Me on Writing Distractions

so, to be a total nerd, i'm going to make a list of things that have distracted me from writing. these are all possible reasons why it's taken me this long to get to... (checking the Word file) 66,517 words and 268 pages.

wow, that sure is a lot.

okay, distractions, cause i meant to write this thing about half an hour ago. crap.

#1: the Internet

i love the internet. ever since i first experienced it in the fall of 1999, i've been entranced by its ability to feed me useless information. over those 11 years, it's evolved, as has my way of accessing the Internet (i love you, new laptop), but now it's become overwhelming. you can do everything over the Internet (mostly, as far as i know), and it has the ability of sucking my will to write straight out of me.

the subsections of Internet distractions are: e-mail, news websites, weather websites, Wikipedia, Twitter, Google, webcomics, and the list could go on for days.

#2: TV

this is a big distraction when i haul my laptop down to write in front of the TV, because then the bright flashy pictures grab my attention away from a white page with black text.

#3: Books

now, i love books. i recently bought a lot of books to read because i love reading books, but reading and writing can't necessarily happen at the same time (unless it's an audiobook, and even then it's tricksy). usually i'll use my awake time for writing, then read for a bit before i go to bed. sometimes i'll write and then conk out and the reading has to wait. sometimes, like today when i read Maggie Stiefvater's 'Linger' in the span of a few hours, reading takes over.

i'm not against reading, it's actually quite helpful, but you have to share time.

#4: Music

i lied, music isn't a distraction. searching for music to write to, however, is.

#5: Life in general

i used to loathe going to class, because that meant i had a bunch of the day ripped away from me, leaving me with fewer hours in which to write. now, it's more like housework and general house upkeep, but that time (used properly) is good for totally zoning out and thinking about what you want to write next, so keep a notebook handy when you're vacuuming the living room.

#6: ... ummm, is there a number 6?? Twitter could be number 6 all on its own.

oh, Twitter. how I love yet hate you so.

Me on What I'm Doing With My Life

so, it's all official and stuff. i'm now the proud owner of a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in English from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

is it wrong that i'm a bit panicky??

i feel kinda old, like i should have a totally solid life plan and stuff, but i don't. i barely have a job right now.

well, i kinda figured that i'd take the summer to think about what i wanted to do and look into some things, so i'm not totally worried at the moment. i guess in August i will be, but not now.

so, for the moment, i'm taking things one day at a time, trying to write every day (even if it sucks, because then i'm still writing something), and doing things around the house so it looks like i'm being productive.

and now, because i'm fun (i am, i promise :D), here is the latest info on my work in progress.

i'm still working on it, and i'm still enjoying it, which is good. you need to enjoy what you're writing. i keep thinking of bits to add, to takeaway, to edit and fiddle with, but i'm trying to move forward and write down what i want to fix so i can go back later and edit it.

the fact that i want to go back and edit it to make it better is a good sign. it means i'm taking it seriously, that whatever i write first isn't always the best. the hard part comes when i have to decide what needs fixing and what doesn't.

i thought up a good plot twist the other week, and i'll have to do some editing to work it in a bit more, but i think it'll be a good twist. i like it. it makes the whole book seem kind of MC in the dark and sneaky.

i do think i'll need beta readers, but not until i finish this first draft, and the second, and the third, and maybe a fourth, but i'm not sure. three drafts before beta readers/critiquers sounds okay to me.

i can only hope that by the time i query agents, they're still interested in werewolf MC struggling to figure out who she is coming of age YA novels with a romance subplot but it's not the main plot.

*crossing my fingers*

Me on Twitter

it's okay. i use it mostly for babbling. i babble a lot, but that's not the point.

okay, so i don't use it mostly for babbling. i'd like to think i use it for future networking when i've finished my current WIP (and i mean finished like written and edited and polished to the best of my ability) and start querying agents.

it's also a way to secretly stalk authors and writers who write books i like. :D

maybe stalk isn't the right word, but it's made them a lot more accessible as well as a lot more human. after taking English lit classes in a university setting for the past few years, and after being in university for the past six, it's bizarre when you have to make assumptions on what the author's beliefs were when they're Charles Dickens or H.G. Wells or William Shakespeare.

following writers on Twitter, from published to hopeful nerds like me, makes everyone sound human and fallible. i'm not perfect, and seeing published books in bookstores that are the same genre i'm writing in intimidates me.

plus i'm 23, so i've got most of my life ahead of me, but when i read about teenagers getting multiple book deals for their first novels, it sucks just a bit, knowing i lacked the motivation to finish writing something earlier and query sooner. but it's good for them. they deserve some props.

(my first actual novel was written in high school and should be burned. it's that bad, trust me.)

