Happy Sunday!

Originally, I was planning on finishing the theme of TV shows with a post on My Hero Academia, my current watch and obsession. (If there are any fans among us, tell me in the comments so we can fangirl together. XD)

However, although I talk about writing on a general basis a lot on this blog, I don’t really talk about MY writing except in monthly wrap-ups. I’ve been having a lot of mixed feelings lately about my stories, so I just wanted to talk about it.

So, welcome to another Brain Dump with Nicole. There will most likely be no direction to this at all. You’re welcome.


Something I’ve been learning is that no amount of how-to books and videos you read and watch can prepare you for actually writing a story. The saying goes that practice makes perfect, and that’s definitely true in the case of novel-writing. The more you write, the more you get better.

It sounds logical, doesn’t it?

Apparently, it isn’t logical for me at allllll. Yay.

I . . . haven't been writing a lot. I'm not one of those people who just casually finish 100k stories in four weeks.

But I also just . . . don't write much in general. Part of that is because of my busy schedule, and part of it is because of procrastination, and part of it is because, well, I just don’t feel like it.

For the past six months, I’ve been trudging through second-drafting the first book in the Inhumans trilogy. The reason it’s been taking so long is because everything feels off about it. And I can’t quite figure out what it is. I’ve gone through many, many ideas. For instance:

- I have a bad habit of not world-building unless absolutely necessary, so a lot of details in The Inhumans are . . . messy.

- I also have a lot of insecurities about my writing style. To me, novels have a certain writing style to them. And whenever I read through my writing . . . it doesn’t feel professional or logical or coherent at all.

- This is a small fact, but my “elevator pitch” is super long and I can’t figure out how to shorten it. And I also still can’t figure out a name for the book. Whoops.


A week or so ago, I sent what I have of my second draft to my first ever alpha reader (!!!). It’s both exciting and terrifying, to say the least. A few days ago, she got back to me with initial critiques, which were SO helpful. (Alpha reader - you’re awesome. <3)

The thing about having other people read your story, though, is that you realize JUST how big of a mess your draft is. XD

So back to the title of this post. I have no idea what the heck I’m doing - with my prose, with stories, with everything. It’s like my mind forgets all creativity whenever I pull up that second-draft document. And the revisions of The Inhumans #1 - both what my alpha pointed out and what I know I need to fix - is very daunting.

It’s not writer’s block. I’ve still been writing. But it’s like that spark is gone, and for the time being, I have no clue how to get it back.

You know, it might have helped me to start writing the story when I was inspired to do it, instead of waiting, you know, EIGHT MONTHS to begin the first draft. :D That’s just me being cynical, though.


I think I’m at some sort of transition period with my writing, when I have the knowledge I need to write a book - I just . . . have no idea how to write a book. If that makes any sense. And I'm just in a constant cycle of

writing --> rereading --> finding issues --> stress --> break

I’ve got a month until NaNo begins (and yes, I am doing it - for those of you interested, my NaNo username is nicoledustwriter). I know what story I want to write - and it’s a completely new one that I’ve barely even begun plotting, and I’m SO EXCITED.

But I’m thinking I might have to take an Inhumans break soon and reevaluate the literal entire story. So that’ll be fun.

Lessons learned?

Don’t be lazy. Seriously, Your hard work WILL pay off. Probably. World-building is not as scary as it sounds. For the most part.

Writing is hecking DIFFICULT. You’re not alone in figuring this stuff out.

Experience is the best teacher when it comes to writing - not any how-to materials.

Um . . .

I can’t really think of any other lessons, other than this was truly a ramble and I don’t know what the point was, except to yell at myself for not world-building and for being lazy. XD

Anyways, see you in October! (AKA Preptober! AKA the month when we begin to truly lose all our sanity!)

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

I welcome you to the hardest post I have ever written. This is at least the fourth draft of my The Flash post that I've written today. It's very irritating.

So today I'm just going to ramble and rant a little bit about the mistakes The Flash made - in particular, two very big errors that the writers keep making.

And of course, this will be topped with a healthy dose of Cisco GIFs. Because why not.


Now, I'm not going to tell you to avoid this TV show. The Flash is actually a very enjoyable show with some interesting plot twists and fascinating characters.

But I will give you the brief rundown of what happens in seasons one, two, and three, because the plot twists and spoilers are essential to this post. So, if you wish to avoid spoilers, stop reading this post and watch this show.

okay this is funny in context

Ready? Okay, let's go.


