Fiction writing, no matter what sub-genre, is mostly writing about places you've never been or will never EVER go to.
Which is good because you can really go crazy with description, you are free to do (within the boundaries of your story of course) whatever you want. You can invite your readers into a world never thought possible or into your own world with a slight twist.
But, writing about places you've never been or will never EVER go to is also bad. Let me tell you why.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
10 Writing Prompts for Cat Lovers
1. A girl who can change into a cat finds herself in a world where people can only change into birds and mice. She needs to learn to deal with them nicely without resorting to instincts otherwise she will change into a cat permanently. The people who can change into birds and mice do not know she can change into a cat which is their enemy.
2. A cat sorceress goes on a quest to find some secret powers. But another wild cat is after the same powers and plans to rule the world.
3. A computer-hacking war between cats and dogs end up affecting the human world and involving the FBI.
4. A cat version of Mission Impossible where all the characters are cats and all the villains are either humans or werewolves.
5. A family who hates cats wake up one day to find themselves kidnapped by cat-like aliens. To escape, they need to befriend them first but it is really hard for them because they really HATE cats. It should be a comedy.
6. There is a murder of a little boy from a poor family. The police won't help them. They find a talking cat detective that can. But some of the poor family try to find the murderer themselves to get revenge thinking the cat detective is unreliable because he is a cat. They must build trust.
7. Harry Potter fanfic where all the humans are cats and all the cats and other creatures are humans. The story takes place in the Philosopher's Stone especially during the first few days there and during the Quidditch games.
8. A scraggly cat appears in the gardens of an asylum. The nurse working there discovers that the cat is being controlled by some sorcerer outside the asylum to communicate with some of the patients and plotting an escape. But the nurse can't tell the other nurses or doctors because she will look crazy. But she needs to either prevent it from happening, or find out about this sorcerer. There is a twist ending! But no, the nurse had nothing to do with it.
9. A crazy cat lady unexpectedly passes away leaving her 400 cats to roam. But she wasn't just a crazy cat lady. She had also been experimenting with her cats. A few months later, people in that neighborhood start to suffer from a strange disease. At first no one knows where it is from but they find out the cats were spreading the disease but then they further find out that half the cats had the disease, while the other half have the cure. But killing the cats is out of the question! Scientists, health organizations, and animal specialists must work together to isolate the cats with the disease and find the ones with the cure to save humankind.
10. A fanfic about Grumpy Cat, Tardar Sauce's previous life and how her current life is both a blessing and a curse. It is from her point of view.
2. A cat sorceress goes on a quest to find some secret powers. But another wild cat is after the same powers and plans to rule the world.
3. A computer-hacking war between cats and dogs end up affecting the human world and involving the FBI.
4. A cat version of Mission Impossible where all the characters are cats and all the villains are either humans or werewolves.
5. A family who hates cats wake up one day to find themselves kidnapped by cat-like aliens. To escape, they need to befriend them first but it is really hard for them because they really HATE cats. It should be a comedy.
6. There is a murder of a little boy from a poor family. The police won't help them. They find a talking cat detective that can. But some of the poor family try to find the murderer themselves to get revenge thinking the cat detective is unreliable because he is a cat. They must build trust.
7. Harry Potter fanfic where all the humans are cats and all the cats and other creatures are humans. The story takes place in the Philosopher's Stone especially during the first few days there and during the Quidditch games.
8. A scraggly cat appears in the gardens of an asylum. The nurse working there discovers that the cat is being controlled by some sorcerer outside the asylum to communicate with some of the patients and plotting an escape. But the nurse can't tell the other nurses or doctors because she will look crazy. But she needs to either prevent it from happening, or find out about this sorcerer. There is a twist ending! But no, the nurse had nothing to do with it.
9. A crazy cat lady unexpectedly passes away leaving her 400 cats to roam. But she wasn't just a crazy cat lady. She had also been experimenting with her cats. A few months later, people in that neighborhood start to suffer from a strange disease. At first no one knows where it is from but they find out the cats were spreading the disease but then they further find out that half the cats had the disease, while the other half have the cure. But killing the cats is out of the question! Scientists, health organizations, and animal specialists must work together to isolate the cats with the disease and find the ones with the cure to save humankind.
10. A fanfic about Grumpy Cat, Tardar Sauce's previous life and how her current life is both a blessing and a curse. It is from her point of view.
About My Book
Book One: East Seekers
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Place: World like our own
Age: In our century with characters living a traditional life, European/Victorian/Countryside style
Main message: Is change good or bad?
