Another one bites the dust

Well friends and followers, I've done it again. My poem, A Bridge and You, is officially on its way to be reviewed by an editor at HarperCollins publishing. It's exciting, but a bit sad at the same time. I'll be posting it on the Poetry page for you to take a look at.
Anywho, life is okay. I'm working on my Knight's End query, writing Dragon Quest, planning Darker Days, and building my characters for the plotless 19. Sounds fun, right? You know, it actually is.
I'm sorry I don't really have any great writing tips to share today. I'm only posting because it's been so long and I felt I needed one. Oh! I bought a new book today! *surprise, surprise* It's called My Dream Map. It's a book that you basically use as a type of workbook to "map" out the road to achieving your dreams. So far I'm really enjoying it :)

In the Works: Dragon Quest

Well I have scrapped all plans of completing a novel for NaNoWriMo this year, but all is not lost! While I have given up on Immure for the time being, I do plan to eventually write it. I think the major problem with NaNo this year *aside from lack of time* was the fact that I really wanted to be working on Dragon Quest, and writing Immure just wasn't inspiring me at all. So now I have quit  NaNo and I am working diligently on Dragon Quest.
I just finished reading Wendy Higgins' blog post where she went into detail about how the idea for Sweet Evil came along. And I realize she is a published author and therefor her stories are interesting, but I am in a blogging mood so I am going to let you in on the secret of how Dragon Quest was born.
First off, this trilogy started out as a six book saga. There were six Shields of Power, forty-two Gems of Power, and a lot more characters. It had a storyline that included the entire history of the world, a pair of brothers set against each other by a vindictive demon, and a group of Gorgins who were tied into the Prophecy.
I have since decided I could never finish six books. It's hard enough to find meaningful ways for the Four Destined to find seven gems, much less forty-two!

But maybe I should explain the story a bit better before I get into where it came from. You were a little kid once, right? We all were. And we all played pretend. We made up stories for our Barbies, our stuffed animals were superheros, and we ourselves for Sailor Scouts. But my writer side took over when I was young, and my sister and I became more than that. We became the Four Destined (who originally did not hold that title). There were five of us, at the time: Alice, John, Jackey, Alicia, and Antonio. (Antonio has since been cut from the book, and their names have all changed). We slayed dragons, made friends with the elves. Heck, we even started drawing the characters and making our world.
I'm not sure exactly how old I was when I first decided to write The 6 Shields (original title). I know I had a first draft finished in sixth grade, and a second around eighth. I fell in love with the characters, and this story has always been my baby. But I strayed. I wrote A Promise of Forever. Then I wrote Knight's End. And then I started in on Oblivion and Immure. But I came back to Dragon Quest when everything else sort of flopped, and it's coming along much better than my sixth grade mind ever imagined it.

It has since been retitled and shortened to a trilogy. Instead of The 6 Shields: The First Shield, ect, it is now Dragon Quest, Mahimi's Island, and The Last Battle. The Four Destined are Jace, Elysia, Aelita, and Cade. The creatures have all changed and the gems are now scattered and found throughout the first two books. The last book is a book of war.
But anyway, that's where the idea came from. Two young girls playing pretend. And it has turned into what I am hoping will end up being a phenomenon. It's not twilight; no vampires or werewolves. It's high fantasy at its (hopeful) best. And it's been such a joy working on it again :D
To all who care, this is me signing off so I can write.
Jami

NaNoWriMo!!!

So it is officially November 1 (on my part of the world, anyway) and I am SO excited to be starting NaNo today! But where has the last week gone? I swear I had eight days left last time I checked..
In any case, here's the plan: I want to write TWO books for NaNo. I know! I'm completely mental. But I started writing Dragon Quest (on projects page) a few days ago and now I am addicted. I also plan to write Immure (also on projects page) as my true *from scratch* NaNo. Dragon Quest is outlined, so it really doesn't count.
On top of that, I have a 10 page long research paper to write (I am five pages in) and a speech that has to be six minutes long (haven't started) both due in November, as well as a full business plan (1/3 done) that is due at the end of the month. In over my head? Maybe a little, but it is going to be an interesting November!
I also want to finish reading Destined by P.C. Cast so I can move on to one of the many, many (many!) other books I recently bought. (Matched, The Hollow, Alterant, Son of Neptune, Halo...need I go on?). Plus I am working on my Writer's Fellowship application that is due in December, studying for finals (also in December) working, helping my mom with her craft shows... Ok I think it is time for bed! I have way too much going on starting tomorrow (today D:) and I definitely need some sleep before November (officially) begins.
Good night, and good luck to all you NaNoWriMo's out there joining me for this month of craziness!

Taking a break from the workshop

School and work have proven too much for me to keep up with writing and my blog, so I am choosing to stick with writing for the time being. I am currently in the process of outlining Immure, a new book idea, and writing Oblivion. The Dystopian novel has taken over my heart, so I am trying to write at least 1000 new words a day into the project. At this rate, I should have about 25K written in time for NaNoWriMo... I may have to choose a different book for my NaNo project.. maybe I'll write Immure for NaNo..

Do you have a plan for NaNoWriMo? Share it with me! Add me on NaNo as well! There's a link in my "find me" page!

Writer's Workshop One - Part Two

Last time we talked about What readers want, picking your point of view character, and being three people at once. Today, we continue looking at characters. We are still using Nancy Kress’ Characters, Viewpoint, and Emotion.

The most fun part (in my opinion) of building a new character is filling out their mini bio.

Here’s the form I use:

Name:
Age:
Birthplace:
Marital Status:
Children and their ages:
General appearance (whatever seems useful):
Living Arrangements:
Occupation, including name of employer (if applicable):
Degree of skill in job:
Character’s feelings about occupation(love, hate, ect):
Family background(whatever you think is important: ethnicity, siblings, parents, social status, ect):

Even if the information in the form isn’t necessarily going to be in the story, if you know everything about your character, then they are well rounded and believable when you do start to write about them. 

Introducing characters:

Names are important. Trust me, I know about people hating your names. (Ernst from Knight’s End has gotten more than one hate comment). What’s important is that you like them, as long as they mean something to the character. If you name someone Billy Gowinkle and it has nothing to do with his attitude and people hate it, change it. However if, like in Ernst’s case, the name means something (in this case, serious, battle to the death) then you have to make people love the name. Which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Mainly, you have to show them that the name means something without outright saying “Talbot’s name meant messenger of destruction.” Instead, you show them creating havoc, and then people will understand. Hopefully. Not always. But you have to try!

Also, not everyone in your book is going to call  Bob by his first name. Some will call him Matt because it’s his middle name that he decided in high school he wanted to go by. His parents will call him son, bobby, or Bob Dylan Wright! His best friends will call him Bob, Bobby, Bobo, Booboo. His girlfriend will call him sweetie, love, booger. Get the gist? Decide what names your character is going to have throughout the course of the novel. Show how those names create relationships between different characters. 

When developing characters, you also need to think about their wardrobes, just as much as their physical appearance. Does Bob wear a coat and tie? Does he wear ripped jeans, spiked bracelets, and Chuck Taylors? Does he wear AE jeans with AE shirts and keds? What do Bob’s clothes tell us about him? Given the outfits above, he, respectively, is well mannered, a skater boy, or the quarterback of the football team. People’s clothes can reveal a lot about them.

The way a person treats their physical attributes can do the same. Does Bob die his hair black? Does he put purple streaks in it? Does he have it highlighted? Does he keep it short and straight, long and unruly? Something as simple as the way someone looks can tell us more about a character than you could possibly have imagined! 

The way a character’s home looks can tell us about them as well. Is Bob’s room full of Spiderman posters and comic books? Does he have a neat desk, with pencils in a cup and his textbooks arranged  by size. Do his Xbox controllers take up half the floor? Is the rest of his house filled with half priced furniture that is mix matched? Or are there crystal chandeliers in every room on all three floors? Inject this information into your novel to really show off your character. These are simple techniques to character building. They are like cheating! Shortcuts! You don’t have to show us as much of a character through action and dialogue if you can show them to us through how they look. (does that make sense?)

Well that’s it for part two! I strongly suggest buying this book. It’s absolutely amazing so far! (I’m on chapter five :P)

Until next time, writers!

J. D. Montgomery

Writer's Workshop Part I - Day 1

Welcome back to my Writer's Workshop! Again, I am using notes from Nancy Kress' Characters, Emotions, and Viewpoint. This book is extremely helpful, and I am planning on buying the entire Write Great Fiction book series.

For Day One, we are going to focus on you becoming the best writer you can be. First, you have to come to terms with the fact that not everybody is going to love your work. If someone only reads sci-fi, you can't be mad if they don't like your historical fiction romance. If they only read Shakespeare, they aren't going to like your modern lingo. Once you come to terms with the fact that you will, eventually, be receiving both good and bad reviews, you are ready to be a writer.

The KEY component in all fiction is your characters! Characters make or break a book. Have a great plotline but a deadpan MC? Good luck selling that book. The first part of this Writer's Workshop is going to concentrate on your characters, and hopefully help you build them to the best they can be. Or the worst. It depends on your character.

