I am happy to report that the first draft for that new novel I was working on is COMPLETE!!
I can’t believe it!
It took me a total of 10 days. 😲
It just goes to show what good planning and dedicated writing time can achieve. 🙂
So, Writing Tip PRO:
DO plan out your entire book, from beginning to end.
DO write out the synopsis first thing.
DO set aside dedicated writing time. (At least a good 4 to 5 hour chunk at the same time every day!)
DO decide on your goal finish date and word count total. Then, figure out what that daily word count total is – and work your darndest to achieve and or surpass that daily goal every day.
DO say ‘F*** it!’ to that little voice in your head that says ‘should we really write that?’ and just write whatever you want! (It’s the first draft after all, so the most important thing is just getting those words on the paper/screen.)
DO write The End when you FEEL that it’s the end, even if you haven’t reached the ‘complete book’ word count goal you’d set for yourself at the beginning. This first draft is the skeleton of your book, during edits you can go back through and add things like flesh, hair, and clothes. 🙂
You read that right, I’ve been working on a new novel these days! 🙂
I don’t want to give too much away, but I must say that I am very excited about it. I’ve been enjoying it very much, and I’m happy to report that in just 1 week I’ve managed to write over 21,000 words!!!
OK, so what I wanted to pop back on here to say was – I may have been wrong about that whole ‘don’t outline’ stuff thing. Outlining is great! Specifically, writing up the synopsis for your entire book very first thing.
This is something that I haven’t done in the past, and this time around – it has been very helpful! Least of reasons being that literary agents and publishers want a synopsis, and if you’ve never written one for your book then things get very stick very quickly.
I’ll get more into things once I’ve organized things a bit more, but I just wanted to give all of y’all’s an update! 🙂
Just finished, on 1/7/2022, book #2 for the “read 1 book a week” new years challenge.
The book was Perelandra by CS Lewis.
Wow.
All I can say is wow!
It has been a long time since a book, movie, or show has scared me so much to the point of not being able to fall asleep, but this one did it.
It follows the further adventures of our leading man Ransom, a middle-aged British scholar, who this time around rather then being kidnapped by morally depraved humans and taken to Mars, is spirited away by celestial eldila (what we would most probably call angels) and sent to Venus. The newborn planet of floating islands and innocent new creations has been invaded by another creature, a creature that Ransom has been sent to stop – the devil himself.
Once again, I don’t know if that’s a good enough summary of the book – but I can promise you, that that is the starting off point of it.
What was most frightening was how familiar the words of the devil sounded. From modern tv shows, books, education, social media, the news, academic circles, etc, etc… it was all too familiar.
What I liked was how Ransom has never been put out there as a saintly character or like some kind of superhero, he has always just been a middle aged, academic, Christian Englishman. He is very much a real person. The thoughts and feelings he has throughout the book (throughout both of the books in fact) are ones that I think would be familiar to almost everyone today.
And he had to fight the devil.
He was the one that had been sent, it could’ve just as easily been someone, anyone else, but it was him. So, he had to stand up and fight.
I have heard it said, and I believe it, that Ransom was based off of CS Lewis’s dear friend JRR Tolkien. What I love about that is that it is very clear in reading both Tolkien and Lewis, one a Catholic and the other a born again Christian respectively, that they are in the constant habit of having very intense deep discussions. I love how you can see a similarity of themes, ideas, characters and topics in both of their writings. (btw if my writing style is a little different, that is the direct response of having just spent the last few hours immersed in Lewis’s own writing style, hahaha!🤣)
I don’t really know how to put my thoughts into words… maybe I should wait a day or two to write a proper review, but I wanted to get something down now while the experience was fresh in my mind.
I have also heard it said that one of CS Lewis’s early academic essays that deals with the topic of space travel deals with the question that, and I’m paraphrasing here, “what if the alien life we discover, is a race that has never sinned? What then? We would have to be very careful to make sure that our race did not cause another to Fall.” Again, that’s all paraphrase, I haven’t read that essay myself, (not yet anyways!), but that is the question that is most definitely raised in Perelandra.
