Showing posts with label writing voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing voice. Show all posts
Friday, December 7, 2012 | By: Unknown

Control Me Preview

I haven’t had much happen in my life in almost a month. I have been busy working, Christmas shopping and preparing to go to two football games. One game involves me dying my hair bright green and blue, and painting my face. Will post some of those pictures.

Instead of ranting I figured I would post some of the book I am working on typing up, Control Me. Be warned, this is the typing up of the rough draft, I haven’t gone through to edit or make sense out of most of the novel.

Hope some people enjoy it, this is one of my favourite parts that I have typed up so far.

Cpt. Anderson saluted his superiors before he guided me to the chair next to where he sat down. His face was serious and he stayed quiet. Technically, he was not forced to attend this meeting, but he chose to for my sake or the sake of his superiors for he was unknowledgeable with how much power I acquire.

When I sat down I glanced at each officer before looking back at Cpt. Anderson. No one looked pleased to be here.

“Well, Miss Clemmons have you been briefed as to why we asked to meet with you?” the officer directly across from me said. His tone made me feel like I was less intelligent than them.

“Yes, I have,” I replied. For first introductions, this was the worst. It felt like each of the six officers were trying to see through me

“before we proceed with making a decision and meriting your proof, we need to see evidence.”

What type of evidence? I said to each of the people’s minds in the room. I had enough of their attitude.

“I’m sorry. What did you just say? The officer sitting beside me said.

Cpt. Anderson tried not to laugh. Since yesterday he had adjusted to me talking to him through his mind.

I asked you gentlemen, how you would like me to prove my abilities.

“Your lips are not moving,” the officer sitting at the head of the table stated.

I know. I am not using my mouth to speak. For being superiors they lacked imagination and intelligence towards something other than literature and facts.

“But, how?”

Cpt. Anderson put his left hand over his mouth to help disguise and resist laughing more. He felt my frustration that I was feeling because he was sitting directly next to me.

I am speaking to you through your mind. I can say anything to you this way.

All six officers stared at me in awe and confusion.

“Nope. I don’t believe you,” the officer that addressed me first said.

I sighed. It’s true. It would be best if you realized it now before I show you the next part. I assure you it will not be pleasant for you. Not that I was complaining about potentially causing harm to them. This was what I feared: disbelief. All I wanted to do was scream out of frustration. If I became angry it would spread to everyone. I had not properly worked on my powers to handle too many people, or designate each person a different reaction.

“Was that a threat?”

Yes, it was. I do not like when people do not believe me.

“And what could you possibly do to make that threat a reality Miss Clemmons?”

Glancing over at Cpt. Anderson I smiled. “Sad or angry?” I said to Cpt. Anderson.

“Sad, I guess,” Cpt. Anderson responded. Although, it was humorous to think of the men in charge of him getting angry for no reason, sadness was more of a proof of my abilities.

“Excuse me Cpt. Anderson and Miss Clemmons, what are you two discussing?” the officer beside me said.

You will see. I focused my eyes on the six of them and began to send out the emotion of extreme sadness. My body did not react as I pushed the feeling onto them. If I was using my ability correctly, Cpt. Anderson was not to be affected by the feeling.

Each officer’s eyes began to tear up before they started to cry.

Believe me now?

“How? Why? I feel so sad right now,” the officer across from me said. His eyes were red and puffy from crying.

I am making you feel sad. It’s a way to prove to you my abilities.

“Enough! I can say that we believe you now.” He wiped his cheeks with the back of his left hand. His cheeks were damp from tears he did not know why they were shed.

Within seconds I stopped sending them the feeling of sadness. My point was proven my abilities existed.

“Do you know how much danger you are in with a third of the countries trying to find you?”

“As you have seen and experienced, I am more dangerous than any of them,” I said. Instead of speaking to them through their minds I opted to speak aloud. “Emotions are only one aspect of what I can control.”

“You are a commodity that people will do anything to get a hold of. As you have analyzed, people have ideas with the use of you.”

It felt like I was to be disposed of like I was a threat to the country and world. Fear set in as I saw their faces. It was a mixture of concern, anger and no emotion. This was business, and I was their business. “So, what am I to do?” as the officers discussed me, I sat in silence and waited for a response. No other option but waiting existed for me.

