NANOWRIMO                                    NANOWRIMO                                            NANOWRIMO

National Novel Writing Month

When one is writing two forces are fighting each other for control. Your Muse and Your Inner Editor. These two figures can be pictured however you want, but they are constantly clashing into one another, the creative and the sensible. 
How these two are pictured differs from person to person. For me:
My Muse: she is a fairy named Musa who has earphones around her neck and is constantly on a sugar rush. She flies around and shoots ideas off at a billions miles an hour. Sometimes, her ideas make no sense and other times she'll leave to go on a vacation leaving me with some tough writer's block to handle.
My Inner Editor: she is a grouchy old librarian. I don't know why she is, since I've never met a grouchy old librarian in my life (in fact I usually befriend them), but Ms. Ryte is always "right" and is constantly shooting ideas down. "That's pointless", "How are you going to make that work?", or "Really? Are you really typing that?"
The trick to a successful first draft is to lock that Inner Editor up. Banish him/her from your mind and just focus on putting those random words and ideas onto a piece of paper. Once they are there? THEN you let the Editor out and you fix things so it all makes sense. For now? You have to get that first draft our and lock up that editor so your muse can fly. 

Talk to you soon, Natasha Rayne

Being the prince of the Alp Kingdom on the Nightmare Continent in the Dream World could quickly become a drag. At least, it was boring to Michael Death. The Alp species is a type of demon that resembles elves more than they would ever admit. How do they resemble elves? Well, they have the same mischievous nature, but instead were ranked on a more demonic scale.

            The species was known for giving people nightmares; they enjoyed watching people squirm as they sat atop their sleeping form, crushing the air out of them. That was all fine and dandy, but Michael Death hated to admit that he had never actually been out on the nightmare missions to the Real World.

            It wasn’t that the journey was hard, but that his father wouldn’t let him go and that man was not an easy one to fool. Tonight, the boy was going all out. Michael Death ran through his exercises one more time, shape shifting into his different animal forms.

            Black cat? Check. Black pig? Check. Black and white snake? Check. White butterfly? Check. He had all four transformations down, even though he hated the shape of his Tarnkappe. Wait, hate was a strong word. Michael was fully aware that he shouldn’t say anything negative about the hat that contained all of his powers, but… Did it have to be a small sparkly crown?

            He wasn’t an easily embarrassed person, but the tiara was simply ridiculous. He took a deep breathe. If he wanted to try handing out nightmares, than he was going to have to suck it up and deal with the form of his Tarnkappe. Michael adjusted the black cloak that hung from his shoulders and checked  to make sure that the tiny crown sitting in the mess of black hair wouldn’t fall off.

            It was time to go. He was as ready as he could ever be. Thinking as positive thoughts as any demon could, he shifted into the form of a butterfly before flying out of his window.

To any person who didn’t know the truth, it might have seemed very beautiful as hundreds of white butterflies filled the air, heading towards a thin black vortex. If one looked close enough, they could find some sort of hat on every single one of the small heads, but no one was around to even look. The sixteen year old refused to admit that he was nervous about the entire ordeal as he flew into the black mass.

The stream of butterflies materialized on the grounds of “The Gate to Hell” which was an abandoned castle located in the Czech Republic. From here the flock of Alps separated. Michael Death began to fly to the West with some slight movement to the North as well.

Moonlight beat against his butterfly wings as he took in this “Real World” for the first time in his short demonic life. It contained so much more color than the broken waste land of shadows that had become the Nightmare Continent. The towns seemed so much brighter and happier as if they weren’t haunted with the fear of the Nightmares.

This world seemed so much nicer to Michael Death. He shook his head, dislodging the thought. No, he had a mission here tonight. Michael was to terrify someone in this area labeled “Deutschland”.

Finally, his wings grew tired and he descended into a small German town. In the back of his mind, Michael was hoping he would have enough navigational skills to lead himself home. Quickly, the butterfly shifted into a black cat.

The crown or Tarnkappe seated stubbornly on his black furry head as he ran a paw over his face. The black cat, with its tail waving proudly, began to walk down the road. After a while he picked a house at random for his first victim.

