Lousy Days

    When you are writing a lot in a short amount of time, there is the distinct possibility that not everything you put down will be good. Some of you may be amazing super-writers who can write prose poetry in a hurried first draft, but I am not one of those people.
    The beginning of this month was very discouraging for me: lots of words, not a whole lot of quality. By the halfway point of my writing, I was close to despairing. All I wanted to do was work on my Avalon Trilogy. This made me feel pathetic, to some extent, but to be honest, I needed a break.

    So I did it: I spent a day reading and tacking on a little to my most recent draft. To be sure, I didn’t add very much, but it was a break, a relief, really. It gave me enough separation to calm me and let me get back to writing my planned story.

    I had a musical theatre camp last week at the local college, and it was seven and a half hour long each day for five days in a row. In the evening, I watched House M.D. (good for relaxation) and I didn’t worry any more about it.
    I didn’t get many words or any planning done that week.
    Now, however, I’m back ‘on a roll’, at least in my mind, and am eager to keep working on my most recent story. I’ve made the 50,000 word count goal for the novel already, but there is still a lot of story to go…
    But that will be another post.

Over and out,

Zoë 

July Novel

    July NaNoWriMo Camp begins tomorrow. I have an idea for a new fairy-tale fantasy novel (inspired by the Amazing Spiderman 2 trailer). I am super excited about it, and will share sketches, etc. However, I do not want to get ahead of myself and talk about it before I have a good grasp on the story.
    Having been busy for the past month moving, looking at colleges, and attending a church conference, I have not written much. This trend will likely continue for the next month, as it will be a heavy writing month for me, and all of you who decide to participate in this camp.
    Here is a cool list of character-development questions I found on the NaNo blog that may help you better develop your characters as it did me:

1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Height:
4. Eye color:
5. Physical appearance:
6. Strange or unique physical attributes:
7. Favorite clothing style/outfit:
8. Where does he or she live? What is it like there?
9. Defining gestures/movements (i.e., curling his or her lip when he or she speaks, always keeping his or her eyes on the ground, etc.):
10. Things about his or her appearance he or she would most like to change:
11. Speaking style (fast, talkative, monotone, etc.):
12. Pet peeves:
13. Fondest memory:
14. Hobbies/interests:
15. Special skills/abilities:
16. Insecurities:
17. Quirks/eccentricities:
18. Temperament (easygoing, easily angered, etc.):
19. Negative traits: 
20. Things that upset him or her:
21. Things that embarrass him or her: 
22. This character is highly opinionated about:
23. Any phobias?
24. Things that make him or her happy:
25. Family (describe):
26. Deepest, darkest secret:
27. Reason he or she kept this secret for so long:
28. Other people’s opinions of this character (What do people like about this character? What do they dislike about this character?):
29. Favorite bands/songs/type of music:
30. Favorite movies:
31. Favorite TV shows:
32. Favorite books:
33. Favorite foods: 
34. Favorite sports/sports teams:
35. Political views: 
36. Religion/philosophy of life:
37. Physical health: 
38. Dream vacation:
39. Description of his or her house:
40. Description of his or her bedroom:
41. Any pets?
42. Best thing that has ever happened to this character:
43. Worst thing that has ever happened to this character:
44. Superstitions:
45. Three words to describe this character:
46. If a song played every time this character walked into the room, what song would it be?

Burned-Out

   I have taken a break from writing in the past few weeks. I have a tendency to write in waves. My last wave lasted from November through April, so I am pretty well spent now. Lately, I’ve spent most of my free time doing character sketches (will post as soon as I amount the gumption to scan them) and have just begun work on actually drawing out my graphic novel.

    I have never undertaken the creation of a graphic novel before, due to the sheer amount of work involved and the fact that I have trouble drawing with consistency. That is why I’ve been spending the past few months drawing constantly. I am better than I was, but am by no means perfect.

    If-when I finish this graphic novel, I hope to distribute it between my family and friends. I have no intention of trying to publish it, except perhaps openly online for anyone to read. I have the first volume (of six) planned out and written, so now all I have to do is draw about sixty pages and color them.

    There are moments when I wonder why I had to decide to be a writer. “God (or whoever else I ought to be complaining to), why couldn’t you make me something straightforward and simple? Is there anything straightforward and simple?”

    Admittedly, I have been putting off getting into writing again, at least a little. (I have also been putting off picking up French horn again so that I’m ready for auditions, but that’s another story.) Writing comes in cycles (at least for me):

• write hard for a while
• burn out
• delve into other activities without even thinking about stories
• start thinking about stories again
• reread/ lightly edit former projects
• tack a little more writing onto the ends of unfinished drafts
• dive back into writing 

   So, I’ve pulled out Camelot High, and Merlin’s Dream today and started rereading what I wrote last. I won’t have time to get back into writing for a while yet because I’m moving at the end of the month, but I’m starting to get back into it.  
   I’ve spent countless hours in the past two weeks on Pinterest, storyboarding my finished and not-yet-started projects. Lately, many bizarre ideas and themes have come to me about possible stories, and I wrote them down (because otherwise I’d never remember them). The way I figure it, when I’m 50 (or 40 or 30) I may run out of ideas, so I’ll collect them now while I have them. 
    I usually spend time thinking about my stories through the day, between tasks, during walks, and while waiting for sleep. However, recently, my thoughts have been jumbled and flighty, jumping from one story to another. This is probably due to my spending so much time graphing various stories on Pinterest, so now I must train myself out of it.

