I may have mentioned these before, during one of my writing classes, but I guess I'll post about it again. It's an exercise we did a couple times up at the writer's retreat.
They called it "stream of consciousness." You start with a short phrase (we used "In the woods, I..." and "I always see..."). Then you begin writing. You have a time limit. Maybe only two minutes, maybe ten. And during that time, you write constantly. Just start, and continue to put down anything that comes into your head. No breaks! You can get some interesting stuff this way. And it's a good thing to do when you don't know what else to write.
Any other ideas for starter phrases?
~*~
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Emotions
So, something I thought would be fun.
Recently I've started flipping through some of my manga in search of specific expressions made by the characters. Since I'm weird and have certain ones in mind, some of them take a long time to track down.
I've been thinking of sticking them into blog posts occasionally, just as a random, fun emphasis for the point I'm trying to make. I just attempted one in the last blog post - Watanuki freaking out about something or other.
I have one of Kenshin's startled face. Kaoru making this adorable, pathetic sobbing face. Ed blowing up. Al and Fai making cat faces. And I'll probably add more to it eventually. When I think of more good expressions.
Recently I've started flipping through some of my manga in search of specific expressions made by the characters. Since I'm weird and have certain ones in mind, some of them take a long time to track down.
I've been thinking of sticking them into blog posts occasionally, just as a random, fun emphasis for the point I'm trying to make. I just attempted one in the last blog post - Watanuki freaking out about something or other.
I have one of Kenshin's startled face. Kaoru making this adorable, pathetic sobbing face. Ed blowing up. Al and Fai making cat faces. And I'll probably add more to it eventually. When I think of more good expressions.
Oh family, how you eat time
So, Crystal asked me how I'm always so busy.
Since that was a question I really wanted to know the answer too, I've been thinking about it. And the answer is... it's completely Mom's fault.
And now I shall prove it.
Starting last Thursday.
Me: "Okay. I have until next Friday until my cousins come to visit from Portland. I'll be spending most of that week with them. Tomorrow morning, I'm helping Grandma and Grandpa. And then in the afternoon I volunteer. Saturday I'm helping my aunt and uncle all day. Sunday I do my weekly chores, but then my aunt and uncle are coming over. That still leaves four days free. So, I'll use one of them to plan my party!"
Then on Friday.
Mom: "We're going to Grandma and Grandpa's on Thursday."
Saturday
Mom: "Sita thought you could volunteer at the used book store Monday to earn some store credit."
Me: "Sure, okay. I am addicted to used bookstores, after all."
Tuesday morning
Me: "Okay! I have one free day before the party! Time to work on some of my projects!"
Not so. Early that morning:
Mom: "Since this is your only free day for the next two weeks, you can paint the garage door.
Me:
Yeah, so even in the middle of summer, I get pretty swamped. This is pretty much how things go every week, though the activities are always different.
I have been getting some of my own stuff done. If you say you have no time to do stuff, then you never will. So I make sure to work on my own projects. Although I'm falling behind on writing again. Sigh.
But it's hard to plan stuff with friends. TT^TT Because on all the days that I have nothing planned... I don't feel like doing anything because so much else is going on!
Fact of the day: Daddy long legs have very potent poison, but their mouths are so small that they could never bite a human being.
Since that was a question I really wanted to know the answer too, I've been thinking about it. And the answer is... it's completely Mom's fault.
And now I shall prove it.
Starting last Thursday.
Me: "Okay. I have until next Friday until my cousins come to visit from Portland. I'll be spending most of that week with them. Tomorrow morning, I'm helping Grandma and Grandpa. And then in the afternoon I volunteer. Saturday I'm helping my aunt and uncle all day. Sunday I do my weekly chores, but then my aunt and uncle are coming over. That still leaves four days free. So, I'll use one of them to plan my party!"
Then on Friday.
Mom: "We're going to Grandma and Grandpa's on Thursday."
Saturday
Mom: "Sita thought you could volunteer at the used book store Monday to earn some store credit."
Me: "Sure, okay. I am addicted to used bookstores, after all."
Tuesday morning
Me: "Okay! I have one free day before the party! Time to work on some of my projects!"
Not so. Early that morning:
Mom: "Since this is your only free day for the next two weeks, you can paint the garage door.
Me:
Yeah, so even in the middle of summer, I get pretty swamped. This is pretty much how things go every week, though the activities are always different.
I have been getting some of my own stuff done. If you say you have no time to do stuff, then you never will. So I make sure to work on my own projects. Although I'm falling behind on writing again. Sigh.
But it's hard to plan stuff with friends. TT^TT Because on all the days that I have nothing planned... I don't feel like doing anything because so much else is going on!
Fact of the day: Daddy long legs have very potent poison, but their mouths are so small that they could never bite a human being.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Query Letters
Here's another sheet I thought would be helpful to share.
So, as you may or may not know, when you submit a work of fiction to an agent, you need to start by sending them a query letter. It's really easy to find information about them online, so I'll let you look it up. I doubt I could explain them very well anyway. But basically, you get one page in which to sell your work to the agent and convince them that you're better than the hundreds of other requests they get.
