Loving What You Write

Hello everyone! Today, my post is inspired by a post on my favorite writing blog – Go Teen Writers. My post is about loving what you write. On GTW, they listed several examples of ways to help you when writing your first draft, and they asked for any other examples the reader might have. They had several great suggestions, which I’ll write my own version of.

When you write a story, you’re going to feel sensitive about it, that’s just the way it goes. Trust me, it can be a tad bit depressing to write sentences that just feel loaded down by a herd of elephants. (That was an interesting simile…) What I mean is, when your sentences move so slow, or just don’t sound clever at all, and your dialogue is… blah.

Half the time, in my opinion, that’s just your feelings. I mean, sure, a story is going to need refining, just like any worthwhile craft, but your original writing is sure to have that new spark. I love reading stories by my friends that have scant to no editing. So here’s a few tips on how to get past the feeling down about your story, and learn to love what you write.

Quickly write your first draft A lot of people like to edit as they write, but that can be a stressful and tiring way to do it. I, for the most part, try to just get through the first draft as quick as possible, even if I know that there are many things that need fixing, or something isn’t completely accurate to the timeline. It’s best to just write. After that,

Take a break from your story If you start reading/editing your story right away, it’s only going to depress you. “I spent a month writing this? I spent six months writing this?” Don’t give into the temptation to read your finished work. Instead, set it aside for a few weeks, or a month, and take a break. Maybe read a book you’ve been wanting to read, or start on a new story your passionate about. By the time you come back after distancing yourself from your story, you’ll feel a  lot better about it.

Share your story This is hard for many people. As I said, we’re very touchy or sensitive about our work, and we don’t like to have “prying” eyes reading what we’re still unsure about. But one of the biggest confidence boosters a person can get is if you share your story- with the right people. I’m not saying post it on the internet where the world can see, because there are some mean people out in the world. Some might even steal your idea. But if you share your story with another writing friend, even if they point out some grammatical or sentence structure mistakes, they’re sure to say something good too. You can also share it with family. I’m very close with my sister’s husband’s family. It’s the most wonderful feeling when you have a bunch of kids all wanting you to read them your story, it almost makes you melt. 🙂  One more…

Go back This is the one I was thinking. One way I can really get back into my story is if I go back several chapters, or even the beginning of the book, and read that part you thought was funny, or just remember why you wrote this story- remember why you love it. If you can get to the heart of your story- the core- then you’ll love it again, especially if you remember why you wrote it in the first place.

And that’s all for today! I hope this post has been helpful in any way to you. Have a great day!

Bethany

What are some ways you get back to loving your story?

Writing From Experience

I’m sure we’ve all heard the old saying that you should write what you know. And it’s very true. If we write about our hometown, add in the characteristics of your best friend to another character, maybe just stick in a family tradition. If you’ve been somewhere or done something, you can write about it in a much clearer way then if you were just reading about it. Of course, as writers we know that’s not always the case. At least, it’s nice to have something to write about that we know, but (to fantasy writers especially) this can sometimes be impossible. But even if you’re writing a Sci-Fi masterpiece, or a fantasy epic you can still write from experience, and make your story much more realistic.

Last Tuesday, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. It wasn’t a boatload of fun, but I did learn a few things. And now, if I ever need a character to have surgery- almost any surgery- I can relay it more realistically because I’ve been through it. I’ve been prepped. I’ve had heart and lung monitors strapped to my chest, I’ve had a machine beeping in the background, I’ve tasted the sickly sweet scent that is general anesthetic filling my nose, and causing my arms and legs to tingle and feel almost weightless. It’s an interesting feeling, not one that I enjoy. I also know what it’s like for the doctor’s to be worried, and to check your monitors to be sure everything is how it should be. But what if your story doesn’t have surgery? Well, Allison pointed something out to me. This knowledge can also be used in the case of your character being knocked out with drugs, because, well, that happens sometimes! 😉

But we can’t always write from experience. What if your main character is in France? Or South Korea? What if you’ve never been there, but are writing from what you’ve read? That’s okay. Some things you have to write from what you read in books or online. Or perhaps you know someone who HAS been to France or South Korea, and can interview them on THEIR experience. Most people will be very friendly about this, especially if you know them well. If you want to know about where someone has been, or about what they’ve went through, all you have to do is ask. Remember to be respectful about it- especially if you’re writing a war story and speaking to a veteran, or something of this nature. If you are respectful to someone, and show true interest in their story, they’ll be more then willing to open up and listen to what you have to say. In fact, most people want to tell someone about things they’ve done, or been through, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Finally, here are a few suggestions of things that you can use for experience. I’m sure there are many more that you could choose, but these are my two cents on the matter.

