Writing Pictures

Guys, I got to one of the most exciting scenes of my story, and yet, agonizingly, I haven't been able to write it because, when I'm not studying for exams or handling normal homework, I'm training in the art of resume-writing and am finishing up my slough of college application essays.  I haven't picked up my violin in weeks, aside from when I have to for orchestra; I haven't contacted many of my long-distance friends in months; I basically only emerge from the office for food and sleep.

Yes, yes, I know, it's a matter of priority over time, bla bla bla...

BUT THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME THESE TOP PRIORITIES TAKE.

Microeconomics, ladies and gentlemen

Anyway, since I haven't been able to write any but have still wanted to keep up this blog, here are some of my favorite writing pictures of all time:

This one is for Jace.  :3

Hehe, anyway...

On a more serious note, though, if you're also having a hard time coping with the future like I am, I've learned that it's helpful to keep three things in mind:
     1.) Don't ever feel like you have to conform to the world's standards of time.  If you want to wait until you're an adult to go to college, then do that.  Better yet, if you feel like your skill sets don't require you to go to college to learn stuff that you could learn faster and more easily by reading the right books, then don't go to college.  If, deep inside, you really only want to attend two years of college so you can devote more time to starting a viable business and creating music and touring the world to eat all the delicious foods and acquire all the fantastic fashions, then...well...then you're probably me.
     You know what?  Never mind.
     2.) Be proactive.  Coping with the future means that you don't wait around for someone else to tell you what to do with your life.  Think about what makes you happiest and go do that.  Even in cases where you have no control, like with scores and grades and whatnot, you can still control your own anxiety.  Start there.
     3.) If all else fails, playing this song on repeat and stress running and stress eating gingersnaps and home-made applesauce always help.

Write on!
Clove

Overused Plots Part 2

Sooo...I recently talked with le incredibly genius, ESTJ, older brother, and he had some comments about "Overused Plots", which I thought I should publish for the sake of propagating quality and accuracy.

Last post, I said that we authors should never use the overused plots that I had listed.  However, my brother remarked that "it isn't necessarily a bad thing to write a journey/amnesia/rebellion/dead-family story."  After all, when the authors of popular stories (Rowling, Collins, Riordan, etc.) wrote their stories, they weren't using "tried and true but cheap and lazy plot starters."  They were using good, fresh, and imaginative plot starters.

However, now that those plots starters have been used, widely-dispersed, and mimicked, they are overused, even though they are still creative and flexible plot starters.

"So, the key isn't to bash ideas based on those plot starters, [even] though, coming up with new, less-used plots is interesting.  [The key is] ... to call for the need to identify what about your cliché-plot-started story is unique and special and memorable."

Write on!

Clove

Overused Plots

Clove's life is:

• chai-tea with think, frothy coconut milk, cinnamon, and honey
• making National Merit Scholarship semifinals!  :D
• but having to study harder to make finals...  o.O
• too much master-minding for and with old friends
• and, of course, slow but steady writing

Anyway, microeconomics class was cancelled this morning, which means that, instead of supply-and-demand graphs, I get to discuss another terrible reality: overused plots and why you should never use them.  Before we get started, I want to dedicate half of this post to my older brother, whose dominant-Te function is basically in hyper-drive compared to mine.  Without his incredible critical powers, this post would not have come to be.

~ ~ ~

OVERUSED PLOT #1 - THE JOURNEY
Notable Examples: The Hobbit, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, several Rick Riordan books, etc.

Author: You're going on a journey, Main Character.
MC: I am?
Author: Yes.
MC: Why?
Author: Because.
MC: But--
Author: On this journey, you will encounter many terrible monsters, trials, booby-traps, character-developing crises, new friends, and basically anything that I can imagine that I want to include to make an interesting story.
MC: But what...if I don't want to go?
Author: YOU DON'T GET TO MAKE THAT DECISION LOSER HAHAHAHAHAH.

OVERUSED PLOT #2 - AMNESIA
Notable Examples: Blindspot, Jason Bourne, The Maze Runner, lots and lots of video games, etc.

Author: *whacks Main Character violently on the head*
MC: Ow.
Author: Wake up.
MC: ...w-who are you?
Author: Your master.
MC: Then, who am I?  How old am I?  If I can't remember anything, isn't it likely that I'm a crippled, old person suffering from dementia?
Author: Nah, dude, you're a kick-butt anti-hero with powers you didn't know you had in the prime of your fit youth.  Congratulations!
MC: Oh...so, like, I can do karate and stuff?
Author: Yeah, but you won't know it until a bad guy suddenly tries to kill you.
MC: Ahhh.  Okay.  Very good.
Author: The best part is that I can make you remember a new aspect of your old life whenever the plot slows down.  For example, did you know you killed your parents?
MC: *violent, convulsing flashbacks*
Author: HAHAHAHAHAHAH.

OVERUSED PLOT #3 - REBELLION
Notable Examples: The Hunger Games series, the Divergent series, Every-Aspiring-Teenage-Girl's-First-Dozen-Self-Written-Books, etc.

Author: Main Character, it is important that you must be a female.
MC: *starts fixing hair and putting on make-up*
Author: A tomboyish female.
MC: *slowly lowers mascara*  O-oh...okay.
Author: You live in a cruel world ruled by a tyrannical government.
MC: So...grrr...?
Author: And have anger issues.
MC: GRRR?
Author: And have secret weapon skills that the government doesn't know about.
MC: *cocks gun*/*loads bow*/*readies whale harpoon*
Author: And have a handsome suitor.
MC: Nice.
Author: Multiple handsome suitors.
MC: Ooo-la-la.
Author: One of whom encourages you to revolt against the government and gets tortured/maimed/wounded for being your other significant other at which point you realize that you only loved him and cannot live without him.
MC: Wait, what?
Author: Now go, doggy.  Fight!  Win!  Show them who's the feminazi boss, you single individual who manages to gain allies, start a political fire, and overthrow an entire, stabilized government!  YOU ARE INVINCIBLEEE!

OVERUSED PLOT #4 - DEAD PARENTS
Notable Examples: The Star Wars series, the Harry Potter series, the Series of Unfortunate Events series, etc.

Author: *kills Main Character's parents*
MC: Aw, dude, that stinks.
Author: Yeah.  You know what else stinks?
MC: Wait.  Let me guess.  I'm in either the world's cruddiest orphanage or the world's most unchecked foster home.
Author: Bingo!
MC: I hate you.
Author: BUT WAIT.  There's more!  Aside from you, your parents also left behind a.) a string of painful memories about your parents' death that you must overcome, b.) an antagonist who hated your parents and now hates you, c.) secrets that you must unravel, or d.) ALL OF THE ABOVE!  HAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

~ ~ ~

Yeah.  People, you know these plots all too well.
Now use your creative powers and please, for the love of Gandalf the Gray, pick a different plot arc.

Write on!
Clove