Categories
My Books

First Draft of Dronefall II, Lightwaste—Complete!

I won’t pretend it doesn’t feel a little weird, finishing the second book before the first is out. But progress is progress, and it probably won’t hurt me (or readers) to shorten that gap between the publication of the first and second books.

  Nine days ago, I was spinning my wheels a bit and decided to set a ten-day deadline for myself. It worked, since I ended up finishing last night at the eight-day mark. It took a lot of tea, but the first draft is now weighing in at 89,000 words exactly. And though I’m already starting a list of things I need to fix and change, I’m fairly happy right now.

  I’ve restrained myself fairly well, I think from talking about Dronefall here on this blog ad nauseum. I like to think that there might be some readers who are curious about it by now. Don’t worry, I’ll be interviewing my own characters and overloading you with obscure facts once things get going after publication day.

  What you need to know right now is that I’m getting closer with Dronefall—you know. Closer every day. Always uh, moving forward. Just now publication date on the calendar yet. I’ll get there, I promise! There’s no way you’re as desperate as I am about it right now.

  The last book I published came out when I was nineteen. Now I’m twenty-three and there were five whole unpublished manuscripts between. This has been a while building up. I can’t wait to officially invite you into the world of Dronefall.

  Just hang tight. I’ve got a bit of editing to do first.

Categories
Blog Tour

White Wolf and Ash Princess Blog Tour, Day Seven!


Well, I’m excited to be taking part in my first blog-tour. I’ve never done this before, but I made a resolution this year to start promoting other authors, and this is a great way to start. It’s also a great book to start with.

But first things first, I must add a quick confession. When I volunteered, I had no idea this book was not fantasy. I thought it was fantasy for the first I don’t know how many chapters. Then I looked on Goodreads and saw people calling it historical fiction. Oops.

The dreamy cover.
So, this is not a genre I typically read. Keep that in mind. If you’re an avid historical fiction reader, you’ll probably have different tastes and different opinions about this book. But maybe it’s valuable, or at least interesting to see it through the eyes of somebody who’s more of a speculative junkie. So here we go.
But first, the synopsis
Eighteen year old Izzy’s limited world begins to feel cramped after she completes her self-appointed book dare. After reading two-hundred and fifty books, a thought that had been once tucked away as tightly as the books on her library shelves becomes too irresistible to ignore…Who am I?
Memory loss prohibits Izzy from remembering her life before age seven when she was suffered a terrible trauma that left her with intense physical scars. Jonathan Gudwyne and his head housekeeper rescued Izzy and took her in as their own, but who did she belong to before they took her in?
Crippling panic keeps Izzy from wandering beyond the stables but Tubs, the Gudwyne’s young stable boy, encourages Izzy to go beyond the property’s rock wall into a world that promises possible answers but also great danger. A scorched castle in the woods and its mysterious cellar filled with secrets sets Izzy on a path to the New World, where she will not only have to face her own terror but face the people responsible for her scars.
It is here, in the untamed wilds of the seventeenth century that she finds love and a home in the most of unexpected of places.

Things I liked

·         Nature. This story places a great deal of value and emphasis on nature, which for me is always a plus. I loved the descriptions of natural settings, especially once we got to the New World. This outdoorsy aspect of the setting also led naturally to some great details on survival and hunting, which I also love. Survival stories always bring out the grit and determination in characters, which is something I find very satisfying, as a reader.

·         The U. P. If I were to move somewhere else in the US, it would very likely be the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My family has vacationed there every Fall for almost all my life. I was delighted to find myself there in a work of fiction. It makes for a beautiful, and to me very familiar backdrop. I definitely share Lash’s passion for that area.

·         Native Americans Yes. I love how she handled the Native American aspect of this story. It was woven in seamlessly and gave the story it’s flavor. The best thing was, the Native American characters were just that—actual characters. They weren’t token bitter sob-story props or faceless savages. They were actual people with actual souls, quirks, aspirations, relationships. I read a few books featuring Native Americans earlier in life, and they always seemed to focus on the differences between them and the White Man, not the humanness of both. This was inspiring. I want to see more of this!

