Three Goodies: New Narnia, TTT & Self-Publishing Done Right

I have three announcements!

First, the next Narnia movie is in the works: The Silver Chair!

Second, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) announced the Teens' Top Ten Winners- Woot!

For a list of the books and other information about Teens' Top Ten, check out YALSA's website page, or this post in which I explain why I love the TTT competition.

And, finally, earlier today the blogging sensation Nathan Bransford released his first self-pubbed book, a writing guide. Happily, Bransford presents writers an example of "the right way" to self-publish for a large audience. He hired two editors, a cover designer, the whole shebang to prepare his book for the public. I haven't read it yet, but I certainly will.

How I Write Essays in 16 Steps (Which can also be how YOU write essays in 16 Steps!)

If I've learned how to do one thing as an English major, it's how to write a solid essay. This process took a long time to refine, though, starting way back in Junior Year of high school. (Well, before then, my teachers tried to teach me. Thank you, Ben Sombs. But I was not very receptive at that time, I guess! :) Many of the teachers at Regent University online have been particularly helpful in giving me personalized feedback about what wasn't working in my essays. Gradually, this and writing stories have helped me develop a good process. (The processes of essay-writing and story-writing actually don't differ a whole lot, as I'll note along the way.) I don't always use every step because each essay is a little different; but I wanted to share all the tools I have used. This post will share everything I wish I knew back when I first started writing essays.

1.) Before I begin read my source (if the essay requires one) and subject or prompt, I find some good study materials to ponder along with my reading; if the essay requires no source, I carefully examine the prompt. Study questions are particularly helpful for research or analysis essays: I find them on websites like Sparknotes.com, or get them from a teacher. If I can, I find some sort of introduction or context for the source, as well. I also make sure to study my prompt very carefully; my AP English teacher always said "'AP' stands for 'Address the Prompt.'"

2.) Then I begin reading my source and taking notes on themes or anything that could possibly be useful.* For longish research essays, this step could take up quite a bit of time. But...I shut up and eat my peas. That's just how writing goes, sometimes! Hence why I like to get started on this a week or two before my essay is due.

*If I don't need a source, I just brainstorm about my topic and thesis. When I finish brainstorming, I skip to step 4 on this list.

Notes are like mind mulch. Good seeds come from mind mulch. (To see how I make mind mulch for stories, check out this post.)

3.) Once I'm finished reading, I just write about the material for a while in an effort to pin down topic ideas. Actually, sometimes I'm not finished reading everything, yet, if this is a research essay; but I make sure to constantly ask, "What is the author of the source trying to tell me?" as I do read and after I finish a source. As I observe main points and themes (for which the study questions come in handy), I keep asking myself what might be useful for my thesis. Throughout this step and the rest, I ask myself question after question about the material and my own notes so I can begin to understand it all and make connections. I describe this process in this post, if you are curious about it. Although I describe it there in terms of story-writing, it works exactly the same way in essay-writing.

4.) When I've brainstormed everything I can possibly think of to say on the sources and topics, I go back over my notes and highlight the best stuff I find there. This mysterious "best stuff" will often be made up of conclusions I've drawn from the rest of the mass. Sometimes I'll spend a whole page or more just coming to one conclusion. Most teachers never tell you that lots of "eh-but-necessary notes" happen before the good stuff happens. Once in a while, the study questions yield good stuff immediately. But by the time I finished my last essay, an analysis of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, I ended up with a whopping six pages of messy notes on top of the four pages of my essay. And each note brought me closer to "the end."

5.) I compile the "good stuff" onto a new page or word document, separating it from the leftovers.  Typically, by this point, some sort of central idea is beginning to percolate in the back of my mind, so I pick the notes that fit that idea. But I make sure to save the old leftover notes in case I change my mind later.

6.) At this point, I might need to take a break. Emptying my brain is usually exhausting, if I do it right.

7.) Next, I make connections between my ideas by scanning and sorting my good notes (and, if necessary, my leftovers). I write s'more, beginning to form ideas for the introduction that will lead me and my readers through the mass of information (though the introduction will not truly take its final shape until later). If I need to, I riffle amongst those old notes I saved. Perhaps I find that I need to expand or change the central idea, or perhaps my exhausted brain picked the wrong central idea at first. Whatever the reason, old notes sometimes come in handy. Because I'm a visual learner, I use strikethrough text to cross out old ideas when they may have become irrelevant, and I use the highlighter tool to pick out new "good stuff." Actually, I don't know what the heck a visual learner is, or if I am one, but these two tools sure help! At this point, I am still asking and answering any questions about my own essay or my source the way I described in that post I mentioned in step 3.

8.) After I've picked some good ideas out of my notes, I develop a thesis. I refine the central idea I've been pondering. It may be tough to find amidst all the possibilities, so I keep them all, for now. My thesis may begin to come to me even before I've finished all my research. And even at this point, my central idea/Frankenstein monster thesis may completely change. I usually panic at this step because it's hard, but I'm sort of learning to skip that and just keep looking for the best option.  The best kind of thesis will not have lots of directions--it will be fairly concise. It will state a firm claim about my topic, one I think I can prove. Everything else I write in this essay will depend upon this one little sentence. Again, highlighting and strikethrough text come in handy.

The thesis is a lot like the premise of a story. Or like God. It is the Alpha and the Omega of your essay.

9.) Once I have my thesis, I move it onto a brand-spankin'-new page. This is a new beginning, because I finally have a focus point for my essay. But I keep my notes in a separate document in case I need them again.

10.) I use my notes to figure out what points to make in support of my thesis. These are called "supporting points," and they will form the backbone of my essay though the body paragraphs. It may take some time to find these main points. I compile all the major ideas I've discovered into the all important introductory paragraph, which is still messy. I compare them with my thesis and pick the best ones.

11.) Once I  have some possible "supporting points," there's nothing to do but try them out. I start filling in the spots between the supporting points to see if they actually lead anywhere (they don't always, but there's no way to find that out until I explore them). Yep, more notes! But these notes will eventually become my body paragraphs. I make sure to quote directly from my source to support each of my points. Even supporting points need support.

12.) Once I've filled out my body paragraphs, I start connecting them with transitions. If I can't connect one of my supporting points/body paragraphs, that's alright. I just paste it right near the top of my "notes" documents so I know where to find it, in case I change my mind. I may even erase it using "track changes" if I can't bear to simply remove it (another useful crossover from my story-writing process). Usually, by the time I've finished my essay and I check back on these track change deletions, I have no problem removing them because I've realized they just don't fit. This is how I trick myself into "killing my darlings."

13.) I tie everything up into a conclusion. I may form the conclusion at any time during the essay, not just at the end. Creating the conclusion helps me see my essay as a whole for the first time. It also forces me to see whether or not all the parts of the essay (introduction, body paragraphs and transitions) fit together. I summarize all of my main points and tie them into my argument, the thesis. And once I've finished with all these parts of the essay--thesis, body paragraphs, transitions and conclusion--there's only one essay component left to write.

