Waiting for Perfection

You're in your first draft. You've gotten a couple of sentences down, but nothing else comes. Your head is in the clouds, waiting for those perfect words. And nothing comes. 

Why? Because perfect words don't exist. It will take so much editing before those words come even close to perfect. 

Take this following quote from Margaret Atwood, 

I agree with her 100%. I am a perfectionist, everything MUST BE PERFECT! I've struggled with it because it gets in the way sometimes. It's so hard to let it go! (Let it gooooo!) 

I had to...

Now I know, for those of you who can't write a sloppy first draft like me, this will take work.  To borrow a slogan from Camp NaNoWriMo (which is only a MONTH away!!), lock up your inner editor. When the first draft is done, let him loose, and let him do his job. But put him away until that draft is (completely, I'm looking at you anti-sloppy first draft people!) done.

This is a mug NaNoWriMo used to sell :)

What does your inner edit look like? Do you struggle with perfectionism?

Have a happy monday!

Motivation For Your Characters

Everybody needs motivation, that final push to get you to you're destination.

The runner, who sees the sign that reads, "Keep going! You've got this!" and makes it to the finish line.

The student, whose about to quit studying for the exam,  sees a future for himself, and keeps going.

The mom, tired from work and stress, who comes home to a three year-old who tells her that she loves her. That she is strong.

People need motivation all throughout their life. After all, if you don't have the motivation to get out of bed every morning, you're not exactly living.

Your characters need motivation to get to the end. To reach their goal. If they don't, the story isn't really a story, just an explanation of what they're doing everyday. It falls flat. 

Your MC needs a goal to pursue, otherwise they are just living, and that's very boring for a reader. Imagine if Katniss' sister didn't get chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss and Prim would've gone home and continued on with their lives. No star crossed lovers, no survival, just living. I have high doubts that that version of the book would go onto become a major motion picture.

Maybe your character needs to reach the mountain and save his brother before the villain kills him. Maybe your MC needs to finish a huge project in order to qualify for the championship game.

What is pressuring your character to work harder? This motivation should be good enough to do three things:

1. Motivate your MC
2. Keep your reader hooked
3. Move your story along

If the motivation you give your character meets these three requirements, keep on doing what you're doing.

If, however, it doesn't meet the requirements, up the consequences. This will help motivate your character to go faster, which will move your story along, and make the reader root for the MC.

What do you think? Does your motivation meet the requirements? 

100 For 100 Challenge

Okay, so today I'm going to tell you about a really cool thing happening on another blog. It's called 100 for 100, and you write 100 words each day for 100 days! In the end, you'll arrive at at least 10,000 or more words-how cool is that? It's happening now at GoTeenWriters, so you should check it out :)

I pledged to do it, and already I've written 983 words (and it's only the first week!!)

(I do realize this post is a little late, the challenge started a couple days ago. Registration IS closed, but you can still do it without making it official, or contact the person running it!)

Hope you decide to join us!

Wise Words From Virginia Woolf

When I write, I weave in pieces of my mind and soul. We all do. Our writing is us. Even if you are a 14 year old girl who is writing about zombies. No matter what, we put in little bits of us into our writing. It's because we are writing it, and we only know what we know, so our characters only know what we know. 

We put ourself in our writing, and there is no way to get around it. We are a piece of our writing, and our writing is a piece of us.  Virginia Woolf says it perfectly:

Without realizing it, we take our biggest, darkest secrets and load them onto our characters. Every indescribable feeling we've had, we give them to our characters. We curse them and gift them all at once. They get the good and the bad. That's what great about writing, you can give the best and the worst, and your characters stay with you anyways. :)

Time Management

When you're a teen, there is so much going on. Soccer, dance, homework, etc. It can be hard to find a time to write.

The best way to overcome this is to separate a time for writing each day. During this time you do nothing but write. Schedule it around your soccer practice and study time. Adjust it to fit your schedule.

I might be able to write from 4:30-5:00 everyday, while someone else might not be able to write in that same amount of time. And that's okay. 

Maybe when you get home from school you start your homework  right away, and then you write for a half hour, and then you go back to finishing homework. It's whatever works for you. You may want to schedule 15 minute intervals when writing. This way, you can have fresh eyes for both your writing and that Social Studies essay due tomorrow.

Ex:

3:00-3:15-Homework

3:15-3:30-Writing

3:30-3:45-Homework

A lot of people talk about writing, and read about writing, and think about writing, but never actually write. Don't fall into that trap! Schedule time for yourself! You deserve it.

Music in Writing

I have over 600 songs on my phone, even still, I go to internet radio for music. Especially when I'm writing.

Building a soundtrack for your book can be very helpful, and authors do it all the time. Spotify is awesome for that kind of thing. Using it, you can create playlists, and follow others. I found one that has popular songs without the lyrics, so that it's easier to focus.

Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood to write (crazy, I know!), but it happens. Putting on music that sparks an idea really helps me  get going. Not everyone can listen to music while writing. Some people prefer complete silence. For me, it feels awkward sitting there waiting for words to come. It feels too forced.

Music can influence emotions and actions, making it a great cure for writer's block. Melodies have a way of inspiring ideas and plot twists you never thought possible.

Now, I'm a smidgen biased. I love music.There's something about a powerful song that just makes me fell good. I can't even describe it. It's like this soaring feeling in your chest when you just go wow, that was amazing. Bad songs can often have off the opposite affect on me, I'll often cringe.

There are downsides to listening to music while you write, one, you can get distracted. And two, if you're listening to internet radio, there is the distraction of ads and skipping tracks.

My favorite types of songs when writing are ones that correlate with that I'm writing. For example, if my main character just got his/her heart broken, I might play some Taylor Swift.

What about you?  Do you like to listen to music when you write? What's your favorite noveling music?

Asking What if

How is a story created? Most often, its by two simple words, what if? What if teens had to fight to the death? (Hunger Games) What if there was no color, no emotion, no pain? (The Giver) What if you were in a coma, and could decide whether to stay or to leave? (If I Stay)

Writers aren't the only people who ask this question, normal people do, everyday. Writers just pursue the idea and expand upon it. We can take a simple question, and transform it into pages of words and scenes and characters and life.

How do we do it? We think. And we think. And we think. Until that one question becomes a nagging thought in our minds, growing into an idea. If you have writer's brain, like me, you will start creating opening sentences and climaxes.

Think of an idea, and let it grow. Don't force it though. It wouldn't do you any good to just lay on your bed and stare at the ceiling. If you do you want that "what if" idea, just observe. Look around you wherever you go. Just be patient.

Back To School

Many students are back to school already, leaving summer behind for chilly fall. I, luckily, don't start until wednesday.

With fall coming much faster than anticipated here in New England, its hard to say goodbye to summer.  This year I'm vowing to work harder, be nicer,  and relax a little bit. I thought in the mean time, I'd share with you a quote that seems fitting for the back to school season;

I found this quote at thingswesay.com and thought it was perfect! 

Are you back to school?