Pun intended

Jokes, who does not like them? Good or bad, old or new, funny or lame, they make us laugh or not.
And they are a part of our life.

I like horrors, I like to write scary stories (and I will publish one more here, I just need to translate it from Polish to English).
But recently I have realized that I like comedy too. And that I like to write funny stories. I also like jokes, duh ;>

And stand-ups, some are so funny, and I have always wondered - where do they take the stuff from? how do they come up with all these jokes?
I mean, seriously.

And the wordplay is brilliant in many cases, and you know how writers are with words, we LOVE them, we LOVE to play with them.
So I have purchased The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How To Say Something Funny About Anything by Sally Holloway and I have started to play with the words as suggested in an exercise.
My attempts are lame at the best, but I'll share them anyway, who knows, maybe they'll make one or two people laugh.
The words I played with are in italics :>

We wanted to put them on a smaller stage but they turned out to be a broadband.

He was a damn liar. I didn't like him but then I had to admire his liability.

He kept shouting and interrupting me, seriously he had no phonetics.

Their music was supposed to soothe the soul but all it did was endear.

I know, lame. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?
Worst than that would be not trying, not writing them at all.
Because trying and failing is the first step on the road to success :>

Will people read books in the future?

I suppose that everyone has heard once in a while that "people don't read books any more."
That there is the Internet filled with funny pictures, cats and videos of people dancing to whatever silly song is at the top at that moment.
That TV offers easy to digest entertainment.
That books are expensive and boring.

I have heard that enough times to stop and think about it for a moment.
Hell, it's very much my business whether people will still read books in a few years.
I am a writer.
I am editing my first novel, writing second, not to mention the cooperative novel that has grown to 500k words in under 3 months.
I am elbows deep in the writing business.
But will there still be people to write for in 10, 20, 50 years from now?

With little evidence to back my theory, I will risk it and say: Yes.
Maybe not as many as now.
Maybe more than in the past.
I don't know.
But I will tell you this - the number of my friends, friends of my friends, acquaintances etc. that still love to read makes me believe that people will keep on reading.

Come on, why not, a book is the food for the imagination, TV tells you how the hero or heroine of the show looks like. With books, even with some vivid descriptions (which I like to avoid in my books), you can imagine him or her to look like you want them to look.
The same with places the protagonists visit.
Worlds and people who live in them are created with the use of words alone.
And those words awaken the creative part in you and it's fun.
Ask anyone who gobbles books down like crazy, how much fun it is to be pulled in into a brand new world.

As long as there are books and writers who strive for quality, people will keep on reading.
There will always be people who will want to feed that hungry imagination of theirs.
I write because I believe that reading will never die.

Do you agree or do you think that reading is a hobby that soon will be forgotten?
I would like to hear your thoughts on that one.

New theme and Camp Nano

I'm truly back and I have returned with something new - a customized theme, made for this blog by my fiancé :)

Also I want to say that I will be using Camp NaNoWriMo as a chance to edit the NaNo novel I have written last year.

And the weirdest thing is, I'm starting to like my hectic completely full schedule :> 

Take a breath...

I have honestly not realized that it has been so long since I have posted something.
I have not realized, because my life has became hectic and filled to the brink with work and things I had to do after work.
And now I have even signed up for an online course at the Dale University.

As if I didn't already feel, that I have no time for sitting back and taking a breath, no time to relax.

I wish I had a bathtub instead of a shower, to ease the tension from my muscles by lying in the hot water.
I wish I didn't have a full time job, that consumes so much of my energy, that I feel drained and empty at the end of the day.
The only thing I can count on, to make me feel better is writing, but it consumes time and energy as well.

And I have let this blog slowly drift away, to a place where I no longer thought about it.
And that was plain wrong.
My task for now - is to find time to blog.
So, my dear friends, I hope that I will get to talk to you more often.

Planning as I go

I am a plotter.
I have always been one. And an obsessed plotter to boot.
Even my outlines have outlines.
And it's not just a catchy phrase. I mean it. I plan my outline, before I write it down.
I have needed that plan, I have needed to know where the story going and what will happen on the way.

The cooperative book writing project I am involved in, together with a bunch of other insanely talented people, has proved to be a really eye-opening experience.
It has forced me to step outside my comfort zone.
It made me embrace a whole new writing style - it turned me into a pantser.

When you are writing your book alone, you are already forced to face many challenges when planning it.
When there are more than ten people writing the same book, there is absolutely no chance to plan anything ahead.
Plot twists and unexpected changes are the daily bread of cooperative writing.
This project has allowed me to learn a lot about planning as I go.

