Announcing the Posting of a Novel - Feat. Part One of The Pain of a Memory!

Bongiorno (Or buona notte, depending on what time you read this post)! ;) I am announcing the entry of one of my novels onto this blog, that novel being The Pain of a Memory (which was my April Camp NaNo WIP). I know everyone's getting ready for real NaNo, but I'm not doing it this year (let's just say things were not ideal last year). In fact, posting this novel is kind-of my way of defying NaNo and glorifying Camp NaNo while every body else is doing the opposite. ;) But, anyhow, passing up on the matter of intensely-stressing writing-months, I give you the first chapter of The Pain of a Memory. Feel free to just skim read; eat it up; critique; not read it at all and still comment, haha; anything you want. ;) I love critiques, am ecstatic about you even reading the first few sentences, and am eager for you to love reading as much as more than I enjoyed writing it (with hopefully less nervous sweating and laborious thought of editing). ;D Anyways, without further ado, here it is (and I do realize it's incredibly messy, yes). :P

***

Anwynne glanced out the window of her carriage. Only a vast ocean of trees and mountains could be seen through that gap to the outside world. Perhaps another day she would have thought this sight splendid. But this day, she had no wonder to spare for such frivolities or simple beauties.

The scarlet leaves, slowly fading away from the silver-barked trees, were nothing. The silver mountain in the distance, glinting with ice in the lowering autumn sun, was nothing. They were nothing to her this day. They only served as a reminder of exactly why they were nothing to her. The leaves fell like the last days of her journey. The silver, ever-approaching winter, and that distant palace of stone, was like the faraway throne she would soon ascend to.

Anwynne was going to Nistria, a country far from her own Ingrecia. She would be there in but five days. There, as arranged by her own country, she would marry the king-to-be, Angelo I, and take up queenship there. A foreign queen in a cold land, drifting away from her own country with the last traces of autumn. This was why all that she now saw - every tree in that dying forest - was nothing to  her. Soon enough, it would all be gone, passing away like her own nothingness, only to be crowned in cold grandeur, as she would soon also be.

 

Anwynne knew it was her duty to her country to marry the prince. Thus, she was indifferent to it. If it must be, and it would bring greater peace for her country, then so be it. Anwynne had resigned herself to it.

 

And it wasn't as though she was being set up for unhappiness. Her mother had taken every measure to make sure Anwynne was happy. The Nistrian prince was not far from Anwynne's own age, and was known only for his qualities. So Anwynne had decided she would try to love him, and proceed with the alliance. And if she could not love him, then she would merely be queen as she could. It was no matter of any distress to her, and she almost found herself looking forward to the queenship, if nothing else. 

Anwynne glanced away from the window after a moment spent in thought. Her lady-in-waiting, Elystra - one of the only friends she had brought with her from Ingrecia - was sitting opposite her, embroidering some small thing. Maid Elystra had been slightly less unperturbed by the journey. She had been concerned for Anwynne. When told of the alliance, Elystra had tried to speak to Anwynne, and ask her to consider the choice in more depth. Anwynne had told Elystra that nothing would be wrong, and so Elystra had abandoned the subject. She was still sad to leave Ingrecia, no doubt, but she kept silent and went with Anwynne willingly.

Anwynne and Elystra had been friends for many a long year, despite their slight  differences in social rank. Though Anwynne could have chosen many companions for this journey, she only chose Elystra. Elystra was one of the only friends Anwynne had. And Anwynne only desired a little company, so Elystra had been perfect. Elystra had been willing to leave her home, and her inherited nobility, just to come with Anwynne. But this was the sort of character Elystra had, which was exactly why Anwynne loved her so.

 Anwynne's guard, like her attendance, was light. There had been trouble in Belestine - the country they had to pass through to get to Nistria - and so they had chosen to be secretive and stealthy in the mission. Her guard was only composed of about a dozen men, captained by Anwynne's only other friend, Elystra's twin brother, Errius. Other than that, the only guards were two sentries riding ahead to scout for danger.

Anwynne's thoughts were then interrupted by the voice of Elystra. "Your Grace...?"

