Andrea Judy's Blog, page 12

Making a World

First off, sorry for the radio silence, helping get my new roomie settled in was a little more complicated than expected… but oh so well worth it. We have the most AWESOME APARTMENT EVER! We’ll post pics soon.

Anyways…

One of my weaknesses as a writer is world building. I have a really time imagining an epic spanning world, which breaks my heart because fantasy… in epic worlds… is one of my favorite genres and is something I’d love to write. But when it comes to do it, I end up with a generic ‘fantasy, medieval’ style village…

You mean not all fantasy worlds have to look like this?

That’s not to say that I don’t like fantasy worlds that have castles and towns that look just like I’d imagined… but I love my fantasy worlds that have nit-picky little details about the world. This is a more than a backdrop for the story; this is a living, breathing world that changes around the characters. These are the worlds that stick with you for hours after you’ve put down a book; the world that you want to live in.

That’s the kind of world I want to create, but how do you even begin to do that? I think about all the complexities of the world that I live in and cannot imagine trying to put together all of that detail. BUT, I’m determined to do it. Fantasy has always been my passion and I’m ready to jump back into that pool.

One of the very, very best, most extensive sources I’ve found for help on this is here. It’s almost 53 pages of just questions to think about when building a world. It’s amazingly detailed and has already made me feel a lot more confident about being able to create a believable world.

What do you do to work on world-building? How do you go about it? Give me some words of wisdom!

Brief Hiatus FOR AWESOME!

There will be no posts this week as things will be a little crazy since my room mate is moving out and my new room mate and bestie, TheGreatGonzo is moving in!

 

Wish us luck with getting everything together!

 

To make up for not posting this week… I give you this to summarize how this week will go:

 

Quick and Dirty Grammar: Affect versus Effect

So the affect/effect rule has a special place in my heart… When I was in middle school science, we were required to enter the science fair. I actually really enjoyed science and spent my free time coming up with theories about quantum physics and wormholes at the time…

Well for my science fair protect, I decided to measure the Magnetic force around the Earth and see how it changes based on time of day. I did my little measurements, fought with science and had my parents help me put together an awesome display board about if the time of day AFFECTED the Earth’s magnetosphere.

We turned in our projects and my teacher, Mr. Thomas, told me that it was if the time of day EFFECTED… and to fix that or he would count off points. In a panic, and doubting my own word choice, I changed the wording.  When the science fair judges came around, they were impressed and chatted with me for a while, eventually noting that my title was wrong and that it should be AFFECT. I was crushed and sobbed to my teacher what had happened. He shrugged and said he’d feel bad if I lost because of that.

I was runner up in my category. The only thing I had points off for was my misspelled title.

So much rage!

 

So, what can you take away from my story?

 

AFFECT is a verb

EFFECT is a noun

Use AFFECT when you’re trying to say that something did something.

Use EFFECT when you’re trying to say that the something was something.

 

 

And don’t take grammar advice from your science teachers.

 

Make your own style

There are a lot of books, blogs, tumblrs, tweets, etc that will tell you all about how to write, what to do, how to write dialogue and so on and so forth. Advice is everywhere and it is so easy to get caught up in thinking that you should only be writing in certain genre, or in one certain way. There are rules and guidelines that cannot be ignored and you must follow the law of the write club.

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First rule of write club: Never stop talking about write club.

The only problem is that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to writing…except for one: to be a writer you have to write. Everything else is a matter of style and personal preference. Sme people can only get work done in a busy coffee shop, other people can only write in the dead of night when they are alone in their bedroom. Some write by hand, others write by iPad, or laptop. Some create detailed outlines and others throw plot to the wind. Some worship the muse, others believe in hard schedules. The point is that how you get the words on the page doesn’t matter in the slightest.

No one gives a damn if you wrote your novel by hand in your parent’s attic or if you wrote on the next generation of laptop. What matters are the words you are creating, the work and the effort you are putting into your craft, are putting into you.

