I have bloggers block.

And you know what would be really helpful for me to get over it? Some ideas. :)

Does anyone have anything they would like to see a post about? Even if it's about Mars for Pete's sake, at least it's something. Right? So really, please let me know. If you would like to know more about me, or need some random tips, a book you want reviewed, or ANYTHING. I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks guys!!

Brookie :)

The Change is here!

So everybody, how do you like the blog make-over? :)

I think it is totally awesome and Brittney did a great job. It's everything Owyn and I had wanted.

Thank you so much Brittney for doing this for us!! Your great. :)

Here is a link to her site if you think our blog is so awesome now that you need a cool design done by her.
Designed By Britt

Let us know what you think!! :)

Brookie

Dialog/Dialogue

Okay, now no-one will yell at me for spelling it wrong. ;)

Dialogue is one of those things that can either come super easy for folks, or they stink at it. And some people are good at different emotions when writing dialogue.

Personally I write good dialogue when the there is strong emotion. But only for the first few comments. Then everything starts sounding 'real'.

Now usually 'real' is good. But when writing a novel, real is only good up to a certain point. You don't want your story to seem so unreal that no-body can relate, but 'real life' is pretty boring. That my friends is why we have fiction. ;)

So it's the same with the talking in a book. If it were realistic it would sound like this, "Hey Owyn. What's up?"

"Nothing much. How 'bout you?"

"Ah, you know. The usual."

Who wants to read that? : /

Disclaimer. This is Google's picture.

So when writing dialogue, you only write the important stuff. What your characters do and say should either move the story forward, or show a bit of your character's personality.

A funny persons dialogue should sound funny. A serious character should not be making jokes. Unless there is some reason for them too. Which would be moving the story forward.

(NOTE: If you have a character who does is not serious and never talks about anything interesting, then they would be an excuse for writing boring dialogue. But only because it is showing who they are. Just keep in mind not to let them talk a whole lot)

Get it? Got it? Good. ;)

Good luck on your dialogue writing!
Brookie

Why do we write?

Why do we write? Someone might ask you this question. Now I haven't had it asked of me, but if someone did ask, this is what I would say; "Because if I didn't, I would explode."

Simple as that.

(Disclaimer) This is not my picture.

But I can't leave a post this short. Besides, you want an explanation I'm sure.

Now first off, I wouldn't really explode. Although I haven't been taking my blood-pressure medicine, so... Anyways, what would happen is, I would have a bunch of ideas that would build up in my brain, I would start having imaginary friends, then people would look at me like I was some sort of lunatic (not that that doesn't already happen), then I would probably not get any sleep for several reasons.

1. I would get the imaginary friends because those characters in my head have to go somewhere, and if they're not living their lives on paper, they'll be living in my life.

2. I would loose sleep because,

 a. I would always be tormented by the people and ideas in my head

 b. I would be thinking of all the people who must be laughing at the fourteen Y.O. with imaginary friends.

So, I take the easy way and write. :)

Why do you write? Would you explode too if you couldn't write?

Brookie

Change

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to warn you so you don't freak out. Owyn and I have been thinking of giving TWS a makeover.

Note: Thinking about it.

So if suddenly you come here and everything's changed don't have a heart-attack. (Right? Like we've had this blog long enough for people to get even slightly worried over a change)

Hopefully we can make this not-so-nice-looking blog gorgeous. :)

My horse is a teacher #1

Three more followers people, till we can do the contests!! Thanks everyone who's joined so far. :)

So I've decided that I'm not only going to do writing posts anymore, but also some others. Don't worry, I will still send out my feeble attempts at the writing posts.

So I'm starting a series, I don't know how long it will go on for, called My Horse is a Teacher.

My horse is a teacher: keeping on keeping on, take one. And action!

First I'll tell you a bit about my horsie. His name is Duals Desperado, his granddaddy is Shinning Spark, and daddy is Dual Spark, if anyone cares to know, they are famous Quarter Horses. I just call my gelding (a fixed (gelded) boy horse) Dusty. This is him below in the picture. He is going to be five. He is a chicken, who has dumped me four times, and almost dumped me 1-million times.



Yes he is a bit fat. We've been working on that. ;)



One of the biggest things he has taught me is to not give up. If I didn't keep him after falling off the second time, I would have gotten an easier horse. One that knew the tricks and all I would have to do is hold on and press the buttons. And that's not a bad thing. But when you want to become good at something you don't take the easy way. You push yourself. You fall off that horse two more times till you can stay on. I know if I had sold Dusty like we we're thinking about doing after I got a concussion after my second fall I would still be an beginner. But instead, Dusty and I are now a great team, Dusty isn't nearly as scared as he used to be, I also have more confidence, and I have a lot more experience in one year than I would have if I had gotten an easy horse. Heck, our trainer even says I have a gift with timing. (Not to brag)

I'm giving lessons, and I am training Dusty and our filly Allie. I give all the credit to God first then Dusty. :) 

Have you learned the perseverance lesson yet? How did you learn it?

Brookie

Favorite Books

Over at Inklined Sarah actually suggested someone write a post inspired by her post. So now I don't feel guilty about that anymore. hehe I always feel bad when I can't think of a single thing to write about and then I see awesome posts everywhere and I don't want to be a copy cat! Thank you Sarah for letting me be a copy cat sometimes. ;)

So she was talking about favorite books. Personally, I don't remember half of the books I've read, let alone know which ones are my favorites. Now if you asked me what my least favorite ones are, that would be easy. It's a pretty short list. ;)

But I'll give one of my favorites from the different genres that I like. That'll narrow it down a bit.

