On History and Research

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, I know. School starts up for me on September 4th, and I've 3 summer assignments I've only just started.

Inspired by the American History summer assignment I've begun working on (inspiration in the unlikeliest of places, you know?) I decided to post about history.

I don't mean the history of your epic fantasy novel, or the history of our future in your sci-fi book. I mean real world history, chock-full of war, disease, innovation, great and terrible moments. After all, our history is the greatest of all stories -- it's the basis of all literature. A violent peasant revolt in your novel? The French Revolution. A genius innovation that changes the world? Gunpowder, the wheel, paper, the atomic bomb, etc.

 Photo in the Public Domain, found via Creative Commons

 

History can be turn a boring novel into a rich world. It can be the metaphorical light in the darkness, a spark of inspiration in a dark, meaningless story. Your writing can benefit from the vast resevoir of memory and intelligence afforded by the world around you.

 

A lot of people hate history -- why, I don't know -- but it can change your life. This isn't some weird event that happened to a bunch of dead people. Perhaps you're related to some of them. Perhaps those people were scared of the future, of death, of the unkknown, just like we are. When you think of history as full of people you can connect to, it's exactly like a book. Maybe you're destined to have others connect to these people too.

Now, I've always loved history, almost as much as I love reading. I most especially love ancient, ancient history in far-off places like Egypt or Rome. But I can appreciate American History a little more knowing I'm a descendent of Robert E. Lee, the general who surrendered to the North and ended the Civil War. I'm also related to Patrick Henry, that famous speaker from the Revolutionary War with his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech. This makes AP American History next year seem not so boring.

Historical Fiction isn't my style, you say. I'm a fantasy person, a modern romance kind of person, a supernatural fiction fan. What can I learn from the past?

I'm not saying you need to write historical fiction. I'm not saying to limit yourself to this genre, just because I am a history geek. But you can model any character after an ancient, real-life person.

I remember a story about an Egyptian pharaoh who built his capital city out in the desert and tried to do away with all of the old gods and goddesses, instead choosing to force his people to worship just the sun disk, Aten. This caused all sorts of tension with the priests of the old gods and goddesses, who had been at the top of the social pyramid and were now unemployed. This sort of unpopular absolute rule sounds familiar... like perhaps that cliched king in all those fantasy novels?

Think of the creation of the atomic bomb. Such a destructive weapon. We Americans unleashed it on Japan anyways, to end a war. And it caused a whole bunch of other, ethical/medical dilemmas. Was it right? Maybe your novel can benefit from a controversial weapon. Maybe your world can benefit from unlooked for problems due to a political decision.

My point, in this rambling rant about reality, is that researching the past can help any novel. It's not strictly limited to historical fiction. Even modern day romances can include a little old-school history. After all, history is full of relatable characters, interesting settings, and tension/conflict.

 

#3

Wow, I haven't written one of these in forever! 

(See post #1 here and post #2 here)  

Continuing my personal series, I'll be talking about starting over today. Or going back to square one. Whatever you'd like to call it. 

How do you know if you're ready to give up what you've been working on and begin again, with nothing? I can't answer that of course, as it varies from person to person. But...I've decided to do it and I want to share with you all how I came to that decisions.

For months and months, I wrote in short spurts: different characters, different settings, action scenes, crowd scenes, quiet conversations. But it wasn't one big storyline I was working on it. Heck, I'm not even sure what to call it. Going in circles since 2009 is pretty much the only way to describe my writing life since 2009. There's also the discouragement I felt when I picked up a published book and thought, "Hey this sounds close to something I scribbled about." 

I think if you find yourself stuck like I did, let it all go. I'll be keeping my papers and notebooks but I don't plan on playing around with those words anymore. I've grown so much since I branched away from fan fiction years ago and tried just...fiction. It wouldn't be fair, I believe, to keep chipping at what my awkward block of ideas.

So as of today, August 2nd 2012, I call myself neither a writer nor a scribbler...because I have nothing. But that's not to say I will never have anything written down. I'm going back to the basics: seeking inspiration in music, art, nature, etc. and considering "what if" questions, about things that really matter to me. That's what I'll be focusing on in the near future. 

And hopefully, something good and fiction-y will come from it all. It's August already, more than halfway through the year, and there's just no more time to look back. 

Hope you have an inspired week, no matter where you are in the writing process. <3

On Beginnings

So, lately I've been reading LoTR, and I came across an inspiring quote (I know, Tolkien is full of them.)

