Sinedra - Writing Through Time, Space,and All Things Magical

My Home Library: The Meme

As requested, I have put together a meme based on my Home Library posts. You can do all of them, but feel free to skip a number if you don’t own any books relevant to the day’s prompt (just replace it with an idea of your own). Take a picture, write down the stories attached to the book(s) in question, go nuts!

1. “The System” (example). 2. Favourite female writer. 3. Favourite male writer. 4. Bought on location (where the writer lived, the book takes place, the movie adaptation was shot). 5. The largest and the smallest book you own. 6. Complete works of one author. 7. Favourite poetry collection 8. Favourite biography. 9. Favourite cookbook. 10. Favourite graphic novel. 11. A book you didn’t understand at all. 12. “One of these things is not like the others” (inconsistent editions within a series, like so). 13. Best bargain. 14. Most recent purchase. 15. Favourite lay-out design. 16. Book you bought because of the title. 17. Book you bought because of the cover design. 18. Multiple translations of the same work. 19. Multiple copies of the same work. 20. The funniest book you own. 21. The most expensive book you own. 22. A recurring interest/theme. 23. A book you read so many times that it fell apart. 24. A book you think everyone should read. 25. A book that made you cry. 26. A book you would prescribe for an aspiring author. 27. A cover design you hate. 28. A book that was a waste of your time. 29. Favourite book from your childhood. 30. The book with the most pages in your collection.

Tastes and aromas. What a fun little chart!

So I normally don't post personal stuff outside of my side blog, but I just wanted to thank dragontameroutoftime for helping me through a rough night I had last night. I really can't express how she helped me calm down when I was a sobbing wreck. Thanks for being an amazing friend!

how to trick writers into giving you more fanfic to read

Writing Tip #8

Write every day. That’s right, every day. You may have heard this before, maybe you haven’t. It’s a lot easier to eliminate writer’s block and to get pages dished out in a day. If this seems daunting and you don’t believe you have the time, make time. In between work, or studying, or even before class (which is what I do), just start off with what you can get and then go from there.

Don’t worry about the quality of your writing, just write what you can. That’s what editing is for later. Keep at it until you are writing at least three paragraphs or more everyday. It should be easier to start when the time comes to just sit and start typing (or writing in a notebooks) for a whole hour or more.

A good thing to remember when writing: the first letter of the first word of a sentence is always capitalized.  Always.  Secondly, “said” is almost never capitalized.  This:

“Hey.” Said the guy.

should nEVER EVER HAPPEN.  “Said” pretty much never ever starts a sentence and certainly never with quotes or dialogue.

USING SAID: “Hey,” said the guy.

Any time you would put a period at the end of the quote, but it is followed by a dialogue tag, replace the period with a comma.

If the quote ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, the capitalization remains the same: “Hey!” said the guy.

ONLY, ONLY EVER, USE A PERIOD IF THE DIALOGUE TAG (THAT’S WHAT SAID AND ALL THOSE OTHER WORDS ARE) COMES BEFORE THE QUOTE: The guy said, “Hey.”

THIS HAS BEEN A PSA

Writing Tip #7

Get to really know your character. From novel to OC in a fanfic, know every little thing about them. What is their favorite color? Most hated food? Deepest fear? Guilty pleasure? Are they afraid of heights or spiders? If you don't know them intimately, you can't write them well. It's like trying to tell the life story of a stranger you pass on the streets. You can't explain why they punched the wall, but they did. You can't write a character that people will get attached to them if you aren't attached yourself. A fun way to figure out their nuances is take those silly personality quizzes online. They actually make you think really hard on the little stuff and it helps big time. Remember that the world around them will also affect things. If a war is going on, the most likely won't be eating like kings. Do they resent it or is it all they've know? Sometimes it's the little things that really open up a character. It can be as stressful as trying to pull all the skeletons from your best friend's closet, but it's worth it in the end. (I.E. had a character afraid of the color orange and they were stuck in a pumpkin patch with their friends. Panic ensued and fighting happened, all because it was a feared color.) Any detail can seem too little to include, yet they can be the driving force behind a scene. Oh, and keep notes on their personality and preferences. It's easy to forget it all when you set down your writing.

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Hello there, gorgeous. Absolutely perfect, could do no wrong, ever. I'd die for them. Oh, and Reave's there too.

All kidding aside, absolutely amazing work. I love this so much. And it's not even my commission (but I did make the bastard, soooo maybe?) Love your work, Jano!

@sihakadan, I know you're drooling over him.

Almost done working on this commission!

Writing Tip 4

Rather self explanatory today. Whether you're writing a fanfiction or a novel, do your research. I can't explain how many times I've stopped reading a story because of iPods in the 80s, matches in 307 BC, indoor plumbing in plague ridden England during the Dark Ages. Seriously, it's impressive when a writer adds history or cultural facts to their story (particularly fanfiction, which I love, but is riddled with problems). I don't mean just use Wikipedia, skim through history books or read up on villages or other countries. I promise in the end it'll make you feel good and further your pride in your work. Publishing companies also will usually throw your work automatically out for not researching things, if the above wasn't incentive enough.