Michael wiggled through a crack in a window and moved into the room. A small boy was resting inside, waiting for his nightmare. Licking his lips, Michael turned into his human form. His Alp instructors always told Michael that giving nightmares would come naturally and he could only hope that they spoke the truth.

He walked towards the bed and touched his hand to the child’s forehead, immediately the child began to squirm in his sleep. Not wanting the kid to wake, he sat on top of the child’s chest to hold him down. Closing his eyes, Michael concentrated on entering the mind of the poor child.

Entering the dream was easy. Power filled his hands and he felt omnipotent. He watched the child run in fear inside the dream as Michael continued to place more terrifying things in front of the child. The kid was screaming, but no air was actually leaving his body. Michael Death was literally crushing the life out of the child.

He felt the child begin to move beneath him. Quickly. he exited the dream and shifted into a butterfly. He watched as the child sat up, clutching his chest and trying to regain his breath. A smile entered Michael’s features. For the first time in his life he felt like he had so much power in his hands, well, in his Tarnkappe.

The butterfly quickly left the way the cat had entered. A laugh filled his throat then. He had done it! He had created a nightmare! The mischief in him began to rise, filling him with his more elf like nature as he entered more and more buildings.

He knotted hair to bed posts, terrified children, even tried drinking some blood. Blood, something his cousin George Death had become addicted to and bragged about drinking every family feast. Michael refused to truly admit it, but he did see the connection between his species and the Vampire when he thought of his cousin and his own enjoyment in blood.

His first night had been wonderful and soon he returned to his room in his castle. The day passed in boredom as he took his classes and worked with the repair projects that the Nightmares had caused. He hated the black beasts that had been supreme on the continent, but thankfully the Twelve Councilors performed the sealing ceremony. It was sad that ten great Councilors lost their life that day. The Nigtmare Continent has yet to fully recover and Michael’s one comfort was in his new found love of the nightly excursions.

Mia Death, his twin sister, was the one he confided in about his illegal trips. She warned him against becoming addicted to the adventures even though she was a Mare, a female Alp, which had a love for tying knotting hair.

“Don’t do anything reckless,” she warned him as night fell.

“How can this be reckless?” Michael retorted with a prideful laugh, “this is who we are!”

“Not completely,” Mia sighed before entering her own room.

Michael didn’t listen to his sister’s advice, for he saw nothing wrong in what he was doing. He never killed anyone like little George had. Michael was careful to only have his fun before safely exiting.

This continued for months. His dad grew suspicious, his mother worried. Michael was to become the next King. They worried that their son would become addicted like George and have his mind clouded with thoughts of torture. If that were to happen, they would have to take his crown away.

Without his Tarnkappe he would become powerless. The only thing he would have would be his sword skills, but not being able to shape shift would be a major loss. Michael had put up with the appearance of his Tarnkappe as a shiny tiara not for it to be taken away!

Well, he would have his fun.

Once again he entered the dark void and flew to Germany. Terrifying children increased his self-esteem. Until something dreadful happened, involving a girl around one year younger than him.

Everything began like normal with the innocent young teenager lying asleep on her bed. Michael entered her dream as he sat down. She reminded him of the infamous Snow White from the Established Continent. No one ever spoke well about the people from that continent, but he did think that she was pretty. At least she was better looking than most of the Mares in his town.

The nightmare started, but she didn’t seem so scared. He created a giant spider and she laughed and somehow put the spider into rollerblades causing it to slip and fall. He created a dragon which was transformed somehow to breathe rainbows instead of fire.

Michael grew more and more furious as he tried harder and harder to scare the girl beneath his lap. He created monster after monster and she managed to make the situations funnier and funnier. His frustration grew as her control continued to grow.

He noticed her movement too late. Her arm had snatched the tiara from his head. Jumping to his feet, Michael scurried into the shadows of the room. The girl began to inspect the small sparkly crown in her hands.

“I know you’re in here,” she said, her voice sounding like a melody.

Michael Death withdrew farther into the corner. How was he going to get his Tarnkappe back? He needed that! That crown was his entire existence!

“I’m turning on the light,” she warned.

Michael would give so much to be able to turn into a cat and escape in that very moment, but he couldn’t. His hand drifted to his belt. He forgot his sword in the castle! He was completely unguarded in this moment. For the first time in his life, he was the victim.

Light filled the room, dispelling all of the darkness that Michael adored. He would never admit it, but he was scared. Something anyone could see from how he cowered in the corner of the rectangular room.

She laughed. She laughed at him! She laughed at the Prince of the Alps! Michael’s pale white cheeks flushed red. He didn’t like this feeling at all. Was this embarrassment? 

“You don’t need to be so scared,” she added in her calming voice. She pushed the covers off of her as she stood. “My name is Hazel. What’s yours?” she asked, reaching out the hand that wasn’t holding the crown.

Michael stared at the hand being held out in front of him. He felt so inferior at this moment, but why did she hold her hand out? What was he supposed to do?

“You shake it,” Hazel explained with a sweet smile.

Nervously, Michael stretched forth his hand. The girl gripped it and shook. “Your name?” she prompted once again.

The boy had his back flat against the wall. “Michael Death. My name is Michael Death.”

“And you’re an Alp, right?”

Fear blinked into Michael’s black eyes. How did she know that so quickly?

“Don’t worry,” she added, “I don’t have any lemons.”

Now, Michael couldn’t help but smile. He had heard that his ancestors had been beaten through the use of lemons. His grandfather had warned him about them on his deathbed. He rambled some nonsense about being unable to move for over 24 hours because of how sour they were.

“You, don’t worry,” Michael replied, regaining most of his confidence, “I’m immune to lemons! You’ll have to find a new way to beat me.”

Hazel laughed. “You’re right, but I think I’m protected as long as I have this crown.”

A frown reappeared on Michael’s face. How was he supposed to handle this kind of situation? No one in his family had told him about the tasks Alp’s do in the Real World for they all wanted him to stay in the palace.

“Don’t worry,” she added, “I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m not worried!” Michael defended himself, but then he remembered something. Quickly he stood to his feet. “How do you know I’m an Alp?” he questioned. His Uncle had taught him that most humans had forgotten about them, meaning that the defenses people had were also forgotten.

“Well,” she started, awkwardly staring at her toes after backing away from the boy that had quickly stood, “I like to learn about different mythological creatures and a lot of people in my school have been talking about weird dreams, so I just figured there was an Alp nearby.”

Michael was surprised she knew so much, but she didn’t stop with that.

“I’ve always thought mythical creatures existed!” she exclaimed boldly, “No one believes me at school, but you’re here! That means they do exist. Oh, won’t you be my friend?”

“I need my Tarnkappe back,” Michael Death replied, ignoring most of her rant.

“Your crown?” she guessed as she looked at the shiny jewels in her hand, “I’ll give it back to you after you fulfill two conditions. 1) Be my friend and 2) Help me with my revenge.”

“Revenge?” He muttered. What kind of revenge could this girl have planned? She was human for crying out loud! Well, whatever she had in mind had to be easy for him to accomplish. Honestly, he would do anything she asked to get his crown back.

 “Deal.”

The girl grinned before jumping up and down in victory. After a second of cheering she ran to her closet and grabbed a pile of blankets. She shoved them into Michael’s arms. “Sleep, we’ll talk tomorrow morning.” With that, she went back to her bed and slept. Michael didn’t sleep as easily.

Morning came and Hazel left Michael hidden in her room as she ate breakfast with her mother, the one other human in the house. To be honest, Michael hadn’t slept a wink the night before. He wanted nothing more than to get his Tarnkappe back and return home. Home. How weird to think he wanted back?

Hazel soon returned to sneak him outside. “We’re going to school,” she explained to the boy as they made their way to the building. The walk wasn’t as awkward as the night before and Michael soon found that he actually enjoyed talking with Hazel. Being friends with her was an easy part of the agreement!

He wasn’t allowed into the school, so Hazel had to sneak him in. She brought him up to the roof where he was to hide until lunch. “My best friend doesn’t believe in mythical creatures. When I said ‘revenge’ that was a bit overdramatic,” she admitted, “You just have to help me get her to believe. I’ll bring her up at lunch.”

So Michael waited. He found himself humming the poem that humans used to chant to scare his species away. Time passed and eventually the door to the roof began to open. Michael Death hid himself at first, but then he saw Hazel emerged followed by a cheery red-head.

“Michael Death, you can come out now!” Hazel called and Michael did as instructed.

“Death? His last name is Death?” the new girl asked, laughing brightly. Michael got the idea that this new girl laughed a lot.

“Got a problem with that,” He growled as he emerged from the shadows, only for her laughter to increase. To her, his clothes seemed ridiculous. Apparently humans don’t appreciate cloaks.

“Michael this is Clara,” Hazel introduced him, “Clara, he’s an Alp.” She added, hoping her friend would believe.

Michael Death noticed something about the girl and soon he was laughing as well. “You are such a liar!” he cheered. Clara looked offended as she took a step back. “Your disguise would never fool an Alp.”

Clara glared at the boy. “Hazel, I think this kid you found is crazy!”

“Hazel, let me see my crown.”

Hazel frowned; confused with how she should respond with how her two friends were acting. Finally she held out her crown weekly, so Michael snatched it up. He set it onto his head and then reached out his hand.

Clara pulled her hand away, but it was too late. He had already touched her strange birthmark on her wrist as he said the word “reveal”.

With a “poof” she changed into a small being about two feet tall. Another “poof” and she was a candle. After one more try Clara was back in her human form. “How?” she stuttered in shock, but Hazel was in equal shock.

“Clara! You’re a Kobold!” she shouted hugging her friend, “Why didn’t you tell me?” she exclaimed.

Clara sighed. “No one truly believes in mythical creatures.”

“I do!”

“You say you do, but humans are scared of us!”

“I’m not!”

Clara laughed, “Well, I know that now.”

Michael smiled. He had his Tarnkappe back, he had his powers back, and now he could return. In a flash he was once again a white butterfly. Hazel spun on him and called out to the butterfly. “Don’t go yet!” She cried.

Michael Death in butterfly form settled on top of her fingers. Carefully, Hazel moved her hand to in front of her face so she could look at the demon she had met in the middle of the night. “You’ll visit, right?” she asked, “We’re friends, right?”

The boy was silent for a while, but then he slowly nodded. Hazel grinned the largest grin Michael had ever seen in his life before as she waved “See you later” to him.

He returned home and took his punishment bravely. He no longer wanted to visit the Real World to terrify people, but instead to have fun with friends. Michael Death couldn’t wait for when he could see his friend again especially since he didn’t have any friends in the Nightmare Continent as a Prince.

His days in the palace as time passed paled in comparison to his nights in the Real World. Friends definitely made life more enjoyable!

 

Hello Everyone! I feel awful about not keeping this steady! If it makes you feel any better, when I'm not working on this during free time, I'm busy working on some future books! I have multiple projects that are in the works at the moment. Book 3 for Dream vs Reality is one of these stories, but so is a book I'm calling Tanked which I'm entering in a Scholastic Novel Competition in December (wish me luck guys! If I win, I get a publishing deal with Scholastic!)

I love typing up these blog posts so I'm going to do my best to post more often :D

NANOWRIMO is one month away guys! This is a great program to encourage writing! It's how I got into serious writing. They give hilarious and encouraging pep talks to keep you writing all month! Go to nanowrimo.org for more info!

So my facebook page link is https://www.facebook.com/authornatasharayne/ 
This is kept more updated then the blog when it comes to what I'm up to (book signings/sellings/presentations and all that jazz). Two things I plan to do with this page 1) hold contests (like trivia questions about my books) in which the winner gets a signed copy of book 1, 2, or both. 2) When I reach 200 likes I will release a short story about the Dream World or excerpt from book 3 in celebration! So go visit my page, like, and participate!!!!

*UPDATE* I got 200 likes before I could finish typing this! The short story with the Dream World will be posted on Friday for all. When I reach 300 likes I will release the prologue of Book 3 (so invite people so the likes can reach that number before I publish the next book)!
The contests have been set to Mondays at various times for different time zones, so keep checking in on the page! You also get to choose which book you want if it says 1 book and you get both if the contest is for both!

