Fun with quizzes!

Do you like taking quizzes just for the fun of it? I know I do! What could be better than quizzes based off of YA books?

Below I linked a number of YA literature based quizzes. These are from a list compiled by Book Riot, and include quizzes by Book Riot, various publishers, and YA fans.  Some of these were really fun to do.  I tried every quiz I included on the list.

Warning, many of these have a lot of ads, so you might have to be patient and keep clicking off the ads.

• Answer Fairy Tale Questions To Find Your Next YA Read  I took this and it told me I should read The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. I do like Marie Lu and I haven't yet read this one, so I approve of this result! Hold on, going to place this book on hold...  If you take this quiz, tell us what book it gave you.

• Can You Guess The YA Novel From Its First Sentence? OK, this is embarrassing.  I only got 6 out of 15 right. This isn't even the hardest YA quiz (that one is at the bottom of the list). Can you do better than this teen librarian? I bet you can.  

• Can You Name These Young Adult Novels By their Covers? I did much better on this one. Whew! I got 95%. There was only one I didn't know. The hard part about this quiz is you have to type in your responses, but it gives you several chances to get it right.

• Bake A Batch Of Cookies And We'll Try To Guess The Sweetest Book On Your Shelf  Yes, this one was silly. You tell it how you want to make your cookies, and it tells you what the sweetest book on your shelf is. But, I do like cookies, so why not? My result was Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins, which is a book I have never actually read. Should I?

• Who Said It? In this quiz you have to guess which YA book each quote is from. I believe the books are all 2019 releases. This one isn't easy. I got 6/10, but I did guess on a couple.  

• Would you survive a YA Science Fiction Novel? If you like science fiction, this quiz is for you. Answer the questions to find out if your character will survive. My result: "You make it safely to the new planet! But, the planet is already inhabited by aliens. Oh, and they've taken you prisoner. You're still alive, so hopefully a rescue is on its way in the sequel?" At least I'm still alive, right? So, did you survive?

• The Hardest YA Quiz Here it is! This quiz declares itself the hardest. It is one of the longest quizzes in the group, but personally I thought the one asking you to guess the book from the first sentence was more difficult. I thought this was a great quiz though, so give it a try.  I got 19 out of 25. How did you do?

If you try any of these, leave us a comment and tell us your result. Can you beat my score? What book did you get?   

Happy quizzing,

😍 Dori

Anna's Writing Nook: Point of View

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Writer’s Nook! It’s not Wednesday this time, but at this point, every day might as well be Wednesday. Last week, we navigated the messy middle of your story and I gave y’all some tips for staying motivated and organized with your plots. This week, we’re gonna take a little side road and talk about point of view.

You might already be familiar with the three main types of view: first person, second person, and third person. But let’s review just in case you’re like “Anna what are these words”: 

First person is when the story is told directly through the character’s eyes, using “I” and “we” and so on. For example, “Jenny and I spent the morning at the mall; I had to buy new shoes.”

Second person is when the narrator uses “you” and “your” pronouns, such as, “You woke up long before dawn and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

Third person is more of an outside perspective, where you tell the story using the characters’ names and pronouns (like he, she, they, etc). For example, “June and Pam took the dogs out for a walk, a task June thought was far too strenuous for this hot afternoon.”

To make things even more fun, third person also comes along with options of third person limited or third person omniscient. Limited is what I did in that example sentence just now: you tell the story from an outside perspective (as in, not using “I” for your narrator), but the story is still inside one character’s head. If you write in third person at all, you probably do this pretty subconsciously. Omniscient is when the narration is inside everyone’s heads, where everyone and anyone could have a point of view at any given time. This method is tricky and needs a strong hold on your characters and structure so things don’t get wild and out of hand.

Your story’s point of view (or POV, as I’ll refer to it from now on) is a critical detail that changes how your story is told. Some stories have only one POV, while others have several. A book like Harry Potter has one fixed, third person POV throughout the whole series. Everything that happens is only through Harry’s eyes, but think about how different it would be if we had some other perspectives in there! A lot of newer YA books tend to rotate POVs and have several main characters telling the story, because it helps broaden the perspective beyond just one person’s viewpoint. One of my favorites, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, is told through six alternating POVs in third person limited. To contrast that, Leigh Bardugo’s earlier books, the Shadow and Bone trilogy, are told in first person with only one POV character. How you use POV and how many POVs you have is totally dependent on what kind of story you’re trying to tell, as well as the scope of the story. If there are things happening outside of the main character’s awareness that your reader needs to know, it might be time to add on another POV.

