Too Much to Chew?

Filed Under Blogging, Planning, Tales from the Author's Desk | Leave a Comment

I clearly must love to be able to tell people “no, I can’t, I’m busy,” because I keep signing up for various writer things!

First, of course, is the Platform-Building Campaign. I love all the writers I’m meeting but good lord, there are so many of you! I read your posts, but I have to get better at commenting on them. Comments are near and dear to my heart, so I bet they are to yours too.

Earlier this week, I signed up for A Round of Words in 80 Days (or ROW80 for short). It’s like NaNoWriMo, but for more days and you get to set your own goals. I like how NaNo holds you accountable and provides you with a huge support group, but 50,000 words in November? I have only won that once, and it was because I didn’t have school or a job at the time. And this year I have both! So I’m going to set more manageable goals, like 750 words a day, which I chose because…

I joined 750 Words! It’s all about the rewards program. For writing 750 words a day for a certain number of days, you get a new badge. The penguin, for example, is what you get for 5 consecutive days, and I’ll have that Sunday if I keep it up! I am very reward motivated, but it doesn’t work when I give myself the reward. So I’m letting 750 Words do it for me!

Have you signed up for either of these? How do you keep yourself accountable to your writing?

Another Award!

Filed Under Blogging | 3 Comments

Wow guys, feeling the love here. The One Lovely Blog Award comes from Brenna, who I’m so glad I’ve met. If I could return this award to you, I would!

Instead, I must pass it on to 15 more people. My goodness, another 15 people! Okay, here goes:

  1. A Quid for the Quill
  2. Bethany Lopez
  3. Imagination to Publication
  4. Ink & Prose
  5. Jocelyn Rish
  6. Rebekah Loper
  7. Laura Ann Swanson
  8. Life Debatable
  9. Trisha Leaver
  10. Write. Skate. Dream.
  11. The Scribble Muse
  12. F.E. Sewell
  13. Callie Leuck Writing
  14. Lauren Orsini
  15. Kailer

Teacher’s Orders

Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk | 2 Comments

Sorry everyone, especially all my new-comers, but I’ve got two papers due within the week and I need to devote any free time I have to them.

Will see you soon!

Versatility

Filed Under Blogging | 6 Comments

Thank you, Rebekah, for the Versatile Blogger Award!

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it.

Now, since I’ve already given 10 things about myself here, I’m going to do 7 things about my lesser-known WIPs.

  1. SER: I got the idea during my last morning in Sydney when I tried to look out the window at the darkness and saw part of my face reflected instead. Maybe because I was in Australia, but I instantly connected it with the Aboriginal belief that your soul can be stolen with a photo.
  2. Fragment: Evolved from an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction, set fifteen years in the future and followed Toph and her new deaf sandbender student as they try to stop assassinations of the new Earth King. I decided the story was too good to confine to a fanfic.
  3. Sight: working title for an idea I got in Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways course (she made us think of ideas, no matter how many we already had – I was miffed at first, but now I’m glad she did!). I intend to write this story – about a serial killer in an alternate-Victorian Era London – for NaNoWriMo.
  4. Gatekeepers: in order to learn more about my Zodiac members, I started a “fanfic.” I developed five or six new characters this way, as my MCs moved around the room. It’s an interesting technique, I may try it again next time I have a large ensemble cast.
  5. Fairy Tales: The idea is to put the “fairy” back in “fairy tales.” I was never that into fairies, but after reading Jim C. Hines’ Stepsister Scheme and Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy (both of which you should read!), I fell in love with these tricky, ambiguous characters. I’ve started compiling ideas for tales that don’t traditionally have fairies, like Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella.
  6. Jane Austen knock-offs: These ideas are on the far backburner. I’ve got a retelling of Emma where she wreaks havoc with love spells, and a part-experiment part-reality-show that tries to see if Austen fans can fall in love in the middle of a Regency fantasy. I love Austen and would love to write books based on her world – but as far as a driving need? Not there yet.
  7. Fanfiction: In my second year of college, I wrote my first fanfic – Harry Potter and the Lost Island. Since then I’ve written a lot of Harry Potter and Avatar fiction, plus a few oddballs like Meet the Robinsons (my last and personal favorite for its uncharacteristic silliness). If you want to check out my stories, including the beginning of the Toph fic that has now become Fragment, you can find them under my alias polarbearmagus.

Now that I’ve sufficiently wow-ed you, here are the 15 people I’ve tagged!

