I just wanted to let you know that I'm very sorry for creeping you out and clearly failing to do Grammarly's Blogger Partnership Program justice in my email. I will say that your comment about getting more subscribers took me by surprise. As a growing Inc 500 company, we attract about 30 million page views per year. Emailing individual bloggers in an attempt to get them to sign up, only to then give them a gift card wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. As I mentioned in my first email to you, we offer sponsored bloggers a free, premium account of Grammarly so they don't have to go through the hassle of signing up with a credit card. Looking back, I do understand your skepticism. If multiple people write about something online, there's usually some truth to it. In this case, however, the handful of blog posts decrying our campaign as "spam" was a result of misunderstandings with a tiny fraction of the total number of bloggers we contacted. Most of these misunderstandings have been resolved. The hundreds of participating bloggers we've been fortunate enough to sponsor include Jose Vilson, Craig Hart, Katherine Hansen, and Dr. Leroy Huizenga.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Grammarly Blog Offer
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Beating the Editing Blues
In my limited experience there are two types of writers: the kind that approach editing with a giant axe, squealing with glee; and the others who look at their writing as if it is the one holding the axe, sharpened and ready to hack at the writer's soul, and who see their first drafts as a quagmire of stagnant prose, characters with the emotional range of moss, and plot twists as captivating as pond scum.
I tend to swing back and forth.
During rough times of quagmire wading, it's important to stay positive. Editing in a negative, sullen mood is not as productive or enjoyable as editing in a cheerful mood.
But when your characters are trying to drown you in a stinking pit of cliched dialogue, how do you stay positive? Below are some things I've found helpful.
Find a good writing community and ask for help.
Finding people who have been where you are and who can offer support is a good starting place. Last week, I had a bad editing day, and I asked for tips on getting through it on the Go Teen Writers Facebook group. (That group is fantastic, by the way.) I didn't get many answers other than simply "stay positive", but interacting with people who'd been in the same place I was in and had gotten through it was encouraging.
Learn to kill your darlings.
Once I was comfortable cutting bits of my "precious" first draft, things got easier. I was no longer constrained by the chains of my faulty prose. Example: I recently decided that the one character who dies, shouldn't die. Her death means nothing. I can use her for better purposes if she stays alive. I also decided that her love interest didn't need to be at the manor after all. He did nothing there, and if the girl lived, he had no reason to leave their village. However, cutting that subplot meant cutting some of my favorite scenes with the guy's little sister. She's adorable. I love writing her. I didn't want to take the axe to them, but once I did, it let me explore other and better options for the story. Now that the guy isn't at the manor, other stuff happens, stuff that is better for the story.
Any darlings that get cut I put in a deleted scenes doc, so I can use them again, should the need arise.
I once said that editing is a cross between cutting off your best friend's arm and giving them a much-needed makeover. I still agree with this. And, if your best friend has a third arm that really gets in the way and is entirely useless, even if it's pretty, it's better that it comes off. Your words aren't written in stone. If something needs to go, it should go. You'll write something better to replace it.
When you reach the point where you want to strangle someone, take a break.
This is not a good mindset to edit in. Step away from the computer, set down the red pen. Go outside and take a walk. Read a book. Bathe the dog. Get out of your head.
Talk to someone about your story.
My mom is by brainstorming partner. When I get stuck, I can talk with her. She knows pretty much the whole story, as she helped plan and plot before I even started writing it. Sometimes hashing an idea out with her sparks a new idea or shows me how to fix a problem.
Beta read/critique for someone else.
Earlier this summer I started reading Embassy by S. Alex Martin. Reading someone else's work can give you practice editing and spotting rough spots, without having to worry about fixing them.
When you think you're a horrible writer, remember that the fact that you recognize you're first draft is terrible means you're a good writer.
I found a quote on Pinterest once that stuck with me:
Listen to happy music and/or read encouraging sayings.
I created a YouTube play list of encouraging songs, and I pin encouraging quotes onto one of my Pinterest boards. Here's one of my favorites. Here's another, and another, and here's a funny, though it isn't very encouraging.
And that's all I've got off the top of my head. Hope you find it helpful!
And a fabulous day/night/morning/whatever to you.
I tend to swing back and forth.
During rough times of quagmire wading, it's important to stay positive. Editing in a negative, sullen mood is not as productive or enjoyable as editing in a cheerful mood.
But when your characters are trying to drown you in a stinking pit of cliched dialogue, how do you stay positive? Below are some things I've found helpful.
Find a good writing community and ask for help.
Finding people who have been where you are and who can offer support is a good starting place. Last week, I had a bad editing day, and I asked for tips on getting through it on the Go Teen Writers Facebook group. (That group is fantastic, by the way.) I didn't get many answers other than simply "stay positive", but interacting with people who'd been in the same place I was in and had gotten through it was encouraging.
Learn to kill your darlings.
Once I was comfortable cutting bits of my "precious" first draft, things got easier. I was no longer constrained by the chains of my faulty prose. Example: I recently decided that the one character who dies, shouldn't die. Her death means nothing. I can use her for better purposes if she stays alive. I also decided that her love interest didn't need to be at the manor after all. He did nothing there, and if the girl lived, he had no reason to leave their village. However, cutting that subplot meant cutting some of my favorite scenes with the guy's little sister. She's adorable. I love writing her. I didn't want to take the axe to them, but once I did, it let me explore other and better options for the story. Now that the guy isn't at the manor, other stuff happens, stuff that is better for the story.
Any darlings that get cut I put in a deleted scenes doc, so I can use them again, should the need arise.
I once said that editing is a cross between cutting off your best friend's arm and giving them a much-needed makeover. I still agree with this. And, if your best friend has a third arm that really gets in the way and is entirely useless, even if it's pretty, it's better that it comes off. Your words aren't written in stone. If something needs to go, it should go. You'll write something better to replace it.