Deciding how you write is a bit of an investment into yourself. You are taking time from some other venture to devote yourself to writing. Th fact that you are doing that, are making that sacrifice is what matters. There is no one size fits all for writing or how to write. There are suggestions that might work for you but if they don’t, then dump them to the side and move on. There’s no reason to cling to some idea that doesn’t work for you and your schedule.

For the longest time I tried to get up at 6AM like Ernest Hemmingway and write. I tried and cranked out a lot of crap that way. But it didn’t work for me, I couldn’t get my brain together enough to form a damn coherent thought. I work much better in the evenings or middle of the day.

So, make your own way to write, forge the path, take cues from other writers, but ultimately it’s your journey so do what works for you.

Saturday Sweets: Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

It’s been a while since I’ve put up a Saturday Sweets recipe…so I figure it’s about time to share one of my new favorites.

Cupcakes:

1 cup cake flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

A package of Oreos (or some sandwich cookies)

 

 

1. Preheat own to 350

2. Mix together the cocoa powder, baking soda, cake flour, and baking powder in one bowl.

3. Mix the butter and sugar then mix in the eggs and vanilla extract then the buttermilk.

4. Add the flour, dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until smooth.

5. Line the cupcake wrappers with either whole cookies or crumbles of cookies. (Both work very well)

6. Pour the batter over the cookies.

7. Bake for 16 minutes, rotating once.

 

 

Frosting: 

8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp

2 cups confectioniers sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup well crushed cookies

 

1. Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the deliciousness and have a very happy Bastille Day!

Simple Math…

I’m not terrible at math. In fact I was in advanced math and science classes up until the point where I entered my junior year of college. So, I sometimes like to do little math problems (but not like dividing the bill at a restaurant… why is that always a pain to do?)

So I decided to count up the amount of words I wanted to write this year. I did that by adding up all of my projects and how many words (roughly) I thought each would take. My total came out to 153,000 words.

That’s a lot of words. When in the world am I going to be able to write all of that?

Well, that’s when I decided to divide that terrifying number (which really is not that bad to be totally honest…) by 365 to see how many words a day I would have to write in order to reach that target.

420 words a day.

Wow, that’s not so bad at all.

Breaking things down into more manageable chunks can really help to make writing something seem a lot less intimidating. Here, let’s break down some general word counts:

100 words  to 1000 words- Micro/Flash Fiction (NOTE: some people keep micro fiction as 100 words or less and flash fiction as 750 words or less. Check guidelines for specific publisher’s views on that)

1,000 words to 10,000 words- Short Story (Again, check guidelines for specific publishers)

10,000 words to 20,000 words- Novellette

20,000 words to 50,000 words- Novella

50,000 words to 100,000 words- Novel

Now, these are just estimates and every publisher probably has slightly different views on word counts. But let’s say you decide you want to write a novel… that’s 100,000 words! But, if you divide that… it’s only about 250 words a day for a year. That’s not so intimidating at all.

See? Math isn’t all bad.

Saturday Inspirations

Today’s Saturday inspirations are all going to be from one amazing artist I met at FandomFest last weekend. I am totally in love with her work and wanted to share it with all of you!

I happily own a print of this own. Eeeeeee!

I love the surreal, dreamscape quality behind the work and the way that she seamlessly puts together images, colors, and words. I seriously highly recommend her work… not to mention she’s a totally awesome lady!

Check out her website!

The Rage

So, I’ve been working on deciding on a thesis for my master’s degree and I’ve been talking to several different people about what I’m thinking about doing. My main idea is to look at the rhetoric of horror in video games. It seems like a very interesting concept to me, and I enjoy scary games so what a great way to combine things I enjoy into a school project, right?

Well, I was sharing this idea with a classmate of mine when someone I don’t know, cut me off and said, “Horror’s just stupid. It’s low brow blood and guts crap. I don’t understand why anyone, let alone someone pursuing a Master’s degree, would waste their time on it.’

INSTA-RAGE

Now, I understand that a lot of people find horror a waste of time, a low, base, stupid thing. Fine, that’s their business, but when you start openly insulting something and essentially calling me stupid for enjoying something…that’s a problem.

Now, no, I didn’t assault or hurt this person. I didn’t even verbally attack this person. See I have this unfortunate response that I usually get stunned into silence when someone says something like that. So I simply walked away, shocked and annoyed.

