Historically Accurate Fiction?

Look!  Can you believe it, another post!  I'm working ahead on some post because I currently have some down time in my life, actually I'm ahead on everything.  I just needed some documentation on that, because it'll be a long time before it happens again.  Now, that I'm done with this intro, onto the meat of this post!

Fiction (noun)- the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, especially in prose form (dictionary.com).
History (noun)- the branch of knowledge dealing with past events (dictionary.com).
Historical fiction (noun)- the genre of literature, film, etc., comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages (dictionary.com).

Hm, looking at those it's hard to see how they could ever fit together.  I mean one is made up things and the other is pure fact.  Opposites.  However, some how our mind can fit those two together and create an oxymoron is just beautiful, or at least in my opinion.  The question is how accurate does the story have to be?

Here are a few links that I think are a good summary:
Hilary Mantel and the Limits of Historical Accuracy
Historical Fiction o Fictionalized History?

Now, to my opinion on this (yeah, I know, you're celebrating;)).  I think that historical fiction is a sketchy area to tread.  Personally I like staying away from well known people that are large historical figures.  By that I mean the Tudors, any president of the USA, Martin Luther (the one in the 1500s, not the 1960s), and others.  I don't just don't like reading things about them that aren't true, I find that like writing about current people such as Kim Jong Il, Barack Obama, One Direction, Pope Benedict XVI-fictionally.  I know that many of the gossip magazines write fictional stories about those kind of people (sorry, but that's my opinion), but as authors I think that you should owe it to your readers to check your facts a little more.

Just a nice picture of the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
at my zoo/school, don't know how they tie
into historical fiction...

I say to add facts to your story and make sure that it's historically accurate, but don't make it a non-fiction text book.  It is a story, meaning fiction.  Try not to bore your readers to tears.  Here's a little story of mine about books that are more non-fiction than fiction.  It was back in middle school, 8th grade to be exact, I had to read a fictional book about the Civil War and write a review on it to add to my poster about the Civil War.  I will tell you, I have only gone on SparkNotes once in my life and only once have I ever not read a book for a report-it was that book.  The first 20 pages were filled with facts upon facts upon facts, with little movement, just facts and descriptions about Gettysburg!  I couldn't read it.  Please, oh, please, do not overfill your novel with information.  Tie it into the text, say that you know that during the 1930s that people in the United States would sit down in the evening to listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his fireside chats.  Don't just go:  My dad sat down in his leather chair and listened to the fireside chats that FDR gave.  Try ingratiating into the story, make it not stand out in the text, blend: I passed by the den, tip-toeing around the door trying not to alarm my dad.  From inside the room the soft, comforting voice of FDR projected through the room, my dad slumped in his old leather chair pressed his ear near the radio trying to hear the fireside chat better without interrupting the rest of the house.  Do you see the difference between the two passages?  Things are more in a story form in the second piece, but there are still elements of the fact in there.

Just one more little thing:  research matters when it comes to historical fiction, if you write it then you have to research it!  Just wanted to throw that out there!

What are your opinions on historical fiction?  What do you like, more info or more fiction?  What do you think about the fictional stories about important/famous historical figures?

Character Depth

Hello all!  I'm so sorry for my lack of updating!  There were computer issues and then there were life issues. At the end of August school started and has been a lot of work this year, but at least I get to go to the zoo everyday:)I'm going to try to start updating more regularly again.  Things are starting to calm down and I'm beginning to have a little more free time than I'm used to.

Picture of the Playbill

Okay, so onto the bulk of what I want to discuss: Character Depth.  I think that this really got my attention this past Friday night.  I was watching Broadway's Beauty and the Beast, which is my FAVORITE Disney movie.  I was watching the play and singing along to every song.  Everything was going great until right before the intermission; that's when it happened.  The Beast was up on one of the platforms singing "If I Can't Love Her" and my heart melted.  This was what the movie had been missing; this was the scene that I had unknowingly been waiting to see.  Everything about the song, the lyrics, the music, the voice, just made everything come together.  I was seeing what I had been longing to see, a sensitive side of the Beast.  His voice and words made me care for him deeper than what I had originally thought I should have.  I heard what he was thinking, what he was feeling.  I was seeing another side of him.  No longer was he this, almost, minor character to Belle's character transformation.  The Beast was a person, a person who felt scared to be falling in love, a person who didn't want to change, a person who just didn't go around roaring at everyone, he was a fully fledged character and one that I could relate to.  I don't know why they could have just allowed a little bit of the scared Beast show up in the film.  I know that they showed his changing after the wolf scene in the movie and during "Something There" but I don't think that it adequately portrayed the bruised and confused man inside.  Then again, those are my thoughts.  Just a little side note on Beauty and the Beast; it was amazing!  If this play comes to a theater near you I'd suggest that you try to go.  It was beyond amazing and the songs were fabulous, along with all the witty comments that I just adore!

Going on to the Character Depth part, I think that characters need depth.  Yup, that's it.  I'm sick and tired of all of these flat characters.  I mean, authors give the characters faults and quirks but I still don't think that is enough.  I love reading books where I think that I know each and every one of the characters.  People have pasts, people have wants and desires and strange ways of thinking things through.  People change sides, they make mistakes, they do stupid things to hurt themselves.  And those all have thoughts and decisions behind them.  Too often do I read characters that are just overblown stereotypes that do things for no apparent reason.  I'll admit it too that I have also written out characters that don't make much sense when I read back through my writings.  I like to think that I am becoming better at adding depth, but I know I still have a long way to go.

Relating back into the world of YA, defending your work by the pathetic excuse of "Well they're hormonal teenagers" is not acceptable.  I've read that excuse a few times before because of a random kiss or a random debate.  I can tell you for a fact that the excuse of being a hormonal teenager doesn't work for parents, teacher or any adults in the real world, why should it be an excuse for a fictional world?  It's not.  We teenagers are great strategist, well at least the ones I know.  We plan our outbursts, our date invitations, our kisses, our sex, our actions in general.  Occasionally we'll have a slip, especially after one of our plans blow up in our face and leaves us with an unsavory aftermath.  But in general we're pretty controlled group with a few outliers that mess up our image for everyone... (Sorry, homecoming was last Saturday and my distaste for my peers has only elevated, because I do NOT need to see that!)