When you reach the point where you want to strangle someone, take a break.
This is not a good mindset to edit in. Step away from the computer, set down the red pen. Go outside and take a walk. Read a book. Bathe the dog. Get out of your head.
Talk to someone about your story.
My mom is by brainstorming partner. When I get stuck, I can talk with her. She knows pretty much the whole story, as she helped plan and plot before I even started writing it. Sometimes hashing an idea out with her sparks a new idea or shows me how to fix a problem.
Beta read/critique for someone else.
Earlier this summer I started reading Embassy by S. Alex Martin. Reading someone else's work can give you practice editing and spotting rough spots, without having to worry about fixing them.
When you think you're a horrible writer, remember that the fact that you recognize you're first draft is terrible means you're a good writer.
I found a quote on Pinterest once that stuck with me:
"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." - Robert HughesThe fact that you know it could be better means you have the ability to fix it. Always remember that you can fix it. You may need to practice, or learn some more, and it may take a while, but you can fix it.
Listen to happy music and/or read encouraging sayings.
I created a YouTube play list of encouraging songs, and I pin encouraging quotes onto one of my Pinterest boards. Here's one of my favorites. Here's another, and another, and here's a funny, though it isn't very encouraging.
And that's all I've got off the top of my head. Hope you find it helpful!
And a fabulous day/night/morning/whatever to you.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Acutal Contest Entry
So, in the post before last, I shared six possible entries that I wrote for the last Go Teen Writers contest. Now that the winners have been announced, I'm going to share my actual entry, which received an honorable mention.
I’ve never been the type of girl to say “leave your hope at
the front gate.”
But for the first time in my life, I feel that sentiment
worming its way into my head.
I look over the ruins of my city, a ghostly image of what it
used to look like flickering just outside my vision. Then, for a moment, the scavenging dragons in
the sky become flying vehicles, and the fog crawling off the ocean becomes
steam from Voyle’s Magic-processing factories. The sunlight sparkles off broken
glass, and through the truth-obscuring fog I can imagine that the city is whole
again.
Then a cloud comes over the sun. The illusion disappears.
I glance down at the notebook in my lap, and reread the
words Pearl had written.
It passed.
Two words. Two small, innocent words with consequences far
more chilling than I care to think about.
This is what the MC of one of my latest shiny new ideas had to say about this prompt. She gave me two paragraphs, actually, the other of which was one of the ones I posted before.
This story is a bit nuts. It came to me after I listened to a cover of Imagine Dragons' Radioactive by Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix and thought "Maybe one day I'll try writing a dystopia." Those of you who have known me for a while may have just gasped in horror, knowing my previous aversion to that genre. Said aversion is fading.
Anyway, after that thought process got started, a bunch of other, older ideas said "Hey! You have to write me first!" And, after some bickering, they started joining forces one by one, saying "Hey, if we combine story ideas, maybe she'll write us faster."
Bloody clever little plot bunnies. Now I have a story idea that covers possibly three genres (dystopia, science fantasy, and adventure), combines ideas for characters I've had floating around in my head for a while, and sounds fun to write. It may be my next NaNoWriMo story. We'll see.
And a wonderful day/evening/morning/whatever to you.
And a wonderful day/evening/morning/whatever to you.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek Cover Reveal
This past June I had the great pleasure of critiquing/beta reading The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek. Today, I'm participating in the cover reveal.
Lovely, isn't it?
Here's the back cover blurb:
Fifteen-year-old Jen can't remember her imagination. She knows she had one once, though, and honestly, she'd like it back. It's been eight years. One day she finds a young boy who claims to be one of her imaginary friends and that her imaginary world is being eaten by a hydra-like monster called the Polystoikhedron. He helps her find the Ankulen, a special bracelet that had given the ability to bring her imagination to life and together they embark on a quest to find friendship, healing, and perhaps even some family.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Ankulen. Here's the GoodReads profile so you can go add it to your shelves.
And here's a mini-interview with Miss Ardnek about The Ankulen.
1. What sparked the idea that became The Ankulen?
2. Who is your favorite character, and why do you like them?
3. What was your favorite part of writing The Ankulen?
Lovely, isn't it?
Here's the back cover blurb:
Fifteen-year-old Jen can't remember her imagination. She knows she had one once, though, and honestly, she'd like it back. It's been eight years. One day she finds a young boy who claims to be one of her imaginary friends and that her imaginary world is being eaten by a hydra-like monster called the Polystoikhedron. He helps her find the Ankulen, a special bracelet that had given the ability to bring her imagination to life and together they embark on a quest to find friendship, healing, and perhaps even some family.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Ankulen. Here's the GoodReads profile so you can go add it to your shelves.
And here's a mini-interview with Miss Ardnek about The Ankulen.
1. What sparked the idea that became The Ankulen?
There was no initial spark for The Ankulen. My
younger cousin and I were in the yard trying to come up with a play for
us to perform at our next family get-together. We had being trying to
do something based on a story I had found that my mom had written, but
it wasn't going anywhere.
So we did what we always did when we
wanted to come up with a new story. We assigned ourselves names, and
started making stuff up as we went along. I was Jen and he was Chris.
When he popped out of our toy castle claiming to be a friend who had
once been my best friend but had been trapped in my imagination for the
last eight years, we knew we had struck gold. We never performed the
play, unfortunately, because we couldn't come up with an ending that
would work with our limited budget.
