Author Encouragement!

Good day, readers!
Well, on this fine morning I'd like to talk about encouraging others, as you can clearly read from my helpful title. it's also about being kind, and giving compliments, and how important a community of authors can be. Let's get started. Oh, and stop by the Contact Mimi page if you want to chat! I'd love to hear from you.

"I love this!!!" "Can you write another like this?" "This is a wonderful story!" "Keep it up!" "Oh my Lord, that was amazingly written!" "Write more, it's so good!" All of these comments are things that have actually been said (well, typed) to me. And you know how it makes me feel? Warm and bubbly. It makes me want to keep writing, to make those people happy in such a way again. Often, especially on Wattpad, the people who respond to my writing with encouraging comments of praise are the people who keep said story going. Yeah, I know, i just did a lovely post on writing for me and not others, but let's be honest. Self-motivation is hard.

That's why it's important to give and receive honest encouragement. Compliments are a bit dangerous, you see, because if you just say something generic like "Awesome!" then how does the author know you even read the work? If you're going to take the time to say something nice, make it worthwhile, like "Wow, it was awesome! I loved the way you did this thing with that character". But make sure it's truthful. Lying to someone about the quality of their writing doesn't do anyone any good. The author in question can't improve on whatever you don't like, and you have the tiny pang of guilt from lying to a friend.

Giving a kind, well-thought out comment to an author is one of the nicest things a reader can do, in my opinion. But an author-to-author compliment is often even better! Another author 'really gets' the struggle it can be sometimes to churn out that next chapter or write that characterization scene or find the perfect witty exchanges, and can therefore appreciate your work all the more. It's important to have other authors read and review your work so that they can offer you suggestions to make your writing better, point out plot holes you never even saw gaping in the middle of your page, and even be your own personal spell check. (If my 'editing team' is reading this, I LOVE YOU AND YOU ARE APPRECIATED!)

So, to close out, if you want to receive kind compliments to your work, go out and give some. Karma, 'what goes around comes around', however you want to say it, it's pretty true. People really do love it when you say kind things, because we don't live in a world that's usually kind. So go out there today, whether you're on Wattpad, Google+, someone's blog (*cough cough*), or your friend's laptop as she/he watches you reading their work over your shoulder, and say or type something sweet. Make someone's day brighter. And your day will be a little brighter too!

May the comments be ever in your favor,
~Mimi

This has been your semi-weekly post of Writing with Mimi, a blog about fandoms and creative writing and other random nonsense. If you enjoyed it, please tell Mimi. If you hated it, please tell Mimi. And if you have nothing to say, well, make something up about a pie or a fez or something of equal value and tell Mimi about that. Today's Awesome Thing: Mimi shipped two of her friends at school. They actually got together (and almost gave her a squealing fangirl heart attack). Thank you for reading!

Being a "Fanfiction" Author

Top o' the mornin', readers!
I've been wanting to write this for a while, and today I thought: Today is the day. Let it out Mimi. Learn to rant, you can do it. So, here I go, the annoyances of writing 'fanfiction'. Oh, and please visit the blog page and answer the poll on what I should write about. Or if you have a request for me to blog about, drop me a line. Back to blogging now!

Fanfiction. Just let that word seep into your brain for a moment, and notice the disgust and mistrust and shame associated with that word. Often it's sexually graphic, childishly written, the canon characters aren't right at ALL, and grammar errors litter the pages. Now, this is not always true. I have a few fanfics that I absolutely love (Against The Moon (Harry Potter) READ IT. NOW.) but for the most part, everyone with a lick of respect for his/her fandom hates fanfiction, for multiple good reasons.
Oh, but Mimi, you say in confusion, Don't you write fanfiction? Are you suggesting you're better than everyone else?
Yes. Definitely.
NO NO NO I'm kidding; I'm no better than the average teenage writer. Actually, this is where I would like to make a very important distinction between the way I write 'fanfiction' and what most people consider fanfiction.

In my writing that relates to my fandoms, I steal the setting. I steal the magic powers, or the royal hierarchy, or the prejudices, or the monsters, or the weapons. But I do not steal the canon characters. Now, part of that is because I'm terrified of failing at the characterization, but another part of that is the fact that I actually have a creative mind of my own believe it or not. I may not have time to create a world, but I can craft diverse characters with intricate backstories and twist their lifelines together in interesting patterns. All my writing is my own project, completely mine, except the setting. (Yes, exceptions, I've used the Doctor in one because I felt it necessary, and the Merlin one was all canon, but I'm talking about serious projects I actually care about; some of which have not been shown to the world.)

