NaNoWriMo Day 20: A Turning Point





This has been an interesting part of this story to write.

Current word count for Mistcraft: 56,387/50,000!

Until we meet again,

Andrew Ronzino, Worldbuilder

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 19: The Second Excerpt



“Krola?” Naroli said.



The kettle was still screaming.



Jassa could hear teacups being jostled quickly.



“She was looking at us like meat, Jassa.”



















“Heal the world,” Naroli said.

“Yes,” Jassa said.






“What do you mean by that?” Jassa said.



Jassa nodded.  “Our father is a hero.”



“What?!” Jassa and Rike said in unison.



-Excerpt from Mistcraft; Chapter 15, by Andrew Ronzino


Current word count for Mistcraft: 54,118/50,000!

Until tomorrow night,

Andrew Ronzino, Bob Cratchit

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 18: The 50,000th Word

Hello, my wonderful readers!  I have some fantastic news:




The sentence containing the 50,000th word is:

“More amazing than mistcraft!” he said.




Current word count for Mistcraft: 51,751/50,000!

Until next time,


Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 17: Alternating POV

I’m so close to the goal, I’m thinking that I will probably cross the 50,000 words goal tomorrow.  Here’s hoping anyway.

As I sit here eating my cold Subway sandwich, I’m contemplating my choices for the point of view of my novel–What, you don’t do that?–and I’ve been happy with how I’ve chosen to write the story.  I’ve been alternating the POV character between Jassa and Rike with each chapter.  I started with Jassa in chapter 1, chapter 2 with Rike, and so on.  I just finished chapter 20, which was a Rike chapter.

This allows me to get inside both of my MC’s heads an equal amount of time and shows that neither one of them is more important to the story than the other.  Mistcraft is Jassa and Rike’s story together.  They’re differing views on events shape who they are.  Each chapter progresses the story, and every time we learn something new about the main characters.  It’s so cool.

I like how I decided to frame this story.  I think it was a good choice for the tale I’m telling.

Current word count for Mistcraft: 47,286/50,000!

Until 50,000 words,

Andrew Ronzino, Paladin

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 16: Gotta Run Part 2!


I need to leave again.  Bye!


Current word count for Mistcraft: 45,316/50,000!

Until even later,

Andrew Ronzino, That Guy…Again

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 15: Gotta Run!

Okay, I need to make this quick, I have a movie to get to.  I wrote the number of words I needed for the day.   I kept getting interrupted by phone calls and doorbells.

I wrote.

Now I need to leave.


Current word count for Mistcraft: 43,583/50,000!

Until later,

Andrew Ronzino, That Guy

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 14: The Joy of Writing

Today I hit 40,000 words!  Almost there!

I only have a small post for you today, and probably tomorrow too, as I will be seeing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald with friends.

I enjoy writing.  Not only is it a way for me to express myself, but I have fun doing it.  There’s something about stringing words together to create worlds people can enjoy as they read them, even if that person is just me.

That’s one reason why I use NaNoWriMo to play around with my writing styles and try new skills — because I enjoy the challenge of it.

It’s more than putting a story together, it’s crafting a universe.

Why do you love writing?  Leave it in the comments.

Current word count for Mistcraft: 41,869/50,000!

Until the following day,

Andrew Ronzino, Crafter of Words

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 13: Meet Rike Krola

I got in a lot of good writing today.  Jassa was reunited with a boy she fancies who had moved away months before the story began.  She literally ran into him.  It’s been a cute scene to write.

But enough about Jassa, it’s time to talk about my other main character for this NaNoWriMo novel, her younger brother, Rike.  So far this month, I’ve shared the plot of the story, gave you an excerpt, and introduced you to Jassa.  But now you need to get to know the other half of this story.

Meet Rike Krola, one of the primary protagonists of Mistcraft.


Name: Rikenar Krola

Nickname: Rike

Age: 12

Hair: Long enough to cover his ears, curly, blond, silver highlights

Skin: Tan

Favorite color: Red

Favorite Music: Anything fast paced

Favorite Food: Pie

Likes: Swordplay, listening to stories, his friends, his sister, his father, his horse, roughhousing

Dislikes: Tests, spicy foods, being treated like a child

Most prized possession: A letter written to him by his mother before she died

Why?: He’s read it over 100 times.  It’s the only real connection to his mother he has since she died shortly after he was born

Personality flaws: Proud and boastful, overconfident

Personality strengths: Tenacious, kind, and helpful

Rike knows that he’s an angel, and it frustrates him that the only real manifestations he’s experienced so far were small flickers of angelic power.  He doesn’t like listening to his father, who tells him that it will happen soon enough and often works with his older sister, Jassa, to help urge his angelic side a little.  He is at the very cusp of young adulthood but is still a kid in most people’s eyes, even his own most of the time.

He’s a little worried as Jassa has become a bit distant lately, and a little secretive.  When he asked her about it, she would always brush it off as his imagination.  He wonders what it is that she could be hiding from him, but try as he might, he has yet to figure it out.

He desires more than anything to show off his true abilities, and become a great leader of men.  Throughout history, there have been many angel generals, and Rike wants to join the ranks of them, and go down in history as one of the greatest warriors.

* * *

Rike, like his sister, is an angel, the son of a human and a celestial.  After the story began, he gained his first angelic manifestation, his aura, as well as learned what his sister was hiding from him, the fact that she, like him, has nacre abilities.  He is against the use of mistcraft and will do anything to keep himself from learning it as he believes it’s dangerous, especially for an angel.

Current word count for Mistcraft: 39,011/50,000!