2. Who is your favorite character, and why do you like them?
This
is probably the most difficult question people ask me, since I love
every character in a different way and for different reasons. However,
I'll go with Derek as my favorite today. I often struggle with my boy
characters, since I'm a girl and I don't know any boys older than twelve
with whom I could sit down with and ask "okay, now how does your brain
work?" But I think I got Derek right, and my Grandma and my Great Aunt
(both of whom grew up with two brothers and no sisters) agree. Derek is a
very complex guy, and he's stingy with his back story. (Which is
probably the worst of any character in the book), and as a result, I
didn't grasp his complete character until draft two. For the longest
time, I thought that he didn't care about anything, but I was wrong. He
does care about things, deeply, and he's very protective of anyone he's
cares about. But he's been hurt a lot, so he's afraid to care. The full
extent of his horrible childhood is never revealed in the book, but
there are hints, and I do know most of it now. If I ever write a sequel,
I will reveal the rest.
3. What was your favorite part of writing The Ankulen?
I'll
go with the relationship between Derek, Jen, and Megan. I've never been
in love, so I feel kinda awkward writing romance (fun though it may
be), but I do have brothers and sisters. I also have cousins who live
close enough to be practically siblings. I love writing about the bond
that siblings share, and since Derek and Megan are adopted, writing this
bond into existence was lots of fun. Megan and Jen get it right off,
but there are lots of rocks where Derek is involved.
Kendra E. Ardnek is the eldest
daughter in a homeschooling family of four. She has been making up
stories since an early age and published her first book, Sew, It's a
Quest, when she was sixteen.
When she isn't writing, she's
usually knitting, crocheting, making swords out of paint-stir sticks,
or looking up random facts. You can follow her writing adventures on her
blog, Knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.
Sew, it's a Quest was equally enjoyable. You should read them both.
And, she's having a release party on her blog on September 6! Mark your calendars!
And that is all I have to say today. A wonder-filled day/evening/morning/whatever to you.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Alternate Contest Entries
So, last week I sent in an entry for the latest Go Teen Writers
contest, in which I had to write a paragraph starting with the sentence
fragment "I've never been the type of girl/guy to say..." 150 words
tops.
And, I'm a finalist. (See it here.)
This is rather exciting, as I've never been a finalist in one of their contests with something longer than a sentence. The first time I won first place in a first sentence contest (see it here), and the second time I made the top 25 in an one-sentence elevator pitch contest (see it here - mine is #2), but I didn't make it to the winners' circle.
So, I'm rather excited.
When I was working with that prompt, I had a little explosion of ideas. I wrote seven possible entries. SEVEN. And I liked them all. With the help of my family and Hannah M. (one of the other finalists) I was able to narrow it down.
Since I have nothing better to do with them, I thought I'd share the six non-entered paragraphs here. If you have anything to say about them, I'd love to hear it.
And, I'm a finalist. (See it here.)
This is rather exciting, as I've never been a finalist in one of their contests with something longer than a sentence. The first time I won first place in a first sentence contest (see it here), and the second time I made the top 25 in an one-sentence elevator pitch contest (see it here - mine is #2), but I didn't make it to the winners' circle.
So, I'm rather excited.
When I was working with that prompt, I had a little explosion of ideas. I wrote seven possible entries. SEVEN. And I liked them all. With the help of my family and Hannah M. (one of the other finalists) I was able to narrow it down.
Since I have nothing better to do with them, I thought I'd share the six non-entered paragraphs here. If you have anything to say about them, I'd love to hear it.
#1
I’ve never been the type of guy to say things like “never
say never” or “the glass is half full.”
No. I say things like “the grass is always greener on the
other side” and “all that glitters isn’t gold.”
Maybe it’s time for that to change.
Investigating murder changes how you see the world. It becomes darker, smellier, lonelier. If someone
had told me that before, maybe I would’ve become something—someone—else.
But here I am, crouching above another mangled corpse in another
cramped, fetid sewer. There have been better crime scenes.
Sargent McCallow splashes toward me, a hand clamped over his
nose and mouth. “On their way,” he mumbles.
I nod. “Gonna use the Memorizer?”
He shrugs. “Probably.”
I look down at the dead man at my feet. Mid 50s, street
clothing, lots of blood. But, just like the last ones, he won’t have any memories
for the Memorizer to find.
#2
I’ve never been the type of girl to say “leave your hope at
the front gate.” I don’t like to dwell on that aspect of our situation.
But I can feel that sentiment worming its way into my head
now.
I stare over the ruins of the city from my perch atop the
Assembly building, trying to ignore the notebook resting like a weight in my
lap. It is only 5:43. I could pretend I hadn’t read it for another 17 minutes.
But that won’t change what it says.
I give in and look at it.
It passed, Maggie
had written. I’m sorry.
I try to imagine what it was like before the Magic died,
taking Maggie’s world with it.
I can’t do it. It’s impossible to reconcile what the others
have said with what I see before me.
#3
(This is the one I submitted, and once they announce the winners, I'll post it.)
#4
I’ve never been the type of girl to say “I love you.” But, as I watch my father’s coffin loaded
onto a black carriage, I wish I’d said it, if only once.
No! part of me
whispers. He never made the effort. He ignored
you. He doesn’t deserve those thoughts.
The voice is right.
But still. He was getting better, at the end.
I turn away from the carriage, and cast a glance over my
shoulder at the manor. I can’t help but feel a small thrill. Citcra Hall, mine
at last.
A tall man in a black suit walks up to me. Mr. Snyder.
Wonderful.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Miss Silverbeetle.”
Liar. He only wants whatever Father left him in his will.
“Good day, Mr. Snyder,” I say, walking to where another
carriage awaits me.
#5
I’ve never been the type of girl to say “Less is more.”
What kind of nonsense is that? More is always more, and
more’s always better.
Especially when it comes to piracy.
I stand in the crow’s nest of our ship, Mourning’s
Revenge, the wind kissing my skin. We’ll
be even with the Ootwoxan ship in thirty minutes.
“Noxie, get down from there,” Horace shouts at me. “We’re
not going to take those shorties if you don’t get the guns ready.”