Blissfully Brenna
Where I Get Wordy
Ninja Owl
It’s the world, dear
Juliana Haygert
Scarlets Sanctum
diannaswritingden
Chasing the Dream
Emy Shin
I’d Rather be Writing
the writer in me
Writing Soup
Silver Lining [having some site issues right now]
Something to Write About
Once Upon a Time…

The Problem with Dense Characters

Filed Under Characters | 7 Comments

First, let me clarify.

I’m not talking about literary-device ignorant characters – the ones who are ignorant enough of the world that they can ask questions, and answers can be given to readers without being a complete infodump.

I’m not talking about literally stupid characters – Dudley Dursley, prime example.

I’m not even talking about the improper use of the backstory iceberg principle – which says that most of a character’s backstory should be below the water.

I’m talking about obnoxiously dense main characters. These are the main characters who, despite all evidence, have no clue what’s going on until the climax. For example, if Harry Potter had all of the clues he was given to find the Chamber of Secrets, and didn’t figure it out until the basilisk slithered out of the sink in the girl’s bathroom, he would be a dense character.

So your character’s stupid? What’s the problem?

The problem is that they cannot be more stupid than the reader.

One of the most frustrating books to read is one where all of the clues are there, glowing with neon lights, and not a single person figures it out. (I’m looking at you, Cassandra Clare!) Now, your readers may be Young Adult, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid. Give them a little credit, and a real mystery to figure out. They’ll be much more likely to read more of your books.

Liebster Blog

Filed Under Blogging | 4 Comments

Tracy gave me this award yesterday, so I’m passing it on!

“The basic idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to showcase bloggers with less than 200 followers. When you get the award, you keep the love going and give it to 5 other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.”

Here are some lovely ladies I follow, either from Ladies Who Critique or the Campaign – be sure to check them out!

Rebekah Loper

Laura Ann Swanson

Fairview

Ladonna Watkins

Nicole Settle

First Campaigner Challenge

Filed Under Campaign, My Writing Excerpts | 26 Comments

Here’s the challenge:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: “the door swung shut.” (also included in the word count)

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

I tried, but the story didn’t like being at 200 words. It didn’t like 34 words of fluff. So here’s my entry, at 166 words:

Frozen Roses
The door swung open. There they were. Limp red mittens drowning in water. I pulled the ice tray toward me. Twelve perfect cubes of frozen rose petals.

The Book had said this would cure love. Bespelled roses consumed by ice. No more waiting to be noticed, no more “accidental” run-ins, no more wasted daydreams. My feelings would die with the roses. I would be free of him.

I wasn’t free. I craved his hand on mine, running up my arm. Lazy Sundays with just the two of us. Nobody else, especially not a wife.

My body shook. What was I thinking? I couldn’t still be in love. I couldn’t. The roses were dead. I’d done everything perfectly.

No. Not perfectly.

One corner of one petal breached the surface. Breathing. Surviving. Tying me to him.

I yanked out the ice tray and ran the faucet. When the red was completely submerged, I returned the tray and stepped back. Cutting myself off. For good.

The door swung shut.

You can vote for my story by clicking here!

Blogger Game – 10 Random Facts

Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk | 13 Comments

As started by Jessica, this is a game for everyone in the Campaign group to get to know each other. Enjoy, and don’t forget to post links to your own list in the comments!

  1. I won first place at the science fair my freshman year of high school. My project looked at the genetics of horse color.
  2. In 7th grade I started a Mary Shelly-inspired contest with my friends, where we would have one year to finish a novel. I wrote that novel – my first – and promptly threw it out.
  3. I used to cry when school was cancelled. No joke.
  4. I went to Fiji and Australia for a band trip in my second year of college. This summer I went to Hawai’i. Must go back to all of these places, and a few others.
  5. I’m slowly but steadily learning Japanese with the help of Rosetta Stone and one of my friends. Tanoshii desu! (It’s fun!)
  6. I like chocolate ice cream. There are no other flavors.
  7. I was reading chapter books before kindergarten (American Girl!). I read James Michener’s Chesapeake in 4th grade. Now I read way below my reading level: YA.
  8. Before Harry Potter, there was Animorphs.
  9. My favorite Harry Potter character is Remus J. Lupin. He is the main reason Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite book of the series.
  10. To this day, my favorite computer game is Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.

  • Welcome

    new haircut

    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

    You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at:
    jennifer.a.johnson7 at gmail dot com

  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





  • All writing, unless otherwise specified, is the property of
    Jennifer Johnson © 2010