J.K. Rowling

Can I just say something? 
J.K. ROWLING IS BRILLIANT. 

That's all. 

Now I also have to tell you something really sad; I haven't read the Harry Potter books. I know, I know! I'm a complete failure to society--to life--but hear me out. I just haven't actually picked up the book. I'm sure that if I actually got my hands on a copy, I would skim through the series hungrily. However... that's not the case. I've seen all of the movies at least twice. That counts, right? ..... Right?

    I'm fourteen years old and I have yet to read the Harry Potter books. There I admitted it. I admitted my crime! Are you happy?
*Buries head in pillow* 

    I will read the Harry Potter series, though! Trust me. I will. I just haven't gotten to it. But it's definitely on my Bucketlist. 

    Anyways, not only do I find her super inspirational just as a person... but she also encourages me as an aspiring author. In that case, I collected a few quotes from her to share:

    "The best way to learn about style, characterization and plot construction is to read as much as you possibly can. You will probably find that you start to imitate your favorite authors, but this is a good learning process and your own style will come eventually. Always plan your work; writing aimlessly sometimes throws up a good idea or two, but it is no way to produce a whole story." 

    "What you write becomes who you are…so make sure you love what you write!"

    "Write what you know: your own interests, feelings, beliefs, friends, family and even pets will be your raw materials when you start writing. Develop a fondness for solitude if you can, because writing is one of the loneliest professions in the world!" 

    "Sometimes you have to get your writing done in spare moments here and there."

    "I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself."

    “I wrote about characters I was deeply interested in.”

    "And finally: perseverance is absolutely essential, not just to produce all those words, but to survive rejection and criticism. However, the utter joy of seeing a book you wrote sitting in a bookshelf is a prize worth striving for!"

    While we're still talking about The Brilliant J.K. Rowling, I found this video on YouTube, and thought it was definitely worth sharing. 

    It's extremely fascinating to hear about such a brilliant writer's story. It's also intriguing to discover how she formulated Harry Potter.
J. K. Rowling is officially one of my idols. Plus, as I was watching this, I realized, "Wow. So writers really *are* crazy. Good to know." :P Anyways, you guys should definitely go watch it! Or at least some of it (I know it's kind of long.) 

    Okay, that's all I had to say.... For now, anyway. I'm sure once I read Harry Potter, I won't shut up and I'll drive everyone around me to insanity. *Nods* I'm looking forward to that.
    Anywho... I should go to bed. It's only around 9:00pm here, but just these past few days I had two sleepovers and played 33 holes of golf altogether. I'm sleepy. Depending on where you live, goodnight/good morning!

Nobody Likes A Perfect Character

Nobody likes a perfect character. That may sound strange at first, but think about it. If a character is flawless outside and in, and completely perfect at everything s/he does, it easily gets boring to the reader. Right? Oddly enough, the characters that are most likable are the ones with relateable flaws, fears, or conflicts. 
Another thing I wanted to touch base on is making your character lose something. During the course of your novel or story, when your character loses something they care about deeply, it not only makes the reader empathize or sympathize with them, but it also shows how strong they really are. Let them lose something. Let them make decisions. Let them fail. Let their loss emphasize their gain. Let them learn from their mistakes and grow. 

How You Describe Your Character

Pay attention to how you describe your characters in your story. Dull, cliche descriptions can lead your readers into not enjoying the character--or even the story. Instead, take a moment to come up with fresh ways to describe your character. Make a list if you have to. Okay, sure, she has "blonde hair and blue eyes", but doesn't that sound a bit boring? It doesn't matter what color of hair or eyes she has. What matters more is how you convey those traits to the reader. If you do it in a boring manner, the same sensation will be evoked upon the reader. If you do it using innovative descriptions, it will make the character all the more lively.
Another thing to remember is that characters aren't just skin, hair, and eyes. It's not just how they look that formulates them. It's their actions, words, thoughts, and persuasion to make certain choices that molds the clay of who they are. 
Be sure to keep that in mind. 

I Dare You

I dare you to shut off your internet, turn off your phone, close your door, pull out your manuscript, sit down, and simply write. For as long as you possibly can. At least half an hour. Just start typing. It could be completely irrelevant to your story. Type random words, start several sentences, but don't worry about any of them being perfect. They won't be. Don't revise or edit in any way. Just keep writing for as long as you possibly can. You'll be amazed at what you get done if you just force yourself to sit down and write. 
If you tell yourself that you can't do anything else, then you'll end up writing. Dare accepted? I hope so! Go write! Then come back in at least half an hour (if not more) and tell me how it went.  Happy writing, Dearies! 