Leaning over, I see him scowling up at me. I grin. “Need I
remind you that I’m one of those ‘shorties’?”
He belts a laugh. “Aye, that’s why you’re planning to rob
‘your’ king. You’re no more Ootwoxan anymore than I’m a woman.”
I scramble out of the crow’s nest and slide down to the
deck. “Right you are, Horace.”
#6
I’ve never been the type of girl to say things like “ROFL”
or “TTYL” or “laters.”
But, unfortunately, my brother does.
I glance down at his latest text, a travesty to the English
language. liz can u plz bring my sticks to Burchs? left them in ur truck srry.
“Two things, brother dear,” I mumble as I type a reply,
“Spelling and grammar.” I do a quick proofread of my response,
It seems you left your
ability to communicate properly with them. I’ll meet you there at lunchtime.
And hit send. He won’t listen to me—he never does—but a girl
can hope, right?
Mr. Thompson pokes her head around the corner, her lips
pulled tight into a neat circle.
Oh dear.
“Lizzie,” she says, “I just got off the phone with Mrs. Storm-Baker.”
—So that explains the expression— “She’ll be stopping by this afternoon to look
at teacups.”
#7
I’ve never been the type of guy to say things like “war
isn’t the answer” or “Chad hearts Tori” in my graffiti.
Shakespeare is so much more fun.
So it is with glee that I cover yet another ill-fated
proclamation of love on the side of the bridge with something far more poetic
and meaningful: the Bard’s sonnet 116.
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit
impediments…”
Now this is true art. The spray paint kisses the rusted
metal, soaking up the beauty of Shakespeare’s words.
“Love is not love, which alte—”
A footstep crunches on gravel. I freeze halfway through the
word “alters.” This road is supposed to be closed. That’s why I chose this bridge
as my next canvas.
Maybe someone else had the same idea.
Great.
I slip behind an old honeysuckle bush, trying to see who
this intruder on my solitude is.
Please
excuse that weird bar. I copied and pasted these from the Word doc I
wrote them in, and it hitched a ride as a stray bit of formatting.
BUT
LOOK MY "ENTRIES" ACTUALLY HAVE BITS OF INTERNAL NARRATIVE IN THEM.
This is just as exciting as making it to the final round, as my WiP has
an embarrassingly small amount of internal narrative.
So, that's that. Hope you enjoyed those.
And a lovely night/day/morning/whatever to you.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Mistakes, Stupidity, Regrets, Losing it, Failures, and Disagreement.
Lately, I've been thinking about things that move plot along and develop characters at the same time. I thought I had a good introduction for this post in my head, but it escapes me now, so we'll move on to my ideas, observations, and hypotheses.
Mistakes and Stupidity:
People make mistakes. Fact of life. And at some point, everyone has done something that looks stupid, be that in the eyes of the character himself, another character, or the reader. Now, I don't think stupidity for the sake of stupidity would move the plot on, but an act of stupidity that lets the characters learn something new, or sets them back a bit on their mission, can move the plot along. Mistakes work the same way.
Let's use an example. I stole this one from a book, but to avoid spoilers, I've changed the names and situation. (Bonus points if you figure out what book I stole it from.)
Kat's assassin group is very low on morale. They have a very, very small chance of beating Lucy's assassin troop to killing the king and getting lots of money. So, Kat gives a grand speech, blowing things slightly out of proportion and exaggerating the greatness of her own group, boosting morale. They'll succeed in their plan to sabotage Lucy's group. Yay for them. Then, Kat has to go take care of something in another city, and she leaves Yolanda in charge of the group. Yolanda, greatly impressed by Kat's speech, takes the group on a practice run, with the thought of taking out one of Lucy's best, unbeatable assassins. But, it all goes wrong, and half of Kat's group dies, and now the police are after the half that is alive. BUT, the police are after Lucy's group too, and they have more leads on Lucy's group. When Kat gets back, the original plan is in shambles and she only has half as many assassins, but the commission for killing the king is all hers, as Lucy had to leave town on the run. She got what she wanted in a convoluted, twisted way that made her sick.
I love this example. Kat gave that speech to make things better, and it did, but in a way that didn't turn out very well. One could say that what she did was a stupid mistake in retrospect. What Yolanda did was outright foolishness. She left their group exposed, and got half of it killed. She shouldn't have let the speech go to her head.
Not only is that a great plot twist, but seeing how Kat and the others deal with it adds depth to their characters. Do they berate themselves for acting foolishly? Do they blame others? Etc.
Mistakes made out of ignorance work well too. Pollard wants to win Patricia's heart, so he gets her a silver bracelet. Problem? Patricia is a werewolf and allergic to silver. Pollard doesn't know that, and when Patricia puts on the bracelet she reacts violently and her secret is exposed, and she nearly dies.
Or Mary does the right thing saving a little girl from death. But the little girl is actually an evil shape-shifter, who turned into a little girl so Mary would save her. Now that the shape-shifter will live, she can begin her crusade to rule the world.
Mistakes made for the "greater good" that are actually just manipulations by the bad guys to get the heroes to act in their favor are awesome. Heart-wrenching, and potentially fling-the-book-across-the-room worthy, but fascinating.
Regrets:
How a character reacts to something they regret can move the plot along, and adds to character depth. Viola might have been headstrong and brave before, but after watching someone die because of something she indirectly did, she may see those traits as vices. However, Jenkins was counting on her headstrong-ness to get something done, and now she won't be a part of his plan. OR maybe she can't deal with the thought that she caused this person's death, so she tries to ignore that fact, and as a result becomes more reckless, trying to prove to herself that it wasn't her fault.
Losing control:
Sometimes when people are caught in a maelstrom of extreme emotion, they lose it. Words are flung like projectiles from a trebuchet, things smashed or blown up, alliances broken, plans changed. What happens when control is lost and how the characters deal with it can add to both character development and plot.