14.) I write the introduction of the essay. This may seem backward, but let me explain. My introduction shows the reader the main points I will make and the order I will make them in.* If I don't know those things myself yet, how can I introduce them to my reader? I tinker with my introduction throughout the essay because it gives my essay both form and focus. It shares the "designing principle" (a term from John Truby's wonderful book The Anatomy of Story) of the essay with my readers--meaning, what will I cover and in what order? For example if I decide I'm going to argue how Moll Flanders changed after each of her (five) marriages in the essay, I might let them know the order: first marriage to last. Readers need to know this. So, to recap: once I've figured out my supporting points and tied them together using the transitions and conclusion, I can officially write "the" perfect intro to my creation because I finally have all the parts. That's what I write it at the end. Then I've finished my rough draft! The process gets easier from here on out.

*The introduction also interests the reader in my essay so they'll keep reading. This is called "hooking" the reader. A "hook" can be a quote, a question, a startling statistic or claim...anything that will interest them, really.

15.) I clean up the draft by clarifying rough spots, fixing typos and making it all-around prettier. This usually involves taking a step back and letting the work sit for a short time. If I have a few days (I usually don't), I'll come back to the essay and probably be glad I did. Oftentimes I'm too "close" to my work to catch all the typos. I almost always read my paper out loud to myself before turning it in, because that helps even an overloaded brain find the weak spots. Some people print papers out to spot more typos, but that doesn't do much for me. Save a tree. Once in a while I will change the font as I do a final read-through. This helps catch those final typos because, rather than skimming through all that Times New Roman again, I have to actually look at the words. And then? Then I'm finished.

16.) And I go celebrate. Seriously, that was hard work.

This process is extremely fluid, which can make it stressful. Every essay works out a little bit differently. I always use certain steps, but other steps I only use once in a while. And there is no set time period for writing an essay--often, it takes me at least a full day of slogging to complete a rough draft. But even sledding, an essay takes hours of diligent work. But once you learn to trust the process (your own process, I mean, not necessarily the one I've laid out here), then it will become a bit less stressful. We Scribblers must simply keep pressing on if we're going to write worth-while essays!


Photo Attribution
By Dbxsoul (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Free PDF Converter

Creating PDFs is a helpful skill for any writer to learn. Maybe you want to keep a club or community informed; maybe you work in an office; or maybe you're starting your own newsletter. PDFs are great tools for all of those things and more.

But the software can be expensive. I use a free website recommended by library staff called "Dopdf.com" to convert my Friends of the Library newsletters from Word docs to PDFs. It's easy and it works great!

When installed, it lists itself under your printer.

This is a screenshot from the Windows 8. If you have an earlier version of windows, it will look slightly different,
but it's just as easy. Just act like you're going to print your document, but choose "doPDF" as the printer rather than
your normal printer selection. The red arrow points to the spot on my screen. **Revision note 9/2/13: Since I got
Windows 8, I found another way which worked better. Instead of "Print" I chose "Export," which is a few
options lower on the blue sidebar on this page.

Enjoy!

An Investigation: How to Identify Your Story's Problems

Scribblers,

I ran across a problem in one of my stories, recently. That's not bad or even unexpected. A problem can be dealt with.

But I couldn't figure out what the problem was, exactly.

Have you ever experienced that? You can't put your finger on it, but something about your story is out of place?

Part of writing is learning how to deal with this. There are probably a million ways, as there are for every other step of the writing process. I'll tell you how I do it, though:

I transform into an investigator. An investigator refuses to be discouraged by puzzling clues or the general unpleasantness of bad writing. We Scribblers must be inquisitive folk. When a story of ours has a problem, we must be all up in its business. Nosy. Investigative.

Asking questions is the best technique I've found to discern the nature of a problem.

Lately, I've been revising a piece of historical fiction. I researched lots of period details, carefully formulated a unique story structure and mapped out what my main character wanted and needed.

But something was missing. The story felt dead. I sent it around to a few friends and got some great feedback, but even as I revised it, I just didn't like it very much.

So I turned to questions. When trying to solve a hazy problem in revisions, I have to push past my natural comfort zone and persistently inquire about my story's problems. I have to ask,

"Which areas feel wrong?"

I follow my intuition to areas that just don't feel "right." Typically, these are areas that I've been avoiding because they're uncomfortable and I don't feel like digging in to assess the damage.

This questioning process frequently takes me down tangents that may seem unrelated to each other, but I pour every thought out onto the page. I explore every misgiving or uncomfortable vibe via multiple smaller, more specific questions. Any one of them or all of them combined could be "the" problem, or a symptom of "the" problem, or at least an opportunity to improve my story. Exploring and questioning can be time-consuming, but they are necessary for me.*

*Lots of writers do this "exploring." As always, I would direct you to John Truby's The Anatomy of Story and Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! (Chris Baty is also the creator of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month).



This is an example of what story notes, questions and exploring can
sometimes look like. The red is what I'm unsure about. Other times,
I highlight, make comments, or use strikethrough text to sort.

When you go on revision-brainstorming tangents, your subconscious is trying to point out what feels wrong about your story.

After I've exhausted my tangent, I've typically exhausted my brain, too. I take a break for a bit. Then I come back and organize the mess of "story notes" that usually looks like words, words, words without meaning. I have to fight off a headache and lots of distractions every time I begin to sort and evaluate this mess because it can be tedius and discouraging.* It's hard to deal with intangibles, especially if you are an indecisive sort of person, like I am. But I have to explore my options.



This is an example of a more "sorted" section. I've organized my
thoughts into labeled lists of ideas, such as the character's "Desires"
or the story's "Premise." But tangents still butt in throughout the
entire process, as evidenced by the gigantic comment to the right.

*I also begin to question myself: Exactly how short is my attention span? Am I really cut out to be a writer? How could I possibly write such a dead boring story? If you hear these voices in your head as well, don't worry. Once you push past the madness in your first few stories, you'll start to develop the confidence that you'll eventually like the end results. (Note: Your housemate(s) might try to comfort you at this stage. What nice friends. Tell them you'll be okay, you're just dealing with the voices.)

All these tangents and miniature questions may show you an overwhelming amount of work to be done still (it did for me: the side characters, the main character voice, and the themes). And/or, you might find that all these smaller problems are a symptom of one larger problem. My problems stemmed mainly from writing the end of my story all wrong. Don't worry, your story will be better for your revisions. But before implementing them, you can always save the old draft, in case you don't like the result.

I have one more technique that helps me form questions, if I'm struggling to sift through my masses of notes. Or perhaps I am perplexed by some seemingly unrelated feedback from my online critique group, and my investigation isn't helping.

I usually take a day off from my brainstorming page and open up an email addressed to no one.

