Adventures and Experiments in Writing

Salutations one and all, in this post I will be discussion recent actions I have taken in my most riveting and startling writing career, (career used in the less popular meaning of a pursuit, regardless of your job.) Take this as a warning, or a lovely introduction to a wonderful post.

Free writing. Anyone who likes to write has probably heard of the exercise. For twenty to thirty minutes you write, free hand, not thinking about what you are going to write, and you can't stop writing. 

Sounds easy enough.

Holy cow! It was practically impossible.

This free writing is supposed to help with creativity and brainstorming, as you have to come up with something to write RIGHT THEN!!!! It also is an exercise which is supposed to sharpen your mind, to help you focus on something and not get distracted by other random thoughts. The two approaches are these: One, just start writing. Simple as that. Write blah blah blah, or jabber jabber jabber if nothing else comes to mind. Two, pick a topic and write about that. A spontaneous essay if you will.

It was so freakin' hard. I know some people have a fairly easy time just writing on and on, and at first I thought it would be fairly easy for me as well as I can keep up a monologue for a long time. I never realized though how often I paused in my writing. Not necessarily to plan in general what I was going to say, that was easy enough to do. A single topic can do me for a couple of pages. No, I realized with this exercise how often I pause for grammar purposes. I sound like a total idiot if I don't pause! It went beyond not editing. After reading through what I wrote I literally could not tell what I was trying to say. The funny thing is that I don't even notice these pauses most of the time, unless I'm actively trying not to pause.

As well as free writing, I have also finished the first draft of my most recent novel, Earthly Gods. It's kind of like Pilgrim's Progress and Lord of the Rings combined...I guess...if I had to describe it. It's about a boy, named Ashvik, who goes in search of gods who demanded him to be sacrificed.

Yeah...great stuff that. It's better than it sounds...really.

I've started editing Earthly Gods, had have even made decent head way into the outline for my next book, the third and final in a trilogy. The first was Beyond Happily Ever After, the second, Not Quite True Love's Kiss, and the working title for the third is A Place Not so Far Away.

For those of you who know about NaNoWriMo, I'm sad to say I haven't been doing it this year.. This would be my third year doing it, if I was doing it, but I am not, so it won't be my third year. I considered it for a while, but with completely Earthly Gods only recently, and the move to Tennessee there was no time. It almost doesn't feel like November without the frantic writing. Perhaps that's way Thanksgiving really took me by surprise. There was no NaNo to make it feel like November. 

Five Fairy Tale (parodies) Worth Reading

Recently I have had the joy of reading the conclusion to a series that I have long enjoyed. True, it took me nearly two years to realize that this particular book had been published, and several months after purchasing the book to actually read it. (Quite simply, that is what happens when your to read list five pages long. Yes, I have a physical list of books to read which is five pages long.) This book, while not exactly a "fairy tale" parody, sparked the topic for today's post.

Since you are all probably chomping at the bit to know what the book I read was, it was "I Shall Wear Midnight" by Terry Pratchett.

I have long been a fan of Mr. Pratchett, and this series introduced me to him. Oddly enough the third book was the one that I read first. What can I say, I got "Wintersmith" for free at the library and on the book list inside the books were listed in the opposite order there meant to be read. That list lead me to believe that "Wintersmith" came first and "The Wee Fee Men" last. The Tiffany Aching books are a great series to get to know Terry Pratchett by. (I'll have you know that that preposition is perfectly legal.) It is also great for anyone who already likes Terry Pratchett. I would highly recommend the series for anyone who likes rollicking books which also bless you with being thoughtful. As I said before, the Tiffany Aching series is not really a parody on fairy tales, but anyone who has ever read Terry Pratchett knows he writes in a satirical tone, and this series is almost a parody on epic fantasies.

This next is a book that is a favorite of my sister Katy. It is "Ella Enchanted"

This book is a parody of the well known fairy tale Cinderella. It is a wonderful rendition and manages to capture the original story while being, well, original. I feel the need to mention the works of the author in their entirety as Gail Carson Levine has written several great books, many of them being other fairy tale parodies.

Mmmm, maybe I should not have used the term fairy tale in the title, as the next book is once again not a parody of a fairy tale, but actually of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." The book is "Bad Prince Charlie."

