Nominated?

      Uh. . .I've been nominated for an award. O_O Never done this before, so this should be interesting, but I guess y'all deserve to know a bit more about me. I stink at writing bios for myself, so here's nothing.

      The rules consist of me listing 11 facts about myself, answering 11 questions my nominator assigned me (who, by the way, is Leah K. from Appasionata. Thanks, girlie), link to said blog, and nominate 11 other bloggers with 200 or less followers and give them 11 questions.

      Like I said, this should be interesting.

      But without further ado. . .

1. One of my favorite numbers happens to be 11. Which makes this award perfect.
2. I'm obsessed with the MBTI.
3. I decided that my red/pink plaid jacket is evil the other day.
4. I have a tendency to tell people that I have an elf in my head. Sadly, only my writer friends and three year olds believe me. The four and five year olds told me I was lying. It was so sad.
5. I must always have a purple toothbrush. If it is another color? Humanity has apparently ended.
6. I help lead a zombie army (that likes to vacation by a certain pineapple under the sea) to fight against the evil squirrels and Peep marshmallow things. No? Not buying it?
7. I want a cat someday. A black and white one.
8. I'm convinced a cat named Simon wanted to kill me when I was a baby. Strangely, he was black and white.
9. I grow my nails long, but forget to shape them, and am always hurting someone with the jagged edges.
10. I have run in revolving doors. At a hospital. Right in front of a front desk. Surprisingly, they did not reprimand me.
11. I am cursed with seeing 11:11 on the clock all the time. Or 1:11. Or I'll strangely see long strings of one. So I decided  I was cursed. Muahaha.

And the questions Leah gave me:

1. Would you rather be respected, or loved?

Mmm. That's difficult. I love to be loved and I fear that in my heart that's what I'd want, but let's go with respect, because I believe that one to be the better option.

2. What is a favorite quote of yours?

I've heard different variations of it, so I'm not sure who it's by, but: "I am not who I once was." I love that. Because I'm not who I was before, and I'll never be her again.

3. List 3 of your favorite songs at the moment?

O_O Three? Oh dear, that's difficult. I have way too many favorites. Uh, The Show by Lenka, Shake It Out by Florence and The Machine, and Animal by Miike Snow. Sorry if my choices are weird. I listen to nearly everything. So, just picked three random things.

4. Cows or peacocks?

Oooh, hard one. I've always fancied peacocks, though. I love birds and those feathers are just gorgeous.

5. Describe your style/taste in art, design, fashion?

Honestly, this changes. Art? Well, I like to draw anime-influenced styles of art. Design? I don't know. Whatever works to me at the time. Fashion? This changes. Sometimes in nothing more than grabbing the first shirt I see. However, I like wearing unbuttoned button up tops over tank tops. 

6. What place would you travel to if you could?

Oh this is rough. I would prefer a nice long trip in which I could make multiple stops. Because I want to go to Australia, Japan, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and several stops throughout my home state.

7. Coffee or tea?

Honestly, I like both. I drink tea most of the time since it's what I have, but I'll also jump on an offer for coffee. Not sure which I like best.

8. Introvert or extrovert?

Extrovert, most definitely. Though I am a lot more introverted than I used to be. However, I live in a family with five introverts. It's bound to rub off.

9. What do you hope to do with your life?

To not ruin it. *starts laughing* Okay, I want to publish a book. That's my main goal. 

10. What's your favorite entree?

Entree? Oh, no idea. I don't have a favorite meal, really.

11. If you could be granted 1 wish, what would it be?

*coughs* For a wish machine. . . 

      And I have to make some questions for those lucky people I tag.

1. Do you have an accent?

2. Fiction or non-fiction?

3. Favorite number?

4. Favorite kind of coin?

5. Favorite color pen?

6. If you could get any book for free right now, what would it be?

7. If you could meet one famous person, who would it be?

8. If you could be invincible for 24 hours, what would you do?

9. If you could throw anything at your bedroom wall, what would it be?

10. What's the most interesting disease/disorder/syndrome/etc. to you?

11. You can own any animal of your choice. What animal is it?

      And those I tag are:

Tiffany at My Life in Blogs

Molly and Amanda at Whatever. . .

Yes, sorry, people. I don't know 11. 2 will work. 2 is another beautiful little number. . . 

Oh, the other rule was that I had to let them know that. Okay, off to do that. . . 

Yesterday's Gone, Yesterday's Gone

      I have to thank Leah for her comment on my last post. I know I said that the three types are Past Oriented, Present Oriented, and Future Oriented. However, I think that everyone slips into each view from time to time. All I'm getting at is that we tend to reside more in one than another.

      This is why the Past Oriented scares me.  I've been there.

      As much as I dwell in the future, I find it way too easy to get sucked into the past. Ever since I was little, I'd get uber nostalgic over things. Then I'd feel rather disappointed because I don't know how to find that feel or that happiness again. I didn't know any better at the time, but you can't get it back. It's over, it's gone.

