April 28, 2021-I’d like to wish my sweet nephew, Harvey a very happy first birthday! We love you so much, Harvard and are so excited to watch you grow!
Our guest blogger today is our very own Samantha Nemeth! We’re continuing to talk about pushing the envelope in our writing and we’re so excited to get Sam’s perspective. Check out her book DJ the Terrible, here: DJ (Djeaneautha) The Terrible! – Pandamonium Publishing House
Once upon a time, there was an ordinary bookstore employee named Sam and every day she helped customers, worked the cash, and dreamed of being a writer. At home, she wrote for fun and through a stroke of serendipity, her first novel was published! She then spent her retail days dreaming of a summer filled with festivals and fairs to sell her beloved work of art…until the Pandemic hit and shook the foundations of life as she knew it. Retail was shut down, Festivals were cancelled, fairs postponed. And because of that she had a surplus of time, and nothing to dream about. What was a dreamer with no dreams to do?
Aha, she thought, I’ll work on my sequel! But the times were grim, inspiration was scarce, and she grew tired of sitting in the dark of writer’s block. So she reached for the shining blue light of her computer and took to the internet.
She gathered tips from her publisher and fellow writers and put them to practice. She made herself write when ideas were dry. She read genres she’d neglected before. She listened to music that embodied the tone for her tale. She enrolled in an improv class, stepping out of her comfort zone. She embarked on a quest for mindfulness to squash the gremlin who whispered lies that she was not good enough.
And because of that, she began to believe. In her story, in her characters, and in herself. She no longer had to force herself to write. She was alive with ideas! The ebbs and flows of the music that trilled through her headphones inspired twists and turns that thrilled the author. Her characters surprised her with uninhibited quirks, quips, and moments of growth. Her story grew into something more fantastical than she ever could have imagined when her journey began. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and committed to paper the escapade unfolding in her mind’s eye. And as the decadent hum of the printer faded into the night, she held up her fresh, shiny precious with a grin. Her outline was complete.
And because she’d written such an outline, she was faced with the age old question…to submit to the publisher, or not to submit? She was afraid. She loved what her story had become and the fear of rejection was strong. But thanks to her tactics, her newfound confidence was stronger. She didn’t shy away, but took the fear with her as she bravely hit that Gmail send button.
She spent the afternoon biting her nails as she awaited a reply. What if she hates it? The gremlin whispered until finally, a blipideboop rang out from her computer. She had a reply, and it was good!
And ever since, Sam has spent her days not as a dreamer, but as a writer, nurturing that outline into her sequel, and being happily entertained by her own creation.
***
In case you’re wondering, that girl is me. Hi, I’m Sam. The theme of this month is all about pushing the envelope and trying new things, so I wanted to try something a little quirky with my story above. I actually have been utilizing all of those tactics in addition to simply writing more often. When I look back at my first book and compare it to what I’ve written of my second, I can see a definite change; for the better in my humble opinion.
The most important thing for me was to get out of my own way; to figure out how to believe in myself and my imagination. Mindfulness has been huge for me in that sense. The next thing that has been super fun in terms of broadening my horizons, has been improv. I’m also an actor, so performing has been a part of my life for a long time, but improv was always this big scary beast that I cowered from. When I started to embrace it, I realized that it was an excellent way to get into the moment, let ideas fly without fear of looking “dumb”, and to see things from a different perspective.
In this class, I also learned about something called the Once Upon a Time Story Spine, which was developed by Pixar and is used in the movie industry to pitch plot ideas. I actually challenged myself to use that Story Spine format to write my story up above. Here’s the general flow of it.
- Once Upon a Time there was (insert description of your character)…
- Every day (this happened, or they did this, etc)…
- Until (insert some course changing event)
- And Because of That (what did they do?)
- And Because of That…
- And Because of That…
- Until finally, (some big crux happens)…
- And ever since (their world and their ‘every day’ has been changed)…
So, I challenge you to write a Pixar movie plot about yourself. Who knows, maybe the hero your writing needs, is you!
Thanks, Sam! We can’t wait for your next book! If you’re looking for inspiration in your writing, check out my number 1 best selling book here: Advice From a Publisher (Insider Secrets for Getting Your Work Published!) An Amazon Best Seller – Pandamonium Publishing House