Sunday, September 26

Shadowed's Characters.

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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

Saturday, September 25

Draft Number Seven.

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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

Saturday, September 18

Putting off Revisions.

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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

Sunday, September 5

I have found a getaway.

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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

Saturday, September 4

Mini-Entry: A few bits of things.

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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