Kiwi Time #6

So for the longest time I didn’t know what to write about. And I never really took the time to sit down and think about it either because I’ve just been so busy.
The weeks leading up to Christmas holiday were just crazy with school trips, homework, gift shopping and bags to be packed. Then I went back to the Netherlands for nearly three weeks and became homesick and depressed when I was back in England.
But now that I’m ill and have read through comic books, Harry Potter and watched way too many Big Bang Theory episodes, I finally decided to sit down and write a blog post again. (Sorry for the wait everyone!).

And then I find that the few ideas I have, I’ve already used before haha. So I’ll just write about new years instead.
 It’s 2011!
And even though my new year didn’t start that well, I’m really looking forward to this year. The reason I love new year is because I love taking a few moments on the last day of the year and thinking about everything that I’ve done and everything that I’ve accomplished in that year and the many memories that I have made whether good or bad.
Here are some things I’ve accomplished this year:

1. I graduated High school.
2. I finished my second novel.
3. I started on my third one and am editing the first.
4. I made the terrifying decision of going to England.
5. I survived the first weeks in England and pushed myself outside of my comfort zones to make new friends.
6. I said “yes” to a lot more opportunities than I would have before.
7. I’ve finally done NaNoWriMo! And won!
8. I went on my first real date ever.
9. I got to meet the singer of Destine and had an awesome night with my brother.
10. I got to spend 365 awesome days with my friends, my family and you guys.

And many more!
Another thing I love about new years is thinking about what the next year is going to be like, and what you want to accomplish in that year and how you’re going to try your best to never give up.
Here is a small list:

1. Get my book published (or at least find an agent).
2. Try to write as much as possible.
3. Say “yes” to even more opportunities.
4. To start at the  University  of Amsterdam after the summer.
5. To write more on this blog :)
And to have an awesome time!!!! Who’s with me?

So my point about telling this is… what are the things you want to accomplish? Do you want to write a book? Then don’t just sit there reading this! Go do it!
Do you want to make more friends? Over come your fears or shyness and go to a nice looking person to say hello! If you want something don’t just wait! Go for it! If you just act and try your best you can do almost anything (I still haven’t got the whole flying thing and mind reading worked out).

As always I have to struggle to keep my own advice but I’ll try my best.
I hope you’ll all have a wonderful 2011! If you have anything you want to accomplish please feel free to share them in the comments!

So, 2010 you were awesome, thanks.
And 2011 here we come!

Keep writing,

Xx LordKiwii

No Excuses!

We all want to write. At least I assume that most people reading this blog want to write a book, are writing a book. Or have always secretly wanted to write one but don’t even realize that they do. But no matter how great our ideas are or how awesome and believable the characters—if we don’t do the

hard part, the actual writing, then the novel will never come. And it will always just be some vague idea in the back of your mind, some loose pages and a dream that was locked away to sigh over from time to time.

We don’t want that do we?

One of the most important things in a writer is not imagination or talent (ok they are VERY important and help a lot but – oh just go with me!) but endurance and discipline.
Because in the end the most important thing about being a writer is writing. Just that.
The best thing would be to write every day for at least half an hour.

School, work, family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, gigs, clubs, sport, the gym, reading, television, internet, the computer, appointments, crappy days, no inspiration, shopping, the movies, cleaning, cooking, groceries, compulsory social visits, crushes, homework --- ok so it’s easier said than done.

In fact I’ll be a downright liar if I tell you that I write every day. There are weeks where I write every day or nearly every day. Sometimes two weeks can go by without me writing anything at all. Time—where can we find the time?
Somehow twenty-four hours a day seems so short doesn’t it?



Absolute nonsense. If you really wanted to write every day you’d be able to find at least half an hour time in your busy schedule trust me.
That’s why I love NaNoWriMo so much (for those of you wondering—what no one?—I won!! :) Just barely made the 50.000 words in time!). Because NaNoWriMo forces people to meet the horror of a deadline. And to MAKE time every day in their busy lives to write those 1667 words a day! Even if that meant watching one less show on the TV. Or staying up a little later, or getting out of bed earlier. Or writing during your lunch break while eating a sandwich.

The truth is that if you really want to write—need to write—every day, you’ll find time. Write on the train to work/college. Write on the subway. Write while you’re waiting for dinner to be ready. Write just before you go to bed. Just write!

