YOU FAILED!!!

I feel the need to sympathize with all of those out there who, like me:

That pretty much wraps it up for me right there.

BTW, how are you all?  It's been a while since I posted something here.  School is over now, though, so…. yeah.  I'm doing well, thanks for asking.

So my word count for this November was… subpar.

(BWAHAHAHAAAA!  Who are you kidding, Watzzit?  It was TERRIBLE!)

It wasn't THAT bad.  I mean…

(Shall I recite it for your readers?  Let them be the judge of that?)

Uhhh… I really don't think that's necessary, mysterious voice in my head.  Is that you, Jenny?

(5,471)

…

(…)

…

(…)

I told you not to do that.  Seriously, though.  Ethan?

(No, you pooter.)

…Rachel?  Shirla?

(IT'S SER YOU IDIOT!)

Oh, wow.  Hi Ser.  You usually don't talk to me.

(That's because you're usually too busy being a class-A moron.)

Why, thank you.

(Not a problem.  Now, about your pathetic word count.)

We don't talk about my word count.  That's none of your business; it's not even your book.

(THAT'S WHY I'M UPSET!!)

Oh.  I guess that makes sense.

(Stop changing the subject.)

Sorry.

(Did you even try this November?  I mean, that's barely 10% of your word count goal!  If only you had made an effort!  I mean…)

Hey, I didn't see you doing much when you were writing your Master's Thesis on energy wavelengths a few hundred years back.  School does things to us.

(For your information, while I was writing that paper, I was also flossing, cleaning my dorm, fighting a demon from the Underrealm, giving a man open heart surgery, supervising a magic-probe into the uncharted seas, and playing Kingdom Hearts on my 3DS.  Simultaneously.)

Well, we can't all be amazing.

(*snicker snicker*)

Anyways, as I was explaining to my readers before you so rudely interrupted…

(Rude interruptions are my specialty.)

…Failure is something we learn from.  Like a hard test in school, or a bad sports game.  When we fail, we shouldn't berate ourselves, or get upset, or curse life and everything about it.  Instead, we come up with…

EVIL PLANS!!!

So here's my EVIL PLAN to do NaNoWriMo next year.

1)  Pick some other month besides November to do NaNo in (such as July or June, when I have no school)

2)  Do NaNoWriMo in that month

3)  Win NaNoWriMo in that month

4) In November, upload previously-finished novel and win

5)  This is not cheating because NaNoWriMo does not stand for National November Writing Month.  It stands for National Novel Writing Month.  Nowhere is November mentioned.

IT'S FOOLPROOF!!!!

Now that I've scared all the small children away….

Don't feel so bad if you didn't make it to NaNoWriMo greatness this year.  There's always next year.  Plus, who said we need an excuse to write, anyways?  I, for one, will write my little heart out all year.

Booyah.

That is all.

Watzzit Tooyah

(P.S.  Tell him to write about ME more, readers!  It gets lonely and cramped in his tiny mind.)

NaNoWriMo: Almost Over

By now, if you're participating in NaNoWriMo, you probably have lost all sanity in your mind where your characters rule your thoughts, day and night.  Day and night!  All that occupies your mind is this one thought.  "Almost over.  Almost over."




November 1, day one of NaNoWriMo:
Feeling confident and happy with your word count goal and your characters.  Everything is going according to plan, your characters and your plot are getting along nicely.  You have high hopes for November.






November 15, halfway into NaNoWriMo:
Your characters are a mess, you're sleep deprived, and quite frankly you don't know if your novel is going to turn out as you expected.




November 30, the last day of NaNoWriMo:
Your characters have gone somewhere, (you don't know where and whether they'll come back or not) mad at you for making them an empty shell, your plot is exactly like that movie you watched last weekend, and if you're real honest with yourself, you are absolutely ecstatic that it's almost over.






 December 1, no more NaNoWriMo:
You are so overjoyed that the torture is over, feeling like you've accomplished nothing in the past 30 days.  All the joy, the love, the happiness, and craziness the past month that you have deprived yourself of just flows out of you like the tears you shed when your main character wouldn't talk to you.  In other words... YOU ARE HAPPY!!!  And you don't care what people think of you. 
 




Hopefully this inspires you in the last days of November.  Most of all, remember the gif above.  It will inspire you to keep on .  Keep on for the craziness, people!  YOU CAN DO IT!!!

-Angelina Zoe

atouchofrandomness.blogspot.com

NaNoWriMo with guest character Ty Skyy

A Word 
From Ty Skyy, Main Character of Ty Skyy’s Guide To Life

Okay, listen up people. Some person told me that there was a big event happening where you write stuff on this website called NaNoWriMo (I think it stands for Navel NoRuns Wrinkle Monday. Something like that). You like, write a book in a month and all that (why on earth would you want to sit down long enough to do that?).
SO LISTEN UP PLAYAH! 
I got some info for you to use battling that ugly guy that whispers in the back of your head ‘You can’t do this! You can’t do ANYTHING!’ while his beard hair tickles your brain stem! First of all, GIVE INTO YOUR TEMPTATION! What do I do when I want to be inspired (I don’t write books or anything, but I need inspiration just like everyone else, okay?)? I eat stuff I’m not supposed to. I eat candy. Yeah, I said it. Mom, please don’t read this. In fact, if you’re reading this just stop right here and don’t read anymore cause there’s gonna be some pretty long held secrets being blown out (cause it’s the internet, and that’s what you do on the internet.).
Secondly, you shouldn’t be ashamed of someone reading over your shoulder. If they start to read over your shoulder, froggy them in the nose. Do you know what a froggy is? You make a fist like this:

Then you punch them in the nose. I call it a froggy because the person you punch makes this little face and goes CROOOOOOOOAK! 

So yeah. That helps.

So anyway, third thing and the very last and very important, if you don’t write, then you don’t win. Everybody wants to win. Those who don’t win are a losers. Do you want to be a loser? No, no one does. At least, I hope that’s your answer, cause it’s mine.

—Tyler Skyy

NaNoWriMo Approaches!!! Advice on how to keep going through November and onto victory.

(P.S. If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo before in your life, or if you are wondering what freaky manga Japanese animé video game us writers are talking about (as I did when I first heard of it), visit ywp.nanowrimo.org.)

NaNoWriMo
aka "National Novel Writing Month", "Oh boy...", and "Oh goodie goodie!"

