Fiction Friday: Excerpt from, Heart Wars Novel

I am so excited about this Fiction Friday! Today I am sharing an excerpt from a novel I was able to write with my friend Lauren, this past July. It was so awesome being able to cowrite with her, it was so much fun being able to share in our characters. I gloated over the fact that I created one guy in it who she absolutely loved. We both had pretty bad crushes on him. We liked to consider him our boyfriend we have never had. It can get pretty hilarious when my mind instantly goes to him if I am asked about a boyfriend, I just have to stay quite and not show just how nerdy I am for having a literary character I made as a boyfriend. But I am still debating whether this character is my favorite guy character I have made so far. Nathan, from my novel World's Collide, was a big favorite. 

Anyway, here is an excerpt I wrote for the book. It involves spiritual warfare and a fight for a soul. This excerpt is from the angel Asher's point of view. He is an angel assigned to a girl named Christina who is struggling with her faith.  Enjoy it and let me hear your thoughts!

Excerpt from,  Heart Wars
First Day of Drama

Asher glanced over the room swiftly getting an idea of his surroundings. A large group of young souls swarmed in a room the size of a class room. Paper flew about as teens stumbled about yelling lines and teasing each other. An older soul yelled around them waiving a clip board in the air trying to get control.

“Alright, alright settle down now!” she screamed at last. The kids quieted and came to look her direction as she continued. “I want to confirm you all know who you are playing.” she began, “Raise your hand if you got a call about who you are playing.”

The whole group let their hands fly in the air. One girl stumbled out of te group and complained at the woman, “I never got called, you gotta tell me who I am.” she whined.

“Kathy, right?” she questioned as she glanced back down at her paper.

“Yes.” The girl replied.

“Alight, go meet up with Mrs. Sears in that corner, she will help you out.” the woman waived her hand towards the corner.

The girl stomped over and Asher directed his attention more to his charge who stood amid the crowd smiling timidly. A sweet girl to be sure. She seemed kind and a but reserved, but he could tell she was enjoying the attention of the moment. For it appeared she had gotten some main role. She glowed despite her reserved demeanor. All seemed to love her, all but one. A snobby girl with nearly white blond hair and fiery blue eyes scowled across the room at the group of kids giggling as the instructor spoke. Asher shuddered as three demons hung on the girls shoulders and neck. He knew their names well. Vanity cackled. Rebellion spit towards him. Depression wrapped it's arms tighter around her neck and hissed.

Asher ached at the sight and turned back to his charge. He spotted another dark shadowed demon's presence approaching. Asher slipped an arrow from his quiver and let it slide onto his bow as he crept closer tot he crowd. He relaxed when he spotted the demons already hanging on a teen. A boy with sandy blond hair hanging loosely over his eyes laughed with the group unaware of the five demons clawing at him. Asher shook his head, unaware physically perhaps, but he knew better. He could only image the torture the soul must have gone through every day. One of the demons pointed towards Asher and began to squeal in hatred. The others joined in as they mixed their laughter with the teen's voices.

“What is one of the Creator's servants doing in this place? Does it not know we own all here?” one cackled wagging it's tongue at him as it spoke.

Asher rose to his full height allowing the light of the Creator to shadow the demons, “There are still those who follow the true Lord of this earth.”

The demon hissed, “Not for long.” it motioned towards Christina.

The boy burdened with the demons was letting his hand run through her dark hair secretly behind her. She turned suddenly and her face split in a smile at his face.

“Aidan.” she stuttered.

The boy chuckled, “Sorry, about that, Christy. I couldn't resist your rich soft hair.”

She turned red quickly as she allowed him to lift his hand to her hair once more.

“Do you mind me calling you Christy?” he asked with a smirk.

“I don't mind it... I like it actually.” she timidly replied a smile playing on her lips.

Asher restrained his bow no longer, he let it loose at the demon called Flirtation that played with Christina's hair. It shrieked a drew back slowly causing the boy to drop his hand back to his side.

“She is not yours yet.” He seethed back at the demon holding an arrow to his bow watching the demon pout. “Her heart is set for Jesus Christ and you know it.”

The demons began to scream, “Not the Son of God! No!” they screeched.

“Leave her!” Asher boomed as he dashed across the room to stand behind Christina.

The boy slowly pulled himself back from her turning to the teacher's call. Asher relaxed as the demons left with him.

