Holiday Of Giving

The end of the year is coming around and so is Christmas, or (as I sometimes call it) the Holiday of Giving.
 So I have a few things to say.

 Firstly, I will be moving this blog from blogger and onto Wordpress. My other two blogs are on Wordpress and it's easier for me to keep them all on the same platform instead of swapping back and forth between there and blogger.
 I'm not sure when I'll actually move the blog, it'll probably happen later today or tomorrow but I will post the link to the new blog on here so that you can go over to it.

Secondly, as it's Christmas, the Holiday of Giving, I've decided to put the price down on Ruby! You can now get a copy for free.
 The price won't go back up until Jan 1st 2017 so you've got plenty of time to grab a copy before the price goes up to $1 minimum. Share the link with your friends and spread the Christmas cheer!
https://leanpub.com/ruby-willow-byrne


Merry Christmas everyone! <3

A Melody Of Words

Pieces from the puzzle of my life

Strung together into words

Laid out upon the wooden floor

The parchment curls around my toes

This is a book of words

This is a book of melodies

Welcome to the book of my writings

A Melody of Words

From my Wattpad book, A Melody of Words.

Broken Mirror

And I've discovered

If I stare in the mirror long enough

It shows me who I really was

And who I really am.

And maybe that's a good thing

But all that I can see is the bad

It tears at my heat

And it tears at my soul.

Ruby Carter Has Come To A Stop

I wondered if it was going to happen, when I started out. I had a storyline, characters, chapters planned, but there was something wrong and I was worried that it would pop up and... it eventually did.

 Pretty much, the thing that was wrong was that the storyline I had came up didn't do justice to the first Ruby book and the characters.

 So pretty much, this means that there probably won't be another Ruby book for now. I'll hold onto the plans for the prequel so that I can look into it in the future.

 I am however focusing on another book, which is completely separate from the Ruby world. It's just polishing off character profiles and chapter outlines.

 I'm very disappointed about having to stop the Ruby Carter book but I'd rather not have another published book than have a published book that ruins the story and characters of the original book. I hope you understand. <3




 (If you're interested though I've lowered the price down completely on Ruby, so you can now get a copy of it for free! I'll be putting the price back on October 1st, so you've got two weeks to get a free copy. <3)

 

Book Work

I've decided to get back on with my book writing, after being reminded that NaNoWriMo starts in a little while!

 Well I'm working on two books, one for NaNoWriMo and another to hopefully publish!

 My NaNoWriMo book is actually based off an idea I've had in my head for a while (two years actually). I started writing last year for my NaNo project, but had problems with it and stopped. I've been working on the plot, characters and the world these last few days, so hopefully I'll have everything I'm going to need by the beginning of November.

Vague idea for a cover, from 2015.

 The other book I'll be working on is a Ruby prequel, which will be going over some of her past and why she ended up moving next door to Lachlan. I'm a little unsure about this because I'm worried about not doing the story justice, however I guess if I don't like the first draft I can just rewrite it!
 The hope is to get the prequel published by the end of the year, maybe just before December at earliest. I guess that I'll just have to see what happens. I've got the story line, the chapter outlines and the characters all sorted, so all that's left to do is start writing.

Current book cover for the Ruby prequel.

Hopefully I'll have the first draft done by November, which will leave me to do my NaNoWriMo project.

Maze Runner Book vs Movie - Comparison Essay

I've decided to share an essay I wrote earlier in the year for English. Here it is. :)

   The Maze runner was originally a book, written by James Dashner. A few years after publishing, it was turned into a film.

   Like many movies originated from books, there were quite a few differences between the two. The main ones were the differences between movie and book characters, the relationships of the characters and the Gladers' history.

   In the book the Gladers are a supportive little community of teenage boys. There is some competition, but it's kept to a minimum, as they all look out for each other, knowing it would be harder to survive the Maze if they didn't.

   In the movie the competitiveness is played up more that the supportiveness. This change was made to help the Gladers fit into the Hollywood 'teenage boy' stereotype. Because of the change in their behaviour and personality, they become a lot rougher and more bullyish.

   They change a lot of the characters to fit in with the story to get it to work for the stereotypical Hollywood movie. Teresa, for instance, becomes slightly more delicate and feminine in the movie. However, out of all the characters, they change Gally the most.

   In the Maze Runner book Gally is the meanest of the Gladers, and has a severe disliking for Thomas. He is completely convinced that Thomas has come to destroy their little community, after having seen Thomas in his memories during 'The Changing'.

'When his malicious stare fell back upon Thomas, he had one last thing to say. “Whatever you came here for – I swear on my life I'm gonna stop it. Kill you if I have to.”'

   Pretty much he's the Glade's version of a school bully.

   However that wasn't good enough for Hollywood, so they turned him into a 'good guy gone bad' character. He starts off as a much more supportive character. He still has some of the bully aspect to him, but he's much more respected and respectful. That starts to vanish after Thomas breaks the Glade's Number One rule by running into the Maze. Then his character follows along with the book version.

   The character's relationships are changed a fair bit through out the movie as well, to help the movie flow in a more “suspenseful” way.

   The relationship between Thomas and Teresa changes significantly between the book and the movie, meaning that some of the more interesting things between them are missed. In the book, Teresa recognizes Thomas immediately, and afterwards continues to behave as though she has known him her entire life. This is enhanced by a telepathy link they share, which seems to indicate that they did know each other previously.

'Tom, I don't know any of these people. Come and get me! -Teresa, The Maze Runner, book'

   Meanwhile, in the movie, Teresa plainly has no memory of Thomas, and vise versa. However if they had the telepathy link between them they may have figured out the connection sooner, but the telepathy link was removed from the storyline to save time, meaning that it wasn't until towards the end of the movie that they discover that they knew each other.

'“Who are you? They said I kept saying your name during my sleep.” - Teresa, The Maze Runner, Movie'

  The reason for the dramatic changes to the character's relationships with each other was to save time to use for developing the story plot and to keep the movie to a reasonable length. The saved time ended up being used by adding non-existent book scenes to the movie, such as the Gladers having a party to celebrate Thomas's arrival in the Glade.

   Another dramatic difference between the two is the history of the Gladers. In the book, when Thomas asks how long they'd been in the Maze for, he's told that the longest was two years.

'Alby continued. “Two years, I've been here. Ain't none been here longer.” - The Maze Runner'

   However when Thomas asks the same question in the movie, he's told that they've been stuck in the Maze for the past three years. The reason for the added year in the movie is to add yet another layer of suspension, and also one of hopelessness – because two years of being stuck inside a glade surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters clearly isn't chilling enough for Hollywood film critics.

   There was another big difference between how the first of the Gladers arrived as well. In the book, a group of between forty to fifty boys were placed in the Glade. They all had the equipment needed to begin their community.

In the movie, only one boy was placed in the Glade per month. In this case, the first ever Glader was Alby. The reason for this was to help define Alby's character, explain why he became the leader of the Gladers. In the book, the main reason he becomes the leader is because he has a natural leader-like personality.

   Quite a few things ended up changing in the movie, much of it so that it would fit with Hollywood standards. However, despite the changes made, the storyline of the movie managed to flow fairly consistently to that of the book.

While I do enjoy the movie, as it does give a different perspective, I personally prefer the book for it's greater depth into the story.

Ruby

 It's fun being back here, I'm enjoying posting on this blog.

 Since I've gotten into doing writing I've wanted to publish a book. Pretty much I thought "I can write, and if they can publish a book so can I!" and then that was that. I tried writing books to publish them.

 Well I quickly realised how hard it is to write a decent book that is publish worthy. I spent many hours working away with different worlds, and constantly discarding them to work on an easier or better idea. If you were to look through my many folders you would see many unfinished stories, waiting for me to come back to finish them off when I feel I can do them justice.

 Earlier this year I got some inspiration for a short, four chapter story. I set my mind to planning it and writing it and I'm very proud to say that I eventually had it written and published by the end of June.

 It's called "Ruby" and is about Lachlan McLean, who's life takes a turn for the better when Ruby Carter moves in next door.
 To make it clear it's not a romance novel, it's drama. It could fit under the young adult category too I suppose, but I wrote it to be appropriate for anyone aged 13 and older.

 You can purchase it off leanpub, and you can pay as little as $2.24 USD for a copy. 10% of the cash from each copy sold is donated to NaNoWriMo to help them run the event.

