Guest Post - Rachel Rossano

I'm pleased to introduce to all of you a fellow homeschooled author and her new book,

Duty: a novel of Rhynan

Brielle Solarius struggles to keep her village from starvation. The men rode off to war and never returned. The remaining women and children face a winter of starvation if they do not find a solution soon.

Tomas Dyrease, the newly made Earl of Irvaine and the village of Wisenvale, owes his good fortune to his king. When that same king demands Tomas marry the impoverished daughter of the late Lord Wisten, he obeys. However, no one warned him that she wasn’t a typical noblewoman.

Duty: a novel of Rhynan follows their journey from strangers to friends as they face complications from their pasts and the shaky politics of a changing regime. Then Brielle is implicated in her cousin’s treasonous activities. Can a marriage of duty survive treason?

It's available on Amazon and Smashwords:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Duty-novel-Rhynan-ebook/dp/B00BAI41RO

Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281699

About Rachel:

Author of a growing stack of novels, novellas, and short stories, Rachel Rossano balances her time between the chaos of raising and homeschooling her three children and the world of drama and high adventure in her head. With her faithful husband and chief consulting editor by her side, she dreams of many more adventures to come in both of her double lives. Check out her work at http://Rachel-rossano.blogspot.com.

Also, Rachel has written up a lovely bit about 

Plotting, Pantsing, and the Space Between

  When a writer meets a writer for the first time, frequently we ask each other one question. “Are you a plotter or a pantser?” For those of you who do not write, you probably don’t recognize the terms. A plotter is one who plots the novel before writing it. Those who claim to be pantser make the plot up as they go along.

  I have a confession to make. I am stuck in the vast space between.

  I began my writing life as a completely committed pantser. I rambled, I wandered, and my early manuscripts suffered the consequences. As I dug them out years later, I recoiled from the mess and promptly reburied them.

  Still, I persevered because I loved to write. Characters came alive beneath my fingers. The way they took up residence in my thoughts and daydreams thrilled me. So, I wrote and reveled in my characters while I ignored the loose and meandering stories I produced.

  Then one day a friend commented that my plots struck her as simple. Comparing my stories to my favorite authors, I realized she had a very valid point. So, with the best of intentions, I endeavored to plot. I promptly plotted myself into boredom with the story.

  Not one to give up, I tried again. The second attempt didn’t follow the script. My characters rebelled and started doing things consistent with their make up by definitely not what was in the plan. That was when I had a revelation. I needed to plot and pants my stories.

  I tried a new technique for me. I did extensive pre-work on my next project: world development, cultures, clothing, character histories, and (gasp) a bit of plotting. I only developed a very general idea of where I wanted to go in the scenes ahead and a few vague plot points that I had to hit. I set to writing and discovered it worked.

  So, three and a half manuscripts later, I am enjoying this new technique. I even began integrating some editing into the writing process when I was writing Duty. I just have to watch out for those revision loops. They are definitely more of a hazard when editing while you write.

  If you are a writer, what hazards do you have to watch out for in your writing process? If you are a reader, do you like reading about the inner workings of the writing process or do you suspect all fiction writers are a bit mad?

Stay tuned for an interview in a few weeks! (Oh, and a review on the O.Scarlett blog!)

F - Friends and Family

Via Pinterest

F - Friends and Family

The Ankulen is, up front and foremost, a story of a girl and her long-lost imaginary friends. That's what it had been from the first, and it never changed. Yet, as I wrote it, I discovered that it was also a story about family.

The first half of The Ankulen is primarily about friendship. True, Tisha is posing as Jen's adopted sister, but she's still her imaginary friend. The only real family member you meet in the fist half of the book is Jen's mom, and that's only briefly in chapter eight.

The second half of the book focuses more on family. In the second half, Jen is trying to get to know her two new siblings, as well rethinking her behavior to her own parents growing up.

Relationships are probably one of my favorite parts of writing. The complexity of human nature and how people so different can be best friends just fascinates me. And tossing up otherwise mortal enemies into a family? No wonder my characters think I torture them.

There are really only six important secondary characters in The Ankulen, and Jen's relationship with each is different.

Chris: Chris was Jen's protector, her valiant knight. Her safety, and Tisha's, are his first priority. Her memories of him are mixed. She can't remember anything negative about him, but ... for the longest time after his disappearance, she hated him. Since then, she's managed to tame the hatred into more of a wariness, and, by the time he makes his appearance, she's willing to work with him. His relationship with Lady Jenifer has always been rather on the formal side.

Tisha: Letitia was the first thing Jen brought to life after receiving her Ankulen, and was always the closest to her. Letitia knew all of Jen's secrets, all of her worries, all of her cares ... until she and Chris called Jen's wrath upon their heads. Now ... well, let's just say Jen barely speaks to her, let alone entrusts her with valuable secrets. Tisha finds this painful - possibly the most painful part of their punishment.

Mom: Jen's mom (whose name I still don't know ...) is the one person who never gave up on Jen getting her imagination back. There are times when Jen resents this - as she puts it,

It's easier to squeeze juice out of a rock than it is to squeeze a story out of my brain.

- The Ankulen

but she really does want her imagination back, and, when she goes home for lunch in chapter eight, she thanks her mother for doing it.

Derek: Derek and Jen's relationship has a very rocky start. She's an odd combination of shyness and mischief, and he finds her as confusing as much as she finds him intimidating. It's not until nearly the end of the book that they develop a sort of alliance ... and even a tiny bit of sibling trust.

Megan: Megan and Jen hit it off well right from the start. Megan is in awe of Jen's imaginative powers, while Jen is refreshed by Megan's innocence. She tries to be a bit of a peacemaker between Jen and Derek, and, while Jen listens ... Derek doesn't always.

