Katie Runyon

Don’t you just love when the need to write grips you-even at 4am when you should have been asleep hours ago? And you’re filled with excitement and enthusiasm? Your mind keeps churning away and you can’t even think about anything else? Well that was me last night. Besides the temporary high, something good might just have come out of it.

It might have all began around 11 last night, when I started getting the rest of my scene summary figured out so I could actually get chapter 7 of Legendary Race finished today. So the juices were flowing a little late anyway. Then when I finally shut off the TV and rolled over to sleep…as it sometimes does…my imagination got the best of me. I began writing things down, bits that might be included in my current story or even in another one down the road. The first bit read like this:

She saw a shadow emerge on the wall. The figure hunched over, reaching for her. She could feel it creeping ever closer.

Then my mind just jumped from here to there. I wrote down anything that came to me-never knowing when something might actually be worth remembering after I’ve had around 4 hours of sleep…It is a bit embarrassing, but I’ll include it for your enjoyment anyway. The little bits and random thoughts went something like this:

It seems my best ideas-or at least a constant flood of semi-coherent ones-come when everyone else is asleep and I’m awake in the dark with my imagination running wild.

Which I used for my Twitter/Facebook accounts this morning.

There are so many stories to tell, so how do you choose just one?

That, I still don’t have an answer to. And if anyone else does…kindly let me know!

I’ve never hated any of my characters-even the innately evil or insane ones. They may be flawed, but they are only human after all.

This probably stemmed from a question posed in the Have You Ever? thread in my forum which asked, “Have you ever killed off a character because you hated him/her?”.

Where is the honor in dying? If you want honor, find a way to pull your ass out of the fire and survive instead.

This is something that seems like one of my characters might say. It’s also something I’ve thought about from time to time.

If falling on ones sword is so honorable, why not show them [your enemy] honor by helping them fall on your sword instead?

A variant of the bit above.

But I also moved beyond these random, silly thoughts and onto something bigger….A possible new story idea!? It would be my first modern day story and probably more supernatural than fantasy.

Have you ever caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye? It bet you thought it was just your imagination, right? So did I. But now I know better. And soon, so will you.

Lauren is an18 year old girl, just finishing high school and thinking about going off to college. For as long as she can remember, she’s seen things out of the corner of her eye and felt as if something was there in the dark. Of course, Lauren dismisses it, thinking she’s either paranoid or her overactive imagination is to blame. But one day, she finds that it is all real. What Lauren has really been seeing is glimpses into another world as the veil between them thins. But now it has split open and creatures from the other side are slipping through. Being the only one who knows, she decides she must do something. But she is terrified and at first no one believes her. Until she finds out that she is not alone after all. There are some who know about the other world-who have seen what is happening. And with their help, Lauren will attempt to stop it before the veil is torn open for good and all the evil of the other realm is unleashed on Earth.

So, that is basically it…all I have. But it is something and possibly the next book on my plate after A Princely Betrayal (but I’ll only get to that one after I’ve finished Legendary Race). I think some of it may have been slightly influenced by this. It is a bit different of course, but it might have helped snap things together after reading through it earlier in the day.

So I don’t know…what do you think? Have you seen something like it before? Does the idea sound silly? It is a waste of my time?

Since you all waited so patiently…I took more than a 2 month break. So next time, don’t wait so patiently! How am I supposed to get any work done otherwise?

My return is bittersweet. That is, it’s good…it’s bad…it’s right…it’s, well not wrong for writing could never be wrong, but you get the picture. I always like coming back to writing after breaking away from it but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time! Before I know it the day is gone and so is my chance to write, none the less everything else I need to do. Thankfully, I got some good writing days in this week and finished off chapter 3. I’m just not sure how long my luck will last. This time, I had a detailed summary of both scenes. The next chapter might be doable, but after that…

I am looking forward to this book and especially finishing this series (even if it may not be the final ending to the series). Likewise, I am looking forward to moving on to other things. After the last chapter is complete I plan to work on editing Foreseen and maybe even Ariel(my short story). It will be my first real editing and it seems both exhilarating and cringe worthy. On one hand I will be (hopefully) improving my work, getting it up to par with my writing now (which has improved I’ve been told…thank god!), but it will also be a bit distressing changing my firstborn. I almost just want to skip the edit because I’m afraid of changing it from what it is at present, as if I may disfigure it with my horrid attempts at improving it. But most likely not much of the base story will change; I don’t think I have the heart for that yet.

I have not thought anymore about the next book(s) I will be writing, even though I’m pretty sure what it will be. I haven’t even thought all that much about writing at all and this story in particular I want to keep out of my mind for now. When I’m finished, and maybe editing, I should have some time to plan it out. This probably means that, even though I will technically be working on my stories, I won’t be putting out any new stuff for a time. Which will sadden all of you greatly I’m sure!

First and foremost, Legendary Race is in my thoughts. There is still a lot to work out and hurdles to jump over. But I hope it is everything I want (and you expect!) and more.

