R.M. Archer's Blog, page 29

Preptober Prompts Day 9 – 2019

Preptober Prompts Day 8 – 2019

^ Full week 2 prompt list, just in case anyone wanted to be prepared.

Character Interview: Sairsha Kincaid

Since I’ve trimmed down my posting schedule, I had to choose just one member of my Calligraphy Guild cast to interview this month. I love ALL of the Calligraphy Guild MCs, but Sairsha ended up selected since really the plot revolves around her (though she’s not the primary protagonist). Sairsha is an artist, calligrapher, and orphanage volunteer. Enjoy her interview! :)

Sairsha: *comes in and bows slightly to the interviewer*

Interviewer: *returns the gesture* Good morning. How are you? *gestures to an open seat*

Sairsha: *sits* I’m doing well, thank you. How are you?

Interviewer: I’m well. Are you ready to get started?

Sairsha: *nods*

Interviewer: What’s your name?

Sairsha: Sairsha Duyên Kincaid.

Interviewer: Zwee-en? *glances at his sheet* That’s not how I would have guessed that’s pronounced. *chuckles*

Sairsha: *smiles apologetically* My middle name is Virilen. But yes, it’s roughly pronounced Zwee-en.

Interviewer: It’s a beautiful name. Do you have any siblings?

Sairsha: *shakes her head* Only child. But I consider the calligraphy guild my family. Zen is especially like everyone’s big brother. *chuckles*

Interviewer: You work as a calligrapher?

Sairsha: *nods*

Interviewer: What got you into that?

Sairsha: My best friend introduced me to it when we were young and I found it to be a beautiful–if less expressive–art. It came easily to me, and becoming a calligrapher allows me to work with Raiden all the time. *smiles*

Interviewer: Is art important to you?

Sairsha: Oh, definitely. I’m a calligrapher, of course, and in my free time I also paint. When I have the opportunity I enjoy pottery, as well. Art is a lovely mode of expressing truth and also of brightening someone’s day. The greatest feeling is when you can make someone smile because of your art. *grins*

Interviewer: That sounds wonderful. Do you like creating art for anyone in particular?

Sairsha: I donate a lot of my paintings to the local orphanage. It gives each of the orphans something that’s their own and something to brighten up their space when the orphanage budget doesn’t allow for a whole lot of decoration.

Interviewer: Do you have a specific passion for orphans, or do you enjoy helping people in general?

Sairsha: Some of both. I love helping everyone, but orphans, the disabled, elderly widows… I try to particularly help those who have even less of a means of taking care of themselves. Obviously everyone needs help, and everyone has times they can’t take care of themselves, but in my experience it’s generally these few who have the hardest time and I like to help them.

Interviewer: Besides charity and your art and whatnot, do you have any hobbies?

Sairsha: I like to dance and sing, and I play Tora’s Đàn tranh every now and then.

Interviewer: You’re very involved in the arts. *chuckles*

Sairsha: *chuckles* Who in Virilia isn’t?

Interviewer: *nods* *glances at question sheet* Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Sairsha: Introvert.

Interviewer: What’s your favorite food?

Sairsha: Cheesecake, if that counts. Otherwise, either chicken noodle soup or turmeric fish and noodles.

Interviewer: All of those sound delicious. I imagine that as a calligrapher you enjoy reading?

Sairsha: *nods*

Interviewer: Do you have a favorite?

Sairsha: *laughs* Well… *thinks* Duyên writes fiction in her spare time. She’s not looking to publish any of it soon, so I don’t know if it counts, but it’s very good. *smiles*

Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: kindness, intelligence, or bravery?

Sairsha: Kindness.

Interviewer: And honesty or selflessness?

Sairsha: Ooh… I think selflessness breeds honesty, so I’ll go with that.

Interviewer: Is there anything you can’t leave home without?

Sairsha: I take a drawing pad, paintbrush, and small palette with me most places.

Interviewer: All right, that was the last question. It was lovely to talk with you! *smiles*

Sairsha: You, too! *smiles and stands* *bows*

Interviewer: *returns the bow*

Sairsha: Have a good day.