In fact, I’m still a little speechless. Still formulating a more eloquent response than a series of obscenities.

Thoughts, opinions, rage?

Making Connections at Conventions

Tips for Making Connections:

 

So I’m currently at the fantastic FandomFest and I love it! Conventions are some of the best places to meet people, and if you write then they are an awesome place to meet fellow writers, make friends with editors and butter-up some publishers. A lot of people are really intimidated by the meeting of new people and don’t know how to approach it. It’s especially daunting if you’ve never done it before.

 

Now, remember trying to make a connection is very different than trying to pick up someone at a bar, or meeting someone in a class. This is especially the case if this is going to be something more professional than friendship. So here, are a few words of wisdom:

 Take yourself seriously.

Don’t go in thinking you’re a terrible writer with no talent who doesn’t have anything worth sharing. That is no way to treat yourself or to make friends in this industry. Grow a backbone and an ego ASAP.

 

Get business cards.

This is not a crucial step but it really does help with keeping in touch with people. It’s much easier to remember someone if you have a piece of paper with their name on it. It also is great as a way to keep in touch with people after the convention, include at least your e-mail.

 

Treat people with respect.

Be nice to everyone. Even the people you’re in line with. Seriously, don’t get in a fight with someone about whether or not it’s MANga or MONga. It’s not worth it and you will just look like an idiot.

 

Don’t approach with your hands out.

Do not go in thinking (or saying!) ‘Help me! Give me stuff!’ go on looking for a mutually beneficial relationship.  You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.’

 

Have fun!

Easy enough.

 

Now this is not a comprehensive end-all, be-all list. I have broken several of these and still don’t have a huge list of enemies. The main things you cannot compromise on are treating people with respect and having fun.Try to do those two things and you will have a much higher chance of making, and keep contacts you’ve made.

 

Preparing for a convention…

Preparing for a convention always feels a little bit like getting ready to go to war. But then panic starts to set in and I begin to doubt that I ever knew how to pack at all. How do you decide what to bring? What suitcase? What am I even doing?

First there’s the packing and I have a terrible case of ‘What will I wear?’ that I go through for weeks before the convention. I will pack and re-pack my clothing three or four times and ultimately bring too many things.

Then I will bring all of these books I’m sure I’ll have time to read. Haha.

I’ll bring homework, or papers, or any other item that I’ve ‘been meaning to get to’ and then just let it sit and take up space all weekend.

I bring food that I then rarely touch for the entire convention.

And that’s just the beginning.

So, to help myself, and maybe help some of you out there with the same problem, I’m going to make a quick list of how to pack for a convention and then try really hard to take my own advice.

1. Don’t pack more outfits than you need.

You really should be fine with the minimum. Most conventions are a weekend long. That’s three days and two night, maybe four days and three nights if you arrive early. There is really no reason to bring enough clothes for a week. Keep it to basics: jeans/skirt/shorts and tops that go with everything. Bam done.

2. Bring copies of hotel/travel confirmations.

At one convention I went to, they had lost our reservation. Thankfully I had my confirmation in my hand and because of that I was upgraded to the presidential suite of the hotel. It was amazing.

3. Don’t bring your work with you.

Well, at least don’t bring anything extra. Now is not the time to start on reading that new book or to really get some homework done. If something absolutely has to be done that weekend than bring it, but don’t set high expectations.

4. Bring business cards and a good attitude.

If you are coming to a convention to go to panels and to learn, then treat it that way. Bring a business card, talk to the guests, walk around and make friends. Don’t be too shy to approach someone and try to make a contact. Most people at conventions really love meeting new people and won’t bite… unless you ask nicely.

5. Bring anything you need to take care of yourself.

Conventions are not the place to skip out on any meds you’re taking or to not bother bringing soap or toothpaste. Bring everything you need to keep yourself happy and healthy!

Alright, so let’s see how well I follow my own advice while I get ready for FandomFest! Anyone going? You can look at my schedule for the convention too!

Also, today is one of my very good buddies birthday! Go check out her blog and wish her a happy birthday!