·         Reconciliation I will always take a story about forgiveness and healing. This is a major theme in WWaAP. It’s explored on many levels between characters and between larger groups of people. In the secular world, reconciliation between races is almost a taboo. People shy away from acknowledging that it is the only way scars ever heal. This book doesn’t do that. The people in this story have all been wounded and broken be each other. No, forgiveness doesn’t make the pain or the scars go away instantly, but it is the only hope. The characters are learning to act on that in their broken relationships. 

·         Plot twists/amnesia Okay, so where there is amnesia, there will be plot-twists. This is honestly what attracted me to this book. The story is a series of revelations about the main character’s painful and traumatic past. It deals with how she chooses to handle them as the memories return. This kept me reading, even when I wasn’t otherwise particularly engaged.

·         Non-romantic relationships Guys, this story focused on a lot of different relationship dynamics and guess what? Some of them were not romantic. This is awesome. More like this, please. There are so many different ways people relate to each other and all too often authors neglect them for Friend, Enemy, Love Interest. There’s so much more to work with, and Lash took the time to look deeply at many different pairings of characters and explore their dynamics. Yes.

Things I didn’t like

·         Pacing issues The first half seems a little slow. There were a few chapters that didn’t seem all that important to the story. Sometimes I got a little bogged down in descriptions of clothes and flowers and biscuits. But then again, like I said, historical romance is not my genre by any means, so my expectations are likely a bit off.

·         Emotional monotony Okay, so this is something that really gets me, though other people might not notice. I have trouble getting into a book that is basically dead serious the whole time. There is a lot of crying in this book. It makes sense, situations are very serious and often painful. But for me, it actually makes it so I care a lot less about the characters’ pain when I rarely see them laughing, joking and just generally on top of their game. It’s harder to connect for me when characters are in emotional turmoil most of the time.

·         Characters a bit predictable You’ve got your motherly housekeeper who is, of course rather stout, and fond of flowers, you’ve got your handsome protective love interest what love interest what are you talking about? With his secret scars. Then there’s the adorable little boy with freckles and bouncing red curls who somehow doesn’t seem all of thirteen at all. Oh, and the competition—the stiff pale lady who wants to marry the love interest what love interest for his money. There was a lot of very strong characterization in this book, don’t get me wrong, it was done quite well. I just wished I hadn’t seen them so many times before.

·         Certain situations and subjects One thing I don’t understand is why some authors have to write about throwing up multiple times within a book. I mean, this is your story, you can decide weather you want to include things like that. Even if it isn’t at all graphic (it wasn’t in this case) I honestly start skimming when people start getting sick. There was even a story in the authors note at the end. She for some reason felt the need to tell us about the only time she remembers throwing up. Which naturally makes me resentful, since I can remember approximately fifty times myself…. Everything makes me sick, man. I also prefer to avoid the subject of cannibalism, if possible. (Again, not graphic, but it’s lingered on for a bit too long for my uh…taste.)

And Kind of a Pro/Con

·         Very personal I’m kind of intimidated by stories that are closely linked to an author’s own deep pain and past trials. I want to see a story objectively and going into it with a lot of the authors’ backstory makes me a bit uncomfortable doing that. I tend to sort of freak out when I find a biographical author’s note in the back of a novel.

But on the other hand, this is going to be different for other people. For some I imagine this will deepen your understanding and appreciation of the story. Writing a novel can be a great way to heal and a great way to share the healing with many others who have faced similar battles.

 

It’s a story worth reading, aside from my issues with it. It definitely deserves an audience of avid historical readers who love stories of faith, forgiveness, and healing. It’s an honest look at the secrets we keep and the things we carry alone that we were meant to carry together. If you love a story that’s a mix of inspiration, romance, legend, and a splash of adventure, try White Wolf and Ash Princess.


