Getting Back in the Swing of Things

  Wow, where did Friday go? My life is so full now with school and work. And now I get a second job at the college I attend to top it all off. Why did I say yes to that?… Oh. Right. I need money.

  But anyway, I wanted to tell you about my latest exciting news: my Creative Writing class at college. It is so much more than I thought it would be. The book we are using is full of advice and ideas to get all the creative thoughts flowing. And it is challenging me in ways I didn't think it could or would! Now I don't write every day because I want to, I write because I have to. I seriously have no choice. Well, unless I want a bad grade––which I don't!

  I am sorry to say I haven't worked on my WIP for over a week because of all the studying. But I have been writing every day so I count that for something. At least I am not letting my creative mussels go soft. That was something the book said.

  The book also said that a writer can't only write "when they feel like it" and expect their writing to be good. To be good or sometimes even decent at something requires practice. Athletes practice several times a week and sometimes every single day. And still most of them will never make it big. And yet some writers only write now and then and are surprised when there stuff isn't up to par.

  So now I write more because I have to keep up my grade and to stretch my creative mussels to their very limits. What are those limits? I like to think that I don't have any. Maybe one day I will find them, but I have a feeling that day is a long way off.

  The lesson here? Just write. Don't care if it is good, just write. Write for yourself. Write because someone, somewhere, needs your story.

And now I leave you with Olof to help you remember what I said:

How to Take Criticism That I Don't Need

In this part two on how to take criticism, I will be discussing how I handle unneeded criticism.

The hard part about advice is to know when not to take it. How to determine if the advice I have been given is sound or not often goes like this:

First, I give it a few days.
Taking a step back is ALWAYS a good idea. It helps me not get caught up in the emotions of the moment and really ponder the advice.

Second, I consider the source.
Is the advice from my editor? My sister? My best friend? All of those people could give good (and even great) advice. But the people who are just reading this because I begged them too (aka, my friends) may not be the best book writerly advice givers.

Third, I get a second opinion.
Many times have I had a well meaning beta reader tell me to change something. I didn't think it needed to be altered so I would ask another reader. More often than not when I get to this step I find that my second reader often agrees that nothing should be changed or it shouldn't be changed as drastically as first mentioned.

  Once it has been throughly decided that I do not need the advice, I will delete the comment and never think of it again.

Just kidding.

  I put the thought on the back burner… for now. I have a separate word document for that. I may come back to it later and realize they might have a tiny point. Or it serves the purpose of letting me see my book through different eyes: the eyes of a reader.

  Maybe I will take their advice later, maybe I won't. The point here is not all advice is sound, and therefore, doesn't need listening to. But all criticism has its place. Sometimes that place is in a separate word document.

How to Take Criticism That I Need

  When anybody, my sister, one of my beta readers, or, most recently, my lovely editor, points out a fault in my book I am like:

  I often get a little feisty, sometimes a little angry. Okay, maybe more than a little. Some times I get so mad all I can do is huff at my screen and make up excuses about how they just don't get my brilliance. When this happens, I try to close my laptop and take a step back. Sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes a few days, until I have calmed down and can think clearly.

  And then, when I think I can look at it all in a new light, I admit to myself that they might, might, have a valid point that requires a closer look. So I open up my computer again and reread the passage in question. Often, this happens:

  And then I find that, yeah, they are right. This section of text really sucks. That doesn't mean I suck (at first it was hard to wrap my head around that). But maybe it was late when I wrote that, or maybe I just wasn't trying hard. 

  Whatever the reason, when I come to the conclusion I need to fix it* I have a few options:

  1. I could rewrite the entire passage to better reflect the plot/character/setting.

  2. I could delete the passage of text all together.

  3. I could do a mix of rewriting and deleting.

  4. I could move the passage to a better spot in the story.

  All of the above options completely depend on the context of the passage. I must note here that when I "delete" more that a few sentences, I first copy and paste them into a new document to save for later. It doesn't happen very often, but every now and again I realize I could have just moved the passage to another spot or I change the story to better reflect the passage. At such times, it is a great joy to simply copy and paste the passage back in. I have enough headaches without trying to recreate my own writing.

Let me know if any of you do something else to change a passage!

