Putting your Story's Plot in Order #BYBin30

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

I had an experience today that made me think about the order in which we tell stories. For instance, if you were telling someone about how you fell off a deck and injured your foot, you could explain what you were doing on the deck, what happened to cause you to fall, about the fall itself and then about the results of the fall.

Of course, you could just say "I fell off the deck." That much information would let people know what happened in a very simplistic way, but it wouldn't be very interesting to them, and they would probably ask questions.

You could say, "I have a sprained ankle, because I fell off a deck," and then go on to explain the details of why you were on the deck and how you fell, which would change the order of the story.

But there are times when changing the order of what you are telling is not a good idea. And other times when changing the order of a story can change the tension in the story or change or the over-all mood and tone of the story.

And now I'll tell you a bit about what happened to me today which got me thinking about the order in which we tell stories.

Some of you know that, back on March 5th, I had a cyst on my ovary, the ovary on the same side as the cyst and the fallopian tube on that side removed, along with a biopsy done on some tissue taken from the lining in my uterus. Today, I had a follow-up appointment.

It was a new (to me) doctor.

Doctor: "Unfortunately, we found something we were not expecting when we examined the mass that we removed."

(long pause while I start to freak out)

"It wasn't a cyst. It was a borderline ovarian tumour."

(another long pause while I REALLY start to freak out)

"Let me stress that it is NOT cancer."

Me (in my head): Dude, LEAD with "It's not cancer"!!!

So for a little while after that appointment, I was feeling emotional because for a brief moment in time, I thought I was being told I had cancer. (I'm so relieved it's not though!)

And this is just one example of how the order in which you tell things in the story can change the entire mood of the story.

Have you changed the tone in your story by changing the order in which you tell the events in it? Let me know in the comments!

Interview your Character #BYBin30

I had an odd dream last night. I am a fan of a certain Korean singer. In the dream, I was doing an interview for a magazine. I was not interviewing that singer but, instead, I was interviewing his former group, which now consisted of only two other singers.

I wanted to ask them the kinds of questions that their fans would be most interested in hearing about, not just the stuff that would be considered standard questions. I was more interested in finding out more about their interpersonal relationships, with each other and with former members of the group, as well as their reactions to some of the fan fiction written about them, especially the writings that would have been, possibly, awkward for them. I had other questions for them too, once they'd answered these, but, as often happen with dreams, I have forgotten a lot of the dream and can't remember everything I asked them.

But the point of telling you about this dream has nothing to do with the KPop idols I interviewed in my dream. The dream made me think about the characters in my stories. What kinds of questions would readers ask of them, if given the chance? How would they answer those questions? And how could I weave these aspects of their answers into the story? Their answers, obviously, would tell something about their personalities, but also about their relationships to others in the story, because, I suspect, many of those questions would have to do with those relationships.

I'm suggesting that you, dear writer, interview your characters as a way of more fully developing your characters within your own mind. Let their answers tell you more about your characters and their relationships, and then find ways to allow those aspects of your characters to be seen within the stories you are writing.

If you do this, let me know how it goes by telling me in the comments.

Do You Have a Writing Companion? #BYBin30

Do you have a writing companion? No, I don't mean a person who helps you with your story, although those are great to have too. I mean a pet that hangs out with you when you write and takes an inordinate amount of interest in your laptop or notebook?

Many writers do. Some have writing companions in the form of dogs and some have writing companions in the form of cats.

While I do have a dog who loves to lay at my feet when I write, it has always been my cats that have taken the most interest in my writing endeavours. They are sort-of like familiars for the wizardry of writing. (And yes, they do often generate new ideas for my stories while they are playfully interrupting my writing).

Here are some photos of my writing companions busy at their writing-companion work.

Pagan, who passed away over three years ago, frequently cuddled up beside me as I worked, often grabbing my arm between his upper paws so that I was forced to stop typing and pet him.

Loki started training to be my writing companion from when he was only an itty-bitty kitten.

As he grew, he even practised his writing companion skills by using his abilities to help visiting writers.

And now, he is a fully-capable writing companion who takes his job very seriously.

Writing companions can take many forms. I know people who have writing companion dogs and even one with a writing companion rabbit. But not all pets are born to be writing companions. I have a dog (Mercury) and a cat (Jynx) who have never attempted the task.

What about you? Do you have a writing companion? Let me know in the comments.

