About My Camp Novel + How to Get a Decent Idea for Your Camp Novel

Shannon and Sierra are two completely different girls from two completely different worlds. They are not related in any

Oh, hi!

way, nor do they know each other in the slightest. This they know. So, why is it that they look exactly the same? Why is it that, on the day of their fifteenth birthday, they suddenly develop a connection stronger than anything both worlds combined have ever seen? And, most importantly, why do the two innocent girls wake up in the lives of the other, trapped within the troubles that they shouldn’t know about at all?

It’s not the best summary in the world,but I’m pretty happy about my idea. Two girls, both living in different worlds, neither of which know anything about each other, one day wake up in the bed of the other girl, and are forced to live within the other girl’s life, meanwhile trying to get out and communicating with each other via a mystical necklace that they cannot get off.

I’m going for a 25k wordcount goal, but am hoping to get at least 30k overall. I’m not going to stress over my wordcount goal, I really just want to have fun writing this and, hopefully, self-publish my second book.

Now, let’s talk about you. Do you have an idea yet?

If you do, awesome! I’d love to hear it. If not, D-O  N-O-T  P-A-N-I-C. You’ve got this. You still have time to think of the best idea ever… Just breathe and keep on reading.

How to come up with a great plot with a not-so-great amount of time:

1. Questions! Ask yourself simple questions about your story, such as “How many main characters?” “Male or female?” “Real world or imaginary one?” Slowly and surely, you will at least get a sort of idea of what you’re doing.
2. Reading! I’m not saying to rip off J.K. Rowling and copy her whole Harry Potter series, but maybe flicking through one of her books could inspire you! For example, maybe reading about the wizarding school Hogwarts inspires you to write a novel about a girl who goes to a special boarding school to learn how to be a superhero.
3. More Questions! By now, you hopefully have some idea what sort of characters to have. Now, get to know them! Find a character development form online and fill it out for each of your characters. It doesn’t hurt to find out more about even the least important characters, because in the end, it’ll all help to make them more likable (or dislikable)
4. Talking! If you still don’t have any lightbulbs, get some new people in the mix. Maybe they can help you to brainstorm. You can talk to your mom, call up a friend or even go somewhere like an online forum for help.
5. Just Write! If your head is still blank, just start writing whatever comes to mind. It might be jibberish at first, but maybe it’ll inspire you!

So, to all those doing NaNo, I wish you luck on your writing journey, and for those who aren’t, I wish you luck on any writing projects you take on in the future. And remember to keep me in the loop! I want to know what’s going on in your book, once it starts. 🙂

I should be freaking out. Why am I not freaking out?

As I’m hoping most of you know, Camp NaNo is coming up!

Camp NaNoWriMo is basically the spring/summer version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a project that challenges writers of all ages, levels, and genres to write a novel in a month. It’s a really great way to practice your writing skills, plus an amazing excuse to get away from people who annoy/bore you.

Normally, I always go insane in the months before Camp, and I plan my novel nonstop and I do so, so much exciting stuff, and I’m basically sooooo happy and excited.

But not this year. WHY?

Maybe because I have no inspiration for my novel.  Maybe because I haven’t been in the writer’s zone for about five months. Maybe because I’ve been dying of boredom lately. Whatever it is, I’m just not super interested. I’m sure I will be once I start writing…

… But I don’t know what I’m going to write! I was thinking of maybe going a little Enchanted and writing a story about a magical world girl somehow ending up in the real world and having to find her way back… But I’m really not sure where I’m going to go with that without making it a complete replica of that movie and about a million other things.

Maybe two girls, who are secretly twins, but live in different worlds, could magically swap worlds and then have to find a way to go back? That might be cool. The girls could basically be evil twins, one good, one bad, both completely opposite except they look exactly the same. That would sort of be like Freaky Friday in the sense that they have to live in each other’s lives. But why would they swap in the first place?

Or… Maybe… Some guy… Is getting secret notes… From someone claiming to be his dead best friend… No, wait, that’s a total rip-off of PLL.

So, as you can tell, I have no ideas at the moment. Maybe you guys can help me? I made this little document thing, which is basically a list that will be chock-full of story ideas… Once people add on to it. I’ve made it so anyone with the link can edit, so please chime in with your ideas on the doc, or in the comments below.

