It's called a good taste in music.

I will quote the words of my literature teacher: “You can think of a poem as a song. You don’t really think of a song’s meaning as you listen to it. What you really like is its beat, and tone, and the vocalist’s voice. A poem’s the same way. You don’t really try to find its meaning. You like it’s tone, its beat, and the voice of whoever’s reading it.”

This essay is not about poetry. It’s about story writing. But if poetry is like music, then any type of story or essay writing is like music, too. Writing has a tone; it has a beat; and it has a voice.

When I finished the first book of the Divergent trilogy (always have to bring up that book, don’t I?), I explored around Veronica Roth’s site. And she mentioned in one of her posts that the album “Memento Mori” by Flyleaf had inspired the tone and voice of Divergent. I may not be a big Flyleaf fan, but after listening to “Memento Mori” and realizing how much it mimicked the style of Divergent, I had an epiphany:

Listening to music helps your writing. A lot. And I’ll be metaphorical and say that it seeps into your writing the same way the dye in your tie-dye shirt swirls throughout the cottony fabric. And tie-dye shirts are prettier than your plain white tees, aren’t they? The tones and the styles of Memento Mori swirled throughout Veronica Roth’s book and made it more beautiful.

So I did a self-experiment. While I was writing my first manuscript, I listened to the album “Ceremonials” by Florence + the Machine because the album perfectly mimicked the tone and style of the book I imagined in my head. For some chapters I would listen to that album, and for other chapters I would listen to something else or to nothing at all.

And you know what? The ‘FATM-chapters’ had a more developed voice than the other chapters. It wasn’t that the others chapters were BAD in terms of voice. It’s just that the FATM-chapters were a little bit better. The album “Ceremonials” had seeped into my writing like tie-dye. And even though it seemed a little weird at first, I soon realized how magnificent music could be, especially when it comes to story writing. 

I'm the next J.K. Rowling (NOT)!

Ever since I found out that The Hunger Games and Divergent were each about 100,000 words, I have become obsessed with the idea that my book must be that long, to ever be even remotely successful. Ever since I've finished my first draft (there is still a long way to go, of course), thoughts like these have been seeping into my brain: 

"Successful, huh? Teenagers don't write stuff that's worth reading. No one's ever going to read your book and like it, Avon. Come on. No one your age has the mental capacity to write something that's even WORTH reading."

I'm not planning on getting my book published, as in 'on the shelf at Barnes and Noble' published, but I do want to eBook publish it. Once I reach that milestone, which may take either a couple of months or a couple of years to complete (hopefully a couple of months), I will seriously consider trying to get it properly published. I am fully aware of how long and dreary that process is, and I'm aware that, if I DO get my manuscript published, it will have to be a freakin' good book. And I mean, A FREAKIN' GOOD BOOK. 

Down in the dumps about your manuscript? Here are some ways to feel better. 

1. Have a cup of tea. And relax. 

Try to do something fun, and forget about your book for awhile. Don't touch the document for a week, and instead do something else. Maybe write on your blog. Or write an essay for that creative writing contest you've been planning on competing in. Get out of that 'book' mindset and focus on another type of writing. 

2. Read a book. 

Avid readers tend to be good writers. And good writers tend to be appreciative readers. Pick up a good book (I'd suggest John Green's The Fault in Our Starts or Lynne Rae Perkins' Criss Cross). Since writers tend to understand and appreciate the troubles and toils of writing, you're more likely to appreciate all the little 'gems' inside other authors' books. 

3. Look at a criticism. Good criticism. 

If you're feeling awful about your book, open up that e-mail your last year's literature teacher sent you about how amazing your manuscript is. Or re-read a couple of your favorite essays from last year. 

4. When you come back to working on your manuscript, be proud. 

Not many teenagers can write a book. So be proud of that. But remember, very very very very very few teenagers can write a GOOD book. So become one of those teenagers that can. The reason WHY adults are skeptical of teen writing is because they know that few teenagers can write something GOOD. So prove them wrong. Focus on being J.K. Rowling. It may never happen, but it's worth the effort, right? 

No, my precious!

