Blood Pledge Inspiration

I've been mentally living in the beautiful fantasy land of Ilikarr for 14 days now, and it got me thinking about the inspiration for each of my story ideas. So I decided to puzzle it out before I forgot the thought entirely (with me, it only takes about 10 seconds).

Blood Pledge
I'd say the underlying theme of Blood Pledge is to really explore the issue of control. Penna's struggle begins when she is taken out of control by a being that is truly evil to the core. But when Penna had control in the beginning, she was clearly not making the most of it, so the argument then becomes, is she worthy of having that control restored?
The story was largely inspired by Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine's Cinderella masterpiece and my first delving into the fantasy genre. Ella's entire struggle is for control and what she can do within the boundaries that have been set, hoping one day to break through her restrictions. For Penna, it is the opposite. She has free rein in the beginning and her freedom is slowly taken away from her until she is completely at the mercy of her counterpart, Brialyn. GCL's work really got me to take that extra step into the literary world, to not only write something, but to think about what I was writing, to consider the characters as people instead of playthings--though they are fun to play with!

Thunder's Cry
Shannon Hale's fantasy books, mainly The Goose Girl and Book of A Thousand Days, really gave birth to this idea, suddenly and powerfully. I was writing a poem, avoiding my homework, and it was about the stars and how they look to weary travelers on the way home after a long, hard day. Silly, childish stuff. And then, my mind just jumped to the conclusion that there was a girl in the sky. A girl who could call down the rain. A girl who was trapped and most importantly, a girl with a story.
Tera is the main character, and a girl after my own heart. Her vivacious wit and fortitudinous nature is truly incredible to write and even just to ponder. This book deals with the issue of power. Gio, the villainous mage of the story, is drunk with the power he possesses, using it to take what he wants without regard for others, and in the end, it is what destroys him. Tera, who he kidnaps to be his bride, is the opposite. She recognizes the control she has over others and uses it to help, rather than hurt, even when it costs her more than she wishes to give.

My silly stories, which are just for the benefit of my Fictionpress readers (all 3 of you!), 43 Kisses and The Fast Lane are simpler. The Fast Lane arose out of the desire to complete a goal (a desire that failed to provoke me into writing at all--a year and a half and still only three chapters!) for once in my life, but 43 Kisses was inspired by both my love of 43Things.com and  Eulogies and Post-It Notes Can Change The World! by Imaginary Parachute, who is an authoress of epic proportions. It's still on the back-burner though (and turned on low).

Okay, that was fun.... Now off to do real stuff, like my NaNoWriMo writing and my take-home exam that's due tonight at midnight. Aah, school, way to suck the fun out of my life...