Accomplished Writing! Woohoo!

Well, I sat down and did some research and worked more on one of my characters for my story. This may sound minor but it's very tricky nowadays to make an interesting character that isn't a Mary Sue or incredibly angsty or just plain boring. Ideally, I'd like this character to be interesting enough for people to want to keep reading and understand why they are the way they are. This got me confident enough to write three pages of the start of my story, the sort of introductory bit that happens right before the story begins. I can already tell that I need to go back and edit it later but still, this is a start! *does excited little dance*


On another note, I've begun reading "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card and I can already tell that this book is slightly dated since he talks a lot about getting stories published in magazines. It really saddens me that that isn't really done quite as much anymore, I mean there are still magazines that take submissions like that but not nearly as many, I used to work in a bookstore and when I put out new magazines, I'm sad to say that we didn't have very many writing ones. Still, I think this book will be a good resource, I'm glad I picked it up at Third Place Books when I was in Seattle.


Tangent real quick here, since I mentioned them. Third Place Books is a WONDERFUL little used and new bookstore on the outskirts of Seattle. It's a bit hard to find, tucked back a ways but it is well worth the effort. The staff was incredibly helpful and didn't give up until they found the book I was looking for. They have a nice selection of used and new books, similar to Powell's in downtown Portland, and as usually happens with me in bookstores, I walked out with a rather large stack of new reading material. On top of that, this store has a very nice vintage books section and a really nice sort of food court. If I ever move to Seattle, which I might for my master's degree, Third Place Books will surely become one of my favorite hang outs!


And on a closing note, I found a very useful quote while reading the Wow.insider posts, this one was about the state of female characters in the lore (which, in case you're wondering, is appalling). The writer of this piece, Anne Stickney said "Write a character. Give that character a really good backstory. Give the character a totally grounded reason for existing and something to be up to in the world. Give the character an interesting history, a believable background, and a purpose for existence. Make this the kind of badass character you love writing more than anything else in the world. Then make it female." 
I agree with this statement wholeheartedly and I'm going to try using thinking that way when creating my characters, female and male. Also, it's worth reading that article since she coins a wonderful phrase while applies to all-too-many female characters in literature: barnacle characters, which as she puts it "a character whose entire existence is dependent on and wrapped around the existence of another" (aka Bella Swan). For anyone interested in reading this article, here's the link to it. Women in Warcraft


Well, that's all for now, I may have rambled a bit but hey, I'm getting back into writing and this is part of it. Until next time!