Anwynne looked over at Elystra. "What is it, Elystra?"

 

Elystra looked down. "I have an odd feeling, Your Highness... that something is wrong, and I cannot brush it away"

Anwynne raised a brow. "I sense that this is not the first time you've had these doubts, Elystra"

Elystra blushed slightly, and took her focus off her embroidery. "I don't know, Princess. Somehow... I've had a foreboding feeling since this journey was proposed..." Elystra shook herself and tried to smile at Anwynne. "But I'm sure it's fine..."

Anwynne shook her head resignedly. Elystra was such a fearful little lamb...

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and the sounds of the rest of the host ceased.

Elystra stopped embroidering and her eyes widened a bit. "What...?"

 

"I don't know", replied Anwynne instinctively, though Elystra had not finished the query.

Anwynne, in a small burst of courage looked slowly out the window. The guards were standing a little ways off, looking at the front of the carriage, where the Captain was riding. Then some voices sounded from in front of the carriage. Voices she didn't recognize. Then the guards moved closer to the carriage. Wait a moment. Those men were not guards. They were dressed in shabby clothes, and had knives at their belts rather than swords. Robbers. Anwynne quickly pulled the drapes over the window.

Then from the front of the carriage came a sword-like clanging, and the voices getting much louder, and the neighing of frightened horses. Anwynne's heart was beating at an insane swiftness, unable to be calmed by her self-assurances that Errius could handle the threat. She looked over at Elystra. Elystra's huge, silvery eyes were wide with worry, and her skin was even paler than usual, changed to an almost white tone. Her face was no longer so rosy, but ghost-like, and a rogue strand of her straight black hair was hanging over her face.

Gradually the swords stopped, and Anwynne listened as hard as she could for some sign that Errius' soldiers had triumphed. Then the carriage door abruptly opened, and a couple of men were revealed. The one that stood in front was extremely tall, with blue eyes glinting through black hair that hung over his face.

They proceeded - wordless - to take a shocked, but weakly struggling Elystra out and bind her. She tried to pull away, but fainted from using all her energy against them. Once they were finished with Elystra, they then pulled Anwynne out almost effortlessly. Once she was out, though, she kicked and she fought as hard as she could. However, despite her endeavor, they still managed to tie her wrists. After this, she stopped struggling, seeing as it was currently pointless, and she was quite out of breath from trying. So Anwynne had to content herself with glaring as they led her into the forest.

All the guards - and all the other bandits, on that account - were mysteriously gone, along with almost everything the carriage had been carrying. The only ones trudging through the forest, oddly enough, were the two men, Anwynne, and Elystra.

They went a good way into the forest, and entered a sort of cave, that one wouldn't have really noticed unless you were looking for it. Once inside, Anwynne fully realized how many bandits there had really been. There were dozens inside the giant, day-lit cave, surrounding the now tied-up guards of the host, including the two scouts. Elystra was lain on the floor, next to the guards, all of whom were tied up, and most of whom were unconscious.

Suddenly a noise sounded from on top of the rock in front of Anwynne. She looked up. There was a somewhat tall man, with bronze-ish colored hair, and brown eyes that were almost cat-like, perched on a rock in a comfortable, feline position, who when he saw Anwynne, jumped down agilely like a tiger, and moved quickly towards  her.   

"Hello, Highness!", he said in a careless, almost amused tone. "I am most glad to see you here. Captain Orlando Rogan, the Belestinian thief", he continued, bowing. "And welcome to the den of the Silver Forest Bandits"



***

Anyways, that's the first scene. Unfortunately, because this story started out completely improvised (and kept being written that way for looooong time), it isn't separated into chapters, so I'm just going to post it scene by scene instead (or two scenes at a time, depending on how long they are). I hope you enjoyed it! :) What did you think? Hopefully it didn't ruin anybody for reading any of my writing ever again, haha... :P Don't worry, it gets better - at least a little bit. :)

