Rani Divine's Blog, page 20

Revamp

What’s a writer to do, when you’re just not feeling it? When it feels like you have no ideas anymore, like nothing you’re working on is worth working on? Well, that’s what we’re talking about, all month long. Ways to get your mojo back, to get yourself writing again, and to get back to where you believe in what you’re working on.
Great topic, isn’t it?
I know many writers who have this problem, who struggle to keep going (especially after hitting the ten-books-written point), and honestly, I’ve been in the same boat a few times. But there are several ways to get yourself out of this rut.
Today, let’s talk about the one I ended up doing this time, to get me back into the writing game. Revamp Something
Something of yours, of course. Preferably something you never published, or, even better, something you never finished. Pick it back up again. Rework it, rewrite it, get it to where it actually shines this time. After all, you wouldn’t have given up on it without good reason, would you? Well, now you’re older and wiser, and I think you’re more than ready to get this thing to where it needs to be.
Like I said, this is actually what I’m doing right now. I’m still in the beginning stages of this new story, but what I ended up doing was reading through the five chapters I’d written in a novel I loved (at the time) and never finished (in favor of the Druid Novels). And guess what? I still love the story, but I knew from the get-go it wasn’t good enough to actually keep any of what I’d written prior.
So I started over. In fact, I kept only the barest bones of the story, and am completely rewriting it from there. And you know what? I think this is one of the funnest projects I’ve worked on in a really long time.
That’s the brilliant part of revamping something. This is a story you’ve already loved before. Your brain already knows how to fall in love with this story. But now you’re better at your craft, better in many ways, and you can do the story justice. You’re doing it for the writer who started the story, knowing very well how much that young writer loved this story, when they first started writing it. Because that writer is you.
I honestly found that it was the best way to get myself out of the current rut, and I really can’t wait to see where the story is going to go from here. Even one chapter in, I can tell this is going to be one of my favorites that I’ve ever written.
And that, my friends, is why you should never delete anything you ever write, even if you, in this moment, think it’s pure crap.
Future you might need that pure crap, to make something happen.
Believe me.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Shorts

Hi, everybody!
For the month of May, I wanted to get back into writing about writing. After all, it’s a big part of what Too Many Book to Count is all about. The trouble is, I haven’t been writing a whole lot, as of late. Since being brought on as an associate editor at RAD, it’s harder to find the time—and I could’ve sworn I was out of ideas.
That’s where this month’s topic came in. This month, we’re talking about what to do when you’re just not feeling it, when you’re pretty sure your writing is awful and there are no more good ideas to be had.
I know what that’s like; don’t worry.
Today, I have something very simple that I want you to try. It’s also something that I do quite frequently, if not for fun, then to get myself back in the game. Write a Short Story
And I don’t mean just any short story. I mean that you should go out and write a short story about one of the primary characters in the book you’re currently working on, or in the favorite book you’ve written.
Like I said, I do this a lot—and there’s a reason for it.
See, when we’re feeling out of it and like we don’t have any good ideas whatsoever, it usually just means that we’re a little tired, and our brains probably don’t want to come up with something new. So, don’t. Come up with something attached to one of your other works, but something that isn’t completely necessary to the story as a whole, but it a fun little aside nonetheless. It doesn't even have to be something you'll ever share with anyone, just something that'll get your creative juices flowing.
If you’ve been keeping up on your editions of Mavguard, you’ll know very well that I’ve been writing short stories to go along with each of the Druid Novels, designed to fill in any gaps the book left behind, and to reenter the world of each Dewin before the end comes. It’s great fun, and it’s been an amazing way to keep myself moving when it comes to writing.
After that, after writing a short story that’s reminded me how much I love to write and how much I enjoy doing what it is that I do, it becomes easier to sit down and do some actual writing again.
Perfect, right?
And highly recommended.
Yeah, it means you’ll have to sit down and put some time in, but you would’ve had to do that anyway. No complaining. Go write a short story.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Read Something (part 2)

