W for Writer's Wonderland

Quick Update: Getting there with my posts at least. Almost caught up! Now I just need to do "Q" post that I skipped.

Song Stuck In My Head: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division. Quite a haunting tune.

Right now, being a writer isn’t easy. With my junior year almost up and everyone in journalism class checking out and my classes having homework every DAY (gah!), sometimes I just need to escape. To have time to write and look at pictures of mental hospitals (for research…I have a YA/urban fantasy story that takes place in a ward, you know).

So, in a very odd post, I’m going to explore a fantastical land where ALL writers could live and be at peace. Feel free to add your own details: I’ll add them as they get up.

In Writer’s Wonderland….

Caffeine is the top food group. Energy drinks and sodas and coffee. They’ll be so important to our diet that they’ll be our rivers and lakes, like the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Your drinks will be bottled at Dr. Pepper Falls or the Starbucks Ocean. Or maybe we get injected with it like medicine.

Pens/Pencils/Flash Drives/Glasses/etc. never get lost. Nothing gets misplaced. If you set something down, it reappears a minute later before you even realize.

Writing is a respected career. When you go to reunions or just have a normal talk among peers, no “Oh, so what are you going to do with your life” sort of question will distress you anymore. Saying you’re a writer or freelancer will be the equivalent of saying you’re a heart surgeon or lawyer. 

Oops-check. We have a spell check, even a somewhat useful grammar check, but it’s not nearly enough. You said the wrong name. You actually did spell the word wrong, but you misspelled it until it became another existing word, so no spell check to help you now.

Carpal Tunnel doesn’t need surgery to be cured. Nope. You can take a tiny pill or vitamin, and it’ll be gone in a sitch. Not even that - it’ll be a cutesy, gummy pill that dissolves in your mouth, no pain whatsoever. In ten seconds, the pain in your wrist will be gone! Wow!

Later.

Random Random Random

Quick Update: Completely winging this blog entry.

Song Stuck In My Head: "Smile" by Avril Lavigne. Just found out the guy directing the video to this amazing new single has directed pretty much the majority of my favorite pop/rock music videos. Panic! At the Disco anyone?

So today is very rushed day. Both of my BFF's are sorta in chaos, I had to turn in a poorly-made fable about a rabbit and a duck (another day?) annnnnnd I'm seriously relieved it's Friday. Anyhow, no legit blog entry today. Just random stuff.

First off, for any Gleeks/or anti-Gleeks out there...I do adore this performance of "Born This Way".



There was also a scene where they danced to this new song, "Barbara Streisand". Has anyone heard it? It's seriously the most ridiculous song in the universe. It's all dance music and then one random person saying the name of the song.

But, oddly, it's quite catchy.

Anyhow, since this is just a random post, why not mention NOVELTEE(N)? A.K.A, new blog that just started up. And yes, I'm totally mentioning them to enter their contests (especially this one!) but the blog seems cool so far. Do follow! It's one of the rare For Teens by Teens blogs!

Okay, see you later!

Oh, and LBH - here's a drinking buddy!

YA Writers Are Saving the World (Sorta...Kinda) - WPT Post

Quick Update: Wow. Okay. Fast week. Is today seriously Friday? Whoa.

Song Stuck In My Head: "For the Love of God" - Steve Vai (a.k.a someone who had to sell his soul to have that sort of guitar skills).

So, would have typed up a less spontaneous post (maybe), but an Earth Day project for school decided to eat up all my time. I'm very passionate about deforestation after all. I mean, how could you ever "slash and burn" forests for money and land? They're the most things (or clusters of things) in the world!








The horror. Well, this is beside the point.

So, I'm stealing today's topic from my lit. class as well as science class. We're doing this small unit on fables, the cutesy tales of lessons and morales. Slow and steady wins the race, don't count your chickens before they hatched, all that fun stuff.

