This is my journey as a writer and the things that inspire me as a writer. I will also post some of my own work to share and for constructive criticism. Do NOT re-blog or re-post any of my personal work without my permission!All personal works are written and owned by Kara Wertman and are copyrighted.
Writer's Journey
(via latenightnovelwriting)
(via writeworld-blog)
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
(via writeworld-blog)
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
(via writeworld-blog)
sun-of-ra asked: hiya! was just wondering if you had any general writing and/or life tips for prospective writers?
petyrbaelish-deactivated2018010:
Sure, yeah! I’ll give you some of the top things I’ve learned in studying creative writing/life in general.
ONE: Never underestimate the reader. A lot of times people think that they have to describe every single detail so that the audience will know what they mean, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes simply saying “she gave him a curious look” says more than “her brows furrowed in curiosity, wondering what he meant”. You have to trust the reader to make that connection on their own while still keeping the writing smooth and limited. The reader will catch on to your hints. Don’t make it too obvious.
TWO: Master the art of flash fiction. The more flash fiction you write, the better your longer writing will become. Flash fiction is a story of 1000 words or less that really strips down to the wire and creates intrigue without giving too much away, very much like a short film. I had a whole class on flash fiction and my writing INSTANTLY improved afterward, especially because I am someone who thrives on descriptive language and often over-complicates things in my work.
THREE: Write 1,000 words or more every day. Stephen King said this in his book about what makes a good writer, and I believe it. I’ve been keeping up with this for the past year and it’s worked out wonderfully for me. I can feel my writing truly improving, and it gets you in the habit of pushing past writer’s block. You don’t have to publish what you write anywhere. Just write something.
FOUR: Read books. Like a sword needs a whetstone, a writer needs reading. Sharpen your skills in someone else’s forgery. Get inspired. Compliment other writers and appreciate when they compliment you back.
FIVE: Never ever ever ever ever ever forget the fans. They are the reason you do what you do. Don’t disrespect them. Want to break their hearts with plot? Go ahead! Want to make your story stick with them in good and bad ways? By all means! You are the writer and have full creative license, but understand that your fans are your sponsors and your network, the people holding you up. Don’t walk on them.
SIX: Learn how to take criticism, even the bad stuff. Writing will always leave you vulnerable to haters. Learn to ignore them and you’re unstoppable (but listen to those who politely present genuine complaints, however. Address them kindly, you might find they’re right!)
SEVEN: Know what needs your full attention and what doesn’t. As a future novelist I have to wonder what my focus is truly on–writing fanfiction while I’m working on my degrees, or saving all that creative juice for my novel? Of course, that’s not to say that I’m lazy over my fanfiction, but I don’t slave over it like I would over actual books. Fanfiction is free. It’s not my dream to write fanfic forever and I’m not getting paid, nor will it get me famous. Just be aware of your priorities. Don’t wear yourself out before your real journey begins!
EIGHT: Put your work out there. Poetry, fanfiction, original work, something. Get feedback. Learn how to interact with fans and take suggestions/criticism from them. Don’t be shy.
NINE: Get an ego (in a good way!). It takes serious guts to put your writing out there. It’s a part of you that you’re exposing to the world; of course you’ll get offended when someone tears it down, and love it when others raise it up. I’m convinced that every writer has to be a bit self-absorbed to make it, because confidence is truly the key to getting out of the gate.
TEN: Travel somewhere alone. You may think that going to Mexico, San Francisco and Italy for two weeks as a 20 y/o single white girl all by myself was a bad choice, but it was FUN and I made so many memories. You meet new people and learn to socialize, learn to break out of your comfort zone. You hear stories that inspire you from other people. You make new friends and have no limits on what you can do–it’s incredibly liberating. I can’t tell you how it helped me as a writer and a person to be able to stand in the Sistine Chapel around a bunch of strangers, looking up at Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam and thinking to myself, “wow. This is art, this is history, this is the impact of what we create as people over hundreds of years. And I’m contributing.” I sat in that chapel for three hours watching people go by, surrounded by all this beautiful art and raw purity of the human existence and I was on no one else’s time. I spent days just walking around Rome and learning about humanity because I wanted to. It was powerful. Let humanity inspire you.
I’ve been so bad about doing this, but I’ve always had. Lately though, it’s because I really haven’t had anything to post. I started Camp NaNoWriMo five days ago and I’ve managed to finish two chapters of two different stores and work on another story outside my Hydra Verse, plus started the next chapter of Ghost. That being said, I had to provide a double snippet tonight. The first is from the unedited version of the next chapter of The Tales of Steve and Bucky: Before We Go!
This was not what he signed up for.
