Notes

Calvert from Roanoke has been nominated for Best Villain at the Some Kind of Wonderful Romance Awards. So, if you love to hate Cal, you may want to check it out to vote here.

Looking for a good forum on fictionpress? Looking for a way to get good, detailed reviews? Check out the Review Game. The main purpose of the forum is a kind of review tag, but it's mostly frequented by some good writers who like to have serious (or not-so-serious at all) discussions about writing. It's a really great group of people. They also do a Review Marathon every month. The purpose is to review as many people as possible during 48 hours (within the marathon's rules for acceptable reviews).

News

5 Feb 09: I leave in less than a month. Wish me luck. :)
19 Jan 09: Chapter thirty of Roanoke posted.
14 Jan 09: Chapter twenty-nine of Roanoke posted. Just four left.
4 Jan 09: First update of 2009! Just over two year since I started Roanoke. Chapter twenty-eight of Roanoke posted.
29 Dec 08: New poll created!
29 Dec 08: Chapter twenty-seven of Roanoke posted.
21 Dec 08: Chapter twenty-six of Roanoke posted.
14 Dec 08: Chapter twenty-five of Roanoke posted. Only eight more to go!

Reviews

For those who I reviewed: If I came across as a little harsh, don't be offended. I'm not going to bother reading a single page if it doesn't look promising. When I spend several paragraphs telling you everything I didn't like, take it as a sign that I liked it as a whole. I'm not going to gush over a story and gloss over the constructive parts of my review just to sound nice.

I will happily return reviews if asked. Feel free to ask me in a PM or at the end of a review (but please don't review just for the purpose of asking me to return a review). Let me know which story you'd like reviewed and if there's anything in particular you'd like me to focus on.

If you would like to exchange detailed critiques, let me know. I can't make any promises, but if I get a good critiquer I always like to return the favor. Again, if I give a long critique, it means I liked your story enough to tear at the details

About Me

Name: Jessie

Age: 24

Occupation: Army Engineer

Hobbies: Fencing, writing, shooting, running, crossword puzzles, coffee (yes, that is a hobby), and watching football and basketball.

Music I like to listen to while writing: Delta Goodrem, U2, Natalie Merchant, Tracy Chapman, Dixie Chicks, Rusted Root, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Vienna Teng, Imogen Heap, Josh Groban, Jimmy Eat World, Pink, Peter Gabriel, Moby, Trapt, and whatever happens to be on the radio.

Every year I take part in something called National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel within the month of November. It's pretty fun, and thousands of people do it all over the world. Most regions even have get-togethers at local coffee shops. The forums are very busy and if you need suggestions or help on something, there's almost always at least ten people who are willing to give their input. I highly suggest trying it out if you're like me and have always had trouble finishing a novel-length story. You can read my nano novel 'Too Far Gone' here.

Stories

If you're looking for one story in particular to read, I recommend Roanoke.

Roanoke: This is my most recent story and one of the ones I'm currently working on. It's also probaby my best of the three that I have on fictionpress and I'm having a lot of fun writing it. It's a steampunk fantasy about a woman named Riley Tucker who has been sentenced to life in prison for murder and treason. She's rescued by the crew of the Roanoke, one of the largest battleships in the fleet of Sanctia, a small kingdom trying to rebel against the Empire. They offer her freedom in exchange for joining their cause. However, her history is deeply tangled in Imperial politics, much more so than they think, and in a fight against the Empire there's no way she can avoid her past.

Progress:

Expected Length: 100,000 words (33 chapters) Written: 92,000 words (30.5 chapters complete) Posted: 30 chapters

Too Far Gone: This was my NaNoWriMo 2006 novel, and although I reached 50,000 words, it's not yet done. I'm posting new chapters of what I have finished every week or so. Be warned, however, that because this is a nano novel, it was rather hastily written. I'm proud of it, but I have no intention of ever trying to get it published. This is a science fantasy about a young mother who discovers that she's telepathic after her daughter supposedly dies in a gas line explosion. She becomes convinced that her daughter is alive and sets out to find her, even though doing so may cost her her own life. Jack, her husband, is just trying to deal with his daughter's death and is struggling to be supportive of his wife when he thinks she's going crazy.