In delving even further into my upcoming works, in a sense, I figured I’d share some future story ideas. Now there are only a few, since my thoughts have been mainly preoccupied with The Elementi Series, but I do have some fragments of ideas. At this time, I’m only sure that one will be turned into a book. The others are iffy and I’ll have to see how I feel at a later date. Still, I thought I’d share them and see which one(s) you think might make better novels. As ideas, they are subject to drastic changes. And if you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you can probably guess which one is my next book idea of Legendary Race. Anyway, here they are:

1. After a murderous betrayal costs most of the royal family their lives, the only remaining member, and heir to the throne, goes into hiding in order to bide his time. But it is not long before he happens upon a woman whom is much more dangerous than she appears. In fact, she is a member of a skilled and deadly order of magic users, or at least she was before they cast her out and left her for dead. Soon, they agree to help each other in their missions, one in the name of justice and the other in the name of revenge.

2. Afraid of their powers, all magic users are being rounded up and put into prison camps. But one woman decides to take matters into her own hands in an attempt to win their freedom once again. But what will be the cost?

3.When a girl gets the chance to have her wishes granted, she doesn’t hesitate. But nothing is ever that simple. As it turns out, her wishes are twisted in horrible ways, changing the world as she knows it. And on her quest to undo the terrible magic, she must face more death and darkness than she ever wished to.

4.A Seer is a powerful tool for those in power, or who wish to be. So many of those who possess such magic stay hidden. But one young woman had the horrible luck of being found and sold to the highest bidder on the black market. As his slave, she must struggle through intense pain as she attempts to force her visions to present themselves in order to please her master and stay alive. But those visions she receives at night, are ones she fights to keep to herself. Because if anyone finds out about them, it could give them the power to imprison them all.

Which one would you like to see written next?

December has come and gone and I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be. Most of the last month I spent being busy with other things or feeling like I was on my deathbed. Things have been hard, especially the last few weeks and I am just hoping that a new year will bring better times. As far as my progress, I still have not finished the second book I purchased…in fact, I haven’t even started it. I’ve also barely done any plotting or planning for Legendary Race. It doesn’t help that my shiny new book idea is trying to take precedence over this third book. For this reason, and others, I want to finish this book as soon as possible. There are so many different ideas I want to explore that things seem to take so long. But I have no choice but to be patient.

So, let’s talk about what I do know about Legendary Race. While things have taken a completely different direction than I expected when I began The Dark Within, which is a big part of why it’s more difficult to plan, the place I’m taking it hopefully won’t be too disappointing. Now Onisepla will seem even less of a bad guy with the new arrival of The Darkness. And what that means for his own plans, you will have to wait and see. The back story behind The Darkness and the Legendary Race are intertwined. Way back, I posted a spoilery bit on the forum in the Legendary Race section and while it is only a small part of a much larger story (and a bit outdated), it still pretty much holds true. Unfortunately, the things that I don’t know, that I still have to decide, are far greater than what I do know. But I have a decent grasp of the background for those two newcomers. And for those that like Onisepla, don’t fret, he will still play a major part in this book. In fact, we will learn a lot more about him and even meet someone important to him that has been watching him without Onisepla ever knowing.

Now, as for this untitled book that I will be working on after Legendary Race, most of what I posted earlier still holds true. Right now, it is mainly about two characters. The first is a prince, betrayed by someone close to him and forced from his own kingdom after his family is murdered. Of course he plans on doing whatever he has to in order to take back his throne and avenge his family’s murder. But while in hiding he meets a woman in a bit of a similar predicament. She is an elite fighter, and magic user, exiled from her people and left for dead. She wants revenge and will help him as long as he returns the favor after he regains his kingdom. Much of this may change, since that is how it seems to go, but that is the basics of what I know as of now. I’m trying not to think on it too much, wishing to devote my time to Legendary Race first, but sometimes it can’t be helped.

Well, I hope this year brings everyone health and happiness. And for those waiting for the Legendary Race, I’m hoping to start writing soon, so keep an eye out.

Well, we are already 6 days into December and I have more on my To Do list than I planned. A month that was supposed to be a simple, easy time away from projected release dates and the like, is turning into even more. I have my short story to write, which is still untitled and only consists of 3 paragraphs at the moment. Then there is planning for the third book, which is mainly unknown to me still and will have to wait until after I finish my short story.

Of course, this chaos would not be complete without even more going on inside my head, with bits and pieces for the possible next book I will be writing after this third book closes The Elementi Series (either on a temporary basis or more permanent). I had no idea where I would be going, but bits come to me out of nowhere these last few days and I try to write them down. If I will actually be using them for anything, I don’t know. Mostly, it is character information more than plot or story events. About a prince who is betrayed and his family killed, sending him fleeing from his kingdom, where he goes into hiding in order to live another day to work on taking back his crown. And a woman who is part of an elite group of warriors, or at least was before they kicked her out and left her for dead. This is still in very early development and I won’t be intentionally going any further with this until my mind is off the work I’m on now. But things will continue to blossom without much thought, I’m sure.

Anyway, besides that major distraction, I was also hoping to get some work done on my website and I am trying to help another with her novel (which I have been awfully remiss about working on). To add to all of that, I just ordered two books I’ve been looking forward to reading (The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind and Rides a Dread Legion by Raymond E. Feist) and was hoping I could get through those since my reading list has been a bit slim this year. All in all, with the toils of everyday life in the mix, I find myself both busy and distracted. Needless to say, there is not enough time in a day for me at the moment. And the promise to myself of a bit of relaxation without the pressure of time restrictions seems to be cracking under the weight. But then again, life seems a bit boring without my writing. I’ll just have to find the strength and motivation to get things done. So if anyone has some extras, I’d be happy to take it off their hands!