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So, don't forget to look at the previous week's challenge!: The Writing Challenge Series.
Today's challenge: you are offered one million dollars in US currency to never write a single word again. Do you accept the offer? Sure! With that kind of money, I could hire someone to dictate my books and blog posts to. I actually might get more books published that way. I wouldn't have to worry about going to work for a while, that's for sure. But then the IRS would probably be all over me, saying that I owed them half of that (or more), and from there the mafia, mobs, gangs, hippies, and democrats would all be snarling after my money. But as long as I could hire a person with mad typing skills that I could dictate my stuff too, I'd be happy. ![]()
If you haven't been keeping up with the challenge, you can catch up by checking out this category right here: The Writing Challenge Series
Today's Challenge: the first sentence of the first chapter of your first published novel/story. "This was not going over well at all." - Tales of the Wovlen: The Dragon's Son Um. Well. That was underwhelming. I really need to work on my first sentence hook. It would have sounded better if I had gone with "He expected his brother would disagree with him, fight with him even, but not threaten war and raise an army in one breath." or "He'd expected to challenge his brother, not a demon." or "His brother throwing a tantrum was expected, but threatening to unleash a crazed dragon and start a war was going too far." Because, you know, dragons are instant attention grabbers and great hooks. So are demons. And wars too. ANYTHING is better than "Well. That didn't go so good. Derp, derp, derp." ![]()
Having trouble keeping up with the challenge? Don't worry about it! You can always go back and read what you've missed just by clicking this link right here --> The Writing Challenge Series.
Today's challenge: Your writing buddy Wow. If I had taken this challenge only 8 months earlier, today's would have been a sad tale of a lone wolf author who was forced to survive the harsh world on her own, hunting down the review bunnies and surviving on the scraps of editing tips thrown to her by those passing by on the internet... Okay, not totally.... But almost!.... But that's not the point! The point is that I do have a writing buddy! F.P. Spirit, hands down... or up... that always confuses me... is it down or up? How about sideways? Anyway, F.P. Spirit is my writing buddy. He has, in a way, become my dad and mentor in the author/writer dimension. We met via a Facebook writing group in 2014 (HAS IT REALLY BEEN THAT LONG?!?). He needed an editor and I pointed him toward the one I used at the time. When he published his first book, a fantasy, I scrambled to review it (I didn't have many fantasy authors in my circles at the time and I was *cough* desperate for some fantasy to break up the western monotony... sorry! I'm not a huge fan of western.). I was instantly hooked to his book series! I loved the color and depth of his story and his characters. I was ashamed of my own book, honestly, because I thought it paled in comparison. He ended up reading my book as well and was equally impressed with it. In fact, if I remember correctly, he told me he was absolutely blown away by it.... but that was a couple of years ago, so I could be getting that wrong... cough, cough.... ANYWAY. After that, we kept talking. We became friends and started learning things together. Then we started bouncing ideas off each other, and we started challenging each other in our writing, and then he talked me into using Skype for meetings (always had Skype... never used it), and now I think we've shared too many of our writing secrets with each other, so we're basically in this two person cult now and will have to shred the other person's drafts if they try to leave said cult so that our sacred writing secrets are kept safe.... okay, not really, but you get the point. I think my writing has improved 50 times more since becoming friends with F.P. Spirit. It has been great to have someone that I can bounce ideas off of, talk about author troubles to, and ask weird author questions in front of (and sometimes even get an answer!). I honestly didn't know what I was missing out on when I was a lone wolf author. Having a writing buddy is awesome. I only hope that I have provided as much "miracle grow" to our friendship as he has! ![]()
Want to see the other challenge days? Here you go! (you're welcome): The Writing Challenge Series
Today's challenge: Your go-to writing spot My bed or my desk. Usually, I start at my desk, then my buttocks get sore, so I move to the bed, then my legs go to sleep and I move to the desk, then my back starts hurting and I move back over to the bed, then I flop onto the floor until my hips start killing me, then I go back to my desk and etc... This can go on for quite a while, depending on how wrapped up I am in my writing at the moment. Honestly, I need an extra wide La-Z-Boy chair - one of those chair & a half ones, or something. That way, I can prop my legs up on a stool and write, slide a sofa table up and write, recline and write, sit cross legged and write, or whatever! I could sit (or lay) in any position I want and keep on writin'! Anybody want to donate a chair & a half for the cause? Or a chaise? *Listens to the crickets in the audience* So, is that a "no" or a "I'm thinking about it"? ![]()
If you haven't been keeping up with the challenge so far, no sweat! You can catch up here.
