Category: writing

its that time of the year again// feat. NaNoWriMo, my OCS and writing memes

Published on by 💫Ava💫7 Comments

so I looked at my calendar and just realized November 1st is six days away.

*screeches*

Copy of why hello there!

Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! So today I have another post about Nanowrimo. (Yes, I am aware that my last post was also about Nano, Sorry I am trying to get back to posting more unique content 🙂 please don’t hate me)

I am really excited for NaNo because I actually came up with a somewhat kind of plot. Usually, I just come up with a title and a book cover and have no idea what the book is going to be about. And then on November 1st I open up a blank Word document and start to panic.

This year I am trying to not only avoid my pAnIc, But I really want to publish a book soon. and I feel like I’m wasting my good characters and somewhat story ideas. So I am trying to take NaNo a little more seriously so I can actually write something I’m proud of, instead of typing a bunch of gibberish just so I can reach my goal.

But, enough of my rambling! Let’s continue the post!

So I guess the big elephant in the room is my nOvEl. What exactly am I writing?

Well, lucky for you I have another rambled sentence that explains my process in coming up with my novel and storyline.

So at first, I was actually going to write a contemporary YA novel about a girl who was homeschooled and some of her ‘struggles’ Because I felt like there were NO YA novels where the main character is just homeschooled. I feel like they are either new to homeschooling or they’re a homeschooler that goes to public school for the first time. And its a bit annoying because sometimes I just want to read a book about a normal homeschooled girl that isn’t a genius and just wants to understand who she is. Because every teenager kind of wants to understand where they belong.

And, I tried to like to come up with a plot but honestly, I wasn’t truly feeling it. If you know what I mean, It’s like something I wanted to write but It wasn’t really something that I loved like. I didn’t feel like I loved the plot or the characters, I just felt as if I was trying to force myself to write something.

But, then one night I had this story idea about a princess and a pirate and a gardener’s son. And I woke up in the middle of the night and I was like YES I AM WRITING THIS FOR NANOWRIMO. I felt really happy, and I developed a bunch of possible storylines and I was just sooooooooo excited.

And, what I have kind of learned these past few years from doing NaNo is that you have to LOVE your story. NaNo is already incredibly challenging so when you write a novel you really don’t like it will be really hard to write that book. And since I’m forcing myself to write a lot of words in 30 days I don’t want to write something I am not truly passionate or interested in.

But enough of that here’s a little more about my nOVELLLLLL *jazz hands*

Introducing:

Swords and Other Secrets

Princess Flora and her brother Fitz have been fascinated by pirates ever since they were young. They spent years, reading books about them and reenacting their battles. But when Fitz disappears, Flora’s world shatters and she is forced to take the place of her brother and become queen on her eighteenth birthday. But, Flora doesn’t want to become Queen, she wants to become a writer. So on the night before her birthday, Flora ventures off on a journey with newfound friends, and some old to find her brother, and to find herself.

I literally just typed that out just now. I’m still working on a synopsis but I’m honestly really excited about my story!

So, unfortunately, I havent made a cover yet because I’ve been having. hard time finding the picture that I want for the cover. But! I made some aesthetics for the main characters!

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So this is the mood board/ aesthetic that I made for Flora. She’s the main character and the story is mostly about her. She is a princess who dreams to become a pirate and write stories about her adventures.

jules moodboard

Jules is the royal gardener’s son who is Flora’s childhood friend. Jules dropped his dreams of becoming a botanist, so he could be able to train and become a knight to protect Flora.

leo moodboard

Leo the son of a pirate king, was abandoned and left shipwrecked as a young child. Now, he has fixed his ship and travels to different islands and collects birds and rescues children that were abandoned once like him.

iris moodboard.png

Iris is Flora’s pet cat and best friend. Soon Flora discovers that her cat can talk and knows a little more about her kingdom than she ever thought.

So, those are the main characters that I have at the moment. I have some more characters that I am developing but they probably will just be background characters.

so random interruption but I am really excited because Sunday is my birthday so yay this is my last post as a 13-year-old!!! 

Also, I’m excited because next Friday I will be posting a Q&A but OC addition!!

So if you are interested in asking any of my main characters of this story a question, comment it down below!! It will be featured, and answered in next Friday’s post!!

so ask away!!

The last thing I have for today’s post is writing memes!

I love memes because they are relatable and funny! So I especially love writing memes because writing can often be challenging and hearing jokes about writing takes away the stress. Sooo let’s get started!!

*claps sadly because I relate too much to these memes*

*overthinks about how I should end this post*

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Thanks for taking the time to read this (overly long) post! I am so excited about NaNo and I can’t wait for it to start. (I probably will regret saying that once it starts)

lets chat!

are you doing NaNo this year? Ask one of my main characters a question!! Share something about one of your main characters! Let your Main Character ask one of my Mains a question!!

keep smiling,

ava!!

fun ways to prep for NaNoWriMo!!

Published on by 💫Ava💫11 Comments

 🍂it’s preptober!🍂

Copy of why hello there!

happy preptober!! Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! I’m finally back with another post! Today’s post is going to be all about fun ways to prep for NaNoWriMo! If you’re not doing NaNoWriMo but you are in the process of writing a book or want to write a book these activities are still fun to do!

lets get started!!

🍂Create a Pinterest board!

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Pinterest boards are a fun way to discover more about your story and your characters. It personally inspires me a lot and gives me more ideas about my novel!

  🍂create playlists for your character!

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creating playlists for your characters are soo much fun! It gets you thinking more about there personality and music taste. I really enjoyed doing this!

🍂 write a letter to your mc’s (main characters)

this is so much fun and just cool to do! basically you write a letter to one of your main characters! here’s one I wrote! I made mine a bit funny.

Dear Flora,

I want to start this letter off with a sorry. I’m sorry for all the stress, pain and chaos I am going to put you through. Not only will you lose your closest family member, but you will be in a love triangle and possibly hurt two men that you love. I did get carried away with adding agnst to your fate and I don’t think I am going to change the plot. I want to tell you sorry now before you get mad at me. Also, I’m probably making your life a trilogy. So, you might want to get over that now.

Your Creator,

Ava

🍂 do a get to know your oc challenge

This is honestly soo much fun and a great way to get to know your characters! click here for some prompts! Here’s one I did for my Main Character Quinn (still deciding on his name lol)

Pride and Prejudice: What’s your OC’s dream job? Vet

War and Peace: What’s your OC’s favourite colour? Sky Blue

As I Lay Dying: What does your OC put on their pizza? Pineapple and Mushrooms

The Great Gatsby: What is your OC’s favourite type of weather? Sunny, the perfect weather for gardening

Tom Sawyer: Who’s your OC’s best friend? Flora

Wuthering Heights: Does your OC have any nicknames? How did they get them? Yes, Q is his nickname, he got it from his friend flora

Diary of Anne Frank: Is your OC a morning person or a night owl? Morning person

Lord of the Flies: What’s the easiest way to annoy your OC? Talk too much

Great Expectations: Is your OC a fighter or a flighter? Fighter

To Kill a Mockingbird: Does your OC have any triggers? What? Depressing things. Dark things.

East of Eden: What is the state of your OCs bedroom? Super organized to the point of concern.

The Bell Jar: What’s the worst injury your OC has ever had? A deep gash in the arm

Moby-Dick: Is your OC right-handed or left-handed? Right Handed

1984: Does your OC like themselves? Most of the time, but focuses on others more than himself.

Frankenstein: How does your OC sleep at night? Not too well.

