Creative Nonfiction: A Reflection of the Past Year

Good evening, fellow writers! This is just a quick update, since the holiday festivities have me beat. Just a quick note: look at the top of the page and notice the beautiful banner I created. Procrastinating revisions? Hell yes.

Since many of us have been thinking about the past year--our regrets, our accomplishments, etc.--so I've been using those contemplative times for inspiration for my writing.

One thing I've been experimenting this semester is creative nonfiction. For those that don't know, creative nonfiction (in my opinion) combines some great aspects from both fiction and nonfiction: writing real life events in a story-like format. I find that I can really get a lot of emotion out of the events that really happened to me, and writing them in a novel format helps me improve my writing.

So this is my prompt for you this week. Think back on any event at all this past year, one that stands out in your mind. It can be elating, devastating, angering, anything. Then write about the moment, describing as much as you can remember (from the scenery to dialog) and write it like you would a short story. It should have a beginning, middle, and end, but it can be as long as it takes to tell the story. Happy writing!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil...

Question: Have you ever written creative nonfiction?

To-Do List: Ally or Enemy?

Good afternoon, writers! Today I've been thinking about how I hardly have time to write. However, something I recently learned is that you have to MAKE time. I always say "I'm too busy to write," when in reality, I just don't make time. I always lower it and lower it on my priorities list. I have homework and studying, yes, but then I decide to go out to eat with my friends or go to the movies or write Christmas cards. How serious you are as a writer and how high writing is on your to-do list will show how determined you are to finish that novel or to get that article published.

This post is a short one, because, of course, I have many other things on my priorities list. But do me a favor: try to inspect your to-do list and see how you can rearrange it. Then you'll discover how much writing truly means to you.

If you have any comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. I guess it's time to pick up that pencil...

Question: How often do you write? Do you "have time" to write?

Writer's Block: Curse or Myth?

Good evening, bloggers! Today's topic is writer's block, the plague to us all. We often blame out lack of a word count for days, weeks, or even months on this little disease. Some people say it's the death of writers while others believe it's only a state of mind.

It can be a lack of inspiration or just a lack of motivation. Personally, you can have no ideas for a certain story you're writing, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have writer's block. If you lack ideas for one story you may very well have a surplus of ideas for another. Or, it can be that you have so many ideas for a story that they get jumbled in your brain and the excess amount of ideas just boggles you and seems too overwhelming to work on.

If you have a plot hole, I see it as more of an obstacle to overcome than a block. A block, to me, sounds permanent, while an obstacle sounds like something to work hard for and achieve. If you have no ideas for it, try working on something else and coming back to it later. I solve many of my plot holes just out of the blue, either getting ideas from school assignments or conversations with friends or during a shower. Inspiration just hits you like an oncoming train sometimes--fast, unexpected, and hard.

One thing I'm sure to do is that, no matter what time it is or where I am, I write down any ideas I have. Even though an idea might seem like nothing down, it will someday grow. You can be pondering over it later and it can turn into a full-fledged novel idea. At 3am when I awake from a dream, I always groan and get up to turn on a light to write down my story idea from my dream. If I'm in school I write it on the corner of my notes to remember it.

If you just get lazy, that's your own fault. Or if you're just so busy that you find it hard to write, start off small with a prompt or a poem. Try a short story or something else before going back to your work in progress. Perhaps your WIP is boring you and you need to spice it up. If it seems like you have such a long way to go, think of it in sections and just remember how happy and accomplished you'll feel when it's done.

Sometimes writer's block is just a menace that prevents the right words from being released from your ballpoint pen. If you can't get the words out, try an exercise to get the juices flowing, like being really descriptive with something (look at an object and describe it in great detail with all five senses). Learning some new vocab can help too; I get Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. If I just need to reconnect with my characters, I write a short scene or some drabble with them. Sometimes I even wind up altering them and inserting them into my story!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil..

Question: Do you believe in writer's block? Do you suffer from it often?

Retrace Your Steps--Don't Get Lost!

Good evening, writers! Picture this event in your head: You write a great story with a flowing storyline and a solid plot, then suddenly--BAM--your manuscript is read and pulled apart, the beta (or whomever) shedding light to the small plot hole that ruins your story. What you have to do then is go back and retrace your steps to change the plot while still producing the main result. Ever experience that? I have. I'm sure many of you have, too. That's why I'm going to share my advice on retracing your steps to edit your plot. Don't give up or get lost! If you don't go back and change it, you'll never finish it! :[ All that effort, forever wasted. You don't want that, do you? I'll provide some tips, plus some reasons to keep going.

1) Know how the story is going to end. Having a clear idea of how the story will end definitely will help you decide how to advance. If your character has to get from A to B, it helps narrow down the options.

2) Use the experience to your knowledge. The second time around, you know what went wrong and what went right, so not as much experimentation is needed. You have better knowledge of grammar than before (I would hope) and you know which things don't work in certain situations. It will be faster this time around.

3) You already know your characters! You know your characters a lot better since you have spent more time with them. You have their catchphrases and behaviors, plus you know how they would react in certain situations. This will help you think "Hmm, if So-and-So did this, then this would happen." Knowing you characters will help you greatly.

Plus, the best thing is, you're not starting all over. You have the majority of the story in your mind, from the ending to the characters to the setting. Even if it's a major change, you still have most of the learning already done. See? It won't be so hard. You can do it!

P.S. The Quill and Ink Forums (a forum I moderate) is having a Thanksgiving writing contest. Check out the forum for more details. In one contest, we are giving out Chris Baty's [i]No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in Thirty Days[/i], so check out the blog for more details.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil...

Question: Have you ever hit a plot snag in your novel? Found a plot bunny hiding in the bushes? How did you fix it?

Start Your Horses!