If you do something wrong, they'll drop your letter and move on to the next one.
Not easy to do.
There was a sample of an excellent query letter, but apparently I'm not supposed to share it (Ask me if you want me to show you though).
But I'll post the list of what NOT to do.
Address the letter to the agent. Don't address it "to whom it may concern" or some such thing. And don't send mass messages to many agents at once.
Try to get across that you actually RESEARCHED agents, and they you've tried hard to pick out the right agent for your work.
So, as you may or may not know, when you submit a work of fiction to an agent, you need to start by sending them a query letter. It's really easy to find information about them online, so I'll let you look it up. I doubt I could explain them very well anyway. But basically, you get one page in which to sell your work to the agent and convince them that you're better than the hundreds of other requests they get.
If you do something wrong, they'll drop your letter and move on to the next one.
Not easy to do.
There was a sample of an excellent query letter, but apparently I'm not supposed to share it (Ask me if you want me to show you though).
But I'll post the list of what NOT to do.
Address the letter to the agent. Don't address it "to whom it may concern" or some such thing. And don't send mass messages to many agents at once.
Try to get across that you actually RESEARCHED agents, and they you've tried hard to pick out the right agent for your work.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
First Sentences
Okay, here's one of the fliers we got at the Writer's Retreat.
When the agent came in and talked to us, she handed out a couple papers. I'll write about this one today, and probably the other one tomorrow.
This one is about first sentences in a story (AKA what you should or should not do to get an agent's attention if they ask for a writing sample).
Good first sentences.
Bad first sentences.
When the agent came in and talked to us, she handed out a couple papers. I'll write about this one today, and probably the other one tomorrow.
This one is about first sentences in a story (AKA what you should or should not do to get an agent's attention if they ask for a writing sample).
Good first sentences.
Bad first sentences.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Rules
Okay. I'll do the more informative posts starting tomorrow. I want to do the fun one today.
This was one of our exercises on the second day. There were about 20 pictures spread out over the floor. All of us picked one, and started writing about it.
I found this picture really awesome.
And then I found out that it was on the internet. I'm guessing that this is the original site.
I like these sorts of pictures where things aren't quite what they seem. And this one's really creative.
So, here's the thing I wrote. I'm just going to tweak it a bit and add in line breaks so that it's a poem. Cause it's basically a poem anyway.
Everything is unraveling.
The edges are fraying,
And piece by piece,
Things fall apart.
The very lines
Of the page on which I write
Wrinkle and slide
To the floor,
A tangle of blue thread.
Those lines
That usually guide my pen
And harness my words,
Slipping away,
Leaving nothing but whiteness
And the homeless scratches of ink,
Made by a small bird
Digging for ideas
Among the fallen leaves of her mind.
All rules,
All lines guiding us,
Blow away in the wind
And leave me alone
With nothing
But the leaves,
The scratches of ink,
And the broken pieces of a world crumbling apart.
It's funny, because I only noticed after I wrote it that the title of the picture was "Rules." Very appropriate.
My Dad just finished reading this about an hour ago. And he said "It's so sad!" and started implying that all the dark stuff I read for school was rubbing off on me. Which I retorted: "It's about how people freak out when their guidelines disappear, and they have nothing to follow, when in reality those guidelines are only lines on a page."
And just now, I started playing around, and realized that I could do this! It lines up almost perfectly!
I don't have a Flickr account, so I can't leave a comment asking for permission to use the guy's photo. I also wanted to show him what I did with it...\
Maybe Nick will send the message for me. I know he has Flickr.
This was one of our exercises on the second day. There were about 20 pictures spread out over the floor. All of us picked one, and started writing about it.
I found this picture really awesome.
And then I found out that it was on the internet. I'm guessing that this is the original site.
I like these sorts of pictures where things aren't quite what they seem. And this one's really creative.
So, here's the thing I wrote. I'm just going to tweak it a bit and add in line breaks so that it's a poem. Cause it's basically a poem anyway.
Everything is unraveling.
The edges are fraying,
And piece by piece,
Things fall apart.
The very lines
Of the page on which I write
Wrinkle and slide
To the floor,
A tangle of blue thread.
Those lines
That usually guide my pen
And harness my words,
Slipping away,
Leaving nothing but whiteness
And the homeless scratches of ink,
Made by a small bird
Digging for ideas
Among the fallen leaves of her mind.
All rules,
All lines guiding us,
Blow away in the wind
And leave me alone
With nothing
But the leaves,
The scratches of ink,
And the broken pieces of a world crumbling apart.
It's funny, because I only noticed after I wrote it that the title of the picture was "Rules." Very appropriate.
My Dad just finished reading this about an hour ago. And he said "It's so sad!" and started implying that all the dark stuff I read for school was rubbing off on me. Which I retorted: "It's about how people freak out when their guidelines disappear, and they have nothing to follow, when in reality those guidelines are only lines on a page."
And just now, I started playing around, and realized that I could do this! It lines up almost perfectly!
I don't have a Flickr account, so I can't leave a comment asking for permission to use the guy's photo. I also wanted to show him what I did with it...\
Maybe Nick will send the message for me. I know he has Flickr.