Since I am not a published author and I am too lazy to come up with my own, I have been using Nathan Bransford's revising checklist to edit my book. And this was how I felt when I first read his list: 

(oh my God my book is pathetic why did I start writing it in the first place MY LIFE SUCKS)

My book needed help. A lot of it. So, for a couple of weeks I danced around the prospect of actually sitting down and editing it. And finally, about a week ago, a dived headfirst into the process. 

Tips on How to Start and Carry Out the Editing Process:

1. Be a lazy jerk. 

Give your work to other people. And why not? Throw in the revising checklist, too. 

There's only so far you can go on your own. As you read your own writing, it's sometimes hard to put yourself in the mindset of a casual reader. If you give your work to other people, you are likely to get feedback that points out mistakes you wouldn't have noticed on your own. 

2. Make your characters your BFFLs. 

When it comes to your characters, don't concern yourself with personality, body expressions, or tone of voice. Focus on one thing: motivation. Why does that character exist? What is the purpose of that character in terms of plot? As long as you CONSTANTLY have your characters' motivations in mind, the rest will almost certainly fall into place. 

If you ask yourself, "What is my character's motivation?" and you can't come up with an answer, TAKE THAT CHARACTER OUT. Flat characters, or useless characters, do nothing to support the book, so you might as well remove them.ed

3. If it doesn't help the plot, TAKE IT OUT (please note how that was in all caps). 

Whether it's characters, scenes, or subplots, if it doesn't help the overall plot line, it's not worth keeping it. Don't concern yourself with word count. It's quality, not quantity. 

Make sure EVERY SINGLE SCENE brings the plot forward in some way. Every other scene should involve the main conflict in some form. If not, take it out. 

4. No, my precious! 

As you edit, try not to look at your writing as your own writing. Look at it as someone else's writing. Slash and tear at it as much as you can. Be ruthless. That way, you can (partly)

overcome the need to protect your writing as though it is your precious. 

Hope that helps! 

There's More to 'I' Than You Think

First person narrating is reader friendly. It makes you connect with the main-character, like you're his/her best friend. When used correctly, it's an excellent way of sucking your character into your book.

It has the potential of being a writer and a reader's best friend, but it also has a way of being a writer's downfall, as well as a reader's torture.

PROS

1. Make it unique, make it interesting, make it fast

When you're writing from a character's perspective, you often have an idea of what that character is like already floating around in your head. You can implement that personality into your writing easily. Fit in your main character's thoughts here and there, make that character interact with others in a unique and interesting way, and voila! you have a surefire way of snagging readers with your distinct and engrossing character.

2. Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number...(okay I'll just shut up now...)

When a book is written in first-person, I often finding myself wondering, 'Would I react to this scenario like the main character did?' I find myself connecting with the MC's actions and feelings, and thus I find myself more interested in that character, and therefore more interested in the book. The main character quickly becomes my personal BFF in the book-world she is guiding me through.

CONS

1. Why are you so stupid, Main Character?

Realize that the whole plot of your book is inside the main character's head. So anything that the main character doesn't experience in some way...well, you just can't include it.

So, what if this detail is important to the overall plot line but you can't include it because the main character wasn't there when it happened? What if all the other characters know something the main character doesn't and the reader HAS to know what the main character doesn't know but the main character is the narrator of the story so how does the reader find out that information?

I'm sorry. Really, I'm very very sorry. I cannot help you.

2. One viewpoint, one story. One direction. (just made a 1D reference right there...anyone? anyone?)

When writing from one viewpoint, you'd better be sure that it is a viewpoint that can take you through the WHOLE ENTIRE story without becoming boring. Which means your character better be interesting...AND consistent. If you have a bland POV, the reader will become aware of the fact that your character is not interesting, and therefore your book is not interesting. And as for consistency...if your character is moody and angry for one chapter and happy and joyful for another chapter for absolutely no reason, your reader gets disoriented and confused, and will thus let go of your book.

Happy writing!

See Veronica Roth's comment on first-person writing here.

Wait...what? A BOOK?!

So I finished something called A BOOK. 

And I'm a little bit happy. 