About the Author

Tammy lives in Lower Michigan with her husband and her three children. Izzy’s home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (Munising) is where she and her family enjoy exploring. Tammy enjoys hiking, kayaking, beach wandering, “hunting” for birch bark and hopes to someday find a porcupine quill. White Wolf and the Ash Princess is her first novel. She is published in Keys for Kids and has been in children’s ministry for over twenty years.


Oh, and there’s also a giveaway. Just enter it, ‘kay?


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Categories
Creativity Writing

Strange Ways I Fight Writer’s Block

Writer’s block does happen. I have heard people rant about how it’s just your imagination and how “real” writers don’t get writer’s block. “Just keep writing,” they say. “It’s an excuse for laziness,” they say. Oh, okay, if that’s your philosophy, fine, be a snob about it. But for the rest of us, something’s got to be done to get out of the rut.
  I know the feeling. Your mind gets all clouded and dull and drifty. You can’t look at the screen. You can’t remember how anything is spelled. Your vocabulary is down to like, five words. If you start writing, sawdust and dead moths start piling up inside your word document somehow. Maybe it comes from physical exhaustion, maybe it’s lowkey depression, maybe you feel harried by all life’s other demands on your mental energy.
   These are real problems that are going to affect your creative output. It’s only natural. If you know there are practical things you need to fix before you can write—hey, do them. If you don’t know what needs fixed…try doing it my way.
·         Read really bad writing. I know, this is not something most author blogs encourage aspiring authors to do, but it can fire me up. I suggest hitting a fanfiction site and finding a story from a fandom you care about with some really sloppy writing in which the author makes some decisions you really hate. Be angry, be very angry. Then crack your knuckles and open your manuscript. Show ‘em what realwriting looks like.
·         Start writing your scenes as dialogue only.Writing dialogue fills up a page fast, and it’s encouraging. It also narrows your focus to one element of your writing so that you’re not grappling with so much at once. Writing fiction involves balancing so many skills at once, it’s no wonder it gets overwhelming. Just focus on making the dialogue work. Come back and write the narrative in later, and feel free to alter it then.
·         Use really weird words and expressions. Don’t worry about your readers. You can edit all you want later. The idea here is to loosen up and get your brain into play mode. One thing that’s sure to cause writer’s block is taking yourself and your work way too seriously. There’s a very fine line between genius and crazy—forget it until you make yourself laugh. Laughing is good for your artist’s mind.
·         Move to a completely different project. Don’t get tunnel-vision on your main project. Always have several other ideas on standby to stimulate your creative circulation. These can be writing projects (probably at least a few should be), visual art or a craft, if that’s your thing, writing a song, building a model, remodeling a room, teaching your cat to sing the entire Ring Cycle—whatever. Just try channeling some serious energy into some other interesting activity.
·         Start a notebooking challenge. I’ll probably end up doing a whole post on this in the near future. I don’t know if this is a thing, or if I invented it, but it involves making a list of prompts for yourself in a notebook. (I know how many creatives are obsessed with notebooks.) The prompts I write typically involve a combination of writing and drawing. Some examples I’ve done are: Draw islands that represent emotions, find random words in the dictionary and write new definitions for them, draw a creature that looks the way you feel…things like that. It’s a great exercise if your creative muscles are stiff.
·         Talk to somebody about your project. If you can find a friend or family member sympathetic to your cause, it can be very helpful to have someone to talk to about what might be stalling your progress. If you have someone in your life who has read some of your work, all the better, you’ll have less to explain. They may have some interesting insights about your project that you yourself were blind to. Other people can be very helpful, even if they have no advice. It’s just good to let somebody else in your creative world now and then.
·         Do something completely out of the norm. Adventure is a great cure-all. Just get up and go somewhere strange, do something unique. The rhythms of everyday life can make you feel trapped sometimes. You have freewill. Go ahead and break them. Remind yourself you’re not a robot from time to time. Robots rarely write great stories.
  So, there’s my advice to those suffering with writer’s block. I like to think I’m a pretty good example of a hyperactive idea-generating dynamo, but I won’t pretend even I don’t get burned-out on occasion. I definitely do. But I’m doing better now. I can feel the change writing this post has made to my brain chemistry. I’ll get some novel-writing done today.

