Writing From Experience: Recycling

 It's writing time. I would share the answers to Anya's post, but unfortunately there aren't enough questions yet, so I'm gonna try again next week. If you'd like to ask her questions, check it out... here.
 Since I had anticipated answering questions today and didn't write out a post, I'm going to share another post that I wrote on Randomosity Writers awhile back. This was written a while back, and who knows... I may do a newer version sometime, but... Hope you enjoy!

 Writing From Experience

 I’m sure we’ve all heard the old saying that you should write what you know. And it’s very true. If we write about our hometown, add in the characteristics of your best friend to another character, maybe just stick in a family tradition. If you’ve been somewhere or done something, you can write about it in a much clearer way then if you were just reading about it. Of course, as writers we know that’s not always the case. At least, it’s nice to have something to write about that we know, but (to fantasy writers especially) this can sometimes be impossible. But even if you’re writing a Sci-Fi masterpiece, or a fantasy epic you can still write from experience, and make your story much more realistic.
Last Tuesday, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. It wasn’t a boatload of fun, but I did learn a few things. And now, if I ever need a character to have surgery- almost any surgery- I can relay it more realistically because I’ve been through it. I’ve been prepped. I’ve had heart and lung monitors strapped to my chest, I’ve had a machine beeping in the background, I’ve tasted the sickly sweet scent that is general anesthetic filling my nose, and causing my arms and legs to tingle and feel almost weightless. It’s an interesting feeling, not one that I enjoy. I also know what it’s like for the doctor’s to be worried, and to check your monitors to be sure everything is how it should be. But what if your story doesn’t have surgery? Well, Allison pointed something out to me. This knowledge can also be used in the case of your character being knocked out with drugs, because, well, that happens sometimes!
But we can’t always write from experience. What if your main character is in France? Or South Korea? What if you’ve never been there, but are writing from what you’ve read? That’s okay. Some things you have to write from what you read in books or online. Or perhaps you know someone who HAS been to France or South Korea, and can interview them on THEIR experience. Most people will be very friendly about this, especially if you know them well. If you want to know about where someone has been, or about what they’ve went through, all you have to do is ask. Remember to be respectful about it- especially if you’re writing a war story and speaking to a veteran, or something of this nature. If you are respectful to someone, and show true interest in their story, they’ll be more then willing to open up and listen to what you have to say. In fact, most people want to tell someone about things they’ve done, or been through, so don’t be afraid to ask.
Finally, here are a few suggestions of things that you can use for experience. I’m sure there are many more that you could choose, but these are my two cents on the matter.
Riding – This is a pretty simple thing. Most everyone rides in cars, don’t they? Some people even have the pleasure of riding a horse. Some people don’t know what it’s like to ride a horse, believe it or not. Some people have only ridden one that’s been led around, and hasn’t been trained properly. If you can describe the way a car skims along the highway, or a horse trots, you can use that. And furthermore, you can take a horse, and change it into something else. If you’re writing fantasy, there are normally fantasy animals to go into it, made up by you. You can give your animal some of the characteristics of a horse, perhaps just the way it rides. You can apply this to other animals as well.
Places you’ve been – I know we talked about this above, but even the few places you HAVE been can be used for your story, especially for contemporary writers, or just stories set in this world. If you’ve been to this next town over, and see some tradition practiced there. You can use that!
People you know – This one can be tricky. I wouldn’t recommend making carbon copies of people and changing them into characters, but perhaps you can take a characteristic here, a habit there. You can always ask a person, but that might bring up an awkward conversation. If it’s a villainous or embarrassing character, it might be best to just make it up. Hurting someone’s feelings is not worth it.
Things you’ve done – You know that rock climbing wall they brought to your camp last year? Well, I don’t know for sure if they brought one to yours, but they brought one to mine. It took everything in me to get to the top of the beginner’s wall, while all my friends were climbing the medium or hard one. (I’m not very sports-oriented.) I can remember the way my arms were screaming as I nearly hung from a rock, and tried hard to keep my footing. You can use the little things you’ve done for a story. In this instance, it could be for characters climbing a rock cliff to sneak into an enemy’s castle. Or something of the sort. But it doesn’t have to be something like this, you can use almost any instance or experience you’ve had for a story. Swimming, riding bikes, playing the piano, ice skating… All of these things and more can be used in a story.
The world – If you look outside, God has made a beautiful creation for us. And that creation can be added into your story. I’m sure most stories have the singing of wind in them, or at least the soft kiss of a light breeze. What about the flowers you see? The sound of the bees buzzing by… There’s so much out there that we KNOW about, because it was made for us. Use it. I’m pretty sure most stories, no matter what genre, have some sort of out of doors scene.
So you see, experience doesn’t have to be some amazing thing you’ve done, like swimming away from a shark, or base jumping. Experience is life. And when we add life into our stories, they grow so much, and become much more three dimensional. They breathe. So keep writing, and don’t forget to add in your experiences to give your story a nice rounded, finished feel.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post, and I can’t wait to see you next week!
Bethany
What are some ways you write from experience?

