tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35974112445286952432024-03-14T08:44:01.431-07:00The Writer's Help SocietySarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-82547022983905053662012-08-24T12:50:00.000-07:002012-08-24T12:50:29.133-07:00Paper vs. Computer, which is better?<span style="background-color:;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Sorry for my also prolonged absent, I went on vacation and forgot some things. Anyways, this post was </span><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">originally</span><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> posted on </span></span><a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;" target="_blank">Birds of a Writer</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">.</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Anyways, so today instead of rambling about books I will ramble about paper vs computers? Which is better? Or is there even a "better"?</span><br />
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;" />
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Computers- Pros</b><br />
<br />
<ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<li>Better organization. </li>
<li>Its easier to store your files in multiple places. You can store them on your computer itself or on the internet. </li>
<li>Easier to erase and add things. </li>
<li>Easier way to share your story with multiple people. </li>
<li>You can type up your project on different kinds of document writers besides Microsoft Office, like Scrivener, Wordpad, LibreOffice, and others. </li>
<li>If you're a fast typist, you don't have to worry about messy hand writing and some people are faster typist then they are at handwriting. Its easy to change fonts too. </li>
<li>You can store all your research and stuff into files for quick easy access. </li>
<li>Your work can be password protected. </li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<b>Computers-Cons</b></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<ul>
<li>If you want to put a document onto paper, then you have to print it off. And overtime, it'll cost lots of money. </li>
<li>It might be easier to catch a virus, accidently delete something, or corrupt your project. </li>
<li>If you change word processors (like when my Microsoft office stopped working and I had to convert all my files so they would work on different programs) you'll have to convert files. </li>
<li>You can forget passwords or have something hacked.</li>
<li>If you share something online, there's always a chance it could be stolen. </li>
<li>It can be easy to make a ton of files and loose stuff. </li>
<li>Your computer can die and if you don't have backups, you'll loose your projects.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Paper- Pros</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<ul>
<li>Like using different word processors, you can use different kinds of paper. </li>
<li>You can use journals, notebooks, sketchbooks, or any other form of blank books to write in. You can even choose between lines and unlined (you can do choose this too on some word processors).</li>
<li>Different colored ink in pens, crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc. </li>
<li>Pen vs pencil. </li>
<li>You can write or draw in the margins. </li>
<li>There's that wonderful feel of paper. </li>
<li>Might be more convenient. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Paper- Cons</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<ul>
<li>Its easier to loose and destroy in some cases. </li>
<li>No password protection. In most cases, anyone can find it and read it. </li>
<li>You might have messy handwriting or get cramps easily. </li>
<li>Its harder to share with multiple people. </li>
<li>You might have a harder time keeping notes, research, and your project organized. </li>
<li>It takes more space to store paper. </li>
<li>It takes lots of time to write something and then transfer it to your computer.</li>
<li>Kills trees. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Combined Pros.</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<ul>
<li>Both can have different fonts, shapes, colors, and sizes. </li>
<li>Both can be lined or no lines (in some cases).</li>
<li>With somethings on the computer, you can draw or write in the margins like on paper. </li>
<li>You can organize your stuff into files. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Combined Cons</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
<ul>
<li>Cramps either way. </li>
<li>You can destroy stuff either way.</li>
<li>Distractions either way. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">
So well, there it is. A list of the pros and cons of writing on either paper or computer. Which do you prefer? Do you have anything to add to these lists?</div>
Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-5686404448292842412012-08-16T11:51:00.000-07:002012-08-16T11:51:09.372-07:00Quotes For Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQl1uyuHUi8tUIYMHe770a9P-GaX1avKgWGzljP4irDRGGogMMpYg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQl1uyuHUi8tUIYMHe770a9P-GaX1avKgWGzljP4irDRGGogMMpYg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQl1uyuHUi8tUIYMHe770a9P-GaX1avKgWGzljP4irDRGGogMMpYg" /></a><em>Sorry about my prolonged absence! I've been gone on and off so many times this summer that I lost track of when I was supposed to post. So, here it goes! </em><br />
<br />
The post title says it all. Here are some of my favorite quotes on writing:<br />
<br />
“If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.” <br />
― Lemony Snicket<br />
<br />
“So what? All writers are lunatics!” <br />
― Cornelia Funke<br />
<br />
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” <br />
― Toni Morrison<br />
<br />
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” <br />
― Stephen King<br />
<br />
“Someone needs to tell those tales...There's magic in that. It's in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words.” <br />
― Erin Morgenstern<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcScwB_fNahX461BfrpXjy7HTr1s6LGJKc3kX4vSs2dPqsu7CRB5" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcScwB_fNahX461BfrpXjy7HTr1s6LGJKc3kX4vSs2dPqsu7CRB5" /></a></div>
“The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it’s difficult to discern whether or not they are genuine.” <br />
― Abraham Lincoln<br />
<br />
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” <br />
― J.K. Rowling<br />
<br />
“Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club.” <br />
― Jack London<br />
<br />
“Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way.” <br />
― Steve Martin<br />
<br />
“we write every day, we fight every day, we think and scheme and dream a little dream every day. manuscripts pile up in the kitchen sink, run-on sentences dangle around our necks. we plant purple prose in our gardens and snip the adverbs only to thread them in our hair. we write with no guarantees, no certainties, no promises of what might come and we do it anyway. this is who we are.” <br />
― Tahereh Mafi (No caps because that's how Tahereh Mafi blogs. And yet <a href="http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">her blog</a> is still awesome, because she neglects capitalization <em>with style.</em>)<br />
<br />
“Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.” <br />
― George R.R. Martin<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRMhlh5xVs5SXF6O__okb_GxfypB7A7aYTIis2ckvIPwueTcAjc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRMhlh5xVs5SXF6O__okb_GxfypB7A7aYTIis2ckvIPwueTcAjc" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I want to blow this up really big and put it on my ceiling, <br />
above my bed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” <br />
― J.R.R. Tolkien<br />
<br />
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” <br />
― Madeleine L'Engle<br />
<br />
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” <br />
― Mark Twain<br />
<br />
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” <br />
― Saul Bellow<br />
<br />
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” <br />
― Robert Frost<br />
<br />
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” <br />
― Stephen King<br />
<br />
"A writer writes not because they like to write, but because writing is something that is ingrained in every fiber of their being."<br />
― Me (from <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/so-you-think-you-can-write-have-fun.html" target="_blank">this blog post</a>)<br />
<br />
“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.<br />
Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.” <br />
― William Faulkner<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_tnUvUdMZA_3NB3QGhzrrsRYmLorX4A-JntDX_pl_Q4H985Kc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_tnUvUdMZA_3NB3QGhzrrsRYmLorX4A-JntDX_pl_Q4H985Kc" /></a></div>
“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.” <br />
― Isaac Asimov<br />
<br />
“Always be a poet, even in prose.” <br />
― Charles Baudelaire<br />
<br />
“Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.” <br />
― Meg Cabot<br />
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“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” <br />
― John Steinbeck<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTaWQeWcwRWB71P0ivvoNIyr-QQohAbhQVFZkTW3PXETs3TW1io5Q8BPbJ99A" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTaWQeWcwRWB71P0ivvoNIyr-QQohAbhQVFZkTW3PXETs3TW1io5Q8BPbJ99A" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTaWQeWcwRWB71P0ivvoNIyr-QQohAbhQVFZkTW3PXETs3TW1io5Q8BPbJ99A" /></a>“If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.” <br />
― Anaïs Nin<br />
<br />
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” <br />
― F. Scott Fitzgerald<br />
<br />
“I want to gather up all the ink cartridges in the universe, because somewhere, mixed in with all that ink, is the next great American novel. And I’d love nothing more than to drink it.” <br />
― Jarod Kintz<br />
<br />
"One does not simply write a novel. It is folly."<br />
― <a href="http://creativewritingcat.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Creative Writing Cat</a><br />
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“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” <br />
― Markus Zusak<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-cdr0MF9850v0Z4yihHBLO6yi1k4VGk6lG8__cfvqrtSmPI0n" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-cdr0MF9850v0Z4yihHBLO6yi1k4VGk6lG8__cfvqrtSmPI0n" /></a></div>
<br />
“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” <br />
― Thomas Mann<br />
<br />
And my all-time favorite:<br />
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” <br />
― Stephen King<br />
<br />
You can learn quite a bit from quotes. There are many, many more out there, if you just search "quotes on writing". And no, I'm not an advertiser for Stephen King. I've never read a book by him. I just think he has good quotes on writing. <br />
<br />
And yes, I had to throw in the Lincoln one.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are your favorite quotes on writing?</strong><br />
<br />
<em>This post was originally published at <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/quotes-for-writers.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random</a>.</em><br />
<br />
<img align="center" alt="post signature" class="centered" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhXHetRk_STG2dlInM-G3omYq_j6_zU0Wdv2R8gYMf-KHs1Z44_p7RW871tB90fpT-vwDKwSJmIx70B0qUw8ruoRwuEcapHIT8fB9iXVzLFgpZ2si3Gj_aE1TNcDUQvX3-9D03nzsqyzy/s320/love+annie.jpg" />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-30854748034676342912012-08-01T22:49:00.000-07:002012-08-01T22:49:03.048-07:00How to Ruin your Novel<strong>Unoriginality</strong><br />
I'll say this first, all stories written are just previous stories with the writer's own twists. Everything's been done before, but that doesn't mean you can't use one or a few of those ideas. Just add your own touch to them. Of course, unless you're writing a crackfic to post for whatever reason on the Internet, don't shove everything your pretty little brain can think of into your novel. It has to make sense, or at least <em>seem</em> like it makes sense. <br />
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<strong>Overexplaining</strong><br />
Your readers aren't idiots. They don't need you to write paragraphs after paragraphs explaining every little thing. Some things are better left shrouded in mystery, piquing the reader's interest, others are better off explained in a few short sentences. Once you explain something, you don't need to repeat it every chapter. Stay on track. Don't start recapping the events like you're some commentator. It gets annoying.<br />
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<strong>No Emotion</strong><br />
If there are no emotions in a novel, it makes the novel feel like a manual or a textbook. Boring. If you want your readers to laugh and cry along with your characters, describe their emotions. Put yourself in your characters shoes. Even if you haven't experienced what they're going through, think about how they would be feeling.<br />
Here's a body language cheat sheet to help you: <a href="http://www.archetypewriting.com/resources/downloads/bodylanguagecheatsheet.pdf" target="_blank">[link]</a><br />
<br />
<strong>No Conflict</strong><br />
There's absolutely no conflict in your story. People read stories to live another life through the characters. If they can't relate to them, they won't experience their life. The characters need to want something and that something needs to be worthwhile. There needs to be setbacks, things that prevent the character from getting what he or she wants. Make the reader want to stay and root for the characters. <br />
<br />
<strong>Characters</strong><br />
The readers don't have to love your character, but they have to care about what happens to them. If they don't care about the character, they don't care about the book. <br />
Antagonists don't have to be pure evil, the same way protagonists don't have to always be good. The antagonist may have the right goal in mind, but they're going about it the wrong way. The protagonist might resort to underhanded tactics to get what he or she wants. That's okay. <br />
<br />
<strong>Backstory</strong><br />
It might be a little hard to tell when you should begin your story. Just write enough to make your readers care about what happens to the character and make them continue reading. If you jump right into the action, say your character about to be killed by a monster, why should the reader care about their death? They don't really know much about him or her. Back up a little and try to express that character's motivation. You don't necessarily have to tell the reader <em>what </em>the character wants, but they should know that the character wants it. <br />
<br />
<strong>Laziness</strong><br />
Lazy writing is bad writing. Laziness isn't just limited to letting the draft sit there unedited for weeks, months, even years. It includes relying on cliches and telling instead of showing what the character is feeling, thinking and doing. Don't keep your readers away and give them a detached summary of what's going on in your head, <em>show</em> them. <br />
<br />
<strong>Giving Up</strong><br />
Writing a novel is a lot of work. Sometimes, you just sit there for hours, staring at a blank page, waiting for words to come to you. At other times, you might be staring at a draft wondering how you're supposed to improve it. If you don't write your novel, then who will? It's certainly not going to write itself<em>. </em>You have to write it. It's<em> your</em> story, isn't it? <br />
<br />
I hope this helps and have fun writing!Kaye Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02941080418216836194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-44397216034653899082012-07-20T07:39:00.001-07:002012-07-20T07:39:31.793-07:00Character Needs vs. WantsA huge part of figuring out who your characters are is figuring out what they want most in life. And also, what they need most. These are an integral part of your story. In fact, it's really the only reason you have a story at all. It's hard to write a book if you don't know what your character wants, and how far they'll go to get it. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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At some point during your writing, I highly recommend you sit down and do two things. I recommend doing this before you even start the book, but if you're having character troubles, it's also a good way of straightening them out. You should write down the answers to these two questions:</div>
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<strong>1) What does your character want most?</strong></div>
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<strong>2) What does this character need most?</strong></div>
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These questions help you with character development. Actually, they help with plotting too. I'm convinced you can't have a book without having answered these questions in some way or other.</div>
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They're more complex than they seem, though. And no, they aren't the same question. What your character <em>wants</em> and what they <em>need</em> can often be two very separate things, sometimes conflicting. Here's an example from my book, <em>Secrets of the Legend Chaser. </em>Once again, I'll use my ever-willing (Haha, kidding, he has no choice! Love you, buddy! Yep, he'll be making me pay for this during revision tonight.) guinea pig, Davi. </div>
