Thursday, October 7, 2010

Rachel

The other of my two main characters, Rachel Newell, offers interesting insight into what is occurring at Newstead, the all boys prep school in northern Vermont.
    Rachel is a loner, having given up on making friends due to her family's love of frequent moves. She is observent, one of her favorite pasttimes being watching people and mocking their oddities. She initally is quite predjudiced and judgemental, making her mind up about Joel before getting to know who he really is and what he is all about. She thankfully, also is her own harshest critic, and is able to see her own mistakes before they cost her everything...

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Nephilim

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heros of old, men of renown.- Genesis 6:4
 This verse had always intrigued me. What exactly did that mean? sons of God?  Further research on my part indicated that Jewish tradition holds that sons of God were fallen angels. The Nephilim a result of their mating with human women, the outcome: monsters beyond imagination. Another verse giving addtional clues: Numbers 13:32b--33- All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there ( the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim) We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. These verse indicate that these people were unusally strong and large. Vampires and Mummies are interesting to be sure, but to write about a monsterous sub culture that actually exhisted, and will again? That was to much temptation for me to pass up.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Joel Cranston

Today I am going to write a brief note about one of the main characters of my novel THE NEWSTEAD PROJECT.
Introducing: Joel Cranston
       Joel is a sixteen year old overgrown teenager who has never fit in anywhere. When he arrives at Newstead and sees dozens of other six foot something teenagers he thinks he has finally found the place he belongs.  Until he sees that their differences far outway their similarities. Its true, size is not everything. 
        In developing my Joel character I did an indepth study of two Davids, My husband of almost fifteen years and the original, King David. I wanted Joel to be similar to my husband in that Joel is secure in who he is, a witty sense of humor and has very strong morals. With concerns to King David I wanted Joel to be creative (writing poetry), loyal, and able to induce strong emotional responses in others. You either love him or you hate him. There is no middle ground. 
       Joel's character evolves as he meets other main characters, never changing from who he is.  He just becomes more of who he already was.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tuesday already

As promised I am updating my blog every Tuesday for all of my followers (hi mom) .  I am currently working on the second draft of THE NEWSTEAD PROJECT as well as working on the first draft of the second book in that series. It has been a blast getting to know my characters, even if no one gets to know them but me. When I am at work at my day job ( a registered psychiatric nurse) I always tell people, when asked what they should do with their lives: Do the one thing you would do even if you weren't getting paid. So with that thought in mind I continue to write, loving every minute of it. Take care and God bless. See you on thursday, Melanie

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Welcome