Beautiful People: May Edition

This month’s version of Beautiful People, put on by bloggers Sky and Georgie, is a special edition centered around our villains.

You probably know the drill, but Beautiful People gives us ten questions to answer about our story characters. You can find an FAQ here if you so wish.

I’m really excited about this month’s special questions because I never really get to know my villains as well as I’d like. They’re always quiet and mysterious and never seem to want me inside their heads…silly people.

Anyways, today I’m going to use Vithen. He is the main bad guy of a long series I’m writing. Half of the time I never know what he’s planning, so perhaps I can get into his head a bit more now.

Vithen is a rather young dark elf prince who killed his father to take the crown and rule over their land. Now he’s secretly causing all sorts of havoc all across the world. He’s not a very pleasant guy, let me tell you.

1. What is their motive?
I’ve never exactly been good at the whole thinking up complicated motives for my villains thing, a severe weakness for me. Thus, Vithen’s motive is simple: All out power. He wants to rule the world. So original, right?

2. What are they prepared to do to get what they want?
Vithen has been planning for years and years. He takes everything slow and precise, never rushing into anything. Ruling the entire land has probably been something that has gone through his mind since a child. Thus, he’s willing to do absolutely anything to achieve his goal.

3. Are they evil to the core, or simply misunderstood?
Vithen is quite the evil one, I have to say. He cares about nothing but power. He even killed his father to gain power. It is his only true desire.

4. What was their past like? What about their childhood? Was there one defining moment that made them embrace their evil ways?
Being a dark elf isn’t exactly an easy life. The race is most corrupt. Not only that, but Vithen was born into the royal family as crown prince. He was raised in a corrupt land where things such as killing is acceptable and sometimes even rewarded and power is everything. Being brought up this way, Vithen really just knows no different way of life. He got the taste of power at a young age and couldn’t get enough of it.

5. Now that they're evil, have they turned their back on everyone, or is there still someone in their life that they care for? (Brother? Daughter? Love interest? Mother? Someone who is just as evil as they are?)
Vithen is so secretive, I just never know about him. I’m pretty sure he really just cares for no one. I have yet to figure out who his mother is, and there is a chance he truly did love her. There is also this one girl, a lackey of his, that cares for him, but I do not think he returns it in any form or fashion. Feelings for people doesn’t really go through his thought process.

6. Do they like hugs?
Ahahaha. No! I don’t think Vithen would take well to a hug. As in…you’d probably find a knife in your back if you tried it.

7. Are they plagued by something? (Nightmares? Terrible thoughts?)
One of the main characters, Bryth, is somewhat of a thorn in Vithen’s side. They grew up together and detested one another. Bryth eventually went her own way and became good, and will soon cause ol’ Vithen quite a bit of trouble. Other than that, he seems to be a pretty content and confident fellow.

8. Who are they more similar to: Gollum or Maleficent?
I ‘d definitely have to say Maleficent. Vithen isn’t really like Gollum in the least.

9. If your villain could have their choice of transportation what would it be?
Well…he’s currently working on getting some dragons on his side…

10. If you met your villain in the street, how afraid would you be? Are they evil enough to kill their creator?
I’d be utterly terrified. Well…after the exciting shock of the realization that I just ran into one of my story characters. Once that passes, I’d probably run for my life. Vithen doesn’t like me one bit…he’d very happily kill me. Especially once he finds out how the story ends. Hehehe…

You Know You’re a Fantasy Writer When…

All your character names are so long and confusing it takes a college professor to decipher how to sound them out correctly.

Your main character is referred to as “The Chosen One” more than their actual name.

Usage of the words left or right are forbidden, it’s always “to the west” or “eastwards”.

All your landmarks are enormous. The idea of a “small forest” is absurd.

Every single one of your world’s historical characters have at least one song written about them.

Your main character’s best friend happens to be a talking animal.

Rodents are no smaller than a St. Bernard.

The insect population is almost down to zero because there always seems to be a spider larger than your character’s house somewhere nearby.

Every single one of your characters just happen to know how to expertly use a sword.

Words such as magical, evil, fantastical, or hero tend to take up half of your novel’s word count.

You begin wondering what the point in your princess characters is because all they ever do is get captured, no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

You find your characters yelling out “Alas!” on a constant basis.

Every elder your characters ever speak to has “infinite wisdom” and yet are very cryptic with their information. They also tend to be really good at rhyming.

All your horses (which there usually is many of) always seem to be much more intelligent than those from the real world.

The main character of every single one of your novels happens to be an orphan.

Your villain either lives in a giant tower or foreboding castle. No other abode would ever do.

Dragons. Everywhere. Need I say more?

Everything is far away. It doesn’t matter where your characters are; if they need to get there, it’s going to be far.

It takes an entire page just to describe the intricateness and abundance of clothing your character is wearing.

Celtic sounding music always seems to fit with the feel of your novel.

Your main character most often has an item he/she needs located right in the very middle of places such as “The Forbidden Forest”, “The Volcano of Doom”, “The Raging River”, or “The Swamp of Death”.

Weapons that are gold are usually very important.

All the mountains seem to always have secret passages through them.

The majority of your characters happen to have pointed ears.

My Mom…

Knowing she’s here comforts me.

When I’m upset, her wise words are always a salve to my heart.

When I’m with her I know I’m protected.

I know she’s always here for me.

Whenever I feel lonely, I can just remember how much she loves me and the loneliness disperses.

Seeing her smile makes me smile.

I treasure all the times we are together.

I marvel at her patience.

I’m in awe at how hard she works for us.

Her kindness nearly overwhelms me.

