Angels...

I just had a really good book idea (I seem to be getting a good deal of them lately). It's for Christmas. :o) (Please don't copy my idea, because I really would love to write it. Thank you!)

This is what it involves.

1. Angels
2. Snow
3. Two kids
4. Random time traveling
5. The meaning of Christmas

It's turning into something like 'A Christmas Carol' as I'm planning it in my head. I've always wanted to write something Christmas-y with meaning, and I think I've finally found it! I don't think it'll be ready for this Christmas though, but maybe the next year.

I am going to be SUPER busy the weeks before Christmas! Thankfully, I have presents for Mom, Luthien, Dad and Galdor. I think I know what I'm getting Erestor, but I'm not 100% sure. The hard thing is that Luthien and Erestor have birthdays right around Christmas, so I have to find two gifts.

I'd tell you what I have for everyone, but I think Mom and Erestor read my blog from time to time, so it will have to remain...confidential...for now *evil snicker*.

Random Writing Tip: Hide your pens. Evil ice-pixies are lurking outside, and they love drinking ink. Then they start squirming their way into your story and creating havoc! They're frosty. They're dangerous. They love ink. So hide your pens!

One last thing. I think I will change my siblings' names from Erestor, Luthien, and Galdor to other code names more pronounceable and easy to remember. So I'll have polls and descriptions of them on my sidebar. Please vote! Do it if you love me! Do it if you don't want my heart to break from lack of votes! Do it...uh, just do it.

Looking forward to Christmas,

Izori

100 Blessings

Here are mine for this week. I nearly forgot about them until igirl posted. =)

1. igirl
2. Breakfast
3. Sunrises
4. Alarm clocks
5. NaNoWriMo
6. My habit of talking to myself (yes, it's a blessing...)
7. The fair
8. Technology
9. History (or His story)
10. Communication with friends
11. Braces. Erestor just got them...
12. Galdor
13. Brownies
14. Coffee
15. Movies
16. Blue eyes
17. Turtles
18. Fairly clear skin
19. Mothers
20. Tissues
21. Colds (they make me realize how much I can do without them)
22. A good long term memory
23. Random-ness
24. Luthien
25. Well...because I said Galdor and Luthien are blessings, I might as well include Erestor.

Thank you, everyone who commented! I love comments, although I'm horrible at replying to them. Every comment makes me smile. =) Twenty comments on one post is one of my dreams...

Hugs & Blessings,

Izori

Results for Poll

The "Should I end the Elandai Series, and then write more series' based on Elandai" results have come in! Three people voted yes, and one voted no, so the yes-people have it!

What I think I'll be doing after 'The Return to Elandai' is writing one more book about Ben and Kaela's adventures in Elandai. Then I'll write a trilogy about there parents, Michael and Katherine (I thought I named them somewhere, but I guess not, because I can't find anything about their names. If I come across it later, I'll make an edit).

And I'm going to be checking e-mail a lot today. I had a dream last night that I got an e-mail from this publisher-dude who asked if he could publish all of the books I've written and am going to write, and then he offered, like, a million dollars! *dollar signs appear in my eyes* That was a very good dream

Izori

Writing Tip: Drafts

Who in the world thought of the word 'draft' (as in, "I wrote the first draft of my book")? It's one odd word.

Anyway, another tip for writing a book is doing drafts. I like to write my first drafts in a notebook, not on the computer. It's basically the 'bones' of the book, and you can make your first draft as messy as you want. Like mine--crossed out words, squished in sentences, abbreviated names, and scribbled notes. Then I type it all up on the computer and start adding the 'muscle'--incorporating the notes, rewriting sentences, and so on. Then I re-read the whole thing and edit it all.

Sometimes, like with the Elandai series, I don't do drafts. That's a little harder, because if you made your plot do one thing, and then later realize that you didn't want it to do that, you can't go back and fix it. That makes the Elandai series a little interesting, because even though sometimes I do think ahead, I have no clue where I'm going next (like now).

Izori

A Brilliant Idea

Ooooh, I had a really good idea! Well, hey, aren't all my ideas wonderful? Don't answer that.

I know that my poll on whether or not I should end my series with Ben and Kaela, and do more about other people's adventures in Elandai, and just have everything go on and on and on, isn't even closed...but I was thinking, maybe I should keep all the series' trilogies (like the Elandai Trilogy, the Adonai Trilogy) and then write a single book based on Revelation--the final battle of Elandai, and end it all, basically. It would be a little sad to see Elandai go, but I think I might start running out of ideas after book six, and then everything would basically be repeats, which doesn't make for good books.

I'm going to do a poll on this. If you want to express yourself more, please comment.

