Researching For Your Novel

Although you may not like pouring through pages of research and reading basically novels to write your own,

Unlike me

Who's like

A total weirdo apparently.

 Well, they're missing out on the fun.

People may give you weird looks as you research second degree burns but hey, it's for writing.

For my screenwriting class (I know I keep mentioning my screenwriting experience, sorry, it's just so relevant!) we had to write a research paper on our topic, which was so helpful for making the script more realistic, both factually and emotionally, even if it is a fantasy novel, it can be so helpful.

I am currently making my script a novel, and having those facts I researched helps me tap into real emotions, through these facts. To make it more understandable, the basics of my script surround missing persons. I looked at discussion boards, blogs, news articles, books...if someone saw my search history they may have been a bit concerned.

After I compiled facts and statistics.....lots of statistics, we were able to start our script.

*giddily skips up up bar chart*

.......I like charts.

By referencing and building on these facts, the script was more relatable and realistic.

No, I would not recommend writing....a novel....for your novel...basically....but I do recommend looking over some websites and noting a few facts to reference. You should always understand at least the basics of what you are writing.

You don't go into a battle without your sword.

Is that a saying?

I don't think so.

It is now.

And you clearly also don't go into battle without looking FABULOUS.

Hey, I'm a writer, I make things up. 

But some things you shouldn't make up like facts or numbers based on the real world!

Look at that save.

I also recommend looking at pictures of your topic if applicable.

And appropriate....

Stay safe kids! The internet is a weird place.....

ANYWAY

One thing I strongly recommend researching is any quirks you give your character, whether or not you have that quirk yourself.

An example of this is how I gave my character synesthesia, which I have. However, she had a different kind, and also, obviously no one knows everything about....something....

I had a point

At some point. 

Writing is wonderful, 

But sometimes it's a lot of work to make it wonderful, 

But in the end, it will all be worth it. 

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing, and researching!

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Starting Your Novel

So

I heard you're starting a novel.

Starting a novel is daunting.

Terrifying.

You may question why you started, and how it is humanly possible to finish.

Don't give up on yourself.

The biggest thing with writing a novel:

Start

And don't stop.

Starting a novel is the hardest part of, well, starting your novel.

I highly recommend planning out before writing a novel. Something I mentioned in My Screenwriting Experience post, was beat sheets which can be very helpful, but you may not need, or know, that much material to start.

I love brainstorming ideas and little scenes, so I recommend carrying around a journal, or even your phone (that's what I use) to jot down those fleeting scraps of inspiration. If you have a friend who writes, it is so motivating to write with them or talk about writing with them. Hearing other ideas can really make your gears work.

Maybe there is a writing group on campus, or often there are free writing workshop centers; I went to these very often when I was younger, which really gave me a strong foundation for the writing.

It is so encouraging to surround yourself with writers and get and give feedback, and ultimately, learn from one another.

More than anything, channel your inner Dory, and just keep writing. I recommend not editing too much or rereading, as it can get you caught up in criticism and self-doubt, but that is up to you.

But I love starting novels. Starting fresh, the first words on your screen, like a baby taking the first steps, is a beautiful sight. But don't burn yourself out in the first few words. If this is your first novel, it will likely feel like you've been writing far longer than you have. Or even if it's your fifth of fiftieth novel. 

But you started the hardest and most beautiful part, 

You've started a novel 

Even if you only just decided to start one. 

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

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The Mental Benefits of Writing

For those of you that don't know, I am entering my junior year of college, and currently taking a summer college course. That being said, I don't have as much time for writing as I would like to. 

Last semester, I took 18 credits, had an internship, and on top of that a load of health problems and one too many hospital visits among many other things. 

But I still wrote. 

I need to find time to write to maintain a healthy mind. 

My finger itch to let words flow into my computer from my mind. 

I went through month long periods where I could not even look at my book. 

I'm going to be honest, writing was not my next priority to school. I spent time with friends at times where I wanted to write, but yearned to connect because "I've blown them off the past five times" or something because all I do is work. 

My freshman year of college I did NaNoWriMo for the first time, so I pretty much hid in my dorm all day to frantically write while also trying to do my psychology homework and write numerous essays.

 I found that I really needed to jot down any inspiration I had and expand on it while I had that inspiration in my head before it forever flees away. 

Also, it is important to set a small amount of time every day, or maybe even once a week. But schedule in a time to write, whether it be a time or a word count goal. Make time to write, even if it is five minutes. Because guess what? 

That's five more minutes of your novel. 

Or play

Or comic book

Or maybe your painting

Or reading

Or doing calculations. 

Find time to do what you love. 

As a student, it is ingrained in our minds to study study study, and if you have free time, 

You must be doing something wrong. 

No. 

You need time to take breaks, 

Write, 

Run, 

Watch a movie. 