Love you guys!

Character Generator!

I was feeling bored, so I decided to make a couple of writing prompt type things for you guys. Using the generatorbelow, you’ll get the base for a totally unique character. Just match up your birthday to the months, days, and day of the weeks below, and you’ll get your own character/setting/plot just for you! For example, my birthday is October 21st and I was born on a Sunday, so my character would be a secretive blonde who loves to party. I hope you guys like this and find it useful, I’m definitely going to try to use my character (and maybe a few other random combinations of my friends’ birthdays) for Camp NaNo, which is next month!

Chloe’s Character Generator

Month (Personality)

January:Your character is optimistic.

February:Your character is clingy.

March:Your character is depressed.

April:Your character is angry.

May:Your character tries to be funny, but fails.

June:Your character is superficial.

July:Your character is over-obsessive.

August:Your character is bubbly.

September:Your character is shy.

October:Your character is secretive.

November:Your character is jealous.

December:Your character is generous.

Date (Interests)

1:Your character loves to eat.

2:Your character loves to play soccer.

3:Your character loves to doodle.

4:Your character loves to bake.

5:Your character loves to dance.

6:Your character loves to shop.

7:Your character loves to be home alone.

8:Your character loves to surf the internet.

9:Your character loves to daydream.

10:Your character loves to socialize.

11:Your character loves to play instruments.

12:Your character loves to pig out on junk food.

13:Your character loves to inspire others.

14:Your character loves to write.

15:Your character loves to inspire others.

16:Your character loves to pull pranks.

17:Your character loves to color.

18:Your character loves to play board games.

19:Your character loves to solve mysteries.

20:Your character loves to cook.

21:Your character loves to party.

22:Your character loves writing in their notebook, diary, journal, or blog.

23:Your character loves to sculpt.

24:Your character loves to invent.

25:Your character loves discovering how things are made.

26:Your character loves organizing things.

27:Your character loves reading comic books.

28:Your character loves spending time with their pet.

29:Your character loves yoga.

30:Your character loves aerobics

31:Your character loves playing hockey

Day (Appearance)

Sunday:Your character has blonde hair.

Monday:Your character has freckles.

Tuesday:Your character is tanned.

Wednesday:Your character has dyed their hair

Thursday:Your character is skinny

Friday:Your character has green eyes

Saturday:Your character is very tall

Don’t Know:Your character has braces

How to Create a Successful Blog! {Part 1}

Since I’ve been blogging for six years, I figure I might as well let you in on my secrets for creating a successful blog. Please note that I am NOT an expert in this and these tips are only suggestions! I’ve made little lists and sorted them into categories. Posts, Designs, Sharing, and Other. I’m going to be posting these lists in four little parts, like a series. Today, I’m talking about how to make great blog posts. Hope you enjoy!

Posts:

1. Start simple. You may want to post a bazillion posts on your first day, but this might cause a reader to find your blog overwhelming. Begin your blogging experience with one or two deep, welcoming posts that will help the reader think Wow, this is a great blog! (If you really want to write those posts, try saving them as drafts so that you can post them ASAP the next time you need something new on your blog)
2. Time tracking. Once you’ve gotten used to having your blog, I advise posting on a regular basis. If you only post once every five months, people will be less likely to check your blog as often (even if they love your blog) since they pretty much know there won’t be any new posts. If you make a post every Sunday, though, people will want to check your blog more to see those posts! I try to post at least once every two weeks, but am hoping to start posting more frequently.
3. A little or a lot? Post size is definitely something you’ll want to look into if you haven’t already. What makes a good size for a blog post? I like having variety in the lengths of my posts and pages, but I generally keep them within 500-1500 words long and normally containing a photo or two. You should decide for yourself if you like a little or a lot of words, but keep this in mind: If it’s too short, you might not have time to put in all your wonderful thoughts. If it’s too long, other people might not read the whole thing and just scan over it. You have to find the right ballance!
4. Picture perfect. I almost always post a picture or two with my blog posts. I think that it just makes my blog more attractive and fun, and can also hint followers on what they’re about to read. WordPress used to have a whole bunch of images at the side of the page that they reccomended for you based on your post, but I don’t think they do that even more, so I just look around on the web for something cute to use. Important Note-Make sure you have permission to use an image before you take it! Otherwise, using the picture could be considered piracy, which can get you in jail. And they probably won’t let you blog in jail, so…
5. Theme scheme. What types of posts do you want on your blog? Here on Rainbow of Words, I do pretty much anything and everything that tickles my fancy, but you might want to zoom in a little more and have posts JUST about animals or JUST about writing. That’s up to you. But whatever theme it is you choose for your posts, when you’re writing a post, try to stick to the main idea of that post. If you wander too much, so might the attention span of your loyal readers! If you do get an even better idea for a post while you’re posting something completely different, just jot your idea down as a draft post. That’s what I do when I get a blog idea, I’ll just begin working on it and put it on my drafts and then someday pull it out and work on it. I actually started this post in September but never finished it!
6. Style swap. Writing style is also something you might want to consider. Do you want your posts to be funny, serious, or written only in text lingo? its all up 2 u but just rmembr that any grammr freaks who read ur blog mite leave u a bunch of comments corecting all ur errors if u talk like this, lol. Mix it up, have some fun, experiment to discover your style!
7. Variety. Don’t be afraid to mix it up a little with your posts! A blog offers so many options, like TAG posts (a list of questions bloggers answer, sort of like a challenge sent from blogger to blogger), vlogs (video blogs), picture posts (a post made of just pictures and captions), quotes, the list goes on and on! Try out something new instead of staying in the same old format.

Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon!

Hello, My Name Is…53 Fun Activities to Get to Know your Character!

Isn’t it annoying when you have one of those characters who absolutely refuses to have any personality, and yet needs to be in the story? Don’t trash the charrie, and definitely don’t stop writing! Here are some random ideas on simple and fun things you can do to dig a little deeper into your character’s soul.

1. Create a diary, blog, or social networking account for your character. Update it often with posts or entries related to what’s going on in your story at the moment-and how they feel about it. If you’re on a social network, make sure you fill in all of the about me questions in your profile!
2. “Be” your character for a day. Dress up in their style, change your talking and walking to suit what they’d do, and don’t forget to forget about yourself, since your character has no idea who you are!
3. Recreate your character’s room in a cardboard box! You can use little toy furniture, paint, cardboard, fabric, whatever. Don’t forget to fill it with things they love!
4. Give your character a pretend cell phone. Using a piece of paper and a pen, create their own phone case, show what apps they have, jot down their voicemail messages and contacts, note some text and call transcripts, whatever!
5. Make a list of everything that comes to mind when you think of your character. Cut up the list and use the words/sentences in a collage based on your charrie, complete with pictures and artwork!
6. Use a building toy such as LEGO to create your character’s dream world.
7. Invent a funky dance based on your character.
8. Let your friends read a scene that your character is in. Then, interview them, asking a bunch of questions about that character, such as how they think the character spends their weekends or what they think that character likes to doodle. Afterwards, consider your friend’s opinions on your character. Are any of them valid? Are those opinions the type of thing you want your readers to think when they read that scene?
9. Eat nothing but foods your character likes for a day.
10. Make a scrapbook for your character. Add pictures, quotes, poems, words, fabric scraps, paint samples, and/or more unique objects related to your character.
11. Write a story about your character’s childhood.
12. Write a story about your character becoming a parent.
13. Take a Magic 8 ball and ask it yes/no questions about your character. Those things don’t actually work to tell the future, but it could inspire you!
14. Stick your character into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the opposite as it is in their normal world. How does he/she react?
15. Ask your character a simple question, then keep asking “Why?” (example: What’s your favorite color? Blue. Why? It’s calming. Why?)
16. Let your character write a chapter of your book for you. What type of writer are they? Do they make things go their way, or do they sacrifice what they want for what needs to happen?
17. Write about your character going to your favorite store. What do they buy, if they buy anything?
18. Design a menu for a resturant your character would die to visit.
19. Make a Pinterest board (or account) for your character and pin anything you think that they’d like onto it.
20. Create a playlist especially for your character. Play it whenever you need to get some character work done.
21. Try out some of your character’s favorite hobbies. Maybe you’ll like one of them and will be able to add more passion into your writing!
22. Create a fashion line for your character with clothes from your closet, the internet, your favorite clothing shop, or a pen and some paper.
23. Go on a blog such as andthatswhoiam or justgirythings and find things that relate to your character.
24. Create an email address for your character. Invite your friends to send your character emails and reply in the way your charrie would. No breaking character!
25. Write a song about one of your character’s guilty pleasures.
26. Look up personality quizzes in magazines or online and make your character take them.
27. Give your character a catchphrase to suit their personality.
28. Compare your character to your favorite book character. How are they similar? How are they different?
29. Compare your character to YOU. How are the two of you similar or different?
30. Make a time capsule for your character. Fill it with small items that they love, as well as a letter to their future self. Hide it somewhere. Let your character find it again in a few weeks, months, or years.
31. Let your character give you a makeover.
32. Give your character a makeover.