It's a deep picture... I just thought that
we needed another picture for this post

Moving onward.  What can we do about this whole lack of depth?  I say we plan.  Bring out the index cards and notebooks.  I say we write down every little thing that we want to include about our characters and then write how things came to be that way or how they got there.  Does the character have a scar?  Where did they get that scar?  How did they get that scar?  Who was with them?  Did they go to the hospital?  Do they no longer do the activity that gave them that scar?  Is it visible?  Are they embarrassed?  Do people still make fun of them for that?  How do they think of themselves because of the scar?  Answer these question and any other ones for each little thing about your character.  It may seem tedious and a waste of time, but I think that it helps with the planning of characters.  Allow the characters to have many differetn layers, like an ogre ;).  One other idea is to bounce it off another person.  Ask if the scene your working on makes sense, if the character does what a normal person would do.  See if the character seems superficial or flat.  Ask someone for their honesty, no niceness needed.  You’ll be surprised how much information you can get from a fresh pair of eyes, especially in small details like this. 

I do believe that is all I have got to say on this.  Do any of you have any ways that your able to create Character Depth?  Do you have any good examples of this?  What are your opinions?  I'd sure love to hear them!

I Repel Technology

My computer died on Wednesday.  I was to the point of almost crying when he shut down.  I had Osvaldo for the past 2 years.  We had so many good times together.  The worst part about this is that I have lost all of the story that I had been working on.  Grrr!  I guess that it was my fault-partly.  I was actually loading it onto my new flash drive when it crashed!  Ugh, and I hate this new computer too!  Anyone have any suggestions?  I would write longer but I can't with this keyboard!!!!  UGH!!!!

M.M. ii: Incentives and Rocks

I was going to open a big can of worms today with some interesting things I found on the web.  But I'll wait until tomorrow to do that (plus it's my last day of freedom!).  Today, I'll just stick with ehh stuff.  Things that later on in the life of this blog that you'll skip over to see the juicer posts.  But hey, every sandwich needs some lettuce.

I have two lovely things for today's Motivation Monday!  Writing/Reading/Going through Hell Incentives and a DIY Rock that keeps me focused.

Writing/Reading/Going through Hell Incentives:

According the the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the word incentive means: something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action.  I'd have to agree with that, I mean it's right.  Currently I have two days (including today) until I get back to school.  What do I have to do?  Read another 50pgs of The Scarlet Letter and annotate that thing to pieces, oh and fill out two worksheets for AP Biology.  Yeah, I know that I procrastinate...  So what do I do to keep myself annotating and pushing forth?  I use incentives.
I'll tell myself: If you can make it to page 170 you get 30 minutes of freedom!  If you read the next 12 pages then you can go have breakfast.  If you finish the book you get a new book, one that you actually want to read and don't have to annotate!

How can you apply this to writing?  Easy!  I know that some people are going to think "Hey, you don't have to do this, it's called determination!"  Well I'll tell you one thing, determination dies after a while which is why I don't do cross-country any more, okay that and the fact that I have a weak knee...  I've done this before with writing stories, essays, letters, etc.  Tell yourself that you'll get that cup of yogurt at the grocery store if you write 2,000 words today.  If you edit your outline that you'll edit two pieces of clothing in your closet/tools in the garage.  Allow yourself to have breaks occasionally as well.  They don't have to be set, spontaneous-ness it necessary to keep current level of sanity when doing things that you really don't want to do.  If you have a great day of writing treat yourself.  Bad day?  Don't hurt yourself over it, just look what you could have done to make it better and continue on, just strive to get better.

With these little things your teaching yourself that good things can come from writing/reading when you use this repeatedly.  You're training yourself with little gifts  like you would train a dog with puppy treats.  This may seem silly to you, but it works!  I used to tell myself that I had to get things done or else I would not be able to do things.  It didn't work.  But once I tried rewarding myself to accomplish tasks it became easier and easier!  Go ahead, give it a try!

DIY Rock Paperweight:

I enjoy writing outside.  I have a nice table on our patio which looks out into the woods.  I also enjoy going to parks and my sister's games.  However I also enjoy writing on loose leaf notebook paper... And it gets windy around here... See my issue?  I have usually just used rocks when I go outside.  However I found this rock right after my little epiphany of a new novel.  I have it my head that the colors that represent this book are similar to a peacock feather, but a little darker...  I don't know why those colors, but the came to me with Cecily.  I new that I had to paint this rock!

What you'll need:
1 rock
Paint
Brushes
An Idea
Patience

Find a rock and clean it off if it has any dirt or ickiness on it.  Then get an idea of what you want to paint.  I was using a peacock feather for my influence.  Find the paint that you want (The WalMart and Meijer around me have art paint for around $0.75 each, so I grabbed two of those and used some other paint that I had laying around the house).  Now take the brush and paint!  Allow the paint to dry at least 20-30 minutes between each layer, for the first two or three it only takes about 10 minutes at least for mine it did...  Once your done let it dry overnight.  Voilà!  You have your very own paperweight.  Mine keeps my mind focused on what I want my story to tell, what I want to show to the reading world.  It is a great driving point for me.

I think that's all folks!  I still have 25 pages left in the novel, yeah, this has been my incentive.  What do you use for your incentives if you have them or what will you use?  Do you have any little things that remind you of your story when you write?  If so, please tell me:)  I'd love to hear!

Until next time!

Darn Creativity!

I hate my mind sometimes.  It thinks that it has a mind of it's own.  No, I'm not insane-well not doctor proven insane...  For the last few days I've been having this lady come into my head and start rambling on about her life.  Stuck in a tower.  And how she hates singing.  Yeah, weird, I know.  I've never had this happen to me. I mean that I've had moments when I am writing and I know that a character wants to say something, but never a random character come into my mind and force herself on me.

I'm aware that many authors have this issue when they're not writing, apparently it "gives them the need to write, they're not whole without it" stuff.  I've never had that.  I'll let you in on some things from my past about writing, be warned-it's dark;) (okay, not really, it's just a little off).