Recently one of you sent me emails about self-publishing, I loved to help you with answering your questions! Seriously, I love talking about writing and nothing makes me happier than knowing people are visiting this site and reading my books. I love the feedback and I love sharing my passion for writing. I plan to put up a post about the writing process. I held a contest on Monday about my writing process (7 steps) and I am going to share it with you guys through a group of posts, Stay Tuned!

If anyone is free I would love to have some fan art. I want to create some quizzes and they would be a lot cooler with pictures. So if anyone has some time to send me artwork of the elements (marks or your image of the elements) or some character artwork (maybe your favorite character) I would love them a whole bunch. The quizzes should be available soon. My goal is the end of June to have 3 available. 

Honestly, I don’t have a lot of time in the day with schooling and what-not so keeping up this blog is a bit lower on my priorities (which is sad because it’s fun). As of right now I plan to post once a month with some extras for announcements when something happens. Like, tomorrow I will probably post again with some pictures about my book signing/selling happening tonight. 

Have a good May and I hope to post something up soon! Thanks for all of your support. 

Talk to you soon, 


Natasha Rayne

It’s amazing how you will plan a character and the details of their personality only for them to end up changing to someone completely different as you write the story. You will find that as you type the character changes and sometimes the story changes as well as it follows your new characters. Let this happen.

When the characters develop and change: It’s good.

When you force a character to remain the same and rope them to the ground: than the story seems forced.

Don’t wrestle your characters to make them fit into that original image that you had of them. Let’s be honest: When you have a first impression of a person it is rarely right. You learn more about the person as time goes on and they change. You see more of their weakness, their strengths, and the times when they just flat out break down and go crazy.

I know this isn’t long, but it’s straightforward: Let your characters exist.

See you next week,

Natasha Rayne

Here is a sneak peak of the Cover for Book 2 in the Dream vs Reality series. Opinions? The next book should be released in the near future! 



And the writing prompt that I will post mine up next week (yours to be added in next weeks post's comments) is:

"Rewrite the tale of Snow White from the view point of one of the seven dwarfs" 

You get to pick which dwarf

So my vacation is over and Im back. November was filled with NaNoWriMo like usual which was a blast and I highly recommend it for all those who enjoy writing.

Also, another announcement, for any other highs coolers interested in writing Schoolastic is doing a wonderful competition right now for art and writing. Look into the below link for more information!

http://www.artandwriting.org 

Characters are very important to a story. A plot may be your backbone, but the characters are what bring the entire thing to life. When someone is reading a story the plot line is very important, but if they care enough about the characters the reader will read to see what happens to them even if the plot sucks because THEY LIKE THE CHARACTERS.

So if the key to a story is characters, than how do you make a character able to become interesting? Well, they have to be like actual people. Not that you have to watch someone and make your character THAT person, but more like you have to make your character three-dimension. They have to have ups and downs, negatives and positives, friends and foes.

I believe, that the key to make your characters 3D can be achieved by getting to know your own character. When you’re writing, let the character decide what happens next. As a writer you shouldn’t have to force any of the events in a story, the characters should push for things to happen the way they do. Now, for a character to guide a story accurately the author /does/ have to know them very well which goes back to the beginning. 

To get to know my characters I have learned multiple methods. The first is a character skeleton. I picked up this method through a lot of Role Playing that I used to do on some websites. Before someone could join into a role play they would have to post a skeleton on their character so that everyone else knew the basics. Each skeleton was unique, but I put together my own. When I got serious about writing I went to Rick Riordan’s site and found what he used.

