[Insert Author Name] cannot write!

The inspiration for this blog post came from my MLIS book entitled, "The Essentials of Young Adult Literature" by Carl M. Tomlison and Carol Lynch-Brown.

I was reading Chapter 4 "Modern Fantasy" when I came across black lines on the page:

This is page 63:

This is page 67:

Guess what is marked out.

"An example is Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. The first book in the suspenseful vampire romance saga, Twilight, published in 2005, became a best-seller and has been made into a popular movie" (Tomilson, Brown 2010),

"In Stephenie Meyer's vampire novel, Twilight, a teenage girl falls in love at her new school with a handsome, though, tortured vampire." (Tomilson, Brown 2010).

Okay.

Now, I don't know why sentences in my book are blacked out (and the person who owned this before me could have just...hated Twilight the book, but I'm not sure), but this brings up something I have had to come to terms with over the course of my maturing as an author: AS A WRITER, YOU SHOULD NOT BASH OTHER WRITERS.

It is a waste of time.

I mean, you can dislike a book, I am not saying you can't. I'm also not saying you can't write one-star, two-star reviews of books. I will be honest, Twilight is not my favorite book. I even attempted to reread the book as a 22-year-old, and I felt like Bella was super-depressed. When I was younger, I would say some bad things about it. But one day I realized I was being ridiculous. You know how I realized that? I read someone else's ridiculous post. Guess what they said: "Stephenie Meyer can't even spell her name right, what makes you think she can write a book?"

Okay. Okay.

Shut up. Really.

Stephenie Meyer's name is spelled that way because her father's name is Stephen.

Attacking an author in that way is super ridiculous. You might not think she can write, but really the point is, she created a world people LOVE. You might not like the characters she created, either. The point is, she created characters people can identify with, characters people LOVE even if YOU didn't.

Anyone read An Uphill Climb by Dave Sargent? I read that book when I was in the 7th grade. In the book, he describes how he had no ability to use grammar...but his words...man, those words had potential.

Here is a good blog post by Nathan Bransford: What People Talk About When They Talk About Bad Writing

Here's another: Virtual Witch Hunts

Bransford also says in another post titled "The Reverse Snobbery of Low Literary Aspirations":

Writers ignore good writing at their peril. In order to have a book published it doesn't have to be literary literary literary, but the writer has to do something very well. While there is an insanely common sentiment in the comments section that so many books published are trash and oh well anyone can do it: that's really not the case. You may not like it, but quite a few people along the way did in order for it to find its way to the bookshelf.
Not every talented writer is a published author, but (nearly) every published author is talented. Even if you think they suck.

Meyer, even if you don't like her, DOES do things very well. She came up with a unique idea, she builds sexual tension like a maniac, and I loved the Cullen family and their dynamics.

Yeah, some of her descriptions are a little odd, but sometimes you're so engrossed in books, you don't realize that while you're reading until someone points it out, Reasoning with Vampires.

Personally, I keep my like and dislike of books to myself. It's easier that way. I've also made a point to find merit in writing I don't like. It's a good exercise.

Love,

Ashley

Piece of a Dream

Hey everyone!

I know I am doing my blog series, but it is on hold...JUST this week, because I have something more important to announce.

Now, I know announcing that you have an agent is probably a better post, but I've been writing for....around ten years. Within those ten years, I have gotten a lot of rejections. I know I wasn't ready to query. My manuscript wasn't read to be read, either. In April, I rewrote my book and it only took four months.

I've been doing revisions, and working hard on a query and synopsis with the help of some great writer friends.

Thursday I got my first FULL request from an agent!

I was in tears.

Tears because it felt so wonderful. Because my goal when I began to query was to only reach that step. I told myself, "It'll be great if I can just get to the next step..."

And I did!!

I am ecstatic. In my mind, even if I get a rejection, I have proven I can make it to the next level. I'm so much closer to achieving my dreams!

Blog Series: Writing Wishes

There are some things in this series you might already know. You may consider them common sense, but in terms of my writing before April 23, 2012, they were not common sense. I considered myself a writer who learned from reading. I considered myself a writer who was a pantster, not a plotter. I felt like plotting was cheating for some very strange reason. 

When I decided it was best to begin outlining, the first thing I did was make a "Wish List." This was suggested by Truby. He says, "First, write down your wish list, a list of everything you would like to see..in a book. It's what you are passionately intereted in, and it's what entertains you" (page 17). When I was a kid, it meant writing out a list of toys I wanted. As a writer, it meant writing out what I wanted in my book. 

Here's a look at part of my wish list (edited to keep some things secret): 

The key to writing a wish list? Write EVERYTHING that comes to your mind. Even if it sounds farfetched or you think it might be stupid. Chances are, if it's on your wish list, you'll find a way to sneak it in and make it work. This wish list doesn't have to be one page, either. Can can be as many pages as you want (I have a slideshow dedicated to outlining in which I insert random things I want to happen). This wish list spurred questions I needed to figure out how to answer BEFORE I began writing. 

