Random thoughts.

Vague title is vague.

This post really doesn’t have any point, it’s more just me regurgitating thoughts about writing and what I personally want to see more of in novels. Have I done this before? Maybe, I don’t remember.

Anyway,

I’ve mentioned this before, but I personally don’t like romance stories. Mostly because, they’re boring and predictable. And this is not what I want in the media I consume. It’s okay when it’s a background plot, but usually, the main plot will take a backseat to a will-they-won’t-they. And this is boring because there’s only two ways it can go, either they get together, or they don’t. And most of the time, you can tell which way the book is going.

I can’t say I hate all romance because I have seen a few select that I actually do enjoy. A long time ago (almost a decade now) I read a book that involved the enemies to friends to lovers plot that took place in the 1840’s. One in which the couple married early in the book (an arranged marriage) and absolutely hated each other. The girl ran away a total of four times, only to be dragged back by her husband because he’s sticking to this miserable thing. I found it interesting because they didn’t actually become lovers until the very end of the novel. They were friends for the 2nd act of the book, when she ran away a 4th time and that time, he let her go. She then lived by herself for three years where she realized she did love him, went back in the last chapter and they lived happily ever after.

I also recently read a short story where two incredibly snarky people kinda hate each other have a short, train-wreck of a relationship that involved a lot of fighting, hate sex, breaking up and then getting back together only to be repeated a few days later. It wasn’t until friends of both parties were like, whoa, this is a really bad idea, staged an intervention, massive blowout fight before the unhappy couple realized they really brought out the worst in each other and split.

Both of these felt different to me and was probably why I enjoyed reading them.

But personally, the relationships that I enjoy reading about is, is sibling relationships. Not in an incest way (ew) but just how siblings relate to each other. There’s so much ground that can be covered. Siblings can love each other, hate each other, be estranged, have never met, have been separated and reunite. It’s so different from a romantic relationship because you can’t choose your family and can completely never get rid of them.

Sure, you can cut them out of your life and refuse to talk to your siblings, but they’re still your family.

In short, I feel like romance and novels that involve massive plots about weather or not the couple will get together has been done to death. Novels about siblings and all of those crazy relationships is personally what I want to see more of.

Anyway, that’s my random post for now.

What would you personally like to see more of in media, novels and T.V shows?

~Ames

 

Adventures in Outlines

Sometimes, I make myself laugh.

At this point (March of 2018) I have written six rough drafts and I have outlined for none of them. I’m the kind of person who can keep a lot of details, plot included straight in my head. While I don’t have every single thing planned out before I start typing, I have a large overview of the plot known. Sometimes I plan out full scenes before I start writing, it’s just something that I do.

Up until this point, I’ve never felt a need to outline.

Now, this has worked against me in a few points. I have gotten into a few plot holes or had times where I knew the ending and had a general idea where I was going, but was a bit lost in the middle, but over all: this way works for me.

Until recently, when a friend recommended that I try an outline for the next book I’m going to write. She’s a fellow writer, along with she has been published and knows what she’s talking about, so I decided, why not.

It’s going surprisingly well.

While the outline is not finished (five pages and counting, lol) I’ve gotten a lot of details down. In some parts I’ve written a few lines of dialogue, or just said remember this point. Just pouring out all I want to happen in this chapters.

Overall, I was surprised at how well this works out. I sound really silly right now, wow, doing an outline works??? Surprisingly, yes. What a concept.

Once the outline is finished, then I’ll start writing the book and we’ll see how I’m doing then. I suspect this will make writing much easier. But overall, I’ve been really pleased with how this is going. I’ve always been careful to plan out a book and make sure I knew the ending before I start writing, but this way seems very helpful and so far, it seems to be making things easier. No need to remember any of the tough details when it’s already down on paper.

So yeah, overall doing well. I got a few more books from my local bookstore today (Very excited!) and will probably post more book reviews soon. Life is going well.

Do any of you use an outline, or do you just start writing and see what happens? Or maybe your one of those people who figured out outlines work amazingly well years ago and am laughing at me. No shame, I accept it. I’m that kind of person. Always doing things the different and sometimes more difficult way.

Outlines, who knew. 

~Ames

Writing your way out of a writer’s block

Hey all,

It’s been quite a week. After way too much candy (50% off all candy at the store after Halloween!) bit of craziness at work, I’ve been trying to settle back into a routine of writing to get back on track.

As from my last post about it, I’ve been having some writer’s block. I mentioned that I’ve been trying to work my way out of it. It took me a bit, but I realized that I did not know the characters well enough and that I needed to do some exercises and fine tune the plot.