I aspire to be like her…

….and then fear I can never live up to being as an extraordinary mother as she once I have my own family.

Out of all the people I know on this earth, she is, without a doubt, the most amazing one I know.

This is for you, Mom, for I have a difficult time communicating my feelings verbally and fear I do not express how much I truly appreciate you.

Thank you for being you. Without you, I’d be nowhere.

I love you.

Beautiful People: April Edition

It is May, indeed. BP came a little bit late in the month plus I had all my blogger troubles (you can read about in my last post), thus I’m not getting to this until now.

Also, it has occurred to me Beautiful People seems to be about the only thing I do on this here blog, with just the occasional post in between them. This cannot continue. I am determined to be a better blogger. I know I keep saying that, but I mean it this time. Ideas are slowly forming in my head and with the new look, my vigor for blogging is beginning to return. Let’s just hope it stays.

Now then, Beautiful People is to help us writers learn more about our story characters and is put on by, in fact, beautiful people, Georgie and Sky. You can read all about it on their FAQ if you so desire, or find this month’s questions here or here.

This month I’ve decided to use Captain Nhimvaria Evreera Emmendo. With that name, I’m sure you’re imagining some great, strong, awesome captain, yes? What if I told you she is a 12 year old girl whom everyone calls Nhimi to her great disgust? Nhimi is an…interesting character from my steampunk novel. Her father is a mighty airship captain/pirate and literally bought her a small ship of her own when she was only 5 years old. She’s feisty and terribly headstrong, claiming she is, in fact, a deadly pirate. You don’t want to get her on her bad side, it’s true. But one can often forget when they’re looking down at a very small 12 year old girl.

1. What is their favorite type of shoes?
Nhimi is an airship pirate, so naturally she’d sport some very sturdy boots at all times. She wouldn’t be caught dead in anything fancy or too girly.

2. Do they journal?
At first my answer was no, then I began realizing Nhimi probably does everything she can to prove she’s an adequate captain. I would not be surprised a bit if she kept a “Captain’s Log” of some form. Perhaps she does journal but would never admit to doing such a thing, thus conceals it as her Captain’s Log.
Ah, Beautiful People, you truly do help one discover one’s characters.

3. What’s their favorite animal?
I’m inclined to say an elephant. You see, when she received her own small ship from her father when she was five, she named it The Winged Elephant, fondly calling it Ellie for short. This name came from her five year old mind, claiming the curved stern looked like an elephant's trunk and hoping if it had a name like 'elephant' it would seem bigger than it actually was.

Now if an elephant is her favorite animal, I’m not really sure. I have a feeling she’s rather fond of monkeys as well for some reason.

4. What does their average day look like?
Upon this question, she wants to scream, “Adventurous!!”

Having a pirate captain for a father does make for an interesting life. Much of her time is probably spent soaring through the sky in their airships and looting goods. Though she is often forced to stay behind on the more dangerous journeys. During these times, she stays on her own ship with her father’s rather wacky but highly intelligent brother, Professor Barnabas Duckington, who seems to want to do nothing but drink tea and read. Nhimi, being the adventurous girl she is, detests these quiet times.

5. Night owl or morning person? (Optional: What time do they usually wake up? Go to bed?)
Nhimi is not very fond of sleeping at all. She awakes with the sunrise, vigorously awaiting for the day’s excitements. She would never admit to being tired, but, being only 12, her body gets quite taxed by the end of the day. She usually ends up finding herself in bed by about 9 or 10 at night.

6. Do they have a sweet tooth?
I think Nhimi adores sweets much more than she’s willing to admit to. Most her life she’s tried to act anything but a child. In her mind, sweets are a childish thing; unfortunately, her taste buds are inclined to highly disagree.

7. What colors are their bedroom?
Just a brown room made from wood and steel of her airship.

8. Can they cook?
Nhimi? Cook? She might can explode a kitchen, if that counts. Cooking is not her forte.

9. What is their favorite household chore?
It is a rule on the ships that the entire crew, captain and captain’s daughter alike, must lend a hand in all things, chores including. Nhimi is a rather spoiled little thing and thinks the crew should do things like swab the deck or clean the windows. Unfortunately, she finds herself having to do such chores often. Her favorite would probably be swabbing the deck. Getting it all wet and sliding around proves to be most entertaining.

10. Favorite kind of tea?
Nhimi has been drinking tea since she was practically a toddler, having the mentality that it makes her seem older. Not only that though; she uses it as her sugar fix instead of succumbing to candy and sweets. She drowns her tea with excess amounts of sugar. She does not have a great preference with tea but detests anything bitter and is quite fond of minty kinds.

Oooh, shiny!

Apparently, my ol’ blog here decided it didn’t like the template I had on it. For, much to my chagrin, said template began messing up. Odd black images with exclamation marks on them were appearing all over my blog.

Perhaps it was Bloggy here crying out for change. I had been meaning to change the template for a while, seems my blog was getting impatient.

So here we are then. This new look is rather nice, though I’m not sure if it is permanent or not. When you look up the word ‘indecisive’ in the dictionary you will find my picture there. Or not since I couldn’t decide if I wanted them to take my picture and put it in the dictionary or not.

*cough*

Regardless, at least this template isn’t becoming all buggy like the last one was doing. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Perhaps I shall keep it. It is quite pretty.

On a side note, I know I’ve been severely lax in my blogging as of late. I was actually determined to fix that only to find my blog all in a mess. Ah, such is life. Now that the problem is resolved though, perhaps you’ll be hearing more from me now. I certainly hope so anyway.

Now I’m going to go decide what to do…

…perhaps it will be bed time by the time I make up my mind.