If writing is your love, find time to do what you love.

More schools need to remind their students that it is important to find time to do what you love to stay healthy. 

And being healthy, well, that's the way to get good grades, 

Not staying up until morning or crying yourself to sleep from stress. 

I love writing. 

Writing my novel, thinking up ideas, gives me a renewed energy to face my schoolwork. 

If you love writing, write. 

Please. 

Maintain your mental health, 

Because you need your mind healthy and fit to do what you love.  

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

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My Screenwriting Experience

My sophomore year of college I took a screenwriting class.

If you have the chance and are passionate about writing, I highly recommend a screenwriting class, if this is available to you. 

I initially had wanted to go into screenwriting, and although I realized screenwriting was not really my cup of tea, I learned so much from this class to use for my own novels. 

One thing I had mentioned in my NaNoWriMo Experience post was my love hate relationship of beat sheets and planning my writing.

 One of the biggest things in screenwriting is planning, planning, planning. Which as a writer, I should be way better at than I am, and I am trying to change that terrible habit.

In screenwriting, we had post it notes of every possible scene that I stuck all over my wall. (Really. I had about one hundred post it notes on my dorm wall at one point. My roommates probably thought I was going over the edge....I thought so too at times.)

And we had character sketches

Beat sheets

Beat sheets

Beat sheets.

Did I mention we had a couple beat sheets?

What are beat sheets?

Well I'm glad you asked invisible person. 

A quick screenwriting lesson:

In screenwriting, a beat sheet is essentially a plan of every "beat" of every scene of a movie. A "beat" is essentially the pivotal point in every scene, or why this scene is important to the movie's plot. So we had to plan out every scene in our movie before we started writing.

If you do a quick google search, you can find time breakdowns and blank beat sheets for movies that may be helpful for you novel. And by may I mean, it will make your life was easier.

I am hoping to be better about planning out my chapters before I start writing. 

But......

I haven't had much luck with that, clearly. 

Another thing we did was character sketches, which I loved. 

A character sketch is essentially a narrative of your important characters ie. protagonists, antagonists, and any other pivotal characters. 

Character sketches allow you to understand the psychology of your characters- all their inner workings, their personalities, motives, background, and anything else that would alter your character's decisions or how they would respond to difficulties or any....crap....what's that word?

It gets in the way of stuff and it's annoying....this is embarrassing. 

Me when I try to be all professional. 

*cue jeopardy music*

Okay I've spent about five minutes trying to remember what word I'm trying-

OBSTACLES

Any obstacles. 

Don't worry guys I got this. 

ANYWAY. Try to analyze any OBSTACLES your character may encounter or any weaknesses of their characters.

Another assignment we had was a research paper.

Facts and real life accounts make your novel more realistic,

So knowing I would eventually turn my script into a novel, I poured over pages and pages of statistics and facts and more statistics.  

The final thing I would like to talk about is editing. Probably one of the most stressful things in class (beside the insanely short deadlines) was editing one another's scripts. Although incredibly helpful, I was even more scared about my classmates reading my own script. 

In class. 

In front of everyone. 

This gave me a lot of anxiety, I was terrified, embarrassed, and overall just didn't want to even go to class for that day. 

Although I didn't want to go, I went. Hearing my classmates offer and receive constructive criticism helped me realize that....everyone was in pretty much the same situation as I was. 

Although it may not have been my favourite class, I truly learned so much and grew significantly as a novel writer.  

I learned many techniques to learn how to truly go in depth into my novel and plan better with my writing. 

So thank you so much, screenwriting class.

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

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NaNoWri...Me?

Oh, NaNoWriMo.

A magical creation

But also the bane of my existence.

What the-

No!

Not that bane.

The BANE.

Just-

GET OUT OF HERE BATMAN.

This is MY blog.

I learned about NaNoWriMo from one of my lovely close friends in college, so I decided to do it on a whim.

I thought it was completely impossible.

Fifty-thousand words....

In thirty days?!?!?!

Pfft, yeah right.

But I sat down, on November first after only writing one full novel before. One of my biggest tips:

Plan ahead!!!

I did not plan ahead that much, and had no idea where my novel was going.

This was a bad idea.

One tip....that I really need to be better at following.

Something great I learned in a college screenwriting class, was the art of planning. A fantastic thing we did was plan.

A lot.

We had grids

And post it notes on walls.

  

But most of all-we have beat sheets. Beat sheets, beat sheets, and more beat sheets.

What's a beat sheet? Well, I'm planning on writing a post about it very very soon :)

I'm a serious planner in so many aspects of my life....but not writing. It's so annoying and I am trying to change that. In my first novel, I hit the climax of the novel before I was even half way through, because honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, so I basically had to go back and redo my whole novel.

Not fun.