I imagine I know a recipient who has all the "answers" to my story story questions. But this person is  extremely busy, so I don't want to waste her time. Like a professor, for example (uh oh, my technique development is showing).

I then form my incomprehension into a few perfect, succinct questions in the clearest possible manner. If I don't have an answer to my question by the time I form it (often, I do), I save it in my "drafts."

Then I do something else for a day, such as reading a writing manual or something else I think might help me answer the question. I may even give my brain a break and read for plain old fun.

Later, I return to the query and revise, revise, revise. Tighten it up even more. Did I really word the question right the first time? Or is my focus slightly off?

Then I take another day off from the question and read some more, or work on another project. (Letting the problem sit can be a great way to solve writing snaggles, as long as you come back on time to make your deadline. I do this constantly with blog posts, school papers or story problems. The only thing is, you have to start the project early in order to have time for rumination.) Then I come back to it again. After a few edit-then-research sessions, I always manage to find an answer.

If this doesn't work, you can do as I do and ask this wonderful agent/author/editor for advice! But you'll have to be able to form a general question about it, rather than asking for specific feedback on your work.

Before you try asking the agent/author/editor, though, try questioning yourself. You might be surprised what these organic techniques will yield in you. More than once, I've drafted an email to the agent/author/editor and discovered the answer to my question during the process. Yes, this is how I discovered the technique for myself. Somehow, trying to explain the issue to someone else with respect to their time and attention helps me find, ask and answer the right questions.

So, get in touch with your inquisitive side, Scribblers!

 

Photo Attribution: By Sidney Paget (1860-1908) (Strand Magazine) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Library News and Upcoming Literary Events

The biggest news (officially announced here) is the Middletown Library's grand opening, which took place yesterday, so hurry over there today to check out the goods! 21256 Washington St. (in Middletown, obv.).

Recently I got off my figurative lazy butt (I am still on my physical lazy butt, healing from a stress fracture. Thank you to my dear friends who've been praying!) and checked out the Lake County Arts Council page for upcoming literary events. Holy cow, there are tons of things going on. Here, I listed mostly writing events, but there are also other poetry, art, cinema and theater events going on. If you want to know more, check it out here.

A 2 Day Writing Retreat with Clive Matson will take place  at the Lake County Arts Council Gallery, 235 Main St in Lakeport on April 20 4-6pm-April 21 10am-5pm. It will be put on by Poets and Writer's, Inc through a grant from the James Irvine Foundation. Clive Matson writes poetry, short stories, essays and plays. He has led writing workshops for twenty-five years, holds an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, and teaches at UC Berkeley. This is the big time, Scribblers!

Apparently there is also an ongoing writing group at the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum for writers of all levels and genres. The best thing: it's free. I attended a similar group once at the Arts Council in Lakeport, and some great writers took part in the group critiques. If you're looking for a crit group, these meetings in Lower Lake might be just the thing for you. They run from 1-3 or 4 pm on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

And, finally, the 6th Annual Mendocino Lit Fest at Mendocino College (1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah CA.) is coming up on April 20th from 10am-4pm. This festival hosts writing contests, author readings and other celebrations of the written word. Last time I went, I got to attend a writing workshop by Jodi Gehrman, a Young Adult fiction author and my first writing instructor.  This is always a good time.

On May 2nd, there will be a free Writing Workshop at the Main Street Gallery in Lakeport from 6:30-8:30. Lake County's form Poet Laureate, Mary McMillan will be there.

The Fifth Annual Lake Renaissance Festival is coming up! How cool, right? It's on Memorial Day weekend, May 25th-26th at The Tuscan Village, a winery: 16175 Main. St. Lower Lake.

I hope you get to attend some of these exciting events, friends!

Works Cited:

Cook, Jan. "Lake County Library's Calendar of Events for April 2013." 12 April 2013. Web.

"Grand Opening Announced." County of Lake California: Library. 12 April 2013. Web.
<http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Lake_County_CA__Library.htm>

"Shortcuts to the Near Future." Lake County Arts Council. 12 April 2013. Web.

Photo Attribution:
By Stefan Doering (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Permission to Brainstorm, SIR!

     Lately, I've been studying different processes of writing. Most of us have probably heard of the debate between "Outline People" and "No-Outline People," or "Pantsers." (Planners...plan. Pantsers...don't. In case you haven't heard.)

Whichever type of writer we happen to be, I think a little pre-planning can help us.

     Why? Because when we build a story, we want to make sure the foundation is strong. Pre-planning sets up that foundation. It's prep-work. Without a strong foundation (premise & structure), even the best technical writing won't save a story. First, I want to show you a video that helped me discover this (I learned about it in my Commercial Fiction class), then I'll give you a bit more of my opinion on the matter. This video was mind-blowing for me! If you are unsure about your position as a planner or pantser, I hope you'll stick around and watch! It is a portion of an interview with John Truby, a terrific story doctor. He begins by discussing some misconceptions about prewriting, then goes into why many writers fail at the beginning of the writing process.



     We could spend weeks on all the good stuff Truby talks about here, but let's tackle the idea of prep-work and planning from the beginning.
     Obviously, Truby recommends the "planner" method rather than the "pantser" method; he does not acknowledge that some writers plan their story while writing a first draft. If you use this latter method, you are using the "pantser" method. Writing a first draft this way is crazy and creative. Anything can happen. However, after writing that first draft, a pantser almost always needs to throw it out and start anew with the knowledge they've gained from that last attempt. Truby may be assuming that most writers would be discouraged about having to throw out all their work, or he may think the pantser method is worthless. In the case of the latter, he's wrong. After all, it is the method Ray Bradbury used. Worked for him, right? "Pantsing" is a viable method, as long as the writer knows that he'll write a lot of words he won't use.
     Some people like writing this way; not me. I don't like the pantser method because it frustrates me to throw out those masses of words. (Of course, even after planning there will be plenty of rewriting. That's different though--there won't be as many ginormous structural issues if I plan correctly.) I have tested out the "pantser" method for myself. Originally, I wrote my current work-in-progress about a prison break...then I discovered that not all my characters would condone such a thing. I ran right through the first draft (during NaNoWriMo) without realizing this. After spending six months trying to figure out what went wrong, I discovered the flaw in my premise and a whole vein of necessary research I had overlooked. I've been reworking my ideas ever since. I have not begun writing my next draft yet because I just finished researching and am coming to the end of the planning phase. I began my first draft before I was ready because I was in too much of a hurry. I should have taken time to let my ideas "ripen," as Orson Scott Card, the famous Fantasy author, recommends (he is a pre-planner, like me).You'll have to test out each method and find out which kind of writer you are.
     Orson Scott Card wrote that at some point, there will be planning stage. It may be in one form or another, before or after your first draft, with or without outlining, but it will come. Whether you are a planner or pantser, most of your ideas and work will change before you discover your true story.
     Even so, every writer will have a different writing process--two planners may plan differently--so don't be discouraged if you find you have to throw out lots of work before discovering a process that works for you. It's a part of learning! If you like this video of John Truby, I suggest you read this book by him called The Anatomy of Story. You can order it from the local library, if you live around Lakeport, CA. (If not, try your own library!)
     Now, you may be wondering how to begin this so-called preplanning. What does it entail? Remember when John Truby talks about developing a "Premise" or "Logline" in the video? The premise is the beginning. This is kind of a magical concept for me, because I didn't understand it for a while. I'll talk about it in a future post. Next week, we can journey through this drippy, murky cave together. Headlamps, everyone! We're a-goin' spelunkin'! *
     If you have any comments about all this, I'd love to hear them. Have you tried different orders of story process? Tried some preplanning before? What methods, what tools? Or have you gone on that mad dash called NaNoWriMo?