In season 1, we meet Barry Allen, a kind-hearted forensic scientist who is bent on solving his mother's mysterious murder. After a freak explosion ripples through the city, he receives superhuman speed and becomes The Flash, protector of Central City. He meets Cisco and Caitlin, two scientists who help him fight crime from their laboratory. They share a common mentor: Harrison Wells, a brilliant scientist who caused the accident, but says he regrets it.

However, before long, Barry learns that Wells was the one who killed his mother. Wells also has super-speed, comes from the future, and calls himself the Reverse-Flash. In a climactic turn of events, Barry tries to send Wells back to his time, but fails. Barry also goes back in time and attempts to save his mother, but at the last minute, he stops.

Season 2 deals with Barry's guilt over not being able to save everyone - namely, his mother and, more recently, Caitlin's husband Ronnie. Cisco learns that he has cool mind-reading powers from the explosion, but that Wells also wanted him to have those powers. (This leads to one of the best self-doubt episodes ever.) A multiverse is also discovered, and from that multiverse comes another speedster villain, named Zoom. 


Barry is able to defeat Zoom (barely), but he also goes back in time and finally decides to save his mother - much to the annoyance of literally EVERYONE. Why?

Because Barry knew that if he saved his mother, he would completely throw off time and create another timeline - and he did it anyways. Season 3 explores this concept in more detail. Suffice it to say that Barry fixed his mistake, but changed things in his original timeline, like having Cisco's brother die in a car accident. (Oof.)

There's also another speedster villain (Savitar) and a new coworker with a suspicious past (Julian <3) but I don't think we'll need to dwell on that too much.

Now. Into the issues.


Barry, for the most part, has very low self-confidence. In fact, he was the very first character that I have ever seen have self-doubt issues. I very much appreciated that.

However.

Whenever Barry gets down about the slightest thing, someone always goes and has a pep talk with him. And this pep talk always works amazingly well, and he's able to defeat the bad guy.

Every. Single. Episode. Without fail.

Pep talks don't work like that. I'm sorry, but if the only way you can get your characters motivated is for another character to tell them, "You can do it," . . . well, you need to be more creative, because that's just lazy. I'm sorry.

(also the pep talks usually begin with "Hey" and now my family makes fun of it all the time)

probably the writers looking back on these seasons

What can we learn from this?

It takes more than a pep talk to change a character. Instead of having side characters encourage your main character all the time, maybe throw a short scene in where action prompts the main character to change his mind.

Your character's motivation needs to be strong. Whatever your character's goal is, he needs to want it enough to face his fears. If he doesn't care enough to do that, you have bigger issues.


The other major issue of The Flash is that characters do not learn ANYTHING. They repeat the same mistakes over and over and over and over.

For example, throughout all three seasons, the characters hide secrets from each other. Some of them are somewhat warranted, like Barry hiding his identity from Iris, his girlfriend. However, why on Earth would Wally, Iris's brother, hide the fact that he's been seeing the main villain EVERYWHERE?????? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??????

Ahem. Sorry.

Even though in season 3, the characters make a pact to not hide anything from each other, they STILL DO. These secrets nearly get everyone killed at one point or another, yet still they do not learn.

If you don't let your characters learn from mistakes in your writing, not only will your audience roll their eyes in frustration, but it will also stunt character development.

Let me explain.

Season One Barry:

a guy still grieving over his mother's murder --> a guy who, although still sad, has begun to accept that she is gone for good, and even going back in time will never truly make it right.

I thought that this character development was spot-on.

Season Two Barry:

a guy trying to accept his choice to keep the past intact --> a guy not able to accept his choice and changes it

I mean, it was decent development, I guess, although it did cause all the fans to yell at him.

Season Three Barry:

a guy still trying to accept his choice to change the past --> a guy not able to accept his choice and changes it

Are you seeing a pattern?

Barry goes through the exact same character arc in seasons two and three. He doesn't feel like he has changed at all in those seasons. And I understand that his personality involves a lot of self-doubt. However, he does not learn from his mistakes, and he does not listen to his friends. This leads to a LOT of facepalm moments.

(Obviously, this is very dumbed-down. A lot of other stuff happened to cause this. But at his root, Barry doesn't really change, and it's a result of the writers not letting him learn from his mistakes.)

this GIF worked better in my head to be honest

What can we learn from this?

Even if you don't have your characters learn from all their mistakes, at least have them learn from some. Don't have your characters keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again. It's very eyeroll-inducing.