*I will post on Friday on what to do when I don't think a passage needs fixing.

Pain

 Happy Friday everyone! Today I am going to talk about pain in my WIP (work in progress).

  

  My main character, Mynnah, experiences a lot of pain both physically and mentally throughout her life time. Much of the fiscal pain takes place before the book starts so that causes much of the mental pain that she struggles with throughout the book.

  Without going into to much detail, Mynnah was abused before the we meet her in chapter one. I did a lot of research into the kind of abuse I decided she would suffer (Wow, looking back at what I just wrote sounds kind of cold, doesn't it? Ah, the life of a writer.) I tried my best to research, imagine, and add some of my own experiences with pain to the book to make Mynnah's struggles seem more real.

  I decided to give my MC some pain for several reasons. One, because everyone experiences some kind of physical and emotional pain at some point or another so that makes her more relatable to the reader. And two, because I experienced some very harsh physical and emotional pain myself and thought I was at least party equipped to wright about such a tender topic.

  You see, early in 2013 I was diagnosed with ALL or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. For those of you who don't know, that is a form of blood cancer. My doctors and nurses warned me early on, there was gonna be a lot of pain. At the time I had never broken a bone or even dislocated an arm. Falling off my bike when I was 8 into a prickle bush is about the most physical pain I could every recall before that year.

  I learned quickly what real pain could feel like. Chemotherapy, the "medicine" they gave me to kill of the cancer cells, is actually more like poison. It can't distinguish bad cells from good cells, and as a result I lost my hair, all the good bacteria in my gut, a lot of weight, and my immune system. To make a long story short, I felt like crap for 7 months and many days I was so weak I couldn't even get out of bed.

  What Mynnah experiences in the book isn't the same as what I went through, but the constant, sometimes unexplained emotional and physical pain is something we share very closely. I tried to make her reaction to what had happened to her match my own. I hope I did a good job.

  But it is important to remember, whether you have experienced the pain you are writing about or not, that everyone reacts differently. Some people close up, some people open up, some get angry at themselves and the world, and others go mad. What your character does it up to you and what you think his/her personality is.

  I hope I didn't scare you away from writing about pain! I think it adds a lot of depth and realness to any story. And, as all writers know, you don't have to experience it to write about it.

  P.S. Editing update! Tuesday at my Grandmother's I got a solid hour in of editing which is a big deal to me. I am almost half way through draft 8!

Character Profile: Mynnah

Here she is! This is as close of a picture as I could get to what I think Mynnah looks like:

Her name is Pronounced MIN-ah. The "Mynn" like the beginning of Minnesota. And the "ah" like at the end of the name Hannah.

Full name: Mynnah Greensleeve

Role: Main Character

Age: 17

Species: Halfling (half human half elf)

Hight: 5'4"

Hair: Red, long, and strait

Eyes: Emerald green with dark lashes

Skin Tone: Fair

Skill/ Magic Ability: She can turn herself invisible

FanFic

Today a wrote a short frozen FanFic for a writing group I belong to. I don't write Fan Fiction often so it was an interesting challenge for me. Enjoy:

Love is an Open Door

  "I think I might be evil." Elsa whispered staring down at her hands. She had just created an incredible ice palace with nothing but those hands directing the magic. The act had drained most of her power, and after getting over the rush of all she had just accomplished, she slumped against the nearest ice wall. She pulled at the hem of the blue crystal dress she had created for herself and sighed deeply. She wanted desperately to close her eyes, yet every time they drifted shut all she could think about was Anna. The desperate, betrayed look her sister had when she saw what Elsa had been hiding from the world all these years.

  Tears threatened the corners of her eyes. "Conceal, don't feel," she said, the words coming as naturally as her own breath. She pushed back the emotions and forced herself to stand. Moving would keep her thoughts off the past and it's hurts. She walked to the balcony. The sun was well risen to show the golden light of midmorning. The snow on the mountain side below sparked in millions of colors so bright she almost had to look away. So cold and yet so beautiful, she thought. Like my power.

