Category Archives: Aspiring Author

What do YOU want to read?

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I have had some troubles coming up with names for my book, but today at work I got a great idea from a dear colleague of mine. He asked me where Örebro (his hometown) fit in my story. I told him that if I changed it to sound a little more English-y I would definitely name a place that. Then he also asked me to put a castle in it. I might actually use it where I am in the story right now, under water. Or perhaps later in the ice plain?

Anyway, my great idea is for you, my dear fellow readers, to give me names of places you want in my story. Or things. Like his idea of putting Örebro with a big castle in the story. So, let me know what you want to read!

My writing process

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Like I have said previously, writing has always been a huge interest of mine. My imagination has pretty much never run dry, except when it was in ‘power save mode’ when I was at Chalmers and was busy with other stuff. I have never taken a creative writing class, nor any similar classes on how to write and without knowing anything at all about the “official” way to write a book, I have chosen my own path and created my very own writing process. And so far so good!

I started to actually write on June 12th this year, but that was after some planning and thinking. I can’t tell exactly for how long I had been thinking about the plot and environment, but at least a month. I wrote down everything that came to my mind in a document, and when that document was 8 pages or so long, I couldn’t keep myself from starting to write.

I still use the note document, there are many many things I haven’t thought of yet. I even have a small physical notebook always in my pocket so that I can write down things as soon as they come to me, wherever I might be.

My note document is divided in different parts.

  • Plot
  • Environment
  • Characters
  • General thoughts

Under Plot I have both a short short version of the whole plot, no details, just the major steps in the story. I also have started on a more descriptive version of the plot where I write a paragraph on all the things that will happen. I haven’t made it too far on that and probably should spend some time on it so I don’t write more than I have planned for. I want this to be a well-thought story where everything is connected and makes sense.

Under Environment I have written descriptions of all the different territories and their potential names. Names are hard! I have also used some references for this part so the climates make sense.

The part about Characters are pretty short right now. I have no idea what the main character’s name should be, but I know that character so it has been easy to just write it as it happens. Up until this point she has been alone so I have to work more on that part now. I have written down several names, I have thought of themes that the different tribes’ names will have, but those names are not live persons in my head right now unfortunately… This is a fantasy story, so there has to be some magic in it, and here comes a minor spoiler perhaps, but all characters will have a power and a determined destiny so I have written lists of potential powers and destinies as well.

Under General Thoughts I have written down my yeses and noes. What things have I previously read and loved or hated? What things should be in the story and what should not. What do I enjoy to read? That is also the part in which I write questions I ask myself on stuff that I am unsure of and need some time to figure out.

 

As of now, I have the major plot all figured out. Now it is time for the minor details that will make the whole book great! I have been thinking a lot about one part and I really want to write it, but it is at the end, or at least very far ahead, and I don’t want to write outside of the order. The characters will develop and it will be weird to write stuff that will happen, even if it will be super cool, before I have written what will happen until then.

 

I honestly don’t think that there is a right or wrong way to write a book. My way probably could use some improvements, but I am having fun and it is exciting to figure something out all on your own!

10 000 words

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A milestone was just reached: 10 000 written words!

I don’t know if I have a goal. What is a normal book? 150k maybe? If I write in this pace, and write that many words, it might be done in 15 months, haha. That is so far away!

I started writing on June 12th, and 10 000 words in one month doesn’t seem too bad. I do feel however, that I would have come further if I wasn’t so distracted at home. I don’t know why, but whenever my boyfriend is home, Netflix is always on, even if he is doing something on his computer. It is very hard to concentrate with something on in the background… I might try to find a place somewhere where I can sit and write, undisturbed. Best would be to get a two bedroom apartment soon so I can have a whole room to myself, but with the housing shortage, I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon.

Downside of writing

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It is super fun to come up with your very own story, but it takes time to write and make sure that there are no loose ends or plot holes anywhere. Because of this, I don’t have time to read as much anymore. Priorities.

I don’t know if I will make my Goodreads challenge this year. I am two books behind schedule already. We will see how it goes. I might even cheat a little and read a few very short books, like Goosebumps, haha!

If you want to read, let me know!

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I haven’t made it too far yet in my book (18 pages in Word, which I guess equals to around 30 printed?), but since I am completely new to this whole author thing, I would gladly continuously give out what I have written for people to read.

So if you are interested in reading, either just for your own entertainment or to actually give me constructive criticism, let me know and I will send it to you! 🙂

Description of my book

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This is a hard task, to write an intriguing description of my book, without spoiling anything. I think I have kind of a complicated story (Well, I don’t think so, everything is very clear and well-connected in my head, not leaving any loose threads anywhere, but my boyfriend says otherwise everytime I try to explain something).

