Beautiful Books #3- Oddball the First

Hello everyone!    So I did not do NaNoWriMo. I realized that some people were under the impression that I did. I apologize about that. I just like doing the Beautiful Books link up. (If you want to do a NaNo over the summer, let me know, I'm seriously considering doing it.)   So today I'm going join the Beautiful Books link up hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. They are awesome like that.  Let's talk about Oddball the First?   By of way, the trilogy titles are currently being referred to as:     Oddball the First   Oddball the Sequel   Oddball at Last       It's not genius. But at least it's something.
  1. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best) how well do you think this book turned out?   It turned out as a either a -4.09 or +72.6.   I just can't decide.
2. Have you ever rewritten or editing one of your books before? If so, what do you do to prepare yourself? If not, what’s your plan?   Um, yes and no. I've never edited when I was supposed to. My game plan so far is, when I start, I'm going read the whole thing through.    Yeah. And then I'll see what things need to be saved for the others books. What parts just needs to be chopped out and left for dead. And then what needs to be added.    (I am not a game plan kind of person.)
3. What’s your final wordcount? Do you plan to lengthen or trim your book?   I don't know. Some of it is still in handwritten form and other portions are on various computer documents.   

    Right now, I'm working on putting it all in one chronological document. But it's huge. Way bigger than a nice little 50,000 words. I like to throw every possible idea out there. The good, the bad, the insane. That way when I slim it down later all I need is already on the paper. And I didn't forget anything.   I think.

  4. What’s are you most proud of? Plot, characters, or pacing?   The characters. Alwayses the characters. ;)   I love the Oddball crew. They're probably the only set of characters that can 100% make my day, everyday.
5. What’s your favourite bit of prose or line from this novel?   I've probably posted this before. But it is the answer to this question.   She closed her eyes and let the chaos of the crowd envelop her. Wrap around her like a hug. A hug of smallness. Of being invisible. Of being alone and yet part of something bigger than oneself. That hug of loneliness. Sometimes she struggled under it. 
          But on days like these. Especially in the noise and company of the crowd, she embraced it back. After all it was the only friend she had.


6. What aspect of your book needs the most work?   The all of it!   Okay, okay. Well, the length is kind of- lengthy. The plot is kind of- wandering. The everything is- a bit much.       
  (Is it bad that I find many Pirates of the Caribbean gifs/quotes relative to writing?)     7. What aspect of your book is your favourite?   Didn't we already talk about this?   Well, I adore the characters.
And the kingdoms. The dragons too. But there's a lot of side characters also. Like Smelt. Oo, I love Smelt.    And Ratchett. I think, I'll have to bring Ratchett back sometime, because he's amazing. Don't tell him I said that. His head's big enough as it is.   
8. How are your characters? Well-rounded, or do they still need to be fleshed-out?   I think they're well-rounded. But what do I know? I just write the stuff.
9. If you had to do it over again, what would you change about the whole process?   I would write it all on one Word document, and write chronologically as much as possible.   *cough*   Also I would try to write more consistently, so I'd finish in less time.
10. Did anything happen in your book that completely surprised you? Have any scenes or characters turned out differently to what you planned? Good or bad?   Yes, there was this character that came around. He wouldn't go away, so I said, "Fine. I can use you." So I did. And he got what he wanted, just not in the way he wanted.   And there were a few unforeseen scenes. But I'm kind of a pantser anyways, so it always-   Just happens!   (It's not always good things that happen, but, eh, what do you want on short notice?)
11. What was the theme and message? Do you think it came across? If not, is there anything you could do to bring it out more?   I think the theme changed a few times during the writing. There was a theme about letting go of the past, I think. And then there was something about friendship, maybe. . . I don't know. I'm just realizing now that I'm looking back on it. Friendship wasn't necessarily supposed to be an overarching theme, but it happened. Then there was prejudice and that's supposed to carry throughout the whole series.    Eh, we'll see what comes of it.
12. Do you like writing with a deadline (like NaNoWriMo) or do you prefer to write-as-it-comes?   I probably need a deadline.   But I loath deadlines.
13. Comparative title time! What published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men, etc.)   Um, it's kind of like, like   I would say The Hobbit. It's not high fantasy. But it has that one adventure after another feel to it. But The Hobbit is big, and Oddball is not that big and glorious. It's not Tolkien worthy.   I'm really drawing a blank here, people.   It's very humorous. But it can then get very dark near the latter half. And the characters- Oh, they are monstrously uncooperative, but they are the best all the same.

