Writers Diary #1

Welcome to Writers Diary! A place where you can find out about all my personal projects and writing experiences! Writers Diary is also a place to share your thoughts and stories of being a writer. Here, you'll also find writing advices, personal resource tools and book recommendations. Let's begin!

Welcome to the first edition of Writers Diary! In this post, I'm going to give you a bit of a summary of my new writing project and how I got started on it, read along till the end for a book recommendation and some free goodies!

about my project

I'm working on a Medieval fantasy novel, a mix of THE RED QUEEN and the SELECTION SERIES. Its called "The Imperial Bloodline" If you know me, I'm all about Queens, magic, inheritances, Princesses and absolutely anything close to the word Royalty. And just after finishing the red queen series, I thought I'd create my own novel with a little inspiration for the books itself.

Here is the summary of the book I'm working on:

The kingdom of Mithalore is separated by powers, Ivory, the elites and Ambers, the commoners. Having the ability of elemental control, the Ivory’s were considered the ruling rank since the build-up of the kingdom, twenty centuries ago. Willow Moore, a simple Amber seamstress, brought up by her simple parents, gets some life-altering news on her eighteenth birthday.

She is the last royal in the imperial bloodline.

Thrusted into a word of deceit and elegance. Willow must navigate her way as a royal, discover who her family really is, and try to restore peace to the once tranquil kingdom, all while battling the threats and attacks from a secret rebellion group, intent on tearing apart the entire kingdom even more.

But what if all her answers lie in one single place, a library, hidden within her very own castle walls? Following the clues left behind by her dead mother, will she find the solutions to her problems or will she learn the horrific meaning behind every verse her birth mother left behind.

Can she prove herself, an Amber, worthy of the Ivory throne?

If you want to read what I've written so far... HEAD OVER HERE! I update every 2 weeks or so, depending on my classes and exams.

Let me let you in on a little secret... This isnt my first novel. Its actually my THIRD! My first novel was the cringiest one, though the idea was creative, the writing... wasn't. I really enjoyed writing it, nevertheless, I posted it for my friends to read and they hyped me up to finally finish my simple 6 chapter novella. It may have not been much, but at that time, I was overjoyed to actually announce that I HAVE written a book in my life. You could say my first book gave me a lot of insight on the structure a book was supposed to be written, and a lot of experience on how to and not to write.

My second book, however was a HUGE flop. The idea was plagiarized and the trope I selected was way overused. It was based on a fantastic book I had just read, and being the enthusiast I was, I decided I would somewhat take the entire plot of that book and twist it to make it my own. Of course, It was a very bad idea. Soon after complete 5 very long chapters, I had read over 7 books with the same exact plot and trope I was using, it was traumatizing to know that I spent so much effort outline my plot and researching on my story, just to find out that I wasnt the only one who wanted to steal that story's plot. (Its actually been happening a lot recently, posting stories online is becoming dangerous, anybody could steal your idea and turn it into a best-seller even if you havent completed the story, its sad to think that there are so many writers who'd do anything for fame, I on the other hand, completely support my fellow writers, and I apologize if you may have thought I steal story ideas while reading my experience of writing my second book, at that time I was unacquainted with copyright policies, and have well-studied myself on the rules) My story started to become bland and by the time I finished the first paragraph of my 6th chapter, I decided it was time to give up this idea.

Now onto my third time writing a book, and by far the most successful one, I got the inspiration for my book after reading The Inheritance Games and The Red Queen Series. You could say I was struck with multiple flashes of creative sparks. I decided to make my own story, loosely based on the plot-line of both these series. (I apologize, again, if you see similarities of both the series in my book, like I said, I had just finished reading the series, and a lot of cross-overs can be easily identified, which is why this is merely the first draft and I WILL come back to revise it after I'm completely done.) It started off great, I kept a journal to write down all my research for my novel; Characters, setting, world-building... And soon, I was way beyond excited to actually begin writing the first Chapter. The minute I wrote the first line to my book, the next day I found myself ending the chapter with its last line. I completed an entire chapter in two days, which was a big feat since it usually took a month for me to finish half a chapter. Within a month, I finished 6 chapters, and after a couple of weeks, I was ending the 10th chapter. I thoroughly relished writing each chapter. My idea was unique, and my writing was much more sharpened that before, which was why this book became so much of a success.

My story as an artist has been about trial and error. It's been about artist development, character building, struggle, happiness and failure, family, and music. -Anderson Paak

Book recommendation

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE

by Tomi Adeyemi

Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone. They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise. Zélie remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled – Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoning forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic, and they must remain hidden. Zélie is one such person. Now she has a chance to bring back magic to her people and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must learn to harness her powers and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

I'm only about 150 pages in, and I really love it. The writing is strong and and the characters complex and intriguing. Adeyemi has created a story world rich with magic, darkness, and beauty. Definitely a story to pick up if you love fantasies.

A little note from me

“How do you stay motivated and positive, even when things go

wrong?”

It’s a question I hear a lot, almost every day. Because the

reality is that it can be pretty challenging to not get discouraged in the face

of setbacks and defeats. How do you keep a positive outlook when it feels like

life is just handing you one hard blow after another?

And, if you’re anything like me, you tend to focus on the

negative and on the things that are going wrong. Instead of seeing the four A’s

on the report card, we fixate on the C. Instead of hearing all the compliments,

we only remember the criticism. Instead of celebrating a job well done, we

worry about that one thing that went wrong. Instead of cheering for that

half-pound weight loss, we lament the fact that we still have 20 pounds left to go.

Instead of seeing our glass half full, we wonder where all

the water went.

But if I were to identify the one single thing that made the

biggest impact for me, it was probably the one simple trick I learned for

keeping my glass half full.

In fact, it is almost so simple—and yet so powerful—that I

don’t know how I managed to go most of my life without learning it.

Are you ready for it?

It’s writing down my wins, every single day.

Every time something good or positive or unexpected happens,

I write it down. Every time I have a success or a triumph, however small, I

write it down. Every time I make progress in the right direction, however

minimal, I write it down.

It only takes a few seconds, and yet this ridiculously

simple habit, over the course of the last few years, has changed everything.

Because in all honesty, the last six months have been far

from perfect. There have been a lot of really hard moments. Frustrations.

Setbacks. Betrayals. Stress. Tragedy. Disappointment.

But keeping track of, and actually writing down, all the

good moments? That’s the one small difference that has completely changed my

perspective. It keeps me looking at the positive, even when life throws a

curveball or two my way.

Zig Zigler once said that “the choice to have a great

attitude is something that nobody or no circumstance can take away from you.”

Along those same lines, Dale Carnagie wrote “it isn't what you have or who you

are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It

is what you think about it.”

In other words? It’s what we choose to focus on that will

ultimately determine what we see.

My challenge for you this week is to try this one simple

trick, just for a week, and see what happens. Whenever you notice something

good—a kind word, a compliment, a small triumph or success, jot it down. Keep

track of the things that go right, then keep your list nearby as a reminder for

when they don’t. You might just be amazed at the results!

Live with purpose, friends, and have a wonderful week!