your mind. You can make it a story about how it came to this, or maybe it is the beginning or the middle. You can write a poem, or anything else that is inspired by the Snippet. If you want, you can share it in the comments, because I would LOVE to see what you did with the Snippet, and show it to everyone. Easy enough, right?

So here we go, the newest snippet for you guys:

I can’t wait to see what you are coming up with. Please share your stories in the comments, I would LOVE to read them!

Filed under: Fun, Snippet Writing Prompt, Writing Tagged: i am writing, iamwriting, prompt, snippet, writing, writing prompt

Fireworks!

Today is my Birthday.

Now that this is out of the way, I want to share with you a anecdote about happens on my birthday, and the day after. Well one thing is, that I become a year older, but that happens to everyone I suppose. Though someone used to tell me that women do not get older than 29, so I am not actually getting older, I just repeat it a couple of times.

The other thing I connected in my mind, when I saw the 4th of July fireworks for the first time. I was about 12. And not being US American, or any kind of American, this day does usually not have any meaning to me. I know why it is celebrated but that’s it. Now imagine 12 year old Jessica seeing the fireworks on TV. What does a child think of a Firework that is held a day after their birthday? No idea, but this child thought “OH! They do that for me!”

And so it was born. Ever since then, every year on July 4th I pretend enjoy the celebratory fireworks in my honour. Why they do it a day after my birthday, you ask? Easy, out of respect to not pull any attention from my friends and family who celebrate with me. So we have the 3rd for us and the 4th the sky all over the states lights up for me.

Well I do of course know that it is not the case, but a girl may have some dreams, right? After all, my 12 year old self should not be disappointed.

Do you have something like this? Events that happen completely unrelated to each other but you put them together in some way to make it more awesome? Share with us, I’m curious to hear about them, since I cannot be the only one, right? Right?

Filed under: Fun, Stuff about me Tagged: about the author, birthday, fireworks, fourth of july

Character Interview – Meet Dracon

Dracon

Why hello there. Who might you be? Aren’t you lovely, look at that face, these beautiful eyes. I regret I have not come here earlier, now that I know what- no who was waiting for me here. Will you be busy tonight? If not, we could..

Dracon!

Yes, dear? Ah it’s you. I already made the acquaintance of your lovely readers. How stunning they are. Look at this one over there…

Yes, they are fantastic. I am glad you approve. And imagine, they are here for you.

Me? Of course. Who would not want to meet me. Look at me, honey.

Of course. I apologize for the strange welcome. You all have met Alana and Tyler before. Today we have Dracon with us. So Dracon, since you enjoy to talk about yourself so much, why don’t you tell us who you are?

The corner of his mouth twitched, as his long fingers brushed through the shoulder long hair. Very well. As you have heard by now, I am Dracon. I’m a master of illusions, trickery, magic of the mind, the enticing curves of women, the tantalizing spiral of lust..

Dracon.

He raises his hands in defense. All right, all right. I am a demon, an incubus to be precise.

And for how long have you been in Ashwood Falls?

I’ve stopped counting the years, so let us say that I have been there for a very long time. I’ve seen many come and go.

Speaking about that, have you met Alana yet?

Casting a glance, he leaned back, a smirk beginning to form on his lips. Alana. The little gold eyed, raven haired girl. I have indeed. I believe that I am going to have a lot of fun with that one.

What do you mean by that?

His gaze appears to be far away, in thoughts or a dream, maybe both. After being addressed it takes a moment before he blinks and is back in the present. What? Nothing in particular. I believe she is a lovely girl and will fit just well into this small town.

I could have sworn you said…

Leaning forward his one eye dials in on me, a cocky grin on his lips as he interrupts the comment. Why would I want to talk about her, if I could talk about what you and I should do after this interview.

Because there is nothing we will do afterwards.

Ah, come on. You, me, the darkness of the night, some candle lights and music. He approaches me like a hunter its prey. I would love to see if your skin is as soft as it looks.

This interview is over.

He smirks. I knew you would come to your senses.

You will be brought back outside. Thank you for taking the time.

With that Dracon was escorted outside, the ‘cooing’ calls continue until the door is closed behind him.

Now that was different, but what would one expect with an incubus. I should probably remain here for the rest of the night, just to be sure. Now that you met our three main characters of Sra’kalor, the character interviews are coming to a halt for a little, unless we have someone else who would like to speak up. You will be the first to know – well, after me.

If you got curious, about Dracon or more of Sra’kalor, check it out and I’ll see you here again very soon. If you would like to stay up to date, follow the blog, or subscribe to the newsletter, and you won’t miss a thing.