Hey guys! Thanks for checking back in. :)
This month, as you may know, we’re talking about what to do if you’re not feeling it. What to do when you want to write, but you just don’t like anything that you’re writing and you feel like you’re in a rut about every single bit of it.
I’ve been there. In fact, I’m still a little bit there now. I just started working on a new novel, unlike anything I’ve worked on before, but it took a long time for me to so much as find that idea, never mind the time it took to convince myself that I did, in fact, still have ideas.
Like I said the other day, I’m basically making the exact same point today that I made on Tuesday, but there’s one distinct difference. Tuesday, I recommended that you go read something. Get outside your own head, look at some ideas that didn’t come out of your head. Well, now, I want you to do the opposite.
Read Something
But don’t read anything by anyone else. Read something of yours, something you love, something reviewers love, something that highlights how creative you truly are.
For me, that meant reading my favorite scenes from the Druid Novels, and going over some of my favorite moments in the Earth-Space Saga (coming soon, I promise!). It meant looking through some sections that my beta readers constantly reminded me how much they loved, and forcing my brain to remember that I can, in fact, do this.
You can, too.
Even if you haven’t written and published very much, you have a favorite thing that you’ve written. So go back and read it. If it’s short, maybe read it a few times. There’s nothing wrong with that. Read it, and bask in the glow of how much you love it. There’s nothing wrong with that, either.
See, as writers, we see story everywhere. We live in a world of story. We see many facets of life as facets of story. But sometimes, especially times when we feel like we’re in a rut, we forget that this is how we already see the world. In reading something that you love, something that you wrote in a time when writing was the best thing ever, you’ll remember what it’s like. You’ll remember how to write like that, how to allow your creative brain to take over and get you out of the rut of logic.
After all, logic is great in editing, but in writing it can be a real dud.
So, go read something. Something you wrote. Something you love.
And remember how great you are at the thing you love to do.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Read Something (part 1)

I’m going to start this month’s series with an admission. I hadn’t written very much this year, until a few weeks ago. Since I was brought on as an associate editor with RAD Writing, I haven’t really had the time. At least, that’s what I’ve told myself. Really, I think I’ve just been low on ideas. In a rut. Feeling like every idea I’ve had is the same one I’ve already written—and I’m just not okay with that.
So, I’m going to take a month to tell you all the things I’ve done to get myself out of it, since I’m sure I’m not the only one to have felt this way, or had this problem. We all feel done with our own ideas and our own heads, from time to time. I think that goes with the territory.
This week, I’m actually giving you the same advice twice. You’ll see how on Thursday. But for right now, if you’re stuck in a rut, I want you to…Read Something
But not just anything. I don’t want you to read anything that you’ve written, anything by a friend of yours, or anything that you know you won’t like as much as something else.
No, I want you to read something that inspires you.
For me, that’s something by Michael Crichton, something fantasy, or something unlike anything I’ve ever read before. So what did I read? Well, I’ve been reading The Witcher novels, along with Patrick O’Brian and Agatha Christie. Yeah, yeah, I just said Michael Crichton and he’s not in that list, but I didn’t feel like paying for another book, so I read some books off the bottom of my to-read pile.
The thing is that for most of us, the reason why we’re growing tired of our own words, is that they’re the only things we’re seeing. I find that most often, if I’m annoyed by my ideas or I don’t like what I’ve been working on, it’s because that’s the only thing that’s occupied my time. It’s important to break away from your story.
Get out there and read something. Pick up a book that’s not in the genre you’re writing, something that might give you an idea that’s out of the ordinary for the genre in which you write, and see if you can make it work in your story.
Remember, ideas are all up for grabs. No one can copyright an idea. So take those ideas from other authors and mold them to suit your story.
As an aside, if you have trouble convincing yourself to steal an idea, remember that most of the time, authors are excited to know you found something like that out of their work. Seriously.
For me, it meant reading something in a genre I don’t normally write, and then using those books to flavor the way I write now. O’Brian is amazing when it comes to detail, so I’ve been peppering my new story with more detail than I generally like to use. Christie keeps the pace moving quickly, keeps the characters many, so I’ve dabbled in having more characters than I usually like to have. And the Witcher novels? Well, those are just crazy—so we'll see what comes of that.
Try it. Read something. I dare you.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