Anyway, here comes the first official description of my book:

The main character wakes up on a tropical island. She remembers nothing about who she was before the day she woke up on the beach. As she settles in and lives in harmony among the innocent wildlife that the island offers, the question to who she used to be is not bothering her as much. Months later, on one very clear day, she discovers a hazy line on the horizon. Land. That view triggers her dormant curiosity and she believes that if she reaches that land, she will finally get answers to all of her questions.

Her journey takes her to all the territories this world consists of, each one more magical and dangerous than the last. She is encouraged to always keep on going north, never skip an obstacle and to follow her heart. No matter what.

Five chapters

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The last few days I have written so much. Three days ago I was home alone for the evening and wrote 4 pages in word! Up to a total of 14 written pages. I went to bed pretty late, but I was in such a good flow, words just came flowing out of my fingers and I finally wrote an end to chapter three, which I yesterday changed to chapter four (I divided it, it made more sense). I sent it to my mom and am awaiting her response if the suspense at the end is good or not. It feels decent at least.

And yesterday I wrote chapter five in one go, it was a short one, but it is fitting, there are some mystique, leaving some unanswered questions to caption the interest of the reader.

Total page number in Word: 16
Printed pages: ~25

I will post a description of the plot, without spoilers, eventually. It is hard to try to make it sound interesting without telling the whole thing. Not much will be revealed during the story, but will come at the end. I will think about it, and get back to you with it!

Inspiration

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I have to admit that I don’t know a single thing about writing fiction. Sure, I was pretty good at it in grade schoå´0äut that was just short stories written down directly from my head. This is different. There seems to be tons of things to think about which I right now have no clue about. I am sure that will bite me in the butt when I have come a little longer, I just started on my ninth page in Word, so for now I am focusing on getting the story straight.

My inspiration hits me whenever I least expect it. I read a meme (I think) somewhere, that being a writer is not something you are when you are in front of a computer writing, but it is having to have a piece of paper with you at all time because you get ideas wherever you are. That’s how it is with me. When I actively think about certain things I haven’t clarified in my head yet, I always draw I blank. I don’t think I have ever come up with something when I was conveniently in front of my computer.

I also get a lot of inspiration when I read. Of course I have drawn inspiration from my favorites, but this book I am reading now is not that good and I have little to no inspiration from it. But still I get ideas on completely different things than what I read. It’s quite interesting. And maybe that is why I don’t find that book very good, because I think about my own too much while reading, haha. By the way, I am reading Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (author of Divergent, that series was amazing, this one is hard for me to symphathize with). I actually just want to finish it so I can start reading Odinsbarn by Siri Pettersen, a Norwegian fantasy which I have only heard great things about.

First page is written

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Whoah, this was fun! The first page of my book is written (the first page in Word, I guess that equals around two pages in a printed book?) and I have to say that I like it. The language sounds good both in my head and when reading it aloud to my boyfriend. I can’t wait to write more!!

This whole weekend I finished drawing the map and figuring out what the different territories would look like. I wrote short synpopses of the first three steps in the story. I think the whole story will be maybe eight or nine steps? Well, I got eager and wanted to start writing, I can finish the short synopsis steps another day. I tried thinking of names (both for characters and places) as well, but after drawing a blank this whole weekend, I realized that that will be a huge pain in this process. Any help is appreciated :).

I am going to write a book (read: try)

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I have always loved to write, I have tons of short novellas on my external hard drive dating back more than 10 years. On there are also countless ideas of stories I had when my mind wasn’t occupied with school and too much work on the side of university studies to make the personal economy go around. It is sad that I lost my creativity… Perhaps not lost it, but at least stored it in a box for a while. I also loved to paint when I was younger. I am not going into that again, but writing has always been a huge interest to me. If it hasn’t been fiction, I have at least had a blog so I have always had the opportunity to get words written down.

As of June 7th, my master thesis is approved, and since I don’t have any other courses dragging behind, I am now officially done with school. I think I have to apply for my degree before I get the Diploma though. But in any case, this means that I can finally start focusing on me again and get those rusty gears of the creative part of my brain up and running once again!

Ever since I was young I have always had the dream of being a published author and it will continue to be, but my first milestone towards that goal is to actually write something. So, for the past few months I have been thinking and taken a lot of notes and written down the main plot (I think it is clearer in my head than in written words right now though), the setting and a brief description of the environment where it will take place. I think I am on the right path. I want to do this right, and I believe this goes for anything, but if you want to do something right, go through a thorough planning phase first. I still have a few things I want to clarify for myself before actually start writing, like for examples the yeses I want to have in the story and the noes I want to stay away from (side note, can you say ‘yeses’ and ‘noes’?). I also have to make sure that I know what type of book I want to write, what kind of feelings do I want to generate with the readers. Maybe I don’t need all of this before writing, maybe it is just the project manager in me that wants to plan ahead and have a clear path in my head before writing anything down. I don’t think it will hurt and I am sure my notes will expand exponentially once I actually start writing.

 

I am not going to tell you anything yet, but I will keep you updated with regular intervals on what’s going on. I have plans to make this blog updated more often again!