Crazy

Smile,
I will not be unmasked.
I will not be set free.

Telling that truth,
I am nothing.
Exposed.
Empty.
Naked.

Lies are not evil so much so as they are a protection for the person saying it and the person believing it.

Exposure is evil so much so that the person saying it has no protection and the person hearing it must bear the burden of keeping it.

'Shipping Characters

I think you know what I'm talking about when I say "Shipping Characters", but if you don't, 'shipping characters is when you put two characters that have that "spark" together be it in your mind or fan-fic. Anyhow, I wanted to know what you guys think when those two characters you love finally get together. For me, I sometimes feel like it ruins what they had going. It's almost as if I liked them better without the relationship. Ok, I'll just come out and say it, some of the characters we 'ship really can't be together for the sake of the story. Now, that sounds a little weird when you're thinking, "B-but, I really love them, and they would be so cute together!"

And I say to you, "NO!"

You need to love them as friends because once everything gets are "romanciful" there is no turning back. Ever. Their relationship will never be the same and it will always have the awkward tension it unless there is a magical device that wipes both of their memories of each other and they have to find each other again not just as lovers but as friends. Then, you might have a good story, if done well, but my heart has been broken by too many 'ships to even trust that method.

So, that's my rant... again. I promise I will get back to writing stories soon, but unfortunately, I have school work I also need to do, so I'll keep you updated on Life Tales, and this winter vacation, I'll start Writing Tales again. Anyways,  you guys should tell me what you think about 'shipping characters below! (It may be very far down...)

 Also, if you guys haven't checked out IISuperwomanII on Youtube, I love her, so you guys should check her out because she's only one of the most awesomely hilarious people you'll ever see.

Thanks for reading!

Help! My Story is More Revolved Around Setting than Character

The title still looks weird.

Anyhow, so I've been looking at other writers work, and I'm noticing a pattern that a lot of writers seem to hate: they can't seem to control their writing. I did address this (kind of) a few post back (I even linked you guys to Go Teen Writers!) Anyhow, my big thing is that you really shouldn't try to control your writing too much. You can do that in revisions, but when you start your first draft, you should never tell your characters no. Why? Your characters have a way of knowing what to do better than you do, and when you deny them, you typically end up with a mess.

I started to do that with G.R.A.Y. This summer as I was writing it, I decided that I didn't like the direction it was going, and without giving too much away, let me say, I think that me trying to reign G.R.A.Y into what I imagined really assisted me in NOT completing it. I'm not saying that it's going to remain incomplete forever, but I am saying that choking your characters help nothing. (In fact, I had to rewrite the entire thing from the prologue at one point.)

Books tend to move in their own special ways, and I'm not saying you have absolutely no control over your book. You are the author. Remember that, but don't think your characters don't have a say in it too. The balance as a writer is really figuring out where to control your writing and how to continue your writing. In reality, to non-writers that sounds insane, but I'm not talking to non-writers. I'm talking to you. For me, the first step to my writing is figuring out an idea, then a character and going from there. I've learned the hard way that for me, if I try to plot it out more than that it doesn't really work. Another thing, although I don't plot out exactly what I want to do for my book does NOT mean that I don't have goals that my characters have to achieve. For example, my first book, Truth in Lies (That book is by baby. I will not show it to you guys until it is beautifully published and amazing. If it gets that far), my protagonist Jessica was originally supposed to go to this "evil" school for the majority of the book, and I was going to tell her life story for only a little part in the beginning of the book. Well, guess what happened? My idea kind of changed a little bit, and most of the book is about what happened BEFORE she got sent to the "evil" school. I still reached my goal in getting her to the evil school, but I allowed the book to "write itself" for a little while, per say, and that was only through me being flexible about my goals.

So, basically the point I'm trying to get across is: don't be mad at your book because it doesn't do exactly what you want or be exactly as you planned, just go with the flow, and let your book lead you by being flexible.

