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Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:44 am
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Que says...



Okay so I have no idea what I'm doing. I had a plot and the ditched it for this one, I will take any and all advice. XD

So I guess what I basically wanted this to be about was this boy who has been through some sort of ordeal. The chapters are all in sort of blog post form, because his therapist/counsellor/guiding figure told him he should keep a journal. He thought that was stupid, and they settled on a blog. He doesn't reveal anything about his ordeal yet, but each day he tries to find something to write to keep everyone pleased. He starts out by saying his day was fine and such, but then there start to be all sorts of supernatural happenings around town. Once he start noticing, he can't stop and looks into all of these mysteries. He writes it all down through the blog entries, so over time we learn not only more about the weird things happening in town, but we also see this boy unfolding and realising it's okay to admit when things aren't fine. Maybe we will even find out what happened to him. Anyway, he begins to work through it all and stuff. That's about it.

I personally don't blog or read blogs, so I have no idea what format that would look like? If anyone knows things about this, I would love to hear. :)

And I was considering naming him Evan. That's about all I have, but hopefully this will help me expand!
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Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:39 pm
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Nate says...



Sounds like a neat idea. With regards to your question about blog formats, there's a bunch of different formats, but I think it pretty much breaks down into two categories.

The first category is what I guess could be called the "classical" format. These are blogs like the ones here on YWS that consist mostly of personal essays / journal entries. Popular sites that use this format would be blogspot and LiveJournal. Here's George R.R. Martin's LiveJournal blog as an example:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/

The second category is the Tumblr format, which the YWS People tab is kind of modeled after. People post videos, images, personal essays, random thoughts, etc. More importantly though, you can also "reblog" or favorite stuff that other people post. A lot of Tumblr blogs are just people reblogging stuff they thought was interesting (almost like a collage). Here's the YWS tumblr account (primarily managed by @PenguinAttack):
http://ywsgazette.tumblr.com/

If Evan is a teenager or young adult, then he's probably most likely to use Tumblr or something similar to it. So his blog in your book could consist of him reblogging the mysterious happenings, random one sentence thoughts, personal essays, etc. But, I'm not sure how well that would translate into literary form. It could get very tedious from a reader's perspective!

Instead, the classical format is probably best (which can still be done on Tumblr). You could, say, open each chapter with a new blog entry, or just allude to him writing in the blog.

Anyhoot, try starting by just beginning your own blog here on YWS!
  





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Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:37 am
TheStormAroundMe says...



Falconer wrote:The chapters are all in sort of blog post form, because his therapist/counsellor/guiding figure told him he should keep a journal. He thought that was stupid, and they settled on a blog. [...]

And I was considering naming him Evan. That's about all I have, but hopefully this will help me expand!


This reminds me of a new musical that recently opened on Broadway. It's called Dear Evan Hansen, and revolves around a boy whose therapist told him to write letters to himself as a healing technique. Since the main character in this one's name is Evan, you might want to consider a different name. Although, Dear Evan Hansen's plot is pretty down-to-earth, not supernatural at all. It's your choice.

That said, I'm totally going to be thinking of the musical while I read your writing! :)
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Wed Feb 08, 2017 1:14 am
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Que says...



Thanks for the advice, @Nate! I'll look into that. :)

And @TheStormAroundMe that's so cool, I wasn't aware of that at all. I can probably change Evan, I'm not too attached to it. I just have to find something that works with his character. ^_^
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Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:21 am
Que says...



So I decided upon a better name! He is going to be named Finnley. ^_^ He's always been shy, and after the ordeal, he just closes off completely. In an effort to help him, his parents decided they should move to somewhere new, to make new memories and not dwell on the past. (I'm thinking Wyoming just for fun, no idea really though. Somewhere small where lots of magical things can happen) Finnley may be a little curious, but never enough to do anything about it. He doesn't reach out to make new friends, and wouldn't choose to investigate the strange happenings on his own, preferring just to get through life day by day. Luckily, a girl at the school named Mia is exactly the opposite of him. She's outgoing, daring, and firey. She reaches out to him and they become friends, though Finnley isn't exactly overjoyed. When she finds out about the strange happenings, she insists they go investigate. I was thinking that their friendship would be a help to both of them- Mia would be able to draw Finnley out of his shell and convince him to do things he hasn't before, and Finnley shows Mia the importance of thinking before acting, and the joys of quiet consideration and observation. And other things too.

I was just debating whether I should actually make the entire story in Finley's blog posts, or if I should include action in between, so it's not all his retelling. For example he could post some information about an old legend and compare it to events that happened the other night, but then it will continue with Fin going about his other things and have more of his personal thoughts.

Also, I was sketching them a bit today! Thought I'd attach it just for fun. ^_^
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Finnley and Mia
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