Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Not exactly who you would think

Howdy!

 Ya'll know I live on a ranch, right? Maybe not. Oh well, I do. But it's a very small one with only four horses, two dogs, and two (indoor) cats. Yah, we're still working on it. But there will be a baby horsie in a few months! Yeah!

 Now that you know this, you would probably assume a few things. First, I say 'howdy' and 'ya'll' all of the time. Second, I wear cowgirl clothes everywhere. Third, I'm some kind of hick. And Fourth, well, I don't know what else you might be thinking.

 Now to set you straight. I hardly ever say howdy or ya'll. I live in Colorado, and we are NOT considered part of Dixie. I do like wearing my cowgirl clothes, but I was a sporty girl long before I was a horsie girl. I like my stretchy clothes, and I do like wearing pretty clothes. I am a very well egumakated (Haha, just kidding;) educated girl.


Me at camp. Lilly, the horse isn't mine. Sorry the pic is sideways. :P
Really annoying.


 Why am I telling you this? Well, I assume you read. And depending on what you've read, that is how you made your first opinion of me. Right? You've probably read of those hick cowboys and girls. So as soon as you read that I live on a ranch, I was thrown in with your idea of them.
 So to the point. Do Not let your reader assume anything about your character. Your character needs to have character. (No pun intended, okay maybe a little) You probably know by now that I like to joke around. Look up a line to see my point. I like to make little jokes here and there, especially in my writing. Does your character have something that is special to them?
 Say for a minute that you jump around from one POV to another. Would your reader know who's head they were in before the even saw any names? That is what I mean. Your character needs to have voice.
 Can you tell who wrote a post, me or Owyn, before you see our names? That is because we have different voices. At least I hope so. (Owyn! You better not have stolen my voice!) The other day she stole my marbles. ;) hehe   See I'm a funny person.

 Make sure your readers know who your character is. Next time I'll talk about not letting your characters be you. That is very hard for me. :)

 Bye Ya'll!! ;D

P.S. We would really love to hear what you think! We are kind of getting blogger lonely. You would really help if you left a comment! Thanks!

 Love, Brookie

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Forgiveness


 Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, sticky stuff.

Man, I'm having a hard time with this one. But I really think I should address it after my last two posts. And now seems like the right time to do it.



 Forgiveness is one of those really hard things. It seem so simple, yet the most simple things are the hardest. You say, 'is it really that important?'. But deep down we all know it is. We don't have to have someone tell us that it's the right thing, that it will help us. That we will feel better if we forgive. God gave us a brain for a reason, but us stupid humans, we just don't like using it all the time.

 As children of God we want to be like him. And what is God super good at? And I mean super good at. Forgiveness, duh. Sorry I hate questions like that too, but somehow we all ask questions like that anyways. Back to what I was talking/typing about. :) God forgave us of every sin we ever made and will ever make. And his son, or savior Jesus Christ, said to Simon Peter that we need to forgive 7 x 70 times. That's 490 times! Yah, I know you've probably heard that at church, if not, well at least I'm not talking to myself here. ; ) 

 Also, how many times do we want to hurt God? Really, when that person hurt you, they hurt God, and when you refuse to forgive them, it hurts Him again. Who wants to hurt the One who gives us every breath, every joy, every providence? 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you.' I've heard that somewhere...

 Now, where this aplies to in your writing. Don't make forgiving too easy for your characters. They have to be realistic. They have to go through something that opens their eyes. Maybe they read a Bible verse, or poem. Maybe they listen to TobyMac's song Forgiveness ( great song, I suggest listening to it and this next one) or Forgiveness by Mathew West. Or maybe they saw something happen that makes them realize, that hate is not getting them anywhere. They dont just lay in bed and say, 'Wow, I haven't forgiven that person yet. I forgive them now.' It just don't happen that way. Too bad, but we humans are pretty thick skulled. 
 
Love y'all! Brookie

 

Friday, January 24, 2014

What Is A Truly Fearless Woman?

         Salutations! ;)
   Today I am starting out with a question.
                   Do you see the picture above? Nodd you head because you probably just looked at it. What comes to mind when you see the picture and read it's words?

     Do you think of some tough drill sergent laidy like the principle in the movie Matilda?
     Do you think of a tough girl who stays strong even though she's been through alot in life?
    Do you think of a girl whom everyone is afraid of cuse she looks like she could smash you with her pinky?
    Do you think of a woman who is constantly praying and helping others, ignoring her problems and setting her troubles aside to help someone else?
   Do you think of a woman whose Able to stand up for her faith and isnt afraid to take someone elses punishment or be insulted for what she belives?