Today's challenge: All social media sites go down for 24 hours - You can still do things like searching on Google in order to research relevant things for your book, but that's the extent of what you're able to do on the internet during that time. How much writing do you get done during that 24 hours? I would get a LOT done. Like, no kidding. Well... unless I decided to go outside and finish one of the many unfinished outside projects I have. Still, I can't work outside for a solid 24 hours, so yeah. I would get a lot of writing done! Weeeellll.... Actually.... if I started doing ANY research of any kind, then any and all writing would go down the drain. I'd get nothing done all day long. I love to research stuff. I get lost in research. I can spend DAYS researching just one single thing. I just love to learn new things. However, I draw the line at research about Jack the Ripper. I spent one entire day researching Jack, and that night, after my shower (and spending my entire shower time thinking about Mr. Freaky-Creepy Jack the Ripper), as I was leaving the bathroom, my sister, Kris, decided it would be fun to jump out from around the corner and scare me. I NEARLY KILLED MY SISTER. I thought she was Jack the Ripper come to slit my gut open! I flew into self-preservation and self-defense mode. I was going to turn Jack the Ripper into Jack O' RIP. Good thing for Kris, I realized who she was before I really damaged her. Good thing for me, Kris has a wonderful sense of humor... most of the time... she is very forgiving anyway... most of the time. Good thing for Jack he doesn't exist in my timeline or ever tried to take on a girl like me. Anyway. Moral of that story is: unless you need to do the research, it's best to let Jack the Ripper be. ![]()
Today's challenge is going to be a little bit exciting for all the Tales of the Wovlen fans out there, but before we get into it, if you are just joining this challenge, you should check out the previous days challenges!: day ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, and TEN.
Today's challenge is: The last complete sentence you wrote on your WIP This is currently the last sentence of the first chapter in book #3 of the Tales of the Wovlen series, which is titled "The Dragon's Foe": Walneff paused and looked at Keegan, his diamond blue eyes lighting up with a mysterious twinkle, “We must summon the Giants from their sleep. But first, we must call on the prophet Raefindal.” Oh yes. Big things are fixing to go DOWN in book 3! Giants aren't even the half of it. Honestly, I'm a little scared myself of everything that is cropping up in book 3 (and I haven't even gotten book 2 published yet... uhg!).
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So, I feel like I am going to fail at today's challenge... BUT, I have made up for it with the previous challenges up till now, haven't I? If you haven't been keeping up with my challenges, catch up on them here: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT & NINE.
Today's Challenge: The first sentence of the first chapter of your WIP (work in progress). Let me tell you something: this challenge made me seriously reconsider all my opening sentences. They are TERRIBLE! Well, that's my opinion. They don't seem that catchy to me. Anyway, I have three WIP that I'll share the first sentence from... I actually have more than that, but I only wanted to share three with you, because the rest of my WIP don't have opening sentences (I start in the middle of a story and work my way out). Enjoy! "Keegan looked up and smiled as the door finally opened, and Alia and Brainna stepped out, faces beaming." Tales of the Wovlen Book #3 "Kyra stood frozen on the cold metal table, head tilted, and listening intently to voices coming through the ceiling above her." Plasma Chrysalis - SciFi book "The azure sky was bright high above the tall, green trees of Deepwood Forest." An unnamed fantasy story
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Don't forget to check out the previous challenges: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, & EIGHT.
