Inspiration or Obligation?

I think I can safely say that, for most of us writers, we feel guilty when we aren't putting our ideas on paper (real or metaphorical). The moment you declare yourself a writer there's this urge to prove that yes, you can write a novel, thank you very much. And no, it's not going to take you thirty years to whip out a draft.

Some people write every day and they can crank out the beginnings of a masterpiece in a month. Their imaginations are a freaking machine. These are the people we're jealous of. Or would be if we let ourselves feel such envious things--or if we weren't already those sorts. (No need to be modest, machines! It's a good type of envy.) 


Others of us have the ideas, but don't have the inspiration. Or we've got the inspiration, but not the ideas. There's always something. But, no matter which way, we take a day off from the MS, perhaps even two or three, until the guilt eats through your insides.

And then comes the sitting in front of blank word documents, struggling to get out whatever we can. Waiting and hoping for the day when our machine moment will come.

Now that I've been working on a different story, I've had less of those obligation days and more inspiration days. I can't say I'm anywhere near being the mental wonder of certain writers, but it's definitely an improvement.

So, what kind of writer are you? Mental machine? Guilt-tripper? Or perhaps somewhere in between?

Also, is anyone else joining the Rule of Three blogfest? It looks like it's going to be fun~ Some of you machines out there could do this in three minutes. :P

Are You a Juggler?

How many of you out there are the type that get yourself completely immersed in one story and have to get at least the first draft written--or hell, have to even get the entire set of revisions completed until it's query ready before you can move onto another story?

And what do you do when you've got other ideas itching at the back of your brain, trying to coax you into spending time with them instead of the characters you've already got dancing around on your temporal lobes? Do you ignore them with a promise of revisiting later? Or perhaps you choose to ignore completely?

I've had another story idea chirping in the back of my mind for some time now. So while I really like the idea of finishing a story before I go onto another one, I've decided that I can handle two at the same time. It's how I've always written when I was younger. Why not now?

It'll be exciting to get this one out, and to see the differences between the worlds in both my stories. Ah~ I'm just excited for it in general! This involved everything that I love the most! Magic, secrets, a backstabbing villain with a sexy voice (that bit is optional :P) and a lot of romance!

Yep. It's about as exciting as winning the lottery on your birthday. (Wouldn't we all like for that to happen?) So how do you like to work? One thing at a time or are you a story juggler?

If only I could juggle in real life too...

Crack Down

I've been pretty lax on these dang posts. It's a little annoying. I just get so caught up in everything else that blogging disappears on me. So, I've decided a schedule. Every Tuesday and Thursday from now on, there'll be a post. Can't guarantee anything other than that. :P

Back in January I made a goal to finish the first draft of my manuscript by my birthday. Seven months later, and a month and a half to go, I'm still working on it. I'm 21k in, a lovely little feat, and finishing up the 5th chapter. So, in order to keep this goal I've got to buckle down and write around 10k each week. Definitely doable. If I can concentrate.

My inner Snape will be doing this with my imagination for the next six weeks. 

I am determined to get my first draft finished! I'll be able to join the ranks of people who've finished their MS~ And that will be amazing.

Also, have you all seen the last Harry Potter? It was worthy of sending off the best movie series I've ever seen. And once I get my copy of Deathly Hallows returned to me, I will be commemorating by reading the entire series for the undisclosed-th amount. :)

Hopefully the lot of you enjoyed it to! What other movies have you guys seen recently, or want to see that haven't come out yet? Or any must-see movie recs? I've been wanting to expand my movie knowledge.

Humoring my Edit-Self

Have you ever gone through your MS, editing away like we always should and then suddenly! It hits you. "THE SIDE-KICK WHO'S REALLY NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKABLE IS MORE LIKABLE THAN MY MC!!"?

