Novels and Book Series, I Want to do Both!

And here we are my dear readers! The final part of the three-part miniseries. Part one is Everyone's a Poet and part two is When does a Short Story become a Book? you can find both in the blog archive. But before we get to the meat of the conversation we'll soon be in the new year and I hope that you the readers will be sticking around. I hope everyone's holiday has been great as we wrap up the season.

This is something I haven't done before. So I can't really say what I feel I need improvement on. But I can talk about what my fears are when it comes to writing a book. The most visible fear is that I'll write a bad book. Not because of lack of editing, bad spelling, or incorrect grammar but that the story isn't interesting. I've ranted about it before but a good story plus good characters are what makes a book worth picking up. I want the books that I write to be worth picking up and to be reread. I fear my stories will not make those who read them look at the world differently.

Another fear I have is being limited to a small audience of readers. (If you didn't know I'm an African American who is also female.) I don't want my race to limit me to only other black Americans and females. That is not to say I don't want these groups to read my books. I just don't want my race and gender to limit who would find my books interesting. I feel that this is something that I have to think about when it comes to marketing my books. I greatly desire to appeal to as many readers as possible.

The final fear of mine is how I manage what I write. As the title says I want to write novels and different book series. This has more to do with my organization skills and my thought process. My brain comes up with more ideas than I know what to do with and I can't focus on all of them. After all, I'm still trying to get a higher education. But I guess for now I'll just focus on the ideas I like the most. Then again I have little to no control of my imagination so I might be out of luck.

I'm excited to write out the many ideas in my head into stories. I want to create an experience with the books I write. But most of all I want to help connect people with each other and let everyone get a bit closer to understanding each other. That is my strongest desire in what I wish to accomplish with my writing.

That is it for this mini series! We'll be back on for January with more fun conversation. I hope you're ready for the new year, I know I'm curious to what 2016 will bring. Hopefully, it with bring about positive changes but who really knows with this crazy world.

When does a Short Story become a Book?

And we're back for part two of the three-part miniseries The Styles I Write In. For part one check out Everyone's a Poet. The winter holidays I'm sure is keeping a lot of us busy, but for right now sit back and let's have a smooth conversation. The topic of the conversation is short stories! Short stories can be the length of a full page to multiple of pages.

Short stories are usually something that is known for entertaining children. But there are many short stories meant for older youth and adults. Like books, short stories come in many different genres and come in different lengths. But like their name suggests, short stories are a breeze to get through. If you're not big on reading books you should give short stories a try. You also can find different authors who write short stories.

I like short stories because of how easy you can get through them. That is not to say short stories lack depth in plot. Because of the length, the story is only focused on the plot and develops to the conclusion quickly. Short stories are not normally filled with a large cast of characters which means you don't have to remember a list of characters. When it gets down to it, I hate it when the plot doesn't get to the point. It feels like the author is stalling and padding the story to get a higher page count. With a short story, this doesn't happen.

I don't think I'm special when it comes to why I like writing short stories. But seeing this mini-series is about me here's my reason. I will get an idea for a story but when I start writing (with a pencil and paper) the story ends up shorter than what I originally thought it was going to be. It's when I'm typing up the story and adding more details that help it get longer. I haven't written a short story that's longer that 10 pages yet. The shortest short story I've written is at least three-fourths of a page. Which isn't that short since I have read a short story that was only half a page.

I feel, when you write a short story you have to know where it ends. Otherwise, you could possibly write yourself in a corner or drag out a section of the story for too long. Although it is hard to judge which sections of a story to extend and which to shorten. An easy choice for me is when it feels like I'm repeating myself. Because when you reread your work repeats of things that are written gets tiresome for you and possibly the reader.

Short story characters are usually simple. The reason for this is because of the length of the stories. An author can pour page after page on the characters. Whereas in a short story the writer has to pick which characters get developed. Even then the reader has to be able to understand the characters in a matter of sentences.

As for the plot of the short stories they can be about anything. You can count the prompts that I did as short stories themselves. I like to think that I'm pretty good at writing short stories. Like what I did with poetry, I write down whatever pops into my head. It's a habit that I'm getting out of. I now prefer to fully think out what I want to write so I won't have hundreds of ideas fighting for attention. I really enjoy feedback because it gives me another view on how my work affects others. Which is why I try to give small nudges to you my dear readers to leave comments. And yes I know that it is your choice but it can't hurt to ask.

To further explain this, the reason for your comments on my writing is for me to become a better writer. The time and effort I put into my projects are more meaningful when you Google+ a post of mine. Or when you leave a comment about how you enjoy a way I explained something. I read the comments that are left because you took the time to write them when you didn't have to. I feel that an author needs the feedback of the readers. So when I have short stories up on my blog, please give me feedback so I can be a better writer.

I do feel that this is a good place to end our conversation. I hope everyone is having a good December and that you all have been enjoying the mini series. Do come back for the third and final part which is called Novels and Book Series, I Want to do Both! This will be posted before the New Year! At least I hope so.