Here's my story:
I write.  Not well and for sure not known.  None of my family or friends know that I write anything, and I don't want them to.  I don't want to have to explain it to them and deal with that embarrassing ordeal because let's face it my family is not one of the most accepting group of people around.  (My neighbors are from Uganda, I mean they moved here about 10 years ago, my grandmother felt the need to inform my aunt and uncle (who have lived in Chicago and New York) that my neighbors are black, and not just regular black, but black black.  Oh and their dog who is black little Schnauzer barks at them... and they encourage it... yup, my familia!)  They all just think I have an overactive imagination, which I do but it would be more so if I didn't write, but they don't need to know that.

I started writing in 7th grade, where most all people start their writing: FanFiction.  My friend introduced me to it.  She wrote her's and I wrote mine, and we would 'edit' the stories together.  I was a spuratic updater, and now I realized I was writing for her and not for me.  I actually never finished the story.  But I'm a little scared to, to tell you the truth.  I really don't want her to see me four years later still updating that High School Musical story that is awful!  I created another story under another username and that's where I fell in love with writing.  I had always enjoyed reading stories so it was fun writing a story.  But that's pretty much where my writing went to.  There have been a few chapters that I had wrote out or perhaps a very detailed outline, but those have all been lost to history.  In school I never really applied myself to story writing because I hated, etch that- hate, English class.  I'm more of a science person, hence me taking mostly science classes this year and going to the zoo to get extra schooling.  But the teachers had always told me to try a little harder and it would be amazing.  My teacher once took one of my writings and put it in a contest, it got 2nd place, but I was so upset by her that I didn't even recognize what had happened.

I've been trying to get back into writing as of lately.  I'll start writing and then 'Opps, I have to volunteer today' or 'Goodness, I really need to clean up around here'.  I'm aware that everyone has these issues, and that's usually what seperates a never-will-be author and a true author.  I've always imagined myself as the former.

That's where my story ends.  Yup, that was great wasn't it?  No, this was not a bragging party or pity party (also I love the phrase pity party, although I don't know why...)

 I've been trying to ignore the lady because I don't need anymore distraction this year.  I don't think that I am going to get away from her.  Plus she keeps telling me, "I don't sing, I absolutely hate it.  I will hum, but no singing."  Grrr!  I think that I'll give into her a little, let's see where that gets me.  Oh wait, perhaps I will be a 'true' author...

Have any of you people have this happen?  What's your writing back story?

And since I don't have a picture up about this lady or my past, I shall indulge in another betta that I'm in love with...

If anyone wants to get me him, I'd be A-Okay with that!  You've got to admit that he is one attractive betta!

The Scarlet Letter- Opening Act

Hello wonderful people! I am so sorry that I have not updated in so long. I was on vacation and then realized that I had 2 books to read and annotate before August 22, and this realization came four days ago... Yeah... I procrastinate. In honor of my summer readings I would like to address the wonderful book of The Scarlet Letter, and how we can add old writing to make our writing better.

The Scarlet Letter: How to Open Like Hawthorne

Have you opened a book lately? I mean a book wrote within the past 10 or so years.  Let me open up a few of mine and let's look at them.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer : "My mother drove me to the airport with the
            windows rolled down."

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich : "Just because I know hoe to change a guy's oil doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life on my back, staring up his undercarriage."

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen : "At the stroke of eleven on a cool April night, a woman named Joey Perone went overboard from a luxury deck of the cruiser liner M.V. Sun Duchess."

What do those all have in common?  Well, the first thing that I pick up is that they all start with action.  It is a jump into the story, there is no background and there are very little details about them.  There is some mystery behind all of them, such as why is the mother driving the main character to the airport, how does the main character know that she doesn't want that/what does she want, and why did she go overboard?  They're all great introductions, but let's be honest: I'm not gripping the edge of my seat to know what happened.  I'm a little interested but not I cannot put this down interested.  Perhaps these are just my musings, but these openings are common throughout most literature today. (If you have an example of one not like this, romance novels not included-those are a whole different ballpark in my opinion- please comment on this and show me/inform me.  I'd like to see one!)

I'll switch to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  After flipping past a good 50 pages of someone's opinion on the novel (which I don't read that... Sorry, too much other stuff to do) this is what you would come across: "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice*, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes."
* I had to look this up: a building, usually one that is large.


I may be one of the few that aren't English teachers that get chills from the writing, but you have got to admit that it takes some... uh how do I say this in a politically correct way, oh screw it... balls to put out your first sentence with so many commas and descriptions.  That's one reason I love this beginning, he takes a risk and it pays off because it is executed so well.  There are details about the people, the setting is partially established, and not too much is given away.  It takes a grand three chapters before we know exactly what Hester had done.  Nothing is given directly, it takes time and steam to build up to this.  There are questions about this too considering how little Hawthorne gives away while addressing so much.

My favorite part about Hawthorne's opening is that he doesn't come out and say what is happening.  I don't know why, but, in my opinion, opening with too much information messes up your entire book.  You can have a great rest of the book, but people aren't going to stick around and read it if you give it up within the first paragraph or two.  Here's an example (this is from some random story off of FanFiction- I refuse to give away any information about the author and such, and yes I went on FanFiction I'll get to that in another post)
"I was just talking to Ron about what happened that day at lunch when Draco had me sit with him at the Slytherin table. Apparently Ginny, his sister, told him about it"
See, too much given away.  You can guess the entire rest of the story because of the beginning, which is why I put the opening as the hardest part of writing.

Here are some tips that I've created, and taken a few times, about opening a story in a Hawthorne-ian style:

1. Give some details.  Put out there a general feel of the setting, the characters and a small glimpse of the plot.

2. Give the point of view, and DO NOT CHANGE IT!

3. Create some questions in your beginning.  Make the reader think about what they are reading, you put all that time and effort in the novel, start them off with something strong.

4. It's okay to not start with action, sometimes details are better.

5. Give out small bits of information on your plot.  I know I put this up there in 1, but I feel that this needs to be addressed more.  Don't give in to the urge to put everything in the beginning, space it out, give them a reason to keep reading.  Remember that tiny hooks catch more readers that one giant hook;)  

6.  If you begin with dialogue, which is a great way to start, keep it down a bit.  You do not need to fill the entire page with a conversation between Jack and Jill, one this will confuse people with characters and two you'll be likely to give too much of the plot away.

