Natasha Hayden - - Page 2 ::

Straight from Natasha’s Shelf

by Natasha Hayden
May 2, 2014

You know me as the story editor for Children of the Wells and as an occasional blogger on this site. Soon, you might know me as the author of a short story related to one of our larger storylines. But above all of those, I am a reader, specifically a YA fiction lover.

Not (quite) Natasha’s Shelf
Mr.TinDC via Compfight

Why Young Adult? I like the stories. I don’t care much about being wrapped in the details of a world (high fantasy) or about putting clever words together (modern adult fiction). I realize I’m generalizing, and there are some really good examples of those genres that are completely enjoyable, too. But primarily, I’m looking for a good, fast-paced story. I don’t want to be able to put it down. The idea has to be fascinating: relevant but also different, familiar but new. It shouldn’t be dumbed-down, but it doesn’t need to be complicated either. Young adult trends capture all of that so well. The relevance is in the ideas and themes. The familiar is in the emotions of youth (we’ve all been there). (more…)

May 2, 2014 - Tags: books, Natasha Hayden Posted in: Blogs

We’re One Year Old!

By Natasha Hayden
April 4, 2014

Yum. Cake.
Don via Compfight

One year ago, this week, I wrote a blog welcoming you all to Children of the Wells for the first time. It’s a little hard for me to believe a year has passed since we made this adventure public. Of course, we’d been working on it for at least a year before you first saw it.

Children of the Wells is something very special to us, the writers and crafters. Granted, it’s not perfect, as much as we’d like it to be. When you work with a group like ours, where only a third of us see each other on a regular basis, some of us meet once a month, and a few of us have ever only made it to a meeting once (and perhaps only on Skype), there are bound to be communications that slip through the cracks. But we are excited about the world we’ve created and about the story opportunities still before us. (more…)

April 4, 2014 - Tags: announcements, milestones, Natasha Hayden Posted in: Blogs

Making Up God

by Natasha Hayden
February 28, 2014

Trey Ratcliff via Compfight

This week in Children of the Wells, you were treated to a glimpse of the more zealous side of one of this world’s religions: the worship of the god Elthor. He is the god of Thyrion’s monotheistic state religion. The Emperor and his family believe their godlike power comes from Elthor. They believe their divine right to rule comes from him. In fact, they take their belief a step further: they believe they are gods themselves. Others, like the High Priest Pelag (from The Fall of the House of Kyzer) are fervent, more traditional believers, and still others believe only as far as Elthor suits their needs and whims. (more…)

February 28, 2014 - Tags: christianity, Natasha Hayden, The Well's Orphan, world-building Posted in: Blogs

Controlled Falling

By Natasha Hayden
January 24, 2014

I’ve been blackmailed and coerced–I mean, encouraged and motivated–to write a short story for Children of the Wells. It isn’t for one of the main plotlines, but it does connect in a small way to The Doctor’s Assistant and to another short story for CotW. Both these stories, among others, will be revealed later this year. Keep an eye out.

(more…)

January 24, 2014 - Tags: creative process, Destinies Entwined, Natasha Hayden, The Doctor's Assistant Posted in: Blogs

One Thousand Gifts: Received

by Natasha Hayden
November 29, 2013

Disclaimer: In accordance with Thanksgiving, this blog will be a bit more of a personal reflection and have less to do with Children of the Wells, though anything personal serves to give our readers a glance at the person behind the mask, and that has everything to do with what we are creating here.

Over the past year, I have been keeping a journal of Gifts. I was inspired by the book 1000 Gifts, by Ann Voskamp, which I highly recommend. I capitalize Gifts because these aren’t just birthday or Christmas gifts or any nice little thing somebody gives me. The Gifts I’ve been recording are the kind that come unexpectedly on any given day. They are beautiful. They are meaningful. Some are simple. Some are physical. Many are intangible. All remind me of the ultimate Gift-giver: Jesus Christ. In fact, I consider each one to be a Gift from him. (more…)

November 29, 2013 - Tags: christianity, Natasha Hayden, personal Posted in: Blogs