POV is also supported by the verb tense of your story. That is, whether you tell it in present or past tense. A story told in present tense tends to immerse the reader instantly, because the reader feels like they are experiencing everything alongside the protagonists. It’s happening right now, whereas in a book written in past tense, you might get the sense that someone is looking back on this story and telling it from the future. That’s not always the case or the intention, however. You can tell a story in past tense without necessarily implying that the narrator is looking back on a memory. But you can also very effectively do that with past tense, especially first person, if that’s the structure you want your story to have.

Depending on who you ask, some POVs are better than others. I personally prefer writing in third person past tense, but the current series I’m writing is in first person past and it’s kinda driving me crazy because I’m not used to it. But I felt first person was the best choice for these particular novels, while my other book fit best with third person. There really isn’t a science to it; it’s really just what you feel most comfortable writing. A lot of writers will say that you can only pair present tense with first person, and third person present tense is an evil way to write, but like that’s not a thing. Write your story however you want. I just wouldn’t recommend switching tenses throughout your story, unless you do it for, I dunno, a past memory or a dream sequence or something. If you’re going to get wild with POV, there should be a reason for it that benefits your narrative and/or some piece of it, like characters, plot, etc.

I will also take this opportunity to warn you upfront that second person is very difficult to tackle when you’re writing fiction. Poetry and such is a different story. But I’ve only read one book written in second person, and that one happened to do it very well. Second person isn’t something you decide after you start writing; you basically have to plan your story with the intention of writing it in second person, because that POV suggests you’re trying to do something specific with the narration and structure. Like, there has to be a clear reason why the story needs to be written in second person. But hey, if you wanna try it, go for it, and power to ya! I’ve never tried it myself, but I definitely encourage you to give it a shot!

Actually… on that note, let me give y’all a little challenge! Instead of prompts this week, I’ll leave you with this little activity (it’s not homework tho, I promise): try out each POV and verb tense. Write a little something in first person present & past, second person present & past, and third person present & past. It doesn’t have to be a full story, just like a couple paragraphs or a dialogue sequence. You can decide whether you use third person limited or omniscient!

Try it out! See which one you vibe with most! OR if you really want a cool experiment, write the same scene in each POV/verb tense! Bonus points if you switch which character’s perspective with each different version. Honestly, this might be the best way to see the differences between these POVs and how they can change your story.

That all being said, I’ll tell y’all what I’ve been up to!

What I’m writing: I finished the first draft of The Sequel™, which now has a tentative title of THE DIVINE SAINT. I’ve also changed the title of the first book (which used to be A DECEPTION OF DEMONS) to THE DEMON MAGE. Titles are like, my weakness. But anyway, I’m about 30k words deep in revisions, and I’m basically rewriting the whole first quarter of the book. It’s a mess at the moment, but once I’m past that huge part I need to fix, the rest of the book should fall into place smoothly. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Then once that draft is done I get to plan and draft a third book! Because this is apparently a trilogy now! Yay!

What I’m reading: 

Just finished: Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. As I mentioned last week (I think?), it’s the sequel to Strange the Dreamer, and wow those books are so good. I cried. A lot. They’re absolutely beautiful. And they happen to use the third person omniscient POV very well! 

Currently reading: I’m back to The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman, which I was neglecting while I read Muse of Nightmares. I also started listening to The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and it’s VERY good. It’s a punch in the heart type of book, but it’s so important and so well written.

Up next: Hmmm if I really like The Devouring Gray, I’ll pick up the sequel next. Otherwise, I think I’ll go back to The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen. I started it way back in the fall but it wasn’t what I was in the mood for at the time. 

That’s all from me this week! Sorry this was a day late; Wednesday got away from me. If you guys have any questions or want me to ramble about anything specific, feel free to drop a comment! Happy writing, stay safe and healthy, and I’ll see ya next time!