7. Don't give the plot away, space it out!  Oh, wait.  I've already addressed this, but this is IMPORANTE!

8. It's okay to try around with different beginnings.  Maybe dialogue will work with one story and a detail beginning will work with another.  It's okay to change, it's the only way we can get better.

Great link for more opening tips: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-first-chapter-get-started/10-ways-to-start-your-story-better

I think that addresses everything.  If you have another tip or two you want me to add, just leave a comment and I'll add it!  These are ones that I think are important.  Hawthorne does a great job opening up his story, learn from him and other great writers, and if you haven't read The Scarlet Letter shame on you!  Go get it now and read it, you won't regret it.  Reading is the best way to learn to write!

Farewell! <- Anyone get it?

MM i: Counselor/Letter Monday

From Here

It's Monday.  Whip out the caffeine, I can't say coffee because I don't drink it.  I'll let you all in on a little secret of mine: counselor-ing an orchestra camp for beginners=death.  I'm dead on the inside.  The children had just learned how to play their instrument with a bow and are moving on to more difficult things, which makes for a lot of complaining and whining and headaches.  On the bright side there is great food, and a really cute counselor ;)

For the first ever Motivation Monday, I will be sharing one of my methods of getting motivated/back on track.

Stop reading this blog.  Shut the laptop top down, get out of the chair, lock your phone, whatever you need to do to stop reading this post for a minute, do so.

Actually, wait!  Read all of this before you do that!  When you leave the computer go get a piece of notebook paper and a pen/pencil.  Take those beautiful writing skills that you own  and write a letter to yourself.

Write about what you want to gain from writing.  Write about where you see yourself at the end of the writing.  Put little details that you want to remember to include.  Add a little joke.  Write a quote that makes you happy or feel good.  Tell yourself about what you'll do once your done.  Write whatever you want to write, just make it fun and upbeat.

Take that great letter, fold it up, and put it in an envelope.  Put a picture of your dog/cat/husband/wife/anyone doing something silly in the envelope for extra fun!  Grab a silly sticker or boring piece of tape and shut it closed.  I like to write a statement on the front like, 'Only Open When In Dire Need of Motivation' or 'Intruders Will Be Feed To The Wolves of *insert the name of the writing*'.

Now put that envelope of motivation in  a place that you won't forget it.  Take it out when you need something to get you moving.  I love looking at the reason I started something.  It makes it seem like the whole thing isn't so bad if I accomplish what I wanted.  This may not be your way of motivating yourself, but I like it.

What's your way of motivating?  Do you write a sticky note?  Have a certain song?  Tell me:)

P.S. I have a Special Coupon Code for all you people for my Etsy Shop!  It is:
COUNSELORMONDAY

Spontaneous Saturday i: Videos

Fun Videos For You:)


I was going to write the Teaching Thursday, but everything I wrote fell to pieces, and it was getting late, and I had to get up early on Friday to go to the zoo.  So, yeah I'm sorry about that.  I really need to get on top of things because my s, o, r, and y keys are being hit too often.

I was going to post some really thought provoking video, but then I saw some video that was highly liked on there.  I looked it up and I absolutely fell in love!  So, I watched all his other videos too, and now I'm sharing them with you all!

5 Historical Misconceptions:

My eyes were filled with tears laughing!  Vikings!

10 Misconceptions Rundown:

Yum, free protein.

8 Animal Misconceptions:

My father and I were bent over laughing with the bats.  I really love this one!

Me being a history buff and animal lover, I instantly fell in love with these videos!  Go ahead and look at some of his other ones too.  The Santa Claus and Groundhog videos are pretty great too.

That's the first Spontaneous Saturday:)  Hope you enjoyed!

I'm Sorry

Uh, it's been almost two weeks hasn't it.  I'm so so so sorry.  I've been doing so much, that time has seriously been flying.  This post isn't going to be anything spectacular, just a few updates and what to expect... Again.

What have I been doing lately?
~Making jewelry and selling it on Etsy.
~Volunteering at the zoo.
~Cleaning, I have found more dust deposits in the house than people have found any other kind of deposit.
~Writing (not as much as I want, but still writing)

Yeah.  That's it.  It is sad isn't it.  Not much I've done, but I'm still tired from it.

. Looking at what I had made my schedule out be last time looked a bit weird.  I mean who needs motivation on Friday?  OK, some people do, but the majority of us need it on Monday and Motivation Monday sounds better than Motivation Friday.  I also don't want to do two blog post in a row so Teaching Thursday will come into play.  All those changes will move Spontaneous Sunday to Spontaneous Saturday. You've got to love those alliterations!

Now I'm going to shamelessly show

you some of the jewelry (look at the sides) in hopes that you'll eventually click the link I'm going to put at the bottom of the page to go to my shop;)  I'm hoping to catch this betta fish that I've been after for a while, and they cost a pretty penny, but that's just my reasoning, and after I accomplish that then I'll begin donating to WWF, which is my favorite organization.

Those are my fabulous bracelets that I am selling.  To be honest, this post is just a huge "I'm Sorry" post.  I'm so ashamed that I forgot to post for almost two weeks.  That just makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

I know that these writing blogs are supposed to be about writing, but I think on Spontaneous Saturday I will include some recipes and crafts because I love cooking and crafting as well.  Plus, I sort of want to combine my blog with my Etsy store.

 Heads up: my Etsy store has a different name than the one on here.  I have two reasons.  One, that's my mother's name because she owns the account.  Two, on here I use a pseudonym because I don't like people knowing that I write, and so I do not get any disrespect from the people who actually do know me because I'm not the person that people would pick out to write.  (i.e I hate English class and adore my sciences)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnottedBracelet?ref=si_shop

Check out the Page I created (up at the top of this page) and get a discount at my Etsy Store!

Housekeeping

I hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  I know mine was hot and tiring... Heat+Zoo+People+No Lunch= Emotionally and Physically Drained Elizabeth.  Nonetheless it was still fun.

