Plot twists: They can twist your brain. --- A post by Patricia Rane

Hey, there. It Patricia, here. And I am here to help you twist your plots! Yup. Now.... either this post will end up sounding really stupid.... or it will sound really smart. I am shooting for the second.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself, if you're trying to decide whether you should throw in a twist.

1. Is your book interesting enough?

My favorite terminology to use when writing is: borxciting.... yesh. I know it's weird. It, actually, sounds kind of like a ship name... sorry. I need to stay on track.
Anyway, borxciting is mixture of the two words 'boring' and 'exciting'. To an author, their writing will (almost) always be interesting, and/or exciting. And that's because it's their's. It's what they pour their hearts into. It's what they spend their time working on. But, the only thing about that is this. Often times, when we think our writing is interesting, we could be doing more to make it that way. (OW! PLEASE! I'M NOT FINISHED YET!) I'm not saying that your writing is not exciting... I'm saying that you should run the extra mile, and try to make it as exciting as possible.

2. Is your book missing something?

Maybe there are two characters in your book. And your writing sounds fantabulous. But it just seems like it's missing something. What about making a relationship happen? Whether it be a crush, a kiss, or a couple, it will fill in the gap.

That was just an example, guys. If you want to keep your literature relationship-free, go right ahead and do that. A relationship is just a good way to fill in gaps.

3. Does the twist that I'm thinking about fit with my plot? My storyline? My characters?

If you answered 'no' to ANY of those questions, you need to finda different twist. If you have fallen in love with the twist, that just doesn't work, try taking a different approach.


So, I've given you some questions to proof your twisting... now what about those twists?

WARNING: Once you add the twist, it will be hard to remove, so think carefully about your next step.

Here are a couple of good ways to twist your plot.

• (I mentioned this earlier) Bring a relationship into your story.
• Bring a new main character into it.
• Have an obstacle in the way of the plans of your characters.
• Change your writing style. (Ex. if you're using 1st person past tense, change it to 1st person present tense)

Have fun!

Keep writing!

~

Patricia Rane <3

Starting a Book; the Official Guide - Part Two

Haha betcha didnt know there was a second part! Thats because I just decided there is gonna be one! Whuppeee!!
     Last time we chatted, I helped you get the basic structure of your book. Genre plot and characters. However, I want to delve a little deeper. Because even if you have the basic idea of your book, you are totally not done planning.
     One thing you have to do obviously is name your characters. I have a list of names made up by yours truly, which will hopefully prove helpful. For fantasy writing, female names like Wista, Aspin, Tarin, Pura, and Sopheel might be interesting. Male names like Maple, Caden, Zak, Quint, and Salyor might work. For dystopian writing, some good female names are Shine, Quiet, Nikaq, Fox, and Bittersweet. Some excellent male names are Rex, Mastr, Nine, Coal, or Erakun. Remember, if you don't like the spelling you can obviously change it.
     Now, for the plot, here are a couple ideas you can work with:

Fantasy Plots

     A young girl escapes to the Toothed Mountains, because of a griffin attack on her village which her father did not survive. Her avengeful brother becomes a griffin hunter, and when this young girl befriends a griffin she realizes that she'll have to choose her friend or her brother.

A girl/boy discovers a broken down car in the woods that turns out to be a time portal.

A boy realizes his cat has really been guarding him from a mysterious enemy, and can talk.

A girl/boy is shrunken.

Dystopian Plots

Someone steps through a mirror.

Someone is exiled to a place where they have only seven days to live

Someone is recruited to protect certain people from invisible monsters

Anyway, those were just some ideas. You can always twist one of these plots a little (and that's advisable) to make it your own! Have fun waiting for part three!

- Emilie Graye

Is your writing real? --- A post by Patricia Rane

Hi! It's Patricia, here. I'm gonna start out just like Emilie did. (No, I am not copyrighting it, Emmie...). I am 13 *grins at Emilie*. I am not a published author, but I am an author.

My experiences have been very numerous.

I've had writers block before... I've had character development problems before.... I've had the how-do-I-twist-this-plot problem. I've experienced it all. Been there, done that, as my dear cousin likes to say. (Wait, did I just say that outloud? Ok, fine, Emilie. You're dear to me.... you happy, now?)

