Truth in Fiction

I just finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which yes, is a good book. I think the thing that strikes me most about John Green's writing (other than the fact that he writes beautifully) is how achingly real what he writes feels.

OK, now is the part where I try and tell you what I'm talking about.

There are lots of books about death, and I've read a lot of books about death. After a while, they start to seem the same. The characters always go through the same motions, act the same way, deal with the same issues, and after a while I get sick of it, and it seems fake.

I don't know, maybe these people draw from their own experiences, but when I read these kinds of books it doesn't seem like they do. I think a lot of writers end up falling into the same old stereotypes and ways of presenting things because that's what they know, and that's what they've read all the time. I know I've done it. When I was in middle school, I started a bunch of stories centred around popularity and yup, there were those typical Mean Girls and Best Friend Group of Three that pop  up in YA ALL THE TIME. I wrote that stuff because that's what I read and that's what I knew.

But it wasn't real. Popularity in real life, at least I find (or at least in my school), is absolutely NOTHING like it is in books.

I think in order to avoid falling back into the regular stereotypical fluff, we have to draw from our own experiences, but in a way that you put all or almost all of yourself into what you write.

Sometimes when I do things like go to a funeral, or  spend time with my family, or even go bike riding, or anything in real life I'll be taking notes in my head of what I'm experiencing and what I feel like at that moment. I try to remember every detail. And I don't dramatize or anything, I just bring to focus what I'm thinking at those moments, what I'm experiencing. (These kinds of thoughts are also usually present in journals and diary entries). One thing I always find is that I'm noticing and experiencing things a lot different than characters in books usually do.

But what I'm experiencing is real, and the books are not. I know fiction books are just that: fiction. But that's not an excuse to not write things that aren't real and clear and truth.

Here I shall insert a John Green quote that I've used before:

Lies are attempts to hide the truth by willfully denying facts. Fiction, on the other hand, is an attempt to reveal the truth by ignoring facts.

Fiction is an attempt to reveal the truth.  If us as writers are trying to reveal the truth, then why are we so quick to fall back into the old stereotypes and clichés and why are we as readers so willing to accept them?



I know pouring yourself into your writing is hard, REALLY hard. Walter Wellesley Smith got it right when he said, "There's nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."  Opening veins is painful and difficult but also, I think, necessary in a way in order to reveal the truth.

So, yeah, that's what I mean when I say that John Green's writing is "achingly real", and if you want to learn to write like that or you just want to read a good book, go read The Fault in Our Stars. Please.

I Am Not A Walking Pictionary

So I'm going to talk about something kind of removed from what I usually talk about. According to all blogging advice websites, I am really bad at blogging. They say you're supposed to have a focused topic, and I do not. I mean, unless you count "writing, reading, and life" as a focused topic...


So, I'm going to take the most open-ended of those three: life. One of my favourite group game to play in life (wow that was a horrible transition...) is called Talking Pictionary. Oh, and if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not really a normal teenager. I mean, normal teenagers do not spend time with their friends playing awesome verbal word games. :D


Now, if you're bored with board games/group games, you can peruse my tumblr here instead, and come back for my next post, whenever that may be.


Anyway. Talking pictionary. You probably don't know what that is. When I looked it up on Google, the results were just articles or blog posts where people used improper expressions like "People say I'm a walking pictionary." (DICTIONARY, people, DICTIONARY).

Talking Pictionary is actually a game that I learned from my grandparents. It's an awesome group game and can also be a Theory-of-Knowledge, philosophy-esque game because it gives you insight into how people think. Also, funny quotes. I wanted to teach you how to play because a) it's an awesome game, b) WORDS. You guys like words, right? I mean, assuming most of you are reader/writer types, and c) not many people seem to know about it outside of my family and friends.

All you need to play is a timer and a pack of pictionary cards.


HOW TO PLAY


So you split up your group into two teams. Then each person on each team takes turns trying to get their teammates to guess the words on the card by describing them verbally. Hence, talking pictionary. Once the timer runs out, you count how many words you got your teammates to guess correctly and add it to your team's point total. Whatever team has the most points when you decide to stop playing wins. 


RULES

• You cannot use actions. (Do not follow the example of my grandpa. Grandpa: What's this? *drops pen* Us: Grandpa!! You're not supposed to use actions!!!)
• You cannot say any part of the word on the card. (Ex: If the word is snowblower, and you say "snow" or "blower", you don't get a point).
• You cannot say "it rhymes with" or "it starts with the letter" because c'mon, that's just cheap.
• Oh, and you can't just say it another language either.
• If you get your teammates to guess all the words on a card and you still have time left, you can move on to another card. HOWEVER, if you messed up a word (saying "snow" when the word was "snowblower") then you can't continue onto a new card.