Writing Dream Sequences Into your Story #BYBin30

Image by Leandro De Carvalho from Pixabay

Some authors will tell you to never include a dream sequence in your story, but I don't think there are any rules to writing that can't be broken if broken in a way that benefits the story.

There are some things to keep in mind when adding a dream sequence to your story though.

Does the dream sequence benefit the story in some way? Is your character having this dream important to the story? Does it advance the story at all? If you removed the dream sequence, would it harm the story in any way? Does the dream sequence inform the reader of something that can't imparted in a better way?

Does a dream sequence fit into the overall theme of events within the story? Dream sequences can work really well in fantasy stories. Dreams can be given to a character through magic, or through an elder "wizard" figure. Dreams can be had by a character who can see glimpses of the future through them or sees omens. Dreams can be had as prophecies. For non-supernatural stories, dreams can be had as a way for your character to work something out in their mind.

Dream sequences do not have to be rational or follow the normal laws of nature. Just as people in real life have different types of dreams, your characters can have different types of dreams too. Some dreams are very realistic, and other dreams do fantastical, magical things, some dreams make sense when remembered in the light of day, and other dreams are disjointed and jumbled, full of imagery from a mish-mash of storylines in one's head. In some dreams, you might follow a normal time-line and in other dreams you might jump from one place and time to another with no explanation of how and why.

Dream sequences do not have to be fully remembered by your character. Just as we sometimes wake up and don't remember what we were dreaming about, your character might have the same thing happen. If your character can only remember pieces of the dream, and the dream imparted some important information to them, this can set the stage for the reader to be hoping and waiting for your character to remember. thus the dream can either be a way of foreshadowing a future event in the story or as a way to create suspense because the reader knows what is coming and the character does not.

Dream sequences should not be in place to trick or cheat the reader. If your story goes along the lines of the dream without the reader knowing it is a dream until several events occur, and you leave them with the idea that "it was all just a dream," your reader is going to feel cheated. If your dream sequence misleads your reader into believing something that isn't true, your reader is going to feel betrayed by the story. Be careful how you use your dream sequence. Don't use it just for an easy out. If you want to change your story from a certain point but don't want to lose the word count, setting everything back to that point by claiming it was a;; dreamed from there is lazy and disingenuous and your readers will not thank you for it.

Stringing Bits of Your Soul Onto the Page #BYBin30

Image by Dagmar Räder from Pixabay

I wrote a blog post for a friend's blog today. In my guest post, I recycled a phrase I have used in the past. That phrase was describing writing as "stringing out tiny bits of your soul onto the page for people to read." 

Reading that phrase again got me thinking about how difficult writing is, at least most of the time. And how difficult it is to share what we have written with the rest of the world. 

Whether or not someone likes what we have written is subjective and every reader has their own likes and dislikes and personal tastes in the type of writing they prefer. But when someone doesn't like what we've written, because, no matter what story we've written, we put so much of ourselves into the writing of it, it can feel very much like a personal attack.

The converse is also true though. Because we are sharing a part of ourselves when we share our writing with the world, when someone likes what we have written, it can feel like a beautiful light has been shown on us, making our hearts feel warm and loved.

Writing, no matter what the subject is, is personal for a writer. Our stories are special to us. Stringing out tiny bits of our soul onto the page can sometimes hurt and is usually difficult. And letting people read those words, those bits of our soul, is scary for us.

All writers are also readers. So this message is for the readers out there. Please, when you read our words, be gentle with us. Remember how difficult putting our words out into the world is for us, and, if you like our writing, please tell us.

Don't Sweat the (Boring) Details #BYBin30

Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay 

Details can be important for your story, especially if you are doing some world-building. Readers want to feel like they are there in the moment, tasting, touching, hearing, seeing and smelling their surroundings within each scene within the story.

However, no one wants to know the boring details, the details of the story that are unnecessary to conveying the story to them. No one want to know that Karen got up from the couch and walked over to the table. No one needs to know the tiny, excruciatingly boring details of someone's day-to-day life if those details don't move the story along in any real, or interesting way.

I once read a story by a very talented writer. Most of her book was riveting and intriguing. However, it took until the fifth chapter for that description of her story and her writing to be true. She could have deleted the entire first four chapters of the book without any negative impact on the story. In fact, it would have improved the story by sucking the reader into the action from the very first page instead of making them slog through the boring ordinary life of the character for months before they actually got to the action part of the story.

