What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

Posted by Raven M on 2:53 AM in goals, nico, reading, ready. set. write!, starfall, unfair, what's up wednesday, writing,

 

 What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk where writers post about what's up by answering four questions. If you want to participate go here.

WHAT I'M READING

I finished Faking It by Cora Carmack a few days ago and it was much better than Losing It so if you're looking for a well-written NA Contemporary Romance I highly recommend this book. I'll try to get a review up sometime soon.

I won Slammed in a contest along with a few other NA books so it looks like my summer is going to be NA-tastic. I also still have a lot of other books to read, so I think I'm going to be covered reading-wise for the rest of the year. I've never read anything by Colleen Hoover but I like her writing style. It's simplistic and even though I'm the kind of person who likes to read books with descriptive writing (because it's the way I write) it's nice to read different writing styles, you know? The main character Laken...well let's just say we have a love/hate relationship. I was about ready to throw my Kindle the other day because of something she said and...ugh.

This book is taking me a long time to read but that's mostly because I spend more time writing than reading. Speaking of which...

WHAT I'M WRITING

So the good news is: Starfall has a new beginning. I really like it and it's an improvement from the last one because things are happening and it's not boring. Bad news: The writing is not going as fast as I want it to. I know what I want to happen in this chapter but finding the words to write it is difficult at the moment.

Here is the new and improved beginning:

 

Seren

I notice two things when I pull up to my house: there’s a van parked in the driveway with Curly’s Carpet Cleaning Service printed on the side and the front door is wide open. None of this would be a problem if we had carpeting in any of the rooms in the house, and if my mother had been home to let them in.

Three weeks.

That’s how long it’s been since we spoke to each other. I have gone over our last conversation so many times in my head, trying to see if something she said would give me an idea of what could’ve happened to her, but there was nothing. We talked about the usual things. How sophomore year was coming along, whether I was seeing anyone, and if I remembered to take the taser with me whenever I went out at night with my friends. My mom wouldn’t care if I was failing all of my courses and thinking about dropping out of school to be with a drug dealer twice my age. Just as long as I had the stupid taser she made me promise to never leave the dorms without, everything would be okay.

I would be safe.

But now it seems as though she’s the one who’s in danger.

I decided to participate in Ready. Set. Write! so I can get some writing done this summer. If you want to know more about it go here and (if you're interested) sign up. I am excited about working on Starfall now that I have a shiny new beginning and know how the story is going to end. I even typed out the last line. It feels good having a starting and an ending place. It makes writing this a lot less scary and more hopeful...like I can actually do this.

I'm looking forward to having people to write with this summer. And since I haven't talked about goals, here are a few that I want to reach:

• Daily Goal: Write 500-1,000 words every day. If I can write more than that, then that's fine but if not...that's also fine. Just as long as I'm writing.
• Weekly goal: Try to churn out anywhere between 3,000-5,000 words a week. I'm approaching the 1K mark, and would like to have at least 4K written by Friday, and around 6K written by the next What's Up Wednesday post.
• Summer Goal: Since Starfall is outlined in Acts/Blocks I want to finish half of Act 1 before I go back to school. I think that's around twelve chapters, but I'll have to double-check to make sure. If I somehow (magically) reach this goal early then my goal for the rest of the summer will be to finish Act 1.

I might add to these goals/revise them but as of now this is what I hope to get done this summer. (I also have a super secret side-project called Unfair. It's a darker retelling of Snow White and the only thing I'll say about it is that it's not about Snow White and...apples of the poisonous variety are involved. If you're curious, you can find Unfair's Pinterest board here. I'll work on it to keep myself writing whenever I need to take a mini break from Starfall or get stuck. I might tell you guys more about it if it ends up going anywhere.)


WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

My wip is actually what's inspiring me right now. I can't wait until I get to write the action scenes and when both of my MCs lives really start to change. I'm excited to see how both are going to react to the situations that I throw them in. Poor things...the next couple of chapters are going to be tough.

Also, have you ever dreamed about your wip as a movie? Sometimes I just sit and daydream about what Starfall would be like on the big screen. I want it to have the same feel as Alias with a dash of Men In Black and Falling Skies thrown into the mix. If Starfall ever gets published and someone decides to turn it into a film, he might be a little too old by then but Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy is what Nico looks like in my head (especially in this picture and this one) and he would be perfect for the role.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Nothing much. My birthday is on the 21st (which is next week Eep!!!) though and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. I'm thinking about going to go see Monsters University (I'm a big kid...I know) since it comes out that day and then out to dinner with my mom. Hehe, can you tell I'm not that big on birthdays?