Anna 😎✌🏻

Make a Quick and Easy T-shirt Bag

I love working on craft projects when I'm at home. My sewing machine has been getting a lot of use lately!

In this video I show you how you can make a reusable bag out of an old t-shirt. It is fast and easy, and you can do it without any sewing. All you need is a t-shirt and scissors. These bags are great because they are light, you can roll them up pretty small to pack into another bag, and they are much easier to wash than most of the reusable bags sold in stores. Also, they make great beach bags!

If you try it, let me know how your bag turned out.

Anna's Writing Nook: The Messy Middle

Hi guys and welcome back to the Writer’s Nook! Last week I told y’all to get your brain juices flowing and to write some words, so this week’s a sort of check-in and a helpful nudge in case you’re stuck. 

The middle of the story is always the roughest part. Starting is easy, once you’ve got those first words down. Maybe the beginning and end of your story are crystal clear in your head, but like… how do you get from HERE to THERE? What happens in all that blank space?

I literally wish I knew. Unfortunately I’m not an omnipotent entity, so I can’t tell you what kind of brilliant thing you’ll come up with for the middle of your story, however I CAN help you navigate through it.

When I’m planning any kind of story, whether it be a short thing or a novel, I like to make a sort of road map. It’s not a full, detailed outline of every single section/chapter (though some writers do like to do that!), but more like a connect-the-dots type of thing. I have my beginning, that’s the first dot. Then I have the climax or the ending or something I know needs to happen before I type THE END. Then somewhere along the road, in that dismal middle void, I have a couple more plot dots (as I like to call them) to guide me along. They’re usually not important plot dots. A lot of times, it’s a vague idea like “I want them to take a break and have some fun” or “I want a scene where my main character tells this plot-relevant myth to the other characters.” They’re just little kernels of scenes that keep me going on the road toward the ending. I try not to make them too specific or too set in stone, because that actually gets me stuck.

So let’s talk about getting stuck. It happens a lot. Sometimes we get so stuck that we decide to rage-quit and shove that project in the bottom of a drawer for awhile. Make it sit in the corner and think about what it did. We move on and write something else that is much nicer to us. And that’s okay! If you have to set down a story because it’s just not working at the moment, that’s totally fine. But know that even if you’re actively not writing it and don’t wish to be writing it because oh my God it’s so problematic, your brain is still gonna make you think about it. I can promise you that.

That being said, running into a three-foot-tall brick wall doesn’t mean you have to toss out your whole story/idea. That wall is definitely annoying. It’s super in your way. It probably kicked you in the shins. But it is, after all, only three feet high, so theoretically you could just hop over it. Find something to boost you over. Maybe backtrack a little and get a running start. 

I’ll stop talking in metaphors now and actually explain: writer’s block sucks and it will happen, so the best you can do is find a way that works to get yourself out of it. A piece of advice: if you run yourself into a corner with a scene, the problem with it might actually be several sentences or lines or paragraphs back from where you stopped. If you get stuck and don’t know what to say next, chances are you wrapped yourself up with a scene/action/conversation that doesn’t really need to happen. So backtrack a little and read over what you wrote, and then figure out where it took a turn into that corner that simply doesn’t work.

Another way to punch a hole in writer’s block is to just walk away from your project for a bit. I don’t mean put it in time-out, I mean literally get up from your desk or your couch or wherever you write, and go for a walk. Do something else, something that doesn’t involve actively thinking about your story. Watch a show or movie. Read something. Play Animal Crossing for three hours. Even while you’re distracted, your story will still be rattling around at the back of your head. And while you’re doing some other kind of creative thing (yes that includes Animal Crossing), you might have a revelation about that part you’re stuck on. At the very least, you’ll go back to it with a clearer head and will be able to clean out some of the cobwebs.

So, if you’re stuck and have no idea how to get through the middle, here’s some things you can try. First, you guys might’ve learned about this in your English classes at school: the Hero’s Journey. It’s a narrative structure that’s been around literally forever, and a lot of stories you know follow it to a T. Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. The Odyssey. Percy Jackson. Pretty much any story that involves a protagonist leaving their everyday life to go save someone or find something or follow a goal or embark on a quest follows the Hero’s Journey to some extent. Here’s the full cycle of it:

I find this structure incredibly helpful for navigating the messy middle of a story. And while the Hero’s Journey is often applied specifically to fantasy narratives, it doesn’t have to be. You can use it literally anywhere –– the “journey” doesn’t have to be a literal one. At the heart of the Hero’s Journey, the most important thing is how your character grows and changes over the course of their story. 