"It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish."
-The Fellowship of the Ring

So, I'm not going to ramble on just about how to begin your story. I'm going to ramble on about gathering the guts to start writing.

You know that hesitancy you get when you've been writing and rewriting a story forever, and now you think that it would be better to just start a new story altogether? Chances are, if you can't get this story right, it's a good idea to set it on the back burner awhile. This is not just following the Shiny New Idea: this is moving on to new things when the old isn't improving.

I came to this problem in my own writing. I've been working on the first draft - the first few chapters of the first draft - since middle school. That's about 5 years. Now, I think pure stubborn imagination is what keeps me at the keyboard, and that I really should try and see if I can write a full story out of a different idea. But there's this fear that it'll go nowhere, just like the first idea did.

This isn't one of those fears that go away. Don't we all fear that our ideas will fail, and our story become a useless, unfinished mushpile taking up space on our computer, never to see the proverbial light of day? I think the key to starting something special is to both use this fear and prepare yourself against it.

What I mean is, prepare to fortify yourself. When the voice whispers, "you don't even know how to start," then look at the first sentence/chapter of every book within reach, and figure out for yourself how to puzzle the first few sentences together. When it begins to whisper, "this is beyond salvageable, you'd be better off starting anew," remember that nothing is perfect. There is plenty of time to do major revamping when you're done. If the idea truly isn't going anywhere, after months (or years) of trying, then move on and don't forget.

When I say to use this fear, I mean think of your characters. Perhaps you don't benefit from the little nagging voice in your head, but will your characters? Incorporate your fear of starting or failing into your character. What character wants to immediately walk to their death? Hesitation is a normal part of life, and when you draw on your own fear, your characters are more believable.   

My mind works better with lists, so let me summarize:

1. Read the beginnings of other books. Don't copy them, but puzzle together the first few sentences and scenes of your own novel based on what you think works. Want your character to be established before your action? Want the action and the character-building to be intertwined in those first few pages? See how your favorite novels do it. How much is too much, how much is too little?

2. Actually sitting down to write is a major point. Take the gut-wrenching plunge and open a new document. Schedule a little time to get the beginning down. DON'T PROCRASTINATE.

3. Incorporate your fear into the characters. Perhaps your character is on the brink of a decision in the first scene - make sure the fear of starting, failing, or of the consequences is made known. You know how this feels! Your character feels real when their fear is based directly off real fear.

That summarizes my point pretty well. I was going to put a fourth bullet point down, but I don't have one. This post from QueryTracker sums up adversity, and goes along pretty well with this here post on getting over fear.

Have a blessed day and keep writing!

 

Distractions...

Happy Independance Day, fellow US citizens!

And for any non-US citizens, happy Wednesday! I have a special picture for y'all, too.

This is late - like, 11:00 pm late. I'm sorry.

It's so hard to focus on stuff. In this fast-paced, technological world, it is easy to be distracted by the simplest things. I planned on writing 2,000 words today, and I ended up watching TV and staring at the ceiling. Now I'm rushing through 1,000 words, and I'll fall asleep after. Yet here I am, distracted by blogging.

When you don't have something to focus on (and oftentimes when you DO have more important things to do), your mind will distract itself. Without school, my mind is a blur of "I've got to do this, but really, I never noticed how interesting the ceiling looks. I think I'll google how to paint a ceiling instead." Here are some tips to keep on task with your writing:

1. Never, under any circumstance, tell yourself that "you'll do it later". Because you know you won't.

2. Time your breaks. Obviously, you can't write from the moment you wake up till the moment you fall asleep. Maybe take an hour after you wake up for breakfast/coffee/reading before you go to write. Maybe take twenty minutes for lunch instead of however long you want it to take. Your mind is easier to keep focused if you have a nice, clear schedule.

3. Don't let your cat sleep on your computer while you're away from it. Or any pets, for that matter. You'll be distracted by the long "sajkhrfeulrgtuigtgdgfskjhjrkejjkkk" and any possible damage to your keyboard. 

4. Don't tempt yourself. Work away from distractions like the TV, or cut off internet access.

This is my meager list of tips. I have a big issue on this particular topic, and while some of these tips may not work for you, it is how I keep my sanity when it comes to writing.

I don't really have much to add on. So have a blessed week!

On Quotes

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. It's June, and I can relax, so here I am! Yay.

To be a good writer, you have to look at other people's writing. You have to read. You have to learn how to put together a good sentence, a good metaphor, a poetic line. Or, you can read them for inspiration, for truth, for the pure poetry of the words. So, I'm sharing some of my favorite quotes from other writers (and others).

