Writers Assemble - Challenge!

Introduction

Recently, a small yet challenging task of writing one short story a day without stopping was offered to writers who wanted to use constant writing as a way to improve their skill (it can be found HERE). I thought it would help writers dig within themselves and discover a voice that they want to unleash in their writing.

Since, I've decided that it seems to be working for most who have dedicated their time to winning/accomplishing this challenge. Hence i've come up with a challenge this is even more difficult, but is very worthwhile in the end.

The Challenge

The challenge is similar to that of The Great Writing Challenge. You will be required to gather inspiration from a variation of songs. The difference is that your project will be of great length...and a fan fiction. That's right. You will be writing a lengthy fan fiction. You will be given until June 22 to plan your story, and must post one chapter a week on a specific day. In addition there will be a word count minimum requirement for each chapter.

....interested?

Writers assemble! And we shall make this challenge a success!

Reviews (or even Critique)

Reviews. Something you can either come to love. Or hate.

It doesn't matter whether or not you want them because once you post your stuff online or become a published author, people will eventually review. All you can do is prepare yourself for the good or bad. Positive reviews are awesome, but don't go all giddy when you get one. A few days later you may go back and find yourself embarrassed at what you wrote. Plus if someone offers critique, you may find yourself glaring at the screen because they "bullied you" or ignoring their suggestions.

Choosing to react that ways is both immature and unnecessary. You just lost some good intel, and you must take advantage of whatever you can. Why? Because if you work to strengthen the area critiqued, you could gain a few more readers. But this isn't guaranteed.

And let me just say this for the record, constructive criticism/critiques are not in any way associated with bullying. If you think they are, then please take a step back from writing for a while. You need a clear mind to understand why/how they aren't bullying. I will do a blog post on why in the future.

(nope, I don't XD)

The subject of this blog post is not, however, just reviews. In fact I think it would be useless to talk about them the specific types since most of us know about reviews with constructive criticism or non at all. Rather, this post will lool at a different area of reviews...one few ever touch on. And that is receiving reviews...critiques even concerning anything.

First, don't ask for a review if you cannot take negative comments. You will definitely receive positive feedback, but if you find someone giving constructive criticism and you don't like it, you can say something to them...but in all honesty you asked for a review so you shouldn't. If someone is insulting you, then you should say something. But only ask for a review if you mean it. And if you really REALLY want to improve, ask someone you know that has some experience...or someone who will be honest and will say something other than, "Impressive! No flaws here!" because it doesn't help you in the least.

Second, don't justify what you wrote when someone you have asked to review your story doesn't like it. 

It's understandable (unless you're me and you write a review and then someone lectures you...and I therefore, without telling anyone, become Sheldon above). But you asked for a review, and a percentage of a review is an opinion. You don't have to see eye to eye with the reviewer but you do need to respect their opinion. And arguing them is NOT respecting them. When someone reviews my story...I don't always agree with them, but instead of arguing, I thank them for taking time out of THEIR schedule to review it. Then I read the review and take note of some what they say and rethink my own strategy

Those are the two main things I wanted to touch base on...but i'm pretty sure that ya'll know there are more reasons.

Over and Out.

Capturing and Keeping Your Audience - Introduction

This is the most important part of writing; especially for those who want to be noticed or published. Best Sellers are best sellers for a reason. The author was able to captivate the audience despite their own personal weaknesses and keep them hooked for hours. I know a lot of people reading this are struggling to grab their readers, and for that reason I've started this short writing series for you! The series will talk about capturing and keeping your audience hooked. As much as this advice shall help, you must execute it the right way for it to work...but even then, people are picky today about what they read.

Before doing any of this, look at the picture above. It's quote by Stephen King, "If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." This is essential. Read EVERYTHING. Read the literature, the best sellers, the junk stories, the poems, everything! By reading all this you are starting to establish how you shall write and what you shall write about. You explore the "do's" and "do not's". If you find it difficult to read a book join a book club, taking up Children's Literature if your University or College has it, take a Prose class, a English class! I guarantee that each forces you to read.

Here's a personal list of books I have read. It doesn't matter whether I'm recommend them or not, you need to read anything you can get your hands on:

a. Seraphina

b. The Inheritance Cycle

c. The City of Bones Series

d.The Divergent Series

e. Hamlet

f. Macbeth

g. Twelfth Night

h. City of Ember

i. The Throne of Glass Series

j. The Nancy Drew Series (there are A LOT of these)

k. The Wondrous Strange Series

And, if you want to read a series that highlights the bad in most fiction read all of the Twilight Saga...I dare you to try and finish them!

