Playing Favourites

Technology is a wonderful thing. It's been finely honed to give the world the iPad, and a bunch of apps to put on it. These are some of the apps I use for my writing.

For the record, I don't know what other platforms have these apps, but I know that you can get them for your iPad, and maybe even your other iProducts.

Also be well aware that all of these are free. I'm a total cheapskate, and I'd imagine that I'm not alone in that. Relish this news.

The funny bit is that all of the screenshots are from the iPhone. I don't even have an iPhone.

A Novel Idea

This is a great story structure app. There are various different places to flesh out ideas and characters and everything. It's incredibly simple and allows you to connect ideas. It's sort of like a series of questionnaires, and I love that. The character section, for example, asks for stuff like height (eight feet), hair colour (N/A), and external conflict. Cool, no?

I'm not impressed with the sudden bout of ads suddenly filling up the screen, but, hey, it's free.

Moleskine Journal

This one's just a lot of fun to play with. I've got a million notebooks going right now, and one is devoted to my current project. It's pretty user-friendly, and allows you to draw and write and put in pictures all over the place. It's a great place to compile your inspiration.

It's still kind of glitchy, but honestly, it's worth it. It is really cool.

Pearltrees

This one's great. I use it on my iPad and my computer, though I vastly prefer organising on my iPad. It's so much easier. It's perfect for collecting and organising inspiration and things you find in your research. I also use it as a sort of makeshift YouTube playlist, but that is not the point. Here's my writing Pearltree, feel free to peruse technical information and inspiration all at the same time!

Evernote

This is one of those catch-all apps. Most of my favourites are, actually. Whatever, I like having lots of places to jot down ideas at three in the morning. I like to write full scenes in this one, actually. Unlike the Moleskine app, it uses your iThing's autocorrect, so you can at least be marginally coherent when you write. It's simple to use, and that's how I roll, yo.

Dictionary.com Dictionary and Thesaurus

If you think you don't need a dictionary and/or thesaurus, you are wrong. So very, very wrong. I mean, where else are you gonna look up words like Tarmac or wiles at three in the morning? Google?

Okay, yeah, probably.

Years and Years

I sort of feel like posting more short stories (and eventually a few serials) on here, and you know, I totally will. Gotta stretch those writing muscles, or something like that.
Anyway, here's a little thing I wrote this evening! Let me know what you think! I'd really appreciate prompts, as well. They can be as simple as words or ideas, or as complicated as vague storylines you'd like to see fleshed out. Feel free to share!

Years and Years

They had known each other for years and years and years. To the pair of them, the beginning of their friendship felt like the beginning of the universe. It was like the Big Bang, the spark that ignited every last little thing. It was intrinsic and absolute; no universe could exist without their friendship, and that was the thing.

The pair had known each other since before they were born; their mothers had been in the same expecting mothers group, and they had been born on the same day. He’d been a trouble baby, kept under close watch while she thrived on the outside world. Once he got past that, though, he was perfectly fine. He was simply perfect.

They grew up together, spouting like evergreens and daisies. He grew tall and strong and brave, and she grew fine and delicate and braver. She saved him from the bullies, and he saved her from her own self-destructive tendencies.

The pair celebrated every birthday together, and it was the celebration of their eighteenth that broke their hearts.

It had become quite obvious to each in turn, truth be told. It clicked almost simultaneously as they danced at their birthday party, hands warm on her waist and his shoulder. It was the finality or a camera shutter clicking shut, or coffin lid banging closed.

It was the absolute saddest thing either had ever known.

Each saw it flash in the other’s eyes, and each felt their heart break. She was leaving in the morning, and he was staying behind.

But still, in the soft light of dusk, grass brushing their ankles, their lips touched so lightly.

It was a kiss that had waited for years and years, and when it came, it was the saddest kiss the world had ever known. It was a kiss that said either tonight or forever, no in-between. It was a kiss like ashes in their mouths, burned and forgotten memories and what-ifs.

So she touched his lips once again, letting the song play out, knowing all the while that all she could do was leave.

Decades later, their paths crossed, and she tasted ashes in her mouth again. Her husband and daughter smiled cheerfully enough at the old friend, and they caught up on each others’ lives, hearing the impossible possibilities threaded between each word.

They both went home that night, and they did not remember.

