Just Simply Unique

Spring Break

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Work. It can be such a seemingly evil thing. For months now I have desperately awaited the futile thing that most people know as Spring Break.

There's only one issue. I'm here now and have no idea what to do with myself. On the plus side, I get to blog, but I'm telling y'all: I'm going to go crazy. This post has no purpose either, so if you're looking for something of immense meaning and splendor, look elsewhere. This is just me talking. Rambling about life. I figure I should do that on here from time to time. I mean, I don't always have the time to come up with a writing topic, but I always know how to run my mouth on life.

Florida truly is a beautiful place this time of year, too. Tomorrow I'm going to the beach for the first time this year. Hoping to get some great shots. Last year I got lucky and nabbed a random couple biking across the sand. Yes. I COMPLETELY mind my own business.

Besides, for those of you who aren't around beaches? There are about 101+ reasons why beaches are amazing. To name a few. . .

Water. Water is very relaxing. Besides, it's salt water. While I find the Atlantic Ocean particularly lame compared to the Gulf of Mexico, it's still salt water. These waters will cure your every ailment. Okay, not really, but it sounds like a lovely idea.

Shells. Shells are mostly useless to you when you bring a bucket of them home, but they're quite lovely to look at.

Palm trees. Enough said.

Ukeleles.

Come on. Everyone needs some fancy islandy music when going to the beach. And if you need beach music? I've got a list of recommendations too. However, I must leave now. And leave you waiting for the beach photos I will be taking tomorrow. Unless it rains and my plans of brilliance are spoiled.

Character/Author Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:04:00 +0000

I has a brand new, shiny announcement! I've been wanting to do something new on JSU for awhile now and I finally decided: I'm hosting therapy sessions for poor, depraved characters and their miserable authors. Whether your character is being excessively rebellious, dealing with emotional or physical trauma, being too adorably cute, or refusing to drink his or her milk, Just Simply Unique can help! Head on over to our new fancy page Character/Author Therapy, or read below for terms and conditiony things you must shall know.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interested in a free therapy session? Email your problems to justsimplyunique@ymail.com
Please keep PG-13 as some sessions may be summed up in blog posts and we receive young readers.

Fine Print:

Just Simply Unique Therapy is by no means real therapy and will not be held responsible if your desires aren't completely met. We are a free service. We have the right to take as long as we could possibly want on responding with you, as we have a lot to do and may have multiple clients. Life happens and gets in the way. Sorry. Fictional facts may be used, but we will try to use factual knowledge when possible and when we aren't being too lazy to look it up. This is not guaranteed to work with all clients, but we will do the best we can. Free is relative. True pricing is anywhere between $100,000,000 and $453,830,770. April Fools. Upon signing up for this service, you hereby sign an imaginary waiver claiming that this was entirely your fault if something goes screwy. We will not ever steal your characters, ideas, or anything that is your intellectual property. However, we might steal your socks. We reserve the ability to post bits of our therapy sessions on the JSU blog unless decided otherwise in our sessions. We have the ability to use names given for both characters, places, fictional names, and yourself, but will try our best to clear that with you first. If you don't answer the question, I'm afraid there's nothing you can do but track me down and poke me in the chest with a pitchfork. Clients are not limited to one session alone but can burden their truly annoying problems on me over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again if they so choose. Terms and conditions may apply if they get too annoying. Sessions not limited to: Talking animals, walking trees, conscious rocks, characters that don't really exist, your annoying neighbor down the street who isn't really a character but you pretend (s)he is so you can learn their deep dark secrets and bury them alive in emotional pain and trauma, and anything else that you may possibly imagine in the scheme of fictional and not-quite-so factual therapy. I may subject clients to taking an MBTI test. So be prepared for that my evil minions--erm, clients. Note: I am using all this information to take over the world and this program may shut down at any given time once I have the information needed for my domination of the mere mortals. Here is the part where I yell muahahahahhahhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha in all caps, but I refuse to do so for the time being. So there. Any questions?

Go Teen Writers Blog Stop: Cowriting (plus a giveaway)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:58:00 +0000

Today I'm happy to announce that I'm hosting authors, Stephanie Morrill and Jill Williamson, for the blog tour of their new release, Go Teen Writers: How To Turn Your First Draft Into A Published Book! Stay tuned at the end for a free giveaway!

Without further ado, here is Mrs. Morrill's guest post on cowriting:

by Stephanie Morrill

Before writing Go Teen Writers: How To Turn Your First Draft Into A Published Book neither of us had ever co-written a book. We were fortunate in that our skillsets complement each other, and the process wasn’t just painless, but rewarding. We were able to produce a book we love and believe in, and we’re closer friends because of our time on the book. Here’s what we did well that made co-writing so fun:

We made sure we were at the same place

We had a heart-check about the book. Because we work on the blog together, we already knew we had the same heart for teen writers, and we wanted the same principles we use in the blog to go into the book as well. So for a while, we just traded occasional emails about ideas for the book until we landed on a vision we could both get behind.

This step is vital because everything will build on it, so if you’re thinking about co-writing, we encourage you both to allow a little time pass while you brainstorm so you can be sure you’re going to work well together.

We sought the opinions of others about our partnership

We talked to our agents about the wisdom of the project. We had a couple of small presses who were interested in the book, so we also talked to them about if we should go small press or publish independently.

Even if you don’t have an agent, it’s a good idea to talk to others and see what they think about your partnership. Do they have concerns? They might see problems you can’t.

We tried to make it even

After receiving the blessing from our agents, we got on the phone for a couple hours and hashed out a table of contents. Then we went through and decided who would write what. We worked hard to make sure the content was split fairly between us.

We also talked about how the editing and publishing process would go. Jill has more knowledgeable about independent publishing, so she volunteered to do the formatting and bookstore stuff. Because of that, I took over as much of the editing process as I could, though of course we both had to be involved in everything.

There a few ways to co-write a book. You can each be involved in every word that goes on the page or you can trade off who is writing. For us, it made sense to decide who would write what and then weave it all together at the end.