Ransom, is essentially dropped into a new Garden of Eden, on the planet Venus, where he meets a new Eve, and then our old devil, in the body of one the men that had kidnapped him in the previous novel, arrives to try to make her Fall.
…
1/10/2021 – I took a few days to try to collect my thoughts a bit more coherently, and still all I can say is YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! It is so good!!
10 out of 10, 5 out of 5, this book is everything!
Now… what should I read next?
Subscribe below to follow along in this book reading journey of mine!
Technically the month leading up to Christmas is advent and only after Christmas has the Christmas season officially begun, so that means – MORE MUSIC! 😀
#1: Merry Chreasmaugh by Tobuscus
#2: Time to Fall in Love by Lindsey Stirling
#3: Stuck in Love by Kim Kyung Hee (from Goblin)
#4: Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson
#5: Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney
As you may have noticed, there’s none of the traditional Christmas Carols on any of these lists – but that’s not because I don’t love those! I just love singing those live at church and with my family. That’s why these lists are full of my favorite secular songs (unless there is a recorded version of a particular church carol that is good!)
Some of my favorite Classic Christmas Carols are:
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Silent Night What Child is This God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Hark the Herald Angels Sing
I hope that your Christmas Day was filled with Jesus, family, love and happiness! ❤
But, I’m not meaning it in any kind of weird, possessive, bad kind of way.
I mean it in the – if you love young adult books, and you want to write young adult books – then read a lot of young adult books, and watch a lot of young adult movies and tv shows.
If you love Sci-Fi – then read and watch a ton of Sci-Fi! If you want to write children’s books, then read a lot of children’s books, if you want to write a cookbook, then study as many different cookbooks as you can (and also, you know, cook and bake and stuff!).
If you love movies, and you want to write screenplays – then watch a bunch of movies, critically. Study them, pay attention to the angles and the lighting and the placement of objects and the dialogue, etc. etc. While also, reading scripts, studying scripts, familiarizing yourself with the format, etc.
Writing is just like anything, and everything else, it gets better with practice and study.
Basically, figure out your genre, your type, your niche that you want to write – and then consume as much of that genre, type, niche as you can. The more you read mystery, the better you’ll get at writing mystery. The more you watch action movies, the better you’ll be at writing action movies. The more you bake, the better you’ll be at baking.
But, the biggest part of this advice is, the first time you’re reading or watching something – just enjoy it! Enjoy it that first time, don’t pay attention to the commas, or the allegory, or the whatever other big literary word you can think of, just enjoy it.
Enjoy it and DO pay attention to the way it makes you feel, remember the moments it made you laugh or cry, remember the times it blindsided you with a twist. Then, the second, third, and fifteenth time you read/watch it you’ll notice HOW they made you feel/think those things without even having to try.
Oh also, a note about picking a genre, type, or niche – don’t stress about that part. I know, me personally I write what I love, but then when I try to define it I get bogged down in the “aaagh, it’s too many things! It’s horror, it’s fantasy, it’s romance, it’s comedy, it’s ya, it’s sci-fi, it’s contemporary, aaaagh I don’t know!!” So, yeah, don’t get stressed about that part.
Just read/watch what you love, enjoy it, read/watch it again, study it, write it, and before you know it – boom! You’ll have a book/script written!
I hope this was coherent!😆 If it wasn’t, I apologize!
Goblin, the 2016 tvN international Korean phenomenon. WATCH IT!
Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) is the guardian Goblin, an immortal being with extraordinary powers who has lived a long and lonely life. He was once a man, a general in the Kings army, who was unfairly executed. After his death he became a Goblin, his immortal life a curse that can only be ended when he finds the Goblin Bride, the only one who can remove the sword of betrayal from his breast and grant him the eternal rest of death.
