My Ships I’m in Love With

For someone who claims to hate romance and has never been in a relationship in her life, I write an awful lot of love-related subplots.

Happy Valentine’s Day, folks. All credit on these photos to pinterest and their creators.

Please send chocolate.

Karis and Cole (The Storyguard Chronicles)

Yes I’m aware who these characters are supposed to be. Don’t argue with me about whether you agree with the ship of those canon characters or not. They just look kinda like my characters.

These two will never see the light of day, but they’re awfully adorable. Cole is brash and foolhardy-verging-on-stupid, and Karis is rational to the point of being irrationally fearful. They end up balancing each other out very well, going on adventures together, and growing up and growing closer. (They start out as thirteen in the first book and end up seventeen in the never-written final book.

They were also my first official “ship,” so even though you’ll probably never see them (unless they magically appear in some other story) they hold a special place in my heart.

Em and Flinn (The Reflections)

Imagine them just a few years younger and in dystopian rather than Renaissance clothes, and you’ll have a perfect image of Em and Flinn. They are a cute, playful couple, with Em being pretty innocent– yet stubborn– and Flinn being much more of a man of the world and…. well, a flirt. 😉

They will hopefully be a couple you’ll get to see within the next few years. 🙂 (Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter for updates about the Reflections.)

Saveh and Leo (THFTWT)

These two are some of the smartest characters I’ve written, and they are drawn to each other’s intellect. Saveh’s an incredibly organized little Slytherin, and Leo’s a Ravendor who knows four languages and will debate you on… literally anything.

and he’ll probably win.

Their book (That’s How Fast the World is Turning) Is currently on hold as I work on some other projects, but I do want to come back to them at some point.)

Adelaide and Alex (The Unnamed Time Travel Story)

You don’t know much about these two, but when a broken ex-assassin and a time-traveller fall in love, it’s chaotic and beautiful and wonderfully messy.

This book has been on hold for a while, but I’d love to write it again at some point. I really loved the characters

Celeste and LA (Secret Project 😉 )

Yes, I know who these characters are. Personality-wise, Celeste and LA don’t have a toxic relationship that…eheh… blows up in the end.

Celeste and LA probably are my favorite relationship besides Em and Flinn. I haven’t actually gotten to writing their relationship yet, as the book is progressing rather slowly, but what I’ve plotted out makes me smile. A lot. LA is also extra fun because he’s Puerto Rican and comes with a giant, fun-loving family. Oh, and this book is set pretty close to where I live, so that’s always a plus.

And there you have it folks– a majority of my “canon” ships. There are a couple left out for spoiler reasons and such, but that covers most of them. What do you think about those ships? What are your favorite book-ish ships?

Also, tip for authors trying to find “ship” photos for your characters– Use characters that look like your own characters (E.g. Hermione ) and then look up fanart of those characters with another character from that world (E.g. Draco.)

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The Official History Of The Alliance Of Leviathan

In the year 2504, Lawrence Taimon and his followers swooped into Russia during the end of the second Russian Revolution. In a matter of weeks, they took over and established Russian peace for the country and the surrounding nations. While some suggested calling Taimon’s country “New Russia” or some form of the original name, Taimon decided that though sharing similarities with communism, he didn’t want the country to sound communist. Therefore, he decided to completely change the name, and soon Russia was called Leviathan, after the Biblical monster. 

The first forty years of Leviathan flowed smoothly, forming treaties with other nations until nearly the entire world became allies with Leviathan. The United States, however, stubbornly refused to involve themselves for fear of a ninth world war. As Leviathan grew more powerful, but not domineering, other governments began to propose that their countries join with Leviathan to form an international country– and an international world peace. Most of the countries did merge, with the exceptions of Brazil, Germany, South Africa, and the United States who were all hesitant or straight up unwilling to join what became known as “the Alliance of Leviathan.”

Then, almost exactly fifty years after the beginning of the Alliance, tragedy struck. A terrorist group from the United States, known as Killing  Eagle, attacked the capital of the Alliance, killing Lawrence Taimon and many of the other major leaders of the Alliance. The United States president, Alfred Whetherfeild, immediately sent forth an apology on behalf of the U.S., but few believed his good intentions. All evidence pointed to the United States, which had become more and more corrupt over the years, as the brains behind Killing Eagle’s plan. 

Young Darion Farthern, a rising commander in the Alliance and one of the few survivors of the attacks, took over. At only twenty-seven, Father was in charge of over half the world. Farthern used many of Taimon’s ideas, such as a parliamentary-like government and job training for the impoverished, and integrated them with his own. He had seen how rebellion would hurt the ranks of even the strongest armies, and he foresaw the damage small rebel groups would instigate within the Alliance, especially because of the incredible size of the nation. This realization formed into an idea which Farthern would become best known for: The Games.

The Games consisted of agility tests and mental tests, observing the abilities of every competitor. Teenagers from around the Alliance would volunteer to compete in their region’s competitions, because to succeed in the competitions guaranteed one a spot in the prestigious schools that produced so many future Alliance leaders. 

However, the Games weren’t only to pick out the most capable, but the most loyal. If a teenager volunteered, then began to cause mischief, they would be inspected and potentially sent as a worker to the outer regions. Those who excelled continued on to have successful careers.

Time passed, and the countries that had refused the Alliance’s initial offer eventually gave in, allowing themselves to integrate with the Alliance’s government, except for the United States. 

The year Farthern died, only two countries remained in the world: The Alliance of Leviathan and the United States of America. Farthern’s successer, Costein Eirnam, proclaimed the U.S. corrupt, due to the near-constant abortions and euthanizing of anyone who might be considered weak. In his infamous speech at the Council of Tropian, he said, “Nothing can be done for a nation so far gone. It either must be dissolved or destroyed. At some point, when so many are dying, there is no chance for its redemption.”

Eirnam invaded the United States in 2585, completing the temporary peace of the world and thousands of years the world would live under the rule of the Alliance. 

Happy Birthday To Em Gades!

Being a character would be a miserable life, methinks. You’re constantly having the worst of the worst happen to you, your own author is trying to break you as much as possible, and your best friends are dying all around you. (Or you’re dying, as being a side character increases those chances by 31.29838%.) However, the lovely thing about being a character is that you can be sixteen two years ago, seventeen last year, and sixteen again this year because your author is going back and editing– all while being only two years old, because your name wasn’t written on paper until two years ago.

All that to say– Em Renee Gades turns… 18? Maybe? Two?

And as celebration, I ask you to enjoy these lovely pictures from her Pinterest Board.

Character Profile: Nathaniel Schuyler

Full name: Nathaniel Austin Schuyler

Age: Seventeen at the beginning of the series, eighteen by the end.

Birthday: May 3

Born in: Fourth Region of the Alliance

Favourite colour: Red

Favourite food: Anything but carrots, apples, and peanuts. (because allergies.)

Likes: Being kind, following the rules, being safe, hugs, helping people

Dislikes: Too many people, being unsure, conflict, leading.

Nathaniel is a sweet INFJ 9w1. He learns to stand up in the face of conflict throughout the book and not back down under pressure. Unlike most of my characters, Nathaniel is a Christian, and through some more rewriting/edits I plan to make his faith more evident and relevant in the story.

Opening/Closing Lines

“What’s that? A band?”

“Ah.”

[everything else is under rewrite.]

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Happy Birthday to a Character!

Your favorite crazy author is back, y’all. (Okay I’m probably not your favorite. I’m not even my favorite. My favorite crazy author is probably Nadine Brandes. She’s amazing and writes fabulous books.)

Anyways, all that to say, one of my characters, a character who has gone through so many name changes I’m not even sure which one he’s going by at this point, is having a birthday today! So happy birthday Jackson/Mitchel/Michael Leviathan! (I’m like 35% sure I forgot one of his aliases but, y’know, it’s okay.) Unfortunately, because he only lives inside my head and on the paper, he doesn’t actually age. Also he’s born about 900 years from now, give or take, so his great-great-grandmother probably hasn’t even come into this world yet. All that to say, happy birthday to a beloved character who some of my lovely beta readers have abnormal amounts of fondness to. (TBH, he’s not in my top 3 favorites. But he’s still great. :P)

And as a birthday celebration, I shall present some of his aesthetics from his Pinterest board. (I take no credit for any of this stuff. Everything is from the wonderful creators who made it.)

Also, yes, I did forget my favorite two characters’ birthdays (Flinn’s being August 29 and Nina’s being October 17.)

And yes, you didn’t ask for any of those aesthetic photos but, y’know, it’s a party and what says party better than trauma and PTSD aesthetics for a mostly innocent character?

Character Profile: Flinn Waters

Flinn seems to be a favourite of many of my beta readers, so I decided to go ahead and create a character profile for him.

Full name: Flinn Benjamin Waters

Age: Seventeen

Birthday: August 29

Born in: Second Region of the Alliance

Favourite colour: Yellow

Favourite food: Most any Hispanic food, sodas

Likes: Talking, people, history, Em, flirting, exploring, coming up with crazy ideas, having a purpose

Dislikes: Being alone, the dark, people being sad, the rules

Flinn is a crazy, flirty, but altogether sweet character. He and Em get along really well (*winks*) and he would do anything to help her. Actually, he’d probably do anything to help anyone if it’s for their immediant good. Flinn is an ENFP and 3w4.

Opening/Closing Lines

“So, Em.”

“Em. . .”

[everything else is under rewrite.]

So apparently he says her name a lot? I didn’t realize this before.

 

Aesthetics

I realized the other day that Michael, Nina, Em, and Justyn are the only characters I have multiple aesthetics for. If anyone ever made their own aesthetics, I’d be happy to add them to these posts. As for now, though, I’ll just share the collage I made this morning. 🙂