I’m such a lazy blogger

Ah! It’s been so long! I wish I had some great excuse … but I don’t, other than the fact that I’m starting to get sick of looking at the computer. Sitting at the computer for 8+ hours a day means that I have little to no desire to get back on it when I get home.

Eric might tell you that that’s a lie, but whatever. I FEEL like I’m hardly ever on my laptop anymore.

Work has been so slow for the past week or so. It’s just that point in the semester, which means that it’ll get busy again soon enough. I’ve been getting a fair amount of writing done, which is good. I’m at that point where I’m starting to doubt myself, though. I try to stay away from reading what I’ve already written, but when I’m scrolling to the bottom of my document in Google Docs I can’t help but glimpse earlier scenes. And I hate them. My story is good, but my writing just feels … ugh. I know that this is just me being stupid, too, because this is the first draft at my second attempt at this story, and I know in my heart that it’s GOOD. If it wasn’t good then I wouldn’t be wasting my time writing it, would I?

Um, don’t answer that.

I realize that I’ve been very hush-hush about this project, and that’s strange for me. I’m reluctant to let anyone read it until it’s done. Even my dad, despite his constant hint-dropping. Eric has seen the most of it, but he hasn’t read past the first five pages of chapter one, and even those have been changed a bit since then. Eric has been a massive help, though. He puts up with my speculating and ranting and offers advice, and I love him for it. But I’d like to share a little bit of the setting, even if it’s just so everyone can catch a glimpse as to what’s happening inside my head.

I know that I’ve shared this much: the story revolves around the descendants of the Lost Colony. For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Roanoke, here’s the link to the Wikipedia page. In my version of the story, these colonists, face with starvation, decided to leave their island for the mainland. They loaded up everything that they had onto their fishing boats and set off, only to be caught in a terrible storm that swept up the sound. They manage to make it to land, after losing a few people and most of their supplies. However, they don’t end up in North Carolina. Somehow, during the storm, the colonists crossed over to the mythical Isle of Avalon, the magical place of Arthurian legend.

Long story short (and really, a long story – one day I’d LOVE to write about their journey), Avalon isn’t as peaceful as the stories say. It’s actually in the midst of a brutal civil war, as the every-day, non-magic folk struggle to depose Queen Morganne and her Fae court. The English end up on the side of the rebels, and eventually, Queen Morganne is overthrown and executed and magic is outlawed. The English intermarry with the Avalonians, and some – most notably the Dares, Whites, and Spendloves, rise quickly through the ranks and become part of the aristocracy through a series of complicated alliances and political maneuverings.  By 1907, when my story takes place, the English have been in Avalon for over 300 years and the Dares have ruled for the past 70 years. Avalon is prosperous, and at peace with her neighbors of Legonis, Procter, and Atlantea (the remnants of the Lost Roman Legion, the country of Procter John, and Atlantis).

Things in Avalon have been progressing at a rate compared to the “Other World”, i.e., our world, but not necessarily on a parallel path.

There are automobiles, but they are steam powered.
There are dirigibles, because dirigibles are awesome.
There are trains, and an Underground beneath Carodel, the capital city.
There are guns – traditional and voltguns.
There is a limited amount of electricity, mostly regulated to the upper-middle and upper classes.

And because I was watching Downton Abbey last night and geeking out over it, here’s a taste of what everyone’s wearing:

And that’s all you’ll get for now.