33. Treat your character to their dream vacation… But make everything go completely wrong. How do they react?
34. Create a meme inspired by your character.
35. Take the plot of another book (for example, Harry Potter) and replace the main character with your character. How does the story change based on your character’s choices? How does your character change from that plot experience?
36. Make a ‘real portrait’ of your character, which is basically a portrait but not necessarily a picture of their face. Use art to represent who they really are. Use colors, words, sketches, clay, paint, gel pens, or whatever you want to express who you think your character really is in one simple piece of art.
37. Create an art gallery all about your character, making lots of ‘real portraits’ (see 36)
38. Draw a detailed picture of your character’s feet. Are they wearing shoes or are they barefoot? Do they smell good or bad? Do they have socks on? If so, what do they look like? Are their toenails short or long, painted or nude? Any jewelry such as toe rings, anklets, etc?
39. Do the same thing with their hands.
40. Make your characters take part in a secret santa gift exchange. Write three paragraphs for each of them, one about them drawing the name out of the hat and their reaction, one about them choosing out the right gift, and one about the actual exchange and getting their own gift. You can do this with as many characters as you want from as many books as you want. You can even throw yourself and your peers into the mix!
41. Give your character a notebook. It is their job to fill it with all the top ten lists they can think of. Top ten bands, top ten ways to get rid of a foe… Whatever.
42. Give your character your homework and see how they cope and what they do (but don’t make any promises to hand it in, the teachers might not approve of you forcing others to do your work)
43. Find a font that you think suits your character’s personality.
44. Do you like to sew or knit? Make some sort of clothing or accessory that your character would wear.
45. Write a paragraph on your character’s favorite sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and things to touch.
46. Get some essential oils and mix them together to create the perfect scent for your character.
47. Make a list of ten things your character would not willingly survive without.
48. Have an email/phone/instant message/note-passing/face to face chat with your friend- but let your character take over your keyboard and one of your friends’ take over hers. The characters can interact and develop together while you have a fun time with your friend!
49. Write 500 words on your character’s favorite types of juice from when they were born to right now.
50. Write about your character being stranded on a desert island.How do they survive?
51. Fill in a character development sheet (you can find oodles online and in writing help books)
52. Let your character write their own list of ways to develop a character!
53. (Special thanks to Gibble96 for suggesting this!) Envision your character on a completely ordinary day. What is their morning routine? Do they go to school or work, or are they a stay-at-home person? How do they use their free time?

Okay, so I know they’re not the best ideas, but they’re something!

One Page Per Day

I am ashamed to say that, besides what I do in NaNoWriMo, I hardly ever get any writing done.

I mean, sure, I am known to pump out a short story or a poem once and awhile, but that hardly ever happens anymore. I often find myself sulking and procrastinating while I try to think up something to write, and when I do start to write, I only get a couple sentences down. It’s a shame really, because last year, I started so many writing projects, but I don’t think that I finished eleven twelfths of them.

Not this year. This year, I am going to take part in a year-long challenge of my own creation, entitled “Page-A-Day” Basically, I’m challenging myself to write at least one full page (around 500 or 600 words) per day. It doesn’t have to be part of the same project. You could work on a novel one day, write a poem the next, and start a short story the next! Really, the only rules are that blog posts and such don’t count, it should be a fiction piece (well, it doesn’t  have to be, but that’s what I’m doing. Still, no blog posts) and you are not allowed to delete your work after you hit the one page mark, for all your days to count, you have to save each and every page until the end of the year. You can do the writing in whatever format you like, on the computer, in a notebook, on a typewriter, if you have one (if you do, LUCKY.)