Above all else, you must also write a lot! Write about anything, your day, your week...a short story that pops into your mind, anything! Take some writing classes, form and harness your skill! But if you don't have time to read...then you shouldn't have time to write. Reading is prioritized above writing.

Some pre-advice...don't go around asking everyone to read your story. Truth be told eventually it gets annoying and instead of capturing you're readers...they'll be turned off. When people constantly ask me to read their stories, I don't care too much about anything...because now I don't want to read it.

Just a Warning.

Capturing Your Audience

It's essential for your story to grab readers and stand out from others like a sore thumb. Below are three main and key features to help your story stand out:

Fundamentals to Capturing Your Audience
1. The Title
2. The Synopsis
3. The First Line

The Title

The title summarizes your entire story into one to a few words. It gives the reader a short glimpse into what you're story is about, so making it as unique as possible is important. If you're writing a HTTYD fan fiction, do not use the word Alpha ANYWHERE! It's very cliché. I am saying this because the second thing you need in your title...is uniqueness. If you write something everyone else has in their title...people will overlook your story and move on. If you have no time to find an appropriate title, then you're showing the audience that you won't have the time or dedication to make the story amazing...

The Synopsis

"Once upon a time Toothless met Hiccup...here's the story before the story."

......

That's the reaction you're going to get from your readers. While writing what you want to write is important, you also need to figure out which one of your ideas (admit it, most of us have more than one) is going to grab the most people...but don't write anything that someone else thought of (a friend, or a suggested idea given to you by another person)...otherwise you won't put your heart and soul into it. Once you find one, brainstorm your basic plot line, themes, symbols, characters, etc. AND then you can work on a short paragraph.

First Line

"My name is Miya. I am a viking...and I love on the island of Berk."

......

Two words. Dull. Boring.

I don't think everyone is like me, but when I read that I cringe...then I pretend I'm batman and close the tab. News: You just lost me. But I'm not alone, a lot of people are like that...hence the lack of readers. Hence why people aren't reviewing. When someone see's that line they run...when someone see's sort of sentence anywhere where your character is summarizing who they are and where they live...or anything else, they will probably run! So leave the summarizing with the synopsis and don't bring it into the actual "meat" of your story.

Keeping Your Audience Hooked

But it isn't enough to just captivate your audience, you need to keep them captivated until your story is over. You don't necessarily need them to be begging you for more, but you need them to continue sacrificing their time to read new chapters as you release them. Here we talk about some of the structures of writing. The key elements of this are below:

Fundamentals to Keeping Your Audience

1. The Characters

2. The Plot
3. The Writing Style


Characters

Stop. Writing. Mary Sue's (<- the appropriate button I need for the accented e is not working. In terms, Mary Sue is a cliche character). And don't be fooled, Mary Sue exists everywhere. The rebellious teenager. The clean freak. The dumb blonde (i'm blonde...so if i don't take that in offense, none of you really should -.-). The jock. The geek. All stereotypes...stop using them! They are to be avoided. No if's. No and's. No but's. If you don't put the time into unique characters, you'll put the same minimal effort into the rest of your story. You need characters people will remember and can connect with.

Plotline

Realistic. R.E.A.L.I.S.T.I.C. It means you don't write about flying bunnies unless you can realistic write them into your story...and even then you need magic, and a good reason those bunnies exist. Everything in your story connects someone to the main arc...otherwise known as the main plot line. Stories consist of several plot lines, one main and several subplots. The main has three specifics: A questor, a quest and a desire. The questor is your main character, the quest is the specific task your character wants to achieve, and the desire is the reasoning behind your characters quest. I studied this specifically in Academic Skills in University...all three are necessary. They can be anything. Your questor is Toothless. The quest is to find Hiccup. The motivation/desire is keeping Hiccup safe. From there you can create your setting and brainstorm/plan, then write.

The Writing Style

I mentioned in Fan Fictions Improper Characterization and Avoiding it that I refuse to read fan fiction on the grounds that the characterization is horrible. But a close second in a long list of reasons why I don't read fan fiction is definitely Writing Style. I can only read a horrible writing style if the plot line is captivating (oh look! these two go hand in hand!) enough...otherwise I don't bother. Other people aren't as picky, but writing style is very important! People will notice it if it sucks. But you can only develop your writing style if you read (see introduction at the top on reading). Pacing is a part of writing style, you can't write your character opening a door, getting attacked by a dragon, running away, getting treated, spending every hour ALL night awake...and continue to talk about how she felt the next morning in ONE chapter...let alone four paragraphs! You haven't given your readers enough time to digest what's happening or get a faint glimpse of their surroundings...you don't have to foreshadow or write in themes...and the list goes on and on.

