Learning to Write

I really like to write and learn how to do most of it all by myself. So, these are the things that've helped the most. (In no particular order.)

A writing class from an online school

It was for 6th graders and covered almost everything. (And the teacher was one of Mom's old students and a friend of one of our friends from church. It was kinda funny because she said that the only thing from Mom's class she remembered was The Rite of Spring.) The class was really fun and it helped a lot.

What happens to most books.

NaNoWriMo

NaNo is for writing a 50,000 word novel in a month. Ruth told me about it so I signed up on the adult program (for ages 13 and up) and the Young Writer's Program (for ages under 18). I wasn't technically old enough for the adult NaNo, but signed up anyway. (I was twelve. Apparently lots of twelve year olds have done that. Haha.)

It got me to write regularly (every day) for a month, and it kinda stuck after that. And it made me a lot faster with thinking and typing. And it has really good, free workbooks on novelling.

Everybody's reaction.

Script Frenzy

Script Frenzy's Young Writer's Program has workbooks, too. They're almost exactly like the novelling workbooks except for scripts. I'm not very good at scripts and don't like them as much, but tough it up and do Script Frenzy every year for practice on the basis that it might come in handy sometime. I only write scripts at random times, but it's still helped a lot.

I'm with the jet-pack guy.

One Year Adventure Novel

OYAN teaches high school kids to write adventure novels, but can be used for any kind of novel. I use it for fantasy (which is a kind of adventure, but not strictly adventure because it takes place in another world; I'm not sure how that works for urban or paranormal fantasy, but I don't write either of those so don't worry about it too much). It doesn't use many novels to teach with, and when it does, there are questions like, "How does [insert character's name here] make his deciding moment? How is it unexpected?" which are really good questions.

They also have a curriculum for science fiction and fantasy (Other Worlds). It uses what OYAN taught and then teaches more. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds really good and helpful.

This is my reaction sometimes, but I think the librarians have gotten used to it by now...(For those who have trouble reading the titles on those books, they're "Serial Killers", "Kidnappings", "Harpoons".)

Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine


This is the first writing book I ever remember reading. It really helped to get me to write. Mrs. Levine also has a blog, which I read and is like the book except with more information. (The comments section is really helpful, too, because the readers talk about the post and problems they have.) My copy of her book is all marked up, taped up, and basically falling apart.

If he was writing a novel, that'd be awesome.

Worldplay

This is a writing blog which mostly talks about writing techniques and writing life--stuff like saving on taxes by keeping a list of how many packs of pens I go through in a year or how to get people to leave me alone so I can write, neither of which I've ever needed to use, but it's helpful to know in case I need to sometime.

Yep.

Author Culture

This is the same idea as Wordplay. (They also have posts on Friday where they talk about something funny relating to words or writing or writers. I like these two the best so far.) They have more writers making posts on more topics, though.

It's helpful to know grammar.

Camp NaNo, June Session, 2012

Camp NaNo is just like the one in November except in June (and August).

I'm staying up all night to write. Here's my writing get-up.

A poncho, a t-shirt, a skirt, finger-less gloves, and a cloth headband (and a braid). I also have slipper socks, but they didn't show up in the picture.

It's about eight minutes until midnight and I have no good plot idea. It'll come like it always does for NaNo sessions.

You know you're really nerdy when you post about a fundraiser that hardly anybody uses on your blog...

(and split modifiers while at it)

Happy midpoint of the month, Wrimos. I am cooking up some epic congratulations for you in a pep talk, so keep your eyes out for that to show up in your NaNoMail later today.

Here at the HQ, we are busily preparing for tomorrow’s Donation Day festivities: a $100,000 fundraising goal, hourly donor prizes throughout the day, and more eternal gratitude for your support than you could fit into Hermione’s beaded handbag (and that thing’s got an undetectable extension charm on it!).

If we can fill this thermometer 24 hours, we’ll be well on our way to paying for NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program!

Accio donations!

Lindsey

That was from Miss Grant who works at the NaNo headquarters. She'd kinda like it if you give a couple dollars to NaNo...But you don't have to. :P

NaNo

From the website:http://thatoneisanit.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/october-w...

Day 1- 1667 words- I LOVE WRITING AND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT

Day 2- 3334 words- You mean I have to do this every day?

Day 3- 5001 words- Okay, I’m getting the hang of this. Steady work. I’m like professional. I’m doing so well.

Day 4- 6668 words- Hahaha. Won’t I laugh when all those frivolous partiers are still shallow and I’m published. (You mean I really have to spend my Friday nights locked in my room?)

Day 5- 8335 words- I can’t write now! I’m watching Doctor Who/Firefly/Sherlock/whatever.