Therefore, I think it's really annoying and unfair that I have to call my characters and my plot 'fanfiction'. Can I not just call it mine, and then say "By the way, it happens to take place at Hogwarts."? I feel like I'm being judged by the label I put on my work before viewers even try to read the projects that I've spent my time and energy and mental powers and emotions and who knows what all I've given to it. If you've written anything then you know how much it drains you in every way possible, and the fact that I took a shortcut or took inspiration from someone else's setting shouldn't invalidate my hard work on the rest of the plot and characters and tone.

So there, there's one of the things I hate about labels and fanfiction. Perhaps in the future I'll rant on the frustrations of using canon characters or what I hate about other people's writing attempts.
Have a fantastic day, and may the labels never get you down!
~Mimi

This would be yet another thingy on Writing with Mimi, a blog about fandoms and creative writing and other random nonsense. If you enjoyed it, please tell Mimi. If you hated it, please tell Mimi. And if you have nothing to say, well, make something up about a pie or a fez or something of equal value and tell Mimi about that. Today's Awesome Thing: Mimi also writes poetry! But for some reason it's usually dark or suicidal or bloody or just plain horrifying. Thank you for reading!

Fear of "The Unknown" and BPS

Hey friends :)
So I knew I wanted to post again today, and I thought to myself, "Self, what will you write about?" and I came to an interesting conclusion: I have no clue. From there, though, I started thinking about 'The Unknown" and poof, writing! Enjoy.

Let's ease into this blog post nice and gentle with a bit of college-level developmental psychology. At every age, humans feel fear. It's a primal drive designed to help us survive, but whether you're a kid during a thunderstorm or an adult in the hospital waiting room, fear is rarely a friend. Of the many phobias and anxieties that exist and are specific to each person, we all share a fear of things out of our knowledge or control: "The Unknown". Let me give some examples.

When I was five or six, I graduated kindergarten, and was preparing to go into first grade. Like every kid, I was scared of kindergarten, sure, but I figured out it was fun after all, and loved school. Which is why my mom was a little confused when I displayed anxiety over entering first grade the next year. It was the same school. Same schedule. Even some of the same classmates. Why was I afraid? When she asked, "What's scary?" I apparently replied, "I'm going into the grades." Of course, my family finds that a hilarious thing for me to fear, my class having a number was scary.
But really, what I was trying to communicate was something more sincere. I was scared of "the grades" because it was something I had never before experienced. There's not really logic to the fear of the unknown, unfortunately, but I was trying to say that I didn't know what to expect, and that scared me.

So, Mimi, you're thinking to yourself, Why do I care? How does this relate to me and my writing? Well, knowing that everyone experiences fear of the unknown might help you with Blank Page Syndrome.
What's BPS? It's the name I've given to that void of hopeless despair that fills you as your cursor blinks innocently at you on the left of your screen hen you're about to start a new writing project. You might have every plot point planned. You might have the most elaborate character sheet ever. But as soon as you sit down to actually start Chapter One... Boom, nothing. Your mind panics. What if you do it wrong? What if you don't like it? What if everyone hates it? Fear. What's in the future for your project is unknown, and it scares you. The same thing happens at the beginning of the school year, when you start a new job, when you try a different food... A new experience, no matter how much you've prepared, will probably scare you. Because you're human, and unfortunately, humans in general fear what they can't predict. After all, fortune-tellers and fantasy novels (by use of time-travel, psychics, or prophecies) exploit our ignorance of what is yet to come. Yeah, a new project can be fulfilling and healthy in the end blah blah blah, but remember when I said fear isn't logical?

What should I do about it, Mimi? Now I'm panicking over a fear I didn't even know I had. (Yeah, sorry about that.) Here's what I do: When the cursor is flashing and your mind and the page are both blank, take a deep breath. Calm, quell, or at least accept the fear. If the writing goes wrong, what's stopping you from editing it? Or deleting it altogether? The main thing is that you need to actually start. It's hard to fix something that doesn't exist, right? Go on and write the first word. First sentence. First paragraph. Hate it? Too bad, move on. Write until your unknown is no longer a mystery, and then I think you'll find that with the unknown taken care of, even with a new set of problems presented by your (extremely) rough draft, a lot of that fear is gone too. Start writing something new, and use the fear of the future to drive your writing to new emotional levels full of grammar errors, instead of a neutral feeling of cautious precision. Don't ever let fear control you, but remember, you don't have to control your fear. Sometimes, fear can be your friend, especially for writers.

As ever, the best of luck to you in your writing, and may your unknowns become knowns.
~Mimi

This has been another fabulous post on Writing with Mimi, a blog about fandoms and creative writing and other random nonsense. If you enjoyed it, please tell Mimi. If you hated it, please tell Mimi. And if you have nothing to say, well, make something up about a pie or a fez or something of equal value and tell Mimi about that. Today's Awesome Thing: Jamestown was founded in 1607, the first permanent settlement of English speakers. Thank you for reading!

