The Trap of Cliches

NaNo is just about here.
Yes, already. I can't believe it's already been a year since I wrote my dear sci-fi novel.
And this year, I'm just as excited.
After mulling over a few ideas, I've finally settled on my fantastically dark fantasy novel idea, Darkest. It has faeries and darkness and evil queens who like ravens.
Yes. I'm very excited.
However, fantasy is VERY different from sci-fi. And what I really have to worry about this year are cliches.
They're everywhere. They're difficult to avoid. And they can easily bring down your entire novel.

So here I'll list what I believe are some common cliches, and how I have avoided them or how I need to figure out how to get around them.

Medieval-esque European setting
Heh. You can count this as one cliche already for me.
Unfortunately, this one can be hard to get around. Fantasy has very much so been grounded in this idea of faux-Medieval setting that it's hard to come up with creative ideas for other types of setting. I would LOVE to find some way around this, but I'm afraid I might not be able to. So far, my story is definitely faux-Medieval, with maybe a few more modern twists in it, but not many. As for European...well, my basis is on faeries who have a certain type of "charge," e.g. a plant or bird or insect that they are somehow connected to. Therefore, the region they live in is determined by where their charge would live in. For example, my main characters are Cherry Blossom and Laurel faeries. That means they'll both live in a mountainous region. However, the main villain(s) (raven fae), live in an open, sage-brush plain area. So European doesn't really go along with the theme, since there would also be places such as a jungle rainforest or African desert.
But again, I'm a little worried about the whole "faux-Medieval ages" thing. My fae will live in little rural, farm-y villages in their regions, doing simple things like working the land and such. Which sounds pretty Medieval-peasant to me. The Raven Queen is the main villain and, of course, lives in a big castle in the Plain region. However, her minion/soldiers wear something more like a modern (and by modern, I mean like WWII) military uniform. And besides that, I want to add some more elements to everything with the Raven Queen to get it even farther away from the Medieval ages.
If you have any ideas for me on my little dilemma, feel free to leave them below in the comments!

Older male mentor
Now I'm 1 for 1. Although I do have an older mentor in this story, she is a more of a matronly, protective figure who also kicks some serious @$$ while searching for her kidnapped son. She's kind of my favorite character and may end up being more central than my MC. And she's a red-head. So Niana for the win.

The orphan
Dangit. Another big cliche for me.
I'm really not sure how to get around this. For some reason it feels so natural to have my main character be an orphan. And I really don't know why. I'd love to get around this somehow, but I have no idea how I could. Especially she's 19 and would still be living at home. Any suggestions are welcome.

The young hero
I already mentioned this in the last section, and though 19 is young, I do have some other plans for her. So this could go either way.
Alaures, my MC, is young, yes, but I also want her to be a bit more of an adult than a kid. Think of her as more of a twenty-something than barely an adult. But at the same time, I need her to be relatively naive. What do you think?

The absent/evil mother
Though Alaures is probably an orphan, I want to focus on Niana here. It's really important to me to have a strong, female mother character in my story, so enter Niana. In fact, her husband is the one who is absent (he abandoned the family) so she's gone through life taking care of her four children alone and doing a pretty epic job at it. And she's definitely not evil. In fact, she's really less evil than her co-MC. (OOH SPOILER ALERT) (jk not really)

The white hero
Okay, I am very much white, so this is funny to write about. But for some reason, the idea popped into my head to make Alaures of a different ethnicity (though ethnicity isn't truly present in my story.) She has darker, nut-brown skin and curly dark-brown hair. Her skin color doesn't really matter in my story's context, but I like the idea of her not being white.

The competent young hero
For the record, Alaures is not competent. At all. In fact, she's kind of the reason Niana's son went missing in the first place. (You'll see later) Plus, I want her to have a lot of inner struggles with her own "darkness" inside and the internal fight of good vs. evil. Hopefully this will prove to be pretty anti-cliche.

