How we get going

A week ago I got stuck about where to go in my W.I.P. I procrastinated, of course, but nothing I did helped me. So I thought about what I did that would always give me ideas. Then I remembered when I was younger, I'd always go out to our backyard and jump on our trampoline. I'd spin all types of stories about fairies with flower names fighting off evil, and girls baking muffins in their cottages that attracted the princes to their door, resulting in their royal marriage.

Wondering if it worked again, I went out to the trampoline and started jumping. Sure enough, within minutes I had the next chapter all lined up in my head and ready to be written. Now, I go outside nearly every day to start thinking about what I'll be writing that day. I'd always heard that exercise gets the creative ideas flowing, but I never really believed it until now.

Is there anything you do before you write to get going?

Fixed vs. Growth

For the upcoming fall, I'm going to be a peer mentor for the freshman coming into BYU. I've been doing training for the past few weeks where they give all the peer mentors articles to read and sometimes a video to watch. Last week we had to read an excerpt from Dr. Carol S. Dweck's book Mind.

In this excerpt she talks about success and how our mindset about it can determine how far we go in life. Dr. Dweck says that there are two kinds of mindsets: fixed and growth. In a fixed mindset, one believes that the first results are the final ones. If you're smart, you're smart, and if not, nothing will change that. They will often stay at a level they're comfortable with, play it safe. Rather than go into a class with more rigorous curriculum, they'll stay where they know that they'll succeed. They don't want to look stupid in front of others. The other mindset is the growth mindset. These people believe that everyone has the capability to grow and become better. They strive for what's difficult in order to become excellent at what they do. They don't see a failure as their set path in life. They look for the solution to make them better. As a result, they grow.

This really made me consider what kind of mindset I have. Dr. Dweck says that most people have a mix of mindsets, and I believe that I do. But now that I'm aware of this, I want to adapt a mindset of growth. Because, we all know it, writing is a tough business to get into. I haven't heard of one person who wrote a book in one draft, sent a query letter to their top agent of choice, and was signed on the next day as a client, then in eighteen months became a NYT bestselling author. More often authors talk about that first book that couldn't get an agent, and the dozens of agents that rejected their work, and the book that got published, but was never made into a blockbuster movie.

I want a growth mindset. I want to be able to look at all of these challenges in the eye and stare them down. I want to be able to hone my craft, take on the rejections, and get better from them. I feel like I'm just barely putting my foot on this path, but at least now I know how I want to walk down it.

Book Review: Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Title: Princess of the Midnight Ball
Author: Jessica Day George
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genre: Young Adult (fantasy)
Why I read it/how I found it: Jessica Day George had been to a few of events I'd gone to as well, so I thought it was about time I read something of hers. Plus, I love fairy tales.

Description:
Returning home from the war, young Galen finds work with his mother’s family in the royal gardens. There he learns that the king’s twelve daughters have a secret: every night they dance their shoes to tatters, but no one knows how or why. When prince after prince tries and fails to find the answer, and the family is haunted by accusations of witchcraft, Galen decides to help. Armed with a pair of silver knitting needles and an invisibility cloak given to him by a strange old woman, he follows the princesses and unlocks the secret of their curse.


Review: I really loved the fact that this is based on a fairy tale you don't hear too much about, especially in retellings. There are oodles of Cinderella retellings out there, but a book dedicated to the Twelve Dancing Princesses you don't hear much about. From what I do know about the fairy tale, this stuck to it pretty well--the twelve dancing princesses with worn out shoes, the evil king/sorcerer, the princes who failed in discovering the secret and the common man who succeeded. It stuck much more closely than the works of Gail Carson Levine. Yet it's more than just a telling of the story. Each character is given depth, and the stakes are higher with the country just coming back from war, and the world is built so very fully. I did wish for a bit more background on the war and why they went at it for so long anyway to give the king a bit more sympathy. But overall, this is a magical read. I'm planning on suggesting it to my younger cousin.

Other information: You can find Jessica Day George's website here.

Minor Characters

I started making up my post for my Top Ten minor characters, only I came to a halt after a while because I found myself wanting to repeat a lot of books with my favorite minor characters. Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Pride and Prejudice, these were pretty much the only books that my favorite minor characters are in. Perhaps not coincidentally, these books are also a few of my all-time favorites.

