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Drowning Deimos: Character Preview Piece

5/24/2013

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PictureA 17 year-old Amalynne at the beach in Santa Barbara, CA.
Back when I had the body of an underfed twelve-year-old boy, sun tanned skinned, and the long wild hair of a free-spirited adolescent, I wrote about the beach and a home beneath the water. My passion for sun soaked days and salty sea air inspired a character that steered the course of the novel series that has been brewing in the back of my head since youth. 

I'd like to introduce you to Deimos, a key figure in The Company and a piece from my exclusive beta read sample. Our imperfections are beautiful things that should be rejoiced, and sometimes I miss the person that glared back in the picture to the left, because something was so raw about it. This is how I feel about Deimos:

It was a mindless tumble beneath the water, the waves undulating and kicking up foamy ribbons as Deimos let his body limply ride the current in. There was something pleasurable, easy about letting the sea take control sometimes, as though he could release the puppet strings on his own life for a moment and let go. A bright morning sun blinded him when he regained control of his limbs, pushing up through the curls of breaking water. The tide was ebbing back, the blue-green shoals called away from the crescent sandy bay. Some would have thought the water cold, a brisk chattering chill, but Deimos was accustomed, coveting the lonely beach. These were his moments, they had been as long as his memory had served him. The lads knew to leave him alone in the early hours. He could be cold, unresponsive and wait for you to leave. It was the kind of feeling as though you'd intruded on lovers and where therefore awkwardly forced to escape. He would often be asked what he thought about in his time alone, but only a shrug would suffice as he'd mutter, "nothing." This was true. He thought of nothing, felt nothing, because here he didn't have to... here he was at peace with nothing but the lingering smell of sea salt and the crashes of the waves, endlessly tumbling, moved by an invisible force. 

Sometimes he considered that he was jealous of things that were not burdened by choice, waves that lapped because they did, and for no other reason, lifeless things that moved without knowing. How strange it was to be born into this world with so much weighing on choice... and yet Deimos felt no part of the world at all, only part of the spec he had created with the Company. It was always hard to leave those mornings, push out of the water and damply traipse back onto the cool sand, because it meant that he had to choose. I'm sure you don't consider your days so thoughtfully as Deimos chose to. I'm sure, however, that he would have argued that you'd never known the cruelty of absolute freedom. After every morning on the bay, the weight of seven other lives laden his chest, and without questioning his purpose, would devote his mind to their survival. He was a machine of necessity, a sixteen-year-old statue with rigid rules for existence, and all he wanted at the end of the day was to survive, sustain. It wasn't simple by any measure and no one had charged him with the burden but himself, but not matter how easy things got over time, Deimos calculated, faced choice and decided. Drowning would be easy, but every morning he chose not to.*  


-First ever piece for the character Deimos/Demon written in my teens, can you taste the angst? 
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Digital Art piece submit to me after a reader character description request.
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Building a Better Beta - Creations from the Imagination Factory

5/23/2013

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I'm been building some pretty exciting stuff here at my personal imagination factory (aka my laptop, a little help from dreamweaver and photoshop). Preparing for the official beta read for my novel, The Company, I have been compiling all the pieces for a hub and forum for my stellar readers. Not only will there be a brand new website but a full cache of details about the novel, artwork, character spots, and official previews. It will be a great accompaniment to the manuscript that will be in the hands of beta readers within the coming weeks. 

As a supplement to the Beta-Read kit that beta readers will be receiving, an exclusive Beta forum will be available, where readers can connect over ideas and start unique threads, post video blogs on their interpretations, and share their reading progress. I will be using the Beta Read page and all of it's elements to share any updates on my end and keep up with your reading in a weekly Beta Read Video blog. The Company and Beta Read pages will be exclusive for beta readers and password protected. Please provide your email on my contact page if you wish to join the beta group with website previews and the potential to read the full manuscript--early participants will receive a signed copy of the novel after publication. You will note that I am creating amalynne.com, different from amalynneO.com, which is my current home base. All links and updates will be emailed to those who have been invited to the Beta Read event. 

Below are some early notes for the layout of the site I'm building for this beta. I'm so very excited to have the manuscript in the hands of my readers and I look forward to your feedback in all it's shapes and sizes.

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Also, I've been writing to these beats, all hail Bollywood: 
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Writing Niches of SoCal

5/20/2013

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My favorite thing about the bay area is the abundance of creative writing niches and coffee shops usually tucked away in unsuspecting alleyways. Down South we are painfully limited in the way of hideaway cafes. Southern California is forever trapped in a thing I call Suburban Fever, and if you've read my posts before you know I hate it--the suburban part, I still live here for the beach. I recently moved closer to the ocean waters and have sought out new writing niches with pleasant success! I thought I'd share with you a few pictures of my new favorite haunts, especially in the San Diego area which has such a vibrant, bursting creative community it makes me smile :)

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The Impromptu Writing Retreat

5/16/2013

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PictureThe blooming buds in Joshua Tree
Sometimes circumstance sends us to unexpected places, and such a thing happened with me and Joshua Tree. I had long been overdue for some writing solace and it was a highly productive stay-away. I'm usually one for things green and bursting with tropical zen (hence Jamaica), but in a haste to find a place I could focus on prose, homeaway.com led me to my dear Piper's desert getaway she calls Coyote Rest. It was truly adorable, a one bedroom house nestled in the wild, sun-swathed hills of Joshua Tree, and not but a five minute walk from the National Park. I spent most of the time on the shaded back porch looking over the hills as a balmy breeze teased my uncombed, gypsy mama hair, sipping iced green tea and hashing out character drama. It was divine.

In more recent news, I have started to prepare packets for the beta-reading of The Company, which there will be more details for by the end of the week.
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    I like crazy print pants, Thai food, making up words, and living in the worlds in my head. I also write on occasion. 

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