“You are so perfect for Lizzy!” a girls shrill voice brought Asher back to Christina.

A large group of girls had started to surround Christina and admired her talking loudly of how perfect she was as their teacher tried organizing the group.

“We don't have all day, lets step aside and clear the stage!” the woman hollered over the teens.

Slowly the kids move off the stage still bubbly over with talking. Asher caught the shadow of a demon approaching as he walked by Christina's side. It scurried around him and clawed at Christina. Asher swiped a dagger towards it guarding Christina from the demon's claws. It hissed at him and pulled a jagged knife from it's belt. It stabbed at him and he deflected the blow quickly suddenly realizing Christina was embracing the demon.

“Arrogance, leave now!” He yelled at the demon as it caressed her hair.

It shook it's head holding its knife out in his direction, “She is asking for me. Shall I leave her when she is asking with her own will?” it hissed.

Asher lowered the dagger, “She belongs to The Creator. You can not keep your hold on her.”

“Let's just see how long I can hold on.” it chuckled as Christina smiled at a girls compliment.

Asher flew at the demon with his dagger raised, “No, Christina, remember who you serve.” he called as he clashed his dagger against the demons. The demon snarled and dug its claws tighter into Christian’s shoulder.

“Feel the power of this moment.” It hissed in her ear, “Look at Alisha, enjoy her anger.” It held Asher off with it's dagger while it wagged a finger towards Alisha pouting in the corner.

“No!” Asher screamed as he knocked the Demon's dagger loose, “Jesus Christ! Remember, Christina. Remember.”

Christina had closed her ears to her guardian's words. She listened intently with a smile on her face as the demon spewed lies into her heart.

~

What did you think? Any advice for writing spiritual warfare scenes? I would love to hear tips! Have any of you read This Present Darkness or Angel Eyes? Both are great examples of spiritual warfare novels. 

Join us next time for more Fiction Friday!

Melody

Fiction Friday, Carry Your Burdens

Here we are, at our second Fiction Friday! Today I decided to share a short story I wrote, first inspired by the song, This is the Time, by Superchick. I'm not big on writing short stories, I tend to have to much to say and just want to write a whole book on it. But I am working on the ability to condense my writing into simple short stories. I tend to get carried away and write on and on, so I hope I did better in pulling myself back to writing less. Tell me what you think, but first listen to the song. ;-)

Carry Your Burdens

Short Story Inspired by, This is the Time

The day had finally come to an end. The house was still. The dog had curled into a small ball by the front window watching the suns last rays disappear as it drifted off to sleep. She dumped the last cup into the sink, she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she stared at the sink. Wrapping her fingers around the sinks edge, she sighed. Survive the day. That was her only goal in life. She looked back on life only a few years ago. It seamed to full of excitement and hope. Now she seamed to be barely living. Struggling to find meaning to her life.

She smeared a tear across her cheek hastily as more threatened to slip down. Her eyes came up to stare out the window, it's lace curtains parted to show the fading sunset. Che closed her eyes, a strange will or perhaps strength seemed to be pulling at her. She held her head in her hands trying to clear it. Nothing changed. Outside. She needed to get out. She drifted from the sink slowly. Her feet led her to the door. She brushed past the pile of shoes by the door. Her hands fluttered to the locks. She felt in a daze as she flipped them and wrapped her hand around the door knob. She pushed the door open. The cool night air smacked her as she gasped. She closed her eyes for the moment, breathing in the air. She stepped out, eyes shut.

She felt the cold wood of the porch under her toes. She kept walking until her hands caught hold of the porches railing. Her eyes fluttered open. The grass lay before her in the yard, gathering dew from the afternoon rain. She moved to the steps and gently stepped down. She smiled as her feet came to sink into the wet grass. They dug into the wet dirt and grass as she took a few more steps. A wave of emotion rushed up her spine as she picked up her pace. Her feet began pounding into the grass and mud, she was rushing towards the open field. She kept going, staring straight ahead at the skies last remnants of light.