QUOTES


...from playing pictionary with my family members. :) People say funny things under pressure when they are trying to describe a word with limited vocabulary.


Grandpa, describing rain: "Melted frozen snow that's wet!"


Cousin: What do you get when you throw a pile of glue on the floor?
Answer (apparently...): A blob


Friend: "You know when you say I love you in sign language, he's a superhero and he does that."


Emily: Uh.. I think it's something you either spit or pee into.
Answer: Urn
Everyone else: NO!! Haha. :)


Grandpa: Peaches!
Uncle Harold: Apricots!
(and Uncle Harold got this right... they have strange minds)


So. I hope next time you're looking for a group game to play, you end up playing Talking Pictionary and I hope you are amused by what people come up with to describe things!


What's your favourite group game? Do you like learning about how people think?

I Was One Strange Kid

My graduation is like, 5 days away, and in the spirit of grad I wanted to do some sort of "looking back" post. My plan was to scrounge up some old journal entry of mine and analyze how much I've changed. However, I don't really write a lot of journals. I basically write journals when I feel really emotional about something (which always seems to happen when I stay up too late reading emotionally intense books, so...), and when I'm on vacation. So... there goes that idea.

Also, it's really, really hard to summarize yourself in a couple of paragraphs. I wrote a letter to myself when I was 12 that I'm supposed to read when I'm 22, and I'm pretty sure the gist of it is "I'm 12 right now and these are my friends: [list of friends]". I have no idea what I would put in a single letter that could give future-me an accurate picture of present-me. Do I talk about my friends, what I like to do, my beliefs? What?


Anyway... while I don't have an old, comprehensive journal entry to analyze, I do have lots of old journals that I've written random things in over the years (very random things) and some of the things were so random I just couldn't help but laugh at how crazy of a kid I was. So I thought I'd share some of those things with you.

Oh, and just a note, whenever I'm quoting from one of my notebooks, I quote exactly - spelling mistakes and all. Just so you know that I actually CAN spell.

TIMELINE OF MY CHILDHOOD IN NOTEBOOKS:

2001: 7 years old 

The above journal is from the first diary I had (and the last). The first entry here is talking about how much I dislike my cousin, because she said she couldn't read my writing. (You know what, 7-year-old Alyssa? I can't read your writing either). Then later in life I went back and crossed out "mean" and wrote "nice", but then even later I ended up going back and crossing out "nice" and re-writing "mean and nasty" in red pen.

If anyone's interested, I get a long just fine with my cousin now. ;)

2002: 8 years old!

This notebook was called a "Slam Book" and it had questions at the top of some of the pages that were like "Your best excuse for turning in your homework late is..." and so on. Some of the questions my eight-year-old self deemed to answer were:

The dumbest love note you ever received was from... noneone

The flirting technique that always works for you is... tikling my back

If you had to marry a teacher from your school you would choose... Mrs Turner or Ms Mackinnis

(Reading these questions makes me wonder how my mother thought this notebook was appropriate for an 8-year-old...)

Also, the page shown in the picture above is a list of my friends on the left and then "how they act" on the right side. I'm happy to say that I have now succesfully grown out of having rating systems for my friends... :D

probably around 2004, 8-10 years old:

So I found a song that I am sorry to say that I wrote. It goes like this:

Friends forever

we love and care for who they are

and who they will be

we're always together

Friends will save us from the pouring sadness

and the rock hard hearts

They'll lift spirits and dance in the sky

AUGGH it's so bad!!! "Pouring sadness"!?!? "Dance in the sky"!?!?! Obviously I was a master at imagery back then... haha. Thank goodness I had little to no aspirations to become a songwriter...

2004, probably 9 years old:

So my 9-year-old self decided to make up some jokes and write them down. They are... embarassing.

Lucy: Sniff, sniff.

Teacher: Have you caught a cold?

Lucy: No, it caught me.

Herbert: How do you add 2+2?

Corey: to what?

Herbret: each other

Corey: Swich places

(WHAT?? This is not only not funny but it makes NO SENSE)

Teacher: Amy, how do you spell zebra?

Amy: e-b-r-a

Teacher: Where's the z?

Amy: On vacation

What I want to know is, HOW did I think any of these jokes were even remotely funny??? Little Alyssa, I do not understand you.

2004: 10 years old

"Arielle, someone at camp, said she had a 'pretend friend' named Eddie. Why I'm metioning this is because I thought 'Why don't I have a pretend friend?' I made one up. I'll tell you about her."

