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August 31, 2010

It's still Tuesday!

At least where I am. So the statement in my last post that I would "post about... something" still stands. Especially since I finished editing a few hours ago and have been sitting around eating vital meals and continuing my project of watching Brotherhood 2.0 videos from the very beginning.

Yes. The VERY beginning. I'm at the beginning of August 2007 now.

If you're not aware, that's a lot of videos. Eventually my brain is going to melt from the level and quantity of awesome I'm seeing.

So anyway, as long as I post this within the next... hm... fifty-six minutes, the statement I made in my last post will be true.

My only problem is I don't know what to blog about. Oy.

(I just spent the last minute spacing out while staring at my computer screen. This may not end well.)

(*Spaces.* I think it'd be fun to be an astronaut. But I'd rather interview people who do astronaut-y stuff. I like hanging out on Earth.)

Oh! In a comment on my last post, Nicole asked what I was editing. As of yet, I haven't really talked about my own writing, so I guess I should get on that. Good idea, and thanks Nicole for the inspiration!

No, what I was editing earlier today was not my WIP. It was actually a short story of, you guessed it, 2,540 words, and I'm editing it for submission to a contest. Yay! I won't be posting it, though, because... well, I'm submitting it to a contest. Yeah. I don't know if it necessarily fits in a YA/Adult genre type thing, but it's realistic fiction. Yup.

My WIP (referenced in the WIP It Good thing on the left *points*), though, is definitely YA, kind of in a magical realism kind of way. Once the entire concept gets more concrete in my mind, I'll be able to give it a specific genre while actually sounding sure of myself, but right now I'm getting the vibe that it's more contemporary than anything else, but it has one fantastical part to it, so I hesitate to put that label. Therefore, magical realism will work for me. For now.

Once I get more written I may post a couple teasers, but that won't happen until I have around 5 or 10k before I'm comfortable enough with that. Until then, though, I'll leave you with the first line:

The plan was simple: Big explosions. No trace of a body. An empty casket at the funeral for the pranking.

This is different for me, since I've never actually written contemp seriously. But yeah! There we go.

UPDATE

Oh, right. Also, in the week or so, I may be scarce when it comes to blogging, or I may blog an awful lot, the reason being that I'm getting a shiny new Macbook Pro on Thursday and I will either be very confused and exploring the nooks and crannies of it OR I will be super excited and want to use it as much as possible while being very confused. :) Just a heads up.

Editing

Today, I'm going to be spending the whole day (maybe) editing and rewriting 2,540 words. It's not a lot, but this is important.

If I finish early, I'll write a post about... something. Stay tuned.

*switches on mood music*

August 29, 2010

Lalala

I'm writing right now. Want to join me?

Oh, and just a heads up to my fellow Basement dwellers, I won't be at the Jackson chat on Wednesday. Well, actually I might go to the UK one... but if there's one in the evening, I can't attend. *sadface*

UPDATE

I feel like I'll just be adding a bunch of stuff to this entry whenever I want today. But now that I've actually typed this out in the entry, I'll probably add something one more time, and then stop. Or I might not add anything at all.

By the way, if you want a dose of AWESOME and OMGSOCUTE, this is the kind of dog I want to get when I grow up (more):

BEEP.

Yes, those pups are the same breed as Bubbles the Nerdfighting Puppy (aka Willy aka John Green's dog). AHHH. Love. ♥

I promise I'm not always this scatterbrained.

August 26, 2010

Why Write?

In my time roaming about the cyber world of writer/agent/author/editor/reader blogs, I've come across this question at least once: Why write if what we put into the world won't be remembered past our lifetime?

I don't know about you, but I don't think any true writer can say, at least when they start writing/are the the midst of selling of novel, that the novel they wrote will be "an instant classic" or something that teachers will shove at their students to understand the depth of "real literature". J.D. Salinger didn't sit down and say, "I think I'll write a goddam book today that will influence tons of goddam teenagers and be taught in goddam phony schools everywhere." Or, maybe he did, but I highly doubt it. No author expects to be the subject of school essays, and to even have a place in what book lists would call "great American literature". Some aren't even necessarily comfortable with flirting with the concept; after the success of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Harper Lee never published another book. Heck, she had never even expected the book to sell, and was bracing herself for scathing reviews.

So... why write?

I write stories that might not be remembered past my lifetime because of the things that I'll never expect. And because of the things I do expect.

People like stories. People like the feeling they get when they hear or read stories. Countless times, I have seen agents or literary interns posting on Twitter lamenting the themes and morals that authors throw around in their queries, while all the agents want to know is plot, plot, plot. They want to know what's happening in your story, not what you want to teach the world. As a writer, my intent in eventually becoming published is just to share something with the world, and have a voice in my take on things. I like to make people laugh and to feel. Whether that will be to an audience of five or an audience in a classroom fifty years from now that I may never meet, it doesn't matter. I write because I like to share.

