Surrounded by inspiration

Hi all! Welcome to another installment of GPF. Today, I welcome my old (in blogfollow years) friend Sylvia. Her blog, Playful Creative, is an interesting mix of her, her writing and some writing tips. There's never a dull moment, so if you want some fun, feel free to give her some follow love.

Take it away, Sylvia.



One of the most awesome aspects of being a writer is that everything is related to writing. Everything I see, hear, touch or experience can be inspiration to use in my novel.


That is one of the reasons my office, my favorite writing place, is surrounded by inspiration. I don't do sparse. I love to sit in here and look at all the things on the shelves above my desk, or leaf through a book on my shelves or play with the unicorn that sits on my desk. My office is one big space for inspiration and creativity.


For me, writing is playful and joyful. If I don't focus on making my writing time like that, I invite in the gremlins called writer's blocks. They have been around me long enough. Now I just write.


Sometimes I do get stuck though, when I wonder where the story wants to be taken next, one of the downsides of being a pantser. I have enough inspiration around me to get myself into finding that next step. I have found that any creative expression can get me back to writing. The best ideas for a story jump into my head when I am creating something entirely different. And that can be anything. The best is doodling. Nothing frees up my mind for inspiration like mindlessly drawing silly things.


But ideas can strike anywhere. As I said before, everything is an inspiration. That is why I think that being a writer must be quite tedious for the other humans in our lives. There have been countless moments of me going, "That is a great idea!" and then maniacally searching for a piece of paper or my phone to jot down the idea. Sometimes I can get so lost in these thoughts that it takes a lot of patience for the other person to get me in the here and now.


This is especially worse when I am writing a novel. My husband often complains I forget things the moment he says them to me. I then invariably say, "Sorry, darling, I have novel brain, my brain is occupied by characters. What were you saying?"


Of course I don't hear him then either.



Hahahaha thanks so much for this Guest Post, Sylvia.

If anyone else still wants to sign up for the rest of the year, please check out this post.

So... what do you do to get your creative juices flowing?

Yay I edited!

Yesterday I finally started editing again, but it's still slow going, because I'm not as in the story as I was beforehand.

On one hand, I think I should read it from the beginning again, to get deeper into the story. On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing that I'm not so into it.

I have two reasons for this.

The first is that distance is good while editing. Very good. I know that the stuff I changed really did make the reading better.

Another reason is that while the beast isn't chewing me up, I might as well take it a bit slower while looking for my crit partner(s?). So... I might actually have at least a few weeks while having a life.

Imagine that.

So... I'm just going to take it a bit slower and maybe get some reading in. And also take a nap a little later, because my beautiful dog insisted on barking at random moments all hours of last night...

Another thing I decided to change while I'm at it: Sundays. They are now no computer days. I took one last week end and it was such a beautiful feeling that I want another one.

So that's where I am. What about you? Anyone else editing? Anyone coming back from an editing burn-out? How is your writing going?

A Call for Help

Young Adult Teen Tuesday is a meme hosted by the wonderful Sheri Larsen to showcase all aspects of creating a Young Adult Story.

So... Although I am one of the original participants, I can safely say that I'm far from a regular one. Which makes be feel bad. But today, I have something that's weighing on my heart.

Something, involving my YA Fantasy Epic, Doorways. See, my one crit partner extraordinaire  won't be able to critique the ms anymore, because he's about to release his own book.

And that left me with a bit of a problem. Because I have a little more than 100 days left to finish the story... and now am needing a cp whose core strength lies with copy editing.

And who made me laugh. Even though he was so brutally honest that it stung sometimes.

And I need a cp like that if I'm to have any hope of finishing on time. I did start looking for cps and came up with a promising one, but she's still drafting, which is something that I don't want to interrupt with my editing. So although I will definitely be her cp, I can't get the work out right now.

And I'm really really scared of just putting my baby out there to for a stranger without a familiar face to read.

So here I am. Asking begging you. If you are getting to the point where you want to send your work to be critted and you're good at copy editing other people's work, please please please think of me. If you want, I'll ask my other cp's to contact you so that you can see that I don't only take without giving in return.