I think it's really funny how my first reaction to finding out about someone else's imaginary friend is not a normal kid's reaction of "wow you are way too old for things like that" but "What? Why don't I have one?" Little Alyssa, you were one strange kid.

2005: 10/11 years old

Excerpt!: "When I read I get so scooped up into my book I hardly know where I am"

"Scooped up"???? I don't think that word means what you think it means, Little Alyssa.

2006: 11/12 years old

When I was in grade six, my family and I went on vacation to Waterton/Glacier National Park, traveling through the U.S. to get there. You know how whenever you visit some landmark, there's signs with information about the landmark around? Well, for some reason I thought it would make sense to COPY THE ENTIRE SIGN. And there are like, 4 pages of signs I copied on this trip. WHY, 12-year-old Alyssa, WHY???

Oh, and I also found a list of 62 questions in one of my notebooks, which I'm guessing I probably thought up to ask my dad when he said goodnight to me to make him stay longer. You can read the whole list of 62 here, if you want.

So, now you know what I was like as a kid, and you can see that I am still pretty weird, just in different ways. ;) (Although I like to think I have a better sense of humor now...)

What crazy things did you do as a kid? Oh, and if you want to hear more about me and my weird family you can follow me on twitter, @AlyssaSherlock. :)

Oh and here's a picture of me when I was six (the scrape on my nose is because I fell off my bike):

Have a great summer!

From,

me & Little Alyssa

How Imaginations Take Over the World (And Your Writing)

So this post is going to be a sort of follow-up of the ideas I expressed in my last post, "When Your Imagination Is 'Wrong'", so if you haven't read that yet click the link and go do that.

A lot of the time when I'm writing or editing, I find that one of my biggest problems is with description. I have this frantic urge to describe EVERYTHING with perfect, insane detail. I'll use multiple sentences just to describe the walls of a room; I'll use a boatload of adjectives to describe a single action. I'll spend tons of time trying to put onto paper everything I see in my head, because I want the reader to see what I see.

And this, I've come to realize, is stupid. Why? Well...

REASONS WHY WANTING THE READER TO SEE WHAT YOU SEE IS STUPID

Reason #1: The reader will NEVER see what you see.

Everyone is different, therefore everyone has a different imagination, therefore everyone pictures things in books differently. Have you ever looked up "fan casts" for certain books? Everyone has a different idea of who the actor should be for which character, based on how they picture the character themselves.

For example, a lot of people pictured Peeta like this:

While I picture Peeta more like this (although now that I look at them both, they look reaaally similar):

Source

Reason #2: The reader's imagination takes what's written and runs with it, anyway.

Just go read the comments on my last post... even though characters are clearly described a certain way, people picture them differently. What's the point of describing something obsessively if your readers aren't even going to picture what you describe?

Reason #3: Imaginations don't need a lot of help to imagine stuff.

In one of the first Harry Potter books, I remember J.K. Rowling described the Gryffindor common room in about one sentence, and the gist of it was "there were some cushy armchairs." There was barely any description at all, and yet I had a perfectly formed, complete and detailed picture of the Gryffindor common room. J.K. Rowling gave me a sentence, and my imagination did the rest.

Reason #4: An author's book, as I said in my last post, does not belong to the author. It belongs to the reader.

So if you want the reader to see what YOU see, you're being like my nine-year-old egotistic author self that I talked about in my last post. You should just let the reader see what they see, whether it's the same as your vision or not, and be cool with that.


So, as far as description goes, I have learned that you really don't need as many words as you think you do.

Just look at this description-overloaded sentence of some story of mine I wrote years and years ago:

She raised her glistening silver sword into the thick black night.

The note in my edits beside this was: "adj. much???"

And now, in conclusion I shall provide you with this summary:

1. Imaginations are cool.
2. Less words are cool.
3. Books belong to their readers.
4. I used to be in love with adjectives, and that was a mistake.

And a really good example of awesome, minimal description (oh my goodness, more adjectives - apparently I am not yet over them) is the book Sold by Patricia McCormick... which is an awesome, compelling book that you should really add to your TBR list.

Oh and follow me on twitter! @AlyssaSherlock. Have a great day.

When Your Imagination Is "Wrong"

So a few days ago I finished the second draft (yay!) of this story... er, book, I guess... that I've been working on for a while. The first draft sucked and I showed no one (and I will show no one), but once I finished my second draft I sent it off to my best friend and favourite person to send stories to.

Of course, after a couple of years of only me knowing about this story and the characters in it and such, I wanted to talk about it. One of the things I wanted to know was how my friend pictured the characters, purely for curiosity's sake.