    Now, nearly every paragraph here began with the word ‘I’, or some variation thereof, so I will close thus: When you get sick of writing for a while, don’t be scared, just go with the flow. Listen to yourself. People need breaks from almost everything. Take it easy and don’t fret. Love of writing doesn’t leave permanently, although it sometimes goes asleep for a while.

Happy writing,

Zoë 

The Watchmen, writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons

    I was given the book The Watchmen for Christmas with a high recommendation. (This graphic novel appears on Time’s List of the 100 Best Novels, a list compiled of books written between 1923 and 2005 in the English language.) 
    The story addresses the possibility and possible issues of living in a society with costumed vigilantes, ‘heroes’, or ‘watchmen’. Only one being in the story actually has ‘superpowers’, all the others are merely good fighters.

    Some of the heroes, perhaps most of them, have a skewed sense of ethics and justice. This, combine with everyday problems, as we have today, made for an interesting story and a surprising, rending ending.

    This book makes you wonder about what is right and what is wrong, and how far you should go to achieve the better end. The movie is an amazing adaptation from the book and nearly entirely the same.

My Favorites:

• Character:
• Rorschach, Ozymandias
• Scene: 
• the climax in Antarctica
• Passage:
•  “I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

    I just recently finished Anthony Burgess's story A Clockwork Orange. (This book appears on Time’s List of the 100 Best Novels, a list compiled of books written between 1923 and 2005 in the English language.)

BEWARE SPOILERS 

    The story was published in 1962 and takes place in a futuristic New York City where the streets are ruled with gangs and filled with crime, the police force and societal mentality at least as brutal as these lawless gangs. 

    One of the most singular traits of this book is the thick slang that Alex (the narrator) uses to tell the story: ‘rookers’ (hands), ‘litso’ (face), ‘starry’ (old), ‘devotchka’ (girl), ‘horrorshow’ (swell), etcetera. It takes a while to get into the swing of the slang, especially without a glossary. However, after reading the book, one starts trying to employ this new slang into everyday usage.

    The story follows the progress of an adolescent gangster, rapist, and murderer (Alex) as he is arrested and treated for his violent tendencies before being released back into the world. The first few chapters follow him and his ‘droogs’ (friends) as they spend a typical night out committing the old ‘ultraviolence’.

    Through causing physical pain (headaches, panic, nausea) while viewing videos of violent encounters of all natures, they teach Alex’s body to abhor violence in any form, including art, love, and music. As it happens, Alex has a passion for music, but his will no longer allow him to listen to it, which he finds doubly painful.

     The question of Ethics (and Good and Evil) is the reason to read the story. Burgess leaves no question that Alex is capable of great evil. When they force him to do good in effort to abate the nausea that fills him at the thought of violence, we can see that he still truly wants to do evil, and it is that desire that brings on the sickness, forcing him to do good.

    People with political agenda’s exploit Alex’s predicament to bring down the current minister. Questions arise, such as: does someone have the right to remove someone’s moral choice? And does a person, as an individual, have a right to do evil?

My Favorites:

• Scene: 

• When Alex throws himself out the window as music blares

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

    Dracula was an interesting story, the classic novel of vampires and ‘evil’ written by Dublin-born author, Bram Stoker. I liked the style and method of writing, the story told through various journal entries, letters, telegrams, and newspaper clippings, a novel way of writing. This method of storytelling allowed for showing the story through the eyes of different characters and allowed the reader to put the pieces together on their own and make their own deductions.

    Slowly, as the book progresses, we see each of the characters reach the conclusion that Count Dracula is some sort of monster. It is wonderful to watch a story that started out as tangible and ordinary be corrupted and overwhelmed by the invasive fantasy and horror. The writing is excellent. The reader feels as if they really are reading the entries of different characters and current news although Bram Stoker was the sole author.

    Several discrepancies between the original story and following renditions in media and films are noticed, such as the fact that Count Dracula is very old at the beginning and slowly becomes younger as the story progresses. However, these arm minimal. There are also one or two interesting female characters, which is always notable in such old stories. Mina Harker is not Katniss Everdeen, but for a book written in 1897 by man, she stands on her own.

    My one qualm with Dracula is that the themes are not as deep as I had hoped. When thinking about reading it, I decided to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first. Frankenstein is laced with the questions of ethics regarding the creation of a new life and the expanse of science. It was a very deep, unnerving story. Dracula was a classic -- perhaps the classic -- monster story, and it does not go much deeper than that, at least not for me.

My Favorites:

• Character:
• Renfield
• Scene:
• Renfield’s death 

Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

    I recently finished reading John Steinbeck’s classic Grapes of Wrath: poetry in novel form. This book appears on Time’s List of the 100 Best Novels, a list compiled of books written between 1923 and 2005 in the English language. It was remarkable to read, each word meant to be there, no extra, none missing. The writing style was simple but poetic. The story does not have a classic rising and falling action, climax between, but is more of a journey. Steinbeck’s skill with words is truly phenomenal.

     The story begins in rural Oklahoma during the Great Depression and documents a family’s journey to California. The story contains little happiness, save for the little things. As the pages turn, the family starves, looses one member after another, and generally loses heart. Has the story grows, so does the anger, the ‘grapes of wrath’ on the vine. Families starve as food goes to waste, burned and destroyed by the owners of farms. Big businesses take over the smaller ones, lives are overturned, and the world darkens.

    For those interested in literature and without the need of adventure in their reading, Grapes of Wrath is a great book and I recommend it. It is not a pretty, happy, or fulfilling story, but it means something, and it is worth the read.

My Favorites:

• Character:
• Tom Joad, Jr. 
• Scene:
• the stand-down in Hooverville