Okay... begging aside, here's a bit more:

Doorways is the first book of a four book YA Fantasy epic. But I'm willing to crit almost anything except erotica and too dark fantasy. So period novels, thrillers, procedurals, sci fi, romances, fantasy etc all welcome.

My strengths: characterization, world building, plot, voice, pacing.

I need: someone strong on copy-edits, who are honest, but who knows the difference between critting and being critical. Someone who can start within this week.

So if you are that person, and you need a person like me or you know such a person that you can vouch for, please contact me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thanks very very much in advance!

And... because I am so very grateful that you read all of this, if you need a crit and don't suit my profile, put your needs, strengths and contact details in the comments section. Who knows? Maybe you strike it lucky. X

Others have said: You are not alone.

Every writer I know has trouble writing.

Joseph Heller

So good to know that I'm not alone in this. See, after weeks of doing almost nothing writing related, I feel the need to come back to it, except for when I have the notebook or document open in front of me.

It just feels as if the words don't want to come.

Needless to say, it's frustrating, but I guess that's what happens if you want to take some lazy time.

It's just so annoying, because for the most of a year, I never struggled. But that's the way it goes. I had my break. Now it's time to ease into my routine again. Gently.

What do you do when you're out of your writing/editing groove? 

Writing Books

Hi all! Today I welcome Steven J. Wangsness to MFB. Steven's new book, TAINTED SOULS is available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and other e-readers. Check out his website at sjwangsness.blogspot.com. :-)

Take it away, Steven.

Writing a book is like skinning a cat -- there's more than one way to do it.

Some authors map out their novels in minute detail before ever setting pen to paper, pinpointing every plot point with the precision of a military staff officer and cataloging every facet of their characters in encyclopedic fashion -- their appearance, their manner of speaking, their personal histories. With plot and characters so well known in advance, the act of creating a book becomes giving a written account of what already exists.

William Styron (The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie's Choice) is supposed to have had such an exhaustive road map to his novels before him that his first drafts were his last drafts -- by the time he started to write a novel, all there was left to do was craft the words; everything else about the novel was a known quantity.

Other writers prefer to fly by the seat of their pants or, as they might prefer it, to allow the book to grow organically with minimal direction from the author. In essence, as events occur and characters enter the scene, they determine where the action goes and how the characters grow and who they become. I recall an interview with a British writer a couple of years ago who said he was "too lazy" to write an outline; he just started with a simple idea and let the book go where it went.

Jack Kerouac portrayed himself as just such a writer, having claimed to have written On the Road in long sheets routed through his typewriter in one three-week-long burst of spontaneous fury. The truth is more complex, with the book going through many edits and revisions. (Confession: I've never gotten past page 20.)

As a writer, I lie somewhere in between these extremes, though I have tended more towards the seat-of-the-pants variety. My college term papers were rarely products of long research and carefully outlined prose but mostly coughed up in all-nighters while hunkered down at the typewriter with a few open books and several cups of coffee.

Before I sat down to write my novel Tainted Souls, however, I knew I wanted a detailed plot summary. For one thing, Tainted Soulsis a plot-driven mystery and I didn't think I could afford to wing it. I plotted out all the scenes beforehand, using open-source "mind-mapping" software called FreeMind. I wrote a 15-page, single-spaced summary describing all the action in each of the chapters. Though I wrote down just a few bullet points, rather than detailed histories, I had a good notion of the characters and their motivations before I started writing.

Even so, the plot took twists and turns and the players took on characteristics I hadn't anticipated. These developed out of the writing itself. Just one example: I knew that I wanted my protagonist's partner to be earthy and buffoonish as I set out; but it was only as I was writing the first chapter that he revealed himself to me -- that's how I would describe it -- as corrupt, too. His corruption became not just an interesting aspect of his character but crucial to the plot as it finally evolved; without it, Tainted Souls would be a different book.

For me, then, part of what gets written down grows organically out of the process of writing itself. Characters flesh out, events suggest themselves, sub-themes emerge, all giving the story new hues and affecting the course of the plot. Like real people, the characters reveal more of their true natures the better I get to know them. As in real life, the course of events may take an unexpected turn. It's not for me to argue whether this is a better way of writing than asserting full control of the book from the get-go. However, for me, no matter how carefully and diligently I may pre-cook the final product, at least some of the book is going to "write itself."

