Tales from the Raven

Hammers, Plotting, and Bruised Fingers

Published by Suanne July 18th, 2008 in Writing. 0 Comments

No, I haven’t been doing construction. Or at least, not in metal and wood.

I have been working on the plot for my Keela novel, the rules for my magic system and the construction of my world. Though on a global scale, that last bit was the easiest ’cause I’ve been writing stories in this world for two years now. The world is a land where the ocean-dwelling Mer and land-loving Humans live in close association, either at war or in trade, and neither knows just what to make of their half-breed offspring, the Meru. My gladiator story, among others, takes place on the human side, and one of my early wotf honorable mentions outlines the moment in Keela’s life when her secret as a Meru is uncovered.

The real challenge was the plot. I know I’ll change it a thousand times between now and ‘The End’, but I’m too OC to begin writing the first draft with something I know is broken. Plus, while I’m writing the first book as a potential standalone, there will be two others in the series if I can sell it as such.

So I’ve done a lot of reading–both analyzing a pile of novels and burying my nose in writing books–and done a lot of hammering. Ask anyone about my ability to hit something nail-sized without bruising my fingers and they’ll respond with a laugh. It’s not that I’m especially uncoordinated, or that I let my attention wander, it’s more that I have to over-think everything to the point that I’m soon double-guessing myself.

Yesterday the breakthrough came. I’m getting close–or at least, I’m now hearing that satisfying ching! as the hammer whacks down on the head of the nail. A bit more work on the magic system, a couple sub-threads to bang at. I’ve entered the blurred realm where plotting and writing began to blend as scenes get scribbled on the backside of the pages and plot points run away with themselves.

The Ongoing Saga of the Saltwater Tank

Published by Suanne July 16th, 2008 in Home in the Rookery and Just for Laughs. 4 Comments

Back in December (2007) when we got our tank I didn’t blog about it ’cause the tank was more for my husband. Besides, it was just before Christmas and I was overwhelmed with school, etc.

Then I fell in love with the tank, and discovered it was for me, too. My favorite date is to the fish store, and I’d rather study or write with the sound of the circulating water in my ear than anywhere else. Saltwater fish are actually interesting, and unique, unlike most freshwater fish I’ve seen. But it seemed a bit late to start blogging about it.

A few months passed, and our first (and only) fish disappeared. A mysterious clicking sound resounded from our rocks. Our hermit crabs started showing punctures in their shells, and little puffs of sand would appear out of the rocks, accompanied by more clicking.

We had a Mantis Shrimp.

Only instead of being bright and colorful and wanted, our Mantis Shrimp was drab and grey and unwanted. It was a murderous fish-eating hitchhiker that would prove truly obdurate to get out of our tank.

We tried the traps, both homemade from a two-liter bottle, and store bought. We baited them with various delicacies, including fresh whole frozen shrimp, but all we caught were our own snails and a few hermit crabs. We tried videotaping the tank at night using the infrared setting, to see if we could pinpoint where it was, but our mantis shrimp had scotophobia. We moved rocks around and generally disrupted the whole tank looking for the silly thing, to no avail.

Weeks passed, and by know I knew I should be blogging the whole experience, but still wasn’t. Maybe it just seemed a little silly. We had a tank, but no fish, because any fish we put in would just be a shrimp-snack.

Finally, we set up a container beside the tank and bought two big bottles of club soda. We’d read that you could pour soda into the rocks where the bugger was hiding and shock it out. Of course, it can also kill the stuff living on the live rock, but we were desperate. We pulled out any likely rocks, once again making a total mess of the tank, but got nothing. We were ready to give up, or maybe buy a shark and see which of them came out alive.

The next day, my dh was sitting in front of the tank, staring morosely. And out of the rock just in front of him poked a little mantis shrimp head. He called me in, and I went into berserker mode. In maybe two seconds, I had the container set back up, the long glove on, the tank open, and had yanked the rock out of the tank and slapped it down in the container.

We poured on the club soda, and sure enough, out came our dear little mantis shrimp.

Long story short (or somewhat shortened) we soon had our tank up and running again. We now have two lovely and personable clownfish named Izzy and Jeff, a Lawnmower Blenny named Moe, several mushrooms and corals coming along, and will be adding more over the weeks and months to come. As soon as we conquer the glare-on-glass problem, pics will follow.

It’s official, and I’m blogging it. We have a tank.

Dragonforge

Published by Suanne July 14th, 2008 in Newsy Bits About Writing and Writers. 0 Comments

On Tuesday last I recieved my signed copy of Dragonforge, James Maxey’s newly released second book in the Dragon Age saga. This book was one I got to see in the development stage, and had read the first half months ago, so I expected to skim ahead ’til I found the spot where’d I’d left off. Instead I found myself getting pulled into parts I’d already read, and thoroughly enjoying the re-read.

This story continues with the characters of Bant Bitterwood, Zeeky, Jandra, Pet, and of course, Blasphet the Murder God, plus the addition of several new characters which keep things livened up. While there’s plenty of fighting, adventure, and cool applications of nanotechnology, one interesting recurring theme in the book is long-lost family members reunited. These individuals find to their chagrin and our entertainment that blood is indeed thicker than water–but it’s a heck of a lot harder to swallow.

All in all a good read, and one I can highly recommend. I would say I can’t wait for the next one, except that, as one of James’ wise readers, I won’t have to wait.

Meet Penelope

Published by Suanne July 9th, 2008 in Home in the Rookery and Just for Laughs. 0 Comments

I promised a pic of Penelope, and here she is.

The Illusive Penelope

No, not the girl. The cannon half-buried in the sidewalk. She was dubbed Penelope and lived an exciting life as a kind of town mascot before dying mid-blast. She was given a full funeral and buried here, in the sidewalk outside an old news office. May the poor dear rest in peace.

With Cannons Booming

Published by Suanne July 5th, 2008 in Home in the Rookery. 2 Comments

So far, double thumbs up on the reenactment. Through a bit of careful planning and a lot of luck, we’ve avoided long lines in and out of town and had great views of the battles. Here’s a picture of me looking out toward the confederate lines and glassing the battle. You can see the union infantry lining up in the background, and the cannons were right here, too. We were close enough that binoculars were often just a plus, and could hear the guys talking or giving orders–at least while our hearing lasted!

At the Edge of the Fray

With guns this close, the smoke was near constant and the noise pretty loud–but it was really cool! The next day we watched the cavalry charge from pretty close up, too, which made me particularly happy as I’ve always wanted to see the non-hollywood version of horses coming together in battle.

Let’s see…other highlights so far: the circa 1776 tavern, Dobbin’s, where we had dinner. Lovely atmosphere, complete with rough stone walls and candles, and good food, plus glimpses of a very modern kitchen through the swinging door. The only real con to the restaurant was brought on by my tomato greed. When my husband offered me his salad tomato, I snatched it up. Turns out that it had either been soaked in a weird new vinegar, or gone really, really, bad. Wow! Almost, but not quite, enought to turn me off tomatos for life. However, Dobbin’s gingerbread lemon cake was the best of that kind I’ve ever had, and washed out the icky tomato taste.

We also took a carriage ride and historic tour around the town of Gettysburg. We caught a glimpse of Penelope, but I plan to have myself properly introduced and will hopefully be posting the photo op in a later blog. We took the tour while we waited for our seating at Dobbin’s, and since it was also raining and the carriage was covered, we counted it as time well spent.

The kids squished pennies in the Museum, we beefed up on our understanding of shrapnel and how to load a civil war musket, and enjoyed a short film about the Civil War and Gettysburg called A New Birth of Freedom. We plan to re-visit the cemetery when it’s not raining, if possible.

We went half-way through a self-guided auto tour of the battlefield, and will pick up where we left off, at the monument of Lee on Traveler. As you can see, it was raining here, too.

With Lee and Traveler

The consistent dribble of rain made viewing the monuments perhaps a bit more hasty, but it never really soaked us, and kept conditions wonderfully cool out on the reenactment battlefield.

Tomorrow is a new day, let’s hope our luck lasts. I’m really looking forward to Pickett’s Charge.

Taking Off

Published by Suanne July 3rd, 2008 in Home in the Rookery. 0 Comments

Our fourth of July weekend just had a twist added to the schedule. We’d planned to spend it up in Gettysburg, watching the Civil War reenactment, and then put in a day or so at Hershey. We’ve now tucked in a short stop-over in DC on both ends so the hubby can deal with a bit of work-related ‘fun’ that’s come up.

We always intended to keep some connection to DC even after our move, but for some reasons the trips always seem to come up at unexpected, not-terribly-convenient times. Given that we’re taking the trip in the same number of days originally scheduled, this addition will add a hussle level we’d hoped to avoid. On the other hand, we’ll get to see a few friends, which is always nice. And, maybe we’ll waltz through one of the museums. By the time our kids are grown, they’ll probably be giving the tours themselves.

I hope to take and post pictures from the reenactment while we’re in PA, but if not, there will be a report next week. Have a good fourth if I don’t post before then!

Tomato Wanted Poster

Published by Suanne July 2nd, 2008 in Just for Laughs. 0 Comments

I hope you can read the text on this–it was posted outside our local favorite, Moe’s. I seem to see a shadowy tomato thief reflected in the glass. Let’s hope they catch the culprit soon and bring him/her to tomato justice!

Tomato

WOTF Again

Published by Suanne June 30th, 2008 in Writing. 2 Comments

I really hadn’t planned on entering this quarter, as I knew I didn’t have time to pull together a story from scratch. But while working on other projects I came across an incomplete story I worked on two years ago but never got back to. Ironically, I had intended it (in June of 2006) to go out for that quarter’s Writer’s of the Future, but felt I didn’t have the time or pieces needed to pull the story together in time.

Uhm, that was a slow gathering of pieces.

I’m guessing that if I had a crystal ball, it would show me this story finishing as a quarter finalist, or thereabouts, rather than a win. It actually may be the best story I’ve ever written when it comes to internal structure, and it’s undoubtably the first story I ever enjoyed editing, or felt that the editing process was insightful and productive from beginning to end.

However, it’s not as creative as my previous wotf entries, and the fantasy element is merely inferred. The latter, if not the former, will probably doom me to a search for alternate places I can send this story come, say, September or October. Still, it was fun to pull out a previously ‘broken’ story and feel I was able to impose the structure necessary in order to whip it into shape, so I’d say the time was worth it even if nothing further came of the story. And as for the experience of enjoying editing? Priceless.

Belated But Heartfelt Congrats

Published by Suanne June 29th, 2008 in Newsy Bits About Writing and Writers. 2 Comments

I’m not sure how I missed blogging this. I was so excited for Becca’s new status as an agented author while it was all developing, I was ready to receive circus training so I could better express my enthusiasm in cartwheels and backflips. But, since I was able to chat it all out in a private writing forum we both belong to, I guess I never translated my congrats into a blog. Better late than never, though.

Becca,

Happy shoe shopping, and many returns.

Congratulations!

You’ve earned it.

It’s a Frog Thing

Published by Suanne June 27th, 2008 in Home in the Rookery. 0 Comments

We were out walking just after a big storm and went by the wetlands near our house. It was just before dusk, and all the frogs were out, too. They ranged in size from itty-bitty little guys the size of a small cricket who could hop maybe a quarter inch, to one good-sized fellow that would overflow a standard spoon.

I hate to see frogs flattened, so when I saw one right in the middle of the road, I’d encourage it to cross, or maybe pick it up and move it off. Of course, that’s gotten me into trouble before–but I’ll save the post on how I gained a personal knowledge of snapping turtles for another time.

As you can probably tell, I have this fascination with frogs. To some of you that may seem a bit odd, but I can’t be entirely alone or The Frogman’s stuff wouldn’t sell so well. I confess to having a few off his pieces tucked around the house, but I really want to get Cliffhanger someday. It’s just seems appropriate, ya know?

So for those of you who have a frog thing, too, here’s an eye-catching site with all kinds of froggy links. Enjoy!

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About

This is me

Name: Suanne Warr
Genre: Fantasy and Science Fiction