Good News!!

I gots a new computer. This is exciting. It has a backspace key. That's good.

Summer Goals!

Hey! So, summer is upon us. School is out, it's starting to warm up, I pulled my shorts out of the closet... Life is good. And since I no longer have to worry about passing Chemistry (which I did, by the way), I now have more time to write! YAY!
So, I learned something about myself. I can't work on just one thing. I get bored too easily. So I have 3 projects I'll be working on, and I hope I can divide my time evenly between them. So here's what happening.

Project 1-SITU: I've started the first draft. Sort of. I can't for the life of my decide where I want to start my story on it's timeline. I've tried several different things. It's not working. I'm about ready to just start in the middle and come back to the beginning. That might happen. Also, my dear friend Rebecca is currently working on drawing up my characters. Happy day. I'm excited to see them. :D So, this summer I suppose I'll continue to plow through the first draft.

Project 2-Children's Book: I'm working on a children's book for my little sister. I'm having troubles coming up with an idea I think she'll like. So this summer I hope to get that idea, plot it out, and get at least most of the way done with the book. Sounds like a hefty workload, but we have to remember that this book is for a 7 year old. I could probably get away with less than 100 pages. She says 10 chapters is the perfect length, so there's that.

Project 3-????: So, because I've been thinking a lot about plots because of the above project, I found one that I really like. Not quite 7 year old suitable, so I won't be writing this for her. But I enjoy the idea. Because the idea is still pretty young, I don't think I'll be starting the first draft this summer. I like to let ideas float in my head a little bit before I attempt to put them on paper. Let it mature a little bit, you know. So I think I'll start outlining on that sometime in July. After I've let things develop a bit. But I'm excited.

So there's that. I think I have my work cut out for me this summer. Especially since I'd like to get that book to my little sister for Christmas. :/ One can always hope.

Side note-My backspace key is broken. Talk about pressure anybody? Haha. Yeah. Also on my list of things to do this summer: Buy a new laptop. :P

That's all for today! Keep writing!

Pushing Forward

So, I took a break from writing for a little bit. And I've decided what's going to happen now.
So, I have the story that I'm writing right now (currently referred to as "SITU". If you read the book, you'd understand.) I was feeling frustrated, and quite simply sick of love stories, which was a major part of this book. So I sat down with my notebook, and a pen, and changed some things up, and now I feel like I'm satisfied with my story. Sure, there's still some romance going on. But it's definitely more a story of trust, and acceptance, and friendship and loyalty then it is a romance. Which is good. As a said before, I'm feeling better about the direction it's heading. I just have to finish outlining it, and I'll be starting on the 1st draft hopefully at the end of this month!
I'm also going to start work on a short children's novel for my little sister. I hope to plow through that rough draft pretty quick, and at least have it mostly edited in order to give it to her for Christmas this year. I've tried figuring out what she likes to read about, but she doesn't really cooperate a whole bunch. Right now all she wants to read is Magic Tree House books. Which is good, but what happens when she reads all 47 of those? That's her summer project, by the way. She thinks reading is the greatest thing ever. She's a nerd-girl in the making. I'm so proud of her. :)
Anyway, it's a bit tricky because apparently she doesn't like princesses anymore, and she doesn't like unicorns (Magic Tree House quickly took over after Balinor...), and I have no idea what would please her little 7 year old brain other than flying off on crazy adventures via a tree house and books. :/ It's a work in progress I guess. I'm actually considering writing a book about a young steampunky girl who flies around on her magic ships and does awesome crap. Like a mix between Magic Tree House, and Doctor Who kinda. And I don't think I could have made that sound anymore weird... Haha!
Anyway, I have some writing to do! I feel confidant with where my stories are going again, so this is good. Also, I'm hopefully going to score a new laptop at the end of the school year. Which is great, because the one I'm typing on now doesn't have a backspace key. Talk about pressure..
Anyway, that's all for today! Keep writing!