A follower

Well, it’s happened. We have, at long last, reached the final edition in our series about, well, me. I hope that you’ve all learned a little something about who I am as a person, and that you’ll stick around to read what I have to say about anything and everything writing and reading based, as I so often do here in Too Many Books to Count.
I feel as though I’ve shared more about myself in this series than I’ve shared in a very long time, so I truly hope you feel like you know me a little better than you did before this series began.
For today, I have one last thing I want to tell you about me. One thing that probably could’ve (or should've) been first on the list, for how important it is in my life. It’s at the core of me, even before being a writer or an editor. It’s who and what I am, and it’s part of why I’ve chosen to write the things I write, and the way I write.
Who is Rani Divine? Well, I am a Christian
I know, however, that this means many different things to many different people. I don’t mean to say that I don’t like some people, that I want to bash a bible over your head until you believe what it says, or that I’d shout your head off for disagreeing with me.
No, in fact, I’d be one of the first people to tell you that you have a right to believe whatever you’d like to believe, and to choose whatever lifestyle you wish. But I will also tell you that I believe this is a God-given right, a right that He would not take away from you, and a right that means there is darkness in this world, because God would never take your ability to choose whatever path you will follow. Some choose dark, some choose light. He won’t force your hand.
For me, in my life, Christianity means love. It means that I love you, whoever you are, reading these words. It means that I think you’re awesome. I think you’re amazing. I think you’re the coolest person on the planet. It means that I’d like to get to know you, to be your friend, because that’s seriously how cool you are.
Yes, it means that I want to teach you about Christ, about God Almighty, but it doesn’t means that I’ll force it on you. If you don’t want to talk about it, we won’t. I probably won’t even bring it up when we meet.
Christianity, for me, isn’t about parading wildly for Christ. It’s about being a kind person, a loving person, a helpful person, someone who isn’t constantly putting others down or trying to propel themselves above every other person.
I don’t want to see you put down. I want to see you shine to your fullest potential. I want to see you be awesome, because I know that you are awesome.
So, that’s who I am.
That’s who Rani Divine, the writer of Too Many Books to Count, is.
And I hope you stick around, for a very long time. We’ll have fun, I promise. ;-)
[love]
{Rani Divine}

A sponge, is it?

We have, at last, reached the final week in our series about me. You’ve no idea how glad I am to see the back of this series. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun to tell you all about me, but it’ll be nice to get back into the nitty-gritty of things, next month (speaking of which, I’ll be back at the RADblog again next month, with a nine-week series on character creation—don’t forget to stop in and check it out).
All month long, I’ve been reintroducing myself, specifically because we have so many newcomers to Too Many Books to Count, and I didn’t want anyone to feel left out. So if this is your first time, check out the rest of the posts from this month so you can get to know me a little bit better.
Who am I? I am a learner
But I don’t mean that I’m in school all the time. Oh contraire! I graduated from college several years ago, with a degree in English, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t believe school is the only way to learn. No, no, no, learning happens every day, everywhere you go.
I’m the type of person who loves to learn. I relish sitting down at my computer and researching a new theme, especially when it even remotely relates to the story I’m currently working on. But I also like to research things about writing, which is how this blog actually came about. I like to watch people and listen to them, to learn from their experiences. And I like to know as much as I possibly can about writing, about readers and what they’re looking for, that I can’t help but share what I’ve learned with all of you.
I like documentaries, I like reading science books, I like researching historical topics that I might be able to use as inspiration for a novel or short story… I like doing anything that will expand my mind, make me think, and teach me to better understand the world around me.
And really, it’s a lot of fun.
I would honestly say that I’ve been this way since I was fairly young. I always liked to learn, and I didn’t always want to go about it by simply doing my schoolwork. And don’t get me wrong! I was homeschooled until college, and I usually did all my school for any given week on Mondays and Tuesdays, then took the rest of the week off to do whatever I wanted to do. I did my schoolwork, and I did it fast and well, but that wasn’t the only way I wanted to learn.
I’ve always liked to go out and learn, to listen to people telling their stories and talking about the things they’ve learned and come to understand, and I love asking questions. I love coming into my own understanding of any given thing.
Give it a try. Especially if you’re a writer, it’ll come in handy for your craft.
:)
[love]
{Rani D.}

A geek, you say?