🍂 and now lets talk about my novel

sOOOOOO, speaking of NaNoWriMo, I thought I would talk a little bit about the novel I’m writing during the 30 days of stress (aka NaNoWriMo) So I’m going to be writing about a princess who wants to be a writer who sails the seven seas, a royal gardener’s son who is training to be a knight so he can protect the one he loves and a brooding pirate boi who likes to collect parrots and other birbs.

that’s all I’m sharing for now!! I am going to post more about it later!! if you want to be buddies on the NaNoWriMo website then add me! my username is ava_inspired !!

🍂 REACAAAAP🍂

Thanks so much for reading todays post! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I am so excited for my novel and I am really motivated and I think nano might actually work this year because I am finally planning more than just coming up with a random idea and hoping my brain will vomit some words into the blank word document lol.

🍂 lets buzz🍂

Are you doing NanoWrimo this year? Describe your book in a blank meets blank format! What is your favorite thing about one of your ocs?

keep smiling!

ava🍂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How I plan during Camp Nano+cute excerpts!

Published on by 💫Ava💫6 Comments

Copy of why hello there!

Welcome back to my itsy bitsy corner of the web! Today’s post is going to be another Camp NaNoWriMo themed post! Nanowrimo is short for National Novel Writing Month (which is in November!) Camp Nano is in spring and encourages you to write! It’s really fun because you can have a cabin with your friends and new friends and have fun writing! So in today’s post, I am going to be showing you guys how I prep daily during NaNoWriMo!

related posts: 

lets get started

 

So the first thing I do is write the date and my word goal! This way I can look back at my goal later in the day.

 

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After that, I write down what I need to do. Such as where the plot is going, things I want to add into my story, stuff like that!

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Then I log in my Word Sprints and write down my goals for them!

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(sorry for messy handwriting btw!)

This is a really great way to keep track of your writing and daily goals.

It really helps me when I set daily goals because I feel like I write more than when I don’t set goals!

Now onto the excerpts!

Now, these are going to be pretty cringey and I probably need to edit more but yeah!

+ Pippa climbed out of bed. Her foot pierced into one of her brother’s Legos. “Ugh,” She grumbled under her breath. “LEO I TOLD YOU TO GET YOUR LEGOS OUT OF MY ROOM!” She screamed, a little louder than she meant too. She was getting a little frustrated. She woke up late, stepped on a dangerous object, she was sure the day would only get worse.
Pippa stumbled down the stairs, she was greeted by her two brothers. Leo and Arthur. They were almost like twins, two months apart and looked exactly the same. Plus they both were awfully mischievous. “What trick do you under your sleeves today?”
“Nothing!” Leo grinned. Leo’s full name was Leonardo and he was named after Leonardo Da Vinci ironically he didn’t have any artistic talent and his inventions never were for the better good, they usually lead to Pippa yelling at them.
Arthur, on the other hand, was obsessed with drawing. It was funny but Art actually kind of looked like Arthur, the cartoon anteater, with his circle glasses and yellow cardigan. 
“Sorry guys, I am really moody right now and would love if you guys could move out of the way so I can get something to eat-“
“YOU SHALL NOT PASS. “Arthur mimicked a deep voice.
“Lord of the Rings reference, Nice. But really, can you let me pass so I before I punch you guys.” Pippa smiled a bit.
The boys giggled. Pippa sighed, awaiting a prank or some sort of trick, but surprisingly nothing happened as she walked down into the kitchen. 

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 His trench coat was one of his most prized possessions. Not only was the long black coat comfy, but it was also quite charming and gave him a sophisticated air, which made him feel brilliant. His trench coat was almost like a child’s blankie, a special connection no one really understood. Trenchie (as Virgil liked to call it) was always there for him. There was never a day when Trenchie would let him down. “Come on Trenchie,” Virgil smiled to himself, “Let’s prove those bookkeepers wrong” And with that, Virgil left his humble abode, slamming the door behind him.