Loving What You Write: Recycling

So, I'm still working on coming up with new content for the blog, but I have lots in mind. For now, I'm not sure you've all seen this post I wrote on Randomosity Writers a while ago. I talked about loving what you write, and I thought I'd share it with you guys. I've seen a lot of people get discouraged, but I hope this post will encourage you! Next week, I hope to have some of that original stuff I promised. ;)

Loving What You Write

  When you write a story, you’re going to feel sensitive about it, that’s just the way it goes. Trust me, it can be a tad bit depressing to write sentences that just feel loaded down by a herd of elephants. (That was an interesting simile…) What I mean is, when your sentences move so slow, or just don’t sound clever at all, and your dialogue is… blah.
 Half the time, in my opinion, that’s just your feelings. I mean, sure, a story is going to need refining, just like any worthwhile craft, but your original writing is sure to have that new spark. I love reading stories by my friends that have scant to no editing. So here’s a few tips on how to get past the feeling down about your story, and learn to love what you write.

 Quickly write your first draft A lot of people like to edit as they write, but that can be a stressful and tiring way to do it. I, for the most part, try to just get through the first draft as quick as possible, even if I know that there are many things that need fixing, or something isn’t completely accurate to the timeline. It’s best to just write. After that,

 Take a break from your story If you start reading/editing your story right away, it’s only going to depress you. “I spent a month writing this? I spent six months writing this?” Don’t give into the temptation to read your finished work. Instead, set it aside for a few weeks, or a month, and take a break. Maybe read a book you’ve been wanting to read, or start on a new story your passionate about. By the time you come back after distancing yourself from your story, you’ll feel a  lot better about it.

Share your story This is hard for many people. As I said, we’re very touchy or sensitive about our work, and we don’t like to have “prying” eyes reading what we’re still unsure about. But one of the biggest confidence boosters a person can get is if you share your story- with the right people. I’m not saying post it on the internet where the world can see, because there are some mean people out in the world. Some might even steal your idea. But if you share your story with another writing friend, even if they point out some grammatical or sentence structure mistakes, they’re sure to say something good too. You can also share it with family. I’m very close with my sister’s husband’s family. It’s the most wonderful feeling when you have a bunch of kids all wanting you to read them your story, it almost makes you melt. :)  One more…

Go back This is the one I was thinking. One way I can really get back into my story is if I go back several chapters, or even the beginning of the book, and read that part you thought was funny, or just remember why you wrote this story- remember why you love it. If you can get to the heart of your story- the core- then you’ll love it again, especially if you remember why you wrote it in the first place.
And that’s all for today! I hope this post has been helpful in any way to you. Have a great day!
Bethany

What are some ways you get back to loving your story?

Ah La Surgery.

 Some of you might be aware that a week ago I had wisdom teeth surgery.  Yes, exactly one week. And it was not a pretty week, I'm telling you. And for those of you, my lovely readers, not familiar with the extraction of these pesky teeth, and what happens, allow me to shed a little light on the subject.

 Wisdom teeth are basically teeth that grow in when you reach the supposed age of wisdom- eighteen. Yeah, I don't think that's the age of wisdom either, but that's what the introductory video says. These teeth grow in the back, beside your latest molars. That is, if they grow in at all. Often, they become impacted, because of how they are turned, and are unable to grow in. Which isn't good. So in wisdom tooth surgery they cut into your mouth, and remove the teeth. Ouch!

 And I had a special case. Not only were my wisdom teeth going to be impacted when they grew in, but one of my twelve year molars never grew in because of one of them. It seemed that the edge of the molar was hooked to the wisdom tooth, which prevented it coming in. We had a long, drawn out near two years where we would go to the dentist, and the orthodontist, and they would tell us time and time again that we needed to have the wisdom tooth removed. But the thing was, oral surgeon we went to, who had removed all four of my siblings wisdom teeth, took a look at my x-rays and decided he couldn't decide if my wisdom tooth and molar were fused or not. *Gulp.* He said he'd have to take out both teeth. My mom was NOT pleased with this, so we didn't do it. Finally, we arranged to have another appointment with a different hospital. They said that the two were separate, so we finally set our appointment.