After seven minutes all the officers returned their attention to me. “For now you are to remain here and monitor any new messages received from these countries involved. You no longer need to look at previous documents,” the officer across from me told me. “You will be supervised and escorted at all times. You are to keep your abilities a secret. Only the people in this room are permitted to have knowledge of your abilities and the full extent of them.”

What he told me was not difficult. The supervising and escorting aspect bothered me though. “Anything else?” The tone of annoyance was strong in my voice and I didn’t bother to try and hide it.

“You are to not use your abilities.”

That statement bothered me the most. My abilities were a part of me. There was no switch to turn them on and off. “I’m sorry, but that one I will not agree with.”

“You have no say, we are telling you that you are not allowed to use them.”

“I do have a say.” I clenched my hands into fists to try to suppress my anger.

Cpt. Anderson put his left hand on my right forearm. He gave my forearm a light squeeze. “Sirs, you cannot ask her to not use what is a part of her,” he said to his superiors in defense of me. He chose to remain silent throughout the meeting, but now he intervened for my sake. The majority of the rules were able to be respected. The last one was not.

“Did we ask for your opinion for Cpt. Anderson?” the officer across from me said. He was displeased with Cpt. Anderson for speaking out.

“No, sir, you did not. You are making a terrible decision assuming Miss Clemmons will agree to the rules.” Cpt. Anderson knew that I was able to leave at anytime, and then they would be unable to control me.

“No offence, gentlemen, but if you want me to stay then I get to deal with all the rules except for the last one. I had the decency and respect to inform you of my abilities. I could have let the people try to find me and invade Canada,” I said. What I said was the truth. How they came to have knowledge of my abilities was from me informing Cpt. Anderson. They were not in charge, I was.

“We will have to discuss this,” the officer beside me said.

“You have till lunch. If you do not agree to my use of abilities I plant to pack, leave and return home this afternoon.”

“Another threat?”

“No. As you should have realized by now I do not threaten. I warn before I act.”

“We will notify Cpt. Anderson of our decision at 1100. Dismissed.”

Cpt. Anderson saluted as he led me out of the room and down to his office. Once we were out of earshot of his superiors he looked at me. “Well played, Janet,” he said. It sounded like congratulation. As we entered the stairwell he held the door open for me.

“I did my best. They were difficult to convince.” I walked down the stairs beside Cpt. Anderson without him the meeting may not have gone as well. In my defence he stood-up for me, not wanting me to be taken advantage of. Thank you for helping me in the meeting. It was nice having support. Support was not a concept I embraced often.

He smiled, knowing I was able to decipher what it was about. Once we reached his officer’s floor he stopped me outside the entrance. “Even if they told you that you were not allowed to use your abilities, would you have listened?”

“No.” I smiled. My rebellious nature made me unsuitable for the army. Taking orders was difficult for me.

“Come, we’ll keep you occupied as we wait for the decision.” He held open the door for me before he began to lead me to his office. Even after several days of me working in the building, the people in uniform still gave me awkward looks. Most of them he caught and gave a look back. Civilian workers were not uncommon, but it was rare to see a new one without a connection to a person already working on base.

 

Keep writing everyone! Never give up on it!

Sunday, May 13, 2012 | By: Unknown

Picasso’s Work & Inspiration

DSCF2266Come on people, that one should have been obvious.

Yesterday, the hubby and I took my mom to the AGO to see Picasso’s work for Mother’s Day. Fantastic to see! We all enjoyed it, more so my mother and me. We grew up with my Uncle and Grandpa interested in art, both quite good too. It was only natural for us to want to see it and enjoy it. Plus, once in a lifetime thing.

What we discovered was how you had to look at each picture differently in order to see the pictures. It was fantastic. My mother and I would angle our heads opposite of each other to see what we could see. Each angle brought out something different in the pictures.

We ended up with two favourites. Viola! Here they are! One on the left is called Two Landscapes and the other I cannot remember for the life of me, it involves a guitar.

DSCF2268  DSCF2269

All this made me think. He started becoming noticed when he was 14. Now, I am not saying I should have been recognized at that age for me books. I look at how things have changed. When we wandered the contemporary exhibits we did not like much at all, well….we maybe liked one or two things and really disliked the rest.