"Spiteful words can hurt your feelings, but silence breaks your heart."
~C. S. Lewis

"In learning the art of storytelling by animation, I have discovered that language has an anatomy."
~Walt Disney

"If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?"
~George Carlin

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
~Maya Angelou

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
~Albert Einstein

I love these quotes. They're so true, and they're stated in a simple way. It's just... staggering how true they can be.

So, how about you? What are your favorite quotes?

Keep Pushing Through

I'm on Spring Break with nothing to do, so I'm posting on a random writing topic.

How To Keep Pushing Through:

I know, it's hard to keep writing. You've passed the happy, new-idea phase and you're into the oh-my-goodness-where-am-I-taking-this? phase. If you're anything like me, you've got the very basic plot down, but you're unsure of the actual details and problems that fit in between. I've hit this problem in my own writing, so I figured I'd improvise this and then follow my own advice.

To start off, DON'T LEAVE YOUR WRITING BECAUSE YOU'RE FRUSTRATED. Even after just a few days, you'll look at what you wrote and think, "what the freak was I thinking? This is rubbish." Then you'll put it in the recycle bin and start over. You'll get to the same point, do the same thing, and you'll think all over again that your writing isn't worth the brain cells you put into it. This is a very nasty circle-spiral of useless writing time. Stay true to your writing and improvise a temporary scene to get you through the rough patch, and change it to suit your needs during editing. Of course, your temporary scene has to be similar to what you want there, because your story is delicate. If you put that Mary Sue wants to fight an evil king, and you've hit a rough patch when she's meeting him the 1st time, you cannot make this meeting end with King Evil giving her a bunny and her promising a rainbow. Don't forget your action-reaction idea.

Another point is DON'T GO BACK AND EDIT. If you go back and edit what you've already written, then you'll end up finding so many mistakes, you'll be tempted to trash it. And you know where that'll end up. So just push through that stubborn scene and resist the temptation to edit. You have plenty of time for editing when it's all said and done.

Third point: SEEK INSPIRATION. Grab it by its bunny-rabbit ears and don't let go. Listen to new music, convince your parents to take you to the park (or drive there, if you have your license. I don't happen to have mine yet, so I have to find other transportation). Do some research on topics you enjoy: look up religion on Google, go to your library and find books on ancient civilizations. Just pick something and read up on it. Or watch documentaries, which I personally love to do. I once watched a very informative show on the history of playing cards. Just... do something worth doing.

Try a RANDOM GENERATOR. Like http://nine.frenchboys.net/housing.php or tp://seventhsanctum.com/. These are fun and can spark an idea. You won't use all of the suggestions they give you - some are so blatantly against your story that you'll have to find something else. But they're pretty reliable.

Ummm... ADD SOMETHING NEW. If you don't consider this part of inspiration. Write a dragon into your scene! Have your MC join a pirate gang! Let your MC's sister get kidnapped! Just add something worthwhile or odd into your scene and change your plot to accomadate it. If you hate it, you can come back to it in editing.

That's all I've got. I'm sorry, I feel this kind of advice has been parroted out to writers by pretty much everyone. "Don't give up!" "Find inspiration!" It is good advice, though. And all the labrynth of my mind can come up with at the moment. 

Have a blessed day and keep writing! <3

Writing Advice

Well, this is a very broad topic. I'm going to make this pretty general.

A list of things you SHOULD/MUST do:

1. Never give up. This is big - if you can't finish it, move on or change it, but don't give up on your writing unless you've been brainwashed by zombies to hate writing.
2. Keep your characters interesting and real. I (and 98% of the rest of humanity) can't stand flat, boring characters.
3. Include a background to your story; not just setting, but why things are as they are. Include who, what, when, where, why, and how. You can't just put what, when, and where.
4. Love your work. Have fun. Find beauty in the words. Even in writer's block, look at the simple beauty of language and writing, and smile.
5. Let your dreams be just as real as your writing. Let your emotions be just as real as your characters. Let your family and friends be just as real as your imagination.