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<strong>What Davi wants: </strong>to find the dragon eggs (he's searching for a legendary bunch of them, a treasure allegedly stolen away by humans hundreds of years ago). A desire which, in turn, comes from a desire to feel responsible, to feel like he's able to accomplish <em>something</em>.</div>
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<strong>What Davi needs: </strong>to go back to his home and forgive his father.</div>
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What Davi wants and what he needs are two very different things. What he wants is completely controlled by him, something he feels he must achieve in order to prove himself. </div>
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He's actually not even aware of his need. It's there, in some deep part of him, but he doesn't know it. In fact, the last thing he <em>wants</em> is to go back and face his father. It's something he's been avoiding for five whole years. </div>
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What he doesn't realize is that he has a forgiveness problem. And a guilt problem. Both of these would be solved by returning to his father, but of course, that's the last thing he wants. But the guilt lurks at the corners of his mind, never leaving. It haunts his every step. It's slowly getting to him. </div>
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At one point in the book, Davi has realized that what he wants doesn't exist (which may or may not be actually the case, as he finds later....). He's crushed. Having been denied the one thing he wants, he's left with no choice but to return to his father. Where he finally gets his needs met. </div>
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Throughout the book, though, his wants and needs are at constant odds with one another. Davi pushes away his needs because he fears them, which creates more conflict. <strong>And your goal as a writer is always to create the maximum amount of conflict possible. </strong></div>
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There's a good chance your character's wants and needs will be different. Sometimes they'll overlap, but often times they won't. <strong>Take advantage of this.</strong> Exploit it, because it has countless wonderful conflict opportunities to offer. </div>
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<strong>What your character wants, and what they need, are integral parts of your story. If you know them, you have a solid handle on who this character is, what what the plot will be. </strong></div>
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<strong>You tell me: Do your characters' needs and wants differ? How do they conflict? How do you use this?</strong></div>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-83631208854872806592012-07-14T15:20:00.001-07:002012-07-14T15:20:55.042-07:00How to Not Write A Good Pitch.This post was originally posted on <a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Birds of a Writer</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Book pitches (or blurbs, but I like to call them pitches) are very important. One could argue that they're the most important factor in whether or not someone will buy your book. I'm sure everyone here could say that they've bought or picked up a book because those 250 or some words on the inside flap or back cover sounded interesting. But I think that most authors end up having pitches that ends up sounding like a bunch of other pitches. So what does and what doesn't make a good pitch?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">This has been annoying me a lot lately. Mostly because it seems like I see it on almost every book pitch I read. And I'm sure you've seen lots of these too. And guess what, they're not unique or exciting anymore. Here's what I mean:</span><br />
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<li><b>(Insert character name here) was a normal (girl/boy) who just wanted a normal life</b><i>. </i>Or something like that. Guess what, people don't read books because they want to read about someone who's life is probably just as boring as their's. And characters who may have had a normal life in the beginning, their lives usually end up never being normal ever again. So why have it? </li>
<li><b>And nothing is as it seems...</b> Blah, blah, blah. Yeah I get it, in every book nothing is as it seems. And do I really care? Probably not unless it's something really good. My advice: don't even put that in the pitch. It's boring and used way too much. In the book I'm writing, <i>Night Lies</i>, literally nothing is what it seems, but I say that no where in the pitch. Because I want it to be a surprise, something that my readers weren't suspecting. </li>
<li><b>Nothing will ever be the same...</b> We got that already. Especially when you began the pitch with <i>(Insert character name here) was a normal (girl/boy) who just wanted a normal life. </i>In what story please tell me, is <i>anything ever</i> the same afterwards?</li>
<li><b>(Character name) will learn some startling truths but not only everything else, but him/herself</b><i>...</i>Really? I had <i>no</i> idea that was going to happen! *sarcasm* </li>
<li><b>(Main Character) will have to choose between two men/women.</b><i></i>Something like that. I've already had this talk about love triangles. They aren't cool anymore. </li>
<li><b>In a race against time...</b>Doesn't everything end up being a race against time?</li>
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Now I'm not saying that you <i>can't</i> put these in your pitch, but when you're writing one, try to be original and not use the same thing we've seen over and over. People want something exciting and fresh, and while these are certainly exciting, they're just used all the time. </div>
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But let's face it. Trying to fit your whole book into 250 (more or less) words is <i>hard</i>. And I'm sure every writer will tell you that. Sure some have it easier than others and some books have easier pitches than others. I've written several pitches for my unpublished books where I came up with a great one in a day while others took me a long time to get it right. </div>
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Oh and the best way to make an especially bad pitch is to write a really good one, but then have the book be something totally different. </div>
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Yeah I saw that once. </div>
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No lie.</div>
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Well it wasn't in anything published, but I saw it once on Inkpop. There was this awesome pitch but when I went to read the story, it ended up being something totally different. I wasn't sure if the author meant to do that on purpose or if it was an accident. Because for all I know, the author could have just uploaded the wrong story and have not noticed. Although whatever the case was, it story wasn't all that good anyways. </div>
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The point of that was, if you're going to write an awesome pitch, <i>make sure it has something to do with the story</i>. Because your readers will know that you lied and they will tell all their friends and you'll have lost what could have been a great book. </div>
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Another tip, don't copy another book's pitch just because it's similar to yours and it sounds awesome. You'll most likely be found out and sued for all your worth because you stole some one else's work. That or people will assume that your book is a rip off of another great book and won't read yours. </div>
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So what other things about pitches annoys you? Have you seen any other common pitch sentences? And have you ever read a book where the pitch was different from the story?</div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-84953749408107665782012-06-20T15:19:00.000-07:002012-06-20T15:19:00.311-07:00Advice on ChaptersIt seems like a lot of writers are worried about the lengths of their chapters. What's considered too long, too short? What's just-right?<br />
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The good thing here is that the answer is short and sweet: <b>there is no ideal chapter length. </b>As long as all of your chapters are reasonably consistent (i.e. don't have one chapter take fifty pages and another take five), you'll be just fine. <br />
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Some books, like Maximum Ride, for example, have very short chapters. Many of these chapters have two to four pages. I've heard that Stephen King wrote a chapter that had only four words. Having short chapters like this makes the story seem like it moves along more quickly, highlighting the feelings of action and suspense. Some books, on the other hand, could have chapters up to fifty pages in length. This is fine, too. It highlights the complexity of the story, and breaks it up into broad pieces that each have something a little different.<br />
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The one thing to remember with chapters is that you never want to end in safe place. When you're reading a book, you want a convenient place to put it down, right? You're not going to stop reading in the middle of an action sequence or when something important is about to be revealed. You want to put it down in a place that's comfortable and has little or no tension. <br />
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<b>Because of this, you don't want to end your chapter in a "safe" spot.</b> Don't end with the protagonist contemplating recent events before she turns out the light to go to sleep. Instead, end with your main character dangling off the edge of a cliff. If you end every chapter with a moment of suspense, readers won't want to put your book down.<br />
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"Safe" doesn't necessarily mean that the MC is safe from space aliens or whatever. The character could be physically safe, but maybe the chapter ends with the revelation that the captain of the space aliens is actually her ex-boyfriend, or something. And action doesn't have to be life-threatening, either. It could also mean a heated argument, a love scene, etc. <br />
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Just remember: when you write a book, your goal is to write something that your readers can't put down. If you end each chapter with something exciting, they'll want to stay up half the night saying "one more chapter...one more chapter..."<br />
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<em>Originally spotted at </em><a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/advice-on-chapters.html" target="_blank"><em>The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</em></a>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-33762693781792520812012-06-11T15:45:00.000-07:002012-06-11T15:45:49.697-07:00Inkie Interview- Kristin<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s1600/inkies+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s200/inkies+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hey guys! So, we're back with "Inkie Interviews" (although really, anyone who wants to be interviewed can). I haven't done these since the shutdown of Inkpop, but since I'm in contact with most of the Inkies again, I've started these back up. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So our first interviewee of the summer is, Kristin, who will also be blogging with us. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What story(ies) are you writing and what are they about? </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am writing multiple stories at the moment. Hollow involves a soul sucking tree, family issues, life or death situations, kidnappings, choices, secret agencies, and all that jazz. Tearing Through The Light is about a girl who is capable of controlling oceans, and is being haunted by a ghost who wants her to use her power for evil. Falling will most likely be a novel in verse, and it is about a popular girl who is secretly depressed. Horizon is a fantasy novel that takes place in another world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is your favorite genres to write?</b> </span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I prefer to write paranormal and fantasy.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote? What was it about? </b></span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">I remember it, but not in exact detail. It was a crappy piece I wrote in grade one.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Have you always wanted to be a writer? </b></span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">No. I just realized I wanted to be a writer about a year or two ago. Before that, I wanted to be a teacher (I still do) or a counsellor. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What do you do when you get Writer's Block? </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I eat food and watch weird videos and talk with my friends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Is there a certain time when you write best?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Night, but I'm usually asleep then :P</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><b>If you could have anything as a major in college, what would it be?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">English</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><b>What is your favorite place to be and why?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Probably camping in Jasper. It's nice to be surrounded by mountains, away from civilization, roasting marshmallows every night, and just roughing it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>And think fast!</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Pizza or Desert Pizza?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Dessert pizza</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i>Bananas or Strawberries?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Strawberries</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv145587609Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Working in McDonalds or Dairy Queen?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Dairy Queen</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i>Movies or TV Shows?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">TV shows</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Thanks so much, Kristin, for joining us today! It was great fun! </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">If you're a writer or anyone else you know who is and would like to be interviewed, don't hesitate to be contact us! </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Sincerely,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Sareh</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i>Also: If anyone knows how to fix the banner on top, I'd greatly appreciated it if you would contact me. I would like it to fill up the whole width of the front instead of partly filling it up. </i></span></span></div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-6790428265198571512012-06-06T15:48:00.003-07:002012-06-06T15:48:44.231-07:00Get In Late, Get Out EarlyFor awhile now, I've found myself giving the same piece of writing advice over
and over. Finally, I've decided to just write up a whole post about
it.<br /><br />When do you start your first scene? How do you start it? How do you
know when to end a scene?<br /><br />For questions like these, go by this rule:
<strong>Get in as late as you possibly can, and get out as early as you possibly
can.</strong> <br /><br />What this means is that you shouldn't start your book (or
your first scene, or any scene) any earlier than you need to. When does the
action start? When does the essential plot problem come into play? When is
your inciting incident? Start here, and not a minute sooner. <br /><br />For
example, say I'm writing a book about Fred, a high school student who wants to
be a detective. His goal in the story is to solve the mystery of who stole his
friend's iPad (all my plot-building power goes into my actual books, so I have
no decent plots to use as examples). One morning, he gets up and takes a
shower. He gets dressed and grabs a poptart on his way out the door. He picks
up his friend Jason, and they have a lengthy discussion on the merits of Firefox
vs. Google Chrome. When he gets to school, he meets up with his other friend,
Bob. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a dark shadow appear, snatch the
iPad out of Bob's backpack, and disappear again. <br /><br />This is where you
should start your story, right at that moment where he sees that sketchy
shadow. That's when the real plot begins. The scene where he drives Jason to
school isn't needed. It's part of Fred's life, yes, but it's not part of the
plot. It's not needed. <br /><br /><strong>This same principle applies to every
scene you write.</strong> Start it as late as you possibly can, while still
having it make sense. This, then, ties into the next part of this
in-late-out-early rule. When you're finishing a scene, get out as early as
possible. What is the earliest point you can end this scene without omitting
any crucial elements? This is where it should end. <br /><br />This goes for the
end of the entire book, too. You have a little more room to work here, but you
should generally follow the same rule. Don't let <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/endings.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3fa53d;">your ending </span></a>drag. This is probably another post for another
time, so I won't get in too deep on this. But if the main plot of your story
has ended, and all loose ends have been wrapped up, don't keep going.
