7x7 Link Award!

The most observant among you may have noticed the new award on my sidebar, like a badge of honor. Thanks to the lovely Bailey Hammond, from Over Yonder, I’m now the proud holder of the 7x7 Link Award.

And you’d best prepare yourselves, because more (albeit hesitant) pride is on the way: the basis of this award involves several categories. You choose past blog posts that encompass these categories, and basically link back to posts on your own blog.

But not to worry! This post isn’t all about me! Because at the end, I shall be linking to three lovely bloggers who will then receive the award themselves. J

Let’s begin, shall we?

Most Beautiful: Meaning of a Username

I just about put this post down for ‘Most Underrated’, because it’s a post from soon after I started trying regular updates, and it hasn’t gotten much exposure. But after reading through it again, I like what I was trying to do with the language. I’m not sure if it’s ‘just’ a blog post, or a personal essay, or something else impossible for me to classify, but I was at least trying to do something… And I kind of like how it turned out.

Most Helpful: Happy Birthday Blog Contest

Aside from being my most-viewed blog post, this contest to celebrate Pro(b)logue’s first anniversary offered critiques to the winners. Hopefully, they found it helpful in regards to their own writing. ;)

Most Popular: Ending Eternal Despair

This is actually my third-most popular blog post (in terms of page views, at least) but… My legitly most popular posts fit into other categories, so...

Most Controversial: When to Hit the Backspace Key

Considering this whole post is actually about controversy in writing…

Most Successful: Sparkfest - Ted Dekker Exaltations

I’d say my Sparkfest post was pretty successful; nine comments – more than my average – and most of them were from people who’d never been to my blog before.

Most Underrated: How Heroes Are Made

I think this post is underrated, even by me. It was one of my first blog posts ever (so it, uh, might be a little rough) but reading it back reminds me that I had some nice ideas floating around in the jumble of “How exactly does blogging work?” This post was basically me, cementing certain ideas on a topic that I love (character reactions!) through the use of some nice examples. I think it was actually a precursor to the next post I’ll link to.

Most Prideworthy: Stay in Character

Okay, so I’ve linked to this post repeatedly, in more recent posts, and even as a guest post on Young Writers Society’s ‘official’ blog. But honestly, I think it’s one of the best posts I’ve written so far, and as I’ve mentioned, I absolutely adore this topic. ^^

And finally, the blogs I’m passing the award on to…

1. Claudie A. at The Novel Experiment! -- On a side note, her last post was about a Kraken. How could I NOT link to her?
2. Amanda the Aspiring at Truth, Justice, and Other Stuff!
3. Julie Musil at her self-titled blog!

All great bloggers, guys, so check ‘em out. ^^

Thanks for reading. :) It was interesting looking back through my old posts, and seeing how my blogging style has already changed from how I started.

An Example of Voice: The Knife of Never Letting Go

                “Howdy, n’ welcome to this here blog o’ mine.”

                “Greetings. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to you for visiting this online expression of my thoughts.”

                “S’up dudes. This be my blog.”

                Hi. And welcome to my blog.

                Hopefully these examples have highlighted the importance of today’s subject: Voice. It’s a crucial part of writing a story worth reading, and it’s a great way to introduce readers to your characters, and the world your story takes place in.

                Recently, I found a book with a voice that exemplifies this very well. The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness, involves mind-reading. Lots of it. Not just a focused look into the mind of a single person at a time, but everyone projecting their thoughts into the air, all the time, to everyone.

                There are no private thoughts. Where there are people, there is Noise.

                This concept, plus talking animals and a main character who’s practically illiterate - yet often profound - make for an interesting voice indeed. Remember that post on breaking the rules?



                The First Pages:

                The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. About anything.

                “Need a poo, Todd.”

                “Shut up, Manchee.”

                “Poo. Poo, Todd.”

                “I said shut it.”

                We’re walking across the wild fields southeast of town, those ones that slope down to the river and head on toward the swamp. Ben’s sent me to pick him up some swamp apples and he’s made me take Manchee with me, even tho we all know Cillian only bought him to stay on Mayor Prentiss’s good side and so suddenly here’s this brand-new dog as a present for my birthday last year when I never said I wanted any dog, that what I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike so I wouldn’t have to walk every forsaken place in this stupid town, but oh, no, happy birthday, Todd, here’s a brand-new puppy, Todd, and even tho you don’t want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now he’s got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving? Guess who?