I enjoyed "Bad Prince Charlie" but not enough to check out John Moore's other books, a few of which I am fairly certain are actually parodies of fairy tales. I might see to more of his books, one day, when my to read list gets down to a couple pages instead of five. The book "Bad Prince Charlie" is one of the most rollicking kind of parodies that I have read. Every page was chock full of mocking and ridiculous characters. As far as I could tell there wasn't some deep message though that many parodies try to have.

While the next series is aimed at a younger audience, the books are still a good read. "The Frog Princess."

These books simultaneously makes fun of many of the cliches in fairy tales, but embraces the overall idea of magic and greatness one finds in fairy tales. They are great quick read, books for a younger audience, and good read out loud books.

The last and final book is "The Runaway Princess."

And also don't forget to check out the sequel "The Runaway Dragon." Once again this book book targeted at a younger audience, but do you know what? I like books for younger readers, and I don't care who knows it. I might be a bit more inclined to read books for older people, but the only real difference between kid books and books for adults are the ratings they would need to put on them...if you know what I mean. 

The Shield, Sword, and Crown

If any of you can recall, or care to go to the columns this is a book review. The problem is, I read a lot of books, at least one a week, sometimes more, and quite frankly I did not feel like writing that many book reviews. Luckily, I came up with a clever solution. 

I read a lot of series, and I could cut the number of reviews I would have to write if I lumped in all the books in the same series into the same book review. Look at this as more of a place of recommended books really. If a book is terrible I probably won't bother posting about it, unless of course it is to warn others. 

The series I want to talk about today is a trilogy called, The Shield, Sword, and Crown by Hilari Bell. 

The story is told from the perspective of three people. Weasel, an ex-pick pocket who is now a clerk of the law, Arisa, the daughter of the rebel bandit the Falcon, and Edoran the young prince of Deorthas. The shield of stars, the sword of waters, and the crown of earth are items of legend, and all three must be found to return balance to the politically unstable kingdom of Deorthas. 

The series is fantasy, and could probably even be classified as epic fantasy, but it doesn't have that over-the-top thing that many fantasy stories have. No sweeping epic battles where the forces of evil and good battle in an unbelievable power match where the action is explained in overly flowery language. There is magic present, but it feels almost natural and believable. The villains in the story is realistic; regular people. The characters are well-drawn with good development, and are just as realistic as the villains. I personally liked how the series handled the idea of religion. Technically none of the religions on the books were actual religions, but the series still did a good job and presenting religions in a real light, whether you are religious yourself or not. 

There is some mild language and violence, but other than that the books were very clean, which I also enjoyed. For future reference, I plan on using the rating scale from Fiction Ratings, and I would give this book a K+. 

And for the other form of rating I give this series 4 out of 5 stars. While this series was written with a younger audience in mind, the author doesn't dumb down the ideas of evil, or right and wrong. In fact a saw a depth that is lacking in many books written with adults in mind. I think the series is a good read for anyone who likes fantasy.

Blogger Book Club

I've actually been looking for a blogger book club for a while, as any and all real life groups fall apart before they begin, and my sister KatySue joined this one. I thought it looked interesting and thought I would give it a try. 

Bookmarks!

Every reader probably employs the use of some kind of book mark. Whether it be a nice one from the store, a home made one, or a torn piece of news paper. (Unless, of course, you are one of those evil people who doggy ear;) I though, I have gone a little over board with book marks, but just a little. As of the moment, I have about eleven. (Twelve if you can the one I can change as two.)

                                      And that doesn't include the number that have been either lost or stolen. If it did, it would be well over a dozen. In fact, I think I have lost or broken more book marks that I have at the moment. Anyway, I absolutly love book marks. It's like a knick-knack that you can use. What's better than that? 



                                                                                                                                                               



Theses are the book-marks I have made myself. The bottom three are actually using friendship bracelet designs using embroidery floss.







These are just regular book-marks I guess. The top

one I won at a give away, and the bottom was a

graduation gift



These book-marks are from different parts of the world.

The yellow one is from Latvia, and the brown one is from...

I'm not entirely sure. Somewhere in the middle east. 

I pretty dragon fly book-mark. It isn't with the

regular book marks because it doesn't stick out of

just the top like those one do, but rather both ends.   

  

My charm ones, that you hook over the edge of

the book. The one with two is the

exchangeable one. The other has to stay the same.



Made to Match

Being an avid reader, I often employ the use of a book mark. Now, for some reason, the girly, girl deep inside of me combined with the uptight, schedule obsessive, drill sergeant I usually am cause me to have a deep seeded need to match my bookmark to my book. Sometimes it is better than others, especially if the book or bookmark are more neutral in colors, or if the book mark has a seasonal theme to it, or something.