My book started out as just a bit of writing practice. I decided to continue it when I heard about "Figment: Write Yourself In" which is a community writing site that is free. On and off I continued writing it until I sort of finished writing Book One which took about three years to complete because of a six month gap. It was extremely short and could barely pass for a novella.
Through more fiction writing experience and trying out Camp NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaNoWriMo, I decided to revise it again and again. 6 years later and into the 7th this year, I figured out what my story really was and now I am rewriting the whole thing with more complete characters living in a world that could be real.
My aim this year is to finish Book One before NaNoWriMo, which is in November. My aim for Liaffon, is to write a trilogy. It will be a trilogy and I have already wrote an extremely rough draft for Book Two, and even wrote a basic first chapter for Book Three.
My final goal is to get it published through a publishing house.
Here is a summary of the book:
Having a natural talent for it, Belome Konas of Liaffon Village is Named under the Guardians as Glass Wielder, a job traditionally for the first born of the family. His older brother is furious with him for becoming so skilled that his baby brother would be chosen instead. Not one person is aware of this horrendous incident. If they find out, the Konases may be exiled. Before the brothers can tell their father to redo the ceremony, Belome is called by the Guardians to embark on a journey to the futuristic Eastlands. A traveler from there has visited them and wishes to bring change onto the village but is it good or bad? The Eastlands have only been something of a child's tale. But now it is real and Belome suddenly must face the unknown traveling further East than any villager ever did.
Introduction to "An Authoress Experience"
Labeled "An Authoress Experience", in this series I will talk about my own experiences with my novel-in-progress, or commonly said in writerly jargon, my WIP.
Though I do make references in other articles to my own experiences with certain aspects of writing, I don't really talk about the ongoing experiences with my own novel.
My hopes is that you can walk through this with me, experience it, learn from it, and relate to it.
Some themes I hope to address are:
Without further ado, let's get started! (Rosana Pansino reference)
Though I do make references in other articles to my own experiences with certain aspects of writing, I don't really talk about the ongoing experiences with my own novel.
My hopes is that you can walk through this with me, experience it, learn from it, and relate to it.
Some themes I hope to address are:
- Research for worldbuilding
- Hurdles I've come across and how I dealt with them
- Interesting things I've learned
- Creative ways I've had to come up with with writing my novel
- Getting feedback and dealing with it
- How I have been getting my novel known to the world
Without further ado, let's get started! (Rosana Pansino reference)
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Four Protagonist Criteria: Deciding on your MC
You've built your world, now you need to write your story.
But wait, you've got all these juicy characters and all of them seem like they would make fascinating MCs.
How do you decide?
Let me tell you how I did it. I didn't worldbuild, I just dove into the bulk of the story and suddenly I had two MCs. And that was about 7 years ago.
This year I found out that only one of my MCs was the actual protagonist.
Well, how did I find that out?
But wait, you've got all these juicy characters and all of them seem like they would make fascinating MCs.
How do you decide?
Let me tell you how I did it. I didn't worldbuild, I just dove into the bulk of the story and suddenly I had two MCs. And that was about 7 years ago.
This year I found out that only one of my MCs was the actual protagonist.
Well, how did I find that out?
Sunday, September 11, 2016
How to: Increase tension?
How do you go from writing a scene where it is sunny, nice, blue sky, ocean, freedom, peaceful, happy to TENSION MADNESS PANIC! ???
What I have found through experience, especially listening to others' opinions in Writers' Workshops on stories that need tension, the most suggested was to shorten sentences.
Now, just saying shortened sentences might not give you much idea...so here is an example from my own novel.
What I have found through experience, especially listening to others' opinions in Writers' Workshops on stories that need tension, the most suggested was to shorten sentences.
Now, just saying shortened sentences might not give you much idea...so here is an example from my own novel.
What to do with Antagonists (in general)?
Every hero story has a bad guy in it. The villain.
Harry Potter vs Lord Voldemort
Frodo Baggins vs Sauron
Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader...you get the idea.
Watching them from afar is okay. You're not the writer, you don't need to worry about how the villain plays a role in the MC's plotline.
But when you're the writer, you have to think, who are my bad guys? Or,
Harry Potter vs Lord Voldemort
Frodo Baggins vs Sauron
Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader...you get the idea.
Watching them from afar is okay. You're not the writer, you don't need to worry about how the villain plays a role in the MC's plotline.
But when you're the writer, you have to think, who are my bad guys? Or,
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