We’re past the hump in the week! The weekend is nearly here (as is my mum’s birthday, fyi), so it’s time to continue in our series on… well, me.
I know it may not seem like it to you, but it really is very strange for me to spend a whole month talking about myself like this. I usually take time to research and write these posts based on what I’ve been learning in the writing and publishing field, so this is very different. But, I hope that you’ve enjoyed, and I’m glad that we’re getting to know one another. :)
I am a geek. There, I said it.
If you’ve been watching me online at all, you probably already knew that. But if you’re new here, well, there it is.
Now, you might’ve already guessed that I’m a little geeky, by the fact that I write science-fiction and fantasy, but it really goes deeper than that, and it all boils down to my brother. See, he really liked sci-fi/fantasy, when we were growing up, and I really liked my big brother and wanted to be as much like him as I could… and then discovered that I really, really, liked the stuff too.
That’s how it was born.
I grew up on Star Wars, Stargate, Jurassic Park, and dozens of other shows and movies that showcased this geekery, and it only got worse as I got older. I started watching Star Trek in college, found myself primarily focusing on these genres in my writing, and even delved a bit into gaming before deciding that I had to give it up in favor of getting my work done.
I like my sci-fi.
I just do. It’s been at my core since I was a little girl watching Star Wars with my brother. It was one of the ways that I bonded with him, one of my best friends, and I could never turn my back on that. Seriously. Never.
As for fantasy, well, that started a little differently.
It started with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the movie. The one that came out in the 2000’s.
My brother had a friend who made a bet that we couldn’t figure out Legolas’ name. In case you didn’t know, his name is actually only said twice in the whole film, and once is in Elvish. Well, I figured that out, won the bet, and never looked back.
That was actually the first that I’d ever heard of The Lord of the Rings, but it ended up being my gateway into the world of fantasy. From there, I started writing my first novel (which was sadly lost during a computer rebuild), and began my journey into the world of writing.
I love it. I love what I do, and I love that I primarily focus on the genres that have meant so much to me since I was a little girl.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Friendly much?

Hi everyone! I’m back, it’s windy, and I refuse to go outside. Desert winds are brutal, and they have literally knocked me over before. I don’t trust them. I’ve been doing my squats so the winds won’t knock me over again… but I still don’t trust them.
But enough about wind!
This month, we’ve been talking a bit about me, so you newbies out there can get to know me a little bit. I haven’t done a series like this in a while, so I wanted to make sure you all know who I am, since we have a lot of newcomers.
Thus far, we’ve talked about my being an author, an editor, a reader, and a daughter—and you can click through the archives to read all about those—but today, I have something else to talk to you about, still about me, of course. ;-)
I am a friend… to few.
As with many writers, I am an introvert. I call myself an extroverted introvert, because I actually do greatly enjoy people and being around them and listening to them and watching them and mildly interacting with them, but I prefer not speaking to any of them most of the time, and if they talk too much I’ll get annoyed and want to leave.
So, I’m definitely an introvert, but I do many extroverted things, like book signings. They come with the job. Nothing I could do about it. Oh well.
But I do actually have friends, I swear. I don’t have many of them, because most people who I’ve met just so happen to be extroverted, and we don’t always get along too well (primarily because I rarely want to go anywhere outside the house, while they always want to go out and do things).
Friendship is one of the things that’s very important to me. I love my friends, and I have so few of them that I cherish them very dearly. Losing a friend, to me, is a dangerous prospect. I’m as close with my friends as I am with my family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The best part?
I have introverted friends! And I have friends who I’ve had for years, which is amazing, because we can literally hang out and do nothing, and we have the greatest time.
For a writer, for an editor, it’s exactly what I need. I spend most of my time in an extroverted mind, dealing with people and handling them into the story they’re supposed to be in, so at the end of the day I don’t always want to do something with more people, in a crowded place, with noise and… people. I like to be with one or two people, in a quiet place, doing fun things and being silly whenever I want to.
So that’s who I am. I’m a friend, to a few, and I try to be the best friend I know how to be, while always enjoying the quiet moments—because when you’re a writer, you have too many heads inside, and it’s good to get to be you, just for a little while.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Divimily?

