So, It's Been Awhile...

No, I haven't dropped off of the face of the earth. I just got busy. Really busy. So, I'll do my best to catch you all up on some of the more exciting and/or important elements of my life in the past few months.
You remember that little thing called "Camp NaNo?" Yeah, that didn't happen. I mean, it did, but not for the whole month. Don't get me wrong, I loved the story I was working on, but I just ran out of motivation to write it. Which is something I'm going to try harder with this July, when I do Camp again. Wish me luck!
Hey, you remember that little writing contest called Write Out of This World that I entered last year? My whole big thing about rejection? Well, brave little me entered it again this year. And this time, I won 2nd Place! Yep! Pretty cool, huh? Honestly, though, the best thing about that wasn't the award ceremony (which was pretty awesome) or the prizes (50 bucks to Barnes and Noble was just one of the many prizes) but the community. I mean, I got to spend some quality time with fellow writers! How awesome is that?!
Anyways, if you guys want to read my WINNING story, just go here and look for "And the Stars Sang."
Also, just to show you how epic my award ceremony was, here's a picture my dad took of me reading an excerpt of my story.

Well, not much else has really been exciting in the past few months, but I CAN tell you that I've been working on a few short stories, so stay tuned! I may be sharing them with you guys in the future! In the meantime, thanks for reading, and stop by anytime!

Adios!

Camp NaNo Day 4

Yes, I know - I've already missed a day. BUT, in my defense, yesterday was pretty rough on me and I was too upset to finish my word count or make a post.
Luckily, I had enough free time (and willpower) today to make up for yesterday AND get my words done for today! So...Yay me!

Day: 4
Total words written: 6,720
Words written today: 2,565
Words left: 43,280
Favorite excerpt from the day: 

Meg couldn’t hear words coming out, but there they were, formed on Maeve’s trembling pink lips. Help me, Meg. Help me.

“Wha-” Meg slid to the floor, clenching the towel with white-knuckled hands. Her breathing had become heavy, her whole body shaking with fear. “How-”

Maeve’s face started getting more and more desperate. PLEASE! HELP ME!

“I don’t-” Meg trembled, tears rolling down her pale face.

And then, just like that, Maeve was gone. A spot of darkness filled the mirror, spreading until it engulfed the whole pane of glass, and then - it shattered.

Glass sprayed across the room. Meg put her arms up just in time, covered her vulnerable eyes but leaving the rest of her body bare. There was enough force behind the breakage to send shards into her skin; blood started to drip from scratches where she had been grazed.

But Meg just sat there, still, staring at where the mirror had been.

Where Maeve had been.

A few hours later, Megan’s mother found her sitting against the wall of the bathroom, surrounded by glass, bleeding, and fast asleep from exhaustion.

I got SO many chills writing this. And, I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I tend to kind of act out the emotion as I write XD (Just another reason to write alone - imagine how weird it would look if I was in a coffee shop writing that part.)

And I have to admit, writing a novel set in the 90s is quite enjoyable, because of the research I get to take part in. Yes, that DOES mean 1. looking up 90s fashion 2. researching obscure things like "what literature was assigned to highschoolers in the 90s" and, my favorite, 3. listening to 90s music.

Let me share some of what that experience was like for me:

This was the first song that came up when I played a Spotify 90s playlist.

So. Bad. *shudders*

Thankfully, the next songs were more like this:

I refuse to be ashamed of the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this song.

And then, of course, there were these types of songs:

And yes, it's just as bad as it sounds.

And of course, thankfully, there were also Nirvana songs that popped up in my research. That made it all worth it, I think.

Well, that's it for today, but thank you all for reading! If you have any suggestions on good 90s music for me to listen to while I write my novel, leave it down in the comments below!

(Hopefully) I'll write to you again tomorrow!

-Trinity

Trials in the Life of a Writer

(I'm just going to ignore that fact that it's been forever since I've posted.)

Look above. At the pictures. You see that? That is my first rejection as a writer.
Yeah, it kinda sucks. The funny thing is, I see it as a milestone. A crappy one, but a milestone nonetheless.
Sure, it's a rejection. But it's a rejection as an author. Every author goes through a rejection. Even the absolute best ones.
Like Abby told me when I was moping and broken up about this, "J.K. Rowling was rejected 5 times when trying to publish Harry Potter." (That's not an exact quote, but you get the point.)
It's true. And J.K. Rowling, as we all know, is considered one of the greatest children's authors of her time.
So I'm trying my best to see the positive in this whole ordeal. Even if I still get teary when I see those pictures or look at the list of winners in the contest.

