Liebster Award Nomination

Wow! I feel blessed! Thank you, Anastasia Cross, for nominating me! :D
The Liebster Award has a special place in its...heart...for the number eleven. It's given to undiscovered bloggers to promote friendship and...discovery!

Here's the rules (you'd think there'd be eleven, wouldn't you?):

1.  Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you & add a badge to your profile.

2.  Answer 11 questions that the blogger gives you.

3.  Give 11 random facts about yourself.

4.   Nominate up to 11 other blogs.

5.   Notify the nominees.

6.   Give them 11 questions to answer. 

Here's Ana's questions and my answers:

1. What is one of the best characters, in your opinion, ever (that you created if you're a writer, if not from book/movie/etc)?

Ooh, this is a tough one. I have so many that I adore. That's a good thing, right? But...I might have to say Flynn Colton. He's absolutely bonkers. In a good way, though, I think. You can find his pinterest board here: Flynn's Board

And, since I cheat at stuff like this, I'm going to list my other favorites.

Aurora Diamond is one of the main characters in my current WIP series: A Different Kind of Legacy. There's a lot of me in her...she gives me the chance to explore myself and be vulnerable. Her board is here: Aurora's Board

2. Who is your favorite villain ever? Why?

Uh, mine or not? 

Loki from the Marvel Universe is one of my absolute favorites. Tom Hiddleston does an amazing job portraying him. Loki is such a rounded character, it's fabulous. There's a lot we can learn from him for our villains. Back story, pain, motivation, etc. It's all there. 

And then my own? Einstein Voltswammer. He likes pink donuts with sprinkles. 

3. What is one of your darkest secrets? 

This piece of information is confidential. Ha. ;) Uh...hmm. This is a difficult question. I'll get back to it. 

Gosh, I still don't know. 

I don't hate Jar Jar Binks. 

4. Do you enjoy showering or is it an inconvenience? 

I like hot water and getting clean and smelling nice. However, I don't necessarily enjoy the time showering takes up. So, I enjoy the benefits, but not the procedure. 

5. What are your top 5 favorite writing blogs?

Oh goodness. Another difficult question. In no particular order:

 Inkspot  || Hullo, Ana! Well, like she said when she nominated me, we have a connection. So, yeah. ;)

 Plottinger Twist || Plottinger Twist is run by Hannah Wilson and her blog is adorable and she's super sweet.

 Writing is Home to Me || Run by R.B. Denney (or Rachel Beth). Rachel is down to earth and has a unique way in going about her posts.  

 The Storymonger || Braden runs this blog and he never fails to cause me to emit a chuckle. He's clever.

 This Incandescent Life || Emily T. Jaden has superb advice on the craft of writing! 

6. Do you prefer cake or ice cream? Pie or cheesecake?

Shoot. Warm, gooey chocolate cake with ice cream on top. Sorry, I'm not choosing. Cheesecake. Definitely cheesecake. 

7. What kind of books do you like to read the most?

Interesting books with intricate characters and plot.

8. What is your favorite fruit?

HARD QUESTIONS, ANA. *Sigh* I like strawberries a lot. But also watermelon. But then again, there's tomatoes... 

9. How fabulous are these questions?

These questions are of the utmost fabulosity. 

10. Do you approve or disapprove of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc.?

I have them all. I do not disapprove except when they're used for evil means or used wrongly. 

I think they're a great way to connect with people (readers/fellow writers/family/friends), especially as I grew up a military kid, always moving was difficult...and keeping in touch more so. 

11. Long hair or short hair? Dyed or natural? Straight or curly? What do you prefer/have?

I have long, straight, natural hair. For myself, that's what I prefer. For others, it's really their choice...but I wouldn't suggest guys go with super long hair or anything. Unless they're elves or Aragorn or something.

Elven random facts about myself. 

Whoops, Middle Earth autocorrect.

1. I've lived in ten states, twelve houses, and moved twelve times in eighteen years.

2. I haven't left my dorm floor all day because my only class on Thursdays (math--yes!) was canceled so I slept in and missed breakfast and so I ate cereal and made coffee with my new French press and did homework and beta-reader stuff for Ana and blog stuff (this) and made soup for my throat because I decided to eat lunch in my room instead of going to the cafe because it's raining and everybody else already ate and I'll probably be in my room until dinner time at, like, five. 

3. I finished my soup and feel dehydrated because even though it was only half a packet of Lipton, it was salty and now I'm eating Swedish Fish my mom gave me for my birthday which was, by the way, on September 4. 