Name: ________________________________

Height: _______

Age in story: _________

Birthplace: ____________________

Hair color, length, style: ________________________________

Race/nationality: _______________________________________

Regional influences: _____________________________________

Accent: (include voice, style of speech, slang, signature phrases or words) _______________________________________________________________________

Religion: __________________________________________________

Marital status: _____________________________________

Scars or other notable physical attributes: _____________________________________________________________________

Handicaps: (emotional, physical, mental) ____________________________________________________________

Athletic? Inactive? Overall health? ___________________________________

Style of dress: _____________________________________________________________

Favorite colors: _____________________________________________

How does the character feel about his/her appearance? ____________________________________________________________

Brothers/sisters: _____________________________________________________________

Relationship with parents: _____________________________________________________________

Memories about childhood: _______________________________________________________________________

Educational background: (street smart? Formal? Does he/she read?) _______________________________________________________________________

Work experience: _______________________________________________________________________

Occupation: _________________________________________________

Where does the character live now? Describe home (emotional atmosphere as well as physical) ________________________________________________________________________

Neat or messy? _____________________________________

Sexual preferences/morals/activities: _____________________________________________________________

Women friends/men friends: ____________________________________________________________________

Pets? _______________________________________________________

Enemies? Why? _____________________________________________________________________

Basic nature: ________________________________________________________

Personality traits (shy, outgoing, domineering, doormat, honest, kind, sense of humor):

______________________________________________________________________

Strongest trait: _____________________________________________

Weakest trait: _____________________________________________

What does the character fear? _____________________________________________________________

What is the character proud of? _____________________________________________________________

What is the character ashamed of? _____________________________________________________________

Outlook on life (optimistic, pessimistic, cynic, idealist) _____________________________________________________________

Ambitions: __________________________________________________

Politics: _____________________________________________________

How does the character see himself/herself? ____________________________________________________________

How is the character seen by others? _____________________________________________________________

Do you like this person? Why or why not? ____________________________________________________________

Will readers like or dislike? __________________________________

Most important thing to know about this character: _____________________________________________________________

Present problem: ___________________________________________

How it will get worse: _____________________________________________________________

What is the character’s goal in the story? _____________________________________________________________

What traits will help/hurt the character in achieving this goal? _____________________________________________________________

What makes the character different from similar characters? _____________________________________________________________

Why will readers remember this character vividly? _____________________________________________________________

Name:

Age:

Geographically located:

Personality:

Fears:

Wishes:

Appearance:

Marks:

Family:

Friends:

Power:

Biggest Memory:

Motivation:

Extra:

Mine is much shorter, but I have some other things I do as well to get to know my characters. I do something a friend taught me entitled a “Character Conversation”. It’s simple really! It requires one or two sheets of paper. On the top I pose a question and then let my characters debate it out.

For example: How do you think “The Dream Prison” should have ended? Or What would you change in “The Dream Prison”?

The conversations that start get very interesting.

Now, organization is another key point because keeping it all up in ones head is impossible. So actually physically write out the skeletons and write out a conversation from time to time. Get to know your characters and break away from the stereotypical tropes.

More next week!

Natasha Rayne

One morning you awake to find yourself in a strait jacket, being taken off to an asylum. How do you prove your sanity? What do the guards and psychiatrists say you did?

Well, everyone has had those bad mornings. You know, the type where you find yourself in a very uncomfortable jacket where your arms have basically no movement and you feel a bit like a taco. You know, the mornings where you can hear the slow beep of a machine. The type of machine you later find attached to your arm. You know, the average morning when a few doctors in a lab white coat is standing near were you lay with two guards standing guard. You know, your basic not so average day!

That happened to me. To say the least, I was a bit confused. “Why am I in a taco?” I mumbled pulling at the sheets that were wrapped around me super tightly. Oh wait, those weren’t sheets. That was a strait jacket. I never thought I was claustrophobic, but suddenly realizing that I couldn’t move if I wanted to, began to put me on edge. “And why are you marshmallows have me plugged into this stuff?”

I like food, if not noticed, hence comparing my situation to being in a taco and to the whiteness of the doctors’ uniform to a marshmallow. The “marshamallows” were giving each other some strange looks before finally talking to me.

“There is no food in here right now,” Doctor number one mumbled, obviously confused.

“You are in a research facility,” the second one offered.

“An insane Asylum,” the third one corrected through a small laugh.

“Wait, What?” I shouted, a bit too loud, “Why am I in a place like here?”

“You were talking…”

“To yourself,” the youngest one interjected.

“Having a food fight…”

“With yourself,” the youngest one jumped in again.

“Fighting…”

“With yourself,” the youngest one added.

“Would you let me finish!” the first doctor said, clearly annoyed.