Some people hate NaNoWriMo (I know some people). Some people love it (meeeee!!!). Some people hate and love it (Angelina Zoe...hint hint...). Why? Because writing a novel in one month is the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. But if you like a challenge, then this is the month for you.

So, your biggest question is: HOW DO I GET THROUGH NOVEMBER WITH A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF BLOOD ON MY KEYBOARD?!?!

Allow me to help you!



Pre-NaNoWriMo

Before November comes (and it's a little late now, but at least you'll know for next year, or else stuff everything you can into one week), you should plan your book.

Yes.

No, you should.

No, you're not one of those people who run around in a happy world where planning isn't needed.

YOU NEED TO PLAN.

*sigh*...I am a non-planner as well, my friend. But this passing month, I've discovered planning doesn't have to be boring.

You see, I'm all in NaNoWriMo this year. I've thought hard about what I want to write, and I've come up with a pretty awesome book idea (in my opinion, ahem-hem). So, I decided to plan it, because I always get stuck in the middle of my unplanned books.

First, I made detailed bios of my characters. I described them up to their nose hairs, gave a basic personality I wanted them to own, and created their history. Of course, I left some parts up to my imagination; I never try to overthink my characters, or else they adopt the dreaded puppet syndrome. You have to make up enough of them to where they actually have form and thought, but not so much that they don't develop on their own as well.

After that, I made a general outline of the book, highlighting the biggest points in the novel. I managed to fit this all on one page, and I was pretty proud of that. Just jot down the big scenes you want in your novel, and piece them together. Sticky notes and poster-board is a good way to do this. I've never actually tried it, but I figure it'd be pretty awesome. I just organized my scenes in my head as I wrote them, and only messed up once. So I circled it and drew a little arrow thingly over to where it was supposed to go.

Here's a picture of my general outline. Don't bother trying to read it, I coded the secret parts, and plus it's backwards. But if you do manage to read it, I commend you. That's impressive.

So. That worked very very well for me. Next, I sat down and wrote detailed synopses of each chapter. Now you may think you should have a set chapter number, but I wouldn't worry about that. I just write it and write it and end it when it ends. In my chapter outlines, I write in casual shorthand (thus implicating frequent uses of "like," "duh," "AHK," and "lol :)") in this form:

__

bob wakes up from horrible nightmare / freaks out / goes to girlfriend's house to talk about dream / she's all like, you're a weirdo and dumps him / bob goes home sad

__

Of course mine are usually longer than that but you get the gist. I think this format gives me space to breath. If I detail it too much, I get bored with the book before I even start writing it. This gives me a lot of elbow room to experiment and change things if they get a little crazy.

Now, you just have to STAY INSPIRED! My favorite way to do this is to visit Pinterest! I look up all sorts of pictures based on my novel. Searching "character inspiration", "story scene inspiration", "action story inspiration", "story conflict inspiration", etc. comes up with some really good stuff. If this isn't your thing, try talking about your book to your friends/family, or reading books similar to yours. But most of all, STAY POSITIVE. You can do this, because YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Now go out there and WRITE!!!

—AC

Author Interview: Jake Buller of "Teenage Writer"

Greetings from planet novel, writerly homedogs! Today we have a very special guest with us: Jake, the fedora-and-trench-coat-wearing blogger of Teenage Writer and author of numerous novels, including The War Horn, his first published work. We have worked hard through tight schedules and busy months to get this interview to ya'll (oh NO!...now you know I'm southern...), so let's give Jake a big WELCOME!!!

WELCOME!!!

Hi, Jake, and welcome to The Writer’s Block! We’re very honored to have a real live published author on the blog. Tell us a little about yourself...

Well, that’s a complicated answer.  To quote the excellent children’s movie Megamind, “I had a fairly standard childhood,” which is to say that it wasn’t fairly standard at all.  I’ve lived in a number of different cities in the Midwest, but I’ve always been rooted in Kansas.  (I am of the opinion that it is the best state in the Union.  Their motto is “through difficulty to the stars” in Latin.)

My “home” when I’m in the States is a farmhouse that turned a hundred years old last year and was built by my great-great-grandfather Tobias.  I’m rather proud of that fact, which is one of the reasons I use the pen name J. Tobias Buller when I’m writing.

I do, however, live in West Africa – I just got back from a visit to the States on the 25^th of September.  The next two years of my life will be spent here in Africa.

How did you get started on writing? What was your first ‘role model’, if any?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.  I still have little “books” I stapled together when I was seven about astronomy and dinosaurs and such, and notebooks full of drawings and half-finished stories.

I think the first writer that really got me going on writing was probably Christopher Paolini, although in the long run Tolkien has been hugely influential on me.  My mom was definitely the one who kept me going, though.  Without her, I wouldn’t be a writer—or a reader, for that matter.  She’s the one who taught me how to read.

So, I’ve been to your blog and I’ve noticed you have quite a lot of writing projects going on! What’s it like to be writing so many books at once?

While I definitely have a lot going on, I try to only write one book at a time.  I have a lot of books in various stages of brainstorming and outlining and revising, but only one novel where I’m actually writing the rough draft.  (My current project is Tornado C, which is a rather odd working title that came out of nowhere.  I hope to finish the rough draft before the end of October.)

It’s hectic, more hectic than I want it to be.  Sometimes the mood comes on me and I have to scribble down thoughts to use later, and things get cluttered.  Eventually you just have to choose your battles and focus on one project.

You seem mostly wrapped up in your upcoming book Tornado C right now. Can you give us a little sneak peek?

It was hard to choose a scene, but here’s a quick glimpse at my villain.

--

        Commander Dakor, however, was briskly moving on to other subjects.  “How bad were the losses?”