Riding – This is a pretty simple thing. Most everyone rides in cars, don’t they? Some people even have the pleasure of riding a horse. Some people don’t know what it’s like to ride a horse, believe it or not. Some people have only ridden one that’s been led around, and hasn’t been trained properly. If you can describe the way a car skims along the highway, or a horse trots, you can use that. And furthermore, you can take a horse, and change it into something else. If you’re writing fantasy, there are normally fantasy animals to go into it, made up by you. You can give your animal some of the characteristics of a horse, perhaps just the way it rides. You can apply this to other animals as well.

Places you’ve been – I know we talked about this above, but even the few places you HAVE been can be used for your story, especially for contemporary writers, or just stories set in this world. If you’ve been to this next town over, and see some tradition practiced there. You can use that!

People you know – This one can be tricky. I wouldn’t recommend making carbon copies of people and changing them into characters, but perhaps you can take a characteristic here, a habit there. You can always ask a person, but that might bring up an awkward conversation. If it’s a villainous or embarrassing character, it might be best to just make it up. Hurting someone’s feelings is not worth it.

Things you’ve done – You know that rock climbing wall they brought to your camp last year? Well, I don’t know for sure if they brought one to yours, but they brought one to mine. It took everything in me to get to the top of the beginner’s wall, while all my friends were climbing the medium or hard one. (I’m not very sports-oriented.) I can remember the way my arms were screaming as I nearly hung from a rock, and tried hard to keep my footing. You can use the little things you’ve done for a story. In this instance, it could be for characters climbing a rock cliff to sneak into an enemy’s castle. Or something of the sort. But it doesn’t have to be something like this, you can use almost any instance or experience you’ve had for a story. Swimming, riding bikes, playing the piano, ice skating… All of these things and more can be used in a story.

The world – If you look outside, God has made a beautiful creation for us. And that creation can be added into your story. I’m sure most stories have the singing of wind in them, or at least the soft kiss of a light breeze. What about the flowers you see? The sound of the bees buzzing by… There’s so much out there that we KNOW about, because it was made for us. Use it. I’m pretty sure most stories, no matter what genre, have some sort of out of doors scene.

So you see, experience doesn’t have to be some amazing thing you’ve done, like swimming away from a shark, or base jumping. Experience is life. And when we add life into our stories, they grow so much, and become much more three dimensional. They breathe. So keep writing, and don’t forget to add in your experiences to give your story a nice rounded, finished feel.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post, and I can’t wait to see you next week!

Bethany

What are some ways you write from experience?

Finding Names

First things first, Happy Valentine’s Day! I could write a post about romance and such, but Leah’s already got that covered for the next few weeks. Though, perhaps, keep an eye out on my blog for a post of my own. 😉

You may remember that last week I wrote about The Importance of a Good Name. 

At the end of the post, I promised to blog about how to find names. This post may be a bit shorter then the last, depending. On my favorite writer’s group on Facebook, people are often asking how others figure out names for their characters. I might post my answer now and again, but I also read what other people post. So I’ve come up with some of the answers, and I’m going to give my view on them.

Here are a few good ways to find names, listed in random order.

1. Baby Name Books.

This is a commonly used way to find names. I don’t always use this method, but it can be a nice resource since most name books also offer the meaning of the name. Most names to be found in baby name books would be good for modern stories, though there are a few names like Charlotte, William, John, etc. have withstood hundreds of years, and can be used for historical writing.

2. The Bible.

If you look at what people name their children, some of the most common names come from God’s word. Ruth, Mary, the aforementioned John, Peter, Hannah… all these names come from the Bible. And I think the book has some truly great names in it. The history goes so far back, some names in the Bible are even suitable in fantasy works. For example, in Jill Williamson’s Blood of King’s series, her main character’s name is Achan. If you look in Joshua Chapter Seven, you’ll find a man named Achan. In Hebrew, this name means troublemaker as it does in Mrs. Williamson’s book. This takes me to next on the list.

3. Using Other Languages.

This is one of my favorite ways to find names. My go-to languages are Greek and Hebrew- some of these names fit really well for fantasy, which is the genre I write. Here’s a site with some Greek Baby Names, and here’s one for Hebrew Baby Names. If you click on the name the meaning will pop up. These can also be used for historical fiction if you’re writing a story based in Israel or Greece. You can also use other languages like Irish, Egyptian, or Italian. Just about every language has some great names to choose from. Which leads me to number 4.

4. Changing letters around or making up names.

This generally works well for fantasy names, but I can see it being done in modern stories as well. If you take a name from another language, like Adelina from Italian, you could replace some of the letter. Adalin, Abelina, Adelia. Some of these may be actual names, though I’m not sure, I just switched letters, added, or took away. Or you can just make up names. I do this quite often as well. It’s interesting, though, how your fake names can turn out to be real names later. Some names I made up: Fanic, Cairn, Rior. I’m not sure if any of these have name meanings, but those are just an example.

