How to Prevent Writers Block and How I Cope with Lack of Motivation

Writers block doesn't bother me anymore. I've mentioned that on this blog several times. I've figured out some preventative measures that have really helped me get past it. The two things that do get me are:

• I'm Tired 
• Mental Health

I struggle with depression and anxiety and I'm human so I get tired. These I feel like are due more to lack of motivation than "writers block," but I have come up with some systems to help with them too, so I'll break this post into two parts. 

A Book Review of Scarlet Moon by S.D. Grimm

Buy from Amazon!

Destiny can pick someone else.

Evil is slipping through the cracks of its prison, and all Soleden trembles in its wake. Yet some would harness that evil to their own ends, and first among them is Idla, the sorceress queen bent on distorting the world.

Only one can stand in her way: Jayden. Upon realizing her mark as the prophesied Deliverer, Jayden conceals herself from her enemies and her Feravolk countrymen. But after the harm the Feravolk caused to her family, she s loath to rescue the not-so-innocent.

Hiding her mark was never easy, but now that Jayden knows both Queen Idla and the Feravolk are after her, hiding her gift of the Blood Moon will be impossible.

So Your Character Has a Broken Bone ... Featuring Hannah England, Morgan Richert, and Christian Johnson

In this special edition of So Your Character Is ... I've asked various people tell their stories about when they broke a bone. I've never broken a bone myself and many a time we want our character to break a bone, but we have some questions that firsthand experience answers best. There aren't any graphic images, but I have included x-rays for reference.

Please welcome Hannah, Morgan, and Christian!

The Significance of Names in Stories

"We don't give them names. It's too empowering." 

~Dr. Shunzo Mamiya (Terror on Resonance)

There are many posts out there on the internet about how to name your characters, but this isn't going to be one of those. As Mamiya said in that quote, names are empowering. Names make us stand out among the crowd. Names are part of our identity. They're how we identify ourselves and how other people identify us. Names are personal, and often parents take the time to look up name meanings before giving them to their children. My name, pretty obviously, means "Victorious." That's a pretty strong meaning. Suzanne Collins gave Katniss her name because the katniss flower is also known as arrowroot. 

A Book Review of Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

Buy from Amazon!

She's a soldier -- Noemi Vidal is willing to risk anything to protect her planet, Genesis, including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she's a rebel.

He's a machine -- Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel's advanced programming has begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he's an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they're not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they're forced to question everything they'd been taught was true.

So Your Character is From Taiwan ... Featuring Astrid Kaniele

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from Japan ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I actually had a friend who taught English in Taiwan for over a year, so that immediately made me curious about the country. She brought me back a Lucky Cat key chain and I know the country was once part of China. I'm so happy I found Astrid so she could tell me more about this place!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.


(None of the Images are Mine)

Writing Lessons from Movies: Once Upon a Forest

To compete against Disney, 20th Century Fox had an animation studio in the 90's that released films such as Fern Gully, The Pagemaster, Anastasia, and Once Upon a Forest. These films didn't gross too well in the boxoffice, so unfortunately the animation studio shut down, but that doesn't mean these films aren't remembered. These were a big part of my personal childhood, especially Once Upon a Forest. Recently, I rewatched Once Upon a Forest, just cause, and I realized it's actually a pretty well-written middle-grade audience movie. 

Once Upon a Forest is about three "furlings," a mouse named Abigail, a mole named Edgar, and a hedgehog named Russell. Because of a toxic gas spill, their forest is polluted, killing many of the woodland creatures and endangering the life of their badger friend, Michelle, who was also exposed to the chemicals. Since most of the forest is dead, the furlings have to travel to another forest far away to find the herbs they need to save their friends life.

Pretty intense for a kid's movie huh? Without further ado, let's get to the highlights. I believe this film has a lot of great things to point out, especially for writing middle-grade stories.

Warning: Spoilers.

Beautiful People #26 ~ Author Writing Process Edition

It's time for this month's Beautiful People! Yay! This is a link-up hosted by Paperfury and Further Up and Further In where you answer questions about your characters. I participated in Beautiful People for the last three years every month. Pretty crazy. XD This link-up has been just so helpful with character development. 

This month's edition isn't about characters, but about me. O_O So you guys get a little insight into my writing process! If you'd like to participate in this link-up yourself, check out either Paperfury or Further Up and Further In to see how. Here we go!

1.) How do you decide which project to work on?
Sometimes I work on a project because it looks like the market is tilting that way and some editors or agents are interested. Other times I do it because I really want to work on that project and finish it.

2.) How long does it usually take you to finish a project?
From beginning to end? Usually about a year. 

3.) Do you have any routines to put you in the writing mood?
Music usually puts me in a writing mood, but I don't usually have the luxury to get into a "writing mood" because if I only wrote in a writing mood I'd never get anything done. 

4.) What time of day do you write best?
Night owl here. I write best from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.

5.) Are there any authors you think you have a similar style to?
I share similarities to Ryan Graudin, Marissa Meyer, Jill Williamson, and Bryan Davis.