                …

                We don’t need apples from the swamp, truth be told. Ben can buy them at Mr. Phelps’s store if he really wants them. Also true: going to the swamp to pick a few apples is not a job for a man cuz men are never allowed to be so idle. Now, I won’t officially become a man for thirty more days. I’ve lived twelve years of thirteen long months each and another twelve months besides, all of which living means I’m still one month away from the big birthday. The plans are being planned, the preparayshuns prepared, it will be a party, I guess, tho I’m starting to get some strange pictures about it, all dark and too bright at the same time, but nevertheless I will become a man and picking apples in the swamp is not a job for a man or even an almost-man.

                But Ben knows he can ask me to go and he knows I’ll say yes to going because the swamp is the only place anywhere near Prentisstown where you can have half a break from all the Noise that men spill outta theirselves, all their clamor and clatter that never lets up, even when they sleep, men and the thoughts they don’t know they think even when everyone can hear. Men and their Noise. I don’t know how they do it, how they stand each other.

                Men are Noisy creachers.

               

                I think The Knife of Never Letting Go is the kind of book where you’ll read the first page and either love it – like I did – or run screaming in pursuit of a grammar textbook. It all goes back to those ‘rules’ of writing, and how attached you are to them. If you need the standard rules, you will probably not enjoy this book.

                If you’re willing to suspend those rules, just for a while… Just long enough to catch a glimpse into a new planet where grammar doesn’t matter and thoughts run over each other just like in real life so it’s all on the page and it’s real…

                Then you probably will like this book.

                Artfully misspelled words, run-on sentences galore, every sentence mimicking the thought process of someone surrounded by thoughts all the time. All this, plus the usual terminology of a science fiction tale – fissionbikes, ‘Askings’ instead of questions, etc. A slower beginning as we’re introduced to this world, then almost nonstop action, taking the reader to those Scenes of Ultimate Despair again and again. Then, a cliff-hanger ending that leaves you desperate for the next book in the series.

                It’s messy in places. It’s violent. It’s awful and tragic and – above all – unflinching.

                And I loved it. Even the things I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about in an average book (some profanity for instance – not my cup of tea) were overshadowed by the plot, the characters, and the voice.

                Which would you rather hear? A tone-deaf amateur mangling your favorite song? Or your favorite singer in all the world singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’?

                Voice is like that. A good one can save a book, or a bad one could doom it.

                What’s the voice of your story?

                Are there any other books you can think of with a fantastic – or at the very least, distinctive – voice? Any books that lacked a distinctive voice? And what are some ways you’ve tried to develop your voice when writing?

And finally, the inevitable excuse: This post is late due to school stuff, musical practice, my sister home from college for a few days... And I've been making paperclip jewelry and a clay/wire doll based on the main character of this year's NaNo novel. I've been productive... Just not in a blogging way. XD

First Impressions: How to Introduce Gripping Characters

Today's post about introducing characters that will grip a reader is located on the new collaborative blog I'm contributing to:

 Scratchlings!

Short version is, we can get readers to care about our characters by giving them humorous, heroic, and relatable traits. We want to get deep inside their heads.

For a more in-depth explanation, click the link.

And guys? It involves a video of Captain Jack Sparrow.

:)

Lack of a Reaction: When Questions Go Unanswered

**Scroll down for an important exciting announcement! 8D**

Now, on to the post:

Supernatural Boy: “I don’t have much time to explain, but long story short, you’ve just been sucked into another dimension and are actually our long-lost princess. You’ll also develop astonishing powers you’ve never even hinted at possessing before in about fifteen seconds, after we’re attacked by the witch trying to steal your throne.”

                Female Main Character: “Okay. Let’s do this.”

                See any problems here?

                Yes, there are a few, but the one I’m going to focus on is our FMC’s reaction to the news that her life has just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

                Specifically, I’m going to focus on her lack of reaction. There’s no frantic questions, no denial, no burst of laughter, and no sarcastic comments regarding the sudden need for an insane asylum… She just accepts it. And the story moves on. And any questions the reader has – which, by the way, should be more or less the same questions this MC would have – are completely and totally ignored.

                We do not want to ignore our reader, folks. Not once you start preparing your book for others to read. We have the answers all in our heads. Our readers, and often our characters do not.

