Rachel: Characters...yes :)

I just woke up, and, even though I REALLY want to continue sleeping, my brain won't let me; it immediately made me start thinking about my nano book, which I have decided to call Soul Debt (I'll explain that title all in due time :P.) Anyway, I decided that I feel like rambling about my characters for a while, since I want to make sure I have a really good grasp on them by November and typing about them to other people gives me ideas. I'm not going to go into appearances right now (it's possible that I never will, unless one of you left on the blog is dying to see what they look like or some such thing), but I will talk personalities. Which I'm still developing. Actually, I don't even know what I have in terms of personalities so far. I guess I'll find out RIGHT NOW.

Anilom Salinikera: As previously stated, Anilom is my main character. Weirdly, I probably know the least about her than I do about any other character. I know that she is fiercely loyal to her village. Oh, and that she's independent and possibly confident, since she grew up without her parents. I kind of see her as being sort of serious, but I want to steer away from that if I can because that's no fun! She's best friends with Mewko, so maybe that will bring out a playful side in her. I don't know. I have a feeling that I won't know too much about her until I start writing, and then I'll have something to tell you guys.

Fell Ko: Okay, so I was thinking that Fell would be kind of a sweetie and MAYBE not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm not sure how prominent I want this to be in him, but I'm considering making it his foremost characteristic. If I do that, I think he will be good for providing comic relief, and he will also be a prime candidate for character development. I can see him loving flowers and other cute pretty things, and also being the type of person who will laugh at ANYTHING. But he is also very loyal to his village, and he will do what he has to to protect it and to preserve his way of life. As a result, I think he'd be a surprisingly good fighter. We'll see. He's still in the works, like everybody else.

Inlilia Lit: Inlilia is one of those people who is quick to anger and quick to fight about it. She can be very impulsive, which can be both a good and both a very bad thing. She doesn't seem to want friends and doesn't let people get very close to her, but I'm pretty sure this will change by the end of the book. I think she will be a lot nicer and much less of a fighter than she pretends. She rarely ever has to actually hurt anybody--acting like she will is enough--so her reputation is preserved even though it's not an accurate representation of who she really is. She will become much more of a personable character by the end of the book.

Mewko Monroe: For some reason, Mewko is kind of tough for me. She's tiny and feisty, but feisty-ness isn't  the meat of her character. I can see her as something of a motherly character, mostly because I have decided that she takes care of orphans that are too young to take care of themselves in her free time. I think she's someone who thinks a woman's place is with her family and children, and she really has no interest in hunting or fighting or anything. In fact, she thinks it's barbaric. But I don't want her to be a total wuss or girly-girl. When someone she cares about is in danger, I think she can prove to be a total bad-ass. She's good at medical things, which will definitely come in handy. Man, I still have to do some work on Mewko :(

Senn Mehr: Senn is the classic strong, silent type. He's training to be a warrior, and is extremely serious about it. He rarely speaks, but when he does, what he says is important. He never smiles, but I'm thinking that he will near the end. I don't know much about his story, but I'm leaning towards the idea that he is following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather and so on, and that that is very important to him. He can be cruel and heartless when the situation calls for it, but on the inside he has this kindness and softness to him that is sort of reminiscent of the person he used to be when he was a child, but deeper. Like, when he's alone, he might silently appreciate and understand the intricate beauty of a flower (where Fell would roll around in them.) If that makes sense. Though outwardly he expresses little to no emotion, I think that he would feel very strong emotional ties to people, which is what drives him to protect and fight for them. He's actually very loving, which I didn't know until I typed that just now.