Failures:
Characters that always do everything right and whose plans always turn out better than planned are boring. But, a character whose plans always fail, and who gets constantly forced back and can't move forward is boring too. The plot must go on! If it's trying to go up a down-escalator, and continually gets knocked back down to the bottom, the reader starts to think "Is anything actually going to happen that actually makes a difference?".
I quite like the going up a down-escalator simile, actually. The characters and plot should travel upwards. It'll be tricky, and they'll slip and fall back sometimes, they may even fall back to the bottom (a black moment), but things must happen. There must be changes. They must get closer to the top, and, in the end, actually cross that threshold. Hard work lost can be very powerful, but that work must actually achieve something for that to be so.
Partial failures are good for this. Plans that go wrong half-way through. The end result is achieved, at least in part, but with unforeseen consequences. Example time. (This one also stolen and modified from something I read.)
The characters need to get over a rainforest. So, they steal an airplane. Half-way over the rainforest, however, thunder booms and lightning fractures the sky. Visibility is practically non-existent, and they go down. When they all gain consciousness again (maybe some of them don't), they're over the rainforest, so they are one step closer to their goal, but they're injured, without transportation, AND they are in enemy territory.
Much more fun than if they all die or make it over the rainforest in one piece.
Disagreement/conflict with other characters:
Characters that always get along are boring. *Glares at her own characters.* People disagree. Another fact of life. They disagree about ice cream, philosophy, politics, what colors are in this season, whose dragon is cooler.
You've probably heard this before, and if you're a writer and you haven't, write it down in big red letters and tape it somewhere where you'll see it all the time: In story writing, conflict is everything. Characters who have conflicting personality traits, conflicting life philosophies, or conflicting ideas about how to take the city are far more fun to read and write about than ones that get along about everything. They can openly disagree, secretly disagree, whatever.
Now, of course the villain will disagree and conflict with the hero. But, even close friends and family disagree about things. The heroes companions will disagree with the hero and each other about something. Maybe some of the companions don't even get along with each other. Adding this kind of conflict adds to the story. Example time again!
Joy needs Horace to hack into a website to get a piece of information. But, Fred overhears, and he doesn't want them to hack that particular website. They can hack any other website, just not that one. Joy and Horace protest that this site is the only one with the piece of information they need. Fred can't abide that, and they argue. Joy doesn't give in, and Horace listens to Joy. Fred loses it, and walks out. He quits. He's not going to be part of their plan anymore.
This adds good character development, and adds a plot twist.
EDITED TO ADD: Be sure to read the comments on this post, as there are more interesting thoughts on character development down there.
Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected. I think that's all I have to say for now. What do you think? Have anything to add, or that you disagree with? Have you made other observations? Let me know in a comment!
And a good day/evening/afternoon/whatever to you.
Mistakes and Stupidity:
People make mistakes. Fact of life. And at some point, everyone has done something that looks stupid, be that in the eyes of the character himself, another character, or the reader. Now, I don't think stupidity for the sake of stupidity would move the plot on, but an act of stupidity that lets the characters learn something new, or sets them back a bit on their mission, can move the plot along. Mistakes work the same way.
Let's use an example. I stole this one from a book, but to avoid spoilers, I've changed the names and situation. (Bonus points if you figure out what book I stole it from.)
Kat's assassin group is very low on morale. They have a very, very small chance of beating Lucy's assassin troop to killing the king and getting lots of money. So, Kat gives a grand speech, blowing things slightly out of proportion and exaggerating the greatness of her own group, boosting morale. They'll succeed in their plan to sabotage Lucy's group. Yay for them. Then, Kat has to go take care of something in another city, and she leaves Yolanda in charge of the group. Yolanda, greatly impressed by Kat's speech, takes the group on a practice run, with the thought of taking out one of Lucy's best, unbeatable assassins. But, it all goes wrong, and half of Kat's group dies, and now the police are after the half that is alive. BUT, the police are after Lucy's group too, and they have more leads on Lucy's group. When Kat gets back, the original plan is in shambles and she only has half as many assassins, but the commission for killing the king is all hers, as Lucy had to leave town on the run. She got what she wanted in a convoluted, twisted way that made her sick.
I love this example. Kat gave that speech to make things better, and it did, but in a way that didn't turn out very well. One could say that what she did was a stupid mistake in retrospect. What Yolanda did was outright foolishness. She left their group exposed, and got half of it killed. She shouldn't have let the speech go to her head.
Not only is that a great plot twist, but seeing how Kat and the others deal with it adds depth to their characters. Do they berate themselves for acting foolishly? Do they blame others? Etc.
Mistakes made out of ignorance work well too. Pollard wants to win Patricia's heart, so he gets her a silver bracelet. Problem? Patricia is a werewolf and allergic to silver. Pollard doesn't know that, and when Patricia puts on the bracelet she reacts violently and her secret is exposed, and she nearly dies.
Or Mary does the right thing saving a little girl from death. But the little girl is actually an evil shape-shifter, who turned into a little girl so Mary would save her. Now that the shape-shifter will live, she can begin her crusade to rule the world.
Mistakes made for the "greater good" that are actually just manipulations by the bad guys to get the heroes to act in their favor are awesome. Heart-wrenching, and potentially fling-the-book-across-the-room worthy, but fascinating.
Regrets:
How a character reacts to something they regret can move the plot along, and adds to character depth. Viola might have been headstrong and brave before, but after watching someone die because of something she indirectly did, she may see those traits as vices. However, Jenkins was counting on her headstrong-ness to get something done, and now she won't be a part of his plan. OR maybe she can't deal with the thought that she caused this person's death, so she tries to ignore that fact, and as a result becomes more reckless, trying to prove to herself that it wasn't her fault.