I have made plans for my character and from the start they were all altered, changed and thwarted by my co-writers.

Here is my lame attempt at employing a meme to make my message seem funnier.

It did not get me down, the pantser in me that lay dormant, somewhere in the corners of my mind, woke up and took over.
I know that now, K (my character) is how he should be, and that his storyline is much more interesting.

I used to panic a little when my characters have done something unplanned that forced me to change my outline.
There was one more thing that helped me get over that fear, and that was NaNoWriMo.
No time was left for that fear. I had to write, plan as I went and do my best to create a story that had something resembling a plot.

Thought Shop came out better than I have expected. There is a lot to be done, to improve it, but the story sticks, and that makes me happy.

I am not saying that now I think, that planning is wrong.
Or that I no longer am a plotter.
It is like a road map that keeps me from getting lost.
Or like a safety net that won't let me fall.
But the lack of it no longer makes my knees shake.

It is a weird feeling, I must tell you, to step outside your comfort zone and discover that no monsters are lurking there.
Such fun :D

And one more thing.
I have lately discovered this little fellow: prowritingaid.com
I have found out which words I am overusing, that the pacing of my story is quite good, that I don't have many redundancies. But I have also found out that I like repeating some words in sentences that are close to each other.

Examples that can be found above: found out, words.

Right now the Though Shop's printout attempts to impersonate a rainbow.
I have used highlights and pens to mark adverbs, weak words, passive voice, sticky sentences, repeated words, sentences that slow the pacing of the story etc.

Advantages:
- I see on what I have to focus the most
- Different colours show me what needs to be done about the word/sentence/paragraph.

Disadvantages:
- I start to feel overwhelmed just by seeing the sheer amount of work that lays before me.

I will not let that get me down, though, this is just one more thing that is outside my comfort zone. And I will face it head on.
I have already started recruiting beta-readers for after I finish the editing and turn the horrible first draft into a readable second draft.
If you like horror stories, and you are willing to sacrifice your time and help me improve my book (I will probably start sending Thought Shop out in April) there is still a lot of time to apply.
If you are interested, and want to earn my gratitude, you can apply in the comments, or send me and e-mail to annmariescharf(at)gmail(dot)com.

I guess that would be it.
As a parting word, I'll tell you, that I must admit, that as my days get hectic,
- and I write now more in a day, than I used to write in a week,
- and I go to sleep at 01:00 a.m only to wake up at 6:30 a.m to go to my regular work,
- and I spend my time thinking about ways to make my character's life harder
I am happier than I have been in a long time.

I hope that you too, have something that makes you happy.
Everyone deserves to have something like that!

It was nice talking to you.
See you soon!

Pages on Twitter :>

I am constantly searching for new ways of communicating with you.
Therefore, I have set up a twitter account: https://twitter.com/AnnMarieScharf
Twitter is right now, next to Facebook, the best tool for interaction with readers, I have been ignorant to that fact for way too long.

But that time of ignorance is over. I have made amendments.
Now, even when I will have no time to write a blog post, (and with the cooperative novel and NaNo novel edition that might happen more often than I would like) I will still be able to share thoughts, ideas and so on with you.

I am one happy writer right now :D
(The only question that keeps me awake at this hour is: who didn't I do this earlier?!)

Blood, tears and... no, actually just tears

As you all know, I am currently engaged in a cooperative novel writing process and I feel this one will be a bestseller with all the potential ;>

That does not stop me from editing my NaNo novel, though. A horrible process, but it must be done. I want to finish the editing by the middle of May, so that I could use my coupon at CreateSpace and have 5 copies printed.
So I am fighting with it, biting my tongue to stop from swearing and I am slowly making progress.

I am using this little, but very helpful online tool:
http://editminion.com/
This is extremely effective at pointing out the abuse of
- adverbs
- weak words
- passive voice
- clichés

I don't use the other options, but they do seem useful.

My greatest weakness is passive voice.
Therefore, I have purchased this:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Swat-KILLER-Your-Writing/dp/0982390203
And I have fallen in love with that book.
Or
At the thought of using that book my heart not only skips a beat, it skips an entire cord.

I have no interest whatsoever in advertising those two things, the authors don't even know I exist.
But for all you out there, who are struggling with editing your work as I am, they might prove useful.
And that would be absolutely great :D

The one other thing that my book is missing is a cover.
Currently I am in the process of forcing asking my fiancé to make one for me as he did make an amazing one for The Undefeated John Rile.
Keep your fingers crossed for me, cause I really want him to do that for me :D
I hope I will soon have something to show off here :D

And now back to crying editing my novel -_-'