Day 6- 10002 words- You know, I think my story could be benefited by including some pirates… ones who sing really long drinking songs… yeah…

Day 7- 11669 words- I can’t tell if I’m hungover from caffeine, chocolate, or whining protagonists.

Day 8- 13336 words- Has anyone in my story developed multiple personalities yet?

Day 9- 15003 words- What was I thinking with that whole multiple personality thing? I need to get this story back on track.

Day 10- 16670 words- I can’t read the handwriting of my outline. Was it that important in the first place?

Day 11- 18337 words- Writing? Pssh, I’m building a fort out of blankets!

Day 12- 20004 words- Have I introduced any quirky side characters yet?

Day 13- 21671 words- What day of the week is it? Am I supposed to be at school? Am I supposed to have written anything coherent?

Day 14- 23338 words- My ears seem to have grown around my headphones. How odd.

Day 15- 25o05 words- Halfway there! I’ll reward myself with a shower.

Day 16- 26672 words- Can’t give up now.

Day 17- 28339 words- Have I killed any quirky side characters yet?

Day 18- 30006 words- There is no shame in inviting some foreign spies into my novel about now.

Day 19- 31673 words- Step outside for some reason. Become very confused by the sunlight. Go write some more.

Day 20- 33340 words- I can remember the words to every single one of my guilty pleasure songs, but can I remember how to spell my protagonist’s name? Probably not!

Day 21- 35007 words- I’m really confused as to why I’ve signed up for this and why I can’t stop. Time to have some existential angst about novelling.

Day 22- 36674 words- Can I still get Halloween candy for cheap?

Day 23- 38341 words- One week left! How much sleep does one person need, anyways?

Day 24- 40008 words- I think it’s high time I killed off my protagonist.

Day 25- 41675 words- I’d try to figure out how many words behind I am, but my brain is far too fried for math.

Day 26- 43342 words- Is it time for a cake break yet?

Day 27- 45009 words- Word war time- all night long.

Day 28- 46676 words- I fell asleep in class, but I worked out my plot hole!

Day 29- 48343 words- Is it bad that I hear my character’s voice from the corners of dark rooms?

Day 30- 50000 words- I’ve forgotten how to write conclusions, but I’m about to remember what it’s like to have a life!

Day 31- finished- NaNoWriMo withdrawal. I forget my purpose in the world, sob on the forums, plan for my next novel, and have sudden amnesia about just how terribly difficult all that was. Hurrah!

NaNoWriMo

You all need to go sign up for NaNoWriMo RIGHT NOW. Because you'll have fun doing it.

Script Frenzy 2011 Progress and NaNoWriMo

Script Frenzy

I decided that the first idea would make more sense as a novel. So, I'm using Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis for a radio script.

It's a radio script because those are much easier to write and they've been around MUCH longer than television sets that people could have in their houses.

The books are set in World War Two, so the scripting-music is all from around that time. Listening to The Lion King, Les Miserables, Grand Hotel, Mulan, Phantom of the Opera, and lots of other things like that doesn't fit in with air raids and people getting trapped in the past.

NaNo

I'm going to get a NaNoWriMo tote bag, too. Here's

a picture:

Script Frenzy 2011

Script Frenzy started today. I have no idea what I'm writing about, really...At least for NaNo last year, a friend had given an idea (the idea ended up not being something that made a lot of sense in novel format, though). This year, I looked here for a plot and things like that.

Things I Know

1. The script's about desert nomads, dwarves, and a stableboy.

2. The dwarves are very pale and bald. (Living underground isn't a good place to grow food with lots of proteins, which is what your hair needs. Also, without sunlight, you turn whiter than the Blogger post place thingy.)

3. The nomads are mean.

4. The gods of the nomads are kinda Greek-ish. When they intervene, everything goes kaput.

5. It's going to be very random and not make much sense at the end.

6. It'd better be 100 pages at least, or else. *glares the characters into 0.000000000000001% submission*

Great...

My characters have changed voices. Grrr. Now I've got to get them back to how they're supposed to be. Ack.

NaNo and Class Reports

Today's NaNo. I'll be almost all the way gone until December 1st. (Maybe 2nd. It depends how much sleep I need afterwards. :P )

I sent in an application to TPS's newspaper thing, which is called The Cracked Pot (TCP). Miss Evans, the senior editor, has assigned me to Class Reports. That means I have to find a teacher on TPS, and write about him or her and his or her classes. Yay!

I'm The Very Model of a WriMo Individual

This is a song based off of "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance. Errol of NaNoWriMo wrote it.

Here're the lyrics.

I am the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual
My writings they have varied from historical to fictional
To write a novel in a month some find it quite deplorable
I talk about my novel but my friends they find it borable.

When writing I prepare myself in matters that are practical
From scoping out locations, doing research on the factuals
And stocking up my room with snacks and food and sources of caffeine
My cellphone is turned off. I'm now in nanowrimo quarantine.