*Here is the promised post on Premise.

Works Cited:

Card, Orson Scott. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 1990. Print.

Truby, John. The Anatomy of Story: 22 steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. New York, NY: Faber and Faber, Inc. 2007. Print.

Labels: "Christian Fiction" versus..."Un-Christian"?

    
     Scribblers and Book Bandits,
     I want to talk about the label “Christian Fiction.” I’ve had trouble discerning what it is, exactly, or why it matters. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

     I find the label of “Christian Fiction” unhelpful. Is the novel written by Christians? Or for Christians? Should it matter if the book is written by a Christian or not? Aren’t the story and message more important?
     I think it’s simpler and much more helpful to evaluate the book’s worth based on its craft and truthfulness. Not that that’s easy, but…“Good fiction, whether or not it is identified as Christian, will provide a memorable reading experience that captures the imagination, inspires, challenges, and educates” (Hatcher).
     God is truth, yes? If literature supports truth, it supports God. So, literature, whether written by Christians or Non-Christians, can support the truth, and therefore God. If a book is filled with more falsehood than truth, it probably isn’t worth reading.  No book will ever be perfectly truthful or perfectly untruthful. It will be on a scale.
     In one of my favorite books, a character claims he believes in the same thing as Catholics. Then he says, “I just don’t believe you can find it [God or religion] in a building” (Stievater 201). Well, the Bible says going to church is important. I’m not going to argue with that. If Maggie Stievater wants to, that’s her business and I disagree. But that doesn’t make her book “bad” or “Un-Christian” (whatever that means).
     It’s a lot easier to define the goals of a Christian writer than to define “Christian Fiction”: 1) telling a good story, and 2) showing truth through it. If a book does these two things well, it will glorify God. Glorifying God is the purpose of the Christian life. If we write about sin gratuitously, or if we support lies, then our fiction won’t be worth reading.
     Of course, if a novel is written both by and for Christians, the label might be appropriate…but people who feel this way must not hold all Christian writers to this standard. Some don’t want to write books like that.
     Like me. I want to write for a Non-Christian market. *
     And either way, I think the label just limits your audience—it might scare them away. It sure scared me away for a long time. I didn’t know what to expect from a book like that. Would it be a morally-driven tale? Would it be about church kids? Would it say magic is evil? I really didn’t know. I’d never heard of most of them and I usually read whatever was popular at the time. I didn’t know any better. If the label “Christian Fiction” scared away a church kid like me, what do you think it would do to Non-Christians?
     I personally don’t think we need the label. Our values will show up in our writing.
     What do you think?

*Revising this to say: I want to write to an open audience, whether Christian or Non-Christian. I don't want to specify one and alienate the other.

Works Cited

Hatcher, Robin Lee. “What is Christian Fiction?” Robinleehatcher.com. Originally excerpted from christyawards.com. 10 Jan. 2013. Website. < http://www.robinleehatcher.com/why.html>

Stievater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races. Broadway, NY: Scholastic Press, 2011. Print.

Photo Credit

By Istvan Kadar http://www.flickr.com/people/fesign/ (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Beginning With Character Archetypes

     If you are doing NaNo this year, my post may be coming at the perfect time--the beginning of Week 3, when you need inspiration to begin the ending.
     NaNo covers one step in the process of writing a novel: the first draft, or the beginning. You are creating a brand new story. You need inspiration and (if you're like me) a bit of structural advice.
     I'm working on creating a routine for myself to begin writing novels. I need a refresher on story-writing basics when I begin a new story. Refreshers help structure my thoughts, plan a bit, and motivate me to get writing. In my Writing Commercial Fiction class, I was assigned a great video to add to my routine. The video goes over the 8 character archetypes, or "jobs" that must be fulfilled by characters in a story. That doesn't mean you need 8 characters, mind you, but just that there are 8 jobs that need doing. For instance, someone must be the hero, someone must teach the protagonist (the teacher), and someone else should shift beetween sides to heighten tension (the shapeshifter). If you are curious about these jobs, you can watch the video, too! I actually watched it three times. Enjoy and learn, friends.

    


Thanks to Dr. Diorio of Regent University for highlighting this awesome resource!

Works Cited
Juszak, Rob. "Green Man." Wikimedia Commons. 1 Jan 2009. 16 November 2012.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Man_by_Rob_Juszak.jpg

PHSMr.Wood. "Hero's Journey Archetypes." Youtube.com. 15 Nov. 2011. 16 Nov. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rnV9aszXbQ

Quick Tip for NaNoWriMo

Scribblers and Book Bandits,
I know it isn't Friday yet, but since NaNoWriMo begins tomorrow, this tip that couldn't wait. I read recently that it's helpful to know the genre of your story BEFORE you start writing it. This may seem like common sense; if so, know that you are smarter than I was the first time I tried NaNoWriMo! :) Figuring out your genre can be ridiculously difficult, so here's a helpful website that defines them. This website (Agent Query) is helpful for other things, too, which you can read about elsewhere on the site.
Best of luck, friends!

I got this resource from my professor, Dr. MaryAnne Diorio, who is also an author. Thanks Dr. Diorio!

NaNoWriMo Time

     Who's going to do NaNo this year? I'm still deciding. Because I've finished it twice, I have two manuscripts which need some TLC. My revision process is pretty darn slow. But that's just where I am! That doesn't mean it's where YOU are.
     NaNo is already having it's old effect on me, like a friend calling my name. It's just. So. Much. Fun!
     If you are just getting started in writing, NaNoWriMo is perfect. It kicks up motivation and enthusiasm. It teaches writers what a day's work feels like. It's great practice.
     I think it's important to be prepared for NaNo, though. Perhaps I'm a bit skeptical of the "No Plot? No Problem!" theory. You will probably end up with a useless load of sludge, using that approach. I've compiled a list of professional opinions below about how to make NaNo a useful tool for the writing:

• From Mary Kole, a literary agent, author of a popular writing craf blog "Kidlit.com," and author of a writing craft book Writing Irresistible Kidlit, we have Happy NaNoWrimo, a realistic look at the benefits and downsides of NaNo. Mary Kole has also written many great articles on Revision, which I highly recommend for those who end up finishing NaNo this year. Mary Kole's blog was my first writing school! I will owe her forever.
• Nathan Bransford, an insanely popular, internet sensation blogger, a former literary agent and current author of a children's book series called Jacob Wonderbar can officially claim the place of "Second School of Writing" for me. If you are considering participating in NaNo this year, check out Bransford's perspective and NaNoWriMo Bootcamp list.
• Lisa Cron, an experienced story consultant, writes about how to avoid NaNo pitfalls.
• Martha Alderson, the author of The Plot Whisperer Workbook with advice on Pre-Plotting your NaNo novel.