How about you? Do your characters take on aspects that surprise you and go down a road you didn't see coming?

Thanks for this great post, Steven! All the best with your book sales.

Before I go, I just want to ask if there's a kind and brave soul out there that would please book 30 March for a GPF? If you're interested, please check out this post and contact me.

OK then! Have a great weekend! X

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Sorry for only posting now. I'm bit out of the blogging routine now that I haven't blogged for about a week.

But, here I am. Back.

And... with pretty much nothing to post about. See, I haven't been editing, because I'm waiting for another CP to send back my work. As for really writing, I've got such a massive stack of notes now (900 pages and counting) that sorting through it is eating all of my time.

Still... I've learnt some very interesting things about three of my main characters. So at least now I know why Callan makes certain choices that I knew she'd make but couldn't understand. Or Darrion, for that matter. I also know how Gawain will react to these choices.

So at least I can say that I haven't really wasted most of a month. And yet, sometime really soon, I'm going to have to get back to working on the actual writing.

My muse and Darrion are sort of leaning on me to get going.

Have you ever done something else constructive that helps your writing, but isn't writing, only to feel sucky because you haven't actually written?

YA Stereotypes

YA Stereotypes

Ever since I discovered YA fiction, I’ve loved both reading and writing it. But after immersing myself in it for a while, I noticed something (something that I’m sure hasn’t escaped your attention either!). There are certain themes that crop up pretty often in YA literature. So often, in fact, that I now expect to come across at least one whenever I read a new YA book.

• The Love Triangle 

Usually a girl and two guys. Usually a nice guy (kind and sensitive, possibly a best friend for years) and a bad boy (the kind your parents most certainly wouldn’t approve of). There’s a lot of emotional back-and-forth while the heroine tries to figure out who she really wants to be with, and you, the reader, can usually tell from the beginning who it will be. And neither boy ever seems to think, You know what? This girl is messing me around. I’m off to find someone else.

• Love At First Sight 

I can understand attraction at first sight. That makes sense to me. You see a guy (or girl) for the first time, he’s really good-looking, and you feel attracted to him. But love? And that instant “connection” you often read about? Hmm. I have a hard time buying that. I think love and a connection can only come once you know a person.

• The Bad Boy Love Interest

Rude, obnoxious, sarcastic, dark-and-brooding, has a troubled past, pushes the heroine away, no one else has ever been able to change him, but for THIS HEROINE he will turn his life around and become a better person. Secretly, I like this one (if I have to pick a vertex on the love triangle, I’m usually Team Bad Boy). And I’d like to believe it’s possible. I’m sure in some cases it is. But surely in other cases, the guy who’s a jerk will always be just that – a jerk. And the heroine should tell him to get lost and instead find an awesome good guy (like Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door!)

I’m not saying these themes are wrong. There are, of course, instances where they work really well. For example, the love triangles in The Hunger Games series (Katniss, Peeta, Gale) and The Infernal Devices series (Tessa, Will, Jem) are cleverly pulled off and add much to the storyline. And sometimes the Bad Boy has a really good reason for acting like such a jerk (again, Will from The Infernal Devices series).

After thinking about it for a little while, I realized that none of these three stereotypes show up in Guardian:

• there’s only one main guy, Nate, so no love triangle; 
• Vi thinks Nate is kinda cute, but once he ruins her perfect assignment record by following her into the fae realm, love-at-first-sight is the last thing on her mind; 
• and Nate is certainly not a “bad boy”. In fact, the only bad boy here is Ryn (the faerie who reports Vi’s assignment screw-up), and Vi’s feelings for him extend more toward shoving him out of a tree than love. 

But you may have noticed there’s a stereotype I haven’t mentioned yet . . .

• Forbidden Love 

And that’s because, well, there may, kinda, possibly be a bit of this in Guardian! I mean, Violet's a faerie, Nate’s a human, it’s against Guild Law for him to know she exists, so of course any feelings Vi may, kinda, possibly develop toward Nate would be forbidden! 