I read another story once where a very long and detailed day out with the main character and her mom was one of the scenes - a scene that had nothing to do with the story and did nothing for the story.

So take a look at your story and really evaluate each scene. Ask yourself, does this part add any necessary information to the story? Does it move the story forward? Can this scene be deleted from the story without any negative impact on the story? Or can the story even be improved without this part?

Have you found any scenes like this in your current story? Let me know in the comments!

Writing from the Heart #BYBin30

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

I've had a rough day today; my emotions have been all over the place, from sad one minute and impatient another to smiling and feeling content in the next. Restlessness has hit me at several times during the day, as though my mind is telling me I should be doing something else, be somewhere else, but it doesn't tell me what or where.

I don't mind days like today though. It all feeds into my writing. It means I can truly write from my heart.

We've all heard the expression "writing from the heart," but what does it really mean? I've always understood it to mean that you write emotions into your story using your own experience of them. Or, if you've never felt them, then you write them the way you think they might be. But there's a power in being able to write about an emotion you've actually experienced. If you've never been infatuated, you might not be able to fully portray it the way people truly experience the feeling, or you might not be able to distinguish the things that make infatuation different from truly being in love with someone.

As readers, we can learn a lot about emotions from the books that we read. But as writers, it can sometimes be even more powerful to write those emotions into our stories by delving into the depths of those same emotions we've been through ourselves. Devastation, depression, love, joy, contentment, heartbreak, infatuation, desire, passion, anger, hatred - each emotion is experienced slightly differently by each person experiencing it. But it is the things that are universal about going through a particular emotion that will make it relatable and believable to your readers.

And, in writing these emotions into our characters' hearts and souls, we have the added bonus that, in doing so, it can sometimes be cathartic to our own hearts and souls, or to those reading our words.

Making your Story Unique #BYBin30

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

I mentioned an idea for a story that came to me in dream to someone and she pointed out that she had seen an episode on one of the shows she watched that had a similar plot. I looked it up, and she was correct. The plot was similar to the story that I had dreamed up.

It's actually quite rare to come up with a story-line that is truly unique. While you shouldn't purposely use someone else's story plot, it is nearly impossible to come up with a plot that hasn't already been done before. What makes the story unique isn't the plot itself but how you tell the story. Yes, you need to make the plot as unique to your story as you can. Add-in to the plot, give it different subplots, give it characters with personalities that you have imagined for them. Your story needs to show your ideas and use the ideas from your imagination, and those ideas will be unique to you.

Yes, someone might have already done a story, for instance, of a witch's spell that goes wrong that splits someone else into two identical people with two distinct personalities of good and bad. But what if the person split in two is a celebrity? And what if letting the "bad" personality loose on the world creates the risk of creating a scandal for that celebrity? And what if the witch isn't really a witch but a new-to-the-religion Wicca who found a very old book of spells of unknown origins and that spell book has a mind of its own? (Yes, this is an actual story plot I had in a dream one night.)

No matter what plots have been used before, your story will be unique to you and to your own imagination. If you feel the pull to write that story, then don't worry too much about what has been done before and write your story.

Music to Write To #BYBin30

Image by Bruno Glätsch from Pixabay

I often listen to music while I write, and I have heard from many other writers that they do too. I'm not sure what everyone else would say is the reason they listen to music while they write, but I sometimes listen to music while I write to set the mood for what I am writing, if I can find the right type of music to listen to for the mood I am trying to achieve.

Sometimes, listening to music just calms my mind and helps me to focus on my story, but with one caveat: if the music I am listening to is a song and sung in a language I understand, it doesn't help but instead hinders me in my writing. I am the type of person who, when hearing a song in my own language, I mentally start singing along (sometimes not just mentally but out loud as well). I can't shut off the story the song is telling me.

So when I listen to music, the music is either an instrumental piece with no lyrics or the lyrics are sung in a foreign language (one I, currently, have no hope of understanding). This kind of music can set the mood for me or help me focus on my story without interfering in my writing. It actually aids my writing. (The same is true for music I want to go to sleep too; it can't have lyrics that make me want to sing along or listen to the story the lyrics tell.)

I used to not listen to any music when I wrote, back when I only had a radio to listen to, because, if the music had the wrong mood to it, it would interfere with my writing in that I would start writing to fit the mood the music was creating. And there was no way to choose which songs would play from the radio station I was listening to. But now, I can select my music ahead of time and set it to play the songs I want playing while I write.