Finding names isn’t too hard, and it’s certainly nothing to stress out about. This can be a really fun part of your novel writing journey if you let it. I hope you enjoy this post. I hope it doesn’t sound rushed or hurried- I’ve written it while in pain from wisdom tooth surgery, so that’s why. 😉 So next week I’ll be blogging about writing from experience!

How do you come up with names for your stories?

Photo Credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

The Importance of a Good Name

Hello there! Bethany Here. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about the importance of a good name. If you’re like most writers, (including myself) then you have probably slapped a random name on your characters many times. And that’s fine. Just because it doesn’t have a meaning that fits right to your character, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good choice. But a GOOD name is something important.

For example, here are a couple of random names that at first glance do not have very good meanings.

 Belinda- This name means… beautiful serpent. *Shudder* Is that not creepy or what? It makes sense that a lot of bad characters in stories bear this name, though I’m sure there are some nice Belinda’s out there… they just needed a different name.

Cassandra – She who is ignored. Well isn’t that interesting? It’s not an evil name, in the exact sort of way, but I wouldn’t call it a good name.

Here’s a list of “evil names” I found if you’re looking for a good villain title. http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~joanna/misc.html I wouldn’t say they’re all evil names though- be sure to check the meanings!

On the other hand, these names could get a completely different interpretation. Nobody likes having a terrible name. In Wisdom Book, a course my family goes through with the Institute for Basic Life Principles, they have a wonderful lesson on names. One story they shared, I think will work into this blog post.

A woman and her family went to a diner where a waitress named “D” (I can’t actually remember her name, only that it started with a D :P) was serving them. The mother was very interested in D’s name, for she studied names and their meanings. When she asked D if she knew what her name meant, the waitress grew very offended, replying that yes, she knew it meant “Little Devil” and went off in a huff. When she had to return eventually, the mother informed her that her name actually meant, “Little lamb that is loved by God” or something of that nature. The thing is, our names can be so complex, they can mean so many things. I still think it’s a neat idea to name your characters according to meaning, though, because if it’s not too obvious, and your reader ever decides to look it up, it could come as a neat surprise.

Then there are the good names. Here is something pretty cool that I just discovered. I’m a person that names people at random, for the most part, though I have been known to look up meanings, and I think I will try to do that more often now. If I don’t, this post will make me look like a bit of a deceiver. 😉

In one of my current stories, my main character is a prince named Elric. I picked the name Elric out at random- Eric is so overused, you know. And no, I was not thinking about Edward Elric from an anime show, as my brothers keep suggesting. In fact, that character was the least thing on my mind when I picked the name. I just… picked it at random. It seemed to fit my character, and I liked it. Little did I know just how much it did fit my character.

Elric – The king. *Pauses for dramatic effect* What? This excited me. My character is a prince. He’s going to be king one day, and lo and behold, his name means the king! The fun part is that I didn’t even plan it. Don’t you love it when things work out in that way?

So naturally, I had to search some of my other characters. Anya is a very sweet girl, that shows Elric the ways of The One.

Anya – Favor, grace. This also fits this character!

Let’s try a different story, and see how it goes. One of my semi-villains in one of my other stories is a brooding boy named Jem. Jem is an actual name, people. Look it up. 🙂

Jem- Supplanter, representative. This is interesting. Supplanter is generally considered a bad thing to be called. It’s a person that tries to take over, or overthrow. This could be held up to Jem in a way, but isn’t the exact description of him I would pick.

Just a couple more.

Samantha – listener. This doesn’t really fit this character, though, as a human, she does listen. I guess this name just has a general meaning.

Richard – Powerful ruler. Uh… doesn’t fit my friendly, quiet Korean boy at all.

So you see when you name your characters at random, though it can be fun, the meanings can come out in varying results. I’m not saying, as stated above, that every name has to have a meaning, but after looking up my characters names, and reading the ones that actually fit my characters… it just adds a deeper meaning to my story, and to the character. It seems as if it makes them more three-dimensional, and it makes me a little excited. Names are important. Your name is important. My name means House of God, and I love it! Your name adds so much to who you are, and as a writer, naming your characters something that relates to their story will add a new dimension to them.

So consider looking up the meaning of a name before you slap it onto your character, though you don’t have too! After all, some names, like Rior (another character from a novel of mine) mean nothing at all! Just have fun, do your best, and try to avoid naming your character Belinda. 😉

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Next week I will be talking about how to find names- first names at least.

What are some of the meanings of your characters names?