Filed under: Character interview, ebook, Fun, Interview, Sra'kalor, Writing

The hat that saw the world

Once upon a time in a land far far away, lived a hat, crocheted by the most beautiful lavender yarn. A special honour had befallen on it, as it was the prize for a generous give-away by a kind hearted yarn-enthusiast. Our lavender hat was really excited, because it would throne on the head of the lucky winner. The day came when the winner was chosen, and the hat wondered, where this strange sounding land named ‘Germany’ would be.

It watched as its maker prepared the details for the travel and it saw that there was a big water between its old and the new home. A long travel, it thought, what a fun that will be!

It didn’t take long when it was bedded carefully in a passed envelope and made itself a temporary home in the cozy folds. Carefully it held on the smaller envelope that had been added inside for the lucky winner across the globe. It could not wait to get on the way and just the next day its journey would start.

When the shaking and wobbling began it peeked through the crack that had been left open, just little but enough to see, and saw it was moving. An exciting tohuwabohu of black moving rubber bands, catapulting so many of its brethren – smaller, bigger and the same – through huge halls, sorted and brought to big trucks, filled and loaded with more of them. It saw a big sign, that said Phoenix and he looked around searching for the fiery bird. But before he could search properly, the big box closed and with a loud rumbling noise they began to shake and vibrate, moving to their next destination. And this happened a few times. It was excited to see all these places with their funny names like Chicago – where did chica go, and who was chica? Was it a letter too? – or Detroit – was it of metal like that shiny golden one with the little beeping friend?.

But it got even more excited when it saw the change from the big boxes rolling over the streets to an even bigger rounder box. It was long and had windows, and wings! The little lavender hat was jumping of joy. It would fly!

For the longest time, almost a full day, it watched the sparkling diamond crusted ocean beneath them, waving at them from afar. The clouds surrounded the big round box like cotton balls, keeping them safe, catching them on their softness if turbulences occurred. When the sparkling blue vanished out of side, the little lavender hat was not sad. It knew more was to come. After the big round box found its way back to the ground the hat heard strange sounds and words, it did not understand. But the big sign above the building let it know that it was in a place called Amsterdam. It giggled listening, they sounded funny. Or maybe they had a cold, the little hat was not sure.

It did not have much time to listen or to watch everything, but soaked in every little bit of its journey. Just a little big later, it was already back on the way, back in another round box, crossing land, green and yellow and small sparkly blues. More funny sounding voices greeted it at the other end, similar to those in Amsterdam but different. And the next morning, the big day was there! It felt the hands grabbing, placed into a bag, not a big box any more. Gently wobbling as it was carried through streets. More hands, as it was handed to someone else, which began to increase the crack in the envelope.

Carefully it was pulled out of the comfortable padding, fingers feeling its softness. With a joyous cry it was lifted to the head of the lucky winner, soft long hair carefully placed between its loops it finally rested on its finally destination. And it could see the smile, a happy one, on its new owners face as she looked into a mirror, placing it carefully, and said “You have seen more of the world that I have. I think you have a lot to tell me!”

 

So yes, I won a giveaway of a hat, that was the kind of hat, I had wanted to have for a long time. Already as a younger girl I saw these and thought how beautiful they are. So when I saw the giveaway I had to enter, and was surprised to be the winner. I have to thank Brie, the lovely maker of ‘The hat that saw the world’ for making my girlhood dream come true. And of course I cannot not write a little story, right?

The little lavender hat The little lavender hat – Side view, so much hair in it! Hi everyone!

(Excuse the poor quality, my webcam isn’t the best ;) )

Brie makes beautiful things with her crocheting, hats, dolls and more. You really should check out her FB page, she also does giveaways – obviously – and she should be known much more than she is. She’s the sweetest and kindest, and a lovely friend of mine. Thank you, Brie. It did not make pictures but the stories it has to tell…

Filed under: Fun, Short story, Stuff about me, Writing Tagged: about the author, short story, winning, writing

Let’s talk about …

Some of you might or might not know, that English is not my first language. If you hadn’t noticed until now: Surprise! So yes, while my grasp of the English language is better than many other Germans can pride themselves with, I do not know everything. Obviously. There might be the one or other grammar mistake even in my blog posts, but I try my best. Either way today it is not about grammar or spelling.

Today we are talking about windows.

Windows? Yes! Windows. Well more about the fun to find out about more of them. So me being a non native speaker I had a moment of “OMG I do not know how to call this” while writing a new chapter of my book. And there are usually three or four ways I try to find out which word I am looking for.

I ask the all knowing man of my dreams, who is usually sitting two meters behind me, just waiting to be able to shine with his knowledge.
Checking the dictionary – I know for some that is the first step but oh well I like hearing his voice more than checking myself.
Type a description of what I am looking for into google and hope that there is something even relating to it.
Ask my native English speaking friends online.

