Inspiration Comes from Anywhere

As a writer, I find it important to study my everyday surroundings. When doing so, it gives me little inspirations for my stories: ticks to give my characters, different types of slang to add into dialogue, how people react when they're feeling different things. These little details are what really brings characters to life and is what creates a strong connection to the reader.

Keep a notepad or note app on your phone to write down little things you notice. Next time you're at a loss for words or how to describe an action, just go through what you've written down and see if that can be of any assistance.

Renee Jean

Renee Jean

Renee Jean is a Pure Ice Publishing author and the author of Never Give Up, a drama about a ballerina who hears the news that she might never dance again.

Bio by Renee Jean herself:

I am a travel addicted, creative obsessed table games dealer and author in Las Vegas. I have been writing most of my life and can honestly say having met so many other incredible authors I do not fit the general stereotype.

I am an extreme extrovert. I am active as often as possible riding my bicycle and training for obstacle courses. I have a performance job that puts me front and center for thousands of people each year. I am a former model and do my best to maintain my physical appearance and health although being a tomboy I can say looks are quite far down on the priority list.

I love sports. I live to travel and as far as I am concerned there is a way to put a piece of myself in everything I write. People hear about my life and always say "You should write a book!" well I have, in fact I am working a several. But I am only a tiny part. I take inspiration from everyone and everywhere that touches my life.

I only hope that my charity books for animals and my novels have the ability to inspire others the way that they have inspired me!

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Renee Jean also works with Rock & Roll Saved My Soul for her Animal anthologies in which all proceeds go to different charities to help animals around the world. Her first anthology, Rescue Me: Stories of Hope, is now available for purchase as well. For more information about the anthologies, please visit the facebook page she has set up: Rescue Me: Animal Anthology.

GIVEAWAY!

So, I found out that a few of my author friends are in a GIVEAWAY! WOO! Everyone likes them, right? Well, hopefully you're all familiar with rafflecopter and if not, no worries. It's pretty simple :) GOOD LUCK!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Adrianna Davis

This week (November 21st - 28th), we will be featuring Author Adrianna Davis and her book Discovering Fire!

Discovering Fire

Sapphire Marie Baker has a secret. One that is tearing her apart. She needs to get it out, but is worried about being shunned by her friends and family. Can she find the strength to discover who she is? Or will the secret kill her?

Published by TitanInKorp.

Adrianna Davis is from Buffalo, NY, but considers Arkansas to be her home. She is a 22 year old author who loves writing and her family more than anything. She is the author of Discovering Fire and The Journey Series. Be here to keep up to date with her latest goings on.  

For more information on her, please click her name above to be directed to her facebook author page! 

Distractions

Okay, okay, I will admit that Prince Lestat by Anne Rice has had me distracted for the past few days, so I'm now writing this post with advice about them (although I will probably ignore my own advice and carry on reading).

- DO NOT WATCH ANYTHING WHILE YOU'RE WRITING - Now we know Facebook and Youtube are covered in funny cat videos, but DO NOT WATCH THEM! Turn Facebook off. Make sure your television is off too (and if not, make sure you're at least turned away from it, but I would say turn it off).

- CLOSE ALL OTHER WINDOWS - There's no need to be on Facebook or YouTube or Twitter or Fanfiction.net or anything other than the book you're working on (unless you do what I do and use you tube for music)

- DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE - With this being said, answer it if it's an emergency, but other than that, no. Put it away. Don't worry about the gossip, it'll still be there after you've written 1,000 words if not more.

Personally, I put on music without words, something that will set a mood. By all means, YouTube has "emotional" mixes that can go on for up to 10 hours (and if you have that much time to write, I am HIGHLY impressed and say YOU ROCK)!

Distractions happen everywhere, but don't let it stop you from finishing your book! Don't take me as a role model either because that's exactly what I do!!

Critics and How to Take Them

So, the hardest part about being a writer is dealing with the critics. Now, I'll state my age here. I'm 21 and most of what I write is Young Adult Fantasy and whatnot and well, what I face is a lot of critics. People see my age and the number one comment I get, especially for my love of the English and Latin language and putting things into complicated wordings, is "why do you write Young Adult books? You could do so much better."

Yeah, maybe I could pull out a novel that has a similar technique to Anne Rice (not that it would be of any comparison to hers, just throwing something out there), but let's face it. Sometimes books like that are hard to read for most people.

I'm 21. I read both YA and adult novels of all things and my favorite books range far and wide in both aspects. A lot of authors face this problem of the critics, but honestly, it doesn't matter. The critics don't matter. You can listen to what they say and maybe even take it into consideration, but let's face it. The only person you have to make happy with your writing is YOU. Granted, I would aim to get some fans and make them happy with you're writing. You wouldn't want to piss everyone off!

Happy writing!

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a tradition in which an author sells their soul in the month of November. Okay, well, it doesn't just have to be November as there are NaNoWriMo camps in what... April and June, I believe. Anyway, the goal is to write an entire novel in just one month. As much as it sounds impossible, it is very much possible.

The thing is to just sit down and write. In October, you're supposed to plan as much as you can (if you do planning as a writer) so the next month, you're all ready to write it all out. Now, as easy as it sounds to write an entire book in a day, you sadly have to write about what, 1,500 words everyday and there seems to be no room for writer's block. You're not supposed to worry about grammar and that's when the grammar nazi in me cringes.

To Prepare in October:

The main thing you want to do in October is prepare. This would mean that you get your basic plot, and your Main Character and side characters names and quite possibly personalities (I wait until the character shows me their personality, but to each their own). I'd come up with the basic outline and names of towns so I wouldn't get caught up writing about them and think of all my main scenes and their descriptions.

All in all, NaNoWriMo is a learning experience. You either sit and are dedicated or you don't and the goal isn't met. I envy the people who can sit and on day 16, their novel is complete. That is not something I personally can do, but still! Congratulate them.

If you're participating in April for Camp NaNoWriMo, good luck!