So, I have been lurking here on Tumblr and watching other people’s Writerblr’s, and I have decided that it’s time I introduced myself!
Hi! I’m Talya Wrehn, and I write Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I’m 20 (almost 21. ohmyword, two weeks.) and I am in college for Chemical Engineering - which is odd, considering I love storytelling more than anything else. It’s my backup, my day job, so I can write on the side.
Worldbuilding is my favorite part of writing - so, needless to say, I have many worlds and many magic systems. Have I written them down or explored them properly? Eh... not so much. I have finished a few short stories and drabbles, and finishing those felt good. But I have a High Fantasy novel in the works. It doesn’t have a proper title, but its working name is Darkness Reborn.
Darkness Reborn was my NaNoWriMo project of 2019 and I won with it, writing over 50k. They were terrible, horrible words that barely scratched the surface of the world and the plot and the story that I wish to convey.
I want to rework all of it, the plot, the culture, the character interactions. I found new inspiration in the way to tell a story that spans Ages, and I think I am going to begin to pull and knit those threads.
I’m introducing Darkness Reborn here so I can keep myself accountable. Please! Ask me how it’s going! Ask me what I’m struggling with, who my characters are, and anything else you want! My ask box will always be open!
I will do a proper introduction of my novel in a separate post, I think. It could get quite lengthy.
Thank you so much for all of your words of wisdom and the support you have all unknowingly given me. I am pumped to finish the first draft of the biggest project I have ever taken on!
Hi All! It’s Tuesday, and I promised that I would try to post regular updates on my life and on my writing progress every week!
I am getting my school work under control at the moment. We are ramping up to the final couple of weeks of college and I have a few looming deadlines. I took an exam yesterday, and felt super good about it, so that was super awesome!
And, instead of labs for Organic Chemistry, our professor has asked us to write a research paper on Synthesis. It’s due next Monday. Have I started it? Nope. But that is this week’s project and I am determined to do well. 1) It is chemistry and 2) It’s writing - so, like, my two favorite subjects coming together. But forced research? And for a paper? Not my favorite.
There will probably be very little activity this upcoming week as I try to pump out this paper. Or, there might be too much activity as I procrastinate ... eesh yeah, probably the latter.
But honestly, I’m so ready to be done. This online schooling thing is a beast, and I have no willpower to get anything done. Even opening my school email is a reason for celebration these days. All I really want to do is either write or laze around and watch Youtube or Bones or something.
WIP - Darkness Reborn:
As for Darkness Reborn, there has been some really nice progress.
I did very little with Titania’s first outline this week, but that was because up until that point I had completely forgot about Rhonan’s plot. Except for the very beginning, he was not in any of her story line.
This is massively different than any of the other drafts and outlines that I have written thus far. Rhonan’s entire purpose when I created him was to be the silent protector of a clueless character so that she didn’t get into too much trouble. He was also a way for me to explain the world I had built both to her and to the readers - who were both experiencing it for the first time. He has been alive since before the Age before, and was there when the humans took over. His job was to bridge the gap in between the past and the present.
I don’t need him to do that for me anymore. I don’t need him to really do either of those things - as could be seen by his absence from Titania’s plot line that has been developing, and by the fact that I am actually writing Gael’s story into the book.
But I put Titania’s Outline 1 on hold for a second so I could work through Rhonan’s - just to be sure.
I spent a lot of the week mind mapping where his plot could go, what his options were, and where I could possibly have need of him. I really, really didn’t want to cut him out of the book completely.
On Sunday I hit a breakthrough.
I’ve brainstormed nearly his entire Book 1 plot, and some of his future books’ plot as well. I haven’t written it out in Outline form yet, or broken it up into acts or anything, but I am happy about where his journey is going to take him and the way he is going to grow. Survivor’s Guilt and stepping out into being his own person has always been his character arc, but this way - this way - is so much stronger, so much better articulated, and so much more focused on him as a character.
Rhonan feels so much more 3D now, and I am so so happy.
If I can get enough of my school work done in a day, expect a Character Introduction of his very very soon. I’m excited to share him with you all.
Also
I have been focusing, again, on world building and the creation “myths” of how the world began and how it is running. So while in my progress report below you see very little movement, know that a lot of my progress is in the back end of things that you don’t get to see in a progress bar because I can never know when I am finished with world building and Deep Lore.
But yeah, I got a lot of that done this week too! (Stuff I don’t want to say in case it spoils some really cool things for you guys...)
---
Titania: Outline 1 - 60% complete
Edana: Outline 1 - 0%
Gael: Outline 1 - 0%
Skai: Outline 1 - 0%
Rhonan: Outline 1 - <5% (with most of the skeleton work done and ready to be outlined - will be done soon)