She slid to a stop at last. With a quick jump she bound into the air for a moment then landed back down with a laugh that bubbled out of her. She threw her head back staring up at the sky fading to stars and midnight blue. She beamed as she hugged herself tightly and spun in a quick circle. She stood still suddenly, a smirk across her beaming face. She bowed to the empty field before her. With her right hand she put it out pretending to fold it over the hand of the air. The other she placed on the shoulder of nothingness. With gentle movements she began. Her skirt was damp from the run through the field, weighing it down as she twirled in the middle of the grass and mud. She closed her eyes and continued the dance, feet moving quicker as they found their placements. She spun and raced, hands open in her partners palms. She felt her hair coming loose from the slipping braid, she smiled brighter as the tie fell loose, allowing her thick hair to fly. She spun faster, eyes still shut, she dropping one hand she grabbed her skirt in a heap and began a faster dance.

The silent music seamed to pause. She gasped, her twirling abruptly ended. She chose to keep her eyes shut as she felt the hand that had folded into her outstretched one. She dropped her soaked skirt. Slowly she raised her other hand until it came in contact the the figure. She inched her hand up the other arm and allowed it to rest on the shoulder. The hand slipped down to her waist. She fluttered her eyes open. His blazing blue eyes stared into hers. She seamed to wilt under his loving gaze. He pulled her into an embrace, she let her hands fall folding into the embrace. She closed her eyes, chocking over sobs that begged to come forth.

“I came to carry your burdens.” he whispered, his hand coming up to stroke her head. “Find rest in me.”

Well? What did you all think? Any tips on writing short stories you care to share? Have you ever written something inspired by a song? I would love to hear of some song recommendations for short stories like this. I really enjoy creating stories around songs, and I am looking for more to work with.

Be sure to come back next Friday for more Fiction Friday!

Creating Your Novel's Soundtrack

Recently I have been looking around for new music to listen to while writing. I seem to get extremely distracted by music with lyrics, so that is all saved for inspiration time when I am plotting or creating characters (more on that in upcoming post). When it comes down to the hard core writing, I have to go with instrumental. Occasionally that can get distracting as I must resist the urge to squeal in delight and call my sister over to listen to something I found. When this does occur, I like to switch to nature sounds and listen to thunderstorms. But, must of the time I can in fact listen to instrumental no problem.

Above all, the best instrumental music for me to listen to is movie soundtracks

These are always fun and exciting. There are lots of intense and dramatic songs through these, perfect for noveling.

A few of my favorites are, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, How to Train Your Dragon, Jane Eyre, Frozen, Ratatouille, Star Wars, and Up. Which I just saw the movie that came out this past weekend, The Giver, which of course I had to find the soundtrack for, and it has now become a large favorite of mine.



 

Setting the Mood with Playlists

Creating a playlist for your novel is a whole lot of fun. You can set a song for each scene and go through the playlist for inspiration. But what happens when you are writing an emotional scene and suddenly a action packed song starts playing and scares the epic feels away? That's when you organize songs in this form.

When I know I will be writing a sad scene, I look through the list of songs I have for that category and play them while I write:

1. Anakin's Dream, Star Wars Episode III
2.  Happiness and Pain, The Giver
3. A Thorough Education, Jane Eyre
4. The Breaking of the Fellowship, The Fellowship of the Ring
5. Conceal don't Feel, Frozen
6. Stuff We Did, Up

Moving on to action scenes, there are lots of different songs for this:

1. Prince Caspian Flees, Prince Caspian
2. Capturing Jonas, The Giver
3. The Battle, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
4. Dragons Den, How to Train your Dragon

Or maybe a joyful scene, these are my favorite:

1. Rosebud, The Giver
2. The Great Thaw, Frozen
3. Only the Beginning of an Adventure, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
4. New Tail, How to Train Your Dragon
5. The Fellowship Reunited, The Return of the King
6. Concerning Hobbits, The Fellowship of the Ring

I think you get the idea. Some times the more exciting songs in playlist distract me, so I tend to stick with all the soft songs. Besides movie soundtracks, other instrumental pieces are great.

I have created playlist for each category using Spotify, a wonderful tool
for finding music. They have nearly every movie soundtrack available, (Besides The Desolation of Smaug <sobs> which I keep waiting for.) but they get most of the playlist super fast. The Giver movie just hit theaters and the soundtrack is available on Spotify.

So get on Spotify and check out some of your favorite soundtracks. Mix them up and make your playlist. Or you could check out my account and find the ones I created: kidsstuffnews


What are some of your favorite movie soundtracks? Can you write with or without music with lyrics? Love to hear from you all!

