Writing Risky and Relevant Topics (and why you should, even in your non-modern settings)

Genocide? Substance abuse? Racism? Addiction? Mental illness? Yep! They're all here, in my very own medieval fantasy novel.

"WAIT," you're probably saying out loud to your empty bedroom. "SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL ILLNESS AND ADDICTION IN A MEDIEVAL FANTASY NOVEL??? IMPOSSIBLE!!! AND WHY???" That is a questions I have come to answer.

(Note: When I say "your story's theme", I am referring to the main point your novel is trying to get across. You know, like, "Love conquers all" or "Best friends are forever" or whatever. If you don't know your story's theme, that's okay. I don't know any of my stories' themes either.)



WHY YOU SHOULD INCLUDE RISKY TOPICS IN ALL (OR YOU KNOW, SOME) OF YOUR WRITING

So you may have noticed that some fantasy, sci-fi, historic-based, or what-have-you novels can sometimes be difficult to relate to. I think this is because of the lack of relevant themes within them. The setting is obviously alien, and sometimes the characters can be vastly different from the modern ideal, which makes it difficult for the reader to connect to the story. How does the author fix this problem?

The truth is that topics labeled "risky" (or just difficult to write), like racism, substance abuse, mental illness, and even gender and sexuality, are extremely relevant to today's readers. It's something that most people recognize and spend a lot of thought on--and some even relate to the issues brought up by these themes. Here's my case: topics like these have a place in EVERY genre of writing, not just modern or contemporary.

Imagine a young prince addicted to dark magic. He tried to get away from this power before, but in an attempt to heal his dying dragon, he was forced to come in contact with dark magic again. Just one touch threw him into withdrawals, and his addiction rose to the surface as he slipped further and further into dark magic's grips. Tada; you were just exposed to substance abuse and addiction in a medieval fantasy! (That may or may not have occurred in my novel The Cycle of Time, so don't steal my ideas.)

But why bother? What's the gain in including topics like these in your writing? And what will readers potentially learn from you writing about stuff like this?




BENEFITS: READER CONNECTION

By writing about risky, relevant, or controversial topics, you will be allowing your readers a point of access into the very heart of your novel. Risky and controversial topics provide something for your readers to open debates and discussions over, and depending on how you deal with such themes, could lead towards insights on how to resolve, accept, or deal with issues like addiction, racism, mental illness, etc. Writing about risky topics could also shed light on the topic itself, with the right viewpoint, and perhaps move a reader to do something to change either his own opinions/ideas or attempt to change someone else's opinions/ideas.

Depending on how you deal with your topic of choice (wether negatively, positively, or just neutrally), you will provide your reader with a point of view on the issue at hand. She will either learn how to love or how to hate what you're writing about. Don't be afraid to open up a new point of view on such themes. Maybe racism isn't just against African-American, Arabic, and Asian peoples. Do Europeans, Americans, Canadians, maybe even Peruvians experience it as well? And what about gender roles? What if a man is sensitive, sweet, and tends towards the emotional but is still confident in his masculinity? And what if the mentally ill feel just as deeply as we do? Not just soldiers and war vets get PTSD. And what if the addicted hate what they're addicted to?




BENEFITS: STORY THEME AND SUBJECT SUPPORT

Relevant themes like mental illness, gender roles, and racism provide a backbone for your story's theme. Even if it seems like the topic doesn't fit with your theme at first, you'd be surprised at how you can stretch and mold it to fill the gaps in your subject matter--which will provide you a richer and fuller story. Not only that, but the subject matter brought up by the presence of these risky topics could either support or defy your theme; both are constructive qualities of a good piece of writing.




BENEFITS: CONFLICT & SUBPLOT POSSIBILITIES

Maybe you're one of the (admittedly and regrettably rare) writers who include an Arabic or African-American character in your MC's posse, but none of your charries really acknowledge the character's race or ethnicity. However, imagine having just one--or maybe a few--characters who express racism towards that characters. Imagine the possibilities for conflict and character development that one little tweak would open up! YOU COULD HAVE ENTIRE HUGE FIGHT SCENES BETWEEN A CHARACTER AND HIS RACIST BEST FRIEND ONLY TO HAVE THE ETHNIC CHARACTER STAND UP AND SAY WHO CARES?!?!?! THEN THAT'S A WHOLE LIKE MESSAGE OF STANDING UP FOR YOURSELF, STANDING UP AGAINST RACISM, ETC. RIGHT THERE!!!

