Winter break ftw.

(Photo from Weheartit.com)

I finally get to sleep in! Well, that's definitely not the only reason why I love winter break (even though the winter break this year is only about a week and a half long), but it's definitely a primary reason. I've been staying up late all night catching up with my favorite TV shows. Oh, and revising Depravity. Of course I was doing that as well.

No, really. I was doing that. I have less than 100 pages left to revise, which is making me seriously happy.

Winter has never been my favorie season. In fact, it's my least favorite season. The only good part of winter is New Year's, the holidays, and the school break. That's about it, really. Summer beats winter by a whole lot of points (summer break's longer, my birthday's in the summer, it has better weather, etc.), but I still have to give winter some credits. I mean, seriously. I've never gotten so much episodes through writing done before. So thank you.

Have a good holiday everyone!

- E

Wherein I finally read, instead of write.

I know this sounds sort of...off for a writer. Arguably, writing should always come before reading, right? I mean, writers write. They read, too, but they primarily write. It's what they do.

Lately though, I've been reading a whole lot and not writing at all. I blame school for this. There's been an abundant amount of homework lately to prepare us for our finals, I suppose, and a bunch of activities to fit in before winter break. Plus, the snow. Oh, snow. I hate it. Sure, it gives me an excuse to drink hot chocolate, but snow comes along with colds (which I've gotten twice, one after the other in the time span of only two weeks), and shivers, and a bunch of coats and what-not that makes me look like a burnt marshmallow, and my hair all crazy with static.

All I've wanted to do was curl up with a book, Iron Chef America playing on the TV, and drink my hot chocolate. I suppose I could curl up with a laptop, too, but still.

Except winter has always been my best writing time. I don't really know how to describe it; sort of like the smell and the air and the whole atmosphere--it helps me concentrate and just...write. Not read well, but write well. I've often made more progress in my WIPs than my books. But, you know, I love reading, and I've been craving a lot of Meg Cabot lately for some reason. Reading always spurs inspiration for writing, anyway.

I guess what I'm trying to do is make up petty excuses. No, there really is no true excuse for me to skip out on writing. I've made little progress with revising Depravity, or writing Incandescent, or planning out Book 3. Which is just really sad.

- E

December comes rolling in...

First and foremost, I'd like to say one thing:

I really didn't enjoy NaNo.

From what I've heard, most of the population of NaNo writers love or loved NaNo. I guess I'm not of the majority. Not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. But the truth is, I suppose I just didn't really get into the writing zone, or my NaNo novel. Everything felt dull and pointless, and I wasn't motivated at all. It didn't help that schoolwork (a whole lot of schoolwork) was in my way. I suppose either Shadowed or Thumbelina didn't work out for me. Or maybe, it was because I was still so caught up in Depravity and Incandescent that all I could think about were demon slayers and not faeries and shadows. And what-not.

Which is why I finished NaNo with a messed up 30,535 words.

Am I going to start back up on Shadowed again? Maybe. I've never gotten such a creative idea before, and I'm still somewhat excited about it. But I'm not known for going back to old, unfinished novels. So maybe not.

As for Depravity, I'm doing fairly well. I'm more than a third in with my revisions, which are really tedious and annoying, but interesting all the same. For Depravity's sequel, Incandescent, I haven't written much, but I've gotten some pretty good ideas. This must mean something, right? I might not have won NaNo, but I at least had gotten somewhere with my Ascendancy Series.

Along with Depravity and Incandescent, I'm starting a third, 8,000-word novel for a Fiction Novel Writing Contest. Winner gets $1000. I'm not doing it for the money though. Not...really. I'm doing it because I'm just curious. I've never entered a contest before. It'd be good experience, wouldn't it? I have some pretty good ideas for my 8,000-word novel, but I don't have at title, and not many character names. Ah well. It'll happen soon enough. The submission deadline is January 15th, so I better get a move on.

Oh. And it's snowing over here...unfortunately.