Anyway, I couldn't find a bookmark I liked so I made a new one. Well, not a completely new one, only half a new one.

 This is a bookmark I got a while ago, a Christmas present I'm pretty sure. See how the charm can come off? It didn't used to be able to do that, but with some wire bending and the addition of a finding, I now can change the charms.

Until yesterday, the only charm for that bookmark is the one you see in the picture. Unable to find a bookmark to match my book though, I made a new charm for it. I mostly did this because, for some reason, this book needed to have a matching book mark, and making a charm seemed quicker and easier than a whole new bookmark.

Supplies for my new bookmark charm.

So here it is all put together.

Beyond Happily Ever After

I tend to write in cycles. I will spend a couple years working on a novel, all the while I come up with great ideas for short stories and poems. When I am done with the novel, the editing begins. I do not like editing, so I take all those ideas for short stories and poems and write them in between editing. When I run out of ideas for short stories, it is time to start on another novel.

I did NaNoWriMo, wrote a novel that happened to be a month after my gushing river of ideas for short stories turned into a trickling stream. A month is not a long enough time to come up with a billion ideas, so my trickling stream was a dry bed.

Through most of December I did absolutely nothing. No writing what so ever.  I could not go on like this! It would take a while for story ideas to build up. If I do not wait for them to build up I write maybe once every couple months, and that makes be depressed. So...I figured another novel was in order.

The last week of December I kicked around the idea of a fantasy set in a world inspired by an old west feeling. I thought this was so incredibly original. Who has ever heard of a fantasy set in the old west? Then I found Rapunzel's Revenge, which is basically a fantasy set in the old west. True, it is a graphic novel, but I can no longer claim to be the first who thought up the idea of an old west fantasy. Ah, well.

I wrote half of the first chapter to the old west fantasy, titled The Magic Thief, by the way, (and would you know it? Someone took that title right out from under me. I thought of the title for this story before the book of the same title came out.) For some reason though, I was not feeling it.

Typically, I have to carry an idea for a novel around in my head before I can write it. The plot, idea's, and characters need to be nearly complete before I can put them down on paper. I still make changes to those things as I write as I feel the need, but the major things need to be already formed. Until then, I find myself unable to write more than a couple of pages.

I had, had this idea of The Magic Thief for quite a while now, a couple years at least. Nevertheless, I could not get pas the first chapter. I really would like to get back to it sometime, but the whole world is still only half formed in my mind.

Then, not really thinking it would go any where, I started writing a novel I had given the title, Beyond Happily Ever After. I have had this idea for a shorter time than The Magic Thief, so I was not really expecting it to work. Then bam, we click, and I am well on my way to writing another novel. Why this one works so much better than The Magic Thief, I cannot really say. Perhaps the world of Beyond Happily Ever After is simpler, so I can imagine everything in it better. Maybe it is something else. Either way, that is what I am writing right now.

The synopsis is rather long, be fore-warned.

Beyond Happily Ever After begins with the author, a person named Alex Quilan, (the name may change, as I kind of took the last name of Quilan from a character in my sister's, KatySue, book,) talking. When Alex Q. narrates, he speaks in the first person and as if he is giving a monologue to someone right next to him. The story begins with.....

So…a fairytale. That can't be too hard. Right? Surly I can bang one out. They are so inartistic any moron should be able to write one. There are no descriptions besides how beautiful the heroine is, or handsome the hero is, and how ugly the villain is. The personalities are carbon copies of each other and are simple and flat. The dialog is tiresome and jumpy. Last but not least, the plot is scrapped together from the refuse and left over from stories that only act at being original. I should be able to write one then, shouldn't I?

The real problem though, is not that I cannot write one, it is that I do not want to write one. It is obvious from the glowing description that I gave fairytales before that I am head over heels in love with them. Yet, that is what my publisher demands of me.
 
It continues in much the same way until the narrator writes the actually fairy tale. So the 2,500 word fairytale is written, the ending words being the old-as-time phrase, "...happily ever after." Yet, the author feels slightly unaccomplished.....

Wow, that was so amazing, so epic, so unlike anything I have ever done before…so un-fulfilling. What was that? Can I really do no better? That was worse than even the most cliché, predictable, and boring fairytales ever! Well, that is what my publisher will get.

