Writing Extravaganza Post 7 - Staying Motivated

Kara Harris, author of "Omni: The Hunted" is visiting on the blog today! This is our 7th Writing Extravaganza Post, so to catch up on all the other great posts that fellow young writers have done, click here! Kara wrote about how to stay motivated while writing. Her tips are great, and should help everyone get through writers' block, and keep writing. My tip for overcoming writer's block is to imagine all of the possible success your work will have if you just press through this one tough spot. That has definitely helped me out, so maybe a few of you will find it helpful as well.

My tip aside, I'll let Kara introduce herself and share her tips!

My name is Kara Harris, I am 18 years old. I am now a self-published author. I have only written one book which is called “Omni: The Hunted”. It took me in total about 6 years to do write the book. A lot of people would say, “wow it took you that long!” I would say “yes” because school took up so much of my time. It can be a hassle for teen authors because writing takes so much time and it’s hard to stay motivated to write. So when Oliver asked me to write an article about staying motivated while writing I was very happy to give my point of view.

I will first start by saying writing isn’t easy and it’s not for everyone. I know many people who like to write, but just aren’t committed to any stories they write. Most have busy schedules or they just don’t like writing long stories. Sometimes you just have to have that one idea, that one simple inspiration to get you started. It’s just staying with it that can be the problem, but that is all you need to find your spark for an idea.

Staying motivated is a hard thing to do no matter how long the novel. For me when I start something I must finish it. Some people have the mind set, but some people don’t. Not every writer is the same. Some writers have a certain schedule to follow. Motivation can come in many shapes and sizes. Some people tend to keep motivated by hearing compliments about their writing, some are motivated by inspiration and some like me just have the love for their story. However, even with the best of writers have one thing they dread above all else, writers blocks. Writer blocks are stressful periods in writing any sort of book that you simply don’t know what to next in your story. Like motivation there are many ways of dealing with writers block. One way of avoiding writers block is making an outline of your story, but an outline won’t stop writers block entirely. I think the best way to handle writers block is to take a deep breath and take a break from writing. The block will only get worse if you keep thinking about it. You just need to step back and stop thinking about your writing. I would also recommend going outside and exploring new places. If you go to new places you may become inspired to write again. The key is not thinking about the story. A new idea will naturally come to you.

Writing Extravaganza Post 6 - Writing A Villain Worth Reading

 On this, the sixth of our Writing Extravaganza Posts, we have Jo M. Coleman, who offered to write about villains. She did a fantastic job, and even included some pictures! (I love pictures!)

Please check out and support Jo on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JoMColeman.

As of yet, the villain that I have hated the *most* is "The Swede" in AMC's TV series, "Hell on Wheels." More than Voldemort, more than President Snow. The creators of this TV series definitely knew what they were doing. They know what Joanna is about to tell. Her advice is gonna help you write villains that are AMC quality, detestable people. Hooray!



"In the old days villains had mustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings." — Alfred Hitchcock 

We all love a good villain. That being who stands in the way of our hero, whose goals directly oppose those that we root for. The man with the scar on his cheek, clad in black. The woman with long fingernails painted red and an evil smirk on her face. The man with a grudge and a weapon. The woman with a memory and an army. What makes a good villain? How can we write better villains; ones that will tear a person's heartstrings, make the reader call for a lynching, do as much damage as possible to our poor heroes? I believe this sort of villain is borne out of understanding. Not necessarily on the reader's part, but very certainly on the writer's part. We must KNOW our villains, the way we know our hero, our best friend, our parents. A good villain needs to be sympathetic on some level. We as readers want to understand them, even if we are horrified at what they do. We want to know that Tom Riddle was unwanted and unloved as a child, and so we understand in part why he chose the path he did.

    We hate his hatred toward the half-bloods, the 'mud-bloods'. We hate who he is, and what he stands for, but as the story unfolds, we begin to understand how he got there. As we begin to understand it, and perhaps in a small way, feel some level of sympathy for him (he cannot love, after all, and that is certainly not his fault), we also see that he was presented with opportunities to do right, to make a positive change in the world, and he chose different. Understanding your villain is the first step to creating a villain worth reading about, worth pitting your hero against. Loki is not very lovable, were we to happen upon him as a self-proclaimed overlord, hardly batting an eyelash at killing any number of (in his eyes) unimportant people. He doesn't think twice about controlling and enslaving them. He is willing even to destroy the entire earth and everyone on it with no remorse on his end.

