I Am Not Dead (Well, I THINK That I Am Not Dead, But I Could Always Be Wrong)

Hi.
So I'm here after an era of a hiatus to bring you *cue heavenly chorus* a whiny writer identity crisis post.
Yeah, sorry.
For some reason, I decided to paste a portion of my manuscript into the I Write Like analyzer. And it spat out this:

I tried it again, this time with a different portion of text, and it still insisted:



I then copied my ENTIRE MANUSCRIPT into the box and punched "Analyze".
Three guesses as to what it told me.
By this point, I was pretty offended. It's been a long time since I've read any of the Twilights, but one thing I remember noticing about SM's style is that she layers on her adverbs. I've lost track of how many articles I've read that warned me not to overuse my adverbs, so I'm pretty conscientious about where I put my ly's.
So I started researching critiques of her style. I found a forum that raised some interesting points, and a tumblr blog that is both hilarious and intimidating.
Some of the main problems people have with SM's writing is her Mary Sue of a main character, the unhealthy romance, her slow pacing and anti-climaxes, her repetitious prose, and her overall lack of taking the writing craft seriously.

Well.
The character development and story issues don't really have anything to do with me. I'm not saying that my crap is perfect (or that it's better than Twlight--that's an opinion that I'm going to stay away from) but the Analyzer was judging my style, not my story.
Even though I'm writing the second draft of my novel, it's still a rough draft. I think it's even rougher than my first draft. Seriously, this thing is UG-LAY. It needs major cosmetic reconstructions. So maybe I am making some Meyer-esque mistakes. Maybe I'm over describing stuff. Maybe I'm using a bit too many m-dashes in my hasty typing. Maybe my attempt to dwelve further into my characters' heads and play with their voices has resulted in some language that is crude and simplistic.
Maybe once I [finish and] edit my manuscript, I'll try the analyzer thingy again and I'll get a different answer.
Maybe I really do write like Stephenie Meyer.
Maybe I should just shut up and get back to writing.
Maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe baby.

I still don't know what to think. 

Let's Talk About Music

I've always wished I knew more about music. I don't play any instruments. I can't sing. I honestly don't know the difference between pitch and tone. Many of my friends took band and choir when we were younger, so they all understand it and love it, but I, on the other hand, always stuck with art classes. I wish it had not had to be one or the other, because now look at me. I can sketch a tree, sure, but compose a piece of music? Ha.
So, up until recently, music didn't have much to do with my writing process. Sometimes I'd play a movie that I'd seen a thousand times and that gave me pretty images for my WIP (Pirates of the Caribbean, anyone?) but other than that I'd usually just sit in silence. I can still do that--write with only the soundtrack of my imagination. But, when I discovered the right kind of music, it became much more fun to write to a tangible collection of songs. (It's a bit like reading, you know? If a person doesn't like reading, it's probably because he or she hasn't found the right book yet.)
I started out with listening to classical music while I studied (it helps improve focus AND raise IQ, you know) and then switched over to movie soundtracks and etc. And so, with the help of some friends and some searching on my own, I've compiled this playlist for my novel. (Well, most of this playlist--I couldn't find a few of the songs on Youtube.) I'm pretty happy with it, but it could always use more. Let me know if you can think of any songs that would fit well with this selection! I'd love to hear your suggestions. (:






Do you listen to music while you write? What's your favorite writing song?

Character Arcs (And How I've Been Plotting My Novel)

Recently, I read Wither by Lauren Destefano and I was struck by how beautifully done the character arcs were. Well, okay, it wasn't recently. It was more like a couple of months ago. But anyway, I've been struggling for a while, trying to figure out how to keep so much focus on the development of my characters. I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out, though. The answer was so simple (and yet oh-so complicated.) Why don't I just plot the character arcs along with my novel? Duh.
Still, when I though of that, I was still in a pickle. How would I set up my plot in a way that I could keep track of both the plot arc and the character arcs? I'm not the most organized person, as you'll see below.

Sorry for the bad quality of these pictures. I can't find the charger for my camera...so I had to use my phone. (Yet another example of how I'm an unorganized person.)

Anyway, these are pages in the sketchbook that I use to plot and brainstorm for my WIP.

I'm kind of glad that you can't read any of it. ;P

Look at all of those notes, squeezed into the tiniest of places. How am I supposed to build a novel off of this?

Okay, so this one's slightly more structured, but still. You get the point. 

So, I took all of that and turned it into this:

That's right. I took every single note from my sketchbook and put it on loose-leaf paper, all organized by category.

Then I made a list of the story arcs I had to follow. There were, like, six. I don't know if that's a lot for you, but it's a lot for me. In the first draft of this novel, I had, like, two and a half. And I didn't even know what I was doing.
So.
THEN, I came up with an AWESOME system. For each scene, I'll ask five questions.
Who (who is in the scene?)
What (what is happening in the scene?)
Where (where is the scene taking place?)
When (when is the scene taking place?)
How (how does this move the story forward? How does this effect each plot line? How does this change or affect the characters? and etc.)

So then I have something that looks along the lines of this:

Who: Fraud, Lauren, Iri, Warriors, and a couple of Ashrays

What: Fraud wakes up to screaming. Everyone runs out to find nearly all of the Ashrays have been slaughtered. (ashrays are out during night because they’re nocturnal) Like 3 are left alive, screaming. Warrior says something stupid like, “At least we’re safe.” Then he dies. Everyone starts running for the exits. One Ashray dies b/c it’s daylight now. Others are left inside, trapped. They die. Start running. Wait, where’s Devlin? Have to leave him, can’t go back.

When: Day 3

Where: Ashray Lair

How: Lauren sees Eolande and no one else does (which is pretty scarring) She doesn't realize no one else saw her, though. Devlin left over the night to go to castle. Eolande made a slight mistake drinking all their blood, she knows. But she couldn’t help it. She’ll just get them another time.

It took a while to do, but now that I've done it fifty billion times, I have a (nearly) finished plot and a clear picture in my head of how the characters develop! I still have some polishing to do. Add some scene notes here and there, decide what information I want to reveal in each scene, and decide what POV each scene will be in. Oh, and I have to type the entire thing up on my computer still. But, other than that, my plot is basically done.(:

You're welcome to try out this method if you want. However, if you don't like plotting very much or if you're a pantser who's decided to try out plotting for the first time, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT USE THIS METHOD. This was tedious for me, a plotoholic. If you've never tried plotting before, doing this will probably make you hate it. And, quite possibly, it may even make you hate your own story. I don't want to be responsible for that. You should start small, build up your own method and ways. (:

How do you keep track of character arcs? What's your method of plotting?