Somewhere Home: A modern fantasy I started a while ago which I recently started rewriting. I'm not going to add to what is already there, so if you choose to read the first three chapters be forewarned that the rewrite is taking on a very different direction. It's about Olivia, a girl who is kidnapped by a sorceress who wipes everyone's memories of her existence.

If none of the stories here interest you, I suggest taking a look at the fictionpress authors and stories under my favorites. There's some great fiction out there.

Tracks: Another fantasy I started, was very excited about, and then got writers block for. I'm not giving up on it, though. The idea came to me when I was reading about changelings and I started imagining a girl who gets accused of being one because of superstitious rituals. Summary: Nan's station in life has changed for the better due to her mother's advantageous marriage to the prominent Sir Jerald. But when her new stepfather accuses her of being a changeling, she's forced to flee from everything she's ever known.

Hostages to Fortune: New story I'm working on. Still a fantasy, but this is more of a romance. It's about a girl who is betrothed to a member of her family's rival House, by order of the King in order to force a peace treaty. She's excited for the opportunity to spy for her family, that is until she meets a magician who is both infatuated with her and determined to stop her at any cost.

Random Bits

I do all of my story planning on a free online wiki site called PBwiki. I've found it very useful because I have everything related to my story in one place and I can access it anywhere that I have internet access. I highly recommend it, if you're like me and like to do a lot of planning. You can make seperate pages that link to each other. So, for instance, for each story I have a page for my general storyline, my characters, and my random info.

Music

I often select particular songs for each chapter I write. They may or may not have lyrics that have anything to do with the chapter. They're more what -I- listened to while writing the chapter, not necessarily what fits the scene best. In case anyone's curious, here's what I have for Roanoke:

Chapter 1: "Evacuating London" - Narnia Soundtrack
Chapter 2: "Revolution" - Tracy Chapman
Chapter 4: "Hope on Fire" - Vienna Teng
Chapter 6: "Everything Burns" - Bed Moody
Chapter 7: "Eileen's Song" - Burlap to Cashmere
Chapter 8: "The Walk" - Imogen Heap
Chapter 9: "Dreaming" - BT
Chapter 10: "More Than This" - Peter Gabriel
Chapter 11: "One of These Mornings" - Moby
Chapter 12: "An End Has a Start" - The Editors
Chapter 13: "Bling (Confessions of a King)" - The Killers
Chapter 14: "In the Deep" - Bird York
Chapter 15: "In the End" - Linkin Park
Chapter 16: "I'm Not Dead" - Pink and "Left Outside Alone" - Anastacia
Chapter 17: "Recessional" - Vienna Teng
Chapter 18: "This Time" - Tracy Chapman
Chapter 19: "The Call" - Regina Spektor
Chapter 20: "Take Me Home" - Delta Goodrem and "Headstrong" - Trapt
Chapter 21: "Extreme Ways" - Moby
Chapter 22: "Hide and Seek" - Imogen Heap
Chapter 23: "Predictable" - Delta Goodrem
Chapter 24: "A Dance 'Round the Memory Tree" - Oren Lavie (from the Narnia Prince Caspian soundtrack)
Chapter 25: "Holding On" - Ferry Corsten
Chapter 26: "Somewhere" - Within Temptation
Chapter 27: "Dark Blue" - Jack's Mannequin
Chapter 28: "Can't Take It" - All-American Rejects
Chapter 29: "Let It Rock" - Kevin Rudolf
Chapter 30: "Something Inside" - Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Have a song that you think would really fit a chapter I wrote? If I agree, I'll even credit you with finding it.