Dress-Up

I love you, Modcloth.

Author tours are a thing, right? So, if I end up getting published, and if my things are popular (as we all know they will be, I'm fantastic), and author tours are actually a thing, can I have a big ol' dress budget set into my contract?
Please and thank you, anonymous faces of the internet.
Sometimes, adorable dresses inspire you to write, and that is okay.

Bookworms

My first reader has completed their mission. That is, reading and telling me things as they do so.
I am pleased.

Alina

Music is one of the most important pieces of my writing process. Certainly more than Tetris. As such, I compile playlists every time I start a new project, because I know how much of an impact music has on my writing. It offers inspiration when the well runs dry, helps me to properly envision the scene, and is a good way to waste time while still telling people, "Leave me alone, I'm busy doing writer things."

I've already talked about two of the songs on my Willow playlist, but here's another. It's a slow, haunting melody that really worked well for the more emotional aspects of the story, of which there were many.

Seriously, guys, I'm an emotional wreck.

Worth it, though.

The Trouble with Names

Location names and surnames are hard, guys.
I just use name sites for first names. I'm not even sorry.

Part of Your World

I'm watching a mockumentary about mermaids. It's called Mermaids: The Body Found, and Animal Planet put it out last year. It's fascinating, and wildly inspiring, but what's funny is how certain people are that this is an actual documentary about real events and stuff.

Seriously, guys, slow down. It's not real.

Of course, there are more things in heaven and earth, but you guys have to chill. It's an interesting film, done in an interesting fashion, and not fodder for conspiracy theories.

Writing about mermaids is making me a cynic. Whoops.

First Tendrils of Fear

Yet another attempted summary for Willow. I'm not sure if I dislike it more or less than previous attempts. It feels like less. Have I found a decent one?

Callie was born and bred to be special, though never very important. When she quite unexpectedly finds herself the queen of a country at war, she quickly finds that no head is heavier than the one that wears the crown.

While I like that this kind of captures the general feel for my novel, there's not much about the plot. Like, at all. What. So. Ever.

I can do a little four-word tagline fairly well (Queens must never falter (it's okay)), but an actual summary? That's terrifying, yo.

Writing a proper synopsis isn't quite as frightening, as the point of that is to sum up the whole thing, beginning to end. No need to make people wonder Oh, gosh, what happens next? But a summary has to hook you, grab you in and hold you tight and never, ever let you go.

Well, not quite, but you know what I mean.

Callie is a young duchess who marries a prince. She leaves her peaceful home for court life, making her own home among the nobility. When she finds herself quite unexpectedly as the queen of a nation at war, however, she discovers that not all battles are fought with soldiers. Callie must suffer personal tragedies while ruling her nation and waging war. How can she lead her people to victory when she can barely keep herself together?

I think the best summary, however is this: A story of loss and unknown strength, The Willow Queen will hopefully leave you an emotional wreck just like the author.

Just tellin' it like it is. 

My Writing Motto

"Back that thing up."

Seriously.

BACK THAT THING UP. I don't care if you use email, Dropbox, a flash drive, or whatever: back up your work all the time.

These are things we very nearly learn the hard way.

Tools of the Trade

These are some of my chosen writing tools. We've got three different notebooks, a sketchbook, several different colours of pens, and a pencil. Though you can see that, actually. I write on a computer, but I like to compile my thoughts and inspirations in notebooks.

I mostly use the black notebook, and it's slowly starting to fill with absurd notes like, reminders to pay my application fee for CSUCI, bits of dialogue ("I rather think I have a better grasp on English than you do."), and chunks of snark like "He is a middle-school girl, okay?" 

The big one is strictly for my current project. So far, I have notes on the species I've created (also a drawing), decisions on how to feel about certain characters, and quotes that act as inspiration. This is where the different colours come in handy. Each has a different purpose, though, truth be told, I haven't totally figured out what yet. Still useful.

Seriously, though, I am literally never without something to write with and on. When I went to the Renaissance Faire and couldn't find the little circle notebook, I made one out of sketchbook paper. I'm clever like that. My iPad works in a pinch as well. At the end of the day, I just collect relevant things into the black notebook, and one of these days, I'll do the same with my big notebook.

Finally: a sketch of a character and some really messy writing. It's all good, yo.