Winner!

I've officially reached 60,000 words! I've got 220 pages and 76 chapters. My characters are officially grating on my nerves and I hope to finish Dawn by this weekend. Wish me luck!

The Hidden Side of Minors

I never knew there was so much of a story behind Adam. He was sort of a flat-ish, side character who was sort of there for moral support for my main character. He never talked to me. He was supposed to be the love interest which never really ended up working...

But then I asked him to tell his testimony to Ray, who's being seriously stubborn about God. And the floodgates opened. I got nearly 400 words of his testimony. The things you learn by asking...

We can all learn from Fairytales

Isn't this an awesome poster? I LOVE it. 

My opinion is you're never too old for a good old-fashioned fairytale. Ella watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time and as I was watching it with her, I noticed some things that interested me. The thing about children's stories and fairytales, is that they're simplified enough that it paints a perfect picture of a good storyline. The plot twists might be easy to predict and the dialogue may be cliche, but underneath all that is a solid story. 

Couple good points to notice: 

Sacrificial main character: 
In the beginning Belle gives herself up for her father and stays with the Beast while her father goes free. It makes her loveable. You look up to her and admire her for her courage.

The love interest's flaw: 

I'm struggling with this one. Every character should have some sort of flaw. Yes, even the love interest. You don't want him/her to be perfect. People are more attracted to people who aren't perfect. Ever read a book where there's a perfect character and it totally ticks you off? This movie did a cool twist with having the love interest also be a villain of sorts. 

The love interest's endearing nature: 

Look how cute he is! Is it just me, or is he better as a beast, than a prince? As flawed as the love interest might be, give him/her something to love. Because you want your reader to fall in love with them just like your main character. 

A hateable villain:

I don't think there's anyone who doesn't find Gaston's conceited nature annoying. Often it's good to give your villain a good trait too. Supposedly, he's dashingly handsome (kind of hard to tell for a cartoon,) but that fact is overruled by his total obsession with himself.

A believable love story: 

Belle begins off by hating the beast for keeping her at the castle. But as time goes on and he tries to be a gentleman, and she begins to see things in him. After him yelling at her a couple of times, and her running off and him saving her life, etc, she begins to fall in love.

The Beast knew from the beginning that she may be the one to break the curse. He's watching her and he feels something come over him and he wants to do something for her. So, he gives her his library. And eventually she teaches him thing, manners, how to read, how to feed birds without scaring them off. And he begins to fall in love.

Have you ever watched  this movie? Anything else stand out to you? 

Writer's Block

I'm watching Anne of Green Gables and Gilbert said something that struck me as profound.

You can mope and cry all you want, but it won't help you write a better novel. 

I once heard someone classify different types of writer's block. One of the ones that I frequently suffer from is Lazy Writer's Syndrome (LWS.)

• Jessi Roberts suggested to ask "What if?" to jump start a plot. What if so-and-so died? What if they got engaged? What if the dragon didn't die like everyone thought? 
• Or just sit your butt down and force the story from your brain to your fingertips. 
• One thing I like to do is change the font color to white and don't even see what I'm writing and let my instincts carry it away. No one has to see it. You can edit later.
• Even if you're the pansters to top all pansters, sometimes you should try plotting. Or if your a plotter to top all plotters, try writing by instinct. 
• Talk to other writer's friends and ask their opinions. NaNoWriMo is a great place to do that and they're having a virtual summer writer's camp for free, here.