Do you listen to music while you write or do you find it more of a hindrance when you write? What kind of music are you most likely to listen to while writing, if you listen to it? Let me know in the comments!

How Your Dreams Can Feed Your Stories #BYBin30

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

I've been having some strange and interesting dreams lately. Sometimes, those dreams are more like wish-fulfilment and other times, they are nightmares I try to escape from. Sometimes my dreams at night are of the mundane variety, and sometimes they are magical. Often times, they make very little sense, and occasionally, they make no sense whatsoever.

But one thing every one of those dreams has in common is that they are fodder for stories. They can become whole new stories for me to write about, or they can give me new scenes to add into already forming stories. Sometimes, they just help me better pinpoint an emotion I am trying to portray (by letting me experience it in depth within the dream so that I can better describe it to my readers).

Just as our nightly dreams can sometimes help us work through issues we are having to deal with in real life, they can also sometimes give us answers to problems we are having in the writing of one of our stories. There are times when dreams are largely symbolic though, so we might have to navigate their meanings before we can find those answers.

Have your dreams ever inspired a story you've written (or wanted to write)? Have your dreams ever helped you with a story you were already writing? Let me know in the comments!

When Real Life Inspires Events in your Story #BYBin30

Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay

Today, I am suffering from a horrible, horrible migraine. In fact, my head hurts so much, that I just spent the last two hours with soft music playing from my noise-cancelling headphones, resting in a room with the curtains drawn and the lights off. At this moment in time, I am still barely functioning, but I am determined to get this post written and posted. (Then I will go back to my resting, music-listening ways.)

I was a bit stuck on my story, but my migraine gave me an idea. My main character is in a world where she doesn't belong, with her entire being sometimes fading in and out of existence within that world. Why can't she, also, suffer with a migraine? Granted, it won't be a huge scene, but it will be a scene which can show the care and attention the male lead shows her and will also show the concern he feels towards her well-being. Her migraine might be part of the overall struggle she is having within this world as it tries to eject her from it. (No one knows yet if it is ejecting her back into her own world or completely out of existence altogether.)

I have to admit that I do, frequently, use real-world knowledge and experiences to add things to my stories. This is why my main characters are often mothers and also frequently middle aged. Although I have experience being young and single, I find that most books are written from the perspective of a young main character, so it sometimes makes me want to change things up for the stories that I am putting out there. (Faith, in this story, is young, single and not a mother though.)

Do you ever use life experiences in your stories? What kinds of experiences or moments do you or have you used before? Let me know in the comments!

Obstacles to Writing #BYBin30

Image by Pintera Studio from Pixabay

Today, I sat down to write, and it was yet another day where my laptop is not charging properly. It's been having this issue for over a year now. Some days, it charges better than other days. Today was one of those days where I had to hold it at a certain angle and put pressure against the cable where it attached to the charging port. This caused my hand to ache, but it was the only way to not lose charge on my laptop.

It had the unfortunate result in that it was difficult to write. I like typing with both hands. When I am limited to just one hand, it takes longer to type and, when the other hand has to hold the cable just-so at the same time, that hand starts to hurt which is a distraction from my writing.

I'm one of those people who will find a way to write despite the distractions. I will probably do some writing by hand tonight on a notepad and then type it up tomorrow, despite the discomfort. One benefit of doing this is I can catch typos, spelling mistakes and awkward or just plain bad grammar when I type up what I've hand written.

Obstacles to our writing can take many forms. And there is no one solution to getting past, around, over or through those obstacles. Perseverance is the only thing that matters.

What kinds of obstacles are you facing to your writing? What have you done to overcome your obstacle(s)? Let me know in the comments!

Time Off from Writing while Enjoying Other Creative Pursuits #BYBin30

I took today off from writing my story. Instead of working on my story, or even thinking about it, I enjoyed a new song that came out from one of my favourite singers, I practised my own singing (and got complimented on it by my kids, which, as most of the ones at home now pre-teens and teenagers is a BIG DEAL, because teenagers are begrudging when it comes to compliments), practised my Korean language skills, and worked on writing a new song.

I still engaged in creative activities, which kept my imagination in use, but I took a break from writing this particular story because I felt as thought I was blocked and I needed the break from it.

Tomorrow, I will write some more of the story, and, with any luck, this little break will help bring about some fresh ideas for it. Sometimes, when I am feeling blocked with a story, all I need to get writing again is a mini-break to refresh my mind.

What do you do when you are suffering with writer's block or a story is not coming easily to you? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! How is your story coming along so far?

A Meandering Writing Day & New Story Ideas #BYBin30

Today, I managed to write another 902 words for a total so far of 12,016 words written of my story. The writing today was just a bit to expound on what happened in the story yesterday. I'm also not entirely sure what the next part of the story will entail yet, so I will have to think about it tonight in order to be able to continue the story tomorrow.

I also have another story growing in my mind, which I am struggling to set aside so that I can continue working on this story. Ideally, I like to finish one story before beginning another one, but sometimes my muse won't l;eave me alone when a new idea comes to me. It's being fairly persistent this time, but I am more determined to continue this particular story, so I will write a paragraph as a quick synopsis of my new idea, and then I will set it aside until I have finished my current writing project.

What do you do when new story ideas come to you and beckon you to leave your current project behind? Do you give in? Or do you set the new ideas aside for later? Let me know in the comments!

The Full Writing Day that Turned Into a Research Day #BYBin30

Today, as the start of the weekend, was intended to be a day of intense writing. Instead, it was a day of no writing, but lots and lots of research.

My story is set in the Joseon period of Korea's past. Occasionally, I get to parts of it that need setting description or even a closer relating of certain roles within the period that require me to do some research in order to get it right. Fortunately, my story is a story within a story, and the setting, rather than being purely in the Joseon period is actually set in a Kdrama version of the Joseon period, so, if I get a few small things wrong, it can be put down to the drama being wrong. But I still want to write this as accurately as possible.

That research can sometimes take me down a rabbit-hole of interesting information and I can let myself get carried away by the research, beyond what is needed for the scene I am writing, and that is what happened today.

How about your story? Does it require you to do any research? Or does your story stick to things, places, people and roles that you are already familiar with? Let me know in the comments below! Also let me know how your writing is coming along.

New Possibilities and Directions for the Story #BYBin30

This image of a fox has nothing to do with the story I am writing; I just like it, so I decided to use it on this post.

I have only written a little bit today, but my story is taking on some interesting *possible* twists. I put the word "possible" inside asterisks because I am not sure what I will do with those possibilities going forward. I might run with them and use them in the story to create new plot twists, or I might keep things on a more even keel going forward and these possible leads to new directions will lead nowhere. This is all part of the fun of "pantsing" a story. I have no outline and no detailed plot in mind, so my story can take me absolutely anywhere, especially since the story is premised on a magical, supernatural event to begin with.

Here is an excerpt from today's writing that will give you a small idea of how my story could evolve:

In the Kdrama this world was based on, Kai had died on that battlefield and would have been dead for days by now. What if the Kdrama was trying to re-assert its intended storyline by correcting the “mistake” of Kai surviving? There were so many things about all of this that she didn’t understand. What were the rules in a world where she’d already turned the rules upside down?

My character Faith is wondering the same thing I am; what are the rules in this world where nothing is impossible? Are there any rules? How much of reality do I want to bend in this story? How much can I bend the reality of this world before I lose my readers? I don't want to go too far for my readers' suspension of disbelief.

And here's another quick snippet from today's writing:

If every film or TV show created a mini world based on the storyline, what happened when the story was over?

Faith is interacting with a side-character in a Kdrama, not even the main character. The original story was written for a different character than the one she is spending time with, and that main character's story has already ended. So what happens to the story now? And what happens to her, as an intruder in that story?

And yes, I know I have to figure all of this out in order to continue writing my story. What do you think? Do you think the story should be trying to correct for the changes that had happened within it, as if the story-world is a living thing with a mind of its own? Or should I just leave it with the one bad guy who is already involved in the story being the main problem these two face (aside from the whole not-being-from-each-others'-world thing)? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I'd also love to find out how your stories are coming along.

(For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, "suspension of disbelief," it is a phrase intended for stories. Wikipedia defines it this way: "The term suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief has been defined as a willingness to suspend one's critical faculties and believe something surreal: sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment." It means you can watch a film or read a book with supernatural elements, or even just slightly unbelievable events within the storyline, and you can suspend your critical thinking on those aspects long enough to enjoy the story.)

Refreshing the original story in my mind and going from there #BYBin30

Image by nile from Pixabay

I spent today re-reading the words already written in my story, so that I could refresh the story in my mind, making it easier to start from the correct point and to remember the plans I had for it. Usually when I re-read something I wrote in the past, I hate it, but I quite enjoyed the story so far, which I think is a good sign.