I hope not. It's a rather upsetting thing! (Trying some humor on for size, folks.) I recently (very recently. As in today, recently.) discovered that this travesty had occurred in my NEARLY PERFECT MANUSCRIPT (according to my dog maybe? and probably not even him... ). It's a shock, it is. Like finding out that your dog actually DOES know what you're saying and pretends to be dumb to trick you or that your stuffed animals can more themselves around at night! (oh no! Censorship~)

The mind just reels! 

"How could this happen?" 

"I'm just so awesome and amazing and everyone wants to be me!"

"I got an agent just by staring at their twitter account!"

"I have a love triangle, twice! Between a brainiac werewolf who's like a genius with everything and knows a lot of fancy stuff and a goofy vampire with the most awesome, sparkly smile that you've ever had the chance of being bedazzled by!"

And so forth.

So of course, like any natural amazing person like I seriously am, I had a talk with this little inner voice that sounds an awful lot like Jessie and I came up with EVEN MORE AWESOME. Yes. It is possible, my friends. I. Have become awesomer.

Just wait until I breeze through submission in a minute and get ONE KAZILLION-BAJILLION copies printed in every language the world has EVER KNOWN.

So, how do you guys like the new layout? :D I think it's wicked. School is officially out so I am now back in business in the blogging world! I can't wait to read all of you~!

I hope you enjoyed my attempt at humor. :P

O is for OMG and Oops!

Oops!! I forgot to do an O post! >_< That's horrible of me, I know. But, I was busy with homework! Ack, I can't imagine doing more than 15 credits per quarter (at the moment. Will probably happen in the future...) Seriously, it's just that there's so much! Maybe when I don't have two classes that give a lot of work... maybe. Math is definitely one of those classes that's like YAY HOMEWORK. MUAHAHAHA. Yup. Which kind of sucks for my non-mathematical brain. (And yet, I seem to want to make most of my characters math wizzes... Food for thought.)

Anyway, I finally got to writing! Yaaaay~ It's exciting news, I know. Today I'll be writing more, which is awesome. It's so ridiculous how writing can totally pick me up. I wasn't sad or anything--in fact I've been rather pleased lately--but this morning I was just chipper as an otter in water. It's pretty awesome, I have to say.

How has writing--or not writing--made you feel these days?

N is for New Ideas and Names

Names are really important in life. There are a lot of people who believe that our names affect our destinies in life. In fact~ it's been proven that a lot of dentists are named Dennis. I always used to be the type that wanted to make sure that my characters names had a meaning to them that would personify them. Now days I'm not quite so intense about it--though I do get extremely pleased if it happens--but I still feel like names are really important.

And it's not just our character names that are important. Our names are important too! I'm sure we've all imagined what it'll be like if our names get that perfect spot on some beautiful hardcover novel in Barnes & Noble. (Yep, now you now my dream. :P)

What if our name is unpronounceable? What if it's super duper long? Does it have that special ring to it? I'm sure we've all had those thoughts--or will--at some point in time.

And finally, I've got a new story idea floating around my head. It's really fun. I've written myself a note about it, but it'll have to wait until this MS gets finished!

J is for Jackasses and Jerks!

Ah, so I ran out of time--kind of--to do the J post. But, better late than never is my policy. So, lately I've been encountering a lot of jerks lately. I'm not sure what it is, but there are a lot of them out right now. I thought that was supposed to happen when the weather started turning bad! (Albeit... the weather here hasn't really started turning good yet, soo...) Haha.

It got me to thinking. I feel like there are a lot of jackasses for love interests out there. Have you guys seen it too? I can't really think of any love interests that are complete douches at the moment--but I know they're out there! Heck, Ax started out from a really asshole-y character. (I have since changed that though.)

How do you guys feel about MC's falling in love with jerks? (Of course, this is kind of pinpointed to stories with romance in them :P) Sometimes it works, like everything else in the world, and other times it's just contrived. I'm definitely on a case by case basis with jerks in novels.

On another note, been making scenes out of the plot. Nearly finished~ Then I'll get to wriiiiite~~~~~ (I'm so excited.)