Until my next post,

Andrew Ronzino, Nacre (Emptier)

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 12: Stan Lee

I had just finished getting my words in for the day when the news hit that the legendary Stan Lee passed away at 95 from a stroke.  A deep sadness hit me.

I, like millions of others, have been inspired by his comics and the superheroes he created and brought to life.  I never got the opportunity to meet him, but I’ve always heard that he was kind and joyful to all people he encountered, and went out of his way to make children know that they were special.  His creativity was inspiring.

The world lost a giant this day.

May heaven greet him with rejoicing.

Rest in peace, Stan Lee!


Current word count for Mistcraft: 35,309/50,000!

Until next time,

Andrew Ronzino, Superhero

Please follow and like:

NaNoWriMo Day 11: Nacres and Mistcraft

I’ve been promising for a while now that I would shed some light on the magic system of my NaNoWriMo novel this year.   I am going to fulfill that promise tonight.

The active use of magic in my world is called mistcraft, hence the title of the story.  It’s a magic that I have developed rules for that function in this world based on a special gas in the air.  It’s been fun to create and craft.  It’s not perfect, but that’s what editing it for.  I’ve tried to keep it simple because I’ve never created a magic system quite like this before.  So, without further ado, here are the details:

Energetic Mist: On the planet of Fortelnia the air contains an invisible gas called energetic mist.  Energetic mist, sometimes known as iridescent mist, or, simply, mist, is mixed in with the other gasses in the air but is unaffected by the wind.  Mist drifts around the world until it is attracted by energy.  Any source of energy will attract the mist in some capacity, and it will coalesce around the source of energy, this includes heat, work, electrical, and any other kind of energy.  The greater the source of energy, the greater the volume of mist that will be attracted to it.  The more mist that collects in one spot, the more visible it will become, ranging from a light, wispy haze to a thick cloud of fog.  When the mist is visible, it has an iridescent mother-of-pearl (nacre) sheen to it, the colors shift and change.  To most people, energetic mist is simply an oddity of the world and they tend to ignore it as it does not affect anything positively or negatively.  Scientists who have studied mist have found it to be inert unless you’re a nacre.

Nacres: In a small number of human beings on Fortelnia, there are people born with an ability to feel and use energetic mist as a source of power.  These people are called nacres.  These abilities usually become noticeable in preteen-to early teenage years, depending on the person.  Male children have been known to notice their connection to mist before female children with the same abilities.  Scientists are still unsure why boys develop nacre properties before females do.  Nacres can feel the mist in the air, regardless of the amount that is in the area.  Most nacres describe this feeling as “waves of air lapping at their skin, like water on a beach”.  Nacres have an ability to absorb mist into their bodies in a process called drawing.  All nacres have a limit of how much mist they can draw into themselves, which varies from person to person.  Other nacres in the area will feel another nacre drawing in mist by feeling the mist rush towards them as if caught in the current of a river.  The only evidence that a nacre has drawn in mist is if they have enough to reach the upper limits of their personal capacity, their eyes will take on an iridescent sheen that matches the mist.  Only humans can draw in mist, no celestial has ever had this ability.  There has only ever been one recorded angel (half human and half celestial) nacre, Brayol, the Nacre who Broke the World.  Once a nacre has drawn in mist they can use it to perform mistcraft.

Mistcraft: Mistcraft is a nacre’s use of energetic mist to control, affect, distort, or alter the world around them.  There are two categories of nacres who use mistcraft: fillers and emptiers.  Which kind of mistcraft a nacre can use is seemingly random, and absolute, a filler cannot empty, and an emptier cannot fill.  Each nacre has a type, and it cannot be changed or unlearned.

Fillers: Fillers, sometimes called increasers, can use energetic mist to fill things.  This is an abstract phrasing for an abstract ability.  In other words, a filler can only increase the property of something.

E.g. A filler can increase their own weight, but cannot decrease it, they can, however, release the mist used to control their weight, returning it to their body as drawn mist, and restore their weight to what it was before mistcraft was used.  A filler can add color to something.  A skilled nacre can do so with such precision that the item becomes so full of color it hurts to look at.  Etc.

Emptiers: Emptiers, sometimes called decreasers, can use energetic mist to empty things.  Once again, this is as abstract as the power.  An emptier can only decrease the property of something.

E.g. An emptier can decrease the volume of water in a glass, but cannot increase it.  They can also release the mist to return to their body as drawn mist and the water level will be restored to what it was before mistcraft was used.  An emptier can remove color from something.  A skilled nacre can do so with such precision that the item becomes invisible.  Etc.

When mist has been drawn in, it can be released at any time by the nacre.  Releasing drawn mist has no effect other than expelling the mist from their body.

When mist is used for mistcraft, the effect caused by the expended mist will last for as long as the expended mist remains within the object, it is effectively used up, or “drained” by continual use.  Once enough mist has been drained away, the effect will end, and the object of the effect will be restored to whatever state it was in before mistcraft was used on it.  All use of mistcraft is on a clock determined by how much mist was used to create the effect.

A nacre can always recover undrained mist by drawing the remaining mist back into themselves, ending the effect, however, the drained mist is lost.

A creative nacre can use their ability to fill or empty to do amazing feats of power.  However, since Brayol broke the world, the art of mistcraft has become illegal.  Nacres either practice their abilities in secret or not at all.  Nacres who refuse to stop using mistcraft are burned at the stake if captured.

There you have it, my readers — Mistcraft!  There are a few other aspects of it, but it’s deeper mistcraft, and I will not bore you with the details.  So that is the magic system of my novel this year, and it’s been a blast creating it.

Current word count for Mistcraft: 33,428/50,000!

Until tomorrow,

Andrew Ronzino, Nacre (Filler)

Please follow and like: