Megan Wong's Blog, page 9

Up to My Eyes in Eyes

Do you believe in signs?
Do you believe in hidden messages from our subconscious?

Perhaps one is easier to swallow than the other. Perhaps you could say that one has more scientific reasoning behind it and the other is a foolish belief from times long ago.
It probably depends on who you are.

I like to keep my options open, so I believe in both.

Lately, I've been drawing eyes. When I'm in class or doing something that can't hold my attention, then I start to doodle on the page. Lately, it has been eyes, but it has been every manner of thing before nuts and fruit, teacups and animals. For me, it is significant if I do something multiple times. If I feel an urge to make relatively the same shape over and over. The curving of the eyeball and the pupils, the eyelids and eyelashes, a combination of pen strokes that form something with meaning.

In stories, there are signs and hints, little details that we store in our subconscious and don't realize the importance of until the end. It's important to be talented at foreshadowing when writing a story, but what about our own lives?

Eyes are curious. They hold so many meanings. Eyes are the windows of the soul and all that. So I've been trying to figure out why they've been coming to me. Perhaps it is just my mind telling me that I should pay attention, since I'm usually drawing these in class. It certainly could be a simple as that.

Editing Fever

Wow! Last week I posted early so that I wouldn't forget and then today, it just slipped my mind, not that the day is too far-gone, but I usually try to do this earlier. Anyway, I'm sure we all are busy, busy. Make your week great!


There are so many types of edits: proofreading, copy-editing and developmental editing.

Each one is a cog in the wheel that turns your manuscript into something publishable.

TipsRead aloud your stories. It is easier to find mistakes when you try reading the sentences aloud. Start in different places when writing so that you're not correcting one section more than the others.Have others make critiques. Get some fresh eyes on those words.Set a goal. It can be exhausting and frustrating to edit your own work. Take breaks and give yourself time to think about it.Set it down for a while. If you're really struggling to look at it objectively then maybe you need a longer break like a month to sort out your feelings from what needs to be done.Print it out. This is if you normally type your stories. Sometimes a physical copy is what you need to make those marks, and you can always use colorful pens!

I try to be available for my friends, but thorough edits takes a lot of time.

Also, I'm wondering which do you think is better?

Reading all the way through a story without stopping and then editing - OR - editing as you go along so that all of your comments are from your first reactions.

I can't decide and while I usually edit with my first impressions, I'm afraid that I might be distancing myself from the story and not allowing myself to read it as a reader. Any suggestions or thoughts?

Teardrops for the Fallen

I know Tuesday is usually my day, but I'm getting a jump start on this. I've got so much on my mind lately that I'll forget and Monday night is close enough.

Characters die. It happens in countless stories.

Readers may imagine that writers are gleefully cackling to themselves as they sentence a character to an early demise, but we feel the loss just as strongly. As creators of characters, it can be gut-wrenching to take them away, not only is it work lost (as in most cases, characters don't come back to life) but we grew to know them and like them, flaws and all.

I haven't been the cause of too many character deaths yet, but I'm learning the value of them. Or the value of making it look like a character died, it can be fun to tease the readers with a particular tear jerker moment then relieve them with a joyful reunion. However, it's best not to do that too often as readers will catch on and also think that you will never really kill anyone.

There is a particular death that will makes me cry just reading the moment where the other character has lost him. It's devastating. Her disbelief and shock almost lead her to drastic measures such as climbing over a balcony, but others hold her back while she fervently denies his death. It's going to crush me when I get to it, but fortunately we're years away from that point.

Recently someone asked me about an author's emotional attachment to their writing. For me personally, I can get very attached, not just to my characters but the work itself. It's difficult to snip and cut, but it's necessary. The story won't grow if it isn't edited (which is a topic we'll delve into on another week).

As authors and writers, I believe that we feel very strongly about our characters. It's like raising a child that begins to walk and talk and take action without you, when suddenly they choose something that takes them off the playing field. It can be very unexpected for us, because characters will run away with the story if you let them. Which is why we feel a strong need to make their deaths count, because a pointless death in a story will often lead us feeling disheartened and belligerent.

If you want to learn more about reactions to death, then check out my post: How to Handle Death and Other Grave Topics, it's under June for 2018. What characters do you mourn? Has there been a death that has taken you by surprise?

J.K. Rowling crushed my heart when she killed Fred and Lupin and Sirius and...this list could really go on for a while so I'll cut it short. Let's just say that there are books that make your eyes gush.

The Power of the Mind: Nightmares

Nightmares - those terrifying dreams that cause bodily reactions of fear.

I recently had a nightmare that I woke from in a state of shivering fright. The thing about a nightmare is that it contains elements of something that you find scary in normal life, so think about how scary it is to then have a life-like experience of it.

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For the life of me I'm not sure why, but I am afraid of ghosts.

Grave art in Bath AbbeyNo other version of the undead terrifies me the same way. So, of course, this nightmare had a ghost. What probably made it even more terrifying was the fact that it took place where I am currently living. If it had been in a graveyard or my mind had taken me to a supermarket, I probably wouldn't have experienced the same level of fear.

There I was walking down the hallway with some of the other residents and then one of the housekeepers tells us to come with her. We see a strange wall that she can put her hand through. Everyone else starts touching the wall and shadows play upon it. Not random shadows either, gruesome and evil looking shadows. Everyone hurries away, but as I go, I notice that a door at the end is open...a door that was not open before.

(Side tangent: The scarier or most iconic scenes are where all is not revealed. Back in the day, they were great at this, sex in particular was not allowed to be shown on the screen so movie producers would find other ways to send the message. For example, cutting to a window where the curtains are blowing in slowly in the breeze or to a piece of bread baking in the oven.)

Back to the nightmare.

I notice this door and my senses are on high alert. I make it about a third of the way down the hall and then tell the housekeeper. We stop and she says that if the door was open then the lady is out. She makes me wait and listen. We begin to hear doors close down the hall and the ghost is getting closer with each door slam.

Needless to say, I woke up at this point, shaking in fear.



I'm still not sure what made we dream that. I certainly hadn't watched a scary movie or thought about ghosts before I went to sleep. It was almost too difficult to fall back asleep, so I knew I had to do something. I had to change the dream.

Now the parts that I had already witnessed couldn't really be changed, because I remembered them so vividly, but I had woken up at a crucial point in the dream. I closed my eyes and reimagined that moment, going back into the dream, and then let myself control what happened next.

The ghost is approaching and instead of cowering in fear, I stand and wait for it. It blows past me like an errant wind. However, I tell it to show itself, because it is one thing to terrify others while invisible, but it needed to show me what it was.

The thing stops and the pearly visage of a monster appears, but it is not completely a monster. The face and body look strange, but also human-like and so I ask, "Who are you?" and I keep asking until a woman shudders through the ghastly monster visage and begins speaking.

I'll cut it short, basically, I find out that she was trapped and needed someone to release her. I tell her to move on and she disappears. Then I find out the housekeeper was also a ghost and then I tell her that she may move on as well because she has fulfilled what she stayed behind to do: protect the residents and her lady trapped in the apartment. A happy ending after all!
Shakespeare's resting place has these words for those that visit.

Said is Dead, or is it?

There is a debate in the writing world that has continued to cycle through many incarnations and has never achieved a clear cut answer. It has to do with dialogue tags: the little phrase after or before the quotations that attributes the dialogue to someone.

People feel very passionately about this and maybe you've heard the arguments. Either you think said is dead or you think it is the only tag to use.

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So, you're in the boat of "Said is Dead", what does that mean?
It means that you believe that humans are not monotone and speech is best conveyed through words that symbolize or describe those changes in voice and how things are...well, said.

There are so many lists out there, but here are some examples.
Someone can shout, scream, plead, cry, acknowledge, whisper, snarl, argue, answer, brag, chant, confess, mumble, mutter, murmur, hiss, threaten, warn and whimper... It goes on. People who believe said is dead state that humans do not just say words, they say them in ways that inform us of how they really feel. And when it comes to writing, there isn't a voice in your ear, telling you how the characters are saying their words, so dialogue tags are useful to convey those vocal expressions.

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Now let's say you're in the wagon that worships said.
Said is it. There can be no other dialogue tags and anything else is unprofessional.
In this case, many believe that dialogue tags are distractions to the reader. If every sentence ends with shouts or the words are always mumbled and murmured and muttered, then a reader gets tired and  thrown out of the story. Said is a neutral word. The eyes skip over it easily and the tag merely provides us with the knowledge of who spoke the words before going on to read the next part of the story.


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Finally, I suppose there is always a middle ground, some people believe in a bit of both. Overdoing dialogue tags creates problems, but so does lack of character when it counts. Said should be used in general with other tags used sparingly and for crucial moments.
So, now that we've skimmed the debate, what do you think? Do you have a preference? Why or why not?

Things that Bring You Joy

When you look at your things, your material possessions, what do you think? What do you feel?

Whenever I move, or help someone move, I always reconsider every object in my life and wonder whether or not it is worth keeping.

There are many objects that are "necessary goods" which means that we use them in our daily life and they are not negotiable. These goods can vary across cultures/societies but in general they fulfill needs like health and safety.

I don't want to focus on necessary goods right now, because the ones that we agonize over are the "luxury items" which mean that we hold onto them because of some desire or attachment. They're not vital for survival but they may satisfy other needs like our need for entertainment.

Isn't it nuts when you hold onto something, but it just gathers dust?
Well, this is a "gravestone" from Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard;
 they know how to let things go when they're not working out.There are many items that are things that "take up space" and not in a good way. We hold onto things and let it pile up, until we've forgotten what we own. Later we may go through it intending to get rid of things, but we are stopped when we think and contemplate, or find that we have some attachment that lingers with the object. "I'll keep it just a little while longer," we tell ourselves and then it ends up being years.

There is nothing wrong with being sentimental or having possessions, but when something no longer serves you - it is time to let go. That is something my mother always reminds me of when I tell her that I'm struggling to let go. "Keep the things that bring you joy," she says.

Recently I discussed this idea with a friend. Many objects that we hold onto are gifts and what I told my friend was that we feel an obligation to hold onto a gift because of the person that gave it to us. We can accept a gift gratefully, but that doesn't mean that it is something we must keep around forever.

Do people still handwrite thank you notes?
I'm not sure, but it has been a tradition with my family and we just keep doing it.
This was a thank you for a recommendation letter I received.
Although the letters are slightly falling down the page, I tried a fancy style to write it out. 
"It's not a gift if it comes with strings attached," I told my friend. "If you want to get rid of it, you should be able to without feeling guilty."

This was after I had given her something and I wanted to make sure that she didn't feel obligated to keep it, because I have trouble getting rid of things that people have given me. You feel as if the essence of that person and your relationship with them is tied into this gift. Ridiculous, right? Your relationship shouldn't be based on the material possessions exchanged between you, but on the moments of emotional vulnerability and trust that are truly precious and rare.

Put it this way. If your house was on fire or say a hurricane was on the way, what would you save? Do you think that the people who gave you gifts are going to care more about their gift than your safety?

Driving in the Rain

I'm a relatively new driver so if you have experience perhaps you find this easier. However, driving through the rain was an unexpected challenge that I experienced yesterday and it wasn't even raining that hard. Sprinkling compared to the torrential downpours that I've seen come down.

It was also dark, unfortunately the sun hasn't risen at 6am in the morning. So, I drove with a careful eye on the road and the cars around me while allowing my GPS to guide me through the many exits.

Testing out my night vision and reaction skills, at least that is how I tried to see it. There isn't much to see although there is more that warrants your attention. The flow of traffic, the location of exits, the intensity of the rain, it all factors into how you drive.

Have you ever held out your hand to stop a car from coming into your lane? As if you could somehow stop it or shoo it away. Sometimes I'm driving and another driver is doing something that seems a bit iffy so I throw out my hand and they move away. Not that my action is the reason for their movement; correlation does not equal causation (as all in statistics know). However, it is fun to think that I "force pushed" them away or somehow took control of their car. We don't know our own power, right?