                A show I rather like kind of inspired this post, because I see the writers ignoring readers’ questions on a regular basis. Granted, there’s only so much you can fit in a 30-minute episode, but isn’t that what cliff-hangers are for?

                Take for example one episode in particular. Up until that episode, our MC was an amnesiac, and his whole ‘thing’ was trying to find out his past, where he’d come from, why he had the abilities he did…

                And then suddenly, in this episode, his long-lost brother appears! His bro should have all the answers! He can finally clue the readers in on what’s going on! Finally, things will start to make sense!

                Except they didn’t. Partially because his long-lost brother is a quirky, crazy guy, a bit out of touch with reality, but mostly because our main character didn’t even bother to ask the questions in the first place. This is his chance to find out everything, and he doesn’t seem that concerned about it. There wasn’t a single question about his past, or his life before amnesia. At the start of the next episode, it was like his brother had always been around. Still no answered questions.

                Which left me, the viewer, wondering two things.

o   What is he waiting for? This is his chance, so why isn’t he taking it?

o   Now that he potentially has all the answers… Where are they taking this character, and this plot, and this series?

                It also made me start to think, “Is this show really as fantastic as I thought at first?”

                And this is not something we want our readers to be thinking about our books.

                Like I said, there’s only so much the writers of that show could fit into one episode. Similarly, there’s only so much we can fit into a novel, or a chapter, or a scene. If our characters are right in the middle of a chaotic battle, they’re not going to have time to sit down and talk things out right away.

                But that shouldn’t stop the questions from eating away at our main character. It shouldn’t stop them from asking those questions at the earliest opportunity, and it shouldn’t stop them from demanding answers. It shouldn’t keep our characters removed from all the emotion they should be feeling after a major development…

                Because if the emotions and questions in our reader’s mind keep prying them away from our character’s thoughts, things won’t match up. Our reader will feel disconnected, and frustrated, and they might even feel like closing the book entirely.

                The show I’m referring to, I think, has been trying very hard to keep things light. Comedic. ‘Fun’. Which is good, I suppose, except I feel like they’re sacrificing all the messy, emotional meat of the character reactions that I love. The questions are still roaring through my head, episodes later, as a new huge event was just brushed over with little fanfare. The long-lost brother is still there, but I’m no longer sure why he matters, or if he matters, or if our main character’s history was ever really important (even though that was the whole starting premise of the show).

                I’m not matching up with the characters. They, and the plot of the show, don’t feel as real to me as they once did.

                And if your characters or plot don’t feel real… Then it’s just a show. Or just a book.

                I can turn off a show. I can close a book.

                Appropriate reactions aren’t just a matter of scenes and chapters. They’re a matter of keeping your characters believable. And they’re a matter of making your story more than ‘just’ a book.

                Have you ever read a book or watched a show that skimmed over extremely important events? Have your characters ever inexplicably accepted something impossible? What do you think the balance is between addressing questions, and getting overloaded with them?

And perhaps a better question, have you figured out yet that I get really excited about Character Reactions?

Now...

Announcement Time! 8D

I'm proud to announce that I shall henceforth be contributing to a new collaborative writing blog, begun by myself and three amazing friends from Young Writers Society.

Scratchlings is now officially in business.

Feel free to check it out. :)

When to Hit the Backspace Key: Controversy in Your Writing

You’re relaxing on Twitter or Facebook, or surfing some blogs, when you see a post that catches your eye. Smiling, you type out the witty comment that popped into your head…

                And then the doubts take hold. This isn’t as funny as I thought. This reply is dumb. This person probably doesn’t want me commenting on their status anyway. What if it actually offends them?

                You hit the backspace key, and flitter over to another site.

                I’ve been doing this a lot lately. And for the most part, I think it’s probably smart that I’ve been doing this. In real life, I often blurt things out long before those doubts pop up, and usually get an odd stare or two because of it (because people at my school  don’t understand things like Nerdfighteria, or the wonders of writing-talk… Or because I simply said something dumb). On the internet, I can usually check myself before saying something too stupid.