  She turned from the window with a sigh and went to admire the rest of her ice palace. The frozen fountain in the front room was her favorite part she decided. But the huge chandeliers came in a close second. She loved how the lack of windows did not mean the place was dark, for sun light easily penetrated the ice walls. The light scattered everywhere so no corner was dark and the entire place seemed to glow. She sighed again, this time with contentment. Her work didn't look like a rush job, it looked like someone had painstakingly planed for years before building. And while she hadn't really considered every detail, somehow she had known just what it would look like when it was done. Her magic must have filled in the rest. 

  She turned and considered the front door. Right now it opened only at her command, and she liked the feeling of protection that brought. The security of a closed door was the only security she knew, the small bit of control she had in her life. As a child, while her powers grew more dangerous, the only certain thing was a door. It could be closed, and it could be locked. And then nobody could enter. Protection. Control. Peace. She smiled. It was better this way.

  As she turned to go something happened. It was less than a second, maybe half a second, but it changed everything. She got a vision of Anna knocking on her ice door. Foolish, she swept the thought aside as quickly as it had come. Anna would never come here. And if she did it wouldn't be to see her. Then, like the rush of cold water she remembered all the times Anna had knocked on her door growing up. Ever persistent. It would be just like that sister of hers to march up here and try to get in. Would Elsa let her? She closed her eyes. She had nothing to hide now. 

  Without turning around she loosened the lock on the door. If Anna ever came, the door would open to her. Just this once.

Writers' Inklings

  I had a wonderful time spending the night at a friend and fellow writers house. Lauren is a young adult writer like me and she writes historical fiction. Her current project is a book about the years after the civil war. She was also one of my beta readers for my current WIP (work in progress) before I sent it off to my editor.

  Lauren and I spoke long into the night about writing in our genres, how to get an agent, the pros and cons of self publishing, and just all around books and book stuff.

  We came upon the topic of what is popular to read today for young adults or YA fiction. We expressed our frustration that EVERY book now is about a girl with a perfect boyfriend whom she can not live without. For example The Fault in Our Stars, The City of series, Divergent, If I Stay and so on. Now most of these are great books, and I am not trying to diss them but what happened to being equal? What happened to breaking away from stereotypes? And what about all those girls without boyfriends, which is a large part of the population including myself and Lauren?

  I said, "Why can't there be a book about a girl who is awesome and saves her world without the help of a man?" Honestly, I had been wondering this for some time. And here are the reasons why:

  Not every girl has a perfect boyfriend. And those that do happen to find somebody often have a far from perfect relationship.

  Needing/having a boyfriend often makes up a large portion of the plot that is not really necessary. Now, I often think romance adds a fun element to just about any story, and I love to read about it, but does it have to be in every YA novel? No.

  The girl is often so attached to "her man" that she misses out on life, and cues that seriously could have helped her save her world faster and cleaner.

  I am not a man hater, but really, I am done with the romance being the focus of all of these girl's lives. I want to read a book about a girl who doesn't have and doesn't get a boyfriend. So I am gonna write one.

  Since this idea has come to me I have talked to more of my friend who all agree that today's books just go over the top with the whole romance thing (and some of them have/had boyfriends). So I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I am gonna write this YA no romance novel.

  And it is going to be epic.

Make a Date

I really must learn to make more time for my novel. I have been avoiding working on it for almost a week because of life stuff. I have been working, having fun chemotherapy jitters from last week's doctor's visit (more about that in my next post) but no more. Here are some goals I am setting for myself:

Work on my book baby everyday.
  Even if it is just a quick "check in" in and out in ten minutes or so. I will work on my manuscript every day. No exceptions. And if I forget or time gets away from me. I will make it up the next day.

Schedule a longer session.
  At least once a week I should find some time for a long session, like at lest an hour of uninterrupted time. Like this Sunday afternoon I should be free. So my book and I have a date to make. I know my book will be there, so I must try hard not to be late. Try. Try. Try.

Remember mornings are gold.
  I am am just about always free before 9 a.m. even when classes start on the 18th of (oh goodness!) this month. I am also most creative in the morning so this is a great time to hash out and edit my book. I do have free time, I just need to learn to use it for more than adding to my Pinterest boards.

Email my editor with questions.
  I have been putting this one off to accumulate more questions to ask her but I realize the further I get a way from when she edited the less she will likely remember about it (the details anyway). So I need to get those questions to her asap.

Well, that is all I have for now. Talk to you all on Monday.