-Melody

photo credit: aloshbennett via photopin cc

Fiction Friday, Family Betrayal

Our first 

Fiction Friday is here! 

I am so excited to share with you all today. I have been working on a new Fantasy since early this year, I am just about to sum up the last few scenes. I thought it would be fun to let you all in on a small scene. 

This excerpt involves a father, blinded by his duty and commitment, turning against his family in search of the true Chosen One to rule the Realm. He does not realize he is in fact injuring the very people he seeks to protect as he helps a wicked ruler take control. 

Excerpt from, The Realm of Graphice

~Family Betrayal~

  The door behind Samuel kicked inward and slapped him hard knocking him into the table. He looked up in shock as four soldiers of the council entered, stern faced and determined. They instantly headed for him and he put up little defense as they roughly took hold of him.

  “So now our father will even treat his own son as a criminal.” Samuel seethed at Emily were she stood mute, face set with no emotion.

  “When a son acts like one he must be treated as one.” Rainer's voice snarled as he stepped into the cottage.

Samuel caught his eyes and glared at him angrily wondering what to say to such a turn of events.

  “Where is the girl?” Rainer stormed up to Samuel and towered over him.

Samuel tried pulling from the grip of the two guards. His father gripped him by the chin with his gloved fingers forcing Samuel to face him.

  “I said, where is she?” he yelled into his sons face, eyes blazing as he glared at him.

Samuel tried pulling his face from his father, but Rainer's grip was tight. Samuel relented to simply staring back unable to move and refusing to speak. He glanced back at Emily who looked more concerned then before, where she stood against the wall watching.

Rainer snarled as he ripped his hand away from Samuel. His fist came up hard into Samuel's stomach. He gasped in shock and pain as he doubled over, unable to fall from the guards iron grip on him. He groaned as he tried pulling himself up. He caught sight of Emily's horror stricken face just as he felt another stab of pain slap him hard against the face.

  “What did you do with the girl?” Rainer stormed yelling over Samuel's hunched form.

The guard next to Samuel let a fist out at him and smacked it against his eye. Samuel relaxed in the guards grip unable to fall as the blood began streaming down the side of his face, gashed from the guards metallic glove. He could slightly see out of it as Rainer stormed out of the cottage following guards who were sure to find Luna.

The guards holding Samuel quickly bound his hands behind him struggling to keep him standing as they did so. At last they finished at let him drop to the ground. He buried his face in his knees as he struggled to contain the confusion in his head. He could here a slight sob from Emily, and he turned to look up at her. She covered her mouth with her hands and cried softly as the guards stood over him.

  “Emily.” Samuel whispered as he cringed, fighting the nausea.

She stepped forward a little but kept her distance from the guards, “I am sorry, Samuel. I am so sorry. I had to.” she gasped in her tears, “I had no choice. I had to.”

Samuel groaned and buried his head back into his knees, pulling at the ropes that bound his wrist. “I know, Sis. I know.” he assured her with a moan.

He heard heavy footsteps approaching the door, they soon stomped into the cottage on the old wood floor. Samuel could see his father's boots in the doorway. He pulled himself up to look at his father who stood just inside the cottage, grim looking.

  “Where is she?” he questioned with a hiss.

  “Father, please.” Samuel moaned, “Why are you being so blind?”

Rainer frowned deeper and marched up to him, “She is nowhere on the property so far as my men can tell.” he stated, “Where did she go?”

Samuel shook his head, “If I knew I still would never tell you.”

He watched through his cracked eyelid that was still seeping blood, as his father marched up to him,      “Ember knows.” he muttered down at his son, “You know it. He knows where she would go.”

  “Ember and I hardly even know the girl.” Samuel called after his father as he turned to leave.

  “Then why in the name of the Realm are you hiding her?” Rainer yelled at him with a snarl.

  “Because, she is Chosen, she must not be hurt.” Samuel whispered up at his father who was breathing heavily.

  “Are you saying... She is the Chosen One for.... for the anointing?” his father asked with a quiver in his voice mixing with anger and shock.

  “Ember knew she was, he needs to keep her safe. Ulrica has passed down the appointing and Ember knows.” Samuel winced as he spoke watching the horror of rage light his fathers face.

  “He obviously does not for he will not anoint the one who should be King!” Rainer screamed at last into his sons face, “How can a boy like him have any idea of who should be the anointed. How can you make such statements so as to claim a orphan rat like her is to be.... anointed?”