*

But on a different note, the hardest part of this is being motivated. I mean, who wants to go on writing when their first piece ever to be seen by another's eyes is rejected?

I'm trying so hard  to get myself writing again. Besides all the obvious factors that hinder me (school and life), I just can't sit down and write. It's painful. All I can imagine is being rejected again.

My short story for the contest was inspired by the band Metric. One of their songs (Speed the Collapse) has a line that says "Auctioned off their memories." My main way of inspiration is finding little phrases or ideas like that and building off of it. I was thinking, if I did well in the contest, I wanted to find some way to send my story to the band. But now...I still kind of want to, but I'm afraid. I have that awful little critic in my head that tells me no.

But in those cases, you have to be brave. I know that I want to write. But if I never take chances, how can I be a writer?

I think it was about a year ago I told myself I wanted to write. Not for me, not for the community, but for God. I realized how incredible His gift of language was, and I wanted to be able to use that for His glory. But then again, you know, a rejection. All I could think was that He didn't want me to write. But I have a feeling it was the enemy telling me that.

And so, I will write again. And this time, I will be brave. I will write for the glory of God. And I won't be afraid of rejection.

 

<3

Letting Go

Please, no, don't sing Frozen. That's not at ALL what I meant. I mean, really, we all know that fad passed quite a while ago.
Anywhooo...
I've gathered you here today to talk about poetry. Let me explain my reason for the title of this post:
For a long, long time, I've always focused solely on rhyming poetry. My mind told me, for some reason, that that was only the real poetry and everything else sucked. My mother, of course, didn't believe that. She is an English major who teaches a lot for my co-ops, and she absolutely loves poetry. Especially the non-metrical free verse stuff. In fact, she herself is a poet of the same type.
Yet in my stubbornness I refused to enjoy such poetry. I love writing, of course, and I really wanted to write poetry and be remembered as a great poet. But I had a lot of trouble writing it; they all were cheesy and quite awful, really.
Until I let go of my stubbornness.
Once I tried to write just a single little poem in a free verse form, a whole world was opened to me. I realized it was so sad I had been holding back all these years, because of a petty and foolish thought in my head. And suddenly, I realized that I could do incredible things.
Ever read E.E. Cummings? He's one of my mom's favorites, and he's known for his incredible free-verse that not only paints with words but also paints using the placement and form of the words and stanzas on the paper. He can make a little poem mean much, much more just by arranging it a certain way.
It's incredible.
Look his stuff up sometime. You won't regret it.
And for those of you who dislike poetry that isn't all rhyme-y and stuff, try to let go of that. Pick up a book of poetry, read it slowly, let the words wash over you. Or take a piece of paper and doodle with words, not worrying about what matches and what doesn't. Trust me. You'll thank me later.
I want to share with you some of my favorite personal poems I've written in free-verse. I really like looking back at them now, and I feel so proud, instead of embarrassed like how I always felt when I looked back at my older, metrical poems.
Remember, we're human. We're creative. Don't let your poetry be like "An Ode to Spot" by Data (TNG). That only works if you're actually an android.

A Time Ago I Spoke with the Winds

A time ago I spoke with the winds.

There was first Boreas,
fierce and cold.
His words were harsh,
his nature unforgiving.

Then Notos,
hungry for chaos.
Everywhere he went,
disorder arose.

Eureus, the poor east wind.
Unlucky, shy,
and disliked.
I think him quite misunderstood.

But my favorite, that is Zephyr.
The west wind,
warm and soft.
Esteemed above the others.
His embrace, his touch,
spring and summer's love.


The Importance of a Soul

The soul, the Psyche,
no greater invention of God.
For it holds the key,
the entrance to one's being.
What would we be
without a soul?
A shell, perhaps.
Living, animated,
but meaningless.
Or a carved marble man.
Beautiful, lifelike,
and yet, not
more than stone.


Welll, I hope you like the poems...yes, originals of mine ;)

Feel free to comment thoughts!

Picard out.

Creating a World- How to Make Your Setting More Than a Place

Let's look at some of the most beloved stories of all time:
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
Eragon
Inkheart
Alice in Wonderland
Fairy tales of all kinds

What do these stories all have that make them classics, to be remembered and read for years to come?
The answer:
The setting.
Sure, there are plenty of good books out there. But often we love them most for the characters, or the story. But one of the most important parts of a good book is the setting.
What these books have is not just a place, not just a cool time.
They have a whole world within their pages.
And I'm here to help you put that in your story, too.

