30 Days of Writing, Day 2

Genre of your story, explained in detail

Another difficult one, so I'm going to be lazy and basically copy from my Reflection Statement of 2009. I did more research then that I'm unwilling to do now.

(You got me, I want a nap.)

Or not. Stupid Reflection Statement had to focus more on Romanticism.

Basically, this is YA fiction, fuelled by multiculturalism and the feelings that are involved when you're a kid with a foot in two countries. As I've probably said, my father's Chilean. He came over here when he was 18, and he hasn't been back since. My grandparents never went back either. My grandfather and father decided to cut the cords suddenly and to not look back. My uncle went back (and goes back yearly; he's currently there now with my cousins and aunt for two months), and I think my grandmother never went again because my grandfather refused to go. 

My mother is Australian, and is possibly as stereotypically Aussie as they come. She was raised on a farm in Tallimba, a 16 hour drive from Brisbane.

Because these two sides are as different as they come, I find it interesting to explore this, and I find it interesting to explore this in different age groups. I've written this story - or variations of it - for a long time now, probably since I was 13 and beginning to freak out about what it meant to be Chilean Australian. I myself was known as the White Girl in the family (in comparison, my cousin Daniela is referred to as Black Girl). To my father's side of the family, Daniela's perceived Black Girl status is good. The White Girl to them is an alien, one who has crossed the border from mid-80s Chile to modern Australia. I have never liked being touched, I chose to study French instead of Spanish, and I can't dance. Three inconsequential things, but my family is good at making a big deal of nothing.

To summarise:

• Young adult fiction.
• About a uni student.
• South American culture.

"This just sounds like your life!" I hear you say.

And yes, it basically is. It's the memoir in novel form, and I've chosen to do this so I can create situations that I want. (However, when I was 13 and first wrote Carmen (she was 18 turning 19), I wrote her as exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up. I sent one of those drafts to Joshua a year ago and he said, "What? Are you just writing yourself? Is this memoir?"

So at least I've accomplished one life goal.)

Read Looking for Alibrandi and you'll understand the genre, vaguely.

30 Days of Writing, Day 1

Name of your current project and back story of the name


This doesn't work for me, really. Titles are never a good thing for me to figure out, and they usually come far down the track. As I don't actually have a title for my story as of yet, let's go with some previous titles I've used for other stories and why I used them, then I'll say what my story's about (or will be about) so you can get an idea about it.

• Age 6: Two Little Girls
  We begin the creative process young. Two Little Girls was, as expected, about two little girls who went on adventures. These adventures were things like trips to the zoo and whatnot - things kids get excited about in Sydney - and were carefully handwritten with accompanying drawings. My best friend at the time, Alyssa, wrote these with me. 
• Age 13: Pretty much any title involving Simple Plan/The Used/Good Charlotte/Blink 182 lyrics
  Oh, to be thirteen again. I had black hair, black clothes, a bleak life outlook and terrible taste in music. (My taste is still terrible, according to all of my friends, but I maintain Aqua is brilliant music to listen to when doing assignments. The Swedish get pop dance stuff right. Or are they Danish?) Anyway, these were mostly terrible fanfics where my main character, a thinly-veiled version of myself, would have shenanigans of some description with these bands. I am truly thankful I never discovered Fanfiction.net, otherwise I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
• Age 16: Vivir Con Miedo, Es Como Vivir A Medias
  If anyone's familiar with Australian cinema, you'll know that's a Strictly Ballroom reference. I wrote this when I was in the throes of staying at home (woo panic attacks) and I basically was watching all the Baz Luhrmann, all the time. This story was an appropriation I had to do for Extension English - we had to appropriate Frankenstein. If you feel like reading the story, it lives here. I look at my old short stories and wonder where my skill in writing creepy stories went.
• Age 17: Exotopy OR A Season Called Home
  I chose Exotopy, my tutor chose A Season Called Home. Exotopy was an interesting word I stumbled upon when researching this novella. The word literally means outsidedness. According to this website, it's also used to describe when an author 'speaks' the authentic voices of characters outside their own. This was probably my most deliberate title choice. The characters were migrants, as I've been focusing on for three years now, and for two of them, they existed by assuming identities. For Fernanda, she wanted to be a part of her family and so allowed herself to become Spanish over Australian. For Cristobal, it was the opposite. For Santiago, the outsider feeling was the dominant feeling. My tutor added the very corny Season Called Home because Extension 2 English is stupid. I had to incorporate Romanticism into it (why, why didn't I get to study life writing?) and I focused on the seasons - each character was associated with a season. Unfortunately I had to put a really obtuse reference to that in the title, because my English teacher kept nagging, my tutor became exasperated, and I let her do as she saw fit.
• Age 18: Understanding
  Back to Chilean stories. This is the first attempt at my Novel and Memoir story, except it's a short story. The title was so chosen because the second last line was something like, "One day, mi vida, you'll understand." I'll go into more detail when I explain my novel.
• Age 20: About the Toes
  A memoir piece relating to my father's toes. I went with a Sedarisy angle, and Sedaris uses quirky titles for his pieces. Okay, that's a lie. I literally couldn't think of anything else, and an hour before I submitted the assignment I tacked the title on, printed it off, and fled to the train.

Now, the novel.
Basically this novel is an extension of Understanding. It may have the same title when I get around to it, who knows. It'll revolve around Carmen, age 19, her mother's best friend, whose name escapes me (it's in my room somewhere) and this woman's son, Cristian. Rather than doing the whole woo teen love angle (I'm going to slightly cover that, if I can make it realistic), I'm going to focus more on the relationship between Carmen and her mother's friend. Carmen is basically an outsider, and I enjoy writing these ones. I found my closest relationships outside of my immediate family (such as for much of my teenager years, my grandfather was my surrogate father - due to my insanity, not my father's - and is now the person I love more than anyone in the world. He, too, was the black sheep in our family), and I find it interesting to explore the relationships that aren't typical. The woman and Carmen are similar, but different, but understanding life in the confines of a certain culture is the outcome.

So there you have it. I've also pretty much done an assignment in here - had to write a pitch for Novel and Memoir. Polish the last paragraph up and I'm done!
Muchas gracias, interwebs! 

30 Days of Writing//Random Filler Post//Absences Hardly Explained

Sweet biscuits, Blogger has changed.
I really should have expected this.

Now that uni's in that sweet lull where assignments are few (yes. I know. I've gone half a semester without writing), I figured I should get back to this. On my old blog, I wrote daily, did readings, and did assignments before the due date. I'm going to attribute this to only doing 4 units and also having no job.
Regardless, I'm awake now. Because I missed Blog Everyday in April, let's just go with Blog Over Two Months But For Thirty Days Straight. Mmkay?
(I realise that this doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but you're all used to me by now.)
Behold!

30 Days of Writing

~or~

Tash is Being Lazy Again But Pretending She's Actually Productive

This works out well, because it's going to help sort my thoughts out for Novel and Memoir (a unit I'm doing at the moment for uni; it's the last unit in my Creative Writing minor). 

1- Name of current Project and back story of the name

2- Genre of the story explained in detail
3- Explain your PoV and Style of writing used
4- Describe your inspiration and what message you wish to bring across
5- Main Character Bio
6- Main Villain Bio
7- A third important characters Bio
8- Descriptions of all other important characters
9- Explain the main basis of the plot
10- Describe the world that the story happens in (use photos or graphics if you want)
11- All the Ships in your novel/ Story
12- Your favourite character to write about and why
13- Your least favourite character to write about and why
14- Which character you are most like
15- Your favourite part of the story
16- Describe any other books related to this one (eg. Prequel, sequel, follow up) or If it’s a stand alone, a sequel or prequel that you could write
17- Which published book it is most like
18- What stage of editing/ writing are you at?
19- Writing Playlist
20- If it were made into a movie, which Director would direct it and which band would make the soundtrack
21- Dream Cast (with pictures)
22- The Ten best things about your story
23- The ten things you could improve
24- Why are you going to do with it when it’s done?
25- What is the main twist/ plot point?
26- What is the most exciting scene/ chapter/ part
27- How often do you write it and in what environment?
28- Who else has read it? Or heard about it? Does anyone know you’re writing?
29- Pretend you’re a critic and give a fair but concise criticism of your project so far
30- Post a chapter or so for everyone to read and review 


This will gradually turn into a links list.
First post, coming up shortly!

I originally posted this without a title and thus, I have already started my March fail with style.

Uh.

Yeah.

Hi, there.

Even though I moved to Brisbane a month ago (and my gosh, that has absolutely flown), I have been lazy.

Have I been blogging as I promised I would?

No. I have not. Clearly, I have not. This is an abhorrent thing and I am a terrible person. *awaits the onslaught of rocks*

However, I am here! And now, because you are unfortunate enough to click on the link that led you here, a general run-down of what I'm doing now.

• I am living in Brisbane, as said before. I live on a particularly freaky-deaky train line. So freaky, in fact, security guards man the train at night. (If you live in Brisbane, you'll probably know which train line I refer to.) There are also large spiders and a see-through gecko.
• University has begun! I'm in week 2. I'm meant to be doing readings now. PROCRASTINATION. I'm studying media and comms now, and will hopefully be doing so for 2 years. Then - and this is pretty much the only thing getting me through the next two years, because I am forever haunted by the thought that this could have been my last year - I am fleeing to Melbourne for journalistic post-grad.  
• A cat followed me home today. I nearly won our house a pet, but alas, the cat seemed to realise it wasn't meant to follow me inside and instead sat outside, staring at me.
• There might be work, there might be Centrelink, there might be both. Excitement.