There was one character that I clearly described as having darker skin, dark hair and dark eyes. My friend said she pictured him as being blonde. Even though I clearly described him as, well, not blonde.

And to be honest, when I first read The Hunger Games, I pictured Katniss blonde, I don't know why, even though she's not. I'm sure there's lots of people who picture characters differently than they are described, even if things like hair colour and such are clearly described. Yeah, sometimes our brains just skip over stuff when we're reading. But I think more of it is just our imagination taking the story and running with it. It's us as readers using our imagination to make it our own.

That's one thing that I really love about books. There is so much that YOU have to do. You have to read it, you have to process it, you have to imagine everything, YOU have to bring everything to life. Yes, it's a lot of work (for some people maybe :D). But it's worth it, and I think all the more because of all that work that we put into the experience of reading.

When I was, I don't know, nine years old, I remember one time after school I was waiting for my parents to pick me up or something, with one of my friends. I was talking about some story I was working on, that she might have read, and I remember she pronounced one of the character's name's wrong or something, and I corrected her, insisting that because I wrote it, MY interpretation of the story was the RIGHT one. (I had a very big ego as a young writer apparently).

Since then, my view has flipped. Now, I don't think that author of a book holds the "right" interpretation of the book they wrote. I also don't think that a book, once given to people to read, belongs solely to the author anymore.

Anyway, an interpretation is just that - an interpretation. Each reader is different, and each reader's imagination creates things in a different way. That's why I think even if the author clearly describes someone's hair as blonde, it's completely fine if maybe someone imagines that character as having red hair.

Just some thoughts.

Have you ever imagined something in a book different than it's described?

Oh! And... I got twitter (although I'm still learning how to use it...). You can follow me @AlyssaSherlock, so I can follow you!  Have a great day!

Thoughts On: Being "Anonymous"

So, I've been thinking about "being anonymous" lately, and I do what all normal people do when they think about stuff... browse Google. So I was searching "blogging anonymously" and whatever, and I have realized that in most people's minds I'm not really anonymous because...


1. I am myself on my blog. I'm not pretending to be someone else (as apparently people do) - I really am an 18-year-old girl from Canada who likes to write and read and discuss stuff. I guess it might be fun (?) to pretend to be someone else, but that was not for me.


2. I'm very transparent about a lot of things - for example, the back of my head (granted the picture shown in the sidebar is from grade 7 and I have since gotten my hair cut to above my shoulders), as well as where I live and a whole lot of other supposedly "identifying" stuff. (I've even made the fact that I'm not using my real name fairly transparent...) If someone were to care so much to do in-depth research, they could find out my real name - although it doesn't matter because the person you'd find is the exact same person as me, they just go by a different name!


3. I'm not paranoid about letting too many people in real life know my blog address. A bunch of the sites I found talked about not telling too many people about your blog, otherwise your identity could be revealed!!! :O Anyway... my entire family reads my blog as well as a few other people I know. It's not something that I try and spread around or anything, though. Why not? Well...


My reasons for being so-called anonymous:


1. The "internet safety" thing we all learn in elementary school.
2. Um, this reason is dumb. But I was (am) like, "Well, what if someone looked up my name and found this?"


Yup. That's basically it. And you probably knew this was coming but I've changed my mind, methinks.


My reasons for deciding not to be "anonymous" anymore:


1. My main reason for being anonymous is stupid.
2. I like my real name.
3. This post by Nicole at WORD for Teens (which is an awesome site).
4. It's just easier, being real. Haha. :)


So, hi! My name, my real name is Alyssa Sherlock. And yes, that's Sherlock as in, well... Sherlock.

And this is me:

Photo Credit: Emily

...and now I start the process of changing my name everywhere. Fun! :)

RTW: Where Would You Go On A Writing Retreat?

Time for another Road Trip Wednesday, courtesy of the beautiful and fantastic YA Highway! I haven't participated in one of these for a while!

Today's question...

If you could go on a writing retreat anywhere, where would you go and who would you bring?

I love canoeing.

I know it's really boring, but I would just go to a cabin in some park somewhere. Actually, I would probably go to Clear Lake, Manitoba. I've already been there quite a bit, since my family goes there every September long weekend, but I love it. There's tons of awesome places to bike, there's a little town for shopping for trinkets (my favourite kind of shopping), and there's a beautiful lake.



The pier at Clear Lake... where we always have to watch the pretty sunsets.