        “My source said that it was nearing half, sir.  As a result, Sub-General Percidon called a retreat.  They lost much of the northwestern banks of the Vandar.”
        The commander cursed.  “The devil!  I ought to have him whipped before his men—and I would wager his men wouldn't mind it either, after putting them through a purgatory like that one.  But Percidon has one blasted foot in politics and wouldn't be rooted out for anything.”
        “He's Lady Yionna's beau after all, sir.”  Chathaz shook his head.  And as the daughter of the Baron of Grand Corva, she wielded considerable influence with her father.  Enough to get her fancy a giant promotion with zero effort.
        “Hang her.”  Commander Dakor stood up abruptly and paced in front of the couch. “She doesn't know a splinter about war—doubt she's ever had her dainty toe in real dirt, either.  But the women are the neck that moves the head, they say.” He turned back to Chathaz.  “What about prisoners?”
        “There's seven of them, sir, with more at the front.  There's a sizable amount, despite our losses.”
        The commander grunted.  “Good.  What did you order?”
        “Interrogation.”
        “Hm.”  The short, barely-audible noise was enough to make Chathaz's gut twist a little, and the neutral expression on the commander's face confirmed it: the commander disapproved.  True to form, the commander wasn't happy with the decision—Chathaz ought to have known.  At least he had delayed torture for an hour.  And he supposed an hour's delay was all he could ask for the poor souls.
        Commander Dakor turned his back to the brazier.  “Have our interrogation officers change methods.  Start with threats.  Move on to more persuasive methods if necessary.  Branding and needle torture are authorized.”
        Chathaz bit his lip and forced himself to say, “Yes, sir.  Understood.”  But not approved.  Then again, he didn't have to approve his commander's decisions in order to carry out his orders, did he?  He had done what his conscience dictated and delayed torture.  That was all he could really do.
        “Send a message tonight,” Commander Dakor continued.  “Sub-General Percidon is to be transferred to the Twenty-Second Brigade.  Fenderkort is to temporarily assume leadership of the Sixteenth, who are to rest for the next three days before being reinforced with more men from the draft.”
        Chathaz nodded appreciatively.  “Very good, sir.”
        A bit of a smile hovered at Dakor's lips.  “It is, isn't it?  The Twenty-Second is a more prestigious command for the prestigious Percidon...but currently in the reserves.  At least that bremmed gentleman will be able to play soldier without hurting the war, for a while.”
        Abruptly, the commander gave a wave of his hand.  “You are dismissed, Captain.  Any further news must be relayed to me immediately.  And remember—those orders must be sent tonight, as soon as possible.  Don't stop to chatter with some airheaded militiaman.”

What inspires you to keep writing, even when you’re stuck?

There are a lot of different things that keep me going, but I think the biggest thing is the theme of my novel.  Because the novel is coming from my heart, I can’t not write it.  It’s part of me, part of what I believe about how the world works.  So when the prose isn’t flowing and I’m frustrated, I flip back through my novel and find new energy to keep on writing.

What is your favorite aspect of writing a novel (i.e. outlining, brainstorming, characters, etc.)?

Well, brainstorming is definitely the easiest, but I think that finishing a novel is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.  Of course, you always have to revise it later, but for a little bit you feel relieved and elated that it’s finally done.  I think that’s a universal feeling that every writer strives for.

Okay, silly question time! What’s your favorite fictional character ever, and why?

What an awful question!  How am I supposed to choose?

If I really have to, though, I’d probably choose the Doctor from the British TV show Doctor Who.  He’s such a complicated and wonderful character, unlike any other characters in any show I’ve seen or book I’ve read.

Last of all, Jake...how do you overcome writer’s block?

By writing.  You’ll write awful prose for a while and the words won’t flow, but really, writing is the only way to get over writer’s block.  Even if you have to break all the rules of writing just to get words on paper, at least your novel will be written!  There’s room for revision later.

And you’ll find that after a little bit, writer’s block won’t pinch you so much—and later on, when you look back over what you wrote, it won’t be as bad as you remembered.


* * * * *

We can't thank Jake enough for helping us out with Writer's Block. But we can still try! THANKS JAKE!!!!

Five Ways to Properly Procrastinate

Procrastinating is bad. You should never do it. It's so bad, in fact, that I'm doing it right now.

Writers are perhaps the best procrastinators in the world (behind college students and probably but not limited to the President). We can use anything to procrastinate. But here are the top ways we writers procrastinate.

1. Blogging

Self-explanatory.

2. Reading Other Writer's Blogs

We seem to find pleasure in sifting through year-old posts about things like Cheez-Its and killing off characters.

3. "Finding Inspiration"

i.e. watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, reading, wasting time with friends...

4. Eating Chocolate

Hey. Not so bad a procrastination.

5. "Um, I'm, like, so doing homework right now..."

...We all know that's not true.

(P.S.

Please pardon our long, long absence. We've been trying to get a teen author to do an author talk on our blog, but there's been complications, since he's traveling and lives in Africa. But we should have that soon.)

(Oops...that was a little spoiler, wasn't it?)

(M'bad.)

One of the Best Ways To Defeat Writer's Block!

If you read the heading of this post, your heart probably jumped inside your chest.  Or you probably just yawned and said out loud, "Oh, another cure.  I wonder what they've thought of this time."  Okay, I admit it.  This cure will only work for some writers.  A majority of writers, hopefully.

Question #1:  Do you play an instrument?  If you answered no, then don't continue to read this post.  It just might discourage you.

Okay, here's one cure out of many for W.B.  Say you are at your computer, staring at your blank screen (or blank piece of paper), and you are just about to slam the screen down out of frustration.  Before you do something you regret (like slamming the screen down and breaking, meanwhile loosing your other work), try going to the piano, violin, ukulele, guitar, saxophone, drums, cello, or any instrument you play, and hammer your anger and frustration into that.  I find it very relaxing when I have a bad case of W.B. to just sit at the piano and beat away at the keys, playing the most loud song I know.  And then my brother knocks on the wall (his bedroom wall is right where the piano is) for me to stop.

And so then I play something softer, more inspiring... something with a softer sound.  Like maybe a classical piece.  I don't find, though, that classical pieces work for me.  I find that sad, heartbreaking, movie themes help me.  Like the song from Tron: Legacy at the very end when Sam realizes that he won't see his father again.  It's called Father and Son.  That song really gets me going.  Songs that like.  Or another one that's really soothing is the one from Kung-Fu Panda called Oogway Ascends.  The part in the movie when Oogway "dies".  That's a really good one.

Or if you play the guitar, just strum away really hard!  That's what I do.  Just play a series of chords (not a specific song) really hard (uh, but don't break the strings while your at it...) and smile evilly as you look over at your brother who's covering his ears!  But I'm not that mean... or am I?  

It's worth a try if you play an instrument.  And who knows, it might work for you.  Give it a try!  

Farewell,
Angelina Zoe        

This Is My Pathetic Existence

I literally just wrote this into my book.  This is an exact quote, copy and pasted into this blog submission thing:

(SKIP THIS PART BECAUSE I’M TOO LAZY TO WRITE IT)

Chapter Two

Aren't I just disgusting?

