This blog, I mean? So, yeah, it's been a while. Just a few sentences to catch up...
Since Christmas I have been working at McDonald's, where I was the January Employee of the Month and spend half my time in the drive thru cashier booth. Which is the WORST part of the job. I am still tutoring in the AT3, though only 2 hours weekly. I am also taking 16 credit hours this semester (never again, not so long as I also work 32 hours a week). I have become financially independent in some but not all areas. I am also more mobile - I get myself where I need to go, as well as where I'd rather not go (*cough work cough*). And since my family has acquired a Wii, I have become quite addicted to playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
So, Homeland Trilogy isn't going to be a trilogy. At least, I don't know. Planning the whole story around trilogy was really making me mad. I finally said, screw this, I'll just write until I'm done and then see how much it is. Could be one book, could be ten, could actually be a trilogy. I don't know. I just need to finish the story. Which might be easier, now that one of my characters has finally gotten the spark of life he needed. He was like a little popcorn kernel, constantly bombarded with steam, but he finally popped and exploded and expanded on his own time. And, of course, he turned out to be a good one, one of the three most important characters in the story.
Here's the idea: When the god of my invented world, Andor, created the earth, seas, and heavens, he also created four non-corporeal beings. Homelandians who believe in Andor call them the Four Artists, because Andor entrusted them with the task of creating living creatures to inhabit the world. (An important thing to keep in mind is that the Four Artists are not gods in their own right - this is not a pantheistic system I've come up with. They are creations of Andor, doing what he created them to do. They're not even immortal, not entirely. I prefer to think of them more on the level of angels or commissioned artists.) The first Artist, Kavall, created the stars. The second Artist, Terim, created all vegetation. The third Artist, Meracila, created animals. The fourth Artist, Sylvan, created humans. The humans were special in that Andor chose to infuse their blood with his energy, making them essentially immortal. Well, somewhere along the line, Kavall became jealous that Andor didn't choose the stars, and decided to revolt. He turned half of the stars against Andor and the other three Artists, promising them glory and wealth in return for their allegiance. Whatever stars wouldn't voluntarily join him, he imprisoned in the sky (they used to roam freely.) Then he and his stars declared war on Andor. Because there were a heckuvalotta more stars than animals, plants, or humans combined, it was pretty much a fair fight. Through the war, the three loyal Artists protected their creations in battle. However, during the war, Kavall mortally injured Sylvan. In order to save his life, Andor transferred Sylvan's spirit to a human body.
And that's who the character is - James, Sylvan in human form. Because of the residual energy in his body leftover from being his true self, he has a much longer lifespan and is much harder to kill than most humans. (He has lived for four hundred years at the time of my story, though his body has aged about thirty-five years.) He also has slightly more intuition into the supernatural than other humans, but is limited by his human senses. He wishes there was a way to return to his true form, but is pretty sure that when his human body dies, he'll die.
His personality is a melange of Mrs Whatsit (from A Wrinkle in Time), Abram/Raphael (from G.P. Taylor's books), and the Tenth Doctor. He's really fun to write, because he's got that common element of total nutcase on the outside, wise on the inside. I'm a total sucker for that persona, which, I suppose, is why I adore the abovementioned characters so much.
Not sure what else to say, really. Except that I still can't stand this blue. Worse, I'm too lazy to change it.
