Writing Tips

I am currently writing a book with a friend. Well, more like a series. It started out as a fun project, but we ended up with a very exciting plot and some interesting characters. Right now we are writing the something that can only bee described as a first draft, though it's probably not even that. We are writing in English with the intend to sell it as an e-book when we finish. It's not going to be a great novel since nor my friends or my English is actually good enough. I have come a very long way and have still a very long way to go before I'll be a good writer. You can always improve yourself and your skills. While I am not a professional, I like to give some writing tips:

Know the genre that you are writing.
 Before starting to write, it is important that you know the genre. Read books from the genre and see how those authors have build there story. Some genres are more difficult then others. For example you will have to put a lot of time and effort in research if you want to write a historical story. It is not only important that you know what happened around the time your story is situated, but also the details: of what fabric were clothes mostly made? What kind of food did they ate? etc.
Fantasy (or Science Fiction) can be very tricky as well, especially if you are creating a whole new world. It is the world building that will make your story believable and again the details matter as much as the big picture. If you have absolutely no clue how to start world building, you still have a lot of reading to do. One of the most renowned world builders is J. R.R Tolkien. It's amazing how he created Middle Earth. George R.R Martin did a great job as well, though he didn't go quite as far as Tolkien in my opinion.
So read what you want to write! 

Practise as much as you can
If you can, write every day! Practise can only make you better!

Characters
When I started to write a had a lot of trouble writing believable characters and that is why I start writing fanfiction. I just had to create a plot and I could start writing without having to create characters. I absolutely hate flat characters or characters who are extremely good or bad in something. Every character has flaws and holy good or holy bad characters are utterly boring in most cases. To get inspiration for a character try not to long too far; people in your immediate surrounding can be a great source of inspiration. J.K Rowling has based Snape on bad teacher she has had during her school time. A great way to get to know you character is to interview them and let them replied in their own voice. What makes a character human, are quirks. Do be careful that you don't give too many (strange) quirks to your characters.

Plot
As a discovery writer, I barely ever plot things out. I have an idea were I want to go and what is going to happen, but what comes in between I will find out while I am writing. This way of writing causes me to have to rewrite certain things, but I don't mind. I can't plan things out, it starts to bore me. A good plot does not have to be complex. Some stories get their strength out of their plot (plot driven stores) , other from their characters (character driven stories) and others use a combination.

Inspiration
 I get my inspiration from everywhere. Music and books are my greatest inspiration. Life itself can be a great source of inspiration as well. I have discovered that I tend to give (some of) my characters feeling I had or project a part of me on them without actually realising it at first. Most of the time I make it a little darker or lighter. Writing is for me a therapy.   

School, writing and the Elf Fantasy Fair.

Today Easter break is over and it's time to go back to school. i actually have mixed feeling about it. I love school, but the summer exams are coming closer very quickly and I still have tons and tons of work to do. Due to some unforeseen circumstances I haven't managed to study a lot (well actually I barely have studied anything) and I had to make my papers in a record time. Luckily were are not being graded on them yet, since they are the first version of our exam paper, but it means that I probably still have to put a lot of work in them. But going back to school also means being social again without having to squeeze social time into my schedule and having something else to do than sitting at home worrying.I actually don't have time left beside studying,feeding the horses and going to the gym every now and then (I don't do it enough) to do anything else. I try to read a chapter a day of a book I don't have to read for school, but I fail at that most of the time.
While writing has been going very good since September, I now lost momentum and have written barely anything at all since the start of Easter break. I do have some idea I should work out, but I never really feel like working them out. Sometimes I have entire scenes in my head, but I can't write them down because I have trouble finding the right words. I'm also trying to get my writing to a new level by being not easily satisfied, but for some reason I can't make my writing any better right now. It might have to do with the stress or with the lack of time I have. If I put too much time in my writing, I start feeling guilty because I should put that time into studying.And this is the time I normally start to abandon the story I'm stuck with and start with something new. But hey, we'll see what happens.


