The Camp NaNoWriMo is now over for the month of April. It was fun writing. It's such an exhilirating experience. The way, you think from the character's POV(Point Of View). It's rather exciting. The novel I wrote was a Children's mystery. It's about three siblings , Andrew, Herculia and Theodore, who move to a new town. A mystery pops up and they solve it.In the camp, we each got assigned with five other writers. I had a very cool cabin. And in each cabin we are given a sort o message board which we use to talk to each other. It's really fun. The way when you have a problems and you ask them and they help out and share jokes and celebrate. I've never been camping. (Atleast not in its true sense.) But though it was online, it rather felt like camping. I would have not completed my book had it not been for my friends. So, I must it was fun participating in the camp. I can't wait for the next camp. It's in July. I need to get an idea for the next novel.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Organising You Work
If you have ever farmed, or seen a farmland or even talked to a farmer you must know that a farmer always categorises the land. A farmer divides the land into pieces and organises his work. He doesn't cultivate legumes, tomatoes and potatoes in the same plot. Instead each plot is divided into areas so, that it is more easy. The same goes with writing. First thing to do while writing, Organize. Create a Folder (whether in your Computer or a file.) And inside the folder create other folders for Plot line, Chapter, Characters, and other stuff. This helps you work better.So, instead of simply creating word documents. Categorize them. Trust me, you find things much more easier.If you are not working on a computer, you needn't use a file for each of the category, instead, simply divide a file into parts.
Lets take each folder. The Plot line folder can help you write the main plot line. You can write the main plot line, the setting, or simply collect information related to your novel. In the Chapter folder, you can create documents for each chapter. This will help you access each chapter much easier. In the character folder, you can create a document for each character. This can be simply the description, the importance of your character, or just include chapters where you character is. It is always nice to have characters which stand individually. But too many of such characters is boring as well. It'll be confusing. So, slowly organize your work before starting to write.
Lets take each folder. The Plot line folder can help you write the main plot line. You can write the main plot line, the setting, or simply collect information related to your novel. In the Chapter folder, you can create documents for each chapter. This will help you access each chapter much easier. In the character folder, you can create a document for each character. This can be simply the description, the importance of your character, or just include chapters where you character is. It is always nice to have characters which stand individually. But too many of such characters is boring as well. It'll be confusing. So, slowly organize your work before starting to write.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Camp NaNoWriMo
Its time for this year's Camp NaNoWriMo. In case you don't already know about this, this is camp by the National Novel Writing Month organisers. For those who, like me, become tired of, writing, or may loose motivation, or are out of ideas, or simply want to make friends, this is the place to go. You can set your own word limit. And if you achieve it your a winner. This is going to be my first camp. I'm really excited. You can get advise from the experts, get inspired, find friends who love writing and lots more.
Finding the best quality seeds
A good farmer would know that a good plant comes from a good seed. The seed determines the quality of the plant. In writing the seed is the idea. The better your idea, the better you novel. You can never know where you can get an idea from. It maybe from something you see, it could be from something trivial. But whatever the inspiration is, you must be prepared. So, keep a notebook in hand just in case you find an idea. Just because you have a idea now doe not mean that you will have it later. So, write it down. Look around you, there maybe many characters who would be really cool in a story. It can be your funny best friend, a person you see at work , or just about anyone. If I were to write down characters from around me, I can write a book just about them. There are so many.If you take the time to notice, even an angry boss or a kind person on the road can make good characters. All you need is the ability to observe carefully. See things from a novelists point of view.
If you have tried to observe but haven't found anything worth writing, then look at other books. I ask you to look, not to copy. Take Pride and Prejudice. Imagine the setting. What kind of a story would you write if you could about that age? Try imagining liviing at that time. What were the troubles that people faced? What did they aspire?
Or take a fantasy book, Harry Potter, What would you fantasy book be like? Fantasy books give you a lot of ideas. It gives you the ability to crate you own world. How would that wonderful world be? Try to make your story.
Or any genre. I'll try to make a post on different genres later. Whichever genres you use, try to imagine a story in it. I'm sure you'll get ideas.
The most important thing is to read. The more you read, the better you write. Try to read books from every genre. Because its is nice to know how books are written in each genre. You can find that you may prefer to write in a different genre from which your read. I like reading, Young Adult, Classics and Comedies. But I like to write in Children's mystery. It would not always be the case. But if you are writing in a genre different from the ones you read, you will have to read a book in the genre. It help to know how such stories are written.