6.) Why did you start writing, and why do you keep writing?
I've just always enjoyed creating stories ever since I was a little kid and I just feel like it's what I'm meant to do. I don't see myself doing anything else.

7.) What’s the hardest thing you’ve written?
I haven't finished it yet but the sequel to my steampunk fantasy Red Hood called Silver Hood. In the middle of writing it last year, I went through a really tough phase of my life between my grandfather passing away and getting into a car accident. I barely finished the first draft. I powered through but I really wanted to quit several times. 

8.) Is there a project you want to tackle someday but you don’t feel ready yet?
Yes. There's this one book I have in mind called Silhouette which is a first person adult fiction space opera steampunk romance. I've never been in love, so I just don't feel ready to write a book centered around a love story.

9.) What writing goals did you make for 2017 and how are they going?
I wrote out my goals at the beginning of the year and I'm staying mostly on track:

January:
Edit Red Hood for Language
Read over Starbloods

February:
Edit Red Hood for Language
Read over Starbloods

March:
Start Starbloods Rewrite

April:
Rewrite Starbloods

May:
Read Over Red Hood (Couldn't do)
Rewrite Starbloods

June:
Edit Starbloods

July:
Edit Starbloods

August:
Edit Starbloods

September:
Edit Starbloods
Plan for NaNo

October:
Plan for NaNo

November:
NaNo

December:

Finish up NaNo

10.) Describe your writing process in 3 words or a gif!

When I have bad days I look at this gif and feel better. XD This is what I think to myself while writing.

Does your writing process have any similarities to my writing process? Did you participate in the Beautiful People? Are you planning to? If so let me see your posts in the comments! Thanks for reading!

You May Also Like:

The Q & A Tag!

Q & A with Me!

How I Write a Blog Post

Beautiful People #14: Writerly Resolutions and Goals

Beautiful Books: 2017 Writing Goals

So Your Character is From Japan ... Featuring Mami Suzuki + Noriko @ Diary of a Bookfiend

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from South Korea ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I've been into Japan since I started watching anime as a teenager. Getting used to Eastern culture, took me a while, but now I love so many things Japanese, including the food, cultural traditions, J-pop, and I've even picked up some of the language from watching 200+ episodes of subbed anime. One of the countries that I really wanted to find this year was Japan, so I'm so happy to have found Mami and Noriko!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.


(None of the Images are Mine)

Wanderer's Pen Fifth Bloggoversary!

I can't believe I've been blogging for five years! It's pretty crazy. Blogging has really grown me as a writer and a person and I'm so happy I start even though this blog had humble beginnings.

Villain Necrologies and Debacles: DreamWorks Animation Edition

Villains meet their demises in so many different ways. For some this means death, for other this means an unfortunate incapacitating situation. Writers put a lot of thought into how their antagonist finally fails, but which way is best for your villain? That all depends on so many different circumstances, including audience and genre. This is what inspired my series "Villain Necrologies & Debacles." Over time, I'll be analyzing different animation studios, franchises, and more. These posts are meant to show you what sort of defeats have been done whether common or uncommon, perhaps inspire some villain defeats of your own, or you can just enjoy the morbid humor. Check out last month's Disney Live Action Edition!

DreamWorks Animation has been really hit or miss at least in my opinion. I won't like their films for years then all of a sudden they'll release a film I really love, and as you'll see I like most of their old films, cause I'm a 90s kid. ^ ^ Therefore I'm only listing the films that I believe are worth noting because the villains are decent. There's a good few of this company's films I think should just fade into obscurity and we'll just leave them there.

Warning: Spoilers for all of the villains in these movies. 

The Dual Character Inquisition Tag

Kate @ Story and Dark Chocolate and Christine @ Musings of an Elf both tagged me for this one a while back and now I'm finally getting around to it! I literally have a little note with a stockpile of tags. XD I want to stick to Starblood characters so here are Rouyn and Elasa!

So Your Character is From South Korea ... Featuring Lizzy @ The Bent Bookworm + Jiyeon @ JJellie's Journal

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from Puerto Rico ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

Happy July 4th everybody! Today I have a post about well no America. XD I've had South Korean friends growing up, I love shopping at the Korean franchise Hmart, there's a large Korean population in my area, and I love Korean food, especially Korean BBQ. So I'm so happy to have Lizzy to tell me more about the country besides just the food. ;)

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.


(None of the Images are Mine)

Comic Relief Characters 101

I feel like every comic relief character is expected to be either cute, crude, funny, witty, or stupid. Oftentimes, this is all those characters are, making them very one-dimensional and even throwaway characters. However, I believe the most memorable comic relief characters are more than just good for a few cheap jokes or slapstick antics. 

Comic relief characters are a literary tool meant to relieve tension when the audience can get too wound up in the conflict and need a laugh. They're most common in suspense stories, because sometimes if a story takes itself too seriously it can come across as bland and boring. On the flipside, unless your story is a blatant satire or comedy, too many jokes can cheapen the story. Thus a good balance of comedy must be struck and often you need a good comic relief character to take on that mantel.