The quest
Okay, yes, this story is based around a "quest" (of sorts). But honestly, that isn't so much a cliche as it is a basis of the fantasy genre. Ask any English major (hi, Mom!) and they'll probably agree. Probably. I haven't really asked any myself, yet.

The magic/evil weapon
Let the record show that: YESSS I DON'T HAVE A MAGIC WEAPON
Guys, I'm so proud of myself. I thought I wouldn't be able to resist. But it was way easier than I thought. Just normal deadly weapons for this girl.

Well, there you go. My list of fantasy cliches and how I have (or haven't) avoided them. Please leave any thoughts about my list in the comments, and if you have any questions on the cliches I listed or wondered about one of your own, feel free to ask me!
Sayonara. I'm going to go watch Phineas and Fern now.

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

A Writer's Resolutions

Wow. 2016.
Well, now it sounds terrible to say that I haven't posted since last year. Sorry. Life and stuff.
I've never been big on resolutions; it's more of a subconscious thing for me to make these plans but not really follow through.
However, for this year, I've been changing it up a little.
I've been going and making little resolutions for different aspects of my life: school, art, and of course, writing.
So I wanted to share my writing resolutions with you here; your support and constant reminders of my goals would be great!

#1: Write a Novel
Yes, I know, kind of obvious. But this does exclude NaNoWriMo, so it would be a totally independent thing for me. And, therefore, probably a lot harder to follow through with.
My main difficulty with not finishing one novel is that my brain is always working and unconsciously creating new ideas. I'll be super excited about one story, start writing, but the next thing I know, my mind is telling me about this great new idea. So after all these years of writing, a lot of cool story ideas have been left, half-finished, in the dust.
So, really, this resolution is a lot deeper than it sounds. It also requires focus, patience, and dealing with my life-wrecking ADD. (Yes, ADD. I can't even READ anymore. It sucks.)

#2: NaNoWriMo-Vol. 2
This should be a given for me now. Normally, it would be no big deal, especially since I managed it during my insane month of November this year, AND with no former experience under my belt. But I'm pretty sure this year is going to be even worse.
I have a lot of things I'm working on/towards. I'll be a Junior, and I've heard from many people that that is the most difficult year of high school. Not exactly looking forward to that.
And in addition, I'll be hopefully beginning Running Start, teaching an Ancient History class at my co-op, and applying for the Washington Aerospace Scholars. It's a lot of work.
But I'm a big dreamer, and I aspire to be a lot of things. That makes life even more overwhelming.

#3: Enter the Write Out of This World short story contest.
So this isn't totally a resolution; more just a plan and project I'm working on. And another reminder, considering the contest ends on the 31st of this month. Heh. Yeah. I really need to get going on it...


Well, that's it. For now.
I think people try to get themselves off the hook by saying that resolutions are only made at New Years. But they shouldn't be. If we want to change something in our life, start NOW. Life won't wait for ya.

Anywho, happy 2016. Maybe it'll rock, maybe it'll suck.
Adios, amoebas.

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.

NaNoWriMo: Revelation

Before I say anything else...
HOLY SHCNITZEL ON A STICK I DID IT
Yes, dear reader, this is the truth. I have officially finished my first NaNoWriMo, and I have officially finished my first novel.
It was hard, it was grueling, but I did it.
Okay, so maybe I did change my word count back down to 35k. But that doesn't really matter, right? That's still a large amount of words. And it was still a full blown story, with plot and characters and EVERYTHING.
So be proud of me. How many of you out there actually won NaNo your first year of it? (Okay, so maybe a lot, but c'mon)
To celebrate, I...I don't know.
Maybe I'll not stay up until 11 every night, trying to get in my word count.
Maybe I'll immediately start writing another novel, now that I know what it's like finishing one (actually, this kind of is my plan...)
Maybe I'll go out and get fat on celebratory doughnuts with my writing partner Abby. (Also likely, we discussed this at the beginning of the month XD)
In any case, I'm done. I've finished a book, I know what it's like, I'm motivated to do that again, outside of NaNo.
Be proud of me, people. Trying to write through schoolwork, an obnoxious little brother at home, and craft fair prep is harder than you think.