Amish: The Rose Trilogy by Beverly Lewis.

Fantasy: The Chronicles of Narnia by (Come on if you don't know there is something really wrong with you) C.S. Lewis

Mystery: The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen

Suspense: Injustice For All by Robin Caroll

Non-fiction: Do Hard Things by the Harris twins, or The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

YA: The Appleseed Creek Mysteries by Amanda Flower

I won't even go into romance and Historical romance because that is half of my bookshelf. And Fantasy is 1/4 of it, and the rest is other genres. :P

How about you? Make sure to head over to Inklined to see the original post. :)

Check out Goodreads to see reviews on these great books.

Character Interviews

So very kind Jillian posted on getting to know your characters, and today I'm going to give some sheets and questions you could use. :) P.S. I found these online.

There are also worksheets you can find online for fantasy characters. and don't be afraid to add questions.

Character Profile Worksheet

Basic Statistics

Name:

Age:
Nationality:

Socioeconomic Level as a child:

Socioeconomic Level as an adult:

Hometown:
Current Residence:
Occupation:
Income:
Talents/Skills:
Salary:

Birth order:
Siblings (describe relationship):

Spouse (describe relationship):
Children (describe relationship):
Grandparents (describe relationship):
Grandchildren (describe relationship):

Significant Others (describe relationship):
Relationship skills:

Physical Characteristics:

Height:
Weight:
Race:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:

Glasses or contact lenses?
Skin color:

Shape of Face:
Distinguishing features:
How does he/she dress?

Mannerisms:
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.)
Health:

Hobbies:
Favorite Sayings:
Speech patterns:
Disabilities:
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):

Greatest flaw:
Best quality:

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background:

Intelligence Level:

Any Mental Illnesses?
Learning Experiences:
Character's short-term goals in life:

Character's long-term goals in life:

How does Character see himself/herself?

How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?

How self-confident is the character?

Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof?

What would most embarrass this character?

Emotional Characteristics


Strengths/Weaknesses:
Introvert or Extrovert?

How does the character deal with anger?

With sadness?

With conflict?
With change?
With loss?
What does the character want out of life?

What would the character like to change in his/her life?

What motivates this character?
What frightens this character?

What makes this character happy?

Is the character judgmental of others?

Is the character generous or stingy?

Is the character generally polite or rude?

Spiritual Characteristics

Does the character believe in God?

What are the character's spiritual beliefs?

Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life?

If so, what role does it play?

How the Character is Involved in the Story

Character's role in the novel (main character? hero? heroine? Romantic interest? etc.):

Scene where character first appears:

Relationships with other characters:

1. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).
2. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).
3. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).
4. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).

How character is different at the end of the novel from when the novel began:

Additional Notes on This Character:

Here is a sheet that I filled out. Just note that I just started this book and Gwynn is still revealing herself to me. :)

Character Profile Worksheet

Basic Statistics

Name: Gwynn
Age: 15
Nationality: Scottish/American
Socioeconomic Level as a child: Outgoing
Socioeconomic Level as an adult:
Hometown: Fort Morgan, Co
Current Residence: Fort Morgan, Co
Occupation:
Income:
Talents/Skills:
Salary:
Birth order:
Siblings (describe relationship):
Spouse (describe relationship):
Children (describe relationship):
Grandparents (describe relationship):
Grandchildren (describe relationship):
Significant Others (describe relationship):
Relationship skills:


Physical Characteristics:

Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 120
Race:
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Glasses or contact lenses? Glasses
Skin color: White
Shape of Face:
Distinguishing features: Freckles
How does he/she dress? Modestly
Mannerisms:
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.) Fiddling with fingers
Health: Good
Hobbies: Horse-riding
Favorite Sayings: Don't argue with stupid people, they just pull you down to their level and beat you with experience
Speech patterns:
Disabilities:
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):
Greatest flaw:
Best quality: Her eagerness for knowledge


Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background:
Intelligence Level: High
Any Mental Illnesses?
Learning Experiences:
Character's short-term goals in life: Finish school
Character's long-term goals in life: Get married, have kids, become a teacher
How does Character see himself/herself? Average
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? She has no clue
How self-confident is the character? So, so
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Logic
What would most embarrass this character? Flaws


Emotional Characteristics


Strengths/Weaknesses: Too much logic
Introvert or Extrovert?
How does the character deal with anger?
With sadness?
With conflict? She stays calm in most situations
With change?
With loss?
What does the character want out of life? She doesn't know
What would the character like to change in his/her life? To have a dad
What motivates this character? God
What frightens this character? Illiteracy
What makes this character happy? Truth
Is the character judgmental of others? No
Is the character generous or stingy? Generous
Is the character generally polite or rude? Polite, most of the time


Spiritual Characteristics

Does the character believe in God? Yes
What are the character's spiritual beliefs? Christian
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life? Yes
If so, what role does it play? Everything


How the Character is Involved in the Story

Character's role in the novel (main character? hero? heroine? Romantic interest? etc.): MC
Scene where character first appears:
Relationships with other characters:

1. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel). Brayden, they are best friends
2. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).
3. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).
4. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel).

How character is different at the end of the novel from when the novel began:

Additional Notes on This Character: