Day 10

Day 10
This is a good post.  I agree with not having to know something to write about.  My friend was just corresponding with me about that.  He said write about what you want to know.  Then go study.
I honestly didn't write much today.  I just forced myself to start writing a little, and was pleased to see that it was less of a chore than I thought it might be.  I'm actually excited about this part because this is where I get to be super descriptive.  Daisy is venturing out in Jack's world alone.  There's a super cool reason why, but I'm still just trying to figure out how it's gonna backfire on her.  You know it will.
I almost didn't even write tonight, but I figured why break my streak after ten days?  I'm going strong, I want to keep going strong!  So I'll at least try to write 100 words on days I don't feel like writing.  That seems fair.
Well, honestly, it's time for me to pack up and hit the hay.  I've been so tired.

Favorite line of the day:  This (weeping willow) was her favorite tree because it was the only thing she could think of that was actually majestic in its gloom.
17,322 words

Day 9

Day 9
It is usually my fashion to write random excerpts and try to link them all together.  Trouble is, I never get around to linking them together.  So far, in this story, I haven't really been writing those.  I have things I want to be sure to include, but I just make little notes for later.

Boy, so it seems like I was tearing through this story, and now I've sort of come to a halt.  I try to write a little bit each day, usually I try to get out at least 1,000 words.  But it's tough.
I feel like I don't know what I want to have happen.  I can't just have a bunch of small events, I need one large, overarching adventure to take place.  I know the grand ending that I want, but I don't know how to make the story arrive there without segmenting it into a billion little parts.

I think today I will devote some time to just rereading the whole story and adding things where I feel the story could use some more detail.

Favorite line of the day:  It sounded like the rustling of gift wrapping, but that might falsely indicate something pleasant.
16,530 words

Day 8

Day 8
So I'm sorry, but I honestly just don't believe that you HAVE to write what you know.  I think you can write about things that you've never experienced and come up with some of the most amazing stories.  Sure, throw in some of your own experiences here or there.  Your story has to have your finger prints on it, it doesn't have to have your DNA.

I thought about naming my story the other day.  I have no idea what to call it.  I figure I'll spend more time actually writing what happens in my story, and THEN name it.  I'm sure something will present itself.

Favorite line of the day: The powdery dirt cracked beneath his finger tips with the guise of ancient emptiness.
16,198 words

Day 7

Day 7
Welp, that marks one week!  I've managed to write everyday for a week, awesome.
I don't think my concept is too big, however, I AM having a bit of a hard time marrying two of the big things I want to do in my story.  I'm working on it, but I just need a better reason for them to be related than they have now.

CELEBRATE!!!  Can you say 15,000 words?!  That's right!!!  We now have over 15,000 words!!  Woohoo!!!!! 

Daisy and Jack are in a serious slump right now, and I'm hating it.  Oh geez, yesterday, shoot, earlier today! they were soooo happy.
Things are seriously falling apart now.  Poor Jack, he's seriously been through a lot.  His character has way more anguish than Daisy's because she is shielding herself from everything she's actually going through.
Jack is so interesting, but he's kind of aging into a jerk.  Hopefully his soul softens.  I'm sure it will.

I love where Daisy has come to be.  As a person, she's done a lot of growing.  She's so much different than the start of the story.  She's really developing into a character that I like a lot.  I even admire her because she's overcoming some big things.

I feel like I always like one or the other better, Jack or Daisy.  It's kind of like clutch and gas.  I like one sooo much, and the other not at all.  Then I like them kind of even, then opposite how I started out.  It's really funny to see.

