Thesis Inspiration Part 3--"The Swan Princess"

This is it—the final week about my thesis.

For those of you just joining me, I am enrolled in Seton Hill University’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program, and I have spent the last three Mondays (today included) discussing the three kids movies that inspired my thesis. As I like to put it, my thesis is not a kid's book, but kid's movies have a lot of adult themes.

So, check out the two previous posts—Disney’s “Mulan” and “Quest for Camelot”.

And now, I present “The Swan Princess.”
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Prince Derek and Princess Odette have been brought together every summer in the hopes that one day they would wed and join their parents’ kingdoms. Now, as adults, they have finally taken the first steps toward romance. However, said romance is ruined in a moment of dim wits from Derek. Odette and her father return home where Rothbart—an evil enchanter—lies in wait. He kills Odette’s father and takes Odette captive.
Derek discovers this and makes it his personal goal to find Odette and bring her home safely. When he does finally find her, he discovers that Rothbart has placed an enchantment on her that turns her into a swan each day and that to break said enchantment, Derek must “make a vow of everlasting love.”
With the help of Odette’s animal friends, Derek and Odette are brought together but too late. Rothbart’s enchantment has been broken, resulting in Odette’s death. Derek fights Rothbart for Odette’s life and wins only with the aid of his guard and best friend. Odette is revived by Rothbart’s death, and Derek and Odette are wed.
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This movie is clearly a romance. My thesis, however, is not a romance novel (it’s an epic fantasy), but since “The Swan Princess” is where some of the romantic inspiration came from, I feel that now is a perfect time to mention the guest post that went up today on a fellow writer’s blog about working romantic elements into non-romance.

All right, back on track. As I said above, “The Swan Princess” provided some of the inspiration for the romantic subplot of “Saving Edalya” (working title). It can’t take all the credit, though. In fact, “Quest for Camelot” is probably equally responsible just in different ways. As I said last week, I loved the concept of romance in “Quest for Camelot” because it wasn’t about the romance. It was about the quest, and the romance was a bi-product.

As can be noted above, this is absolutely not the case in “The Swan Princess.” It is clear from the beginning that the movie is about Derek and Odette falling in love. And, everything that follows is clearly an obstacle bent on keeping the romantic couple apart.

I’m an only child. Thus, I spent a lot of my childhood hanging out with…well, me. I had a lot of time to make things up—which is probably where my creative mind came from—and a lot of what I made up involved twisting my favorite movies to include a new character. This character was always female, not a princess, and a life-long friend of the hero. In the case of “The Swan Princess,” she was also a guard in charge of protecting the royal family and in love with Derek. In my alternate version, Derek realized that Odette was a wimp and married me. Or, occasionally, he married Odette anyway, and my character was left heart broken. I think I may have been a disturbed child.

Anyway, the important thing I took from all of this was the idea of the prince not ending up with the princess. Thus, Jayleen (my protagonist) is not a princess. She is a girl from a strong military family who burns to be in the military herself. Prince Kylander (my other protagonist) is...well, a prince. (Duh) He has absolutely no interest in Jayleen for some time. And, yes, there is a princess involved but not in the way you might think. Jayleen and Kylander aren’t life-long friends either. As a matter of fact, it takes several chapters for them to even really like each other. No more about Jayleen and Kylander will be said. Read the book when it comes out. *maniacal laughter*

There is also an important element from the end of “The Swan Princess” that found its way into my thesis. I feel, though, that disclosing it would just be giving too much away. So, I will laugh maniacally again and say simply that I promise it will be good.

There you have it. Three weeks, three movies. And now, Friday…there will be a bit of actual text from the story. Stay tuned.

See you out of the box,
Caboodle

P.S. Please check out this blog post about a project to raise money for a fellow SHUer fighting cancer. I’m not directly involved—by the time I heard about it, it was too late—so I’m passing it along as my contribution. Many thanks!

Author Interview--Tiffany Avery

Hello again, and welcome to another writer interview on Fiction Friday.

This week, I present Tiffany Avery. Like me, she’s in her second semester of Seton Hill’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program. And, as usual, I’ll let the interviewee do the talking.

