Interview with Clove

Greetings earthlings,

So as you know (I think), I'm a writer. And one of the closest friends I have is also a writer. Hence, we interchange stories and ideas frequently. Clove (Megan Koh) asked me a few questions recently, so I wanted to ask her some back. Here you go.

          1. When did you start writing?

I began writing for pleasure the winter of 2010, thanks to my seventh grade Grammar class.

2. Who is/are your favorite author(s)

I applaud John Flannagan for his original dialogue comedy, something that I'm personally horrible at. C.S. Lewis has particular charm for understanding human capabilities and flaws, and I love how I can relate to his novels. Whoever writes under the pen-name of Franklin W. Dixon for the new Hardy Boys series does a good job of exhibiting the pride and courage of Frank and Joe; he keeps his naturally-genius characters down to earth, another thing that I'm horrible at.

However, through every novel, thick and thin, Stewart Trenton Lee has remained my all-time favorite author for picking me up in his gripping plots, whisking me along with his character developments, and then gently setting me down, satisfied, with an ending that I (for one of the few times) didn't mind.

3. What are some of your favorite books/series?

Any books written by the above authors are good.

Also, modern-day classics - the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings.

And for the geeks that remain in this world - Confessions by Saint Augustus, The Histories by Herodotus (PG-13), The 12 Caesars by Suetonius (PG-13), Plutarch's Lives by Plutarch, the Odyssey by Homer, and the Aeneid by Virgil.

My all-time favorite book is The Holy Bible by God.

4. What is one thing you think is absolutely essential for a successful work?

What?! Just one thing?

.....hmmm.....if it comes down to JUST one, then I'd have to say character development. A plot can be super cheesy, but as long as the reader can empathize sincerely with the character, you're good as gold.

5. What gives you the most inspiration?

My friends. No questions about it. :)

6. What is your favorite genre of writing?

If it can be made into an action movie, it's my type of book. :)

7. Who is your favorite character in a book you have read?

Ohhhhh...wow.

Let's see. I certainly don't have a favorite; the ones that come to mind are Carlos Missirian from the Black series, Ripred and Gregor from the Underlander series, Halt and Will from the Ranger's Apprentice series, Kate from the Mysterious Benedict Society series, Paul from The Holy Bible, Scott O'Grady from Basher Five-Two, Penny, Jack, Scruggs, and Jean from the Derwood series, and Socrates, atheistic, logical, and a wonderful orator from...well...

8. Who is your favorite character in a book you have written/are writing?

Hah! Finally! An easy question. x) My favorite, favorite, favorite character is Skain Wolfe (hold the applause), 17 years and seventy-five inches of the most demented, dark, masculine, and uncooperative emotion ever; he's a great character but put in the wrong plot, so I plan to have him come back in a better book. Be prepared!

 

9. What kind of endings do you enjoy?

I don't enjoy endings. Period.

I like stories to go on and on and on, but I have to say I have a huge annoyance with super happy endings and an odd, sadist delight with dystopian endings.

10. What advice might you give to other writers?

Top 3 pieces of advice, as compact as I could get them:

1.) An outline destroys plot-holes, and deviation from the outline lets small surprises sneak in that you won't expect, and neither will your reader. Use them both.

2.) Stop when you're writing is going good. I stole this from Roald Dahl (another brilliant children's author). If you stop when you're writing is going good, you'll know exactly what will happen next when you sit down to write again and can muse further when you're not writing. If you stop when you're done saying what you wanted to say, picking back up is...dreadfully difficult.

3.) Live, yes, LIVE as your characters. Read their dialogue out-loud. Is it natural? Choreograph fight scenes. Is it realistic? And above all, feel for their emotions. If you do so, you can push aside the risk of putting too little emotion or too much because you will know the situation yourself and know what they would do. Oh, how many poor stories I have read that exaggerate and destroy good, written emotion because the author did not put himself/herself in his/her character's shoes.

Oh wait...

I forgot one.

4.) The comma is the dog. The quotation mark is a yard. KEEP THE DOG. IN THE YARD. :)

 

So there ya go! Thanks for her cooperation, and I fully recommend her blog at www.thewingsofmywords.blogspot.com . Unfortunately for us readers, she doesn't post full stories :(  or at least hasn't, yet. But read what she does post, because she's a darned awesome writer.