Beside schools I have the very last day out coming up until the end of the exams: The Elf Fantasy Fair. The grounds of a castle in Haarzuilens (near Utrecht in The Netherlands) have been turned into a wonderful fantasy world. Loads of people are dressed up pretty and there are fantasy related workshops, music, presentation, fantasy related famous people (like authors, actors etc) and of course fantasy themed food and drinks!
Ever since the first time I went a couple of years ago,  I wanted to get/make a proper costume but I've never succeeded. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm everything but handy and crafty. This year I decided quite late that I wanted to go and I had no time to make anything. I still don't have a clue what I'm going to wear... you really stand out if your not dressed up or something.
Anyway this summer I'm going to start on a costume for next year. i want to do something with feathers. I have some ideas in my mind but I need to work them out a little more.
Anyway I am feverishly counting down the days until Saturday since I really am in need of some distraction and relaxation.

Writing, my passion.

I am, and have always been, a person with an incredible imagination. I always played a kind of roleplaying games with a friend when I was younger. We pretended to be some mythical creature or some kind of hero.We could do this for hours and hours without getting bored. That is probably why I am such a huge fan of roleplaying games on the computer. When I was around eleven years old, J.K Rowling (how cliché) introduced me to reading and I never stopped reading afterwards. My favourite genre is fantasy because it makes me able to escape this dull world and live in those very excited worlds filled with magic, knights and dragons. It wasn't very long after Harry Potter that I discovered fanfiction and tried writing. I didn't like writing. I loved it!

I read loads and loads of fanfiction and wrote a fair bit. Only a bare minimum I managed to finish though. Nevertheless I kept writing and I kept on starting new stories. Every now and then I started an original story but they were abandoned rather quickly. Now I am writing a fanfiction with a friend which turns out to have quite a good plot and we are planning to rewrite is as an original story; which will be quite a task but I'm looking forward to it! Beside that I also started very recently (as in yesterday) an original story. I have on scene and a small piece of the plot. Loads and loads of work on that one.

I have always toyed with the thought of being a writer but it was more a 'maybe' thing. If I had a good idea and managed to write a good story around it, I might consider to try and get it published. The thought of becoming a writer has turned into a dream. I want to write. I would love to earn money by creating stories. I would love to entertain people with my stories and perhaps teach them a thing or two, because books are full of life lessons.
I don't want to write to become famous or earn loads of money. To achieve this you have to be really good and perhaps lucky someone wants to make a film or tv series from your book(s). I know that the chances to be able to earn a decent living from writing are very slim, especially in Belgium. Unfortunately the market for Dutch fantasy is, unless I am mistaken, very small. Most fantasy readers I know read almost solely in English. So if I ever want to make a chance to live from that I would have to get a lot better in English and move to some English speaking country.
I actually already said the reason why I wanted to write: to entertain people. I would be so thrilled if someone would enjoy reading my work! Another reason I want to write is to create my own world; my own rules and laws and my own characters. Basically, I want to play God.  But the main reason I want to write is because I have to get ideas out of my mind. Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle (better known as Eragon and don't judge the books by the film, 'cause in comparison the film was horrible):

"Write because a story burns within you, and you find yourself thinking and dreaming of it every free moment."

I never felt this way before (for a long period of time) about a story until I started writing with my friend. It's an amazing feeling but sometimes very annoying as well.

Creating a world

For a while now, I would love to write a story that would someday be published, in other words, a book. For years I have written (not all finished) stories with characters and worlds that are not my own but I never had an good idea to write a story around until now. I am not going to say what my idea is, because I'm afraid someone else is going to use it.

Before I can write the story however, I have to shape the world and let everything make sense since it is going to be a fantasy story situated in another universe. I never thought writing a fantasy novel is so difficult and needs so much preparation. Every world has a history, and every race has it's own customs and traditions. Who rules the world and how? From what are the houses built and why? Loads of work, and the funniest thing is that most of the things I need to figure out, aren't important in the plot, but will make the world seem more real and realistic. So far I defined the basis of one race, but it still needs a lot more refining.

I will need to put a lot of work and effort in this story if ever want to finish it, but it might be that it would never be published. I know I am not yet good enough, but if I don't practise, or try, how can I get better? So I'm just going to go for it and see where I end up. If I get published, awesome! If I don't, at least I tried.