Interviewer: You, too. *smiles*

Sairsha: *leaves*

Preptober Prompts Day 7 – 2019

Virilia doesn’t have any music-related superstitions (that I’m aware of). However, in Teraco violins are considered cursed because they’re such a common instrument of the Harlequins. It’s believed that violin music always heralds a group of Harlequins (which is kind of true, now that these superstitions have made Harlequins the only people to play violins…); that touching a violin brings bad luck; and that playing a violin will actually turn you into a Harlequin, which involves your face falling off and leaving behind a blank mask with dark eyes. (Can’t imagine why beings with that face as a default would be considered ill luck…) So yeah, violins are pretty scarce in Teraco. ;P

Does your world have any music-based superstitions?

Today is my last day of hosting; tomorrow begins week 2, which will be hosted by Julia of Lit Aflame, over on her Twitter! Be sure to follow her! And for those of you without Twitter/social media, I’ll be posting her prompts here on the blog, though I won’t be sharing my answers until the end of the week.

If you’d like to be one of the bonus hosts during the last three days of October, submit a prompt below! You’ll get your own fancy graphic, and if you have a blog then you’ll get to host your prompt and have your blog shared on my social media. All that’s required to enter is the submission of a music-themed prep prompt, but participating in and sharing the event will better the chances of your prompt being chosen.

Note: I do reserve the right to remove from the drawing anyone I can’t find a prompt for or whose prompt doesn’t fit Preptober.

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Preptober Prompts Days 5 & 6 – 2019

While most Virilen celebrations involve music–particularly in the lower villages–there is one holiday that was set in place specifically to celebrate music itself, and the Virilen god who supposedly gave it to man. Amak is one of three children of the mother goddess, Chiean, and the creator of music, according to myth. In the beginning, creation was soundless aside from speech and the Virilens felt an inexplicable melancholy, as if something was missing. The gods, meanwhile, could hear the music of the stars.

Amak felt a deep compassion for mankind and wished for them to have something to calm them as music calmed him, so he introduced sounds into the world–birdsong, waves crashing, the sound of wind–and music was brought to Virilia.

Now, on the three days surrounding seventh full moon each year, Virilens celebrate the introduction of music to the world. The celebrations involve musical competitions, dancing, feasting, community, and simple appreciation of the natural music of the world. Often, Virilens experiment with the sounds of unconventional items and make them into instruments for the celebration; things like the whoosh of spinning parasols, the ring of a pen on lanterns, or things we’d be familiar with like blowing across water bottles.

Overall, it’s primarily an opportunity to have extra fun making and enjoying music.

Does your world have any music-centered celebrations? I’d love to hear about them!

The Liebster Award #5

Hello, fine humans, and welcome to part 5 of “Archer has been tagged for the Liebster Award.” XD (If you’d told me even last year that I’d know enough people to be tagged for the same recurring tag five times by five different people… I’d probably have laughed.) Anyway, since the questions are always different I don’t actually mind doing this tag over and over, I just find it a little amusing that it keeps coming around. BUT MOVING ON BECAUSE I’M RAMBLING.

Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. Thanks, Eden! :D

2. Display your award.

3. Answer the questions you were asked.

4. Nominate five bloggers.

5. Ask 6 new questions.

6. Let your nominees know they were tagged.

Questions:

1. Who or what inspired you to start blogging?

My mom. She’s been blogging foreverrrrrrrrrr, and when I was… *mutters* when did Frozen come out… ELEVEN, I decided to start up a blog of my own and thus “Alpine Writer” was born. My first posts were a review of Frozen and a post about how it had convicted me to improve my relationship with my sister. (Basically I started out a lifestyle blog? Weird.) So yeah. My mom and Frozen.

2. If you could have anyone in the whole world, whether they be real or imagined, to be a special guest on your blog, who would it be?

Does this imply that someone imagined would become real or would it just be like my character interviews? Because that makes a huge difference.

