Category Archives: TCWT Blog Chain

Why I Write

Well, it’s that time again! Time for the TCWT blog chain. This month’s prompt seems pretty simple, but it’s… not. However, it’s definitely a topic I’ve been meaning to talk about, so I’m glad I have the chance to. So, the prompt:

“Why do you write?”

Um…

I’ve sat here for the past hour, trying to come up with a coherent an answer. Or any answer, really–coherent or not. And I’ve come with nothing. Yeah, I wish I were kidding.

I’m trying to find a sensible way to approach this without screaming “I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!” which, to be perfectly honest, is what I’m thinking right about now. You see, my reason for writing is not really clear for me. My parents aren’t authors. I’m not the son of some English teacher. I’ve never had an author I know in real life mentor and inspire me to write. I just, well–I just picked it up one day, I guess.

But since this is a question of “why,” let’s start simple to find an answer:

I have ideas. I have whims. I like to create things.

It’s a simple chain of events, really. I have ideas–both good and bad, though bad is much more prevalent–and I follow them. I have whims, and I follow them. (Hey, a whim started this blog, you know.) I like to both create and try at these ideas and whims, despite the act that they usually fail. I have no idea why, I just do. I’m one of those “Wow, that’s cool. I want to do that!” kind of people. For example, I almost started a book meme last week. Yeah…

I guess this translates to my passion for writing. I love being able to freely pursue my whims, express my ideas, and create anything I can imagine without any repercussions (except insanity, of course…). It’s like governing my own city, running my own country, creating–molding–my own people. It may seem dumb, and it may in fact be dumb, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love it.

Plus, I’ve always loved to read. Then again, I don’t know any writer who doesn’t love to read. So my point? I was inspired by those authors I loved and still do love. I loved the stories, the worlds that they were able to create. And a mixture of awe and envy inspired me to try the same. Writing gives me the chance to express myself, to pour out the many ideas that have overrun my mind. I write because if I don’t, these voices in my head will find a way to kill me.

I’m not even joking.

I hate to make this awkward all of a sudden, but to me, writing a book is like raising a child. I obviously don’t know what it’s like to raise a child, but I’m aware of the pride that parents have of their children and the enjoyment of raising one–although it may not always be so enjoyable, of course (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge*). Nevertheless, in the end raising a child is a life-changing journey. And to me, my novels are my children, on a much less grand scale. I create them from scratch, then raise them, and then put them through draft after draft until they’re ready to see the light of the world, if ever. I can shape them as I please, express and weave my ideas into them, create and control my characters however I want, etc. and know that’s its all my doing. My characters. My plot.

My writing.

Of course, writing a novel is not an easy journey. At times all I want to do is curl up in the corner and die, regretting “wasting my time on such a useless thing.” But in the end, I look at my finished product and think: “yeah, I made that.”

Something about that feeling, whether the novel gets published or not, is… Amazing. Surreal. Beautiful. Like raising a child, just minus some.

I write because I love it. Because I’m addicted. Because I can’t just NOT write.

So, this is my simple solution.

I do write.

(Disclaimer: If we’re to continue this writing a novel is raising a child metaphor, the fact that I’m fine with doing major revisions of a novel, cutting numerous scenes, etc. does not equate to me, if I were a parent, tearing the head off my child. ‘Cause, you know, that would be cruel and all…)

So to all of you writers out there, why do you write?