Chemistry: the subtle art of character closeness

This is actually a picture of the potions classroom from the Warner Brothers Studios. Look at those self stirring cauldrons! I think J.K. Rowling said she was inspired by chemistry for the idea of potions and how they were made, and maybe her own teacher. Interestingly enough, I think she said she disliked chemistry the most and yet Snape talks about it with such descriptive and tantalizing imagery that we all want to pull up a seat in his classroom.
Chemistry, and not the one with the periodic table and moles (which are not furry little creatures that live underground). It's a word common enough that we disregard it, but what is chemistry? And how do we show it between characters?



In my opinion, (feel free to contradict as you please), chemistry between characters means that there is a connection. Usually a positive connection, I have rarely heard anyone refer to enemies having chemistry, mostly it is friends, family, or significant others (i.e. partners). Chemistry also means that this connection has characters who work well together, they play off each other. It can also mean that the relationship feels genuine, if someone is saying, "the chemistry between Adam and Monica is easy to see." I would agree, but then, I'm biased.

Onto how to show this in writing. Sometimes the most difficult part is achieving those genuine relationships in writing. You don't want it forced, but if your reader is coming into a twelve year relationship, then they need some gentle love-tap hints rather than hit you in the face with a frying pan. A writer could choose to state it blatantly:

"Kara cared for Zeke more than anything in the world; he'd been her friend for nine years and boyfriend for five."

Not very subtle, but it gets the job done. There is information about how she feels and how long their relationship has been. 
Now here come the subtleties:

"Kara moved to Zeke's side, gently interlacing her fingers with his as the sky filled with alien ships."

Okay, got a little carried away with those last words, but you see the difference. It kind of follows the principle of "show don't tell." You don't generally interlock fingers with a stranger, but then I'm partial to boundaries at the beginning of a relationship, so for me this shows trust and also that when the world is (possibly) going to end - you move closer to the one you love.

Here is how I've broken down the subtleties that you can look for in others writing or use in your own:

Relationships can be shown through physical closeness, do they brush each other, is it a playful tap on the shoulder, are deep meaningful stares exchanged? Physical closeness depends on the following factors:

LocationDurationStrengthMood/EmotionWhen I say location, I mean are they holding hands, do they have their arms around each other, are they kissing? 
Duration seems obvious, but it is also dependent on other factors. First off, long usually means closer relationship (or the antagonist is really trying to whisper some demoralizing words into the protagonist's ear), and shorter duration means a distant relationship. However, a character could be close to someone, but be distracted enough that they only do a "quick peck on the cheek" or brief grasp of hands before they're running out the door. 
Strength can also be dependent on other factors, but for general purposes: a tighter grip means more love/emotion between characters, a loose grip is like the "dead fish" handshake - very low effort and energy. 
The mood/emotion part can be shown through facial expressions or just the inner thoughts of a character. Do they feel good about this person? What are they thinking while connecting with them? Does a tear slide down their cheek or a smile break across their face? People convey a lot through their facial expressions and others respond to those expressions.

Chemistry can also be shown through dialogue.

Short terse responses usually mean anger or irritation. Casual, nonchalant responses show lack of caring or ease of speaking with the other character. Long drawn out responses can mean depth or shallowness (don't you love contradictions!), dependent on whether the character is doing it because they love the other so much that there is so much to say, or if they love the sound of their own voice and are only thinking of their own importance.

I'm going to retract my show don't tell statement, but only for one thing that really can't be shown in other ways (besides flashbacks or lengthy comatose visions): History. The history between characters is either already there or beginning to build.

If we take the Kara and Zeke example (nine year friendship, five year boyfriend-girlfriend), then we know a lot has happened between then and now. Bringing up the history can be difficult, but it can be brought up through dialogue or inner recollection and mostly you'll want to shorten it to a few lines.

"Kara had only seen Zeke this excited once before, when he'd won the robotics competition in junior high."

Very quick memory thrown in and a comparison to show what Kara knows about Zeke and what Zeke values. It provides background and a hint at their history. Kara was present at this robotics competition and they've known each other as young as junior high.  Dialogue is another way to present history, "Do you remember when..." However, summarizing is the best that can be done there. Dialogue isn't meant to retell all the stories of the past, although you can make fun summaries with lines or dramatic characters.