                But there are those statuses on Facebook, and those comments on blog posts where I spend more than a few minutes writing my comment, altering word choices, trying different variations in the hopes that one will sound better… And then I just give up, and go to some other site, and feel a little hollow for a while. The double-doubts set in. Well, there was two minutes of my life I’ll never get back. Maybe I should’ve posted it after all. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought. And it wouldn’t have really mattered even if it was dumb; I’ve said plenty of dumb stuff before.

                That’s for the little things. A mere two wasted minutes. Then there are the bigger things. Rough blog posts that never make it online. Short stories that fizzle out after a few mediocre pages. Most recently, my Choir teacher put out a call for people involved with the musical to try their hand at making a shirt design for our production of Alice in Wonderland.

                Lots of heads turned my way. The girl next to me elbowed me a little. And I blushed, and thought “Nah, I’m not gonna do that.” Then I started doodling later on. And I started to think, “Well… Maybe I will try it.” Approached my Choir teacher, promised to whip something up over the weekend.

                Got home and realized it was going to be much harder than I’d imagined.

                I’m still not entirely happy with how it’s turned out, but I showed it to my choir teacher on Monday anyway, despite those doubts that converged on me ever since I began. If my design turns into the shirt design, my classmates in drama will be wearing it. On their bodies. And if they do not like the shirt, they will kill me and devour everything I love. O.O

                Can you tell I’m a little stressed about this possibility?

                Putting a design on a shirt feels infinitely more solid, and tangible, and permanent than a dumb little one-liner on Twitter.

                So what about novels? How much more stressful is it to be spending so much time on this thing, with no guarantee that it will be accepted by readers, publishers, agents, friends, or family members. How can we write dark dystopian stories that we might have to explain to our grandma someday? Should I write characters contrary to what I believe, just to relate to another demographic? How can we make a character like this without offending all the living, breathing people who go through the same things every day? Maybe I should just forget about this story, and go onto something else.

                Something less controversial. Something ‘safe.’

                So. When do we stick with something, regardless of who’s going to see it, and when is it best to hit the backspace key?

                Like I said, this is a topic I’ve been thinking about more and more lately. I’m still trying to find my balance. On the one hand, I think we should write for ourselves first and foremost. Get our thoughts on paper, and don’t worry about what other people will think just yet. Wait for that until revision.

                But on the other hand, I don’t think we should just plunge into a topic completely disregarding our potential audience. Certain things are taboo, and if you write about them you’re just asking to be challenged.

                For example, addressing serious, controversial topics in graphic detail – in a children’s book, or writing about how Hitler is the greatest hero the world’s ever known. Books like this might show up, but they will no doubt offend people. If you plan on publishing your book, think about how much controversy you’re willing to handle. If your book addresses something very controversial, think about whether you’ve handled the subject appropriately. A book that places Hitler as a hero or a victim might be interesting, if handled the right way, in that it would shove your mind into another point of view. But a book that celebrates the acts Hitler committed and implies that the author truly thinks he was in the right…

                Sometimes, it’s necessary to make a judgment call.

                So, some questions to ask yourself during revision, when you’re thinking more about your audience:

1)      Am I going to offend a majority of people (or, quite literally, everyone) with this?

2)      Am I addressing sensitive topics as tactfully as I can?

And now, some more questions:

How do you handle controversial topics in your books? Do you handle controversial topics in your books? How do you find balance? Do you worry about it while you’re writing, or think about it more during revision, or do you not think about it at all?

PS. Apologies for the bleh-ness of this, and for the fact that it's been a while since my last post. School musical, college applications, etc. I'm lucky if I have time to work on my novels, let alone write a blog post. I'll try to continue updating regularly, but at times once a week might be about as much as I can handle. XD Thanks for reading!

Conversing with Characters

“I don't know who my characters are anymore. They used to be so alive for me…I would speak to them all the time, and I would swear I hear their answers…Now… My characters don't speak to me anymore. I don't know who they are. Don't know what they want, and I don't know how to get that spark back.”

                So said my friend Tanya in this blogpost a few days ago. I posted a brief comment there, but since it was something I’d been thinking about a lot myself recently, I decided to share a more thorough explanation with all you fine people.

                You’re writing a story, and it’s coming along steadily. Not good, but not bad either.

                Then it happens. A flash of inspiration. Words that are not your own. And your character blurts out something so uniquely them that your fingers stall on the keys; you’re astounded by your own genius.

                It’s a good feeling. Bad news is, these moments can be few and far in-between. And once you get a taste of it, you’ll never stop yearning for those words that surface all on their own.