 That morning, I was a little worried (all those stories I read about kids dying...) but I prayed, and trusted my Lord and Savior to take care of me. We sat in the waiting room for almost an hour... maybe even longer until they finally called us back. We were taken to a little room where I had to wait a while longer. A guy came in to do my IV. I only had an IV when I was little so I wasn't sure how it was going to be. He had this long needle, and a plastic straw thing to stick up my arm. Fun! I held my mom's hand (WHAT, it's allowed!) while he stuck it right in the crease of my arm. He had to wiggle the thing around for a little bit to be able to get it in because I was dehydrated (not allowed to eat since the day before.) It wasn't exactly a comfortable experience. He left, and I had to wait again. I couldn't even bend my arm much now. A woman came in, took the IV bag down, and led me to another room. The awful torture chamber. Okay, just the surgery room. And I had to wait some more. *Taps fingers*

 The lady came back and prepped me for surgery- hooked me up to all kinds of beeping machines, and put all kinds of monitors on my heart etc. I waited a little more, (there was an awful lot of waiting involved) and the doctor's came in. They put a mask over my nose which was blowing oxygen in my nose, and told me they would tell me when the drugs started coming in. (For the record, they never did tell me. If I hadn't tasted it I wouldn't have ever known.) Then he just started a random conversation with me about schools, and some teenagers who'd gotten drunk. Yeah, weird conversation, right? o.O It was during this conversation that I started tasting this sickening sweet taste which I guessed was the medicine. Pretty soon my arms began to feel weird and like they were tingling and just... strange.

Then, something happened. I'm not exactly clear on what, but I had the distinct impression that something went wrong, so I started praying. The nurse sounded worried, and they started checking all my monitors, and talking to each other, and that was the last thing I knew... I was asleep.

 I woke up in the same chair I went to sleep in. I felt a bit out of it, but I was aware of what was happening. The doctor told the nurse to get my mom. Mom came in and talked a bit, listened to instructions, then they told her to get the car pulled up. The nurse fetched a wheelchair, and helped me in it. Then she wheeled through the hospital, to the elevators and down into the parking garage. They helped me get into the car and get my seatbelt on.

One of the first things I said, I think, was about how I didn't like the gauze in my mouth, or something of that nature. Mom helped me switch out and it was all nasty and bloody. Mom had to go to Sam's club to pick up my subscription, and on the way we changed the gauze yet again. By the time we got there I needed to use the restroom. We put in the subscription, then headed to the bathroom. Mom told me to wait til there weren't people around so I wouldn't freak them out with my blood before I rinsed my mouth out. ;P She also told me to stop staring at the floor because people were starting to stare at me weird. Haha! I got rid of the gauze, and mom bought me an ice cream. It took me a bit to get my mouth open, but when I did, and just let the ice cream sit there it felt so good!

 We got the subscription, and went home, I slept in the car.

 That day I didn't have much pain. Half my face was numb, and most people sleep the whole day, but I didn't. I had maybe one fifteen minute nap when I got home. I stayed in bed, but I watched shows or something to pass the time. Mom would give me Popsicles and stuff now and again.

 It wasn't until the next day until the pain came. I swelled up really badly. Some advice: do not apply heat to your face unless you want to swell up. No matter who tells you to. ;) I also would get pretty nauseous if I sat up too long. Once I got so sick I thought I was going to puke, but I didn't, and it calmed down after some prayer. Thank the Lord.

 So, now a week later, the swelling has almost completely disappeared, and the stitches are loosening, but I still have a bit of pain. It's all coming along though.

 I thank the Lord for keeping me safe in the procedure and all that's come after it. Thursday I'll be blogging at Randomosity Writers about writing from experience- thank you wisdom teeth! See you later!

~ a rambling author

More Ramblings by Yours Truly

 So, I had this post all planned out about what my purpose in writing is... but... I have a deadline to finish Baby, It's Cold Outside by tomorrow (Doing it for our home made version of NaNo, but in January,) and I'm basically swamped. On the upside, the novel is nearly 50K! Everybody jump up and down! Okay... you don't really have to do that. So, I'll try hard to get that post up by next week, or either later this week!

 Also, starting next Thursday I'll be blogging every Thursday at Randomosity Writers! A group of young writers will be posting- the first to come February 1st, so check it out!

 Lastly, I'd like to show you guys a lovely cover-mockup a fellow writer made me for Prince's Quest. I love it! Thanks Elizabeth!

 Sorry for the short and rambling post! Hope you've all had a wonderful Tuesday!

~ A rambling author