(only a little bit happy, I swear)

To get through this, I basically told myself that I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY had to finish it or I would DIE OF SHAME. Which worked. Kind of. 

Tips on How to Write a Book:

1. Forget how crappy it is. 

Don't be a perfectionist. Concentrate on finishing it first, THEN fix it later. Try to swallow the OH MY GOD I HAVE TO FIX IT RIGHT NOW instinct. Write down what you have to fix on a sheet of paper. Once your done writing, take out the paper and start editing (which I did not do originally and for which now I pay the price). 

2. Give it to other people. I repeat. Give it to other people. 

You need other people's advice to make your work better. So give your book to a wide range of people. I suggest having AT LEAST five people read your writing so you can make it as good as possible. 

3. Relax. Life is good. 

If you are not a published author who is on a schedule to write your next book, don't feel like you have to write every single day. If you're just having a long day and you want to relax, do it. If you can wait for a moment, your book can too. 

Happy writing! 

Science (Fiction) and Faith

            Society has instinctively come to assume that ‘religion’ and ‘faith’ are brother and sister terms with the same meaning. Although Merriam-Webster states that the word ‘faith’ means “belief or trust in God or the doctrines of a religion”, there is one question to ask: Cannot faith also be in something quite isolated from religion itself?

On September 17, 2011, the eleventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who premiered on BBC One. In this episode, an alien time traveler named ‘the Doctor’ and his companions Amy and Rory find themselves trapped in a 1980s hotel with constantly shifting and changing corridors. They meet a group of people who all have no clue as to how they arrived in the hotel: Rita, a Muslim medical student, Joe, a gambler, Gibbis, an alien, and Howie, a nerd in his late twenties who lives with his parents. The Doctor eventually realizes that the hotel captures people of ‘great faith’, and a creature lives off their faith by first ‘relocating’ their faith to itself by terrifying them with their worst fear. In their dying moments, the victims lose their personality, worship the creature, and continually utter the words ‘praise him’. The victims lose their faith to the creature, and in doing so, they lose their souls, too.

At one point in the episode, the Doctor says something remarkable about why the hotel is desensitizing its victims by exposing them to their worst nightmare:

It’s not fear. It’s faith. Not just religious faith, but faith in something. Howie believed in conspiracies, that external forces controlled the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe—he was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck. They [Rita, Howie, Joe, and Gibbis] all believe there’s something guiding them, about to save them. That’s what it [the creature] replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear they fell back on their most fundamental faith…[Amy’s] faith in me is what brought us [the Doctor, Amy, and Rory] here.

           

            There is one phrase in this spiel that stands out with a pale haze of white light hovering around it:

            “Not just religious faith, but faith in something.”

***

            In Life of Pi, Pi, the main character, finds out that his biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, is an atheist. Mr. Kumar states proudly to Pi, “I don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness.” He then states later that he “believes in the virtues of science.”

            At the age of six, Mr. Kumar fell sick and had lain in bed for six months. Those six months were “the worst days of [his] life. He eventually recovered, but at the “price of his faith”. He firmly believed that “medicine had saved [him], not God”.

            Atheists may not believe in God, but that doesn’t mean they do not believe in anything. Mr. Kumar did not believe in God; he believed in science. As Pi says later in the chapter, “Atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak, speaks of faith.”

            There are innumerable types of faith. Yes, there is faith in God (or gods), but there is also faith in a loved one, in science, in luck, even in the most arbitrary fascinations imaginable. Rita had faith in Islam, Amy had faith in the Doctor, Mr. Kumar had faith in science, Joe had faith in luck, and Howie had faith in government conspiracies.

            One may live without religion, but that doesn’t mean one lives without faith.

Sources:

The Wikipedia summary of “The God Complex”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Complex

Digital Spy review of “The God Complex”

digitalspy.com/british-tv/…/doctor-who-the-god-complex-recap.html

“The God Complex” Quotes

planetclaire.org/quotes/doctorwho/series-six/the-god-complex/

The Shmoop page for Life of Pi

shmoop.com/life-of-pi/

“The God Complex” Preview Clip #2

bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kf4pw

I Can't...Right?

