Day 24 Assignment 22 Part 2: Assessing Scene Variety

Well my hands are now stained many different colors. I had to redo my timeline in a way that it would make more sense to me. Once that made more sense I was able to see how each character affected the story and my main character. Then I went through my outline to see which scenes worked better as internal or external. It needs a little more work, but so far I think I have a pretty good mix of both types.
This kind of took forever, because I didn't suck it up and do it this way in the first place. I really didn't need to make a new timeline but I was struggling to keep everything and everyone straight. My room is a disaster now. I have markers, papers, and a huge graph laying on my floor. The graph has each important character and what is going on in their life. It helps because now I can see where things line up, and where my characters cross paths.

I highly recommend an Outline and a Timeline. They are both really helpful.
Day 23&24 Completed

Day 23 Assignment 22 Part 2: Assessing Scene Variety

In this one you go through each of your scenes and decide if it is an Internal Scene or an External Scene.
Internal=what is happing within the character and reveling things about him.
External=Dialogue, Action scenes, things that happen to the character.

So this one takes two days to complete, so look forward to a continuation on this one Monday.

Today was crazy busy I have only read the assignment in the book. I'm going to start writing once my brain has some time to let things sink in. Today I went with my Mom and Sister to the Woman's Conference (Woman's Session of General Conference) in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was fun spending time with them, and the Conference was awesome. I love hearing the Prophet speak, and I am so excited for General Conference next weekend!

well good night cyberspace! sorry I realize I'm really not that interesting, but that's okay I don't need a ton of people to like me. Because I like myself. I love who I am, and I'm not ashamed of what I am.

I am KayleeRay a Person from the Milky way galaxy, from the planet Earth, from the North American Continent, From the country America, From Utah. I am a person who is kind, smart, important, people watching, smart, constantly learning, story telling, beautifully cute, art doing, child teaching, laughing, woman, and I am a Daughter of God.

Song of the day: Bob Marley, Three Little Birds

Never give up. It is going to be hard, but I believe in you. You can do it.
Day 23 To Be Continued.

Day 22 Assignment 22 Part 1: Assessing Scene Worth

So from this point on each of the assignments are going to take a week. However each assignment is going to have several different sections, i.e. this week has four parts.

 

For this assignment I had to number each of my scenes, and read through my outline. The book gives this list of questions to ask for every scene you write.

·         What is the purpose of this scene?

·         How is this scene related to the scene immediately before or after?

·         What characters are involved in this scene?

·         What is the setting?

·         What is at stake for the protagonist in this scene?

·         What is the conflict in this scene?

·         How does this scene further develop my novel’s point?

·         (90 Days To Your Novel, Sarah Domet, pg 135)

I’ll still keep posting everyday, but you guys I AM SO EXCITED! This is where all the fun begins! :D

Today was pretty busy, and I feel like I need to apologize for my posts being so boring lately. I’ll try to keep them more interesting from now on.

 

So since I’m keeping things interesting I’m going to post two songs on here, they both make me smile and I love writing to them (and dancing to them).

Akeboshi, Wind

 

Awolnation, Sail

 

Day 21 Assignment 21: outline

So today I worked more on the outline, but I hit some snags and it is going to take a little longer to finish.

Today I'm in a weird mood. I don't want to post today. I just want to work on my story. Haha, but I do have a story to tell you all!

so today was the relief society activity, we had a service auction. For those of you who aren't LDS (Mormons) Relief Society is for the women in the neighborhood (mothers and young women who are 18 & up) to get together and socialize with each other at an activity. So after everything was over the three of us who were left went around the church building turning off the lights and making sure the doors were locked. I got this really creepy feeling that we weren't the only ones in the building, and as we all parted ways and headed to the doors closest to our cars we noticed light coming out of the gym. No one had seen anyone else in the building, and the light had been off just a few minutes ago. Turns out it was just two guys who wanted to play basket ball in the gym...

It scared me so bad! especially since I had just freaked myself out and had convinced myself that I was just being paranoid, but guess what? I wasn't imagining things.


well that's everything tonight. I'm really irritated...but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I have this headache that wont go away...or maybe today just sucked. BLEH!

day 20 & 21 Completed>>>for the most part<BLEH!

Day 20 Assignment 20: OUTLINE

Alright so today's assignment was to start the outline, but it won't be complete until day 21. So since I'm in the middle of working on this one I'll post more about it tomorrow.

Finally the outline! This is what I have been waiting anxiously for since starting! :)
I'll let you all know how things are going tomorrow, but I can say this for sure....I'm having so much FUN! I know I'm super weird, but I really love writing and this is so much fun.

well until tomorrow...

Day 20 To be continued!

Day 19 Assignment 19: Write a synopsis of your book.

So I actually had to look this one up, because I’ve never written one before.

The sites I used are these:

• http://www.writing-world.com/publish/synopsis.shtml
• How to write a synopsis
• http://www.explorewriting.co.uk/what-synopsis-how-write-one.html
• What is a synopsis
• http://www.charlottedillon.com/synopsis.html
• Help writing a synopsis & other important documents used for submitting your story to an editor.

What I learned about it is this:

• Tells your story from start to finish
• Is two to eleven pages (depends on what the publisher requires)
• Double spaced (unless they say otherwise), 12pt font, white paper
• Write/print on one side of paper

I needed a little help so I wrote everything out like this:

Beginning

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Middle

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

End

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Each section (beginning, middle, end) should have at least three main parts in it.You should have a paragraph (at least 5 sentences) for each part, because something important should be happening in each part. The synopsis should follow your main plot and should include your key points and the ending. The Synopsis is what sells your book to an editor or publisher (or agent) so it needs to be as good as your book, it is in a way your “movie” Preview.

