As is my tendency, I write first for my novel, then for my writing journal, then for my online writing community, and if my carpel tunnel is not acting up (unlikely), then I update my website, and then I post here. If I have something worth saying...which is becoming more and more a rarity these days.
Besides my blog, I have my other two, more prominent online havens:
Writer's Draft
This is a forum for aspiring writers, having been created and run by myself.
JB Website
This is my website, which has information about me as an author, my current work, and future work.
On Writing: Aspiring Writers
My first post (and, yes I am well aware that is a little bit odd to link your blog in a blog post of said blog when you don't have many blog posts to begin with. Regardless, there it stands).
Secondly, editing is going well. I have finally overcome some crippling feelings, and have moved past them. Of course I expect them to catch up sometime, but for now I am in the clear.
I have chapters one and two to edit/revise, then I have to transfer the revisions.
Honestly, it is in times of disaster and editing when I really appreciate my need to organize.
Okay, really I am in the middle of an insomnia attack here- it is 7:50am and I have yet to get some sleep. Don't think that I haven't gone to bed yet, because indeed I have. I was there for hours. Hours.
So I will leave before I type something embarrassing (lucky for you!).
Happy Writing,
JB
Hello!
It has been ages since I posted last. Ages and ages. I have several posts half done, but I wanted to say something important :)
So, I am done my first draft!!
Certainly a cause for celebration, but also serious contemplation.
Okay, I have gotten this far right? Isn't everything supposed to be easy now?? I have the thing down, shouldn't all the editing and revising just come???
Sadly, no this is not the case. I really really wish I could say something more encouraging, but unfortunately I can't. It is reality I deal out here.
I really did think that once I reached this that it would be clearer sailing, which was the first problem.
I focused everything on reaching the point of being done my first draft, that when it came and I didn't feel the relief I thought I would, I was so disappointed.
I have so much work to do now! Real work! My first draft was to get things down, not make a literary piece worthy of an audience.
NOW I have to do that, and that my friends, is hard. I need to make this agent worthy, publisher worthy, and reader worthy.
Before it was purely for me and I had only me in mind (which was not a bad thing). Now I have to make this ready for someone else, and the standards are higher. Much higher.
With all that in mind, I have forged ahead and am half way done my first round of revising. The past two weeks I haven't been doing that much (which was not my fault exactly, but still), so this week I will continue on and get more done.
Sometimes it is hard though. I think my work is crap some days, then great others. I am finding a hard time striking a balance there, but I know now that things won't be perfect.
Yet.
I am getting there though.
Happy Writing,
JB
I have finished the last part of my novel. I'm not done by any means- I still have to write the beginning- but I have written the middle and now the ending of my novel.
Such a hard ordeal. Really.
To be honest, I don't want it to end. Now I know I still have to write a third of the book still, add in new chapters, revise the heck out of everything I've done, edit like mad, polish it, possibly make another draft (first is to get things down, second is for revision and editing, third is for polishing), and then start the gruelling process of finding an agent.
By no means am I close to being done.
Yet I found it so hard to let go and make the ending work like I know I can. I didn't realize just how much this novel is apart of me until I 'became close' to seeing it end.
So, maybe you are not even close to finishing, or maybe that part is just around the bend, but I do have some advice that might be a repeat of what I've said before; be careful with your work.
Whether you think so or not, the more you work on what you are writing, the more it becomes you own and apart of you, and the harder it is to let that slip away. If you, in any way, have decided to let that piece of yourself go and show it to public (whether that be one person or several), take care of who you show it to. Personally, I would think of it as trusting someone with your life in the literal sense. If you can't trust them with your most valuable possession (you life a.k.a. your writing), just don't do it.
On a different note, I'm done the ending! That means I am two thirds done! No matter how heartbreaking it is to see my characters story's come to a close, it means that I am that much closer to seeing them reach their full potential.
*sniff* They grow up so fast *sniff*
Happy Writing,
JB
We all make choice for day to day; what will we wear, where we will go, how we will act, and the list can go on for many pages. This is true for our characters as well.
I could tell you that when I write, I tell the reader every single thing they decide on, but that would be a large waste of time; as most as big a waste as spending time reading about it. But you know that, right? For this post, I am going to assume that you do and that you do not do it in your own writing (partly because this is my blog, and I can).
Your characters need to make choices. But more importantly, they need to make choices that suit them. If you want your character to eat a jelly doing the slips, then go ahead. But what if they are a vegetarian and think that the slips are a way for the evil temptress from the Chasm of Doom to escape when you breathe out causing the Earth to spin out of control because she control the Earth's rotation???