If you have tried to observe but haven't found anything worth writing, then look at other books. I ask you to look, not to copy. Take Pride and Prejudice. Imagine the setting. What kind of a story would you write if you could about that age? Try imagining liviing at that time. What were the troubles that people faced? What did they aspire?
Or take a fantasy book, Harry Potter, What would you fantasy book be like? Fantasy books give you a lot of ideas. It gives you the ability to crate you own world. How would that wonderful world be? Try to make your story.
Or any genre. I'll try to make a post on different genres later. Whichever genres you use, try to imagine a story in it. I'm sure you'll get ideas.
The most important thing is to read. The more you read, the better you write. Try to read books from every genre. Because its is nice to know how books are written in each genre. You can find that you may prefer to write in a different genre from which your read. I like reading, Young Adult, Classics and Comedies. But I like to write in Children's mystery. It would not always be the case. But if you are writing in a genre different from the ones you read, you will have to read a book in the genre. It help to know how such stories are written.
Gathering the Tools.
The first and most important thing required to growing a book is to gather the tools. Can you plough without a good plough? How about tractors, sowing machines, watercans? You need the best to get the best. So, what are the tools in writing? Why, there are a few tools. Of course , a pen is one. But it doesn't matter if the bet pen , because as long it has got ink in it, any pen does the trick. If you like typing, you ca. use your Desktop PC, laptop, tablet, phone or whichever you wish. But if these don't matter much then what does?
Well, there are quite a few tools that are available for writers. I believe the preferred term is writing softwares. There are many writing softwares available for budding writers. I'm not much into buying softwares for cause you can write well, with just a word document. But when you need inspiration, these might help. I'll list the free softwares cause I don't recommend paying much. But if you wish, these softwares also have paid versions that can help you.
1. Omm writer - this is beautiful software. Its cuts off all distractions. Besides you can play music in this as well. There are recorded tones. You can choose sounds for each key and much more. It had a paid version as well.
2. Focus Writer - This has a beautiful interface as well. It cuts off all distraction and helps you concentrate.
3.Write Monkey - Another distraction free software helping you to write.
4.yWriter - This is different from the other software given before. This helps to create chapter, write detailed description about Characters. So, if you're writing a novel, this is probably better.
5. Microsoft Word - Of course, you know this. Its helpful if you don't want to write chapters. If you simply prefer to write bits and pieces of a book, then, this is the best.
There are many more softwares out there, but these are the ones that I have used. And , I must say that even without any fancy softwares you can simply open a notepad start writing. Just like how many have done it before.
Well, there are quite a few tools that are available for writers. I believe the preferred term is writing softwares. There are many writing softwares available for budding writers. I'm not much into buying softwares for cause you can write well, with just a word document. But when you need inspiration, these might help. I'll list the free softwares cause I don't recommend paying much. But if you wish, these softwares also have paid versions that can help you.
1. Omm writer - this is beautiful software. Its cuts off all distractions. Besides you can play music in this as well. There are recorded tones. You can choose sounds for each key and much more. It had a paid version as well.
2. Focus Writer - This has a beautiful interface as well. It cuts off all distraction and helps you concentrate.
3.Write Monkey - Another distraction free software helping you to write.
4.yWriter - This is different from the other software given before. This helps to create chapter, write detailed description about Characters. So, if you're writing a novel, this is probably better.
5. Microsoft Word - Of course, you know this. Its helpful if you don't want to write chapters. If you simply prefer to write bits and pieces of a book, then, this is the best.
There are many more softwares out there, but these are the ones that I have used. And , I must say that even without any fancy softwares you can simply open a notepad start writing. Just like how many have done it before.
The Beginning.
As the first post, i'd like to welcome everyone to the blog.
Hello everyone.