That is all,

Watzzit Tooyah

Camera Lenses and Main Characters, and How to Tell the Difference

     I have a problem that I would like to share with you.  Perhaps if I talk about it enough, a partially brilliant solution will spontaneously occur to me and I can share it with you.
     My main character, a young boy with an average childhood, a terrible tragedy, and a fascinating destiny, is sadly nothing but a camera lens.

     It happens to the best of us, I prefer to tell myself.  Somehow, our heroes and main characters, that (check all that apply) witty, intelligent, heroic, resourceful, tormented, dark, bright, cheery, somber, happy little lad or lass that carries our imaginations and, hopefully someday, our readers through our fantasy land somehow becomes nothing but a camera lens.  They don't act, they don't speak, they barely think, and all of our less-interesting secondary characters steal the show, while our camera lens just looks around and is useless.

     Why does this happen?  I have my theories.  Perhaps:

• We have lost interest in our main character.
• Our main character is throwing a tantrum.  Anastasia once complained that her characters do this all the time.
• Our main character is what is known as a "puppet character."
• Our main character is an empty shell of his former self.
• The story isn't really about the main character (uh oh).
• We don't know what's going on in our story.  We're winging it, per se.
• I haven't gotten enough sleep.
• Aliens are stealing my creativity for their own nefarious purposes.
• I've been watching too much Spongebob and am emulating Patrick.

     This is all fine and dandy, but HOW DO WE FIX IT!?!?!?!?!  Unfortunately, a camera lens character is not interesting to read about.  If I wanted to read about a camera lens, I would go online and google "Nikon D70 User Manual."

     I would probably die there, reading that six-inch thick manual.  Where would that get us, reader?  Nowhere, I say.  So let's not do that.  Let's fix this puppy up and get writing again.

     Solutions vary to this problem, depending on the cause, but the main thing that needs to happen is the character needs to be a character.  Characters act, think, and speak.  It's in their nature.  So, the first thing one must do is make their character a character.  I've always firmly believed that unless your character (any character, not just a main character) doesn't invade your brain as a separate person, walking around on the stage of your brain and doing things independently of your directions, they are not real characters, but just puppets you control.  This leads to our next conclusion.  Unless you are raving mad, you are not officially a teen writer.

     So, sit down for a few minutes.  Don't even look at a pencil or a keyboard (or a pen, piece of paper, dictation app, or Siri), and really get to know your character.  Don't worry, just because you are talking to a non-existant person in your head, it doesn't mean you are mentally ill (at least that's what I tell myself.  Horace, Darrin, Ser, Anthony, Nocturne, Alexus, Shrrn, Melrac, Crealis, Charming, Galnore, Drake, Aryll, Endon, Ferus, Ethan, and Crux all agree.  Rachel is the only one that tells me I need help.  Kaleas won't talk to me; he's probably meditating).  Figure out his past, his likes and dislikes, his fears and hopes, his problems, defeats, and triumphs.  Imagine every countless detail about your character, even ones that may never make it into your book.  The more you fully imagine your character, the closer you get to creating a real, living character.

     WARNING! Before you do this, make sure you can deal with the consequences.  Real live character do sometimes misbehave and can be quite rude, sometimes contributing to Writer's Block more than they cure it.  Just ask Anastasia.

...

But it's worth it.  Trust me.  A book just isn't a book without real characters.



     After all, if you don't believe that your character is real, why should we, the readers, believe?




That is all,

Watzzit Tooyah

How to Write a Novel: The End

Ah ha! So, brave storyteller, you have made it this far in your writing journey, eh? Well, congratulations! You're almost done with your novel! But first, you have to venture over the hump of the final conflict. You must bring all of those subplots, those awesome characters, and those evil villains and place them in a confrontation against your hero. And I am here to walk you through this daunting and exciting task.

THE END
is such a scary word that most writers try to avoid it. Often, the end means the death of one of your favorite characters, or the ultimate failure of your hero. Personally, I think the end is the best part of the book. I love reading the end of a book, so rightly, I love writing the end of a book. It's just THE most exciting part of the novel! It's the final moment! It's the BESTEST PART OF THE BOOK, WHERE YOUR CHARACTER'S TRUE MORALS AND PERSONALITIES SHINE THROUGH AND ALL OF THEIR UGLY TRUTHS BURN HOLES INTO THE FLOOR AND CAUSE PAIN AND HORROR!!!! HAAAAA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!!

Ahem.

So, here are the main points of the end of a book.

1. The Black Moment
So, you built up momentum and your hero busted into the bad guy base. This is the last straw. Your hero is so fired up and ready to rumble, you're getting scared of him. But then—oh no!—his partner and best friend is hit by a stray bullet and is killed. The hero falls by his comrade's side, just to see the ugly boots of the bad guy with a gun trained on his head. No escape. No running. This is the end.

This is an example of a black moment (in short and...well, breezed over). The black moment is the time before the climax, the point of defeat in your hero's life. This is his darkest, most revealing moment in time. Everything is going wrong. All seems lost. His friends are dead and he is chained to the wall of his worst enemy's bathroom with a slow-acting poison entering his nervous system. There is no way out.

The black moment is a hard thing to write and to read about. You've been training and bringing up this hero for months now, and now you have to come close to killing him, to stab his soul and see what happens. The most important thing to remember at this time is to not just bring the hero down physically, but emotionally. Don't just stab him in the leg and leave him bleeding and dying, kill an ally or let the villain monologue about how useless the hero is. Let the hero's negative characteristics, his weaknesses and greatest fears, be realized in this moment. And don't, by all means, make it a simple, easy thing. Make it as hopeless as possible. This should be where the readers go, "Oh, well, he's dead. There's no way he's getting out of this."


2. Facing the Villain
The black moment is your hero's most hopeless moment. He must triumph, of course, and struggle to the next battle—which is a face-off between him and his worst nightmare. The villain should represent all things the hero fears. The villain must present a horror-filled and terrifying image to your hero—to him, there's nothing worse than who he's facing.

This is where the villain strikes fear into your hero. This is where the hero must overcome the last fear and battle the villain for goodness's sake. It probably shouldn't be too drawn out, this facing of the villain—just a short scene, a small glimmer of doubt as the hero prepares to face his fears. It should happen just before the defeat of the villain—the hero seems like he's going to be defeated, then pulls his last card.

3. The Smackdown
Finally! The hero overcomes his fears and throws all he has into the last battle. The villain realizes he is done for and the hero defeats him with one deft stroke. All of the terror, the hopelessness, the loss, and the pain pay off in this moment—the hero totally whips up on the villain.

