Writing Originality and Politics--I'm Not Impressed

 A writer does not want her characters to be stereotyped or cliched. She wants her characters original.

That's why the tool of listing is used. Put some traits generally associated on the surface of your character, then the complete opposite of that trait in the other column.

Like with Gretel from the folktale, Hansel and Gretel.

First                                            Second                                     

Follower	Leader
Intelligent/smart	Dull/slow/apathetic/awkward
Emotional	Put-together
Patient	Impatient/nervous
Courage	Coward
Determined
Shy	Outgoing
Good	Misbehaving
Naive	Street smart, thinks on feet
Trusting	Suspicious
	Protective
	Clever
Younger	Immature/reckless Older

So I mix up what people think of the character Gretel and make a new, more interesting character. Instead of the younger sibling, she is the older. She is still smart and determined, but impatient and immature. Hansel has to be protected by her, so she is clever through her recklessness.

There is more than one way to switch her up. I could only change her age and keep everything else. Change her so much she is no longer recognizable as the icon of Gretel. There are extremes of sameness and complete difference.

I guess that's where I feel right now. Two extremes without the middle ground. I am the middle ground. Why isn't there a place for me? All the yelling around me only makes me angry and clam up.

Today's politics are bipolar. You are only this or only that. There are a set of requirements for that political party and goodness--none of them should fall into what the other party is fighting for! Yes or no. No compromise. No easing up to it, then finally getting your position done. Let's just alienate one-half of the population.

And I'm in the bloody middle.

Why are there single issue voters? Well, what does that mean? It means they believe in something so much, they are willing to take the heat from the other side. Willing to live in a less-than-ideal situation themselves because they believe so much that their cause is more important than themselves. 

Compromise. Change it up. Don't alienate. Grow up.

Oh yeah, and I'm doing NaNoWriMo. Excited.

All I want to do is get it written down. It is all there. Why is it so hard to move forward???

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So I have gotten pretty far in the background of the story by this point. Unfortunately, none of it is written down on my computer in actual story-form. More like, sketches and outlines in my sketchbook. All the information is clarification of the generations before the actual storyline, though. I have to remember to not get too caught up in the stories of the grandparents...

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The Dying Accidents

Just some thoughts.

My siblings love to watch Psych. With Netflix, they can watch all the seasons. None of us watched it when it aired, so that's a lot of episodes to catch up on. I got bored after the second season, but they continue.

Something got me thinking in a recent episode they watched. Lassiter's sister was taping the investigation for her grad project or something. He let slip that she was a "accident baby." Not planned. You know, the odd kid out of a family at the end of the line of the planned kids. Unexpected. Whoops. Like the twins in Cheaper by the Dozen. She was surprised by this (apparently, no one told her), but he could not take it back.

For whatever reason, this struck me odd. Why should she be surprised? Is it a bad thing to be a whoops baby? Now, I know this was a less than 10 second exchange, but it got me thinking. She was an unplanned kid at the end of how many kids the Lassiter's had. If she had been conceived before the planned kids, would she even be there?


Right. 10 second snip. I'm sure the writers were not even considering the baby of the Lassiter family being a candidate for abortion, but with the mentality some people have on abortion, she really was in the red. That sucks for her. The writers needed her, though, so I guess she can live.

Is the issue only relevant when a couple is starting off, no children involved yet? The keeping of the freedom? With all these 'accidents' being planned out of people's lives, I'm not sure the terminology of 'whoops baby' will be relevant in the future.

That brings me to my thoughts on Anne of Green Gables, too. I've had that in my head for a while now, actually. But I suppose that's a post for another day.

Hoping to get some time in on my book this weekend. Planning to stay up late because I can sleep in!! :D

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It has been almost a month since I last posted. That is sad. Since this blog is my self-help to get myself motivated, obviously this month was a bust. Sad to say, it was expected, starting summer work in the factory. Good money and hours, but horrible creative-draining conditions. Since I have tomorrow off, I am doing my best to let as much creativity flow.

Which is testament to the fact I am still awake, wide awake, at 12:30 at night. Draw until I fall off the table! That's tonight's motto. So far, so good. I have a few skit interactions between my lost, but beloved characters. Re-imagining and reminding myself of who they are. I will continue until further notice.

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Officially been a fail since I last wrote. I started my summer job this week. Though it has not be life-suckingly-boring, I have not had time to write. Due to graduations and hang-time with family, writing has just not happened. I want to do at least the whole "300-words a day" thing, because at least then I will get the book done in a year. Truly, I just want to sit down and write straight through until it is finished. I don't seem to have that in me, though...

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Aaaauuggghhhh! Why does it get so difficult to write???

Even when I identify the problem/distraction, I can never seem to follow through with modifying what I'm doing to be productive. The word count thing is helpful (I did get some more writing done in the last few days, with a new 'main character'), but 'goals' have never cut it out for me. Goals when other people are involved get me started and finished in record time, but for myself, I fall short.

