Blogging A to Z: I (aka First Person PoV)

I, or, if you're talking about writing like we should be, the first person point of view. It's not something that I really write in - third person is my default - but I have tried it out. I realized that Sky Pirates, in the version I wrote for NaNo, works better as first instead of third. Not every book needs it - there are some where they would have been better in third - but there are some that are amazing in first person.

The book I'm currently reading - Thirteen Reasons Why - is one of the rare books that can carry first person. It is hair raising on the back of your neck creepy and you wouldn't get the same connection in the third person with the main character. First person makes it so that you are Cory instead of just looking through a glass window at what Cory is doing. Mystery novels are sometimes, but not always, written in first person. Again, it helps to pull you into the mystery and solving the crime. It helps to set tone as well because you're going to spend the entire novel with the main character, either solving the crime or hiding the evidence of the crime, so you want to have a deeper connection than most.

Are there some first person novels that could have done better as third? Yep. The Twilight series comes to mind as one of the best examples that could have done better as third. If you've been here for a while or you've read in the archives, yes, I always bring up Twilight when this comes up. Sorry / not sorry. You can see it when you go to the movie adaptation and what is happening is made better by seeing everyone else clearly. When we just get Bella's perspective, it's too narrow and... well, she comes across as whiny. I didn't start liking her until the movies and, if I had to only have one vs the other for the rest of eternity, I'd go for the movie version. Now, this is not to say that all vampire novels have to be in third or that none can survive as first person. Thanks Anne Rice.

I guess I'd close this out by giving you some questions for you to think on when you're considering first person. Will you be able to pull in the reader closer? Will it be too narrow to draw in the reader? Will you want to go back and forth between the two, either in an interview format / flashbacks / letters? Just a few questions to think about. It is best to have someone you trust to give honest feedback about what you're doing for point of view too as you might think it's awesome but someone else will go "nope, too narrow". Well, until next time, keep on writing and thinking about your point of view.

Blogging A to Z: Home

Guess what! The move is over. I am in my new home, which means I should go update which suburb I live in exactly, but yay. It's done. It took two trips on the original day, them coming back because they forgot stuff (ugh), but it's over. Now we go through the unpacking and putting everything in it's place. At least, that's what we're supposed to do. If that actually happens or not will be a good question (it will) but, eh, this is life. It could be worse so I dunno why I'm complaining.

However, it does feel like home, even with all the boxes around. It feels right, like everything is in place even with chaos, and a peace comes with it. A peace that says "yes, you did the right thing" and waking up feeling completely rested. Maybe there was a ghost at my old house, in the form of a lot of memories, that weighed the place down. Maybe just a change of scenery is all that anybody needs in the end. I think, when it's all done, I'm going to love working down in my very cold basement (I need a space heater, damnit) writing, editing, and everything in between like blog posts.

So, yeah, it might be messy and it might not be at it's best right now. But it's home, in that way home should be, and I'm good with that.

P.S. - Yes, I'm behind on the blogging challenge. Y'all are shocked, I can tell. Anywho, I'm picking up from H and will go on until I get to Z. I just didn't prepare well enough with the entire moving thing but oh well. You will get all posts, just not all in April. Until then, keep on writing!

Blogging A to Z: Grammar and I Suck At It

Yes, I am a writer and I suck at proper grammar. If you look at this blog, along with my twitter feed (@CrescentLizzy), then you'd understand this. Probably a lot better than I do but I break a lot of rules. Hell, I think I probably break all of the rules without even knowing what they are. I dunno why I'm proud of this fact, as I am taking steps to be better at grammar (oh stop laughing), but I am. I think it comes from the fact that my feedback comes through like this: 

"I love the characters and the plot but your sentence structure is atrocious." - a true friend.

I'm not going to say which friend said that, but it has been said. I'm okay with that. You can fix your grammar and relearn the rules to polish your novel. It's a lot harder to learn how to make characters likable (I got that lesson a while ago) and make sure that you describe what the hell is going on (still learning this one). Sentence structure and word choice, while something that you should focus on, is kind of low on my priority list when I'm writing. When I'm editing? It's high up on the list of making sure that it's all nicely polished. When I need to get words on the page? Someone call the grammar police and give me a ticket like you would for speeding.

I feel like this is where I'm supposed to give you some pearls of wisdom about how to edit your grammar but I don't have them. I'm learning as I go and cursing myself when I find things while editing that make no sense as a sentence. One of these days, I'll be a perfect writer who can be a grammar wiz. Until then, I'm going to keep on bumping like a ball in a pinball machine while getting the story down. I recommend you do the same - get the story on the page - and go from there.

Blogging A to Z: Fears (also Friday Five!)