Cedric

        I cast my characters.

        Yup. 

        And this is who I'm casting as Cedric (a.k.a. my protagonist's "love interest", I guess you could say.) It probably has something to do with the fact that I am obsessed with Arthur--I mean the TV show Merlin. Yes, the show on the tele. *Nods* Oh, well. He's pretty perfect... for the part, I mean.

  Another reason Bradley James (Prince Arthur) suits the role is because he's supposed to be Bianca's "knight in shining armor." Okay, I'm aware that sounds sappy, but hopefully it'll sound sweeter in context. Anyways, point is, he's gorgeous. Wait. What I meant to say was that he fits the role of Cedric. Yes...

Okay, I'm going to go watch Arthur--I mean, Merlin right now. Happy writing, Dearies!

Death Changes His Mind

      A billow of icy clouds rose up, and from it emerged Death. Pale skin, silver hair, and armor as black as night made him seem foreign next to the girl. She was a summer breeze that warmed the heart, he was a winter blizzard that chilled to the bone.
       Trembling with conflict, Death knelt at her side, tossing aside his black cape, letting it trail into the wind. Already, the flowers sprung up around the girl and the darkness from Death competed against one another. Each of them struggling for a state of equilibrium--his icy shadows crushing her wonderfully lit petals, and her petals planting themselves in his shadows. Both sides growing and expanding, while simultaneously shrinking and waning.  He knew what he had to do. It was his duty and he was supposed to accomplish just that. But something made him pause. Something about this girl sent him off into a whirlwind of internal conflict. By simply gazing at that girl, Death himself felt emotions he had never before sensed.
           His gloved fingers hovered inches above her face. Just one touch and it would all be over. He would complete his quest, and she would... He paused and attempted at tearing his gaze away. Though one look back into her glowing face made him transfixed. Beauty emanated from within her. He pulled back, hating himself, wilting like one of her fading flowers from the crush of his own self-doubt. He felt worthless and utterly ugly. Scarred, dangerous, and unloved. But he noticed that the nearer he was to this girl, the more the pain dissolved.
            He waited for the internal battle to resolve itself. For a while, it did not. Eventually, one side grew more powerful. Death could not fight it. This foreign sensation was winning him over. Deliberately, he pulled back his shaking hand and let out a deep, lonely sigh. He knew the consequences. He knew the price he would have to pay for not fulfilling his duty. But there was no way he could bring himself to do it.
           Slowly, he pulled back into the darkness, casting one more nostalgic glance at the girl before turning and treading away into the snow.

An Excerpt From My Novel

Hello Dearies! Today I thought it would be nice to share an excerpt from my current novel. None of this is set in stone, but this is a little sample. I hope you enjoy!


          I wish I could tell you about my past. About my favorite childhood memory, my family, my best and worst moments… But the truth is, at that moment, I had no recollection of memories from my life. Not even a single one. It was as if someone had delicately extracted all of them, leaving me uncertain as to who I was.
          In a daze, I peeled my eyes open, waiting for my senses to adjust to the frigid, night air. With numb fingers, I clawed the ground to get my hands under me and supported myself weakly. Gnarled roots laced the bare ground, creating a maze of wooden snakes, and revealing dirt randomly.
          Although every square inch of my body protested, I clambered to my feet and attempted at balancing myself. As dizzy as I was, my feet somehow took on a mind of their own, leading me blindly through the forest. I was unaware as to how long I’d been stumbling through the trees, tripping over roots at every turn, but, eventually, I came to a mysterious river of blackness. It was thick and hardly moved at all, which I found strange. The only thing that led me to believe it was some sort of exotic river was that the moonlight danced off of it. I stood there in awe and transfix, wondering what substance formulated that black river, when, suddenly, a creature came barreling from up stream. The creature had eyes as bright as the sun and blinded me, prompting me to fall backward. I dropped to the ground before the black river and slipped into a state of unconsciousness. 


Thoughts? Let me know! 

I Almost Fell Off My Unicorn

Someone told me I was delusional. I almost fell of my unicorn. 

One of the best parts about being a writer is that you can be absolutely crazy and get away with it... Well, most of the time anyway. Being a writer enables you to get away with most of the following:

- Talking to yourself.

- Arguing with yourself.

- Talking out loud to seeming non-existent beings.

- Turning nocturnal.

- Temporary, though profound obsessions.

- Putting people you hate into your story... and then brutally killing them off.

- Considering innovative ways to kill characters.

- Serial-killer-penguins.

- Cheese puffs.


Plus a bunch of other things I won't go into. Point is, if you're a writer, you've got to embrace the fact that you're anything but sane. You, my dear, are crazy.