The best way to make time and ensure that you’ll do write every day is to create a space to write. And a standard time to write. Say, at 5:30 till 6:30 PM every day.

Of course if you have something extremely important you can skip it for one day. And of course you can do it in other times that day if that’s more convenient (when you find yourself with some extra spare time for instance). Just as long as you strife to write those words every day.

If it helps make a goal for yourself. Say I’ll write 10.000 words in 15 days. Or something like that. Don’t make it too easy for yourself, you have to actually strife for it! But don’t make it impossible either.
If it helps you could also make some sort of calendar where you cross out every day you managed to write. Or you can put a sticker on that date! :) Or reward yourself in some other way!

Good luck! I’m going to try and follow my own advice on this one and write more often! :) I took three days to recover from NaNoWriMo, but now I’m planning on writing every day!

Keep writing everyone!

Xx Lordkiwii

NaNoWriMo

Hello everyone!

The time has finally arrived: this Monday the great annual event NaNoWriMo has started! And this year will be the first year I'm participating. I actually forgot it was the first of November this Monday and started a day late. But I'm still determent to make it! :)

For those of you knew to NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it's a global event where in the month of November, writers all over the world try to write a 50.000 word novel. So that's an entire novel in just 30 days! (or 29 if you're stupid enough like me to forget it lol)

Because you have so little time to actually write the novel, it's quantity that counts not quality. So it's the perfect opportunity to just write and not worry about editing and if a sentence is right, and if this word should be used--or that other word which is slightly different but almost the same... it's a time where you should install yourself somewhere, get plenty of coca cola, coffee and snacks and just write away!

There will also be a lot of fun stuff going on such as meets between fellow NaNoWriMo writers all over the world! So if you are interested, have some time on your hands, and would love to finish a novel by the end of this month--why not join? You wouldn't be too far behind :)

To find out more about this great event just follow the link:

www.nanowrimo.org

Here is a blog that offers some hilarious advice for any participants (worth reading even if you aren't joining):

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/11/01/nanowhonow-nanowrimo-dos-and-donts/

I hope you guys will be rooting for me! :) Right now my word count is 5210 -- and I have no idea where it is going. I had no real plot in mind and just started writing (lol) like I always seem to do. I'll be updating more on my twitter account from time to time :) so you can actually see how epically I will fail ( I don't have much time because oddly enough my college teachers don't agree when I tell them NaNoWriMo is a perfect excuse not to do homework for a month).

Are any of you participating? Are you going to join next year?
If so good luck! And tell me how it's going! :) 

If there is anyone interested (probably not) my account on NaNoWriMo is also LordKiwii :)
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/749324

Keep Writing!

Xx
LordKiwii

Halloween

Hey everyone!

As you know today is Halloween!
So in the spirit of this awesome holiday let's dress up in our witch, vampire or zombie costumes and write scary stories! :)

Alright, so writing a scary story actually isn't as easy as it sounds (I tried). People get scared a lot, some people get scared all the time. But there are different kinds of scaries (Yes I said scaries lol).

There is the scary feeling you get when you have a test.
Or the feeling you have just before the big drop on the rollercoaster.
Or the scary feeling of asking the person you've been crushing on for a date.

And then you have the haunting, terrifying, oh my god a ghost is haunting me while there is a vampire knocking on my window scary.

I'm actually pretty good at scaring myself and creeping myself out. For instance if I'm walking on a perfectly summer evening, all alone, I can really creep myself out by getting all paranoid and imaging people walking behind me or something stirring in the shadows...

If you actually do want to write a scary story (or just have something frightening happen in your novel) make a list of all the things that would scare you. It can be anything. Here are some of mine:

Creepy clowns.
Spiders.
Ghosts standing next to you while you're trying to sleep O.o
Manikins (they creep me out)

being trapped in a tiny room, with no way out, while the walls are closing in (yes I'm a bit claustrophobic)

Writing stuff like this down can help you think of things to happen in your story. But you should remember that things that scare you, don't scare everybody. For instance some people weirdly enough find manikins exceptionally ordinary. And they love clowns and their balloon animals.

But we can pretty much state that most people won't like ghosts or for instance being buried alive.

Anyway now that you've figured out some scary stuff it's time to make a story.

