Under the Stars and the Moon

Good News for the Future

Today, I thought I'd let you all in on why I've been absent from the blog for so long..again. It's good new, don't worry. I've been accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and the University of Southern Maine in Portland. I've debated between the two and VCU is the probable choice. I'll be able to teach creative writing my first year, live in an apartment off campus and have enough financially so I don't have to worry for at least three years.

The State of the Novel

I also haven't been around the blog much lately because I've been working on my novel for my thesis. I'm nearing the end with just a few chapters left to write. Each storyline lends itself to a dramatic conclusion and each comes together seamlessly with the others, giving me very little to worry or stress over.

The lady on the left is named Amarie, sister to the hero and one of my favorite characters to write. Her outfit was a little difficult. She has the ability to hide and reveal her wings at will, but I needed her to be able to fight and look feminine at the same time.

The character on the right is named Oni, the Oracle in the West and one of the most wicked and yet loving characters in the novel. While most readers so far have mixed feelings about her, Oni is one of the more complex characters and I really enjoy how she can roll the story just by stepping into a scene.

I've developed a fairly strong cast of female characters and while I want them to be beautiful and alluring, I also want them to be developed, as interesting and complex as my male characters. I've hinged several story lines to these two ladies and their choices turn the story near the end.

Philosophical Thoughts on Atoms

Recently, I finished Sophie's World, a beautiful book about the history of philosophy. One of the philosophers, Democritus, believed atoms make up the soul and would fly apart when a person dies. Its such a beautiful idea that I find myself actually hoping that this is how it really is. Phillip Pullman, in his powerful and poignant statement on religion and children's literature, His Dark Materials, describes the idea in language far more eloquent than I can manage.

We'll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass and a million leaves; we'll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was.

-- The Amber Spyglass, Chapter 23

That's all for today. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and the news about grad schools. I'll hopefully be updating more during Spring Break as I finish my novel.

So say we all.
Bri