Okay, so I couldn't steer completely clear of stereotypes!

A question for readers and writers: How do feel about these YA “stereotypes”?

~  ~  ~

Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults.

Buy Guardian from

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

Creepy Hollow Launch Day

Hey all! Just stopped by from my blogging break to let you know about one of my blogging friends' new book series: Creepy Hollow. This is the announcement:


Today the Creepy Hollow series kicks off with the release of the first story, GUARDIAN!!
GUARDIAN introduces readers to the magical world of Creepy Hollow, a realm where fae creatures — both safe and definitely-not-so-safe — dwell. Things are cool as long the fae stick to their own realm. It's when they find their way into the human world that things start going wrong...


1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Buy from Amazon US
Buy from Amazon UK
Buy from Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

To find out more about the series, the author, and the characters, check out the blog tour that’s happening over the next two weeks.

Click here for the blog tour schedule

The Importance of Insignificant Things

Hi all, today I welcome someone who I see as a bit of a blogging legend. Her quirky style and awesome blogging voice always keep me going back for more. So if you've never read Mia's blog, I suggest you hop over there right now.

My break is still in full swing, but I'll see you all on Wednesday. In the mean time, I hope you don't miss me too much! ;-P Have a great weekend. X

Take it away, Mia. Thanks for this great post. *hugs*

My supervsor said something interesting the other day. It struck me right down the middle. It rang true. ALLOW ME TO PARAPHRASE IT HERE.

She said, “Mia, sometimes the insignifcant results are the ones that really count.”

Profound, but only if you know the background. So! Allow me to fill you in on some important deets:

1)      I am a final year Psych undergrad researching WORDS and PSYCHOLOGY and STUFF. This sounds super fantastic but a) they’re only temporal words and b) all I can really tell you right now is that past words happen before future ones and this is really COOL. QED.

2)      I have a supervisor who supervises my research, as le name suggests.

3)      I experiment on REAL LIVE PEOPLE, FYI.

4)      My results THUS FAR are insignificant. That is to say, the results we expected were not found at all. I spend my nights weeping in a corner and drowning my sorrows with ice cream because of this.

So! Background complete! Now what am I getting at? Well, guys, that’s right, you guessed it, I want to talk about writing here. 

I want to talk about mistakes. Mistakes in writing are like insignificances in research, they’re actually tres interesting. It took a while for me to see it, but blunders are important.  Those early days when you first start out and everything that comes out of your creative moments feel DIRTY, and not in a sensual way but in a I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING HERE I AM JUST REACHING FOR THINGS way? Those days?

They are important. They are so very important.

For without confusing a prologue with a first chapter, without stumbling through awkward dialogue, and crying over lost descriptions, without any of that how are we to learn how to write? There are no set rules in writing, even the ones everyone gets so hung up on are occasionally and very successfully broken.  There are no rules in writing and that is why it’s so hard to describe how we do it.

Do we sit in a dark room surrounded by only the whisperings of imaginary people or do we write in a café encased by the buzzing of life? Do we cry? Do we laugh? Do we start at the beginning and work forward? Do we not?

As far as I can tell, we do all of it.  It’s up to you to pick and choose. And that’s why the apparent mistakes, and the occasional awkward paragrpahs, are important. The disappointing results of your efforts, and the confusing outcome of nights of hard work, they help you understand who you you are. And only by knowing who you are as a writer can you know how it is you can write.

Because sometimes the things that go wrong,

the abandoned novels and

 

the words that won’t quite

come together.

 

Sometimes they are the most important of all.

 

The show you the way to

the greatness within.
 

So HOW DO WE WRITE? I cannot possibly tell you, but I can tell you how we don’t write. We don’t write by being timid, by being unable to conquer our fears. We don’t write by sticking only to what we know will work, and by never taking chances. We are dynamic, flexible, and brave indidivuals. We try, and we are not afraid of the darkness. We are, and that is enough.

So! Haha! What are the mistakes and insignifiances you have encountered in your journey? I know the main one for me was NOT TO PLOT. I am very bad at plotting, as soon as I accepted that one things got a little easier.