  And yet... in some way we see that he didn't really want it to be this way. He didn't want to turn out the way he did. Growing up in the shadow of his older brother, he eventually found out he never was part of the family, he could never measure up. And so he decides to make his own mark on the universe.   We understand him. We sympathize because we wonder what we would do in that situation. We understand his motives, though we may not agree with them. He hates humans because his brother loves them. He begrudges his brother the acclamation and acceptance that he feels he will never receive. Not every villain will be as sympathetic as Loki, and not every villain will have a tragic back story attributing to their current evilness... but they will have SOME story, and until you find out what it is, you'll only be writing a cardboard cutout of a character – one few people will want to read about, or force themselves to believe.

    

Some questions to ask yourself about your villain: What motivates him/her? A grudge from the past? Love? A broken heart? Anger? Past hurt? Revenge? Goals based off of a wrong mindset where they truly feel they are doing the right thing? Why has your villain become who they are? Childhood trauma? Family issues? Rejection? What is his/her ultimate goal? Why THAT goal? What will it mean for them personally to achieve that goal? What inspired them to set that goal? A person? A memory? What makes your villain tick? What makes him happy? What makes her sad? So, before diving into your villain's scenes of dastardly wicked deeds, make sure you, as the author, know why he (or she) has become that way. That you understand them. Give us a reason to care about your villain's story, just as we care for the hero's story, and then make us believe it.

Writing Extravaganza Post 5 - Setting

My giveaway has put off our writing extravaganza adventures for a little while. (There's still time--you can still enter!) Today we have another great post to get us back into the writing mood. Caitria Karis is here to write about settings. We can all learn a new thing or two, and come to look at some things in a new light. Without further ado, I'll let Caitria introduce herself and get started!

 Caitria Karis: historical fiction, dystopian/sci-fi, fantasy novelist; devourer of books; musician; lover of the color lavender; and krazy 19-year-old. She read Catching Fire and Mockingjay in the same day, plunks Disney songs on her piano, and doesn’t care how lame everyone else thinks he is, declares Captain America the best Avenger {ok, he’s not the coolest, or the smartest,  or the strongest…but he’s the best}. She dries dishes by dancing them around the kitchen singing Reflection  {she adores  music} and owns her own business. Writing never had a beginning for her. Even when she could barely scrawl letters she was telling stories on paper. Currently, she is working on editing a historical fiction trilogy {ahem, for the last 6 almost 7 years} and completing the first book of a dystopian/sci-fi trilogy.

A powerful setting is not about time and place. It’s not about fairylands and the great pyramids. It’s about connection.

A reader is transported into your world emotionally by the character. They are transported physically by your setting.

There are many different types of settings. Every genre and style and author has their own, a picture of the world of their novel. A good setting doesn’t necessarily have to be spoken.

The best setting is felt, almost as if it is an emotion. Often, the setting is used to influence or contrast the character’s emotions {i.e. rainclouds during depression, sunshine on an adventurous day… (though, some of these are becoming quite cliché – therealways seems to be a thunderstorm at the emotional climax)}.

In too many cases, writers spill out the entire contents of a room and leave nothing to the reader’s imagination. Imagination is the greatest tool a reader can bring to a book. It captures and helps them become involved in the story, create their own picture of what is going on. Giving them a background and foundation is necessary. But don’t overdo it.

For a historical fiction, setting vehicles you to the past. It is important to be aware of the cultural and social customs of the time, the likelihood of your storyline actually taking place, and the building of your domain. Historical fiction is probably one of the hardest genre’s to write, because you are so limited by the knowledge of the past. Creating a realistic picture of an age not one reader has ever belonged to is challenging, because it must still appear realistic. Analogies are very important, because they fill the reader’s mind with comparisons given by the protagonist. If we are in Medieval England, likening a character’s hesitation to a lurching car is going to convey confusion and disjoint the way the story flows.

Fantasy is fun. You can create your own world. And while you get to call the shots for what your world is like, it is better to stay within boundaries of your creation and introduce the reader to your civilizations traditions and customs. Don’t randomly pull from times of history to pool your world’s society. Everything still needs to be easily associated. If one person is using a sword and the next a machine gun, I would have a hard time picturing the culture and science of the book.

Creating your own unique, rich flavor to a setting is what will draw in your readers. Give them a voice, a picture, that will capture them and make them want more, imagine this really happening. Some books spend pages {some even chapters}developing the setting. Others can establish a setting in a few short words that will stand for the rest of the book. I won’t pretend either is better or worse, there are pros and cons for both. What I will say is your setting is powerful. It develops an angle and depth to your protagonist, the storyline, and the difficulty they must surmount that cannot be fashioned any other way.