Want to figure out how I answered those questions? 

Well, that'll be for next week!

I hope you all have fun writing wish lists! Or, have you written a wish list before? 

Just a quick announcement!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to let you know that Aladdin and I worked on a new website. You can visit it HERE!

Tell me what you think. :)

Blog Series!

Hey guys! I wanted to announce that I came up with an idea for my blog. You all know that I recently (as of April 2012), began rewriting my book. Before I began the rewrite, however, I picked up this book: 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Storyteller/dp/0865479518

I know what a lot of people do when you tell them to read a book about how to craft stories. They go, "Ehh, I don't need that. I can write a story straight out of my head." Yeah, it's super hard to admit you need help. I was one of those people. I didn't think I needed help. I didn't think I needed to outline, but man...after reading this book, I realized I was doing a lot of things wrong.

Things I couldn't learn just by reading other people's books.

See, to become a better writer you do need to read. Read all sorts of things. Read in your genre, especially. Most importantly though--accept help and critiques. It hurts to realize you need help or that you might not have mastered a certain aspect of your story. That's not the point though. The point is that your story will be better if you listened to those critiques and if you took that advice.

Each Saturday, I will post a short blog about what I learned from John Truby's book and relate it to my own writing experiences. I'll demonstrate how I wasn't following this guideline and why it made my book better.

I swear, after you read this book you will NEVER read another book the same way. You will KNOW when writers outline and when they didn't. It literally changes everything.

I hope you'll stick around!

Social Media Withdraws?

Hi everyone! 

I feel SO lost. I thought I would be able to blog over my break, but every time I thought, "I need to write a blog" I got a little afraid, and I felt...well, an aversion to my blog. I didn't even want to type in the URL and look at it. 

WHY?! 

I really cannot answer this myself. At times I think maybe I feel overwhelmed. I have a full-time job, school, I try to workout almost everyday, and write. These things take up all my time. When I was in my undergrad studies and I didn't have a job for a semester, I blogged. And let me tell you, as you all might know, being a full-time blogger (you know, visiting, commenting, and the like--it takes SO much time). 

Now I feel out of the loop. I feel like reentering this wold is something I want so desperately, but now I'm afraid of it. I understand hiatuses. But I don't want one. I want to jump right back in, post regularly about my writing. 

I should probably keep a schedule, write blog posts on the weekends. This feeling isn't limited to my blog either--it's on Twitter, too. I use Facebook regularly so I haven't fallen off the bandwagon there. lol. 

Anyone have suggestions? What can I do to get out of this funk? :( 

Happy New Year!

Well everyone, we've made it to 2013 without Armageddon or an apocalypse. And now it's the 2nd of January--we're at the beginning of another year. My New Years Resolution was to land an agent. I know, I know--it's hard to actually do it...but hey, it's better than my other resolutions which always involve weight loss of some sort. As part of my Insecure Writer's Support Group Post, I thought I'd go over some ways my writing has changed in the last year, and what I realized about myself as a writer. There have been ups...and downs...but I'm still here. Still going.

The first thing I came to terms with in 2012 was that my book needed to be rewritten. By rewritten I mean open a new word document and start from the very beginning. I wasn't without tools, though. Barbara Kloss suggested I read John Truby's Anatomy of Story, and from there, I began to outline. Now, I can't read or what a movie without think about that book. It's how I have gone about crafting all my books. I know it's made me better.

Next, I did a lot of self-reflection and realized I wouldn't be the writer I am today without going to college and having those experiences. I'm not sure how I know that, I just know. Not only did it help my writing to have some actual training, but I also gained real-life experiences. Sometimes, you just can't write about things unless you experience them. You know, mosh pits, Greek parties and the like. haha.

I now know that all writers have dreams--and I mean the big ones. Landing an agent. Getting published. Sharing their books with the world. Probably my biggest realization about 2012 was that you have to be able to take the bad and ALWAYS remember the good. It can get tough. You're handing out you baby for people to read--your CREATION. Blood, sweat, tears have gone into that thing--literally. It wasn't easy to write. There's stress. It's a JOB. Even then, it probably isn't perfect. But that's what we do as writers. We writer, we edit, we fix. We write some more. It's our life. It's what we signed up to do, and if we can't stay positive and persevere we really won't have anything.

You might think that sounds depressing.

But really, it's full of hope.

I was at Aladdin's house over the holidays and talking to some people who were younger than me. One made the comment, "You should just die after 12, life just sucks after that."
I was appalled, and I disagreed with them. Life is what you make it--really, it is. And if you think life sucks after 12 then life will suck after 12. If you're like me, you see time. Time to make dreams come true. Every year I hope I can make a dream come true.

Persevere writers! We're awesome. :)