Category: Writing

My Writing Process “blog tour”

Posted March 31, 2014 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 4 Comments

Hello friends! Today, the lovely Elodie Nowodazkij, author of One, Two, Three, invited me to participate in the “My Writing Process Blog Tour.” A little about Elodie: The short story: Young adult author, Elodie Nowodazkij writes the stories swirling in her head during her commuting time. ONE TWO THREE, about a ballerina struggling to move on after a car crash, is her first novel. Website | Books | Twitter *cracks knuckles* Now, to the questions! What am I working on? Well, I’ve just wrapped up a short story that accompanies Threats of Sky and Sea and will be in the upcoming issue of Inaccurate Realities (Issue #3: Magic). Shout-out to this YA speculative fiction literary magazine real quick because it’s fantastic. I’m also tinkering with edits on another ToSaS short story for release in September, titled Sisters of Wind and Flame. […]

“Don’t do it if it’s not fun”

Posted February 18, 2014 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 4 Comments

“Don’t do it if it’s not fun.” “If you don’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t be a writer.” I am so tired of seeing advice like this, to be quite honest. They’re these blanket proclamations that a lot of writers seem to identify with and so it keeps getting passed around. And maybe I’m the black sheep here, because I do not identify with it. It doesn’t work like that for me. The thing is this: WRITING IS HARD. It’s WORK. And more often than not, to be perfectly honest, I don’t enjoy it. Writing is very often me cringing over every word I put down. It’s finding a nail embedded deep in a wall and needing pliers to yank it out. I have moments where the words fly out or where I connect with a character. I have moments where I see the story in […]

Fairy tale plotting structure

Posted January 27, 2014 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 5 Comments

Several months back, I met with one of my high school teachers at a B&N to chat about books, writing, YA lit… the usual things that two people who love books tend to talk about. She taught/teaches Creative Writing (and I actually think her class was one of the reasons I decided to major in the subject when I went to college). When we talked about our writing processes, I lamented, as I’ve done many times before, my “pantsing” nature. We also discussed revising and she shared the “Fairy Tale” outline structure with me. I think this structure would be helpful in either stage: if you’re a pantser, like me, this structure would be helpful during revisions to make sure that the plot fits well. If you’re a plotter, then this is a pretty simple outline to get you started! […]

Title Angst

Posted July 26, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized, Writing / 1 Comment

Titles. They make me all adlkjslijsiou daufcsvhshflcj I am not a writer who’s ever been good at titling my works. Even in my fanfiction days, I struggled to title the fics I posted most of the time. I settled with APPARENT for my manuscript. It’s not a title I’ve ever really loved. I think it works on some levels, but it’s not… it’s just not. And of course, I always have THIS conversation when I talk about it: Other person: What’s your book called? Me: Apparent Them: A parent? Like a mom or dad? Oh, so is it like lit fiction about being a single parent or something? Me: Um. No. Not exactly. It’s A-P-P-A-R-E-N-T. And it’s a young adult fantasy. Them: Oh. A beat. Them: Is that like porn for teens? *headdesk* I want a GOOD title. Something that […]

The voices in my head.

Posted June 13, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized, Writing / 0 Comments

Writers mention the “voices” in their heads a lot. And usually the “voices” we refer to are all fun and games. They giggle the perfect joke for our manuscript. They excitedly pitch us a plot twist. They reveal what our characters are really thinking, where their true motivations lie. These are the voices that make me feel all warm and fuzzy; I know I’m among friends. But sometimes those voices get drowned out by others. And these new voices– the voices of self-doubt– bind up the positive vibes with strong rope, gag them, and stuff them into a corner where I can barely hear their muffled screams. And their whispers twine themselves around me. They dismiss me. Mock me. Laugh at me. “You’re a failure.” “You’re not good enough.” “You’re a crap writer. Your work will never be published the way […]

Homework

Posted May 23, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized, Writing / 0 Comments

A quick summation of me as a college student: Papers or workshop writing pieces sprinted out a day or two before they were due; usually good enough for a ‘B’ Frequent all-nighters before mid-terms and finals since I didn’t study all semester; usually followed by mornings where I was so sleep deprived I’d have to ask my roommate where my shoes were… when they were already in my hands. And, as a senior, joy that I’d ‘never have homework again.’ …Let me repeat that. I thought I’d never have homework again. Basically, what I’m telling you is that, when I graduated from college, I didn’t understand what it was like to have enough passion for something that I would spend my free time working at it. Because, for my day job, I don’t have homework. I switch off at 5 […]

The Importance of Having CPs

Posted May 1, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Self-Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing / 2 Comments

Sometimes, when I browse writing and publishing blogs, I see excerpts of blog readers’ work– whether it’s a query submission or first pages, or anything else. Sometimes, the work is strong, sometimes not so much. But sometimes, they make mistakes that make me blanch and wonder “Why didn’t their Critique Partners or beta-readers catch that?” And sometimes, I can guess the answer to that question: They don’t have a CP or beta. Because here is something else I see in the comments of those blogs: complaints about the difficulty of finding a CP or a beta. First of all, to those people, I say: you are wrong. Involve yourself in the writing community or in the community around your genre and it becomes easy. I met one of my CPs, Alex, in an online YA writing class on Litreactor. My […]

Post-draft-finishing feelings

Posted April 21, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 0 Comments

Last night at approximately 11:33 PM, I finished the third second? fourth? to be honest, I don’t even know anymore. My drafts were a pretty messy affair draft of Apparent with exactly 75,100 words. And I cried. There were many reasons for this. One was that I was flipping tired. I get grouchy when I’m not snuggled under my covers by an hour that my sleeping schedule deems satisfactory. The second reason was something I shall never reveal because I have to keep a certain air of “writerly mystery.” …I mean, I guess that’s is how this is supposed to go anyway. But thirdly and finally, I cried because I finally felt close like I’d gotten close to what I want the book to be. Both of my other drafts were… how do I put this delicately? They were a mess. I […]

“Are there any new stories?”

Posted April 17, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 2 Comments

Once, when I was in college, I went to my university’s writing center for extra credit on a paper. As I left, on a whim, I grabbed a few of the postcard-sized promotions that they had out for grabs to decorate my dorm room wall. I’ll never forget the question one of them posed: ARE THERE ANY NEW STORIES? What a stupid question, I remember thinking incredulously. Of course there are new stories. Countless books come out every week! There are short stories and fanfics and even multi-part works uploaded online (probably) every minute. How could anyone doubt that there are new stories? My twenties self could use a dose of the self-assuredness of my collegiate self. I think this is a plague of doubt that a lot of writers suffer from. We’re on twitter. We’re stalking agent blogs. We’re […]

The Importance of Setting Goals and Deadlines

Posted October 30, 2012 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized, Writing / 0 Comments

As October 31st is tomorrow, I have realized that it is unlikely that I will have a finished draft in hand. Even setting crazy goals of 5K a day (nearly impossible, since I have to work), I’m well under this draft’s goal of 70,000 words. So, some people might say that setting that deadline was pointless. But I disagree. Because having that deadline meant that I got up and to work more than I might have otherwise. If I didn’t set that goal, I might still be hovering around 5,000 words for this draft. Any progress is better than no progress at all (I mean fast progress is better than SLOOOOW progress, but I’m sticking to my progress is progress guns here). It means that my goals get transitioned somewhat. That now Draft 2 will be what I first work […]