 I'm so excited to share this with you guys, it's been a huge achievement for me to get this done.

The Darkness Poems

The stars glisten in the evening sky

Their cold silver light brightens up the heavens

But she was so caught up in counting them

That she never realised the silver moon had gone.

From late night thoughts. 

This is another:

I close my eyes to the darkness

The shadow of my life

I try to find the silver lining

but it left me in the night.

So in the darkness

I'm left to wander 

Singing a song 

And left to ponder.

 I posted these onto my google plus page "A Little Princess", then decided I'd post them on here after I deleted the page.

 I'm calling them "The Darkness Poems" because they're about loosing the light inside of oneself.

 Hope you guys enjoyed them. xoxo

Poetry

Well I'm back for good. I've decided that leaving this blog unattended probably isn't a good idea. I mean, I love to write and share my writing, so why do I abandon a blog that I made especially for doing that?

 Well I recently took a small break from my poetry writing as I feel kind of like I've been bled dry inspiration wise. However a little writing competition popped up on my Google Plus dashboard and I decided to join in. I wrote a short poem for it. 

The sun is setting, low in the sky

My time is come, I'll say goodbye

I'll go to the road and you can watch me leave

Try not to speak as you grieve

The sun is setting, the shadows are long
I've left the town, my friends are gone

The sun has set, it's now dark night
I'm surrounded on all sides, there's no light

It's lonely like this, I'm sad my friend

I didn't think this is how it'd end

 It is, like the majority of my poems, untitled. I would love to give it a title however I'm not sure I could find one that would do it justice. I suppose it'll be something for me to think about. :)

 I'll probably post something over the weekend, not sure though. 

 I'm so glad to be back here. 

Writing Competitions - Australia

 Looking for something exciting to do as a young writer?

 I generally have trouble finding interesting things for young writers in Australia to do, so I was pretty excited to find out that there are a whole load of writing activities going on at the moment! And by a whole ton, I mean the three writing competitions I found. Trust me, three is a lot more than I normally find.

 If you're in Western Australia, the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers is coming up! It's open to students aged 5 to 18, or anyone in the school years 1 to 12. Entries open June 13th, and they close July 4th. Interested? Well you've got plenty of time to come up with an entry!

 The Fellowship of Australian Writers WA is also holding a writing competition. It's open to anyone aged 21 or under - sounds pretty good, huh? Entries close on June 30th!

 And lastly, Express Media are hosting a writing competition, open to all Australians 18 and under. There's a huge range of cool stuff in the prizes, it's not an opportunity to miss out on! Entries close on July 1st.

Definitely some snazzy sounding competitions, eh? Good luck with them! (Psst - if you haven't guessed already, I'm entering all three).

Writing tips: Books

If there's one thing I like sharing, it's tips.

 It doesn't matter what kind of tips they are. I just love to help people out. I'm that kind of person. Occasionally the tips I give aren't actually what are needed, but I tried, which is the main thing I suppose.

 I was reading Derek Landy's blog, and I noticed his writing tips, which reminded me of the post I made a while ago with my own tips, which you can find here: My Top Writing Tips! (please forgive how shallow it is, I was only 13 when I put it together).
 If you want some better (and highly amusing) tips on how to write a good book, Derek Landy's three posts are very good: How to write books Good part 1 part 2 part 3
 Anyway, how about I post some more tips?

• Good Story Plot
   A good story plot is the start of a good story. Everyone should knows that.
   What I do is I write a short summary of the story, then a full out summary, and then I start writing out chapter summary’s. I find that to be quite useful, compared to what I did when I was younger; I'd just have a vague idea of what would happen, start writing and then the story would fall apart because it became ridiculously out of control.

• Good Character
   If there's one thing that's important, it's having an engaging character. The more realistic the character, the more your readers can connect to the story. And in order for that to happen, you need to know your character.
   What I do to really get a feel for my character(s) is to write up a Character Profile Sheet. Generally I'll make up the sections in a Profile Sheet, but if I'm not in the mood I'll just go onto the web instead and find one to use. (I'll post up my copy sometime soon)
• Details
   Details are the most important thing in your story. It's what fleshes it out, makes it devour-able. Generally I've found that there's no such thing as too much detail, but that might be because I don't tend to put too much detail into my writing, but there is such thing as not enough detail. I've seen that in quite a lot of books.

Woe is me...

I used to think that there was such thing as "Too many notebooks". I owned tons of them, then got rid of most because I didn't have anything to use them for.

 Now, it's the middle of Camp Nanowrimo and I've used up my last notebook. Now I know there is no such thing as "Too many notebooks".

 Time to go down to office works and get a new notebook...

Freedom Poem

Hello dear readers! :D

 So I have another poem today. For this term I had to write a discussion essay of the use of freedom and rights in a poem, and then write a poem in the style of the one I wrote about.
 I did that last time with the song I wrote about. :)

 I wrote an essay about "Three Strikes to Freedom" today, and I also wrote a poem in the same 'style' - in this case, I kept with the same topic.

 Here's the one by Mary Zanders:

Freedom is like a baseball game,
You have to be set and have an aim,
When that's done, now you're ready
To bat the ball with an arm that's steady.

Strike one, selfish is the ball,
Missing this one is like missing them all,
But you can strike it if you try,
Kindness won't let anything pass you by.

Strike two, the ball is hate,
If this ball could be struck before it's too late,
The world would be better than just,
Having everybody together because they must.

Strike three, equality is last,
Miss this one and you're back in the past;
Remember you can't sit still and wait
For everything to stop and suddenly be straight.

And here's my poem, using "Freedom" as my topic to keep the style.

 What is Freedom?

 Is it the bird flying,

Through the great blue sky?

Or is it the great waves of the Ocean,

Crashing onto the hard, rocky shore?

Perhaps it is a child,

Running through a green feild.

May be it a  deer,

Sprinting through a forest,

Of evergreen trees.

Is Freedom a thing?

Is Freedom a choice?

We may never know,

Yet, it is certain that,

This question, will go on.

What is Freedom?

Well, that's today's post! Tomorrow I might post up my essay on "Three Strikes to Freedom". :)

Catch you later!

 Spinj

Essay: I'll Never Smile Again

 "I'll Never Smile Again" is a song written by Ruth Lowe, who wrote it in memory of her late husband, Harold. It was written in 1939, just before the start of the Second World War. It became a huge it after Tommy Dorsey, a famous Jazz artist, recorded the song with the Pied Pipers and the then unknown Frank Sinatra.

 The song is sad, mournful, and slightly depressing. I think that Ruth had decided to write her feelings into the song, in the hope to make herself feel better. She said that she'd "never smile again without Harold", which is stated in the lyrics:

"I'll never smile again until I smile at you
 I'll never laugh again, what good would it do?"

 She wrote the song mainly in memory of her husband, Harold (who died during surgery) and in the memory of others who had died. She knew her situation wasn't unusual, and so she made the song universal, as it would help her listeners relate to the song.

  The song was written in 1939, just before the start of the second World War. When it was first played on the radio many people, mainly those who had survived the first World War, could relate to it. People born between the two wars would have been able to imagine the pain and sorrow that the song was about
 Once the planet plunged into the Second World War everyone could relate to the song. I think that everyone could properly appreciate the song, as many fathers husbands and sons were out fighting, and news wasn't always fast. It would've been the same for the men at war, as they thought about their friends and family back at home. I think it's possible that the timing of the song's release and the was possibly coincidental, but perhaps it was a way of the Universe sending something to help people through the war.

  "We thank Ruth Lowe for her contribution and support during the trying periods that all of us have faced at one time or another."

 Tommy Dorset recorded the song in 1940, with the Pied Pipers and a very young Frank Sinatra doing vocals. Soon after the song was released a rumour spread around, claiming that Ruth's husband was a Canadian airman killed in action, and that Ruth had written the song in his memory. It was an indestructible rumour which made the song popular, and I assume it would have became firmly set after Frank Sinatra referred to Ruth's husband as a Canadian airman. I think it would've seemed more romantic than the actual reason behind his death, which was why more people were attracted to the song.

 While this song is still considered a universal nod to those in mourning, I feel that this song has been forgotten. Which is sad, when one remembers why it was written.

Poem for school work

Hallo y'all!

 Yup, I'm back! :D Sorry about leaving you all. :( For some reason I keep getting stuck for ideas for poems and all that... But I should be back more often now because as part of my school stuff I have to write a poem each term.