I have some fears. Okay, a lot of them, but I feel they're rational. We're going to list them and then you can feel free to do so as well. You can either put it in the comments or hit me up on twitter at CrescentLizzy. So, here we go.

1. Falling. This used to be because I didn't want to hurt myself when I was heavier than I am now. I fall over the stupidest things too. The highest on the stupid things I've tripped and fallen over is a crack in the sidewalk. Me vs the sidewalk resulted in a hairline fracture in my nose (second broken bone ever!) and my hand feeling like it was broken. This was... a month, maybe less? before NaNoWriMo so, yeah, there was minor freak out about not being able to write because I'm a drama queen. First broken bone? Also a fall, at the Borders I worked at, and it was... two weeks / 10 days before Christmas? Big ass line too. That was lovely. The least stupid / most out of my control fall was when the stairs to the basement gave way and I fell with them to the basement. I got out of that with just a tweaked shoulder. However, now I hate falling / almost falling because people feel like they have to reach out and stop me from falling. It's sometimes worse than letting me fall because people have hurt me more than the fall would! I swear it's because of the cane, so, honestly people, let the blind person fall. It's going to be okay, you won't go to hell, but keep your hands to yourself. Thank you.

2. Death. I feel like I shouldn't have to explain this. But, yeah, it's second on my list because, honestly, there are sometimes when I've fallen and I should have died. See the stairs to the basement and the time at Beloit where I fell down the spiral stone staircase. I swear I was a stunt double in my former life.

3. Bees / Wasps. Now, this is irrational. I hate the sound they make and how they look. I know they're helpful and all but just... no. Nope. No. Double fingers waving in the air no. It's one of the reasons I dislike summer too.

4. Bugs in general - however, I'm getting better at this one. I've been able to kill a couple of them without screaming too. I'm getting better on this one.

5. Last but not least - failure. Yep. I am so human in this and I know it. I have a big ass fear of failure, of not being able to get anyone to buy or be interested in my book (which is BS - I've got friends and family who love me enough to humor me to a point), so, yeah, I've got that going for me. I also know that it's coming because my series isn't all that original and it's drawing on vampires (I feel like they're cycling out?), so I will probably be rejected a lot of times. Yet I don't see that as failure (see the reject letters of a ton of famous authors) but as a badge of honor. Maybe failure in that would be no rejection letters but... yeah, I don't know guys. Just that, like falling, I really don't want to go through failure but it's going to happen. It just won't kill me.

Blogging A to Z: Elizabeth (An Acrostic Poem)

Emotions flow through me
Like the wind blowing through trees
Is that metaphor too stupid?
Zigzagging through
A minefield of thoughts
Because I thought a poem would be fun
Eliminating a day of this challenge because
Thoughts of words that being with E for a post were emotions and elements
However, at least this post was short.

And that, my friends, is an acrostic poem. I really couldn't think of anything else to do and my name begins with the letter E. Also, we needed a bit of lightness after D.

Blogging A to Z Post Four: Depression

If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, know that you are not alone. The number for suicide prevention hotline is 1-800-273-8255 and you can also chat live with them. You can also text the Crisis Text Line by texting START to 741-741. You are not alone.

My story of depression started when I was a junior in high school in the late 90s. I was fresh off of being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa and having to adjust that the life I was going for was no longer going to happen. I was never going to drive a car or enlist in the Navy or a lot of other things I wanted to do. There were some kids at school, the ones who stand out in my memory and not my good friends, that thought I was faking it and said so to my face. A lot of what kept me going was that, in two years, I'd have a fresh start. I wasn't staying in state for college - I felt that as soon as junior year started, even before the bullying - and I put every fiber of my being into grades. I did have a lot of suicidal thoughts, but couldn't bring myself to do anything. Most of it comes from the fact that I was brought up with the idea that suicide is a cardinal sin and the other part was I didn't want to disappoint my family. I shudder to think about how my life would be as a high school in society today and I am so happy I made it out before the internet took over the world.

Back then, from what I remember, depression wasn't talked about like it is now. I didn't really know where to go or what to do, only that I was having these thoughts, and I am forever grateful that I had my mom to turn to. I got into really good counseling through the Salvation Army that was close to my home at the time and I made it past that point in my life. I did take some medication, that I was weaned off of / made a decision that I didn't like it, and I just went for talk therapy. It helped a lot to have someone to talk to that wasn't related to me, didn't take my side, and made me take a step back to think about what was happening around me. 

I don't look back at it as surviving depression, because it's still here. It sneaks up on me from time to time, usually in the dead of night when I don't have anything on, but the time usually seems to be around 2 or 3 in the morning. The good news is that I've gone nearly two years without that sort of thought in my head. Sure, I'll still cry for no good reason sometimes and I have thoughts where I beat myself up for saying or doing the wrong thing, but it's so much better than it was. It's getting better everyday, considering those times are coming more when my time of the month is around more than anything else. Even that's happening less and less, mostly because of how I changed how I eat (Google Happy Thin and Free - Susan Peirce Thompson is who you're looking for) but I know my signs. I know my triggers. I'm not above getting help if it gets back to where I was in high school.

The "It Gets Better" project has it right, not just for LGBT kids, but for everyone. It does get better. I'm doing what I love, even though I'm still editing the damned book while writing the second and third ones, but I'm happy. I do wish I could reach back and give the young me a hug. To tell her that you do eventually accept who you are because you find some kick ass friends when you go to college. That it's coming up on seventeen years of knowing them in August and you still talk to the core group of them. I'm not sure where I would be if I hadn't been diagnosed but I am happy for the journey that I've been blessed with.

Until next time, keep on writing. 

Blogging A to Z Post Three: Curious

Have you ever tried to describe curious off the top of your head? What does it look like? To me, it looks like someone turning over a puzzle a few times to get the solution or reading the back of a book to see if they might like it. However, when it comes to trying to describe it in my writing, I trip over myself. I'm probably not the only person who does it but it also feels stupid when I do. I mean, seriously, I'm a writer. I know what curiosity looks like from my own actions and others, so why is it so hard?

Well, for one, I'm probably overthinking it. For two, what is curious for me is not for you. Maybe reading the back of the book isn't curious but questioning. Aren't those the same things though? By the definition of the word, yes, but from person to person? Probably not. This is another problem, at least for me, when I'm trying to write. I overthink and then I have a ton of things to edit because I went with the short version. The short version doesn't help anybody but my editor and she's probably annoyed with me not describing things. Or telling instead of showing.

Anyways, what are the ways that you are showing off curiosity in your characters? Feel free to leave a comment below or hit me up on twitter at CrescentLizzy. Until next time, keep on writing!

Blogging A to Z Post Two: Bored

I keep on going back and forth if I want this to be bored or boredom. Bored is where you don't have anything to focus your mind on and boredom is the state of being bored. You can't have one without the other and, yet, I find myself being bored more times than I find myself boredom. It doesn't last long because I can find something that needs or wants to be done, but it does happen.

Speaking of boredom, you should, as always, show it instead of telling it. If a character is bored, then I recommend doing what you would do when bored. When I used to get bored in class or in a meeting, I'd doodle in my notes. It might seem like something really silly and unprofessional, but it helped me pay attention. I could do better on a test or focus on a meeting point better if I kept my hands busy to relieve the boredom of the meeting. You could do the same or, sometimes when I'm out with people and bored, I'll play with the sleeve of my Starbucks cup, tearing it apart to make up little things of art. Yes, I'm strange, but I'm able to focus better if my hands are busy.

Just some things to think about in life and in writing. What about you and your ways to relieve yourself of boredom? Feel free to comment below or feel free to hop over to twitter to reply to me at CrescentLizzy. Until next time, keep on writing.

Blogging A to Z Post One: Anxiety

Welcome to day 1 of the A to Z blogging challenge. I was going to start off with the idea of alliteration but... I dunno. I feel like it's already done, by better people than me, and the idea about anxiety came to me in the shower. Yes, like a great deal of other people, writers and non-writers alike, I get a lot of my ideas in the shower. Second best place is doing dishes and third is while cleaning / running the vacuum.

Anxiety, to me, comes in many different forms and strikes without warning. I could be puttering around the house and suddenly I'll get hit with worry about something that has or hasn't been done. Sometimes it'll be late at night and I'll worry about the fact that I'll never get anything published and so on. It's not great or fun or glamorous. I wish I could get rid of it. I know there are a ton of ways to do so but it also feels like that's for other people. I know that's bullshit and all but it is what it is. It's where I am with my anxiety and how it effects my life. It's not like I'm getting panic attacks or anything that stops me from living my life, so I feel like I should just get on with life.

I really wish that it was that easy. There are days where it's that easy and there are days where I just curl up into a ball. I'm getting better, where I have easier days than most, and those come with writing or feeling like I'm doing something. Moving forward helps with my anxiety, even if it's just a few words or a page edited, it's still something. It's something that I can see or hold in my hand, depending on what I'm doing, and that is the true helping hand in the end.

What's your ways to combat your anxiety? Do you have coping methods / foods / drinks on the days where it's really bad (mine's coffee). Feel free to comment below or wave hello on twitter at CrescentLizzy. Until next time, keep on writing.