"And it was forty feet high," John crowed. He lifted his arms to the sky to demonstrate.
 "With a moat and a secret tunnel," George added. His eyes glowed as he told Margret. Childish delight covered his face at the memory and she'd never seen him this excited.
"And no one could find us," John said. He whispered very low as if telling Margret a huge secret. "Not even our parents."
Somehow Margret doubted that John and George had built a snow fort that was forty feet high with a moat and secret tunnel, but she loved the idea that it was so elaborate in their minds.

Children recalling a memory may exaggerate, but it makes the retelling of this memory very fun. Some adults are adept storytellers and can easily depict events through their words, but if you choose dialogue beware of its traps.


That's about it, my what a long post. If you have any questions or suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them!

Self-Care: Meditation

Have you ever meditated? Has it been as a group or individually? Have you ever fallen asleep while meditating it? Has your mind wandered down paths that are difficult to follow?

I've done a little of both (group and individual meditation), although I still lack the mindfulness that comes with it. It's difficult to sit with your own thoughts for several minutes at a time and try to let them go. Letting them go is probably the hardest part. Even now I'm always thinking about the future and what I should be doing. Then, I spend too much time ruminating on the past when there is nothing I can do to change it. The present moment is difficult to stay in because it is change. The present moment is gone in an instant and if we are truly in it, then we should be flexible and understanding across any situation (at least, that's how I imagine it to be when you achieve complete awareness of your present self).

When I think about meditation and mindfulness, I always seem to think of something like this:
A peaceful, isolated spot which is out in nature, where you can hear the birds and the bees and every creature that swims, crawls, or flies. A spot like this is wonderful and calming, but it also makes me feel sleepy. When I'm out in nature, I try to be mindful and present with the moment. I want to enjoy it, but sometimes my attention drifts and I slip away...



Sometimes I seem to slip away when I'm with others too. I should be present in the moment and listening to them, but I get caught up in what I'm going to say next or what I anticipate they are going to say next. Instead, I really should just be actively engaged and listening to their words and responding to their words without overthinking it. I'm working on it. Effective communication is a work in progress and practice will make it come easier.

I've been trying to meditate more lately. Ten minutes each day, a little breathing and setting aside any worries or plans for the future. Do you ever feel that letting go is like holding something fragile and trusting that when you drop it, it won't break?

I feel guilty when my attention drifts. It seems silly that I can't just breathe and not think, but I'm wired for thinking and planning and evaluating...etc...you get the point. And it is not just me. Every generation seems to be trained to think all the time; every day, ever hour, every minute, every second. Not a moment to be wasted, we're so focused on keeping ourselves busy. I wonder if that's why time seems to fly and we talk about our lives like they're moving pictures without a stop or pause button. We forget that we have those buttons and that we control how we experience life.

I know this isn't writing related, but take a moment and breathe.

Breathe in...

Breathe out...

We spend so much thinking and doing that we forget about the simplest of actions, the most natural experiences like breathing. We all do it and take it for granted, so give yourself another moment to just breathe. Close your eyes...and just...breathe...in and out.

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Wishing you all good health and full hearts! May you find peace and joy in experiencing your days mindfully, one breath at a time.

Photos from the Book Signing

What a beautiful summer day. The sun was shining and B&N was bustling with readers. It was nerve-wracking to be standing there, waiting for someone to approach or (when the time came) knowing what message I wanted to write. Most of the messages were spontaneous and suited to the person who purchased the book, because a lot of them were my family and friends. I did go into the book signing with preconceived messages in mind, but I didn't really stick with it. I was also writing with a sharpie so I wanted to write fast so it didn't bleed through the page.  Here I am signing a book. I don't know if y'all notice this, but how do other authors sign books? I tended to write at an angle, but my fellow author, Trevor D'Silva, was writing horizontally across the page. Is there a "correct" way to sign a book? I'm not sure, but I signed about 17 copies so hopefully those turned out alright.
This was the gift basket that people could win and we did have a lucky winner!