But the largest problem that I have run in to, is making the scene 'real'. Now, obviously, your writing is real to you. But is it real, or will it be real to your audience? Well... often times, if you're being honest, no. Usually, I let Emilie read my writing. Or I read it to a friend. And, if all else fails, your siblings are there. So, here are a few tips and questions that you can ask yourself to help in making your writing come alive.

1. Are the gestures that you are putting with the characters correct for the mood or moment? Even if it's a casual scene, you should make it as real, as you can. Maybe it's friends trying to break the ice of an awkward moment. A cheesy grin. A quick wink. Even if it's just a facial expression like scrunching eyebrows.... add it. Add as many things you can to your writing. Because, trust me. If you can't succeed, in convincing your older brother. You're doing something wrong. If you can't convince your mom or dad. You're really doing something wrong. If you can't convince your friends, cousins, and fellow authors? You, are in desperate need of help.
2. What about the tone of your character's voice? Is he or she angry? Then give their voice tone a twist. And if you can't describe their voice, just talk about the volume. If they are experiencing REALLY, REALLYstrong emotion, try adding the word 'shouted' to it, and your audience is, pretty much convinced.
3. The appearance. Is your character tired? Than say how they look. Maybe they have dark circles under their eyes. Do they seem depressed? Explain, and describe how they look, and act. What are they wearing? Is one of your characters more gangter-punkish than the rest? Say that. (Julie looked quite out of place at the wedding ceremony. It seemed that everyone was wearing a suit, or a prom dress. She felt a little bit silly wearing her skinny jeans and hoodie.)

And, just like Emilie said in her previous post. If you are suffering from writer's block, and literally tearing your brain to shreads over this..... delete what you wrote in that sitting.... it's pointless. Take a break. Turn your computer off, for the day, and read a book.
If your eyes are going bonkers from writing, and you can't seem to focus on your reading, catch up on something else. Email, perhaps. Or maybe your youtube channel, and fans have waited too long for the next video to come out.
JUST TAKE A BREAK.
And, if, after tryingto convince: siblings, parents, and fellow authors, but it's not working? You need to change something in your character...

Good luck!

Keep writing!

~

Patricia Rane <3

Starting a Book; the Official Guide

Hello, people! This is Emilie Graye! How's all the writing going? I like posting a lot, which is an annoyance to Patricia who is like "duuuude... chill out." But I'm like "DUUR it's a blog! You're supposed to post stuff!" and she's like "YEAH BUT NOT TWICE IN ONE DAY". But anyway.
     I'm here to help you start your book. Take notes.
     Bet you're thinking, "gee, thanks..." but yeah, this kind of help is just one of the many things that make me so nice. *waits for shove from Patricia*
     FIRST OF ALL, you need to find your alley in which things shall go down. What's your genre? Do you like fantasy? Historical fiction? Non-fiction? Biographies? (nevermind...) or do you like sci-fi and dystopian? Step One is to decide. It's not that hard. (that was sarcastic, btw) Yeah, just go ahead and choose. No pressure or anything.
     After you choose, you need to follow the simple layout. If you haven't figured out, this is Step Two.

Layouts

Fantasy

1 or 2 main characters. Main characters find something that changes their lives. They have a goal they need to reach, and a problem to solve. Someone or something tries to hinder the problem. Main character defeats hindering person or thing and solves problem and reaches goal. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Non-Fiction and Historical Fiction

1 or 2 main characters. Main characters find something that changes their lives. They have a goal they need to reach, and a problem to solve. Someone or something tries to hinder the problem. Main character defeats hindering person or thing and solves problem and reaches goal. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Sci-Fi // Dystopian (if you wanna get technical on me)

1 or 2 main characters. Main characters find something that changes their lives. They have a goal they need to reach, and a problem to solve. Someone or something tries to hinder the problem. Main character solves problem but dies.

~ ~ ~ ~

Anyway, once you find your layout, Step Three is deciding main characters. All you have to do is slap a boy and a girl in there for automatic romance, or make them both the same gender and then have the other gender come along and you can be all like "oooooh la la!" but yeah...