Meet The Books! - Anwynne's Adventures, a.k.a., The Pain Of A Memory

So... I was gone a good while... again. But I do have an excuse! (of course) :P So, you remember how I got sick? Well, I had to go to the hospital for it, so thus my not-blogging and not-answering is explained... I hope. I do harbor the wish that you guys can forgive it (but, really, this is the best excuse I've ever had). Anyways, though, setting that aside, I'm back now. Back to give you another Meet The Books! feature! Yay! And, this time, with a book titled the rather stale title of Anwynne's Adventures at the moment. But that will soon change, as you'll see... :)

What is the genre?
The genre is absolutely, positively Action/Adventure (listen to the title!). I don't think there was ever even a chance of it being something else (except maybe Fantasy).
What is the title? Time period?
The title that is on the document currently is Anwynne's Adventures. However, come April, a new scape starts. I will join in on Camp NaNo (yes, you guys are probably laughing at my unintelligence after my fiasco with normal NaNo), and I am re-writing the beginning of this story, and first-drafting a great portion of it under a new title, The Pain Of A Memory. So, stay tuned as to updates on that. ;) And the time period is another medieval (hey, it's my favorite to write in!).
How is it written (Point of view, MC, etc)?
I wrote it in my favorite POV, that being third person limited (I just about never write in any other POV). But it's MC various, having at least three regular MCs that have already entered, and one that hasn't. However, the actual writing is very unusual. It's written in an odd format that I really don't have a name for. It kind-of zones in and out of different places at different times in one sequence, as if all four scenarios were happening at once, in order, while they're really in different times and places, and with different people (but the four scenarios will all eventually connect and make sense as having relevance to each other). I guess one thing to call it would be a flashback-present-sequence. Hahahaha... :P
Who are the characters?
This one also has a fairly large cast, and all in different times, places, and scenes, so I'm going to introduce them in the order that they're met in.
Princess Anwynne is a snappy-tempered queen-to-be, whom is found at the beginning of the story to be on her way to wed the prince of a foreign country, Nistria, for an inter-kingdom alliance with her parent's country, Ingrecia. She struggles with not only with going away from home, but also with remaining human and considerate in these new countries of strange things. While she doesn't really care either way about the marriage, she is missing home, and her only friends are now quite officially below her rank-wise on her journey. She looks rather unique, with almost white-blond wavy hair, fair skin, and aquamarine eyes.

Maid Elystra is Anwynne's lady-in-waiting/companion, and also a young woman of relatively high birth, being the daughter of a now-deceased knight and lady. She is very submissive, and is one of a set of twins who are in Anwynne's escort to Nistria, the other being her brother, Captain Errius. The twins were really Anwynne's only friends at home, and now that she is a queen-to-be, both are quite below her in rank (even more so than before). However, Elystra continues to be Anwynne's friend on the long journey, fearful and timid though she is. Elystra has silvery eyes, sleek, black, almost fairy-like, long hair, and extremely fair skin.

Except for the short, curly hair, this looks just like Elystra.

Captain Errius du Regiina was given the surname 'du Regiina' in place of his true one when he was appointed as captain of the royal guard for the princess. As captain of her royal escort to Nistria, the title, meaning 'Of the Queen', seemed fitting. He is the twin brother of Maid Elystra, and the best soldier that Ingrecia has. Errius' devotion to his country is on a level of extremity, and his devotion to Anwynne, as once his princess, and a royal-born of the same country, is immense. Errius is basically a figure of patriotism, and love of one's countrymen, if figured down to his greatest virtue. He also has quite the trait of determination. Once a certain event happen jeopardizing the journey, and Princess Anwynne is put in distress due to it, Errius tries again, and again, and again, and again to lift the situation. A real trooper, to be sure. ;) Even for being Elystra's twin, though, Errius looks absolutely nothing like his sister, with chocolate-brown hair, and warmer gray eyes. However, he is the spitting image of someone completely different...

Captain Orlando Rogan is a Belestinian bandit-captain, who in the beginning of the story finds out about Anwynne's party and is set on capturing it. He has been raiding parties going to or coming from Nistria through the middle country, Belestine, for some years now, but for some reason doesn't raid other parties. An unusual bandit, with a repulsion to blood and injuries, a preference to who he robs, a shifting character, and a decided dislike for Nistria, he's hard to figure out. He has honey-ish-colored hair of a shorter cut, and brown, cat-like eyes. He is the only bandit named (at the beginning, at least) of the Silver Forest Bandits.

