Student Words

Writing challenges for you now that NaNoWriMo is over

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Dec 7th 2011

Dianna Gunn is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.You can visit her own blog at diannaswritingden.com

BY: DIANNA GUNN

NaNoWriMo is over for the year and hopefully you've finished your novel. The question is, what should you do now? There are a hundred different answers, but I'm hoping that the one you've chosen is to continue writing and look for new challenges. In fact, I'm so hopeful that you've chosen to continue writing and looking for challenges that I've created a list of challenges inspired by NaNoWriMo just for you.

Keep reading for all the tips... after the jump!

Spread the Love!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Dec 1st 2011

Gabriel Holt is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.

BY: GABRIEL HOLT

I knew that there was no way I could go without writing this year. I did not care how much schoolwork I had, how long my classes were, or how little time I had to socialize. I knew that I needed to write. The problem was: how could I fit my writing in with the rest of my schedule? After all, I had essays to write and two jobs to work. It was hardly likely that I would have very much time, or even motivation, to develop my own creative writing.

And then something occurred to me. I had been talking to other people in my program who happened to like creative writing as well. I had been in a creative writing group at my high school, and even been the head of it in my graduating year. As it turned out, a lot of these people had too. We had agreed to swap work, but once the school year started there was simply no time to read what other people had written.

That’s when the divine thunderclap whacked me upside the head: we needed a writers’ group at my college. We needed a place where, once every couple of weeks, people could shut down their computers, drop their textbooks, and taken an hour or so to share inspiration and work. I posed the idea to a guy who had actually founded a writing group in his high school, and together we spread awareness of the new group.

[Keep reading about Gabriel's writing group after the jump!]

Resources to Help you Plan a Novel

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Nov 29th 2011

Dianna Gunn is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.You can visit her own blog at diannaswritingden.com

BY: DIANNA GUNN

Last week I talked about the differences between writing a novel and a short story. I said that the biggest difference between writing the two forms is the amount of planning you need to create a workable story. While there are still dedicated Pantsers (as in, by-the-seat-of-your-) who never plot out their novels, most of us need an outline to help us structure our novel properly.

But how do you plan a novel? Well, there are several ways to plan a novel, and they're all worth a try — after all, if you don't try more than one method, how can you be sure that the method you're using is really the best one for you? There's a difference between an outline method that works for you and the best outline method for you. You might not believe me now, but you'll know the difference once you find the outlining method that's best for you.

To help you in your quest to find the best outline method for you, I've pulled together a few resources designed for would-be novelists. Read all about them after the jump!

Tears and Joys of NaNoWriMo

Posted by Whitney French on Nov 24th 2011

Gabriel Holt is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.

We have now reached week four of National Novel Writing Month, which, if you didn’t catch Dianna’s post, is the mystical month of November in which people attempt to write fifty thousand-word novels. This post is about my own experiences with NaNoWriMo.

This will be my fourth year attempting NaNoWrimo, but my first year attempting it in earnest. I have started past years with only a vague idea of what I wanted to write about, which of course led me to a complete lack of motivation and planning. Needless to say, I did not win those years. I started to develop some wonderful stories, but somewhere along the way I lost the drive and the knowledge of where I wanted my plot and characters to go. I always start with these wonderfully exciting ideas, but after I work with them for a while the excitement tends to peter out and die. This is naturally one of a writer’s most common ailments. Read more, after the jump!

Another reason Writer’s Craft is awesome...

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Nov 17th 2011

Shaye Lewis is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers. If you would like to see a larger image of her Writer's Craft illustration, just follow the jump!

BY: SHAYE LEWIS

The Writer’s Craft class offered in most Ontario high schools truly is an awesome force to be reckoned with. Why would I say this with such passion? It’s because it changed my mind about many things (well maybe just one so far...).

I hate memoirs. I thought — and still think — that they are a waste of my time. I am like a lot of teenagers out there who think that certain things shouldn’t be done because they are insignificant and a waste of time. Personally, think all of us think that we have better things to do and it was because I had this mindset that I found reading memoirs a waste. (Maybe it is also because I am one of those people who think strongly that they need to make a name for themselves and stop fussing over people who are part of the elite and don’t have to work as hard anymore.)