More reviews...?
After that massive review post a little while ago, I wasn't planning on reviewing anything for a while.
Except I've just watched a few of the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs. I'd heard they were depressing, but I was curious about them anyway.
I saw the Kenshin backstory one with Tomoe. The animation was much nicer than the main series. And yeah, it was depressing. But this part, at least, was in the books too. Although I'm petty certain that Tomoe didn't cut Kenshin's face with a knife. That was... weird. I don't have that specific book in the series, so there's no easy way for me to look it up, but I remember that the knife fell and hit him, or something?
Also, I noticed that the battle scenes were much better. I don't mean bloodier (which they most definitely were) but they actually showed all of the moves and blows and parries. In the main anime, from what I've seen so far, a lot of it is dramatic still-shots and lines across the screen to indicate the sword slices.
But then, about five minutes ago, I finished watching the first episode of the other OVA, which apparently takes place after the books end.
Duuuude...
Sooo bleak.
The summaries have cut out every fun thing about the series. They're taking all of the sad, depressing parts from the entire series, and cramming them down your throat all at once. Jeez. There's none of the fun Kenshin. He's just gloomy and depressed. The whole time.
Oh well. While I'm at it. I'll be brief in looking at the Pokémon Adventures manga. Recently I tried to catch up with it, since I didn't look at it for ages (since there's 10 random chapters missing that they never put back up, so I had to wait for the books to come out in America so I could get past that gap). The Diamond/Pearl/Platinum one's pretty fun. They spent most of the series working with about 2 Pokémon each. But it annoyed me how right around the Spear Pillar battle, they suddenly caught the rest of their teams at the same time. It wasn't spread out at all. They just chucked them at you all at once, and we weren't really introduced to any of them.
And the Black/White manga... Kinda annoying. First of all, N's really creepy, and he doesn't behave like he did in the games. Plus, in the games, he says that Pokémon battles can hurt Pokémon, and he doesn't really enjoy them much. But in the manga, he says that Pokémon can only be happy when they're fighting. What the hell?
And then the series of events... dude, they cut out huge hunks of events. They just mention them later on. I can understand if they cut out gym battles. I might even buy it if they cut out evolutions. But they've also cut out events that are important to the development of the plot. If you've played the games, then you can understand what happened. But usually they're so detailed. I actually checked on a couple different websites to see if some chapters got skipped, but both sites had the same thing. Grumble. I'm still hoping that I've just missed some of it.
(They're releasing these books in America right now, but they're so small. There' maybe 1 chapter per book, or something? Why didn't they just release them in the normal size manga? Even if I liked this arc, I wouldn't buy these. I'd need to buy five times as many books.)
Hmm. I think watching that OVA has made me annoyed.
Change the topic to something good!~
I just finished reading the fourth Twelve Kingdoms book no the way home from the Writer's Retreat. It's definitely good! Especially after reading so many of those Limyaael's Rants on fantasy writing (still haven't read them all). I just read the rant about people from our world traveling to a fantasy world, and the author pretty much addressed all the stuff Limyaael complains about. The world is very interesting and well-developed. Especially politically, which is something that I have trouble developing.
I gotta say, the 4th book (3rd season of the anime, with Suzu and Shoukei) has got to be my favorite. The way that the friendship between the three girls slowly develops, and the whole political struggle thing. There are some awesome moments in this book. Like when Yoko tells Suzu and Shoukei who she is. And when Yoko and Keiki ride out to confront the armies, and the general guy goes "Hooooly krayp, I really screwed up."
Okay. I'll scan a couple of the things from the workshop, and probably post them right now. I shall bury this whiney review post for you. You can have the fact of the day then.
Except I've just watched a few of the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs. I'd heard they were depressing, but I was curious about them anyway.
I saw the Kenshin backstory one with Tomoe. The animation was much nicer than the main series. And yeah, it was depressing. But this part, at least, was in the books too. Although I'm petty certain that Tomoe didn't cut Kenshin's face with a knife. That was... weird. I don't have that specific book in the series, so there's no easy way for me to look it up, but I remember that the knife fell and hit him, or something?
Also, I noticed that the battle scenes were much better. I don't mean bloodier (which they most definitely were) but they actually showed all of the moves and blows and parries. In the main anime, from what I've seen so far, a lot of it is dramatic still-shots and lines across the screen to indicate the sword slices.
But then, about five minutes ago, I finished watching the first episode of the other OVA, which apparently takes place after the books end.
Duuuude...
Sooo bleak.
The summaries have cut out every fun thing about the series. They're taking all of the sad, depressing parts from the entire series, and cramming them down your throat all at once. Jeez. There's none of the fun Kenshin. He's just gloomy and depressed. The whole time.
Oh well. While I'm at it. I'll be brief in looking at the Pokémon Adventures manga. Recently I tried to catch up with it, since I didn't look at it for ages (since there's 10 random chapters missing that they never put back up, so I had to wait for the books to come out in America so I could get past that gap). The Diamond/Pearl/Platinum one's pretty fun. They spent most of the series working with about 2 Pokémon each. But it annoyed me how right around the Spear Pillar battle, they suddenly caught the rest of their teams at the same time. It wasn't spread out at all. They just chucked them at you all at once, and we weren't really introduced to any of them.
And the Black/White manga... Kinda annoying. First of all, N's really creepy, and he doesn't behave like he did in the games. Plus, in the games, he says that Pokémon battles can hurt Pokémon, and he doesn't really enjoy them much. But in the manga, he says that Pokémon can only be happy when they're fighting. What the hell?
And then the series of events... dude, they cut out huge hunks of events. They just mention them later on. I can understand if they cut out gym battles. I might even buy it if they cut out evolutions. But they've also cut out events that are important to the development of the plot. If you've played the games, then you can understand what happened. But usually they're so detailed. I actually checked on a couple different websites to see if some chapters got skipped, but both sites had the same thing. Grumble. I'm still hoping that I've just missed some of it.
(They're releasing these books in America right now, but they're so small. There' maybe 1 chapter per book, or something? Why didn't they just release them in the normal size manga? Even if I liked this arc, I wouldn't buy these. I'd need to buy five times as many books.)
Hmm. I think watching that OVA has made me annoyed.
Change the topic to something good!~
I just finished reading the fourth Twelve Kingdoms book no the way home from the Writer's Retreat. It's definitely good! Especially after reading so many of those Limyaael's Rants on fantasy writing (still haven't read them all). I just read the rant about people from our world traveling to a fantasy world, and the author pretty much addressed all the stuff Limyaael complains about. The world is very interesting and well-developed. Especially politically, which is something that I have trouble developing.
I gotta say, the 4th book (3rd season of the anime, with Suzu and Shoukei) has got to be my favorite. The way that the friendship between the three girls slowly develops, and the whole political struggle thing. There are some awesome moments in this book. Like when Yoko tells Suzu and Shoukei who she is. And when Yoko and Keiki ride out to confront the armies, and the general guy goes "Hooooly krayp, I really screwed up."
Okay. I'll scan a couple of the things from the workshop, and probably post them right now. I shall bury this whiney review post for you. You can have the fact of the day then.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sharing Work
So, picking up where I left off yesterday.
Yesterday evening, an author came and read us some of her poetry. I bought one of her During the retreat, I started thinking about one of my "future stories." There's a scene in it that I've been planning for a while, and since I was inspired, I wrote it yesterday and read it to the group. I'm not actually sure that I've ever posted about it on my blog. So I guess I'll give a quick summary.
There's this girl named Flori who's been ill all her life. She loves flowers, so every spare inch of her room where she spends most of her time is filled with vases and pots of flowers. And there's a friend of hers who hangs out with her. He doesn't have a real name yet, but his temporary name (for my pilot chapter) was Tyler. That's far too close to Tyra though, so it's gotta go.
But I wrote a scene where Tyler walks into Flori's house and finds her room and all the flowers completely devastated, and Flori is missing.
I ended on sort of a cliffhanger note,, and when I stopped, everyone remained staring at me. It took them several seconds to realize that I was done.
That scene is basically where the beginning of the strange goings-on start. Flori has a bit of magic, which she doesn't really know how to use. The essence of it is that she can take a person's thoughts and dreams and turn them into reality. Not actually reality, but to the affected person, it's as good as reality. Since Flori didn't really know how to use her magic, it really only manifested in really vivid dreams and daydreams in the people around her (There were probably some negative consequences as well, but I don't know what they are yet). But some other people find out about it and want to use it to their own ends. But then there's a major spoiler which I'm not going to tell you~
Then again this morning, we each read another piece of our work. Everyone's work was very good, in completely different ways.
I took a couple pages from Katani's prologue, where Hyo hears the prophecy and tells the Emperor (I call Kazuhi a "King" for the moment, but I need to change all of those references to "Emperor").
I also changed Lari's name to Yoka. I'm still not used to that shift yet. And I'm going to change the names of at least three other characters too. Sigh.
I didn't seem to get as many comments as the other people did for their readings. They said that they could easily picture the scene, and the dialogue and gestures. But they didn't say much else. I could try to guess why, but I doubt if I'd be very accurate. Heheh. Like "my style of writing was different from what everyone else wrote, so they didn't know what to say." Except that wouldn't make much sense.
Then, after lunch, we had our closing circle.
In the free time I had before Mom came to pick me up, I worked more on the first two chapters of Katani's story. A couple days ago, I sent them to Nick and asked him to mark them up for me. He'd never marked up any of my stuff before (though he'd read a few of my shorter things) so I wasn't sure what to expect.
Nick's a very good proof reader.
Beware, Nick! I will start coming after you in the future to have you tear up my stuff! Actually, I might send you chapter three once I read over it once more. I gotta send it to Ellen and Crystal. Nicole too, probably.
Anyway, thanks for the advice, Nick! (I"m assuming you'll read this some day) I spent much of the afternoon fixing a lot of your comments. Which reminds me... I have to go back over the first chapter again.
I wonder if I'm spending too much time on the first two chapters right now. Except this is when they're fresh in my mind. And I'm not sick of working with them yet. So I'll look over the first chapter once more to make one of my alterations fit in better.
And somehow I keep neglecting Katani. When Nick told me his impressions of Katani, Len, Yoka, and Garrett, he was pretty spot-on for the other three. And then he said what he thought of Katani, and I went, "whoa! That's so wrong!" Totally my fault, of course. I went back and tried to add more of his essence and reactions. I probably still need to add some more, but I think I've gotten a better image of Katani in there.
I could go on and on about all the stuff I need to fix for Katani, but you'll be glad to know that I'm going to stop here.
Fact of the Day:
In the 1800's, flocks of passenger pigeons were said to darken the sky from horizon to horizon. Then, at the beginning of the 1900's, they disappeared forever, hunted to extinction.
Yesterday evening, an author came and read us some of her poetry. I bought one of her During the retreat, I started thinking about one of my "future stories." There's a scene in it that I've been planning for a while, and since I was inspired, I wrote it yesterday and read it to the group. I'm not actually sure that I've ever posted about it on my blog. So I guess I'll give a quick summary.
There's this girl named Flori who's been ill all her life. She loves flowers, so every spare inch of her room where she spends most of her time is filled with vases and pots of flowers. And there's a friend of hers who hangs out with her. He doesn't have a real name yet, but his temporary name (for my pilot chapter) was Tyler. That's far too close to Tyra though, so it's gotta go.
But I wrote a scene where Tyler walks into Flori's house and finds her room and all the flowers completely devastated, and Flori is missing.
I ended on sort of a cliffhanger note,, and when I stopped, everyone remained staring at me. It took them several seconds to realize that I was done.
That scene is basically where the beginning of the strange goings-on start. Flori has a bit of magic, which she doesn't really know how to use. The essence of it is that she can take a person's thoughts and dreams and turn them into reality. Not actually reality, but to the affected person, it's as good as reality. Since Flori didn't really know how to use her magic, it really only manifested in really vivid dreams and daydreams in the people around her (There were probably some negative consequences as well, but I don't know what they are yet). But some other people find out about it and want to use it to their own ends. But then there's a major spoiler which I'm not going to tell you~
Then again this morning, we each read another piece of our work. Everyone's work was very good, in completely different ways.
I took a couple pages from Katani's prologue, where Hyo hears the prophecy and tells the Emperor (I call Kazuhi a "King" for the moment, but I need to change all of those references to "Emperor").
I also changed Lari's name to Yoka. I'm still not used to that shift yet. And I'm going to change the names of at least three other characters too. Sigh.
I didn't seem to get as many comments as the other people did for their readings. They said that they could easily picture the scene, and the dialogue and gestures. But they didn't say much else. I could try to guess why, but I doubt if I'd be very accurate. Heheh. Like "my style of writing was different from what everyone else wrote, so they didn't know what to say." Except that wouldn't make much sense.
Then, after lunch, we had our closing circle.
In the free time I had before Mom came to pick me up, I worked more on the first two chapters of Katani's story. A couple days ago, I sent them to Nick and asked him to mark them up for me. He'd never marked up any of my stuff before (though he'd read a few of my shorter things) so I wasn't sure what to expect.
Nick's a very good proof reader.
Beware, Nick! I will start coming after you in the future to have you tear up my stuff! Actually, I might send you chapter three once I read over it once more. I gotta send it to Ellen and Crystal. Nicole too, probably.
Anyway, thanks for the advice, Nick! (I"m assuming you'll read this some day) I spent much of the afternoon fixing a lot of your comments. Which reminds me... I have to go back over the first chapter again.
I wonder if I'm spending too much time on the first two chapters right now. Except this is when they're fresh in my mind. And I'm not sick of working with them yet. So I'll look over the first chapter once more to make one of my alterations fit in better.
And somehow I keep neglecting Katani. When Nick told me his impressions of Katani, Len, Yoka, and Garrett, he was pretty spot-on for the other three. And then he said what he thought of Katani, and I went, "whoa! That's so wrong!" Totally my fault, of course. I went back and tried to add more of his essence and reactions. I probably still need to add some more, but I think I've gotten a better image of Katani in there.
I could go on and on about all the stuff I need to fix for Katani, but you'll be glad to know that I'm going to stop here.
Fact of the Day:
In the 1800's, flocks of passenger pigeons were said to darken the sky from horizon to horizon. Then, at the beginning of the 1900's, they disappeared forever, hunted to extinction.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Time to Write
So, here I am at the Writer's Retreat.
We've done some interesting exercises so far, but some of them I won't post until I'm at home, because I need to use my scanner.
But they've also given us plenty of time to do our own writing. And I finished editing chapter 3 of Katani yesterday! Wahahah!
We really only had one main activity yesterday, which was writing about nature. Although I include a lot of nature in my writing already.
This morning, we had two guest speakers. One was an agent, who gave us a lot of advice about getting published. I want to scan the fliers she handed out, and then I'll talk about them. Because there was definitely some helpful stuff in it.
The other woman worked in communication. She talked about how important, and almost essential it is to have some sort of website thing where people can look up stuff about you. Publishers often want to see if you have a blog or twitter or facebook or something, because social networking is so crazy important nowadays. And she talked about how to get more people to follow you. I'm sure I could attract more followers if I started doing different stuff with the blog, and advertised it. But I have fun with it right now as it is. I could advertise my blog on Facebook, or Deviantart or Fanfiction. But I don't know if anyone else I know would actually read what I write.
Which brings up another question. I have 6 followers on the blog, who I've been wondering about for a while. I don't think I know them, so I wonder if they found my blog and thought it interesting. Or if they actually read my stuff when I post it.
I do wonder if people I don't know would actually be interested in reading my blog.
We did some activities just a couple hours ago. We drew sound (blindfolded with our non-dominant hand) and then had to make a picture out of it. To see what we can create out of craziness. I ended up with a bunch of sombrero-wearing guys sitting around a campfire.
We read some short story excerpts and discussed them.
And then everyone got a photograph and wrote a story about it for 15 minutes. I'll share mine when I can scan the picture.
It's actually quite a small group. There's six of us in the program, not including the person in charge and the guest speakers. I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest. I'm also the only one who's really into fantasy. I've told everyone that I take fantasy seriously, since there's so much bad fantasy out there. That I spend a lot of time developing worlds and rules and everything. And that I include a lot of themes, especially environmental ones. Maybe I'm just too self-conscious about writing fantasy since no one else is really working on it. Especially since its young-adult fantasy. Somehow it seems like fiction and nonfiction writers don't take young adult fantasy seriously (because so much of it is so bad). Unless that's just me? What do you think?
Fact of the day:
Only female mosquitos drink blood, and only when they have babies.
We've done some interesting exercises so far, but some of them I won't post until I'm at home, because I need to use my scanner.
But they've also given us plenty of time to do our own writing. And I finished editing chapter 3 of Katani yesterday! Wahahah!
We really only had one main activity yesterday, which was writing about nature. Although I include a lot of nature in my writing already.
This morning, we had two guest speakers. One was an agent, who gave us a lot of advice about getting published. I want to scan the fliers she handed out, and then I'll talk about them. Because there was definitely some helpful stuff in it.
The other woman worked in communication. She talked about how important, and almost essential it is to have some sort of website thing where people can look up stuff about you. Publishers often want to see if you have a blog or twitter or facebook or something, because social networking is so crazy important nowadays. And she talked about how to get more people to follow you. I'm sure I could attract more followers if I started doing different stuff with the blog, and advertised it. But I have fun with it right now as it is. I could advertise my blog on Facebook, or Deviantart or Fanfiction. But I don't know if anyone else I know would actually read what I write.
Which brings up another question. I have 6 followers on the blog, who I've been wondering about for a while. I don't think I know them, so I wonder if they found my blog and thought it interesting. Or if they actually read my stuff when I post it.
I do wonder if people I don't know would actually be interested in reading my blog.
We did some activities just a couple hours ago. We drew sound (blindfolded with our non-dominant hand) and then had to make a picture out of it. To see what we can create out of craziness. I ended up with a bunch of sombrero-wearing guys sitting around a campfire.
We read some short story excerpts and discussed them.
And then everyone got a photograph and wrote a story about it for 15 minutes. I'll share mine when I can scan the picture.
It's actually quite a small group. There's six of us in the program, not including the person in charge and the guest speakers. I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest. I'm also the only one who's really into fantasy. I've told everyone that I take fantasy seriously, since there's so much bad fantasy out there. That I spend a lot of time developing worlds and rules and everything. And that I include a lot of themes, especially environmental ones. Maybe I'm just too self-conscious about writing fantasy since no one else is really working on it. Especially since its young-adult fantasy. Somehow it seems like fiction and nonfiction writers don't take young adult fantasy seriously (because so much of it is so bad). Unless that's just me? What do you think?
Fact of the day:
Only female mosquitos drink blood, and only when they have babies.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Writing Workshop
So, early tomorrow morning (very early) I'm off to the writing workshop. I'm not sure If I'll have much time for internet, but if I do, I'll try to post stuff about what we do.
It's just until Sunday, so it's not really long or anything.
The other thing I signed up for - the Writer's Residency Grant (where I could stay up at the Retreat for a week for free as I work on my stories) will apparently not happen yet. If I got in, I was hoping to spend the week after the workshop writing Katani's story. But we won't even know who gets in until September. Grumble. That's after school starts, so I'll have to wait till the end of the semester if I get in. But then it will be really cold, and possibly snowing up there. And one of the reasons that it would be great to stay up at the Retreat is that it's such a beautiful place (in the mountains with gardens and ponds and such). Writing outside would be great. So, I'll have to wait until after winter to go up.
It gets even more complicated, but I'll leave it at that. I gotta get in first.
Hiuuuuuuu. I finished the second chapter of Katani. I know I finished chapter one ages ago, and I should have finished chapter two ages ago too. But chapter 2 is really important. I mean, the first chapter is always the most important, but it's more like a prologue (despite all I've heard about prologues being undesirable). So, chapter two is where Katani and his friends are all introduced. I have to give enough information so that the reader can keep their bearings. Especially about the Retrievers and the GRA. But I don't want to give much information all at once either.
Infodumps = bad
So, it took me a long time of slowly sorting out all the details, and setting aside a lot of them for later.
Also, much of the chapter is Katani and his friends interacting. I need the dialogue to be good, and also revealing about their personalities.
Looots to deal with.
But now I'm fairly confident with what I got. It could use a bit more work, of course. Like more action among the speech. But it's something I'd be okay showing someone.
Big juggling act of getting everything sorted. Phew.
I've also been looking around at the programs nearby colleges offer. I'm trying to see what I might be able to do as a Master's thesis. There's a creative writing program that looks possible. I emailed in yesterday to get more information about it.
A little while ago, I watched the new Ghibli movie. From Up on Poppy Hill. It's made by Miyazaki's son.
I am heavily biased towards Ghibli. It seems like a movie that I might usually be neutral towards I end up enjoying, as long as it's made by Ghibli. But I did enjoy it. There was some nice stuff in it. I like the big club house.
Fact of the day:
Pigeon droppings have a high concentration of nitrogen, so they used to be important ingredients in homemade gun powder.
It's just until Sunday, so it's not really long or anything.
The other thing I signed up for - the Writer's Residency Grant (where I could stay up at the Retreat for a week for free as I work on my stories) will apparently not happen yet. If I got in, I was hoping to spend the week after the workshop writing Katani's story. But we won't even know who gets in until September. Grumble. That's after school starts, so I'll have to wait till the end of the semester if I get in. But then it will be really cold, and possibly snowing up there. And one of the reasons that it would be great to stay up at the Retreat is that it's such a beautiful place (in the mountains with gardens and ponds and such). Writing outside would be great. So, I'll have to wait until after winter to go up.
It gets even more complicated, but I'll leave it at that. I gotta get in first.
Hiuuuuuuu. I finished the second chapter of Katani. I know I finished chapter one ages ago, and I should have finished chapter two ages ago too. But chapter 2 is really important. I mean, the first chapter is always the most important, but it's more like a prologue (despite all I've heard about prologues being undesirable). So, chapter two is where Katani and his friends are all introduced. I have to give enough information so that the reader can keep their bearings. Especially about the Retrievers and the GRA. But I don't want to give much information all at once either.
Infodumps = bad
So, it took me a long time of slowly sorting out all the details, and setting aside a lot of them for later.
Also, much of the chapter is Katani and his friends interacting. I need the dialogue to be good, and also revealing about their personalities.
Looots to deal with.
But now I'm fairly confident with what I got. It could use a bit more work, of course. Like more action among the speech. But it's something I'd be okay showing someone.
Big juggling act of getting everything sorted. Phew.
I've also been looking around at the programs nearby colleges offer. I'm trying to see what I might be able to do as a Master's thesis. There's a creative writing program that looks possible. I emailed in yesterday to get more information about it.
A little while ago, I watched the new Ghibli movie. From Up on Poppy Hill. It's made by Miyazaki's son.
I am heavily biased towards Ghibli. It seems like a movie that I might usually be neutral towards I end up enjoying, as long as it's made by Ghibli. But I did enjoy it. There was some nice stuff in it. I like the big club house.
Fact of the day:
Pigeon droppings have a high concentration of nitrogen, so they used to be important ingredients in homemade gun powder.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Polaris Plushie
Just made a new plushie pattern and plushie. It still needs a bit of tweaks. I was lazy, so I made my plushie out of my first pattern draft, and it looked like a fat cow with really scrawny legs. So I started over, this time making a practice plushie out of an old sheet. Which was fortunate, since the legs were still off. This one looks so much better than my first attempt. But I still fixed the pattern up a bit in case I ever want to try something else like this.
So, it's based off of my Ponyta, Polaris. White coat, blue eyes, and three colors in her mane and tail.
I feel so productive.
Except not. Because I've hardly done anything on Katani. At least I've finished most of the first conversation, which is sort of gnawing away at my brain. I'll have to go back and reorganize the order of what they talk about though.
At least I'm getting back on track with my fanfic. A few of my last chapters felt lame, so I'm getting them exciting again.
Fact of the day:
Technically, rubies are just red sapphires.
I feel so productive.
Except not. Because I've hardly done anything on Katani. At least I've finished most of the first conversation, which is sort of gnawing away at my brain. I'll have to go back and reorganize the order of what they talk about though.
At least I'm getting back on track with my fanfic. A few of my last chapters felt lame, so I'm getting them exciting again.
Fact of the day:
Technically, rubies are just red sapphires.
Culture Research
So, for the past few weeks, I've been doing a lot of research on Asian culture, since Reyu, where Katani's story is set, is supposed to be somewhat Asian-based. And in my first draft, you can't really tell at all.
I've made a list of a bunch of Asian cultures, and I plan to go through them one at a time. I'm currently researching about ancient Chinese culture. I'll do Japanese next. Those are the two I know most about already. I know a bit about Tibet too.
I've definitely learned a lot, from books, internet, and friends. Crystal and Ellen, especially.
I know Reyu won't be completely be based off of real Earth cultures. For example, males won't be so dominant like they were in older China and Japan.
I'm also watching Shogun, as part of my Japanese research. Both Dad and my uncle recommended it as a good view of older Japanese culture. I gotta say... Japanese people way back then sure weren't afraid to die. Or carve up their insides. Eugh.
The one actor, Toshiro Mifune, is a famous Japanese actor who I know because Ellen recommended a couple of his movies to me - the Tsubaki Sanjuro ones. Not that he was a comedian or anything, but he had a sort of humor that I liked. When I found out he was in Shogun, I didn't think that humor would show up at all because of the mood of the series. So the sailor dance scene was certainly a surprise. A fun one.
I think I've been doing much more research than writing though...
And I leave for the writing workshop on Friday. I thought we were leaving next Friday...
Fact of the day:
If a hawk ever grabs hold of you, don't try to pull free. If the hawk feels you struggle, it will automatically hold on all the tighter - not because it wants to, but because it's such a strong reflex. The way to get away is to completely relax. Even if you have 2-inch talons digging into you.
I've made a list of a bunch of Asian cultures, and I plan to go through them one at a time. I'm currently researching about ancient Chinese culture. I'll do Japanese next. Those are the two I know most about already. I know a bit about Tibet too.
I've definitely learned a lot, from books, internet, and friends. Crystal and Ellen, especially.
I know Reyu won't be completely be based off of real Earth cultures. For example, males won't be so dominant like they were in older China and Japan.
I'm also watching Shogun, as part of my Japanese research. Both Dad and my uncle recommended it as a good view of older Japanese culture. I gotta say... Japanese people way back then sure weren't afraid to die. Or carve up their insides. Eugh.
The one actor, Toshiro Mifune, is a famous Japanese actor who I know because Ellen recommended a couple of his movies to me - the Tsubaki Sanjuro ones. Not that he was a comedian or anything, but he had a sort of humor that I liked. When I found out he was in Shogun, I didn't think that humor would show up at all because of the mood of the series. So the sailor dance scene was certainly a surprise. A fun one.
I think I've been doing much more research than writing though...
And I leave for the writing workshop on Friday. I thought we were leaving next Friday...
Fact of the day:
If a hawk ever grabs hold of you, don't try to pull free. If the hawk feels you struggle, it will automatically hold on all the tighter - not because it wants to, but because it's such a strong reflex. The way to get away is to completely relax. Even if you have 2-inch talons digging into you.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Rohan the Dragon
Random random randomness
There's this one thing on DA that makes different species of adoptables and either gives of sells them out. Their page is called AmaDoptables. For the non-custom ones, they usually go to the first person that submits a proper claim. But every now and then they have one with special conditions.
I really love their baby kirin designs, and I've tried several times to get one of them. And I have not yet succeeded.
On the 4th of July, they had a few creatures colored in red, white, and blue. I failed to get the kirin, but there was also a dragon. I looked at the conditions just for fun, and it said to explain the funniest things we do on the 4th of July. So, just because I couldn't resist, I had to give the story of how I terrified my young cousin with a long green bean (I told him it was a snake, and ate it). I just wanted to share my story, so I didn't even submit a normal claim. And, what do you know, I won.
Though I'll still probably try for a baby kirin. Heheh.
So, I'd like you to meet Rohan.
I wanted to name him something to do with fireworks, so I looked up different types of fireworks. I wanted to make his name a play on "Roman Candle." After a couple of failed ideas, I settled on Rohan (LOTR reference!).
You can go to his page to see the character I gave to him.
Heheh. You guys should try for an adoptable. If you get one, introduce him/her here on the blog!
The next question is... why do I need one of their dragons? Don't I have plenty of my own already?
Fact of the day:
The amount of light you get in the evening affects your metabolism. If you're about to go to bed, turn off the bright lights and use dimmer ones. If there's less light before you go to sleep, you'll fall asleep faster!
There's this one thing on DA that makes different species of adoptables and either gives of sells them out. Their page is called AmaDoptables. For the non-custom ones, they usually go to the first person that submits a proper claim. But every now and then they have one with special conditions.
I really love their baby kirin designs, and I've tried several times to get one of them. And I have not yet succeeded.
On the 4th of July, they had a few creatures colored in red, white, and blue. I failed to get the kirin, but there was also a dragon. I looked at the conditions just for fun, and it said to explain the funniest things we do on the 4th of July. So, just because I couldn't resist, I had to give the story of how I terrified my young cousin with a long green bean (I told him it was a snake, and ate it). I just wanted to share my story, so I didn't even submit a normal claim. And, what do you know, I won.
Though I'll still probably try for a baby kirin. Heheh.
So, I'd like you to meet Rohan.
You can go to his page to see the character I gave to him.
Heheh. You guys should try for an adoptable. If you get one, introduce him/her here on the blog!
The next question is... why do I need one of their dragons? Don't I have plenty of my own already?
Fact of the day:
The amount of light you get in the evening affects your metabolism. If you're about to go to bed, turn off the bright lights and use dimmer ones. If there's less light before you go to sleep, you'll fall asleep faster!
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