-What book and/or experience made you want to be a writer?

My third grade teacher "punished" us one day and told us to finish a story prompt. It helped me get away from her bullying ways.

-What genre(s) do you write? If more than one, what’s your favorite?

I like Fantasy the most, but I always try to make the fantastical elements somewhat logical or science based. I also use a lot of religious elements. In the case of my thesis, it's the Dead Sea Scrolls and a lot of my own experiences with religion.

-What project are you working on now?

I have my thesis, of course. It's called The Prophet's Chosen. I have a former drug addict and criminal trying to become a minister. (I call them Elders.) He finds out that he's the heir to my version of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but he doesn't think he's worthy of them, so he spends most of the novel running away from his fate.

A recent dream spawned a project that refuses to leave me alone. It's about faeries and other fantastical beings.

-Spoilers?

This is from the thesis novel, The Prophet's Chosen
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Eli rolled to a defensive position and looked around. He’d fallen through what he mistook as a bizarre aquarium filled with quicksilver. It still looked that way, only it was a few feet above the floor. Eli hadn’t remembered the drop, but as he watched, the shape his body left when he passed through it filled in and went back to its lazy movement. He felt peace flow into his mind and body while he stood up and looked around some more. The walls were painted the same shade of violet he’d seen in other temples to Naima. The smell of jasmine was the same. Being here felt familiar, like he stood in the sanctuary or chapel, but on a much smaller scale. The room looked to be eight feet in height and width and dim sunlight shone into the room from two narrow windows about the length and width of his forearm. Everything in the room was bizarrely familiar; he realized when he saw the furniture. A wooden writing desk and chair was to his left, so that meant an altar was to his right. He looked to his right for confirmation and got it.
I’ve been here before. How though? Did I come here with Elder Kingston? No. That doesn’t make sense. That temple is 2500 miles away from here. This can’t be the same place. Eli didn’t see anything of interest on the writing desk, so he took a step toward the altar and heard someone singing. It seemed to be coming from the portrait above the altar. The voice was male, tenor, and sang just loud enough for Eli to recognize the hymn. The children's choir sang it sometimes. He caught himself humming along until he really listened to the lyrics. Eli's eyes widened. The singer had changed the words.

She loves my banana.
I love licking her mango
And her fully ripe melons.
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-For other aspiring writers, any tips?

Write every day. Get a routine. Try your best to stick with it. Start small. One page. 250 words. You'd be surprised at how fast one page a day can add up.

-What’s your favorite book/genre to read?

I like to laugh and I like to think. I've been reading a lot of Steampunk lately, but I'm also reading a space opera, and a fantasy horror.

-What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever written?

I wrote a flash fiction story about a woman who gets her first kiss. It got published in my undergrad's literary magazine.

Want more from Tiffany?

Connect with her on Facebook or check out her Blog.

Revising: Keeping Your Inner Editor Happy

“How do I avoid revisions?”

There’s a way?

Yes, write it perfectly the first time.

If you’re anything like me, this never happens. So, we revise.

The next 30 pages of my thesis novel were due yesterday. I spent the better part of the day fixing the original 30 pages of crap I’d written.

At this point, you may be thinking—“Oh, you’re too hard on yourself. It couldn’t have been that bad.”

It was that bad. One of my crit partners—in response to my Facebook status about needing a miracle to finish my submission by midnight—said to just send it and let him and our other crit partner help. I read that and thought “NO! I’d be ashamed to let another human being read this.”

And, that wasn’t even the worst part. No—the worst part was the fact that I’d already written 30 pages and was, for all intents and purposes, writing 30 new pages. The percentage of original content I had upon completion of said pages was low, and I mean low.

Why do I bring this up? I’m so glad you asked. I’m here this week to give some advice about revising. Given the day I had yesterday, it seemed a fitting topic for this week’s Writer’s Wednesday.

-“DON’T PANIC”
Heed the advice of the above “large, friendly letters.” (“Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reference ftw!)
No, really. Stay calm. Revisions rank up there with synopsis writing—necessary but not very enjoyable for most people. (Side Note: If synopsis writing is giving you issues, I tackled that one in my post last week.)