Although for now it sounds like I'd be more distracted than anything... but I find nature inspiring. I also find when I'm biking around by myself, I think a lot. And usually what I think about is... story ideas. The combination would be good for my writing, I assure you. Also, who doesn't love a refreshing breeze coming in through the window?



Biking down the pier... my dad is the pumpkin, and a little to the left is my sister



As far as who I would bring... I would go by myself. (Although with my bike, of course). I'm one of those people who doesn't need a lot of motivation from other people to work. Especially if I'm going on a writing retreat, where the sole purpose is to write. If I went by myself, I would be able to concentrate and spend lots of time in my own thoughts.. which might not be good for my mental health, but is good for my writing. ;) Although it is kind of fun having a friend you can say "ONLY ONE SCENE LEFT!" and such to.



Biking down a trail close to the water with my brother.



So? Where would you guys go for a writing retreat?

7 Things You Shouldn't Do When You Should Be Writing

1. Do not go on the Internet, because it is a black hole.

2. Do not convince yourself that going on the Internet is OK.

Me #1: But, vlogbrothers videos are educational.
Me #2: NO. Write.
Me #1: But... tumblr. There's... bookish stuff on there.
Me #2: Really? I think you're reaching, there... do you not understand you are procrastinating and wasting time???
Me #1: OK, you're right about that one. But... blog posts. C'mon, those have to do with WRITING!!! By reading blogs, you're pretty much writing anyway.
Me #2: Well... uhm...
Me#1: See, even you know I'm right.
Me #2: *surfs internet frantically for fun things*
Me #3: No... all hope is lost...

3. Don't read (for the sake of not writing).

Me #1: READING. It is important. That is how you learn to write properly.
Me #2: Yes but writing -the actual action of it- is pretty important when writing, don't you think?
Me #1: SHUT UP I LIKE BOOKS *buries head in book* Now go away.

4. Do not allow yourself time to dawdle.

Me #1: *rereads what I wrote last time* *stares at following blank page* What now?
Me #2: I don't know.
Me #1: ARGHHHHH I hate this...
Me #2: Look! I wrote something!
Me #1: Um... all you wrote was "ARGHHH why can't someone else write this for me???"
Me #2:  So what?


5. Do not try to convince yourself that your story is almost done anyway, so you don't need to work on it.

Me #1: 7 more scenes!! Only seven more scenes!
Me #2: Yes! 7 scenes that will never get written if you don't stop talking about it and just WRITE.
Me #1: Yes, but on average that's only 7 hours! I could be done by tomorrow!
Me #2: You still aren't writing. You have to realize this will never happen if you don't write, right?
Me #1: Can you imagine being DONE this monster?? And then I can FINALLY send it to my friends to read. Did you know I've been waiting two years for this?
Me #2: YOU AREN'T LISTENING TO ME. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T WRITE.
Me #1: Yeah, but I'm almost done!!

6. Do not replace the action of writing with something you trick yourself into thinking is equally important.

Me #2: Oh, like blogging about how you keep procrastinating instead of writing? HUH?
Me #1: um...

7. The #amwriting tag on twitter. (Also, see #1 and #2).

Random Person: Working on stuff blah blah blah #amwriting
Me #1: You are not writing... you are on twitter.
Me #2: Well, you're not writing either, so...
Me #1: Would you just go away already!
----


Me #1: All of your blog readers are going to think you are crazy when they see how much you talk to yourself...
Me #2:  Hey, this is the funniest post I've written in a while! I'm going to publish it, and you can't stop me!
Me #1: NOOOOOO

How do you distract/excuse yourself from writing?

My Family is Weirder Than Yours (and More of My Life in Stick Figures)

So, this is the return of the stick figures of my family. In the past week (actually, it hasn't even been an entire week) I have observed my family and their oddities (er, our oddities) so I can prove to you that my family is weirder than yours. All of my cartoons are pretty much recreations of what was actually said, except, y'know, my family members wear clothes and have... flesh...

Oh, and for the record, my dad doesn't actually have blue hair, that was just the colour of the marker (stupid markers that LOOK black but aren't!)

Exhibit A

We spent all of last week analyzing my brother because he was sick, and came up with the conclusion that he needs to express his feelings more.

Exhibit B

My parents and I had a late-night discussion last week about... Star Wars.

Exhibit C

...and then my dad and I discussed and researched the difference between a "nerd" and a "geek". (Yes, I ask a lot of weird questions...)

Exhibit D

I was watching my brother the other day when he was looking for the ketchup in our pantry closet, and then all of a sudden he steps inside the pantry and closes the door behind him!



Exhibit E

Sometimes we burst into song randomly. (Okay, mostly my dad and I, but the rest of my family has done it, too.)

