Christmas Tide is Coming!

 

Snowballs, cocoa, lights, glitter, and of course…CHRISTMAS TREES!

What?! Is it Christmas time already? Wow. Feels like I missed an entire month…Oh wait, I have.

Let’s be honest I totally failed my “Write once everyday challenge”.  I probably only wrote once this past month, to be completely honest. The great thing about failing is that you can always get back up and try again!

The best thing about Christmas is the inspiration and good feeling in the air! What do you like about the Holidays? Have you ever thought of writing about it?

How do you feel about the traditions your family has? The Christmas tree, the things you typically do? Have you ever written about it?

Sometimes if you have nothing else to write or no ideas left, writing about how you feel about certain subjects even something as small as how eggnog should be made or how you like to decorate a tree.

Simple journaling. That is one of the best things a writer can do to grow their writing abilities. You don’t have to do it every day either! Just pick a subject on a day where you feel that you need to get back into writing and just write out all of your littlest thoughts on the matter.

Merry Christmas and Happiest of Holidays to you all!

Penny Biscuit

World Building: Cities

Hello, hello!

Alright, time to talk about building a city within your writing. How exactly do you do that and why is it important?

Well, what if your main character is being chased by a horde of angry salesmen and he/she now has to navigate through a busy city. Or possibly even an abandoned one! How would you describe that?

Is the city within your story a real one or fictional? Either way, it has to be described accurately in order to make the story feel real.

If a city is busy and huge how would you describe that? Do you hear loads of car horns and swarms of people talking and pushing through to get to their workplaces or homes? Or can you describe the way the buildings blocked the view to the sky and how they all looked packed together like sardines in a can?

Description of people, places, and things is hugely important when it comes to world building. You need to know what your city looks like in order for your characters to navigate it correctly.

So let’s say those angry salesmen are getting close to your character. Does your character know his/her way around or not? If not then a city can be either a big problem or a wonderful hideout for your character. If he/she knows their way around well then perhaps they can easily avoid those salesmen and get to a safer zone.

Regardless it’s important to know the world you’re building. Be it fantasy or realistic. 😉

How do you describe the cities in your world and how do you use them within your own story?

Penny Biscuit

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

The awesome thing about being a writer is that you get to jump from story to story, creating new worlds and new adventures all the time!

The problem with that is, as a writer wandering from story to story is not always helpful. You can get lost and trail from story to story never finishing even one. However, though it is possible it’s not always the case. 😉

I’m a bit of a wanderer myself. I love trying new writing styles, new techniques, and new story types.  However, I tend to get lost in the midst of my wandering. I have about twenty unfinished rough drafts for stories. I used to have more but they have long since been lost or deleted. I wandered from Space Age to WWII, and from Medieval to Post Apocalyptic! I definitely don’t like to stay in one place. And while that’s all well and good, I also have to avoid getting lost in my random stories because I also have a book that needs to be finished first.

Not all who wander are lost, but some really should pick one and try not to wander too far from home until one is finished. 😉

What do you like to do? Do you like to wander around and try new styles? Or do you stay close to home?

Penny Biscuit

Hush, Hush, Hush

Hello Hello! It has been far too long since my last post and I regret to say that I’ve been terribly lazy these past few weeks. It’s scary how much can change within a week, a month, or a year even! I wonder what would happen if we managed to write for a whole day at least once a week? It would probably help our writing to grow tremendously wouldn’t it?

I know that as I’ve been writing my grammar, spelling, and thoughts for writing have gotten better over time. But that’s just it, it takes time.

I used to keep all of my writing on the down low, hushed and quite because I didn’t want anyone to read my writing. I didn’t want to hear the critics or deal with all the problems in my writing and the embarrassment of having someone else read my writing.

But you know what? Not sharing just made my writing worse.

I began writing short stories and fanfiction with a friend a couple years ago. That was the first time I had really allowed someone to read all of my writing, all of my ideas, and all of my crazy stories. Beforehand my writing style was pretty lame, but now after sharing my writing with just one person, my writing style has become so much better.

I’ve started sharing more of my writing with more people recently. I go to a writer’s group that meets once a month and usually I wouldn’t offer for anyone to read my stories let alone myself read it. To me, I always thought that even though they asked, no one “Really” wanted to read my stories. Wow, what a lie I tell myself.