Popcorn Trees

Some of you may be wondering why Kendra has dropped off the face of the earth this week. I mean, there hasn't been a post here on Knitted By God's Plan in a whole week!

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, tsk, turkey pot pie.

Oh, by the way, I am not Kendra. I'm one of her dearly beloved characters! My name's Lillillil, and I'm a princess. Kendra's still not back. I think she's cleaning her room and writing The Ankulen and editing Do You Take This Quest? They're both delightful books, and I'm sure all of you are going to be quite pleased with them when she finally gets them published.

I'm an inventor, too. I'm working on inventing the computer right now. Kendra finds it staggering that the Silions are such an advanced people, I mean, we have electricity, but we still haven't invented the computer.

So I've decided that I will change that. Between Rikkard and me, I'm sure we can come up with something.

Oh, and these movies that Kendra's world has. They're amazing. I wish that I lived a thousand years later, when Silivock has access to Ooladada so that I could spend time in the Theater behind the Curtain, but, oh well. Kendra says that my descendants will have access to the Theater.

Kendra says she's going to the library today, but not the one behind the Rainbow. I don't know why she would. She has access to every book ever written in the Library, but still she insists on going to the one in her world and making what she calls ILL's.

Anyways, she just told me that I have to get off the computer.

CE Church - Melisza

Via Pinterest, but with a bit longer hair
and slightly less dramatic pointing
to the ears.

My church was started on Easter Sunday, so our Easter celebration is extra special. A big pot-luck lunch, then then candy hunts for all of the kids. Tons of fun.

This is my first year as "not a kid" so this is also my first year that I won't be participating in the candy hunt. Oh, well, I had a good year last year ... maybe my sibs will share something with me ...

I'm wandering the halls, trying to look like I'm doing ... something, when I spot her. At first I think she's merely our pastor's daughter, the one who usually goes to another church, but doesn't live out of state.

But then I realize that her hair is much too long, she's much too tall, and young ... and her ears ... are pointed?

I don't mean to be caught staring, but she turns at that very moment and sees me. I start to pull my shy act and back away, but she smiles encouragingly. "Oh, Tiyay!" She has a strange accent.

I blink and force a smile. "Uhh ... Tiyay?"

"I mean hello." She smiles self-consciously. "English. It's just so hard to speak. I speak it better than most elves, though."

"You're an elf?" Of course. She has pointed ears. I frown slightly. Could she be one of my characters? I have several books with elves in them ... many of them with long, pale blond hair.

She nods. "Of course. My name is Melisza, Dizalay of the Lilnas."

Yep. Definitely one of my characters. "Oh, my name is Kendra ... um, what are you doing here?"

"I spent my childhood in the human world, which is why I speak English so well. I wanted to see here again, but it's changed so much. The orphanage where I lived, it's now a great house, and Mrs. Arden's great-great grandchildren live there," Melisza explains.

I nod. "Oh, yes. I know about them. I'm ... well, I know about the Ardens."

"Yes, that is why I was sent to see you, Kendra. They said that you are a great Makatay." 

"Makatay?"

"Story writer. You write stories."

"Oh, yes, I do. Lots of stories. In fact, I think I'm already writing yours." I quickly pull my black bag of notebooks off my shoulder and unzip it. Yes! I do have that notebook with me today! What luck. I've been excluding it sometimes of late, since I've been writing it on the computer. I pull it out and hand it to her, turned to the page where the story begins.

She squints at the paper, and I wince, remembering that, though Melisza is as smart as any Lilna - which is pretty smart, by the way - she still has trouble reading English.

"I seem to be having trouble reading this word," she says at last. "I guess that it is supposed to be Arden, but it looks like Ardnek to me."

"Oh! Um, actually it is Ardnek. I had some facts confused when I wrote that. I've corrected it later on." I take the notebook from her and flip to the summery that I wrote for my illustrator, who wanted to know what happened after the beginning I had written.

"This is the summery," I explain to Melisza. "But it isn't complete. You see, I don't know how it ends."

Melisza sighs, then hands the notebook back to me. "I don't know, either. Everything looks so dark and grim right now. But there is hope. Someday, the Lilnia will see that Elonodi does love the Harshia, and all will accept the truth that Salv brought."

I draw in a deep breath as I slide the notebook back into my bag. "It's been two thousand years, and we still seek that day in our own world. Everything just keeps getting worse though."

"But there is hope."

"Yes, there is."

"It was good talking to you, Kendra," said Melisza. "I hope we meet again someday."

"Someday," I agree. She opens the door nearest us, and I gasp to see that it's not the classroom that's usually  behind it, but a forest - full of two trunked trees with black bark and red leaves. Indeed, the door frame itself appears to be one of the trees on the other side. She steps through the door, and it closes behind her. When I open the door again, it's just a classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Join the fun, go here and link up!
http://knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com/2013/03/character-encounter-march-2013.html

Character Encounter - March 2013

It's that time again!Character Encounters! I've finally remembered to do this on the first rather than than the second or third!

I'm so not liking relying on my mom's computer.

Oo-kay, to cut things short, I'm just going to tell you where to meet, and I'll see you there! Kay?

Church

Via Pinterest

It's Easter time, so where better to meet your character than at your annual Easter-whatever-your-church does? Have fun, and please, do respect the building and the holiday. I personally consider Easter to be the most important holiday, since it celebrates the cornerstone of our faith.

Now I need to figure out who I'm going to meet ... for the first time, I haven't a clue! I'm bouncing between Tisha from The Ankulen and one of the main characters in The New Division.