It’s very important that you and your co-writer talk honestly about what skills you bring to the table and that you communicate concerns up front. Be sure your working styles and expectations line up well.

We regularly communicated about where we were in the process

After we had figured out the table of contents, the next step was to write the thing.

Cue contracts and deadlines for both of us.

Jill found herself with two looming deadlines, so she had to set the Go Teen Writers book aside while she met those. Because she was clear with me about what was going on, and let me know that she would have to write her sections after she turned in her fiction manuscripts, we were able to coordinate it all so it worked with minimal frustration.

We respected our deadlines and motivated each other

If one of us said, “I’ll have this to you by Friday,” we made sure it happened. And when we were feeling tired or overwhelmed, we were able to strengthen each other. This trust and encouragement is what made us thrive during the co-writing process.

It doesn’t end when you’ve written the book

This is a really important thing to keep in mind. You’re not just writing the book together—you’re publishing and promoting it together. For us that meant agreeing on a season of promotion, planning what we were going to do and what we were going to spend, and then executing our plan.

It also means you’ll be splitting money, which as we all know can make people weird. Make sure you talk through how the money will work and that you’re both comfortable with the plan.

Have you ever co-written a book? What worked for you and what didn’t? If you haven’t, is it something you’re interested in, or are you strictly a solo writer?

Stephanie Morrill and Jill Williamson have written a combined two dozen speculative and comtemporary novels for teens. They also blog obsessively at www.goteenwriters.com. When not writing or blogging, they can be found at the teen table at writer's conferences or wherever chocolate is being given away. Come hang out with Stephanie at www.stephaniemorrill.com and Jill at www.jillwilliamson.com.

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Release Your Inhibitions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:10:00 +0000

I suppose you all noticed my absence of post-writing that happened a few weeks back. That was partially to everything going crazy in my life and my being busy, but there was more to it than that. I didn't have anything to post.

I haven't really said much to anyone about it, but I haven't been able to write for about a month and a half. I've been at war against my book for much longer. Now, if you've ever seen a writer fish taken out of his or her own pond, you'll get that it wasn't very pretty. I thought the world was ending or something. Such overdramatic, little fishies.

Recently, I finally figured out what was wrong with my book and have gotten back to writing. But I learned something:

I'd lost the love for writing.

Yes, and no, actually. I still loved stories and my characters and the feeling of my fingers banging out words that'll appear on my computer screen. But I didn't love what I was writing. Every word was awful and not good enough.

But that's the thing. Nothing's good enough. I'm writing a book that's going to be flawed and messed up, and that's okay. There are more drafts to be made. There are more chances to fix it later. Right now all I need to do is write. I don't need anything clouding up my mind. I need to release my inhibitions, say farewell to the nagging little editor voice in my head, and just write. That's all that matters. To quote Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, "We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way."

Writing is the opposite of most jobs and hobbies. In most areas of life, we don't get second tries. We have to get it right the first time. Like, the medical field, for example. Let's say you're going to get a test done and they have to inject you with some drug you've never heard of before. Let's see. We both know it probably isn't good if the doctor misses the vein and has to inject you again. Woah, woah, woah, wait. What just happened to the rest of the drug that was injected in me? It's still there?!

Maybe not the greatest example, but in most areas of life, you only get one try.

Writing is not one of those areas.

It's all about mistakes and flaws and potholes. But we go back and fix those later. You don't get anywhere if you try to make every little spot perfect before moving on. You can't fix what you don't know. You have to finish writing it. You have to know what you're writing.

I don't know what I'm writing. I feel like I've had to mostly start over. Which is not beautiful news to my ears after I've been working over a year and a half on this. But I'm going to find out what I'm writing this time. I'm going to actually listen to what others have been telling me for the longest time, and turn on that inner editor. I"ll pull him out down the road when I need him again. For now, I just need my keyboard and my digital paper. Right now I just need to bleed the words onto my screen.

-K.G.

Finding The Core of Your Story Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:11:00 +0000

So, over on Verbosity Book Reviews we've got a giveaway running! Finding The Core of Your Story by Jordan Smith. My review of it is over there if you'd like to see that, but I figured I'd also post the giveaway here so that you all would know about it. Free to enter! Enjoy!

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Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:57:00 +0000

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow,

Don't stop, it'll soon be here

It'll be better than before,

Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.

-Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac

So, I'll admit. My titles were sort of based off this song. Except I really thought there was a line about thinking about today. . . Turns out that line was "Don't stop, it'll soon be here." How do I miss-hear something like that?

Today is my last post for the time being on past, present, and future orientation. As you could probably guess from the title if you haven't been following, today's post is on future orientation.

The future oriented can get really out there. I tend to be future oriented. Just last night I was going on about how I wanted to start a literary agency . . . right now. But also that I knew better and that I should wait till I'm 18. So I went to sleep plotting out my world domination, erm, entry into the publishing world and all that I must do to get there.

I'm not so good at the doing, though. To be honest, I decided I wanted to blog in February of 2011. It didn't get very far, considering that I really only started blogging seriously in October. Of 2012. Mostly because I had no clue what to do. So, instead I just dreamed. I finally did something, but this isn't usually the case.

If others of the future oriented class are like me, they're dreamers. We're not always the doers. Some of us are, and some aren't. Me? I'm not usually a doer. If I was younger, I would be telling you all about how by now I'd be a trading card artist and how I would have auditioned for American Idol and made it to Hollywood (still don't know why I thought I could do that. I'm awful at singing. And my art is not trading card worthy. . .).

There's nothing wrong with dreaming, of course, but my type focuses on the future so much that we tend to forget today. Math? Oh, that's so insignificant seeming compared to my plans of world domination. . . I tend to like to dream and forget to do the things I have to do--some of them things I have to do if I ever want to accomplish my dreams.

Usually, the future and our dreams keeps us happy. I mean, we're thinking of awesome stuff like winning a nationwide contest! However, we can be made distressed and anxious really easily too.