 So this one is my latest. And for those who are wondering it's Ninjago based, with the Girl being Lucy, my made up Ninja of Storms, and the Overlord... well, he's the Overlord. :P It's written in the style of "I'll Never Smile Again" by Ruth Lowe. She wrote the song after her husband died. I've tried to keep the same beat in my poem.

 Here's the lyrics to "I'll Never Smile Again":
 

I'll never smile again, until I smile at you
I'll never laugh again, what good would it do?
For tears would fill my eyes, my heart would realize
That our romance is through

I'll never love again, I'm so in love with you
I'll never thrill again to somebody new
Within my heart, I know I will never start
To smile again, until I smile at you

Within my heart, I know I will never start
To smile again, until I smile at you
Until I smile at you

 Here's my version:

 There's a girl in the storm, fighting her way

Fight's like Hell cause she's gonna stay

Overlord knows she won't give up;

He's hoping she's the first to pay.

The wind howls round her, in a whirling form

The Summer's day is no longer warm

Cold as winter, and not going away

The girl won't give up in any form

Cold as winter, and not going away

The girl won't give up in any form

In any form.

 What do you think? It's not my best, I've gone a little rusty from not doing any poems recently. 

 I'm heading over to my Spinj's Blogs now. :)

 Cheerio!

 WillowUnicorn (AKA Spinj the Ninja)

Team Tech

Hey Guys!

Wow, it's been a while since my other post! I'm starting to have to post on too many blogs, and I keep forgetting the others. XP That's not a good sign, is it?!

Anyway, I thought I had better give you all an excerpt from my book, Team Tech! Because I'm planning to hopefully to get this book published I shan't post up too much of it, just a little for your entertainment. ;)

So here's a bit from Chapter Four!


"Talk about spooky.”
MO, Andy, Lucy and Zane stood out the front of Manchester Manor's gate, staring into the once beautiful, now wild looking garden. It seemed like a huge jungle, with vines, trees, bushes and flowers everywhere. And making the scene seem even more daunting, was the dark, run down shape of Manchester Manor.
“Ladies first?” Zane nervously held the gate open. Lucy rolled her eyes, muttered something that sounded like “scaredy cat” and marched through. MO hurried through after her. Andy and Zane shrugged, and followed the girls.
They struggled through the garden, tripping over bushes and snagging their clothes on thorns. Lucy tripped over for the fifth time.
“This is taking for ever.” she complained, as she stood up. “And I swear that I saw a snake just then.” She began dusting herself off, and pulled a thorn out of her jeans.
Andy looked around warily. “We should hurry up a little. Does anyone have their pockets knifes? I've got mine.”
MO, Zane and Lucy all pulled out theirs, and the four kids began hacking their way through the garden, occasionally stomping on the ground to scare away any type of snake, and making comments about how badly kept the place was (Andy attempted a few jokes too).
In ten minutes they found themselves standing on the veranda. MO began flicking switches on her ghost detector, and Lucy pulled out her torches.
“Have you got spare batteries?” asked Zane, taking his one.
“You planning on staying here a long time?” asked Lucy, tossing Andy and MO their torches. “Of course I do. Here you go.” She chucked some spare batteries at Zane, who caught them and stuffed them in his pocket.
They all looked at each other.
“The suspense is killing me.” joked Andy. “There'll be more than one ghost soon!” MO gave him an odd look. “Just kidding.” he hastily muttered, and opened the door.
The door creaked on it's hinges, and chips of wood fell off. A slightly stale smell came to them. From somewhere inside a door slammed shut. MO, Andy and Zane looked at Lucy, Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside.






So, do you like it? :D I hope you do! ;D

I had better go, I've got some more stuff to do. :) Catch you all later!

WillowUnicorn

A Poem Before The New Year

Hallo all!

 Wow, it's been a while since I posted on here, hasn't it? Well, I suppose I should start getting back into more story and poem writing.