This structure makes a great road map, too. It lays out the basic points your character should reach, while leaving them vague enough that you can apply your own story to each of those points. And you’re also free to deviate from it! That’s the fun part! Breaking the rules!

Another thing I’ve found helpful in the past is to make a playlist for your story. Not necessarily a list of songs that fit the mood of it, but a list of songs that inspire different parts of your story. I used the playlist structure for one of the first novels I wrote; I found a bunch of songs that I felt represented certain characters or scenes that could happen, and I used them as a road map. This method might not be for everyone, and it can get sort of tricky depending on what you’re writing, but there’s stories in songs as much as there are in books, so it could be fun to try applying a story from a song into the story you’re writing.

I hope these little tips were helpful to you! Writing is tough. We struggle a lot with our stories, but keep working at it and you’ll get through it! The novel I’m working on right now is one that I started over two years ago, wrote over and over for months, and then finally gave up on at the end of last summer because I could not crack it and all I was doing was frustrating myself and revising in circles. I put it away and wrote something else for a few months, and then this past February (I think? Time isn’t real) I went back to it with a clearer idea of the plot and cranked out three full drafts in like three months (the quarantine helped with that because now I have time to write like all day). Now I’m almost done with the first draft of the sequel, and making plans for a third book. Sometimes all it takes is a step away, a step back, and it does wonders to unravel the mess of plot dots in your head.

I’ll leave you with one final tip: if you’re having trouble getting words on the page or making yourself focus and get stuff done, try setting a goal for yourself. Aim for a certain number of pages, or a certain word count to reach by the end of your writing session. Or simply shut yourself away with your laptop and your phone on Do Not Disturb and tell yourself you’re going to write for the next hour and you’re not allowed to do anything else. Sometimes a hard deadline or goal is what I need to be productive, and it works! 

Good luck and happy writing! Stay safe and healthy, and I’ll see y’all next week. Drop a comment if you have any topic suggestions, and tell me what you’re reading or writing!

See ya next time,

Anna 😎✌🏻

New YA Book Releases!

Check out some of these new YA books that were just released within the past few weeks!
Some have wait lists, but some were available to borrow when I last checked.

I am really excited to read Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo. I loved her previous books The Poet X and With The Fire On High.

I am also intrigued by The Best Week That Never Happened, by Dallas Woodburn. It takes place in Hawaii, where the main character finds herself alone and confused, and has to try to piece together what happened and why she is there.

Do any of these books look good to you? Is there anything you are looking forward to reading? Tell us in the comments!

Find these books at owwl.overdrive.com or by using the Libby app.

Happy reading!
😀Dori

Anna's Writing Nook: Getting Your Story Started

Hello hello! Welcome back to the Writer’s Nook. Last week I rambled about characters: creating them, developing them, bringing them to life. Now that you’ve got your characters down, you might be wondering where and how to actually start your story. Well, look no farther!

Personally, I usually get ideas for characters first and plot second, but it’s different for pretty much every writer. I obviously can’t tell you exactly how to start your story, but I CAN be an obnoxious voice of encouragement and give you a few tips. At the end, I’ll also throw a few prompts out there in case you can’t think of anything or want to try something new!

All right, so here’s my biggest hint. My go-to word to the wise. Are you ready? You’ll never see this coming. Wait for it… wait for it… Drum roll, please! The number-one, foolproof way to start your story that I promise works every single time, is…

 to literally just START WRITING.

Shocking, right? Show-stopping. Absolute madness! How dare you tell me to actually write??!!

Okay but for real though, it’s so easy to get caught up with writing your character’s entire backstory as well as that of their friends and love interest and even their mom, and to get wrapped up in planning out every facet of your plot that you never get to the actual writing part. 