Stop before your readers start losing interest.<br /><br />Get in late, get out
early. I don't even remember where I first heard this, but it's proved to be
one of the best pieces of advice I've received. <strong>Don't start any earlier
than you need to, and don't keep going after everything has been wrapped
up.</strong> <br />
<em>Originally posted at <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/get-in-late-get-out-early.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</a></em>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-46035053132341270172012-05-28T09:45:00.003-07:002012-05-28T09:45:51.243-07:00What Genre is Your Story?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">This post was originally posted on <a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Birds of a Writer</a>.</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Some writers only write one particular genre and stick with it, while others dare to try new ones. Some may not even be sure what genre their's falls into. And that's okay even if you're not sure what catagory your book belongs too. Some stories just don't fit nicely into one thing and sometimes you may create a new genre. But I'll remind you, that creating a new genre is hard.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I'm warning you now: </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">This post will be long. </i><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">You have been warned.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">So if you find that a genre is missing or you would like something changed, please let me know! Also, the Word Counts (WC) are a general estimate. If you're writing in one of those catagories, you don't have to have an exact word count. It's always fine for the story to be large or smaller than the estimated word count.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Anyways, here's a quick overview of some genres and their subgenres.</span><br />
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<ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li><u>Mainstream-</u> To sum it up, the ever going struggle between good and evil in every person are present in these novels. Basically, these books can be hard to put into a certain catagory.</li>
<ol>
<li><i>Contemporary- </i>Anything really can be put into this subgenre, although it mainly involes books concerning familiy sags, coming of age, personal relationships, and so on so forth. Word Count: usually starts at 100,000.</li>
<li><i>Historical</i>- Usually has something to do with real life people in fictional settings Word Count: begins at 100,000.</li>
<li><i>Romance</i>- While these books are very much like books from the romance genre, the difference is that these book may not have a happy ending.</li>
</ol>
<li><u>Young Adult</u>- These books, YA, are stories for teenagers, generally from the ages of 12 to 18. They may mimic adult fiction but in these stories the Main Characters are teenagers. Duh. While it is one of the biggest growing parts of the publishing world (with fantasy/science fiction and paranormal romances being the most popular) it once wasn't even really a genre. These books most of the time don't contain large amounts of swearing, graphic violence, or other things that may be questionable.</li>
<ol>
<li><i>Contemporary (Aka, General Fiction)</i>- These books deal with real life things that most or even all (or some), teenagers face. The issues can cover everything from drugs, abuse, emotional/mental issues, and many more things. The authors try to show these things as realistically as possible. WC (word count): 40,000 to 60,000. </li>
<li><i>Genre</i>- While contemporary YA novels may give examples on what real life is like and how to deal with it, these ones may take the reader away. They cover every other genre here and their primary goal is to entertain. WC- 40,000 to 60,000. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Romance</u>- This genre may be considered the biggest genre in the publishing world. The mainly only thing that happens, the main difference, is that the couple ends up living happily forever after (or so we hope.) Since the main story point is the romance, basically anything else that happens becomes not as important as the relationship.</li>
<ol>
<li><i>Contemporary</i>- This subgenre deals with how to man and woman come together in today's society. They deal with people from every culture and nation. WC- 50,000 to 100,000.</li>
<li><i>Historical</i>- Do I need to explain? The Heroine and Hero fall in love in a past setting. </li>
<li><i>Paranormal</i>- Probably one of the most popular genres right now, at least for the YA section. You know the drill, anything from vampires to werewolves, witches, ghosts, or whatever are in these stories except that the romance is a leading point in these stories. Twilight. Do I need to say more? WC- 85,000 to 100,000. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Mystery-</u> These novels have a wide range of ideas and basically, anything can go as long as there is mystery. I have seen that normally, it tends to be a murder and the MC has to find the killer. Or that could be because that's half the books in my house. They're not mine, they're my mom's. </li>
<ol>
<li><i>Thrillers</i>- These books usually happen in the present time. A lot of violence is mixed with the mystery and we end up rooting for the good guy. The bad guy(s) tend to die in horrible ways. WC- 85,000 to 110,000.</li>
<li><i>Cozy Mysteries</i>- My mom's favorite genre. I swear we have tons and tons of these, mostly paperbacks, sitting on our bookcases. The common ground between these books is that you have a nonprofessional sleuth, normal person who happens to solve the crime. For example, a baker who solves and catches the killer and mystery of her brother's death. WC- 60,000 to 100,000. </li>
<li><i>Police Procedurals</i>- These are those shows you're always seeing on TV now. If it's not a hospital show, it's a show involving a cop, someone who works with the cops, or a group of police peoples. They usually always end up in the end with the bad guy in jail. It's advised you do your research before takling this genre. Although that doesn't mean you should follow the cops like in <i>Castle</i>. Check out some police websites, or talk to someone you know who is a cop. </li>
<li><i>Historical</i>- A crime set in the past. The mystery here has to be solved by the items avabiile to the time your writing about. Make sure you do your research! These can also become cozy mysteries too. </li>
<li><i>Hard-Boiled</i>- Detective novels anyone? Edgar Allen Poe is not only credited as one of the first writers of horror, but he may have come up with one of the first detective stories. WC- 85,000 to 100,000. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Action/Adventure-</u> Commonly known as men's favorite genre, just like romance tends be a woman's favorite genre. The protagonist is commonly put into some kind of dangerous situation and expected to defeat the bad guy and come out alive. </li>
<li><u>Fantasy-</u> For some reason this genre and Science Fiction are usually grouped together. While they are similar, they are different. One of my favorite genres.</li>
<ol>
<li><i>Epic</i>- Want a couple words to sum this up? Lords of the Rings. Yep the epic (pun intended) story in which a group of heros come together to rid the world of evil, save the world, fight the last battle to end all evil, etc. This subgenre is usually very large, with well developed worlds, and the stories in which continues for several books. </li>
<li><i>High</i>- While this subgenre is close to the first, it is different. Instead of having a group of heroes, you have one who's goals are much more centered around him. The last battle will usually end up being between him and a villian and the protagonist wins. </li>
<li><i>Sword and Sorcery</i>- In here the story is spent a lot on action and less on world building. When the bad guy is end the story is mostly likely over. Usually it involves big, strong men and beautiful women. That and lots of creatures and gods, godesseses, and other mythological beings. WC- 85,000 to 150,000.</li>
<li><i>Dark</i>- Often confused with horror. But it is different. Instead of finding good characters, your character may not be a good guy. In fact, the hero may not win. The world is a dark and scary place where evil regins and only the strong can live. My story, <i>The Cursing</i>, is strongly dark fantasy. Where the MC does some not good things and evil is very present. </li>
<li><i>Historical</i>- Must I really? Basically any fantasy world where is has strong roots in historical culture and other things. It might be a story set in Ancient Rome but where the barbarian girl goes to fight the emporer with a magical sword. </li>
<li><i>Contemporary</i>- Two words- Urban Fantasy. Yep, this subgenre is set in our time period and most often in cities like ours. The <i>Wicked Lovely</i> series by Melissa Marr is considered urban fantasy. Often it contains elements of the horror genre although it is not meant to be scary. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Science Fiction</u>- This genre is commonly called "si-fi" or "SF" for speculative fiction. The difference between science fiction and fantasy here is that fantasy relies upon the supernatural while science fiction must have some form of science or technology in it. One of my favorite genres.</li>
<ol>
<li><i>Hard</i>- This subgenre relies heavily on science itself. The authors of this genre study everything in broad areas like biology and chemistry and they are devoted to getting the facts straight. These facts will help their stories and make it more believable. Some famous authors in this genre include Issac Asimov and Greg Bear. </li>
<li><i>Military</i>- The emphasis here is placed on warfare in the future. Fighting aliens with high technologies is a common theme. Hard science fiction is a strong presence in this genre. </li>
<li><i>Space Opera</i>- Although it has themes of both military and hard science fiction in it, this one is more fun. The authors might be less worried about how their machines work than with how they look. It is more fun and less educational than the first two subgenres. But it is widely loved by many people, just look at how many people love <i>Star Wars.</i> My book, <i>Night Lies</i>, is probably is subgenre. </li>
<li><i>Slipstream</i>- This one happens to not be science fiction exactly, yet it is. Basically, it's science fiction that's all fiction but no science. The term, slipstream, was first coined by the author, Bruce Sterling. It's more of a cross between science fiction and contempory fiction, not really horror, not really about the techonology, and but it doesn't really have dragons and wizards in it too. </li>
<li><i>Cyberpunk</i>- This genre isn't really written is our time today because the authors who first wrote it were writing about our time today. They tried imagining what the 21st century would be like. This subgenre focuses on the future of computers/information and how humans interact with machines. A famous book of the genre would be <i>Neuromancer </i>by William Gibson who coined the term <i>cyberspace</i>. </li>
<li><i>Steampunk</i>- One of the more popular genres of today. Stories like <i>The Girl in the Steel Corset, Levithian, Clockwork Angel, </i>and <i>Worldshaker</i> are just a few of the books out today. Basically, these are books where techonolgy of the future is ran on steam (in some cases, basically techonology in general) and the story is set in Victorian times. </li>
<li><i>Dystopia</i>- This always seems to get confused with Utopia whenever I tell someone about this genre. The different is that while a Utopia is a perfect world, a Dystopia is a perfect world with one fatal flaw. And usually there's a normal person whom experience the system mess up. Famous works include, <i>The Hunger Games, Uglies, Delirium, Matched,</i>and <i>Fahrenheit 451.</i></li>
<li><i>Alternate Histories</i>- Scott Westefeld's book series, <i>Leviathan, </i>is not only steampunk, but an alternative history of World War I. Although this subgenre is like steampunk, this one is more concerned with real history and facts- but with a twist. This subgenre takes real history and then asks "what if?" For example, what if the North hadn't beaten the South in America's civil war? Would there still be slaves? Would we still be one country?</li>
</ol>
<li><u>Thrillers-</u> This books are related to mystery books but are different. The plot usually includes something along the lines of the thing that everyone wants or is looking for no matter that cost. These books tend to be quite large, ranging from around 500 to 600 pages, and is normally told from multiple points of view. </li>
<ol>
<li><i>Techno-thrillers</i>- These novels have alot to do with technology, much like military or hard science fiction. World wars are common, and they might have near-future events in them. </li>
<li><i>Historical</i>- Basically thrillers with something to do with the past. </li>
<li><i>Espionage</i>- These are your spy novels. They might have communists in them or Nazis. (In fact, the Nazi's have their own subgenre thrillers.)</li>
<li><i>Medical</i>- Basically plot is that our hero finds out something awful about a hospital, research center, government lab, etc. And they usually involve human guinea pigs. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Horror-</u> This genre began with books like <i>Frankenstein. </i>Today's horror stories contains gruesome scenes and a good one scare someone into not sleeping. Okay maybe not that much, but they should be pretty frightening. </li>
<ol>
<li><i>Psychological</i>- Most horror stories of today are set in this subgenre. These are stories that make readers question their sanity, crawl under the covers, or be generally afraid. They can be slow ad creepy or fast paced. This subgenre is set in today's times since we're most likely to be able to relate to the story. WC- 85,000 to 100,000.</li>
<li><i>Slasher</i>- These are books that are similar to movies like <i>Saw</i>, but just in book form. They are filled with gruesome images and bloody scenes and lots and lots of violence. This is not a popular subgenre with publishers, but it can be done. WC- usually around 100,000. </li>
<li><i>Paranormal</i>- These are your ghost stories. Ones filled with horrifying vampires (ones that don't sparkle at least), werewolves, the undead, and anything else you can think of. Like that scary ghost story you used to tell at sleepovers, but much worse. WC- usually 100,000. </li>
</ol>
<li><u>Erotica-</u> A genre I'd rather not get into. But I thought I should mention it. There's usually only two subgenres to this- men's and women's. </li>
<li><u>Western-</u> Probably one of the least popular genre's in today's market. Few major publishing houses will accept these novels anymore. They are sometimes called Western Historical. It is considered very important for you to do your research on the time period these novels are usually set in- 1860s to the 1880s. </li>
<li><u>Memoir-</u> I had to include these last two because I figured that there are some people out there who write these. Although similar to the autobiography, a memoir can be defined as a book that focus on a certain time in the author's life rather than the whole thing like an autobiography does. Like the autobiography, a memoir is usually written in first person. People who normally write these are famous or are upper class people.</li>
<li><u>Biography-</u> I'm sure you know what these are. These are books written by another person about someone. Usually someone famous too. They cover the person's life and give glimpses into what the person was like. And yes, usually the subject is dead. </li>
<li><u>Historical Fiction-</u> This genre is commonly found in almost every other genre out there. Usually the stories include fictional characters in real historical events or settings, or real people in fictional events or settings. This is one of my favorite genres. </li>
</ol>
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><i>Resources</i></b><br />
<i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">By Tom Monteleone</span><br />
<i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> by Joyce and Jim Lavene</span><br />
<i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">by Philip Athans</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">So what is your favorite genre to write? What is your favorite to read? Which categories (or category) does your stories fit into?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sincerely,</span>
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sareh</span>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-8838809650559510432012-05-09T16:02:00.004-07:002012-05-09T16:02:59.650-07:00Word Count AnxietyWord count is something that many writers needlessly worry about while writing
their books. Is the book going to reach a publishable word count? What's an
acceptable word count? Will it be too long, too short, will baby sloths overrun
the planet? <br /><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSYBB9-88utTspNz0UeEq9UIJewvQn_iIwtvaSmlXKTuTbNLOj4IA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" closure_uid_mubden="12" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSYBB9-88utTspNz0UeEq9UIJewvQn_iIwtvaSmlXKTuTbNLOj4IA" /></a></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Definitely a picture we can
relate to.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I say "needlessly" because, while you're
writing, word count is not something you need to think about. Yes, it is
important. Just not yet. <br /><br />While you're writing, word count is not
important. Yes, do set word count goals for yourself. But don't stress over
it. If you're going along, writing your book, and estimate that it'll end up
being 55,000 words, that's great. And if you end up writing 70,000, that's
great too. If you end up with 45,000, it's still great. <strong>Before you
stress over what's publishable, finish the book. Write the story as it wants to
be told.</strong> If your characters want to pull you into an 120,000 beast, go
with it. If you find that you're at 50,000 words with nothing more to say,
awesome. At this point, it doesn't matter. <br /><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;">
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<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTj281-eSgCegnGxlKub1VczQgKn6ln6uweb4H8WjDCQBOKWgVKPQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" closure_uid_mubden="13" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTj281-eSgCegnGxlKub1VczQgKn6ln6uweb4H8WjDCQBOKWgVKPQ" /></a></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">T-shirt
wisdom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you don't care about getting published, the
word count is never going to matter. But now, if you do care about getting
published, then the revision stage is when you should start thinking about word
count. Think about it...when was the last time you read a 200-page YA epic
fantasy? A 750-page contemporary romance? <br /><br /><strong>There's not a
definite word count that your novel should be</strong>. YA novels are quite a
range of lengths. The general consensus seems to be that standard YA novels are
somewhere between 50,000 and 90,000 words (and this is a very generous estimate
with a rather wide range). There are exceptions, of course, but that's the
general range. YA epic fantasy has a little more wiggle room on top, and can be
in the 100,000s or even 110,000s. <br /><br /><strong>If you aren't in this range,
you won't automatically get rejected by every agent you query</strong>. For
many agents, word count itself is not a cause for rejection. If you query a YA
book on the upper ends of this spectrum, it might be a red flag for that agent,
but it doesn't mean they won't consider you. <br /><br />The key is that if your
book is going to be that long, there needs to be a good reason for it. Many
times, novels are overly long because the author uses too much description and
is too wordy. Sometimes, though, books are long because they have a complex
story to tell. If you want to get your long book published, you need to make
sure every word counts. You need to prove to agents and publishers that every
word is worth it.<br /><br />Having a book that's too short is a less common
problem. If your book is way below this range, agents are going to start to
question your ability to flesh out characters and plots, and your knowledge of
the YA genre (as in, is your 40,000 word book actually more MG but you're
calling it YA because you haven't done your research? <br /><br /><strong>To
give you a frame of reference, here are the word counts of some familiar YA
novels</strong>. Many of these have rather unusual word counts. I'm just
giving you these numbers so you can get a better idea of how big of a book a
certain word count translates to.<br /><em>Eragon </em>by Christopher Paolini:
157,220<br /><em>Artemis Fowl</em> by Eoin Colfer: 56,684 <br /><em>The Lightning
Thief </em>by Rick Riordan: 87,223 <br /><em>Holes</em> by Louis Sachar:
47,079<br /><em>The Hunger Games</em> by Suzanne Collins: 99,750 <br /><em>Paper
Towns </em>by John Green: 81,739 <br /><em>The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe </em>by C. S. Lewis: 36,363 <br /><em>Harry Potter 1:
</em>76,944<em> </em><br />2: 85,141<br />3: 107,253<br />4: 190,637<br />5:
257,045<br />6: 168,923 <br />7: 198,227<br />(Look at that. Look. At. That.