I've hit a wall

This past 2 weeks or so has been a writing roller coaster for me. One minute I'm itching to sit down and outline my novel I'm working on. And the next I'm throwing my outlining notebook down in disgust and wondering why I ever wanted to become a writer. At first I just figured these outbursts of "I-hate-writing-right-now-more-than-I-hate-Steven Moffat-and-Mark Gatiss" were just because outlining isn't my favorite. I  mean, let's be honest. So I continued on, struggling through character analysis after character analysis, writing back stories, creating maps, outlining events, scouring for plot holes, character holes, etc. But I realized it's like trying to run through Jell-O. The progress was slow, and I was going crazy. What was my problem? I love writing! Don't I...?

Then I started thinking: what if it's the story? I've noticed that my writing preference has begun  to change. Where I once thrived off writing adorable subplots of blooming romances, I now find that I have become increasingly bored (and sometimes frustrated?) with the ever present "hero and heroine fall in love" scenario. Even as I'm reading books. I find myself straying away from once loved love stories and reading epic adventures with little to no focus on romance. I think I've read The Hobbit three times in the last month. (not to mention watching it a few times more than that...) I'm finding myself picking up fewer teen romance novels. Good thing? Bad thing? Neither?
I also noticed that I'm writing essentially the same stories, over and over again. Strong, willed, fierce female (and often times red haired) protagonist falls in love with sweet, loyal, responsible blonde (either that or quirky, weird dark haired) lad. Often times this lady is better than average with a bow and arrow, and this lad is exceptional with a sword. And quite often the story is set during a war. And the fact that I can basically summarize 95% of my stories like this shows that I definitely need to do something different.
I'm bored with my story, and I'm about thiiiss close to getting bored of writing, despite the fact that I love it. I've hit a wall. So I'm going to step back from working on a novel, and figure out what kind of stories pique my interest enough for me to delve into them for months, or years. Maybe in a few weeks, possibly even a month or more, I'll feel like I've found my writing rhythm. Because I think I've changed, but my writing hasn't, which is why I've encountered this problem. So, I'm taking a break from novels for a bit. I'll be back later.
Sorry if this didn't make any sense. I think it was kind of more for me. And it's not like anyone reads this blog anyway. So... Yeah.

One of the only things I love just about as much as creating new stories is reading my old ones. Why? Because it gives me a sense of progression. I can read stories I wrote back in 5th grade and laugh because my writing was not that great. And I can only assume that 5 years from now I'll look back at what I'm writing right now and think the same thing. I love seeing my progression! I love seeing that I have improved. What use would writing be if I never improved? I hope I never see the day when my writing flatlines and stays the same. Because no one becomes a "perfect writer". I don't believe that there's such a thing. There's always somewhere to move forward to. Anyway, that's my two cents worth for the day.

Revised Character Interview

I was going anywhere with my story. Because I wasn't going anywhere with my outline. Because I wasn't going anywhere with my characters. Because the task seemed too daunting. Now, a few months ago I revised my character interview sheet that I use. I was so excited, because there were so many questions, and I was so excited to get to know my character in that much depth. I started filling one out for my first character, Lark, and found the task to be boring, and long, and there was no end in sight. Now, I used most of the questions from the character interview sheet I got from K.M. Weiland. The one I used before that came from Gail Carson Levine. Today was the day I made one of my own. I used some inspiration from their questions, but ultimately, this is my own character interviews, with questions in which I can find the things I need from my characters, without the task seeming too daunting. I'll share it with you guys. :) Enjoy!

Name:

Nicknames:

Does he like his name?:

What does the name mean? (to him/in general):
Gender:

Age:

Type of Being:

Physical Appearance:

                Build:

                Height:

                Posture:
                Head Shape:

                Eyes:

                Nose:

                Mouth:

                Hair:

                Skin:

                                Tattoos/Scars:

                Voice:
                Clothing:

                Health Disabilities/Handicaps:

Characteristics:

                Personality:
                Strength:

                Weakness:

                Fears:

                Talents:

                Biggest goal in life:

                Biggest dream/hope:

                Idiosyncrasies:

                Secrets:

                What they hate about themselves:

                History

Background:

                Birthday:

                Parents:

                Siblings:

                Describe their room or house:

                Education:

                Job:

                Friends:

                Enemies:

                Relationships:
                Items in pocket:

Anything and everything else:

               

               

Happy Writing!