Have a blast friends! I hope you'll try it, if you never have before.

Is College Necessary? What is the Purpose, exactly?

There's more than one road to becoming a writer.
And Other Things.

      You don't need a college degree in writing to write well or get published. Certain jobs--like teaching, or the medical field--DO require school. Writing does not. However, later on I will explain the three things I think college attempts to teach students of all studies.
     Everybody learns differently, and you can't let people tell you "this is the only way." College is nice...but it's not necessary. I'm not complaining--I love college. I'm getting a Bachelor's in English and Creative Writing. But it's not absolutely necessary to spend thousands and thousands on a degree in Creative Writing, or a Master of Fine Arts, or whatever. If you can make yourself into what you want to be without college, go for it! Some of us (like me) need the structure of a professor presiding over a class. Others don't. Maggie Stiefvater wrote a great post on this topic last year. She has a degree in history, but she writes incredibly popular YA fiction of different genres. She does not have a degree in Creative Writing. She taught herself how to write.
     So, in case you haven't gone to college, I'm giving you some secrets-from-an-insider. Later on, I'll give you some tips about how to DIY. This is my opinion about what three things college charges a lot to teach students.
     A HUGE part of college is learning how to ask the right questions. Our teachers come up with questions in order to make us think. We read, they ask, and we answer or get penalized. How do they find these magical questions? Sometimes they think them up, but many times, they pull questions straight from textbooks. And did you know that gazillions of websites hand out great study questions on whatever work you happen to be reading? Just google the work. You'll see. They'll show you how to ask the right questions.
            -A mini-tip: Reread everything you intend to study. The first time through, you're struggling to get the general gist of the material. You really start understanding the author's point the second time through. (Sometimes overviewing things like SparkNotes will help you get beyond this first stage more quickly. No, SparkNotes is not just for cheaters. That's just what teachers want you to think in high school). Take notes, if you're into that. Look up how to take good notes, while you're at it. This will help you ask the right questions.
     The Second thing college teaches is how to find resources. The library is a great start, of course, but don't roll you eyes at me because "I knew she would say that!!!!!" The library is free, so it's cool. There are TONS of writing books in the library system. And the internet helps, too. Until I hit Regent University, I literally did not know that Christians wrote great academic works. I didn't know where to find the right books. (Althought, all I would have had to do was ask people around me, in order to find out. This is why I need school!) If you need help with this, I recommend asking someone who

• A. has been to college, because people who've been to college love to talk about what they've learned,
• B. is a teacher, yes, even your child's grade school teacher may be able to help, or
• C. is a librarian. They know everything.

And of course, there's always Google. Someone taught me once that Wikipedia provides great lists of resources at the bottom of each page. Check them out--they'll have websites upon websites upon great books to root through.
     The last third of college is just doing it. College gives you teachers and deadlines and student-friends to motivate you. If you can be self-motivated, though, you don't need all that. At least, you don't need to pay for it. You can find it youself and keep on track. This is the key step. It's not super hard to find resources, here in our wonderful country, but getting over apathy (or guilt monkeys, as the NaNoWriMoers might say) can be tough. So, after you've come home from your 8-hour work day, and you need to make dinner for you kids, and your spouse wants to watch tv with you for a few hours, do all that...but don't forget to take some time out to study. A focused hour, maybe two a night will do it. Or an unfocused several hours, if you're home during the day.
           -One more mini-tip: let me suggest finding a study buddy. They can help you on so many levels, particularly on staying motivated, remembering your true purpose (having fun and really LEARNING), and keeping you accountable. Any sort of community can be helpful--blogs, forums, etc.
     Remember: you don't need a college degree to be validated at what you do, especially if you're a writer. You can learn through tons of free programs. There are ways to win advice, less expensive ways to buy it, and free ways to scavenge it. Here's a great site with free writing class info.
     One cool thing about studying on your own is that your education arises more naturally. It's organic. You can be proud of it, because you didn't follow any rules. You figured it out, and accomplished it. I know people like this, people who decide they want to learn how to do something, and they do it. Without a class. Like I said earlier, everyone has their own way to learn. You have to experiment to find yours.
     Sometimes, school isn't right for a person. They end up just rushing through everything to meet the deadlines, and find at the end that they didn't actually learn very much. So try your own thing and really enjoy learning.
     I'm not saying DIYing it is easy. I actually think it's much harder. I had to REALLY WANT the very few things I've learned well on my own. You don't need to get an education through college, but you DO need to learn how to learn, then learn all you can, then do something hard with it all, something not everyone else can do.

More on this subject by my favorite bloggers: "Should You Get and MFA?" & "Am I Wrong to Pursure a Writing Career?" by Mary Kole, and a discussion on "How Do You Feel About Creative Writing Schools" by the distinguished crowd attracted by Nathan Bransford's blog.

Also, this awesome vid on the subject by Maggie Stiefvater (the author of one of my favorite books, The Scorpio Races).

Your Writer's Notebook

You may choose abstract or specific pictures for an Inspiration Section
in your Writer's Notebook. It's all up to you!

Hey Scribblers and Book Bandits!
     Just FYI, the free writer's contest I mentioned a few weeks ago is still going on. If you'd like to enter your 250 word-or-under flash fiction for a chance to win, you can check it out here. It's easy-peasy, and the prize is $250!
     On to our topic: If you are a writer, chances are that you have some notebook or legal pad filled with lists, wit, wisdom, observations, or story ideas. Recently, I created a sort of "writer's notebook," and it has worked out super well for me!
     A writer's notebook has several purposes. I read this in a blog post on Writer Unboxed: "Writing on paper feels less like work and, in my experience, the result is often much more imaginative, playful, and interesting than whatever I most recently typed into a Word doc" (Lewis). It's true! Writing on paper helps us get unstuck, sometimes. Aside from getting us unstuck, notebooks help us organize our thoughts, so we can more easily find things written in the past.
Here's some tips directly from my experience, if you'd like to make one for yourself.