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+Virgil sat down at his desk trembling. Being a FictFinder was his life and now he was going to lose it just like everything else he loved. His Parents, His brother. He sighed and pulled out his binder. Nothing was even happening so why did the BookKeepers make such a big deal? Virgil was frustrated, angry and confused. Why was this happening to him? Who was doing this? Somedays he thought his life was a book itself and the bad things happened so that the readers wouldn’t be bored. Is it normal for your brother to die by falling into a pot of disappearance? Virgil sighed again. His brother was his best friend, and he always helped him. If Vincent was here right now he could probably get Virgil out of this mess.
Virgil’s phone beeped and he quickly pulled it out. It was a message from one of the BookKeepers. “Great.” He muttered, almost about to set down his phone and get back to doodling all over his case files, but something sparked in his brain. Maybe he should see what it said. Maybe if he paid more attention he would get to keep his job. Virgil picked up the phone and opened up the message.

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The boy began to walk off.
“Wait!”
The boy turned around, looking straight at her.
“i-I uh have a blog if you want to chat with me there. It’s called Bookish Pippa. Then you could maybe tell you more about yourself.” Pippa stammered. “-Only if you want!”
Virgil smiled softly, “I would love that. Bye Pippa.” He waved and walked down the road.
Pippa watched him slowly fade away into the city. Her heart was beating really fast and she felt as if she was dreaming. “Wow.” She gasped. She mounted back onto her bike. This was the first time anything romantic had ever happened to her. It was like a dream
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On the Virge: Thanks. Why are you up so late?
PipReads: Bad dreams. Wbu?
On the Virge: I don’t really sleep.
PipReads: Ah, that explains the eye bags
OnTheVirge: very funny
PipReads: What’s up with your name? OnTheVirge?
OnTheVirge: Well it’s kinda an inside joke I made with my brother. I was always just melodramatic and angry as a kid so my brother said on the virge instead of verge
PipReads: Aw that’s cute xD
OnTheVirge: Thanks… I guess?
Pippa was smiling very hard and she didn’t know exactly why.
PipReads: So how was the rest of your day?
OnTheVirge: It was actually horrible. I thought it was going to be good because I met you. But life doesn’t like to make me feel happy. SO right after we met, some random wind came and took away my book and I fell and it started to rain and now somehow I am internet famous and known by the world as a total joke and I have no idea how to get back to my world and this random guy let me stay at his house but he might be a killer.
PipReads: …
PipReads: Wow.
OnTheVirge: Yeah… I mean like my brother got dumped into some weird pot and disappeared, some evil crazy queen is trying to destroy me and I lost my only companion.
Pippa laughed, assuming he was joking. He must have been a huge fan of the BookKeepers. That was basically what happened to the character Virgil.
PipReads: YOu definitely are a BookKeepers fan. You don’t have to hide it I am a huge fan too!
OnTheVirge: ???
OnTheVirge: What even is that?
PipReads: You gotta be kidding me. Its a book series that you described your life after!
OntheVirge: ???
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OnTheVirge: I should probably be getting to sleep. I have a long day tomorrow…
Pippa smiled sadly, she didn’t want him to leave.
PipReads: Okay! I will talk to you tomorrow!
OnTheVirge: Sweet Dreams Pip!
Pippas cheeks warmed as she stared at the message. It was so cute!
PipReads: You too!
Pippa smiled and sat her phone back on her nightstand, dozing off to sleep and dreaming of the boy who had stolen her heart.

 

 

And those were the excerpts

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL ANY OF THIS.

this story Idea is something that I love so much PLEASE DO NOT STEAL

AGAIN please do not steal any of my work. If you do I will hunt you down and FITE you

Just kidding guys.

I WILL KILL YOU

with kindness, of course 😉

XD I am having a blast with these jokes.

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I hope these tips helped you if you are struggling to write your novel! They sure did help me! Thanks so much for reading!

lets buzz (4)

Did these tips help? Did you like my excerpts? Are you doing Camp Nano?

ava sign

 

 

camp nano week one recap + introducing my podcast!

