The Real Life Adventures of Emily Sinclair

We're back with another bad guy post! Wahahahaha! Originally, I was going to invite Dzherri to help me write this post, but since he was bad and hijacked the blog last week I decided not to include him. (For those of you who don't know, Dzherri Alexandrovich Kalasky is one of my main and favorite villains I've created. You pronounce Dzherri as Jil-e-at.) Plus, you guys should not have encouraged him. Not good. Now I've got a real problem on my hands... Ahem. Back to the subject. So, last week, we discussed how character drives a story and how you can use the most common bad guy story, but if the character is good, you have power in your story. Now, this week, we're going to talk about the different types of bad guys and which one is good for what kind of story.

Hello everyone! Today, I wanted to tell you some exciting news about Red Crisis.  To begin, I'm almost- Wham! Nicolai! Quick, jump on the keyboard! Yes, that keyboard! Now, write down every word I say so we can get this done before Warren shows up. Yes, every word. NO! Not the words I said before about the keyboard- are you still writing? Stop it! No, I... yes, I did say every  word but I didn't mean literally, I meant when I began talking. Yes, I'm talking. Now stop it! Oh never mind. Let's get down to business.

Hello everyone, we're back for another post on villainy! I hope you enjoyed the last one. (To read the last post, click HERE ) In the last post I discussed the importance of creating a villain. I also pointed out that most- if not all- villains seek and want some sort of power. You can rip apart any villain's back-story and in a way, they're seeking some sort of power or another. But how do we use the age old tale of power, revenge, love, etc. Without having a stereotypical bad guy? That's what today's post is about. Today we're going to talk about how to make your villain unique.

So I was going to do a post a couple weeks ago on what I'd been up to... and I accidentally deleted all my photos. I was so upset! So I've been taking pictures like crazy the last couple weeks to do a fun "My Life" kind of post. Guess what? Those pictures I deleted? I found them all.  So now I have soo many pictures that I don't know what to do with them all! I'm glad I found them, though. :) So today, I'm going to give you the rundown of what it's like to be... well, me. That sounds really conceited, but I mean it more in the terms of what my life is like and what I do. I hope you enjoy! More villainy posts coming up later!

I've been thinking about bad guys lately. To those who know me, this is not a surprise. I am known throughout my circle of friends as the "girl who loves bad guys." Not because I literally like bad  guys, but I do really love bad guys.  There is a difference. Trust me. I love helping people with their writing. Some of the little kids I've helped throughout the years at different homeschool groups or churches would come to me and ask me to read their stories for them. One thing I noticed, and continue to notice, amongst beginning writers, is the lack of a good villain.

I slap my phone, the buzzer ringing in my ear. It cannot be six forty-five already. I look at the clock hanging over my closet. It is. I’m exhausted. I worked a lot the day before and rode Bodie for a good forty-five minutes, then walked a mile and a half. Plus, I was up until almost ten working on a new story idea. Yet here the time comes again- and it’s time to get up. I could sleep for fifteen more minutes, I decide. I blink. Fifteen minutes have passed. Grrr… Throwing off the covers, I make my way downstairs and get a large glass of water. My throat hurts. I know I’m coming down with that cold my little sister had. Well, more reading time, I guess. Setting my glass down, I make my way to the computer and flip it open. I skim my emails, then open up my newest book- and stare at the page.

I have a wonderful Mother. Without the encouragement and the prodding of my Mother, I would never have pursued the writing career that I have. My Mother is my friend, my mentor, my teacher, my sister. She's everything to me. I don't know what to say or what to do to show my love for her. I can't use words to describe everything. I'm at a loss. In short, my Mother is so special to me and all my siblings, and even those who aren't my blood related siblings. Not only as my Mom raised all nine of us kids, she's also helped (in a way) raise another boy, has been a mentor to one of my best friends and a listener to so many other children. My Mom loves everyone and is the wisest woman I know. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. Thank you for all that you do. <3 This is my favorite Mother's day video of all time. I'd like to share it with you all. P.S. My little sister is doing much better and is very happy today. Than...

Dear readers, please pray for my little sister. She has been pretty sick the last couple of days, and we're not sure what's wrong with her. She's the youngest child in our family, and she has down syndrome. On a good day she can be somewhat hard to communicate with because she doesn't have very good speech, but right now she's even harder because she refuses to talk to us and cries a lot. She's had a fever off and on, and she's coughing a lot. We think she may have the influenza flu. She's running a fairly high temperature right now, and she could really use prayer. This virus has made her very grumpy and hard to deal with. She doesn't want to take any medicine and she doesn't want to communicate with us and tell us when she needs something. She's our sweet little girl and we are concerned for her. We covet your prayers! -Emily

A Soviet Emblem. Russian Soviet soldiers wore these on their hats. America and Russia were not on good terms in 1967. The Cold War was still going on. With every story that I've ever written, there is the most beloved and cherished "R" word that goes into the work. Research. I'm a fanatic about history. I'm sure you didn't know this. *Sarcastic grin* History is a really important element in all of my stories. Even in a new fantasy series I'm working on, history is woven in throughout the story. History is what made us what we are today- so why wouldn't I be interested in the past?

Red Crisis The discovery was only the beginning by Emily McConnell

I believe these are Amur Cossacks, but close enough, right? (Tatyana, Ruslan, Dimitri and one of the other men are Don Cossacks, the rest are Kubans, Zaporozhians, and Volodya is a Danube Cossack) I've been using free images from the web lately that are labeled for reuse. Finally found some Cossack photos! Ahem, a little announcement for my regular readers of Fourteen Cossacks: This month I'm going to do a little exposure to a different project I'd like to shed some light on and tell you about. So no Fourteen Cossacks  this month. Plus I need to work on a couple of catch-up scenes for it, but we shall return soon! Okay, back to the main body of the post... Well my dear readers, it is time. Time to tell you what some of you are wondering and have asked me- "What's next, now that Free  was not accepted?"