In preparation, I have began writing random outlines for novels, stories, and other works of writing art. One of the ones I’m really excited about is The Unusuals (better title to come later), which was inspired by an image I found on one of my favorite things ever, Pinterest! I hope to have lots of new ideas by January first, which is when my project will officially start!

I think that this will be a great way to get me writing in 2014! If any of you are interested in doing Page-A-Day, please comment below and tell me, perhaps we’ll be able to help each other out!

Thanks so much for reading my blog! You are amazing!

Writer’s Wednesday Returns

Hello, everyone! For today’s WW, I’m going to give you a little booklist with some awesome writing-related books. I don’t really know that many, but I’ll post the ones that I know.

 

Books (Photo credit: henry…)

 

Write This Book:A Do-It-Yourself Mystery (by Pseudonymous Bosch): From the bestselling author of The Secret Series, a fun D.I.Y mystery story book where YOU write the story (‘cuz the author’s too lazy.) You can read advice, get procrastination ideas, and even meet an epical sarcastic rabbit! I like this one because it’s by the author of a series I quite like, which is awesome, because I can steal his advice, and also, the whole book has an atmosphere of fun to it, which I like. Also, the get-to-know-your-characters form is really awesome.

 

Rip The Page! Adventures in Creative Writing (by Karen Burke): Writing prompts! Author interviews! Fun words! You name it, this book has it. Some of my best work (at least in my opinion) has been inspired by the prompts in this book and its sequel, Leap Write In! (see below). This book is done in a really fun style, opening and inviting, and the written examples of the prompts are really fun to read.

 

Leap Write In! Adventures in Creative Writing (by Karen Burke): Made with tweens and teens in mind, Karen just recently made another awesome writing book. It’s just like the last one, but a bit more serious, with some deeper ideas. It’s still just as fun as the last one, though! The poem I posted a little while ago, Outside the Notebook, that was based on a prompt from in here. It’s a really awesome book.

 

Spilling Ink:A Young Writer’s Handbook (by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter):This book guides you through more than just the inspiration-getting and the first-drafting stages, it will lead you through every single part of the writing process, from brainstorming to finding the right publisher for you! One of the things I like about this book is the stories that the authors tell about their writing experiance, as well as the drawings that illustrate the book. This book has loads of information for every part on a novelling adventure, so if you need extra help on, say, character development, you get more than just a page telling you “characters should be unique, yabadababa.” This is a really good writing handbook for all ages!

 

So, You Want to be a Writer? How to Write, Get Published, and Maybe Even Make it Big! (by Vicki Hambleton and Cathleen Greenwood) This is a “hip how-to book” that gives you lots of advice on the whole novel-writing enchelada, like Spilling Ink. This book, however, focuses more on the publishing part of the writing. It does still have lots of good ideas and strategies for making your first draft a good draft, and an AMAZING writer’s resources section at the end, with publishing companies that accept young writer’s work, lots of writing books and magazines, and some good URL’s to check out.

 

So, yup, these are my favorite writing books. What are yours? Comment, comment, comment!

 

Writer’s Wednesday #1

So, I’ve decided that, from now on, I’m going to have a writing-related post every Wednesday. I mean, this is Rainbow of Words, and I would like to get some writing posts here! So, if you’re a writer, welcome to Writer’s Wednesday! Now, read this quickly, and go write.

So, this is just a quickie post, because Whisk Me Away needs 500 more words today,and it’s not going to write itself, you know! But, something that’s really been helping me is NaNoRolls. Basically, they’re little challenges that you get to do to improve your word count, but it’s different for each person. For example, if it said, “If you have blue eyes, write 5 words,” and you have blue eyes, then you write 5 words.

You can find a lot of really good ones on a NaNoer names Miriam’s blog, but here are some that I’ve made myself.

If you are under eight years old, go write 75 words.

If you are 8-12 years old, go write 120 words.

If you are 13-16, go write 200 words

If you are 16-19, write 250 words.

If you are over nineteen years old, go write 300 words.

If you have never been on my blog before, go write 169 words.

If you’ve been on my blog a couple of times, go write 96 words.

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, take your age, multiply it by 11, and write that many words.

