New Author Friday! Spencer Brokaw

Okay so today is Friday and I have an author interview! Yay! There's something very interesting about this author.... He's twelve! read on to find out more about the amazing author of The Impenetrable Spy. 

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Can you tell us about yourself?

My name is Spencer Brokaw, 12 year old author of The Impenetrable Spy available on Nook, Kindle, Ibooks, and in paperback on Amazon. I love to write, and already have my second book done, and I am currently working on my third. I enjoy golf, swimming, playing the drums, reading, and writing when I have the chance.

When did you first have an interest in writing?

When I was 6 or 7, my dad suggested that I write as a cure for boredom. I wrote a short story (21 notebook pages) about a man that breaks out of jail. I wrote other stories until typing my first on the computer. I then moved onto a second book on the computer, that is now The Impenetrable Spy.

Can you tell us about your book? Without giving it away, of course. 

Zack Carter was an ordinary person until meeting up with the CIA. Zack creates a time machine that can transport him back in time when his heart rate stops. Zack is nearly "Impenetrable" and can not be beaten. Wang Bo, a rich leader of China discovers a small statue that can make peoples worst fears come alive. He is also the leader of a mass terrorist group dubbed the Bad Hounds. Zack's main priority is to save the United States from World War 3. He travels through several missions through huge mansions, a war torn D.C, an insane asylum, and New York City.

Are there any authors that have become your role models or books that you’ve read that you thought of while writing that you wanted to write one like it?

Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling,and Lemony Snicket were my favorite writers. There weren’t many books that I wanted to copy, but video games like Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon made me like the espionage genre a lot.

What inspired the Impenetrable Spy? 

It never would’ve started without my dad suggesting writing 6 years ago, but video games were a heavy influence. The action genre in movies also geared me towards this direction. I have always loved to write these types of books, so eventually this is a story I came up with.

Can you give one piece of advice to the writers out there?

Keep writing. If you stop writing, even for a short amount of time, it gets out of shape. It’s like exercise, you have to keep doing it otherwise you’ll get out of shape. Writing needs to be practiced at least once a week, but once a day is even better.

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And that's Spencer my friends! You can find him on his blog at Writing Tips from a 12 Year Old Author and get his book on your Kindle and on Smashwords. Good luck with your writing and have a nice beginning of December! It's off to the school play for me!

Generator

On Wednesday, I know we were supposed to have guest post, but some lines got crossed and it will be rescheduled to a later date. Sorry! 

Today, we don't have an interview planned so I'm going to talk about the glory of a generator. No, not generator as in the kind you use for electricity, unless by electricity you mean inspiration. 

No, the kind of generator I'm talking about is the ones you can find at Seventh Sanctum. For instance, their Character Scrambler creates ides for characters with the single click of a button. And that's not the only kind they have. They generators for names and for creating alien races. They have ones for swords, for dragon breeds, and vampires. If you're having writer's block or searching for an idea, this is definitely the place to go for ideas. 

There are various other sites to go to find generator, if you type into google or bing what you want to find and the word "generator", you're bound to find a generator that fits your needs. 

Here's a list of generators and generator sites that I've found....

Seventh Sanctum - The king of all generator sites. You can find most everything that you would need while writing a story. 

Serendipity - Although it's not as big of a collection as Seventh Sanctum, it still has a lot of hopeful generators. 

Creative Idea Generator - This site gives you random words and pictures to help generate ideas. 

Spring Hole - A bunch of generators here. 

Demon World

Squid.org

Hope I can help and have a good rest of Thanksgiving break! 

Have a cool generator answer? Know another generator you'd like to share? What did you do over Thanksgiving?

Friday!

Sorry for such a late post today, I had some issues. 

Have you ever heard of Jane Yolen? She wrote books including the Sister Light, Sister Dark series and Briar Rose. There's something I would like to point out about her that sets her apart from the "normal" writer. 

Jane Yolen doesn't "plot" out, per se, her novels. She gets a vague idea of the beginning or middle or end or wherever, and writes from their, letting her story plot itself out. 

I'm bringing this up because everything seems to be so set in stone. You plot the book, you write the book, you publish the book, blah, blah, blah and so on. This is not how the world works! This isn't how writing works! You need to find a pace that works for you, a style that fits you, some pattern that makes it so you can focus on writing. Don't plot your novel just because that's what Stephenie Meyers did or because that's what Rick Riordan did or James Patterson or some other author. 

Now, I'm not saying plotting is bad, for some people it's a good way to get their ideas together. My point is that you should give something a try, you might find a different way works better. I know I sound pretty cliche right now, but it's the truth. I'm not just writing this because it'll look cool. Well, that's not the entire reason but I'm writing this because I want to help you writers out there develop your talents in your own way, not the most popular method. 

Now that I have my point across, we can talk about some ways that you can try to broaden your horizons. 

Go-With-It Style - The style Jane Yolen uses and the one I use. You get a vague scene and write the entire story off of it. 

Plotting - This is the "normal" style, where you plot out the entire book beforehand. 

With A Friend - Write a story with another person. This way you can piggy-back ideas and for some people it's something easier to grab onto. 

Two Narrators - Switch off from two different narrators. Get two views of the story.