I laughed. “Hey, Hope. You seein’ this?” I asked the girl who was always so critical about everything.

“See you’re doing it again?”

“What?” I asked, innocently.

“Talking to yourself!”

“You’re so funny,” I laughed, “You agree, right Lokie?”

“I think I know what this is,” the middle doctor finally spoke since the first time, “this is the classic case of Author Syndrome. Their characters become real to them!”

“Is there a cure?” The youngest doctor asked.

Grimly the main doctor frowned, “None has been found.”

I just laughed, these guys were crazy, but at least all my friends were here!



Till next time, 

Natasha Rayne

I won’t discourage anyone from trying, in fact if you want to than go ahead. But saying this to someone who has spent a LOT of their time on the book is a bit condescending. It makes me want to say “Oh yeah? What have YOU done?”

I can’t even begin to describe how much I actually think about this one! Now that I’m in 11th grade I have to start thinking about college *shudder* and what I want to study. I would love to become a professional author, but… money!?!?!

Hehe, cute. I have enough on my plate to write an ESSAY for someone. Besides, writing an essay and story are VERY different.

Lol, I WISH!. Finding time to write is HARD and when I do a lot of the times I fall into the trap that is the internet. 

I have been asked this A LOT. The conversation usually goes like this: “You wrote a book?” “yup.” “Put me in it!” “….uh….. maybe.” I actually put a shout out in my acknowledgements to all of those people that have asked me this. 

I have and I did :D :D

I’ve actually had people telling me this. My father and brothers don’t read much either (I know, shocker). In fact (prepared to be even more shocked) my father has only read one book in his entire life. His second one will be “The Dream Prison”… He’s still workin’ on it though. 

Actually… No one has said this one to me! (first of the top ten never to say to a writer), but I can actually see it’s relevancy for those that ask. I was researching some things for a project I’m working on (A book that is not part of the Dream vs Reality series) and I left my tab up on my mother’s ipad. Later there was a shout through the house: “WHY is there a list if serial killers by country on my ipad!” THAT was a fun one to explain. 

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!. SOOOOOOO many people have actually asked me this! And I just look at them like “really?!? Is that ALL you read?”

“Yeah you try it sometime and see how cute it is!” HAH. Well, actually I don’t have much to say :P

HOPE YOU ENJOYED!!!

-Natasha

This might seem a bit like: What are you talking about Natasha? Of course writers write it’s in the name! But this can seriously be one of the biggest pieces of advice out there.

A great idea in your head, is just that, an IDEA. If you don’t take the time to write it out, put pen to paper, nothing will appear. It isn’t that magical, sadly. I know lives get busy (trust me, somehow I signed up for FOUR AP classes), but finding time to write is needed to develop and grow as a writer.

Try (and it’s understandable when you don’t always do it, but try) to write EVERYDAY. It can be for five minutes, it can be for an hour, anytime you can set aside is valuable time. A chapter that didn’t exist can sit there on your computer saying “Look, you accomplished something!”

That doesn’t mean you always have to continue writing what you were writing the day before. Short stories are a nice little trick. It’s over and done with. You get the sense of accomplishment from completing something and you can learn something new from every story you write and apply it to future writing.

If you do stick with one long story over time, it’s very difficult to reach the spot where you can write two words “The End”. Two words that can fill you with such an incredible feeling of joy (I threw myself a little ice cream party when I wrote ‘The End’ on the first draft of ‘The Dream Prison’).

There is a method I use to help me write a bit every day and I’m going to share that (if you don’t know of them) and those are word prompts. Short little prompts that can start you off, get over a bit of writers block (an entirely different topic), and towards a little warm up of writing. A fun one at that. 

I mentioned that the fourth week needed to be explained more in detail, well, here it is. At the end of the first weeks post will be one of these prompts and on that fourth week I will post mine and if any of you have scribbled your own answers to the prompt, add them to the comments. It should be fun! Enjoy writing!

Writing Prompt: One morning you awake to find yourself in a straight jacket, being taken off to an asylum. How do you prove your sanity? What do the guards and psychiatrists say you did?

^^thanks to  http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

Can't wait to see what I and you come up with.