Current Writing Playlist

--- to remedy the apathy ---

--- to aid the apathy ---

--- subterfuge during the sophisticated dinner party ---

--- for introducing the antagonist ---

--- pure grief  ---

--- when you're the only one who is not changing ---

--- for the romantic betrayal ---

--- final words ---

--- for all the technical writing ---

--- when you need to condescend life ---

--- naughty self ---

--- when coffee shop musing ---

Write on!

Clove

A word from David Foster Wallace

"Utilize" - this is a puff-word.  Since it does nothing that good old use doesn't do, its extra letters and syllables don't make a writer seem smarter.  I tell my students that using utilize makes you seem either pompous or so insecure that you'll use pointlessly big words in an attempt to look smart.  The same is true for the noun utilization, and for vehicle as used for car, for residence as used for home, for indicate as used for say, for presently, at present, at this time, and at the present time as used for now, and so on.  What's worth remembering about puff-words is something that good writing teachers spend a lot of time drumming into undergrads: 'Formal writing' does not mean gratuitously fancy writing; it means clean, clear, maximally considerate writing. 

-- David Foster Wallace

Excellent point, Mr. Wallace.  Please explain to me why, then, do we have a word minimum for essays in high school?  Hrngph.  Welcome to one of the countless double-standards in life.

Write on!

Clove

Dealing with writing failures

College Application: What have you done with your sixteen years of life thus far?  Specifically explain where you have worked, what you've done over the summer, and how you've participated in academic clubs, athletics, and extracurricular activities.  Please list specific examples of leadership and benefits, recognitions and awards, and growth and acquired skills.

Once you are done with that, we will need to know if you are allergic to kryptonite, your preference for peanuts, and why your dog is special to you.  (If you don't have a dog, then please explain to us your weirdest dream using only kennings and Homeric similes.)  We would also like to know whether you are Team Edward or Team Jacob, your favorite summer experience, and how you like your eggs and potatoes: scrambled, fried, poached, raw, sunny-side-up, sunny-side-down, and/or boiled and mashed, fried, baked, roasted, herbed, and/or boiled respectively.

Oh.  Also.  Explain all of the above in no more than ten words.

Me: *internal screaming*

~ ~ ~

Anyway, welcome back, kids.

I'm here today to procrastinate submitting one of my college applications discuss a rather unpopular topic, namely How to Deal With Writing Failures.  Most authors could give you plenty of tips and tricks on how to write well, but I've found via experience that no one wants to explain what to do when your writing has hit rock bottom.

First of all, let me explain what I mean when I say "writing failure."  I'm talking about when you pour your life blood and soul and emotion into a document, polish it until it's positively shining with rigorous editing, and then hand it over to another person.  Then, that person begins to obliterate your writing by pointing out all the errors and inconsistencies in your work.  Suddenly, you realize that you're not as fantastic of an author as you originally thought you were, and, perhaps, actually, you should give up writing altogether.  So what do you do?

STEP 1.) Don't try to fix your failure document!
The whole time you attempt to edit your failure, you'll be confronting inspiration-draining criticisms with a high-expectation mindset, e.g. "This time, I have to make it perfect!"  With that thinking, you yourself will become a stronger critic than your editors, and nothing you put down will make the cut, leading to a cycle of frustrated despair.

STEP 2.) Even though you shouldn't try to fix your failure, take a step back for a little while to assess the problem with it.
Why did you fail?  What went wrong?  What is different between this particular failure and your other successful documents?  If you were writing an academic paper, you might notice that you're approaching your topic from an angle that you dislike, that you're trying to stuff too much emotion into an analytical paper, or that you couldn't organize your ideas coherently.  If you were writing a fictional novel, you might find that you didn't have an end in mind, that your characters' motivation had not been clear, or that you're attempting to draw too many plot arcs together at one time.

STEP 3.) Outline specifically what you want to write about when you try again.
Brainstorm (which means: create and write down ideas without hampering or deleting "bad" ideas), make a mental map, and craft a simple framework.  Yes, this often cuts your ego a little.  ("I don't need a stupid outline!  Those are for novices!")  However, in my experience, using an outline as a crutch is typically the only way I have ever been able to get out of a writing rut.

With these three steps and a boatload of chocolate, hopefully, you will have more success getting back at it.  :)  Good luck!

Write on!
Clove

More Than Just A Character

When I wrote Eriana in The Chronicles, I wasn't writing as the queen of an ancient kingdom, fending off evil forces.  I was writing as an inexperienced, twelve-year-old ENTJ, learning how to deal with the natural leadership capabilities I realized I had been given.  I was struggling to leave my childhood behind, to act with the dignity and diplomacy of a queen, to live in the interest of those who were influenced by my words and deeds.

When I wrote Mariel in The Tragedy, I wasn't writing as the moonlight girl with memory loss and a ghostly suitor.  I was writing, terrified, because I felt so fragile and useless too.  The bullying that Mariel endured was the bullying that I endured: being dragged powerless by both hands through a church and, even younger, feeling my fingers thrust into a flame.  When I wrote, I was trying to reconcile my own experiences.  I was scared, and I was begging for my own Toshiro to always protect me, to always stay by my side, no matter what happened.

When I wrote Kayzen in The Rebellion, I wasn't writing a rational-minded assassin set out to train her young student to control his wild, uncontrollable Rager abilities.  I was teaching myself patience and restraint, remembering when, in Korea, he threw me down against the floor again and again until I controlled myself.  I was making a written choice to always have self-control, even if I tore myself apart in the process.  At thirteen, I wouldn't let anything master me.

When I wrote Jewel in The Immortals, I wasn't writing an emotionless antihero who was trying to reconcile what was morally right in her world.  I was me, learning why I shouldn't stifle or cage my heart.  I was me, retraining myself to view emotions as mandatory for interdependence.  I was me, scared to open up my heart to another human and show vulnerability and show weakness.

Now, I'm writing Skain in my DWBSN rework, and I'm not writing an emotionally-exploited male who is threatened with his sister's death.  I'm writing me and the past year and a half of war.  I'm writing about the depression that I went through, the cutting, the empty pain that broke me, screaming until I lost my voice and crying until my chest hurt.  I'm writing about the emotional abuse in December: bowing my head in the empty nursery room and subjugating my will to save peace with those in authority over me.  I'm exactly piecing together the details of my quiet dream: to run away from this old, too-familiar town and to make myself better with time and distance and to come back with only a desperate hope of being forgiven for what I never apologized for earlier.  I'm not writing Skain.  I'm writing myself.  The only difference is: I know he gets a happy ending; how I end is up to Fate and my own skill.

~ ~ ~

So, what's the point?
Guys, look.  You can edit peoples' stories: grammar, plot, flow.  But don't you dare critique the motivation behind an author's writing.  Because there's more.  There are nightmares that you've never seen; there's crap that haunts me still that I've never publicized; there's a whole load of denial and expression and fear involved in writing.

It's not just a hero and a villain.

There's always more than just a character.

Write on!
Clove

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