257,045. That might get you insta-rejection from most agents if you're a debut
author. Just goes to show that it pays to be an established author with a
ginormous fanbase. Can you imagine typing that many words? And
<em>Inheritance</em> is actually a few thousand words longer!)<br /><br /><strong>To
sum it up, don't worry about your word count while you're writing</strong>.
Don't let thoughts of word count interfere with the natural telling of your
story. And even after that, you should be aware of the general publishable
range, but nothing is ever set in stone. Don't let word count run your
story.<br /><br /><em>Originally posted at in District 3.14, aka <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/word-count-anxiety.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random</a>.</em>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-17358341267210079472012-05-03T07:29:00.005-07:002012-05-03T07:36:19.665-07:00The Danger of Plagiarism and How to Prevent It.<br />
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<a href="http://htmlgiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/plagiarism.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #cc6600; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://htmlgiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/plagiarism.jpeg" style="border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: transparent; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: transparent; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px;" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color:; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">*This post was </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">originally</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"> posted on my blog </span></span><a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">Birds of a Writer</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">.</span></span></i></span><br />
</span><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Today we are going to talk about a very important subject- plagiarism. There are many ways you can plagiarize and sometimes it happens without you meaning too. Plagiarism is something that not only happens in school but in the professional world of writing and other things. The penalities for copying someone else's work without their premission can be very high.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">In my school they recently started having us all submit our papers to <a href="http://www.turnitin.com/static/index.php" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;">Turnitin.com</a>, a site for schools and I guess other places where when you submit something it will judge your paper against thousands of other works and tell you how much you plagiarized. Here if you are found guilty of copying something you get a zero on your whatever, your parents are called, and you get a detention. In some colleges it can be worse, you can get kicked out of college for it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I briefly talked about copyrighting and stealing in last week's post <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/2011/06/writing-tips-good-and-bad-writing.html" style="color: #6d3da5; text-decoration: none;">The Good and the Bad: Writing websites</a>. Here I will talk more extensively on how to prevent yourself from doing it and how to prevent it from happening to you. And why people steal other ideas. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><u>Why People Steal Ideas</u> </span><br />
<ul style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Laziness</u>- Some people are just too lazy and don't want to take the time to write their own stuff. So they steal others and hope they get away with it. Hopefully they won't. </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Inferior Feelings</u>- Some people feel like what somebody else wrote won't be as good as theirs so they take the sentence or whatever.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>The Thrill</u>- Now why people get a thrill and love doing something bad is beyond me. Sure I've had this feeling before but just because you like a thrill of doing something bad doesn't mean you should. If you really want a thrill of danger go ride a roller coaster or join the army and ask to be put on the front lines. </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Wasting Time</u>- Some people procrastinate to the point where it actually starts to hurt them. If you do have this problem you should get help or try and stop it. Ways you can better manage your time is by doing something as soon as you should and make time for it if you don't. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><u>Ways to Avoid Plagiarism</u></span></span><br />
<ul style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Poor Man's Copyright</u>- One of the ways you can prevent this is from using the poor man's copyright system. If you're a writer, I'm sure you've heard of this, but if you don't I'll explain. It's quite simple actually. All you have to is put your manuscript or whatever in a sealed envelope, mail it to yourself, put it somewhere safe, and whatever you do don't open it! </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="line-height: 21px;">Starting Dates</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">- Legally if you have to, you can always prove that something was yours first by the date you started it. If you have a computer and you write everything on it, to find your created date go to your manuscript or whatever, right click properties, and then a box should appear with the information. It's have your created date and the date last modified. You can also search for previous versions. On sites like Inkpop, they record the date you originally put the project up and this you can use if you find that someone has taken something of yours by proving that you created it first. Also it helps to start a document, write down a short synopsis and the general information of your story, save it and don't change it. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="line-height: 21px;">Paraphrasing</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">- While substituting different words for others may seem like a good idea, it isn't. Paraphrasing someone else's work is not a good idea. To prevent this from happening, don't look at the material when you start writing. Write everything in your own words. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="line-height: 21px;">Quotation Marks-</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"> This is the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">easiest</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"> way to use someone else's words. But as my english teacher advises, try to </span><i style="line-height: 21px;">not</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"> quote something as much as possible. If half your paper or whatever is filled with quotes your reader may as well go and read the other work themselves instead of bothering with yours. If you only want to use part of a quote and another put ... in between in so you don't have to use all of it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><u>Citation</u>- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">On Blogger or example, there is a quote button, this button when clicked will make whatever your quoting look different. You can also say the person's name or the article and do so-and-so said "..." or so-and-so says "...". You can also use citing formats such as MLA that provide ways to cite books, websites, etc. If you can't find a book on how to cite something you can look it up on <a href="http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;">Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)</a> or there are sites that will do it for you like <a href="http://www.easybib.com/" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;">Easybib</a>. </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Using Your Time Wisely-</u> My teachers have often told us that one of the reasons kids copy something is because they wasted time and don't have the time to finish something. Or they didn't study. To prevent yourself from falling under the temptation to copy something not yours while under stress is to do it early or not wait until the last moment. Not only will your work look better but you won't have to copy something to get it done on time. </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Legally Copyright It-</u> The U.S government will give you a patent on their copyright registry for pretty much anything. This way you can be sure that it's copyrighted from people who steal and you can sue the crap out of somebody in court if they steal it. <a href="http://copyrightregistery-gov-form.com/" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;">The U.S Copyright Registry</a></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Some articles on Plagiarizing [Resources Used For This Post] (</b>And yes, I used all buzzle articles for these) </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.buzzle.com/articles/detecting-plagiarism-on-the-internet.html" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Detecting Plagiarism on the Internet</span></a></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-plagiarism.html" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Types of Plagiarism</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-can-you-prevent-plagiarism.html" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How You Can Prevent It</span></a></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-avoid-plagiarism.html" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How to Avoid Plagiarism</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So have you ever copied something you shouldn't have? Did you have something of yours copied? How did you find out about it and what did you do about it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sincerely,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sareh</span></div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-67039668816538102982012-04-27T15:37:00.003-07:002012-04-27T15:37:53.724-07:00Endings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Endings are vitally important to novels. This seems rather obvious, but it always baffles me how so many people spend hours and hours tweaking their beginnings, when they have no idea how their ending will play out.<br />
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When you start writing, you have to have an ending in mind. Always. Even if you know nothing else, know the ending. You can't just sit down and try to write a book without knowing where you are going. It doesn't work. You'll end up floundering in the middle and you won't get anywhere. <br />
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You don't have to know every little detail about the end. For example, if you're writing about Bob the explorer, a man who is searching for a lost Mayan statue that could stop the 2012 apocalypse from occurring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know that in the end, he’ll find this statue, and he’ll find it with the use of his trusty flashlight in an ancient temple in Peru, 20 minutes before the so-called apocalypse begins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t necessarily need to know that he’ll be with his sidekick Winston, or that there is an army of zombies chasing him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just need to know the basics: what happens, where/when it happens, and the general how it happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just know the foundations of your ending, and it will go a long way in moving your story along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Your ending should, in most cases, tie up loose ends. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's okay to leave a few threads hanging, but not too many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s fine to leave the reader wondering about one or two things (though some readers are more okay with this than others), but don’t overdo it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also fine to tie up every loose end, as long as you don’t have too much falling action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(More on this in a later post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Falling action and I do not get along well.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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There should be a sense of closure to your ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once read somewhere that a good ending is utterly unexpected, yet still feels inevitable to the reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is an excellent way to put it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make your ending unpredictable, but at the same time, make it feel like there’s no other way it could have ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Also, before you even start writing, you should probably know what kind of ending you want. The endings of most books can be sorted into three categories. These categories are:<br />
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<strong>Happily-ever-after ending: </strong>Fairly self-explanatory. The good guys win. The protagonists get what they want. People are, well, happy. The bad guy, if there is one, gets executed or thrown into Mordor or forced to listen to the Bill Nye theme nonstop. It's predictable, which isn't always a bad thing. Examples: most Disney movies, Harry Potter, <em>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</em><br />
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<strong>Non-ending:</strong> In a non-ending, the immediate conflict isn't really resolved. There's not much closure, because the story just kind of...ends. Now, this isn't always a bad thing (I'm the .001% of people who likes the ending of <em>The Giver</em>). This can also be known as the "make the fandom want to sue you" ending. Examples: <em>The Giver, </em>many series books, the seventh Harry Potter movie, part 1 <br />
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<strong>Open-ended ending: </strong>The immediate conflict is probably resolved, but after that, much is left up to the reader to decide. Do the main characters grow up and get married? Does the plague come back and everyone dies? Does the MC become an insurance salesman? We don't know. Some people hate these, but I like them. They give the reader a chance to make up their own mind about the story. Examples<em>: The Scorpio Races</em>, the Chaos Walking Trilogy, <em>I Am the Messenger</em><br />
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<strong>Bittersweet ending</strong>: My favorite kind. The immediate conflict is resolved. There's some amount of happy-ever-after, but there's also some amount of sadness. Maybe the main characters might have to part forever, or a friend has died, or nothing will ever be the same again. I love these kinds of endings. There's a definite sense of closure, but there's also a definite sense that these characters went through a lot, so the story left a lasting impression on them. Examples: Lord of the Rings<em>, The Book Thief</em>, <em>Inheritance</em>, pretty much every Warriors book<br />
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(There's also the "loop ending", but that probably only applies to Pendragon.)<br />
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Each of these types of endings are options for your book. Keep in mind, though, that some endings might not be as appropriate for some types of books. As in, should your dark, gritty horror story have a happily-ever-after sort of ending? Maybe not. Non-endings, or even open-ended endings, to some extent, tend to leave readers feeling like they were cheated, so you also might want to take that into account. <br />
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Also, here is a list of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3984780-annie?format=html&order=d&per_page=100&shelf=favorite-endings&utf8=%E2%9C%93" target="_blank">books with fabulous endings</a>. I highly recommend reading, um, all of them.<br />
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What kind of ending does your book have? What kind do you prefer to read? Feel free to chime in with other comments about endings in general.<br />
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<em>Originally posted in the lands of unicorns and glitter, aka <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/endings.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</a></em>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-22257641226477155592012-04-20T15:14:00.002-07:002012-04-20T15:33:11.180-07:00Do You Really Need That "Big Secret"?<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">This post was originally posted on </span></span></i></span><a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Birds of a Writer.</a><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">So today we are going to talk about "that big secret" or "a bunch of little secrets". What I'm talking about is that major secret that the plot and story hangs on or a big reveal nobody saw coming. Many authors feel as if they need a big turning point in their story, one that often comes in the form of finding out that someone betrayed a character or something.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">But do you really need a big secret to make your story good?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Not necessarily. Although you'll find a lot of books that have this, you don't always need them. Sometimes, a story can be good with a bunch of little secrets or multiple big secrets for more power. But sometimes, those big secrets can make or break a story. When you have a big turning point, you risk the chance of it either being too big or not big enough.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">In </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Night Lies</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">, I have a giant turning point that I don't think that my readers will see coming. Oh I'm sure some will realize it before I reveal it, but most probably won't. In</span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Cursing</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> I have a bunch of little turning points. Most end up being big to Tatiana, but some of them aren't huge. In </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Prophecy</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">, I have several big turning points, although I sprinkle them up among the story and the other books in the series rather then all in the first book.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Reasons for Big Points </b><br />
<ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li><b>Starting a book</b></li>
<li><b>Changing a Character's mind</b></li>
<li><b>Cliff hangers</b></li>
<li><b>To keep the story interesting</b></li>
<li><b>To introduce a new idea or a new subplot</b></li>
<li><b>To torture your characters more</b></li>
<li><b>To lengthen the story </b></li>
<li><b>Ending a book</b></li>
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">If you have a big turning point...</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">What exactly your big reveal, your turning point, or whatever you want to call it is depends on your story. Not every type of secret is right for your story (long lost friend, everything's a lie, so and so isn't really dead, etc) and you shouldn't put a big reveal in if it actually doesn't have anything else to do with your story other than you want one because it'd be cool and dramatic.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">And your big reveal also depends on what your characters can do. Are they up to handling something big? If you have a dangerous secret will they be able to resolve the issue or what will they do if they find this big secret out. Some secrets can be too big or too little for certain characters. If your character finds out that he's the only person who can save the world, does he have the abilities and resources to do so? If your character is one of the only people to survive a hurricane, will they be able to make it to safety in time or save people other than themselves? </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">There's also the case of when to reveal the big turning point. Some authors wait until the story starts getting boring to reveal a big secret to make the story more interesting, reveal at the beginning for a motive, or wait until the end for a final punch in the gut.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">And its the big reveal that not only matters, but the timing is also very important. Reveal too early and you may find yourself with not enough power to get through the rest of the book. Reveal too late and you may not have enough time to resolve the issue.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">To make things even more exciting you could add more than one giant turning point for an extra whammy. But be careful, you might find yourself in deeper trouble than you thought. Also remember that if you have a big turning point, your character should be able to fix it (or fail. That could be exciting too.).</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">If you don't have a big turning point...</b><br />
<span style="background-color:; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">That's okay. Remember that its okay to have a bunch of smaller ones. Smaller turning points can be just as dramatic as big ones because you give your characters more than one problem to deal with and they may have a more dramatic effect than one giant one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">But if you choose along that path, keep in mind that too many small but big points may overwhelm the story or the characters. And the more problems you have, the more loose ends you'll have to keep track of. It'd be bad to introduce five or six problems and then more than halfway through realize that your characters never fixed three of those problems. And now you have to fix those plot holes.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Other tips</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">And even if you want a bunch of small points or a big one, you can always put that point or other points into another book. Not every idea you have has to go into this one story. And spreading things out can make keep the story fresh, alive, and exciting.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">And you don't even have to have a bunch of small ones or a big one. Some stories are fine without the extra baggage and with the one main conflict. Your characters may have enough on their plate without dealing with more. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">If you have a big secret or several, it's a good idea to drop hints before hand rather than suddenly drop it out of nowhere. If you do drop it out of nowhere, your readers may accuse you of not being able to continue with the main plot or something equally horrible.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Plus, the best big secrets are the ones that are out in the open but hidden cleverly enough you never really guessed it till it was revealed (Note: this plan may result in side affects in readers such as outbursts of "</span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I should have seen that coming! Or How in the world did I not realize that?"</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> Other symptons of surprise may result in anger, throwing the book across the room, or calling a friend and revealing the big secret.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Of course, you could always just reveal something out of nowhere, but I find it more fun to toy with readers and characters with hints of the truth rather than a big sudden reveal. Plus, its more fun to watch readers try to figure something out on their own and desperately read the book to find out if they're right or not or whatever.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Four types of big secrets</b><br />
<ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li><b>Only the author knows (both reader and character are clueless)</b>- Where everyone but you is left in the dark. Sometimes this is effective for bigger surprises rather than little ones. </li>
<li><b>Only the author and readers know (character is clueless)- </b>Ah, those times when your readers are either told something important or realize something before the characters do. </li>
<li><b>Other characters know (except for certain characters and readers)-</b>Times when your main character is clueless of something everyone else seems to realize (That reminds me of an article I read where firefighters were called to a burning apartment. After putting out the fire, the found the owner of the house still sleeping on his bed. Apparently he hadn't woken once during the whole thing and never felt the heat.)</li>
<li><b>Only the author and the characters know (readers are clueless)</b>- This one I don't think I see a lot of, but I'm sure it can happen. When your characters are all aware of something not made known to the readers. </li>
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<b>Examples</b></div>
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<li><i>A Million Suns</i></li>
<li><i>A Long Long Sleep</i></li>
<li><i>Wired</i></li>
<li>A ton of other books. </li>
</ul>
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<b>Genres I think that have the most surprises:</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Science fiction</li>
<li>Dystopian</li>
<li>Mystery (duh!)</li>
<li>Fantasy</li>
<li>Thrillers</li>
<li>Other genres of course but those are my top five. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">So, do you have any big turning points in your story? What's your favorite one?</b><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sareh</span>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-33933869079719023492012-04-15T10:36:00.001-07:002012-04-17T12:03:42.130-07:00Creating Unforgettable CharactersBefore you read on, check this out: <a href="http://verabee.com/wolf/">What? Were you raised by wolves?</a> I just thought I would share. <br />
<br />
With great characters, one can make an addictive book even if the plot is a little thin. This is what real life is like, isn't it? Life doesn't have a plot or intricate storylines, but you'll find wonderful people (maybe not in all cases, but certainly memorable).<br />
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<strong>Every character should act like a real person who has been shaped and influenced by life. </strong>Everyone has been shaped by a past. They should have an automatic reaction to their surroundings. If say, a character was betrayed by a friend, they might have trust issues later on in their life. If they were attacked by dogs as a child, they might end up having a fear of dogs and will be uneasy around them even after counselling and therapy. <br />
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Why are you writing a story? What makes you to spend hours upon hours sitting there, trying to put your story into words? We all have something we want to achieve in life, right? We make our decisions to help us get there. We may waver at certain times or even stop chasing it altogether and find something else. Characters should be the same. <strong>What motivates a character and guides their decisions?</strong><br />
<br />
Adding to this, <strong>characters have basic and secondary motivations just like us.</strong> Everything that we (and your characters) do, there's something that influences every aspect of our lives, like a fear, desire or need. This includes times when we think we're not using our heads and acting based on instinct. This is called basic motivation. <br />
Secondary motivations represent needs and desires that can be satisfied. If a writer writes books to earn money, they might stop once they're satisfied with the amount of money. This is secondary motivation. If a writer writes books because of their passion, then they would keep on writing even if they have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their life. This would be the basic motivation that would keep them going.<br />
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<strong>Characters need to be consistent. </strong>If a character has a fear of any type of transportation and gets sick on them, they're not going to willingly ride a train. They can't get over a fear easily when they have to fight while the train is moving. They're going to be sick and be pummeled by their enemy unless someone comes to their rescue or the train stops. <br />
<br />
<strong>Not every character will reveal his/her motivations to the reader. </strong>Focus on motivations supporting the plot, the ones you want to matter to the reader. Don't go around creating backstories for characters who appear in one scene and putting it in your work. If it helps you make them more realistic, then go ahead and keep it stored away somewhere safe. Think about it like this; readers don't want to read about the person walking by for pages while your main character is crying on a bench. <br />
<strong> </strong><br />
<strong>Every character has their own point of view. </strong>We all perceive things differently based on our thoughts, experiences, attitude, memories and emotions. Characters have their own unique views, just like we do. It's very important to know your character's history and background to know their attitude and their perception. <br />
<br />
<strong>Every character has more than one problem. </strong>Their only problem shouldn't just be the main conflict of the story. They have everyday problems to worry about, just like you and me. Granted, they might be different problems like keeping dwarves from diggy-digging holes under their houses or stopping android prototypes from wreaking havoc in their lab. Just don't give them <em>too </em>many problems or they'll end up stealing the story away from the main conflict. <br />
<br />
<strong>Characters need to have realistic-sounding voices.</strong> Not everyone speaks in proper English while talking to people. Some have accents. If they're immigrants, those who are in their teens and older tend to have slightly accented English (or another language), but children usually learn to speak like they were born in the country and might forget their first language. Some (or most) teenagers use slang and invent new terms. Just go to <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/" target="_blank">Urban Dictionary</a> to see some. <br />
<em>No writing dialogue like you're writing a research paper and using fancy-schmancy terminology unless the character has a good reason to, like if they're a researcher trying to explain what they do.</em><em> </em><br />
<br />
Another thing to remember is that <strong>characters need to grow and develop over the course of the story.</strong> It's rather boring if one character who rushes into things without thinking stays the same way by the end. There should be something that makes them think twice about doing that. Maybe someone important to them got hurt as a consequence in the middle of the story. Things like this are what make stories interesting. <br />
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One trick I discovered to creating realistic characters is to put them into various situations and watch how they get themselves out of it. Don't just order them what to do, say or think. Let them figure it out. Poke them with sticks and see how they react. Will they cry, yell at you to stop or break the stick (and your arm) in half? <br />
This might end up driving you crazy if your characters develop to the point where they are fully conscious and start judging your life from your brain...no...I'm not saying this from personal experience, what are you talking about? (= _ = ;)Kaye Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02941080418216836194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-19948057689295038212012-04-11T17:09:00.003-07:002012-04-19T16:15:49.917-07:00Love TrianglesThis post is (kind of) a follow-up on Kaye's post on <a href="http://thewritershelpsociety.blogspot.com/2012/04/writing-romance-how-not-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">how not to write romance.</a> One thing I keep seeing over and over again in young adult fiction is the love triangle. The dreaded, the abominable, the ubiquitous...love triangle. <br />
<br />
A love triangle happens when one girl is in love with two guys at once, and can't decide between them (it could happen the opposite way, too, with one guy and two girls, but it's much less common). Both guys are in love with the girl, leaving the girl with a predicament. The girl also loves both the guys. Which should she choose? Oh the horror.<br />
<br />
Okay, technically, it wouldn't be a love triangle unless both the guys were in love with each other, too. But I won't go there. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEH0XH9liVFLYgzgsTBzMwI3N4Cld0tXahlLEifjl641VVE2C8VCrmcfeJFayvoucnsohFgiYbzb1dn1_iG4IgS1l_Pfxm7dX8VwaCugoE-3QoEgPcsNdVAVd3-KeQv5RZvHoAjjeoORQX/s1600/triangle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEH0XH9liVFLYgzgsTBzMwI3N4Cld0tXahlLEifjl641VVE2C8VCrmcfeJFayvoucnsohFgiYbzb1dn1_iG4IgS1l_Pfxm7dX8VwaCugoE-3QoEgPcsNdVAVd3-KeQv5RZvHoAjjeoORQX/s400/triangle.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's my amazing Paint skill coming through, right there. </td></tr>
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There's a problem with this, though...have you ever seen a love triangle in real life? No. At least, I haven't. Let's face it: love triangles just don't happen that much in real life. So why should every YA book have one?<br />
<br />
This brings me to my next point. Nearly every single YA book these days has a love triangle of some sort. Why? Readers want plot. We don't want to sit there and read about some girl whining because she can't decide who to love. If she loves two guys at once, it can't even be true love, anyways. It's just some extra friendliness and a little lust.<br />
<br />
Love triangles are also highly predictable. Have you ever seen the girl end up with the nice, normal guy? No. She always ends up with the supernatural guy. If you're going to write a paranormal romance, someone should shake it up and write a story where the girl doesn't go for the supernatural guy. <br />
<br />
I'll be honest. I have formed a deep hatred for love triangles. And for good reason: the vast majority of them are anything but well-executed. But, to be fair, I have read some books that pulled off a fantastic love triangle. <br />
<br />
Like <i><a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/eona-last-dragoneye-by-alison-goodman.html" target="_blank">Eona: The Last Dragoneye</a>,</i> for example. That's the most convoluted love triangle you'll ever see, my friends. Or The Hunger Games Trilogy. Also, Kenneth Oppel's <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-dark-endeavor-by-kenneth-oppel.html" target="_blank"><em>This Dark Endeavor</em></a> has a noteworthy love triangle, because it actually contributes to the plot. *gasp*<br />
<br />
Or the <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/demon-king-seven-realms-1-by-cinda.html" target="_blank">Seven Realms</a> series. That one is amazing, but...you could argue that it's actually a love pentagon. Yeah. (I tried to make a diagram showing this, but failed epically.) Han is (or was) in love with Raisa, who loves him back. Raisa also loved Amon, and Amon did love her back, until he got engaged to someone else. Then there's Reid, who seems to have a thing for Raisa. Love pentagon.<br />
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So, amigos...I beg of you...don't write a love triangle, unless you've got a really interesting twist to it, or you can do it like Alison Goodman. And please don't write a love triangle for the sake of a love triangle. That's the last thing the world needs.<br />
<br />
<em>This post was originally spotted in the castle at Cair Paravel, aka <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/love-triangles.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</a></em>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-89362498517448241582012-04-07T12:23:00.001-07:002012-04-07T12:23:08.846-07:00Some Useful Character Sheets.<br />