Hey everybody! I’m back, to tell you a little bit more about me. And today, we’re starting to get a little more personal.
Who is Rani Divine, you ask? I am a daughter.
Really?! I’m sure you’re shocked. But yes, I was born of someone, and am therefore someone’s daughter. But really, I’m very close with both of my parents. My mother and I actually spend a great deal of our time together, and I try to spend as much time as possible with my father.
I’ll tell you a bit about them, how’s that?
My father is from India/Pakistan. He’s an engineer by trade, who moved to the States for school, met my mother, married her, and somehow ended up in New Mexico. That’s a very long story, condensed into one sentence which probably raises more questions than it answers. But he now works in cyber-security, which means that my computer system is super secure, courtesy of his company. Woo!
My mother, on the other hand, is a mostly Dutch girl from Michigan. She met my dad in college, and they were married less than a year after they met. She currently does the bookkeeping for Dad’s company, and she gets to do so out of the house, which means…
Mum and I work in the same building.
Yep, you read that right. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know what that means.
I live with my parents.
I’m not ashamed of it, I see nothing wrong with it, so don’t go trying to bring any of that up. They’re both very happy to have me here, and I try my best not to be a burden on them in any way, so don’t go getting any ideas in that regard.
Honestly, I look at it this way: I’m a single young girl who doesn’t need to leave the house to work. I also get along very well with both my parents, and we’re all very aware of the fact that I’d rather live in the UK than the US—so why not spend as much time with my parents as possible, while I’m still around? Besides, if I didn't live with them, I would never have any social interaction except on church days and days when I have events, and then I'd basically be a hermit. 
I don't want that.
We all have great fun though. Mum has taught me my passion for good cooking and baking, Dad taught me the value of ethics and hard work, and we all make each other laugh on a regular basis, which is seriously one of my favorite things to do.
I giggle. A lot. Inappropriately, occasionally, and I can’t help it.
Fortunately, Mum’s usually laughing right along with me.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

I read?

All month long, I’m reintroducing you all to none other than… me. Why? Because I realized that we have a lot of newcomers in TMBTC, and rather than making you all hunt for prior information that’s probably out of date, I thought I’d just share it all with you outright.
So, who is Rani Divine? I’m a reader.
But I haven't always been, nor am I always now. 
If I’m being honest, reading has always been something I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with, primarily because I can’t ever decide if I prefer to be reading or to be writing, but I frequently struggle to do both at the same time. I’m currently working on that. It's a tedious process.
I’ve always really considered myself a reader though. I don’t think there was ever a time in my life when I didn’t think of myself as a reader, when I didn’t think of myself as someone who could sit down for hours with a good book in my hands, completely absorbed by the story. Because I always could be that person, even when I wasn’t being her at the moment.
I do, honestly, love reading. It’s just that most of the time, I love writing and editing more.
As for the things I like to read, I’m a little strange in that regard. Where most writers like to stick to the genre in which they write, I do the opposite. I very rarely read a book that’s in the genre I’m writing at the moment.
For instance, while I was writing my Earth-Space science fiction series (due out in a few years), I read a lot of fantasy and thrillers. And right now, while I’m finishing out that series and finishing out the Druid Novels, I’ve been reading mysteries and historical fiction.
I can’t really say why I don’t read in the genre I write, only that I write better and think more clearly when I read in an alternate genre.
See? It’s a very tumultuous relationship, I’m telling you.
But I do consider myself a reader, and an avid one. In my line of work, I don’t have any option but to be, do I?
I actually have a page on Goodreads, if you ever want to watch my slow progress through any given book. It’s been taking me a bit lately.
So that’s me.
I’m a reader. Even if I’m not always actually reading.
[love]
{Rani D.}