I realized a lapse is coming soon where Jack and Daisy don't see eachother again.  Jack needs to grow up, and there's only one, kind of unfortunate way to bring that about.  He's also kind of a prisoner to his situation, and that can only be remedied through a little tragedy.  He'll be alright though, don't worry.
15,885 words

Day 6

Day 6
I can't honestly say I've ever read a book like mine.  I don't really want to go break down someone else's work either because I feel like that would make me less confident in my own story.  I just want to write my story how I want it to be.  I reread it constantly, so I know it's something I enjoy reading, and I feel like other people would too.
That's why it's so important that I just get it finished.  If I have something written down, start to finish, that'll be more than anything else I've ever created.  Then I can go back and tweak it how I'd like it.
I'm having a really fun time today because now Jack and Daisy are in Jack's world (ie the real world) and Daisy is experiencing hunger, time, and color.  She's taking it surprisingly well.  She must have knowledge of most of this stuff somewhere in the back of her head... hint, hint!
I like Jack's world.  It's quaint and small.  It reminds me of Claremont colleges mixed with stereotypical picket-fence America.  It's super neat.
They're on their way somewhere really cool right now, and it's not really cool just innately, but it's really cool because it's Daisy's first night (ever) and it's really memorable.  She doesn't have night in her world because time doesn't actually elapse.
That was a hard thing because I was struggling with how to mature Daisy at the same rate as Jack.  She was still 12, and Jack was 18 maturity wise.  I devised a clever way based alot on Daisy's thought processes on her trip into Jack's world.
She is finally caught up. . . mostly.  :]
13,096 words

Favorite line of the day: (I couldn't pick, they go together!!!)  Each house was now represented by one or a few lights. They combined to create a starry sky on the ground.

Still, my all time favorite line of the whole story is this one:  She (Daisy) tried to be very quiet, but the dying daffodils whispered about her every move as a final announcement of their hatred for their sworn rival--daisies.


So I really like to ask questions in my story as I'm writing the text.  The questions are meant to stay.  I feel like they help the reader see things from the vantage point of the writer better.  The writer (that's me!) doesn't know everything, but is watching it unfold as it happens.  The questions kind of act as a chorus, so to speak.  They voice the things the readers should be thinking.
Example time!
“Please, Daisy, please.” He pleaded. Daisy looked into Jack’s face and saw how grief stricken he was.
“Okay, Jack. It’ll be okay.” Had she gotten better at consoling? Maybe just consoling Jack specifically.
14,708 words

Day 5

Day 5
I hope I'm not boring my readers...
7,708 words


While reading one of my friends' websites about writing, I was interested by something he said in a post about what editors look for.  An editor himself, i was soaking up every word he wrote.  He said "The first thing I look for is a good first line."  I found this interesting, and I immediately went back and checked on my first line.  I have a few favorite lines from my story, and the first line was one of them. 

It was a line that struck me while I was just perusing the internet with no purpose.  I wrote this line down for posterity's sake, and lo and behold, it turned out being the beginning to my novel.  It's not my favorite because it is innately fabulous.  One or two other lines in my story top this one.  But I like it because it was what started the story, and I felt like it was a pretty good start.

I always look forward to those few lines in my story every time I re-read what I've written so far.  So, drumroll please, here is my first line.


"The grey shade of the drooping daisies was engulfing as fog as Daisy Delight sauntered through the flat field - alone."
I like this line because, already from one sentence you can tell that, wherever she is, she obviously doesn't belong.  What do you think of it?



**********************************
Stepping into someone else's shoes is difficult.  Stepping into someone else's world, abandoning your own for all intents and purposes, that's heroic.  It's the symbol of love and sacrifice.
Daisy has left her world, people.  It's gonna be intense!  I don't know if she can get back to her own world yet, or is she and Jack are gonna be able to end up together.  It'll be interesting to find out.
I hope it can work out.  We'll see.
I really watch the story unfold as it happens, and I just write it.  If I feel like a section isn't detailed enough, I re-read it and then close my eyes on the parts I want more detail on.  I just watch it as it happens, it's a neat way to write, really.
 9,826 words

Favorite line of the day: Daisy stood, hands still clasped in a dainty arrangement.