• Buy a plain notebook, not super fancy-dancy expensive one. Fancy-dancy notebooks don't last long, if you actually use them. If you want to use a fancy-dancy, make it for something that will last a long time, like a record of favorite quotes. Writer's Notebooks, Journals, and grocery lists get used up quickly! You can decorate your own notebook. I use to doodle and write word collages on the covers of mine.
• Get one with several partitioned sections. I got a red, five-subject notebook for like $2 at Kmart.
• Decide what each "subject" will be. For example, here are my subjects: 1.) Plot work and Brainstorming. This is a busy section. I restrict it to my novel ideas. 2.) Research. This is where I record all the interesting ideas I read in books, watch on dvds, find out from peeps, etc. For some tips on research, check out this blog post. 3.) Character Development. When I'm stuck in my writing, a lot of time, character-development exercises help me. Writing freeform in their voices, brainstorm about their personalities, writing scenes from their past, etc. This makes them more real. 4.) Other Brainstorming. This is a space for brainstorming other projects, like blog posts, short stories, poetry, etc. It also serves as an overflow space for the first section. 5.) My last section is Random Stuff--prayers, scenes that pop into my head, dreams, lists, free writes, school assignments, whatever. It's a free space. I don't have to think too hard, there. Sometimes, I use what I write there in other sections of my notebook, later.
• You can write your own subjects. If you are a visual writer, you may want an "Inspiration" section filled with photos.

     A Writer's Notebook is useful in the 5 Stages of Writing, as well! For example, work from the first stage of writing, Observation, often goes into my number 5 category of "Random Stuff." During Stage 3, First-Drafting, you may use the Plot Work and Brainstorming section ALL the time, you'll need to get all your ideas out in the open.
     To find out about the 5 Stages, you can check out this post.
Good luck, Scribblers!

Works Cited

 

Lewis, Kristyn Kusek. "The Writer's Block Myth." Writer Unboxed: about the craft and business of fiction. Sept. 9th, 2012. Sept 12, 2012.http://writerunboxed.com/2012/09/09/the-writers-block-myth-by-kristyn-kusek-lewis/#more-16472>.

Photo Credit:
Oktavio. "Acople visual generado con una camara de PC y la pantalla." Wikimedia Commons. 24 October 2009. 14 September 2012. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acople_visual.png>



Plot Project, Anyone?

     Recently, I tried a free plot project that promised results and sounded like fun. I enjoyed it and learned so much, I had to share it with my Book Bandits and Scribblers alike!
     To our left is 1 of 6 stacks of cards which I prepped for, created, and studied with for the last 12 weeks.
     It was so worth it.
     This plot program quite literally redefined the little I knew about the subject before I began. It bettered my knowledge of plot TENfold. In 12 weeks. I chose to do this in the summer because I have very little time during the school year, but you can place it anywhere you choose, in your own schedule.
     Okay, enough introduction. Here's the sum of my work:

     These are the stacks of cards. They distill the plots of 6 novels into flippable, moveable form, and as the project's inventor says, "They are gold."
     These cards taught me how to identify scenes, doorways, acts, beats, and a load of other important concepts, so that I can write them into my own work. Unfortunately, I can't explain how this whole project worked without stealing the glory from the real inventor. Fortunately, if you're curious about this program, it's easy to get ahold of! In case you're not quite curious yet, I'll defer revealing its location just a little longer...
     Here is the final (and most fun!) step of the whole program, which I completed on Monday.

    For all you organizers out there, this a dream project. Really.
     The project certainly took time, but it's fun because you choose the books you study (unlike in school). If you do end up trying this project out, I suggest doing at least one book you've already read and know you enjoy. Finishing this project was like finishing a great school project. I felt a little wistful that it was over, but deliriously happy about it all the same. So, it's basically a self-paced (8-12 weeks), self-graded (it's all about how much you want to get out of it), fun  (reading novels!) class on plotting. And it works.
     So, now would you like to know how to find out more about this project?
     Okay, okay I'll tell you: It's out of a book called Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, on pages 214-215. The whole book is fabulous for learning about the craft of fiction-writing, but this program in particular blew me away. As I mentioned before, you can do this enire program for free. Even the book! You can get from the library (it's at the Lakeport branch, but of course you can order it from wherever). I spent a total of $11 on the project: I spent $10 on a book I'd already decided to buy (The Scorpio Races, of course), and $1 on index cards from the Dollar Tree. You can make your own index cards, but I suggest buying them.
     And, in case you're wondering, there IS a reason the first two pictures of the cards look like they're part of a movie! But you'll have to read the book to find out why...muahahaha!

     *****Just as a reminder to any Teen Book Bandits, if you have been reading books nominated for Teens' Top Ten, the voting begins on Aug 13th and ends September 13th! If you haven't begun reading, you can still read 1, 2 or maybe even 3 before the voting ends. They are almost all available through the library system. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can find out by clicking the link above.
     Good luck everyone, and may the best book win!

A Case Study of Plot and Character Problems

    

Fencers, McGill University, Montreal, 1925

http://www.flickr.com/photos/museemccordmuseum/5348752127/

     What with America's Olympians running around in London, now is a good time to discuss crafting our own heroes and their stories.
     We usually have no trouble identifying the hero. You know, the one who lives through a surprise attack of flaming arrows/bullets/raining acid while all of his friends/enemies die around him, then tortures himself for leading them into danger that he never could have anticipated.  Sometimes we can believe in the incredible escapes are believable, and we root for the character to overcome their obstacles...and other times, we don't. Other times we yawn and wish the story was over already. Worse yet, sometimes the protagonist annoys us so much, we root for the other side. Why is that? There are many things that can cause this apathy, but today we'll talk about two reasons I recently identified.
     Not long ago, I read about a fighter heroine (let's call her Racine) that didn't command my belief or sympathy. In her case, there were two reasons for this:
     Reason #1: Credibility of Actions. Story audiences usually have a high level of tolerance for stretching believability, but there still has to be some credibility for the reader to keep engaging. Good storytellers can suspend disbelief. When reading about Racine, I believed she could protect herself from certain things that other people couldn't; however, after a point it became ridiculous.  She was stabbed or shot with arrows several times in the book, but she never took more than a few days rest before hopping back into her usual grueling work. I know that days of black-out sleep make for boring reading, but that's what white space is for. A real person can't run around like that without physical consequences. This story stretched Racine's strength beyond the realms of plausibility.
     So what's Reason #2?
     The Pity Party. Lazy or inexperienced authors characters create problems simply by being self-absorbed. Racine could have solved three and a half out of five of her problems by snapping out of her self-pity. She kept harping on mistakes she made, or things that weren't even her fault. Sure, she made mistakes, but she needed to get over them.  I call this "hero complex," and Racine had it bad. Her self-absorption caused several other problems, like sickness, anxiety among her friends, and broken hearts. In one situation, the her soul mate  practically slobbered his love all over her, but all she said was, "Oh, but he couldn't possibly love Terrible Me. He's just being all flowery." No. He wasn't. Her problems had easy solutions that she couldn't seem to see.
      The author of this book was hinging on people feeling sorry for Racine, and wanting her to succeed. Frankly, the whole book, I was thumping my fist into my forehead saying, "DUH! Just stop being dumb!" (Okay, maybe I didn't really thump my forehead, because then I'd have a bruise, and I can't afford such a blot on my image *hair flip* (( Speaking of hair flips, conceit is rarely a good way to gain reader sympathy either. Unless we're talking about Dagny Taggart. Brag away, dear, I think you've earned it. Or Hank Rearden. SaWOON!)))