Exhibit F

This just... doesn't make sense.

Well, I had recently told my dad a story about a relay race where kids had to put petroleum jelly on their  noses and use it to get cotton balls out of a bowl, but normal people just don't say these things suddenly in other conversations which have nothing to do with the topic, which is what my dad did.

Exhibit G

My dad thinks this lame calculus joke is the most hilarious thing in the world. You can read the joke here. If you've taken calculus and you think it's funny, well... maybe you and my dad can be friends.

Exhibit H

According to my mom, my dad cries "at the drop of a bucket". :)

...and if that's not enough proof that my family is weirder than yours, well... I don't even know. Anyway, if you DO want to prove that your family is weirder than mine, give me proof in your own blog post or in the comments. I know my sister wasn't in any of these cartoons, but trust me, she's weird too.

How is your family weird??



Love Letter to Books, Writing and Imagination

Yesterday  I started reading a book. Threeish hours later, I finished the book - and it was amazing. It was one of those books that opens you up to the world, gives you a fresh persepective on life and puts into words things that you knew but could never quite describe on your own. 

I felt like dancing around singing "I love books. I LOVE books." And I really do. They are so powerful, both in fiction and non-fiction form.

Anyway, today I was thinking of how much influence books have had on my life, ever since I was really young. Before I went into kindergarten, I knew how to read. I also loved to write and use my imagination. I'm sure a big part of the development of my imagination came from reading books. Yes, my imagination has gone running off on its own sometimes, but sometimes it's helped me.

A few months ago I was going through some old school stuff and found a bunch of random notebooks from grade 6. Grade 6 was the year where at first I had no friends, and then slowly I became best friends with this one girl, and then others. Anyway, this one girl and I spent our lunch hours... playing pretend. We made up an entire kingdom, and we were the Princesses Emerald and Topaz, based off our birthstones. We had an entire world, I tell you. The notebooks I found had notes outlining this world.

Another game of pretend that we played was during the winter. Snowplows would come during the winter and clear off the snow from the school grounds, and then huge piles of snow would be piled up on the school field. My friend and I used the huge piles of snow and made a fort for ourselves.

That was another thing I found in the notebooks. Apparently, some guys were bugging us and destroying our fort or something. In my notebook were nicknames for these guys and plans for "missions" that would thwart their bullying.

Yeah... I was a strange kid.

Anyway, as I was looking over this notebook, it made me wonder. At the time, it was all just fun and that was how I spent my free time at school. I never considered myself a victim of bullying, and I wasn't bothered by it. Yet as I was looking through these notebooks, I thought that maybe that was how I dealt with these bullies, though subconsciously. I made up things, and used my imagination to deal with them. It's a very curious thing, and it kind of makes me want to go back and psychoanalyze my 12-year-old self.

Even after middle school, my imagination and my writing and reading helped me. In grade 10, I wrote a lot of poems (well, a lot of poems for me) that helped me express things. And I still haven't stopped using imagination, writing and reading to help me. I am beyond grateful for all of these things.

So, I want to know. How has writing and/or reading and/or your imagination helped you throughout your life??

Oh, and I'm 18 now (as of May 3). That is why my thoughts have all of a sudden turned wistful and philosophical. (Haha). :D Have a great day, everyone!

Cliff-hanger Endings: Are They Really That Bad?

Hey guys! In order to make up for my silence over the last while, I thought I'd just give you a short update on what's going on, and then I'll start my post. So, I'm actually in the midst of exams right now so I am taking lots of time studying and writing those (normally my exams would be in June, but because of the kind of courses I'm taking, they're in May). I'm also getting ready for wrapping up school completely and graduating high school in only twoish months! Eek. :D Let's see... I'm also trying to prepare a short story to enter in a local writing contest. I hope to start some fun new blog stuff after I'm done more of my exams, so you have that to look forward to. I have a few ideas up my sleeve. ;)

Anyway, I wanted to talk about endings. The two books that my English class most recently read were A Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence and A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Neither of them had very satisfying endings. A Stone Angel ends with the two words "And then..." and that's where the novel ends. The story ending of A Handmaid's Tale ends with the main character being taken away, and whether to safety or to her death the reader doesn't know. Then the last line of the epilogue-like ending is a university professor asking his students "Are there are any questions?" which is funny because, um, YES.

A lot of the students in my class complained loudly about how these endings were horrible, you don't get to find out anything, it wasn't wrapped up nicely at all, etc, etc. Then they write the entire book off as awful because you don't get to find out anything - and what's the point of reading a book that doesn't answer any questions it raises?

