So Your Character is From Ukraine ... Featuring Valery @ Sunny Eri: Beauty Experience

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 Qatar ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

What I mostly know about Ukraine is the location, that they've been at odds with Russia, and the food. I'm a big fan of pierogies, borscht, and blintzes. They're some of my comfort food. I'm so happy to have Valery on the blog to tell us more about this country!

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)

100+ Blocking Ideas for Your Characters

No, I'm not talking about blocking in a fight. I'm talking about the theater term. Last year, I went to New York City after attending Realm Makers in Pennsylvania to visit my cousin who is pursuing her career as an actress. The two of us went to see a Broadway of The Phantom of the Opera. I loved the play as a whole (cause it's Phantom of the Opera on freaking Broadway), but we did have to admit there were some weird blocking issues (such as cleaning an apple on the inside of one's thighs and crawling on one's belly on the floor. I don't know why. XD). Blocking is the movement that the actors are supposed to be doing either during dialogue or when they're not doing anything so they're not just standing there awkwardly. 

Some great examples for blocking are in the Lord of the Rings and Avatar: The Last Airbender. I can think of many scenes where Aragorn is sharpening his sword or cleaning a deer, Sam is cooking, Sokka is taking a sip of water or working building armor, and Aang is feeding Appa just to name a few things. The characters are always doing things that are realistic and relevant to the scene. 

Since I just went to the opposite side of the country for the same conference in July, I got to thinking about my NYC experience again. Blocking is completely applicable to writing. We don't want our characters just standing or sitting awkwardly all the time during rest points in the story. They should be doing something and it's logical for them to be doing something while resting and/or during a long swath of dialogue. So I came up with a list of fifty different blocking ideas for your characters, so we don't have them twiddling their thumbs or rubbing apples on the inside of their thighs. Now I organized this list by genre, just to give a sense of order but these things can go across genres easily.

A Book Review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Buy from Amazon!

"'There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.'" 

Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors - and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone... Dobby's sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

So Your Character is From Qatar ... Featuring Sumaica @ Life & Times

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 Pakistan ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I've mostly been fascinated by Qatar because it's one of the few words I know that you don't have to use a Q followed by a U like in English. XD I know it's in the middle east but I didn't know much else about it until Sumaica came on the blog to talk about it!

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)

Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World Blog Tour, Giveaway, & Character Interview!

Today I'm part of the blog tour for Bryan Davis's new release, Wanted: a Superhero to Save the World! Mr. Davis is kicking off his self-published middle-grade novel with a tour across blogs and here is one of the stops. I've been friends with Mr. Davis for wow, about eight years now, so I'm happy to be helping him with his newest novel. Let's get some info about the book then we'll get to the character interview and giveaways!

The Significance of Hair in Stories

I close the scissors over the hair by my chin. How can I look the same, when she's gone and everything is different? I can't. 

~ Tris Prior (Insurgent)

Hair may seem like a shallow subject, but it can say a lot about a person. How we keep or don't keep our hair can say a lot about who were are as people and even what's going on in our lives. How we style our hair can say a lot about where we live whether that be geographical location or time period. Hair can also be very signature for a character and if that hair changes it can be quite jarring and often a character lets that hair change for a reason, intentional or not. Thus I wanted to explore more about the significance of hair and how it can add depth to your story.