A list of things you SHOULD NOT do if you value your life and/or self-esteem:

1. Don't be obviously cliche. It's like a crutch: it's okay in the first draft, but eventually your writing has to stand up on its own without looking cliche.
2. Don't let zombies brainwash you into hating writing. That's a tragedy worse than anything Shakespeare could have come up with.
3. Never plagorize. That's very uncreative, and people will catch you and tie you to a stake and leave you for the wild beasties of the night. *Ahem* Or at least thunk you over the head with your book.
4. Don't be normal, and don't let your character be, either. I went to a church event back in January, called Acquire the Fire - the entire theme was "Normal is Not Enough!" Live by those words.
5. Never, for the sake of all that's good and pure, put the almost right word. There's a big difference between skinny and emaciated. Between indigo and dark blue. Between strolling and sprinting.

In other words, be creative and fun. Love your writing and never let it go. Don't be unfun, uncreative, and a work-stealer.

Another few things:

Read a lot. And don't stick to just one genre; love general fiction, fantasy, science-fiction, romance, paranormal, adventure, dystopian, YA novels, children's books, adult series. Love nonfiction and facts and research. Love the sounds the words make. Love it all, until you feel like it'll drown you if you don't write/type them into a whole new existence.

Experiment with your writing. I admit, I have trouble on this one - but playing it safe leads to a boring book. If you add something new, it interests you and the reader. Add a crazy character! Change your plot drastically! Turn your MC into a unicorn! Make it take place in space instead of New York! Change it from first person to third person! Make it in future tense!

Put yourself in your character's shoes. Unless they need them, of course. And I'm not asking you to go kill a dragon or fall in love with a vampire (unless he actually drinks human blood and doesn't sparkle). I just want you to imagine doing them, and how you'd feel. We will know you ignored this advice if your character is happy and laughing in a hostage negotiation (unless they're hyped up on drugs).

Push through to the end of the book. I know I said earlier you can move on, but that's kind of relative. I mean, if you change the plot enough because your original idea didn't work, didn't you already move on and create a whole new book? The content of your story is a delicate balance; when you make a major change, you've already made a major change to the ending. You've made a major change to that entire world.

This is pretty good for improvisation. (I really should think more before I post these posts.) Anyways, have a blessed week and happy writing! <3

Well, It's been Forever.

It's been a long, long time since anyone posted, so I've taken it upon myself. And since I haven't planned anything, I'll give you a few resources for when you're stuck.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

A bunch of random generators, for naming, setting, magical needs. :D

http://dictionary.reference.com/

Because dictionaries are useful. I'm pretty sure you don't need this one, though.

http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/

This person has an entire collection of entries on emotions, settings, weather, color, etc. Very useful.

http://thestairwaytojannah.blogspot.com/

Almost Out of Ink - an awesome artist. You can get inspiration for your writing from sharpie drawings.

I used to this other, awesome website (I think it was on blogspot, but I really don't know) on burns and other injuries. Another place you can try is

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/214

but I can't tell you which of those links are helpful, because I haven't checked some of them out yet. The obvious ones (i.e. google, wikipedia) are good, of course, but a few I've never heard of.

So, I hope you find this useful. I don't really have anything else to say, so I'll just leave you with a random quote:
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Voices

*This was supposed to have been posted yesterday, sorry. I had a big history project.*

Voice- what your character sounds like. Word choice, sentence type, intentional grammar mistakes, and regionally acceptable words (like "y'all"). There are more, but that's all I'm focusing on here.

VOCABULARY. This is very, very important. Do not let your happy-go-lucky five-year-old go around using words like "evanescent" and "expurgate". Don't let your Britsh official say words like "potty" and "nappy". Vocabulary is important because it really brings your character to life, and don't just avoid using wrong vocabulary in dialogue - their thoughts and how you're describing your (oops, their) surroundings should include words that they'd know and use. Like, a perky teenage girl might say "sunny yellow", while a depressed girl might descibe the same shade (or any shade) "puke yellow". Look at it from their perspective, through not just through their eyes but through their minds.

SENTENCE TYPE. Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. I find that not only I but my character prefer simple sentences. Long ones, with multiple verbs, but still simple. And to review/inform you of the types: simple= 1 independent clause, 0 dependent clauses. compound= 2+ Ind. clauses, 0 dependent clauses. Complex=1 ind. clause, 1+ dep. clauses. Compound-complex= 2+ ind. clauses, 1+ dep. clauses. Clauses are a subject and verb, independent means it can stand alone as a sentence. If you have one subject and multiple verbs, they're still simple.

INTENTIONALLY INCORRECT GRAMMAR. Double negatives ("don't got nothing") and perhaps sort of slurring words together ("kinda", "sorta", "alright") is what immediately comes to mind. Don't confuse this with regular mistakes, though. Using the wrong "it's" does not fall under this category. This is kind of regional too, I suppose. But not always.

