Did you see the new Writer's Digest site?

It's beautiful~. So yeah, link's right over to the side. Unless you're reading this in something like Google Reader, in which case, here ya go.

So Day Two! It's going slowly. Probably cuz I'm still stuck in chapter one and because I just started writing a little while ago. Trying to work through the first few plot-related songs on the playlist. Word count-wise, I'm on track. Somewhere around 1800 right now.

/Cut scene/

Skipped to some depressing future parts. Killed a main character. Twice.

Going for three.

Day One so far

Started out a little shaky this morning, but I think that was because I was super tired and getting distracted by the internet. I was worried that the story would move pretty slowly, but after a page and a half of putting up with Mitchell and Tasia being themselves, everything's moving really quickly.

It's weird because I thought that Ace would be the main character because... well, he has all the makings. But Mitchell is actually proving to be a pretty good MC, even (especially?) if the point of his character arc is for him to stop being so passive. :D And besides, rolling with third person omniscient over here, so it's not like the other three won't get plenty of attention.

I think this thing finally has a title, too. Going with Soul Shout. Came from this song by Your Heart, specifically this set of lyrics: "If it's heartache that you want
Well we're f-f-fresh out
You can have a kiss from God
That will make your soul shout..."

So yeah! Everything's going pretty well so far. :)

Getting ready for camp

Camp NaNoWriMo, that is.

Most of my plotting has been music-based, and by that I mean I've been going through every single song in Windows Media Player to try to establish the general mood of the story, what the characters are like, what they're like with each other, and, y'know, all the plot points. It helps, I think.

I'm not going to share the entire playlist with you guys (28 items/ 108 minutes), but right now I'll show you the first part of songs that establish the story and the characters.

Story's Theme: Best of Me (acoustic) by The Starting Line
Tell me what you thought about when you were gone and so alone
The worst is over and you can have the best of me
We got older, but we're still young
We never grew out of this feeling that we won't give up

Ace Flynn: Everything You Ever Wanted by Hawk Nelson
I tried to be perfect, tried to be honest
Tried to be everything that you ever wanted
Tried to be stronger, tried to be smarter
Tried to be everything but you

Shea Henley: Ordinary Day by Zoegirl
Every minute feels like an hour slowly creeping by
All of this stress but I do my best to take it all in stride
I need to decide, need to unwind
All these things are on my mind
It's an ordinary day...

Tasia Henley: It's On by Superchick
It all comes down to this
You take your best shot, might miss
You take it anyway
You're gonna make your move today

Mitchell Schubert: Procrastinating by Stellar Kart
So here I am, it's 3 AM, I don't know where to begin
Time's running out and there's no doubt that I feel like throwing in
The towel with no way I can get this start finished

Ace and Mitchell: Last Train Home by FM Static
We've fallen apart somewhere back at the start
When we thought that we could fix each other by ourselves
Let's get back to the part when things weren't like they are
And we were laughing on the last train home

Shea and Tasia: Vole by Celine Dion
Vole, vole petite aile (fly, fly little wing)
Ma douce, mon hirondelle (my dear, my dove)
Va t'en loin, va t'en sereine (go far away, go serene)
Qu'ici rien ne te retienne (let nothing here hold you back)

Mitchell and Tasia: Finding Something to Do by hellogoodbye
As long as there's something to see, I'll see it with you
As long as the days can seem, we'll find something to do
If ever your love should leave, just swear you'll follow it through
And I swear I'll always follow you

Shea and Ace: Some Story by Raven Zoe
But your eyes are the saddest that I've ever seen
And whatever you're hiding shines right through the screen
And those other girls might not agree
But some story isn't worth it to me

Tasia and Ace: Hot Air Balloon by Owl City
I'll be out of my mind, and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon
So let's spend an afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind, lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait to kiss the ground wherever we touch back down

Shea and Mitchell: Fine by Lemon Demon
Light is on the way, we'll be having a fun time
It's such a lovely day, we should pocket the sunshine
And never give it back, even if there's a heatwave
We're stalling on the track, it'll just be a close shave

Normally I don't pick out songs for every single relationship, but that's kind of a big focus in this story, so that's what happened.