- E

Being Dormant...

A quick notice before I get to writing for awhile.
This blog will be dormant until, pretty much, nano is over. I'm seriously behind and I can't afford to update anything anymore at all....aggh. Not that my updates would be lengthy anyway. They'd probably just consist of a bunch of word counts and such. Nothing too important or big.

So! If you want to know how I'm doing, just drop by on Nano. My username is, creatively put, "writerella".

Thanks a lot guys and I hope to be posting more in December!

- E

Way Behind.

Today marks, pretty much, the 7th day of Nano. And how much have I written?
Well so far: 3,600 words.

If that isn't sad, I don't know what is.

With Depravity, I had procrastinated, but I had written more than 100,000 words in a few months. But with Nano, I won't have a few months. I only have one. And being the careful planner that I am, I've realized that I need to write 1,800 words each day in order to reach my more-than-50,000 words goal. With this being day 7, I'm supposed to have around 12,000 words already.

But I don't.

I need 9,000 more, which I can't do in one day. I'll have to stretch this out again, like I had during my first draft of Depravity (when I reached 90,000 words). I'll be less busy now, at least.

- E

And Nano Begins.

It's almost 7 PM where I am, which means Nano is definitely underway. There are probably thousands of witers out there right now, writing furiously, their pencils or fingers flying across the paper or keyboard. Their minds are going at least a mile a minute, concentrating only on the goal ahead of them: to complete a 50,000 word novel in the span of the month of November.

At least, that's what I'm assuming right now, being a newbie in this whole Nano business.

I'm not sure how to take this whole entire thing--the first actual writing event I've ever entered willingly. Should I be jumping up and down, squealing in excitement and anticipation? Should I be slamming on my laptop, pounding those deep beginning scenes I've pictured over and over in my head of my novel? Or should I be writing this blog post, talking about nothing significant?

I know what I should be doing, and it's definitely not the last one.

But even with that in mind, I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. I keep on saying, Come on Ella, you need to get to Word and start typing away. I keep on telling myself that, but both my mind and body won't obey. It's pretty ironic, but I think it's my procrastinating self speaking to me.

However, once I do get everything under control, I swear I'll start writing, right after I dig up those sheets of paper and notebook that have my plans in. I don't have much of a feeling of how this month will turn out, but I hope it'll be a nice first experience.

And I wish all of the Nano writers out there luck--and enough coffee and chocolate to last a life time.

- E

Depravity: Wordle.

From FictionPress and Let The Words Flow author/contributor Julie Eshbaugh, I've discovered a new way to revise my drafts: Wordle!

I've only used Wordle once in my whole entire life; I don't usually use generated softwares or anything too much. Instead, I'm more of a GIMP or Photoshop (though I stick with GIMP) type of person. That's how I release my technological creativity. I don't tend to use sites such as Wordle or anything.

But then, I discovered this revision process! I'm not going to get into it too much since Julie Eshbaugh already took care of that, and you can view her blog post.

And now, here's mine:

- E

Problems with Action Scenes.

So after finally getting to my draft 6 revisions, or making notes for draft 7, I've realized something.

I'm pretty awful when it comes to action scenes.

Going through my first official action scene, I've ended up with about a dozen notes on one page. It's pretty sad:

That would be half of the page.

I wonder if this'll be what Shadowed looks like, once I revise it. Well, if I win Nano, anyway. Hopefully I do. There's less than 2 weeks before Nano begins, and I'm getting kind of worried...

- E

Revisions Commence

I was supposed to have started my 7th daft a long time ago, but decided against it through all of homework and other sorts of things that just got in the way. But right now, I'm going to start. I'm going to read Depravity from start to finish, without taking down any notes. I'm going to focus only on what I have right now.

And then I'll figure out what to do from there.

I think it's a pretty good plan, although I've never gotten this far on any novel before. Hopefully I'll also get this far with Shadowed, unless I finish the revisions way before draft 7th. Depravity is, in a way, much more complicated than Shadowed. Which is good, because it took me 2 years to write Depravity's 1st complete manuscript. And I only have 1 month for Shadowed.