Why Mimi Writes

Right, um, blogging. Consistency isn't a strong point with me (duh it's been almost a year) so... sorry about that. But I'm going to give it another shot! With more of a focus on writing and the random wise stuff I seem to come up with late at night.

Anyway, I would like to spend my time now talking about a revelation I had a week ago or so. Let me start with the backstory. So, I have a Wattpad, as you readers probably know, and I was trying to get some people to read/critique my work (apparently I did it wrong and some grumpy admin tried to help me and it was a huge mess and I had to be nice to lots of annoying people which is never fun but anyway the point is) and as I was sitting there unhappily, looking at how much my views had dropped (consistency probs again), I asked myself a question.

"Self," I said in my head, "Why do you write?" Huh. Interesting question. Am I writing for the people that read my work? Am I writing to receive compliments? Am I writing to get famous? Am I writing to kill time? Am I writing because I am forced to do so? Am I writing because I want to make other people happy (or cry, depending on the scene)? Essentially, was I writing so that I felt good because of other people's opinions.

"No, actually," I realized, kind of surprised and a little confused. Why else would I write, then? If not other people, them for whom do I write? Then it hit me. I write because I like it. I think it's fun. I enjoy writing fiction. It works my creativity and planning and I get to relax with character friends.
My personality tends to be based on what others want: what makes my friends happy, what my family wants me to do, you get the idea. But writing, I realized, is probably one of the few things that I do for me. I don't write for fame or popularity or attention or compliments or my friends or my family or anything else! I write for ME, for Mimi, because it makes me happy.

And although some of you may be sitting there go "Duh, ya idjit, why else would you do anything if not to make you happy?" this revelation really changed my outlook. Now instead of, "I need finish this update so I can keep my readers!" it's "I want to finish this part so I keep writing the next part!" My entire attitude changed, and now, I'm a lot happier. I'm doing this for me, and I accept that it's okay to do something just for me, and that feels really good. We all need some 'me' time (even if 'me' is actually multiple personalities with elaborate backstories and fantastical powers).

So I thought I'd close this out with a question for you. Why do you write? Is it for view counts? Positive feedback? Or do you write because you love it?

Food for thought.

This has been Writing with Mimi (Or at Least Trying to). Mimi's Wattpad account is Mimi_Writes. If you'd like to comment, then please do, because Mimi would probably be really happy to know that you read her blog. Today's Awesome Thing: The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (a type of lung disease).

Motivation

I suppose I'm risking my readers by blogging about the same thing, but since I've had no ideas *cough cough* then this is what was on my mind. So, deal with it.

Thursday August 1st. I got my driver's permit, and that very afternoon went to parking lots and drove for two hours. next day, about fifteen minutes. Next day (that would be today) I went on the road twice, even on a big, busy, and rather terrifying intersection.
This week, seemingly unrelated, I had strings camp. Two to three hours every day of really technically difficult music (I play viola, which is AWESOME, people! Best. Section. Ever.).
The two events are actually a lot of the same thing: Taking risks, and pushing yourself. I played some of the most difficult music i've ever played, in insane things like tenth position. (That's really high and really hard). I had to put timke into it and work hard to make the music sound (somewhat) good. I had to push myself.
In driving, it's something totally new. No experience. Zilch. It was really quite scary, and when I say scary, don't take that lightly. Unlike my sister who jumps if she sees a chair in an unusual spot, I rarely am scared of anything except failure and spiders. I was scared that i would hit something, that something would hit me, or that I'd fail. I didn't, I did fine, but that's not the point. the point is that I threw myself out there in a situation I had to work hard at. To push myself.
That's a lot like writing. Sometimes you just have to work hard and keep trying, because it's something totally new. Or because you're trying something a little more difficult. Writing, driving, playing an instrument, it all takes time, and not a little courage.
I'd just like to say, keep trying. It's all worth the risk, that pit of fear bubbling in your midsection, the exhaustion, the frenzy of having a million other things to do and places to be. There's nothing like the triumph of a concert well played, or driving yourself to school, or writing a story that really impresses everyone around you. So don't give up. Because that little bit of fear can't be allowed to beat you when there's so much to gain. And so what if you did fail. You would feel terrible, yes, and you probably should let that emotion help you remember what matters to you, if you're spending your life the way you want to. But don't let it depress you, let it be a loose stepping stone, and your feet just got a little wet. With a bit of work and a bit of a risk, you can step out of the river onto another opportunity, until you reach the shore of success. It;s worth it.
~Mimi Gordon.

Role-Playing Annoyances

Remember to vote on the polls to the right of the blog posts! I try to put things that will be interesting to reply to, and useful for me! Also, please drop me some comments. I love knowing you read it.