Stim Nyznik: Well, Stim is super annoying. There's no way to tiptoe around that. She's very self-confident and bossy, and she thinks she knows what is best for everybody at every given time. She infuriates everyone, but she has a way of passive-aggressively silencing anybody who challenges her authority because she feels like she should be in charge. I think she secretly has pretty low self-esteem, which is why she feels like she has to be the best at everything; if she's the best, she's worth something. Sadly for her, though, I think she has some training to do before she can call herself good at fighting (which is very important to survival in Samot.) She doesn't handle being wrong very well, and she refuses to take blows to her pride. That actually ends up getting her killed. She has the opportunity to save herself and accept help from someone else, but she consciously chooses death instead. Kind of tragic.

Chek Hartford: Chek is the mischievous one of the group. He is witty and has kind of a biting sense of humour, and he takes great pleasure in playing tricks on people just because he is very amused at seeing them annoyed. It's this that makes him arguably the best fighter in the group (except for probably Senn); he loves to use people's impulse and anger against them. He thinks he is positively hilarious, and he laughs hysterically at his own pranks even when no one else does. He's essentially a pretty selfish person, which is why he has no troubles with making people mad just to make is day more interesting. Needless to say, he's most dangerous when he's bored, especially if you're on his bad side. Outwardly he seems rather impartial to anything or anybody, but his secret fear is dying alone, despite his natural inclination to make people hate him. So, yeah. That's Chek.

Ketta Wolefnoll: Ketta's another one that needs some work. What I know about hims so far is that he's albino, which is fine when he's underground (most of Samot is underground), but not so great when he's out in direct sunlight, so he wears a blindfold around. He's an excellent archer, though, even with his blindfold on, which I think is fairly bad-ass. Anyway, personality-wise, I've got some holes. I can see him being pretty manipulative; he can get people to do things for him without them even realizing that they're doing him a favour. Strangely, though, he's oddly gullible himself, and very trusting. But...ugh. Like Mewko, I have hard time with Ketta. If any of you have some ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.

Cossm King: Okay, I DO know a little bit about Cossm. He's the chief (or whatever)'s son, and so he is expected to be in charge of Samot one day. The problem with that, however, is that Cossm was TOTALLY not cut out to be a leader. He's related to the goddess Bion, who is the most revered of the gods, but he has none of her characteristics. He's a total wimp and very easy to bend to someone else's will. He tries to step up and be strong, but it just doesn't seem to be in his personality. He's sort of the joke of the village, though nobody would ever say so in a place where his father could hear (but they would where HE can hear.) He has a lot to live up to, but he knows that he can't. He ends up dying in a very epic, heroic way, though, and he is respected far more in death than he ever was in life. So it turns out that he does have what it takes to be a leader--he just never had the chance to show it.

Seddo Egglian: Seddo's Samot's version of a nerd (though he's not scrawny or anything like that.) His father was exiled from the village for endangering people's lives with his bizarre experiments, and Seddo lives with him (he's allowed in Samot, though.) He is really in to "science" (Samot really knows nothing of science) and completely worships Rideltra (god of knowledge). As is to be expected, he's very inventive and innovative, and has a knack for inventing just as his father does. He likes people and is personable and friendly, but he sometimes turns people off with his enthusiasm for...well...everything. He's very intelligent, but sometimes he can be the most naive; he is so fascinated with everything in the world that he can be blinded by it. He's also one of those people who misunderstands sarcasm frequently, which I think is funny, and so do lots of my characters--they take pleasure in seeing him confused every once in a while.

So that's everyone! It only took about fifty thousand hours, but I did it. And it helped, except in the case of Mewko and Ketta, who I am still somewhat stuck on. I'll end this post before it gets any longer and continue my perpetual nano planning.

-Iridian

Heather: I Won't Give Up.

On us, even when the skies get rough. I love Jason Mraz.

But ladies, my last post was something of a goodbye, this one, this is something of a hello. Maybe it was Rachel's enthusiasm, Cori's persistence, or Nicole's, our resident missing person (and I mean that in the funniest and nicest way possible), post.

I was almost afraid to check back here today, but I'm glad I did.