OOOORRR imagine having a character who simply likes to smoke, but his girlfriend doesn't like it and tries to get him to stop throughout the book. It could be a trivial and simple little subplot including cutesy scenes where the girlfriend tosses the boyfriend's cigarettes and he goes days without one and gets incredibly grumpy and uptight, but it would still be touching on addiction and, if shed in a negative light, could lightheartedly express the dangers and drawbacks of smoking.

These are tiny tweaks that could very well add that extra oomph to your novel, provide opportunities for character and story development, and offer a way to provide extra insight into your novel's theme.




BUUUUT...

In no way should you change your entire book's theme to fit one of these topics. Whatever message you choose (or your story chooses) for your book is special and entirely yours. What adding risky topics adds is a venue for reader relation, connection, and insight. Some books just don't call for this type of writing, and that's entirely okay. However, keep in mind that in order to say something with your writing, you may have to step out of your comfort zone (heck, look at me, a conservative Christian girl, who has a character who smoked, did drugs, abused alcohol, has tattoos, has a dirty mouth and mind, and is in no way a chaste Catholic boy [you probably know who I'm talkin' about {especially you, Kel. You know.}]). Don't be afraid to try new things; you may find you have something important to say.




AND I INCLUDE THESE IN NON-MODERN SETTINGS HOW...?

Good question, but not one I can explicitly answer. It all depends on your setting. Get creative! See how you can include these topics without compromising parts of your plot. Use a substance native to your fantasy setting to create addiction like I did with black magic, or create your own mental illness based on staying in space too long for your sci-fi. Maybe you created your own races for your setting; good for you! Use that to your advantage and create rifts between ethnicities! It's all up to your sense of creativity now. Go out and show the world what you're made of!




NON-EXTENSIVE LIST OF RISKY/CONTROVERSIAL/RELEVANT TOPICS (FOR INSPIRATION PURPOSES):

• racism
• genocide
• mental illness (autism, downs syndrome, aspergers)
• disease (AIDS, HIV, brain/heart disease, cancer, etc)
• addiction
• substance abuse
• mental abuse
• domestic violence/abuse
• sexuality
• gender roles
• eating disorders
• suicide/self harm
• domestic neglect
• abortion
• religious ideals
• religious oppression
• religion in general really
• gambling
• introversion (can someone please make it a positive/neutral trait and not negative)

finals: from good to great to bad to worse

So it's final's week. The week the previous semester has allegedly prepared you for. And you are probably feeling like me right now: COMPlETlELY AND oVERlY oveRWhELmEDD.

But that's okay, because here is a story of how my finals week went via gif-meme-storytime.


FINALS WEEK:

During the week before Thanksgiving break, you look ahead at your life and laugh. All that finals stuff is so far away.









During thanksgiving break, you laugh in the face of homework.







But then, on the Sunday before classes start, you look at Blackboard.









So. Much. Homework. "Okay, no big deal. I can do this."

















2am Monday morning:





















Monday morning, you walk into class like








And your English professor asks if you want to take the test in class, and you're like










But then you figure out your science professor has decided to do the test online, and you're all











But then you get the assignment sheet for your poetry class and it calls for six pages and six poem analyses and it's like











But you're still determined to do well.











You're trying to get your group presentation together and you're partners aren't answering their emails, so you just











But you still nail that presentation, thanks in no small part to yourself.












You finally finish the last week of classes and head home for a weekend full of homework, but you're still pretty optimistic because you only have to go to campus once next week.











But then you check your email on Friday and your English professor has finally sent out the final assignment, and you see it's still due Tuesday of finals week.










And then you look at the four essay prompts and realize you have never seen these topics before in your life.












Suddenly, your entire easy week of finals is in flames.












You throw yourself into homework and books and internet searches in an attempt to get ahead of things.









And then you realize that 'tis all in vain. Finals are swallowing you.










In denial, you studiously work away...









Until you finally have a breakdown.







There is no saving you.









You walk around on campus looking at your friends like








And they look just as traumatized as you.










Eventually, you get to the point where nothing matters. What do you care if you don't graduate?








But you still lie awake at night like

Teacher: "How dare you plagiarize?"













You start lashing out at your family in frustration.




















Your siblings know you're going through finals, yet they still ask if you want to go see a movie.









But you go anyway, crying the whole time about how badly you're procrastinating.












Kinda like I am right now.















Yeah, that's right. Blogception.






Bye.

New Look & News

I promised a post on writing "risky" topics like racism, genocide, substance abuse, etc. via Twitter, and I will not disappoint you, faithful readers. However, I thought it best to explain the new look (and why I haven't been present in the past month).

A new look was promised in October via Twitter, but I did not deliver...so now, I present to you the new and updated INKSPOT. Inkspot is now a fully functional artsy-looking blog with it's own hashtag (#inkspot) and even a fancy new FAQs and EDITING page set up on the top taps bar. I changed up the design of the blog in an attempt to make it look more clean-cut and professional without being too girly (ahem the pink of the last design) or too amateur (ahem the pink of the last design). It took a few hours to finish the look; I even tried downloading fancy blogger templates, but obviously that didn't work out too well. I was forced to design it based on my limited technical abilities and the extremely small gallery of blogger templates/fonts/colors/designs. I'm pretty happy with the result.

With a new look comes a new focus, and that focus is simply re-stating the previously developed purpose of this blog--to provide fun, insightful, unique, and quality informational posts on all things writing. Based on some of the comments I've received over the years, I've learned how to hone the strengths of this blog to create something my readers have referred to as "non-preachy" and "relatable"--which I think are awesome words to describe what I'm trying to do. My purpose is to provide thoughtful help and tips with a fun twist, not to preach to the masses and demand to be respected. We're all in this writing adventure together, and I'm positive I have as much to learn from you as you have to learn from me.

That being said, welcome to Inkspot. Thanks for hanging with me for these three years. I hope you plan to stay a little longer, because there are some fun things up ahead!

Sneak Peek into the Future:

• Post on including risky topics like racism, genocide, addiction, abuse, mental illness, etc. even in your fantasy/sci-fi/non-modern-based novels
• Post on appreciating movies separately from their books
• Writing contests, polls, prompt games, and more
• New editing offer--send your stuff to me to get edited! (see EDITING page)
• New FAQs page
• Posting more of my own writing--including poems and excerpts
• Posting more of YOUR writing--via contests and prompt games

It's gonna be a fun year, ya'll.

Until next time!

~Ana

Why "Avengers: Age of Ultron" was a Major Disappointment

Avengers: Age of Ultron was a major disappointment to me. I want to say it was a failure of a movie, but that is a little too strong for what I feel. I was just...disappointed.

Sigh. Perhaps it was the massive hype before the movie was released. Perhaps it was the unnecessary romantic subplots. Perhaps it was the lack of character development. Perhaps it was the badly developed villain. In any case, it was just lacking in the crakalacking, if you know what I mean.

Allow me to give a more detailed review, though. I mean, it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed it the first time, more or less. I just wish it was more...marvelous. (SEE WHAT I DID THERE OMW I AM THE FUNNIEST PERSON AHA AHA AHA)

Naturally, expect spoilers. I won't even warn you past this point.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Overall rating: Three stars

Before the Movie:
"IM SO EXCITED WHO WILL DIE I KNOW SOMEONE WILL DIE I JUST KNOW IT OH PLEASE DONT DIE CAPTAIN AMERICA I WILL CRY MY HEAD OFF WITH YOUR BROKEN SHIELD AND JUST STOP THE CAR I CAN'T IM GOING HOME"

During the Movie:
"Yas.....YAS...........YAAAAASSSSS.....wait. What? Wait, Hulk and Natasha? No. Please no. Omg....no. WHy. HWY ANM I NHERE>. HWY> . I can't no. stopppppppppppppp.

"Okaaayyy I have to get over that. Focus on the move. CLINT FARMER. Yas Tony/Steve conflict. YAS THIS IS no. Why? WAIT WHY ARE THEY SPENDING HALF AN HOUR FIGHTING THE HULK????????? LIKE WHAT is Ultron just twiddling his thumbs while this is happening?! THERE IS A VILLAIN TO FIGHT PEOPLE A REAL LiFE PROBLEM oh for pete's sake.

"Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch! Finally!.................okay so I guess they are side characters obviously......are they going to speak?............IF I DIDN'T OBSESSIVELY RESEARCH MARVEL STUFF I WOULDNT EVEN KNOW THEIR NAMES RN THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. WHERE IS THE DEVELOPMENT THEY ARE EMPTY SHELLS.

"Where is Ultron even. I've seen him like twice through the whole movie and he said some cool lines, chopped an arm off and...what? That's like it. But okaaaayyy...I'm sure he'll do something cool in the end.