I remember when I was younger and heard or read fables. Let's take the popular "Ant and the Grasshopper" story. Hardworking ant, bum grasshopper. One gets to party all winter, and one freezes and dies. What little tykes are supposed to get from the story is "ohhhh, not doing is work is bad, I better do all the work I can now so I can play later".



And come on. We know the morales in those stories failed to really stick. Procrastination deserves its own health documentaries these days. All the little kids reading the story don't think about the morale. All they think is something around the lines of "haha, grasshopper, sucks to be you!".

But now, YA writers instead of fable writers (if they're even alive anymore, most of them are from centuries ago).

When teenagers transition into the stage they're in now, they are vulnerable to learning morales. The hard way or the easier way that we - yes, we - provide. There's reasons why bookish people tend to be the ones that avoid parties and drugs and craziness. That's because they already read enough tough, but good, books on these issues to avoid it. By having characters go through a mess of chaos, they have less desire to do it on their own. Unless they're sociopathic and like to pretend they are the character in whatever novel they're reading. That's a whole other story.

Not that all teenagers read (or even know how to these days, when it comes to my peers). They usually don't even read the required reading, or think about it. However, slowly YA and books is making its way into mainstream again so you never know....writers could very well affect the lives of young adolescents before they venture into the world themselves. And if the effect is positive, hooray.

In some ways, we are SUPERHEROES. Kinda. Okay. Maybe not.




Okay, enough mediocre philosophy today. Hope everyone is doing rather awesome (oh, and happy...Earth Day, I suppose) and hopefully talk to you next week!

Let’s Talk About Zombies (And Vamps…and Werewolves…and so on)

Quick Update: Is it weird to love Lady Gaga but not favor Madonna whatsoever? I feel like a hypocrite.

Song Stuck In My Head: Glee's cover of a My Chemical Romance song, "Sing". Now THAT really took me by surprise.

What a week I had! Mostly it was spent being sick out of my mind (which I’m using as my alibi for the lack of blogging last week) but it was also spent watching “Zombieland” a couple times (one of the inspirations for this post, and definite future “Rec of the Week”), diving deep into a huge AvrilLavigneobsession mode, etc. Oh, and watching my first ever 3-D movie! No, it wasn’t something cool and adult like “Santum”. It was - and you all have permission to laugh your head off at this, because I certainly did - Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never”.



Don’t worry, though I was ill with many sicknesses last week, “Bieber Fever” *snort* was not among them. It was mostly a chance to hang out with my best friend, and fellow fan girl, who happens to be a diagnosed with a serious case of BF. Her Twitter page background is just a repeated tile of him right now as we speak. The main problem was that no one warned me of the damage 3-D effects do to one’s eyes. I mean…uh, ow.

Okay, onto the actual blogging. Well…half-attempt at actual blogging.

So I just found out one of my favorite Sick Puppies songs, “The Bottom”, is a song written from a zombie to its next victim. Not only does a lot about it make sense, but it also made me think. In the end, which modern and fictional critter is truly the most badass?

And so, the randomness begins.

ZOMBIES:

Why they are badass…Well, they eat you. I would consider that a little terrifying. If anyone has seen “Zombieland”, whose zombies are friggin’ SCARY monsters that drool black guck and blood, you know how true that is. Pretty much, zombies have no conscience or intelligent thoughts. Unless “foooooood” counts as an intelligent thought. They’re just diseased, and they spread the disease like wildfire so they’re not alone. There’s no point to their monstrosity - it just is. Which makes them pretty eerie.

Why they’re not so badass…. Zombies are far from immortal, though undead. As seen in various movies and videogames (I.e Resident Evil games) human weapons are more than enough to take them out. I mean, if Jesse Eisenberg of all people can kill zombies, obviously any of us can.



VAMPIRES:

Why they’re badass: Well, Twilight references put aside, most vampires in literature have been known to be sadistic and creepily intelligent critters. They’re immortals, so they have a lot of time to kill. Humans don’t mean much but pawns to them, chess pieces they can play with in their little games. Since humans are also edible pawns to vampires, the vamps can be pretty merciless too. Unlike zombies, they do have a conscience and thoughts, but they use it too. Psychological bullies, in the long run, are worse than physical ones.

