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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

NaNoWriMo 2012: Dare Me



Well, it's almost that magical time of year again. Time for NaNoWriMo! (For those of you who don't know what it is, go to this page to learn more.) This time I'm determined to finish it, especially since it's the official month. So many things happen during the official months that don't happen during the camp months. Write-ins, workshops, parties, online chat rooms. So. Much. Fun. And this year I'm going to dare myself to do a few things.

1) Use a Writing Software. Throughout this experience I will be using Yarny.me to write.

2) End off at 70000 words. 500 words more then my NaNoWriMo win, 500 words less then my first novel. Seems appropriate.

3) Create a story outside of my comfort zone. No, I'm not making the impossible leap to realistic fiction. But I am trying to write a full novel in third person (sort of) and doing it where there's not only one main character that the story revolves around.

And, on that note, here is the plot.


And a dreadful place it is indeed, as down-on-her-luck author Cierra Books discovers. But woven into this abysmal town is a remarkable story of salvation and news beginnings. Little is known about the adventurous tale of Dreadsville's rebirth save for few details. 

The grass began to grown again.

A Phantom was made free. 

An orphan found a home in the midst of riches. 

A curse was destroyed.

Destiny danced. 

Dare to dive into the heart of Dreadsville.

Lastly, there is the matter of the vlogs that will be done. 
This time around the vlogs that will replace the posts on this blog will be a short series, like the other two, called Writerlys vs. Non-Writerlys. More details to come. 


Happy NaNoWriMo Everyone!


Monday, October 15, 2012

The Ways of Inspiration: Socializing

Admittedly not my favorite type of inspiration, but I'll roll with it. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Socialization. 

Making friends, making enemies, making acquaintances that secretly think you are just about the strangest organism they've ever had the displeasure of knowing, it's all the same. Interaction with other people and/or things. (And no, unfortunately, imaginary friends don't count.) This, indeed, is a source of inspiration. And it comes in a variety of forms.

Coffee Shop Writing
And other such public places where you sit down, work, and keep half an ear open. This is observing people that have nothing to do with you, giving you a unbiased look on the workings of socialization. Just be sure you don't look too much like a creeper.

Interacting with Friends
While it is a more biased look on life, at the same time it gives you a deeper understanding of it. Observe what your thinking, what your feeling, while you talk to people. Are you sincere? Are you a phony? If so, why? Writing about it.

Media
Dorkzilla time here Monkeys, you need to pay attention to what's on TV, music and otherwise. Know the linguistics of it too. You'd be surprised how useful it is in shelling out your fictional world.

Bottom line, it's all about observation. 
So observe observe observe! You never know where inspiration sparks.

THAT'SALLFOLKS! Enjoy this little photo! 


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Five Stages of Post-Novel Completion

That dude looks like he just finished a novel, right?
The Dinner Stage: You've just pounded out your last sentence and YOU ARE THE FREAKING BOMB YO! You're bullet proof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You still remember it, the very last sentence. You will never forget it as long as you live. And now that you've reported your successful endeavor on Facebook, why not celebrate with dinner?

The Honeymoon Stage: You're reading it, and it's pure gold. Easily the best piece of fiction to ever exist in the History of Man, Monkey, and Comquate. Seriously, you should be doing this for a living or something. Centuries from now historians will speculate as too just how it could it be possible to be as awesome as you? And you know what? THEY WILL FAIL! BECAUSE IT DON'T GET BETTER THEN YOU SO DEAL WITH IT YOU IGNORANT BARBARIANS! Now, just sit back and wait for the awards to start rolling in.

The Sharing Stage: The best things in life should be shared, don't you agree? So pass around the draft, let your friends shower you with praise over your sheer awesomeness. If they can handle it, that is.

The Dreading Stage: So you've gotten some feedback for your manuscript. All in good spirit, you know. As they say, no matter how awesome something is, it can only get better. Still, there's something in the pit of your stomach, and it's either dread or the intense need to pee. But you haven't drunk any fluids for the last few days, you've been so anxious about your baby-YOU MEAN BOOK-out in the world for the first time. Hmmmm....maybe its time to give your manuscript another work.

The Editing Stage: You can't remember what happiness is. How could you ever love this abomination? Look at it, it's disgusting. It's literally making you puke. THeir r jst SO MaNy, gramer, mitsakes,,,that. you dont no waht! tO do "wi"th ur self>/ And that kissing scene in the bathroom? Ew. So overdone. You know what? That whole romance is so over done. You should have just killed off those characters. Not only that, but this is so obviously based off of your life. Yeah, that's right. You hoped no one would notice but it's so glaringly in their faces that they'd have to be blind not to know. No, wait, even a blind person could tell. AND OHMYGOSH WHY DO YOU KEEP USING THE WORD PROBABLY? This is no novel. This is toilet paper, at best. You need Jesus.

~Sigh...Finished my fourth manuscript (third in the series) yesterday. Have a fantastic freaking day people.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Kryptonite

hollywoodhatesme.wordpress.com

Okay Monkeys, this blog is straight up. No add in with my life. (As much as you love to here about it.)

Kryptonite. It's Superman's weakness, right? (At least, according to his wikapedia page.) And people tend to use it when they talk about weakness, it's a term that's thrown around. And personally, I think that weakness is severely underrated. In life. In books. In comquates.

What most people don't realize about weakness is that we're drawn to it. There are whole books, TV shows, fields of study that go into weakness. And why is this? Seems sadistic, doesn't it. We love things that are smaller then us, we crave for some sort of control over someone.

But that's not exactly it. Not that I can see anyway.

I think, for the majority of us, it's about finding something to relate to in another. Humanity is judged by the difficulty of their pain. The most revered people in the world are ones who overcome adversity, who struggle through weakness. People who are too perfect, well, they're fine for the most part. But let's face it, you secretly hate that guy, am I right? Or maybe you feel over protective of them? It's because they have it easy. They are weak, because they don't grow. Makes them a bit unappealing.

And there in lies my point. Your characters need challenges. True challenges, ones that are skin deep. Ones that they can overcome only through blood sweat and tears. As authors, I figure our natural inclination is to make our characters invincible. I mean, on some sort of level, they are our babies. We want to coddle them, give them everything they want, hide their evil from the world. (Unless your like my neighbor, whom I'm relatively sure eats children. Doesn't really help that her house is made of gingerbread... I don't know. Food for thought I suppose.)

But in order for the reader to keep interest, they need to feel a connection to the character. They won't be able to put themselves in the character's place unless they been there themselves. And when you can't put yourself in a character's shoes, it's just not that great of a book. So you're not doing anything for your characters by shielding them. All your doing is making them boring. I mean, come on. Even fairy tale princesses have to live under the constant fear of getting kidnapped. Your has no excuse. Wuss.


REASON 52137688888888888 WHY SADISM SOMETIMES WORKS!