-Just write the first time
I have a terrible time with this one. I write something that I think is crap and then my inner editor has nightmares about it. However, I learned something in the last month from working on my thesis and a YA fantasy project—if you don’t keep writing, nothing gets written. Duh, right? But, think about it. If you’re too busy revising, you’re not writing. And, honestly, if you revise now or when all’s said and done, you’re going to spend the same amount of time revising. Get the words on the page. Seeing your word count go up makes the project seem more manageable and promotes a sense of accomplishment.

-Make notes of things to go back and fix
For me, this pertains especially to that ya fantasy I just mentioned. The background is driving me nuts, and it keeps changing. I have a MS Word file of background. I read it, think “that doesn’t work,” and change it. And then, a few days later, I do that again. Oh, and to make this even more fun, every time the background changes, I think of something that I’ve already written that needs to change. So, to save my inner editor some stress, I make notes of what I need to go back over. This has a few benefits. It makes me feel productive, allows me to keep writing without forgetting what I need to still do, and lets me adjust the direction of the story as needed.

-Break the rules
Every so often—again with the ya fantasy—there are things that you just need to fix RIGHT NOW!!!! (I’m fine.) If it's weighing so much on your conscience that you can’t continue the story or if the change will do so much that you end up with a new story, go back and fix it. Just remember to keep writing—keep that word count climbing. But, don’t torture yourself over one or two edits.

This last point, though, also opens a can of worms, which I will leave for discussion because I think the answer is different for everyone. Where do you draw the line between revising and rewriting? For our purposes, I define rewriting as a situation in which the revisions cause the story to become a completely different story—as in you could have two novels the original and the new one. It’s important to know this because…well (and I’ve done this)…it’s no fun having two novels in one. The separation process takes quite a while. Also, if the first half of a novel tells one story and the second half tells another…that could cause problems.

Thoughts?

P.S. For any “Hitchhiker” fans—check out my post about the Original Radio Show.

Thesis Inspiration Part 2--"Quest for Camelot"

***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***
If you attempted to click on a link in any of my previous posts, they did not work. This has been fixed. Blogger and I had a minor dispute over proper html format. I won, and Blogger is now awaiting trial. So, if you go back and click on stuff, it will take you there now. Lol.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. This Monday is week 2 of thesis inspiration. Last Monday, today, and next Monday are dedicated to the three children’s movies that inspired my thesis novel for Seton Hill—Disney’s “Mulan,” “Quest for Camelot,” and “The Swan Princess.”

So, without further a due—“Quest for Camelot.”
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Based in Arthurian Legend, “Quest for Camelot” tells the story of Kayley—daughter of a Knight of the Round Table—and her dream to become a knight. Her world is turned up-side-down with the death of her father at the wicked Sir Ruber’s hand. Ten years later, Kayley’s world is further turned to chaos by the theft of Excalibur—King Arthur’s famed sword—and the arrival of Ruber at her home. Kayley escapes Ruber’s watchful eye and flees to the Forbidden Forest where Excalibur has been lost. There, she meets Garrett—a blind hermit who is as good a fighter as any knight—Devon and Cornwall—two heads of a dragon that refuse to get along—and Aiden—a silver-winged falcon. With the help of her new companions, she finds Excalibur and returns it to Camelot only to be intercepted by Ruber. With Garrett’s help, Kayley defeats Ruber and saves Camelot. She is knighted by King Arthur and finds herself in possession of everything she’s ever wanted—knighthood and Garrett.
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That’s a lot. I did say last week that “Quest for Camelot” had the largest impact on my thesis. I wasn’t kidding.

Some similar themes between “Quest for Camelot” and “Mulan” in terms of my thesis. A form of the military figures prominently in both. Jayleen—my protagonist—desires nothing more than to be admitted into the Royal Guard—thirty elite soldiers charged with the protection of the royal family. Like King Arthur’s knights, the members of the guard ride on horseback and are formidable warriors. I can’t say that the idea of the Royal Guard came directly from the knights, but the Round Table certainly had a hand.