Ji Eun Tak (Kim Go Eun), is the daughter of a woman that was saved by the goblin. Unbeknownst to her, it was his actions that gave her the ability to see ghosts – and turned her into the Goblins’ Bride.
Joining the cast of characters we have Lee Dong Wook as the Grim Reaper, and Yoo In Na as the elegant chicken restaurant owner Sunny. The Grim Reaper becomes roommates with the Goblin, and Sunny hires Ji Eun Tak as a part time employee. The foursomes lives intertwine in a tale of fate in this funny, beautiful, tragic drama that is a MUST WATCH to be started on the first snow of the season.
I was waiting to post this show for the first snow of the season, but it’s been such a warm winter so far! Finally, finally we have some snow!! 😀
Goblin is truly a masterpiece, for 3 specific reasons – the filming, the soundtrack, the story.
The filming – first off they filmed in multiple locations, all over South Korea but also in parts of Canada too! The lighting and the angles were just as much of a character as the rest of cast.
For example, there’s this one specific scene with Lee El (affectionately nicknamed Goblin Lady), who is a mystical protector character, where she goes to visit Kim Go Eun (the goblin bride, Ji Eun Tak) at school, and she addresses the teacher. She asks the teacher, “couldn’t you have done better?” or something like that, and the camera focuses full-on on her face and then on the teachers face, and the teacher starts crying. You really get the message that her question isn’t just about the class, it’s about something on a much more personal and deep level. It really connects you with that character in a way that is surprising and raw, and while of course the acting plays a huge factor, that is down to the way it was filmed.
Next, the soundtrack – it is rare to find a soundtrack where every single song is a slam dunk, but Goblin managed to do it. There is not a single song that I dislike on the whole soundtrack! Of course, taste is subjective – but, I think you’d agree with me too! Not only is every song so good, but tonally they match the feeling of precious, supernatural, lonely love that the whole show has.
Finally, the story – what’s so great about Goblin’s story is that it’s not just one persons, or one couples story, it’s 4 people and 2 complete love stories. It’s a fantastic 2 for one special! One, the fated pre-destined love, a cursed prince & Cinderella storyline, the other a broken-hearted, twisted by outside factions, tragic love story. I won’t tell you which is which, although you might’ve already figured it out. 😉
And bonus, something I’ve noticed about Korean Dramas is that each actor has a tailored storyline, specific trope, stereotyped perfected over time character, that they play in almost everything that they’re in. It’s that way in America too – but it’s not really encouraged, or even allowed. But, an example of an American actor that has a specific style is Harrison Ford. Everything that he plays is Han Solo-esque, with a touch of the “I want my family back!” spice, and it’s great! It’s part of why everyone loves him! If you’re casting Harrison Ford, it’s because you WANT Harrison Ford.
That is what Goblin did masterfully!
It catered to each actors Style flawlessly! Gong Yoo usually plays the rich but playful yet sad character, Kim Go Eun (I’ve seen less of her stuff, but from research…) usually plays the poor and sad but scrappy and strong characters. Yoo In Na generally has a storyline of a past relationship that went bad, but now they’re trying to get back together, while Lee Dong Wook tends to be the type of character who has a controlling manipulative patriarchal figure that he has to deal with.
It is a rare treat to find a show that hits the nail on the head in all 4 of these categories – but Goblin does it easily.
You can watch Goblin these days over on Viki.com, where you can watch the first 2 episodes for free (with commercial breaks), and then the rest after signing up for Viki Plus.
Stay warm out there, and don’t forget to subscribe for future drama recommendations! 🙂
Instead of that scene in The Rise of Skywalker where Ben saw his Dad, Han, on the destroyed Death Star in the middle of the ocean, they should’ve done this…
On that planet, there was the Millennium Falcon. It was downed and out of commission, because Rey and company had crashed it. Rey and Finn ended up using other ships to get to the Death Star, while Poe supposedly stayed back to try and fix the Falcon, and then ultimately all we saw was Rey leaving in Kylo’s tie fighter.