I think of the last two when I think of a fearless woman. A truely fearless woman is not afraid of the challenges the world throws at her. She is able to stand up for others and praise God through the hard times. She has faith and hope even when told their is none to be had. She is willing to serve God and lay aside other things to make time for him. That is who I am trying to make my character Arin. I want her to be a brave and fearless woman but i know she cant be that perfectly. Fearless womaen aren't afraid to cry but don't cry because they wanrt to encourage others.
      Think of, and I encourage you to read Proverbs 31. Read about the virtuous woman. And to the women and girls reading this be encouraged by the words in this passage. Do not let it make you feal worthless but rather let it make you feal like you can be that kind of woman! You must know first though; without God we as women can't even come close to that standard. With him though we can soar above it!

  Be encouraged and dive into God's word to see for yourself and learn his ways!
     God Bless!
          Owyn V

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

We All Have Our Strengths and Weaknesses

     Ok so raise your hand if you are scared and feel week some times. If you didn't I would have to assume you are lieing....sorry. I am human you are human we are all human and no matter hiw brave or strong we are on the out side....IT'S THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS! I bet you've heard that one before! You see the pic up top? Nodd your head and say yes, ok, now read it. What does it say?? Say it out loud I want to hear you! Ok good! (Yes this is an active participation!)
       It says: God is our refuge and strength!. Ok so what does that mean? I am getting there hold on. Back to you and I being human and feeling fear and weekness. Often times Characters in books are always strong on the out side but week on the inside or they are Brave on the out side and so afriad on the inside. I admit I have a character like that.......   but for her things are a bit different. She is portrayed as a stong, fearless, compasionate, loving woman. Did you see the last two? Most of the time the brave fearles characters dont have these two very(in my opinoin) important chararistics! They are brave but lack compasssion they are fearless but lack love. And more oft than not the characters don't have God and if you dont have God all these chararistics are impossible! Arin is my chaeacters name... well her full name is Areial Arin. Areial means lion of God and Arin means mountain of strength. My character is a woman yes. Well she's a woman she  can't be named that!
  Oh yes she can! Arin has a twin brother she feels she needs and wanta to protect (no hes not helpless infact he is quite strong) along with everyother person that happens to travel or live with  them. She has fears and weeknesses. And belive me she is not a feminest either. She does wear trousers and a shirt but taking into consideration she was raised to do battle and a skirt is not really convineant in that kind of a situation, i think we are ok. Arin is a practical woman and prefers the simple necesities of life over the extraveagant luxuries.
  Any way..... She is brave fearless and stubborn but she is loving compassionate and kind. And with out King Theros(our representaion of God) she woyld not have any of those traits. She is afraid more than you would think and belive me she does have weaknesses. But the stength of King Theros Is what keeps her chin up and her confident air about her!
    I can do all things through Chrust who gives me stength! Phillipians 

I hope this has inspierd you and made you thought full. GOD BLESS!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Everyone has a heart

Now last time we talked about how nobody's perfect, today we're talking about how even though we and our characters aren't perfect, God gave us hearts and even if we aren't believers we still use our hearts.
                                                           
 Now this is especially hard when making your antagonist, you want the ugly guy who doesn't do a lick of good. Right? 
 
 Not always.   

  If you have an antagonist who is portraying Lucifer/Satan/The Devil or whatever you happen to call him, you know, the Big bad guy, down in Hell/Hades or whatever you call his home, you want a pure evil guy sure. But think about it, when you get tempted to do something wrong, it doesn't always look wrong at the time does it?
 No. Actually most of the time it looks pretty sweet, maybe it even seems it will help you or someone else. 
 Sometimes it seems like the right thing to do, like say when, your mom or friend gets a new sweater and it just isn't working on them, you say 'well, I'm doing this so I won't hurt their feelings.' But as my youth group has been discussing for quite some weeks, lying is wrong, no ands, buts, or ors. (I'm not going to get into that discussion today, but if you want to email me we can discuss it by email, just leave a comment saying that you would be interested in talking about it) 
 But the Devil makes it look like its the right thing to do, the nice thing to do. 
You've got to make him sweet but sticky. 

But if you're not writing a allegory, or your antagonist is just a normal person, (bully, old friend, etc...) they aren't going to be pure evil. They are going to have their soft spots too. 