Well, that's a discussion for another day. But are these somewhat cliff-hanger endings really that bad? I feel like they are very effective, and they make you think. That is what I like about these endings - they force you to think. If there is anything that makes me love a book, it is that it makes me think. That's part of the reason why I loved Jellicoe Road so much. The intertwined and complicated plots required a whole lot of thinking to figure them out.

I think this is also why those "20 years later" epilogues sometimes really bug me, such as the one in Harry Potter or Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles. I feel like they shut down any opportunity for the reader's mind to wander and wonder further about the characters and story. Basically, it shut downs any opportunity for the reader to think about the book.

Yes, endings need to wrap up loose ends and whatnot. But I think they also need to be left at least somewhat open-ended to allow the reader to think and wonder.

So, I want to know what you think about all this... Do you like books that make you think? Do you like endings that wrap up completely, or that are left open? What books have made you think the most?

Reading Interview with My Superwoman Mother on Books

Guess what time it is? Yup, that's right... time for another reading interview!! Woohoo!! So, now you've met all the members of my family including my brother, my dad and my sister. But... there is someone missing. Now, it's time to meet my amazing mother, aka Superwoman!! She is the one who is largely responsible for my love of reading and, consequently, writing.

The interview begins with an interupption by my father...

Me: So let's start with the basic questions.

Dad (in background): Your name
Me: Sure...
Mom: I feel a little nervous.
Me: Why?
Mom: I don't know...
Dad (laughing): Because you might uncover something she doesn't want to reveal...
Mom: No, that you're going to argue with me or something....

Thankfully, there was no uncovering of deep dark secrets or arguments. :) Now, to the interview!

What kinds of books do you like?

Well, I like suspense, because lots of times I can't predict what's going to happen. But I like a lot of things. Family stories, historical fiction. Probably my favourite are suspenseful things. Things that are sort of fast-paced. I like some sorts of science fiction.

The best books are books that you just keep thinking about after you put them down, because you want to know what's going to happen. Not knowing what's going to happen in a book is important to me, unless you just want something really easy to read once in a while. I like books that aren't predictable.

What genres do you stay away from?

Westerns. And your typical romance story. It just seems like such a low level of reading. Well, maybe it's not a low level of reading but it's just like... they have a formula and whatever romance novel you read it all happens the same, it's just a different place and different person. You always know what's going to happen.

What are some of your favourite authors or books?

Francine Rivers, Ted Dekker... and they're totally opposite which is funny. One book I read lately that was really good was Sarah's Key. It sort of haunted me afterwards, same with that book The Boy With the Striped Pajamas.

How do you pick out books for me and my brother?

For you, I can think of what I liked at that age and also if it's a YA book that I'm interested in, then you would probably be interested in it. Although of course there are some YA books that I would read but you wouldn't, but I know those ones. And with your brother... the authors that he's read before and liked, and I basically go off the books he's read before and books he's read very quickly. Also, his interests like math or soccer. And with your sister, it's easy, because of her interest in movies.

Do you think reading is important? Why?

Yes, because it gives you a different perspective on things. I mean, I guess you can get a different perspective watching TV but with reading a book... it's almost like with watching TV it's someone else's perspective, while with reading a book it's your own perspective. With books, you learn about other people's perspectives but you also put your on perspective on those perspectives... haha. And reading's fun... it can take you to a different place in your head. And it also puts me to sleep. All I have to do at night is read a book and then I fall asleep.

When we were little, were you determined to have us read?

I remember Dad and I talked about the values we wanted to instill in you and one of them was that you would love reading. And you do that by reading yourself and reading to your kids. I love reading kid's books as well as the other books I read. I'm known as "The Book Lady" at work.

Where do you think your love of reading comes from?

My mom. My mom read to me, and she was a reader. My dad wasn't really a reader, but my mom was. We'd read all the time before bed. I can still remember my favourite book... There's A Mouse in the House. I can even remember the cover, it had like an older, three-story house on it with a mouse in the top.

And just having books around. There's actually some statistic that if you have a certain number of books in your house then your kids will be readers. Although it's only, like, twenty books.

How would you have felt if even after you did all that, we still weren't into reading?

I would probably just... keep reading to you. It wasn't just me reading to you, it was Dad reading to you... and just us reading ourselves. All those things instill a love of reading.

You read YA sometimes. Why?

I don't read all Young Adult stuff. But I think sometimes because... I don't know if this is true or not... but I think YA writers actually have to write better in some cases because  if you want to get teenagers to read then it has to be written well. Because most aren't going to put the effort into reading a book unless it peaks their interest. So it has to be written well. Although I don't know if that's really true.

Do you have anything else to say about books?

Um... they can be a friend, when no one else is around...

Uh, I think you got that out of a book.

No, I didn't! They are like your best friends when no one else is around. And they're very quiet, actually.

Yeah, but they leave you after 200 pages...

But there's always another book. And I love the library. It's like a free bookstore.

Thanks, Mom! Isn't she great? :)

How to Write A Short Story

I haven't written a ton of short stories, but I've written more than a few. One of my short stories was published in a teen writers' magazine (What If? Magazine) and another short story of mine won 3rd place in a local short story contest.

Short stories are very, very useful. They are perfect for entering contests or submitting to magazines, or posting on sites like Figment.com or TeenInk. They also help you with your writing. I think it's always good to write stuff that might be more of a challenge. It helps you grow in your writing. Also, if you win a contest or get into a magazine, you build up your "writing resume" if you will. So, if you don't think so already, I'll just tell you: get on with writing those short stories!

However... short stories are also a huge pain. I'm sure most writers like sticking to writing their novels, where they have all the time in the world to work on characters, plot, etc. I think that's one big reason why short stories are such a pain to write: you have limited time.

Over the years, through writing and reading some good short stories, I've learned a bit about writing them and I'm here to help you, with my limited expertise!!

Step #1: Read short stories.

There are some really excellent short stories out there. Actually, this one teen writers magazine I know of, The Claremont Review  has some really awesome short stories. (Anyone 13-19 can submit stories, and I found out recently that it does accept international submissions... the website is here). I'm sure if you search around in your area you can find a Writer's Guild or organization that makes short story collections. Please, please look for good short stories though. You'll know them when you read them.

Step #2: The idea.

I think one of the most difficult parts about writing a short story is the idea. How can you think of an idea that's so contained, that's so limited? Well, I've found there's a few good ways to do it.

1. Use whims of ideas

You know how when you get an idea just randomly like... I don't know... "it would be cool to write a story about the relationship between a brother and a sister". Then you think of how you could make that idea into an entire book. Well, while you're coming up with all these whims of ideas, sift through them and ask yourself: could I make this into a short story instead?

2. Use a scene from your novel

Some scenes in novels can work well just on their own as a short story, with a bit of tweaking. Go through your novel and try to think what scenes might work well as a short story.

3. Think of a topic or message you want to focus on

For our lame provincial English exam, we have to do a "writing task" for the final part. Usually I do a short story. But the exam always has a theme, and we have to do our writing task on that theme. The theme for one of my exams was "Choices" another, "Responsibility". I find sometimes it's easier to think of an idea when you have to stick to a certain topic.



Step #3: The story

I watched some video once on short story-writing advice. One thing they said I didn't agree with, and that was that it's OK to use "telling" in short stories. I would say don't do that, because you could end up writing a really terrible short story if you don't do it right. Also, I think it shows you're a better writer when you avoid "telling".

I think some people (uh, okay, I think I) have trouble writing short stories because you don't have much time or space to tell your story. If you keep in mind a few simple things, it's much easier to write your story.

You don't have to have more than one problem

You know how in a story, you're supposed to have Hurdle #1 for your characters, then Hurdle #2, #3, to infinity? Well, in a short story you can't have that. There is one hurdle. However, this doesn't mean your short story has to be lame and boring because the character only tries once and the hurdle has been jumped.

In a short story you can focus a lot more on that single hurdle

Sure, you only have one problem. But go in depth with it. You don't have to spend a lot of time on plot development or a whole lot of character or relationship development like you do in novels, so you can focus more on one problem. Get your short story characters down and dirty with that one problem. Show how the problem affects different characters, maybe. There's a lot more that you can do with only one hurdle than you think. But don't just do a sort of fable thing (like that story, uh, Tortoise and the Hare or something?) where it's Problem-Character Overcomes Problem-Character Learns Lesson. Go deeper.

Step #4: The end



And when you're done, you can dance!
oh wait... there's editing too...



Um... so I don't think I'm really qualified to talk about endings. I'm really quite terrible at them. I guess I would say... don't finish the story too late. Sometimes I think writers tend to go on with their story when it isn't necessary because everything is already been resolved. Oh, that's another thing...

You don't have to resolve everything

Just like a normal novel, not everything has to be resolved. I would say especially in short stories. When you're focusing on one problem or one message, you just have to choose what exactly you want to be resolved about that problem.

Like I said, I'm not really an expert on short stories but I thought I'd share what I've learned... feel free to share your own advice/opinions!

In your experience, what have you learned about writing short stories?