Today's challenge is: Your favorite character from a book not written by you. What? REALLY? Are you kidding me? I have way too many favorite books with awesome characters in them to be able to pick out just one favorite character. Perhaps I should just make a list? Lord of the Rings – Olórin, Mithrandir, Incánus, Tharkûn, Greyhame, Old Greybeard, the Grey Pilgrim, Stormcrow, the White Rider, Láthspell, Servant of the Secret Fire, Wielder of the Flame of Anor, Ring-bearer, and Elf-friend - Gandalf the Grey. He is my all time favorite. The Chronicles of Narnia – Oh gee…. wow…. so many characters, so little time… since Aslan probably doesn't count, because he is everybody's favorite, I’ll go with Reepacheep the mouse and Bree the horse from The Horse and His Boy. The Hunger Games – Haymitch. Sure, he's always drunk, but he's got more brains than the rest of them put together in those sorry books. Okay, so, the Hunger Games aren't actually some of my favorite books. They seriously needed more dragons. Dracula by Bram Stoker - Van Helsing. Van Helsing. Van Helsing. He's awesome, he's funny, he's Christian, he has difficulty with the English language, and he's the master at hunting vampires. Van Helsing is my total favorite. Heroes of Ravenford – Glolindir the Elf, Seth the Halfling, and Aksel the Gnome. Those three rotate between being my favorites. If I feel ornery and just want to stab someone with a knife and a sarcastic comment (and have somebody laugh with me about it), Seth is my favorite buddy. If I feel like I'm surrounded by immature idiots and just need someone who understands how I feel, Aksel is my man. The rest of the time, Glo is my favorite. He's an elf who has a tendency to blow things up and start fires. Of course he's my favorite. The Arrival by Dakota Kemp – Jaxom… always Jaxom. He's witty, he's funny, he's smart... I would seriously date Jax in a heartbeat. (For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t have any interest in a relationship and I don’t waste my time dating, so for me to say “I would date him” is a BIG thing. Fortunately for me, he’s fictional. Unfortunately for my poor mother, he’s fictional.) Patrick F. McManus books – Rancid Crabtree. Dragon Riders of Pern – Piemur from The Harper Hall Trilogy. He's the bomb!
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Don't forget to check out the Other Challenges up to this point!
Today's Challenge: Your least favorite character out of all the characters you’ve ever written. Oh gee. This one is hard. Honestly! I like all my characters in My Book, even the nasty ones. This would seriously be a toss-up between Demetrius - the bad guy who killed my main character’s father - and Keegan, the main character. Yes. My main character is one of my least favorite characters. He can be such an idiot! And talk about being a whiney baby ALL. THE. TIME…. gag. But, despite that, I still love him. Now that I really think about it, I think Demetrius is really my least favorite. He’s just downright, flat out nasty and revolting. He’s a coward, he’s a thief, he snarls, he fights dirty, he’s arrogant, and on top of it all, he’s not very pretty to look at. So, yes, Demetrius is my least favorite character. In fact, he makes Keegan look mighty good!
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Hey! This is going to be a really fun challenge today, but don't forget to check out DAY ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR if you haven't been keeping up with this challenge so far.
Today's challenge is: Your protagonist is somehow transported to this world, meets you, and learns that you are responsible for creating his/her world. What is the first thing he/she would say or do after learning this fact? Well..... I'm doomed. Keegan is technically my protagonist in Tales of the Wovlen (he's such an idiot, but we won't get into that). If he found out that I was the person who caused the red dragon to kick his people out of their kingdom, turning them into nomads (the life he was born into), and that I wrote the prophecy about the Dragon's Son, picked him for the job, and then sent the army that massacred his friends and family....... Yeah, he'd try to chop off my head. And yes, I'd scream and run like a little girl. He may be an idiot, but he gets ugly when he's angry, and I have a highly developed sense of survival. If Pharrgon (the dragon) was with Keegan, though, he would be more understanding. He'd see that I created the safe forest for him to hide in, all the wonderful creatures for him to enjoy, put Keegan in his life, and made him the formidable beauty that he is. He would try to help Keegan see the positive side to all of that, and he would certainly keep Keegan from chopping my head off. There is also one other delicate little thing that Pharrgon would be thankful to me for, but I can't mention her right now because...
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Kathryn FoglemanAuthor of the fantasy series, Tales of the Wovlen, Kathryn spends a great deal of time in the world of her imagination, having tea with fire breathing dragons, writing books on flying space ships, and practicing her mad scientist laugh with gusto. However, on occasion,she returns to this world just to play with her dog and blog about her fun. My BookGrab a Button!![]() Archives
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