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There are plenty of ways to create your characters but as I'm sure we all know, a good character is a well developed one. If anything the author or yourself should know a lot about the protagonist of the story. We should know them inside out and sometimes learning even the little things about them is good. Some of it may not all go into the story, but the more you know about your character, the more real he/she/it will seem.<br />
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Character sheets, I've found, are very helpful for developing characters. One book I read recommend you fill one out after you've completed the story, but I find that filling them out as you write is very helpful. Not only is it good for learning more about them, but it's good for keeping facts straight. How many siblings does your character have? What's his eye color? His fears, his wants, his goals, etc.<br />
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I've found many examples of character sheets over the years since I've started writing, but one of the most useful I've found is one from Gaia.online (sure it's game site but you can talk to people on it and stuff). I've listed it for you below to use and I've also posted the link to the page where it's found.<br />
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<br />
Full name of Character:<br />
Reason, meaning or purpose behind the name:<br />
Nickname:<br />
Reason for nickname:<br />
Race:<br />
Occupation/class:<br />
Social class:<br />
Physical Appearance:<br />
Age:<br />
How old they appear:<br />
Eye Color:<br />
Glasses or contacts?<br />
Hair color length and style:<br />
Weight and height:<br />
Type of body (build):<br />
Skin tone and type (i.e., harry, slimy, scaly, oily, fair, burns easily):<br />
Shape of face:<br />
Distinguishing marks (dimples, moles, scars, birthmarks, etc.):<br />
Predominant feature:<br />
Is s/he healthy?<br />
If not, why not? Or why are they healthy?<br />
Do they look healthy? Why/why not?<br />
<br />
<b>Favorites:</b><br />
Char’s favorite color:<br />
Least favorite, why?<br />
Music?<br />
Least favorite music, why?<br />
Food:<br />
Literature:<br />
Expressions:<br />
Expletives (curse):<br />
Mode of transport:<br />
Hobbies:<br />
How do they spend a rainy day?<br />
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Personality:</b><br />
Are they a daredevil or cautious?<br />
Do they act the same alone as when with someone?<br />
Habits:<br />
Drinks:<br />
How much:<br />
Greatest Strength:<br />
Greatest Weakness:<br />
Soft spot:<br />
Is their soft spot obvious, why/why not:<br />
If not, how do they hide it:<br />
Biggest Vulnerability:<br />
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Background:</b><br />
Hometown:<br />
Type of childhood:<br />
First Memory:<br />
Most important child hood event that still effects him/her:<br />
Why?<br />
Education:<br />
Religion:<br />
Finances:<br />
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Family:</b><br />
Mother:<br />
Relationship with her:<br />
Father:<br />
Relationship with him:<br />
Siblings, How many, relationship with each:<br />
Children of siblings:<br />
Other extended family:<br />
Close? Why or why not:<br />
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<b>Attitude:</b><br />
Most at ease when:<br />
Most ill at ease when:<br />
Priorities:<br />
Philosophies:<br />
How they feel about themselves:<br />
Past failure they would be embarrassed to admit:<br />
Why?<br />
If granted one wish what would it be, why?<br />
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<b>Traits:</b><br />
Optimist or pessimist? Why?<br />
Introvert or extrovert? Why?<br />
Drives and motives:<br />
Talents:<br />
Extremely skilled at:<br />
Extremely unskilled at:<br />
Good characteristics:<br />
Character flaws:<br />
Mannerisms:<br />
Peculiarities:<br />
Biggest regret:<br />
Minor regrets:<br />
Biggest accomplishment:<br />
Minor accomplishments:<br />
Darkest secret:<br />
Does anyone know?<br />
How did they find out:<br />
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<b>Self-perception:</b><br />
One word they would use to describe themselves:<br />
One paragraph of how they would describe themselves:<br />
What do they consider their best physical characteristic and why:<br />
The worst one? Why?<br />
Are they realistic assessments?<br />
If not, why not?<br />
How they think others preserve them:<br />
What four things would they most like to change about themselves:<br />
Why?<br />
If they were changed would they be the same person, why/why not:<br />
Would changing of number 1 make them more happy? Why/why not:<br />
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<b>Interaction with other people:</b><br />
How do they relate to others:<br />
How are they perceived by strangers:<br />
Friends:<br />
Wife/husband/lover:<br />
The Hero/Heroin:<br />
How do they view the Hero/Heroine:<br />
First impression of the char:<br />
why?<br />
What happens to change this perception:<br />
What do people like most about this char:<br />
What do they dislike most about them:<br />
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<b>Goals:</b><br />
Immediate:<br />
Long term:<br />
How do they plan to accomplish them:<br />
How will others be effected by this:<br />
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<b>Problems/Crisis:</b><br />
How do they react in a crisis:<br />
How do they face problems:<br />
Kind of problems they usually run into:<br />
How they react to new problems:<br />
How they react to change:<br />
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<b>General:</b><br />
Favorite clothing, why:<br />
Least favorite, why:<br />
Jewelry:<br />
Other accessories:<br />
Drives:<br />
Where do they live:<br />
Where do they want to live:<br />
Spending habits, why:<br />
What do they do too much of, why:<br />
Most prized possession, why:<br />
People they secretly admire, why:<br />
Person they are most influenced by, why:<br />
Most important person in their life before story starts, why:<br />
How do they spend the week just before the story starts:<br />
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<a href="http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=14029077" style="color: #741b47; text-decoration: none;">Gaia Online- Character Sheet</a></div>
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<b>Edit</b>: Another really helpful one I've found is<a href="http://www.manoneileen.com/introductiontomcs/mcs/" target="_blank"> The Survey</a>.<br />
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I recently fell in love again with using character sheets. I just got done filling these two out for my three protagonists in Night Lies and I discovered a ton about them! It was so amazing. </div>
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So, have you ever used character sheets? Do you find them useful? What the best one that you've ever used?</div>
</div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-48025755052752301752012-04-03T12:35:00.001-07:002012-04-03T12:35:38.350-07:00Writing Romance: How NOT to Do ItPerhaps I'm not the best person to be writing this guide with my indiscriminate hate for people my age and having zero <em>personal</em> experience with relationships of this type. But I do know real relationships. You learn a lot of things if you just sit quietly in high school and discreetly study people around you. (It's for research, don't you look at me like that.) <br />
For me, a writer who twists the concept of romance so much that it's barely recognizable anymore, I have to know the basics of true romance. Can't screw it up if you don't know what the heck it is you're screwing up, am I right? <br />
<br />
Let's first look at what defines a romance novel. A central love story and an emotionally-satisfying ending. <br />
A love story needs to have conflict for the two people to fall in love. If your idea of conflict is "I don't have a boyfriend and no one likes me!", I suggest you start running before I find something sharp and pointy. <br />
The characters need to grow. Not physically as in inches and centimetres, but mentally. Otherwise, the reader will put your story down. <br />
Finally, there's the resolution. The problems need to be solved for the reader to buy the happily ever after. <br />
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Let's get on with the don'ts of romance writing.<br />
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<strong>Love doesn't happen instantly</strong>. That's infatuation. The online dictionary defines it as puppy love or temporary love of an adolescent. You don't really love someone you just met a few seconds ago. You haven't gotten to know them yet, so how can you? Maybe you've fallen in love with their <em>appearance</em>. <br />
Romeo and Juliet is a good example of this. Romeo fell in love with Juliet in seconds. Look where that got them. (If Romeo and Juliet was meant to be a satire, Shakespeare is a genius.)<br />
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<strong>You can't truly love someone without knowing them first. </strong>I think this requires no further explanation.<br />
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Y<strong>ou won't die if that person leaves you</strong>. It's not like you suddenly share vital organs at that first glance and <em>need </em>them by your side at all times. You still have your organs, they still have theirs. <br />
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<strong>Hearts can't literally be broken into millions of pieces like glass. </strong>They're squishy and fun to poke. Don't even use this in real life after a break up.<br />
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<strong>Don't fangirl over the love interest. </strong>Please don't waste our time, only you have the perfect mental image. Whenever someone tries to describe a book character to me, this pops up in my head and I just stick on whatever characteristics you give me, such as this colour eyes and this colour hair. <br />
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Actually, if you've read any show vs. tell guides, they should've told you not to use these as the only descriptions. You're supposed to link appearance to personality or actions, something like that. I don't remember the exact tip.<br />
Don't stick words like sexy/handsome/insert other adjective here if your only reason is JUST BECAUSE HE IS. Get. Out. Now. I'll forgive you if the MC realizes that the love interest is nothing but a pretty face and moves on to a guy with actual character.<br />
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<strong>Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus are a no-no in every genre.</strong> Again, no further explanation is needed.<br />
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I hope this entertained you as well as showed you what not to do if you're writing a romance novel.Kaye Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02941080418216836194noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-82789754633778057672012-03-30T10:00:00.003-07:002012-04-03T14:35:10.330-07:00Myths About Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThjCSy-vM5ILQP-9nQV7plL6Sl_YV3oCSpy2t6hjJS8wRWqWrW7w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThjCSy-vM5ILQP-9nQV7plL6Sl_YV3oCSpy2t6hjJS8wRWqWrW7w" /></a></div>Whenever you mention the fact that you're a writer, a million stereotypes are bound to come into people's heads. Some of these are true, and some are myths. Here are some common myths about writers, disproved.<br />
<ul><li><b>Writers are addicted to coffee. </b>No, not necessarily. Writers are addicted to whatever will keep them going long enough to finish that next chapter. Sometimes it's coffee, sometimes it's something else. Hopefully not drugs. </li>
<li><b>Writers are antisocial. </b>It's not that we don't enjoy your company. We simply come off this way sometimes. The average human would be bored to tears sitting in front of a keyboard, typing all day. They don't see this as a "normal" pastime. Writers, on the other hand, love every day where they can do nothing but put words on the screen. Social activities can get forgotten in the process. </li>
<li><b>Writers listen to my conversations at Starbucks. </b>No, not just your conversations. We listen to the everyone else's conversations, too. Not you exclusively. Sorry.</li>
<li><b>Writers talk to themselves. </b>We talk to our characters. We talk directly to our story. We talk to the computer screen, to the blank notebook. Why talk to ourselves when we have so many other available options to talk to?</li>
<li><b>If you say something bad about a writer's work, they will hate you. </b>No, they'll just write a character remarkably like you into their books. Said character will die. </li>
<li><b>Writers have no friends. </b>Writers actually have more friends than the average person. We have our normal, real-life friends, and then we have our characters. That's more than the average human can say. </li>
<li><b>Writers admire J. K. Rowling like she's something more than human. </b>Well, some of us might. But some of us don't. Personally, I very much enjoy her books, but there are many better things out there to read. </li>
<li><b>Writers suffer from insanity. </b>Actually, we enjoy every second of it.</li>
</ul>And there you have it. It's like Mythbusters, but less awesome. And with less explosives.<br />
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<em>Originally posted in a fiery chasm deep in the heart of Mordor, also known as <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/myths-about-writers.html" target="_blank">The Epic, The Awesome, and The Random.</a></em>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-73625272464964089322012-03-25T10:01:00.000-07:002012-03-25T10:05:29.472-07:00The Short History of Book Covers and Some Tips<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><i>Sorry, I meant to post this yesterday, but I was very busy. This counts for last week's post not this weeks. This post was taken reposted from <a href="http://birdsofawriter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Birds of a Writer.</a></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">One of the things I love the most about modern books are the covers. Especially the really pretty ones. Most of the books at my school are really old and don't have covers or pictures on them. Few do. And then its only a small picture. I also love designing them myself. As do many people.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The Short History of Book Covers</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Books covers do in fact have a short history. Before the 19th century, books were hand-bound and were covered using gold, silver, or probably leather.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Before the 1820s, books were generally sold without a cover-- just a stack of printed pages. To have one put on was very expensive although well worth it since it would help preserve the book. But by the 1820s, many publishers were selling books pre-bound with covers that were stiffened with a board of some type and covered with cloth or paper. The title and sometimes a block picture could be stamped on the cover.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Because the illustrations were rather basic, they weren't very detailed or useful in deciding what books were about. But then lithographic printing became used and multi-color book covers were available. Then half-tone illustration made it even easier.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">In the 1830s, dust jackets were added to protect covers. And these ones were wrapped all the way around and then sealed in place with wax. But during the second half of the century, the current design was adopted. But because these were mostly thrown away, they are very valuable today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">After 1900, the production of book covers became more practical, economical, and marketing became important. Some of the first modern cover designs were made in the 1920s. People such as Alexandr Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, and Aubrey Beardsley were highly influential regarding early book cover designs.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Although dust jackets also became more decorative, it wasn't until the 1950s that people began to keep them as an important part of books.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Today, book covers are one of the most important parts of a book. They can help give hints as to the style, genre, and subject of the book. But it also differs from country to country as people's tastes in different places changes.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">*Tips on designing your own cover. </b><br />
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<ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<li>Look at covers you love and decide what they did that caught your attention. What about the book cover do you love? Can you use those same things in your cover?</li>
<li>Decide the main point of the story. Then find or capture a picture that best captures that main point or the idea you want to convey. </li>
<li>Choose a good font for the title and author name. Slight variations in different fonts, shapes, and sizes can help with the over all cover. If you're having trouble seeing a font, use a border or a background for it. Remember that where you place titles and fonts is important. </li>
<ol>
<li>Also note that you're looking for something that not only conveys what you want, but something that is easy to read. Don't use to small or too big sizes. </li>
<li>I've heard that using fonts where the letters are either all capitals or are all the same size looks professional. </li>
</ol>
<li>Play around with colors and color themes. Remember that your colors of your titles and your picture should be different. You want something that will stand out. But also remember that the colors should look good together as well as conveying whatever you want. </li>