REGIONALLY ACCEPTABLE TERMS. "Y'all", "ain't", and of course, "soda" vs. "pop". Know the local terms of a place before you try to write this. It's important - like if my character's from where I'm from, it's soda. If she lived in New York, it'd be pop (right?). You might occasionally see me use the word y'all, because it's perfectly acceptable where I live. If I went to New York, they might snicker at me for that same word. This makes your characters realistic. It'd look pretty ridiculous otherwise, especially for the people who actually live in the same area as your character. You don't have that problem with fantasy worlds, but make sure they have special region words as well, to spice it up a little.

Another thing I forgot is SLANG. I don't know if I should include this in that last category, but you know. Your teenager is more likely to use slang, your adult isn't. This one is kind of obvious to me - even fantasy worlds should have slang terms. Not that I like slang, but you can't deny its influence.

This is a quick overview of the topic. You as a writer have a responsibility to make sure your character's voice comes out true. Follow the above, listen to people from that area if it's not where you're from (if you can), at least look it up on Google or make it up as you go along. These are important things that'll enhance your writing. It makes your characters realistic and really brings them off the page.

So, hope this has helped. Y'all have a great day and blessed weekend. ;D

Morals and Epic Changes

We know that in order to have a good story, the MC has to learn something. But what is your character supposed to learn over the course of your story?

Well, anything. It depends on a lot of variables such as your character's personality and what you're subjecting them to. Here are a few specific examples of change:

RELIGIOUS. If Aladdin stumbled into a church and was awed and inspired by the sermons and artwork, then he decided to become a Christian, that's a major change. What did Aladdin learn? Christianity. (Especially since he more than likely would have been Muslim, as the Middle East... well, always has been. That region was originally united by Islam, wasn't it?) I would put "religion to atheism" here as well, even though by definition "atheism" isn't a religion at all.

IDEAS. Or idealogies, or whatever. It can relate to religion, but this is broader. For example, Opal (that name reminds me of the Artemis Fowl series, haha) wanted to be a ballerina her whole life, then breaks her legs and is forced to join art therapy by her mother. She finds she loves building sculptures more than she ever loved ballet, and decides to be an artist. This is an ideological change. It includes things like career paths, how they view the world, pretty much their beliefs in general. This is a big category.

CLIQUE. I know, but it's true. If your character is popular and decides that she is really happier off at being a nerd. If your goth girl is suddenly thrown into the world of politics and socialness, and finds that she doesn't actually mind it. If your popular jock announces to the school he's gay and would rather be hanging out with emo kids anyway (I don't see why it's such a big deal being gay or emo, but hey, whatever). I think you get it.

EMOTION. If your character is always happy, then goes through a torture session and ends up perpetually angry. Your character is grieving but finds a way through it. In a way, this can connect with all three of the above.

Basically, your character can only go two different directions - they can turn good, or they can turn bad. Usually good, but one of a good guy turned bad would be awesome to read. Those categories above are specific ways that change can happen. It can happen in a sudden epiphany, or so gradual, your character doesn't notice until they look back. There are infinite possibilities from those two choices.

There are more categories, and this barely scratches the scratch on the surface (I cannot remember where I get that particular saying - some book. Just know that wasn't mine). But this is a place to start.

Have a blessed week, keep writing, and love books! <3

One upon a cat...

Happy Valentine's day! <3
And happy Tuesday, since I don't particularly enjoy V-day. You should love everyone all year round, not just some random day in February. And also, I hate... *ahem*... severely dislike the color pink.
Anyways, since I didn't plan anything, I'm going to write you a short story.

The song that inspired this short story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rMt9nMm124

It was January, although no snow coated the ground. I shivered in my threadbare jacket, staring forlornly at the sand beneath my feet. When would good luck look away from everyone else and notice little me?
The roar of the ocean calmed my thoughts. Its steady beat promised that no matter how much changed, some things would stay the same. Even the icy waves reached towards me before pulling back, time and again. I thought back over the past few hours.
"No! How dare you come back here, you little rat," Mother shouted. Her normally white face was red with anger. "Get out of here. You are not living under my roof ever again, you hear me? Never!"
"Why? Because I refuse to give you money so you can buy some more beer? Your perfect little daughter has shed her obedience. I'd rather die on the streets than be here." I slammed the door on my way out, not even bothering to go to my room. All the money I had earned that day stayed in my pockets. 
The twisted happiness of rebellion had faded by now. What would I do? I couldn't afford to keep up school tuition by myself; it was almost too much between Mother and I. And my Mcdonald's job only payed so much. Where would I find food and shelter? I swallowed my tears and gazed up at the night sky. It was a gorgeous view, with the stars shining confidently and the waxing moon shed some light down on my face. More than ever, I wished the world could slow down, forget the money and power and just enjoy the view.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" remarked a voice behind me. I turned around awkwardly, but saw no one but a small Siamese cat. It licked its paw and stepped closer, laying down beside me. It opened its mouth. "Humans almost never look past themselves. I sense you do, though. You understand the true beauty of life." The cat sighed. The voice sounded cultured and rich, and I judged that it was a tomcat who spoke to me.