Thanks for answering my sex question for the I post, everyone!

I is for Intimates and Internet!

Today we got new internet so my parents could be cheap. Awesome deal, right? Fast new internet for less money. Pure awesome. For an update: I've finished plotting! Yay~! I have my entire story figured out--at least the core of it--and I'm happy with what I've figured out. That's the best part! I'm unsure of the ending, but, I've got the basics of it down, too.

The best thing is that I've managed to make it the best balance of romance and action that I've had yet. Which is really exciting. Like, super duper I'm-ready-to-start-dancing-around-my-house exciting. Yaaaay. If only studying weren't in the way--I'd be writing all night if I could. (Alas, school sadly comes first.)

Anyway, intimate scenes in YA. I don't really have any intimate scenes (aka sex or near it) but, how do you guys feel about it? I can't really recall any YA that I've read ever going in depth--or even having sex, really--about it, but I know I've heard that there are YA books out there with sexual content.

Sometimes they're necessary and they work well, other times they seem out of place. I know it's part of teenage life--I was a teenager recently :P But, when is taking it all the way going too far?

What do you guys think?

G is for Good Ideas and GAH!

A short post today because my plot is shaping up so well that I don't want to leave it for too long! School was torture today, haha. My fingers kept itching to grab a marker and get all those words out of me. I've found that plotting in a notebook instead of on my laptop is helping me out immensely. 

It's kind of weird to think of, but I can remember doing this all through high school. Pulling out notebooks in the middle of math and plotting out the latest idea that popped in my head instead of taking notes on ...some geometry problem. (See? I can't even remember a name for one!) I did this all the time back then. It got me to wondering, when did I stop using paper and go to the keyboard?

I honestly don't know why, but I know from now on that I'll be plotting on paper instead of on screen.

As for the "GAH!" Well... let's just say that in Botany today, we were learning about the difference in soils between Western Washington and Eastern Washington. (And yes, I mean the state. :P) The reason is because of glaciers and massive floods from the ice age melting--but that's not the point. Someone in the class asked... a really ...awkward question. I was both surprised and annoyed. I kept thinking, "Who in their right mind asks that??" (Even the prof looked very awkward trying not to offend her while she answered.)

Have you guys ever had to deal with situations cause by someone? How'd you handle it?

F is for French and Flowers!

There's something about spring that is just so inspiring! I think it's probably because of all the beautiful flowers that start blooming and the wondrous fragrances they (sometimes) let off. I really really love spring. And I also really really really like flowers, haha. It's only natural that I'd like the two of them together, right?

I don't have a favorite flower--I really like them all. Tulips, roses, daffodils, dahlias, marigolds, rhododendrons.. the list could go on forever!

This quarter in school is my third quarter of French. I'm really loving it--obviously, seeing how I've been taking it for over 6mo now--and we're finally learning some of the subtleties and colloquialisms of France. It got me to thinking about little things I can add to my story--to the characters and the world itself--that can make things stand out a little bit more.

I knew about it before, but I finally have realized it now. I mean, how can you not know about it when you're the fan of Harry Potter? It's the goldmine of ...well everything really. Muggleborn vs mudblood for instance?

Perfection.

Anyway, here are some pictures for you! They're all from a local county Tulip Festival. (So yes, they are all tulips.)

What inspires you?

E is for Excitement and Eccentricities!

We got snow-hail today! That's so crazy, it was 50 something yesterday. Oh Northwest weather... how crazy you are. My semi-cute outfit was not beneficial when I walked to and from my car--I think a hail stone gave me a bruise on the top of my foot... (Extremely ridiculous, I know).

Anyway! I've been plotting pretty hardcore lately. Like, I've condensed about 3 days of my more recent plotting binge into one night. But, I'm nowhere near done. Not yet. And that's really okay with me. I'm really excited for all these changes and that tells me that this is the right thing to do. How could being excited not be a good thing, right??