Yes, he got a promotion up to a Captain and it was a legitimate one, but when he had agreed to this, he didn’t think he’d be parading around in a costume with a sock on his head. The costume was a garish red, white, and blue. The ‘helmet’ was flimsy fabric that covered his face with the exception of his mouth and eyes. Steve thought that if it had been black, he would look like a criminal. The boots were too big and ridiculously red, so were the gloves. How was anyone supposed to take him serious dressed up like a clown?
“I don’t know if I can do this.” He said out loud as he stood backstage at his first show. He had a shield with the words he was supposed to say on it. Brandt’s aide, who had been his shadow for two weeks now, had told him the words would come naturally in time. He was just to go out there and do his best.
The music had already cued up by this point and although they had practiced a few times, Steve had suddenly forgot some of what he was supposed to do. Never before had he been this nervous, but then again, he was getting ready to go out and put on a performance in front of an audience. He’d never had to do it before.
“Nothing to it.” The aide walked around and patted him on the back. “You sell a few bonds. Bonds buy bullets. Bullets kill Nazis. Bing, bang, boom. You’re an American hero.”
“It’s just not how I pictured getting there.” Steve admitted, trying to come to terms with the fact that he had to do this now. It was too late for him to back out.
“The Senator has got a lot of pull up on the Hill. You play ball with us, you’ll be leading your own platoon in no time.”
Steve put on the fabric helmet, adjusting it to fit. He wasn’t too fond of the big ‘A’ on his forehead or the wings on the side, but once again, it was too late now. Steve tried to believe in the aide’s words, but he was starting to learn the political game. He was starting to not like it and he was starting to figure out when people were lying to him. The aide’s words sounded phony to him, so he wouldn’t believe them until he got results.
“Take the shield.” The man said as he stepped out of sight. Steve did as he was told as the music got louder. Once he was ready, he got a second to breathe before he was shoved from behind with a single word whispered in a rush. “Go!”
I can’t remember if I’ve put anything about this up here, and right now I’m too lazy to go check, but I started another story involving Bucky. I wanted to explore him away from Steve and I think he would be a good fit to become an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., so I’ve been working on that. The first chapter won’t be up until I finish the next one, but here’s a little snippet to tie you over. I have the edits for this, but I haven’t fixed it yet, so still unedited.
“Sergeant Barnes, these are Agents Mack and Hunter. Mack, Hunter…our new soon to be Agent, James Barnes.”
The taller one, Agent Mack was still frowning and seems a bit cautious around Barnes, almost as if he was waiting for the slightly shorter man to strike. He nodded in greeting however and Barnes seemed to brush him off as not that much of a threat. Hunter’s cocky grin returned.
“Welcome to the crazy farm,” the man said with a heavy accent. His tone was light and jovial as he spoke, telling Barnes that he didn’t take the situation too seriously. “Just so you know, I have it on good authority that I am the least crazy person in this group. That and coupled with my charm, I’m invincible.”
Mack snorted at Hunter’s joke. “The day you become invincible, remind me to get as far away from the base as possible. I don’t want to be there when someone tests that theory. Don’t listen to Hunter, by the way. Half of what comes out of his mouth is jokes and the other half is complaining about his ex-wife. We’re hardly crazy, weird or strange are better words to describe this circus.”
Barnes lips were curled in an almost smirk. He hesitated for a moment before responding, his tone a little bit flat, but it was strong. “I guess I’ll fit right in then.”
“All jokes aside, you’ll be working with good people.” Coulson added catching Barnes attention.
“I can see that.” Barnes didn’t sound all that convinced, but he looked like he would give them the benefit of the doubt.
“All right, I’d rather not waste any more time here. Let’s head back to the jet and get going. We need to get back to the base. I’ve gotten all the paperwork, but we’re not going to be able to ditch the escort until we close the door get into the air.”
The men didn’t argue. They’d gotten special permission to park the quinjet onto the roof where the medical helicopter usually landed, but they had a limited window to do this as the area needed to be cleared for a medical emergency. Talbot was waiting for them when they hit the roof.
Yay, I’m back and I had a great writing week this week. I had updates for All That’s Left is the Ghost of You and Before We Go and I have a new project in the works. I probably won’t post that until I have a couple of chapters ready and I get a response from my awesome beta about her opinion on the first chapter. Since I have nothing for the other two, thought I would post a small snippet up here tonight.
It’s another fanfic. (One of these days, I will post some more original stuff up here). A bit of a Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. crossover with Winter Soldier head cannon. I don’t want to give away too much right now as it will be a build, but I can say that it takes place after Season 2 of the TV series and kinda post Civil War.
I already know it won’t follow the actual cannon, but I’ve had this thing in my head for two weeks or so and when I explained it to my beta she told me I needed to write it. Of course that meant that I spent the next two days getting my rough thoughts down on paper and I actually went back and tweaked it a bit. This is still unbetaed to an extent. Curious to know what you all think.
This one is gonna be called Lean On the Wind.
“How is he?” Coulson asked, turning for the first time to look into the room they were standing in front of. Looking at the figure sleeping inside under heavy sedation.
“More or less stable. He’d had a bad day right before the trial ended and they forcibly sedated him. He was a bit groggy at the sentencing, but aware of what was going on. He understood what he would have to do to start to make this right.” Rogers sounded a bit off and Coulson moved over to the side turning away from Talbot’s watchful eyes.
“What about you? I know from the news footage the trial took its toll on you.”
“He won’t even look at me or talk to me. Told Natasha and Sam I make him feel uneasy. I know he’s changed, that he went through a lot, but I can’t help wanting my friend back.”
It was understandable. James Buchannan Barnes was just starting to get pieces of himself back after years of torture and brainwashing by Hydra. The two years he went into hiding had done the man both good and bad in some aspects. At the end of that road had always been Rogers, but now after everything that’s happened since, it would seem that the man had regressed a bit, unable or unwilling to seek out the help he so desperately needed to heal which put them back at square one.
“It’ll take some time for him to trust people again and to get back on his own two feet. My team has some experience with that.” Coulson pointed it out more as a reminder to himself. “With a bit of time and patience, you might be able to have a relationship with him again.”
Steve took a deep breath. This was part of the reason he had gotten in contact with Coulson. The man was always calm and mostly level headed when it came to things like this. They were attributes Steve didn’t have and needed a reminder.
“I know that. I can’t help him with this, not in the way I want to anyway. If this is all that I can do to help him…at least I know I could do something even if it’s not much.”
Steve was looking into the room again at his friend lying on the hospital bed. Barnes was pale, his face scrunched up a bit in sleep. His body was in specially designed restraints to keep him from hurting himself or accidentally hurting others. Rogers looked torn as he looked away, unable to look any longer.
“I’m not going to make you any promises.” Coulson added. “There’s no way to know how this will all turn out, but I’ll do what I can. We’ll do what’s best for him. I know that’s what you want and that’s the only way to make sure he comes out of this sane and whole.”
Rogers still didn’t look all that convinced. He was torn between doing the right thing and doing what he wanted. Coulson was confident the right thing would win out. It was who Rogers was. He was a man who would sacrifice his own needs for the greater good or the nobler cause. Barnes was worth it.
Sorry everyone, I’ve been in a bit of a writing rut and I’ve been writing pretty much write before I post anything and although I won April Camp NaNoWriMo, it was a collaboration of multiple projects. Yeah, I’m a rebel. Trying to get better at that, but it may take some time. I did post chapter 40 of All That’s Left Is the Ghost of You today, here’s a little preview of chapter 41! Warning, this hasn’t been edited by my beta, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. I’m scary when I edit and that’s why I don’t do it. Prepare for the feels.
Zola moved on to a different computer on the Hydra circuit. He went down to where the soldier was being contained. The man had been out of his cryocell longer than Zola would have liked. Only a handful of men would even be in the room with the most dangerous living asset in Hydra’s arsenal. The four men were equipped with guns and command triggers in case things got out of control. The doctors and scientists scurried around the room, going over his vitals and checking the machinery of the bionic arm.
The solder sat there, face neutral, eyes focusing on a spot on the far wall. Zola studied the thing he had helped to create. This soldier had felled many of Hydra’s most troublesome enemies. Schmidt was the head of the regime. The soldier had become the fist, fighting and killing from the shadows…eliminating every target set in front of him. He’d never lost a fight or failed a mission.
Still, beneath the conditioning and training…behind that blank stare was what was once a simple man…a simple American soldier who had the misfortune of being caught not just once, but twice by Hydra. He had fought when he was first captured. He had been headstrong and semi-confident despite being weak and injured. Slowly between the drugs, the pain, the experiments…he had succumb to Hydra’s wishes and fell in line. If this man even had his own thoughts anymore, he certainly didn’t follow them or even react. Those lessons had been learned long ago.
“How is he reacting to the new medications?” Zola’s voice caused several of the scientists to jump.
“Very well, Dr. Zola. Though due to his increased metabolism we are having to increase the time between injections. Are you sure that you don’t want us to prep him for cryo-freeze?”
Happy Sunday Followers!
Today’s Snippet is coming from the next chapter of All That’s Left Is the Ghost of You! It’s one of those chapters that’s gonna hurt right in the feels, so you have been warned! Hope you enjoy it though!
“Hey, Tony. Before you go, palladium in the chest, painful way to die.”
Tony froze for a moment risking a glance back. He refused to look at Steve knowing that the man had the intelligence to figure that one out. It wasn’t the place to discuss this though. They needed to get out of here and their five minutes were up. Tony knocked on the door. The guards and the warden were waiting for the two men. Tony and Steve pushed past them without a word before heading down the hall the way they came. Once they were alone, Tony was caught off guard as Steve slammed him against the wall lifting him up so he couldn’t get away.