Easier said then done.

But what I have really been learning is the only way to get out of a writer’s block is to write. There is no other way around it. No secret trick or magic formula that will just make it go away. Sure, thinking about the plot can help get the ideas flowing. But you have to sit down and actually write again to get past it.

Sometimes it can be a personal one. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. In fact, I have scenes planned for books that I wrote over two years ago.  (Thank goodness I haven’t published yet.) I know it can be difficult to look back and think what was written is pure garbage and wonder who would want to read such crap.

It’s times like these that I remind myself that it’s okay for a first draft to be messy. That no one else is going to read it but me until I want them to. So if it’s a terrible, ugly, incoherent, mess, that it’s alright. They just have to exist. The second and third drafts are for editing and polishing. The first draft is just for writing.

In fact, when writing the best selling, Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn also had writer’s block and decided to just write whatever her mind wanted to. What she wrote ended up being the infamous ‘cool girl’ speech, and it turned out amazing. Here’s part of it from the movie

(Note, I do not own any of this)

Sometimes, you gotta sit down and write. See where your characters lead you and be unafraid. There is no shortcut. The only cure to a blockage is to write like mad, even if that writing is terrible.

Who knows where you might find yourself.

~Ames

Writing, explained.

I saw this and it was too funny not to share.

Writing is frustrating

Not writing is frustrating

Wanting to write and not being able to write is frustrating

Not wanting to write, but knowing you have to because these little things called deadlines exists and that’s frustrating.

And yet, we keep on writing.

Stay strong and keep writing everyone! To all doing NaNoWriMo, good luck! One of these years I’m going to attempt it, but not right now. My health has not been that well, work has been busy and I’m trying to finish a project (who knows if I’ll even be able to finish.) I’ve got too much on my plate right now.

Happy Halloween!

 

Writing is hard.

What’s this? I’m not writing a review!

Don’t worry, there’s more coming. I read so many books while my internet was down after the hurricane, it wasn’t even funny.

Anyway, writing has been hard as of late. I’m working on a rough draft of a book and I’m dealing with writer’s block. Like hardcore, bashing my head against the wall. It has not been good.

I’m about 100 pages into the book. I don’t write in chronological order, so I have the beginning and the end already. (I like the get the end out of the way pretty early. It helps me feel like I’m working toward something instead of meandering all over the place.) But I’m seriously struggling with the middle.

I think it’s just more of I don’t have enough of the finer plot sketched out yet and I don’t know the characters in that part of the book well enough to get it done. I think I need to do some character exercises and more outlining.

Yeah. Writing is difficult. If it wasn’t, then everyone would be doing it and publishing books left and right.

I want to get this rough draft finished by the end of 2017, although that isn’t looking too good right now. Once I finish it (whenever that might be) I have two rough draft that have been sitting for more then six months that I’m going to go back and give tehm a good strong edit.

What about you guys? Any projects you’re working on?

~Ames

 

Writing characters of the opposite gender.

I will admit; this is something that I struggle with all the time. It’s not much writing background characters or one-shot characters. It’s the up close and personal main ones.

As one can probably guess, I am female. Up until now, most of the books I’ve written have been female led. There have been some dudes, but I’ve been playing it safe for the most part.

I noticed and decided to do something new. I have been repeatedly that the only way to learn and grow as an author is to try new stuff and force yourself into new situations. Soooo, the next three books I’m writing with all have only male leads.

I’m both excited and nervous about this. It could either go really well, or it could be a huge mess.

The first book is about a set of fraternal twin boys and their friend who lives down the street. It deals with themes of family, loyalty and how deeply bonds of friendship run. But most importantly, I’ve always wondered if someone could ever kill their best friend. And I’ll be finding out in this one.

The second one will be about virtual realities. I don’t have the entire plot (or the character’s name) worked out yet. But it’s coming, bit by bit.

And the last one will be a sci-fi about dystopian and end of the world (and not about an evil government rising up). I’ve been excited for this one, but there’s still tons of research I still need to do.

I think the thing I’m most worried about is making my male characters too emotional. I’ve heard that complaint before, guys complaining that female writers’s male characters don’t sound authenticate. They talk/act weird and are way too emotional.

If anyone reading this has thoughts, do you have any tips or suggestions? What would be a good example, or something to avoid?

I’d really appreciate it =)

~Ames

 

What makes good writing?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. What makes good writing? Is it the style the author uses? The words themselves?

Maybe way the author plays with the words, so they roll back and forth in your mind, dancing and leaping until they explode off the page? Is it more simple terms? Shorter sentences, lighter words. Gentle and quick, soft and dainty?