Look, trust me on this: just start. Your first sentence doesn’t have to be perfect or earth-shattering (yet). You’re writing for fun, for yourself (no one else!), and no matter how serious you are with your project, your first draft is always just a first draft. Which means it WILL be messy and probably not make sense but that’s okay, because right now all you gotta worry about is putting words on the page (or the screen) and getting your story down. 

Your first draft is your sandbox, for playing around and throwing sand and digging holes and burying things in them. Let yourself write all over the place without a thought to what comes next or how that surprise twist will affect everything else. Just make a mess. Don’t try to fix anything yet, you’ll just end up in an endless, torturous loop of rethinking and rewriting and never getting to the end (I am also guilty of this). So many of my first drafts are steaming piles of garbage, but that’s the entire point! Just focus on getting to the end, because that’s the only way you’ll have a complete story. And even if it is a scalding hot mess, it’s done and you wrote a thing and then you can focus on polishing it. 

Getting started is as easy and as impossible as laying down those first words. Again, try not to overthink yourself into a frenzy. I like to start with some ridiculous statement, like a funny quote or a meme or something nonsensical like “he boots too big for he got-dang feets,” because it takes some of the pressure away from the foreboding blank page. Just put something down as a placeholder, and then get to your actual words and sentences. Remember, you can always go back and change things later. 

After you get your brain motors revved up, just let the words flow. Again, it doesn’t have to make sense and it won’t be perfect the first time around. I don’t think I know of any writers/authors who have ever managed to write a perfect first draft. If they did, they’re probably a god. Or a wizard. Or they at least made a deal with one, probably in exchange for their firstborn or like, five years off their life or something. Anyway, just get into the writing groove, let your mind and imagination wander, and you’ll probably end up with something totally different than what you initially expected. That’s really where the magic comes in.

All right, with that redundant and yet important advice in mind, I shall leave you with some prompts to try. If you hate all of these, there’s a ton of websites out there where you can generate prompts. I don’t use those a whole lot, because they seem sort of… artificial to me? Like, I don’t feel like I can see an idea through to the end if it’s not completely mine. But that’s just me. The prompts are there to inspire you, not to tell a story for you. 

Here’s some ideas/story-starters for ya:

This town is not what it seems.

Something about a legendary place or object.

A long-kept secret.

Something strange happened last summer.

You were told to never go near the sea, and now you understand why.

I will also recommend this great book I have called The Writer’s Idea Thesaurus by Fred White. It’s packed with great prompts spanning a lot of different subjects/genres, and my copy is all beat-up and written in and highlighted to death. You can find it from Barnes and Noble, and I consider it a useful resource for any aspiring writer.

Now for a little update of what I’ve been up to lately! 

Firstly, as you can see in the post previous to this one, I did a little video class on how to craft a bound notebook! Check out the video if you’re interested; they’re easy and make great gifts. I’ll be doing another class with specifically leather-covered books on June 13 via Facebook live.

What I’m writing: Currently chugging along on the hot mess of a sequel to my YA fantasy, A DECEPTION OF DEMONS. The sequel does not have a title yet. It is simply “The Sequel™” or sometimes vaguely “Book 2.” The plot is a disaster and I have to stop every chapter and figure out what has to happen next, because unfortunately I only know the climax and absolutely nothing else. Writing is hard, y’all.

What I’m reading: I’m about halfway-ish through Christine Lynn Herman’s The Devouring Gray, which I’m enjoying a lot! If you’re into Stranger Things and/or enjoyed The Raven Cycle books by Maggie Stiefvater, you’d like The Devouring Gray. I also just started Laini Taylor’s Muse of Nightmares, the sequel to her other novel Strange the Dreamer, which I read last year and adored. I’ve been procrastinating starting the sequel because the first book was an emotional punch to the throat, but I found myself missing the world and characters and Laini Taylor’s beautiful prose. I highly recommend that duology, and she also has another trilogy (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) which I’ve heard is very good. 

Well, that’s all for today! I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy at home. See you next week for another blog, and as always if you have suggestions, drop a comment! 

