Try To See It My Way

"Try to see it my way,

Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?

While you see it your way,

Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone"

-We Can Work It Out, The Beatles

Hey, all. Today, I plan on doing two posts. The one after this is the one I was originally planning on doing today, but this great opportunity to fill out a kind of survey on myself and my writing was too good to pass. And I always like filling out surveys. I go to this website quite regularly (My fashion city is Paris! Mais oui!). Anyways, the backstory on the survey was that I was strolling about the blogosphere, clicking on writing blogs that other writing blogs followed, leaving a trail of comments on the way. When I stumbled on to this blog: Still Writing blogged by Elaine "still writing" Smith. She had filled out a form about her writing, and invited anyone to do the same. As I mentioned, I took up this opportunity. And I will begin answering the questions right after this quick update:

What I Accomplishd Yesterday Night:

• I mastered She's Loves You (The Beatles) on the piano! (the easy version...)
• I cleaned my room! (stuffing junk into crevices and drawers where they cannot be seen)
• I wrote 2,000 words! (C'est vrai!) :)
  
  I don't know how I did it, but I did. Now I'm at 4,300 words or so, which is slightly better than 2,000. Slightly.

Now on to the survey-thinga-ma-bobber!

1. What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?

The last thing I wrote was, what I think, is a touching scene between my MC and his dying grandfather. The first thing I wrote I still have?! (*Thinks back to all the books I made when I was little about a worm and a butterfly going to school that came with illustrations drawn by moi*). Yikes! I think my mother threw them out. :( Otherwise, I have this diary from first grade that talks about me and Elmo's adventures. Does that count?

2. Write poetry?

When I feel poetic.

3. Angsty poetry?

If you can call a poem titled "Essays Will Be the Death of Me" angsty, then yes.

4. Favorite genre of writing?

Young Adult, Fantasy, Literary, Mainstream, Historical. Oops, that's too many. Well, any young adult book unless it deals with crime/mystery, horror, or scifi.

5. Most annoying character you've ever created?

Hmm...well, the first novel I attempted to write (it never got finished, but is still pending at chapter 41) had a handful of annoying characters. Her name was Madeleine, no, Madeline, wait, Madeliene. Well, I forgot how to spell her name, but she was annoying. It was one of those FOTSODTP things. She was really stupid (sorry, Maddy) and really her actions were just to develop the plot. I find those kinds of characters annoying - like they don't have a sensible thought in their head. They're all just like robots, doing whatever the writer tells them to, for the sake of the plot.

6. Best Plot you've ever created?

The plot I'm working on now. :)

7. Coolest Plot twist you've ever created?

(This was for my Nano) In the beginning, he was just using her to get to her father, but now he's fallen in love with her and he is very, very sorry for using her. Erm. Actually, that might not be the "coolest" plot twist, but more of a cliched one, I admit.

8. How often do you get writer's block?

*pushes buttons on calculator* Around every 2.4 days. :)

9. Write fan fiction?

No, actually. I don't approve of fanfics much. I think it's much better to write something original, than something already written. I have my other reasons, too, and I'll be talking about it later.

10. Do you type or write by hand?

I prefer to type, since I type faster than I write. But when my mother is hogging the computer, I have to resort to writing in my red notebook.

11. Do you save everything you write?

I try, but anything handwritten (like the stories I made when I was in kindergarten) are usually thrown out. Everything I write on the computer, though, even just a paragraph that will probably evolve to nothing, I save. Because once in a while, I like to look back on my writing and see where I've improved and what's stayed the same.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?

Eheh...no. The reason for that is because I abandoned it most likely because I was bored with it. I don't want to write anything boring. So if I thought it was boring then, I'm still probably going to feel that way now. Though, I was thinking about going back to a story I began to write this summer, but abandoned it (again) when I thought of a brand, new, shiny one. And you know how much I like shiny things.

13. What's your favorite thing you've ever written?

That changes from time to time, but so far I really like this poem I wrote that is in relation to my story.

14. What's everyone else's favorite story that you've written?

I don't know. You see, I abandon so many ideas that I am wary of sharing my current WIP. Because I may very well abandon that, too, without warning (though I'm crossing my fingers that doesn't happen). So...I don't really don't know. Not till I finish something I truly like will I share it with people.

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?

Yep, yep. Though, I don't try to make it angsty. I already have enough of that in my real life.

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now?

Well, see, I have like four plot bunnies hopping around in my head. Though one of them I'm serious about (the one with 4K) and the others I'm just letting float till I get to them. But see, I'm supposed to be writing something for my creative writing club, and I haven't gotten to that yet because my plot bunnies cannot be made into short stories. So, I guess you could say I have writer's block on that one.

19. What are your five favorite words?

I don't know! I love all my words. How about that? There's five words for ya. And another. ;)

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself?

Probably Sandrine from my Nano. We're alike 'cause we're very wary of strangers, espcially strange ones, and we're hesistant to do things. Like bungee jumping.

21. Where do you get ideas for your characters from?

First, I think, what is the personality of this character? Whatever the personality, the look usually corresponds. For example, my current MC is quite average. He has brown hair, not purple, but brown. And I make it a statement to say he has brown hair, not mahogany or milk chocolate. Just plain brown.

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams?

No. You don't want to know what goes on in my dreams. If you ever read a book based on my dreams, you would have a headache and get very stressed. Those are usually how my dreams are. And they don't make much sense either. I'm not like Stephenie Meyer, who dreamt about these two people in a forest and one was a vampire. My mind doesn't give me hints like that, I have to find it out for myself.

23. Do you favor happy endings?

Yes and no. I prefer bitter-sweet endings, as they're more realistic. But there's nothing wrong with a happy ending unless it's executed in a cliche way. You know what I mean. And they lived happily ever after.

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?

Yes. Everything has to be satisfactory before I can go on, otherwise they always pester my brain, saying "fix me! fix me!". For example, it took my five minutes to start this post because I was wondering what song to put down. I could not start without having it above me. I'm weird like that.

25. Does music help you write?

Aha! Like Elaine said, "Is there a God in heaven?"

Of course! If I'm writing a particularly sad scene, I'll have slow, wallowing music in the background to help me set the mood. Though if I were writing, say, an action scene, then something that sounded close to the Mission Impossible theme song would be playing.

26. Quote something you've written. Whatever pops into your head.

I'll give you the beginning paragraph in my WIP

"Birds don't sing like that. Not high-pitched like those bouncy pop singers on TV nowadays nor low, like a whale's. But it was a language similar to that of whales - secret and enchanting. Only a voice that could be achieved by angels on high clouds, lamenting with sweet voice droning and clear notes wavering. The music of waves. The song of seashells when put to the ear, wondering how the ocean got there."

Of course, it needs some tuning up. Like, I see some passive voice somewhere in the middle, so I'll have to edit that later. Otherwise, I really like it. I wrote it in geography class, not bad, eh? ;)

Hope you learned a bit about my writing and a bit about me. And if there's anyone out there, you can do this little survey too.

After the break,

Vanille

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." -James Michener

P.S. Sorry the formatting went beserk.