May Writing Update and Character Post 2

Firstly, My writing update.

Since I finally laid my hands and money on a new computer, I have done quite a bit of writing this month.

The Ankulen: Finished writing draft 2, and have typed up all but the last twenty notebook pages into the computer. I have a few people lined up to critique it next month, through NaNoCritMo and the June Crusade. (Note: Anne-Girl posted today that she only has five participants, and she needs and even number, so if you have a book that's has at least 10,000 words, please sign up! It doesn't have to be completed, just have 10,000+ words)

I have also finally set foot in a craft store and found something that will do for the jewel on Jen's Ankulen. I'll have to rewrite the descriptions of it in the book, but that's no big deal. I'm saving that for July. Fun.

My Kingdom for a Quest: I decided to try writing it by hand because I was stuck and thought that restarting it might help ... I've written a page and a half. Sigh. I love all of the scenes in this book, but stringing them all together so that it works is a challenge. Sew was easy to write. I had to pull a few teeth for Take ... But Kingdom is like pulling fingernails! Sigh. I will get it written. But ... maybe after I have The Ankulen out of the way.

The New Division: I finished the 100 for 100 challenge with about 1,000 words to spare. Not the most spectacular word count of the bunch, but I was satisfied. I haven't pulled the book up since, though, mostly because I let myself finish during a lull scene. Alistaar and Melisza are arguing in the library about whether or not it would have been better for Tabetha and Jaqob to stay at the human orphanage. On another note, while I've been cataloging the books in our personal library, I've found a whole slew of oddly-spelled names that I plan to use. Yes, I constantly look out for oddly spelled names.

Behind the Rainbow: V and I are now off of the big pillow and headed towards the rainbow that has books sticking out of it. I now need to get us into the library, and talking to Otis. I love Otis, he's so funny. (And for anyone who's watched Barbie of Swan Lake, Otis was inspired from the librarian there whose real name I've forgotten. Kathlenea, the other librarian, is also inspired from Swan Lake, but the connection is very complicated and I don't feel like explaining.)

Worth of a King: I've written the first chapter, and Obsidia has selected her future husband. The ball is now in Jack's court and I can't wait to read what she's going to do with Aiden.

Water Princess, Fire Prince: I have been stuck on this book for several months now. On the computer, I have been at Andrew's breaking point. In the notebook, it's been Clara's. (Yes, Andrew breaks much sooner than Clara, mostly because people recognize his inadequacy and he sees the effects much sooner.) However, while the computer is still grinning at me with a "You're never going to get me written" smirk, I think I have finally broken through on the notebook. Now Clara is a ice statue, and Andrew is watching a girl jump off a very high balcony. Fun.

And that's about it, other than the fact that I tried to cut my finger off the other day with a pair of scissors, so typing has been a bit painful. Don't worry, my finger's all right. I only cut a small v into it, and I had the presence of mind to apply pressure until my sister could get me a bandage. Very little bleeding, and not until I had the bandage on it.

I wonder if I'll get a scar ... that would be cool.

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Now, I have another post for Miss Jack's Character contest, which she's holding in honor of the release of her next book, A Stretch of Loyalty. I've had the opportunity to edit the first few chapters, and it's quite good so far!

The characters I'm going to talk about today are the ones I told her I would talk about. The reason I didn't before is that I remembered that I had lent my copy of their book to my church library, so I had to go check it out to reread it.

Yes, I lend books to my church library. My Gma is the librarian, so ... I store a good number of my books in her library.

My seven book box set of The Chronicles of Narnia is one of them. (Mostly because, when I have them on hand, I read them too much, and if I read them to much, I begin basically cloning his books, and that is not a good thing.)

Please note, there will be many spoilers in my examination, and if you haven't read this book, I do not suggest that you continue.

My copy looks like this. It's very shiny.

Many people say that The Horse and His Boy is the one book that doesn't belong in the series. I disagree. It's the only one that's truly all about Narnia. It was the first one that I attempted rewriting (I wanted to make a stop-action film using my Madeline Dolls, and I didn't have two Pepitos. I had to Madelines, though, so she got the part of Shasta/Cor and Corin. It never came to anything though, and was soon replaced by The Giraffe, the Witch, and the Tunnel Tube ...)

The Horse and his Boy is a story of salvation, and Shasta and Aravis are the two who must be saved. (Bree and Hwin are too, but I'm not a huge fan of horses, so I won't talk about them.)

But their backgrounds are very different. Though he doesn't know it,  Shasta was born Cor, crown prince of Archenland. He was kidnapped at birth and has been raised instead as a fisherman's son in southern Calormen. Of course, a better word would be slave, but Shasta is unaware that Arsheesh is not his father. It is only when he discovers that his life is a lie, and that he really belongs up north, that he decides to make a run for it.

Aravis, on the other hand, she's a born and bred Calormen - a Tarkheena, which means she has a pedigree to prove it. She's quite happy with her life, too ... but she ends up with a wicked stepmother, and even that's not so bad ... until she's betrothed to Ahoshta, who is way older than her. He may be powerful, but to a 13-or-so-year-old-girl, well, marrying a 90-year-old man is not her idea of romantic. So she decides that Calormen is not all it's cracked up to be, and when she finds out that her horse is native to Narnia, she decides to run away.

Shasta belongs to Aslan already, he just doesn't know it. Aravis belongs to Calormen. She has no business going north, and yet, when she does, she is accepted. Not only that, she later becomes the queen of Archenland.

I love how the two of them play off of each other, and I think they are the ones who taught me to love the "Bitter enemies turned lovers" plot twist. He's humble, hardworking, simple, and awkward. She's proficient, smart, athletic, and arrogant. She doesn't think much of him, and he is put off by her haughty ways. But they become a team, each realizing that they need the other if they're going to get to Narnia. When Aravis is attacked by the lion right before they reach the Hermit's house, it's Shasta who goes back and tries to save her.

And that's the moment that she realizes that, though he may be simple and common, he's brave.

I think they're one of the inspirations for Clara and Andrew's relationship. Subconsciously.