Izori

Writing Tips II

Tip 4: Plot. A huge part of what makes a book a success is an exciting plot. Usually I don't have much trouble thinking up plot ideas, but sometimes I do. What helps me is to think what I would like in a book. Would I want to read a book with a series of riddles leading to a buried treasure in it, maybe? What would I find exciting? An overthrow of the evil king of the country? How about what would I not find exciting?

Tip 5: Writing a book when you've only thought up the middle. This is a huge problem for me. When I think up books, I tend to think up the middle of them--where the most excitement usually is. So then I know what's going to happen there, but I have the problem of having to think up a beginning. And writing a beginning takes a while; by then I've either forgotten my great idea, I've lost interest, or I've started another book. One of my friends was the first one to bring this concept to me: go ahead and start writing the part you've thought up, and when you're done with that then write the beginning. I haven't actually tried it yet, but it sounds good.

Tip 6: Finishing a book. Another problem for me is that after the novelty of starting a book that's going to be so awesome, and will win awards, and be published and loved world-wide (or so I think :D) wears off, I sort of get sidetracked with a brilliant idea, like I mentioned in Tip 5. I keep my first book in the back of my mind while I'm starting another one. What I do here is make myself sit down. Don't force the ideas to come because then they won't be that great, but I find if I read over my previous work, I'll start to get ideas.

Tip 7: Beginning a book. This is a really hard one. For me, I know the plot, main characters, and what the main characters look like already, but to write about them...well, I have to start the book! Sometimes I like to plunge right into an exciting chase to get the reader hooked, and then I start explaining stuff. Or I could start with describing the scenery and the situation. I use both.

Izori

Writing Tips I

I could have used a lot of these when I was a little bit younger. I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to fix a lot in a book if you read a lot of very well-written books.

In no particular order:

Tip 1: Making strong characters. To find out if your book has strong characters or not, have a sibling, friend, or parent read your book, and then ask them what their reaction would be if you made the main character get killed in a sword fight or come to some demise or other. Tell them to be honest. If they tell you that they probably cry or be really mad at the person who killed them, then your characters are very strong and life-like. If they tell you that they wouldn't care much, then you've got a problem (either the reader is heartless, or you have weak and flat characters. But usually it's the second). I still have this problem, and I don't have a particularly good way of fixing it, but the thing I usually try to do is put yourself in your character's shoes. Try to imagine what you would be like in a story, or if the character isn't that like you, imagine a sibling or friend. Or maybe try to descibe their life to the reader, like put some of their background in. Try to really write a good picture of the character.

Tip 2: Lengthening a book. I have that trouble a lot. What I've found best in most cases is put two sides of the story in. I only wrote one of my stories from the perspective of my main character, a teenage girl named Ehra, and the book turned out to be 70 pages. Then I added in the perspectives of some bad guys, and it turned out to be 130 pages! That's a 40 page difference! Also, try to read really long, well written books, like the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini. He has a lot of description in his books, and his characters have long lines a lot of the time. Of course, you don't have to go overboard with the long lines, but take these examples. Say this is a part in your book:

"Were you able to solve the riddle?"

"No."

You can lengthen it like this:

"Were you able to solve the riddle?"

"No. We tried really hard, and we thought we came close to cracking the code at least once, but it turned out to be wrong. We even tried using the Caesar Cypher, but we can't find anything. I don't think we'll ever be able to solve it!"

That sounds less abrubt, and you lengthened the line considerably. One of those might not make much of a difference, but if you add in long lines and description several times where it's needed, your book could get longer by a few pages.

Tip 3: Thinking up titles for books and chapters. Some people don't have titles for chapters, but everyone (I'm pretty sure) has a book title :D! This, especially the book titles, can get sort of tricky. I usually have thought up a name for my book by the time I'm done with it, but it's hard sometimes. What I do is I name it after my main character, or where the climax of the book takes place. Brian Jacques, for example, names his books "Martin the Warrior", or "Salamandastron", or "Redwall". Christopher Paolini names his "Eragon" or "Brisinger". Chapters are a bit easier; you can just name them after what takes place during it. Like my most recent chapter of "The Return to Elandai", which is named Captured.

That's all for now. There might be more; that's why this post is named "Writing Tips I"

Izori

Inspiration

I guess I really should do another chapter of my book, but, well...I'm too lazy. And I can't think up anything, anyway. Isn't inspiration weird? It comes and goes at the worst times, like you all of a sudden have this wonderfully awesome idea in the middle of the night while you're trying to go to sleep, and you absolutely have to write it down. Or when you're trying really hard to think of ideas for your book, and they won't come. Oh well, I guess it just comes with being an author.

Izori