"It is," I said after a pause. "But I almost can't focus on it. I'm afraid I can't see past myself at the moment." I laughed ruefully and sat down beside him. "Sometimes I wonder if the world can't see past itself to find me."
"Maybe not this world," said the cat thoughtfully.  After another silence, he continued. "I like your honesty. But I think you aren't looking at yourself at all. You're looking at who you think you are, and they are very different people." He picked himself up and crawled into my lap, purring as I scratched behind his ears.

"You know, you don't belong here," he confided in me. "Not on Earth. It's corrupt and broken, while you... you are too beautiful, too knowing, too stay. And thankfully, I have a solution." He purred louder.
"What?" I said carefully. I was by now wary. But there was something comforting about the cat, as if he were a caring father looking after his children. The fact that he talked and thought just like me wasn't as surprising as what he said, though.

The cat stretched and launched himself onto my shoulders. I winced as his claws dug through my clothes and into my skin. And he whispered his name into my ear.
I closed my eyes as a wave of nausea rolled over me, drowning out the ocean. When I opened them, I gasped. I was standing on a steep hill, with plains spreading for miles to the north and a great forest stretching to the south. To the west stood a small village, the buildings tall and built with human hands. But there seemed to be very few humans at all; most of the villagers appeared to be cats, tigers, lions, ocelots, leopards, cheetahs, and every other feline species you could name, as well as a few more. And looking down, I saw that my clothes had disappeared and so had my human body. Instead, I flexed my claws and yawned, feeling mighty and powerful in my diminutive Siamese cat form.

"Welcome home, Princess," said my real father from beside me.

********************

So, hope you enjoyed it. Goodbye for now, and have a blessed week. <3

Writer's Block

So. Writer's block. Do I need to define it? It's that intense hopelessness as you stare at the page and cannot think of a single word to write. It's wracking your brains for a good idea and coming up empty-handed. It's... writer's block.

What causes this horrifying disease? Either a.) You've been writing too much, or b.) You haven't thought enough about what you're writing. The second one's easy enough to deal with; stop and think. Daydream in class, bounce ideas off your best friend, look to the internet. The first one also requires taking time off.

Some generic ways to get over writer's block:
The best thing to do, normally, is to get away from writing for a short time. Not forever; never give up on your writing simply because you can't think of something. But just take a walk or something. Listen to music. Spend time with your family and friends. Get outside; enjoy the fresh air, the sunshine, the spiders...
"Follow the spiders... why can't it be follow the butterflies?" (I'm paraphrasing from a HP book. 10 points to Ravenclaw if you can guess which one, and by who!)

Some more drastic ways when those above don't work:
Let's face it. There's only so much inspiration you can find in staggering about blindly, wondering when the sun got so bright. Sometimes, randomly typing words into google or photobucket can magically plant a seed of literary perfection into your mind (or so it seems). Also, making exaggerated faces to yourself, in front of a mirror or otherwise. You know, when no one's watching. That can spark dialogue (even if it's some famous quote by Captain Jack Sparrow, you'll at least have the sudden urge to write about pirates...). Hide in a really good hiding spot and watch/eavesdrop on anyone who's passing by. That helps your ninja skills too!

Anyways, to sum it all up: when your ideas begin to falter, take some time off. Do something creative or fun. And as Benjamin franklin says, "The doors of wisdom are never shut." (What that has to do with I'm talking about is up to you to decide.) Have a blessed day! Er, week. Till the next time I write. You know what I mean. <3

Semicolons

We all know what a semicolon looks like. It's the dot and comma. Like this  - ;

How do we know when to use them? First of all, it connects independent clauses. You know, those complete sentences.

"Suzy loves cats; she loves them so much, she made a kitty shrine in her bathroom."