Categories
Uncategorized

Seven Plans for Twenty-Eighteen

NEW YEAR! 2018

Welcome to 2018 everyone. I don’t know quite when it happened, but sometime within the past decade I transitioned from pronouncing the first two digits “Two-Thousand” and started saying “Twenty.” So, I will say again, welcome to Twenty-Eighteen.

  I have, of course, as always, a lot of ambitious plans and unrealistic dreams for this year. Honestly though, I gave up making New Year’s resolutions long ago. I have more of a bucket-list now. Fairly low-pressure. Just a list of things I would like to get done this time around the sun.

  I’m not going to tell you everything, because that would get boring. But here’s a little of what I’m looking forward to doing with 2018.

1.    Publish Dronefall

Yeah. About time to launch the Dronefall Series, I would think. I literally passed all 2017 saying to myself “It’s gonna be out next month,” and believing it. I’m still honestly pretty uncertain about what exactly my plan is for getting it out there. I want to do it in the best possible way. But you will see it soon, if I have anything to do with it.

2.    Explore a new genre

I’ve been thinking about trying mystery for a long time. I love working out details and setting up plot-twists. (I’ve gotten in a lot of practice with Dronefall, so far.) I doubt I’ll be the next Agatha Christie, but time you spend experimenting is never wasted, in writing.

3.    Read what I want to read

Okay, so bear with me. 2018 will be my first year without any form of formal education controlling half my conscious mind. I might be struggling to adjust, but I found that I feel obligated to read a lot of stuff I don’t actually enjoy, just because—well, won’t my brain rot out, or something, if I don’t? No. It’s not going to hurt me to take a year and read only what I’m actually motivated to read. Hello, 2018!

4.    Get some short material out there

I’m not strictly a novelist. I’ve been writing poetry for longer than novels have even been a thought for me. My mom seems to think people might actually read my poetry, too. It’s kind of crazy how many people won’t even touch a novel because of attention-span issues. But a fifteen-line poem? Why not? I’ve also got some weird short-stories….

5.    Go to a writer’s conference or retreat

My face-to-face, in-person networking is…completely non-existent. I’m kinda-sorta acquainted with a few authors online, but if I could actually see some of my own kind IRL that would be more than awesome. I’m going to have to be on the lookout for events near me. I’ve got my eye on one already. I’m not sure where to start, but I think I had better start.  

6.    Give back to the indie author community

I don’t have a ton to give at this point, because I’m still a dark-horse and haven’t got a massive throng of followers on…anything. But want an interview? Can I review a book for you? Do you know of a Christian indie author I might be interested in? Hey, contact me. I’m especially interested in interviews on specific points of author’s work—not just the generic “what inspired you?” “When did you become a writer?” type of questions. I’d like to dive deeper with other indies, and show their hungry readerships a more colorful picture of their worlds. That’s something I think I can give.

7.    Nanowrimo!

Yeah, the Holy Grail of author goals. Believe it or not, I did this once before—during my junior year in college. I passed the finish by a couple thousand words, even. No, that wasn’t a smart time to attempt 50,000 words in 30 days, but I made it work somehow. This year, I’d like to do it again. It was a lot of fun.

So, there are a few of my hopes for this New Year. What does your list look like?

Categories
Fiction Writers' Advice Poetry Writing

Why Write Poetry?

If you normally write fiction, poetry may or may not be something you think much about. Maybe you’re so absorbed in mapping out your story-world, developing your characters, and fine-tuning your plot that you feel like writing poetry would be a distraction. After all, novel-writing is hard work, and takes focus. Why should you divert your creative energy into trying poetry?