Casting My Characters

So, not only do I talk to my fictional characters, I also cast them. It's actually become part of my character-developing process. I thought I would share that with you all today.


To the left is a picture of my protagonist. It's Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White. This picture fit her perfectly. I'm still trying to figure her out, but so far, she's told me that she has a fierce side.This picture portrays that nicely.

I also decided to make a collage of her:

 Then we have Cedric. And, yes, there is some romance between my protagonist (Bianca) and him, in case you were wondering. They haven't met yet, though. 

Anyways, I thought this picture of a younger Leonardo DiCaprio was the image of Cedric. I really couldn't find a better picture. 

 Next we have Bianca's best friend. Well, they become best friends in the story anyway. I figured you could never really go wrong with an energetic, redheaded best-friend. So when I found this picture, I could help but use it:

And this would be Cedric's dog, Honey. Yes, I even cast animals... if I feel like it. 

Cedric: I named her when I was seven, okay? 

Sure you did. She's a real sweetie. ^_^

As for the villain... I'm still working on developing her. This is the main inspiration at the moment, though:

That's how I cast my characters. I just go onto Google Images and look up either actors, actresses, or keywords. It's one of my many forms of procrastination. 

I Treat My Characters Like They're Real People

It sounds crazy, doesn't it? Fortunately, though, I haven't been locked up in a padded, white cell--this is a running joke between me and my friend. Well, probably not a joke. More like something that could actually happen to us. But do you know what the best part is? We're writers. Do you know what that means? We have an excuse as to why we go around talking back to voices inside our head. Which, by the way, hardly ever shut up.

Anyways, the point of this post is to tell you that--if you're a writer--you need to treat your characters like they're real people. Real people have background, a tortured and beautiful past, fears, complicated relationships, best friends, emotions, and, most importantly, dreams and goals. If real people have all of this going on, then why shouldn't your characters? In fact, treating them like real people will induce the feeling of them being more realistic to your readers. Which is what all writers want, right?

Another fun way to spice up your characters is to figure out some of their quirks they might have. For example, one of my characters revealed to me that she had a strange obsession with pina coladas and cheese puffs. Not necessarily together. Oh, I hope I didn't just give her an idea...

No, Cam, you cannot make a pina colada/ cheese puff smoothie!

Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes. Character quirks. By giving them little abnormal favorites or habits, you develop them. While you want their quirks to be interesting (and hopefully relevant to the story), you also want to try not to make them too extreme

To pull characters out of stereotypes, try adding contrasting details to them. For example, maybe your serial killer absolutely adores the color pink. So much, in fact, that he painted his entire house that color. Pink is usually considered a color associated with love, so by adding that contrasting detail, you raise him out of his stereotype. Besides, doesn't a pink-loving serial killer just sound like that much more interesting of a character?

I actually have a video on characters, if you'd like to check it out:

Alright, my characters are yelling at me to write their story. I better do that and stop Cam from creating World War 3. Have fun discovering your characters and happy writing!

Show, Don't Tell.

Show, don't tell. I'm sure you've all heard it before, but what exactly does it mean? The writer should be able to communicate the story through action, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition, summary, and description. The goal is not to drown the readers in a mess of heavy-handed adjectives or say, "He did this. She did that. They were happy." But, rather to allow readers to experience the author's ideas by interpreting significant, well-chosen details from the text. Another example would be instead of saying, "It was early spring," you could say, "New buds were pushing through the frost, elongating towards the sun." Does that make sense? Showing, instead of telling enables writers to evoke genuine sensations upon the reader. 
Of course, there are some instances where telling can be useful, though a majority of the time, showing is a more effective method. 
Another great quote to demonstrate my point is by E.L. Doctorow;
"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation upon the reader--not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon." 

Welcome to Creating Fictional Worlds!

Hello and welcome to Creating Fictional Worlds! This blog is designed for writers young and old alike to acquire tips, information, and immerse themselves in fictional worlds. I'm Paige and I'll be your host. I'm a teen writer who looks strangely similar to Merida from Disney Pixar's Brave (minus the accent.) *Points to picture* That'd be me.

Writing has been becoming more and more of a passion to me. I enjoy writing novels--or at least attempting at writing them. You see, I have this problem with commitment. It's a thing. But I am getting better about it. Other than writing, I play piano, golf, and have an interest in art. I also talk to fictional characters.

I'll be posting advice on writing, short stories, maybe even excerpts of my novels, among other potentially random things. A majority of what I post will be related to writing in one way or another, though.

Let's get started! Please remain seated and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times--or they'll get chopped off. Thank you and enjoy the ride.

~ Paige