Want to follow our blog chain? Here are the participating parties, day by day:

May 5–http://towerofplot.blogspot.com–The Leaning Tower of Plot

May 6–http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com–Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

May 7–http://cassidymarierizzo.wordpress.com–Cassidy Marie Rizzo

May 8–http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com–This Page Intentionally Left Blank

May 9–http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com–You Didn’t Really Need To Know This…

May 10–http://inklinedwriters.blogspot.com–Inklined

May 11–http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com–The Word Asylum

May 12–http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com–Lily’s Notes In The Margins

May 13–http://laughablog.wordpress.com–The Zebra Clan

May 14–http://planetaryelastic.blogspot.com–Tangential Bemusings

May 15–http://realityisimaginary.blogspot.com–Reality Is Imaginary

May 16–http://otherrandomthings.wordpress.com–Dragons, Unicorns And Other Random Things

May 17–http://lonelyrecluse.wordpress.com–The Lonely Recluse

May 18–http://delorfinde.wordpress.com–A Farewell To Sanity

May 19–http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com–The Incessant Droning Of A Bored Writer

May 20–http://allegradavis.wordpress.com–All I Need Is A Keyboard

May 21–http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com–Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)

*Also, a quick note: Miriam, who was supposed to post today (May 18th), informed me that she was bogged down and wanted to swap so look for her post tomorrow (May 19th) instead.*

Posted in My Insight, My Stuff, Random, TCWT Blog Chain

9 Comments

Tags: how to tell why you write, is there a reason why I write, raising a child is like writing a novel, tcwt blog challenge, teens can write too, why do I write, why I write, writing and why I do it

Books To Throw Across The Room

Jan 15

Posted by John Hansen

It’s that time again. Time for the monthly Teens Can Write Too! blog chain. This month’s topic is:

What are examples of books you’ve thrown across the room with force? Why did you throw them?

First off, the only book I have ever actually thrown across room was not as bad as it was disappointing. It was a book I loved and couldn’t put down but was thrown because of an extremely annoying ending. I have one particular book in mind for this prompt, which has really irked me even months after reading it.

The Associate by John Grisham – Yes, this is the book I’m talking about and it’s okay to trash it because, well, it is John Grisham. But I really did love this book. From the start, it hooked me and kept me hooked all the way through. It was heart-stopping, exciting thrill-ride that I couldn’t put down. There were so many questions in the air, and I wanted – I needed – answers. I stayed up late one night to finish this book. The pages kept turning and the anticipated conclusion was near, along with the answers to my many questions. And then, suddenly, it ended. Just like that. No questions answered, so many mysteries left over. I’m still in shock. I stayed up so late that night, spent so much time avidly reading it, all for, well, nothing. There is no sequel. There are no pages torn out of my copy. That was the pitiful ending. So yes, I threw this across the room (it was only a paperback). I wanted to throw it out the window the next day, and nearly did. It has really gotten on my nerves and to this day I’m still wondering who Benny (the antagonist) is, who hired him, what happened to Kyle (the protagonist), why he needed to steal the files, etc. It was a huge disappointment and worthy of being thrown across the room.

The Giver by Lois Lowry – I won’t bother talking about this book because a lot of other’s in the blog chain already did, but this one came close to being thrown across the room. No, not because it was exciting and had a bad ending. I really didn’t like it at all, personally.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller – I realize a lot of people like this book/play. I didn’t. I had to read it for school and, simply, it was the most boring thing I have ever read. I didn’t care about the characters at all, the dialogue was really dull and the plot was nothing that really grabbed my attention. The ending, although gripping for some, really didn’t excite me at all beyond the joy of completing the book. I couldn’t throw this one across the room because we read it in school and that would just be inappropriate, but I so would’ve liked to.

Disclaimer: Remember that these are my opinions and mine only. For books like The Crucible, I don’t want to offend you if you enjoyed it, I’m just stating my poor experience with the book.

Participating Parties In Order

Want to follow our blog chain? Here are the participating parties, day by day:

January 5 – http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com/— From My Head

January 6 – http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com — Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

January 7 – http://laughablog.wordpress.com/ — Laugh A Blog

January 8– http://taystapeinc.wordpress.com — Tay’s Tape

January 9 – http://estherstar1996.wordpress.com — Esther Victoria1996

January 10– http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com — The Word Asylum

January 11– http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com — Kirsten Writes!

