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Monday, April 25, 2011

Third Person, Here I Come!

Third person narratives, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and an abundance of description aren't exactly part of my comfort zone when it comes to writing. I suck at description, but I'm trying to improve by reading more of those types of books (big yawners so far). I wouldn't say I suck at third person but I definitely prefer first person because I'm way more comfortable with it. But my goal is to write at least one book in third person, have one book with a bittersweet ending, a paranormal one and one from a guy's POV. I've started with the paranormal one (Destined), and now I'm ready to try writing an entire book in third person.

It's actually an assignment for my writing class: writing a fantasy short story about what happened to Sir Cedric, but I've decided to continue with it and turn it into a book. It's a fantasy story (meaning dragons and princesses and lords and all that charade), and like most of my assignments for that class, I decided to do it in third person. It's due tomorrow; I started it an hour ago because I lost my USB (so I had to restart it) and wasn't all that crazy about my original idea. I'm pretty excited about it (even though I probably won't be working on it all that much because of TS and BA), so thought I'd share it with you guys. Here's the beginning (rough draft - I can't stress this enough):


Stonegate Castle disappeared hundreds of years ago, without any warning or explanation to its villagers. No one had the dimmest idea of what truly happened to it, or to its owner, Lord Cedric. In fact, no single villager held a sliver of memory as to who Lord Cedric was. He was simply a name to them, a name without a face, a name that gave off a menacing, yet revered feeling. No one remembered his cold, blue eyes, but they imagined he had them. They imagined the black cape he had refused to part with since his mother’s death, yet had no real memory of it. They imagined his long, black hair whipping through the wind as he galloped on his horse, but could not remember the fear it had once evoked across the entire village.
No one remembered the existence of Lord Cedric.  No one except his sister who had vowed, many years ago, to see his head on a platter and present it to the people of Stonegate.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Bye Bye, Guilty Pleasure

As much as I love guys with British accents, this just put a damper on my little guilty pleasure o_o

http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-jobs-bar-food-hospitality-british-chef-looking-for-work-W0QQAdIdZ277532457

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Who Knew

Rewriting the latest parts of TS turned out to be pretty good. After I lost my USB, I bought myself a new one and went through my email, Facebook messages to my sister and the deleted files on my computer, and was able to retrieve a good part of both TS and BA (most of it came from inkpop). I'll have to completely restart editing STA and restart Destined (not that bad, since I was only a couple of thousand words into it), but I'm not too bummed about this.

I've been working on TS in between rewriting essays, movie reviews and short stories for school and it turns out that I'm liking the new version better. I wouldn't exactly call it a new version since I'm just rewriting the same scenes, but I'm liking the writing better. It flows better, the characters are more alive, new ideas are popping up in my head and I'm just having more fun writing the scenes now than I had when I first wrote them.

Who ever knew losing my USB could actually turn out to be a good thing. Regardless, I sure as hell hope not to lose this one -_-

Friday, April 22, 2011

Funny Episode Recaps

Anyone here a Vampire Diaries fan? Even if you're not, I think you'll enjoy this.

A couple of weeks ago, I found these episode recaps and have since been addicted to them because they're simply hilarious. Even if you don't watch the show, I think you'll all have a laugh reading this. At least I hope so :P

http://www.tv.com/the-vampire-diaries-curses!/story/25687.html?tag=container;news_story

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Just Lost Another USB

Today's been the worse day ever. I managed to lose my cell phone, my house keys and my USB. I'm more pissed about my USB than the rest because a) my cell phone is in my mom's car; I can hear it vibrating but I just can't find it and b) I can go to a nearby Wal Mart and get a copy of my brother's house keys tomorrow morning without my mom ever knowing.

But my USB contains so much of my writing that there's no way I can do anything to make up for it being lost. Last time I backed up my files was ages ago - I can't even remember when. The long hours I spent on Destined are all gone. Nearly ten thousand words of Theoretically Speaking are gone, which doesn't even include the little edits I've been randomly doing here and there. The edited first part of Second Time Around is all gone, since I really don't think I bothered to back that up. The next chapter of Bad Apple is all gone. Say It Once, the sequel to Second Time Around is all gone because I know I didn't back that up. This new idea someone gave me for another book is also all gone.