Jayleen herself—I originally gave Jayleen auburn hair (similar to Kayley’s). Then, my mentor pointed out that the red-headed heroine was a bit overdone. I privately fumed at this. It wasn’t true. I mean, the red-headed heroines that I can think of are only Kayley, Kahlan (“Sword of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind), Ariel (“The Little Mermaid”), Thumbelina, Merida (“Brave”), Ce’Nedra (“The Belgariad” by David Eddings), and Anastasia (from the 20th Century Fox animated feature). Err, all right—maybe it was overdone. So, I relented and made Jayleen’s hair sable brown. It actually fits her better.

That said, I did base a lot of Jayleen off of Kayley. Jayleen looks up to her father—general of the army and captain of the Royal Guard. Jayleen also finds herself in a situation where she reluctantly, at least initially, has to work with a member of the opposite gender. In her case, though, there are two members of the opposite gender—Crown Prince Kylander and, in different ways, her brother—Julian.

Okay, Jayleen—you’re a spotlight hoarder. Step aside so I can talk about the overall impact of the movie on my thesis. The idea of Camelot—the powerful kingdom—had an impact as well. It’s in no way based on Camelot, other than being a powerful kingdom, but that’s where the idea of Edalya came from.

Most important, at least to me, I will now talk about the romance. Is there any, yes. Do Jayleen and the Prince end up together—not saying. What I will say is that, regardless of whether they do or not, they are given real reasons to grow together. What does this mean? As I say in my post about “Tangled,” the romantic couple is given a chance to get to know one another and fall in love for the right reasons. Kayley and Garrett do this as well. They fight, run, and struggle their way through the Forbidden Forest until Ruber wounds Garrett. In that moment, Kayley and Garrett realize they’re in love. Corny, maybe, but it wasn’t love at first sight, and it wasn’t “I haven’t even really looked at you but let’s get married.” It’s real.

All righty, I think that just about wraps it up. Next week will conclude the Thesis Three (I just made that up, and it’s catchy) sequence with “The Swan Princess.” And, next Friday—could it be? Spoilers?

See you out of the box,
Caboodle

P.S. Check out my duet (thanks to my duet partner) of “Looking Through Your Eyes” from “Quest for Camelot. I’m working at getting “On My Father’s Wings” up as well, but life keeps happening. Stay tuned.

Author Interview--Matt O'Dwyer

Hi folks,

Another Seton Hill WPFer interview.

This week we have Matt O’Dwyer in the hot seat. Like me, he’s enrolled in Seton Hill’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program, but he’s in his first semester. And, here he is.

-What book and/or experience made you want to be a writer?

I started writing seriously in high school. My teacher, Eddie Miller, was wonderful and very encouraging. In college, I enrolled in about fourteen writing workshops. I primarily studied fiction with an amazing novelist, Mark Powell. His passion for writing, along with his ability to help others with their writing, has definitely had a profound impact on my life. I also had a heavy interest in poetry. My professor for poetry, Terri Witek, is truly gifted and taught me so much about writing. I don’t know exactly when I chose writing as a profession. I do know that by the time my senior year came around, I wasn’t considering anything else.

As for a book that really made me want to write, I guess that would be The Lord of the Rings. That was my first true fantasy experience and I loved it. I also always had a love for comic books. I was (and still am) a big Spider-Man fan. I know that for a long time I thought it would be cool to write for comic books.

-What genre(s) do you write?

I primarily write fantasy. In undergrad, my mentor told me to step away from fantasy and read/write other things. It was a wonderful experience and one that definitely made me grow. When I went back to writing fantasy, I saw it with fresh eyes and fell in love with it all over again.

-What projects are you working on now?

I have two projects that might end up turning into one. The first is a short story called “Ajaer’s Will.” The second is my thesis project, which is untitled at the moment. I have a feeling that the short story might work pretty well as a prologue for the novel.