                                     
I think every novel writer goes through it. It's a time when you just can't write...you don't have nearly 2% as much inspiration and hope and excitement as you did before. You keep putting your writing off; you write less often; your writing quality goes down.

And that's okay. Give yourself a break.
But not forever.

When I was in this lull of writing, I had a conversation with a friend, who was reading my developing novel. And she didn't tell me how much she liked it, or even how to improve it. She told me what it was about. She explained to me the plot, the characters, the style of writing, what kind of book it was.

It wasn't like she was talking to me, the author of the book. It was like she was talking to someone who had never read the book before, let alone wrote it.

And she explained the book to me in a way I'd never thought of the book before. All of a sudden, it was a completely different book, it was a completely different manuscript, it was a completely different project. It wasn't my book, it was someone else's book. And now it was my opportunity to work on it.

And I was excited to start something new. You know why? I had a head start: what I'd already written.

(this pictures is by INeedChemicalX on DeviantArt)

Eyes

The night was mean and stormy.

Avon ran frantically. Her skirt caught in an outreached thorn, shredding the priceless fabric to frayed bits of nothing.

She cries out, softly, as she begins slipping, loosing her footing. Delicate shoes sliding down the mud bank, Avon reaches out around her for anything to stop her inevitable fall toward the raging rapids below her.

She begins falling down the hill faster and faster, the ground giving way to her reign of terror. Branches swipe her, leaves bat her, while the raging rain above pours pelting shards from it's storm, seeming to slice into her skin and prick her cuts open again.  Looking at the frothing river, hungry for blood, below, she began to accept her defeat. She almost gave in; she was about to look to death.

Suddenly, something catches her arms, reaching for the sky, her savior in her dark times. Avon, still looking down, realizes she has stopped moving abruptly. Something, something warm, was clinging to her arm as well.

Slowly, in an extremely suspicious manner, Avon turns to face her attacker. Her hand drifts for the knife in her holster, hidden from wary eyes.

She is met abruptly with dark brown eyes, staring into her soul. Even the slight smirk dancing on the lips seemed to aggravate her.

Who was this man to save her? She was perfectly fine. She would have caught herself if given another second. Look at him, acting so smug. He thinks he's her savior. She didn't need a savior. She was fine on her own!

"Are you just going to keep glaring at me, sweetie? Or do I get a thank you?" he says, almost laughing.

She glares at him for a second more, before he comes a step forward, hand outstretched towards her face. She flinches at first, wary of the approaching hand. His fingers, slender and gentle, caressed her cheek as he wiped blood off of a cut across her face. She, for a moment, almost accepted this behavior.

Wrenching her knife out of the holster, suddenly, she pinned the man to a tree, with the blade to his neck.

"Try it again. Try to touch me again. I dare you." she threatens.

He laughs.

She deepens the cut in his neck.

"Oh it's not so funny now, is it?" Avon taunts.

"Will you please let me go?" he says, pitifully.

"And why should I do that?"

"Perhaps because I have something you may want?" Smirking he raises the coin purse she had hidden in her dress earlier. Reaching to grab it, Avon loosened her grip on his neck. The man ran only a few feet away, waving the purse in the air, taunting her.

She growled and chased after him. Her eyes blazed bright beneath the stormy sky. The broken moon illuminated her face, casting ghostly shadows across her. The man stopped. Avon charged at him.

He laughed. Why does he keep laughing? What is so funny? Does he find my pain amusing?

Avon, approaching the man rapidly, charged him full speed, desperate to retrieve her coins: her only salvation for her new life. The life she might have, if this man would ever leave her be.

She launched herself at the man. Acting as a cat, with claws outstretched to shred her prey, she pounced on him. The man, taken aback at first, caught on. He sidestepped her attack. She, defeated, tumbled into the brush behind. Avon sat up, furious and stared at the man, merely a few steps away. He smirked at her once again. Really what is his problem?

Slowly, he approached her, his hand outstretched with the purse inside. She cautiously rose and took the offering. Avon opened the purse, checking inside for any missing coins.

She looked up at him.

"Why?"