Heck, I even wrote a random scene last night (it certainly was weird using "A" and "B" for characters... hahaha) and I hammered out more words in one sitting than I have in like a month. It was ridiculous. 


On a different note, lately I've been noticing a lot of other people's quirks. My math professor, for instance, relates everything mathematical to birds. He also rubs off the white board (which he hates) the exact same way. A girl in French can't stand eraser shavings and another girl in French always wears a blue sweatshirt on Thursdays. It's just these little things that've got me thinking about ways I can show little eccentricities in my characters. Something being the usual lip-biters, hair-twirlers, nail-biters, and chain-smokers.

What're some quirks you've seen lately?

B is for Break Through and Bad House Guests!

Of course the day after I talk about not being able to get into Ax's head, what does he do? Infiltrate my mind better than Snape or Dumbledore with Legilimency. After ages (or what feels like ages) he has finally started talking. In fact, he hasn't even shut up.

I know it'll take me awhile before I get to know him like I did his predecessor--Axel--but I'm confident that when I do get to that point that nothing will hold me back! I even had a dream about him. And that for me, no matter how ridiculous the dream (and trust me this was ridiculous), means that I've finally gotten an in!

It's really awesome to be able to actually write instead of stare at the screen, give up for a few, go back, type a couple words then repeat the entire process. I think I've written more today than I have all week, and that feels so good!

(I think I've been writing so much that my wrist is sore. Oops?)

On a mini non-writing note, for the past week my family has been helping out a friend (term used loosely) of the family's. This was only a temporary thing to get her back on her feet, a roof over her head while she looks for a new place and yada yada yada. You get the picture, I'm sure.

The agreement for this was 1 week per house and she has to help out at the house as repayment.

What does she do?

You guessed it. Nothing. It isn't really much of a surprise, but it's still a bit aggravating. Luckily, tomorrow is her last day at my house, so things will return to normal soon!

Back to Ax, cause he's far more interesting. I'm finally getting close to the point where he'll get to meet the love interest and I'm so excited! (He is, too, though he doesn't quite know that yet.) Ah! I haven't felt excited to write in awhile. But now that it's here, nothing is going to stop me!

How are you all doing with your writing?

Stupid Dam

First things first, thanks for all the comments on the challenge post! Now to answering it. One, I do have a niece. She's adorable and very distracting. Two, she does own a rabbit's foot and I really do gag when I see it. I don't know why, but they are just so gross to me. Hers is supposedly real. It's tawny and supposedly soft--I wouldn't know, cause I refused to touch it--unlike the neon purple ones I remember seeing in elementary school.  Grass used to make me squirm. I couldn't walk on grass with my bare feet until about sophomore year in high school (about 5 years ago). I still don't like to sit on grass with bare legs, but I can deal with it.

The mythology science project.... Hahaha, well, lets just say that it was about the names of the planets so I told her to find out the names of gods and goddesses that would be the equivalent to the Roman ones and talk about that. (I totally helped with that, but, no one but you guys really needs to know that. :P)

The lie is that my niece and I have never played a game where she yodeled and walked down the hall "all fuliguline." (Wish she had though, cause that would be so awesome!) She does, however like to lick my cheek and attempt to tickle me. Jessie (by the way, go check her out. She's amazing and has great posts!) pointed out that because I'm not 100% bossy that could be a lie, too, so that could also be it. (I still think I'm bossy though...)

Now onto the rest of the post. So, 12 days ago I posted about being on track with my plotting. (You can check that out here if you'd like.) For the past 4 days I've been staring at my computer screen--specifically at the document where I've been plotting--with nothing but "ugh what happens next?!" running through my mind. The river of thoughts I had almost a week ago has had a dam built over it. I think it's similar to the Three Gorges Dam. Huge. Impenetrable And devastating. I am chipping away at it much like a stupid prisoner thinking they can dig their way out of a penitentiary with a spoon. (It might only be like the Hoover Dam, or something small like that--but it feels much bigger.)