Amazing...  Daisy just spent some time in Jack's world and changed.  She's only been there a couple minutes, but it aged her to catch up with Jack.  She's where she should be.  Well, for as much as someone with her issues can be.  Hehe.
I like Daisy so much better already!
Jack had started to kind of annoy me in the start of the story, but he went back to his world and aged properly.  When he came back, he was so much cooler.
Guess who's world is healthier?
Daisy is so awesome!  I am happy I like her again.

CELEBRATE!!!  We just broke the 10,000 word point!!!!  10% done!!!!  Yay!!!!!

Day 4

Day 4

I must admit, I'm not really sure how my story has much to do with anything around me.  The story isn't actually about what it seems.  It's got dark undertones, and it deals with a lot more than is ever described literally.
I'm having a fun time writing about it though, because everything takes place in an imagination.  This is part of the reason that time isn't real, which makes my life a lot easier.
Because I get irritated with my characters so quickly, I'm happy that time isn't real.  They are able to progress at breakneck speeds in an absolutely natural way.  It isn't questionable because time doesn't play a role in the story.  Readers won't even question it.
 7,199 words

Day 3

Day 3
So you might be thinking to yourself, hey, she can't even keep herself motivated to write her story.  Why is she gonna start a blog to have to keep up too?
Well folks, plain and simple: accountability.  If I have to write everyday in order to keep up my blog, then that's what I'll do.

You will likely come to find how disappointing this blog is, because I won't actually post the story up here.  I may post excerpts from time to time, but the whole story will not be posted.

This is a place for me to hash out the details in my head, share a little about my writing tactics, and keep myself on track.

This goal might not seem to lofty, but in actuality, it will become that way over time.  Right now, I'm on summer vacation.  No work, no school.  But in September, I start student teaching and go back to my full-time credentialing program.

Thus arose the need for some way to keep me motivated.  Something to keep me going.  I came up with the idea for a blog because I have so many things I want to make sure I add in, so many great ways to keep motivated I've thought of, and a place to empty my mind to help clear it up to see what's happening in my story.

So you guys are tuning in on day 3.  I decided on 100 days because I found this website when looking for ways to keep motivated.  This website is posted at the top of my story to make sure I check it everyday.

On day 1, I wrote roughly 5,000 words! What a great day for writing!

I am currently up to 6,753 words as of this moment.

Ding!  Time for things I've learned about my writing style:

I used to hate thinking about my stories when I didn't have a laptop in front of me.  I didn't want to forget to add things, so I would only think about my stories while writing, and I would push them out of my head when I wasn't writing.
Since I started this story, I've just let myself think about the story.  This helps because it really creates a world rather than a story.  There's so much about their world that doesn't get written, that it makes it more realistic in the long run.  You'll never be able to write everything you know about something real.  This is how it should be in stories too.

I spend a lot of my time going back and adding things in.  At first, I thought this was a bad thing.  Shouldn't we just write to bulk up the word count and ignore our flaws until we go back through later?
No.
When I started my story, I knew my characters just about as well my readers will the first time they crack open the cover against the stubborn spine and are introduced to Daisy and Jack.
As I get to know my characters better, I flesh them out and develop their flaws and features.  I want to make sure they aren't doing things that are out of character.
It's a lot easier to rectify these gaps in continuity before I've written the whole book on the pretense of inaccuracies too.
The better I know my characters, the better I am able to say, "Yeah, they would do this," or, "No, they wouldn't have done that."
It makes them more real, and helps you readers to actually believe them better.

Conflict - I have always had the most struggle with this element.  I don't like conflict in real life, books and movies I take the time to engage with, and in my own stories.  I have a hard time creating it, because I don't like when bad things happen.  This story is great because it starts out with a problem.  Good strategy for writers whose favorite movie is Napoleon Dynamite.