His cellphone is turned off. He's now in nanowrimo quarantine. (x4)

This year will be the year when my book wins me praises accolades
I'll travel all the stores my novel forefront on the book displays.
In short, my writings vary from historical to fictional
I am the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual

In short, his writings vary from historical to fictional
He is the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual

My mind a brim with metaphors my tongue can spit out similes
But when I put my pen to page my brain locks up and hand will freeze
The more I think, the more I'm stuck, the more and more I get upset
And then I go online cuz I cannot turn off the internet.

I search the forums to keep up on all the nanowrimo news
I find I'm stuck for hours. ^ Why am I so readily amused?
I go on chat in hopes that I can find someone to word war with
But they're absorbed with talking 'bout their drama and relationships.

But they're absorbed with talking 'bout their drama and relationships. (x4)

In fact, when I know what is meant by "Word War", "ML", "Plot bunnies"
And when it comes to writer's block there's none can beat my expertise
In short, my writings vary from historical to fictional
I am the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual

In short, his writings vary from historical to fictional
He is the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual

Technology's my weak point and I spend too much I must admit
I think I lost my outline, doesn't matter wasn't using it
I'll photoshop a calendar with writing goals I can achieve
And think of awesome book covers with bios for the inner sleeve.

I go to meetings, socials, writing sessions, any chance I get
We talk about our stress and all the words we haven't written yet
In short, I can imagine myself sitting, typing furiously
And one day I'll attend that fearful night of Writing Dangerously!

And one day he'll attend that fearful night of Writing Dangerously! (x4)

I'm very good with words, I know so many to regurgitate
But people think my only skill is how I can procrastinate
In short, my writings vary from historical to fictional
I am the Very Model of a Wrimo Individual

In short, his writings vary from historical to fictional
He is the Very Model of a Wrimo individual!

National Novel Writing Month (again)

NaNoWriMo is only 58 days, 15 hours, and 17 minutes away. Who wants to join the crazy challenge of writing, 50,000 words in a month?

In Print!!

I'm almost officially published! Okay, so it's from a self-publishing place...BUT STILL!

No, it's not "Stone of Sorcery." I wasn't going to get it finished in time. So, I finished up a NaNo novel (called "War," for anybody interested).

I'd be bouncing off the walls if my stomach didn't hurt so much...Haha.

(Insert good title here)

I keep forgetting to post the pictures on the blog, and they take forever to upload, and so I'll just keep taking them and won't post them.

I'm going to use the CreateSpace offer for Wrimos. (Even though the novel isn't a NaNo novel. Shhh. Don't tell on me!)

You can see that by clicking here. You have to scroll down to the second heading.

NaNo

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/spotlight-on-nanowrimo/

That's about NaNo.

NaNo

Ok...Here goes another add for a insane challenge. :D

There's this program called National Novel Writing Month, and it's writing a novel in a month during November. You write from November 1st through November 30th or even less than that, if you reach your word count. www.nanowrimo.org is the "official" adult program, where you're not allowed to set your word count for any less than 50,000 words. www.ywp.nanowrimo is the kid program, where you can set your word count all over the place. If you're thirteen and abouve, you can either sign up for the adult one or the kid one but once you get to be eighteen, you must be part of the adult one, unless you're a teacher with a group of kids who are doing NaNo. It should be really fun! (I've never done it before.)

Ad over.

Much time between posts, Les Miserables, personalities, book list, (finaly) a craft progect, and National Novel Writing Month

Sorry for the delay between posts. I'll try to get more posts on. =}

Apparently, the BBC thinks that most people will have only read 6 out of the 100 books listed here...

Check it out and see how many you have read!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -
6 The Bible- X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -X

Total: 6

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy -
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller -
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk -
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger -
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger-
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot -

Total: 3

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens -
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy -X
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams -
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky -X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck -X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll-X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame- X

Total: 6

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens- X
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma-Jane Austen - X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres -
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - X

Total: 6

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving-
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery- X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy -
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - X

Total: 5

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel-
52 Dune - Frank Herbert-
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons-
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen- X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon-
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -

Total: 2

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck -
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov-
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt -
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold -
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas-X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding-
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie -
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville -X

Total:2

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens-X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker-X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -
75 Ulysses - James Joyce-
76 The Inferno – Dante-X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray-
80 Possession - AS Byatt –

Total: 4

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker-
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton-

Total: 3

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery -X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams-X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare -X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo-X

Total: Six

I read:
Pride and Prejudice, LOTR, Jane Eyre, HP, The Bible, Wuthering Hights, 1984, Great Expecations, Little Women, Complete Works of Shackspear, The Hobbit, War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, Grapes of Wrath, Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, David Copperfeild, CoN, Emma, Persuation, Winnie the Pooh, AoGG, LofF,Sense and Sensablity, A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, Dracula, The Secrate Garden, The Inferno, A Christmas Carol, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Watership Down, The Three Musketeers, Hamlet, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, LM

I got 37, and Mom got 33.