<li>Don't be afraid to play around with effects or something of the sort. Making a picture black or white can be cool. They don't always have to be full color. </li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<b>* I am in no way, an expert. Yes, I make my own covers, and these are some simple ideas. I am planning to be a graphic designer and I hope to one day make my own covers professionally. </b></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<b>** Make sure that whatever picture you're using isn't copyrighted. Its best to use a picture that you took. (Although many covers I've seen are copyrighted, but the people who "designed" the cover makes sure that you know that they didn't take that picture themselves. Or you could use one of those non-copyrighted/stock photos. I think those work too. <i>In any case: give the photographer or whoever's picture it is, credit. </i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">What I think about covers...</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I don't know about you, but I'm getting bored of covers where the girl is in a dress. Its so lame these days! I'm not saying they don't look good- they do- but its getting boring.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">For me, I hate covers that that only </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">one</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> basic color to it. Like </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Legacies</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> in which the whole cover has this weird blue tint to it. And it makes the girl look like she's sick or something. Other covers with a whole blue theme is the </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Darkness Rising</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> series by Kelley Armstrong. Those don't look too bad, but its still annoying.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Another thing. The covers where its just one person's face or half of their face. That bugs me too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Now I love covers where it has cool fonts or something. Like the </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">XVI</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> series by Julia Karr. Those are cool covers cause the covers is the titles. One of my favorite covers of all time is </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Eona</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> by Allison Goodman. It just looks so epic. Plus, the girl isn't in a dress!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I could go on, but I'll leave you with that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">So, what do you love or not love about covers? Do covers ever sway your choice in buying books? What are some of your favorites? Why? What aren't and why?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Because I feel like I could add so much more about covers, what are some things that you would like to see me add to this discussion about covers? I'll add your ideas into a second post about it Saturday or next Thursday. Thanks!</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Resources</b><br />
<a href="http://www.ehow.com/facts_5233823_history-book-cover-design.html" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ehow- History of book covers</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span><br />
<a href="http://www.wattpad.com/forums/discussion/1306/Very+basic+BOOK+COVER+GUIDE" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basic Book Cover Guide</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> & </span><a href="http://www.wattpad.com/forums/discussion/73891/BASIC+BOOK+COVER+GUIDE%2C+part+2+-+%22layers%22" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Basic Book Cover Guide 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_2023863_design-book-cover.html" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ehow- Designing book covers.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/18/art" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Guardian- The history and more in depth review of book covers</a><br />
<a href="http://quezi.com/9207" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Quezi- History of Book Covers</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_cover" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wikipedia- Book Cover </a><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sincerely,</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Sareh</span>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-29935340115419007252012-03-13T15:03:00.001-07:002012-03-16T17:34:31.324-07:00Where to Go After Inkpop<a href="http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff503/timber97/InkieForever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff503/timber97/InkieForever.jpg" width="320" /></a>Many, if not all, of you were Inkies. Well, you still are an Inkie. Just because Inkpop.com itself no longer exists doesn't mean you aren't an Inkie. <br />
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But since Inkpop is gone, you might be looking for some new writing sites to turn to. You've probably heard of these, but I'm going to highlight the pros and cons of each, to help you decide which, if any, are right for you.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.wattpad.com/" target="_blank">Wattpad</a></strong><br />
Pros: Seemingly active forums. Copy-and-paste disabled. Lots of projects to read. Many Inkies are over there. There is a mobile app.<br />
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Cons: I've seen very little in the way of in-depth reviews. No publication opportunities.<br />
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<a href="http://www.figment.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Figment</strong> </a><br />
Pros: Active forums. Lots of projects. Many, many users. Many Inkies can be found. There are writing contests and opportunities to win prizes.<br />
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Cons: Copy-and-paste not disabled (but the disabling is in the works, apparently). No publication opportunities. Again, I've seen very few Inkpop-quality reviews. The forums are incredibly full of angst, and have more trolls than I ever saw on Inkpop. No mobile app or site.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.teenink.com/" target="_blank">Teen Ink</a></strong><br />
Pros: Lots of projects to read. Focus on short stories, short nonfiction, and poetry. Publication opportunities. Visual art also accepted.<br />
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Cons: Seemingly inactive forums. Not as much focus on novel-length work (though this could also be a pro, depending on what you're into). No in-depth reviews. Copy-and-paste not disabled.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://litsedition.spruz.com/" target="_blank">Literati Sedition</a></strong><br />
Pros: In-depth reviews. Constructive criticism galore. They refer to themselves as "literary bootcamp".<br />
Cons: Users are required to critique. Application required. No publication opportunities. <br />
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The cons are not reasons to avoid the site. They are not necessarily bad things. They are just a way to compare writing sites to help you find a match. <br />
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If you didn't know already, there is a Facebook group for Inkies. It's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/122853357840237/" target="_blank">right here.</a><br />
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<strong>What do you think? Are you getting involved in other writing sites? Anything else that we should look into?</strong>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-69269106304219744282012-03-05T17:09:00.001-08:002012-03-05T17:14:48.085-08:00Meet FallenBunnyBubu!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s1600/inkies+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s320/inkies+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hey guys, due to Inkpop shutting down, this might be our last Inkie interview. Sad I know. We might be able to interview more people in the future but in case, I'm letting you guys know. In the meantime, lets give a warm welcome to Chanelle! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Hiyas :D I'm Chanelle(: I'm a fourteen year old girl and a Freshman in high school:D I'm Christian:D I like writing [obviously], drawing [though I'm not good at it], singing [though I get real shy] and acting [eh]. I believe in standing up for what you believe in, even if you're alone. I absolutely cannot stand bullies [cybers, physics, emotional....ANY KIND.] at all. -squishes- I love people who aren't afraid to be themselves. And....yeah(: Hha.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How long have you been writing and have you always wanted to be a writer?</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I've been writing since age 10, so four years. And no, I'd wanted to be a singer but then when I was 12, I decided on writing.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On your profile you say that you write novels in verse. What exactly are novels in verse? Is it like epic poetry in a way?</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess a novel in verse can be called or refereed to as an "epic poem" but I really don't see it as that. To me, it's a way of expressing the novelist inside you and putting it into beautiful, poetic words.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Inkpop, you have three projects up, Tagged (which I was was in the top 5. Congratulations!), Stutter, and Falling. Explain shortly what they are about.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks:] Well, Tagged is basically about six teens with normal high school problems like not fitting in, sexuality, gender issues, cutting, weight, etc. Stutter is a poem I wrote for an LGBTQ contest in the transgender side based off of one of my characters [Blake] from Tagged. And last but not least, Falling is about a teenage boy dealing with the harsh reality of killing his girlfriend. He deals with it through drugs and ends up in rehab.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Being a Christian, does that affect your writing at all? [b]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It does. It really does. When I'm writing, I have to limit my swearing and limit a lot of things so it's right with my heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[b]Do enjoy writing in one certain genre (like fantasy or something) or do you explore other types of writing and genres?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">No. I novels in verse but I also write dystopian and everything else. Just not fantasy. Not that.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you enjoy reading the same kinds of books you write? If so, has any one book or author impacted your writing the most?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes. I read a lot like I write. I love reading the Burn Journals by Brent Runyon and all Ellen Hopkins books. They affect me greatly.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you like to listen to music when you write, and if so, does a certain type of music affect your writing?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lol no. I don't listen to music when writing. It distracts me.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you outline your books or do you write them as you go?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I outline a little and write as I go, my heart leading the way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you could visit any time period (past or futuristic) what time period would that be and why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I would go back to the very early 1900s because then, life was so gorgeous and all the pieces were falling into place.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do you defeat writer's block?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't. I usually cry and cry and cry until it goes away. I'm a wimp lawls.</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If there was one thing people had to take away from your books, what would that be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like, when they read it, what do they feel? Well, I guess it's the reality between the books and how what happens there is happening right now. In front of us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Think quick!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">slippers or socks?</span> Socks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wa</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ter or land?</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Favorite subject in school?</span> Hm...Health.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Leopards or lions?</span> Neither. They scare me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pink or orange?</span> Pink:}</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks Chanelle for agreeing to an interview! We're so happy to have talked to you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">YOU'RE WELCOME;]</span></div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-70607507925088664482012-03-01T15:50:00.001-08:002012-03-01T15:52:24.158-08:00The Shiny New Idea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Writers have an addiction to shiny things. Specifically, the Shiny New Idea. If you're anything like me, the Shiny New Idea process goes a little bit like this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSHaERIvFNE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some of us get Shiny New Ideas a lot. We're just walking down the street, minding our own business, then--BAM! As Gru put it, "Light bulb!" </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But, more often than not, this Shiny New Idea appears to us while we have another work in progress going. And all we want to do is stop and work on this SNI. It's so much cooler and better than your current WIP. <strong>We should drop everything to work on it, right?</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the literary equivalent of cheating on your spouse for a one-night stand. You've worked so hard on your WIP. Why should you stop now, just because something that looks shiny right now came along? It's not fair to your current characters. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>You can't just stop working on your WIP every time a SNI comes along.</strong> You'll never finish anything, which will lead to you feeling discouraged, which isn't good. All you'll end up with is a large pile of unfinished manuscripts that'll never go anywhere and never see the light of day again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If a SNI happens to come along, great. Having lots of ideas is never a bad thing. Start a special notebook or computer file to write them down. Hide them under a bushel basket (Yes, a bushel basket. Yep.) and don't let them come out. Leave them alone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Did you catch that? Leave them alone. </strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><em>But, Annie, if I don't start writing this amazing SNI right now, I'll forget all the wonderfulness and I'll have missed my million-dollar publishing contract opportunity and bla bla bla.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No. Don't do it. Fight the irresistible urge, my friends. Resist the urge to write it. So what if you forget it? If you can't remember it, it was never a good idea to start with.<strong> If you're afraid you'll forget it, then it's not worth the trouble of even thinking about. </strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Go back to your WIP. Finish it. Revise it. Make it wonderful. Then start going through your notebook of all the SNIs you've accumulated while working on it. You'll notice that some of those ideas that seemed so awesome at the time are actually quite boring and unworkable. And then you'll be glad you didn't stop to work on them. You'll have saved yourself many long hours of typing away at a manuscript that'll end up in the trash anyway. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And that other idea, the one that you thought of five months ago and wrote down in that notebook, the one that still looks amazing, the one you can't stop thinking about? <em>This</em> is the book you will write. This is the SNI that stuck with you. This is an idea with promise, because it still looks shiny, even now. Write it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>To make a long blog post short, don't start a whole new book just because of a Shiny New Idea you had last night. Never, ever, ever. Save it for later, because, chances are, it wasn't really a good idea to start with. </strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Originally posted in the meadows of frolick and flowers, also known as <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/shiny-new-idea-and-how-to-hide-it-under.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</a></div>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-75925761829462217652012-02-21T19:15:00.000-08:002012-02-21T19:15:17.627-08:00Inkie Interview! Meet MyCraft!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s1600/inkies+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IpvzP4y5vziRbf7XhNVajBjXR7jUTI4lw-gRb3bYI2NmRLjx4WJTcsMY6OyTShK9kozWsnntbj2t-FOC6Q4UqCbM1PoW6ycqfdPWkuaIV85MK_F2KXINSzEckcHsj5BD9HccUJ2b9l0h/s320/inkies+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this week's Inkie Interviews (where we interview REAL writers from <a href="http://www.inkpop.com/" target="_blank">Inkpop</a>) we're meeting <a href="http://www.inkpop.com/users/mycraft" target="_blank">MyCraft </a>or Hayley. So give her a warm welcome!</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello to all! My name is Hayley and I am from a small town just outside Edinburgh, Scotland.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been on inkpop for almost a year now (which seems to have just flow in!) and have been surprised by the helpfulness and giving Inkies I've met there online.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm quite a late starter in writing, as some would say, although I did write as a youngster. I'll be 29 this year! O.O</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I write mostly Fantasy and Paranormal but sometimes, if the mood strikes me, I tend to write a little poetry as well. On inkpop you'll find me mostly on the Royalty Shines thread or the daily Procrastinators thread also.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've only finished one book (which I'm currently editting again) out of the four on my profile and I'll possibly be adding another 2 this year (the third book, The Hangman's Noose, of The Black Craft Series and a new series, The Quixwood Sisters.)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm the type of person to take a bad critique to heart so please, if you read my books, don't rip it to shreds! I love constructive criticism but loath rudeness. I find it intolerable. If I see someone treating a fellow Inkie the same way I tend to get upset about that too.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I think I've blabbed on enough XD</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I hope you enjoy my interview and if you'd like to read my projects please feel free! :) </i>(<a href="http://www.inkpop.com/user/72965/projects" target="_blank">Click here to see her full list of projects)</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