But Writer’s craft changed my opinion about that. I was able to see the world from different people’s points of view. It gave me a window into their mind at that certain point in time in their life, and more importantly, I didn’t feel lonely anymore because I could connect with some of those people whose memoirs I read. I can now say that I have a new found respect for Tina Fey, and that Don Fey is the most insanely awesome dude ever.

Despite this, my opinion still hasn’t changed. I don’t want to start reading about other people’s legacies when I have just yet to start my own. The only way that my opinion has changed is that I am now willing to read just about anything Tina Fey has written.

Keep reading about Shaye's experience in Writer's Craft after the jump!

How is Writing a Novel Different from Writing a Short Story?

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Nov 16th 2011

Dianna Gunn is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.You can visit her own blog at diannaswritingden.com

BY: DIANNA GUNN

How is writing a novel different from writing a short story? Well, there are a few ways. Though a novel is much like a short story in terms of narrative — both have beginnings, middles and ends — it is different in the fact that it is much, much longer. This means you need a longer, more complex story line, and you'll need a better grasp of the setting and the characters. Odds are you'll have more of both of those too.

The storyline for a novel needs to be longer in order to fill more pages. A novel, like a short story, has a rising action, a climax, and a falling action, but they're all much longer. With a novel, you also want to have a subplot or two to mix things up, make them more complicated and keep the reader's interest. These can be things like two of the more important characters falling in love, the discovery of a plot aimed to kill somebody important, the reunion of long-lost family members, or anything you want it to be. It's your book, after all, so fill it with as much intrigue as you want.

Keep reading after the jump for more tips!

Thoughts on a Writer’s Life: Traveling

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Nov 10th 2011

Terese Pierre is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.

BY: TERESE PIERRE

Politicians, rock stars, authors… they all have to do the same thing at one point or another: travel. But what I’ve always wondered was how it affected authors specifically. How unexpected can it be, really? You spend years writing a book, send it into a publisher hoping that it’ll get accepted, and, when it does, suddenly, everyone wants your autograph. You’re flying back and forth from London to Ottawa to Seattle to New York City in the span of a week. How can you keep up? Read more after the jump!

Influences and Styles of New York Times Bestselling Authors: Heather Brewer

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Nov 8th 2011

Terese Pierre is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.

BY: TERESE PIERRE

Heather Brewer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. It’s a young adult series of five books that are essentially about a teenage boy (named Vladimir “Vlad” Tod), and how he deals with the awkwardness of being the only half-vampire in his world. The five books go through Vlad’s grades eight to twelve, with twists, turns, shocks, drama and a little romance. Details after the jump.

Music Hath Charms to Soothe a Savage Case of Writer’s Block

Posted by Whitney French on Oct 27th 2011

Gabriel Holt is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers.

BY: GABRIEL HOLT

The blank page has this way of mocking you without being overtly offensive. The winking cursor or the wan blue lines gaze at you with an expectation that you know you can’t fulfill. Or can you? In my extensive years as a young writer, I have figured out a few ways to fill the aimless void of a blank page, and the most effective way I have found so far is listening to music.

Because I seem to be writing a series of get-inspired blogs, I’ll let you in on a little secret about songs: they contain stories. They contain people, lives, and action. All you really have to do is unlock whatever comes to you from any given series of notes. The great thing is that there’s no right or wrong interpretation of a song; you can take or leave whatever you want. You can focus on building a character, or you can focus on building a scene. The choice is yours. Read more, after the jump!

Movie adaptations: failure on a large scale

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Oct 20th 2011

Shaye Lewis is one of NHT!'s rotating troupe of teen bloggers. If you would like to see a larger image of her Dragon Ball illustration, just follow the jump!

BY: SHAYE LEWIS

Many things will one day reach their climax. For books, this climax is often a movie adaptation. Many people line up in anticipation, much as I had done many times before. But one time time I found the movie adaptation of a beloved story absolutely unforgivable — I drew a very thick line at Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z’s movie adaption. In fact, I felt ticked and violated.

It’s one of those things that you grow up with and you ask yourself, "This is a great show, doesn’t it have books or something?" and you find the books and you go, "Awesome! Now I’ll get to see the series as it was created in the artist’s eyes." And for that moment, you‘ve found true happiness. You find no movies for it and you shout "No way! This is the most epic story ever! It needs a movie!!" And you have to wait seven or eight years (sometimes ten) and when you finally come across the movie, the first thing you should say is "Awesome! Now I can watch this movie until my brain melts!" right? No! Keep reading after the jump to find out why.

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