The problem with never sharing is that you never grow. You want to become a better writer right? Here’s my advice to you. Take the critics of others. Listen to their opinion but don’t change everything to suit one person. Make it your own but allow people to help you. The best writers are the ones who listen to other’s and grow in their writing.

Don’t keep your writing ‘hush hush’.

They say sharing is caring right? Well in that case if you care about your writing, you should share it. 😉

Penny Biscuit

The Invisible Writer

Hello all! Welcome, welcome back!

You know, I realized that there is something you may not be aware of as a writer. Let me introduce you to your own personal little buddy, the Invisible Writer. This little cutie is the constant ideas that you have secretly for a story or for your books even. He sorts the ideas out and keeps all those insane ideas in check.

Well that’s just nifty, isn’t it? Ideas all the time! How cool, am I right? It’s pretty common to have ideas constantly. I see only one problem… It’s called the Invisible writer for a reason. It’s invisible! I wonder why?

As writers, we tend to push back most of our ideas if they’re getting in the way of everyday thinking or they are just too crazy for you, so you decide that they can’t be done. Where do all those awesome ideas go you might ask? Why they all go to our little buddy of course!

This little guy holds onto all of them I figure and locks them in the backs of our brains. That’s all well and good until you need those ideas… They’re locked up and alas, the Invisible Writer wants to keep them all for himself!

That’s a huge problem when you’re looking for ideas and trying to remember thoughts and ideas that you had earlier. Lucky for you I happen to hold the key to keeping the Invisible Writer from hiding all of your awesome ideas!

Wanna know what it is? Of course, you do!

Write those ideas down. That’s it. There’s the punchline! The Invisible Writer can never lock them away when you write them down the second you have a chance! Bring a small pocket notebook everywhere you go, write down even the silliest or stupidest ides that first come to your mind. Slowly but surely, your Invisible Writer will become a Writer’s Companion and not just a locked and hidden idea generator!

What do you do when you get ideas for your writing?

Penny Biscuit

 

Positively Wicked

Hello, Birdies! It’s officially October and everyone is talking about their favorite costume ideas and their plans for the holidays. Maybe even the best way to avoid all the scary that goes on in October.

I’m one of those weird people that plans at least three or four different costumes. (Even though  I don’t ever do anything for Halloween. I just like costumes. 😉 )  I’m definitely not the biggest fan of this particular holiday, but I do love the inspiration that I find!

One thing about Halloween that I think is cool; I get a million writing ideas during that time. Think about it, a Ghoul and a Repair Man walk into a party. That’s fantastic story material right there. Am I right? Ha!

October is filled with craftsy material and you manage to get this overwhelming desire to create. I don’t know what it is about this particular month, but everyone is artistic in some way or another around this time.

Shouldn’t we as artists use everything around us as inspiration? I want you to try something. I want you to look for inspiration from everything around you this month. From the sparkle filled black and orange to the weird dancing skeletons hanging in your neighbor’s window. Inspiration is all around, you just have to look for it.

Jot down all your random thoughts and ideas and see what comes of them! You’d be surprised at what you might find. *Insert Evil Laughter*

Tell me what you’ve come up with this month! Feel free to leave a comment, I want to hear from you!

Until next time!

Penny Biscuit

It’s All About the Questions

Hey, there Birdies! I’m back and intend to write every day for the rest of this week! (This time I mean it)  I have become the epitome of laziness as of late and I really need to fix that.

So! One thing that has been on my mind. Questions! Asking questions. You want to know one way to become a really awesome writer? Ask a question. It can be as simple as, ‘How did this happen?’ Or as complex as, ‘What causes this to happen?’

As a writer or even a reader, it’s important that we ask questions. If you’re a reader you can question why something is happening in the book, or perhaps what the author is intending for you to understand. Questions make us intrigued and as a reader that’s a really good thing.

As a writer, questions help you to write better. That’s right, you heard me correctly. If you went about as a writer and never asked a single question about it you’d more than likely land right on your face. Ouch. Definitely, don’t want to go there. Questions help you to grow,  questions help you to think, learn, and search for new information. A writer should be sort of like a reporter in a way. A good reporter never stops asking questions. They want to know everything about their story. From the very bottom to the very top.

What questions should you be asking as a writer? Well, that all depends on the type of writer you are.  You should always be asking where you’re wanting to take your story, what your character’s goals are, maybe even what you’re wanting to accomplish in your writing.