                So how do we reclaim some of this feeling when we’re struggling to understand our characters? Well… Girls, any ideas?

                Viss: The answer’s simple enough. Talk to us.

                Ambria: Indeed. How would you expect us to cooperate with your plans if you don’t even take the time to understand our position?

                Shaysha: Yeah. I mean, I keep telling ya’. I’m not stupid enough to risk my life for Brihn, even if I do lo-- … o///o

                Corliss: Oooooh… XD *insane little chuckle* Someone’s got a secret. I’m good with those. Just ask Tristan. Or her little rebel friend in the stables. Kept his secret for a long time. ^^

                Starting to see what I mean? Viss is very straight-forward, and a bit superior. Ambria is very proper. Shaysha uses a more casual tone, and Corliss… Well, Corliss is just plain crazy. :) (And I love her for it. Her backstory is going to be my NaNoWriMo novel this year). Four characters from four very different novels. Each with their own way of responding to a situation.

                Start a conversation with your characters. It doesn’t have to be a scene from your book. It can be a conversation about anything. Talk about your day. Don’t just listen. Talk back.

                I’ve been trying this method myself, recently, so here’s some bits and pieces of my conversation with a character from one of the short stories I’ve been polishing. I set it up like a chat, just like you’d have with anyone online. Comments in green.

                Silent_pages: Hi

                StickyFingers79: Greetings, internet person. What’s up with you? [Just coming up with a username for your characters can be interesting. Even if they live in a world without internet access, try to think about what they would choose for their name if they did.]

                SP: Nothing much. Got a novel I’m working on and some other stuff. You?

                SF: You a writer? That’s cool. As for me… I guess the same thing that’s ‘up’ with everybody else.

                SP: The star thing? Yeah, lol, I guess. I write scifi, so it’s weird to be… You know. Living it.

                SF: LOL

                SP: You can laugh about it? Not many people can. [Lead the conversation. You can put in things about yourself, to keep the atmosphere normal, but also ask a lot of questions, like you’re trying to get them to think about stuff. Because that will make you think about stuff.]

                SF: Ah… Yeah. Well. What else can I do?

[The conversation went on, just like any other chat, and I found out more about this character’s sense of humor, her mom, her tendencies to skip school.  But the real fun began when I added a character from a fantasy short story.]

                SwimmerseyesOO: Hey, what’s up?

                SP: NM. U?

                SF: World Ending. U?

                SE8: Creature taking over my village. Idiots.

                SP: What kind of creature?

                SE8: The kind that’ll be dead soon if it don’t knock it off.

                SF: Lol. Go after the star-killer next.

                SE8: Sure, if I can find it, lol. I have bad eyes.

                SF: No prob, no prob. Our scientists can’t find it either. *facepalm*

                [LATER, the conversation turned deeper.]

                SF: I don’t need help. I feel fine the way I am. I like stealing. I’m good at it. But people don’t get that. My mom thinks I need to be ‘fixed’.

                SE8: At least there are people who would actually try to fix you. Peeps in my village were clueless even before the creature’s spell took hold. I mean, I’ve always kind of been on the edge. Like, I’m blind. What are they supposed to do with me? What am I going to do for a job someday? That’s why I like to swim. You don’t really need to see for that.

                [END OF SELECTION]

                See how little I had to prompt the conversation toward the end? All of a sudden, these characters from very different scenarios were turning into best friends. They continued to talk, getting to know each other, discussing school, their communities, the way they feel about everything under the sun.

                Will everything be incorporated into your story? Probably not. But all that information will be in your head, shaping their every action.

                Will it always be easy, figuring out how your character will respond to a certain situation? Probably not. But this exercise might help you to pin down parts of a certain character that you never noticed before.

                Will you always be able to make them sound the way they would in-story? Probably not. Even in the above bits, you can see that I slipped into more modern speech for SwimmerseyesOO. But it’ll get you thinking. How would this character say this? Why doesn’t this figure of speech work for them? What can I use in place of this word?

                Maybe it’s hard to understand from reading all the little pieces of my conversation. But that’s the beauty of it. Start a conversation that only you will understand in its entirety. Let the characters talk, and see what comes to the surface.

                Do you talk with your characters? On a regular basis? On paper, so you can remember the conversation later? Have characters from different stories begun to converse out of the blue? And how did it help you get to know your characters?