To my utter surprise the first three items on that list failed me, when I tried to find a certain word relating to windows. In German we have a certain word for when the window is opened this way:

In German that would be “gekippt” or “auf kipp”. Now I could have thought it would be cracking a window, but to write ‘She looked at the cracked window’ could have given a completely wrong impression of the condition of said window and we cannot have that. The direct translation of ‘gekippt’ would be ’tilted’, but as always in situations like that, there is no guarantee that a direct translation is the correct word.

So I went to my online community and asked them. And boy, did I learn things about windows. I was surprised how much we could even talk about that subject. And surprisingly there are way more window types that I knew existed. Now look at this:

A few of those I have seen before, others were completely new to me, and not all types of windows are in that graphic either. Either way, according to this the type of window I mean is a Hopper. Now imagine I would write “She looked at the Hopper window.” Maybe for those knowing the name of that specific type that would be good, for me though, not so much. I’d imagine a window with bunny ears hopping around in my house. Yes, not so good, but highly amusing.

So among all the fantastic information about types of windows, in different languages and from all walks of life, the consent was with either “opened” or “tilted”. Oh look my old friend is back. Opened to me looks more like this:

Open window – Source http://www.shuttersandsunflowers.com

So after everything I went back to where I started and chose tilted. But who would have thought that talking about windows could be not only a long discussion, but also interesting? I have not, but I was wrong.

Anyone out there been going to search for window types for their stories before? What have you found interesting about it? Or have you had other interesting searches for the right word to share with me? I certainly would love to hear about it.

Filed under: Fun, Let's talk about, Writing Tagged: Ask the natives, i am writing, iamwriting, second language, windows, word search, writing

Giveaway winners have been chosen!

The big giveaway has ended at midnight and of course you guys want to know if you won or not. I can tell everyone who entered: Congratulations, you won!

The contest did not have as many entries, that I actually had to chose. The awesome news about that is that everyone is a winner. So congratulations to:

Auryn, Jenny, Amanda, Ray, Jennifer, Debbie, Sonja, Sandra, Nessie and Lily.

All of you should have received your email with the copy of Sra’kalor earlier today in your chosen ebook format. If you have not received it, please let me know and I’ll check on that. :)

Thank you everyone for entering! And keep your eyes peeled, I might do another one in the future. Until then I’ll continue to write the second part of the Ashwood Falls Trilogy, so you’ve got something to read. :)

Congratulations again!

Filed under: Giveaway, Raffle, Sra'kalor, Winners Tagged: ebook, giveaway, raffle, Sra'kalor, winners

When the pain fades…

For a couple of days I have been sitting here with severely sore muscles. It can be quite painful, as some of you know, when you make your muscles do stuff, that they are not used to. For me that happened on Friday and today is the first day without pain, so it took a while. Now I know not everyone is like me, and only go on for a day after that or maybe not at all, but it made me notice something.

I have read so many books and stories, in which the characters so things to their body, they are not used to. They run, jump, fight for their life or do the “horizontal dance” (later often explicity mentioned as being the first time at all or the first time in ages). Either way, I do not remember once that they had sore muscles or any other side effects from it (even wounds and injuries heal smoother and absolutely painless). I would expect them to at least be so beat afterwards, that they do not want to move for a day, oh well maybe hours.

As far as I remember none of the books I read had that little detail. The characters asked the most of their body and went on right into the next event without a break. How are they doing it? Is it magic? ;)

Do you remember a book or story in which the characters have pain or sore muscles or similar for more than 5 minutes? I’m really curious if there are writers bringing in details like that. Or do you think that writers should not include that type of realism into their stories? If not, then why?

I would love to hear what you think, feel free to comment below.

Filed under: Ask the Readers, Question, Writing Tagged: i am writing, iamwriting, question, question to the readers, writing

35 hours left of Giveaway Raffle! – ENDED

THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST

There are only 35 hours left of my Giveaway Raffle for 25 (!) ebook copies of Sra’kalor, the first part in the Ashwood Falls Trilogy! Everyone entering the Raffle until May 20th has a chance to win one of 25 copies in the ebook format of their choice. All you have to do is like my facebook page Journey of words and fill out the form. The winners will be chosen through a random name picker, among those who did both. LIKE the facebook page AND enter the Form. Yes, it is that easy :) Here are the links to everything you need! Facebook page: Journes of words to like! Giveaway Form to fill out! Please share this with your friends, the more the merrier! And good luck to everyone :)

Filed under: Deal, Fun, Giveaway, Raffle, Sra'kalor, Writing Tagged: ebook, ending soon, giveaway, i am writing, iamwriting, raffle, win