January 12– http://delorfinde.wordpress.com — A Farewell to Sanity

January 13 – http://greatlakessocialist.wordpress.com — Red Herring Online

January 14– http://herestous.wordpress.com — Here’s To Us

January 15– http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com– The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer

January 16– http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com –Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)

Posted in TCWT Blog Chain

11 Comments

Tags: bad books, blog chain for teens, books thrown across the room, tcwt blog chain, teens can write, teens can write too, throw-worthy books, throwing books

Them Goshdarned Characters

Dec 19

Posted by John Hansen

First, I just want to let anyone oncoming from the Teens Can Write Too! blog chain know that I do not have the 800 something followers that it says I have in my sidebar. I have only 72. I have no idea what is wrong with my sidebar at the moment (maybe it’s counting my twitter followers, too?) but I don’t want any of you thinking that I’m a guru. Well, never mind, your welcome to think I’m a guru if you so desire!I like to think about myself as one but that’s a story for another day…

So the blog chain…

Oh yes, this month’s topic for the Teens Can Write Too! blog chain is:

How do you develop and relate to your characters?

I actually wrote a guest post on this recently but in an attempt not to simply rewrite the post, I’ll say this in much more simple terms with much more spontaneity. Essentially, I break my development of characters into 5 phases: plot, skeleton, meat, makeup, and completion. Plot is as simpe as it seems. Since I tend to think of a killer plot then build off of it to create characters, the plot gives me an idea of what my characters should be like. They have to be believable for one thing and they have to be able to do what the plot requires them to do, but it needs to make sense that they do it. For example, if my character is supposed to kill someone out of anger, would I make him a small, spineless, frightened boy? No. Because who’s ever going to believe that that kid killed someone? No one. I use the plot, like so, to determine the framework of my characters, known to me as the skeleton stage.

Next up, after I get the basic skeleton, it’s time for the “meat” stage. I know, stupid name, but that’s what I call it. This stage is also where I relate to my characters. Pretty much in the meat stage, after I have everything that my characters needs down in the skeleton stage, I add some reasonable traits to the character. Again, I am careful to make sure that these traits make sense with the rest of my character, but the meat stage is designed to give my character more of a personality and believable, living feel to him. In this stage, I give my characters physical and personality traits that I have and that people that our close to me have. This is also how I relate to my character. Since these traits are from real people, they make sense in a character. For example, my dad has this funny quirk where he claims that every TV show he likes to watch is also a show I ‘love’ when I hardly enjoy it. Or not even a TV show, sometimes it’s for the most random things. The fathers in my stories or novels always have that same trait, because it is a nice, quirky and funny addition to any father. Really gives the character more of a personality. On the note of my traits, I am somewhat a perfectionist; I always have to keep revising, rewriting, etc. So are my characters, because I base them off of what I know. It makes characters much more relatable, believable and interesting when they are based off of real people.

Finally, we have the makeup stage. This stage is where I give my characters more traits but not from anyone I know. In this stage, I give my character quirky hobbies, interests, funny personality traits, interesting political opinions, etc. These are never from anyone I know, just cool characteristics that I know of which would add a little more zest to my character and solidify his personality.

And then there’s the last stage: completion! It’s time to write!

Want to follow the blog chain? Here are the participating parties, in order:

December 5– http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com — Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

December 6– http://taystapeinc.wordpress.com — Tay’s Tape

December 7– http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com — This Page Intentionally Left Blank

December 8– http://alohathemuse.wordpress.com — Embracing Insanity

December 9– http://noveljourneys.wordpress.com — Novel Journeys

December 10– http://sporkattack.blogspot.com — Crazy Socks and Ninja Bunnies

December 11– http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com — Kirsten Writes!

December 12– http://herebefaries.wordpress.com — The Land of Man-Eating Pixies

December 13– http://delorfinde.wordpress.com — A Farewell to Sanity

December 14– http://estherstar1996.wordpress.com — Esther Victoria1996