Ideas on the Wind

By Natasha Hayden
October 4, 2013

This summer, I could barely keep up with my responsibilities on CotW between extra editing duty and busy real-life plans. But September swooped in and, suddenly, I had nothing to do. No stories were waiting in the queue (though, not to worry, we are all queued up again). My personal life also returned to normal. So I actually had time to read a few good books and post a new blog on my site, reviewing the sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. (more…)

October 4, 2013 - Tags: inspiration, Natasha Hayden, personal Posted in: Blogs

Changes on the Wind

By Natasha Hayden
September 27, 2013

photo credit: paul bica via photopin cc

It seems like forever since I last wrote a blog for Children of the Wells. Come to think of it, I hardly wrote a blog for my own site, natashasshelf.blogspot.com, all summer. Besides being busy with life, I was scrambling to edit some of the story posts mere days before they appeared online. I was grammar editing for Laura Fischer, our usual grammar editor, but since she wrote The Doctor’s Assistant, I was her backup eye. I also recently finished content editing the sequel to The Fall of the House of Kyzer, which you should be seeing toward the end of October.

Change is in the air once again as the seasons turn, and you’ve probably already noticed a change on CotW. After a crazy summer behind the scenes here, we are returning to our schedule of serializing only one story at a time. We simply don’t have the manpower and hours (after all, we have to work elsewhere to get paid!) to keep two stories going at once. Deadlines have been in flux (hence the editing only days before publishing), and we realized that in order to continue to provide high quality stories to you, we were going to have to cut down on quantity. (more…)

September 27, 2013 - Tags: Natasha Hayden, schedule Posted in: Blogs

Messy As I Am

By Natasha Hayden
May 24, 2013

An early concept drawing for Katrina.

For The Story Project, whose stories are now done but were part of another shared universe with multiple writers, I once wrote a character who was so seemingly hateful of the world that nobody liked her or understood her or knew how to write her. But I loved her.

Katrina was self-sufficient, deeply distrustful of men, hard-hearted, tough, driven, and downright intimidating. What’s not to love, right? She didn’t care if people hated her, thrived on it really. But all that, perhaps much like what we see from Calea in The Select’s Bodyguard, was her persona, the exterior she wanted everyone to see.

When other writers wrote her into their stories, Katrina came across as very one-dimensional: just a mean person no one really wanted to be around. But I saw so much more complexity and potential in her. Where others saw hard-hearted, I saw world-wise. Life had knocked her around a bit until she learned to knock back. Where others saw intimidating, I saw forthright. When there was a job to be done, she did it or made sure others did, no nonsense. Where others saw hateful, I saw hurting, even before I myself had written or even knew her backstory. (more…)

May 24, 2013 - Tags: characters, christianity, Natasha Hayden, other projects, The Select's Bodyguard Posted in: Blogs

Supermom

By Natasha Hayden
April 26, 2013

As new writers are added to this project, you may begin to hear from some of them on this blog. After all, there’s only so much we can say about Purpose and Agenda and all that without sounding like a tired, old sermon. Sometimes, when we can (without revealing spoilers), we might talk about the stories themselves, but the best way to understand the stories is to keep reading. So, this blog may also feature some normal, everyday kind of stuff, not to bore you (we hope) but to connect with you on another level. Likely, you and I are made of the same stuff (though some of us may seem to hale from different planets), and we have common experiences to share.

Of course, not all of us have the exact same experiences, but what would be the fun in reading about someone who’s exactly like you? With Mother’s Day right around the corner, this one is for the moms. (more…)

April 26, 2013 - Tags: Natasha Hayden, personal Posted in: Blogs

Welcome!

Natasha Hayden

By Natasha Hayden
April 1, 2013

Welcome to Children of the Wells! No idea what that is? The best way for you to understand would be to dive right in. Just click on the main page’s book link for The Select’s Bodyguard and start reading.

…But in case you didn’t do that and would prefer to be tortured by boring, informative blogs, here you go:

This is a serialized web fiction site, and every week, there will be new story content up, as well as boring, informative (ahem…fascinating, entertaining) blogs like this one. If you like what you read, subscribe via our email newsletter so you don’t miss a word. (more…)

April 1, 2013 - Tags: announcements, Natasha Hayden Posted in: Blogs