Okay, so I'm not some big giant best-selling author. Not even close, in fact. But I have some experience creating worlds. That was one of my favorite things to do when I was growing up. My older brother and I would sit together and draw maps, with interesting names and stories behind them. Those were the first worlds I ever made.

Ever read Myst? If not, do so NOW. The whole basis of those stories are the worlds, worlds that people write and are able to go into and explore. As a writer, that should be your goal.
My awesome writing buddy Abby and I went to a writing workshop a few weeks ago at the EMP (Experience Music Project) in Seattle. The point of the workshop was the create worlds, characters, and plots for sci-fi/fantasy writing. The teacher was a published author, which was pretty cool :) We had a really good time, I think, and learned a lot. It was awesome talking with other young writers and learning about their worlds and ideas.

I've had a story world that I've been working on for a long time now. It started out just being a story, but then I had so many ideas that it turned into a whole world. I call it Morpheus. So I'll run you through some of the basic ideas for creating a unique and interesting world, and use my own world for examples.

#1: Create a unique custom
You can have a world, sure. It can be really pretty and full of jungles and beaches and oceans. But is it memorable? I think that the best way to create a memorable setting is have one aspect that really stands out. For me, specifically, that is a custom or tradition that the local culture embraces and bases a lot around. In Morpheus, that custom is birth tattoos. For the first week of a Morphean's life, the parents will watch it very closely, and learn about it's personality. They then make a decision on what tattoo the child will have. There is a whole encyclopedia of these birth tattoos. Of course, every tattoo means something different, and there are too many to write here. But another part is the placement of the tattoo. Chest=emotion, jaw=wisdom, shoulder=strength, forearm=ability, and torso=religion. (I'm still working on these, mind you!)
You see now? (Sorry, I kind of went off on that...I'm very passionate about Morpheus :))

#2: Have a landmark or central point
I think this is a very obvious one, and not that difficult to utilize. It's kind of the idea of having a capital city. In LotR, what is an aspect of the world that stands out? The tower of Sauron, of course. It represents the center of the evil empire. Same with, say, the dwarf's mountain. Or the elven palaces. For each state of the LotR world, it has a distinct central point. In Morpheus, that central point in the city Eris, or "the rose of Morpheus." It is the capital city, a bustling hive of activity and politics. However, another central point in the story is the beast's lair. That is the center of the evil, barren side of Morpheus.

#3: Culture, culture, culture
Again, very obvious, and slightly redundant. But IMPORTANT. Taking from LotR, again, and especially the Hobbit, you see a lot of culture which separates each species from another. The dwarves are hard-working metal smiths and miners. This attributes a lot to their culture. You see them as very determined people, never ones to give up. And artisans. Also (umm might be a spoiler) the greed of riches you see in Thorin. Okay, I'm having a hard time explaining this. Sorry. But you get it, right?

#4: Personification
A great way to sum up a culture or world is to personify it in a single character. This is actually a very common practice. In traditional folk lore, the hero is the embodiment of the common people and their goals and dreams. Take Robin Hood, for example. He's the hero, of course, and he is the hero because he cares about the common folk's well being. He is a representative of them. My character Kephas is somewhat of an example of that. He is the son of the mayor of Eris. Eris is beautiful and thriving on the outside, but every rose has it's thorns. Kephas has a connection with the commoners that the other politicians do not. He sees the truth behind the glory of Eris, and knows he has to help the common people. His virtue, as well as any folk hero's, is the virtue of the people. Kephas means "rock" in Greek, and he shows that by being strong-willed and steadfast in his belief.

#5: Tie it in to a known culture
This is incredibly common, if you look hard enough. In the world of Firefly, everything is Asian influenced. In the background you can see Chinese characters, and when the crew swears it's in an Asian language. Inara's clothing and, well, job is highly influenced by this. Her, ahem, companion job is a reflection of the geisha, which is really just a glorified prostitute. The Klingons of Star Trek are also Asian influenced. Look at the modern clothing in Next Gen or DS9. It is very samurai-like. The idea of warrior's honor is similar, as well as the hand-held swords and other weapons the Klingons use. Morpheus is very Grecian in it's culture. The characters all have Greek names, the definitions of which fit carefully into their personality. (See Kephas above.)

Thank you for reading! I hope this helped and inspired you to create a new world for your characters and readers to live in. Feel free to post your own worlds and ideas, as well as any comments on what you think makes a good world.

Picard out.