The Love Interest

I am so sorry. I swear I meant to have this up last night but some other things came up so I am posting this, this morning with the hopes that you will all forgive me. I need to start planning better.

Is anyone else starting to get tired of the way protagonists in YA books seem to fall in love with their soul mate instantaneously? I mean I always thought love took time and effort and depth, but I could be wrong. I mean you can be attracted to some one right away but love is a different thing entirely. Hopefully I'll be able to capture it correctly in my own story but when I begin my focus group I will be able to get feedback on what can and should be changed. I'm not going to say how my protagonist meets her soul mate because that would ruin the story for you guys and I would never intentionally do that.

The love interest is one of the most important characters in the book. Not only do they have to be a fully developed character but they have to seem vivid and real. They don't only have to earn their way into the protagonist's heart but the readers hearts as well and that is not an easy thing to do. I will say that I don't plan on including a love triangle. I know its fun for readers to form teams and debate who is more deserving of the protagonist but love triangles usually make me cringe. Someone always ends up broken hearted and I just can't stand that it's just too painful to read.

I want to say right now that my book's main focus is not a love story, nor do I intend for it to be the next big love story. If that did happen however I would be lying if I didn't think it was awesome. My story is so much more than that. It's a story of family and loyalty. It's also a story of strength and it is also a story of forgiveness. Even though my protagonist's relationship is not the most important part of the plot , it is however important  to my main character. It strengthens her, but it also forces her to look at things differently. It changes who she is maybe for the better or for the worse.

So what characteristics would make you fall in love with the love interest? Is it their solid strength, or the way they treat the protagonist? Are they dark and mysterious or are they the nice guy? Let me know what you think below and I will see you all next week and more on time!

The Perfect Balance

If you can, imagine your favorite book or movie. What was the particular genre? Was it a fantasy or a dystopian science fiction novel? Was it a romance  or a mystery thriller? The reason I ask this is because each of these particular stories, whether in print or on film, had their own world. It could be a world that is practically a perfect version of our own or a world like middle earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Regardless of the world, land, or universe (no matter how crazy) there was a bit of realism mixed in. In that world there were laws, a governing body of some sort, and at least one race of sentient beings. These beings were probably driven by some of our own motivators, such as love, money, and power.

These places may be "out of this world," but they share similarities with the world you in I share because they need to be relatable. We enjoy the ability of imagining ourselves in the story. We sometimes like to feel as if the story could really happen or that it is taking place on some distant planet in a galaxy far far away. That is what makes a well rounded setting for your favorite story to take place, because that world also shapes the characters within.

This is where I am having a more difficult time in my own story. It takes place in modern times which is okay but the mermaids and other creatures of the sea have their own cultures that I have to create. They have their customs and traditions and legends that get passed down to their descendants. I want this story to be a success. Not because it is a best seller or the new Hunger Games but because it is well written, the characters are so real they could step out from the story at an moment and the world is so vivid you can see it just by closing your eyes. I want the storyline to be amazing and full of adventure and the full scope of human emotions.

Recently I got the idea that to make my story more full and realistic my sea races would speak their own language. This is something that is extremely difficult and needs to be done correctly or it just seems forced. It would push back my story being finished quit a bit but would it be worth it? what do you guys think. Should I include a language for my sea creatures? I will post a poll for you to vote on the main page of my blog which will be opened until the end of the month so let me know what you think. I respect your opinions and you are who I am writing this book for so give me some input!

It's little things like this that I have to get right. I need a balance of fantasy, since that is my genre, and realism. Hopefully I will find that balance because I really hope to publish this book and I don't want to do it half heartedly but I want to go all in. Balance, as in most things, is key.

Be sure to leave your comments and opinions on the language or any questions you might have. See you next week!

Status Update

Here is the promised status update which is a week late. I am sorry about that I really need to stay on and write every week like I planned to when I started this blog. And I will try harder

So as of today I have exactly 14,718 words. That is an increase of three thousand words since I started this blog. I know I can do better than that though. By telling you how far I am or how close I am to being finished it motivates me to write better and more often.

If the average novel page can hold about 250 words that would mean that my book now would take up  almost 59 pages. This means I have 341 pages left to write. I can't wait until I reach the one hundred page mark! I am currently in the middle of chapter six and I honestly don't know how many chapters I want but we'll see when I actually finish. And I will finish.

I don't know if I already wrote this but I am splitting this book into three parts and hopefully by the end of this month I will be done with the first part. Then I'll be 1/3 of the way done! If I constantly push myself and take the time I could reach this point by next Saturday.

I am sorry this is probably one of my more boring posts but next week (and yes I mean the week after this one I promise) I will be back with more interesting tidbits. I hope you are all having an amazing new year! Talk to you next week.