There are thousands of different ways to write, these are just four of them. My advice is to just try something new, you might find a strategy you would like to keep. The worst that can happen is that nothing could happen, that one might not work and you have to try a new one. Good luck and keep writing!

Is there any other strategies you can think of? Are there any ways that you've tried and really liked? One that you didn't like too much?

Interview: Jamie Brook Thompson

If you're here, back again from last Friday, I want to congratulate you! Welcome back! Right off the back I would just like to point out that today is the big 11.11.11! Whoopie! And I can tell my cat is also just as happy as I am as she is purring furiously on my lap. :) For those of you doing Nanowrimo, what is it? About a week and a half now? Congrats, only a few weeks to go!

Today I have the honor of introducing Jamie Brook Thompson! She's a new author, her book Fairytale Farms has just recently come out. I thought you guys might want to hear a little about her, maybe realize that eventually, someday in forever, you'll finish your book. But remember, there's a lot of hard work from now to that day.

Anyways, I interviewed our fabulous guest so read on!

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Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I'm pretty much just like everybody else. A dreamer, a believer, and a friend to everyone. I have the biggest problem with meeting new people and not realizing we haven't been friends forever. I also drink way too much Pepsi because I can't get enough of those burning bubbles down the back of my throat. Blast you carbonation!

What inspired you to write?

I'm gonna go with the book that started us all... Twilight! I'll be proud to admit I love Meyers! She did what all of us dream of... Got people to read! I say a person can love or hate Meyers, but we all have to respect her... Again, Folks, she got people to read!

Can you tell us about your book? Without giving it away, of course. 

I like to write about the dark truths of reality in a world of fantasy. In Fairytale Farms, Melody, has some dark secrets she can't tell anyone about. Right off the bat, she meets a couple of cowboys who distract her from her problems. But just as she falls for one of them, he becomes sick. Her bottled secrets are destroying his magical existence. The trouble is, even though he knows he can't be with her, the cowboy can't give Melody up. And she refuses to walk away from him, even when she knows being with him might cost Melody her life.

Out of all the characters in your book, who is your favorite? If you can't choose, who would most likely be your friend if they all saw you on a daily basis?

Melody would be my best friend because she's real. She's insecure, rough around the edges, not easily won over, and really she just a scattered teenager, but deep down she's a good person. She only wants what most of us want... To be accepted and loved.

Have any books to recommend that you've read and really liked? (Besides your own, which I'm definitely reading when I get the chance.)

Rather than give you a book I've been reading, I'll tell you I'm in a huge Sarah Zarr phase right now. I can't get enough of her. She's amazing. I would recommend readers start with her book Sweethearts.

Can you give one piece of advice to our readers out there on their writing?

My advice for writers... NEVER give up! If somebody doesn't like your work, they're not your audience! Believe in yourself. You are the only one that knows YOUR story. Tell it YOUR way. Nobody else can tell it like YOU can! Have faith in yourself, and work everyday like there's no tomorrow to perfect your craft. 

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Check out her blog here to find out more about her book, which in available on Amazon, Nook, and Kindle. Thanks guys and happy Friday!

Finding Inspiration

It's already Friday and four days into NaNoWriMo. Plus, it's a cause for celebration; it's our first Friday! Yay! *momentary pause for applause* Again, Fridays are surveys, interviews, new authors, etc that relate to that week's topic or a specific post that was made. I hope to be able to have some inspiring writers come on and you know, inspire you. (Inspire is, after all, the word of the week.) So, back on topic, it's Friday! I went and asked a few people ways that they found inspiration and compiled a big list of ways to get new ideas. So, enjoy!

1. Browse Deviantart.com      _amayanieva_
2. Listen to Music (Pandora, IHeartRadio, Jelli)     _amayanieva_
3. Look through WeHeartIt.com     _amayanieva_
4. Browse through pinterest.com     Kaye Dominique
5. Google Quotes     LightningNinjaShinigami
6. Check out Buzzle.com for quotes     Hawk Eyes
7. History class or reading about historical events
8. Looking at pictures and deciding how they came about
9. Dreams
10. Watching random people and coming up with stories about their life
11. Reading poetry
12. Drawing/Sketching, various forms of art
13. Writing off of already created art pieces
14. Go for a walk
15. Experience the kind of things your characters are (If your MC climbs a tree, go climb a tree. Though I wouldn't recommend this to those of us with little to no hand-eye coordination.) 
16. Asking yourself a what if question
17. Asking someone else a what if question
18. Look at a list of baby names
19. Fall in love with your character
20. Think about things that you would like to do
21. Ask an elder questions about their life
22. Wander around your public library
23. Type random things into Google
24. Try new things
25. Get adequate help from a trained professional (Sorry, you might just have to make due with a fellow writer :)

You can do any of these or some of your own, or maybe even just wait for inspiration to find you. The biggest for me is usually dreams. There's so many different ways you can look at dreams and although you do have to wait for night, so many different dreams you can have. I would keep a dream journal or mentally file them somewhere in your head, that way, later on, you can look through them and get inspiration.

So have a nice, writing-filled Friday everyone! Good luck and keep writing!

Are there any other ways you get inspiration?