This post isn't really entirely coherent. I hope it is to you.

You never know what will happen. Why write something that won't be remembered after you died, or even while you're still alive? Because it's there, and it's happening. And you never know what may happen in the future.

So, lovely readers, I pose you the same question:

Why do you bother to write when your stories may not even be remembered in the future?

August 24, 2010

Mockingjay

So many people are already reading it, but I don't even know when I'm going to get it. Sad. :(

I'm listening to the playlist for the story I'm referring to when I say "WIP It Good" (the word count bar on the left), and I never noticed how pretty the strings were in So Close by Jon McLaughlin. Nice.

August 22, 2010

Cracking Open a Window

*note: Formatting is being a butthole right now. Please stand by. Thanks. :) *hands out complimentary kazoos*
*notenote: Formatting is fixed. :) Yayyy I can do magic! *magic*

Heylo everyone! Yay, I have two followers! Doesn't that make you happy? Because it makes me happy. Hello, friends. :) Thank you for making my blog less lonely.

In today's post, I'm going to be talking about windows. I had this post up on another one of my blogs that had, oh yeah, no followers, mostly because I kept it anonymous so no one found it because I didn't promote it. Figures. Hahaha. Anyway! I wrote it a while ago, but I like it, so I hope you will too. :)

---

Many people have heard the joke of 1+1=window. Don’t get it? Move the two dashes that make up the equals sign to the top and bottom of the phrase (phrase?) "1+1". Voila! Window!



The point is, there are many technical aspects to a story, some of which–such as grammar, punctuation, sentence fluency, blah blah blah–are the same in essentially every story out there. Most books follow the same rules that are out there for conventions; some writers and editors even use THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by Strunk and White as a writers' bible of sorts. The conventions and technicalities covered in books and articles the cyber world over are the parts that make up the "1+1"; they’re simple statements, and story essentials.

But it’s the window part that gets tricky. Because even though you’re using the conventions that are the same within every story out there, whether it be the unfailing cliches or stereotypical characters, it’s up to YOU to decide what your readers see in your window. What world will you create? Is it light or dark? How will you tell your story?

Through this journey of creating your window, however, you must also make sure that your blinds are up, and your reader can see outside. It’s not enough for them to know that they are in a different world. Show them the rolling green hills, and let them feel the soft taps of rain as it blows through the window on a chilly breeze. Let them hear the laughing children and the screech of a passing car–it could lead to your next conflict. Allow them to hear for themselves what your characters are doing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Don't let conventions and mere technicalities get in the way of telling your story. The important part is to tell it, and to tell it well. Let people know that venturing outside, into your story, is worth it. If you're an author struggling to get even your first story out of your fingertips, much like myself, figure out what you can find outside your window. Discern what you're seeing. Even if you can't, that's okay; there are times when even the clearest window can be marred by the splatters of a rainstorm or by pranksters who decided that egging your house was the way to go. But even that can be cleaned.

If not, maybe it's just a matter of getting a new window.

Writing can be as easy as 1+1. If they put their mind to it, anyone can do it. Anyone is capable of telling a story and putting it to paper. But to create a window is hard work. Opening one can be even harder. But people have done it before; through the opening of their own windows and the cracking of spines (books spines, that is), we have ventured into J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, felt the wonder of J.K. Rowling's Platform 9 3/4, and known what it felt like to cry at the death of a harp that was the idea of Lloyd Alexander. Don’t give up; your own window is there, waiting for you. Once that sucker is open, it’s not just a window overlooking the story… it’s a portal into your own world.

August 20, 2010

Firsts

The butt of a panda Squishable is staring me in the face.














That aside, this blog has been around for a while, but it was only recently--tonight, in fact--that I deleted all of my old and useless posts and decided to bring this thing back.

I've always found the first posts of blogs rather awkward. They clod along, usually just saying, "I decided to blog one day and now I'm writing my blog and this is weird and let's see how this goes," and then going on with their wonderfully blog-filled lives. Except, you know, they're a little more coherent and grammatically correct.

Since this is going to be primarily a writing blog, I guess I can make a parallel by saying you could say that about the beginning of anything. There are stories that shoot out of an author's fingers, but when they're read again some hours or weeks after they were initially spewed--well, they're awkward. They clod along, usually just saying, "I decided to pop into your brain one day and now I'm being written and this is weird and let's see how this goes," and then go on with they're continuously awkward x-amount of words lives. But, sadly, they're not often very coherent and grammatically correct.

Either way, a lot of the time, even those blogs of the best bloggers I know, author or paint-artist alike, have awkward first posts. But the rest of the blog? Well, it gets kind of awesome to the ten thousandth degree. So don't be afraid of that first awkward step, sentence, or even your first novel. It's the first step to success, and the first step into the rest of your awesome. No matter how awkward it is, it's worth it.

...Whoa, there. Easy on the cheese, self.