How about you guys? What are you up to this week?

Continue Reading

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

Posted by Raven M on 12:55 AM in faking it, new adult, nico, reading, starfall, what's up wednesday, writing,

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk where writers post about what's up by answering four questions. If you want to participate, go here.


WHAT I'M READING

So I made myself promise that I wouldn't buy any more books. I have a buttload of unread eBooks on my Kindle plus around four other books that I haven't gotten around to reading or finishing (This includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I will get back to this book one day. It's just the font is so small and despite my youth I have terrible vision.) Well, anyways, you'll understand why my current predicament is a problem when I tell you that a book I really wanted to read came out and it took a lot of self-restraint for me to not just buy the book and throw all the promises I made out the window.  Yeah, Faking It by Cora Carmack was *this* close to being an exception but then the best thing in the world  EVER happened. I won an e-copy of the book on twitter and...this is amazing because I don't usually win things and so my lucky streak with winning books (I've won quite a few of them lately) has been a little crazy/wonderful. 



I love my Kindle

 I stayed up a little later than usual reading Faking It and let me to tell you it is way better than Losing It.  Cade is so sweet/funny/I think I'm going to add him on to my long list of book boyfriends. So, if you like NA Romances that are well-written and have great characters this book is for you. Plus, the cover looks pretty on a Kindle Fire screen, don't you think? I'm 46% in to this book and at the rate I'm reading, I need to start thinking about what I'm going to read next. And there are so many books to choose from...not that I'm complaining. ;)

 

WHAT I'M WRITING

 

I was *this* close to reaching 10K in my NA Science Fiction wip but instead of  moving on, I decided to start over. No matter how many times I tried to write, there was this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that this wasn't the right place to start the story, and though I complained for a bit about starting over...I knew that if I didn't do it now, then I would end up doing it farther down the road when I had 50,000 words instead of 10. I like the new beginning a lot better than the old one. I read a blog post about first pages (can't remember where I saw it) but the advice that stuck out to me was this: Start the story when your character's life changes.

 

After reading that, it didn't take long for me to get a sense of when Seren's life changes and what happens when it does. The good thing is...I still get to keep bits and pieces of all the words I wrote, so I don't have to get rid of them completely.

 

I keep all of my notes for Starfall in Scrivener and I'm really excited about writing this because for the first time I have an outline, a plot, and characters that I really want to write about. Since I'm a pantser, I usually only have the characters, and so when I finish writing a wip, there isn't any plot for me to build off of. I don't want to have to trunk another project, so I hope the fact that I outlined this time around will give me better results.

 

I also know how Starfall is going to end which means that I don't have any excuses. I have a Point A and a Point B. Now I just have to fill in all of the parts in-between.

 

 

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

 

I would have to say that writing in general is inspiring me right now. I read over stuff I have written now, and can't help but think about how much I have grown as a writer. I might just be biased, but my writing has improved a lot since I first started writing almost ten years ago when I was nine.

 

A lot of my progress can be attributed to the books I read/the tv shows I watch. I'm not sure about you guys but whenever I read a book, I analyze how the author writes this or that. I pick apart some of my favorite scenes and ask myself what do I like about this scene? What makes this scene good? What makes it bad?

 

The same goes for the writing on tv shows I watch. Seeing the way different characters interact with each other on screen really helps me to think about my characters and who they are not only as individuals but who they are when they are around other characters. This is all just going back to the saying that if you want to improve at writing you have to read (and in my case: watch tv).

 

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

 

• Well, I am trying to dodge spoilers for Game of Thrones because I am so behind and I keep hearing about the Red Wedding and everyone on twitter/other places on the internet have made it sound terrifying which can only mean that someone died. And if it's my luck, then it was a character that I really liked. And...yeah. I'm really scared to start S3 but I must be brave.
• I'm really horrible at explaining things but I'm looking forward to Ready. Set. Write. which you can find out more about here. Basically, if you're like me and need people to hold you accountable for your writing, then this is for you. I'm really hoping to finish the first draft of Starfall this summer, so this couldn't have come at a better time. It's going to start officially on June 12th so you guys have a little bit of time to figure out what you want to work on (if you want to participate). I'm hoping a lot of people decide to do this because the more people the better.