So, until next time...

NaNo Log: Day 11

Ayyy I'm actually keeping up wit dis lyfe. (Insert other stereotypical teenage gobbledygook here.)
Yes, I am sick, and yes, I did get to stay home from co-op today. THOUGH I'm not *exactly* caught up (that would take many, many straight hours of writing), I did get quite a bit done today. Sooo....

Day: 11
Total Words Written: 8,546
Words Written Today: 1,546
Words Left: 36,454
Favorite Line:

“This is Mission Control.” Said the man’s deep voice. “Ready for liftoff?”

            “Affirmative.” Marcus said solemnly, nodding approval to Preston beside him.

            “Starting engines now.” Preston turned a dial and the ship roared to life, rumbling beneath our feet and over our heads.

            “T-minus 60, 59, 58…”

My breath caught as the countdown started. I had nothing to do for now except strap in and organize myself for launch. Red strapped in next to me.

            “45, 44, 43…”

Preston’s fingers flew over the keys and buttons on his panel. Marcus sat in anticipation, his hand poised over a little numerical keyboard.

“39, 38, 37, 36…” Sitting back, Preston set his left hand on the armrest and lingered his other hand over a final lever. Marcus’s fingers started to tremble. Suddenly he sat bolt upright, bright, intense fear in his eyes. His hand dropped from the keyboard.

“What are you doing?” I yelled at him over the tremulous noise.

“I can’t…” Marcus looked back at me, pleading.

“23, 22, 21…”

“You have to!” I screamed. The men on the other side of the screen were apparently oblivious to our situation. Preston and Red were alarmed, but neither could do a thing.

“15, 14, 13…”

I unstrapped myself and stumbled over to the captain’s seat. Marcus sat, statuesque and white as marble.

“10, 9, 8…”

 I tore him out of the seat and strapped myself in. He tripped over to my own seat, and fumbling with the buckles, managed to get himself tied in.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Please key in launch code ‘030’.”

I did as he said, my fingers typing in the numbers as quickly as possible. Nodding, I signaled Preston to complete his final launch duty.

“Liftoff.” Preston threw the lever forward, and we were instantly pressed against our seats at the sheer power of the craft. I wanted to turn my head, to see Marcus as he sat behind me in my own seat. But since the force did not allow me too, I could only imagine his face.

A face of pure fear, of pure shame.

Heheh, sorry for the extensive writing excerpt. I'm just really thrilled with this part :) So, pray that I keep up on the writing a lot a day, because it's necessary. VERY necessary. The motivation is so hard, ya know?

Anywho...see ya!

NaNo Log: Day 10

So, I, uh, KIND OF wrote today. Just a leetle bit. WAITWAITWAIT before you judge, I'm getting sick AND my brother's still home and crying AND I'm still behind on school. And obviously, NaNo isn't my mom's priority for me, right now. But I did what I could, with what I had, where I was. (Teddy Roosevelt, anyone?)
And although this sickness is supposedly just a cold, I'm kind of miserable. Maybe mumsy will let me skip co-op tomorrow, and I will be able to catch up on schoolwork and writing.

Day: 10
Total Words Written: 7,000
Words Written Today: 464
Words Left: 38,000
Favorite Line:

“Good-bye, and good luck.” The official nodded pertinently and strode through the middle of our group. At the other end of the bridge he gave a neat salute and disappeared into the dark corridor. We were all alone now.

LOOKIE LOOKIE HOW BEAUTIFUL THOSE NUMBERS ARE SO EVEN AND PERFECT hehhhhh...

                                          /\ Me right now.../\

Why, yes, that IS how I look at 9:00 at night, sick and wearing no makeup.

Gollum must leave you now. Gollum says goodbye.