Obviously, we're human - we don't always learn immediately, and your characters should be the same. But PLEASE, LET THEM LEARN SOMETHING.

Let your characters change. It's true - some characters will stay stubbornly stuck in their misbeliefs and fears. If that is the point of your story, then that's fine.

...

Wait, what's that I hear?

BONUS ROUND?

totally haven't been watching many TwoSet Charades videos, nope, why would you think that

I'm going to stop bashing on The Flash and instead focus on one character that they actually did CORRECTLY: the one and only Cisco.

(#CiscoRamon4Life fan club, here is our moment. I'm looking at you, Isabel and Sarah.)

Cisco doesn't really have a character arc in season one - which is actually okay. There's way too much other stuff going on during season one for him to become a main focus. We do learn a little bit about his motivations and fears. For instance:

I relate way too much to this statement

At the very end of season one, though, we begin to see the start of his character arc: namely, when he begins to show signs of a superpower. When he tells his evil mentor about it, Cisco is told that he will do great things.

Seeing as that came from Mr. Bad Guy, though, he begins to have serious doubts.

Over the course of season two, we see Cisco get slightly more serious. (Note: slightly. Does he completely sober up? Of course not.) He battles doubts about turning evil, as he meets his doppelgänger from another Earth, who is evil. EPIC scene, by the way.

simultaneously the greatest reference and saddest line ever <333

By the end of the season, Cisco has gone from being uncomfortable in his own skin to owning his ability.

(of course, then season three comes around and kicks his life upside-down again, but you get the point)

*screaming*

Anyways, if you get nothing else out of this post: please, please, please do not have pep talks solve all your problems. It's annoying and I might just chuck your book across the room. XD Just saying.

Also, this is a random question, but how do I make the section that has the search bar up above unsticky? I've been messing around, trying to figure out how to make my navigation bar unsticky. I got my menu underneath the Header, which I wanted, and I made the sticky area transparent somehow, but I don't know how to get it to stay about the header image, and Google isn't helping. XD

I will see you guys in about two weeks! I'm not sure which TV show I'm going to do yet, so it'll be a surprise to both of us! ;)

-Nicole

Happy Sunday!

Today kicks off TV Shows September! yes, I'm back with my bad naming skills, you can boo me later

And what better way to start things than with one of the Best TV Shows of All Time (TM). That's right, today we're talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender!

via GIPHY - my thoughts while writing this

Recently, the amazing Faith posted a list of overused tropes in YA fantasy novels. And, while I agree with everything she said, I also think that these tropes can be done correctly. It just so happens that many of the tropes she listed are featured in Avatar (which I will now henceforth call ATLA), and I believe that they were done practically perfectly. In particular, I'd like to focus in on her second point, which discussed the morally-grey son characters and their perfectly evil fathers.

So let's get started with this collab/response/rebuttal/series post thingy that ends up purely discussing redemption arcs.


EVIL FATHER + REDEEMED SON.

I'm not going to lie - I'm a huge sucker for this trope. My current WIP features this semi-prominently. But there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

Or, shall I say, there's an honorable way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

*excuse the sound of me screaming HONOOOOOOR into the wind*

For those of you who have never seen the show, here's a quick run-down of what I'm talking about: ATLA's main character, Aang, is being hunted by the Fire Nation's cruel dictator, Fire Lord Ozai. He has sent his son, Prince Zuko, to capture the Avatar (aka Aang). Zuko is very dedicated to this cause. However, over the course of the show, he sees that he is on the wrong side and eventually ends up joining Aang's side (which the fandom affectionately calls the Gaang).

this episode was one of the best XD - not because of this particular scene

Obviously Zuko is my favorite character, so I'm going to have way too much fun with this. There is so much to analyze with his character arc and relationships, but I'll try to keep it brief and relevant.


I will go ahead and admit this right now: ATLA is definitely not completely perfect in this category. Fire Lord Ozai's main reason for world domination is "because I want to!"

However. There IS a very big reason why he is cruel to his son, and it is only known to those who read the comic continuations (aka the people like me who have no lives outside of this franchise). Long story short: Zuko's mom wished that Zuko was the son of another man she loved, and Ozai got really ticked about that. (This may be unclear, but it took about three comics to explain, so I'll leave it at that.)

okay but despite his motive being kind of pathetic THIS GUY IS SCARY

And this is a kid's TV show we're discussing here. XD ANYways. . . .