14. How do you celebrate a finished novel?!   With peanut butter, loud music, books, and, yeah that's about it.
15. When people are done reading your book, what feeling do you want them to come away with?     Oh, this question. You're asking me to go on forever, aren't you?   I want them to get that feeling of, "I cannot wipe this stupid grin off my face," because the book was so good. I want them to feel like the characters are their personal best friends because they were just so real. And I really hope it makes them smile for weeks on end and that they ramble unintelligibly about it to all the people they see in the world. Because that is what I always feel like after reading the most amazing book in the world.    And- and- I'll stop there.

The Tag of Randomness

             Do people even use that word anymore? Random? It was popular when I was in high school. But maybe the world has moved on in lingo.

Anyhow, Carly @ Books and Etc. did this ginormous post of tags. Thank you, Carly, for tagging me (and not making me answer all the questions ;) ).

Three facts of me:

1. I teach a kids clogging class (clogging is similar to tap dancing, but not), in which I almost always quote The Lego Movie, Despicable Me, or Megamind at least once. The joys of teaching kids. ;)

2. Um, I use parentheses (quiet often).

3. When I'm in a bad mood I think about what Patrick Jane says about being happy.

And I always laugh.

The questions I choose to answer:

1. The thinnest book on your shelf?

Mostly Monster. It came from a Cherrios box. But I'm partial to the illustrations and it's kind of cute.

2. The thickest?

Probably the wonderful The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Or a dictionary. Books on words tend to come in large sizes.

3. Favorite classic book?

Pride and Prejudice, or- or- Does The Princess Bride count?

Yes?

Then The Princess Bride.

 

4. Who is your ultimate all-time favorite character?

What kind of a narrow-minded question is that? Oh, who should I choose? 

Okay, um, I'm going to with Cinder because I read her book recently and it was fantastic.

5. What fandoms are you a part of?

I think I will actually tag people. Anyone who wants to do this and these people:

Jack @ However Improbable, Cait @ Paper Fury, Ely @ what can I say?

This is kind of an Unofficial Tag, so just do this:

Write Three Facts About You, then:

Answer the following questions:

1. What is your favorite book quote?

2. Your favorite superhero?

3. Cookies or pie?

4. Any weird, funny, or touching movie-going stories?

5. What is the price of bananas?

6. What song are you currently obsessed with and why?

And you can link back to me if you want. Yeah, that's how these tag things go, right? If anyone else wants to do it, feel free! Or you can answer the questions in the comments. Love to hear what you have to say!

Famous People Tag

            
Skye Hoffert at Ink Castles tagged me for the Famous People Tag.




1. Who's your favorite singer/group?
*rubs hands together* We may not get past the first question.






 
 I could go on and on about Switchfoot. But I'll just resolve to do a whole post later.

for King & Country! They recently released their second album. Best songs are To the Dreamers and It's Not Over Yet.

 


 This is Skillet. I need to do a post for each of these bands. A cursory glance is not enough.



Anthem Lights in Avenger attire. Who I am currently listening to:

I've never heard the original band who sings this song. I just like Anthem Lights.

2. If your favorite male actor was in the same room with you right now, what would you do?
Um, I'm ashamed to say that I would probably remain hidden in the corner like a good, little introvert.

3. Is there a famous person you used to love but now you've changed your mind?

I don't think so. . . to be honest, I don't even follow famous people very often. If someone mentions something about an actor/actress who I admire, I'll probably look further into it out of curiosity. Or if they have a movie coming out soon. Otherwise, I know very little about famous people.


4. Name a famous person you like whose name starts with V.
Does Veronica Roth count?




 She will dress up like her characters. Isn't that awesome?! And, my friends, she is brave. For writing the only ending that could've happened. She is so brave.

5. What's one of your favorite red-carpet dresses?
After a peruse of pinterest, I've decided I don't like red-carpet dresses.