I’ll admit now that I’ve written poetry for longer than I’ve written fiction. I don’t get absorbed in poetry-writing like I do with my novels. In fact, though I do consider myself a poet, I really don’t write poetry as often as I would like. The inspiration comes randomly and typically out of nowhere. But every time I find myself writing a poem, I can feel that I’m doing something constructive—not only for my growth as a poet, but for my fiction-writing as well.

Writing and reading poetry changes how you handle writing prose. I’m confident about that. Poetry stretches your descriptive power, and makes you search for a way to put a twist on everyday thoughts. When I write poetry my awareness of clichés and tired metaphors skyrockets.  Practicing these skills definitely crosses over into my prose-writing.

Goals for poetry are going to vary according to the poet—and according to the poem. A lot of the time, the poems I write are simply capturing a mood. I’m fairly abstract, and I don’t often write about specific situations or issues. A lot of the time I can’t really explain what a given poem is about, because it’s more about creating an emotional atmosphere than anything else. If I use what I’ve learned from writing poetry and apply it to my prose, I can create a vivid atmosphere for scenes in my novels.

You might have a more literal style. Supposing you write in plainer speech about definite subjects. You’re still improving artistically if you put thought into your work. You’re still playing creatively with words, learning to see things from unexpected perspectives and through new metaphors. This will force you to see situations in your fiction from new angles—which can do nothing but good for your prose and overall creativity.

So, even if you think you don’t have a talent for poetry and that your creative writing skill is limited to fiction, I would encourage you to try your hand at poetry even if it’s just as an exercise. And you might find you like it enough to continue composing poems for their own sake.

On a quick final note, I have an announcement to make. I really haven’t hyped this much, but I’ve just released a small book of my own poetry on Amazon. If you read poetry at all, check it out. I’m excited to finally share it with my readership.
Categories
Creating Characters Fiction Writers' Advice

20 Prying Questions for Your Characters

If you’ve done a lot of character questionnaires before, you probably know where your main character was born, the names and ages of their siblings, their favorite food, their favorite color…those things you timidly ask your new pen-pal in the first letter. But here’s the thing: there’s absolutely no reason to be shy with your characters. All those highly personal questions you would never ask a real person in an interview—those are the things you really need to know.

You could think up a lot of these prying questions, and I would advise you to think of some that would be particularly relevant to your character in their particular story. But to start you off, here’s a list of twenty deep questions to flesh out your characters.

1. How is your relationship with God?

2. Have you ever been in love?

3. Did you have a good childhood?

4. How is your relationship with your parents?

5. What makes you angry?

6. Are you comfortable with emotions?

7. What about you do you feel the world won’t accept?

8. What is your worst fear?

9. What’s something you feel completely incapable of?

10. Who would you die for?

11. What do you dream about?

12. What always makes you laugh?

13. What do you look for in a friend?

14. What are you most ashamed of?

15. What is your earliest memory?

16. What do you miss the most about your past?

17. Who do you owe the most to?

18. What would you change about yourself?

19. Have you ever come close to dying?

20. What do you hope for the most?

For best results, I would suggest writing the answers first-person in your character’s voice. You can use as many or as few of these questions as you want, and feel free to think up your own. I think you’ll find it gives you a lot of inspiration for character-arcs and even plot twists for your story.
Categories
Fiction Writers' Advice

5 Elements of a Fandom-Enabled Story

 

 
 