You could easily write this sentence as two sentences. But with a semicolon, you are connecting them in a different way. You are showing the close relationship between these sentences.

You also need a semicolon if there's a conjunction in front of it: therefore, nevertheless, besides, etc.

"My mother and I never cut our hair; besides, the lock of hair was black, not brown."

Note the comma after the conjunction. Also necessary. Again, you can rewrite it. This one, you could have used a comma and an "and". But the semicolon makes the sentence shorter, and as a writer you know to avoid making everything too long.

Those are the two main points of semicolons. I cannot think of other uses, but if you do, then comment. Here are some more examples:

"She read The Scarlet Letter; it was boring and long, but at least it wasn't Twilight."
"He wished on a shooting star; therefore, he thought his wish would come true."
"Mary studied five hours a night in preparation for her exam; nevertheless, she got a C."
"John played sports and was really popular; everyone loved him and looked up to him."

Anyways, there is your lesson in punctuation. Keep writing, don't steal, eat your vegetables. Have a wonderful rest of the week! :D

Showing vs. Telling

(I was supposed to do this yesterday, sorry.)

Telling - directly stating description, thoughts, emotions, etc.'
Showing - indirectly stating description, thoughts, emotions, etc.

Like with the rest of writing, there has to be a balance. You can't have too much telling and not enough showing, or vice versa. It gets tedious after a short while. Showing too much can be confusing, when you're not spelling it out for people. But first, I'll give you an example of each so you know just exactly what I mean by show vs. tell.

(Show)
"She yawned as he continued his tirade. Leaning back against the headrest, she struggled to stay awake as her brother ranted, his hands fluttering about in agitated gestures."

(Tell)
"She was bored as he continued his tirade. She tried to hide exactly how bored and tired she was, because she knew how enraged her brother was over this particular topic of conversation."

Easy to tell the difference between them? Showing tends to use more action, or smaller clues in the action, to state what is going on. Telling comes straight out and says it. In both, you can tell that a) she is bored, and b) he's angry. These are really easy examples, but you get my main point.

Imagine an entire paragraph in telling. I'm not going to write one because, well, it was frustrating to write the example above. I'm more of a showing kind of person. But showing gets convoluted, and if it's too difficult, your readers are going to set it down and wander off to their fridge to drown their confusion in chocolate milk. So. How do you create a balance?

Relax. If you try to force a scene to show or some dialogue to tell, it'll be obvious. If you're more inclined to showing, like I am, simply drop some telling lines every now and then. If you have to, create a stupid character and have your MC spell out everything that's happening for them. If you're a telling kind of person, then try to trust your reader; some things they can figure out on their own, like if you say the killer was tall and pale with a British accent and a person who fits that exact description is the MC's best friend. At least include actions with the emotions you're saying, like "he said excitedly" or "I lean forward in anticipation".

Watch your words. When you want to create some suspense, don't tell the reader everything they need to know. Show some of it through the characters' actions. In their words, conceal what could be interpreted as a threat. A very famous example being: "I'll be back." (You can find a variation of that line in so many books, as well...) If you're writing a slow, romantic scene, then absolutely tell more than show (especially if showing includes not enough clothing, but that's my opinion). Include emotions, like "I was nervous as he leaned in..." or some other such thing.

Take your time. Do I really have to say much on this one? As writers, you should know better than to rush through your best scenes. Don't write words that feel wrong. Don't put "emaciated" where you mean "skinny". Don't tell me he's eager to start training if he's sitting there with a blank look on his face. Don't tell me her mother is happy if her arms are crossed and she's scowling. Show what you mean. Tell us want you want us to know. Slow down, occasionally watch the words you're putting on the screen.

All in all, showing vs. telling: find a balance. Don't let either dominate your writing, or it'll be tedious/confusing. Good night, and keep writing! <3

Yesterday's Endings

(This is a very short post - it was meant for Tuesday, only no one did it. I apologize!)

Endings. That which brings the entire story to a close, or perhaps only this adventure. But the main point is that they END.

Here are some types of endings:
1. Normal Novel - I don't know what else to call it. That typical, sums-it-all-up kind of ending. The kind where all the details are figured out, all the problems are ironed out. Ex: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde, or The Tension of Opposites by Kristina Mcbride, or fairytales (Gail Carson Levine's, if you'd prefer hers).