"I've never seen a girl with such fire in her eyes. I've never experienced your caliber of vigorous determination. I just wanted to see what you'd do when provoked. I'm sorry." For the first time in their interaction, the man stared at the ground, ashamed.

Avon, though deeply confused and angered, attempted to sympathize with the man. She stepped towards him, grabbed one of his hands, and told him it was alright. The man smiled at her again.

For the first time, she smiled back, digging another knife into his throat. She had tackled him to the ground and was now sitting on his chest, pushing the blade ever further into his throat, once again.

"Tell me, why does this keep happening?" he asks.

"Simple. You're a fool."

"You're the one always putting yourself in the best pick-pocketing position." he smiles.

She rolls her eyes. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"My name is Ayren. I already told you what I want with you."

"I don't believe you."

"Then why'd you bother asking?"

"I don't trust you, but I need someone with charm and wit like you. Will you accompany me to my new life, perhaps for a sum?"

"I'd travel the world with you, just to see that blaze in your eyes."

He smiles.

She rolls her eyes.

Their adventure begins.


Deb K is a writer from the USA. She's a violin virtuoso, an environmental activist, a poignant actress, and a pretty wicked writer (as you can obviously tell). If you think's she's the most mind-blowing person you've ever met, I agree. 

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month

In my quest to write a novel in one school year, I have discovered the wonders of NaNo. 
What is NaNo about, you ask?

It's writing a novel. 
In one month. 
50,000 words long. 

NaNo is a pretty awesome opportunity for writers. It is a chance to loosen up and write down something that has not been thought through at all and will probably be the craziest thing you've ever written. 

But that's okay. Aren't the most amazing things you've ever read also the craziest, most unique things you've ever read?



Come on, a guy living in a hole in a ground? That's a guy with no life, not a mobbit. Wait, a hobbit? 
Kids killing kids? What kind of world is that? Do you actually think that anyone would read something that depressing?
A kid who goes to school at a magical wizard school? Excuse me, but do you think we're five year olds? 



Imagination sometimes comes in a hurry. When you have a short span of time (like a month), your brain is pulling things out of the air. (Please imagine, for a moment, the time when you did not study for a test and in the last five minutes of exam time you wrote down whatever you could think of even though it didn't make complete sense). 

About 100% percent of the time when you're writing your 50,000 NaNo words, whatever you write down is not perfect. 
But it's probably good. 

And there are a lot of people who worked with good and made awesome, right?

*cough cough J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Suzanne Collins cough cough*

There may be a future for your NaNo novel. But you have to make it. 

P.S.  I love the coffee cup on the NaNo emblem-thingy (because that's what NaNo is all about). 

"I won't grow up"

The thought of getting older (from a child's--well, my-- point of view):

When I was young I always imagined that when I reached the wonderful self-fulfilling age of eighteen, I would become an adult.
And yes, when I do reach that age, I will be an adult.
But I won't feel like one.

I have realized that the day I've always been waiting for will never come. The day when I can be as arrogant and obnoxious as I want and still get away with it. The day when I'll be sure about everything and will have complete control over my life and there will be no more insecurities and I will be the bravest person on the planet. The day when I'll wake up and say, 'Whoo-hoo! I'm a grown-up!'

Sometimes I feel like I am still five years old. Sure, I may be smarter and taller and uglier (*cough* somewhat partial sarcasm *cough*) than when I was five, but I don't feel that way.

Maybe it's because the changes happen so slowly that you don't notice them. It's not like one night your four-year-old self falls asleep while snuggling a stuffed bear and then wakes up, puts on a tie and a suit, and goes to work in a cubicle in downtown Manhattan.

Our bodies change and our minds change, but the super sub-conscious doesn't notice all the change going all around it because it's stuck in its little hobbit-hole. So by the time we're adults the super sub-conscious suddenly wakes up, takes a peek outside, and says, "What just happened here?!"

And it's sad and upset that it missed the train ride. And it's sad and upset that life is still boring and a bit scary and those insecurities are still there and there is still so little control and what did you say about being brave?

But that's okay, because there are a lot of people who missed the train, too.

The last thing I have to say? Peter Pan, you were wrong. You were so, so wrong.
Growing up? Pshah. There's no such thing.