Today I’ve got some visuals for you! 🙂 Given that NaNo has long crossed the half-way mark it’s probably a good thing I’m preparing this post in advance back in October. I expect my sanity won’t be doing too well by now – and a few pretty images is much easier to get through now than lots of text! Our minds have earned a break, NaNonites!
*ahem*
As you might know I’m a wee bit obsessed with Pinterest, and love creating story boards for my WsIP. The images I’ve got for you today are all from my Research Soul of the Heart Board – apart from the image immediately below. I made that myself, all by myself, and it went straight into my Soul of the Heart board 🙂 (and yes, I’m just a little bit proud of my creation. It’s not what I studied Photography for but this is what I do now.)
Because this WIP is still in its early stages and I haven’t even decided on a proper title yet, I don’t want to give too much away, but I hope that the images will give you a good idea regardless 🙂 I’ll post more details next year when it’s closer to being released – until then, these visuals will have to do.
***
Characters
Doran
Naavah Ora
840
***
Countries
Ceidir
Hjeva
Vaska
Vasael’In
Are you obsessed with Pinterest, too? Do you create story boards for your novels, or for everything book and inspiration related? Let’s stalk each other! (over tea and cookies, naturally – I wouldn’t have it any other way)
Pinterest is my favourite form of procrastination. Not only can it be inspiring, but it allows me to do some visual research, too! And any form of procrastination that makes me want to work isn’t really procrastination… right? Today I thought I’d share some of the pins I’ve saved with you 🙂 I’ve got a different board for each book I’m writing, and you’re very welcome to check them out here.
Since I only want to tease you without spoiling anything I’ll tell you which board the pins are from, but not how they relate exactly – feel free to interpret them however you wish 😉 Happy procrastinating! ^-^
Relics of Ar’Zac Book 2
Immortals (temp. title)
???
Do you use Pinterest for your research? Share your account below, so I can be nosy and stalk you! 🙂
One of my favourite things about the writing process is the research I do. There is so much intriguing/stunning/horrifying information out there, and writing let’s me delve into things I probably wouldn’t have touched otherwise.
My parents love gardening (meaning they revere it religiously), and I wanted to be a witch when I was younger (as we all do, non?) so I knew – to a very small extend – how useful herbs and plants can be before I started my research. Sage, for example, can be used for just about everything. It can be used to treat a wound, to stop a wound from becoming infected, it can be used as a painkiller, and has many more uses I would not have known about if it wasn’t for my writing.
In Rise of the Sparrows I refer to lady fern, which has very similar uses to sage. If you roll it up between your palms to form a rough mash, you can use the juices to ease stinging nettle burns, minor cuts and any other stings or burns. That’s precisely what it’s used for in my book – Cale treats Cephy’s burnt and blistered hands with a paste he’s made from lady fern.
Human Sacrifice
I won’t lie – I was excited to research this. The traditions of human sacrifice aren’t something you hear about often, but thanks to my books having a rather dark side I got to do a bit of research.
The Incas were kinder than expected. They sacrificed mostly children to prevent natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and floods, and believed that the sacrificed children would go on to a better afterlife. While they also sacrificed prisoners, they raised children specifically for the task. Those children were treated extremely well before they were killed, had feasts in their honour and they got to meet the emperor. Between that and the promise of a better afterlife, they probably thought they were doing the kids a favour.
The Hawaiians, on the other hand, have a much darker history than I ever knew. They sacrificed captives, often chiefs from other tribes, by hanging them upside down from wooden racks and anointed a priest with the sweat from the sacrifices. They then beat them until smooth (imagine tenderising your cut of beef before you cook it), eviscerated them, and finally cooked the flesh to be eaten by the priest and tribe chief. At times they ate them raw, too.
And then there were the aztecs, the carthaginians, the etruscans,… But I’ll leave you to do your own research if you’d like to know more – it’s a fascinating subject 😉
Japanese Mythology
I was quite excited to delve into this one, too. One of the countries in my trilogy, Midoka, is very loosely based on Japan, and to do it justice I thought I’d research their mythology and came across a very interesting creation myth. I won’t bore you with the details here if that’s not your thing, but if you like you can read more about the one here.
While reading up on Japanese myths I got sidetracked by a few other creation myths as well. Did you know that it’s a very common belief across many religions that one day the world will be reborn? (you’ll have to excuse me if everyone but me knew this already, I’m not very religious)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got research to do 😉 (regarding the end of the universe, as well as theories around multiple universes and parallel worlds)
What’s the most interesting research you’ve done? What’s the strangest? Grab a cookie and let’s chat!
Cookie Break 