Perhaps more could be said. Perhaps I am leaving too much to the imagination. But the smackdown is a personal hero-thing, and I cannot choose your distinct smackdown. It could be a battle of swords, wits, blasters, or just mental power. But make it really, really cool.

4. Happily Ever After (or not)
The battle is won. There has been loss and victory, pain and healing, sorrow and joy. This is where your hero recognizes these, and either chooses to live happily or sadly. I can't tell you how to end your book—I only suggest that you make the very end as short as possibly without seeming too...rushed. Example, Inheritance, an installment in the Eragon series, has possibly the worst ending EVER. It lasts literally like, fifty pages. I mean, SERIOUSLY. I got SO BORED that I nearly gave up reading it. And I was almost done with it! So don't drag out the happy ending. Just make it happy and end the book. Better to leave your reader on an adrenaline rush than to leave them bored out of their minds, I always say.


Well. You did it. You have finished an entire novel. You have taken all of those loose ideas and stray characters and made something totally awesome out of it. How proud are you?

A.C.

The Most Important Character in Your Book

Two words.  The Villain.  Here's why:

You can't have a book without a villain.  There's no story.  No driving conflict.  No monster to defeat at the end so the hero can say "Ahh, well done" to him/her self.  A book can have a so-so hero with a great villain and still be an awesome book (cough cough lord of the rings cough cough frodo cough cough), but a book with a so-so villain is doomed to fail.  You must, and I mean MUST, nail this super-important character.  He must be the single most developed, thought out, motivated, interesting, personality-filled person in your story (aside from your main character, the Hero.  More on him/her later).

So, what can you do to create this amazing person?  How can you create a great villain?

This probably should have been the title of the post.  Let's start over, shall we?

How to Create a Frightening Villain

by Watzzit Tooyah

     Like every character in your book (EVERY character), the villain has to seem real.  He has to have real thoughts, emotions, and most importantly, motives.  The villain can be as big, evil, and superpowered as you want, but what will convince the reader that he is worth fearing is how real he seems.  The dark lord who wants to destroy the nation suddenly becomes more interesting when we learn that it was the same nation that wrongly banished him years ago. *THOR/AVENGERS SPOILER* Loki suddenly grabs our attention and seems more deadly when we realize that he was adopted, and secretly is the Frost Giant prince *END SPOILER*.  Giving your villain a past makes his present actions more real and believable, which will go a long way towards making him feared.

     Obviously, the villain must be powerful—certainly the most powerful person in your story (how you define the word "power" depends on your genre/story).  Even Gandalf fears Sauron; Luke is soundly beaten by Vader; Mama Oti never takes on the Shadow Man; the Sand Man is beaten by Pitch Black; Joker usually beats Batman first time around... you get the picture.  For whatever reason and in whatever way, the villain is superior to even the best good guys.

     Also obvious, the villain must be...well...villainous.  He has to be morally evil.  Maybe he doesn't see himself as evil, but he is.

These are what a villain needs.  What makes a villain great, though, is different.  There are different ways to make a villain interesting:

1.     Make the villain and hero connected.  Cheesy example: Darth Vader is Luke's father.  There is, of course, the simple method of making the hero and villain physically related.  Other methods:

•      The Hero and Villain share similar backstories.  They've been through a similar traumatic incident or share a state of being.  Examples: Jack Frost and Pitch Black, Po and Lord Shen, Luke and Vader (besides being father/son, they share a similar childhood, similar force powers, similar training, both influenced by Palpatine...)
• The Villain needs the Hero to complete his nefarious plots.  For some reason or another, while the Hero is trying to stop the Villain, the Hero is actually helping the Villain.  Examples: the Toa and Makuta Teridax, Sora and Organization XIII, Jack Blank and the Rustöv, Leif and the Shadow Lord, etc.
• The Hero and Villain like each other.  I can only think of one movie that uses this amazing link, Treasure Planet.
• The Hero and Villain are similar characters.  They share similar strengths/weaknesses, wants, likes/dislikes, and such.

It may take extra work to implement such a link, but if you can manage it, it makes both the Villain AND the Hero infinitely more interesting.

2.    Make your Villain believe he is doing good.  In the Villain's twisted mind, what he is doing is morally justifiable or downright good. Examples: Revile the Undying, Anakin Skywalker, Galbatorix, Ra's al Ghul (from Batman Begins), etc.
3.     Make your Villain minimally moral.  For example, there are certain things even your Villain wouldn't do.  This works well with your Villain believing he is doing good.  Examples: Darth Vader (again), the General in the film version of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  Of course, most truly great villains are pure evil, so use this sparingly...
4.     Make your Villain literally unstoppable.  In this case, you could make the Hero somehow cause the villain to stop himself...  I have no examples for this.  Maybe the Omnidroid from the Incredibles?


And here are some random ideas I just thought up just for you to get your creative juices flowing (whatever that means, Anastasia says that all the time...):

• Make your Villain something completely weird for your genre.  For example:  A dark wizard in a Star Wars style sci-fi or a gang leader in a medieval fantasy.
• Take whatever Villain you are currently formulating and suddenly reverse his/her gender.  It's interesting, isn't it?
• Give your Villain a devoted, actually menacing right-hand man.
• Give your Villain a passion for something that he can't resist.  Ex: pie, candy, fashion, cats, fast cars, etc.
• Make your Villain a computer program.  This never fails to be interesting.
• Make your Villain a creature.
• Make your Villain a turkey sandwich.  At least he would be original, right?
• Make your Villain your Hero.  Good luck with this one....
• Make a fast car chase scene where the Hero is chasing the Villain (instead of vise-versa).  Include helicopters, motorcycles, oil slicks, etc.

I hope this randomness actually helps you.

Remember that the most helpful thing you can do to make a great villain is to give him motives!  So stop whatever you are doing right now and grab a piece of paper.  Start writing about your villain.  Invent his/her entire past, from his childhood on.  What makes your villain bad?  What has he/she gone through that has turned him into the man/woman that he/she is today.  Why is your villain out to get your hero?

Once you completely figure this out, you are practically halfway done writing your book.

That is all,

Watzzit Tooyah

How to Write a Novel: The Middle

Things are really. Really. REALLY. S-L-O-W.

You're so bored and awkward you just want to run away screaming. Or curl into a corner and die.

This is the Middle of your novel.

And yes, it is very scary.

This is going to be a shorter post because really the best cure for the Middle (and sometimes for WB) is a good strong dose of CONFLICT.

