What’s Your WIP Tag ‘The Guild of Thieves’

Hey-Oh guys! How was your weekend? My was great, I got to go shopping with my BFF Friday so that was fun!

So, in lack of any good post ideas, I decided to do the What’s Your WIP tag for my WIP, The Guild of Thieves! I meant to post this Wednesday, but *coughs* got distracted by some certain drawings and forgot all about my poor post…lol…but here it is now, in all its late glory, but as Gandalf would say, “A wizard is never late, nor is he early he arrives precisely when means to.”

So without further delay, here’s the post!

Has your WIP a working title? If so, tell us! If not, have you any idea of what it might be?

Yes, my WIP actually has an official title which is The Guild of Thieves. 

Have you a synopsis for your WIP? If so, give it to us! If not, can you give us a blurb on what your WIP is about?

I don’t have a synopsis, but I do have a blurb my sister Kayti so kindly helped me construct, thanks sis! *Waves enthusiastically*

“Being a thief is easy, but getting caught…now, that’s when it gets tricky.”

Dice is a street boy in the poor district of Raheren, forced to be what he must to survive. A liar, a cheat, and a thief. But just like all thieves in Arkrindon he abides by the rules of thieves, stick with your unit, stay in your district, and don’t get caught.

When Dice is jumped by another group of thieves trespassing in pickpocket territory, things quickly escalate. These aren’t just any thieves, this is a whole new breed of thieves, ones who don’t play by the rules. Rogues, burglars, and pickpockets have come together, abandoning districts and uniting under one man, Azic, the master of The Guild of Thieves.

For his freedom and the lives of his unit, the Guild presents a deal: Steal the King’s Jewel or watch everyone in his unit die. If Dice steals the jewel he’s dooming the kingdom but if he doesn’t everyone he cares about will pay the price.

So that’s the official blurb for GT! Yay!

Have you a working/mock cover for your WIP? If so, show us! If not, have you an idea in mind?

I haven’t gotten around to making the cover yet, but I have the full design planned in my head. It just hasn’t found its way onto a page, yet I’m hoping to start working on it soon tho once I have a few other projects off my plate!

How did you get the idea for this story?

Well, interesting story, but I first got the idea for GT one Sunday afternoon when I was drawing. I knew I needed to practice drawing people, so I just started sketching a random person. When I was done, I loved the character design I’d drawn so much I showed it to my sisters, who said he looked like some sort of thief. Almost immediately after they said it, this random sentence popped into my head: “Being a thief is easy, but getting caught…now, that’s when it gets tricky.”  And then, well, it’s kinda hard to explain, but before I realized what I was doing, I had jotted down The Guild of Thieves after the sentence at the bottom of the page. And besides that and the name Dice that my sisters had suggested for the character, I had nothing, no more ideas besides one character named Dice, one sentence about thieves, and a random title. 

(Okay, this is where it kind of gets weird, and you might think I’m crazy if you already don’t …lol…) Anyway, so that night, I had a dream about the character I’d drawn (because I tend to have dreams about things I was thinking about or did close to the time when I go to sleep), and I can’t say exactly what scenes happened with this character in the dream because some are spoilers because I actually used them in the story…lol…but anyway I woke up with this story about a street boy, aka thief, in a world of unfairness and treachery and you know, see the blurb above for details and so I mulled it over for about a month or so then once I had all the kinks out I wrote it…yeah, I know its a weird way to come up with a book idea…lol…just so y’all know, this is usually not how I come up with ideas; this was a one-time thing, I promise; I’m not insane I just have an overactive imagination that doesn’t stop even when I’m sleeping…lol…

How long do you think it will be? 

Well, it’s 67k right now, so I think when I finish with the edits and all, it will top out somewhere around 75k. 

Is it longer or shorter than you thought it would be?

Definitely longer. I knew the GT was going to be longer than anything I’d ever written before, but I wasn’t expecting it to be almost 70k!

Who’s your favourite character so far?

Ack! I love them all! *hugs characters close* But Dice is definitely my favorite. He’s just so realistic. He’s flawed in a lot of ways, but the poor guy just really needs some love is all! *hugs him* Also, Renn and Shadow are just really fun to write! And Addi is a dear! And….okay, I’ll stop before I list my whole cast…lol…

What’s your favourite memory related to this WIP?

Um, probably starting it. I’d made myself wait until I’d outlined the whole story and worked out all the kinks, then when I sat down and typed Chapter 1, it just all flowed out, and my characters actually listened to me. Who knew that was possible? It seemed for the first time ever I’d actually written something that was exactly how I’d imagined it, and I’ve barely had to fix anything in that chapter! As you’ve probably guessed, I found out when writing that chapter that I’m a plotter (much to my characters’ dismay), and it’s been amazing to actually write the things in my mind down the way I actually want them to be! 