I'm hoping when the dam breaks, the amazing reservoir of ideas will just flood my entire brain and I won't be able to think of ANYTHING but my plot.

How's everyone doing?

Kisses

Ahahahahaha! (Yes, that was an awkward laugh to start the post with but whatever. :P) I'm five scenes in, roughly 1/5 of the way through my WIP and I have managed two almost kisses! It's almost more exciting than the fact that I'm 1/5 the way through! Actually... I think I'm more excited about the kisses.

Axel's totally going crazy--head over heels in love. It's ridiculous. And awesome. Frickin' awesome. I'm super stoked to get to an ACTUAL kiss. Yes... That'll be really exciting. Axel's only been daydreaming about it for ... well quite a few pages now. (Yeah, that's right. A few pages. Intense, I know.)

I've already planned out the actual kiss. I'm trying to work a few more in there if I can.... We'll see how sneaky I can be. And how many times it'll apply. Emelie's sadly not... as available as she should be! (My fault, I know, but I can't just make it easy!) I'm hoping for two actual kisses before they get together... I'm seriously itching to get to one! Goodness gracious it's ridiculous! Only five scenes and I'm ready for my head to explode I want to write it so bad. (Just think of how bad it is for Axel. Poor lovesick fool.)

Have any of you craved for the meatiest parts of your WIP? I know I am! (And I'm not even a big fan of meat...)

Scene Dilemmas

I've always hated having to wait for the good parts when I'm writing. Always. When I was younger, I'd do only the scenes that'd excite me and by the time I'd finish writing those I'd lose the will to write the less exciting in between scenes and would move on. This was when I was about 13-14. (When I was in that loner, darkie phase that everyone seems to go through. I could throw up at some of the stuff I wrote, haha. Angst city.)

Luckily, I realized that it'd be better if I just suffered through the less exciting scenes and used the exciting scenes as enticement to get through them. Of course, sometimes I skipped ahead and failed the whole point of keeping that in mind. Other times I sped through them and didn't give them the justice they deserved. Rest of the time I made my friend and writing partner do it for me. (Don't think I've ever not had someone trying to write with me, now that I think about it.... Interesting.) 

By now I've gotten over the less exciting scene versus exciting scene (for the most part). Still, whenever I encounter the dreaded boring scene, I at first get into the "must suffer through" mindset. Though, I know that if it's boring for me to write it's probably boring to read. So, this leads me to my dilemma. 

What if the boring scene has necessary information? Obviously you've got to think of a different way to get it out, right? But what if it's the best? Do you just suffer? Do you force the information somewhere else? 

And another question is, what if the scene really isn't boring? What if it's simply less exciting? I know I'd much rather write some flirting and teasing over fighting. Perhaps it's just my attitude toward it? We'll find out!

Now, for a walk to clear my mind despite the fact that it looks like it's midnight outside. Exciting~  :)

Falling In Love

Has it seriously been a week since I last posted? Crazy! Doesn't feel like that at all. I've got to get onto a schedule for this.

I cranked out my first scene (of the revamped story) and what did I discover? That Emelie was about as interesting as white bread and butter. Not good. I'd spent so much time getting into Axel's head that I didn't even think of getting into Emelie's--every other character besides Axel included here. Such a bad habit!

But, as with most problems, it was fixed. Phew! Out of all the years I've been writing, I don't think I've ever realized just how much of a discovery process this can be. It's amazing. I love learning, so these continual discoveries are right up my alley.

As I've continued on to my second scene--shooting Axel with as many of Cupid's arrows as I can manage before he bleeds out--I can't help but feel proud. He's falling for her, and falling hard--and I'm falling in love with the idea of them falling in love. Sounds a bit ridiculous because I know the outcome but, it's the truth!

It's amazing to feel what Axel is feeling--or at least, an extension of it. I only hope it'll convey to readers too! Back to the grindstone (if Luca doesn't preoccupy my time by eating his feet or growling at me to do who the heck knows what)!