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Australia: Uluru Waterfalls

[theauryancycle]

2017 #Pitchwars Mentee Hopeful bio

So… here goes!

I’m Sarah White (one of many in the world, but hey, I’m this one:  @sakuramelting on pretty much all platforms: twitter and instagram)

My MS: The missing YA epic journey fantasy between Narnia and Lord of the Rings, remixed into a world reminiscent of Avatar the Last Airbender.

If Maggie Stiefvater or Leigh Bardugo had been one of the Inklings, The People’s Promise might have been the novel one of them wrote.  

Aura Cooper never dreams.  So after her sister’s death, when she wakes from a dream brimming with shadows and destruction, she doesn’t know what to think.  The shadows claw their way into her waking hours, pulling Aura and six other teens from modern Earth to another world, where they are told they are the mythic Knights of its six nations.  They’re tasked to unite the nations in the face of the oncoming threat of war, starting with the island nation Mytylere.  But with their fresh water sources poisoned, Mytylere has bigger problems than reinstating a 400 year old promise given to the original Knights.

Some ingredients I’ve tossed in this pot were:

Narnia + Lord of the Rings + Avatar the Last Airbender + intersectional feminism! + lots of magical girl manga and anime from my childhood + six diverse nations with complex governance systems + Knights and Priests and Councilors, oh my! + weapons + but hey, don’t poke your eye out kid+ Mick Jagger jokes + the divine and the mundane + Angels (but not what you think) (no really not what you think) + shadows and dreams + oops I spilled more dreams in there + uncertain protagonists + unwilling antagonist + traitor Knights + siblings + cousins + friendship, but also fighting +  a dash of water shortage/poisoning + female sailors + mysterious guides + grief and loss + mixed heritage + faith and doubt + disabled protagonist + women in positions of leadership + ooh, that was good, lets add more of that + the threat of war + sacrifices + and snarky one liners to taste

A brief aesthetic taste:

This wine novel would pair nicely with:

Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles – snarky one liners with philosophical musings and intimate character growth!

Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy – heroes unable to use their powers in a situation where they must rise to the occasion anyway.

Seaward by Susan Cooper – otherworldly fantasy that delves deep into grief and growing into oneself.

Would you like to add a side dish of layered objectives and friendship like the Gangsey in Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle?  Or perhaps a touch of relationships forged despite brewing war like Marie Rutkoski‘s Winner’s Trilogy? Or maybe an ensemble cast who all serve important purposes in the narrative like the CW’s television adaptation of The 100?

About the preparation of your meal:

While some may not want to sample outside of their comfort zones, the world is rich with a variety of flavors and dishes. Having taught at a college in classrooms full of women, people of color, trans and nonbinary students as well as disabled ones, my brand of storytelling seeks to see them all find an entry point, and someone to identify with in my work.  I may not be particularly marginalized, but my job as an author is to continue closing that gap of what the market sees as either “sellable” or “to current taste” both by what I put in my own work, as well as diversifying the media that I intake.

About your chef:

I have no idea where all these restaurant analogies came from, but hey, maybe I’m just hungry.  A few of my favorite authors are Lloyd Alexander (if you haven’t read his Westmark Trilogy, please, do yourself the favor), Susan Cooper, Maggie Stiefvater and Nicola Yoon.  All-time top 3 novels:  Seaward , The Kestral and The Scorpio Races. Recent favorite reads have been The Hate U Give, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Scythe, and The Sun is Also a Star.  

My professor once taught me that there’s a difference between a driven and a passionate person. Where a driven person is compelled to achieve greatness in their one selected thing, a passionate person is concerned with the whole, and will rise to the occasion of anything asked of them. I’m definitely a passionate person in this regard, especially where it comes to this story because I’ve been aching to tell it for some time.  I have a lot of discipline (lots of time spent self-employed as a theatre designer) and am also a really open collaborator when it comes to feedback (also all that time in the theatre).

I’m a roamer, having lived all over the US in both my childhood and adult years, but I’ve come to realize home is a place within me where I’m content, and well, home is where the manuscript is.  Or will be when I finish this draft.  Or the next. Or the… you get the idea.

A few quirks – I’m the dad friend of 90% of my friend groups.  When I make food late at night, it’s usually pancakes (maybe I really am hungry).  My friend once described me as the least sketchy person she knows with the sketchiest belongings.  I got a BA in acting to learn character and an MFA in scenic design to learn setting (and I guess, to pay my bills).

So excited for my first #Pitchwars and many thanks to Brenda Drake, the fabulous creator.  Excelsior, friends!

[theauryancycle]

2017 #Pitchwars Mentee Hopeful bio

So… here goes!

I’m Sarah White (one of many in the world, but hey, I’m this one:  @sakuramelting on pretty much all platforms: twitter and instagram)

My MS: The missing YA epic journey fantasy between Narnia and Lord of the Rings, remixed with intersectional feminism.

If Maggie Stiefvater or Leigh Bardugo had been one of the Inklings, The People’s Promise might have been the novel one of them wrote.  

Aura Cooper never dreams.  So after her sister’s death, when she wakes from a dream brimming with shadows and destruction, she doesn’t know what to think.  The shadows claw their way into her waking hours, pulling Aura and six other teens from modern Earth to another world, where they are told they are the mythic Knights of its six nations.  They’re tasked to unite the nations in the face of the oncoming threat of war, starting with the island nation Mytylere.  But with their fresh water sources poisoned, Mytylere has bigger problems than reinstating a 400 year old promise given to the original Knights.

Some ingredients I’ve tossed in this pot were:

Narnia + Lord of the Rings + lots of magical girl manga and anime from my childhood + six diverse nations with complex governance systems + Knights and Priests and Councilors, oh my! + weapons + but hey, don’t poke your eye out kid+ Mick Jagger jokes + the divine and the mundane + Angels (but not what you think) (no really not what you think) + shadows and dreams + oops I spilled more dreams in there + uncertain protagonists + unwilling antagonist + traitor Knights + siblings + cousins + friendship, but also fighting +  a dash of water shortage/poisoning + female sailors + mysterious guides + grief and loss + mixed heritage + faith and doubt + disabled protagonist + women in positions of leadership + ooh, that was good, lets add more of that + the threat of war + sacrifices + and snarky one liners to taste

A brief aesthetic taste:

This wine novel would pair nicely with:

Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles – snarky one liners with philosophical musings and intimate character growth!

Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy – heroes unable to use their powers in a situation where they must rise to the occasion anyway.

Seaward by Susan Cooper – otherworldly fantasy that delves deep into grief and growing into oneself.

Would you like to add a side dish of layered objectives and friendship like the Gangsey in Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle?  Or perhaps a touch of relationships forged despite brewing war like Marie Rutkoski‘s Winner’s Trilogy? Or maybe an ensemble cast who all serve important purposes in the narrative like the CW’s television adaptation of The 100?

About the preparation of your meal:

While some may not want to sample outside of their comfort zones, the world is rich with a variety of flavors and dishes. Having taught at a college in classrooms full of women, people of color, trans and nonbinary students as well as disabled ones, my brand of storytelling seeks to see them all find an entry point, and someone to identify with in my work.  I may not be particularly marginalized, but my job as an author is to continue closing that gap of what the market sees as either “sellable” or “to current taste” both by what I put in my own work, as well as diversifying the media that I intake.

About your chef:

I have no idea where all these restaurant analogies came from, but hey, maybe I’m just hungry.  A few of my favorite authors are Lloyd Alexander (if you haven’t read his Westmark Trilogy, please, do yourself the favor), Susan Cooper, Maggie Stiefvater and Nicola Yoon.  All-time top 3 novels:  Seaward , The Kestral and The Scorpio Races. Recent favorite reads have been The Hate U Give, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Scythe, and The Sun is Also a Star.  

My professor once taught me that there’s a difference between a driven and a passionate person. Where a driven person is compelled to achieve greatness in their one selected thing, a passionate person is concerned with the whole, and will rise to the occasion of anything asked of them. I’m definitely a passionate person in this regard, especially where it comes to this story because I’ve been aching to tell it for some time.  I have a lot of discipline (lots of time spent self-employed as a theatre designer) and am also a really open collaborator when it comes to feedback (also all that time in the theatre).

I’m a roamer, having lived all over the US in both my childhood and adult years, but I’ve come to realize home is a place within me where I’m content, and well, home is where the manuscript is.  Or will be when I finish this draft.  Or the next. Or the… you get the idea.

A few quirks – I’m the dad friend of 90% of my friend groups.  When I make food late at night, it’s usually pancakes (maybe I really am hungry).  My friend once described me as the least sketchy person she knows with the sketchiest belongings.  I got a BA in acting to learn character and an MFA in scenic design to learn setting (and I guess, to pay my bills).

So excited for my first #Pitchwars and many thanks to Brenda Drake, the fabulous creator.  Excelsior, friends!

[theauryancycle]

Clyde Monroe.

17.  Cousin.  Dyslexic. Australian Expat. Jokester. Navigator. Mouthpiece.  Knight.

The redhead kept shifting uncomfortably in his leather pants.  As they followed Maelona and Telm, Aileen heard Clyde whisper to his cousin, “I take back everything I ever said about The Rolling Stones.  I do not want to grow up to be Mick Jagger.”

[theauryancycle]

Seth Tae Yoon (태 윤) Monroe

16.  Orphan.  Cousin. Queer.  Korean-Australian Expat.  Truth Seeker.  Knight. 

Seth fisted his hand, hiding the dark bloom of skin under his closed fingers.  “That’s a birthmark.”

“It’s where your flint would sit, fire caller. Have you ever burned yourself?”

The dark haired boy scowled.  “No, but it’s because I’m not stupid, not for some magical reason.”

The priest smirked.  “In time you will see that those are not exclusive of each other.”

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Aileen Cafell.

15.  Baby Sister.  Disabled.  Healer.  Hope-er. Whole.  Knight.

“No,” she interrupted.  “You don’t even see me when you look at me, Eli.  All you see is that tiny baby mom and dad brought home when you were three with no right hand.”  She stopped just beyond his reach.  “I don’t need a goddamn hand! There is nothing wrong with me!”

[theauryancycle]

Danielle Lécuyer

18.  Student.  Gardener.  Baker.  Chemist. French.  Knight.

“I don’t want to share your bed, trouduc.  I want you to be my Aesradd.  My root.”  Danielle crossed her arms.  “It’s more believable to you that I desire to jump in your bed than that I want to learn from you?”

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Eli Cafell.

18.  Overprotective brother. Skeptic.  Warrior.  Priest.  Seer.  Knight.

“What do you know?  You have no idea what it’s like!”  Eli shook his head violently.  “You don’t have any idea what it’s like to be blind!”

“No, my boy.   “You don’t know what it’s like to be the rest of the world.  To never truly see “

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Bradley Vesper.

19.  Orphan.  Writer.  Traitor. Shadow.  Fighter. Knight.

He closed his useless eyes, moving forward without the assistance of any of his senses but the one he couldn’t label. It hung somewhere inside the cage of his ribs, pulsing hungrily.  He’d been starving it for years.

If Brad had to name it, he might have called it hope.

[theauryancycle]

Aura Cooper.

17.  Foster Child.  Sister. Dreamer.  Leader.  Knight.

“Why can’t you leave me in peace?”

“I’ve seen your insides,” Aura replied, settling down beside him.  “That’s not peace.”

[theauryancycle]

While packing

Just spent an hour rereading old drafts of The Auryan Cycle when it was a single novel and then pieces of it when it was conceptually a trilogy.

It’s been a six book cycle for almost six years now.

AND now I feel old.

[theauryancycle]

The Auryan Cycle Epilogues:  Bookstore Edition

Or the one where Aura  finally achieves the goal of studying abroad in England so she can look for Brad.  Danielle’s doing an internship in London, and picks Aura up at the airport, offering her couch until Aura finds a place.

Aura quickly settles into the love of the city, and starts her list of things to do in searching for Brad.  But school seems to loom before she can get any headway, and she scrambles to find the books she needs for her classes, but doing things last minute never made life run smoothly.

She finds the final one at a small, hole-in-the-wall bookshop that seems to have grown up in the middle of London smelling like dust and old paper.  When she takes the book to the counter, the shop girl says that she’s just gone on break, but the other manager should be in shortly.  Aura waits, looking around and flipping through books by the counter idly.

The other manager seems to appear out of nowhere, shadow descending over the counter and Aura looks up and it’s him.  His hand wrapped around the spine of the book, knuckles tight.  Eyes wide in a way that’s too hopeful over a mouth that is resigned to despair.

But she’s there.  It takes her having Danielle talk to him on the phone for him to believe she’s real. He tells his coworker he’s leaving early, and doesn’t give an excuse.  They go to a coffee house and he tells her of the Wind Dragon visiting him six months ago as a homeless man.  She tells him she dreamt it.

They spend time with each other as the semester progresses, and their relationship reaches the point it couldn’t in Celtia.  They are able to see who they are instead of who war has made them to be, and they build upon the base of honesty and trust that they developed during the Return of the Everwar.  They aren’t building a fortress to protect themselves, anymore, nor a castle to dream in.  

They’re building a home for each other in their hearts.

[theauryancycle]

The Auryan Cycle Epilogues:  Roadtrip Edition

Or the one where Clyde decides to fly to New England to buy the VW minibus he’s always wanted and convinces the Knights to roadtrip it back to California with him.  He picks up Aileen, Aura and Eli in Indianapolis and then they head west.  

In Colorado, after a ridiculous attempt at camping, they come across Bradley on the side of the road, his motorcycle all but on fire.  He’s been in the states for two months looking for any of them, but didn’t have any last names to go on.  He has no other plans, so they hitch the motorcycle to the back of the bus and take him with them.

It’s a little weird having him with them finally.  Eli’s a bit off put and Brad feels out of place, but he and Aura still get each other on the deep level they did in Celtia.  

After a side trip to the Grand Canyon, the crew rolls into California, where Seth meets them for dinner on the pier with a surprise:  Danielle flew in for the weekend since she couldn’t take a week and a half off to join them on their roadtrip.  

Together at last for the first time since leaving Celtia five years prior.  They’re older.  Wiser.  More in love with who they are, and more at peace with the grief they bore during the war.  

Sitting around the table, and then crashing into the waves after dinner, Aura can’t hep but feel she’s finally found home.