It's pretty easy for writers to flesh out the few main people we spend the book with. But for J.K. Rowling to have our hearts torn out at Dobby's death, or Suzanne Collins to have our sympathy reached for Finnick when we hear his past, or Jane Austen to have us anxiously waiting for Mr. Bennet's next humorous line--this is real talent, and what separates a good book from a great one. When every character, no matter how small, is as meaningful and alive as the protagonist and their close sidekicks, mentors, enemies, and love interests, I think that is a huge sign that this book will be memorable.

I wish I had a formula for making a minor character memorable and beloved, but I'm still searching for it myself. One thing I do think about it, though, is that stereotypes for meaningful minor characters (not just the old man on the bus without a name) is not the way to go. Make them as fresh and interesting as the main characters, with something just as unique about them as the protagonist.

What's there to love?

The other day I was having a conversation with my friend about Tangled. Now please don't take this the wrong way, because I love Tangled. But I said the reason why I enjoyed other Disney movies more was because I couldn't comprehend why Flynn and Rapunzel fell for each other. I mean, Flynn seems pretty unimpressed with Rapunzel and even she's not swept off her feet right away by him. I know they have that conversation after the big chase with the near-drowning, but it still didn't stick with me why they would fall in love because of that. I found no basis to their love. Of course, maybe now I'm just an older English major with way too much time to analyze movies meant for children fifteen years younger than me.

But this leads me to ask, what's there to love?

I think, when it comes to attraction of couples and making them realistically fall in love, these basic points are crucial:

• Humor. I haven't met one person who hasn't said they want to marry someone who can make them laugh, or that their significant other makes them laugh. Even in an angsty romance, there has to be some light times when they can just laugh, otherwise they'll end up miserable together in the end.
• Similarity. As much as they say "opposites attract" you don't get a devout Fundamentalist Christian and a hard-core Wiccan dating. There has to be some sort of common ground or trait in order for the couple to really have a basis for their relationship. It doesn't have to be huge, just something.
• Opposites. Because contrary to the point above, opposites do attract. I just have to look at my parents for that kind of confirmation. I think that the opposite part is more that they complete one another, as cheesy as that sounds. But if one lacks a trait, with the other person filling it, they make more compatible together in the long run.
• Standing out. They need to do something that makes the other notice them. My roommate's boyfriend actually shared with her a list of things that made her stand out from other girls, and they were little things, but they were enough for him.

What do you think? What points are important to developing a great literary couple?

Scrapping it

This weekend I reviewed my W.I.P. and realized that of what I have down so far, I'm not going to be keeping. I believe in the story, the characters, the plot. I love it and I want to continue it, I don't want to give up. So I'm storing away what I have so far and starting new.

At first, I was discouraged about the prospect of starting over again. But then I remembered that back at the Utah Festival of Books when Kiersten White spoke, she brought up a new manuscript she has and how she wrote 100 pages in, and started over twice because the first two times she wasn't telling it right. I figured if a published author has done this, then it's probably not such a terrible thing that I am, too.

That's how I feel about my W.I.P. I don't think I wrote it the right way at first. I wrote it straight through as it'll read in its finished form, when as I actually write it, I need to write *gulp* out of order. That's going to be a fun adventure for me, since I've always written linearly.

So today I finish up my finals, and packing, and cleaning, and tomorrow I start heading home for summer break, where I fully intend to make my dad worry about how much time I'm spending in my room writing.

Have you ever had to completely restart a manuscript?

Versitile Blogger Award

Thank you Kristin Lynn Thetford for my second blog award!

The rules for this award are:

• Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
• Share seven random facts about myself.
• Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

Number one--check. Now for number two. You get seven more random facts about me.

1. My mom only made homemade frosting when I was growing up, so I hate the stuff from the can.
2. I hardly ever take pictures and I avoid being in them.
3. I read through The Little House on the Prairie for the first time with my mom.
4. I played volleyball from the time I was 12, but I never learned to serve under-hand because my coaches would never teach me.
5. I have an older sister, and older brother, and a younger brother.
6. I can bend my fingers back to a 90 degree angle, which I just found out is actually kinda freaky.
7. I say "like" more than I care to admit--it's the Californian girl in me.

Ok, so now 5 of my new-found blogger friends that I pass this award along to:

1. Genius Bordering Insanity
2. Christina's Writing Buzzz...
3. Awkward Girl
4. All about them words
5. Writing at High Altitude

Thanks again Kristin for the awesome award! :D