Road Trip Wednesday: The Queasy Flower Girl

Today's Road Trip Wednesday prompt, as initiated by YA Highway is:

Did you ever have a childhood memory that you viewed differently as you got older?

Yes.

When I was six, I was a flower girl in my cousin's wedding. The wedding was in Chicago, so my family drove down over a few days, camping along the way.

It was a big deal, being a part of this wedding, and I'd say one of the biggest moments in my life up to that point. My little cousin was a flower girl with me, and my sister was the ring bearer. My brother and my co-flower girl's brother were also in the wedding party (not sure what they're called though... the boy version of flower girls? Not sure).

Anyway, my aunt had made these pretty lace dresses for me, my cousin and my sister and we also had fake flower crowns (I'm pretty sure we still have one in our long abandoned dress up box, actually) as well as baskets full of fake flowers that we were supposed to sprinkle on the aisle as we walked down it in preparation for the bride.

Of course all of this we knew months in advance, and I was terribly excited about everything, from the dress to the flower crown to my shoes to my frilly white socks. (I had a thing about socks when I was younger).

Finally, the moment came when my cousin and I were supposed to walk down the aisle, throwing our plastic flowers on the white carpet that was rolled out before us.

And... I threw up.

Thankfully I hadn't eaten anything that showed up on my white dress, so my aunt quickly wiped away the clear liquid and sent me down the aisle!

I was mortified and horribly embarrassed at the time, so much so that I pushed the memory down and forgot about it for a while. Now, I think it's funny, and a good picture of what I was like as a six year old. Also it makes for a fun story! :)

What about you? Any horrible memories you tried to suppress, only to realize later they weren't that bad?

RTW: How I Name Characters

Wow, I haven't done a YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday in forever...  (although, on my current side of the world, it is already Thursday...)

This week's question is How do you decide on names? Would you ever name a character after a friend/family member/ex?

There are a few ways that character names come to me.

1. They are just magically there when I think up a character, and the fits absolutely perfectly and I love it and can't imagine any other name.

2. I can't think up a character name right away, so I think up a placeholder name. Eventually, I can't think of the character by anything but the placeholder name, so the placeholder name is then no longer a placeholder, but the character's actual name.

3. I can't for the life of me think of a good name, and I spend hours and hours on end scouring babynames.com and other useless baby names sites where all of the names are really weird or unpronouncable. After that, I spend days asking family and friends for names that they like and they answer oh so helpfully with names of other family members. Or my name. At that point I usually go back to #2. (So, no, I wouldn't name a character after someone I knew. Mostly because I'm sure they would forever think oh, so that's what she thinks of me? Is that supposed to be what I'm like? etc).

So! That's my very inefficient way of thinking up character names. How do you think up character names? Maybe you could give me some tips...

RTW: Inspiration You Can Find On A Map

Before I answer a YA Highway Road Trip question, go here to check out the interview I did with author Corrine Jackson and go here to check out my "explore-a-teen's-brain" contest, where you can ask teens questions and win prizes!


Today's Road Trip Wednesday question is... (wow, haven't done one of these in awhile...)

What is the most inspiring place you've ever visited in real life?

I've been to a few places around Canada (most recently Calgary and Banff) and the U.S. Oh, and I've also been to Cuba. But no place inspires me more than where I live. Every day, I am inspired by how amazingly beautiful my city is. I mean, look at this:



I bike here often... (though this isn't me)



I love the prairies...

RTW: Listening Love

Today in history class we listened to a half hour audio documentary. There's something extremely relaxing about just closing your eyes, listening, and just imagining all the pictures in your head as opposed to the pictures being given to you. We live in a very visual world, and it's nice sometimes to enjoy our other senses.

ANYWAY today at YA Highway for Road Trip Wednesday they are asking who should narrate your audio book.

I don't have a specific WIP in mind to be narrated, but I definitely think that whatever book is narrated, it should be done by someone with a nice voice. A voice that is enjoyable to listen to. So I thought of two voices.

ONE:

Tahereh Mafi. This is odd, but when I listened to her recording of her pronouncing her name I was amazed at how pretty her voice was. :) Yes, I know it's weird.

TWO:

Aslan. Otherwise known as Liam Neeson, the guy who voices Aslan of the Chronicles of Narnia in the films. I think Aslan's voice was perfect in the films, so I would want the narration to be in the same style. Although if the real Aslan could somehow narrate my novel, I'm sure his voice would be pretty awesome.

Yup.

Whose voices would you like to listen to as they narrate a book?

RTW: Well, When I Was Your Age...

This week's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday question is...

What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

There is only one book -well, series- that I was obsessed with.

Yup. My best friend and I tried (and failed miserably) to start our own babysitter club. We even painted this box in hopes to make it our own private BSC library, cardboard library cards and everything. And we also tried to make a movie of the book Mary Anne Saves the Day.

Yes, I think I was definitely obsessed. :)

Story Week Day 3: From Stories To Books (and RTW!)

Today's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday prompt is...

Who have you written into a book? Be honest.

First of all I have to say a few things: Story Week is the week (this week) that I've taken to tell some stories, to share some stories, and to just overall celebrate the power of the story. Check out my other two posts from this week here and here.

I love RTW, so all this week I've been hoping I could tie the Wednesday prompt into my Story Week... and, well, I can!

See, all these stories we encounter in life: our brother's best friend's dad dying, our best friend going through her parents divorce, our dad's stories of growing up in the 60s and 70s... all these stories end up in our writing. We take little bits and pieces of each one, put them together, add some imagination and make something new and fun. Our writing is influenced a lot by our lives and our stories and other's stories, it would be hard not to write someone into a book!

So, back to the question... I think I've probably written bits and pieces of everyone I know into my writing. A character I named Maggie was based off of my best friend. The better question for me would be who I have written into a book most.

And that person would be...

Me. I'm sure I've put myself more than anyone else into my characters. :)

What stories/people have you slipped into your writing?



Me about four years ago, reading (what else?)



You Know, I Don't Even Have A Wardrobe...

Today is Wednesday, which means it's YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday... a "Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic."

Today's topic:

If you could live within the universe of one book, which would you choose?

I was thinking about all the books I've been reading recently, and I got to thinking. So many of these books have awesome universes surrounding them, like in Harry Potter or The Knife of Never Letting Go or The Hunger Games.

Yes. They are awesome worlds. But those worlds are fruitin' scary.

Alright, maybe if I was a courageous hero like Harry, Todd or Katniss, then I could fly with living in the world of Harry Potter or on New World or in Panem. Except I'm not. I would be terrified having the threat of the Mayor of Prentisstown on my back, or Voldemort or whatever. That's the nice thing about books, you see. You can be a part of those worlds, except you don't have to worry about being stabbed to death by a crazy priest or even just being killed in general. (Except we do anyways, because we're so into the story...)

But Narnia. Now, Narnia is pretty cool. And I don't see Narnia as really scary, either. I think it's Aslan. Aslan has this way of making you feel safe, I think, in Narnia even there are evil things in Narnia. The beautiful scenery helps, too.

My dad used to read the the Narnia books to me and my brother and sister when we were younger. The idea of a magical, beautiful place where you could go to get away from the normal world was awesome. Not only the place, but the people there too -Mr. Tumnus and Aslan and all the other Narnian folk that are so pleasant. Narnia is definitely a place I'd like to take a book to and lie on the countryside, with a beautiful view in front of me, and just read while the gentle breeze stroked my skin... (okay that's kind of ironic... going to a book-universe and reading a book? But that's what I imagine doing, honestly.)

Now, if only I could find a wardrobe...