So here I go. And wish me luck!

- E

Book List: The Lost Hero (#1)

My Ultimate Book List is a collection of books that I really, really want to read, whether they have been released or not. Some of these books might not be on the shelves yet; some of these books might have been on the shelves for ages. It doesn't matter. I just really, really want to read them.

I'm seriously freaking out right now. Because LOOK:

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.

Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.

This is The Lost Hero, book 1 to Rick Riordan's Percy-Jackson-Sequel Series: The Heroes of Olympus. I'm not completely sure of the details yet, but it'll be released in a mere 2 days. October 12th. October 12th. October 12th.

I normally read YA novels, and I can't exactly consider Percy Jackson as really YA. But the characters of the series are amazing, the plot elements awesome so naturally I'd pick this book up as well. And I'm just freaking excited, if you know what I mean. And anyway, it has a very interesting cover.

I just hope one of those three doesn't end up being a son or daughter of Zeus.

- E

October Already?

I'm just going to go ahead and say it:

I am not much of a fan of autumn.

I know this might come out as a shocker to those of you who actually read this blog, but it's the truth. Sure, fall is fine with me. I mean, I love the fresh smell of the season change, the sight of the leaves, and, of course, Halloween. And it'll all be spectacular and awesome right now.

But then the temperatures will drop, the leaves will already have fallen, and I'll probably find myself bundled up in jackets and coats that make me feel like all uncomfortable and awkward. And knowing that I will end up hating it is why I don't like it in the first place.

I already miss spring, even though it rains way too much. Everything comes alive in the spring--or at least they begin to. That's what I love the most about it.

Pessimistic thoughts aside...October means that NaNo is less than a month away. Less than a month! I still have so much to do though--planning, outlining, brainstorming...with all that's been going on, I haven't written Shadowed since I'd started thinking of it. Horrible, I know. I'm so ashamed =P

At least I've found a nice article here on Let The Words Flow that talks about outlining new novels and such. It should help me with my NaNo somewhat this year. After all, I'm pretty new to this.

- E

Shadowed's Characters.

After glancing at the pages of Depravity and noting character strengths, it got me thinking on my NaNo novel: Shadowed. What, I'd wondered, are my characters like? Do I know them at all? Of course I know Soraya from Depravity much better than Maia from Shadowed; Soraya is like an old friend--I've known her forever--where as Maia is a newcomer. A stranger, almost. And that just won't work when I'm writing about her.

To help me figure her out, I found this nice link suggested by someone on the NaNo forums. I've answered a few personality questions about Maia in her POV, and I've come up with results. Here they are:

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (40%) moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (36%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

messy, irritable, depressed, fragile, worrying, emotionally sensitive, does not like to lead, phobic, weird, suspicious, low self control, paranoid, frequently second guesses self, dependent, unproductive, introverted, weak, strange, unassertive, submissive, familiar with the dark side of life, feels invisible, rash, vain, anti-authority, heart over mind, low self concept, disorganized, not good at saving money, avoidant, daydreamer, unadventurous

 

Now I don't know about you, but I find these answers hysterical, especially because I know Maia would hate to be known as "fragile" and "weak". She would definitely agree that she is fragile and weak, but she'd hate to admit it. It's this pride thing she has going on, unlike Soraya, who has a low self-esteem. Maia has a high self-esteem.

Apparently Maia though isn't that much of a problem. The problem's probably Zeric. So I took the same quiz as well for him. And the results are here:

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (66%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Orderliness (46%) medium which suggests you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

rarely irritated, positive, tough, non phobic, fearless, likes the unknown, self reliant, high self control, confident, trusting, strong instincts, prudent, optimistic, willful, likes parties, prefers a specialized career, takes charge, altruistic, strong, high self concept, adventurous, practical, thoughtful

This is different for Zeric, though. He has a different personality throughout most of the novel than what he's really like--if that makes any sense.