"He did not do something cool in the end.

"Why is Thor in a pool with Dr. Selvig.

"Why.

"I'm so confused.

"I just want Bucky.

"They didn't even mention Bucky.

"*slightly bored*

"Aaaaaaaand Quicksilver died. Of course he did. They had to have some sort of emotion in the movie. But, surprise! I'M NOT EVEN EMOTIONAL BC HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY FOUR LINES."

THE PROBS

The Hype
The hype that was built up for this movie was humongous. When I first saw the trailer with the creepy "Got No Strings" song in the background, I was flipping out for weeks. I was sure this was like, the end of the Avengers altogether. Between Cap's broken shield, all the dead Avengers, etc, I was ready for the apocalypse. What I got was a robot with a cool voice sauntering around quipping back and forth, taking over the internet (and doing nothing with it), and overall just being a bit of a nuisance.

PLUS, IT MADE ME SO MAD THAT BASICALLY THE WHOLE TRAILER WAS TONY'S STUPID DREAM. LIKE, IT MADE IT LOOK SO COOL LIKE EVERYONES DYING GUYS LOL THEN NOPE. JK. IT'S JUST A DREAM. NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS AT ALL IN THIS MOVIE.


The Romantic Subplots
They. Have. Ruined. Natasha. Romanoff.

NATASHA ROMANOFF DON'T GET SAPPY.

NATASHA ROMANOFF EATS SAPPY FOR BREAKFAST WITH HER CEREAL OF NAILS AND BLACK COFFEE.

Like, really? REALLY?! What even possessed Joss Whedon to put that pairing together? Of all the pairings that could happen...that was just...the worst. Just...no. Like, sure, Clintasha was kinda a blah thing, like everyone secretly knew it wasn't gonna happen (THOUGH IT WOULD HAVE FULFILLED DREAMS), but I mean, Natasha and Steve was pretty cute! I wouldn't have minded them! JUST NOT HULK AND HER. WHY.

Not only that, but one of Natasha's main character traits was how strong she was. Sure, she had her issues of "red in her ledger" and such, and she felt guilty, but I mean...SHE'S NATASHA ROMANOFF. She gets over it. And she do NOT. NEEd. NO. MAN.

All rage aside, there was no real buildup for it either. When it happened, I was practically thrown off my chair.


Lack of Character Development
Wait, what's that?

Oh, it's all the character development AOU didn't have.

Basically, AOU had a whole bunch of characters but only focused on developing about three or four of them. And none of those were the newly introduced characters.

Tony's development was all fine and good. In fact, I loved how they explored his little PTSD thing. I have already discussed my disgust with Natasha and Bruce's development. They developed Clint as well, which I had a love/hate relationship with (my Clintasha ship...down in flames). Even Ultron was moderately developed, I guess (though I still have trouble figuring out his motives and plans. It seems like he kept switching everything up on us). However, the issue was with the new characters, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

In short, they basically were not developed at all.

We learned almost nothing about these twins, other than they're twins, Scarlet Witch is 12 seconds older than Quicksilver, and that they obviously have a strong bond. However, other than VERY BASIC personalities (Surprise! Quicksilver is a fast-paced, slightly goofy, catchphrase-wielding speedster!) we don't learn much about them. Which leads to Quicksilver's death and how VERY UNEMOTIONAL it was. The only reason I was upset was because Hawkeye was upset. Which made me upset. Because I luv Hawkeye.

Quicksilver's death was not impactful or shocking because we hadn't learned enough about him to really care about him. If we don't care about him, we won't be too sad to see him go. It's just kind of a "oh that's a shame" deal.


The Villain
Take a moment to sit down and ask yourself this question: What did Ultron really DO? Sure, he roughed up a few thugs, blew a few holes in Avenger's tower, almost destroyed the world...this is all pretty big stuff, but honestly, it's nothing previous Marvel villains haven't done before. What I wanted to see was something different. Obviously superhero villains have to have big goals (destroying the world, per say). In fact, you could say nearly every villain has the same goal: to destroy either the hero or the world.

For example, Loki, in the first Avengers, wanted to rule the world, and killed 80 people in three days PLUS destroyed New York, arguably one of the most important cities on earth, culture/commerce/population/etc. wise. He was Thor's brother; there was immediate conflict do to his relationship with an Avenger. He killed Coulson. He mind-washed Hawkeye.