Conflict is the most important part of any story. But unfortunately you can't just throw random conflict in any part of a book. Like, randomly, in the middle of a heartfelt mommy-daughter hug, ninjas, when the book is about pirates, bust into the cabin and kill everyone. Well, I guess you could make this work, but really it's most most important to make sure the conflict moves the story forward.

Conflict should always contribute to a storyline in some way. It should never drag a story down or slow the progress of the plot, but advance it and cause the hero to make some hard decisions. It's true that conflict doesn't always have to be some physical battle between your hero and his enemy. Conflict comes in many packages: emotional, physical, natural, etc.

1. Physical Conflict
Physical conflict is the most common form of conflict ever. Physical conflict consists of your hero faces physical foes, such as the villain, thugs on the street, getting run over by a car, and battling a monkey over his bike lock keys. Physical conflict is a very good and convenient way to add spice to a boring piece of prose, since you can make PC out of almost any situation. The important thing to remember while dealing with PC, though, is to make it significant. Don't let it be something the hero brushes off as he gets ready for the real deal; make it important. Make it worthy of his time. If thugs attack, make them take his wallet with his secret agent ID in it. If a monkey takes his keys, don't let him have them back. If a bus breaks down, make it burst into flames. Don't make it easy. >:}

2. Emotional Conflict
Being a girl, this is my favorite type of conflict. I love this kind of conflict because it adds depth to your characters and shows that they, too, have problems with their lives sometimes. Emotional conflict consists of your character in a battle against his emotions, or someone else's. Sometimes, your hero can even be at war with himself, in a general term. For instance, my character Eadën competes with his emotions on a daily basis. His past haunts him and he wants to get away from it, and he is afraid of himself because part of him wants to hold on to his dark side. This causes awesome EC. He is fighting against himself to forget what he did in his past.

2. Natural Conflict
Natural conflict is conflict that comes from natural sources, mainly nature. Storms, floods, tornadoes, rockslides, and avalanches all count as NC. Natural conflict works best in books where the villain is nature (such as a novel about a lost boy who wants to get home from the forest he was deserted in and must face the elements in order to get back to his house, for instance), but they are useful in all novels as momentary conflicts. I know it is really hard to get NC to do something that matters in a novel, but it is possible. One way to make sure is to keep the bad things coming.

Things should never, ever, ever be easy for you protagonist. You should always keep throwing stuff at him until he cracks, and then throw some more. Always make things as bad as possible. Could this get any worse? should be his motto. That is how you create good conflict in a novel.


Ciao,

A.C.

Author Talk with Mel N. Choly

Hi! A.C. here, and we at The Writer’s Block are so excited about our first Author Talk! Today, we have Mel N. Choly hanging out with us. She is the co-author of The Orion trilogy, to be published soon, and is working on numerous personal projects.


1. Mel, can you tell us why you started writing? What motivated you? Why do you love it?

What began my sad existence as a writer? I write so everyone can have the joy of reading how I think. My motivation is to give people a world where they can lose themselves in a totally unreal existence. And I love it because I’m an artist. It’s just what I do. I’m a very specific artist, also.  


2. What are you currently working on?

As you said, I am working on The Orion. Also a dreadful book which drains my creativity like a leech, The Tower Series: Isles of Ruin. Then of course my beloved book, Chasing Shadows: Fear Strong, which is perhaps to become a series of its own. And against popular belief, The Tower Series is not a... ahem.... ‘rip off’ of Lord of The Rings. Do not listen to the deceitful demi-demons that plague the author world with their lies and smelly breath. 


3. What do you struggle with as a writer?

Unruly characters. Many of my most loved have pasts that make me—the author—shudder straight out of my pants. Because of this, they tend to be a bit... rebellious. On example: I was writing a perfectly fine book one day when one unperfectly fine character said something he wasn’t supposed to and the strings of fate and destiny were torn cruelly from their original perch and left to hang in empty air. One might say, “why not just delete what the character said?” but to be frank, what he said was quite genius and a witty come back to be envied. So it was worth bloody sweat and the long days it took me to slowly retie those strings and recreate my book in a totally new sort of way. 


4. Some watch movies, read books, or look through magazines. What are your main forms of motivation and inspiration?

First of all, magazines are nothing but pictures of vomit-worthy gossip about the latest nutty soul that decided to lick a barbie doll to it’s untimely death (that’s a long story about a woman. I’m not going to point any fingers but I’ll give you a hint... MILEY CIRUS.). 
In conclusion, I prefer to to read other books that are like my own.


5. Can you tell us what it was like to co-author a book? Was it difficult? Were there any slappy fights between you and your co-author?

Anastasia, my dear friend, has a one track mind. Once she has an idea, she has to have it in the book. I suppose it doesn’t matter much to me, but when it comes to humiliating one of my dear little characters, it may come to momentary blows. Then we make up over a cup of tea and some chocolate. After that, we play some polo, read a bit of poetry, procrastinate a little more, then we might go back to writing a month later.


6. You mentioned you were working on The Tower Series. Can you tell us more about your upcoming series?

The Tower Series is an extremely complicated book, but I will try to communicate some understanding. 
In an island named Saquraphine, there are seven ancient rings forged long ago for the protection of the land. When a dark, magical fog invades the land, poisoning the soil and sea, the rings come in handy once again to lock up this powerful creature in a tower, so long as the bearers of the rings keep the rings on.
thousands of years later, the story begins with a twelve year old boy names Jec, living with his adopter and teacher, Thymas, in a little library. One fateful night, Jec believes he’s found one of the ancient rings that Thymas has told him so much about. But if no one is wearing it, and the strange, mystical history of Saquraphine is true... The magical fog’s tower  must be weakening, and the creature inside has had years to plan a perfect escape. So it is poised, ready to strike, but it has to wait for the perfect moment, when its prison has weakened enough for it to emerge. No one knows when that moment may be, so Jec is forced into a crazy adventure with eight unlikely friends, two unearthly stalkers, and one very powerful villain.

I hope this makes sense.


7. Finally, Mel, we come to the biggest question of all. Why are you so melancholy?

Some people believe that, when given a name, that person is destined to live out it’s meaning. Mel means ‘Dark Beauty’ and while I sustain belief on the beauty part, I believe the dark part is quite true. I suppose living with such a terrible childhood may have helped a little, but I don’t know the exact reason. Or maybe I do, but I won’t tell you.