4. I drink lots of water. Probably 3-4 Nalgenes a day.

5. I'm majoring in English with a writing concentration and a minor in Intercultural Studies!

6. Mugs are amazing tools of...toolness? You can drink from em, eat from em, put stuff in em. I have this adorable Jane Austen mug I got for my birthday and it's just so cool.

7. I love the outdoors and admiring God's creation so much that I think I always have at least one bug bite.

8. Kayaking and horseback riding and camping and hiking and hammocking is where it's at. 

9. For my Eminent British Writers class we're currently reading 'Camelot Meets Zombies' AKA Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It's well written and an amazing piece of literature, but it's weird, guys. Real weird. And 'Gawain' is pronounced 'gowin'. Weird, huh?

10. It's raining. I love rain.

11. I'm called to be a missionary and a writer. Ah! 

My nominations: 

I have a feeling it will be difficult to find eleven blogs to nominate...nevertheless...

1. H.M. Wilson at Plottinger Twist

2. R.B. Denney at Writing is Home to Me

3. Hannah Heath

4. Braden Russell at The Storymonger

5. Victoria Grace Howell

6. Elizabeth Brush at What Can I Say?

That's all I have for now, y'all. 

My Elven questions to y'all:

1. When did you start writing and why?

2. Do you see yourself being a full-time writer (author) or having a different/side career?

3. What book has made the biggest impact on your life? (That you've read and written). Why?

4. Who is your favorite character? (From what you've read and written). Why?

5. What's your favorite board game and why?

6. Coffee or tea? Something else? What kind?

7. Favorite Bible verse?

8. Current WIP? What's it about? Why are you writing it? Who are the characters?

9. How's life?

10. Advice for other writers?

11. If you had a troll, what would you name him/her? 

Thanks again, Ana! This was fun! 

5 Ways to Keep Writing in College

And lo, the morning dawned bright and early at six thirty-three. A cool breeze tickled upon the rosey curtains, hinting (or maybe teasing) at fall.

Though the hour was early, my mind could not fall back to rest.
And the reasons could quitepossibly have been three.


Of course, after a long night without drinking any water, I was "dying" of thirst.
Then again, I also really had to use the restroom.

But...there was one more reason my mind was active and no longer bent to sleep's whim.
It was the day...
that I would move...
into my first ever dorm room.

A knot settled in my stomach. It was a mixture of excitement, stress, and the urge to shed tears. Yes, you can feel tears in your stomach.

Though I haven't yet started college, or...even moved in to my room yet... I have some tips for maintaining a somewhat normal writing lifestyle.

1. Know your schedule
Know when your classes are. And don't miss them (unless you're sick or something. Nobody wants your germs). Get homework done when you can. Mingle with other students. Don't neglect them.


2. Keep a planner
Write down the times of all your classes, meetings, work, due dates. And then block off time for writing when you know you'll have an hour or so.


3. Make friends
How does this help with writing, Rachel? This only keeps me from writing! I'd rather be a hermit and hide away in my room when not attending classes! No. Just no. People are your best resources. If you want to create amazing, round characters...you need to actually get to know people. Characters are people too, right? Not only does mingling help with personality, but it helps with body language, dialogue, accent, facial expressions, physical descriptions, and, like, real-life stuff...?


4. Goals
Set writing goals for yourself. (ie: a chapter in a week, a first draft by the end of the year, 2000 words in a day, etc.) Set realistic goals you know you can achieve and work towards them like they're homework and you have to turn them in.


5. Join or form a writing group
Great for brainstorming sessions, encouragement, critical advice, and accountability. Make some writerly friends! Just do it! Maybe they can even beta read for you! Keep each other accountable to your goals.

That's what I have for y'all! These are all easy, practical ways to continue writing in college. If you'd like more on this, let me know!

God Bless!

Rachel

And, of course, by the time this is actually getting published, I've already moved in to my dorm, and been at college for two days.

Please Be Weird {Creating a Fantastic Villain III}

You meet two people during the course of your day. One is talkative, eyes lighting up as they tell you about their passions, observations, and how they know at least fifteen bird calls by heart.
The other, however, keeps the conversation limited to day-to-day stuff. Weather, shopping, watching TV. Dull.

Which one is more unique? Which one is intriguing? Which one would you want to talk with again?
Uh, probably the first one.

The fact that the person knows at least fifteen bird calls is quirky.
And the most interesting people are usually the quirkiest.

I'm here today to talk about your villain.
To read the first two installments of the post series click here:
Back Story Time {Creating a Fantastic Villain I}
GIVE IT TO ME {Creating a Fantastic Villain II}



Let me just say a few things:
Please, please, please don't make your villain another run of the mill villain who spouts off their entire plan before executing it, or cackles maniacally after revealing said plan, or who's just evil for the sake of being evil. (I know we all know--or should know--these rules by now, but they're rules we need to remember.)
I'm not talking from just a writerly point of view, but a reader's as well. Anything in that list is generally a sign of laziness and/or bad character development.

Those are the boring villains. I don't like boring villains.
I'm interested in the quirky villains. I want them to act like real, interesting humans (or...whatever race they happen to be).

You might not think that well rounded, intriguing villains are important, but they can make or break your story...and your other characters. Think Loki from the Thor movies, or the Winter Soldier...they're so well developed and their actions actually matter.
And (guess what?) they have their quirks.

Maybe they're insecure, maybe they adore red squirrels with such a fiery passion that they sedate them every time they see one and take it back to their secret lair (so they end up with a menagerie of just red squirrels and they have, like 500 of them so that's why the hero needs to stop them so the red squirrels don't go extinct), or maybe they absolutely have to have coffee from their favorite coffee shop before doing anything heinous for the day (think Gru from Despicable Me--no, I am not condoning utilizing freeze rays on people just to get coffee).

It's important to give your villain quirks. If your hero has quirks, your villain should have nothing less.
If you, as the writer, have quirks, your characters should have no less.

I'm not going to type out an ol' long list of random quirks for you to pick and choose from--there's tons of resources around the internet for that. If all else fails, observe the people around you (I know, scary!)--that's the best place to get the best quirks. Real life...it's a gold mine.

Quirks are important. Quirks are human. Quirks make people lovable and rounded.

To make your villain relatable and adored by readers, they need quirks.

I mean, mine is obsessed with donuts.
And not just any donuts.
Cake donuts with pink frosting and candy sprinkles.
And my villain is a guy.
They're just really good, okay?

God Bless!
Rachel Lester

Are there any other topics regarding creating villains that you'd like me to cover?
Please comment! And it doesn't just have to be about villains. It can be about life, or your dog, or red squirrels, or your blog.

For a personal update:
Sorry I've been gone for so long! I've hardly written anything in over a month. I know, it's driving me crazy. Although college is approximately a week.5 away, I'm getting back into writing even though this next week.5 is full of packing, shopping, and VBS, I'm
trying my best to become involved again before school starts. Prayers welcomed. Immensely.

The Moving Chronicles I {The Statistics of Leaving}

I've moved about ten times in the seventeen years I've been on this earth. And I'll be moving once more this fall, but (hopefully) I'll be there for four years.

And growing up I used to hate moving. I didn't understand how it was a blessing or anything, I was stubborn and I wanted to stay where my friends were. I didn't want to leave the house I'd been living in (I mean, I was pretty good at decorating! ;) Moving is hard.

It struck me that a lot of people don't know what it feels like to pack up their entire house and move across the country. A lot of people stay in one state their entire life. That's crazy to me! The longest I've stayed somewhere is four years. The shortest I've stayed somewhere is six months. I've been on the East coast, the West coast, and into the Pacific.

So this is going to be a series blog posting. This first one is about preparations for moving and all that jazz. There's a lot more than you might think. Of course it's different for everybody, but I'm going to give you a personal, up-close look at how my family does it. As personal and up-close we can get within these next paragraphs, anyway. Hopefully this is helpful for any characters of yours who go through the moving process/move a lot!

1. Housing 
Once we find out where we're moving, we generally look at housing in the area dad will be working in. It's nice to find a house before you get somewhere. Not all people do that, I'm sure, but it's nice to move in right when you get there. Sometimes we'll even take a trip out to look at houses before we move. We did that when we moved to Colorado because my parents decided to buy a house.
However, this last move was a bit different. We had to wait about a month to get the house we wanted, so we were in a hotel for weeks.

2. Packing
So this works differently for different families. What we do is secure a packing company to come and pack our stuff into boxes. They wrap Every. Single. Item. with multiple sheets of that packing paper stuff. But it's weird because sometimes they'll wrap a little doodad (ie: a random game piece that was laying around) like five times and then wrap the fragile vase only once.  They put the things into boxes, label the boxes according to which room they belong in, tape em up, then they're gone. This usually takes hours, but doesn't go into another day.
+ Randoms about packing day
a.) There's usually about three or four packers from a company. They'll separate into the house and each of them will take a room. This means there's going to be like four different kinds of music blaring through your house and you can't do anything about it. Last time I believe we had country, rock, and some sort of rap or something. And then my mom was in the kitchen playing Christian music. It was crazy.
b.) They won't pack liquids or valuables like jewelry. I can't remember why liquids are a no-go, but if you have paint, shampoo, soap, anything liquid, they won't take it. Jewelry and the like is a no-go because they don't want to be held accountable if something comes up missing. They won't pack up costume jewelry either. But it's really for their protection and yours.
c.) Besides the liquid and jewelry thing, anything in sight WILL be packed up. We usually stuff a closet or room full of the stuff we're taking on our move (luggage, instruments, anything we're going to need after our stuff is gone, during the trip, and before our stuff arrives at our new place). So if you don't have your stuff set apart, it's going to get packed. Even your dirty clothes will get packed. It's happened to me before. *facepalm*
d.) When they're done, you're going to have boxes. Boxes everywhere. They will be piled high to the ceiling so you think they're going to fall on you.

