Time for a few more of these!
DISCLAIMER: Drabbles may suck.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Bandwagon of the 12
The whole 12/12/12 thing is apparently a pretty big deal, and apparently a lot of people are doing special things as celebration. One blogger I saw had the idea of posting the 12th page of her novel today. So I thought, why not do the same? Thus, here you go, a bit of the new edition of The Third Face.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Review: The Amber Spyglass
Although the first two books impressed me, in light of this book they served as mere introductions to it. The jump in length is appropriate, because there's so much more going on now! Now that we've met Will and Lyra, and gotten a good idea of the concepts underlying this world, it's time for a real struggle.
As predicted, the philosophical undertones of this work are pretty strong. Pullman explores the afterlife and the intelligence of matter, among other things. He even presents us with a world in which four-legged creatures have a diamond-shaped body structure, and birds have one wing on the front and the other on the back!
I was much happier with the character development here. Both characters are starting to learn what they need to do, and you can see them both in terms of each other. Their relationship is really what drives the story, alongside the twisting intrigue of the adults in the story, particularly Mrs. Coulter, who is as untrustworthy to everyone as ever.
Pullman continued to keep me hooked by pushing imagination to its limits without making anything feel the least bit implausible. I have to say, I really was not expecting the direction this story ended up going in. While everything called for the characters to hurry up and jump to the final battle, they defied that and took a different route entirely, one that kept me guessing right until the end.
Now I'm going to go a little more in-depth about this here, but be warned: the rest of this review will spoil the book!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Drabble Thursdays #1
Today we get some of the first drabbles I've written. In the beginning I obviously had no idea what I was doing, but then I started warming up to it. Have a look!
DISCLAIMER: Drabbles may suck.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Warm-Ups: Daily Drabbles
A drabble is a story that's exactly 100 words. Simple as that.
A friend of mine encouraged me to start writing them as a possible way to ease into writing communities. I don't usually write short stories, and I know a lot of people aren't going to invest their time in looking into a full-length novel unless they're sure about the author. That's where this started out: just a source of a few little stories.
I changed them into something else: a warm-up for my real writing. As I mentioned a few days ago, my intention for the next couple of months is to write a chapter of The Third Face every single day (except maybe Christmas). That mission is going rather well, and part of it is that I have started each writing day by writing a drabble.
Because each story is very short, I rarely invest a lot of time or thought into them (today's was rather silly in fact). They're just enough to say I have some amount of writing done for the day, and they get that part of my brain going just a little bit. They don't intimidate me the same way 1000 words does, and once I've done them I can't exactly say I'm taking a vacation from writing for the day!
This is a fun little thing that I definitely won't mind making a more long-term habit of. In fact, I've decided to post the results of it each week here on the blog, in a new event called Drabble Thursdays. (I chose Thursday simply because that's when I wrote the first one.) I hope to see you all here for the first week's worth!
A friend of mine encouraged me to start writing them as a possible way to ease into writing communities. I don't usually write short stories, and I know a lot of people aren't going to invest their time in looking into a full-length novel unless they're sure about the author. That's where this started out: just a source of a few little stories.
I changed them into something else: a warm-up for my real writing. As I mentioned a few days ago, my intention for the next couple of months is to write a chapter of The Third Face every single day (except maybe Christmas). That mission is going rather well, and part of it is that I have started each writing day by writing a drabble.
Because each story is very short, I rarely invest a lot of time or thought into them (today's was rather silly in fact). They're just enough to say I have some amount of writing done for the day, and they get that part of my brain going just a little bit. They don't intimidate me the same way 1000 words does, and once I've done them I can't exactly say I'm taking a vacation from writing for the day!
This is a fun little thing that I definitely won't mind making a more long-term habit of. In fact, I've decided to post the results of it each week here on the blog, in a new event called Drabble Thursdays. (I chose Thursday simply because that's when I wrote the first one.) I hope to see you all here for the first week's worth!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Expanding Art
A couple of things just happened. First, Melanie Rio at Ink Out Loud (a great blog by the way) made this post about finding other ways of expressing creativity, and how valuable that is to keep away frustration while writing. Then, an old buddy of mine brought up the old days when we wanted to start a band, and he said that this time we need to actually go through with it.
Connections. I don't believe in coincidence.
For basically my whole high school career, my dream job was "Author/Musician." I had dreams of being a rock star, actually. This time it's not quite like that. I just want to make the music and produce something worth listening to. Needless to say, I've taken a step in the creative, artistic direction in that respect. Fame and fortune are right out.
That's kind of the attitude we have to have if we want to juggle more than one thing here. I believe in setting goals high, sure, but it's one thing to be focused on that goal and another to try and have two. I could be a rock star, but I'd have to put down my other ambitions and start putting my everything into that, and that's not what I want. I want my everything to be in writing, and it is. The music is just a hobby (although having that freedom of soundtrack for book trailers and such could be a perk!)