I am picky about art and I will admit, I prefer paintings more than anything else. I remember knowing some people that went to Brock and enjoying their paintings. They were unique and beautiful to look at. Not some backyard looking things.

As you can tell, I am not cut out for art, I am cut out for writing. I found this trip to be helpful, more of a “stick to your roots” when it comes to my writing lesson. Sure, I dabble here and there. Everyone has to. I am sticking with my roots because it is my better style of writing. I just think back to what inspired me. My inspiration is not so visual as in Picasso’s works. I have to mould the inspirations to make them work for my writing.

All right, enough rambling about me! I best try to write a little before I fall asleep. Long days and not enough sleep for my liking.

I will say one thing, the show was fantastic and very inspirational. Happy I went and happy that it has helped inspire me to keep writing. Oh, and I got a writing book from there. Hehe, got the mom and hubby annoyed. I needed to keep a little memory of the trip!

Sunday, April 8, 2012 | By: Unknown

Even 7 year old me Knew I Should be a Writer

While at my Mom’s we found these old school reports. I read them and well, laughed. Thanks for the hint people. Took me till I was 12 to start writing novels. Jeez!

Here is term 1!

Old school1

And here is term 2!

Old School2

Hope all can read! If not, let me know and I will type out what it says!

Needs Motivation or Dedicated Writing Time

I understand that full-time writers are able to create a work schedule to write. Say 9-5, or something like. Whatever works for them.

Alas, that is not me. I wish I could do that, but, unfortunately, I have to work. Writing gets bumped back. And no, for those that wonder, I do not come home and write/edit till I go to bed. Half the time I am lucky to get to write for more than 2 hours.

Honestly, what happened to me. As a kid I could write all night. Now that I’m older I want to sleep a lot, or that is the whole health problem. That too adds to my lack of writing, damn health.

I am now wondering if I should force myself to write for 2 hours a night and make it a habit (except for my days off, then I can clearly write more). I have no clue if it will even help any. Some days I know I won’t be able to write due to pain, but I think it is worth a shot.

Motivation for working out was never a problem, but for writing, yes, it was a big problem. If I want a shot at getting publishing, hence the word ‘if’ I have to get back into a routine. I love routines. This should be simple…I hope.

Well, time to rest and hold my food belly. My aunt cooked an amazing meal, great times with the Fam, and my soon-to-be cousin-in-law as of this morning. Love when holidays have amazing news.

Oh yes, I will try to write. I can balance a book or laptop on said food belly. Time to instil the new routine as of tonight, if my eyes stay open. I hope everyone’s holiday was enjoyable and delicious.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 | By: Unknown

I Hate Endings

No, seriously, I do. This is no joke. Endings are just as painful as beginnings. You cannot just end up a book with “And they lived happily ever after”. Never going to happen.

Let me tell you, this book is being  pain-in-the-butt. I can see where it is going, but then it just stops when it comes to how to officially end the novel. Happy? Sad? Ambiguous?

Damn! All of them are good options that work with Control Me. I swear, I do this to myself every time. After 11 years one would think I would have learnt by now to not do this, but nope, I have not.

It’s just so hard! I am so close to the end and all I see is “blank”. If there were enough swear words to express this feeling properly, insert it now. For having  book outside of my norm it is doing well…in my eyes. I am biased because I like my books….at times.

The ending needs to live up to the hype of the book. No worries, the hype is for myself only, no pressure. It has to flow. I cannot just insert a happy ending if it feels like it is tainting the plot.

Alas, I may have to harass friends to answer the question:  “How should I end my novel?”

If anyone knows, let me know. If not, prepare for the contained anger of the book soon. I hope. The book may take more time than I want to finish, but that is another issue.

Monday, February 6, 2012 | By: Unknown

The Hunger Games

I was recommended by a younger co-worker to read this series. As I am reading, over 10 chapters into the first book, I realize that what is now seen as Young Adult/Teen has become more adult.

Yeah! Makes the reading more mature and well, the odd YA books I have written are somewhat acceptable.