Enough about me. What are you guys up to?



Continue Reading

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

Posted by Raven M on 7:30 PM in doctor who, inspiration, nico, reading, seren, starfall, the deduction of shana nichols, what's up wednesday, writing,

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk where writers post about what's up by answering four questions. If you want to participate, go here.


WHAT I'M READING

I finished reading One a few days ago, and that was perfect timing because a book I won in a giveaway came in the mail. So my current read is Real by Katy Evans. This isn't the kind of  book I would normally read. But I can say that after reading Beautiful Disaster (which I didn't like but...I won it in another giveaway...so I can't complain that much) that it's way better in writing style, and in plot. I'm not really a fan of the main character. But it is an interesting story. It deals with bipolar disorder and Underground boxing and it has been compared to Beautiful Disaster but, like I said, it's a better read. Granted the main character makes me roll my eyes at times, this book has been an experience so far.

WHAT I'M WRITING

So over the weekend I wrote over 7K for the NA Science Fiction that I'm plotting. I have the first act and parts of the second act outlined which really makes writing a lot easier. I am a pantser though I am desperately trying to change my ways. I'm learning a lot about what works for me as a writer, and I now know that it's better for me to have an idea of what I want to write before jumping in to it like I normally do.

I am also thinking about reworking the beginning of my NA Mystery wip because I'm the kind of writer who needs a solid beginning in order for me to go on, and I also think this new beginning would fit the story more and I might be able to keep most of what I have already written if I do a little reworking.

As for my NA SciFi it's called Starfall, and it's told from two POVs. One is a girl (Seren) who discovers that her friends aren't who she thought they were, and is pulled into a secret agency that deals with extraterrestrial affairs (think Men in Black meets the X-Files) and another is a prince (Nico) from another planet who cares more about the history of Earth than his duties to the throne. When his dying father asks him to find the 'fallen star' and use it to destroy earth, he is forced to choose between saving the world or obeying his father.

I love Science Fiction a lot and so I am really excited for this project. Here's a snippet from Nico's POV:

My energy bar is now at fifty percent. At fifty five percent I can fight back but I don’t think Altair will wait that long to recover. He doesn’t. His hands find my neck in a matter of seconds, and squeeze tighter and tighter until the air starts thinning and stars dot my vision. Only they’re not really stars. They’re flecks of light against the darkness that is slowly starting to set in. I’m too weak for this, and my body is slowly shutting down in defense. Once that happens he’ll kill me. My brother will kill me without any remorse in his heart.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Whenever I start a new project, I make a board on Pinterest for it. I'm a very visual person and sometimes I need to look at pictures whenever I'm writing so that I can get a feel for the setting. Also, for me, whenever I find pictures/music/quotes that fit a project I'm working on, it just makes the book feel real, like it can actually be written, and knowing that inspires me to keep writing, if that makes any sense. You can find the Pinterest board for Starfall here.

Speaking of quotes, the one that inspired most of Starfall's plot is this:

Be humble for you are made of Earth. Be noble for you are made of stars. -Serbian proverb

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

• I went to the meeting with the company who will most likely give me an internship next summer and was told that I might be able to shadow someone who works in their law department to see if I would like to intern there, which is really exciting because I want to go to law school and I'm trying to decide if I want go into criminal or corporate law. I do know for a fact that I want to be a lawyer, it's just deciding what kind I want to be is the tricky part.
• Oh, and I decided to watch Doctor Who from the beginning. Not the beginning, beginning but from the reboot with the Ninth Doctor. I have a deep love for Christopher Eccleston's Doctor and I was sad to see him go, but rewatching this series has brought back some great memories. I also can't seem to find my Doctor Who set. I have series 3 on DVD and I was looking forward to watching it, only my mom decided to move things around while I was away at school and she can't remember where she put it. *sigh*

I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Happy writing!

Continue Reading

In which I talk about outlining and new projects

In which I talk about outlining and new projects

Posted by Raven M on 2:19 PM in new adult, nico, outlining, scrivener, seren, starfall, writing,

Hey guys!

