The Charm of Words i

After finishing my novel in Aprill, I did the first few edits and printed the first draft with the help of NaNoWriMo.org and CreateSpace. I did this mostly so that I could have a little keepsake; so that if I get published legitimately I can see how far I’ve come. Now I’m working on my second draft— starting with removing any unwanted
“that”s—and having a few people read the first draft. I’ve also discovered that there’s something worse than editing: writing query letters. 

I’ve found that trying to make yourself and your work sound like an agent needs to represent you or else the world will be less awesome for it, is the most difficult thing I’ve done thus far in this process. Query letters remind me of those essays that colleges ask for one to write so that their chances of getting accepted are higher. And I hated those too. Though, personally, they were easier because they weren’t really about something terribly important on a personal level unlike writing about my novel which is practically my child. 

The hardest part is making a query sound enticing without being untrue to oneself and sounding gimmicky. It would be easy to make it sound fantastically amazing if I could sound like a cheesy movie trailer without making a fool of myself; This summer… will you be able to handle the action? the heartbreak? THE PURE AWESOMENESS?! that is the PROPHECIES OF THE NOMANI! Experience the Ethe and the Umerid of Daieru in 3D! Coming soon to theaters near you! 

But alas! 

But there has been some salvation. Query Shark has a great blog about queries that has been a tremendous help and a fabulous resource for me as I try to create the best possibly query for the novel/series. With the Query Sharks help, I’m hoping to start sending queries out soon and I’ll be sure to post more about how that goes. Thanks for reading. Until next time… 

    A few days ago, I was contemplating writing a blog about how it stresses me out thinking about what I am to do once my novel is complete. But I’m glad I didn’t write it. Not only would it have distracted me from finishing, but it would have been pointlessly depressing; less than an hour ago, I completed the novel I have been working on since November and I couldn’t be happier or more excited. 

    If one finds themselves in this position, the only advice I can give is to enjoy it. It’s not even close to being over yet, especially if trying to get published is somewhere in the future. But if everything that has happened has paid off, the way it has for me, then there’s no reason not to rejoice in the little victories. I will decide the next step of action I will take some time in May during my editing process. But getting published is definitely in my list of goals. Thanks for support and thanks for reading! Until next time… 

    Now, there are posts that should go before this one but as I’m doing National Novel Writing Month this year, I needed a warm up and this happened to be on my mind after reading an article about how Penguin will be entering the self-publishing realm by offering certain services. 

     Self-publishing, for me, is a very delicate topic and it is very difficult to have a view on it which doesn’t insult writers. Even as a writer, my thoughts on self-publishing are probably closer to what traditional publishers would or should think. To me, writing is an art that needs to be perfected. The editorial process a novel has to go through in order to be published, I think, is imperative. One can be brilliant and talented and wonderful and they would still need editing. It is not supposed to be easy. 

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    Writing has been non existent as of late. Life comes fast and is relentlessness in its constant badgering, so writing isn’t happening as much as it should. But I am taking time to write this because I feel like I need to write something. 

    I visited my blog page earlier and realized that I never explained where the name for this blog came from. So, that’s what I’m doing today. Something simple and something that isn’t too taxing on my poor, stressed out brain.

    As an avid reader, I come across brilliant musings from all sorts of authors. About a year ago, I read a book called The Shadow of the Torturer by the well-acclaimed Gene Wolfe. To me, the book was interesting and beautifully crafted (and I really need to finish the series). More importantly, it gave me my favourite quote thus far. The exact quote:

 By the use of the language of sorrow I had for the time being obliterated my sorrow — so powerful the charm of words, which for us reduces to manageable entities all the passions that would otherwise madden and destroy us. 

    Instantly, I fell in love with this. Not only was it beautiful, but the truth in the statement itself held a beauty that I think speaks to many writers. And the influence of that statement is…indescribable. 

   The charm of words — how we are able to manipulate and craft words and language as if they were clay beneath our fingertips — is astounding. And I named my blog after that quote because that is what I believe is my purpose in life: to charm the world with words. I’m to influence and explore words in a deeper way in order change the world in a positive manner. I feel as if it is my duty to do as Severian did in Mr. Wolfe’s novel to use words to relieve people and myself of sorrow. I just want to make a difference and so that’s what this blog is named for. Thanks for reading. Until next time… 

    Writing has been the last thing on my mind as of late and it really shouldn’t be. However, I like to think that even though I’m not putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard, that I have been doing something that will benefit my craft. 

    Most writers start off writing because they read and they love it. It is the most logical stepping stone once you learn how to read in depth that if it intrigues you enough that you begin to write in depth. And it is essential as a writer to continue reading as one works on their craft and so that is what I have been doing. I’ve been reading a book that I’ve been working on getting through for a while but I’m actually bucking down and doing it now. I won’t review this one, as it is the last in a trilogy, but I’ll make sure that the next book I read is review-able. 

    (For those of you who read a lot, I suggest signing up for Goodreads. You can post your progress on the book you’re reading; make bookshelves of books you have read, want to read, and are currently reading; and write reviews and recommend books to your friends. Nerdy social networking! Yay!) 

    Reading and writing well, sort of go hand in hand. It’s like peanut butter and jelly, cheese and crackers, chips and dip…You get the idea. Both compliment each other fantastically (obviously) and to a writer, it’s incredibly beneficial to the craft if you read a lot as well as write. Why? because it exposes to you to other works therefore making you more aware of what you want your writing to be and what you don’t want it to be. Though, I will admit that sometimes it makes it difficult not  to directly emulate a favourite author but we learn to work past that. 