 
We all want to be the author of a story that triggers the explosion of a new fandom. We want our readers to be as excited to read our story as we are to write it. We want to inspire fan-artists to bring our scenes to life in their art. We want to inspire fan-fiction writers to use our characters and settings to sharpen their own skills. There’s nothing quite like seeing a truly satisfied fan-base spring up around a great story.
But what makes that happen? Okay, I’m not going to pretend I understand the magic and mystery of fandoms. I have no idea why fangirls and fanboys do what they do– OTP’s and headcanons and AU’s and all that—but when I look at the stories that spark these great fandoms, there are elements they all have.
I’ve isolated five for the sake of this post. I’m sure there are other things, but let’s look at these five for now:
1. Vivid Characters
Often really vivid. In fact, I would almost recommend pushing it a little. Lean into your characters’ unique qualities. If you find that magnifying your characters makes them feel flat or fake, deepen them rather than mellowing them out.
Your readers want characters that are so clear in their minds that they can survive outside the context of the book. This is the concept behind the alternative universe thing. If a character is self-contained enough, we can imagine what kind of a high-school student they would be. Think about your characters now. What would be constant if you changed up their situation. That’s what you need to emphasize to make them real. Put them in a completely different role. What doesn’t change? That’s who they actually are. Play it up.
2. Humor
I just wrote a whole post about how essential this is. The ability to amuse people with your writing is a super-power. Don’t overlook it. People remember the humorous parts of stories. They’re going to re-read the funny scenes in your book. Your characters’ quips and clever lines might even enter your readers’ repertoire of in-jokes.
Though fiction can accomplish a great deal more than simple entertainment, readers greatly appreciate being entertained. If a story makes me laugh, that’s a solid sign that the author is succeeding in entertaining me in the way many of us crave the most.
3. A “Wow” Element
I couldn’t think of anything more technical to call this. The “Wow” element is something that sparks a reader’s imagination. It can manifest itself in countless ways—a fascinating culture or event in historical fiction, an amazing species of dragon or a magical object in fantasy—a unique alien race or impressive use of technology in sci-fi. Readers want to be captivated by something interesting. I doubt that I’m the only one who is often attracted to stories initially by something about them that is simply cool.
4. Emotions
All of them. If there’s one thing that’s obvious about fandoms it’s that they want “all the feels.” But don’t get hung up on one emotion. Tragedy is great, we love sobbing. But nobody really wants to cry for the entire book—in fact, I doubt that it would be physically possible. We want to feel rage, jealousy, delight, terror, embarrassment, wonder, curiosity, satisfaction…on and on it goes. If we don’t get the whole ride, we feel kind of cheated.
I’m not that great with this one sometimes, I’ll admit. I get pretty caught up in the intricate workings of my plot and sometimes forget that, though a complex sound plot is a good thing, nothing can beat a story that makes you feel things. All these emotional ups and downs connect a reader with a character and make them care about what happens next.
5. Originality
Originality is so sought-after and so elusive. It’s hard to measure and define—and probably impossible to teach. I suppose there’s really nothing original under the sun, and yet everyone knows a rip-off when they see one. Some new authors obsess so much over originality that they paralyze themselves for fear of doing something that’s been done before. Still others seem to make no attempt and cut and paste nearly to the point of plagiarism.
I think the key to originality is a well-exercised imagination. Don’t be afraid to play with an idea in your head. Keep your possibilities open. Try putting that spin or this twist on what you’ve got. Mix, match and crossbreed those wild ideas in your head. After all, isn’t that the fun part?   
Categories
Fiction Writers' Advice

5 Reasons Your Writing Needs Humor

As seriously as you might take your writing, you probably agree that good writing usually requires a splash of well-written humor. Whether it’s witty banter between characters, quirky relatable situations, or outrageous misadventures, we always crave a little laughter at some point in a novel—and even in shorter works.

But still, somehow, we can forget that from time to time when we caught up in the actual adventure of writing. It’s easy to get distracted by the profound impact of our themes or the dramatic arcs of character-change. I often lose sight of other goals when I’m engrossed in building up to what I hope to be a brilliant plot-twist.

Maybe there are great works of fiction and prose out there with no humor at all, but why deny yourself the obvious advantages it gives to your fiction?