The Writing Process in 5 Stages

     Hi, Scribblers!
     The concept of writing or "creating" can be intimidating for the beginning writer, (more on that next week) so let's break it down. There are 5 smaller, more manageable stages in the writing process: Observing, Gathering, Recording, Organizing, and Touching Up. Some of these stages have "professional" names, which I'll use later, but the names I've used here describe what the writer actually does during each stage.
     This process may sound less romantic and flowery than what novelists like to say: if you write stories, you add in imaginative elements to your information; you may rephrase your words into story arcs and metaphors to make the message more accessible. However, it is the same essential process.
     The first stage, Observation, is fun and inspiring. It doesn't feel like work. Rather, it makes a writer feel...well, writerly! You carry around a notebook, and people wonder why you are always pulling it out and scribbling something down. You may not even be thinking about writing: you may have just been walking around town, or reading a book or hanging out with a friend. Little and big truths come to us in the form of observations like, "A strong wind blows, but only one of the many trees dances in it." From there, you can go a thousand directions. What kind of tree is it? Why does only that one dance? I strongly suggest writing your observations down in a notebook; it's been one of the most useful tools for me. Observations don't all get used--in fact, most won't--but they're a great jumping-off point. The great children's author Lois Lowry said in this fabulous interview that a writer who has lived in a small town for 50 years can get as much great content as they need, as long as they are observant. I have to firmly believe that, because as far as I know, I'll be living in Lake County for a loooong time! :)
     The second stage, Gathering, a.k.a. Researching, often stems from a writer's Observation. You take it a step further. First you see, hear or even smell something that interests you--a news cast, the strange new style of dress these days, the strong smell of curry from that restaurant across the street--and you may want to research it a little. You pursue what you've observed.  You buy a fashion magazine and laugh at the outrageous getups; you go ask the owner of the restaurant where he moved from, and pick up a menu; you check internet articles or read books. Often, more interesting tidbits will show up. Last week's post discussed how research helps engage reader interest through specific details. This is a great time to find specific details. This second stage of the writing process is ongoing--even while you record (Stage 3), organize (Stage 4), and touch-up (Stage 5), you might still be snooping around for more interesting tidbits to liven up your story.
     The third stage is Recording, a.k.a. First-Drafting. Really, you begin recording in the observation stage, but once you begin writing the first draft, you've stepped into the third stage officially. For NaNoWriMo writers, this begins strictly on November first.* Although there is some organization (Stage 4) involved in this stage, mostly you are throwing your research and ideas and truths and metaphors onto a page. You are making characters out of one-liners and internet images. There are many different methods to this stage: some writers take months or years, organizing as they go, and others do it extremely quickly. I prefer the quicker version, because the first draft nearly always morphs dramatically during the next stage. Lately, however, I've been leaning towards taking more time on the first-draft. Your preferences will change the more you write.
     For me, Stage 4, Organizing, a.k.a Revision, is the biggest, scariest of the all the processes. The biggest difference between this stage and stage four is the pace of the writing. Stage 4 takes up the most time out of all three processes. It consists of making decisions about content: keep this, toss it, or save it for later? What else needs to happen? Organization is overhauling the mad dash of Stage 3, and figuring out what unanticipated-but-lovely metaphors and themes showed up. Here, you have to shove all the parts of your story into a story arc. You plot. Let nothing go untouched or unquestioned in this stage--yes, question everything, even your inspiration. Deepen your characters--here, they should become more real. They should make decisions, like real people, and change your plot in unexpected ways. You can create a setting using details you've researched, and from your imagination. During this stage, it's important to remember that nothing is permanent. You can change or rewrite ANYTHING. Don't get too attached! Your specific details and research (which is still ongoing and getting deeper) might stick, but most of your first draft from Stage 3 will be revised away. Don't start "touching up" (Stage 5) yet. If you want some other great articles on revision, check out these two written by published authors: Mary Kole on Revision, and Nathan Bransford's Editing Strategies.
     Stage 5 is Touching Up, or Editing. This is my favorite part! Fun, fun, fun. Here, we play with the small picture, and make the words prettier. Grammar, sentence structure, specific images, snappy dialogue, etc. This is the part where you make the story beautiful--not just presentable, or even just passionate, but gleaming and sharp and delicate and strong. I recommend staying away from editing and touching up before your manuscript is in stage 5, because if you spend days on a passage, you won't want to let it be revised away...even if it really needs to be.
     Every writer goes through these stages a little differently. The best way to figure it out is to try it! Good luck, friends.

*Revised on 3/14/13: I've discovered that some writer prefer to outline using chapter summaries and scene lists instead of writing out their whole first draft. They do this because it saves them from writing out so many unusable scenes. For more information on this process, see the book Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland. The Kindle version is only $4 books, and it's totally worth it to see examples of outlining.

Research for Results

     Hey Scribblers! This post is for you.
     This may sound obvious to you, but to me it's a fairly recent revelation: One of the best ways to interest a reader in your story is to tell them something interesting--better yet, to help them experience something new themselves. That makes sense: we don't want to read old news. Authors that write beyond the midlist write using the kinds of details we wouldn't have heard before. Details that interest us. I call these "specific details."
     And how to we find such specific details?
     RESEARCH!
     Research makes a good story better. It can even make a prize-winning and/or bestselling story out of a good one. But many of us shudder at the picture of research that sits firmly engrained into our memories: us as students, sucking down coffee at our desks while our backs scream at us for hours of abuse.
     Believe me, I know the feeling.
     But! Research yields specific detail. And specific detail yields interest.
     What would The Help be like without all the period detail? What if Kathryn Stockett had gotten the prejudice wrong? What if what she'd written applied more to a decade later?
     A personal example: Right now, I'm reading a book for research, called The Beautiful Days of My Youth by Ana Novac, which is the diary of a 15 year old Jewish girl who lived through several concentration/death camps. She paints awful pictures of what he life was like by using specific incidents full of shocking specific details. One in particular will probably stay with me for a long time. She and her friend found pebbles in their rationed bread, and afterward spent hours trying to throw them back up. That kind of detail is very specific. Imagine eating pebbles in your bread. How would that feel? That detail puts the reader in her shoes. The writer experienced it herself, which is the most sure way to gain specific details; however, this is not something I would want to experience. Hence, research! It may or may not make it into the story I'm researching to write, but it is the pefect example for our topic, today.
     But research can be fun, not just grueling. How?
     One cool thing about writing, is that you get to write whatever you want. You can pick what interests you, and throw out the rest. That means the research you do will probably be about things that interest you. Right now, I'm reading about the Amish, Tribes of California, and Nazi officials.
     And it truly is interesting! Sometimes, I'd rather read "candy" than "spinach" (novels rather than thick memoirs, "Pretties" rather than "The Nuremberg Interviews"), but I'm always glad I've read up, after I've done the work.
     And there are lots of ways to go about researching, besides reading. Recently we went camping, which was a very fun sort of research (involving friends and s'mores!). Take trips, visit places, and try new things.
     A little about my method, in case you're interested: I get several books from the library, and pick whichever sections pertain to my studies. I then take notes, and turn them back in. Some, I don't end up using. Others, I read completely. I also request DVDs from the library, and take notes on those. Internet searches cover other bases. During the reading and watching, I take notes in a notebook section entitled "research" (5 subject notebook from K-Mart). Then, I let it sit for a month, and stew in my mind. It needs to air out. Later, maybe a month, maybe more, I go through the research bit by bit, picking out what I want to use. You won't use all of it, but the prescious little details you've found add incredible depth to whatever you're writing. Sometimes, visiting a place for research is out of the question, but other times, it's easier and cheaper than you might think. Research that, too!
     Don't be afraid to take some time for research. It could take a little perusal, or a long time of submersion. Dive right in!
     Good luck with your writing, everyone!