The Winter Soldier, for another example, "killed" Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD, nearly killed Captain America himself, and aided in bringing down SHIELD as a whole. Hydra destroyed a SHIELD HQ, had Nick Fury killed, murdered various SHIELD agents, took over and destroyed SHIELD...

In short, the stakes were higher in the olden days, people. What were the stakes in AOU? We had Hulk destroying a city (honestly nothing new and immediate), Ultron was gonna blow up the world (nothing new), and a character we barely knew got killed. Um...boring.


Honestly, I could go on and on and on about how disappointing this movie was to me. Don't get me wrong, it was a relatively good movie, but compared to other Marvel movies...this was not Joss's best work.

So, what did you think of AOU? Liked it? Hated it? Have an opinion you want to share? Comment below or tweet me on the sidebar!

Inside the Character: Nikolai Staunton

Okay! So by request of Miss Kel Geis, I have asked my sister to do an ItC for Nikolai Staunton. She has accepted the challenge and provided answers to the questions below.

This is entirely her writing, except for anything in italics (that's my commentary/additions because I can't shut up and let someone write something by themselves).

Anywho, um, so, Nik is from The Orion series 2, the same series with Luke Vetti and Alex Staunton. With this in mind, you may continue....

1.Who would play Nik in a movie?

Quite obviously, Luke Bylik. 

He has the darky skin like Nik, and the darky hair and eyes like Nik, and when I see him it makes my heart happy and screamy. ....Because it’s Nik. No questions asked.

(She's right, it is totally Nik.)

2. What color is his hair?

You know, I always write that his hair is black like his daddy’s hair, but I always imagine it a dark brown... so it’s probably more dark brown like his mommy’s, and all spikey like sharkboy from Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Then, at the same time, very scruff worthy and adorable.

3.What color are his eyes?

Don’t get me started on those little beauties. BLACK. Like, GLINTY AMAZING BLACK. When he smiles, they glint all squinty and AAAAGH! Sorry. Like his DADDDDYYY...

(*sobbing quietly in the background*)

4. What is his body type?

He has a pretty normal build, except for his outrageous height. And he’s a bit thicker than other people. At fifteen he’s around 5’10’’ or so. Anastasia would hate me for saying it, but it’s true.

(Yeah he's tall HE'S TALLER THAN ALEX which gives me feelings I don't know why but yes and also outrageous is a bit of a stretch because Luke is outrageously tall Nik is just tall.)

5. Does he have any peircings/tattoos?

Technically, yes, but we don’t talk about that.

(...?)

6. What is the most attractive thing about him?

The adorable way he sleeps. Probably drools, too. On his tummy with one arm pinned up under him and his face squished in the pillow. Luke has been caught drawing him during his insomnia hours of the night.

(PICTURE TIME AT ANA'S CORNER)

Behold, Luke's rendition of bebe Nik sleeping :3
 (actually not sure who the artist is but shout out to u) (Sis says Viria but idk)

7.What is the ugliest thing about him?

Probabllyyyyyy his nose, sometimes it looks like someone squished it flat on his face.

(Dere is nuffing wrong wif nikowai. Nuffing.)

8. When he smiles what does it look like?

Like a baby unicorn and a balloon man at the zoo rode off into the sunset to find the baby unicorn’s mommy and when they did the unicorn family hugged and from that magical breath of sigh the mom exhaled whilst seeing her baby, Nik’s smile was born.

(Accurate.)

9. What does his laugh sound like?

Unfortunately, Nik doesn’t laugh much. Not because he’s grumpy or anything, he’s just super duper quiet. You should have seen him before Luke loosened him up. When he DOES laugh its more sarcastic than like an actual belly laugh. He usually just looks like he’s laughing at you more than laughing beside you.

10. What is his normal speech pattern?

Honestly, nothing much! Usually giving Luke weird and meaningful looks such as: “Shut up, you idiot”, “Why are you talking?”, “Are you talking to me?”, and my personal favorite that flustered red faced look when Luke’s girlfriend Melanie pinches his cheeks.

(Aw melukanie)

For reals, though, when he talks its usually a straightforward question, but he doesn’t mind a long answer. He likes listening.

11. How does he express/handle anger?

Nik doesn’t get angry very easily. He does get annoyed quite often and handles it with ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away with a really #doneface. I mean, he’s super cool headed but if he ever got ANGRY I’m not quite sure what would happen... I’m kind of scared of the potential, though, given his genes.