Okay, so there isn't really much going on. There's a real reason why I'm posting. 

My pal Justin (by which I mean, pal that I haven't technically met but because he and I exchanged in a Rick Astley Lyric-Off on Twitter we are pals for life) (I am overusing pal, someone make it stop) posted a delightful post with questions. It came from this one here, and you know how I am with memes and questions and things! I do all those things in lieu of posting normally, because I am lazy.

Without further ado, answers to questions!

Why do you blog?

I blog because I'm a writer. I like to think I'm a writer, anyway. Rather than howling at various unfinished manuscripts, I might as well show the world that I can write and get a variety of hits.

Also, it's a way to vent. Imagine if all these thoughts were stuck in my head all the time. 

Who is the one person that's meant the most to you, alive or dead?

It's been so long since I've read through my posts, I can't remember if I've mentioned my grandfather. My Tata, as we all call him, is the greatest person alive. The majority of my family regard him as a lunatic, which, to be fair, he really is. But he toes the line of genius and madness pretty well. Throughout everything I've ever gone through, he's the only one who's just let me be who I was. The emo hair, dyed purple then blue then black? Greeted with, "It's lovely, mi Natashita, because you are lovely," rather than my grandmother's, "WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU DONE" and feverish prayers to la madre. The freaking out over school, and subsequent home schooling? All met with general coolness. He is also the only person in my family to actually converse with us as though we're intelligent adults.

Which would you choose, if you could one have one: wealth, wisdom, love, or fame?

Probably love. Love is all... you... need... *hides face*

I would like to be loved and to love someone else, because it's a darn awesome feeling.

Do you have any hilarious stories that you can share involving alcohol or "other"?

I don't drink or participate in 'other', but I was extremely tired once - 11 hour shift waitressing coming off 6 hours sleep, then a train trip up to the Sunshine Coast for a friend's 21st with extremely hyper friends. My best friend told her boyfriend to watch me when we were at another friend's place after the party, because I was that tired I would probably do something stupid while she sorted out beds and whatnot. Conversation ensued.

Me, looking at table: Wow. That's a lot of lightbulbs.

Him:Yeah.

Me: They're probably doing something illegal with that many lightbulbs.

Him: What can you do that's illegal with a lightbulb?

Me: You should smoke one.

Him:  You should probably go to bed.

Me: Probably.

Trina had made up a nice bed for me, but I found a pile of pillows on the floor that I also liked and refused to leave. So she made the bed for me on the pillows, and that is the last I recall.

What's one thing that you have a problem with, morally/politically/etc., in the world?

I'm a Christian, and the one thing Jesus told us to do was to love everyone. Every. One. It's hard to do, I know that as a fact, but what really gets me going is when Christians preach hate and intolerance. 

Name one genre of music that you've always wanted to get in to, but never knew where to start.

Classical. There were some really great musicians and composers that I listened to at work last year, but beyond my minute knowledge of classical guitar I know nothing about it at all.

If you could have any ONE piece of technology, fictional or real, what would it be?

Jetpack. Hands down.

What superpower would you want, if you could have any besides omnipotence?

The ability to fly. It would come in extremely handy during peak traffic times. Except I'd like to fly like Johnny Storm. FIRE!*

*am not a pyromaniac

If you had that power, would you use it for good or evil?

Good. Escaping peak traffic in a ball of fire is always good.

Have you ever thought about whether or not you'd survive the zombie apocalypse? If so, what's your plan?

If the zombie apocalypse happens, I'm far enough away from the Brisbane River that I should have enough time to get away. (If you look at the river, that's where they'll probably come from.) If I'm at uni, I'm stealing a car and driving to the centre of the country. The zombies will probably die by the time they reach said centre of the country.

What is the worst book you've ever read? (If you don't read, "What is the worst movie you've ever watched?" is a potential substitute... but start reading, fool!)

Oooh. Jaid Black's Deep Dark and Dangerous. Misogynistic, terribly written and - oh man. Herp Derp Derpalot is more appropriate.

And, finally, if you could travel back in time to any time period, which era would you choose?

I would probably go to the 1700s, 1800s, or back to ancient shenanigans. My opinions of all have been tainted by movies and Mr Darcy.

Your turn now! 11 questions plus one for good luck.


EDIT: Justin - the guy I linked to above - has informed me that I'm supposed to put 11 questions of my own at the bottom. I never said I was good at this blogging thing.

If you could meet any person, past or present, who would you meet and why?

The character you most identify with in books (or movies, if you're that way inclined, but really. Books)?

The stupidest thing you've ever done. 

The stupidest thing you've ever seen posted on Facebook. Failbook does not count. 

What is your favourite video game (inspired by said best friend's boyfriend opening up his computer and the start noise being something from Halo, he tells me)?