I know you know at least one person who isn't the nicest when around you. Don't tell me you don't. *shaking finger*
So think about them, I'm pretty certain you know where they could improve, (aren't we all like that?) but where are they nicest? Do they have a soft spot for little kids or seniors? Maybe they are hard workers. Or they never break their promises. 

Okay, hopefully by the time you've pointed out some nice things with that person, you will be a little nicer towards them. And you know their weak spots, that is a very dangerous thing for someone to know, don't use it for evil.

 But now that person that you don't like quite so much, just helped you with your writing. Never thought of that did ya?




Sorry this one was so long!! That's a fault of mine, if I get started talking, it's hard for me to stop if I'm on a subject I love! At least I don't start conversations like this barely ever. :P

Have a great day!! And good luck with school work. :)

Monday, January 20, 2014

The Importance of Scripture in Christain Writing

   GOOD MORNING ALL YOU LOVELY PEOPLE!!!

Ok now that I have gotten that out....Hi!
   
     "So what are we doing today?" you ask.
Well we are going to read a bit of scripture that i feel this book(for me) is based off. Well actually several verses. The fisrt one is from the book of Philipians 4:13 "I can do all things through christ who gives me strength!"
And the second from Ephesians 6:10-17 "Finally be strongin the lord and in the stengthofhis might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able tostand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our strughle isnot against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, agaist the powers, against the world force of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavanly places.    Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.    Stand firm therefore, Having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the brestplate of Righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preperation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all taking up the sheild of Faith whith which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God! With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in veiw, be on the alert with all perserverance and petition for all the saints"
   
    So you have probably heard these verses before and maybe even have them memorized! I feel these verses represent our book so well because our characters are constantly praying and finding stength in King Theros (who represents god). They each recive special weopons and armor which represent the vereses I just typed up from the bible. When writing Christian litureature I feel it is necesary to use at least a few passages of scripture, but its even better when you use alot of these powerful words. Even the devil must go before God and ask permission to lay his hands on his children (which are the people who have truely accepted him!). If you have ever read the book of Job or studied it then you know what i am talking about. If you haven't then I greatly encourage you to do so! Yes the father of lies must go before God and ask if he can test Job and torment him! That magnifies God's power!
I love it when I find Fiction books that have scripture in them and love them even more when the scriptuer represents something or is meditated on by the characters! When there is interaction over these verses they come alive in the book and their point is made clear! The Left Behinde series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins. The Kingdom of Arethtrea by Chuck Black is also a great example of the kind of books I am explaining. (no I am not averetizing these books I am meerly giving an example of scriptural fiction books!) Brookie and I are trying our best to inter twine scripture in our books and convey the meaning. But we need God to bless our hands and minds! For without God our eforts are futile!

    I encourage you to read the scriptuer in yourown bible and meditate on it! (no that doesnot mean you read it then go sit on the floor with your leggs crosse and say ohm a thousand times. it means think on it find what it means to yiu and pray That God will reaveil his meaning to you!) Pray over it ask your parenst or kids their opinion. Get together with your siblings and study it together!
   if you want to talk with me about it then here is my email silent.warrior.for.god@gmail.com

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Nobody's Perfect

Hey all,

Are you perfect? I know I'm not. I don't have very good patience with anyone over the age of six and who is human. And sometimes I even lose my patience with little kids and animals. That's all I'm going to list, I don't want you guys thinking too badly of me. ;)  
 But everyone has their goods and their bads. Today we are going to talk about the bads. With some characters this is very easy to come up with, 'Oh sure, Billy can't say one sentence without arguing about something.' But with others it like, well... she... um... I've had a few of those characters, their the ones who make mistakes but they usually learn from them, so their always changing. But usually if you dig deep enough with characters like that, you can find their weakness. Because there is almost always something that you can tie the mistakes that they make to.
 But don't make the mistake of not giving them any bad behavior. I'm in the middle of a book right now, The Basket of Flowers, for school. It's a pretty good story, but, Mary is perfect. She won't lie even after she's been beaten, and her father's life is at stake as well as hers. She always puts others before herself, she asks for her father to be spared. And she is just so sweet. It kills us sinners after a while. NOBODY's perfect. Sure, Jesus was perfect and we look up to him. But he is fully GOD, and fully man. We are fully and completely man, we sin, it's in our nature, at least once in our lives we all sin. (let he who is without sin, cast the first stone, John 8:7) 

 So our characters need some sin, faults in their lives. And thru the book they will get better about controlling one or a few of those faults. If real humans aren't perfect we should our characters be?
 Don't get me wrong though, we don't want to be sinful, it's just who we are. But we need to fight against that sinful nature too, that is how our characters grow.