(We don't talk about Nik's genes. Ever.)

12. Does he cry?

What a sad question. Yes, everyone cries. And when Nik does rainclouds gather above him because his sorrow attracts them and his little baby 15 year old cry face is so pitiful some people randomly get chest pains and lay in bed writhing in sorrow.

(I think your feels are influencing your responses little one.)

13. What would make him cry?

Anastasia knows and shares that sorrow with me. She knows what death would tear him to shreds. *whispers* She knows.

“She would have loved you... she would have loved......”

(ASJFHKAJDHFKAJDFHLKJFHAKJSHFKAJDHSKJDFH)

14. How easy is it for people to read his emotions?

I’d say people who know him well enough could read him pretty well. Others not so much.

Character Beliefs

15. Is he religious?

Yessacourse. Christian like he was raised to be.

16. How does he view those of other faiths?

He doesn’t judge them, I mean he shared a room with Luke for who knows how long.

(For those of you who do not know, Luke was Catholic but not very religious....okay not religious at all.)

17. What are his core values?

He’s a hopeful little booger, and likes to believe there’s good in anyone even if they have killed and murdered people since they were 2 years old like some people he knows ahem ahem.

He’s also undyingly loyal and once he’s friends with someone or trusts someone he keeps on trusting, even if they show they are less than trust worthy. Some would say he’s wasting his faith in humanity.

18. How prepared is he to die for those beliefs?

Death has become a terrifying thought for him since he was literally brought back from the dead after being stabbed through the chest. Since then I don’t think his determination has wavered from being ready to do whatever is necessary, but there is that creeping fear...

Likes and Dislikes

19. Favorite Food?

Has to be macaroni and cheese thanks to Luke, but butterfingers are his favorite candy. Luke hates them so much, but he will literally eat them all just to make Nik mad.

(For those of you who do not know, Luke consumes approximately 14 lbs of cheese a day. Which is why Nik likes mac n' cheese, because Luke probably makes vats and force feeds it to Nik.)

20. Favorite color?

Purple. Don’t ask, he’ll just shrug.

21. What is his sleeping preferences?

Well, now he has to have a lamp on and some creepy psychopath wandering around the room to feel comfortable enough to sleep.

(Note: That creepy psychopath is Luke and the lamp is on because he likes to draw all night.)

22. What type of music does he like?

He likes listening to Corra and Alex play their cello/piano duets.

Character History

23. What is his birthday?

December 21st. His mom died three days later on Christmas Eve.

24. What family structure did he have as a child?

Oh Gosh...

Bradford Staunton adopted him when he was a baby. A year or two later Brad adopted Mikey, then Harris, then Mandy, then Lili. I think there are more but the house is huge and Nicholas and his family live with them, as well as Luke and Willow, so family is a broad term for him.

25. What is the worst thing he has ever done?

Letting Luke teach him how to be a sniper against Brad’s wishes. But that was just one time.

(Which Luke thoroughly enjoyed, mind you.)

26. What is the most significant romantic encounter of his past?

He would die if he ever liked a girl.

27. Has he ever been in love?

Recently, with a girl in his class struggling with cancer. They met during a science experiment, and when they had to study together and he brought her home to his full house, they made Nik the center of everyone’s teasing for weeks.

(That was a really awkward sentence even after I tried to fix it but okay.)

28. What is his biggest goals in life?

He’s the gentlest soul in the world and everyone thinks he should be a doctor or something, but he’s bound and determined to be some CIA agent or something I don’t even know... little boy dreams.

29. What does he believe is his greatest virtue?

His tolerance. 

30. What does he believe is his greatest failure/vice/weakness?

The fact that he is still affectionate for Ivan, after all that man has done.

31. What motivates him most?

His fam fam and his fraaaaands.

32. Is he objective oriented?

Not particularly. He’s pretty laid back.

33. Would he rather be a good person, or a GREAT person?

Right now, he just wants to get through high school.

But looking into the future, I think he would rather be a good man, someone reliable and someone people look up to and come to for help, not someone people look to and expect something great out of.

34. Would he rather be hated for who he is or loved for someone he’s not?

He’s not completely intolerant to nagging and bullying so it would hurt if people hated him for who he was but he wouldn’t change himself because of it.

35. Is he an introvert/ambivert/extrovert?

Introvert to the extreme. It’s a struggle.