See ya next time,

Anna 😎✌🏻

Bookmaking with Anna

Follow along with Anna and learn how to make a book. This is a recording of a live online class Anna presented on Saturday.  If you'd like to try it, here is a description from Anna of a few things you'll need:

"If you want to follow along in real time, all you need are:

• a large piece of decorative/scrapbook paper or cardstock
• 4-5 pages of filler paper (I'm using sketchbook paper; it's just the right thickness for the pages. Mine is 9x12 but any size works!)
• The toughest sewing needle you have (mine is a tapestry needle)
• Scissors and/or a paper cutter in case you need to trim down your pages 
• The toughest thread or twine you have

This craft is super easy and fun, so come learn how to make a book! I'll guide you along the steps from start to finish and we'll make something neat together."

 

 

 

Let us know if you tried it, and how it worked out. What will you use your book for?

 

Listen to some great books being read out loud!

Do you like listening to books being read aloud? Here are a couple of great opportunities to hear your favorite books being read by celebrities.

Live from the NYPL: Neil Gaiman's Coraline

Listen to author Neil Gaiman and other celebrities read the full text of Coraline out loud, each day at 6pm from May 12th through May 18.  Get more information and register to receive the link here.

    
*update - you can listen to the recorded readings through the NYPL website here:
LIVE from NYPL: Neil Gaiman's Coraline - past recordings

Watch Daniel Radcliff Read the First Chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'

Daniel Radcliff and other actors from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies will be reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone out loud from home in quarantine. A new chapter will be released each week and will be available on Spotify and on the Wizarding World website. 

Who else likes to listen to books? I love audiobooks. Not only do I listen while driving, but love to listen when I'm out for a walk, doing chores around the house, or even while working on puzzles.  One of my favorite books to listen to was The Hate You Give, by Angie Thomas. The actors who did the narration were fantastic.  

You can find audiobooks you can borrow and download to a phone, tablet or computer at owwl.overdrive.com, or use the Libby app.

Let us know what you like to listen to!

 -Dori 

Anna's Writing Nook: Let's Talk Characters

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the Writer’s Nook. Last week was mostly for introductions and to give y’all an idea of what to expect from this blog, but this time we’ll get right into it! Today let’s talk about characters!

If you’re anything like me, you probably love creating characters. We love to imagine them, we love to throw them into various situations, but actually writing them? Ughh don’t make me do it. Someday someone will find a way to precisely copy an image from our minds onto a piece of paper and then we’ll all be happier, but until that day, here’s some tips on where and how to start when you’ve got a character rattling around in your brain who won’t quiet down until you’ve done something with them.

I usually start with the basics: Name, age, gender. Easy peasy (unless you’re like me and spend an hour on a name generator website trying to find exactly the right one).

Next, we add a bit more depth: General appearance (skin, eye, hair color/style), hometown/nationality, family members. Still easy, but these steps start to build a world around your character, rather than having them chill in an empty void in which only they exist.

Now you gotta use your brain: Motivation, goals, values. Your character’s motivation is what drives them toward the goals they want to accomplish. Why are they doing their thing? Are they doing it for themself or for someone else? And how does that change throughout the story?

Their goal is the thing they’re fighting for, what they’re working toward. It can be anything from working up the courage to ask someone to prom, to finding a legendary artifact to save the world. Whatever it is, however big or small, your character should have a strong goal that leads them through the story –– and be prepared for that goal to change as they go.

Your character’s values are what they wholeheartedly believe in, their unshakable worldview (but spoiler alert, it will probably (definitely) be shaken). Their values contribute to the motivation pushing them toward their goal. Throughout the course of your story, these values will be challenged, doubted, and possibly rethought. And that also means their goals might change too. In the novel I’m writing right now, my main character begins the story by following a prophecy that he thinks will help save his brother, but by the turning point of the book he finds a new, wider goal, which also requires him to question his values and shift his motivation. So while your character’s underlying motivation might not change, there’s a good chance their story will require them to set aside their original goals for the sake of the plot –– which will also give them new, additional motivations. 

Character growth happens when the character encounters something that forces them to broaden their perspective and set their personal wants/needs/goals aside. I know it’s basic and old news, but think of The Hunger Games: Katniss’s original goal is to survive the Games. Her motivation is her sister. But when she becomes the face of a rebellion, her motivation shifts. It’s no longer just about Katniss and Prim; it’s about all the kids in Panem who have been forced to fight in the Games. Her perspective shifts, and she begins to fight for everyone rather than just herself. You can see the same formula in pretty much any book you read.