I think i'll begin by saying about books. Books, are the most wonderful of all inventions that have been made. Imagine a world without books. Trust me even civilisations wouldn't have gone for long if it weren't for books. How could you know about the ancient Greek mythology? How can you read about the stories of Jane Austen? Without a book none of this would be possible. Of course, there could have been people who tell fables. They could have carried the knowledge, but would it be accessible to everyone? Would it even be accurate. In ancient civilisations stories, news, and facts were all transferred from one place to another through story-tellers. These people would travel different places, singing or just saying stories from places they have visited. Many a time, one could find people gathered around such story-tellers to hear about the news from other places. But not everyone would be able to catch the latest news and all the news wouldn't be accurate as it had been told from one person to another. I believe if you have played the game called chinese whispers, you'll understand for sure that conveying a message through saying, will be disastrously inaccurate. For those who have not played the game, i'll illustrate this with a story.
Emily was rather surprised when her brother tells that her teacher Mrs.Middleton wanted her to bring a dead frog the next day to school. So, she finds a frog, but being a kind little girl, she couldn't kill it. So, she decides to take the frog to her teacher, Mrs.Middleton, alive. When she opens the box at school, the teacher is surprised to find a frog. The frog leaps on the teacher. Emily is called by the principal to his office. She tells the principal that it was her brother who asked her bring it. Her brother is summoned. He explains that his friend had asked him to tell her. The friend is summoned, who, says that it was his brother, Neal, who had told him. When, Neal is summoned, he reveals that Mrs. Middleton wanted a dead dog and not a dead frog. and that it was Ruth who had told him. Ruth , when called, says that she had told Neal to tell Emily to bring a bed sock. But as she wore braces in her teeth, she was not clear. She also, says that it was Anna who had told her. Anna, when summoned, tells that Mrs. Wimbledon had asked Emily to bring red socks. And the case was solved.
So, see how the intended message (Bring a red sock) was turned into, a completely and utterly different message(bring a Dead frog). So, what i'm trying to say is, when communication travels by one person saying to another, the intended message is changed. But imagine the case of a book(written communication). Irrespective of the number of people through whom the book has traveled to reach anywhere, it still contains the same message as it had when it began its journey. That is the beauty of a book. The book allows us to interpret the author's message on our own, instead of listening to an interpreted message. I hope this post was nice. I hope everyone enjoyed it.
Hello everyone.
I think i'll begin by saying about books. Books, are the most wonderful of all inventions that have been made. Imagine a world without books. Trust me even civilisations wouldn't have gone for long if it weren't for books. How could you know about the ancient Greek mythology? How can you read about the stories of Jane Austen? Without a book none of this would be possible. Of course, there could have been people who tell fables. They could have carried the knowledge, but would it be accessible to everyone? Would it even be accurate. In ancient civilisations stories, news, and facts were all transferred from one place to another through story-tellers. These people would travel different places, singing or just saying stories from places they have visited. Many a time, one could find people gathered around such story-tellers to hear about the news from other places. But not everyone would be able to catch the latest news and all the news wouldn't be accurate as it had been told from one person to another. I believe if you have played the game called chinese whispers, you'll understand for sure that conveying a message through saying, will be disastrously inaccurate. For those who have not played the game, i'll illustrate this with a story.
Emily was rather surprised when her brother tells that her teacher Mrs.Middleton wanted her to bring a dead frog the next day to school. So, she finds a frog, but being a kind little girl, she couldn't kill it. So, she decides to take the frog to her teacher, Mrs.Middleton, alive. When she opens the box at school, the teacher is surprised to find a frog. The frog leaps on the teacher. Emily is called by the principal to his office. She tells the principal that it was her brother who asked her bring it. Her brother is summoned. He explains that his friend had asked him to tell her. The friend is summoned, who, says that it was his brother, Neal, who had told him. When, Neal is summoned, he reveals that Mrs. Middleton wanted a dead dog and not a dead frog. and that it was Ruth who had told him. Ruth , when called, says that she had told Neal to tell Emily to bring a bed sock. But as she wore braces in her teeth, she was not clear. She also, says that it was Anna who had told her. Anna, when summoned, tells that Mrs. Wimbledon had asked Emily to bring red socks. And the case was solved.
So, see how the intended message (Bring a red sock) was turned into, a completely and utterly different message(bring a Dead frog). So, what i'm trying to say is, when communication travels by one person saying to another, the intended message is changed. But imagine the case of a book(written communication). Irrespective of the number of people through whom the book has traveled to reach anywhere, it still contains the same message as it had when it began its journey. That is the beauty of a book. The book allows us to interpret the author's message on our own, instead of listening to an interpreted message. I hope this post was nice. I hope everyone enjoyed it.
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