36. Is he creatively expressive?

Nik doesn’t have amazing talents like Alex and Corra. He can’t draw like Luke. He’s not extremely creative, but he’s smart and witty and that usually gets his expressions out just fine.

37. What is his disorder?

He don’t got one. Except for the natural flaws of a human being.

38. Is he materialistic?

Not really. He knows he’s blessed to have a big house and a lot of things, but the time he spends away from that stuff sort of renders them unimportant in the long run.

39. What is his learning style?

Hands on. He likes learning by getting his hands dirty, its a lot funner that way.

40. I am a________. How would Nik finish this sentence?

*With blank serious face staring you right in the eye the answer is as follows from his mouth* “Person in need of a break from these deep question.”

41. Life is an act of _______.

baby steps. Just as long as you keep walking.

At least, that’s what he just told me. I’m taking that to mean he had no idea how to answer so came up with something that sounded wise and cool.




Okey dokey everyone, that's it! Kel, I hope you enjoyed, and if anyone has questions feel free to comment below. Also, I am terribly sorry for my sister's terrible grammar, I just didn't want to mess up the purity of it by changing everything too much and ahh the temptation was horrible but oh well. Sorry sis, hope you're not offended.

Anywho, have a great one. God bless ya.

2nd Liebster Award Nomination

The time has come yet again to accept a nomination from Miss Kel Giese over at A Teen's Life for the Liebster Award! I was nominated a while back by Sofia Marie, and I've been so lucky to be nominated again...thus winning TWO Liebster Awards for this blog!

The Liebster (LIEBSTER, AUTOCORRECT. NOT LOBSTER.) Award is given to relatively undiscovered blogs to promote connection and friendship between bloggers. The award is passed on to 11 bloggers at each posting.

Anyway, here are the rules! (In nifty picture form...)

Alright, so rule 1 has been applied. Now, I must answer the 11 questions that Kel has asked me in her post.

Kel's 11 Questions:
1. What is your favorite book and why?

Favorite book? Favorite book?! How am I supposed to choose? Uh......welllllll... *looking frantically through bookshelf*.........I'm gonna go with (AH WHY IS THE LINES SO FAR APART NOW AND HOW DO I FIX IT????) probably. Wow. This is way harder than I though. I'm gonna get back to this one.

2. What was your favorite book when you were a little kid?

When I was little I loved The Boxcar Children. That was probably my favorite book ever. That, and Bartleby and the Mighty Mississippi. I read that book at least 600 times.

3. Who are a few of your favorite characters and which books are they from?

Percy Jackson stands out to me first, of course. He's from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians and subsequent sequels/series. A favorite couple of mine is Walter and Ashley from Bryan Davis's Dragons in Our Midst series (and subsequent series). Also I adore a whole lot of TV/movie characters but we won't go into that right now.

4. Where did you find the original inspiration for the last story you wrote or your WIP (work in progress)?

Well, I generally have about 5 WIPs at once (not kidding), but I'll just pick The Cycle of Time series (DUN DUN DUNNNNN). It was originally inspired by Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Really. Like, the first draft was a giant really bad fanfiction with OCs. It was really bad. Hopefully its not bad now...though it still carries a lot of influence from that book.

5. In books, do you usually like the villain better than the protagonist, or the protagonist better than the villain?

Unfortunately, I have yet to read about a truly devious villain (though movies seem to be pumping them out rather well). Thus, I tend to like the protagonist more simply because he's the hero. (Sigh...I haven't read a good book in a really long time...)

6. What is one of your favorite memories?

I have a lot, but the very first one that came to mind is swinging on the playground swings we used to have in our backyard at our old house with my sister and eating goldfish (the crackers, not the actual fish). It happened to be rather wet outside so for no particular reason and with absolutely no prodding whatsoever I just leaned over with a cracker in hand, scooped up a glob of mud with it, and ate it. Just like that. I think that says a lot about me as a person.

7. If you met a stranger on the street and they handed you a heavy black briefcase and whispered “You know what to do,” how would you react?

I would probably open the briefcase. I'm not even kidding.

8. What are a few of your favorite songs at the moment?

GET READY FOR LIST TIME BECAUSE ANA LOVES SONgS>S>.