I like thinking about good future outcomes. I'm pretty black and white, though. I know that there's bad out there too. Getting older, thinking about life choices and such? I start to freak out. Especially if I find that things aren't going the way I want or that I haven't met any of the majorly important goals I set when I was eleven. I start to think I'm behind. Honestly, it's stuff like this that is most likely to bog me down.

If you want the future oriented to be happy, you have to keep them dreaming about the good. However, I believe it's good that I think on the bad because it reminds me that just dreaming doesn't get things done. I have to dream then do. Difficult for my procrastinating self to manage, but I'll survive.

Y'all have anything else to add?

-K.G.

Don't Stop Thinking About Today

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:25:00 +0000

So, I promised y'all posts on past, present, and future oriented people awhile back and never got beyond the past oriented. I'm so sorry about that. Life got crazy for awhile and it seemed like the last thing I could do was figure out how to write a post on the present oriented.

I don't see myself as very present oriented. While I'm the most oriented in the future, I get past oriented sometimes. Rarely is my orientation revolving around the present. My mind lives in possibilities or in what could have been. Pros and cons, my friends. . . Pros and cons, I tell you.

I don't fully know how to describe the present oriented for that reason. I'll try my best, though.

These people live in today. Right here and right now. They don't always think about the consequences that might come of their actions. Right now it seems good, so that's what they'll do. They don't always think about what's come of similar actions in the past. As we all know, history repeats itself. If something ended badly once, there's a high chance of it ending bad again. When you're in a present oriented state of mind, it's easy to overlook that little fact. It seems good now, so they'll do it.

But, like the other types, there are really good aspects of it, as well as the not-so-good. You might not be as worried when you're living right now and enjoying right now. Today is a good day and that's what matters. Tomorrow might not be good, but today is a day to smile and be free! Sure, they can be in a really depressed mood if the day isn't going good, but when life seems good, the present oriented will be just as happy as their day, making them quite enjoyable to be around. The future oriented might not be content with today if they can imagine an even better future. They might not live in and enjoy this moment here because they're always chasing after their dreams. Same with the past oriented, except they look at how certain times in the past were "their golden age." "The time of their life that was actually perfect." Of course it wasn't all perfect, but when you're thinking about the past, you have a tendency to get nostalgic and want things to be the same again. Oh, that was when life was easy. Everything made sense then. . .it doesn't anymore. . .

The present oriented could probably be some of the most fun to be around. If they're having a good day, they'll be happy and really fun to be around. If you brighten their day, you brighten their mood.

Do any of you have anything more to say on this type? I'm probably not too accurate because I'm just having to make a bunch of guesses here. This is either so me that I don't realize it's me, or I'm not very much of a present person.

Significance

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:25:00 +0000

Significance.

It's a powerful word. It's a sense of classification. It can make your hopes rise or make them plummet to the ground. When I hear the word significance, I tend to relate it to myself. Am I of any significance? What is my significance in life and to others? Do I mean anything?

Okay, so maybe I'm an oddball who thinks weird things like that. Honestly, I do that everywhere. I'm the kind of person who will try to figure out why vampires hang upside down (A. No, I have never watched or read Twilight. B. Yes, I have come up with a theory for this.). But I've been thinking about significance today. And as with all things, I thought about it from a writing perspective.

What is the significance of our writing? What's the point? Why are we reading this side of the story? I mean, after all, I'm sure there were a billion other things going on in The Lord of The Rings even though we followed a select group of people. Why is our selection of characters significant? Why is the story that we see the significant one? What is the significance of the set period of time? We could follow your main character's life and age eight. Why is age sixteen more significant?

Take Divergent for example. This is a popular series right about now that I recently got around to reading book one of. Why do we follow Beatrice? Why is her part of the story significant? We could've followed her brother. He learned about the things going on that Beatrice did (excluding a few things. I'm sure he learned some stuff she didn't, too), but in a different way. He was in a different place. He had a different story.

What makes the character cast we choose more significant than others?

That's what I'm pondering today. Is my selection of characters the right cast for my story? Are they the most significant? Even if they aren't, why is their level of significance important to my readers?

Namely, why am I following them? Why am I following this section of this story? Why any of this?

I don't have a quick fix or an answer to any of this for you. But really, if it's not significant to the reader, what's the point of reading it? Why waste our time?

Are we writing what we should be writing? Is our significance level the right one?

And better yet: How do we make our stories more significant?

-K.G.

Seriously! What a Great Blog Award

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:27:00 +0000

Well, I can sure say that I did not expect to get one of these things again so soon. But, hey, I'll take it. It's a shiny, purple award with fancy doodles I can stare at. For the record, I'm fond of purple.

So, without further ado, the rules:

Nominate ten people. (probably not going to happen because, quite frankly, I have stuff to do and can't think of ten people)
Answer le amazing questions.
Thank the blogger who gave thee the award. (Thank you ever so much, Amanda, dearie)
Notify le poor and agonized bloggers that thee nominated of their social success in receiving this prestigious award.

Sounds simple enough. Onto the questions.

1. The job you want to have?

Well, as should be fairly obvious, I wish to write. And be published. And have a fair amount of success, but the first two should be just adequate. Though, other than writing, I'm looking into going into the publishing business and/or marketing. However, it is a side plan to buy houses and rent them. Muahahaha.

2. Favorite singer/band?

You do realize that this is impossible for me to answer, right? My tastes are quite eclectic. However, I've listened to a lot of K-Pop lately. Don't read me wrong: There's more to it than Gangnam Style. Some of my favorites include Mr. Simple by Super Junior, I'm a Loner by CNBlue, and Goodbye, Hello by Girls' Generation.

3. Favorite chocolate or sweet?

Hey, I've got no qualms here. It's CHOCOLATE. AND SUGAR. I'LL TAKE WHATEVER YOU'VE GOT. *coughs* I really like Butterfingers, though.

4. Three words to describe you?

What? Only three? Weird, scary (HA. You only think you're scary, Kelsey), insane. There.

And with that fair ending, let's see who I can come up with to pass this off on. . .

Gah. I don't have time to come up with people. I've got to get ready to go somewhere in a bit and I'm behind and probably shouldn't be blogging. But, hey, I'm a procrastinator. I'm just doing what I do.

