You know the feeling when you write that you just don’t like how it comes out? I sure do. What you picture in your head is so different than what you put on paper. Our advice to you is to continue writing the first draft. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match up to what’s in your head. Write the idea down and then go back later to change it.
What authors and other people don’t tell you is that the first draft is your own. You do not have to show it to other people; you may be the only one who looks at it. That’s okay. All that matters is that you get the first draft down and then go from there. That’s when the magic happens.
We all grow as writers, whether it be song lyrics or stories. We all start somewhere, and most of the time it usually sucks. However, I recommend not getting rid of these early drafts because it will remind you where you came from and where you want to be. These early drafts may surprise you with great ideas to create your next masterpiece.
I also recommend reading these old drafts because they are apart of you. The both of us recently reread our old stories, and let me tell you, they weren’t the best, but I know we had fun creating the characters and the worlds. I try not to cringe as I read my old items because I love the characters and the ideas. However, the execution may not be the best, but it’ll always bring me joy.
Reading our old items was the best decision because it allowed me to appreciate what I did and what I will do in the future.
Hello everyone! Sorry for not updating last week. We have decided to update every other week since we are in a hard time, with the coronavirus and all. We hope you guys are okay!
Onto the trick. For today, we want to talk about reading different genres. We know, we know. Sometimes it’s easier reading something from your favorite genre. However, if you read from a different genre, then you might be inspired!
For example, if you really like romance, then you should try sci-fi. In most stories we have read, romance is always the main or subplot so you won’t be missing much.
You could totally love fantasy! That’s not a bad thing but branching out is good sometimes. There might be a story out there about someone going back in time to the past. It has a little fantasy in there but it’s also historical fiction.
If you always stick to fiction then read something nonfiction. Right now, we’re reading Columbine and Unbroken. We both have learned a lot about the two topics and sometimes it is really interesting!
All in all, branching out may give you inspiration. You might also find a good book too!
Fanfiction. People may laugh that you write it, but don’t listen to them. Fanfiction can give you easy practice, and it can bring you out of writer’s block. The latter worked for me because I just haven’t been able to write my original stories, but I turned to one of my fanfiction stories. I wrote almost two chapters in an hour.
Fanfiction is generally easier to write because you know almost everything about the fandom you’re writing about. You just have to plug in any prompt, and there you have a story.
However, fanfiction isn’t realistic. You can’t publish a fanfic because of copyright issues. But you can turn the fanfic into an original story by changing names and details. I have also done that.
There are also some good fanfictions out there that I have read! You all should check them out and then maybe you could inspired to write your own.
Happy Wednesday! Today, we’re going to talk about helpful apps and websites that can help you achieve your dream of being an author!
The first is called Wattpad. There is a website for it (wattpad.com) and an app. Many of you may have heard of it and may have heard all the bad stories about it lol. However, it has been awesome for me. We can write as much as we want and separate my stories and ideas. If you follow the right people and if you read the right stuff then it won’t be so bad.
The next one is an app called Canva. Canva is an app where you can create covers or character profiles or anything else you would want to do. There are free parts but there is also things you have to pay for. All in all, Canva is pretty awesome lol and we use it all the time.
If you’re an aspiring poet or a songwriter, the app Lyric Notepad may do you some good. At times it may be slow but otherwise it’s pretty good. It shows you rhymes if you want to rhyme something and also counts how many syllables are in the line. It also highlights the words that rhyme.
Another website for writing is fanfiction.net (it also has an app). If you write fanfiction, it’s a nice place for it. We haven’t really used it much but it seems like a cool app.
There are so many other apps or websites that you all may use! You don’t have to use these apps if you don’t want to. We hope you enjoy!
This week we are going a little deeper into the 3rd person perspective. There are two ways you can use the 3rd person, and they are very different. The types of 3rd person are omniscient and limited.
Omniscient is where the narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of every single character. There is no bias in omniscient, and there is full knowledge of all the characters. This is the most trustworthy point of view because the all-knowing viewpoint is relaying the story. This makes it easy to give supporting details about everything. However, there are negatives to omniscient. If the character is human, the reader can only know what is observable about the character. Other characters will have to express themselves to the storyteller. One example of 3rd person omniscient is the Harry Potter series.
Limited third person is where the reader only knows the thoughts and feelings of one single character. Other characters are presented externally. This is where you can showcase the story through an interesting character. The character could also experience changes throughout the novel. An example of the limited perspective is Ernest Hemingway’s book “For Whom The Bell Toils.”
The 3rd person perspective is the main point of view used by writers. It shows more than 1st person would.
Happy Wednesday! Today’s update is called Just An Inkling. We are going to be talking about Point of Views.
To start, there are three different types of point of views you all can work with. They are First, Second, and Third.
First person point of view is where the protagonist is narrating the story. It includes I, me, us, we, etc. An example of this is:
“The cool night air rushed around me as I stood in the middle of the courtyard. My back was ramrod straight and I was starting to ache. I knew I couldn’t move, though. They would disqualify me if I did. My eyes flashed around, watching the dark shadows move every which way. I knew they would try to scare me so I steeled myself up. I couldn’t lose this opportunity.”
The next one that is also mostly used is third person. We’ll just be talking about the regular third person today. This is where it says she, he, they, etc. An example of this is:
“Right before Luna could put her phone down to go to sleep, it rang. She almost jumped out of her skin, thinking it was Drake. It wasn’t; it was only her roommate.”
And the last one that is hardly used in fiction is second person. I’ve seen it used a couple times. This is where it’s all about you. You this, you that. Self-help books and those books where you “control” the story. An example of this is:
“You opened your notepad, waiting patiently for the boy to tell you everything he knew about the dead girl.”
Choosing whatever is right for your book may be tough. Third person, in our opinion, is better when you want to follow multiple characters’ paths. First person is used to follow one persons’ path. It just depends on the idea. We hope this helps!
Paragraph breaks. Everyone knows about them but doesn’t know how to use them. We’ve read multiple works by our friends and peers who do not know how to use paragraphs, so we wanted to help.
First things first. When multiple characters are speaking, a new paragraph always starts after each dialogue. For example:
“‘You,” I whispered, my chest heaving, ‘crushed my flowers.’
‘What was that?’ He stepped closer to me, his head bent low.
‘Those were my favorite flowers!’ I yelled.
He jumped in surprise. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Is that all you can say?’ I asked, gaining my breathe back.”
The next type of paragraph breaks are when the action changes. Maybe your character is watching a movie and then they spill their popcorn. That would be different paragraphs. For example:
“I had to get away from that awkward conversation. I stopped by my locker before heading to my second hour class. The comforting black locker calmed my racing heart. I placed my backpack in there and grabbed my binder from it. If I ever lost this binder, I would be lost in school. It had everything I needed it in.
I shut my locker and basically ran up the stairs to my English classroom. I stood outside the classroom for a second so I could catch my breath. I didn’t want to sound like I rushed here when in reality I did.”
We’re back! We are sorry for taking a much longer break than we had planned, but we are here and ready for business. Every Wednesday we are going to update instead of Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursdays. There will be different posts every week. Here’s a prompt for today. We hope you are able to use it!
The Writing Twins 