But by planning ahead for NaNoWriMo, you do the hard part for yourself, so you can just write. For NaNoWriMo, you are allowed to do as much planning as you like before the actual month, as long as you do not start writing until midnight November first. By filling out this beat sheet, you can fill out scene by scene and then expand on it when you start writing.

Another tip is to follow NaNoWriMo on twitter, because they do fantastic writing sprints and brain storms to help you hit your daily word goal. You should aim for ~2,000 words a day, which is way less than it sounds, I promise. Even if you don't feel like writing that day, still write. For reference-this blog post is already roughly 475 words. See, it's not as bad as it sounds.

Even if you don't want to write, write! When stuck in a writer's block just keep writing. Even if you think it sounds dumb, or bad, keep writing.

Although NaNoWriMo is not for quite a few months, it is currently the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo. I have not participated in it, but I believe it is similar to NaNoWriMo.

If you are currently in Camp NaNoWriMo, I applaud you. You are more than halfway through, and by the end, you will have a novel done.

I never thought I would, but I wrote over 50,000 words in thirty days.

I am planning on doing a post on my experience in screenwriting, please let me know if you have any questions/anything you would like me to discuss!

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

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Dealing with Loss through Writing

If you are reading this because you have recently experienced loss,

I am so sorry. My heart goes out to you.

Yesterday, I walked out of the vet without my loving, adorable dog I have grown up with for almost thirteen years. My mom held me in her arms as I shook and cried myself to sleep, and I'm twenty years old.

As I emerge from this sadness, slowly building myself back up like the rebirth of a phoenix, I grow stronger. Through his illness and seizures, we know he was filled with love and happiness.

But I have to move on.

To cope with his loss, my sadness

I write.

When I lost my grandfather in high school, I explored the sadness of loss through exploring how my character responded to a similar loss. By creating this situation through my own words, I was able to understand my sadness better. 

With the loss of my dog, I respond by writing.

Loss is terrible

But it teaches you so much

And it is necessary to continue doing what you love to do in order to stay healthy, possibly find a creative outlet to explore emotions, positive or negative.

It is important to not keep these emotions closed up inside you, because it can really hurt. 

Sometimes, you need to write

Or paint

Or program

Or dance.

And you likely will cry.

A lot.

Or not at all.

Or anywhere in between.

And those are okay.

In your experience

I grieve with you.

I write to understand my loss. 

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!




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Time to Write

As a college student with piles of papers and reading, it's hard to find time to do the things that you love.

Although it seems like college students in movies tend to have time to party and run around in the middle of the night while still making it to their 8 am class.

I constantly feel as if any of the spare time I have should be spent studying or being with my friends, so during the school year writing my novels is not my number one priority. 

With writing, ideas flow through your mind so it is important to catch onto those ideas.

However, sometimes that motivation is hard to catch, so I try to string together words onto a sentence necklace to form my novel. 

Through stress, through happiness, through anger,

Remember to Write.

For me, writing is my solace. Writing is my friend to distract me from stress, sort out my anger, cope with sadness, and share my happiness. 

I delve into my own world to escape this crazy one I was thrown into. I make castles to rule and homes to lean back and relax in and lands to find magic in.

Even if I have homework or feel tired or lazy or even if I don't have any inspiration, I try to write, whether it be pages or just a few sentences, because that's a few sentences more. And I am a little bit happier.

 

It is important for me to write, to see how my characters respond to difficult situations. 

Creating these characters, it's so important to me, so vital to me to keep my mind healthy and happy, so that I don't get overwhelmed with all these thoughts and ideas and emotions pressing into my head.  

So I explore my mind and wander through my thoughts and questions and hopes and dreams to create not just a story

But a journey. 

 

This is why I write.

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

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The Five Thousand Word Finish Line

Have you ever had that last sprint?

Where you see the finish line, just out of view?

Trying to wrap up all your plot lines, sub plots, and mysteries galore. 

Almost there.

I promise.

It may seem difficult, far away, but you are almost there.

Trying to ensure all your characters are armed and ready with words, and trying not to start yet another mystery because your beautiful mind is filled to the brim with beautiful, beautiful ideas and map out your writing journey ahead of you.

Get your ideas in line and count your chickens.

...

That's a thing. Right?

Stop giving me that look.

I'M TRYIN'.

Just keep thinking about Dory.

Just keep writing

Just keep writing.

My biggest tip for finishing your novel is don't revise, don't look back, don't worry

BECAUSE THERE'S A SHARK BEHIND YOU.

Ha. Gotcha. 

I've noticed personally, trying to edit while still writing a novel makes me agonize over the tiny details and try to rewrite a sentence ten times. 

But one thing to remember is that it is not about the word count, it is about loving writing.

~The Whimsical Writer
Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about in anything of the realm of writing. Happy typing!

Images used are Creative Commons-licensed content. :)
 

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