I like to think that Maia and Zeric are polar opposites. And I'm pretty sure that even these personality tests agree. It's gonna be really fun to write about them...I can see it now....

- E

Draft Number Seven.

Any second now, I'm going to open up Draft 6 of Depravity and read through it from the first page to the last page.

I'll be making notes.
I'll be straining not to change anything.
And I'll be busy looking at a few other articles on novel revisions from Let The Words Flow and the like.

All for Draft Number Seven, which might as well be my most important draft yet. Why? Because it's the draft where I'll make the final writings, the final add-ins, the final shape up of the whole entire plotline, so I can later on edit the structure of the manuscript.

I've procrastinated far long enough, used a great deal of petty excuses. But now, it's finally time. I'm doing it.

Draft 7.

- E

Putting off Revisions.

A month ago, I decided to go on a revision break for my current WIP, Depravity. After searching through more than just a couple of writing articles, it's been clear to me that taking a break from one's novel, and then attacking it later on, refreshes the mind and makes it easier to point out flaws in the manuscript.

So that's what I did.

September 9th was my first end-of-the-break date. But when I realized that the 9th was a Thursday--a day of the week that, annoyingly enough, is the busiest for me--and I was already overloaded with homework and other activities, I realized September 9th just wouldn't work. So I'd moved it to the 12th, in full hopes that I wouldn't have any messed-up weekend events on that day. Because the 12th was a Sunday, and that's usually when I'm the most free.

But the 12th was the day after one of my most exhausting events of the month. Which means I couldn't do anything at all on the 12th, either. In fact, I'd completely forgotten about my revisions.

I dunno, but is high school supposed to be this stressful? Is it supposed to suck so much out of a student's "other life"? I mean, seriously. Jeez.

Now today, the 18th, almost a week over when the break should've ended, I'm still too busy working on my AP Geography project to do anything. All I know is that I'm particularly exhausted from high school. I miss middle school so much. The whole entire time I was just floating around, earning straight A's with ease. Now...it's much harder. And I'm finding it extremely messed up that I can't write and balance my school activities.

This is literally procrastination to its max--at least for me, it is. Months ago, I'd wanted to finish Depravity by December, and then send off my query letters. Now? I'm not so sure anymore.

On the otherhand, Incandescent is coming along nicely.

- E

I have found a getaway.

It's called entering our extra bedroom, closing the door, and removing the screen in the room's window. And then, of course, climbing outside, sitting on the ledge, breathing in the night air and gazing at the stars.

I know that sounds pretty dramatic. But it was awesome. Even though I'm afraid of heights and I couldn't see the ground.

Still, perfectly okay. I think I might take my laptop with me someday, if I trust myself enough to know that I won't drop it--and if the light from the screen won't attract the attention of our neighbors. Or, worse, my parents.

- E

Mini-Entry: A few bits of things.

Stickaid broadcast: First and foremost, Charlie McDonnell and Myles Dyer, two amazing people from Britain are raising money for UNICEF by staying up for exactly 24 hours--and broadcasting it online. Their goal is 10,000 pounds (about $15,000). You can watch the current broadcast here, where both Charlie and Myles will be doing all sorts of things. Challenges, contests, quizzes...please take a look and DONATE. If you can.

You can donate here.

Books: On other things, I've finally gotten CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare and I am tackling it like crazy. It's awesome so far. xD

Writing: I'm currently trying to work on Incandescent at the same time while watching the Stickaid broadcast and reading CLOCKWORK ANGEL. Very impressive multi-tasking, if you ask me. I'd say I've written about...oh...5 words so far.

- E

Reading is a gift for a writer.

See this post here on Let The Words Flow to know what I'm talking about.

At the age of seven, my dad signed me up for these summer reading challenges at our local library. I remember him helping me through countless of books for hours and hours, and then aiding me in my decision of the summer reading challenge prizes. From that experience came my continuous love of books, and then later my love for writing.