Website Review: Figment.com

    

     There are lots of great online critique groups and writing communities out there for fiction writers. Figment.com is more of a "community" than a "critique group," which means it's more about staying creative and having writerly fun than it is about serious business. It is especially geared toward lovers of YA fiction & popular nerdy culture, e.g. Cumberbatch's Sherlock or the newest "books to movies," and toward literary teen girls.

Figment PROS:

• It constantly offers new writing contests with prizes ranging from exposure, advice or prizes from featured authors.  
• It also offers regular giveaways (usually books), free writing prompts,  and a helpful, informative newsletter that includes updates on contests, giveaways and upcoming events.
• It provides opportunities to interact with publishing insiders- popular authors (often YA authors), editors and other literary guests in moderated online events. The guests answer members' questions live. 
• Members get to read sneak peeks of new, popular books.
• The site is easily navigable, free to join and continually growing.
• Stories can be written or copy/pasted into the writer's profile (as opposed to uploaded in a file), which "feels" aesthetically creative.
• The community is eager, young & encouraging. Members are often looking for new writer friends with whom to exchange critiques.
• The site offers writing classes.

CONS:

• The services to serious writers are limited. If you are looking for serious critiques from equally serious authors, this is not the best place to hang out. The authors are usually beginners, and very, very few offer fabulous feedback. A few do, but there are better place to look for experienced writers and critiques. (I would recommend Critiquecircle.com.)
• The writing classes are not free (although everything else I mentioned is).
• Although a few contests are judged entirely by editors, many are based at least partially on the popularity of the writer or her story. Usually, the contestants are thinned out by popularity and the winners are chosen by editors. Obviously, this favors popularity more than skill, a downside for skilled authors who just don't have time to read through tons of other peer writings, and won't "heart" others just to get more hearts for themselves. The system is designed, of course, to be addictive and to promote activity. Luckily, it's easy to discover the judging criteria--just read the guidelines. 

     Overall, this is a terrific site for young, eager writers, especially teenagers over 13. I say "over 13" because most of the contests require that age level of the participants. The site provided motivation for me as a new, young writer, with its constant inspiration and contests; I still occasionally read the updates and enter giveaways or contests.

Using "Artistic License" Responsibly (Lesson Learned)

Langston Hughes
Taken by Carl Van Vechten

 
     I owe you an apology. I posted my essay called "Judged Judge" on my blog. "Essay" implies non-fiction. Little did I know that "Judged Judge" couldn't be classified as non-fiction--it must be called fiction.
     Are you asking, "Christy, how could you mistake fiction for non-fiction?" Well, a little thing called "Artistic License" had me all confused. Let me explain how I learned this lesson. Maybe it will help you avoid such embarrassment!    
     *Note: If you're wondering why I've put a picture of Langston Hughes, read on, read on...
     First of all, what is artistic license? It is license for the artist (hah) to distort the facts in a factual piece of writing. Does that sound bad? It can be, if used wrong--but sometimes it is necessary.
     I'll use an example from my story (Judged Judge, the one I labeled as "essay") to explain ethical usage of Artistic license. If you read my story, you'll remember that I described a "shotgun" wedding. Now, we live in a small county, and I did not want people to divine the participants in this wedding. It could be embarrassing for them, yeah? So I used artistic license: I changed some of the details of the wedding to make it unrecognizable. Not so bad, right?
     Here's where I went wrong with Artistic License. Because this essay was to be written almost entirely in dialogue, I took another liberty: in my story, I wrote about Maisely. Maisely does not exist as a single entity in real life--she is a conglomeration of wonderful people and advice. She is, in large part, a man, and a pair of wise women. I could introduce you to two of these people; the other has passed away. So, the conversation recorded in my story actually occurred before the wedding with friends, in my head during the wedding, or afterwards with one of those three friends; I combined them in order to organize my memories into a coherent essay. I wrote my thoughts and my friends' words into an organized conversation for the purpose of the essay, because I needed dialogue.
     However, this is not non-fiction anymore. To me, it seemed a subtle difference. After all, the point of creative non-fiction is to be creative, right? And the point of an essay is to organize a thesis. The conversations, the wedding, and my epiphany all happened. I gave my honest thoughts, feelings, and worries. I looked appropriately buffoonish for judging too quickly...but I didn't stick close enough to reality for it to be considered "non-fiction."
     I learned about my mistake after talking to my essay instructor. I asked her specifics about the essay in question, and she clarified for me. Thank you, Professor Dixon!
     "Artistic License" helped me out a lot in this memoir. It is an important, useful tool when writing memoirs...but it must be used carefully. A writer should never lie to their readers. There are lots of examples of using artistic license unethically, though. I would argue that A Million Little Pieces by James Frey should not be categorized as a memoir because he fabricated many of the events for no reason beyond creating a dramatic story. He could have written a novel, if he wanted to do this ethically.
     I hope this overview of artistic license frees you up to write your story into meaningful memoirs, using creative license ethically. If you're still not convinced, read on!

Lots of Resources Today

     For a famous example of someone who did something similar to what I did (except his was awesome and totally legit), read "Bop" by Langston Hughes. It's about 3 pages long. I actually based my own essay on his style, here. You can order it in an anthology for free from the library. Just type in your library card number and the last four digits of your phone number.
     For more information on Artistic License, check out these resources. Click here for a Wikipedia article on artistic license. For a conservative approach to using creative license, click here. For a liberal approach to using artistic license (which I disagree with), click here.