From Here

Today's not much in the substance side of things with the blog, I just want to put down some kind of schedule and hammer out some things.  Housekeeping, I guess we can call this.

From here out I am enacting a brand new schedule!  I shall be posting 3 times a week.  The days shall be Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.  Tuesdays will be 'Teaching Tuesdays' when I go through bits and pieces of the writing process that are sometimes sketchy or need to be looked at.  It will be a very informing day:)  Fridays will be a day for writing motivation, such as writing prompts, general motivations, and other things that are lurking in the back of my mind for these.  I eventually want to have this become a kind of editing day, so that your WIP can be edited.  I would love give some of my assistance to others with the editing process, and there may be some tips there.  But I am going to wait a little while to see if this would work out and to stimulate any attraction from you all to it.  And finally Sundays will be a hodgepodge of different things, for example I may read an awesome article that I will share, perhaps there will be a book review, recipes, and random junk!  That will be the fun day of the week!

From Here
This is the fish I'll be getting and once
I breed some other fishies:)

Another random bit that I'd like to point out is that I have set up an 'About the Author' page so you all can go stalk me.  And yes, I actually put up a picture of myself.  No laughs!  That picture is from a year and a half ago...

Also I'd just like to add this for my own happiness: I'm back to aquarium keeping!  Like full out again.  I'm working on breeding some of the fish:)  They're so cute my little fishies!

JulNoWriMo

It's July and that means that it is time for JulNoWriMo!  Let me just say that this will be my first time attempting to write 50K words in 1 month, and let me tell you that it seems daunting.

For those who don't know about JulNoWriMo it is a competition to see if you can write 50K novel in one month.  The JulNoWriMo stands for July Novel Writing Month.  The webpage is http://julnowrimo.com/.  

The home page says:

     Welcome to the July Novel Writing Month web site! Your goal, should you choose to accept it, is to write 50,000+ words during the month of July. Do you have the courage and the drive to attempt such a feat?

     If you love to write and NaNoWriMo just isn't enough insanity for one year, please consider joining us in July! To sign-up, just head over to the forums and register a username.

      We also have our own Twitter account and a user-runchannel on YouTube - feel free to follow both to keep up with any announcements and tips from other participants as they attempt to win!

     Confused? If you have no idea what in the world I was just rambling on about, please visit this dandy page right here. It should help answer most of your questions. Good luck!

      Happy writing,
            Robert Watson

Sounds inviting doesn't it, so go on there and sign up, try writing a novel.  It isn't too hard, just start typing today.  You have 30 days (including today) to write your heart out. I will be doing it, so find me on there!  I'm PurplePenguin.

I will be writing about different ways to stay on track this month with writing, and I'll be giving little writing tips that are sure to help with any kind of writing.

Sorry that this is short.  It's Monday and I've been unpacking all day, give me a little break.

Tell me what you're planning on writing.  Do you have any ideas?  If you need any help at all feel free to email me at eliza.a.gallagher@gmail.com and I'll try to help you to the best of my ability. 

Write What You Know???

Arg, almost a whole week without blogging!  Next time I go on vacation I will make sure that the place I stay has wireless internet.  Sure I could have taken my laptop out with me, but I was a tourist in Chicago from a smaller city (Columbus) and I wasn't to comfortable with carrying it around, there was no leaving it in the car 100 degrees? Probably not the safest for electronics...

Even though I wasn't able to post on here I was able to create some great topics for blogging, so be warned: awesomeness will be a reoccurring event this week.


One of the most controversial topics when it comes to writing is the statement 'Write what you know.'  I find myself in the middle of this argument.

Some people say that you do not have to write what you know because how boring would that be?  What would you write about? Sitting in a room typing stories while eating Doritos?  That would be boring, and I'm not sure how long that I would be reading that novel before my drool would wash away the words.  Plus if you're writing sci-fi how are you supposed to know what cultural habits there are in the galaxy of Gungro if you've never actually been there.  Perhaps that knowing how things work around you can help you with knowing how things work else where.

From Here
When I went it was like this, but imagine trees with leaves and temperature
around 100 degrees F!

The others state that you have to know what you're writing about because how would you know about the place.  I can see there point on this.  You would want to know everything that you're character would know because it would make them more believable, plus you wouldn't want to make the people who live in the place you're describing to be mad(unless they're in Gungro).  If I were to write about Chicago before I left I probably would have written about some office worker who lives in a nice house with a dog, and goes driving around town on the weekend.  If you would ask me now?  Well crazy drivers that honk to much, pedestrians that think that they own the sidewalk and the road, the man that plays a saxophone on the corner of Delaware and Michigan, the lack of parking spots, the price of parking spots, the one way streets and $5 burger at McDonalds would all be included now.  See the difference?

I'll tell you where I stand on this.  I think that we need to know certain elements for writing, not everything.  I think that if you're including some place that actually exists then you need to know it.  Find someone who has been there or worked there.  Do some research.  I don't know much about lifestyle of people in Botswana, but I can find that information out.  Google some things, read some books, talk to people who have been there, just find a way to grab a taste of their culture and ride it.  Everything doesn't have to be exact.  As a reader I don't need to know about the giraffe statue that is at the bottom of the street that your MC lives on, unless it holds magical powers or if that is where you're MC met their true love.  Writing what you know doesn't have to be about what you do, but how you feel.  Everyone has felt something at one point in their life, if not be scared because they may be a robot.  But seriously, at one point in time you have probably been embarrassed, sad, happy, loved, scared, etc.  And guess what?  You're character can too!

Here are some great website articles that I found you should check them out!

“Write what you know” – the most misunderstood piece of good advice, ever

Writing Tips: Write What You Know

Write What You Know -- Because You Know More than You Think!

So here's my tip to you: Writing is 50% research, 50% experience, and 100% trying.  So go on now and research, experience and try!