SPOILERS BELOW. WARNING. WARNING.

I read Les Miserables. The un-abridged version. It was great. Victor Hugo waxes on for pages and pages about the Bishiop of D--, and he's only in for about eight pages with Valjean (main character). Ditto for Fantine, but she's at least a secondary character, while the Bishiop of D--is a third character. Grantire (always drunk revolutinary) has a few questionable scenes, but then again, he's always drunk....Engolras is an amazing character, and somehow when Grantire tries to get him drunk, never gets drunk. Not so the case with Marius, who (in the words of an Urik-hi (sp?) in Two Towers) "Can't take his drought!", but Marius is a good character non-the-less; and is in love, so if he didn't spend as much time climbing over fences to get at Cosette, day dreaming about Cosette, etc, he'd be great. Cosette is a pretty good character, extreamly ignorent at times, but can be smart sometimes and is in love with Marius. Eponine is a street-girl, who happens to be in love with Marius--Don't let the musical fool you about her being love sick and wimpy! In the book, she's a street girl who'll do anything to stay alive and keep her freinds alive (hence the reson she dies of a bullet wound in her hand saving Marius at the barricades). Gavroche is the second best secondary character in LM (Engolras is the best secondary character), he's Eponine's brother, and he dies--bravly mixed with ignorence that bullets can kill, but he dies! (I always cry during that part.) Javert is very leagilsist, and continualy drives me up the wall, so--ahem--I was kinda glad that he died. Ahem. Just a little. Almost everybody dies. In order of death: Bishiop of D--, Fantine, Alzma (Eponine's sister, mentioned four times then dies), Madam. Thenariar, some of the Paris gaurd, Eponine, Engolras, Grantire, the other revoultionaries, half of Paris, half of the Paris gaurd, Gavroche (who didn't seem very sad about 'Ponine dying, for some reason....), Javert, Valjean.

Grantire-- ? He's always drunk. :)
Engolras-- Saunguine Meloncoly
Marius-- ISTP
Cosette--INFS
Fantine--ENFS
Javert-- ? He's very leagilistic.
Valjean-- IFPJ
Thenardiar-- Extrovert Idiot Heap of Frog Droppings (I don't know of a personality type for that)

Couroumbrafrace (or something like that)-- ENFJ
Gavroche-- ENTP
Bishiop of D-- INSJ

I've forgotten a lot of people, but those are the people who show up the most. I tried very hard not to pass Thenardiar off as too bad. He does have a good streak once in a while....If you want to know what those abriviations mean, just leave a comment!

My freind (Alyosha, A. K. A, Aly) did a post about Les Miserables here http://friendoftheabc.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-which-i-unmask-conspiracy.html http://friendoftheabc.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-day-more.html I want to warn you, that in the preview clip in the second post, there's part of a song in it that has a lot of bad words. Ye be warned! She's a great blogger, so here's her blog adress. www.freindoftheabc.blogspot.com

National Novel Writing Month (www.ywp.nanowrimo.org if you're under 18, and www.nanowrimo.org if you're over 18) is only 90 days away! I can't wait until it's time to start writing! What you do is write a 50,000 word novel if you're on the adult site, or write a novel for however many words you set your word count at on the young writer's site. Why write a novel in a month? This is what the FAQ says about NaNo: "There are three reasons.

1) If you don't do it now, you probably never will. Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those worries and START. Once you have the first five chapters under your belt, the rest will come easily. Or painfully. But it will come. And you'll have friends to help you see it through to meet your word-count goal.

2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. Once you start evaluating your story in terms of quantity instead of quality, you take that pressure off yourself. And you'll start surprising yourself with a great bit of dialogue here and an genius plot twist there. Characters will start doing things you never expected, taking the story places you'd never imagined. There will be horrible writing, yes. But along with the bad writing, there will be beauty. A lot of it.

3) Making art for fun does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the heck of it is wonderful medicine."

So go sign up! Miss Stewart and Miss Dudly always like writers to sign up for NaNo.

Finaly a craft. (Sorry it took so long.) It's a collage thingy. What you do is:

1. Find a lot of old magizines and get pictures of whatever you want from the internet.

2. Get some scrapbook paper and/or stickers (I didn't use stickers, just markers) and some markers and pens in different colors.

3. Cut out the pictures and glue them onto the scrap book paper however you want.

4. Decorate the page if you want.

5. Write a caption of what the page is of using the stickers or markers.

It's really easy to make one.