2. Normal Series - That heartbreaking, lovable ending when you have to say goodbye to the world you spent 6 books reading about. Every single problem is generally worked out. Ex: well, any last book of a series. Oh, you wanted me to list specific series? Okay. The Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld, The Eragon: Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, or the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

3. Cliffhangars - Those books where you want to scream "what happens next?!" These could be the first book of a series, or simply where the author decided to taunt you by never solving the problem. Usually left off on a tense moment, or something pretty big still needs to be solved. Ex: Discordia: the Eleventh Dimension by Dena K. Salmon, or Maze Runner by James Dashner, or... I don't know. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordin? That left off around Luke's betrayal, right?

There're probably more, but they slip my mind at the moment. So, on to writing one.

The first step, obviously, is writing the rest of the story (unless you're one of those people who start writing in a random place and expand from there). Depending on the ending, you can choose to start drawing to a gradual close, up to a couple chapters before the actual last page, or you can choose to leave off drawing to a close until a couple pages before the actual last page. Example (shortened somewhat, obviously):

(gradual)
"Suzy grimly battled with King Evil, trying not to let her weariness show. Around her, the screams of dying men echoed through the vast plain, The smell of death heavy in the air... Finally, King Evil gave one mighty heave and flung Suzy backward into the back of one of his vicious giant warriors. With the wind knocked out her, she helplessly watched him advance... With a final, desperate surge of energy she stood up and rammed her sword into the king's chest... After the quick retreat of King Evil's forces, her own men bustled around the plain, checking for survivors and treating the wounded... After listening to her friends, she realized the perfect solution to [insert smaller, less- important-to-the-story problem here] and quickly told them... Her father reported that King Evil's erratic, violent nature wasn't due solely because he was evil. He had simply been mad at the world because of a curse laid upon him as a child... As her right hand man asked about what do with the King's body, she told him to burn it, but with a proper funeral and let his wife be present... Eventually, when everything settled down, she smiled sadly to herself. What a crazy, confusing, sad world, she thought. As they placed the fallen King Evil's crown upon her head, she vowed to be just and wise in all of her decisions as queen, the opposite of what her opponent had been."

(quick)
"I race along the path, my breaths loud and heartbeats louder. Don't let him get there first, I pray silently. The rows of cotton and wheat on either side of me never seem to end; I wonder for a split second whether I am even moving. But the burn in my legs says otherwise, and I continue to push myself. Eventually, the fields blend into hills, and I can see the mighty temple in the distance. Involuntarily I slow down, every part of me screaming in outrage at the 5 mile run. I put my hands on my knees, panting, and with horror and helplessness, I watch Paul sprint up the steps to the marble columns and then to the entrance. I am so close, the temple of Gregory is less than half a mile away, but I cannot make my muscles move. When he walks out of the entrance ten minutes later, he is smugly carrying the sacred pitcher filled with the ashes of a white lion. He comes my way, and sees me curled on the ground.
"It pays to have a house closer to the temple," he chuckles, and leaves me. I know then that no matter how good of a ruler he pretends to become, I will take the crown from him, or I will die trying. [End of Book 1]"

Perhaps not the best of my writing, but not the point. You notice the difference? Not only are there elipses to show that there is more writing that would this post far too long, but the first one solves smaller problems. The second is a bit more vague, but you understand that it's not over. The narrator will stop at nothing to get that crown and dispose of her cheating rival (that's what I meant when he walks by and implies that he didn't have as far to run).

Hope this has helped to some degree. Have a blessed day and keep writing!

~Midnight <3

#2

Well… it’s been a little slow around here, but I hope as we get further into the new year, that things pick up a bit. Today I’ve got a simple and short post, which I decided to divide into three parts!

1) What I’ve been reading: I finished an advanced copy of a book about a week and a half ago…and it is still on my mind. It’s amazing. I don’t want to say much about it, nor will I post the cover because it’s prob. going to change, but it is YA and coming out this summer (as far as I know). *is a big tease* Though, I may mention it in future posts with more details, so keep an eye out! Aside from that, I also finished Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.

2) What I’ve been writing: Oh. This one is hard to answer. It’s been on and off for several weeks now…and I’m literally going in circles. I know some of the characters, and even have vague ideas for certain things, but I need to sit and think about it some more. Again…I am going for YA, but that’s about all I have in terms of labeling it.

3) Writing goals for 2012: write a novel. That’s it. I don’t want to attach any specifics to it like word count or time period.  But if I make enough progress, I hope to upload parts of it to InkPop.com, and maybe add snippets to my future posts here, and share it with you all. That has been a long time coming. So, that's two goals right there.

Have a good week!

*For post #1, see here.