An Endangered Species

When you hear the phrase 'endangered species' you probably jump to the conclusion that I'm talking about fluffy panda bears, curious chimpanzees, and gigantic whales.  Ha, psych! I'm talking about words.  You know the things that we use everyday to communicate with, unless your deaf which then you don't.  Yes my friends words are endangered.  Every year words get dropped from the dictionary, and what are put in their place? Sad things like unfriend, sexting, retweet and so many words that I would be embarrassed to use.  Be shocked, I don't use those words I like saying that 'they stopped being my friend' instead of 'they unfriended me' and 'they sent obscene pictures of themselves to each other' instead of 'they were sexting'.  I know that I'm weird and the former is much longer than the latter statement, but wouldn't you feel smarter saying the former?

There is something that you can do to stop the madness!  It's called adopting a word.  You can click yourself over to this lovely little link which connects to the savetheword website.  Sign up and adopt a few words. Impress your friends and use unknown words.  Put them in your writing.  Become a superhero and have them be your catch phrases!  Yes, put on the cape and say 'resarciate fiends!'

So far I've adopted ecstasiate (to go into ecstasy; to cause to become ecstatic), cloakatively (superficially) and tauroboly (pagan bull sacrifice).  Those are amazing words aren't they!  Alluding to my previous post the definitions of the words could put together a plot;)  Perhaps I may be one of the few that finds this extremely cool and you all think that it is a waste of breath using the words but you have to admit it is fun to dumbfound people!

From Here

It's Monday, and I'm packing so this is all that we get today.  This week is going to be lighter post seeing that I'm going on vacation to Chicago.  Stay cool and have fun!

Creating Plots

Plots are the steel frame to the roller coaster of the novel that we build.  Our characters, theme, settings, prose, word choice, ad style are everything else.  What is a roller coaster with out the frame?  Nothing besides a bunch of mismatch objects.  One problem that people who want to write, whether they be novices or professionals, come across at one time or another in their writing career is the lack of plot ideas.

How do you make plots you ask, well, in very simple and somewhat obvious places.  Let's go through your normal day and see what we can find for plot ideas, I'll leave an * by each place with ideas!

6:00 a.m. you wake up and head towards the shower.  Once done with showering you brush your teeth, do your hair, etc.  You head to the living room where you have the paper (don't ask how it got there, I don't know it was magic) sitting on the kitchen counter.  You get some breakfast and coffee/tea and read the paper***.  It's off to work.  On your way to work there is a car crash that makes you take the detour route*, which makes you late.  Your boss comes and yells at you, which is more than what they usually do which is sitting at their desk watching YouTube videos, something must be wrong in their life*.  You go to your desk after the scolding and check your email.  You have a few new messages, one from your sister vacationing in Peru that has lots of pictures attached, so many that you can't even download them all*.  You get to work.  During lunch hour you and your friends go out to the town, where you come across an old man sitting on the sidewalk that says 'Fortunes for $'*, you hand him the change in your pocket but don't stay for the fortune.  During lunch you overhear the people behind you arguing about their relationship, apparently one of them slept with the other's sister, who's married and has 2.5 kids in a house with a white picket fence and a golden retriever named Fido*.  After lunch you head back to work.  During your break time you head on over to Time.com and read through some articles and head on to mynicheoftheuniverse.blogger.com where you read fabulous post***.  After work you go pick up the dry cleaning from the little old Asian lady who always has a smile on her face, today the glass windows are shattered, someone tried to rob the place*.  You get your clothing and leave.  Once home you change out of your clothes and listen to your spouse babble about their day* while flipping between the evening news and E! News.  During dinner your children overload your ears by telling you every grueling detail about their school day*.  You all watch a movie*, then send the children up to bed.  Before going to sleep yourself you finish that novel that you picked up last weekend from Barnes & Nobel*.

From Here

Did you see how many times in a day that you can find?  A ton!  And that's not even looking for any.  Go to the park and people watch, go to the grocery store and pick up the latest copy of People or Enquirer, those are chalked full of ideas.  Listen to the radio.  I was driving home from the grocery store yesterday listening to the radio and the announcer dude was taking calls for things that people had done that no one knew about and that they didn't want people to know.  Some lady called in and was talking about how her mother was dating a man 12 or 13 years younger than she was, the lady didn't know that.  The day before her mother got engaged to the man, the lady that called and the man somehow got drunk and had sex.  He proposed to her mother the next day, and the neither one has told the mother that they did the deed.  If that isn't a good plot then I don't know what is!  Want to make it fantasy?  Put them in a different world, add some mystical creatures or something and call it a day! (No offense to fantasy writers out there, I'm just making a point and I love fantasy, no offense intended!)  With the media out there bringing loads of stories in each day it's fairly easy to grab onto one and twist it into your own plot line.

Another good idea is find headlines from a newspaper or magazine, write down the ones you like, put them in a bag and pull out a few.  There's your skeleton of a plot line.

So, for all of you lazy people out there that don't like reading here's a list of everything:

• News Paper Articles
• Magazine Articles
• Radio
• Television
• Books
• Emails
• Everyday Activities
• Blogs
• People Watching
• Fairy Tales
• Movies
• And the list could keep going!

Plots are about relationships, conquests, missions, adventures, and so much more!  They're everywhere, now go find one!

Technologically Unsavvy

It has begun!  My writing that is, I know you were all thinking that I was talking about the end of the world.  After I had posted on here, looked around at some other blogs, read some forums, and found a really cool story, I sat down and wrote.  I took out a piece of paper and wrote.  Weird huh?

I have found that maybe doing some things without technology is a great idea.  I went camping last night and I cannot even begin to tell you about the relaxation that I got from the sound of crickets chirping along side of the soft croaks of the tree frogs.  It was a very much needed trip.  I was away from the computer, away from the phone, away from the microwave and all the other technology that I have lying around the house.  Maybe we all get too caught up in the whole typing process of writing, but what is writing?  When I think of the word writing I tend to think of a person holding a pen and using it to put words in a notebook or journal, not a person leaned over a small computer typing furiously as if their life depended on it.

I find that I enjoy writing stories much more than typing them.  What do you all prefer, type or write?

From Here.  No I have no clue who this person is but, he
sure looks peaceful.

While siting in my tent I thought about what it would have been like to live in the early 1800s, since I'm writing about that time period.  It would have been similar to the camping trip.  The only difference being that I had flash lights and they had candle, but I don't think that candles would be good in a tent considering that there is a little warning sign on the side that clearly states no open fires around the fabric.