Maybe, maybe some of us are done with this blog, or maybe this blog is done with some of us, but it's certainly not done with me, and I am absolutely not  finished with this blog. You have all (just about) been a part of my family for the last three years, and while some might let that go to waste, I've realized something lately. I won't.

In fact, I flat out refuse.

I challenge everyone that still follows this blog to comment on my post: whether cynical or otherwise, to let me know you're still here.

And even if I'm alone (and I already know I'm not) I'll still do my best to keep this place alive, because you all mean way too much to me to fall to waste.

I'll be posting again tomorrow night, when I'm not so tired.

-H

Nicole: What can I even say?

Okay, it has been a very long time. Far too long. I ended up not coming on here for so long because I kept putting it off, because I felt so guilty for not coming on in the first place. I also stopped coming on because I had no motivation whatsoever to write. I felt like I'd lost my spark for writing, but I think it may be coming back after a very dry spell. It's really late so this is a very quick post, but I read some of the last posts and had a dreaded fear that this was over. I hope it's not, because I miss all of you so much. I'm not even sure what made me come on tonight. Hopefully somebody is actually on here to read this too. I want to start using this more frequently again though! I miss everyone so much, and I miss how much fun I used to have with you all. I would love if this didn't end. I would love for everyone to come back and enjoy it again. I'll update more tomorrow when it's not this late.

Rachel: Nano book!

So, I'm aware that there aren't really that many people left on this blog and so very few people will read this, but I had to blab about it to SOMEBODY. As usual, I am posting obsessively about a book, but this time it isn't Death List. It is my currently title-less nano book. I'm reviving an idea that I toyed with last year during nanowrimo, but this time it's actually panning out. I don't have too much in the way of a plot yet (I can summarize what I know about that in about a sentence, which we'll get to :p) but I am rapidly becoming a master of my characters! Would you like to meet them? I'll assume you said yes.

My main characters are:

Anilom Salinikera (F) (the story is told through her.)
Fell Ko (M)
Inlilia Lit (F)
Senn Mehr (M)
Ketta Wolefnoll (M)
Seddo Egglian (M)
Mewko Monroe (F)
Stim Nyznik (F)
Checkillion (Chek) Hartford (M)
Cossm King (M)

I included their genders, since some of their names are kind of ambiguous. The book takes place in the VERY distant future, millions and millions of years from now. Most humans were wiped out during a nuclear war that took place ages ago (from the "present" that the book takes place in) and those who survived became the ancestors of my characters.

Here's what happened. Most humans were killed, right? And those who weren't and were near one another kind of got together (humans are social creatures) and attempted to survive as part of a new civilization. They disagreed on how to protect themselves from radiation, however, so they split into two different groups. One group headed to the mountains, and the other group headed underground. Obviously there were still a lot of deaths either way,  but some of them survived and the human race essentially started over. The characters who I have listed up there are descended from the people who took refuge underground. They live in a village called Samot, which is almost completely in a bunch of tunnels and things under the surface of the Earth. Because their people has been living in darkness for so long, they have certain adaptions: excellent night vision (though not quite as good vision in daylight) and very good hearing. They only come up to the surface to hunt and gather food and during the nighttime for certain special ceremonies and celebrations. They have their own religion and customs, which I am still developing, but have a pretty good grasp on. They pray to multiple gods, which are:

Bion--Goddess of life, prosperity, and basically everything that is good. The most celebrated god in Samot.
Morrah--God of death, destitution, and lots of bad things (I'm not going to bet to specific here; it's all
               still new.)
Rideltra--God of knowledge and anything similar.
Sisela--Goddess of ignorance and innocence and such.
Gamis--God of hate, anger, ferocity, and anything similar.
Xilia--Goddess of love, temptation, jealously, and powerful emotions and things of that nature.
Kurbra--God of illness.
Eadi--Goddess of heath.

So these are my gods, and they eventually become characters, since this is one of those books where the gods actually exist. I'm still working out the kinks with all of that, but it has to stay because it is the source of the main conflict in the book. This sort of leads me into what I know of the plot so far, so here we go with that.

So the people of Samot and Ticnamor (the mountain village) hate each other because they are convinced that  deaths that have been taking place in each village are the doing of the other village. The people in Samot have a custom where teenagers are selected for missions before they make the ceremonial transition into adulthood, and my characters are selected to embark on a journey to Ticnamor to confront and possibly fight the Ticnamorian warriors who are wreaking havoc on Samot. Long story short, they make it to Ticnamor only to find that the Ticnamorians aren't responsible for anything that is happening in Samot, and it becomes clear that there is a darker force at hand. It turns out to be the workings of Morrah, who is freaking out because he is the least liked of all the gods and is tired of being able to bring nothing good into the world. He won't listen to any of the other gods, so, of course, it falls to my characters to bring her back to him senses before he destroys all of humanity. What's kind of neat about this is that Anilom, who is my MC, doesn't have parents and doesn't know anything about them (this isn't all that unusual in Samot, since people are being killed all the time), and it turns out that Morrah is her father. I'm not sure what happened to her mom, but the important thing is that Anilom is the living example that Morrah IS capable of bringing life as well as death, which sets things right again and blah blah blah. It's going to be far more epic than that, of course, but that's the general gist of it. Oh, and Anilom isn't THAT unique with having a god as her father, and she doesn't really have any special powers or anything because of it. Morrah has just never successfully fathered a child before, which is why it's a big deal. So, yeah.

I'm sure I'll blabber more about this later, but for now, it's bedtime.

-Iridian

Rachel: So I've been thinking...

I heard that this blog was dead, so I haven't been on in a while. For no particular reason I decided to check up on it today, and, you know what? I think I'm going to continue posting here. Even if there isn't anybody to read what I write, really. I just really miss being able to blabber on about my book endlessly! I may be on here later, or maybe not, but expect to see more of me.

-Iridian

Kamie: I don't know...

I personally think, unlike Cori, that tend to one my time is up. I've was with this blog for a year or so now, and it is dead. I hardly ever check it anymore and whenever I try to contact anyone besides Iridian and Cori, I get no response... I'm sorry. I might try a little longer, but I think I'm done with this blog unfortunately. :/ All it does is depress me now. Here's my short post for today. Hope everyone's well.

-Kamiella Maze

Cori: I'm staying.

I know perfectly well that I'll regret it later, because SAAWAKM is dead now matter how we feel about it, but...I've decided to stay. I just won't be posting much (seriously, there's no point. No one posts, no one comments, no one clicks on reactions, no one looks at the blog...), but I'll be here and checking up on the blog every other day. Even though I know it'll be empty and barren and dead. I'm going to regret this...

This post is small. I know. But I have a migraine and the only thing I feel like doing right now is bashing the Twilight Saga. So...I'm going to go do that now.

Heather: Wow.

It's been so long.

Really guys, I am sorry. I was away so long this summer, and then I kind of became afraid to check back; afraid of having so much catching up to do, but more so, afraid of not having much to do at all.

Kas, very soon I will be online, and we will work on Silver. And we will get her edited. And published. And I'm especially sorry I haven't been online to talk to you either.

Nat's post really made me remember, and then (the old) Rachel's comment made me think of how writing oriented it was... and now, I think, while I've always known, I'm really realizing how much this blog means to me. Like Nat, I will be a SAAWAKM-er until way after I'm too old to use a computer.

And I will be a writer for just as long, and I contribute that to SAAWAKM, and all you SAAWAKM-ers, past and present, that have helped me, laughed with me, and (yes, you Kassy Pants) actually exercised the patience involved in writing with me.

If, like Nat wrote, this blog has taken it's last breath, then so be it. I'll be honest and say I hope not, I'm back now, and I still love SAAWAKM as much as I did when I first joined, but if it has, you all will always be my friends. More than that even -- because that's what this blog has always been about, writing, yes, but friendship so much as well.

I love you all.

And by the way, MERLIN SEASON FIVE STARTS IN TEN DAYS OMFGSDSGRJNYTBVCWEDGR!

-H

Nat: Try and remember.

I'd like you to do me a favour. All of you. Right now. It's not even a hard favour, I promise.

I'd like you to think back to February 2010, [or if you weren't an original member of the blog, then whatever day/time you joined] and just think about the person you were at that point. Do you remember that girl? Her hopes, her dreams, her terrible fashion sense, and her significant lack of writing experience?

Do you remember the girls that we all were? The ones who did challenges, and wrote poems, and made book covers for each other...the ones who planned a road trip that never actually happened, obsessed over Supernatural together, sent each other gifts, and made each other laugh...do you remember those girls?

I know what you're thinking.
You: Yeah, yeah, Nat, cue the sappy music. You're making me want to vomit.
Me: Yeah, I'm kinda making me want to vomit, too.

But seriously. This isn't my attempt at reviving SAAWAKM. No. Frankly, we've had a lot of attempts at reviving SAAWAKM, and it's kinda looking like its heart has beat for the last time. It appears that there will be no rising out of the morgue for this blog. At least, not in the same vigorous, bumping-with-energy way that the blog used to be.

Maybe it's best this way. I don't know, I don't have any of the answers. I just want to say all this before you all leave for good, and stop checking for new posts every day or commenting or posting anything of your own.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying my goodbyes. I'm going to be a member of SAAWAKM until I die, probably even longer.

I guess that this is just the post that I've owed to this blog, and to you guys, for a long time.

A post to say thank you.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this. Thank you for the years that I've spent here, the things you all have taught me, and the friendships that we have made.

I love you all.

-Nat

Cori: Information on my books!

So I've decided on what to call all three books in the series. Caged, Frayed, and Shattered. It hints at Altrius's progressing insanity. The series is called the Angelic Threnody.

Angelic Threnody is planned out and ready to go. Now to start on the series that comes after: Angelic Serenity (name might change). Between the Lines, [Insert title here], and Negative Zero. Between the Lines takes place 26 years after Shattered ends; Altrius is now 100 years old, and Mirabelle is 49.

Before the events of Caged there was something called the Sickness that killed off five million people in the span of a month. When someone caught the Sickness they were dubbed the Lost; a new brand of cannibalistic, poisonous demons that killed and ate anything it could get its hands on. During Caged some people create a chemical that, when injected into the bloodstream, sends the body through a series of changes and turns them into one of the Lost. That chemical became a a virus that only the natural demons are immune to, and is highly contagious to humans.

They call the new disease the Blessing.

In Between the Lines a new job has opened up: something called an Inquisitor (name might change), something only a demon can be seeing as they're immune to the Blessing. It's their job to spot and kill any human that has caught the virus, eliminating them before the transformation becomes complete and destroying everything that might cause it to spread.

So there's a little bit of information on what's going to happen in the next series. I already have the prologue of Between the Lines written out...it's a bit of a guilty habit; as soon as I know what the beginning or the end will be to one of my novels, I have to either write it or just outline it in extreme detail.

I will willingly admit that I talk to myself - I have long conversations with myself when I'm alone, planning and arguing and developing. And sometimes I'll pretend to be in the scene I'm writing; I'll say the dialogue, and as soon as I know enough I'll get some paper and a pen and write it all down. If there's no computer or paper nearby, I'll text it to myself and copy it down later.

I think I'll go ahead and show you the prologue. Seeing as I'll be leaving in three weeks and have no idea if I'll ever come back (I will stay in contact though, I promise), you probably won't know anything about what stuff is going on in my books. So I'll go ahead and do Show And Tell now, while I'm still able.

