Archive for the 'Draven Atreides' Category

January 17, 2011 | Draven Atreides,Sunday Scribblings,The Fiction Project

I’m participating in the The Fiction Project. This project is sponsored by The Art House Co-op and is an opportunity to tell stories in a different way by fusing text and visual art. After traveling across the country, the Fiction Project will enter into the Brooklyn Art Library‘s narrative collection, archiving my story to share with the public. In light of this project, I’m allowing Draven Atreides, the MC from my YA series, to take the lead each week via word prompts from Sunday Scribblings.

This week’s topic: Invisible

I thought I might add a picture of me this week for two reasons:

1) In this post, someone thought I sounded “cool”. I thought you might want to see what this cool person looks like. LOL. And

2) This week’s topic is about invisibility. I have a point. Stick around, people. You might learn something. Really.

As a Y.I.D. informant, I’m required to take classes. Yes, in addition to school, I have to take more classes. To be honest, they’re fun and not something that would be taught in school. Not too long ago, I took Daring Disguises taught by Agent Gwen. Gwen isn’t even her real name, it’s the nickname I gave her (long story, you’ll find out in Book 2. I think). Like a spy, I sometimes may have to blend in and not attract attention. I have to be invisible. My disguise has to look natural and may have to come on or off in under a minute. I know! The pressure! What happens if I’m changing quickly and have a wardrobe malfunction? Gah! During the class, I had to pull my hair back, sit in front of a mirror and fill out a checklist. The goal was to identify the features that make me unique and to discover what might be too memorable to the target: from face shape to skin color.

Not to toot my own horn, but as you can see, I’m pretty memorable. Go ahead. Click on the pick to make it bigger. I have green eyes. I’m fair-skinned. I’ve got full lips, a wide, flat nose…and I wear my hair in braids, not dreads (if that’s what you were thinking). I was told by my foster parental units that my biological parents were an interracial couple. But I’m rambling now. The point is to figure out what features can be disguised and downplayed.

Ahem. I might’ve gone a little overboard. Click on the pic to take a closer look. That’s not exactly natural, and would probably make me even more memorable, but you caught the point I was hurling at you, right? I learned a lot of things from Agent Gwen during that class. With a little make-up, you can disguise yourself to look:

~ Tired (bags under the eyes) with dark shading from your pencil under your eyes.

~ Older (wrinkled around forehead and mouth) by creating and blending lines with a makeup pencil.

~ Sunburned by using pink/red blush

~ Like you have a light beard growth by using brown pencil or stipple sponge in brown cream eyeshadow.

I’ve also created my own Quick Change Kit that includes the following goodies:

~ Hat, scarf and a bandana

~ Accessories – hair bands, barrettes, jewelry and belts

~ A couple of reversible clothing items

~ A grocery bag

~ Small pebbles – slows your walk or creates a limp

~ Ace bandage – fake an injured limb

~ Cotton balls (aka “plumpers”) – you wet them and place between cheek and gum. It creates a new jawline shape and a new way of talking.

~ Heel lifts – to make myself grow an inch taller

~ Fake mustache (seriously)

~ Makeup – I normally skimp on this stuff and just do bare bones, but I’ve added a stipple sponge, brown cream shadow, blush, and foundation to my meager collection.

And that, peoples, is how Y.I.D. rolls when it comes to being invisible. I hope you learned something new today.

Technorati Tags: The Fiction Project, Brooklyn Art Library, Sunday Scribblings

January 12, 2011 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #53:What is your favorite line from your WIP (or from a book you read recently)?

I haven’t done this in such a long time it’s nice to get back in the game. I don’t have just one favorite line from my WIPs. I have several:

~ I’m meeting two undercover FBI agents in Central Park today.

~ Yes, it’s true. She doesn’t laugh, she giggles. If she were a doll, she’d be Tickle Me Elmo’s kid sister.

~ Their physical prettiness just kind of, you know, slaps you upside the head.

~ Out of the whole school, small as it is, he ends up with her? She’s an embarrassment to the female species.

~ Someone needs to slap this guy with a Stupidity Citation.

~ “My Mercury must be in retrograde this week to get a break like this.”

~ “If you say destiny, or even Fate, I’m so going to spew.”

~ O…kay. Who pissed in his Cheerios?

The list goes on and on. These lines come from Book One in the DA series. Draven has a great sense of humor, doesn’t she? You can also check out her inner thoughts in the Fiction Project posts below.