Anyone who wants this? It's up for grabs. Have fun and feel free to post the link to your post in the comments!

Going Social!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Today marks a momentous occasion for JSU. Hold your breath. Oh, who am I kidding. I said it in the title.

We've gone social!

That's right. You can now find yours truly on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to follow me @JSUBlog and http://www.facebook.com/justsimplyuniqueblog for all your amazing updates. Though I might end up having a tendency to also just ramble about writing articles and book giveaways on Twitter. . .

Zat's all for now!

Happiness

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:03:00 +0000

It's come to my attention that most YA protagonists these days are . . . well, sullen. Sullen, quiet, angsty, unhappy-and-not-afraid-to-show-it, etc. So I'm wondering: Do happy or cheerful seeming characters even exist in the YA department?

I have no problem finding smiling faces when reading MG. Quite frankly, those books are essentially lighter, less dramatic, and--excuse my grammar--funner. Not saying that YA isn't fun. It's just it's own kind of fun. But what happened? Get a few years older and then suddenly we're engulfed by angsty, depressing, know-it-alls?

Which brings me to my main point: Why can't we have happy characters? Or at least some characters who seem happy. After all, our characters must always have problems, thereby making them unhappy, but can't we have a character who likes to smile and wave at the neighbors as they pass by? Possibly stop to sniff the unscented, but blooming lantana?

For example: A character could seem like the epitome of cheerfulness on the outside, but a mess on the inside. What if people saw the monster (not specifically being literal here) he/she really was? What if the character was sick of hiding who they are and how they really feel, but doesn't know how to stop pretending?

Why do characters always have to be black clouds of utter depressingness?

The point I need to make up for this? Uh . . . don't feel like your character has to be depressing because everyone else's are. Okay. Rant over. Peace out.

Also, if you know of any happy peppy characters, don't hesitate to she'd the light on me and allow me to join the thousands of happy peppy people and buy a bottle of vitameatavegamin today.

-K.G.

I'm Baaaaaaack!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:05:00 +0000

I am SO sorry I vanished! Life just got really crazy all of a sudden. However, I have rearranged my schedule, thereby meaning that I have more time to blog. You have no idea how happy this makes me.

Well, since I've been gone, I've been thinking. Some mornings I just can't come up with a writing topic at all. Which is frustrating beyond belief and oftentimes makes me decide to . . . to not blog. . . So I've come to the determination that I need to loosen the reins a little. Don't take this wrong: I'm not quitting writing about writing. Writing is my love. I can't just give up writing about that. All I'm saying is that I might get a little more adventurous and post about other topics as well. But mostly writing.

That okay?

Also, I'd like to announce that I'm going to be starting up some contests in the next couple of months! I'd like to see if anyone's interested first. Also, prize ideas? What would y'all be interested in receiving?

Other accomplishments since I've been gone include:

Learning how to use chopsticks.
Trying Foh for the first time. Otherwise known as Vietnamese soup?
Learning how to use Twitter. Very daunting.
Looking for a job. Because, quite frankly, getting one sounds nice.
Looking up colleges and scholarships. Prices for just the community colleges out of state are crazily high. How shalt I ever survive?
I wrote stuff on my hand. A resolution I made for the year. I wanted to write something on my hand. After all, why not make your resolutions fun?
Drank a sip of apple cider vinegar. *coughs* Also a resolution. I don't know why.
And I did something else. Not sure what it was. Quite frankly, I don't remember.

I've also written some poems lately which I was told were good, but I thought were immensely stupid.

Of flippant nature,

Is he of the tall-ish ears,

Insolent is he.

The invocation,

That which the small provide him,

Only gives him ill.

He is byzantine,

Belligerent and stupid.

His lesson is hard.

Will the boy at all,

Learn the lesson that he needs,

To live and survive?

I can't possibly see how that was good. I'm just happy it didn't turn out morbid or anything. I have this thing for basing my poems and songs off of my story ideas and. . . Typically the morbid or depressing ones. . .

What's been up with you all?

-K.G.

Nominated?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:56:00 +0000

Uh. . .I've been nominated for an award. O_O Never done this before, so this should be interesting, but I guess y'all deserve to know a bit more about me. I stink at writing bios for myself, so here's nothing.

The rules consist of me listing 11 facts about myself, answering 11 questions my nominator assigned me (who, by the way, is Leah K. from Appasionata. Thanks, girlie), link to said blog, and nominate 11 other bloggers with 200 or less followers and give them 11 questions.

Like I said, this should be interesting.

But without further ado. . .

1. One of my favorite numbers happens to be 11. Which makes this award perfect.
2. I'm obsessed with the MBTI.
3. I decided that my red/pink plaid jacket is evil the other day.
4. I have a tendency to tell people that I have an elf in my head. Sadly, only my writer friends and three year olds believe me. The four and five year olds told me I was lying. It was so sad.
5. I must always have a purple toothbrush. If it is another color? Humanity has apparently ended.
6. I help lead a zombie army (that likes to vacation by a certain pineapple under the sea) to fight against the evil squirrels and Peep marshmallow things. No? Not buying it?
7. I want a cat someday. A black and white one.
8. I'm convinced a cat named Simon wanted to kill me when I was a baby. Strangely, he was black and white.
9. I grow my nails long, but forget to shape them, and am always hurting someone with the jagged edges.
10. I have run in revolving doors. At a hospital. Right in front of a front desk. Surprisingly, they did not reprimand me.
11. I am cursed with seeing 11:11 on the clock all the time. Or 1:11. Or I'll strangely see long strings of one. So I decided I was cursed. Muahaha.

And the questions Leah gave me:

1. Would you rather be respected, or loved?

Mmm. That's difficult. I love to be loved and I fear that in my heart that's what I'd want, but let's go with respect, because I believe that one to be the better option.

2. What is a favorite quote of yours?

I've heard different variations of it, so I'm not sure who it's by, but: "I am not who I once was." I love that. Because I'm not who I was before, and I'll never be her again.

