Young Writers Society

:shock:
I almost called one of my friends Jake the other day. P.S., Jake is the main male character in my novel.

Sorry, just had to throw that out there.

You know you are a writer when...

I have reached 30,000 words in my book! Woohoo! It's only nine chapters, however, so I usually just avoid that subject and proudly announce the word count. I'm thinking that by the time it's done it will be between 40,000 and 60,000 words, which, according to my sources, is just the right length for a young adult novel.

As far as how the novel is going right now, my characters have officially gone wild. Zephyr left Brand and Hatta alone in Aellyn while he goes "searching for answers" (even I'm not quite sure what that means yet), Brand is falling for Marc but cannot touch her without sending her into seizures, and Hatta is being a leader instead of the passive peacemaker. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Jake is developing some of the same symptoms as Marc and my poor miserable main character Marcella is stuck in a hospital bed next to the girlfriend of the guy she was crushing on.

And I have no idea how any of this happened.




Lost and confused,
~Sunny

Wow sounds like you've got your hands full at the time LOL. Sounds like a really interesting story line though. I bet it's tricky to write about something when your characters take over. Good luck. I've no doubt that your creative enough to write your way through any problem that your characters present you with. Keep at it.

Well, my characters are still being somewhat retarded, although most of them have settled back into their normal roles. Hatta is the peacekeeper again and Brand is still freaking out - I just don't know why.

I broke the sacred writer's vow last night - I told my boyfriend the end of my story. Actually it ended up being really helpful...sort of. On the up side he helped me find all the inconsistencies and work them out in my head. On the down side I now have to figure out a way to fix all those inconsistencies. :?



Still lost and confused,
~Queen Sunny I

Well, progress on my novel has officially stopped for a while. I'm taking a sabbatical, which will probably last until I graduate. There are a couple reasons for this.

One: I was totally focusing on the idea of getting it published. Hurray for Stephenie Meyer's slap-in-the-face: "If you love to write, then write. Don't let your goal be having a novel published, let your goal be enjoying your stories." Yeah. Oops.

Two: I'm so incredibly busy trying to finish my senior year that I don't have the time to finish Firebrand and end up with a good story. I'm putting it on hold so I don't ruin it by rushing through it.

Three: I was starting to feel a little obsessive, and that's just not good.

So there you have it. Firebrand will not be finished by the time I graduate, *tear*, but when it is finished it will be freaking awesome. :D

And the bit/teeny tiny fragments that I have read do look to be awesome!

Lol, thank you very much!

Yay! My sabbatical is going really well! (Is that an oxymoron? I don't really know...)

What I really mean to say is that I got some of the tangles in my mind untangled, I've spent some time with friends, I've spent some time with God, I've decided where I'm going to college and what I think about it, I still have a B in College Trig (!!!), and I've had an awesome time with my youth group's leadership team. All that to say...sabbaticals are good. They immerse you in the great pool of Life so you can come back and write about it. And that is so, so important.


~Sunny

Well, I'm officially done with school, so my hiatus is over...sort of. I picked up Firebrand again on Friday and I stopped writing, started listening. My characters had a lot to say. So did God.

Brand is a very scared, very lonely boy who is very scared and very lonely because he loves someone he's almost afraid of. Marc, sick and tired of the pain and the fear, is borderline-suicidal. Zephyr has retreated to a quiet place to watch, wait, and pray. Hatta is resolved, steady, strong. Jake is scared and sick with puppy love. Vanessa is frustrated. Doc is worried.

And God is telling me that it's okay. I can let go and let my characters talk. I don't have to have a blueprint for my story; I just need to be open and willling to let the novel move as it needs to. I need to put some life back into those words instead of clutching my control like a dictator.

Didn't someone say about walking a dog rather than being a puppeteer when writing?

Ultimately, writing, like practically everything we do, is about power, but kid yourself that the characters are in control and you learn to let go. ^_^

Yeah my characters talk all the time. Sometimes if I am writing and my friends call me I talk exactly like that character would without even realizing it. *sigh* The plight of a writer. I hate it when my characters argue with me about what is going to happen to them.

Character- "But I don't want to die!"

Me- "Sorry but it has to happen or else the story won't be as powerful."

Character- "But I am your favorite. Besides, we are like best friends now, killing me would be like killing a good friend."

Me-"....."

Congratulations on your efforts on your novel by the way. It sounds like an entertaining piece . Hopefully I will see it one day on Border's shelf!

I'm glad to see you're getting yourself all together lyrical_sunshine!!! Don't you just hate it when your characters take control and then you before you know it they're in a situation you can't get them out of, yet you can't go erase all that you wrote because now it's stuck in your mind and it's too good to leave out, but too hard to get out of, and...yeah. Good luck with Firebrand. I'm gonna go read it (if it's still up).

Lyrical Sunshine, in response to a much eariler comment...

My Friend: Do you want to go to a free room?

Me: I'd much rather stay here- have you seen Josh?

My Friend: 'Who the heck is Josh when he's at home?'

Me, kicking myself: 'No one...I mean Megan....'

Eimear wrote:Lyrical Sunshine, in response to a much eariler comment...

My Friend: Do you want to go to a free room?

Me: I'd much rather stay here- have you seen Josh?

My Friend: 'Who the heck is Josh when he's at home?'

Me, kicking myself: 'No one...I mean Megan....'

LOL, that's awesome. :D

Random Thought for the Day:

I think Ian's and Jake's names need to change. It's frustrating, because they've been Ian and Jake since they popped into my head, but there are so many Ians and Jakes out there nowadays. Everytime I write about poor Jacob I think of werewolves or my friend's little brother, and whenever Ian comes into the picture I think of silver aliens. Curse you, Stephenie Meyer.

The new-and-improved names bouncing around in my head are Caleb and Luke. Whether they will be used or not, I don't know.