Everyone's a Poet.

Poetry is one of those hobbies that either make you look like a dork or some pretentious jerk. This sucks because poetry is a nice hobby to have. Even if you don't write poetry, reading it is good because it covers different types of genres so there's a good chance of finding something you'll like. Also if you're not really big on slugging through books, poetry is an easier way to start reading more often. Plus poets usually get the short end of the credited author stick.

Reading poetry personally, feels like understanding the emotions of the author intimately. The author's view on the emotions they feel is right in front of you. An author of a book can disconnect themselves from the feelings of the characters. Poetry is the author’s emotion. I don't feel like I always understand it (mostly because some use words I can't even say) but I get where they are coming from. It seems like the poet is telling you one of their most treasured secrets. I know that's a childish way to think of poetry but I enjoy viewing it that way.

There are many ways to write poetry.  Some people believe that all poetry has to have rhyme and rhythm. This is not correct. While many ways to write poetry do involve different forms of rhyme and rhythm; free verse does not. The best way I can describe free verse is how a person would normally talk. There's no set of rules that need to be followed with free verse poetry. That doesn't make it easier to write. Which is another thing some people say, just because most poetry isn't the length of a book doesn't mean it's easy to write.

And with that sentence we move to the point of this post; why do I write poetry. Before I decided that I wanted to become an author, poetry was a way to get a lot of unfocused thoughts out of my head. At least 50% of the time what I wrote was bad. 30% was decent for my age but nothing special and the last 20% if cleared up is actually good. So I kept writing poetry and I got better. I stayed away from writing when it felt like my mind was too cluttered and actively picking out what I want to write about.

Although I do wish I could write more; I have this annoying habit of only liking to write when I have thought out ideas. I also have a collection of partly use notebooks that I need to pare down since that just clutters use space in my room. It's just annoying having notebooks that have several pages written in them and the rest of the notebook blank. So I would really like to get out of that bad habit. I would also like to be smarter. I feel like knowledge makes a better author and a greater understanding of the world will expand the experience that the people reading my work will have.

 I do have times where I write bad poetry to just get it out. Then I'll be able to write something good again. There's a possible reason why tweens and teens don't like poetry. Which is all the bad unfiltered mess a good chunk of tweens and teenagers write. Most of the poetry was school work. While it's not all that good, it is a healthy way to process different emotions.

When I started writing poetry seriously, I felt like an emotional weight was lifted off my shoulders. It became more than a way to clear my mind of thoughts. I want to be able to connect with others through my emotions that I write on a page. It's a goal that I want to continue to strive for. That's all for this talk, be sure to keep an eye out for When does a Short Story become a Book? which is part two of the mini-series.

The Styles I Write In

It's time for another mini-series! This mini-series is going to be personal, unlike the other mini-series. The other miniseries require that I do some research and come up with an OPINION of my own. They're a creative way for me to get more invested in the work I wish to do. I have not however written a miniseries that centers on the form of writing that I enjoy. Prompts don't count because they're writing exercises and are not of my own creation.

Since this is more focused on my current ability and how I wish to grow, I have to do some soul searching! Don't worry it won't take too long since it's about writing skills not how to solve all of the world's problems. The mini-series is going to be in three parts.

• Everyone's a Poet.
• When does a Short Story become a Book?
• Novels and Book Series, I Want to do Both!

The conversation will be on my feelings about the three, my confidence in writing in these different forms of literature, and what areas I believe I need to improve on. Hopefully, I won't be rambling on and on while talking about these subjects. Well, that's all for this talk and Happy Holidays!

What can happen in a second?

All he was doing was walking down the street. Jacket zipped with headphones in his ears. Too focused on his destination, he didn't see them coming. Before he knew it, he's slammed into the ground. Headphones are dislodged from his ears and all he can hear are yells within his ears. The answers don't come fast enough; at least that's what the tackler feels. In a second without his consent, his life greatly changes. Though his story is nothing new to those who look like him.

Do Holiday Movies Need to Suck?

So as you know it's December, and that means marketing to consumers so they can get into the holiday spirit and buy whatever it is that's popular. But our conversation today isn't about shopping. Which is weird because shopping is one of my hobbies. Our little talk by fire is going to be about holiday movies.

First off, why are there so many of them? I don't know but I think it has something to do with money. Secondly, why are so many of them bad? My guess is because the creators forget to make a good movie. That's kind of a problem when you think about it. The movie may have something to do with the holidays, but it still needs to be able to stand on it's own without the holiday attached to it.

But there are holiday movies that lightens our spirits and gets us ready to fight off the other shoppers because you so totally saw that toy for your niece first and granny isn't going to get it. The number of holiday movies increase during winter season. Which makes you want to stay inside and watch Netflix.

All we can do is watch the movies that really do have the holiday spirit and quietly forget about the ones that leave a bad taste in our month. In other news I shall be putting up another writing prompt for you to read. So be ready for that and we'll talk later.