Character's Reactions

Character's Reactions

My birthday was the 18th, and my mom gave me a ring.

Yes. This is significant to the post. Just wait.

So, I open up the ring and it's pretty and all. It's a silver heart with little sparkly things that my eyes are too bad to identify. And then there's a smaller heart on top of that that's almost a coppery gold. And mom says, "You like it? It's real!"

My stomach plummets.

It's real. I'm too good at losing things to own something real. I'm totally going to lose it, or break it, or accidentally wash it like my iPod. (Oops...)

She tells me to put it on. I try, and it's too small.

Today, I'm wearing it for the day on my pinky finger. Mom says if I like it, we'll get it re-sized. She said try it for a day. I agreed to it.

It feels weird. For context, I don't wear jewelry. Every time I look at my hand, it doesn't look like my hand. It looks like my mom's... or a teacher's... or Sydney Sage from the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. (Which is weird because she doesn't wear rings either. But that's not the point.)

Why am I telling you this?

Well, do I seem like more of a real person than I did when you clicked on this article? Probably. Because now you know something about me, and you know how I react to this kind of thing. Then there's underlying things. Because you got to hear that this is how I react to this situation, you can easily predict how I'll react if I get another piece of jewelry.

You need to do this with your characters. Your characters need moments that let the reader know they react to things, even little things. My ring looks weird on my finger. I find it weird to say "my ring". Don't just have them react to the big plot points. If a person would notice it, so would a character.

Find something small for a character to notice. Maybe they were bored and painted their nails. Now they feel weird because they usually never paint their nails, and every time they see their hand, they have to do a double take.

Maybe a kid gets a chocolate bar for his birthday, and instead of eating it, he puts it in the fridge. And he always wants the candy, but he wants to save it for later. Then he doesn't know when 'later' is, and he realizes he's actually stalling and eats it. But then he feels bad because he should have saved it  for later.

A college student and her friend enter a cafe and their favorite table is taken. One is mad at the people, though she knows she shouldn't be. And her friend barely cares.

All these situations develop your characters. And it's not a significant plot point. (It could be I suppose...) But it is important. Because these are the things that make your characters feel real.

So "If you (love) it than you (should) put a ring on it!"

Alright, I will go before I quote anything else...

On Poetry- Form or Free

On Poetry- Form or Free

Poetry is an interesting topic for me. I admit, I'm no expert. I only started writing poetry with the intent to actually write something worth reading a couple of years ago, and most of it has been free form. Most people say poetry is about rhythm an rhyme schemes, hyperbole and other things that are hard to spell. Not to mention all those rules and forms you've got to sort through. Though, what I wonder is why?

Is a poem still a poem if it does not rhyme? Is a poem still a poem if it has no imagery? Is a poem still a poem if it has no real structure?

A poem

is but

a story

but with

white space.

That was a poem. I just wrote it on the spot. It counts. Why? Because it has lines that are split where it sounds... like a poem... And it sounds... like a poem. It leaves empty space...It... It...

Exactly.

My definition of a poem is words that convey something. It could be an image, a feeling, an idea. But they convey something.

This means you could write an entire poem without  using a single adjective.

The sun

burns.

Lemonade

perspires.

It waits

with a girl

who is missing

a tooth.

Her sign

asks for

a quarter.

Or an entire poem using just one word. I believe Shel Silverstein did one called The Eraser. (Two words, but that's alright.) I can't seem to find Where the Sidewalk Ends right now, though I know I have it around here somewhere. But I believe it went like this:

"The Eraser

The Erase

The Eras

The Era

The Er

The E

The

Th

T "

If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me! But I believe that's what it said.

In any case, my point is, is that you don't have to follow strict rules to be a poet. You just have to have an idea. It may be as complex as a new approach to quantum theory or -god forbid- a new take on life itself. Or it could be as simple as the eraser at the end of your pencil.

A poem

is but

a story

with white space.

It is no

rabid dog.

It does not

bite.

If you treat

a poem

like a dog

on a leash,

it will never

do what

you

wish.

Listen to Your Words

Editing Because I should have Last Year

And the actual point: Listening to Your Words

So, three years ago, I finished a manuscript. And then I typed it up (because I had handwritten it) and decided two things.

1. I was never going to write a manuscript in a journal again! Too much aftertyping!

2. This book was awesome! I was SO going to publish it!

Then, I let it sit a while. Almost a year later, I decided I was going to do the real edits, so I opened up the document again. I discovered something.

This book was horrible! I was SO never going to publish it!

And then I realized something else. I could fix it.

I went through at that point and fixed things here and there, but I only started something truly productive right before Camp NaNoWriMo last month. I am currently retyping the entire manuscript, looking at the old copy for reference. And I'm typing it into yWriter. Why? Because it has this nifty little button that looks like a play button. And when you click the button, it reads out loud do you!

Have you ever heard that you should have someone read your stories to you to hear if they're bad? Well, I'm not going to ask someone to read my novel out loud to me, so I used to read out loud to myself. I catch a lot that way, sure. But I didn't know how much I missed until I discovered this feature. I don't mean to be an add or anything. Honestly, copy and paste your novel, chapter by chapter, into google translate. It'll read out loud to you too. (In other languages. Bonus!)

Moral of my clearly unoutlined rant (as if I ever outline these)? Listen to your words, don't just write them.

Word Count Goals

Word Count Goals

32334 words into my current project

Last month, I participated in April NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as Camp NaNoWriMo. It's an online event where a whole lot of writers from all over the world get together and write a whole lot of words. You set your wordcount goal, and they calculate how many words a day you have to write to reach that goal. Since I must keep my grades up, I only did 20,000 words this months. That sounds like a lot, but it adds up to 666 words a day.

The normal wordcount goal is 50,000 words. I did this last July. Since there are 31 days in july, I had to write 1613 words every day. and let me just say, that isn't impossible if you love writing. But it's not easy. But I actually finished, finishing my second novel. (Well, 1st draft.)

I'm quite bad at setting word count goals for myself though. I have tried, but don't do very well. The past two months, I've been using a program called ywriter (google it. I don't have a link for the site. Sorry!) It shows you how many words you've written that day and each of the previous days. This helps, but I don't always check it. This is why I do Nano.

Even though I am so far in my novel, (word count for all including both nano words and from before is @ the top) I still am not done. I know this story will add up to more the 50,000 words. I hope 60,000, but I have never written that much.

My advice for you all is to try nano if you struggle with finishing as I do. Or if you are able to do it on your own, set your own wordcount. Either way, write something every day.

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I haven't written in the novel every day, but I still try to write something. Sometimes it is a fanfiction. Sometimes it is a short story. Sometimes it's an essay. Today, it's a blogpost.

Now, I'm going to go write.