Each category is important, and working on your weaknesses is the hard work in writing. I will be going over each in as much details as possible over the next week or two. We will look into the importance of each element starting with the title in the next blog post.

Skypeoplephoenix732 on the SoD forums has some good advice, so she will be adding some stuff over the next several posts! And guys, please don't ask me to post your advice too! :) I asked Sky personally because I need more than one perspective. And I only needed one other.

Since this is the end all I have to say is...

(and in case you haven't noticed I love Big Bang Theory XP)

...see you next time!

Three Invalid Statements

Your story is your baby. It's the truth.

We spend hours upon hours crafting them and then, if fear doesn't get in the way, release in some form for the world to see. How we do this, or our own reaction to lack or all received feedback depends on who we are and the experience we have in this field.

What also depends is whether or not we approach people and ask them to read our story. Some of us will do this, but others won't (I'm one of the won't). We say something that we probably shouldn't...therefore I have compiled a list of invalid statements made by authors:

"Well, I read yours so you HAVE to read mine." 

A common expectation among us. This is one I have heard often. An argument can be made that it's polite to read readers fan fiction...I will even go as far as saying that if you asked someone to read yours...and they want you to read theirs in return, it's probably a good idea to do it (but as I shall emphasize soon, the choice is up to you). The motivation of reading a story, fan fiction or not, is important. Why do you pick out a book at a library or book store? A friends recommendation? Did you find the synopsis online and find it intriguing? What about this...were you guilted into reading it? (<- requiring to read it for school doesn't count!) Chances are you weren't and if you were...I would suggest not allowing yourself to be guilted into doing so. You, most likely, picked it up because you thought it was interesting. You read it because in the end, YOU wanted to. This is especially important if a reader approaches you and uses this to guilt you into reading their story...when you never asked the reader to read yours. I'm going to emphasize this: You have no obligation to read someone else's story. If you choose to because you want to, then that's different

"You HAVE to read it because I worked so hard on it!"

Not a valid reason. Period. We all work hard on our stories, and as previously said, guilting a person into reading your story is wrong. Authors don't go to publishers and say, "I worked hard on this. You HAVE to publish it." I'm pretty sure the publisher would roll their eyes and point to the door. They pick stories based on talent and potential. There's also different definitions of hard work, we all define it differently. In my opinion, hard work requires working on your story, and finding your weaknesses and working on them until they are no longer...well weaknesses. But like I said, we're all different.

"No one likes it. I want you to read it...but don't be honest, and rave about it!"

People often take negative reviews...negatively. I'm not speaking of trolls, or people who find pleasure in writing bad things about everyone's stories. I'm speaking of critiques, even people who say "It was okay," or "Didn't really like it." If you're using that as an excuse to force positive reviews, then you're looking at the purpose those reviews in a improper way. The point of negative reviews is to find weaknesses and work them out. Believe it or not, there are some authors out there who believe that every single piece of work they write is flawless. If you believe that, then here's a piece of advice: Stop. You're damaging yourself. Eight times out of time a person who believes it is either cocky, or has low self-confidence. The rest of it is most likely reviews people with little expertise in the structure and fundamentals of writing or those who just want to be entertained. Every story has issues, and if reviewed properly, every person will find some. Take a step back for a moment and take a deep breath. It's a lot to take in, and i'm very honest. I won't even be offended if you stop. I'll give you two examples.

Horizon is my fan fiction. Yes. I'm using it as an example. The main character is weak, the dragons aren't a massive part of the plot line which is wrong, some of the conflict solutions are just...a head shaker, and that's the tip of the iceberg. By understanding that there is always something wrong with every story, I am able to catch my flaws and work them out. Here, the big one is I didn't brainstorm or draft a plan for the story before writing...which I won't do again until I've published a few novels and have run out of ideas. But that doesn't mean it's all negative. The plot line is decent, unpredictable and different. Most of the characterization of the HTTYD characters is on the dot, and the idea is unique for the most part.

The second example is the Divergent series. The character is a stock cliché character, the plotline is predictable, the writing style is...really bad, and i'm only at the top of the iceberg.. The best part was Peter's believable character development, and the ending of Allegaint because it concluded an important theme running throughout all three books...and of course, Four ;)

A few more things, if someone gives you a short review that has little constructive criticism, if there's anyway to contact them via email or private message do it. Find out the specifics. Question them until their eyes and fingers bleed. But don't do that until you come to terms with the fact that ever story has flaws somewhere.