First of all the main character. It should be someone the audience can relate too. So make them a normal average person. If people can relate to the character they can actually see it happening to themselves--which makes the story all the more terrifying.

think of the setting. Make it something perfect for odd and scary stuff--but reasonable. For instance the main characters bedroom can be a perfect setting, or maybe a cinema. Again the reader will relate to it more than for instance a hidden tomb in the basement.

Now it's time for the scary stuff! There has to be a "villain", someone or something who will do the creepy stuff. It can be a ghost, or a person, zombie, vampire (Oh yes I totaly put that up there so I can post a Brad Pitt vampire pic haha) , werewolf, mummy, hypnotized-suddenly-creepy-killer-friend. etc. Think of how the villain gets to the main character and what he'll do. let the creeping out commence!

The important thing is to convey a feeling of primal fear. Of need to survive, a threat against your live or your very soul. Put scary feelings into the readers mind.

For instance my friend told me this terrifying story which took place in the kids bedroom (a place we can sympathise with) and he feeling for his dog under his bed .... only what was under his bed ... what he kept touching every time being reassured ... that wasn't his dog.

This was an amazing story and maybe I should tell it here... it was so creepy... I don't know yet. Anyway what made it so amazing was the comforting setting--our bedrooms. The place we sleep, are vulnerable yet always somehow feel safe. And the kid was comforted as well, being with his dog. But then all that comfort is taken away and replaced by pure fear--which makes it all the worse.

If you are actually going to tell scary stories tomorrow night, make sure the setting is right and make your voice low, like you don't want to be heard by anyone. Try to be creepy and conspiratory, like you are telling them an actual story that shouldn't be told. And raise your voice at all the right bits) Have fun!

haha ok I hope that actually made sense haha. I was going to write something else but then decided I wanted to do something Halloween-ish :)

So I hope you all have a wonderful halloween! Personally I'm not really doing anything special. I'm going shopping at day and then at night I'm gonna watch scary movies with my sisters, and eat candy and maybe tell some scary stories to freak them out hahaha.


What are you doing on halloween? What are you dressing up as? Please let me know in the comment! :)

(It occurred to me that some people may not know how to comment. You either press the tiny comment  thing below or you click on the title of this post, which will take you to a separate page where jus this post is on. Scroll down and you can comment :) Please do people I love reading them!) 


Happy Halloween! 


And Keep Writing!

Xx LordKiwii

Kiwi Time #5

Hi everyone!

How are you all?
I have been busy, busy, busy.
I'm really enjoying my year here in England so far. My host family is great and so is my EF sister (who I share rooms with).

Let me tell you a little bit about the school.
It's completely different from what I'm used too. First of all, you only have 3 to 4 subjects. Back home I had about 9 of them so that's a big change. Then it's not just one big building but separate buildings. The younger students have to wear uniforms (sixth form doesn't!) and we have our own common room, where only year 12 and 13 can come.

I choose only three subjects namely: Art, Design & English Literature.

Art has been great. I never took art at my old high school so it's a little demanding for me, but luckily I haven't sat still all those years and drew a lot in my own time (mostly places and characters from my story. Drawing a character, or details of a building, a scene, can help me describe it better. Does any of you do the same?).

Design isn't at all what I thought it would be. I thought it would be more like designing objects and maybe fashion and stuff like that. We are designing some things like chairs, but it's a lot more technical and we're working more with wood & metal, not fabrics. But it's still fun!

English Literature is great, of course! :) I'm pretty much taking A levels in subjects that I've never had before haha. We never really had literature as well (we had Dutch literature at our old school but not English). We're working on Much ado about nothing (my favorite Shakespeare play!), Measure for Measure and Wuthering Heights. I've read two of those books, only measure for measure is new to me, so I think I can handle it. (Yes I was a weird child who liked reading classical English books when I was about 14 lol)

I've also joined the gym and just came back from a morning session of body balance, all stretched and relaxed. Perfect for writing!

I'm still working on the rewriting of my first novel. It's hard and kinda boring work (I'm a first draft person). And I don't like chipping bits off, but I can't wait to see it finished! How is your writing going? Good I hope :)

OK I won't bore you for much longer.
It's just that I wanted to write something, but don't have many idea's at the moment for a post.

So please!! If you have any questions, things you don't really get about writing, problems, or maybe just something you understand but think I can make an interesting post about for others please leave a comment! I need your help guys because I'm temporarily out of ideas! :)

Well I'm going to write some more! I hope that all of you who have a week off for half term right now enjoy their holiday! And do lots and lots of writing!

Xx

LordKiwii

Show Don’t Tell

Hi everyone!

I’ve good good news: My computer is alive! Someone at school managed to fix it even though my pc is in Dutch, so I am amazed.
I’m settling into my life here at England and thought it was well time for me to post something new :) Sorry for the long wait guys.

So let’s talk about a piece of writing advice that you’ve probably all heard about, and which no one really agrees on: Show don’t tell.

By show don’t tell, is usually meant that the reader is supposed to experience the story through the characters thoughts and feelings; through the things they do and say. You’re supposed to “see” what is happening, instead of having the narrator (the writer) tell you what is going on by describing or summarizing.

Let me give you an example:

So with tell is meant that you for instance tell the readers how someone is feeling.

“Peter was feeling sad”.

With show you don’t have to tell the readers that Peter is sad, because they can come to that conclusion themselves by “seeing” how Peter acts:

“Peter curled up in the corner of the room. He was shaking uncontrollably and big tears rolled down his cheeks, soaking his shirt.”

Ok so I’m just making these up as I go along, but I think you can tell that Peter is either really sad (or scared out of his mind, but you would be able to make that out of the context).

The second sentence is more elaborated than simply “Peter was feeling sad” and can show us just how said he is, and tells us more about Peter himself. For instance if Peter is sad we know he likes to be alone—he goes to his room—and that he curls up in a corner so he feels more safe and secure. You can learn a lot more about the characters by showing the reader what is going on, because you’ll need the characters to show them.

In the words of Janet Evanovich: "Instead of stating a situation flat out, you want to let the reader discover what you're trying to say by watching a character in action and by listening to his dialogue. Showing brings your characters to life."

Don’t worry this doesn’t mean that it is not allowed, or frowned upon or completely terrible if you use telling in your stories. Some famous authors use mostly telling instead of showing. Like Jane Austen for instance. And in first person narrative you’ll always tend towards more showing than in third person narrative.

But personally I think that both showing and telling are important in any novel. You shouldn’t show everything to the reader. Some parts of the story just aren’t interesting or important enough to show. For instance: two guys are travelling to the mountain of snow. On the second day they encounter a terrifying wizard. They escape. All this is great to show the readers. But then they travel for three days more and absolutely nothing happens until nightfall of the last day. Then it’s alright to say: The next three days were exhausting but uneventful. We saw no trace of the wizard and the forest seemed peaceful and quiet. Still we hardly slept and couldn’t help glancing back every now and then. For the feeling of fear that the wizard would return was fresh in our hearts. It wasn’t until night fell and we made camp in the shadow of the mountain that we saw him again.
And now is the perfect time to switch back to showing, and show the reader how they met the wizard again, how they were feeling and what happened.

If you would show absolutely everything, you’d end up with a 500.000 word manuscript that is impossible to get through.

Showing is important to make the action scenes more vivid, to make the characters more real and to make the story come to life in your imagination. To make the story interesting and compelling. Telling is important to cut to the more exciting and important scenes. Telling is important to give the reader a breather from all the showing, and describing. It’s important for progress in the story. Plus, it makes the important scenes (that are shown) stand out in the text.

Basically I think you shouldn’t worry about it too much. If you’re not sure if you’re using the right balance between showing and telling, re-read your story a bit and see if there are pieces that are hard to read through or boring—why is that? Is it because you describe too much? Or is it because you tell everything?
If you feel like your character is too flat and you don’t really get to know him that much in the story, see if maybe you need to do a little more showing. Because showing, makes your character breathe magic and come to life.

I really hoped this helped you a bit. And thank you guys for sticking with me, it means a lot. Any questions, random comments and/or suggestions for new posts are very welcome!! You’d be helping me out!

Keep writing!

Xx LordKiwii

sorry!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts! But I'm adjusting to my new life in England. To top it off I have a virus on my laptop, so I can't use it at all.....
But a new post will be up soon about Showing not Telling.
questions & idea's about new blog posts are always welcome! :)
Thanks for waiting so long

Keep Writing,

Xx LordKiwii