Alright, to start, let's look at how choosing to write from the perspective of different characters could ultimately (WILL ultimately) change your story. I am going to use the three main characters from my newest book, Oblivion, for this exercise.
I am writing Oblivion from Wynter's point of view. She is inside the Dome, loves going to school, and has a "dead" twin brother whom she has just learned is still alive somewhere outside the Dome.
Jeremy is Wynter's twin. He supposedly died a year ago, but he actually got swept from the Dome and, at the beginning of the book, is being held prisoner in a Resistance Camp outside the Dome.
Ryder is Wynter's long time best friend. He hates school, hates the Dome, and wants to leave to find adventures.

Imagine how different Oblivion would be if I were telling it from Jeremy's perspective. If I started the novel at the same place, we would never see the inside of the Dome. We would start in a Resistance Camp, something Wynter doesn't learn about until later, we would know only what Jeremy knows about the Dome (a lot of things that Wynter does not), and Wynter wouldn't arrive in the story quite a while.

If we told the story from Ryder's POV, Wynter wouldn't be as drawn out, we wouldn't understand her sudden knowledge that her twin is alive (because the Twin Telepathy wouldn't be seen as well), and we would be Hell bent on getting out of the Dome and finding adventure instead of having Wynter's worry about authority and leaving their "parents" in our minds.

Do you see how amazingly different the story would be if told from different perspectives? Of course, you could always write in third person and have ALL of the perspectives, but for the sake of this exercise, we assume you are writing in first person.

The next concept is learning how to be three people at once: the writer, the reader, and the character you are portraying.
To be the writer, you mainly worry about craft choices. Do you need more description, less dialogue? Or the other way around?
Being the reader, you don't care about the craft. What you care about is how the scene comes across to you. Do you understand what is happening, or do you feel the writer left out something that they assumed you would know? To help with this, have a friend or family member read the scene and see how it comes across to them. Getting another perspective helps a lot in writing. It's why editors are so important.
Being the character really combines both other perspectives. As a character, you are aware of what the character is feeling, smelling, tasting, hearing, and seeing while the scene is being created. Are there birds chirping in trees, is your character feeling an adrenaline rush because someone is chasing them? In these moments, you have to BE the character to make the scene believable.

I think that is enough for one day. I will be updating every couple of days, so stay tuned if you want more information on building the perfect character!

J.D. Montgomery

Writer's Workshop

Okay, for the next couple of weeks, I am going to be doing a sort of Writer's Workshop with my blog. I checked out a few books from the library that contain extremely helpful information, and I want to share it with you.
The first book I will be using is called Characters, Emotions, & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress. I'll be using quotes and pasages from her work and applying it to my own opinions, characters, and writing. Feel free to join me! I'll be doing the first post either today or tomorrow, and will be posting (probably) every other day after that. :)

J.D. Montgomery

Farther VS Further

So I was working on Oblivion tonight, and I came across a really annoying further/farther moment. I didn't know which one to use! Since I am sure I am not the first writer to come across this dilemma, nor will I be the last, I google searched my little heart out until I found a really helpful tip. This is from Grammar Girl's Website. To read the full post, click the link! Here's the tidbit that I found infinitely helpful!

"Further" Versus "Farther"

The quick and dirty tip is to use “farther” for physical distance and “further” for metaphorical, or figurative, distance. It's easy to remember because “farther” has the word “far” in it, and“far” obviously relates to physical distance.

For example, imagine Squiggly and Aardvark are flying to a galaxy far, far away, but Squiggly gets bored and starts mercilessly bugging Aardvark. "How much farther?'" he keeps asking in despair.”

Did you hear that? Squiggly used “farther” because he was asking about physical distance.

If Aardvark gets frustrated with Squiggly, which he surely will, he could respond, “If you complain further, I'm going to shoot you out the airlock.”

Aardvark used “further” because he isn't talking about physical distance, he's talking about a figurative distance: the extent of Squiggly's complaining.

 

 

And there you have it! Another pit-stop on the Writer's Journey. Hope this helps you as much as it helped me! Happy reading, and come back for more soon.  

Jami Montgomery

A Writer's Journey

Welcome to the new Journey blog! The old one got hacked, blocked, or something, and I can no longer get to it. This is the new address. :)
Well, Knight's End is ten days away from its Harper Collins review, so I am crossing fingers, toes, arms, legs. Basically anything and everything I can in the hopes that I will keep my top five spot for those last ten days! I am hopeful!
In any case, there is definitely more to come here, so keep an eye out for some news on projects and such!