But since I don’t know, I’ll stick with a real-life person. I’d love to interview Hannah Heath on my blog at some point, but I haven’t gotten around to getting rid of my “She’s published multiple fantastic books and I’m still just a beginner (even though I’ve been writing for eleven years) so I can’t possibly be important enough for her to pay attention to.” Which I’m fully aware is just me worrying too much, but… well… someday.

3. If you could do three things today that would have global impact, what would they be?

Oof… There are, like, half a dozen issues I’d love to see tackled and pretty much no idea how I’d do anything about them. Um… I guess I’d write something–either a blog post or a novel–that talks about promoting community and coming together–especially as believers–and raising each other up. And then I guess it would have to be seen by people all over the world, and actually taken to heart, which would be… wow. That would just be incredible. It would absolutely 100% have to be God, obviously.

This next one, I don’t know if it’s an issue world-wide or just in the US, but I’d love to do something that encourages Christian youth leaders and parents and teachers and all sorts of mentors like that to equip and encourage teenagers to be the next generation of believers and to make a difference in the world for the glory of God. I see too many churches dumb down their youth services, when I believe that’s a crucial time for kids to be emboldened and equipped to stand up for what they believe in and make a difference. Teens are smart, and teens are passionate, and that should be used instead of dampened, no matter what religion you ascribe to.

And I’d do something to stop abortions. I don’t have any idea what I’d do, but I’d want to do something to stop the rampant murder of babies.

4. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Dark chocolate.

5. What was your first written story about?

Oh no. Someone has forced me to officially uncover the plot of my mystery story… *headdesks* First, allow me to clarify that I was six when I wrote this, I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, and I apparently had no idea how marriage works back then. Looking back, I am fully aware of how… disturbing this plot is.

So, when I was six I was obsessed with mystery stories. I have no idea how many times I reread the various Nancy Drew, Boxcar Children, Happy Hollisters, and Mandie books on our shelves. (Congratulations, you’ve just been introduced to my childhood.) Well, I also didn’t know how to build my own characters, apparently, because I dumped ALL of those characters into one story. Ish. It was mostly the Boxcar Children who were important, but the Nancy Drew characters were mentors (which was actually pretty cool), and I think the Happy Hollisters were in there somewhere. Anyway, for the first scene someone was in possession of the One Ring and using it to invisibly spy on the main characters, and then that plot point never came into play again. But then someone was coming to the door and the girls were being kidnapped one by one as they went to answer the door. (Why on earth one of the guys didn’t go check on things after one or two incidents, I couldn’t tell you.) After all of the girls were kidnapped (obviously, because you wouldn’t try to go stop it), the guys followed the clues through a hotel and maybe a couple other places, to finally find that their mailman had kidnapped all of the girls and was holding them… because he was lonely and looking for a wife…which made it all okay.

…

…

…

*crickets*

…

…

Yeah.

Don’t know how even my young brain didn’t realize that was just… wrong. Apparently the fact that he was going to wait for one of the girls to grow up before he married her made it okay.

Yeah, no.

This is why we never mention the very first story I wrote.

‘Cause I was a creepy child.

Moving on.

Also, my sincerest apologies to all of the fictional characters that I insulted with that story.

6. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

The community. Getting to share my thoughts and then have a conversation in the comments (on the occasions when that actually happens), and getting to facilitate community and encourage other writers and all that. I love that it gives me a place to help and encourage other writers.

Nominees:

Julian at Saver of Memories

Allie at Of Rainy Days and Stardust Veins

Leila at Wildflowers and Cosmic Tea

Edna at Bleeding Ink

Nicole at Legend of a Writer

New Questions

1. What’s a song you’ve recently discovered and loved?

2. If you had to describe yourself in five songs, what songs would you use?

3. If you could be an instant expert in anything, what would it be?

4. What do you want to do before you die?

5. What have you been curious about lately?

Well, now you can all be as scarred by that story as I am. And now a question for all of you: What’s the most embarrassing piece of fiction you’ve written?

Preptober Prompts Day 4 – 2019

There’s no music-based magic in Virilia, no. In Teraco (which is significantly westward of Virilia) there’s a race of Harlequins who possess illusion magic and sometimes use music to focus it–violins and flutes are especially popular among Harlequins–but unfortunately, none of my worlds include legitimately music-based magic (yet).