A radio sat on the far end of the counter, playing a country tune that no one cared to listen to. The bar was hot, nearly ninety degrees, but the civilians wore thick and concealing clothing. Coats and hats hung over the backs of chairs, stained with sweat and reeking of sunshine. The bar seemed like cheap beer and sweat. Most of the patrons were large and tough, well-armed and ready for battle. They all wore light colors in a futile attempt to keep the heat away.

There was only one exception. A man sat in the corner with the radio, feet up on a table, his hat tipped to cloak most of his face in darkness; there was a hole in the side of it. The majority of his black hair was cut to chin-length in a nod to practicality, and his ragged boots had long ago been replaced with sturdy new ones. Otherwise, everything about him was the same as it had always been.

His high collar was held in place by a series of clasps, just barely hiding his mouth. He wore loose black clothing underneath his thick red coat. Three belts wound about his narrow waist and at his side hung a holster with a massive gun in it.

His eyes, black as pitch, were fixed on one man sitting at the bar. They absorbed every detail of the target's face—the subtlety of his movements. His skin, in stark contrast to everyone else's, was pale.

His name was Altrius Dial.

He was a hundred years old.

It's very rough right now...I'll probably rewrite it five or six times until I'm satisfied with it. I don't plan on getting comments, views, or anything...because no one ever comments or looks at the blog anymore...but how do you like it? I'll just pretend that I'll get an answer, and say thanks haha. Because I know that none of you are even going to read this xD! I'll just say thanks for the support, guys. I'm really going to miss all of you.

Cori: Three weeks.

A few days ago I made the decision to quit SAAWAKM. As in, see ya, au revior, buh-bye. But Heather (just a few minutes ago, actually) convinced me to stay for three more weeks and see if it gets any better before then. If not, I'm out of here; because this is just ridiculous. I know you all have lives and things to do, but it's not that hard to get onto the computer for five minutes and type out a quick post, unless you don't have internet. I'm not all that innocent either, but at least I'm checking the blog every day to see if anyone has posted, commented...anything. It's like you're all dead.

So I'm either leaving SAAWAKM in three weeks, or I'm staying. No offense but I'm inclined to believe that I'll be gone in three weeks.

And if you guys haven't noticed yet (I doubt it), I delete every post I make when I'm in anything but a neutral mood (which is most of the time). I'm in a neutral mood right now but I'm sort of leaning toward pissedoffedness. So this post will probably be deleted in a few hours. And then you'll have absolutely no warning when three weeks go by and suddenly I'm gone. Sorry 'bout that.

Okay...well, seeing as this is a writing blog, I might as well talk about writing. I've been working on Skin Deep lately - my gay romance novel. I've fixed it up a lot; it's quite a bit different than what it used to be. What was one a cute romance between two high school boys in a modern setting is now a disturbing love-hate relationship between a young demon/serial killer and his target, in a Victorian Era type setting.

I finally figured out the ending to Skin Deep. From the very beginning it's obvious that my main character Ciaran (the serial killer who eats the souls of his targets) is going to die. I just had no idea how I was going to pull it off.

The reason Ciaran dies is because in order to keep most of his powers locked up, he made a deal with the devil and used Blood Magic to create tattoos on his body. The tattoos keep his powers under lock and key, giving him the freedom to do what he wants. Unfortunately the price for the Blood Magic is death.

In the end when he dies, Ciaran tells Riven (his target and lover) that he'll eventually see him again, seeing as it's only his body that will die. His soul will go to Hell and he'll reside there as a demon. Earlier on in the book Ciaran offered to make a contract with Riven, who refused. But at the very end Riven goes to Ciaran's grave and accepts the contract, and Ciaran wakes up again. Then the book ends on what's actually kind of a cliffhanger.

...Kinda like the movie Avatar. Jake wakes up and it's like, "Ooh, wonder what's gonna happen ne--DAMMIT THE MOVIE ENDED!"

In other words, I enjoy pissing off my readers.