Did not mean to disappear./ 750words.com

Oh my gosh, you guys. Blogspot/Blogger just hated me this past week. Every time I tried to go to Blogspot, I got this:

So annoying. But then I tried blogger.com instead today, and that decided to work. Tech is so weird.

Anyways.

Happy Memorial Day to those who are celebrating it. :) For everybody else, Happy Monday! ...Yeah, sorry about that.

I actually wanted to tell you guys about this really awesome website called 750words.com. It's kind of like Write or Die, but more reward-centered instead of punishment-centered. It encourages you to write at least 750 words every day, and you can get these neat badges. It also analyzes what you write to show a bunch of things. Here's a link to one of my analyses.

So yeah, you should definitely check it out! It's really cool.

Plotting for NaNoWriMo. Yes, already.

I don't mess around when it comes to plotting for NaNo. It's pretty much how I spend a good portion of the year.

March- May: Figuring out ideas and characters.
June- July: Deciding on an idea and working on fleshing out characters.
July-October: Plotting the entire story, beginning to end.
November: Obvious...

So these are the ideas I have for NaNo this year. So far. :D

• Step in Time to My Heart (WT, albeit one that makes me laugh): Exactly what it sounds like. It's a love story about band geeks. Yay band geeks!
• Sim Saves the Galaxy: A rewrite of NaNo '08, The Wonderful World of Imminent Doom. It's a story about this interplanetary war in a made-up galaxy called Tsu-Min. It's kind of worth the rewrite for this one line: "It's time to save the planet!"
• Key to Hadley's Soul (WT): It like an AU version of our world where people are born with these things called "soul keys" that change in appearance as the person grows. Then one of the MCs, Hadley, loses his key and he starts to forget who he is. (I like this one.)
• Level Up: A superhero story! It's about a college kid named Molly who has super strength and invisibility. Then she meets her arch nemesis who has no name yet, but he has a vast array of mind-related powers. (I like this one, too.)
• Battlefield Suburbia (WT): It's about an angel/demon war. In the suburbs. (And this one, as well.)
• Forever Saturday: Based on a lyric in an Eleventyseven song. "Every single day was a Saturday." Then I just thought, OH MAN! What if time just STOPPED and every day WAS a Saturday?! That would be crazy.

But yeah.

So, anyone weird like me and start planning for November insanely early?

Qs for Yous*

*Title pilfered and modified from Rachelle Gardner. I am so sorry.

It's so beautiful outside that I can't concentrate on anything. I actually skipped class (OK, so that was more of the fact that I needed to go to the Secretary of State and get my registration renewed). So here are some questions for all of you out there.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? (To clarify, just in case: do you outline your stories, or do you make them up as you go along?)
I'm more of a plotter, but leave wiggle room.

Where's your starting point for writing? Do you usually think of the characters first? The basic premise? The plot? Title first? First sentence? Last sentence? A particular scene? Anything else I failed to mention?
I tend to flip-flop between the characters and the premise.

Music while you write?
Only instrumental here. Can't concentrate if it has words.

And now it's your turn. :)

Friday Fragments

It's Friday!

1) And it's my last spring break ever! I love spring break. It means the semester is halfway over, and the rest of the semester tends to go by so fast it gives you whiplash. My friend Kirstin and I are so excited for this one because it means we are PRACTICALLY GRADUATED. Woohoo!

2) Tomorrow night, our youth group is having its annual spaghetti dinner and variety show (I wrote most of the show. So yeah. :D) It's a fundraiser for our summer trip to Christ's Outreach for the Blind. And it's going to be so much fun.

3) I was listening to "If You Wanna, I Might" by hellogoodbye earlier and slowly realized that it's not a love song. It's a song about the query process! Pay attention to the lyrics and think about it:



So... that's all I got for today. Have a good weekend!

Friday Fragments

Which means that because I'm too lazy to dedicate a blog post to one subject, I'll dedicate it to MANY!

1) Well, in case you haven't heard the tragic news, Borders is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which I just learned a few seconds ago (see this post) means they're reorganizing the company. Still, it's sad how they're closing 200 more stores.