I know I have a story to tell, and I know bits and pieces of that story. As I write, more pieces come into play and make sense.

In hopes of being somewhat productive, I started doing sketches for a children's book I picked up for a coworker. This was two years ago, and I have only thought about it with no concrete exploring. It has been fun researching children's books by rereading the ones we have in our basement. To bad I am no good at children's-book-styles. Suppose there's always a time to learn...

This rant has been written without interruptions. Is there hope for me yet?

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I finally have some numbers to be proud of today. I wrote enough to compensate the minimum of 300 words for the two days I took of, plus doubling that. I feel so accomplished! I technically have the first 'part' done now. It will more likely be the first two or three chapters, depending on how they look like they will line up. Finally things are falling in place!

I have been working on this story for a few years, but the storyline has never been very obvious to me. I got to know the characters really well; the issue was I was unable to have them interact. This first draft (that makes sense/is 'linear'/other stuff) feels very solid. I guess a year break from a project is a good thing.

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Not sure if it is a fail or a much needed break that I have not written a word in two days. Probably a fail, but I will imagine the latter. I read my friend's book (well, half of it) on Friday. That was productive. Then I finally got to hang out with friends I don't see during the college year. I did start to paint something. So I guess, not fail, just otherwise productive other than the book.

Due to the nature of it being Memorial Day with hanging with family, food and campfires, I do not know how much writing I'll get done until Tuesday.

Because I only really seem to be able to write at night, and I do not want to waste time going FB-Tumblr-Email-webcomic(that is always updated once a week, but I check every day...), I am doing my best to work on other stuff more 'productive.' Drawing works fine most of the time. My friend just gave me her book to edit/comment on, so I have that to keep me entertained. I have to say, it is a better use of time than waiting for replies on FB when I have nothing to wait for in replies.

Yesh! Finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. I am beginning to realize that my plan of having two simultaneous plot lines in the same book makes for a very long book. And it does not work with the amount of stuff I need to put in for parallel A to make it to B in the outline. I was figuring a second book would happen, but in a more continuation of the double plot line then necessity to tell the amount of information in the two stories. At this point, I will just write. I will worry about how everything fits together later.

It works kinda in The Heros of Olympus, so I'm sure I can figure it out.

"First draft" word count: 2105

Yesterday managed to be tiring, or I was just lazy after the day's activities. So I did not get any writing done, but fallen into my bad habit of reading scanned manga. The day before, though, I wrote a lot. I think I'll start a counter after tonight to see how many words I have gotten through.

700 words? I feel so accomplished! As much as I wish writing in my journals/sketchbooks was sufficient, I am finding writing on the computer to be the best method so far. It is also the most distracting. Maybe that's the challenge, though. When I'm in my journals, I am thinking about my computer. When I'm on my computer, though, the distraction is more readily available, so easier to identify and combat.

Oh theories. I may write a bit more, but I should be getting to bed. Or not...

I got about 200 words and several sketches done today. I really wanted to get a chapter down. What's the deal? It has been a bit stressful today. No one could make our parents happy--siblings had dirty rooms, I woke up and went on FB to check life. I was all gun-ho to getting a dent in the book, but the yelling and arguing kinda messed me up. At least I got something down!

Tomorrow will be a travel day with down time. I will do my best to be disciplined and write. A lot. Something of a lot. Yep.

One paragraph? Not the start I was hoping for. Why is it that I know what I want to convey, but the words refuse to portray what I think? Gonna go to bed and work on it tomorrow.

This blog will be updated with the progress I have on my books. It is mostly for me. To help me realize how far I have gotten or not. Hopefully this will keep me on track.

The two novels/series I am working on have the titles of Rings and Fairies. Neither actually deal with either of these concepts anymore, so they are fun code names until I figure out real titles.

Rings is on hold. Again. I worked on it a lot this last semester with a great plot forming and more interesting and developed characters. After watching Legend of Korra, though, I found Bryke had peered into my brain and taken all my ideas. Even the electricity used by the Equilists. I have been working on Rings since 2005, so this is completely unfair. The plan is to leave it be, come back, and make it even cooler than LoK.

That may take a while. Don't hold your breath.

Fairies it is! I took out the idea of fairies some time back in 2009, but I have no idea what else to call it. Before I left for Italy for the semester, I changed up a lot of where the characters were ending up. It made the plot a lot more interesting and effected character interactions. I left it, though, to work on the vibe from Rings. Now that that vibe has passed, back to this one!

I have the first book mapped out. Which is good. It is actually really solid. I just have to write it. The outline seems really short, though. It is on two realms with two casts of characters, so hopefully that will develop into something longer than what is obvious from the outline.

Now to start writing!!!