And while there's always some flaws in your story, there will always be highlights.

In conclusion...
Bottom line, don't be guilted into reading something you don't want to. And stop guilting people into reading your stuff. Focus your time on improving instead, ask people who know what their talking about for an honest opinion. And please...don't justify what you wrote when you ask for a review...and you don't like what they said.

Books, Books, and More Books!

It's been a while since my last blog entry. Currently, I'm cuddled under the blankets on the couch at almost a quarter to one in the morning (or at least, when I started writing this I was). I shouldn't be blogging. Tomorrow's a new day with an early start, and I don't get home until late...which therefore, deems blogging at such a late hour crazy! But alas, I'm doing it anyway. I guess it's an attempt to calm the mind.

So, recently I started pushing my reading habit. Over the last two weeks I've read a few books. Two of them being Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I've had an eye on these books for a while, encountering them on Goodreads and then looking forward to spending several hours on each, taken to the world both authors created. I had high expectations for both books.

And of course, those expectations crash and burnt.

I found myself expecting something more than I received. In my personal opinion, a story needs both a healthy writing style AND a plot-line that captures its readers intensely. My idea of a perfect book captures several genre's and stays true to each one.

But, I've come to realize something unappealing in the world of literature, or what we produce as literature today. And that's this:

A story contains either a healthy writing style, and a poorly executed plot-line, OR a poor writing style and a well executed plot.

There are a few authors who jump out from this; I believe one to be J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. I, personally, am not a Harry Potter fan but I had the pleasure of reading some excerpts from a few of her books online. They were amazing! I wanted to read more as I continued to avidly take in the words she wrote. And I'm not a Harry Potter fan!

I believe authors should write like J.K Rowling. We need more combinations of well-executed plots and amazing writing styles. 

But I have a long reading list and I shall post more about the books I read as I read them!

Writing Update

Current Obsession: NCIS - Specifically Tiva. How can you resist these guys?

NCIS - Tiva Stories

One-Shots: Tova, The Love of a Partner

Full Stories: Deception is Thy Name (Not Complete)

*SPOILERS*

I was upset when Ziva left at the beginning of Season 11. It was last year when I started watching NCIS. Halfway through the season, I believe. But I can't recall. Anyway, I received Season 5 for Christmas. The season began with the final chapter of Tony's undercover work with Jeanne...and as soon as I saw Ziva's reaction when that car blew up, I became curious. Thus this obsession began. And now, aside from Season 3 to 10, I can't get myself to watch NCIS without Ziva.

Fan Fictions Improper Characterization and Avoiding It

Most people get offended when they ask me to read their fan fiction...and I say no.

I usually refuse to give my reason because I HATE offending people any further. But the reason is pretty concrete. SO concrete that I don't get angry when people refuse to read my fan fiction because my story goes against my own reasoning...I'm funny that way.

What brought this topic to mind was a situation I went through earlier. I was going through fan fiction for a specific category and I was having a hard time finding one that I could read. Specifically because the characterization was off. I don't mean a little, I mean A LOT. The characters reaction in specific situations wasn't realistic. And I mean REALLY unrealistic.. All in all, so far I've found two or three fan fictions from this category that I have managed to finish. Two of those three, while displaying little lack of understanding of characterization, still had some character flaws. The other one was flawless. But the obvious lack of understanding the characterization in the other stories was a huge turn off. But I like discovering that for myself. While I do refuse invitations to read fan fiction, its only because I like to discover fan fiction on my own. Look over the stories and find the good ones.

Complex characters are difficult to deal with, but they have a specific single personality pushing through all sides of the complexity. If you draw a line in the middle of a piece of paper that begins at one end of the paper and ends at the other THEN add a bunch of random lines and dots, in the end, that first line is still the base. The BASE of the design, Its the same with a character. While a character may have more than one characteristic, there is ONE that shines through the rest. Here's another way to look at this:

People are like octagons. They have many sides. The other personalities they come in contact with bring out different sides of a person. These sides, or personality complexities, work together to create one person. Yet they are all different. For example, one side may be mature. A person may make mature decisions in their life, and smart career choices. HOWEVER another side may be immature for completely different reasons. While they like to make mature life decisions, they still play pranks...and make fun of others. Its not that the opposites contradict, they make the character complex and 3D.

To avoid characterization that is not accurate, try this. When your analyzing the character(s) start by observing their situation. Use the What? Why? Where? How? thing. Then, observe their reaction. Try to figure out WHY they're reacting the way they are. Do that and after a while, you should get a better understand of their character.

That's what I do.

Hope this was helpful.