Reason #1

  • It gets the reader’s guard down. You really want to do whatever you can to get your reader warmed up to you. Nothing breaks the ice like a good joke. I know from observing my own reactions as a reader that humor momentarily turns off that raging hyper-critical part of my mind that tries to distract me from enjoying fiction at all.

Reason #2

  • It’s a chance for characterization. Plus, it’s a surefire way to amp up a given character’s likability and humanity. Most people have some kind of a sense of humor way down inside. Think of the people you know. Try to pinpoint the different flavors of humor you have encountered. (And remember, it’s always okay to steal directly from real like.) Take humor as another chance to make a character unique.

Reason #3

  • It connects with the reader. A character can make me laugh with (or at) them before they can get any other emotional reaction from me. I might never care about their sad predicament if they’ve never made me laugh. Everyone wants to laugh. When a writer can deliver humor that I appreciate, that establishes instant trust. This writer cares enough about me to give me what I want as an audience.

Reason #4

  • It breaks up monotonous mood. Some books are sad, some are suspenseful, some are sweet, and some are scary. But if every paragraph has the same mood, at least for me, the overall impression in the end is that it was boring. Humor has a great way of breaking emotional tension and putting a surprise spin on situations. This can really liven up a story for me.

Reason #5

  • It improves the reader’s overall perception of the writing. If a book made me laugh—even just a couple of times—chances are, I’m not going to put it down, and I’m not going to tear it up in a review. I know humor isn’t easy, and if a writer goes out of their way to add some in, they’ve got promise as far as I’m concerned. 

If you’ve convinced yourself your message is just too important to joke about, just remember that even Jesus used humor to get through. (Occasionally even sarcasm—just a little note for the sarcasm-hating crowd.) We’ve heard very serious pastors and Sunday-school teachers and Robert Powell repeat him so often in the most sanctimonious way possible that I don’t blame anybody for getting a little deaf to it. The point is, if you have something important to say—something you want people to remember—make them laugh!

Categories
Fiction Writers' Advice My Books NaNoWriMo

Seven things I learned from NaNoWriMo

 

This year was my first attempting National Novel Writing Month’s great 50k words in 30 days challenge. I’ve been hanging around on the sidelines wondering if I have what it takes for several years now, and abruptly—here in the middle of my senior year of college—I decided it was my time.

  And I did it. I actually surpassed 52k on November 30th, claiming my official win plus. My odds actually hadn’t been that great. If I was like a lot of participants, attempting their first novel, I doubt that I could have done it. But even if I hadn’t been able to pull it off, I think it would have been well worth the try, because doing something that extreme teaches you things.

  So, without further ado, here’s what I learned on the front lines of NaNoWriMo.

1.    I learned how to save images I edited in Photoshop so that the internet would acknowledge their existence. Big revelation. I figured out how to do this when saving my cover image for my NaNo novel. You “save for the web.” Never would have thought of that. Ha. I’m so techno-savvy.  But I’m glad I got this figured out, so now I can edit title images for this blog, and stick them on Pinterest and stuff. Better late than never.

 

2.    Better late than never. That’s something else I learned. I was 10k words behind up until Thanksgiving break. I kept seeing people on the forums freaking out over being 2k behind, or so. I gritted my teeth and caught up suddenly in the home stretch. It was totally possible!

 

3.    Along the same lines, I discovered the hidden true moral of “The Tortoise and the Hare.” We were supposed to win NaNo by way of the tortoise’s strategy. Just one foot in front of the other, 1,667 words a day. But if you look at my chart of daily word count throughout the month, you see that’s not what I did at all. There were about ten days where I hit and exceeded the target word-count. I worked in hare-like sprints. Guys, the only reason the hare lost the race was because he fell asleep. Therefore, the true moral of the story was: no sleeping.