Why they’re not so badass: Since the majority do have consciences, they also tend to be a little…overridden by human-like emotions. Love isn’t the only one, though recently it’s been used to the point of abuse. Guilt can be one, like with Angel of the Buffy the Vampire series whose weighed down with regret over all the innocent people he killed. There’s also fear, insecurity, etc.



WEREWOLVES :

Why they’re badass…Werewolves are animals. As in, all human qualities like emotions or feelings…once the fur’s out, they’re gone. Instincts take over, and in most paranormal fiction or horror movies, they become downright monsters who aim to kill and destroy. They have fangs, claws, and are more like rabid wolves than half-humans if written right. If not written right….

Why they’re not badass… Well, werewolves are animals. They’re not exactly the most fearful thing in the world. Are you more afraid of a human with a weapon or an angry dog? Besides, everyone knows silver gets them. And you only have to worry about them twelve times a year, on a planned schedule. They are easier to avoid than most critters.



FAIRIES

Why they’re badass…Yeah, yeah, they’re not many books where fairies are the danger. But they can be, both fairies and their close relatives, the pixies. They’re small little buggers with human intelligence but the speed and strengths of bees and wasps. And we all know they have sharp teeth too. How is there not a hundred slasher films about fairies yet?

Why they’re not badass… It’s a mixture of their glittery dust, colorful wings, adorableness, and the fact we were all raised to believe fairies are like Tinkerbell.



GNOMES
Why they’re badass…. Look at how easily they can attack unsuspecting victims. They’re in gardens all over the world, passed off as innocent, Santa-like statues. Yet when they attack…who knows what will happen. Apparently there’s already a book written about the possible hazards of this too.

Why they’re not badass… Well…



SLOTHS
All the evidence I give to you of the badassery of sloths is this picture my friend showed me a while back. You have been warned.



So, any badass monsters give you the shivers? Or can you think of any critters whose dangers have yet to be known to the public?

Okay, enough randomness for the week. Hopefully I’ll have a Rec of the Week post for you guys sometime Friday. Till then, happy Wednesday and Thursday!

SHARING TIME!

Quick Update: Attempting the “Snowflake Method”. So far I haven’t stopped to stare, with self-pity, at my laptop screen so it must be going good. I’m still at the character description part though, of course.

Song Stuck in My Head: "Do That Thing You Do". For some reason, the audio visual class used that for the background song in the announcements. To each it's own....

The cool thing about us writers is that they’re sponges. Anytime we read a blog article, or a book that looked rather awesome and informative on the shelves, its vacuumed up and converted to an everlasting brain juice that could very well affect…well, everything we do.

But there’s always your first.



We don’t come into this world automatically aware of how the publishing process works. Or what the heck a “literary agent” is. Or, even, *gasp* that “fiction novel” IS REDUNDANT! WHAT! We enter the writing world full of random, reckless ideas and adoration of Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Stephen King/all of the above/other. Then - usually after writing the first horrible first drafts that at the time seemed so [insert corny and much-too positive adjective here] - we decided to know more about the craft.

I got a bit too lucky. I didn’t really leave the house a lot (this was before my obsessive-library-visit phase) and lacked internet a couple years ago as well. Then one day, our church had a yard sale. As in everyone who had stuff they wanted to throw out anyways just dropped it off and we sold about one tenth of it all.

Fortunately enough, I was helping. And since was business was, well, slow (we live in a rather deserted area) I wandered. I picked up the books, which were mostly the dull health ones that a lot of the old ladies in our park read. And then - shining beautifully, gorgeously, and happily in the afternoon sunlight - there it was.



HOW TO WRITE & SELL YOUR FIRST NOVEL by Oscar Collier and Frances Spatz Leighton.

(Cue: Opera singing of “Hallelujah”).