      But once your average PaO realizes that, they might dig the hole even deeper.  

      Is it my fault? Did I lose this? Can I bring it back?

      I have fallen into this pit too many times. I'll decide that something was my fault. Then I sit and contemplate the past even more, trying to figure out how I could've fixed it.

      But that's the thing. It isn't always our fault. More times than not on these things, I had nothing to do with it. When you're a PaO it's just so easy to think it is. You want it back. You were the one who lost it.

      Or worse: You blame someone else.

      Residing in the past is also an excellent way to get down in the dumps, feeling depressed. Because yesterday's gone. And you liked it. You want to be the person you used to be. Sometimes we just have to wake up and realize that that person is gone and that a new one is here. Things have happened. Things have changed. That other you is never coming back. Maybe a similar one will, but never the same one. 

      I hope I haven't depressed you. Being a PaO isn't entirely full of cons. I'm just rather prejudiced against it at the moment, so feel free to send all your hate mail at me. It can also have some really good factors. You see what's happened before and you don't want it to happen again. You know how to avoid things. Maybe it'll translate wrong to other people, but you're most likely really good at protecting yourself and others. You've seen things happen and know how to circumnavigate them. After all, history does repeat itself, and it's best to be prepared when it does.

      The past isn't all that bad, it's just a scary place for me. I don't know, maybe because it's opposite of what I am. I might figure it out. . . .someday.

-K.G.

See you next time for the Present Oriented!

      

Past, Present, Future

      I've come to notice that there are three types of people. Some are a little mixed, but they're all closer to one side than the other. And these types are the Past Oriented, the Present Oriented, and the Future Oriented.

      All these types seem to be living life differently. Maybe not too much on the outside, but on the inside. As you may have guessed, it might be where they're residing internally. Whether they're living in the past, the present, or the future.

Past Oriented:

      Living in the past has been the scariest place to reside in my eyes. Oftentimes, these people want something back. Something they lost. Something they might've thought that they caused themselves to lose. They want to be the person they no longer are. They feel like they need forgiveness, but they can't give it to themselves.

Present Oriented:

      On the outside, this person looks like they're in excellent shape. They live in the now. What they're going to do at this second. They could be a thrill seeker, but they could just be that stay-at-home mom across the street who is saving the world--one coupon at a time. However, everything has it's flaws. They might forget the big picture: Like how the past repeats itself if you're not careful, and how what they do today might affect the future.

Future Oriented:

      I tend to be more future oriented, myself. I can seem cheery and full of energy. It's true, this type is easily excited. The future is full of endless possibilities. And many of them are really, really great. However, we (or at least I) tend to forget about the past and present. The past for reminding me how I am not going to be an actor because I have that horrible fear of video cameras, and the present for doing what must be done to get me there (conquering le fear of cameras). It is also very easy to become horrified by the future if you decide things are going downhill.

      The thing is, our characters tend to fit mostly one of these looks on life. One of my main characters, for example, tends to live in the past. Another lives in the present. Over the next few posts, I'll be describing each of these outlooks in a little more detail.

-K.G.

Through Their Eyes, Not Mine

      I hope you will all forgive me for my absence. The holidays did not give me all the writing time I wanted. But I'm back, and should be for good now.

      Over the past three weeks I realized something. I was having trouble writing in the POV of a character that used to come so easy to me. First, I blamed it on the scene needing to change. So I tried that. Then, I decided it was my problem. 

      A lot changes over two and a half years. I met the character a long time ago, and was of a different mindset. When I started writing the character, we connected. Easy. Simple. Not much to think about. I just opened the page and typed away his thoughts and feelings.

      We were similar.

      Now we're not.

      People change a lot over a few years. Circumstance changes how you see things, realizations helps you fix them. I am not what I once was, and I don't want to go back in the past. I want to live in today.

      I was deathly scared. I thought I'd have to go backwards. Get in the mindset I used to be in. And I didn't want to be there. That wasn't me anymore.

      All of my foolish worrying made me realize something: I may not be in that mindset anymore, but he is. That never changed. Only I did. And I had it all come to me so easily before that I dropped a crucial key to writing. I have to look through their eyes. Not mine. Not my brother's. Their eyes. It's how they see the world, not me. All writing is, is getting into their mindset. Not changing your own.

      I may have to work to get there, but it's not me. I just have get into character. And that character is not me.

- Kelsey Gulick

Breakable

      First off, please, please, please forgive my absence. The holiday season has hit and that's thrown my entire blogging schedule off. I actually meant to do it yesterday. Apparently that got me nowhere. I'm going to work on getting it in for most of the week, though, so stay tuned!

     So I've covered some of the usual topics such as what your character loves. But I know that we all have those days where you just sit down and think, "Now what could I do to make so-and-so's life worse?"

      Just as everyone loves something, everyone hates something. No matter how convinced you are of being invincible, you're going to be scared of at least one thing.

      Like no longer being invincible anymore.