Technorati Tags: YA Highway

January 10, 2011 | Draven Atreides,Sunday Scribblings,The Fiction Project

I’m participating in the The Fiction Project. This project is sponsored by The Art House Co-op and is an opportunity to tell stories in a different way by fusing text and visual art. After traveling across the country, the Fiction Project will enter into the Brooklyn Art Library‘s narrative collection, archiving my story to share with the public. In light of this project, I’m allowing Draven Atreides, the MC from my YA series, to take the lead each week via word prompts from Sunday Scribblings.

This week’s topic: A Walk in the Park

Funny, but this gig started as a walk in the park. Well, not really. I actually met two undercover FBI agents in Central Park. My idea. Public place and all. I thought it would be safer, less conspicuous, but with plenty of witnesses and escape routes. Central Park became our meeting place on a weekly basis. They would tell me what what info they wanted regarding my foster parents and I reported back. I didn’t have anything for a while. I was convinced I never would. I was still new, just helping them out, unofficial-like. After certain…events occurred, well, their case blew wide open and it was all over but the cryin’. On their part, not mine.

So, a walk in the park. Literally?

During my time in Manhattan, Central Park was like a sanctuary to me. My walk in the park involved sitting near The Pond, making faces at the animals in the CP Zoo, skating at Wollman Rink, and making my heart jump in my throat as I swung higher on the swings in Heckscher Playground. Those were the good times. I was playing Harriet the Spy and just havin’ a grand ol’ ball. Until that one day…

And that walk in the park, figuratively?

Now that I’m officially in the Y.I.D. and have been given a license to, well, erm…inform, there are some great perks. Well, in my case, the perks are more like Perkilicious Times Eternity. I’m helping topple this big group from the bottom up (well, maybe like the lower mid-level) and, you know, that’s pretty heady stuff, yeah? But this walk in the park isn’t all zoos and skating rinks. There are little side trails that lead to poison ivy and areas with burned out lamps. Sometimes I wonder…..well, I just wonder.

Those walks in the park? They can be fantabulous. Honestly. Just watch out for the dog shit.

Technorati Tags: The Fiction Project, Brooklyn Art Library

December 22, 2010 | Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #52:What would you give your favorite characters for Christmas, and why?

My favorite character is from the series I’m working on, Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant. For Christmas, I’d get Draven some kind of new gadget, like the Night Vision Infrared Stealth Binoculars from the International Spy Museum Store. She may only be an informant, but she feels the need to have all these little gadgets to assist her with her assignments.

On a personal level, I want to give her the gift of family. She’s a little cynical about the whole family unit thing and I’d like her to realize that all families aren’t the traditional Mom-Dad-Sibling. Families can be made up of people who care about you: like best friends…and your handler.

Technorati Tags: YA Highway, Night Vision Infrared Stealth Binoculars, International Spy Museum Store

September 15, 2010 | Draven Atreides,Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #45: If you could travel back to any historical era for research purposes, which would you choose?

The 50′s and the 60′s. For the music. Those eras weren’t kind to African-Americans, but man, the music was great. I grew up listening to Motown: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five…they were always playing in our house. Even though my music of choice nowadays is alternative (my co worker, Lisa, refers to it as “angry music”. LOL), I still listen to it.

A while back, I bought a 2-disc set of oldies, you know, the kind they sell on those infomercials? From Chubby Checker to The Beach Boys, it had a bunch of really cool “summer” tunes. I now have those songs on my iPod. I love the oldies so much that I made this type of music a favorite for one my characters: Draven Atreides. She’s not your typical teen, so I didn’t want her listening to the “typical” kind of music teens would normally listen to. I think that makes her a little unique.

I normally have my iPod on shuffle, so I get a mix of music like on the radio, and every time one of those oldies songs comes on, I find myself smiling, tapping my foot, bobbing my head, and humming–sometimes even singing–under my breath. They really don’t make music like that anymore, you know? Lyrics were simple with no cuss words, the beats were catchy, and the groups–both men and women–dressed real snazzy and sharp, and had precise, simple, choreographed movements. And the harmonies! So amazing.

I’m so glad I was exposed to music like that. It’s funny how something like that can span generations, where musicians today are sampling tunes from the past. Music. It’s universal.

Technorati Tags: YA Highway, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, Chubby Checker, The Beach Boys