Or when bright terms shine like stars, break across the sky and force their way into place. When leaves fall, jewels glow and shatter, eyes narrow and knuckle under in the agony of life?

Okay, I was getting carried away with those sentence, but you get the point. What makes good writing?

It’s probably one of the hardest things to do. Everyone says, make sure your writing is well done. Don’t write bad, write well!  Make sure everyone loves your writing. But then, they never tell you exactly what good writing actually is.

It’s almost as if you’re expected to go out and figured this out for yourself.

So I’m trying to suss out the truth. What does good writing mean to you? Is it bold sentences with sharp words? Or when the scene is set so vividly, you feel like you’re there living it?

My thought is with any other skill, you must work and work and work at it. No one wakes us knowing how to play the piano, you must practice and practice. The same with writing. Go out and try it, then have people rip it to shreds and have them say what they like the best. Then, someday, you’ll find some small but good jems in your pieces. After you find them, keep writing like that.

Let me know, I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

~Ames

The plot bunnies that just won’t stop

Oh man, I haven’t posted for almost three weeks. I’d like to say it’s because I’ve been really busy. This is partly true, as I did finish another manuscript last week (woot!) But I’ve also just been a bit lazy.

Anyway,

I’ll tell the truth, if I walked past you down the street, I probably wouldn’t even notice you.

(Unless of course you were doing something crazy. But then, only maybe) Mostly because I’m the kind of person who’s always lost in thought and as others say, have my head off in the clouds a lot.

It’s mostly because I have several books worth of characters (and sometimes characters who aren’t even mine) up in my head and demanding my attention. From the minute I wake up until I moment I go back to sleep. They are the plot bunnies and the characters who just won’t shut up.

Sometimes I think the only way I can get them to stop is to just sit down and write it all out. Seems to be the only way that really works.

Otherwise, everyone upstairs just sits up there and yaps until I’m half insane. ^^

As I’ve heard before, writing is only paid insanity. It sure seems that way sometimes. We are all just paid to listen to voices and then write them out. The characters do feel very real sometimes.

I really do hope I’m not the only person who has this problem of plot bunnies that just won’t go away. For me, sometimes I have ideas that go on for years and years before I can get rid of them.

On another note, this last week was a one year mark for me. I’m very happy and pleased. Very much looking forward to the next year and many more to come.

Thanks for reading!

~Ames

Here we go again.

Wow, it’s been quite a week. Work and then I managed to twist my ankle. Thankfully, it’s not real bad, but still been sore. (It would of been really bad if I had hurt my hands so I couldn’t type.)

So, I’m starting to think a lot of my new blog posts are going to be based off conversations I have with my beta.

Because sometimes I agree with what they say and sometimes, I’m more like… No. But to be safe, I want to get a few other writer’s opinion.

So here we go.

In the scene, there’s two male characters (we’ll call them Joe and Bill). This is how the sentence goes.

“Joe stepped into the room carefully. “Bill,” He greeted with narrowed eyes.”

As the beta responded to this,  The basic rule with pronouns is: They describe the last proper noun. The way this sentence is put together, Bill is saying his own name. I think you mean Joe is saying it.

I personally don’t think so, as I establish in the first sentence that Joe is the speaker. And very rarely do people just say their own name just because.

Anyway, I’m always just curious to hear what other people think.  Does it make sense that Joe is the speaker here? I Mostly want to know because I like a third opinion in life and I think it works out way better that.

~Ames

Nanowrimo

It’s coming! Like Winter!

For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s National Novel Writing month. Where you pledge to write 50,000 words in the month of November, or about 1660 words a day.

Which is a lot of words D:

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but I sadly have a job where I work over 80 hours a week (and sometimes closer to 100) and usually average around 20,000 words a month, if I’n lucky. I tried telling my boss I’d have to work less hours so I can write more, but that didn’t really fly with them.

And since I can’t sacrifice anymore hours of sleep without loosing any sanity, I will not be able to precipitate this year.

However, I do know that some day, there will be a time where I will have a more flexible schedule and will be able to tackle this monster of a project. I find it kinda interesting. You don’t revise or edit along the way (which is something I’m bad about doing. Even in the middle of my first draft.)

You just write! And then once you’ve hit your word count at the end of the month, you sit back, sigh a big sigh of relief, take a little break and then start working on editing your little monster.

Because let’s be real, it’s going to be a huge mess after all that free writing.

So yeah. While I’m not doing it, I’d love to know if anyone else is, or if you’ve done it before. Let me know and have a good day =)

~Ames