 Speaking of Poems, I have written one. I wrote it yesterday, after I finished my essay on Love and War. I'm really glad to have finished that essay - now I just have to finish my essay on WWI, and then I can go to see Big Hero 6! Any way, so I wrote a poem yesterday. I was thinking about one of my friends who I haven't seen for a while, and so this poem kinda popped into my head. It was meant to be longer, but I got a bit stuck after a while. And it also doesn't have a name yet. Anyway, here it is:


  I sat there waiting at the door
  Must've been two years or more
  Hoping that you'd come and play
  Like we used too in the day

  But daytime went to night
  And back to day just as bright
  And still I sat at the door
  Waiting for two years or more

  Inside the house it's dark and grey
  Outside the grass has turned to hay
  The wind around the house wails
  Tells the story of a sorry tale

  Dust is on the table thick
  The old fort is a pile of sticks
  And still I sat at the door
  Waiting for three years or more

  Dusty pictures on the wall
  Of you, me and family all
  And rain around the house pours
  scratching windows with ice claws

  And still I sit at the door
  Waited for two years or more
  Hoping that you'd come and play
  Like we used to in the day.




 There's my poem! It's still a bit of a work in progress, so when it's finished I'll post up the whole thing. :3
 Re-reading it, it's occurred to me that it also shows how Disney character Anna must feel when she's begging Elsa to "Come out the door". Hmmm... I wrote a poem  for me and for Anna without realizing it.

 Well, I must go, I want to write up another chapter of Rise of the Nerds and I also want to do a post on Spinj's Space.

 See you all later!!

 WillowUnicorn

Writing Books, Making Covers

Hey All!

 First of all, I'm really sorry about not posting more NaNoWriMo preps. :( I got a bit sidetracked. However, I'll post the photos that were taking me forever to take (my camera decided to stop working for a while).

 So I bought two notebooks - A really big one to write the story in, and a little one for all the extra info I need on hand for my book.

 Picture 1: Front cover of the notebook (characters, etc). I place my name (or author name (which is different from my actual name) in this case), event/class and year in the box.

 Picture 2: First page I write out what I call a 'Character Profile' for the main character(s). I then fill it in with the character's details.

 Picture 3: After getting the main characters done, I leave a page blank then start a new round of Character Profiles for the side characters. I find that also includes the main villain at times.

 Picture 4: Now that I had the Character Profiles written out, I could start writing all the other important stuff, such as Powers (for my story ;P), made up words, etc.

 Picture 5: After getting all the important stuff down I wrote several different blurbs, each labeled Blurb, Blurb 2, Blurb 3.

 After that you can also write down your plot, if you want too.
 

 Picture 6: My writing book for the story. As you can see, I've bought an A4 Exercise book, with 192 pages.

 Picture 7: For name I've put down my Author name, for subject I've put down NaNoWriMo, and for Year I've put down 2014.



 If you do what I've done above (or something similar), you'll have a fairly relaxed mind, and that will help you write when November 1st comes round (4 more days!!!!).



 Now, I always like imagining what my book's cover should look like if I ever get it published. Sometimes (**cough cough** normally **cough cough** :P) I like to get a dramatic picture, because it looks cool. Of course, if I'm drawing the cover, it doesn't always come out how I imagined it, which I find both frustrating and sad. When that happens, I check out pictures on the Internet to find a good one.
 The first cover I got was for Fantasy Land, my NaNo novel from 2013 (or, if you prefer, last year). The original picture was made by someone on Deviart (I hope you didn't mind me borrowing it!), but some lovely artist-writer on the NanoYWP site changed the colour of the Dragon and added both the Title and my Author name to the picture. Here's the cover:

 Then today (even though I can't do NaNo this year, after all my preparing) I made a cover for Powers, the book I was going to write for NaNo this year. Once again, I believe that a lovely person on Deviart made the original picture, so all credit goes to them for designing the picture! and I added the title and my Author name. Here's the cover:

(I later thought that I should have used a brighter red for the writing, but I couldn't be bothered with editing it).

 Then I was planning ahead for more books to put in the Powers series, and trying to give the books names. I decided to give the third book the name Powers: Raising The Dead and suddenly had a cool idea for the front cover. After a while sitting around drawing and trying to work on GIMP I made a cover. Here's the cover:

It came out better than I thought, so I feel quite happy with the covers!



 Well, that's all for today. Good luck to my readers who are doing NaNo this year, and may time ever be in your favor.

Catch you all later!

 WillowUnicorn

Story writing.

Hello dear writers!

 How is everyone today?