So instead – let’s have it that Poe & company (Finn, and those ex-trooper [I think that’s what they were] guys) leave the Falcon. Because, they don’t have the parts, or the time, or whatever, I don’t know it doesn’t matter (just like logic didn’t seem to matter in that entire movie!). But, they just leave the planet on some other ship (because, apparently, all of the ships work, even if they’ve been under the ocean for ages!), and they leave the Falcon behind, to be picked up at a later date.
So now, Kyle/Ben is all alone on that planet with nothing but himself, his regrets, and his father’s old ship.
After Rey leaves him, he wanders the island alone until he finds the Falcon.
He goes inside.
As he walks around the ship, ghosts of memories from his childhood haunt every corner. He sees (we the audience see) images of himself, hearing the echoing vibrations of times long past.
One ghost of him in the cockpit as a tiny kid, Han teaching him to fly. One of him slightly older, Leia ignoring him to take care of a newly orphaned Poe Dameron. Another one of him, younger again, seeing Han and Leia fighting. They’re arguing about how Leia’s always leaving them, leaving her husband and son to go and be a General, and about how she looks down on Han. Ben remembers, and hears her talking about how much she needs someone strong by her side (this shows why ultimately Ben wanted to become so powerful, he wanted to be that strong someone for his mother).
As he continues to walk, he sees another slightly older memory of himself, between the ages of 7-10. Han and Leia have called Uncle Luke over to help them deal with their “weird” kid who’s hearing voices. We hear flippant but concerned comment from Han about how, “we’ve got a little Vader here, huh?”. Ben remembers Uncle Luke telling him to “listen to those voices. Those are old masters.”
Have that memory fade into another one of an angry teenage Ben fighting with Han, saying something about something that Uncle Luke said. To which Han responds with, “then why don’t you make Uncle Luke your dad!” and so on and so forth, the memory fades on their shouts as the camera pans around to Kylo Ren again, looking at all of this, reliving all of those moments over again, all the emotions, good and bad, plain on his face.
Then, everything fades to silence. The only thing we can hear is Kylo/Ben’s trouble breathing for a breath of one, two…
Then, from behind him we hear Han Solo say, “Welcome home, kid.”
The rest of their exchange can play out the way that it did in the movie, with the aknowledgements and apologies, and Kylo casting off the name of Kylo and becoming Ben again.
But then, instead of Ben rushing to rescue Rey in an old waterlogged ship that he has not connection to, he rushes off to save her in his father’s ship. In the Millennium Falcon.
Aaaaaaagh it could’ve been so good, and so much more emotional!!!
Because, Kylo has no connection to the Death Star or that ship that he flew in the end (I can’t remember what that ship was called!), but he HAS a connection to the Millennium Falcon! It would’ve been so much more meaningful to have the father son reconciliation scene take place on a family ship.
Anyways, my dog is screaming at me and I have to go and take him out for a walk now!
Ok, so you’ve established a daily writing habit, you’ve kept you’re writing space special (but flexible) and you’ve curated a playlist that gets you into the write (see what I did there?) mood – but sometimes the plot just won’t work.
It goes on strike, it quits flat out, it slips into a coma and has to be fed on a feeding tube!
So, what then?
Well ladies and gents, this is the time to go and buckle yourself into your car (or hovercraft, whatever you fancy) and go for a drive! Go to the country, get yourself a drink, maybe some greasy food, go drive around in circles in an empty parking lot – whatever you want!
I’ve had many MANY breakthroughs while on my daily commute and many more on just doing some mind-numbing, endless, aimless driving.
It’s great, because it demands your attention (cause otherwise you could die) and offers you a ton of new colors and scents and sounds that will serve as a smelling salt of sorts for your passed-out plot.
So, if you’re reading this blog (thank you btw!!!) because you’re procrastinating on your novel – then this is your wakeup call to get out and go for a drive! 🙂
A Writers View 