3. List 3 of your favorite songs at the moment?

O_O Three? Oh dear, that's difficult. I have way too many favorites. Uh, The Show by Lenka, Shake It Out by Florence and The Machine, and Animal by Miike Snow. Sorry if my choices are weird. I listen to nearly everything. So, just picked three random things.

4. Cows or peacocks?

Oooh, hard one. I've always fancied peacocks, though. I love birds and those feathers are just gorgeous.

5. Describe your style/taste in art, design, fashion?

Honestly, this changes. Art? Well, I like to draw anime-influenced styles of art. Design? I don't know. Whatever works to me at the time. Fashion? This changes. Sometimes in nothing more than grabbing the first shirt I see. However, I like wearing unbuttoned button up tops over tank tops.

6. What place would you travel to if you could?

Oh this is rough. I would prefer a nice long trip in which I could make multiple stops. Because I want to go to Australia, Japan, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and several stops throughout my home state.

7. Coffee or tea?

Honestly, I like both. I drink tea most of the time since it's what I have, but I'll also jump on an offer for coffee. Not sure which I like best.

8. Introvert or extrovert?

Extrovert, most definitely. Though I am a lot more introverted than I used to be. However, I live in a family with five introverts. It's bound to rub off.

9. What do you hope to do with your life?

To not ruin it. *starts laughing* Okay, I want to publish a book. That's my main goal.

10. What's your favorite entree?

Entree? Oh, no idea. I don't have a favorite meal, really.

11. If you could be granted 1 wish, what would it be?

*coughs* For a wish machine. . .

And I have to make some questions for those lucky people I tag.

1. Do you have an accent?

2. Fiction or non-fiction?

3. Favorite number?

4. Favorite kind of coin?

5. Favorite color pen?

6. If you could get any book for free right now, what would it be?

7. If you could meet one famous person, who would it be?

8. If you could be invincible for 24 hours, what would you do?

9. If you could throw anything at your bedroom wall, what would it be?

10. What's the most interesting disease/disorder/syndrome/etc. to you?

11. You can own any animal of your choice. What animal is it?

And those I tag are:

Tiffany at My Life in Blogs

Molly and Amanda at Whatever. . .

Yes, sorry, people. I don't know 11. 2 will work. 2 is another beautiful little number. . .

Oh, the other rule was that I had to let them know that. Okay, off to do that. . .

Yesterday's Gone, Yesterday's Gone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:33:00 +0000

I have to thank Leah for her comment on my last post. I know I said that the three types are Past Oriented, Present Oriented, and Future Oriented. However, I think that everyone slips into each view from time to time. All I'm getting at is that we tend to reside more in one than another.

This is why the Past Oriented scares me. I've been there.

As much as I dwell in the future, I find it way too easy to get sucked into the past. Ever since I was little, I'd get uber nostalgic over things. Then I'd feel rather disappointed because I don't know how to find that feel or that happiness again. I didn't know any better at the time, but you can't get it back. It's over, it's gone.

But once your average PaO realizes that, they might dig the hole even deeper.

Is it my fault? Did I lose this? Can I bring it back?

I have fallen into this pit too many times. I'll decide that something was my fault. Then I sit and contemplate the past even more, trying to figure out how I could've fixed it.

But that's the thing. It isn't always our fault. More times than not on these things, I had nothing to do with it. When you're a PaO it's just so easy to think it is. You want it back. You were the one who lost it.

Or worse: You blame someone else.

Residing in the past is also an excellent way to get down in the dumps, feeling depressed. Because yesterday's gone. And you liked it. You want to be the person you used to be. Sometimes we just have to wake up and realize that that person is gone and that a new one is here. Things have happened. Things have changed. That other you is never coming back. Maybe a similar one will, but never the same one.

I hope I haven't depressed you. Being a PaO isn't entirely full of cons. I'm just rather prejudiced against it at the moment, so feel free to send all your hate mail at me. It can also have some really good factors. You see what's happened before and you don't want it to happen again. You know how to avoid things. Maybe it'll translate wrong to other people, but you're most likely really good at protecting yourself and others. You've seen things happen and know how to circumnavigate them. After all, history does repeat itself, and it's best to be prepared when it does.

The past isn't all that bad, it's just a scary place for me. I don't know, maybe because it's opposite of what I am. I might figure it out. . . .someday.

-K.G.

See you next time for the Present Oriented!

Past, Present, Future

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:23:00 +0000

I've come to notice that there are three types of people. Some are a little mixed, but they're all closer to one side than the other. And these types are the Past Oriented, the Present Oriented, and the Future Oriented.

All these types seem to be living life differently. Maybe not too much on the outside, but on the inside. As you may have guessed, it might be where they're residing internally. Whether they're living in the past, the present, or the future.

Past Oriented:

Living in the past has been the scariest place to reside in my eyes. Oftentimes, these people want something back. Something they lost. Something they might've thought that they caused themselves to lose. They want to be the person they no longer are. They feel like they need forgiveness, but they can't give it to themselves.

Present Oriented:

On the outside, this person looks like they're in excellent shape. They live in the now. What they're going to do at this second. They could be a thrill seeker, but they could just be that stay-at-home mom across the street who is saving the world--one coupon at a time. However, everything has it's flaws. They might forget the big picture: Like how the past repeats itself if you're not careful, and how what they do today might affect the future.

Future Oriented:

I tend to be more future oriented, myself. I can seem cheery and full of energy. It's true, this type is easily excited. The future is full of endless possibilities. And many of them are really, really great. However, we (or at least I) tend to forget about the past and present. The past for reminding me how I am not going to be an actor because I have that horrible fear of video cameras, and the present for doing what must be done to get me there (conquering le fear of cameras). It is also very easy to become horrified by the future if you decide things are going downhill.

The thing is, our characters tend to fit mostly one of these looks on life. One of my main characters, for example, tends to live in the past. Another lives in the present. Over the next few posts, I'll be describing each of these outlooks in a little more detail.

-K.G.