Losing control:
Sometimes when people are caught in a maelstrom of extreme emotion, they lose it. Words are flung like projectiles from a trebuchet, things smashed or blown up, alliances broken, plans changed. What happens when control is lost and how the characters deal with it can add to both character development and plot.
Failures:
Characters that always do everything right and whose plans always turn out better than planned are boring. But, a character whose plans always fail, and who gets constantly forced back and can't move forward is boring too. The plot must go on! If it's trying to go up a down-escalator, and continually gets knocked back down to the bottom, the reader starts to think "Is anything actually going to happen that actually makes a difference?".
I quite like the going up a down-escalator simile, actually. The characters and plot should travel upwards. It'll be tricky, and they'll slip and fall back sometimes, they may even fall back to the bottom (a black moment), but things must happen. There must be changes. They must get closer to the top, and, in the end, actually cross that threshold. Hard work lost can be very powerful, but that work must actually achieve something for that to be so.
Partial failures are good for this. Plans that go wrong half-way through. The end result is achieved, at least in part, but with unforeseen consequences. Example time. (This one also stolen and modified from something I read.)
The characters need to get over a rainforest. So, they steal an airplane. Half-way over the rainforest, however, thunder booms and lightning fractures the sky. Visibility is practically non-existent, and they go down. When they all gain consciousness again (maybe some of them don't), they're over the rainforest, so they are one step closer to their goal, but they're injured, without transportation, AND they are in enemy territory.
Much more fun than if they all die or make it over the rainforest in one piece.
Disagreement/conflict with other characters:
Characters that always get along are boring. *Glares at her own characters.* People disagree. Another fact of life. They disagree about ice cream, philosophy, politics, what colors are in this season, whose dragon is cooler.
You've probably heard this before, and if you're a writer and you haven't, write it down in big red letters and tape it somewhere where you'll see it all the time: In story writing, conflict is everything. Characters who have conflicting personality traits, conflicting life philosophies, or conflicting ideas about how to take the city are far more fun to read and write about than ones that get along about everything. They can openly disagree, secretly disagree, whatever.
Now, of course the villain will disagree and conflict with the hero. But, even close friends and family disagree about things. The heroes companions will disagree with the hero and each other about something. Maybe some of the companions don't even get along with each other. Adding this kind of conflict adds to the story. Example time again!
Joy needs Horace to hack into a website to get a piece of information. But, Fred overhears, and he doesn't want them to hack that particular website. They can hack any other website, just not that one. Joy and Horace protest that this site is the only one with the piece of information they need. Fred can't abide that, and they argue. Joy doesn't give in, and Horace listens to Joy. Fred loses it, and walks out. He quits. He's not going to be part of their plan anymore.
This adds good character development, and adds a plot twist.
EDITED TO ADD: Be sure to read the comments on this post, as there are more interesting thoughts on character development down there.
Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected. I think that's all I have to say for now. What do you think? Have anything to add, or that you disagree with? Have you made other observations? Let me know in a comment!
And a good day/evening/afternoon/whatever to you.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Adventures in Editing: Character Fears
GUYS.
FLESHING OUT CHARACTERS.
I THINK I MAY HAVE FOUND MY FAVORITE PART OF THE EDITING PROCESS.
In this post, I'm going to talk about a bit about character fears. Everyone is scared of something. Characters should be no different. Even someone who looks fearless is probably scared of something.
I got started thinking about this after I read this post by S. Alex Martin, one of my writing e-friends. To sum up the post, he basically said that everyone has a deep, dark, inner fear of something.
And chances are that this fear will affect their view of the world and how they act. He gave the example of going blind.
After thinking about that for a few days, I went and I opened a brainstorming doc for my MC Gwen, and this is what I got (copied and pasted directly from the doc).
Lovely, isn't it? I started with a character that had the emotional range of a teaspoon, and I added all these layers to her. Now she has the emotional range of a half-cup measure, so she still needs work, but progress is progress. Not all of these may make it directly into the story, but they will affect how she acts.
Then I realized I'd given her all these fears, but I didn't know how she dealt with them. One of my side characters, Twyla, is scared of everything and is very timid, but I didn't want Gwen to act like her. Gwen was supposed to be tough. So, Gwen deals differently with fear. I remembered a quote I'd seen somewhere that said something like "It isn't brave if you're not scared." And that clicked with Gwen quite nicely. She goes ahead and does whatever it is, even though it scares her.
Then I ran into a problem. One of the things that bugs me about this current draft is that Gwen spends more time worrying about her lack of money than she does about the fact that someone is trying to scare her away from the manor, and is willing to be destructive. Then I talked to my mom, and she said that was probably part of Gwen's character. And something clicked again. When Gwen can't do anything to face what she's afraid of, she ignores it. (I'm not sure that entirely works, because surely there's something she could do to stop the saboteur, but it's another start.) So when she is in a scary situation that she has control over, she tries to ignore her fear and plows through it. But when she can't do anything about it, she puts the situation out of her head as much as she can. In the case of the saboteur, this could be dangerous, because the longer s/he's out there, the more damage s/he does.
So, in summary, each should character fear something and deal with it in their own way. Something cool that you could do though is have multiple characters with the same fear that deal with it in different ways, OR multiple characters that deal with different fears in similar ways. Lots of fun possibilities.
One more thing before I wrap up this post. I said before that a character's fear(s) will affect their worldview. Someone afraid of going blind may be very protective of their eyes. Someone afraid of their past coming back to haunt them may not like going to museums or antique malls or other places that glorify the past. Again, lots of fun possibilities.
I think that is it. Hopefully this post was helpful to someone, and not completely boring.
And a lovely evening/day/afternoon/midnight/whatever to you.
FLESHING OUT CHARACTERS.