Signing off!

They Say that in the Army

Guys,

Don't join the Army.

 

 

They Say that In the Army

(Army Marching Cadence)

They say that in the Army, the chicken's mighty fine
One jumped off the table and started marking time

Refrain:
Oh, Lord I wanna go
But they won't let me go
(group ends this line with home,
stretched out over 8 paces, and a "Hey" on the right foot
to end the refrain)

They say that in the Army, the pay is mighty fine
They give you a hundred dollars and take back ninety-nine

They say that in the Army, the coffee's mighty fine
It looks like muddy water, and tastes like turpentine

They say that in the Army, the biscuits are mighty fine
One rolled off the table and killed a friend of mine

They say that in the Army, the meat is mighty fine
Last night we had ten puppies, this morning only nine

They say that in the Army, the shoes are mighty fine
You ask for size eleven, they give you size nine

They say that in the Army, the pancakes are mighty fine
You can try to chew them, but you're only wasting time

They say that in the Army, the bed's are mighty fine
But how the hell would I know, I've never slept in mine

They say that in the Army, the mail is so great
Today I got a letter dated 1948

They say that in the Army, the hours are just right
Start early in the morning and work on through the night

They say that in the Army, the buses are mighty fine
One went round the corner, and left three wheels behind

They say that in the Army, the coffee's mighty fine
It's good for cuts and bruises and tastes like iodine

They say that in the Army, the chicken's mighty fine
One jumped off the table and killed a friend of mine

They say that in the army, the toilets are mighty fine
You flush them up at seven, they come back up at nine.

They say that in the army, the tents are waterproof
You wake up in the morning and you're floating on the roof.

Writing Tips

Ladies and Gentlewomen,

How many of you are writers? Are you new to this experience? Let me give you a few tips I've discovered along the way that really help my stories.

(Admittedly, I'm not too terribly experienced, but here's what I found)

Make an Outline
Man do I hate this. Boy do I hate this. I hate it so much. But believe it or not, it is very helpful. Making an outline or summary organizes your thoughts and writing. It clears your path ahead so you know for sure where you're going. Admittedly, outlines are subject to change. In fact, not a single story I've written has not been tweaked and edited as per storyline in some way or another. But it's a good thing to do, nonetheless.

Balance dialogue and exposition/description
Not something I'm good at, but necessary. You don't want too much talking or your reader will end up confused. Then again, too much exposition kills brain cells. It's boring. So make sure to equalize both of these.

Don't use the same word many times
What I mean by this is don't say the same word twice in a sentence or in one close following. It sounds cheesy. For instance, "She shot towards her target, shooting past it" sounds dumb. "She shot towards her target, flashing past it" sounds much better. I have done this myself in some of my stories, and I pretty much facepalm myself a lot during editing.

Edit
This is rather obvious. No one is perfect, so don't expect to just dash off a story and expect it to be popular. There'll be mistakes, I guarantee it. There have been many in my own writings. So go back over them and edit what you can. Give it to your teacher if you must, I'm sure he/she will be thrilled to edit it for you.

There are many others that are important to do, but these are a few I actually learned through sweat, blood, and tears. The rest I learned through school. So if you really want a good writing base, take a grammar or actual writing class. Believe me, it helps a lot.
Adios for now, folks.

Dreams and Inspiration

Greetings earthlings,

A friend of mine posted on her blog once about how dreams influence writing. They inspire. They plant ideas and drive developments. I think that's a great thing to say, and I totally agree.

Recently, yours truly went out of country. During that time, I had a few...interesting...dreams.

The first was about a fugitive from the law who's falsely accused of several murders he didn't commit. The fugitive's name was Reaper.
(Us, precious?)
(Duh you, who else)

So that was interesting. I also had the strangest dream...about my wedding rehearsal. Whaaat? Yup, clear as day. And I ain't telling who the girl was in case it was a preminition. Muhahahaha. But that's a story that has yet to be told.

And a last inspiration came from none other than a TV show, 'When Aliens Attack'. A very stupid show, but hey, I got something out of it. Stories! XD