Though, it might be fun to add a bit more. Give this tale a little twist, you know? I will have to be careful and not fall into any of the clichés fairytale parodies have acquired. One of the largest being the prince always ends up being a jerk. Why is that?
Anyhoo…

The author then continues the storied only to suddenly be torn out of his stride, and hit a solid wall of writer's block. So solid, it almost seems unnatural...

Wait, what's, what's happening? Ow, it was going so well, I wasn't even really trying. The story was just coming. Ow, why does my head hurt so muc?. Ugh, my fingers are suddenly stiff. Good thing I can go back and correct my mistakes, otherwise this paragraf would be full of misstaks. Still, it is so odd, I can't explain it.

Ow.

I should just stop. There really is no need for going on. I will just be submitting the fairytale anyway, no need to finish it. Besides, already I have fallen into a fairytale parody cliché. But…then again. It did just seem to flow out of me. Honestly, I'm really interested in it now. But I have such a huge metal block right now. Before it was like a saw it all so clearly, but now it is almost unnatural how hard it is to write anything.


Never the less, the narrator struggles to enter into the story once again, only to stumbled on a scene where nine people are sitting around a triangular table, and all of them are glaring at him.
 

Wow, it's not every day images I make up are so clear. Seriously. It feels like I can almost touch this scene inside my head, and it came from nowhere. It is an old battered room, there is just enough room for a table and for nine  people to sit at it. It's a triangle, and there are three people at each edge. The walls have some sort of weird wall paper, or they're molding. No, wait, they are bookshelves. The whole walls from top to bottom are made of book shelves. There are no doors. Only book shelves and the ceiling. Oh! There is no ceiling. The books shelves just go up forever and ever......

..... After all, the image is remarkably clear and it would be a shame to waste it. I can keep this scene in la-la land until I find a suitable story to find it in.

"You will do no such thing."


That was a man. Younger, than the lady, perhaps forties? No older than forty-eight, yet he is bald. Shiny head. And, oddly reminiscent of the sixties. Are those bell bottoms? And they're khaki.


"You shouldn't even be here."


I'm confused. It's almost like I don't have any control to what happens.


"This is because you don't," the sixties man says, sitting back down in his chair with a sigh. "And would you stop narrating everything I do. It's annoying."


They call themselves the FairyTale Council, and any fairytale written must first go through them, before the author can set them down. Usually they do not bother to contact authors, but for some reason, they do not want Alex Q. to finish writing this particular fairytale.....

Libaray Book Sale

Every quarter, the library in my district has a book sale. This book sale is a fundraiser of sorts for the library itself. Several of the books sold are old ones the library does not have the room to keep anymore. Either because it was a popular book at first, so library ordered a bazillion copies, or because the books are less popular and not really read anymore. Most of the books though, are donated to the library for the purpose of the book sale.

Not to say there are only books. There are also Cd's, and movies, mostly books though.

It is a great time to get a stellar deal on books and Cd's. Most of the paper backs are only $0.50, and the hard backs are mostly $1.00. The hardbacks that are in excellent condition, or that are old enough to be considered "vintage" are priced somewhat higher. I actually have a copy of The Three Musketeers which is at least over fifty years old, and is still in really good condition.

Eragon and Dragon Rider are old favorites. The copy of Eragon I go was actually in pretty good condition, almost as if I had bought it from the store. Dragon Rider on the other hand...well let's just say you can tell it is used. Hu, I just now noticed they are both about dragons.

 I got The Book of Lost Things and Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonder simply becuase they looked intersting. Not sure how good they are going to be.

 



Usually I get several more classics, such as Dickens and Twain, but the classics section to the books sale was sorely lacking this year. All I found of any interest to me was the, The Great Books collection, which is a  compilation of a bunch of classics. I have already read most of them, but I still thought it would be a good thing to own.

Come summer I will have finished my old Bible reading program,  so I picked this up with that in mind. I also like how it integrated prayer with Bible reading. The prayer's are not fed to you though, like in some study Bibles. It gives you a topic that goes along with the passage and then you have to make up your own prayer on the subject.

I saw this Avalon book, and knowing it was a series my little sisters were interested in, bought it for them. They were there too, the books sale is always a family event, but this book was in the adult  fantasy section instead of with the children books. Abi was delighted, Colleen wondered why I did it. Ah well.

I have never read The Help, but I hear it is really good.

Now onto the Cd's. All of them but the Disney on is instrumental. I usually grab a couple instrumental Cd's while at the books sale because I like listening to it while doing school. Music with words distracts me.