So if you read my blog, then you know that I am a dedicated pantser. The first novel I finished was a complete disaster. It didn’t have a plot and though I really liked the characters, I had no choice but to trunk it in the end. For some people, not having an outline works for them. There are writers who can spit out semi-good first drafts without having any kind of guideline. I am trying to accept the fact that I am not that writer. I need to have some sort of plan before I start working on a new project. Though I would much rather delve into the story right away, I know I need to learn from my mistakes, stop being lazy, and actually outline a project for once.

In case you're wondering, I'm working on a New Adult (Light) Science Fiction novel (think The X-Files meets any movie/book/ TV shows about aliens taking over and intergalactic wars). It's called Starfall. This idea is not really new. I've been sitting on it for a few month now only when I first thought of it, the story was supposed to be YA. Ever since I started college, I found myself not being able to connect with high school anymore and I really wanted to write a story set in an environment that I was more familiar with. Starfall doesn't take place entirely in college, but the main character is a college freshman in the beginning of the story before she gets sucked into this world of aliens and lies.

So, yeah, Starfall has A LOT of layers. Not only that but it's told from the perspective of two characters. I thought about just making Seren (the girl narrator) the only POV of the story, but Nico's side of the story is important to the plot. It's going to be really hard making their voices distinct, especially since Nico is a guy and he's from a different planet but...if this is the way the story wants to be written then I'm going to take my chances, and hope for the best. Since I want to stay somewhat sane throughout the process of writing this novel, I am going to outline Starfall before I do anything else.

I'm a visual person and though there are a lot of brilliant blog posts about outlining I wanted to watch a video showing me the step by step process. So...I went on Youtube and searched around for a few videos.

This is what I found:



This video is pretty long so I suggest you watch it when you have a little bit of time on your hands. If you don't think you'll have time to watch it any time soon, here's a shorter version of it:



I hope these videos help you guys as much as they helped me. I already have Act I and part of Act II outlined. I had to change the structure of the outline a little bit because I have two main characters, but that's what I like most about this outline; it's so flexible!

Happy Plotting!

Continue Reading

In which I talk about finishing freshman year, what I'm currently reading, and my writing goals for the summer

In which I talk about finishing freshman year, what I'm currently reading, and my writing goals for the summer

Posted by Raven M on 5:03 PM in college, dominion, reading, starfall, update, wriitng,

Hello all!

It feels good to finally be able to update my blog after months of neglecting it. I am FINALLY finished with freshman year, and I cannot think of enough words to convey how excited I am that I made through the year without going prematurely gray.

There really isn't much to tell. This year was great. I made a lot of new friends. I made the Dean's List this past semester, was chosen to be the Student Affairs Director for Student Government, and I'm an orientation leader which means I get to move in to the dorms earlier and help the freshman get settled in.

My birthday is next month (I'm going to be 19...yikes!!!!) and I have a luncheon with a company who is giving me an internship for next summer coming up, so I'm ecstatic about that. Um, I wish there was more I could say. For the past couple of months, I have been sooo busy trying to balance school, hang out with friends, and keep up with all of the clubs that I'm in (I'm in six...yeah, I know, I'm crazy) that I didn't have time to write or read anything that wasn't school related. To make up for that, I've been spending the last couple of days catching up on the gazillion books I have on my Kindle.

The two books I am currently reading are One by Leigh Ann Kopans (which I started a while ago, but didn't have time to get back to it) and The Space Between by Victoria H. Smith. Both books are really good so far. I'm almost finished reading One so expect a review from me soon. Just know that you're going to want to buy this book when it comes out next month. Until then, add it to your TBR shelves on Goodreads. You won't regret it. I promise. :)

As for The Space Between, I like it a lot but there's a few things that are making my eye twitch about the story. The writing is solid but...I don't know. I'll wait until I'm finished reading it to make my final judgment.

And about...writing. Like I said, it's been a while since I've worked on any of my wips but my goal is to finish writing one of them by my birthday, June 21st. I have so many ideas and more attack me daily...I just have to find what I want to work on and stick to it, otherwise I won't get anything done.

If you're curious about what I'm working on check out the tabs at the top of the blog. Both of my current projects are Science Fiction, which I find funny since all of my SNIs are contemporary. Well, wish me luck. I'm not sure which wip will be finished towards the end of next month, but whichever one it is, at least I'll have another novel underneath my belt.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Thanks for reading,

Raven.

Continue Reading