July 2013 Writer of the Month Award: Angelina Zoe

WOOHOO!!!

We at Writer's Block are SO EXCITED to announce this month's winner of Writer of the Month!

Congratulations to Angelina Zoe for winning Writer of the Month!

Angelina is a young teen writer set in her elven ways and a beginner-expert at bashing WB. We recognize her power at memorizing movies after a single viewing and her ability to twist her ankle in the most amazing ways possible.

Click here to view Angelina's full WOTM bio!








Until next month,

The Writer's Block Authors

Character Development: The Protagonist Part I

Hello fellow writers,

It is I again, Angelina, and I am here to help rid the world of... I cannot bring myself to type those two dreadful words... WB.  You know what those two initials stand for, those daunting words.  But I am here to try help it vanish for, hopefully, a long while.  This is only one out of the many posts that I will be submitting to help out our characters.  Here we go...

Probably the most easiest thing when writing a novel is character development.  Well that's a big stinky lie.  While character development might be fun, it can be boring and frustrating at times.  I know when I start to think about writing a new novel, the first thing that's really developed in my mind is the main character, the sidekick, or the villain.

 Most of the time it's the main character, or the hero of the story.  So this is the perfect time to reach into the area of your brain labeled, "forgotten but still loved characters who have never been developed," and remodel, revamp, renovate, change, and/or improve someone that is neglected and overlooked for a long time.  Pull out that disregarded character and give it some love!  Once your character is revived, I'm pretty sure that you will get some inspiration and momentarily defeat writers block!  (Can I get an amen?  Anyone?) Are you ready?

1. The Hero

We will start with the protagonist, or, as I like to call it, the hero.  Our hero starts out as just a little idea, something really small and unimportant.  But we see something in the tiny thought and think about it.  And as we think, it starts to grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, until finally the idea is big enough to be a character!

Our hero!

Now our hero can be two things.  Either a flat, boring, and very predictable character, or... an original, awesome, and not so much predicable character.  I don't know about you, but I prefer the second of the two choices any day.  So once we have decided which you want your character to become, then the real fun begins.

2. The Original vs. the Flat

A lot of what makes a good plot is a good character.  Most people would disagree and say that a good plot makes the character good.  But it's the opposite.  So it is absolutely critical that your hero (or any character for that matter) has a good foundation.  Original... not flat.  Compare.

Flat:  Bobby never missed a day volunteering at the hospital and he had a nice summer job at the local cafe.  He was well mannered, polite, and always made good grades in school.  Everyone loved the outstanding teenager Bobby.

Original:  Bobby never missed a day volunteering at the hospital and he had a nice summer job at the local cafe.  He was well mannered, polite, and always made A's in school.  Everyone loved the outstanding teenager Bobby.  But no one really knew the real Bobby.  While at home, he stole other people's credit card numbers and maxed them out, buying things for his own pleasure.  He sold pirated movies for extra cash and made fake i.d.'s, vending them to criminals and other online hackers. 

Let's compare the flat version of Bobby's life, to the original version.  In the flat version, Bobby's a good kid.  He volunteer's at the hospital, he works a summer job, and he gets good grades at school.  End of story.  Not much of a novel there.  In the original version, Bobby's secret life is unknown.  He's a hacker and a criminal.  Now there's something that would catch the attention of a reader.

Let's just put it this way.  Which version would you rather read about?  Which one would you rather write?  Which one catches your attention?  The original is so much more intriguing than the flat, and there is a lot more depth to the character.  Depth is all about a good plot.  And beneath a good plot is an even better character.

3. Flat or Original, Your Choice

Now let's decide about our own hero.  Will he/she be a flat character, or an original?  That is the beginning of character development, and the most important and critical point of it.  Once you have decided the life for your character, then their personalities will surface.

I hope this post has helped you.  There is so much more to character development, but I couldn't put it all in one post.  I will have more, though, so do not despair.  And remember to keep your forgotten character in hand, for in the next couple of posts, you might just get some inspiration for your... HERO!

Until the next post!

-Angelina Zoe      

How to Write a Novel: The Middlish-Beginning

By this time in your novel, you're probably thinking two words.

1) Bored
2) Stuck
3) Level 12 "Failure"

Okay, so that's really three words. Oh, wait, no...one, two...four, not including the numbers. Well, it's easy to feel this way. Actually, around this area is where the Writer's Block sets in. But we won't let that happen, in case you've forgotten.


1. The New World

So, your hero just accepted the challenge fate has handed to him. He's pulled the sword from his sheath and charged into battle screaming war cries of either terror and/or courage. So, what now?

Well, it's important to set out a new world for your character—something totally different from what he's used to. Frodo's new world was the land beyond the Shire, traveling with the Fellowship. Luke Skywalker's new world is space and the ways of a Jedi.

This may seem like an obvious point, but you would be surprised at how easily this is overlooked. It's not just about sticking your character in a new environment he's not used to. You must make sure he's forced to act in ways he's not used to. If a dragon shows up, your hero can't run away anymore. He has to face the beast head-on, mano a mano, for whatever reason. This is what creates a believable New World.

But remember to make your hero's progression to actual heroism an upward slope. He can't just magically become a master of all magic and whap all who cross his path. You understand, right?


2. The Villain

I know (or at least I hope) by this point you have already figured out who your villain is and what he's doing to make a mess. Well, around this point, your hero becomes straight-forwardly against the bad guy. He's not a watcher anymore, he's an actor. He won't stand by the sidelines and wait for the right moment, he goes looking for the right moment.

The villain should become directly involved against the hero at this point as well, if he wasn't already. He may think, My my, what a foolish boy, or he may say, Oh dear, now I may actually have to watch out for him. Whichever your villain tells you, act upon it. If he's sort of indifferent to the hero, you may want to just test him out, feel for a weakness, maybe by sending a couple thugs to see how he reacts. Or maybe he's the type to immediately try to wipe him off the face of the planet. Create conflict based on your villain's view of the hero.


With these little sweethearts under your belt, you're off to a WB-free middle.

OR ARE YOU...?


A.C.

The Whimsically Dramatic and Totally Pink Angelina Zoe

Hello, fellow enthusiastic writers! I, the obsessed Angelina, am honored that you would read about me. Me! Out of all the authors, and you chose to read about me. Thank you.

So anyways, more about me. Well, what’s there to tell? I LOVE writing! But who doesn’t? Other than my older brother who absolutely abhors it! Can you imagine that? I can’t. It absolutely horrifies me! It’s like living without peanut butter on your pancakes! Oh! The pain! The agony!

