Friday, October 30, 2015

Announcements

Hullo, everyone! First, no Random Fridays this week . . . because I'm guest-hosting over at Awkwordly Emma, where I'm talking about book characters I'd love to cosplay as! You should definitely go check out that post. I had a lot of fun writing it.

Second, today and tomorrow are the last days to nominate books for the Book Blogger Awards! If you haven't nominated something already, the other judges and I would all love it if you went and did that now. (You are allowed to nominate multiple books for the same category, if inability to pick one is holding you back.) We already have a lot of great nominations- but more are always welcome!

Finally, two. days. until. NaNoWriMo. (One, if you don't count today.) I haven't really done much of any proper planning for my NaNoWriMo novel- I have the basic plot in my head, but I want to do some brainstorming on paper, since that's helped a lot with my last several novels. I have decided that it's set in the same universe as, but a different world than, Between Two Worlds. Also, a few characters from BTW may or may not make an appearance, depending on how stuff works out. On the upside, I've gotten to the point in Monster in the Castle where all the exciting scenes I had planned in my head are written and I need to get busy on figuring out how to fit shirt-washing into a wedding, or else find a reasonable substitute for said shirt-washing. (If you're curious about why, go read "East of the Sun, West of the Moon.") Other than this dilemma, I'm pretty happy with my progress.

How's your Friday going? Are you ready for NaNoWriMo? Do you have any ideas of a suitable substitution (or explanation) for shirt-washing as a test of worthiness-to-marry? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

5 comments:

  1. Best wishes with all your activities. I love East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon! I hope that your story goes well. It's a bit difficult to know how closely you're basing your novel on the original tale, but perhaps the shirt-washing could be one trial in a contest of sorts. Perhaps the false bride is vain and wants to show her superiority, so a contest is suggested. Maybe it could even be a tradition in the kingdom. Or maybe the groom knows his true bride is there. He tells a story about his past, describing the incident that caused the shirt to become soiled. Maybe then he shows the shirt as proof of the incident and says that only one who truly loves him can clean the shirt since they both were involved in the same trial.

    I hope these ramblings aren't confusing. Have you read Jessica Day George's Sun and Moon Ice and Snow? It's a great retelling of that tale as is Edith Pattou's East.
    I hope that you enjoy your time at camp.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! And thank you for the suggestions. *nods*
      I've read Sun and Moon; Ice and Snow (it may or may not have partially inspired my story and is also the reason I'm leary of using the "tradition in the kingdom" thing because I'd feel like I'm copying) but I haven't read East yet.

      Camp. What? No. No camp. Just NaNoWriMo and that insanity.

      Delete
  2. I left a comment a few days ago, but I'm not sure if it went through... I'll leave it again just in case. :)

    East of the Sun and West of the Moon is one of my favorite fairy tales. If you wanted to use the shirt-washing as part of a wedding ceremony, maybe instead of tallow drops or bloodstains it could be what remains of the prince's family crest. If the false bride washes it away, it will wipe away any memory he has of his former life. But if the true bride is able to restore it, (or remove the seal of the witch from the shirt) then the prince will be released and return to her. :D Just an idea. Maybe it's a little convoluted...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, that comment didn't go through. Weirdness . . . for future reference, I just do captcha, not comment moderation, so if it doesn't go through at once, go ahead and repost it.

      Ooh. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure how well that fits with my story as it is (though it might work), but I really, really like it. It sounds very cool. *nods*

      Delete
    2. I'm glad you like it- I look forward to seeing how you render the story. :D

      Delete

I'd love to hear your thoughts! But remember: it pays to be polite to dragons.