Here is a list that I've made, (Okay, so I only put in a couple of words. I got the rest from GTW) of faults for your characters.

                       

                                  
                    
                                          


                                                           Self-Righteous
                                                          Absent-minded
Antisocial
Bossy
Careless
Childish
Cocky
Cold
Controlling
Cutthroat
Dumb
Fake
Indecisive
Irresponsible
Judgmental
Lazy
Liar/dishonest/flatterer
Naïve
Nosy
Oblivious
Obsessive
Overbearing
Push-over
Pushy
Reckless
Rigid
Self-involved
Showy
Skittish
Stubborn
Timid
Too concerned with the opinions of others
Unforgiving
Weak
OR, good traits that are taken too far. Example: Easygoing can turn into oblivious.

                     

Friday, January 17, 2014

Hi!

                                      Hi!

 Hi I'm Brooke and I am starting this blog with my friend Owyn. :)
We are starting this for several reasons. Reason number one: It is supposed to help with our writing. Reason number two: We want to encourage others with their writing. Reason number three: It sounds like fun! So I hope you will encourage us with our little adventure at blogging. We need all that we can get!

Hope you like it! Honestly, and truly Brooke F. :P

P.S. If you have any tips, please share. :)


Meet Arin!

Hello everybody!
      Sorry quite a bit late with the post Iwont spend any time on an explination! This is Arin one of our characters. You'll figure out what shes like after you read this. Its in the middle but it shows her character the best. Well the best i have typed out anyway.


Arin was defiantly flustered she had spent thirty minutes, after being scrubbed down at least fifteen thousand times, explaining to the maids why she would never even consider wearing any of the items that had been set out for her to no avail. She finally showed them out of the room. They were tiny little women that didn't put up much of a fight but boy were they...how do you put it nicely insistent. She donned the cloths she had worn to this disgraceful building. "If Terragon thinks that I am I going to wear those low-chested-two-times-too-small-13-inch-waist-over-sized-burlap-bag-skirt-dresses he is out of his mind!" she ranted to her self as she buckled her belt and strapped on her sword. She said a quick prayer then looked around the room for an escape, so thay she mght be able to sneek the others out after the cerimony. "Nothing" she sighed exasperated leaning against the wall. Then she had an idea 'our castle had a secret passage in most of the rooms maybe this one dose after all it wasn't always Rucifels.' She figured she had a couple more minutes so she went around the room pressing pulling and shifting everything she could. She hadn't found anything when the guard pounded on the door. "Time for the ceremony! Hurry up!" Arin was startled and jumped pushing against wall to steady her self and pushed a brick in and a small door just big enough for a person to go through opened up she pushed the brick again and it closed. What amazed Arin most was that it was extremely quite. 'Thank you my King! Thank you!' Arin exulted silently; she had some exploring to do tonight. "Coming!" She said smiling to her self 'we may not get out of the castle but we can form a plan!' The guards glared at her when she walked out. "Terragon will note pleased with your attire tonight" Arin shot a glare at the guard "I do not care to please that coward!" The guard raised his hard to strike Arin, she did not recoil but the other Guard stopped him. "Remember we rant supposed to leave a mark on her!?" The first guard grumbled. "You got away this time wench but I will look forward to beating you someday." Arin only smirked. 'Oh you wish.. but after tonight you won't get a chance!' Sahe thought to herself.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Decisions!! Decisions!!

  Hi yall!
     
     Ok so normal convorsation with people you ask how they are  doing but I am not normal so ill ask what your eating... so what are you eating? Ok just kidding you don't have to answer that if you don't want to the options yours! *Gasp* i gave you an option a decion to make for yourself ...... WOW!!!
 
      K that was wierd.....any way my post today will be about decision makeing! Whooohoo!! No? Ok maybey Decicion making is not all that exciting. Well that  depends.....and when writing a book it is a pretty awsome thing!