Also, I wanted to announce that I'm doing something interesting this week. Starting today, you guys have the opportunity to go to the "Ask Mimi" page, and comment with a writing topic, life topic, or utterly random topic for me to write about. That way I know I'm writing something that will interest my readers. You can comment anything from llamas to suicide, and although I may not choose your topic, it will be considered fairly.

And now [insert drumroll here] today's topic is Role-Playing Annoyances!
Sometimes you got nothing. That's true for any type of writing. But it's my opinion that when you don't have ideas, you do not just go write an RP talking about how you're sitting at the lake and you have a conversation with someone like "How are you?" "Great." "Cool, me too." "Let's swim." "Yeah!" *Splash. Splash.* BOR-ING. If you feel yourself becoming dull in your replies, make some excuse and leave for a bit. Go play a random game online, or listen to musoc, or kill time on YouTube. Don't waste your time and someone else's on an RP that kills braincells!
In addition to that, don't be too powerful. Don't go out there and be all-powerful, never hurt, never angry or bothered. It's not realistic, and it's not fun. It's not even fun for you, beacause chances are it's going to make people mad. Make sure that you have weaknesses, and that sometimes you lose fights. If you're the best there isn't anything to challenge you, and therefore nothing to write about.
Another annoyance is manipulation. Have you had that one person who comes and stabs your character or electrifies them or punches them, and then when you do the same then they dodge it? That's probably my #1 on my list of annoying things. Don't manipulate other people's characters! Say things like "I aimed my fist at her head" instead of "My fist crashed into his head, knocking him out cold." Leaving it open-ended keeps it fair and fun. Make sure to sometimes let your opponent land a blow, too.
Well that's all I can think of at the moment. What annoys you when you're RPing? Don't forget to take the polls and give me topics!

Best of American luck,
~Mimi Gordon

Out on a Limb

I am terrible with making titles for these things.
Anyway!

I did start Mulan's story, in first person POV, and although my first part is rather short, I've gotten some great reviews from my friends. If you'd like to read it, go to the tab "My Stories" and there's a link. Also, the "What's New" tab is like a little mini diary for me, so if you ever want to see that, just click and enjoy.

Okay, housekeeping aside, I'm going to talk to you about my insecurity in writing. You know that feeling, while you're sitting there, that big, empty, blank page staring you in the face, that page that has the magical ability to wipe your mind of any confidence you felt, to make you second-guess your plot, or your character, or anything, really. What a lot of people don't realize is that it takes a lot of courage to write. You sometimes have to go out on a limb, a fragile limb, and just pick a plot point and run with it. If it works, great! You succeeded. If it doesn't work, if it's stupid, or jerky, or unrealistic, then that's okay too. Backspace and start over. It takes a lot of courage sometimes to admit that you didn't succeed, that you either need a fresh start or some help from a fellow author friend.
That makes me think a lot about life. Sometimes, you have to take the risk of failure. And that's one of the things that is most difficult for me. Sometimes it's hard to make friends, or try something new, or just strike up a conversation, because that fear of utterly crashing and burning is always present. Sometimes that risk pays off, sometimes it's just stupid, jerky, and uncomfortable.
Writing relates a lot to life in general. Last night with my family, we watched a movie called Her Alibi. It's about a man who writes mystery novels, and bases the detective, the main character, on himself. In the movie, he's experiencing writer's block, so he goes to the court room to get realistic ideas, when a murder case comes up. The accused is a beautiful woman that he falls in love with at first sight. Throughout the whole movie, he's trapped between thinking that she's an innocent woman and that she wants to murder him to seal her alibi, the alibi he gave her. Throughout the movie, he's working on a new novel. The plot of his book correlates to the events and feelings of his own experience with the woman he's provided with an alibi. The book ends up being a best seller, but while he's writing it, he has to keep missing deadlines, insisting that he doesn't know how it ends yet, because he doesn't know how his own story ends.
Sometimes it makes me consider how my story ends, because I don't know the plan for my life, I don't know the ending. Sometimes I wish that I did know, that my life is like the books I (attempt to) write, and that I know, if not every detail, at least the basic plot points in my life. But I don't. I just have to take what life throws at me.
That all goes back to that blank page staring you in the face. You have to take what your characters throw at you. Sometimes you don't need to plan, what you need is to really listen to those characters that live inside you. Sometimes you have to really consider what would the character do in the situation, and not what the character should do or what the character needs to do to make the ending like you want it. Sometimes you have to take the risk of changing the game plan.

Well, that's what I've got. Hope you enjoyed it, drop me a comment or two, and while you're add it share my blog to your circles, hmm?
Good luck with your metaphorical tree limbs,
~Mimi Gordon