• "Drops of Jupiter" and "Fix You" by Anthem Lights (among others... ;) )
• "Drops in the Ocean" by Hawk Nelson
• "Vanilla Twilight," "Unbelievable," and "Beautiful Times" by Owl City (AND THE OREO SONG)
• "Impossible" by Building 429
• "Run Wild," "Shoulders," and "Oh God Forgive Us" by For King & Country
• "Make It Right" by The George Twins
• "Compass" by Lady Antebellum
• "Somebody to You" by The Vamps
• "Flicker (Kayne West Remix)" by Lorde
• I have diverse tastes ok
• AMONG MANY MORE
• Don't ever get me started on songs I will never stop

9. Would you be the one pulling the prank, or the one getting pranked?

Probably puling it...

10. In your group of friends, which friend are you (the quiet one, the outgoing one, the crazy one, the smart one, the friendly one, etc…)

I'm a bit of a mix. There's the big three, you see: me, my sister, and our best friend Angie Zoe. My sis is the quiet-ish, sweet, eager, ready-for-fun one, Angie is the idea person, friendly, helpful, also sweet, also ready-for-fun one, and (literally we all agreed this was true) the mean dry-humored realistic friend who is kinda crazy and disturbed. Like, the friend who will come over to your house and want to do nothing but sit and talk all day and eat food and call that a wild time while still being a mad extrovert.

11. What is your favorite season and why?

Of what? ;) Jk. Fall, definitely, because I LOVE SWEATERS AND FALL WEATHER AND LEAVES AND FOOD AND YUMMY CINNAMON SMELLS AND CHANGE AND FALL FASHION AND PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES.

Okay, well, that finishes that part up. Now I have to give you 11 random facts about myself.

11 Random Facts about Me:

1. Sometimes I really hate giving random facts about myself because I feel like I've blurted my entire life to everyone at one point or another.

2. I cut my hair from hip length to above my shoulders in just two goes. I don't regret it but sometimes I do miss my long hair.

3. I crave popcorn constantly this month. I don't know why, I think I may be a werewolf.

4. I am not very good at applying makeup because my face isn't the makeup-y kinda face. It's just a wash it, eyeliner it, mascara it, and go kinda face.

5. Occasionally I will eat key lime pie even though it is out of date.

6. I wish I could do random things with my hair, like cut it and dye it crazy colors and stuff, but I'm too chicken.

7. I am fast running out of random facts.

8. Right this very second I am listening to Jimmy Fallon dressed in drag yelling "EW GARY GET OUT YOU'RE SO GROOOOSSS"

9. I'm 19 years old and in college. Let's just get back to basics. I am an English major with a minor in Writing (IMAGINE THAT). I have a 4.0 gpa (straight A's hollaaa), three jobs, and four finished novels. I can't seem to get past this point in my life.

10. One time I was watching One Direction audition videos and then I learned that Lois Tomlinson's name was pronounced "Louie" so I decided to make a character names "Louie" because I was so outraged by the fact that Lois Tomlinson's name wasn't pronounced "Lewis."

11. Sometimes I ask myself, "Am I cool?" and then I'm like lol of course I'm cool.

Alrighty, now for my nominations!

I don't think I know 11 bloggers but I will scour the earth for them I swear.

Nominations:

Chloe Cunningham at writing or something (I feel like I've nominated you before but oh well)

Emily at Sunshine Girl

Natalie Noel Truitt at The Hope Movement (among other authors)

Rachel Lester (bless her soul) over at Water & Pen (MY BLESSED BABY BETA READER) (bless her soul) (I feel like we're connected) (if and when she reads this she's gonna be so freaked out) (sorry Rachel)

Athelas Hale at Red Lettering

Miranda Kulig at Dreams and Dandelions

I'm tired of looking at Pinterest followers for blogs THOUGH I FOUND A BUNCH I REALLY LOVE NOW so that's all you get.

Now for the questions...

My 11 Questions to You:

1. What is one of the best characters, in your opinion, ever (that you created if you're a writer, if not from book/movie/etc)?

2. Who is your favorite villain ever? Why?

3. What is one of your darkest secrets?

4. Do you enjoy showering or is it an inconvenience?

5. What is your top 5 favorite writing blogs?

6. Do you prefer cake or ice cream? Pie or cheesecake?

7. What kind of books do you like to read the most?

8. What is your favorite fruit?

9. How lame are these questions?

10. Do you approve or disapprove of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc.?

11. Long hair or short hair? Dyed or natural? Straight or curly? What do you prefer/have?

Alrighty, now to notify the nominees! Thanks again to Kel for nominating me. :) Until next time...

BYE