Experiences--Or, Why I Took Anatomy Class

I've said it before and I'll say it again--writers should experience as much as possible. Everybody should, really, but especially those folks that want to (or do) make a living out of writing. If you've never ridden a horse, ride a horse. If you've never been to Mass at a Catholic church, go at least once. If you've never been on a plane, find an excuse to do so. And so forth.

Everybody, it seems, stresses the word believability. Make your story believable, they say. Make it so that the reader really believes that they're there with your characters. While the proverbial "they" often sound like broken records, "they" really do have a point. Believability is key. If you've never been on an airplane, you're likely to mess up your plane ride scene. You don't know it until you've been through it--for an example, and continuing with the plane ride scenario, I had no idea that airplanes were so loud until about a week ago. But now I know, and can write an airplane scene with accuracy and believability.

Another personal example would be this past semester's anatomy class. I did not need a science credit for this year and I have no desire to go into the medical field, and yet I took human anatomy and physiology, anyway. It was partially for the teacher (who rocks), but mostly it was because I have a great love of writing fight and battle scenes (I'm a fantasy writer--goes with the territory), and I wanted to make sure I knew a little something-something about the human body so I could be accurate when hacking people up with swords (in FICTION).

Heh. Really, though, I figured an anatomy class could only help me. And it did! Last month, Bullard (my teacher) went off on a tangent about how those old Westerns never accurately portray what would happen if a cowboy actually got shot in the chest. He would definitely not walk it off. Bullard, crazy guy that he is, then proceeded to act out what would really happen if you got shot in the chest--and the lung.

Not three days later, I got to the scene in my WiP where one of my characters gets shot in the lung. If I ever get said WiP published, Bullard is getting an acknowledgment, because his stunt really did help me out a lot.

So, writers, get some experience. Take some classes. Go try new things, try out new situations, and apply all that you learn to your writing. File each new experience away and pull from it when you're writing that scene where a character goes to Mass, gets on an airplane, or gets shot in the lung.

After all, you never really know when you're going to use something in your writing.

Happy Monday,
Jenna.

Home Again, Home Again

I'm back home, safe and sound. We made it in yesterday afternoon, and all is well. Traffic SUCKED, but, hey, what can you expect? It's a holiday.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of crap to take care of, and, of course, there's family in town, so I doubt I'll be back around until Monday or Tuesday. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!

Jenna.

Catch-Up

Uh. Did I mention I was flying into Florida for a week of vacation? No? Well, I did that yesterday. So I'm in Florida now, after my very first plane ride. Which was vewy scawwy and bumpy and, oh my GOD, ATLANTA IS TOO FREAKING BIG.

Ahem.

I didn't bring my laptop with me, and I didn't bring a jump drive OR a printout with my WiP. So I can't work on revisions. Which sucks. So, instead of working on the Pixiehunter, I'm going to attempt to bang out some grimoire/outline work on the Enigma. I haven't gotten very far on that, since I've been...er...busy, but since I'm on vacation, I'm hoping I can get some work done. Which sounds kind of pathetic until you consider the fact that I've been jonesing for writing time.

Anyway, this is just a quick check-in, I suppose. I've got the big camp party tomorrow (which is the entire reason I flew into town), and I got a brand-spanking-new camera courtesy of my awesome Nana with which to take pictures. Can't wait!

TTFN, Internet pals!

Jenna.

WiP Wednesday: Edition "I Done Fell Behind"

As I mentioned in the Slingshot post, I've been getting back in the game with my schedules, blog outlines, time management, etc. However, my WiP Wednesday update this week is kind of sad. Monday and Tuesday were supposed to be days of revising on the Pixiehunter, but...nothing. Nada.

Yeah, yeah, I suck. Have I had a single WiP Wed with an update that isn't something like this? Today is an outline day, as according to my handy little schedule (I love it so much, that schedule), and since I have most of the outline down, no homework to do, and ample time (if I don't spend it all on Facebook), I'm going to try and catch up.

See, I was supposed to do once scene Monday and one yesterday, so I can easily knock those both out today, if I set to work. At the worst, I'll just have to finish up scene two tomorrow and take some extra time Friday to get myself back on schedule. That isn't a problem at all, and I'm totally fine with it.

My goal is to have the first, major round of revisions/rewrites done by May. That seems like a long time, yeah, but you've got to consider the fact that most of my time is supposed to be being taken up by scholarship applications, senior project crap, and going through my stuff and getting myself ready to move out. Even though I won't be starting college until mid-August, I'm moving back to Florida in May. The plan is that Nana is going to take me (and my stuff) to Florida after she comes up for my graduation. I'll do all my summer stuff as per usual, and then the fam will come down in August to help me move into my dorm.