Through Their Eyes, Not Mine

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:39:00 +0000

I hope you will all forgive me for my absence. The holidays did not give me all the writing time I wanted. But I'm back, and should be for good now.

Over the past three weeks I realized something. I was having trouble writing in the POV of a character that used to come so easy to me. First, I blamed it on the scene needing to change. So I tried that. Then, I decided it was my problem.

A lot changes over two and a half years. I met the character a long time ago, and was of a different mindset. When I started writing the character, we connected. Easy. Simple. Not much to think about. I just opened the page and typed away his thoughts and feelings.

We were similar.

Now we're not.

People change a lot over a few years. Circumstance changes how you see things, realizations helps you fix them. I am not what I once was, and I don't want to go back in the past. I want to live in today.

I was deathly scared. I thought I'd have to go backwards. Get in the mindset I used to be in. And I didn't want to be there. That wasn't me anymore.

All of my foolish worrying made me realize something: I may not be in that mindset anymore, but he is. That never changed. Only I did. And I had it all come to me so easily before that I dropped a crucial key to writing. I have to look through their eyes. Not mine. Not my brother's. Their eyes. It's how they see the world, not me. All writing is, is getting into their mindset. Not changing your own.

I may have to work to get there, but it's not me. I just have get into character. And that character is not me.

- Kelsey Gulick

Breakable

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:20:00 +0000

First off, please, please, please forgive my absence. The holiday season has hit and that's thrown my entire blogging schedule off. I actually meant to do it yesterday. Apparently that got me nowhere. I'm going to work on getting it in for most of the week, though, so stay tuned!

So I've covered some of the usual topics such as what your character loves. But I know that we all have those days where you just sit down and think, "Now what could I do to make so-and-so's life worse?"

Just as everyone loves something, everyone hates something. No matter how convinced you are of being invincible, you're going to be scared of at least one thing.

Like no longer being invincible anymore.

Maybe it's not something so simple. Maybe it's more complex, like Garth. Garth had no power as a child when he was beat and tortured. Now that he has power, wouldn't you think that he'd be terrified of losing it?

Like so, things in our past upset us--make us leery of them for the rest of our lives. While it could be something so simple as becoming sick of chocolate because you just so happened to eat a chocolate bunny before catching the flu, it could be something big like a near death experience.

Or watching someone else nearly die.

Some characters might try to hide their fear from you and everyone else, but it's there. No one's fearless. And no one's loveless. There are always ways to make things worse on them. If you really want to reach a new degree of evilness, combine the character's love and hate.

Love/hate relationships? What if your character's family was killed by that country, but the woman he loves happens to be from there and strongly loves her homeland?

Or what if you take his/her love away with what he hates? What if the ocean terrifies your character? What if what they love is taken away by the waves?

There are plenty of other ways to get creative with this. Even if you're not looking to cause your character more pain, it's a good thing to keep in mind that they have things they hate or are terrified of.

-K.G.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:36:00 +0000

Very few things seriously annoy me in books. Sure, if my editing cap is on, I could go crazy with the red pen on just about any book you give me (hey, if it wasn't written by me, I'll always be wanting to rearrange some sentences), but very few things actually bother me.

I finally started The Maze Runner the other day. Things were coming along smoothly until Gally stepped into the picture. This guy is your prime bully. You know it before you ever even see his name. The description fits the "modern bully" quite perfectly. I don't know about you, but reading that a guy has missing teeth makes it seem really typical.

And that is what I'm asking you to avoid. Please. Stereotypes and characters I've seen way too many times before are just a bother. They make me sit back and know what's going to go down in this scene, this chapter, or even the whole book, just by seeing him and his stereo-typicalness.

I'm sure you can come up with some stuff. If you see a stereotypical bully, you realize a lot. Okay, he or she is going to get in the main character's way. They'll most likely become archenemies. Oh, and I'll bet the main character stands up to them, as well. Maybe they're the prime antagonist, already nailed in their position at approximately page 20.

But you know what stands out even more? The character who shocks us.

I find that Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune does a great job of this. Sticking with the bully example, let's look at Octavian. This guy pretty much wants to be in charge. Almost immediately he's in Percy's way. Now I'll bet you all are coming up with some fancy images in your head.

He's probably large, muscular, either downright ugly or amazingly good looking. Greasy hair, perhaps? One of those faces only a mother could love with a squashed in nose?

Actually, no. Octavian was a skinny, weak looking guy. The only position of power he held was that he was the place's auror. People just got to watch him beating up on poor, defenseless teddy bears.

For that? I must thank Rick Riordan majorly. A bully that is nowhere near stereotypical can be very hard to find nowadays. Octavian used his mouth--not his fists. That alone makes me happy.

But bullies aren't the only stereotypes in existence. What about that drop-dead beauty of a girl that the main character has a crush on and will, no doubt, be dating by the end of the book/series? The thin, wiry nerd that no one wants to deal with? Stereotypes are everywhere. And you could change that. Don't follow all monkey see, monkey do like.

Do you have any stereotypes?

-K.G.

Almost Lover

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:14:00 +0000

Well, I had the perfect idea for a post a few minutes ago. Congratulations, it has changed. Music does that to me. Especially if the lyrics make me think of a character. Whatever was in my head before that? It jumped out my ear and made a break for the door.

I'm sure you've all seen a wide assortment of characters. Big ones, small ones. Thin ones, and tall ones. Annoying, and passive. Pretty, and ugly. Pfft. You've probably even seen pretty ugly.

But even the vainest idiot who thinks the world of himself or herself will have a reaction to losing something they love. Maybe they never admitted they loved it, but they did. Maybe losing it causes them to stop something or to shut others out.

Remember Garth and the slave girl? I said briefly that he wanted power after the fact to change things. What if it was partially because of her? The king and queen had taken her in, and his heart had probably stopped as soon as he stopped seeing her.

If you remember right, his family beat him and used him. She very well may have been the only thing he loved. What if, when she left, that was all it took to convince him to become what he became. Before, maybe he would've stayed and been walked on his whole life. Maybe it affected him so much that he refused things to be that way anymore. He'd be the master for once.