Sir "Echo" Torriven is the first - and, so far, only - character of consequence met in scenario #2 of this story's different scapes/times/places. He is a lesser knight (one of common or foreign blood) in Belestine, and lives in a small village with two orphans he calls Ariff (II) and Lania. he was nicknamed 'Echo' by his innkeeper friend, Grant. Echo was a soldier from another country when he was somewhat younger (he's not super old, but hard times have made him seem like he is. He's really only in his late thirties or so, I think. I'll have to ask him). ;) When the war he was fighting for that country  ended years ago, he got stranded in Belestine. He found some orphans of the war, knew they needed him, and so set up a home in Belestine and became a knight to support himself (and the orphans). But, like I said, since he's foreign, even though he has noble blood, he is a lesser knight of Belestine. Echo has a thing about helping people who are stranded, injured, alone, etc., and he has from the beginning of his days. This is why he still hasn't made it back to his country, even after sixteen years: because of Ariff and Orlania (or, as he calls her, Lania). He's got kindly gray eyes that are very warm, and brown hair with a select few silver streaks through it, as well as only one ear (he lost the other when he was a soldier). I did a Beautiful People on Echo earlier this month, here. I am not going to dwell on Grant, or the orphans here because they have very minimal effect on the action of the story as of right now.

Lan is a simple Belestinian soldier in scenario #3, remembering a war in the past and the events that ended it so mysteriously, in order to try and figure something out (shh! Present Lan is not known - you only get to see past Lan in this scenario because present Lan will be the connecter in relevance to scenarios #2 and #1). He a simple soldier, who, because of his best friend's death in the war, is determined to end it, with the help of his friend,
Ariff, who appears in more than one scenario, though by name only in #3 with Lan. As you might guess, Ariff is also a soldier, but of a different type than Lan. In fact, he was fighting in the war, and in it knew Echo (when Echo was a soldier. That's why one of Echo's orphans is named Ariff, after Echo's battle-companion). Ariff has black hair and blue eyes.


And lastly, in a scenario which is merely #1, except in a different place, is
Prince Angelo of Nistria, the young king-to-be whom Anwynne is betrothed to, and a troubled young man as well. Inwardly distressed by many of the chaotic things going on that he doesn't know how to reign over, often he merely secludes himself and solves problems quietly. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and is somewhat tall.

Princess Marcina of Nistria is Angelo's younger sister, often trying to find the source of his troubles, but to little avail. She is very fond of Angelo, and - being herself not afraid to ask things of other people - is much of the time confused by his secluded nature and how he deals with his own duties. It distresses her, and she wants to help him... Marcina looks a good bit like her brother, having brown hair and brown eyes and being rather tall for a girl.

Phew! *wipes forehead* Don't worry, that was all of them. ;) But, I had to make up for the lack of snippets, because I'm not going to put any snippets due to my re-writing it in April. :P
What does the plot consist of?
Well, what's going on consists of a) Anwynne trying to make it with her host to Nistria, *spoilers* getting captured by bandits, and trying to escape. *spoilers end* And then b) Lan's story, being relived by Lan himself in order to try and find something he missed a long time ago. And lastly, c) the knight Echo embarking on a quest for Belestine (spoilers!). Oh, actually, I forgot d) the conflict going with Angelo and his sister, Marcina, and her trying to reach out to him. I know. It's complicated. ;) :P
What is the setting?
A pretty early medieval civilization, composed of many different previously warring kingdoms, trying to get peacefully up on its feet.
Who are the favorite characters in it?
So far among readers, the two favorites are Errius and Echo. My personal favorite might also be Errius (shh! Yes, I know taking favorites is bad when you're the author, but I don't care!).
What is the favorite scene?
So far, the favorite scene consists of a challenge between Errius and Rogan, a duel to determine something. I can't say much more without giving spoilers, but I can say as much as that is the current most favored scene by readers.
Any themes of music for this work?
Yes, of course! :) As always. ;) I like to listen to A Time For Us, by Andy Williams, and a lot of his other tragic-sounding songs, I listen to the 2015 Cinderella soundtrack (I know! It's my go-to writing music, to be sure!). And I think the song If I Can't Love Her, as sung by Thomas Hampson would also be a great writing music for this. But the song Alone, or as Il Divo sings it in Italian, Solo (only Il Divo's version, because any other version totally doesn't fit) just perfectly fits the mood of the story. For some reason, also, Mr. Hampson's singing of The Camps Are Hush'd Today reminds me grimly of Lan's part in this story. And I hope to get a LOT of opera listening in (particularly Thomas Hampson, Beverly Sills, David Miller, Kathleen Battle, of course, Il Divo) while I re-write/first-draft it for Camp NaNo.

