Hello!
I am so happy to be spending my Thanksgiving with family and friends. Because if that, my post will be delayed a day. Have an awesome holiday! Love, Genevieve Hi all!
I decided I am posting more of the Just Your Typical Super Spy book for you guys! I really enjoy that book and it feels like time to give you more of it! Check it out! -GN Good Friday everyone!
I mean, not good Good Friday, but I hope you are having a good Friday as of yet, and I hope that this Friday continues to grace you with its goodness. Anyway, today's topic is something that I struggle with more than any other element of writing. CHARACTERIZATION. You know, I've noticed that I do a lot of lead-up in my introductions of the element of writing and it always leads to what I visualize as big BANG. Like, I even put it in capital letters. Dang I have a lot of side tangents today... Now, characterization is a part of writing that I've actually struggled with since the beginning. I feel as though all of my description seem to be very similar so I try really hard to make them different. The harder I try to differentiate I feel they have more similar they become. I feel like the most important thing to remember about characterization is that characters are not just developed by their physical descriptions. Although making the physical description interesting and spacing it out throughout the page or chapter where the character is introduced can be an important thing, it is more important to remember that characterization is the characters beliefs attitudes and feelings towards subjects that actually creates a dynamic character. As far as the physical description of characters, I feel like we get caught up in trying to make new adjectives to say that someone has green eyes. We go to these really great lengths just to say that someone is somewhat tall. Oftentimes, most of our characters look very similar because our brains envision a very similar thing for many of the people that we create in our minds. Now, whole some characters specifically stand out, most kind of blend together. That's why it's important to do things such as writing out character descriptions or character cards. Although in the long run this doesn't matter if people remember the look of your minor characters, it does matter to have a character that is interesting and original and themselves. You want a character that people can identify with. Whether that comes through their thoughts and feelings or their physical description, it's very important to just make the character that fits the role. Then, you will want to take that character and make them a unique person and not just a model that can fit into any role. Again, characterization is not my strong suit. But, it is a really important part of writing. So for today's post, if you have any comments on characterization or suggestions that helped you create really dynamic and round characters, please leave them below. Thanks for reading! -GN GOOOOOOOOOOOD Afternoon everyone!
Today is an especially good topic. Writing style! Now, it is often hard to identify a writer's style and give it a label, but I have found some things that may make identifying a style much easier. In my experience as a writer, after those first few months of falling in love with writing, I started to recognize things in books that I never did before. I am not sure if this is something that happened to anyone else, but I do believe this: Reading as a reader is so much different than reading as a writer. This is something I LIVE by. When you're a writer, you read things in a way that only other authors can detect. When I read, I notice patterns, little things that the author does multiple times. Sometimes it is the adjectives they use or the phrases they use in description, other times it is the way they phrase a character description. These are patterns are what we call an author's style. By "we" I mean me. I call it that. I feel as thought the word is an accurate description of what the patterns created in writing. Now, I'm pretty sure that's also the ACTUAL definition of style, but whatever. In my mind, patterns are a powerful thing. A pattern can both make AND break a book. Some people think certain books are boring while others are not, and while, yes, this does have to do with what happens in the plot, it also has a lot to do with the patterns the author creates. Like I said, these patterns CAN be beneficial, and I'll tell you how in a minute. However, in this case, it is the cause of the boredom for the reader. Even when exciting plot twists are happening, that excitement and wonder can be overshadowed by the monotonous pattern of the author's description. Take this bit for example: "It had only been thirty minutes since he left with the bombs, but it felt like the hour had already ticked away." Compare that with another event: "She had taken my temp only minutes ago, but it felt like an hour had gone by." Now, in the two samples there are a few things that cause the scenes to lose originality. The repetition of sentence structure, for one, is a huge indicator that the author either isn't comfortable with or willing to vary their sentence structure based on what they are hoping to accomplish nor just for the sake of making a change. Another thing in the samples that is an issue is the use of similar figurative language. The words themselves are not identical, no, but both sentences create anticipation by saying that time was dragging by. You can effectively say that without having the same set-up in both sentences. In addition to the samples, you might notice repeating adjectives, identical phrases or expressions, dialect words are a huge style indicator. One thing that really, REALLY bothers be about some authors is that they use the same word twice in a paragraph and sometimes even in the same sentence *screams*. This is more laziness and lack of vocabulary than it is style, but it still falls under this category in my opinion. ALWAYS reread a statement aloud if it isn't quite right. Just in general, reread your sentences aloud. You will always benefit. And, use your thesaurus (right click and scroll through synonyms) too. PLEASE. These style components can be obnoxious, negative, and even lazy, but that doesn't mean that style is a bad thing. While it can cause too much repetition and monotony, it can also make the reading go a lot more quickly. Now, this can be a good and a bad thing so I am putting it at the beginning of the positives list. Style can actually be beneficial in shaping both your characters and your story. For example, if you have an over used phrase, you can have your narrator or character comment on the over use of the phrase and then change up the phrases. It is an effective tool to getting your audience to stay on their toes and catch the words you are saying. The more