 Well, I shall have the next "Preparing for NaNoWriMo" up next week sometime. So no, it is my deepest regrets to say that I am not here today to help with organizing for the long, daunting road ahead.

 I have recently started a LEGO blog. It's for all things LEGO related. Then mum was talking about the fact that I should have a special blog for story writing. And that's when I had the bright idea of including a "LEGO Stories" page on the LEGO blog, since most of the stories I write are some LEGO fanfiction.

 So if any of you are interested in having a look at the current story I'm posting up, click here. I'm planning on posting on it once a week, maybe twice a week, and you'll know when I have a new chapter up because the "!!New Chapter!!" sign will have vanished from the chapter you read last time. Plus I'll make a blog post announcing that there is a new post. ;)

 Keep on writing, and a tip for when NaNoWriMo comes: take everything in your stride! (So no rushing!!)

 Happy writing!

 WillowUnicorn

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

Good Morning! :) How is everyone this fine Spring morning?

 So, it's time to start preparing for NaNoWriMo.

 "What?" you all cry. "We have to start preparing now? But NaNoWriMo isn't for months!"
 "But," I wag my index finger at you. "You cannot focus very well if you are not prepared!"
 "But it just takes a week to get prepared." you protest. "I can be ready in one week!"
 "You may be able to get ready in one week," I give you all an earnest look. "But will you be feeling frazzled or relaxed?"
 You all pause, trying to find a suitable reply.
 "Because you see." I  sit down in a chair. "Lets say you're out of pens. Tomorrow is the big day. It's Sunday, and all the shops are closing in half an hour. You rush off to Office Works, but it's too late - they have just closed. All the other shops are closed because it's Sunday.
 "Then, because you didn't have any pens, you have to get some in the morning, wasting about an hour that could've been used writing.
 "How ever, if you start preparing now, less than a month and a half before NaNoWriMo starts, then you can start the writing challenge the on the first day without feeling stressed!" I give a winning smile to all of you.

                                                     ~*^*~

 OK, so, mini-stories aside, lets make a list.

 The last thing you want to happen during NaNoWriMo is to run out of paper, or lose, or even  break, your pen/ pencil. You'll also want to tidy up the calendar and make sure that there are good spaces of time for writing.

 The first thing we need to do is make a list. Lists are so lovely. Here is why:

•  They are clean
•  They are organized 
•  And so easy to read! :D

There you go! We just read a mini-list. (And for those who got and read the NaNoWriMo email, I got the list idea from that :P) ^-^

 Your list is going to be full of stuff you need to buy and do. First of all, lets make the To-do list:

•  Find a little corner to write and to keep your writing.
•  Make sure there's enough room in your bag to put your writing in it.
•  Check all your pens, and make sure that they are in good working condition.
•  Have a peep at your stock of paper, or have a look for any notebooks you own that are big enough for story writing and aren't taken up by notes.
•  Check out what's in your kitchen cupboard. 
•  Have a look at the calendar, and tidy it up so that you can attend NaNoWriMo events, and to make sure you have enough time to do writing.

 OK, so above we have our To-do list. Now, below, let's make the To-buy list:

•  Notebooks
•  Pens
•  Pencils
•  Paper
•  Tea/Coffee/Milo
•  Nibbles (cookies, chips and dips, etc)

OK, so above we now have our To-buy list.
 I like buying at least two notebooks at a time, occasionally three if I have the money. I like to write really big books, and how is one supposed to write a 50,000+ worded book if they have one notebook? You'll also need a notebook to sort out the plans for the story.
 The paper is for any random ideas that pop into your head while you're writing. You need to put those ideas somewhere, because when you're writing a book ideas can sometimes leave as quickly and suddenly as they came.
 It is essential to have things to drink and nibble. It does no one any good if you are writing on an empty stomach and a stressed mind. I like having a nice stock of licorice tea, as it's so yummy and helps me to relax. Also having a good stock of cornchips helps, because if I need to nibble something I'll have a small bowl of them with dips.


 So now we have the basics for preparing. Soon I'll be posting up how to organize your plotline, characters, all the story planning needed so that when November comes you won't be running around trying to get all the last details onto a piece of paper.

 Well, hopefully this helped you! If you have any questions, feel free to ask, as I'll be happy to help you out.

 Happy writing!

 WillowUnicorn