Any drawings?
I do have one, single drawing for this story of my personal favorite in it, that is, of Errius. But I'm not sure if I want it to be finished or not, so I don't think I'm going to post it today (but I will post it sooner or later!).
Strong point in story?
The strongest point in the writing is probably all of the many twists and turns that are - like murder mystery twists - anticipatable to Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, but unnoticed by the reader until they pop in with a glorious bang. Haha, sorry. I'm a little proud of the twists, and I especially like to rub in the fact of them when I know I have readers of the story in my audience who might give their left leg for the knowledge of what these twists are.
Weak point in story?
I would say the weak point is the names. Because the key to figuring out the plot twists is all in the names of certain people, places, and events. If you knew enough and paid enough attention to these, then you wouldn't have to be Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot to figure at least most of them out.

What are your plans for it?
Well, like I said. In Camp NaNo, I'll be using it to rewrite/first-draft Anwynne's Adventures under the new name of The Pain Of A Memory. Other than that, I want to finish it before its one-year anniversary, which is this June, I think.
Any particular writing habits for it?
Well, I cry a lot for this story. Seriously, this one makes me cry almost as much as Alomina, and quite more regularly. And it has yet to make me laugh. Which isn't good. But, needles to say of whether this story is a sad one, I do have a habit of getting into it very intensely.
Bonus question: If it were made into a movie, who would be your ideal movie cast for it?
Ooh! Um... I think I would have Natalie Portman (Thor; Thor: The Dark World) as Princess Anwynne (because she would do the hot-tempered thing great). As for Errius, let's put him down as... Orlando Bloom? (Lord Of The Rings Trilogy; Pirates Of The Carribean Series) Yeah, that's a good default for any male role. Let's have a slightly modified Christian Bale (Dark Knight Trilogy; Newsies) for Rogan, and black-haired Sophia Loren (Houseboat) as Maid Elystra. And then let's have a brown-haired Katherine Jenkins (a mezzo-soprano opera singer) as Princess Marcina (what?! Yes, I know she's not an actress, but she could be!). And, uh... then a much younger Carlos Marin (A Spanish opera singer/Showtunes performer, in Man Of La Mancha; Beauty And The Beast) as Prince Angelo. I might pick Thomas Hampson (a baritone opera singer and stage actor) to play Sir Echo Torriven. And Lan... could be a teenage Christian Bale...? I know, I know! I already used Christian Bale! But, well, he's a good actor! And at least Rogan could be Bale as in The Dark Knight Trilogy, and then Newsies Bale could be Lan. And then I would take the guy who played Elrond in LotR/ Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger as Ariff (no, I don't know the actor's name).

See? Look at that face! Natalie Portman would be a great Anwynn! Only, she just needs to be blond is all.

And I think that about wraps the important people up, as well as this post. ;)
What did you think? Would you read this book? Do you think I'm nuts for doing Camp NaNo after I hated ordinary NaNo? Who do you think would be your favorite character in it? Does it sound better than the previous Meet The Books! subjects? I'm afraid I must say farewell, because it's extremely likely you won't see another post until May (unless I have time for Beautiful People in April). Have you listened to Thomas Hampson yet?! (Btw, if you haven't, particularly his version of If I Can't Love Her, then you are a poor, sorry little grape indeed.) And I believe this, and maybe Beautiful People, will be the only post until May.