3. Movers
These are the people who come the day after or even up to a week after your stuff is all packed up. And usually (seriously almost always) movers are late. They should come earlier in the morning so they can finish by night, but sometimes they don't come until afternoon and it goes until eight or nine at night.
They roll out plastic to protect your carpets, and the doors are flung wide open for easy in and out access. So if you have pets, you better make sure they're secure someplace or at a friend's house. The movers process is involved. My dad usually has a checklist to make sure everything is going good and everything is accounted for. (Though I can't remember if this is just for receiving the stuff after the move, or both).
+ Randoms about the movers
a.) It's polite courtesy to feed them during whatever meals they're at your house for. We make sure water bottles are handy and Gatorade to replenish whatever they're losing as they work. It's heavy-duty work to move the boxes and furniture. Fruits like watermelon are refreshing for them.
b.) When they're done getting your stuff into their ginormous moving truck out front of your house, that's the last time you're going to see your stuff for a long time, depending on where you're moving.
c.) If you can't get your stuff right away (if you're staying in a hotel for a month or something), your stuff will be stored in a nearby storage unit. And when you're ready, the new movers (for unloading) will pick up your stuff and bring it to your house.

4. Cleaning
I'm sure you can hire people to deep clean your house before you leave, but after living in it for however long, it'll need to be cleaned. Everything is open now. So get ready to vacuum, clean bathrooms, clean windows, baseboards, fill in holes in the walls, paint, etc. A lot of times we'll get somebody to come in and do the carpets, I think. There's a lot of stuff to get ready for the next people. Even if nobody is moving in after you leave, it wouldn't be cool to leave behind a dirty house.

5. Road Trip!
After all business is taken care of and the house is ready to go, it's time to head to the next destination! Hopefully the hotels/camping areas (wherever you'll be staying during your move) have been taken care of already. If you have pets, you have to make sure the hotel you're looking at staying in lets pets stay too. If you're going to be staying at a few hotels along the way, it's nice to have a special hotel bag with clothes in it that's easily accessible so you don't have to unpack the entire vehicle looking for whatever you need overnight.
We usually have any valuables with us that we didn't want taken. This includes laptops, video gaming consoles, and instruments, as well as personal information like bank stuff, insurance stuff, and important papers. Don't forget medical papers!


So that's the end of the first installment of The Moving Chronicles! I hope it was helpful and you can add some realism to your oc's moving experience!

The next post will (hopefully) cover some behind the scenes stuff (emotional reactions to moving).

God Bless!
Rachel

Cut out Clichés! {Advice I Don't Agree With I}

Hey all! Sorry I haven't written in a while, I just got back from a family vacation! No, not the Family Vacation--thank God!

So there's a lot of writing advice out there, yeah? On fiction, non, poetry, characters, plot, planning, dialogue, setting...there's writing advice for everything. And the thing is...a lot of those people who give the advice think they are 100% RIGHT.

Alas, not every person out there giving writing advice is right. Actually, there's a lot of writing advice out there that I 100% disagree with.

Especially when it comes to dialogue. Sure, there's some things that shouldn't be done (according to some people)...I get that...but what if I want to do it that way?

There's a lot about avoiding clichés when writing dialogue. But guess what?
People...REAL people use clichés all the time in their REAL dialogue. If we don't have those characters who sound like real people...what are we doing? Don't we want to make our novels/characters/dialogue as believable and realistic as possible? Don't we?

If we do...listen. Listen to those around you and how they speak. There's a lot of people who use cliché phrases...it's common. Don't overuse it in your writing, but don't cut it out either. I think it's a mistake. Using common phrases and dialogue that everyday real people use won't make you or your writing common.

But also don't be afraid to change it up. Mix the phrases up--the words, combine two or three--real people also do that in real dialogue.

So before you completely take advice about avoiding certain things in your writing...just think for a moment. Ask yourself if it's something people will find/hear everyday. If so, don't automatically get rid of it.

But some of the most important things to remember: Test advice and find what works for you. Find your style. Find what you enjoy. Take advice and mold it!

Hopefully this was a bit helpful!
God Bless!
Rachel