I didn't write much more on the story today, only another 329 words. (I didn't do any writing yesterday.) I'm becoming more familiar again with my characters and the issues they are facing.

Here's a short excerpt from the story:

As she turned, she started to fade. Kai could see through her to the objects behind. In a panic, he reached his hand out and grabbed onto her arm, squeezing tightly. 

She instantly came back into focus, the strange transparency was gone. Had he been seeing things? Thinking of how she arrived here and from where, he thought that maybe he hadn’t been imagining it.  

She turned back to him in surprise at his sudden grip, wobbling slightly in place, placing one hand on her forehead.

“You were disappearing,” he said. “Did you feel it happening?” 

“I felt dizzy, but it went away when you touched me.”

So that's it for my update for today. How is your story coming along? Anything about it you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments!

Keeping the Story Moving Along #BYBin30

I haven't done any actual writing yet today. It's only 5:00pm here though, so I still have time. I've spent some time today thinking about how to move my story along from where it is. At the moment, my main character is trapped inside a world created by another writer, a world that was set in a long ago past and in a different country.

The plan is that she will, eventually, get pulled back into her world again, but that the other protagonist ends up being pulled back into her world with her. I'm just not sure if I want that to happen at this point in the story or later in the story. I also haven't decided if this is going to be a novelette, a novella or a full-length novel.

But this is all part of planning and plotting a story. As my story moves along, I suppose it will dictate to me how long it intends to be, but in the meantime, I have to figure out how to keep it moving. 

The first day writing this story was a piece of cake. the idea came to me in a dream and I wrote the part of the pot that I had already dreamed in 12 hours, writing 10,365 words of the story. But then I set it aside for many months, and now I'm having to get a feel for the story all over again. when I haven't outlined ahead of time, that fresh, bright, first writing of a story comes so easily, but then the story becomes a bit more work because I have to make sure that, as the story grows and moves forward, everything still connects and makes sense.

How are you doing with your writing this month? Let me know in the comments.

My Story Begins #BYBin30

Yesterday, I took a story that I had already started, a fantasy romance, and decided that I would work in it for this month. Since I am already committed to writing more of the story this month, I also signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo. Now I am motivated in two ways to keep writing, one by this challenge and the other by the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge.

One thing that I like about NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo is that they give me a place to put a synopsis for my book, a title, an excerpt and a working book cover. (I call it a "working" book cover, because it is just the cover I use while writing not the book, not the finished cover or what will actually be used when the book is published.) I have, at this point in time, written 10,365 words of my book - all of which was written in one day. I decided to take that beginning and try and complete the book for this year's Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge.

I started it with the title of "Alternate." When I was setting up my Camp NaNoWriMo page, I couldn't remember the title I had given it, so I typed it in as "The World is What I Make of It." Then I found the story and the original title I had given it. While both titles work for the story, I took a bit from each title and settled on the title "Alternate Worlds" for this book. That may change again in the future though.

The synopsis I wrote up is this:

Faith likes writing fan fiction, and she's come across a side-character named Kai in a Kdrama that inspires her to write a fan fiction giving him a happier ending. But when she ends up inside the story she's writing, which is alternatively inside a Kdrama world that someone else created, how is she supposed to get back to her own world? And how can she keep Kai from finding out he is nothing more than a fiction character that someone wrote, one who died in the original story?

I wrote it more like a blurb, and it still needs some work.

Here's an excerpt from the book (from what is written so far):

      Weakness and fatigue started to pull him under. Before his eyes drifted shut, there was a bright flash and a woman’s scream. Weakly, he turned his head to find an angel lying beside him. Her eyes were closed as if in sleep, but, as he took in her copper hair and the freckles dotting her delicate nose, she opened her eyes and looked straight at him.
      Her eyes widened even wider for a second and she sat up quickly. 
     “Y – you – you’re bleeding,” she stammered in a startled voice that still managed to sound sweet to his ears.
     “Angel. You’ve come to reap my soul. I’m ready,” he whispered, his voice soft because he was too weak to speak any louder.
     “N – no! I’m here to keep you from dying. You can’t die like this.” Her eyes widened again and she put her hand against her mouth, as if startled to hear the words that came from it.