This, on the other hand. I would actually wear a dress if I had this. They wouldn't let me in a red carpet event with it, but ah-well.







6. Who's your favorite Royal person?


Prince Kai. ;)

My bad. Emperor Kai.

7. Who's your favorite child actor/actress?





 Does Haley Mills count? I always loved the way she talks. By the way, this is the best part in The Parent Trap (and there are a lot of good parts).

8. Is there an actor/actress whose private life you like?
 

Uh, I try not to follow their private lives. Because it's, you know, private.



9. Do you think that actors/actresses have improved over the last 100 years?

I'm going with the common answer of yes and no.


10. What's the weirdest famous person name?

Markus Zusak. Seriously, there's little difference between his first and last name. I do kind of like his name though.

Even though it makes me think of Marcus, from Divergent. . .



11. Do you think you look like a famous persons? If so who?




I've been told I look like Meridith.



 
I considered that an exaggeration. (I've never seen Brave, actually.)

12. Share your favorite famous person quote.



13. Who's your favorite dancer?
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ;)

 




 




14. Who is your favorite actress, why, and when did you decide?
I haven't a clue.



15. Have you ever met/seen/ been close to a famous person?

 Um, do clogging instructors count? Like, giants in the clogging sphere? (Or so I considered them. . .)

Oh! Oh, wait. Stephen James writes these amazing thrillers. He spoke at a writer's conference I went to. A few of my writing friends and I eeped up to him. (Eep is totally a word. Definition: to walk up shyly and with a sense of inferiority. Okay, I made it up. . .) And the bravest among us asked him what kind of college degree we should seek if we planned to write novels (this guy has a masters degree in Creative Writing).

He kind of sighed and said whatever you go to college for don't go for writing, or English. All that time he had spent working on essays and other school stuff, he wished he could've used it for working on his novels and growing in the writing craft. If you're going to go to college. Go for something else that you're interested in. You know, so you can work a regular job and write.

Advice from Stephen James, people. Thank you for visiting my blog. ;)

Thanks Skye for the tag. This was a lot of fun.

'Bout This Blogger

  So one of the blogs that I follow recently moved from Blogger to Word Press and has changed their (her) name.

           Perhaps you've heard of her.

           The Notebook Sisters have now become Paper Fury! (which is the most amazing blog name I've heard in all my life). You should really go check it out. Cait does book reviews, book fangirl posts (you know those are the best), interviews, discussions (also pretty good), and she writes (the best side of everything). Read the blog. Love the blog. Follow the blog. (you might as well as, she's going to take over the world)

           Moving onward. She's having a book giveaway. And a blogger tag. So here goes:

1. Why did you start blogging?

A year ago, on my birthday. I had meant to start with the new year, but it got put off until February. I was pretty much just as awkward, gawky, and without direction as I am now.

2. What’s the story behind your blog’s name?

I am really bad at titles. None of my WIPs have legit titles. I never title my essays until the last minute, and usually its something bland. So a blog title was one of the biggest hold ups in creating my blog. It was a little too trivial a thing to be hold up the whole process so. . .

 [insert title here] 

A Journey to the Finished Line.

3. How many designs have you been through since you started blogging? (Pictures! We demand pictures!)

Two, sort of. The first design didn't last long. I had a few friends from other blogs look at it and the colors were a little too dark. It was purple, green, and gray. Kind of weird, yes?

The second design is, well, this one.

4. Have you ever switched blog platforms? What made you move? If you haven’t ever changed…why?

No, I've considered it a lot. But I really don't have a lot of time for that. College is hard to keep up with. And I'd rather be writing. ;)

5. How long does it take you to write a post? What’s your postly process like?

 

Process? What's that? 

 Sometimes I can sit down and have a post done in an hour. But if it has pictures, it will take much longer. Sometimes I have an undeveloped idea that I start and come back to. I can have posts sitting on back file for days. . . months (like a Dauntless post I planned, maybe I'll just have an all out Divergent post. It's what the world truly needs.).