The main point is, your character needs strong values, motivations, and goals in order to be the most authentic type of character. The hardest part of writing anything is making sure your characters read like real people, and one of the ways I double check for that is reading my dialogue out loud and acting out my characters’ actions. It’s a simple trick, but it really helps you see if your dialogue sounds clunky or if you’ve had your character set down the cup they were holding like 3 times. Think about whether your dialogue sounds like something someone would actually say –– it can honestly make or break the authenticity of your characters. 

Speaking of authenticity, I also want to offer this tip: if you try to force your characters to do anything, they WILL NOT listen to you. I know I sound insane but hear me out: your characters have this funny way of taking over their own stories. You don't control them, they control you. So let them. Let them lead you where they want to go, even if it interferes with your plans. They're like little wind-up toys: you can set them in the right direction but they'll run around everywhere and bend the story in ways you didn't expect. And a lotta times, that's a great and magical thing.

I just threw a lot of stuff at you, so let’s back up for a second. Again, your character’s goal doesn’t have to be something earth-shattering. If you’re writing a short story, their goal might just be to walk home from school or go downstairs for breakfast or buy a snack from the store. It can be literally anything and it absolutely can be simple. It’s a matter of asking your character what they want (and it might take them a bit to actually give you an answer, if they’re stubborn like some of mine). Then once you know that, ask them why they want it –– that’s where the motivation and values come in. 

Here’s the fun part. I like to be mean to my characters. I’m usually not sorry about it. So my favorite thing to do is dangle their goals in front of them and say “Hey look! It’s right here! You’re so close!” and then yoink them away. There are times when your character won’t reach their goal, and that is the absolute best time for them to second-guess their goal and ask if that was what they really wanted. Losing their goal might be their rock bottom, their absolute lowest part of the story. But it’s FUN because it forces your character into a corner that only they can fight their way out of by rethinking what they want. By keeping your character from their goal, you’ll learn something about them and they’ll learn something about themself.

So, to wrap up, here’s my personal go-to basic character sheet:

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Race:

Nationality:

Hometown:

Family:

Friends:

What do they value?

What do they want?

Why do they want it?

Once you have those things down, hey guess what! You have the barebones of your character’s leg of the plot. That’s a big step! Repeat this for every main character, and see how they tangle together. It’s REALLY fun when your characters have goals that directly conflict with each other.

On that note, I wanna give a little disclaimer about these blogs. Obviously this is not the only way to create a character. Obviously I’m not the ultimate authority on writing. I’m not telling you the rules to making characters or writing a story. These are just tips and guidelines that have helped me along the way, and I’m hoping they’re helpful to you guys too!

So by all means, break the rules. I dare you.

That’s all I got for y’all today, but I hope you found that info useful! Before I go, I’ll give a little update about what I’ve been up to these days.

What I’m Writing:

I’m in the midst of revisions of my YA fantasy novel called A DECEPTION OF DEMONS. It’s a vaguely Beauty and the Beast inspired story with a shapeshifting prince and a boy who can talk to deities. Fun times. I’m also working on the sequel, which has been rough. It’s a hot mess, but that’s what first drafts are for!

What I’m Reading:

Just finished: I have not actually finished a book since last week’s post, oops

Currently reading: I am almost done with ALL THE STARS AND TEETH by Adalyn Grace. It’s REALLY good. I love it. There’s cool magic, a charming sort-of pirate and his magic ship, a kickass main character, and a mermaid!!! It’s such an immersive story that has me hanging onto every word. I read most of it in a day, and now I’m procrastinating finishing it because I don’t want it to be over and I don’t want to wait a year for the second book 😭

Starting next: I think my next read is going to be THE DEVOURING GRAY by Christine Lynn Herman. One of my friends has been pestering me to read it for like a year, so I think it’s time I finally listen to her!

Thanks for reading this ramble of mine, and I’ll see y’all next week with some more writing tips! Try out that character profile exercise and see what you come up with. Also, if there’s a specific topic you’d like me to talk about, leave it in the comments!

Till next time, 

Anna 😎✌🏻