Three Thingies to Use While Writing

1. Things are looking really bad for the character, and they're trying to find some hope in the situation even though they it seems like they're doing it in vain. And when they've almost given up, all of a sudden a genius idea pops into their head and leaves them feeling either shocked and excited or strong, like they finally have a chance against the villain (or any other reactions kinda like that). Basically. Yeah.
Example: (Of Sorcery and Snow) Rory Landon: wishing coin idea

2. Something is introduced that's been used plenty of times before by other people (ghosts, vampires, zombies, mermaids, etc.) but they're unique and there's something about them that explains why people think of them the way they do. Sometimes the whole story leads up to an explanation, but it doesn't have to.
Example: Why are ghosts translucent? Because the character can only see them through his cyborg eye, and he only has one.

3. If you don't know the genre of the story, sometimes you have absolutely no clue how everything will end up. Nothing clearly hints to what the characters are capable of--does the villain have magic powers or is he/she just a normal person?--but there are parts that make you think it's one thing or the other. Usually they convince you it's going to be the wrong thing, and that way the ending almost always surprises you. In a good way.
Example: Erebos: realistic fiction or sci-fi/fantasy?

MAGICAL WORD OF THE DAY/WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER:
Marcescent, which means withering but not falling off.

THE END! Now go listen to Paramore.

Books Again, Plus Some Fun Boringness

 "Big, dark eyes search the sky. Their owner reaches upward with delicate fingers to feel the wind rush through, rough and unwelcoming. Her eyes are drawn to a bright flash in the distance, but it fades before she can identify it. Two eyes harden. One figure stiffens. Holds her breath, counts to three, and leaps."

I'm having way too much fun with the novel I just started, and that's where the above thing is from. Of course, I'm procrastinating from my other novel, but it's got problems I need to work around before I write any more so procrastination works for me. I've got maybe seven hundred words in this one besides a random scene I wrote and a flashback-like thing of the character that I might put in the story somewhere. It's not very much, but it isn't giving me too many problems yet so I'm happy with it.

...and that's basically all I can think of to post. Hmm. I should probably have a longer first-post-of-the-year-thing to avoid being boring/disappointing/etc. Though I probably already failed at that. :D

I should probably just ramble some more about the new story...well, the main character is a bit wild and she doesn't really know the difference between good and bad when it comes to people who aren't part of her special group. She's innocent besides that, though. I'm planning a lot of evilness for her, yay!

Don't worry, I can't think of any more boringness about my writing. Now I get to talk about real, actual, published books. Like Cinder, which is the first book of the Lunar Chronicles that I plan on reading more of soon! It's awesome. There were plot twists, well-developed characters, a cool setting, and cyborgs! A fairytale set in the future with cyborgs is almost impossible to beat.

Then I can talk about Unlocking the Spell, which is the second Wide-Awake Princess book. I haven't actually read enough to say much about it yet, but it's pretty good so far.

And I think that is all. Possibly.

Three Books at Story Time

I had the random idea to do a random fun thing because fun things are fun. Yes.

Okay, so here's what's going on: I took three books and I'm going to find a random sentence in each of them. Then I'll use those sentences and try to put them all in a tiny story. That has probably been done before, but meh.

Books:

1. The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
3. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester


Random Sentences:

1. The walls, the floors, the ceilings—everything glittered and glowed.
2. "Dragon Army did all right against Rabbits."
3. He picked up the phone with a quivering hand.

Story Time:

She scrubbed the glass vigorously, seeing imaginary stains and trying to make sure that everything was extra clean. The walls, the floors, the ceilings—everything glittered and glowed. But it wasn't good enough, not for what was going to happen there. No, it wasn't good enough at all. If possible, she scrubbed harder.

But that very room, where a negotiation was to take place, became instead where war was declared. This war was to last years, and had she known so, she would rather have trailed mud all through the room and let loose thousands of large crawling insects. The declaration of war should not be honored, and if she knew what was to happen, she would not have done so by making the beautiful room sparkle with the colors of life. War was not life.

But it was war, and it went on through generation after generation. Opinions of it varied with every new person. One child was known to call the two armies dragon and bunny, bunny being their own side and dragon being the other. The child would explain that the other side was like a dragon because it was powerful and scary, and that their side was like a bunny because it was small but quick. As the child grew, it become dragon and rabbit, but the concept remained the same.

The child had a parent who worked in some part of the government, so he often knew about political happenings before anyone else. He knew that the war was drawing towards an end, but he didn't know which side was going to win. So when the parent called one day, he couldn't help but be worried. He picked up the phone with a quivering hand.

The voice on the other side said, "Dragon Army did all right against Rabbits."

His grip on the phone tightened. "But?" he asked, hoping it wouldn't be an "and" instead.

"We did better. And it's over now."

Well...it's kind of odd. Your turn!