  “Because Ulrica knew she would come.” Samuel whispered.

He starred into his fathers blazing eyes begging for a heart change as they stared at each other. His father straightened and starred down at him, “Ulrica was a fool. Now he has led my son down his same path.” he waved a hand at the guards as he turned to leave, “Put him with the other one.”

They pulled Samuel to his feet and dragged him out of the cottage behind his father. Samuel could see little from his damaged eye but could see with his other clear one that the sun was nearly set completely. Only a faint hint of it's light crested the hill where his flock stood watching the group at the cottage. Emily's soft sobbing could be heard in the cottage as the door was shut behind them. Samuel cried out inside, wondering where in the name of the Realm, Luna had escaped to.

~

So, what have you been writing in fiction lately? What is your favorite genre to write in regarding fiction? I hope you enjoyed the excerpt, love to hear your opinion! Any tips for scenes like this?

Make sure you check in next week for another Fiction Friday!

-Melody 

How I Organize My WIP

Here's the deal: I'm an organizational junkie.  Especially when it comes to creative projects.  I hate not being able to locate things when I'm trying to get something done!  I crave efficiency.  I'm terrified of losing momentum on a project, not finishing it because so many things are slowing me down!




Another thing:  I'm extremely visual.  (Probably explains why I'm practically addicted to Pinterest *blush*!)  I like being able to see everything.  Sure, I have my ideas in my head, but when I can see them on my computer either in the form of lists, or photos, or random scenes written in Word docs, it helps me so much in getting the final story put together!

So, I created a system just with simple folders on my desktop for my current work in progress, and I thought I'd share it with you all!



I started by just creating one whole folder to hold my whole WIP:

(This name is tentative, btw...so ignore it, lol!)

Then, within the main folder, I created separate folders for 

each of my most prominent Characters (I have about 4 right now: Lylia, Ayden, the Queen, the Dragon), 

Drafts (so that I have all multiple copies of the different stages of drafts in one place), 

Inspirations (where I put random visuals or scenes that inspire the writing process), 

my B-Plot (in this case, the relationship between Lylia and Ayden), 

my Outline/Ramblings (random scenes, scribblings about plot ideas, etc), 

Random (for things I'm not sure where else to put...or ideas for new characters that I'm not sure that I want to actually use), 

Settings (visuals or descriptions of my storyworld).

Got all that?  And I know that it's not totally exhaustive for some, and it may be too exhaustive for some, but I found that these main folders work for me.  

Okay, now time for things to get more complicated, haha! 

Within each of the main Character folders, I listed 3 sub-folders: Histories, Visual, and Words.

Then, within each of the folders, I place the appropriate visuals--photos, Word docs with descriptions, scenes, etc.

You can see within the Visuals folder, I have pretty much all photos.  But I could also write up a description of exactly what I want him to look like and stick it in a Word doc in this folder too.

Here in the Histories folder, you see that I have a few photos that give me inspiration for Ayden's history--but I also have a Word doc in which I have actually written some scenes and a synopsis of vital things that happened in his early life.

Here in the Words folder, I have quotes that either I want my character to actually say, think, or have said to him.  I also have things about his personality...

Anything extra that doesn't fit into these three folder categories, I usually just stick in the main Character folder, or I create another folder and label it Random.  (I love that word...!)

Check out Lylia's folders, in a different format:

And that's pretty much the gist of it!  The other main folders didn't need sub-folders as much as the main Characters' however, I usually end up adding some as I come upon ideas that I want to store.  For example, in my Random folder, I ended up adding a Characters sub-folder for new character inspiration--characters that I'm not sure whether I'll use or not, but when I want to add someone new, I know where to look! :-)

My next area to organize will probably be the Settings folder.  I'm just about to jump into creating my storyworld, collecting images and ideas for my various scene settings.  I will probably divide the folder into sub-folders with the titles of the country/city/region.  I'm character driven, so I have more fun creating my people rather than my places--thus why I haven't gotten to it yet! :P

...and this was the point that my mom patted me on the head when she saw my system, lol!

How do you organize your writing projects?  

Do you use a system like mine, or do you use something else?  

Or do you do better when everything is all in one place, like Melody?

I'd love to hear, please feel free to share in the comments! :)

~Amy