Perhaps you read this, perhaps you haven’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t (it’s a bit old, circa 1986) but at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised if you had (it’s a jackpot for the clueless newcomer). Pretty much, no matter how outdated it is, most of what I know and practice today bases from it. How plot and characters fit together. Different genres and sub-genres. True stories of six, different and famous writers. There’s even a chapter on how to handle tough stuff like character names or more R-rated material.

What was the first book, or the first article/blog you came by, that filled you in on the business? Or did you learn in a less conventional way? Awesome writer friend? Youtube video? Because no matter how much you learn from the blogosphere or your nearest library, nothing might ever compare to where you learned first.

Share, share, share! In the meantime, back to the Snowflake Method document I go….

And, though very random, anyone hear about a sequel to "Mean Girls" coming out this Sunday? Poor Hollywood. You know it’s bad when they they’ve already run short of 20th century teen horror flicks that they’re moving onto more modern classics. I can’t watch it (no satellite) though I do have reason to if somehow I had access to ABC family this Sunday (Avril Lavigne video premiere, hehe).



Anyone have a take on it? I’m mostly just feeling sorry for the wonderful Tina Fey, Amanda Seyfried, and Rachel McAdams. A made-for-TV sequel is the worst fate any pop culture icon can face, after all. Not that I can guarantee it will bomb.

Later!

Random Harry Potter Facts - HP and MCR Week

Quick Update: Happy-birthday-mother-who-won't-ever-see-this-as-her-and-internet-aren't-very-close-but-what-the-heck. In other news, here's another blog hosting a Harry Potter week (at least that I know of, haha)



My Chemical Romance song of the day: "Destroyah" (it's pretty badass, and really new as well!)

Okay, so I was going to talk about the importance of secondary characters but after seeing so much hooplah about that, decided to be a bit more original.

So, with a special thanks to Google, here are some fun facts I bet you didn't know about the HARRY POTTER SERIES! *drumroll? Anyone?*

- A picture of Gandalf the Grey (from The Lord of the Rings) can be seen in the collection of great wizards in Professor Dumbledore’s study in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

- Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire (U.S. dollars) by writing books

- The actress who played Moaning Myrtle is actually 37 years old and is the oldest actress to portray a Hogwarts student

- In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, dragon blood is revealed to be an effective oven cleaner

- Numbers are symbolic in the series, especially 2, 3, 4, and 7. For example, the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione suggest the power of three and the spiritual trinity. Harry fatally wounds the basilisk on its third strike, and Hagrid knocks on the front door of Hogwarts three times. Students attend Hogwarts for seven years and there are seven players on each Quidditch. Sirius is also imprisoned on the seventh floor of Hogwarts

- Rubeus Hagrid, one of Harry’s closest friends, is part wizard and part giant. Rubeus is Latin for something produced from a bramble or a thicket, which fits Rowling’s description of him as “wild.” Hagrid most likely comes from the term “haggard” which also means “wild” or “unruly

- Sirius Black’s tattoos are borrowed from Russian prison gangs. The markings identify the person as someone to be feared and respected

- The divination textbook used at Hogwarts was written by “Cassandra Vablatsky.” Her last name refers to a real woman, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky who founded the Theosophical Society. Cassandra was the daughter of the rulers of Troy (Priam and Hecuba) who was cursed by Apollo to prophecy the truth but never to be believed

- The driver and conductor of the Knight Bus, Ernie and Stanley, are named after Rowling’s grandfathers

- Harry Potter books made the American Library Association (ALA) list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books for five consecutive years. A challenge is a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness




Okay, I'm actually doing an article (journalism, haha) for either a review of the movie or facts about the new movie itself. Maybe I'll post some here!

See you guys again!

Feeling Random

Quick Update: Once I finish re-reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" for the, er, tenth time I'm going to start Brooke Taylor's "Undone" and Sarah Rees Brennan's "The Demon's Lexicon". Kristin Nelson would be so proud. Sadly, I'm in the scene Battle at Hogwarts scene...way too many people die. It's actually rather depressing.

