Lately, I've found myself writing an awful lot. And not on my WIP, ifyannowhatimsayin.
Essay tests, essay answers, all hail our new essay overlords. Seriously, I've written so many of these that I've started having dreams about formatting Microsoft Word into 1.357" margins so that I hit seven pages.
And I have to say, the more essays I've written, the more I've noticed how similar they are to writing a story.
Seriously! So, you start out with this plan, and you should probably write down the plan and add footnotes and jenk, but of course you don't. You start writing, and you get totally lost, and you hit one page and look around like "dude why am i still writing".
Then you go through and re-read, and you see something that actually resembles a sentence a chimpanzee would not write by accident, and you capitalize on that. (Then you remember that you meant to capitalize, not make it all capitals. You ctrl-Z.)
Eventually you hit four pages and you're like man, I'm a freaking genius. Maybe I should go into this professionally. Be a teacher. I could churn out research papers like Shakespeare, and with way less plagiarism.
Then you hit page six.
NOOOOO you have one more page to go and the written language was invented solely to torture you. Why is this happening? Why did you go to college/high school/pre-k? Why did your parents have you in this time period? What was wrong with the Cretaceous period? Grunts and sighs are totally acceptable forms of communication.
No. Wait. You think you might... no, you definitely found a thread there that you can grab onto. You write and then... HOCRAP YOU HAVE AN ESSAY.
...
What, you don't write like that?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Who Have You Written Into a Book?
This Week's Topic:
Who have you written into a book? Be honest.
It could be someone that just inspired one specific trait in a character. Maybe your MC's ex has a weird obsession with anime, kind of like a certain ex of yours. Or maybe the evil witch wreaking havoc on your other characters is straight-up Mrs. Hawkins, your 3rd grade math teacher. Confession time – who's in your book?
This is YA Highway's excellent question of the week. Can't lie, I'm really looking forward to reading the responses on this one!
While I've never straight-out tried to recreate a person I know in a book, I have definitely had character traits inspired by people I know. The best example of this I can think of is a girl in my current WIP named Brianna. Brianna is a girl who has the ability to make people listen to her, and make people want her to like them.
This is the kind of girl that usually gets villainized in YA books. But while Brianna definitely does some things she shouldn't, she is a real person and her actions have actual motivations inspired by her own dreams, hopes, fears, and insecurities. And that's definitely because of being close to someone in real life who has the same sort of personality. My real life friend is a force to be reckoned with, but she's certainly not the devil.
I think that this character would be boring and one-dimensional if it wasn't for the real life insight of my friend. So, while I will NEVER EVER EVER tell my friend Brianna was based on her, here's a secret thank-you!
Who have you written into a book? Be honest.
It could be someone that just inspired one specific trait in a character. Maybe your MC's ex has a weird obsession with anime, kind of like a certain ex of yours. Or maybe the evil witch wreaking havoc on your other characters is straight-up Mrs. Hawkins, your 3rd grade math teacher. Confession time – who's in your book?
This is YA Highway's excellent question of the week. Can't lie, I'm really looking forward to reading the responses on this one!
While I've never straight-out tried to recreate a person I know in a book, I have definitely had character traits inspired by people I know. The best example of this I can think of is a girl in my current WIP named Brianna. Brianna is a girl who has the ability to make people listen to her, and make people want her to like them.
This is the kind of girl that usually gets villainized in YA books. But while Brianna definitely does some things she shouldn't, she is a real person and her actions have actual motivations inspired by her own dreams, hopes, fears, and insecurities. And that's definitely because of being close to someone in real life who has the same sort of personality. My real life friend is a force to be reckoned with, but she's certainly not the devil.
I think that this character would be boring and one-dimensional if it wasn't for the real life insight of my friend. So, while I will NEVER EVER EVER tell my friend Brianna was based on her, here's a secret thank-you!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Injuries!
BUMPS & BRUISES SURVEY! Wear & Tear Record: (Fill in a number) Broken Bones = ___ Stitches = ___ Scars = ___ Surgeries = ___ Concussions = ___ Other Serious injuries = ___
This is a thing on formspring that I've seen, and since I always find this kind of thing interesting about other people, I thought I'd fill it out for any/all stalkers I have out there.
Broken Bones = ~4. I've broken two fingers (possibly three but I'm not sure on that last one so I won't put it), my tailbone, and my nose. One finger was broken by a friend accidentally slamming me in the finger (though she was not very apologetic about it, which still ticks me off). The other three (possibly four) injuries were all from horseback riding. Horseback riding is dangerous, folks!
Stitches = 0
Scars = 2. One is, predictably, from riding - well, sort of. I got bitten on the finger and it left a scar. The other is from when a dog dragged its extendable leash across the back of my legs and the owner was an idiot and didn't stop it.
Surgeries = 0
Concussions = 1. Guess what this was from?! Another horse bit the horse I was riding on the butt and it took off, flinging me off its back. I received this one a day before my IB exams, to add insult to injury.
Other = 0
This is a thing on formspring that I've seen, and since I always find this kind of thing interesting about other people, I thought I'd fill it out for any/all stalkers I have out there.
Broken Bones = ~4. I've broken two fingers (possibly three but I'm not sure on that last one so I won't put it), my tailbone, and my nose. One finger was broken by a friend accidentally slamming me in the finger (though she was not very apologetic about it, which still ticks me off). The other three (possibly four) injuries were all from horseback riding. Horseback riding is dangerous, folks!
Stitches = 0
Scars = 2. One is, predictably, from riding - well, sort of. I got bitten on the finger and it left a scar. The other is from when a dog dragged its extendable leash across the back of my legs and the owner was an idiot and didn't stop it.
Surgeries = 0
Concussions = 1. Guess what this was from?! Another horse bit the horse I was riding on the butt and it took off, flinging me off its back. I received this one a day before my IB exams, to add insult to injury.
Other = 0
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