     So first, obviously you have to decide who your characters are..... now when writing a biography your characters are already chosen for you....but I am not writing a biography so well put that to the side right now. Oh no we have to decide uhg boring! Oh Contrare señora or señor you get to be creative now who here dose not like being creative? You sir? PUT YOUR HAND DOWN!! Alright class without any negatives who likes being creative? All of you? Oh goodie! Now if your anything like me you dream of thousands of different characters in three minutes.Why such along time for thousands of characters?   Well they need personalities,eye color,hairtype and color, how tall are they face shape, build  are they boy or girl and cloths!  Then you have the process of elimiation anyone ever watch the next food network star? ok so we do that and the we repeat till we have  around fifty characters then we choise two or all fifty for who the story revolves around and we have to make sure they know its just the story and not the  world that revolves around them or eles they get spioled and have to sit in time out. Alot of people think i talk to myself but inreality i talk to my characters! Then you build the basics around them. I actually just jot down little scens or clips that pop into my head and if they dont quite fot or getalong with my characters then i just cut it or change it to fit!

     So did I cover everything? If not write a question in the comments and ill give you an answre but nothing personal like my favorite kind of food ( which happens to be guacamloe and chips if you were wondering) other than that aks  and you shall revive an answer!
 oh and if you are reading this and notice all the spelling mistakes or no punctuation. PLEASE IGNORE I am on my phone and couldnt see the bottom half of this post. So with that i will be posting clips from our book on mondays wednesdays and fridays and every so often sundays but thats like a once a moth thing so!
 sianara till i post next..oh haha which is tomorrow by the way! Adeios!

 ~Owyn W.

Dreaming Your Story to Life

Hello all,

 First "real" post so far. Yea!!

 When I first go to write a book, I day dream about it for a couple of days. I get to know what my characters are like by watching them interact in my head. Lot's of people just start with all the list stuff like, how old is my character, what does she look like, is she lonely, popular, etc... But I like to answer all of those questions by imagining them. I do this for a couple of days till I feel like I know my characters pretty well. Then I go to the sheet of questions.
 I also start my plotting this way. I can't plot all the way through like this, my mind just won't work that way. But if I could I would.
 I dream about my characters whenever they pop into my head, when I'm doing school, reading, washing dishes, trying to fall asleep, etc... (Shhh, Don't tell my mom about the school part) ;)
 
 I really don't have any tricks that are my own, but I'm happy to say that this is one I didn't read about. :)




My horsie Dusty daydreaming about what might try to eat him and how he's going to dump me and get away.
He's a little worry wart. ;)
 
Feel free to leave comments!

P.S. After this post we are going to start only posting on certain days.



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

!!Greetings!!

Hi!
     I am Owyn Wales. Brookie introduced me earlier. i will start with telling you a little bit about my self and my love for writing..... don't worry I'll make the long story short! ;)
      I love to write but theres a catch i hate writing asignments. "well how can you love to write" you ask? You see i love to write the Tales and Stories that jump into my head taking over for a while then dieing like a fire when there is no kindling to feed it. When i am given a writing assignment especially one that leaves little or no room for imagination that fire dosen't come." why?"  allow me to enlighten you.  I create the fire in my mind,someone cant just put it their.I do admit there are writen assignments I have done that a small fire does come up but its not as big as on that I get when inspierd buy something and I take off on it.
  Ok enough of that, you probably are wanting to who I am and why I am doing this blogg. Alright  hold ye old horses, I'll tell you. I am a 16 year old girl who happens to despise the term teenager, (I preffer young adult. I need to live up to that before I can gain that title however.), I am a wee bit looney (my freinds will tell a ton more that a wee bit crazy.) I love to read but love writing even more! I can't wait to get to know all of you and what you are looking forward to seeing! We will post clips and scenes from our book and want to here your thoughts! Thankyou Own W~


Now. Since this is a writers blog. I better make a post about writing. The only problem is, I'm not a pro. In fact I'm a newbie. But I will tell what I know.

 Starting writing is one of my most favorite parts. You have that new idea that is screaming for you to form and make into something gorgeous.
 You start getting to know that person in your head. I'll have to say, some of my best friends are in my head. They tell you all about themselves, and you get to know them. I have a character in my head right now. His name is Brayden, I can't wait for him to tell me his story. He hasn't told me yet, so I'm waiting -somewhat- patiently while I get to know some others.



Sorry this post is so short.

 There is so much to write about. If you have questions and stuff about writing, comment, and I will write a post about it. 'Cause I really need something to address in this blog.
 Like I said. I'm new at this stuff, so please be patient with me as I try and sometimes fail.
 I'm better at them than writing. Thanks for checking us out!