And what about when he fights her double, whom he thinks is her? What happened to him after he held her dead body in his arms? This was the only thing he loved other than power. The only thing he loved, he couldn't keep. The only thing he loved, he'd broken.

Maybe your character doesn't have an almost lover. Maybe it's something smaller, like a puppy. But your character will always love at least one thing. Sure, it's quite funny think of a character who hates everything, but if you think about it? Maybe he loves hating things. Maybe he loves his tongue that lets him tell you about all the things he hates.

If you take it away, what does your character have? What about them has changed?

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

Should've known you'd bring me heartache

Almost lovers always do

- Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy

-K.G.

Getting Obsessed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:27:00 +0000

There are days when I believe I go beyond being insane and head straight towards delusional. Rather than writing about how I was being begged for brownies in a language of my making, in an alphabet of my making, I wrote a list. . . .In English. . . .In the English alphabet.

A. I'm horrid at lists. B. I much prefer writing in my make-believe languages. C. WHAT? NOW EVERYONE CAN READ IT IF YOU USE THAT ALPHABET!

*ahem* But I also have a horrid memory that needs me to organize things on paper, because I have an elf running around up there. Last night, I was writing down a list of what foods a character did, and didn't like. Cue facepalming. My sister happened to be sitting beside me and about died (okay, I exaggerate everything. It makes it more fun) when she read, "Pomegranates - No."

But this is the kind of thing that happens when I get obsessed over my characters. I want to know every little itty bit of information that I can. If that includes finding out that my elf probably has a much too large liking for bread products, so be it.

I learn things when I become obsessed. Things I didn't before. I can be horrible judge. I see you and decide I don't like you? It's going to be rough for me to loosen up and get to know you.

I met my character, V, about a year ago. It was hate at first sight. It's been hate ever since. That is, till a character I loved to death told me he liked her.

You can only imagine that I became angry. You can't like her! What could you possibly see in her? I then decided that the character was just trying to pull my leg. What else would he be doing? After all, who in their right mind would like that little viper?

But, because I liked the character who told me this so much, I decided to observe her again. If it wasn't a joke, I needed to know what on earth he saw in her. Naturally, she wasn't the little viper I thought she was. By seeing her through the eyes of someone who actually liked her, I saw all of the good things I'd previously missed.

Antagonists usually aren't all bad. Protagonists usually aren't all good. Sometimes we just have to get a little obsessed and see them through the eyes of a different character. My character, Rachel, sees Mr. Annoying differently than someone she's related to does. Through Rachel's eyes, I tend to see everything annoying and somewhat grating about him. Her relative? Her relative sees a completely different person with good qualities.

Once you start, you almost kind of want to learn everything about them. If that means making a list of what foods they like and don't like, I'll be content and try not to complain over writing it in English.

If you want to know your character properly, you have to remember that not everyone sees the same person.

-K.G.

Big Head

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:46:00 +0000

I was told that I'm good at backstory and need to write more on the topic. I sat down (or stood, since I'm working and writing currently) to force myself to do so. I've been putting books away for the past few minutes wondering what on earth I could write about backstory. Instead of doing so, I started laughing at myself.

I'm good at backstory? Ha!

I am not good at backstory. I'm not good at any part of the story. I don't even know the names of Mr. Annoying's little brothers. I just know they're cute, adorable little blondes that I would have too easy a time stuffing with sugar.

My characters tell me things and I just laugh and say it's not happening. I don't always understand them. Ohhhh, so you love the little viper? Yeah, I'm not falling for that. Several days later, they'll come back and smack you in the face and show you that they weren't joking.

I'm no expert.

But I'm happy with that. Maybe I don't stink. I don't want to know. If I think I stink, I have something to strive for. I don't have to know I'm amazing to stay writing. I know I'm not.

Why do I keep writing, then? For the same reason I did when I started. For the same reason I did when my stories were regurgitations of movies I'd seen, just a thousand times worse. I loved writing. I loved stories and I wanted to tell them.

I don't care if I'm not good. I don't want to quit, but I really don't want a big head.

People tell me I'm too critical of myself. According to me, everything I do stinks. Unlike what people think, I don't care. I'm an optimist. I'm going to always have a good, viable reason to continue. I prefer being critical of myself. Hearing I'm good? It goes to my head. I prefer telling myself I'm not. My work is better that way.

Possibly not the best advice if you're a pessimist, but don't let yourself get a big head. Smile at uplifting comments, but don't necessarily believe it. Been there, done that. Been there, got a big head, and started ignoring all the flaws in my work.

I'm not good at backstory. But I don't care.

-K.G.

Penalty

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:47:00 +0000

First, I hope you will forgive me; apparently my last post creeped several people out. No, I was not writing my death wish. Just using an illustration. I can get very morbid in my illustrations. That, and I was writing first thing in the morning and was rather sleepy.

Speaking of death wishes, it is oh-so-easy to write your own when writing your book. The readers are smart. If you break a rule? You're dead.

One thing that bothered me all the way through The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman? The souls. Didn't Will's father's soul become a living manifestation as soon as he stepped into Lyra's world? It may have been years since I read book two, but how come it took Will being separated from his soul for a period of time to see it? He had been in Lyra's world on and off all book! Namely, I was on the verge of blowing up the whole time.

Death wish.

This rule is mostly for science fiction and/or fantasy writers, but may apply to other categories. If you have a rule for something, don't break it.

Of course, there was a reason I broke this rule. Don't you understand that Jim was able to do X because Sandy accidentally granted him three wishes? Mark this where I die, people. If you never explain that the cause was Sandy, you're going to be losing some readers.

Out in the real world, you don't assume that rules will be broken, do you? You expect them to be followed and for everything to be in order. What do you do when a rule is broken? Well, putting it in the nicest of terms, you're probably going to be a bit . . . agitated.

Just as worse is having no rules. Especially if you're a high strung, we're-doing-everything-by-the-book kind of person like me. I need to know my boundaries. I need to know I'm doing everything right.

