Nothing can describe awesomeness more than this cake. And if you click it it'll magically transport you to my website.
3/28/2010
Zoinks
Busy weekend! So I'll just include a few updates......such as, I had an amazing time at the GLVWG Write Stuff Conference, I'm only a few chapters from finishing the first draft of my story, and I have homework to contend with.
3/21/2010
I visited one of my local middle schools this past week. It was awesome! I met with a group of about fifteen students who were interested in writing, and I talked mostly about characters. I even had a PowerPoint to go along with it. (Yes...that made me feel very pro.)
One of the points I made in my presentation is about long and cliche descriptions. Personally, i prefer to"show" more than "tell" when it comes to character appearance. This includes inferring a lot of times.
An example of a "tell" description I used was (and I wrote this on the spot): ...curly, golden locks that were softly glowing in the sun, framing her heart-shaped face with baby-blue eyes and rosy cheeks and dimpled smile that showed rows of pearly white teeth, and she was wearing a pretty green dress and starched socks with shining black shoes, and there was a small silver locket hanging from a fine chain on her neck...
The next slide had a description of Caidy, a character in RAIN. This is the line when Mel first sees her: In front is a slim, agile girl with strawberry blonde hair tied back in a bouncy ponytail. She saunters down the stairs with an air of authority and slightly in front of the other three.
From those two descriptions I wrote, I feel a reader would get a lot more from the second, even though it's shorter. The first tells us a lot about how this Goldilocks-esque girl looks, but not much about her character right off the bat. Caidy's description shows that Caidy's probably somewhat athletic, has reddish-blonde hair long enough to be in a ponytail, and likes to be the leader of the group.
Anyway, thought I'd share that since I had a lot of fun presenting it at the middle school!
One of the points I made in my presentation is about long and cliche descriptions. Personally, i prefer to"show" more than "tell" when it comes to character appearance. This includes inferring a lot of times.
An example of a "tell" description I used was (and I wrote this on the spot): ...curly, golden locks that were softly glowing in the sun, framing her heart-shaped face with baby-blue eyes and rosy cheeks and dimpled smile that showed rows of pearly white teeth, and she was wearing a pretty green dress and starched socks with shining black shoes, and there was a small silver locket hanging from a fine chain on her neck...
The next slide had a description of Caidy, a character in RAIN. This is the line when Mel first sees her: In front is a slim, agile girl with strawberry blonde hair tied back in a bouncy ponytail. She saunters down the stairs with an air of authority and slightly in front of the other three.
From those two descriptions I wrote, I feel a reader would get a lot more from the second, even though it's shorter. The first tells us a lot about how this Goldilocks-esque girl looks, but not much about her character right off the bat. Caidy's description shows that Caidy's probably somewhat athletic, has reddish-blonde hair long enough to be in a ponytail, and likes to be the leader of the group.
Anyway, thought I'd share that since I had a lot of fun presenting it at the middle school!
3/11/2010
I was just at the doctor's office, and I found out that I am special. Special enough not to just have one ailment, but two working together! Sino-bronchitis, a hyphenated cross-breed of sickness!
But don't roll out the medical journals yet. According to my mom, "You've had this before, and besides, Kier, it's not like you've created a liger or anything. You just didn't wash your hands enough and managed to pick up two simultaneous germs. Now drink lots of tea."
Okay, I took some artistic license there. Mom didn't mention ligers.
Anyway, no school for me today or tomorrow. Which means: writing time!
(And catching up on the season finales of a few favorite shows. But also writing.)
Speaking of writing, I am psyched (no, I did not use that word because I just watched the PSYCH season finale. Though that may have subconsciously been a factor in the word choice) about my current story! It's a futuristic dystopia novel. (Anyone else absolutely love to say the word "dystopia"?)
Also, I have a busy, and prospectively fun, rest-of-the-month left. And feel free to contact/email me at kieryn.nicolas@gmail.com if you want to reserve a pre-order of RAIN in print!
And one more thing. I hear it's read-an-eBook week. Mind if I suggest RAIN? It's available at Amazon for Kindle/PC, Omnilit for PDF, Echelon Press's website, and Fictionwise in multiple formats.
But don't roll out the medical journals yet. According to my mom, "You've had this before, and besides, Kier, it's not like you've created a liger or anything. You just didn't wash your hands enough and managed to pick up two simultaneous germs. Now drink lots of tea."
Okay, I took some artistic license there. Mom didn't mention ligers.
Anyway, no school for me today or tomorrow. Which means: writing time!
(And catching up on the season finales of a few favorite shows. But also writing.)
Speaking of writing, I am psyched (no, I did not use that word because I just watched the PSYCH season finale. Though that may have subconsciously been a factor in the word choice) about my current story! It's a futuristic dystopia novel. (Anyone else absolutely love to say the word "dystopia"?)
Also, I have a busy, and prospectively fun, rest-of-the-month left. And feel free to contact/email me at kieryn.nicolas@gmail.com if you want to reserve a pre-order of RAIN in print!
And one more thing. I hear it's read-an-eBook week. Mind if I suggest RAIN? It's available at Amazon for Kindle/PC, Omnilit for PDF, Echelon Press's website, and Fictionwise in multiple formats.
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