“What did he mean Tony?”
“I don’t know. The guy’s insane, belongs in the prison loony bin.”
“I know what I heard, know what he said.” He poked at the reactor. “This thing is killing you.”
“No, NO!” Tony was adamant as his big brain spun an elaborate, believable lie. “I’ve been working on it. It…what I’m working on…it’s almost complete. I just need a few more hours. I’m fine, I found a way to keep the poisoning from happening and J.A.R.V.I.S. has been monitoring me. Once we get back, I’m gonna finish and then everything will be okay.”
The tension Steve felt slowly began to alleviate and Tony found himself back on the ground after a few moments of silent breathing. Normally he would joke, but he knew when Steve was in this state, there wasn’t anything that could be done to make him stop. Steve still hadn’t let go of his shirt, in fact there was a good chance that the creases his fingers made wouldn’t be coming out any time soon.
“I can’t do it again Tony. I can’t lose anyone else.” The man’s voice was shaky. “I promised your father before he died that if anything ever happened to him that I would look after you. This was the second time you could have been killed and I might have been able to do something about it. This can’t keep happening. You’re reckless and one day it will kill you. I don’t want to get that call any time soon.”
“You won’t. I’m going to live a long time. Hey, I may even do what my dad did and get married later in life, have a few kids, you know, just to pass on the legacy. You and Pepper can raise them because I don’t really do kids.”
That got Steve to laugh a little bit. Tony relaxed a bit more and the last little bit of tension left Steve. “You’re impossible you know that.”
“So, I’ve been told.” Tony paused. “Come on, let’s…let’s go find Pepper and the gang. I’ve got a lot of groveling to do and maybe we can get you a real vacation.”
“She’s going to insist that we have to go back home after this. Besides, I’m beginning to think that vacations are over-rated and more stressful than work itself.”
Tony chuckled trying to keep his mask in place. “You might be right. At least tell me you’ll take the bedroom suite in the back of the plane and try and get some rest.”
Steve thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I think I’ll take your offer on that for once.”
anyone who doesn’t reblog this is a filthy liar
I try to see if I can use the force on a regular basis.
part of the reason i studied so hard was so i could move shit with my mind…
(via ollieofthebeholder)
Today’s Snippet comes from the next chapter of Interlude Party. I’m working on it, but it keeps getting longer and longer. Hope that you guys enjoy!
“Is it just me, or does seem a little too easy?” Garrett spoke up keeping his voice low.
“It is too quiet. We should have heard back from Rogers by now.” May agreed.
Coulson glanced up, looking at the window for a hint of the man. Instead, he saw a glint of metal in the setting sun.
“Gun,” he hissed and they moved just in time to avoid the gun being fired down on them. Two agents in Hydra gear came around the corner, guns drawn. One hit the ground before he could fire, courtesy of Garrett’s riffle. May and Adams pulled their guns and began to fire at the other agent. Coulson began to fire up at the sniper in the window, knowing Garrett was watching his six. It took a few shots, but the man in the window came tumbling through with a loud crash, falling through the crates.
The sound of gunfire had to alert the men on the inside. Lowe was on their coms, trying to warn Rogers that it was a trap, an ambush, but Coulson knew that they were too late. Their sniper had been set up right in the window Rogers had gone through. He was either captured or dead. She seemed a little hysterical which wasn’t good when it came to situations like this.
“Lowe, stop. We have to go.” Coulson shouted, turning to the enemy May and Adams were shooting at. Once Hydra was down, the five of them took off running for the cars. They could hear the sound of footsteps following them as they ran. Training kicked in for them. May and Garrett kept an eye on their backs. Lowe managed to recover a little bit, finally drawing her side arm, running next to Adams, and keeping an eye on the left flank. Coulson ran point, keeping his eyes ahead.
They were too exposed in this open area. They needed to get to a better position to defend themselves. Coulson looked around for some cover, finding it behind more crates. All five agents, ducked behind the crates, boosting themselves up to open fire as the Hydra agents began shooting.
Garrett hissed, cursing as he slipped before Adams pushed him back up. Lowes hands trembled a bit as she held up her gun to fire. One by one the Hydra agents dropped like flies until it was safe to move again.
“Back to the vehicles. Quickly.” May said as she and Coulson moved together keeping an eye out for anyone they missed. Garrett hopped down and followed with Adams leading Lowe out. With the adrenaline pumping in their veins they managed to make it to the vehicles in record time and managed not to get followed. Lowe dropped to the ground by the driver’s side door and the rest stop to catch their breaths, being vigilant as they did so.