Twitter also makes it possible for the writers to hear from the readers about what they really think. sure, they could get slammed, but i bet they really love it when they get a reply from someone who said they just read their book and loved it. i don't think i've done that yet. probably should. (*wave to Becca Fitzpatrick and Maggie Stiefvater because i loved both Hush, Hush and Shiver, i'm waiting not so patiently for the next books ;) *)

because i'm always on Twitter, i'm going to copy and paste some good tweets i read over the past few hours (feel free to find me on Twitter at @writing_goober and go through my who i follow list for more Twitter fun):

@mstiefvater: Sharpie on laminated bookmark is slippery. I have signed my desk twice by accident. Come back, you little bugger.

@tawnafenske: Agreed! I will join you in your noble battle. RT @DanKrokos: The skinny jeans plague must be stopped.

@ScottWesterfeld: Some sequel ideas for Jude the Obscure: Ned the Mundane, Jill the Obtuse, and Mel the Unkempt. #hardyharhar

@HeidiRKling: I'm writing a scene that takes place on one of these: http://www.domainofdeath3.com/images/ridereviews/gravitron/gravitron.jpg SO FUNNY

@emilytastic: I feel like 80% of my friends/Twitter feed is at LA Times Festival of the Book. AND I AM CRAZY JEALOUS. #latfotb #grumpyface

@heatherbrewer: The lady behind me just said "I cheated on Michael". *gasp!* I wonder who he is & if he knows! #soapoperaairport

@melissa_marr: For the not-yet-pubbed writers out there: Harper is doing a contest where the prize is crit notes from me. http://www.radiantprose.com/

see, Twitter isn't so bad, except for when the Fail Whale appears.

stupid whale.

Me on Types of Prose in Fiction

so, here's the continuation of my thoughts on writing. who knew homework would be so helpful?? :D

Hodgins describes the different types of prose in fiction and gives examples of them, but I’ve found that when I write I can’t separate them out in my mind. Everything is written the way is happens in my head, whether that be exposition, narrative, or a scene. It’s all a bizarre, and fun, mixture of showing and telling.

I need all of them, though. Exposition is great for back story, for informing the reader, for bringing the reader into an alternate reality that I’ve created. Narration is helpful, especially because I often write in first person. Sometimes I have an issue with how time moves in what I’m writing. I could easily write what happens to my narrator and characters one day and then the next and then the next, but it gets a little boring after a while. Being able to gloss over a few days with some of the narrator’s random thoughts mixed in is helpful.

I think I like scenes the most. Very often, I start either a chapter or something new with dialogue because it’s easy to use dialogue as a source of humour when writing. Sometimes jokes in the narrator’s thoughts don’t always work, but when someone is saying the joke, it seems to be funnier. You can be so informal with dialogue, fiddle with words and maybe even add an accent so when someone reads it, it’s even funnier.

I once heard that young adult fiction is written in scenes, but I think it’s more like young adult fiction is written in sections. There’s often one main idea occurring in every chapter, which is why in some I’ve read recently chapters can be five pages long or twenty-five pages long.

Chapter length doesn’t seem to matter, but it all has to flow with that correct mixture of exposition, narration, and dialogue, that correct blend of showing and telling so often found in good fiction.

Me on First Drafts

i'm taking a creative writing seminar right now as part of my B.A. in English lit, and every week we talk about the readings we have to do. they're all about fiction and writing, filled with examples and tips and advice and prompts. since i'm not sure what to talk about here, i figured i'd post them here for you people (if you exist) to read and comment on. the next one will be up in a couple of days.

While doing the readings for this week I found myself enjoying Hodgins’ A Passion for Narrative more than the others. I think it’s because I found it more accessible, and the language, to me, is a lot less formal than Wood’s How Fiction Works. With A Passion for Narrative, it feels like the writer is speaking directly to me and not to a general sense of ‘everyone.’

I was fascinated by Hodgins’ comments on the first draft, and how you should “[w]rite the first draft for no one by yourself. Write to find out what you’re writing about” (38). I heard someone say this at a writers’ conference, and I thought it was an interesting concept.

There’s something special about first drafts. You’re taking an idea, which may or may not be good, and you’re turning it into a story. It’s becoming something far more tangible than just an idea circling around inside your head, and it’s on its way to becoming an actual short story or novel.

When I first start writing after finding an idea that’s excited me enough to want to write about it, I do get emotionally involved. It’s something I created, something I had to search hard for inside my head, and it becomes important to me.

Hodgins’ idea is one I hope to use for all my future fiction writing. I hope it’ll help me distance myself from what I write, which will hopefully make self-editing easier. Keeping the first draft for myself lets me write it just for me, and then when I finish it, I can go back, look at it, and hopefully find areas to change that will make more people enjoy it.