6. Have you ever been super nervous about a post? Why?! What was it?

  

I used to always be nervous about it when I first started. But then I realized something: I'm just going to write what I want to write. If someone doesn't like it, then that's okay. Not everyone is going to have the same opinions about something. If they don't like me, they can leave a comment, which I would sincerely take into consideration if applicable, or they could not follow me, not read my posts.

 I wouldn't die. They would be fine. Time wouldn't stop.

 So all's well in the world. 

Maybe that sounds a little harsh. But I just had to accept the fact that not everybody was going to like me or agree with me and there's nothing wrong with that.

7. Do you have a blogging schedule?

I know they are different, but in my mind "process" and "schedule" are practically synonyms. They both equal organization. So I try not to make any big goals. But I have these sort of guidelines, you see.

I try to post at least once a week.

8. Do you tell people In-Real-Life about your blog? Their reactions?

Never! I probably should. But I'm kind of insecure about my writing. I can't be in the same room with someone reading my writing. And if they're reading it aloud? I want to bolt for the nearest exit.

 The people I see face to face, I've realized, have many misconceptions about me. Most of them probably don't even know I write. I found out recently that most of those who do know I write have the notion that I write historical romance? Like Jane Austen stuff? (Not that I have anything against historical romance, in fact, Jane Austen is awesome; its just far from my writing strengths). 

I think if they read any of this, they'd probably give me this weird stare every time I walked by. And afterward any conversation would go like so:

ambiguous them; *stares*

me: Uh, hi.

ambiguous them: *continues staring*

me: How are you today?

ambiguous them: Who are you?

9. Top ten blogs you read/comment on the most! Go! Go!

 (most of these bloggers are also writers and I love their snippets and characters, even if I don't comment, their posts are worth the read)

Jack @ However Improbable, Cait @ Paper Fury, Sky @ Further Up and Further In, Anne-girl @ Scribblings of My Pen and Tappings of My Keyboard, Ely @ what can I say?, Christine @ Musings of an Elf

There's a lot of others whom I've recently started following and reading too. But for now, I'm going to pretend that six equals ten.

10. If you could change/improve things about your blog, what would they be?

Eh, probably the design, maybe the title. 

I actually have a back up of tag post to do. . . and now I'm really considering that Dauntless/Divergent post. All the pictures are from pinterest, excluding the one of me.

Have a great week!

Life + Humans Should Be Nocturnal

           So I was gone all week. At the National Clogging Convention. I say "national" and I live in the US, but one of the Canadian provinces had the most people attend, also there were Aussies. An Aussie instructor too, he was really good.

        That's what I love about clogging. During the fun dances, someone cues routines that most people know. So you have people from all around the world, in the same room, all dancing in unison. It's pretty cool.

           I spent most of my time in advanced level workshops. I try to learn the first section of the dance. Then I'd crash in the back and watch, thinking, "That is so awesome, I wish I could do that."

           Also there was a meeting a work today. Which I was unfortunately late for, um, again. I hate being late. But I dislike being early too. Because then I'm like:



           "When can I home? Oh, look! A corner in which I can practice being invisible."

         But that's not why I was late. The meeting was 6:30 in the morning. Really, why are meetings always in the morning? I don't get it. The whole world starts in the morning and insists that everybody else comply with it. Work starts in the morning. School. Meetings.

        Why can't people be nocturnal? I think the night owls should unite and petition this to all of humankind.

           Also, I was kind of on pinterest when I was in class. . . Class hadn't officially started, you see. The instructor had announcements that I already knew about. So I was making the most of my time, uh. . . on pinterest. And this is what I came across:






           I got busted by pinerest. Rather by the Avengers through pinerest (those guys get around). It's rather pathetic. But I'm with Loki. I do what I want. Heh. But I do what to get good grades. So I got to studying. . .

            Most importantly and lastly (you know, to emphasize the procrastinating habits of writers), I have been figure the kinks in Oddball the Sequel. I'm almost done and ready to start the first draft.

         Again, every problem I seem to have all boils down to what some character or other wants. It seems if you can figure out what the characters want, you've got a story. It's all so simple. . . but not. No, not really.




           So I've been spending my free time asking all the Oddball cast, "What do you want?"

Why do you read?

           Why do you read books?