In the short story, I was addressing the idea of a protagonist that (by the end) could actually be the antagonist. In the novel, I’m looking to address magic at an extreme cost. Brandon Sanderson had some wonderful posts on his blog about hard magic, soft magic, and how to construct interesting systems. I would recommend “Sanderson’s Laws” to anyone, if only to hear his opinion (and he’s very clear about it only being an opinion) on magic systems and why they work or don’t. For the novel, that’s all I can really say right now.

-Spoilers?

This is an excerpt from my short story “Ajaer’s Will,” it’s the very first page.

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“Lay your blade to our throat, king’s envoy,” the creature said. It stood like a pillar among the falling snow, as if the world had been erected around the monster.

“Ajaer’s envoy, creature, and I wouldn’t think too dull my blade on your husk,” Vernil said. His gloved fingertips rested at the buckle of his belt while he tried not to tremble. He looked into the creature’s eyes, black with white in the center, obsidian veins crawled from the sunken orbs and faded across swirling white skin. From afar, the abomination looked like the living incarnation of a pearl. It was smooth and hard like a river-washed stone, even though it appeared slick. Vernil knew better than to drop his guard or draw his sword, he knew that a normal blade couldn’t even make a notch on that skin.

“No? Not better than the others? You have seen others like us before. Maybe you scratched your blade on them. Men think we are soft because we share a shape, not you. You know more than the rest, you know better than to fight.” The creature tilted its head slightly to the right and smiled, showing a set of sharpened teeth the color of coal.

“Ajaer’s Breath has given me wisdom where others have courage, creature.” Standing slightly taller than the thing, Vernil narrowed his eyes and looked at the village behind it.

“Not so much wisdom as to avoid insulting us. Do you tell stories about my people? Do you tell them to your young? Tell them about creatures? Honor me, envoy, with a story of Ajaer. Should we worship this thing? Does the god have time for us?”

“Ajaer’s thoughts have never strayed from his people, the hearts and minds of men.” Vernil’s toes curled, his blackened leather boots were encased in the snow that whipped around them. The wind cut through his heavy cloak, it severed him from any thought or hope of warmth. Vernil wouldn’t move to wrap the cloak tight, not in front of the creature. It wasn’t cold, it had no wrappings, no weapon, and showed no concern in its voice, a deep rumbling with a sharp rasp at the end and a habit for calling itself “we” and “us.” Vernil pushed thoughts from his mind. “You could worship Ajaer, as I do, though I do not believe your words would carry in the wind.”
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-For other aspiring writers, any tips?

Always know more than you intend to put on the page. For fantasy writers, that might mean knowing more about the history of your specific world. You’ll see it creep into the story. A character might reference a historical event in some random scene. I think the reference will seem natural because you didn’t make up the event for that specific conversation.

Other than that, find readers and listen to their critiques. I sat in a workshop during my sophomore year of undergrad where everyone in the room pounced on half a page of dialogue that didn’t work. I didn’t think any of their suggestions really worked either. However, that didn’t change the fact that my scene didn’t run as smoothly as I intended. Over the years I’ve learned that there’s something to take away from every person’s critique. Even if a reader doesn’t know how to fix your scene, it’s important to know if the scene doesn’t quite work in its current state.

-What’s your favorite book/genre to read?

My favorite genre is definitely fantasy. I just love the complex characters that seem to come out of fantasy.

I don’t think I can choose just one book. My favorite series within the fantasy genre is A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. I also have to mention The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I don’t think I could ever choose between Martin’s books or McCarthy’s. Both authors have greatly influenced my writing, as well as my studies.

-What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever written?

A poem that I wrote during my senior year of college called “Crush.” There’s something about it that just hits me every time I go back to it. There’s a visual element to it, the way it’s displayed on the page. I was also thinking of someone very special to me when I wrote it. I think I’ve written better stories, maybe even better poems, but I love that one.

Thank you very much, Mary, for offering to do this interview. Your questions made me reflect on some things I hadn’t really thought of in a while.

You are very welcome, Matt, and thank you very much for your insightful responses.

Want more from Matt?

Check out hisBlog.

Visit his author page on Facebook or follow Matt on Twitter.

Want to get in touch with Matt?
Email Matt O’Dwyer!