attention your reader gives, the more they get out of the book. Other than shaping the characters, style can determine how your plot unfolds in the book. With the right plot details, a style that is a bit more vague or has fewer but more pointed adjectives can be a really good style when developing a plot that is more surprising. You've heard the phrase "less is more" in this case, it can be. This style is also really good for creating scenes that are customized to your audience. If I wanted my readers to pick their high school gym, I might use a couple descriptive indicators and leave the setting at that. It is healthy to make your readers' brains fill in gaps. Alternately. style can be good at creating theme. While style most directly affects the tone of the story, it also can enhance or diminish themes that you have in your writing. Sometimes, writing style will bring about themes that the author neither intended to create, nor noticed at the start of writing their novel. Personally, I like noticing style a lot. I very much enjoy pointing out where I think an author should have noticed on of their patterns and changed it. Patterns bother me at times. In my writing though, I am hyper critical of my style. Now, I would not call myself a perfectionist, but I would say that I am very observant about the way my style is used and what it does to the tone and pacing in the book. If I didn't notice style, I think I would be able to write a lot more quickly. Or, at least, with less pain to find the right words. Style is honestly something you could go your whole writing career without needing to know, but I find that knowledge is powerful, especially in the context of reading about writing. ;) I love to point out flaws in style and I would say I aim to make my style to absence of patterns (oh, I am SO meta sometimes, I swear), but my advice is to embrace your style. If, after reading this, you find that you detect styles more, but you need help feeling out if they're helpful, show me! I would love to give my opinion. When it comes down to it, do what feels right to write (hehe). On the flip side of that, don't forget to take criticisms and patterns into account when you edit. Finally, you can do this. This is all extra stuff to look at, just because you didn't/don't doesn't' mean there's a problem. I believe in you! Until next time! -GN Hello again!
Last week was very rough and I have to miss a week, but I am back! Today I want to talk about something that is both horrific and the reason writers write. Youuuuuu guessed it. I'm talking about the writing process (curses!), that thing you do when you want to write a novel (yes, the curses too). I am not totally sure where to start with this process but based on my origin story from two weeks ago, I want to talk a tad about my development. As a writer, I had very strong base skills. These skills got me very far when it came to quality, ability, and know-how. When it came to endurance though... well, let's just say I wasn't the strongest in that area. It did take me four years to write the novel. Now, this may not seem like a longer-than-average time considering a lot of authors take years more to get their book to perfection, but let me remind you, their books sell. They are famous for a reason. Now, that is not to say I don't think my writing has merit, but I don't think I should be compared to any classic novelist when I say this book took me FOREVER. After my idea generation that afternoon with my brother, I sat down and wrote the opening lines before anything else. I felt this was important to do because it was the opening of my story. Little did I know that this would be how I approached the beginning of ever book I have started (to date). This works for me though be cause I feel as though the starts of my books are my favorite parts. I mean, I love a lot of other parts of my books, but the opening pages are perfect for the books they are written for. Now, the second step I took in writing Profugorum was to come up with the characters' names. This is something that changed over time. When I wrote my first book, I spent the better part of an afternoon just looking up all kinds and variations of names, googling them to see if there was already a well-known person by that name, and describing the characters in my own head. Now, names come pretty naturally. I usually come up with them when I am thinking through or writing those opening pages and modify them as I see fit. That's not to say I don't still occasionally use a baby name website to be get ideas, but my approach to the names (although still important) has a lot less emphasis then it used to. After getting my names, some ideas of physical character description, and the opening pages written, I typically find myself looking for some vision of the tone I want my story to have. I want to really use the exposition to develop the character I have and lay the ground work for future character relationships. This is as true today as it was when I first started writing. Now after the first chapter, maybe two - depending on the length of the chapter - I usually start to slow down. In Profugorm this happened rather quickly. Now, because it was my first novel, and because it was something I just had to finish, I only took week to month breaks in writing for the first year. This is pretty good in the eyes of an 8th grader. Beyond that, I would sometimes write one page and sometimes write a paragraph. Other times I would write two chapters. It would depend. Life happened. Life really happened mid-freshman to sophomore year. I stopped writing at all for this period of time. I was really working on figuring out life and I had just started some other hobbies (horseback riding, eeeeee). I was not happy with how poorly I felt I was writing and decided I didn't want to do it. Thankfully, that summer I started chatting with a dear friend who pushed me to write again. If ever you find yourself struggling with motivation to write or just stuck, find a friend or a writer's group and just talk. It is one of the most beneficial things for you and your story. Now, at this point, I started it all back up again. I got so into being an author that I even started a number of my other story ideas. Since then, I never took that long of a break from writing (something) again. Even in my crazy four years of college (one of which was in high school), I stuck to my love. To recap, I would say my writing process is... scattered - at best. I write when I have time. I make commitment to writing once a week for the blog and beyond that, I have no schedule. I so wish I could devote and set a schedule to writing, but alas, that is what a working writer must day. Stick with it, people. Even though it is difficult. It is worth the struggle. -GN |
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