I have always, always, ALWAYS struggled with the likability of my characters.  I start out writing a story and love my characters.  After about 10 pages, I realize how irritating they are, and usually don't write on the story again.  I am working on trying to embrace the irritating things about characters, but honestly, an ideal story for me to write would have included the main characters dying off at the end of each chapter, and new ones emerging.
This was a problem.  In my story, however, time is less of a tangible thing, and more of a feeling.  It works out great because my characters rapidly progress, and I am able to mature them past their irritating character traits.  They are still the same person, but they are more experienced and have more control over themselves.
I watch a lot of the show Doctor Who, and the episode with Madame De Pompadour gave me the idea for an element that I have incorporated into the story.
One of my characters starts out very childish and playful.  He exits the world and returns much more mature.  Because descriptions are vague, I don't have to deal with his physical appearance changing.  That's not the important part of the story, and it doesn't change much.  There are a few physical descriptions, and there will be more as the story progresses, but for now they are unnecessary, which works in my favor.

So now, for the part we've all been waiting for, I will post an excerpt from my story.

At this point in the story, Jack has just stumbled into Daisy's world, and he took her to show her something with a fervent excitement.
Hope you enjoy!


When they were almost to their destination, Jack took Daisy’s hand, despite her reluctance, and ducked beneath the branches hanging above. He pulled her along through the foliage. Suddenly he burst through the trees into a clearing. There was a large, chalky cliff to the right, and an empty river bed at the bottom. Daisy pulled her hand away and clasped it in her other.


“This is why you were excited?” Daisy said flatly. Jack looked about, confused.

“Well, where’d it go? It was so beautiful when I first got here.” Jack contemplated to himself.

“How long have you been here?” Daisy asked.

“Not long, but there was this amazing waterfall! It was stunning. It couldn’t have been longer ago than yesterday…”

“Things like that disappear after storms.” Daisy said matter-of-factly. She chose her wording wisely. He didn’t need to know about the tornadoes, the havoc. She did enjoy finally being the one who knew something.

“But it was just here,” Jack touched the dry river bed. The powdery dirt cracked beneath his finger tips with the guise of ancient emptiness. It was as though the waterfall had never existed. Daisy shrugged. “I told you,” she said. She walked to the cliff wall and put a hand on it. She stared up the long distance above to the top of the cliff.

“I wonder what’s up there,” Daisy asked.

“I know what used to be up there, what’s up there sometimes, but if this is how it goes, who knows what happened to all that?” Jack said. He was upset. He pushed his palm into the river bed, unwilling to accept that the water was gone. Daisy walked over to him and hesitantly patted his shoulder with a comforting hand on his shoulder, crouching to his level.

“I- I’m sorry it’s not what you remember, Jack. You’ll get used to it,” Daisy stammered awkwardly. She wasn’t used to being this way. Not talking to people, and certainly not consoling them.

Jack looked into Daisy’s eyes. “How do you deal with it?” Jack looked as though he could cry.

“It’s just a waterfall, Jack.”

“How long have you been here then?” Jack asked, collapsing to sitting on the dirt.

“Well, forever, I guess,” Daisy contemplated. “I don’t remember not being here. It used to be so different, but it was always here.”

“So I guess I really am the intruder, huh?” Jack sulked a little, but his face brightened after a moment. “At least neither of us is alone here.” Daisy wasn’t sure yet that this was her preference too.

“I wasn’t doing so bad…” Daisy trailed off.

“You’d never seen the color blue. How can you be doing great?”

“Color?” Daisy asked.

“Colors… most things here don’t have color. Like, my eyes are blue, the daisies were white and yellow. That’s it, that I’ve seen. When I got here the river was green with trees and the water was blue, too.” Jack said, assuming his role as the more knowledgeable one again.

“Oh, is that what they’re called?” Daisy asked. The house must be colors then.

“Yeah. But it’s boring here, nothing is colorful. It could be so beautiful here.” Jack seemed distant in thought. “The place I came from had so many different colors! Yellow buses and blue sky. Not like here at all. I don’t understand where all the color is.”