I'm just in so much shock right now. I went shopping to find a dress for a cousin's wedding and when I came back to continue working on an essay for my writing class, I couldn't find my USB. I still can't believe it. The only place I can think of that I might have dropped my keys (which were in my bag that I didn't even open) was at this one store when I told my brother to watch my bag. I'm going there first thing in the morning and if it's not there, I'm not sure what I'll do. I lost a total of almost 30,000 words (schoolwork included). The last time I lost my USB, I'd backed up everything the day before. Now I'm just...in complete shock.

Aeryn and Her Guy


For the last few months, my computer didn't have any sound and I had to listen to everything on my phone.  It became a bit annoying, especially since my phone tends to freeze whenever it wants and I have to take out the battery and restart it.

But my computer got fixed and while listening to thousands of songs on YouTube yesterday afternoon, I came across the perfect song for Aeryn and her guy. Yes, 'her guy'. Of course I won't say who she ends up falling for :P I took some parts of the song as a metaphor, but all in all, it fits Aeryn and her guy perfectly. All the names of the potential love interests are mentioned in the chapters that I've posted on inkpop. Anyone wanna take a wild guess as to who it is?

Friday, April 15, 2011

Common Elements

Mh, I just realized that every single one of my books starts some time in September. I'm not sure why. I've got this weird paranormal/drama book I worked on about 4 years ago, and that story starts in late September. Second Time Around starts in late September/early October. Theoretically Speaking starts in late August/early September. Bad Apple starts in mid-September. Destined starts in mid-September.

I don't know what it is with me and September, especially since I'm not a huge fan of that month (end of summer vacation, beginning of school...enough said). At first I thought this unconscious obsession was because I tend to start my stories at the beginning of a school year to give off that 'new year, new start, new story' vibe, but then for two of my books, the MC's not even going to school, so there's no such a thing as a new year for them.

And then I started thinking about all of the other common things in my books and came up with 1. a best friend 2. some kind of love triangle (even if the third person may be dead or almost out of the picture) and 3. a somewhat sarcastic MC. Even if the sarcasm is barely there, it's there. I have absolutely no clue why all of my books all have these things. I didn't even realize this until now, actually.

Anyone have a common element(s) in all of their books? I'm really hoping I'm not the only one :P

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Early Editing

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and today I got down to outlining Theoretically Speaking so I can know exactly where the story's going. I usually wait until I'm closer to the end of the book, but I wanted to try something new this time. Outlining what was going to happen in each chapter got me thinking about making the pace moving a tid bit faster, and before I knew it, I spent my entire history class rearranging the order of the scenes for the first 6 chapters for the story to move faster.

I think it'll work out better this way, but I still can't help thinking how much more work I put on my plate. And of course, there's still that voice at the back of my head wondering what I'll do if, once I'm done making those changes, I realize that I liked it better before -_-

Monday, April 11, 2011

Senioritis: A Crippling Disease

 Yes, Senioritis is an actual disease. Based on Urban Dictionary, it's "a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors...The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation." It also strikes college seniors, but it's most common among high schoolers.

Here's a bit of a better definition:
"Most cases of senioritis tend to start after college applications and mid-year reports have been sent in. This entails a student not doing any work whatsoever, skipping class a lot, getting stoned/drunk for the first time ever, being apathetic about everything, and resenting taking all those hard classes to impress your favorite college which you won't get in most likely because it's too expensive...The student usually doesn't do his college essay until the last week before the college applications are due. However, the student feels very smug because he got away with it" (Urban Dictionary).

True, true, true and even truer!

And just because you've been an overachiever, straight-A student all your life, don't think that you'll get past Senioritis. Like my friend said, it grabs you by the throat and before you know it, you're asking yourself if you really need to hand in that assignment that's worth 10% of your final mark -_-

I remember laughing four years ago at those seniors who lost their scholarships because they decided to slack off at the end of the year. But I now find myself doing the same thing: today, I've got a movie review to do (that was due some time last week yet I still haven't started), textbook chapters to read and answer questions for (assigned today, due tomorrow and probably won't get done until the end of the week, if ever), and an essay to do (assigned over a week ago, due tomorrow but I don't have more than two lines written).

I doubt any of my teachers will take me seriously if I tell them that I didn't do the work because I suffer from Senioritis O.O

Friday, April 8, 2011

I've Gone Over To The Dark Side...

Not completely, though - I only have the tip of one foot on that side. What am I talking about? Here's the beginning of Destined, the first book of a paranormal series I've been planning for...mh, about 7 months now. I'm not too far into it, but whenever I'm sick of trying to get into Aeryn's twisted head at 2AM, I go work on Destined.Once I'm done with Theoretically Speaking, the plan is to focus on this.