If you’ve got glasses and/or braces, write 150 words.

If you don’t have glasses or braces, write 250 words.

If this is your first time doing NaNo, go write 60 words.

If you’ve done it 1-2 times, go write 90 words.

If you’ve done it more than 3 times, go write 40 words.

Do you have what it takes for the Writing Apocalypse challenge?

If you’re loosing your mind with worry that you’re behind on your novel, sit down for a nice long writing session. And I mean SERIOUSLY long, as in 2 or 3 hours minimum. This is a writing challenge the can be done solo or in a group, and is guaranteed to boost you up thousands of words! Don’t worry if you can’t finish all of this challenge all at once, I’ve only managed to get it up to part two, I’m going to get into part three tomorrow, as I’m super tired right now, and then chip away at it throughout the rest of NaNo. Good luck!

 

1.The apocalypse is coming! It’s inevitable and the only thing you can do is try to be prepared… time to start prepping! Race to 100 words to try to gather as many supplies as you can!

2.You find shelter. It’s a decent, well secured area and you have a good amount of supplies. You choose to stay put for a while. Word war for 30 minutes.

3.You’re under attack! Someone found out about your supply stash! Not everyone was as prepared as you and now they want to take your supplies! Fight them off! The battle is fairly quick, so word war for five minutes. If you get over 150 words, you win. Under 150 and you lose!

4.If you won the battle: Great job, you were born for this! You’re practically an apocalypse natural… are you sure you didn’t plan this!? Never-the-less, it’s probably time to move on now that the raiders know where your camp is. Go on an hour long word war in search for a new camp, far, far away from the raiders.

4.If you lost the battle: Write an extra 50 words to try to regain some health and supplies. Those raiders hit you pretty hard. Once you’re done, get out of there before the raiders come back to finish you off! You don’t have transportation means, so it’s gonna take a while to get away. Walk for an hour during an hour long WW.

5.The area you find looks all right for the night, but you definitely don’t wanna stick around too long… the field is pretty open, after all… word war for ten minutes and then get outta there!

6.Time to find a new permanent camp! Make sure it’s a good one though, so word war for twenty minutes.

7.Congratulations on the new camp site! Celebrate with a word race to 500 words!

8.Time to fortify your camp! Race to 1,000 words this time to compete for the best supplies!

9.Let’s have a music word war! Music always raises morale, even during apocalyptic times… just don’t play it too loud, wouldn’t wanna attract any hostiles! Word war for the length of a chosen song!

10.Oh, no! The enemies heard your music anyways! Fight them off in a 15 minute word war!

11.Wait it out! Word race to 750 words while you wait for things to clear up!

Congratulations! You survived the apocalypse!

#ICan’tStopProcrastinating!

 (Photo credit: Emilie Ogez)

Are you having trouble with procrastinating? NaNoWriMo YWP to the rescue!

“Shut the internet off. Unplug your router. Disable the internet. How you be tempted to mess around on the internet when the internet isn’t there?” -icyowl97

“Set up a system. Write up to a certain number of words, then go on NaNo for 15/20 minutes..” -MorningTime4

“Get on the Word Wars and Writing Prompts thread [on the NaNo YWP site] and start a WW!” -Holly Alexandra

“Use the fullscreen option on Scrivener, or whatever other program you’re using.” -legostarwarsii

“I think that setting a goal of words to write and if you reach it, you get some free time.” -Miss Charlly

“Close all your tabs… right now… and open your writing. Look at the story and start writing a couple sentences, and you will probably get hooked on it. If that doesn’t work, get a package of small candies like gummy bears or Junior Mints or something and give yourself one for every page/every 100 words/every whatever your milestone is going to be. Or try writing for 20 minutes or ten minutes or whatever, and then taking a break that is half that long.” -TheNextBestsellerGirl

“Another fun way to stay motivated is to use a program like Written? Kitten! or Write Or Die, both of which are available for free online. With Written? Kitten! You get rewarded every certain amount of words with a cute picture, and with Write Or Die, you get a ‘punishment’ (such as an unpleasant noise playing or your writing undoing itself, depending on what mode you choose) if you don’t write quickly enough. Word Wars really help, too, especially if you are competitive and like trying to win things.” -animalgirlsmagazine