Does your world feature any music-based magic? I’d love to hear about it down in the comments!

And don’t forget that you can submit prompts! There are three “extra” days in October which aren’t part of an official Promptober week (thank you, Anne, for this term!), and I’ll be featuring reader-submitted prompts for those days. All you have to do is submit a prompt below, but you can improve your chances of getting your prompt chosen by sharing about and participating in Preptober Prompts. The three readers who are chosen will get special graphics for their prompts, and if they’re bloggers then their blogs will be featured. Any prompts not chosen will be compiled into a list as a bonus for those who want extra prompts. Sound cool? Submit a prompt below!

Note: I do reserve the right to remove from the drawing anyone I can’t find a prompt for or whose prompt doesn’t fit Preptober.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Preptober Prompts Day 3 – 2019

In Virilia’s lower villages, music is viewed as a form of expression and entertainment, and it’s acknowledged by the Virilens as a way of bringing people together. It’s primarily something done for fun, though artistry is definitely involved and musicians strive to learn as much as they can about their instruments. They often ascribe to a “Learn the rules before you break them” philosophy when it comes to music.

In the upper cities, music is still viewed as a form of expression but it’s much more controlled. In the cities, music is first and foremost an art to be mastered and perfected. Musicians express themselves, but within the rules. As such, music is viewed as a display of talent and it’s enjoyed more as an appreciation of an art than as pure entertainment.

How is music viewed in your world? How does it differ from place to place?

Preptober Prompts Day 2 – 2019

In the lower villages of Virilia, music is something that brings communities together. Lower village communities are always fairly close-knit, but music is one of the things that always brings a village’s members to one place and helps to foster relationships. It’s something that many lower villagers can connect over, since most play an instrument of some kind. They can share their skills and knowledge with one another and help each other grow in a way that’s more universal than even an official occupation.

Music similarly brings people together physically in the upper cities, but it doesn’t have the same connecting factors in a society that’s focused less on community and more on artistic achievement (generally a solitary endeavor). Music in the upper cities impacts individuals more than it impacts society, in most cases.

How does music impact society in your world? Drop your answer in the comments! :)

Preptober Prompts Day 1 – 2019

Preptober is finally here, along with the first installment of Preptober Prompts! :D This year we’re starting off with worldbuilding, which is a topic I absolutely love, and I’m super excited to jump into it… so let’s just do that!

I have a whole vast story world (y’all may have heard of Kersir. This is an extended version of that), but for this month I’m focusing on a country called Virilia, since that’s where my NaNo novel takes place.

Virilia is home to a handful of instruments that do exist in the real world but that I wasn’t familiar with until developing Virilia and diving into Asian and Middle Eastern instruments. It’s also home to instruments like the ocarina, which are slightly lesser known but more people here in the US are familiar with (thanks, Legend of Zelda).

My mentor character, for instance, plays the pipa, which is a four-stringed, pear-shaped Chinese instrument similar to a guitar. Another side character plays the Đàn tranh, which is a little like a really long lap harp. (Do I know how to pronounce its name? No. No, I do not.)

Singing is also a common form of music, and it’s not unusual to find someone around you humming at any given moment in Virilia.

Musical style depends on where you are in the country. If you’re in one of the lower villages, farther west, it’s more lively and upbeat most of the time. Music is a community activity in smaller villages, and it’s accompanied by dancing.

In the upper cities closer to the capital, however, it’s considered more of a “refined” art in most circumstances and music is slower and more melodic. Music is often played in the background of everyday activities in the palace and the homes of other nobles, or set up as a calm day show.

Festivals, however, change the tone of music even in the upper cities. On the occasion of a joyful holiday, music across Virilia looks more like lower village entertainment. It’s upbeat and lively, and always accompanied by dancing and singing. It also serves as a background sound for feasts and a few ceremonies.

What sort of music and instruments are common in your world, or to your characters? Drop your answer in the comments!