I think that occasionally we all need to step out of our technological world and see the beauties of nature.  Especially if we're writing anything historical or in a different world where such technologies don't exist and we have little clue about how things happen without the help.  My youngest cousin who is about 5 asked me today how we found answers without Google.  I couldn't help but laugh a little, I mean I don't really remember a time without the internet, yes I'm young get over it, but that brings up a really great point: we can't find answers without Google.  Sad, isn't it.  I mean that there are books out there, but how many people would go find a book to look that up?  Especially without a computer.

I think that it is time for a little quote: "What are men compared to rocks and mountains?" Mary Bennet, Pride and Prejudice. I thought that this would be a good little addition to the post, considering it talks about nature:)

Perhaps I'm thinking too much like a transcendentalist, but I am sure of one thing with technology I couldn't live without Spell Check! 

Reminiscing and Starting

As of lately I seem to be listening to music that I remember listening to when I was younger.  I am not sure why all of a sudden I'm listening to George Strait, John Michael Montgomery, Trisha Yearwood and the Dixie Chicks, but I am and loving every minute of it!  I think that all have these moments in life when we just stop and look back at where we've been.

While listening to these songs, I'm thinking about my WIP.  What kind of things bring Lucy back to her past?  What things will she think about?  What are her reactions to her thought?  How do others react to her things that make her remember?

I find these just as important as the book, I mean the part of what happened before the book with the characters.  I'm not sure about all of you people out there with the novels that you read but I know that with the novels that I read that most all of them have allusions to the characters' pasts.

What are your character's pasts?  Mine?  Well she's just 17 and has been secluded from most of society besides little adventures into town and the social parties that she snuck into when her nanny wasn't watching, but she does have an older sister that did crazy things with her and told her great long tales about balls and such.

One thing that I do to keep all of my characters pasts in order is I take a piece of paper and write their name at the top and list things that I think are of importance to know about the character's past.  It takes a bit of time and can be a bit tedious, but I find that it is completely worth the time to do it!

Picture from Wikipedia

Now on to the second part of the blog: Starting.  That is one scary word: starting.  I am having issues doing the action that the word describes.  I have begun to type my historical YA, I've done a decent amount of research and I've read a lot of books that come from this time period as well so I have a basic understanding of the Regency Era.  I have my outline ready beside me, a few little notes I've taken, my hands are at the ready, and.... nothing.  Yup, a big fat nothing is happening.  So what do I do you ask?  I go on blogger, I go to absolutewrite, I go look at fish on aquabid.  Yeah, go me!  I realized that my issue is that I'm not sure where to begin, I want so much for this story yet nothing is happening.  I completely understand that I am supposed to basically force myself to write, but that isn't happening.  I guess that I'll try a few different starting points and try going from there.  Anyone had anything like this happen to you?  I bet that it happens millions of times everyday, and I'm just experiencing them right now.  Ugg, I'll try to put my Jane Austen thinking cap on and write.

Have fun out there!  Also, it's been almost a week that I've had this blog!  Whoo-hoo!

Motivation

Motivation.  That's what I've decided to blog about today.  I was going to blog about other mindless things, but I thought that since I have my first sketch of my outline of my newest project that I needed to have some motivation.

According to pychologytoday.com motivation is, "Motivation is literally the desire to do things.  It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day.It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals-and research shows that you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control"


Hmm... Interesting isn't it!  I've just started this new thing called 'running', and trust me I've needed plenty of motivation to get me started and going.  I found that looking at a really cute pair of pants that I want gets me running, just imagining myself in a size smaller pants makes my heart flutter a bit.  It's about doing whatever I can to get to those shorts, whether it be eating right or running, I am going to get them!

A great motivation for anyone,
especially in this summer heat!

I know what my motivation is for running, but what is it for writing?  Is it the idea that I will bring more literature into the world?  Perhaps it's the idea that I can blog my way through the process and I will be able to look back at it?  Is it to fulfill one of my childhood dreams?  I think that it is all of those reasons and more. 


Wait a second, the blurb of the article that I posted said something about goals.  Not one goal but many goals.  Now I've got to rethink this whole writing motivation.  I know for the running my small goals to reach are certain distances and certain sizes, but what about writing?  This is where the handy-dandy word counter gadget will come in handy!  I think that for every 10K words that I write that I'll have a small celebration on here, whatever that might bring about is up in the air.  That'll be my motivation, to celebrate with all of you!


Now I've set the goals and thought these motivation ideas in motion it's now time to see where this will take me!  I hope to get between 7K and 10K by this time next week, if not then I don't know!


Here's a thing for all you readers: What motivates you to write?  What goals have you set for yourself?  What shall my punishment be? Mwahahaha!  Don't mind me, my mind is just fried from being in the sun all day!

My Findings

Goodness me, I forgot to post yesterday!  How silly of me!  I'm sorry, I was sick and I was unable to make it to the library yesterday and the charger to my laptop still hadn't arrived.  One good thing happened: I finished two of the three books that I had gotten from the library on Monday!  I'd have to say that they were very well written.  There were a few parts here or there that I would have re-worded or rewritten, but it was very little that I wanted to change.  The book The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen was FABULOUS! I'd recommend that to you all, I'll type up a review tomorrow.

I returned to the library today and was rummaging through the YA section of the library.  I had posted on the absolutewrite forum about YA that we'd like to see more of.  I searched through the rows of books at the library only to come up with very very VERY few books that were historical.

I am one who loves history.  I mean drags her family to historical sights and reads those "dreadfully dull" history books.  I like it:)  What is wrong with all the YA authors out there?  I remember as a middle schooler picking up  Pride and Prejudice at my aunt's house and being absorbed into the colorful world of Miss. Elizabeth Bennet (yes, I LOVE that our names match).  I then ventured to the public library and asked around for some great historical novels that were a little easier to comprehend than Jane Austen's.  There weren't many.

So, here I am years later still finding the same predicament: no historical novels besides prince and princesses!  I have now made it my quest to write a YA historical novel.  This isn't my first big writing task and now I have this blog to keep me going, I mean I can tell all of you readers about my writing adventures!

Just before I leave you all I just want to add one thing, this dog photo.  It's my old loyal "dog" that I have defending my weed garden!  I really need to tidy that place up a bit, but it is so darn hot here.  I have realized how much fun it is to take pictures of lawn ornaments.  There is a house not too far from mine that has... gargoyles!  I'm trying to figure out when I can go sneak over there and capture a picture or two without the owners noticing.

Well, ta-ta for now! (Tigger reference)

Too Many At Once!

Ever had that time you go to the library and find absolutely nothing?  Today I've had the opposite luck, I found way too much!
Usually I am way too picky on books that I want to read, and I usually discard them after skimming through the pages.  Most of them that I seem to pick up have plots that are transparent and have nothing to hide, which I've read too many of those books!

I came to the library today because my laptop died.  OK, it wasn't the laptop that died it was the charger.  The part that you stick inside the laptop to charge it, yeah that piece got stuck in the charger hole and refused to come out until I took pliers to it (Great technical names:))  I was originally going to the library to get on the computer to look up bras at Victoria's Secret because they are having a sale and I need bras.  I was also going to type up this post because I'm trying to see how long I can post everyday.

I went into the library was was making a beeline towards the computer area, when I saw a book.  A beautiful book with a picture of a young lady in 1800s clothing standing in front of a house.  I got distracted, I have an issue with being distracted by books and shiny things, oh and tarantulas!  I read the summary in the back and was glued!

From Amazon.com

The Girl at the Gatehouse By Julie Klassen
Miss Mariah Aubrey, banished after a scandal, hides herself away in a long-abandoned gatehouse on the far edge of a distant relative's estate. There, she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how--by writing novels in secret.

Captain Matthew Bryant, returning to England successful and wealthy after the Napoleonic wars, leases an impressive estate from a cash-poor nobleman, determined to show the society beauty who once rejected him what a colossal mistake she made. When he discovers an old gatehouse on the property, he is immediately intrigued by its striking young inhabitant and sets out to uncover her identity, and her past. But the more he learns about her, the more he realizes he must distance himself. Falling in love with an outcast would ruin his well-laid plans.

The old gatehouse holds secrets of its own. Can Mariah and Captain Bryant uncover them before the cunning heir to the estate buries them forever?

Sounds good right?  Then I went looking around and picked up another TWO books, even though I am still in the middle of two books and have a few more at home still.  I am a bookaholic!  That's it!  Grr... Amazing books need to stop bringing me in.  And the worst part is that I am going to have to come back tomorrow to type up the next post, and what have we learned that happens when I come to libraries?  Bad things.

Where am I now?  At a different library typing this post and about to look up more books.  Have you ever had this happen? Finding more than one book and reading way too much, especially when you're writing a novel yourself...

I am going to take these novels and analyze how certain elements of them play out and apply what I learned to writing my own novel.  Yeah, that sounds like a good excuse reason.

Can't wait to hear your 'bad' library experiences!  Write to you tomorrow:)

Stick Shift

The "stick" in my Father's Jeep

One of the new adventures in life that I'm taking is learning to drive a manual transmission. Laugh if you want, but it's hard! I grew up with my father always having a manual transmission in it; I had thought that driving his Jeep would be easy. It wasn't. When I got my first car (which I still have!), it was an automatic. I love driving that car, especially when I put the cruise on and the car just drives itself, I get tingles! Ok, enough of me talking about cars. While learning about the driving of the manual transmission I have realized how similar it is to writing.

When I first started to drive the manual I couldn't believe how many things there were to getting the car to go! Not only did I have to watch the road, watch the speedometer, look at the mirrors and steer the car, I also had to feather the clutch, press on the gas-but not too much!, shift into second, don't get stuck in neutral, press the clutch again and shift into third! It's tiring just thinking about all that.

Now let's get to how this analogy is going to connect.

When I first started to write about three to four years ago I had thought only about the plot and characters. Pshh, what else was there in a novel? Theme? What's that? Motives? Huh? Character depth? Who? I could go on and on, but I won't. I learned a lot about writing quickly after I had allowed my friend to read it who is amazing at writing and grammar, but she won't actually do any of that (it's to frivolous or something...).

I learned that writing is like learning the manual- it takes time, practice and a whole lot of patience. There's more than just the break and gas pedals. There are mirrors, and engines, and gears, and window washer things, and so much more. In writing there's more too. It's not just putting the characters in a situation, it's having them react to events the way that you or I would, it's giving them a back ground, giving them a future and hopes and dreams, it's giving them life. The plot is the same way. It needs turns and twists and bumps and bruises, everyone is not going to be happy in life, so neither should they in a plot. In writing there is also this lovely thing called 'setting'. Ever heard of it? It needs some attention as well. People need to see what the characters see, feel the grass, taste the salty air, hear the waves, smell the fishy aroma of the ocean! Ahh, the beach:)

I think that you all get where I'm going with this. Writing is hard, and so is driving a manual transmission. I'll leave you with this:

DRIVE SAFE and WRITE WELL, oh and DON'T DIE!


So, before I leave completely I have a question to ask you! What things in life have you seen a connection with writing? Anything else in you're life? I'd love to hear/read from you!!!

Check That Off

I am about to make a journey into the world of Blogs!  I've never done anything like this before, so it will probably take some time for me to figure out how all of these kinks work out and what exactly I am doing, so please bear with me!

I know there is no one reading this right now, trust me I understand.  I mean who in the world finds a blog before the first post is created?  And if you did, wow! I'm shocked, you're faster at finding my page than I am!

I want to keep this first post nice and simple to begin with!  I'll just lay down everything that I will be blogging about: writing! I'm starting to write, and not just any kind of writing but novels!!! Duh, Duh, Duh!!!  Yup, I will be blogging about my struggles with writing, maybe some tips I've picked up, things that annoy me about writing (what that entails, I don't know!), oh and what things I LOVE about writing.  I probably will go off topic a bit, but that'll be fun stuff I promise;)  I am hoping to blog daily or every other day, but who knows what the future will hold!

Yup, just made a blog post! Checking that off the "to-do before I die" list.  Now to go find that pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow...

Picture from Clip-Art