           Some people read to learn. Generally, when I think of these people I think of people who read nonfiction. Textbook stuff. You know, like blogs about the different types of alpaca fur (because there's a crying need for it).

          Then some people read to relax. They get called escapists. They read to get away from the stress of reality (*enter* the stress of the imaginary).

           Usually, readers are thought to fall into these two categories. I could fall into the latter.

           But do you really want to know why I read?

1. The imagination. You have to admire the word building. The concepts. Where do people come up with this stuff?!

2. The amazing characters. Sure, there's always real life people, but we introverts like to keep our distance. We like people well enough in theory, but only a few up close. And even then, we do people one at a time. How do we cope with the masses? We do books instead (people who read in public, yes?).


the masses: noun  two or more living beings (if there's a dog in the room, yes, it counts too)
                                               -from The Introvert's Dictionary of Slightly Exaggerated Definitions


3. The adventure! Yes, this is purely an escapist's point. But seriously. There are so many things you can do in books that you can't do in real life. Ride a dragon? No, problem. Become a telepath? Right up book alley.

      a. It doesn't even have to be the fantastical though. Right now, say I want to visit London, England. I live in America. But I don't have my own private jet. So what do I do? Pick up a book.

      b. In which point 3 is no longer the escapist answer. What if I wanted know what it's like to live in London, England? How they speak? How they dress? What's for dinner? Do they as a culture have different values than my culture? Believe it or not, you could learn all of those things from a well-written novel.

4. To learn. So what else can we learn from fiction?

           a. Have you ever wondered what someone else was thinking? I do. All the time. Have you ever had the audacity to walk up to a random person and actually ask? Uh, no. (I applaud to you more adventurous and extroverted people). Novels can transport you into the mind of someone else. The mindsets of the characters (to be obvious:their character) have similarities with real people. That's why fiction is called the believable lie. It has just enough truth.

        b. This spins off from a. Through books you can learn about people who think differently than you. You learn how to understand real people who are coming from different situations or mindsets than yourself. You learn how to empathize.

       c. You learn about concepts and lessons also. Usually, if done well, these are the more subtle parts in a novel. So we won't expound. (why do I keep saying we like there's more of me?)

           So why do you enjoy reading? What's your favorite flavor books?

the Makings of a Good Sequel

           Uh. . .

            Oh! Yes, so I am trying to start the sequel in the Oddball trilogy.

            Can I say it's not going very well?

            I know what is supposed to happen in the latter half of the book, but the first half is still a mystery. I don't know much about the kingdom they are going to or why they are going there in the first place. Well, I do actually. They are going there because Jaykin has sent them on a mission there.

          But what is the mission?

           Yes, that's the hold up.

           Right now I'm tossing up ideas of what the story will consist of, so far I've thrown these ideas around:

famous scientists
Medieval culture
a lawless kingdom
racial prejudice

          Is it possible to combine these? I would say yes, but those first two, hmm. . . Challenges are good, no?

          So outside of all that, I've also been thinking about what makes a sequel good, and what makes a sequel bad? A lot of sequels are just blah. But when a sequel is good, it is absolute genius!

          I read a post at chasingthecrazies she mentioned that a sequel ought to introduce new characters to capture our interest. I thought that sounded good.

           What about other sequels? Does this happen?

              Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, I thought was very good. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The new characters were awesome, creating tension and capturing our hearts (sometimes breaking them). Also the whole idea of the arena as a clock, the underground resistance group. The Hunger Games felt like preparation for the meat of the story's plot: Panem breaking away from President Snow's rule.

           Maybe that is how it should be? When I think about the Divergent series as a whole and then about the single book Divergent. The first book seems like a preparation ground for the real plot. It was, may I say, a sort of initiation.

            Let's talk about movies?

            I liked the first Thor, but the second one? Even better! There was the introduction of a new character. You know, the intern. Poor intern. He had a name, I can't remember, and I feel honest bad for that. But we also spent more time away from earth.

             The Thor sequel took us to another world (and threatened our own with alien invasion, but that's tangential ;).

source

             In ways Catching Fire takes us to another world. It shows us Katniss' new life in the beginning then dumps her into a new arena. In Insurgent, Tris occupies different faction headquarters and then later becomes a prison in Erudite headquarters.

