Writing in 3rd Person

For this WiP, I've been writing in 3rd person. I've never used 3rd person before, but I thought it would lend itself better to this WiP, since it's a bit darker and a bit more detached.

I love 1st person because you can really get inside someone's head, and hear their thoughts and feelings. It's a huge trend in YA because of that. You know, all the feels.

For me, I knew 1st person wasn't right for this WiP because I wanted multiple POVs. This story is about a brother and sister, so I wanted not just how they feel and what they see, but show how different they are from each other. I thought 3rd person would be the best way to do this.

I've been playing with the idea of omniscience POV, though I don't want the characters to be too detached. I read THE DREAM THIEVES a few months ago and liked the way Maggie Steifvater popped into different characters' POVs in the same scene. Obvi, I am not as skilled as Maggie, so it's been taking some time to see if it's working. (I still don't really know, but it's just a first draft.)

But I am enjoying 3rd person. Some of my weak skills are showing feelings, so I think this is working for me, since there are slightly less of them, since we aren't in the person's head. This also allows me to play with setting, and make it almost its own character, which I wouldn't get to do in 1st person. But it's definitely different.

Have you written in 3rd person? What do you like about it and what do you not like?

The Shannara Chronicles: TV Show Review

I saw a tumblr post for Kiersten White about the new show The Shannara Chronicles and decided to give it a try. I didn't really know what to expect because it's MTV.

Full disclosure: I haven't read the books. Well, I started reading The Sword of Shannara and got about 60 pages in and then put it down. I know, gasp. But I just couldn't get into it. It felt a bit like Lord of the Rings (which I also never finished reading, got 150 pages in and they had barely left the Shire, so I put it down too), which was intriguing.

From the first 50 pages that I read, they've already changed a lot. A bit for the better (no slow beginning), and a bit for the worse (why is the main character so sarcastic/snarky?). After doing some Goodreads research, it seems that most of this show is based off the second book, The Elfstones of Shannara, so maybe it follows that book more closely than what I read with the first book. Maybe I should read that one.

In general, I'm intrigued, but the acting makes me less so. Austin Butler is not my favorite actor (I liked him better as Wilke in Switched At Birth), but I like the actors they've surrounded him with. Poppy Drayton has an amazing American accent, so much so that I didn't even realize she was British until I looked her up. (With that name, it's so obvious, though.) Though the American accents feel kinda weird, (I just associate medieval/fantasy with British accents I guess), even though it's supposed to be Earth after hundreds of years.

The first episode, which is actually the first two, aren't great (I fell asleep twice (maybe three times?) watching it). So much is going on, (the huge world, plus the many different characters) that it's hard to get a grasp on things. But I had a lull in TV shows, so I ended up watching episodes 3 and 4. Things really start to pick up here and get better. It seems like it will be a "hero's journey", which aren't my favorite, but I'm interested in the characters and the world enough, that I can let the plot slide. I'm most intrigued by Bandon, who gets introduced in ep. 3, so I'm hoping there's some good development of his character. I also think Austin Butler gets better in these two episodes, so I'm hoping that will continue.

Overall, I'll keep watching (and see if any of the acting makes me angry enough to stop), but so far, I'm okay with it.

Do you think you'll watch it?

High School Book Club: January + February Edition

This month, we chose to read Pierce Brown's RED RISING. We had a brief meeting a few weeks ago, and despite the winter break, almost no one finished the book. So we decided, because those who did read, liked it, that we would give two more weeks for people to finish.

Most of the students still hadn't finished it (a usual pattern...) but those who did had good things to say. They thought the beginning was a bit slow, but after you got passed that, there was a lot of action and it was exciting. One student even brought up that it was in the universe as Ender's Game, because Brown had mentioned Commander "Wiggin" as one of the great generals (along with Alexander and Genghis).

Some had even begun to read the sequel, GOLDEN SON. Though we didn't end up picking that as our next book, I'm interested to hear which they liked better and what their thoughts were. I think I liked RED RISING better, but many articles I read touted GOLDEN SON as surpassing the first. (I'm also very excited to read MORNING STAR when it comes out soon.)

There were lots of thoughts for our next book, but THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN beat out AMERICAN GODS and WOLF BY WOLF by only a few votes. Hopefully, next time, we'll get  few more people to read...

When to start a draft over?

I've never started a draft over and the thought leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it makes me feel like I'm not trying hard enough, that if I just push through I could make it work. That I'm making excuses because this draft is hard and if I start over, I won't actually finish it. (I don't know why I think that, because I've never not finished a first draft). That with starting over, it will take many more months to complete.

On the other hand, my gut is telling me this is what I should do. That the draft, while it will take forever and I probably won't reach my goal of finishing the draft by April 1st, will be better for it. It will be a lot of work, but it won't be like how it is now. Which is not working.

And this is how I decided to start over.