So, really, I've got four months--December, January, February, March. April and May are crappy months for me, time-wise, as everything is taken up by studying for finals, taking AP tests (AUGH!), and, this year, readying my speech, portfolio, project board, and final report for my senior project. Thus, my utilization of time-management skills. I needz them.

That's the state of my writing lately. Not bad at all, considering the past year. I've got to leave you now, so I can actually get all this crap done (long to-do list today, and I'm determined to finish it for once...). But, before I go, I'd like to direct you to my friend Ashelynn Sanford's blog, A Gypsy Writer, where I have a guest post entitled "Don't Do it This Way."

TTFN, Internet pals!

Jenna.

Teaser Tuesday: Edition "Mires, Don't Hate Me"

Today I've got a teaser for you, from my NaNo WiP, The Pixiehunter. I haven't done any revisions yet, but I feel like this scene turned out pretty well. It's taken from the penultimate chapter, just before things get...well, fun for me, crappy for my characters, and potentially traumatic for Mires, who might hurt me when she reads the ending.

Enjoy!

***

She rummaged in the cabinets for awhile before finally unearthing a plain metal cup. Then rummaged for a little while longer and found glass bottles filled with drinks she’d never been allowed to have when she lived in the city, and that she’d never had access to in the forest.

She might die soon. No better time to try her first drink, right?

And her second?

And her third?

She forced herself to stop. She’d seen what the drinks had always done to her mother—and sometimes to her father, too—and she knew she didn’t want to be like that. She didn’t want to scream at the people she was supposed to love and cherish. She didn’t want to reach out and strike the innocent young girl that just happened to be wandering by, checking to see what Mother and Daddy were yelling about.

She didn’t want to scream at the innocent young girl when the poor thing cowered in the corner, asking what she’d done wrong and swearing up and down that all she’d wanted was somebody to tuck her into bed and read her a fantasy story, like it had always used to be before her mother started buying more and more of the glass bottles filled with the bad-smelling drink. Before her Daddy had gotten his promotion and started working more and more, leaving her alone with her mother, who loved the glass bottles more than she loved her daughter.

Ella slammed her cup down on the kitchen table, scowling so deeply that her jaw ached. She wasn’t going to be her mother. She wasn’t going to be the one that gave up hope when everything went to shit, and she wasn’t going to be the one that let everybody else handle her problems because she wasn’t brave enough to handle them herself.

And she damn sure wasn’t going back to her mother’s. Ever. Even though she was grown, her mother would still find an excuse to beat her. And the servants wouldn’t interfere—they never had. Even Maxwell, the butler, had turned a blind eye and a deaf ear. He’d given her sweets after every particularly brutal beating, but he never stopped them. It wasn’t his place to interfere, he’d always said.

Ella stood and began walking toward the hall—she needed sleep. She could feel the combination of exhaustion and alcohol dulling her senses—and her balance—and all she wanted was to go back to bed.

She staggered when she tried to round the corner, and she would have fallen straight onto her bad shoulder if a pair of hands hadn’t reached out and caught her.

“Thanks,” she slurred, looking up and expecting to see Deacon. But when she saw the face of her rescuer, she squeaked in surprise and fear and tried to escape his grip.

“Hello, Ella,” Hagin said, smiling that damned oily smile. “You’re up late.”

***

It's Notetastic!: Outlines, Notes, and Grimoires

I've started doing something new lately: making grimoires for my WiPs as I start them. Nathan Bransford had a post about these awhile back, and it started me thinking: why not?

Basically, the grimoire is a compilation of story notes, outlines, character profiles, and everything else you need to know or remember about your story. A lot of us keep something similar already, but the grimoires I've started making are usually a lot more detailed and organized than what I've done in the past.

I start out with my character profiles (which include appearance, personality, mannerisms, history, role in story, goal, and confrontation), and then type up any important worldbuilding notes, followed by settings (if necessary), timelines (if necessary), and then my outlines (I do outlines in several different ways).

I've always been an outline person, but I've found so far that this is my favorite method of keeping track of all my story notes. Since I'm a fantasy writer, I usually wind up with a lot of notes about characters and worldbuilding, and keeping everything in one file (which I then print, carry around, and annotate as needed) is a lot easier than trying to keep files and files of paper scraps with scribbles here and there. Or, good lord, that godawful wall of Post-its that I used to use.