When my parents realized that my love of books was overruling my necessity to improve my arithmetic (also known as my second least favorite subject in school), they more or less banned me from reading. Now, as a rebellious teenager of fourteen, I'm still sneaking in books. They've lessened the severity of the ban somewhat, though. Now whenever they find me staying up late reading when I should be reviewing for SATs (particularly the math section), they just tell me to shut the book and go to bed.

(In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not exactly the best when it comes to math. I like to think I'm pretty good at it since I'm in Algebra II in my freshman year, but clearly my parents would like me to be at the top of my class. Which I'm not. Besides, I scored below average in the math section of the SATs. So.)

But you know what? The post above proves how valuable reading is. I'm a writer. We have to read. It's to keep our brain working and inspiration flowing. To not read for me would be like telling a concert pianist to stop practicing. It just doesn't work.

- E

Why charlieissocoollike is...cool [like].

Introducing Charlie McDonnell, yet another British YouTube vlogger and hopeful musician. See, the video above is one of his "Challenge Charlie" videos, which, like the name suggests, is basically him taking challenge requests from fans. I've watched almost all of his videos (I've tried watching a lot of nerimon's, but he has...a lot. I've been keeping up with his recent ones though), and I love them. Seriously. I'm a huge fan.

Like Alex (did you know Charlie and Alex are really, really good friends?), Charlie is an important person to my writing life. Whenever it's slow, I can rely on Charlie for another challenge video to make me laugh, to ease the strain a bit. This applies to my school life as well. Also, take a look at this video:




See that shirt he's wearing? It was custom-made and everything, and fans bought it. It's blue, has his pictures from his popular video "Duet With Myself" (which features two of him in one video), and a quote from the same video that says, "You need to be able to love yourself", which is very inspiring.

But now it's sold out. And I'm sad. D=

Why nerimon is awesome.

Nerimon, AKA Alex Day, is a British musician/vlogger on YouTube. He has been very useful for me, in both life and writing. Seriously though, his videos are encouraging. Actually, they're hilarious and insulting, which makes them encouraging (if that makes any sense). Writing-wise, nerimon often speaks up in my head. Because of this video:



But you know, I like the Twilight Saga. That doesn't necessarily stop me from watching videos that critique it. Besides, the video gives me an inside look on other readers and their opinions. So hurray for nerimon!

- E

14 things you maybe didn't know about Ella Simmons

See this post to know what I'm talking about.

14. Like most writers, I get writer's block. And in order to cure the annoying thing, I walk to my treadmill and set it to 1 mile. And then I run.
13. I have this ping-pong table in my basement that occasionally acts as my writing desk.
12. I don't have a set "writing desk". Sometimes I'm writing on a chair, sometimes I'm writing on the ground, sometimes I'm writing on my lap while I eat breakfast.
11. The greatest number of books I've had on hold at the library at once is 20.
10. Although I'm occasionally accused of being a hermit, I live off of fresh air. If I don't get a small sample of fresh air at least once a day, my head feels like its being squeezed by a giant rubber band. Which leads to...
9. I love opening windows. Like my MC in Depravity, I also love sitting on the ledge of windows. (But I've only done that once and I can't do it when there are bugs flying outside.)
8. Writing with music serves nothing for my muse. I can't focus on both my writing and music at the same time, and I usually end up focusing on the former. The music just gets pushed away.
7. However, listening to music while staring out the window in a car is my ultimate muse-booster. So I still end up with a playlist of some kind.
6. My favorite color is navy, my favorite season is summer, my favorite candy is The Three Musketeers, and my favorite fruit is mangos.
5. I'm not particularly fond of MCs who are automatically good or kickass-good at something. But neither am I particularly fond of damsels in distress.
4. I'm a night person. I love the sun and the blue sky, believe me, but everything looks better at night. (If I could, I would become nocturnal.)
3. I hate wine, and I'll probably end up hating beer too. Wine tastes horrible. Absolutely, positively horrible. On my 21st birthday, I'll drink grape soda or something. Not wine.
2. After watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (the TV show, not the movie), I'd like to try Jasmine Tea. (I don't even know the name of my favorite tea--just that it's really, really good).
1. Ella Simmons isn't my real name.