I was once told that death is a beautiful thing, an unexpected moment in life to embrace. It isn’t the end, but the beginning of something greater – of a journey that leads to a greater destiny. It hadn't been something I'd believed to be true; at the time, death had held neither beauty nor appeal to me. It had been an unwanted event that stole precious time from us, bringing grief and tears, pain and bitterness.
            This was well before my gift surfaced. Before it took hold of me, controlling my every thought and desire. Possessing my being. It was then that my mother’s words unraveled before me, and I began to understand their true meaning as the familiar sound of her voice resounded in my mind.
            You’re a beautiful thing, Serena. An unexpected bundle of joy that I’ll never let go.
            I was her beautiful thing, the beginning of something greater for her; I was a journey that had led her to her destiny, to my father.
Those words were true. They formed a kind of truth with hidden parts, a truth that wasn’t whole. It was the kind of truth that was twisted in knots and ties so intricate that it became an impossibility to see through it – to get to its core, to untie it and see it bare. It was the kind of truth that neglected to explain that I held inside of me the power of death; that I was wrapped up in beautiful, shimmering paper, tempting everyone in my path. And when I struck, my beauty disappeared. It disintegrated before everyone’s eyes, and allowed the light to shine and expose the hidden truth. Because the truth that my mother’s tender words had kept away from me was that there is no beauty in death. There is only pain, and there is only hatred.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Girlfriend Curse

It's the very first book I forced myself to finish reading even if I knew I wouldn't like it by the time I got to chapter 3. Usually, that's how ti works: I know if I won't like a book by the time I reach chapter 3, sometimes chapter 4. If I decide that I won't like it, I don't bother finishing it because I simply don't care about the characters to find out how their stories end.

But for The Girlfriend Curse, I decided that it would be the first book I'd force myself to read. I think I probably just wanted to see if 1. I could force myself to finish a book I wasn't into and 2. to see if maybe I was making judgments too quickly.

Turned out I hated the entire book. Maybe not hated, but wow, one of the most boring books I've ever read. The characters were so forgettable, not worth reading about. Nothing exciting happened at all. There wasn't as much humor as I'd expected; I think I laughed twice throughout the entire book. And the closer I got to the end, the more typos I found. There were a bunch of grammatical errors near the end that just took some of the humor out of whatever joke was made, since I couldn't even understand what was being said until I realized the error.

The ending was so anti-climatic. The entire story was just...So. Boring. Even the cover was bad. What made me pick up the book in the first place? The premise: some girl finds out that after her boyfriends break up with her, they always end up getting married six months later. The worse part is that they always breakup with her because they're not ready for marriage.
The premise wasn't bad. Frankel just didn't deliver. The only thing I liked was the style of writing. After that, I'd say that 1. this is the worse book I've read in a few years and 2. I'm never forcing myself to read another book again. Not. Worth it.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

How To Live To Be 200

When I hear the word 'essay', I usually think of an academic, five-paragraph one. I guess it's time I get out of school -.-

Anyway, I read this pretty funny (non-academic) essay yesterday. It's called How To Live To Be 200, and it's by Stephen Leacock. Check it out:

http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/leacockessay.htm

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Batter Up!

Watched my first baseball game today :D I guess I should say my first 'quarter of a baseball game'. I looked through the TV guide channel today and saw that there was Major League Baseball on for about 3 hours. So I started watching a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers. I watched for about a half an hour, then got so confused and bored that I sort of dozed off. So I just changed the channel after a while.

I did catch a few things though. Mh, actually, nothing that I didn't already know, so I guess that doesn't count.

But I'm determined to sit through an entire baseball game. I sort of have to, since I have to write about 2 or 3 scenes in Theoretically Speaking, with Aeryn and Daniel watching a game. And they're pretty passionate about it, especially since they're cheering for opposing teams. I don't know why I had to make them like a sport I've never watched in my life -.- Guess I'll have to get that Baseball for Dummies book after all...

Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy April Fools' Day :D

No, I won't be trying to pull any April Fools' Day prank. In fact, I noticed that people rarely remember what day today is. I didn't remember until I saw one of my friend's Facebook statuses, which said that she completely forgot about April Fools' Day. For the last few years, I haven't really seen any big April Fools' prank. Most of them are from teen girls telling everyone that they're pregnant. It's not like anyone believes any big news when it's told on April 1st anyway -_-

But I hope you all had a fun day :D