Writers' Chasm

This was posted first on Chanelley's blog . There will probably be spoilers from DH, just so you know. Random Questions 01. If you went to Hogwarts, which house would you be sorted in? Ravenclaw probably, but I would love to be in Gryffindor. 02. Have you ever been to a Harry Potter midnight release? YES! Half Blood Prince was my first. I was also at the midnight release for the Order of the Phoenix book, but was not allowed to stay up all night reading it like I always dreamed. 03. What did you think of Deathly Hallows? Favorite book of the series, despite all the crying that it entailed all of the three times I read it. 04. How many times have you reread the books? I lost count years ago. Deathly Hallows I've read three times, all the others it's probably five+. 05. Whose death was the saddest? Dobby's. I so wasn't expecting it and I ended up crying so hard through most of that part that I couldn't see to read anymore. 06. If you went to Hogwarts, would you ra...

The Maze Runner by James Dashner October 6, 2009 When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind. Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle September 29 Penelope (Pen) Leland has come to Ireland to study magic and prove to herself t...

Today I'm going to talk about different points of view and tenses. No I can't help you choose one for your story. Mostly because there's no set formula, especially for me. I just go with whichever one I feel most comfortable with and feels...right. Let's take a look at the different POVs (Point of View) first. First - This one's my personal favorite, but I know a lot of people (my mom included) can't stand it. For me it's really awesome for getting inside the character's head and writing from their POV. It's so much more personal that way. It uses 'I' and 'me'. Example: I trip as I make my way up the stairs. My knees scrape against the tile floor and I grit my teeth as my funny bone collides with the railing. A pair of shoes appear at the edge of my vision and then a hand reaches down. I reach up for it and whisper a quick thanks to the rather cute boy that helped me up. Second: I've never tried this one and it's very difficu...

Yes I know this is late, but I've been gone all weekend and it's taking some time for me to catch up. I'm feeling all confused and overwhelmed at the moment so just bear with me. It's hard to keep up with a workload that you could handle when you were on the computer 12+ hours a day during the summer when you can only be on for 5 or 6 hours five days a week. 1. Paintballing is awesome, but painful. That's like the fourth or fifth time I've said that today. I can't wait to play again! I got hit in the face (wearing a mask of course) and couldn't see anything because there was white paint all over the front of my mask. Some got on my nose and mouth and I thought I was bleeding because there was red paint mixed with the white. 2. Rutherinne won a very impressive photo finish in the Nobel Damsel. I'm usually pretty good at calling photos, but this time I was wrong. It was almost dead heat close. 3. D'Funnybone walked all over the Futurity field. I...

Wake by Lisa McMann Summary: For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime. She can't tell anybody about what she does--they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control. Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.... Review: Hopefully my mom's getting Fade tomorrow and I'll be able to read it Sunday...Anyway, Wake is awesome. The main thing I had a problem with is the way the story is told is kind of strange. It's third person present tense which I don't think I've ever read before and is fairly jarring. ...

New release Thursday is back! For now, anyway. I might start having it on different random days. Depends on what I come up with and what kind of day I'm having. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. [I really want this book! I almost bought it but I had to get others the last time I was in there...] Love is a Higher Law by David Levithan First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . . The liv...

It all started with an idea. The burning excitement that comes with an exciting new project. You sat down and wrote and wrote and wrote. Writers' block stood in your way, but you pushed on. A few months later, a finished manuscript sits on your desk. Then the time comes when that shiny manuscript isn't looking so shiny. You don't want to give up, but you're just so sick of looking at it that you just want to hit that delete key and never look at it again. Today I'm going to talk about knowing when to trunk a novel. 1. Between edits. A common suggestions that I agree in is to let a manuscript "simmer" before and between edits. It can be for a week, a couple months, or even a year. How long you let a story sit depends on you and how long you can go without touching it. But try to put it away for at least a week and work on something else. Force yourself if you have to. Put it in a separate folder and don't allow yourself to open it until the week is up. ...

