Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! What Are Ya'll's Special Plans? Mine Are Work And Schooling XD Hopefully

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! What are ya'll's special plans? Mine are work and schooling XD Hopefully I can get some writing done today too! Maybe I'll post something later ;)

Sam isn’t at school the next day. You figure he’s probably with the family, celebrating Jr’s return. You resist the urge to snort. You’re not even sure they would celebrate that. They aren’t exactly the nicest people…. But, you’re sure, at least Sam would want to celebrate it… You sigh. You’re really glad they get to reunite with each other and be happy and all that good stuff. But you’re also really bored… You didn’t realise how close you and Sam had gotten nor how much he entertained you, until he didn’t show up today. You sigh again and rest your chin in your hand. You will be happy for them and let them have their family time, but you’ll also be relieved when they’re back to entertain you….

Jr glares, “Look down there! Tell me what you see! Where is ALL that food going then?!” “How do you know this? Who told you about this?” Jr swallows and looks away, then looks back, “I had a friend… He was a changeling. He got put in there, but he used to sneak letters out to me...” Your heart speeds up a little, “Used to?” He nods, looking bitter, “They found out. I had got to where I came up here often. I watched it happen…” Your heart jumps to your throat and you barely get out, “Watched what happen?” He points, “They dragged him to the edge of the city. Shot him in the head. They just left him there for the clean up crew to pick up…” You turn your head away. There's so much to process… You look back at him, “I don’t understand. Why would they be MEAN to them? I understand containing them, but it just doesn’t seem realistic that they’d just torture an entire species unnecessarily…” Jr shrugs in defeat, “It’s easier to control a broken people, rather than a thriving nation. If they were strong, they could break out. Better to beat them down and starve them and let them die…” Tears prick at your eyes and you turn away quickly, looking back out, “But there are children out there…” Jr snorts, “Baby monsters you mean? Well, I mean, I’m sure at least half are werewolves. The rest are changelings, mimics, anything that can transform into a wolf. Even if they’re in full control while changed. Even if the moon doesn’t affect them. If any wolf DNA is in you, you’re classified a monster.” You blink away your tears. You will NOT cry in front of Jr. Though this IS horrible. You wish there was some way you could help them. But you know storming around yelling at people isn’t going to change anything. You have no powers to speak of. You’re probably the closest to human that exists. You don’t even have super speed, one of the most basic powers out there, that almost everyone has.You wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone. You’d just end up in jail, stuck, or dead, and then REALLY not stand a chance… Helplessness wells up in you and you lean over the wall, trying to distract yourself. You look for anything interesting. Livestock, trees, anything that's not the people. You can feel Jr's intense stare burning into you. You refuse to look at him. Suddenly a strong gust of wind sweeps by and you scream as it knocks you off balance. You topple over the wall, limbs flailing. “NO!!!” Your desperate wail is snatched away by the wind…

You sit on his bed and stare around his room. It’s so simple it’s almost sad. The only thing that decorates it is a picture on his dresser. It’s a picture of him and his brother. He has an arm slung over his shoulder and is laughing. His brother is smiling, cheeks red. He looks like he wants to hide, though he also looks happy. You smile. They both look happy. The door opening makes you jump. You look at the door and are surprised to find Jr there, fully dressed… You smirk, “Wow, you actually came dressed!” He smirks back, “I mean, I could go do it again and come back naked. I wouldn’t mind…” You throw a pillow at him, “I will LEAVE.” He grins and comes over, climbing on the bed. You scoot back to give him room. He sits cross legged, “Ok. Ask.” You nod, “How long have you been a werewolf?” “I was born one.” You frown, “But your brother said you were bit…” Jr snorted, “Well he’s a little liar.” You frown, “Oh. Well then, why isn’t HE a werewolf? Ya’ll are related…” Jr shrugs, “The werewolf bloodline isn’t indefinite. Not everyone is born a werewolf just cuz their parents are. Besides, my mom’s not a werewolf, so our blood's not even pure…” You nod, “So your dad’s the werewolf? Was he born one?” Jr shakes his head, “No. He was bit.” You nod, “Do you turn by the full moon?” Once again, he shakes his head, “No. Well yes, but we can learn not to. I don’t. Neither does my father.” You nod again, “Ok. Have you ever bit anyone?” Jr rolls his eyes, “NO. I’m not a monster…” You lift your hands, “Ok, I was just wondering. Has your dad?” “No!” Jr glares. You scoot a little further back. Jr presses his lips together and glares at you. You say, “Have you always had such a bad temper?” You know you’re just feeding the fire, but you can’t stop it from coming out. Much to your surprise, Jr laughs, “Yes. Since I was a baby.” You say, “Why do you always act like such a jerk?” Jr shrugs, “Because I can? Nothing’s gonna happen to me. Besides, the world's fucked with me enough. I think I have a bit of a right…” You glare, “No one has a right. You get what you get. Being mean isn’t going to change that.” He flashes a grin, “Keep telling yourself that baby girl.” You glare, “Don’t call me that.” Jr smirks, “Or what?” “Or I’ll slap you,” you bite out. Jr shrugs, “Whatever. Do you have any more questions?” You glare. And here you were, thinking he was starting to be nice… You should have known better. He’ll always be the same jerk you found on the streets. You say, “Yeah. How do you stand your mom?” Jr laughs again, “Barely. She’s where I get it from, haven’t you noticed?” You snap, “You say that like it’s not a bad thing! You shouldn’t be MEAN to people! Why is it SO HARD to be nice to people?” Jr crosses his arms, “PEOPLE AREN’T NICE. Why am I required to be nice to people who are just going to turn around and call me a monster?!” He bites his cheek, looking away. Ha. Got him. You watch him, “That touched a nerve a little bit.” Jr glares at you, “Are you done?” You nod, “Yeah. I am.” “Then get out.” You get up and walk out. He stays seated, not even watching you leave the room. Your heart is hammering wildly for some reason. You don’t know whether you’re terrified or excited… His parents watch you as you exit the house. As soon as you’re out you run for town. You have the urge to laugh, but you also kind of want to cry. You’re not sure whether to be excited that you finally got SOMETHING real from him, or sad that he has to have such a difficult life…