Okay, abstract example, but do you see what I mean? Sometimes it helps to have those way out there examples.
When I write, I have a clear idea of what I want to happen in each chapter of my story. But things can go wrong when I choose to make things go a certain way because that is not always how the story will work. I might have my story thought out from start to finish, but what happens when a character suddenly chooses a different path then the one that was set out for them?
Now, I, in the past, made a few little mistakes with this. I wanted a character to do one thing, but they weren't too keen on going in that direction. So what happened was a sloppy, totally out of character scene that was just too poorly done. Instead of letting them make the choices that suited them, I made them. It's like going to a restaurant and wanting a salad, but the person at the next table orders a steak for you. Things just don't work out that way.
I'm not saying give in to every little thing your characters want, I'm saying that you have to be opened to your creations making there own way and deviating from the path a little. Don't make poor decision for them; they'll do it themselves.
I hope that made sense. This is one of those things that you think about, but make better sense in your head. Basically, don't force your story and make sure you stay within the confines of what works within your characters.
Perhaps I should have just said that. Meh.
Happy Writing,
JB
Hey everyone, I know I haven't been keeping my blog up to date, but I have a lot of things currently going on, so expect updates, but don't expect too many too soon (sorry about that). This one is short, but important.
So the topic for today; your opinion. It's a valuable thing really, and when combined with writing, it can be wonderfully accurate. Or completely, absolutely, totally, dead wrong.
I was catching up on a backlog of editing recently on a chapter that I thought was really terrible. When I wrote it I was very dissappointed with it, and thought that it was best just to get through it, and redo it later. So begrudgingly I finished it, and put it deep in the confines of my filing system where it would never see the light of day.
Things left unfinished tend to bug me, and I knew that it was time to edit the thres chapters I had neglected to edit straight away. So up from the depths that cursed chapter surfaced, and I started editing it. After the first few pages I stopped and reread it agian.
It was good.
And I actually liked it.
You see, I am my own worst critique, as most writer's are. I thought that what I had written was horrible right after I had finished it, but later I found that it worked really well and wasn't bad at all.
You might think what you are doing is wrong and horrible and aweful when you are writing it. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong though. It is your opinion.
But can I advise something? Give what you do a fair shot. It isn't fair to you, your characters, or your future readers to miss a potentially wonderful part in your writing just because you had a bad day, or your opinion is wrong. your opinion is not the 'be all, end all' so give yourself time, forget about it, go back to it, and then make up your mind. Perhaps you will find that it is actually really good.
Happy Writing,
JB
Okay, I will be getting back to my literary musings shortly. If this is your first time reading this, skip to my second post, then go from there; everything will make more sense. Well, if I was to be philosophical about that statement, it would be infallible to say that least, but I hope you are eximious in your reading to be able to figure that out.
I have a website; Jazzelle Braewyn Zariel
Second topic to discuss; I have another website, but that is for me alone. I fill it with all the philosophical musings I can think of, which is by no means small, and discuss in writing what I can't express out loud.
Why the second one? Well, I have taken on some interesting and thought provoking reading lately, which brings up many intriguing thoughts. Things like duality, transformation (a synonym for those being the Tempest by Shakespeare), pre-destination, and the list goes on. I've had it up for a while yet, but I plan on keeping it to myself unless there is a great interest in it (which translates to you will probably never see it). Most of it is on the computer in draft form, so even if you are canny enough to figure out what it is called, you wouldn't see much.
Anyways. Happy Writing all,
JB
Ugh, I am cringing where I sit right now.
Okay, I write these blog posts very quickly because generally I like to spend the time I spend writing, actually writing my story.
Now, you may not know, but I am very OSD about spelling and grammer, and am throughly disgusted my myself right now. I also edit to no end, and I can barely stand this.
My posts are so atrocious when it comes to all three, and for that, I apologize profusely. I am sure that some of you were sitting at your computers completely confused when I misspelled words, or made up my own for goodness sake!
Ugh, one horrible example: I wrote 'pasted' instead of 'passed'. How abominable.
I really do not have time to go and edit all of the posts I have done. I have enough to do with writing my novel, school, and life, so it's just not going to happen until March Break or the summer (I know I know, it should be done sonner, but it's just not possible).
Just to reinterate; I do not spend a lot of time typing my posts. I do spend a great deal of time when I can thinking of what I am going to write, so I can try and help those of you that read this. I really want to help those of you who are going through some of the things I have and offer practical advice. This means that there will be a lot of spelling, and grammatical mistakes in my posts.
Again, so sorry.
Happy Writing,
JB