     Then, the plot. I can't help you with that! BECAUSE ITS IN YOUR HEAD. Unless you want me to go all Inheritance Cycle on you, which I don't recommend. My magic is undefeatable. WAS THAT OUT LOUD??

So, I probably didn't really help you out, but whatever... I like blogging. Bye!

- Emily Graye

The Virtual Machete that kills Writer's Block (otherwise known as Bill)

Dear readers and fellow authors,

First of all, hi. My name is Emilie Graye, and I'm a published author. I'm being forced to say that I'm twelve (hi, Patricia) instead of almost thirteen. I've written one book and I'm working on my second one. And I'm here to help. 

     I don't know what you've experienced, but sometimes it feels like for me like you're forcing yourself to write your novels or like you're pushing it out of your brain. Like it's a struggle to write something you think you love? Is that a familiar feeling? Because if it is, then you've walked into Writer's Block.

     Writer's Block has lots of names. I like calling it Bill. (yeah, I know… blame my friend. She made it up.) But anyway, Writer's Block, or WB, (no, not Warner Brothers XD) is really annoying at times. But as I always like to say, "Writer's Block is not when you can say nothing, but when you have nothing to say." But it's true. If you can't write, that probably means you don't have anything worthwhile to say, and if you force yourself, your material will turn out trashy and worthless.

     So, I bet you're like "okay, this is all fine and dandy, but how the heck am I supposed to fix this? I mean, are you saying I have to wait till my inspiration comes back?"

     Actually, no.

     Well, actually, that's not exactly true. But here are a couple ideas (that––don't hate me––involve waiting) that may help you get back into writing that you actually enjoy.

1. If you start feeling a struggle, sit back, delete EVERYTHING you wrote in that sitting, and walk away. Trust me, one rotten apple ruins the bunch, or however that goes… But really, if one section is bad, then everything else looks weird. So just walk away. And then just wait. (ACK DON'T CHOKE ME, IM HERE TO HELP YOU) If you just wait, you'll start to realize ideas and ways to improve any trashy writing. It really helps to be patient.

2. BUT if you don't feel like waiting, you can just go upstairs to your room, outside under a shady tree, but if it's blizzarding outside or a giant tiger is ripping your mom's flowers apart trying to get through the window and you don't really feel like going outside, run really fast into your car and go to a coffee shop. (HINT: being chased by a hungry tiger also boosts inspiration. *shrugs*) Then pull out Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson, or any book you enjoy and read. Read, read, read. School reading works too, but I mean, heh, who wants to read school? I mean, seriously, people…

3. Take a walk and act out your story. If you act it out (trust me, it's hilariously fun) you find yourself drifting off the beaten path because you're thinking "hey, if I'm acting this must be a movie, and movies are never accurate!" and you get all these crazy ideas you can work with.

4. Ask a friend that also writes for help. I have a friend named Icky (that's her nickname, jussayin) and she's like a genius. She's published, and helped me publish as well. (if you comment I can give you a link to my author page on Amazon) But anyway, enough of Icky's awesomeness and more like my example. She helped me with ideas and story names and stuff like that, and seriously, I am not lying, it really, really helps.

5. AND NUMBA FIVE! (though inspiration-regaining ideas will be endless if you have an imagination) Just ask a parent. I'm not saying that you're little kids who need parental supervision, but seriously, all the adults have awesome ideas. You find yourself thinking, "okay, wow… where were you all my author life?" and then you find yourself with enough material for like five books.

     Now this is all off personal experiences, so I've pretty much proved this stuff works. :P Have fun writing!

- Emilie Graye <3

Welcome!

Hello!

 

 

If you are a young author, who is looking for someone to relate to, search no farther. Your journey stops here.

 

This is a blog, written by two young authors.

 

 

We are still new at writing, even though, the both of us have been doing it for a while. We need encouragement as much as anyone does. That's why we've started this blog. To give you encouraging ideas and tips for your writing!

 

 

Here's our experience:

 

 

Emilie has written, and published a book. She is writing the sequel to the published one, as well as a few other novels.

 

Patricia has, written, and is writing. She just hasn't gone through the publishing process, yet.

 

We both love writing! And we hope that you will find this blog, not only, helpful, but inspiring, as well!

 

 

Keep writing!

 

 

Luv,

 

Emilie G. & Patricia R.