Yay! Characters!

So, today I sat down at my computer and typed up a character interview. Now, I know I've posted one on here before (see Procrastination), but I have greatly expanded it. Before the list of questions took up a page and a little bit on a Word document. My new one takes up almost 3 pages. Yeek! That's a lot of questions! I haven't started to fill one out yet, but I'll be doing that today, since I have quite a bit of time. :)

Now, let's talk about character development. Let's be honest: without great characters, your story isn't going to be that good. And by great characters, I mean real characters. Characters with whom the readers can connect with. Characters that are more than words on a page, but that seem to be real, living people. If the reader loves your characters, more often than not they'll love your story. So how do you create great characters? Learn about them. Sit down and interview them. Delve into their past. Find out what makes them tick. It's a long process, but it is so completely and entirely worth it. Feel free to use the interview I've typed up (with some inspiration from K.M. Weiland...) and make any changes necessary to it to help you discover your characters.:)

Name:

                Nicknames:

                Does he like his name?:

                What does his name mean (to him, in general):

Physical appearance:

                Build:

                Posture:

                Head shape:

                Eyes:

                Nose:

                Mouth:

                Hair:

                Skin:

                                Tattoos/scars:

                Voice:

                Clothing:

                What people notice first:

                How would he describe himself?

Health disabilities/handicaps:

Characteristics:

                Personality:

                Strength:

                Weakness:

                                How can his strength be his weakness?

                How much self control and self discipline does he have?

                What makes him angry?

                What makes him cry?

                Fears:

                                What people, places, situations does he avoid?

                Talents:

                What people like best about him:

                Interests and favorites:

                                Political views:

                                Collections:

                                Favorite food/drink:

                                Favorite music:

                                Favorite books:

                                Favorite sport/recreation:

                                Favorite color:

                                Childhood daydreams:

                                Current daydreams:

                                How they spend their free time:

                                Pets:

                Typical expressions:

                                When happy:

                                When angry:

                                When frustrated:

                                When sad:

                                When afraid:

                                Most used facial expressions and gestures:

                Idiosyncrasies:

                Laughs or jeers at:

                Ways to annoy him:

                Ways to cheer him up:

                Hopes and dreams:

                                How does he see himself accomplishing these dreams?

                Worst thing he’s ever done to someone:

                Greatest success:

                Biggest trauma:

                Biggest embarrassment:

                Cares about most:

                Secrets:

                If he could be one thing and succeed at it, what would it be?

                He is the kind of person who:

                What do you love most about him?

                Why will the reader sympathize with him right away?

                How is he ordinary or extraordinary?

                Core need:

                Defining moment:

                History:

Background:

                Birthday:

                Place of birth:

                Parents:

                                What was important to the people who raised him?

                Siblings:

                Economic/social status growing up:

                Ethnic background:

                Places lived:

                                Current place where they live:

                Describe their current room/house:

                Education:

                                Where they got an education:

                                Favorite thing to learn about:

                                Special training:

                Job:

                                What they like/don’t like about their job:

                Friends:

                                Lives with:

                                Fights with:

                                Spends time with:

                                Wishes to spend time with:

                                Who depends on him and why?

                                Who does he depend on and why?

                                People he most admires:

                                How do other people view him?

                Enemies:

                Dating, marriage:

                                Children:

Overall outlook on life:

                Relationship with God:

                Does he like himself?

                What, if anything, would he like to change about his life?

                What personal demons haunt him?

                Is he lying to himself about something?

                Optimistic/Pessimistic:

                Confidence level:

Items in his pocket:

Typical day:

               

                

Happy writing!