I THINK I MAY HAVE FOUND MY FAVORITE PART OF THE EDITING PROCESS.
In this post, I'm going to talk about a bit about character fears. Everyone is scared of something. Characters should be no different. Even someone who looks fearless is probably scared of something.
I got started thinking about this after I read this post by S. Alex Martin, one of my writing e-friends. To sum up the post, he basically said that everyone has a deep, dark, inner fear of something.
And chances are that this fear will affect their view of the world and how they act. He gave the example of going blind.
After thinking about that for a few days, I went and I opened a brainstorming doc for my MC Gwen, and this is what I got (copied and pasted directly from the doc).
Types of fear that can apply to Gwen:
-
Fear of the unknown (good for a coming of age
story)
-
Fear of being a burden.
-
Fear of being rejected (by society) (not really
liking this one. Unless it's her family she fears rejection from.)
-
Fear of being betrayed again
-
Afraid that everyone is lying to her (Okay,
that’s extreme, but good)
-
Afraid of letting everyone down and losing the
manor.
-
Afraid of losing Bev/living without her once she [SPOILER]
-
Afraid that she, Syd, Bev, etc. will never
recover from [SPOILER]
-
Afraid of screwing up the manor more than it was
before.
-
Afraid of failing to protect those that need
protecting (applies more to Syd).
-
Afraid of not being enough for the manor? Nah. I
think she’d be more afraid of losing it.
-
Afraid of hurting someone by accident while
trying to fix them up.
Lovely, isn't it? I started with a character that had the emotional range of a teaspoon, and I added all these layers to her. Now she has the emotional range of a half-cup measure, so she still needs work, but progress is progress. Not all of these may make it directly into the story, but they will affect how she acts.
Then I realized I'd given her all these fears, but I didn't know how she dealt with them. One of my side characters, Twyla, is scared of everything and is very timid, but I didn't want Gwen to act like her. Gwen was supposed to be tough. So, Gwen deals differently with fear. I remembered a quote I'd seen somewhere that said something like "It isn't brave if you're not scared." And that clicked with Gwen quite nicely. She goes ahead and does whatever it is, even though it scares her.
Then I ran into a problem. One of the things that bugs me about this current draft is that Gwen spends more time worrying about her lack of money than she does about the fact that someone is trying to scare her away from the manor, and is willing to be destructive. Then I talked to my mom, and she said that was probably part of Gwen's character. And something clicked again. When Gwen can't do anything to face what she's afraid of, she ignores it. (I'm not sure that entirely works, because surely there's something she could do to stop the saboteur, but it's another start.) So when she is in a scary situation that she has control over, she tries to ignore her fear and plows through it. But when she can't do anything about it, she puts the situation out of her head as much as she can. In the case of the saboteur, this could be dangerous, because the longer s/he's out there, the more damage s/he does.
So, in summary, each should character fear something and deal with it in their own way. Something cool that you could do though is have multiple characters with the same fear that deal with it in different ways, OR multiple characters that deal with different fears in similar ways. Lots of fun possibilities.
One more thing before I wrap up this post. I said before that a character's fear(s) will affect their worldview. Someone afraid of going blind may be very protective of their eyes. Someone afraid of their past coming back to haunt them may not like going to museums or antique malls or other places that glorify the past. Again, lots of fun possibilities.
I think that is it. Hopefully this post was helpful to someone, and not completely boring.
And a lovely evening/day/afternoon/midnight/whatever to you.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Tips for Maintaining Motivation and Battling the Internet Blues
Hello, chaps.
Today I'm going to talk about ways to keep yourself motivated. This isn't a guide to getting out of a rut or besting the dreaded Block, just ways I've come up with for getting past "I'm not blocked I just don't want to write" syndrome and internet distractions. My own Pinterest boards are some that get me. 'Cause looking at a storyboard I created for the story I'm writing counts as writing, right?
No. It's just distracting and gets me out of the story. Maybe, maybe I'll find something that helps, but that hardly ever happens.
So, here are my ideas:
So! There you have it. Hopefully one of you lovely readers will find it helpful.
And a good afternoon/morning/evening/whatever to you.
Today I'm going to talk about ways to keep yourself motivated. This isn't a guide to getting out of a rut or besting the dreaded Block, just ways I've come up with for getting past "I'm not blocked I just don't want to write" syndrome and internet distractions. My own Pinterest boards are some that get me. 'Cause looking at a storyboard I created for the story I'm writing counts as writing, right?
No. It's just distracting and gets me out of the story. Maybe, maybe I'll find something that helps, but that hardly ever happens.
So, here are my ideas:
- Set goals: I've done this a couple of ways. When I participated in 100-for-100, I had to write 100 words a day for 100 days, end of subject. And 100 words is easy. Sometimes I would get in the flow and end up writing more. Another thing I've done is tell myself that I need to write X many words before a certain time. A way to get around internet distractions is I've told myself that I had to right X many words before I check email or Pinterest or whatever.
- Set a time limit: This is similar to the one above, in that I've told myself I couldn't get on the internet until I'd written for a certain amount of time.
- Turn off the internet: A good way to avoid the internet is by making it hard to get on it. Close down the browser, email, and disconnect the WiFi.
- Make a really scary consequence for failure to reach the word goal: Remember that time at the beginning of this year when I made a vow to read a book a week? Yeah, that failed. A consequence I've been considering is writing a really short story about a zombie romance. That's not going to happen. The reading time lost is consequence enough. Anyway, it would be easy to set up a similar consequence for failing to reach a word goal.
- Get competitive: Compete with a writing friend in a word war. Pretend the fate of the world rests on you winning said war. I know of a case where two guys did an extreme word war, the loser of which had to sing and preform a song written by the winner. The result was The Pirate Baron Theme Song. They posted a video of it on YouTube here, and it is hilarious. That was their second extreme word war. In the first one, the loser had to eat a chocolate-covered grasshopper. There's a video of that one too (there should be a link in the other video) and I suggest you watch the first part just to see the excerpt he included of what he wrote for the war (before he actually eats the grasshopper). Hilarious.