Again, it still needs some work, but the editing can begin once the book is complete. You can find my Camp NaNoWriMo page here.

How are you doing with your story? Have you come up with an idea yet? Are you already writing it? Are you editing instead? Let me know in the comments. 

Welcome to the Blog Your Book in 30 Days Challenge 2019! #BYBin30

Blog Your Book in 30 Days is a challenge to write the first draft of your book by posting one chapter a day for an entire month. During the month of the challenge, helpful blog posts will be shared on the website.

The challenge is here to help you write the book you have always wanted to write but have never written. Whether you want to write a memoir, a fiction novel, a comic book, a children's chapter book or middle grade novel or a non-fiction book, this challenge is going to help you get it done. 

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

This way of writing your books works best if you are planning to self-publish your book, but there are some instances where blogs have garnered the attention of agents and publishers and resulted in book deals. Those instances are the exception though, not the rule.


Rules:

Sign up. You will not be entered into the prize drawing unless you are signed up. Go here to sign up.

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

You have from the first of the month until the 30th of the month to complete the first draft of your book. No starting early, unless it is only research and outline you are working on beforehand.

On the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th of the month, you will do a quick comment on that day's blog post posted on this blog about that week stating how the week has gone for you and anything you have learned or achieved from the challenge that week. Your comment might be quoted in the Blog Your Book in 30 Days book when it comes out or later in the blog itself and, by commenting, you are giving permission for your quote to be used.

Each day, you are to write one chapter and then copy and paste it into your day's blog post. By the end of the challenge, you should have a final word count. On the 30th, your comment will include your final word count and whether or not you have finished your first draft. Everyone who completes their first draft will be entered into a prize drawing. (The prize is yet to be determined.) Every time you leave a comment on (one comment per post) a blog post, you will earn one more entry into the drawing. Your comments on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th will earn you two entries into the drawing, and my favourite comment from each of those five days will earn an extra entry.


This challenge is self-driven and monitored. It is a way to keep yourself accountable as you write.

Amended Rules:

Alternate plan for traditional publishing #BYBin30

A few people have brought up the point that, if they choose to go the traditional route to publishing, having their entire book published on their blog may very well work against them in getting a book contract.

There are some optional ways of following this challenge, in those instances.

1. Write your one chapter every day, but only post on your blog about the writing, such as how much you wrote, what part of the story you were working on, what was easy about it, what was difficult about it, whether it stayed on plan or strayed from the original plot idea, etc.

2. Write your one chapter every day, but only post a small (one paragraph) excerpt from that day's writing as your blog post for the day.

3. Blog your book as per the original plan, but leave out important chapters, which will only be seen in the finished product. (This is a good idea even for those who plan on self-publishing.)

4. Don't blog your book at all, but use this challenge as the impetus to write a chapter a day anyway.

5. Blog about subjects related to your book or about topics your readers will enjoy reading about. (This is a great marketing technique.)

6. Do a 30 day promotional blogging adventure, with prizes and give-aways. Have your readers answer questions to previous books you've written in order to win prizes. Let them give you input on where they see you next book going or who their favorite characters are in your stories. There are many ways to make this month-long writing challenge a great marketing strategy for your book before it even becomes available.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about this and still be part of the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge, but these are a few ideas for you to consider.

Don't forget to follow the Blog Your Book in 30 Days Facebook page. (If enough people join the challenge, we'll create a Facebook group for discussing our books.)

You may also take a previously written book and use this challenge to edit the book, writing about the process each day in your blog.

And, if you don't want to blog at all, you can even just use this challenge as motivation to keep you writing and comment each day on the day's post, letting us know about your progress/word count/whatever.

Note: In the first year of the challenge (2014), I wrote a chapter a day on how to blog a book in 30 days. Feel free to read through those previous informative posts. (I also blogged a 30-story collection of mermaid-themed flash and short fiction as well as editing a non-fiction book - 28 day fitness challenge - that I wrote in the previous February.) In the second year of the challenge (2014), I added more chapters on how to blog your book in 30 days and also wrote stories for another anthology with different characters all set in the same world I had created. In the third year of the challenge (2015), I added more chapters on how to blog your book in 30 days, but did not post daily. In 2016 and 2017, I did the same, and I skipped running the challenge entirely in 2018. But this year, 2019, I'm back. I will be posting more informally through this year's challenge, all about the romance set in a fantasy world that I am writing. I hope you are ready to join me again this month! Let's do this!