So in the end you should have two to eleven pages that look kind of like this:

Name  ----Never double space your information.
Phone Number
Email Address

(Book Title) Synopsis

            Once Long ago in a galaxy not so far away....This part must catch the reader’s attention. Introduce the Main characters and include any background information a reader who will not be reading the whole book may need to understand the synopsis.

            A synopsis isn’t for anyone & everyone to read, because it goes through the main plot from start to finish. You leave nothing important out that you need, but remember keep it simple and enticing.

 

This one was kind of hard especially since I'm home sick today...It has been really hard to focus, so I apologize if anything doesn't really make sense. ;)

Day 19 Completed.

Day 18 Assignment 18: Create (brainstorm) a list of words that you associate with each word. (i.e. adjectives, verbs, and nouns). Next print out a scene you have already written and circle/highlight anything that helps set the tone of the scene. Next select a song for the “soundtrack” of this scene. (i.e. if the scene had theme/background music what would it sound like? What song would it be?) Lastly write two scenes where the main character discovers something one must be positive and the other negative.

So this assignment teaches tone. The book/scene’s tone is affected by the background, words you use, and the way your character sees the world. It was a good way of showing how tone can affect your story but personally I prefer to think of it this way:

 If your character is paranoid he isn’t going to walk through the park and hear lovely birds chirping and see a beautiful azure blue sky. That would ruin the feel of the book. Your book would literally fall out of character and would lose the audience’s attention. If the character is paranoid the book its self must have the feel of paranoia. Meaning the background, descriptions, words used by the character, and especially the way he sees other characters should reflect a level of paranoia.

 

	Ominous	Upbeat	Quirky	Manipulative	Mysterious	Obsessive
Adjectives (descriptive) Sort of…	Dark, gloomy, dangerous,  black, gray	Bright, happy, sunshine, yellow, pink, excited	Odd, strange, likeable, out there, unusual, funny	Harsh, alone, fearful, down, gray, red, strong, vicious	Mist, morning, evening, unknown, far away, not all there, reserved, tall, dark, handsome	Fat, lustful, needy, lonely, more, want, sickening
Verbs (action) …	Follow, Stalk, Sneak, Tie, glare, scowl, silent, creep mean	Bouncy, skip, walk, dance, laugh, talk, giggle, smile, kind	Stand tall, don’t care, kind, mean, stare, silly	Passive aggressive, violent, controlling, mean, in charge, pushy	Reserved, quiet, laid back, calm, aloof	Needy, clingy, wanting, lusting, demanding, fighting, exercise
Nouns (person, place, or thing) Please don’t ask.	(door to door) salesmen park, city, guard dogs, dark stair wells, woods, ocean, police	Waiters, mechanics, park, city, music store, investigators, friends	People, Las Vegas, Utah, parents, siblings, friends, animals	Men, Women, parents, friends, coworkers, boss, teachers, bullies, school, work	Men, women, mountains, the unknown, forest, city	Men, women, animals, food, library, gym, studio

 

Please don’t ask…it said to use my imagination so this is what I ended up with… bleh.

Part 2:

What is happening in the scene: It is a cold rainy night, and he is on the roof watching the cars drive away. The main character is miserable and is contemplating living and dying. He is horrified by the idea of dying but things have gotten so bad that it has become tempting. He accidently ends up in a situation where he could die, but he chooses to live. Once he is safe he decides not to give up just yet.

The song is “Headlights” by Bruce Aisher, Richard Salmon

Since I’ve promised not to give away anything from my story I won’t be posting the positive and negative scenes. I apologize for that, but I really don’t want anyone reading it until it has been perfected and completed.

So I just feel like writing or talking for a moment. You know I actually have to turn my internet/Wi-Fi off when I'm writing...I get distracted easily. I didn't realize how much this book was a teaching you how to write your novel as well as getting it written in 90 days...it's great but I am really starting to get anxious about working on my book.

I like reading books on writing I believe that you can always learn more. There isn't a limit on what your brain can contain...at least I hope there isn't. Haha anyways good night and hopefully tomorrow's assignment will be more interesting. :)

Day 18 CoMpLeTeD!

Day 17 Assignment 17: Write a scene that took place in your main character’s past. Then write a scene that takes place in the present using the “past” scene as a back flash.

So a flash back can be one sentence or a couple of sentences. The hard part is not overwhelming the present scene (as the Author Sarah Domet said). In other words a successful flash back gives you important information without drawing too much attention to it. If you stay in the flash back too long the reader can forget what’s happening in the actual story or even get annoyed and stop reading.

This one wasn't too hard, especially if you have ever had a lot of practice quoting things in papers. In papers you use the quote to support your argument. Flash backs are similar because they support your characters and give a little more depth to the situation. Without flash backs the story would probably still makes sense but you would miss out on learning more about the character's personality and who they were in the past.

An example of a brief flash back: (this one I used in a previous assignment Justin's POV) 'Sheepishly he reached out and shook Aaron’s hand he didn’t know what to say. Habitually he recited what he had often said in high school whenever the principal had forced him to apologize to the boys he beat up, even if they had started it. Sorry I guess I let my anger get ahead of me.'
A flash back doesn't have to be long and it doesn't have to be too in depth. with this flash back alone you learn a few things about Justin

• he fought in high school, 
• he was always the one who had to apologize even if he hadn't started the fight,
• he must have had to say those words often to be able to recite them when he was flustered,
• he most likely has a bad temper if he was fighting so much in high school,
• the principal must have either had a close relationship to Justin or Justin must have respected him or feared him (someone with so much fighting spirit wouldn't have given in and simply apologized if it wasn't his fault),
• since he fought often he probably didn't back off unless he knew fighting wouldn't work or benefit him (doesn't back down easily)

Sorry I'm not posting the scene I wrote today, it turned out better than I thought it would and since it would give some exciting things away I'm not going to share it. ;)
Mwahaha!
Have a great weekend!

Day 17 Completed!

Day 16 Assignment 16: Finish your time line, and write 20 closing lines for your novel.

Today wasn't too different from the last two days. I'm not quite done with my time line there are still some things I would like to fix and revise. Over all today was a pretty good day. The ending lines have been the hardest, because that is the last thing your reader is going to read. It either has to leave people satisfied and happy with the ending, or leave everyone yearning to find out what happens next. It is just as important as the opening line. well I would love to write more here and on my story but I'm being called back to real life. haha that sounded dumb. Anyway until tomorrow!


p.s. Sorry there isn't much for this post. Also if anyone out there has any questions or suggestions please feel free to ask/suggest away. :)


Day 16 Completed.

Day 15 Assignment 15: Create a Time line for the beginning and middle of your story. Then write a short synopsis of what happens in the middle.

WOOO!!! Working on my actual STORY!!! If you can't tell I'm super excited. I have been writing for about four hours and if my eyes weren't freaking out and seeing little letters and black lines everywhere I'd keep writing. So today I had to write a time line of what happens from the beginning to the end of the middle. It was super fun. I'm really liking what I have so far and I can't wait to work more on it. Alas I have important things to attend to today and cannot work on it more. :(
I feel really lame for actually being sad about not being able to write more. Haha I hope that is a good sign.

So for my timeline I used a graph instead of an actual line with points on it. I don't like timelines and using a graph made it feel less tedious and less like a string of events. This is kind of what it looked like:  (only it had a lot more detail on what happened, sorry I really don't want to give much away )

Start. Beginning>>>	1. Main character is hit on by coworker	2. Main character (at work) is Confronted by her boyfriend, but they manage to talk things out without making too much of a scene or fighting
3. Angry his coworker  tells the same lie to her brother	4. the brother gets his friends to go teach Main character a lesson	5. Main character is cornered in an alley by a group of mean people.

Alright so that was just an example, I went off of what I posted for the Point Of View assignment. I am not actually taking the story in this direction. I don't like having her be the first significant event that happens to my Main character. especially since she doesn't resurface later in the story. maybe if I can some how get her to show up later it would work to some degree...but this isn't some story about love and some jealous girl getting revenge on a guy because he didn't like her.
anyways, today was a good writing day.

Never give up on what you want to do! :)


Day 15 Completed!

Day 14 Assignment 14: Brainstorming the beginning scenes. Write 20 Opening lines that grab the attention of the reader. Next write a list of 5 scene summaries that may be included in the beginning of the book.

Alright so I’m not going to post too much of my actual book. It’s not that I don’t trust the entire universe that has access to my blog. It’s just that I want my book to be amazing and I don’t want to give away too much. So I apologize in advance that I will not be posting many excerpts of my story.

So for this exercise I had to write 20 opening lines. In 10^th grade my English teacher taught us that every good paper or story must have a “hook”, meaning an opening line that would draw your readers in. This was fun to work on since I haven’t found an opening line/scene that I like yet. I have quite a few that I like now. I also had to write 5 scene summaries (i.e. hit by bus, sent to hospital, meets long lost mother who is a nurse) that example has nothing to do with my story by the way. This part was interesting since the scene didn’t have to be the opening scene and could be any scene in the beginning of the book.

Anyways this assignment was a lot of fun.
Two of the many things I brainstormed today.
line opening:
He stared out the window, and watched nervously as a man in a black coat disappeared around the corner

Scene Summary:
Grabbed by muggers(?) robbed, beaten and left for dead

Day 14 Completed.

Day 13 Assignment 13: Narrative Summary. Practice rewriting a previous scene using Narrative Summary.

So Narrative Summary is used to take you from one scene to the next, but it can also help move things along in a scene. You don’t have to explain everything that is happening that is where the Summary comes in. (that is my interpretation of what the Author in the book said…she used three or four pages to explain it). Admittedly I didn’t read it all. There were too many examples and it lost my attention. Ironic huh?

Anyway I’m going to try rewriting one of my scenes using Narrative Summary. I don’t think I really have a problem putting too much detail in and drawing scenes out. I like to keep things moving along or I lose interest and if I’m losing interest there is no way it will keep someone else’s attention.

But it is part of the ninety day challenge so I have to do it anyways…I’m really procrastinating this.

Alright well this isn’t working. So we are going to feign a scene.

Scene One No Narrative Summary. (obnoxious).

Anger bubbled up in me as I ran to the door in my socks, and quickly pulled on my rain boots. I struggled with the sticky dead bolt and twisted the brass door handle pulling hard to get the door open. Finally the old wooden and metal door jerked open and I fell on my butt. I stepped outside, took a deep breath and slammed the door shut behind me. I then proceeded to stomp down the front steps angrily.

Scene One Narrative Summary. (tolerable) So this would be cutting out the parts of the story that make it difficult to read.

Angrily, I stalked to the front door and pulled on my rain boots. I unlocked the sticky dead bolt and pulled on the heavy door until it jerked open tossing me back onto my butt. Embarrassed I slammed the door behind me and stomped down the steps.

