Plot Outline of Harry Potter

This picture right here is J. K. Rowling's outline for Order of the Phoenix. Brilliant stuff and really quite interesting. I will definitely be taking notes ;)

2 years ago I attempted to outline Harry Potter and stopped half way through book four. Now I kind of want to finish it. Oh gosh, I'm such a HP nerd.

10 Things When Writing Your Novel

An absolutely brilliant blog post by Alistair Bain Here
But for ease of reading I've posted it below...

10 things I will need from you when you write your novel

1. Simplicity. Maybe that's not the best word. I don't mean that I want you to write a light novel. I like to read about darkness and complexity. I just want you to make it easy for me to follow you. My life is already too complicated to have to think hard about what you are trying to say. Use short sentences. Keep me sensing that you're taking me somewhere.

2. A relaxed and open voice. I want you to sit next to me and chat. Write the way you speak. Use the vernacular. Be breezy, even. Don't be like Louis De Berniers. Or William Faulkner. Or Patrick White. Or Don Carson. I haven't finished any books by those blokes. But I know I'm going to finish this one.

3. Humour. Give me something to laugh at. Use words cleverly. Tell me funny stories. Make me laugh at myself. Make me laugh at anything. Like this guy does.

4. Short chapters. I want to be able to feel like I'm getting somewhere. When I tell Rachel that I'll finish the chapter I'd like to be able to turn the light out on the same day. The book I'm currently reading has 35 chapters and I read 3 of them in an hour this morning.

5. Keep it under 250 pages. If I can't read it in a week I won't read it all. The one I'm reading now is 245 pages. Just short of a length.

6. A good cover. One like this. I know. I'm shallow.

7. A killer first chapter. I've started The Girl with the Dragon Tattooabout 5 times. But it's hard work. So haven't read it. It might be a ripping yarn. But I'll probably never know.

8. Characters I can have empathy with. Write about things that I worry about. And things I get angry about. And things I don't like about myself.  It's not that hard. I'm a complicated person. Make me feel something. Stretch me emotionally.

9. Shock me. Make me think about the story for a day or two afterwards. Make me care about how it will end. And then end it in a way that I couldn't have predicted. That's why I liked The Kite Runner, and Eucalyptus, and My Sister's Keeper. And Romulus my Father (OK - so that wasn't a novel, but you get the idea).

10. Publish it in paperback and don't charge me more than $20.00.Like this one.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

—	Muhammad Ali

Stereotypical Characters.

Us new writer tend to lean towards the easier characters, the ones we have know since we were young: the little old lady, the scary gang member, the blonde bimbo cheerleader, the class clown, the school bully.
They tend to be 2D and we need to give them more back story. The little old lady may actually be a tall old lady, grumpy and annoyed at everyone because her husband died in the war for them, they should be more grateful!
There is a reason for everything and we can keep the titles but you need a twist, a history, a reason for the way they are. We need to concentrate on showing the complexity of the characters. Even the worst people have some sort of good traits.

The reader wants to become involved with the life of the characters; become the characters best friend. The reader can only do if the writer actually creates a character that they believe can be real. No two people are alike and to be honest, I read enough stories of the stupid blonde head cheerleader that if I was to read another I don't think I could relate, they just aren't real enough for me. I've seen too many.

So create character that aren't so clique that the reader cringes and not so out there that its literally unbelievable. That's my goal for the week anyway.

Exit? Entrance?

This picture and this statement describes the ideas and thoughts currently running through my head at this exact moment. It happened only a few days ago when (yes, I know it'll sound crazy but bear with me here) I was staring at the floral rug we have on the ground and it looked like it started to move as if a breeze had floated by. And as I considered this I thought about what if, when that design for the rug was created and made into hundreds of rugs, what if their idea of these beautiful flowers could become real and as you stepped onto the carpet you could fall right through into their world?

Oh such rich ideas have flowed on since that day! It's too exciting. Although, every time I try to write say the first chapter of this story I go to type, to write, and my mind goes ------- Blank. Why? Why? Why? Please God, why???

And that is when I had this revelation. I'm sitting down to write and as soon as I get about 1000 words in, I'll have no where to go. I'll have no story to continue. I need to put a lot more effort into this and think of it as a work of excellence. background stories on the main characters mother's, mother's, mother. It's disappointing but exciting. For every obstacle is yet another adventure. And if it's another adventure, then I am all for it! Bring it on!