Last Monday was a snow day and I took the whole day to re-outline half of my story. It made me realize what I was missing (ahem, the ending and point of the story... well, at least the tangible point of the story) and that I couldn't move on until I figured it out. But to get to the ending in the story, I needed to rewrite the beginning.

And so I embark in my first ever rewrite and hope that this fixes some of my missing parts. I won't be able to start just yet, since I still don't completely know the ending, but I am looking forward to starting over and not completely dreading it.

Have you ever started a draft over? Did it help you in the end?

Shadowhunters: TV Review

The Mortal Instruments series is one of my favorites. I was obsessed with the books when I first read them and was incredibly excited when the movie was set to come out. I thought Jamie Campbell Bower was the perfect Jace, and I loved Robert Sheehan in Misfits, so I was excited to see him as Simon. And I couldn't believe they got Jonathan Rhys Meyers to be Valentine.

And then the movie came out. It could've been worse, but it also could've been better. I didn't think it was so bad to cancel the rest of the movies though. (I admit, I don't remember the movie that much, so it could be just wishful thinking.)

I was less excited about the TV show. After, JCB and Robert Sheehan, I just didn't think they could top those actors. But I was interested in seeing how they would re-envision it for the small screen, especially on ABC Family/Freeform. And since it's one of my favorite books, I figured I'd give it a try.

The budget seems much bigger than I expected. They have some decent special effects and the Institute is much more high tech (and also much different than I pictured it in my head or in the movie). Dominic Sherwood is a decent Jace, although I miss the British accent that Jace has in the movie. I really don't like Katherine McNamara's portrayal of Clary. She's whiny and annoying, (and doesn't seemed fazed with running in stiletto boots, despite that not being her her normal look. Though obviously that's not McNamara's fault). I do like Matthew Daddario's portrayal of Alec (which I was iffy with in the movie). He's very subdued and seems like a stick in the mud, which is exactly what he's supposed to be.

The writing is not great, and some of the character choices don't make sense, but it's still early in the season. I feel like pilot episodes usually aren't great, so this series could get better. I've also watched the second episode and it seems like the pacing is still a bit off and they're getting bogged down with the world-building (I mean, it is a lot). This series also about the characters, and right now, the audience doesn't get much from them. To me, that's the biggest flaw, and I hope they can sort it out in the episodes to come.

I'll probably keep watching and hoping it gets better, simply because I loved the books so much.

If you've watched the first few episodes, what did you think? Will you stick with it?

New Years Resolutions - A few weeks in

As many people do, I made New Year's resolutions. But many people don't follow through with them or tend to stop after a few weeks in because of fatigue or business or what-have-you. So I wanted to do a check in with my New Year's resolutions.

Exercise:
I think I've done better expected with this one. According to my handy wall schedule, I've played Ultimate frisbee almost every other day. This is all because I signed up for two leagues, but I've been sticking to it. I've also been going to a dance class every Saturday. This kills my body for the rest of the week, but it's really fun, and I can feel myself getting stronger. My arm workouts, I've done, but they are, as always, last minute things I forget about. But overall, done well in this category.

Writing:
Because of the above and because my story is so hard, I haven't been writing as much as I've wanted to. I've done okay at writing every day, but it hasn't been much. 250 words usually, 500 if I'm lucky. I just feel kinda stuck in the story. I don't really know where I'm going, so I've been putting it off, which isn't what I should be doing. My brain is also dead after school, so I haven't had enough time to really sort out the story. I've done a bunch of outlining, but it's still like pulling teeth every time I write. Anyone have any suggestions?

Blogging:
So far so good. Now I just have to keep up the pace.

Reading:
This actually has been harder for me because of the late night Ultimate games and early bed times. But I'm carving out some time for this, though it might impede my writing schedule. (Though maybe it will help to get the juices flowing.)

How have your New Year's resolutions been going?

This story is hard.

I've been writing my current WiP for what seems like forever. In reality it's only been a few months off and on (more off, really, than on). But every time I write, it feels like I'm pulling teeth to get the words on the page.

This story that I'm writing is complicated and complex. I'm a perfectionist, so it's hard for me to let go and just let myself write, because I want everything to be perfect. But obvi it's not going to be; it's a first draft.

I know my ending (kinda), but I don't know the middle at all. So every time I write, I have to outline (which I do on paper), and then type. But it leaves me uneasy because I don't know where I'm going next. It's the first time I've written like this, but I haven't been able to make a full outline for this story, despite trying multiple times.

This story also has a large world. It's based on three different races, with different traditions and languages. As someone who loves linguistics, I want to create some words for each of these languages. So it's going to be a big project. Most of this is going to come in the revision stage, so I haven't thought of most of it, which might be holding me back subconsciously.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm ready to write this story. And I might not be. But once I get a first draft, I can put it away and save it for later if that's the case.

I just need to complete a first draft first.