I've got a whole list of these that I've developed over time from beta reading. Twelve so far actually. And number 10 on the list is 'using the wrong word.' I can see it happening accidentally once in awhile, but it's when it becomes all the time that it's a problem. Some common ones: Then instead of than Then = "Then he kissed me" or "I put on my socks, then my shoes." Than = "He's older than me" or "She's a better writer than me" or "Michigan is better than Ohio State." Their, they're and there Their = "Their hair is brown" or "That is their parent's house." There = "Go over there" or "There we found the skull." They're = "They're going to get it trouble." [Hint: if you're not sure, break it down into 'they are'. If 'they are' fits, then 'they're' is the correct words. This also works for other contractions...

Yes, these are going to be moved to Sunday. I apologize for the wait, but I've been so busy... Warning: I'm experimenting with auto-posting this week. I will attempt to remember to come on every day and make sure the posts are posting (since I've always had trouble with auto-posting in the past), but if I forget or get too busy, I'm sorry. It has not been a good weekend for my racehorses. The sons of my two favorite stallions in the world went head to head in the Hopeful. Backtalk (Smarty Jones), undefeated until then, finished fourth. I was very disappointed. Dublin (Afleet Alex), however, won the race rather impressively. I was favoring Backtalk for next year's Triple Crown, but it looks like I may have a new fave. Other than that, Gangbuster finished fourth and Flashing finished third. Okay, I'm going to do this weeks posts first and then talk about my writing so those of you that don't care about the latter can read the former. Oh, and I learned a new wo...

Okay, most of you know that I am officially back in school. With that taking up 8 hours of my day (not including the large amount of homework I am now expected to complete), plus going to cross country meets, and JV and varsity football games (by the way, I don't participate in either of them, just watch), I don't have a lot of time for extra things, and that includes writing and blogging. Here's the plan: Right now I'm just going to try to adjust to my new schedule. It might take me a couple weeks to get back into it and work out the details of my new blogging schedule. Here's a couple possibilities. 1. Blog posts of my choice Monday-Thursday. Possibly written and set to auto-post on Sundays when I actually have time to write them. Friday would be Week in Short which would cover the normal WiS and also Writing Wednesday (which would no longer be on a Wednesday). 2. Blog posts of my choice Monday-Friday, Saturday off, and WiS on Sunday so I have all day Saturday to ...

EEK so I finished it last night around midnight. Okay, so there will be spoilers here as usual. Though hopefully this will come out more like a review instead of random fangirling like last night... Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Summary: Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his bak on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol -- a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitols cruel Victory Tour...

Nation by Terry Pratchett Summary: Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne -- a girl from the other side of the glove -- is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives -- all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. Review: This book took awhile to hook me. Honestly, with Percy Jackson calling me I really wanted to put it down. But once I pushed on, I started to get into the story a lot more. I really like Mau and Daphne. Their characters were really...

OMG guys I'm so sorry! I've been so busy the last few days that blogging just kind of fell to the sidelines. School's starting up in two days and I'm in a last-minute rush to get everything together. Thursday I went back to school shopping, Friday I went shopping again with my cousins, and today I spent at my uncle's house. I'll get to WiS in a sec. First some random things... 1. Monday's the season finale of Secret Life. Yes, I got sucked into that show again. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it until Tuesday. :( I can't believe Amy and Ben and Ricky...I have a love/hate relationship with SLotAT. 2. RACHEL ALEXANDRA MADE HISTORY TODAY! Yes that deserved all caps. :D In case you don't know, Rachel is the greatest filly alive. Today she made history by becoming the first filly ever to win the Woodward Stakes against older males and did it by setting a blazing pace while under pressure and holding off Macho Again until the wire to win. Yes, ...

It's that day of the week again! But first some random ramblings... I got my hair done yesterday! Well, I got it thinned and trimmed so it really doesn't look much different. I'm going to go straighten it soon and I can't wait to see how it looks. :D Also, if I disappear tomorrow, it's not because I'm dead. It's just because I managed to get my hands on Catching Fire and I'm barricaded in my room reading it. I'll try to get my Thursday post done in the morning... Writing has not gone at all well in the last week. I'm not really sure why, I've just been so stressed out about everything that I have difficulty writing and Hannah doesn't seem to be very happy with the direction that I want to take her story. She's so stubborn sometimes... My best day of writing was Wednesday with a measly 894 words. My worst days were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (I have an reason for not writing Saturday though) with 0 words all three days. Destiny: Stat...