Enough about pancakes, though. I’m getting hungry. Well, when I’m not writing, I’m either experimenting with brownies (I’ve recently made marshmallow brownies! [delicious!]), trying to convince A.C. that Marvel is cooler than DC (don’t even get me started, Anastasia!), writing about elves, dreaming about her elf characters (especially the ones who look like Legolas), writing about elves with Mel Cholly and A.C., trying to draw the characters from my books (with little success), working hard on not twisting my ankle while trying to do a pirouette on pointe, playing the piano (my absolute favorite pieces are the ones from the movie Tangled[especially Kingdom Dance]), watching awesome animated movies (like Wreck-It-Ralph, or Tangled), or trying to keep my black Labrador Retriever from barking so I can write, or sleep, in peace. I also like to have “quoting wars” with my little brother, and absolutely enjoy watching any Marvel movie (IF IT’S APPROPRIATE!).

But I'm not just a fantasy elf lover kind of writer, I like writing about other things, too. Recently I've been experimenting with war books and historical fiction. But it's very hard to write about sad things like war because I'm such a happy person. And it's equally challenging to write about historical fiction. I think it's because I have to stay in boundaries of what happened, and I can't write my own... history. But still, I try...

But alas, everyone I meet says I am one strange bunny. But that is for you to decide, dear reader. Of course, I think I’m an odd bunny too. For instance...

Whenever I see a jagged, white flash of lighting across the black sky, I immediately get a sensation, a rush of feelings that collide with each other to make one word. Inspiration. That might not sound weird to some people, but to the type of people I live with, it’s absolutely insane! Yes, that is the dramatic part of me shining through. I believe I should’ve been an actress. But instead I’m stuck writing. Not that it’s a bad thing.

Also, another note about me. Whatever I touch becomes pink! Well, mostly. I even paint my dog’s toenails pink! And my ipod is pink. My laptop isn’t, but I’m thinking about painting it. Don’t know if that’ll work, though. Even my Bible is pink! And most of the verses underlined in my Bible is with a pink highlighter (almost every verse in my Bible is highlighted). My whole room is pink! Pink! The word is so happy. Like the word Yellow! That's a fun word to say over and over.

And that just a fraction of what I am. Angelina Zoe. The pink. The dramatic. And the whimsical elf lover.

Farewell, my fellow readers! Until next time!

Angelina Zoe

Watzzit Tooyah: The Strange Man Behind the Curtain

Hello readers.  It is I, your beloved host, Watzzit Tooyah.  I welcome you to this, the post of my life.

I was born in a simpler time, when mice were mice, men were men, and the fluffy stuff under the bed did not introduce itself to me.  Since then, all of that has changed, making my life more complicated than it needs to be.  Now, besides remembering the names of my schoolmates and coworkers, keeping my grades up, and remembering to feed myself, I must remember the name and feeding habits of the thing under my bed and figure out whether that man standing over yonder is indeed a man and not a mouse (or vice versa).

But I, dear reader, digress.

I currently live somewhere (where I live exactly is still under investigation, but at least it isn't nowhere), where I typically can be found writing, playing Kingdom Hearts, or hoarding gummy bears from my various family members.  It is a hard life we writers live, reader.

One day, I was sitting on a couch, blissfully writing my little heart out, when suddenly, it hit me.  My mind froze, my hand cramped, and sudden randomness invaded my mind.  In a blind stupor, I quickly dialed 911 right before the randomness struck me unconscious.  When I awoke, I was in a hospital with an ominous looking doctor standing before me.

"Sir," this masked man articulated, like a bad actor from a soap opera, "you have Writer's Block."

Since that day I have devoted what's left of my random-infected mind to finding a cure to WB.  Oh, look, reader, a monarch butterfly.  And there is a cloud.

For the sake of writers everywhere, and for mine own sake, we must crush this terrible disease affecting millions of writers galaxy wide.  Until we finally find a cure, I will continue to be unable to focus on my book for more than a moment before sinking into the fog of randomness.

Help me, dear reader.  Please.

Oh look, out that window.  It's a small mammal.

That is all.

-Watzzit Tooyah.

Melancholy Mel N. Cholly

People ask me what I do, and I reply simply: “I’m an author. I write books, I hide in closets, I cry about non existent people, I astonish psychiatrists, and I’m completely obsessed with a world that doesn’t exist. Frankly, I’m proud.” Then they slowly walk away with a slightly disturbed look on their face.

People also ask me why I read Amish romance novels. I have no answer to this. Nothing, in this dreadful world of ours, is quite as humiliating as being caught even near the dreaded books. I read them only because I see them as a reminder of how not to write a fantasy book. Or a fiction book. 

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Let me begin somewhere near the beginning. I would tell you my entire life story, moldy ice cream cone and all, but I believe you would simply die by the sheer boredom of it all. You would simply lie down on whatever floor may be under you at this moment—wood, tile, asphalt, concrete—and die. So in short, I am an author of fantasy books. I would say that is all, I could say you have no business knowing. You’re probably wondering what I’ll decide. Perhaps you’ll never know. 

I like long walks in the park as rain soaks through my underwear and makes a terribly dreadful walk home. I like wrapping myself up in a big fur coat to go out in the summer. I also love chocolate, Miss Cross would be pleased to know, but I believe the consumption of the amount of chocolate she inhales is rather detrimental to her health. Poor young women like herself don’t need that much chocolate, and I believe it is messing up her poor brain. Has anyone, anyone at all, wondered why Willie Wonka was so strange? I, dear reader, will tell you. His over consumption of chocolate at a young age. With this piece of knowledge, I bid you to step slowly away from your grandmothers chocolate bowl and start munching on a carrot stick.

Now, if you want a list of my books, just to be vain, I am currently writing several books: The Tower Series: Isles of Ruin, Chasing Shadows: Fear Strong, and Ty Skyy’s Guide to Life. If it pleases you to know, I have finished none of them. I have started all, but finished none. I fully plan on, one day (as soon as I can pull my torn heart together) finishing these books.

Now let me tell you about my Moldy Ice Cream Cone. 

No, I don’t think I will. Yes, I know, I am quite evil. I have to admit, I do enjoy a good villain. The legend of my dear cone lives on. So does it’s memory in my heart. 

...Excuse me, I get emotional. May it rest in peace. I must leave you now.

Until, of course, I die,

Mel N. Cholly