Merry (almost) Christmas!! December turned out to be a super wacky month, but in the last few days I FINALLY was able to settle in and work on Christmas-y stuff like wrapping presents and what-not.
It’s almost the end of the year (thank GOODNESS) (though also like…maybe not get our hopes up for 2021??? Maybe I’m just a pessimist??) and the New Year is the time for resolutions and plans and bucket lists, though after 2020 we may have all realized how out of our hands those things really are.
Anyway.
So in the spirit of the New Year, I am going to present you with a writing bucket list, which is a lot better because I don’t have to accomplish it this year. Just…in my lifetime (which is a lot more ominous).
DRAGONS
I surprisingly….have not written a lot of dragons into my stories. I….honestly don’t understand this at all. Good dragons, evil dragons, dragons who like gold, forest dragons, water dragons. There are so many options so how, HOW have I not managed to write more???
(Though when I went on a walk recently (see??? Go on walks people!) I thought: why not put a ICE DRAGON into my current WIP????)
Arctic Tundra
So I have had this thing with the arctic for like years on end now. It’s so mysterious??? And scary??? And BEAUTIFUL???
Like
They look like crazy sci-fi/fantasy landscapes except NO. They are REAL.
And all the animals??? Arctic hares and arctic foxes and snowy owls and polar bears and…..And technically I’m already going to write this into my current WIP (because it’s a SNOW Queen retelling) but still. I. need. more.
PIRATES
For me ranting and raving about leaving town and becoming a pirate, I – like haven’t written a pirate story before. What. Is. Wrong with me.
I think part of the reason I have been slightly daunted is that….like ships are really confusing. I have done an extensive amount of research before of what all the different parts of a tall ship are called, and what all the different “orders” are (so characters aren’t just constantly running around yelling, “Aye! Avast!”) And like it’s a lot. But also fun??
Either way, one of these days I will write a swashbuckling pirate adventure and watching all those Errol Flynn movies will finally pay off.
CREEPY FORESTS
This is NOT something I’ve done enough of, and haven’t really done any of??? Creepy, dark woods with hostile trees. Trees that will eat you. Sentient plants. Like in Messenger by Lois Lowry and that forest that smelled of dead things and acidic sap dripped onto them. Or like the Old Forest or Fangorn or Mirkwood…..Tolkien, you wrote way too many creepy woods.
But he was known for taking walks and stopping to stare at a tree for an hour. Which honestly….I understand.
WEIRD HOUSES
Better yet if the house is SENTIENT. Basically I just want to write things that normally shouldn’t want to eat you, want to eat you.
But houses can be so cool and trippy. Like maybe a house you can’t get out of?? Or a house that just seems to have no end and is a constant maze of rooms and hallways and staircases with weird carpeting????
This is one thing I have been able to put a little bit into stories so far, but I have yet to write a story centered on a weird house. The day will come.
ANIMALS
Yes, this is kinda vague. But I just want more animals. Deer, dogs, cats, wolves, owls, crows, hawks, elephants, lions, tiger, and bears oh my.
One of the reasons I’m excited about my current WIP. There are wolves and talking crows and talking foxes and there will be bears and – who knows what else. And an ice dragon apparently.
WRAP
So, if we were to cobble all of these things together in to a book….A pirate sails through the arctic tundra where he is ensnared by a dragon and sent to live in a weird house full of a menagerie of animals, and the only way to leave the house is through a creepy, carnivorous forest.
Oh wow. However I do dig pirates sailing through the arctic.
Do you have things on your writing bucket list?? Things you been dying to write about but haven’t gotten around to yet??
And of course, are you EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS???
Bernadette Benda 
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