Synopsis Writing: Before or After--That is the Question

“We love synopsis writing!” Say it with me. Ready, go. “We love synopsis writing!” I can’t hear you!

And, if you’re sane, that’s a good thing.

I haven’t met the writer yet who likes writing a synopsis. Personally, I hate them. However, I’ve come to understand that, like dentist visits, they are necessary but extremely painful and not enjoyable.

So, what’s all the hate about? We all know the many, many, many, many, many…many… (anyway) reasons why writers hate synopses.

-I wrote this wonderful book, and you want me to tell all of it in 2 pages?!?!

-This is important, but that’s important too. The entire book is important. What can I possibly cut out?!?!

-What if I write the synopsis and then the book looks nothing like it?!?!

You get the idea.

So, there’s no happy way to write a synopsis. Is there, however, a good time to write the synopsis. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said “you can’t possibly write the synopsis without finishing the book first.” I then—partially out of necessity—proved myself wrong.

My synopsis and project approval form for SHU are due this month. So, like any desperate writer, I sat down with a how-to synopsis book and set to work plotting my demise…err, synopsis. At this point, I’d written about seven chapters of my thesis—not even scratching the surface—so, for all intents and purposes, I hadn’t really started the novel. I expected to crumple to the ground, cry, bang my head on the floor in hopes of falling unconscious, and scream “I’m not worthy!” I’m pleased to announce that I did none of the above; though I did consider crying.

Actually, the synopsis came more easily than I thought possible. And—wonder of wonders—it helped. I went in with a vague outline of the plot etched in my mind and in bullet point form in an MS Word document. I twisted it all around, added some transitions, put it into complete sentences, and a miracle occurred. The gaps filled themselves in.

I kid you not.

The weak links in the story—the parts where I was sure it would fall apart—they wrote themselves. Where I had a loose idea and a desperate need for things to work out before, I now have a real event that enhances the story. I jumped for joy, spun in circles, and flapped my arms like a chicken. All right, that last part’s a lie.

How did I do it, you ask. I will attempt to break it down. Please remember, though, that synopsis writing is not an exact science. What works for one will not work for all.

-Step 1 – establish what absolutely needs to happen in the story
There are some events that just need to happen or the story can’t move forward. Find those. Make friends with them. Write them down so you don’t forget them. These are the backbone of a synopsis. Without those, there is no story. All the middle details can change. Heck, the exact happenings of the essential events can change. But, those essential events themselves need to happen. And, they need to be in your synopsis—at least a synopsis of any length. Tip: For shorter synopses, simply pick out the most essential of the essential events. For longer ones, add less essential but still important events.

-Step 2 – how do your POV Character(s) feel about said events?
A synopsis is not a play-by-play. It’s not a laundry list of events. It’s a story about your story. Find your POV and other essential characters. Add them to the event list. For the POV character(s), get inside their heads. How do they feel, react to, come to terms with the events? Do the events change them? How? In the synopsis, you may tell not show, but tell well.

-Step 3 – Final touches
Add transitions when jumping between characters, from place to place, or over periods of time. Double check to make sure emotions have been inserted in a way that makes the synopsis sound like a story rather than a list of events. Begin with a theme, hook, or (in the cases of stories with much background) a detailed description of everything that needs to be known but would not fit in the synopsis itself. End strong. In the case of “first book in a series” syndrome, add a paragraph or two at the end about events of following books.

Put it together and what do you have…?

If anyone says “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” I will hurt you.

Other things to remember:

-write in third person, present tense
-write in the same overall tone of the story (serious, upbeat, funny, etc.)
-use standard manuscript format (12 pt font, clear font such as Arial or Currier, double spaced, header with page numbers/your name/abbreviated title of manuscript on the top left)
-It’s only a synopsis. It won’t hurt you. But, also, remember that it’s a story. A second set of eyes can bring clear what one cannot.

While I’m here, I recommend the how-to book I read last semester—“Writing the Fiction Synopsis” by Pam McCutcheon. It saved my life. Okay, not literally, but you get the idea.