      Maybe it's not something so simple. Maybe it's more complex, like Garth. Garth had no power as a child when he was beat and tortured. Now that he has power, wouldn't you think that he'd be terrified  of losing it?

      Like so, things in our past upset us--make us leery of them for the rest of our lives. While it could be something so simple as becoming sick of chocolate because you just so happened to eat a chocolate bunny before catching the flu, it could be something big like a near death experience.

      Or watching someone else nearly die.

      Some characters might try to hide their fear from you and everyone else, but it's there. No one's fearless. And no one's loveless. There are always ways to make things worse on them. If you really want to reach a new degree of evilness, combine the character's love and hate.

      Love/hate relationships? What if your character's family was killed by that country, but the woman he loves happens to be from there and strongly loves her homeland?

      Or what if you take his/her love away with what he hates? What if the ocean terrifies your character? What if what they love is taken away by the waves?

      There are plenty of other ways to get creative with this. Even if you're not looking to cause your character more pain, it's a good thing to keep in mind that they have things they hate or are terrified of.

-K.G. 

Monkey See, Monkey Do

      Very few things seriously annoy me in books. Sure, if my editing cap is on, I could go crazy with the red pen on just about any book you give me (hey, if it wasn't written by me, I'll always be wanting to rearrange some sentences), but very few things actually bother me.

      I finally started The Maze Runner the other day. Things were coming along smoothly until Gally stepped into the picture. This guy is your prime bully. You know it before you ever even see his name. The description fits the "modern bully" quite perfectly. I don't know about you, but reading that a guy has missing teeth makes it seem really typical.

      And that is what I'm asking you to avoid. Please. Stereotypes and characters I've seen way too many times before are just a bother. They make me sit back and know what's going to go down in this scene, this chapter, or even the whole book, just by seeing him and his stereo-typicalness. 

      I'm sure you can come up with some stuff. If you see a stereotypical bully, you realize a lot. Okay, he or she is going to get in the main character's way. They'll most likely become archenemies. Oh, and I'll bet the main character stands up to them, as well. Maybe they're the prime antagonist, already nailed in their position at approximately page 20.

      But you know what stands out even more? The character who shocks us.

      I find that Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune  does a great job of this. Sticking with the bully example, let's look at Octavian. This guy pretty much wants to be in charge. Almost immediately he's in Percy's way. Now I'll bet you all are coming up with some fancy images in your head.

      He's probably large, muscular, either downright ugly or amazingly good looking. Greasy hair, perhaps?  One of those faces only a mother could love with a squashed in nose?

      Actually, no. Octavian was a skinny, weak looking guy. The only position of power he held was that he was the place's auror. People just got to watch him beating up on poor, defenseless teddy bears.

      For that? I must thank Rick Riordan majorly. A bully that is nowhere near stereotypical can be very hard to find nowadays. Octavian used his mouth--not his fists. That alone makes me happy.

      But bullies aren't the only stereotypes in existence. What about that drop-dead beauty of a girl that the main character has a crush on and will, no doubt, be dating by the end of the book/series? The thin, wiry nerd that no one wants to deal with? Stereotypes are everywhere. And you could change that. Don't follow all monkey see, monkey do like.

      Do you have any stereotypes?

-K.G.

Almost Lover

      Well, I had the perfect idea for a post a few minutes ago.  Congratulations, it has changed. Music does that to me. Especially if the lyrics make me think of a character. Whatever was in my head before that? It jumped out my ear and made a break for the door.

      I'm sure you've all seen a wide assortment of characters. Big ones, small ones. Thin ones, and tall ones. Annoying, and passive. Pretty, and ugly. Pfft. You've probably even seen pretty ugly.

      But even the vainest idiot who thinks the world of himself or herself will have a reaction to losing something they love. Maybe they never admitted they loved it, but they did. Maybe losing it causes them to stop something or to shut others out.

      Remember Garth and the slave girl? I said briefly that he wanted power after the fact to change things. What if it was partially because of her? The king and queen had taken her in, and his heart had probably stopped as soon as he stopped seeing her.

      If you remember right, his family beat him and used him. She very well may have been the only thing he loved. What if, when she left, that was all it took to convince him to become what he became. Before, maybe he would've stayed and been walked on his whole life. Maybe it affected him so much that he refused things to be that way anymore. He'd be the master for once.

      And what about when he fights her double, whom he thinks is her? What happened to him after he held her dead body in his arms? This was the only thing he loved other than power. The only thing he loved, he couldn't keep. The only thing he loved, he'd broken.

      Maybe your character doesn't have an almost lover. Maybe it's something smaller, like a puppy. But your character will always love at least one thing. Sure, it's quite funny think of a character who hates everything, but if you think about it? Maybe he loves hating things. Maybe he loves his tongue that lets him tell you about all the things he hates.

      If you take it away, what does your character have? What about them has changed?

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

Should've known you'd bring me heartache

Almost lovers always do

- Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy

-K.G.