The reader needs to know too. So Jim just spontaneously gets three, free wishes? What can he wish for? Anything? Everything? More wishes? This was one thing the movie, Aladin, did well on. The main character was granted three wishes, and the genie had to go down the list of all the things he couldn't wish for.

There. Now the reader and the main character have boundaries. If you didn't, I'd be yelling at him to make a wish machine throughout the whole book. Come on, I'm sure I'm not the only one who decided they'd wish for infinite wishes if granted three wishes. What? I was six!

Readers are very aware of the rules you play by. You step out of bounds? You'll get a penalty. Make your rules and follow them. Whether it's for your wish granting genie, your made up sport, or the laws of Aunt Jessie's kitchen.

Now go out there and do some rule following!

Have an excellent day and do forgive me for my missed days.

-K.G.

Two Must Die

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:28:00 +0000

I've never gone on some church retreat or mission trip thingamabob. Never particularly cared. They all sound the same to me. Marketed to say you ought to go in the same way and everyone always says the same things when they return.

That is, until I was told about this game. . . I laughed at it at first--what a stupid game it was. But it stayed in the back of my mind. 4-6 of you are trapped in a cave. If any want to escape, two most hold up the opening to allow the others to leave. Two must die.

The point of the game is to examine yourself. If you died right now, who would it affect? Who still needs you? Or does no one?

I thought I'd forgotten about the game completely. Then, one day, I started thinking on it. I was in the cave. I needed to die. The others would need to live more than I would. Everyone would be sad at my death, yes, but they wouldn't need me.

Or, so I thought. The more I sat and contemplated on it, I realized there were people who needed me. It felt like a life or death situation (for me, I guess it was. . .). I had to survive. If I didn't, something bad would happen (yes, I overdramatize everything).

I've made you sit through all of this for what? Simply, our characters are the same way. They have to have a reason to survive. If they don't, why do we even bother with them? It would be much simpler to let the big, bad antagonist destroy them. Why do they need to live?

As I feel like it's a life or death situation for my own survival, so must the reader for the character. Put your character in that cave. If he or she died right now, what would it matter?

Make sure it matters. If not, why does the reader bother?

-K.G.

For My Eyes Only

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:14:00 +0000

I never cry when I write. I feel like a horrible monster without feelings. I'll have this empty pit in my chest that I will exaggerate and tell people I'm having a heart attack, but no tears will come. No matter how desperately my eyes want them.

I don't know what my problem is. I rarely cry in books or in anything. So long as it's not some equation no one can explain to me, my tear ducts are dry and empty. I'm left feeling terrible and unemotional. In reality, I'm dying, but whatever mask I've worn in front of my face for so long is starting to become glued to me. This, children, is why you don't wear masks in the middle of summer. They melt.

But that's all besides the point. I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong with my tear ducts.

What I'm really here to talk about is using your pain. I've noticed that more often than not, my characters have problems that stem from my own. I just want to say:

Don't be scared of it.

Putting my own life in my writing destroys me. Someone will see. Someone will know. Someone will look right through the words and point an evil finger at me.

Yet, I always daydream about writing the story of my life and fictionalizing it. Fix it up, publish it under a name other than my own, and just wait for the people I know to read it. I can never get past the first few sentences.

We have no reason to be scared. How many times do we pick up a book, watch a character, and say, "Hey, I bet something like this happened to the author." How ridiculous is that? Use your past, your pain, your problems.

Exaggerate them.

After all, characters tend to have it harder than most people in known reality. Don't be afraid to intensify it. Okay, so you were in this situation that your character's in? I don't remember you going mental and running away.

You've lost someone you loved dearly? Put all those emotions in your writing. If you're feeling pain, the reader will too. If you're feeling love, so will the reader. If you're on top of the world. . .well, you can see where this is going.

Don't be afraid. There's always going to be someone who will hate your writing. That's unavoidable. But there will be people out there who are ready to cry with you, smile with you, and rejoice with you. Don't be afraid to put yourself in your work. This is writing. There are no walls. There should be no masks. So don't put one on and get it glued to your face like I did.

For now, say, "This is for my eyes only."

-Kelsey

I Am Not What I Once Was

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:12:00 +0000

I know, I know. One of these days I need a photo that actually goes along with what I'm writing about. I'm lazy, though. I'm not going to waste my entire writing time wading through thousands (I may or may not literally have thousands) of photos. It's more of a, "Hey, this is pretty. *click click*" kind of deal.

Before I start, I'm assuming we all know the meaning of evolution. It's taught in schools and you hear about it everywhere. A change for the better. We all want things to be better.

In the simplest of evolutionary (or devolutionary) terms, do our characters change? Do certain events and life-happenings change them? For better or for worse? One thing I've realized lately is that my characters were different people when they were younger than they are now.

Probably something I should've picked up on before now, but my characters accuse me of not listening to them. I've noticed it dramatically in (quite hilariously, because I never noticed all their similarities till my writing partner pointed it out) a mother and son. They both went from some quiet, but relatively happy/cheerful people to taciturn people who've hidden themselves behind walls.

It goes without saying that things happened in their lives to cause that. I'll never forget the son's half sister (whom he hadn't really seen in years) going up to him and mentioning how she'd expected him to be louder. It threw in my head that the characters weren't always this way. People don't hide themselves away from the world without cause.

It's not always so cliche sounding as becoming a taciturn kind of person. It can be anything: An annoying brat being sobered, the poking and prodding of a girl who's bottled it up all the years to the point where one last poke will make her explode, or just someone who becomes frightened of losing the people closest to them.

Look at just your protagonist. They weren't always this person, were they? Hey, look at yourself. Think back to when you were younger. What awkward, weird person were you then? I hate even mentioning the person I was, sometimes. I look back and say, "That's not me," when in reality it was.

Have you ever been asked if you would do it over if you had the chance? It's stumper of a question, but I wouldn't. What's happened in the past has made me who I am. I don't want to change that. I don't want to lose that. I may be disappointed by my past actions, but it's who I am. What I'm made of.

Our characters are the same way. . .except, they might actually want to redo it.

-Kelsey