Questions can be a writer’s best friend.  Sadly, they can also be a downfall. Too many questions can make you ask more than you write. So don’t forget that you have to have an even balance. 😉

What questions do you ask before you write?

Penny Biscuit

Sometime Later

Hello, my little birdies! Long time no post I know. Ha!

I’ve been crazy busy and I actually got distracted working on my book instead of working on a blog post. (Oops)

One thing that definitely distracted me an awful ton was my own brain telling me, “I can write sometime later.” Wow, what a lie I tell myself.

Have you ever caught yourself in the process of being lazy? It’s a little irritating, isn’t it? I had that moment yesterday for sure. I had about two or three hours of free time before I had to be anywhere so I told myself I can always do writing in a little while. That obviously didn’t work out well now, did it?

Sometime later aways translates into not at all. As writers, we really shouldn’t be even allowing that little delay of a thought to enter our minds! If I said sometime later every single time I needed to post something or write another 1,000 words I’d never get anywhere!

It’s a terrible thing when we let procrastination pull us away from our work. It is distracting and an excuse not to do anything. How on earth are we to finish our book, finish our story, or complete our publishing if all we ever did was a sometime later?

We wouldn’t get much done.

I think we need to change our ‘sometime laters’ into a ‘how about right now’!

What do you think? How do you keep yourself from procrastinating?

Penny Biscuit

Writer’s Resource​; The 1950’s; Famous People.

I rummaged all over the internet for some information and helpful things that any writer could find useful for their writing! This time around I’m starting in the 1950’s, I’ll go over the culture, foods, cost of things, music of the time, movies, and famous celebrities.  I’m going to start with celebrities and famous people and in following posts, I’ll talk about events, and so forth.

I’ll base it in America for now since I don’t have adequate research material for Europe.

Let’s start with a few Famous people!

• Marilyn Monroe (Actress/model)
• Grace Kelly (Actress)
• Jackie Robinson (Baseball Player)
• Mickey Mantle (Baseball Player)
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (President from 1953-1961)
• Elvis Presley (Musician)
• Frank Sinatra (Musician)
• Ernest Hemingway (Author)
• John Wayne (Actor)
• Rosa Parks (Civil rights activist)

All of these people and more impacted the way we live today, some of the things we watch, and the music we listen to. I’ll write a little piece about each person just so that you can get an idea of who they were and what they did to impact the era!

 

Let’s start with Marilyn Monroe.

Her real name was Norma Jean Mortenson. She lived from, June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962

She was an actress and famous model. Most of you know who she is or at least have seen a photo of her as she has become a major pop culture idol. She acted in several comedies of the era and a few other movies as well. But she was most famous for her modeling career. Most of her acting career landed her roles that simply were to show off her beauty. They didn’t make her smart or a strong female lead character and they most certainly didn’t choose her for her acting skills, they simply used her as a beautiful face that men would enjoy to see and that women would aspire to look like. It was most certainly a sad life to live. But she put on a show for the world to see, to make it appear that she was a joy filled person despite the fact that she was mainly just a beauty icon. She died in 1962 from a barbiturate overdose.

You can read more about her on the Wikipedia page here: Marilyn Monroe

 

 

Grace Kelly

Grace Patricia Kelly lived from November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982.

Her acting career began in 1950 when she was 20 years old. In 1954 she won the Golden Globe Award as well as an Academy Award nomination for her performance in a movie called Mogambo. At 26, her acting career ended when she married Prince Rainier. She took on the duties of being the Princess of Monaco.

If you want to know more you can read it here: Grace Kelly

 

Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt Robinson lived from January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972.

He was a professional baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking the racial segregation in major league baseball as he was the first African American to be welcomed onto the playing field. He played the game for 10 years. His role in baseball played a major part in the Civil Rights Movement. His talent drove him far in the Baseball world. He was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons and he contributed greatly to the Dodgers victory in the 1955 World Series Championship. He was placed into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.  He retired from baseball at age 37 on January 5, 1957.

Here’s the link if you want to read more about him!:  Jackie Robinson

Mickey Mantel

Mickey Charles Mantel lived from October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995.

He was a Major Leauge Baseball player for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968. He was considered one of the best switch hitters in baseball history and he was known for being fantastic at playing offense. Mickey won the Triple Crown in 1956 and he is the last player to have led all of Major League Baseball in all three Triple Crown subjects. His former teammate shared his faith with him and. Mantle became a Christian around April 1995. He made amends with his wife who had been living apart from him for some years but never divorced. Mantle died on August 13, 1995.