Shadowed: The Retelling of Thumbelina (Synopsis #1)

This is my current--and first--novel attempt for NaNoWriMo. The summary might change, but for now, this is what it is:

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Thumbelina was a girl born from the flowers. Maia is a girl born from the shadows.

In the land of Celeste lives orphan Maia Estelle, a sixteen-year-old girl who has had nightmares of harmless, but peculiar shadows for as long as she can remember. Her foster mother had disappeared, and her parents were presumably dead. So when Maia, who has nothing left to lose anymore, sees one of these shadows in her conscious state of mind for the first time, she is determined to follow it. But then a mysterious person shows up and cuts in, dispelling the shadow with a suspicious looking weapon.

He introduces himself as Zeric, a Prince of one of the twelve clans of faeries who are determined to overthrow the current king of the supposedly mythical, dystopian land of Troy. Prince Zeric requires Maia’s help to control the immensely powerful shadow spirits so he can obtain the throne. And if she does, he will take her to her foster mother, who is currently locked up in Troy.

However, Maia declines Zeric’s offer. In doing so, she somehow shatters the sheath the Prince’s clan had put on her—a sheath that hides her shadow abilities from everyone else of Troy. Now that her power is out in the open, many will target her for their own wants. And if Maia is to change her decision of the bargain, she better do it quickly; The King of Troy has issued an order to hunt the shadow spirits, and the number is slowly diminishing. Time is running out. Soon Maia, who is slowly grasping her control, must either learn to trust the Prince and restore Troy to its previous glory—or fend for herself.

Wherein High School Gets Boring

The night before my first day of freshman year went like this:

'Sis: Are you nervous?
Me: Eh. Not really.
'Sis: Do you think you'll find your classes all right?
Me: No. But I'll just follow my friend (Critique Partner P) or something.

And thus I'd went to bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off to Dreamland in a matter of two hours. Which, considering my sleeping schedule over the summer, is pretty impressive.

There was nothing spectacular about my first day at all. Nothing. Marching band was literally the highlight of the day (which isn't saying much actually, considering band camp). I was just...drifting through the whole entire thing. Everyone's so quiet in class, it's messed up. I miss middle school, where no one was afraid to laugh out loud during even the lamest jokes, where everyone was friends, where everything was loud and happy and carefree. High school is wooden. Stiff and awkward. (Besides Spanish II, which was pretty loud and enthusiastic, thanks to the teacher.)

I told my sister this and she said something about how it'll get better. About how she loved her freshman year way better than middle school. Somehow, I can't believe that. Middle school was great. So far in my freshman year? Nope. Nada. Even homework is more interesting than school. At the moment, anyway.

- E

An Introduction of Sorts

Actually, I wanted to create a blog once NaNo started, but I'm way too eager to wait. I've blogged before, but this'll be my first public blog. Well, sort of.

So an introduction is required. Er...let's see. I'm [known as] Ella. I'm 14 at the moment, and I'm a writer--more or less. This year will be my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'll be writing the retelling of Thumbelina. And it'll be classified as dark fantasy.

But NaNo Novel (titled "Shadowed" because I suck at naming my novels) won't be the only thing I'll be working on. I've completed my first novel at a total of 104,000 words a few years ago, and I'm revising it. Yay! (/sarcasm) It's known as Depravity, and will probably be known as Depravity for the rest of its existence. Depravity is about demon slayers. It's Buffy Meets Harry Potter original and awesome and right now, it sucks.

I'm on revision draft number seven.

But yep, that's it on me. Nothing too extravagant. I'll be blogging about both Depravity and Shadowed, but more on Depravity once November comes.

- E