Sorry...ADVICE TIME

I'm sorry I haven't written any advice in the last few months. I've been working and I'm now almost done with college. Being 20 years old and finishing off undergraduate school can be daunting. Plus I've been following vlog-brothers and Sherlock (BBC).

I've been taking some creative writing courses and thought it would be nice to add it to the blog.

One topic that I liked was Juggling. This is from one of my "advice" books I was assigned in class. It is pretty helpful but remember that any rule can be broken in fiction writing.

Anyway Juggling is when the character is thinking while doing an action. The book gives an example of someone juggling swords while thinking of bills and her children. The reader is listening to her thoughts but is slightly worried about the swords falling. This helps create tension in the story and keeps the reader going.

You have to keep it brief as well. Even though the human mind is a marvelous thing and can come up with ideas in seconds, the reader has to be able to follow.

I highly suggest looking at this book. It has rules and it even contradicts itself (many fiction advice books do) and recognizes that it does. I'll try to post some more in the coming weeks.

Choosing the Right Words...

It's important to convey the right emotions through the words you chose. I know I have issues with this. I like this chart a lot.


It helps quite a bit. However, being petrified and terrified are still different. They are not interchangeable. Just like being unsure and anxious gives two different emotions.



If you are in doubt on whether to say "said" or any other word, it's alright to just say "said". It just depends on the situation. Obviously:

     "Hi" I said.
     "Hi" she said.
     "What are you doing today" I asked.
      "Nothing" She said.
      "Come with me," I said.
      "Alright," she said.
Would be boring (just like the conversation). It would be a bit more exciting if you change some of the words.
     "Hi" I said.
     "Oh, Hey!" replied.
     " What are you doing today?" I asked.
     "Nothing much," she explained.
     "Come with me," I insisted.
     "Alight," she muttered.
Through that the reader knows that person A (the I) wants to hang out with person B (the she) even though person B isn't very thrilled by it. Maybe they are siblings or person A is a cousin of person B.

Words are very important to getting things across. If one word can convey ten, use the one word. (Unless it doesn't fit the personality of the narrator).

Summer Time

It's harder to write in the summer. I'm pacing my dinning room trying to come up with new ideas. Unfortunately I come up with my best ideas after experiencing tragedy or witnessing a great tragedy. I really hope not to experience or witness any more but it is inevitable. I just don't want to wait till that happens.  I just need to come up with a different way of writing.

I watched The Great Gatsby a week after it came out and thought about the character Nick Carraway. In the film he wanted to be a writer and stopped writing to become a bonds man. It is clear in the movie that he was a watcher. A person who witnesses great tragedy and "seems" to do little to change anything. It is clear that his actions do have an affect (is that the right use? or should I use "effect") on the events. Silence can sometimes be the greatest affect (as seen in abuse cases all over the world) on any persons life.

 I know I tend to be a silent watcher. When ever I go to a party, not wanting to drink, I watch on the sidelines and make up stories about what will happen to the people attending the party after they leave. It can be either a tragedy or a comedy (usually based on my mood at the time). If I chose to drink, I would think about my feelings after the party, if I feel like I was stupid or if it was fun. Usually I feel I did something stupid and disappointed every woman who has ever told me to aim higher. I do use the experience for my own benefit. I make my mistakes into funny stories and material for personality traits for characters.

Keep Going

I always ask myself "is it worth it?" when it comes to my writing. I wonder if anyone would really read it, or if I could even sell one book. Would people bash it down? Will I be the laughing stock of the world? Highly doubtful but it's common to doubt what you're writing. 

When I do, I go back and read some of my stories I wrote in middle school and high school. I was pretty good at keeping up a fanfic page in middle school. Then I realize how much I have improved in my writing skills. It keeps me going just a page more.  I still ask my self why I decided on being an English major.

Why did I chose to be an English major? Well originally I wanted to teach and I don't like math... or dates so English or PE would be the only thing I would want to teach. 

Once I attended WSU, I realized that I just love literature. I love to find hidden clues, left from men (and some women) who died hundreds of years ago. I love the people here in the program, they get me, they know how I think and how I see the world. When I'm in a room with people from Math or Sciences, I don't understand what they do and it's hard for them to explain things to be. 

I used to hate reading. Mostly because all my family did was read. Sometimes they would miss appointments just because they were reading. I told myself that I wasn't going to do that.

I did gain a love of writing when I was younger. I was in fifth grade when I got my first creative writing project. I was aloud to write a story, any story I wanted. Just as long as it was at least 2 pages. I wrote a story about a world that didn't need men, so all of them were frozen and hidden under water. My teacher thought it was cute and told me I should be a writer. I never took her seriously.

Once I got to High school, it changed. My Sophomore English teacher introduced me to saying what I wanted in my papers. I didn't have to hold back on my opinion just because the book was considered a "classic". I got a chance to write a story again. This time I wrote about knights (since my high school mascot was the Knight) and the different types of knights at my school. One of my classmates (one who used to tease me a lot) told me to be a writer. 

That's why I'm here. Why are you?

First Chapter Due

My first chapter is due in my YA class in a few days now. I've already have five chapters but it's very rough. Or, at least to me they're rough. Another bridge I have to cross is believing that my story can stand up. If I don't believe in it, it won't be able to stand up to criticism. When someone says that "this has to much [insert something] in it" I have to either say "I see what you mean" or "No, it has the right amount, you just don't see the big picture". It's hard sometimes to know which is right. Obviously no one knows my child the way I do. My main character is and will always be my friend and my child. I will protect her/him and cry when I can't.

This brings me to the reason why I love to write. I write because I want people to meet these characters I have met and love. They aren't known to anyone but me and I think it's a shame. I try to put them in a world that best shows off their talents, weaknesses, compassion, and skills. This is also why I'm a bit hesitant in letting them meet other people. I'm afraid that other people with judge them and put them in categories. They are just trying to be themselves, not anyone else. Each character, no matter their gender, sexuality, or belief, is part of me. I sometimes base them off of a friend or family member but in the end, they have something in common with me. When I show them to someone, it's like sharing a private thought to a stranger. It's very nerve-racking. But I want to let people know that there are people like this around and they deserve to be known, because it's how I express myself.

Random Ideas pop into my head

So I was pacing (an activity I usually do) and I imagined fighting some great evil with my favorite book characters. What if I could make a image of a person in a book that could talk to me and touchable (not in a weird way). What if I was a book character? What if I was a forgotten book character?? OMG that would be a great book!! I should write that!

That is how great ideas are born but I'm a bit worried someone already came up with it.... Which is a common thought in my head when writing any story. Luckily you can reassure yourself that your ideas might be similar to someone else but will always be different. Another worry of any writer is that his or her story will never be read. This is why I feel it is a good story. I might start writing it later but I am focusing on my other story currently.

I would like to say that it is still important to write the idea around somewhere. I usually hide it on top of a notebook or on a sticky note on the next month of my calender. That way the inspiration is as spontaneous as it was before.

Comments Back

I just got my notebook back from my Young Adult Lit. class and they were all positive. It is really great to get all this encouragement to write this silly book.

Tips for today!
1. Make sure to have people read your stuff!! Even if it's just reading it to someone else, get an opinion on it! My current roommate has background in the medical field and it helps a lot for what I want to do with my book. I also have a friend who is really into editing papers.... It's cruel what she does to my story but it helps.

2. There is no set way to write a story! Try writing it out of order or try writing all the very climatic scene. Fill in the translations later, just get what you really want down before you forget.... or some idiot smokes in your hall and makes the fire alarms go off..... I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU!!!!!

That's all for today.