Published on by 💫Ava💫19 Comments

Copy of why hello there!

Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! I am so excited about this post because I have some exciting news!

So I have decided to suffer and endure in camp nanowrimo! Nanowrimo is short for National Novel Writing Month (which is in November!) Camp Nano is in spring and encourages you to write! It’s really fun because you can have a cabin with your friends and new friends and have fun writing!

My Book WIP

I haven’t really made a cover yet (OOF) But I am still making okayish progress.

Word Count: 3304                                                               Word Goal: 50,000

Okay Maybe I am not making too much progress, but I really love how the story is progressing.

sooo what even is my story?

I really love this idea and I don’t really want anyone to steal it so I am going to kinda not tell too much but here are some sneak peeks about it

  1. its called bookish
  2. there’s a brooding guy with a trenchcoat in it
  3. there’s a bookish fangirl that has a book blog
  4.  fiction and the real world are combined sorta
  5. lots of cute scenesss

i am still deciding everything so i don’t have a lot of info lol

now onto the excitingg newssssssssssssssss:

news

I started a podcast! Yes, I did! I have always dreamed of starting one but was a little nervous! But this month I decided to give it a try! Its called spilling the tea and it is filled with fun facts, blogging tips, Lifehacks, and inspiring stories!
spilling the tea (4).png

My favorite thing about it is that it is interactive! Which means that YOU can be a part of it! You can share tips, fun facts, inspiring stories and ask and answer questions!

so how can I join?

by filling out this form!

Here is our first teaser episode!

https://anchor.fm/ava-shropshire/embed

I am so excited and can't wait to hear your stories and have fun being creative! I have been working hard on this since February and I really hope it turns out great!

Make sure to make your submissions to be in Fridays podcast! The deadline is on Thursday!

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I am so excited about the projects I am working on and I hope both of them turn out successfully! Thank you so much for reading today’s post!

lets buzz (4)

Are you participating in Camp Nano this year? WIll you be submitting to my podcast? Do you like podcasts?

ava sign

10 ways to bust writers’ block

Published on by 💫Ava💫6 Comments

The thing about being a creative person is that sometimes we aren’t very creative at all.

I am pretty sure everyone is scared to write after the storm of NaNoWriMo. I sure am. XD.  Many people debate writers block. Some people don’t think writer’s block is real but I do because I experience it a lot. Even right now. But fear no more here are some tips to help you! Also if you want an excuse to write, join abbys writing contest YOU COULD WIN AN AMAZON GIFT CARD and there’s some really cool writing prompts!

1. keep writing

The worse thing to do is to quit writing. Keep writing, even if it makes no sense. Write whatever thoughts are in your head, and if you have none, read my next tip below.

2. use writing prompts

Writing prompts are surprisingly helpful. Even if it has nothing to do with your story, it still keeps your writing and gets your creative juices flowing!

3. take a break

Run away with us for the summer, let’s go upstate! Heh sorry, just a little Hamilton reference XD But yes, just like Hamilton, you should take a break from writing. That way you won’t become frustrated.

4. listen to music

Music really helps. But it depends on the music you listen to. I recommend classical or chill music, not LOUD ROCK MUSIC THAT WILL STRESS YOU OUT!

5. Read some inspiring quotes

Quotes really help a lot. But don’t get too distracted, or you might find yourself browsing the web all day!

6. read a book

Read a book and you never know, maybe you’ll be inspired by the writing style or the characters.

7. have some tea

Tea is known to have a calming effect. Whenever you get ready to write, make some tea. There are some tea flavors that can lower stress.

8. force yourself to write

I know its hard but sometimes you just have to write. If you don’t then you won’t get anywhere.

9. talk to yourself

It sounds weird but it really helps

10. have fun

writing is supposed to be fun! Don’t let writers’ block get the best of you!

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Did this post help? What are your writing tips? Did you survive Nanowrimo?

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