2) I am not already planning for NaNoWriMo. I can't help it! When you're waiting for class to start, there's not a whole lot to do...

3) Remember a few weeks ago how the Midwest was in the midst of THE winter storm?

(At the end, I said, "But wait! You haven't seen the backyard!" It was pretty much the same and boring.)

Well, check this out.

It is like that everywhere. It's like, Snow? What snow?


4) Fun thing to do with Facebook. (Plundered it from Erin at Quitting My Day Job. :D) First, go to Facebook. Then, copy the following code into the address bar.
javascript:(function(){fcb=function(d){ktndata=d;var p=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var i in p){p[i].width=p[i].width;p[i].height=p[i].height;p[i].src=d.items[Math.floor(Math.random()*(d.items.length))].media.m;}};if(typeof ktndata=='undefined'){var jp=document.createElement('script');jp.setAttribute('type','text/javascript'); jp.setAttribute('src','http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne? tags=kitten&tagmode=any&format=json&jsoncallback=fcb'); document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jp);} else{fcb(ktndata);}})()
Don't worry, it's harmless. To "fix" it, just go to your profile and all will be restored. (Also, you can do this with any website with pictures.)

5) Quote from class last night.
Teacher: "But actually, the first six months of a relationship are comparable to being mentally unstable."*
Me to Kirstin: (Quietly) "That explains Twilight."
Kirstin: (Collapses in laughter)
*It was something like that.

OK. I'll do a proper post on Monday. Since that seems to be my blogging schedule now. M/W/F. :) Have a good weekend, everybody!

WDIST Syndrome*

*Why Did I Submit This Syndrome. Allow me to explain.

There's this class at school that I desperately want to take next semester. It's called the New Play Project. It's basically a collaboration between the Creative Writing students and the Theater students. This year, it'll be focused on creating a serial show.

I REALLY WANT IN THIS CLASS. But to get in it, you had to send a 10-60 page script to the professor and also tell him about your background in theater. So I polished up a piece that I wrote a little over a year ago (Peace, Love, Untied Sneakers), and sent it off last night. I also made a big, fat deal of my two years of a high school playwriting class because, as mentioned before, I REALLY WANT IN THIS CLASS.

So immediately after I hit Send, I thought, "WHY DID I JUST SEND THAT PIECE OF CRAP. It is awful! It wasn't ready! I am an iiiiiiiiidiot!" That is WDIST Syndrome.

(This is why I haven't started querying for any of my stories: fear that I will have a nervous breakdown.)

But today I got an email from the professor saying that it sounded good and he'll be in touch after break. So around March 7.

Here's hoping. *Fingers crossed*

Editing scripts while sleep-deprived: A brief look.

Script:

CHESTER
I used to be a Mountie, I'll have you know. That is...
(Looks haunted)
Before the Summer of the Squirrel Moose.
(He slowly puts his hands over his face, breathing heavily. The others just stare at him.)

ASHLEY
Sorry. Sometimes he has Squirrel Moose flashbacks.

TESSA
I'm sorry, but... what in the name of sanity is a squirrel moose?

ASHLEY
Half squirrel, half moose.

CHESTER
(In a dark voice)
All deadly.

Meanwhile, this whole time I've been giggling like mad. And, like I usually do when I'm overtired, I decide to bother my mother.


Me: Mom! Mooom! In the play, there's a Squirrel Moose!
Mom: *At a loss for words*
Me: It's half squirrel, half moose. All. Deadly.
Mom: *Sighs*

Ah yes, editing...

I don't think any of us has the exact same editing process. Like a fair number of people like me (the "plotters") might be patient enough to finish the manuscript, and then edit. Hahaha. Yeah right, Grammar Nazi me is going to wait. That manuscript won't even know what hit it. It's gonna be like, "WHOA two seconds ago I had a prologue... not the adverbs and adjectives! MY MODIFIERS! Oh God, it burns! IT BURNS!"

My first edits are always akin to assaulting Microsoft Word. :) How about you?

Um... Late Afternoon Clickables?

This is honestly amazing. It's called the Nine Stages of Dating a Novel.

I think you'll enjoy it.