            How to Train Your Dragon 2. I know its animation, but that was a really good sequel, especially for an animation. There were new characters. They took us to another world. But what I thought was really cool, and unique (especially for an animation), was that the characters grew. They literally grew up and matured. They took on responsibility and their present and past achievements were acknowledged to that they were raised to a higher level of status.

           The How to Train Your Dragon sequel showed growth and developed maturity in the regular characters.

source

          At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss is no longer a little girl who is only staying alive for her sister and thinks that District 12 is the worst there is. She realizes in Catching Fire that things are bad everywhere, and people are not always what they first seem. She is more aware of what is going on in the world and is able to take a more mature outlook on it. She is also made the symbol of the rebellion (more or less against her will). In Insurgent, Tris is no longer the skinny little Abnegation girl who people overlook or mock. She is stronger and assertive; few would challenge her. She is also nominated to be a Dauntless leader, though she declines it. In the second Thor, Thor has grown wiser, and has gained better sense of who he is and what he wants in life. 


The checklist of a great sequel:

1. New characters

2. It should look like the first book was written for the sequel, not the sequel was written for the first book.

3.Take us to another world

4. Growth and developed maturity in characters

What do you think? What do you like to see in sequels?

Um, I know I was here for a reason. . . now what could it be?

           So it’s been insane lately.

           Mid-terms at the college.

          Oh, yay. . .

            I forget a lot of things. I’m terribly unprepared. I walk into a room and forget why. I go to tell someone something and forget what I was going to say.

         My mom suggests I have a daily planner. But if I had a daily planner, I would never look at it. Or it would get swallowed into the abyss of my room and never be seen again. Besides I have an argument for procrastination.

        

Being highly unorganized and unprepared develops flexibility, resourcefulness, a quick mind, and improvisation.

         I’m telling you. It can be a good thing. ;)

         Lately, with everything I do either being something I don’t really want to do, or something that’s limited by some time constraint, I’ve been questioning myself a lot lately. Even if I’m doing something I love, I almost feel guilty for doing it because I’m not studying or doing something “important.” (my idea of important and other people’s ideas of important seem to be incredibly different, hence the quotation marks) Always in the back of my mind there’s this question:

Why are you doing this? What are you doing it for? Why does it matter? Does it even matter at all?

           I’ve really been bothered by this, longer than I originally thought. I actually changed my major this semester because it was bothering me all last year. I thought changing would help, that I would stop asking myself why I am doing what I do. Obviously, that didn’t work.

           I don’t normally talk about stuff like this here (okay, or anywhere), but oh, well.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
           This Sunday I realized something. That whatever I do, no matter what I do, I am doing it for God. Even if nobody sees it or hears about it, except God. As long as I am doing my best at it, it gives glory to Him. Because He is my strength. He is why I can do what I do. It’s my daily act of worship, I guess you could say. It doesn’t even have to be anything in the “Christian box.” (aka: it doesn’t have to be of the Christian genre to glorify God). God gave me this overwhelming peace that everything I do, whether it’s writing, playing guitar, spending time with family, studying for college, driving down the road, I am doing it for Him. And it does matter.


           I know that all might sound very simplistic. But I’ve been struggling with this for a long time. And I’m still figuring it out. Sometimes I still get kind of down and question everything I do. I have to remind myself why I am here and who I am doing what I do for. I need to stop trying to do everything on my own. It’s wearing me out. And I just cannot do it. I was never meant to do it alone. I have to give it to God. And I definitely haven’t grasped the concept of that yet. But we’ll get there.

          So. . . yeah.

         Also I wanted to share this really cool link with you. There’s this awesome post by Wild Horse at Ravens and Writing Desks (pretty cool title, huh? J  ).  It's about finding the personality type of your characters. It's a lot of fun! You should go check it out. Here's a link to the different types of personality types.  (I am determined that one day I will write an ESTP character).

         There’s this other really neat post by Mariah Martinez. She has started a post series on magic in literature from a Christian perspective. I think it’s pretty awesome of her to talk about a controversial topic, and I can’t wait to hear her opinion. You can read her first post at Godwottery Shenanigans.