Anything to add? Have any award-winning synopsis tips to pass on? I encourage discussion. We’re all in the same boat with synopsis writing, and I know I’ve only scratched the surface.

Thesis Inspiration Part 1--Disney's "Mulan"

First—the answer to the question posed in last week’s post.

Which actor has been in every Pixar movie, and who did he play in “Brave?”

Answer—John Ratzenberger, and he played Gordon.

All right.

“Let’s get down to business to defeat….”

Actually, we’re not defeating anything. This Monday and the following two Mondays will be a triplet set. I will introduce, comment on, and explain my connection to the three movies that inspired the novel that is my thesis for Seton Hill.

First, a little background on my thesis. Last week, I did an interview on a fellow SHUer’s blog—Amarilys Acosta. Check out the interview and her blog here. My thesis novel is—at least for right now—titled “Saving Edalya” and may be summed up by the old adage “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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Jayleen Rothwell (daughter of Edalya’s army general and Royal Guard captain) and Crown Prince Kylander Cammoleer (air to the kingdom’s throne) paths would never have crossed if not for the academy. Jayleen—out of a desire to protect her home—and Kylander—on his father’s orders—partake in military training. It is an off-base assignment, and the attack on Jayleen and Kylander’s force, that bring them, if reluctantly, together. After Jayleen saves Kylander’s life, the two form a tenuous alliance. But, as time passes, relationships are strained, and attacks become more frequent, Jayleen and Kylander must learn to put aside their differences—and even grow together—to keep one another alive. Evil has a way of slipping into the night, and it’s not until it’s too late that the two realize just how deep corruption can run.

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So many details, not enough time.

In any event, back to the interview I did. You can see in said interview, that the three movies in question are Disney’s Mulan,” “Quest for Camelot,” and “The Swan Princess.” Yes, these are all children’s movies. No, my thesis is not a children’s book. But, as you can see in my post from a few months ago about Disney’s “Tangled” and last week’s post about Pixar’s “Brave,” there is much to be found in children’s movies that can be applied to adult audiences.

So, without further comment and to keep with the quotation above,” this week, I begin with Disney’s “Mulan.” The story of a young Chinese woman who can’t seem to fit into her role in society, “Mulan” shows the courage, honor, and caring of the title character as she disguises herself as a man and takes her ailing father’s place in the imperial army.

Right away, there are a lot of adult themes here—responsibility, doing what’s right even if it means putting yourself in harm’s way, protecting those we care about. All of these themes make an appearance in my thesis novel. There’s more than that, though.

As is probably obvious, the military figures prominently in both “Mulan” and my thesis. I loved “Mulan” growing up—still do—and the reason I love it so much is because it’s different. Mulan takes matters into her own hands. She does what she needs to do to keep her father alive, regardless of the consequences.

Originally, Jayleen was the only female ever to join the Edalyan army. I quickly replaced this idea when I realized the logistics of making it work. Not that I couldn’t do it but that it would take away from the story I really wanted to tell. It wasn’t about a woman making a stand. It was about a person doing what’s right, protecting those she cares for, and chasing her dreams. Mulan represents all of this and more to me. She’s not the traditional Disney female—nothing wrong with the traditional Disney female. She is a strong, brave, strong-willed young woman—what I have made Jayleen.

The other thing I loved about Mulan is that she didn’t need a man. Yes, she falls for Shang, and if you watch or Google “Mulan2,” you will see ***SPOILER ALERT*** that she and Shang do marry. But, that’s movie 2. I’m talking about movie 1. Mulan goes and does—love comes later.

As is the case for Jayleen. Yes, she and Kylander are main characters. Yes, they work together. Do they end up together—read the book when it comes out. That’s the power of authorhood—keeping readers wondering—oh, and killing off characters for fun. Anyway, I wanted Jayleen to be her own person. She has a twin brother who makes her nervous, but everyone has a weakness/issue. That’s hers. I’m confident she’ll work around it…

That concludes Part 1. Tune in for next week’s edition—“Quest for Camelot.” That one had probably the largest impact. ***ERR, was that a spoiler?***

P.S. Check out my recording of “Reflection” on YouTube.