What I'm trying to say is, know where you stand, and how many tasks you can handle. Because the more you have, the greater the temptation is to give one up. Like Melanie said, don't force yourself into doing the things that are supposed to be fun. Keep them up as long as it continues to make sense for you to do so. Using limits to make things into a reward is even better, and with more than one creative outlet going on at the same time, that concept can be used even more effectively!
Don't be afraid to break away for a bit. Sometimes, that's all you need to get the thirst back.
Connections. I don't believe in coincidence.
For basically my whole high school career, my dream job was "Author/Musician." I had dreams of being a rock star, actually. This time it's not quite like that. I just want to make the music and produce something worth listening to. Needless to say, I've taken a step in the creative, artistic direction in that respect. Fame and fortune are right out.
That's kind of the attitude we have to have if we want to juggle more than one thing here. I believe in setting goals high, sure, but it's one thing to be focused on that goal and another to try and have two. I could be a rock star, but I'd have to put down my other ambitions and start putting my everything into that, and that's not what I want. I want my everything to be in writing, and it is. The music is just a hobby (although having that freedom of soundtrack for book trailers and such could be a perk!)
What I'm trying to say is, know where you stand, and how many tasks you can handle. Because the more you have, the greater the temptation is to give one up. Like Melanie said, don't force yourself into doing the things that are supposed to be fun. Keep them up as long as it continues to make sense for you to do so. Using limits to make things into a reward is even better, and with more than one creative outlet going on at the same time, that concept can be used even more effectively!
Don't be afraid to break away for a bit. Sometimes, that's all you need to get the thirst back.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Cycles
Someone asked me why my final blog post for NaNoWriMo was just moving on to the future like that, and why I never really stopped to reflect on how great this November was.
Hey, November has been my favorite month for the last five years, ever since I discovered this program. And I still get just as much out of it as everyone else does. Unfortunately, since I know I can't make it to a "Thank God It's Over" party, I haven't really had any encouragement to express my excitement. I guess that's always how it's been--halfway into December people go, "Oh hey did you ever finish that novel?" (Besides, I'm already being flooded by everyone else's long reactions to the month, and I don't want to be repetitive!)
It's more than that, though, I think. It has to do with my personal thoughts about progress and accomplishment. Yes, this is probably going to get a little philosophical, but hear me out.
What's just happened is kind of like a vacation. When you go on vacation, everything else in life is kind of put on hold for a bit, as best you can manage. But it's not gone. It's waiting for you as soon as you get home, and it might even be a bit tougher while you catch up to things!
Or you could compare it to getting your dream job. When that happens, you certainly feel triumphant, and you celebrate. Then after that, it's time to actually go to work. You're excited, you get a good feel for it, and then, if it really is your dream job, you probably set out to have some kind of success at it, right? You have a new goal, and you move on to it, but it builds on your last goal that you accomplished.
For me, finishing NaNoWriMo is both of these things. It's both a return to normal life from something really enjoyable, and something to celebrate in its own right, but ultimately I have to move on to the next goal beyond that. Does that mean I'll never be satisfied? Maybe. But I feel like everything I do is building up to something really amazing. One day it's going to add up to an amazing collection of books. And that's a goal worth striving for.
Hey, November has been my favorite month for the last five years, ever since I discovered this program. And I still get just as much out of it as everyone else does. Unfortunately, since I know I can't make it to a "Thank God It's Over" party, I haven't really had any encouragement to express my excitement. I guess that's always how it's been--halfway into December people go, "Oh hey did you ever finish that novel?" (Besides, I'm already being flooded by everyone else's long reactions to the month, and I don't want to be repetitive!)
It's more than that, though, I think. It has to do with my personal thoughts about progress and accomplishment. Yes, this is probably going to get a little philosophical, but hear me out.
What's just happened is kind of like a vacation. When you go on vacation, everything else in life is kind of put on hold for a bit, as best you can manage. But it's not gone. It's waiting for you as soon as you get home, and it might even be a bit tougher while you catch up to things!
Or you could compare it to getting your dream job. When that happens, you certainly feel triumphant, and you celebrate. Then after that, it's time to actually go to work. You're excited, you get a good feel for it, and then, if it really is your dream job, you probably set out to have some kind of success at it, right? You have a new goal, and you move on to it, but it builds on your last goal that you accomplished.
For me, finishing NaNoWriMo is both of these things. It's both a return to normal life from something really enjoyable, and something to celebrate in its own right, but ultimately I have to move on to the next goal beyond that. Does that mean I'll never be satisfied? Maybe. But I feel like everything I do is building up to something really amazing. One day it's going to add up to an amazing collection of books. And that's a goal worth striving for.
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