But, here is my thing. We have books like To Kill a Mockingbird and even Harry Potter being banned, yet the idea of murdering other people as a game is fine. The world of literature is still confusing.

I have friends that try to give advice on how to become writers, famous and write something original. To me, this is all wrong. Every writer is influenced by something and takes a part of its influence and writes it into the book. It’s just the way it is.

There are some hints of what The Hunger Games is influenced by, but it does not harm the book; it improves it.

What I also fear is that people that are writing and want to get published are now going to copy from this book, just like the Twilight phase.

Books in a similar genre survive and will do fairly well. Books that are directly related/similar do not do so well. Why read a book about a book that already exists?

Well, back to reading I go. I am awaiting the phenomenon of what is going to arrive in my little self-publishing website after the movie is out. If anyone else knows of other books that try to copy popular series let me know.

As for my writers opinion, I still plan not to copy any books. Maybe an aspect, or a name, but nothing more.

Sunday, April 3, 2011 | By: Unknown

Ideas Building Inside

Not going to lie, this is happening to me right now. For the past couple nights I have had this idea brewing in my head as I tried to fall asleep. It hit me so hard that I knew I needed to figure out where to place it in my book.

This is the downside of being a writer, you get smacked with ideas that do not fit in the story right now. So, I have to keep the idea fresh in my mind as I write closer to when it gets placed in.

I am sure I am not the only one that suffers from this. Over the years I have developed some tips.

  1. Do not force yourself to write it into the story as soon as you think of it. That is bad, unless it does fit. You thought of it and you will think of where it should go.
  2. Try not to forget the idea. This is a hard tip because it could be weeks before you get to write the idea out. If you are one to forget, write it down on a piece of paper and either put it near your computer or inside the cover of the book you are writing in.
  3. Never overthink the idea. I know this contradicts my earlier post, but while trying to remember the idea sometimes overthinking will occur. Developing on it is fine, as long as it does not take away from the initial idea.
  4. Think of what you were doing when the idea came about. This can be useful when trying to remember it better. I get an idea a lot when I am in bed trying to sleep, or watching Drew play video games.
  5. Tell someone else. This can help develop the idea, as well as having an extra person to remember an idea.Sadly, this one is new to me. I tell Drew some of them in case I forget, but so far (after years of practice) my memory is able to contain them all. Oh yes, with telling other people, they can give you feedback if you want it.
  6. This is applicable to all forms of writing, not just novels. So, if you are a student and have a painful essay, this can be helpful in that it will give you an idea on where to take the paper, or a part of it that can be placed in it.

Keep the idea fresh and understand that this will happen a lot to you if you decide to keep writing. Most of my novels appear as random ideas and it kills me when I am at a place and I cannot write it out. So, as my last tip, bring paper and a pen if you don’t already, or ask your girl to bring it. Sounds weird, but these are useful besides writing out story ideas.

Oh yes, make sure this idea will fit with your style of writing. It is important not to differ too much. Back to writing I go. I have an idea to get to writing out before it makes my brain hurt. I hope this is helpful and gives some great insight.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 | By: Unknown

Writing Advice 4

This should have been my initial advice post, but I got distracted with all the other amazing advice out there. People comment that I write in the same style. Well, of course I do, as do many other writers in the world.

Find your style and voice and do not change it. This is what makes you a unique writer. If you are strong at writing love stories, stick with it. Over the years people have asked me to write a love story. Here is my response, I don’t know love, only the love I put in my stories. I know crime and pain. Sadly, its what I know, but every story I place in love because it always helps a story.

If you do want to try another style, do it by all means, just do not give up on your original style. Here is a little type, always have a phrase you like for your characters to use and place it in every story. May seem repetitive but it is yours andandresr100900036 helps connect you to your story.

Plus, your style will change as time goes on. You will branch out, write more or less, try new things, add ideas and concepts. Embrace it. Cherish it.

No matter what, please do not let other people interfere with your style. This is who you are as a writer. It is your voice. Do not be afraid to put yourself into this voice, it gives more to the potential reader.

Keep writing because I am. Never lose your goals and ideas. Remember: if you are writing, its for you mainly and only a little for others. Like I said, I am never giving up crime writing. It’s me. My husband can agree to that, so can my parents and close friends.