    It’s kind of strange though, because you read a lot and you have a talent and appreciation for writing, you’re bound to write fairly well — one cannot write that horribly if they read, but people still do. Stephanie Meyer being the perfect example. She supposedly reads like a fiend and yet her writing is lacking to say the least. Reading is only beneficial if you actually take something from it and learn from it as well as enjoy it. 

    For myself, it stimulates the creativity the churns inside, keeps my brain moving especially if it’s a book I’m genuinely fond of. There are also books that I’m not entirely fond of until the very end and I find that those books happen to be the most rewarding. So, writers keep reading even if you hate the book. Thanks for reading. Until next time… 

   I think one of my favourite parts about writing is the unexpected developments that take place. Even as the writer, if the story you have molded in your head decides on its own that a story should go this way or that, it will do so and it can astound. Even this blog post, as new as it is, has already decided that today instead of me writing about my character charts, I was going to write about developments. It’s brilliant. Actually, it was more of life deciding it for me, but anyways…

    What I mean by new developments is ideas that differ from what one might have in their original though process for their story or poem or prose etc. These make me happy and excited and they are also very important (at least to me) when it comes to working on a new piece. 

    New developments are important for various reasons. First and foremost, it allows the story —as well as the characters, the setting and the mind of the writer— to marinate in itself, allowing an almost newly made idea to form which is fantastic because it makes you take a step back and explore what can be done and what might be done throughout the course of the story. Secondly, new ideas that seem to be particularly brilliant, enhance old ideas thus causing excitement in the writer which is important to me for two reasons: it allows me to become re-excited for my own story and my work and it allows me to write better because I get legitimately curious and happy to see where the story is going. 

    Like today! After, being told that basically I’m a hippie for the contents of two of my stories, I brainstormed and revised my idea of the second of the two a bit and instantly became happier with my idea because I’m not a freaking hippie! But more on how I’m not a hippie in later posts. 

    This new development has added joy in my day and quite frankly, I’m much more excited to be writing this now. Not that I wasn’t excited before…I might have been more excited had I an outline but I’ll discuss why I don’t do those later. But now I have given myself some extra umph! so that’s quite good. The only problem that I can see happening —should anyone actually read this blog for advice— is that new developments aren’t always better developments. Ideas that are too far-fetched and that you have to stretch to incorporate and stretch to make sense aren’t necessarily a fantastic idea; if your idea was already crazy to begin with, especially. Anyways…I’ve got a novel to write. Thanks for reading! Until next time… 

    Well, first and foremost, thank you all for following me. I logged on today to see a few new people so, for that, I am most grateful. 

   Now to the actual blog: 

    One would think that one of the most important things when it comes to writing is your medium — your pen and paper or your laptop, etc. — but really it is your comfort. This is one of those things that one would think is common sense but when I first decided to start working on what I’m writing right now (the new blog and my novel) I didn’t really take into consideration the fact that it is summer in southern California and that we don’t have central air. 

    Why, oh, why?! is my room the hottest in the house? Sweat makes me uncomfortable. Heat makes my head foggy. So right now, I’m in a perfect storm for me not to be able to write anything that is particularly brilliant and if it’s not going to be be at least semi-brilliant, I see no reason to put it on a page. 

    Being comfortable in one’s workspace is equally important. For instance, despite the heat, I tried writing outside of my room because it is cooler in the rest of the house than my room. It’s very difficult to concentrate with the noise, I found. Plus, I was sweating (still) and it just wasn’t working. And THEN! (assuming you don’t live by yourself, you’ll be able to relate to this) my grandmother walks into the family room — where I was — and asks me what I am writing. That was really the last of what little comfort I had and I watched as it was thrown into the hot, stagnant air. I resigned from my task and placed my notebook down immediately. The whole experience did little for me except make me realize that I’m much to hard on my grandmother despite the fact that she happens to perform all of my pet-peeves. 

    Moral of the story stands as this: Be comfortable. I had to move outside in the evening before I could get any work done. If one is uncomfortable, there’s a possibility for the discomfort to creep throughout the body, through the arms, into the fingertips and unto the page before the eyes in a way that makes even the reader uncomfortable. And despite what schools believe (take note of my jab at the education system) being uncomfortable doesn’t increase performance. If you’re super cold, it’s not going to help you, if you hate the cold. If only you could see the mess that is my first draft of this blog post. It’s 10x messier than normal because my brain, due to the heat, has malfunctioned more than it does when I do math — well, actually, that’s a bit over-dramatic because I absolutely hate math…

    Thanks for reading <3 Until next time… 

  Well, well, well. It seems that I have started yet another blog. However, I think this one shall be a little bit more localized than my others have been. This will be entirely dedicated to my career as a writer and aspiring author. A journey, of sorts, exploring the charm of words when they are manipulated and created perfectly to sway an audience this way and that. I’m trying to master my craft and I kind of wish to have a record of my thoughts while learning new things and discovering things about it. This is me doing just that.
    This blog will focus on writing primarily and literature and other things like that. I may do a book review or a poem review or two. I may transfer my poems here too but I probably won’t. For certain, though, I will be discussing things about the novel I’m currently working on. Though it’s currently unnamed, it consists of shapeshifters and magic and crazy stuff that my brain has formulated. It has been in the works for quite some time now and I’m still doing stuff on it. Unfortunately, I can’t give a synopsis right now because I will not know where the story is going until I really get into the thick of it. It’s quite an interesting premise though, I will say that there will be many times where I abandon it for something else temporarily and that will probably get annoying. But c’est la vie, right?
    All in all, this should be interesting. And I hope those of you who have stumbled or found yourself looking at this will enjoy my weirdness and the inner workings of a young aspiring author.