 

4.    Stopwatches are better than timers.This is a crazy fact that I discovered, and it may quite possibly be only true for me. When I set a thirty-minute timer, I was lucky to get 500 words down in that time. I thought that was my limit. Then I set a stopwatch. When I hit 500 words, I stopped it–always between 15 and 12 minutes. Crazy.

 

5.    All dialogue should be argumentative underneath. This keeps it from getting boring and loosing connection with the plot. If there’s always some sort of conflict of interests underneath the conversation, it becomes a lot more logical, and easier to know what the character should say next. Even if the conflict is very small and petty, it’s going to help.

 

6.    Collapsing bridges and crashing helicopters are good things. I think this is self-explanatory. I mean, everybody knows this, right?

 

7.    And lastly, writing is not supposed to be as serious as we try to make it all the time. I wrote this novel to prove that to myself once and for all. We novelists spend so much time agonizing over unattainable perfection. I’m done trying to take myself so seriously. We have one of the most fun occupations in the world. It’s time to cut loose and enjoy it.

 

 

One more thing before I go. Here is the cover of my NaNo project. It’s never going to be published. I mean, it’s written from the perspective of my childhood imaginary enemy. I’m in it as a character and mentioned by name, and portrayed in a rather negative light, I must say. I needed to write a piece of literature with absolutely no pressure hanging over it, so that’s what I did.

  But now, back to reality. I’ve got to try to attain perfection with the draft of a dystopian novel I’ve got scheduled for release in February 2017.

  Serious business. 

 
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Antihero: a protagonist characterized by lack of traditional heroic values

There’s a dictionary-style definition for reference. Examples of this kind of character range from Disney’s Elsa to Marvel’s Loki. There’s probably an even wider spectrum than that. For some reason, people are drawn to characters who wreak havoc. I’ve come across several articles suggesting why.

  “They embody our hidden desires…”

  “They allow us to embrace the darkness in us…”

  “We identify with them because they show us who we really are–”

  Okay, stop. I used to think I was a cynic, but looking around, I seem to see humanity in a slightly more positive light than the average know-it-all writing on literary subjects for trendy blogs. Is it really just me, or is there something about these statements that doesn’t quite ring true?

  I kind of doubt somehow that we actually love antiheros for their moral shortcomings. I mean, if we really liked evil that much, there are plenty of villains that could be said to “embody our hidden desires” a lot better than any antihero ever could. Because of arguments like the above, Christian fiction tends to cautiously avoid antiheros. I think that’s a mistake. I think we need them. At least with those of us that are trying to stay on the right track anyway, I believe that the sympathy that antiheros arouse may come from the good part of our nature—that elusive “image of God” that we are all created in.

  Here’s what I mean:

1.      We have all know how it feels to wreak havoc

Think about it. Sometime in your past haven’t you run off in a fit of panic and thrown all Arendelle into a devastating mid-summer freeze? Haven’t you ever killed eighty people in two days? I mean on your own scale, of course. Our own mistakes are always the worst. Who doesn’t know how it feels to tear things up? Is it because we really, deep inside want to tear things up, or is it because we know how it feels and can imagine it so vividly?

2.       Stars shine in the dark

I’m a fan of high-contrast. The thing about antiheros is not that there is evil in them, it’s that there is good in them! That’s actually what makes them compelling. The realization that there is something buried inside a character that gives them a chance is what keeps us hanging on, white-knuckled. If you’ve seen Thor: The Dark World, you know it’s peppered with hints at this element in Loki. That singular moment when he shields Jane from the aether shines almost bright enough to blind you with hope.

3.      Desire for redemption

Hope for what? For Darth Vader, for example. Okay, Darth Vader is crossing over into villain territory. Still he illustrates the point. Even though that robotic black mask isn’t half so affecting as Loki’s incredibly emotive face, let alone Elsa’s highly expressive animated visage, Luke’s not alone when he feels the conflict in the once-good villain’s soul. It seems that there is something in us that thirsts to see redemption even after horrible things have happened. Especially then.

  How’s that for a hidden desire?

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