Even if you're not a big outline person and you don't have a lot of notes, it's always a good idea to write out at least basic character profiles and things like maps or timelines, just so you always have them for reference and don't have to flip back through your manuscript to find what color eyes you gave to Jim Bob, and what year it was when Amy was born. Keeping everything in one place is just easier to deal with.

But, hey, that's just my opinion. What's your verdict on grimoires: use 'em, lose 'em, or just never bother?

Ready the Slingshot!

2010 has been declared the "Year of Crap and Little Writing." Every time I turned around, I hit the doldrums, and as a result, both my writing and my blogging suffered. But, as I've posted about on both today's Quill and Ink and Writer's Chronicle posts, I'm using this December as a slingshot to get me back in the groove for 2011.

Though I do have many other things on my plate, I'm not going to let any one thing take over like I did this past year. I get off of school at two, and I'm usually home by two-thirty, thanks to both senior privilege and the fact that I take zero period. There is no excuse for me to not get everything done that I need to--scholarship applications, writing, blogging, chores...everything can be done. My goal is to stop sitting on my duff playing Plants vs. Zombies and actually get some crap done. I'm going to plop myself in the slingshot and propel myself back into the groove. I miss the groove.

I'm going to bring back my book reviews and WiP Wednesday, and I've got some great posts lined up for the week. I've also put up a poll asking you guys what you'd like to see more of, and if you guys could take a second to vote, I'd really appreciate it.

Here's to the slingshot!

I Write What I Write and Here's Why

I get a lot of questions about why I write what I write, from questions about my preferred genre to why I wrote a particular scene a certain way. I rarely have good answers, as it takes me time to really think about it. Here are some of my personal favorites/ones I get asked most often, with the answers I've finally had time to contemplate!

"Why do you write fantasy?

I like it. When I read and write, I want to spend my time in fantastical places with characters I could never meet in real life. Some people like reading about the kinds of people they see every day, but for me, words are what I turn to when I want something that's not what I put up with every day. And then, of course, there's the fact that in fantasy you can use magic and swords and there are potentially very hot men with heavy weaponry. I like hot men with heavy weaponry. *Winks.*

"Why are none of your characters religious?"

Correction: Very few of my characters are religious. Even fewer are Christian. Why? Because, even though I was raised Catholic (and to this day have residual Catholic Guilt [it never goes away. EVER.]), I am often very uncomfortable with Christianity. It's not that I "hate Christians," as somebody once accused me of; it's that Christianity isn't what speaks to me. I write what I know, and if I do have "religious" characters, they are most likely either members of a made-up religion or have Pagan leanings. I do, however, have a few characters that are Christian, and a few of a made-up religion that resembles Christianity. They're minor characters, though. I'm just not comfortable spending a lot of time in the heads of devout Christian characters. It's weird, and brings back the Everlasting Catholic Guilt. As for the non-Christian and non-Pagan religions (Islam, etc.)...well, I don't often write stories that call for characters of those faiths. If I need them, I know where they are to research.

"What's your favorite thing about fantasy?"

The fact that it's not real. I may wish it was--especially in the case of Harry Potter (dude, I got a rejection letter from Hogwarts when I was eleven...depressed me for life...)--but I enjoy the fact that fantasy is fantasy and reality is reality. Like I said in my first answer, words are what I turn to to escape the humdrums that make up reality, and if I'm going to bother to do that, I'm going to do it right. I also like the weaponry. And the magic. And the aforementioned hot men with heavy weaponry. Also badass (maybe even more so) are the hot women with heavy weaponry. Heh.

"Oh my god, why did you kill her off? She's the main freaking character! You can't do that! God!"

MIRES! We've gone OVER this! Twice! At least! Sheesh! For one, she's not the main character--she's only one of them. For two, I took inspiration from Joan of Arc, and we all know what happened to her. For three, her death is what finally results in my protag's transformation and final choice in the story. For four, it let me write a totally badass, traumatic, emotional scene that left me in tears. I LIKE SCENES LIKE THAT. They make me feel powerful. *Evil grin.* But mostly it's the first three reasons. *Nods.*

Those are the things I'm most often get asked. I might do some more of these posts in the future...if I get more people asking more questions! If you've got a question for me--about what I write or otherwise, be sure to drop it in the comment box and I'll answer it in my next round of answers.

TTFN and such!

Yours in writing,
Jenna.