As for Zuko's why? Why does he put up with his horrible dad and keep trying to earn his respect? Simple. Zuko is loyal to the Fire Nation, and getting back in good terms with his dad will get him the HONOR from the Fire Nation he wants.

(let's start a count of how many times I yell HONOR in this post. I'm at three already)


Even if it's a petty why, like "trying to get back the electric violin his sister stole," your bad guys need a strong motivator. And just keep in mind - especially with redemption arcs, your character's motivation might change.



Look, Zuko's redemption arc literally took the entire TV show to complete. And it was absolute perfection.

A good redemption arc (if you don't want your arc to end messily) will have a satisfying ending. I'm not going to spoil the end of ATLA (because I want you guys to watch it!) but Zuko's character arc wrapped up when he confronted his father. THAT SCENE WAS GOLD.

And he struggled every step of the way. He resisted everything that told him that he was on the wrong path and stubbornly tried to keep getting his HONOR from his father. Even when he was finally forced to admit that he was in the wrong - via everyone's favorite mentor figure, Uncle Iroh - he still fought against it.

In real life, it takes a long time to change. Let it be the same way in your story.

ICONIC LINE TIME

Faith talked about this in her post, but I'm going to bring it up again because it needs to be said again. Basically, in a lot of YA fantasy, the Angsty Love Interest meets a Strong Independent Woman who he immediately moons over. Thirty minutes after meeting her, it's clear he's on the wrong side of the war. Obviously.

If this was true in ATLA everyone would be on the Fire Nation's side because of Ty Lee. Just saying.

I'm honestly not sure if this trope is accurate in real life. I know I haven't experienced anything like it. I do think that one person can dramatically affect a person's outlook on life. However, I don't think that meeting a super-pretty girl who seems independent is going to do that to a person.

Zuko had MANY factors contributing to his climactic decision to help the Avatar. His uncle Iroh gave subtle hints. He had a talk with Katara that helped him see more of the other side. He walked through the oppressed Earth Kingdom. He saw Aang's gentle spirit in action. He experienced abuse at the hands of his sister and father, the "good guys." And when he returned to his home after maturing, he saw the flaws in his country for the first time.

ASDFGHJKL THIS SCENE THOUGH

You'll note that I didn't mention a love interest in here. That's because Zuko's love interest is ACTUALLY ON THE FIRE NATION'S SIDE. *mind exploding* (She actually got really mad when he switched sides, which I just find hilarious.)

In other words: Just because your character meets a hot girl doesn't mean he'll immediately rethink his life.

(I will say, though, if meeting a hot girl does affect your morally-grey character, why? Does he have a past with her? Does he carry some guilt over something he's done? Or is he scared of her?)


Is Zuko a perfect character when his redemption arc is completed? HECK NO. He still has some trust and anger issues, and he has this weird tendency to take people on field trips. He still harbors a lot of fear and guilt over things he's done to the Gaang.

His flaws are even more apparent in the comics, although I'm not even going to delve into those.

But just because your character found the light doesn't mean he's automatically a saint. If anything, he's going to struggle even more. How do the people around him think of him now? Do they trust him? What does the main villain think, and how will he react? There are so many conflicts you could add to your story now!


It takes a lot of work to create a good redemption arc - lots of time, attention to detail, and persistence. But, as we can see with Zuko's redemption arc, it's totally worth it.


-----------------------------------

I could cover wayyyyy more things about ATLA in this post, but this is already long enough.

WATCH THIS SHOW, GUYS. IT'S SO GOOD. If you ever come over to my house I will force you to watch the first two episodes. I'm not even kidding. :)

all right, I promise to stop using GIFs now

Okay.

And now for the part of the post that I wish I didn't have to write, but here we are.

So. School started up. And this last week, Something Happened that dialed my schedule to an 11. I don't know if I'll ever bring it up online, not because it's bad, but just because it's still weird to think about.

But, in summary: I've got way too much stuff on my plate, I want to bring you guys good blog posts, and I don't have time to put out one post a week. So I'm cutting down my blogging schedule to every other Sunday.

If I DO have time during the week to write an extra blog post, I will definitely end up posting it! But I don't forsee that happening anytime in the next few months.

So, the next post you'll see from me won't be on the 8th, but on the 15th. You guys probably know the drill.

But September is still TV Show September, so the remaining September posts will be focused on TV shows! I'm excited for the next post - some of you already called it in last week's comment section. (and honestly I'm going to be very predictable XD)

Until next time, see you later!

-Nicole <3