That is the longest moral I've ever heard of and it really sounds like I'm more of a hippie writer than anything, but that's my rant.
Thanks for reading!

Are you Pregnant?

I feel like only a writer would be asked this question, I mean, unless you actually are pregnant, but trust me, I'm not.

Ok, maybe I should explain. It all started two months ago [insert dramatic music here]. My friend, Katie, and I were walking down the hallway talking, well, panicking about our characters (NANO!). As we were walking into the gym to meet our other non-writer friend, Rachel*, I was stuck on the idea that I would have a character named Tame. Katie, on the other hand, was arguing that I choose a different name. She hated my character's name! But, it was for good reason, her exact words were, "Tame means calm and domesticated. That is the exact opposite of everything you want in your protagonist!"

Anyhow, as we were walking to our non-writer friend, I stubbornly responded with, "But I still want to name her Tame."

Which I guess, taken out of context, does sound like I have a child. (Books are children.) I turned around, eyes wide with a face that apparently scarred Rachel for life, along with some prompt screaming, which made her begin to profusely apologize.

So, to diffuse to awkward situation, I screamed, "Tame!" across the gymnasium and walked away.

Sidenote: I'm actually (against Katie's advice) writing a story where my protagonist's name is Tame. I'll share it with you guys sooner or later.

*Names have been changed

My Rant About Books you Should Read

Warning: this isn't actually so as much about the books you should read as my opinions of modern day society and what they do to books.

I am very versatile in what I read. When I was a bit younger, I tended to be more inclined toward mystery, and I don't mean like Nancy Drew, (I actually for some reason always hated Nancy Drew, although I did like Encyclopedia Brown. ) I mean James Patterson. Actually, I believe he was my childhood. (Scary, huh?) That is kind of what drove me to get involved in writing darker stories, and I love it. (Side note: I've actually never read his Maximum Ride series, but I've read most of James Patterson's adult books. Fun fact: my favorite book of his is entitled: Now you see her, Now you don't.) Anyhow, as I have gone through my reading career, I've found many interesting books in various genres, so I thought I'd share some of those with you, and perhaps offer my reviews to them.

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth. You've probably already heard plenty about this book if you haven't read it, and if you haven't read it, you've also probably head that it's very similar to the hunger games. Let me clarify something, just because it is in the YA Dystopian Genre does not mean that it's like the hunger games, seriously people? Every single time I look at a somewhat recently published YA novel that happens to be Dystopian it says, and I quote, "on par with Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games" and "A natural for Hunger Games fans." Ahem, critic. Yea, excuse me, does this book have anything to do with The Hunger Games? No? Why is Hunger Games written on the back of it? Oh, because it's the Dystopian book. One more question, did Suzanne Collins invent the genre of Dystopian novels? No? It was around before Suzanne Collins? NO! It can't be! Are you saying she's just the most recognized author for that Genre so you slap her name on the back of every single Dystopian novel? You are! Well, my faith in society just went through the earth.

Ok, getting back on topic... Divergent is not like The Hunger Games other than it shares the same Genre, like many other books. It revolves around Beatrice Prior who is one of 4 factions of society, Abnegation as she discovers that she is something called Divergent, and the book basically goes from there. (I stopped there in an attempt to not spoil too much for you.) Anyways, it is a great book that you should go and read right now!

2. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Now, I know what you all are thinking (other than you Phans) wasn't that a play written by Andrew Llyod Webber? No. Yes. I mean, technically by what he did to the book it was a play written by him. (I actually love the musical, and yes I know I sound like I'm hating on him, but it's basically like that movie that takes out the characters from the book, adds a new plot, slaps the book's title on it and says it's the same. It's not regardless of whether or not they touch on some of the book's points.) Anyways, (I seem to go off track a lot, this is really more of a rant than a recommended book list.) the story revolves around Eric (The phantom), Christine, The Persian (Eric's friend) and other characters including Raoul de Changy (who is actually incredibly more wimpy than the play/movie makes him out to be.) So, check those out!