If you were to become known by any name in particular - a tabloid nickname, if you will - what would you like to be known as, and what would you actually be known as?

Is there a particular piece of clothing you're attached to? You know, your ratty old Cons or something?

Name a job, existent or not, that you'd happily do for the rest of your days?

What does it take for you to wake up in the morning? 

If you could be any villain from anywhere - I accept Wickham as a suitable villain - who would you be, and why?

You're signing off from an email, text, FB message, whatever. How do you do it? 

Random questions, but whatever. Enjoy!

Fates and Stars.

Occasionally, I read a book that drains me.
I can't quite describe the multiple levels it drains me on. Certainly emotional, but there's something else. A sense of awe at the words that have caused whatever my reaction is, and I need to shut myself off because they're too beautiful.
After all, you can only ever read a book for the first time once, so you might as well savour it madly.

I have just read a book, and I suppose I'm writing about it now because I've not read a book in quite some time that drained me. The Fault in Our Stars.
I started this book, and I finished it falsely to begin with. I flicked. I was stressed at the time when I received it, so I didn't want to read and fall into someone else's pain, be overwhelmed with sympathy only they deserved. Selfishly, I wanted to hold onto my own mind's worries, the ones that don't matter. The ones you know don't matter.

Today, I read it fully.
I cried.
I have cried during one other novel, and that was during a time when I cried over the Lion King and Fantastic Four.

I don't know how to describe fully what I'm feeling after reading it, but I feel less sure of things. Less sure of what matters.
I want to curl up in my bed and sleep for days, in the hopes that I'll understand whatever it is this book has caused me to feel.
I'm silently tossing up making deals with God to let me never go through what Hazel and Augustus and Isaac did, be it as a daughter or sister or girlfriend or wife or mother or grandmother or aunt or friend, and dismissing it as a futile activity.

And John Green has taken my breath away again with a book, and if I write like that one day - if I drain just one person the way his words have drained me - then my words will be a success.

Book Review: A Vision of Lucy by Margaret Brownley

Feisty photographer Lucy dreams of becoming working for the local newspaper - but of course, the editor doesn't quite share her goal (in a time where women were mothers and wives, he wouldn't have been the only one). But Lucy is determined to prove his assumptions about females wrong, and sets out to take a photo of the reclusive David Wolf, the man that's had the town abuzz for months.
Lucy doesn't count on falling for this man, and he certainly didn't see himself falling either. When events collide - changing Lucy's life entirely - how will she deal with this, and how will David adjust to his new love for Lucy?

So, honestly?

I kind of liked this book.
I certainly wouldn't say I wholeheartedly loved it - it is, like most of its historical romance genre, predictable. But it drew me in, and I found that I did trot along with the storyline. It's a book that can be put down, and while the romance was beautiful, I didn't develop enough of an attachment to the characters to, say, stick out the entire novel and not skip to the end to see if my hunches were correct.
Which they were. Like I said, predictable, but not in a bad way.
If you're looking for something new, inspired and gripping - you won't find it in this book. You'll probably have a good time, as I did, but it blends in amongst a group of writers whose work is much of a muchness.

This is another BookSneeze post, where the book (ebook in this case) was provided to me for free on the proviso I blog honestly.

Chris

My brother is a special breed of human, and I mean this in the best of ways. The child was recently visiting us for Christmas and his birthday, and on the way home from dinner out with family we were discussing Shakespeare.

(By 'we were discussing Shakespeare', I mean my parents, Chris and his girlfriend were trying to convince me that Shakeapeare is the epitome of irrelevance and I passionately declared otherwise.)

Of course, this led to discussions about English/literature studies at school. "Seriously, Tash," said Chris. "Do I really need to know how metaphors and appropriation work to be a well-adjusted human being?"
"With you, all signs point to yes."
"No," he said, continuing over me, "I don't."
"Without Shakespeare and appropriation, you wouldn't have the Lion King. THAT, dear child, is Hamlet."
"You know what I think it is? I think it's actually a metaphor."
"... What? What part's the metaphor?"
"Well, it can't be a real story. Where are the poachers?"
Because singing animals do, in fact, make a story real.
"So I think that Scar's a poacher. It has to be Scar, because he's the only different lion."
"Because he kills Mufasa?"
"Exactly."
"But that makes no sense. Why is a poacher hanging around with hyenas?"
"To integrate himself with the lions."
"So then when the sequel rolls around, we're looking at a poacher that desperately wants to live amongst the lions and falls in love with a lion, but then is exiled because he's discovered to be a poacher, but finally when the lead poacher is killed - nearly rescued by the lion it wanted to kill - the poacher is welcomed back into the pride and is given the hearty consent to marry the lion he loved?"
"Exactly, Tash. AND THAT IS WHAT ENGLISH DOES TO YOU."