EDIT: Also, feel free to introduce your characters in the comments. Also, if you'd like to hear more from my characters, I share a tumblr with them at http://thesilentpages.tumblr.com/

               

Our Story is Not About Us

Apologies. A bit scattered today. Application for writers is a bit down the post, so bear with me.

Yesterday, the wonderful Nate Caldwell – creator of the wonderful young writers’ site I love – announced he would no longer be managing Young Writers Society. He’ll still pay the bills, the site will still be there, and he’s trained the mods to run the site smoothly in his absence.

                Young Writers Society will stay active. Nate will not.

                And while I understand his reasons, it was still like a thud to the chest. He’s leaving? So suddenly? Was it something I did? Has my presence somehow made the site unpleasant to be around? Maybe if I’d bought more YWS Literary Journals, or called in on the radio shows, or… or… or…

                As I said, I understand his reasons. I’m not going to chain him to the site for the rest of eternity, and if he feels that it’s time for him to move on… I understand. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on his next project, Writer Feed, and I’m not going to stop going to YWS. Neither will many others who won’t let the site slip away without a fight. Neither will many new members who haven’t even joined yet.

                I think the whole site is a bit stunned at the moment, trying to figure out what will happen next… But hopefully, the answer is “Something.” Or, “Everything.”

                I’ll keep logging on. So will hundreds of other young writers who’ve found a supportive community on YWS where things aren’t just, “READ MY STORY NAO AND I’LL FAVE YOURS SO IT LOOKS LIKE I RETURNED THE READ, OKAY? LOLOLOL.”

                Young Writers Society is probably the best young writers’ site I’ve ever been on, and that’s thanks to all the work Nate has put into it. We. Will. Miss him. But we’ll keep logging on.

                *sigh*

                So, in relation to writing:

 Nate’s announcement made me think of our stories. The ones that never get off the ground, and the ones that just keep circling above a busy airfield, waiting for us to help them make a landing.

                We writers hit a block. We move on to the next Shiny New Idea, telling ourselves we’ll return eventually. And sometimes, we just get distracted, or busy, or tired of this story that takes so much out of us and doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to give anything back.

                How often do those stories get the courtesy of an explanation why?

                They sit at the bottom of a fictional landfill, lost in the depths of a drawer or a computer hard drive, waiting. Our writer left us? Was it something we did? Should I have started more grippingly? Were my characters that unsalvageable? Should I have skipped the giant squid attack and gone straight to the swirling whirlwinds of death?

                Except maybe, they don’t think like that. Maybe the crinkled, ink-stained papers or the endless pages of a Word Document ask themselves those questions, but I think our characters just… go on living. They pick up their palaces and spaceships, their heroes and their villains, their plot twists and climaxes and their clunky dialogue, and they make the migration to the back of our skulls.

                They settle down, and they go on with their story. To be honest, they’re grateful for the time they can spend practicing without the evil red pen of the author bearing down on them. They get more comfortable with each other. They spend their sudden abundance of free time exploring the twists and turns that resulted from the chaos of their hurried move. They take a turn that we never would’ve picked out. They polish up their personalities. They watch from afar as we torture our latest stories and laugh about how easy they really had it, back in the old days.

                Then, maybe at some point, Moving Day arrives. They pack up their things and move back into their old station at the forefront of our thoughts, except this time they’ve got some ideas of their own to run past us.

                Their stories aren’t about us. They don’t care about making it easy for us, or about making it hard. They have their story. And even though we talk about target audiences and things like that, maybe deep down we’re really just figuring out the story they lived through when they were killing time in the back of our minds.

                Even when we don’t think of a story for months at a time, that doesn’t necessarily mean their story is dead. Even if some things get lost in the moves, certain things – characters, scraps of dialogue, pieces of description – will keep living. Just like young writers at YWS will keep logging on.

                At YWS, we’ll miss Nate. Just like our characters might miss us (or at least miss their extended time on the computer screen).

                But we’ll keep going, and we’ll figure things out for ourselves, just like our characters will figure things out for themselves whenever we need a break.

                How many of your stories have ‘died’? Have any resurrected themselves, bigger and better than before? Are you on any amazing websites for writers, or is there a single person/organization/etc. that's had a huge impact on your writing?