Tag: writer

Wednesday Works: Caught Up in Research

Antique Firearms

The antique pistol let out a sad, soggy click, but would not fire. The main character looked down at the gun with a sigh.

“Not again!” She shouted in frustration. She smacked the butt of the gun with her soaking hands, hoping to dislodge some of the water. “Man, is the author going to be pissed.”

The villain dropped his aim. “Gun problems again, MC?”

“Yes!” She heaved a sigh. “Shouldn’t it be common sense that gunpowder doesn’t fire when it gets wet?”

The villain took a few water logged steps forward. “I’m sure I can help you with your soaking clothes instead.” He waggled his eyebrows.

The main character curled her face in disgust. “I’m sure we’re definitely not following the plot now, but—“

Space Swords

All around them the beach and the waves disappeared.

“What?” The main character asked, looking around as the scene disappeared. “Oh no! The author is messing with us again!” She looked down, instead of her pirate clothes, a space suit appeared instead. “I liked the pirate arc!”

The villain twirled his glowing light sword. “I dunno,” he said. “I’ve always been partial to space myself. Less rules to get caught up in. Like—“ He paused. “What happens when you fire a laser off into space, where does it stop and how many alien species could there be?” He laughed his evil laugh. “Much less rules to get caught in up here.”

The main character groaned. “But what about the principle of a pirate romance?”

The villain waggled his eyebrows again. “There can definitely be piracy in space. I would love to plunder your—“

“ENOUGH!” The main character shouted. “You and I aren’t supposed to be romantic until the last third of the book. Keep it to yourself for now until after the duel and when we can frustrate the writer the most.”

The villain winked then. “Yes, my Goody Two Shoes. I’ll be on my best worst behavior.”

Wednesday Works: If It Doesn’t Fit…

In her world, everything and everyone had a place. Each and every person, place or thing fit together like puzzle pieces.

As she built her world exactly the way she wanted it, placing the people carefully in the city and the forests, building dark creatures between the trees and damsels in distress in the high castle towers, there was one person that refused to fit in.

No matter how much she moved around the king and his consorts, or the priest and friar in the abbey, the dashing hero wouldn’t fit. The princess had loved him, sung his praises, but he simply would not fit.

For weeks and weeks, she fought the issue, searching for a place for her dashing hero. Then, in a fit of inspiration at 3AM from a dead sleep, the solution came.

“I have to kill him.”

Finally, her book had an ending she was happy with.

Facing Our Fears

Sometimes, we don’t know what to call ourselves. Are we writers, novelists, authors, all of the above? When people ask us we often just shrug and say “I write stuff I guess…” or just kind of “I’m a writer but not published or anything” Does it matter what we call ourselves or what we say, as long as we write?

I used to struggle with calling myself a writer. I thought that no one would care, no one would appreciate it unless I had something to show for it. I used to write in secret, and I used to let only one person, or a few read my works (and those were first drafts!). I still don’t completely share all of my works yet, but maybe someday I will.

I started to call myself a writer pretty recently, when more people started calling me a writer. As I got older, I got more comfortable calling myself a writer, telling people what I do, what I want to do, what I feel I must do to enjoy this one life I have. So now, when people ask, first I say I’m a soon-to-be nurse (since I’m technically waiting to take the test that will make me a real practicing nurse), and then I say I’m a writer. Depending on who asks, it’s usually switched. I have been a writer way longer than I have ever even wanted to be a nurse.

An author, in my mind, is someone who makes money from their writing. I am not yet an author, but I want to be. Someday, you will all see my name on bookshelves everywhere. I just have to face the fear and dive into the publishing pool head first. And it is scary. The waiting and the rejection and the possibility of having my words out there is three parts exciting and one part pure and complete terror. So I cannot yet call myself an author, but I will someday.

I made the first step toward calling myself an author today. It’s a baby step, but I researched short story publishing today. There are a lot of choices, and so many more steps, but it was a start. It’s terrifying, but I am so glad I did it. It might be a while, but it is going to happen, and I am going to keep writing until it does happen.

Our fears may be frightening, looming before us like huge gates, holding us back from what we can achieve, but amazing things can happen when we face them. Courage, not fear, is the way we make our dreams come true.

This quote is so inspiring. Learning to live with my fear was one of the best things I ever did

What is your biggest writing fear? How do you plan to face it?

Process and Progress

After being a writer and calling myself a writer for several years, I have written quite a lot. Some great things, some terrible things and some things that I am sure I still cringe at to this day. I am mostly referring to my first few years of writing and my fanfiction phase.

My first story (not my first novel) was one I wrote when I was around eight. It was a powerpuff girls fanfiction that had one page chapters and really bad drawings. It was a half assed fairytale with a simple plot and a really really bad dialogue scheme. I am happy to say I have improved immensely since then.

Why am I blogging about my first story and embarrassing myself a little bit? Even though it’s not my favorite by a long shot, that piece taught me a lot about my writing process. I was around eight when I wrote it, on black paper, with gel pens. I had never written any stories before, but my friends, who were almost five years older, had nearly filled their notebooks with their ideas and their words.

And there is the beauty of my first story ever.

The process behind it, the quick choice of writing something I knew, something I cared about, even if it was rudimentary and juvenile. I got an idea in a flash and I wrote it the only way I knew how, with words, and pictures. I wrote it in a way no one else could, in a way no one else could, because those were my words and my choices on that page, as simple as they were.

Since then, my writing has changed, writing more of my own ideas instead of fanfiction, but the process still remains. I still get ideas in a flash, and I still sometimes write simple words and stories, but I can always edit them and change them to be better. I have expanded my horizons and ventured into other things, other writing, other hobbies, and other ideas. I have expanded as a human and a writer.

But that first story, I will never ever touch. I have to have some way to track my progress and my growth as a writer.

Do you remember your first jump into the creative pool?