The 7 Link Challenge
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Here’s my response to the 7 Link Challenge. If you do this with your site, link back, I want to read them!
- Your first post: Why My Head Will Implode was my first official post, and it’s still as applicable today as it was when I wrote it.
- A post you enjoyed writing the most: So You Want to be a Main Character was just plain quirky. I had a small series planned, for Love Interests, Villains, etc., but when I tried putting it on paper they didn’t match up.
- A post which had a great discussion: For some reason, people like to comment on Hello, Main Character. It’s important to know who your main character is, and I guess everyone liked sharing how they do that.
- A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written: Okay, I couldn’t pick a specific post, but Writing Wallflowers is a perfect analogy for what it’s like to be a writer in this publish-crazy world. Check out Julie’s blog!
- Your most helpful post: 10 Ways to Procrastinate. Just kidding. 10 Ways to Get Started Writing. It’s a shame how many people put off writing because they’re not in the mood or aren’t inspired. You don’t need these things, you just need to write!
- A post with a title that you are proud of: The Dark Elven Lord of Aathylvin…Bob is just…weird. But I like it.
- A post that you wish more people had read: How to Critique. Critiquing is an important skill to develop. I’ve seen plenty of terrible critiques, and I want to make sure they don’t prevail. Constructive criticism, people!
I Need a Bigger Hutch
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Plot bunnies are sweet, but they are the epitome of distraction. They’re way too tempting for their own good, trying to lure a writer off her current path.
When I can, I jot the bunny down in a notebook, on my Mac stickies, heck, even a scrap of paper will do (though I usually lose those).
Sometimes I check on my bunnies a little later and realize some of them weren’t as great as I thought they were. Those get set free.
But I hate the bunnies that get away. Maybe I got an idea while dreaming but forgot it by the time I woke up. Or, more likely, got it while I was driving and couldn’t write it down without risking a crash.
How do you deal with plot bunnies?
Surviving Fantasy
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If my life was a fantasy story, I would be one of those extras who dies in Chapter 1.
Why? Because I wouldn’t survive living in classical fantasy.
My reflexes are terrible. I’d get struck by Avada Kedavra or an enemy’s blade like that.
I’m out of shape, and that doesn’t lend itself well to outrunning enemies. Actually, I have exercise-induced asthma, so I’ve got two strikes against me on that one.
I don’t like hurting people during weapons training. I don’t hit very hard, I apologize when I do what I’m supposed to, it just doesn’t work so well. I guess I could still be an archer, but if someone pulls a knife on me I’m doomed.
Also, in case you missed it because you didn’t read my name, I’m a girl. Girls are expected to stay at home, cook and clean (or embroider if they’re noble), marry well, have lots of kids, and obey all men.
Yeah, screw that. If I don’t die of boredom, I’d get burned as a demon or something for standing up for myself.
So what about you? Would you survive in fantasy?
Vacation Break
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Ah, summer vacation, how I’ve missed you. You big loobie.
I’ll be gone all next week but I’ve arranged with my friends Lauren and Mitch to write guest posts so you are in good hands, my loyal readers!
Budgeting
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Where has the time gone?
I feel like I’m constantly budgeting my time. Naturally, the less important stuff gets shunted to the side. Usually that includes my writing.
So here’s some advice I need to heed, and may also help those who also keep putting off your writing:
Write every day.
I know, easier said than done. But you don’t have to write a chapter. Heck, you don’t even have to write a page. Just write something.
A neat trick is to set a small goal. Say, 250 – 500 words. That’s a snap! A decent paragraph or two. If you’re having a particularly stressful day, you can write 250 words and call it quits. But if you get on a roll, and write a whole page – wow! Those 500 words are way behind you. Look how much you’ve accomplished!
Aren’t you glad you wrote today?
The End
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Beginnings are important, but endings are crucial. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been disappointed in an ending of a book, movie, or television series.
Lost did not disappoint.
One of my fiction writing professors used to tell us: the ending should be surprising, but inevitable. That was Lost through and through. We always knew it would come down to Jack; but we couldn’t have guessed how he managed it, or what happened after.
Lost also managed to come full circle in their storytelling. There were many references to season one, especially to the pilot, emphasizing the inevitability of it all.
And we stop pretty much where we started six years ago. In the end, the final image brings us full circle, a neat and tidy ending with many questions left unanswered.
Just as we’d expect for a show as surprising and question-raising as Lost.
Bravo, Lost. Congrats on a great six-year run. See you in another life, Brotha.
Life Imitating Art
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I bought The Jane Austen Book Club for my mom for Mother’s Day. If you haven’t seen it (or read the book it’s based on), it follows five women whose lives parallel those of Jane Austen’s characters.
That got me thinking:
Does my life parallel any fictional character’s?
I’m not sure.
I was talking with my mom, and we agreed that Anna and Camron – the newlyweds I gave a shout-out to on Friday, who went on to have a gorgeous wedding – are Jane and Mr. Bingley. To quote a certain father:
“I have not a doubt of your doing very well together. Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.”
We’re as close as sisters, so mom insists that makes me Lizzy. I believe this means I should start looking for guys who insult me!
But if I’m to resemble a Jane Austen character, right now I feel more like Emma:
“I have no idea that she has yet ever seen a man she cared for…there is nobody hereabouts to attach her.”
I definitely have to think about this some more.
In the meantime, do you think your life resembles a fictional character’s? Whose?
Wedding Genres
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Back in high school, my English teacher said that comedies end with weddings, and tragedies begin with them.
Obviously, he hadn’t met my best friend.
She’s getting married tomorrow. Since this wedding is not going to be the end of life as we know it, I can’t call it the end to the comedy that was their previous separate lives. And it certainly isn’t going to be a tragedy.
So the thinking is definitely flawed.
The wedding isn’t a beginning or an ending. It’s a middle. So their lives have to belong to those fun comedies where the wedding comes in the middle somewhere. (Not depressing modern literature where crap happens and everyone dies.)
Anyway…
Congrats Anna & Camron!!!
<3
Why My Dog is Crazy
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This is Daisy. She’s a cocker spanish girl.
She’s also a little bit insane.
We’re not sure why, but seeing as she’s a rescue dog, she probably had a traumatic past. She attacks her brothers (other rescue dogs) for no reason, but sometimes it involves a toy.
Now there is scientific proof that cocker spaniels view property differently from humans. I have listed them below for your benefit:
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my mouth, it’s mine.
3. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
4. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours.
6. If it just looks like mine, it’s mine.
7. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
8. If it’s edible, it’s mine.
9. If you have something and put it down, it’s mine.
10. If I chew something up, all the pieces are mine.
11. If I get tired of it, it’s yours.
12. If I want it back, it’s mine.
Note: these laws can also be applied to writers and books.
Accomplishment?
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It’s weird, but I feel a deep sense of accomplishment when I finish a book in less than one day.
I’m not sure where that comes from. Maybe back in the day when I was learning to read and started chapter books. And I’ve kept that sense, maybe even strengthened it, when the books are longer and I have less time to read.
If you are a Harry Potter fan, I bet you can tell me how long it took you to finish the latest book. And I’ll doubly bet it was less than a day. (Seriously, you don’t put down a new Harry Potter unless you have to.)
But is that something to feel accomplished about? What do you think?
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