Any special person(s) who helped create it?

Yes! Kayti and Rissy helped so much, being the ones who suggested Dice’s name and sparking the idea from my drawing. Also, my Bestie Amber helped a lot to just encourage me to push forward when I hit rough patches, especially during NaNo Thanks, girls, you guys are the bestest-bestest-bestest!

What’s your favourite scene so far (if you can tell about it without spoilers!)?

Favorite scene? Oof, not sure if I have one.

Can you give us a snippet?

Of course! As a note, this is an unedited clip as far as grammar goes.

The wind screamed like a distressed child and whipped up a cloud of dust in its wake. My eyes followed the swirling mass of earth that whirled up to the high rooftops of the stone buildings, disappearing into a too pale sky. Funny how a cloud of sand reflected life so perfectly, one minute you were on sturdy ground and the next moment you were whisked up in the wind and carried high above the solid life you once knew. A sigh brushed my lips as my eyes followed the dispersing sand, a shadow zinged across my vision. I blinked back tears and squinted through the sand that harassed my face. Empty rooftops stared back at me. 

I shook my head, Raheren’s sandstorms and blaring heat could trick the minds of many, it wasn’t the first time it had played mine. Another shadow darted along the rooftops, only this one was much closer. My sand-blurred eyes caught sight of a long dark cloak that swirled around the figure, this wasn’t just the sun’s glare making strange shadows, this was a person. Oil black boots thrummed against flat stone as the figure ran the rooflines, cloak whirling behind him and a bright yellow feather that stuck from a cord at the base of a pitch colored hat bent in the wind. The bright yellow feather, I had seen that kind of feather before, my stomach knotted.

So there’s a snippet of GT! One of the few parts that isn’t riddled with spoilers because this book just builds and builds, and spoilers are everywhere!…lol…

Is the story still what you thought it would be or has it thrown you a couple curveballs?

Well, I have to say GT is the only book I’ve ever written that has turned out exactly the way I imagined and wanted it to. I have to say, I’m really proud of it!

Is there a Bible verse, poem, hymn, picture, or quote that helped shape this story?

There is a Bible verse that helped a lot with GT but it helped with a certain big spoiler so yeah…lol…

When and where have you done most of the writing so far?

I’ve done most of my writing by my beloved bookshelf after school, so about 10:30 to lunchtime, 12:30, and then I go for a walk and come back and, hopefully, have time to write again till 3:00 On the days when I’m in the writing mood that is, sometimes I’ll just write till lunchtime then draw the rest of the day away or vice-versa

Where do you get inspiration for this story?

Uh, a lot of places…lol…When I’m stuck, I usually listen to Let’s Do This by The Outskrts, which is like so good! It reminds me soooooooo much of GT I can just see thieves roof hoping and such every time this song comes on! The lyrics go so well with GT even tho I found the song after I’d come up with the idea for GT I also get inspo when I look at my original sketches of the first 3 characters I came up with, Dice (the MC), Renn (Dice’s best friend), and Azic (the antagonist). A lot of my inspo for this book just came from my natural interest in medieval thieves; I’ve always loved the BBC Robin Hood series, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, and the live-action Aladdin, so it helps to watch these or skim over the pages when I’m stuck. Also, I do have a Pinterest board for it as well, which is very handy for writer’s block!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Plotter.

Do you have a little ritual before you start writing?

Not really. I usually just sit down and start typing. *shrugs*

Are you thinking of publishing this story?

Yes! I’m hoping to publish somewhere around November. I’m working on editing right now then Kayti is going to read over it for me, and then hopefully, I can get some Betas on it sometime in April, so yeah, we’ll see how it goes!

What things have you learned while writing this story?

Um, well, for starters that I’m definitely a plotter. And to take it slow. I always thought I had to rush everything to get the book done quicker, but it always ended in disaster. I would speed write the first 10 chapters, then have no idea what was happening with the story and stop, feeling like a failure and very, very disappointed in myself. But I decided to take the writing of GT slower, topping out at maybe a thousand words on a good day, and tho it was painfully slow for me, the story ended up being the best one I’d ever written, and it was exactly how I’d imagined it in my head. As my mom keeps telling me, “It doesn’t matter how fast you write your book if you’re going to have to rewrite most of it in edits. It doesn’t matter if you wrote 5 thousand words today if they’re empty, useless scenes with no purpose or forethought. It’s better to write a hundred meaningful words than a thousand empty ones.” 

So there it is! All the GT info you will be getting for a while….jk, jk…lol…you will get more info, maybe *mischievous laughter*

Anyway, are you a panster or a plotter? Where do you like to write? Do have a fav character in your WIP? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Okay, I gotta go get ready for English Country Dancing and dulcimer lessons, bye! *waves enthusiastically*

Jaidie, the dragon nerd