If you would like to hear more about him here’s the link!: Mickey Mantel

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower lived from October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969.

Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States of America from 1953 until 1961. He was a Military Governor in Germany during WWII, and in November of 1945 he took over as the Army Chief of Staff. He did many incredible things in his lifetime and as President. And though I cannot fit it all into this post I encourage you to read about him!

Take a look!: Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley lived from January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977.

Most people will recognize him as the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ or as one of the greatest musicians of his time or anytime which depends on who you talk to. As his fame was building he began to create his ‘look’,  already he had quite a few best sellers. With Hound Dog being one of the top songs.

On March 24, 1958, he was drafted into the Army as a  private at Fort Chaffee. The event was quite an ordeal for the press and fans of the musician. He was with the army until 1960 with an honorable discharge the rank of sergeant. Then he returned to his musical enterprises and continued to grow in fame and popularity until he died on August 16, 1977.

Read more about his life here: Elvis Presley

 

There are many famous people of the 50’s and while I’d love to spend time researching all of them sadly I cannot. But I figured this could help anyone who is working on a piece of writing in this era. Sometimes it’s most helpful to know about the era you’re writing in. That being said in my next post about the 50’s I will be writing about the types of food, vehicles, dances, and music that were around in that time period.

I’ll leave you with links to the other names I mentioned, perhaps you could do some digging and find out even more!

Frank Sinatra

Ernest Hemingway

John Wayne

Rosa Parks

All of these and more are so important to the time and era of the 50’s. I hope these helped!

Penny Biscuit

 

 

Creating a World (A Writer’s Tale; By Me!)

Hello lovelies! It’s been a while since my last post and I must say that life is busy, busy, busy. So much has been going on!

Today I want to talk a little bit about world building.

World building is probably one of my most favorite things to do when writing. I love putting together landscapes, history, monuments, maps, timelines, laws, and lifeforms.

It’s even better when you get to do it from scratch!

One thing that you should know already as a writer is that world building is extremely important. If you can build a world, you can build a story to go in it.

So what’s one of the key elements of making a world where your story can truly be used to the best of its ability? And should you build your world before building your story?

Those are the questions you should be asking.

One key element, I believe would be your own personal view of the world we live in. How do you see it? What are your thoughts on the way we live and the way we do things? All of those things can be implemented into your story to make it feel real. To make it feel possible.

What are things that you’ve wished could be possible? For gravity to be heavier? Did you want the sky to have two suns instead of one? Were trees green or pink?

You can twist the reality in fantasy stories or science fiction, but you should always try to make it feel possible or real. If it’s something that is really not possible, make it feel realistic as if you could picture it in your mind without a shadow of a doubt!

So, when you’re building a world what do you do first?

Well, every world has a history. Your newly created world doesn’t have to have an immaculate word for word account of every imaginary historical event. But it should have elements of a history. Bits and pieces just enough that readers can grasp the feel of this world. (A world can feel rich and immense if your characters speak of things stretching back generations. Or your world can feel fresh and new if little is known of its history.)- – An Idea from my dear friend, Isaiah Silkwood.

Your world should hopefully have terrain and landscapes. (Even outer space has terrain) You’ll need to be able to describe it so therefore you should already know how it looks right? Maps are sometimes helpful in this area. Though granted they distract me a lot because I would much rather draw maps all day than to write. 😉 But a map can help you visualize your world and the space you have.

Creatures, lifeforms, and people. What are these like? Are they the same as earth’s? Are they aliens of a different race? Are they elves, dwarves, gnomes, or bear people!? Oh my.

So many different things to think about I know. But all of these things really are important in one way or another. Now, I don’t think that you must have your world detailed to absolute perfection before you write your story. But I do think that you should have some decent knowledge of what your world consists of, who lives in it, and what the laws of nature are. Is there magic in your world? How does it work? What are the limits? And there should be limits.

Building a world before a story, I think, can be a great thing. But honestly It’s all up to how you want to write! Perhaps you could try it both ways and see what fits you best. Maybe you want to work your world around your story instead of placing your story into a world? That’s totally fine! Both ways are good. It just depends on you.

How do you like to build your worlds? And do you like to build worlds before or after writing the story?

Penny Biscuit