- Set up a point system: Erin from Laughing at Live Dragons created a point system for herself to motivate her to write, and she posted about it in this post. She gives herself one point for every one hundred words she writes. I think that's a brilliant idea, and I'm working on an editing version.
- Check out a motivation website: 750words.com is designed to get to you to write 750 words a day. You post what you've written in their word processor, and then it analyzes your writing and tells you cool stuff about it, like what it's rated, what words you used the most often, emotions you used, etc. There's also Write Or Die, but I've never used it myself. The hardest setting you can put it on is called Kamikaze, and it starts deleting what you've written if you don't write fast enough. I think that's insane, but some people like it. There are other, less severe modes, that just make annoying noises or something if you don't write fast enough. Another one is Written? Kitten! and it gives you a new picture of a kitten after you write so many words. Too bad there isn't a Written? Dragon! That would be fun.
- Hold yourself accountable: I'm participating in NaNoCritMo this month, so I have a critique partner waiting for new chapters of my story (hi, Kendra!). Having someone waiting to read your story, an alpha reader, crit petc, can be good motivation. Hold yourself accountable for getting it to him/her on time.
So! There you have it. Hopefully one of you lovely readers will find it helpful.
And a good afternoon/morning/evening/whatever to you.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
You're Researching What? TCWT Blog Chain May 2013
So, this month the prompt for the Teens Can Write, Too! blog chain came from yours truly. My prompt is thus:
“What are some of the coolest/weirdest/funniest/most disturbing things you’ve researched for a story?”
This is going to be fun.
I have looked up:
I've had the urge to write historical fiction (not the story referred to above) since my Anatomy and Physiology class went to the Indiana Medical History Museum, which is housed in what used to be the pathology building for the no-longer-existent Central State Hospital for the Insane. Oh yeah. Now I really want to set a story there in the 1900s, a few years after the pathology building opened. Other than visiting the museum, I haven't done any research, but I really want to. They had books there from 1850. 1850! Books the original doctors had brought with them when the building opened. And this pair of old, real human skeletons that they had ordered in the day from a medical supply catalog (Just a little creepy...). Oh, and all the old equipment. They had an autopsy table from the 1920s. And this really cool pH color comparer thing...
Okay, I'll stop now. I need to actually come up with a story to set there.
Another cool historical thing I stumbled upon once was a set of local coroner's records from 1896 to 1935. I didn't go out looking for them (I accidentally found them on my library's website), but I think I did use them as a historical reference for a story idea that ended up dying. (Dying, coroner's reports, ha.) Depressing, really depressing, but fascinating. Several people got hit by trains. Swallowing acid was a popular form of suicide. Lots of babies died. Teenage boys were stupid. Oh, and there was this murder... which I don't remember all the details to at the moment, and actually there were several murders, but If you want to read more about what I found, I posted a bit about them a while back in this post.
So, there's my post, with a bonus ramble about historical loony bins. Big thanks to John from TCWT for letting me host this month, and to all the bloggers who participated in the chain. Here's a list of all the participants (you should totally check them out):
“What are some of the coolest/weirdest/funniest/most disturbing things you’ve researched for a story?”
This is going to be fun.
I have looked up:
- What color violet eyes actually are (they're either pale greyish or dark, dark blue)
- Names that mean "Stupid" (there aren't any)
- "Weird antiques" so I could put some in a fictional antique shop
- The history of bottled water
- Crimes punishable by death
- Ossuaries (really, really want to put one in a story. Maybe as part of a prison)
- A bit about the Barbary Pirates, specifically the capture and sinking of the USS Philadelphia.
- Medieval herbal medical practices (From a book my family owns. That book scares me. They used highly toxic convallaria [lily of the valley] as medicine.)
- Making candles
- Growing and using various kinds of natural dyes (indigo, sumac, madder, etc)
- The branding of slaves (This was an image search. Didn't find what I was looking for.)
- Different kinds of weird silverware
- Thatching for roofs
- Old fashioned names
I've had the urge to write historical fiction (not the story referred to above) since my Anatomy and Physiology class went to the Indiana Medical History Museum, which is housed in what used to be the pathology building for the no-longer-existent Central State Hospital for the Insane. Oh yeah. Now I really want to set a story there in the 1900s, a few years after the pathology building opened. Other than visiting the museum, I haven't done any research, but I really want to. They had books there from 1850. 1850! Books the original doctors had brought with them when the building opened. And this pair of old, real human skeletons that they had ordered in the day from a medical supply catalog (Just a little creepy...). Oh, and all the old equipment. They had an autopsy table from the 1920s. And this really cool pH color comparer thing...
Okay, I'll stop now. I need to actually come up with a story to set there.
Another cool historical thing I stumbled upon once was a set of local coroner's records from 1896 to 1935. I didn't go out looking for them (I accidentally found them on my library's website), but I think I did use them as a historical reference for a story idea that ended up dying. (Dying, coroner's reports, ha.) Depressing, really depressing, but fascinating. Several people got hit by trains. Swallowing acid was a popular form of suicide. Lots of babies died. Teenage boys were stupid. Oh, and there was this murder... which I don't remember all the details to at the moment, and actually there were several murders, but If you want to read more about what I found, I posted a bit about them a while back in this post.
So, there's my post, with a bonus ramble about historical loony bins. Big thanks to John from TCWT for letting me host this month, and to all the bloggers who participated in the chain. Here's a list of all the participants (you should totally check them out):
19th – http://www.mandilynn.com/
30th – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)
And a wondrous day/night/morning/midnight/mid-afternoon/whatever to you.
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