YouTube musician Taylor Davis’ music never fails to inspire me when I need a bit of a creative boost. Because much of her music comes from movies and video games, it’s already perfectly suited to storytelling and is exceptionally good at conjuring up images and ideas in my mind. When I was trying to decide on a piece for this week’s writing music post, I naturally gravitated to her songs. If you haven’t checked out her music yet, you totally should.

This piece of music sounds like a quiet celebration to me, with the drum beat underneath. It suggests a moment of wonder, or happiness at a smaller goal achieved, rather than the main story problem. It would also fit a moment of peaceful, happy reflection. To me this piece feels like it would fit a fantasy story perfectly.

What genre do you think this piece would suit? What are you listening to this week? Recommend me some new music!

I always find it useful to know as much as possible about my character and their likes, fears, their past, and everything that makes them the person they are today. And sometimes it can be fun to share a bit of this background information with other people. The Beautiful People link-up, hosted by The Notebook Sisters and Further Up andFurther In, provides a list of questions every month for writers to answer for one of their characters, to help them get to know the people in their books, and to share them with others.

At the moment, I am working on editing one of my fantasy novels, The Crystal Tree, so for this month’s edition of Beautiful People, I’m going to be answering the questions for the main character of this book, Briar. She’s a magician who is fighting to free her sister from the clutches of a throne-usurping villain. As I’ve done in previous editions, I’m only going to be answering a few of the questions.

1) What does your character regret the most in their life?

Briar regrets not being able to make things right with her family before they died. She stormed out of the house in a huff after a hot tempered argument with her parents. When she returned, bandits had raised her village to the ground. She regrets that her last memory of her parents is this argument.

2) What is your character's happiest memory? Most sorrowful memory?

During the course of the book, her most sorrowful memory would be realising that her sister has chosen the wrong side of the fight and is now one of the enemy. Her happiest memory during the book would definitely be the snowball fight she had with her companions. Even on the run, there is always time to mess around with friends.

3) Do they act differently when they're around people as opposed to being alone? If so, how?

Briar definitely acts differently when she’s with people than when she’s alone. When she’s with people, she’s a lot more lively and animated, but at the same time, very watchful and controlled with what she says and does, like she’s projecting another personality on herself. When she’s alone, she’s a lot more thoughtful and quiet. That’s the time when she admits her fears and darker thoughts and allows herself to be real. She hides a lot of things from other people, and she only expresses them to herself.

4) Would they be more prone to facing fears or running from them?

Running is definitely more her style. She ran from her troubles when her parents died, and she ran from her fear of bandits. She prefers to run away and start fresh when things get tough rather than stopping and fighting. But this is something that she has to learn to change over the course of the book.

5) Do they turn to people when they're upset, or do they isolate themselves?

Isolation is more her thing. Briar is very sensitive to the way people look at her, and she has a lot to hide. So when she’s upset, she hides that as well. Having to be the head of her tiny family group, and to be a responsible adult, she likes to project the feeling that she can take care of herself and that she’s strong and capable.

So there you have it, a little about Briar. I hope you’ve enjoyed having a tiny glimpse into the world of The Crystal Tree and meeting one of my favourite characters.

Are you taking part in the Beautiful People linkup this month? Link me to your posts! I would love to meet your characters. Have any other questions for Briar? Leave them in the comments below.

I don’t know about you, but I love the internet. I love being able to look at pictures, watch YouTube videos, listen to music, chat to friends, read blogs, and post on my own blog. So what happens when the internet breaks, like it did this week? (Which is why Monday’s post is being posted today. Sorry about that guys.) Well, in my experience, there are five different stages to being without the internet. Here we go:

Stage 1: Panic. At first, I run around and panic because I don’t know what to do without all the procrastination options offered by the internet. What am I going to do without being able to click from Facebook to Blogger to YouTube and back again over and over? My world has shrunk to the size of a house. It’s a national calamity. How am I going to survive this?

Stage 2: Acceptance. Turns out that when the internet breaks, there isn’t much I can do about it. Other than complain about it. Which is fun for the first half hour. Still, there doesn’t seem to be a lot to do without the distractions of the internet. How on earth am I supposed to amuse myself now? I suppose I could always work on some writing. At least that doesn’t need the internet to work.

Stage 3: Acclimatize. Wow, there’s actually a good side to having no internet. There’s no Facebook, YouTube or Blogger. So that sounds a lot like the bad side, but it also means no distractions. Editing my book is kind of fun actually. This having no internet thing is really good for my productivity. 15  pages in an afternoon is pretty good for me. Maybe the internet should break more often.

Stage 4: Rejoice. It’s alive! Or at least it’s fixed. Time to run round in circles and celebrate the awesome fact that the internet is back. I can finally do all those things I’ve been dying to do on the internet ever since it broke. Step aside editing. Procrastination is back.

Stage 5: Huh? What was I going to do on the internet again?

So there we have it, the 5 stages of internet deprivation. It’s interesting to note, but once I get past the fact that I have no internet, whether it’s because the internet is broken, or I’m away from home, I really am much more productive with my writing. Guess now I know the secret to a great writing day: turn off the internet! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to disconnect my computer and disappear into the editing cave once more.

Do you work better without the internet? What’s your secret for a great writing day? Anyone else in the editing cave at the moment?

You can also find me on my Facebook page. Why not stop by and say hi?

I’m sure everyone has at least a few books that they would love to read if they could get their hands on a copy, and I’m certainly no different. There are plenty of books that I would love to read, but just haven’t managed to find yet. Many are continuations of series I’ve enjoyed, and some are books that have been recommended to me. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, highlights books that we would love to read if we could. Due to the fact that I’ve been without internet for a while and therefore haven’t been able to prepare this post ahead of time, I’ll only be listing five books this week.

1. Cinder

Marissa Meyer

Lunar Chronicles Book 1

I have mentioned this book several times in my Top Ten Tuesday posts, and it still remains one of my most highly anticipated reads. I’m sure I’m going to love it when I get the chance to read it. It’s just getting a copy of the book that’s the hard part. After reading Cress (book 3), I’m dying to see if this book is just as good.

2. The Ask and the Answer

Patrick Ness

Chaos Walking Book 2

I wasn’t sure whether I was going to like The Knife of Never Letting Go, which is the first book in the series. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did. I’d rather like to read the second book of this series and see what happens next. Methinks a trip to the library, which actually has the book this time, might be in order.

3. Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Maggie Stiefvater
Raven Cycle Book 3

Image Credit

I may possibly have raved about the first two books of this cycle before on this blog. They’re two of my very favourite books. Lily Blue, Blue Lily isn’t actually out yet, but I can’t wait until it is so I can read more about Blue and the amazing Raven Boys.

4. Princess of the Midnight Ball

Jessica Day George

Twelve Dancing Princesses Book 1

I read book three of this trilogy, Princess of the Silver Woods, earlier this year (I have a bad habit of reading the books out of order), and ever since then I’ve been hoping to find a copy of this book so I can find out how the story started. This series has a seriously awesome family, and I’m a big fan of Jessica Day George’s books, so I’m sure I’m going to love this one.

5. Throne of Glass

Sarah Maas
Throne of Glass Book 1

I’ve never read any of Sarah Maas’ books before, but I’ve heard that this one is supposed to be amazing, not that I actually know anything much about it. However I am interested enough to want to find this book in the library and give it a go. Hopefully it’ll turn out to be another one of those books that I will love forever.

What books are you looking forward to reading? Have you read any of these books?