I just finished my first novel! The feeling is indescribable. Do you have any advice on editing, big or small?

Dear fate-and-chance,

Congratulations on joining THE ENDTIMES CLUB. 

Editing is basically the place the novels become novels — it’s impossible to overstate how the rough draft is only 10% of the process. Here is a pie chart demonstrating the overall gist. It’s messed up because I aggressively and deliberately misunderstand math at all times and also because I traced a ramekin full of discarded date pits on my desk for the outside, but you get the idea.

What I’m trying to say is: be prepared to spend the same amount of time editing as writing. 

GET CRITIQUE PARTNERS

This is the first step to editing. You need outside eyes. You don’t know if you have written the story you intended to tell until readers tell you that you’ve succeeded. A story is not complete until it has an audience. 

You can find some here. 

BIG PICTURE EDITS

It’s important to do your edits in the right order: there’s no point focusing on word choice when you don’t know if you’re going to keep a scene or not. What you’re looking for in big picture edits are

• pacing (is it taking you forever to get to your inciting incident? Are you leaping into breathless action so fast that the reader doesn’t have time to get emotionally invested? Is the general shape correct — do your stakes both emotional and physical slowly ratchet up til the climax?)

• clarity (do we know what the point of the book is? Do we understand who the main character is? Do we understand the stakes of the magic or the mystery or love story, etc?)

• momentum (are your scenes stacked in the correct order, or do you move backwards in stakes or have two scenes that essentially do the same thing?)

• consistency of character (are your characters consistent and inevitable? can we predict their behavior enough to be shocked if they do something out of character for once?)

• correctness of cast (do you have two characters who do the same thing in the plot? do you need to delete or add POVs or characters to your cast?)

• simplicity of execution (does the reader understand where they are in the plot? can they guess they are halfway through when they are halfway through, etc.?)

Title a document “outtakes.doc” and throw stuff that’s not working into it. You can always come back to them if you need them, but it’s often easier to see what you’re doing with the chaff removed.

LINE EDITS

Line edits are when you stop having to move big chunks around and can start fixing things within your newly edited shape. That is when you can start looking at adjusting pacing, tone, and momentum on a line level. Example:

Original sentence: The box rolled out of the truck and hit the ground.

Speed things up: Wham. The box, dropped. Tssss. Glass, exploded.

Slow things down: She snatched at air, and felt the whisper of the box sliding against her fingertips. The sound of the bottles exploding on the pavement echoed down the alley.

Ground us: Everything changed the moment that box hit the asphalt.

Tell us about a character: Ten years before, she’d been watching a box fall from through her mother’s hands in just this way. MORE ANECDOTE HERE 

COPYEDITS

This is the part where you actually fix typos and continuity errors, and it’s the least important part of editing. This is where you can enlist a non-bookish friend to feel useful, because the less invested you are in the book, the easier they are to spot. 

IN CONCLUSION

You could write entire books about revision — someone probably has — but this might be a start.

Happy wording.

urs,

Stiefvater

So I found a site that does a subscription box for your period- it sends you basics like hygiene products, pain medication as well as snacks and pampering stuff to make you feel good, 

but the best thing is they have a specialty boxes, like vegan or kosher only snacks but also 

they specifically offer boxes for menstruating guys and nb folks. 

which is pretty darn cool.

it’s called bonjourjolie and I think it’s 1000% awesome tbh