So, I saw this on Youtube (via the blog YA Highway) and...it is rather odd...



And then got caught up in a related video, of course...



So I've decided...I'm declaring next week HARRY POTTER WEEK on my blog. What do you think?

Actually, just for the heck of it - as the band My Chemical Romance's album is coming out the Monday aftewards - HARRY POTTER AND MCR WEEK.

This will be fun.

We Interrupt This Blog Post...

Quick Update: A huge, mega, ultra shout-out to MEEROAR of http://meeroar.blogspot.com/. She gave SSF its first blog award, and just as I was about to comment on her blog with the longest thank-you speech, my best friend's wireless internet decided it didn't like Blogger anymore. So, everyone be sure to follow my writer friend "Meeroar" for pitying me and having one of the coolest blog names ever.

This was the blog award, if you're curious.

So, I'm on a ROLL today. SIX notebook pages, and I still have two and a half periods of school left. And then the rest of the day. Usually, I get up to three, maybe four, by evening time.

See, with only ten days left before I turn sixteen, I decided that with a little determination - and a little excessive pleading with God - I'm going to finish the last draft of my book by the 23rd. The LAST draft. The one I'd revise and edit and send to Kristin Nelson (and other agents, but mostly her). I guess I just want to say in the future "yeah, I finished this book when I was fifteen." Then I'd laugh evilly and maliciously.

It was the first thing that came up when I typed in "evil laugh".

I figured out a new way to write. If any of you have ever picked up a Rachel Caine book, you've probably noticed the way she plots. There are so many characters and subplots, but they fit together. Since the Morganville Vampires is my favorite series, my books are very similar to that.

So I decided, for the LAST and twelth draft of my book, to write the scenes by character. I started writing each character's scenes, starting with the least important, in a row. That has been making it much easier.

Since it's a laid-back Monday, I guess I'm just curious...as writers, how do you work? How do you plot? What do you usually come up with first...the setting, the characters, the storyline? And where are you with whatever you're writing? Are you at the stage where you're in love with the plot, and can't wait to write it all down? Are are you at that stage where you're considering how far your computer will go if you toss out the window?

Don't you just love Google Image?

As you can tell, I have a lot of free time today in journalism, so tell me whatever you want! Oh, and just for fun, I'm giving you guys a BONUS blog post in twenty or so minutes...unless a class decides to use a computer lab today, of course.

Well, anyways...spill.

Let's Talk about Twilight Spoofs

Quick Update: So, you're probably wondering whatever happened to my first Wednesday post...well, that is a long story, involving a huge debate on which musician/movie/book I would talk about first. So, hopefully next week the battle of good and really good will be resolved. On a positive note, I think I learned how to link stuff in my blog...cheers!

For today's random post, let us talk about Twilight spoofs.

That's actually Taylor Swift there as Bella...and Frankenstein as Edward.

Spoofs and parodies, as you should know, are usually movies or small clips that mock a well-known culture icon. They'll highlight the flaws, and add humor to them. Perverted, slapstick, and nonsense humor, sure, but still humor. My favorite would have to be the entire "Scary Movie" series (Anna Faris, who plays the dumb blonde Cindy Campbell in each, happens to be my choice actress). However, what MANY of us have seen lately is spoofs mocking one certain franchise:

The Twilight Saga!

Weirdly enough, I have already talked about this series. But, since I have been hearing about the trailer for the film, "VAMPIRES SUCK" everywhere I go, I thought it would be fun to talk about. If you have no idea what the The Twilight Saga, then I'm surprised. It's sorta...everywhere. If so, whether you like it, hate it, or just don't care, you might enjoy this trailer.



However, not that VAMPIRES SUCK is the first to tackle the issue. Small mentions have gone into other spoofs, such as the prom from the first movie (DANCE FLICK) or just Edward and Bella in the not-so-popular THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN WHO KNOCKED UP SARAH MARSHALL AND FELT SUPERBAD ABOUT IT. Hollywood certainly isn't alone though. So, I have complied a list of my favorite Twilight spoofs/parodies...please note, I happen to be a fan. I just enjoy the humor. Check them out if you have the time!

TWILIGHT SPOOFS/PARODIES:

Movies -
1. Vampires Suck

Television -
1. Saturday Night Live (Firelight, as in, Twilight with Frankensteins)
2. Jimmy Kimmel Show (done by the cast of Jersey Shore)

Books -
2. Nightlight (some of which you can read HERE: http://bit.ly/1dWFv0)



Youtube Videos -
1. EVILIGUANAPRODUCTION have so far spoofed all three of the trailers. Their first spoof, of the original Twilight movie trailer, became so popular that it earned them a chance to also do their version of the Edward vs. James scene.

2. JACKSFILMS is more known for his summaries of the Twilight movies in a minute. Though he wasn't around for the first film, he did have time to parody New Moon and Eclipse. His most popular video will have to be THIS though, which is just a comedic parody of the Eclipse trailer.

3. JCKSPARROW, or "The Hillywood Show" as they go by, have also spoofed the Twilight movies, usually having a dance and music sequence to add to the film. As seen here, they sum up Twilight with Katy Perry's hit "Hot n' Cold".



There are plenty of amateur The Twilight Saga spoof videos on Youtube that would take a few ages to go through. Sometimes they re-act a scene with humorous lines, put a different voice over the actual actors in the trailer, it varies. Heck, there is even a puppet-version or two of the series.



Other spoofs -

I came across this the other week, and if you like LOLcatz, you'll likely find THIS hilarious as well. It is pretty much the entire Eclipse movie in LOLcatz pictures. They have New Moon and Twilight in the archive as well, but they're shorter and do not span over the whole film.

Well, hope you enjoyed the excessively long post and videos. Are there Twilight spoofs you have seen or read that thought are worth reading? How do you feel about the franchise? Thanks everyone for subscribing! Truly appreciate it.

*RANDOM* Loony Lovegood

Quick Update: Recent outbreak of bug bites finally healing. They weren't kiddin when they said "don't let the bed bugs bite...or reproduce eerily under your mattress..."



So, Monday blog posts will revolve around...well, let's go ahead and say ANYTHING.

What about those fictional characters, eh? We all have our favorites. Guy geeks idolize a hobbit's every move, and girls fawn over sparkly, de-bloused immortals. Made-up people are just likeable. If your best friend suddenly starting eating humans alive and then asked for mercy, you'd forget them. If Hannibel Lector started eating humans alive and then asked for mercy, you'd curiously listen to his story. It just happens.

Personally, my favorite fictional character of all time is LUNA LOVEGOOD, via J.K. Rowling's legendary Harry Potter books.




Readers recognize Luna as the odd, anti-conspiracist yet clever Ravenclaw student, who tends to wear necklaces of cork caps and talk about things that just aren't there. Movie-goers kind of know her as Evanna Lynch's blonde, airy-voiced character, with a dead mother and MIA shoes, for reasons beyond us.



J.K Rowling is obviously known for her characterization. They're all different, with personalities and backstories that could probably make J.K wealthy for three lifetimes if she were to publisht hem. You can rely on Hermione for book smarts, the twins for rebellious trouble-making, Snape for some...um, scaring tactics. Luna was sadly a bit player, but whenever she did come to bat, it was for something big. In HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, her words helped Harry accept the truth of people dying and moving on. In HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, she accompanied Harry to a party, allowing him to overhear a certain converse there. And of course in the final book, she was held hostage. That's sort of major.



She was a character that everyone felt sympathy for though. How dare those Hogwarts students tease her, steal her shoes, and leave her convinced she's friendless because she believes every fairy-tale her father writes in the newspaper? Her mother died when she nine for crying out loud! Luna's also likeable, and looking out for people, especially Harry and Ginny.



Kudos to J.K, and kudos to Luna "Loony" Lovegood!