Scene Two NO Narrative Summary (obnoxious)

The egg shell colored Kitchen felt tense as he stared at his daughter. She stood next to the oak breakfast table that was covered in delicious food for a healthy and wonderful breakfast. She clenched her trembling dainty hands with anger causing the ring on her small finger to dig into her palm, and forcing the little freckle on her finger to stand out. He slammed his right fist into the oak wood and refused to look at her. Instead he stared out the window at a cat resting under their picnic table staying dry from the persistent rain (which had been falling for the last week).

Scene Two Narrative Summary (tolerable) this would be how you would open your scene, every chapter or paragraph needs a transitional phrase (something I learned in 10^th grade) Narrative Summary is kind of like that. It sets up the scene and keeps the story flowing in a way that makes sense.

Tension filled the kitchen as she stared at her father. He stood silently on the other side of the heavily laden breakfast table. She clenched her trembling hands trying to control her anger. Her father suddenly slammed his fist on the table and refused to look at her. Instead he stared out the window at the persistent rain.

I know I switched from first person to third person, but you can kind of see how the two scenes would connect and flow together.

The result is this:
Tension filled the kitchen as she stared at her father. He stood silently on the other side of the heavily laden breakfast table. She clenched her trembling hands trying to control her anger. Her father suddenly slammed his fist on the table and refused to look at her. Instead he stared out the window at the persistent rain. Angrily, she stalked to the front door and pulled on her rain boots. She unlocked the sticky dead bolt and pulled on the heavy door until it jerked open tossing her back onto her butt. Embarrassed she slammed the door behind her and stomped down the steps into the rain.

I don't know if I did that well or not I was kind of irritated with this assignment and frustrated so I am just going to stick with this.

Day 13 Completed. X_X

Day 12 Assignment 12: Create Minor Character bios

so today I had to create a few minor character bios. Minor characters are important because they help show who the main character really is, and how he reacts to different things.

Minor Character Bio (in assignment 12 of 'Your Novel in 90 Days')
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Physical description:
History:
Relationship with the main character:
Purpose in the scene:
What does he reveal about the main character:

One of my minor character bios:

Name: Gregory Webbs

Age: 62

Occupation (in order of employment):
 English teacher, Tutor (during the summer), Doctor, Bouncer, Homeless

Physical Description:
Large build, unkempt looking, unshaven (but doesn't have a beard), beanie cap, faded green sweater, long dirty black coat, dirty boots and ripped dirty jeans. he is thin but not frail, he has dark hazel eyes and has his graying light brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail, but his bands hang down into his face.

History:

• from North Dakota.
• was teaching English and tutoring while he was getting his medical degree.
• continued teaching and would tutor in the summer even after he became a doctor.
• he had a patient die while he was operating on him. The patient reached out and touched his face. He had watched the light slowly fade from the dying man's eyes.
• after that he lost his job as a doctor (they said it was due to stress, and that he had a nervous breakdown).
• Eventually he lost his job as a teacher and tutor.
• He took a job as a bouncer at a bar down town but he also took up drinking as well. After a year or two the drinking had gotten pretty bad and the bar fired him too.
•  Since then he has been homeless off and on. He has stayed down town and is unable to keep a steady job.

Relationship to the main character:
Aaron passes him everyday on the way to work and gives him a sandwich. Gregory helps Aaron out once and a while when he runs into him on the streets.
Their relationship is like a stand offish uncle. He is the one that is almost always at the family reunion but you aren't sure who he is or if you are really related.

Purpose in Scene:

• Shows Aaron's more compassionate side
• Helps reader like him more
• Shows how Aaron really feels about other people

 What does he reveal about the main character:

• that Aaron does care
• He hasn't completely locked his heart away
• He does notice things going on around him
• He's a good person
• Shows what is really in his heart

Day 12 Completed!

Day 11 Assignment 11: what are the conflicts in your story? Are the conflicts deep enough? If not how can you make them deeper?

So this one was more of reviewing what you have already come up with for your story and seeing where the weak spots are. Then you strengthen those weak spots.
Unfortunately that means I won't be posing any excerpts of the story today, but I did do the assignment!
Sorry today's post was boring.

Day 11 Completed!

Day 10 Assignment 10: Write more about your characters histories.

So today was just expanding your knowledge about the characters you have created already. Writing about their pasts, faults, fears, hopes, and feelings.
I'm not going to post it since it was just adding onto my character sketches and as I read over them I noticed a few places where things are contradicting... in the sketch his mother dies, but in my history/back ground information I have his parents as divorced. it's not something that is particularly important to you as the reader, but for his personal experiences and how he is effected emotionally it is critical. The way people reacted to him after the "incident" in both scenarios will affect the way he reacts to things later in life and how readers react to him.

This was fun and certainly an important exercise, but I'm dying to get started on my book!


Day 10 Completed. ;)

Day 9 Assignment 9: Point of View types. First person, Third person limited or third person Omniscient.

Alright so the book says to try this exercise using one of the POVs that you created yesterday…so I’m going to use Aaron’s POV. First person, Third Person L, and Third Person O.

Third Person Limited: He cleaned the dishes off the tables, letting his mind wander as he worked. It had been a long hard day, and Angie had not made it any better. I wish she would stop hitting on me…I don’t like her at all. Suddenly a tall angry man burst through the doors of the diner and stomped over to Aaron. He started yelling and coming closer to his face. Flustered and surprised Aaron stepped back but his feet hit the booth knocking him off balance. He fell into the booth and stared up at the man.

First Person: I cleaned the dishes off the table letting my mind wander as I worked. It had been a long hard day, and Angie had not made it any better. I wish she would stop hitting on me…I don’t even like her, not to mention I’m not even nice to her. Suddenly a man stormed into the diner and headed straight for me. He started yelling and accusing me of something. Confused and taken off guard I tried to take a step back but I lost my balance as my feet hit the booth. I fell embarrassingly into the booth and stared up at the man’s surprised and angry face.

Third Person Omniscient: ...nope. the book cannot be written this way. ;)

Okay so I’ve tried to write the omniscient view three or four times now, and I hate all of them. I’m not even going to post it. I already knew that this story had to be told in either first person or third person-limited. It is Aaron's personal story, and it wouldn't make sense to have it randomly be from another character's point of view.

  

Day 9 Completed!

Day 8 Assignment 8: Point of View. While one person may see a kind man giving a flower to a girl out of kindness another may see a player hitting on yet another woman. Create a scene with a few of your characters (the book suggests three) and rewrite it in each character’s point of view.

Scene: Aaron, Angie, Justin (Angie’s boyfriend).
Justin confronts Aaron about liking his girlfriend Aaron flatly tells Justin that he doesn’t like her at all, and Angie gets made because Aaron doesn’t have any feelings for her.

 So for this one I’m not really worrying about the first, second, and third person POV aspect, since that would certainly take several pages rather than just three longish paragraphs. I may or may not actually use this scene in my book but it was fun since you get to see different sides of the situation.

Aaron POV: Aaron is bussing tables when an angry man storms into the diner. He stomps over to where Aaron is standing and immediately starts yelling at him. Aaron caught off guard tries to back up but his feet hit the booth and he loses his balance and falls back onto the booth seat. The man grabs his shirt and drags him back to his feet. Aaron has had a hard day already; Angie and an old lady had both tried to flirt with him, he had been kicked in the crotch by a bratty little kid, and some drunk had spilled his beer on him twice. He couldn’t handle this much abuse at work. He shoved the man away and demanded to know who the heck he was. The man looked surprised but replied vehemently I’m Angie’s boyfriend, and from what I’ve heard you have been trying to steal her away. Aaron massaged his temples this was ridiculous. He glared at the man Sorry what was your name? The man looked confused and hesitantly answered Justin…you are Aaron right? Aaron held out his hand I am, and I’m sorry but it seems there has been a misunderstanding. I don’t like Angie, and I wouldn’t try to steal someone’s girlfriend from them even if I did. Justin smiled sheepishly and shook Aaron’s hand sorry I guess I let my anger get ahead of me. Aaron smiled It’s fine. He felt drained and tired, but managed a smile as the man waved and left the diner. I’ve never even had a full conversation with Angie let alone ever flirted with her, and whenever she had tried to flirt with him he had always acted like he hadn't noticed or just brushed her off. What made him think I liked her?

Justin POV: Justin storms into the diner to find the man who is trying to steal his beloved Angie away. He sees him bussing tables and stomps over to confront him. Justin is demanding to know what gave him the right to hit on and try to steal his girlfriend when Aaron trips and falls into the booth. He pulls him back up to face him. This kid was not going to get off the hook by looking innocent and defenseless. Justin is surprised when Aaron shoves him away from him. He hadn’t expected him to be that strong or to have such a cold and hateful glare. Aaron demanded who the heck are you? Which takes Justin off guard shouldn’t he already know who I am if he is trying to steal Angie from me? Did I get the wrong guy? Worried and frustrated Justin responds I’m Angie’s boyfriend, and from what I’ve heard you have been trying to steal her away. The guy looked at the floor and rubbed his temples. He looks exhausted and angry. Justin felt unsure what to do what if he had grabbed the wrong guy? Cold as ice the guy glared at him Sorry what was your name? His voice didn’t sound angry at all but his eyes said otherwise. Justin hesitated what was going on? First this guy looked defenseless and now he looked like he could kill a man without blinking an eye. Justin…you are Aaron right? He had to know if he had gotten the wrong person. Could this really be the man who was hitting on his girlfriend? The guy calmly held out his hand as if to shake I am, and I’m sorry but it seems there has been a misunderstanding. I don’t like Angie, and I wouldn’t try to steal someone’s girlfriend from them even if I did. Justin could feel his face flush and his stomach drop he didn’t even like Angie and it was the right person after all! How could he have gotten things wrong? Sheepishly he reached out and shook Aaron’s hand he didn’t know what to say. Habitually he recited what he had often said in high school whenever the principal had forced him to apologize to the boys he beat up, even if they had started it. Sorry I guess I let my anger get ahead of me. Aaron smiled and this time his eyes seemed kinder it’s fine. Justin waved as he left the diner he could feel the anger coming back as he walked down the street. He doesn’t like Angie at all?! How could he not even like her how dare he act as if she was just like any other girl! He paused debating whether to go back or not then remembered the look in Aaron’s eyes. He shivered that was not a man he ever wanted to get in a fight with.

Angie POV: She ducked behind the counter when she saw Justin coming in the door. What was he doing here? Had he heard her talking to her friends the other night? He had acted so calm and sweet like he hadn’t. She peaked over the counter as he started yelling. Aaron was being pulled to his feet by Justin. What had happened? He hadn’t hit him had he? She watched in horror as Aaron shoved Justin away. This is bad. Justin gets a kind of high off fighting and has problems with his temper around other guys. She winced, and waited for him to strike Aaron back. Nothing happened. She couldn’t see either of their faces but at least she could hear them. Who the heck are you?! Aaron demanded. She could hear it in his voice he was angry. I’m Angie’s boyfriend, and from what I’ve heard you have been trying to steal her away. She could hear the fading anger and rising confusion in Justin’s voice. She waited hoping they wouldn’t start fighting, but at the same time she was ecstatic take that Stacy two guys are fighting over me! She still couldn’t see Aaron’s face, but his voice sounded cold and calm Sorry what was your name? Angie couldn’t believe it. Aaron should have already figured out who he was. She had said it more than once today and yesterday that if her boyfriend had ever found out about him hitting on her he would kill him, although she hadn’t expected Justin to find out so soon. She listened as Justin hesitated then finally answered Justin…you are Aaron right? Of course he is Aaron he looks exactly like what I described to you. she rolled her eyes men could be so dumb. Aaron’s voice caught her attention he is calm again? I am, and I’m sorry but it seems there has been a misunderstanding. I don’t like Angie, and I wouldn’t try to steal someone’s girlfriend from them even if I did. She stared flabbergasted how dare he say that! Not interested in me? Hit him Justin! Hit him! How could any man resist my beauty, my charm, my everything? He even sounded repulsed. He will pay for this. Why isn’t Justin ripping him to shreds doesn’t he realize that he has insulted his girlfriend? She watched in horror as Justin shook Aaron’s hand sheepishly reply sorry I guess I let my anger get ahead of me. Aaron smiled It’s fine. She glared at them how could such a weak cowardly man smile and brush what had happened of like it was nothing? why didn’t Justin tear him apart? She wondered as she watched Justin wave to Aaron and leave the diner. She glared at Aaron. I mean nothing to him huh? She smiled cruelly Justin was probably planning on getting him back for insulting her later when there would be less eyewitnesses.

 

Day 8 Completed! :)

Day 7 Assignment 7: Chose one of your characters and someone you met today (or in the past), place them in a scene and let them talk.

So the characters in this scene are Molly and "Quigley" (someone a very dear friend of mine dated for a while). I figured it would be funny because Molly doesn't handle awkward people or situations very well and "Quigley" is the epitome of awkward.

Awkwardly they sat across from each other in the busy diner waiting for their food. She stared at the table and straightened the silverware again. He was still staring out the window. She smiled sweetly and leaned forward propping her head up on her hands. “So, Quigley…um” his head snapped back to face her, and his awkward smile was back. “Yes?” his smile seemed even more uncomfortable and out of place when he talked. “Well I was just wondering what you were thinking about…” she smiled sweetly waiting for his response. His smile vanished for a moment, but hastily returned “I wasn’t thinking about anything, really.” She took a silent deep breath, and then smiled sweetly up at him. “Oh I’m sure you were thinking of something”. He just smiled back at her, but his eyes looked irritated. She tucked some of her long blond hair behind her ear trying not to look at him. “I hope our food gets here soon…what did you get again?” He glanced over at the kitchen and without looking at her replied “pancakes”. She sighed quietly and leaned back against the seat her arms folded.

Funny thought had it been Kip (Aaron's friend) or Angie (a waitress at the Sam's Diner) the reactions would have been much different. Kip would have walked out, and Angie would have talked about herself without noticing "Quigley's" irritation. Personally I would get annoyed with him and refused to talk to him or I would be sarcastic his smile really creeped me out...I could never tell what he was thinking. :)

 

Day 7 Completed.

Just like I promised here is the rest of assignment 4: The Scenario.

 Sorry it took so long to put up here I actually ended up rewriting it since I didn't like the way the scene progressed or how it turned out. But here it is! :)

His Manager had told him that morning that he had been invited to appear on a competitive cooking show. He had tried to keep his anxiety a secret, but all day it had been weighing on his mind. He had burned and spilled enough that they had needed to re-shoot some of the footage for his how to cook show. The street lamps lazily flickered in the dying light as he made his way home on foot. Not his preferred method of transport this close to night but he had missed the bus, and he was too proud to call his manager for a ride. It was a thirty minute walk from the studio to his apartment, and he figured he could use that time to think things through. He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and glared gloomily at the dirty grimy ground as he walked. Anxiety washed over him and waves of nausea made him feel dizzy. The empty streets suddenly felt too crowded and loud. The need to run was overwhelming. Shakily he leaned his back against an old brick apartment building. He gripped the lighter in his pocket and leaned his head back against the cold wall, his eyes tightly shut. He waited until his breathing returned to normal, and slowly he let go of the lighter and continued down the street. He didn’t notice the little lady struggling until she grabbed his arm. Her terrified eyes filled with tears “please help me” she begged as the purse around her torso was used to pull her into the dark ally. He stood in shock for a moment then ran in after her. She was pushed up against the wall a knife at her throat as a second thief rummaged through her purse. Eric grabbed the knifed man and shoved him into the second thief. They crashed to the ground and just as Eric and the lady were about to run out of the ally their pathway became blocked by a third thief. Eric punched him as hard as he could releasing some of his tension and stress from the day, but the man just stumbled backwards then tried to punch him back. Eric kneed the man in the gut sending him to the ground just as the knifed man charged him from the left. He didn’t have time to think. The knife was coming straight for his throat, so he simply reacted. He side stepped and shoved the man’s arm and body in the other direction. The momentum sent him spinning around and right into the second thief. The knife made a dull thud as it embedded its self in his chest. No one moved as the boy slowly sank to the ground his eyes steadily growing darker. He hadn’t meant to push the Knifed man into the boy it had just happened. The Man screamed and grabbed the boy on the ground and shook him hoping to bring him back. the man who had been clutching his gut shakily got to his feet and grabbed the man’s arm. He shoved him away sobbing. The man reached down grabbed him by his hair and forced him to stand. He said something in his ear and they took off down the alley away from the street. Eric sat silently on the ground tears streaming down his face. He hadn’t meant for that to happen. The woman sat next to him whispering and stroking his hair “it wasn’t your fault, it was just an accident”. Amid all the noise and flashing lights he could see the police and paramedics perfectly clear. They were standing and kneeling next to the young thief, but he could tell from where he sat. The boy was dead. He had been stabbed in the heart.

Day 6 Assignment 6: Convey emotion through physical dialogue, description, and action.

This scene is about my Main character in the book I'm currently writing. The book its self doesn't go back this far, but I thought it would be fun to write about when he was in high school for this assignment.

Mr. Haggins droned on about the importance of the rarely used semi colon, meanwhile half the class seemed to be asleep in their seats. I stared blankly out the window at the silent motionless shadows on the lawn. The clouds moved lazily in the dull morning light. There wasn’t really anything interesting out the window, but the appeal of the outside world was intoxicating. My chin and hand ached from leaning on them for so long. Slowly I stretched my legs out, leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. He was still talking about the semi colon. Tiredly I glanced at the door at the front of the room, Mr. Haggins was old but certainly not blind. Tentatively I rose my hand “ Mr. Reed did you have a question?” “Yeah, I don’t care about the Semi Colon so I’m just going to sit out on this one okay.” I replied flatly as I gathered my things and left the classroom.  I smiled to myself.  The look on his face would have been priceless; too bad I didn’t have the guts to actually do it. Drained I let out a soft depressed sigh and returned my gaze to the window. It had water spots on it and crawling along the bottom was a gray striped spider. Viciously it attacked a little fly and then dragged it out of sight. A small shiver ran down my spine. Eat or be eaten, that was the main rule out there not this ridiculous crap about semi colons. If the little fly had tried to tell the spider about the importance of a semi colon the spider probably would have eaten it faster. The bell finally rang, and when I went to close my notebook I noticed several doodles of a fly with a graduate cap lecturing a striped spider, and being eaten by the spider. Drowsily I left the classroom and headed for the library there was a couch with my name on it, and the math class was not going to miss me.

For the Record

Alright I realize I should have said this in my first post when I was explaining the 90 day challenge. I don't plan on writing on Sundays. I am approaching this book like my "job" and I don't work on Sundays. I am LDS and I intend to keep the Sabbath day holy. As for the two stories I said I was going to post today, I'm going to delay that until tomorrow. I want some more time to polish them before putting them up.

Look forward to a New post Tomorrow, and Good Night! :)

Day 5 Assignment 5: write a description of the character's home/living space, and their favorite place. Then write a scene that uses setting to reveal your character's mood and the tone of the scene

Alright well I need to stop writing so late because I keep cutting it too close to midnight.
So today's assignment has been super fun (now that I get to work with my characters) I'm enjoying this challenge more. Writing about where my character's are currently living has been interesting, because just when I thought I knew what it would look like as I was writing new things kept finding their way in. I'm having so much fun!
So this is what I've come up with so far for my main character's house (his first apartment in the new city), and I know I'm not showing things very well and knowing me I'll probably fuss with it until I'm satisfied but here it is, so ha.
(Please ignore the grammar and punctuation I don't pay much attention to it in my first drafts. Also I plan on posting day 4's story about the chef along with today's scene for the mood setting tomorrow when my mind isn't so tired and I can make sure they are understandable). :)

Clean and newly painted the old building had a peculiar air to it. Pine scented cleaner hung heavily in the air and burned my nose as I entered the clean lobby. An old leather couch had been pushed against the left wall and had a small cabinet squished between the wall and the couch arm with Vogue and Oprah magazines piled on it. To the right was a door with a yellowing sign that read ‘Office’ but the c and e had worn off. At the back of the lobby yellow tape had been pulled across the elevator doors forming an x shape, and a piece of paper had been tapped over the button ‘OUT OF ORDER’ then just below in neat hand writing the words ‘please do NOT press the button, thank you’. To the left was the door to the stair well. I pushed the stiff door open and entered the stale stair well. The lights flickered creepily over the stairs leading to the basement and the ones leading upstairs looked like they were going to burn out soon. Six flights of stairs later I opened the last floor’s door the hall had ten rooms his room was the first door on the left side. The door swung smooth and silent on its hinges and quietly I entered the small apartment. Warm autumn light filtered in through the windows giving the room a warm cozy feeling. The small clean room had a kitchen to the right, a little living room to the left, and straight ahead were two doors. Quietly I entered the oddly shaped kitchen the fridge was facing the far wall and had two doors one on top for the freezer and one on bottom for the fridge. Inside the freezer was a box of popsicles, a bag of vegetables, several little sandwich bags of ground beef, and a package of chicken breasts. In the fridge was half a gallon of expired milk, left overs that no longer looked edible, three fresh apples and an orange in one of the drawers, some cheese and meat, a stick of butter, mayo, ketchup, mustard, and eggs. On the counter space next to the fridge sat a toaster and half a loaf of bread. Next to that sat a clean stove with a towel hanging from the oven handle. The counter next to the stove ran along the wall for about six or seven feet then turned and ran in front of the fridge and stove. A microwave sat on the counter against the wall and the sink had been put in across from the stove and had a few dishes soaking in it. Cabinets hung above the small counter between the stove and fridge and above the microwave, on the far wall. On the other side of the counter was a small scratched wooden table with a two wooden chairs that had come with the apartment. A garbage can sat empty at the end of the counter. The living room was just as small as the kitchen and had a comfy looking couch with a faded gray floral design and a scratched coffee table sitting in the middle. A small tv sat unplugged in front of the coffee table on a small entertainment center a few DVDs were piled on the little shelves and a pile of books had made its home on the left side of the tv. Behind the couch was a small book case that was completely stuffed full of books. School books, math books, philosophy, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, and several self help books. The window seat was covered in notebooks, school books and loose papers he needed for school. the curtains for the window had been pulled as far open as they could be to let in the autumn light. Carefully I made my way to the two doors the one on the right opened up to the bathroom. Other than his razor lying out on the counter, some soap next to the sink, and his tooth brush in the tooth brush holder the bathroom was empty and clean. On the tub’s edge was a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of body wash, and loofa hanging from a small hook. There was a gray rug in front of the shower and an extra roll of toilet paper on the back of the toilet. The mirror was clean and since there wasn’t a hook the hand towel was folded neatly next to the sink. The second door opened up to his bedroom, which wasn’t as clean as the rest of the apartment. His bed was in shambles and there were shirts on the floor by his laundry hamper, he had a small closet with a dresser squished inside. A small night stand with half a glass of water and his alarm clock sat next to the bed, and on the end of his bed lay a small gray cat on top of his closed laptop.

Day 4 Assignment 4: Create a Character sketch, and then place the character in a certain scenario.

Wow I almost didn't make it before Midnight! Goodness, today was another crazy day. I got so busy writing earlier that I didn't have time to post anything before I went to meet a friend to paint with. Today was a lot of fun. Anyway, back to the main topic of the night character sketching. So today's assignment was to create a character sketch with a character from list A, a characteristic from list B, and a scenario from list C. So I chose a Celebrity Chef, with an Anxiety disorder, who accidently kills someone. Once you had completed that you were supposed to do the same thing with your characters (I'm still working on my book's character sketches and different scenarios for each one).

But here is my practice character sketch, and tomorrow once I revise what I wrote for his scenario I'll post that too. :) (also I know there are some contradictions in the Sketch so please ignore them. This is just a sketch and not a permanent outline of exactly who he is).

Character Sketch: Anxious Celebrity Chef

Name: Eric Pinton

Gender: Male

Age: 45

Height: 6”3

Weight: Unknown. He is fit and physically healthy, but looks a little thin

Race: Caucasian/White

Nationality: American

Mannerisms: Quiet, brooding, harsh, strict, intense temper, quick moving, Anxious.

Speech: calm confident. his voice has a ruff touch to it like he doesn’t talk too much. Rarely does he say what is actually on his mind.

Eye Color: Dark Brown and malicious

Hair color: sandy brown his hair is still rather thick too

Physical traits: he has a scar running horizontally across the middle of his left palm. No tattoos or
disabilities.

Dress: casually, nice and neat. His cloths aren’t expensive but they are nice. He often wears a long trench coat type jacket.

Education: Graduate from the University of California with his bachelors in Engineer Science

Social Groups: Dinner Parties thrown by his wife. Events with the Producer, Cast, and Crew of the Cooking Station he works for. Few drinking friends he has at Ogre Bar.

Hobbies: Tinkering with things, figuring out how things work, Cooking, running, reading technology manuals, reading how to books, chess, darts.

Childhood experiences: graduated high school two years early, he had very few friends during high school and junior high since he was two years younger than everyone. He cut his hand cooking after school and needed fifteen stitches; he still has a scar on his left hand that runs horizontally across the middle of his palm. His parents pushed him to be the best in everything.

Number of Siblings: Zero. He was an only Child Born to middle class parents.

 Views on Life: if you aren’t the best people won’t love you. The world if full of liars and cheats and even if you believe you aren’t one of them in actuality you are.

Profession: Famous Chef. He had always cooked as a hobby and eventually became famous for it. He currently works for a popular reality tv network he has his own how to cook show, and is in several other competitive cooking shows currently. He has debuted in a few movies and tv dramas also as a professional chef. And often cooks for large dinner parties hosted by other famous celebrities.

Marital Status: Divorced

Where does he live: currently a top floor apartment in uptown New York.

Main Influences in his early life: his grandfather who he often visited taught him how to grill anything to perfection on his outdoor grill. His father never gave his approval or acceptance unless he worked tooth and nail for it, and his mother was just as strict and even harsher.

Personality Traits: Anxious, furious temper, strict, quiet, harsh, blunt, tired, he is protective especially if it is his (like his passion for cooking).

Relationships: No children, ex-wife, friends with his Producer and manager. He has a few friends at the Ogre Bar. He doesn’t really have anyone to talk to or confide in other than his friend Tim. He avoids the female chef Amilia. He cannot stand her and thinks she doesn’t deserve to be there.

Main Weakness: He has an inferiority complex, and doesn’t feel confident in his own skills. Even the best is not good enough. He struggles with being on competitive cooking shows since the judges remind him of his overly critical parents, which causes him anxiety. When he gets anxious he doesn’t pay very much attention to others, and often zones out.

Main Strength: Cooking relaxes him and relieves him of his anxiety, it also gives him a chance to make the judges acknowledge that his skill and his food is the best. Redemption, a chance to prove to himself that he is not the worthless child his parents had been ashamed of.

Scenario Situation: Eric is headed down the street anxious about appearing on a competitive cooking show. Up ahead there is a man mugging a woman at knife point.

Um for those of you wondering why the Ogre Bar...well I really have no idea but I'm just going to stick with it.

Day 4 COMPLETED!