On your mark, get set, go! Today is November 1st, the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Basically, for those who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, the main idea behind it is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days (the month of November). One of the main objectives of NaNoWriMo is to get aspiring novelists to actually write their novel, but in 30 days. Why such a short time period? Well, in my opinion, if you gain the confidence of knowing you are fully capable of writing a 50,000 word novel (by finishing NaNoWriMo), you'll be able to more easily write your next novel (taking longer than thirty days of course). A major problem with to-be writers is that they lack confidence, thinking they'll never be able to finish, or lack discipline, not having the ability to just set time aside to their novel every day. With NaNo, you HAVE to budget your time or you'll never finish, so it teaches you time management. Once you finish a novel, you are free to gloat. Plus, after writing your novel and go back to revise it a few months later, you can learn about all of the errors you made and learn how to correct them.

A few tips to finishing your NaNoWriMo novel

1) Don't procrastinate. See how I posted this blog post? Yeah, try not to do that as much. That's time wasted that you could be writing your novel. I'm only posting this because I love you guys.

2) Don't edit. No matter how much you want to revise your previously-written chapters, don't look back. We both know they aren't you best, but don't reread them yet. That's for December.

3) Write the required 1667 words (or about) each day. It helps you keep a time line and not have to write all 50k in the last weekend of November. That's what I call stressful.

4) Calm down and have fun. Don't worry about if your writing is good or bad or about plot holes. Just write. It will all sort itself out. If it doesn't, that's what December's revisions are for.

I hope this helps! After all, I did use up valuable NaNoWriMo time typing it up. :] Best of luck to the participants! See you in December! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil...

Question: Have you decided to do NaNoWriMo this November? Why or why not? If so, what are you hoping to get from it?

Welcome to Halloweentown

Good evening, writers! Halloween is less than a week away and I can't wait! I love it all: the candy, the parties, the costumes. One of my favorite things about Halloween is the horror stories.

Horror stories, Halloween shorts, filled with blood, gore, and guts galore! Don't you love horror stories? They're so much fun to write, especially when goosebumps start forming on your skin with every word. I think many people are intimidated by the thought of writing horror because they can't be too soft (then it's not horror), but if it's just blood and gore, that's not a very good read (and it's gross). You have to find a good balance between gore, a good plot line, and enough horror to make it interesting without being a disgusting turn-off. Still, you need the chill-down-the-spine spook factor that all of those scary movies have. You have to create tension and suspense in an attempt to actually frighten the reader.

Here are a few tips:

1) Study the classics. One of the best ways to learn, in my opinion, is by learning through example. Pick up a copy of Dracula (by Bram Stoker) and see how it's done. Then you can adapt your own style and ideas.

2) Research. Please, please, do your research. If you're writing a scary vampire story, read different myths and adaptations on the vampire before creating your own version. Try to make it as original as possible, yet pay attention to your audience.

3) Think about what scares YOU. Do creepy, crawly insects freak you out? Write about something that has to do with bugs. What would happen in your worst nightmares? Put it on paper. Surely if something scares you, it's bound to scare somebody else.

4) Rhythm and Intensity. These two elements are very important for creating tension and fright in your reader. Scary movies are scary when they have a character walking down the street in a slow rhythm, when suddenly--BAM!--a monster appears out of the bushes. Set the mood with intense description, the angry, thrusting tree branches can make for a spooky appeal in the nighttime horror of suburbia.

Here are some elements to make your horror's villain, horrifying: Make him a mystery and make him completely unexpected. We find fear in what we don't know. The darkness scares people because we have no idea what may be lurking there. Also, who would have thought he creeped through the shadows into your bedroom before you shut the door? Who would have seen him bust through the wall? It's all in the element of surprise that spooks us out. Make him creep up slowly.

That's all for now! Now start spooking! Feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil...

Question: Ever try writing a horror story? If so, how did it turn out? If not, why not?

Practice Makes Perfect--Keep At It!

Good morning! What? It's not a very good morning for you? I'm sorry to hear that.

Have you ever just felt sad or worthless? Felt that your wriitng just sucks and no one loves you and you need a big hug? We all have. It's important to keep in mind the old idiom that "practice makes perfect." If you want to get better, you have to write. You don't have to show anyone your embarrassing first short story, but writing and recognizing what you liked and disliked will help you become a better writer. Plus, realizing if things are just incorrect, such as grammar and facts, will teach you to research and learn your rules. You can learn which writing rules you want to break (such as the controversy over dialogue tags--use 'em or lose 'em) and which you like, and that will help you form a wriitng style of your own. You can cross the bridge from "okay" to "great" with practice and a little bit (or a lot) of faith.

Remember that when you're exhausted from schoolwork, projects, work, homework, and balancing your social life. Exhaustion can take a toll on you, but you have to aim for your goals. Writing can be very rewarding, and that happy, accomplished feeling is one thing I love about writing. It makes me feel so proud of myself, whether the work is good or bad, finished or incomplete. Never give up something you love because you're scared or afraid of doing badly. If you feel like you're not good enough, pull yourself up and pick up a pencil. Show yourself who's boss. You can write as well as anyone else as long as you keep at it. One of my English teachers always said, "Perfect practice makes perfect," but I completely disagree with that. Practice makes perfect, because you find what is and isn't perfect for you. There isn't one perfect way of writing; that's why there are so many different published authors. Everyone has a different way of writing and you'll find yours with time. Stick to it! You can do it!

Well, right now, I have to go work on my three AP projects and my homework, but while doing so, I'll think about how I'll get to work on my story later, so that will motivate me to get all of this boring stuff done. =] Email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com if you have any questions or comments! Time to go sharpen that pencil...

Question: Do you ever have those days when you feel unworthy and not good enough? How did you pull yourself up? And do you find writing rewarding?