Hayley<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> also has a website diary of two girls in her Quixwood Series (</span><a href="http://quixwood.squarespace.com/" style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" target="_blank">found here</a><span style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">). </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">How long have you been writing and have you always wanted to be a writer?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was writing when I was very young, just silly little things a little girl would like but it's always been something I was passionate about. English Literature was always my favourite class in Secondary/High School and often got good grades or praise from my teachers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I sorta lost hope for a while and gave up on writing and tried to find myself another passion. I did find many other things but none made me feel quite as passionate as putting pen to paper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then I read Harry Potter XD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That changed everything for me. Since then I've been hit over and over again with ideas for books and, though I didn't read the (Harry Potter) books till recent years, I've come quite far I think.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking at your projects, I see that you have several up. What is your Black Craft series about and where did you get the idea?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Black Craft has been with me a while. It had been festering up in my imagination for some time and (again) then I read Harry Potter, so I decided to do something about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The MC, Billie Black, is a normal girl whose led a fairly average life until the night before her 18th birthday. She learns her true lineage and that her family, and herself, are all in fact Witches. She's faced with many lessons and trials and soon has to over come a great evil in her small town Penn Gate, NY.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She's very fortunate to have such a large family, which seems to grow as I continue to write the Series. First her boyfriends family becomes hers, then a Were pack and other humans/Witches/Vampires/Creatures along the way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But, of course, as her family grows so does the long list of enemies she must face throughout the Series until we reach the end of the 3rd book (The Hangmans' Noose) where Billie is left with a life shattering choice to make. (Which I shan't reveal here)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two of your other books sound interesting, Going Under and Rebel, Rebel, like the last question, what are they about?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rebel Rebel - this book is actually based upon 3 lovely inkies from the Royalty Shines thread. ShardsofGlass, Nikita S. and Strawberries. Three very different girls who live in Tennessee get caught up in a horrible meteor crash.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The after effects see the girls changing, growing stronger and becoming powerful. But unfortunately there is someone in the world who is very aware of said strengths and powers and takes advantage of the girls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon, seperate from each other, they have become the super powered teenage assassins each with their own target to take care of only the targets seem to be chasing after them instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not long before one of the girls discovers they've been deceived and used.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Going Under - this is actually a modern day take on two classic fairytales. Cinderella and the Little Mermaid.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Reese Rhodes moves to Damariscotta, Maine to live with her grandfather after the death of her Dad. There she meets new friends and a girl who sings in the water called Isla.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But there is an old friend of her grandfather's that is convinced that Reese is part Mermaid. In testing this theory he almosts drowns the poor girl and has to run from the Police so that he may return to try, try, try again. Reese and her friends begin to fear for Isla's safety too so they send her away until the man is caught and put behind bars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Which do you enjoy writing more, books or poetry? Which is the easiest for you?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Books, for sure :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">I took a look at your <a href="http://www.wix.com/monsterthing/theblackcraft#!" target="_blank">website</a> and it looks quite interesting and cool. Did you make it yourself or did you have someone else do it?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm hopeless at making sites so I had help from a fellow inkie. I did however manage just recently to create an In-Character Diary/Blog to help me plot out my latest idea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you weren't a writer, what would you be? Or how would you spend your time?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'd be a Photographer probably or I'd be either owner of a small bakery (cupcakes and the likes) or a pet shop owner. I'm mad about my Dalmatian, Polly!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although you seem to be busy working on several different stories, do you ever get Writer's block and how do you combat it?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a few times when I get this I just go read Harry Potter again and the inspiration comes back to me :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Do you enjoy reading the same things as you write?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Absolutely! I love the likes of Harry Potter (of course!), Vampire Academy, House of Night series and True Blood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So mostly Fantasy/Paranormal with a good dash or Romance and Adventure in each too :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you could meet your idol (or maybe you've already met them) and you could spend a day with them, who would it be and what would you do?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">J.K. Rowling. I'd probably discuss her books and future plans for several hours first! And then, I'm not sure, do something neither of us would normally do like Sky diving. Nah, I wouldn't do that! XD I'd die of fear!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Verses outlining your book or writing it as you go, which would you say works better for you or do you do both?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have tried to sit and plot out my ideas, but it tends not to work out the way I planned XD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think, when I start to write, some other part of my brain decided to do things differently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Salem. I've never been and I've based the second book, The Salem Mystique, of The Black Craft series there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually, there are several different places in my books, mostly in America, that I haven't been to yet so I would, if I could, do them all!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quick Questions:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Cheetahs or lions? </b>- Lions, I'm a Leo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Fiction or non-fiction?</b> - Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Apples or bananas?</b> - Apples</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The newspaper or news online? </b>- The newspaper</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Google or Yahoo! ?</b> - Google</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks so much for joining us today, </span>
Hayley<span style="font-family: inherit;">! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>Sarehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829472672254117776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-2086059552871250182012-02-17T14:45:00.000-08:002012-02-17T14:45:42.861-08:00Something Worth RereadingLast year, my speech coach gave me a piece of wisdom. It went something like this:<br />
<br />
"When you read a book for the first time, you read to experience the story. The second time, you read to experience the plot again, even though some of the magic is gone. After that, you read simply because you love the characters and want to be with them. Good characters are what cause readers to return to your writing again and again."<br />
<br />
That's not exactly how she said it, but it's the general idea.<br />
<br />
<strong>Let's all meditate on this, shall we?</strong> <br />
<br />
The first time you read a fantastic book, it's exciting. You get to experience a new plot full of new characters, and you don't know how any of it turns out. The second time, it's still exciting, but much less so. Much of the suspense is gone, because no matter how much you enjoyed the story, you know how it ends. And that takes a lot of excitement out of it. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxq80nO8Ck1r6w7oeo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_hhg3yc="2" height="320" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxq80nO8Ck1r6w7oeo1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a>But the third and fourth times...you know the plot by heart. You know almost exactly what is going to happen, what the people will say. And yet, you still read it. The plot may hold some interest to you still.<br />
<br />
<strong>In reality, though, it's all about the characters.</strong><br />
<br />
You had to read that book again not because you missed the plot, but because you missed the characters. That first time around you grew to love them. You enjoyed experiencing the story with them. They became your friends. <br />
<br />
And what good are friends you never hang out with? If you enjoy someone's presence, but you never hang out, never talk, never email, never be with each other, then you aren't really friends, are you? <br />
<br />
Therefore, when you reread a book that you've read a few times before, you're simply keeping up with old friends. You're enjoying their presence. You're just "hanging out". <br />
<br />
<strong>You want people to love your book so much that they keep returning to it, over and over and over. </strong> You want someone's copy of your book to be worn out, to be falling apart from use. You want that copy to have been read countless times. You want to make your book something worth rereading.<br />
<br />
<strong>Doesn't this say something about the importance of character development? </strong><br />
<br />
This is how important character development is. This is why you cannot have a good story without first having <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-words-explained.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">well-developed characters</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span> This is why agents sit at their computers and blog for hours about character development. <br />
<br />
So, if you want your book to be worth rereading, then take this post to heart. Remember how the characters define the story. Remember how much you love the characters from your favorite book. <br />
<br />
Let's write something worth rereading.<br />
<br />
Originally posted at <a href="http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/something-worth-rereading.html" target="_blank">The Epic, the Awesome, and the Random.</a>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877078800904184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3597411244528695243.post-26264762792913320302012-02-14T16:31:00.000-08:002012-02-14T16:31:54.358-08:00Words Often ConfusedIf you know the difference between your/you're; then/than; lose/loose, then you probably won't be subject to ridicule or lose respect from fellow writers. This is from a photocopied booklet in my English class, so I don't know who to give credit to. <br />
<br />
a/an <br />
<ul>
<li>A is used before a word that begins with a consonant, plus u when it sounds like 'you'. </li>
<ul>
<li>a pencil, a union, a European trip</li>
</ul>
<li>An is used before a word that begins with a vowel <em>sound. </em>It's the sound that matters, not the letter.</li>
<ul>
<li>an apple, an hour, an umpire</li>
</ul>
</ul>
accept/except<br />
<ul>
<li>Accept is a verb and it means to 'receive willingly.'</li>
<ul>
<li>I accept your invitation. (I willingly receive your invitation sounds a bit weird, but it makes sense.)</li>
</ul>
<li>Except means 'excluding' or 'but.'</li>
<ul>
<li>Everyone came except him. (Everyone came but him.)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
affect/effect<br />
<ul>
<li>Affect is a verb and means 'to influence.'</li>
<ul>
<li>Her advice may affect his decision.</li>
</ul>
<li>Effect means 'result.' If a, an or the is in front of the word, then it isn't a verb and will be effect.</li>
<ul>
<li>His words had a great effect on the crowd.</li>
<li>The rain had no effect on the attendance.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
it's/its<br />
<ul>
<li>It's a contraction and means 'it is' or 'it has'</li>
<ul>
<li>It's cold. (It is cold.)</li>
</ul>
<li>Its is a possessive. (Possessive like its, yours, hers, ours, theirs and whose are already possessive and don't need apostrophes.)</li>
<ul>
<li>The committee gave its review.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
loose/lose<br />
<ul>
<li>Loose means 'not tight.' A trick to remember is that loose is roomy enough for two o's. </li>
<ul>
<li>My pants are loose and baggy.</li>
</ul>
<li>Lose misplaced its second o, so it only has one. </li>
<ul>
<li>We're going to lose the game.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
passed\past<br />
<ul>
<li>Passed is a verb.</li>
<ul>
<li>He passed the house.</li>
</ul>
<li>Use past when it's not a verb.</li>
<ul>
<li>He walked past the house is the same as he walked by the house, so it's not a verb.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
peace/piece<br />
<ul>
<li>"Piece of pie." The one meaning a piece of something always begins with pie.</li>
<ul>
<li>I gave that kid a piece of my mind.</li>
</ul>
<li>Peace is the opposite of war. </li>
<ul>
<li>They signed the peace treaty.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
than/then<br />
<ul>
<li>Than compares two things.</li>
<ul>
<li>I'd rather have this than that.</li>
</ul>
<li>Then tells when (then and when rhyme)</li>
<ul>
<li>He finished his test and then he went home.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
their/they're/there<br />
<ul>
<li>Their is a possessive. </li>
<ul>
<li>Their house is pink.</li>
</ul>
<li>There points out something (the three words indicating a place or pointing out something all have here in them: here. there, where).</li>
<ul>
<li>I was sure I left it there.</li>
</ul>
<li>They're is a contraction. Just substiture they are and see if it works. </li>
<ul>
<li>They're happy now. (They are happy now.)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
two/too/to<br />
<ul>
<li>Two is number.</li>
<ul>
<li>I have two dogs.</li>
</ul>
<li>Too means 'more than enough' and 'also.' (Too has more than enough o's.) </li>
<ul>
<li>The lesson was too long.</li>
<li>I found it boring too.</li>
</ul>
<li>Use to for all the other meanings.</li>
<ul>
<li>He's going to the beach.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
were/where<br />
<ul>
<li>Were is a verb</li>
<ul>
<li>We were miles away from home.</li>
</ul>
<li>Where refers to a place. (Remember that the three words indicating a place or pointing out something all have here in them: here. there, where)</li>
<ul>
<li>Where is he?</li>
</ul>
</ul>
woman/women <br />
<ul>
<li>Woman is singular. One female.</li>
<ul>
<li>That woman is my mother.</li>
</ul>
<li>Women is plural. A bunch of females.</li>
<ul>
<li>Those women are loud.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
you're/your<br />
<ul>
<li>You're is a contraction and means 'you are.' (If the sentence works when you replace you're with you are, you're good.)</li>
<ul>
<li>You're welcome. (You are welcome.)</li>
</ul>
<li>Your is a possessive.</li>
<ul>
<li>Your toast is ready.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Gotta love my English teacher's stash of booklets, right? Actually, I think every English teacher in my school has their stash. Another one has piles of writing tips and materials printed out. He also said something very useful to his class. "You can't prepare for an English exam, so you just bullsh!t it."Kaye Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02941080418216836194noreply@blogger.com0