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?